The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1763 page)

Pahlavi
(‘Parthian’)
.

Term used in Islamic times to debate earlier Iranian (
Zoroastrian
) material. It is also referred to as ‘Middle Persian’ to distinguish it from the Old Persian (cuneiform) of the royal inscriptions and the New Persian of modern times. It was a language used between approximately 300 BCE–10th cent. CE. It encompasses secular work, poetic, historical, and epic material, but most extant works are religious and include the books from which Western scholars reconstruct ‘traditional’ Zoroastrian teaching (though most modern Zoroastrians consider this literature with the same hesitations many modern Christians view their medieval literature). The largest work is the
Denkard
which in six books is a compendium of Zoroastrian knowledge from many epochs and of diverse types. Two brothers, Zadspram and Manuscihr produced a number of important works in the 9th cent., the
Wizidagiha i Zadspram
(Selections) and the
Dadistan i denig
(Religious Judgements—in response to ninety-two questions) being among the most important for the reconstruction of Zoroastrian (and
Zurvan
) teaching. Important also are
Skand-Gumanig Wizar
(Doubt-Destroying Exposition),
Arda Viraf Namag
(The Visions of the Righteous Viraf) and
Zand-i Vohuman Yasn
(Commentary on the Bahman Yast).
The term ‘Pahlavi’ was adopted by the 20th-cent. Iranian royal dynasty of Reza Shah as a marker of the importance it attached to the pre-Islamic culture of Iran.

 
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(Chin., ‘eight immortals’). Taoist figures (‘perfected persons’,
chen jen
) associated symbolically with good fortune. They are also associated with the ‘eight conditions of life’: youth, age, poverty, wealth, high rank,
hoi polloi
(general population), feminine, masculine. They are frequently portrayed in art and literature:

(i) Li T’ieh-kuai (also known as Ti Kuaili), Li with the iron crutch, a bad-tempered eccentric who nevertheless carries a gourd containing magic and healing potions;
(ii) Chang Kuo-lao, a historical figure of the T’ang dynasty, but better known through legends; his symbol is a fish drum;
(iii) Ts’ao Kuo-chiu (d. 1097 CE), usually symbolized through a pair of castanets;
(iv) Han Hsiang-tzu, the epitome of the peaceful mountain-dweller, the patron of music, portrayed with a flute, flowers, and a peach;
(v) Lü Tung-pen (b. 798 CE), who received from a fire dragon a sword which enabled him to hide from death;
(vi) Ho Hsien-ku, the only female immortal (but see vii);
(vii) Lan Ts’ai-ho appears in rags, with a boot on only one foot, carrying a basket of flowers: he is a type of ‘holy fool’; he is sometimes portrayed with female features;
(viii) Chung-li Ch’üan (also Han Chung-li), a stout man with only wisps of remaining hair, but with a beard reaching his waist; his symbol is a fan, indicating power to raise the dead.

 
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Pai-Chang-Ch’ing-Kuei
(Jap., Hyakuj
Shingi)
.

A manual of rules governing Ch’an/Zen monasteries (
tera
), associated with
Pai-chang Huai-hai
, but subsequently reworked at least by Te-hui.

 
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720–814)
. Ch’an/Zen master, dharma-successor (
hassu
) of
Ma-tsu Tao-i
. His major achievement was to establish a rule of life for Ch’an monasteries, thereby securing their independence and self-identity in relation to other Buddhist schools—hence his title, ‘The patriarch who created the forest’ (i.e. the communities of many monks). His rule was first practised in the monastery he founded, Ta-chih shou-sheng ch’an-ssu
(Jap., Daichijush
-zenji), where the vital addition of a monks' hall (
s
d
) was first made, allowing the Zen monk's ‘life on a straw mat’ during periods of ascetic training—i.e. the mat on which he would sleep, eat, and meditate.