2025 Theses Doctoral

The Descending Words: Cult and Culture of Spirit-Writing in China (900-1400)

Luo, Yuqing

Spirit writing is a divination practice that has been widespread in Chinese popular religion since the Six Dynasties. It was almost wiped out in the early days of the People's Republic of China and has never since been revived. To date, scholarly inquiries into spirit-writing groups and texts are predominately focused on the late imperial times. This dissertation research explored the understudied phenomenon of spirit-writing activities in Song and Yuan China (960-1368). Through textual analysis of materials of the “middle period” (from the 10th to the 14th century), together with interpretive field notes collected from contemporary spirit-writing communities, this dissertation investigates a central question: How exactly were spirit-written texts produced, preserved, and perceived during this transformative age?

By examining the production process behind these texts, I first explore how diverse social groups interacted through spirit-writing banquets, gatherings, and cult activities. Going further, by studying the human-text relationship based on the content and descriptions of these uncanny texts, I uncover intriguing cases of potential forgery of divine texts and demonstrate how people of this period understood and lived with the written revelations they sought.

Situating these spirit-writing texts within the broader context of societal transformation, this dissertation argues that spirit writing, as an innovative method connecting the human and unseen realms, underwent a transformation by literati, ritual masters, and the real and imagined female writers during the Song and Yuan periods. The range and diversity of its practitioners expanded, and the literature it produced, in turn, inspired people’s perceptions and aesthetics about supernatural writings.

Focusing on the ritual practice of spirit-writing activities, this research teases out the fluid boundary between esoteric religious knowledge, oftentimes gained through contractual relationships, and lay knowledge about religious teachings accessible through encyclopedic publications. Ultimately, this research contributes to the discussion on secularization and religiosity in the field of religious studies.