Questioning Convergence: Daoism in South China during the Yuan Dynasty Neil E. McGee Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Neil E. McGee All rights reserved ABSTRACT Questioning Convergence: Daoism in South China during the Yuan Dynasty Neil E. McGee This dissertation challenges the existing narrative in the history of Daoism that asserts that it was precisely during the Yuan period when all the different lineages “converged” (huigui 會歸) to form the “two great Daoist schools” (liang da daopai 兩大道 派) of Quanzhen and Zhengyi and furthermore suggests that there was a progression to this convergence, that the Quanzhen school in the north was “replaced” in imperial favor by the Celestial Masters of the Zhengyi school in the south after the Mongols conquered the Song dynasty in 1276. By critically examining contemporaneous sources, especially inscriptions, this study reveals that the patriarchs of the Zhang family of Mount Longhu (“the Celestial Masters of the Zhengyi school”) were not the most influential or authoritative Daoists during the Yuan. In fact, it was the patriarchs of the lineage of the Mysterious Teachings that were the most eminent and influential Daoists from the south. In comparing the roles played by the Mysterious Teachings in contradistinction to the Celestial Masters, this study dismantles the prevailing narrative that the patriarchs of the Zhang family of Mount Longhu were the sole spiritual and political authorities over Daoism throughout Chinese history and shows that they did not in fact fully established themselves as the perennial sacred leaders of Daoism until the Ming dynasty. Table of Contents: List of Tables and Charts……………………………………………………………………....iv List of Maps and Images………………………………………………………………………..v Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 Questioning the narrative of the history of Daoism after the Tang and before the Qing....1 The scholarly perception of Daoism in the Yuan……..………………………………...…7 The tradition of the Celestial Masters……………………………………………………14 Sources for the study of the Mongols and Daoism in Yuan China………………….......17 Overview of chapters………………………………………………………………...…..20 Chapter Two: Daoism and the Court of the Mongols………………………………...……24 Mongol patronage of Daoism in the north………………………………………...….…28 Mongol patronage of Daoism in the south……………………………………….…...…39 The regional nature of Mongol rule and the administration of Daoism in the Yuan…...44 The purpose of patronage………………………………………………………...………54 Chapter Three: The Lineage of the Mysterious Teachings………………………..……….63 “A peculiar creation of the Yuan”……………………………………………………….66 The Xuanjiao patriarchs of the Song………………………………………………….…69 A branch lineage of the Celestial Masters?........................................................................71 Ritual practice, scriptures, and religious aspects of the Mysterious Teachings…………80 Chapter Four: The Expansion of the Mysterious Teachings……………………………….91 Xuanjiao at the imperial capitals………………………………………………………...92 i Xuanjiao colonization in the south………………………………………………………97 Xuanjiao expansion at Mount Longhu……………………………………………..…..103 Xuanjiao priests and the Confucian-trained literati……………………………………111 The Mysterious Teachings at the end of the Yuan……………………………………..118 Chapter Five: The Rise of the Zhang Family of Mount Longhu…………………………122 The Zhang family of Mount Longhu in the Song……………………………………...124 The Zhang famlily of Celestial Masters in the Yuan…………………………………...139 The Celestial Masters of the Yuan in the Daoist Canon……………………………….147 The Celestial Masters and the Daoist Bureaucracy…………………………………….151 The Celestial Masters and other local Daoist priests…………………………………...155 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...165 Chapter Six: The Celestial Masters in the Early Ming...…..………………………………167 The Celestial Masters during the Yuan-Ming transition……………………………...169 The writings of the forty-third Celestial Master, Zhang Yuchu (1361-1410)…………177 Zhang Yuchu and the Ming Daoist Canon…………………………………………….181 Chapter Seven: Conclusion……………………………...……………………………...……186 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..…………191 Appendix I: Mongol patronage and recognition of Daoism during the Yuan ………...201 Appendix II: “[On the Occasion of an] Imperially Conferred Inscription of the Transmission of the Mysterious Teachings School” (Translation of Chici Xuanjiao zong zhuan bei 敕賜玄教宗傳碑)……………………………………………………………………244 ii Appendix III: Poetry Exchange between the Confucian-trained Literati of the Yuan and the Priests of the Mysterious Teachings…………………….……………………………...251 iii List of Tables and Charts Table 1.1. Quanzhen patriarchs of the lineage of Qiu Chuji………………………………35 Table 1.2. Quanzhen patriarchs of the lineage of Ma Yu …………………………………35 Table 1.3. Quanhen patriarchs of the lineage of Hao Datong …...………………………35 Table 1.4. Recognized leaders of the Quanzhen movement (and lineage affiliation)..…36 Table 1.5. The 12 Regional Secretariats (Provinces) of the Yuan Empire………………..46 Chart 1.1. The Structure of Yuan Local Government……………………………………...48 Table 1.6. Zhenda temples and their locations……………………………………………...60 Table 2.1. The Generations of the Mysterious Teachings according to Sun Kekuan…...79 Table 3.1. Temples where Xuanjiao had a lasting presence…………………………...…101 Table 3.2. Temples constructed by Xuanjiao lineage members in the Mount Longhu region………………………………………………………………………………………..…111 Table 4.1 Celestial Master appointments to the Daoist bureaucracy………………...….161 Table 4.2 Daoist priests who won recognition from a Celestial Master………………...161 iv List of Maps and Images Map 1.1 The 12 Regional Secretariats (Provinces) of the Yuan dynasty…………….……47 Map 1.2 The Jiangbei, Huaidong, Huaixi, Xiang, and Jing regions…………………....….51 Map 1.3 Territorial administration of Daoism in south China during the Yuan………...53 Map 2.1 The Greater Mount Longhu Region (Longxing, Fuzhou, Jianchang, Raozhou, and Xinzhou Routes)………………………………………………………………...…….…..73 Image 1.1 Stele for [the Perfected] Renqing (Zhang Liusun)……………………...…….…89 Image 1.2 Postface………………………………………………………………………….......90 Map 3.1. Temples outside the capitals where Xuanjiao had a lasting presence….……102 Image 2.1 Wu Quanjie……………………………………………………….……………….114 Image 2.2 Wu Quanjie……………………………………………………….……………….114 Image 2.3 Wu Quanjie……………………………………………………….……………….114 Image 2.4 Wu Quanjie……………………………………………………….……………….115 Image 2.5 Wu Quanjie……………………………………………………….……………….115 v Acknowledgements The task of preparing a doctoral dissertation is often seen as a singular effort, the work of one brilliant mind working steadily over weeks, months, and years. It turns out that is not at all the case – at least, not for me. If there is any brilliance in this effort, it is because there have been many people in my life who have kept me steady, and I am indebted to them all. I wish to thank my original advisor, Chun-fang Yü, who recognized the potential of my work early on and remained ever supportive and encouraging. I would also like to thank Robert Hymes, who became my sponsor by the end of this project and always managed carve out time for me and offer significant improvements. Gray Tuttle was the first to encourage me to examine the relationships between Daoist priests and Mongol rulers. Michael Como took constant interest in my progress and inspired me to be inexhaustible. I first began reading the inscriptions that are a major source for this study with the late Peiyi Wu, who patiently corrected my translations (which he often deemed “most unfortunate”) and generously worked tirelessly with me to help make them better. Al Cohen, my friend and mentor from my days at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, lent a careful eye to my early drafts and offered constant words of encouragement to stay the course. I am quite certain I would never have come this far without him. All of these professors have exerted a profound influence on my development as a scholar and I am grateful to them all. vi I would also like to thank friends and colleagues who loom large for their support and encouragement. They include: Joyce Tsai, Jon Keune, Jason Protass, Kaijun Chen, and Suzanne Ducharme. I am thankful to have received generous financial support for my research from the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts graciously permitted me to examine and photograph the portraits of Wu Quanjie that appear in Chapter Four. My family, however, has endured the most during this long haul and there are no words to fully express my love and gratitude to them. To my father, Paul McGee, my father- and mother-in-law, David and Robbin Crandall. To my brothers and sisters- in-law, nieces and nephews. Thank you all for your patience and support. I did it! But it must be said that this project never would have started nor would it have finished without my wife, Susan Ruth Crandall McGee, and my daughter, Madeleine Anne. Their love and grace carried me the most. I am immensely fortunate to share this life with them. vii Dedication In loving memory of Pauline Madeleine Crepeau McGee (November 6, 1939-August 9, 2011) who first turned my eyes to East Asia and modeled my passion and curiosity to learn viii Chapter One: Introduction Questioning the narrative of the history of Daoism after the Tang and before the Qing More than fifty years ago, Chen Yuan 陳垣 (1880-1971)