The 11th Account Of Buddhist And Daoist Beliefs
In his book Signs from the Unseen Realm and Buddhist Miracle Tales in Early Medieval China,
Robert Campany presents numerous account of Buddhist miracle tales from Wang Yan’s Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm. In the following four records of miraculous events, one can observe many elements of traditional Confucian and Daoist beliefs.
In the 11th account, a wealthy man named Di Shichang is described to have secretly constructed an oratory in his home and made offerings of food to support the monks. One day, a homely monk arrived at his door; however, Shichang refused to wash the feet of this unkempt monk and instead ordered his servant to do it. This angered the monk, who cast off his vile disguise to reveal himself as a divine monk …show more content…
He then proceeded to make many dietary changes, including: cutting off grains and food, denying himself starches, subsisting on pine needles, and then after 30 years he would only swallow a pebble occasionally. He abstained from alcohol, meats, fruits and to ward off colds he ate hot pepper and ginger. To ward off other transcendents, he chewed garlic. Though this is a Buddhist miracle tale, the account draws heavily on the convergence of many Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. We have seen a similar emphasis on austere diets for Buddhist exemplars in Kathryn Ann Tasi’s book “The Lives of Nuns.” In one account, a nun by the name of Kuang-Ching, who prior to becoming a nun observed a strict diet of neither sweet nor fat foods, lived on a diet of pine resin for 15 years before growing too weak. Though Kuang-Ching was not an immortal, her hagiography shows the importance of austere natural diets for Buddhists and the recurring motif of pine resin. Indeed, pine resin recurs, particularly in tales of Daoist immortals and diet practices. For Daoist immortals, food intake was an important way to achieve bodily transformation. One example of this would be the immortal Maonü, who, like Dao-kai, survived in the wilderness for hundreds of years by consuming only pine needles. Livia Kohn’s chapter “Drugs and Diet” outlines many characteristics of the Daoist diet that are visible in
Robert Campany presents numerous account of Buddhist miracle tales from Wang Yan’s Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm. In the following four records of miraculous events, one can observe many elements of traditional Confucian and Daoist beliefs.
In the 11th account, a wealthy man named Di Shichang is described to have secretly constructed an oratory in his home and made offerings of food to support the monks. One day, a homely monk arrived at his door; however, Shichang refused to wash the feet of this unkempt monk and instead ordered his servant to do it. This angered the monk, who cast off his vile disguise to reveal himself as a divine monk …show more content…
He then proceeded to make many dietary changes, including: cutting off grains and food, denying himself starches, subsisting on pine needles, and then after 30 years he would only swallow a pebble occasionally. He abstained from alcohol, meats, fruits and to ward off colds he ate hot pepper and ginger. To ward off other transcendents, he chewed garlic. Though this is a Buddhist miracle tale, the account draws heavily on the convergence of many Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. We have seen a similar emphasis on austere diets for Buddhist exemplars in Kathryn Ann Tasi’s book “The Lives of Nuns.” In one account, a nun by the name of Kuang-Ching, who prior to becoming a nun observed a strict diet of neither sweet nor fat foods, lived on a diet of pine resin for 15 years before growing too weak. Though Kuang-Ching was not an immortal, her hagiography shows the importance of austere natural diets for Buddhists and the recurring motif of pine resin. Indeed, pine resin recurs, particularly in tales of Daoist immortals and diet practices. For Daoist immortals, food intake was an important way to achieve bodily transformation. One example of this would be the immortal Maonü, who, like Dao-kai, survived in the wilderness for hundreds of years by consuming only pine needles. Livia Kohn’s chapter “Drugs and Diet” outlines many characteristics of the Daoist diet that are visible in