Spirit writing, shamans and mediums: contact with the
Download
Report
Transcript Spirit writing, shamans and mediums: contact with the
Oxford vpn for Youtube
1
most important: possession (medium)
◦ impersonation of deceased by descendant
◦ by deity/demon
◦ human or object (e.g. writing object or sedan chair)
less common: spirit travel (shaman)
◦ world of the dead
◦ world of the unborn child (Flower Gardens, in
southern China)
visitation by or encounter with extra-humans
dreams
moonblocks etc.
2
巫, 覡 archaizing terminology, not necessarily shaman as
defined above
降, 下 describes the descent of a deity/demon
附 describes possession, usually of a demon
尸 possession (only in pre-Han texts)
見鬼 seeer of demons (very common in zhiguai texts)
香頭 (N. China)
童乩 (Fujian/Taiwan)
鸞壇, 扶乩
抽籤
筊
beware:
◦ autonym or label (almost invariably the latter)
◦ terms such as wu never sufficient evidence
3
very big sticks!
觀音籤
東京浅草寺
northeastern
Guangdong
廣東
4
筊1
平面
朝上
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
凸面
朝上
筊2
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
機率
俗稱
0.5*0.5=
0.25
笑筊
0.25
聖筊
0.25
聖筊
0.25
陰筊
5
disapproval educated elite over last centuries
prohibited & persecuted after 1911, certainly
1949
seen as typical “ethnic minority”
fieldwork highly sensitive
6
楚辭
shamanic songs?
source of elite stereotype
◦ 離騷 attributed to Qu Yuan 屈原 since bio by Sima Qian
司馬遷
◦ 九歌
◦ 招魂
◦ attributions more relevant as beliefs than as historical
facts
◦ 離騷 an emotional song about his fate in (political) life,
no indication of spirit travel, leave alone possession (e.g.
translation)
◦ 九歌 ritual songs, neither spirit travel or possession
◦ 招魂 precursor Daoist ritual, if anything
◦ “south” as shamanic (and north not!)
◦ “south” as location Nuo exorcist ritual
7
some possibilities
◦ medium cults derided by early Daoists of Heavenly
Master tradition, later also educated elite in general
◦ on elite/prestige level accepted until early Song
◦ shift performers, regionally differentiated, from
male to female (Ioan Lewis thesis)
regional specificity
◦ to be combined with historical change, ex. Huizhou
*dangki (late Ming local history)
8
(how) does it work?
◦ minimizing incertitude
◦ delegating impossible decisions
◦ interpreters of medium/spirit writers “messages”
know local people & local situation
examples
◦ Arthur Kleinman argument for Taiwan
◦ Record of Miraculous Responses by the Generals 將
軍靈驗記 from the Lord Guan cult
9
10
Max Weber’s concept
in the eyes of the beholder, not an absolute
quality: belief by followers that someone
possesses extraordinary qualities
◦ routinized charisma (when derived from office, special
objects, lineage)
◦ personal charisma (without pedigree)
outside institutionalized structures, not bound
(NB there may be cultural conventions about
what counts as charismatic)
charisma gives a personal hold over people,
feared and rejected/persecuted by
establishment
11
ling 靈ability to work miracles (positive)
yin 淫 “licentiousness” & “dissolute”: quality of
acting out of bounds (negative)
nao 閙 “to upset”, “create havoc”: upsetting
of normal order as source power (liminal)
熱鬧
熱鬧
鬧房
李三太子(哪吒)閙天
12
territorial
deity controls territory
and worshippers with
right of residence
communal
representation &
benefits
ascribed
formal rites (state,
communal, Daoist,
Buddhist)
charismatic
deity helps whoever
worships
personal requests &
benefits
hence erratic nature of
benefits
voluntary
inspired rites
(shamans, mediums)
13
limen=border =>
liminal place as border & transition (see discussion
of Daoist ritual)
liminal creatures live between here and
there =>
can mediate between worlds (good), can come to
attack us (bad)
origins:
◦
◦
◦
incomplete transition (hungry ghosts/demons
餓鬼)
non-humans changing form
humans attaining life beyond life (immortals)
liminal position enables charisma
14
violent death origin of most deities
◦ bone/grave cults
◦ plague deities
despised by early and later Daoist ritual
traditions
◦ as manifestations of stale qi
◦ for their mediums
for some: routinization of charisma
◦ deity becomes territorial (may be local, socially
incomplete)
◦ hagiography cleaned up
◦ state support
15
Four Great Families (四大門): fox 狐/胡仙, snake 柳仙(蛇),
weasel黄仙(黄鼠狼), hedgehog 白仙(刺猬)
◦
◦
◦
◦
sometimes the rat 灰仙(老鼠) or others as fifth
live on margins of cultivated land
self-cultivation> ability of transforming into human shape
not to be confused with literary topos
each animal was unique member of overall type
small shrines
charismatic power
underlying part of the fox stories in 聊齋志異
◦ family name same, personal name varies
◦ often nr. + lang 郎
◦
◦
◦
◦
irregular sightings as human/animal
could be male and female
privately worshipped for personal favours
even worshipped in yamen
◦ erratic & vindicative deities
◦ help with insecurity/contingency of events for worshippers (仙):
wealth, health, crops etc. (and its reverse!)
◦ disapproved by state & outsiders (妖,精)=>sexual accusations
◦ female seducers & male friends
◦ fox from the fox cults
16
A survey of animal and other shrine deities in Jilin City
animal cults
other shrine cults
Hu 胡
78
Earth God
23
Huang 黃
36
Mountain God
20
Liu 柳
4
Five Paths (五道)
15
Mang 莽
3
Bai 白
1
Five Great Household
Immortals
6
(grand total: 62 small shrines, mostly for several deities at a time)
17
member of the Four Great Families possess
people
◦ possessed person starts to behave and talk strangely
◦ identified as “possessed” (by “incensers” or experienced
people)
◦ the deity communicates the issue or carries out a
punishment
◦ explanatory value
“incensers” (香頭)
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
initially possessed involuntarily
need to identify immortal descending into them
tutor
initiation ritual
local network of customers
18
Wutong 五通/ Wuchang 五猖
◦ Yangzi region in particulardeveloped from demonic
creatures, esp. “one legged mountain demon”
◦ later seen as animal or animal transformation
deal with insecurities of life/money economy
charisma => labelled licentious 淫
◦ state: heavily persecuted, esp. 18th century
◦ local outside perception: sexual accusations
we know little about shamanic practice,
except that they existed and functioned more
or less like the “incensers”
19
enactment Wuchang,
no longer possession
Wutong: modern fiction
20
esp. well-documented in Fujianese cultural zone
(historically Fujian, Taiwan, SE Asia)
etymology
function
examples:
◦ speculation on Austronesian roots word
◦ jitong (!): Mandarin cultural imperialism
◦ not necessarily young, mostly male
◦ communication less clearly important
◦ demonstrative of divine power and presence
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS8kWCjNI6k
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOkNPbdZ3kA
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DEUIxrwcUk
21
analogous “incensers” in northern China
male and female, personal deity, any age
example:
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptzZ_2f-Kh8
22
early example possession
relatively well-documented in 真誥 a.o. works
(show pdf file?)
◦ possession
眾眞並未降事
非降楊時也
自此後諸真共語耳
右南嶽夫人言
◦ record
定錄
喻書此。紫陽旨也。
◦ read passage p. 19 together
23
24
Tang origins in signs 紫姑-cult (acc. to 許地山)=>
divine writing in characters
common form of revelation & communication by
Song
◦
◦
◦
◦
immortals (rarely well-known deities)
poetic communication
writing thru winnowing basket, wooden pencil etc.
writers and interpreters
practitioners
example:
◦ originally mostly educated elite
◦ prestige form of divine communication
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptzZ_2f-Kh8
25
文昌化書 (Song: Terry Kleeman)
early Qing onwards (why so late unclear to
me)
◦ Lü Dongbin texts
◦ combined with charitable movement
True Classic to Awaken the World by Imperial Lord
Saint Guan 關聖帝君覺世真經
Classic of Imperial Lord Saint Guan who Illuminates
Saintliness 闗聖帝君明聖經
allowed creative fusion local (oral) culture &
educated culture(s)
26
Unity Way 一貫道
◦ continued use spirit writing
27
28
shamanic travel to Flower Gardens
◦ world unborn child (pot flowers, red/white buds)
◦ rituals for changing sex of future child & healing
◦ prognostication future children
southern culture
◦ Fujian/Taiwan
◦ Guangdong
◦ local cultures (Yao, Miao a.o.)
some research (Berthier; Taiwanese
colleagues)
29
travels thru underworld
◦ relationship ritualized visits by specialists unclear
◦ to investigate deceased or ill people who are
already partly in underworld
lack of ethnographical descriptions
30
31
not necessarily by shamans/mediums
◦ Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全
shamans in Chinese context rarely have
visions
mediums do have revelations
◦ potential for scenario-revelations
scenarios most commonly moral rearmament
either way: action requires further conditions to be
fulfilled
◦ non-scenario more common
Taiwanese & HK cases
provide solutions to people’s problems
32