Human-star relations in contemporary Daoist practice : an anthropological and ethno-astronomical study at Mount Qingcheng, Southwest China

Abstract

What is a star? What is a person? And what defines the relationships between humans and stars? This study investigates these ontological questions through a rich ethnography of Mount Qingcheng's contemporary Daoist community: Can stars be known? How come Daoist and scientific epistemic community perceive stars differently? Both Daoists and scientists would affirmatively agree that stars can indeed be known.They dispute, however, on what stars are, what can be learned about them, and how stars can be learned. Scientists hold that stars exist independently of human subjective experiences and are objectified within scientific communities. Consequently, they assert that the subjective experiences of stars, observed via human senses, are excluded from scientific inquiry. In contrast, Daoists derive their knowledge of stars from embodied subjective experiences. Nonetheless, the ethnography indicates that only a thorough spiritual training may provide access to a deep reality of the stars, and even the cosmos. In this thesis, the author aims to contribute to ethnographic research by documenting the contemporary Daoist community on Mount Qingcheng. This comprehensive ethnography not only delves into the sacred geography of Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System but also uncovers the practices of how Daoists relate to stars through Daoist Magic (Mode 1) and Daoxue (Mode 2). These ethnographic findings enhance the anthropological study of Daoism and provide novel perspectives within the fields of Daoist textual studies, ethnoastronomy, and ontological anthropology. In total: 230 words Keywords: star, cosmos, Daoist magic, Daoxue, animism, analogism, ontology, cosmology