Journal of Daoist Studies

The Six Dynasties, Sui, and early Tang dynasties were a period of intense and complex development for Daoism. New scriptures, new gods, and new cosmological systems appeared, and Daoism found its way into the highest levels of society and the imperial court. This necessitated a streamlining and integration of very different traditions and teachings. Imperial patronage, competition with Buddhism, as well as dedicated work by proponents of different Daoist currents created a complex interplay, which still has to be studied in detail. This task is especially daunting because historical or historiographical documentation concerning the development of Daoism in the Six Dynasties is rather scarce.

In this paper, I propose a hermeneutic reading of the framework narrative of the Benji jing 本際經 (Scripture on the Original Beginning) to gain some insights about this development. The text was composed during the Sui and early Tang dynasties, a time when the process of integration was well advanced but had not yet concluded. The framework narrative, as seen in the hermeneutical context of the historical development of Daoism, reflects internal Daoist struggles and highlights the problems of the esoteric transmission of scriptures. A closer look at the position of the deity Laozi in the text, moreover, betrays tensions between him and the various deities of the southern traditions. The latter had increasingly eclipsed him until the rise of the Tang re-established him in the first ranks of the Daoist pantheon. I argue that these tensions may very well reflect tensions among different groups of Daoists in the process of integration during the Sui and the early Tang.