Research On The Religious Culture Of "Water Margin

As a popular novel with strong divine and demonic colors,Water Margin contains a rich religious culture.It is known that Water Margin sourced from the Stories in Xuanhe of Song Dynasty in the Southern Song Dynasty.During hundreds of years between Song and Yuan dynasties,countless popular folklore novels and miscellaneous drama performance enriched the connotation of the story archetype as well as characterization.Till the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty,the lower-class literati began to make pre-creation into a book based on the processing.It can be said that the book Water Margin is occurred based on the basis of deep folk culture,with a rich folk nature.The many religious content in the book reflects the influence of the cultural trend of the three religions among the people of Song and Yuan dynasties,and also reflect the changes of some folk religions as well as folk culture.This paper is divided into four chapters which makes a more in-depth study on the religious culture embodied in Water Margin.Introduction part: it contains the significance of the paper topic,recent status of this research,the feasibility of the research,and the summary of research methodology.The first part: it combines the background of the book Water Margin-that is,the religious overview of the Song and Yuan dynasties,discusses the development and rise and fall of Confucianism,Buddhism,and Taoism in this period and summarizes the characteristics of religious relations in this period,by analyzing the religious policies of the ruling class and the exchanges and interactions among the three religions.The second part: it explores the religious relationship in Water Margin and analyzes the folk understanding of the relationship between their sects through the activities and connections between the religious characters in the book.Behind the theme of the novel’s promotion of "loyalty",the dominant position of Confucianism is reflected.When depicting the spell struggle between the two religions,it highlights the literary interest of the struggle between gods and demons rather than religious prejudice.In addition,the exposure and satire of the images of "promiscuous monk" and "evil" in the novel can be regarded as the influence of religious secularization on the creation of folk literature and art.In the Song and Yuan dynasties,the cultural trend of integration of the three religions was also reflected behind the novel.The third part: it explores the religious characterization in Water Margin,taking Lu Zhishen,Wu Song and Song Jiang as examples.It also reveals the cultural connection between the image of Lu Zhishen as a unbridled monk and the "crazy Zen" of the culture of Song Dynasty,and unearths the religious metaphors behind the identity of Wu Song as a practitioner,such as Wu Song’s fighting with the tiger and having killed the Taoist priest Wang,correspond to the Buddhist metaphors of "fading the tiger" and "subduing the dragon".Through the study of Song Jiang’s secular and religious identities,it reveals the duality of Confucianism and Taoism behind his humanity,divinity and magic.The fourth part: in Water Margin,in addition to the three religions in addition to the interpretation of folk religious sects and culture.Among them,the historical activities of the White Lotus Society Movement in the Song and Yuan dynasties have obvious cultural imprints in the story of the Water Margin.And the low status of women in the novel is inseparable from some religious concepts in the society at that time.Besides that,Water Margin inherits and carries forward the ancient Chinese martial arts,while its description of vagrant culture reflects the catering to the interests of citizens.It also discusses the effect of public religion and culture in the narrative of Water Margin which can enrich the theme and increase the depth and breadth of research.