Entry Index · Page 4

Fa is a common Chinese word whose meanings include law, rule, method, and religious technique. A Daoist use of fa must be distinguished from legal and Buddhist uses of the same character.

Fafu denotes vestments worn by Daoist ritual specialists or shown on divine images. Forms, colors, headwear, and meanings vary by period, liturgical role, and textual tradition; no one historical dress code applies to all Daoists today.

A falu is a Daoist register and credential transmitted within a scriptural or ritual lineage. It may record received teachings, divine offices, religious rank, or duties. Receiving one situates a priest or practitioner within a line of transmission and its responsibilities; a falu is not merely another name for every talismanic drawing.

Falu is an opening declaration in Daoist zhai and jiao liturgies, associated with a hand censer, incense, and announcing the purpose of the rite to divine beings. Its wording and interpretation vary across liturgical books.

Falun is originally a Buddhist image for the teaching and its continuing movement. Some Daoist scriptures borrow and reshape it to speak about wisdom, overcoming delusion, and religious deliverance. The shared metaphor does not make the two doctrinal settings identical.

Faqi are objects used in Daoist liturgy and recitation. The source material for this entry chiefly discusses sound-producing implements such as bells, drums, cymbals, chimes, and woodblocks and their roles in ritual music; that sample does not describe every kind of faqi.

Fashi is a Daoist title used for a learned religious teacher or a leader in a communal rite. Its scope changed across periods; the title was adopted from Buddhist usage but developed Daoist institutional meanings.

Fayi refers to the ritual vestments worn by a Daoist ritual master during liturgical services; fafu is another name for them.

Fayin is the name for a seal used in Daoist liturgical documents and talismanic writing. Its inscription can name a deity, an immortal, or a ritual authority. Particular designs and uses differ by lineage and text.

Fazhi denotes a Daoist religious title and responsibility received within a lineage and its liturgical system. In Zhengyi settings it is associated with transmission, registers, religious rank, and memorials. Its meaning depends on the specific tradition and is not a generic measure of personal ability.

Fanpu Guizhen expresses an ideal of returning to simplicity and authenticity in Daoist thought. Early philosophical discussions and later religious or neidan interpretations share a vocabulary but are not one fixed physical technique.

Fang Congyi was a painter associated with Daoist communities at Longhu Mountain during the late Yuan and early Ming. Known as Fanghu, he is especially remembered for expressive ink landscapes; exact dates and individual attributions still require checking.

Fangshu is a broad historical label for technical, divinatory, medical, and other specialized arts in early China. Its scope changed over time and should not be equated with Daoist religion as a whole.

Fangxian Dao is a name used for early currents of specialists in immortals, longevity, and techniques during the Warring States, Qin, and Han periods. The Chinese compilation treats these currents as an important precursor of later Daoism, not as an already established Daoist church.

Fangzhang has several religious meanings: an abbot or abbot's quarters in a temple, and a legendary island of immortals. The senses must be separated by context.

Fangzhong shu, often called the 'bedchamber arts,' is a historical category of Chinese writings on sexuality, restraint, and longevity. Its place within Daoist traditions changed across periods and schools.

Fangzhong medicinal substances are foods, herbs, and applied materials described in historical sexual-cultivation and medical texts. Claims about arousal, health, and treatment vary and do not establish safety or efficacy.

The lungs are respiratory organs involved in gas exchange. Traditional medical and Daoist writing also use lung-related qi and Five Phases language, which should not be equated directly with modern physiology or used for self-treatment.

The Fengdu Emperor, fully the Beiyin Fengdu Emperor, is a deity in Daoist accounts of the underworld. Texts associate him with Mount Luofeng, six underworld palaces, and an order of spirits and examination. The textual northern realm later became connected to local traditions at Fengdu in Sichuan.

Fudi refers to blessed grounds or lands associated with immortals in Daoist geography. The tradition speaks of seventy-two such sites. In wider Chinese usage, the same word can mean a happy or peaceful place without referring to a particular sacred site.

Fufeng Mengli Xin Tianjun Dafa is a Thunder Rite text preserved in juan 81 of Daofa Huiyuan, centered on the divine marshal Xin Tianjun. Its descriptions of divine officers and rites are evidence for religious imagination, not verified medical or safety guidance.

Fulu joins two related Daoist terms: fu, talismanic documents with distinctive writing, images, or marks of sacred authority; and lu, registers recording divine personnel, religious offices, or affiliation. They often come together in register transmission and liturgy, but are not the same kind of document.

Fuqi is a historical Daoist breath-cultivation term, often glossed as taking in or ingesting qi. Sources also call related practices shiqi or xingqi. The names overlap, but particular texts differ in what they mean by taking in qi and how they relate it to inner cultivation.

Fushi can mean clothing and food in ordinary Chinese. In the history of Daoist cultivation, it refers to the ingestion of substances such as herbs, minerals, or elixirs in pursuit of longevity.

Fuzhou joins graphic talismans and spoken or written incantations. Their combination and social setting differ across sources; no one material form represents all periods.

Ganshui Xianyuan Lu is a ten-fascicle Quanzhen collection compiled by Li Daoqian in 1288. Its biographies and inscriptions are important evidence for early Quanzhen networks.

Gaogong names a chief officiating role in Daoist zhai and jiao ceremonies, often grouped with dujiang and jianzhai as the three ritual masters. General Chinese dictionaries also use the same written term for outstanding achievement; that is a separate sense.

Ge Hong, courtesy name Zhichuan and self-styled Baopuzi, was a Daoist thinker, alchemical writer, and scholar of medicine active from the late Western Jin into the Eastern Jin. His dates are disputed. Baopuzi Neipian develops arguments about immortality, elixirs, and self-cultivation, while Zhouhou beiji fang belongs to the history of medical writing.

Ge Xianweng Zhouhou Beiji Fang is a transmitted medical work built on an earlier emergency formulary associated with Ge Hong and enlarged by Tao Hongjing and later editors. The surviving edition does not let every prescription be assigned to Ge and is not a modern first-aid guide.

Ge Xuan (traditionally 164–244) is associated with early Daoist transmission of alchemical texts in the Wu region and was later revered as Ge Xiangong. Narrative and historical layers need separation.

Gengdao Ji is a nine-juan compilation of Daoist external-alchemy writings. Its compiler is unknown, and its collected materials are not all from one period.

Gongguan is a collective term for Daoist religious sites where deities may be honored, clergy may live and study, liturgies may be held, and community affairs may be organized. The names gong and guan have distinct histories; their present-day use does not establish a uniform rank or function for every site.

Gongguo ge is a genre of moral ledger that classifies actions as merits or faults for self-examination. Daoist texts adapted the form within broader Chinese traditions of ethical accounting; claims that a tally brings reward or punishment belong to religious belief, not verified outcomes.

Gongyang may mean an offering made before a deity, material support for Daoist practitioners, or reverence for teachings in a scriptural explanation. Its sense depends on who receives it and on the text in which it appears.

Gushu Yinlou Cangshu is a Daoist collection associated with Min Yide, centered on writings about internal alchemy and the relationship among the Three Teachings.

Gu Yanwu (1613–1682) was a late-Ming and early-Qing scholar known for historical research, textual study, and political thought. His work belongs to the history of Chinese scholarship rather than to a Daoist lineage.

Gu Yi Kao Yuan is a three-fascicle Ming study of Yi diagrams, stalk numbers, and the three ancient Yi traditions. Its claims about primordial authorship are an author's arguments, not established accounts of early history.

Guaqi relates hexagram patterns from the Yi tradition to seasons, months, and other calendrical cycles. Some alchemical writings later use this correspondence to discuss huohou, or timing and phases. It is a historical correlative model, not a demonstrated physiological law.

Guan is a Chinese character with several readings and religious senses. Read guàn, it can name a Daoist temple; read guān, it can mean to observe or contemplate. Buddhist discussions of contemplation use the same character in a separate technical setting.

Guanfu is a collective term for headwear and clothing used by Daoist priests, including women priests. Daoist texts also distinguish ordinary dress from ritual vestments by rank, occasion, and scriptural tradition. No single dress code covers every period and community.

Guan Sheng Dijun is a major divine title given to Guan Yu in Daoist worship. The historical commander, his literary portrayal, successive imperial titles, and the protective or wealth-related roles of temple worship are connected but distinct layers.

Guan Yin is a figure discussed in early Daoist-related thought and later associated with the gatekeeper Yin Xi and traditions about Laozi's departure. Early accounts, later honorifics, and writings attributed to him must be studied separately.

Guanyinzi is the title of a Daoist philosophical work also transmitted as Wenshi Zhenjing. Tradition attributes it to Yin Xi, the pass keeper associated with Laozi, but the extant text cannot simply be treated as an authenticated work of that early figure.

Guan Yu was a military commander associated with Liu Bei whose later worship extended across Daoism, Buddhism and popular religion. His historical identity and his veneration as Guan Sheng Dijun are related but distinct aspects of his reception.

Guanyuan may designate dantian or dazhongji in Daoist body discourse, the navel in one Huangting commentary, and an acupuncture-point name in medical literature. These textual senses should not be collapsed.

Guanzi is a composite collection of early Chinese writings on government, political economy, ethics, and cosmology. Although traditionally attributed to Guan Zhong, it is not the work of a single author or period.

Guangcheng Yizhi is a large collection of Daoist ritual texts transmitted in Qing and Republican-era printings and manuscripts. It is predominantly connected with Quanzhen communities but includes other materials. Its name invokes Du Guangting's epithet, not his authorship of the collection.

Guangchengzi is a legendary teacher associated with the Yellow Emperor's inquiry into the Dao in Zhuangzi and later immortal narratives. Mount Kongtong, shouyi, and extraordinary longevity belong to the figure's literary and religious history, not a verifiable ancient biography.

Guidao is a context-dependent historical expression. Some chronicles use it for the religious movement associated with Zhang Lu; Buddhist accounts can use the same characters for the hungry-ghost path, while Daoist texts have still other senses. The term alone does not identify one tradition.

Valuing softness, or guirou, is a Daoist preference for yielding, flexibility, and restraint over rigidity or force. The Chinese entry follows this idea from the Daodejing into later religious explanations of conduct and cultivation.