shanshu

shanshu, in Chinese religion, popular texts devoted to a moral accounting of actions leading to positive and negative merit. These works often combine traditional Confucian notions of filial piety (xiao) and reciprocity, Daoist ideas of taking no action contrary to nature (wuwei; literally “nonaction”), and especially Buddhist ideas of karmic retribution. First appearing in the Song dynasty, these were nonrevealed works related to popular revealed stories called baojuan or “precious scriptures.” They continue to be popular in Chinese communities.