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Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and...
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Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 35402

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jinhua Jia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Macau, Macau
Interests: early to medieval Chinese humanities, including philosophy, religion, literature, women and gender, philology, and the interaction between them

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sacrifice to mountain and water spirits was already a state ritual in the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1046 BCE) and continued in the Zhou to Qin dynasties (ca. 1046–206 BCE). From the Western Han to the Northern Song eras (206 BCE–1126 CE), imperial courts gradually formed a ritual system of mountain- and water-directed state sacrifices, mainly consisting of the five sacred peaks (wuyue 五岳— Mt. Tai 泰山, Mt. Hua 華山, Mt. Heng 衡山, Mt. Heng 恒山, Mt. Song 嵩山), five strongholds (wuzhen 五鎮— Mt. Yi 沂山, Mt. Wu 吳山, Mt. Guiji 會稽山, Mt. Yiwulü 醫巫閭山, Mt. Huo 霍山), four seas (sihai 四海— east, west, south, and north seas), and four waterways (sidu 四瀆— Yangzi River 長江, Yellow River 黃河, Huai River 淮水, and Ji River濟水). This system lasted through the end of the last imperial dynasty (Qing) in 1911.

As a state ritual, this sacrificial system was constructed by the Confucian ritual culture, while in practice it gradually interacted and integrated with religious traditions such as Daoism, popular cults, and Buddhism, especially in its local manifestation and dissemination. Those eighteen mountains and waters were a set of sacred, symbolic spaces, which symbolized the sanctioned political legitimacy of the imperium, and functioned as locations for communication with the divine and supernatural and as the media between religion and its secular context or between various ethnic groups. Together they mapped geographical-directional borders and territories modeled on the yin-yang and five-phase theory, and helped shape Chinese people’s cosmographical understanding of the world. In those mountains and waters, grand temples were built and rebuilt, state rituals of sacrificial ceremonies were performed year after year, local people’s religious worships and activities were routinely presented, and numerous essays and poems describing the landscapes and ceremonies were inscribed on steles preserved inside the temples. Thus, the theme of this Special Issue involves a broad scope, including Confucian ritual culture, state sacrificial ceremonies, Daoism, Buddhism, local cults, cosmography, religious and historical geography, and temple art and literature.

Modern scholars have studied the five sacred peaks from different perspectives and yielded fruitful results, but the whole sacrificial system of mountain and water spirits has not yet drawn sufficient attention. As the first issue to focus on this theme, we invite papers from across disciplines of religious, historical, geographical, and art studies.

Prof. Dr. Jinhua Jia
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Confucian ritual culture
  • Chinese state sacrificial system
  • five sacred peaks
  • five strongholds
  • four seas
  • four waterways
  • Chinese religions
  • historical geography
  • sacred space
  • temple art and literature

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1040 KiB  
Article
Evolution of the Sacrificial Ritual to the South Sea God in Song China
by Yuanlin Wang and Aiyun Ye
Religions 2022, 13(10), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100939 - 9 Oct 2022
Viewed by 2716
Abstract
Previous studies on the Nanhaishen Temple 南海神廟 (Temple of the South Sea God) in Guangzhou in the Song dynasty focus mainly on its state sacrificial ritual and local temple fairs, without fully discussing the differences of the sacrificial ritual between the Southern and [...] Read more.
Previous studies on the Nanhaishen Temple 南海神廟 (Temple of the South Sea God) in Guangzhou in the Song dynasty focus mainly on its state sacrificial ritual and local temple fairs, without fully discussing the differences of the sacrificial ritual between the Southern and Northern Song dynasties or the changes of the sacrificial ritual in Lingnan after the Song dynasty. This paper aims to illuminate the following five points. First, after the reunification of the Northern Song dynasty, the sacrificial ritual to the South Sea God in Guangzhou was advanced. Second, when the South Sea God and his temple were conferred with the holy titles for the fourth time, the god’s role to bless local stability was further manifested, which means the imperial power gradually permeated into the Lingnan culture. Third, the blessing of the South Sea God was more prominent than ever before because of its geographical location in the southeast of the state during the Southern Song dynasty, and thus the Nanhaishen Temple Fair was the largest of its kind in Lingnan. Fourth, the stele inscription of Liuhou Zhi Ji 六侯之記 (Records of the Six Lords) shows that local people attempted to incorporate their folk beliefs into the canonized sacrifice to the South Sea God, and thus many religious spots were built in other places in Lingnan as detached palaces (ligong 離宮) of the god who was generally endorsed by the local officialdom. Fifth, the sacrifice to the South Sea God in Guangzhou in the Song dynasty had a far-reaching influence, as the god was worshipped by the later generations in the temples which also accommodated the worship of Buddhism and Daoism. In summary, the lengthy process for the South Sea God to evolve from a national god to a local patron is the result of the country’s long-term implementation of the ritual system as far as the ritual culture is concerned. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
16 pages, 1304 KiB  
Article
The Sacred River: State Ritual, Political Legitimacy, and Religious Practice of the Jidu in Imperial China
by Teng Li
Religions 2022, 13(6), 507; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060507 - 2 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2880
Abstract
This paper focuses on the Jidu 濟瀆 (i.e., the Ji River 濟水), one of the four waterways (sidu 四瀆) in imperial China. Even though it vanished a long time ago, the Jidu had always been a part of the traditional Chinese ritual [...] Read more.
This paper focuses on the Jidu 濟瀆 (i.e., the Ji River 濟水), one of the four waterways (sidu 四瀆) in imperial China. Even though it vanished a long time ago, the Jidu had always been a part of the traditional Chinese ritual system of mountain- and water-directed state sacrifices. From the Western Han dynasty to the Qing dynasty, it continuously received regular state sacrifices. However, Western scholars have failed to notice it. Some modern Chinese and Japanese scholars have studied the development of the Jidu sacrifice, but its embodied political and religious significances for the state and local society were largely ignored. To remedy this neglect, I provide here, with new discoveries and conclusions, the first comprehensive study of the Jidu sacrifice in imperial China. Surrounding this coherent theme, this paper draws several original arguments from its four sections. The first section is a brief history of the state sacrifice to the Jidu. In the second section, I analyze the ideas of state authority, political legitimacy, religious belief, and cosmology, as these underlie the ritual performance concerning the Jidu. I argue that the Jidu was not only tightly associated with controlling water but was also a symbol and mechanism of political legitimacy. Relying on concrete official and local records, in the third section I further investigate the role that the Jidu God played in local society. I argue that after the Song dynasty, the Jidu God was transformed into a regional protector of local society and savior of local people in addition to an official water god. In the fourth section, I, for the first time, examine the interaction between the Jidu cult and other religious traditions including Daoism, Buddhism, and folk religion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
23 pages, 1257 KiB  
Article
Daoism and Sacrifices to the Five Sacred Peaks in Tang China (618–907)
by Wen Lei and Luying Zhao
Religions 2022, 13(5), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050398 - 26 Apr 2022
Viewed by 3710
Abstract
The five sacred peaks had both political and religious significance in traditional China. Daoism profoundly impacted the state sacrifice to the sacred peaks in the medieval era. Through examining related stone inscriptions, we argue that the establishment of the Shrines for the Perfected [...] Read more.
The five sacred peaks had both political and religious significance in traditional China. Daoism profoundly impacted the state sacrifice to the sacred peaks in the medieval era. Through examining related stone inscriptions, we argue that the establishment of the Shrines for the Perfected Lords of the five sacred peaks, the Shrine for the Elder of Mount Qingcheng, and the Temple for the Envoy of the Nine Heavens at Mount Lu were in debt to the suggestions of the Daoist master Sima Chengzhen during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756). The constructions of the shrines manifested Daoist masters’ efforts to transform the state sacrifice system. Nevertheless, the shrines were not able to replace the state sacrifice system but functioned as Daoist abbeys to pray for the state, the emperor, and the people. In the late Tang dynasty, the imperial authority in turn permeated the Daoist sacred geographic system. Interestingly, the elevated status of Daoist Perfected Ones and Transcendents was widely recognized in Tang folklore. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
13 pages, 899 KiB  
Article
Water Spirits of the Yangzi River and Imperial Power in Traditional China
by Hua Yang
Religions 2022, 13(5), 387; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050387 - 22 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3315
Abstract
Most research on the water spirits of the Yangzi has focused on popular worship and paid little attention to the Confucian discourse and its major role in establishing imperial legitimacy. Yet it is a crucial aspect to understand traditional politics in China. The [...] Read more.
Most research on the water spirits of the Yangzi has focused on popular worship and paid little attention to the Confucian discourse and its major role in establishing imperial legitimacy. Yet it is a crucial aspect to understand traditional politics in China. The water spirits of the Yangzi River and its tributaries and lakes were venerated, offered imperial sacrifices, and incorporated into codes of state ritual in traditional China. The canonized sacrifices to the water spirits of the Yangzi River basin symbolized the religious–political legitimacy of the imperial regimes. When an imperial court offered sacrifice to the water spirits of the Yangzi River basin incorporated by previous dynasties, this action demonstrated that the current court directly connected to past regimes and inherited the authority of sacrifice passed down from the ancient and the orthodox tradition of Confucian ritual classics. Since the majority of dynasty capitals in traditional China were located in the north with fewer rivers, worshipping water spirits of the Yangzi River basin would imply recognition and blessing from southern divinities. The practice of granting noble titles and temple plaques to those water spirits would further demonstrate the imperial courts’ control over the divine power. By communicating with and managing the water spirits of the Yangzi River, the imperial courts would also symbolize their political and military administration over the south and they are united, rather than divided, regimes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
15 pages, 873 KiB  
Article
The Northern Stronghold Sacrifice and the Political Legitimacy of Ethnic Minority Regimes in the Late Imperial China
by Chenxi Huang and Siyu Chen
Religions 2022, 13(4), 368; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040368 - 15 Apr 2022
Viewed by 3830
Abstract
Traditional Chinese state sacrificial ritual represented a symbolic system of integrating religious belief, divine authority, and political legitimacy. The Northern Stronghold (Beizhen 北鎮, i.e., Mount Yiwulü 醫巫閭山) was equal in status to the other four strongholds, which, moreover, served as a strategic military [...] Read more.
Traditional Chinese state sacrificial ritual represented a symbolic system of integrating religious belief, divine authority, and political legitimacy. The Northern Stronghold (Beizhen 北鎮, i.e., Mount Yiwulü 醫巫閭山) was equal in status to the other four strongholds, which, moreover, served as a strategic military fortress and represented the earth virtue in the early state sacrifice system. In the late imperial era of China, and during the Yuan (1279–1368) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties in particular, the Northern Stronghold swiftly achieved prominence and eventually became an instrument used by minority ethnic groups, namely the Mongolians and Manchus, when elaborating upon the legitimacy of their political regimes. During the Yuan dynasty, the mountain spirits of the five strongholds (Wuzhen 五鎮) were formally invested as kings and, as a result, were accorded equivalent sacrifices in comparison to those given to the five sacred peaks (Wuyue 五嶽). Given that the Northern Stronghold was located near the northeast of Beijing, the Yuan government considered it the foundation of the state. Thereafter, the Northern Stronghold was regarded as the most important of the five stronghold mountains. In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Northern Stronghold Temple (Beizhenmiao 北鎮廟) was reconstructed as both a military fortress and religious site, while its representation as a significant site for a foreign conquest dynasty diminished and its significance as a bastion of anti-insurgent suppression emerged. By the Qing dynasty, the Northern Stronghold was regarded as an integral component of the geographic origin of the Manchu people and thereby assumed once again a position of substantial political significance. Several Qing emperors visited the Northern Stronghold and left poems and prose written in graceful Chinese to present their high respect and their mastery of Chinese culture. The history of the Northern Stronghold demonstrates how the ethnic minority regimes successfully utilized the traditional Chinese state sacrificial ritual to serve their political purpose. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
11 pages, 698 KiB  
Article
The Bestowal of Noble Titles upon the Mountain and Water Spirits in Tang China
by Yi Zhu
Religions 2022, 13(3), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030229 - 8 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2833
Abstract
In the Tang era, official sacrifices to mountain and water spirits became more methodical than those of the preceding dynasties. What deserves more attention is that the imperial court bestowed noble titles, which were normally awarded to aristocrats and powerful officials, on the [...] Read more.
In the Tang era, official sacrifices to mountain and water spirits became more methodical than those of the preceding dynasties. What deserves more attention is that the imperial court bestowed noble titles, which were normally awarded to aristocrats and powerful officials, on the twenty-eight mountain and water spirits, including the Five Sacred Peaks, Four Strongholds, Four Seas and Four Waterways. These practices reflected the two-sided attitude of the Tang rulers to the mountain and water spirits. When confronting violent political changes, the rulers yearned for blessings and protection from these natural deities. On the other hand, with the expansion of monarchical power in the secular world, they sought to establish their authority in the realm of divinity. Running parallel in most cases, the bestowal of nobility and the official sacrificial system constituted the official cult of mountain and water spirits, which survived until the first years of the Ming Dynasty. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
17 pages, 1879 KiB  
Article
A Constant Cascade: Ancient and Medieval Verse on the Four Waterways
by Nicholas Morrow Williams
Religions 2022, 13(2), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020166 - 14 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2365
Abstract
The literary representation of China’s great rivers has repeatedly been transformed by changes in religious belief and ritual. In the Book of Songs, rivers figure primarily as political boundaries and figures of separation. Though they may already play a role in religious [...] Read more.
The literary representation of China’s great rivers has repeatedly been transformed by changes in religious belief and ritual. In the Book of Songs, rivers figure primarily as political boundaries and figures of separation. Though they may already play a role in religious rites, their geographical identity is paramount. However, in the “Nine Songs” of the Elegies of Chu, they appear in a new guise as sites of divine encounter and shamanistic flight. Their treatment in later works may be regarded as a peculiar synthesis of these two traditions. Once the Four Waterways were designated as the object of state ritual in the Western Han, their divine status was widely accepted, along with explicitly political ramifications. For instance, the god of the Yellow River was honored as a participant in flood control and imperial governance writ large. Meanwhile, the tradition of the epideictic fu also celebrates the awesome scale of China’s waterways, reaching a culmination not long after the fall of the Han in Guo Pu’s (286–324) “Rhapsody on the Yangzi River”. However, it is noteworthy how often the fu tradition eschews material description of rivers in favor of celebrating their numinous powers and divine inhabitants. Because of this turn towards the divine in the medieval literary tradition, it is no accident that one of the most prominent subjects of fluvial verse in the Tang is not body of water at all but rather the Sky River, or Milky Way. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
15 pages, 1218 KiB  
Article
Daoism and the Operation of the Eastern Stronghold Temple in the Late Imperial China
by Zhaojie Bai and Teng Yao
Religions 2022, 13(2), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020159 - 11 Feb 2022
Viewed by 2578
Abstract
The sacrificial ritual to Mount Yi (Yishan 沂山) or the Eastern Stronghold (Dongzhen 東鎮) was included in the traditional Chinese state ritual system to mountain and water gods, and therefore, originally, it was a Confucian ritual. The Eastern Stronghold Temple was operated by [...] Read more.
The sacrificial ritual to Mount Yi (Yishan 沂山) or the Eastern Stronghold (Dongzhen 東鎮) was included in the traditional Chinese state ritual system to mountain and water gods, and therefore, originally, it was a Confucian ritual. The Eastern Stronghold Temple was operated by officers and clerks appointed by the government. However, during the late imperial period, the situation changed and the Eastern Stronghold Temple became virtually operated by Daoism, mainly because of the government’s difficulty in maintaining the temple, the growth and power of Daoism, especially the Complete Perfection Daoism popular in northern China, and the further integration of Confucianism, Daoism, and folk beliefs. Daoist priests, who were named “temple guardians”, took responsibilities for guarding temple property, coordinating central and local government’s sacrificial rituals, administrating the daily operation of the temple, conducting reconstruction projects, and incorporating local people’s beliefs. As a result, the temple not only served as an official place of worship but also gained the functions and identity of a Daoist abbey and folk temple. As the first article discussing the Eastern Stronghold Temple in a western language, this study mainly applies the rediscovered source of stone inscriptions preserved in the temple to describe Daoism’s contributions to this religious–political–cultural symbolic site and the complicated relationship between governmental officials, Daoist priests, and local people. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
16 pages, 560 KiB  
Article
The Sacrificial Ritual and Commissioners to the South Sea God in Tang China
by Yuanlin Wang
Religions 2021, 12(11), 960; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110960 - 2 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4069
Abstract
Previous studies on the Nanhaishen Temple 南海神廟 (Temple of the South Sea God) in Guangzhou in the Tang dynasty focus mainly on the South Sea God as the patron of the Maritime Silk Road, without thoroughly discussing the state ritual and the sacrificial [...] Read more.
Previous studies on the Nanhaishen Temple 南海神廟 (Temple of the South Sea God) in Guangzhou in the Tang dynasty focus mainly on the South Sea God as the patron of the Maritime Silk Road, without thoroughly discussing the state ritual and the sacrificial right of the Tang government. This paper illuminates five new points concerning the ritual. First, the sacrificial ritual to the South Sea God developed from the suburban rituals in previous dynasties into both forms of suburban and local rituals, which was also categorized as the medium sacrifice among the three major sacrifices in the state ritual system of the Tang dynasty. Second, the first commissioner who was sent by the central government to perform the sacrificial ritual to the South Sea God was Zhang Jiuling, and henceforth the temporary assignment of court officials to the ceremonies became institutionalized. In the tenth year of Tianbao (751), the South Sea God was entitled Guangliwang 廣利王 (King Guangli), and the commissioner sent on this mission was Zhang Jiuzhang, Zhang Jiuling’s third younger brother, rather than his second younger brother Zhang Jiugao as seen in some records. Third, most of the commissioners were dispatched by the central government in the early Tang, and therefore the sacrifice to the South Sea God was related to the state ritual system; but in the late Tang local officials became dominant in the ritual ceremonies, and thus good harvests and social stability in the Lingnan region became the major concern of the sacrifice. Fourth, the legend that the Buddhist Master Xiujiu 休咎禪師 took over the temple and accepted the South Sea God as his disciple reflected the reciprocity between Buddhism and the South Sea God belief. Last but not the least, the sacrificial ceremonies to the South Sea God established in the Tang dynasty and performed by the officials of both the central and local governments had a significant influence on the ritual in the following dynasties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
15 pages, 2093 KiB  
Article
Formation of the Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits
by Jinhua Jia
Religions 2021, 12(5), 319; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050319 - 30 Apr 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4358
Abstract
Sacrifice to mountain and water spirits was already a state ritual in the earliest dynasties of China, which later gradually formed a system of five sacred peaks, five strongholds, four seas, and four waterways, which was mainly constructed by the Confucian ritual culture. [...] Read more.
Sacrifice to mountain and water spirits was already a state ritual in the earliest dynasties of China, which later gradually formed a system of five sacred peaks, five strongholds, four seas, and four waterways, which was mainly constructed by the Confucian ritual culture. A number of modern scholars have studied the five sacred peaks from different perspectives, yielding fruitful results, but major issues are still being debated or need to be plumbed more broadly and deeply, and the whole sacrificial system has not yet drawn sufficient attention. Applying a combined approach of religious, historical, geographical, and political studies, I provide here, with new discoveries and conclusions, the first comprehensive study of the formational process of this sacrificial system and its embodied religious-political conceptions, showing how these geographical landmarks were gradually integrated with religious beliefs and ritual-political institutions to become symbols of territorial, sacred, and political legitimacy that helped to maintain the unification and government of the traditional Chinese imperium for two thousand years. A historical map of the locations of the sacrificial temples for the eighteen mountain and water spirits is appended. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits)
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