從明中葉以至當代，呂祖降乩信仰一直盛行於道教，可說是道教在這數百年歷史發 展中的主要一脈。換句話說，明中葉以後，道教信仰發展的主要特徵之一是呂祖降 乩信仰。本文集中考察明萬曆（1573–1620）至清嘉慶（1796–1820）年間，道教呂祖扶 乩信仰的整體發展面貌。 本文指出，這種呂祖降乩信仰大約具有以下四種宗教特徵：第一是由虔奉乩仙 呂祖的弟子結社，創立乩壇；第二是這些呂祖乩壇的弟子大多不屬於傳統道派的道 士或神職人員，而是一群虔奉道教呂祖信仰的儒生；第三是呂祖受道教元始天尊、 玉皇上帝或太上道祖等上界神明之命，為了度化蒼生，屢屢於不同乩壇降示道經， 即是所謂「飛鸞行化」、「垂經闡教」；第四是從明清以來，隨著呂祖乩壇的盛行，神 仙呂洞賓原來的仙階地位不斷在呂祖弟子的信仰裏獲得明顯的提升。 本文依據目前可以收集到的從明萬曆至清代年間在各地呂祖乩壇所湧現的呂祖 道經的彙集，並以整體研究的視野來把握、整理及分析明清時期呂祖扶乩信仰的歷 史脈絡以及相關的文人乩壇群體。其次，透過研究不同地方的呂祖乩壇對呂祖扶乩 信仰的不斷建構，探討呂祖乩壇在明萬曆至清嘉慶年間的發展過程中，呂祖的神格 地位及其神明內涵如何獲得不斷的提升和擴大。值得指出的是，這部分的討論所依 據的文獻資料包括筆者在各種《呂祖全書》的刊本裏收集到的十九篇〈呂祖誥〉。最 後，本文討論嘉慶九年呂祖受官方敕封為「燮元贊運純陽演正警化孚佑帝君」並納入 官祀，以至禮部飭令各省直地方通祀呂祖的背後成因，並得出結論：清代呂祖正祀 的官方化及地方化都是由明萬曆至清嘉慶間的呂祖扶乩信仰熱潮所引發的結果。

Since the mid-Ming period, the spirit-writing cult of Lüzu (or Ancestor Lü Dongbin) has been so popular within the Daoist milieu that it was regarded as the mainstream development of Daoism in the past few centuries. In other words, Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult has been one of the main features of Daoist development since mid-Ming times. This paper focuses on exploring the overall development of Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult from the late Ming Wanli reign (1573–1620) to the Qing Jiaqing reign (1796–1820). The present study shows that Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult in this specified period was in general characterized by four religious features. First, religious groups and spirit-writing altars were established by devotees of Lüzu, the Transcendent Lord of Spirit Writing. Secondly, these devotees of Lüzu’s spirit-writing altars were mostly Confucian scholars who piously practised Lüzu’s cult, rather than traditional Daoist priests or ministers. Thirdly, to save mankind, Lüzu, as commanded by superior celestial Lords of Dao such as the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi tianzun 元始天尊), the Jade Emperor (Yühuang shangdi 玉皇上帝) or the Supreme Lord Laozi (Taishang daozu 太上道祖), descended frequently to various spiritwriting altars to teach Daoist scriptures (i.e. the so-called “feiluan xinghua” 飛鸞行化 [to convert people by spirit writing] or “chuijing chanjiao” 垂經闡教 [to teach people through revealing scriptures]). And fourthly, with the increasing popularity of Lüzu’s spirit-writing altars since the Ming-Qing era, the immortal Lü Dongbing won his obvious and continual promotion in the celestial rank as a result of his devotees’ worship. This research is based on the extant collections of multiple Lüzu scriptures that emerged from Lüzu’s spirit-writing altars throughout China from the Ming Wanli period to the Qing dynasty. A holistic perspective is adopted to collect, arrange, and analyse these materials so as to explore the general historical context in which Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult developed in the Ming-Qing era and to study the related literati spirit-writing groups. Besides, through investigating how devotees of Lüzu’s spirit-writing altars in different places continuously built up Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult, this paper reveals how Lüzu’s celestial status and divine connotations had been promoted and expanded continually at these altars during the period 1573–1820. It is worth noting that the literature involved in this part of the discussion includes nineteen pieces of “Lüzu gao” 呂祖誥 (Lüzu’s Spirit-altar Transcript) the author gathered from different editions of Lüzu quanshu 呂祖全書 (Complete Writings of Ancestor Lüzu). Lastly, this paper will discuss the underlying reason the Qing imperial court conferred on Lüzu the title “Xieyuan zanyun chunyang yanzheng jinghua fuyou dijun” 燮元 贊運純陽演正警化孚佑帝君 and included him in the official worship in the ninth year of the Jiaqing reign (1805), which led to an empire-wide worship (tongsi 通祀) of Lüzu as ordained by the Ministry of Rites. The author concludes that the authorized worship of Lüzu at the official and local levels in the Qing dynasty was the result of a boom in the popularity of Lüzu’s spirit-writing cult during the period 1573–1820.