EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 98 Assandri Friederike (University of Heidelberg) Faith Pledges in Six Dynasties Daoism Key words: pledge offerings, early medieval Daoism, scripture transmission, history of Daoism, material culture Many early medieval Daoist texts refer to pledge offerings ( 法信 , 盟信 , 信物 , 盟物 , 盟誓 , 賚信 , 詭信 , 章信 ) for the transmission of scriptures, often with detailed lists of required offerings. They include items like rice, firewood, writing utensils, precious metals, money, and bolts of silk. Discussions of such offerings in early medieval Daoist texts maintain that gold and silk are replacements for the older requirement of a blood oath to pledge secrecy. However, there are also frequent laments about Masters using the offerings for their own ends. Scholars have referred to these offerings as “symbolic pledges of secrecy”, substituting blood sacrifices (Strickmann 1977: 26, Nickerson 1997: 233; Raz 2004: 261; Benn 2008: 15), “means of livelihood” for Daoist masters of the Jiangnan tradition (Strickmann 1977: 83), “income” for the Celestial Masters com- munity of believers (Shipper 2000: 49), “price-tags” for Daoist scriptures (Strickmann 1977: 27, Assandri 2016), and “major source of temple income” (Sun Ruixue 2013). With this range of interpretations, important questions remain open, first and foremost the question if the listed required pledge offerings were meant to be de facto and “in materia” handed over in transmission rituals, or if they were only symbolic requirements. I will present findings from work in progress of a detailed study of pledge offerings based on the lists contained in Wushang Biyao and several ritual compendia dated to the Six Dynasties and Tang, which con- siders the historical origins and development of the practice of offering pledges in Daoism as well as the context of the texts concerned (lineage, school and genre of text, its purpose and possible target audience), and the material items listed as required pledge offerings, with their possible function (symbolic token, monetary value, utensils for rituals, personal use etc.) and the diachronically and synchronically varying quantities of the items required. Baker, Jr. Timothy (National Dong Hwa University) From Chinese Ghosts to Christian Souls: Contemporary Taiwanese Observances to Ancestors Key words: ancestors, souls, Christianity, Confucianism, Taiwan From pre-Qin traditions to Buddhism to Daoism to Christianity, the various Chinese concepts of souls and the afterlife are as diverse as the spectrum of Chinese religious traditions. But it might, however, be said that a common ground or reference point for all of these religious traditions is Confucianism. Regard- less of the degree to which Confucianism is or is not a religion, reverence for departed ancestors is one of the key aspects of Confucian practice; and Confucianism has evolved a body of theory as to the nature of souls and a set of practices that are a characteristic aspect of what is referred to as “Chinese culture.” Although the other Chinese religions have substantially different views of the nature of a personal identity that goes beyond the current life, Confucian views have had a profound effect on the ways in which these religions have developed within the Chinese cultural sphere. This is appears to be true of Buddhism, for example, in which the doctrine of reincarnation is much clearer as Buddhism developed within Chinese