occurring beneath the surface all along. While elite
practitioners continued to be enamored of distinctive
practices leading to personal transcendence, as found
in Chan or Daoist Inner Alchemy, it now becomes ap-
parent how thoroughly Buddhism and Daoism had
blended at the local level. In both Buddhist and Daoist
contexts, there are examples of minor Buddhist deities
cast in the role of protector deities in local cults; rites
of “universal salvation” whereby the dead were rescued
from the hells and brought into the ritual space for
transfer; and ritual masters who embodied deities and
caused child-mediums to become possessed by disease-
demons, so that these might be interrogated and ex-
pelled. This latter practice derives from Tantric rituals,
with their warrior deities and therapeutic aims.
Just as local gods were added to the Daoist pan-
theon, new modes of scriptural production and lay as-
sociation were incorporated into Daoism and began to
play a central role in the development of Chinese reli-
gious life. An example is the cult of the god Wenchang,
a local deity from Sichuan later recognized officially as
the god of literature. A book detailing his epiphanies
and support of the “Three Religions” of Confucianism,
Daoism, and Buddhism was revealed by spirit-writing
in 1181.
One of the several influential schools of Daoism be-
gun during this period was Quanzhen (Way of Com-
plete Perfection), founded by Wang Zhe (1112–1170).
Quanzhen, which is the dominant form of officially-
recognized Daoism in modern China, teaches
celibacy, asceticism, strict monasticism, moral in-
struction, and self perfection through inner alchemy.
In many ways, Quanzhen self-consciously modeled it-
self on Chan Buddhism. Quanzhen masters gained the
patronage of the Mongol Yuan rulers and, during the
mid-thirteenth century, were accused by Buddhists of
occupying monasteries, running them as Daoist insti-
tutions, and spreading a version of the Huahu jing.
The literary legacy of Quanzhen Daoism is vast and
includes volumes of didactic verse and dialogic
records similar to Chan yulu.
Another influential school was the Qingwei (Pure
Tenuity) school of ritual practice, which incorporated
Tantric rites, MUDRA, and MANDALApractice into tra-
ditional Daoist cosmogenic transformation rituals.
These ritual innovations have been preserved by
Zhengyi practitioners into the twenty-first century.
Fifteenth century to the present
The ethnically Han emperors of the Ming dynasty
(1368–1644) tended to favor Daoism, but strove to
bring all public religious expression under strict regu-
lation. They gave official approval to the Zhengyi
school over Quanzhen, which had dominated the pre-
vious period, and they patronized the printing of the
Daoist canon in 1445 and a supplement in 1598. These
remain major resources upon which scholars and
practicing Daoists alike rely. Nonetheless, such offi-
cial oversight tends to purge from the official records
much that is vital to understanding the growth of the
religion.
Elite neo-Confucians of this period adapted both
Buddhist and Daoist thought to their own ends. In
some cases, such as that of Lin Zhao’en (1517–1598),
a self-styled “Master of the Three Teachings,” attempts
were made to popularize these beliefs. Lin’s “Three in
One Teaching,” influential throughout southeastern
China for about 150 years, was meant to eliminate all
other denominations under a Confucianism supported
by the subsidiary doctrines of Buddhism and Daoism.
More problematic from the state’s point of view was
the proliferation of lay, scripturally-based, sectarian
groups such as the White Lotus Society. Such groups,
unlike the Wenchang cult, cannot be categorized as
other than eclectic. These societies based their practice
of scriptural recitation and meditation on scriptures
that innovated freely with beliefs and practices ex-
tracted from the canonical writings of both Buddhism
and Daoism, overlain with “Confucian” moral con-
cerns that by this time had become the property of both
religions. Sectarian scriptures and personalized for-
tunes in verse form were often produced through
spirit-writing sessions conducted in Daoist and, to a
lesser extent, Buddhist temples. Such new religious
groups, patronized even by officials and their wives,
provided an alternative to institutionalized religion.
Qing dynasty (1644–1911) efforts at control were no
more successful than those of preceding dynasties.
While Tibetan Buddhism was the religion of the Qing
emperors, recognition was given, as it is in China to-
day, to the two Daoist schools Zhengyi and Quanzhen.
But the tendencies toward simplification and syn-
cretism of the preceding centuries precluded categori-
cal taming of the vibrant religious scene. For instance,
while modern Quanzhen venerates Wang Changyue
(d. 1680), the officially-recognized first abbot of the
Baiyun guan in Beijing, another influential patriarch of
the school, Min Yide (1758–1836), is perhaps better
representative of the times, and certainly better re-
membered today. While fulfilling his father’s wishes
and serving as an official in Yunnan, Min supposedlyDAOISM ANDBUDDHISM