Picturing the True Form

Picturing the True Form investigates the long-neglected visual culture of Daoism, China's primary indigenous religion, from the tenth through thirteenth centuries with references to earlier and later times. In this richly illustrated book, Susan Huang provides a comprehensive mapping of Daoist images in various media, including Dunhuang manuscripts, funerary artifacts, painting...

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Picturing the True Form investigates the long-neglected visual culture of Daoism, China's primary indigenous religion, from the tenth through thirteenth centuries with references to earlier and later times. In this richly illustrated book, Susan Huang provides a comprehensive mapping of Daoist images in various media, including Dunhuang manuscripts, funerary artifacts, paintings, and other charts, illustrations, and talismans preserved in the fifteenth-century Daoist Canon. True form (zhenxing), the key concept behind Daoist visuality, is not a static picture but entails an active journey of “seeing” underlying and secret phenomena through a series of metamorphoses.

The book's structure mirrors the two-part Daoist journey from inner to outer. Part I focuses on inner images associated with meditation and visualization practices for self-cultivation and longevity. Part II investigates the visual and material dimensions of Daoist ritual. Interwoven through these discussions is the idea that the inner and outer mirror each other and the boundary demarcating the two is fluent. Huang also reveals three central modes of Daoist symbolism—aniconic, immaterial, and ephemeral—and shows how Daoist image-making goes beyond the traditional dichotomy of text and image to incorporate writings in image design. These particular features distinguish Daoist visual culture from its Buddhist counterpart.

Machine generated contents note: Visual Dimensions --
Conceptual Framework --
Aniconic, Immaterial, and Ephemeral --
Facets of Daoism --
Primary Sources --
Daoist Tu in the Daozang --
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Machine generated contents note: Visual Dimensions --
Conceptual Framework --
Aniconic, Immaterial, and Ephemeral --
Facets of Daoism --
Primary Sources --
Daoist Tu in the Daozang --
Overview of the Book --
INNER CHAPTERS: ESOTERIC UNDERPINNINGS --
1.Imagery of Body and Cosmos --
Body Gods --
Early Divinities --
Planets and Bureaucrats --
Ritual Activation --
Visualizations of Stars --
Journeys to the Northern Dipper --
Imaginary Star Maps --
Stars in the Body --
Iconic Forms --
Souls and Worms --
The Seven Material Souls and Three Deathbringers --
Physical Parasites --
Control and Elimination --
Illustrating Internal Alchemy --
The Inner Realm --
The Medical Body --
Body Landscapes --
Interior Journeys --
2.Mapping the World --
Daoist Creation --
Sacred Charts --
Heavens and Upper Worlds --
Vertical Heavens --
Lateral Expansion --
Earthly Paradises --
The Ten Continents and Three Isles --
The Five Sacred Peaks --
Grotto Heavens --
Hells and the Underworld --
Mount Fengdu --
Women in Hell --
3.True Form Charts --
Metamorphoses of the Man-Bird Mountain --
Man-Bird Writings --
Birds in Heavenly Scripts --
The Five Sacred Peaks --
The Mystical Cosmos --
The Fengshui Connection --
Mountain Treasures --
Minerals and Herbs --
Magical Mushrooms --
4.Materiality of Daoist Sacred Space --
Forms of Daochang --
The Oratory --
The Public Altar --
Multiple Layers --
Multiple Stages --
Cultural and Religious Sources --
Soul Places --
Ritual Objects --
Flags and Banners --
Mirrors --
Writing Utensils --
Documents --
Spirit Money --
5.Performing the Salvation Ritual --
The Yellow Register Purgation --
Calling Out the Body Gods --
Ascent and Summons --
Attack on Hell --
Opening the Hells --
The Master's Staff --
Artistic Depictions --
Rescuing Souls --
Bathing and Feeding --
The Water Land Ritual --
Salvation through Refinement --
Internal Visualizations --
The External Rite --
Concluding Ceremonies --
6.Paintings of Mobile Deities --
Daoist Painters at Work --
Preparation --
Sketchbooks --
Teamwork --
Priests as Painters --
Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water --
Pictorial Formulas --
Annual Festivals --
Pictorial Conventions --
The Heavenly Descent --
Daoist Deities in Procession --
Visualization Practice --
Earthly Excursions --
Tours of Inspection --
The Subjugation of Demons --
The Tree Goblin and the Ape Monster --
Ocean Crossings --
Crossing Over to Salvation --
Thunder Troops --
The Female Soul --
The Ritual Context --
Mobile Deities --
Yellow Register Painting.
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