Inscriptions On Bronze Of Zhou Dynasty And The Ancestor God Worship

Zhou Dynasty was the most developed time, in which the ancestorworships God. Besides the pre-Qin ancient book and bibliography including theancestor god worship material, Inscriptions on Bronze of Zhou Dynasty also providedextremely rich material for studying the ancestor god worship. The scholars of eldergeneration had made the remarkable achievement in each research area, however,primarily conducting the research mainly based on the bronze inscription material stillnot to be seen. Start with the inscriptions on Bronze of Zhou Dynasty material, theauthor unified the bibliography material to study Zhou Dynasty's ancestor godworship.Besides the introduction part makes the brief narration about present researchsituation and the research significance of the ancestor god worships, this whole articlewas divided into four parts:The first part contrasted and analyzed the characteristic of ancestor god worshipin the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty. The characteristic of Shang Dynasty was thatthe theocracy was highly concentrated by the king, who mainly controlled the power ofancestor god sacrifice, the imperfect patriarchal system of Yin Dynasty ruins culturewas to offer sacrifice to the king's ancestors; under the patriarchal system, the ancestorgod worship of the Zhou Dynasty was stratified and classified, if the ancestors enjoyedbeing sacrificed were in the different social stratum, the number of temple, thesacrificial offerings used, the appliances used and their quantity, the jurisdiction ofsacrifice were all different.The second part mainly elaborated Bronze sacrificial vessel of the Zhou Dynastybronze and the inscription on Bronze recorded the ancestor god worship. Analyzed thetheoretical foundation of ancestor god worship, that is the soul was eternal; thisthought in the pre-Qin period exist universally in people's thought; analyzed thefunction of Zhou Dynasty bronze sacrificial vessel and the relation of ancestor godworship, the bronze sacrificial vessels used in sacrificing the ancestors manifested thepeople's idea of god worship in the Zhou Dynasty; the relationship between ancestorgod worship in the inscription on Bronze and patriarchal and hierarchy system in theZhou Dynasty, have manifested the characteristic of ancestor god worship in the Zhou Dynasty.The third part mainly analyzed the property of ancestor god worship based onthe inscription on Bronze of the Zhou Dynasty, obtained the result that the ZhouDynasty's ancestor god worship possess the religious nature. And further elaboratedthe main content of the ancestor god worship in the Zhou Dynasty the inscription onBronze, that is, long for the longevity, ask for the good fortune and an official position,ask for healthy and being blessed, ask for the government post and so on, this kind ofthe inscription on Bronze including the content of asking for being blessed and goodfortune reflected the religious thought of the Zhou Dynasty ancestor god worship.The fourth part was sublimation in the foundations of first several parts, mainlyelaborated the duality of ancestor god worship, in the Zhou Dynasty bronze inscription,that is, Zhou Dynasty's ancestor god worship was a kind of filial piety paying a debt ofgratitude, was also the utilitarian religion asked for being blessed, made the furtherunderstanding the ancestor god worship.