Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series) by Daniel L. Overmyer


Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)
Title : Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)
Author :
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ISBN : 067469838X
ISBN-10 : 9780674698383
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 444
Publication : First published July 1, 1999

“Precious volumes,” or pao-chüan , were produced by popular sects in the Ming and early Qing dynasties. These scriptures were believed to have been divinely revealed to sect leaders and contain teachings and ritual instructions that provide valuable information about a lively and widespread religious tradition outside mainstream Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Largely neglected until now, they testify to the imagination and devotion of popular religious leaders.

This book, the most detailed and comprehensive study of pao-chüan in any language, studies 34 early examples of this literature in order to understand the origins and development of this textual tradition. Although the work focuses on content and structure, it also treats the social context of these works as well as their transmission and ritual use.

Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series) Reviews

  • Mel

    I started this book in November and then managed to loose it and only found it a couple months ago. So there was a big gap in reading it. Having read books on earlier Buddhist sectarian and Taoist writings it was interesting to see how the Buddhist ones developed in later years, and how much of Taoism they had incorporated. The book includes an overview of the scriptures as well as translations (though only translations of bits not the whole thing like Campany did in his book).

    Notes for my reference
    47 taoism in sectaranism
    111 the true body can manifest as either a man or a woman
    116, 120-121 opposes the maitreya sect
    176 matiryea and venerable mother
    188-189 eternal mother mythology and maitreya
    195-197 use of nei wan terms in the scriptures
    200 this alchemical language has been borrowed to provide taoist style support for the sectarian quest of returning to the primal state, which can also be understood as returning to the mother in paradise.
    201 - people like to be stupid and go back and forth in the cycle of rebirth
    211 has women who understand being reborn as men rather than being able to achieve enlightenment as women (pre-chan idea in buddhism that should have been passed 1000 years earlier in other buddhist teachings
    232 sectarian ritual based on Taoist lamp lighting ritual and more on internal alchemy
    263 Maitreya
    268 Confucius becoming the Buddha
    275 volumes devoted to Maitreya
    280 leaving out spirit mediums and exorcism
    309 book for devoted women
    345-348 Maitreya