Robert P. Weller Boston University In late imperial China, every major social community (typically a market town and its surrounding villages) had a central temple. While there would have been many other temples and deities, one would have united the whole community. This is still true in Taiwan and other areas outside the People's Republic of China, and to a limited extent even within the People's Republic. Such temples and the communities they represent periodically hire Taoist priests to perform the chiao (also romanized as jiao) ritual, a renewal of their cosmic mandate and efficacy. A trun- cated version of the ritual might last a full day, and require the services of just a few priests. Temples typically perform such a ritual on the god's birthday each year, without a lot of fanfare. Rarer, but far more significant, are performances of the full ritual, typically requiring five full days and eighteen priests, and involving the entire community. Communities might undertake this at intervals of twelve, twenty, or even sixty years, or might perform it irregularly. The ritual is split into a public side and a cloistered side. The public side brings in the entire community, and takes place at various temporary altars set up throughout the temple's area of authority. The cloistered side takes place inside the temple, whose entrance is blocked, with guards allowing access only to the priests and to a small number of community elders. Much of the ritual itself is esoteric, and not understood by the few laymen who witness it. Public attention focuses on the plaza in front of the temple and on numerous temporary altars set up throughout the community. These temporary altars physically mark the geographical extent of the god's authority, and socially mark the major social groupings of the community, who are responsible for them. For a large chiao, these altars are made of gaudily painted plywood, sometimes two stories tall. Especially fancy ones may feature animated life-size manikins, revolving in courtly dances. The priests periodically make the rounds of these altars to make offerings. Ritually, the most important public events take place near the beginning and end of the ceremony. On the first day, the priests invite much of the popular pantheon to be present as spectators, and other temples bring images of their gods to sit in one of the temporary altars. Worship of the Jade Emperor, highest god in the popular pantheon, follows, with the community elders in attendance and a whole pig as an offering in front of the temple. The Jade Emperor is not the most important Taoist deity, and this ritual is far less important to the priests than to the general public. The other major public event takes place on the last day, when the priests make offerings to pacify the ghosts of the unworshiped dead. These miserable souls bring trouble to the community, and the priests both protect the community and help save the ghosts from suffering. This ritual is preceded by a parade the night before, featuring lanterns of all descriptions. These lights serve as an invitation to the departed souls to attend the ritual. The ritual itself takes place in front of the temple, and many people gather to watch. Each family also takes part by making food offerings to the ghosts. These offerings are placed in front of their houses, or on huge banks of tables placed in front of the temporary altars. Some of the offerings may take fanciful forms, recreating historical tales, animals, or amusing scenes, all made from food. The most critical rituals, at least from the point of view of the priests, take place inside the temple. Very few outsiders may attend, and they usually have no idea what the ritual is accomplishing. Inside the temple, the Taoists remove all the god images, generally placing them as spectators in a temporary altar in front of the temple. They are replaced with scrolls representing the Taoist pantheon. The core rituals themselves require a combination of reading ritual texts, making appropriate hand gestures and dance movements, and meditating on internal spiritual forces. Through the course of the ritual, the Taoist gradually concentrates and unites these disparate forces to achieve union with the Tao. With the microcosm of his body in harmony with the macrocosm of the community and its temple, the power and purity of the temple is renewed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Michael R. Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, 2nd ed. (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990). |