Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2013

 

The Change in the Thousand Immortals Cave: Research into the Historical Traces of the Quanzhen School’s Conversion of Buddhas in Mount Cha

(Abstract)

 

Jiang Sheng

 

The Thousand Immortals Cave in Mount Cha, Rongcheng, Shandong, got its name because it was re-cut on the basis of the Thousand Buddhas Cave, a Buddhist temple. The cross-validation of historical data and fieldwork material has helped clear up the untrue story that the Thousand Immortals Cave was originally dug by a Quanzhen Taoist, Wang Yuyang, to reveal the historical truth: the Thousand Buddhas Cave was taken over and made into the Thousand Immortals Cave by the Quanzhen school of Taoism in the 7th year of the Tianqi reign period of the Ming Dynasty. The Buddha-converting Cave discovered near the Thousand Immortals Cave offers valuable evidence for the ceremonial process which turned the Thousand Buddhas Cave into the Thousand Immortals Cave. Disputes between the two faiths have gone on for generations, but what happened in Mount Cha was unique: using a ceremonial process to seize the temple property of another religion and moreover preserving those ceremonial elements for centuries. From the psychological complexity of regional folk beliefs, one can grasp the basis in regional tradition of the efficacy and "legitimacy" of the Buddha-converting ceremony. The switch from the Thousand Buddhas Cave to the Thousand Immortals Cave indicates that different religions’ struggles over sacred spaces can be realized through a supra-religious "substitution ceremony." This raises new issues in the field of anthropology of religion.