Transcendence and Divine Passion

This book examines the greatest Taoist goddess of the T'ang dynasty (618-907), the Queen Mother of the West, Hsi Wang Mu, through the eyes of medieval Chinese people. Medieval Taoists considered the Queen Mother the embodiment of the ultimate yin, the dark female force who governed both immortality and the means by which it might be achieved. Along with works of T'ang poets, the main body of this book draws upon a hagiographical account of the goddess by Tu Kuang-t'ing, the Taoist master of the late ninth century. Juxtaposing Tu's text with contemporary poems, the author depicts the goddess as a religious and literary figure from the seventh century through the tenth. The image is filled out by references to inscriptions, historical materials, and the pictorial arts.