The Way and Its Powers: Taoist Practice and Religious Authority in Northern Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yves Menheere, 孟逸夫
• Other Authors: Chuen-rong Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/nj4u23

博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 人類學研究所 === 105 === One way to answer the question why people put their faith in ritual specialists is through the notion of authority. Scholars of ritual have proposed two ways in which ritual authority can be constructed: 1) through knowledge of the correct way to perform rites; and 2) through the performance of rites that produce certain desired effects. In this view, authority is thus either based on orthopraxy or efficacy. Other scholars have pointed out that the construction of authority is a social process in which the position in a so-called ‘field’ and the relations with other specialists should also be taken into consideration. In this dissertation, I discuss the construction of religious authority among Taoist priests in northern Taiwan who identify as part of the Cheng-it (Zhengyi) tradition, focusing on one aspect of their work—the performance of major ceremonies involving multiple priests. Data was collected through ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2013 and 2016. In addition to the introduction (chapter 1) and conclusion (chapter 11), this dissertation consists of 9 chapters. In chapters 2 and 3, I describe the religious context in which the priests were active and the ritual systems that the priests would employ, arguing that even if priests would make clear distinctions between the tō and hoat rites, both traditions would play a complementary role in the practice of the priests. In chapter 4, I give a brief historical overview of Taoist practice in northern Taiwan, arguing that practice as it existed by the time I was doing fieldwork was the result of specific local and historical factors. Chapter 5 looks at the different ways that priests were trained and gained access to the ‘field of priests’. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the importance of orthopraxy, its implication for Taoist practice and the relation between orthopraxy and authority, using the example of the jiao and a newly introduced rite called tng tai pai pio (dengtai baibiao) or Ascending the platform to present a memorial. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss the toa-po͘-un, the major healing rite of the northern priests and the connection between efficacy and authority. In chapter 10, I discuss the different ways in which the ceremonies of the priests were organized. In the conclusion, I argue that while efficacy and orthopraxy both played a role in the establishment of authority, a priest’s authority could not be reduced to either of them. Rather, the construction of authority was a social process in which relations with other priests and the way a priest entered the field played a key role.