Religious and Other Experiences of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China

Abstract

Most previous studies relating to women in Tang Daoism have relied heavily on Du Guangting’s (850-933) Yongcheng jixian lu , despite the fact that Du’s acknowledged hagiographies are idealized versions of the women’s lives. The present article seeks instead to gather information about historical priestesses from a wide range of contemporary sources, including most importantly epitaphic inscriptions, as well as other materials such as manuscripts from Dunhuang, various poems, essays, anecdotal accounts, and monastic gazetteers. Even while taking account of the possible urge of the authors sometimes to overpraise or exaggerate the merits of their subjects, we discover a surprisingly broad gamut of abilities displayed and activities engaged in by these women. Records relating to fifty-two named individuals are surveyed here, yielding much information of a quotidian nature about the varying roles and religious experiences of Daoist priestesses.
La plupart des etudes existantes concernant les femmes dans le taoisme des Tang recourent d’abondance au Yongcheng jixian lu de Du Guangting (850-933), alors que cet ouvrage deliberement hagiographique offre une version idealisee de la vie de ses heroines. Le present article cherche plutot a rassembler des informations sur des pretresses ayant historiquement existe en parcourant un vaste ensemble de sources contemporaines: en premier lieu les inscriptions funeraires, mais egalement les manuscrits de Dunhuang, les poemes, les essais, les anecdotes, ou les monographies monastiques. Meme en admettant une tendance de la part des auteurs a exagerer les merites de leurs sujets, l’on decouvre chez ces femmes un eventail de talents et d’activites etonnamment large. Les sources examinees ici concernent cinquante-deux personnes et livrent quantite d’informations de nature quotidienne sur les differents roles et sur les experiences religieuses des pretresses taoistes.