to the visiting spirits in the hope that the requests of the villagers will be granted.
In addition to the fact that the Redhats do not empty themselves of spirits during prayer but rather fill the mind and the temple with the benign spirits' presence, there is another important difference: the people do not call the Redhat priests Taoists or daoshi but rather fashi or sigong (Fujian dialect: hoatsu, saigong), that is, ritual masters rather than Taoist masters.
This notion of filling rather than emptying indicates that the Redhat practices may once have derived from the medium or shaman traditions, not the Taoist. The medium is a trance expert who when possessed by a spirit can talk in tongues and sometimes heal. A shaman is a ritual expert who when in a trance can travel to another spiritual realm to look into the well-being of the deceased, heal the living, and bring the prayers of the villagers to the heavenly spirits. Both the medium and the shaman are unconscious of their acts when in trance. The Redhat priests act as interpreters for the mediums and sometimes become mediums themselves. The color red symbolizes filling rather than emptying for the majority of Redhat fashi.
To test this hypothesis (Redhats practice kataphatic prayer; Blackhats apophatic), I traveled throughout southern Fujian and northern Gwangdong Provinces, looking for Taoists and their registers. There is in fact a Redhat Taoist in Zhangzhou city, in southeast Fujian, who had received a bona fide lu register, knew the meditations of emptying, and had a classic Taoist license. The terms Redhat and Blackhat are therefore relative to the place where they are used. The reason the definition of red and black varies is that any person (including the reader) may go to one of the sacred Taoist mountains in China, find a master, study the registers, and receive a Taoist license. The Taoist tradition, whether using the term red or black, is truly Taoist (as defined in this book) only if it empties the mind of spirits and their images.10
The Taoist envisions the five colors, five directions, as spirits from the five Internal organs and sends out all spirit-images before meditating on the Too. Ch'ing dynasty woodblock print from Xingming Gulzhi.
It is interesting to note that medium, shaman, and priest all practice healing. The medium, the shaman, and the popular fashi Redhat heal by visualization, while the Taoist daoshi heals by kenosis, by emptying the mind and heart of all spirits and their images. It is important that healing takes place, no matter which method is used. The purpose of this work is not to disparage those systems using visualization but to explain the process of Taoist "kenotic" healing, the emptying of worries from the mind and unfulfilled desires from the heart. My study "Mystic, Shaman, Oracle, Priest" delves further into these distinctions than I will here.11
From the above discussion it can be seen that at least two kinds of healers, and therefore two different philosophies of well-being (among many others), can be found in Asia. The first kind, which we are describing here, can be called the apophatic or kenotic tradition, which in simple language means emptying the mind of concept and image. The second is the kataphatic or "Imaging" tradition, which heals by filling the mind with thoughts of good spirits and well-being.
The kataphatic tradition, using medium possession or shaman trance to heal, can be very dramatic and even traumatic. The possessed mediums sometimes cut themselves with knives, blow on trumpets, and act out the terrifying battle between the forces of good and evil. The medium or shaman is impervious to the attack of evil, can draw a sharp knife across the tongue, dance on sharp blades, or walk on fire without harm to the body. The symbolic drama of the medium and shaman prove the efficacy of exorcism in the healing process. Such practices differ substantially from the healing practices of the apophatic "emptying" Taoist.
The apophatic or emptying tradition of Taoism uses images to heal. Colors, sound (music), taste, smell, touch, and physical motion are important elements in human well-being. Images are envisioned and "good" thoughts elicited in the mind of the patient. But in the end, all thoughts, images, sounds, and colors are sublimated and emptied out in the encounter with the transcendent Tao, (wuwel zhi dao), the source of life, breath, and well-being. Healing, wholeness, and oneness with nature's processes are one and the same experience. Arriving at this experience of oneness through the Tao's transcendent "nonimage" process is the goal of Taoist meditation and a vital element of Taoist healing. Color meditation and imaging are taught in chapter 3, and the prayer of apophasis is described in chapter 4. Men and women who practice these meditations and follow the other directives of the Taoist way of life for the most part live to a happy and healthy old age, climb the high mountains, and celebrate festivals for the villages of China.
AN OUTLINE OF TAOIST HISTORY
After one learns some of the methods of Taoist meditation and healing, the appetite Is awakened to understand something about Taoism and Its lengthy history in China. Taoism Is like a great river that flows throughout the entire concourse of Chinese history. Like the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers, it is fed by many tributaries. Some of these tributaries contain muddy waters. Others do not flow into the mainstream of Taoism but follow their own independent course. Taoism itself blends quietly into the flow of Chinese history, often going unnoticed by official Chinese historians.
The history of China is divided into twenty-four dynasties. Each dynasty was begun by a soldier-emperor who conquered China by the sword. Any given dynasty's history was later rewritten by literate Confucian scholars who often sought to please the reigning emperor rather than the fallen dynasty. Historians are famous for putting Buddhists, Taoists, women, and non-Han Chinese minorities last, after selectively describing the past dynasty's emperors, family, wars, intrigues at court, and other details that pleased the Confucian mind. Thus most dynastic histories do not say good things about Taoists, minorities, Buddhists, or other non-Confucian topics.
Taoism's development within the dynastic records is as follows:
• PREDYNASTY MYTHS
the Five Emperors, before recorded history
Fu Hsi (Fu Xi), emperor of the east, founder of the home and the family
Shen Nung (Shen Nong), emperor of the south, farming and fertility
Huang Ti(Huangdi), emperor of the center, silk weaving and medicine
Shao Hao (Shaohao), emperor of the west, burial and afterlife rites
Chüan Hsü (Zhuanxu), emperor of the north, martial arts and exorcism
the Three Rulers: gray cord-marked pottery era
Yao, heaven-appointed ruler because of human virtue
Shun, appointed Yao's successor because of virtue
Yü the Great, who controlled the floods; Xia dynasty founded
• THE SHANG-YIN DYNASTY, 1760-1100 B.C.E.: oracle bones, bronze, jade culture
• THE ZHOU DYNASTY, 1100-221 B.C.E. DIVIDED INTO:
the Golden Era, to 771 B.C.E.
the Spring-Autumn period, 771-481 B.C.E.: Lao-tzu, Confucius, many kingdoms
the Warring States period, 481-221 B.C.E.: various philosophical schools
• THE QIN DYNASTY, 221-207 B.C.E.: building of the
Great Wall is begun
• THE HAN DYNASTY, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.: Confucian exam
system; first Buddhist
