. the netherworld and modifications of karma 249
thus allowed for a variety of possible worlds for the deceased—except
that of the living. Nonetheless, on arrival in the underworld all the
newly dead were held in “earth prisons” diyu for an assessment
of their lives aboveground.
Deliverance from the corpse shijie , however, provided an
alternative to the certainty of grim subterranean judicial proceedings
with unknown outcomes. The story of Dan, above, has been cited as
an early instance of shijie, where the deceased was “absolved from
guilt,” avoided the punishments of the underworld, and obtained an
incorruptible body.^20 Although tomb documents sought to preserve
the body from demonic harm legalistically, arduous attempts were
made to maintain the integrity of the body through preservation from
decay and putrefaction.^21 The distinction between a xian immortal
and one who achieves deathlessness through sloughing off the corpse
shijie is that the latter goes through the process of death.^22 In both
cases, however, the body is the vector through which transformation
(bian , bianhua , huaqu ) occurs, allowing for the creation
of a perfected body of an immortal chengxian necessary for the
continued existence of the individual.^23 A final defining characteristic
of all immortals is their ability to ascend into the heavens shengtian
.^24
Postmortem Possibilities in Early Medieval China
Specific concerns about the afterlife and their conceptual, material, and
ritual expression in late Warring States, Qin, and Han eras provided
fertile ground for particular Buddhist doctrines and praxis to take
root—yet only insofar as they could adapt to address those concerns.
The collective and social nature of the afterlife found its moral expres-
sion in the Han period doctrine of chengfu , “inherited burden,”
mentioned in the “Scripture of Great Peace” Taiping jing.^25
This idea held that individuals were liable for and affected by the acts
(^20) Harper 1994, 23–24; Seidel 1987b, 45.
(^21) Seidel 1987a. For an overview of immortality in Daoism, see Penny 2000.
(^22) Harper 1994, 26. See Seidel 1987a, 258–62, on Daoist longevity practices and the
difficulty of defining physical immortality in Western terms.
(^23) Cedzich 2001, 4; Robinet 1979; Cedzich 2001 For a discussion of “becoming an
immortal” chengxian , see Yu 1964.
(^24) For distinctions of immortals related to their ascents, see Kohn 1990.
(^25) Hendrischke 1991; Tsuchiya 2002; Strickmann and Faure 2002, 39–50; and
Yamada 2008.