To become a god Cosmology, Sacrifice, and SelfDivinization in Early China Michael J. Puett Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press Cambridge, Massachu5ens, ｡ｾ ､＠ London, England, 2.00:2. PTimed in 111£ United 5 tl l(1 of ａｭｾｲ ｬ｣ ｡＠ The Harnrd · Yenchlng In,dune, founded in is a foundation dedlcaled to the ｉ､ｙｾｮ ｣ lOCiaI sekru:es in Ealt and Somhtut ａｉｾＮ＠ HlrYard by {:aculty mtmb... of certa in ａＮｾｮ＠ Ind other univcnitiel by junior faculty 1918 ･ｈＱ｣ｭ＠ II and he.adquarlered at Harvard Univcnity. of higher education in the human ities and The Insl itute supports adv.aneed research al universilies .and doclor:01 sludk. at For God doth know that in the day ye eol.{ therof, men your eyes shall be: opened, and ye shall be as gods. Harvard the lime universities. It also Juppom East AJian - The Bible, Genesis 3. King James version Itudicl at Harvard through comributiou. 10 Ihe Harvard· Yenching Library and publicalion of lhe HG.",,,,l ｊｯｾＮＢＬ＠ of lu,'GIi< S/uJirJ and boob on premodern EaSt Asian history and litcrature. Libra ry ofCongreu Cataloging.in. Publicarion Dati Pucl!, Michael J., 1964 To becomc a god: tOIIllOlogy, lacriflCc, aud self·diviniudon in early China { Michael J. Pnen . Emperors and kings. are but obeyed in their several provinces, Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds; But in his dominion that exceeds in this Srretcherh as far as doth the mind of man. A sound magician is a mighty god: Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity. p. C111 . •• (Harvard· Yenchlng Inll ilUle Ulonograph aeries; S7) -Christopher Marlowe. 'fix. Tragrdy of Doctor FaU5IUJ, lines 60-66 Ind ude. bibliosraphic rekre 'lCe. and index. I UN I. 0·674 -009S9· " (alk. p.lIptr ) God--Proof, COJnl0logic:al. I. Diviniurion-· Chil1ll.). T. Tide: Cosmology, sacrifice, and K1f-diviniurion in early China. II. Tide. III. Series. r"""J..-,.. , ''- 8T100.Pg 1 001 199·.51--dc 11 ,"]), Inde>:: by Mary Mortensen @Printed on ｡｣ｩ､ﾷｦｲｾ＠ p<lptr 100 .f1 2.001-- Last numb.r below indkatu yea r of this printing 11 II 10 09 08 07 06 OS 04 01 01 l0010171S7 Who was it who first W recked the bonds oflove And transformed them into chains? Which led rebels [0 make A mock of their rights And the heavenly fire and, Disdaining monal ways, Elect presumption, Striving to become the equals of gods. -Friedrich H olderlin. "The Rhine" (Translation by Richard Siebunh, Hymn5 and FragmcntJ, pp. 73-75) '44 ACCEPTING THE ORDER Of HEAVEN Menciw, like m.any thinkers of the fourth century Be, made strong claims that divine powers resided in humans, and for Mencius this mum [hat humans have the potential to bring order to [he world. H Ulltn, in contraSt, while being [he source of those divine powers in humans, can potentially prevent the order that it has given humans the power to create. T he cennal tension fo r Mencius, then, is that although Heaven is the ultimate source of mora1 parcems, it can and does arbitrarily act in opposition to those patterns. And yet we must :accept what H eaven commands. Zhuangzi also felt this tension, bur he resolved it in a very different way: Zhuangzi denied chat H eaven is the source of moral norms and thus denied that H eaven h.ad [0 follow such norms. For Zhuangzi. moral norms <Ire human inventions, with no basis whatsoever in Heaven. If Mencius saw such moral judgments as deriving ITom Heaven, Zhuangzi saw them as entirely due to man. Accordingly, for Mencius, the agon of Heaven and man <Irises because man makes moral judgments on the wo rld. For Z huangzi, man should accept whatever H eaven decrees; once men smp using moral norms to criticize Heaven, there will be no agon. Although both Mencius and Zhuangzi could be ch.;lfacteriud as "naturalistic," insofar as they both root values in Heaven, su,h a characterization misses several crucial points. Both Mencius and Z huangzi were interested primarily in the divine potentials of humans, and part of what is so interesting about their differences lies in the ways they attempted to link such potentially divine powers of humans with a support for H eaven. In neither was there an assumption of continuity. On the contrary, both asserted at least partial continuity between the human and the divine realms, and for both this creates a potential problem with Heaven. Although both responded to this problem by supporting Heaven, the effort the argu ment required was tremendous. 4 Descendants of the one Correlative Cosmology in the Late Warring States Let us tecum to the origin of the cosmos: Heaven and Earth h:ui a beginning. Heaven was subtle so as to complete, and Earth blocked so as to give form. Heaven and Earth combining and harmoni:cing i5 the grear alignment ving) of generation (lbtng).l [n the cosmogony sketched in the "Jingshen" chapter of the Huaimmzi-the l passage with which I opened this book-spirits aligned (jing) the cosmos. This passage from the"Y oushi chapter of the LUlhi ,hun'llu, a ten that dates to around 240 BC , posits neither spirits nor H eaven as active agents in the formation of the cosmos. Instead, Heaven and Earth simply emerge spontaneously, and their mating. which gives birth to the myriad things, is the llignment of gener:l.tion itself. Cosmological arguments like these began appearing at about the s2rlle rime as the self-divinizarion movements described in Chapter 2.. They ranged from to monthly ordinlnces to lrtemptS to place culture five-phase ｳｰ･｣ｵｾｴｩｯｮ＠ within cosmogonic schemata. Like the self-divinization cbims, such cosmological frameworks were used to argue thlt a sage can, through variously defined processes of self-cultivation, achieve [he power to understand the workings of the cosmos and thereby act correctly and gain control over them. I. LQ,bi ｴ｢ｾＢｱｩＬ＠ "Yowhi: ｉｬＮｾ＠ ). S« Chapm 7, pp. )70- .... fot?- denUed discw.ion of fhil fen. '4' DBSCENDANTS OF THB ONE The nature of early Chinese corrc:lative thought hu been a topic of lengthy discussion in both anthropological and sinologiul studies. Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim first proposed the famous thesis thac conly Chinese correlative thinking was based on ·primitive classific.arion" sYS(cms,J According to them. such systems in China were "a highly typical case in which colleerive thought has worked in a reflective and ie:arncd way on themes rh.ar arc dearly primirivc."4 This thesis dearly fits the recurrent argumma of ,inclogins tnat China's significance lies in the degree to which it maintained (for bener or worse, depending on the criteria of the scholar in question) 1inb to a primitive, primordial period of human history. Although Marcel Gn.net did not develop M2USS'S and Durkheim's comｬ ｯｧｩ｣｡ｬ＠ appr();lch exercised. an imporu.nr influence puarive claims, their ｾｩｯ on Granet's analysis in LA lXnJie chinoiSt',s itself the single most influential work ever published on conly Chinese cosmology, Largely because of Gr.anet's work. Chinese correlative thought has come to play an imporrant role in the anthropological study of cosmology. Claude Uvi-Scrauss's Th Savage M ind, a landmark study of primitive classification systems that superseded Mauss's and Durkheim's earlier work on the subject, for example, relics heavily on Graner. In this chapter, I attempt [0 re-examine (he origins and nacure of correlative thinking in early C hina. I begin by surveying the secondary literature on the topic. in particular anthropological studies of s;l.crifice and cosmology and the ways that sinologists have borh contributed to and wo rked from this Iirerature. I then [race the rise of correbtive thought in the late W.arring SUtes period and argue for a somewhat different .approach ro using the insights of .anthropological studies of correluive sysrems. The One ｾ､＠ the Many: Second.ary Schobrship on E.arly Chinese Cosmology The discussion of early Chinese cosmology hu boch influenced .and been influenced by anthropological analyses. Indeed, much of the scholarship on this issue hu developed u scholars positioned themselves in diffe rent ways in relation [0 the work of Graner or Uvi-Srrauss. I. too, will argue rhat an ) . Ourkheim and MaUll, Pri",iri •• a.,"ifoarion, pp. 61-80. ... Ibid" p. 1). S· Grmel .dmowlcdgcllhc debe in LoI ｰｴｾＪ＠ ,billOiu, pp. .. h - &,"u. DBSCENDANTS OF T H E ONB '47 alternative reading of Granet and Uvi-Srrauss might lead to.a more success- ful approach to m e problem of Chinese correlative (hought. ｾ＠ discussed in the Introduction. A. C. Graham criticizes Granet for reading Warring States and Han correlative models u characteristic of Chinese chought in general and .argues instead that correlative thought is universal and exists in all forms of thinking save one: "'What Graner saw u the difference between Chinese and Western thought may now.adays be seen u .a transcultural difference between proto-science and modem science:' In malcing chis argwnenr. Graham presents hinuclf u rejecting Graner and favoring Levi-Strauss: -In exploring pro(o-scicntific chinking it hu been usual to starr from wh.at we find peculiar in pre-modern views of nature; here we have followed the enmple of Levi-Strauss (although not the det.ail of his methods) in sarting from the opposite direction. from For Grah.am. structures common to pre-modem and modern ｴｨｩｮｬ｣ｧＮｾＷ＠ late Warring Sutes and Han cosmological systems should be understood u a particular. highly formalistic, example of an essentially human w.ay of thinking. David H .all and Roger Ames position themselves on the opposite side of each of these claims. T hey strongly defend Gr.anet·s argument that correlative thinking was a defining feature of Chinese thought in general. OlI1d they reject Graham's cla.im that GrOll1et's .arguments apply only to (exu from che late Warring StlIres .and after. Hall and Ames trace Graham's -error- to Uvi-Strauss: Uvi-Strauss. they cla.im, misread Marcel Graner', arguments . about correlative thinking. and Gr.aham unfortunately based his reading on Uvi-Strauss. [Graham] appeals explicitly to the theory of corrdarivity devdopcd by Qaude Uvi&rauss. Levi-Scraws had formalized the senu of corrdarivity conwned in Mared Grands lA pmlie chilloil( by r«ouru (0 the work of Roman JakoNon.... LeviStrauss applies Jakobson's nroons of similarity and conriguity rdatioru to Marcd Granet', speculations concerning the "Chinese mind: furmil ing thar what Granet had called corrdative thinking could be formalized by recourse to the metaphor/metonym dUtincrion.... With this iruight, so Levi·Straws believed, the nolion of condativity gained clarity and rigor. Applying this insight to [he Chinese clllploymcnt of analogical thinking. it would be possible, for example. [0 understand 6. Graham, DilpWItI'l 0/ I'" ｔｾｄＬ＠ ? Gr.hOlIll. YIN' YｾＢｬ＠ ,,,., 1M ｎＧｉｾｲ＠ ｰＮｬｾｏ＠ . of CorrrlArI.t ｔｨｩＢｫｾｬＧ＠ p. )g, ,.8 '.9 DESCENDANTS OF THE ONE DESCBNDANTS OF THB ONS the vast syncms of classification associated with Jill.yang cosmologiu or the Book of Uvj·$rr:.tuss·s attempc to generalize correl:ltive thinking ended up limiting the ffianing of che concept-:lnd led Graham to restrict ies applicability to only late Warring States and H an texts. N should be clear from my discussion in C hapters I and 2., I side with Graham on this pan icular poinr: correlative cosmology is a late development in Chinese h istory. The problem is t hen to explain how and why it emerged. One recent attempt to do so is [hat of John H enderson. ｈ･ｮ､ｲｾ Ｇｳ＠ Devtl· opmmt and Dalinr ojChintJt CoJmolDgy is a brilliant narrative of che history of correlative t hought in ｃ ｨｩｮ ｾ＠ Although t he quescion of rhe emergence of such thinking occupies only :l small ponion of this narrative, H en derson's comments are no netheless provocative: "M y own view o n th is question is that corre!:.ttive systems in C hina were devised in a fully h istorical epoch, particularly [he t hird and second centuries B.C ., for !:.trgely historical reaH sons. Among the po$Sible scen:lrios adduced by H enderson for the rise of correlative cosmologies is tha t particular philosophers created an Hepistemo_ logical space (as Michel Foucault might say) in which correlative thought could develo p." An example would be Laozi's C:llling on man ro Hpauern himself after heaven and ･｡ｲｴｨＮｾ＠ As a consequence, "later and lesser minds could interpret t he classical T aoi.s[ calls for [he harmonization of ma n and nature in a literalist fashion, devising an:ltomic:ll, numerological, and ll psychologic:.tl correspondences: In this view, correlative cosmology is a liter:.tl reading by lesser minds of a metaphor. The problem with this explan:ltion is that it unnecessarily d enigrates correlativiry and fails [0 explain why greater minds of a l:lrer period found correlativity convincing. Another explanation offered by H enderson is institution:.tl. In the Qin H and early Han, "imperial ideologists invoked correlative thought as a mean.s ofjustifying imperi:.tl governance: dxJ"l"J by appeal (0 these tropic deviccs.' But Uvi-Str2IW'S attempt to analyze correlative thought more rigorously nude it less applicable to China: We are inclined to believe thar the attempt" [0 formalixe meaJUlogicai mode of chink· ing by appeal to Jakoblon'llpa:u/atiolU has in faa overly rarion.ilizcd anzIogial. first problematic thinking and made it, while more precise and rigorous as a method, less applicable to the Chinese tontar. The burden of the foUowing discUssion will be to reinstitute the fonner, mo re naive understanding of analogical thought.' Indeed. the very distinction of metaphoric and metonymic relations is for Hill and Amu an example of the tional. causal assurnptions."IO ｾ ｲ｡ｴｩ ｯｮ｡ｬ＠ ｩｮｴ･ｕ｣ ｾ＠ and is hued on "ra- The problem with Graham. Hill and Ames argue, is thar. by following [he mort formalistic reading of Uvi-Str:luss, he was led to believe th:n correlative thought arose late in Chinese hinory. A rerum to Graner wlll correct this error. Graham', judgment char corrdarive thought i5 [0 be consigned to perio<h beyond the clusical is bued upon his :itcepunce of the metaphoric/metonymic distinction u :m e"enrial form.alizing dement in all corrdative operarions. We believe chat this acceptance of Uvi·Strauss·, JakobJOnian interpretarion of Granet's inirial insight leads him asrr:lY. finally causing him to f.W [0 appreciare the extent to which firsc problemacic assumptionll shape [he enrire sweep of che Chinese cultural setUiibility. II For Hall and Ames, correlative t houghr defines all of e:lrly Chin:l: We only iruin chat the more formal, rationalized interprcurion not be traced as exhausting che meming of chis activity.... Our argumenc will be chat we shall be able co employ che term "correlative thinki ng" as a synonym for the analogical procedura associated wieh first problem:lric thought without losing my of the relevane memingJ thar have come ro be associated with the rerm when applied co che interpretation of Chinese culture. a Ames • .... "ti<ip"ciPlI OJ..... pp. 116-i1. pp. ｬｩ ＱＭｾＮ＠ 10. Ibid.. p. 196Pl44. u. lbid., p. I)). Il. lbid. Through che invocarion of the "mutual conquesc" sequence of the five phases, by which earth (H an) conquers water (Q in), the H:m was able to junify its overthrow of Qin rule md its usumption of power. Once the dynuty wu established. impe rial ideologists also found it useful CD invoke rhe hierarchical rdation of yang to yin :md heaven co earth ;u a way oflcgitimating various authoritarian political and social reo lationll. 14 S. Hill and ｾ Ｎ ｉ｢ ｩ､ＮＬ＠ Hendcnoll, Tht ｄｦｷｫ＾ｰＢＬｴｾＮｊ＠ 14. Ibid .. p. )6. I). O.di"<ojOi"tJ< ｾｊ ＢＬ ｯｬ ｄＧ＠ pp. )0, u. .,0 Cricics o f imperial rule then appropriated com:b.tive thought ｾ｡ｳ＠ checks on Han imperial ､･ＮＡｰｯｲｩｳｭｾ ｬＧ＠ But this explanation 21so has problems. If correl· ativity arose as a means of impcriallegicimacion, why did the intended audience find it convincing? A3 with any argument in temu of legitimation. one needs (0 explain why the ideology was effective. Yet anomer rcason given by H enderson was mol[ corrcLative thinking was utilized by Hm thinkers to ·weav(eJ diverse ' (n nds of the ciassical urcrary legacy into a consistent whole. .16 But correbtivity emerged before the Han and not in texts du[ could plausibly be seen as ammpts to unify the literary rradirion. Although I have questioned Henderson's explanations (and I emphasize .1Ig<lin that thcsc suggestions occupy only a small porrion of 2n exceptionally cogent narrative). his search for hi.storical explanations of why cosmology arrue is a modd for my own work. Benjamin Schwartz approaches corrdativiry in a different way. He sees it as linked to the ｾ｡｢ ｳ･ｮ｣＠ [in early C h ina] o f clearly drawn boundaries be· tween the div ine and ｨｵｭ ｡ｮＬｾ＠ and he tries t o connect this with ancestor worship: I am temJKed to 'peculate thar t his absence of boundary affecr$ not only the realm of religion narrowly defi ned, but the entire realm of onrological thinking. Does the fact that in later Chinese high.cultu ral accounts of the origins of mankind or of the cosmos, the dominant metaphor is that of procreation or "giving birth; nther than that of fashioning or crearing. have anything to do with the cenrraliry of ancestor wonhip with its dominance of the biological metaphor:' Does [hu in tum have something [ 0 do with rhe predominance of what some have ca.I.Ied "monistic" and "organismic" orientmolU oflacer high.cuItural ｴｨｯｵｧｾＱＷ＠ & we will see, some correlative systems in m e Warring States md Han are indeed Insed on generative models, and many do quite explicitly play o n an· cesto r sacrifices in their discw.sions. Schwartz sees mis as a continw.tion o f a mind-set datable to the S hang, But this explanation in fact explains JinJc. The fact that the S hang worshipped ancestors does not uploin why later authors built generative correlative systems, The question remains: Why did the aumors in question choose ( 0 appropru.te sacrificiallangu<llge in developing meir cosmo logical systems? IS· IbKI., p. l7. uS. Ibid .• p. 41. 17. Schwanz, 1M ｗｾｲｉｊ＠ ｾｦｮＭｴ［ ｾ＠ A",iml 0,;"'" p. 16. .,. DSSCBNDAN T S OF THB ON E DII SCII NDANTS OF THII ONE Schwartz's response is to say mat the family metaphor was highly importam in China-II I have already questioned Schwams attempt: t o read famil· iaI holism and a continuiry between the human and divine as guiding o rien· tations in early C hina, and I will continue thar questioning in this chapter, But the complexities of Schwartz's arguments warran t careful anention, Schwutz argues that earlier sacrificial practice in China should not be read in correlative tertllS. Sacri6ce <lind cosmology m<lly have shued the same general vision o f continuity, but they should not be equated. As discussed in the Introduction, Schwartz is 6rmly committed to a general "religion to phi· losoph( model o f rationalization. T hus, altho ugh he claims certain metaphors o f the family and bure<llucracy dominued early China. he W<llnts to see correlative m ought as a lue, philosophical development-a movement away nom religion <lind roward <II rationalized worldview. Like Graham. then, Schwam reaw correlativity as a late development in early C h ina, but unlike Grailam, he bases this claim not on the notion t h<llt correl· uivity is a universal mode of mo ught but ruher o n the Weberian model of rationalization. In making th is argument, Schwartz also appeals co Levi-Str<llUSS, But he cites Levi-Strauss not in order ro emphasize t he universaliry of correlative thinking but to distinguish late Warring S tates correlative cosmology &om the sacrificial model m at predominated in the Shang: mu The fact u that neither the oracle bones, the bronze: vessds, no r any of the earliest tau we have seem to provide strong evidence of corrduive cosmology, even though some discern evidence of totemism in the iconography of the Shang ritual bronze: vessels. Much of the informacion furnished in these ilUCriprions sheds light not on correlative cosmology, but on what Uvi-Strauu would hinudf define as the real m of religion. Corrdarive cosmology in his vicw is a "science of the concrete" b«ause it rdates concrete phenomena acrually perceived in our ordinary experience to each other "horizontally." Ir.s materials ace all drawn from the "real" world. Animals, planr.s, the four cardinal directions, kinship organizationJ, human trair.s, and cdes· rial bodies ue ｡ｉ Ｂ ｲ･｡ｬ Ｎｾ＠ A religious ritual-specifically the ritual of sacrifice-which rdates humans "vertically" to goda and spirir.s represenr.s in mu view an effof[ to es' tablish "a desired connection berwcc:n twO initially separate domaiiU; of which one- the divine-is non.existent. I ' IS. Ibid., pp. 416- 17. III. Ibid .. pp. Ｉ ｾｉ Ｍ ｓｾ ﾷ＠ .,' DBSCENDANTS OF THB ONE DBSCENDANTS OF T H B ONE Schwartz [hw rejects Grands :argument that correlative thinking shou1d be read a5 perv;ading early Chinese thought. Even if we adopt Levi-Strauss'! own terminology-the very terminology developed to argue the pervasiveness of correlative thinking-we are forced. SchW2rt'Z argues, [0 see thar Chinese correbtivc thinking is a late development. Ironically. this reading of Levi·Scrauss is compa.f2ble to that of Hall and Ames.. Hall and Ames hope to demonstrate thar coml.uive thinking defines all of Chine.se thought. and Schwam is arguing for a grot_raJ movement nom religion to philosophy, but all three believe ｾｴ＠ Uvi-Smws's position, despite its overt claims for the univers.a1ity of correlative minking. leads to a rejection of Graner and to the position thar correbtive systems 2re late developments in China. H:oll and Ames therefore reject Uvj·Strauss's p»irion, whereas Schwa rt% agrees with ir. Although, like Schwartz, I argue that correlative cosmology is .a l.ate development in China, I nonetheless dis.agree with his (and Hill .and Ames's) relding of Uvi-Smuss. Schwartz is misrelding Uvi-Stuuss, .and his misrelding is worth follOWing in derlil, for a closer re.ading of Livi-Str.auss, lS well :.I.S of Granet, will leld to a somewhu different, .and perh.aps more promising. .approach to the problem. T o temism .and 5.acrifice: From Graner to Uvi-Srr.auss and Back Ag.ain In the p.assage quO(ed by SchWllU, Levi·Strauss refers to the discinction be· tween "so·cilled" totemism md Slcrifice.2(I In so·cilled totemism, two discontinuous series (human c!:.tns .and nuur:.t.l species) are presented lS m.alogies. In contnst, SlcMce "seeks ro establish a desired connection between twO initi.ally sep.anre domains. "Slcrifice therefore belongs to [he realms of continuity:ll According [ 0 Schwut:z. this distinction, when applied ro H 3.0. The ft::llOn Uvj·Srr:l.LlU wei -ro-caIIed" in referring to rotemism is tNt ho!: argues $Ironglyagainst the oregor)' of"rotcmism" 10 describt; rhe phenomenon of social groups con. necring Ihcnuelvu wirh animals. Uvj,Slrauu', ｾｩ｣＠ movt: here is to sub.mme 1M caregory under a urger lheory of IfructUral cbs.$iJ'Kalion: 'So<alIed rOlemism is in &ct only a p.>rricuur case of 1M general problem of classification and one of many examples of the parr whio;:h sp«£ terml oRen puy in Ihe working oul of a socia] cl;wiflCalio,," (110. Mimi, p. 6a). For his full cTiliquc of the term, su Uvj·StraWI, TOltmi'm. s"me of Ltvi,Su'aUN', ｭｯ､ｶｾ ﾭ liom for providing this argument arc disc'w,ed below. 11. Ltvi,SlraUII, 'Tht ｍ ｩ ｾ､Ｌ＠ pp. ｮＮ Ｍ ｾｳ［＠ herr:inaner ciled in II", tut. s...,.gt s..""tt ." China, reve.al.s <l shift ftDm sacrifice to totemism, from the S h.ang anccsrr:.t.l cult to correlative cosmology. Bur, in flct, Levi-Strauss would ugue something quire different. The distinction Levi·Srr.auss m.akcs between totemism and sacrifice is based on the different w.ays mat each conceptu.a1i:zcs continuity .and discontinuity. Totemism, Uvi·Str.auss ugucs, is <l polygeneric sYStem, in which discontinuity is assumed: The homology they (the so-called totemim J evoke ｾ＠ not benveen social group' and natural species bur between the differences which manifest thcmsdves on rhe Icvd of grOUpl on the one hartd md on tM of 'pecies on the other. They are thus based on the postulate of a homology between tWO syatenu of differences, one of which occurs in nature and the other in culture. (p. U5) Levi·Srnuss contrlStS this with monogenetic systems, using Polynesia :.I.S .an example: Instead of a once-for·ill homology between tWO series each finite and discontinuous in irs own right, a continuous evolution is pouulated within a single series that accepts m unlimited number of terms. Some Polynesian mythologies arc at the critical point where diachrony irrevocably prevails over synchrony, making it impos. sible to interpret the human order as a fixed projection of the natural order by which it ｾ＠ engendered: it is a prolongation, rather than a reflection, of the nacu ral order. (p. ｾｮＩ＠ In short, polygeneric systems assume discontinuity, and monogeneric sys" [ems .assume continuity. To rerum ro Chin.a, .all the texts discussed in mis chapter pc»it a cosmos genented n.aturally by .a single ancestor-often referred to as me Great One ( TlliJl'). In Levi·Strauss's terminology, these texts reflect monogenetic cosmologies, nor me roremic systems of polygencsis. Moreover, Levi·Strauss would ceruinly not eire the Shang ancestral cult :.I.S an example of totemism. Thus, Schwartz's .attempt to use Uvi·Srnluss's terminology to ,hancterizt the shift from Sh.ang .ancestral sacrifice to correlative systems lS a shift from sacrifice to totemism ｾ＠ incorrect. For Levi·Strauss, both rhe Shang ancesrrn sacrifices .and the late Warring Sntes correlative syStems would be proto· typically monogenetic. None of t he systems we hlve looked ar would be classified by Levi·Srrluss as a totemic system. Indeed, Uvj·Srrauss lrgues t h.at no Eurasian civilization is roremic, nor are Euraai.an civilizations b:.l.Sed on totemic foundatio ns. For Levi-Strauss, 'S' DBSCBNDANTS O F THB ONS DI!SCI!NDANTS OF THE ONE torcmism and s:lcrifice are [wo distinct systems: one does not lead to the In other wo rds, for Levi·Strauss mere are [WO legitimate fomu o f science: the science of the concrete (found in ro reruism ) and modern science: other. H e emphatic2l1y rejects the tendency in earlier anthropology to present (orcmism and sacrifice along evolutionary lines: "That it should h:tvc been possible to regard totemism 15 the origin of sacrifice in the histOry of religion remains, after so long. a marrer of ｡ｳＨｯｮｩｨｭ｣ｾ＠ (p. .1:13). UviStrauss's move here is to defend the complexity of clas5ificatory schemes in primitive cultures by denying that fotcmism represents an earlier, superseded period in the development of civilizations. Instead, he argues, the clas. sificatory systems of the great civili22cions afC not b.ued on tOccmism (see, e.g., p. +.1). On the contrary. T he great civilizations of Eurasia are monoge. neric: "This perhaps explains what one is tempted to COlli the 'totemic void; for in the bounds of the great civilizations of Europe and Asia there is a remarkable absence of anything which might have reference [0 totem ism, even in the form of ｲ ･ｭ｡ｩｮｳｾ＠ (p. 131). And not only is totemism not a superseded level of culture, but it is in fact scientifically superio r to Slcti l1ce: Totemic d a.uificariollJ have a doubly obj«tive buis. There rally arc natural species, and they do indeed form a discontinuous series; and social segments for their pan: also enst.... The system of sacrifice. on the other hand, makes a pre.exiltellt term, divinity, intervene; and it adopt's a conception of the natural series which is false from the objective point of view. for, as we have seen, it represents it u continuo OUI •••• The system of sacrifice . .. represents a private discourse wanting in good selUe for all that it nuy frequently be pronounced. (pp. 111-18) Totemic systems are objecrively valid. since they recognize d iscontinuity ｩｮｧ＠ in good ･ｮｳＬｾ＠ since from the beginning. In contrast, sacrifice is ｾｷ｡ｮｴ sacrificial systenu believe in continuity-and th is is, from an ｾｯ｢ ･ｪ ｣ ｴｩｶ･＠ point of ｶｩ･ ｷ Ｌ ｾ＠ wrong. Uvi·Strauss's polemic is not a passing rhetorical flo urish. One of the recurrent arguments in Th ｓｾ｜ｬ｡ｧｴ＠ Mind is that toremism is JUSt as logical as modern science. It is simply a d ifferent form oflogic (po 169), a form that he calls wa science of the concrete- (pp. 1-35). And the crucia.! point about this science of the concrete is that it builds classifications based on an objecrively accurate understanding of natural strUCtures (pp. 1-35, 135-61). N ote, for ex. ample, how Uvi· Srrams describes the idt2 of species in totemism: "We shoWd understand how rhis idt2 can furnish a mode of sensory apprehen. sion of a combination objettively glven in nature, and that me activiq' of the mind. and social life itself. do no more than borrow it to apply it to the crea. tion of new taxonomies" (p. 1)1). '55 un:ainly the properties to which the savage mind h..u access are not the same ;u those which have commanded the mendon of scientist$. The physical world is approached from opposite ends in Ihe twO cues: one is supremdy concrete, the other supremdy abstract; one proceeds from the angle of sensible qualities and the other from that of formal properties. But the idea that, theoretically at least and on condi· tion no abru pt' changes in perspective occurred, these twO courses were destined to meet, expiaillJ why both, independently of each other in time and ｳｾＮ＠ should have led to tWO dininct tho ugh equally positive sciences. (p.16\l) So where d oes modern science come ｦｲｯｭｾ＠ If it is not based on toremism, is it based upon ｓｬ｣ｲｩｦ･ｾ＠ Uvi·Srrau.ss does nor make an explicit statement on this point, but r suspect that he wo uld Sly thu modern science ｡ｲｯｾ＠ with the ｴｲｾＱｬ Ｑｵ ｬ､ｩｮｧ＠ of the sacrificial model. T otemism is a science (a science of the concrete), but the model of sacrifice is o bjectively wrong. :and it needed to be overcome before a different, abscract science could arise. Uvi· Srrau.ss is C.agey on why this happened, but it is del r thlt he see.s the crucial step as the introduction of lbstraction in t2 rly Greece: ｾ＠ A dramatic ch:ange took place alo ng the frontiers of Greek thought, when mythology gave way to philosophy and the latter emerged:tS the necessary pre-condition of scientific thought ...n In other words, he is working with a version of rhe ｾ ｲ･ｬｩｧｯｮ＠ to philosophY- argument. Moreover, he appears to view modern science as a unique crt2tion of t he We.st, the one Eurasian civilization t hat transcended t he sacrificial model. Given th is frlmework. what would Levi·Strauss say .about ｃ ｨｩｮ｡ ｾ＠ Levi·Strauss says almost nothing about China in his voluminous writings, but r mink it is safe to Sly th.at Levi·Strauss would not be sympatheric to C hinese correlative thought. And for ｰｲﾫｩｾｉｊ＠ t he same reasons that fig. ures fro m Weber to Raea have dis paraged Chinese con:elative thought: Chinese correlative thought fails to recognize me objective existence of discon tinuities-the discontinuities that, the implicit ltgument goes, proved crucial for the emergence o f modern science. The only difference is that Uvi· S trauss would nor see Chinese correlat ive thought as primitive: unlike so many scholars-from Mauss and Durkheim to K. C. Chang-who see ." ." DSSCBNDANTS OF THB ONS DESCENDANTS OF THE ONE the uniqueness of China as lying in ilS imim.ate connection [0 a primitive past, Levi-Strauss would nOI sec primitive thought in China;I;(.alI. Similarly. Levi-Strauss would nor agree with Graham's presentation ofChinese correlative systems as simply :mother example (along wirh "primitive thought") of "prom-science," One suspects that for Li;v j·$rrauss, Chinese correlariviry would hlve involved an objectively incorrect claim of continuity. Primitive thought. in contrast, is [0 be found in rorcmism-a system that. like modem science. bur in a different WOly. :accunucly recognizes {he truth of discontinuity. As the vast majority But where does [his leave the study of early ｃｨｩｮ｡ｾ＠ of scholars who have studied early Chinese corrcbtivc thought have noted, ｕｶｩﾷｓｴｲ｡ｵｾＧｳ＠ analyses arc: invaluable for [he exploration of classification systcnu. But if we chOOK not to follow Uvi-Strauss's polemic, ,an we u least use his tcrminology more ･ｦＧ｛ｩｶｬｹｾ＠ First, is China ｭｯｮｧ･ｴｩ｣ｾ＠ I will argue no. Even ifSchw;!ft% is slightly misrepresenring Uvi-Strauss's argument, Schwam's intuition th;![ Chin;! nnnot be successfully defined ;!ccording to one pole of Uvi-Strauss's terminology is nonetheless correct. I wilt go even further ;!nd question Uvi-Str;!uss's mempt to distinguish polygenesis and monogenesis in the form rhu he does: ca.tegorizing entire ,uitures on the basis of such a dualisric framework is precisely what we should avoid in comparuive studies. Marshall Sahlins h;!$ suggested;! W;!y of utilizing Uvi-Str.luss'S distinctions in a more nuanced W;!y. As noted above. Uvi-Str.luss cites Polynesi;! u an example of;! monogenetic system-a system that defined everything as based on ;! single continuous line of descent. Sahlins, an expert on Polynesia, h.u modified this by poinring our d12t this description, while ;!ccuute, refers only to one set of claims; other groups, in the same culture. emphasize polygenesis: Certain groups define society and the cosmos monogenetically; others define it polygenetically. Historical analysis involves, :unong other things. the study L_ _L .•• ｾ＠ of me inurp1;!y uctween wese competing VISions. Gregory Schrempp. one ofSahlins's students, hu developed these .arguwhich he ments for [he Maori through his norion of;! "dual ｦｯｲｭｵｬ｡ｴｩｮＬｾ＠ defines as -the co-existence of twO different conceptions of the essential lS character and identity of a given concrete social unit:' These two conceptions correspond closely to Uvi-Strauss's distinction betwun monogenesis and polygen6is. Schrempp argues that Maori cosmogonic nurarives can be grouped into twO distincrive positions-posicions that, Schrempp points 16 out, can be mapped successfully with Kant's antinomies. Ka.nt·s argument is that. in the history of Western metaphysics, one can flIld twO distinctive, and murually contradictory, positions. Take. for example, Ka.nt's second antinomy in the PTokgomcnClto An] Future MetClphysics: It appean in Fiji as the interehangeable contrast between unitary lineage organizarion of the $ocial totality, an encompa.nment of the whole in the ancestry of a divine king (J<lVUlll sysrem), and the "heme of society as a synrhesis of indigenoul and immigrant peoples, joined by the marriage of a d:&ughter of the land with a nnngerking from the sea. and then ordered as a dia«:hk kingdom under a ritual panmount &om the fo reigners and a warrior-king from the originah (land-sea or WlSII tem).u 'Y'- a). Sahlitll, "Foreword: p. l[. Thesi5: Everything in the world ,onsim ofldementl that are] simple. Antithesis: There is nothing simple. but everything is compo.ite. Z7 According to Schrempp, Maori thought, just like Western metaphysics, can 21 be categorized inw one of these twO positions. And, what is more significant, the twO constantly play off each other, To revert [0 Uvi-Str.luss·s terminology. neither monogenesis nor polygenesis is a founding assumption: rather, the twO co-exist, and their antirhesis endlessly gives rise ro further developments in cosmological thought. This way of using Levi-Strauss's terminology points toward a means of explic:l[ing the complexities of competing cosmological formulations in a given culture. How do va rious cosmologies posit continuity and discontinuity, and what are the implications of this positing:' And how do these competing cosmologies playoff against one anorher? ru we wills«, in the case of early China. this is a crucial quesrion for working through the correlative cosmologies poSited in the late Warring Stares and early Han. 14. For ｲ､Ｎｾ＠ arguments by SaWios', nudenu for ocher areu or Pol)'fl"Si2.,. s« Vakri, "ComtitUl.M History", Schrelnpp. M"tic,,1An"CI"'s; and Michul ScOtI, "Auhen=" lS, Schrempp, Mazic'" Amn<>I, po. 64. 16. Ibid .. pp. I)7-63. 17. Kam , P,oIrl"m,"' to An, FUlu ,t M."pb,.ill. p. 87. A fuller diKWJ;on can ｾ＠ found in Kam. ｃｲｩｴｾｵＮ＠ ofPwrr .RrAJ.On, pp. 4oa- !i. a8. For Schrempp'l diKuniotl or INrallelt befwectl the second amlnomy and alpecCl or Maori thoughl, I« M'zitlll Am"", pp. 14i-n· ·s· ·s. DESCIIND"NTS OF THII ONE DESCENDANTS Of THS ONS Thus, although I have questioned Schwam:'s prescnu.rion of Uvi. Srr.r.uss, I foUow Schwartz in arguing thar U vj·Scnuss's terminology may be temK and that kingship arose when particular figures-the ancient S2gessacrificed the totemic animals and caprured their power. Fo r example, according to Granet, the owl was the totemic wemblmt of Huangdi. but Huangdi captured and devoured an owl Similarly, Yao had to conquer the sun befote he could become a king: "Yao, the sovereign, •.• had to aim arrows at the sun before he could become a Son of H eaven. Thus he succeeded in overcoming his celestial double. As soon as he had conquered t he w11 emblem of the sun, he was worthy to reign. Granet's reco nstruction is not convincing in terms of the sinological materials; nor, I would agree with Uvi-Strauss, is it convincing theo reticaUy. Uvi-S trauss would certainly be correct in saying that Granet's decision to analyze early C hina in terms of a shift from totemism to S2crifice was unfortunate. But if we accept Uvi·Srraws's critique of Graner's evolutionism, we shouJd also accept Sahlins's critique ofUvi-Smuss's fonn o f cu1tural classification. All of this leaves us in a very interesting place when reading Graner. Mon of Graner's sources were late Warring Scates or Han texu, and t he issues Granet wu discus.sing as an evolution from totemism to sacrifice could, Ia. Uvi·Strauss and Sahlins, be worked out in terms of the ways thar vari- e:r:tremely helpful in sorring OUt C hinese correlative thought bur due it should be utilized in a new way. It will also be helpfUl to rerum (0 Graner. but in a W2y very different from thar of Hall and Ames. I .agree with Hall and Ames that we should attach much significance [0 way Uvi.Sruuss built his ideas on t he foundation o f Graner. but I will argue th::t the implications point in the opposite directio n. Although Uvi-Strauss is repe.uedly read in the sinologica.l literature as having claimed that all ｾｰｲｩｭ ｩｴ ｩｶ･ｈ＠ thinking is bued on the principles Graner discovered, the actwl development of this thinking was f.u more complex. A1though Uvi-Srraws built much of his strucrural ouulyses on Graner. he consistently charged Granet with failing to develop his ideu rigorously. For example, Uvi-Strauss faults me analysis of Chinese kinship structures in Granet's CllffgoritJ matrimollillb cf re14ticIIJJ de proximifi dllllS Ia Chille c;lmiellJ1t: me In this work, a sinologist provides a dtdsive contribution to the general theory of kinship 'ynenu, but he presents his discoveries in the guise of Chinese material, and as interpretatioru of rhCi material However, when cOlUidered fro m this pw:icular angle, these inrerprec:atioIU stem confused and contradictory, and sinologists have received them suspiciously, even when their own analyses were not contrary to them. Here, then, is a specialise who perhaps uctteU his proper role, but he succtteU in arriving at theorerical truths of a wearer and more general significance.111 And I suspect that Uvj-Srrauss would reach a simwr conclusion about Granet's analysis of correlative thinking: invaluable for theory bur confused for China. More specifically, I suspeCt rhat Uvi-Strauss thought that G raner treated China too much like a totemic system, when it in fact was, by Levi-Strauss's reckoning. a monogenetic system. More important, t hough, Levi-Strauss would have rejected Graner's overall analytical framework. As mentioned above, Uvi-Strauss strongly opposed an evolutionary reading of totemism and sacrifice. Such a. ITamewo rk has a long pedigree and was most famously argued by William Roberaon Smith. But it is a. pedigree that includes Granet. Indeed, the shift &om totemism to S2crifice is o ne of the underlying themes of Granet's evolutionary reading o f early C hina. )(I Granet arguts that early C hinese society was (0- 19. Uvj·Scnwl, TIlt ｅｉｮＮｾｴｇＧｊ＠ ｓｴ Ｇ ｉｦｃ ｾ ｲｴｉ＠ ofKlrublp, p. )11. )0. S« Granef, [),anstl rt "ttNitl .It '" OIl'" ｴＢｉ ＮｾｉｗＧ Ｎ＠ a ous textS posit contin uity and discontinuity. With this in mind, let us rerum to Granet. G ranet's point in emphasizing thar t he early cultural heroes conquered emblems was mat the origins of Chinese correlative t hougbr do not lie in an attempt: to make me social world correspond to the na!!!.ral world. Rather, the lim necessity of the ruler is to furnish humans with the emblems thar allow them to domesticare nature. The emblems signal, for each ｾｩｮｧＮ＠ in natun:;u well as ifs place and position ill the world. In the first days of Chinese civilization, HU21lgdi acquired the glory of 2 heroic founder, for he saw the need to give all things a COtfect name. ... "To rellder the names correct" is, in effect, the first of governmental obligatiofU. Jl T his is why Graner emphasized thar emblems were initially totems conquered by man: man did nor so much recognize correlations beN'een the social and the natural worlds as create correlations by appropriating. domesticating. and placing narural objects within a framework mar allows for human consumption and control. ｾ ｴｊ＠ eM/lullon, pp. 197- 98 . Grann, 1.41 ,,1IJIt ,111Il0l1<, p. 47· )1. GnIlICC, ｡ＬＯ ) 1. .6. DESCBNDANTS OF THE ONE OI!SCENOANTS OF THE ONE Removed from its evolutionary fr2mcwork of a shift from toremism to sacrifice, Graner's argument yields something dose to what Sahlins was pointing rowlrd: :I. correlative cbim of continuity between humanity and nature was designed, and continues to function. only in opposition ro an opposing claim of discontinuity. Or. in Uvi·SrI'2USS'S cenninology, there is both polygenesis and monogenesis here. and neither can be undersrood without the other. One. but it is placed within l generltive process thlt it does not control. Huven is not l porenrWly clpricious power here; it is l plrt of linger .60 The Great Unity of the Cosmos: The Ta iyi shtng mui The T aiJi sMl1g Jhui, a text discovered in the Guodian tomb 2nd probably Wi ring to the late fourth century lie, JI describes a ,osmogony focused on T aiyi :;t - , the Gre:n One. In this text, T liyi is the force char gives birth [0 the cosmos. )4 The Grear One givu birth to water. Water goa back and supplemenrs [i,e., joins with] the Great One. They thereby complete Heaven. He:lven goes back and supplemems the Great One. They thereby complete Earth. Heaven and Earth [return and supplement each otherJ.u In this opening portion of the cosmogony. the Great One is the primary power. It initially generates. on iu own. water. Water and the Great One then join to give birth to H eaven. Then Heaven and the Great One combine to make the Earth. The Great One not only begins the process with a direct birth (without anoth er partner). but it continues to be the force with which each successive substance copulates to complete the next subsunce. This process reaches its conclusion once both Heaven and Earth have been completed. Contrary [0 most early Chinese cosmologies, Heaven is not the highest power. Not only is H eaven subordiIured to the Great n . For ｾ＠ dis<:uuion of the Guodian find. I « "Jingmen Guodian yi hao Chu mu: For analyses of the Guodian run. 1«. in ｾｮｩ｣ｵｨｲ Ｎ＠ Aibn md Willianu. Th< GuoJ...." r......d; md Guo Yi. GWoJ .... 1I dlvji'''l'' ,,;'ftQift lII/n/,u liN"g. H. Rdatively little a known about Taiyi. He wu evidently a god in at least the southern during ､Ｌ ｾ＠ pre-Han period. He appean. for example. in the BaO.Mn divination tUti !Tom the Hale of Chu ill the fourth C CIltUry IC. For an excelkm analyla of the palcognophic referCllCti to Taiyi. set Li Ling. "All Archaeological Study of Taiyi (Gr:lI\d ｏｾＩ＠ Wonhip: )s. T'iyi Jbtllg shwi.1trip J; hereinafter Ifrip numbe,. arc givcn in the 'text; the entire telU U rcprO<i....:cd in GuoJ;' ft ,hu,,"u thUj"'N. p. ｉｾｓＮ＠ ｲｾｧｩｯｬｕ＠ proces.su:.t.! movement. Following the completion of Helven and Earth. the subsunccs begin copulating lmong them.sdvcs. without the Great One: Heaven and Earth join together lnd complete rwo more substances. which in (Urn copulate and complete {WO more; They thereby complete the spirits and the illuminated (shtn "'ing). The spirits lfld the illuminated reru m and supplemem each ochee. They thereby complete the yin and yang. Yin and yang return lnd supplement each other. They thereby complete (he four sasona. The four sasons return and supplement each other. They thereby complete the cold and hot. Cold and hor return and supplement each other. They thereby complete the Wet and dry. The Wet and dry return lfld supplement each other. They thereby complete the year lfld then StOp. (Strip.ll-4) Of interest here is thlt III these figures. from the Grelt One through Heaven. Earth. the spirits, lnd the illuminlted (,htn ming). were gods lnd spirits who received cult It the time. The authors o f this text lre rhus building their cosmology from lcrwl gods lnd relding them simply :.I.S subst:r.nccs in l b:.t.!anced cosmos. The next subsunces mentioned in the cosmology ne the cold and hot lnd the wet lnd dry. The combinltion of the second p:.tir results in the formltion of the yelr. lnd this brings the process to its end. The cosmos is thus fonned when the wet lnd the dry result in the nnurll generation of the year. The tCX[ then reclpirulate.s the process lnd underlines dut it all beg:an with the Grnt One: Therefore. the year W:l$ generated by Wet and dry. W et and dry were generated by cold and hot. Cold znd hot were generated by the four SUSON. The four seasons were generated by yin and yang. Yin and ylflg were generated by the spiriu and the illuminated The spirits and the illuminated were generated by Heaven and Earth. Haven and Eanh were generated by the G reat One. (Strips ...-6) H owever. the text d rlws l further conclusion as well; the Grelt One pervades III that was generated from it lnd is in fact lctive in the se:.l.Sons them" .elves: Therefore rhe Great One is no red in water lfld mova in the sealons. Circulating and again (four graph. missing. probably; starting. it taka it,df u) the mother of ,', DBSCBNDANTS OF TH8 ONI! (he myri.ad things. At times djminishing. at rimes flourishing. it rakes itlldf u [he alignment Vi"g) of the myriad things. (SIri!» 6-1) The Great One pervades everything and is both the mother and the aligner of the myriad things. Spiriu do not control natural phenomena, nor, as we will see later in the ｈｕＡｬｩｮ｡ｾＮ＠ do they align the cosmos. Instead, [he One gives birth to the myriad things and aligns them. It is therefore t he one thing mol.[ cannot be controlled by Heaven, Earth, yin. and yang: "This is what H eaven is unable [0 kill, what Earth is unable to regulate. and what yin and yang are unable to complete. The gendeman who understands this is called ... (characters missingr (strips 1-8). H e who unclersunds that the Great One pervOlcles lnd .uigns everything understands the movement of the universe. The authors then explain the alignment of the universe: "The way of Heaven is to value weakness. Ir reduces irs completion so as to add to life. By cutting back on strength, making clear ...ｾ＠ (strip 9). Part of the text is unfortunately lost, and it is impossible to reconstruct the full argument. But jt is clearly intended to explicate the alignment that can be understood by the person who knows the Great One. The text continues: ｾｂ･ｬｯｷ＠ is the ground; it is called Earth. Above is qi; it is called H eaven" (strip 10). The interaction of Heaven and Earth takes place through the Great One, also known as the Way; "The Way is also its scyle-name (zi). I beg to know its name (mingr (strip 10). It can be given the scyle-name ｯｦｾｴｨ･＠ Wl.y,: but the real name is unknowable. This is presuml.bly a reference to contempoTllry religious pT<lCtice. As we saw in Chapter z, Yu's placing the images of spirits on cauldrons illowed for a degree of control over those spirits: naming domesticates deities by purting mem within a system controlled by humans. Here, however, the name is unknowable: one cannot place the ancestor into a humanly defined system, and one cannot Vin control over ie. One must simply entrust oneself to its name: He who foUow$ affairs by means of the Way must entrusr himsdf to in name. Thus, rasb OI.re completed, and the body grows. As for the sage', following of talib, he wo encrusu himsdf to its name. Therefore, his achievements are completed, and his body suffers no harm. (Strips IO-U) The sage accomplishes his tasks and suffers no harm. The reason for this is not tbat he can transform the spirits who control natura] phenomena but rather that, by knowing the ultimate ancestor, the sage understands the Wl.ys that natural forces operl.te: '" oesceNDANTs OF THe ONe Heaven and Earth. the style-name and name, were established togeeher. Therefore, if one transgresses the other's boundaries, each flts lli with the other without thinking. [When Heaven was insufficient inJl1 the northwesr, chat: which was below rai$ed icsdf through strength. When the Earth was insufficient in the southeast, that which was above [seven graphs missing; [he lasc four are probably: If there is insufficiency above], rheee is excess below; if there is insufficiency bdow, there is excess above. (Scrips U-14) The sage understands the degree to which forces of the n"tural world spontaneously respond to one :mother. As such, he is "ble to live and "ct effectively in the world. In this cosmology, neither humans nor spirits lffect the environment: the cosmos is simply" set of natural forces thar respond to one another. S"ges lre simply those who understand these processes properly by understanding me Great One-whose scyle-n:une is "the W"y." In this cosmology, natural phenomena are nor controlled by individuated spirits. R.:ather. the authors of this texe "ppropriared divinities and spirits and m"de them into cosmological forces. Like the texts discussed in Chlprer l, this text presents" gnosis different from th"t offered by the ritual spedl.!ists of the day: "ny artempt to manipulate the spirits of the world through divin"rion and sacrifices would be useless within such" cosmology. H owever, the argument here departs significantly from the claims seen in Chapter 2Instead of trying to establish forms of power within the "dept, the "uthors of this text based power on the spontaneous n"rute of the cosmos-which operates independently of me actor. There is an inherent l.!ignmenr in the cosmos, generated and maintained by the GreOlt O ne, that provides the buis for human "ction. Power and knowledge ue thus to be g::J.ined not by "ppropri"ting the powers of spirits but by understanding and subordin"ting oneself to the p"rcems of the cosmos. The cosmos is thus seen as following a normative p"ttern discernible by those who know how to undersr"nd it. The consequence of [his is thar the rensions between humanity and He"ven found in Mencius are here completely erased. H e"ven is here an offspring of a yet e"rlier "ncesfOr-the Great One. And Heaven becomes simply l. parmer with "nother offspring. Earth, with whom it m"res to generate (he rem"inder of the cosmos. Heaven, El.rth, and the rem"inder of the cos- )6. FoU?wing Qiu Xigui in ruding che mis.sing gnph a.s J4ng 'It; ｾ＠ GW..Ji411 ,hw,"w v,w- jiu, p. ,,6111 7. )7· FoUowing Qiu Xigui in ruding duo ｉ ｨ ｲｾ･＠ Ibid. rmuining mis'ing ｧｲｾｰｬｵ＠ ., ::R -1" ..IE.: Itt '" DESCENDANTS OF THE ONS DBS CBN DANTS OF T H B ONS mos .art gener:ued md lligned by the One, and any movement by one force spontaneously brings about a movement by its pair. Neither Heaven nor any of the deities can be capricious in this schema. This point allows us [0 reflect further on some claims made concerning Chinese cosmology. In panicuiar, Joseph Needham's descriptions of eady Chinese cosmology, discussed in the InrroduC[ion, deserve 01 closer look. SchwartZ criticizes Needham's biological meuphors (particularly the de- scription of the cosmology as "organismic"), arguing. among other things, that Needham's terminology is somewhat contradictory. As Schwartz correedy pointS our, NeedhOlffi's notion of a harmony of wills implies distinctive wills that are then harmonized-exactly the opposite of what Needham is trying [0 imply: "There is much ralk [in NeedhamJ of'cooperation' of partS or 'harmony of wills: while avoiding the faCt that the image of'cooperation' inevirably suggesrs the notion of initially separate entities which come together to Ｇ｣ｯ ｰ･ｲ｡ｴＺｾ ＩＸ＠ Although Schwartz's intent is to illustrate Needham's poor choice of words, I would argue that the poor choice is, unintentionally, quite felicitous: what is going on in Chinese correlative thought is precisely an attempt to pull together elements perceived to be distinct-an attempt to claim a form of continuity prevailing against disparate entities. Continuity is not assumed; it is created. In the case at hand, disparate deities are defined as descendants of the Great One. and that ancestor is presented as concinuing to align and participate in me actions of me descendants. Accordingly, the actions of each of these powers are seen as a spontaneous response [0 the actions of the others. All, in other words, are imbued with the One. This firSt instance of correlative thinking appears in a cosmological system in which the One is posited as the ancestor of the cosmos. ｾ＠ we shall see, the basing of correlative thinking in a claim of genealogical descent from a single ancestor will continue throughout much of the Warring States. The debate will tum then to issues such as What is the relationship of humans to this One? Do they simply conform to the patterns of the One, or can they achieve power by means of the One as well? And, if they can, under what circumstances is it acceptable to exercise such power? And does one use the traditional arts of sacrifice and divination to do this or some other means! '" Becoming an Ancestor to the People: The Laozj In the Guodian cache, the Tlliyi jhrng jhui text is linked with, 2nd may have been attached to, the third of the texts containing chapters of the LAoZi. 39 The LAozi does, indeed, compare in many ways with Tlliyi jheng jhui.<JO To begin with, it positS a comparable cosmogony: The Way gives birth to the One, the One gives birth to the tWO, the two ｾｶ･＠ birth fO the three, the three give Birth to the myriad things. The myriad things carry the yin and embrace the yang. and blend the vapors so all [0 become harmonized. (Chap. 42) ---- Although worked out differently, the cosmogony of the LAoxi, like tha t of the Taiyi Weng jhui, is based on generation from an original ancestor, the Way. Also like the T aiyi jhellg jhui, che LAozi discusses the Way in terms of its name (ming) and style-name (xi): There is a thing chaotically completed, born before Heaven and earth. Still and quiet, sranding alone yet unchanging. going around yet never becoming weary, and capable thereby of being the mother of.ill under Heaven. I do not know its name (ming), Irs styk-name ＨｾｩＩ＠ is "the Way." rEforced to give it a name, it would be called "Great" (da). (Chap. 2$) The ancestor of all that exists can be given a style-name of "the Way," but its rcal name is unknowable. Here again, one cannot domestic.ate or control the divine powcr by learning its name. Unlike the T aiyi jhellg jhui, however, the Laoxi calls on the adept co rerum to this ancestor: J9· On the ｮｾｻｬｲ･＠ of ,he Guodi':lJl u.oli en-ptefs. see Roth, ·Some Me,hodological Iuues in ,he Smdy of ,he Guodi:an u.ozi ｐ｡ Ｌ ｾｊ､Ｚ＠ 4 0. My undemanding of the u.oti h.:u been aided gre.lly by ,he ell.YI in Rdigiow, G..d ｬＧｨｩｾＬ｡ｰｦｊ＠ t\'ptfll a/ tilt u.od, edi,.d by Mark C.ikncnunihalyi and PhUip J. Ivanhoe:. ," D6SCEND"NTS OF THB ONB All under Heaven had a beginning. h Ciln be raken a.s the mother of all under Heaven. Once you have obtained rhe mother, you can thereby know the sons. Once you have known the sons, you can return and hold fur to the mother. ｕｮｲｾ＠ be no harm. (Chap. 52) [he end there will The crucial point here is that the sage does not strive simply_to understand. EaHow. and accord with the generative process of the Way. On the COntTOlry, the sage reverses (har gener:iltive process and returns to the source of power: the ancestor. By doing so, the adept gains the nme powers and gener2tU the same h.armony as the Way itself The Way is namdess. Although the unarved block is ,null, no one is able to subordinate it. If princes rod kings were able [0 hold fur (0 it, The myriad things will submit on their own, wd Heaven rod Earth will harmonb:e with each other and send down SWeet dew. The people will adjust themsdves, yee no one will order them. (Chap. 32.) By holding fast to the Way, the adept is able to make all things submit him, to control the popuhce without resoning to overt commands, and even to bring Heaven and Earth into harmony. He becomes, in a sense, like the ancestor: he is able (0 generate order and cause everything to submit to him. The ruler is thus able to accomplish everything. but it will seem to the people as though everything is simply occurring narurally, without any di· recting will: DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONB "7 Instead, the adept is according with the ancestor in order to gain its powers and create an order of his own choosing. Although the LAo:!:i is often characterized as an expression of a form of naturalism, I would argue that the epithet is even less appropriate for the lAozi than it is for Zhuangzi and Mencius. In the LAozi the sage docs not model himself on nature: he models himself on the Way, which is the ances· tor of the natural and human worlds. H e mus g;tins power over both: the natural world, like the human world, submits to him, not the other way around. Moreover, [he sage does not act naturally at alL To begin with, he reverses the natural generative process to return to the Way. He thereafter fools people into thinking the subsequent phenomena they wirness are naru· ral, when in nct they are simply his wishes. In short. this is not a naturalism at all; it is yet another form of self· divinization-a claim that humans can. through self-cultivation, gain divine powers. But, in contrast to the "Neiye,H the claim here is nor made through a posiced cosmology of qi, essence, and spirit, and the argument is not that humans have the abiliry to become like spirits. It is. rather. a genealogical claim in which the adept is able to appropriate and thus gain the powers of the ultimate ancestor of the cosmos. Whether such a cosmology should be termed correlative depends on one's definition of the term. But I will argue that ideas such as those seen in the LAozi and Taiyi JMIIg shui were crucial for the development of late Warring States correlative cosmologies. to When his achievements are completed and tasks finished, The commonefli say that "We are like this Il2runlly (2:i rail): (Chap. 17) Since the people think the order brought about by the ruler is a spontaneow product of me Way, mey readily accept i(. In conrrasr to the sage of the T aiyi JMIIg shui, the sage of [he LAo:!:j is not according with a pre·existing natural order, nor is he simply following the order of the ancestor-the One. Using the One to Explore Heaven: The Shiliujing The «Chengfa« chapter of the Shiliujing. one of the texts discovered at Ma· wangdui. reveals a concern with the One similar to that seen in [he T ai]i wllg Jhui:1 The chapter consists of a dialogue between Huangdi and his minister Li Hei. Huangdi is concerned about the growth of dissension in his realm: Huangdi asked Li Hei: ｾｉｴ＠ is only I. the One Man, who h.as united and taken pos, session of all under Heaven. But cunning people are continuing to grow, and clever debaters are using craftiness. They cannot be opposed with laws. I fear that some will employ them and thereby bring chaos to all under Heaven. I wish [0 .ask if all under Heaven hIS complete laws (hat can be used (0 rectify the peOple:>""l My nanlbrion Iw been aided by Yalc.l, Fiw Leur alwin, pp. 115- )7. 41. ShilIW)i"I.1n M4W<1"tdwl Humw ｾｭｷ Ｌ＠ I: 71: ｨｾｲ･ｩｮＮ｡ｒｴ＠ ciled in lhe tUl. 41. ,68 DESCENDANTS OF THE ONI! Li Hei responds by first discussing the ancient period: Li Hei responded: ·Yes. In ;!.ncient times, when Heaven and Earrh had been completed, recrifled were the n.1mes and in humonr were the forms. [graph missing] thereby held fast to the o lle name. They con nected it [0 Heaven above:lOd extended it to the four seas. I have hurd of the complete laws under Heaven. T herefore it is said: Inscu.d of the many. ｳｾ＠ of the One and then stop. Accord with the name and return to the One, md the people will nor bring disorder co the regulations: (I: 7:1) In the implicit cosmogony here, names emerged with Heaven and Earth. Moreover, the one name is portrayed as fully graspable by hUffillns. By according with it, the ruler can return [0 the ultimate ancestor and regulate all {he descend.lncs. Huangd i then inquires whethe r the One can still be possessed, 2nd Li H ei 2ssures him th2t it has been 2ccessible throughout history: Humgdi u.id: "' wish to ask if all under Heaven can nill possess the One." Li He! responded: "In ancient times, august Heaven made the phoenix descend to say one word and then stop. The five thearch s employed it, using it to dear Heaven and Earth, calculate the four seas, cherish the ptQple below, and rectify the officer! of the first generation. ro r this reason, all the slanderous people retreated, and the worthy men arose. The five evih were expunged, and the clever debaters stopped. They accorded with the name and returned to the One, and the people did nO{ bring disorder to the regulations." (I: ｔ ｾ Ｉ＠ By according with the name, the thearchs were 2ble to right H eaven and Earth and order the world. H U2ngdi nen asks 2bou[ the One itself Huangdi askod, "As for the One: is it the One and that's ｡ｉｾ＠ Does it also grow"" Li Hci said: "The One is the root of the Way. How could it be so and yet not ｧｲｯｷｾ＠ [twO graphs missing) is lost, it is because no one is holding fast [0 the One. The Jibenrion ＨｪｩｾＩ＠ of the One allows an exploration (chA) of Heaven and Earth. The pattern (Ii 11) of the One extends to the fou r seas." (I: 7l) The p:mern of [he One enends t hroughout the world. Consequenrly, by holding fast to the ancestor, the adept is liberated and thus able to exceed norm2l hum2n limit2tions and ro explore H eaven and Earth. Moreover, the pattern o f the O ne extends throughout the world. The statement is almost precisely the same as the o ne discussed in Chapter 2. from the "Neiye": DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONB ,6, The Way filli all under Heaven. It is everywhere that people reside, but people are unable to understand. With the liberation (jie) of the one word, one explores (eha) Heaven above, reaches to Earth below,;!.Od encircles ;!.Od filli the nine regions. Whu does it mean to be libented by ｩｴｾ＠ It resides in the nabiliry of rhe mind.4) As nOted above, however, the "Neiye" presents this liberation as occurring entirely within the mind of the adept. Here, the One is presented as the ancestor and the unifying link of the cosmos, and the ade pt is called upon to link himself to it. Li H ei continues: How can one understand the endpoint of complying;!.Od the comprehension of far md ｮ･｡ｲ ｾ＠ Only rhe One is not lost. The One thereby impels transformuions. The few can be used to know the many. Now, for gazing throughout the four seas, reaching the farthest points above and below, with the four directions embracing each other: each follows its own way. Now, a hundred words have a basis, a. thouJ;!.Od words have essentials, and a myriad words have totality. As for the numerolUness of the myriad things: all pass through one hole. (I: 7l) The One thus becomes the ground for control: Now, if not a rectified. person, who would be able to regulue this? He must be a rectified person, thereby able to manage rectification so as. to rectify the strange, grasp the One so as to understand the many. expel what is harmful [0 the people, and support what is appro priate for the people. He manages all by holding fast to the One, and he shares the same endpoints as Heaven and Earth. He can thereby know the good fortUne and misfortUne of Heaven ;!.Od Earth. (I: 72.) By holding fast to the One, one is able to understand and regulate all. Again, as in the "Neiye, ｾ＠ one is able [ 0 understand good fortune and misfonune. But, if the ade pt in the Ｂｎ･ｩｹｾ＠ is liberated through inner cultivation, the sage of the Shiliujing frees himselfby holding faSt to that which generated and continues to pervade everything. All three of the texts discussed thus far-the T !liyi ｳｾｮｧ＠ shui, the Laori, and [he HChe ngfa chapter of the Shiliujing-have a similar monogenetic cosmology: everything that exists, we are told, was generated from a single ancestor-usually termed the One. Accordingly, great powers over m e descendants of thar" ancestor-including H eaven and Eanh themselvescan be obtained if one can rerurn to that ancesror. The enct method. for H DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONB returning varies by text, as do the powers that can be obtained. But whu is of interest here is how this cosmology reverses that seen in me sacrif'icW models. The sacrificial models assume a radical disjunction between me human realm and the world of spirits. The goal was thus to try, within me limits of what wu possible, to anthropomorphize me spirit world, beginning with the local and most immediate spirits and working one's way up the panmeon to, one hoped. Heaven itSelf. In mese cosmologicd models. however. me claim is not dut theu existS an inherent disjuncrio..n between me human, natUnI. and spirit real.nu but rather that all t hings-humans. natUU, and the entiu pantheon of gods (including Heaven)-are descendants of a single ancestor, and all things are thus direcdy related by descenL Thus, by undersranding or (in other texts) holding fast to this ancestor. one can gain knowledge or even direct power over all things. These cosmological texts are, in short, an attempt to reject .a sacrificial model of the cosmos by asserting .absolute monogenesis and by claiming a consequent ability to tetUm directly to the ultimate anceStor instead of having to work up (and tr.ansform) the pantheon with sacrifices beginning at me local leveL Becoming a Spirit: The "Xinshu" Ch.aprers of the Guanzi Read in this way, the cosmological texts under consider.ation in this chapter are similar to thme discussed in Chapter ｾＮ＠ And, indeed, the authors of the "Xinshu, shang" and "Xinshu, xi.1," chapters 36 and 37 respectively of the Guanzi, +t modeled their argumentS direcdy on the "Neiye." Not o nly is the overall cosmology quite similar to that seen in the "Neiye," but significant portions of these dupters are bued on passages from the "Neiye.H owever, the .argumentS concerning sd(-divinization go much farther than those found in rhe "Neiye." The authors of the "Xinshu, ria" begin by focusing on the rectification of me form and the resting of the essence within: "If the form is not rectified. me power (de) will not arrive. If the essence is nor within, the mind will not be regulated. RectifY me form .and illumin.are the power, and all the myriad things will .arrive on their own."·tS The passage is almost idential to one 44. For an excdlem diKuuion of ｴｾ＠ ..duionlhip betwun Int "Neiye" and the "Ximhll" dupten. see ROlh. "Re<ba:ion Crilicilm and the Early Hiltory ofTaoilm"; and idun. Origi· lUI! TAD. pp. ｾＩ Ｍ Ｉ ｏＮ＠ Set; aUo RJckw. ｇｷｾ､Ｌ＠ pp. s6-sa, 6S-10. 4S. Gwuti. "Xinlhll. xia; 1).sb"6a: nttdn.1ncr dted In the leIII. DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONE '7' from the "Neiye-: KIf the form is not rectified. the power (de) will not arrive. If you are not still within, the mind will nor be regul.ared. Rectify t he form and assist the power: i6 Building on the argumentS of the "Neiye," the Ｎ｡ｵ ｾ＠ thors of the "Xinshu. ria" posit a cosmology b.ased o n form and essence. Maint:aining these properly allows one to obt:ain power. regulate rhe mind, and thereby bring the myriad things to oneself. N in the "Neiye: the cosmos is moniscic. He who gt2$ps the One is thus .able to explore everyming: lberefore. as for the sage, the one word liberates him. He explores H eaven .above Uld explores Earth below· (1).8a). Alrhough the sage never ｬ･ ｾｬｖ･ｳ＠ his form, he is .able to explore the cosmos simply by gnsping m e one word. And. ag.ain.as in the "Neiye,· this allows him to rule all the myri.ad things: He who grasp' rhe One and does not lose it is able to become the ruler of the myriad things. He shares the same brightness of the Ilin md moon and shares the same pattern as Heaven md Earth. The ｳｾｧ･＠ regulates things; thinV do nOt control him. (1).6b) The claim here exceeds .anything seen in the "Neiye." Grasping the One not only gives the sage access to the cosmos, it in fact allows him to g.ain the S.1.me p.attern as He.aven .and E.arth .and achieve the S2JT\e ｢ｲｩｧｨｭ･ｾ＠ as the sun and moon. He has the same powers of control as He.aven itself. This emphasis on the divine powers of hum.ans is particularly de.ar in the way the authors playoff the discussion in the "Neiye" concerning shen. The text defines spirit as that which is so refined .as to be immeasur.able by o rdinary human experience .and yet understands everything: • As for the spirit, no one knows its ultimate point. It bri11i.anrly knows all under He.aven and penetr.ates the four ulrimate poincs" (1}.s b-6a). The text then qUOtes the "Neiye" pass.age on divination. Intriguingly, however, it omits me admonition to concentrate "25 if a spirit" (ru see p. liS): men; Can you not engage in ｣ ｾｫｭ｡ｩｮｧ＠ or ｭｩｬｦｯ ｾ＠ Can YOll concentrate' em you ｵｮｩｦｹｾ＠ divinaIion md ya lInderstand auspiciowinesJ ahd ｩｮ｡ｵｳｰ｣ｯ･ｾ＠ Can you StOp' Can you reach m end? Can you nOt :uk others and obtain it in yourself? Therefore it is said: "If you think about it and think abollt it but do nOt obtain it. the ghOstS and spirits will teach ir. This is nOt due ro the power of ghOUl md spirits; it is dlle 10 the 1Iitimate point of the essential qi: (IJ.6a-h) DBSCENDANTS OF THE ONI! DBSCENDANTS OF THB ONE The p:.l.Suge concludes by defining the sage: in precisely the same terms used to describe me spirit: NHe brilliantly knows all under Haven and penetrates piled at a time when the Qin unification of the stares became a real possibility, the text appears to be part of a court debate over what the ideology of the state of Qin should be. The received tradition holds that Lli Buwei commissioned a number of scholars ro write chapters for a work that would encompass aU knowledge of the rime. Why such a tradition would develop is d ear: the overall claim made by the rext is one of indusivity. Although the specific arguments vary from chapter to chapter. each chapter attempts to pull togerher distinct positions into larger. totalizing systems. Moreover, and more important for the concerns of this chapter, the attempt is usually made within cosmological frameworks. The text t hus reveals an array of cosmological positions taking shape in the mid-rhird century BC since the place of humans varies from chapter (0 chapter, t he text serves as an excellent series of examples of some of the disparate late Warring States attempts to envision rulership within a cosmological framework. The text also provides a snapshot of a debate at the Q in court on the eve of the imperial unification. In the short run, as we shall see, the positions;lSsociared with the Liishi chunqiu failed to win OUt ae Court: soon after the work was completed. Lli Buwei fell from power, and the Qin court thereafter provided little support for such ideas-nor did it do so after the formarion o f the Qin empire. We thus g.ain a glimpse as well ofrhe precarious position of correlative cosmology.at (he courtS of the day. The ｴｾｘ＠ continues the critique of ritual specialists, as well as the critique H of rulers of the day for employing them. For example, the "Jie shu chapter sees attempts to manipulate the world of spirits as causing the problems they are supposed ro prevent: HIn the current generation, the rulers use crackmaking and milfoil divination, praying. and sacrificing. Therefore. sickness and H4S disease come all the more. The same chapter has similar critiques of the H "spirit specialisrs and physicians -figures whom the "the ancients held in Hi9 contempt. Such criticisms show the degree ro which. even as late as 140 BC, cosmologists still perceived themselves [0 be.a minority voice at the court and thought i( necessary to argue th.lt the rulers of their day should nor reSO rt to such riru.al :uts as divination and sacrifice. The point is worth emphasizing. since manr rwenrieth-cenrury analyses take (he cosmological '7' H the four ultimate points (13.7b). The claims are essencially those of the "Neiye,H hut (he authors take (he additional step of implying that one can in fact become a spirit and gain full knowledge: of all under Haven. Another chapter of [he Guan zi, the HXinshu, shang. makes the point Cl(plicit. The (ext at one point makes a claim dearly reminiscent of the HNeiye "If one empties one's desires, me spirit will emer and dwell. If·in clearing one does not dunse fully. the spirit willleave,H It then prollides a commentary to this Sfatemenc: H H : That which regulates man is essence. If you discard desi res, [hen you will be illembracing. If you are alI.embrrong, then you will be lrilL If you are still. you will be of essence, If you are of essence. you will establish yoursdf alone. If you are alone. you will be iIIuminiited. If you are illuminated. you will be a spirit. The spirit is the most valued. Thus. if a hallway is not opened and deared. then a valued person would not reside in it. Therefore it is said: ·If you do not cleanse. the spirit will not remain.""? Utilizing the same oosmology and same terminology as the "Neiye," the au· thors of the "Xinshu, shang make the full claim that humans can in fact become spirits. Like the "Chengf.( chapter of the Shiliujing, the authors of these twO chapters posit a monistic cosmology in which the adept should anempc to grasp the One. But, whereas the ·Chengfa" is built on an argument for the necessity of understanding and controlling the many by means of the One, the authors of these chapters are arguing that the sage can in fact ｢･ｾｯｭ＠ a spirit-ruling over the myriad things, possessing the same panern as Heaven and Earth, and penetr.ating ro the four points of the cosmos. Despite their differences, however, both follow a similar move: both present a monogenetic cosmos, and both d.aim th.at the ruler can g.ain great powers by returning directly to the One. M Becoming Like Heave n: The LU5hi chunqiu Many of these cosmological arguments were further elaborated in the Liilhi rhunqiu, a text put together by Lil Buwei at the court ofQin around a39 BC. The text is • .among orher things. an argument for universal rulership. Com- 4B. Liiu,i ｣ｨｷｾｱｩｵＮ＠ 47. G"""ti. "Xinlhu, Ihang." 1).lb, )a- b. 49. Ibid. "Jielhu: l.$"-. '73 ,,, DBSCflNDANTS OF THB ONE DESCENDANTS OF THE ONE claims in texts like the UiJhi ,hunqill as evidence of fundamenu.1 structures of Chinese thought and overlook the origins of these texts as polemics against the dominant practices at the courts of the .uy. And they were arguments that would conrinue to be, for much of the next [WO ccnrories, quite unsuc' itself, and me sages created music by determining those natural harmonies. Music thus exemplifies this natur.al harmony: ｾ＠ All music is th e harmonizing '74 cessful. "VaYUtO The -Oayue- chapter, an essay on music, opens with a cosmogony design ed co pl:ace both the origins of music and the sages' utilization of music within a bro2d generative framework-a framework reminiscent of the Talyi sheng Jhui: The origiru of tones and music are distam. They were generated of measures and rooted in the Great One (T airi). The Gra.t One produced the two forms. the twO fOnN produced [he yin and the yang.. the yin and the yang changed and transfonned, one above and one bdow, joining and completing. confused and chaoric, separating and then again joining. joining and then again separating. This is called the constancy of Heaven. Heaven and Eatth were the wheel of a chariot, ending and then again beginning. reaching the extreme and then again ｲ･ｴｵｭｩｮｧＮｾ＠ As in the T aip mellg Jhui, the cosmogony here centers around the Great One. But unlike that earlier text, the role of the Great One was ro give bitth to twO forms, which then gave binh to the yin and yang. The interaction of these two created the seasons, and out of this th e myriad things were born: The four seasons repeatedly arose, now hot, now cold; now shott, now long: now 5011:, now hard. The myriad thinp' were what emerged, initiated (tao) by the Great One, transfomled by rhe yin and yang. germinating. sprouting. devdoping. growing. growing cold, and freezing-all so as fa be formed. (s.3b) The proper and harmonious funcrioning of the cosmos allows for the continued growth of things. The sounds produced from the ensuing harmony became the basis for t he sages' formation of music: "The form and substance have a place; everything has a sound . Sound is produced from harmony, harmony is produced from being fitting. When it was harmonious and fitting. the forme r kings determined (dillg) the music. (Music) was generated from mis- (s.3b). Harmonious sound is mus a product of the growth of the cosmos of Heaven and Earth and the blending of yin and ｹ｡ｮｧｾ＠ (S. 4a). Hence, the sages use music to maintain Heaven and Earth in proper harmony. The Great One is the source of this harmony. As the authors argue in a pi\.SS:.lge almost identical to statements in both the Taiyi lhtllg shui and the LAozi: "The Way is the utmOSt essence. It cannot be formed; it cannot be named. If you are forced to do so, call it the Great One. Therefore, the One regulates and commands. and the two follow and obe( (S. 4a- b). Consequently, humans who can use th e One are able to bring harmony ro nature: He who can U5e rhe One to bring order fa his body will escape from disuter, live a long life to me end, and keep intact his Heaven (Tian). He who is able to use the One fa govern his state will CUt out depravity and licenriousne:u, attract: the wonhy, and complete the great transformarion. He who is able to use the One to regulate all under Heaven will cause cold and heat to be moderated and rhe wind and rain to be rimdy, and will become a sage. (s.4b) By utilizing the One, an adept can bring the natural world to its proper fruition: the individual will live out his allotted lifespan, the ruler of a state will bring order ro his realm, and me supreme ruler of :ill under Heaven will properly modulate the forces o f natu re. Humans thus playa crucial role in moderating not only human nature but [he entire natural world. Music occupies a middle position here-it is based on the generative processes of nature. and yet it is one means humans use to regulate nature. Humanity is thw, even in the formation of mwic, the fulfiller of natural processes. The way to control the wind and rain, therefore. is n ot by trying to manipulate the spirits who control such forces but by connecting oneself to the Great One and theteby helping t o maintain the harmony of the cosmic forces. Iv. in the ｾｃｨ･ｮｧｦ｡Ｌ＠ ｾ＠ the argument here is that the adept should conform to an ex:re rnal One. "&nJben{ In contrast to the ｾｄ［ｬｹｵ･ｷ＠ chapter and [he ﾷｃｨ･ｮｧｦ｡ Ｎｾ＠ the authors of several other chapters in the Lusbi ,bunljiu built th eir cosmological arguments on claims concerning Jhtll. The -Bensheng" chapter, one of the most interesting of these essay., makes coamologica.l claims for the potentially divine powers ", DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONS DeSCeNDANTS OP THE ONE s, of humans through a complex argument concernirig ancestors and humans. The opening statement plays on the dde of the ruler, the Hson of ｈ･｡ｶｮｾ＠ (tiam:i): "That which first gives birch ＨｾｨｭｧＩ＠ is Heaven; the one that nour- Therefore, as regards a sage's rdation to sounds, colors, flavors, and tastes: if they are beneficial to his nature, he takes them. If mey are harmful to his n:u:ure. he rejects them. This is the way of completing his nature. (I ...b). ishes and completes is man. The one who is able [0 nourish what Heaven HS2 generates without perverting it is called the Son of Heaven. H eaven is a And completing his nOlture is tantamount to completing his He:.l.ven: generative power, and humans nurture what Heaven has generated. However, such activities risk a perversion of the inheritance, a perversion thac can be avoided only by the Son of H eaven-that is, he who is a proper son, properly foUawing what me p<trent, Heaven. has generated. The text continues: The actions of the Son of Heaven take the completing of Huven as their Clmse. Ie is for this reason that officials are established. The establishment of officials is done in order to complete life. The deluded rulers of the present age Set up many officials but contrarily use them to harm life. They thus lose the purpose for establishing them. ([.4a) The sole goal of the State should be to complete Heaven. And the s:.l.me point holds at the level of human nature. Ag.ain, the emphasis is on the necessity of nurturing human nature and on [he dangers of perverting it: It is the nature of man to be long-lived. But things (WII) disorder it; therefore, it does not obtain long life. Things are used to nurrure the nature; they :m: not what uses the nature to be nurrured. (1.4a) The concern, therefore, is not opposite: to use oneself to help th ings but the enct Of those who are deluded in the present ｡ｾＬ＠ many usc the nature to nurture things. They do nOt understand (the distinctions ofllightness and heaviness. He who does not know lightness and heaviness rakes heavy as light and light as heavy. As such, every action fails. ([, 4a-b) The abili£)' to nurture correctly thus resides in a correct underscOlnding of distinctions. Accordingly, the sage consumes only those things that are beneficial: SI. My undemanding of this dupeer has bt:.:l\ helped by ,he in.!ighdul commenu in Gra· ham. "The Backgroul\d of ,he Mencian Theory or Human Nature: pp. I ) - IS. I. however. question Graham', attempt to read the chapter as "Yangi"'S1. LiiJhi ｲｨｷｮｾｩＮ＠ "Bc:nlheng."l.lb- 4a: hereinafter cilro in Ihe lUI. Therefore, the sage regub.res me myriad things so as to complete his Heaven. If his Heaven il complete. then his spirit will be harmoni:o:ed, his eyes wiU be dear-,eeing. hil ears keen of he:uing. his nose good at smelling. his mouth quick. the }60 joints all connected .and ,harp. (1.51) By thus regulating the myriad things, me sage is :.I.ble to perfect his he.avenly endowment, His powers Olnd f.tculties then connect properly with the rest of the cosmos: as hil spirit becomes hOlrmonized with the cosmos, his senses are Olble to perceive without error. ru :.I. consequence, the sage himself be· comes like He.aven md fu.rth: His essence will penetrate Heaven .and Emh, and his spirit will cover the universe. As regards things: there:ue none he does nor receive.and none he does not internalitt. He is like Heaven and Eanh. (I.sa). The cycle is complete. Heaven gives birth to mm, :.I.nd man thus has :.I. part of Heaven within him. The goal of man is ro utilize the things of the world to complete that which HeOlven has given. The true sage-the person who is able to complete this process-ultim:.l.tely intemali:o:es all things within himself, and h il essence and spirit penetr:.l.te the universe. The Son becomes compuable to that which gave birth to him: he becomes like He.aven :.I.nd Euth th emselves. The sage's achievement of a spirit that encompasses the cosmos is thus rhe teleological completion of what He:.l.ven iniri.ally generated. In such a cosmology, man does not exist in Ol potential agon with Heaven, n or does man follow Heaven; instead man-if he fully achieves his potenrialcom pletes Heaven's generative process and ,thereby regulates the myriad things of the universe. Things are therefore to be used to aid in m:.l.n's completion of this geneutive process. In short, Heaven esta.blished the cosmos for mOln: if the Son of H e.aven accepts what benefits hil own nature md re o jects all that does not, he will rule over the world properly. The ugument is in some W:.l.ys :.I. radicali7;ation of the claims of Mencius. Mencius believed rh.:u sages, by culriv:.l.ring that which Heaven gave them, could encompass the myriOld things and humonize Heaven :.I.nd Earth. But he allo felt thn Heaven, fo r renons that were mysterious, at times blocked ", DI!SC8NOANTS OF THS ONI! D ESCENDANTS Of THE ONE the uge's proper ordering of the world. In this chapter of the LUJhi chunqiu, however. the sage's ordering of the cosmos is defined :.l.S normative movement of the generative process begun by H eaven. The potential agon As in the - Bensheng" chapter, by following this program, the ruler profeCts the Heaven within him: me found from the Western Zhou through Mcneius, which figures like Zhuangzi rejecrcd by defining [he spirit :.l.S sponraneously following He2ven, is here denied entirely: in achieving the ability to encompass the universe and regulate the myriad things, the sage brings to completion what Heaven has gencTlccd. A closer look, however. reveals chat the argument of the "Benshenf p.r.allds the ritual behayior toward the ancestors discussed in Chapter I : it is t he living who must bO[h fulfill me processes begun by the ancestors and place those ancestors in the proper location. O nly here the prlXess moves in t he opposite direction: instead o f trying to order his ancestors and ultima tely influence H eaven, the ruler becomes like Heaven and personally brings order to the entire cosmos. The method advocated is therefore self-cultivation, not sacrifice .and djvin.ation. As in the "Neiye" and ｾｘｩｮｳ ｨｵ ﾷ＠ ch.apters, powers usu.ally conceived to be obt.ainable only by ritual specialists in their dealings with spirits are here presented 2S obt.ainable by certain humans through selfcultivation. The conflict between humans and spirits is denied by representing the s.age 2S capable of divinizing himsdf .and thereby internalizing all of the cosmos within himself. The ｾ ｌ ｵ ｮｲ･ ﾷ＠ chapte r plays with these notions in a sligh tly different way. The ch.apter opens by explaining th.at the most important thing for.a ruler to do is ro revert ro his true n.ature: What is meant by tu rning back to oneself:' Making one's ears and eyes appropriate, modulating one's lusts and desires, forsaking deverness and plotting. expelling crafi'iness and precedent, letting one', intentions roam (you) in the inexhaustible realm. and exercising one's mind on the path of spontaneity.S} Neither precedent-following the p2St-nor craftiness-shifting with the times-is of use. The goals .are to return co one's true self, w.ander through out the cosmos, and embT2ce spont.aneity. On the face of it, this sounds very much like Zhuangzi. '79 As such, there will be nothing that will harm his Heaven. If there is nothing that will harm his Heaven, then he will know his essence. Ifhe knows his essence, then he will know his spirit. Knowing his spirit is known u obtaining the One. Now, the myriad fornu are completed after obtaining the One. Therefore, he who knows the O ne can respond to the a1reradons and transfor.mations of ｴｨｩｮｾＮ＠ (1.7bl H ere too, the possibility of conflict with Heave n is denied; on t he contrary, one's highest goal as a human is to protect that piece of H eaven within oneself. But t he "Lunren" .adds to th is argument.a cosmology ba.sed on essence, spirit, and t he One. These are arrayed in a hierarthy: not harming his Heaven allows t he adept to know his essence, which in tum allows him to know first his spirit and then the One. Since all things, it is implied, 2fe subo rdinate to the One, his knowledge of the One allows the adept to respond things flawlessly. As in the "Bensheng" chapter, this ultim.ately allows one to be like H eaven and Earch: to Therefore, if his knowledge consists in knowing the One, then he will be like Heaven and Earth. As such, then what affair cannot be overcome:' Whu thing (wul will he not respond to? (3.8a) The ruler thus, in .a sense, t ranscends being a thing (wu). He inste.ad knows the One and is like He.aven and E.arch: he witnesses the alterations and tr.ansformation of things and responds properly. In some w.ays, this argument is reminiscen t of that in the "Neiye": by culrivaring himself, the adept is able to obt.ain the One and rule effect ively. But here the implication is not that one, a.s in the -Neiye; conrrols things; the sense is, rather, that o ne is able [0 respond effecrively to things. This is, in .a way, a political re.ading of t he cosmology of texes like the Zhuang:ri. But instead of simply .accepting the o rder of H eaven and thereby spontaneously according with [he proper way, the rule r here becomes like Heaven md Earch and thus m.aintains t he s.ame spontaneous d irection over things [h,lI[ He.aven .and Earth the mselves exercise. The Zhuangzi repeatedly advises us [0 Stop trying to overcome He.aven; t he concern here is precisely to allow the adept to ovetcome things. The path to political power, therefore, lies not in becoming like a 'piTit bur in att.aining t he same spontaneous guidance of the cosmos exerciaed by Ht2ven. ,80 DESCENDANTS OF THB ONB DBSCBNDANTS OF THE ONE ·Wugon{ Ytt another variant of the cosmological argument is ﾷｗｵｧｯｮ ｾ＠ (0 be found in the chapter. A3 in the "Lunren," the argument of the ﾷｗｵｧｯｮｾ＠ chaptcr is based on .a linkage of spirit :.l.nd the Great One. The sage-king. the :.l.uthors argue, nourishes his spirit. cultivates his power (dt) and transforms.... Bright, like the il· lumination of the sun, he alters and transforms the myriad things, and nothing is not put in morion. His spirit is harmonized with the Grear One. 54 By nourishing his spirit, the sage-king harmonizes his spirit with the G reat ,8, of arts such as divination or sacrifice. The implication is that the spirits are without form yet can nonetheless order things-powers [hat a human can attain as well. H owever. nothing in the text implies [hat ghosrs and spirits face south and thereby make all under H eaven follow their wishes. Hwnans can pene· trate to the ghosrs and spirits, but humans are also granted a particular and crucial role in ordering the cosmos. As with Confucius, that role is based on ritual positioning. but here it is discussed in terms of a cosmological potency. As a consequence, the sage·king is able to bring all within his realm into the form that he desires: One and gains power over things: In general, the ruler resides in evenness and srillncss and employs virrue and Hans· fornution so as to follow his needs. In this way, he gives form to nature (xi"g). His essence penetrates to the ghosts and spirits. Deep. minutt, dark, mysterious; no one sus his form. If today he faced south, the hundred hettrodoxies would co rrect (17. lob ) themsdves and all under Heaven would return to their dispositions. The people would fully take plusure in their intentions and peacefully culrivate theif natures, and none would act without completing. (17.gb) The sage-king does precisely what [he Great One does: he gives form to things by guiding their nature-their innate potenriality. The sage's realm is rhus a microcosm of the larger cosmos. By nourishing his spirit, the ruler can anain the power to tuns form things and give them form. This is yet another variant of the attempc co claim continuity in che cosmos and co posicion the human ruler, by linking with che ultimate ancestor, as the ordering force of the cosmos. These powers would ultimately allow him to become like [he ghosrs and spirirs, and he would recfio/ the world. The claim here is in some ways cpmparable to a Statement from the Llmyl.l (IsIs): The master said: "NOt doing anything and yet purring things in order, this was Shun. What did he do? He made hinuelf reverent, was rectified, and faced south; that is ill: Shun was able to PUt all in order by assuming the proper ritual position. H The passage from the HWugong chapter makes a similar point but at a cosmological level: by making his spirit harmonize with the Great One, the sage-king penerrates to [he ghosrs and spirirs and brings order to the wOtld. Several interrelated claims are being made here. The most important is chat humans can, through self-cultivation, gain the same powers as ghosrs and spirits. Precisely what powers ghosts and spirits have is not clear: they certainly do not seem to be the ghosts and spirits of contemporary religious practice-beings who act willfully and (from the point of view of humans) sometimes arbitrarily, and who therefore need to be manipulated by means Each of these chaprers from the Lushi chl.lnqil.l involves anempts to develop a cosmological argument based on a claim of genealogical descent. If everyching is descended from a common ancestor, then how does man gain power vis-a-vis this ancestor! As I have noted, the answers to this question are complex cosmological reworkings of the issues discussed in Chapter I concerning ancestral sacrifices. Correlative cosmology in China may be an attempt to supersede sacrificial models, but the authors of cosmological syscems often appeal to the model of ancestral sacrifice in making their argumenrs. As Granet (according to my reading of him) has argued, cosmology in early China often recapitulates sacrificial claims. The Pattern of Heaven and Earth: The Xunzi All the rexts discussed thus far in this chapter advocate a cosmology based on a common descent of everything (including man) from a single ancescor, ｾｮ､＠ all reject practices such as divination and sacrifice. r tum now to Xunzi, ,', DSSCENDANTS OF THE ONS DESCENDANTS OF THE ONI! one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the third cenrury DC. U Many scholars would argue that although Xunzi rejects divination and sacrifice, he does not accept the cosmological argumenrs developing around him. Indeed, Heiner Roe[% porcnlYs Xunzi as a full ｲ｡｣ｩｯｮｬｳｾ＠ 2nd .argues thOlt :although Xunzi at times appears to make cosmological arguments. he does not intend them as such. In Xunzi. Hthe cosmological diction is rhetoric. ooS7 I will dispute each of these pointS! Xunzi was indeed exm:mely interested in cosmological notions, and unlike so many of his contemporaries, he jUpporttd sacrifice and divination. Although he agreed that sacrifice and divill2- cion could not coerce spirits, he argued that they were nonetheless tradi· tional practices and should be accepted as such. Thus, in connast to those calling for a rejection of sacrifice and d ivination on the grounds that the SlIge can achieve the same ends through shen-like inruition, Xunzi argues that such practices :a.re culture (Wtn 3t). As he states in the ｬｩＺ｡Ｎｮｵｾ＠ ch:a.pter:S8 If we S:l.crifice and it e:lins, what does this mean! I s:a.y: it does not mean :a.nything. It is the S:l.me as not S:l.crificing md h:a.ving it rain. When the sun is eaten by the moon (Le., when there is an eclipse), we uve it; when Heaven has.:l. drought. we ucrifice; we engage in ctackmaking and milfoil divin.:l.tion and only then decide .:I. great event. But we do not thereby obt.ain wh.:l.t we seek; we.are pl:lCing culture (10'(11) upon ir. Therefore, .:I. genclemm tues this as culture. but the hundred f:a.milies tue it as divine (skn). To take it as culture is .:I.uspicious; to take it as divine (shen) is inauspicious.S'J But wh.:l.t precisely does Xunzi me.:l.n in distinguishing wen and shen! T ellingly, Xunzi defines wen in rebtion to sacrifici:a.l action. His full argument is worth following in depth. At the xillng sacrifice, we ue told, water, raw fish, and unflavored soup are offered: NAt the great xiang sacrifice, one offers a goblet of water, pbces 55. My ovenl.I understanding of Xunzi hu been hdped ｧｲｾｴＡｹ＠ by the analyse.! in Goldin. Ril..../' oflbe ｗｾｹＺＮｭ､＠ the essays in Kline.md Ivanhoe, Virlu., Nal,,.., a..J Moral Ag<"'1 illth. XUllri. Of J=licular hdp for d", specific issues of in.eresr in this section hu been Campany, -Xunzi and Durkhcim as Thcor1m ofRiru.al Practice: 56. See, e.g., Roetl, Conjuriall Ethics of Ib • .Axi..I Ag<, ｐＮＱＩ Ｍ ｾ Ｎ＠ 51. Ibid., p. ｾＱＰＮ＠ 58. My ｵｮ､｡ｾｲＮｩｧ＠ of rhe 'T.. n1uo" chapter hu been aided rremendowly by Ivanhoe, -A Happy Symmnry"; M.achle, ｎｾｬｵｲ･＠ • ..J He","", ill 1M XUIIli; and Eno, Tht Colljulillll ertaliolloj ｈＧＴｾ＠ pp. ＱｾＴＭＶＮ＠ 59. ｘｷｮｾ ［＠ (htTeinalter cited in the text), '''tllun," 1I.I)lI. '" raw fish on the offering table, and serves firS[ the unflavored soup. This is co w honor the foundations (ben ;$:) of food and drink ("Lilun,w IJ.3b). But one men goes on to offer prepared foods: At the xiang S:lCMCe, one offers the goblet of wuer but [hen uriliXe:I wine and SWeet wine; one fim h:u glutinous and pmided millet but then eats rice:l.l1d spiked millet; at the sacrifices, one tues the unflavored soup but then gets filled with various ddicacies. One is thus honoring the foundations yet embracing how they.:l.u used (yong ffl). ("Lilun: lJ.lb) The sacrifices allow us to honor both the raw and the cooked, Xunzi then associates these cwo poles with wen and Ii ｾＬ＠ respectively: NHonoring the foundations is what we call cultural forms (wen). Embracing how they are used is what we call pattern (Ii)" ｲ ｌｩｬｵｮ Ｌ ｾ＠ 13.Jb). Offering a goblet of water, placing raw fish on the offering cable, and serving unfl:a.vored soup is an example of culrural form-of :a.crions mar direct the p:a.rticipants' attention to the foundations observable in nature. And the second p:a.rt of the sacrifices allows us to embrace human preparation of food and drink for consumption. "When these cwo :a.re combined with completed cultural forms, they thereby return to the Great One. All of this is what we call the Great Flourishing- (Lilun,· lJ.3b). The · completed cultural forms Hthus rerum us co rhe Gre:I.C One-me original foundation-just as lesser cultural forms return us to such basics as raw food. Xunzi has thus posiced an extremely complex sec of interlocking defmitions. We have foundations, cultural forms that help us honor those found:a.(ions, p:;.tterns that allow us to embrace how humans put those foundations to use. and completed cultural forms th:a.[, combining cultural forms and patterns, return us ro the Gre:l.[ One-the primary foundation. Sacrifices for Xunzi thus involve a focus on (he nature of human action in relation to the world. Indeed, they encapsulate the entire process of hum:a.ns' taking elemencs of n:a.ture, preparing them, and then cons uming them. Ac one level, mis may seem like a very Hrationar understanding of sacrifice. Indeed, it closely corresponds with some of Uvi-Srr:a.uss·s :a.nalyses of ritual. But Xunzi's final claim thu humms are thus honoring (he Great One reveals a gre:l.rtr cosmological interest than Roetz is willing to admit. To mue sense of this, let us take a closer look at Xunzi's conception of-founda_ t ions: cultural forms, and p:a.tterns. For Xunzi, cultural forms 2nd patterns :are humm artifice, whereas the foundations:are part of nature, ,8, DESCBNDANTS OF TH E ONE DESCBNDAN TS OF THB ONB Therefore r say that the nature (:o:'''g) is the foundatio n. the beginning, the material, and the substance; artifice il the cultural fo rm (wen). pattern (Ii), abundance. and flourishing. If there were no nature. there would be nothing for :mif'ice to add to. If there were no artifice. the naNn: would be unable [0 beautify irsd( Only when the nature and artifice combine are the names of the sages unified and the accomplish - ments of all under Heaven completed. (Lilun,W1).1001) And artifice mUJI be combined with narure in order for the myriad ｛ｨｩｮｾ＠ be brought to order: ,8, Bur the sage d oes not. through cuirivation, become like H eaven. On the contrary, HeaYen and man haye distinct duties in the proper ordering o f the cosmos. They ue generically related, but in this cos mology [he son does not become like the ancestor. So what about mrn? If in this cosmology the sage completes [he wo rk of Heaven, t hen d oes [he SOIge become a spirit? to Therefore, I say that when Ha ven and the Eanh combine, the myriad things are born; when yi n and yangjoin. changes lIld rraruformarions arise; when the nature and artifice combine. all under Heaven is pur in order. Heaven can give birth to things but cannot dUdnguish things; the Earth can bea r man but cannot put mm in order. Within the universe. the myriad things generate those who belong to the human race, they await the sage and only then arc they differentiated. ("Lilun: 13.roa) It is the combining of cultural forms and patterns with the foundations that brings order to the world. As r have argued elsewhere. there is an implicit teleology in Xunzi: humans fulfill th eir proper duty through artifice :md 60 rhereby bring order to that which Heaven generated. Elsewhere. Xunzi speaks of patterns (Ii) as wmething ehe sages properly brough t to t he world of nature: Therefore, Heaven and Earth gave birth to the gentleman. The gencleman gives patterru to Heaven and Euth. The gentleman forms a triad with Heaven and Earth, is the summation of the myriad things. and is the father and mother of the people. Without the gentleman. H eaven and Earth have no pattern. rirual and righteousnCD have no unity, above there is no ruler or leader. below there is no father or son. This is called me utmost chaos. Ruler and mi nister. father and son, older and younger brother. hUJbmd and wife. begin and then end. end and then begin. They share with Heaven and Earth the same pattern and lut for ten thousand genera· nons. This is called the G reat Foundation (btn). r Wangzhi: s.7a-b) T he gentle man forms a triad with H eaven and Earth. and he in rum becomes the f.uher and mother of the people. And this entire hien.rchy is de· fined as the Great Foundation. The order of sages is thus the teleo logical completion of the generation of H eave n. As in the "Benshenf chapter of the LUJhi ,hunqiu, the sage is the son of Heaven in a lite ral sense o f carrying OUt ehe inheritance of Heayen, The arrayed sran follow in ci rcles, the Jun and moon , hine in alternation, the four seasons take charge in liuccession, yin and yang greatly transform, the wind and thc rain disseminate broadly. As for the myriad thingJ, each obt:ain.s what harmonizes with it in order to be born, and each obcains iu nurtura nce in order to become , omplere. We cannOt see thc activity. but we can sec the accomplis hmenu. TIm is what we call "divinc· (she .. ). All unde rstand that by whi,h it hu been complered but no one unders tands its formlessness. This i, what wc call -Heavcn.· O nly the sage acts without liecking to understand Heavcn. ("Tianiun," lI.gb-loa) The cosmos operates according to specified pancrns in order to allow things (wu) to live and receive nourishment. The filct that the cosmos so operates is Xunzi uses the term not t o describe spiries with comrol over natural phenomena: t he word does nor im ply particular spirits a.s the causal agents o f each eve nt. H e is, rather, using it to describe the d ivine qualities of the panemed cosmos, the fact that it so opc n.tes to allow things to flourish. Jh!rI. And "H eaven" refe rs to the origin of this cosmos. But, we are told, the sage seeks not [ 0 understand any of this. Xunzi then rums co man. Like the rest of t he cosmos, man is bo rn from Heaven: "When (he work of H eaven has been establis hed and th e accomplishments of H eaven have been completed. the form is prepared and the spirit (00) is born- (iianlun,- n.lOa). ru in texrs like the "Neiye" and "Xinshu: humans have spirit within themselves. Man's inheritance is [hen described a.s coming from Heaven: Likes. dislikes, happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy are nored within him: these are called the Heavenly dis position. The ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and body-each hu thac with which it conneas, but they Cannot substitute for one another: these arc , ailed the Heavenly faculties . The mind resides within the central emptinCSIII so u to rule the five faculties: this is called the Heavenly ruler. It makes into produce what is nOf of its species in order to nurture its species: this is called the Heavenly nunurance. ThOle who accord with their species are called fonunate, and those who oppote their .pecies are called unfortunare; rhis is called the H eavenly govcrnance. ("Tianlun: 11.loa) ,'6 '" DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONa DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONB And the sage is the figure who most successfully utilizes his inheritance &om vine (shtn), the sage who properly uses the endowment given to him by Heaven: He2ven to ruJe over the myriOld things is divine (5hen), and the resulting order is gre2cly divine (da l'hm). The sage dears his Heavenly ruler, recrifies his Heavenly f2culries, prepares his Heavenly nu\'tllrance. accords with his Heavenly governance, nourishes his H eav. enly disposition. and thereby brings completion to the Heavenly accomplishments. Ifhe does so, chen he knows wh.u he is [0 do and not to do. H eaven and Earth then perform chei r functions. and the myriad things serve him. His movements are fully ordered, his nurtuunee fully appropriate. md his life is without'" injury. This is cilled knowing Heaven. ＨＭｲｩ｡ｮｬｵＮｾ＠ IJ.lob) me If man utili:zes properly what Heaven has given him, chen myriad things serve him. Man's duty in the cosmos, th erefo re. is ro bring order ro chings. And. for Xunzi, thi5 represents knowing Heaven. In other words, to attempt to study the workings of the cosmos directly (as many correlative texts of the time were advocating) is mistaken; rather, the goal should be to cultivate oneself, utilize the Heavenly inheritance properly, and thereby take 2 dominant role in ordering things. The o rder that results is a further elUmple of lhtll. For ex.ample, in one pasSllge, after discussing h ow all natural objects 2nd CTC2tures are utilized by man for man's benefit, Xunzi condudes: ThlU, as for what Heaven nourishes and Eanh carries, all that is beautiful is urili2:ed, and all that is useful is brought fonh. Above, it is used to adorn the wonhy and good, and below it is used to nourish the hundred families and give them pleasure. This is called the "Great Divinity" Ｈ､ｾ＠ lhen). CWangzhi: s.6b) The appropriation by hum2nity for its own usc all th2t has been nourished and carried by He2ven and Eareh is ehe proper, divine order of the cosmos. And the sage who is able to maintain order in the cosmos is himself divine (lhtn): What is called [he One? I say: holding fast to the divine (Ihen) and being resolute. What is called divine ＨｊｨｴｮＩｾ＠ I say: the utmost goodness and full ordering is called divine. If none of the myriad things (wu) are able [0 ovenurn him, then he is called rellolute. He who is divine and resolute is called a sage. CRu xiao: 4.7:1) By definition, the sage is resolute and divine. Resoluteness is ehe abili£)' nO[ to be overturned by things: the sage should rule things, nor vice vers2. Divinity (lhtll) is specified as "utmost goodness and full ordering (Wi)." This is consistent with Xunzi's other uses of the term Jhen: Jhell is what brings things to their proper order. Thus, the functioning of the cosmoa itlelf is di - The passage continues: -rhe sage is the manager of the Way. The Way of all under Heaven is managed by him; the W2y of the hundred kings is unified by him. Therefore, the Pomy, DocUm t IlU, RituaIJ,:and MUlic return us to him" ("Ru xiOlo: +.72). The traditions of the sages, recorded in wh2t we now call the Classics. allow later generations to know the teachinV of the sages. Bur since Heaven has endowed everyone with the ability to become 2 sage, anyone who studies these 2ncienr records c:an 2chieve the same powers: If you make a man in [he street submit to techniquell and engage in srudy, concentrating his mind and unifying his will, thinking. inquiring. examining. adding each day for a long time, accumulating goodness without ceasing. [hen he will penetrate [0 [he divine clarity (5henmillg) and form a triad with Heaven and Eanh. ("Xing'e,' 11.6b) But these powers grant the srodent neither control over phenomen2 nor a flawless undersranding of the cosmos but, rather, 2n ability to bring proper order to himself and the world. Xunzi thus util..izcs much of the increasingly common cosmological vocabulary of the time but 21ters it so as to emphasize (he crucial importance of following the e2rlier sages. of continuing the ritual and textual traditions of the past. We are now in 2 position to understand Xunzi's re2ding of sacrifice and divinuion. In the p2SSage quoted Olt the beginning of this seerion, Xunzi deｾｘｪｮｳｨｵＧ＠ claim fends these practices as Wtll, but not as shen. The ｾｎ･ｩｹＺ｡ｮ､＠ divination to be unnecesury beCOlUSC such powers of prognostication arc obtain2ble through human cultivation; Xunzi encour2ges these practices. But he opposes any attempt to undersund the spirits or Heaven, 2nd he opposes any ;mempr 2t prognostication: he rejects the claim that one can truJy understand a future event (either through divin2tion or intuition). Nonethdess, the practice still has va.iue, for ir is 2 tradition handed down by the sages. But what does Xunzi mean when he says that sacrifice and divination are not lhell? For practices to be WIl, in Xunzi's terminology, they have to bring about 2 proper order, even though the ultimate C2USal mechanism is ourside o rdin2ry human perception. So, if sacrifice resulted in order, it would be Jhen; if divin2tion succeeded in showing what 2ctivitics arc 2uspicious, it would be .mll. But sacrifice and divin2tion C2nnor do these things. and the belief thOlt they can represents for Xunzi a foolish attempt to control 2nd understand .88 '" DESCBNDANTS OF T HII ONE DBSCBNDANTS OF THB ONB the cosmos-things that are outside the powers of hum:.!.ns and their arts. Humans can bring about order only by (ultil/uing themselves to utilize their many of these texts. Contrary to the usual interpretation. its argument is in some ways comparable ro that found in portions of the Xunzi. In particular. unlike almost all the texts discussed thus far. the Kid zhuan was wtiuen in JUppOft of the om of divin:nion. Unlike the critiques in texts such as the "Neiye and "Xinshu,· [he authors of the Xi,i v,uan argue strongly for the efficacy of divination. And unlike Xunzi, the authors of the Kid v,uan support divination not because it is Wtn but bec.ause it is jhtn. faculties properly and thereby ffi:.Uce the myriad things serve them, but they do not have the power to control the wind and (';lin. But sacrifice and divination are still wtn: if understood properly. these practices help humans to understand their proper role in the cosmos. Thus, Xunzi's argument is based not on a claim of rationalism but on the nature: of humanity and the nature of the cosmos. Xunzi opposes attempts by humans to use sacrifice and divination to influence spirits, and he equ.ally opposes claims that humans can themselves become spirits and directly ex:ercise control over the cosmos. His response is to argue that humans have a crucial role to play in the cosmos: the human artifices of culture and panern bring order to the cosmos not by allowing humans ro control the wind and rain bue by allowing them ro cultivate themselves properly. create a correer society. and appropriate natural objects for their own benefit. The cosmos is structured such that humans can emerge and. in this specific sense. give it order. Xunzi thus fully accepts the arguments concerning divinization and the crucial role humans play in the ordering of the cosmos. but he shifts the meaning of each of these terms d ramatically. Humans do not become like Heaven; rather. they playa Heaven-given role in bringing order to the world. And. through this argument. Xunzi provides himself a basis for supporting cultural traditions handed down from the past. Unlike the other texts discussed in this chapter, Xunzi supports sacrifice and divination and opposes the claim that humans can control or understand naeural processes. Submitting to me T rigrams: The Xici zhuan The Xici zhuan. a commentary to the Yi, or Book of Changcj, is one of the most oft-cited texts in discussions of correlative cosmology in China. At first glance. it appears to be yet another late Warring States text. like the chapters of me LiiJhi chunqiu and Guanzi, arguing that a human can through cultivation come to understand the workings of the cosmos and thereby be effective in the world or, in short, become a sage. Without question. the terminology of the text, with its emphasis on a spontaneous. self-generating cosmos which the sages should strive to understand and panern themselves on, resembles that found in the roughly contemporary texts mentioned above. Nonetheless, appearances aside. the Xi,i zhuan is quite critical of H The .authors of the Xici zhuan argue that the cosmos operates through changes pur in motion by the alternation of yin and yang. Since change is based on a defin.able series of processes, [he alternation can be formulated numerically. The numbers of Heaven arc twenty.five, the numbers of E.arth .are thirty. In .all, the numbers of Heaven and Earth are fifty-five. Ir is by means of chese thOlt the .alrem.ariolU and rr.ansformatiolU are completed :md the ghosts and spirits are pur into morion. 61 Hence, [0 underst.and ch.ange itself is ro understand the spirits: The master said: "He who knows the way of alternations and tr.ansfonnatiolU undemands what it is thar the spirits ＨｾＢＩ＠ do." ＨａＯｾＩ＠ Spirits. in this definition. are not willful agents who direct phenomena o n their own. Instead. they oper.ate through underst.andable processes of change. The key, therefore, is to undetsc.and these processes. And the way to do it, .according to the Xici zhuan. is to understand "che ｐｩｶｯＨＮｾ＠ The Pivot is the point of the alternation of yin and yang, the basis on which all change occurs. Thus. he who understands (his mechanism is able to undersund change and hence what actions will be auspicious. And because this knowledge gives him the ability to act properly, it means [hat he, too, c.an be c.alled divine {jhtn):62 The mOISter said: the one who understands the Piv(/[. is he not divine? ... The Pivor is the minurest beginning of movement, the firn m.anifestacions of .auspiciousness. The superior man sees the Piv(/[ and acts. without waiting until the end of the d.ay." (B/s) 61. Xici Ｚｴｨｾ＠ ..", Alp: hereilUfter cited in the len. My numbering of each p.as.s.age follow. Ihe Zhu Xi arrangement . 6l. Wilbrd J. Peteuon ("Making Connection,: pp. 103-10) provide, an a cdkm diJcllJlion o{ rhe nor ion of 1/,(" in !Ix Xici zhw .. n. In what {oUow" I attempc 10 .upplemenl his ,rudy by noting the hillorkal ,igroiflcance of Ihe cuim, made in the tCXt. .,0 However. the (ext claims that the Yi, or CIxlllgc', is also divine: The Yi is without thought and without acrion. Still and nor moving. responding and then penern.ring the ClIUSes of everything under Heaven. If it were not the mOlt di. vine (sMlI) of all under Heaven, how would it be able to parricifWt in this? (Ahe) Moreover, the pass:!ge continues, it was only by means of the Yi that the sages were (the past tense, as I will argue lattr. is n«essary here) able to un- derstand phenomeru: The Yi is th.lIt by whkh uges went to the limit of the deep and investigated the Pivot. Only because it is deep were they therefore able to penetrate the will of all under Heaven, only because it iJ a Pivot were they therefore able [0 complere the work of all under Heaven. Only because it is divine (six") were they therefore not hurried and yer fur, not moving and yet arriving. (Aho) But note that it is not JUSt thac the Yi gives one access co the Pivot; in the second sentence, che authors desc ribe the Yi itself as a Pivot. Sevetal questions immediately arise. H ow can the Yi be called ､ｩｶｮ･ｾ＠ How can the Yi itselfbe described as a Pivot? and If it is the relet char guided the sages, then where did it come from? I will deal with each of these in rum. As Willard Peterson has convincingly argued. the basic claim of the Xi!i zhuan is [nat the Yi is itselfin accord with the processes of nature: 6l The Yi is adju.1ited [ 0 Heaven and Earth. Therefore it is able to complete and claasify me way of Heaven and Eanh. Looking up. it observes the panerns of Heaven; looking down, it examines the principles of the EarTh. (AI .. ) The reason the Yi possesses [he ability [ 0 replicare the changes of the world is th:u it possuses the P ivot of change itself. It is for this rcuon thar the Yi pouases rhe Great PiW)[ (Taiji). Ttw generated [he: two truignia. The two insignia generated the four images. The four imagc:.s gener.Ired the eight trigrams. The eight t tigranu determine auspiciousness and inauspiciousnc:s.s. Au.spiciousness and inauspiciou.sness generate me great undertaking. (Alto) This p4SUge can be read either as a cosmogony of the universe or as a Statement of the generation of the Yi. And is precisely the point: it is both. In other words. the changes in the hexagram lines of the Yi mirror the .,. DBSCENDANTS OP THII ONII OSSCIINDANTS OF THE ONII changes tnat occur in the narural world. and the work is thus a microcosm of the processual changes of the universe itself. The hard and the soft push each orher and generare changell and transformations. (A/:t) As a consequence, the Yi corresponds to the movement of Heaven and Earth itself The broad and the great 64 much Heaven and Earth; the alternations penetrate and march the fou r sasons; the: propric:ry of yin and yang matches the: sun and moon. The goodness of ease and simplicirll matches the utmost potency. (A/I5) But what makes the Yi invaluable for humans is chat not only dou it correspond to the moveme:nts of Heaven and Earth, but it actually penetrates these: processes and is t hus able to unde:rsand wnat changes are to come: One yin and one yang is called the Way. That which continues it is called good; that which completes it is called nature:. .. . Generating and generating is called change:. Completing the images is called Qian; imitating the modd. is called Kun. Going to the limit of numbers to understand what is to come is called prognostication; penetrating alternations is called serving. What yin and yang cannot measure is called PIc". (A/5) The: movement of t he universe is defined by the incerplay of yin and yang; che: interplay of yin and yang lines in the Yi therefore replicares the interplay of yin and yang forces in the cosmos at brge. And char which defines this interplay is divine and merefore not explicable in (emu of yin and yang. The Yi is divine precisely hc:cause it penetrates to the workings of change itself. And the process of divination grana humans- those with fomu-an understanding of these changes. It is for thU rason mat the: power of the: milfoilstalks i. round and divine (llx"), the: power of the trigrams is square so as to understand. and the propriety of the.ix linea is changeable so as to provide:. (Aho) mat = 64·. The "broad- and the "gr""-I" refer 10 Qian ami Kun. re$p«tivdy; thex lerms uud 10 define Qian and Kun in ,he lines immcciiately prucciing thoR gi-= here. 6" "Ease" and Ｂｉｩ ｭｾｩ｣ Ｌ ｩｲｹＢ＠ arc funher rcfcrrnlju ro Qian ,and Kun, rapectiyely. ｾｮ＠ ｣ｾｲ＠ line in the work ,cadi: QIm knOWI by mcam ｯｾ｣｡ｊｃ［＠ Kun capable by lI\C:atlI of IWlphcLty *' (A/I). ·,' ." DESCENDANTS OF THE ONE Dss ceNDANTS OF THB ONB The fim part of diyinarion involves the use of mil foil stalks, which are divine By taking the patterns in the natural world and refining them into the eri- the ch2flges themselves. They are rhus round-like Heaven. The milroil stalks point the user to the trigrams-which ue sqwre 66 and thus within human comprehension. The lines [hen explain what is to grams, Baori wu able to understand t he cosmos." The text then illwtrates the divine potency of the trignms by narrating how the trigrams inspired the sages to create cultural implements. k Willard Peterson correctly poinu out: "In contending that the great innova- and hence arruned [0 come. Only the uges of antiquity, those who were able were able to understand how [ 0 use the: texr: [0 perceive properly, D ivine (s/,(,,) so as to understand what is to comc, underst anding 'io as [0 srore whu had come, who would be able to pan icip:ne in [his? h is rhose of antiquity who were sharp of hearing and dear of vision. perceptive and underst.mding. divindy (shrll) mamal without putting people to death. This is the means by which they ilIumi· nated the way of Heaven and explored the practices of the people. (A ho) The uges of antiquity understood t he way o f H eaven and the pr.lctices of the people because o f the Yi. And where d id the Yi come fro m! tions were inspired by trigrams and hexagrams, the Ｇ ｃｯｭ･ｮｾｲｹ Ｇ＠ {Xici muan 1effectively subo rdinates to the Yi the uges who were venerated by the . as cuIture heroes. Ｎｾ＠ society Why does the Xici milan give such en:u.ordinary prominence to the Yi, even to the point of subordinating the sages themselves! I suggest that the rext is a critique of the claims being made for sagehood that were becoming increasingly common in the late Warring States period. To oppose the assertions that one can atTa.in the powers of, even become. a spirit. the rext subordinarc,s sagehood to textual authority. The impliCltions of rhis move were crucial for lare Warring States culture. Although translations o f the Xici milan commonly uciliu: the present The sages Set forth the trigranu and observed the images. They attached words to them and clarified aUSpiciousness and inauspiciousness. (Ah) mer Here we seem ro encounrer a paradoll:: rhe sages creared the Yi, and yet became sages only by following the Yi. This paradox is not, however, the re- sult of confused thinking on the part of the authors. On rhe contrary, it is precisely t he point. The lengrhy, and frequendy quoted, passage that describes the creation in detail will help explicate this point: In ancient times Baoxi (i.e., Fwdl was the king of aU under Heavm. Looking up he observed the images in Heaven. and looking down he observed the models on Earth. He observed the patterns of the birds and buns and the suitability of the UM. Near at hand he (Ook them from his body. and at a distance he took them from th ings. (B/a) Bao!:i is here poud as purely an observer of patTerns in the natural world. He generated the eight trigrams in order to understand and categoriu: these panerns; (ense to refer to the actions of the sages, I argue, on the co ntu.ry, that th e past tense is almost always more appropriate. The Xici Wua,.'s account of the crearion of the Yi by the sages is a historical narrative, one not unmarked by problems: AI for the arising of the Yi. w:u it not in middle antiquityf Did those who made the Yi not have anxiety and troublul (B/1) The helC2grams are d.auble to the earliest sages, but the ten: o f the Yi came later. in m iddle antiquity. And [he facr [hat such expli<:2tiolU were necessary is a further sign of decay from the early sages: The m:uter said: "The Qian and Kun arc [he gates of the Yi. Qian is a yang thing. and Kun is a yin thing. Yang and yin unite potency, and the hard and soft have embodiment. They thereby embody the arrangements of Heaven and Earth and penetute the potency of the divine clarity (Jhc,.ming). Their appdlarions and nama are mixed but do not trall$gress. In examining their c:lttgoriudon, they are the ideas of an age of decline." (B/6) He thereupon fi rst created me eight trigranu in orde r to penetrate the poeency of the divine clarity (shtnming) and in order to cztegonze the dispositions (qing) of the myriad trungs. (B/ a) 6,. For I fuUe. diJcullion of the (nation of [he tdgnml, s« c!u.p. a of my "m.biIl1lh<. of 66. As the audlors uphin elsewhere. "spirits (mt.o) are 1101 aquare" (Kiti v,lIIIn, A/n). Cr...don. 61. Peeen ...... "Making Conn«tlolU; p. Ill. .,. ." DESCENDANTS OF THB ONE DBSCBNDANTS OP THB ONB The Qi2n 2nd Kun hex.agnms may exhibit the potency of divine clarity. but me ttxt itsdf reflecu an age of decline. more specifically, me era of King Wen. at the end of the Shang dynas£)': but the text does imply that even a new sage would need to be guided by the Yi (a1though not by the line statements). just as the great sages of antiquity were. M oreover. since the Yi is a1ready divine. this cosmology docs not appear even to entertain the possibility that t he Yi could be superseded. In short. the Xi,; muan is arguing for textua1 authority. for a commitment to past teachings, for a recognition that at best che outcome o f selfcultivation would be a replicatton of the sages of antiquity. H ence the recurrent quotations attributed to Confucius and the recurtent quotations from As for the uising of the Yi, wu it not fitting to be du ring the end of the Yin and the tloun-rung potency of the ｚｨｯｌＱｾ＠ (Wu it) not fitting [0 be at the events between King Wen and ｚｨｯｵｾ＠ (BIn) That the ten had to be composed at all was a sign of degenc;acy, of a period t hat desperately n«:ded reform. The vision of history set forth in [he Xid thuan is one of gradual loss, with tach sOlge in the process of degeneration being marked by the need for more elaboration of the Yi. The final text of the Yi was PUt together in middle antiqui£Y. <l.t the end of [he Sh2ng dynasty. :and. the text is arguing. it is this ttnw.1 record tbat must now guide us in tb is period of even greater degeneration. OU t oruy muru of anaining an undersunding of che universe is t hrough the ¥ i, the text authored by the uges of antiquity so that we may act properly in chis world. And. the Xid muan is at pains to point OUt, the Yi docs indeed give us access to the proper understanding held by the uges o f antiquity: The muter said: -Writing doa no( fully aprcu words. and words do not fully expresl ideas. AI such. u (or che ideas of the sages. can they nO( be sem!" The muter u.id: !he sages C$tablUhed the imagC$ in order to apress ideas fully. let: up the hexagrams in order (0 apress che essential and the artificial fUUy, appended sntemcnt. to chern in orde r to express their words fully. alternated and penetrated them in order to express the beneficial fully. and drummed them and danced them in order to express their divinity (shell) fully: (Aha) the Shijing. When read this way. one can sec a surprising. and somewhat counterintuitive. parallel wi th the Xum;i's concerns: both texts share an interest in supporting divination as a traditiona1 practice. and both argue that we should foUow the teachings of t he past sages. But they build these argwnen ts in very different ways. The Xid Wllan argues that divination docs indeed lead to an unde rstanding of the cosmos-an argument Xunzi would have rejected as a misguided and impro per acrempt" to know H eaven. Xunzi opposed this type o f cosmological speculation because it might pull man away from a proper cultivation in me traditions of the past sages; the Xid mUlln is claiming t hat, to the contrary. cosmology and textual authority are inherendy linked. In other words, the Xid muan argues t hac cosmological knowledge depends on a nustery of the traditions of t he ancient sages. In saying this, I am not claiming t hat the authors of the Xu:i wuan were "Confucian: or that they would have perceived themselves as offering a C onfucian response to Xunzi. 69 But I am claiming that the Xid muan is making an argument fo r the au thority o f past sages and that it was presenting the Yi as the proper texrua1 autho rity for cosmological speculation. Consequencly, a properly trained genclcnun will tum to the ¥i before he undertakes any actions: Therefore, when a gendeman is about makes a vocal inquiry to it. (Aho) [0 take an action. or is to begin moving. he As I read it. th is argument is directed against those who were arguing thar, through self-cultivation, one can attain sagehood and achieve divine powers. T he authors of the Xici muan. on the contrary, placed the text of me Yi between their contemporaries and divinity: we can onJy attain a proper understanding of forrone and misfortune through the Y i. The Xid zhuan docs not, o f course. argue that it would be impoasible for a new nge to ariae. 69. The diKovcy of the Mawangdui version or the text has spuked a debate ....hether the Xici lhu." wal -Collfucian" or "Daoist." Sec, in panicubr, Wallg Baoxuan, "BOlhu Xiti yu Zhanguo Qin Han DaojiJ. Yi :ruc"; and Liao Mingchun, "Lun BOlhu Xici yu jinbcn Xiti de guaori: For all u cdlmr overview of lhe dcbOlc. I t t Shaughnessy, •A .Firl! Reading of d.e Mawangdui Y(jilll Manwcripl: AJ I have o:pbincd in the lnrroclucuon. [ 0ppo$C' the at. .• tempe to categorize Waning Statu tUtl in (emu of IChoob. AJ for the question of lhe rcl.adofllhip bn_ the MawangdUI and tM received VCfIIOllJ of ,be Xici d,,,,,,,, for 1M Ip«ific iuues discwKd in Ihis chaptCl", the v;uiantl berween the Mawangdiu Xid d,,,,, .. and the received tUt arc minor. Allhough the MaWJ.ngdui Xiti V,MU doe. not conuin. he pallagu concerning Ihe lat in middle antiquif)',;1 does include the Vall majority of the o.l.er .tatcmCf\1I quott.:!. ｾ ｲ｡Ｑｉ Ｌ＠ I Ihink Ihe ruding ginn J.ere applies to the Mawangdlu Xlii v,...n aI well. ", DBSCBNDANTS OF THS ONS DESCENDANTS Of THE ONI follow the proper parrems derived from Heavcn-even if the actions of Heaven itself Recall thar in Polynesian thought. as diltinguished from the so-called coremilm. all men are rdued to all chings by common descent. The coroUary would be that. rather than the ancestral or kindred species being tabu, Polynesian social life is a gtnirll/;s/, or even of endoa.nnibalism, since the pei)universal projecr of ｣ ｾｮ ｩｎｬＱｭ｣＠ pie are genealogically rdared ro their own -natural" means of subsistence. ... AU l.UefiJ planu and animals are immanent fornu of the divine ancestors-so many .\:i"" LsII or "myri.3d bodies" of the gods. Moreover, to make root crop' accessible to man by cooking il precisely to destroy what il divine in them: their aUIOnOITlOI.U power. in the raw state. to reproduce. ... Yet the aggressive transfonnation of divine life into human substance describes the mode of produCtion as well as consumption. ... Fishing. cultivaring. constructing a canoe. or, for that matter. farhering a child are so many ways that men activdy appropriate "a life from the god."'10 A:; noted in Chapter ). the McneiwJ argues thar the s.ge must are not always in accord with these pacrcrru. In the K id v,uan, however. the patterns that the saga found in nature themselves guide the natural world; in other words, the natural world operates by those patterns, and me sages muS[ emulate them and bring them to other humans. In the Xia zhwlln, the narur.tl world is more (hOln the repository of normacive p;mcrns that can be discovered by 2. discerning sage; it itself is normarive. Bur, like the Lllnyw and unlike the MtnciuJ. the Kid zbu/UJ relegates the period of the uges-the period when humans were able to model themselves on the cosmos-to the dist:lnr p2$C, T exrua1 authority is thus defended through a claim of gradual degeneration: the sages of :mriquiry discerned the parterns properly. and those born bter must use divinacion and the reading of hexagram line statements (0 gain access (0 the patterns. A.J. long as one submits to the divination praCtices of the Xid wuan, fortune and misfonune are fully knowable. Whereas the authors of the "Neiye" and "Xinshu had claimed fonune and misfonune to be knowable by those who practiced self-cultivation to gain the powers of spirits, the authors of che Xid v,uan argue that they are knowable only by following the traditions handed down from che ancient s.llges. H Instead of cI.lIiming that divin.lltion has been superseded by selfcultivatio n techniques and inscead of supporting divination as ｷｾｮＬ＠ the authors of the Xid v,u<ln present divination u a crucial art-not because ic determines the actions of che spirits but rather because it forms a microcosm to the panerns of the cosmos. The authors of the Xid wuan thus used corn:laovity co caJl for a subordination to the traditions of the pasc sages. Conclusion As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Marshall Sahlins. in his re-reading of Levi-Strauss, argues that Polynesian cultures can be read as both monogenetic and polygenetic-or more precisely. they can be read u eicher, depending on me perspective of the cultural aCtors in question and the practice in play. The interescing issue t hen becomes how these principles are articulated in any given situation. Which is the marked cerm: continuity or ､ｩｳ｣ｯｮＨｵｲｹｾ＠ For example. Sahlins argues that in Fiji sacrificial action assumu continuiry. and the goal of che sacrifices is thus to introduce and maintain discontinuity. '97 The concern. in other words. il to introduce discontinui£Y. to separate the divine from the human. to mark off a human realm distinct from the divine: Men thus approach the divine with a curious combination of submission and hubris whose final objecr is to transfer to themselves the life that the gods originally poness. continue to embody, and alone can impart. It is a complex rdation of Ju pplicarion and expropriation. successivdy bringing the sacred co. and banishing it from. the human domain. Man. then, lives by a kind of periodic deicide. Or, the god u separated from the objecrs of human existence by acu of piety that in social life would be rantamount to theft and violence-not to speak of cannibalism.?! In this sense, Fijian sacrifice operates according to principles very similar to those found in urly Greece (see Chapter 1). If we were to accept [he recurrent arguments of sinologists. we would certainly conclude that China, tOO, is monogenetic and anumes continui£Y berween the human and the divine realms. And. at first glance, much of the evidence appears to support such a re.1ding. In looking at the sacrificia1 material discussed in C hapter 1, one could conclude that the predominant concern wu similar to that Sahlins describes for Polynesia: an attempt to create discontinuiry between the human and che divine realms, to distinguilh humans and spirits. to appropriate for human use phenomena controlled by spirits ( for enmple, divinations for the purposes of opening a field for agriculture or setting che boundaries of the capical in part revul.1 desire to appropriate land controlled by divine powers and mark it off for human use). One could similarly argue that the correlative cosmologies of the fourth and 70. 71. Sahlin., 111,...1, of HlllofJ. pp. ILl - I). Ibid" p. II). ,,8 DESCBNDANTS OF THE O NI! third centuries Be reveal ;I recurrent belief in me absolute consubstafltwiry of all things within a single ancestral line: everything is born nom the One. and thus literally everything in the cosmos is rebted by birTh. In such a rud· ing. China, n o m the Bronze Age through the correl.uive cosmologies of the hue Waning S tates period. is pro[Orypicilly mo nogenetic. But I have argued for a different reading of this material. In the: ucrif1cia1 and rituallctions of Bronze Age C hina. t he concern for dem2fcaring a humom realm apart from the divine was o nly a part (and a lessq parr at that) of the whole story. The main concern was to transform the spirit world inw a pantheon of ancestors that acted on behalf of the living king. H umans were not just claiming land &om the spirits; they were transforming t he spirits into (deceased) humans. The concern, in sho rr, ｗｾ＠ to transform a capricious and potentially antagonistic spirit world into a hierarchical pantheon of ordered genealogical descent interested in irs living descendants' welfare. The goal was not to introduce disco ntinuity but to anthropomorphize the divine and thus create genealogical continuity, Both divine and h uman powers were to be transformed into ancestors and descendantS, And the paradigmatic relationship was that of the king and H eaven-through the sacrinces, Heaven would become the father to the king: hence the royal title ·Son of H eaven: Several of the correlative cosmological textS played with these models of ancestral. sacrifice because their authors wished to make comparable argumenu-with a crucial twist, Whereas divination and sacrifice assumed a world populated by spirirs who had control over natural phenomenaspirits who were to be tranSformed intO ancestors-the correlative textS posit.a cosmos descended from a single ancestor. More pointedly. if t he sacrificial pr.actices assumed an agonistic world, the texts discU$S(:d in this chapter argue for .a single, COntinuous cosmos within which all gods, spirits. humans, and nature are linked by chains of genealogical descent_ The debates then turned on the rebtionship between t he sage .and that .ancestor. S hould he strive to be the proper descendant of the One and folｯ ｲ ｾ＠ This is the position low the n.atural patterns laid down by the ｡ｮ｣･ｳｴ taken by the Tlliyi Jfftl1g Jhui and the · Chengfa· ch.apter of the Shiliujil1g. Or should the sage go .ag.ainst t he natural genealogy and return to the ancestor:' This is the position of the lAozi, which argues that the sage should return to the One, gain its powers. and thereby give birth to .a world of his own. By linking himself to the ancestor of the cosmos, the sage generatea hi' own o r- D SSCSNDANTS 01' THS O NS '" dered political realm. Or does the cosmos work in such .a way that the ｾ＠ This is the position of the proper descendant comes to be like his ｡ｮ｣･ｳｴｯｲ "Benshenf chapter of the Lumi chunqiu: the Son of Haven, if he cultivates himself properly, ultim.ately becomes like Heaven and exercises the same powers over t he cosmos dut H eaven had earlier done. T h roughout these textS, the concern is not to demarcate t he human from the divine but the exact opposite- to link man wit h the .ancestor of the cosmos, either through the return of the sage to the .ancestor, o r through the growth of the sage into the power that the ancesto r was, or t hrough the divininriori of t he sage himself. or through .a subordin.arion of oneself to the movements of.a series o f inuges handed down by the sages of the p.ast. In other words, the concern, ｾ＠ with 50 mmy Warring St.ates texrs, is with the divinintion of m.an rather than the ､･Ｍｩｶｮｾｴｯ＠ of nature. And the recurrent concern of all these texts w.as to deny the agonistic world of the sacrificial specialists who were dominant.at the courts. The authors are thus playing with the mood o f ancestral sacrifice, but they d o not assume monogenesis: in all these practices, monogenesis is [he goal, not an assumption. Instead, t he authors usc .ancestral sacrince bec.ausc it provides a perfect voc.abulary for their claims: just .as in ancestnl s.acrifice, correlative cosmology involves taking spiritS and m.aking them into ancestors who c.an then be understood or even controlled. And the resulting interpby that we h.ave noted in this chapter is therefore similar to that discussed in C h.apter I: the living could be presented ｾ＠ simply fo Uowing t he wishes of the ancestors, or they could be presented as creating the ancestors and p.acifying them. The concern in both t he sacrificial systems and the correlative texu is to anthropomorphize the divine, either by making the divine intO the image o f man through sacrifices or by divini2:ing man and thus literally making the divine human. But. t he .agonistic world assumed in sacrifice is denied in correbtive cosmology, and correlative cosmology granD t he sage much more power over th is world th.an does any sacrincial system . And it was precisely in opposition to positions such as these that Xunzi and the .aurhors of the Xid Willi" reasserted the importance of divination and ( in the case of Xunzi) sacrince in order to assert a form o f d iscontinuity. with hum.ans and Heaven fully sep.araced. In the Xi,i WUIln, for example, hum.ans :act properly by following.a set of refined im.ages that crystallize, in a ae ries of full and broken lines, the movements of [he cosmos. The images are continuous with t he pivot of the universe, but humans. bec.ausc they .are '00 DBSCBNDANTS OF TH I! ONI! separate fro m the pivor, can act properly only by ｳｾ｢ｯ ｲ､ｩｮ｡ｴｧ＠ themselves [0 those images. The Yi, therefore, was placed between humanity and the rest of the cosmos. Divination was thus reinsuted, although without the agonisric cosmology defined earlier divination pncrices. noted e2rlier in this chaput, All of this brings us b2Ck ro Graner. ｾ＠ Graner argued that Chinese kingship arose from the .sacrifice of rotemic creatures: the rulers conquered the gods their people had earlier worshipped. Levi-Str.luss-correcdy- would have questioned ｇ ｲ ｡ｮ･ｴＧｳ ｾ ､ｩｳ｣ｵｯｮ＠ of such themes in terms of an actual evolution from totanism to sacrifice-or in terms of In evolution ar all. since Graner was discussing textS dating aI· ffi05( exclusively from the third and second cemuries Be . I have t herefore fol. lowed Uvj·Srrauss in discuuing (he texts in terms of t he ways they posit continuity 2nd discontinuity. But Gr.anet's point is crucw: even the sutemenu 2bout continuity reve:al 2n attempt [0 gOlin for the s.age tremendous power over the cosmos. Reading Gr.aner through Uvi-Str2USS t hus gives us 2 powerful me2ns of correcting the m2ny sinologists who .argue ch2c the urly Ch inese .assumed 2 continuous universe- 2 position, ironic.ally, ch2t m2ny of them developed by ruding Gr.anet. Correluive cosmology should nor be interpreted .as 2 gener.al ·ChineseW2y of thinking. nor should it be understood.as part of a shift: fro m ·religionto ·philosophy: It w.as, ruher. an attempr to tr.anscend the conflict between humans and spirits by overcoming the world of spirits .altogether: spiritS and the natural phenomen2 they control, .as well .as humankind, are pbced in a descent line emanating from a single 2ncestOr, with whom the sage. if he follows cerrain techniques, can p in a special relatio nship. Correlative cosmology was not 2n as.sumprion in the Warring SUtes period; it was a rhetoric: of critique. mat 5 The ascension of the spirit Liberarion, Spirir Journeys, and Celesrial Wanderings T he Shiwtn (T en questions), one of the textS discovered at Mawangdui, discw.scs how one becomes a spirit, becomes liberated from one's form, 2nd ascends to the huvens: Long life il generated through storing and accumubcing. AI for the increasing of this life, above one explores the Haveru, and below one distributes to the Earth. H e who is npable will invariably become a spirit. H e will therefore be able to be lib· erated from his fonn. He who d arifies the great way (ravw and traverses the doucU.! Although this texr was discovered fairly recently, the themes of liber.arion and ascension 2ppe2r in 2 number of received works from rhe late W2rring Su ees and u rly H m periods .as well, such as the Chuci and Zhullrlgzi. Mod· ern an.alyses of these narrarives of spirit journeys and ascensions oft:en refer either to eulier sham:mistic rraditions o r co later religious Daoism. I will briefly review these claims and then argue for a different approach.: I. ShiWfn. in M4w4ngJwi ｈｾｮＢＬｵ＠ &olbu. 4' 146; hereinafter d ied in Ihe rcxr. My Iransllllion indeblf<lro the ned· of Ihi, p;lss.ge, aJ well as aD 0100 p;asuges from , he S!,iw,n, it ｨ ･｡ｶｾｹ＠ Iclll \T.ntl.lion and lIudy by Donald Harper in &sri] o,,'nru ｍｴ､ｩＮｾＡ＠ ｌｩｉＢｾｕＬ＠ pp. 384-411. ｍ ｯｲ｣ ｾｲ Ｌ＠ my nndcfll1Inding of the COntC IU i, ..,lfi, indebted u wcD 10 rhe lupcrb .naly", in Ibkl .. I'P' ｉｾ Ｍ ｡ＬＮ＠ 1. Pordon. oflhu chapter arc ｵ ｾ ｮ＠ from my 'The AKenlion orlhe Spirit." 

To become a god Cosmology, Sacrifice, and SelfDivinization in Early China Michael J. Puett Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press Cambridge, Massachu5ens, ｡ｾ ､＠ London, England, 2.00:2. PTimed in 111£ United 5 tl l(1 of ａｭｾｲ ｬ｣ ｡＠ The Harnrd · Yenchlng In,dune, founded in is a foundation dedlcaled to the ｉ､ｙｾｮ ｣ lOCiaI sekru:es in Ealt and Somhtut ａｉｾＮ＠ HlrYard by {:aculty mtmb... of certa in ａＮｾｮ＠ Ind other univcnitiel by junior faculty 1918 ･ｈＱ｣ｭ＠ II and he.adquarlered at Harvard Univcnity. of higher education in the human ities and The Insl itute supports adv.aneed research al universilies .and doclor:01 sludk. at For God doth know that in the day ye eol.{ therof, men your eyes shall be: opened, and ye shall be as gods. Harvard the lime universities. It also Juppom East AJian - The Bible, Genesis 3. King James version Itudicl at Harvard through comributiou. 10 Ihe Harvard· Yenching Library and publicalion of lhe HG.",,,,l ｊｯｾＮＢＬ＠ of lu,'GIi< S/uJirJ and boob on premodern EaSt Asian history and litcrature. Libra ry ofCongreu Cataloging.in. Publicarion Dati Pucl!, Michael J., 1964 To becomc a god: tOIIllOlogy, lacriflCc, aud self·diviniudon in early China { Michael J. Pnen . Emperors and kings. are but obeyed in their several provinces, Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds; But in his dominion that exceeds in this Srretcherh as far as doth the mind of man. A sound magician is a mighty god: Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity. p. C111 . •• (Harvard· Yenchlng Inll ilUle Ulonograph aeries; S7) -Christopher Marlowe. 'fix. Tragrdy of Doctor FaU5IUJ, lines 60-66 Ind ude. bibliosraphic rekre 'lCe. and index. I UN I. 0·674 -009S9· " (alk. p.lIptr ) God--Proof, COJnl0logic:al. I. Diviniurion-· Chil1ll.). T. Tide: Cosmology, sacrifice, and K1f-diviniurion in early China. II. Tide. III. Series. r"""J..-,.. , ''- 8T100.Pg 1 001 199·.51--dc 11 ,"]), Inde>:: by Mary Mortensen @Printed on ｡｣ｩ､ﾷｦｲｾ＠ p<lptr 100 .f1 2.001-- Last numb.r below indkatu yea r of this printing 11 II 10 09 08 07 06 OS 04 01 01 l0010171S7 Who was it who first W recked the bonds oflove And transformed them into chains? Which led rebels [0 make A mock of their rights And the heavenly fire and, Disdaining monal ways, Elect presumption, Striving to become the equals of gods. -Friedrich H olderlin. "The Rhine" (Translation by Richard Siebunh, Hymn5 and FragmcntJ, pp. 73-75) GAIN I NG THE POWERS OF SPIRITS 2 8, leads to one subject of this chapter: the question of why such claims arose at this time. l As noted in the Inrroducrion, much of the secondary scholarship on texts such as rhese is divided between two readings: one school of interpretation sees these texts as records of a shift from religion (based on an animistic worldview) to philosophy (based o n a human-centered worldview); m e other views them as an organic development of a set of deep assumptions concerning rhe continuity of humans and divinities. Both readings are based on the claim that philosophy in early China emerged from an earlier shamanism, but they disagree on the degree to which philosophy broke from rhis earlier tradition. As we saw in t he preceding chapter, the shamanism hypothesis for the Chinese Bronze Age is questionable. In this chapter, I argue t hat the shamanism hyporhesis, and hence our understanding of the development of Chinese thought, grows out of a misleading comparison of G reece and China and thar t he concerns evident in this quotation from the Guanzi were not outgrowths of an eadiet shamanism. I offer an alternative explanation and argue for a diffe rent approach for comparing these developments with chose found in ancient Greece. Gaining the powers of spirits The Emergence of SelfDivinization Claims in the Fourth Century Be Conctntmt the 'Ii as if a. spirit. and all the myriad things will reside within. Can you concentrate? Can you unifyl Can you not engage in crackmiling a.nd milfoil divina_ Spirits Within Humans: The Issue of Shamanism in tion and yet understand auspiciousness and inauspiciousness! Can you Stopi' Can you reach an endl Can you nor seek from others and obtain it in you rsdP. Think about it. think about ie, and chink about it again. If you ｴｨｩｾ＠ about ie but do not penetrate, the ghOSts and spirits will penetrate if. This is not due to the power of the ghosts and spirits; it is due to the ultimilte poillt of essemial 'Ii,! Early China and Early G reece The fourth-century BC authors of chis p.assage from the Ｂｎ･ｩｹｾ＠ of the Guanzi are :uguing for chapter 'Ii-bued cosmology in which spirits can understand the future not because they control it but because, as concentrated 'Ii, everything resides within them. In a similar fashion, those humans :.l. who can concentrate their qi [0 the same degree as a spirir will also gain an understanding of auspiciousness without resorting to the arts of divination. As we will see, t his sntement is only one of a number of such claims voiced in this period abo ut the abilities of humans to gain access to divine powers without the mediation of ritual specialists. The emergence of these views K. C. Chang was a strong advocate of the view that Chinese thought of the Warring States period evolved from earlier shamanistic practices: What may be seen as the most striking feature of ancient Chinese civiliudon is that ideologically spukingi! was created within a framework of cosmogonic holism. In the words of Frederick Mote, "the genuine Chinese cosmogony is that of organismic process. meaning chac all of [he parts of the entire cosmos bdong to one organic whole and that they all interact as participants in one spontaneously sdf-generating life process." This organismiC process. T u Wei-ming amplifies, "exhibits three basic motifs: connnuity. wholeness, and dynamism. All modalities of being. from a rock to heaven, are integral p,artS of acontinuum... . Since nothing is outside of this continuum. the chain of M:ing is never broken. A linkage will always be found between any given pair of things in the universe." This ancient Chinese world view. sometimes referred to as ｾＮ＠ Portion, of thi.! dupter are taken from my "Humans and God.J: The Theme of SelfDlvinlulioll ill Early China and Early Greece: ., " GAINING THB POWERS OF SPIR I TS GAI NING THE P OWB R S O F S PIRIT S ·cOfTd:u:ive cO£moiogy; iJ surdy not unique; in cuenc!!: it represents the substratum of the hu man view of the world found widely among primitive societies (IiCC, e.g., Uvi.Sctauss). \Vhat is uniquely Significant about its presence in ancient China is the M that a verkable civiiiucion was built on tOP of and within iti confines. J C hina that can be traced to a shamanist ic pUt, and Graham is utilizing a co philosoph( framework in which part of the distinctiveness of C hinese philosophy emetged when thinkers turned from shamanism to selfcultivation.' In both approaches, however, shamanism lies behind Chinese Julia Ching argues:l very similar position,· and A. C. Graham develops a philosophy. These arguments by C hang and G raham are closely paralleled by a large body of scholarship on ancient Greece char argues thac G reek phiJosophy emerged against a shamanistic background. The most influential t hesis was Chat advanced by E. R. Dodds. Much u G raham claims for C hina, Dodds argues that a fundamental shift in nocions of the self occurred in Greece in the fi fth century Be: comp1nlhle argument. Graham reads the "Neiyc" U;I; mediution text based on earlier shamanisric prlllcricc: "It is interesting also in providing clear evi· dence that the medit:uion practiced priv;mdy and recommended to rulers as an lrcanwn of government descends directly from the nance of the professional shaman," But whereas shamanism dealt with actwl spirin, the "Neiyc" deals with n:arun.listic. numinous forces: "By this period the gods and ghous, like Heaven itself, a fC in t he direction of becoming depersonalised though still vaguely numinous forces of nature.... M an himself can aspire, not indeed to omniscience (since Chinese thinking does not deal in absolutes), but to that supremely lucid awareness which excites a shudder o f numino us awe." T he meditation techniques o f che Ｂｎ･ｩｹｾ＠ thus involve a shifting of emphasis from linking with the spirits to perfecting the self "The shamanic origin o f the exercise is plain. The point of it however is not to become a medium fo r t he gods o r for deceued anceStors. This is a programme ｾ＠ As such, the for self-petfection, u usual addressed primarily to the ｲｵｬ･ｳＮ text ｾｭ｡ｹ＠ well be the earliest Chinese interpretation of the exper ience o f mysrial oneness:! Although Graham does not go as far u Chang and Ching in directly connecting shamanism co later not ions of correlative cosmology, he d oes, like C hang and Ching. S« the n ocion o f hunwu being fully linked to the oneness of the cosmos u a philosophical re-reading of an earlier shamanistic aperience. Indeed , the main d ifferences in the positions of these scholars concern the relations between chis earlier shamanism and lacet philosophy. For Chang and C hing, shanunism marked the primordial experience out of which later Chinese philoso phy grew, whereu for Graham (he philosophy involved a significant rewo rking of t he earlier sh amanistic practice. C hang and C hing are arguing for a fundamental assumption of mo nism in early ｾＮ＠ ). K. C. Chang. "Ancient China and III Anrhropological Significance: pp. 161-6a. Ching. MYlficilm "M ｊＨｪｾｬＧｨｩｰ＠ ｪｾ＠ OJ,.., pp. 67-1)1. S. Graham, DUpWfn'! OJfht T 40, pp. 101, 104. ｾ ｲ･ｬｩｧｯｮ＠ The ·soul" was no rductant prisoner of the body (in pre-fifth century ac Greece); it was the life or spirit of the body, and perfectly at home there. It was here that the new religious pattern made ir, fateful contribution: by crediting man with an occult ,df of divine origin, and thus setting soul and body at odds, if introduced into European culture a new inrerpretation of human existence, the interpretation we call puritanical? Dodds arguu that this occult notion o f t he soul is traceable to Central Asian shaman istic practices: Now a belief of this kind is an essential dement of the shamanistic culture which still exisfl in Siberia. ... A ,haman may be described :as a psychically urutab!e person who has received a call to the rdigiolU life. ... H is own soul u thought to leave its body and tr.avd to distant parfl, most often to the spirit world .... From these experiences, nur.ated by him in extempore song. he derives the skill in divination. rdigiolU poetry, and magical medicine which makes him socially impottant. He be· comes the repository of a lupemonnal wisdom. (p.14O) Dodds argues that chis shamanistic culture emered G reece in t he seventh century from Scythia md Thrace ( pp. ｉ ｾ ｏＬ＠ Ｑ Ｔｾ ＩＧ＠ and was picked up by fig6. ｾｲ｡ｊ＠ Otoo scholars have devdoped this sarnc "religion to philosophy" ｾｲｧｵｭ･ｮ ｴ＠ in regard to fhe "Neiye: as wdI as the rdated "XiJllhu" chapters. (I discuss the "Xiruhu" tau in Ch.pter 4.) .5«, e.g .. Shilnta, "Klnshi shihm ni okenlshin to d6"; and Qiu Xigui, 1i:ria Daojia jingqi shuo de y:mjiu." Bach Shib;au ami Qiu paint the same gmeral narr.ltive that Gralum doeJ- from a shamanistic practice Inscd on external Ipiriu entering the human body to . ｰｨｾｯｬ ｯｰ ｨｩ｣｡ｬ＠ regimen Inscd on the cultivation of an infcmallpiru. , . Dodds, Th G,ulu ｾ､＠ fht ｉｲｾ ｲｩｯＢＧＬ＠ p. 1)9; hereinafter cited in the tUt. a. Dodd.! Is ｢ｵｾ､ｩｮｧ＠ here on Karl Mudi"s work; JeC his "Scythia." " GA I NING T H E POWERS OF SPIUTS ures such as Pythagoras and Empcdoclu: these men diffused the belief in a detach.able: soul or self, which by suitable techniques can be withdrawn lTom me body even during life, a self which is older than the body and will ourwr Chinl, might in fa.ct have been Iranian magi who entered China during the Bronze Age. 1l And, of course. ,he Scythians. whom Dodds sees as having become so influential in Greece, were Irlnians. This line of reasoning implies that both Chinl and Greece received a similar diffusion of idelS and techniques ftom me same Irlr\ian source. Moreover, H. S. Nyberg hu £2mously argued that Zoroastrianism was influenced by Siberian shamanism. U Thus. were one to follow all these links, one could tnce l shlmanism arising in Siberia. influencing Ir.ronian cuJture, lr\d in turn influencing both Greece and China. However. severotl problems arise for anyone who wished to trace such a hinorical development, First. Nyberg's arguments about links between Siberilr\ shlmanism and Zoroastrianism hlve been widely rejected by special14 ists. Even Eliade himself, who lrgues explicitly thlt shamanism wu diffused from Siberi:a to many cultures throughout the world. has questioned memo Elilde insreld reads Zoroutri:anism u revealing elements of l belief in a sacred link between heaven and elrrh-ideas, as discussed in the pteviow chapter, that Eliade relds as primordill elements of human experience. He thus opposes the attempt to see such elements as l result of l diffusion of shamanism from Siberil: (pp. 146-47). In short. [he diffusion of sh2ffi.tnisric culruce to Greece: led (he emergence: of a true dualism of body and soul-a duilism mat had it" [0 never existed before in early Greece. We have seen-or I hope we have sun-how contact with shzmanisdc belief. :and pncrices might suggest to a thoughtful people like the: Greeks tk rudiments of such a psychology: how the notion of p'ychk Qcursion in sleep or nance might sharpen the soul-body antithesis; how the shamanistic "retreat" might provide the model for a ddibeme ukais, a consciolU training of the psychic powers through ;lNtinence and spirirual exercises: how tales of vanishing and reappearing shamans might encourage [he belief in an indemuctible magical or dacmonic sdf. (pp. 149-50) Dodds goes on to deu.il how this notion of an occwt self of divine origin was later appro priated by Placo ( pp. 107- 35). These ideu have since been hody debated. Jan Bremmer, for one, hu strongly criticized Dodds', shamanism hypothesis. After a lengthy survey of the evidence, both in Greece and Scythia, Bremmer concludes: "No convincing evidence exisrs for shamanistic influence on Archaic Greece.... It has not yet even been shown that the Scythians who were supposed by Dodds to have influenced the Greeks knew a shamanistic journey of the ｳｯｵｬＡｾ Ｙ＠ Peter Kingsley, however, hu recently come OUt in defense of me hypomesis.lO Carlo Ginzburg hu referred £2vor.robly co it u a piece of what he sees u l widespreld diffusion of shlmanism lcroS5 Eumia in the early ｰ＼ＧｾＮ＠ " GA I NING THB POW B RS OF S PIRITS Ｍ］ｾ Ｎｊ＠ II I will follow Bremmer in rejecting Dodds's hypothesis.. Before doing so, however, I would like to stress the implications of Dodds's theory for the shanllr\ism hypothesis made fo r China. Argumenu thlt might l ( first glance appear simJ.ar to Dodds's diffusion hypothesis hlve been made for ChinlVictor M lir hls ugued, blSed on linguistic and archaeological evidence, that the 14111, the Chinese term usually tunslated u ｾｳｨ｡ｭｬ ｮＭ in reference to euly The ecstatic and mystical dements in the rdigion of Zarathustn that bear resemblances to the ideology and rechniques of shamanum form part of a complex and hence do not imply any "shamanic" structUre in Zanthtutl'l's religious experience,. The sacred space. the importance of lOng. mystical or symbolical communicadon bctwccn heaven and eanh, the initiatory or funerary bridge-these various dements, although they form an integral part of Asian shanunism. precede and go beyond it. IS As I noted in the previous chapter, I rejecr Eliade's uguments concerning (he Pfimordiality of notions of Slcred space in humln experience. But it is relevlnt to the cUlTent discussion that even Eiilde-the figure one would expect to be most sympathetic to Nyberg-has rejected his cbims. ｉｾＮ＠ 9· Brelnmer. Th &,IJ Gmli ｾＢＧ 10. KinpJ(y. ａＢＬｩｴｾＱ＠ ｐｾｩｉｯｊｏｰ｢Ｇ＠ Magi: II . Gin:dlurg. &.I4Ii•• , pp. ＱｾＴ ＨｐＧ＠ ｰｩＧｾ＠ ＬＱＷＶｾ｡Ｎ＠ Sowl, pp. )4-SJ; quotation at p. 47· MJlltrJ. ,,..j MPF; see allo idem. -Grecka. Sru.mana, and Mait, 'Old Sinitic 'Mpg. Old Persi;.n M41"1. and English 'Magician,'" Nyberg. Oi. RtliJiollt1l a.. ａｾＮ＠ ｉｎｾＮ＠ 14. For an ovcl'Vkw of the argumen ... see Widengren. "Henri!< Samuel Nyberg and IraI). nian Slud!(1 in the Liglu ofPer.onal Remin iKcnca: I,. Ellade, ｓｨｯｉｭｾｩｬＮ＠ p.l9'9. 86 GAINING THB POWBR S OF SP IRIT S GAINING THB POWERS OF SPIRITS Moreover, we have already secn that many d:usicists reject the claim of diffusion from Scythia to Greece. And, on other end of Eurasia, Mair has argued that the wu, who he claims were magi from Iran, were not shamans: It has been CUlltOmary for students of Chinese civilization [0 translate ' IfIJllg li.e.. WII] as 's haman: but this is wrong on several counts. In the 6.1"$[ plue, the shaman was the Juding representative of a specific type cf religious system prtcriced by Siberian and Ural·Altak peoples. Perhaps the most characteristic feature of this tradition was the shaman's ecstatic trance-flight to heaven during initiation aJ\.d other rituals. The shamans also suved. the community as a whole by retrieving the errant souls of sick people and escotting the spirits of the dead to ｛ｨｾ＠ ocher world. This is in con· who were closely associilted with the COUrtS of various rulers and [[asl [0 che Ｇｭｲｾｧ＠ who were primarily responsible for divination, astrology, puyer, and healing with medicines. 16 Thus, the figure in C hinese studies who has moSt strongly argued for Ir.anian influence on China rejects the shamanism hypothesis. The apparent parallel with Dodds's view does not arise at all; almough Mair argues for.a significant diffusion of Iranian ideas and practices inco China, JUSt as Dodds argues for a significant diffusion from the same source into Greece, Mair does not see this diffusion as involving .anything that might be called shamanism. Chang and Ching. of course, would disagree with Mair's opposition to the shamanism hypothesis. But since they argue mat shamanism was an inheritance from China's primitive past, they, tOO, would strongly deny any claim that shamanism was diffused inco China from Siberia via Iran. The diffusion hypothesis rhus filces severe problems on all fronts. But what interests me more at this point is the opposite ways that shamanism is employed as an explanatory principle by Dodds, on the one hand, and Chang and Ching. on me other. For Chang and Ching {and, to a lesser degree, Graham}, shamanism is me causative f.tctor behind the dominance of a monistic worldview in China. For Dodds, shamanism was behind the emergence of dualism in Greece. Once again, we see the same basic concrast of China and Greece, with China defined by monism and Greece by dualism. When the same phenomenon (in this case, shamanism) is credited with such opposite ramifications in twO traditions, the adequacy of the hypothe- 16. Mair, 'Old Sinilic 'M}Ql," p. 3S. " ses should at least be questioned. However, variation in itself does not refute me hypotheses; it is, after all, possible that me same phenomenon can have decidedly contrary ramifications in twO cultures, particularly i£ as so many scholars have cried to argue, the two cultures are based on different guiding assumptions. So, a full reconsideration of mese issues requires that we look at the evidence in detail. I first turn to a discussion of Empedocles-the figure who pl.ays such an important role in Dodds's argument. I nrst critique Dodds's use of diffusion as an explanatory principle to understand Empedocles and will offer an alternative approach. I then analyze the relevant materi.al from early China. I will argue that the shamanism hypothesis, as well as the larger contrastive framework for studying China and Greece, should be rethought. I will conclude by suggesting a different approach to this material, as well as to the larger issue of comparing China and Greece. Humans and Gods in Early G reece In the NicomllclKan Ethics, Aristotle discusses ';"hat it means for one to practice the theorericallife: Such a life would be superior fO fhe human levd. For somecne will live it not insofar as he is a hunun being. but insofar ilS he has some divine dement in him.. . . Hence if undersfanding is somerhing divine in comparison with a human being. so also will the life that expresses understanding be divine in comparison with human life. We ought not follow the proverb-writers, and "think human, since you are ｨｵｭ｡ｮＮ ｾＱＷ＠ A philosopher is one who has risen above the human and become, at least in part, divine. This claim came OUt of traditions of self·divinization beginning at leilSt a full century earlier and, as is de.ar by the polemic at the end of Aristotle's statement, was made in opposition to numerous other views at the time concerning the nature of divinities and humans and the proper demarcation between the two. As is well known. the importance of maintaining a strict separation between humans and gods is a recurrent [heme in early Greek GAINING THe POWSllS OF SPllllTS GAINING THE POWER S OF SPIRITS 88 writings, as is the injunction to avoid the hubris of trying divinicy, lS In the Iliad, Apollo warns Diomedes: to get too dose to Take care, give back, son ofTydeus, rod strive no longer to make yoursdflikc [he gods in mind, since never the same is the breed of gods. who arc immortal, and men who walk groundling,I9 Or, as Pindar wrote: It is a dispens ation of the gO<h that giva men their might, And tWO things only rend life's sweetest moment: when in the flower of wulrh.:l man enjoys both triumph and good fame. Seek nor to become Zeus. All is yours if the allotment of these twO gittS has fallen [ 0 you. Mortal thoughts befit a mortal mm.20 The theme also plays an important role in the Hesiodic cosmology and view of u.crifice discussed in the previous chapter. Much of early Greek philosophy, however, involved attempts to break this demarcation, to criticize me ritual specialists of the day, and to emphasize the abilities of humans to gain direct access to divine powers. One of the I enliest figures to make this argument was Empedocles/ as in, for example, this fragment on the golden age of man: They did not have Arel as god or Kydoimos, nor king Zeus nor Kronos nor Poseidon but ｱｵｾｮ＠ Kypris. Her (hey propitiated with holy imagel and painted ornimal figurel, with perfumel of subtle fragrance ornd offerings of distilled myrrh and sweet:smdling frankincense, ornd pouring on the earth libations of golden honey. Their altar was nor drenched by the daughter of bulls, but this was the grearest defilement among men-ro bereave of life and eat noble limbs. ll 18. Sec the excclknt discusJion by ｒｯｾｮＮ＠ Hcrm,,,,,,tin ｾｳ＠ Poliric. (Oxford: Oxford Univer$ity PrcSJ.I9$7). pp. S8-59.1 alii indebted to Rosen for thr: quotatioru from A.istotle. Homer. and Pindar. t9. Homer. iJiad. V ＭＴＰ ＴｾＮ＠ in n..rliad ofHomtr. p. 140. lO. Pinda •• Isthmianl 5. v.u-L6. in Pinda'" Victory Song!. p. 309· 11. My undemanding of Empcdocles has b«n grmly enhanced by IUhn. -Rdigion and Natural PhiloJophy in Empcdocles' Doctrine of thr: Soul-; and PanagiOIOU. "Empcdoclc.! on n.. His Own Divinity'u. DicU fragmrot 118: in ｅｭｰｴ､ｱ｣ｾＺ＠ the: tat in the: form 0'18; 'u8. p. 181. n.. Extont FrogmmtJ. 'u8. p. ah; ｨ･ｲ｣ｩｾｦｴ＠ cited in " Empedocles is explicitly atucking me religious pnctices of his daypractices based on sacrificial offerings to a pantheon of anthropomorphic deities. Prior to this world. Empedocles argues, was a period ruled by Kypris, or Love. This opposition to sacrificial. practice is a recurring theme in Empedoclu: Do you not see that you are HWill you not cease from the din of ｳｬ｡ｵｧｨｴ･ｲｾ＠ devouring one another because of your careless way of thinking:'" (DI36; #In. p. a8s). Below I consider why Empedoclcs aruibuted sacrifice to a "careless way of thinking." Here, I delineate why an opposition to the world of anthropomorphic deities and to s;l.crificial practice is so importam to Empedodes. To do so, it is necessary to situate Empedocles within a series of contemporary claims being made in opposition to the sacrifices carried out in the name of the polis. As discussed in the previous chapter, Greek polis sacrifices involved claims of ritual. separation between man and god. It was this ritual separation that figures like Pindar were supporting and that several. movements in the sixth and fifth centuries Be were crying to break down. One eumple among many of these groups is the Orphies. As a series of startling paleographic finds has demonstrated, [he Orphics were a presence in [he fifth century Be. n In explicating the Orphic critique of sacrifice. Vernant and Detienne rum to a narrative concerning hununs, the Titans, and Dionysus.104 The narrative recounts how the Titans dismembered and devoured Dionysus. But Dionysus was then reconstituted, and Zeus punished the Titans by killing them with a thunderbolt. Humans were then born from the Titans' ashes. As a consequence of this history, humans possess within themselves both the guilt of the Titans' crime and a divine spark from the devoured Dionysus. To erue this crime and cultivate the divinity within. man is cal.Jed on to follow Orphic practices and renounce the sacrificial. meat of the polis. Orphic ｾｊ＠ . .sce Burkert. "Orphism ｾｮ､＠ ｂｾ ｣ ｨｩ｣＠ Myneries"; and Frill!: Graf. "Dionysian and Or- phic E&charology '14. Vernam and Detienne fairly uncritically acccpt. the: antiquity of !Ills nar ...tive. AI,hough 1 accept their Wiling. there is an cnOrmouJ body of JeCondary literature on the ropic. Prior to lhe: .«cm pakographic discoveries. the scholarly world wa.s split on this question. and U nforth. Am ｯｦｾｳＮ＠ For eonvcnicnt .sce. e.g., Guthrie. Orpbno. ond G...J. ｒ､ｩｧ｣ｾ［＠ IUlUmaries of !l1oC paleographic evidencc for the antiquity of the narrative, Jcc Kahn, "Wa.s Euthyphro the Author of Ihr: Det-veni Papyrwr pp. 57-60; and Fritz Graf. "Dionysian;md Orphic Eachatology: pp. )39-45. n.. ,0 ,. GAINING THB POWBRS OF SPIRITS GAINING THB POW81lS OF SPIIlITS practices, including vegetarianism. should thus be understood 2$ 211 arrempr Empedocles, like the Orphics, strongly opposed this ritual separation of humans and gods. In direct contrast to the tragic cosmology encoded in the sacrificial. practice of me polis. Empedocles proposed a system in which hununs and the gods are inherendy linked. Empedocles began by redefining the deities as the roots underlying all that exisu: W Hear first the four roou of all things: bright Zeus and life-bringing H era and Aidoneus and Nesris, whose tens are me source of morral srreanu" (06; '" p. 164). The gods are not anthropomorphic deities separate n om the world yet in direct control of it; on the contrary, mey are the elementallnses of [he world. Empedocles elsewhere defines these roou as fire, water. earth, and air (01,. '8, p. 166) and explains the cosmos in terms of their interacrion: to reject the sacrificial practices of the polis and its tragic separ;ttion of humans and gods and to instead strive to join with the gods once again. As Vemant .arguu: By consenting to sacrifice a livi ng animal to the gods in the Promethean manner, as official wonh ip [«Juites. men only repeat the Titans' crime indefinitdy. By refusing this sacrifice. by fo rbidding the bloodshed of any animal, by fUming away from uceric life- l life ilio comfleshy food [ 0 dedicate themsel ves to a totally ｾｰｵｲ･Ｇ＠ pletdy alien to the social and rdigiow nonns of the ciry-men would shed all the Titanic dements of their nature. In DionyslU they would be able to resto re that part of themsdvQ ,har is divine. By returning [ 0 th e god in this way each would accomsame plish. on the humm levd and within the framework of human existence, mis movt:menr of reunifiQl.don that Dionysus himself knew;u a god during rhe torment in which he wou firsr dismembered and then reconstituted.:H The rejectio n of S2crifice by [he O rphics wu rhus based on a larger rejection of the ritual separation of humans and gods maintained in the practices of the polis. 16 Indeed, one of the paleographic discoveries, a series of gold leaves from Thurii, includes the statement ｾ ｈ｡ｰｹ＠ and blessed one, you will be god instead of mortaL· 27 The O rphics were claiming the ability ro transcend the discontinuity of gods and humans found in the sacrificial system and become divine themselves. This gives us some context for understanding the quo[;ltion nom Pindar given above. Pindar's call to humaru to stop seeking ro become gods was hardly a rhetorical flourish. The sacrificial practices of me day strongly as serted me radical separation of man from god, and movements that attempted to reject t his separation and proclaim the potential of humans to divinize themselves had sprung up. Pindar was thus reacting [0 growing trends of his day. l S, Verman!. -AI Man', T abk: p. SI; IU also Detienne, "Culiruary PriK'lices and ,he Spirit of Sacrifice: pp. 1-'. all. A different in!erprtntion h;u hem given by M. 1.. West (n.. CJrpbU: P........ pp. 144so), who .uds the Orphic narrative of Diony.w aJ a shamanistic initiatory Tirual. Like Meuli and Dodda, Wen ruda .hamaru.m :II having entered Greece !Tom Cemral Asia during dle classical period. and he IUS Orphism:ll a pitrf of this: diffu.l ion. For the ''''''01).1 provided below, I find the hypothesis: of I diffu.lion of .hamanism unconvincing. 11. Graf, "Oionylian and O rphic Eadutology; pp. 146. 1S4. All theae :ue equal and of like age, but each h;u a differ'ent prerogative. and its parricul:u character'. and they prevail in rum u the rimc comCi round.... Theae are the only real t hings, but u they run through each other they become differcnt objects at different times. yet they are throughout (orever [he ume. (D.,; '8, p. 16,) Thc cosmic process is thcn defined in terms of the interaction of these roots: Under strife they have different fomu and are all ,eparate. but they come together' in love and arc desired by one another. From them comes all thar w;u and is and will be hereafter- trees have sprung from them. and mcn and women. and animals and birds and water-nourished fish. and long·lived gocb roo, highest in honor. For these are the only rcal things, and 2Ji they run th rough cach other they ;usume differ'ent , haFt:'. for the mixing interchangea (hem. (Dal; '.4, p. 171) In such a cosmology, everything-from gods to humans to objeru-is composed of [he same roots. Not only are humans and gods not sepanted, they are in f..ct inherencly connected. Indeed. differentiated things exist at all o nly because of the strife that brealu apart t he prope r harmony oflove. Hence Empedocles' contempr for sacrifice: sacrifice incorrectly asswnes a division between animals. humans. and gods-wherein animals are sacrificed by humans for thc sake of t hc gods-when in f..ct all three of these are linked. In contrast ro a theisric understanding of the universe, Empedodes calls for a wdivine ｵｮ､･ｲｳｴ｡ｩｧ ｾＺ＠ "Happy the ma n who has gained the wealth of divine understanding, wretched he who cherishcs an unenlightW ened opinion about the gods (DIp; #95, p. aS1). Here we arrive at the crucial points. Having denied the Hesiodic claim of a division between humans and gods. Empedocles makes an argument as to " GAINING THB POWBR,S OP SPIR.ITS GAINING TH B POWBRS OF SP I RITS the potentia] of thought or divine understanding. A him of what Empedodes means by this can be found in another Set of fragments: ｾ ｆｯｲ＠ he is not Humans, therefore, are simply a transitory form. but the thought of humans can be divine. And this understanding grants the practitioner the ability to control (he srrife of the roots: " equipped with a human head on a body. [twO br2nches do not spring from his back.] he hu no feet. no swift knees. no shaggy gc:niuls, but he: is mind alone, holy and inexpressible, darting through the: whole cosmos with swift thoughcs· (013); '91. p. a5)). This description of mind is quire: close in bnguagc: to another fTagmc:nt that describes the sphere of Love: -rhere the swift limbs of the: sun are not distinguished ... in this w.ay it-is held fast in me dose covering of harmony. a rounded sphere:. rejoicing in encircling stillne.u- ( 017.121, p. 187). And to anothcr that appears to describe either Love itself or the state achieved by 2 wise man: -Por two bl'2nche$ do not spring from his b.ack. he has no fut, no swift knees, no organs of reproduction, but he is equ.a1 to himself in every direction, without any beginning or end, a Ｏｾ［＠ p. 188). The rounded sphere. rejoicing in encircling stillneu'" Ｈ ｄＲＮＹ implication of these fragments would appear to be that Love as well as thought is the state of perfect harmony for the four roots. Divinity, therefore. is located in harmony, not in anthropomorphic deities. Accordingly, divinity is fully achievable by humans through understanding. which is itself the divine harmony of Love. Such ideas are expanded in Empedodes' discussion of daimons. As he argues in the Kllthllrmoi, a daimon ill one in whom the four roots are properly combined, and one. therefore, '"[0 whom life long-lasting is apportioned" (DIIs: '107. p. 2.70). But. through error. the daimons, like everything else. f.ill into srrife: '12.. He wanders from the bleued on" for three ti mes coundas yean, being born throughout the time u all kirKh of monal forms. exchanging one hard way of life for another. For the force of fire pursues him imo sea, :l.nd sea. spits him OUt onto ea.rth's sumee. eanh CUtS him into the nys of bluing sun. and sun into the eddies of air; one takes him from another. and all :l.bhor him. ( DII 5; ' 107, p. 170) Empedocles has discovered himself to be one such f.illen daimon: '"I roo am now one of these, an exile from the gods and a wanderer. luving put my trUSt in raving strife" (Ons; '107. p, 2.70), For this reason, he is now a mon.a1 man. JUSt as before he has been various other morta.l crearures: '"For before now I have been at some time boy and girl. bush, bird. and a mute fish in the sea" (0111; #1 01, p. 161). Empedocles himself, then. is striving to reachieve (he divine understanding of the daimon. just as all humans should do. You willitam remedies for iUs and help against old age. since for you alone shall I accomplish all these things. You will ched the force of tirdeu wind.. which sweep over land and destroy fidds with their blasts: and again. if you wish, you will restore compauuing breezc:s. After bbd! rain you will bring dry weather in seuon for men. and too afrer summer dryness you will bting nee-nourilhing showen (which live in air). and you will lead from H:l.des the life-force of a dea.d man. ( DII5; '10"], p. 170) Overall, then. in direct o pposirion ro rhe claims of a separation between humans and gods. Empedodes proposed a cosmology in which a basic substrate unites all things. Moreover, he defined thoughr as divine and as thus potentially capable of connolling narural processes themselves. As such. he denied the theistic conceptions on which the dominant sacrificial activities of hill day were based. For Empedocles, sacrifice was wrong because it involved a destruction of what is inherenrly linked. and it was unnecessary anyway because humans. properly cultivated, can aru..in powers over natural phenomena on their own. Empedodes was thus substiruting for the religious practices of the day a new regimen whose followers would no longer supplicate the gods but would. ultimuely. become divine. This regimen. in short. was being proposed in full opposition to rhe civic culture of the day. These anempu to propose methods of self-diviniution became increasingly important during the fifth and fourth cenruritS BC. Plato. for one, appropriated and reworked such ideas in his formulation of the academy. an institution in which disciples would be trained in a rigorous process of selfcultivation. As he argues in (he T imlUuJ. ex:plicirly appealing to a vocabulary of the daimon: As concerning the most sovereign form of soul in us we must conceive th:l.t hea.ven hu given it to each m:l.n as a guiding cLaimon-that p:!.n which we uy dwdls in the summit of our body and lifts us from tanh toward our cdestial affiniry.like a plant whose roots art not in eanh, but in the heaven•. u Plato's ultimate c.all, of course. was for those who underwent such selfcultivation [0 lead the state. 29 90'1: in Plalo', T,marul, p. U4. The argument is bid out mOn clearly in the ｒｴｰｾｗ .8. ｔｩＢＧｲｾＱ＠ ｾ Ｙ Ｎ＠ ｩ｣Ｎ＠ GAINING THE P OW6RS OF SPIRITS GAINING THE POWEkS OF SPIRITS lr is beyond the bounds of this ch:lprer to trace the ways that such ideas were developed and reformulated in the later Greek tradition. Suffice it to say here chat these claims of self-divinization became a crucial aspect of early Greek philosophy, which in pan expLains the uneasy rebrion that philosophers had with the polis culture of their day. This historical explanation for the emergence of self-diviniurion movements in Greece is, I think. more convincing than the shamanism hypothesis offered by Dodds. As Bremmer has noted, there are significmr problems with the hypothesis itself. there is no evidence of contact in Greece with shamanistic currents among the Scythians, ancl, indeed, chere is no evidence that shamanistic ide:a.s of this sort existed among the Scythians at all Moreover, Dodds's acrempt to interpret the philosophers in question according to a shamanistic vision ｬ･｡､Ｎｾ＠ ro forced readings. For example, Empedocles does not discuss shamanic spirit journeys, JO and, although Empedocles does posit a dualism of body and spirit, his ultimate position on ehe cosmos is monistic. Far more significant for my argument, however, is that Dodds is mistaken in trying ro use diffusion as an explanatory principle. Even if evidence for diffusion existed. the basic questions that need to be asked are: What claims were figures like the Orphics, Empedocles, PlatO, and Aristode making. Why were they making them, and What were the implications of such ｣ｬ｡ｩｭｳｾ＠ These questions can be answered only through a historical analysis of early Greek cultures, not through a purported diffusion from Scythia. I have therefore situated these figures in their historical context, have seen their claims of self-divinization in relation to an ongoing debate, and have shown how and why they were responding to the ritual specialists, as we" as the entire polis organization, of the day. mOnistic system. In other words, the eype of cosmological system that Empedocles was presenting in opposition to the dominant views of the time in early Greece would be, if Chang is right, a starring assumption in early China. Indeed, one could go a seep further and argue that some of what we have seen in Empedocles might support Chang's views concerning shamanism. With a few revisions, it could even be portrayed as supporting Dodds's hypothesis as weU. If Empedocles is a monisric, rather than a dualistic, thinker, then monistic notions of the cosmos might be linked with shamanism, and monism may have come to Greece only when shamanism entered through diffusion: because of irs continuing shamanistic foundations, Chinese civiliZation adhered to a monistic cosmology as an assumption, whereas Greece developed this idea only when it became influenced from outside by shamanism. Thus, both Chang's thesis that shamanism should be associated with a monistic cosmos and Dodds's thesis that Empedocles was influenced by shamanistic currents from Central Asia would be confirmed. As the analyses in this chaprer and the preceding one have shown, both hypotheses are unconvincing. In this chapter I will quescion any linkage between monisric notions and shamanism and will argue that, in both China and Greece, monistic notions emerged at {he same time as claims of selfdivination-of rhe abiliey of humans co become like spirits-and that this occurred in opposition to the ritual specialisrs of the day. I will argue, in other words, that notions of monism and of rhe continuiey of the human and divine realms were not foundational in early China bur were, rather, as in Greece, consciously formulated ideas designed to critique beliefs and practices dominant at the rime. The fact that some of these cosmological notions became dominant at the imperial COUrt during rhe H an should not mislead us into thinking they were common assumptions in the pre-imperial periods. Instead, these cosmological notions grew OUt of a debare not unlike that which developed in early Greece. This is not to say, of course, that the positions raken within the twO cultures were identical or that me course of me debates was similar. My argument is, rather, thar the debates are comparable in terms of the motivating concerns and tensions. The interesting issue from a comparative perspective lies in discovering how and why rhe debates worked our as they did in the two cultures. 94 Comparing China and Greece In curning co China, one might at first think that we confront a culture due witnessed no comparable debate concerning gods and humans. If K. C. Chang is correct, one would not expect a debate about the relationship between humans and spirits in early China. On the contrary, one would expeCt that spirits, like humans, would be conceptualized as part of a larger lO. For .pirit jourm:yJ, see ｃｨ ｾｰｴ｣ｲ＠ s of this book. " ,. Humans and Gods in Early China These new cosmologicod norions developed in reaction (O me religious and political contexts of early China. lI The first point to emphasize is the degrce [0 which. JUSt as in early Greece, a highly theistic vision of the world conrinucd to pervade elite religious activities throughour rhe period discussed in this book. Although Mote admiu chat «it is true that in the vulg.arized ver- sions of this ruher philosophical conception [of naturalisml . spirirs sometimes began to resemble 'gods:- l l I would argue that such norions were nor vulgarizations o f a more pervasive naturalistic o rientoltion. On the contrary. many of the religious orienu.tions seen in the Bronze Age continued thro ugh the Warring States period. Crucial [0 this cosmology was the norton that natura] phenomena were governed by distinct, active deities. One example among many can be found in the ｾｊｩ＠ f.( chaptet of the Liji: The mounujru, foresn, rivers, valleys, and hills that can send out clouds, make wind and rain, and cause to appear Strange phenomena are called spirits (shtn). He who possesses all under heaven sacriflces to the hundred spirits.)) Natura.! pheno mena. the text is claiming. are under the direct control of particular spirits. to whom the ruler must make continual sacrifices. And since natural phenomena were directly controlled by spirits-and porentiaUy fickle spirits at that-a great deal of religious activiry during the Warring Srares accordingly was devoted to charring which spirits controlled which domain of power. understanding their intentions through divinarion. and influencing them with sacrifices. It is in this context. for example, thar we should understand claims such as thou found in the Zuothuan thar one of [he civUizing acts ofYu consisted of casting cauldrons with images of the spirits. an act that allowed the people to ｾ ｫｮ ｯ ｷ＠ the spirits.-:H Similarly. the "Wuzang ｳｨ｡ｮｪｩｧｾ＠ section of the Shanhaijing contains an ahaustive description of. among other things. the various spirits of each mountain and the particular powers that each posUSKS. A rypical passage reads: ｾ＠ M for the ｾＢＬ､＠ GAIN ING THB POWERS OF SPIR ITS GAINING THB POWERS OF SPIRITS l l. For an a tellerJI diJcumon of early Chinese reUgiow ｾｩ｣Ｎ＠ Wdf4rt. )l. Moce, IlIldl«lu.u FDund.iliolU o/Oi...., p. 17. l). Up tht"oi, "Ji f.r,: 46.).1. l4. o.w",iw ZwnJ1<IuII Vwrt]i. Xun, ｬＮＸ｢ Ｍ ｾ Ｎ＠ sec Poo, I" St4rdt ofPtr. 97 appearance of their (i.e., these mounrains') spirits, they all have a human body and sheep horns. In sacrifices to them, we one sheep and, for grun offerings, use millet. These are the spirits. When they appear, t he wind and rainwater make destruction: l5 The text then e:rr::plains the types of sacrifices mar dissuade these particuW spirits from causing desrrucrive winds and runs. Both of theu texts make an argument for rulership through a control of local spirits: by gaining powers oller enough divinities. the ruler can bring order to the world.)6 Given the dominance of such notions, it is not surprising that sclleral texts from thu period present critical responses to the ritual specialists in charge of dealing with t hese spirits. I discuss four of these textS here: t he yu, ria" chapter of the Lull]u, early chlpters from me Mohists, the ｾｃｨｵ＠ GuO]U, and the ＧＢｎ･ｩｹｾ＠ chapter of the GUGllzi. Heaven and Man in the Lunyu One of the most ofren-quoted passlges from the Lun]u is: -Fan Chi asked about knowledge. The master said, 'To work on behalf of what is proper for the people, to be reverent to the ghosts and spiritS and yet keep them at a distance, this can be called knowledge'" (6/:1.:1.). Although Confucius is often presented, at least in the ｾｲ･ｬｩｧｯｮ＠ to philosophy· framework. as marking a shift away from ·superstition" and toward ｾ ｲ｡ｴｩｯｮｬｳｭＬｾｊＷ＠ Confucius was not claiming that spirits do not exise, Indeed, he explicitly called on people to be reverent toward them. His point is, rather, to keep them at a distance and to focus on the human realm.l& It is within this context that we should understand Confucius' statements lbout spirits. As his disciples claimed: "He sacrificed as if present. He sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits were present. The master said, 'If r do not (3/1:1.). The passage is participate in the sacrifice, it is as if f d id not ｳ｡｣ｲｩｦ･Ｇｾ＠ )S. Shto..s...;ji"t".ul.u, "Dongshan jing: SBBY. 4.7b. For a discunion ｯｦｬｾ＠ tau,"" Huper, "A ChineK Dtmonography: p. 479: mel Necdlwn,Srit>lct • ..J Ciri40tioJl iN eli....,): SO). )7. See, e.g., Fung,. A HmoI'] o/Q,j_ ｐ｢ｾｰｊＮ＠ I: sI. lS. 'Confucius" here refen nO\: to some historical ConJUciw but to a compoaite figure conJtrutfcO from lhe LU"Jw whose views arc repreKntafive of a ct:rtain <Irand of lale ChWl' oppo.1lition to lhe dominam form. of rdigiow pnClice. For an at· qiu- urly Warring ｓｦｾ･Ｎ＠ lempt to pcriodiu the clupters of the LU"Jw dlemwvu, Ke Brooks and Brook., 'Tht Orifll" )6. AM/rd •. ,8 GAINING THE POWERS OF SPIRITS GA ININ G THE POWERS OF SPIRITS a critique of contemporary s.acrificw practice, in which one engaged a rimal Confucius said, "As for the gencleman, [here are three [hings he e$teetn$. He e$' teems me mandate of Huven, he esteems grUt men, and he esteems the words of uge$. A pcny man, not understanding the mandate of Huven. dOe$ not esteem it; he is disre$pectful t(l grUt men, and he ridicule$ the words of sage$." (16/8) specialist to perform sacrifices properly. The goal of such sacrifices was to fnlnsforrn the spirits so that they would act on behalf of humanicy. Confucius' argument is that one should flXUS instead on the human realm: the point of sacrifice is not to persuade the spirits but to transform the humm performing the ritual Accordingly, one must perform the act oneself, and one must do so even though the spirits mly nor be present during the ritual. This position does not deny mat spirits act in the world. Rather, it argues 2gainsr the view that humans should attempt to conrrol the spirits with sacrifices: the goal should be self-transformation. Spirits, therefore. should not be the object of our concern: "The master force, disorder, or spirits (?IlI). did not speak of abnormalities (guai ｾＩＬ＠ Here again, there is no claim that the items on this list do not exist. Nor is there any claim that they are insignificant. Clearly, disorder and force are subjects of obvious concern. The power of the passage, therefore, lies precisely in the implication that for most people these topics w(luld usually be objects of great concern, yet Confucius did not speak of them at all. The sense running throughout these passages is that spirits do have great potency, but humans should not speak of them, should avoid worrying about them, and should perform ritual actions not to influence them but to cultivate themselves. And yet one musr still revere them. Indeed, the highest way to revere them is precisely not to try to influence them. In many ways this position heightens the tensions noted in Chapter I. In the Western Zhou, a proper pattern for human life was emphasized. Heaven and the other spirits sometimes supported rhis pattern; at other times they did not. But ritual specialists could, to a limited extent, keep the divine powers within this pattern. But Confucius, by decrying the instrumental use of sacrifices by ritual specialists, denied the powers thar were used in the Bronze Age to mollify divine forces and to make them work for the living. Instead, he urged that we simply cultivate ourselves and accept whatever the divine powers do. This stance explains both the reverence thar Confucius expressed toward Heaven, the greatest of the divine powers, as well as his view that we must not attempt to influence Heaven but accept whatever Heaven sends at us. Thus, for example, Confucius strongly embraced the idea that humans must follow the mandate of Heaven. Indeed, esteeming the mandate of Heaven was one point of difference between a gendeman and a lesser man: M 99 And Confucius famously defined understanding the mandate of Heaven as one of the achievements of his life: The maner said, "At age fifteen, I Set my imenc on studying; at thiny I established mysdf; at fony 1 was no longer dduded; at fifty I understood the mandate of Huven; at sixty my e:u accorded; at seventy I followed what my hean desi red with· out transgression." (a/4) For Confucius, however, the mandate of Heaven was not a simple granting of moral norms, nor did it involve rewarding the worthy or punishing the unworthy. Although Sima Qian would later, in his biography of Bo Yi and Shu Q i/ 9 critique Confucius for believing that the good are rewarded and the bad punished, Confucius in fact held no such position. Indeed, for Confucius. [he mandate of Heaven appeared to involve no ethical calculus whatsoever, lnd this presumably is a pan of why it took Confucius until age fifty to understand it. For example, when his flvorite disciple, Yan Hui, died young. Confucius exclaimed, "AW. Heaven is destroying me! Heaven is destroying me!" There is no sense here that Yan Hui had done anything to deserve dying young. On the contrary, Confucius' response was to rail at Heaven, since it is H eaven th2t controls the mandate. Ji Kangzi uked, "Of your disciples, who loved learning:'" Confucius responded, -rherc was Yan Hui who loved brning. Unf(lnunardy he hld a shonened man· date, and he died. Now there is no one." {1I/7)<40 What is mandated is under the control of Heaven. and there is no ethical calculus involved. Indeed, Confucius often emphasized the degree to which events are oue of the control of humans. When a certain Gongbo Liao defamed someone, and Zifu Jingbo asked Confucius if he should have Gongbo Liao killed, Confucius responded: "If the Wly is going to be put into practice. it is mandated (ming). If ir is going to be discarded, that tOO is mandated. What does Gongbo Liao have to do with what is mandated?" (14136). Even the question 3\/. Shiji, 11o.:m4-1S· 4 (1. A Ｎｩｬ｜ Ｂｉｻｾ｣ｭ＠ 1ppc.l1r. in 6IJ· GAINING THB P O W E R S O f SPI RITS G"INING T HE POW E RS OF SPI R ITS of whether the: Way will prc:v.til is out of human hands: humans can put the: way into practice: only if H eaven wishes them to. ru with Confucius' State:· ments about his best disciple dying young. the: ;arrirudc: here: is simply rh:u o ne: must accept what Heaven has orcbinc:d. Nonetheless. Confucius held strongly to the view rh2[ no one should resent Heaven: Such.a posirion is a variant ofrhe tensions present in t he Western Zhou. H e.aven is revered. and both living up to:and accepting what Heaven ordains are man's highest goals. But since. in Confucius' view, man cannot influence Heaven through s.acrif'ices (or, to be more explicit, through sacrificing to the spiriu who then perition Heaven on behalf of the living). man must simply cultiv.ate himself and accept wh.atever He.aven ､ｯ･ｳＮｾｴ＠ '00 The: master uid, "No o ne underltand, me." Zigong asked., "What does it mean to say no one underltllnw you?" The master replied.. 1 do not ｛ ｣ｳ･ｮｾ＠ Heaven nor beat a grudge apnsc man. J study here and rea<:h co what is above. Only Heaven understands me.: (1"./)5) Indeed. Confucius believed that humm culrure itself derives in p2rt from Heaven and ugued t hat culruta! patterns emerged when the initial sages modeled themselves on Heaven and then transmitted mose patterns to humanity: The master said: "Great indeed was the rulership of YolO. So majestic-only Heaven is great, and only YOlO modded hi nue1f upon it. So boundless, the people were not able to find a name for it. Majestic were his achievements. IUumious are his par· terned fomu (wtn zhang): (8h9) Heaven is also seen as being responsible for the continuation of these cwrural patterns: When the master was in danger in Kuang. he said: "King Wen has died, but are hU cultural pan:enu (wen) not here:' If Heaven had wanred ro destroy these cultunJ patterns, rhen those who died later would nor have been able to parricipaIe in the cultural patterns, Since Heaven has not destroyed these cultural panenu, what can the people ofKuang do to me:'" (9/s) Heaven is thus granted a normative role. The patterns of human culture (Wtn) emerged from Heaven, and it is Heaven rhat allows those patterns (0 continue. Thus, the parterns that should guide human behavior can be tnlced to Heaven-they are parrerns observed by the sages and brought from H eaven to humanity, H owever, the commands of Heaven do not necessarily involve support for those who follow these patterns. And yet man must not resent Heaven for this and indeed muSt strive (0 understand and even esteem rhese commands. The Mor.al Cosmos of the Mo hisrs If Confucius responded to the tensions between humans and Heaven by embnlcing them:and d enying che .ability of humans to transform He.aven, the Mohists took the opposite approach:and denied the tensions altogether. For them. Heaven w.as a mor.al deity who acted according to a cle.ar mo rn calcwus: -Heaven desires propriety and detests impropriety.-·2 Accordingly, humans must model t hemselves on H eaven in order to act properly: "The gentlemen who desire to act with propriety must accord with che intent of Heaven" (i ianzhi. xia. ,.na). Moreover, H eaven actively intervenes in h uman affairs to reward t he good .and punish t he bad. If, for example. someone kills an innocent man, H eaven sends down a c.alamity (iianzhi, xia: ,.na-b)• .as do the ghosts .and spirits arrayed below Heaven (-Minggui, xia," ,.lb). Absent here is any sense that eithe r Heaven or the spirits are capricio us. All of them alw.ays act according to a c1e.ar moral calculus. The Mohist .advice to the rulers of the day was thus to simply follow H e.aven. just as, the Mohisu cl.aim, the sage-kings of the paSt did: N Therefore. in ancienr times t he sage-kings made m.anifesr .and understood whaI Heaven and the gh<»u blCS5 and avoided what Heaven and the ghOlts detest 10 as [0 increase the bcnmtll of all under Heaven and eradi,.are the problenu of all under Heaven. (l'ianVii. :U1ong." 1.6.20) Like Confucius, t he Mohists believed that hwnans must follow the comm.ands of He.aven. but, unlike Confucius, che Mohiscs saw tho,se commands :IS ethical. ｾＬ Ｎ＠ FOT a .... ｮｾｷｨＮＱｴ＠ different reading of thue iUlla. I« Ning Chen. 'Confutiui View of Fale(Mi"I): ｾ Ｎ＠ MOll. Ｂｔｩ｡ｬＺｾｨＮ＠ xia: 7.1oa: ｨ･ｾｩｮ｡ｦｲ＠ citationl from the Mni are givcn in the text. GAINING THE POWERS OF SPIRITS Indeed, nor only should humans follow the commands of Heaven, but it was Heaven itsc:lf who made kings, duke$, and lords and charged [hem with, first, rewarding the worthy and punishing the wicked and, s«ond, plundering the merais, wood, birds, and beasts and working the five grains, hemp, and silk so as to make the materials for peeple's clothing and food. (-rianzhi, zhong." 7.7a) Heaven instituted the polirical hierarchy and taught rulers how to rule and how to appropriare natural resources for the benefit of humanity. The hierarchy of the human world thus replicates the hierarchy of the cosmos, with the rulers rewarding [he worthy and punishing the unworthy just as Heaven above does. There is no sense here [hat humans. through their sacrifices, are transforming H eaven and the spirit world in order to persuade them to act on behalf of humanity. nor is there any sense that humans are utilizing sacrifices in order to make material resources available for human consumption. On the contrary. the hierarchy of Heaven and the spirits is a given, and that hierarchy is already predisposed to aid humanity. Indeed, it is Heaven that created the kings. and Heaven that directs humanity to appropriate the natural world. It is as if the goal of late Shang sacrifices became the foundation for Mohist thought. Moreover. for the Mohists sacrifices are not cransformative. Instead, rhey are simply a case of humans giving the spirits what the spirits need, just as the spirits give humans What humans need. Ir is with the Mohists, in other words, that one finds the bureaucratic vision of sacrifices thar Keighrlc:y sees in the Shang. The Mohist narrative of the origins of sacrifices makes the point wc:lL The narrative appears in a Mohist argument about the importance of identifying with one's superior. This is true at each level of the hierarchy, all the way up to H eaven. Thus. the argument goes, if one identifies with the ruler but fails to identifY wirh Heaven, then H eaven will send down punishments. To prevent rhis, sacrifices were instituted: Therefore, if it were like this. then Heaven would send down cold and heat without moderation, snow, frost. rain, and dew at the improper rime. the five grains would nor grow, and the six animals would nor prosper.... Therefore, in andent rimes, rhe uge-kin!;$ clarified what Heaven and rhe ghosts desire and avoided what Heaven and the ghOStS detest. They thereby sought to increase rhe benefits of all (lAIN IN(l THB POWERS OF SPIRITS . 03 under Heaven and push away the problems of all under Heaven. They thereby led the myriad peeples under Heaven ro purify themsdves, barhe, and make libations and offerings to sacrifice to Heaven and the ghosts. rS hangtong. zhong." 3.Sa-b) Heaven and the ghosts desire sacrifices, and the sage-kings of the paSt therefore instituted them. Thenceforth, ｾ ｦ｡ｶｯｲｳ＠ from Heaven and the ghosts could be obtained" ("Shangrong. zhong." 3.Sb), If humans sacrifice properly, then the divine powers will send down blessings. In short. the Mohist view of sacrifices is precisc:ly do ut ､ｾｳＭｰ ｲ ･｣ｩｳｬｹ＠ rhe view rhat Keighrley and Poo Mu-chou, incorrectly in my opinion. tried to read into Shang sacrifices. Indeed, stories abound in the Moxi about the importance of gauging the correct amount of sacrifices to give in order to receive the proper amount of divine blessings in rerum. As one example among many: The sacrificer of Lu sacrificed one pig and sought one hundred favors from the ghOStS and spirits. Master Mo:ti said to him, -rhis is unacceptable. If you give to others sparingly and yet expect them [in response] to give generously, then they will be afraid of your giving things to them. Now. if you sacrifice one pig and expect one hundred favors from the ghosrs and spirits, then they will be afraid of getting ucrifices of oxen and sheep: ("Luwen: 13.6b) Like Confucius, the Mohists opposed the use of sacrifice to coerce or cransfonn the spirit world. But, unlike Confucius, the Mohists asserted that sacrifices should be used to gain benefits from the spirit world. Not only is it a moral cosmos, but it is also one that operates according to a hierarchical do ut dcs framework. For this reason, the Mohists argued strongly against the 4J notion of fate. Since the highest power, Heaven, is moral, the only issue is whether the ruler models himself on Heaven and actS properly to those below. If he does, there will be order; if he does not, H eaven will send down punishments. When men of propriety are above, all under Heaven wi!! be ordered. The High God. as well a.s the ghOSts and spirits of the mountains and streams. will have their master of sacrifices, and the myriad peoples will r«eive great benefits. ("Ftiming. shang." 9.3a) Sacrifice, in short, is simply a part of the proper hierarchical functioning of the cosmos. Ir is not that sacrifices rransfonn the spirits; rather. humans give 4]. Stt the "Feinting" chapter,.;r.lI of whkh. a.s their ririe implies, contain lengthy critiques of the notion oHatt. GAINING THE POWERS OF SPIRITS GA I NING THB POWI!RS OF SPIR I TS their supenors what they need. Indeed, when the Mohists argue that Heaven loves universally, they even give as one of their examples t he ncr that Heaven accepts sacrifices nom all-and, ifhe accepts sacrifices from all, Tianzhi, ria, 7.1I.a). he will send down blessings co all (M Like Confucius, the Mohists deny that s.acrifices can transfonn He.aven .and the spirits. But, for Confucius this meant that one simply h.ad to .accept the capriciousness of those powers. For the Mohists, on the contrary, it is unnecessary to tr.ansfonn H eaven or in any way .aCt to coer-ee it; Heaven is explicitly the source of propriety, and, indeed, o f all things th.at the Mohists deem good. And hum.ans .are simply called on to follow He.aven's comm.anw .and thus .achieve the order th.at H eaven has made possible. For the Mohists, the cosmos is moral .and is controlled by.a mor.al deity and a mor.al pantheon of spirits, and humans should simply submit themselves to that deity in order to .achieve a proper order, The tensions between humanity .and divine powers .are denied by arguing th.at H eaven and the spirits are not capricious and .alre.ady act on behalf ofhumaniry, .and that the cosmos is alread y hier.archically structured .and therefore not in need of human sacrifices to so order it. All humans need to do is follow the commands of He.aven, and those comm.ands will.always lead them properly, would descend into them. The possessors of such powers were, if men, called xi (shamans), and, if women, WII (shamane5$es). It is they who supervised the positions of the .pirits at the ceremonies, sacrificed to them. and otherwise handled rdigioU$ matters. As a consequence, the spheres of the divine and the profane were kept disrinct. The spirits sene down blessings on the people, and accepted from them their offerings. There were no natural calamities."" W Separating Humans and Spirits and Dividing H eaven M and Earth: The ｾｃｨｵ＠ yu, xia C hapter of t he Guoyu Confucius and the Mohists, .albeit for different reasons, rejected the use of sacrifices to coerce and transform t he divine re.alm, but others attempted to define more carefully the relations th.at ritual specialists should maintain with the spirits. A de.at ex.ample of t his can be found in the MCh u yu, xia chapter of the Guoyu, which critiques its own .age by looking back to an earlier period when ritu.al specialists beh.aved properly. This section indudes .a pass.age widely cited in rhe sinologic.al literature on shamanism. Indeed, K. C. Chang's argument for shamanism in early China is based to a significant degree on his reading of this p:mage. Ch.ang followed Derk Bodde's paraphrase: W Anciencly, men and spirits did not intermingle. At that time there were ceruin persons who were so perspicacious, single-minded, and reverential that their understanding enabled them to make meaningful colladon of what lies above and below, and thei r insight to illumine what is distant and profound. Therefore the Ipirit. Chang calls this -the most import.ant textual refe rence to shamanism in ancient China. w4S Fung Yu-lan understood this passage in a similar way. H owever, Fungo reading the passage according to his gener.al Mreligion to philosoph( argument, denigr;tced the link belWeen humans and gods t hat C hang celebrated: What is said here shows in a general way the forms of superstition of the early Chinese. From the faa that sorcerers and witches were considered necessary to regulate the dwelling pla.:es, positions at the sacrifices, and order of precedence of me spirits. we may see how numerous these spirits were. The faa that the spirits were supposed to be able to bestow happiness, receive sacrifices, and to enter into human beings. shows rhar rhey were regarded as anth ropomorphic beings. And the stare_ ments that "people and spiries were confusedly mingled," ' people and spirits hdd the same position," and "the spirits followed the custonu of the people; show us that rhe ,acrions of the spirits were looked upon as being quite indistinguishable from those of human beings. The Chinese of that: time were superstitious and ignorant; they had rdigious ideas but no philosophy; so thar the rdigious ide2$ and spirin which they believed in were exaccly like those of the Greeks. 46 I will follow David Keighdey in arguing that the passage in nCt has litde to do with shamanism.of1 Indeed, f.u from referring to a mixing of humans and spirirs, the text is explicitly oriented toward defining humans and spirits as, normatively. separate. Like Pindar, the writers of this text were arguing against any attempt to weaken the boundary belWeen humans and spirits. The text revolves .around King Z hao ofChu (r. 515-489 Be) and his minister Guan Yifu: 44. K. C. Clung. A.rc, Myth, and Ri,ual, p. 44. For Bodde', ｰ｡ｲｾｨｳ･Ｌ＠ see hi.! "Myths of Anci<m China; p. l9D. 4S. K. C. Chang. A.rc, Myth. ｾｮ､＠ Ri/wRI, p. 4S. 46. Fung. A HiIIO'1 ojo,i"tlt PhilolQphy, I' lj-l4. Keiglllky, Ｍｓｨｾｭ ｡ｮｩｊｭＬ＠ Death, and ehe Ancestors: pp. hl-;l4. The pmicular PlS' in queldon here is diacuned in detail in Keighdey's unpublished 'Shamanism in ｇＢｯｬｾ＠ A Tale of l he,;j and IIIW : 41. ｵｾ＠ .06 .07 GAINING TH E POWIIRS OF SPIRITS G" ININ G THE POWIIRS OF SPI RI TS King Zhao aliked. Gum Yi(u: "What does the Zhoushu ｭｾ＠ when it refen [0 Chong and Li causing HClI.ven and Earth to have no communication? If this had nor happened. would the people be able to :ucend to Huven:'"i.! :l.ble ro glorify what was distant :l.nd display what was bright; thei r dC:l.r-sigh cedness was able to g1orilj> and iIlumin:l.[e ir; [heir keen hC:l.ring was able to listen :l.nd discern it. As such, the illuminated spirits descended to them.5I As regards males, they were cilled xi Im.ale ritu.al specialisrs]; as regards women, chey were c.alled wu Ifem.ale riru.al speci.alistsJ. They were employed in order to regulate the placement, positions, precedence, and ranks of the spirits and to prepare the sacrifici.al victims, vessds, and season.al garments. (18.la) The precise reference here is unclear. H owever, the "Lii ｸｩｮｧｾ＠ chapter of the Shangshll mentions the activities orChong and Li in its description of the creation of punishments by the San Miao. -w Oi, heeding the cries of the people, decided [0 intervene: The ritual specialists were rectified and proper, and the spirits thus deThose who were oppressed :md terrified and hcing execudon announced thei r innocence [0 the powers above. The high Oi surveyed the people. but there wu no fragrant vil'fUc, and the punishments sem OUt a smell thac was rank. The august OJ pitied ilI1d fde ｣ｯｭｾｳｩｮ＠ for chose among the multitudes who, though innocent, were facing execution. He requited the oppressors with terror and puc an end ro the Miilo people so chac they hOld no descendiinrs. He thereupo n ord ered Chong and Li co break the communication between Heaven and Earth so [hat rhere would be no more descending and reaching up. 50 scended to accept t heir sacrifices. The duties of these ritual specialists involved granting spirits their proper rank and precedence. Guan Yifu's argument parallels the views ascribed to ritual specialists in the S hang and early The passage clearly represents the interruption of communicacion berween Heaven and Earth as a good thing: Di did so in order (0 establish a proper hierarchy. The sense would appear to be that the San Miao, in creating punishments, had usurped privileges that belonged to (he god alone. The people and spirits had different tasks. These were respected :l.nd not [cal1llgressed. Thus, the spirits sent rhem good hacve.us, and the people used che produce to sacrifice. Disasters did not come, and chere were no deficiencies in whae they sought for use. (18.Lb-u) The San Miao, in shon, had transgressed the limits of what is permitted for humans. The ritual specialists regulated (he positions of m e spirits correc tly, and the sp irits in turn granted good harvests. The people (hen used t he produces of the harvest to sacrifice to the spirits. In shon, because the ritual specialists observed their appropriate tasks, the worlds of humans and spirits were cor- In the -Chu yu- chapter, however, King Zhao asks if the p assage perhaps had th e opposite m eaning: mat the breaking of communication berween Heaven and Eanh was now preventing humans from ascending ro th e heavens. Guan Yifu immediately opposes such a reading: -rhis is not what it means. In ancient times, the people and me spirits did not mix- (IS.la). P eople and spirits were separated in antiquity, and, as Guan YiFu explains, a proper ritual separation was maintained berween them. More specifically, ritual specialists were responsible for maintaining the proper sacrifices; Those among [he people whose essence was bright and never divided and who were able (0 be proper, reverential, correct, and recrified, their wisdom wu capable of comparing the propriety of whar was above and whac wal below; thei r sagacity wa.s 43. GU'Ju, "Chu yu, xi>.; ＬＸＮｾ［＠ hereimher cited in the text. 49· For a derailed discuuion of the "w xing" chapcer, lee my AmW ....lmct "/emHio", cru.p. ,. so. ss","gshw zht"gyi, U xing." 19.Lob-nb. Zhou tens (see C hapter I): the duty of such specialists was to o rder the spirits and grant chem their proper posicion. Because the ritual specialists performed eheir duties correctly, the tasks of humans and spirits we re de fined properly: reedy demarcated and no disasters occurred. Clearly, th is is tar removed from shamanism. The text is not describing (he d escent of spirits into humans, and its only reference to humans ascending is a negative one: it argues against any such arrempt. Contrary to C hang's interpretation, th e ten is claiming that spirits and humans sh ould be separated and placed within a ptoper hierarc hy of functions. Wu here thus seems best translared as -riruai speci.alists-; I would agree with Mair's argument (see pp. 84-86) that t he wu are not shamans at aU. 5'. This is tnc p.a..age that BOOde read as "tnc spirin would descend into tncm" and. !ru.t ClUIng used to build his argument for shamanism. In ｦｾＬｴ＠ however, the wordingp"gvx simply meaN "to ､･ｳ｣ｾｮ＠ and arrive" -which is exactly what spiriu are supposed to do when eff«live rilual'p«ialil:u enlice the", with tnc proper blmdishmenu. ' 08 GAINING THB P OWBRS OF SPIRITS GAINING THE POW ERS OF S PIRI TS Gwn Yifu cominues: When it came to the declining period of Shao Hao, [he Jill Li brought disorder to the power (de). The people and spirirs were mixed up. Things could not be assigned to their proper caregorie$. People made their own offerings, and each f2mily had a ritual speciali$[ (wu) and a scribe.. The re was no demand for substance. The people exhausted themsdves in sacrifices and rer knew no good fOrTUne.. They nude offerings without proper moderation. The people and the spirits occupied [he same posi· don. The people profaned the proper covenants. There was ntidlsr respect nor rev· erence.. The spiritS had improper intimacy with the people; they did not purify their behavior. Bou ntiful harvests were not sent down, and there was no produce for use in making offerings. Misfortunes and disasters repe.ned.ly C:lme. No one used up their 'Ii. ([S.n) The ritu al differentiuion that had characterized ehe earlier per iod broke down, and humans and spirits became mixed. Each family employed its own ritual specialis t, and the order and precedence of the offe rings collapsed. Even though sacrifices increased, good harvests ended and disasters arose. With the Zhou, So XiuJU of Cheng was their descendant. In the rime of King Xuan, he Ion his office and became part of the Sima clan. E$teeming his ancestors u spirits so as co hold the awe of the people, he said: "Chong truly raised heaven, and Li truly lowered. Earth: (IS.lb) But, with the d ecline of the Zhou, the proper demarcation of Heaven and Earth was lost again: But when chey mer the disorders of chis age, none was able to withstand it. If such had not been the case, then Heaven and Earch would be complete and not .altering. How can they be joined together? (Is.lb) The implicarion is t hat th e problem confron ting G uan Yifu and his contemporaries was the loss of the proper distinction between H eaven and Earth. Far from being a shamanistic text, the "Chu yu, xia" is a call for a ritual separatio n of h umans and spirits and a critique of any intermingling of th e two. T he goal is harmony through ritual separation. The text is defending a position much closer to that of Pin dar. When Z huan X u took power, the situation was finally rectified: Zhuan Xu succeeded. him (Shao Hao]. He the reupon ordered Chong. rhe rectifier of the 50uch, to supervise Heaven and thereby usemble rhe spi ries. He ordered Li, the rectifier of fi re, ro supervise EarTh and thereby usemble the people. He made them revive [he old rules. There were no more mutu.al usurparioIl$ and encroachments. This is what wu meant by breaking [he communication between Heaven and Earth. ([s.n) Becoming Like a Spirit: The "Neiye" C hapte r of the Guanzi If the LllnJIl reveals a concern with keep ing spirits at a disrance, if the M ohists asse rted an absolute, pregiven hie ra rchy of h umans and spirits, and if the "Chu yu, xia" chap ter represenrs an arrempt to maintain a ritual separacion of humans and spirits, the "Neiye" chapter of the ｇｬ｡ｮｾｩ＠ is representative of attemprs to break down the ba rriers between humans and spirits al- When Chong and Li were assigned t he tasks of supervising Heaven and Earth, respectively, each was demarcated prope rly, and th is, Guan Yifu argues, was together. The "Neiye," chapter 49 of the the meaning of breaking the communication between H eaven and Earth. Unlike King Z hao, Guan Yifu clearly sees this rupture as a good thing. three inrerreiated terms: qi, essence (jing m), and spirit (JMn). Qi, which I here leave untransiared, is the en ergy and substance of all things. In its m ost S refined form, qi becomes essence: "Essence is the essence of qi: ) Spirit is then defined as a refined qi as we ll; as we shall see, it becomes another name A similar problem arose when t he San Miao appeared, but Yao was able to rectify things by supporting the descendants of C h ong and Li: After this, rhe San Miarl restored the power of the Jiu Li. Yao turned again [0 nurturing the descendants of Chong and Li. Those who had noc forgotten the old were made to revive their regularing. From char point, down to the Xia and Shang, the Chong and Li families accordingl y placed Heaven and Earth in order and disdnguished their proper spheres of management. (IS.n-b) This situation contin ued into ehe Zho u dynasty: Guan;:i, S2 builds its argumen t around in this text for essential qi. Sl. For an excelkm transbrion and analysis of the "Nciye," see ROl h, Origindl TdO. Stt also and Sdf-Cultiv:ltion in IWly Taoini<: III( invaluable diKuuiotU by Roth, Ｂ ｐｾｹ｣ｨｯｬＢｙ＠ Thought": and Graham, Disputm of the TdO, pp. lOG-lOS. Aho utremdy hdpfuJ is Qiu Xigui, "Jixia Oaojia jingqi .huo de yanjiu : For a discussion of lhe dating of the "Neiye: see ROlh, Oriti",,1 ｔｾｯＬ＠ pp. 1]-)0: idem, "Redaction Criti<:ism and the Early H istory of Taoism: pp. J.+17: and Rickett, G"""t;, 1: )1-)9. U. ｇｉｑＢｾ［Ｌ＠ "Nciye,' 16.ab: l",r.inaEtcr circd in the rext. no OAININO THB POWBRS OF SPI RITS G A IN ING THI! POWBRS Of SPIR I TS The text opens up with one of irs more provocative renderings of this argument: Doing so will allow him to have a settled heart and ul timately become a resting place for essence: A. for the cuence (ji",) of all rhings (WIll, it is this due is life. Bdow it generates the five grains; 3bovc it becomes the arrayed stars. When it floatS between Haven and Earth, we call it ghom and spirits; when it is stored. within :l penon's chest. we call tlut penon a sage. ([6.1.1.) Only he who is capable of being co rrect and still is capable of being setded.. Ifhe has a settled mind within, ears and eyes that are keen of hearing and .ight. and four lim!» that are durable and smlng. then he can be the resting place of the essence. Essence is the e.uence of f. When the ｾｪ＠ fonows the Way, [here is life. When there is life. mere is thought. When there is thought, there is knowledge. When there is knowledge. one Stops. In all cases, Ihe fotnu of the mind are such t hat transgressive knowledge leads to a 1051 of life. (16.ab) & the life force, essence generates ill things on C2rth and in the heavens. Spirits are simply the essence flo2ting between Heaven and Earth. and sages arc those who have such essence within. H um2n sages, in orner words. canrain within t hemselves t he same essence found in spirits. Indeed. the only significant difference between humans and spirits is that spirits are pure essence (and thus float between Heaven and E2rth), whereas humans are a mix of essence :and form: As for the birth of humans: H eaven brings forth the essence, and Earth brings forth the form. They combine these to make humans. When rhey harmonize, there is life: when they do not, there is not life. If we examine the way of harmony, its essence cannot be seen. its signs cannor be d a.uified. When there are :urangemenr and regularion in the mind, this rhereby gives long life. Ifharred and anger lose their measure, one should make a plan for them. Moderate the five desi res. and expel the [We evih. If one is not joyous and nor angry, balance and correcmess fills the chest. (16.sb) Humans thus occupy a unique place in the cosmos because they combined the essenCe received nom H eaven and form received from Earth. By hanna-nizing these, hu mans can attain longevity. Harmonizing the essence and form requires one to live pro perly with Heaven and Ea rth: Heaven values correa:nesl; Eart h values levdness; man values calmness and srillness. Spring. autumn, wintet', and summer are the Stalons of Heaven. MountaiN, hills, srreanu, and valleya are the branches of Earth. Happiness. anger, taking. and giving are the $Chema of man. For this rtalon. rhe liage altUS with the seasons but is not rraNformed. follows things bur is not changed.. (16.ab) The sage must recognize the proper values of Heaven. Earth, and mancorrectness. levelness. and stillness. respectively. The sage must be still and not be transformed o r changed by the alterations of Heavenly seasons. the shifts in the earthly landscape, and the schemes of other humans. '" By becoming senled. the sage is able to develop a fonn t hat an bring essence to rest within himself. This grantS him life and knowledge. The concern o f the aumors thus becomes clear. The problem is that o ur essence tends to dissipate nom our fonn because of t he changes, alterations, and schemes of Heaven, Earth. and man. Our goal, therefore, should be to keep our essence within our form and thus maintain the proper balance of Heaven and Earth within us. Essence is the most refined state of ｾｩＮ＠ Mo reover, qi that follows th e Way allows for life- the very thing said about esscnce. T he implicatio n is that one refines one's qi by following the proper Way. If this is done. one's fonn becomes correct. on e obtains longevity. and one's actions meet with success: The Way is rhaI about which che mourh cannot speak. (he eye cannot see, Ihe ear cannot hear. It is rhar with which one cultivates the mind and co rrects the form. If men lose it. they die; if they obtain it, they live. If. in pcrfomung t:uks, [rhe Way] is lost. one will fail; iEir is obtained. rhe ta.sb will be completed. (16.aa-b) To do th is, howeve r, the Way itself must be brough t to rest, since it. tOO, hu no fixed place. Thus. o ne must render one's mind srill and bring one'S qi into accord with the nonnative panem (Ii): ｾｯｷ Ｌ＠ the Way is without a fixed place, b ur a good mind will bring it to test and ate for it. If th e m ind is still and (he qi panemed (Ii), the Way can the reupon be brought to a Stop· (16.u). O ne's goal is to b ring the Way to rest within one's fonn. Here again. change and movement arc dangers, and lo ngevity rests with stillness. H owever, insofar as the Way 61ls all under Heaven, he who can bring it to rest within himself gains access to t he entire cosmos: The Way fills all under H eaven. It is everywhere th ar people reside, but people are unable to undersrand. Wirh rhe liberation (jir M) of (he one word. one explores .., GA I NING THB POWBR.S OF SPIRITS GAIN ING THE POWBRS 01' SP I P.lTS {(htJ) Heaven above, reaches to Earrh below, and encircles and fill.s [he nine regions. ocean and constricted as if residing in rhe seW (16.la). T he claim again is not rhar humans acrw.lly ascend to H eaven and encompass distant regions (claims, as we will scc, that were indeed made late r within comparable (16.3b.) The Way pervldes everything. Accordingly. he who can grasp it with the one word (i.e., me "'Way,,) can be liberated and is able [0 explore Heaven and Earth and fill [he world. The daim here is not that [he adept acrual.J.y explores the cosmos in person; the poim is r;uher du[ the "dept can gain ,hese powers by gruping the one word that perv2des the cosmos. As the rext cJ:plic.ues: "J frameworks). The argument is rarher rhar qi is whar enables humans to have access, through something within themselves, [0 the rest of the cosmos. And, since qi thus pervades the cosmos, an understanding of it allows me adept [0 nuke all under Heaven submit: ｾ･ｷ｡ ｲ ､ｳ＠ arc not sufficient to encourage goodness, and punishments arc nor sufficient to correct the transgressive. When awareness of the qi is obuined. ,,11 under Huven will submit. WJw: doa it mean to be libe rated by it? It resides in the stability of the mind.. If one's mind is regulated, onls senses ate thereby regulated. If onc's mind is srabiliud, one's lelUes are thereby stabilized. What regulate! them is the mind. and what In_ bilizes them is the mind. The mind therefore stores the mind; within the mind there is also a mind. In this mind of the mind. tones precede ｷｯｲｾＮ＠ Only after there are [ones are there fornu; only after there are fornu is there the word; only after the word is there comrol; only after there is comrol iJ there regulation. If there is no regulation, there will inevitably be disorder. If there is disorcier, there will be death. (16.]b-4a) T herefore, this 'Ii cannot be stopped with force, but it can be made to rcst through power (at); it cannOt be called through sound, but it can be wdcomed through musical pitch. Reverently hold W t to it and do not lose it. This we cill ·completing the power: When the power is complete and knowledge emergcs, then the myriad things (W\I) can be fully obtained. (16.la-b) The process occurs entirely within the adept himself The adept must stabilize h is mind and thereby regulate hiJ senses. The mind within his mind re- By holding fast to that qi and not letting it escape, one can obt"in the myriad things. Since qi pervades the cosmos and exisu in [he forms of all things, rhe sponds and hence experiences me inherent resonance that exists in musical tones. Only through this reson;mce can one grasp the one word-that ability to make the qi rest within oneself gives the adept an ability to control those t h ings. In shon, the monistic cosmos posited by rhe authors allows them to which pervades everything. And one is mereby liberated. by grasping that which pervades everything. Similarly, by obtaining the one word that pervades CIIerything. all under Heaven will submit: If a regulated mind resides within, regulated words will wue from one'l mouth and regulated rasks will be applied [0 men. As such. all under Heaven will be ordered. When the one word U: oba.ined. all under Heaven will submit. When the one word U: determined. all under Heaven will obey. (t6.)a) The one word is the fUlcrum of the cosmo.s. By obtaining the one word, the adept' is ab le to make himself the fUlcrum of the cosmos as well. and all under Heaven will submit itself to him. The author make these same points about qi itself. A proper utilizat ion of qi allows humans co possess within themselves t he same qualities found in the rest of the cosmo.s: -rherefore, the qi of the people is bright as jf ascending to Heaven and dark as if entering into an abyss; vast as if residing in the When awareness of the mind is settled, all unde r Heaven will obey" (16.4b). Indeed, if one can hold fast to the qi and not let it escape, one gains power over things: make great clainu for the potential powers of those who follow the tc'achings of the text. Not only is the "dept "ble to transform with the changes of the world w ithout altering his own qi, but he is in her "ble to gain control of t hings: To unify things and be able [ 0 uansform them is called spirit (Jbcn). To unify affain and be able to ...lrer them is cilled cnft. Transforming but not altering the 'Ii, a1eering but not changing one's cnfi-: only the superior man holding (ast to the One is able to do this. By holding Wt to the One and not losing it. he is able to rule over the myriad things. The superior man controll things (shi II1II); he il nO[ controlled by them. He obtains the pattern (Ii) of the One. (16.),,) Since the cosmos is monistic, it follows thu chere is an inherent p"ttem (Ii) to the oneness of the world. If the adept brings his qi into accord with this pattern and holds fast to it, then he can achieve mutery over the t hings {Will thar populace rhe world. "4 us GAIN IN Cl THB POWEllS OF SPIRITS GAIN ING THB P OWBRS OF SPIR I TS Indeed, he who can fully gain such powers and fill himself with essence, the most refined surc of qi, is able to avoid all disasters and h:um: Indeed. the text argues, self-cultivation allows the sage to gain the powers of the spirits-Without resorting to the arts of the religious specialists of the day: When the essence aim. it giva life of itsdf. On the outside. ;a]j will be s([[led and RourUhing. Intemally. one can uore it so thilt it xu as the source of 11 fountain. Floodlike. harmonious, and tranquil. it acu as the depths of the 'Ii, If the dcpdu do nor dry up. the nine apertUres will therrupon open. They are thereby able (0 a· halUt Heaven and Earth and cover the four leu. If within one has no ddusioru. then ouuide there will be no disuters. If the mi nd is complete within, the form will be complete on the outside. One will not encounter Heavenly disuters nor mttt with injuries from others. This person we call [he nge. (16.411) Since the essence pervades everything. access to it grants me ldcpr fUll powers to penetrate everything. exhaust Heaven and Earth, and avoid disasters. At times, the rexr refers (0 this euence as ｍｳｰｩｲ ｴｾ＠ (shtn): There is a spirit that of itself resides within the body. at times leaving. at times entering. No one is able to contemplate it. If you lose it, there will be disorder; if you obrain it. there will be order. Carefully clean its resting place, and the essence will of its own enter. Refine your thoughts and contemplate it; make rranquil your memories and bring it to order. Be reverent. generous, dignified, and respectful, and the essence will come and setde.. Obtain it and do not dispense with it. Your ears and eyes will never go astray, and your he:rt will h:ve no other designs. When a correct mind resides within. the myriad things will obtain their standard. (16.ja-b) Each person. therefore, has a spirit-refined 'Ii-within his own body. The goal of self-cultivation is then to keep this spirit within oncscl£ By doing so. the adept is able to gain an understanding of the things of the world: The extremity of divine ilIuminadon (WII lIIillg)-SO brilliant. it knows the myriad things. Hold it fut within. and do not be excessive. Sol Do not ..now things to disordet the .eru.es, and do nOt ..now the .enses to diJ.order the mind.. This is called obtaining it within. (16.)a) The adept is able to understand all things because he does not allow his unscs to be disordered by things and holds fast (0 the divine illumination within. Sot. FoUowing Wang Niaruun in dropping {he Ji.' e>:crescenl. Concentrue the 'Ii as if a spirit (ru shcn 1ZIl ifII). and the myriad things will all rQide within. Can you concentrate' Can you unifY? Can you nOt engage in crackm.aking and milfoil divinarion and yd: undentand auspiciolUness and ｩｮ ｡ｵｳｰｩ ･ｯ ｮ･ｳｾ＠ Can you ｳｴｏｾ＠ Can you r=:h an end:' Can you not seek from Others and obtain it in youndP. Think about it. think about it, and think about it again. If you think about it but do Me pe!ld:f2te, the ghOstS and spiritS will pend:f2re it. ThiJ is not due to the POW" of ebe ghosts:md spirits; it u due [0 the ultimate point of essential 'Ii. (16.sa) The argument here rests on the claim that the universe is composed of qi, and that change is a produo;r of the alterations and transformations of this 'Ii. Shfn, the most highly refined form of 'Ii, is able to understand the proper movements of the univeru, and, since humans have chis form of 'Ii within themselves as well. mey ultimately can attain the same comprehension through their own efforts. The claim, in other words, is that there exist substances within oneself that, properly cultivated, can gain one the powers of a spirit. Thus, self· cultivation allows one to understand auspiciousness and inauspiciousness without resorting to divination. This understanding is attained not because the ghosts and spirits have given one information, and not because selfcultivation allows one to ascertain the intentions of particular spirits, but be· cauu one has a£nined sufficient refinement on one's own to understand the worlcings of (he universe. Thus. since all mings consist of 'Ii, that which possesses the most refined 'Ii (as do the spirits) possesses boch knowledge about and power over that which possesses less refined 'Ii. By accumulating aunce within himself. man becomes like a spirit: able to understand the changes of forms, avoid being harmed by them, and even gain control over them. In orner words, the is one ofhicrarchical monism, and one's goal is to cosmology of the ｾ･ｩｹｗ＠ gain ever more potency over {he world of forms by becoming ever more refined. Man's powers and limitations are defined by the resulting hierarchy of Heaven and E:.rrh. At his weakest, he is a thing like other things; at his strongest, he is capable of gaining the potency of the esunce possesud by Heavenly powers like the spirits. The authors of the Ｂｎ･ｪｹｾ＠ are thus teach· GAININ G THE POWER S OF S PIRITS n6 U7 GAINING THE POWIIRS OF SPiIUTS ing humans how co usurp powers Ch2t otherwise belong to spirits and to usurp abilities mat ritual specialists claim as their own. Indeed, the text is a deni.al of the very distinCtions argued for so strongly in the Guoyu. Far from intcrnali2:ing a slummistic practice, the Ｂｎ･ｩｹ｣ｾ＠ is rather an attempt [0 bypass the work of ritual specialists. Power and knowledge. the autho rs argue. can be gained by cultivating oneself and becoming like a spirit: this allows one to know the panerns of the (Ol mOS and [0 be able to conrrol things. I therefore: disagree strongly with me rc.ding of me ':Neiyc" offered by A. C G raham. ｾ＠ menrioned .above:, A. C. G raham compares the text with the Guoy" passage quoted above. But G raham accepts a shamanistic reading of the GUO]U pus-agc and then reads the "Neiyc" as an 2nempt to shift sh2ffianic practices toward self-cultivation. t have argued here for a different ruding of both texts. The point of the GUO]U passage was not to discuss the shamanistic linking of nun and spiri t but to emphasize the importance of maintaining a distinction between the two: properly trained ritual specialists. the teXt argues. will keep the worlds of man and spirit separate. This separation was presented as a prerequisite for an orderly world. The "Neiye.- in direct contrast. is claiming that humans potenrially possess the same ･ｾｮ ｴ ｩ｡ｬ＠ 'Ii as spirits and that humans can thus. chrough cultivation. achieve the powers of spirits. If the point of the GUO]U passage was to maintain a proper ritual separation between humans and spirits. the point of the "Neiye- is to argue that humans can overcome the distinction. And m e GUO]U passage claims that disasten can be avoided only th rough such a separation; the -Neiye- that disuten can be avoided by me sage who crosses such boundaries. Like Empedocles. the authors of the "Neiye- presented a cosmological model that redefines both humanity and spirits in a way that divine powers are obtainable by humans. By claiming to be in possession of techniques that allow the practitioner to obtain the powers of spirits without resorting to the arts of divination patronized ac the courts. the authors were making m atgument for their own authority: instead of trying to divine the intentions of the spirits and to control them through sacrifices. they claim the ability to divinize themselves. These ideas were promulgated by figures outside the major courts, in an attempt co displace the ritu.al specialists by denying the theistic underpinnings of their practices. Far from being an assumption emerging from a shamanistic substrawm, monistic cosmology in China-just as in G reecewas a language of opposition. Conclusion J have sketched the emergence, in early Greece md China, of clainu of selfdivinization. In both culwres, chese cWms emerged withi n religious and political contextS dominated by theistic beliefs and practices. Indeed, an malysis of the twO traditions reveals beliefs that spirits conrrol nawra! phenomena, that spirits are potentially capricious. md thac humans and spirits therefore have a potencially agonistic relationship. The major courts in both regions maintained ritual specialists co influence. mollify. and gain information from the spirits through divinatory and sacrificial arts. And. I have argued. one of the main reasons that notions of a monistic cosmology. of continuity between human and divine realnu, and of the ability of humus to gain the powers of divinities arose in both cultures was precisely that such practices were seen by those outside the ritua1 system as an effective response to the practices dominant at the courts of the day. In neither cue should shammism be seen as the weUspring of fifth- and fourth-cenwry BC thought-whether as a fifth -century diffusion (in the cue of Greece) or as a deep-seated cultural practice (in the case of China). The fact thac the shamanism hypotheses of Dodds and Chang point in different directions should be enough in itself to give cause for chought. For Dodds. shamanism explained the emergence of dualism in Greek thought. and for Chang the dominance of monism in China. In any case. the hypothesis is unconvincing for eimer culwre. In Greece. the emergence of claims that humans could become gods was a response to the practices of the ricualspecialists. Although G reek thought is often-in the sinological literature, at any race-presented as having been based on a ([agic cosmology and as assuming an inseparable barrier between hu mans and gods, the notion of humans becoming divine is in fact a crucial motif in early Greek thought. and it developed precisely in opposition [0 a tragic cosmology. In Greece. every bit as much as in China, chere were competing cosmologies. For China, chere were at least four different responses to ritual specialists. T he Lunyu supports ritual specialists but o pposes an instrumental reading of u, ", GAINING THB POW1lRS OF SPTRITS GA I NING T H E POWERS OF S PI RITS ritual actions. Sacrifices should be performed for the purposes of cultivation, not in o rder [0 influence t he spina.. Heaven. the highest divinity. is granted nonn.uive suna, but in a specific Rnse: .uges, those humans who cultivate themselves properly, understand the proper :aspects of Heavcn and model thenuclves on it. The latter-born should then follow the .uges' model in cul· tiVating themselves. H owever, with no ability to influence Heaven or the spirits. man simply h;t$ to accept wh.;ucvcr Heaven sends. The early Mohists argued that the realm ofHcaven and the spirits has its own innate hierarchy. and rh<ll( hierarchy is nor cTeated through human ritu- only one of a field of responses (0 such specwists that developed during the fifth 2nd fourth centuries 6e. Monistic cosmology. f.u from being.an assumption of the times. was initi.ally a form of critique, bued on an attempt to bypass the domin.ant modes of orientation toward the world of spirits. The advoc2tes of these pr2ctices beg2n 2rticulating new definitions of the nuure of spirits. the nature of hu· m2nity. 2nd the rel2tionship between the two. More precisely. these 2rticuLa· tions involved ane mpts ro reduce the distinction between humans 2nd spiro its. and to 2rgue that. through proper practices. one C2n att2in divine powers. In other words. in China JUSt .as in Greece, monism w.as 2 later development • .and in borh cultures monistic cosmologies were formul2ted in opposi. tion to the dominant pn.crices supported by the sute. The 2ttempt to contrut these fWO cultures in terms of the claim that one assumed 01 tr.agic disjunction between hwn.ans and gods th2t the ocher. due to its sh2manistic substflnum. never possessed is unconvincing. Such a contrast requires raking particular teXts out of COntext 2nd reading them as assumptions of an entire culture. Some of che tuts that are often cited in such contrastive fnme · works were written within debares that we re in fact quite similar in Greece ｾ＠ offers 2 cosmology completely different 2nd China. Ceruinly the Ｂｎ･ｩｹ from, say. that found in the Tht-ogu"y. but it is far less different from thar in Empedocles. And both Empedocles 2nd the "Neiye" conuin artempts to formul2te 2 cosmological model with self·diviniz2tion cwms in order to question the modes of authoriry dominant at the time. There are. of course, significant differences in the monistic cosmologies proposed in these two cultures. In terms of the examples discussed in this ch2pter. Empedocles w.as dealing with numerous ideu-such as reinc2rnarion-not found in the early Chinese material. But the more significant dif· ference lies in che socw cl2inu of the figures in question. In che c.ase of Empedocles. the emphasis of self·diviniution WOIS put of an 2ttempt to form an altern2tive W2y of lifc and ultimately an alternative communiry-a claim th2t certainly holds true for Pbto.as welL Cbims of self·diviniz2cion in early Greece. in other words, tended co be m2de by those groups in opposi. tion co the polis. In early China. such appeals were similarly m2de by figures who opposed che politic.al 2nd religious scructures of the time. but they were n.rely used in the 2tcempr to build alternative communities, On the comfllry. many such appe21, we re made in the form of advice to kings-calling on rulers to follow als. H umans should simply follow the dictates of Heaven, who cre;lited (he hum2Jl political order. provided natural resources for human appropriation. and. along with the spirits. OIctively intenoenes in hwnan 2fF.lirs to reward the good 2nd punish the b2d. The Mohists denied the ordering power ofhum2n ritu:al vis· a·vis the divine realm. The divine realm was already properly or· dered; indeed. the divine realm wu ordering the hum2n ralm. Sacrifice W2$ thus defined within 2 hiera rchic.al. do 141 dCJ framework. T he MChu yu. xi2" chapter of che Guoyu supported ritual specialistS as a means of m2intaining a proper hie ruchy between humans 2nd spirits and thereby obt2ining a harmonious world for humans. The text wu written in oppo.sition to the attempt to overturn the proper distinction th2f. 2ccording ro the aurhors. should prevail between humanity and the divinities. The authors thus took 2 po.sition compn2ble to thar found in me "Sheng min" poem discussed in me previous ch2pter; in the "Chu yu, xiOl; however. this position is c1eOlrly being asserted avin5t those who might transgress the boundaries befWeen humans and spirin. The "Chu yu. xi2" is thus compua· ble to P ind2r's attempt to m2int2in a distinction befWeen hum2ns and spirin againsr contempor.ary critiques. Fin211y. the "Neiye" claims that humans have wimin themselves the ability to gain powers like those held by the spirits. Although the "Neiye" 2Ccepts the hier.archy of He.aven. Earth. and man. it holds mat humans C2n g.a.in the 2bility to control things and understand fomme and misforrune without re.sorring to ritu.al arts to divine the intentions of spirits. In short. the "Neiye" is asserting precisely the sort of position th2t textS like the Guo," 2re rejecting. T hus. not only were the claims of continuity between human and divine powers not OIn assumption in early China, but such c12ims we re made in explicit opposition to rit ual speCialists of the day, Moreover, such claims were GAINING THE POWERS OF SPIRITS GAINING THE POWERS OF SPIRITS their practices and advice as opposed to those of the divinacory and sacrificial specialists dominant at court. Indeed, it was not until the Eastern Han that such self-divinization practices (in a very different form) were appropriated and utilized by religious Daoisr communities to formulate the basis of an alternative political order. The interesting comparison between Greece and China lies in the differ· ent ways that such claims were debated, the different groups thar appealed to self-divinization practices, and the historical consequences.of the ways in which such debates played out. The comparative approach that I advocate, therefore. is one in which the analyst auempt:S first co locate similar tensions and concerns in the cultures in question and then traces the varying responses co those tensions and concerns. Such an approach has two advantages. First of all, it allows us to avoid the tendency in compararive frameworks to deny the individual as well as the differences that exist within cultures. If we focus on discovering common tensions rather than on contrasting different OlSSumptions, then it is possible, once one has isolated the political and culNtal tensions, to study the ways in which particular individuals, in particular contexts, rry to deal with the perceived problems. The comparison then revolves around the attempts of individuals in other cultures to deal with similar political and cul· tural concerns. Second. by rm:king explicit the tensions with which figures were gtappling. it becomes possible to analyze particular st,;L[ements as reflective of an arcempt at solving a given problem and not as necessarily in· dicative of assumptions of the larger culture as a whole, It thereby helps the analyst avoid the tendency. for example, to read a given statement concerning the correlation of humans and spirits made in a single text as necessarily reflective of the beliefs of the rime. In mis chapter, for example, I sugsest that at least one of the ideas often promoted in comparative studies-the contrast between me ｾ ｴｲ｡ｧｩ｣ｾ＠ coscosmology of e.arly China-is mology of early Greece and the ﾷ｣ｯｮｴｩｵｳｾ＠ based on a misreading of specific claims that were made within larger political and cultural conflicts. Rather than focus on a claimed difference between Greece and China. we should instead attempt to read chese claims in a conreXtuai and historical manner-as claims being made in particular contew-and to ask why such claims were being made and against whom they were being made. Many of the interesting comparative issues then lie in discovering the different ways that these conflicts and debates unfolded historically. In the nexr three chapters, I continue to explore claims about relations between humans and divinities made in the Warring States period. I trace what happens when the claims concerning the potentially divine powers of humans become more and more common over the course of me fourth and third centuries DC, as well as me historical implications of how such claims were received. '" 

To become a god Cosmology, Sacrifice, and SelfDivinization in Early China Michael J. Puett Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press Cambridge, Massachu5ens, ｡ｾ ､＠ London, England, 2.00:2. Introduction I begin with [he origin of the cosmos: Long ago, in the time before chere aisced Heaven and Earth, there was only figure without fo rm. Obscure, dark. vast, and deep--no one knows its gate. Thert wert twO spiritl (shell .¥II) born together; they aligned Heaven. chey orienred Earth. So vast-no one knows its cnd or limit! So overflowing-no one knows where it stopped! Thereupon. they divided. and became yi n and yang. separated and be· ,arne the eight pillars. Hard md soft completed =:h other, and the myriad things were thereupon fo rmed. The turbid 'Ii ｾ＠ became insects, rod the refined 'li became 1 humaru. The passage is from the opening of the HJingshen, ｾ＠ chapter seven of me ｈｕＨｬｩＢ｡ｮＲＺＮｾ＠ It :,md similar passages are often quoted in the secondary litera· (Urc as examples of cosmologlc:.t! thinking. of .attempts to desc ri be the uni· verse as :.I. spontaneous, self-generating system. Something without form existed in the past ,lnd then spontaneously divided into H e.aven and E.arth, with the qi forming the va rious objects and beings of the universe. In referring to cosmogonies like this, Frederick Mote has famously .argued: -rhe genuine Chinese cosmology is that of organismic process, mean- I. ｈｾｪＢＬｲｩ＠ Ｂ ｊ ｩｮＧｨｾ ｮ Ｚ＠ ,.Ia. lbe pauage would have bull ｷｲ ｩ｛ｾｮ＠ Ｎｯｭｾ＠ ｴｩｭ ｾ＠ Liu An p llt lhe work 10 Emperor Wu ortht Hail. i. ｢･ｦｯｲｾ＠ 139 Be, tl\( ｰｲｯ｢ｊＬｬｾ＠ ､Ｎ｡ｴｾ＠ when , INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ing thn .all (he putS of the entire cosmos belong to one organic whole aJ}d th:u rhq all inte ract as participants in one spontaneously self-generating life J process: But, if this passage.is an anempt to describe the beginnings of a sage urilize such loaded terms to characterize the actions of spiriu before the emergence of the ｣ｯｳｭｾ＠ Why do spirits have to align the cosmos before it is spontaneously formed? The answer, as I will argue in C hapter 7, has little to do with early Chinese assumptions about the cosmos. Soon after the passage JUSt quoted. the authors of the chapter discuss programs of self-cultivation t hat enable the adept to become a spirit.6 Spirits first aligned and o riented the cosmos, and humans can t hen become spiries and exercise control of the cosmos as well. The opening cosmogony of the chapter, therefore, sets t he basis for a series of crucial claims concerning the ability of humans to divinize rhemselves and thus gain control over natural phenomena. The authors are less inrerested in posiring a spontaneous universe rhan in asserting the theomorphic powers of human adepu. A similar concern with humans becoming spirits and thus gaining power over rhe natural world appears in another chapter of the Huainanzi: spontaneous universe, then what are we to do with the third sentence: HThere were two spirits bom together; they aligned H eaven, they oriented ｅ｡ｲｴｨｈｾ＠ Why would a universe that is self-generating and spontaneous re· quire twO spirits to align and orient it? The spirits themselves may have been born naturally. but their subsequent actions are almost like those of dem!urges-figures who actively phn and organize the strucrure of the cosmos. Indeed, the words used to describe the actions of the spirits (aligning and orienting: jing ]ing@: 'it) are lo.aded terrns, with strong resonances in the early texa. The te rms were commonly used to d escribe the ways that sages surveyed and organized prior to an act of construction. In the ·Shao gao" chapter of the ｓｨ｡ｮｾｵＬ＠ for example, we nnd: "The Grand ProtectOr arrived in [he morning at Luoyang and performed crackmaking about the site. O nce he obtained the cracks. he aligned and o riented Uing ying)[ [he city ｊＺｾ＠ The passage refers to rhe preparations for the construction of me new capital of the Z hou at the beginning of their dynasty. The Grand Protector, after receiving favorable auguries, aligned the boundaries of the city from which m e Zhou could then control the north C hina plain. T he terms are found as weU in t he Shijing poem "Lingrat (M ao #a4z), which is also quoted in Mmcius IA/2.: He aligned. and commenced rhe Numinous Tower. He aligned. it and oriented it. The people labored. on it, In less than a d:ty mey completed. it. s The figure (understood at least by me time of Mencius to be King Wen) personally aligned and orienred the Numinous T ower prior to the acrual wo rk of consrruction. In these passages ftom the Shangshu and Shijing, the words refer to the organizational activities of sages, and in both cases the organizational work involved an attem pt to align and orienr human SC"Tuctures so as to harmonize [hem with divine powers. So why would the authors of the Huainanzi pas- ). MCKc.'ntrilatuQI F'UMGt'QIIJ ojOoinQ. p. ｬｾＮ＠ ｾ Ｎ＠ Sb<In,u,u VnnDi. "SII.1Ogao: Ls.Lb. ,. Shi. ｨｾＮＱ Ｎ＠ l If one climbs twice OLS high OLS Kunlun. {the peak) is c.1lled the Mountain of Liangfeng. If one OLScends it, one will not die. If one climbs twice u high. it is called. Xuanpu. If one OLScends it, one will become numinous and be able [ 0 control [he wind and the rain. Twice u high, it stretches up to Heaven. If one climbs it. one will become a spirit. This is called the Realm of me G reat God (Di).? The passage describes t he process of self-cultivation metaphorically as an act o f climbing the peaks above Kunlun Mounuin ever higher toward the realm of the Great God. With each step in the process, one gains ever more power over natural phenomena-first achieving immortality and then gaining direct control over the wind and rain. Ultimately, one becomes a spirit and lives with rhe Great God. Both Huainanzi passages posit nor a spontaneous cosmos but one organized and controlled by spiri ts. And. in this particular sense, the passages were in t he mains tream of the claims made in most te1Cts &om early C hina: as I will arg..;.e below, visions of a purely spontaneous cosmos, in which natural phenomena are not under t he power of spirits, arose very lare in t he Warring States period and were never more than a minority opinion. What is noteworthy about these twO passages are rarhe r rhe claims made about rhe 6. ｈＢｩｮｾｬＮ＠ "Jingshen: , .,b. ,. H"",'""nli, "Dillin,," ｾＮＩｩ＠ Su (he u tdl"m disCLwion by John M.1jor in ｈ i" EclrI, Hu Thou",f. pp. 15'- 6L. Ｂｾｭ＠ 4nc1 Eclrlb INTRODUCTION ability of humans ro divinize rhemselves. In contrast to the chronologically earlier Shiftng and Shilngmll. mese segments do not present humans u trying to propitiate or placate divine powers. Indeed. wimin me cosmology presented in these Huainanti passages. one need not use divination and s.acrifice to manipulate the spirits; inste:od me adept becomes a spirit directly and appropriates their powers. This book is an attempt to reconstruct the debate within which such cuims of the theomorphic potencials of humans were made and within which such claims grew to be increasingly important. I will trace this debate. which ran from the Shang through the H an. analyzing compering argumenu conceming the nature of spiriu. me proper denurcation (or b ck mereof) berween humans and spirirs. and the types of potency that humans and spiriu should be allowed to exercise over the natural world. As I will argue. clainu about me nature of the cosmos. and me degree to which it is or is not controlled by willful agenu (human or spirit). afO$t within this debate and can be understood fully only within that context. In order to analyze this debate in irs full complexity. I will discuss the notions and practices of divination and sacrifice during this period and will look in depth at the ways and reuons that these practices were criticized by figures claiming the abili£)' ro become. rather than simply manipulate. spirits. And I will also detail m e rise of claims that me cosmos is a sponraneous sys_ tem-claims mat arose in opposition bom to the sacrificial and divination specialisrs of the day and to the proponents of the increasingly popular view that humans had theomorphic potentials. In short, I hope to provide a full cultural and intellectual history of the rise of both self-divinization movements and correJative cosmology in early China. This historical account of the dispute over the relationship berween humans and spirits and the natural world will give us a glimpse of a crucial debate in e:orly China. one mat had great ra mifications for developing notions of human powers. me nature of spirits. and the £)'pts of sacrificial practice that should be supported by the state. It will also throw intO question numerous long-standing assumptions about e:orly China. The revised picture should shed light on how these aspew of e:orly Chinese religious practice can be understood from a historical perspective and help point to a very different way of thinking about early China from a comparative point of view. In order to outline the implications of the issues to be discuued. I turn to a summary of some of the relevant secondary literature on these iuuCJ, INTR ODUCTION , Seconcbry Scholarship One of the points I will try to demonstrate in these pages is the degree to which analyses of these issues concerning humans and spirits in e:orly China have been based. implicidy or explicitly. on compar.nive frameworks and comparative categories that for the most part originated in the fields of sociology. anthropology. and the history of religjons. T his is ttue not only for scholars in America and Europe but also for those in China. Taiwan. and Japan. O ne of my intents he re is to tease out these categories (norions such as shamanism. monism. rationality) u well as some of the comparative frameworks (evolutionary. contrastive cosmologies) in which these categories have been employed. In this section. I oudine some of the most influential of these comparative categories and frameworks. This will put us in a position to see. as other scholars are diScussed in the main part of the book. [he degree ro which their approac hes arc based on the categories presented here. My goal is not to debunk the use of comparative categories Ot to argue against comparison per se. On the contrary. I. too. will make comparisons, particularly with ancient Greece. and I will be working with a num ber of anthropological discussions of, fo r example. kingship. cosmology. and s.acrifice. My goal is, rather, to question the types of comparative categories employed thus f.tr and to point toward what I hope are other. more succes.sful approaches. Perhaps the single most influenrial figure in the rwentieth century to have studied China is Max Weber. The main corpus of Weber's writings consists of comparative analyses of the major civilizations in world history. His guiding concern was the study of rationalism: Why did partic ular forms of rational activiry develop in m e West. and why did such activity develop to only limited degrees elsewhere? T o undertake this project. Weber made a rypology of what he considered the major spheres of society: the economy. sociery. government. me bw. and religion. Since Weber saw e:och of these spheres as relatively auronomous. he believed they could be studied separately. For Weber. a civilization was the result of me interaction of m ese spheres.' Weber's comparative method consisted of comparing e:och of these • . Becawe of t he popuLority ofTht ｐｲｯｴｉｃＮｾ＠ Elhit.1III 1M Spiril oJCapil.!Um, Weber hu in· correerly become ulociated with the belief t h.at religion determines IlK degree of ｲ ｡ｴｩｯｮｾｹ＠ dllli I l ociety achievCI. In facl. Weber held no l!Kh po,ilion. Hi, anaiy,is of PrO'lemntism • , INTRODUCTION INTRODU CTION spheres across civwrions and t he different inte ractions of these spheres in each society in order to determine the levels of rationality achieved in ach cjvili%ation and to understand what prevented the full fluorescence of 1'2rionality in non-Western civilw..rions. simply a racionalization of magic intO a form.t1 system-for that same reason. it never transcended a magicaJ approach to thc world. Confucianism was a40"a rationaJ ethic which rcduccd tcnsion with the world to an absolute minimum" (p. 2.2.7), Indecd, there was no tension at all betwecn thc human and the divine spheres: "Completely absent in Confucian ethics was any tClUion between nacure and dcity, between erhicaJ demand and human shortcoming. consciousness of sin and nced for saJvation, conduct on earth and compensation in the beyond, religious duty and socio(pp. 235-36). Confuci2nism saw cosmos and society as fuJly politic.t1 ｲ･ＮｴＱｩｹｾ＠ linked, ｾ､＠ the ethicaJ imperativc was simply to adjust oneself to these cosmic and socia! spheres: Perhaps Weber's most influential disc:U1Sion of these issues with respect to China was his contrasting of Confucianism and Protesu.ntism. Weber measured rhtu two religions (in his terminology) according to a universal yardstick of rarion:.tiiZOlrion: To judge the levd of rationaliution a rdigion reprellcna we nuy tae cwo primary yardsticks which arc in nu.ny ways incer-rdared. One is the degree to which the religion hu divested icsdf of magic; the other is the degree to which it hal 'Y'cernariGod and the world :lnd therewith its own ethical (ally unified che rd.uion ｢･ｲｷｾ＠ 9 rdatiolUhip to the wodd.. In Weber's view, Protestantism had achieved an extreme fonn of rationalization in terms of both of these measures. In terms of the first ya rdstick. Protestant modes of thought "have liquidated magic most completely, ｾ＠ leading to a "complete disenchantment of the wo rld" (p. :126). And, in terms of the second, Protestantism precipitated a "tremendous and grandiose tension toward the world" (p. 117). Confuci:lnism, in contrast, registers far lower on both of rhese yardscicks. It is characterized by a "toleradon of magical and animist conceptions" (p. 196). More specifically, "one may say that every son: of radonalization of the archaic empiric.t1 knowledge and craft in China has moved toward a magic image of the world" (p. 196). Instead of rejecting magic .t1togerhet, Confucianism converted a magical worldview into a monistic cosmos: "Cos· mogonic specularion with thc sacred number five operated in terms of fivc planets, five elements, five organs, etc., macrocosm and microcosm.... This Chinesc 'univcrsist' philosophy and cosmogony tr:lnsformed the world into a magic garden" (pp. 199-2.(0). Chinese cosmologic.t1 thinking. in short, was rdkn cci his claim ltw it was an imponam inBuenc£ on lhe emergence of apiulilm in lhe ｗｾ｛ Ｎ＠ SUI he did noc hold lhat rdigion in gencnl it: [he only &ctor WI ､｣ｴﾣｲｭｩｮｾ＠ n tional· iry. For Weber, , run analysis of any civilizarion involvu the trudy of the interaction. of all these Ip/>ml, and a run o;ompamw" study involvu Ｈｯｭｾ ｲ ｩｬｯｲｵＺ＠ of each of these Iphera with lhose found in other civilizadonl. Religion, tmn. Wal only one of many Ipherl:l. Thul, al· though I focUi here primaray on Weber'l vieWI on Chineu religioru, I do 10 only because of the emphalil of this book. , . Web£r, Th ｒｲｬ ｩＬｲｾ Ｂ＠ ｾｦ｡ｩＢＬ＠ p. nil Ｈ ｨ･ｲｴ ｾｬｉｦｴｲ＠ citd In the Iut). Confucianism meant adjwnnenr ro the world, to ia or&rs and conventiON.. , . The cOimic orders of the world were coruidercd fixed and inviolate and the orders of society were but a special case of this. The great spiria of the cosmic orden obviously desired only the happiness of the world and especially the happiness of man, The lime applied to the orders of society. The "happy" tranquility of the empire and the equilibrium of the soul should and could be auained only if man fiued him· sdfinco the internally harmonious cosmos. (pp. IS:I.- n) The differencc between Protestantism and Confucianism could not be more cle:r.r: From the rdarion between me supn.mundane God and me crearurally wicked. ethk.ally irrational world there resulted ... rhe ab50lute unholiness of tr.lldirion and truly endle51 [uk of ethically and rationally subduing and mastering the given world, i,t., rational, objective "progrcss: Here, Ihe tuk of the r:u:ional transformation of the world stood opposed to the Confucian adjustmcnt to the world. (po ""0) As a consequence, "thc varied conditions which externally favored the origin of capitalism in China did not suffice to cre:r.te it" (p. 148), One sees in Weber's argumcnt cwo concerns that will appear repeatedly throughout twe ntieth·century discussions of Chinese thought: a concern with comparing China and the West with referencc to an cvolutionary development of rationality and a conccrn with comparing China and the WUt by contrasting their purportedly distinctive cosmologies. At timu, as in Weber himself, these {wo wcrc scen as linked. More oftcn, howevc r, these modeh came to be prescntcd in opposition to each other. Indeed, these havc become two of the basic poles around which scholarship on early Chinese thought and religion has developed. And, intriguingly, .t1though almost all of 8 I NTI\ODUCT I ON INTRODU CTION these sinological studies were writte n as attempts to defend the C hinese tradition agairur Weberian critiques, they tend to do so by maintaining one of To make th is argument, Granet worked primarily from those Hll1 texu devoted to building complex correlative systems based o n yin-yang. five phases. and microcosmic/ macrocosmic relations, H owever. he read t hese cosmological notions not as a particular historical development during me Han but as indications of C hinese th inking in general. Indeed. mis viewpoint is evident in the organization of the book. The first three quarters are devoted to working OUt mese cosmologicaJ systems in detail. Then. in the fi· nal quarte r of the book. Grmet looks at individual th inkers, beginning with Confucius. Each thinker is presented as building on .a particular aspen of this HChinese" cosmology. In om er words, irute.ad of presenting cosmology .as .a Late developmen t buiJding on or re.acting .ag.ainst e.a rlier figures like Confucius. G rmet re.ads correlative minking .as the guiding principle of all C hi· nese thought. Like Granet, Fung Yu-Lan wu interested in argu ing for the value of C h ineSt thought. But his method of doing so was quite d ifferent. Inste.ad o f defining .a distinct logical system thar underlay its seeming strangeness. Fung Yu-lan's main move w.as to pl.ace C h inese: thought within t he evolutionary framework th.ar dominated contemporary studies of W estern philosophy and to read the history of thought in early Chin.a in the same terms as was then commonly done for Greece.1l H e presented e.arly Chinese philosophy in t erms of a shift from religion to philosophy, from t heistic views to rationality • .and .ar8¥ed that hum.anism, r.ationalism, and natur.ali.sm were indige-' nous to C hinese philosophy and emerged ar the s.ame rime in C hina as t hey purportedly had in ancient G reece. And, although the resulting philosophicaJ tradition in C hina did not develop in logic and epistemology to the degree found in Greece. it excelled in [he study of self·cultivation.1) In order to d emonstrate t his common evolution. Fung Yu·l.an began by reconstructing the "primitive" period t ha r Chin.a shared with.all other civili· ucioru. For Fung. me defining feature of primitive t hought was .a theistic cosmology: HIn me time of primitive man t he belief was general. not only in C hin.a but in other parts of the wo rld, that n atural phenomen.a and human affiairs are all under a divine and supernatural conrrol- (p. ｾＬＩ Ｎ ｬｮ＠ having such a cosmology in the Bronze Age. Fung argued strongly. the C hinese were no diffe rent from the G reeks: !he Chinese of th.at time were superstitious and these cwo poles of the W cberian &amework ｾ､＠ simply revening the vaJw.- rion given to China. These polu can be seen in two highly influenWl studies published in the 19305: Fung Yu-Ian's .A History of o,intx PhiloJOphy. and Mated Gnnet's La ｾｮｳｨ＠ ,hinoUt. Fung's work wu to become one o f the most significant studies of the evolution of Chinese philosophy, and Gf2Jlet'S the most important work on atly Chinese cosmological thinking. Both were written [0 defend me Chinese cndition by showing it to be. as strong as the Wesu;m rudirion. But whereas Fung 2ITCmpted to do so by showing m,l.[ Chinese philosophy dcvdoped through the same evolutionary proces:i as had the Western tr2dirion, Graner defended Chinese (hought by arguing that it was based on a cosmology radically different from. but nonetheless as important as. the cosmology rhat dominated the West. I will discuss each of these works in rurn, beginning with G ranet. Granet's main concern in lA PlllJh ,hil1oiJ( was to delineate the Hgoveming ideasH'o of early C h inese thought'!' and one of his central arguments was that C hinese thought is not Hprelogicar or "mystical." On the contrary, once one understands the basic principles that underlie Chinese t hought, o ne can see t hat it forms a meaningful. coherenr system (pp. 28-29). Intriguingly, Graner's presentation of HChinese thoughtHis in its genera.! outlines qu ite similar to Weber's view of Confucianism. with me crucw difference that what Weber saw as restricting m e fUll development of rationaJ· icy is the very thing Granet celebrated as pan: of the gen ius o f Chinese think· ing. For example. Granet argued. one finds no "world of transcendent H realities ouuide t he human world (p. a79). Indeed. this claim (made in ex· rremely po5irive terms) that the Chinese Lacked a notion of trmscendent principles-one of the characte ristics that Weber saw as limiting Chinapervades G ranet's analysis. According to Grane t. the C hinese had no sense of a transcendent Law or God and no notion of abstraction (pp. 476, 479). I ndeed. the C hinese assumed a fully mon istic cosmos: HMan and nature did nor form twO separate reaJms, but one un ique society" (p. 2S). 10. GflIntr. Ul1"PIJI, ｲ ｾＬ Ｇ ｮｯｪｬＧＬ＠ p. ｾＶ＠ (hertinalitr ciled in Ihe lexr). II. I will dul litre only britfly wllh Grane", ｯ ｾｲ｡ｕ＠ approach. For a more ､･ｲ｡ｾ＠ ,ion of Gn nt, '1 work, ｾ｣＠ CluPfu,,, and 6, diuu,. II . Set, t.g .• Cornfo,d. F.om Rtligi<on ｉ ｾ＠ I). Fllflg. A Hi.,o.y ｾｦ｡Ｎｪ ｮ ｭ＠ ｐｾｪｉｄｰｨｊＧ＠ pj,il010pity, I: 1-) ("'=,ein.lic, d ied ,in Ihe lUI). 9 INTRODUCTION lNTROOUCT10N ignorant; they had religious ideas bur no philosophy; so that the religion and spirits which they believed in were exactly like those of the ｇｲ･ｫｳｾ＠ (p. 14). Fung reiterated this same point several times. repeatedly emphasizing the degree to which these ｾｳｵｰ･ｲｩｴｯｮ＠ are common among all early peoplesincluding. most important, the early Greeks. For e:ample, in discussing the ｾｰｯｬｩｴ｣｡＠ and social regulations instituted by Shang Oi {the high ｧｯ､ｊＬｾＱＴ＠ Fung argued, ｾｔ ｨ･＠ ancient Greeks similarly supposed thac the inscitutiolU of their cicy-states had been created by divine beings. a belief-probably general among early ｰ･ｯｬｳｾ＠ (p. 34). This superstitious worldview was replaced by a humanistic one in che Chunqiu period (771-481 8e): "With the coming of the Chunqiu period in China. however, or perhaps even before, there were men who tried to give a human interpretation to the laws and statutes, which they declared were established wholly by human beings for man's own ｢･ｮｓｴｾ＠ (p. 34). For Fung. this was pan of a crucial shift toward the rise of humanism. fl:lturalism, and ｾｲ｡ｴｩｯｮｬｳｭ＠ (p. )3). Thus, in Fung's view, the emergence of correlative thinking was a step away trom theistic lIiews and a step toward a naturalistic conception: Perhaps the most influential study within me evolutionary framework was undertaken by Karl Jaspers, in Th Origin lind GOilI of H iJlory. Jaspers's argument was mat between roughly 800 and ｾｯ＠ BC, Greece, India, and China all experienced a philosophical revolution that he termed the ｾ＠ Arial u Period: For Jaspers, this period was defined by the emergence of transcendence-the point at which m<ln for the first time "experiences absoluteness in the depths of selfhood and in the lucidity of ｴｲ｡ｮｳ｣･､ ･ ｮ｣･ ｾ＠ (p. ｾＩＮ＠ It rurther involved a struggle of "rationalityn over myth and an "ethical ｲ･｢ｬｩｯｮｾ＠ H against Hthe unreal figures of the gods (p. 17). Like Fung. but lIery much unlike Granet, the emphasis here is on the universal evolution of consciousness rather than on the growth of different cwruril assumptions. Jaspers does admit some cwrural differences (for example. he feels that China did not produce a ｾｴｲ｡ｧｩ｣＠ ｣ｯｮｳｩｵ･ｾ ［＠ p. 19), but he views these as irrelevant to a proper understanding of universal history: "Really to visualise the facts of the Axial Period and to make them the basis of our unillersal conception of history is to gain possession of something common to 11/1 mIll1/tina, beyond all djfferences of creed (p. 19). According to Jaspers, China and India underwent the same transcendental breakthrough as Greece. Indeed. this transcendence created a universal form of consciousness. Unlike Weber, then. Jaspers a.s5eru that China did, in this early period, undergo a shift towud transcendence. And also unlike Weber. Jaspers is largely uninterested in culture. In the China Seld, the ｾ＠ Axial ｐ･ｲｩｯ､ ｾ＠ thesis was adopted most famously by Benjamin Schwam, who opened his study of Chinese philosophy, Tht WoriJ of Thought in Ancient China, with a reference to Jaspers: The attempt to explain the phenomena of the universe Ihrough the yin-yang Ihcoty, though ,rill primitive. is a step forward compared with explanatiollll hued on a Tian (Heavenj, a Oi, and a multitude of spirits. The neaven" described in this lut quotation (from the GllltJUj is a naturalisdc one bearing Jtrong resemblance to that of Lao%i, and seems to be: a forerunner of Oaoisr philosophy. (p. )5) Unlike Granet, who presented yin-yang cosmology as based on a distinctively Chinese mode of logic, Fung placed it on an evolutionary scale: although still primitille, it was a step toward a fully rationalistic way of thinking. The differences between these studies by Granet and Fung. published at almost the same time, exemplify twO of the poles of analysis that would dominate twentieth-century studies of Chinese thought. For the Sm few decades after the publication of these twO works. the ellolurionary model was more influential. although the past twO decades have seen a decided shift roward the cultural-es.sencial.ist model r will continue to follow mese arguments in roughly chronological order. I• • Here and in all {he 'l.1IO(atiolll {hroughltu{ {hb book. I ｨ｡ｾ＠ udOlu. IUWdlUttd ,,'",Tin rOnlanl- " H I muse conf«s that my own interest in ancient Chinese thought hu :aUo been much stimulated by [he type of"world-hi.uorica}" obscrvarions which we find in thc chapter on the "uial age" in Karl juper' book Thr Origin Qnd End Itf HiuOf]. In this small volume juper! highlights the fact that in many of the high civili:tatiollll of the world- the civilizations of the ancient Near Eur. Gruce, India, and China-we witneu over rhe period of our ｾ ｦｩｲｳｬ＠ millennium B.C: the emergence of Certain "crea· rive minorities" who rdate themsdva in rc:EIa;tive, critical, and what one might even call ｾ ｴｲ｡ｮｳ｣･､ ･ｮｴ｡ｬＢ＠ wa)'$ to the civilizations from which they emerge.16 If.Jupen, TIlt Orif" 4>1<1 GOoI! ofHiJtor], p. I (hereinafter dred in the text). us. Schwam:. n.. World ofThowjlt in },"',"', Qi.... pp. ｾＭｊ Ｎ＠ " INTRODUCTION INTkODUCTION 'J this notion of transcendence in spirits of natUre and the ancesrral spirits are not banished. Indeed. Chinese mought 19 has never seriously attempted to carry out the "disenchantment" of the world. If there is nonethdess some common underlying impulse in aU these 'axial" movements, it might be called the strain towards transcendence. ... What I refer [0 here is something dose [0 the etymological meaning of the word-a kind of standing Schwanz fimher contrasted C hina with other ancient civilizations in In an earlier study. Schwar(2 ､ｩｳ｣ｾ＠ greater detail: back and looking beyond-a kind of critical, reflective questioning of the aCtual and a new vision of what lies beyond,17 ofJaspers's Although Schwartz himsdf downplayed the evolutionary ｡ｳｾ｣ｴ＠ argument, he supported the notion mat transcendence should be seen as a valid tcrm [0 compare th e changes that occurred in chese civiliz;arions in the middle of t he first millennium Be. The next issue for Schwarrz was to define the particular types of transcendence that occurred in e2ch mOljor civilization. Unlike J aspers. then, Schwanz was interested in cultural analysis-in discovering [he unique forms of transcendence that arose in each civilizaeion. For China, he argued. the dominant tendency was Oro associate the transcendent with t he norion of an immanent cosmic and social ｯｲ､･Ｎｾ＠ Transcendence, then, occurred in China even within its immanenrise cosmology. Thus, Schwartz character11 ized transcendence in China as being of a "rhis-world1( SOrt. In making this argument, Schwartz explicitly appealed ro Weber. Indeed, Schw,l.[[z's consistent move was to largely accept Weber's description of Chinese cosmology' but to argue mat this cosmology should be considered "rational" and "rranscendenw." This for Schwartz explains the ｾｲ｡ｴｩｯ ｮ｡ｬ Ｂ＠ cosmology found in texts like the Shangshu and Shijing. bur it is a rationalism based on different principles from those seen in Greece, and thus it did nor result in a W ebedan ｾ､ｩｳ･ｮ｣ｨ｡ｴｭ＠ of the world": To the extent that the word "rationalism" refers to the primacy of the idea of order, we can already speak here of the emergence of a kind of Chinese rationalism. It is. however, a rationalism that is radically different from many varieties of rationalism in ancient Greece. What we have is me image of an all-embracing and indusive 0[der which neither negates nor reduces to some one ultimate principle th:tt which is presumed to exist. Like the rationalism of bure.aucrtcy, it classifies and subsumes the exi.itent reality. It is a synrheric rather than an analytic conception of order. The terms of one of rhe basic points emphasized by Weber: the lack in China of a StT'Ong tension between the hunun and divine realms. In orner ancient civilizations, most notably Mesopotamia, Egypt, Vedic India, and Greece, the human and divine realms are. according to Schwam, viewed as contestatory: "On both th e human and the divine level. anemion is c2lled to those aspeccs o f life in which gods and humans confront each other as somewhat unpredictable individuals and groups rather than in terms of fixed 'role behavior.·"XI In C hina, according to Schwartz, one finds 2 familial order of 2ncestor worship that led to a philosophical emphasis on a linkage between the divine and the human realms: Another possible implication of ancesror worship for the religious and even "philmophk" devdopment of China involves the rdation between thediYine-numinous realm and the human world. The ancestral spirits dwell in the world of the divine or numinotu... . Thus the line dividing the "diYine" from the human is nor sharply drawn, and 21 it seems that humans may pouess or takeon qualities which are truly numinous. Overill, then, Schwanz accepred much of Weber's framework of comparing civilizations with reference to the notiOn of rarion.aliz.ation. and he even accepted Weber's basic reading of C hinese culture as being domin2ted by an immanentist cosmology, a rhis-worldly orientation. and a lack of a tension between the human and divine realms. The only difference is th2t Schwanz w2nred to follow Jaspers in arguing that China did shift {O rranscendenw thinking in the e2rly period. Schwanz thus maintained a delicate balance between the two paradigms discussed in this chapter. Although dearly working within a Weberian framework. he emphasized thllt a shift toward rranscendence had occurred in China. H owever, whereas Schwam emphasized some degree of similarity between the early Chinese tradition and other early philosophical naditions. the most dominant paudigm over the past two decades has gone in t he opposite direction. Several scholars have built on Graner's work to argue thar C hina h2d a radically different cosmology from thar setn in me West. lSI. Ibid" p. S9. 17. ｓ｣ｨｷ｡ｲｴｾ＠ -rhe Age ｯｦｔｾｬｋ･ｮ､Ｌ Ｇ＠ p. l. 18. Schwam:. -rraliKencience in Ancien! Chin.: pp. 61, SSI- 60. 10. ｓ｣ｨｷ｡ｮｾ＠ al. Ibid" p. as. The WDrId .fThDMghr in A",i.nr ｡ＬｩＢｾ＠ p. as. ·s INTIlOD UCTION I NTRODUCTION Indeed, it is not going too far to suggest that. with a few exceptions noted ing this worldview and then discusses how the various schools of thought below. th e evolutionary framework has largely been rejected in recent scholOlrlihip in favor of the cultunl-essenrialist model that so defined Granee's were guided by such a sh.ared cosmology. Mote further builds on Needham to make an argument for the .absolute uniqueness of C hinese cosmology: '4 work. Although many of the supporters of this cuJrural·essentiilist model explicitly c!:aim to be studying the· A.riaI. Age.- u they in faa strongly oppose the evolutionary sides of Jaspers's argument. One of the more influential works based on this approach was roughly contemporary with Jaspers's book: the second volume of Joseph Needham's Science ,:Ina Civilisation in China. Working closely from Graner, whom he qUOted frequently,ll Needham sought to develop m understanding of the fundamental cosmology of the Chinese: The key.word in Chinese thought is Order and above all Pattern (and, if I may whupcr it for the first time, O rganism). The symbolic corrdatiolU or correspondences all formed. part of one colo"a1 pattern. Things behaved. in parricular ways not necessarily because of prior actions or impuhiolU of other things, but becalUe their position in the ever-moving cyclical univene was such that they were endowed. with intriruic nuuru which made that behaviour inevitable for chern.. .. They were thus parrl in existential dependence upon the whole world.organum. And they reaaed. upon one another not so much by mechanic21 impulsion or causation as by a kind of mystcrioIU resonanCe.;z4 Within this organismic conception of the world, all things spontaneously harmonize with e:.lch other, cre:tfing an ｾｯ ｲ､･ ･､＠ harmony of wills without an ｯｲ､ＺＮｬｩｮ･ｾＧ＠ In contrut to a harmony of willi, Needham c!:.limed, Europun thoughr is characterized by a ｾｳ｣ｨｩＲ［ｯｰ ｲ ･ｮｩ｡＠ or split-personality. Europeans could only think in terms either of Democrice2n mechanic:.ll m:tferial26 ism or of Platonic the ological spiritualism: Just like Weber, Needham argued that C h ina did not possess the radic:.ll dualism that was so import.ant for the Wesco But Needh.am reversed the formula.and dearly symp:.lthized wich the Chinese side of me contrast. Frederick Mote hu similarly based his argument on what he c.alls the general ｾ ｷｯｲｬ､＠ ｶｩ･ｷ ＲＷ＠ｾ of ea rly China. Like Granet, Mote begins by describ- n . 5«, e.g .. HliI and Ames, A.IlIitipali"Id.i..... p. Jiii; and Gralun\, DUl',mn of 1M T..... p. i. ocher places. Nadium. SOmet ...d Cil>iliMIficll ill ｯＬ［ＢｾＺ＠ 216-1,. 2.10. ｾ Ｎ＠ Ibid.. p. 28 •. 1S. Ibid .. p. J8? 16. Schwam. Tht World ｯｦｔｨｾｴｉｮ＠ ill A",itlll 0,111 • • p. JOI. I? Mote.lllull«fll<ll FOWM.fiollJ ofo,l"". p. liS. Needlwn. analmng thu ChinCK mood. calli it -an ordered. harmony of wills with· OUt an orWiner: As he describes the organismic Chinese ccnmos, it emergCII to our full view as one in striking contrast to all ()(her world conceptions known co human history. It differs from ocher organismic conceptions, such as clas.sic Greek cos· mologies in which a logos or demiurge or otherwise conceived. master will external to creation, was regarded. as necessary for existence. ZI If such 2 cosmology were indeed 2n uswnpcion in c.arly China, then it would follow th.ar both hum.ans and spiriu would be concepru.a.lized as part of .1.10lrger monistic sYStem. As Mote .argues: -rh is is Oln essentially nOlturilistic conception, in that it describes 'spirit' u h.aving the WIle qu.alities 2nd u being subject to the WIle processes as all other upccts of ｮＮ｡ｴｵｲ･ｾＱＹ＠ In contnut to Western conceptions. in othe r words, hum.ans 2nd gods were seen u simil.ar in n:.lcure. K. C. Chang expanded on these ideOlS Olnd .argued that this difference in the cosmologies of the Wesc and ChinOl derived ITom.a different orienurion toward shmunism: Men and gods, animate and inlnimOlte things, the living and dud members of the dans- all of chelle bein&1 exisced in the ancient Chinese world within the ume uni· verse. but th:.lt universe was byered. and subdivided.. The most important divisions were the Huven and the Ean:h. and the ancient Chinese could be sccn as puticul.arIy preoccupied. with the Heaven and E.1.n-h intercommunication. The Ihamansreligious personnd equipped with che power to Ry urou the different layers of the universe with the hdp of the animals and 01 whole range of rituals and paraphernalia-were chiefly respolUible for the H eaven·E.1.rth communicarion.:IO As intermediaries who mOlintain Ol proper linkage between the hunun 2nd the divine realms. Chang .argued. , h.am2ns occupied positions of great imlI portance. For Ch:a.ng. China and the West diverged because the Ncar EOISe experienced wh.ar Chang calls Ol ｾ｢ｲ･｡ｫｯｵｴ＠ from this e.arlier, sham.anistic put, l 3- Sec. ｾｭｯｮｧ＠ ｾ Ｎ＠ Ibid .• p. 'so 19. Ibid" p. 17· )0. K. C Ou,ng. Tht Arrh.otoloDof A..nt"f 0" .... , p. 41$. The argument It.ckwloped in full in Ou,ng'J An. Myth. ｾｍ＠ 'I. Ri,t1I4I. INTRODUCTION I NTRODUCTION " whcrcu China (along with ｍ｣ｾ ｣ｲｩ｡ｮ＠ civilizations) mainr:aincd iu sha- manistic culture. Thus, the War developed, among other things. -a cosmology that emphasized the scpar:ate uistcnce of g0ci5," while Chinese culture was built on an assumption of an -interlinked world continuum.- Once again, C hinese thought is distinguished by <I. purported assumption of continuity berween the human and divine realms. Simili.r argumenu. although developed in different ways, underlie me work of A. C. Graham. one of the most philosophicilly acute scholars to study t2rly China. Like Graner, Needham. Mote. and Ch2Jlg. Graham was committed to distinguishing C hinese and Western ways of thinking. In :1 move reminiscent of Graner, Grmam built this connast on :I. distinction be· tween .analytic thinking (dominant in Western thought) lnd corrcl.uive thinking (more dominant in China). However. Graham's consrrucrion of this contrast differed in some ways from G rands. To begin with. Graham argued thar borh correlative and analytic thinking arc univcrs:r.1 modes of thought. Correlative thinking is the precognitive mode common in most daily life and is t he basis for analytical t hinking. a second-order mode,uGraham therefore opposed Graner's artempt to read lare Warring States and H an correlarive models as representative of a uniquely Chinese way of thinking. Inste:ad. G raham argued. the actempt by figures in the third and second cenruries IIC to build complex. cosmological systems should be read as simply a particular dellelopment of a unillersal mode of reasoning: ·What G ranet saw as the difference between Chinese and Western thought may nowadays be seen as a rranscultural difference between proto-science and modem science. Correlative cosmos-building is most conveniencly approached as merely an exotic example of the correlative t hinking used by everyone. which underlicJ the operatiol1$ of language irself: U Instead. therefore. of building a contrastive framework between China and the Wesr on the purported disdncdveness of correlative thinking. Graham pointed instead to the relative weight that each philosophical tradi· tio n placed on correlative and analytic thinking, C hina embraced correla· tivio/i the West ultimately divorced analytic thinking from correlatille thinking and came ro value analytical th inking more highly. M 11. Gr:aru.m. DUpUI.... ｾ＠ rht T.." p. In. n- Ibid.. p. )10. Stt allo Graham, Yin.YQngQnd Ihf ｎｾｉ＠ , •. Graham, DiJpWI.... of rht TQO, p. )a). .. ajC.".LII,·w 1lIlnking. pp, 1- 9. '7 The consequence of Graham's argument is char Chinese thought is pre· sented as fully disrincr from Western thought but based on the s.ame univer· sal types of thinking, Accordingly. although Graham conrinued to distin· guish ﾷｃ ｨｩｮ｡ ｾ＠ and the "West; he could argue that the West could learn from and accept fully the traditions of C hina. The overall argument is thus a variant o f the cultural·essentialist paradigm. Graham was com mined to a Chinese philosophical tradition based on correlative thinking. but he bued it on a universa1 claim concerning correlative thinking in order to emphasize. the general applicabilio/ of the Chinese model Graham's arguments have been developed in rhe collaborative work of David Hall and Roger Ames. which represents the most extensive attempt in recent decades to contrast the cultures of e:arly C hina and the ｗｾｲＮ＠ Indeed. they describe their work as an anempt to ｾｩｬｵｭｮ･＠ the cOntr2Sring assumptions shaping classka.! C hinese and Wesretn ｣ｵＱｲ･ｳＮｾｊｓ＠ And. like Graner, the symparhies of Hall and Ames lie fully with C hina. Indeed. Hall and Ames strongly defend Graner's argument that correla· tive thinking is a defining feature of C hinese thought: view, however, is that Marcel Grana was essentially correct in identifying what we ate here calling corrdative thinking with a fundamental commitment of the Chinese sauibility. This implies that even among those: rhinkers such as Confucius and rhe philO$ophical Daoisrs who were not so concerned with ph)"ical speculations, the mode of corrdative thinking dominates. Our argument here is thar Han exercises in corrdative thinking are not anomalous, but are rather signal instances of corrdarive thinking in a tradition replete with such instances. (p.1S1) OUt Like Graner, and unlike Graham. Hall and Ames wish to read the Han cor· relative texts as represenc.arive of all early Chinese thought. Thus, Hall and Ames explicirly critique Jaspers's argument: ｾ ｉｦ＠ comp.lr1l.tive philosophy has anything to say about Chinese culrure during the so-called Axial Age. ir is cerrainly this: notions of 'absoluteness: 'transcende nce: and 'subjeCtivity' we re of doubrful ｳｩｧｮｦ｣｡･ｾ＠ (p. xiii). They also fault Schwartz for follow· ing Jaspers in using terms such as ﾷ Ｈｦ ｡ｮｳ｣･ ､･ｮ｣ ･ｾ＠ and in assuming a com· Illonalio/ among early civilizations (pp, 148, 186-87). 6ut. unlike Weber. Hall and Ames do not criticize China for irs lack of transcendence bur. like Graner. celebrate it, INTR ODUCTION I NT 110 DUCT I ON In formulating the contrasting auumptions of China and the West, Hill and Ames invoke a fundamental distinction be£wcen what mer call ｾｦｩｲｮ＠ and -second problematic ｴ ｨ ｩｮｫｧＮｾ＠ First prohlemltic thinking. which Hall 2nd Ames see as dominOlting Chinese thought. is based. on -analogical o r did undergo a transcendental breakthrough in the early period.)6 He qUOtes Schwatt%'s dellnition of transcendence for all Axial Period civilizatioru with approval (p. a73 ), but, unlike Schwartz. Raetz maintains me evolutionary aspects of Jaspers's argument. Indeed, he explicidy uses Jaspers's framework to reject the culturalist approach: "This should provide us with a universalistic conception of understanding. which avoids the ethnocentric implications or relativistic consequences of recourse to native language and culture specific forms of thought" (p, a3), In opposition to culturalism, Raetz seeks to provide "a yardstick for measuring and evaluating in its speCifIC variations the cultural evolution of mankind" (p. 30). Ckarly. Raetz's image of measuring cultures according to a yardstick of universal development is directly reminiscent (even to the point of wing the same metaphor) of the evolutionary sides of Weber's analysis. And, indeed. despite his strong rhetoric, Raetz is strongly indebted to the Webc:rian p2radigm, although Raetz places China higher on t he yardstick than did Weber. Raetz's recurrent move is thus to try to show that C hina did in nct attain the very forms of rranscendence and rationality Weber found in [he West. For the purposes of this chapter, the moSt signiScant of Raetz's discwsions is his explanation of how nature came to be seen as an object of human conquest. Since Weber connected the rise of a "disenchanted· notion of na· ture in the West to belief in a transcendent god, Roet'Z needs to C:1Cplain how this notion could have arisen in a culture without such a belief. -How. unless by means of the concept of an otherworld1y god, can nature be 'disenchanted' (Weber) in such a way char it becomes the pronne object of systematical transformation and conquest by man?" (p, al). For Raetz, the shift occurred with the "catastrophe" of the fall of the WeStern Zhou, which relulted in the "the loss of dignity of H eaven: This "nilure of the divine power led man to direct his anention to himself. Religion lost ground to new speculations· (p, 39). Raetz thus o ffers a variation on the "religion to philosophy- argumenr: a theistic worldview dominated the early period, bur, with the fall of t he Western Zhou. theism was destroyed. This led to a deemphasis on divine powers and a re-emphasis on humans. Raett thus feels he. hu proved that. contrary to We.ber's view, C hina did indeed see the rise of ethical rationalization in the early period (p, a14), " H correlacive thinking (p. xvii). "This mode of thinking .accepts the priority of change or proceu over rest and permanence, presumes no ultimate agency responsible for the general order of things, and seeks to account for S(leU of .affairs by appeal (0 correlative procedures rather than by determining agencia or principles· (po n-ii). In ,onrra.se [0 rhis. Ha.ll and Ames claim. is sec- ond problematic thinking. or ·cauW thinking- (p. xvu)-the mode th;1.[ has dominated the West. Among the characteristics of cauul thinking is H[he belief th.u the order of the cosmos is a consequence of some agency of construal ... (and) the tacit or explicit claim that me States of affiUrs comprising 'the world' ate grounded in, and ultinutely determined by, these: agencies of consuual" (p. xvii). T heistic systems. therefore, in which divine agencies are seen as causative forces in shaping the wo rld, are based on a Western, r:IIther than a Chinese, way of th inking. as would be, of course, any kind of transcendental or foundational thought. Like Graham, HaU and Ames see each of these ways o f thinking as existing to some degree in both Chinese: and Western cultures, and they ,lite thus able to argue that Chinese thought is something that can be fully assimilated. infO comemporary Western thinking, But, rheir symp2thies are clearly with the correlative mode, ;md they not surprisingly oppose ;my anempt to present these types on an evolutionary line, with correlative thinking as a more primitive o r lesser stage of consciousness: ·Such a claim challenges the viability of the Enlightenment reading of cultural development, which argues that the movement from mythos to logos or 'from religion ro philosophy,' or from analogical to causal chinking. ought to serve as the norm for the civili%ing of human experience" (p, xviii), Hall and Ames would mus reject Fung Yu-lan's "religion to philosophy" argument. Indeed, they wo uld question Fung's na rrative of an evolution in China from theism to hum;mism ;md rationalism. For Hall ;md Ames, all of these are distinctively Western modes of thinking-not found in the correlative mought of China. Although the cultural-essentialist model has dominated the study of early Chinese thought in recent decades, the evolutionist paradigm has recently been resurrected with great force by H einer Raerz. Raerz explicitly picks up on Jaspers's notion of;m Axial Period, arguing ｡ｧｾｮｬＨ＠ Weber that C hina " '0 INTRODUCTION But, since Roetz sees chis rationalization as necessarily involving the dis. enchantment of n.acure and the making of nature into a profane object of conquest by man, how docs he deal with the emergence of correlative cosmology-one of the very things that Weber saw as limlting rationalization holistic in China? As Roett notes, in a reference (0 Weber. ｾ｣ｯｳｭｬｧｩ｡Ｎ＠ reasoning often counu as an indic;uion that a brmrhrough toward enlight- ened thought has not raken place" (pp. 116-:1.7). Rocn:', defense of the Chi· nese mdirion thw consists of denying the importance of cosmology. and he therefore opposes Grmet's attempts to read correlative thinking as dominant in early C hina (p. U1). He argua, for ex:mtple. that Xunzi's cosmo- logical terminology is simply "rhetoric· (p. 230). But Wh2t about Han texrs! Even Roctz cannot deny that cosmology becomes impom.nt in the Han. Perhaps not surprisingly. he has noming but derision for figures like Dong Zhongshu who embraced correlative cosmology_ For Raetz. Dong Z hongshu ｾ､ｩｳ｣｡ｲ＠ me rational view of nacure which ｾ＠ (p. Z hou philosophy had developed and Xunzi had brought co ｣ｯｭｰｬ･ｴｩｮ a31). As a consequence. Dong Zhongshu marks the point at which Confuｯ ｮ ｾＡ＠ ｾ ｅｴ ｨｪ ｣ ｡ｊｬｹ＠ as well as cognirively it (Confucianism returns to ｾｳ ｵｰ･ｲｳｴｩ cianism) f.ills back on a level which the axial age philosophers had once over｣ｯｭ･ｾ＠ ( p. 231). Like Weber. Raetz defines correlative cosmology in terms of a lesser form of rationalization-a lower position on the yardstick. The only difference is that since Raea argues that a trarucendentaJ breakthrough occurred earlier. he sees the resurgence of correlative chinking as a regression. Why did the Chinese lapse:' Or. when put in terms of me entire history of China. why did China not achieve me full rationalizarion mat Raetz, folRaeu; concludes with an exlowing Weber. thinks occurred in the ｗ･ｳｴｾ＠ ｣ｹ＠ between the original potentia] and the acrual planation of this ｾ ､ｩｳ｣ｲ･ｰ｡ｮ historical development of China- (p. a75). Ultimately. me problem. as Raea: sees it. is that Confucianism failed to develop because the tension it posited between convention and mor:ali£Y (Ii and Ttn) wa.s wnot expressed in a trenargwnent is how similar chant manner- (p. an). What is amazing about ｾｨｩｳ＠ it is to Weber's. [n essence. Raetz is arguing that the problem with Confucianism is that it failed to maintain as extreme a tension between morality and convention as it should have. Moreover. since Raetz agrees that correlarive cosmology is nonrational. he argues that once correlative cosmology becomes dominant in the Han, cognition fell to a lower. nontranscendental level. Thus, despite all his discuuio ns of transcendence, Raetz is still com- INTRODUCTION " mitted to claiming the same comparative point we have seen repeatedly (even if valued differently by different thinkers) since Weber: the Chinese tradition &iled to achieve the motivating tensions.so impomnt to the West. Method o f Analysis At the center of much of the secondary literaru re sketched above srand the cosmological texu of me Warring States and Han. The question is how to read these texts. Weber. as well as m ose who advocated a generally evolutionist lTamework. present cosmological models as part of an attempt to rationalize an existing magicaJ, theistic, animistic wo rldview. Correlative cosmology was thus a shift roward rationality and naruralism. even if it unfortunately retained many of the earlier magical notions. In Raet'Z's variant of this model, rational nat uralism (with a cosmological ｷ ｲ ｨ･ｴｯｲ ｩ ｣ｾＩ＠ developed in early China, but then correlative cosmology arose in a th rowback to an earlier, nonrationaJ stltge of developmen t. However. the emphasis within this paradigm is on the shift from theism ro n2ruralism. The advocates of the cul tural-essentialist model. on the other hand. hold [hat these cosmological texts are indicative of a set of underlying as5umptions in early China. Figures as diverse as Granet. Mote, Chang. Grah2m, and Hall and Ames hold that even if cosmologic21 systems did not emerge until the third cenrury BC. {hey are nonetheless representlttive of a general ｾｃ ｨｩｮ･ｳｾ＠ way of thinking. In this view. theism never existed in Chinaeven in the Bronze Age. According to these interpretations. China and Greece (indeed, all of the West) are distinguished by f2dically different cosmologies-the Western tradition being defined in terms of {among other things) a disjunction between man and god. and me Chinese assuming an inherent correlation and link.age. As I will argue below, some of the material on self-diviniurion may force us to rethink both these lTameworks. The complex issues concerning the word spirit (,hen itII) in early Chinese textS are an example.)? As I discuss at lengrh in this book, the term is used to describe both spiriu who reside )7. WUJ.ud Petttson ("Making Conncaiom: p. 104) h.as suggc:md fr:msl:atirlg.hm ... "nuUlino,ity: a word th.at does capture lhe adjec:tival Kme of wn quile wdI. HowtYtr. lhe nomin.:al foron "numen" work. poorly fo describe wn when it refttl to spid". In this work. I will therefore comin"" [0 lIIiliu lhe cO<1l<1lon transLll ions of shtn as "Ipit ill Or "divinitie,: whtn IUed in the nominal form, and "Ipiritual" and "diyint" whtn wed irIthe adjec:tiyal. Such ill ｴｬｾ＠ arly lUll. Irafltl:alioll' allow one 10 mOTe c.uily (O"""Y the Ihin, dlat ｡ｰ･ｾ＠ INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION above and possess direct powers over natural phenomena and refined fomu of qi within humans. O n the question of how to account for these twO meanings of the term .w,." Hall and Ames have argued that "with the appearance of any given character in the text, the full seamless range of meanings is inrroduced." Our task as readers is "to reconstitute the several meanings of any term as an integrated whole::M This means that we must strive to understand the implications of a worldvlc:w in which sbc,., can simultaneously contain both meanings: of specific arguments ;ldvanced within ;l p;lrticulu historical context. then they may relleal ;l great deal. In other words, instClld of trying to -reconstirure che several meanings of any term as an integrated whoie,- r will work to reconstruCf the debate within which these nrious meanings were developed and contested. I emphasize this point to underline one of the cenrra! dangers of contrastive approaches such as that of Hall and Ames. Building such ;l contrastive framework requires uking particulat texts out of context and reading them u assumptions of the entire culrures being compared. And. in tha particular case. restoring that context: allows us both to provide a historical account of why such S[;l[emenrs were nude ;lnd to restore the prollocative power that such st;ltements would have held at the rime. To reduce them to being simply examples of;l common Chinese W;ly of thinking makes it impossible for us to recoller the cultural potency that such d;lims possessed. In short, I w;lnt to restore the historical power of such sratemenrs by askHow were such ing Why would humans claim they could become ｳｰｩｲｴｾ＠ claims re;ld at the ｴｩｭ･ｾ＠ And what is the culrur;ll history of such claimsWhat happened when people $;lid such things. ;lnd what happened when others opposed them! As we will sec. chese questions became m;ljor issues of stare policy and practice by the early imperial period. Similarly. an evolutionary perspectille on the changing meaning of ,hcnas a shift from a m;lgical to a naturalistic/ rationalistic/ humanistic worldview-creates problems as welL Unlike a cultural-essentialist ;lpproach, the evolution;lry perspective recognizes that ;l significant shift did occur in the perceived relations between humans and spirits over thiJ period. But ignoring the contexts in which specific claim.s were made in favor of a universal yardstick risb the ume kind of misundcrsanding as the cultural-esscnrialist model Even if one wanted to uscrt a universal yardstick of rationality. it would be mCllningless to assess the rationality or lack thereof of a gillen CCxt unlCS5 one firSt, at the minimum. ascertained the contemporary meaning of the text. Moreoller. the advocates of this model see the emergence of a correlative cosmology that links humans with divine forces as a development towllrd a fully r;ltionalisric perspective, bur one unfonunately coo mired in the earlier m;lgical worldview to mnk a complete brca.lcthrough tow;lrd rationality. Ellen Raea. who argues th;lt a mnscendental breakthrough did occur in Warring States China. bclielles thu Chinesc thinkers failed to develop the Sbm, for example, is a compla nodon. meaning as it does both Ｂｨｵｾ＠ spirituality," and "divinity." She,., does noc Ｄｄｬ､ｩＢＧｾｊ＠ mean "human spirituality," and $DlllerillltJ "divinity." It always mealU both of these, and moreover, it is our business co cry and underat:l.nd philosophically how it u n mean boch. \V}u.c a.re the implicatiolU of chis particular range of maninp: where hummity and divinity arc ｣ｯｮｩｵｳｾＱＹ＠ In other words, the dual meaning of the term reveals a way of thinking in which humanity and divinity arc continuous, and the job of the analyst is to reconsttuct that way of thinking. T heir argument continues: "How docs this factor into the familiar formula, rillll"'" heyi-the continuity between tillll (Heaven] and the human worJdf"40 Or, as they PUt it elsewhere: "We may wonder whar the faCt thar the single term lhe,., can mean both 'divinity' and 'human spirituality' in the classical Chinese language revca.ls about Chinese rc.1igiousness."41 In contrast, I argue in the chapters that follow that the term ,hell docs ,.,ot mean both "human spirituality" and "divinity." The term hn was used exclusively in the Bronze Age to refer to divinities. It was not until me Warring States period thac the term came to be applied to substances within humans, and this was P;lrt, I will argue, of an ;lttempt to redefine the tcm\ for specific pUrpoKS. It did not, therefore. represent an assumpcion m;lt "humanity and divinity are continuous." Rather. it involved a claim to dut effect-;l claim that was strongly contested throughout the entire early period. I ;lm noc sure what the dual meanings of the term would in themselves tc.ll us ;lbout "Chincsc" religiousness. But if. instead of trying [0 reconstruct a "Chin esc" lIiewpoinc, we sec the existence of different meanings as indic;ltive }S. Hall and Ames, ni..su"lfro,., ｉｾ＠ Hu, pp. ｾＱＶ 39· Jbid., p. l16. 40. Ibid., p. ｾＱ Ｎ＠ 41. Hall a.nd Ames, Allricifl"i"l OK ..... p. n6. Ｍ ｊＷ Ｎ＠ 'l INTRODU CTION INTRODUCTION kind of tension with the world thar occurred in the West. Accordingly. a full clc:vdopmenr of rationality was hindered. Beyond the obvious dangers of reading another ,wrure according to a universal yardstick of rationality. one of the immc:d.i.ue implications of such 2n approach is mat it binds the analyst to de-emphasizing tensions in the early tens: claims about the continuity between humans and divinities in W:arring Srares textS are explained away u (00 mired in 2n earlier m<llgical view of continuity. The analyst is thus commirred co finding an :assumption of continuity buween humans and divinities in the Bronze Age as well. for only in this way can one explain the inability oHner thinkers [0 move further towud ;I morc rational world· view. Like the cuirural·essenri.;Jjsr approach. then. [he framework again forces the analyst to see a Jack of tension between humans and diviniries as a guiding theme in early China, even if the analyst does see a shift from an ear· ｭｩｳｴ｣ﾷ＠ or ﾷｭ｡ｧｩ｣ ｡ｬｾ＠ worldview to a correluive one. lier ｾ｡ｮｩ Both frameworks, then, rest on remarkably similar foundations. Both rest on seeing a fundamental dichotomy between China and [he West, and both define that difference in very similar ways, Either (in negative terms) C hina did not manifest the tensions found in the West, or (in positive terms) it mainrained a norion of conrinuiry between humans and divine powers lost in the West. The differences simply come down to whether this distinction is worked out on a contrastive model (with China and the West holding opposing .wumpcions) or on a developmenral line (with China and the West occupying different positions on the yardstick). In contrast to both these frameworks. I will attempt to provide a full hisrorical srudy of the relarions of humans, spiriu, and the cosmos from the Bronze Age to the early Han. I will read the texts in question as claims. and my goal will be to reconstruct the contexts in which these claims were meaningful. I will argue thu we cannot understand early Chinese cosmology until we understand why certain figu res presented cosmological arguments, what they were reacting to, and what impact their claims had at me time. J thus build on the recent. important work of Nathan Sivin, John H enderson, and Wang Aihe to argue for a hisrorical understanding of cosmology.42 In short, J am recommending thu we dispense with both of the &ameworks ､ｩｳ｣ｵｾ＠ above-both the conrrastive and me evolutionary models. We should instead work toward a more nuanced approach in which we make no II priori assumprions regarding single stuemenrs made in single texts and the significance of individual claims. Once this is done, and once we move away from a commitment ro seeing a lack of tension between humans and divinities as a guiding theme in early China. we may discover a rich, and perhaps more troubled, world of debue concerning humans, di· viniries, and sacrificial practice than previous analyses have accUlitomed us to expect &om Chinese texes. This methodological point is relevant as well to the question of how we should organiu the analysis of these texu. AJ should be dear from the recurrent references in the secondary literature to ·schools of thought in early China-such as Confucianism or Daoism-many scholars have organized their studies in [erms of such categories. I would argue, in contrast, that me aaempc to categorize teXtS in terms of schools is usually unhelpful and often misleading: rather, our concern should be to explicate the claims of each text within the debates of the time. 4J Discussion of these cJajms in terms of a 44 ·schoot is seldom heipfuJ. Even when dealing with a teX[ that explicitly posits itself within a defined textual tradition, the analyst should seek to understand how such a textual tradition is being posited and what claims are being made through that positing. All these interpretive strategies- reading in terms of schools, essential· izcd definitions of culrure, evolutionary frameworks-have the consequence of erasing the unique power that particular claims had ar the time. My strategy is. instead, to contextualiu through a different approach: to ask why statements are made in particular situations, to understand the cultural sig. nificance they would have had at the time, and to work out the historical consequences of the ensuing debates. But my goal is not to discredit the we of comparative terminology by simply pointing out the obvious lack of fit between me indigenous categories '4 41. See Sivin, "SUIt. Co,mOl, 1nd Body in the Lan Three Cemuria B.C:: HencU:rlOIl. Pllilfi(<I/ Cwlrwrc 1ft TIlt Dmiopmtnl uti Dtclinr ojo,j"eJt COJ",lIioo: Wans Aihe, a..",%D ｾＢｊ＠ E.!rlyOjllOl. 'S H 4J. For :on eudlenl critique of the we of the ｾ｡｣･ｧｯｲｹ＠ Ｂｄ ｾ ｯｩ｡ｭＺ＠ see Smn. "On the Word T a.mm :u a Soutee of Perpkxiry: Smn milia I rdued, and cquaIly powerfUl. crir.ique oCthe Utegot)' or "Nl{uralilU": see "1bc Myt h of the NalUralilU: in his MrtlitilW', PfHJ.",pb" uti ｒｴＯｩｰｮ［ｾ＠ AIItit>If 0,;114, pp. '-n. 44. W ith [he e>laplion of Confucianism ｾｮ､＠ Mohism, many of the "schools' into which urly ChineK though, is often Cltcgorizoe<i fim appear in our ra:civcd le>ltI in the uny -raozhi: by Sima Tan (d. no 8C). AI Kidder Smith ("Sima Tan and lhe Invention of 010' ism, 'ugalism: el celeu") nu convincingly Ihown, many o{rhde 'schoolJ" were invented by Sima Tan and Irc therefore of ｱｵ･ｬｩｯｮｾ｢Ｑ＠ applicabili'y for ､ｾｕＱｉｩｯｬ＠ of pre-Han lUll. ,6 INT RODUCT I ON INTR ODUC TI ON and the comparative terms-a point chat could o f course be made for any culture. On the contrary. I th ink comparative work can be very helpful, and I see my work as helping to develop.:l. compar;!civt framework. Ultimately. I hope (0 show mar an alternative: form of ,uINta! analysis man has heretofore been pracriced with these texts will aid in developing beettr comparative: methodologies. In particular. I will build on a number of recent works in ansrudy of early t h ropology to argue for a somewhat differen t appruach to China; in tum, the: material on early C hina may help us [ 0 rechink issues in the anthropologicallirerature as well I also critique in detail the argument, made for both C hina and Greece, that such movements-which I refer t o as ｾｳ･ｬｦＭ､ｩｶｮｺ｡ｴ ｩ ｯ ｮ＠ movements- u ose through Ol re-reOlding of earlier shamanistic pnctice. I develop a comparison with earl y G reece ;md argue for Olfl approOlch to analyzing relatioru between hullWlS and divine powers in early Greece and China diffe rent &om the ones that have thus f:le been influential in sinology. In Chapter }. I look in detail at the rise of so-called nOlturalisric philosophy in Mencius Olfld ZhtlOlRgzi. I argue agairut a reading of these texa as representing either an wumption concerning the inherent continuiry betwee n humans Olfld H eaven in early C hina or a shift nom Olfl Olflimistic religion to a more rational worldview. On the contrary, as I hope to show, these teXTS should be read as statements in the contemponry debate over t he p0tentially divine powers of humans, and both texts contain attempa co t hink t hrough the implicOltions of such cbims for the relations of humOlfls and Heaven. If humans can indeed become spirits and can indeed gain divine powers, chen should they still accept the commands of a potentially capricious H eaven? Both Zhuangzi and Mencius answer t h is question in the affirmative, although in different WOlyS. In o pposition to the way these figures are usually read, I argue that the (exu of Mencius Olfld ZhtlOlRgzi reveal the tremendous tensions emerging at chis time between Heaven and man. In C hapter 4, I turn to a study of correbrive cosmology. I argue that the emergence of correbtive systems in the late Waning Sates period wu directly rebred to the emergence of much stronger claims o f self-djvinization. In contrast to the satements in fourth -century IIC texes thac humans can attOlin powers comparable to t hose possessed by spirits. by the third century IIC numerous figures bevn to cbim to possess techniques thar enable them to become spirits.. In making this argument. I propose an alternative approach to reading early Chinese correbtjve thinking. If. as discussed above, Granet sought to explicate Chinese correlative thinking through a reconstruction of·Chinese t hinking.- Graham tried to do so by positing correlative t hinking ;u a universal mode of human thought. They disagree, in other words, on t he relationship of early Chinese correbtive thinking to contemporary observers: Granet emph;ui:zed diffe rence, G raham similariry. But both Granet ;md Graham ho pe to explain why cosmology would have seemed natural in urly China. And my disagreement with boch of their approaches begins here, I argue, building o n the pointS discussed in C hapters 2. and }, chat cosmology was in me Oudine: In Chapter I , I uriliu paleographic materials and received rexes to discuss che: complexities of ritual practices in che Bronze Age dealing with divinities. I analyze changes in notions of t he n,:l[Ure: o f spirits and. ancestors, as well as the rituals relating to both groups. r question several of the d ominilm models for Olnalyzing this mate rial Olnd ugue thOlt, conrrOlry co most interpretOltions, t hese documena revul Ol highly Olgonistic world, in which divine powers were perceived to be COlpricious Olnd in which humOlns were in t he position of trying. within t heir limited Olbilicies, to utilize sOlcrifices Olnd divinOltions to understand;md influence the spirit world. More specifically. I argue chOlt chere is Oln overriding concern in chese mOlterials to Olnthropomorphize the d ivine. Building on the work of David Keighdey, I cuce the attempa, through ritual puctices. to make che spirits into ancestors who could t hen be arrOlngcd intO Ol hieruchy Olfld directed co work on behalf of t he living to obcOlin suppon for the non-Olflcescr.a.i spiria u well C hOlprer 2. focuses on the emergence, during t he Warring States period, of numerous attempa co bypass the dominOlflt modes of orientation toward the world of spiri cs (involving. Olmong other things, divinOltio n Olfld sacrifice) through practices of seif-cuirivOltion. The advocOltes of these practices begln aniculating new definitioru o f che nOlture of spirits Olfld of humOlfliry Olnd the relatioruhip between che two. More precisely. these Ol n iculatioru we re Olttempes [0 reduce the d istinctio n between h urTWlS Olnd spirits Olnd co argue chu, through proper pnctices, one can Olttain powers compOlr.l.ble to those possessed by spirits and that one could disperue with divinuion and surifices. InsceOld of Olnthropomorphizing the divine, humOlru, through selfｾｉｩｫ･＠ ｳｰ ｩｲｴｳ Ｎｾ＠ cultivOltio n, could themselves become ru wel1- '1 ,8 INTRODUCTION INTROOUCTION (Quntuintuirivt in early China. Not only did it arise late (as Graham COfreedy points out), it arose in direct opposition [0 the sacrificial practices dominant .at the rime. Correlative thinking emerged OI.S :l language of critique agairut me dominant nonons of the time, and it remained ",language of critique and opposition cluoughout the early imperial period. To develop chis argument, I analyze numerous late Warring SUtes eexts in full. I also review the amhropologicalliteracure on sacrifice 2nd cosmology that has betn so influential in sinological discussions of Chinese correlative thinking and argue that a somewhat different reading of that liter.nure. particularly of Graner and Claude Levi·Strauss, will allow for an alternative. and in my opinion more convincing. understanding of Chinese correlative of spontaneous procC$SCS and patterns, not directed by spirits at :all, Lu J ia :and o thers like him could deny the theistic underpinnings of much of early H:an elite culture. If spirirs do not control n:atura.l phenomena, then both the theomorphic pretensions of t he emperors and the claims of :autonomy made by some practitioners of self-divini:zacion could be opposed. Chapter, is an in-depth srudy of the cosmologies preseored in several chapters of the Huainanzi, which build on the ascension and self-divinization literatures to argue fo r a cosmos populated by theomorphic humans :and :anthropomorphic gods. I analyze why these cosmologics were being presented and wh:ar claims were being m:ade. J also discuss the continuing proliferation of self-diviniz.uion movements during the early H:an and trace the various appeals thu were made for such powers, explicating why they became so prominent during this period. Chapter 8 srudics the shifts in the impcri.a.l S.1crificial system from t he time of Emperor Wu to the late first century IC in response to the contemporary debuts over how the system should operate. I analyze Emperor Wu's cre:ation of a new S.1crificial system bued upon Taiyi (rhe Great One), as well as Dong Z hongshu's and Sima Qian's critiques of the emperor. I then investigate why, in 31 IC, the impetial court embr:aced the :arguments of the Til-ius, :abolished significanr portions of its S.1crificw system, and PUt in pl:ace a new set of S.1crifices to H eOlven and E:arth. These new S.1crifices were based in ｾｲ＠ on a particular re:adiog of documents concerning the s:acrificw sysrem of t he Wcstern Zhou. I seek to discern the significance dut had come to be usociated with these VOifious S.1crificial rites and to expl:ain the reasons for this shift reaction to the cl:ainu in sacrifici.a.l practice. I argue that the shift was in ｾｲｴＺ｡＠ of autonomy th:at h:ad developed in the self-divini:z:ation movemenu. Although these movements h:ad themselves flourished in reaction to the theomorphic presentations of the early Han COUrt, the claims of aUtonomy that came to be :associated with these movements were seen as highly dangerous :and ultimately provoked:a strong shift in COUrt policies. The new sacrificial system put in place at the end o f the first century IC involved a rejection of :any cla.inu ro sclf-d iviniutjon or theomorphism on the pOift o f humans. Humans and Heaven were posited as normatively correlated with each other, but they were also distinguished, with each given irs proper sphere of :activity. Divine kingship was rejected; the ruler was defined as human. There:after, self-diviniz:ation and ascension c:ame to be usociated with millenari:an movements opposing the imperial court. faCt thought. Chapter s is a study of the large literarure on spirit journeys and ascension from early China. Although this literarure has usually bc:en read as a survival of shamanism, I argue in contrast that it makes sense only when placed within the historical contexrs sketched in Chapters :1 through 4. In particular. several of the texts represent an attempt (Q develop selfdivinizarion c4ims to argue that humans not only can become spirits bur also can kave their body altogether and ascend [0 the heavens. The goal of Chapter s is to analyze these clainu in depth and see precisely why they we re bc:ing advanced at the rime. Ch:apt"er 6 rums to Qin :and carly Han COUrt practices. I reconstruct aspecu of the s:acrificw system and imperi.a.l ideology of the Qin and early Han COUtu and an.alyu the reasons for the prominence ofJanE'hi (masters of formulas) at the courtS of the First Emperor and Emperor Wu of the H:an. My main interest in chis chapter is to investigate the emergence during this period of theomorphic claims of rulership and the resulting debates that arose concerning the emperor's proper relationship to the world of spirirs. I reconstruct the historic.al complexity of these vuious stances over the counc of the Qin :and early Han empires to show both the rise of theomorphic forms of rulership and t he reaction against it. I also crace the intensifiarlon of effortS by various offici.a.l.s to develop correl.1tive models during mis period. I focus in p:arcicular on Lu jia, who strongly :advocated following the transmitted texu of the ancient S.1ges. Lu Jia rumed to correlative models to critique both the dominant imperial ideology :and the v:arious self-divini:z:uion claims that were becoming increasingly popular among the carly H:an elite: by arguing that the cOlmOl conllsts " 

To become a god Cosmology, Sacrifice, and SelfDivinization in Early China Michael J. Puett Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press Cambridge, Massachu5ens, ｡ｾ ､＠ London, England, 2.00:2. Conclusion Culture and History in Early China At the end of the Western Han, the dominant conception of the cosmos was of a world oTg2fli:::ed by humans, ritually separate from, yet correlated with, Heaven and Earth. Kuang H eng's model was :.I. cosmological reo reading of narratives ITom the Sh4ngshu concerning the Duke ofSh.ao's aligning ofLuoyang: the king places his capinl and rhus determines the positions of H eaven and Earth. Heaven, Earth. and man are hannoniud when each performs its proper cosmological dury. Bur it is only if we know the significance these ideas possessed in early Han rhu we an understand the real concerns behind che rirwl reform- namely, various -claims of diviniurion that had flourished in {he c.ariy H:an, or, mo re explicitly. rheomorphic no' tions of kingship as well as self-cultivation practices that involved.:l. rejection of rexmal authoriry and the precedents set by the past sages. It is thw fitting to end this srudy at this point, when the H an COUrt forcefully rejected the claims of divinization-claims that had played such a crucial role in the reaction against sacrifice and divination and in the rise of empire. And it is not surprising that in rejecting these claims, figures such as Kuang Heng rumed back to a particuJar. cosmological reading of Bronze Age riruals-since these were precisely the rituals that the divini:zation movements had reacted againsr. FollOWing David Keighrley. I have argued that the paramount religiow concern of the Shang and Western Z hou was to forge deceased humans into me 3" CONCLUSION CONCLUSION ancesrors who could then be influenced through sacrifices and divinations. The rituals worked from the botrom up: che lower ancestors were wuker. yet morc .amenable to the blandishments of human riew.!, whereas the higher powers were stranger but less malleable. The goal was thus to work one's way up the tnntheon: the ritual specialises would appeal to the lower ancestors, who would in cum be directed to appeal to (he higher :;mcestors, who would in rum be called on to pacify the more powerful, non-ancestral powers-including. most important, Dj. or H eaven. These .ucrincw pracan .acrempr to join nature spirits and ghosts of deceased tices ｲ･ｰｾｮｴ｣､＠ hum:,ms into a single, unified sYStem. The deceased humans were amsformed into ancestral spirits, defined by their roles in a hierarchy; n;lture spirits and unrelated yet nonetheless powerful deceased humans were similarly placed inro this hierarchy as well. By the fourth century BC, however, a new group of figures (usually referred to in the secondary literature as the ,hi) began gaining prominence at the courtS of the time. It is clear from their recurrent critiques of sacrifice and divination that such figures felt themselves to be in competition with ritual specialists. Indeed, [he authors of these teXts not only rejected sacrificial models but also actempted to reverse them and thereby supersede them. Sacrificial models in early China operated by working from the recenrly deceased and less powerful local spirits roward more distant and more powerful deities. In contrast. the new model posited the One. the ultimate ancestor from which everything-all spirits. all natural phenomena, and all humans-were generated. This concept emerged, for the first time. in numerous fourth -century Be texts, such as the "Neiye,H the Taiyi ,heng shui, and the Lao;zi. The eneire pantheon of deities-from local spirits to Heaven itself-as well as the natural phenomena they supposedly conrrolled, were subsumed under the One. And instead of appealing to this ultimate ancestor by working up the pantheon. proponents of the new model claimed direct access to the One and thus full power and knowledge over (he cosmos. Much of the interest in these textS lies in the different ways these systems and based on the One were builc. One app roach. developed in the ｾｎ･ｩｹＢ＠ taken further in texts like the ｾｘｩｮｳｨｵＢ＠ chapters. is self-divinization, which is achieved by. among other things, returning to and holding &st to tFte One: the sage gains power over the things of the universe by grasping me ancestor that generated them and continues to underlie them. Another approach, seen in the T aiyi ｾｮｧ＠ wui, is to gain full knowledge: rearranging the pantheon of the day into a series of lineal descendants from the One allowed the authors to claim that they alone understood the workings of the cosmos. In each of these texts, however, the authors claimed either the ability. or possession of the techniques that conferred the ability, to reach the One and thereby understand and exercise control over the cosmos without resorting to divination and sacrifice. What bothered figures like Xunzi and the authors of the Xici wuan about these claims was that they denied the efficacy of time-honored rituals of the past. These authors therefore argued in support of divination and sacrifice. even while building their arguments on many of the same cosmological claims as the proponents ofself-divinizarion and gnosis. The debate between ritual specialists and cosmologists continued during the rise of empire in early China. Alrhough rhe sacrificial system rhar arose with the Qin and H an empires has often been described as based on a correlative system. I have argued that it was based largely on a new variant of the sacrificial model-divinization through sacrifice rather than through cosmology. The process here was, horizontally, to rake over more and more sacred spaces inhabited by local spirits and offer them cult and, vertically. to appeal to ever higher gods in the pantheon. The endless process of consolidating local cults while also appealing fO higher gods was seen ro aid in the process of the divinization of the ruler and ultimately lead to his ascension. The extreme was reached with Emperor Wu, whose consolidation of the empire coincided with his sacrifices fO the Great One. As Sima Qian correctly pointed out, this created a dynamic in which the ruler tried to gain more land and undertake more travels in order to appropriate more and more divine power. This new form of theomorphic kingship was critiqued by several voices in the early Han-from rhe authors of me Huainanzi, who called for a ｣ｯｳｭｬｧｩｾ＠ form of divinization, fO figures like Dong Zhongshu. who rejected divinization 2nd proposed correlatively defined sacrifices. Both of these were attempts to limit the theomorphic claims of the ruler through appeals to cosmological patterns. Ultimately, Emperor Wu's sysrem began to falter because of imperial overreach, and it was finally repealed near the end of the Western Han. The divinization claims thar had so dominared court politics since the beginning of the Qin empire were rejected. Rulers were defined as humans. rirually separare from divine powers, with their own duties to perfonn. As a consequence. claims of ascension became associated with those groups who opposed the empire. me 3'9 3'0 CONCLUSION CONCLUSION These points also have companrive signific.ance. As we h.ave seen repeatedly in this study. China, when discussed in a comparative perspective, has long been characterized lS a culture rh2t 2SSumed cominuicy between the hum2n and the divine world. In some comparisons, China is seen as the antithesis of the West; in others it is placed at a different point on an evolutionary line of development. But either way, early China is presented:.l.S a sociery devoid of the tensions between man :md God, Zeus :md Prometheus, that pervaded the Hebraic and Greek traditions, as a society that never experienced the disranriuion of the world from divinity that has existed in the West. Although Weber portrayed chis neg:uiveiy. most China spccWiscs h2vt portrayed it positively: China has become the land where gods and men are linked in harmony, and where there exists a fundamental continuity of the human and the divine. China is also frequently presented as the one major civilization that never discarded primitive notions of haonony with the natural and divine worlds. Working from this same line of argument, scholars have built other comparative models for explaining China: shamanism, this-worldly optimism, bureaucratic harmony, sacrificial do ut ､ｾｳＮ＠ One of the few scholars working within a comparative framework who has rejected this approac h is H einer Roetz. Roetz attemptS to read into early China the sante transcendental breakthrough and "disenchantment of naｴｵｲ･ ｾ＠ that he sees as inherent in any rational evolution, and his picture of early Chin.a is wildly at odds with that of other scholars. But even Roetz attributes what he sees as the ultimate failure of Chinese philosophy to itS inability to develop as strong a tension between human society and the world as in the West. I have tried to break down the binaries of dualism/monism and tragic/ harmonious cosmologies as they are often applied to Greece and China in twO w.ays. First, I have tried to focus on how specific individuals in specific contexts worked through issues of the proper relationships between humans and divine powers and how the resulting debates played out historically. As we have repeatedly seen, characterizations of Greece as dualistic and China as monistic are of little use in this approach. Empedocles, for example, was monistic; question four of the Shiwtll was dualistic. Moreover, even the term ﾷｭｯｮｩｳｾ＠ is insufficiently nuanced to cover the positions taken In these debates. Depending on one's me thod of positing the human and divine elements of the cosmos, one can assert discontinuity even while proclaiming a monistic cosmos. For example, Dong Zhongshu asserted a monistic cosmos in opposition to the theistic cosmology dominant at the imperial court of his day, but he also strongly distinguished humanity and Heaven and argued, also in opposition to the cults .at the court. thou hum.ans could not become gods. A strong assertion of continuity was coupled with • .at.a different level• .a strong assertion of discontinuity. And only by looking at the contempor.aty conteXt can one understand the signific.ance of these cI.aims. To describe Dong Zhongshu.as simply "monistic· nils to do justice to the many implic.ations of his .arguments. And the point can be PUt in stronger terms when we look .at .attempts to describe several e.arly Chinese .authors as "monistic." Both che ·Xinshu· ch.apters .and Dong Zhongshu's cosmology are monistic, but these two monisms h.ave very different implications. The .authors of the "Xinshu· ch.apters were arguing for the continuity of hum .an .and divine powers in opposition to the discontinuities implied by s.acrifice ;md divin.arion; Dong Zhongshu was distinguishing H eaven and man in opposition to the claims of imperial divinity. For the authors of the ·Xinshu· chapters. humans could become spirits and hence did not need divination and s.acrifice; for Dong Zhongshu, hum.ans were separate &om the divine. but, precisely through such actions as sacrifices, had a crucial cosmic role to play. For the authors of the · Xinshu- chapters, the king was divine; for Dong Zhongshu, he was human. In shorr, the categorization of early Chinese thought as ｾ ｭｯｮｩｳｴ｣Ｌｾ＠ in opposition to a -dualistic· cosmology of the West. breaks down at every level when we explore the historical conteXts and implications of specific. statements. My second goal has been to place the debates analyzed in this book within a comparative &amework that has greater expl.anatory power than that of a ｾｭｯｮｩｳｴ｣＠ cosmology or the related claims of sh.am.anism.and sacriAt first glance. this ucond goal, of seeking [0 .analyze this pe_ ficial do ut ､ｾｳＮ＠ riod of e.arly Chinese histoty &om a larger perspective, might appear to be in conflict with the emphasis on nuance that ch.aracterizes my first goal. One of the underlying arguments of this study. however, has been that these rwo goals are mutUlllly reinforcing. for it is precisely in the nuances of the debate that issues of comparative interest come to the fore. More specifically, it is through such nuances that one can recognize the tensions and concerns underlying the debates. and it is only, in turn, by recognizing these tensions and concerns that one can compare the Chinese material with that found in other cultures facing similar political.and cultural problems. '" '" CONCLUS I ON CONC I. US I ON It follows that comparison will be most fruitful when we compare cultures that have faced :I. similar set of historical circumstances. I b.ave fore agreed with the many scholars who have stressed the bcndiu of comparing arly China and u rly Greece. Like early China, ancient Greece also witnessed. at roughly the same period, comparable social and political changes (the breakdown of an older aristocratic, Bronze Age society. and the growth of independent. competing territorial S[;ICCS, some of which devel- Graner yields a rather different portrait of early China: G ranet's analyses become far more persuasive when they are wen out of Graner's own essentulizing. evolutionary, and typological frameworks. Since I have found much of this anthropological theory-from Granet ro Sahlins-helpful in conceptualizing the issues at hand, I hope that I have, at least to some small extent, retUrned rhe favor by hel ping to bring the Chinese material intO broader anthropological concerns. And when we trea r these issues from such a historical and comparative perspective, many of the readings proposed from within either rhe evolutionary or essentialist frameworks cease to be fully convincing. We do nor find in early China assumptions of hannony or of a contin uity between humans and divine powers or of a lack of tension between humans and the divine. On the contrary, one of the crucial issues in early China was the recurring tension between those who wished [0 maintain a ritual separation of humans and divine powers and those who wished to destroy those separations and appropriate divine powers for themselves. Spirits were not only powers with which one hannonized; they were olten powers one fought, che.ated, appropri.ated, and tried to become or tr.anscend. And .a significant p.art of early Chinese history becomes fully underm.nd.able only when we .acknowledge such tensions and tr.ace the ways in which they played OUt. mere- oped imperial ambitions), as well 2S a series of interrc:lated..dehatu concerning divinization. sacrifice, and cosmology. But I have tried to develop this comparison on diffetem grounds. I have advocated working toward a vocabulary that is both nlWtced enough to .:illow for careful historical studies ltnd yet open enough to maintain cross-cultural validity. Instead of caregorizing cultures in terms of such dichotomies as Hmonism/ dualism Hor "immanence/transcendence: and instead of working !Tom (even if only implicit) evolutionary frameworks based H on "religion to philosoph( or Hanimism to humanism and r:uion:a.lism narratives, we should try to focus on terms that :allow us to tease out the problems and tensions in each cul ture under an:a.lysis. In rh is book, I have argued H that the tensions surrounding Hdivinization or norions of continuity and discontinuity may result in more meaningful comparisons between Greece and China than do either rhe evolutionary or rhe es.sentializing frameworks. In both Greece and China, at roughly the same time, one finds comparable tensions surrounding sacrifici:a.l action, self-divinizarion, cosmology, and empire. The interesting issues for comparative studies are how and why the claims were made in each culfUre, and how and why va rious solutions came to be irurifUrion:a.liud. Posing the questions in this way has, I hope, yielded resulrs chat explain more than the other frameworks discussed in the Introduction. In setting up this comparative framework, I have fUmed to anthropological discussions of kingship, sacrillce, and cosmology. Building on the work of Ilgures like Uvi-Srrauss and Sahlins, I have tried to develo p a valid compararive vocabulary that helps to uncover the complexities of claims made in various culfUres. In bringing this literature ro bear on the early Chinese materials, I have based much of my an:a.lysis on the work of Marcel Graner. This is somewhat ironic, since G ranet was one of the most influenria1 figures in defining China as a land of continuity-one of the positions I critique in this book. However, u I argue in Chapters + and 6, a careful reading of '" 

To become a god Cosmology, Sacrifice, and SelfDivinization in Early China Michael J. Puett Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press Cambridge, Massachu5ens, ｡ｾ ､＠ London, England, 2.00:2. I Anthropomorphizing the spirits Sacrifice and Divination in Late Bronze Age China In both strains of the secondary literature discussed in me Introduction, a common reading of the Chinese Bronu Age pTev2m: humans and spiries were seen as continuous and were perceived to be harmoniously linked. Moreover, this period is repeatedly sun .as the formarive era in Chinese history. the period when one first finds the assumption of a continuity between the human and divine realms t hat, the argument goes, t hereafte r petvades Chinese history. Weber saw this .as a restricting aspect of Chinese culrore. as did Roct'Z, who argued that it ultimately reversed the transcendenw breakthrough of the Axial Age. Most of the scholars we looked at, howevcr, from Chang and Mote to Gnlham and Schwam. fully cdebr.ned it. But is it true! Were humans and spirits seen as linked in a harmonious continuum? And is it true that this period marks the beginning of a set of assumptions that (for bener or worse) predominated in later Chinese ｨｩｳｴｯｲｹｾ＠ In order to explore this question, it will be wonhwhile to look anew at some of these materiaLs :as well :as at some of the secondary literature devoted to the Bronze Age. ANTHROPOMORPH I ZING THE SPIRITS ANTHROPOMOR P H I ZING THII SPIR I TS " The Foundations of Chinese Cosmological and Bureaucratic Thought One thinke r who has tremendously influenced several recent scholars of the C hinese Bronze Age is Mi rcca Eliade. It was Eliade who populuized the notion that primitive culrures univers:lUy <latmpt to define a sacred space in which they can link Heaven and Earrh: M Mountams are often looked on :.l.S the place where sky and earth meet, a 'central poinc' therefore, the point through wh ich {he Axis Mundi goes, a region impregnated with the sacred, a ･ｲＮｾｬ＠ Building on spoc where one can pass from one cosmic zone to ｡ｮｯｴｨ Graner, Eliade argued chac the Chinese capical W:.l.S perceived along similar lines-as .an axiJ mundi, or a symbolic cosmic mountain: MIn China, [he capiul of the perfect sovereign stood at the exact centre of the universe, thac is, at the summit of the cosmic mountain.";! Paul Wheatley has extended Eliade's argument to formulate a theory of the origins of urban centers in China. Like E1iade, Wheatley argues rhac Chinese urban centers noe only Hin traditional China but also throughout H most of the rest of Asia emerged out of a widespread form of cosmological chinking. which he refers to as Has crobiology.N Given this cosmology, the goal of ritual specialists was to H(Scablish an ontological link berween the realm of the sacred and the realm of the profane. Hl For Wheatley, ehe figure who has most convincingly worked out the ways in which capitals were consrruceed according to such cosmological models is Eliade: Throughout the cominent of Asia ... there wa.s thus a tendency for kingdonu, capitals, tempies, shrines, and so forth, to ｾ＠ constructed a.s replica.s of the cosmos. Mircea Eliade ha.s illustrated this point with a plethora of examples drawn prinurily ftOm the architecture, epigraphy, and literature of the ancient Near Ea.st and India, and numerous ochers could ｾ＠ adduced from Southeast Asia .md NudeOlr America.. In the a..mobiological mode of thought, irregularities in the cosmic order could only J3 ｾ＠ interpreted a.s misfortunes, so du.t, if a city were laid out as an im4go mwndi with the cosmogony a.s paradigmatic model, it became necessary co maintain this parallelism betWecn rnOlCTocosmoS :and microcosmos by potrticipation in the seasonal festivals rhat constituted man's contribution eo the regulation of cyclic rime,:and by incorporating in the planning a gcnerous amount of symbolism! The capiral thus serves as an axis mundi, in the same way as a ｾ ｳｨ｡ ｭ ｡ｮＧｳ＠ sap- Ilng " • docs.' After describing the "cosmo-magical basis" of urban fo rms, systematized by Eliade as involving th ings such as a "parallelism between ehe macrocosmos and me microcosmos" and necessitating the use of ritual ro "mainrain the harmony berween the world of gods and ehe wo rld of men,H as well as a "participation in the symbolism of the center, as expressed by some form of axis mundi,..6 Wheadey then noces me degree to which Chinese thinking conforms to the Eliadun model: Indeed, the a.strobiological conceptual framework of which thesc ideas are :an cx .. pression wa.s structurally conformable to the associative or co-ordinarivc stylc of thinking of which the Chinese wcre perhaps the foremost exponents. In f:act, it might even ｾ＠ said that the prc-establishcd harmony of the Chinese universe, which was OlChieved when all beings spontaneously followed the internal necessities of their own natu rc, and which led Chinese philosophers to seek reality in relation rather than in substance, represented the most sophisticated expression of asrrobiological 7 concepts ever attained by any people. Not only does China conform to this "traditional N8 way of thinking. but China is in fact [he fullese and mose sophisticated expression of it. In this specific sense, Wheatley's argumenr is quiee comparable to Graham's view chat China was the civilization thac most fully developed the universal mode of correlative thinking. K . C. C hang has a similar argument, although he builds it on slightly different foundations. In a high ly influential article, Chen Mengjia argued mat, 9 in the S hang dynasty, kings we re shamans. K. C. Chang developed this argument in detail and, as mentioned in the Introduction, saw shamanism as P4Urrn, in Comp"T41i"e RtligiM, pp. 99- 100. 1. Ibid . , p. 101, referring to Graner, '-" ptmh chinoi..,. p. 114. Su also EJ.i,.de, Tht s..c.c:! d,.J Profane. p. J9. Eliade', ref<,rence ro Graner i.! slightly misleading. Grand. concern in the P'luage thar E1iade cite. is rhe notion of the ruler a, rhe microcosm of the universe. AI Gra· net argue_ on [he previow page: "he [the king] iJ [he center, lhe pivol of the world" (u. pt"m ,hi"oile, p. )1)). Elude would hav. found bolter .uppor! for hi.! argument in Granel'l dUen ... lion of lim( and lP'lce in Qlinese dl0ugh! (u. f<n,h ,hiltQue, pp. Ｗ ｾ ＹＩ Ｎ＠ ). ｗ ｉ ｊｃｾｬ･ｹＬ＠ Tht ｐｩｾｏｦ＠ of tilt Four Qg4rtm, pp. ＢＱＴ ＭＱｾＮ＠ I. ｅＱｵ､ｾＮ＠ I"" 4. Ibid" p. 417· S. Ibid. Ibid., p. 418. ?Ibid. a. Ibid. 9. Chen Mengji;!, ·Slung dai de ,henhlla yu wwhu . " 6. lS ANT H ROPOMORPH I Z I NG THE SPIR I TS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THI! SPIR I TS lying ｾｴ＠ me heart of Chinese culture. He compiled bodies of evidence that, in his opinion, Hpoinc to an ancient Chinese shamanism at the core of ancient Chinese belief and ritual systems, which were preoccupied wi th the NIl interpenetration of heaven and eanh. Chang did not indicate whic h scholarly definition of shamanism he had in mind in making these arguments, bur he did occasionally refer to Eliade.12 Moreover, as is apparent ITam the passage quoted in the preceding paragraph, Chang's interpretacion of a shamanistic cosmology is identical to Eliade's. T h us, although Whc.adey did nor lrgue that the Shang kings were culture is quite simib.r [0 the one shamans, Chang's reading of early ｃｨｩｮ･ｾ＠ hoi or other substances bring about a trance, during which the shaman engaged in imagined f1ighe Possibly, but there is :u yet no evidence for mis. The role of animals 14 in the ritual art of the Shang may provide significant clUCl. 34 10 devdopecl by Wheatley. For Chang, divination-the ure Shang rinul about which, because of oracle-bone inscriptions. we know me mon-was based in shamanism. as was the bin (or Hhosting ritual: H ) Wu Shang divination an act of Shang ｳｨ｡ｭｮｩｾ＠ The inscriptions make it cleat they were directed to long-departed mcestors, md that the diviner served as an intermediary. The inscriptions often COntain the word bin, which in later classical texts usually means to receive as ;a. guClt or to be a guest. In rhe oracle bone inscriptions, the wotd is often placed between the word for king md the name of a specific ancestor or of Oi; the Supreme God. A phrase consisting of these dements is sometimes inte rpreted as "the king receives as a guest a specific ｡ｮ ｣･ｳ ｴｯｲ Ｎ ｾ＠ or "the kings receives :u a guest the Supreme God." But more likdy it means [h:u the king "called upon" a departed ancestor or God. . .. In any event, mere was a Shang ritual that enabled the king and the spirits to be togerher, prClumably brought about by some kind of middleman. The act of divinatio n was intended. similady, to bring the middleman 1l diviner and the spirits together. The divin;a.tion ritual itself involved either the ascent of rhe shaman to the spiri ts o r the descent of the spirits to rhe shaman: The descent of me spirits or th e ascent of the shaman or king was achieved in a manner not a1togerher clear. Music and dance were apparently part of the ceremony. Alcoholic drinks were possibly involved: the Shang were notorious drinkers, and many bronze ritual vessels were dCligned to serve alcoholic beverages. Did the a1co- Chang builds on his rheory of shamanism to provide a reading of the origin of the Chinese srate comparable to that given by Wheatley. Chang reads the 1m Neolith ic in China as an "Age of Jade Cong [jade rubes]. the period iS when shamanism and politics joined forces: Chang reads mese jade rubes as symbols ofHthe interpenetr.uion of heaven and carrh and as thus repreH H16 senting HOI. microcosmic axis mundi. The Chinese Bronze Age. "the period l of th e further development of shamanistic politics,H followed from [his. ? Thus, like Wheatley. Chang's reading is similarly based on the notion mar Chinese civilization developed through ritual specialists who artempted to join Heaven and Earth by building a particular axi, m!lndi. Julia Ching has expanded on this point as well. Chinese civilization, she argues. in part came together because of a common inspiration. that the human being is open to the divine and the spiritual, attuned to the divine and the spiritual, and desirous of becoming one with the divine and the spiritual.. I am here referring [ 0 the familiar adage that describes the harmony underlining Chinese thought and civilization: H eaven and humanity are one-tianran hqi (literally: Heaven and the human being join as one).I& Like Han and Ames, Ching posits the notion of a condnuity between H eaven and man as a basic assumprion of Chinese thought. But Ching goes on [0 claim that the origin of mis notion lies in shamanistic experience: It is an adage that I bdieve ro have originated in that very mystic and ecstatic union bcrween the human being and the possessing deity or spirit. This was [he primeval. experience, me experience of a shaman. It was never forgotten. It has been cdebraced in songs. myths and rituals. It was formulated philosophically as an expression of rhe continuum betWeen the human being as the microcosm of the universe as nucrocosm. And this microcosm-macrocosm correspondence h:u been basic to 19 most of philosophising in China. '4· Ibid., p. S5· 'So K . C. CMng. "An 10. 'The: argument is mOlt!UJ.Jy developed in K. C. Chang, Art, M]Ib, QIId ｒｩｬｾｑｉＮ＠ pp. 44-SS. II. K. C. Clung. •Amicnr China and Irl Anthropological Significame; p. 164. I:l. See. e.g .• K. C. CMng, "The Animal in Shang and Chou Bronu' Art: p. S4J. IJ, K. C. Chang. Art, My1/" GncI /lit""', p. H . Essay on Co",; p. 41 . •6. K. C. Chang. "Ancient China and lu Anthropological Signilkame: p. '58. 17. K. C. Chang. "An Essay on o,ng: p. 4l. IS. Ching. MYJtililll' QnJ Kin""ip i,. O,i .... , p. Ki. 19. Ibid. " ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SP IRITS ANT HROPOM ORP HIZ ING TH B S PIRITS The ecstatic experience between the sham;1n and deity, therefore, provKlc:d primeval experience of Chinese culture. and the: cOI'n:Litivc: cosmology found in later Chinese philosophy wu an aprc:s.sion of this experience:. For Ching. this experience is dirc:cdy comparable to the primeval experiences of oneness thac Eliade cites as the root of religious life: critique, therefore, is based on claims concerning what he calls ·stages of sodal development. - Since the Late Shang kings were ruling a Bronze Age. 2grarian sate, he concludes thar "the Lue S hang kings were not sh2mans; or "were, at best, 1ight' or 'small' shamans, whose involvement in the full sh2manic experience was much reduced from what it might once have been at an earlier stage of societal development: They were ·bureaucratic media· tors" who had ·so routinized and dis'iplined older forms of religious medi2' tion" that only the "dvilized trappings" of an earlier shamanism would still have existed. n This argument thu the Shang state was orderly, bureaucrat\(", and "civilized" recurs throughout Keightley's artick.. Thus, he reads the bi" ritual ac. cording to a similar bureaucratic ｭ･ｦｴｻ｡ｬｩｲｹ Ｎｬｾ＠ concluding. in opposition to Chang. that the ritual was nor shamanistic: me: 1" il'" !(mpor( (,Once long ago' or 'Ar thar time'). Thus do the Gospels begin their chaprc:.... ThlU does Mirce.a Eliade describe the: primeval, ucred time when humanｾ ｷｵ＠ an aperience kind had irs original experience of onenell$ with the deity. ｔｨｩｳ recapitulated in myrh and run:l.cted. in rirnal. Eliade speaks more of India. and of the Australian aborigines, then he does of Chinese civilisation. But his insight. muraW mutandis, is relleered in the: ChineJe experience as wdl. 2S I have just de- scribed. ;K) A primordi.al experience of a linbge between hwnans and deities exists in all humanity, and the distinctiveness of Chinese civilization lies in its remembrance of this experience. A very different approach to the study of Bronze Age China has been undertaken by David Keightley. Although he occasionally qUOtes Eliade,lI Keighdey's understanding of the Shang originates in very different intellectual sources. Accordingly, his interpretation differs markedly from those scholars, such as Wheatley, Chang. and Ching. who base their interpret:!.tions of the Slung upon Elude. In particular, Keightley rejects {he shamanistic hypothesis. In cOnfTaSt to both K. C. Chang and Julia Ching. David Keighdey has convincingly questioned the prevalence (or even presence) of shamanism in Bronze Age C hina.21 Keighdey's argument, based on an exhaustive review of the evidence, is that Chang's theory of the continuing presence of shamanism in the Shang is wrong. To the contrary, Keighcley argues, the transition to a state society involved a routiniution and control of whatever shamanistic practices might have existed earlier. S hamanism as discussed by figures Wee Chang would have ·flourished at an earlier, pre-agrarian, hu nrergatherer sage of social deveiopment." "The rise of agrarian cultures, accord. ingly, like that of the Late S hang. has been associated with a reduction of me role played by shamans at the sate levd, or by its reorienation.- Keighdey's Ibid., pp. %i-xii. Keiglllky, "Tilt; Rcligiow Comm!ulIent: p. 115",8. u . Keig/nley, "ShamiUliJ.m, Dt>.lh, and rhe Aneuton." 10. 11. Sec, e.g., 31 The Shang king was the ,ommunicacor with rhe hierarchy of the dead; he attracted. them to his cult ,cntcr, in sequence, with rigorously scheduled sacrifices and hosted them with ordered groups of rituals; he communicated with them through thc highly formali«d techniques of pyromandc divinarion: he commissioned irucriptions, caflled into divination bones, th1t recorded the whole procedure in detail. Orderly divination, che hosting of guests (whether a1ivc or dead), sacrifice-chese were the ways of civiliud. men dealing.. nor with the wild and the unknown, not with ecstatic inspiration or [rance, but, through ritual and schedule, with their own kin. ｾ＠ Both sacrifice and divination are here explic:tble as expressions of a rational, bureaucr:ltic, civilized system. rather than of the shamaniscic model ad· vanced by Chang. Keightlet's concern wich rationalization in the successive stages of social development reveals a scrong Weberian influence. And, like Weber, Keight· ley is interested in how the religious orientations he finds in t he Shang played out in bter Chinese history. So, like Chang. Keightley sees the Shang 2S che origin of later C hinese cultural orientations, although he and Chang read this history very differently. k Keighdey argues in his seminal 'The Religious Commitment: S hang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Politi· ("11 Culture": "It is the argument of this exploratory essay rh2t the secul2r values and institutions representing che great tradition of the Zhou and Han dynasties we re characterized to a significant extent by habits of t hin king and 11. Ibid., pp. 816-17, ho. Ibid., pp. 808-14. See ilio Keigtulcy, Ｂｔｾ＠ Rcligiow CO'lImiulIem: p. 118. 1}. Keigluley, "Sh.:ltnaniJm, Duth.. and the Anculon: p. Bll., 14. ,8 ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SPIRITS ANTHP.OPOMOP.PHIZING THB SPIRITS acting mat had been sanctified at least a millennium earlier by the: religious IfWheadey (like Chang and Ching in this particular sense) saw the signiS. logic of the Shang theology and cuk..26 For Kcightley, however. what one finds in the Shang is not Chang's shamanism bur Weber's vision: !he radical world optimism which Weber identified as a central Confucian value was already present in Shang religious belief...:'7 As he: ebbo(;lccs: "In Weberian terms, then. we can refer co the hi- C:lnce of C hina as lying in its embodiment of. in t he fullest sense, a primordial cosmological emphasis on the linkage of the hwn211 and sacred reahns, Keightley sees the signific211ce in the peculi:lr bureaucr;lric logic of Shang lI religion. erarchical. contractual, rational. routini:z:c:d. m:arhc:nurical. computmental- ized nature of Shang ancestor worship as bureaucratic...2I The Shang. then. wu the o rigin of a bureaucratic mentality that Weber-correctly. in Kcight- ley's view-saw as a dominant aspect oflaccr Chinese culture. For Keighdey, the oracle-bone inscriptions uvea.! a bureaucratic mentality mat both rou tinized whatever sh2lt\.aniscic tendencies might have c:r1sred in me Neolithic " However, as we saw in the Introduction. the Webemn reading of Chi· nese culture does shue a number of similarities with the cultura.l·essentialist model underlying (in somewhat different ways) Wheatley'S and Chang'S interprerarions. Thus, although Keightley rejects the sh:lm:lnism hypothC5is for euly Chin:l 2lld a.lthough he does implicitly revise Wheatley'S interprerarion, he a.Iso sees hwnans 2lld divinities as harmoniously linked in early Weber, seu as characterizing later Chinese culture. Keight!ey's position leads him to a view of urban genesis somewhat differ- China. He explicitly compares this with the situation in early Greece: 'Greek epia also derive much of their complexity 2lld dramatic tension from the frank recognition th:lt unresolvable conflicts exist in the world. This fund.amenta.l assumption is symbolized in the conflict between the va.lucs ent from that given by Wheatley. H e refers quite F...vorably to Wheatley's emphasu on the importance of religion in the genesis of the Chinese stue. 29 But and wills of men and gods: According to Keighdey, no such discord be· tween gods and men can be found in e:lrly China: "There was little discord period and iniri:ated the "radical world optimism" th.u Keighcley, foUowing Keightley reads the significance of religion in Chin:l differently. IfWhudey is working from Eliade, Kcightley is working from Weber. Aner describing the importance of religion for the Sh:lngu;ue, Keighdey continues; There is nothing uniquely ChinC5e in this account 10 far. RdigiotU bdieflw played limilar rolell in the genC5is of other Statell. ' Kcighcley providC5 another reference here to Wheacley.) Signiflcant in the Chinelle f;aSe , however, were the moda of conceprualiz.uion cemu..! ro the rheology. For it is in the logical rdatiolUhips that Shangtheol. ogy POSnllated as basic, and in the emotiolU as$ociated with those rdarionshiJl', that we find the characteristic dements which influenced the devdopment of political cul· ture in Zhou and later rimes: We find, in fact, a paradoxical situarion: a Shang ltate penneated with a commitment to the anCC5tOrs, strongly religious in the torality of it. demands; and yet we find that the commitment can be chana:eriud as nonreligiolU, nonmysreriolU, and- because 10 explicidy goal direaro-rational in its logic. The logic may be characterized, in faa, with approprUte caurioru to which I shall rerum, as "bureaucratic' in Max Weber's sense of the term. JO liS, Keiglnky, !be Religious Commitment: pp, llZ - ll. l,. Ibid., p. l16. See:ilio Keightky, "dt<ln H andl and S hining Helmeu: p. 43 . l8. Keighrley, -rIM: Rdigiow Con,,"iI1ICnI,' p. l16. 19. Ibid., p. 114. 10. Ibid, between gods and men ... , The Chin ese knew neither a Prometheus nor a '7 _ ｾ Ｎ＠ Hn Like Wheacley, Chang. and Ching. therefore, Keighdey sees in the Shang the origiN of what he deems to be dominant orienrations of Chinese thought. Moreover, a.lrhough his reading o f these domimnt orienrations is bued on a Weberian imerpreCition and a.ltho ugh he (very convincingly, in my opinion ) rejects the shamanism hypothesis. he. too, emphasizes a con· rrast between China and Greece bued on the tragic cwmology of the former and the optimistic cosmology of the l:ltter. Indeed, Keightley's critique of C h:lng was aimed a.lmost entirely at pointing OUt the lack of 2lly evidence for ecst:ltic techniques :lnd ascensions. But the most imporunt issue for Chang was his claim that, in the Shang. h umans 2fld gods were linked in har· mony- and Keighdey, despite his enormous differences from Chang. ]1. Keiatulq'l argument is forulwiowd in a ｾ＠ of Whc.adey·s boolc rh.n Keightlq wrote lOn\e five yean ｾｦｏｵ＠ ,1M: artide uoder dis<union. Overall tIM: review is &",rabk. but hc doc. argue that the nat nep in a ｣ｯｭｾｲｬｴｪｹ･＠ inquiry Ihould ｾ＠ to srreu differel'lUl as well as limiluiliu ｾｴｷ･ｮ＠ China and ,1M: ren of the world. Sec ' Rdigion and ,1M: Rife of Urbanum,· ｰＮＱ｡ｾ Ｎ＠ ll. Kt:ighlky, "Clean Hands and Shining HeI,neu,· pp. 41 - 4:. 40 AN T HROPO M ORPH I ZING THe SP I RITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T H B SP I RITS .accepts this as well. As was noted in the Introduction. [he Webf:rim perspective 2nd the culrural-euentialisr perspective (Ktighdey and Chang respectively, in this insrance) read early China in similar ways. Thus, although Chang and Ching emphasize shammiscic union of humOlJ1 and deity in the ou.cle bones, 2nd Keighcley emphasizes ratiorul. bureaucratic hierarchy. aU three agree that Shang divination and sacrifice practices reveal an :u.sumption of harmony between humans and diviniries. In what follows. I question pans of [his reading. In doing so, 1. follow D2vid Keighcley's resea rch on Shang oncle·bone inscriptions closely and. in particular, build directly on Keightley's arguments concerning whal he: alli "making the ancestors.oJ) But I .argue that 2cceprance of Keighdey's .argumenu opens to question some of the notions of harmony thar Keighdey himself, u well as so many o ther scholars, want to read into the Shang. me The Agon of Humans and Spirits in the Lire Shang T he main god of the pantheon was Di,}04 who conrrolled the wind and rain: Divining: "Cnckmwnf on "i"Oi" (day )J, Zheng divining: This eleventh momh, Di will order [he rain: ' Divining: "This eleventh month. Di will not order the rain: (Hcji s.6S8 ]E) Divining: "On the next ｧｵｩｭｾｯ＠ [day 40J, Di will order windJ: (H cji 6721£) The vel)' existence of these divinations implies that there is no belief here that O i will necessarily give rain when humans need it. Indeed, Oi often created disuters for the king; Oi will make (fori the king misfortUne. (Heft 14,182) As did other spirits: Que divining: "Huan (the Huan River] will make (for) this city misfortUne.· (Heft 7,8S4) One of the concerns in divin.adon was thus powers intended (0 send down misfortune: (0 discover whemer the divine David Keiglnley. Ｂｔｉｾ＠ Making of the Anccltorl: )4. For the exact naturc ofDi,lee below. pp. 48- 4!i. IS. Guo and Hu.jiapwt" IItji sAsS 1E (herein.fter ciled in ｴｉ ｾ＠ fut 2. Crackmwng on ｸｩＢｭｾｯＬ＠ tune." (Heji 5)6) 4' Nei divining: the king will have the mwng of misfor- Cradtmalcing on .xi"mAo, Zheng divining: "The king will not have the mwng of milfortUne." (H cji 5)6) Crackmaking on WIIXU. Bin divining: "This city will be without t he having of misfortune." (Heji1.8sa) Divining: "This city will have the sending down of misfortUne.· (Hcji 7.8S1) A con5=t give-and-take eristed berween human actions and divine powers. In a world controlled by spirits. certain human actions we re seen u coming intO contact with divine powers, and it was thus around these actions t har sacrifices, rituals, .and divinations came to be associated. The goal of these .activities was to influence. mollify, and determine the will of the divine powers, to persuade them to grant assistance, and to prevent (hem from making disaste rs. T :ike, for ex.ample, the issue of m::tking ::t settlement. Following .are a number of inscriptions from Period 1:36 Divining: "The king will make a Settlement, [for if he doa] Di will approve." (Hej 14,101) Divining: "The king ought not to make a. settlement. (for ifhe dOCl not] Di will approve." (Heji 14.101) Cradtmaking on renz-i, Zheng divining: · We will make a settlement, (for if we doJ Dj will nOf oppose." Approved. Third month. (Heji 14,106) In o rder to nuke a stttlement, a divination must be performed to dttennine the will of OJ. It seems plausible to hypothesiu that founding a settlemmt involved bringing divinely controlled natural elements inco the human re.alm and required divin.ation to determine if the action would be accepuble (0 Oi. Conmry to Whe.adey, me making of a settkment did not involve correlative concerns or a notion of an uu mundi. The concerns were based, instead. on a potentially agonistic relationship between humans and Di: Oi controlled )6. Period I is Dong Zuobin', lerm for th. ･ｾｲｬｩ｣Ｑ＠ grouping of o racle,bone inscripriollJ, dating 10 the reign ofWu Ding. For convenient 'tllllmarie, of the issues Jurrounding the pcrlodlUlion of ｯｦ｡｣ｬ･Ｍ｢ｴｾ＠ ilUCripriollJ. ge Ktigluley. So.orm of Sha"l Hi,tory. pp. !iI- ill: S luughnes,y, "Recent Appro.aches 10 Oracfe-aone Pcriodiution": and Li Xueqin and Peng l). tlrji) YUlhang. YiMW Fl" p"qi :f'I"jiw. ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T H B S PIRI TS ANTHIlOP O M OIl PHIZING THB SPIIliTS (he land, and humans had to utilize rituals to mae th at land available for J7 human use. Agriculture was another repeated (opic of concem in (he early porrions of the corpus of oracle bones. Like the making o f a settlement, t he preparation of fldds involved a h uman appro priation of natural elements controlled by divine powers. As we find in twO Period I inscriptions: ･＠ will pray for millet, {starting] from ShangJia.· On foho .. divining: "The king will order the opening of the flclds at Jing: "At PN open thefldds: (Htji ｮＬｾＩ＠ T h us, a successlUl millet harvest depended in parr on whether the Many Yin opened the fields in the west: according (0 the third inscription in the set, they would receive millet only if t hey did not p repare the westem fields. Here again, the hunun appropriation of a field could potentially upset the Command Yin to prepare the great flddJ. Ouglu nOl: co mmand Yin to p£epare (he greal: fldds. (Htji 9,471) The divinations reflect an attempt to determine whether this act of preparing the flelds, of readying chern for hwnan appropriation, was acceptable ro the divine powers. Similar concems underlie the opening of a field for agriculture. The following is a set of inscriptions located on a single scapula. Reading from bot(om to rop:J.S Cnpihai, divining: ｾ＠ At PN open the fidcb: On p ihai divining: ｾ ｗ 19 On p ihai, divining: "The king will command (he Many Yin to open the fidds in the west, (for if they do, we) shall receive miller." Onpihai divining: "The Many Yi n ought nOI to do (Ihisl, [for ifrhey do nor, we) shall receive millet: On wuchc>l divining: ｾ ｗ･＠ will pray for millel, (starting) from Shang Jia. We will offer me /iIw (burning lacriflce): )1. Indeed, I would quwion not only Whenkfl ruding of the Shangmaurial bw his use of a correblive modd to o«DUnl for the riK of dries in general. As noc:ed above, WheatIey'S :l.l"gummr concerning rhe uiJ m,,""i wu hued on rhe work of ElUde. Eliadc in rum hued his argumenll on the Pan-Babylonian kbolau-with the tn>ci.tI diffe«:nce that the Pan_Babylonian k hobrl l;lW nOlions of the ACted caller as difIUsed !tom the Near East, whereas ElUdt; I.I.W them as a I1f1iYC1"W aspcet of what he aIkd primitive cultures. In other wor<i:s, the mme notion of an ...,w ＧＢｾＬＮ ［＠ arne origirWly !tom the Pan.Babylonian khobri reading of Near Eutem rna· terials, and Eliade, and btrr Wheatley, thom uniYC1"wQ;ed the notion, in the NUl' Eastern material. Iw However, the existence of the nodon of an uu ＢＬｾＮ､ｩ＠ been , alIed intO question as wdI. 1\1 Jonathan Z . Smith (To ToW Pl«t, p. 16) has argued: "Then: is no pattern of the 'Center' in the 1m" that the Pan-&bylonians and EJ.iadc delCTibed it in the Neat Ealtern materials: Thul, beyond the probleml I have taiJed fot Wheatley'l reading of Bronu Age o,ina, I would qucation rhc entire Eli:ldcan argumenr on which Wheatley hued his comparative anaJYlis. l', AI II (ommon for k apulas. 5« Keighrley, Sowtttl ｯｊｓｉｷｾＱ＠ HlJfory, p, sa. )9, Here and below, die abbreYbtlon "PN" IIwtd to r&r to an unldenrUltd pIac. Mme. divine powers. Plowing involved similar issues: Crackmaking on ... , divining: i he multitudes will do the plowing. There will bt no lou... ." (Heft 8) As did CUtting grasses for hay: Divining: "Do the gnu-cutting [i.e., make hay l. The rain will nOt . , . ." (Htji t3 <7!iB) M oreover, the h:.trvC$ts themselves were controlled by divine powers: On pilla;, divining: -rhe Many Yin ought nOt undertake the harvesting of the millet: (Ht)i l),209) jiaWII, divining: "Today we will lui [sacrifice), [for if we do, we) will receive millet [i.e., a good harvest)." (Htji 2,124) The goal of these divinations was thus to determine whether the divine powers would allow hwnans ( 0 appropriate natural resources. But just as divine anions affect the human realm, so human acdons have repercussions in the divine world. I explore (his point more JUI.ly below; here it is enough to point out t hat a recurrent concern in the inscriptional material is [0 determine (he proper amount of sacrifices at any given time that will influ- ence the d ivine powers in a way f2vorable for human concerns: The king will set: fon:h jades to Zu Yi, (give) the burnt sacrifice offering of three penned sheep, and ckave three greal: .... This w:u used. (Hlp )l,sn) .. , will make me ding sacrifice at rhe ceive assistance. (Htji 2,34S) twO shrines, (for if he does,) the king will re- Crackmaking on bi>lgti: "In sacrificing (to) Zu Yi, we will offer the ding [sacrifice!, [for if we do,! the king will receive a.u inance.· (Htji a7,n6) T he sacrifices are aimed at gaining assistance fo r the king: making a particular aacrifice, it is hoped, will resul( in divine aid. The purpose of the divina- ANTHRO P OMORPH I ZING THB S PI RITS ANTHROPOMORPH I Z I NG T HB SPIR I TS 44 rion wu rhus apparently to determine if a particular sacrifice, offered at 2 particular time, would indeed have the desired effect. A similar concern with controlling the: divine spiria can be sun in t he: frequency of exorcism ritw.ls in the: inscriptional corpus. If the divinOlitlons concerning agriculture: and scttlements we re aimed at making divinely can- rrolled land .available fo r human appropriation. exorcism involved driving the spiria aw.ay from the human realm altogethe r. D ivining: "Make an ao rrum (to d iminarc] Fu Hao's trouble." (Hlp 13.6-.6) At times, th is ritual form of controlling and nun.aging the divine forces could encompus luge portions of the pantheon: Crackmaking on )'iilai, Bin divining; "M1kc ehe great exorcism {$umng] from Shang J ia." (Htji '-4,860) There: is, thll.!. in the 1.:1.[( Shang, a constant agon between hum2ns and spirits. with spirits controlling natural phenomena and hwnans anempting to appropriate aspects of the natural world for t heir own benefit. This results in seemingly endleu attempu by humans to placate, coax, and influence t he spirits through sacrifice and divination. And me anempt seems often to fail: the spirits are capricious and far more powerful man the rituals h umans use to control them. ., The divination is an attempt to determine the temple name of X iao ｓｾ＠ as well as the day on which he o r she receives cuk·) And the following inscription reveals that Xiao S i (still being referred to by me name he or she had while alive) is ve nerated on a gui day: Cnckmaking on rrllWCI, Da divining: ' On the next gi.llwi. offer to Xiao Si three pcnned.ahecp and X-sacrifice one ox: (Htji :z.PI9) O nce the day o n which the ancestor will receive sacrifices has been deter· mined, the ancestor then receives a temple name based on that day. Thus, for example, Farher Yi receives cult on an yi day: Cracluniling ｯｮｪｩｾＬｨ＠ (day 41). Que divining: 'On the next yili (day 41.1, make an offering [0 Father Yi of penned sheep." Use. (Htji 1,40 l .if) This panern holds throughout our sourcCl. The rituals follOWing death, therefore. involved the attempt to make the spirit of the deceased into an anCeStor and to place t hat ancestor within a ritual system designed by the living. As Keighdey has brilliantly argued, t he Shang were "makingW their ancestors,44 The deceased were given temple names, granted a day on which to receive sacrifices, and placed within the sacrificial cycle. Xiao Si moved from being a dead-and presumably highly powerful and potentially dange rous-spirit to being an anceStOr with a defined place. In shorr, (he point of these rituals was to place me deceased in P laCing the Ancestors: T h e Constructio n o f the Shang Pantheon T he obvious questions, then, are: What precisely are these d ivine powers, Wherein lies their capriciousness, and H ow precisely are human rituals supposed to control them!.:) A significant pottion-but by no means allof the pantheon consists of ancestral spirits. The construction of (he pantheon begins with an individual's death:·' Crackmiling on bingkn, Chu divi ning: 'n making Xiao 5i's day. let it be a :wi: Eighth month. (Hejr 11,?ut! 4 0. My undemanding or thue iuutl haa been helped greatly by $:orah Alhn', 1M ｓｨＮｉｾ＠ ofthtT" ..dr. 41 . My argument here rouow, the inrerprnnion given by, and set of irucriprions ｾｯｲｮｰｩｬ･､＠ by, U Xueqin in hit 'Ping Yiuw bud ton"nu : 42. The .. me divination it found on Hr, 2),714: Htjll1,71) haa the lame divInation, bill whhoUllhe ri, 4). I am here foUowing David Keigbdey·1 imetpl"rnnion or lem ple names. Fa< I brief lumnury. see hit Thr AIICe!".J ｓＮｲｩｦｯｾ＠ pp. ))-)5. Krighdey wu re>(ling 19ainn K.. C. Clunga argumenl "lilt the temple IWJle refkcted different duuni groups wilhin lhe Slung ｈｮ･｡ｾ［＠ see Clung', lien k:an: A Key 10 [he Hisrory of the Shulg: The evidence given hcre-<Ie.u iy ckmonmating tlut lhe temple IJ.iIItltI were givm POSIhumowJy- ,hould be to disprove die Ibcory l lul the lliIn\u represented different deiCeni groups. It should further be mendomd tlul one or the drcunuumW pieca or evidence Clung used in defense of hit hypothcsit was Dong Zuobin·, ahernalion of Old and New &hooll of diviners (for Dong, theory. sce hit "Yirn:u ｗ･ｲｬｾ＠ yibian til"). Clung argued Ihal Ihis alttrllilt ion was !wed on a reguJ.or altCTlliItion or the kingship between the Ji and di"l deKellf group'. Here 100. howevn. {be evidence does not lupporr Chang. Raent iChol.:mhip hll fairly lucceufu!ly qucstioned Dongs reading of a1terllilting Olel and New &hooJ divinen; ,ee. e.g., Lin Yun, 'Xiaotun nandi fajue yu Yinxu jiolgu duandai": Li Xueqin, ' XioIolun n;tndi ji<lgll yu jLlgu renqi'; and Qiu Xigui, ' Lun Li zu bud de ,hidai: Chang', dICOry, therefore, it no longer fellable. ' .4 , Keighdey, Ihe Making oflhe Ancnlor ... ｾ＠ ,ufficien. 46 ANTHROPOMORPHIZIN G THE S PIRITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SP IRITS the: proper hierarchy of sacrifices. And it was a place determined by the living_ The entire pamheon of Shang ancestors was built up through such a proceu. By adding together the clues from me irucriptional (vidence, schol· ars have been able to work OUt the enrire anran-a! hierarchy.4S Shang Jia wu the highest ancestor of the Shang. and Da Yi was Cheng T <lng. the founder of the Shang dynasty. according to later accounts from the Zhou. The hierarchy also seems to reflect the power possessed by e2ch ancestor: the older the ancestors, the more power they possessed. Thus, sufferers of relatively minor things like [oomlches, sicknesses. and dreams would divine to rtcendy deceased 2f\CUtors to see if the sicknessCl in quution were c2used by curses: Divining; It iJ Father Yi who u cursing Fu Hao." (Htji 6,o}11£) for Fu Hao's dream, it is nOf Father Yi." (Heji 101 JE) Divining: ,his Ipring the king will not ally with Wang Cheng to mack Xia Wei [for ifhe does,} me upper and lower [divine powerl} will nor approve. It will not be we who will be receiving me divine assistance." (Hrji 6,506) T he ancestors, there fore, appear to grow m ore powerful the longer they are dead. The generation of ancestors immediately above me living can cu rse specific individuals with sicknesses, toothaches, and nightmares, whereas the higher powers control phenomena that affect the entire Slung people, such as harvests and milir.ary campaigns. And [his hierarchy provides the context for understanding me bill ritual-me ritual discussed by both C hang and Keighdey. If Chang read the Ought not entertain, (Htji 1l.7516) If such divinations reveal that the problem is indeed a curse from one of the ancestors, t hen sacrifices would be made to dispel the curse: Crackmaking on ww ... Que divining: ·We ought not nuke the entertainment [ritualJ." (Htji 15,1511) Craclcmaking on WUyill (day lsi. Bin divining: ｾ ｅｸｯｲ｣ｩｳ･＠ Crackmaking on yiehow, Que divining: "We ought not perform rhe entertainment {ritual}," (Hlji 15.1751) Fu Jing to Mother Geng." Ｈｈ｣ｪｩｾＷＱＵＩ＠ ｾ＠ ... Mocher Geng exo rcise Fu Hao', ｴｯ｣ｨ Ｎｾ＠ Divining: "Cheng will be a guest to Di: (Htji IA02. lE) Divining: "Da Jia will be i guest [0 Cheng." (Htp 1,401.lE) "[We) ought not to Mother Galg aorcise." ｾｅｺｯｲ｣ｩｳ･＠ Similarly, military campaigns would involve significant portions of the pan· theon: ritual as an example of shamanism, Keighdey read it as revealing a protobureaucratic sense of hierarchy. Let us look at the evidence: Divining: It u not Father Yi who is curling Fu HaD." (Hry 6.0)1. JE) Divining: ｾ ａｉ＠ 47 the misforrune [0 Father Yi." (Heji 1..1514) Divining: "Cheng will not be a gueS[ [ 0 Di: (Hrji 1,401.lE) Crackmaking on yimllCl, Que divining: ｾ ｅＩ｛ｯｭｳ･＠ Fu Hao [0 Father Vi. Cleave Iheep. olTer pig:J, and make a promissory offering of ten penned sheep." (Hcji 1.71) All these divinations and sacrifices are aimed ae me generation immediately above the living. Divining: "Da Jia will not be a guest ro Cheng: (Hcji 1,401 JE) Crackmaking onjillchrll (day 41J, Que divining: "Xia yi will be a guest to, 1,401 lE) : (Hrji Divining: "Xia Yi will nor be a guest to Cheng." (Hrji l,.40a JE) But, fo r topia like the harvest, h igher ancestors would usually be invoked. The foUowing divination begins with the h ighest ancestor, ShangJia: Divining: "Da, , , will be 1 guest to Di." (Hry 1,401.1E) On gsriholi divining: "We will pray for millet [sczrring} from ｓｨ｡ｮｧｊｩＮｾ＠ Divining: "Da Ji1 will be a guest to Di." (Hrji 1,40a JE) (Hry )),1.09) " Divining: ' Xia Yi . ,. 10 Oi." (Hq; 1.401. JE) Divining: "Xia Yi will nor be a guest ro OJ." (Hry 1.401 lE) 4S. Much of the crucial work for lhil Wat done by Dong Zuobin and publilhed In his "Yinxu wen:d yibian ru." On the hierarchy iudf. ICC rhe uKful lummary in Kelglillry, Th Alltfl".! S<l<rifor, pp, ｾＭｉｏＩＬ＠ The bill ritual involved anc:mpu by one figure to enterain or treat another. The -figures" involved were humans, ｡ｮｾ･ｳｴｯｲＬ＠ o r Di. The crucial point, as Keighdey has argued so effectively, is t hat the figures in question arc ar- .8 ., ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THIl SPIRITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T HE SPIRITS ranged hierarchically: humans entertain the most recently deceased ancestors, and (he most recendy deceased ancestors entertain the still earlier ancestors, who in rum entertai n Di.-16 This hierarchy of ritual acrion reveals a hierarchy of power, since [he recently deceased ancestors were seen as weaker than the older ones, who were in rum weaker than the nature gods and Oi. As Keighdey has demonstrated: "In terms of functions, Di, the Nature Powers, and a few of the Former Lords, like Huang Yin, tended to affe(:[ the dynasty or the COUntry as a whole, influencing the weather, [he crops, and w2rnre; by contrast, . _ . the ancestors were more directly cona:med with the king's personal activities: w his illnesses, his well-being. and [he fault-free management of the riru.als. <17 And the hier.archy .also reveah .a hier.archy of pli.abiliry-.at least from the point of view of the living: the more recently deceased .ancestors were seen as more .amen.able to hum.an ritual promptings. To quote Keighdey .again: "The Sh.ang conceived of [he N.arure .and the Ancestral Powers as occupying a hier.archy of negoti.abiliry, with t he close .ancestors and .ancestresses of the p.antheon being most open to this kind of pledging. and the higher Powers, both ancestral.and n.amr.al. being less appro.ach.able in this w.ay. w4a The goal of the riru.al was thus to prompt the welker ancestors to host t he more powerful, all the way up to Oi. The ritual, then, served rwo purposes: it mainr.ained the proper hierarchy of the p.antheon, and it used the lower, more pli.able .ancestors, to mollify the higher, more powerful ,ancestors-ultimately including even Oi. Several scholars h.ave tried to .argue th.at Bur then who-or wh.at-is ｏｩｾ＠ Oi is the supreme anCeStOr. Robert Eno even argues th.at Oi is in fact a col49 lective name for the enrire pantheon of .ancestors. But I would .argue .ag.ainst Eno's re.ading. It is difficult to read the bin ritual inscriptions meaningfully if we interpret Oi as a collective name. But then the quesrion still sr.and..s: IfOi is a singular being. then wh.ar is ｨ･ｾ＠ The evidence for .answering the question is limited. Bur it is clear that O i is more powerful than the other ancestors. H e is the most powerful of the gods .and controls the wind .and r.ains. It could be argued that O i is very much like an ancestor: as we have al ready seen, me more dist.ant .ancestors .are more powerful. At the same time. however, he is not p.art of the sacrificial pantheon: he does not have a temple name, :and he does not have :a designated d:ay in the sacrificial cycle. Indeed, Oi never receives sacrifices :at ali. so As the most powerful god, Di seems relatively uncontrolbble by human ritual. The most reasonable hypothesis is th:at Oi was not recognized as part of the S hang ancestral line, and he was prob:ably not an ancestor :at all And this may in part explain the motiv.ation for the bin ritual. If the human ability to influence Oi direcdy is limited, humans can nonetheless artempt to infl uence the lower ancesto rs, who can influence the higher .ancestors, who can in turn influence Oi. In other words, they c.an cre.ate a hier.archical chain th:n ultim:ately includes Oi We thus find insctiptions such as: 46. Kcightley. ·Slum:mism. Dearh. and {he Ances{ors; pp. 808-14. Su aho Hu Houxuan. -Yin buci >:hong de snangdi he wangdi,' p. 89. 41. Keigluley. "The Making of {he Ancu{on: p. 9· 48. Ibid.. p. IS. 49. Eno. -Wn There a Higl\ God TJ in Shang Rcligiol1r Crackmaking on guichou (day 50J, Zheng divining: -We will dwd! in this serclement and perform the great entertainment ritual, (for if we do,J Di will approve. - Third month. (Htji (4,l06 IE) Crackmaking on gukhou (day 50J. Zheng divining: -Di will not approve.- (Heft 14.r06 IE) To determine whether Oi .approves of the Shang's continued dwelling in a particular Krtlement, a ｾ ｧ ｲ ･Ｚ｡ｴ＠ entertainment ｲｩｵ｡ｬｾ＠ is offered. The term ｾｧｲ･ ｡ｴ＠ X ritu:ar is used in Sh:ang inscriptional liter:arure to refer to a ritual encompassing the entire pantheon. The -great exorcism,w for example, includes all.ancestors, beginning with ShangJia: Crackmaking on )'ihai, Bin divining: -Make the great exorcism [scarting) from Shang Jia: (Heji 14,8(0) It is reasonable to conclude, then, that the gre:at enteruinment riru:a.l involved the full pantheon, including the enteruining of Oi by the higher :ancestors. T hus, the w:ay to gain the support of Oi for the continued occupation of the sertlement was through rhe bin ritual: Oi could not be coerced inm :accepting the Sh:a.ng o rder through sacrifices, but the p:a.ntheon could be employed to coerce him t hrough t he bin ritual. so. There are no inscripl ioru in which Di dearly ｲ･｣ｾｩｶＢＭＧ＠ ｵ｣ ｲｩＶ｣ｾＮ＠ Shima Kunio Ius at· {elllpled 10 argue due Di did in fact receive Ja,crificu. bUI his evidence is unconvincing; S<:e his I"kp bokuji k,"k,w, pp. '95-97. For a ca reful. and convincing. refutation of Shima', argument. ace Eno. -WII There I High God Ti in Slung Religion"-?p. 7-8. ,0 AN T HROPOMORP H IZING THE SP I RITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T H E SPIR I TS These artempts to use the bin ri[U:u [0 create and ｭｾｴ｡ｩｮ＠ a proper hierarchy of non-ancestra.l powers can further be seen in the entertainment of nam re spirits such 2S the sun and the Yellow River: that correer ritual procedure by the Shang kings would result in favors conferred by Dj," n A similar ruding of Sh;;mg sacrifice underlies Poe Muchou's understanding: Crackmaking on ]isi {day 42]: "The king will enu:ru.in Ri (the sun). (Htji 12,181) In the [Shang] irucriprioru one senses that the diviner addressed the deities, Of ancescon;, u if they were immcdiacdy accessible. In fact, since man believed so fi rmly char the deities :rnd ancestors actually cceended care and power to the propitiator direedy. the woc!d of Cl«ra-human powers in che conception of the Shang diviners should be seen as havinfi been either conterminous with the human world or a continuous exteruion ofit. He will not enterrain [he sun: (Htji 32,181) Crackmaking on ;.ins; (day 18). divining: "The king will enterrain He {the Yellow River} and offer a iiao [burnt-offering $.acrifice)."" • Crackmaking on Wlzi (day 49J. Lii divining: "The king will entertain Ri (the sun). It will not rain: (Htji 22,519) In contrast to the rrarment of ｄｾ＠ the king himself can directly entenain these nature powers. But, as we saw with Oi, the hi71 rirual appears to conneet the non-ancestral divinities with ancestral powers: Craclunaking on guiwri [day :wJ, Que divining: ·On [he nat jiasMlI [wy :1.1]. the king will enterrain ShangJia and ｒｩＮ ｾ＠ The king prognosticared and said: "It will be an auspicious enterrainment rieual: They really were emerrained. Ｈｈｾｪｩ＠ 1.2481£) The purpose of the ritual was to entertain Shang Jia, the highest Shang ancestor, alongside the sun. It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that n:rotur:rol powers as well were being brought into and harmonized wim the ancestral powers. De:rod hUllUlns are m:rode into ancestors, and non-ancesrral powers :rore [hen brought into accord with these ancestors. And, in me c:rose of Di, the ancestorS themselves are c:rolled upon to bring Di into the pantheon. T r:ronsforming the ｓｰｩｲｳｾ＠ Sactifice in the Sh:rong So what does this mean for our understanding of the bill ｲｩｴｵ｡ｬｾ＠ I would agree with Keightley th:rot Shang rirual process should not be rud as sh:romanistic. Humans do not ascend to the huvens, nor do the :roncestors descend into humans. The ancestors certainly descend to receive their sacrifices, but there is nothing shamanistic abour that. But I would not follow Keightley in reading [his as pro[o-bureaucr:rotic. And my disagreement comes down to :ro question concerning Keighdey's argument :robout sacrifices in the Shang. For Keighdey. "Shang religious pr:rocrice rested upon the do ut des ('I give, in order that thou shouldst give') belief 51. Zhongguo lhe:hui kuuqwn, Kaogu yanjiuluo, Xi,<>IWllllllndlji'lM, 1,116. " The ancestors, deities, and humans are on t he same pl:rone, and sacrifice allows for a proper relationship between them: "A person's relationship with the powers, moreover, can be described as do ut ､ ･ ｊＮｈｾ＠ Keighdey :rond (following Keighdey) Poo Mu-chou :rore arguing th:ror insofar as the Shang divinationa! :rond sacrificial experts saw humans :rond divinities as continuous, a simple bureaucratic operation of giving and raking was set up between them: one gives in order to receive. In making this argument, Keightley is reading China according to a sacrificial model proposed by the early theorists of s:rocrifice-Edward Tylor, Robertson Smith, and, to some extent, Henri Hubert and Marcel ｍ｡ｵｳＮｾ Ｇ＠ All these theorists read s:rocrifice as a gift from human to god. And Weber lies in this tradition as welL Weber ruds the S6 sacrificial do ut des as :ro rationalization of magic -just as he reads the thisworldly orientation of later Chinese religion. In fact, however. Hubert and Mauss's argument COntains more than just :ro discussion of sacrifice as a gift:. Indeed, as many have argued,S7 the definitions of sacrifice as a gift th:rot still :roppea.r in the work are the weakest parts of the argument. Other partS of Hubert and M:rouss's analysis are far more powerful and m:roy prove more helpful for analyzing Shang sacrificial practices than the gift: model The main idea behind theif :rorgument is th:rot sacrifice is a trans formative act. They read the act as involving a series of trans- p. Keighdey, "The Rdigiou, Commitment; pp.114- LS. Poo, Ｑｾ＠ Starch oj Pmo",,1 ｗＧＡｦＢｲｾＬ＠ p. a8 . H. Ibid. S5. Tylor, Primiri •• Cul/urc. WiIlWn Robemon Smith, Ltrru ... 0" tho Rrfiro" of rlx&mir<J; Huben and Maw" $a{rifu•. S6. Weber, &0"0"",,../ Soti.,], r: 414. " . See, in pmieubr, rhe excellenr diKwlion by Vakri, ｋｩＢＬｻｉｨｰｾＧＯ＠ Sacn'fiu, pp. 64-66. 5). ANTHR.OPOMOR.PHIZIN G THB SP IRI TS ANTHROPOMORPHIZ I NG T H E SPIR IT S formanons of sacralization and dcsacralizaoon between the sacrifier.Y the victim. and the divine powers involved. Thus. for example. Hubert and Mauss argue that the sacrificial victim is sacralized by the process. as. thereS9 fore. is the sacrifier. Sacrifices throughout the world are then read as a series of permutations of this model; Huben and Mauss focus in panicular on which transformations are emphasi%ed and what function these transformations have in the society under discussion. O f particular interest to our current concerns is their description of one aspect of the Vedic soma sacrifice: ""Thus not only is it in sacrifice that some gods are born. it is by S2crifice that all sustain their existence. So it has ended by appearing as their essence. their origin. and their creator...60 In other words. gods as well as the sacrifier can be mnsformed by sacrifices. And. in fact. Keighdey's argument concerning the "making of ancestors" points precisely to this trans formative norion of sacrifice rather than to the bureaucratic do lit dtJ fnmework within which both he and Poo Mu-chou attempt to interpret Shang sacrificial action. The Shang sacrificers were not assuming that human and divine powers were continuous or chat the giving of a gift would result in benefits from the gods. They were rather transforming spirits into figures who would operate within a humanly defined hierarchy. In other words. sacrifice did not ren upon the "belief" that correct ritual procedures would result in f.IVOrs. Rather. it rested on the attempt to (note a system in which this would be the case. Thus. when dead beings are given a temple name and placed within the sacrificial hierarchy. they are being formed intO ancestors who will. the living hope, act on their behalf. And the bin ritual not only maintains this hierarchy but also (again, it is hoped) brings Oi into it as well And all these divine powers are then called on to act on behalf of the living. Perhaps, then. instead of representing a bureaucratic mentality. the ritual involved an attempt to create hierarchy. Hierarchy was not an assumption; it was a goal. I would argue that the guiding assumption behind Shang sacrificial action is that if left to their own devices. the spirits (Oi. nature spirits. and deceased humans) do not act in the best interests of humans. Indeed. the assumption seemed to be (hat spirits were capricious and quire possibly malicious. And they were more powerful than humans: mey control natural phenomena, and they have the ability to send disasters. Accordingly, hwn:.ms had to, within the limits of their powers, use rituals to place rhese spirits in a hierarchical system. in which (it was hoped) the spirits would furthe r the intercsts of the living. The Shang ancestral cult represented an attempt to forge nature spiriu .and the ghosts of deceased humans into a single, unified system. The deceased humans would become ancestral spirirs. defined by their roles in a hierarchy. and both nature spirits and non related yet nonetheless powerfu l deceased humans would be placed in this hienrchy as well. Moreover. these ancestral spirits would themselves serve to keep the non-ancestral spirits in place. And. from the evidence in the divinatory material. it is clear thar these effons often fililed. Even with the sacrificial system in place, the spirits frequently, at whim. created problems for the living. and the living then had to divine to determine what additional sacrifices would mollify the spirit in question. Spirits. in shorr, were more powerful than mere human rituals, and Oi and the other (natural and ancestral) spirits would frequently act contrary to the interests of humans. Thus, humans were neither collaborating with the spirits nor assuming that their ri tuals would work. Instead, they were attempting. within their limited powers, to use rituals to cre.ate an orde red, helpfuJ pantheon of spirirs. My fuji argument. then, is thar adopting Kcightley's insight about "making ancestors" leads to a questioning of Keightley's own W eberian framework. If correct, this would mean that the re was no assumption of a harmonious collaboration of man and spirit in the late Shang. The need to make spirits of the deceased into ancestors and to bring nature deiries and O i itself into that pantheon shows. among other things, a belief that spirits are not inherently inclined to act on behalf of the living. And the divinational record reveals a belief that [he ritual system often did not work anyway. This reading of me inscriptions implies that a this-worldly optimism did not prevail in the Sh:mg and mat humam and spirits were not seen as inhcrenrly connected. O n me contrary: the specific concern of the Shang cult was, in a ｾｮｳ･Ｎ＠ to anthropomorphiu the spirit world: to make the deceased into proper ancestors and to have the :mcestors guide the nalUre spirits and Oi. The reigning assum prion. then. would appear to be that the relations between humans and spirirs were, without this ritual action, agonistic and po_ Sl. The: ＢＧｾ ｲｩｬｋ Ｚ＠ according [ 0 [he Hubm / Maw.s modd. it the ·,ubject to whom !Ix bc;llefn, of Perifke ,h ... , ac:CfUe. o. who undergoes i.. due.." (Hilbert and Ma ... n, 5.aaiflc•• p.IO). 59. Ibid.• pp. ＧＹ Ｍ Ｔｾﾷ＠ &a. Ibid., pp. ｾｬ Ｍ ｾＧ Ｎ＠ " ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THIi SPIR ITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SP I RITS tential.ly dangerous; the goal W2S thus to domestic:ne the sprits and thereby render them conrrollable. 2S the potenrial adversary of the king and the state:'· The porentially arbitrary aspects of divinity in the Shang are rhus replaced by an inherent linkage in the Zhou.. Similarly, Lester James Bilsky, in his survey of early Chinese religion, has argued [har, in the early Western Z hou: "The gods and spirits were thought of as immortal beings who invariably acted according to the ideals of perfection and who, thus, inhabited a world of ideal perfec· 64 tion: Both Eno and Bilsky, in other words, find in the Westem Zhou a linkage between humanity and divinity comparable to that which 1<. C Chang and others have found in rhe Shang, David Pankenier, in what is perhaps the most f.ucinacing of recent attempts to discuss the Shang-Zhou transition, provides an account thac builds on [he work of many of the scholars discussed above. Pankenier's stated goal in me essay is to provide "an account of me ancient Chinese politico-religious imagination according to which macrocosmic/ microcosmic ｲ ＮｾＶｓ＠ Pankenier sccs the Shangl cOlTespondences legitimated me social ｯｲ､･ Zhou transition as a crucial moment in the development of this cosmologi· cal view. To make this argument, Pankenier clainu char the Shang did nol think according to such a cosmology. To the contn.ry, the late Shang-the period covered in the oracle·bone materials-reveals a lack of inreresr in cosmology and astrology: The Z hou Conquest and the A Moral ｃｯｳｭｾ＠ Mandate ofHcaven In the mid·e1eventh century lie, the Shang fell to the Zhou armies led by King Wu. This would become one of [he defining moments in early Chinese history. But W2S it just a military victory of one state over ｾｯｴｨ･ｲＬ＠ or did it represent a fundamental change in the perceived relations between humans and spirits in early C hina! Scholars who emph2Size [hac [he Shang was foundational for luer Chinese culture argue, nor surprisingly, againn a fundamental break. (Both Chang and Whe"dey, for example, quote from Zhou texts in discussing Shang materials.) Bu[ several scholars have cried to argue, on the contn.ry, that the Zhou conquest does indeed represent a rupture. Indeed, there is a dear pattern: scholars who see a substantial break [end to find in the Westem Zhou the very things that Whudey, Chang. Ching. and Keighcley tried (in my opinion unsuccessfully) to find in the Shang: a belief in an inherent and harmonious link between divine powers and humanity. For example, Eno recendy described the ShanglZhou traJUition in the following terms: -Wherca5 the Shang king had been merely chief pricst to the high gods, the Mandate of Heaven theory made the Zhou king Tian's [Heaven's] execuror on earch.'1 Tian and the king were now virtually indistinguishable. ｾＶＲ＠ In a footnote to this starement, Eno further remarlo: 'This had not been the case with the Shang. There arc inscriptions that portn.y the Shang high god Di 61. Huven was [i>c high god of tt,., Zhou, jwt 1.1 Di "1.1 d", high god of [i>c Shang. Howara-. 1.1 we s.IWI s«, It,., Zhou proemed ｈｵｾｮ＠ and Oi 1.1 tt,., same deity and wed lhoe twO [emu imerchangubly. Shim> Kunio (10k? YMji k,.,l,]li, pp. 114-36) and, fotlowing him, Robert Eno (1M 0.". foe;,," e ''''lto" ojH"'II(". pp. (8)-36) have rried 10 argue ,ha, Huvcn doet in fan appear in lhe Slung inscriptions, reproemed by tt,., graph ｾＧＢ＠ T.I find the argument unperJUUivc. The word oiiNllimply rJen 10 lhe oi'"l day, Ul<i I-Jd read lhe inKrip:iollI aboul ucrific:es 1" ,j,'"l T as simply mnning ucrifices ·on a oii", day: or "to oi'"l :lIICCSlOl"S· (i.e.. ancestors ucrifictd to on ｾｩｎｬ､ＮｊｹｳＩ＠ nOl: "10 Heaven: AI Eno (1M ｯＮ Ｂｦｯ･ｾ＠ ･ｲｴｾＬＢ＠ ｯｦｈｾＬ＠ po 186) himKlf points OUt: ﾷｃｲｩｴ･ｾ＠ for idmtifying which inlCrip:iollI usc the graph 1.1 a cyclial.ign and which 1.1 ｔｾｮ＠ need [0 ｾ＠ devdoped. olherwise tt,., argumenl that all illllaJl(U of 0 in lhe KIlle of a deicy rda- to ｾｩＢＬＮｧｮ＠ Icings remainl plaUlible: 6). Eno, en"";"" e ,,..,iGft ｾｊｈＧｇｷＢＮ＠ po I). " The window on the world of the Shang provided by the oracle bone ilUcripriotU, fonnulaic and limited in scope though they are, secnu skewed by the particular pre' occupations of late Shang divinarory theology. Cosmology and astrology figure al· most incidentally, the natu ral powen finally not at all, in a magico.rdigioUll practice largdy devoted during the final decades of the dynasty to the rourine observances of the anccstral cult. (po 17... ) In contrast, Pankenier argues, the Zhou developed a view bued on the cosmologicallinking of the king with Heaven. When PUt in these terms, the argument seems directly based on the rationalization models discussed in the Introduction-the arguments, found in works from Weber to chose commined to a general-religion to philosophf framework. for a gradU<lJ shift in early China from a magical view to a at n.. 6). Ibid., p. ｬｉ｡ＢｾＵ Ｎ＠ Bilaky, n.. ｓｴｾＱ＠ ｒＮＡｩｧｾＢ＠ oj}.",i,"1 0.;.... I: 6l. 65. Pankenier. it,., COlmo-Polidcai Background ｯｦｈｵｾｮ 64. ter d Ied In tM tUI). ﾷＮ＠ Mandate." p. 11a (hereinaf- SO ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPIR IT S ANTHROPOMORP HI ZING THB SPIRITS rOltional one. Indeed, Pankenier <It one point even describes m e ShanglZhou In shorr, Pankenier sides with Wheatley in arguing for a deep strain of cos' mologjcal thinking direcdy :wociated with the rise of the state. The Shang was simply m aberration. transition in precisely these terms: ｾ ｍｹ＠ portrayal of the emergent contrast between late Shang and early Zhou religious dispositions is informed by Clifford Geeru's el.aOOr.uion (following Max Weber) of m e distinction between 'traditional' and 'rationalized' ｲ･ｬｩｧｯｮｳ ｾ＠ (p. l73nI03). However, Pankenier's overill argument in fact is much closer to those of figures like Wheatley. Pankenier wishes to :u-gue th:u a form of correlative cosmology, based in astrology, formed in China in the second millennium Be with the emergence of the state. Indeed, he qUOtes and supports Wheatley's argument on this point (p. 145). Starting well before the Shang. Pankenier argues, kingship was understood as an institution mat mainr.ained the proper correl:uion berween the human and natural realms: "The ability to comprehend the celestial motions and to sustain a reciprocal conformity be· rween their regular variations and human lcrivity, thlt is, the discernment necesslry to 'plrrern oneself on Helven: WlS l fund.;unenral qualification of ｫｩｮｧｳｨｰｾ＠ (p. 146). Plnkenier's full argument, therefore, is thlt the lack of cosmologjcal and astrological thinking distinguishes the late Shang not only from its succes· SOtS but also from irs predecessors: ｾｔ ｨ ･＠ late Shang mly have represented a significlnr deputure from the norm in significmt ｲ･ｳｰ｣ｴｓｾ＠ (p. 17S). The theologjcOll shift nom the Shang to the Zhou was thus not a unilinear evolu· tion from a magical to a rltional woddview; rather, the Z hou reverted to a more archaic notion of cosmology: With regud to the supernatural sanction underpinning the universal kingship the key shift is mlrked by a deemphasis oflegirimacy based on the principle of contigu. ity, thar is, membership in the royal lineage, toward a focus on legitimu:y premised on emulating Heaven as the paradigm of order and harmony, an ethos inspired by an archaic, fi.mdamenrally metaphorical idea about the congruence obtaining be· tween the supernatural and temporal realms. (PP.I73-74) Even the ethical aspectS of Zhou thought are simply a more articwated as· pect of an earlier cosmology: By attributing human·like personality to Heaven, and by vigorously reviving the conception of phenomenal nature as an index of Heaven's activity, the Zhou Chi· nae inevitably rdmbued nature wirh an ethical quality. This feeling for the elhical dimension coma most strongly 10 the fore in rhe early Zhou lextS, but it was by no meaN a Zhou innovation. (p.170) " In view of the evidence of a fundamemal consistency between late Zhou cosmologi' cal conceptiON and their second millennium B.C. antecedents, the Zhou claim to have re-established the continuity of a cosmo' political tr:u!ition that took its cues from Heaven and the natural order now appears will founded. (p.176) The Zhou chus represents the consolidation of an earlier archaic tradition resting on the harmony of man and H eaven. And this tradition accounts for the optimistic, humanistic disposition of Chinese thought: ｾ ｂｹ＠ raking mlrrers into their own hands, so to speak, a nmdamenta.lly opdmisric, human-centered disposition began co evolve, bur· dened though it was by a heavy responsibility to maintain rirual ｲ･ｧｵｬ｡ｩｴｹｾ＠ (p. ISS). Pankenier thus finds in the Western Zhou, as well as earlier in the Chinese Bronze Age, the same form of this-worldly optimism chat Weber defined as characterizing Chinese cwrore in general. ｾ＠ Are the views of the Western Zhou that dif· But are these scholars ｲｩｧｨｴ ferent from those of the ｓｨ｡ｮｧｾ＠ Did the Zhou inrroduce l fundamenta.lly different (or, in the case of Pankenier, restore a more primordial) w.ay of conceptualizing the relations of humlns, spirits, and the cosmos thm that ｮｧｾ＠ More pointedly, is it true [hat such a correlation which existed in the ｓｨ｡ of the wills of H eaven, the ancestors, md the king was assumed to exist in the early and middle Western Z hou-along with m attendant this.worldly optimism? The answer to these questions is, in my opinion, no. But before spelling OUt my own view, let me provide some of the evidence behind the argument for a fundamental break in religious beliefs between the Shang and Zhou. A few years afte r the conquest, the Duke of Shao, one of King Wu's brothers, purportedly gave as the reason for the Shang's failure that ｾｴ ｨ ･ｹ＠ did not respect their power (ae) and thereupon prematurely lost meir man· ､｡ｴ･ＮｾＶ＠ T he Zhou then received the mmdate to rule instead. A fuller discussion of what this mandate entailed can be seen in the in· scription on the Maogong aing: 66. "Sluo gao; Shd"FU, IS.63. My ｦｲｾｒｳｬ｡ｩｯｮ＠ have been aided by K>.rlgrm, 'Ttu: Book ofDocumenu; p. 49; and Nivilon, "An imerprecalioR of the 'Shao po,'" p.•8•. ,8 ANTHROPOMORPHIZ I NG THB SPIIt.JTS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPlIltTS The king laid to the effect: "Father Yin, as for grearly illustrious Wen and Wu, au- The founding of the city is thus presented as .a continwtion of the actions of Oi (or He.aven), and it serves to center the rulm. ConcraS{ mis with the inscriptionaJ material discussed .above concerning the malOng of settlements. There, the concern was the human .appropriation of land conrralled by Di. .and the king was .anempting to use u cri6ces:and divin.ation to determine OJ's will. Here, Oi is the prime mover, directing the king to sc:tde .a new city. Indeed, the entire relationship berween ancestors .and descendants that prev.ailed in the late Slung .appe.ars to h.ave been turned upside down. In· ste.ad ofh.aving me kings determine the ancestors, living kings.are &equendy presented in Western Zhou bronze inscriptio ns as simply foUowing the models .and p.aradigms of the anceston. As King Kang states in the Do Yu gUst Heaven was extcruivdy satisfied with their virtue, and made us. the rulers of Zhou. a countcrpart [of hinudf). [We] gready rcsponded to and received the great mmrhtc, and led md embraced the bordedanch which werc not coming [ 0 court. N one was nO{ opened by Wen', and WU'J brilliant glory. It wu Heaven that directed and gathered their rrunW.te. and it was the former officers who yidded to and as- listed their roIen. ｲｯｾｩｮｧ＠ and laboring for the greal mandue. And chen august Heaven tirdu,[y Watched oyer and protected us, the rulers of the Zhou, and greatly Ifrc:ngrhened the ITUndatc of which [he former kings were the counrcrpan:..67 Heaven granted the mand:irc to the Zhou rulers Wen ｾ､＠ Wu, and Wen and Wu then served as the counterpart ofHe;vcn on arrh. At first glance, this appears to be quire different from the Shang material. Throughout the Shang mefS there is a strong notion that the world has a proper pattern. However, the evidence dearly reveals this pattern to have bun given by humans to the spirits, not the other way around: living humans, through their ritu.a1s and particularly through their sacrificial system. place spirits into a hierarchy and thereby ane mpt to obtain an order favorable to themselves. Spirits do not give this pattern to humans; nor leEr (0 their own devices, would the spirits observe such a hier.archy. And, in fact, even with the full ucri6cial system in piKe, spirits are still quite c.apricious: the rituals do not alw.ays work. Wh.at appears different about the notion of.a mand.ate is thn it explicitly comes from He.aven, :md Heaven's suppon is bued on the virtUes of the rulers in question rather than on their rirwl :actions. Humans do nO( determine the ancestors; rather, they follow He.aven :and.are rewarded fo r doing so and punished for not doing so. Thus, for example, the decision by King Cheng. Wu's son and successor, to found the city of Luoyang is presented in sever.al Western Zhou texts as simply the fulfillment of the wishes of Oi. The ｾｓ ｨＮ｡ｯ＠ gao· chapter of me ｓｨ､ｮｾｵ＠ quotes the Grand Protector as making precisely this poinr. The king should come and continue the [work) of the Oi on high, and himself serve in the center of the land.1Y 67. Shirwwa, Killbt. .. ｴｳｾｭＮｫｷＬ＠ 10.1'1:6)7. All ｢ｲｯｮｾ＠ of (hit W<lfk, henceforth abbrevialed:ll ·S h." 6', 'Shao po: Sh.!ntlhw, IS.sa. inKripcionl are referenced in (ennl " ding: Now it is that I approach the modd and receive from King Wen upright power. Like King Wen', commanding the tWO or three offid als, now it is that r command you, Yu, to :usist Rang in respectfully supporting the continuance of the power, (Sh (1.61:647) King Kang presenu himself.as following the model of King Wen and receiv· ing the latter's power. Even Kang's act of giving commands is posed .as fol· lowing in the mold of King Wen. Simil.ariy, the king comm.ands Yu to use the same approach of modeling himself on a great .ancestor. The king said: "Ah. from grandhthcr ｎ｡ｮｧｯＮ r command you, Yu. to modd yoursdf on your inheritance ｾ＠ Instead of the living making me deceased into proper ancesron, the descendanu .are here presented .as following the deceased. And all .are pan of Heaven's larger m:and.ace. We find the following o n the Lu So Dong gui, .a vU$t1 &om the reign of King Mu: It was the king's first month, with the dlt .. :I[ PcP" [day a1). the king said to the effect: "Lu So Dong. in planning. suning from your grandhther :lnd father, {your family) huhdped , in l.aboring for the Zhou state and hdped in opening up the four quarrer,. May it be exten.ive, Huven'. mandate. In what you have undert:aken, you have not failed.· (Sh 17.9:1.::1.11) '0 ANTHROPOMOIlPHIZING THE SPIRITS Pose-conquest military enduvors were also presented:u;t carrying out of Heaven's mancUrc. For example, in the Ban gui, King Mu is presented as ordering (he Duke of Mao to .:m2ck che e2Stcrn states. After che ;track. the Duke is recorded as saying: The Duke (of Mao) announced his service to above: 1r is thar the people did nor come (ro (Dun). InM nomu they darkcned?O Heaven', fI'W1dare: (Sh IS.79:'.) War is thus presented as 1 maintenance of che mmd..au: of Heaven. JUSt as the initial conquest was presented as 2 fulfillment of che ffiand.Ut. Throughout these inscriptions and poems, then, we sec a recurring theme: Heaven (or Oi) is the director. and the Zhou follow his divine pl:!.n. ｾ｣ｨ＠ successive king is posed as adhering (0 che mood of his predecessors, and each acr of conquest, consolid,uion, and domestication is presented as simply a continuation of the ancestors' work. Moreoller, the king's aides are presented as simply serving the royal house in its work. a service accomplished by modeling themseilles on rheir forebears. The lilling. in such rheroric, do nothing but respect the model of rhe ancestors. Unlike the potentially antagonistic relationship of man and dillinity in the Shang. rhen. the Western Zhou writings seem to pose Heallen as acting with the king. But does the Western Zhou represent a fimdamenul break from the Shang in terms of the perceilled relations berween humans and spiritS! I think not. The problem here is that we must be careful to conrexrua1iu statemenrs and understand why they were written. Abolle all, we must avoid the tempn.rion co take statementS at face value and read them as common beliefs or assumpt"iolU of the time. In what follows I will argue that perhaps Eno, Bilsky. and Pankenier are jumping too quickly from statemenrs made in a particular contexr to claims about an overall belief system of the time. More specifically. the lIiew that there exisred a belief in the early Western Zhou of the identity of the king and Heallen seems to me suspect. 69· Guo Moruo Ｈ ｌｩＬ ｴﾷｚｉ＾ｯ ｾ＠ p·"wtll(i .lui Ｈｾｲ＠ IwOJhi, p. 10b) rudi Ihi. , .; :t as the u ' damalory t.; ijl. Ttlllpting though ,uch a ruding may be, r am nOllUn: il ia jUllifi:lbk. I have inllt>.d read it aJ t.; t£, al iI common in WUlrrn Zhou ｢ｲｯｮｾ＠ iriKriptionl. ｭｴｩｾ Ｎ＠ 10. Following Guo Moruo (Ibid.) In reading Ｌｩ ｾ ＮＬ＠ a, ANTHROPOMORPHIZING TH B SPIRITS " Pacifying the Spirits: Western Zhou Sacrificial Practice The notion of a mandate is linked wirh the idea of proper sacrifices. In the "Duo fang" chapter of the sn...Plgs"u, the Duke ofZhou is reponed to have said: "It was your last king of Shang who took pleasure in his ease, scorned his governance. and did not keep the sacrifices pure. Heaven thus sent down timely disasters." Heaven then rurned to rhe Zhou: "It was our Zhou king who efficaciously upheld the people, was able to util.i.u his power (at), and direct the spiritS and Heallen. Heaven then instructed us to utilize his favor. He examined and galle us the mandate of Yin ro administer your numerous regiolU ...:11 Of note here is me fact: rhat one of the fundamental distinctions drawn berween {he cwo rulers is an ability to utilize sacrifices properly. The last Shang king failed to do so, and Heaven thus sent down disasters. In contrast, the Zhou king was able to direct [he spirirs and Helven properly, lnd he thus won rhe mandlte. But whlt does it mean to use sacrifices properly? The Tilnwlnggui,71 which dares to the reign of King Wu, is inscribed: The gready iIIusrrious decened father King Wrn serves and pienes 7J the Oi on high. (Sh 1.1:1) The late King Wen, Wu's fiuher, is presented as serving and pleasing Oi. Here again. the ancestors are expected [0 do what they can ro keep rhe highest power, Oi, working on behalf of the living. Although the rirw.] involved here is different from those discussed above. the concerns are quite similar. The inscription in the bronze vessel was presumably intended for the ancestors-in this case King Wen-who would rhus read me inscription after descending to consume the sacrifices offered in the vesseL74 The inscription. therefore, is nor so much a statement of faCt as an exhortation to Wen to serve Oi: "May the greatly illustrious deceased father King Wen serve and please the Oi on high!" 71. "Ouofang." SJ,.,,,p,,,, 17.sb. 6a. My lranslalion"'" been ｡ｩ､ｾ＠ by Karlgren. ""The Soo[.; of Documems: pp. 64-6S. n. Also known u the Oa Feng",i. 1). Guo Moruo rms this a Iypr of suriflCr th.u iI being ｯ ｦｴｲｾ＠ to Oi ＨｵＮ ＢｧＧｚｉｸｯｾ＠ Ji"""'II(; Ju; ｉｾｲｷ＠ kGo,j,;. p. lb.) BUI since lhrre is ｮ ｯＬ ｾ＠ T following Ihe word, il _tnl difficult 10 rr>.d OJ al the indirect objecl of a sacrifite verb. J [hl1$ read Ihe word in ilt ulwl meaning. 14. For an exlremely hrlpfUI analYlii of meaninr of ｢ｲｯｮｾ＠ imcriptions, _ Falkenｍｾ ｊｩ｣Ｎ＠ haulrn. "hmu in Wrlttrn Zhou SlUdil:l." See aha idem, ｓ ｾ ｊｰｴＮ､＠ as., 6, ANTHROPOMOP.PHIZING THB SP IRI TS ANTHIlOPOMORPHIZING THB SP IIlITS This concern with coaxing or even controlling the: ancestors appears fre quently in bronze: inscriptions. For example. in [he 50 Dong gu;, a vessel from the: middle Western Zhou: fl.] Bo Dong. for the first rime will make a treasure: for the: western Fat"c. It is 10 be wed to pacify (Jui *: ｾＩ＠ the spirits. and to embrace and call OUI to [he earlier, cultured men, who gnsp virt1.lc and uphold generosity. It is to pur for len thousand yean to have sons' sons and grandson. gnmuolU ec:«n.ally [reas!,lfC it. (Sh 17.S!1:w,) The explicit statement that the vessel was made for usc in p2cifying [he: spiro its through sacrifices, like t he oracular materia.! discussed in the preceding sections, impliu a belief [hat the mentors were 01.[ lusr potentially nor suppordl/c. But if. in the: Tianwang gui, it is Wen who serves and pleases Oi, what happened to the Shang anccstors! How, in [he afcc:nnarh of the conquest. were the ｓｨｾｮｧ＠ ｾｮ｣･ｳｴｯｲ＠ ｲ･ｰｬｾ｣､＠ by the Zhou in serving the Di! HinD em be found in the ·Shifu· ｣ｨｾｰｲ･＠ of rhe YiWlluJhu. ｾ＠ chapter rhat may indeed date to the early Western Zhou.7'J We are told that after conquering the Shang. King Wu declared: "In declaration to rhe earth altar. (Wu] said: 'It is I. the young one. who ｰｾ｣ｩｦ･ｳ＠ (my] culrured. deceued nther. ｍｾｹ＠ it reach to (me]. the young one,'·76 The descendant. King Wu, claims to ｾ｣ｩｴｹ＠ (sui) his deceued nther. King Wen, and hopes thac this will result in benefits for himself. The term Jui is the same one used in me Bo Dong pi to describe ｩ ｯｮ＠ of the spirits. The declaration reveals thac Wu is not at all the ｰｾ｣ｩｦｴ certain of his deceased father's support, of the conquest 2fe telling: ·On King Wu's actions in the ｡ｦｴ･ｲｭｾｨ＠ wud,tn (day s], rhe king then performed an exorcism, made an inspection. and gave a commemorative sacrifice to King Wen. On rhis day. the king es71 cablished the government.· All these actions. aken immedi;udy mer the conquest and immediately before the establishment of the Zhou state, appear to be 2CD of consolidation. aimed at driving away malevolent forces ｾｮ､＠ settling the new order. The exorcism. as discussed above, serves to drive in mis case, the spirits are spirits away from me human ｵ｡ｬｭＭｰｲ･ｳｾ｢ｹＮ＠ Sacrifices are then given to Wen-presumably to perthe Shang ｾｮ｣･ｳｴｯｲＮ＠ 7'. Su Shaughmllr. "'New' Evidell« ollihe Zhou COnquclI," pp. 60-66. 76. "Shifu," ｙｩ､ｸ＾ｾｭ＠ ••.Iu-b. n.lbid.• • .la:I. ｳｵｾ､･＠ 6, him to accept the new order. These are the actions of a king who KU himself in a position similar to that implied by the Of2cular inscriptions discussed above: he is acting in ways th:a.t he is not convinced will be supported by me divine powers and hence perfonns ritwl ;acu aimed at coercing their acceptance. Another of the actions aken by Wu after the conquest. the beheading of me Shang masters of cawdroru," is ｾｲｴｩ｣ｵｌ｡ｬｹ＠ intriguing. Bronze vessels were used to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and thus to pacify them and maincain their support. ｃｾｵＱ､ｲｯｮｳ＠ in parricw2f were :associ;ated with such 79 nooons. The beheoading of the Shang cauldron mmrs can be undersrood :as symbolizing me end of the Shang means of determining me will of the divine powers. And rhe sacrifice: of rhe last Shang king makes the rransfer complete. The chapter records another announcement by Wu: [Wu) allllounced in [he Zhou temple. soaying: "Blelier. I h;ave heard. [mr] culturcd. ckcc:ued fathcr cultiv;atc:d. hinudf on thc stmdarru of thc mcn of Shang. With [hc dismembercd body ofZhou Irhc Ian Shmg king). I anllounce (the change in rulership) ro Huvcn ;alld to IHou] Ji ...ICI The announcement is direcred both to He;aven (the high god) and to H ou Ji (the ancestor of the Zhou people). King Wu acknowledges th;at the Shang formerly held the rulership and th;at King Wen modeled himself on the Shang. By sacrificing me Shang king and behe;ading the Shang m:asrers of cauldrons. Wu ends [he .ucrificial system [0 the Shang ancestors. The claim is thar now the Zhou,. nor rhe Shang. will be rhe ones to serve Heaven. In the aftermath of the conquest. it is King Wen who is called on to serve and please Di and thereby bring order ro the reoalm. We rhus find in the Shi- jingo Mao h3S: King Wm is ;above. How glorious hc u in Heaven. , • . Ibid .. . ."b. 19. IUlc....1n1 here is 1m (r.llufer of ,fM, Yin king, cauldrollJ 10 Wu. also recorded in lhe YiVIowmw (•. la:I). Later lext. prumt such ｲ｡ｮｳｦ･ｾＮ＠ a Itanoiard occurrelKe during a legitimalt change of d)'llallic:s. See. t.g.. the z..cV>wall. Huan. KCond year. in which ,fM, Shang arc reponed 10 have lransftrred nine cauldron. 10 the Zhou. The Shift. "Qinshihuang bellji: record. Ihe failure of 1fM, Bm emperor to get rhe cauldrons from lhe Zhou. a bilute tmderllood to .ignif)t the iIlegitirnlcy of dIe QUI dynuty. 10. "ShiIu.; ｹｪ､ｸ＾ｾｭｷ＠ .•.111.1. ANTHROPOMORPH I ZING THE SPIRITS " Although Zhou is ;l\1 old state. Its mandate is new. Are the mIers ofZhou not illUSlriOUS, Was rhe mandate ofDi not ｴｩｭ､ｲｾ＠ King Wen ascenth and descends. Residing to the right and left of Oi. Much is said in chese few lines. The Zhou is an old Statt., but only with King Wen did Di grant it rhe mandate to rule. Thus. it is Wen who resides with Di, descending to the hum;m realm to receive sacrifices and ascending to the heavens to serve D i and maint:1in his support for the Zhou. Wen thus serves the same function as the Shang ancestors had earlier. These ritual exhortations to ancestors continue throughout the dynasty. But what about the descendants? The inscription on the Tianwang gui condudes: King Wen looks down from above. The gready illustrious king [WuJ makes the inspection, the greatly majestic king [Wul becomes the successor. (Sh 1.1:1) Here we see another side of the equation: the living, in this case King Wu, attempts to become a proper successor to the ancestor. The deceased Wen is presented as watching h is descendant from above, and Wu claims legitimacy because of his abiliry to inspect Wen and serve as his successor. The relationship between them, therefore, is bi-ditectional: the living work to make the deceased into proper ancestors, who will wotk [0 maintain O i's favor for the living. But, as the deceased are made into proper :mces[Ors, the AN T HROPOMORP H IZING THE SPIRITS " may [they] frequendy be in [he COUrt of the Di on High, ascending and descending. continuously enoompassing the august [DiJ on High's great and generous mandate, thereby commanding and protecting our family, my position, and Hu's person. The p resentation is similar to that seen in the earlier vessels, except th;L.t the ;L.ncestralline is now older. King Li h;L.s ordered the vessel for s;L.crifices to his deceased father ;L.nd gr;L.ndfather, whom he thereby hopes to ｈｭｾ･＠ rranquil and compliant." The father and grandfather, rende red compli;L.nr t h rough s;L.crifices, are exhorted to approach the "former cultured men" -;L. reference to the founders of t he dynasty, presumably Kings Wen and Wu. T he latter in rum arc called on to ascend and descend between {he human realm and the court of O i, preserving Oi's mandate for the Zhou ;L.nd thus protecting the living king's posicion. T he inscription closes w ith the King's exhortation th;L.t he be able to continue his sacrifices and thus g.in long life and a continuing mandate from Oi: ｍｾｹ＠ [I), Hu, for cen thousand years greatly bring to realization my many sacrifices, thereby sedcing long life and enr[eating an eternal mandate co govern in posicion and act as the stem bdow. The text is a pr;L.yer to the king's ;L.ncestors to remain with Oi in order to living promise to make themselves intO proper descendants. T hese themes pervade the Western Zhou bronze inscriptional material. protect the king's position. The repeated claim throughout these poems and b ronze inscriptions is t h;L.t the d eceased ·must be made into proper ;L.ncestors who will then convince Oi to maintain support for (he Zhou roy:.a.lline. The living represent themselves as proper descendants to these proper ;L.ncesIOrs. The living, in A further example is an extremely late vesseL the Hu gui, which was comS missioned by King Li. ! The vessel was cast in the twelfth, and possibly last, year of Li's reign before his forced exile: other words, will follow [he ancestors, but only after the deceased have in f;L.ct been m;L.de into p roper anceSIOrs. The bronze inscriptions and the poems from at [east the ·Zhouson{ sec- [IJ, Hu [King LiJ, make chis great sacrificial treasured gui tureen, with which to make tranquil and compliant my august cultured and valorous grandfather and deceased father; may [they] go to the former cultured men, 81. Pubfuhed in Luo ｘｩｾｨｮｧＮ＠ ·Shuru:i Fufeng raxian Xi·Zhou Liwang Hu gui." AI. though I dingr« in a few lp«iflC poilltl, my tranlLation of the uIJCrifMion geoerally rollowl Zhow Hil!O'Y, pp. 111- 1:1· that givell in Shaughneuy, Sowrw ｯｦｗｴｬＡｲｾ＠ tion of the Shijing m;L.y rhus have been written from ;L. perspective nor unlike rh;L.t seen in the Sh ang oracle inscriptions, a perspective, n;L.mely, of living h umans attempting to coerce the divine powers to grant aid or, ;L.t lease, not to send down disasters. Statements in these works th;L.t the descendants are simply following the enmple of the ;L.ncestors, who in rum were simply following t he example of Heaven, should perh;L.ps not be taken purely at face value, Instud of reflecting ;L.n assumption that descendants should simply follow t heir ancestors, such statements more likely arose as ;L.n attempt by " ANTHROPO M OIlPHtZ IN G THB S PIRITS me desccn<hnt5 to coerce [he anCe5Wr5, sometimes through rituals o f conerol, sometimes through acts of rhcroriolsubmission. The claim that in taking an action the speaker is simply continuing what the ancestors initiated should perhaps be cud more as voicing an argument rather chan an assumption: it may be the case that at least sometimes it is nor th.u dcsccnd.a.nts But note King Cheng's st2tement. He qUOtes his huher. after the con· quest, as h:lVing announced t o Heaven d u:t he will settle the central territory to rule the people. This is an announcement aJong the lines o f those seen in oracle·bone inscriptions: a statement of one's intentio ns to the divine powers, in this case Heaven, in order to request approval This would hardly seem necessary ifWu was simply following Heaven's plan. In t hese lines, the feeling is not dissimilar to thu d iscussed 2bove in rela· tion to the late Shang: a potenrially an tagonistic relationship seems to hold between the king and the divine powers, and the king has to coax and influ· ence those powers into accepting h is work. Contrary to Wheatley's 2tcempt to read such claims of centering as implying a correlative mode o f thought, [he notio n here seems, rather, to involve an attempt by the king to stake out a political claim: he is announcing to Heaven h is intention of est2blishing a cemer and is hoping thereby to pin Heaven's support. The assumption is not of correlativity but o f po[emi.ai an tagonism. Indeed, r think we can go even further. Note again thar it is King C heng who is making this announcement and thar the inscription beg2n with a ref· erence [ 0 King C heng's receiving abundant blessings from his father (King Wu) in H eaven, King Cheng'S concern here is to mainrun the support o f h is father, who is in Heaven and, C heng hopes, maintaining H eaven's support. The point. then, is to emphasize to the ancesto r Wu that it was in fact Wu 's idea t o establish Luo as the new politic.al center. King C heng thereby hopes to m2intain the support of Wu, who in tum will work to maint2in Heaven's support. The concerns h ere arc rhus quite comparable to rhose found in the Shang. Ｌ＠ but H eaven is relatively u nresponsive Heaven (or Oi) is the powerful ｾｧ･ｮｴ to the rituals of t he living. The living thus strive to receive the support of the ancestors, who 2re in rum c.alled o n to influence H eaven. The living nuy present themselves as following Heaven and the 2nCestors, but such 2 pruentarion is part of a larger go.al of influ encing first the ancestors and, through them, Heaven itself. to support the wishes of the living. Overall, Western Zhou hymns and inscriptions were based on b uilding a proper ancestral pantheon thar would then work on behalf of the living to maintain O i's (or Heaven's) support. The ancestors were c.alled o n to descend to the human re.alm, receive sacrifices as well as rirua.l exhortations, and then ascend to the realm ofOi to serve him and m2intain d ivine support for the Z hou line. The culric practices are directly comparable to those of me think they have foUowcd the ancesrors but that the descc:nd.a.nts have acted o n their own ;md then claimed th:n in so d oing they were: simply following the ancestors. Their goa.! would be ( 0 win the ancestors' support. Even t he ancestor, chen, must be urged [0 become linked with H elven. And the descendants do follow the ancestors, but only when t he ancestors have bun made into proper ancestors. There was no more of :m assumprion concern· ing harmony in the Western Z hou than there was in the Shang. A Statement, quoted above, in the ｾｓ ｨ｡ｯ＠ ｧ｡ｯｾ＠ ch2prer of the Sha",SJ/'u, concerns the fou nding of Luoyang: Ibe king should come and continue the (wo rk) of the Oi on high, and himself serve in t he center of the land . ..t2 The st2tement, 2mibuted to the Gr.lnd Protector, cle.trly presents the founding of the city as t he king continuing t he work of the Oi. But the He ZUII,II aves· sel inscribed in the fifth year of King Cheng's reign, characterizes this act in 2 different way: h was the rime when the Icing (Cheng] firu moved and settled at Chengzhou. H e once agai n received King Wu's abundant blessingz from Heaven. It Wall the fourth month, bingn (day l)J. T he king made a statement [ 0 [he young men or the lineage in the great hall. uying: 1!arlier you r wher, [he duke of the dan, Wall able [0 xcompany King Wen. And then King Wm received this [great nundateJ.'" It was when King Wu had conquered the great city Shang that he then, in COUrt, announced [0 Heaven, saying: 1 will settle this central territory, and from it rule the peo ple:" (Sh 48.[:(71) King C heng is presenting himself as fulfilling the pbns of his f.uher, King Wu, who is sending blessings from He2ven above. h . "Shao gao: Sh4np.., IS.s.a. '). For a IUllcr diJawiorl of the. He tn, sec my 1M Amho'""I(IIC( o/ONIiM, pp. )) -)4. a,..Two grapm are U1egible Ixre. Tang Lan ("He %Un mingwerl jiuhi: p. ＶＩｾＱ Ｉ＠ rud. lhe graphlu ＢＬｩｾｬ＠ j( 1$. For I dlt<uuion of IW ruding. I« my 1M A",WNltllCf pJa-Nt/OII, p. ｵｾＩＶ " ANTHR O POMOR,PHIZIN O THS SP IRITS Ｌ＠ os 6, ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SP IRITS ANTH ROPOMORPHIZING THE SP IRITS the Shang. with the obvious difference that the Zhou, by sacrificing the last Sh2ng king and beheading his cauldron makers, have replaced the Shang ancestral pantheon wim the Zhou ancestral pantheon in the re;tlm ofDi. poem does not explain precisely why this solves Jiang .Yuan's problem, but t he ensuing line implies an answer: Jiang Yuan, through her abilities to utilize the sacrifices, was able to make Oi descend. She then stepped in his footprint and .absorbed some of his potency. Not only did this allow Jiang Yuan to become pregnant, but ie also meant that her child, Hou Ji, w.as born with divine powers: The Art of Sacrifice: The "Sheng ｭｩｮｾ＠ Shijing and Hesiod's Thtogcmy Poem of the Further evidence for this reading of culric practices in the Brol}u Age can be gleaned from the poem ｾ ｓｨ･ｮｧ＠ ｭｩｮｾ＠ (Mao h4S).8j Here I read poem as a reflection on the chemes of uccifice-its origins and its significance. 86 More explicitly. I argue that the poem includes a r:l.[her complex presenta- me tion of the relationships between ancestors and descendanrs. After providing a dose reading of the poem, I then turn to comparative material from Greece and reconsider the larger comparative claims made by the scholars discussed in [he first pom of [his chapter. The poem opens by describing the birth of H ou Ji, the ancestor of the Zhou people: The one who first ｾｶ･＠ birth [0 our people, This was Jiang Yuan. H ow did she give birth to the pcopler She was able to perform the yin sacrifice, and she was able to perform the Ii ucrifice, so as [0 no longer be childless. She stepped on the hig toe ofDi's fOO{print, she was dated about that which enriched her and chat which blessed her. And so she became pregnant, and so it was soon, And so she gave birth and so she reared [him]. This was Hou Ji. Jiang Yuan was unable to have a child. But she had one great power: she was as to no longer be ｣ｨｩｬ､･ｾＮ＠ The able to perform the yin and si sacrifices ｾｳｯ＠ 8S. My cr:mdation had b.:ro greatly aided by chac ofBernfurd Karlgren, Tht &<>.I: o/Od.s (ScockhoLn: MlUeUm of Far Eastern Antiquirie5, 1950), pp. '99- 101. Indeed, in some of rhe later S«tiolU of.he poeOI below, llargdy quote trom K.lrlgren·J traomtioo. 86. My undenranding of ,1m: poem Iw been greatly enhanced by ,he imerpreu.tiolU of David Knechtgea, Stephen Owen, Willard PererJOJI, and p.uline Yu in ｗｾＧｪ＠ With W. rds; ｗｲｩｬｾｴｑＯ＾｣ｊ＠ ｒｾｩｴ＠ Tuts from &r/, o,i..., ediled by Pauline Yu, Perer Bol, Stephen Owen, and Willard Peler.on (Berkeley: Univer.ilY ofC.HfornilL Preu, 1000). And then she completed her months, The first giving birth was like sprouring. [There occurred) no bursting. no rending. without injury, wichouc harm. Thereby manifesring his numinous n1cure ＨｉｩｾｧＩＮ＠ Hou Ji's gift is app.arent ae birth: his numinous nature allows him to emerge without harming his mother, and his birth is like the sprouting of a plam. He is thus immediately associated with the generative process. Nonetheless, Oi was angry. The high Di was not serene and not pleased with the yin and Ii s:u:rifices. {But} tranquilly she gave birth to the child. The sense here would appe.ar to be that Oi did not approve of Jiang Y wn's actions. J iang Yuan used the sacrifices to make Di descend, and without Oi's approval, she stepped in his footprint and captured some of his divine power. Hou J i, in other words, was born of a ｴｲ｡ｮｳｧ･ｾｩｯＬ＠ in which OJ's potency was appropriated through a deceitful use of the sacrifices. Presumably because of Di's displeasure, Jiang Yuan was forced to give up HouJi: And then she pbced him in 1 narrow line The oxen and sheep nurtu red him between their legs. And chen she pl:lCed him in 1 forest on the plain. He was found by those who CUt the forest on the plain. And then she pl:lCe<I him on cold ice Birds covered and assisted him. The birds then left. HouJi wailed Really spreading. really strong His voice then became loud. 70 ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T HB SP I :tITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING TH6 SPIRITS Jiang Yuan keeps trying to abandon her child, but Hou Ji is repeatedly saved by animals and humans. Despite OJ's displeuure. Hau Ji is still favored by At this poim, the frame of rhe poem shifts from a narncive of Hou Ji's actions to the perspective o f those dunting me poems. The sacrifices initi- those below on tarth. ated by Hou Ji have been handed down, 2nd the ch2nters describe the ir con- Hou Ji continued to grow and was soon able to feed himself by planting; And [hen he wu actually crawling. able to stride. able to lund firmly so as [0 seck food for [hil mouth. He planted with large beans. The bare beans were waving like luamers. The gnin that wu cultivated was sprouting.. The hemp and the wheat were thick. The gourds were ample. And then Hau Jis husbandry had the way ofhdping. He cleared away the dense grass. Hesowed it in the ydlow earth. Really even, really dense. rully growing. really becoming rall. really extending. rcally flowering. really mongo really good. really ripe ears, really solid kemds, He had his house in T ai. Hou Ji's gift of being able to aid rhe generative process manifesu itself again. The harvest is enormous. 2nd H ou Ji. with 2mple food. is able to settle down. Hou J i then handed down the grains to t he people 2nd thus began agriculrure. And thus, too. began the sacrifices: And then he Knt down the fine grains. There was black miller, there was double-kerndled. black miller. There was millet with red 'proUts, there was millet with white sprout•. Planting them txteflllivdy, the black millet. the double-kcmdled bladt millet, Reaping them and taking them by the acre. Planting them txtctUivdy. rhe millet with red sprour., the millet with whittaprouts, carrying them on hil,houlder, carrying them on hillnck. So at to rerum and initiate the ..crifice.. 7' tinued efficacr And so, our .ucMCeJ, what are they ｬｩｫ･ｾ＠ Some pound (the grain), some bale it. Some sift it, some tread it. Washing it until soaked, Steaming it until sreamed. And so we plan and so we think it over. We take southemwood, we offer fat. We take a ram so as co sacrifice to the 'pirits of the road. Roasringand broiling. So as to stan: rhe foUowing year. The sacrifices. if accepted by the spirits, 2110w for the stan of the neXt 2gri- cultu ral cycle. Indeed. these sacrifices are enjoyed even by Oi himself. We fill in the .Iou vessds, in the dou. in the tUllgvessds. (when) the fragrance first ucenru The high Di tranquilly enjoys it Oh how pungent it is. Hou Ji initiated the ucrifice May we not have any fauJu So they [the sacrifictl handed down by H ou JiJ reach to the present. The living are continuing the sacrifices initiated by the ancestor H ou Ji. and when performed correctly, they please OJ. Thus. 2 proper h2rmony of humms, spiria, and the narural. world is maina..ined by humans continuing the 2griculrurai and $2crificial practices initiated by Hou Ji. Indeed, the poem 1mb agticulrure and the proper use of sacrifices: the harmony of man and god is achieved through the succcssfuJ appropriation of narure through agriculture and the proper UtiliZ2rion of t hat agricultural produce to fted the gods in sacrifice. This may help explain what the poem means when it says that Hou Ji initillted sacrifices. He obviously W2S not the first to give sacrifices (since h is mother h2d aiuady done so). The sense 1nstt2d is [hat H ou Ji wu the first to institute correct sacrifices. in which the proper duties of humans and the ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB S PIRITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPIRITS god were dc:line2rcd: humaru aid in the growth of the narural world and (hen feed Oi and [he other spirits through sacrifices. The 'pirin in rum supporr the next year's cycle (presumably through the control of the rains). Humans and spirits thus have their designutd duties and their designated spheres. Thus, the contralt drawn here between the sacrifices of Jiang Yuan and those ofHou Ji is more than simply chat the mothe r's were deceitful and the son's were not. The n:u ure of the sacrifices has clearly changed u weD. When Jiang Yuan performed sacrifices, Oi was brought down to tread on (he land. W ith Hau Ji's ncrifices, however, Oi remains in the heavens, enjoying [he ascending fu.gr:tncc. Humans arc in charge of the 19ricultural work of the earth. and Oi rtmains in his proper place in the heavens, enjoying the sacrifices given to him. But all this was possible only became H ou Ji possessed the numinous power gained from Oi. T hat power enabled him to aid the natural generative process and thus to begin agriculture and sacrifice. And the only reason he possessed that power is because Jiang Yuan had used sacrifices to steal it from Oi. And, even then, the only reason H ou Ji survived long enough to initiate agricultu re and the proper me of sacrifices was be<ause figures on earth protected him from Oi's wrath. In other words, the successful creation of a proper hierarchy berween hu mans and gods was accomplished when a human stole Oi's potency and other humans and animals protecred the resultant hero from Oi's wrath. Because of H ou Ji, the product of these actions, the earth became productive and humans thrived. And this in turn allowed H ou Ji ro begin the sacrificial practices thu pleased Di and allowed a continued fl ourishing of humanity. The poem does not, the refore, assume an inherent harmony between humans and O i. On the conmry, harmony is achieved only afrer O i's potency is srolen and O J's plans are thwarted. Harmony was established not by Oi but by the human beneficiary of a theft, a theft that gave humans the power to create a hierarchy in which they could th rive. The sacrifices initiated by Hou Ji are presented as continuing to mollify Oi and maintain his support. And the significance of this becomes clear when we realize that me poem itself is aimed at H ou Ji, not at Oi. The living e we'"} are calling on H ou Ji to ensure that the ucrifices continue to maintain OJ's support. Ifhe is a good ancestor, H ou Ji will play the crucial role of mediation and work to ensure the support ofOi for the living. The poem is thus playing on the very themes that have concerned us throughout this chapter-only here the themes are worked OUt in narrative form. Jiang Yuan makes a proper descendant by appropria.ting divine power through sacrifice, and that descendant then initiates proper sacrifices. which in time will transform him into a proper ancestor. The sacrifices result in a proper genealogical order of ancestors and descendants, each with itS own produce to keep Oi in proper sphere of activity. Humans use ｡ｧｲｩ｣ｵｬｴｾ＠ Heaven, served by me mediating ancestor H ou Ji. and OJ's resulting blessings allow for the agricultural produce to continue. A perfect system of genealogical order is created. These pointS, along with the analysis of Shang and Z hou ritua.ls above, should lead us to rethink some of the larger comparative claims that have been made concerning Chinese Bronze Age views about me relations between humans and divinities. I quoted above Keightley's remark that -the Chinese knew neimer a Prometheus nor a Zeus ....., Let us rum to H esiod to evaluate the Statement. In the ThcClgony, Hesiod accounted for sacrificial practice through the well-known narrative of the mnsgressions of the Titan Prometheus. According to H esiod, Prometheus killed an ox and split it into two portions. The first portion consisted of the animal's meat, which me Titan wrapped in the stomach of the ox in order to make it look unappetizing. and the second was the bones, which were hidden in the F,H. Promethe us allowed Z eus to pick the portion he wanted. and his ruse tricked the god into choosing the worn of the two. As a punishment for this ruse, Zeus denied man the fire with which to cook. Prometheus then stole fire and gave it to man, an act that again brought down the wrath of Zeus and prompted him to send down woman. This theft of fi re, insoF.ar u it gave humaniry the ability to cook, thus won human beings autonomy from the gods, but at the cost of a tragic separation from divinity. Sacrifice, in such a narrative, recapitulate$ the crime of Prometheus, serving both as a repetition of the ruse against the gods and as a reminder of the degree to which humanity is still beholden (0 them: whereas the gods, not dependent on meat, can be satisfied with bones, man, who must eat in order to survive, has to rake (he edible portion-knowing that the satisF.acrion of hunger is only temporary. The division of the offerings in me sacrifice rhus reveals. unde r H esiod's reading. the separ:.ltion of man and divi nity, a separa- 7' '" ｋｾ ｬｧｨ､ｾｲＬ＠ "Ckan Handt and Shining Helmeu: p. 41. 13 ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPIRITS ANTHllOPOMORPHIZINtl THE SPIRITS rion resulting from me fact th.u man can gain autonomy from the gods only by trarugressing their power and thereby resigning himself to an ultimately equally telling of some of the tensions that surrounded sacrifices in China.at roughly the same time, a comparison of the two may yield helpful results. I argued above that sacrifice is better conceptualized in terms of transformations than of a gift, and the comparatively interesting questions then become how particular sacrifices present different aspeCts of these transfor· mations. For example, one such issue is the state to be achieved through me $:lcrifice. Is it posed, to list some possibilities, as simply a remoyal of some perceived lack, as a means of correcting the currendy skewed positions of humanity and divinity, as a reconnection with the divine, or even as a partaking of the diyine! Another issue is how this fin:l! state is achieved in the $:lCrime. Is the S:lcrifice understood as submission (0 the divine or as another rransgression. a further usurp.ation of divine power for the sake of humanity! In the cases at hand, both poems deal with similar problems: both the "Sheng min- and this portion of the Thogony revolve around the themes of the introduction of sacrifice and the proper roles for humans and gods. But the rransformations in (he narratives move in opposite directions. Hesiod's narrative begins with humaIU and gods linked genealogically; Prometheus's transgression introduces discontinuity-winning autonomy for humanity but at the COSt of a life of toil. In conrrast, Ihe "Sheng min" begins in discontinuity, and the goal is to achieve continuity. Jiang Yuan must use sacrifice to obtain divine potency. but H ou Ji !.ater institutes sacrifices in which gods and humans are transformed into proper ancestors and descendants. The 'IMogony narrates the dissolution of a genealogical continuity; the ·Sheng min" narr.l.tes its creation. It is somewhat misleading. the refore, 10 say thac China knew neither a transgressive figure like Prometheus nor a capricious god like Zeus. At the min: Di is quite capricious. and Jiang Yuan transbeginning of the ｾ ｓｨ･ｮｧ＠ gressivcly appropriates divine powers. What is Striking in the comparison of the two narratives. in other words, is not that one involves human transgression and c.apricious gods and the other does not; bolh have this. What is STriking is, rather, the presentation of the transforming S:lcri6ces. I mention these points of comparison between "Sheng min" and Hcsiod not in order to proclaim these poems as -founding myths· of Chinese and Greek culture. respectively. As I have argued elsewhere, the entire notion of foundational myths needs 10 be rethought,91 and, as I have argued in the In- doomed life of labor and hardship. The sacrifice is thus an offering to the gods, bue one that underscores, rather than alleviates, me radial disparity between humanity and divinity. As Jean-Pierre Vemant has argucd: In devouring whu can be eaten, men simultancowly restore meir failing strength and acknowledge the baseness of their human condirion-o:onfirming their ab.5olute submission to those very Olympian gods whom the Titan Prometheus, when he established the p1Itfern in the first sacrifice, once thought to rrick with impunity. The alimentzry rirual which establishes communication b«ween man and divinity iudf undet$COrQ the gulf which sunders them. That communication is founded upon :l rdigiow rimal which. by memorializing Promer-hells's error. reaffirnu on every occasion of its performance the aistence of chat uncfOssable gulf. And it is the pur· pose of me myth, as rold by Hesiod, precisely to lay bue the origins of the separa· tion and to make plain its dire consequences." Thus, following the transgression of Prometheus. ·cont.ac( an only be made with the gods through S:lcrifice, which at the same time consecntes the imp.assable b.arrier between monal.s and immoruls."119 The point is of interest. for according to Vemant and Marcel Detienne, much of early Greek sacrifici.al practice corresponded closely co Hesiod's reading. An cnmple can be seen in the Athenian Skirophoria, the annuaJ slaughter of an ox for Zeus in the last month of the yc.ar. After the animal wu slain. its bones and fat were burned as an offering. and the meat was consumed by humans in a greac feast. 90 This division of the sacrificial portions is identical to that seen in the narratives of Hesiod, a fact thar Vemant interprets u meaning that Hesiod construCted his narratives in re!.ation to contemporuy religious belieEs and practices, and thus that the n.arracive of Prometheus may reveal some of the implicit meanings and significance of early Greek S:lcrificial praCfice. 91 And if, as I have argued. me ｾ ｓｨ･ｮｧ＠ min- is U. Jean·Pierre Vmunt. ' Sacrificw and A1imenlary UKU:S in Hcsiod·. Myth of Frome· Ihcw: p. 61. 19. Vemam. 'Tho: Myth ofFroCllechew in Huiod: p. 1'5. 90. Burkert, C.ttk Rtli,w", pp. 55-59; and idenl, Homo Ntt'"J. pp.•)6- •.,. Sec also Jean. Louis Durand. SatrifiCt rt 111100", t" C,ttt alle;r",.,. 91. Vcr.WII, · Saerifiri.allnd Alirmnllry Coda In Huiod's Myth ofProIR"hcu.: p. 6a. " p:r.. For my critique of die way .he ternl "mythology" is wed in early China Iludies. K(: chap. 1 oflllr ａｭｾｗｬｫＢＧｲ＠ ojerratio".ln brirf, my critique is lIuJ ｉｾ＠ (crm is wed (0 refer (0 a 7' ANTHROPOMORPHIZ I NG THB SPIR I TS ANTHIlOPOMORPHIZING THII SPIRITS troouction to this book, comparisons that define the cultures in question nom the viewpoint of one particular practice arc always misleading. The comparison of these two narratives points to a differenr way of approaching these issues. When scholars cu.d this distinction in terms of differing 2$surnptions in Greece lnd China-of tragic diKontinuity and gc:nulogical continuity. respectivdy- they arc: rnistU.ing effect for (.awe and ruding the . normative product of sacrifice as a su.rting assumption. The point is of relt vance, for. if I am right that tbese arc normative claims for sacrificial action ramer Ihan pervasive assumptions. mcn a different form of cu1runl analysis is called for. instead of trying to read other aspects of these cultures in terms of such assumptions, we should sirw.re these nonnative S2crificial. clainu within the longer cultural deb.arc of which they were a part. If these are me normative claims of the sacrificial experu supported by the courtS, then how were they received! As we shall see in the next chapter, both of these sacrificial models became the objects of significant critique, and one cannot understand those critiques without understanding the practices that were being criticized. Conclusion As discussed earlier in this chapter. both K. C. Chang and Julia Ching pos· ited a primordial experience of shamanism underlying Chinese tradition. and both tried to connect this fi.mher to an even more primordial sacred experience of humanity in general Indeed. both argued mat insofar as such a primordial. shamanistic experience underlies all civilizations, China is thus closer to mat sacred linking of Heaven and Earth than is the WesL Even if Ching and C hang's arguments about China were correct, their attempts to characterize shamanism. as well as a belief in continuity between the human and divine realms. as primordial forms of human spiriruality would still be highly suspeCt. Why is continuity somehow more primordial. and the disaberrarion" in humancontinuity they see in the West what Chang calls an M ity's history! primordW. unciangingJyllcm ofbeBd. u lher ,han to nngoing.. ever.changing ｮ｡ｲｴ［ｾＮｨＬ＠ are cOlUluntly being reworked and r(visc<!. Analpu .hould therefore foelll on chole 2Cliviliel of rCW<lrking and revuing lhe Ilor;c. ralher Ihan "'ying to rcconmuct a 'ingle ur.myth bc:. hind the: varicly. 77 As Jonathan Z. Smith has argued: It urikes me that historians of religion have been weakest in interpreting those myths which do not reveal a cosmos in which man finds a place to dwell and on which he found [lieJ his existen(C. but rather which suggest the problematic tWUre of cxlstenCe and fundamental tension in the cm:mos. I have in mind such ruditiolUl as dualisric creation myths. Earth·diver traditiolUl, Tricksters. or the complex narra· tives of Com or Rice Mothel'S who aeate by 10athsome" processes (e.g.. rubbi ng the dirt off their bodies. by defecation. scaetion). Oearly these mythologies. many of which arc extremely archaic. point to a different spiritual horizon [han thar de· scribed by Eliadc:u the fundamental "archaic onrology: 91 I would go further than Smith here: I would question the very usefulness of terms such as "archaic Mand Mspiritual horizon." Nonetheless. the basic point Smith raises is an importam one: there is no empirical evidence to support the notion that harmony with the "sacred" is somehow more primordial in human experience than are radical tensions and conflicts. Even for those scholars like C hang who wish to claim that such an assumption existed in early China, there is no basis for arguing that this assumption is closely linked to some archaic. primitive experience lost by other civilizations. But. in the case at hand. the argument is not only methodologically flawed but also empirically inaccurate: I have followed Keighrley in arguing against the hypothesis that shamanism was a guiding force in the State socie· ties of Bronze Age C hina. Keighdey's provocative argument about "making ancestors" presents the ritual systems of the Shang court as anempts to in· fluence nom the bonom up. The higher. non·ancestral gods were the most powerful beings. but they were also relatively impervious to human rituals. The spirits of deceased humaru were more maUeable. but. even here. a hierarchy held: the more distant in rime the deceased human. the more powerful but less subject to influence it became. The concern of the ritual system was thla ro transform these deceased humans into proper ancestors. H owever. although my rt2dings of the oracle-bone inscriptions have largely followed Keighdey·s. I reach different conclusions. In particular. I question Keightley's attempts to rt2d the Bronze Age material as evidence of a proto-bureaucratic mentality as defined by Weber. The Bronze Age sacrificial systems supported by the Shang and Zhou courts do not. I have argued. revt21 an assumption of harmony between humans and gods. nor do 9J. Jonl,hall Z. Smith. Ille Wobbling P;vot," p. 100. 7' ANTHR.OPOMORPHIZING THE SPIRITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPIR IT S they reveal:!. belief in a ao tl aCJ vision of sacrifice. On me contrary. What we can reconstruct of Bron:ze Age religion reveals a highly agonistic world in which humans were constandy trying to force impulsive divine powers into roles defined by the living and to convince them to act :accordingly. Keight- ley's argument about making ancestors, in other words, should lead us to see sacrifices lS ;lcrcmpu to transfonn c.apridous divinities intO figures who could be conrrolkd by the living: humans, while in pan submitting themselves to the ancestral powers, we re also actively transforming and ordering mem. In short, the concern in the ancestral sacrifices W2S not simply to submit to the ancestors; rather, it was to Ctt;lCC proper ancestors to which the living could then become proper descend:anu. And these ancestors were then called on to pacify the higher, non-ancestral powers-including. most important, Oi. The cosmos would thus, to the limited extent possible, become o rdered by the living. The Shang SlIIcrincial system was an attempt to domesticate tbese bighly agonistic forces and place them within a hierarchy manipulable for tbe sake of human interests. Far from revealing an assumption of harmony, a belief in tbe benevolent intentions of the divine powers, and a desire to adjust to the .....orld as given, sacrificial practice in the Shang was aimed at a radical transfo rmation of m e divine world. a transformation undertaken precisely so tbat humanity could appropmte and domesticate natute for its purposes. Such an attempt to transform botb tbe divine and the narural worlds does indeed involve an enormous investment in sacrificial action. but t hat investment emerged not from an assum ption of harmonious collaboration berween man and god but from a sense of radical discontinuicy and lack ofbarmony. I have argued that similar ideas are visible in t he Western Zhou materials as well, and I t herefore question tbe attempt to read the Western Z hou materials as evidence of a correlative mode of thinking. I suspect, in fact, that what we see in the Shang and Z hou are a shared set of practices common in the North China plain. The Zhou conquest simply meant a replacement of the Shang pantheon with the Zhou pantheon, but the general ritual principles were much the same. The basic notion was to try to use sacrifices to build suppott through tbe ancesrn1 pantheon and ultirmtdy win the support even ofDi. As I noted in t he Introduction, most discussions of ancient China have been based on the claim that a bdief in continuity and harmony between the divine and human reaIms pervaded the Bronze Age period. The comparative 7. frameworks have tben diverged in their reading of the later history of early C hina: Did such an assumption of harmony continue in early China, or was mere a shift- toward rationality and humanism with t he rise of ｰｨｩＱｯｳ｢ｹｾ＠ But if, as I bave argued in t his chapter. no such assumption existed. then we will have to develop a rather different reading of Warring St:.l.[es and Han developments.