Lord of the three in one
Subtitle: the spread of a cult in Southeast China
By: Kenneth Dean.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 406
Subjects: Lin, Chao-en, 1517-1598.; Cults -- China -- Fujian Sheng -- History.; Confucianism -- China -- Rituals.; Buddhism -- China -- Rituals.; Taoism -- China -- Rituals.; China -- Religious life and customs.
Other titles: Spread of a cult in Southeast China
Description: Lin Zhao'en (1517-1598) set out to popularize Confucianism by combining Confucian studies with Daoist inner alchemical techniques and Buddhist Chan philosophy into something he called the Three in One Teachings.

Despite periods of clandestine activity since its inception, the Three in One cult has undergone a remarkable revival in post-Mao China: Today Lin is worshipped throughout Southeast China and Southeast Asia as Lord of the Three in One in over a thousand temples by tens of thousands of cult initiates.

Dean explores the organization and transmission of the Three in One's unique cultural vision, the reception of this vision, and the construction of subjectivity within a vibrant ritual tradition. Outlining such features as inner alchemical meditation, scripture and iconography, ritual practice, and spirit mediumism, he demonstrates the cult's transformative potential as well as its contemporaneity and dynamism.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-396) and index.