Chinese Magical Medicine

Based on close readings of liturgies written in classical Chinese, the author explores the medieval development of Chinese therapeutic ritual, discovering the germinal core of many still-current rituals across the social and doctrinal frontiers of Buddhism and Taoism. Proposing that the most profound and far-reaching effects of Buddhism on Chinese culture occurred at the level of practice, specifially in religious rituals designed to cure disease, demonic possession, and bad luck, the author translates and describes many of these liturgies, analyzes their structure, and explores nonliturgical sources to shed further scholarly light on the politics involved in specific rituals. For readers interested in the historical aspects of healing in the Taoist tradition, this will be an absorbing resource.