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To Explore Some Issues On The Topic Of Gods Faith And Sacrifice In Chu-State

Posted on:2017-03-06Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:C L GuoFull Text:PDF
GTID:1315330512969234Subject:Chinese history
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The Chu people were very superstitious and worshiped in gods and spirits. As a result of that, religious sacrifices held an extremely important status in the Chu's political and social activities. In this thesis, I explored some issues on the Chu people's beliefs in gods and spirits and sacrifice including the topics of "the ghost-god worship", "sacrificial rites" and "sacrificial offering" mainly by textual research the Chu's bamboo and silk documents and classical historical literatures.In the ancient historital legends,Gao Yang was known as Zhuan Xu. Zhu Rong was an assister of the Yan Emperor, and Chong Li, Wu Hui, Lu Zhong were all honorific titled Zhu Rong as an official position Huo Zheng (??). These characters were all have the godhood of the Sun God. The Sun God worship experienced two stages of development:"no clearly distinction between human & god" (????) and "breaking off the way to heaven" (????). The faith of Yan Emperor, Zhuan Xu and Zhu Rong as their Sun God was a product of mutual combination of the worship of the hero, ancestor and sun. But the faith of Dong Jun as their Sun God was simply originated in the purely worship of the sun itself, mainly in the worship of the sacrificial ceremony. The evolution of the Sun God worship was closely connected with the Chu people's subsistence and development, and normally influenced by some realistic demands.As for the Chu people's faith of "Tai Yi", This article analyze the existence area and time of the unearthed document recorded "Tai Yi", and according to Zu Chuwen and the history of the battle of Lantian between Chu & Qin, I deduced that the faith of "T Tai Yi" was appeared in Chu State in the late warring states period, and the faith of "Tai Yi" in Qin state might be from Chu. I believed that the concept of "Tai Yi" had tripartite meanings in theology, mathematics and philosophy having a close inner link between them after I distinguished the difference and relation between "Tai Yi", "Tao" and "Water" in the text Tai Yi Sheng Shui. Lastly, I discussed "Tai Yi"& "Fu Xi" From the perspective of genetic mythology, and I recognized that the "Dong Huang Tai Yi" was "Fu Xi".As for the Chu people's Gods of Si system, The paper found that The "Si-Ming" in text Jiu Ge and the Chu bamboo book had the same meaning in official positon concept, but they were different in godhood. The former one was the god in heaven, and the latter one was a spirit on earth. It suggests that the godhood of "Si-Ming" was transiting and integrating during the warring state period. The official position of other "God of Si" in Chu bamboo book were all connected with life, and we could recognized all of them as the assisters of "Si-Ming". They centered on "Si-Ming",and each performed their own functions. These phenomena reflected that the Chu people were very concerned of life.In Chu Area, Five Home Gods has formed a relatively fixed combination system late in the early and middle Warring States. The Chu people focus more on the worship of Door-god, Household-god, Road-god. Unlike the Rites of the Zhou, Five Home Gods in Chu area was a general sacrifices activities and There is no difference in the level of sacrifice. The Chu people more cared about the collocation between the Five Home Gods and the animals as sacrifice.About the sacrificial rites, I Mainly classified the sacrifice language in Chu Bamboo Slips and textual distinguishing them by Integrating with the historical literatures. It suggested that the sacrificial rites of Chu was based on the Zhou's. One of the most obvious characteristics is that the Chu people tend to generalized some certain kinds of sacrifices, such as "Yan Ji", "Yi Ji" and "Chang Ji".About the Sacrificial offering system in Chu state, discussed mainly based on the textual evidence of Chu Bamboo Slips. In the aspect of animals for the sacrifice,The Chu people honored purity, Red, Male and Fat animals. There was no chicken in the "Six Animals", and a sacrificed dog must with white fur. The great cage or thorns cage were only used to sacrificing the supreme ruler ancestors or above levels. In terms of ritual jade for the sacrifice, the Chu people already used "Wear-jade", "Wear-jade Bi" and "Jade for playing" in sacrificed rites, and it reflected that the secularization in jade-using and people's notion were changing from honoring qualities to civilization. The Chu people rarely used jade tablet in sacrifice rites, which was so different from Zhou's rites. The "Jade Bi" only allowed to use in sacrificing the supreme rulers or above levels, and the common people could use the jade rings in sacrifice rites. The method of using jade "Ying" refers to place the jade on the "Sao Jie" to sacrifice the ghosts and gods. Chariots and horses sacrifice only used to supreme rulers or above levels, and horses were allowed in sacrifices for a Senior Official(??). Another sacrificial offerings contains wine, food, clothes and hat. Overall, Compared with the rites of Zhou, the Chu's Sacrificial offering system was largely identical but with minor differences.About the sacrificial music and sacrificial ceremony.In Chu's sacrifice culture, the dance and music were common tools to pleasing the gods, and the text "Yue Zhi" in Chu Bamboo Slips was means that. "Qian Bell" mainly used for the daily banquet, "Yan Bell" mainly used to go out cruising, "Yue Zhi" in Xin Cai Bamboo Slips means Seance, "Bai Zhi" means making the ghosts and gods enjoy Sacrificial Offerin, "Gan Zhi" means offering the sacrifices to the ghosts and gods. The three following stages formed a basic pattern in sacrificial rites.
Keywords/Search Tags:The Chu State, ghosts and gods worship, sacrifice, sacrifice rites
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