The Man-Made God: Thriving between Buddhism and Daoism, the Almighty God of Hugong Dadi: Thriving between Buddhism and Daoism, the almighty god of Hugong Dadi

The mandate of heaven, similar to the notion of the divine right of kings in Western culture, is a traditional Chinese philosophical, political and religious concept that assures the legitimacy of emperors and their right to rule directly from the will of god; compared with western culture, the god here has a rather general and abstract meaning. Unlike western religions, which are more exclusive and systematic, religious history in pre-modern China was filled with tension and compromise between the imported Buddhism and indigenous Daoism, as well as their coalition with Confucianism, which was generally considered as the national religion. However, none of these deities assured the legitimacy of emperors and their right to rule directly from the will of god. On the other hand, emperors often apotheosized legendary persons as Daoism deities in order to reveal the divine right they had, especially when the crown was threaten by the growing Buddhism. This paper is based on the field research carried out by the author, which includes the history and ritual of the worship of Hugong Dadi, centered in the Fangyan area, Zhejiang Province, China. Hu, a local officer reigning between 989 and 1039 A.D., was later transferred into a Daoism deity under the social and religious pressure at that time and enshrined inside a Buddhist temple on the top of Fangyan Mountain. In the 900 years that followed, not only did Hu become an almighty god, receiving offerings throughout southeast China, but the worship of Hu was developed into a months-long regional temple fair. This paper argues that the reason Hugong Dadi could survive throughout history is due to the intertwined religious, social, and cultural factors, including the struggle between Buddhism and Daoism, the intervention from the Hu family and the Cheng families, and the Temple Fair of Hu.