| This dissertation is an interdisciplinary analysis of the shared background of Daoist exorcist ritual and vernacular "novels" of the Ming dynasty (1368--1644). In it, I show that a vast number of the protagonists in late Ming "novels" have extensive antecedents in a popular type of Daoist exorcist liturgies, called "Thunder Ritual." The Thunder Gods that were utilized for these rituals in turn have antecedents in the demonic cults of local communities. I argue that both ritual and "novels" were based upon operative principles intending to change demons into powerful gods through a process called sublimation (liandu).; The thesis is structured around three main themes. First I explore the demonic undercurrents of Chinese religion. Asking questions about the poetics by which demons were created, I show that they served as the ontological basis for heavenly gods. Secondly, I reconstruct the emergence of Thunder Ritual since the medieval period, and show that Daoist exorcists were formative in the shaping of the Chinese divine realm. Active at the Ming court, in cities, and the countryside, their rituals bridged the gap between the local demonic cult and the realm of the canonical divine. Finally, by comparing the specific teleology of thunder liturgies, as well as their main ritual agents and language, with a standard set of recurring features of the late Ming "vernacular novel," I situate the emergence of vernacular stories in the theatrical and ritual environment of the popular religious festival. |
