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  • Der Berg des Lao Zi in der Provinz Sichuan und die 24 Diözesen der daoistischen Religion
  • Jan De Meyer (bio)
Volker Olles . Der Berg des Lao Zi in der Provinz Sichuan und die 24 Diözesen der daoistischen Religion. Asien- und Afrika-Studien 24 der Hum-boldtUniversität zu Berlin. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005. xii, 306 pp. 72 illustrations. Hardcover €78,00, ISBN 3-447-05261-9.

Western-language studies of sacred Daoist sites in the People's Republic of China (PRC), which have survived the Cultural Revolution as well as earlier waves of destruction and thus continue to have religious significance today, are still relatively scarce. The same goes for in-depth studies of the so-called 24 dioceses around which the early Celestial Master movement was organized. In his book, Der Berg des Lao Zi in der Provinz Sichuan und die 24 Diözesen der daoistischen Religion, Volker Olles offers a combination of both studies.

Olles' monograph presents an inquiry into the nature of Daoist sacred space in general, as well as the historical development and the present state of one particular religious institution, and combines fieldwork with the analysis of written materials. Between 1998 and 2002, the author visited thirteen former Tianshi Dao centers. Some of those had no active temples left, whereas others had gone over into the hands of the Buddhist community. Among the remaining sites, the author chose Laojun Shan (the Mountain of Lord Lao) as the object of his research. Situated in Xinjin County, south of Sichuan's capital Chengdu, Laojun Shan has been identified as the centre of the former Chougeng diocese. The author's choice was based on the fact that Laojun Shan's present inhabitants consciously view their activities as a continuation of the tradition of the 24 Celestial Master dioceses, and that the mountain possesses a full ensemble of religious buildings that may be considered typical for the region's Daoist temples.

The first two chapters of the book are devoted to an outline of the origins, functions, and major characteristics of the 24 dioceses. They also describe how the function of the dioceses shifted after the diaspora of the original Tianshi Dao [End Page 250] communities, and how during the Qing dynasty the temples became monasteries associated to the Longmen branch of Quanzhen Daoism. The third chapter examines the origin of the name Laojun Shan (it goes back to a Laojun temple purportedly built there during the Tang dynasty), reviews all available evidence related to the Chougeng diocese in the Daoist canon, and analyses how Daoist hagiography bestowed religious authority on Laojun Shan by linking it with three figures of foremost importance in Daoism: Laozi, Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor), and Zhang Daoling.

The history of Mount Laojun is dealt with at length in chapter 4. As the author readily concedes, the extant written sources are far too scanty to allow a full reconstruction of the mountain's historical development. Han dynasty religious relics (among them so-called "stone chambers" thought to have served as stations on the way to afterlife or immortality) have been found on Mount Lao-jun, but no unequivocal link between them and early Celestial Master practice has been established. Similarly, contemporary claims as to the miraculous appearance of Laozi in the Laojun Shan sanctuary in 729 C.E. could not be verified. It would seem that very little reliable information concerning the temple's history predates the eighteenth century. Late though most written sources may be, that does not, however, make them less interesting. One particularly fascinating episode within Mount Laojun's history, for instance, concerns its close connection with a popular religious movement known as the Liu Family's Teachings (Liumen jiao), named after its founder, the scholar Liu Yuan (1768-1856). Harmonizing Confucian or Neo-Confucian ethics and Daoist inner alchemy (neidan), Liu Yuan developed his own teachings and rituals, the influence of which was felt outside of Sichuan, and extended as far as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, and even Zhejiang. Liumen jiao followers, who rejected celibacy, shared the temple grounds with celibate Quan-zhen Daoists, and repeatedly engaged in construction and renovation works up until the middle of the...

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