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An Outline of Daoist Art
Liu
Jianlong
Research Section
Liaoning
Provincial Museum
This is the
Chinese-language annotations.
Click here if you wish to see the
text-only version.
Daoism is based on the ancient Chinese practice of worshiping deities,
ghosts, and immortals. Daoist worship relies not only on the belief
that these beings exist, but also on the belief that they could grant
wishes. The religion is also characterized by stratagems to pursue immortality
or to become spirits roaming the heavens, or involves sacrifices seeking
blessings or to avoid calamities. Along with these practices and pursuits,
there is a component of mysticism in Daoist philosophy, in the principles
of yin/yang
and the five
primary elements, and in various Confucian prophecies. Daoism
is a polytheistic religion, and propagates that all things are imbued
with life force.
Art in the service of Daoism therefore necessarily relates to Daoist
doctrines, the belief in its gods, and its ceremonial observances. Since
Daoism has a long history, its teachings differ from one period to another,
and also from one sect to another, for example, the orthodox Daoism
of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), or the extended Daoism of the Wanli
period (1573-1620). Judging from their sacred texts, the pantheon of
gods is enormous and cannot be easily comprehended. Often, these later
sects also combined ancient mythologies with folk beliefs.
The important influence of Daoism on Chinese art has been widely recognized
both in the realm of artistic creativity and in art criticism. Yet,
compared to scholarly inquiries of Buddhist art, Daoist art has been
somewhat neglected. Admittedly, this is because Daoist art has not reached
the independence and glory of Buddhist art. In the study of Daoist art,
one needs to recognize its existence in actual space and time, and as
it relates solely to religious concepts. Therefore, one should distinguish
between broad and narrow definitions of Daoist art in their inquiries.
From the perspective of history, religious Daoism should be distinguished
from Daoist philosophies of the Warring States period (476-221 BC).
It is thought that Daoism had its beginnings in the Taiping
and Wudoumi
sects of the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It was not until the Eastern
Jin dynasty (317-420), around the time of Ge
Hong, that Wei
Boyang's cult
of immortality a basis to combine occultism, alchemy, and polytheism
to create what is now recognized as Daoism. Two opposing strains developed.
The first one was more analytical, based on the belief in immortals,
and was associated with aristocratic practices of Daoism. The second
one involved popular application of magic charms. At this time, an established
pantheon of immortals and deities had not yet been established. Strictly
speaking, it was not a religion of "idol worship." Therefore, one cannot
speak of a form of Daoist art that produced images of idols during this
period. As for surviving images of the Supreme
Emperor, King
Father of the East, Queen
Mother of the West, immortals, nymphs, and deities of the four
directions from the pre-Qin (221-206 BC) and Han dynasties, these were
closely related to the worship of deities, alchemy, and witchcraft of
the pre-Qin era, rather than to Daoism.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (317-581), religious
sects such as Louguan,
Nanbei
Tianshi, and Maoshan
brought together two important aspects of Daoism. On one hand, it drew
from the Daoist sage Laozi's
mystical thoughts, establishing the "Taishang
Laojun" or Supreme Laozi as the center of Daoist mystical thinking.
On the other hand, it borrowed the Buddhist concept of idol worship
and established its own pantheon of deities, immortals, and spirits.
As a result, Daoism became a religion of idol worship. During this process,
mythologies and historical figures from the past were incorporated as
an integral part of Daoism. The tenet of Daoism was recognized to be:
"The
Dao gives rise to deities; the Dao is omnipresent; the deities are also
omnipresent." After the polytheistic aspect of Daoism merged
with folk religions, Daoist pantheism became larger and larger, and
the iconography of Daoist art also became more complex.
Based on functional principles, the subject matter of Daoist art should
reflect its religion in temple architecture, sculpture, and painting.
I propose employing a narrow definition of Daoist art, restricting it
to works that relate to Daoism only. As for those works of art that
have exceeded the function and parameters of religious Daoism in society,
especially ones which cannot be readily categorized, I propose these
should be considered within a broader definition of Daoist art.
The high Tang period marked the efflorescence of Daoism because it was
the favored religion of the imperial family. Not only did its religious
doctrine become increasingly rational under imperial patronage; the
Daoist order also extended its powers and constructed many temples.
By the Northern Song dynasty 960-1127), particularly between the reigns
of Emperors Zhenzong
(r. 998-1022) and Huizong
(r. 1101-1125), when the emperors were faithful Daoists, Daoist influence
on politics was strengthened even further. Later, in the Yuan dynasty
(1271-1368), rulers utilized religion to legitimize imperial power.
At that time, Daoism followed only Buddhism and Lamaism in terms of
its influence. It was during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties
that the Daoist religious order lost its imperial favor. Its influence
shrunk and became a part of folk religion in society. As a result, the
periods of robust development in Daoist religious art are concentrated
in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. Textual and visual documentation
also testify to this hypothesis. In the following section, I shall introduce
the history of Daoist art during its height, and briefly discuss its
development and changes during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
According to Zhang
Yanyuan's Lidai
minghua ji (Record of Famous Painters of Successive Dynasties,
mid-9th century), Daoist temples were built on a large scale in the
capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an in the early and high Tang (7th-9th
centuries). Despite the fact that Daoist temples were not as numerous
as Buddhist ones, the quality of the mural paintings and sculptures
were not outshone by its Buddhist counterparts. The rate of production
of Daoist art was in fact slightly higher than the number of statuary
steles produced during the Six Dynasties. These works of art also benefited
from the achievements in figural art during the Tang dynasty. Many famous
painters of the time were commissioned to paint Daoist murals. By this
time, the mainstream of Daoism was extended to the general population,
and the iconography of these works was as a result enriched and expanded.
Notable murals painted at this time achieved unprecedented quality.
Five Saints and A Thousand Celestial Officials by Wu
Daozi (active ca.710-760) was a masterpiece of large-scale horizontal
composition with myriad figures, pushing the quality of Daoist murals
to a higher pinnacle. His paintings of Laozi in the Taiqing
Temple, the Guardian of the East in the Hongdao
Temple, and Realized
Beings in the Xianyi
Temple were also enormously influential. Other subjects also
appeared in abundance and were instantly popular, such as portrayals
of the Dragon
and Tiger Kings, the Five
Sacred Peaks, and the
Five Star Gods, Eight Diagrams and Twenty-Eight Constellations.
In the Five Dynasties period (907-960), Daoist paintings inherited Tang
traditions, with new developments in subject matter. Zhang
Suqing of the western Shu
region was a famous Daoist painter. His Nine
Kings, Five
Star Gods, Old
Man Star God, Twenty-Four
Incarnations of Realized Beings, Pilgrimage
to the Five Sacred Mountains, and other mural paintings in
Zhenjun Hall in the Zhangren
Temple, located at Qingcheng
Mountain in Chengdu, were famous. Pilgrimage
to the Ziwei Star God by Zhang
Tu of the Central Plains region was also very influential. Despite
the brevity of the Five Dynasties period, Daoist iconography maintained
the Tang system, focusing on the core deities "Sanqing
siyu" (Three Pure Ones and Four Heavenly Kings).
The Song and the Yuan dynasties continued previous traditions. The most
notable Daoist architecture and artistic endeavor was the Zhaoying
Palace of
Yuqing, constructed during Emperor Zhenzong's reign. Its decorations
gained instant renown. According to textual records, the emperor commissioned
Wang
Daozhen and the painter Gao
Wenjin (active 11th c.) as the project planners, Wu
Zongyuan and Wang
Zhuo as master painters, and three thousand other painters. The
project was enormous in scale, and took seven years to finish. Other
Song dynasty Daoist mural decorating projects included the Tianqing
Temple in Chengdu,
the Songyue
Temple in Henan,
the Southern
Palace in Luoyang,
and the Dai
Temple in Shandong.
Sculptural projects representative of the Song period included the Jade
Emperor and Jin
Temples in Shanxi,
the Shucheng
Cliff in Dazu
(Sichuan),
and the statue of Laozi at Beiqingyuan
Mountain in Quanzhou,
Fujian.
Yuan dynasty Daoist art concentrated mainly on mural paintings. Other
than the well-preserved murals at the Yongle
Palace, there were also those in the Daoist temple in Pingyang
Prefecture in Shanxi
and the Southern
Palace in Yao
County. These followed the subject matter and style of Tang and
Song periods. In sum, other than architecture and sculpture, mural paintings
dating from the Tang to the Yuan periods are most representative of
pure Daoist art in subject matter and function.
Later, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the building of large-scale Daoist
temples gradually ceased. As a result, mural paintings for purely Daoist
subjects also decreased. This coincided with the intensified blending
of Daoism, Buddhism, and folk religions. Daoist images appeared in the
frontispieces of mass-produced woodblock prints of religious texts,
reflecting parallel developments in Buddhist texts. With the popularity
of folk religions, murals in shrines and temples conformed to popular
taste for Shuilu
(Water and Land) paintings. These images, dominated by woodblock images,
took the place of purely Daoist murals. Although these mural paintings
more or less retained traces of Daoist belief and its pantheon of deities,
they have deterred from the core of the religion, and should not be
regarded as the same. Therefore, the study of Ming and Qing Daoist art
should be expanded from a narrow to a broad definition.
In conclusion, I would like to stress the importance of separating the
boundaries between Daoism, ancient mythology, and folk religions, so
that the study of Daoist art is raised to a level of criticality. Moreover,
preliminary studies of Daoist art should concentrate on the "true Daoist
art" in the temples. This would aid in our efforts to clarify a point
of view in the bewildering array of images, thus coincide with the research
in other related disciplines. It is my hope that this essay provides
the reader with a framework to understand the history of Daoist art.
Contact us if you wish to submit comments.
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Nixi Cura
"The Origins of Daoist
Art"
by Wang Yi'e
"An Outline of Daoist
Art"
by Liu Jianlong
"How
Do We Come to Terms with Folk Religions in Feudal Times?"
by Ma Xisha and Han Bingfang
Review
of Taoism and the Arts of China: "Daoist Art in the Making"
by Lennert Gesterkamp
Picture
Gallery: White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Beijing
Han
Dynasty Daoist Scriptures Found in Ancient Well
Museums,
Galleries, Booksellers
Zhang
Yin and the Jingjiang School, Part 3/5
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