Thousand Year Old Bapzhang And Chinese Folk Religion

This thesis is the first academic paper to to examine the Chinese historical legendary character,1000year old Baozhang. Presently there are several temples in China which are closely related to1000year old Baozhang including the Laozu Temple in Hubei and the Baozhang temple in Zhejiang; therefore this thesis examining1000year old Baozhang is a very important contribution to examining the history of these locations. According to my research as to the earliest textual records to mention1000year old Baozhang it seems that this character had first appeared in a small area of Zhejiang during the Jiatai period of the southern Song dynasty. This thesis will compare the two earliest textual hagiographies of Baozhang from of the Wudeng Hui Yuan and the Jiatai Guiji Zhi and concludes the the records in the Jiatai Guiji Zhi likely represent an older strain of the story of1000year old Baozhang, also according to the specific characteristics of local gazetteers in Chinese history and from what is recorded in local gazetteers I conclude that the story of1000year old Baozhang has its origins in oral tradition of this area and which was finally recorded by Shi Su. Although I am without completely conclusive evidence it seems most likely that the story of1000year old Baozhang had emerged in the Tang dynasty. The Jiatai Guiji Zhi recordings of Baozhang contains a strong Daoist flavor however the Wudeng Hui Yuan is lacking such elements. I argue the the composition of these two texts has had some sort of connection, especially as the poet Lu You had written parts of both of these texts.Even further I discuss how1000year old Baozhang later become known as the founder of the Zhongtian Lan temple, and I explore the deep meaning of this. At the same time, I also explore some poetry written in the Yuan dynasty which is related to1000year old Baozhang, and conclude that during the Yuan dynasty the story of1000year old Baozhang was still much in vogue in this particular area of Zhejiang. Even more the records of the Wudeng Hui Yuan later had an influence in connecting1000year old Baozhang with Mt. Emei in Sichuan, for his story was used to increase the prestige of Mt. Emei. I will conclude by discussing some of what can be learned about Chinese folk religion from the case of1000year old Baozhang. In the appendix to the text Ⅰ will include many materials which I have collected which are related to1000year old Baozhang so as to help future scholars to explore this interesting character.