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JULIAN F. PAS
ed for the happy state of the dead themselves, its objective is to obtain various worldly benefits through the ancestor's intervention.
It seems, in other words, that the Chinese people are not concerned about religious attitudes, so much stressed in religions like Christianity: adoration, praise and reverence or submission to the will of a Holy and transcendent God. Thanksgiving and repentance are present, but are equally utilitarian: the gods are thanked for benefits granted, and man apologizes for offenses that disturb the deities and may endanger the bestowing of future blessings.
All this is perhaps an injustice done to the Chinese worshippers, or a wrong interpretation of actually observed religious behaviour. But a Western observer is easily led to make the conclusion that Chinese religion on the popular level is utilitarian and mundane. The attitude of worshippers in the temple offers the clearest illustration: paipai (worship) is very casual, almost purely ritualistic and mechanical: as long as the prescribed ritual action is performed, everything is all right. The temple gods are there to listen to the people's complaints or wishes and "if the price is right", the prayers will be heard. If the god is efficacious, people will flock to his temple, otherwise he may be gradually forgotten and ‘discontinued'. This attitude of the temple-goers may be the reason why Western and Chinese authors have claimed that the Chinese people are not religious: they are not religious in the same way as, for instance, Christians. Their religion is of a different type: earth-bound, humanistic. Therefore, once again, Western-based definitions and concepts should be re-examined before they are applied to other cultures, especially when value judgments are appended to them. Who will decide that Chinese religion is inferior to Christianity just because it is less transcendent? The function of religion is to fulfill particular human needs and if Chinese religion fulfills those needs, it has achieved its purpose and is a valid alternative type of religious behaviour.
A third aspect of modern Chinese religion as observed in Taiwan is its mediumistic, almost ecstatic nature. This does not mean that one finds medium-cults in all the temples; on the contrary, the larger temples usually do not play host to mediumistic performances. But there is an increasing number of smaller temples or even home-shrines where either 'divining youths' attract worshippers or where an organized divinatory writing cult exists.19 The two are quite