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I finished reading the best book on Ancient Chinese religion. In search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion By Mu-Chou Poo. It was also recommended to my by my Professor. It was exactly what I was looking for when I started this search of books on early Chinese religion. It's now become my new life goal to find the book like this written on the Tang, or write it myself.
Rather than looking at the over esoteric aspects of individual texts it tried to look at the impact of religion on people's every day lives, and try to figure out what they actually believed, and how this affected them. It started with a brief chronological look at beliefs and how these changed over time. It did a brief analysis of scholarship in this area, though when critical it was never as harsh as Puett, just seemed to say, "there's not really enough evidence to say either way" and would give an example of an alternate reading.
His work on the later Chou and the Han was really interesting though. He spent a lot of time looking at different Han burials and articles that had been buried with people. Among these were Day Books, that listed auspicious, and more often, inauspicious days for doing a wide variety of activities. Little stone workers that were placed in the tombs to do the corvee labor service of the deceased. Similar to the ushabti found in Egyptian tombs, however these were only found in the graves of the lower classes. Rich people didn't have to worry about forced labor in China.
He spent a lot of time looking at the different attitudes towards ghosts and spirits and gods, and how and where the differences were. It was interesting as often there were few differences. They were all treated as annoyances which could be gotten rid of with certain spells and or rituals. There were even passages about how to kill gods or spirits. Which led to some interesting theological discussions.
He looked at the official cults, and how they influenced the personal religion, and vice-versa. There was a surprising amount of over lap, which is a fairly new idea. As most books list the division between the elite religion and the peasants' "Superstitions" as fairly large. Though he did conclude with a chapter on the critics of popular religion of the time. Most critics referring to it as "excessive" practices.
He looked in detail at different rituals done throughout the year. From the detail of these rituals he was able to conclude that they affected both the elite and the peasants.
The look at the underworld was also interesting, as it was much more detailed than most. He also looked at the grave goods used to placate spirits. To send them on their way to paradise, or just away from their descendants where they could do harm. He challenged the traditional belief of the two separate souls of Han times, destined for two different places. With evidence of the words being used interchangeably.
He used a lot of Chinese words, in translation and the characters they were based on,(he's actually a professor in Taiwan). All his arguments came from either written documentation from the time, or found objects. He looked at the impact new archaeological evidence has on what people have considered to be the standard Han beliefs in the past.
This was definitely the best book I've read so far, (on early Han religion). Next year I see myself leading a crusade to get it added to the required reading list. Now I need to go and search the uw databases for anything else he's written.
Rather than looking at the over esoteric aspects of individual texts it tried to look at the impact of religion on people's every day lives, and try to figure out what they actually believed, and how this affected them. It started with a brief chronological look at beliefs and how these changed over time. It did a brief analysis of scholarship in this area, though when critical it was never as harsh as Puett, just seemed to say, "there's not really enough evidence to say either way" and would give an example of an alternate reading.
His work on the later Chou and the Han was really interesting though. He spent a lot of time looking at different Han burials and articles that had been buried with people. Among these were Day Books, that listed auspicious, and more often, inauspicious days for doing a wide variety of activities. Little stone workers that were placed in the tombs to do the corvee labor service of the deceased. Similar to the ushabti found in Egyptian tombs, however these were only found in the graves of the lower classes. Rich people didn't have to worry about forced labor in China.
He spent a lot of time looking at the different attitudes towards ghosts and spirits and gods, and how and where the differences were. It was interesting as often there were few differences. They were all treated as annoyances which could be gotten rid of with certain spells and or rituals. There were even passages about how to kill gods or spirits. Which led to some interesting theological discussions.
He looked at the official cults, and how they influenced the personal religion, and vice-versa. There was a surprising amount of over lap, which is a fairly new idea. As most books list the division between the elite religion and the peasants' "Superstitions" as fairly large. Though he did conclude with a chapter on the critics of popular religion of the time. Most critics referring to it as "excessive" practices.
He looked in detail at different rituals done throughout the year. From the detail of these rituals he was able to conclude that they affected both the elite and the peasants.
The look at the underworld was also interesting, as it was much more detailed than most. He also looked at the grave goods used to placate spirits. To send them on their way to paradise, or just away from their descendants where they could do harm. He challenged the traditional belief of the two separate souls of Han times, destined for two different places. With evidence of the words being used interchangeably.
He used a lot of Chinese words, in translation and the characters they were based on,(he's actually a professor in Taiwan). All his arguments came from either written documentation from the time, or found objects. He looked at the impact new archaeological evidence has on what people have considered to be the standard Han beliefs in the past.
This was definitely the best book I've read so far, (on early Han religion). Next year I see myself leading a crusade to get it added to the required reading list. Now I need to go and search the uw databases for anything else he's written.