Japanese scholars' research on the selection of Chinese historical treatises - Volume 9

Author: Translator: Xin Duyong / et al.
Editor: Liu Junwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-01-01
Features: Fragments: There are three shrines—Youtu, the Golden Man, and the Jingluo Divine Shrine. In the same book, Volume 25 of the Record of Sacrifices to the Ancestors states: "Yunyang has the Jingluo Divine Shrine, where the King of Youtu is worshipped." According to the former text, there are three shrines—one for the King of Youtu, one for the Golden Man, and one for Jingluo—totaling three; according to the latter, the King of Youtu has been merged into the Jingluo Divine Shrine in the scriptures. The two texts are inconsistent. However, if interpreted as: the three shrines of the King of Youtu, the Golden Man, and the Jingluo Divine Shrine of the Xiongnu are located in the same place, while their collective representation is called the Jingluo Divine Shrine, then there is no contradiction between the two. In summary, among the Youtu Shrine, the Golden Man Shrine, and the Jingluo Divine Shrine, only the Jingluo Divine Shrine is referred to by the name of the deity, Jingluo, because Jingluo is a deity distinct from the Golden Man and is directly regarded as a divine spirit or idol. This Jingluo Divine Shrine is also present in the court of the Chanyu. The Book of Han (Volume 94, Biography of the Xiongnu), records the words of a local Xiongnu sorcerer: "The former Chanyu was angry and said, 'The Xiongnu used to worship the army, and it was said that they would obtain Li Guangli (Ershi) to offer sacrifices to the earth god. Why are they not doing so now?' Here, the phrase 'worship the army' can literally be read as 'worship the Jingluo Divine Shrine,' making it clear that Jingluo itself is regarded as a deity and becomes the direct object of worship by the Xiongnu. If so, then Jingluo is the Xiongnu's only idol. However, as I have, this is the result of the Jingluo—aakinakes-style short sword—being transmitted from Scythia to Siberia and then to the Xiongnu, along with the religious customs associated with it—such as sacrificing captives to worship the war god Ares. This is not the product of the Xiongnu's own shamanistic belief system. In other words, the Jingluo idol is an exception for the Xiongnu, who are largely primitive and simple shamanistic believers who rarely use idols even for deities. The worship of this sword, as a form of ancient Northern Eurasian sacrifice, is often specially noted when discussing the Scythians, Alans, Xiongnu, and Huns, because they mostly rely on natural objects as the abode of deities, rarely make idols or images, and have no artificial temples or other religious structures, which are incomprehensible to other non-idol-worshipping peoples. Only their worship of swords, due to specific reasons, attracts special attention. For example, Ammianus Marcellinus's description of the Alans' worship, as cited in (58), is a case in point. The text states: "In their country, there are no temples or sacred places, nor even a single hut that can be considered thatched. Instead, following the customs of barbarians, they stand their swords upright on the ground and worship them as the war god with reverence." In other words, for the Greeks and Romans, the ancient Northern Eurasian peoples' practice of directly using natural objects as the abode of deities, rather than relying on temples or sacred places, is completely incomprehensible. Conversely, the Chinese never fail to record the Xiongnu's sacrificial site "Longcheng" and the ritual "Tilin," demonstrating keen observation.
Conclusion In summary, the Xiongnu's worship is fundamentally based on sacrificing the deities of the heavens, the earth, and the underworld in natural forests or what are called Longcheng, sometimes making pole-shaped idols as substitutes for deities, but rarely. Only the Jingluo sword is made into an idol of the war god and becomes the direct object of worship. However, this is merely the result of foreign religious customs.