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Chinese shamanism

January 21, 2023

Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: 巫教; pinyin: wū jiào; lit. 'wu religion, shamanism, witchcraft'; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China.[1][2] Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture.[3] Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion.[4]

Seal script
Great Seal script
Bronzeware script
Ideograms of wu 巫 in different ancient Chinese scripts.

Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders,[5] though most orders don't self-identify as such. Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism:[1][6] it developed around the pursuit of long life (shou 壽/寿), or the status of a xian (仙, "mountain man", "holy man").[1]

Meaning of wu

Main article: Wu (shaman)
 
A 巫 wu master

The Chinese word wu 巫 "shaman, wizard", indicating a person who can mediate with the powers generating things (the etymological meaning of "spirit", "god", or nomen agentis, virtus, energeia), was first recorded during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE), when a wu could be either sex. During the late Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BCE) wu was used to specify "female shaman; sorceress" as opposed to xi 覡 "male shaman; sorcerer" (which first appears in the 4th century BCE Guoyu). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for "male shaman; sorcerer; wizard"; and nüwu 女巫, wunü 巫女, wupo 巫婆, and wuyu 巫嫗 for "female shaman; sorceress; witch".

The word tongji 童乩 (lit. "youth diviner") "shaman; spirit-medium" is a near-synonym of wu. Modern Chinese distinguishes native wu from "Siberian shaman": saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻; and from Indian Shramana "wandering monk; ascetic": shamen 沙門, sangmen 桑門, or sangmen 喪門.

Berthold Laufer (1917:370) proposed an etymological relation between Mongolian bügä "shaman", Turkic bögü "shaman", Chinese bu, wu (shaman), buk, puk (to divine), and Tibetan aba (pronounced ba, sorcerer). Coblin (1986:107) puts forward a Sino-Tibetan root *mjaɣ "magician; sorcerer" for Chinese wu < mju < *mjag 巫 "magician; shaman" and Written Tibetan 'ba'-po "sorcerer" and 'ba'-mo "sorcereress" (of the Bön religion). Further connections are to the bu-mo priests of Zhuang Shigongism and the bi-mo priests of Bimoism, the Yi indigenous faith. Also Korean mu 무 (of Muism) is cognate to Chinese wu 巫. Schuessler lists some etymologies: wu could be cognate with wu 舞 "to dance"; wu could also be cognate with mu 母 "mother" since wu, as opposed to xi 覡, were typically female; wu could be a loanword from Iranian *maghu or *maguš "magi; magician", meaning an "able one; specialist in ritual". Mair (1990) provides archaeological and linguistic evidence that Chinese wu < *myag 巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician" was maybe a loanword from Old Persian *maguš "magician; magi". Mair connects the nearly identical Chinese Bronze script for wu and Western heraldic cross potent ☩, an ancient symbol of a magus or magician, which etymologically descend from the same Indo-European root.

Early history

The Chinese religion from the Shang dynasty onwards developed around ancestral worship.[1] The main gods from this period are not forces of nature in the Sumerian way, but deified virtuous men.[1] The ancestors of the emperors were called di (帝), and the greatest of them was called Shangdi (上帝, "the Highest Lord").[1] He is identified with the dragon (Kui 夔), symbol of the universal power (qi).[1]

Cosmic powers dominate nature: the Sun, the Moon, stars, winds and clouds were considered informed by divine energies.[1] The earth god is She (社) or Tu (土).[1] The Shang period had two methods to enter in contact with divine ancestors: the first is the numinous-mystical wu (巫) practice, involving dances and trances; and the second is the method of the oracle bones, a rational way.[1]

The Zhou dynasty, succeeding the Shang, was more rooted in an agricultural worldview.[1] They opposed the ancestor-gods of the Shang, and gods of nature became dominant.[1] The utmost power in this period was named Tian (天, "heaven").[1] With Di (地, "earth") he forms the whole cosmos in a complementary duality.[1]

Qing period

Main article: Shamanism in the Qing dynasty

The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty (1636–1912) introduced substantial elements of Tungusic shamanism to China. Hong Taiji (1592–1643) put shamanistic practices in the service of the state, notably by forbidding others to erect new shrines (tangse) for ritual purposes. In the 1620s and 1630s, the Qing ruler conducted shamanic sacrifices at the tangse of Mukden, the Qing capital. In 1644, as soon as the Qing seized Beijing to begin their conquest of China, they named it their new capital and erected an official shamanic shrine there. In the Beijing tangse and in the women's quarters of the Forbidden City, Qing emperors and professional shamans (usually women) conducted shamanic ceremonies until the abdication of the dynasty in 1912.

In 1747 the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796) commissioned the publication of a Shamanic Code to revive and regulate shamanic practices, which he feared were becoming lost. He had it distributed to Bannermen to guide their practice, but we know very little about the effect of this policy. Mongols and Han Chinese were forbidden to attend shamanic ceremonies. Partly because of their secret aspect, these rituals attracted the curiosity of Beijing dwellers and visitors to the Qing capital. French Jesuit Joseph-Marie Amiot published a study on the Shamanic Code, "Rituels des Tartares Mandchous déterminés et fixés par l'empereur comme chef de sa religion" (1773). In 1777 the Qianlong Emperor ordered the code translated into Chinese for inclusion in the Siku quanshu. The Manchu version was printed in 1778, whereas the Chinese-language edition, titled Qinding Manzhou jishen jitian dianli (欽定滿洲祭神祭天典禮), was completed in 1780 or 1782.[7][8] Even though this "Shamanic Code" did not fully unify shamanic practice among the Bannermen, it "helped systematize and reshape what had been a very fluid and diverse belief system."[9]

Northeast shamanism

Main article: Northeast China folk religion

Shamanism is practiced in Northeast China and is considered different from those of central and southern Chinese folk religion, as it resulted from the interaction of Han religion with folk religion practices of other Tungusic people such as Manchu shamanism. The shaman would perform various ritual functions for groups of believers and local communities, such as moon drum dance and chūmǎxiān (出馬仙 "riding for the immortals").

Modern Shamanism

Shamanism saw a decline due to Neo-Confucianism labeling it as untutored and disorderly.[10] This was furthered in the 19th century with the arrival of Western imperialism’s view of shamanism as superstition,[10] opposing their view of science and western religion. The final hit was Maoist China causing all religious practices to disappear from public spaces.[10] While spirit mediums have begun reappearing (mostly in rural China) since the 1980’s,[10] they operate with a low profile, often working from their homes, relying on word of mouth to generate business, or in newly built small temples under a Taoist Association membership card to be legitimate under the law.[10] The term shamanism and the religion itself has been critiqued by Western scholars due to an unfair and limited comparison to more favored religions such as Christianity and other modern and more documented religions in Western society.[11]

In China today, shamanism has a strong negative stigma and has lost much of the respect it had during ancient times.  Spirit mediums are viewed as scammers or people with mental health problems, and are rarely portrayed otherwise by the Chinese media.[10] Along with the focus on science, modern medicine, and material culture in China (which created serious doubt in spiritual practices), shamanism is viewed as an opposition to the modern focus of science and medicine in the pursuit of modernizing China. Modern shamanism is considered as an obstacle to China’s overall modernity.[10] The marginalization of shamanism is one of the reasons for it mostly being practiced in rural areas or small towns, along with the lack of enforcement of anti-shamanism policies among authorities in rural areas (either because they believe in Shamanism themselves or “look the other way in concession to local beliefs”). Shamanistic practices today include controlling the weather, healing diseases modern medicine can not treat, exorcism of ghosts and demons, and seeing or divining the future.[12]

Mainland China’s Shamanism's decrease in popularity does not reflect Shamanism in all areas. Taiwan (although Taiwan tried to ban Shamanism, in the end only restricting it) still have many who openly practice without the stigma seen in other parts of China.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Libbrecht 2007, p. 43.
  2. ^ Eichhorn 1973, pp. 55–70.
  3. ^ Nelson et al. 2006.
  4. ^ Zhang & Hriskos 2003.
  5. ^ Nadeau 2012, p. 140.
  6. ^ Waldau & Patton 2009, p. 280.
  7. ^ di Cosmo 1999, p. 355, note 5 (Manchu text printed in 1778, Chinese text completed in 1782).
  8. ^ Rawski 1998, p. 240 (Chinese text completed in 1780).
  9. ^ Rawski 1998, p. 298.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Yang 2015.
  11. ^ DuBois 2011.
  12. ^ Xing & Murray 2018.

Bibliography

  • Waley, Arthur (1955). The Nine Songs: a Study of Shamanism in Ancient China. London.
  • di Cosmo, Nicola (1999). "Manchu shamanic ceremonies at the Qing court". In McDermott, Joseph P. (ed.). State and Court Ritual in China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 352–398. ISBN 978-0-521-62157-1.
  • DuBois, Thomas A. (2011). "Trends in Contemporary Research on Shamanism". Numen. 58 (1): 100–128. doi:10.1163/156852710X514339-2. JSTOR 23045924.
  • Michael, Thomas (2015). "Shamanism Theory and the Early Chinese 'Wu'". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 83 (3): 649–696. doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfv034. JSTOR 24488180.
  • Eichhorn, Werner (1973). Die Religionen Chinas. Die Religionen der Menschheit. W. Kohlhammer. ISBN 978-3-17-216031-4.
  • Libbrecht, Ulrich (2007). Within the Four Seas--: Introduction to Comparative Philosophy. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-1812-2.
  • Nelson, Sarah M.; Matson, Rachel A.; Roberts, Rachel M.; Rock, Chris; Stencel, Robert E. (2006). Archaeoastronomical Evidence for Wuism at the Hongshan Site of Niuheliang. S2CID 6794721.
  • Nadeau, Randall L., ed. (2012). The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4051-9031-2.
  • Rawski, Evelyn S. (1998). The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-92679-0.
  • Waldau, Paul; Patton, Kimberley, eds. (2009). A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13643-3.
  • Xing, Haiyan; Murray, Gerald (3 December 2018). "The Evolution of Chinese Shamanism: A Case Study from Northwest China". Religions. 9 (12): 397. doi:10.3390/rel9120397.
  • Yang, Mayfair (6 May 2015). "Shamanism and Spirit Possession in Chinese Modernity: Some Preliminary Reflections on a Gendered Religiosity of the Body". Review of Religion and Chinese Society. 2 (1): 51–86. doi:10.1163/22143955-00201001.
  • Zhang, Hong; Hriskos, Constantine (June 2003). "Contemporary Chinese Shamanism:The Reinvention of Tradition". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. 27 (2).
Further
  • Coblin, W. South (1986). A Sinologist's Handlist of Sino-Tibetan Lexical Comparisons. Steyler Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87787-208-6.
  • Laufer, Berthold (1917). "Origin of the Word Shaman". American Anthropologist. 19 (3): 361–371. doi:10.1525/aa.1917.19.3.02a00020. JSTOR 660223.
  • Mair, Victor H. (1990). "Old Sinitic *Mᵞag, Old Persian Maguš, and English 'Magician'". Early China. 15: 27–47. doi:10.1017/S0362502800004995. JSTOR 23351579. S2CID 192107986.
  • Schuessler, Axel (2007). An Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. University of Hawaii Press.

External links

  • Max Dashu. Xi Wangmu, the shamanic great goddess of China.

January 21, 2023
chinese, shamanism, been, suggested, that, this, article, should, split, into, articles, titled, shaman, chinese, folk, religion, discuss, june, 2019, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, cita. It has been suggested that this article should be split into articles titled Wu shaman and Chinese folk religion discuss June 2019 This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Chinese shamanism news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Chinese shamanism alternatively called Wuism Chinese 巫教 pinyin wu jiao lit wu religion shamanism witchcraft alternatively 巫觋宗教 wu xi zōngjiao refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China 1 2 Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture 3 Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion 4 Seal scriptGreat Seal scriptBronzeware scriptIdeograms of wu 巫 in different ancient Chinese scripts Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders 5 though most orders don t self identify as such Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism 1 6 it developed around the pursuit of long life shou 壽 寿 or the status of a xian 仙 mountain man holy man 1 Contents 1 Meaning of wu 2 Early history 3 Qing period 4 Northeast shamanism 5 Modern Shamanism 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External linksMeaning of wu EditMain article Wu shaman A 巫 wu master The Chinese word wu 巫 shaman wizard indicating a person who can mediate with the powers generating things the etymological meaning of spirit god or nomen agentis virtus energeia was first recorded during the Shang dynasty ca 1600 1046 BCE when a wu could be either sex During the late Zhou dynasty 1045 256 BCE wu was used to specify female shaman sorceress as opposed to xi 覡 male shaman sorcerer which first appears in the 4th century BCE Guoyu Other sex differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for male shaman sorcerer wizard and nuwu 女巫 wunu 巫女 wupo 巫婆 and wuyu 巫嫗 for female shaman sorceress witch The word tongji 童乩 lit youth diviner shaman spirit medium is a near synonym of wu Modern Chinese distinguishes native wu from Siberian shaman saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻 and from Indian Shramana wandering monk ascetic shamen 沙門 sangmen 桑門 or sangmen 喪門 Berthold Laufer 1917 370 proposed an etymological relation between Mongolian buga shaman Turkic bogu shaman Chinese bu wu shaman buk puk to divine and Tibetan aba pronounced ba sorcerer Coblin 1986 107 puts forward a Sino Tibetan root mjaɣ magician sorcerer for Chinese wu lt mju lt mjag 巫 magician shaman and Written Tibetan ba po sorcerer and ba mo sorcereress of the Bon religion Further connections are to the bu mo priests of Zhuang Shigongism and the bi mo priests of Bimoism the Yi indigenous faith Also Korean mu 무 of Muism is cognate to Chinese wu 巫 Schuessler lists some etymologies wu could be cognate with wu 舞 to dance wu could also be cognate with mu 母 mother since wu as opposed to xi 覡 were typically female wu could be a loanword from Iranian maghu or magus magi magician meaning an able one specialist in ritual Mair 1990 provides archaeological and linguistic evidence that Chinese wu lt myag 巫 shaman witch wizard magician was maybe a loanword from Old Persian magus magician magi Mair connects the nearly identical Chinese Bronze script for wu and Western heraldic cross potent an ancient symbol of a magus or magician which etymologically descend from the same Indo European root Early history EditThe Chinese religion from the Shang dynasty onwards developed around ancestral worship 1 The main gods from this period are not forces of nature in the Sumerian way but deified virtuous men 1 The ancestors of the emperors were called di 帝 and the greatest of them was called Shangdi 上帝 the Highest Lord 1 He is identified with the dragon Kui 夔 symbol of the universal power qi 1 Cosmic powers dominate nature the Sun the Moon stars winds and clouds were considered informed by divine energies 1 The earth god is She 社 or Tu 土 1 The Shang period had two methods to enter in contact with divine ancestors the first is the numinous mystical wu 巫 practice involving dances and trances and the second is the method of the oracle bones a rational way 1 The Zhou dynasty succeeding the Shang was more rooted in an agricultural worldview 1 They opposed the ancestor gods of the Shang and gods of nature became dominant 1 The utmost power in this period was named Tian 天 heaven 1 With Di 地 earth he forms the whole cosmos in a complementary duality 1 Qing period EditMain article Shamanism in the Qing dynasty The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty 1636 1912 introduced substantial elements of Tungusic shamanism to China Hong Taiji 1592 1643 put shamanistic practices in the service of the state notably by forbidding others to erect new shrines tangse for ritual purposes In the 1620s and 1630s the Qing ruler conducted shamanic sacrifices at the tangse of Mukden the Qing capital In 1644 as soon as the Qing seized Beijing to begin their conquest of China they named it their new capital and erected an official shamanic shrine there In the Beijing tangse and in the women s quarters of the Forbidden City Qing emperors and professional shamans usually women conducted shamanic ceremonies until the abdication of the dynasty in 1912 In 1747 the Qianlong Emperor r 1735 1796 commissioned the publication of a Shamanic Code to revive and regulate shamanic practices which he feared were becoming lost He had it distributed to Bannermen to guide their practice but we know very little about the effect of this policy Mongols and Han Chinese were forbidden to attend shamanic ceremonies Partly because of their secret aspect these rituals attracted the curiosity of Beijing dwellers and visitors to the Qing capital French Jesuit Joseph Marie Amiot published a study on the Shamanic Code Rituels des Tartares Mandchous determines et fixes par l empereur comme chef de sa religion 1773 In 1777 the Qianlong Emperor ordered the code translated into Chinese for inclusion in the Siku quanshu The Manchu version was printed in 1778 whereas the Chinese language edition titled Qinding Manzhou jishen jitian dianli 欽定滿洲祭神祭天典禮 was completed in 1780 or 1782 7 8 Even though this Shamanic Code did not fully unify shamanic practice among the Bannermen it helped systematize and reshape what had been a very fluid and diverse belief system 9 Northeast shamanism EditMain article Northeast China folk religion Shamanism is practiced in Northeast China and is considered different from those of central and southern Chinese folk religion as it resulted from the interaction of Han religion with folk religion practices of other Tungusic people such as Manchu shamanism The shaman would perform various ritual functions for groups of believers and local communities such as moon drum dance and chumǎxian 出馬仙 riding for the immortals Modern Shamanism EditShamanism saw a decline due to Neo Confucianism labeling it as untutored and disorderly 10 This was furthered in the 19th century with the arrival of Western imperialism s view of shamanism as superstition 10 opposing their view of science and western religion The final hit was Maoist China causing all religious practices to disappear from public spaces 10 While spirit mediums have begun reappearing mostly in rural China since the 1980 s 10 they operate with a low profile often working from their homes relying on word of mouth to generate business or in newly built small temples under a Taoist Association membership card to be legitimate under the law 10 The term shamanism and the religion itself has been critiqued by Western scholars due to an unfair and limited comparison to more favored religions such as Christianity and other modern and more documented religions in Western society 11 In China today shamanism has a strong negative stigma and has lost much of the respect it had during ancient times Spirit mediums are viewed as scammers or people with mental health problems and are rarely portrayed otherwise by the Chinese media 10 Along with the focus on science modern medicine and material culture in China which created serious doubt in spiritual practices shamanism is viewed as an opposition to the modern focus of science and medicine in the pursuit of modernizing China Modern shamanism is considered as an obstacle to China s overall modernity 10 The marginalization of shamanism is one of the reasons for it mostly being practiced in rural areas or small towns along with the lack of enforcement of anti shamanism policies among authorities in rural areas either because they believe in Shamanism themselves or look the other way in concession to local beliefs Shamanistic practices today include controlling the weather healing diseases modern medicine can not treat exorcism of ghosts and demons and seeing or divining the future 12 Mainland China s Shamanism s decrease in popularity does not reflect Shamanism in all areas Taiwan although Taiwan tried to ban Shamanism in the end only restricting it still have many who openly practice without the stigma seen in other parts of China See also EditChinese folk religion Chinese ritual mastery traditions Nuo folk religion TaoismReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Libbrecht 2007 p 43 Eichhorn 1973 pp 55 70 Nelson et al 2006 Zhang amp Hriskos 2003 Nadeau 2012 p 140 Waldau amp Patton 2009 p 280 di Cosmo 1999 p 355 note 5 Manchu text printed in 1778 Chinese text completed in 1782 Rawski 1998 p 240 Chinese text completed in 1780 Rawski 1998 p 298 a b c d e f g Yang 2015 DuBois 2011 Xing amp Murray 2018 Bibliography EditWaley Arthur 1955 The Nine Songs a Study of Shamanism in Ancient China London di Cosmo Nicola 1999 Manchu shamanic ceremonies at the Qing court In McDermott Joseph P ed State and Court Ritual in China Cambridge University Press pp 352 398 ISBN 978 0 521 62157 1 DuBois Thomas A 2011 Trends in Contemporary Research on Shamanism Numen 58 1 100 128 doi 10 1163 156852710X514339 2 JSTOR 23045924 Michael Thomas 2015 Shamanism Theory and the Early Chinese Wu Journal of the American Academy of Religion 83 3 649 696 doi 10 1093 jaarel lfv034 JSTOR 24488180 Eichhorn Werner 1973 Die Religionen Chinas Die Religionen der Menschheit W Kohlhammer ISBN 978 3 17 216031 4 Libbrecht Ulrich 2007 Within the Four Seas Introduction to Comparative Philosophy Peeters Publishers ISBN 978 90 429 1812 2 Nelson Sarah M Matson Rachel A Roberts Rachel M Rock Chris Stencel Robert E 2006 Archaeoastronomical Evidence for Wuism at the Hongshan Site of Niuheliang S2CID 6794721 Nadeau Randall L ed 2012 The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 1 4051 9031 2 Rawski Evelyn S 1998 The Last Emperors A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 92679 0 Waldau Paul Patton Kimberley eds 2009 A Communion of Subjects Animals in Religion Science and Ethics Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 13643 3 Xing Haiyan Murray Gerald 3 December 2018 The Evolution of Chinese Shamanism A Case Study from Northwest China Religions 9 12 397 doi 10 3390 rel9120397 Yang Mayfair 6 May 2015 Shamanism and Spirit Possession in Chinese Modernity Some Preliminary Reflections on a Gendered Religiosity of the Body Review of Religion and Chinese Society 2 1 51 86 doi 10 1163 22143955 00201001 Zhang Hong Hriskos Constantine June 2003 Contemporary Chinese Shamanism The Reinvention of Tradition Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine 27 2 FurtherCoblin W South 1986 A Sinologist s Handlist of Sino Tibetan Lexical Comparisons Steyler Verlag ISBN 978 3 87787 208 6 Laufer Berthold 1917 Origin of the Word Shaman American Anthropologist 19 3 361 371 doi 10 1525 aa 1917 19 3 02a00020 JSTOR 660223 Mair Victor H 1990 Old Sinitic Mᵞag Old Persian Magus and English Magician Early China 15 27 47 doi 10 1017 S0362502800004995 JSTOR 23351579 S2CID 192107986 Schuessler Axel 2007 An Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese University of Hawaii Press External links EditMax Dashu Xi Wangmu the shamanic great goddess of China Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chinese shamanism amp oldid 1120006678, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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