JY 296 Huagai Shan Fuqiu, Wang, Guo san zhenjun shishi 華蓋山浮邱、王、郭三真君事實

Study and analysis of the "Huagai shan Fuqiu, Wang, Guo san zhenjun shishi". The three immortals of the title are Fuqiu 浮邱, Wang 王 and Guo 郭. The three were worshipped on Mount Huagai 華蓋山 (aka Mount Baogai 寶蓋山) of Fuzhou 撫州 (Jiangxi), but it expanded to eastern Jiangxi (see Hymes, 47-56). This book is an anthology focusing on the Three Immortals and on their cult at Mount Huagai and in the nearby area. The cult of the Three Immortals became very influential starting from the Song dynasty. The book contains many textual layers that allow the study and reconstruction of the development of the aforementioned cult from a local phenomenon (Fuzhou) to a regional one. Most of the anthology can be dated to the Song dynasty and it deals with the two immortals Wang and Guo, with the geography of Mt. Huagai and of the nearby region and with the miracles performed by the Three Immortals. These parts have the clear intent of providing information on the cult of the Three and of promoting it. This text was canonized as part of the Yongle emperor’s plan of collecting the most significant Daoist scriptures circulating at his time. It was therefore collected by Zhang Yuchu and added to the "Daoist Canon" of the Zhengtong era and later reproduced almost identically in the "Daozang jiyao".