The Magic of Ghosts and Gods -- The Ghost and God Beliefs of the Han Nationality

Author: Wang Jinglin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1992-06-01
Features: Is there a paradise in the sky, and are there gods? Is there a hell underground, and are there ghosts? What is the relationship between the human world and paradise, hell, and ghosts? The Han nationality, at least in ancient times, had very definite answers: there is a paradise in the sky, where it is the world of gods, free from sorrow and suffering, filled only with endless happiness; there is a hell underground, where it is the world of ghosts, shrouded in eerie winds, without sunlight or warmth, filled with mountains of swords and fires, the wails of ghosts being punished, and countless unimaginable fears. Humans live between paradise and hell, one hand held by gods and the other by ghosts, one foot on the steps leading to paradise and the other on the threshold of hell. After death, one either goes to paradise for a good life or descends to hell to suffer endless torment, far more severe than in the human world. The gods living in the sky and the Yama and ghosts living underground all possess supernatural power. They not only govern paradise and hell but also control human destinies and all the great and small affairs of the world, directly intervening in people's lives, the rise and fall of nations, the thrones of emperors, life and death, success and failure, having children, droughts and floods, and harvests. Since people believed that ghosts and gods controlled their destinies, they naturally tried their best to serve them. Whether the ghosts and gods were native to Taoism or foreign to Buddhism, as long as they were ghosts and gods, the ancient Han nationality seemed to believe and worship them without hesitation. People built temples and shrines for ghosts and gods, sculpted images of gods and ghosts, and invited them from the heavens and the underworld to the human world, kneeling at their feet to pray, hoping to avoid suffering in life and be reborn in paradise after death. However, no matter how powerful the magic of ghosts and gods was, how beautiful paradise was, or how terrifying hell was, these imaginary concepts were merely reflections of people's longing for an ideal life and their reverence and fear of alien forces. No matter how imaginative people were, how much they wished to become immortals, or how they revered and served ghosts and gods, they could not escape the circle of human life. They treated and worshipped ghosts and gods with the experience of worldly life, giving them human forms with blood, flesh, and emotions. This was the unique way the ancient Han nationality believed in and treated ghosts and gods. When people were immersed in the magic of ghosts and gods, this way of believing in ghosts and gods, as well as the traditional psychology it reflected, seemed mysterious and enigmatic. But when people stepped out of the magic circle of ghosts and gods and examined it rationally as a cultural phenomenon, the magic of ghosts and gods and the traditional psychology of the Han nationality's belief in ghosts and gods became clear. It seemed as if all of this was a play directed by humans themselves for themselves.