祈福과 消災:중국의 鬼神숭배와 풍습

Abstract

This article reviews the history of the Chinese shamanism and its main features by focusing on Han Chinese(漢族)shamanism, and it briefly surveys the types and images of the spirit as well as the spirit-related customs represented in the folk religion. The Chinese shamanism started with the primitive worship of spirit and nature in the prehistoric era, and it became the keystone of the royal family rituals on filial piety by establishing the trinity of heavenly spirit, earthly spirit, and human spirit in the Chunqiu-Zhanguo(春秋戰國) Period. The Qin-Han(秦漢) Dynasty was a transitional period of conflicts between Taoism and Buddhism, and subsquently, there came up a culminating point of shamanism which resulted in the unity of three religions through Jin(兩晉) Dynasty, Southern & Northern Dynasties(南北朝), and Sui-Tang(隋唐) Dynasty. In the following Song-Yuan-Ming-Qing(宋元明淸) Dynasties, the shamanism by the royal family declined in contrast to the blooming of the popular shamanism, and thereby, the royal ritual got separated from folk religion. With the decline of royal power in the modern age, the traditional shamanism of trinity collapsed, while the traces of popular shamanism still remain in the culture. The characteristics of the Chinese shamanism are as follows: (1) there was no unifying God; (2) there were hierarchical differences between gods and spirits; (3) the rituals of royal shamanism were different from folk religion; (4) the royal power was higher than the divine power. The types of Chinese spirit can be broadly categorized by natural spirit and human spirit, even though they differ in terms of religion, nationality, and locality. The types of human spirit can be categorized by its shape, function, priority, personality, and aspects of death. Chinese local customs in relation to shamanism include rituals for spirit, exorcism, rituals for making use of spirit's weakness, skills such like the invocation of spirits, and the demarcation of seasons such like spring and summer. Combined with the Chinese people’s preference for the real, the traditional Chinese shamanism functioned as a way of seeking for happiness and removing misfortunes, whether it was worshipped by the royal family or the common people. This feature of the Chinese shamanism is still deeply embedded in Chinese people’s consciousness and their life. And thus, the traditional Chinese shamanism can be an important reference to the understanding of Chinese culture and society.