by Livia Kohn
———. 1980. “Buddhist Influence on Early Taoism: A Survey of Scriptural Evidence.” T’oung Pao 66:84–147.
11
Daoist Hand Signs
and Buddhist Mudras
Mitamura Keiko
Daoist hand signs ( shoujue) have been used in personal and communal rites since the Six Dynasties for a variety of purposes, including the exorcism of evil forces, control over spirits, and healing of diseases.
They developed formally in the medieval period under the direct influence of Buddhist mudras (literally, “hand seals,” shouyin) yet also continued to unfold in their own distinct way. Since most of their practice was esoteric and their transmission predominantly oral, only few early sources remain. In fact, it is only from their mention in the Datang liudian (Six Classics of the Great Tang), in a section entitled “Palm Signs” ( Zhangjue), that we can presume their existence and use in the early middle ages. From less direct indications in Tang texts, moreover, it appears that hand signs were actively used in Daoist rituals at least toward the end of this dynasty.
Besides the standard shoujue (hand sign), words used for secret gestures and finger signs in Daoism include tao (twist), qia (pinch), jue (sign), zhangjue (palm sign), zhijue (finger sign), taozhi (finger twist), jieyin (knot seal), jiefa yin (dharma knot seal), and shouyin (hand seal, or mudra). Each of these might refer to signs made by both hands, by one hand, or by some hand movement. The terminology is vague and multivalent, again mainly because the predominant form of the signs’
transmission was oral rather than textual.
There are only few studies on Daoist hand signs to date. Some examine the relation between Buddhist mudras and Daoist hand signs,1
others focus particularly on late sources of the Ming and Qing dynasties.2 Although relatively few in number, hand signs used in ritual today have also received some scholarly attention.3 The numbers of signs have declined continuously through history, down from several hun-235
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dred in the Tang and at least several dozen in the Yuan and Ming, as documented in the Daofa huiyuan (A Corpus of Daoist Ritual, HY
1210).4 Among the latter, thunder styles ( leiju) and sword signs ( jianjue) were especially common, hand symbols that played a key role in the then-popular thunder rites. Unlike their rather high ritual specialization, it seems that before the Song, hand signs served a large variety of purposes and were thus a great deal more numerous.
In general, two main groups of Daoist hand signs can be distinguished: those that developed in direct imitation of Buddhist mudras, and those that can be described as uniquely Daoist finger techniques.
Hand signs deriving from Buddhist mudras include signs signifying
“lotus,” “bridge,” “sword,” and so on.5 They are the same in name and execution, yet their specific description in Daoist texts makes it clear that they were given an additional significance. Here, unlike in Buddhism, each finger segment was linked with the larger cosmos by being associated with the eight trigrams, seven stars of the Dipper, or twelve zodiac positions.
Hand signs deriving directly from Buddhist mudras raise the question of how and when certain patterns were taken over and reinterpreted to fit the specifically Daoist worldview. By extension, this brings up the larger issue of the interaction between the two religions. Scholars have examined this issue variously, comparing scriptures and ritual manuals, relating ethical and cosmological systems, and analyzing different statements made by religious leaders. In all cases, key problems involve the identification of significant characteristics of Buddhism and Daoism in the various periods of Chinese history; the question of whether any of these characteristics were special enough to belong uniquely to one or the other; and—for those characteristics that were shared—the huge problem of religious interaction, that is, which religion produced the characteristics first and how were they taken over and transformed (or not transformed) by the other. These questions have often been related to the phenomenon of “syncretism,”
which implies the conscious mixture of two religious creeds or ritual systems. The term, as Charles Orzech discusses at length in this volume, is highly problematic and does not suit the Daoist-Buddhist situation very well. Following his lead, I will, therefore, discuss Daoist hand signs in terms of the adaptation, borrowing, and translation of Buddhist techniques.
Then again, there are uniquely Daoist finger techniques, best found in the Ming-dynasty ritual compendium Daofa huiyuan as well as in the Song-work Tianxin zhengfa (Proper Methods of the Heav-
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enly Heart, HY 566) by Deng Yougong (1210–1279; see Boltz 1987, 35; Andersen 1991, 81–85). These uniquely Daoist signs emerged historically later than mudra-inspired patterns, and again we have to ask the question of the process of adaptation, change, and development and try to identify where a uniquely Daoist technique begins and the translation from Buddhism ends. Many problems remain open, as, for example, dating and context: when exactly what kinds of sacred gestures and finger signs were applied in which kinds of Daoist rituals; or where the specific Daoist technique came from that involves thumb pressure to be executed on either the tip or the central section of a finger.
Daoist rituals, in themselves, present a huge area of unexplored territory, and many of them have grown and been formed through the interaction with Buddhism—but Buddhist ritual, too, has done its share of adapting Daoist forms. From the perspective of the application and forms of sacred hand gestures, three types of Daoist ritual emerge, from the middle ages onward: the formal practices of the fangshi and longevity seekers; the techniques of inner alchemy (with their related thunder rites); and the communal rituals of Daoist groups, both lay and monastic. In all cases, the transformation of the body into a locus of contact with, and merging into, the otherworldly realm of the Dao is a key element in the rites, and sacred hand gestures serve to empower and enhance this transformation. They became especially prominent in the early eleventh century with the rise of the school of Divine Empyrean under Emperor Huizong of the Song and continued to flourish in the manifold thunder rites of succeeding dynasties until they were streamlined and began to decline in the Ming. The following discussion presents their basic patterns and historical unfolding.
Hand Signs and Spells in the Middle Ages
A clear statement about the purpose of Daoist hand signs is found in a classic on the subject, the Tianhuang zhidao taiqing yuce ( Jade Volume of Great Clarity on the Utmost Way of the Heavenly Sovereign, HY 1472), henceforth abbreviated Tianhuang yuce. This text is a three-juan compendium on how to attain political harmony and the ideal rulership in the Dao, with a preface dated 1444 by the royal Ming prince Zhu Quan, who was an eager supporter of Daoism and an important editor of Daoist material in the early Ming (see Ren and Zhong 1991, 1172–1173). The text says:
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The Master said: Twist signs are used to communicate with the perfected, control malicious sprites, summon protective generals, and effect the healing of diseases. (3.1a)
A similar text is the Zhuguo jiumin zongzhen biyao (Secret Essentials of the Assembled Perfected on How to Aid the State and Save the People, HY 1217), henceforth abbreviated Zhuguo biyao. It, too, is a basically political compendium, but of an earlier date, bearing a preface of 1116
by the compiler Yuan Miaozong. He was a renowned Daoist under the Song emperor Huizong, who had studied with many masters and dedicated himself to proposing valuable Daoist rituals for the realization of political stability (see Ren and Zhong 1991, 968–969). The text says: You must deploy a suitable twist sign whenever you undertake ritual perambulation, question a sick person, exorcise malicious sprites, enter the sanctuary, cross a river, enter a mountain, or draw a talisman.
(8.19a)
In other words, hand signs were associated with protection from disasters, especially when engaging in sacred acts, with
the exorcism of demons or evil influences, and with the healing of diseases.
While these general statements, together with more detailed information on the formation and application of the signs, are found in later texts, Daoist works of the middle ages have very little to offer on hand signs and their uses. The earliest mention of something possibly akin to the later hand signs occurs in the Lingbao texts Qianzhen ke (Regulations for the Thousand Perfected, HY 1399) and Wulian jing (Scripture of Fivefold Purification, HY 369; see Bokenkamp 1983, 481, 483) of the Six Dynasties. They sporadically mention sacred hand movements, such as the “sword hand” ( jianshou; Qianzhen ke 27ab) and the “snapping fingers” ( tanzhi; Wulian jing 2b). These hand movements, in my estimation, are not yet like mudras but are merely fundamental gestures that accompany certain rituals. The fact that there is practically no information about them shows the power of the oral tradition, which protected the secrecy of Daoist activities. At the same time, magical gestures do appear in various other (shamanic) arts, thus suggesting a gradual evolution of the Daoist sacred gesture, about which written documents keep conspicuously silent.
It is only in the late Tang that a truly valuable source appears: the Xuanpu shan lingkui bilu (Secret Register of the Numinous Casket of Mount Mystery Garden, HY 580), abbreviated Xuanpu shan bilu. Although not entirely reliable in its dating, the text has a preface by Huangfu Peng, which is dated to the year 860 and gives a long line-
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TABLE 11.1
PURPOSES AND PATTERNS OF HAND SIGNS
IN THE XUANPU SHAN BILU
Sect.
Sign
Purpose
Hand
Spell
1.1
Dipper Bowl
control things
L
cuanyu lieyu aotuo
shenyu
1.8
Soaring Dragon
assemble clouds
L
yun luomo weimo
yuyu xuan
2.8
Flying Matter
walk on water
L
yumo yumo xuyu
3.2
Giant Scabbard
become invisible
L
yuan luohu
3.3
Mystery
transform things
R
ana xuanyu
Bie.1
no name
remove obstructions
R
xuanluo huiyu poli
Bie.2
Brahma Knot
control spirits
L
yulun sulu mo youli
Bie.13
Soaring Dragon
entering gourd
L
xuanyu xuanyu youli
age of masters that transmitted its contents, most importantly Lin Ziyao, from whom Huangfu Peng claimed to have received it, and the fifteenth Celestial Master Zhang Gao, who allegedly presented some of the rituals to the Tang emperor Xuanzong. Again, the work is mainly concerned with the establishment of political stability through Daoist rituals (see Ren and Zhong 1991, 417–418). The work, whose title indicates that it was stored in the Hanging Gardens on Mount Kunlun and is fundamentally of celestial origin, is an extensive and rather formalized list of Daoist hand signs, including the seals of the Dipper Bowl (Tiangang yin), the Soaring Dragon (Tenglong yin), the Giant Scabbard ( Jutao yin), the Flying Matter (Feizhi yin), the Mystery (Xuanyin), and the Brahma Knot (Pozhuan yin). The purpose of these signs, usually called by the Buddhist appellation yin (seal), was to enable practitioners to move heaven and earth, call down thunder, assemble clouds, walk on water, become invisible, and transform things. Each of them, moreover, went hand in hand with the application of a certain talisman ( fu) and with the formal chanting of an incantation or spell ( zhou; see table 11.1).
To give one example, the first hand sign, the Seal of the Dipper Bowl, was formed with the left hand by straightening the index and middle fingers, with the other fingers and the thumb curled into a fist.
In conjunction with different talismans, the hand sign was used to either dissolve or consolidate the shame of things (see figure 11.1). The spell that went with it was “cuanyu lieyu aotuo shenyu.” As Liu Zhongyu has demonstrated (1993), this and similar spells were not Chinese but, in imitation of Buddhist dharani or esoteric mantras, used Sanskrit or
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pseudo-Sanskrit phrases as their base. The seals of the Divine Tiger (Shenhu yin), the Heavenly Sovereign (Tianhuang yin), and the Brahma Knot come with spells that are immediate replicas of mantras used in Tantric or Zhenyan Buddhism. They entered Daoism in the eighth or ninth century, after this school of Buddhism had been transmitted to China (see Orzech 1989), and are clearly found on Buddhist statues of the late Tang. Unlike Liu, I find the source of Daoist spells used with hand signs not entirely in Buddhist mantras, even though in some cases they may be identical. Rather, I would propose a more indigenous development of the signs used in both traditions and growing in an environment of intense Buddhist-Daoist interaction in the mid- to late-Tang dynasty. The spells may have a Sanskrit origin in their wording to begin with, but they were thoroughly indigenized by the Daoist religion and do not ultimately represent a simple imitation of Buddhist techniques.
More specifically, like Buddhist mantras, the spells in the Xuanpu shan bilu were all basically phonetic in nature and did not attempt to Figure 11.1. The hand sign of the Dipper Bowl and its talismans.
(Source: Xuanpu shan bilu 1.20a.)
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make any meaningful sense. They are, moreover, highly similar to those found in the Buddhist Yujia jiyao (see note 1), and in general, one can say that the relation of mantras to mudras in Esoteric Buddhism was close to that of spells to hand signs in Daoism. The statement of a ritual supplement to the Yujia jiyao (T. 1320, 21.473b–484a) thus applies to both: “Effort and wisdom are matched in the fingers” (478a).
On the other hand, there were also mudras that made use of techniques unique to China and not found in India. Some, for example, involved exerting thumb pressure on one or the other part of the fingers; others, such as those described in the Changqu lidu nü tuoluoni zhoujing (Sutra of Fearful Dharani Spells for Benefits and against Poison, T. 1265, 21.294–295), by an unknown monk named Quduo and probably dating from the eighth or ninth century, have specific techniques linked to each finger segment, such as “to expel and suppress demons” with the tip of the index finger, “to heal diseases” with the root of the ring finger, and “to worship and gain merit” with the top joint of the pinkie.6 Both these characteristics can be described as distinctly Daoist, and their appearance in Buddhist sources suggests that certain aspects in the practice of sacred gestures evolved from Daoism into Buddhism, and not vice versa.
Overall, therefore, we see a close and intimate interaction between the two religions in the practice of sacred gestures, mudras inspiring hand signs to begin with, hand signs undergoing adaptations and developing next and influencing Buddhist patterns again in certain ways.
A classic example here are mudras such as the one designated as
“sword”; these major secret gestures in Buddhism also played a key role in Daoism from the Six Dynasties onward. They appear variously in Daoist texts, such as the Xuanpu shan bilu. Their functions changed as they were adapted into Daoism, then expanded again in Buddhism under Daoist inspiration.
Classifications and Patterns in the Song
The Tianxin zhengfa of the thirteenth century lists thirty-six different hand signs, beginning with those for the three highest heavens and deities: Jade Clarity and the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning; Highest Clarity and the Worthy of Numinous Treasure; Great Clarity and the Worthy of the Dao and the Virtue (see table 11.2). They comprise signs of a number of celestial and stellar gods together with those
used to establish command over the spirit world and gain easy access to the realms of heaven. Destroying and exorcising demons also play
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TABLE 11.2
THE THIRTY-SIX HAND SIGNS
OF THE TIANXIN ZHENGFA (6.19AB)
1. Jade Clarity
19. Moon Lord
2. Highest Clarity
20. Dipper Bowl
3. Great Clarity
21. Opening Heaven’s Gate
4. Jade Emperor
22. Closing Earth’s Door
5. Great Ruler
23. Staying Humanity’s Gate
6. Northern Emperor
24. Blocking Demons’ Road
7. Heavenly Ding Gods
25. Piercing Demons’ Heart
8. Original Master
26. Destroying Demons’ Gall
9. Dipper
27. Containing Demons
10. Exorcising Evil
28. Five Thunders
11. Perfected Lords
29. Golden Knife
12. Sword
30. General Overseer
13. Sun Constellation
31. Persecuting Demons
14. Opening Seal
32. Transforming Spirit
15. Summoning Seal
33. Six Ding Gods
16. Entering Seal
34. Purple Tenuity
17. Three Treasures
35. Heaven’s Gate and Earth’s Pivot
18. Sun Lord
36. Dipper
a key role, as well as blocking off their paths and closing the doorways of earth and the underworld.
Another work of the same period is the Zhuguo biyao. It is the most complete collection of Song-dynasty signs, both those involving thumb pressure and those using hand movements, that are not specifically linked with the thunder rites. Here a total of eighty hand signs are listed, thirty-nine to be executed with the left hand and ten with the right hand, plus eight used for the seven stars of the Dipper and fifteen for mastery over the five phases (see table 11.3). Among the left-hand signs, eighteen are identical with those listed in the Tianxin zhengfa, largely those associated with heavenly deities and constellations. Only one, the Persecuting Demons Sign, is the same among the right-hand signs, and none at all match the signs listed in the other categories.