The Preliminary And Tentative Exploration On The Relationship Between Mazu Belief And Confucianism

Mazu was deified from a human to a goddess, and then from a local goddess to a national goddess, in such a progress the Mazu belief has been continuously sublimated. From a local goddess created by the folks, Mazu gradually ascended to a heavenly queen who enjoys national sacrifices; such a belief is always combing new functions which meet the social demands during the process to achieve a steady development and step by step it evolved to a cultural belief covering various regions of the world. The votaries of Mazu belief grew from the lower class of ordinary fishermen to encompass the politically influential aristocrats, and then the emperors, in which process Mazu became a universal goddess.During the spreading of Mazu belief, there developed two distinctive ways with differentiated forms and different orientations of godhood--the non-governmental route and governmental route. The main task of the governmental route is to re-standardize the godhood of Mazu after she became the folk god, making Confucianism as the officially standard godhood of Mazu. In Han Dynasty when Emperor Wu reined, China began to follow Confucianism to rule the country and since then the Mazu belief has been continually developed due to its Confucian origin in various dynasties when the Confucius and Confucianism were respected and admired. The Confucianism averred that the country should be ruled by moralities and education, which considers "Ren(Humaneness)" as the highest moral standard, and filial piety and fraternal duty as the basis of "Ren". Mazu was well-known in her hometown as a filial daughter, and after she became an immoral, she revealed and used her power to bless the people and the country; in this way, she naturally became a paragon established by Confucians for the education of folk people. In contemporary society, the filial piety and universal fraternity in Mazu cultures still meet the demands of the times; the Mazu belief also became the important tie of peaceful development in both sides of the Taiwan Straits.The thesis is divided into six parts:the introduction puts forward the research purpose and the aim of the thesis, and sorts the literatures collected in the present level. The first chapter discusses the origin and development of Mazu belief, and background of Confucianism in the several aspects, including the introduction of Confucianism, the spreading of ancient witchery and the development of patron saint, the establishment of basic votaries, the locational geographic advantage, the influence of water transport of grain to the capital, the dissemination of publications, the influences caused by social reforms, the development of Mazu belief and the official titles granted by the emperors in various dynasties. The second chapter mainly analyzes the similarities between rites to offer sacrifices to Mazu and those to Confucius, including sacrificial vessels, the types and quantity of sacrifices and the rites to offer sacrifices. On the basis of the previous analysis, the third chapter makes an in-depth exploration of the marks of Confucianism in the culture of Mazu belief, which can be represented by "Ren(Humaneness)","Zhong(Loyalty)" and "Xiao(Filial Piety)". The fourth chapter sums up the pluralistic values of the combination of Confucian cultures and Mazu belief and its contributions. The end of the thesis summarizes the article to put forward detailed conclusions—that is the research on Confucian origin of Mazu belief has a profound meaning and we need to explore and find clues within to maintain a sustainable development of Confucianism and to benefit our offspring.