Mystery and Secrecy in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism

MYSTERY AND SECRECY IN THE CONTACT OF DAOISM AND
BUDDHISM IN EARLY MEDIEVAL CHINA
Friederike Assandri
Introduction
The following discussion of some aspects of mystery and secrecy in the

encounter of Buddhism and Daoism in China refers to a specific time and place;
namely the environment of the capital Chang’an 長安 of the late sixth and early
seventh century.
The empire, which had been divided for more than three centuries, was united
in 589 under the short rule of the Sui Dynasty. The long period of division had
allowed much regional diversity of religion. It had seen what has been called
“the Buddhist conquest” of China (Zürcher 1959): the spread and acceptance of
the foreign religion of Buddhism in all levels of Chinese society. Buddhism had
introduced new ways of thinking, new ways of interpreting old questions, as
well as new conceptions regarding the universe and the human sphere. It had
also brought new soteriological conceptions, most influential maybe the idea of
universal salvation, and that of the compassionate Bodhisattva, who renounces
to personal salvation in order to save all beings. While Buddhism was embraced
enthusiastically and became very influential in the intellectual, social and
political field, it never held a monopoly.
A counterweight was provided by Daoism, which developed during the same
period from different, rather unconnected religious movements, which were
oftentimes limited only to relatively small master-disciple groups, into an
institutionalized religion, which stood up in the environment of the court as the
autochthonous alternative to Buddhism. 1 The movement of the Celestial Masters
(tianshidao 天師道), founded in 142 CE in Sichuan 四川, had spread first to
northern China, and after 311 and 317 from there to the south. In Jiangnan 江南
in the south, the ‘revelations’ of the Shangqing 上清 and Lingbao 靈寳
1
While this development of Daoism did not preclude the continued existence of diverse, local
Daoist lineages, and probably never included “all” of Daoism, that is all and every Master that
claimed his teachings derived from Dao, its impact nevertheless led to the development of an
integrated Daoism, which represented “Daoism” in the capital and the environment of the court and
was recognized by the emperor Taizong 太宗 (r. 626-649) as the first teaching of the state.
2 FRIEDERIKE ASSANDRI
scriptures in 364-370 and ca. 400 respectively had added much to the scriptural
lore of Daoism; their sophisticated message and form assured that Daoism
would spread into the highest echelons of society. Competition with Buddhism
created a need to integrate the various, often contending religious movements
that related their origins back to Dao into a unified religion. In this process of
integration, different traditions vied for positions within a hierarchical initiation
order.
The spread of Buddhism and Daoism to all social levels, from common
people to the highest levels of imperial administration, including the emperors,
made Buddhism and Daoism forces to be reckoned with. Imperial administration
in the north as well as in the south took measures to control the religious
communities.
Furthermore, with the fall of Han 漢 Dynasty (206 BCE-220), the established
concept of the “son of heaven” as legitimization of the emperor had become
untenable in many ways. The “Son of Heaven” of the Han, just like Heaven
itself, was one. The Six Dynasties period (220-589) instead saw many
contemporary “sons of heaven”, different emperors in a fragmented “empire.”
Thus new legitimization strategies for those in power were needed. Buddhism
and Daoism were both ready to offer these, adding further complexity to the
interplay of worldly powers and representatives of Daoism and Buddhism.
This complex interplay forms the background of the following considerations
of “secret” as a contact zone on the philosophical and epistemological level as
well as of the discussion of the role of secrecy on the social level.
Secret as a “blank space” and interface of transfer:

The “dark” (xuan) in the Daode jing
What has been termed the notion of secret (Reichling and Stünkel 2011:1) as a
“blank [that is, etymologically “white”] space” (Reichling and Stünkel 2011:10),
is comparable to what has been called “black” (xuan 玄) space of “mystery” 2 in
the context of the interaction of Buddhism and Daoism in early medieval China.
The term xuan is defined in the Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 [Explaining Simple
Graphemes and Analyzing Compounds] dictionary as “hidden, dark and distant,
far” (youyuan 幽遠) and as “black with a red tinge” (黑而有赤色者). 3 While the
chromatic image seems to be diametrically opposed, the following discussion
shall show how conceptions associated with the term “xuan” correspond to this
2
Kees W. Bollee (1987: 3) states that it is “neither necessary nor useful to draw a sharp line
between secret and mystery […]”.
3
Shuowen jiezi, 159b.
MYSTERY AND SECRECY 3
understanding of the notion of “secret” in many of its connotations, and how

particularly the concept of “secret as a blank space” can be fruitfully employed
in the analysis of the interaction between Buddhists and Daoists.
The arguably most influential use of the term “xuan” in the early Chinese
literature appears in the Daode jing 道德經 [The Classic of the Way and Its
Power]. The Daode jing has been a foundational text of Daoism, read and
interpreted in a great variety of religious and philosophical contexts throughout
more than two millennia. Furthermore, it was highly esteemed by many
Buddhists since the early time of the introduction of Buddhism to China; so
much so, that some influential Buddhists employed its terminology to convey
Buddhist conceptions; prominent examples are Zhi Dun 支遁 (314-366),
Kumārajīva (344-413) and Sengzhao 僧肇 (ca. 378-413). 4 In the sixth and
seventh centuries CE, it was the Daode jing as well that offered concepts and
terminology, which Daoists and Buddhists employed to construct, or “frame”,
their teachings concerning the “mystery/secret”. 5
The Daode jing employs the term xuan, dark, to denote “the mystery” in
reference to Dao 道, 6 in particular to its “unknowable” aspect. In terms of
content, Dao in Daoism is epistemologically indefinable and it is at the same
time origin, ontological substance, and underlying rule of all being. While xuan
is used as a reference to Dao, semantically it is not identical, because the term
4
See for example Sengzhao 僧肇 (ca. 378-413), Zhaolun T 1858, and Zhi Dun’s Daxiaopin
duibi yaochao xu 大小品對比要抄序 [Preface to the Script of the Comparison of the essentials of
the Greater and Smaller Mahaprajnaparamita sutras] in Chusanzang jiji, T 2145, 8, 55a14-56c15.
Kumarajiva authored a commentary to the Daode jing, of which only fragments survived. Cf.
Pelliot 1912, 418 and Wagner 1999.
5
In particular, the term chongxuan 重玄, twofold mystery, derived from the expression xuan zhi
you xuan 玄之又玄 in the first chapter of the Daode jing, was employed by Buddhist and Daoist
authors alike as discussed below. For further examples see e.g. Zhanran 湛然 (711-782), Fahua
xuanyi shiqian, T 1717, 7, 865c17-20; Jizang 吉藏(549-23), Fahua xuanlun, T 1720, 3, 384c25;
Chengguan 澄觀 (737-838), Da fangguang fo huayan jing shu, T 1735, 503a20; Li Tongxuan 李通
玄 (635-730), , T 1739, 4, 7482a8, 745b26. For Daoist authors cf. the commentaries on the Daode
jing by Cheng Xuanying (Daode jing yishu 道德經義疏) and Li Rong (Daode zhenjing zhu 道德真
經注), as well as the Benji jing 本際經 [Scripture of Original Beginning], 8, Dunhuang Manuscript
P 3674, cf. ed. Wan Yi 1998, 455-456. Another example would be the Baozang lun 寶藏論
[Treasure Store Treatise], T 1857, discussed in Sharf 2002.
6
It is repeated in Daode jing 1 as cited below. We find an explicit confirmation of the
association of xuan with the concept of Dao, in the writings of one of the best known early
representative of the southern tradition of Daoism, Ge Hong 葛洪 (283- 348). The first chapter of
his Baopuzi 抱朴子 [The Master who Embraces Simplicity], entitled “Delighting in the Dark”
(chang xuan 暢玄), underscores the conceptual affinity between the mystery and Dao: “Xuan is the
first ancestor of that which is out of itself so (ziran), it is the Great Beginning of all the different
things” （玄者，自然之始祖，而万殊之大宗也）; Baopuzi 1:1.
Dao is charged with a multitude of concrete associations, 7 whereas xuan leaves

the “space” much more “blank,” or better “dark.” As a descriptive term, xuan
thus refers to the “blank space” that mystery or secret represents.
道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無
欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之
又玄，衆妙之門。
The Dao, which can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao,
The name, which can be named is not the eternal name.
Without name—this is the beginning of heaven and earth
Having a name—this is the mother of the myriad things. Therefore:
Eternally without desires—contemplate its marvels (妙)
Eternally with desires— contemplate its manifestations
These two come out from the same [source] but have different names.
The same [source] we call “mysterious.” (同謂之玄)
Mysterious and again mysterious (玄之又玄):
The door to all subtleties (眾妙之門)8
知者不言，言者不知。塞其兑，閉其門，挫其銳，解其分，和其光
，同其塵，是謂玄同。故不可得而親，不可得而踈；不可得而利，
不可得而害；不可得而貴，不可得而賤。故為天下貴。
Those who know do not speak;
Those who speak do not know.
Block the passages,
Shut the doors,
Let all sharpness be blunted,
All tangles untied,
All glare tempered.
All dust smoothed.
This is called the mysterious leveling (是謂玄同).
He who has achieved it cannot either be drawn into friendship or repelled,
Cannot be benefited, cannot be harmed,
Cannot either be raised or humbled,
And for that very reason is highest of all creatures under heaven (故為天下貴).9
These two passages (emphasis mine), mention two essential characteristics of

the mystery (xuan):
7
Ziporyn (2009: 214) points out that the term Dao, “often translated as “Way”, “…originally
designated a program of emulation and study by means of which a particular set of skills could be
cultivated…” and thus could be translated as “Guiding Discourse”, in pre-Daoist thought has a
“highly normative and ethical flavor”. Beginning with the Daode jing, the term was used in ironic
reversal, to “signify the nondeliberate and indiscernible process that is claimed to be the real source
of value and being….”.
8
Daode jing, 1, ed. Laozi zhu, 1.
9
Daode jing, 56, ed. Laozi zhu, 34, translation Waley 1977, 210. Note that while some
translators, like Waley (op cit.), take this passage to refer to the practitioner, others take the
sequence to refer to what is reached through practice (Dao), translating the last part for example as
“it is thus the most precious thing in the world” (Ames and Hall 2003, 164).
1. It is intrinsically linguistically not definable and epistemologically not

knowable.
2. Yet it can be “grasped” or “achieved” by “those who rid themselves of
desires” or “block the passages etc.”
Thus, while mystery remains always hidden, there are individuals who have
managed to “grasp” the mystery. These perfected beings are practitioners of
some kind of cultivation. 10 Furthermore, the notion of “honored by the world,”
suggests an association with high position or even the sage ruler. 11
The point of this excursion into early meanings associated with xuan or
mystery as a descriptive term for Dao is to underscore that while the term refers
to the “unknowable” and “unspeakable” mystery, there existed the concept that
this unknowable mystery could be reached through some kind of bodily or
contemplative practice. In Daoism, reaching the mystery was associated with
worldly power, the ability to establish social and political order, and with the
quest for physical immortality. A paragon example of this association might be
the Yellow Emperor – emperor and Daoist adept, who in an ever growing lore
was associated with the secret Daoist teachings also of later times, including
longevity practices. 12
2. Strategies of dealing with Mystery:

The epistemological level.
Mystery as the epistemological indefinite: The Xuanxue interpretation of the

mystery (xuan)
10
About the origins of early Daoism in communities of practice, and the importance of
contemplative practice and in particular breathing meditation, see Harold Roth 1997.
11
In the Daode jing, as well as in other Daoist texts and contexts, the association of gaining
knowledge of the secret, reaching Dao, and ideal kingship is present in many ways. Compare e.g.
the term xuande 玄德, which is related in Daode jing 65 explicitly to governing; and in Daode jing
51 to the cosmogonic property of Dao. The textual polysemy of the Daode jing allowed
interpretations emphasizing the dimension of self-cultivation through contemplative practice,
immortality quests, and readings which propagated the creation of political order at the same time;
sometimes even single commentators read the text as multilayered referring to different levels, cf.
Robinet 1998, 122-124.
12
Cf. Ute Engelhard 2008: 504-506 for a concise discussion of the development of the Yellow
Emperor.
While some early trends of thought in Daoism, expressed for example in the
Xiang’er 向爾 and Heshanggong 河上公 commentaries to the Daode jing, 13
interpreted xuan concretely as Heaven, the xuanxue 玄學 (Mystery Learning)
trend of thought, exemplified maybe best by the genial scholar Wang Bi 王弼
(226-249) 14 in his commentary to the Daode jing, established the concept of
mystery, unknowable, for the term xuan:
玄者冥也。默然無有也。始母之所出也。不可得而名。故不可言。同名曰
玄。而言［同］謂之玄者。取於不可得而謂之然也。［不可得而］謂之然。
則不可以定乎一玄而已。［若定乎一玄］則是名則失之遠矣。故曰玄之又玄
也。衆妙皆從同［玄］而出。故曰衆妙之門也）
The [term] “dark” [xuan, mysterious] is taken for that [aspect of the ultimate
principle] which cannot be designated as being thus [and nothing else]. Should one
designate it as being thus [and nothing else], it would definitely not be permitted to
define it as one [specific] dark. If one were to define it as being one [specific] dark
and nothing else, this would be a definition, and that would be far off the mark.
That is why [Laozi] says “dark and again dark.” 15
This epistemologically indefinite xuan became a space, which Buddhists and

Daoists would claim equally, and where they competed for showing the best
way to reach it. Socially, xuanxue was explored in an environment of the
intellectual elite, with pure conversations, qingtan 清談 or xuantan 玄談
(mystery conversations) being one of the popular past-times. It was this milieu,
where also early Buddhists mixed in and which would prove one of the major
vehicles to spread and adopt Buddhist teachings in the Chinese elite and
intelligentsia. 16
Inscribing the blank space of the Mystery: The Buddhist appropriation of the
expressions “xuan” and” xuan zhi you xuan” of the first chapter of the Daode
jing.
From Zhi Dun 支遁 (314-366) to Kumārajīva (344-413) and Sengzhao 僧肇
(384-414), to Tiantai Zhiyi 天台智頤 (538-597) and Jizang 吉藏 (549-623),
prominent Buddhists referred to the Daode jing and employed its terminology;
Kumārajīva even produced a commentary to the Daode jing. 17 Zhi Dun, “the
13
See Xiang’er commentary to the Daode jing (10.118), cf. Rao Zongyi 1956, 89Bokenkamp
1997, 91. Heshang gong 河上公 commentary, (15. 1/7b/5. See also comments on ch. 56 (56.
2/9b/9) und ch. 65. (65. 2/14b/7) (Wang Ka 1993, 57, 217, 255 respectively.)
14
Tang Taizong 唐太宗 (r. 626-649) included him among the 21 ‘Sages and teachers of ancient
times’, who were honored in the imperial university. See Jiu Tang shu 189, 595/4071a.
15
Wang Bi, Laozizhu, 1, transl. Wagner 2003, 122-123.
16
Zürcher 1959, 95.
17
Compare Pelliot 1912, 418f and Robinet 1977, 90ff. about Buddhist commentaries to the
Daode jing. About the fragments of Kumārajīva’s commentary see Wagner 1999. Note that also
most famous gentry monk of the capital” (Zürcher 1959, 106) and a major
player in the qingtan meetings of the social elite, employed the Daode jing term
chongxuan 重玄 (twofold mystery or twofold “dark”) in several occasions as a
reference to “what could not be described” – the epistemologically indefinite
blank space of the secret. 18
In his foreword to a copy of the Mahāprajnāparamitā sutra, Zhi Dun
describes prajnāparamitā, the highest wisdom, with the terms zhongmiao 衆妙
and chongxuan, both referring to the end of the first chapter of the Daode jing:
夫般若波羅蜜者。衆妙之淵府。群智之玄宗。神王之所由。如來之照功。其
爲經也。至無空豁廓然無物者也。無物於物。故能齊於物。無智於智。故能
運於智。是故夷三脱 19 於重玄。齊萬物於空同。明諸佛之始。盡群靈之本
無。登十住之妙階。趣無生之徑路. 20
“The Prajnāparamitā is the deep treasure of ‘All Wonders’, the mysterious origin of
all wisdom. It is the path followed by the spiritual rulers, the (mystic) reflection
achieved by the Tathāgatha. As a scripture, it is that which (teaches) the empty
expanse of the highest non-being, the tranquil absence of things. It realizes the
absence of things in the things (themselves) and therefore it is able to equalize all
things; it (realizes) the absence of knowing in knowing (itself) and therefore is able
to make knowing function.” 21 Therefore it levels the three gates of liberation in the
Twofold Mystery, and equalizes the ten-thousand things in empty equality. It
explains the beginning of all Buddhas, and it exhausts the original non-being of the
spiritual realm, it climbs the wondrous steps of the ten stages [of Bodhisattvahood]
and it brings one quickly ahead on the way of non-becoming. 22
Sengzhao is said to have written a commentary to the Daode jing, but this attribution is not beyond
doubt. See Tang Yongtong 1938, vol. 1: 332.
18
Compare for example Guang Hongming ji T 2103, 30, 351; see also Lu Guolong 1993, 14.
19
This refers to three gates of liberation mentioned in Prajnāparamitāsutra (Maheboreboluomi
jing 摩訶般若波羅蜜經 , T 223, see e.g. ibid., 24, 392c17) as meditation on non-substantiality 空
解脫, / meditation on signlessness 無相解脫, / meditation on desirelessness 無作解脫 (or 無願，
無造) (Muller, 1995 term 三脫 and 三解脫門). Note that the last term could be also interpreted as
meditating on what is not produced (i.e. the transcendent).
20
Daxiaopin duibi yaochao xu diwu 大小品對比要抄序第五, cited in Chu sanzang jiji, T 2145,
55a14-18. Compare Zürcher 1959, 124 for a translation and discussion of this foreword.
Another example of the use of the term chongxuan recorded in the Chusanzang jiji T 2145 is a
foreword by an unknown author to the commentary on the Shou lengyan sanmei jing 首楞嚴三昧
經 (Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra), written by Zhi Dun. (Shoulengyan sanmeijing zhu xu dijiu 首楞嚴三
昧經注序第九, T 2145, 49a7-13).
Also in some of Zhi Dun’s poems, we find the term chongxuan used in reference to an absolute
or ultimate truth; see for example the poems Yonghuaishi wu shou:詠懷詩五首 inGuang Hongming
ji 廣弘明集 [Extended Collection on the Propagation and Explanation (of Buddhism)], T 2103,
350b16-21.
21
Zürcher 1959, 124.
22
Daxiaopin duibi yaochao xu diwu 大小品對比要抄序第五, cited in Chu sanzang jiji, T 2145,
55a14-18.
This short passage exemplifies how a Buddhist author related new content,
the concept of prajnāparamitā, to extant well known notions of “mystery” from
the Daode jing. The fact that xuan, the mystery, was conceived as
epistemologically indefinite certainly facilitated this endeavor to “inscribe” the
new alongside the old in the mystery. However, the author claims that it is the
Buddhist text, which offers the way to reach this mystery.
“Mysterious and mysterious again”: Madhyamika logic and the Daode jing
Little more than a century later, we find a further process of “inscribing” the
blank space of the mystery. Possibly beginning with Kumārajīva and Sengzhao,
a specific method of reaching insight into the “mystery,” namely the dialectics
of the tetra lemma, were inscribed in the term chongxuan, referring to the
sentence xuan zhi you xuan 玄之又玄 [“mysterious and mysterious again”] of
the first chapter of the Daode jing.
The tetra lemma consists of a series of four statements, each negating the
previous one, so that in the end a negation of all possible statements about the
nature of being (or any other argument a debater would chose) is achieved:
•All dharmas are being (you 有)
•All dharmas are nonbeing (wu 無)
•All dharmas are being and nonbeing (yi you yi wu 亦有亦無)
•All dharmas are neither being nor nonbeing (fei you fei wu 非有非
無)
The logic of the tetra lemma originated in India. In Buddhism, it was used to
a great extent by Nāgārjuna (ca. 150-250 CE), the foremost philosopher of the
Mādhyamika School, in refuting propositions of his opponents, but also as a tool
to reach insight into that which is beyond any definition, the unknowable.
Kumārajīva had translated Nāgārjuna’s hagiography into Chinese in 401
(Longshu pusa zhuan 龍樹菩薩傳 (Biography of Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva) T
2047), as well as two treatises ascribed to him, the Mādhyamaka-kārikā
[Zhonglun 中論 (Treatise of the Middle Way)] and the Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra
[Shi’ermen lun 十二門論 (Twelf Gates Treatise)]. These two treatises, together
with the Śāta-śāstra [Bailun 百論, (Treatise of the Hundred Verses)], constitute
the three treatises (sanlun 三論 ), which the Chinese designation of the
Mādhyamika school (sanlunzong 三論宗) refers to. With the introduction of
these writings, the logic of the tetra lemma became popular in China. As an
intellectual tool, this logic must have been considered as a major advance over
the traditional Chinese logic, which worked on the basis of two propositions
(true and false/ being and non-being), and juxtaposed these as paradox in the
context of describing the Dao, or the mystery.
With the Daode jing continuing to play a major role in intellectual life in
general, and as a source of the debates on the nature of being and the question of
the relation of non-being and being in particular, it is not too surprising that also
Kumārajīva produced a commentary to the Daode jing. One fragment of
Kumārajīva’s commentary to the Daode jing (48.3) suggests that he used the
logic of Mādhyamika with its characteristic double negation in his interpretation:
羅什曰：損之者無贏而不遣，遣之至乎忘惡。然後無細而不去，去之至乎忘
善。惡者非也，善者是也，既損其非，又損其是，故曰損之又損。是非俱
忘，情欲既斷，德與道合，至於無為。己雖無為，任萬物之自為，故無不為
也。
“’Diminishing them’ means that there is no coarse thing that is not cast away so
that this casting away gets to the point of forgetting about evil. Thereupon there is
no fine thing that is not eliminated so that this eliminating gets to the point of
forgetting about good. Evil is what is to be rejected, good is what is to be approved.
Having diminished what is to be rejected, he will also diminish what is to be
approved. That is why [the text] says ‘diminishing this [the one], and then again
diminishing that [the other]’. Once [things to be] approved and [things to be]
disapproved are both forgotten, the feelings and desires are cut off. [Then] one’s
[own] capacity harmonizes with the Dao to the point of reaching non-interference.
Although oneself is ‘without interference’, one brings to fruition the other entities’
own activities, that is why there ‘is nothing that is not done’.” 23
The sentence commented here, “diminishing and diminishing again” (損之又

損) (Daode jing 48), has the same structure as the sentence “dark and dark
again” (玄之又玄) in the first chapter of the text, from which the name Twofold
Mystery (chongxuan xue 重玄學) is derived. Unfortunately, no commentary of
Kumārajīva to the first sentence of the Daode jing has survived. However, the
term chongxuan appears as a designation for “the ultimate mystery”, with
reference also to the sentence 48.3 from the Daode jing in an essay by his
disciple Sengzhao, the Niepan wuming lun 涅槃無名論 (Essay on Nirvana not
Having a Name)24.:
夫群有雖衆。然其量有涯。正使智猶身子。辯若滿願。窮才極慮。莫窺其
畔。況乎虚無之數。重玄之域。其道無涯。欲之頓盡耶。書不云乎。爲學者
日益。爲道者日損。爲道者爲於無爲者也。爲於無爲而曰日損。此豈頓得之
謂。要損之又損之。以至於無損耳。
23
Wagner 1999, 113-114, translating from Daode zhenjing qushan ji, DZ 718, 8, 4. Cf.
Assandri 2004, 495-456, note 2207 arguing against the theory that Guo Xiang 郭象 (c. 252-312)
already used this kind of reasoning, proposed by Robinet 1977, 111.
24
See Zhaolun, T 1858, 160b12-24, with references to Daode jing 48 (emphasis mine, FA).
„With regard to ‘all being’, although [the things] are many, their number is limited.
But still, even if someone would have wisdom like Śāriputra and talent of speech
like Pūrņamaitrāyaņīputra, if he used his talents to the fullest and exhausted his
thinking [capacities] completely, he still could not see these limits. How much
more [is this valid] for the category 25 of empty non-being, the realm of
chongxuan.26 This Dao has no limits, how could one realize it fully in one moment?
Is it not said in the Laozi: ’Learning means to increase every day. Practicing the
Dao means diminishing every day’? He who practices the Dao is the one whose
action is non-action. Action through non-action this is why it says ‘daily diminish’.
How could that be a name for a ‘sudden obtaining’? One has to diminish and
diminish again, until one reaches a point where there is nothing to diminish. “ 27
The first example demonstrates how Kumārajīva inscribed the method of the
tetra lemma in his reading of the text of the Daode jing, and the second example
suggests that this reading was also correlated to the mystery (xuan), and that the
term chongxuan, derived from the first chapter of the Daode jing, was utilized in
this context.28
Mystery as a contact zone of philosophy in 6th and 7th century.

In the following centuries, the term chongxuan continued to be used frequently
by leading Buddhists as well as by Daoists.29 Thus, for example, the influential
25
Shu 數, number, is used here in the sense of the Buddhist term fashu 法數, which designates
the different categories used in Buddhist teaching, like for example the five skandhas, the three
worlds, etc. Cf. Mair 2010, 231ff.
26
The expression 重玄之域 [the realm of Twofold Mystery] is also used by Cheng Xuanying 成
玄英 in his commentary to Laozi 25. See Meng Wentong 2001, 427.
27
Zhaolun, T 1858, 160b ; Sengzhao refers here to Daode jing chapter 48.
28
Compare also Sengrui 僧睿 (352-436), “Shi’ermen lun xu” 十二門論序 [Preface to the
Twelve Gate Treatise] in: Chusanzang jiji, 11, Nr. 4 (T 2145, 11, 77c22). Here the term liangxuan
兩玄, “two mysteries,” is used, citing Kumarajiva’s translation of the Shi’ermen lun (T 1568,
159b16), also with reference to Daode jing 1, synonymous to the term chongxuan. See Robinson
1967, 208-209 for a translation of the preface.
29
Thus we find in the Daoist Kaiyan mimizang jing 開演秘密藏經 [Scripture on Opening up
the Most Secret Storehouse] (DZ 329, 5-902b), which corresponds to chapter 9 of the Benji jing 本
際經, the expression “令諸學者入重玄趣“ [to let all educated men enter the objective of Twofold
Mystery]. Also in the Taishang dongxuan lingbao sanyuan yujing xuandu daxian jing 太上洞玄靈
寳三元玉京玄都大獻經 [Great Offering in the Capital of Mystery on (Mount) Jade Capital for the
(Days of the) Three Principles], DZ 370, a text dated to the Six Dynasties period, we find the
expression “open the gate of all subtleties, penetrate the realm of Twofold Mystery” (闢眾妙之門
，洞重玄之境)”
In Buddhism, Sengzhao speaks in his Zhaolun (T 1858, 160b20) of 重玄之域 (op. cit.); Tiantai
Zhiyi 天台智頤 (538-597)in his Miao fahua lianhua jing wenju 妙法蓮花經文句 [Phrases of the
Lotos sutra], T 1718. 9a.126c19) writes: “to reach from the first stage [of the bodhisattva-path] the
tenth stage is called ‘skillfully entering the ten stages, entering the Gate of Twofold Mystery’” (從
初地至十地名善入 .十地入重玄門. Jizang, in his Fahua xuanlun 法華玄論 (T 1720, 3.
384c25) has: “to completely understand the wondrous principle of Twofold Mystery” (盡重玄之妙
理); in his Fahua yishu 法華義疏 (Commentary on the Meaning of the Lotos Sutra), T 1721, No.
10, 587b21, he says: “Now I explain the Twofold Mystery” (今明重玄).
Tiantai zhiyi (538-597) 30 in his short exposition on the Weimo jing 維摩經
(Vimalakirti sutra) uses the term chongxuan particularly often, frequently in
parallelism with Buddhist terms that refer to the ultimate mystery as well, as in
the following example: “this is entering the Buddhawisdom, entering the gate of
twofold mystery, the sea of the dharma world of emptiness” (ji ru fohui ru
chongxuanmen xukong fajiehai 即入佛慧入重玄門虚空法界海). 31 Like in
many other examples, also here the use of the term chongxuan parallel to the
term fohui 佛慧 underscores a general assumption that the secret or mystery that
man would try to grasp or obtain through spiritual practice was assumed to be
the same in both traditions. The characteristic of the Chinese language, and
possibly the early use of terminology derived from the Daode jing in translating
and explaining Buddhist texts, might have contributed to this impression.
However, this assumption of a possibly identical or at least equally indescribable
secret, the ultimate oneness of mystery, did not lead to an easy identification of
the two teachings. On the contrary – bitter competition ensued. The issue was
rather pragmatic: it focused on the question whose way and teachings on how to
obtain the mystery were more efficient and profound. Thus, at least in the early
medieval contacts between Buddhism and Daoism, the underlying unity or
oneness of the unknowable mystery, which representatives of both religions
presupposed, offered on the one hand the possibility of identification and
concrescence, yet at the same time it brought about an embittered competition.
This constellation was aggravated by practical issues of competition for imperial
patronage and lay support, which probably also involved the question of
economic subsistence of the clerics and temples. The drive towards
concrescence, which resulted from the assumption of an identical one ultimate
mystery, and which facilitated the mutual adoption of many concepts, practices
and even institutions between Buddhists and Daoists, was countered by a drive
to distinction, defining separate entities and differences, in the competition of
the religions on the social level.
The process of contacts in relation to the blank space provided by “secret” or
“mystery” thus cannot be characterized as a simple or one-way process, where
30
See his Miaofa lianhua jing wenju (T 1718, 126c19: “the ten stages [of the bodhisattva-path]
enter the Gate of Twofold Mystery” (十地入重玄門); and his Weimo jing xuanshu 維摩經玄疏
[Commentary on the Mystery of the Vimalakirti Sutra], T 1777, 3. 539c25, 540a8, 4. 541. c1:
“entering the Gate of Twofold Mystery” (入重玄門); also Weimojing lueshu 維摩經略疏 [Concise
Commentary on the Vimalakirti Sutra], T. 1778, 1. 578, b8-9, c11, c19, c21, 579a4; 6. 585a22), just
to name a few of the many examples, where Tiantai Zhiyi employed the term chongxuan in
reference to the ultimate ‘mystery.’
31
Weimo jing lueshu T 1778, 7.590a27-28.
one religion is “subdued” or “dominated” by another. Instead, a multilevel

dynamic interplay evolved.
The “literary” contact zone: early Tang Daoist chongxuan commentaries to

the Daode jing and the Buddhist Jizang’s Sanlun xuanyi.
The earlier representatives of xuanxue who discussed with the Buddhists were
not adepts of the Daoist religion, they were literati laymen. Xuanxue was one of
the four subjects (ru 儒 Confucian studies, xuan 玄 Mystery Studies, wen 文
Literature, and shi 史 History) taught at the imperial university of the Liu Song
劉宋 (420-479). 32
It seems that Daoism in the third and fourth centuries did not quite reach the
intellectual and administrative elite of society yet. However, between the fourth
and fifth centuries, Daoists, predominantly in the environment of the southern
capital, started a development of integrating different, often esoteric sects and
traditions into an institutionalized religion, which differentiated itself from the
“foreign” Buddhists. In the fifth and sixth centuries this Daoism gained more
and more support also in the intellectual and social elite as the third “teaching”
next to the Rujiao 儒教 33 and Buddhism.
The prominent Buddhist author Jizang 吉藏 (549-623), 34 in his Sanlun xuanyi
三論玄義 [Profound Meaning of the Three Treatises (T 1852)], describes
debates around the interpretation of the Daode jing among the intelligentsia
32
The first imperial university was established in 438 by emperor Song Wendi, beginning with
a school for ru 儒 (Confucian) studies, headed by Lei Cizong 雷次宗, and in the following year
(439) the school for the study of xuanxue, headed by He Shangzhi 何尚之 (382-460), the school of
history under the guidance of He Chengtian 何承天 (370-447) and a school for literature under Xie
Yuan 謝元. A Tang dynasty historian, Xu Song 許嵩, pointed out, that this was the beginning of
the flowering of culture south of the Yangtze. See Jiankang shilu 12, 322. Cf. also Nan shi 2,
9/2677 d. Tang Yongtong 1938, 416-418 pointed out, that many intellectuals of the time, among
them He Shangzhi und Lei Cizong 雷次宗 (386-448), were known to have studied Buddhism and
traditional Chinese learning. These academies seem to have disintegrated in the following rather
turbulent years; in 470 Song Mingdi 宋明帝 (439-472) re-founded the imperial university, again
with four academies: ru, xuan, wen 文 (literature) and shi 史 (history). SeeNan shi, 22, 67/2735d.
33
The term rujiao appears in the context of apologetic writing in the preface of Seng You 僧祐
(444-518) to his compilation Hongming ji 弘明集 [Collection of Propagation and Explanation (of
Buddhism)], T 2102, 95c25, and it became very prominent with Daoan’s 道安 Erjiao lun 二教論
(Treatise on Two Teachings, ~570 CE, in Guanghongmingji T 2103,8). Compare Barrett 2009.
34
Jizang is considered the founder of the Sanlun zong 三論宗, the Chinese Mādhyamika school.
He uses the term chongxuan, just like Tiantai zhiyi, in several of his commentaries and essays in
reference to “the mystery”, which presumably was one: see for example Fahua xuanlun 法华玄论
(Essay on the Mystery of the Lotos Sutra, T 1720, 384c25-26); or Zhongguan lun shu 中觀論疏
[Commentary to the Mūlamadhyamaka Kārikā, T. 1824, 3c23],or Shi’ermen lun shu 十二門疏 (
Commentary to the Twelfe Gate Treatise, T. 1825, 173b13). See also Bailunshu 百論疏
(Commentary to the Treatise in Hundred Verses, T. 1827, 234b5).
during the southern dynasties. 35 In an interesting passage he refutes an

imaginary opponent’s claim that the Chinese “three mysteries” (sanxuan 三玄),
the three books of central focus in Mystery Learning — Daode jing 道德經,
Zhuangzi 莊子, Yijing 易經 [Book of Changes] — should be called the “inner
teaching” (neijiao 内教), i.e., counted as part of the Buddhist teaching, with the
argument that Buddhism is superior because it employs tetra lemma logic:
問伯陽之道道曰太虛。牟尼之道道稱無相。理源既一則萬流並同。什肇抑揚
乃諂於佛(此王弼舊疏以無為為道體)。答伯陽之道道指虛無。牟尼之道道超
四句。淺深既懸。體何由一。
Question: “The Dao of Boyang [Laozi] is termed “Great Emptiness” [taixu 太虛];
the Dao of Śākyamuni is called “without marks” [wuxiang 無相]. 36 Since the
principle is essentially one, the myriad tendencies are all the same. When
Kumārajīva and Sengzhao criticized [Daoism] and praised [Buddhism], they only
wanted to flatter Buddhism.”
[Jizang remarks here]: This must refer to Wang Bi’s old commentary, which took
nonaction as the substance of Dao [daoti 道體].
Answer: “With regard to the Dao of Laozi, it points to empty nonbeing; the Dao of
Śākyamuni [instead] surpasses the realm in which the tetra lemma can be applied.
[With this] there is already a distinction [with regard to the two teachings] of
superficial and profound, how could the substance be the same?” 37
The discussion in the Sanlun xuanyi continues however, with the opponent
claiming that what is called the “Mystery” in the Daode jing equally surpasses
the tetra lemma:
問牟尼之道道為真諦。而體絕百非。伯陽之道道曰杳冥。理超四句。彌驗體
一。奚有淺深(此梁武帝新義。用佛經以真空為道體)。答九流統攝。七略該
含。唯辨有無。未明絕四。若言老教亦辨雙非。蓋以砂糅金。同盜牛之論(周
弘政張機並斥老有雙非之義也)。
Question: “The Dao of Śākyamuni is the Dao of the absolute truth 38 and the
substance is beyond the hundred negations [baifei 百非] 39. The Dao of Laozi is
termed “the mysterious”; its principle surpasses the tetra lemma. Examining this
again, their substance is one — how could there be [a distinction in] superficial and
profound?”
35
Jizang refers that Emperor Wu of the Liang tried to use Buddhist texts in the interpretation of
the Daode jing and that Zhou Hongzheng 周弘政 (523-574), grandson of Zhou Yong, and his
friend Zhang Ji 張譏 (513-583) criticized this (Sanlun xuanyi T 1852, 2a; also Bianzheng lun ， T
2110, 8.549b; Jiankang shilu 17.484). Zhou Hongzheng and Zhang Ji both wrote commentaries to
Daode jing, Zhuangzi, Yijing and Lunyu 論語 [Analects]. They were well-known scholars of
Mystery Learning (cf. Chenshu 24).
36
Compare Han Yanjie 1987, 32n2: “Wuxiang in the teaching of Mādhyamika is the real mark
of true emptiness, it is like a realm of Nirvana”.
37
Sanlun xuanyi T 1852, 2a16-20.
38
Absolute truth refers to the absolute truth in distinction from the worldly truth, elaborated in
the theory of the two truths.
39
Hundred negations is the technical name for the continuing negation used in Mādhyamika.
[Jizang adds]: This refers to the new interpretation of emperor Wu of the Liang
(464-549); he used Buddhist sūtras and took true emptiness for the substance of the
Dao.
Answer: “If we take together everything the nine currents [of philosophy say] and
everything that is contained in the Seven Summaries (bibliography) Qilue 七略, 40
they all discuss only being and nonbeing; they have not yet explained [something
that] surpasses the tetra lemma. To say that the Daode jing contains the twofold
negation is like mixing gold with pebbles, just like in the story of the thief of the
cows.” 41
[Jizang remarks that both Zhou Hongzheng and Zhang Ji criticized the theory that
Laozi had used the twofold negation.] 42
This excerpt suggests that there was an ongoing discussion about the Daode jing
and Mādhyamika dialectics in the south, in which the aristocrats like Zhou
Hongzheng 周弘正 (496-574) and Zhang Ji 張機 (n.d.) as well as emperor Wu
of the Liang 梁武帝 (464-549) were involved, and that there must have been
voices of an assumption of one underlying truth – the mystery. Jizang’s
argument of superiority of Buddhism regards the tetra lemma as a way to reach
this mystery (which he claims is Buddhist), not as an essential quality of
mystery.
This discussion about the way of tetra lemma logic to reach the mystery and
the question if it was or was not present in the Daode jing in Jizang’s text was
possibly still a discussion among adherents of Buddhism. However, Daoists took
up the issue as well. By the 6th and 7th centuries, we find a trend of thought
called chongxuanxue 重玄學 among initiated Daoist clerics, mainly in the
capital Chang’an.43 These Daoists employed the logic of the tetra lemma in their
interpretation of the Daode jing, exemplifying it on the expression xuan zhi you
xuan 玄之又玄 (mysterious and mysterious again) of the first chapter.
One of the most important representatives of this intellectual trend in Daoism,
Cheng Xuanying 成玄英 (7th century), a Daoist cleric active in Chang’an
during the early Tang dynasty, engaged quite explicitly in the discussion about
40
The Qilue bibliography is traditionally attributed to Liu Xin 劉歆 (ca. 50 BCE - 23 CE) and
his father Liu Xiang 劉向 (77 - 6 BCE), and has come down to us in the Yiwenzhi 藝文志 , ch. 30
of the Hanshu 漢書 [Book of the Han].
41
This refers to a story related in the Daban niepan jing 大般涅槃經 [Nirvana Sutra], T 374,
12.382): An elder raised cows only to make tihu 醍醐 (a kind of liquor, which rises like oil on top
of koumiss) from their milk. After the elder’s death, a band of thieves stole his cows. They wanted
to make tihu but they did not know how. Thus, they poured water in the milk – with the result that
they not only did not get any tihu but also spoiled the milk. The term tihu is a metaphor for the
highest teaching.
42
Sanlun xuanyi, T 1852, 2a20-25.
43
For a detailed introduction compare Assandri 2009.
the interpretation of the Daode jing in terms of Mādhyamika dialectics. 44 In his

exposé to his commentary to the Daode jing, he defines Twofold Mystery with
reference to the tetra lemma:
所言玄者，深遠之名，亦是不滯之義，言至深至遠，不滯不著，既不滯
有，亦不滯無，豈唯不滯於滯，亦乃不滯於不滯，百非四句，都無所滯,
乃曰重玄.
“Mystery” is a name for what is profound and far; it also implies the meaning of
nonattachment. It denotes the ultimate profoundness and the ultimate distance, no
attachments and no clinging; when there is no attachment to being and no
attachment to nonbeing.
[Then, one is] not only not attached to attachment but also not attached to
“nonattachment.” Thus, the hundred negations and the tetra lemma [leave the adept
with] no attachments whatsoever. This is called “twofold mystery.” 45
“Twofold mystery” in this interpretation designates a method like the tetra

lemma used in Buddhist Mādhyamika. Cheng refers explicitly to the
terminology of the Mādhyamika School with the technical terms “hundred
negations” and tetra lemma; terms that his Buddhist contemporary Jizang used
to describe the superiority of Buddhism in the passage cited above.46
In his commentary to Daode jing 32, Cheng discusses the sentence “the Dao
is eternally without name” (道常無名) and says:
虛通之理，常淇然凝然，非聲非色，無名無字，寂然獨立，超四句之端，
恍惚希夷，離百非之外，
“this principle of empty pervasion is eternally deep and still, it is neither form nor
sound, neither personal name nor style; solitary, it alone surpasses the logic of the
tetra lemma, vague and indistinct it goes beyond the hundred negations.” 47
Also in his commentary to Daode jing 79, he refers explicitly to the four
propositions and the hundred negations in connection to Twofold Mystery:
言體道聖人，竟智冥符，能所俱會，超玆四句，離彼百非，故得久視長
生。
….. for the sage who embodies the Dao, the objects of knowing and his wisdom
mysteriously fit. The potential [of knowing] and that what he knows are both united;
44
He was most probably not the first one; a Daoist source [Daode zhenjing guangsheng yi 道德
真經廣聖義 (Explications Expanding upon the Sage’s [Commentary on the ] True Scripture of the
Way and Its Power) , DZ 725, 5.12a-b] lists Meng Zhizhou 孟智周 from the Liang Dynasty and his
disciple Zang Xuanjing 臧玄靜 together with some other earlier representatives of chongxuan xue;
however, only few fragments of their commentaries have survived.
45
Laozi Daode jing yishu kaiti 老子道德經義疏開題 [Introductory Exposition to the
Commentary on the Meaning of Laozi and the Daode jing], Meng Wentong 2001, 551; cf. Robinet
1977, 256.
46
Sanlun xuanyi T 1852, , 2a20-25, op cit.
47
Daode jing yishu, Meng Wentong 2001, 440.
thus he surpasses these four propositions and goes beyond those hundred negations;
that is how he attains everlasting life. 48
These excerpts document how both Buddhists and Daoists employed “the
Mystery”, and the “Twofold Mystery” to inscribe a new logic, a new way of
thinking, on the “mystery” – with the Buddhists claiming they had devised the
superior way (namely tetra lemma logic) to approach the Mystery, and the
Daoists claiming that they had intended this particular process of reasoning from
the outset. Both was possible logically only on the basis of an underlying
assumption that ultimate mystery or truth was one.
In this respect, there are similarities with the xuanxue movement. Yet, in the
xuanxue context epistemological considerations guided the discourse on
mystery, while in the above examples there are underlying soteriological
considerations: the method of the tetra lemma was a way to reach the mystery. 49
Different from the literati engaged in xuanxue, the proponents of chongxuan
xue were ordained Daoists who represented the institutionalized Daoism in the
capital, which had entered into a fierce competition with Buddhism. This
competition concerned believers from the emperor to the common people, social
and financial resources, in particular imperial patronage, as Daoism in the
capital adapted to a more and more state sponsored system of larger authorized
temples. This competition brings us to the second aspect: secrecy.
3. Strategies of dealing with Mystery
Secrecy on the social level.

Mystery, theoretically at least, was recognized to be one. The ways however,
to reach this mystery, were many. And oftentimes at least in Daoism they were
secret. Possibly, the association of obtaining mystery and reaching eternal life
favored secrecy in social practice, because common sense would suggest that
physical immortality cannot and should not be obtained by all, because this
48
Daode jing yishu 79; Meng Wentong 2001, 531. Another eloquent example appears in his
commentary to Zhuangzi 2, see Zhuangzi shu, 1, 12; cf. Robinet 1977, 121 and see Assandri 2009,
97 for a translation of the passage.
49
The soteriological scope of Twofold Mystery Teaching (chongxuan xue) is a major factor that
differentiates it from the earlier Mystery Studies (xuanxue). Holcombe 1994, 110 has pointed out,
that Buddhist teachings came to eclipse Mystery Sudies because ultimately the concept of
nothingness as ultimate reality, a concept they derived from their epistemological discourse, was an
emotionally unsatisfying logical abstract. “With Buddhism, medieval Chinese thought moved from
the existential nihilism of native Chinese hsüan-hsüeh to a triumphant religion of salvation.”
(Holcombe 1994, 110). The soteriological scope of Twofold Mystery Teaching is an expression of
and possibly also a reaction to this change from existential nihilism to an emphasis of salvation.
could potentially disturb a natural balance in “this” world. It is noteworthy here,

that the Buddhist promises of bliss in heavenly paradises like the ones of
Amitābha or Maitreya, 50 are promises that by the same line of reasoning can be
obtained by all, and the same is true for the goal of liberation in Nirvana; both
goals refer to an “after-life,” but not to the life in this world. The Daoist
proposition instead potentially influences life in this world. Therefore, I would
argue that in the context of Daoist soteriology, the restriction of access to
essential teachings to initiated adepts (esoterism) 51 and secrecy in the social
practice of transmission of these teachings was not only a habit, but a necessary
consequence of the Daoist soteriological proposition. In fact, it seems that many
of the early medieval Daoist movements were in their origin esoteric, centered
around a master and a revelation, handed down selectively to initiated adepts.52
The Shangqing texts are the most evident example, yet also the Lingbao texts
and other less well known scriptures were usually handed down from master to
disciples.53 Even in the Celestial Master’s (tianshi dao 天師道) tradition, which
instituted a parish organization, registers and texts were handed to disciples
esoterically and in a hierarchic initiation order.
Buddhism instead, from the time it reached Chinese soil, was open for all.
Promising ways to universal salvation for all beings, its texts were freely
preached.
When in the 5th century the adherents of these religions began to include also
more and more the intellectual and administrative elite, the clash of esoteric and
exoteric systems engendered dynamics which would change both religions over
the coming centuries.
Material aspects of Secrecy in Daoism

The secrecy of the Daoist teachings was an inherent part of their
attractiveness – they were something special, something which not everybody
50
The enthusiastic reception of these promises of afterlife bliss in heavenly paradises in early
medieval China is well documented in archaeological relics; see especially Hou Xudong 1998, 108-
116.
51
von Stuckrad 2006, 21 pointed out, that esotericism is not an independent tradition or school
of thought of European history, but an analytic construct of modern researchers. Therefore it seems
admissible to use the term esotericism also in reference to early medieval Daoism.
52
Compare Raz, 2012, 91f.
53
Compare for example the bibliographic chapter 19 of Ge Hong’s Baopuzi neipian DZ 1185.
We might add here, that in addition to “disciples,” texts were handed down at times also (but not
always) to family members.
could obtain, but which possibly precisely because of this secrecy, was attractive
and sought after. 54
The southern tradition of Daoism had grown out of oftentimes esoteric
master–disciple lineages. It produced the most sophisticated and most
voluminous scriptural tradition of Daoism at the time. The esoteric transmission
assured that the Daoist scriptures remained at least to a great part within the
circles of masters and their disciples, and only few outsiders gained access to the
scriptures. In fact, even the sometimes wholesale cooption of Buddhist concepts,
terms and texts, especially in the Lingbao scriptures went largely unnoticed for
more than a century. 55
In practical terms, the exclusivity and esoteric characteristics of Daoist
scriptures were reinforced by a complex system of initiation. The adept, in order
to gain access to a scripture, had to show his spiritual advancement and he had
to present the master with certain offerings, the pledge offerings. Access to the
scriptures, according to this model, depended therefore on spiritual and material
conditions.
While the spiritual conditions are hard to pinpoint concretely, also because
they certainly depended on individual judgments of the master, the material
conditions were regulated in a quite straightforward manner. Texts as well as
ritual manuals contain specific lists of pledge offerings required for
transmission. These offerings include rice, firewood, writing utensils and other
items of practical use, but also gold, money, and bolts of silk (which during Six
Dynasties were also used as a currency 56).
The institution of these offerings goes back to an oath, with which the adept
vows to keep the received teaching secret and only reveal it to few if any worthy
54
Cf. Bumbacher 1995 and 2012: 121.
55
Thus the Buddhists became aware of the massive incorporation of Buddhist tenets in the
Lingbao scriptures, which had occurred already in the earliest Lingbao scriptures produced around
400 CE, only much later, in the later half of the sixth century, when Zhen Luan’s 甄鸞 Xiaodao lun
(T 2103, 9, 143c20-152c17. English translation Kohn 1995) written on behalf of the emperor Wu of
the Northern Zhou 周武帝 (543-578), laid open for the first time some of the contents of these
scriptures which were until then restricted to initiated Daoists and presumably the imperial library.
Zhen Luan had been allowed access to the imperial library for his task to evaluate Daoist scriptures.
His Xiaodao lun documents that a large amount of scriptures that were usually available only to
initiated Daoists were obviously also collected in the imperial library. Yet, they were not accessible
to Buddhists or other outsiders, as a comment of a Buddhist debater Jingtai 靜泰 in a court debate
held in 660 (Xianqing 5) suggests. He says: “The Daoists steal from the Buddhists ….. – in the
imperial library there are Daoist sutras. Please, why don’t you present them to the Buddhist
scholars so they can decide if they are authentic or fabricated.” (Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng, T 2104,
4.391c16-17.). For the question of the Buddhist reaction to the Daoist’s appropriation of Buddhist
tenets and scriptures see Assandri 2012: 243-258.
56
Cf. also Wang and Hansen 2013 and Sheng 2013.
recipients. As the bibliographic chapter 19 of the third-century Baopuzi

documents, there were also certain time lapses for transmission required, which
further restricted diffusion and thus enforced the exclusivity of the texts even
more. The vow would be accompanied by blood and hair of the adept, or else by
the offering of certain precious and presumably hard to obtain objects, like
golden or jade figurines.
Such material offerings in the context of a covenant or oath between Master
and disciple are mentioned in early Daoist texts, like for example the Huangdi
jiuting shendan jingjue, 黄帝九鼎神丹经诀 [Canon and Instructions for the
Divine Alchemy of the Nine Caldrons of the Yellow Emperor (DZ 885)], a text
belonging to the Taiqing 太清 (Great Clarity) tradition, and dating most
probably to Han Dynasty: 57
傳授之法。具以金人一枚重九兩。金魚一枚重三兩。投東流水為誓。金人及
魚皆出於受道者也 …若天晴無風。可受之。受之共飲白雞血為盟。並傳口
訣。合丹之要。及投金人金魚於水。
With regard to the method of transmission, in all cases it is required that a golden
figure of 9 liang [~ 125,28g] and a golden fish of 3 liang [~41,76g] weight shall be
casted into a river that flows east. The golden figure and the golden fish have to be
provided by the one who receives the Dao. ... if the weather is clear and no wind
arises, the scripture can be transmitted. At the transmission, master and adept drink
the blood of a white cock for the covenant. Furthermore oral instructions are
transmitted about the essentials of alchemy (cinnabar-preparation). Then the golden
figure and the golden fish are cast into the water.
Another example of offerings in the context of a blood-oath is cited in

Baopuzi (4. 83):
金丹:….黃帝以傳玄子，戒之曰，此道至重，必以授賢，苟非其人，雖積玉如
山，勿以此道告之也。受之者以金人金魚投於東流水中以為約，唼血為盟，
無神仙之骨，亦不可得見此道也。
The Jindan (Golden Elixir) says: The Yellow Emperor transmitted it to the Dark
Son and admonished him: ‘this Dao is extremely important; you can transmit it
only to worthies. If there are no such persons, then this Dao can not be transmitted,
even if someone should accumulate as much jade as a mountain. Those, who
receive it have to throw a golden figurine and a golden fish in water that is flowing
east, and one has to drink blood for the covenant; who does not have the bones of
an immortal is not allowed to see this Dao.’ 58
Offerings of hair and blood were eventually replaced by “pure” offerings of silk
and gold. Some scriptures emphasize that gold and silk are replacements for the
57
See Shipper and Verellen 2004, 378; and Pregadio 2006, 80-82.
58
Baopuzi Neipian, 4, 14 (Zhuzi jicheng ed.).
older requirement of a blood oath to pledge secrecy. 59 They emphasize that the
offerings serve to show the sincerity of the student and to provide for
ceremonies; however, there are also explicit warnings that Masters should not
use the offerings for their own ends.60 The presence of such warnings in many
texts suggests that there might have been a need for them—that there were
actually masters who did use the pledge offerings to enrich themselves. 61
Since proper transmission of the texts was of major concern in Daoism, many
texts in the Daozang detail the rules for transmission of texts, including lists of
pledge offerings. Even a random sampling of such lists62 shows firstly, that in
59
In Lu Xiujing’s (406-477) Taishang dongxuan lingbao shoudu yi, DZ 528, 1, offerings of silk
and gold are explained as replacements of the offerings of blood and hair required in older forms of
the blood-oath (covenant): 《玉訣》云：令真文五符處丹青中間，以為落髮歃血之盟也。青
以代髮，丹代歃血之盟誓，真人不傷神損德，故以代之爾。
[That the True scripts of the five talismans are placed between cinnabar and green silk, is
because they represent the cutting of the hair and smearing the mouth with blood of the older forms
of covenants. The true being does not harm his body, therefore one uses (silk and cinnabar) to
replace hair and blood.] Compare further Raz 2012, 111.
60
The Wushang biyao 無上必要 [Essence of the Supreme Secrets], DZ 1138, an encyclopaedia
dating to the last quarter of the 6th century, cites in chapter 34 the 洞玄自然經: [Scripture on
Spontaneity from the Cavernous Mystery]:
太上曰：法信以營齋，供養經道香油，為一切作福田及施散山林寒棲道士、世間窮厄六
疾者，法師不得私用，其罪甚重，誤人學道，學道之士慎之，慎之！
Taishang said: Pledge offerings serve to manage the zhai-Ritual, to support and nourish the
scriptures, the Dao, incense and oil (for lamps), this is for all the blessed fields, extending also to
alms giving for Daoists who live as hermits in mountains and forests, and to the poor and destitute
in the world who suffer the six sicknesses, the dharma master is not allowed to use them for his
private ends, the fault of this is extremely severe, it interferes falsely with people studying the Dao,
students of Dao, beware! Beware!
The same chapter cites also an otherwise unknown text Dongzhen gaosheng jinxuan jing 洞真
高聖金玄經 [Scripture of the Golden Mystery of the High Sage of the Cavern of the Perfected]
saying:
凡經師之受盟物，當施散於寒窮，救貧病之急厄，拯山川之餓夫，營神靈之公用，若私
割以自贍，貪溢以為利者，則經師之七祖受長考於地獄，身入風刀。
[When Scripture Masters receive pledge offerings, they have to give them as alms to the poor
and destitute, to save the grave danger of poverty and sickness, and to save the starving in the
forests and mountains, to manage the spiritual efficacy for public use, if there is one of them who
selfishly divides [the offerings] in order to enrich himself, and greedily exaggerates [in partaking of
the offerings] for his own ends, then the seven ancestors of this Scripture Master receive eternal
investigation in hell, he himself will receive the “wind knife” (i.e. the approach of death).]
61
The decidedly economic dimension of the pledge offerings has been pointed out already by
one of the pioneers of the research on the southern schools of Daoism in early medieval China,
Michael Strickmann 1977, 21-26.
62
Two examples shall suffice to make the point: Taizhen jiuzhen mingke 太上九真明科 [The
Sworn Code of the Nine Zhenren], DZ 1409, authored sometime between the 4th and the 6th
centuries, a text of the Shangqing tradition says:
玄都上品第二篇曰：傳《大洞真經三十九章》於後學者，誓以上金十兩，銅二十五斤，
金鈕五雙，金魚、玉龍各一枚，青絲一兩，纏鈕為盟.
[The second part of the upper chapters of the Mysterious Capital says: In order to transmit the
39 verses of the Dadong zhen jing to students, one has to do the covenant with 10 liang (~139,2g)
several cases the required offerings for transmission of texts were so substantial,
that they certainly excluded adepts from the less privileged classes. They further
suggest that these offerings might have been a substantial income for the Daoist
Master—keeping in mind that apart from gold and coins, also silk was used as a
currency in early medieval China.
Secrecy in the Contact Zone 1: Soteriology, ultimate truth and the material
question
The Daoist system of secrecy and esoteric transmission of scriptures, in the
inner logic of Daoism, especially with a view to its soteriological proposition of
immortality, was logically sustainable and reasonable. It guaranteed the
exclusivity of the scriptures and their soteriological teachings, and in addition
contributed possibly substantially to the livelihood of the Daoist Master. Yet,
how did the system fare when it came in direct contact with the exoteric ways of
Buddhism? Was this system sustainable in the contacts with Buddhism,
especially with a view to the assumption that the ultimate truth of both teachings
was one?
The Buddhist model of universal salvation during early medieval times

continued to gain support. One factor in this development might have been the
exoteric nature of this teaching, which allowed an easier spread in the whole
good gold, 25 jin (~ 5568g) of bronze (or copper), five pairs of golden buttons, a golden fish and a
jade dragon, 1 liang (~13.92g) blue silk-threads, which shall be wound around the gold buttons, as
a pledge.]
The Taishang dongshen sanhuang yi 太上洞神三皇仪 [Ritual of the Three Sovereigns], DZ
803, a text belonging to the Sanhuang/Dongshen tradition, written probably in the early Tang
Dynasty contains the following list of pledge offerings (p. 1b):
白绢四十尺，金三两，白银三两，真丹二两，米五斗，薪二束，手巾九条，刀子九口，
澡盆澡盘各一，黄素四十尺，金镮六双，绛纹三十尺，银镮一双，朱五斤，紫绫四十尺，碧
丝五两，黄布八十尺，黄纸一百张，黄笔一双，金刀一口，五方彩三丈九尺，东青九尺，南
绛三尺，西白七尺，北皂五尺，中央黄一十二尺，皆用纹。右二十一件，某受三皇一部法信
。
[40 foot white Juan-silk, 3 liang gold, 3 liang silver, 2 liang real cinnabar, 5 pecks of rice, 2
bundles of firewood, 9 kerchiefs, 9 knifes, a bathtub and a washing bowl, 40 foot (= 1 bolt) of
yellow Juan-silk, 6 pairs of golden rings, 39 foot red patterned silk, 1 pair of silver rings, 5 jin of
red ink (the term zhu is unclear F.A.), 40 foot (1 bolt) of purple damask-silk, 5 liang green silk
threads, 80 foot (2 bolts) yellow cloth, 100 sheets of yellow paper, one pair of yellow brushes, a
golden knife, 3 zhang and 9 foot purple damask silk, 5 liang green silk threads, 80 foot (2 bolts) of
yellow cloth, 100 sheets of yellow paper, a pair of yellow brushes, a golden knife, 3 zhang and 9
foot of colored silk in the colors of the five directions: 9 foot green for the east, 3 foot red for the
south, 7 foot white for the west, 5 foot black for the north and 12 foot yellow for the middle, all
made of patterned silk. These 21 items are the pledge offerings for transmission of the Sanhuang
scriptures. ]
society, which in turn then served to give clout to the movement in form of wide
support of the people. Beginning with the Lingbao scriptures of the early fifth
century, we find evidence that the Buddhist concept of universal salvation was
adopted also by Daoists. It is by now well known that especially the Lingbao
Scriptures unabashedly incorporated Buddhist concepts into their teachings.63 It
seems that in a first stage of adaptation of Buddhist exoteric conceptions in
Daoism, the claim of universal salvation was adopted without giving up the
requirement of secrecy altogether. Thus, for example, the Lingbao Duren jing 靈
寳度人經 [Scripture of Salvation of the Lingbao], claims on one hand the
universal nature of the salvation, as in the following passages:
說經十遍，枯骨更生，皆起成人。是時，一國是男是女，莫不傾心，皆受護
渡，咸得長生。
“When he expounded the scripture for the tenths time….At once the whole
kingdom, male and female, inclined their hearts to the Dao. All received protection
and salvation. All achieved long life.” 64 Or, in the same text, ;
仙道貴生無量度人
“The Way of transcendence values life, providing limitless salvation for
humanity.” 65
Yet, we also find the stanzas:

有秘上天文，諸天共所崇。泄慢墮地獄，禍及七祖翁。
“One, who is able to keep this text of the highest heavens secret, will be honored in
all of the heavens alike. Those who leak it or are remiss will fall into the earth
prisons and disaster will reach even to the heads of their seventh generation
ancestors.” 66
These and other passages in the text indicate that the claim of providing
universal salvation did not overwrite the esoteric characteristics of the texts and
the secrecy that accompanied the transmission of the sacred Daoist scriptures.
However, the adoption of the concept of universal salvation and the presence of
Buddhism with its exoteric, easily accessible scriptures – scriptures, which the
epistemological and philosophical discourse of Daoists and Buddhists claimed
to contain the same ultimate truth – must have posed a challenge to the
established Daoist ways of secret transmission of scriptures. One major question
63
Cf. for example Bokenkamp 2004, 326.
64
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu, 1:12, (191b); translation Bokenkamp
1997, 406-407.
65
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu, 3:21b (230b); translation
Bokenkamp 1997, 423-424.
66
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu, 3:33b (237b); translation
Bokenkamp 1997, 427.
was certainly tied to the material question: why give expensive pledge offerings
to receive Daoist scriptures, when Buddhist scriptures were for free?
The issue of pledge offerings and secrecy in the diffusion of scriptures in
Daoism in relation to the exoteric model of scriptural diffusion of Buddhism was
addressed in a passage in the Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei
jing 太上洞玄靈寶智慧定志通微經, [Most High Lingbao Scripture on Wisdom,
Fixing the Will and Penetrating the Sublime (DZ 325)], which originated around
400 as part of the original Lingbao scriptures. The context of the passage is an
elaborate explanation of the previous career of a Perfected called Fajie, 法解,
“he who explains the teaching”67, and his former wife, which affirms that both
have reached insight into ultimate truth. Fajie and his wife are then equated with
the Perfected of Mysterious Truth of the Left and Perfected of Mysterious Truth
of the Right respectively – thus assigning a [previous] female gender to the
Perfected of Mysterious Truth of the Right.68 Later on in the text, we learn that
“the disciples of this (female) Perfected of Mysterious Truth of the Right are
called Sramanas and laymen” (youxuan dizi,sngmen jushi 右玄弟子，桑門居
士); 69 thus the text refers here to the Buddhists, identifying the two Perfected
with Buddhism and Daoism respectively.
The Heavenly Worthy explains the different rules of transmission:
天尊於是告右玄真人曰：卿受此經，可擇其人傳，不須法信。又告左玄真人
曰：卿受此經，當依冥典法信，所用金錢，紋繒等物，皆令如式。….
The Heavenly worthy told the Perfected of Mysterious Truth to the Right: When
you receive this scripture, you can choose the people to whom you transmit it, you
do not need to [request] pledge offerings. Furthermore, the told the Perfected of
mysterious truth to the left: When you receive this scripture, you have to conform
to the secret ceremonies and pledge offerings, the gold, money, silk and these
things all have to conform to the regulations. 70
67
This Perfected also plays an important role in the Benji jing.
68
The idea to correlate Buddhism with female gender and Daoism with male gender was not
new. It allowed to acknowledge some sort of spiritual equality, the oneness of ultimate truth, while
still maintaining a “biological” difference – a difference which at the time most probably implied a
lower ranking for the teaching associated with female gender, corresponding to the position of
women in society. We find this concept also in the apologetic literature, see e.g. Xiaodao lun 8, (in
Guang Hongmingji T 2103, 9, p. 146c2), cf. Kohn 1995, 79. Compare further the Santian neijie
jing, DZ 1205, translated in Bokenkamp 1997, 222-223.
69
Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing , DZ 325: 14 (893b-c).
70
Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing , DZ 325: 13-14 (893b). The next
passage in the text details these regulations: 此法出自虛无浩素元君之凝思，五方元老常所寶
修，受者別齎上金五分，素絲五兩，以脆五方元老之靈。本命紋繒，上壽百二十歲，計歲餘
一，公王一疋，中人一丈，貧者一尺。此三種物，慎不可闕。闕而彊受，受者有罪，其中增
降，以貧富量之。[This teaching originates from the concentrated thoughts of the Original Lord
of Empty Nonbeing and Vast Simplicity, it is what the Original Elders of the Five Directions (five
However, the Daoist Perfected of Mysterious Truth to the Left does not
readily accept this difference in scriptural transmission, where his scripture can
be transmitted only with pledge offerings, and the Buddhist can give the same
scripture away freely:
左玄真人心疑不平，因白天尊曰：右玄真人受此經文，不須信物，而反見使
頓責如許，經法是一同，即有二異，其可解乎。
The Perfected of the Mysterious Truth to the Left remained with a doubt in his
heart and was not tranquil [about his issue], therefore he addressed the Heavenly
Worthy:
“The perfected of Mysterious Truth of the right, when receiving this scripture, does
not need pledge offerings, but on the contrary [I ] see that [you] have arranged [my]
responsibilities like this, since the teaching of the scripture is one, how can there be
these two differences, can you explain it?”
天尊曰：非為偏也、子未知乎。眾兆不同，心心各異，故開二塗，其歸一
也。所以爾者，右玄弟子，桑門居士，居士普行乞求，破惡以為法橋，能有
施者，福報萬倍。故今授經，不重責信。卿今弟子，縱使分衛，以乞求度
人，人無與者，更益彼罪，信心無表，何由得度。今故制以法信。法信之
報，報在無量，如經無盡，不妨右玄布施福也。
The Heavenly Worthy answered: “It is not, that I am biased, you do not understand.
The many beings are not all the same, each mind is different; therefore I open two
ways, [ultimately] they come down to one. This is so, because the disciples of the
Mystery of the Right are Śramanas [Buddhist monks] and Lay Buddhist followers;
the lay followers 71 go around everywhere begging, [they take] breaking the evil as
the bridge of the teaching [for salvation], if there are people that donate [danapatis],
the blessed rewards [for this] are 10.000 fold. That is why when I give him the
scripture today, I do not additionally oblige him [to give] pledges. Your disciples,
even if they live on alms and want to save the people by begging for alms, the
people who do not give, they add to their guilt, their devotion has no [way to]
manifest itself, so how could they “cross over” [to salvation]. Now this is why I
have established the pledge offerings. The reward of the pledge offerings, this
reward is limitless, just like the scriptures are limitless; it does not interfere with the
blessings of alms giving of the Mystery of the Right.
emperors) treasure and practice, who receives it has in addition to offer five fen of good gold, five
liang of white silk threads in order to propitiate (? the term cui 脆, literally brittle, is unclear. FA)
the spiritual efficacy of the Original Elders of the Five Directions. Silk cloth according to one’s
age, up to an age of 120 years, one should count the number of years plus one; dukes and princes
should [offer] one bolt [for each year of their life], middle class people one zhang, and poor people
one foot. These three things can absolutely not be amiss. Are they amiss and one receives [the
scripture] nevertheless, the blame is on him who receives, the increase and decrease among them
(in the quantity of the silk) has to be measured according to poverty or wealth.]
71
The use of the term jushi, lay followers, seems unclear – it should be the monks, not the lay
followers, who go around begging. Possibly the Daoist text does not distinguish between monastic
and lay Buddhists, throwing both into the same category of “Buddhists” – as “the other”.
天尊又曰：右玄弟子施居士者，是能减割施財與人，福報萬倍，萬倍有盡。
左玄弟子齎信受經，此為信道，則是施財於道，是故福報如經無盡。左玄真
人雖奉教旨，心猶未體福報如經無盡之理，理復云何。
The Heavenly Worthy further said: The Disciples of the Mystery of the Right give
alms and are lay followers, thus they can diminish, divide and offer wealth to other
people, the ten-thousand-fold reward is limited.
The Disciples of the Mystery of the Left offer pledges to receive scriptures, this is
the way of the pledges, this is giving wealth to the Dao, therefore the blessed
reward is like the scriptures without limits.
The perfected of the Mystery of the Left, even though he received the instruction,
in his heart he still did not fully understand the principle of the blessed rewards
being unlimited like the scriptures. How can this principle be said again?
天尊知其心念，即語大賢：卿有疑耶，無所嫌也。所以云福報如經無盡也，
何以故。譬卿得此經，寫治一通，傳與一人、十人、百人、千萬人、千億萬
人不可計。人人寫一通、一通無限量通，彌布無外。
卿本猶存法信之報，如此無盡。假令卿今以一金萬金，從師受經，後得福報
如經無盡，隨復永無耗竭，恐弟子中脫有未悟，為近譬耳。
The Heavenly Worthy knew his thoughts, so he told the Sage: Your doubt has not
been relieved yet. Why did I say: ‘The blessed rewards are as unlimited as the
scriptures?’ [I said it to] illustrate that if you obtain this scripture, and you write
and study it once, and you transmit it to one person, ten persons, one hundred
persons, ten million persons, thousands of ten-thousands of people, so many that it
is uncountable. Each of these writes it once, [as long as each person only copies the
text] once, there are no limitations to the number [of such transmissions], so the
[scriptures] are spread everywhere. If you originally keep the pledge offering
reward, this is like this without limits. So if you today take one [piece of] gold or
ten thousand [pieces] of gold, [as offering it in order to] receive the scripture from a
teacher, later on you will get the blessed rewards like the scriptures without limits.
And following this again, forever without end.
This long passage reflects presumably the doubts, which must have risen as a
result of the combination of a claim to universal truth on one hand and the
contacts of esoteric and exoteric models of scriptural diffusion on the other
hand. Why should Daoists be required to offer expensive pledge offerings for a
teaching, that claimed to lead to the same truth as the Buddhist teaching, which
was freely available? The answer to this doubt is presumably intended to
establish the ultimate superiority of the Daoist esoteric system of scriptural
diffusion. It shows that the pledge offerings were conceived as a material reward
and that a master could “regain” his initial expense for obtaining a scripture by
transmitting it and receiving pledge offerings himself. This material aspect is
differentiated from the “rewards of believing in the Dao”, which make the adept
intelligent etc., which are discussed separately in the text. 72
72
Cf. Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing DZ 325: 15 (894a) :
This relatively early discussion of the respective advantages of the exoteric

and esoteric models of diffusion originated most probably at a time, when the
competition between Buddhism and Daoism had not yet reached the stage of
open debate and confrontation. Daoist scriptures co-opted Buddhist tenets,
teachings and concepts, and as the example showed even engaged in an
evaluation of the respective methods of the two teachings, in scriptures, which
were accessible only to other Daoists, but not to Buddhists.
The interaction with the “other” religion was therefore not in an open
“contact-zone”, but on “home ground”, in an environment, where only fellow
believers, i.e. Daoists, had access. However, this should change fast, and in the
early medieval period direct open confrontations between representatives of
both religions should become more and more frequent.73
Secrecy in the Contact Zone 2. The attractiveness of secrecy and its

shortcomings in the environment of the court
One important platform for open confrontations between Daoists and
Buddhists was the environment of the court, where representatives of both
religions began to compete for the same clients, including the emperor.
Daoist representatives of chongxuan xue and Buddhists representatives of the
sanlun and tiantai schools, whose efforts to inscribe their respective teachings in
the mystery met in the “literary” contact zone as discussed above, were also the
ones with particularly close ties to the court and the elite in the capital. 74
Addressing this audience, which included the emperor, Buddhism and Daoism
had originally two different, both powerful, strategies.
Buddhism, in China prevalently Mahayana Buddhism, offered an exoteric
model of universal salvation. All the emperor had to do was sponsor the sangha,
so the sangha could do its mission work, and people would become not only
enlightened (which might have been of minor interest for the emperor), but also
天尊曰：既能信道，用信道故，故能信經，减損身口，以用受經，財報無盡，故謂無
量，加得信道之福。信道之福，令人精神聰明，智慧如經無盡。
[The Heavenly Worthy said: Since you can believe in the Dao and use pledges to the Dao,
therefore you can believe in the scripture, decrease body and food in order to receive the scripture;
the reward of wealth has no end, therefore it is called limitless, in addition you get the blessing of
believing in the Dao. The blessing of believing in the Dao, it makes man’s spirit intelligent and his
wisdom endless like the scriptures.]
73
For a discussion of the development of the Buddho-Daoist confrontations in early medieval
China see Kohn 1995 and Assandri 2004: 36-67.
74
The most important representatives of the chongxuan philosophy in Daoism were active in
the capital and the environment of the court (Assandri 2009, 27-47), also Jizang and Tiantai Zhiyi
had close ties to the courts of their times (cf. Weinstein 1987, 10-11 and 1973, 283-284).
morally good and content.75 Going one step further, the emperor —provided he
did sponsor the Buddhists— was identified as a Buddha himself, 76 bringing
universal salvation and deserving adoration and reverence. The teachings in this
model were accessible to all; a panacea extending from peasants to princes.
Daoism instead proposed secret methods to gain and immortality and power
to rule well and bring about Great Peace. These teachings were not to be shared
and imparted only to a few initiated. Reaching the Dao by way of secret
teachings, knowledge and methods would bring both, personal immortality, and
power to rule and successfully practice good government. These two aspects,
power and immortality, were emphasized variedly, some emperors sponsored
Daoists to create elixirs, 77 some emperors inquired teachings relating to good
governance from Daoists,78 some did both.
For the rulers, who were sometimes initiated also into the secret Daoist
scriptures, 79 both teachings, the esoteric and the exoteric one, must have been
attractive; both had their merits. In fact, during medieval times emperors usually
had contacts to Daoist masters and Buddhists at the same time. Considering the
respective advantages and necessities of exoteric and esoteric models in this
context might prove a useful tool to understand the dynamics involved. If we
75
Compare for an early example Zhi Dun’s introduction to his “Eulogy on an image of the
Buddha Sakyamuni”, in Guang Hongming ji, T 2103, 15, 195c-196b, translated in Zürcher 1959,
177-179. Compare further Jülch 2011, 79 and 72-74.
76
See Shilaozhi 釋老志 [Essay on Buddhism and Daoism] in Wei shu114), where the monk
Faguo is reported to have proposed this with regard to the Emperor Taizu of Wei Dynasty:
77
Examples would be Wu Zetian (Rothschild 2010, 41f), Sui Yangdi, who asked Pan Dan to
brew him an elixir of longevity (Xiong 2006, 151).
78
Bumbacher 2000, 204: Emperor Wen of the Song summoned Lu Xiujing to lecture on
Daoism. Bumbacher 2000, 222: Meng Jingyi lectured on behalf of the state for Liang Wudi.
Bumbacher 2000, 237: Tao Hongjing was requested by the emperor of Qi in 496 to pray for the
state. We may note here, that Tao Hongjing’s attempts to produce the elixir of immortality were
also sponsored by emperors of his time (cf. Strickmann 1979 and Huayang Taoyinju neizhuan 華陽
陶隱居内傳 (Biography of Tao [Hongjing], the Hermit of Huayang), DZ 300; see also Nanshi, 76,
which details how the emperor sponsored Tao’s alchemical efforts as well as asked him for advice
for governing.
79
A detailed study of the question of emperors initiation into esoteric Daoist scriptures has yet
to be done, however, we do know that the Imperial library of the Northern Zhou at least must have
held many of the secret Daoist scriptures, because it served as the source of the Xiaodao lun (op
cit). We also have some sparse records of emperors being initiated into the esoteric Shangqing or
Lingbao scriptures: for example Sui Yangdi 隋煬帝 (r. 604-618) became a disciple of Wang
Yuanzhi 王遠知 (d. 635) (Xiong 2006, 148-149). Zhao Daoyi 趙道一, writing in the 13th century,
relates that in 560 Wei Jie 韋節 (497-569) was called to the court and bestowed the Lingbao wufu
chishu zhenwen 靈寳五符赤書真文 (refers to Yuanshiwulao chishu yupian zhenwen tianshu jing
元始五老赤書玉篇真文天書經 (Scripture on the True Writ of the Five Ancients of the Primordial
Beginning, Red Writings in Celestial Script on Jade Tablets), DZ 22, to the emperor Wu of the
Northern Zhou. (Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian 歷史真仙體道通鋻 (Comprehensive Mirror of
Immortals who Embodied the Dao through he Ages) DZ 296, 29,4b, cf. Kohn 1991, 167-170.)
start our inquiries from the question of an emperor’s needs, we can discern that
both models catered to different needs, and were thus both useful and
complementary. While both religions offered access to the realm of the unseen,
enlisting powerful support from various deities, the exoteric Buddhist concept of
universal salvation offered a way to “transform” the people and thus bring
“Great peace” to the empire, whereas a secret Daoist teaching could offer
personal strength and power, not to forget longevity in this world, to an emperor
– which also would result in “Great Peace.” As stated above, the soteriological
proposition of Daoism was intrinsically geared as a benefit for a few, the secrecy
with which the teachings were imparted could not be done away with.
Yet, in the social realities of the ongoing competition with Buddhism, this
same secrecy had certain disadvantages. With the development of public court
debate as a forum for representatives of Buddhism and Daoism to propagate and
discuss their teachings – a forum which gained importance during Six Dynasties
period and Tang times80 – it actually proved to be a severe handicap.
A court debate between Daoists and Buddhists in early Tang was a major
event held before hundreds of guests, including the emperor.81
The tradition of religious court debate, which is traceable back through most
of Nanbeichao 南北朝 time, should be seen in close relation to the formation of
Daoism as an entity that presented itself in competition to Buddhism at court.
This competition probably played a role as a catalyst in the integration
process of Daoism: Whereas in reality there were different traditions, different
schools and different claims to having the most potent, most original scriptures
within Daoism, at the same time Daoism in the environment of the court found
itself to stand up against Buddhism as the Daoism, comparable to the Buddhism
(which also at the time held different teachings).
It is noteworthy that many Daoist Masters involved in the systematization and
integration of Daoism had participated in debates with Buddhists. 82
80
See Assandri 2009a, 9-32
81
Assandri 2004, 68-119.
82
Lu Xiujing, who established the tripartite division of the Sandong of the Daoist canon, was
called by Song Mingdi after 467 to debate at court (Sandong zhunang, DZ 1139, 2, 5a-b; cf.
Bumbacher 2000, 212f). Meng Zhizhou 孟智周, author of the Yuwei qibu jingshu mulu 玉緯七部
經書目錄 [Catalogue of the Scriptures in Seven Parts including the Jade Appendices], the
systematization which added four supplements to the Sandong 三洞 (Three Caverns) in order to
accommodate also other scriptures and traditions in the Daoist canon, debated against Fayun 法云,
prominent monk at the court of Liang Wudi (see Bumbacher 2000, 258). Meng Jingyi 孟景翼, who
was probably author of the earlier version of the seven partite system expressed in the Zhengyi jing
正一經 [Scripture of Orthodox Unity], debated with the Buddhists in a public debate organized by
Prince Jingling of the Qi dynasty (see Bumbacher 2000, 221). Gu Huan, who was instrumental in
collecting Shangqing scriptures and wrote the original blueprint of Tao Hongjing’s Zhengao 真誥
In the various records of court debates from the Six dynasties and early Tang,
it becomes obvious that the Daoists were limited to present the Daode jing, the
Zhuangzi or similar other texts which did not require secrecy in public
propagation.83 Their most potent and most sophisticated texts – the Shangqing
scriptures, which also in the internal Daoist hierarchy were considered the
highest and most valuable scriptures, could not be preached or revealed in
public. A Daoist text from the 5th century confirms this dilemma:
道家經之大者，莫過五千文，大洞玄真之訪也。...。五千文是道德之祖宗，
真中之真，不聞穢賤，終始可輪讀，敷言妙義，則王侯致治，齋而誦之，則
身得飛仙，七祖護慶，反胎受形，上生天堂，下生人中王侯之門也，皆須口
訣。洞真道欲稱，可誦之以致雲龍，不得人間詠之。人間詠之，大魔王敗之
也。(lines 44-52)
„As far as the importance of the Daoist Sutras is concerned, nothing is superior to
the Classic in 5000 words (i.e. the Daode jing), and the [texts of] the visits of the
Mysterious Perfected [collected in the] Great Cavern [of Dongxuan 洞玄 (Mystery
Cavern) and Dongzhen 洞真 (Cavern of the Perfected)]. 84 … The Daode jing is the
ancestor of Dao and De, the truth in the truth, it knows neither impurity nor
commonness, beginning and end can be constantly recited and its wonderful
meaning can be proclaimed, thus kings and lords can govern. If it is recited in
ritual, one can obtain to become a flying immortal. … About the Dao of the Cavern
of the Perfected (Dongzhen): If one wants to perfect it, one may recite [the
Dongzhen texts] in order to call down cloud dragons, but one may not recite [this
text] among men. If one recites it among men, one will be destroyed by the
great demon king. …”85
The restrictions with regard to transmission and spread of the Shangqing

scriptures might have been one of the major underlying reasons for inscribing
the method of the tetra lemma into the text of the Daode jing; it allowed
representatives of Daoism to present their teachings, which included exoteric
models of universal salvation, with the text of the Daode jing, a text which was
[Declarations of the Perfected DZ 1016], started a great polemical debate with his Yixia lun 夷夏論
[Treatise on Barbarians and Chinese] (in Hongming ji, T 2103, 6 and 7).
83
Compare Assandri 2004 and 2009.
84
The Chinese text 大洞玄真之訪 is enigmatic or corrupt at this point. The sentence might well
refer to the Dadong zhen [jing] 大洞真經, or Shangqing dadong zhenjing 上清大洞真經, a major
text from the Shangqing tradition, that was said to have been transmitted by Perfected in nightly
visits – the term fang 訪 might be interpreted as a reference to these. However, this interpretation
leaves the term xuan unaccounted for, and since the text further on refers to the Daode jing, the
Dongzhen texts and the Dongxuan texts, it might well be that xuan and zhen refer not to Perfected
transmitting scriptures, but concretely to the Dongxuan and Dongzhen sections of the Daoist Canon,
and that there is a copyist error, and we should emend a second dong before zhen 大洞玄[洞]真之
訪.
85
Taiji zuoxiangong Qingwen jing 太極左仙公請問經, 1, S 1351, line 44-55. (In: Wang
Chengwen 1998, 197. See Assandri 2004, 558.)
not restricted with regard to public propagation, and which had a longstanding
pedigree as a subject of public debate. 86
Yet, even if the new interpretations of the Daode jing, proposed by Daoists
who were active in the environments of the court, allowed to present Daoist
soteriological teachings to some extent in public debate, the disadvantage of the
secrecy of Daoist scriptures, and the resulting limitation for their texts to be
presented at court, must have been felt as a severe problem.
We find a reflection of this issue in the Benji jing 本際經, a Daoist scripture
closely related to the chongxuan philosophy, whose manuscripts form almost a
quarter of the Daoist texts found in Dunhuang, 87 attesting to its popularity at the
time. This text claims the potential of universal salvation deriving from the
efficacious texts of Daoism, and explicitly avows the esotericism of the earlier
scriptures. It addresses two different aspects of the dilemma of secrecy:
In chapter five, we find an interesting scene in the heavens. Lord Lao –
presumed author of the exoteric Daode jing, rebukes the deity Fusang dadi 扶桑
大帝, ruler of the immortals, after Fusang had asked him to share his teachings
with the lower ranking immortals to open up the ways to the highest mysteries
for them:
時老君怡然更貌，含笑而答太帝君曰：帝君所寶玉清隱書，上清高旨，神真
虎文，太清神丹，琴心要誦，唯深隱秘，不使中仙所聞，而乃見勤授此下
仙道德之奧乎？其可解耶？88
At this point Lord Lao showed a friendlier bearing. He smiled and answered Lord
Great Emperor [Fusang]: “The secret scriptures of Jade Clarity which you, Lord
Emperor, treasure, the eminent decrees of Highest Clarity, the prayer texts of
Divine Perfection, the potent cinnabar of Great Clarity (太清) 89, the Scripture of
the Inner Luminants of the Yellow Court (黃庭内景經)90 – if you want to recite
them, you only do it in deepest secrecy! You never let immortals of medium rank
hear them, yet now you call on me and urge me to teach the profound subtleties of
Dao and virtue to these low ranking creatures? How do you explain that?”
86
For the details of this presentation of exoteric teachings and conceptions of universal
salvation in the interpretation of the Daode jing see Assandri 2005 and Assandri 2009.
87
The first complete reconstructed edition of his text, of which only two of its originally 10
chapters had survived in the Daozang (2nd chapter under the title Benji miao jing 本際妙經， DZ
1111, and the 9th chapter under the title Kaiyan mimizang jing 開演秘密藏經 DZ 329) based on the
Dunhuang manuscripts was presented by Wu Ch’i-yü 1960. A second, collated and revised edition
was published by Wan Yi 1998. A third edition was published by Ye Guiliang 2010. I have
discussed the passage related below in Assandri 2008.
88
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5. P 2366, lines 68-72; Wan Yi 1998, 430.
89
These lines refer to the scriptures of the Three Caverns matching the three heavens of Great
Clarity, Highest Clarity, and Jade Clarity.
90
Qinxin 琴心 refers to an alternative title of the Huangting neijing jing (Kohn 2004, 145).
Fusang excuses himself, referring to the restrictions of secrecy imposed on

the scriptures related to his teachings:
大帝謝曰：薄德盲能，位當於此，非不念傳後學，而威禁難達.91
“Being of poor virtue and little capability, my position has to be like this. It is not
that I do not think of transmitting [these texts] to less gifted students, but the severe
prohibitions [to divulge the scriptures to the uninitiated] are hard to oppose. 92
This section of the Benji jing draws attention to the internal Daoist polemics
against the secrecy and esotericism. Esotericism of course did not only keep
non-Daoists away from the scriptures, but also Daoists, because not every
scripture was accessible to every Daoist. It is in this context quite plausible that
initiated members of one tradition did not consent to show their scriptures to
members of other Daoist traditions – their rancor is reflected in this passage.
This inner-sectarian esotericism had to be certainly resolved in the context of a
Daoist religion that presented itself as a unified institutionalized religion. It
eventually was resolved in the form of a hierarchical initiation order within
Daoism, however, this process involved inner-Daoist competition for the higher
ranks within this order – and it is this competition which is reflected in the cited
passage from the Benji jing.
On a different occasion, the same text also addresses the question of
esotericism towards outsiders, the issue of esoteric initiation, in a rather
straightforward manner: In the first chapter, Zhang Daoling raises the question
about the practicalities of transmitting the sūtra to men:
正一真人三天法師白天遵曰:。。。若將來時有善男子女人來詣師門，求欲清
受，不審傳授其法云何？天尊答云：傳此經者，不須法信，當觀其心，具
十善願，便可授之。 93
“The Perfected Man of Orthodox Unity, Master of the Three Heavens (Zhengyi
zhenren santian fashi) [i.e. Zhang Daoling] said to the Heavenly Worthy: ‘…… If
in the future good men and good women come to ask me to be their teacher, and
they desire to receive [this teaching], it is not [yet] clear how to transmit this
method.’ The Heavenly Worthy answered: ‘To transmit this sūtra, you do not
need any pledge offerings, you have to look at their minds, they have to have ten
good vows, then you can transmit it.” 94
91
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5. P 2366, lines 72-73; Wan Yi 1998, 430
92
“Severe prohibitions” refers to the prohibition of divulging the scriptures to the uninitiated. Cf.
Bokenkamp 1997, 313, 283, 427.
93
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5, Dunhuang Manuscript P 3371, lines 204-207; Wan Yi 1998, 391.
94
The ten good vows, or good intentions refer to being intent to (1) leave the world, (2)become
a monk, (3)when meeting friends to explain the teaching, (4) find famous teachers, (5) hear the
correct teaching and practice it, (6) see the deity Tianzun 天尊, (7) save all beings, and to put
themselves behind and other people in the front, (8) dispel ignorance with the sound of the
This statement shall serve to underscore wider implications of the question of

esotericism vs exotericism.
The pledge offerings, which as we have seen above could be rather
substantial, presumably assured an income to the Daoist Master. At the same
time, like an expensive price tag of a luxury item, they assured the exclusivity of
the scriptures. Renouncing openly to this practice would have opened the circle
of possible recipients of the scripture: the originally esoteric Daoist teaching
now was open to all, in line with the claim of offering universal salvation to all
beings.
This rejection of pledge offerings in the milieu of the Daoists in the capital of
the Sui and Early Tang, as expressed in the Benji jing cited above, indicates a
shift towards exotericism of this particular Daoism – a shift that was in line with
the soteriological proposal of universal salvation and with the need of the
Daoists to propagate their teachings on a public stage. At the same time, it
suggests also that the means of existence of the Daoist priests must have come
from another source than before: instead of relying on payments made by
disciples, the subsistence of the Daoists could have been guaranteed by state-
sponsorship of temples. In fact, the biographies of the Daoist masters called
representatives of chongxuan xue all mention that they lived in the big state
sponsored temples. Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667), in his Fo Dao lunheng remarks
that Daoist initiated into the Sanhuang wen 三皇文 [Scriptures of the Three
Sovereigns] would receive land-allotments from the emperor. 95 The required
text of Sanhuang wen would be changed into the Daode jing eventually 96 –
responding to the fact that Laozi was regarded as ancestor of the Tang. Daoist
Masters, renouncing to independent income from pledge offerings, would have
become more dependent – and controllable - from the court or the imperial
administration. At the same time, also the control of admission to the circles of
adepts – a control that was in the hands of the Daoist Masters before, could be
switched largely to other agents or institutions, like the imperial administration.
All of this fits well with the concept of an emerging state-sponsored Daoism; in
fact Daoism became the first religion of the state in Tang dynasty. It implies a
rather drastic change in the social and economic structures of Daoism in that
period.
teaching, (9) make all beings gain interest in the [way of salvation of the] Dao, and (10) that their
own heart is immovably set on these intentions. See P 3371, lines 209-217, in: Wan Yi 1998, 391.
95
Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng T 2104, 3, 386a26.
96
Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng, T 2104, 3, 386b8.
Yet, we have to beware to think this was a change that encompassed “all” of
Daoism. In spite of early Tang scriptures from the chongxuan environment
calling for open transmission and arguing against secrecy, ritual compendia of
Tang dynasty continue to list the pledge offerings required for initiation into
different scriptures. 97 Therefore it seems that esoteric scriptures continued to be
esoteric, even if in the emerging state sponsored form of Daoism other, mostly
newer, exoteric scriptures were propagated. And the esoteric scriptures kept
their attractiveness: Ritual compendia confirm that the esoteric scriptures were
tied to the highest ranks in the internal Daoist hierarchy.
The above remarks underscore that even though there was a clear need for
exoteric teachings in Daoism in order to compete efficiently with Buddhism and
in order to be able to become the state religion it did become under the Tang, the
esoteric sides were not lost at all. Secrecy and secret scriptures continued to be
attractive for Daoists and outsiders. Obviously, the nature of secrecy is such that
it resists scholarly inquiry to a large extent, precisely because it is kept secret.
Only in rare cases, like in the heated competition of the early Tang between
Buddhists and Daoists, a period where many changes happened, which involved
also aspects of secrecy, do we get glimpses of the issue; most of it remains
hidden.
While today we have access to the secret scriptures of early medieval Daoism
in the Daoist Canon, we need to keep in mind that the printing of this canon
dates to 1926 only. Earlier editions of the Daoist canon were generally limited to
Daoist monasteries and the imperial library – the emperor and the initiated
Masters. And even after the printing, and recently digitalizing, of the Daoist
canon, anthropological studies refer that Daoists today use texts which are
handed down secretly, sometimes orally only, and which are not contained in the
Daoist canon.98
All of this points to the fact that secrecy in Daoism never lost its
attractiveness. Exoteric teachings were needed in the competition with
Buddhism, and they were developed, yet they did not completely supersede the
esoteric teachings, testifying to the lasting attractiveness of secrecy in Daoism.
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See for example Chuanshou jingjie yi zhujue DZ 1238. [618-649], Chuanshou sandong
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See e.g. Herrou 2013, 57, or Saso, 1978, 128.
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Mystery and Secrecy in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism

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Mystery and Secrecy in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism

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MYSTERY AND SECRECY IN THE CONTACT OF DAOISM AND

BUDDHISM IN EARLY MEDIEVAL CHINA

The following discussion of some aspects of mystery and secrecy in the

Secret as a “blank space” and interface of transfer:

understanding of the notion of “secret” in many of its connotations, and how

Dao is charged with a multitude of concrete associations, 7 whereas xuan leaves

These two passages (emphasis mine), mention two essential characteristics of

1. It is intrinsically linguistically not definable and epistemologically not

2. Strategies of dealing with Mystery:

Mystery as the epistemological indefinite: The Xuanxue interpretation of the

This epistemologically indefinite xuan became a space, which Buddhists and

The sentence commented here, “diminishing and diminishing again” (損之又

Mystery as a contact zone of philosophy in 6th and 7th century.

one religion is “subdued” or “dominated” by another. Instead, a multilevel

The “literary” contact zone: early Tang Daoist chongxuan commentaries to

during the southern dynasties. 35 In an interesting passage he refutes an

the interpretation of the Daode jing in terms of Mādhyamika dialectics. 44 In his

“Twofold mystery” in this interpretation designates a method like the tetra

3. Strategies of dealing with Mystery

Secrecy on the social level.

could potentially disturb a natural balance in “this” world. It is noteworthy here,

Material aspects of Secrecy in Daoism

recipients. As the bibliographic chapter 19 of the third-century Baopuzi

Another example of offerings in the context of a blood-oath is cited in

The Buddhist model of universal salvation during early medieval times

Yet, we also find the stanzas:

This relatively early discussion of the respective advantages of the exoteric

Secrecy in the Contact Zone 2. The attractiveness of secrecy and its

The restrictions with regard to transmission and spread of the Shangqing

Fusang excuses himself, referring to the restrictions of secrecy imposed on

This statement shall serve to underscore wider implications of the question of

Bailun 百論 (Śāta-śāstra), T 1569.

Taishang dongshen sanhuang yi 太上洞神三皇仪, DZ 803.

Yao xiu keyi jielu chao 要修科儀戒律鈔, DZ 463.

Bumbacher, Stephan-Peter. 2012. Empowered Writing. Exorcistic and Apotropaic

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