Laozi Belief and Taoism in the Western Regions—An Analysis with a Focus on the Cultural Strategy of the Han and Tang Dynasties for the Western Regions
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI have combined my comments into a separate document "peer review", and in addition I have made notes and comments in the article pdf . I upload both for your convenience.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
The text has only few grammatical mistakes, however, its way of expressing things is often very unclear, I am of the opinion that the text needs copy editing by a mother language speaker.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe Laozi Belief and Taoism in the Western Regions—With an Analysis of the Cultural Strategy of the Han and Tang Dynasties for the Western Regions
This article is a strange piece of propaganda that serves well some apologetic approaches in the VrChina, showing Daoism as a tool for unifying any religions in China and making them subservient for all-Chinese cultural policies.
The Tang dynasty used Daoism and the frequent alleged apparitions of Laozi (Taishang Laojun) to bolster the claim to power for the Tang emperors. Du Guangting (Tang) reports that the Holy Mother of the West (Xi wangmu) presented Emperor Han Wudi with five icons of Taishang Laojun, made of silver (Lidai chongdao ji 1b). At about the same time foreign Buddhist monks and emissaries brought icons of Buddha Sakyamuni to China and slowly established Buddhism in China, thus creating Chinese Buddhism.
In the way of competing with the Buddhists, fighting their influence and impact the Daoists showed that their holy icons were divine revelations, very much in contrast to the Buddhist icons that were man made and carved in wood. Daoists wanted to be superior.
It is the competition between the two religions concerning adherents at the imperial court and in the population that shaped the Buddhist-Daoist relationship. There was never a really smooth harmony under the umbrella of a fictitious unifying Chinese culture under which the Buddhists would have been integrated due to a Laozi Belief.
By the way, what does Laozi Belief exactly mean? The author does not explain that at all. What´s about Daoism (Tianshi dao/Zhengyi dao) – long after the first start with Zhang Daoling and Wudoumi dao?
The Laozi huahu jing emerged in the Nanbeichao period when the Daoist-Buddhist competition was already rather tough. The Laozi huahu jing showed Laozi to be the universal creator of Chinese civilisation. Of course, Laozi together with Yin Xi reportedly travelled to the West, reaching Indian countries and the regional kings, and there he showed up as Buddha – sometimes Yin Xi played that part – and preached to the barbarians (hu-ren) the Buddhist scriptures!
Buddhism is shown to suit the foreigners or the barbarians, whereas the Chinese in China have Daoism at their avail and can strive to become immortals, enjoying Long Life. Barbarians do not need Long Life. Where is there any need for a fictitious Laozi-Belief? The Yuan-period dramatically displayed the competition between the two religions when the Laozi huahu jing and the behaviour of the Daoist priests (Quanzhen Daoism) triggered a law-suit at the Court of the Mongols that the Daoists badly lost. In the wake of that conflict the Daoist Canon was destroyed with a few exceptions such as the Daode jing and the Yijing, which were books of a general value. There was not a glimps of harmony under the assumed unifying umbrella of Chinese culture. That´s pure fiction!
There are many, many erratic statements in this article. What does it mean that a Daoist amulet was found in Uighur translation in Dunhuang? Amulets (daofu) per se do not have anything to do with an assumed Laozi-Belief, so what?
There are great many studies on the Laozi huahu ching in Western and American Chinese studies. Most of them are obviously unknown to the author of this article.
This article cannot be published in any international scientific journal. There is no point in redoing it since the basic assumptions are erratic.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI compliment the authors for a very thorough job in revising the paper, it has gained much clarity, the arguments are more convincing; the research is valuable and well presented.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsO.k. you can publish the new version of the article on Laozi belief (- religions-3399271).
Kindest regards,
