Ghosts and Religious Life in Early China
豆瓣
蒲慕州
简介
For modern people, ghost stories are no more than thrilling entertainment. For those living in antiquity, ghosts were far more serious beings, as they could affect the life and death of people and cause endless fear and anxiety. How did ancient societies imagine what ghosts looked like, what they could do, and how people could deal with them? From the vantage point of modernity, what can we learn about an obscure, but no less important aspect of an ancient culture? In this volume, Mu-chou Poo explores the ghosts of ancient China, the ideas that they nurtured, and their role in its culture. His study provides fascinating insights into the interaction between the idea of ghosts and religious activities, literary imagination, and social life devoted to them. Comparing Chinese ghosts with those of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, Poo also offers a wider perspective on the role of ghosts in human history.
contents
Contents
Preface page vii
I Ghosts: The Other Side of Humanity
、
I.I Talking about Ghosts I
1.2 Cross-Cultural Typologies of Ghosts 8
1.3 Looking for Ghosts in Early China 12
1.4 The Structure of This Book 16
2 The Emergence of Ghosts in Early China 21
2.I The Meaning and Origin of Gui, or Ghost 23
2.2 The Image of Ghosts 31
2.3 The Relationship between Ghosts and Human Beings 37
2.4 Ritual Acts and Exorcism 40
2.5 The Religious and Social Background of the Concept
of Ghosts 49
3 Imperial Order and Local Variations 57
3.I The Nature of the Qin-Han Official Religion 60
3.2 Belief in Ghosts in the Qin-Han Period 63
3.3The Nuo,or Excorcism 74
3.4 Ghosts and the Netherworld 78
3.5 The Changing Image of Ghosts
82
4 Stories That Reveal the Dark Corner 89
4.I Pursuing Ghosts in the Zhiguai 89
4.2 The Typology of Ghosts 92
4.3 The Intentionality of Ghost-Story Writers IOI
4.4 The Religious Significance of Ghost Stories II9
Contents
vi
5 Ghosts in Early Daoist Culture 126
5.2 Images of Ghosts
5.I The Origin of Ghosts According to Daoist Belief133128
5.3 Exorcistic Rituals 135
5.4 New Ghosts or Old? I46
6 The Taming of Ghosts in Early Chinese Buddhism I50
6.I The Term Guior Ghost,in Early Buddhist Texts I53
6.2 The Taming of Ghosts in Early Buddhism 160
6.3 Competition with Indigenous Belief Systems 163
6.4TheOrigins of Ghosts in Buddhism Compared 168
7 Chinese Ghosts in Comparative Perspective I70
Bibliography I90
Index 205
