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China Yunnan Dali Bai Traditional Religious Studies

Posted on:2004-02-26Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:D C JinFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360092985728Subject:Ethnology
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Benzhu worship is central part of the Bai nationality religion. It infiltrates every aspect of their cultural life, and is a distinctive feature of their social culture. This book attempts to analyze the Bai nationality cultural life through the study of this faith origin, inheritance, changes, form of expression, and its infiltration into their culture. The author hopes to be able to find an effective way to respect and understand Benzhu worship of the Bai Nationality and its culture through this study.Bai is a developed nationality in China with a very long history. It used to have its own government and is an active participant in Chinese history. This book introduces briefly the history, the present situation, and the culture of the Bai nationality. This begins the initial introduction about the Benzhu worship concept classification and related folk tales. This is the first chapter contents.In the second chapter, the author exhibits a strong interest in Benzhu worship. He has collected a lot of information. He even investigated on Benzhu worship quite a few times in the area where Bai nationality lives in Dal i. But as for Benzhu worship, the author is purely a spectator. Being a spectator allows the author to analyze the form and development process of Benzhu worship from an objective angle in hopes to find a way to understand the Benzhu worship of the Bai nationality.The third chapter talks mainly about the relationship between Benzhu worship and foreign religions. In the process of its formation and development, Benzhu worship was influenced deeply by the occult, Buddhist, and Confucian religions. When those strong foreign religionsinvaded, Benzhu worship was not swallowed up, but instead those religions were assimilated. This caused the Benzhu religion to grow and improve. The author finds this result interesting.Every kind of religion, including Benzhu worship, has their symbols and their own religious expressions. These religious traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Chapter four explains the meaning of Benzhu temples and the idols in them, and how people worship. Chapter four also goes into detail about the organizational style of Benzhu worship and how they offer sacrifices, which contain the symbols of Benzhu worship and its expression system. Here the expression system does not only refer to the organization and activities of Benzhu worship, it also refers to the thought system which makes it mysterious and holy. Through the analysis of the system, the author tries to understand how the symbols and religious expressions sustain the existence of Benzhu worship, and how they influence the cultural life of the Bai nationality.As a faith with a long history, Benzhu worship has infiltrated into every aspect of the Bai nationality daily life and into every aspect of their culture as well. This infiltration of Benzhu into the people culture and art makes the Bai nationality very distinct from that of other nationalities. Benzhu influence on education and ethics should not be ignored either. This is a summary of chapter five.In summing up the five chapters, the author finds that:1. Benzhu worship is very open; it does not have many commandments or factional points of view. So when it meets different kinds of culture, it very easily accepts and adapts to these cultures.2. Benzhu worship has its own special symbols and forms of religious expression which are mixed with some factors from other religions. This kind of special material expression and word system is the core of Benzhuworship. This is also why,it continues to exist to this day.3. Benzhu worship comes from the very roots of the Bai nationality and culture. In the process of its development, it widely took in foreign factors, but it never broke off from its roots in the social economy of the Bai nationality. On the contrary, it rooted itself deeper and deeper into every aspect of the Bai nationality social culture through the foreign power, and became a very important factor of the B...
Keywords/Search Tags:Traditional
PDF Full Text Request
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