Empowered Writing: Exorcistic and Apotropaic Rituals in Medieval China

ISBN: 193148323X

Author: Bumbacher, Stephan Peter

Condition: New

Empowered Writing explores the inherent powers of Chinese talismans, petitions, registers, and holy scriptures, presenting a systematic study of their exorcistic and apotropaic properties. The book divides into three parts: tallies, petitions, and scriptures-all inherently empowered since they originate from the very same primordial energy as Dao, the heavens, and highest gods.Using a vast arsenal of original sources, the book traces the unfolding and transformation of empowered writing from the Warring States period through the Six Dynasties, closely examining the different kinds of writing, their uses, and interpretation as well as relating uniquely Daoist features to imperial and Buddhist usages.