Interaction between Yao and Han Daoism

[SirPalomides]

How much interaction is there between Yao and Han Daoists? How do they regard each other's practices, ordinations, etc.? Do Yao ever concelebrate rituals with Han Daoshi?

 

The religion of the Yao people is a kind of Daoism where every member of the community is initiated as the equivalent of Daoshi, with varying ranks. In this it is similar to the early practice of the Celestial Masters movement where even children would be ordained and given command over a handful of spirit generals. I've wondered if there has ever been any inclination in Han Daoism to return to this kind of popular initiation.

[dawei]

As one interested in chinese history issues, I'd like to hear you explain more.   Thanks for the topic. 

[SirPalomides]

I'm hardly knowledgeable here but the Yao are an ethnic group living in southern China as well as Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. At some point they converted to Daoism big time, so that everyone, or at least every male, is initiated as the equivalent of daoshi.

 

This is reminiscent of the early days of the Celestial Masters or Wudoumi Dao which was an apocalyptic faith-healing movement that invited everyone to repent and become "seed people" for the new age. It seems what would be called ordination now was more like baptism in that it was offered to everyone in the community. At some point after the original community was dispersed the ordained Daoists became a discrete clerical order and as far as I know there hasn't been any move to reverse this trend.

 

My understanding of this history may also well be oversimplified or wrong.

[Walker]

Fascinating--if you learn more, please share it here! 

[SirPalomides]

On ‎1‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 10:09 PM, Walker said:

Fascinating--if you learn more, please share it here! 

 

Darn, I was hoping you would be someone who knew more than I did. I'll let you know if I find anything else. I did find this fascinating lecture by Terry Kleeman on initiation rituals in early Tianshi Dao: https://www.international.ucla.edu/ccs/article/164072

 

I vaguely recall him mentioning the Yao in passing but I could be imagining that.

[SirPalomides]

An interesting blog post by a Yao/ Mien American about Yao Daoism:

https://dsaechao.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/yao-daoism-five-things-to-know/

 

According to him, Daoism was brought to the Yao by missionaries sent by the southern Song emperor Huizong. They belonged to the Tianxin Zhengfa tradition, which I gather is a sub-tradition within Zhengyi. The primary source he uses is the book, A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China, which looks pretty fascinating.

 

What I'd be really curious to see is how Han Zhengyi Daoists today interact with Yao Daoists, if at all.