A study of 'The Complete Text on Loyalty and Piety in Jing-ming Taoism' (Chinese text).

摘要

This thesis focuses on an important Taoist scripture of the Yuan period titled Jing-ming Zhong-xiao Quan-shu (the corpus about loyal and piety of Jing-ming sect), with an emphasis on the politics, the economy and the culture of the Song and Yuan periods.; The first chapter examines the structure and compilation of Jing-ming Zhong-xiao Quan-shu. It is believed that it was initially compiled by Liu Yu in the early period of Yuan dynasty. Subsequently, it was collated by Huang Yuan-ji and Xu Hui respectively. Later it was dispersed into odd volumes and then re-compiled, resulting in various versions. Although in terms of its format, the scripture is regarded as disarrayed, its contents can be divided as two parts: saints' biographies and discursive essays.; The second chapter illustrates the background and formation of Jing-ming Zhong-xiao Quan-shu. This scripture is believed to be the result of Liu Yu's sect having arisen. Its content reflects the teaching of Liu Yu's innovations; in other words, the various conditions that led to Liu Yu's sect are the same factors affecting the formation of Jing-ming Zhong-xiao Quan-shu. These, in particular, include the holistic situation of the politics, the economy and the culture of Chinese society in the Yuan dynasty and the peculiar humanistic and geographical environment of the Jiang-xi area such as its development of economy, the expansion of clans, the growth of schools, and the increasing influence of Confucian thoughts, and also the geographical environment of Xi-shan (west mountain) in Jiang-xi .; The third chapter focuses on the saints' biographies through which we can, on one hand, trace the development of the Jing-ming sect from the Jin to the Yuan dynasty, and on the other hand, understand the innovations of those such as Liu Yu and Huang Yuan-ji. Simultaneously, this thesis investigates each stage of development in detail.; The fourth chapter, also the last chapter of this thesis, considers the central theme of Jing-ming Zhong-xiao Quan-shu, and concludes that the scripture advocates the belief of a celestial being which is consistent with the belief of traditional Taoism. However, the form of this belief is not the “body becoming celestial” of traditional Taoism, but rather the “soul becoming celestial”. This scripture upholds that Ren-dao (way of being human being) is the foundation of Xian-dao (way of being celestial being), and Ru-shi (joining secular life), the ladder to Chu-shi (leaving secular life/aspiring after celestial), so that those who wish to become celestial beings must practice social virtues and Taoist rituals which aims to relieve human affliction. These thoughts are based on traditional Taoist philosophy, and are commonly shared by all religions.