The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1382 page)

(Chin., ‘School of the Magic Jewel’). A movement within religious
Taoism
(tao-chiao), based on
Ling-pao Ching
. Influenced by Buddhist devotion to
bodhisattvas
, it claimed that liberation or salvation depends on help from deities (
t’ien-tsun
). Of great importance is
chai
(fasting) in projecting deities from within, and thus externalizing them for worship. The school is thus noted for its ritual.

 
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see
SAN-CH’ING
.

 
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Li Po
(Li Pai, Li T’ai-pai)
,

(701–62).
Chinese Taoist poet. Although he spent a short period in Ch’angan (
Sian
/Xi’an) as a court writer (742–4), he spent most of his life wandering. Tradition makes him one of the ‘eight immortals of the wine cup’, and he himself interpreted his wild behaviour as arising from the fact that he was ‘a banished immortal’: these are immortals who do some wrong in heaven and are banished to earth for a life-time. Whatever the source, his poems express a strong ecstasy, as well as sympathy with the misfortunes of others. He remains a very popular poet.

 
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(Gk., ‘supplication’). A form of prayer, often addressed to God, but also to the Virgin
Mary
or to
saints
, made up of a series of petitions.

 
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see
PAHSIEN
.

 
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see
K
AN
.

 
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