The Scripture on the Five Emperors in the Five Directions: Evidence of the Spread of Taoism Amongst the Naxi

Chunfeng Zhang and Jianjun Zhu

SAGE Open, 2023, vol. 13, issue 1, 21582440231153125

Abstract: As residents of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands, the Naxi people have their own native religion, which manifests a mixture of indigenous beliefs with Tibetan Bon and Buddhism. A pictographic Scripture on the Five Emperors in the Five Directions discovered in Lijiang reveals in detail for the first time the influence of Chinese Taoism on the Naxi manuscripts. By analyzing the manuscript and the related religious rituals, it is proved that the prototype of the main figure in the manuscript comes from the Taoist classic of TaiShang DongYuan Zhao ZhuTianLongWang WeiMiao ShangPin å¤ªä¸Šæ´žæ·µå ¬è«¸å¤©é¾ çŽ‹å¾®å¦™ä¸Šå“ and its narrative is derived mainly from “LingBao WuDi GuanJiang Haoé ˆå¯¶äº”å¸ å®˜å°‡è™Ÿ,†of the TaiShang LingBao WuFuXu å¤ªä¸Šæ´žçŽ„é ˆå¯¶äº”ç¬¦åº . It is also the only Naxi manuscript published to date that shows Han Chinese dragon worship among the Naxi people, though the detailed narrations are not identical to those in Chinese or Tibetan sources.

Keywords: Naxi manuscript; Five Emperors in the Five Directions; Taoism; ethnic exchange; religious integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:21582440231153125

DOI: 10.1177/21582440231153125

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