Dì zhǐ shàng jiàng Wēn tài bǎo zhuàn 地衹上將溫太保傳
Biography of the Supreme General of Earth-Spirits, Grand Protector Wēn
by 黃公瑾 (Huáng Gōngjǐn); dated 1274
A Southern-Sòng hagiographic biography of Wēn qióng 溫瓊 — the Daoist demon-subduing general canonised as Wēn tài bǎo 溫太保 (Grand Protector Wēn), also known as Dì zhǐ shàng jiàng 地衹上將 (Supreme General of Earth-Spirits). Composed by Huáng Gōngjǐn 黃公瑾 in 1274 — at the very end of the Southern Sòng (the dynasty fell in 1279). Preserved as DZ 780 / CT 780 (Dòngshén bù, Pǔ lù lèi 洞神部譜錄類).
About the work
The Wēn cult
Wēn qióng 溫瓊 (the “Marshal Wēn” 溫元帥) is one of the principal Daoist demon-subduing deities of the SòngYuán tradition — a martial-protector deity invoked in ritual to subdue demonic influences and epidemic disease. His cult rose to prominence in the Southern Sòng and was especially developed in the Shén xiāo 神霄 Thunder-rite tradition.
Author
Huáng Gōngjǐn 黃公瑾 — Southern-Sòng Daoist hagiographer, active 1274. The composition-date immediately before the Southern-Sòng fall (1279) places this work in the very last years of the dynasty.
Abstract
A characteristic Southern-Sòng demon-subduing deity hagiography.
Dating. 1274. Dynasty: 宋.