User:Zeus1234/Thunder Rites

The Thunder Rites were an effort to harness this power and use it to exorcise demons and bring relief during times of drought. While in the past, thunder had been used in ritual, during Song times it became ethicized. Instead of merely representing an expression of heavenly anger (particularly with respect to unfilial behavior), it became the executor of heavenly punishment. The Daoist practitioner who harnessed the power of thunder became an administrator of justice. In addition Thunder became bureaucratized and cosmologized. The various schools created systems known as thunder courts, which were located in the heavens and were staffed with bureaucrats inhabiting different administrative buildings. In addition, Thunder was transformed from being simply a manifestation of nature into the controlling power of the cosmos itself, the very pivot of heaven and earth. In order to plug into this cosmic force, Daoists developed a vast ritual apparatus which was defined by Neidan. Using meditations of Neidan, the practitioner could reproduce and store thunder within his body, generate and summon the Thunder Gods, and create, visualize and project the talismans that embody their power.

History
The Thunder Rites arose out of ritual traditions of the tenth and eleventh centuries, but gained prominence due to the patronage of emperor Huizong. The Celestial Masters adopted the Thunder Rites during the last two decades of the Northern Song period. The Five thunders variety appeared earlier and was linked with the Celestial Masters, who at this time were headquartered in Jiangxi province. The Thunderclap tradition was more popular in the south. The Pure Tenuity School, which emerged during the second half of the thirteenth century was also firmly grounded in the thunder rites. Pure Tenuity tradition combined aspects of all schools of Daoism with the Thunder Rites and with the mandala heritage of Tantric Buddhism. These rites have even survived to the present day, primarily in Taiwan.

What are they?

A way to articulate the powers of thunder in theory, scripture, meditation and ritual. This type of exorcistic ritual appeared in names such as Five Thunders and Thunderclap. While early Daoist movements believed that the moral transgressions of a person of a person were the reason for that person’s illness, the Thunder Rite tradition assumed that demons caused illness.

How to Conduct them
In order to exorcise a demon, a petition had to be made to the thunder court. Many daoshi (compilers of texts and priests) and fashi (master of rites) received training in the forms of meditation, the administrative protocols and the bureaucratic culture of the thunder ritual system. The astral deities that inhabited the Thunder Court were controlled by means of registers, talismans, spells and seals in order to dispel the demons. The ritual master could also transform into the divinity itself, and transfer the demon to a spirit medium. The Practitioner cannot simply rely on his ability to call down divine forces when needed, but also had to have the cosmic powers of thunder stored within him. Therefore, the practitioner must be ready to meditate at times when thunder is imminent. In Pure Tenuity thunder rites, the power of the thunder is stored by meditation each spring. On the fist day after the lunar new year in which there is a thunderstorm, the practitioner faces the direction of the thunder and breaths in the breath of the electrified atmosphere while forming mudras on both hands and reciting mantric spells. The power of thunder circulates through the body until it is stored in the bladder… continue to read passage from page 242-243 of Michael Saso’s “The Teachings of Master Chuang” that describes the neidan meditations. After completing these meditations, the practitioner was capable of curing illness and exorcizing evil. In order to summon the thunder breath, the practitioner had to summon the ancestral thunder breath from the center of the microcosm (a void between the kidneys and stomach, called the Yellow Court of the Center) in order to write a talisman. Read Passage from “The Teachings” that decribes this meditation technique from p. 254. Once the talisman was finished, the practitioner could finally perform an exorcism. In order to do this, he had to control the rays of the sun. He had to press on the mao position of his left hand and meditate, seeing in the corner of his left eye, a red sun with seven rays emanating. He then had to recite the following mantra seven times without taking a breath. “om kuo gi lai/kun t’a li p’o k’a” He then breaths in the seven rays of light, circulating them through his body until they reach the yellow court. In the yellow court, they are mixed with the practioners qi and the stored qi of the thunder. He then exhales the qi through pursed lips to form the mantric word xu, while drawing the talisman to the roof of his mouth, all the while directing the qi to the afflicted person. (this is from 256-257 of Saso)