Abstract
In this book, syncretism amounts to a nebulous affair between indigenous traditions and foreign intrusions, with progeny that are not always easy to identify. Chinese Buddhism is obviously a product of syncretism. Taoism shows the imprint of heavy Buddhist influence, yet it remains somehow native. Neo-Confucian philosophy would not have appeared in the form it did were it not for Buddhist stimulus, even if it defined itself in opposition to both Buddhism and Taoism. Syncretism, I would maintain, that is historical interaction and mixture, has been at work in all the world’s religions. It has moulded Christianity just as it has moulded Buddhism. However, to the extent that Chinese religions are themselves ‘religions of harmony’, they have permitted more latitude to the workings of syncretism than have the more exclusivist Western religions, including Christianity and Islam. For this reason, an earlier popular religion has largely been suppressed in Christianised lands.
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Notes
David K. Jordan and Daniel L. Overmyer, The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), p. 16.
See Alan J. A. Elliott, Chinese Spirit-Medium Cults in Singapore (London: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1955), p. 170.
David K. Jordan, Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors: The Folk Religion of a Taiwanese Village (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 84.
Consult also Jack M. Potter, ‘Cantonese Shamanism’, in Arthur P. Wolf, ed., Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 207–31.
E. J. Eitel, Feng-shui: Principles of the Natural Science of the Chinese (Hong Kong and London: Trubner, 1873), p. 22, quoted in Laurence Thompson, Chinese Religion, p. 23. Consult also Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 42, vol. 4, p. 26(i).
Laurence G. Thompson, Chinese Religion: An Introduction, 4th edn (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1989), pp. 68–72.
Anne S. Goodrich, Peking Paper Gods: A Look at Home Worship (Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1991), pp. 43–49.
Ibid., p. 140. This god is among the clan ancestors of the author of this book. Consult Frank Ching, Ancestors: Nine Hundred Years in the Life of a Chinese Family (New York: Morrow, 1988), ch. 4, where the name is transliterated according to pinyin as Qin Yubo.
For more information, consult Francis L. K. Hsü, Under the Ancestor’s Shadow (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948), 182–91.
Cheng Chih-min, Tai-wan min-chien tsung-chiao lun-chi (On Popular Religion in Taiwan) (Taipei: Student Bookstore, 1984), 67–71.
Daniel L. Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Traditional China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976), 99–102.
V. R. Burkhardt, Chinese Creeds and Customs (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1953–58),
vol. 3, 158–60, E. T. C. Werner, Myths and Legends of China (London: Harrap, 1924) ch. 11.
In Taiwan, Taoist priests entitled to carry out higher rituals in the official liturgy are called ‘Blackheads’ on account of their official caps, while lower level exorcists and sorcerers are called ‘Redheads’ on account of their red scarves. Michael Saso, The Teachings of Taoist Master Chuang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978), p. 195.
Consult Anne S. Goodrich, Chinese Hells: The Peking Temple of Eighteen Hells and Chinese Conceptions of Hell (St. Augustin, Monumenta Serica Series, 1981), especially ch. 2.
Teitaro Suzuki and Dr Paul Carus, trans. T’ai-shang Kan-ying P’ien (Chicago: Open Court, 1906).
Judith Berling, The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), 111–15.
See Cheng Chih-ming, Chung-kuo shan-shu yu tsung-chiao (Chinese Morality Books and Religion) (Taipei: Student Book Store, 1988), ch. 13.
A stronger parallel may be found in the religion that Christianity supplanted: the religion of ancient Rome, with its many domestic deities, its temples and religious festivities. See Alain Hus, Greek and Roman Religion (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1962), 99–102, 116–17.
For popular religion in Japan, consult also Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (London: Allen & Unwin, 1975).
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© 1993 Julia Ching
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Ching, J. (1993). The Vitality of Syncretism: Popular Religion. In: Chinese Religions. Themes in Comparative Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22904-8_13
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