Diverse Rangguan

Rang Guanis also known as Du Guan,Guo Guan,Jie Guan,Du Sha,Jie Sha,Tui Sha,Rang Jie,Rang Guan Du Sha,Rang Guan Jie Sha,Rang Jie Guan Sha,Du Chu Guan Sha,Jie Guan Tui Sha,Yi Guan Du Sha,Rang Guan Tuo Suo,Kai Guan Tuo Suo,Kai Tong Guan Sha,etc.It is a common folkloric activityfor raising and protecting children in various districts of Chinawith a wide and profound heritage,which is still quite popular currently in Zhejiang,Fujian,Guangdong,and Taiwan.in the hope of helping them to pass through life crises such as disasters and carries the strong expectation of relatives for the healthy and safe growth of their young children.The Rang Guanritual is usually performed in the child’s home,where a ritualist is invited to set up an altar and perform the ritual to bless the child with a healthy growth free from any obstacles.There has been much academic research on this subject,but it has mainly been carried out in the context of field research and from the Taoist and Shamanismperspectives where the ritual literature used is limited.In this article,based on the compilation and transcription of the thirty newly available Rang Guanrituals,combined with a field survey of the Rang Guanrituals in Gutian County,Ningde City,Fujian Province,the purpose of the Rang Guanrituals,the evil that is warded off,the deities invited,and the ritual procedures are explored through the interpretation and analysis of the literature contents,while the Rang Guan rituals throughout Buddhist,Taoist and Shamanism is comprehensively analyzed.The article begins with a narrative introduction to the newly availableliteratures of Rang Guanrituals in Buddhist,Taoist,and Shamanism,and points out that,apart from the general purpose,the Rang Guan rituals have a rich variety of contents and expressions in terms of their names,documentation,textual records of evils that are warded off,the deities invoked,and the process.The actual procedures of the current rituals in Gutian County,Fujian,show that there is often some variability between the actual form of the rituals performed and their textual forms,mostly for reasons directly related to the different ritualists,their familiarity with the rituals,the different financial means of the believers,and the different needs of the rituals.The Rang Guanrituals performed in accordance with the texts of the Rang Guan Keare only an example rather than a general norm of many rituals,a representative of individual cases rather than a permanent rule.How the rituals unfoldis left to the conducting ritualist to arrange on a case-by-case basis.Yet,the ritual procedures of the twenty different Buddhist transcripts of the Rang Guan Ke remain largely consistent,despite their differences in terms of ritual procedures,content,etc.In conclusion,diversity,variation,and unity coexist in both the Rang Guan Ke and the rituals of the Rang Guan rituals.Three newly available Rang Guan literature is included in the appendix.