Research On Du Guangting’ QingCi In GuangchengJi

Qingci is a kind of specific prayer used in Taoist sacrificial rites, it has beengiven the functions of conveying people’s requests to gods, so it’s very important andindispensable. The name“Qingci”first appeared in prosperous Tang Dynasty, but ithas a much earlier ideological origin from the beginning of Zhang Daolingestablished Taoism in Eastern Han. Qingci is only special for the imperial family ritesin the early since the royal of Tang Dynasty whose family name is“Li” consideredthemselves as the descendants of the Taoist main deity Lao Zi, and writings on TaoistQingci is not very popular for a long time.But Du Guangting, a master Taoist wholived in late Tang Dynasty has reversed that situation, Du wrote more than twohundred Qingci works all by himself, making this kind of religious literature stylebecome really prevailing. So his Qingci works is very typical and can’t be ignored inthis field of Taoism research.This Thesis will taking the Qingci in GuangchengJi, acollection of Du Guangting’s literary works as samples for analysis.Emile Durkheim has divided religious phenomenon into two parts: Belief andRitual.Belief is the part associated with theological ideology and Ritual is associatedwith behaviors, Zhaijiao—the Taoist sacrificial rites is not doubt of the behaviors.Qingci used in these rites are literary expressions of Taoist thoughts as well as theyserve the activities,so they could connect the ideologies and behaviors in the Taoistsystem.Qingci collected in Du’s GuangchengJi mainly including two broad categories:Zhaici and Jiaoci.Their purpose is to help believers pray to supernatures in Taoism,the believers’ requests are so widespread that they involved almost every field in thereal daily life. Textual structure of these Qingci can be roughly divided into threeparts:praising gods, explaining reasons and praying for mercy, they reflect a lot ofphilosophical doctrine, religious ethics and theological pursuit in the Taoist system.Asa letter aimed at obtaining grace from super natures, Qingci has always unconsciouslyabided by the basic interpersonal communication rules and social principles in thatperiod. So Qingci is both sacred and secular, demonstrating the strong abilities ofTaoism dealing with people’s practical problems in history, and it’s a very effective missionary work at the same time.