In Depth Explanation of the Jiao
The Daoist Jiao, 醮 a Festival of Return to the Dao Click here to return to The Jiao Video 
Jiao,醮 an ancient Chinese word for offering wine and incense to spirits, evolved over two millennia of Daoist practice, to become a rite for renewing and re-uniting humans with the gestating presence of Dao in nature.
To create a liturgy demonstrating this renewal, a physical as well as spiritual experience of Dao as a gestating 元, nourishing亨, harvesting利, and physically present force in nature貞, requires more than 20 years contemplative and liturgical preparation, for the Daoist master, man or woman, to perfect.
Daoists must first master the classic Yijing (I-ching) 易經 “Book of Change and non change,” and the “Yin-yang Five Element” 陰陽五行 philosophy, demonstrating nature’s eternally recycling changes, to be accepted as novices.
The 81 Chapters of Laozi’s Daode Jing, and the Zhuangzi Inner Chapters must be interiorized, until they became an essential part of the Daoist’s daily meditation.
Then all of these elements, literate as well as folk culture in origin, are combined into a dramatic liturgy, so the men and women of China’s towns and villages can see and understand their meaning.
In the Daoist Master’s meditative vision, the spirits who rule over nature, from highest to lowest, parallel the visible world of mandarin officials and a supreme earthly ruler — The “Jade Emperor” rules in the northern heavens, with military and literary officials to the left (west) and right (east) respectively. The scrolls showing this appear in Step One of the video.
The Daoist Master, with his/her cantors and acolytes, sings, dances sacred steps, and meditates in the very center of the “Tan” 壇 cosmic altar during the Jiao festival. The meditations of inner alchemy accompany the Master’s liturgy.
The lay people in the temple, the “orphan souls,” and the unrefined, even impure spirits of the folk religion, watch from the south of the sacred Tan altar.
The Jiao rituals are shown here in a bare, extremely simplified outline, in 6 “five minute” video segments. They are as follows:
1.) Rites of entrance: Announcing (fa biao發表) by memorializing the spirits of the 3 realms, heaven earth, and underworld, that a Jiao rite of renewal will take place. Inviting (qing shen清神) the spirits to be present; and purifying the sacred Tan cosmic altar (jin tan 禁壇) using esoteric “5 Thunder-Vajra” chants 五雷法 and the sacred “pacing the void” 步虛 dance .
2.) Planting the 5 Lingbao Sacred writs, (An Lingbao zhenwen) 按靈寶五真文 ritual to renew the “5 Elements” in the cosmos. This classic liturgy uses the Ming tang 明堂 ancient Confucian “Book of Rites”, Monthly Commands chapter (Li Ji Yueling 禮記月令) as its model, for which reason Daoists were always appointed to the Board of Rites, to perform the Ming Tang rite for the emperors 5 times a year. The Daoist name for the Rite is “Su Qi” 宿啟 to hide its imperial origins from scholars and mandarins.
3a.) Fen Deng 分燈 “Lighting the (3) lamps with a new fire,” the Daoist master chants the 42nd chapter of the Lao-zi, “The Dao gives birth to the One” (lights first candle); “One gives birth to Two” (2nd candle); “Two gives birth to Three” (3rd candle); ”The 3 (feminine Dao, water, womb) gives birth to the Myriad Creatures.” At this point all of the lights in the temple are turned on; the brass bowl (yang) and wooden fish (yin) are sounded separately, then in union, rebirthing the world. The Dao of Wu Wei, now present, grants inner audience to the meditating Daoist.
3b.) The following day, during the Morning, Noon, and Night audiences, (not seen) (zaochao, wuchao, wanchao 早朝，午朝，晚朝) the Daoist Master refines primordial breath, spirit, and intuitive essence (qi, shen, jing 炁，神，精), in the upper, middle, and lower cinnabar fields ( 上丹田，中丹田，下丹田 head, chest, belly), bringing all 3 into awareness of “Dao Presence,” in the body as well as the temple “Center” while cantors and acolytes perform the external rites.
4.) Sending off the ShuWen 疏文 “memorial-Rescript” to the “Jade Emperor” in the Heavens (玉皇大帝),and to the “Three Pure Ones” (San Qing 三请) i.e., Dao as Gestating, Mediating, and Indwelling. Daoist and Confucian court ritual are analogous; just as the mandarins at the Imperial Court in Beijing, Changan, or Luoyang, brought memorials to the Visible Emperor on Earth, the “Son of Heaven,” so the Daoist acts as the mandarin of the Highest Heavens, bringing the people’s petitions to the Jade Emperor, and to the Three Highest Daoist spirits in Daoist Heaven. In the present video, the late 64th generation Celestial Master is seen performing the ritual; Zhuang A-Him meditates while using the drum; the drum beats represent the “Taiji” (太極), “Youwei” 有為之道 , the stringed instruments are Yang, and the hollow wind instruments are “Yin.”
5) Floating the Lanterns 放水燈 This colorful “folk religion” ritual is shared by Buddhists as well as Daoists throughout East Asia, including Japan, all of China, Korea, and the Chinese of Southeast Asia. The souls of the deceased released from the punishments of the Buddhist – Daoist underworld, are gathered and invited to bring colorful lanterns, each lit by a candle or small oil lamp, and floated out to sea. The Daoists wait for the tide to be going out to sea, with the trade winds blowing from the northeast (the Gate of Demon, trigram “gen” 艮) to begin the rite. But to the amazement of the onlookers, the floating lanterns went upstream, against the prevailing wind and the current, toward the Chinese cemetery, from whence they circled around, and came back downstream, as if symbolizing the success of the rite to “free all souls” into the “Western Heavens.” The lanterns that came ashore were gathered up, and burned as a send off, by the evening trade winds.
6) The Dao Chang or Zheng Jiao 道場正醮 . The climax and meditative conclusion to the 3 day Jiao liturgy is the “Mandala of the Dao,” or “True Offering,” which completes the meditative process of “returning to the Dao.” In step 1 the Daoist Master consecrated the sacred area by dancing the 9 steps of the “Magic square.” In step 2, the Su Qi , the Five sacred Writs were planted in the five central organs of the body. In step 3, “the morning, noon, and night” audiences,” the 5 elements were one-by-one refined into the 3 “primordials,” the Dao as gestating (Qi), mediating (shen), and indwelling (jing). Now in the final step, these 3 primordials are refined in the alchemical furnace of the belly, the “lower cinnabar field.” The Daoist sees the “3” transform into the “1”, i.e., the Dao as an infant, a “hierophant,” indwelling as a child within the very center of the cosmos. Union with the Dao is now achieved. A sacred rescript (shuwen) is carried down from the heavens by the “Du Jiang” Chief Cantor, and presented to the Master, who performs the sacred dance called “Pacing the Void” Bu Xu 步虛. The video shows the “fa lu” 發爐 “lighting the incense burner /alchemical furnace” in the belly. All spirits, energies, images, are sent out of the body (watch the Daoist do this by pressing the joints on the left hand, with the left thumb). Zhuangzi’s words “heart fasting, sitting in forgetfulness” 心齋坐忘, cause 於道合真 “One with Dao” to be realized.”
7) The concluding rites of the Jiao, not shown in the video, can be seen in printed form and pictures, (to be published on the website). The “Pu Du” rite, freeing all souls from hell-purgatory, “Thanking the spirits,” and “Seeing off the spirits of the 3 realms, heaven, earth and underworld,” (the reverse of Step One), bring the Jiao ritual to a conclusion. This classical manner of performing the Jiao, is found in the 6th century “Wushang Biyao,” and the Zhuang Lin Supplement to the Daoist Canon. This 25 volume text, now being scanned, will be available on the web.
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Thank you so much for posting this valuable information. It is difficult to find reputable sources of information and this is certainly a treasure for anyone who follows the Dao.
You are most welcome! there is so much more to say, Daoism in the west has been confined to spiritual cultivation, while in China and the diaspora it includes rites of passage and celebration of annual festivals for the Chinese “3 religions one culture” system, ie, Confucian ethics, Buddhist afterlife, Daoist mediation between humans and nature. The ritual aspects of Daoism require a fine knowledge of spoken and written Chinese, and really is “at home” only in a Chinese context. Time will tell if some of the ritual aspects can be transferred across language and culture. Similar problems occur with Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism, when they are transplanted to the west. Much to think and write about.
Another video showing the Longmen Jiao, as practiced by Daoist men and women in HK and the Diaspora wil be posted here soon.
Thank you for this information it was very helpful, i am currently studying Taoism at school and was wondering what do Taoist believe the purpose of life is? Is there a major difference between the Philosophical Taoism and the Religious Taoism?
Thankyou.
Thank you for your nice comment, I tried to answer on the website, but it did not come up on the first try, so I shall answer briefly here, then go back to the wordpress site.
The distinction between “philosphical Daoism道家” amd “religious Daoism道教” is a modern invention, used by Chinese and western agnostics to explain away their own lack of belief in the spirit world, or religion, and therefor “philosophical Daoism” (the writings of Laozi and Zhuangzi) are acceptable, but “religious Daoism” (as all other religions) are not. Dao Jia道家, the original word in Chinese, referred to all of the philosophical schools in the Warring States period that were not Confucian, or Legalist.
Religious Daoism begins with the Celestial Master school (Zhang Tianshi zhengyi Mengwei 張天師正一盟威 school of west China, and eventually southeast China (first Szechuan, then Longhu Shan 龍虎山in Jiangxi) and the Taiping 太平道or Martial form of Daoism in East China, (suppressed in 185, but continues strongly until today, evolved into various forms of actual martial arts and spiritual exorcisms). Zhang Daoling, as well as the founders of Lingbao 靈寶Daoism (Go Gong葛洪）, and the “guweishu古緯書” or “weft” writings, and eventually the Mao Shan Shangqing上清 internal alchemy (meditation) schools show that Dao Jiao is in fact an amalgamation of many early intellectual and spiritual themes into a single system, ie, the Laozi, Zhuangzi, Neidan內丹, Yinyang 5 elements陰陽五行, rites of passage, village ritual experts (early fangshi 方士）became village Daoshi 道士 by the end of the Han dynasty. Daoism and Tantric Buddhism also deeply influenced each other.
This is only a brief and cursory glance, I will send more references soon.
Religion in Asia is not a “belief” system, as it is in the west, rather it is a practice system, that allows more than one “rite of passage” system to exist in one culture. Thus Confucianism is for morality, human-to-human relations, Buddhism for the after life and compassion, and daoism for humans-with-nature relationships, AND the colorful providing of “Rites of Passage” for birthing, puberty, marriage, healing, village festivals (jiao 醮）, healing of illness, and burial rites 黃籙齋）. In classical Chinese the eites of passage are: 生，冠，昏，喪，事 (brial memorials) and the annual rites of passage (一年行事）1/1 New year, 3/3 girls’ day, 5/5 boys day, 7/7 teenage day, 7/15 all souls day, and 9/9 old folks day. Daoists are people who provide these services to the people of China. Daoism means something entirely different in western books, scholars’ writings, and heuristic lectures in university classes.
Best explanation I have seen in years! Now that’s a keeper that should be in everyone’s personal notebook!
Thank you William
I don’t quite agree with your suggestion that “Confucianism is for morality, Buddhism for the after life and compassion, and Daosim for humans-with-nature relationships.” All three traditions handle one important issue of life: transcendence. The “dressings” you suggested are means/approaches created to suit different levels of people to explore for themselves their ways of liberation.
Thank you, guest from “nowhere,” I was all to brief in explaining by heuristic device a much deeper topic, and am very grateful for your comment. Almost all Confucian scholars agree that question of “transcendence” is not addressed in the Confucian tradition, especially by modern scholars. The statement, as it stands, is a phrase taken from commonly used spoken Chinese, “putonghua”, (sanjiao guiyi 3 teachings, one culture 三教归一 and does not reflect the deeper insights of Daoist adepts, or Buddhist monastic practice. The ordinary people do not really see the difference in Buddhist and Daoist temples, but go to the nearest one for most of their needs, except for a smaller percentage of modern Chinese citizens who are Buddhist “believer” – practitioners, and avoid Daoist and other connections, much as other religions do. Daoists also provide funeral ritual, but Buddhists have much more elaborate chants of merit and repentance to free the souls of the deceased from the nine-tiered image of hell-purgatory, pictured in most Buddhist as well as Daoist temples. I will try to post some of these images when I return to the US; (am now in China0, visiting and lecturing on Daoist inner cultivation practices, which are also very much worth studying. Your comments, and all others are welcome, and I learn very much from the insights and visions of others.
Dear Prof. Saso,
It is nice to read your profile, that you were a Catholic, before you have been initiated into Taoism and Buddhism, and at the end you reinstatement your faith to the Catholic Priesthood. If you do not mind, could you please share with me why you decided to reinstatement your faith to Catholic?
Thank you.
Thank you Linda, I do not think that personally in my own spiritual path I can make judgmental distinctions between various religious belief systems, practice systems, all cultural based systems;, let everyone believe as they find best for their own spiritual path. I am still strong in my Catholic faith, strengthened by years of practice with Daoists, Buddhists, Sufi in China, others. But I do not want to impose anything that I do or practice on others, respecting everyone we meet, judging all well, filled with Laozi’s 3 precious things, compassion to all others, simplicity in my own life, never preferring self to others, is a path for all of us to follow, while respecting all other beliefs and loving all others, even those who scold and reject us. World peace will come when everyone lives this way. Once a priest, always a priest, after all of my experiences, John Paul II allowed me to say mass again. I am very grateful.
Dear Prof Saso,
Great. I am sure you will contribute a lot to the understanding of Taoism culture in the western world, especially to the Catholic domain as well. Mutual respect and understanding to each other religion will contribute peace in this world. Thank you for sharing with me.