This ambitious and provocative book sets out to answer two questions.Footnote 1 First, what was the belief system that allowed the Han empire to build “a prominent and prosperous civilization”? Part of the answer Jiang Sheng offers is the importance of Daoism in Han belief—which leads to the second question that informs this book. Jiang sets that out as follows:
Historians have tended to focus on two key events in its [Daoism] unfolding. The first was the death of Empress Dowager Dou (d.135 BCE), who greatly favored its thought and regularly recited its key classic, the Daode jing…, and then the rise of Emperor Wu (r.141-87 BCE), who… “solely honored the arts of the Confucians,” which means Daoism was summarily suppressed. The second was the rise of the earliest organized Daoist community, the Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao 天師道), in 142 CE. But did nothing happen in between? How can we learn about the religious history and the beliefs central to Han life over these 300 years? (p. 1)
Jiang thus seems to assume that Daoism is a clear category; that its practices were continuous from early Han to the later Han; and that these practices were central to Han religious life. This trio of assumptions about Daoism lies at the core of Jiang’s discussion of Han religion and its relationship to the religious synthesis that we now label as Daoism, which emerged in the second century. Elsewhere, Jiang elaborates further on the synthesis that formed Han religion as a combination of immortality practices, Huang-Lao Daoism, Spring-and-Autumn Classicism, and Confucian apocrypha (p. 46).
While referring to Han religion in the title, the book focuses on the religious worldview that undergirds the design and content of Han tombs, and ignores other forms of religious practice. Jiang argues that Han tombs were constructed as microcosms—with images, artifacts, and structural features that symbolized the cosmic structure—while at the same time functioning as sites of refinement where the deceased transformed into immortal forms.
Jiang argues that the post-mortem process expressed in Han tomb structure and imagery begins with the deceased entering the underworld, then journeying to Penglai to attain the divine elixir, ascending Mount Kunlun to receive jade nectar from the Queen Mother, receiving the scripture of the Daode jing from Laozi, and finally ascending into the nine heavens as a divine immortal. This brief summary does not do justice to the rich detail provided by Jiang Sheng as he marshals a wide variety of images and other artifacts from numerous Han tombs and connects them with a variety of textual references, ranging from Han-era weft-texts (chenwei 讖緯) to Daoist texts of the fourth and fifth centuries. Jiang presents numerous Han tombs and artifacts discovered in recent years, and this discussion alone is a worthwhile contribution, as these materials are rarely discussed in Western scholarship.
The relationship between the religious ideas and practices of the Han era and Daoism remains a major problem in the history of religion in China, and has already been explored by several scholars, including Anna Seidel, Wu Hung, Liu Zhaorui,Footnote 2 in the massive compendium on Daoist Archeology by Zhang Xunliao and Bai Bin,Footnote 3 and in recent work by Li Song.Footnote 4 These scholars, and others, have all shown antecedents to medieval Daoist practices in common Han religion as found in the material and visual materials in Han tombs. But the historical narratives and conclusions reached by these scholars differ substantially.
The differences are due partially to the fact that, on the one hand, different scholars focus on distinct artifacts and images in Han tombs, while on the other, they assume different definitions of Daoism, usually without explicitly discussing them. Moreover, the “relationship between Han religion and Daoism” is a far more complex problem than this simple phrasing implies: Daoism is not a single, monolithic system that appeared at one time in one location, but rather a complex category that emerged between the mid-second and the fifth century CE. At that time, several groups that we may label Daoist appeared, each creatively synthesizing a variety of earlier and contemporary religious ideas and practices with their own innovations. The earlier date is usually associated with the appearance of both the Celestial Master community in the Shu region (in modern Sichuan) and the Taiping movement in the central regions surrounding Luoyang and Changan; the later developments occurred in the Jiangnan region in the fourth and fifth centuries. There were, of course, regional and temporal variations within this general timeframe. It is therefore quite difficult to state definitively what Daoism is without more specific details and context. Moreover, we should note that the various Daoist groups and movements distinguished themselves from each other and especially from the common religion of the general populace. Jiang Sheng provides no clear definition of Daoism and seems to imply that the common religion of the Han, as expressed in tomb images, is continuous with the later forms of Daoism.
Interestingly, Jiang structured the book in accord with the structure of Han tombs and the transformative process expressed in the imagery in the tombs. The book contains two parts of three chapters each, along with a substantial Introduction and a Conclusion. In the first part, entitled “Time and Space, Gods and Immortals,” Jiang examines the layout of Han tombs, with special attention to the tomb murals and artifacts, ranging from Liubo games to images of owls, cypresses, and fish that create the cosmological framework of the tomb. In chapter 2, “Gods of Transformation,” Jiang examines the most important gods depicted in Han tombs: the Queen Mother of the West, often accompanied by a male partner (identified by Jiang as Confucius’s disciple Zi Lu), and Lord Lao, the divine form of Laozi, depicted with a bird’s head. This bird-headed figure is usually accompanied by an ox-headed figure, identified by Jiang as Yandi, the Fiery Thearch, ruler of the underworld. In chapter 3, “The Immortal Pantheon,” Jiang examines the numerous other figures illustrated in Han tombs, arguing that the deification of these historical figures was based on Confucian criteria of moral attainments.
In the second part of the book, entitled “The Process of Immortal Transformation,” Jiang explores how the visual programs found in Han tombs represent the process of post-mortem transformation that the deceased goes through in their path to immortality. Chapter 4 closely analyzes the well-known banners from Mawangdui tombs 1 and 3. Jiang argues that the banners illustrate the post-mortem journey of the deceased through the realms of Penglai, at the bottom of the banner, and through Kunlun at the center of the banner, to final ascension to the heavenly realms and transformation into a perfected person with a hybrid human and dragon form. The process depicted on the banner is replicated in the structure of the four nested coffins: the innermost represents the underworld of the Nine Springs, and the second, with its red color composed of cinnabar (p. 132), represents the transition of the deceased to Mt. Kunlun and the vermilion fire palace. Chapter 5, “Divine Elixirs and Celestial Kitchens,” discusses images and artifacts in Han tombs, which Jiang argues represent the production or receipt of an alchemical elixir that symbolizes the transformation of the deceased into immortal form. This process is “not unlike an elixir refined in a furnace… the deceased in the coffin goes through a process of form refinement, passes through Grand Yin, transforms through ingestion of divine potions, and ascends to immortality” (p. 174). Besides elixirs, transformation is further signaled by images of celebration and of kitchens that provide the transformed dead with banquets, complete with meat and wine (p. 177). Importantly, Jiang argues that the idea underlying these “celestial banquets of the immortal world” continues in medieval Daoist texts that refer to the “celestial kitchen” where the adept would eat after transformation into an immortal, following the ritual transmission of registers from their master (p. 179). Other images commonly found in tombs are of granaries, which Jiang interprets as expressing the Confucian ideal of Great Unity (datong 大同). In chapter 6, “Ascension Formalities,” Jiang examines the final stages of attainment and ascension of the deceased. The most important stage in this process is the receipt of the scripture Daode jing from Lord Lao (p. 199). Jiang argues that Han tombs depict this crucial moment as Confucius meeting Laozi, a depiction that appears in numerous tombs with some variant forms.
Jiang thus argues that Laozi appears in Han tombs in two forms, as a bird-headed deity, usually paired with the ox-headed Fiery Thearch, and in fully human form, encountering Confucius. As I have discussed these images elsewhere,Footnote 5 I will here provide a short summary of the problems with Jiang’s interpretations. The main questions refer to the identity of the depicted figure, and whether these images refer to Laozi as a regular human being, albeit a sage, or as a divine entity, a human manifestation of the Dao.
Laozi’s encounter with a young Confucius who comes to him seeking instruction in ritual is mentioned in Sima Qian’s Shiji and elsewhere (p. 187). This tale is obviously important in tracing the developing mythology of Laozi and represents an important stage in the process of his deification; as an important motif in Han tombs and shrines, it allows us to consider how Sima’s contemporaries perceived and illustrated Laozi. The dozens of extant images almost all date from the latter part of the Western Han to the late Eastern Han,Footnote 6 mostly in the southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu area, and almost half in the Jiaxiang 嘉祥 area. Many Laozi images also include the figure of the child prodigy Xiang Tuo 項橐 (託),Footnote 7 as well as various disciples. The visual imagery does not correspond to any single textual source. Rather, the images creatively conflate and reimagine various narratives. This discrepancy between visual and textual sources allows us to place the visual material in its own social and cultural context, rather than debate the relationship to the textual sources. The popularity of the imagery may be explained by the well-known support and favor offered by the Han imperial house to Confucius, evinced by many emperors personally revering him at the Kong family home and shrine.Footnote 8 More important, however, is the local context of the images. Li Song emphasizes the differences between the images in the Shandong region that consistently center on Confucius (in contrast to the textual sources), and images in Heilinger (Inner Mongolia), Henan, and Sichuan, in which Confucius seems to be revering Laozi.Footnote 9 Li Song suggests that tomb images of Confucius with Laozi originated in Shandong, where Confucius was celebrated as a local sage. As these images were adopted in other localities, the valence of reverence often shifted to Laozi, either due to a greater focus on the textual source or, perhaps, as an indicator of Laozi’s place in local religious culture.
Most scholars agree that these images celebrate the cultural importance of Confucius and of Laozi, rather than hinting at the transcendence of either figure beyond the human realm. Jiang Sheng suggests that these images evince the deification of both Confucius and Laozi within the bureaucracy of the netherworld, and that they represent the transmission of “Daoist books” 道書 to Confucius (pp. 199 ff.). Jiang Sheng’s argument relies on a variety of medieval Daoist texts that place Confucius and his disciples among the many figures from earlier times pulled into the expansive ranks of the netherworld bureaucracy. While it is possible that these identifications had already developed during the Han, no contemporary text evinces them, nor does the imagery itself support Jiang Sheng’s interpretation.
In chapter 2, Jiang argues that the bird-headed or bird-beaked figures that appear in numerous Han tombs represent the “true form of Laozi” 老子真形 (pp. 53 ff.). This identification rests on a single reference in Ge Hong’s 葛洪 Baopuzi 抱朴子 that describes a particular visualization method of the true form of Laozi:
… he is surnamed Li, named Dan, and styled Boyang. His body is nine feet tall, with yellow (golden) skin. He has a bird’s beak, prominent nose, and five-inch long eyebrow hairs. His ears are 7 inches long, and on his forehead is a pattern of three intersecting lines and on his feet are the eight trigrams… If one sees Lord Lao, one’s life will be extended, and one’s mind will be omniscient…Footnote 10
No other contemporary Daoist text preserves such a depiction of Laozi. Moreover, while there are numerous examples of bird-beaked or bird-headed figures in Han tomb murals, they are always accompanied and paralleled by an ox-headed figure. Jiang Sheng discusses several images of bird-headed figures he identifies as Laozi.Footnote 11 All images are culled from tableaus in which the bird-headed figure is paralleled by an ox-headed figure. Based on relatively late sources, Jiang Sheng identifies the ox-headed figure with the Fiery Thearch炎帝, and identifies the Fiery Thearch in turn with Shennong 神农.Footnote 12 These two figures, however, often appear in conjunction with the Queen Mother of the West and her consort, the King of the East 東王公. In fact, in several images, the bird-headed and ox-headed figures seem to be the Queen Mother and the King of the East; in others, they appear as attendants of the two deities. In tomb no. 2 at Qishan 栖山 in Peixian 沛縣, a bird-headed figure appears in a line of hybrid figures reverently standing for an audience with the Queen Mother of the West. First in line is a figure with a snake body and a human head; second, a horse-headed figure; third, the bird-headed figure; fourth, a man bearing a sword. Jiang does not discuss this tableau in this translated book; in the Chinese version, Jiang provides only a partial image of the tableau and does not explain the place of this bird-headed figure.Footnote 13
Aware of his problematic interpretation, Jiang suggests that Lord Lao’s appearance in his true form in Han iconography “continues ideals of ancient popular and pre-Daoist understanding. Following the fall of the Han, his representation in this form – notably with the bird’s beak – soon disappeared from mainstream society and only survived into the Jin dynasty in the remote region of Hexi 河西” (p. 57). This historical narrative is implausible, as it was during the final years of the Han that Laozi became identified with the Dao, not only in the Celestial Master community, but at the court as well, as expressed in the imperial sacrifices to Laozi and the accompanying imperial inscription erected in 166 (pp. 190 ff.). Significantly, the notion of “true form” is found in no Han text and first appears in the Daoist texts of Jiangnan.
While the bird-headed figure in Han tomb murals is probably not the true form of Laozi, it is a reminder of the hybrid forms and transformed beings populating the realms of Kunlun, the domain of the Queen Mother, and the realms of the dead. These figures also overlap with the pervasive bird imagery in Han murals, and, perhaps more importantly, with the figure of the “man-bird,” or “feathered persons” (yuren 羽人), that depict immortals in the Han imaginaire.
As this book is a translation, the following comments are meant for the translation and editorial team: they should have taken more care to express the author’s ideas in a more felicitous style. I include only a few examples of the many typos and infelicitous and awkward phrasings, which may both confuse and mislead readers. Typos include “shake” for “sake” (p. 116) and “sue” for “use” (p. 146). Some infelicitous phrases leave the reader wondering what the author meant, such as “… it is an area of images with clear religious implication and of a most intrinsically prescriptive nature” (p. 80). Some cases of words missing from a sentence are simply awkward, as in “one who at one with the Dao…” (p. 146), but others cause substantive confusion: for instance, “releasing the physical form” (p. 147) should be either “releasing from a physical form” or “releasing by the physical form,” depending on the context. I hope these awkward phrases and errors will be rectified in a future edition of this book.
To sum up his contribution, Jiang Sheng writes that he provides a detailed historical development of the practices and ideas associated with “attaining the Dao.” During the Warring States, he states, “masters of magic…already expressed a belief in releasing the physical form, but this does not seem to have been the logical link to ‘attaining the Dao’… This changed under the Han when belief in immortal transformation begins to appear widely in tombs… The deceased, smelted anew in the tomb, was expected to regain vitality and achieve immortality” (p. 151). He summarizes the historical process of the formation of Han religion as “integrating the Warring States Period belief in release from the physical form with the Huang-Lao doctrine of attaining the dao and becoming immortal as well as the system of early Han burial rites, the Daoist groups succeeded in molding a new religious expression.” Key to this historical narrative is Jiang’s assertion that “believers…formed religious groups, created rituals, and established a conscious identity” (p. 151). Unfortunately, whether because of Jiang’s original or because of the translators’ work, it is unclear whether these hypothetical “religious groups” refer to distinct groups with different conscious identities that are distinguished from the common religion and each other, or whether if these different groups share the same identity that is distinct from the common religion. Or is Jiang referring to the common religion of the Han?
Jiang’s evidence, based on a wide range of tombs, shows a shared symbolic grammar of images and artifacts. Jiang shows that the religious ideas and practices expressed in Han tombs synthesized various traditions that formed a common religious repertoire focused on post-mortem continuity and transformation of the deceased into an immortal form. How these images cohere with the Daoist movements that appeared at the end of the Han and continued to develop in later centuries remains a crucial question, and Jiang’s introduction and discussion of a wide range of new materials is an important contribution in this quest.
