Gongcao Shizhe (), often shortened to Gongcao, are Daoist deities responsible for monitoring human behavior, recording merits and demerits, and delivering written petitions or prayers from the human realm to the Heavenly Court.
Historical origins The title "Gongcao" originally comes from a real-world bureaucratic position in ancient China. During the Han dynasty, a was a local administrative assistant or secretary working under a commandery governor, primarily responsible for human resources, evaluating the performance of local officials, and recording their merits. As Daoism developed, it mirrored the earthly imperial bureaucracy by adopting this political title to describe celestial assistant officials who perform similar administrative and recording duties in the spiritual realm.
Role in Daoism In Daoist cosmology and folk religion, Gongcao serve as messengers between people and the gods. When priests or believers write a petition, prayer, or memorial (表文), it may be burned as part of a ritual. Gongcao are believed to receive the message and deliver it to the Jade Emperor or other deities. Images or paper effigies of Gongcao are often placed on Daoist ritual altars.
The Four Duty Gods (四值功曹; Sizhi Gongcao) are each associated with a different period of the traditional Chinese calendar: Zhinian Shen (值年神), the God of the Year; Zhiyue Shen (值月神), the God of the Month; Zhiri Shen (值日神), the God of the Day; and Zhishi Shen (值时神), the God of the Hour.
Believers traditionally offer sacrifices to the Four Duty Gods on Chinese New Year's Eve.
In Daoist bureaucratic traditions, the Gongcao are described as divine couriers who deliver official documents to different spiritual realms. Their destinations and mounts vary according to the realm of the receiving deity.
The four delivery realms are the Heavenly Capital (天京), where documents are sent to high celestial deities such as the Jade Emperor and the Three Great Emperor-Officials, with the Gongcao riding a phoenix; the Underworld (地府), where documents are sent to deities such as the Emperor of Mount Tai and Yanluo Wang, with the Gongcao riding a qilin; the Water Realm (水國), where documents are sent to the Dragon Kings and river deities, with the Gongcao riding a dragon; and the Human Realm (陽間), where documents are sent to local earthly deities such as City Gods and Earth Gods, with the Gongcao riding a horse.
During Daoist temple ceremonies, such as Jiao (醮) festivals and Baidou (拜斗) rituals, priests rely on the Gongcao to transmit different kinds of ritual documents. These include shuwen (疏文), common petitions containing believers' prayers and requests; diewen (牒文), documents sent between divine offices or agencies; and biaowen (表文), formal memorials addressed to high deities such as the Three Pure Ones. Biaowen are placed in a special envelope known as a fanghan (方函).
In ritual practice, Daoist priests use paper effigies of the Gongcao. After the documents are prepared, the papers and effigies are burned together, symbolizing the couriers carrying the documents to the appropriate spiritual realms.
The Chima ritual In Zhengyi Dao ritual traditions, the "Gongcao Horse" (功曹馬) is a paper effigy showing a Gongcao messenger riding a horse. It is used during ceremonies in which priests send ritual petitions or documents (表牒) to the Heavenly Court. Before the documents and the Gongcao Horse are burned, the messenger is activated through a ritual known as chima (敕馬), or "commanding the horse".
During the ritual, the presiding Daoist priest, sometimes referred to as a Nammo master, uses a ritual sword and issues a formal command (敕令). The character chi (敕) refers to an imperial order or formal command. Although the name of the ritual literally means "commanding the horse", the command is directed at the Gongcao messenger, ordering him to carry the documents to Heaven.
In literature According to an analysis published by Taiwan's Center for Chinese Studies, the Gongcao's role in this protective group shows the novel's blending of Buddhist and Daoist religious elements. The group combines Daoist celestial officials, such as the Gongcao, with Buddhist protectors, such as the Jiedi. This mixture has been read as an example of the "Three Teachings as One" (三教合一), a major religious and philosophical trend in the Ming dynasty.
The Four Duty Gods, or Sizhi Gongcao, appear as recurring minor characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. In the novel, Guanyin asks the Jade Emperor to send them as part of a hidden group of protectors for the monk Tang Sanzang during his journey to India. They serve together with other celestial beings, including the Daoist Six Ding and Six Jia (六丁六甲), the Buddhist Five-Direction Jiedi (五方揭谛), and the Eighteen Guardian Jialan (十八位护教伽蓝). The novel names the four deities as Li Bing (李丙), the God of the Year; Huang Chengyi (黄承乙), the God of the Month; Zhou Deng (周登), the God of the Day; and Liu Hong (刘洪), the God of the Hour.
Throughout the story, Sun Wukong often summons the Four Duty Gods and local mountain spirits to act as scouts, ask for directions, or help identify disguised demons. In Chapter 15, at Eagle Grief Stream (鹰愁涧), Wukong calls the protective deities for a roll call (点卯). He then orders the God of the Day (日值功曹) to find vegetarian food for Tang Sanzang while Wukong fights the dragon.
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