Yao Daoism (Daoism among the Yao)瑶传道教

Also known as

Yao Daoism, Daoism of the Guoshan (Mountain-Crossing) Yao, Yao Ordination (Dujie) Teaching

Type

Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions

Period

Song–Yuan to the Present

Founded

Daoism was introduced into Yao regions during the Song and Yuan, taking fixed form between the Ming and Qing

Derived from

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Region

Yao regions of Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guizhou, and the Yao of Vietnam, Laos, and northern Thailand

Status

Extant — Widely transmitted among the Yao of southern China and Southeast Asia, with the Du Jie rite still performed today; the related scriptures and icons are held in museum collections in multiple countries and have been listed as intangible cultural heritage.

Overview

Yao Daoism refers to the form of Daoism believed in and transmitted by the Yao people (particularly the various branches of the Guoshan Yao and the Panyao). From the Song and Yuan onward, Zhengyi Daoism, the Lüshan ritual methods, the Meishan Ritual Tradition and other Han forms of Daoism and ritual teaching spread into the Yao mountain regions along the Hunan-Guangxi-Guangdong border, combining with the Yao cult of Panwang (King Pan) and ancestor worship; by the Ming and Qing this had formed a Yao Daoist system centered on the "Du Jie" ordination rite (conferral of registers), believed in by nearly the entire population. Yao men must undergo the "Du Jie" ordination rite upon reaching adulthood (hanging the lanterns, the ordaining master, the conferral of the Dao), presided over by the shigong and daogong, receiving a ritual name, an underworld certificate (yindie) and spirit soldiers; only then is one regarded as a descendant of Panwang and a full member of society — this rite clearly derives from the Zhengyi system of register conferral. Yao religious specialists are divided into two types: "daogong" (who perform Daoist liturgy, chiefly presiding over salvation of the dead and offering rites) and "shigong" (who perform Meishan- and Lüshan-type ritual magic, chiefly for expelling evil) — the so-called "two gates of Dao and Fa." Yao Daoist scriptures survive entirely as Chinese-language manuscripts, including the Scripture of Salvation (Duren jing), the Scripture of the Three Officials, the Northern Dipper Scripture and a great many liturgical, talismanic and memorial texts; painted icon scrolls ("deity-image scrolls") depict the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor, Celestial Master Zhang, the Thunder God and the Meishan holy assembly, among others, many preserving ancient forms of Song- and Yuan-dynasty Daoist liturgy, and have been extensively collected and studied by Western museums and scholars. After the eighteenth century, some Yao migrated to Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand, and their form of Daoism spread with them, a unique instance of Daoism among an ethnic minority in Southeast Asia. Scholars (such as Jacques Lemoine, Michel Strickmann and Zhang Jinsong) regard Yao Daoism as an important case of the "ethnicization" and "localization" of Daoism, and a living fossil for studying the ritual of Song- and Yuan-dynasty Zhengyi Daoism.

Core Doctrine

Venerates the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor, Celestial Master Zhang, Panwang and the ancestors, holding that only through the Du Jie rite, by obtaining spirit soldiers and a ritual name, can one communicate with the spirits and, after death, ascend to the "Land of Yang"; it fuses the Daoist concepts of chengfu (inherited burden) and the underworld with Yao ancestor worship, and places great weight on lineage transmission and on the covenant (yindie) between the realms of yin and yang. Yao Daoism also emphasizes the correspondence between the "two realms of yin and yang," holding that those who have undergone the Du Jie rite become "yin soldiers" after death who protect their descendants, and that the transmission of icon scrolls and scriptures must take place at the time of the Du Jie rite.

Practice & Ritual

The Du Jie ordination rite (hanging three or seven lanterns, conferral of registers, underworld certificate and ritual name); offering rites to fulfill vows to Panwang ("dancing for Panwang"); rites of salvation for the dead (opening the road, breaking open the hells, the funeral procession); expelling evil, calling back souls, and settling the dragon; using painted icon scrolls, ritual seals, ox horns and bronze bells; scriptures and incantation texts transmitted as hand-copied Chinese-language manuscripts. Yao daogong and shigong often hold both roles at once, and their rites mix Yao and Chinese-language incantations; their hand-copied ritual manuals mostly preserve Ming- and Qing-dynasty Chinese formats, and are important material for studying the transmission of Daoist texts.

Transmission

Han Zhengyi Daoism and ritual teachings of Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong in the Song and Yuan → lineages of Yao daogong and shigong in the Ming and Qing (transmitted father to son, master to disciple through the "Du Jie" rite) → Yao villages that migrated to Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand → contemporary Yao daogong in various regions. Yao Daoism also formed independent lineages in Southeast Asia; the Du Jie rites and icon scrolls of Yao villages in northern Thailand have been extensively collected and studied.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures