Meishan Ritual Tradition梅山教

Also known as

Meishan Lineage, Meishan Method, Meishan Daoism, Shigong (Master-Priest) Teaching, Hunan–Guangxi

Type

Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions

Period

Song–Yuan to the Present

Founded

Formed in the Meishan region of central Hunan from the Song dynasty onward (c. 11th–13th century), taking fixed form in the Ming and Qing

Region

Central Hunan (Xinhua, Anhua, Longhui, and elsewhere) and Han, Yao, Miao, and Dong areas of Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan–Chongqing

Status

Extant — Meishan ritual altars remain active among Han Chinese and ethnic-minority communities in central and western Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Chongqing, and have been listed as intangible cultural heritage under "Meishan culture" and "Meishan Nuo Opera."

Overview

The Meishan Ritual Tradition is a folk Daoist ritual tradition that originated in the ancient Meishan region of central Hunan (roughly today's Xinhua and Anhua), practiced among Han Chinese as well as the Yao, Miao, Dong and Tujia peoples of Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Chongqing, and regarded as one of the representative examples of the fusion of southern folk religion with Daoism. Before the Song dynasty, Meishan was inhabited by the "Meishan Dong barbarians"; after the "opening of Meishan" in the fifth year of the Xining era of the Northern Song (1072), Han culture and Daoism entered the region and combined with local hunting, fishing and shamanic customs to form a ritual system named after Meishan. The Meishan Ritual Tradition venerates the patriarchs of the "Three Grottoes of Meishan" (Upper, Middle and Lower Grotto, also called Zhang Wulang, or Zhang Wulang Who Overturns the Altar and Inverts the Cave) together with Taishang Laojun, the Lüshan ritual master, and Zhenwu; among these, the inverted image of Zhang Wulang is its emblematic deity. Its ritual masters are called "shigong," "daoshi" or "tulaosi," mostly married and living at home, transmitting the tradition from father to son and master to disciple, and perform both "martial rites" (subduing evil, quelling ill fortune, calling back souls, praying to spirits before the hunt) and "civil rites" (salvation of the dead, celebratory altar rites, fulfillment of vows); their ceremonies make extensive use of talismans and incantations, hand seals (jue), pacing the Dipper, exorcistic (nuo) masks, and ritual implements (ox horns, master's swords, command tablets), and include such performative rites as "climbing the knife-ladder" and "walking through fire." The scriptural and liturgical manuals of the Meishan Ritual Tradition circulate in hand-copied form, containing a great deal of Daoist content (the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor, Lingbao liturgy) while also preserving primitive shamanic-exorcistic and ancestral hunting mythology; the Yao "Du Jie" ordination rite was influenced by it. Scholars regard the Meishan Ritual Tradition as an important case of Daoism spreading into the ethnic regions of the southwest and being reshaped by local shamanic custom; the study of "Meishan culture" has grown since the 1980s, and its rites have been listed as intangible cultural heritage.

Core Doctrine

Venerates the Meishan patriarchs (Zhang Wulang and others), Taishang Laojun and the various Daoist deities, holding that ritual magic can communicate with the spirits, expel evil, and protect hunting and production; a fusion of shamanism and Daoism, it places great weight on the spiritual power of its patriarchs and on the transmission of the ritual altar, and distinguishes civil and martial branches of the teaching. The Meishan Ritual Tradition also preserves the mythology of the "Eighteen Grottoes of Meishan" and the cult of hunting deities; its pantheon combines orthodox Daoist deities with primitive local beliefs, a typical case of the fusion of shamanism and Daoism in the south.

Practice & Ritual

Celebratory altar rites and fulfillment of vows, salvation of the dead ("performing the rite"), expelling evil, calling back souls, settling the dragon and giving thanks to the earth, sacrifices to the hunting deities, and the Du Jie ordination rite (conferring ritual methods); using ox horns, master's swords, command tablets, and exorcistic (nuo) masks; rites such as climbing the knife-ladder, walking on hot bricks and overturning the altar; hand-copied liturgical manuals and incantations transmitted by lineage. Meishan ritual masters are also often combined with nuo opera performers, and their rites have a strongly performative and locally distinctive character, the main source of the intangible-heritage item "Meishan Nuo Opera."

Transmission

After the opening of Meishan in the Song, Han Daoism (Zhengyi, Lüshan, Tianxin and others) fused with local shamanic custom → lineages of Meishan ritual altars in the Ming and Qing → spread to southwestern Hunan, northern Guangxi, southeastern Guizhou and the various peoples of Sichuan and Chongqing → contemporary Meishan shigong and inheritors of the intangible-heritage tradition. There is no unified organization. The Meishan Ritual Tradition is also regarded as an important source of Daoism among the ethnic minorities of the southwest (such as the Yao), its ritual methods and pantheon spreading to surrounding regions along with migration and trade.