Mark R. E. Meulenbeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838447
- eISBN:
- 9780824869458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838447.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the cultural sphere to which Canonization of the Gods belongs during the late Ming dynasty. It shows how the Ming vernacular novel offers a “relational framework” for explaining ...
More
This chapter examines the cultural sphere to which Canonization of the Gods belongs during the late Ming dynasty. It shows how the Ming vernacular novel offers a “relational framework” for explaining and emulating the hierarchical relationships of local spirits with higher gods. It also considers how local communities throughout Jiangnan defend their territory by appropriating the powers of martial gods from late Ming novels such as Canonization. The picture that emerges is one of a society that organizes itself on the basis of religious narratives of divine protection, with local militias assuming the status of demon soldiers in order to serve their martial gods. This chapter suggests that Canonization codifies the liturgical structure of late imperial Daoism and the martial gods of vernacular ritual as a well-structured army of divine warriors who belong to the authority of the Eastern Peak.Less
This chapter examines the cultural sphere to which Canonization of the Gods belongs during the late Ming dynasty. It shows how the Ming vernacular novel offers a “relational framework” for explaining and emulating the hierarchical relationships of local spirits with higher gods. It also considers how local communities throughout Jiangnan defend their territory by appropriating the powers of martial gods from late Ming novels such as Canonization. The picture that emerges is one of a society that organizes itself on the basis of religious narratives of divine protection, with local militias assuming the status of demon soldiers in order to serve their martial gods. This chapter suggests that Canonization codifies the liturgical structure of late imperial Daoism and the martial gods of vernacular ritual as a well-structured army of divine warriors who belong to the authority of the Eastern Peak.
Mark R. E. Meulenbeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838447
- eISBN:
- 9780824869458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838447.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, this book argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped ...
More
Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, this book argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Gods), the book maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with Canonization of the Gods and its ideology, the book is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial “novels.” It first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied “demon soldiers” as part of their defensive strategies. The book establishes the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these different discourses. The book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of “literature,” “society,” and “politics.” It shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that “religion” cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis.Less
Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, this book argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Gods), the book maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with Canonization of the Gods and its ideology, the book is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial “novels.” It first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied “demon soldiers” as part of their defensive strategies. The book establishes the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these different discourses. The book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of “literature,” “society,” and “politics.” It shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that “religion” cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis.
Mark R. E. Meulenbeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838447
- eISBN:
- 9780824869458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838447.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book examines how the categories “literature,” “religion,” and “community” intersect in the seventeenth-century vernacular novel, Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Gods). It situates ...
More
This book examines how the categories “literature,” “religion,” and “community” intersect in the seventeenth-century vernacular novel, Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Gods). It situates Canonization of the Gods within the specific history of Daoist martial ritual and explains how it is built upon Daoist ritual and religious theater from various locales in late imperial China. It also considers what it calls “demonic warfare”—martial methods that ritually construct the actual battles of mortal warriors as events that are paralleled by simultaneous battles of demon warriors. This introduction discusses broader issues of ritual and of the sacred in relation to literature and martial theater; juxtaposes Canonization (and similar novels that are also based on ritual models) with other late imperial novels that are self-consciously written as literary fiction (xiaoshuo); and looks at mainstream theories of Chinese local religion suggesting that the clerical traditions of Buddhism and Daoism (and sometimes Confucianism) are not relevant for understanding local “popular religion.”Less
This book examines how the categories “literature,” “religion,” and “community” intersect in the seventeenth-century vernacular novel, Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Gods). It situates Canonization of the Gods within the specific history of Daoist martial ritual and explains how it is built upon Daoist ritual and religious theater from various locales in late imperial China. It also considers what it calls “demonic warfare”—martial methods that ritually construct the actual battles of mortal warriors as events that are paralleled by simultaneous battles of demon warriors. This introduction discusses broader issues of ritual and of the sacred in relation to literature and martial theater; juxtaposes Canonization (and similar novels that are also based on ritual models) with other late imperial novels that are self-consciously written as literary fiction (xiaoshuo); and looks at mainstream theories of Chinese local religion suggesting that the clerical traditions of Buddhism and Daoism (and sometimes Confucianism) are not relevant for understanding local “popular religion.”
Mark R. E. Meulenbeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838447
- eISBN:
- 9780824869458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838447.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book has historicized the continuum that exists between vernacular rituals for the deployment of martial spirits and the late Ming vernacular novel Canonization of the Gods. In this continuum, ...
More
This book has historicized the continuum that exists between vernacular rituals for the deployment of martial spirits and the late Ming vernacular novel Canonization of the Gods. In this continuum, the novel clearly represents a Daoist project for subsuming the gods of local rituals under the unifying authority of a national liturgy. This concluding chapter argues that narratives like Canonization contribute to the relevance of ritual in the social reality of late imperial China. It suggests that Canonization is particularly explicit in its reference to the Daoist standardization of ritual, but that several other novels from the same time period circulate in the same cultural sphere of vernacular ritual and martial gods. Each of them focuses on a different aspect of that sphere, but each of them similarly elaborates on the theme of canonization. It is this theme of canonization and Daoist martial ritual that distinguishes these religious narratives from other works.Less
This book has historicized the continuum that exists between vernacular rituals for the deployment of martial spirits and the late Ming vernacular novel Canonization of the Gods. In this continuum, the novel clearly represents a Daoist project for subsuming the gods of local rituals under the unifying authority of a national liturgy. This concluding chapter argues that narratives like Canonization contribute to the relevance of ritual in the social reality of late imperial China. It suggests that Canonization is particularly explicit in its reference to the Daoist standardization of ritual, but that several other novels from the same time period circulate in the same cultural sphere of vernacular ritual and martial gods. Each of them focuses on a different aspect of that sphere, but each of them similarly elaborates on the theme of canonization. It is this theme of canonization and Daoist martial ritual that distinguishes these religious narratives from other works.
Barend J. ter Haar
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198803645
- eISBN:
- 9780191842030
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198803645.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History, History of Religion
Guan Yu was a minor general in his own day, who supported one of numerous claimants to the throne in the early third century CE. He was captured and executed by enemy forces in 219. He eventually ...
More
Guan Yu was a minor general in his own day, who supported one of numerous claimants to the throne in the early third century CE. He was captured and executed by enemy forces in 219. He eventually became one the most popular and influential deities of imperial China under the name Lord Guan or Emperor Guan, of the same importance as the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin. This is a study of his cult, but also of the tremendous power of oral culture in a world where writing became increasingly important. The book follows the rise of the deity through his earliest stage as a hungry ghost, his subsequent adoption by a prominent Buddhist monastery during the Tang (617–907) as its miraculous supporter, and his recruitment by Daoist ritual specialists during the Song dynasty (960–1276) as an exorcist general. It continues on with his subsequent roles as a rain god, protector against demons and barbarians, and, eventually, moral paragon and almost messianic saviour. Throughout his divine life, the physical prowess of the deity, more specifically Lord Guan’s ability to use violent action for doing good, remained an essential dimension of his image. Most research ascribes a decisive role in the rise of his cult to the literary traditions of the Three Kingdoms, best known from the famous novel by this name. This book argues that the cult arose from oral culture and spread first and foremost as an oral practice.Less
Guan Yu was a minor general in his own day, who supported one of numerous claimants to the throne in the early third century CE. He was captured and executed by enemy forces in 219. He eventually became one the most popular and influential deities of imperial China under the name Lord Guan or Emperor Guan, of the same importance as the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin. This is a study of his cult, but also of the tremendous power of oral culture in a world where writing became increasingly important. The book follows the rise of the deity through his earliest stage as a hungry ghost, his subsequent adoption by a prominent Buddhist monastery during the Tang (617–907) as its miraculous supporter, and his recruitment by Daoist ritual specialists during the Song dynasty (960–1276) as an exorcist general. It continues on with his subsequent roles as a rain god, protector against demons and barbarians, and, eventually, moral paragon and almost messianic saviour. Throughout his divine life, the physical prowess of the deity, more specifically Lord Guan’s ability to use violent action for doing good, remained an essential dimension of his image. Most research ascribes a decisive role in the rise of his cult to the literary traditions of the Three Kingdoms, best known from the famous novel by this name. This book argues that the cult arose from oral culture and spread first and foremost as an oral practice.
