Abstract

Introduced to China during the Tang dynasty, the Ghost King became a central figure in the salvation rituals of both Buddhism and Daoism, liberating suffering souls of the deceased and guiding them to land of bliss. This dissertation investigates the historical development and religious significance of Ghost King paintings utilized in Buddhist and Daoist ghost-feeding rituals, centering on mural paintings and hanging scrolls dating from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries. Special attention is given to a Qing dynasty hanging scroll preserved at Beijing’s White Cloud Monastery (hereafter as the WCM scroll), the preeminent Daoist institution affiliated with the Quanzhen School. This dissertation provides a comprehensive art-historical examination, revealing how these paintings actively shaped both the deity’s identity and the ritual’s practical dimensions. This study employs multidisciplinary approaches, integrating visual and textual analysis with material culture methodologies to examine Ghost King paintings. Originally derived from Hindu esoteric Buddhist scriptures, these paintings underwent visual transformation through functional refinement to accommodate different ritual programs, and Sinicization that incorporated diverse art sources into a Chinese framework. Additionally, this research offers new insights into the decline of mural production in late imperial China, arguing that hanging scrolls became the preferred format due to their portability, storability, and adaptability to various ritual settings. By applying the concept of “visionary paintings” and incorporating Daoist visualization practices, I demonstrate how Ghost King paintings function as more than decorative objects. Rather, they serve as active ritual agents that embody religious ideas, facilitate meditative and physical practices, and fundamentally involve in the completion of ritual performance. My dissertation investigates the paintings beyond traditional approaches such as text-image relationships and iconography, to examine liturgical paintings within their religious contexts of setting, meditation, and performance. Chapter One explores the iconographic development of the Ghost King’s image within Chinese liturgical art and traces the iconographic progression that depict distinct functions for the Ghost King within specific rites. Chapter Two examines the diverse visual sources for the works, and argues for a modular structure that culminates over time in the complex iconography of the WCM scroll depicting the Ghost King. Chapter Three examines the interplay among painting formats, ritual settings, and ritual practitioners’ engagement within a spatial-ritual framework, situating Ghost King murals and hanging scrolls within the evolving perspectives on ritual practice in late imperial China. Chapter Four presents the WCM scroll as visionary icons rooted in Daoist methods of internal visualization, elucidating the sequential stages of the priest’s engagement with the image and its profound impact on both the viewers and the conceptualization of the ritual itself. This dissertation concludes by reaffirming the significance of images in ritual practice, evidenced by the long-lasting institutional regulation on Water-Land scrolls in the past and their dynamic afterlife in contemporary settings.

Committee Chair

Kristina Kleutghen

Committee Members

Alessandro Poletto; Nathaniel Jones; Nicola Aravecchia; William Wallace

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Art History & Archaeology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

8-8-2025

Language

English (en)

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