SHAMANS AND POLITICS*

Fu-shih Lin

Introduction

,(According to the Chu grandee Guan Shefu ᨠ୴֛ (fl. 515–489 BC shamans are the oldest type of religious specialist in China.1 Much ancient literature as well as materials discovered by archaeologists show that, in pre-imperial China, shamans played a relatively important part in both official and popular religion. But at the latest by the period of the Warring States, the political and social status of shamans went into a gradual decline.2 In the Han, even greater changes in their situation occurred. Attacked and spurned by Confucian officialdom from the time of Han Wudi (r. 140–87 BC) on, the shamans gradually lost the leading role in state sacrifices. Their part in popular activities as well was constricted by officials and looked down on by intellectuals, and even from a legal point of view they ceased to be considered “good people” ߜ୮՗.3 Then, when in the 2nd century AD the Daoist religion arose and

* Not having been able to attend the Paris conference, I am indebted to Dr. Dai Lijuan ᚮᣝୠ for having read my paper and transmitted critical remarks. I wish also to thank Professor Li Gang and other participants for their suggestions. The translation was done by John Lagerwey and revised by Lü Pengzhi. 1 “Chuyu,” Guoyu (Taibei, 1981), 18.559. With regard to Guan Shefu’s ideas about the “separation of heaven and earth” and the origins of shamanism, scholars have differing interpretations: see my discussion in “The image and status of shamans in ancient China,” in John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski, eds, Early Chinese religion, Part One: Shang to Han (Leiden, 2009), 1.397–458, especially the items cited in notes 16 and 17. 2 In addition to the authors cited in notes 8–13, 18, and 55 of the chapter cited in the previous note, see Qu Duizhi, “Shiwu,” originally published in Yanjing xuebao 7 (1930), republished in Du Zhengsheng, ed., Zhongguo shanggushi lunwen xuanji, 2 vols (Taibei, 1979), 2.991–1009; Katō Jōken, “Chūgoku kodai no shūkyō to shisō,” in idem, Chūgoku kodai bunkano kenkyū (Tokyo, 1980), pp. 48–57; Xu Zhaochang, “Xian Qin shehui de wu, wushu yu jisi,” Shixue jikan 1997.3, 5–9; Wang Zijin, “Ji zheng heyi zhidu yu Zhongguo gudai zhengzhi mixin,” Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 1990.1, 15–26; Bai Xingfa, “Cong minzuzhi cailiao kan wu de qiyuan yu fazhan,” Qinghai minzu xueyuan xuebao 27.2 (2001), 28–33. 3 Lin Fu-shih, Handai de wuzhe (Taibei, 1999), pp. 27–48; Ma Xin, “Lun liang Han minjian de wu yu wushu,” Wenshi zhe 3 (2001), 119–26. 276 fu-shih lin

Buddhism entered China, shamans also gradually lost the advantageous situation they had enjoyed in popular religion and had to compete with Daoists and Buddhist monks and nuns for adherents.4 In the period of division, as both Daoism and Buddhism grew daily stronger, the strength of shamans in the Chinese religious market grew proportionately weaker. That is why many students of Chinese religion no longer pay any attention to the evolution of shamanistic beliefs after the Han. Some think that it was completely absorbed by and became a part of Daoism.5 Others think that, in modern Chinese society, it is dif- ficult to make a clear distinction between Daoism and shamanism.6

4 Miyakawa Hisayuki, Rikuchō shi kenkyū. Shūkyō hen (Kyoto, 1964), pp. 10–26, 336–65, and Chūgoku shūkyō shi kenkyū (Kyoto, 1983), 1.175–92; Rolf A. Stein, “Un exemple de relations entre taoïsme et religion populaire,” in Fukui hakase shōju kinen: Tōyō bunka ronshū (Tokyo, 1969), pp. 79–90, and “Religious Taoism and popular religion from the second to seventh centuries,” in H. Welch and A. Seidel, eds, Facets of Taoism: essays in Chinese religion (New Haven, 1979), pp. 53–81; Yang Huarong, “Daojiao yu wujiao zhi zheng,” Zongjiaoxue yanjiu 1996.1, 35–42; Chi-tim Lai, “The opposition of Celestial Master Daoism to popular cults during the Six Dynasties,” Asia Major, third series, 11.1 (1998), 1–20. 5 Most students of the origins of Daoism see it as having built on the foundations of shamanism, or at the very least consider many of Daoism’s techniques, rituals, and beliefs as deriving from the shamanistic tradition. For detailed accounts, see Chen Guofu, “Tianshi dao yu wuxi you guan,” in Daozang yuanliu kao (Beijing, 1963), Appendix 2, pp. 260–61; Xu Dishan, Daojiao shi (repr. Taibei, 1976), pp. 161–82; Fu Qinjia, Zhongguo daojiao shi (repr. Taibei, 1980), p. 43; Qing Xitai, Han Wei liang Jin Nanbei chao shiqi in Zhongguo daojiao sixiang shigang, 2 vols (Chengdu, 1980), 1.32–34; Wu Rongzeng, “Zhenmuwen zhong suo jiandao de Dong Han dao wu guanxi,” Wenwu 1981.3, 56–63; Kubo Noritada, Dōkyō hyakuwa (Tokyo, 1983), p. 24; Ding Huang, “Hanmo Sanguo daojiao fazhan yu Jiangnan diyuan guanxi chu tan: yi Zhang Ling tianshi chusheng di chuanshuo, Jiangnan wusu ji Sun Wu zhengquan yu daojiao guanxi wei zhongxin zhi yiban kaocha,” Lishi xuebao 13 (1987), 155–208; Ge Zhaoguang, Daojiao yu Zhongguo wenhua (Shanghai, 1987), pp. 78–132; Wang Jiayou, “Zhang Ling wudoumi dao yu Xinan minzu,” Daojiao lungao (Chengdu, 1987), pp. 151–66; Fukunaga Mitsuji, Dōkyō shisō shi kenkyū (Tokyo, 1987), pp. 437–54; Ren Jiyu, ed., Zhongguo daojiao shi (Shanghai, 1990), pp. 8–10; Zhang Jiyu, Tianshi dao shilüe (Beijing, 1990), pp. 4–31; Sakai Tadao, Fukui Bunka, “Shenme shi daojiao,” in Fukui Kojun, ed., Daojiao, Zhu Yueli, tr., 3 vols (Shanghai, 1990), 1.1–24; Jin Zhengyao, Daojiao yu kexue (Taibei, 1994), pp. 18–24; Fang Shiming, “Huangjin qiyi xianqu yu wu ji yuanshi daojiao zhi guanxi; jianlun ‘Huangjin’ yu ‘huangshen yuezhang’,” Lishi yanjiu 1993.3, 3–13; Liu Feng, Daojiao de qiyuan yu xingcheng (Taibei, 1994), pp. 87–110; Qing Xitai, Tang Dachao, Daojiao shi (Beijing, 1994), pp. 15–34; Qing Xitai, ed., Zhongguo daojiao, 4 vols (Shanghai, 1994), 1.8–15; Qing Xitai, ed., Zhongguo daojiao jianshi (Taibei, 1996), pp. 13–32; Huang Haide, Li Gang, Zhonghua daojiao baodian (Taibei, 1995), p. 2; Peter Nickerson, “Introduction to ‘The great petition for sepulchral plaints’,” in Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist scriptures (Berkeley, 1977), pp. 230–60; Liu Cunren, “Daojiao shi shenme?” in Hefeng tang xinwen ji (Taibei, 1997), pp. 221–39. 6 Some scholars completely confound Daoism and shamanism, as in J.J.M. de Groot, The religious system of China, 6 vols (Leiden, 1892–1910), 6.1243–68; Mircea Eliade,