Lieux saints et pèlerinages : la tradition taoïste vivante

The Chinese territory is densely meshed with holy sites (mountains, caves, springs...) where the gods manifest themselves and where pilgrims come to meet them. The present volume, the result of a Franco-Japanese conference held in Paris in 2017, includes fifteen chapters in French and English, exploring the conceptions and practices at these holy sites; they build the analysis around the Daoist notion of “grotto-heavens and blessed lands” (dongtian fudi) and its long historical continuity for two millennia while addressing hybridizations with Buddhist and folk practices, and comparing with Japanese holy sites. These case studies cover both the ascetic practices of religious virtuosos and the popular associations whose members dance for the gods on the mountains.