Gods and Sacrifices (A Comprehensive Overview of Traditional Chinese Religion)

Author: Zhan Yinxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1992-06-01
Features: Religion and Mythology, an important component of ancient culture, played a role in society that modern people cannot imagine. Traditional Chinese religion has a long history, which can be divided into two major stages before and after the introduction of Buddhism. Before the influence of Buddhist thought, from the ancient dynasties of the Three Dynasties to the Qin and Han periods, religious worship had a consistent development, but many aspects are unfamiliar to later generations. However, to trace the origins of traditional religion, one must examine that era. Taking the Zhou Dynasty, for which there are documented records, as an example, many institutions related to religious worship are preserved in ritual texts. The ancient concept of "ritual" differed in scope from the later understanding of "ritual." The Rites of Zhou states: "The duty of the Grand Minister of Rites is to establish the rites for the heavenly deities, human spirits, and earthly demons of the state, assisting the king in establishing and preserving the state." The first of the five major rites under his jurisdiction, the ( rites), refers to "the worship of the spirits and deities of the state," including the supreme deity of heaven, the sun, moon, stars, diviners, wind and rain deities, earth gods, five sacrifices, five mountains, mountains, rivers, and the spirits of all directions, as well as the sacrifices to the ancestors of former kings. The content is quite complex. Ritual is the core of traditional culture, and without understanding its religious worship and related ideological concepts, one cannot achieve a comprehensive understanding of traditional culture. Shifting attention from texts to archaeology and paleography also reveals the necessity of studying ancient religion. Many archaeological remains of ancient culture unearthed through excavations are directly or indirectly related to the religious beliefs of that time. Structures such as ancestral temples and (bright halls), as well as the frequent burials encountered during excavations, are difficult to explain without the perspective of religious concepts. Paleographic materials, such as the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty, are highly valued by academia, with thousands of works on their interpretation and research. However, many have forgotten that oracle bones were remnants of divination, and divination, as a form of divinatory technique, was inseparable from the beliefs of that era. Bronze inscriptions are no different. Most inscribed bronze vessels were ritual objects used for sacrifices and offerings, and later followed burial customs, also reflecting religious beliefs. It can be said that oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions always contain ritual systems and belief concepts, awaiting analysis. Unfortunately, apart from a few scholars, very few domestic scholars have examined them from this perspective. In this regard, Zhan Yinxin's Divine Beings and Sacrifices—An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Religion is truly an pioneering work. The book covers a very broad scope, including the gods, spirits, and demons described in the Rites of Zhou. The materials cited range from traditional literature to archaeological and paleographic findings, while also incorporating insights from predecessors in history, archaeology, anthropology, folkloristics, and many other disciplines. Due to Zhan Yinxin's original focus on paleography, the book presents many novel perspectives on oracle bones and bronze inscriptions, adding to its value. It is believed that scholars engaged in related research in various fields will find inspiration from this book, and readers interested in understanding ancient traditional culture will also develop a strong interest in it.