英文摘要
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Key Daoist scriptures of second to fourth-century Joanfgnan try to integrate the mystical experience of the ”traveling visions in the Grotto Heavens” with those of the ”inner visions in the Grotto Chambers.” Such inner-cultivation methods of visualization are beyond verbal description; it is only through relying on secretly transmitted images that one can ascend into the caverns or wander in the obscure inner cognitions. Thus, the preface of Sima Chengzhen's (647-735) The Chart of the Blessed Lands of Grotto Heavens and the Mansions of Heaven and Earth says, ”Watching the inner thoughts, the racing mind has its trajectory; straightening the body as one's external aims, one gazes at the realm without making distinction.” The spirits used in the inner meditations of the Grotto Heavens” can be transferred for use in the ”inner visions of the Grotto Chambers.”
Though the mystical pictures of the transcendents appended to these Daoist scriptures have been lost, the written captions can evoke the majestic forms of the prototypical ”infant” seen in the Laozi text and the methods of meditating on the spirits of the internal organs in the Eastern Han arts of extending life. This phenomenon was also clearly intended to be differentiated from the samatha-vipassana methods translated by An Shigao.
Compared to the meditative breath-counting exercises and the methods of contemplating impurities of the Buddhists, the Daoist inner cultivation methods were established on the doctrine of ”Blessed Lands of the Grotto Heavens,” the doctrine of the ”Parishes of Transcendents and Perfecteds,” and the tradition of ”unifying the self and state.” Thus, it was believed that through internal meditations on the spirits of the body one could govern one's inner and physical bodies. Hence, the listing of the transcendents into charts in general and The Chart of the Ranks and Works of the Perfected Spirits in particular both reflect the fact that scriptures arose from the inner visualizations which sought to establish the inner worlds; and they symbolize an ordering of a new heaven and a new earth. This kind of inward transcendence can enable one to separate oneself from the dirt and filth of the latter age. Searching for the Grotto Heaven secrets that hold the concealed revelations will direct the ”Seed People” to the Blessed Lands where they can establish their dwelling among humanity. This indicates how religious movements arise from inward transcendence, and how they may eventually become political movements in search of establishing the world of ”Great Peace.” This practice of innovating doctrine through equating religion and politics makes clear the vibrancy and vitality of Daoism.
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