Gotobeido - The Way of Five Pounds of Rice

Another name for the Taoist sect Tenshido, which arose in Shu, Sichuan Province, China in the mid-2nd century at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Today, the sect is often referred to as Wudu Bei Do before 215, when it was officially recognized by Cao Cao of Wei, and as Tianshido after that (since the Yuan Dynasty it has been called "Zhengyi Sect"). It got its name from the fact that followers donated five dou of rice, but the number of dou bei comes from the five dou lu (five dou lu) of a county magistrate during the Han Dynasty. Zhang Ling is said to have been the founder, but in fact the sect's organization was established during the reign of his grandson Zhang Lu. Ordinary followers were called Kisots (ghost soldiers) and were divided into 24 "chi" (regions). Each ruler was ruled by a priest, who also set up a kind of free food hall called a gisha, where rice and meat were given to travelers. The center of religious activities was the treatment of illness, and illness was considered to be the result of past sins. Therefore, the priests would take the sick to a "quiet room" where they had to confess their sins, and dedicate pieces of paper with the sick person's name and sins written on them to the gods of heaven, earth, and water (the Heavenly Official, the Earthly Official, and the Water Official), or have them recite the Tao Te Ching of Laozi, thereby curing them. The Laozi Sōjichū, which is believed to have been written by Zhang Lu or his successors, is a commentary that interprets the Tao Te Ching of Laozi from a religious and ethical perspective, and there is also a record of the deification and worship of Laozi as Taishang Laojun. The characteristics of the Five Pours of Rice Way are common to the Chinese ideal of utopia. Therefore, when it became the Tao of the Heavenly Master and spread throughout China, it seems to have given strength to peasant revolts and inspired the upper class aristocrats to dream of the arrival of a savior. However, the theocratic independent state that the Tao of the Five Pours of Rice created in Sichuan Province never appeared again in China.

[Anna Seidel]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、後漢(ごかん)末2世紀中ごろに四川(しせん)省蜀(しょく)におこった道教教団の天師道(てんしどう)の別名。現在では、この教団が魏(ぎ)の曹操(そうそう)によって公認された215年以前を五斗米道、以後を天師道（元(げん)以降は「正一(せいいつ)教」）とよぶ場合が多い。信者が五斗の米を納めたことからこの名があるが、五斗米という数は漢代の県令の五斗禄(ろく)に由来する。開祖は張陵(ちょうりょう)とされるが、実際には孫の張魯(ちょうろ)の代になって教団の組織は確立した。一般の信者は鬼卒(きそつ)とよばれ、24の「治」に分けて支配された。各治の支配には祭酒(さいしゅ)があたり、祭酒はまた、義舎(ぎしゃ)という一種の無料給食所を設け、米や肉を旅人に与えた。宗教活動の中心は治病であり、病気は過去の罪過の結果であるとされた。そこで祭酒は、病人を「静室」に入れて罪過を告白させ、病人の名と罪過を書いた紙片を天・地・水の神々（天官・地官・水官）に捧(ささ)げ、あるいは『老子道徳経』を唱えさせるなどして治病した。張魯かまたはその後継者の作とされる『老子想爾注(そうじちゅう)』は、『老子道徳経』を宗教的・倫理的に解釈した注釈であって、そこにはまた、老子を太上老君(たいじょうろうくん)として神格化し祀(まつ)った記録もみえる。五斗米道の特徴は、中国人の抱く理想郷の理念と共通している。したがって、それが天師道となって中国全土に広がると、農民の反乱に力を与えたり、上流貴族の間にも救世主出現を待望する夢を与えたりしたようである。しかし、この五斗米道が四川省内に実現したような神権政治的独立国家は、その後、二度と中国には現れなかった。

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