Fanfan Chen the Threefold Mimesis of Evil in the Myths of Formosan Aborigines
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Caietele Echinox, vol. 24, 2013 : Topographies du mal : Les Enfers 143 Fanfan Chen The Threefold Mimesis of Evil in the Myths of Formosan Aborigines Taiwanese, or Formosan, aborigines ABSTRACT account for about 2% of the entire Taiwan This paper explores the probable origin of population. Currently fourteen tribes are of- Taiwan aborigines’ unique vision of evil ficially recognized by the Taiwan govern- and their rationalization through the media- ment: Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Kavalan, Paiwan, tion of myths and concomitant ethical Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Tao, Thao, Tsou, norms and taboos. We apply Paul Ri- Truku, Sakizaya, and Sediq. According to coeur’s theory of evil and threefold mi- recent research, their ancestors may have mesis in order to analyze in a systematic been living on the islands for approximately manner the imaginary of evil, which could 8,000 years before major Han Chinese be rooted in the conception of human mor- immigration in the 17th century. As Austro- tality. The study sheds light on the cosmo- nesian peoples, Formosan aborigines have logical nature of Formosans’ attributing of linguistic and genetic ties to other Austro- evil while bringing to light the fundamental nesian ethnic groups, such as those in the difference in conceiving evil between Philippines, Malaysia, Polynesia and Ocea- Christian and non-Christian cultures. nia1. This fact shows that the native Taiwa- nese were originally unconnected with the KEYWORDS Taiwan; Formosa; Aboriginal Myths; Evil; Asian Mainland, thus also with Chinese cul- Narrative; Metamorphosis; Paul Ricoeur. ture. An investigation of the conception and imagination of evil among the Taiwanese FANFAN CHEN aborigines reveals this cultural distance. The National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, perpetually debated issue of whether hu- Taiwan mans are born good or evil has been gna- [email protected] wing at Chinese literati, particularly Confu- cians, for centuries. In general, Confucia- nism embraces the idea that humans are born good; Taoism takes the neutral stance of treating humans as it does other beings in nature, thus holding them to be naturally beyond good and evil; Legalism (School of Law) insists that humans are born evil and thus require strict laws and punishments to regulate their behaviours. This metaphysical Fanfan Chen 144 argumentation never appears through the mediation of myths and conco- in Formosan aborigines, though mitant ethical norms and taboos. In order to their treating themselves as a part of Nature analyse their imaginary in a systematic appears closer to Taoism. manner, I resort to Ricoeur’s theory of evil For Formosan aborigines, evil is not and mimesis along with his threefold mi- considered a big issue in the human condi- mesis to, on the one hand, shed light on the tion. Moreover, the imagination of a hell cosmological nature of Formosans’ attribu- almost does not exist. Nonetheless, like all ting of evil while on the other, bring to light human mortals, they have to face the inesca- the fundamental difference in the concept- pable fate of death and the spirits of the tion of evil between Christian and non- dead. They fear death, which mainly under- Christian cultures. lies their imaginary of evil. This evil is in principle not within human beings but wi- thout. At first sight, the correlation between I. In the beginning was immortality death and evil evokes the origin of man’s mortality conceived in Judeo-Christianity: One crucial belief among Formosan a- being driven out of Eden, where man en- borigines is zuling, or ancestors’ spirit. The joyed immortality. In his essay titled « Evil, faith in zuling underlies the prefiguration a Challenge to Philosophy and Theology», (mimesis 1) of narratives; their configu- Paul Ricoeur treats four different discursive ration, mimesis 2; and their reception, mi- responses to evil: lament and blame, myth, mesis 3. Zulingis significant and functional wisdom, and theodicy. The second discur- in terms of the temporal and spatial concept- sive genre, myth, especially presents a uni- tion of the aborigines, for it offsets the fear versal mediation of explaining evil when the of death and the mystery of time as well as, hermeneutic study of it reaches out to non- spatially, the uncertainty of the beyond. The Christian cultures. Mythic narratives incur- aborigines believe they will return to the porate evil into great narratives of origin, in homeland of zuling after death. As narrative light of Mircea Eliade. According to Ri- is a mediation of man’s being conscious in coeur, these narratives seek to explain the time and his intention of making sense of it, origin of evil in terms of cosmogony; as temporality in zuling reveals the emphasis such, they provide a plot that configures the of narrative understanding of man and the elements of evil. This function of myth as a world. Since zuling in essence never dies, it mediation of evil and moral choice is all the inspires Formosan aborigines to imagine an more evident when it comes to Formosan original immortal body. This imagination of myths. As he sees a conflict between ratio- an original immortality grounds the figura- nal explanation (theodicy) and irrational tion of the threefold mimesis, which is cha- submission (mysticism) in treating the topic racterised as follows: Mimesis 1refers to the of evil, Ricoeur proposes an eclectic three- prefigured world of action. It concerns the fold approach to address evil, namely prac- relation of narrative to action which reveals tical/ narrative understanding, catharsis, and the situation that human action can be sym- pardon. This threefold approach can be e- bolically mediated. The features of mimesis xamined through the Ricoeurian threefold 1 – structural, symbolic, temporal, among mimesis. others the symbolic mediation of action – Therefore, I attempt to explore the pro- illumine the openness and thickness of se- bable origin of Taiwan aborigines’ unique mantism. Ricoeur points out that « before vision of evil and their rationalization being a text, symbolic mediation has a The Threefold Mimesis of Evil in the Myths of Formosan Aborigines texture»2. And before being « submitted to According to the extant For- 145 interpretation, symbols are interpretants in- mosan myths, immortality was ternally related to some action»3. Hence, something which existed naturally within symbolism provides an initial readability to the creation myth of human beings. No one action. The second mimesis designated as is to blame for the loss of immortality, the creative act of configuration. It concerns though someone did change the status of the construction of the text, structured by immortality, which was not considered a emplotment with schematism and tradition- blessing. The befalling of mortality was ra- nality. This demonstrates how imitated ac- ther an accident, even an outcome of tion functions as a text. Mimesis 3 refers to frightening objects left by immortality. As the receptive act of refiguration. It operates serpents are generally revered in aboriginal on the level of reading as well as context belief, even regarded as the ancestor of and involves a process of « fusion of ho- human beings or the tutelary gods (e.g. by rizon», of the worlds in the text and the the Paiwan and Rukai tribes), they are not world in reality. In essence, they correspond configured in narration as the origin of evil to the three elements of rhetoric: ethos, lo- like the Christian Satan and his menials, nor gos and pathos. as the cause of temptation that causes the In the imaginary of Formosan abori- loss of immortality. In contrast, the serpents gines, as in that of Chinese people, the grant immortality to man; on top of that, Christian original sin, not least the concept their moulting inspires the aboriginal imagi- of defilement and guilt that build up Ri- nation of what it is like to be immortal. In coeur’s hermeneutics of evil, does not exist. the beginning, it is told that humans were Yet, different from Chinese people, most like serpents, they underwent moulting for a Formosan aborigines believe in original im- renewal of life. Here are some examples of mortality, which resembles that in Christian myths in the tribes of Paiwan, Ami and belief. This imagination of original immor- Saisiyat that bridge the images of immorta- tality may derive from the belief in the eter- lity and mortality and thus neutralize the nal existence of zuling. Yet, they have to lament and blame in the face of man’s ine- accept the truth that they must die. Since vitable mortality evident in the Christian evil is generally believed to be something world. exterior and a European-style speculation of Ami4: theodicy on this issue is beyond the aborigi- nal mind, the best way to make sense of In ancient times, humans were immor- such phenomena is practical understanding, tal. When they aged, they shed a layer which Ricoeur specifies as narrative under- of skin and returned to youth; there- standing. Thus, the original immortality is fore, shed skins were everywhere. narrated as being somewhat a nuisance to However, children were frightened by aborigines, for they do not consider the sta- the sight of these shed skins; adults tus of immortality a “paradise lost” resem- thus collected all the skins and buried bling the Judeo-Christian Eden. Like other them in the earth. Henceforth, humans aborigines in the world, the religion of For- started to die »5.A variation of the story mosan aborigines is pan-animism or spiri- adds detailed descriptions of the scary tualism, in which the belief in spirits forms scene of the shed skin: « the shed skin the centre of aboriginal rituals and festivals. has the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, etc. on This religious belief is accordingly essential it, which presents horrible shapes6. to the aboriginal conception of evil.