Session 169: Marshaling the Powers of Thunder: Violent Designs and Bureaucratic Forms in Daoist Exorcism since the Song Dynasty: Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions

Organizer: Mark R. E. Meulenbeld, Princeton University

Chair and Discussant: Edward L. Davis, University of Hawaii, Manoa

Exorcizing demonic forces is central to Chinese religious culture. One key way that people in China have dealt with demons, at least from Song times, was through ritual performances that summoned martial deities from a celestial bureau called the Thunder Department (lei bu). These performances have been used to exorcise demons blamed for causing individual illnesses, epidemic outbreaks, irregular patterns of rainfall, and other disorders in the world. By marshaling the powers of thunder in these Thunder Ritual systems (lei fa), ritual practitioners turned to celestially-sanctioned forms of violence to rid the world of disruptions of order and set the world aright.

This panel will consider how humans have understood and used their power over deities through historical, philological, iconographical, and anthropological perspectives. To open up these perspectives on Daoist exorcism, the panelists will consider three aspects of the making and uses of Thunder Ritual. Lowell Skar will discuss the formation and uses of scriptures that formalized the structures of the Thunder Department during Song times out of earlier spells, gods, and writings. Mark Meulenbeld will present some histories of Yuan- and Ming-dynasty Daoist exorcistic systems by analyzing various Thunder Ritual pantheons. Poul Andersen will discuss the iconography of the Thunder Department’s main deity. David Mozina will show how contemporary Daoist priests in south-central China ritually invoke celestial marshals during their ritual practice. This panel’s presentations seek to suggest some ways of thinking about and discussing the historical and cultural place of apotropaic activities in Chinese religious culture.

From Thunder Writs to Thunder Scriptures: Marshaling Thunder and Imagining Justice in Late Imperial China

Lowell Skar, University of Colorado, Boulder

From the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1276) on, ritual practitioners in China circulated, used, and annotated works that had been issued from a celestial bureau, known as the Thunder Department (lei bu), believed to control the generative and retributive powers of martial thunder gods. These scriptures elaborated and systematized earlier writs that enabled practitioners to ritually summon and use powerful deities in simpler exorcistic settings. This presentation will analyze two Southern Song Thunder Scriptures—the Thunderclap Scripture (Leiting jing) and the Jade Pivot Scripture (Yushu jing)—in relation to talismans, incantations, Thunder Writs, and Thunder Scripts. It will then consider how these scriptures were used, from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, as sites for scholarly annotation, sources of ritual practice, and as the focus of group recitation. In doing so, the presentation will suggest how this new celestial Thunder Department shaped the public imagination of those demanding justice beyond what was offered them in the mundane world.

A Reading of Thunder Gods: Pantheons as Maps to Daoist History

Mark R. E. Meulenbeld, Princeton University

Since the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the countless awe-inspiring martial divinities (thunder-marshals, generals, and celestial lords) invoked by Daoist priests for various purification rituals have been gradually reduced to a narrower array of divinities that are more or less similar across Daoist traditions. This relative order contrasts with the great variety of deities known since the tenth century, prior to their incorporation into standard Daoist repertoires, when each tradition was distinguished by its own distinctive register of martial divinities. The provenance of these registers was often at odds with the lineage claims expressed in the ritual tradition’s scriptures. This discrepancy provides clues to the subjugation of certain divinities into specific Daoist pantheons, and of their gradual standardization, and it may provide a way of viewing lineage construction that is different from the denominational claims of the rituals’ authors. By mapping out the divinities of various ritual systems found in a key ritual compendium covering the registers of these Song dynasty traditions, the Daofa huiyuan (TT 1220), and then comparing them to other Ming dynasty materials, it is possible to reconstruct the sites, actors, and dynamics of the system that prevailed in the standardization, and thus to shed new light upon the obscure history of Taoism from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. This also permits us to see a picture of how Daoism was perceived in late Ming times: first and foremost as an art of exorcism, to cure diseases by summoning the abject powers of demoniacal divinities.

Wielding the Breath of the Nine Heavens: The Iconography of Leisheng puhua tianzun

Poul Andersen, University of Hawaii, Manoa

The paper discusses the emergence at the end of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) of the supreme god of the Thunder Department, Leisheng puhua tianzun, the Celestial Worthy of the Sound of Thunder Transforming All. The god came to the fore within the Shenxiao tradition as one of nine supreme rulers, Jiuchen, worshiped within this tradition. His iconography was established in the Precious Scripture of the Jade Pivot, Yushu baojing, which was attributed to the god himself, and which appears to have been written during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1278). In fact, the earliest preserved image of the god is found in an illustrated block print edition of this scripture, kept at the British Museum and dated 1333. The paper analyzes the identifying iconographical features in this and a number of later representations of Leisheng puhua tianzun, notably a spectacular Ming dynasty scroll, kept at the National Museum in Copenhagen and dated 1596. It was commissioned by the emperor and appears originally to have formed part of a set of scrolls for Daoist Shuilu zhai ceremonies. An overview of the historical transformations of the representations of the god is given, ending with a discussion of the images and the role of the god in present-day Daoist jiao ceremonies. It is demonstrated how these transformations reflect the appropriation and redefinition of the god within different historical milieus, literary genres, and forms of ritual.

How to Call a Celestial Marshal: The Banner-Writing Invocation of Marshal Yin in Contemporary South-Central China

David Mozina, Harvard University

Contemporary Daoist priests currently perform rituals that invoke several celestial Marshals (yuanshuai) to serve as exorcists and protectors. Using audio and video, this presentation will provide a detailed glimpse of how certain contemporary Daoist priests in central Hunan use a sophisticated medley of written talismans, spoken incantations, hand mudras, and dance to invoke Celestial Marshal Yin. The particular invocation rite I will examine, which centers on the ritual preparation of a banner that will attract the attention of Marshal Yin, is central in ordination and exorcism liturgies performed by local Daoist lineages that practice the arts of exorcism associated with Marshal Yin. An exposition of the ritual elements and logic of this invocation ritual will demonstrate one way in which contemporary Daoist priests gain control over demonic deities and so show how thunder ritual exists today.