In search of personal welfare : a view of ancient Chinese religion / Mu-chou Poo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pu, Muzhou.

Series:

SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

China--Religion.

China.

Religion.

China--Religious life and customs.

China--Civilization.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xiii, 331 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [1998.n]

Summary:

This book is the first major reassessment of ancient Chinese religion to appear in recent years. It provides a historical investigation of broadly shared religious beliefs and goals in ancient China from the earliest period to the end of the Han Dynasty. The author makes use of recently acquired archeological data, traditional texts, and modern scholarly work from China, Japan, and the West. The overall concern of this book is to try to reach the religious mentality of the ancient Chinese in the context of personal and daily experiences. Poo deals with such problems as the definition of religion, the popular/elite controversy in methodology, and the use of "elite" documents in the study of ordinary life.

Contents:

Toward a History of the Everyday, Personal Religion of Ancient China 1

Religion and Extra-human Powers: Working Definitions 5

The Popular-Religion Paradigm in Earlier Research and Theory 7

2. Roots of a Religion of Personal Welfare 17

Prelude 17

The Religion of the Shang People 23

The Religion of the Chou People 29

3. Personal Welfare in the Context of Mantic Technique 41

Omens 44

Divination 48

Witchcraft and Exorcism 52

Ghosts and Spirits 53

Souls, Spirits, and the Abode of the Dead 62

4. Newly Discovered Daybooks and Everyday Religion 69

The Jih-shu or Daybooks 69

Elements of Religion in the Classic of Mountains and Seas 92

Jih-shu and Shan-hai-ching: Dealing with Domestic and Foreign Environments 99

5. Emperors, Courtiers, and the Development of Official Cults 103

The Establishment of the Official Cult of the Ch'in Empire 104

The Establishment of the Han Official Cult 107

Personal Factors and Official Religion 114

Reassessing Han Official Religion 117

6. Beliefs and Practices in Everyday Life of the Han Dynasty 123

Religious Activities Related to the Agricultural Cycle 124

Religious Activities Related to the Life Cycle 135

Religious Activities in Everyday Life 143

Local Cults 146

Omens and Portents 152

7. Immortality, Soul, and the Netherworld 157

The Conceptions of Immortality and Soul 157

Further Development of the Idea of the Netherworld 165

Social Change, the Development of Burial Styles, and the Idea of the Netherworld 176

8. Popular Religiosity and Its Critics 179

Literacy and the Commoners 179

Intellectuals as Critics of Popular Religion and Local Cults 185

Intellectuals as Reformers of Popular Religion 192

Intellectuals as Participants in Popular Religion 194

The Nature of Extra-Human Powers 206

Belief in a Correlative Cosmological Order 209

Death and the Netherworld 210

Apotheosis 212

Piety and Happiness 213.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-319) and index.

Names and words also in Chinese in bibliography and index.

ISBN:

0791436292

0791436306

OCLC:

36900870