QUEST for the ARCHETYPAL IMAGE of XI WANG MU -A Mythological Study of the Mother Goddess in Ancient China
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QUEST FOR THE ARCHETYPAL IMAGE OF XI WANG MU -A Mythological Study of the Mother Goddess in Ancient China- Masako MORI* Introduction The earliest mention of Xi wang mu is found among the oracle-bone texts in Period I of the Yin Dynasty of China, in which she appears in an abridged form as the "Mother in the East" (dong mu) or rather as the "Mother in the West" (xi mu). There are, hereafter, various evidences concerning Xi wang Mu and their interpretations by Chinese as well as Japanese specialists. Some surmise that Xi wang mu was a supernatural being such as a goddess or a monster, while the others argue that it was nothing but a place name. It is certain that there were two interpretations of Xi wang mu first as a goddess and second as a land or a country. This dichotomy was already recognized by Lu si mian who wrote(1) that there were two theories concerning Xi wang mu in ancient times: according to one, she was a goddess; and according to another, her name was a country. Further, the former theory can be classified as follows: 1. She appears in oracle-bone texts as a goddess who may be related to sun worship. 2. She is a monster-like goddess who dwells in mountainous districts. 3. She is a supernatural spirit who acquires immortality. 4. She is a fairy-like being who owns the elixir of immortality. 5. She is a goddess of good omen who communicates with secular emperors like Yao, Shun, Yu, Huang di, Han wu and Zhao wang of Yan. 6. She is the queen of the goddesses who ultimately becomes the empress of Dong wang gong in the Taoistic system. 7. This name signifies the westernmost area of China as one of the four cosmic wastelands (Si huang). * Graduate Student, Keio University. Vol. XXVI 1990 1 8. The name indicates a land west of China. 9. This is the name of a tribe which lived in the western district of China. 10. This is the name of a chieftain of such a place or district. The present situation, it must be confessed, is confusing. I believe that this confused state can be resolved definitely if we arrange the informations in accordance with successive periods. These can not be treated as contempo- rary. Each feature of Xi wang mu must have represented one stage in its mythological development. My point of view is that they did not exist simultaneously in ancient China but that the image of Xi wang mu changed progressively down through the ages. This position is not without its forerunners: Xuon zhu (Mao dun) noted and discussed such successive stages in the mythological development of Xi wang mu(2) and Wu han (Chen puo) postulated eight stages, classifying changing anecdotes of Xi wang mu.(3) Many other scholars in China have also treated this problem.(4) In our country, too, Profs. Takuji Ogawa, Rokuro Shiba and, recently, Ichiro Kominami have followed this line of research in one way or another. Prof. Shiba posits an argument on the subject of the evolution of the Xi wang mu myth. His theory is based upon the Chinese usage of confounding phonetical values with ideographical meanings: once, Xi wang mu was nothing but the name of a country; afterwards, however, it signified a woman, because the letter Mu (母) signifies“mother.”Ultimately, she was a woman of utmost beauty for the Chinese people.(5) About the historical development of the name, Chinese scholars mention various causes. Mao dun and Li de fang write that the process resulted more or less from Taoism and from fragmentary knowledge of the westernmost tribes in each period. Other causes may be simply misunderstandings, rumors, or hearsays, intellectual inferences, and embellishments. Further, changes of social forms and the people's minds or the influx of western ideas in modern times may have influenced interpretations. As Mr. Yukio Sawamura has already written,(6) all these theories noticed the change but they only treated it as accidental. Instead, I consider the whole history of Xi wang mu worship in ancient China as a type of evolution of the original idea of the mother goddess. The direction of the development of the worship was necessary, although this development was only realized stage by stage. Material sources concerning Xi wang mu are rather disparate 2 ORIENT QUEST FOR THE ARCHETYPAL IMAGE and do not seem to be explained by any coherent theory. Scholars have treated the evidences as if they were all of a contemporary nature; thus, they have approved some of them as acceptable and trustworthy and rejected others. In contrast with this manner of thinking, I would accept as many sources as possible, so that I could then piece them all together and try to trace the historical development of Xi wang mu worship. In the process of my work of recovering the history of Xi wang mu, I paid special attention to the supposed "missing link" that would make it possible to piece together various elements of Xi wang mu that are reflected in various sources of her worship. I believe, then, we can at last synthesize all the elements and reduce them into one image of the goddess. I think that the original idea of Xi wang mu has been concealed in the concept of the great mother. Xi wang mu's history must be seen as the process of development of this concept. I would use it, therefore, as archetypal and proceed to establish the so-called three natures of Xi wang mu. With the aid of the archetypal concept and of the three natures, we can then piece together almost all material sources which might even be considered very contradictory at first glance. I believe that Xi wang mu was one of the mother goddesses who orginally appeared in a matrimonial society during the stone age. Thus, in the subse- quent three chapters of this article, first and foremost, I discuss some Near Eastern examples of mother goddesses because these cults can be attested to in a very conspicuous manner by epigraphists, philologists, and archaeo- logists. Myth and plastic images of the mother goddess were created so richly and continued to exist through so many generations in the Near East and influenced other regions of the world. Then, I proceed to compare their main features (functions, epithets, and attributes) with those of Xi wang mu. This is because I think the latter is nothing but one of the Chinese mother goddesses. Furthermore, I would say that the above mentioned features resulted, in the case of Xi wang mu, from the historical development of the idea of the mother goddess in China. Such a development should not be viewed only as the results of external influences that might have occurred rather accidentally in the long course of ancient Chinese history. I suppose that this view of mine could be supported by the similarity of Xi wang mu with West Asiatic mother goddesses. Vol. XXVI 1990 3 In short, my method is a kind of comparative mythology. My aim is to utilize this method and restitute the lost and concealed image of Xi wang mu and, at the same time, to substantiate that she herself was a mother goddess. I have to mention, at last, a recent discovery of a group of neolithic pottery nude figures at Hong shan site, Liao ning.(7) Their eyes are inlaid with green jades. Their breasts and waists are emphasized like the same sort of pottery idols, which have been dug at various Near Eastern sites. It is sure that they represent mother goddesses, and this news seems to be an archaeological support of my theory about the origin of Xi wang mu, for which I must use only literary evidences in this article. Chapter I To begin with, I would compare Xi wang mu with Cybele, a mother goddess, who was also named Magna Mater by the Romans. Cybele first appeared in the cuneiform documents from Kultepe, Anatolia, at the beginning of the second millenium B.C. and later from Ugarit-Ras Shamra in the fourteenth and thirteenth centures B.C. In those days, she seems to have been called Kubaba. It is clear that she was native to Anatolia, but we do not know when her cult was initiated and where the center of her cult was located.(1) It seems that during the Hittite period, she remained as one of the minor, local deities. Her name was retained in the list of the deities which the Hittite scribes compiled.(2) This situation changed completely, however, when the Hittite Empire was destroyed in ca. 1200 B.C. Phrygians, the new conquerors and rulers of Anatolia, accepted Cybele-Kubaba as ont of their national godheads and dedicated themselves to the cult of the autochthonous goddess. Cybele played an important role in this legendary world and votive monuments to her were continuously being built in all of Anatolia in the succeeding centuries. She protected fecundity and induced abundant harvests, but, by the time the Greeks had established themsleves in Ionia and other maritime districts of Anatolia, she, a supreme goddess, was considered almost almighty and now ruled over prophecy, the healing of diseases, and the taming of wild animals in the forests and mountains. Her name was known all over the Mediterranean world. Greeks and Romans identified her successively with 4 ORIENT QUEST FOR THE ARCHETYPAL IMAGE Rhea and Artemis-Diana. As M. J. Vermaseren noted, Cybele's original nature was never lost, even after she had been accepted by foreigners;(3) that is, she continued to be the mistress of beasts and androgyny.