Society and the Supernatural in Song China

4 The Cult of the Black Killer

4 The Cult of the Black Killer By the Northern Song, the Mandate of Heaven had moved squarely within the fold of Daoist interpretation. It became clear, moreover , that even with the consolidation of the South, this mandate was in serious need of shoring up. After 1005, the emperor Zhenzong (r. 998–1022) woke up to the defeat of his armies, the loss of territory, and the humiliating treaty with the Liao. In 1006, the architect of this treaty, Kou Zhun, was dismissed, and the emperor turned increasingly to Wang Qinruo. Wang would be excoriated by Song historians for allowing the emperor to fiddle away his time in Daoist pavilions while the capital, Kaifeng, was threatened. It is true that, as a southerner in a courtly and bureaucratic milieu still dominated by northerners, Wang’s views on defense seemed callous. Yet in the Daoist Wang Qinruo, the emperor found a minister who let the emperor be himself.1 The Supporter of Sageliness and Protector of Virtue Wang suggested that the emperor might best overcome the shameful treaty by performing the feng and shan sacrifices and by searching for celestial omens. In the first month of 1008, the first of four “heavenly texts” (tianshu) was “discovered” on the palace grounds. In several cases their discovery was indicated directly to the emperor by a spirit dressed in Daoist costume. All these texts were “dynastic treasures,” celestial talismans that explicitly confirmed the Zhaos’ possession of the man67 date, thereby guaranteeing, incidentally, the emperor’s right to perform the sacrifices recommended by Wang. Amidst an outpouring of support, but also much criticism, the emperor went to Mount Tai in the ninth month of 1008 and performed the feng and shan sacrifices. And in the second month of 1011, he performed the great sacrifice to the Earth at Fengyin. Meanwhile, the identity of the spirit who had appeared to the emperor was taking shape. In the tenth month of 1012, the emperor had a vision in which a spirit-being descended and conveyed to him a command from the Jade Emperor (Yuhuang) which said, “In the past I ordered your ancestor Zhao [Yuanlang] to confer upon you the ‘heavenly texts.’ Honor him as the Tang honored Laozi!” Several days later, during the course of what appears to have been a Daoist “offering” (jiao) in the Abbey of Extended Mercy, the “holy ancestor” appeared again to the emperor and declared that he was in fact the Yellow Emperor (Xuanyuan huangdi) who, in one last incarnation, had descended during the Later Tang (923–935) as the first ancestor of the Zhao clan. In 1017, Zhenzong visited the Palace of Reflection and Response of Jade Purity (Yuqing zhaoying gong), built three years previously to house the “heavenly texts,” and set up tablets for the Jade Emperor , the Holy Ancestor (i.e., the Yellow Emperor), and all subsequent ancestors of the Zhao clan. The claim of descent from the primordial Yellow Emperor, patron of Daoism, was a quite self-conscious attempt not only to imitate but to surpass the divine genealogy of the Tang. Already, from 1007, much of this had been prepared behind the scenes. Through a eunuch intermediary, a certain Wang Jie had been lodged in a building in the Capital Security Office (Huangcheng si), the bureau that controlled access to the imperial city. Wang was from Fujian and claimed to have met there, in the closing years of the tenth century, a magician named Zhao. Zhao taught Wang his techniques and entrusted him to perform them in the service of the emperor. When Wang Jie finally arrived in Kaifeng, he identified his master Zhao as none other than the Perfected Lord “Controller of Destiny” (Siming zhenjun) and the original ancestor of the ruling family. From 1007 on, the Controller of Destiny descended and transmitted to Wang a series of revelations and predictions that were passed on to the emperor .2 We can agree with Michel Soymié that the imperial visions that began in 1008 probably originated through the offices of this medium from Fujian.3 6 8 Society and the Supernatural The years between 1007 and 1022, when the emperor died, were a period, therefore, of intense Daoist activity. All this is well known. What is perhaps less well known is Zhenzong’s devotion to a god known as the Perfected Lord “Protector of Sageliness...