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Therapy in the State Religion

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Health Care in Eleventh-Century China

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 43))

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Abstract

The state religion was the system of rituals that underlay imperial rule. Imperial religion, ritual and politics were never separable. Nor were religion and health. Since the state religion has regularly been confused with Confucianism, this chapter first explains what the religious part of its rituals actually comprised in the eleventh century, and then examines the part that health care played in it.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Zhenghe wuli xin yi 政和五禮新儀 --> , --> j. 38–96. Cf. Zito 1996, 73, writing about the eighteenth century.

  2. 2.

    Xu zizhi tongjian chang bian 續資治通鑑長編 -->, --> 19: 42.

  3. 3.

    See chapter 2, p. 10. On microcosms see Lloyd & Sivin 2002, 214–226.

  4. 4.

    It is impossible to be certain what writings attributed to an emperor he himself wrote. Huizong was a prolific writer, and it is extremely likely that at least the preface translated below was his.

  5. 5.

    This is a concise statement of the dynamic alternation of yin-yang and the five phases.

  6. 6.

    Although the modern dictionary definition of shu 數--> is “number,” ancient authors often used it for qualitative as well as quantitative regularities. Here the word obviously refers to quality. It is well, when thinking about this statement of the sages’ paramount position in the universe, to recall that emperors were conventionally considered sages.

  7. 7.

    These are allusions to stories about the Yellow Emperor seeking enlightenment from teachers in --> Zhuangzi 莊子 --> , 27/11/29 and 65/24/25.

  8. 8.

    This odd metaphor describes a ruler who governs without perceptible effort.

  9. 9.

    Most of this medical classic is in the form of initiation dialogues between the emperor and his ministers, Qibo and others. Its circulation remained limited until the mid eleventh century.

  10. 10.

    The conventional classics varied a great deal in all three respects; it was not hard to read into this new one a generic whiff of the archaic.

  11. 11.

    This was not the only prevalent view. Many emperors and their ministers believed that the ruler should make most or all decisions. In practice, Huizong was highly activist.

  12. 12.

    Iiyama 2010 shows that even in the Yuan period local officials followed Song precedents for worship in popular temples.

  13. 13.

    Biography in Liu 1959.

  14. 14.

    Wang Jinggong wenji jianzhu 王荊剬文集箋注, 49: 1684. Lord Bao was Bao Gai 鮑蓋--> of the Later Han period, a low-level official who became a local god. His temple was registered by the Song government as Yongtai wang miao 永泰王廟 and promoted in 1103 to Lingying miao 靈應廟. See note 1 of Li Zhiliang 李之亮 in the source cited.

  15. 15.

    This apparently refers to a kind of local labor duty. Wang, offering this prayer, was the leading local official and thus most likely responsible for the order.

  16. 16.

    Ebrey 2014, 150–151. The Personal Destiny Day (benmingri 本命日) was the one with the same sexagenary day number as the year of the person’s—here, the emperor’s—birth. The liturgy amounted to worshipping the god of the corresponding star in the constellation Northern Dipper.

  17. 17.

    For Shi’s rather offhand proposal, see Xu zi zhi tong jian chang bian, 88: 2027–2028, and for his biography, Song shi 宋史, 324: 10471–10475. For a catalogue of the most significant Daoist rituals and imperial participation in them, see Song shi, j. 104. Cheng Minsheng 程民生 2008, 444–446, has gathered data on the cost of rites in the Song.

  18. 18.

    Song Shenzong yuzhi yujing ji 宋神宗御製玉京集, --> 5: 8a; also in ZD 44/060, 5: 581. This is a large collection of prayers written by the emperor for use in imperial offering rituals.

  19. 19.

    The coming into being of the cosmos. “The Way that can be given only makeshift names” alludes to the Way’s ineffability as described in the Laozi --> , 1.

  20. 20.

    I take tian jian 天鑒 tentatively as equivalent to the homophonous 天監. It also implies the mirroring of the celestial and terrestrial palaces.

  21. 21.

    The Pure Capital--> is the celestial palace. The Golden Gate-towers-->, in Daoist ritual, are usually the entrance to it, but here the phrase apparently refers to the gates of the imperial palace.

  22. 22.

    This figure of speech alludes to the Book of Songs --> ( Mao shi 毛詩 --> --> , 248/1), and the Book of Changes --> ( Zhou yi 周易 --> , hexagram 1, 9 in the 3rd place).

  23. 23.

    Daoist hymns by Taizong, Zhenzong, and Huizong are gathered in Jinlu zhai sandong zanyong yi 金籙齋三洞讚詠儀 --> --> “Pacing the Void” hymns by Huizong are included in the Ming collection Yuyin fashi 玉音法事 (1: 5a–6b, 3: 23b).

  24. 24.

    Jinlu zhai sandong zanyong yi, 3: 6b; ZD 43/010, 3: 41.

  25. 25.

    An allusion to Mao shi, 195/6, where it expresses trepidation.

  26. 26.

    The first half of this line is a proverbial assertion of the government’s dedication and assiduity. Kang 康 implies health as well as prosperity.

  27. 27.

    Alludes to Zhuangzi, 1/30, a story about a spiritual immortal (shenren 神人) whose power is so great that, with no effort, he allays catastrophes and epidemics and brings about good harvests. This implies a comparable spiritual potency for the officiant. The next line refers to observing the sun, moon, and northern dipper for good astrological portents.

  28. 28.

    See Maruyama Hiroshi in Pregadio 2008, 580. Schipper 1989 transcribes the melody used in late twentieth century Taiwan offering rituals for this hymn. See also Kaltenmark 1960.

  29. 29.

    On the Zhenghe wan shou daozang 政和萬壽道藏 --> (or Zhenghe wan shou zang jing 政和萬壽藏經), --> see Van der Loon 1984, 29–63, and Ebrey 2014, 252–254. The ritual manual was --> Zhenghe wuli xin yi 政和五禮新儀. On the latter see Ebrey 2014, 243–252.

  30. 30.

    Qingci 青詞, 青辭, qingzhang 青章, lüzhang 綠章 --> -->. For further specifications, see Zhenghe wuli xin yi, 4: 1a.

  31. 31.

    See chapter 4, p. 145, footnote.

  32. 32.

    Zhang Zehong 张泽洪 1999, 75, provides data for eight Song figures. Many esteemed officials also wrote parts of the liturgy for great rituals not performed under imperial auspices. Zhang also discusses the rites that authors were required to perform when writing such documents (p. 145).

  33. 33.

    Dongpo quan ji 東坡全集 --> 98: 19b. -->Mt. Tai, the Northern Peak, was the seat of the otherworldly judiciary, Fengdu.

  34. 34.

    Some of it to and from exile due to political infighting.

  35. 35.

    Chang Bide 昌彼得 1974–1976, 1:214.

  36. 36.

    Literally, “a yin penalty,” exacted by the otherworld judiciary and unknown to others.

  37. 37.

    See chapter 6, p. 133.

References

Abbreviations

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  1. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Nathan Sivin

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Sivin, N. (2015). Therapy in the State Religion. In: Health Care in Eleventh-Century China. Archimedes, vol 43. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20427-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20427-7_7

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