What Does Taoist Fasts and Offerings Liturgy Mean?

Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism

1. The Meaning of the Taoist “Zhai” and “Jiao”

In Taoist temples, one can often see Taoist priests wearing Taoist robes embroidered with gold and silver thread, holding various ritual implements, chanting ancient melodies, and dancing gracefully on the altar grounds, as if performing an excerpt from an opera. This is Taoist fasts and offerings (zhaijiao) liturgy. It is commonly called “daochang” (ritual arena), described as “performing the teaching according to the liturgy,” and known for short as “keyi” (liturgy) or “kejiao” (liturgical teaching)—that is, what are usually called ritual services and ritual arenas.

1. The Meaning of “Zhai”

The original meaning of “zhai” was evenness and purity; later it came to mean fasting, abstinence, and purification. It refers to the requirement that, before a sacrifice, one must bathe and change clothes, abstain from meat and wine, and not sleep in the inner chamber, to show the solemnity and sincerity of the one sacrificing. Following the norms of liturgy, Taoism calls it “practicing the fast” when, at the start of prayers and exorcisms, one eats vegetarian food to clear the mind and bathes to cleanse the body. At first it is for “accumulating virtue and resolving faults,” next for “harmonizing the spirit and preserving longevity,” and finally for “devotion to the Tao,” “delight in the Tao,” and “union with the Tao,” that is, “cultivating the Tao”—the highest attainment of practicing the fast. Therefore Taoism values the practice of fasting and has established a whole system of fasting methods. According to their scale and function, they can be divided into:

(1) Inner fasts (the ultimate Tao): including the fasting of the heart, sitting in forgetfulness, visualization, and so on (see the Dongshen Scripture).

(2) Outer fasts (relief and deliverance): including the three registers and seven grades. The three registers are the Golden Register Fast, the Jade Register Fast, and the Yellow Register Fast; the seven grades are the Three Sovereigns Fast, the Fast of Spontaneity, the Highest Clarity Fast, the Fast of Instruction, the Mud and Ashes Fast, the Fast of Bright Perfection, and the Three Primes Fast (see the Great Meaning of the Mysterious Gate of Dongxuan Lingbao).

The various fasting methods have different meanings. For example, the Golden Register Fast “above dispels heavenly calamities and protects and secures emperors and kings”; the Jade Register Fast “saves and delivers the people, prays for blessings, and atones for faults”; the Yellow Register Fast “below rescues from the sufferings of the hells of the Nine Abysses”; and so on.

Today Taoist priests of the Quanzhen school—the school of Complete Perfection—still keep a vegetarian diet. In Taoist temples and monasteries of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school, vegetarian food is eaten on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month and on other religious festivals. All of this is “upholding the fast in order to serve the Tao.”

2. The Meaning of “Jiao”

The original meaning of “jiao” was sacrifice; it was an ancient rite. The Shuowen (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters) says it had two senses: first, the rites of capping and marriage; second, sacrifice. Taoism inherited and developed the sacrificial side of jiao, using this method to enter into mutual communion with the gods.

“Jiao” also has “jiao methods.” The so-called “jiao methods” refer to the rules of procedure and etiquette of fasts and offerings rites.

There are many kinds of “jiao.” Whenever people have a need, there is a corresponding kind of offering to be held, such as the Nine Dragons Offering for praying for rain, the Transmission Offering of the Zhengyi school, and the Luotian Grand Offering. Fasting methods and offering methods were originally different, but later they merged. From the Sui and Tang onward, “zhai” and “jiao” were spoken of together as “zhaijiao,” which has been handed down to this day and become a byword for Taoist liturgy.

“Fasts and offerings liturgy” refers to the set rules on which offering and prayer activities are based. It is generally divided into rites for the living and rites for the dead, that is, into pure offerings and dark offerings.

Pure offerings include rites of praying for blessings and giving thanks for grace, driving away illness and prolonging life, blessing the nation and welcoming good fortune, praying for clear skies or rain, resolving hardship and averting calamity, and birthday blessings and celebrations; they belong to the ritual services of the Great Peace Offering type.

Dark offerings include summoning the souls of the dead, bathing them and helping them cross the bridge, breaking the prisons and the blood lake, and refinement, deliverance, and food bestowal; they belong to the ritual services for relieving the dark realm and delivering the dead.

On the new moon and full moon, important festivals, and the sacred birthdays of patriarchs, the Taoist community of the temples holds ceremonies such as birthday blessings and celebrations; these regular observances all belong to fasts and offerings liturgy.

2. The Organization and Division of Roles in Taoist Fasts and Offerings Liturgy

When Taoist priests perform fasts and offerings rites, it is also called holding a daochang. Ritual services have always been of many kinds, with differing etiquette; add to this the different schools within Taoism and the differing folk customs of north and south, and Taoist fasts and offerings rites have no single uniform pattern.

In the ritual arena, Taoist priests speak and sing, there is music, and there is religious dance. According to the needs of the ritual and the content of the scriptures, they perform simple movements up and down the hall—bowing, kowtowing, stepping, circling, and turning the scriptures—as if performing a song-and-dance drama. Yet within this there are also strict norms and rules of Taoist fasts and offerings ritual.

Looking at the whole course of the ritual, we can divide it into two parts: the sound part and the choreographic part.

1. The Sound Part

The sound part includes all the music. Within Taoism, the priest in charge of the drum is called the drum keeper, and the priest in charge of the bell is called the bell keeper. In addition, rituals also have keepers of the qing chime, the gong, the sheng mouth organ, and the wooden fish.

Every Taoist priest taking part in a ritual must be able to chant the scriptures to be recited in that ritual and be familiar with how to sing the incantations, hymns, and verses in the scriptures, as well as how to declaim the commands, prohibitions, and precepts. As the ritual proceeds, Taoist music of different rhythms and melodies is played.

2. The Choreographic Part

The choreographic part is carried out through the movements of the ritual masters—circling, stepping, bowing to the scriptures, worshipping the gods, and so on.

(1) One high priest. In an orthodox Taoist fasts and offerings rite, there should be one high priest (gaogong), traditionally filled by a Taoist priest of the temple who is older and more senior. He must have good personal cultivation, command respect inside and outside Taoism, be deeply versed in the Taoist scriptures and precepts, and be widely learned.

(2) Two chief cantors. The principal one is in charge of the order of the ritual, leads the Taoists in bowing, and leads the singing of the hymns; the deputy is in charge of coordinating the music and guides the believers in advancing, withdrawing, and bowing in the ritual arena.

(3) Two fast supervisors. The principal one supervises the performance of the Taoist priests in the ritual and, on finding anyone neglecting their duty, reports it at once to the chief cantor for correction; the deputy is in charge of the fast offerings on the altar and the writing and presentation of the declarations and texts, and passes the articles used on the altar.

(4) Two scripture attendants. The principal one takes care of the scriptures and texts on the high priest's table and all the scrolls of the ritual; the deputy is in charge of the other memorials and the scriptures and liturgical texts for offering libations.

(5) Two incense attendants. The principal one tends the incense in the burners so that it never goes out from beginning to end, and prepares the articles needed for the rites of the three times and for turning the scriptures; the deputy also tends the incense and, during the processions, carries a hand burner and bows as he passes.

(6) Two lamp attendants. The principal one is in charge of arranging and placing the lamps and candles before the ritual begins, and during the ritual must continually inspect them so that none goes out; the deputy is in charge of adding oil and candles so that the lamps never run short.

In the ritual arena, the high priest is attended by the scripture attendants whenever he walks, sits, bows, or worships, as a display of dignified bearing. In fasts and offerings, the processions of the Taoist priests mostly come in the second half of the rite, led by the bell keeper and the chime keeper, followed by the high priest, the chief cantors, and the fast supervisors, with the ordinary Taoists joining the ranks.

When the ritual is over, the high priest and the chief cantors withdraw first, and the Taoist priests in charge of each part clear up the arena, under the supervision of the fast supervisors.