Memory and Therapy: A Study of the Function of the Hexi Baojuan in Local Society

Abstract

The Precious Scrolls of Hexi (Hexi Baojuan) embody the “collective memory” of the people in the Hexi region. The “Creation memory” and “Traumatic memory” are two key types of collective memory. Through the continuous recording and (re)creation of memories, the Baojuan exerts a therapeutic effect on people’s inner confusion and physical or mental pain. By studying the representative works of the ritual and secular Baojuan of the Hexi Baojuan, the Longhua Baojing (龙华宝经), and the Precious Scroll of Kalpa Survival (Jiujie Baojuan救劫宝卷), this paper examines the creation memory and traumatic memory of the Hexi people, thereby revealing the hidden tension between memory and healing.

To uncover the “historical truth” of the Hexi region since the Ming and Qing dynasties, there is not only the path of historical books and local chronicles. The Hexi Baojuan (河西宝卷) has also implicitly or explicitly preserved the “collective memory” and “historical mentality” of the people (Zhang and Zhao 2022, pp. 138–47). The “collective memory” present in Baojuan consists of two main dimensions, namely, the “memory of creation” and the “memory of trauma”, both of which are closely related to the therapeutic function. On the one hand, the Creation memory provides the people with the expectation of “restoring paradise”, which is a kind of consolation and hope for the sufferings and illnesses that the people have encountered in their present life; on the other hand, the key to the healing of the Traumatic memory lies in the constant expression and discussion of suffering, thereby releasing the people’s inner pain, repression, and distress. Specifically, this paper focuses on two Hexi Baojuan. Longhua Baojing is a rendering of the people’s “Creation memory”, offering the Hexi people with an imaginative source for the afterlife; Jiujie Baojuan is repeated recitation and representation of the suffering of life, essentially a catharsis and comfort to the people’s inner wounds caused by the Great Gulang Earthquake (古浪大地震). Through these two different psychological mechanisms, the people have integrated “collective memory” and “Baojuan therapy” into the contents of Baojuan. This paper adopts a combined approach of textual close reading and fieldwork to conduct the research which explores how the “creation memory” and “traumatic memory” in the Hexi Baojuan, respectively, construct the collective cognition of the people in the Hexi region, and achieve physical and mental healing through specific mechanisms.

1. Literature Review

As representative works of the Hexi Baojuan, the Longhua Baojing and the Precious Scroll of Kalpa Survival, carry the “collective memory” of the people in the Hexi region and hold significant research value. A review of existing scholarship shows that relatively few studies have been conducted on the Longhua Baojing and the Precious Scroll of Kalpa Survival and that current research is rather limited in scope, focusing primarily on their historical significance and religious thought. For example, Li Haozai’s The Structure and Characteristics of Chinese Folk Religious Thought—A New Exploration of the “Longhua Baojing” examines the religious thought of the Longhua Baojing from the perspective of folk religion or popular theology (H. Li 2012, pp. 22–29), while Zhao Guangjun’s The Historical Significance of the “Precious Scroll of Kalpa Survival” analyzes its historical meaning in light of the text’s content and background (G. Zhao 1991, pp. 50–52). Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, research on Baojuan has gradually moved beyond the binary framework of literature and religious studies, turning instead to interdisciplinary approaches such as anthropology and sociology. For example, Su Yunruo’s Buddhist Nun, Spirit Medium, Chant Leader: Precious Scrolls (Baojuan) Performance and Female Religious Participation centers on the Precious Scrolls performances from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the modern era, focusing on the diverse practices of female religious participation. From anthropological and sociological perspectives, the study integrates rich historical documents and fieldwork data, presenting distinct interdisciplinary characteristics (Su 2018, pp. 322–97). Building on this trend, the present study shifts the focus to the healing function of the Hexi Baojuan and explores the social functions of Baojuan.

In the field of therapeutic functions of baojuan, several scholars have conducted relevant research. For example, Qiu Huiying’s Zhen Sui Yu Zhi Bing—Wu Di Xuanjuan De Yiliao Zuoyong (鎮祟舆治病——吴地宣卷的醫療作用) explores the folk tradition in the Wu region of China where people tend to trust witchcraft over medical treatment. When falling ill, locals often seek healing through kanxiang (incense reading) or xuanjuan (scripture telling), which effectively soothes the body, mind, and spirit of patients, representing a form of “cultural healing” (Qiu 2017, pp. 287–324). Li Yongping’s “Changhe” Yu “Xianghe”: Baojuan “Hefo” Zhong De Rangzai Chuantong Fawei (“唱和”与”相和”:宝卷”和佛”中的禳灾传统发微) focuses on “hefo”, arguing that it is essentially a continuation of the ancient Chinese tradition of “xianghe”. Its core social function lies in achieving healing and disaster aversion through the field of sound poetics and the effects of collective participation (Y. Li 2022, pp. 40–51). Additionally, Rostislav Berezkin focuses on “scripture telling and precious scroll recitation” in the Changshu region of Jiangsu, conducting research from multiple perspectives. Regarding the dynamic nature of Baojuan texts, he emphasizes that contemporary “adapted texts” represent a natural continuation rather than a break from tradition, as seen in Yu Dingjun’s optimization of old texts (Berezkin 2015a, pp. 101–40). By comparing Baojuan performances in neighboring regions such as Zhangjiagang, Kunshan, and Suzhou, he highlights the uniqueness of Changshu in terms of textual innovation and ritual organization (Berezkin 2019, pp. 115–75). In his work On the Performance and Ritual Aspects of the Xiangshan Baojuan: A Case Study of Religious Assemblies in the Changshu Area, he analyzes the performance forms and ritual details of the Xiangshan Baojuan within the context of “scripture telling” in Changshu (Berezkin 2015b, pp. 307–44). Most of the aforementioned studies focus on the Baojuan in southern China and fail to explore how Baojuan achieves its healing function from the perspective of collective memory. This paper addresses these gaps by investigating the creation memory and trauma memory in the Hexi Baojuan, as well as how they realize the therapeutic function.

2. What Is “Collective Memory”?

The social psychological concept of “collective memory” was proposed in 1925 by the scholar Maurice Halbwachs.1 By definition, “collective memory” comprises the “memory of events” shared, inherited, and constructed by the people in a group or social activities. An important aspect of the therapeutic mechanism of Baojuan is the “eventization” of the disease—treating the disease by dealing with “events”. On the one hand, the memory of events in Baojuan may be historically true, but it needs to be “eventized” through linguistic and textual re-examination to make it easier to process; on the other hand, Baojuan reciters or copiers may also project their inner worries into the language and text, effecting the “materialization” of the spirit of nothingness, and solving their psychological problems by dealing with fictional events or ritualized “texts”, i.e., “created” memories, thus achieving spiritual healing. It thus becomes clear the process of eventization, ritualization, and textualization of collective memories are also the process whereby the therapeutic function takes effect, and there is a close correlation and great tension between the two.2

Further, what is memory? And how can memory be “eventized”? Memory is a social and cultural construct. To study history, it is necessary to look for past events within the frame of collective memory. Changes in the frame (also known as the mnemonic diagram) can lead to changes in memory. That is, changes in the memory frame over time can lead to forgetting or distortion of memories, and members of a society will change their memories in an undetectable way. At the same time, individuals place themselves in the collective to leave a memory, and the collective memory also achieves self-realization at the level of individual memory (Halbwachs 1992, pp. 44–49). Similarly, historical consciousness can be narrated like a literary work. Hayden White argued that historical consciousness has a deep structure and is poetic. History intervenes in events with metaphorical language, woven plots, writing purposes, and ideologies, which all are strongly poetic. This is similar to literary creation. History is essentially narrative and not entirely objective (White 1975, pp. 30–31). Historical narratives are subjective, and the selection of the form, content, and perspective of historical narratives, is even more subjective. How people construct and describe the past depends on current thoughts, interests, and expectations, and the construction of memory is under the control of power (Halbwachs 1992, pp. 44–49). Collective memory reconstructs itself based on interests and perceptions.

In a sense, official history books and historical documents are a form of officially recognized “collective memory”, while folklore is a kind of “collective memory” that has not been officially certified and remains in the oral traditions of the people, passed down from generation to generation. Constructing memories into events in oral traditions or texts is the “eventization” of memory, which encompasses two main meanings: one is to construct collective memory to form oral traditions or texts; the second is the construction of events in collective memory to form narrative in oral traditions or texts. The former is the process of producing the form of works, and the latter is the process of producing its content. The engraving and copying of Baojuan, as well as related assistance in engraving and copying, reflect the textualization and formalization of the people’s collective memory; the historical events reflected and the story constructed with Baojuan are the “transformation” of events in collective memory. If history books represent the official narrative and recognition of collective memory, then Baojuan represent the folk “voice” of collective memory.3

Only collective memory can make a nation be cohesive. For this reason, all nations have always attached great importance to the preservation of shared folklore and collective memory. National identity and its enduring stability are subject to collective memory and its forms of organization. In other words, the demise of a nation is not the disappearance of a tangible substance, but forgetting on the collective and cultural level (Assmann 2011, p. 140). Therefore, every nation must lay stress on the inheritance of collective memory, which is conducive to strengthening national identity and cultural self-confidence. As is well known, collective memory is largely based on the nation’s early sacred books and literary classics (J. Huang 2017, pp. 38–45), including, of course, folklore classics. In view of this, the scope of documents for ethnic and historical research should be expanded to include literary works, folk customs, and even rituals, rather than being limited to official historical documents such as history books and local chronicles. Similarly, historical narration should not be limited to classical texts and their writing styles.4

According to Jan Assmann, there are two ways to maintain collective memory: ritual association and textual association, among which textual association is how people shape collective memory by interpreting classical texts (J. Huang 2017, pp. 38–45). Meaning is current only when people disseminate the text; once the text stops, it ceases to be a carrier of meaning, but a tomb (Assmann 2011, p. 74). Literary texts are passed down through generations, and through the interpretations of different readers at different times, they acquire different meanings; and the unfixed nature of meaning is also essentially a kind of cultural shaping force, which depends on the possession of ideological power, and the transfer of collective memory. At the same time, “memory distortion” often occurs in this transfer process. In other words, the meanings of stories accumulated over generations are constantly multiplying and disappearing through the continuous selection, adaptation, and dissemination by the people. In essence, this is a kind of “cultural transfer”—amid change and constancy, the power of ideology and folk collective memory interact and evolve together. Therefore, in a sense, Baojuan has been a kind of “ritual association” and “text association” of folk collective memory since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the contents of society, folklore, religion, literature, and other aspects reflected in them are the collective memory of the people. Through recalling them, the reciting and copying of Baojuan provide “sacred healing” by eventizing and textualizing collective memories. In what follows, the author will focus on the textual analysis of Baojuan from the perspectives of Creation memory and Traumatic memory—the two major forms of “collective memory”.

3. Creation Memory and Healing in the Hexi Baojuan

Creation memory is based on myth. The internal logic linking memory and myth is usually as follows: an event arising in the minds of people, whether real or fantastical; the people first shape events in their memory, and then shape the myth from the event; whereafter the myth is re-deposited in their memory and serves as an explanation and guide for similar scenarios in the future. Although myths do not reveal much about the background of collective memory, they provide the researcher with a more in-depth understanding of the “recalling people”. Because people are constantly reinventing events, shaping myths, and adding color or detail, the researcher can see a “reflection” of the people and their attitudes to life in the myths. Or, as Sartre put it, myth is an act of transcendence (May 1991, p. 44).

Creation myths are collective imaginations about the creation of heaven and earth and the origin of mankind. In ancient times, human beings were unable to fully understand the true nature of such issues as the origin of the universe, special natural phenomena (e.g., thunder and lightning), and the emergence of human beings, so they created myths in the form of fantasies to explain them. Existing Creation myths around the world reflect primitive human beings’ imaginative understanding of the creation of the world and the birth of all things in nature, as well as the collective memories of the ancestors of all nations. In the West, there are mainly ancient Hebrew Creation myths and ancient Greek Creation myths, whose classical texts include the Bible·Genesis and the Theogony; in China, the widely circulated Creation myths are “Pangu (盘古) opened up the sky and the earth”, “Nüwa (女娲) mended the sky”, and “Nüwa created man out of clay”. In the folk Baojuan, especially the ritual Baojuan, there are a considerable number of Creation myths; this kind of mythology, on the one hand, reflects the deity system and its mythological system of various folk sects, and on the other hand, it also reflects the “Creation memory” of the general public.

There exist many Baojuan describing the creation of the world and the birth scene of humans, which together form a relatively systematic folk sects’ “Creation theory” and establish a space-time order system of the God-ruled world. Meanwhile, disorder means chaos, and chaos means “disease”. How to restore order and re-establish the space-time order system is the key to treatment. The theme of “restoring Paradise” (乐园复归) in Baojuan symbolizes the healing process, i.e., returning to sacred space through divine salvation or divine healing, which is the basic path of healing in the Creation myths of Baojuan. Due to the proliferation of folk sects during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there are an immense number of various sectarian Baojuan. In the following, the author mainly chooses Gufo Tianzhen Kaozheng Longhua Baojing (古佛天真考证龙华宝经, hereinafter referred to as Longhua Baojing 龙华宝经) and Jiujie Baojuan (救劫宝卷) of the Hexi Baojuan for separate research, and employs them as representatives to analyze the “Creation memory” of the Hexi people, hoping to explore and obtain the path to healing people’s inner anxieties.

The Longhua Baojing that the author read is a letterpress thread-bound edition, with four volumes in a case. The case cover is marked with Gufo Tianzhen Kaozheng Longhua Baojing, and the covers of the four volumes are all titled Longhua Baojuan.5 This edition has no page margins, columns, or borders, but includes top and bottom margins. The name of the book Longhua Baojing is written above the single fishtail (鱼尾)—which is tiny (thin) with a black opening—and the page number is written under the single black fishtail. The four volumes consist of 116 sheets, and there are 11 lines on each page and 22 characters on each line. The book is written in rhyme and prose, with clear and well-preserved print, and no punctuation throughout. According to the Canadian sinologist Daniel Overmyer, the book of Gufo Tianzhen Kaozheng Longhua Baojing was written in the 11th year of the Shunzhi (顺治) reign of the Qing Dynasty (1654) (Overmyer 1999, p. 248), or in the 9th year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1652), by Gong Chang (弓长). Regarding Gong Chang, in Chapter Sixth of the Mahayana Yuan Dun (大乘圆顿教) sutras Gufo Wusheng Yuhua Jieguo Zunjing (古佛无生玉华结果尊经) discovered by Chen Junfeng in Zhangxian County漳县, Dingxi City 定西市, Gansu Province 甘肃省, there is a record saying that “the founder is Founder Gongchang, whose Taoist monastic name is Wushuang, commonly known as Hailiang” (Chen 1999, pp. 122–26).

Gufo Tianzhen Kaozheng Longhua Baojing is an early Baojuan with the best-organized text (Overmyer 1999, p. 249), and a relatively complete Creation and Kalpa myths. Its Creation episodes are described as follows:

“In the beginning, the world is a blurred entity. There was nothing in it, and then out of nothing came beings, as well as a light.

In the halo of light, the Buddha’s body was formed. The body became integrated with the light, thus becoming Buddha. As the golden body began to take shape, the heaven and the earth were established.

Wusheng Mother 无生母 gave birth to Yin 阴 and Yang 阳. She created a Former Heaven 先天 and conceived holy babies of countless incarnations.

She gave birth to a boy and a girl, named Fuxi 伏羲 and Nüwa 女娲.

Li Fuxi 李伏羲 and Zhang Nüwa 张女娲 are both the ancestors of human beings. Through Jin Gong 金公 and Huang Po 黄婆, they were married.

On the Wuji (戊己土) day, two eggs, Yin and Yang, were taken out, rolling down from Mount Meru 须弥山. Suddenly there was a loud bang.

In miraculous golden light, they mated. This is how human relations and marriages started.

After the world was created, another 9.6 billion humans were born, with countless Buddhas among them.

Wusheng Father 无生父 and Wusheng Mother instructed that since the Eastern Land 东土 was uninhabited and desolate,

96 descendants were sent to the Eastern Land. They all had halos on their heads, wore five-colored clothes, and rode on two wheels.

Ancient Buddhas 古佛 were born to rule the world, and the true world appeared when the earth was first separated from heaven.

Wusheng Laomu 无生老母 gave birth to two children, Fuxi and Nüwa, marking the advent of human relations.”

(Zhang and Ren 2019, p. 238)

In Longhua Baojing, when all things in heaven and earth did not exist, there was only a blurred entity, from which came Budda. Subsequently, Wusheng Laomu gave birth to Fuxi and Nüwa, marking the advent of human relations. Then they gave birth to 9.6 billion sons and daughters whom were sent to the Eastern Land. However, these 9.6 billion descendants were addicted to the worldly pleasures of the Eastern Land and unwilling to return and stayed there until today. To save them, Wusheng Laomu set up calamities in three periods of Qingyang 青阳, Hongyang 红阳, and Baiyang 白阳, respectively, and convened the Longhua Three Meetings 龙华三会, in which Lamp-Burning Buddha 燃灯佛, Sakyamuni Buddha 释迦佛, and Maitreya Buddha 弥勒佛 took charge of the world, respectively, to bring those descendants back to the Pure Land 极乐世界. To fulfill the wish of Wusheng Laomu, Maitreya Buddha came to earth from heaven and began to enlighten the world as the founding master Wang Sen 王森.

Gong Chang declared himself to be the fourth incarnation of the sect master after Wang Sen, Tianzhen Laozu 天真老祖, and Cuihua Zhangjie 翠花张姐, and stated he founded the Mahayana Tianzhen Yuan Dun Sect just because he was trying to fulfill the mission of “the universal salvation in the final kalpa (末劫总收圆)”. Gong Chang also claimed that the “the universal salvation in the final kalpa” is a sacred and honorable task with a long road ahead, and therefore many gods and Buddhas will come spontaneously to assist and participate in the Longhua Three Meetings. Based on the founding master Wang Sen’s inner elixir practice technique, Gong Chang also created a new practice technique called “Ten Steps Practice” (十步修行) and passed it on to his believers in the name of Wusheng Laomu. According to the Baojing, as long as the believers conscientiously practice according to the practice methods, they can return to the Pure Land constructed by Wusheng Laomu.6 It can be seen that the “Creation Story” (创世说) in Longhua Baojing is to promote the doctrine of Gong Chang’s Mahayana Yuan Dun Sect. However, it also implies the collective imagination and folk interpretation of the believers of the sect on the newly created world. The “human birth story” is the central tenet of religious creationism. To rationalize the origin of human beings, all the world’s major religions have constructed a “Creation memory” that suits their needs. Judging from Longhua Baojing alone, the creator had exhausted their efforts to establish the supreme deity status of Wusheng Laomu and promote the deity system of the sect. In the beginning, ancient Buddhas, as the hermaphroditic supreme deities, were fatherly in general, although they also had the function of procreation in theory. To highlight the function of the sect’s maternal deity, the creator created the image of the “Wusheng Laomu”, a supreme deity. Deities such as Wusheng, Lao Tianzhen 老天真, Wusheng Father, and Wusheng Mother, who were born out of “ancient Buddhas”, actually strengthened the divine status of Wusheng Laomu through the gendering of deities and the division of work based on gendering and functions (Liang 2004, pp. 44–47). In a sense, the ultimate establishment of the supreme divinity of Wusheng Laomu was an objective need of the religious creation view centered on human birth—mother goddesses tend to give the populace a deep sense of belonging and trust.

The world was chaotic with no order, so there was no disease, nor cure. The key is that Wusheng Laomu established the order of the world, marking the beginning of human relations. When there is order, there is the possibility of rebellion, namely, later 9.6 billion descendants being lost in the worldly pleasures of the Eastern Land and unwilling to return. The cause of the problem was that rebellion occurred due to unfulfilled desires, which led to disorder, and disorder means chaos. To restore the original order, Wusheng Laomu sent Maitreya Buddha down to the world to save the world, and Gong Chang created a new practice technique, the “Ten Steps Practice”. The order-restoring process is a metaphor for the healing process of the disease. Firstly, sanctify the healing process, with deities involved at every step to distance them from the people of the mortal world, and inspire a sense of awe through preaching the words of deities, so that people can recognize their ailments. Secondly, sanctify the means of healing. Since the foundation of the practice is derived from deities, this will give believers full confidence in the healing process. Thirdly, sanctify the healing space by creating the Mahayana Tianzhen Yuan Dun Sect to bring the believers into a sacred realm with a clear state of mind. Finally, sanctify the healing result. For the universal salvation in the final kalpa, the purpose of the treatment is to return to the Western Pure Land—the restoration of order means the fulfillment of merit. In this healing process, the “Ten Steps Practice” is equivalent to the Taoist inner elixir practice in the effects, but it is simpler and easier to practice, meeting the practice needs of ordinary people. Thus, the “Loss-Practice-Return” model of healing with the Baojuan text was once again fulfilled.

Here, Baojuan combines “healing” with the theme of “salvation in the end times (末世救劫)” and discusses the anxiety that the “dooms of the last days (末世劫数)” has caused in the hearts of believers, as well as the measures that have been taken to eliminate this fear. The concept of “salvation” is a pervasive theme in folk Baojuan. On the one hand, it is used to promote the teachings, attract followers, and deify the leaders of the sects; on the other hand, “doom” is also an externalization of the inner anxiety of the believers, which is a metaphor for the inner pain and mental tension in the face of the last days, or the chaotic world. Through the gods’ salvation and the collective efforts of the masses of believers, the “doom” is overcome, which signifies the successful completion of the treatment. The Baojuan therapy is sacred due to the involvement of deities, especially the creation of sacred space by reciting and copying Baojuan, which includes the diffusion of incense smoke, the hanging of portraits of the founding master, and the collective participation of believers in the rituals, etc. These practices facilitate inner healing and achieve the therapeutic effect of regaining psychological equilibrium (S. Zhao 2021, pp. 134–40).

In addition, the “Jiujie Baojuan”, created in Wuwei 武威, Gansu Province, during the period of the Republic of China, has a Creation plot that is obviously influenced by Confucian and Taoist Creation theories, closer to traditional Chinese myths. The Baojuan text mainly discusses the three Creation myths, Pangu’s separating the sky and the earth, the Three Sovereigns of ancient times 上古三皇, and Nüwa’s mending of the heavens, without any system of deities of folk sects. It begins:

“Emerging from chaos

His Majesty Pangu

Opened heaven and developed earth;

The Three Sovereigns,

Heaven, Earth, and Man

Each fulfilled their assigned duties.

What was rising and clear

Became the heavens

With sun and moon, stars and planets;

What was descending and muddy

Became the earth

With the five grains and good fields.

His Majesty Fuxi

The Divine Husbandsman.

And so on to the Yellow Emperor-

Later there was

Her Majesty Nüwa

Who restored heaven and put it right.”

(Idema 2015, p. 335)

From the above two Baojuan, it is evident that in the Creation imagination of the Hexi people, the world was mostly in a state of chaos when it was not yet in existence. Whether it is the Creation myth of the Wusheng Laomu in the ritual Baojuan or the Confucian- and Taoist-influenced Creation myth of Pangu separating heaven and earth, and Nüwa creating man out of clay in the secular Baojuan, they are unanimous on this point. Generally speaking, the “view of Creation” of the Baojuan was first and foremost influenced by Taoism.7 Lao zi 老子 says: “There is something that came into being before heaven and earth. It is silent, vast and invisible; it stands alone and never fails; it runs in cycles and never stops, therefore, it can be the Mother of all things in heaven and earth.”8 This is basically the same as the order of creation in Longhua Baojing: in the beginning, there was a state of chaos, and then all things in heaven and earth came into being. Secondly, there are two general approaches to “creating the world” in the Baojuan. The first one is the creation by creator deities, such as the Ancient Buddha, Wusheng Laomu, Pangu, Nüwa, etc. The second one is through the natural evolution of Heaven and Earth, such as Wuji (infinity) 无极, Taichi 太极, and Yin-Yang 阴阳, representing the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism on the Creation plot, respectively. It can be seen that the Baojuan was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and then the folk spirit was added by later generations. Finally, the Creation mode in Longhua Baojing with Wusheng Laomu as the supreme god transforms the world generation theory in the philosophical sense into the Creation theory in the sense of faith, and the relationships between man and nature into the relationships between man and God, mother and child. This shift meets two needs: first, the evolving religious–secular power structure and god-making movement; second, the localization of foreign (especially Buddhist) ideas into the Chinese folk belief system.

The author noted that, on the one hand, the Creation myths in the Baojuan promote the folk sect’s view of Creation, the creator of the Baojuan constructed a collective memory of “this sect conforming to the will of heaven” by reconstructing the Creation myths, such as Gong Chang’s claim that the “Mahayana Tianzhen Yuan Dun Sect” he founded was to achieve the purpose of “the universal salvation in the final kalpa”. In reality, this construction was intended to legitimize the sect and build a collective imagination that the sect could help people out of their misery. Consequently, the people, out of their belief in the gods, turned exclusively to this sect, and the collective memory also underwent migration and distortion in the process. On the other hand, the Creation myths in the Baojuan also reflect, to some extent, the collective memories and imaginaries, at least those recognized by the sect, thus serving the moral purpose and secular function of enhancing cohesion, indoctrinating believers, and uniting the sect.

These two interact with each other to realize the healing effect of the Baojuan. Its general trajectory can be summarized as follows: Firstly, the Baojuan presents the Creation myth and the consciousness of salvation, and creates idolatry to attract and persuade the believers, so that they have faith or superstition and believe in the power and omnipotence of idols. Secondly, it proposes the idea of practice and depicts the scenes of the last days, which makes the believers who are frustrated in reality turn to deep infatuation and enter the space of reciting Baojuan to achieve a state of balance and clarity. Thirdly, sacred space is created through texts, smells, music, portraits, and even ritual dances to soothe the uneasy feelings of the believers, while regaining their health through their constant self-suggestion. This provides ample evidence that there is a strong correlation between myths and rituals. The description in the Baojuan of “going through the world’s disasters towards Great Harmony” is actually a metaphor for the process of treating illnesses, namely, the process of “encountering disasters (illnesses) → rescuing disasters (illnesses) → solving disasters (illnesses)”. This process, on the one hand, requires the ordering and sanctification of the Baojuan-reciting and -singing space and rituals; on the other hand, it also needs the wholehearted faith and participation of the believers, and the effect is closely related to the strength of their beliefs, which is clearly observable in the field investigation.9

4. Traumatic Memory and Healing in the Hexi Baojuan

The theory of Traumatic memory is associated with Jeffrey C. Alexander, an American sociologist and cultural theorist. According to him, cultural traumas occur when individuals and groups experience horrific events that leave indelible marks on the group consciousness, become permanent memories, and irrevocably alter their future. (Alexander 2004, p. 1) He emphasizes the social attributes of the construction of cultural trauma memory, and argues that trauma studies are characterized by social collective memory. Thus, starting from narratives of trauma or suffering, exploring the construction of cultural trauma memory at the level of literary narrative transcends the empirical reality of individual literary writing and has become one of the key concerns of contemporary cultural and literary studies (Duan 2015, pp. 20–24). The depiction of collective trauma in Baojuan fits the psychological needs of the grassroots and satisfies the collective imagination of the people’s “traumatized community”, so it can transcend individual traumatic experiences and express the collective “traumatic memory”.

As an important genre of folk literature, Baojuan continuously records and represents the collective memory of the people, of which a vitally important part is the memory of trauma. For example, many of the Hexi Baojuan depict the disastrous events that happened in the history of the Hexi region, which often left the population with indelible nightmares of the mind. Jiujie Baojuan (救劫宝卷), created during the Republic of China period, centers on the story of the famine caused by the Wuwei earthquake in Gansu Province in 1927, the people of Dajing 大靖 (now Gulang) who fled to Zhongwei 中卫, Ningxia 宁夏 in 1928, and then returned to their hometowns after the year of famine in 1929. The Baojuan not only includes the narratives of fleeing groups and the hardships encountered on the way to escape the famine, but also describes the fleeing families as individuals. In one of these families, the husband, Zhang San 张三, succumbed to starvation in Zhongwei, and his wife, Zhang Chen Shi 张陈氏, had been struggling to survive in Zhongwei before finally returning home:

“In the seventeenth year

Of the Republic of China

Disasters and plagues ravaged widely.

Old Lord Heaven

Did not release any rain:

Indeed a most terrible drought.

The heat of the sun

Shriveled plants and shrubs,

No tree was to be found anymore.

People had no grain,

Horses had no hay,

It was really a pitiable situation.

Even if you had the money

You could not buy any

Of the five grains, rice, or noodles.

Hunger was so severe

That the common people

Fled in all directions, east or west.

People ate people,

Dogs ate dogs,

A scene rarely seen since antiquity.

In villages all around

People had fled in such numbers

That no sign was found of human habitation.

To that was added

The disaster of warfare

As violent bandits roamed about.

And as a result

People of one family

Fled, each in a different direction.”

(Idema 2015, p. 335)

People fled everywhere. “They headed to Liangzhou 凉州, Ganzhou 甘州, and then Suzhou 肃州; those who fled to the south went to Xining 西宁 to seek a way to live; those who fled to the east headed to Zhongwei and then Ningxia; those who fled to the north went to Shawo 沙窝, Mongolia 蒙古, and Tartary 鞑靼” (Zhang 2007, p. 185). Most of them fled to Zhongwei in Ningxia, but the Zhongwei people were not yet able to support themselves, let alone offer help. In the 19th year of the Republic of China, the Jade Emperor 玉帝 finally sent fierce gods to banish those people with “unpardonable crimes”10 to the uttermost depths of hell. At the same time, the Jade Emperor issued a decree to comfort the people, and since then the weather had become favorable and the grain had been plentiful. Those who had fled from the famine finally made their way home when they heard about the timely rains and grain harvests in their hometown. In such a desperate “hunger epic” of the Hexi people, was the creator merely complaining about the world, or crying out in suffering? What were the real causes of this “catastrophe”? As we know, an expression means the “presentization” and “materialization” of existence, revealing a “mode of existence” for existence in its realistic predicament—existence is the essence of expression (S. Huang 2018, p. 96).

The human senses can only receive information with differences, and these differences must be encoded as events occurring in space and time (e.g., encoded as “changes”) in order to be perceived. On the surface, it seems that Jiujie Baojuan is a piece of folk literature created by the people of Dajing, Gulang, which faithfully records the disasters suffered by the people of Dajing in natural and man-made calamities. Its important historical and documentary value is undeniable. The historical value of Jiujie Baojuan can be better understood if the literary text and the historical text are studied in an “intertextual” manner.

According to the Gulang County Records 古浪县志: “In the 16th year (of the Republic of China) (1927), an earthquake destroyed all the houses in the city.” In the Two Surviving Buildings after the Earthquake 地震劫余的两座建筑物, Zhao Yanyi 赵燕翼 also says: “In the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927), an earthquake of magnitude eight on the Richter scale occurred at 5 a.m. on 23 April, flattening Gulang County to the ground.”11 Another record states:

“The second deadly earthquake in modern Chinese history in terms of human casualties was the Gulang Earthquake on 23 May 1927. The epicenter was just over a hundred kilometers west of the Haiyuan Earthquake 海原地震, and the two regions are located in the same tectonic structure. It is reasonable to say that since experience had already been gained in the investigation and relief of the 1920 Haiyuan Earthquake, and the Gulang Earthquake was a magnitude eight quake just a short distance away, scholars would have expected the Geological Survey Agency 地质调查所to formally take on the responsibility of investigating earthquakes, but in practice, it failed to do so. In line with the Northern Expedition 北伐, Fen Yuxiang’s 冯玉祥 Northwest Army 西北军then occupied the Shaanxi 陕西, Gansu, Ningxia, and Henan 河南, so the Beiyang government 北洋政府 would not pay attention to the earthquake here. In addition, Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石 and Wang Jingwei 汪精卫 staged coups on 12 April and 15 July 1927, respectively. Therefore, after the Gulang Earthquake occurred, even though there were media publicity and vigorous fund-raising efforts, it eventually became a lonely smoke in the border region under the White Terror 白色恐怖, with no public attention. The epicentral intensity was Ⅺ, resulting in the deaths of over 41,400 people and the loss of 275,000 heads of livestock.”

(Feng 2018, pp. 172–206)

Historical documents and historical literature on science and technology often contain only a few words about earthquakes, whereas literary fiction can elaborate on this and vividly present the historical facts. From the text of Jiujie Baojuan, the author can obtain a more detailed picture of the situation in the earthquake-stricken area for the study of disaster history, especially to have a more accurate understanding of the “historical mentality” of the people in dealing with such events. Obviously, the people did not simply recognize earthquakes as “natural disasters”, but rather as “Jienan (劫难)” caused by people’s moral decline. The term “Jie (劫)” is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word kalpa (Jiebo, 劫波 or 劫簸), which means “an immensely long period of time”. It is a Buddhist term derived from Brahmanism in India, and through the spread of Buddhism, it has profoundly influenced the people. In common usage, “Jie” actually means “natural and man-made disasters”. Although it is clothed in the garb of Buddhism, it is more closely aligned with the original meaning of Brahmanism.12

At the same time, the author also noticed that in the Baojuan, in the face of such a cruel situation, in addition to resenting the natural disaster, the vast majority of people attributed it to the coming of the “catastrophe”. The opening chapter of the Baojuan describes the “Five Jie (five catastrophes)” suffered by the people of Wuwei—earthquakes, droughts, floods, plagues, and wars, which were the biggest “catastrophes” in the lives of the people in ancient China, resulting in a strong “sense of salvation” in it. The reason lies first in how the ruling class had taken advantage of the people’s belief in the folk sects to manipulate their minds, making it difficult for them to think about the actual causes of their misery. Instead, they believed their misfortunes were retribution for failing to observe religious or moral teachings in their current or previous lives. In the eyes of the people, the “chaos of raging wars” was due to “no reverence for the gods of heaven and earth, lack of filial piety to parents, disrespect for teachers and elders, waste of grains, and treachery in the hearts of the people” (Zhang 2007, p. 182), which were all heinous sins that heaven would punish. According to the common narrative pattern of the Baojuan, their sins are so grave that even the Jade Emperor 至高神 is shocked by them, and the Jade Emperor, while pitying the world, will help the people to get rid of their sufferings and get through the catastrophes by “dispatching the divinities of misfortune descended upon the earth and arrest all sinners.” Natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts are all caused by these vile criminals, but they are also “catastrophes” that people cannot escape. If the people expect to be protected from natural and man-made disasters and no longer displaced from their homes, they had to perform good deeds and refrain from evil. This is also the typical theory of “karma”, which is strongly promoted by Buddhism and ancient Chinese folk sects, and is embedded in many works of folk literature, forming a fixed “narrative structure”.

For the creator, the narrative structure of the Baojuan is superior to related concepts such as metaphors and paradigms, because narrative structures emphasize order and sequence, which are relatively well suited to changes, life cycles, or any developmental journey (White and Epston 1990, p. 3). Order and sequence mean stability and security for the people, and the real-life experience of reciting Baojuan can often save the crumbling psyche and then heal the “traumatic memories” of suffering—folk beliefs provide spiritual comfort for the people at this time (Li and Hao 2019, pp. 117–23). In this sense, the idea of “karma” is not meaningless. The theory of karma is an important idea in Buddhism. Whether they are “Five Jie (five catastrophes)” or “Ten Jie (ten catastrophes)”, they are all the effects of the “evils” done in previous lives. That is to say, “no cause, no effect”. Those who commit no wrongdoing will not suffer disaster. Jiujie Baojuan was originally written for the people of Wuwei to remind themselves and remember their history. The creator wanted the people to bear in mind the instruction of “do much good, no evil”; otherwise the miserable scene of humans would never end. Of course, through the Baojuan, the people also complained about the brutal rule of the ruling class and the suffering brought about by the warlords and gentry (G. Zhao 1991, pp. 50–52)13, forming the traumatic memory of the times:

“Last year’s crop failure

Was followed by warfare

And epidemics that spread everywhere,

But grain was requisitioned

While able men were drafted,

Causing the common people great hardship.

Now in the eighteenth year

The drought still continued,

So the young grain refused to sprout:

For hundreds of years

People had not experienced

Such a poor harvest, such a calamity!

One bushel of wheat—

Its price shot up

To no less than five silver foreign dollars;

One bushel of rice—

Was nowhere to be found

Even for eight dollars in solid cash.

Heaven released no rain

And even sow thistle plants

Had already all been dug up;

Not only elm tree bark

But also chaff

Had also completely been exhausted.”

(Idema 2015, p. 347)14

Overall, the “sense of salvation” and “traumatic memories” in Jiujie Baojuan are not only a reflection of the real historical events of the period of the Republic of China, but also a narrative of the suffering of the people, and a response to the theory of “karma”, reflecting the creative mentality of the creator who was concerned about reality and keen on metaphysical discussions. For readers, the narration of the people’s own sufferings makes them angry and sentimental, but the causal ideas that it reveals make them feel that it is foolish, which may be the “common problem” of almost all folk literature works. Yet, “what exists is reasonable”. All the words that give meaning to things are the result of interpretation and the product of the search, and what determines this search is the “map” and “frame of vision” adopted by the people, or as Erving Goffman called it, “interpretive framework” (White and Epston 1990, p. 5), or as Wang Mingke 王明珂 called it, “historical mentality”.

5. Conclusions

In sum, the author has mainly examined the Creation myths and suffering narratives depicted in the Hexi Baojuan from two perspectives: Creation memory and Traumatic memory in collective memory. The author finds that the Hexi people’s collective memory of Creation is broadly consistent, whether it is presented in a ritual Baojuan or a secular Baojuan. The primary difference is that the ritual Baojuan focuses on constructing their own system of deities. Driven by the needs of the secular power of religions, the gods of their religious sects are often regarded as the main deities, while the secular Baojuan align more closely with the Confucianism and Taoism, and their Creation myths are more akin to the Confucian and Taoist systems of deities. Traumatic memory is one of the common themes of both the ritual and secular Baojuan, with its core being the portrayal of the survival challenges of the Hexi people under difficult circumstances. However, this issue is often overshadowed by metaphysical discussions that lead to the theory of “karma”. Whether it is the memory of Creation or the memory of Trauma, the continuous writing and shaping of them as collective memory plays a subtle role in physical and mental healing for the people who are in the sacred space of reciting and copying sutras. This is the main reason why the Hexi Baojuan have survived and continue to be transmitted to this day.

In addition, the therapeutic function of the baojuan is closely connected to spiritual healing. Spiritual healing refers to the process of helping individuals achieve balance, harmony, and growth in the spiritual, emotional and mental aspects through specific methods and practices. It emphasizes the exploration of the inner world of people, awakening their inherent self-healing ability to promote physical and mental health as well as overall well-being. The unique healing effect of the baojuan enables people to release inner pain and instills hope, making it a unique way to achieve spiritual healing. People express the pain pent up in their hearts through the writing of creation memory and traumatic memory, thereby activating the therapeutic function of Baojuan; through this operational mechanism, the hidden interconnection between memory and healing is revealed.