- List of Illustrations*
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader
- Introduction
- 1. Truth and Subjectivation
- East–West Differentiation
- The Chinese Self
- The Daoist Self
- 2. Truth and Knowledge
- Truth, Knowledge, and Propositions
- Propositions in Chinese Thought
- Truth and Divination in China and the West
- The Pursuit of Truth in Early Daoism
- 3. The Concept of Zhen (真): True and Real
- The True Self
- Cosmologies of Substance
- Early Daoist Discourses on Truth
- Later Daoist Discourses on Truth
- True Writings and True Writs
- Translation Conventions
- 4. Liturgical Symbols and Images
- The Ritual Event
- The Ritual Walk
- The Absent Way and Daoist Temporality
- Ritual Images
- Ritual Symbols
- The Romantic Concept of the Symbol
- Real Images
- Inwardness
- Visualization
- External Images
- 5. Unity and Identity
- Unity and Diversity in the One God
- The “One-Source Paradigm”
- The History of Taiyi
- The History of Puhua Tianzun
- The Iconography of Puhua Tianzun: Ti and Yong Forms
- Entering the Way through Sincerity
- Being One with the God
- Ontology of Images
- 6. Sincerity and Ascent to Heaven
- The Ascent to Heaven in Present-Day Daoist Ritual
- Submitting the Petition in the History of Daoism
- Modern Versions of Submitting the Petition
- The “Mode of Sincerity”
- The Social Identity of a Daoist Priest
- Outer and Inner Registers
- External Representations of the Gods of the Registers
- Being and Appearance
- Closing Remarks
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- * Illustrations
- Figures
- 1. Chart of Cultivating True Being (Xiuzhen tu)
- 2. True Writ of the Center
- 3. The magic square and the arrangement of the Eight Trigrams according to the Writing of the Luo River (Luoshu)
- 4. The Guideline of Returning to the Altar (Huitan gang)
- 5. Diagram of Chen Rongsheng’s sacred area for the jiao liturgy
- 6. Diagram of the journey to Heaven
- 7. Puhua tianzun riding on a nine-headed phoenix
- 8. Puhua tianzun as the Thunder Ancestor (Leizu)
- 9. Summoning the Nine Numinous and the Three Essential Spirits from the body
- 10. Chen Rongsheng impersonating Jiuku tianzun in the rite of Universal Salvation in Jiayi, Taiwan
- 11. Zeng Chunshou and Lai Longfei performing the Announcement of the Jade Altar in Hunei, Taiwan
- 12. The journey to heaven performed by Chen Rongsheng in Jiali, Taiwan
- 13. Diagrams of the journey to heaven
- 14. Liang Huaying performing a journey to heaven in Cangnan, Zhejiang
- 15. The journey to heaven in Daozang biyao
- 16. Register of the Generals of the Three Primes (Sanyuan jiangjun) from Taishang sanwu zhengyi mengwei lu
- Plates
- 1. The Great One (Taiyi)
- 2. Jiuku tianzun in a hanging scroll by a painter from Quanzhou, Fujian
- 3. Puhua tianzun in a hanging scroll by a painter from Quanzhou, Fujian
- 4. Puhua tianzun emerging as the Lord of the Nine Heavens Transforming All (Jiutian puhua jun)
- 5. Puhua tianzun at the center of the Thunder Department (Leibu)
- 6. Numinous Official Wang (Wang Lingguan)
- 7. “The Way is entered through sincerity.”
- 8. The journey to heaven performed by Lai Longfei in Hunei, Taiwan
- Figures
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
I Tatti Renaissance Library
Loeb Classical Library
Murty Classical Library of India