by Livia Kohn
Offerings presented during Daoist rites are specified in the Yaoyong wupin dan (List of Essential Goods), given to a trustee (or client) by the Daoist priest in charge. It records the specific objects to be prepared for formal offering on particular days and also provides their classification. In the following, I will present one such list, as obtained from the Daoist master Chen Rongsheng of Tainan in southern Taiwan in preparation for a three-day jiao for peace and blessings. It has the following objects and categories (see also Asano 1994a; 1995; 1996).
1. Incense, flowers, and candles
(to be present on every altar table).
(A) Incense includes the different types of Anba, Wushen, Guangdong, and Gongmo incense. The first three kinds are in stick form; the last is powdered.
(B) Flowers have to be fresh. They are presented tied into bundles and placed in vases. Usually they are set out in pairs.
(C) Candles come in a larger and a smaller type. The larger are big, red candles that are both thick and tall; the smaller are red tea-type candles placed on top of the candle stand. All candles tend to be laid out in pairs.
2. Tea, wine, and other drinks.
(A) Tea and other hot-water brews include Wulong tea, four-fruit ( siguo) tea, licorice soup ( gancao tang ), and the like. Wulong tea and wine are placed on each table in the greater altar area, while four-fruit tea and licorice soup are offered specifically to the high gods of the Three Pure Ones when a ritual is performed that requires the establishment of a special sacred area ( daochang). To explain these objects, four-fruit tea is made from four dried fruits: longyan, white gourd, ju-jube, and orange. They are soaked, then boiled with rock suger. Licorice soup is made from licorice-root soaked in boiling water.
(B) Wine includes mainly Shaoxing wine and rice wine, which are both placed on the various tables in the altar area and used in other ritual acts.
(C) Water refers to talisman water ( fushui ), created when the ashes
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of a burned talisman are dissolved in water. It is frequently used to purify the altar and appears specifically in offerings used during the noon sacrifice ( wugong).
3. Vegetarian foods (no meat
or strong-smelling vegetables [ wuxin]).
(A) Fruit and preserved fruit. Mostly when fruit is listed, it means the presentation of fresh fruit. Because typically four kinds of fruit are laid out together, this type is also called the four fruits. Preserved fruit is produced by placing fresh fruit into sugar, then letting it dry, either by cooking or setting in the sun. Several pieces of this fruit, as well as of dried longyan and white gourd, are then strung together on a bamboo stick, and six to eight are placed on a table as an offering. Often the sticks are arranged to create the shape of a terrace.
(B) Whole grains. This includes fresh rice or millet, cooked rice, rice balls ( zongzi), and other non-ground grain products. Fresh rice is used in sacrifices to the demons of the five directions as well as in offerings to inferior deities and uncared-for souls. Cooked rice, too, is given to uncared-for souls and used in the noon sacrifice. Rice balls are made from glutinous rice and soda; they are conical in shape and often appear on altar tables together with the qian and yuan cakes. They are offered to gods and may, therefore, also be considered part of the next category.
(C) Ground grains. These include a number of cakes, buns, and pastries, such as those typically found in a Chinese bakery. There are first flat, round sweet cakes that are baked ( dabing, jiaobing). Then there are baked buns that are hollow inside ( xiangbing). Other pastries are made by steaming rather than baking. Here we have first flat steamed cakes with a red-colored surface, called “rice turtles” ( migui ). Then there are also several kinds of steamed stuffed buns. One kind has the character “jing” written on it and is accordingly called jingbao. Another is a steamed stuffed bun with a red-colored surface ( hongyuan); the same type also appears in an oval shape ( honggui). Furthermore, there are high rice-flour cakes wrapped in purple paper ( gaozi ), as well as buns shaped like pigs or goats, made either from rice or wheat flour ( mianzhu, mianyang ). Others include white steamed cakes made from rice flour, sugar, and yeast ( faguo), steamed light-brown or tea-colored buns made from rice flour and sugar ( ganguo), slender, oval-shaped red cakes ( qian), small and round red dumplings ( yuan), buns shaped like a buddha’s hands ( foshou guo), as well as ordinary biscuits ( bingzi ).
(D) Sugar candies. Offerings here include candies made from sugar
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and called the “five animals” ( wushou). They do not have the shape of actual animals, but their name has the same pronunciation as the expression “five excellent ones” ( wuxiu). One in five of these is shaped like a pagoda and is accordingly called “sugar pagoda” ( tangda). Four are shaped like cock crowns and are called the “four cock crowns” ( si jiguan). They are offered to gods of high position. Besides them, there are many kinds of smaller candies, typically used as offerings to the souls of the dead (see figure 13.1).
(E) Food in bowls ( caiwan). This offering consists of various kinds of grains and vegetables cooked and offered in a number of bowls.
Typically, there are six such bowls placed on every table in the altar area; sometimes they may also contain dried foods as well as traditional cookies ( malao, milao, fengpian).
(F) Delicacies from the sea and the mountains ( shanzhen haiwei).
This group includes sugar, salt, ginger, and peas. Sometimes, especially in Buddhism, ginger is counted among the five strong-smelling vegetables and is, therefore, considered unclean.2
4. Meat.
(A) Cooked meat. This includes the meat of the so-called five sacrificial animals—chickens, ducks, pigs, fish, and shrimp—which may Figure 13.1. Fruit, tea, wine, buns, and candies offered at a Daoist altar in Tainan.
(Source: Author’s private collection.)
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sometimes be replaced by replicas made from dried tofu. Then there are the three sacrificial animals, which are three kinds of meat and fish, typically chosen from creatures of different gestations: mammals, birds, and fish (or shellfish). They, too, can be replaced with tofu replicas.
(B) Raw meat. This group includes meat from three kinds of animals, often arranged together and offered as one set. The animals included vary; their meat is commonly offered to gods of lesser standing. For example, pork chops may be offered to a paper tiger.
(C) Sacrificial animals. Mainly pigs and goats, they are typically paired as one set; they are offered to deities of elevated positions, but pigs—not paired with goats—are also presented to entire groups of uncared-for souls (hungry ghosts) during rites of salvation. Before being presented at the altar, they must be devoid of blood and viscera, which are placed into proper containers, then offered to superior deities, such as the God of Heaven.
5. Money and jewelry.
(A) Gold, silver, money, jewelry, and watches. These are placed on trays and offered specifically during the noon offering, after which they are returned to their owners. Sometimes they are replaced by paper money.
(B) Spirit money. This includes a number of different currencies circulating in the spirit world. Here we have longevity money ( shoujin), Great Ultimate money ( taiji ), conch shells ( caizi ), ninefold money ( jiujin), heavenly gold ( tianjin), gold bars ( chijin), heaven money ( tianqian), drafts on the Celestial Treasury ( tianku), lofty money ( gaoqian), and others. All these are made from paper and are burned after the sacrifice.
(C) Silver pieces ( yinjiao). These are coins thrown among the audience during the rites of salvation
6. Writing utensils.
(A) Writing materials, such as paper, ink stones, black and red ink sticks, and brushes. All these are placed on wooden buckets and set up in the five directions of the altar area, in all cases with dragon slips, or dragon cards. Typically, the papers have inscriptions matching the direction in which they are pl
aced, so that the set in the east bears the characters anzhen dongfang zhenwen, “Perfected Words for Pacify-ing the East.”
(B) Dragon cards ( xiaolong zipai). These are papers printed with a
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dragon design and placed in the same containers as the writing utensils (see figure 13.2).
Except for this very last category, all the items listed here are also used in the rituals of Buddhism, Confucianism, and popular religion.
This is not to say that these offerings are not characteristically Daoist in nature. For even if the same offering is used, the method and significance of the offering may differ from one religious tradition to another. In other words, if the offering is significant in Daoism, one must not ignore its Daoist features simply because other traditions use it too. Nor must one ignore the factor of commonality. With this understanding, let us now first look at the question of meat.
Figure 13.2. Writing utensils with appropriate signs
offered at a Daoist altar in Tainan. (Source: Author’s
private collection.)
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Meat in Daoism and Popular Religion
Meat in Daoist rituals generally also includes the five strong-smelling vegetables (various types of onions and garlic). But in the “list of essential goods” summarized above, the latter are excluded, so that in this discussion I will focus mainly on meat. Historically speaking, the use of meat in offerings violates the Daoist principle of rejecting blood sacrifices, and its use in Taiwan today, therefore, appears to be contrary to the tradition. Why, then, is meat offered? Does this mean that Daoism has become vulgar and enmeshed with popular religion? Has it lost its unique tradition?
To begin, it is a norm in Taiwan today to consider meat as unclean food, an attitude found among all classes of Chinese society. For this reason, in Daoist ritual proper, meat must still be excluded, and in great jiao ceremonies, everyone has to observe a meat taboo. Not only the Daoist priests, but all participants, and sometimes even all local residents, are required to eat vegetarian food for a certain period.
Meat-eaters are denied access to the altar, since their presence could diminish or destroy the success of the ritual. This is because in order to communicate with the divine, one must have a light and pure body, attained—among other methods—by abstaining from meat. The practice of preparatory meat abstention in a ritual context has long been part of the Chinese tradition and is also documented in Daoism from its early years.
Why, then, is meat included in the list of offerings? It is true that there is some difference between the taboo against meat that participants observe and that taboo applicable for offerings. However, the two often also coincide, and there is a belief that since the participants are forbidden to partake of all unclean food, none such should be allowed on the altar. In other words, no real meat should be used, even in sacrifices of the three or five animals, which are replaced by various vegetarian ingredients such as dried tofu. This shows that any association with uncleanliness should be removed from both the participants in and objects of the ritual. Pigs and goats made from wheat flour, commonly used as offerings, derive from this idea. It should be noted also that even if vegetarian ingredients are used in the sacrifices of the three or five animals, still at some point real meat will have to be offered.
Thus sacrificial pigs and goats are used in the presentation of the memorial, and real animals are used as sacrifices to uncared-for ghosts (see figure 13.3). Although there is a difference between the taboo that participants observe and the taboo that is valid for offerings, when tra-
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ditionally proscribed foods are actually used in the offering, we should look behind the act to the specific motives and purposes.
How can we, therefore, account for the appearance of sacrificial pigs and goats in the presentation of the memorial? In the jiao ritual, the memorial is presented to the Jade Emperor as part of a rite called
“Worshiping the God of Heaven.” The Jade Emperor is considered the supreme deity in popular religion. The god being like a traditional emperor, the offering to him must be formal and highly official, using traditional Confucian forms, which included the sacrifice of live animals at the altar. Thus ancient Confucian and popular patterns resurface here in a Daoist context—actively contradicting Confucian values, which state that the formal sacrifice to Heaven exceeds the powers of ordinary people and is thus not permissible. Nevertheless, the ritual practices of the Confucian tradition are considered the norm for popular practices, and as in Confucian ceremonies so here too, sometimes the meat of the sacrificed animals is given to the participants after the rite. In one way or another, these long-established practices have also made their way into Daoist ritual space.
Figure 13.3. A freshly slaughtered pig offered at a Daoist altar in Tainan. (Source: Author’s private collection.)
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The use of the five sacrificial animals in major Daoist rituals can be explained in the same way as that of pigs and goats in the presentation of the memorial. The same belief pattern demands that animals be sacrificed to deities who are formally entitled to major meat offerings. However, sometimes substitutes are used because, as some scholars believe, these rituals are not so important as the presentation of the memorial. Unlike those scholars, I think that the substitutes appear because the rituals differ. In other words, the presentation of the memorial takes place outside the altar and is different from the rites inside.
Another use of the three sacrificial animals is in offerings to various demons and uncared-for ghosts, geared toward driving off lesser spirits that bring disasters to the people. Here animals are sacrificed because these spirits are believed to like meat and other bloody food-stuffs; meat is offered to satisfy their needs, which alone will make them pliant and responsive to people’s wishes. Sacrificial meat here serves as a means of exchange. This contrasts sharply with the use of meat in the presentation of the memorial, where it is considered a token of the people’s sincerity rather than a kind of food offering and stands for their wish to sacrifice their own bodies to the high god, who is treated to a banquet like a high official.
Sacrificial pigs used in the salvation ritual have almost the same significance as the meat that appears in sacrifices to demons. The rite is performed for hungry ghosts and orphaned souls who are not cared for by any living relative; they are considered threatening and fear-some. As ghosts and souls of the dead are closer to the living, sacrifices to them should include food typically eaten by people. As a result, cooked foods are often used. On the other hand, because the ghosts are hungry and belong to a different plane of existence, they eat both cooked and raw food; therefore, large quantities of rice and raw pork are also presented. On the surface, in both the salvation ritual and the presentation of the memorial, sacrificial pigs are offered, but the meaning of the two sacrifices is significantly different.
To sum up, both the motive and purpose of meat offerings in Daoist rituals go back to popular religion and mainstream Confucian practice. The meat offered to the highest popular deities meets the demands of the popular belief that animals should be sacrificed to them, as rich meat dishes would be offered to senior officials. Meat is offered to lower-ranking gods because of the popular belief that they need to be given the food they like in order to be responsive to people’s wishes.
Although motives and purposes differ, both forms of meat offerings
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go back to popular religion. By allowing meat offerings as and when requested by certain clients, Daoists thus make a concession to popular beliefs. This, however, does not mean that they mix their tradition with popular religion into one system or that they are deluded by the latter.
Daoist rituals are performed at the request of specific clients, whose popular beliefs may influence th
e way the rites are conducted.
Nevertheless, Daoism maintains its own identity and sets itself apart from popular religion, exerting its own power as a distinct tradition.
The clients, too, believe it necessary to maintain distinctive Daoist rituals that are considered to be on a higher level than those of the popular cults.
One indication of this is the fact that, although the Daoist tradition proscribes meat, it may be allowed in the Daoist ritual space. Yet it will never be placed in front of the Three Pure Ones. Instead, meat is generally placed on the altar of the Three Worlds, which is located directly opposite that of the Three Pure Ones and honors the variety of beings in the various levels of the cosmos. Meat offerings are, therefore, placed strictly on the periphery of the jiao altar. Similarly, the presentation of the memorial is conducted outside the jiao altar area, and sacrificial pigs and goats are never placed on the platform where the key rituals are performed. Instead, they are located far away from it, near the table at which preliminary rites are undertaken, before Daoists mount the holy platform proper. Although meat offerings that originate from popular religion, therefore, encroach upon the Daoist ritual space, this encroachment is restricted to the peripheral region and never allowed into its heart.
Properly speaking, unclean food is excluded from the Daoist list of offerings, as it has always been, and Daoism maintains its unique tradition through the exclusion of meat. Having distanced itself from popular religion in its inception and through the middle ages, Daoism now moves closer to it while still maintaining a respectful distance. Although otherwise-taboo food is laid out along with other food offerings in the Daoist ritual space, the religion does not change its unique ritual structure. The main offerings remain tea, soup, and incense, as well as (particularly in the noon offering), flowers, candles, fruit, wine, grains (whole and ground), water, and valuables.