gevity, and immortality. On the continuum of religious aims, Taoism took up
a spot adjacent to the goal of pure salvation or enlightenment. Immortality
was close to salvation, but Taoist immortality was an extension of physical
well-being into a transcendent, unearthly plane, or sometimes within the ma-
terial world itself. The contrasting ideal of Buddhism was to become enlight-
ened out of the realm of bodily illusion entirely, although the Buddhist salva-
tion cults which developed in China compromised this with the aim of rebirth
in a future paradise.
The difference between the pure transcendent and worldlier goals was
grounded in the different forms of organization; the similarity came from a
shared technology of religious practice. Both Taoism and Buddhism practiced
meditation; both surrounded this with ritual and liturgy. Similar techniques of
controlling breathing, concentrating attention, and focusing on inner experi-
ence were given different interpretations: one might focus on the Taoist 36,000
interior gods in order to achieve what one believed was physical purification
and health (Welch, 1965: 106–107, 130–131), or on a Buddhist Bodhisattva
such as Maitraya to attain rebirth in the Western Paradise, or on Emptiness
to attain enlightenment; later the Confucians would adopt similar techniques
for the purpose of Sagehood. These are micro-sociological techniques for
constructing interior realities. The ideas and experiences so constructed could
range across the continuum from the worldly and particularistic up through
the most rarified and metaphysical. The differences in these religions were
differences in the ideological interpretations placed on their practices; and these
came from the intellectual themes communicated through the larger organiza-
tion. Buddhist monks, even when turned toward magical applications, were
linked to an organization of intellectuals specializing in an inward focus on
pure transcendence; Taoism was linked more exclusively to the laity, whether
these were the gentry, political dissidents, or low-status audiences for popular
magicians.
Buddhism and Taoism at times came quite close to each other. In its early
centuries in China, Buddhism had lost most of its meditative practices and
monastic discipline, and relied heavily on magical practices and ritual to
impress political patrons. Buddhism recovered its distinctiveness in a series of
reform movements, from 530 into the 800s, resulting in a variety of new sects,
from elite movements such as T’ien-t’ai and Ch’an, to simplified salvation cults
of the personified quasi-deities Maitreya and Amitabha among the common
people. Taoism, battling Buddhism in the struggle for court patronage and
imitating its organizational forms, moved closer to its doctrines as well; but it
never caught up with Buddhism’s organizational massiveness, and its pri-
mary niche remained the magically oriented sphere of health and immortality-
seeking.
276 • (^) Intellectual Communities: Asian Paths