[ { "id": 206497, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 45, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "RAJA JAMES BROOKE AND SARAWAK\n\n39\n\nthe \"local authorities\" rather than from the sovereign prince of Sarawak, as was usual. Thus the anomalous status of Sarawak in the view of some officials remained, and this technicality provided an opportunity for a subsequent permanent undersecretary in the Foreign Office to declare that Brooke had not been recognized as a reigning prince. Julian Pauncefote opined in 1877,19\n\nRaja Brooke has not forfeited his claims of British nationality by accepting the position of ruler of Sarawak and as a matter of constitutional law it is competent to Her Majesty to recognize him as a sovereign prince but no such recognition has yet taken place.\n\nJames Brooke died in 1868, happy at having received his country's recognition, and confident that it was merely a step toward the desired British protectorate. In this he was prophetic. Although a formal protectorate was not granted until 1888, Britain made it quite clear by a pronouncement late in 1868 that her paramount interests on the northwest coast of Borneo constituted it a British sphere.20\n\nRaja James Brooke was presented at court on two occasions, in 1847, and again in 1857. His nephew and successor, Charles Brooke, visited England in 1869 and asked to be received officially. He was told that he might write on his card and be presented as \"Mr. Brooke, Raja of Sarawak\". The second white raja was incensed and refused to appear until finally, in 1874, he was presented as \"His Highness, the Raja of Sarawak”, and granted a place just below the Indian maharajas in the order of precedence at Court.\n\nUntil 1888, Britain's empire building in Borneo was done largely by proxy, by Englishmen indeed, but by the agency of political structures and vehicles outside the direct control of Whitehall. That was the role of the Brooke raj, and later of the chartered company that ruled North Borneo, so far as they were a part of the British empire. One of Brooke's friends, John Abel Smith, M.P., was quite accurate when in 1866 he noted rather sourly,21\n\nThe English government is quite alive to the importance of Sarawak to British interests, but as long as Raja Brooke\n\n19 Pauncefote minute, 2 January 1877, FO12/43.\n\n20 FO to Hennessy, 2 December 1868, FO12/34A.\n\n21 Owen Rutter (ed) Rajah Brooke and Baroness Burdett-Coutts, London, 1935, p. 272.\n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208558, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPage\n\nvii\n\nPresident's REPORT\n\nTREASURER's Report\n\nTHE LIBRARY\n\nARTICLES:\n\n1 The United States and the Question of Hong Kong 1941-1945 · CHAN KIT-CHENG\n\n1 The Chinese Maritime Customs Remembered: An Appeal for Oral History on Hong Kong — LUKE KWONG\n\n1 The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-1946 - REV. JAMES SMITH and REV. WILLIAM DOWNS, M.M.\n\n27 Religion in a Chinese Town: Chinese Religion Rediscussed (Review Article) — JULIAN F. Pas\n\n149 Religious Life in Present-Day Taiwan: a preliminary report JULIAN F. PAS\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\n176 Copying Hong Kong's Historical Inscriptions — ALICE NG, BERNARD LUK, DAVID FAURE\n\n192 · A Study of the Ch'ing Forts on Lantau Island (from Chinese Sources) - ANTHONY K. K. SIU\n\n193 Two Examples of Chinese Religious Involvement with Islam KEITH STEVENS\n\n199 The Temple of the Supreme Ruler, near Sung Wong Toi, Kowloon\n\n202 (213 The Nam Pak Hong Commercial Association of Hong Kong 1868-1968 JAMES HAYES\n\n216 BOOK REVIEWS\n\n227 LIST OF MEMBERS\n\n235 More Notes on Tsuen Wan - JAMES HAYES\n\nDisturbance of Fung Shui on Tsing Yi Island 1977-78 JAMES HAYES · V\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208584, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "14\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nrecommendations for ultimate implementation.\" Appearing on the master list was the subject \"Treatment by United States Occupation Forces of Special Areas: Hong Kong.\"59\n\nThe Department of State was first invited to submit a paper, bearing on the political aspects of the question, to the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee. After considerable deliberation the department concluded that in view of the political differences between China and Great Britain regarding the future status of Hong Kong, United States forces should not participate in operations for the reconquest or occupation of Hong Kong unless absolutely necessary from a military point of view, and that the United States should make no plans to participate in military government in Hong Kong which, according to the previous agreement of the Combined Civil Affairs Committee, was to be instituted by Britain.60\n\nOn receiving the department's recommendation, and after consulting the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State-War-Navy Coordinating Subcommittee for the Far East submitted a draft report in mid-June. Apart from reiterating the Department of State principle of non-involvement, the report further pointed out that while the Joint Chiefs of Staff had agreed to substantial United States participation in the Canton-Hong Kong operation, it was a Chinese operation under Chiang Kai-shek and not an operation conducted by United States forces under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Joint Chiefs of Staff therefore should not regard themselves as obligated, in so far as the Canton-Hong Kong operation was concerned, to the civil affairs agreement with the British. Moreover, China was not a signatory to this agreement, and it did not cover the situation in the case of a Japanese withdrawal from Hong Kong. The subcommittee accordingly recommended that the United States Chiefs of Staff inform the British Chiefs of Staff that United States support of the operation was being furnished to attain strictly military ends, and that arrangements with regard to the civil affairs administration of Hong Kong should be worked out between Britain and China.61 This document, with some minor alterations, was accepted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee by the end of July. The suggestion that Chiang Kai-shek should be consulted with regard to civil affairs in Hong Kong was naturally unpalatable to Britain.62\n\nThe news that Japan would accept defeat in the near future changed the entire picture. Britain now decided to secure the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208719, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 176, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "CHINESE RELIGION REDISCUSSED\n\nJULIAN F. Pas*\n\nThis is a review article partially intended as a book review of Philip Baity's Religion in a Chinese Town1 but also as a reopening of the discussion on Chinese religion, with emphasis on the popular religion. The setting is Taiwan, but the subject can hardly be contained to this small island and somehow reflects the problems of religion in China as a whole.\n\nIn recent years there has been a revival of interest in the study of Chinese religion. This monograph by P. C. Baity is a most welcome addition to the number of more serious works on the topic and shall have to be taken into account by all future researchers. Based on field work carried out in Northern Taiwan (Tamsui and Peit'ou) between 1968 and 1970, the present work is a reproduction of the author's doctoral dissertation. His viewpoint is primarily anthropological: besides summarizing his field work results, he also offers a new way of interpreting the paradoxical relationship between the three traditional religions of China and \"the array of folk religious beliefs and practices which are characteristic of the great majority of people in both villages and towns.” (p. vii).\n\nAlthough the author has done his research carefully and provides us with a mass of new information and new insights, I still have serious reservations about his overall thesis: a new interpretation of the relationship between the three classical religions and the folk religion. In this review I shall summarize and evaluate each chapter in turn, offering a more synthetic presentation of my views on the author's new interpretation.\n\nChapter 1, \"The Development of Temples in the Field Area\" (pp. 15-53), sketches the development of temples in the area under study. From the time of immigration to Taiwan on a more significant scale...\n\n* Julian Pas is Associate Professor, Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.\n\n1 Baity, Philip Chesley. Religion in a Chinese Town, (Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, vol. 64, edited by Lou Tsu-K'uang). Taipei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1975. (ix-307 pp.) U.S. $7.00.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208720, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 177, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "150\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nficant scale (17th century) till the period of Japanese control (1895-1945), one can see three successive waves of temple-building, each characterized by its own cult-symbols or deities. This phenomenon is in fact a manifestation of the relationships between the groups of settlers: competition between various groups of immigrants is reflected in the competition of their gods.\n\nDuring the first period of temple-building, the choice of universalistic gods, worshipped by various groups of settlers, points to a spirit of cooperation between them. This was a time of external pressures necessitating cooperation in order to face common threats. Examples given are the Matsu temple in Kuantu (1661), the Shennung temple near Feit'ou (1669) and the Kuan-yin temple whose location is not identified (1660-70).\n\nDuring the second period of temple building, there was a shift in cult-symbols: the choice of more particularistic deities goes hand in hand with strife and competition, or even hostility between groups of settlers of different geographical origins. Examples of such gods with a narrower appeal are K'ai-chang sheng-wang, Ch'ing-shui tsu-shih, Ting-kuang Fo, and the so-called Wang-yeh gods.\n\nThe third period of temple-development was occasioned by new political changes in Taiwan: the threat of foreign invasion (Sino-French war in 1885), and the Japanese occupation (1895-1945). A new consciousness unites the Taiwan population against these foreign threats. While some of the old universalistic gods regain popularity, new cult-symbols arise, such as the Taipei city god cult, \"emerging as the center of a consciousness that transcends particularistic interests\" (p. 40). During the Japanese occupation, great changes take place in the pattern of religious activity. Cut off from its roots on the Chinese mainland, and pressured by the Japanese rulers to undergo a process of acculturation, Taiwan religion follows a development of its own. Local cults and practices are often discouraged (e.g., second burial, spirit medium cults) and Buddhism enjoys a privileged position. Out of twelve temples built in the Peit'ou-Tamsui area during 1895-1945, ten are Buddhist.\n\n(Perhaps the author should have added a fourth period of religious activity: after 1945. The picture has been changing considerably and still is nowadays, especially since the author's research took place about ten years ago. Religious freedom has been restored: but moreover, the influx of a new wave of mainland im-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208722, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "152\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\ncritique and is as such beyond blame. However, his way of proceeding may be subject to doubt; one cannot completely cut off the roots of past research: \"What is needed, he says, is a new set of concepts... with which all religious phenomena can be analyzed, concepts which do not depend upon historical reconstructions, and which are empirically derived from field work.\" (p. 85). Here the anthropologist goes too far. The project is more complex than to be explainable with field work only, and in many instances needs to be clarified with historical information about the origins and development of cult phenomena.\n\nChapter III, “Temple and Home, Family and Community\" (pp. 85-135), is one of the basic chapters of the whole book.* A great amount of important new information is presented. The author first discusses the various temple types found in Taiwan: ancestral temples (87-90), putative ancestral temples (90-96), the community cult and temple (96-104), the private community temple (104-109), the t'an (109-113), the monastery (113-117), bone temples (118-121); he next offers a schema of three major and three minor (or derived) temple types (122-123) and concludes the chapter with a short treatise on the 'genesis of temples' (124-135).\n\nAlthough the chapter is richly documented with field experiences, the treatment suffers from a basic ambiguity of scope, also noticeable in other chapters. The author wants to offer an alternative model for explaining the religion of China rather than sticking to the old three-fold division, already mentioned in Chapter II:\n\n\"Because of the complexity of Taiwanese religion, with its infinite mixing of various elements from the different religious traditions, it is practically impossible to classify temple types on the basis of their religious affiliation.” (p. 85),\n\nOne ambiguity consists in the mixing up by the author of 'temple types' with ‘religion' as a whole; the temples are an important aspect of religious life, but are not the whole of it. Moreover, the author's scope is to define, describe and analyze the “folk religion\" (p. 85) which is not the same as the three religions. Instead of rejecting the three religions-model as inadequate, he just could leave it alone: everyone knows that the folk religion and the three traditional religions are not the same reality. The author might\n\n* Accordingly the discussion centring on this chapter extends until page 15 of this review.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208724, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 181, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "154\n\nproposed by Baity.\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nWhat is disappointing in the latter's book, is the lack of an attempt to define what the popular religion is, or how he sees it. He limits his discussion to temple types and their characteristics, but by this very fact cripples his argument: temples and temple types, once again, are not the only component of the folk religion: the basis is too narrow to define the religious system of the people.\n\nWhere the author discusses the ancestral cult and community cult (pp. 87-96 and 96-104), I feel that the contrast between them is over-emphasized. In fact, both are complementary rather than contradictory aspects of one reality. Both are expressions of the people's religion, just as family and community in general are two complementary social phenomena. Although tensions may arise, both aspects are equally necessary and have to be kept in balance.\n\nMoreover, in this important discussion, one looks in vain for a definition of community or community cult, community temple. Yet, this is a set of crucial concepts; if they are not defined, the sense of ambiguity keeps lingering on. The author occasionally comes close to a vague definition, as when he writes: \"The identification of the deity with the new geographical community is underlined by the frequent claim that the god belongs to them personally. Gods are not only identified with the villages, towns and cities they control, but the deity statues and sometimes the temples themselves are claimed to be public property belonging to the entire community.\" (p. 100). One can almost extract a definition from these lines: a community cult is the worship of a particular deity (deities) by a group of people forming a natural community, usually defined by geographical boundaries and by cultural homogeneity.\n\nThis worship normally leads to the construction of a temple in which the deity is enshrined. This temple is community property and is administered by a committee, appointed by the community (or by the deity). The deity chosen is one that reflects the ideals and needs of the particular community and serves as a unitive and protective symbol,\n\nThe geographical area in which the cult is centered is variable from small hamlets to villages and towns. Since in modern times the old patterns of community have greatly changed, there is naturally a change toward greater complexity in the community cults as well.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208726, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 183, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "156\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nmonastic temple are not the same at all. A monastery is a residence for monks or nuns usually not open to the public, whereas a monastic temple is usually a public worship hall built on the monastic premises, but open to outsiders. Of great importance here is the difference between the large monasteries and the hereditary temples controlled by a small number of monks (or nuns), as discussed by Holmes Welch (The Practice of Chinese Buddhism). Both types do not operate in the same manner, and although Welch's observations do not necessarily apply to Taiwan, the distinction has to be kept in mind. What is a 'bone temple' and how is it different from a pagoda? The term 'bone temple' is peculiar: does it mean that bones are stored in the temple hall? From my own field work experience, I know that there are pagodas in which urns are stored, containing the ashes of Buddhist devotees who have been cremated. Is such a pagoda a bone temple? The word 'bone' does not seem appropriate. In Buddhist temples I also have seen side altars with large numbers of name-tablets of Buddhist believers, but no ashes or bones are to be found in these places. So I do not quite understand what 'bone temple' refers to. Bones are often placed in large urns after cleaning them for second burial but as far as I know, they are then reburied in a graveyard.\n\nBesides this lack of precision of terms, some inaccuracies have to be pointed out. The author states (p. 114) that a monk by leaving home, eliminates the fundamental difference between his own ancestors and those of others. This enables him \"to perform many services which might not otherwise be possible...\" How is it then that Taoist priests, who are \"fire dwellers”, are able to perform the same services? Further, the author says that \"Because the monk has cut off his family ties, he becomes available as a surrogate descendant for others, and is able to take over their ancestral services. Because he has fundamentally broken the Confucian code of filiality, he needs not obey its sanctions against worshipping other people's ancestors.\" (p. 117). The two sentences are very distorted. The idea of causality, twice expressed by 'because' is a mere assumption and in fact unwarranted. The Buddhist monk shares these functions with Taoist priests and even with married Buddhist masters; moreover he does not become a surrogate descendant, he only performs the ancestral services in the place of the family, which is ultimately responsible. When families invite him to perform his services, it is not because he has broken the Confucian code: that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208728, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 185, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "158\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nAs I see the situation, Chinese temples can be grouped under various criteria, for instance, (i) religious affiliation; (ii) nature of deities enshrined; and (iii) ownership. Let us try this proposal and see how it works out.\n\n(i) Temples according to their religious affiliation:\n\nFirst, there are temples that must be considered as essentially Confucian: in Taiwan only a small number located in most of the district capitals: Taipei, Tainan, Tai-chung, Changhua, Hsinchu, Kaohsung, Hualien, Chiayi, Taitung. These are the temples erected in honor of Confucius himself. A number of temples enshrining Kuan Ti or other deities do not fall under this category.\n\nSecond, a great number of temples are distinctly Buddhist: they are built by the Buddhist community (monks and/or nuns) or by a distinctly Buddhist group of lay people or even by an individual Buddhist believer or Buddhist family. They enshrine Buddhas and/or bodhisattvas, and are in most cases attached to monastic establishments. Temples enshrining bodhisattvas Kuan-Yin or Ti-tsang are not necessarily of this type.\n\nThird, there are temples in Taiwan that may be called Taoist. Their numbers on the mainland tend to be much larger: they were in some cases attached to Taoist monastic institutions, just like their Buddhist counterparts. Taoist monasteries (as the author also mentions, p. 113) do not seem to exist in Taiwan nowadays (although a revival is taking place, e.g., the Tao Te Yuan in Kao-hsiung) but Taoist temples can still be recognized as such, although it is not easy to formulate practical criteria.\n\nNegative criteria are: temples designated as Taoist either in government publications and official lists or by the temple administration itself are not necessarily Taoist. In those cases \"Taoist\" temple means any temple which is not Confucian, Buddhist or ancestral. Furthermore, a Taoist temple is not necessarily one that enshrines Taoist deities (cf. Buddhist temples). Positively speaking, a Taoist temple is one founded and/or administered by a distinctly Taoist", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208730, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 187, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "160\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nThe third type of folk religious temples are the private temples other than ancestral halls (and distinct from privately owned temples of Buddhist or Taoist designation). Here perhaps the greatest confusion exists: the boundaries between these temples and other types are not well established and may change considerably as time goes on. Baity has well pointed out this nature of fluidity. What constitutes a private temple of this kind is their origin and control; although the gods enshrined may belong to any religious affiliation (Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, folk religion), and thus often are 'universalistic' gods, the fact that those temples are built and controlled by private individuals or families, makes them private rather than community temples. In many cases these temples are open to a limited public: either geographically (they then resemble neighbourhood temples) or by virtue of the worshippers they attract. A number of medium-temples are of that type. These temples are built for various reasons: sometimes just as a means to generate income (often in the case of medium-cults), but also from sincere devotion to a particular deity, e.g. as a result of a vow made in a time of emergency. In cases of a successful appeal to the public, these temples may be rebuilt on a larger scale and even be reorganized as community temples. Conversely, very often these smaller shrines lose their original stimulus and attraction, and may just become private home shrines. Like in other businesses, temples flourish and decline following the degree of success in gaining a clientele.\n\nA considerable number of private home shrines, called shen or discussed by Baity as 'tan', cannot be grouped under the category of private temples, since they are not temples at all. They are rather ‘offices' of various spiritual practitioners: Taoist priests (officially ordained or not), diviners of all sorts, women who merely practice 'spirit-restoration' rituals, and mediums.\n\nOne final sub-category of the folk religion temples may be designated as sectarian temples. These may be private, semi-private or even public, although in some cases the type of worshippers is restricted. Membership in these temples or cults is often restricted (and perhaps can be compared to membership in secret societies) and the emphasis of the cult is sectarian, that is limited to the cult of particular deities and/or to the practice of certain ritual activities, especially divinatory ritual. To give examples of this type from", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208732, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "162\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nare, of course, an enormous number of deities mentioned and described in Taoist ritual texts, of whom the common people do not even know the names. They belong to the esoteric tradition of Taoism and are only known to Taoist priests. But besides those, the majority of deities worshipped in the temples belong to the popular religion, although many border cases may exist of mutual absorption between the three traditional religions and the popular religion. Some of the most ‘popular' deities of Taiwan religion belong to the popular or community religion: examples are Matsu, Kuanti, the earth god(s), the Wang-Yeh gods, the city god(s), Prince Nat'o or T'ai-tzu, Pao-sheng ta-ti and even the so-called supreme god of Taoism, Yü-huang Ta-ti. A number of originally Taoist or Buddhist deities have been absorbed into the folk religion and have become part of it: Kuan-yin and Ti-tsang wang for the Buddhist side; the kitchen god, Yü-huang (Jade Emperor), the 8 Immortals for the Taoist side.\n\nAccording to the third criterium mentioned above, ownership of a temple, several categories exist greatly coinciding with the division based on the other two criteria. Temples may be government-owned (Confucian temples); owned by the local community on the neighborhood or town levels (these are the community temples); or privately owned, either by individuals, families, sectarian groups or monastic institutions.\n\nFinal sub-section of Chapter Three. After this long digression, I had better return to my book review. In this last part of Chapter Three the author discusses the 'genesis of temples'. Although strictly speaking there is a difference between temple and cult, between temple and deity worshipped in it, still the two should be discussed together. In fact there is a special chapter on the Genesis of Gods. However, since the author prefers to discuss the genesis of temples separately, we had better follow him. He distinguishes several ways of temple development:\n\n(A) by process of fen-shen or \"splitting bodies\" (p. 125). The reason of the spread and construction of new temples is the god's efficacy.\n\n(ii) by process of proselytization or a conscious effort on the part of the believers to spread the cult. This applies to Buddhist temples (and Christian churches).\n\n(iii) by transformation of a private home or temple into a community temple.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208734, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 191, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "164\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nSo far so good: I can agree with some factual statements expressed here but do not understand the logic of the author's reasoning, as, for instance, expressed in his conclusion (pp. 167-168);\n\n\"Life and death, and the idea of pollution and purity show a remarkable consistency in ordering the religious concepts of the Taiwanese, be they ordinary folk or priests. The fact that they apply equally to Buddhists and Taoists shows that there is an underlying reality behind the apparent diversity of the two religions. I would say that this is evidence that the distinction between life and death services is as analytically useful as the distinction between Taoism and Buddhism in trying to understand the manner in which the average Taiwanese townsman understands his religion.\"\n\nNot digressing about the curious statement about \"the apparent diversity of Buddhism and Taoism\", I'd like to point out that the author is trying to punch open doors. Here we come to the central theme of this book: the author has rejected the traditional three-fold division of Chinese religion as inadequate and unworkable, but overlooks the possibility that the popular religion is in fact a totally different entity. He does not have to prove that according to the folk religion the universe is divided into two realms: life and death, pure and impure. On the one hand, this division is part of their world view: on the other hand, it should not be over-emphasized; and equally the classification of temples based on ritual purity and impurity should not be over-emphasized either. Philosophically and historically speaking the author's \"thesis\" is very shaky. This chapter is full of inaccuracies and subtle distortions and, in my view, the conclusion built on them has no validity.\n\nFrom a philosophical viewpoint, the argument is weak. Although the author states that \"the symbolic universe of Taiwanese religion is too rich...\" and that he will examine only \"a few of its major features\" (p. 136), he does not fulfil his promise. He has not attempted to explain to us the general religious world view of Taiwan's folk religion. The yin and yang concepts are part of this, but are not the only major feature. Besides, even the yin-yang philosophy has not been treated well. He over-states the dichotomy whereas in Chinese philosophy there is no such strict dichotomy but rather polarity. As a result, he also over-states the dichotomy of pure and polluted, of life and death. At least the author should have explored\n\n!\n\nI", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208736, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 193, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "166\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\ncannot be touched by its defilements. The gods of the folk religion are seen as more human in this (and other) respects. They need worship and offerings for their continued existence. They are susceptible to dangers and impurities. This shows that these concepts have been created by the common people in a simple fashion. Neither the higher deities of Taoism nor the Buddhist Holy Ones share this vulnerability. Unless, perhaps, even here there is a wrong interpretation by the author. Is it correct to say that the gods can be polluted? I have some doubts. If gods are really efficacious, they do not have to fear human pollution, or pollution by evil spirits. I believe that gods are kept away from the presence of evil spirits as a sign of honour; it would be an insult to their sacredness (just as the common people are not brought into the presence of emperors). Wherever there is a special need of bringing the two together, as in cases of exorcism, the gods are called down to chase the evil spirits away. Why is that not polluting as well? In such cases, the element of irreverence is absent (as when criminals are brought into the presence of high mandarins for judgment and sentencing).\n\nThe same sense of respect for the hierarchical status is present in the chronomantic ordering of sacrifices. The higher the status of the gods, the earlier in the day they are served (p. 154).\n\nOn pp. 168-169, several confusions occur: Taoist priests are said to perform in Buddhist temples, while Buddhist monks are invited to Taoist temples. The examples cited do not warrant this, for the so-called Buddhist temple is not really a Buddhist temple, while the Matsu temples cited are not Taoist either. The author conveniently follows the official appellation from the gazetteers, which he has criticized in a previous chapter.\n\nOn p. 174, there is another example of 'sublime distortion'. The author tries to explain the folk saying that \"Taoists do not offer the service for feeding the hungry ghosts, and Buddhist monks do not offer the li-tou service\", already quoted on p. 165. Factual observations contradict the saying. The author's explanation is that “individual ancestral services such as chin-chu and chin-t'a are only offered... in \"Buddhist\" bone temples, and by Buddhist priests (p. 174), whereas the community temples do not allow this to take place: the god's purity must be safeguarded. First, the statement is incorrect as far as chin-chu services are concerned; these normally", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208738, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 195, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "168\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n\"the worship of Kuqn-yin is not unknown in Matsu temples either” (p. 185). This is a gross understatement: as I already mentioned, many famous Matsu temples (and perhaps even most) have a secondary hall dedicated to Kuan-yin.\n\nTo summarize my comments on Chapter IV: although there is a great amount of correct factual materials, their interpretation is rather shaky: a critical analysis undermines the author's theories. His neglect of a sound historical and philosophical basis leads him to many fallacies and contradictions.\n\nChapter V, \"Ritual Services in Temples\" (pp. 189-237) comes as a surprise: the author has already dealt with these services in Chapter IV. After a while it becomes clear that he now considers them from the aspect of generating income. The main thesis of this chapter, as I see it, is to point out that the two types of temples (here reduced to community temples and \"bone temples\") have each a different center of gravity in their ritual life; community temples, deriving their main income from li-tou rituals are oriented toward life, whereas the \"bone temples\" are death-oriented: their main source of revenue are the rituals for the dead. I do not understand what the author intends to prove: there is no need to prove the obvious: community religion is naturally oriented towards protection of the living and also naturally (but secondarily) tends to protect itself from evil influences, such as for instance the threats posed by revengeful ghosts. That Buddhism emphasizes services for the dead is both historically conditioned and a simplification. A great number of Buddhist temples have found in these services a means of livelihood, but there is more to Buddhism than being a national undertaker.\n\nOn p. 191, the author examines the income of a group of temples in the Tamsui-Peit'ou area. I wonder why he uses the \"official classification\" system: it is incorrect and totally misleading. For example, the Ch'ing shui Lung-shan temples are not Buddhist; the three Matsu temples are not Taoist, and the Hsing Tien T'ang is not really a Confucian temple.\n\nIn a previous context I have pointed out the author's strange sense of causality: another example is given on p. 196:\n\n\"Because the gods in the temples have well defined areas of control over which they extend their protective influences, par.\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208740, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 197, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "170\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nto the hungry gods\" (p. 235). This statement is contradicted by the custom of ending great festivals with a huge banquet offered to the ghosts: at the end of a chiao festival there always is this p’u-tu ritual. I have seen it performed as well at the conclusion of a temple consecration, of an installation of new deity statues, etc. I feel that the author over-states his case in order to strengthen his thesis.\n\nIn Chapter VI: \"The Genesis of Gods” (pp. 238-269), the author formulates a new theory of how the gods, or cult-symbols, are created by the community. Since the gods, per definition, are symbols of community cohesion, they must appeal to the community as a whole. Ancestors are naturally excluded as candidates, and so the author decides that \"gods evolved from hungry ghosts\" (p. 239). Such a theory comes as a shock: it goes against the grain of most religious traditions, in which candidates for sainthood and deification are chosen from among the highest models of virtue, reflecting ideals of human perfection to be imitated by all men. Here, however, gods are born on the \"garbage piles” of society; they are among the outcasts who have no known family, no known descendants. That this theory is at first alarming does not necessarily undermine its validity. However, before it can be accepted, we must carefully scrutinize it.\n\nFirst of all, it is clear that the author only talks about the deities of the community religion. A great number of \"supernatural” beings are therefore not included: for example: the higher gods of Taoism, the Buddhist Holy Ones; their genesis is quite different. Also excluded are the gods of the \"state religion\" of ancient times, still worshipped nowadays: Heaven, Earth, the nature gods like the spirits of thunder, of rain, of mountains and rivers, etc. These are rather personifications of natural phenomena. The author also excludes the Taoist immortals, although in legend and literature they are often close to the people. It seems therefore that only one group remains to develop into cult symbols, the hungry ghosts. The fact of their evil origins is later on camouflaged.\n\nA priori I do not see any serious reason to reject this theory even if it appears to be shocking. However, I want to see solid arguments brought forward. And I find that the author does not provide them, except for one case (see later). When the author takes up the Matsu cult as an example he undermines his own thesis when he says that it is possible that her cult \"began as the cult...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208742, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 199, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "172\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n\"If gods did have actual descendants, then it is clear that they could not serve the function which they do as foci of worship which goes beyond the Family.” (p. 240)\n\nTo clarify my a priori statement, let us examine the major gods of the author's research area (mentioned in Chapter I).\n\n✪ Matsu\n\n(ii) Shen-nung\n\n(iii) Kuan-yin\n\n(iv) K'ai-chang sheng-wang\n\n(v) Ch'ing-shui tsu-shih\n\n(vi) Ting-kuang Fo\n\n(vii) Cheng Ch'eng-kung (Koxinga)\n\n(viii) Kuang-tse tsun-wang\n\n(ix) Pao-sheng Ta-ti\n\n(x) Kuan-Ti\n\n(xi) The Wang-yeh gods\n\n(xii) The city gods\n\nNone of those can be proven to have developed from a “withered corpse\"; on the contrary, several of them were historical personages of much fame, who had been great leaders in their life-time and almost certainly led a normal life within a family. If a deceased person of great merit to the community cannot become a cult object because he has posterity, then by the same token, a great official cannot serve the community at large during his lifetime either. Family ties are not necessarily an obstacle either for government service or for cult formation. When people start worshipping a great person after his death, they do not worship him as an ancestor but as a great person who transcends the limitations of his family.\n\nAn example to show how the author confuses two ideas and uses them as the need arises is the case of the Buddha: as I already quoted from p. 252 above: many small gods but also major deities can be shown to have been spirits without descendants. Now, the author also draws the Buddhas and bodhisattvas into the series \"as exemplars of the same tradition of breaking the family tie\" (my underlining). Now, it is well-known that Buddha Sakyamuni had a son (not without descendants) but that he later on broke the family tie.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208744, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 201, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "174\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n44\n\nAnother incorrectness is found on p. 273:\n\n... at the level of the town, the cult of the local people and the cult of the Confucian officialdom merged imperceptibly into one and the same figure that of the City God.\" This is a quite questionable statement: in many towns the City God temple is not the main deity of the community at all: Matsu is an example, Kuan-yin another one. I admit that officialdom made great efforts to positively control the community cults and promoted the City God temples, but I'd rather like to see examples of townships where his cult has become the main focus of worship. Moreover, City Gods do not seem to have arisen from so-called \"hungry ghosts\" but are rather deified men of great merit. The genesis of these gods does not fit in with the author's theory of deity formation.\n\nIn the latter part of Chapter 7, the author discusses cult leadership. There are several forms or patterns (i) the rotating pattern: all the heads of households in turn become \"stove-master\". (I'd prefer to call him 'incense-master', since in the Chinese term lu-chu the word lu means 'stove' in some contexts, but here it means incensor or incense container); (ii) election by divination (casting the divining blocks), usually for a limited term; (iii) appointment of a committee and chairman and often of a temple manager. Here the author is not clear as to how the appointments are made. If committees appoint chairmen and managers, by whom are the committees appointed? Very often larger temples elect wealthy local businessmen or politicians to their committee, and even in smaller temples local leaders often serve on the temple committee. Wealthy and influential personalities are hoped to guarantee the good luck of a temple in more than one way.\n\nIt is now time to recapitulate the main themes of the whole book: to point out its merits and its shortcomings. First of all, the book starts off with some kind of ambiguity concerning what the author's real objective is. On p. 1 he announces his intention as \"to develop a new analytical model to account for certain features of belief and behavior in Taiwanese temple cults, and to provide a classificatory framework for temple types in urban Taiwan\"; in particular he wishes to examine certain aspects of \"community religion\". What those \"certain aspects\" entail is not clear, but an indication is given when author says that his \"major goal is to classify temples”, (p. 4). On the other hand, he also seems to aim at revealing \"the systematic nature of the folk beliefs\" (p. 4), which", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208746, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRESENT-DAY TAIWAN: A PRELIMINARY REPORT'\n\nJULIAN F. PAS*\n\nThis report is a preliminary attempt to describe and interpret the present-day religious situation in Taiwan. It is based on my personal field work observations and data collected in Taiwan during 1977-78 (ca. 12 months); but is supplemented by a great variety of recent publications both in Chinese and in Western languages. The reason why Taiwan was chosen as the observation field is practical and has nothing to do with political viewpoints or preferences. Besides, it is my belief that the religious practices observed in Taiwan reflect, if not the whole of China, at least a large area of South China, where many of the modern Taiwan practices actually originated. We may here apply the saying that many people in Taiwan quoted to me when discussing their religions: Ta-t'ung hsiao-yi ★ identity in the main lines, with variations in detail. However, oversimplification would not do justice to the complex situation. The picture, indeed, is complex but significant: its complexity will be shortly discussed; its significance is manifest from the fact that Taiwan, although the smallest province of China, has maintained and developed religious practices which once were observed on the mainland but have probably become extinct there. Who knows, whether these practices flourishing today in Taiwan are perhaps also an “endangered species”?\n\nFor the time being, however, religious life in Taiwan is flourishing as perhaps never before. The situation is hard to describe and interpret to its full extent. This report mainly reflects my own experiences and is therefore by its very nature limited and perhaps, occasionally biased.\n\nMy report consists of three parts: first I shall point out and analyse various reasons of complexity; secondly, discuss one by one the participants on the religious scene; and in the third place attempt to pinpoint, by process of induction and by intuition, some of the major characteristics of modern Chinese religion as practised in Taiwan.\n\n* Dr. Pas is Associate Professor, Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208748, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 205, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "178\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nin Western languages but also in Chinese and Japanese. Many of the writings are hardly known in the West: they include an enormous output of 'morality books' published by temples where there is a divination writing cult. There is, moreover, an abundance of books and articles in related areas, such as anthropology, ethnology and folk-lore, but also a staggering number of works on magico-religious ideas and practices: divination, geomancy, palmistry, astrology, fate-calculation and magic. Add to these the great number of journals and monthlies of various calibre published by scholars, priests, devotees, and temple-committees and one can see that the word complexity is justified. The economic prosperity of Taiwan has evidently influenced the booming of religious literature: the ancient custom of printing edifying texts for the benefit of others in order to increase one's own merits is nowadays no longer beyond the means of many people.\n\n(e) There is, finally, an ever-growing visibility of religious life in Taiwan: new temples and monasteries of various affiliations are built, old ones are repaired, restored, and/or refurnished at great expense. Large festivals, such as the ritual of community or cosmic renewal, are organized with more pomp and greater frequency than ever before. Not only humans are enjoying more prosperity: the gods share the economic progress with better housing, richer food and money offerings and better quality incense.\n\nBesides the officially recognized temples, i.e. those registered at the city hall, department of religion, (approximately 5,000 on the island), there is a growing number of private temples, usually housing a medium-cult: their importance in the community seems to be on the increase.\n\nThe above mentioned five complexities are not exhaustive although they should not deter the researcher from doing more careful field work. They serve here as an excuse for the incompleteness and many inadequacies of my report. Although the validity of the old-fashioned division of Chinese religion into three has recently been the object of doubts and criticism,3 I am still going to use this traditional framework with an important addition: the folk-religion. Very often the distinctions between these four are blurred but there is at least a minimum degree of identity in each of the four, which makes a distinction along these old lines not only useful but very appropriate, if not necessary.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208750, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "180\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nby nearly 7,500 monks and nuns.” (A study published in 1971 says that between 40 and 46 percent of Taiwan's population affiliated themselves with Buddhism.)6\n\nAs usually these statistics have to be handled with care and as the word \"Taoist\" has become a \"source of perplexity\", so are the words \"Buddhism\" and “Buddhists” often used in a very unorthodox manner. Buddhism is most easily to be recognized as such in the monastic institutions: Buddhist temples, monasteries and pagodas (sometimes built as storage places for urns or so-called \"bone-temples\") are clearly distinct from all other temples and shrines with some exceptions. Monks and nuns are living a celibate life; most of them are engaged in making a living by performing rituals for the dead, either at private homes (funeral rites) or at their own temple. Apparently very few are practicing ch'an-meditation. Some informants told me that there is no exclusive ch'an-center in the whole of Taiwan.\n\nAn important distinction seems to be necessary when discussing Buddhism in Taiwan: clerical vs. lay Buddhism. The former is related to the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China and is well organized. Visually it is very flourishing with many recent constructions of new temples. But, according to serious lay Buddhists, this whole movement is rather external: it emphasizes superficial rituals and often caters to the needs of the folk religion. An example is the performance of p'u-tu rituals (rites of ‘universal salvation') now almost identified with folk religion and equally performed by Taoist priests.\n\nLay Buddhism, on the other hand, is a smaller movement but makes great efforts to deepen the understanding of the orthodox principles of Buddhism; instead of being devotional, it tends to be more philosophical. It attracts a great number of university students: each campus in Taiwan has a local Buddhist association with regular study and discussion sessions.\n\nSome important centers of clerical Buddhism are: Kaohsiung, Fo-kuang shan, and Yang-ming-shan; Institute of Buddhist Studies (established in 1965 by the Institute of Chinese Culture). A very active center of lay-Buddhism is located in Tai-chung directed by a 90-year-old lay-Buddhist, Li Ping-nan.\n\nThese two types of Buddhism try in different degrees to dissociate themselves from the folk-religion and should therefore be seen as a distinct religious system.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208752, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 209, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "182\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nBoth the Buddhists and Taoists are publishing books and monthly magazines to make their religion accessible to serious lay people; examples are the Journal of Buddhist Culture,11 imitated by its counterpart Journal of Taoist Culture.12 Besides these two, there are a great number of other monthlies.13\n\n(d) Folk Religion\n\nI believe that Chinese folk religion is the heart of religious life in Taiwan (and China). Although it has greatly borrowed from all the other systems, it has to be regarded as a distinct system in its own right, already in existence before the rise of the historical traditions of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. In the course of the centuries, it has absorbed a great deal of their teachings and has thus been enriched considerably, but it still cannot simply be identified with any of the three. This does not mean that it is a well-organized and homogeneous system. To postulate a well-rounded and logically constructed system for the folk religion does not agree with the real facts. If one were to ask what the religious beliefs and practices of the Chinese people are, the answer would have to start with the folk religion, making exceptions for the relatively few who are purely and exclusively Buddhist or Taoist (also excepting those who have no religious beliefs any longer).\n\nWhat the majority of the people believe in and practice circles around two areas of major concern: the family (clan) and the local community. These two social organizations determine their religious practices and also, to a greater or lesser degree, control their religious beliefs.\n\n(i) Family: the family lineage is characterized by the cult of the ancestors and some select deities.14 The practice of ordinary ancestral worship at the home shrine is rather stereotyped: depending on the degree of religious fervor of individuals, rituals are performed with lesser or greater regularity and abundance of offerings. But a minimum practice in all families, even in the cities, is the devotions performed at the home shrine two times a month: on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. Daily offerings of incense are also often performed, but not in all homes.\n\nThe extraordinary ancestral cult consists of rituals of passage, especially those observed at funerals, and these are often focused on geomancy and second burial. These customs are still very seriously maintained by a large section of the population.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208754, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 211, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "184\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nusually built by the people of the local community by means of public subscription. Consequently, they are ruled by a locally selected committee headed by a chairman. Although on special occasions Taoist priests or Buddhist monks and nuns are invited to perform the appropriate rituals, still, these priests are outsiders and have no authority in running the temple affairs. They are paid for their services and once the rituals are over, they return home or to their own temple.16\n\nA large number of (smaller) temples in the cities and in the countryside have their own mediums, used by the locally worshipped gods. Their function in the local community varies, but is often very significant for the well-being of the whole group or of individual families.\n\nEach temple has its own yearly celebration (paipai) and occasionally a grandiose sequence of rituals: the chiao (rite of cosmic renewal). The latter takes place more often nowadays: some temples have it every 5 years. Many (usually smaller) temples organize yearly pilgrimages (chin-hsiang) to their mother-temple. Large temples, on the other hand, specialize in receiving these groups and have built accommodation facilities for their numerous pilgrims.\n\nBesides these special temple rituals, people may go and visit the temple at will. Some days there are numerous visitors (1st and 15th day of the month); at other times, the noise of falling divination blocks is only rarely heard in the shrine. The worship performed by individuals is standardized and appears as a purely ritualistic performance. Not often one sees people kneeling down and concentrated in mental prayer.\n\nTemple visits very often include consultations of the temple oracles or a person-to-person interview with a divination specialist having a small desk on the temple premises.\n\nAlthough the rise of an industrial society has greatly influenced all aspects of life in Taiwan, religious life in the countryside and in many urban centers still involves the whole local population. However, in many city temples, temple activities continue to flourish, but the people involved in worship are not necessarily living in the neighbourhood. The devotees of a Buddhist temple may be spread out in an even wider area: they visit the temples of their choice rather than the one that happens to be their own community temple.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208756, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 213, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "186\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nTaiwanese religion, as well as with regard to Chinese religion in general, is its magico-religious character. Magic and religion are usually sharply opposed to each other in Western studies of anthropology, and theoretically it is possible to differentiate two attitudes toward the 'supernatural' or the numinous: an attitude of worship, humility, supplication which is characteristic in the Christian religion; and an attitude of control, manipulation of supernatural powers, which are seen as either personal or impersonal. That these two attitudes do exist in actuality is generally accepted, but what is often overlooked is that this differentiation derives from the Western tradition, which has rejected magic as inferior, if not evil. Non-western religions and even many aspects of Western religion are affected by a mixed attitude in which supplication almost imperceptibly switches to manipulation and vice versa, with a wide range of intermediate or mixed attitudes. The Chinese model is an example in which the clear-cut division of magic vs religion does not fit. Chinese worshippers and priests (especially Taoist priests) appear to relate to their gods in a way similar to their relationships toward human beings. A great variety of approaches exists in both: from humbly asking favours, or impatiently and stubbornly imploring help, all the way to force, threats and even bribery. All depends on one's own relationship to the person from whom a favour is asked. Humans relate to their gods in all these many ways, depending on their own position and relationship to the god. A Taoist priest is able to summon deities; his rank in the hierarchy is higher or lower exactly depending on the number and the rank of the deities he is able to summon. When he wishes to implore divine blessings on the people, he worships the gods but also summons them, after offering lavish sacrifices to them. This is neither a 'religious' nor a purely 'magical' approach (in terms of the given definition) but it is a mixed attitude in which both elements are inseparable. The term 'magico-religious', although not always enthusiastically accepted, seems to be the most suitable and accurate expression of this complex reality. One could of course also use the term 'sacramental' as an epithet for Chinese religion, but since this word has been so intimately linked with Christian, especially Roman Catholic theology, a great deal of clarification is needed to justify its acceptance.\n\nA second characteristic, related to the first one, but still distinct enough to differentiate it, is the human aspect of Chinese religion.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208758, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 215, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "188\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\ned for the happy state of the dead themselves, its objective is to obtain various worldly benefits through the ancestor's intervention.\n\nIt 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.\n\nAll 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.\n\nA 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", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208760, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 217, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "190\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nbe followed. In other words, for the average Chinese, religion is a socially important value system to make for a smooth functioning of human relationships as much as it is a method to obtain divine favours to increase the effectiveness of human efforts toward the realization of a happy life.\n\nEND-NOTES\n\n1 This paper was first presented at the joint panel of the CASA and the CSSR on Chinese Religion at the Conference of the Learned Societies in Saskatoon, May 1979.\n\n2 Compare the five-volume work written by J. J. M. de Groot: The Religious System of China; although it is mainly based on his field work done in Amoy, it is considered to be a standard work on Chinese religion in general.\n\n3 See P. C. Baity, Religion in a Chinese Town (Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, no. 64), Taipei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1975. (See my review article pp. of this issue).\n\n4 See various ceremonial and memorial booklets issued by the Municipal Government of Taipei, Tainan and Taichung, e.g., Ta-ch'eng chih-sheng hsien-shih K'ung-tzu shih-tsun chien-shuo, Taipei, 1974, Ta-ch'eng chih-sheng hsien-shih K'ung-tzu shih-tsun chien-chieh (Memorial Service for Confucius on his Birthday), Taichung, 1977.\n\n5 See Y. Raguin, S.J., \"Buddhism in Taiwan\", pp. 179-185 in H. Dumoulin, ed. Buddhism in the Modern World, London, New York: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1976.\n\n6 Questions and Answers about the Republic of China (Taipei: Chung-hua Information Service, 1978), p. 17.\n\n7 W. L. Grichting, The Value System in Taiwan 1970: A Preliminary Report. Taipei, 1971. (Quoted by Y. Raguin).\n\n8 See for example Taiwan Tzu-miao ch'uan-chi, Ed. by Wang I-han, Taichung Luan-yu Journal Society, 1977. Lists of local temples issued by municipal governments follow the same pattern. However, the more scholarly but antiquated list published in the Taiwan Gazetteer and adopted by Lin Heng-tao divides the temples into three main groups: Taoist, Buddhist, folk-religion (t'ung-su).\n\n9 See Lin Heng-tao, Taiwan Szu-miao Ta-ch'uan, Taipei: Ch'ing-wen Publishing Company, 1974.\n\n10 See M. Saso \"The Taoist Tradition in Taiwan\", China Quarterly No. 41 (1970), 83-102.\n\n11 M. Saso, \"Red-Head and Black-Head: the Classification of the Taoists of Taiwan according to the Documents of the 61st Heavenly Master,\" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (Taipei), 30 (1970).\n\n12 See H. Welch, \"The Chang T'ien-shih and Taoism in China\", Journal of the Oriental Society 4 (1957-58), 188-212.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208853, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "# CONTENTS\n\nPage\n\nviii\n\nPresident's Report\n\nx\n\nTREASURER'S REPORT\n\nxvi\n\nLIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nxviii\n\nARTICLES :\n\n1\n\nChinese monasteries, temples, shrines and altars in Hong Kong and Macau - KEITH G. STEVENS\n\n34\n\nPersistence and preservation of Hakka culture in an urban situation : a preliminary study of the voluntary association of the Waichow Hakka in Hong Kong - JIANN HSIEH\n\n54\n\nThe Hong Kong riots of October 1884: evidence for Chinese nationalism? - Lewis M. CHERE\n\n66\n\nSilk and silver: Macau, Manila and Trade in the China seas in the sixteenth century - JOHN VILLIERS\n\n81\n\nFung Shui, an intrinsic way of environmental design, illustrated by the case of Kat Hing Wai in the New Territories of Hong Kong - David Lung\n\n93\n\nSymbolism of the new light - JULIAN F. PAS\n\n116\n\nRediscovering our social and cultural heritage in the New Territories - BARBARA E. Ward\n\n125\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nA Hakka wedding in Hong Kong - VALERIE Garrett\n\n129\n\nChina and the Beholder - HOLMES WELCH\n\n133\n\nChinese religious involvement with Islam - KEITH STEVENS\n\n134\n\nMore about the Tung Lung fort - ANTHONY SIU\n\n136\n\nDistribution of temples on Lantau Island - ANTHONY SIU\n\n139\n\nThe Kowloon walled city - ANTHONY SIU\n\n141\n\nTuen Mun from Chinese historical records - ANTHONY SIU\n\n145\n\nIs Chun Fa Lok the old name for Tsing Yi — ANTHONY SIU\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208963, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 125, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT\n\nFurther researches into Taoist Liturgy: suggested by a comparison between the Taoist Fen-Teng Ritual and the Christian Consecration of the Easter Candle\n\nJULIAN F. PAS*\n\nLight symbolism in its various dimensions is like an archetype; together with water symbolism it is one of the most frequently recurring themes in religious and anthropological literature. In dualistic systems there is sometimes a sharp distinction between light and darkness. Light is seen as the emanation of the divine; it is the symbol of goodness, purity and life. Darkness is the symbol of evil, the diabolical, the impure and death. In Chinese dualism, which is not so radically polarized, light is of yang quality, while darkness is yin. Divine spirits live in the yang world, whereas the \"souls\" of the deceased go to the nether world of yin before they are eventually returned to the world of the living through transmigration.\n\nAlthough in Taoist philosophy, yin and yang are not strictly identified with evil and good respectively, the popular belief system has made this identification: why, how and when is not easy to discover. But in the popular conception, yin represents the world of the dead, and since death is feared by people, yin has become a symbol of evil powers which threaten man's life and vitality. Yang, on the contrary, has become a symbol of goodness: yang is life and should be nourished and increased, so that both individual and society may reach fullness of life, that is a full span of life, and in the case of Taoist adepts unusual longevity or even immortality.\n\nAlthough light symbolism can be discussed from many different viewpoints, I wish to isolate one particular theme, found in two apparently unrelated liturgical traditions which not only present us with an example of some broad parallelism but actually are very similar to each other, both in meaning and in their concrete ritual expression. The first example is the Fen-teng ritual of the Taoist religion; the second example consists of the consecration of the Easter Candle.\n\n* Dr. Pas is a member of the Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208964, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 126, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "94\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nthe new fire and the Easter Candle performed in the Roman Catholic Church on the eve of Easter Sunday. After discussing these two rituals separately, I shall conclude with some comments of a comparative nature.\n\n1. The Fen-Teng Ritual in Taoism\n\nThis ritual called fen-teng in Chinese, can be literally translated as “division of lamp(s)” or the “distribution of lamps\". \"Teng\" by itself means \"lamp\", or \"lantern\", and designates not so much the light produced by the lamp or lantern, but the object which contains the light. The expression fen-teng is not often translated by Western authors: usually the term is just transliterated. But sometimes there are attempts to render the term in translation. E.g. M. Saso: \"Lighting lamps to the Three Pure Ones\", which is not strictly a translation but a meaningful although partial description of the significance of the rite. Another rendering, not of the literal sense but again of the meaning, is \"Lighting of the New Fire\"2: this translation is not based on the Chinese expression fen-teng but indicates one of the fundamental meanings of the ritual. It comes actually closer to another Chinese expression sometimes used for the same rite: chu-teng3, which literally means: 'blessing' or 'consecration of the lamp(s)'.\n\nThe fen-teng ceremony does not appear to be an independent ritual but seems always to be performed in the context of a larger celebration, called chiao or ta-chiao, which is variously translated as \"ritual of cosmic renewal\", \"the great community festivals”, “great propitiatory rites\", or \"Taoist Mass\"7. So far there is only one monograph on the fen-teng ritual in a Western language: K. M. Schipper's Le Fen-teng. Ritual Taoiste. Apart from this well presented critical text edition, there are only minor treatments of the fen-teng ceremony included in monographs on the chiao festival as a whole: M. Saso's Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal is so far the only monograph in English on the chiao, and he just briefly discusses the fen-teng ceremony. Chinese scholars have also started to pay attention to this great Taoist event: two monographs are now available in Chinese by Liu Chih-wan9. It is remarkable that for the two different occasions Mr. Liu describes the chiao festival, he does not use the terminology used by Schipper and Saso, but calls the rite chu-teng or 'blessing of the lamp(s)'. One wonders where and when this variant designation", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208966, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "96\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\ngo outside where new fire is \"taken\" (the method how fire is “taken\" is not further explained by Schipper); a torch is lit and carried inside the temple; with it the high-priest lights three new candles in front of him (ca. 6′ 45′′);\n\n(iii) the new light is offered to the Three Pure Ones in turn: each time one lit candle is carried and placed in front of the three shrines at the north side of the temple. (ca. 7'),\n\n(iv) the ritual of fen-teng proper: five torches are lit and carried by the five priests: in procession through the temple they light all the candles previously extinguished. (ca. 4′).\n\n(v) conclusion: chanting (ca. 1'30'),\n\nThe whole ritual lasts about 24 minutes. It is immediately, almost without any transition, followed by the two other mentioned rituals.\n\nThe highlights of this fen-teng ritual are obviously the striking of new light, the offering of the newly lit candles to the Three Pure Ones and the lighting of all the other candles in the temple. The term chu-teng, used by Liu Chih-wan refers to the first act, whereas the usual term fen-teng points to the last and third act.\n\nTwo major problems remain, however, unsolved: the meaning of this ritual and its origin. The two can hardly be separated and are here discussed together.\n\nSince the term fen-teng does not adequately express the deeper meaning of such a ritual, we have to analyze the phenomenological structure of the whole ritual and see if the ritual act in itself contains its own significance. Schipper's report gives us the necessary data, but does not go beyond an external description. Saso, although only just briefly, points out some essential aspects of meaning:\n\n\"The first ritual act is the famous Fen Teng, or lighting of all the lamps of the temple with a new fire kindled with the \"flames of the sun,\" or pure Yang. The ritual is, in effect, a reading of the forty-second chapter of the Lao-tzu describing the protogenesis of the myriad creatures.\n\nA new fire is lit outside the T'an area by striking a match. Two torches dipped in lamp oil are lighted with the new fire, and brought into the sacred T'an area. The action symbolizes taking fire from the \"Great Yang\", the sun, and relighting the lamps of the temple. Thus the light of new Yang is seen to renew", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208968, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "98\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nwords. The Ch'ing-ming festival, now usually seen as a festival to commemorate the dead, was in its origin a celebration of spring: all the fires, including the kitchen fires, had to be extinguished in the country; only cold food was used for two or three days. On the third day, new fire was struck, and the spring festival taking place was called “pure” and “bright”: the new fire was pure since taken directly from the source of light, the sun, and bright since it symbolized the growing strength of sunlight that was on the increase after the equinox. This interpretation of the Ch'ing-ming makes better sense than the more usual and popular explanation.14 Although the old name was retained, the meaning of the festival shifted at a later time, probably due to Buddhist influence.\n\nDe Groot sees this relighting of the fires in ancient China as a parallel with the Easter festival and with similar celebrations taking place in the ancient world, where every year the god's ritual death was followed by his resurrection:\n\nAll those legends speaking of death and resurrection, all those feasts passing from mourning to the most exuberant joy have all had one only purpose: the symbolical reproduction of the history of the sun's light and of the phases through which it passes on earth. What one worshipped was this sacred fire of Nature, which is the soul, the life of the universe, and which finds itself engaged in an ever recurring struggle against the god of Darkness, of Death, which exerts itself incessantly to obstruct it in its dispensation of benefits to man. The most significant of all the phases in this solar cycle is the one when the sun reaches the spring equinox, celebrates its victory over darkness and the days grow longer than the nights. The whole earth then starts a new life.15\n\nWhereas in many societies the god's death and resurrection was thus ritually enacted, the Chinese example is characterized by a more rationalistic, naturalistic tendency: the object of the cult was not a particular god for whom a new name was created, but was the sun itself, as one of the heavenly bodies without strong supernatural overtones.\n\nThat this ancient custom might have inspired the Taoist priesthood to introduce it in their own rituals is not unlikely. The relationship between imperial sacrifices, Buddhist rituals, and Taoist practices is not an exception: the eclectic nature of Taoism has", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208970, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "100 \n\nJULIAN F. PAS \n\nin the understanding of faith and ritual, its essential characteristics transcend time and remain unchanged: the re-enactment of the divine salvation work performed by its Founder, Jesus Christ, in order to let people of all times and places participate in the fruits of redemption. This central concept has been liturgically expressed in rituals that are often symbolic, and more often, sacramental. Whereas the essence of theological content is believed to be eternal, its manifestations in time can be numerous and changeable.\n\nThe liturgical year develops round the major themes of the life of Jesus: his nativity and manifestation to the world, his passion, crucifixion and resurrection and finally, his effusion of the Holy Spirit who continues the work of sanctifying grace in the Church. Although this theme is one of uniqueness when compared to the other world religions, the celebration of the resurrection, which is central in Christianity, can easily be seen as a parallel found in many other traditions. The occurrence of Easter in early spring is phenomenologically related to the spring equinox, celebrated in various ways throughout antiquity. Without denying the uniqueness of meaning inherent in the Christian liturgy, it is striking to find that a pre-existing pattern, almost like an archetype, has been adapted to the new faith of Christianity.\n\nThe consecration of new fire on Easter Eve, from which the Easter candle is lit, is a concrete example of the Church's adaptation of old rituals and customs to a new belief system. Although this particular ritual act seems to be rather simple in its structure, there are various levels of meaning that have been superimposed on it. In its primitive significance, the ritual may be a borrowing from the old Roman custom of keeping a sacred fire burning in the temple of Vesta.19 In the early times of the Christian Church, everyday before the Vesper service, a light was struck from a flint: this new light was used to light candles and lamps during the vesper service, and was kept burning until vespers of the following day:\n\nThe Church of Rome observed this custom with great solemnity on Maundy Thursday morning, and the new fire received a special blessing. We learn, from a letter written in the eighth century by Pope St. Zachary to St. Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, that three lamps were lighted from this fire, which were then removed to some safe place, and care taken that their fire was kept burning. It was from these lamps that the light for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208972, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "102\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nPour forth, we beseech thee, O almighty God, thy abundant blessing on this lighted candle23 and behold, O invisible regenerator, the brightness of this night: that not only the sacrifice that is offered this night may shine by the secret mixture of thy light; but also into whatever place anything of this mysterious sanctification shall be brought, there, by the power of thy majesty, all the malicious artifices of the devil may be defeated. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.24\n\nAfter this prayer the deacon, who has changed from purple to white ritual garments, receives the consecrated Easter candle. A procession is formed and proceeds toward the church, which is now in total darkness. Upon entering the church building, the deacon sings aloud: \"The light of Christ.\" to which all present respond, kneeling: \"Thanks be to God\". Then the officiating priest lights his own candle from the blessed Easter candle. A second time, in the middle of the church, the deacon sings in a higher tone: \"The Light of Christ!\", and all the clergy present light their candles. Finally arriving in front of the altar, a third intonation of \"The light of Christ!\" is followed by the lighting of the candles of all those present. The lights in the church are also switched on. The Easter candle is then placed on a standard in the middle of the choir and after the usual ritual of incensing, the deacon, standing in front of the Easter candle, intones the beautiful hymn “Exsultet”.\n\nThis whole series of ritual acts is rich in symbolism and this has been pointed out by Christian authors. For the people attending, the symbolism provides an immediate experience in which they intuitively grasp the significance and the solemnity of the Easter events. From a critical viewpoint, however, several layers of symbolism can be discovered: the inner structure of the ritual, although overlaid with later essentially Christian meanings, points toward its ancient roots in pre-Christian times: the taking of new fire as a renewal ceremony. The first adaptation, also pre-Christian, was to see in this act a symbolical victory of the powers of light and goodness over the powers of darkness and evil. The second adaptation, made by the Christian church, was to identify light with Jesus Christ, who after having been overcome by the powers of darkness, triumphs again by his resurrection. However, since the Christian tradition has been partially grafted on the rich heritage of Judaism, it is no surprise that we find in the Easter celebration several themes reminiscent of the Jewish Passover. The texts of the Christian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208974, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 136, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "104\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n(1) The names fen-teng or chu-teng appear to have replaced an older name jan-teng which is found in older manuscripts, dating from the fifth century.28 The change of name to fen-teng appears in the later manuscripts (Sung dynasty) and must have a special reason: the name indicates the significance of the rite as a whole; a new name implies a new meaning perhaps not totally replacing the old one, but certainly emphasizing a new theme in the structure.\n\nSimilarly the name chu-teng points to a new perspective in meaning. It is not clear where this name came from, but ‘blessing’ or 'consecrating' fire-light appears to be an innovation in Taoist liturgy. The Christian parallel is very clear: 'blessing' of light, like so many other types of blessing, is a truly Christian ritual act; in the texts of the Easter candle the terms 'sanctify' and 'bless' occur several times.29 By contrast, no type of \"benediction\" or blessing is found in the Chou-Li. The idea and even the expression \"fen-teng\" is also found in the Christian ritual: during the Exsultet chanted by the deacon, this passage occurs:\n\nAnd now we perceive the glory of this pillar, which the sparkling fire lights for the honour of God. Which, (fire) though now divided (divisus in partes) suffers no loss from the communication of its light.30\n\nBefore the Easter liturgy was changed in recent times, this was the moment when the lights in the church (the lamps or candles in older times) were lit from the Easter candle: the very moment of fen-teng.\n\n(ii) The actual striking of new fire is amazingly similar in the Taoist and Christian liturgies: in contrast with the Chou Li where light was said to be taken directly from the sun with a mirror (and therefore presumably in bright daylight), the rituals here both take place in the hours of darkness. In M. Saso's description, \"striking a match\" produces the new fire:31 this, however, is certainly a modern adaptation, and since a mirror cannot be used at night, we may assume that the striking of rocks must have produced a new fire in older times.\n\nThe similarities go even further: the new fire is produced outside the temple or church building in both cases; also, the lights in temple and church are extinguished and are relit after the new fire has been taken inside.\n\n(iii) The Trinitarian formula. In the Christian liturgy, there are three successive moments of lighting a candle during the en-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208976, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 138, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "106\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nTherefore we next light a lamp in front of the Primordial Old One (Lao Tzu Heavenly Worthy) to clarify (signify) the proceeding and descent of the Third Ch'i from the Original August One,34\n\nThe parallelism between the Taoist and the Christian Triad or Trinity should be left out of the discussion here; what is significant in this context, however, is how the trinitarian formula in each case is used in the new-light ceremony. Another, minor, detail is the raising of the chanting tone in the two cases: the deacon chants “Lumen Christi” three times in successively higher intonations; the Taoist “deacon” or tu-chiang, repeats three times the phrase chanted by the high-priest, elevating his tone of voice.\n\n(iv) The liturgical procession. After the new light has been struck and carried into the temple, a procession takes place in which Taoist high-priest and all his assistants participate. The Christian version is a little different: the new light, struck outside the sanctuary, is carried into the darkened church during a procession in which all those present participate. Although the details differ, the main ritual event of a light-procession is strikingly similar.\n\n(v) The context of both rituals leaves considerable room for speculation. Although in the case of the Taoist fen-teng, the ritual context has become rather obscure, still, a careful analysis of this context may open up new avenues of interpretation. The context in question are two rituals which in the present chiao celebration, as witnessed in Taiwan, as well as in the older ritual texts derived from China, seem always to follow the fen-teng. These two rituals, already mentioned above (p.95) are: the \"rolling up of the screen\" and the “sounding of bell and chime”.35 It appears that the connection between these two and the fen-teng is rather uncertain and is probably not older than the Sung dynasty. As M. Saso mentions, not all Taoist priests perform the ritual at the same time or in the same ritual context.36 In other words, the phenomenological significance of these two rituals is not obvious and new speculations are possible. If again the Christian Easter rituals are called upon, it is possible to come up with a plausible interpretation of the three ritual acts as a whole: the Christian Easter celebrations contain indeed three similar rituals of which the relationship is clearly understandable. Although the historical links are still left out of the discussion here, the very structure of the Christian ritual may throw light on its Taoist counterpart and help us to understand the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208978, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 140, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "108\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nThis \"Sounding of the Bell and Chime\" provides a stronger parallel with the Christian Easter celebration. In its present form40 its significance is purely Taoist: the bell signifies the powers of yang and the precious stone the powers of yin; their sounding together symbolizes the union of yin and yang in their cosmic interaction and creative productivity. Still, the instruments as such do not necessarily have an intrinsic symbolical value, their striking can also easily be seen as an expression of joy.\n\nTherefore the inner or phenomenological significance of the three Taoist rituals as they are now performed in succession cannot be clearly understood. Each separately has been invested with Taoist meaning but their linking together is problematic. Seen in the light of the Christian Easter celebration, their meaning becomes transparent and naturally raises the question of the possibility of historical influence.\n\n4. Hypothesis and Conclusion\n\nThe occurrence of new light symbolism in many different religious traditions, of which only two have been discussed, may lead to a double conclusion: first, the ritual itself, in its primordial significance, i.e., the celebration of the life-giving force of the sun, returning to a victorious course at the spring equinox, must be seen as an archetype, and can thus be fully explained as an independent phenomenon in each major tradition. This first conclusion, however, does not preclude the possibility of real influence as well, and this is a second conclusion: the hypothesis of a historical Christian influence on the Taoist fen-teng ceremony.\n\nIt is generally recognized that Chinese religion is eclectic or syncretistic in nature and various examples have been cited to illustrate this view. When it comes to pinpoint concrete cases of influence, it often happens that these examples are rather vague and not specific enough. One reason is that historic influences are usually not directly mentioned in the literature and that the specific points of contact are so well assimilated by the borrowing party, that all visible traces practically disappear. In other cases, however, there is enough visible evidence to point out specific influences. Many Taoist writings could be cited as examples of direct borrowings from the Buddhist literature: not only in terminology but also in particular concepts.41", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208980, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "110\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\na transliteration from the Syriac. If this is correct, it would provide serious evidence of historical contacts between Taoism (Lü Tung-pin) and Nestorianism.\n\nHowever, besides the doubt concerning the actual language of these stanzas, another difficulty lies in some of the terminology used in the transcription of Syriac: in the stanzas quoted, the Chinese transliteration of 'Jesus' is I-sha-ho. Although a variety of Chinese characters may be used to transliterate the same foreign terms or expressions, some doubt can be expressed in this case, since in other Nestorian texts, translated into Chinese, the more common transliteration for 'Jesus' is I-shu #(a) or I-shu **(b).45 Therefore, since the presence and meaning of these enigmatic verses remain so far unsolved, it is premature to conclude to a positive Nestorian influence.\n\nLü Tung-pin's possible contacts with Nestorianism are not limited to these verses. Although he is better known under his Taoist name, his personal name was Lü Yen, and has been identified by Saeki with Lü Hsiu-yen & who wrote the calligraphy for the text on the Nestorian Monument in 781.46 If this identification is correct, Lü Yen (born in 755)47 was at that time a junior official in the imperial civil service.\n\nLu's contacts with Nestorianism are nowhere else positively attested. In his biography, however, there are passages that could be interpreted as doctrinal borrowings from Christianity: examples are stories told about Lü similar to narratives in the Gospels, such as the transformation of wine into water, or the feeding of a large group of monks with only a little food.49\n\nIf Lü Tung-pin's contacts with Nestorianism can be historically established, there still is a long way to go before the main theme of this paper can be affected by it. There is, however, another sinologist, who has tried to link Taoism and Nestorianism. L. Wieger50 claims that the \"Mystic Taoism\" of the T'ang dynasty was connected with Basilides.\n\nHe further states that in 741 (or 742?) Lao Tzu appeared to emperor Hsuan-tsung with the message that his statue would be found at Chou-chih near Ch’ang-an.51 After the emperor received the statue a Nestorian service was celebrated in the palace by seven priests. All this again is circumstantial evidence suggesting that\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208982, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 144, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "112\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n• M. Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (hereafter abbreviated: Cosmic Renewal).\n\n* K. Schipper, \"The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies\" in A.P. Wolf, Ed. Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford Univ. Press, 1974,\n\n* Liu Chih-wan, see end-note 9.\n\nThis is the translation of J.J.M. de Groot's \"Messe Taoïque\". See his Les Fêtes Annuellement Célébrées à Emoui (Amoy). Paris, 1885 (Taipei reprint, 1977). This translation of chiao as well as de Groot's rendering of 'Buddhist Masses' for the Chinese Yu-lan-p'en are not satisfactory.\n\n* K. M Schipper. Le Fen-Teng. Rituel Taoïste (Publications de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, vol. 103). Paris: Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1975.\n\nSchipper's monograph on the Fen teng ritual is a product of great erudition. After a short introduction, pp. 1-13, (in which he briefly discusses the four manuscripts utilized to establish the text; and sketches the history and present day performance of the ritual), he describes the ritual itself with a detailed time schedule, pp. 15-32. Then follow references to sources in the Tao-tsang (pp. 33-38) and notes (pp. 39-43).\n\nThe text itself (starting from the 'back') is given twice: first in fac simile, a beautiful reprint on high quality paper of a manuscript dated 1889, in 44 folios (or 88 pages); secondly a critical edition of the text based on the four above mentioned manuscripts with variant readings included, (pp. 1-36).\n\nAlthough this publication has its importance, it does not fully satisfy the wishes of the readers: no translation of the text is given (Schipper is certainly one of the few Taoist scholars capable of offering a translation!) and nowhere does one find an interpretation of the ritual.\n\nIn the same year as Schipper's Fen-teng monograph \"came to light”, (1975), M. Saso published his collection of Chuang-lin hsü-tao-tsang in 24 vols. In vol. 6, pp. 1629-1725 (a total of 96 pages), we find a reproduced manuscript of the Fen-teng ritual, dated 1883. The calligraphy is inferior to Schipper's manuscript, but at least Saso's manuscript is six years older.\n\n* Liu Chih-wan, Taipei-shih Sung-shan ch'i-an chien-chiao chi-tien (Great Propitiatory Rites of Petition for Beneficence at Sung chan, Taipei, Taiwan), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology, (monographs no. 14), 1967.\n\nLiu Chih-wan, Chung-kuo min-chien hsin-yang lan-chi (Essays on Chinese Folk Belief and Folk Cults), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology (monographs no. 22), 1974.\n\n10 On the two occasion described by Liu Chih-wan (3-day festivals), the ritual likewise took place on the first evening. On other occasions, however, I have seen the ritual performed on the 2nd evening. The timing depends on the actual length of the festival, which may only last one day, but is more commonly a three or five-day event. One should, however, not confuse two things: first, the actual chiao is called san-ch'ao, wu-ch'ao or ch'i-ch'ao, etc., and refers to the number of days that the essential rituals are performed. However, the total event may last even longer; I have observed that the actual chiao was preceded by two days of preliminary rituals, such as the exorcisms of the water-spirit and fire-spirit. That brought the total duration of the chiao to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208984, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 146, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "114\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\ntraces its origin from one of those forms of sun worship.” As is clear from this quotation, de Groot only sees here a case of archetypal similarity, without speculating about the possibility of a more direct historical influence.\n\n25 See K. Schipper, Fen-Teng, p. 33.\n\n26 Guéranger, op. cit., p. 501:\n\n“dictum”.\n\n30 Ibid., pp. 508-9.\n\n“sanctifica”; “sanctificatum et bene-”.\n\n31 M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 73. K. Schipper does not tell us how the new flame is produced.\n\n32 Guéranger, op. cit., p. 503, f.\n\n** See text quoted on p. 11 and also end-note 20.\n\n34 My transl. of the Chinese text. See Schipper, Fen-Teng and Saso, Cosmic Renewal, pp. 73-74.\n\n35 See K. Schipper's detailed description of the rituals:\n\n(i) \"Enroulement du Rideau\": nos. (23)-37). This ritual lasts just over 35 minutes. (Le Fen-teng, pp. 25-27).\n\n(ii) \"Tintement solennel de la Cloche et de la Pierre sonore\": nos. (38)-(59): lasts ca. 33 minutes. (See pp. 27-32).\n\n36 M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 74, f.\n\n37 Actually they are not to be seen as three separate rituals but as three stages in one ongoing celebration.\n\n**M. Saso, (Cosmic Renewal, p. 74), says that a screen is only \"imagined\" and is \"rolled up\" by \"symbolic gesture\". This may be the custom in Northern Taiwan, but in the South a real screen is used which is actually rolled up during the ritual.\n\n39 M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 74.\n\n40 M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 75:\n\nFirst the metal bowl is struck 24 times: yang (Schipper: 24+1) then the wooden fish is struck 24 times; yin (Schipper: 29+1) then: both together are struck 36 times: yin and yang in harmonious union; then metal bowl again: 9 times; and finally wooden fish: 6 times.\n\nK. Schipper (Fen-Teng, p. 29) does not mention the striking of a wooden fish, but of the \"musical stone\", as indicated in the ritual text.\n\n41 See for instance E. Zürcher. \"Buddhist Influence on Early Taoism, A Survey of Scriptural Evidence:\", unpublished paper presented at the Third International Conference of Taoist Studies, Uterageri, Switzerland, Sept. 1979.\n\n42 Sources of information about Nestorianism in China are as follows: P. Y. Saeki, The Nestorian Monument in China (London, 1916); The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China (Tokyo, 1951); J. Foster, The Church of the Tang Dynasty (London, 1939); C. Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, III; S. Holth, \"The Encounter between Christianity and Chinese Buddhism during the Nestorian Period\", Ching-feng, XI (1968), 20-29; K. L. Reichelt, Truth and Tradition in Chinese Buddhism: T.-m. K’ung “Chugoku Keikyō niokeru Bukkyō teki Eikyo ni tsuite\" (The", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210035, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 6, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT\n\nviii\n\nHON. TREASURER'S REPORT\n\nxvi\n\nHON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nARTICLES:\n\nTemple Oracles in a Chinese City - Julian Pas\n\n1\n\nNotes on the History of Tsuen Wan - David Faure\n\n46\n\nHong Kong Island Before 1841 - James Hayes\n\n105\n\nState Regulation of Prostitution in Hong Kong, 1857 to 1941 - R.J. Miners\n\n143\n\nThe Pearl River Estuary Oyster Industry in and around Deep Bay - R.A. Bowler, D.S.C. Yang and A.J.E. Smith\n\n162\n\nThe Structure and Operation of Kei Wais (鄉 僻 ) — Y.H. Cheung, K.Y. Tai, S.W. Tsao and L.B. Thrower\n\n182\n\nThe Shanghai Municipal Council, 1850-1865 - J.H. Haan\n\n207\n\nThe Chinese \"Yue Lan” Ghost Festival in Japan: A Kobe Case Study, Aug. 31 - Sept. 4, 1982 — Choi Chi-cheung\n\n230\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nTraditional Tea Growing in the New Territories - P.H. Hase, J.W. Hayes and K.C. Iu\n\n264\n\nCheung Ah-lum, a Biographical Note - Choi Chi-cheung\n\n282\n\nJulian Tenison Woods in Hong Kong - Roderick O'Brien S.J.\n\n288\n\nLime-making on Tsing Yi - Wong Tak-yan\n\n295\n\nWai Cheung (k), a Kind of Rural Leader in the 19th Century Hong Kong Region - James Hayes\n\n307", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210040, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "reviewed the condition of Hong Kong Island in 1841 in order to show that it was a long-settled place with thriving coastal ports. Then, Dr. Kerrie MacPherson, Lecturer in History at the University of Hong Kong, who has researched into the medical history of the international settlements in Shanghai, addressed us on 12th March about prostitution there, under the title “Caveat Emptor: an Attempt at the Control of Venereal Disease in Nineteenth Century Shanghai\". Finally, on 19 April Dr. Julian Pas, Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan and a frequent contributor to our Journal, gave an illustrated slide lecture on “Religion in China Today\" based on his observations during a four-month visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengtu.\n\nThere were three local tour visits during the year. On 21 July 1984, Revd Carl Smith took us to the Tao Feng Shan Ecumenical Centre. This occupies the very attractive Chinese monastic premises built on a hill above Sha Tin for the Christian Mission to Buddhists in the 1930s, and besides touring these buildings, members were able to visit the grave of Revd Carl Reichelt, its founder.\n\nTwo other visits were organized by myself. On 8 December, 33 members took part in a memorable visit to Maryknoll Fathers' House, Stanley, where one of our founder members, Father Michael McKeirnan M.M., spoke to us in his own inimitable way on his experiences during the brief defence of Hong Kong in December 1941, when he had been in the house as a language student. His talk will be published in the Journal. On this visit, members also walked part of the road constructed by the incoming British in the 1840s, and benefited from Mr. Ian Diamond's work on Lieutenant (later Major-General) T.B. Collinson, R.E. who surveyed and made military sketches of Hong Kong Island at that time.\n\nOn 9 March, there was another well-attended visit to Stanley; this time to the four temples of the area, the two villages of Tai Tam and Wong Ma Kok, and the Kaifong Association's premises where we had tea. The latter are of particular interest, being undoubtedly the oldest occupied local management office on Hong Kong Island, having been repaired in 1847 according to the inscription above the doorway. On this visit, Mr. Clive Oxley, Dep-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210051, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 22, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "TEMPLE ORACLES IN A CHINESE CITY\n\nA Study of the Use of Temple Oracles\n\nin Taichung, Central Taiwan*\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nPrelude\n\nIn the early morning of February 26, 1978, our group of over a hundred pilgrims from Taichung arrived in the city of Peikang, one of the major centres of the Matsu cult. The ch'ao-t'ien temple there was first built in 1694 and enlarged in 1775. The whole previous day had been spent in visiting temples in other places and burning incense to prepare for this solemn visit. As we arrive, the sedan chair of the goddess which we had brought from Taichung is carried toward the temple gates by ten strong men; the pilgrims follow behind, while musicians blow high-pitched trumpets and beat gongs and drums.\n\nSoon our group disappears inside the temple gates, while the great bell and drum are beaten to welcome the visiting Matsu. All the courtyards and halls are crowded with worshippers. It is still three weeks before the deity's birthday celebration but already every day large crowds of visitors pour into the small town from all over Taiwan. Peikang is the seat of the mother temple of Matsu on the island, and hundreds of temples claim affiliation with it.\n\nWhile the visiting gods and goddesses are carried into the inner shrine and seated on the altar tables to pay homage to the Peikang Matsu, the crowd of pilgrims go about their private devotions. They offer incense to all the deities enthroned here, pray to Matsu, tell her about their problems and uncertainties at home, and ask her advice. Matsu's counsels have been embodied in her temple\n\nTo prepare this survey I was greatly inspired by my learned friends Mr. Liu Chih-wan, a research scholar at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Institute of Ethnology, and by Professor Wolfram Eberhard of the University of California at Berkeley. I am also indebted to the untiring efforts of Miss Ch'en Yu-mei in Taichung, who collected many samples of the temple oracles. I finally wish to recognize my gratefulness to the Tunghai University in Taichung: my team of anthropology students, 1977-78, contributed to the completion of the Taichung sample collection, while the Centre for Environmental Studies kindly offered me office space. (Dr. Pas is professor of Religious Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada,)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210052, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 23, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "JULIAN PAS \n\noracles. Many deities in China have their own set and devotees consult them for all important questions, problems or difficulties. They believe that after honest prayer and a gift of incense or other offerings, the compassionate goddess will manifest her advice through the paper oracle slips, printed by the temple officials.\n\nOn the altar are several bamboo tubes, each containing 60 bamboo sticks numbered from one to sixty; they can be found in almost any temple in Taiwan.* Here in Peikang, however, there is a large number of sets since the flow of pilgrims is endless. Moreover, in many larger temples of wide reputation, one can nowadays see huge oracle containers three or four feet high, made of dark green marble, extracted from the Hualian mountain quarries. The bamboo sticks in these marble containers are very long.\n\nWith almost no elbow space the people kneel on the floor in front of the sacred images. Incense smoke curls up to the carved beams and one hears the unceasing noise of shaking bamboo sticks and the accompanying clatter of the small or large moon-shaped divining blocks dropping on the temple floor. The noise is non-stop but there is reverence in the atmosphere, and the worshippers believe that Matsu's spiritual power is at its strongest here in her Peikang shrine.\n\nI am standing near a pillar on the side, watching the whole scene of devotees coming and going, of groups leaving the temple, and groups arriving to the joyous sounds of bell and drum. I watch the people, study their facial and bodily expressions and realize that their sense of religion is perhaps different from the Western type. Yet, there is faith in their actions and an implicit trust in the power of the goddess. Her oracles are the especial focus of this power. An older lady goes to the marble container, shakes the sticks (she cannot lift the heavy container itself, of course) and picks up one of them. She puts it on the altar table, takes a set of small divination blocks — there are dozens of them here — and holds them with both hands at the level of her chin. Her lips mutter prayer; she must be asking the goddess whether the numbered stick she has just taken is her true and correct answer in this case. The situation\n\n* See line drawings on following pages, by Ho Yu-dao, of Taichung, Taiwan.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210054, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 25, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "4\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\n1983 m\n\nA devotee approaches, prays to the god and offers three incense sticks.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210056, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "6\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nHe has selected one stick at random and reads the number.\n\nTo check whether this is the correct choice (the divine advice) the\n\n\"moon-blocks\" are used.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210058, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 29, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "8\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nI\n\n1988\n\nfil\n\nThe advice given by the deity is read and analysed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210060, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "10\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nmust be important: at home she could go to the temple at any time of the day, any day of the month. The same oracles are available there, for Matsu's counseling is standardized with few variations. If a grandchild has an aching tooth, grandma will rush to the temple and ask Matsu whether the pain will soon pass or not. Today, however, is not an ordinary day: the occasion is solemn, the questions asked concern matters of great importance: a planned wedding engagement, difficult relationships in the family, matters of life and death. Therefore the correct stick must be ascertained. The woman's eyes look up at the large decorated image of the goddess; with confidence she throws up the blocks, and click, clack, they drop noisily on the floor. Both flat sides are up, the curved sides touching the floor tiles. The goddess is laughing. Perhaps the woman did not concentrate enough, but at least, Matsu is in a good mood. If the blocks fell both on the flat side, they would express the goddess's anger, and one would interpret it as rejection for one's insincere, impure motivation. The woman picks up the blocks, returns the bamboo stick, shakes the bundle again and repeats the whole process. Her face is more concentrated and shows more tension, even anxiety. After a short pause, she drops the blocks once more, and look: they fall in the correct, desired way: one flat side up, one down. It shows harmony, for if the blocks are held together their opposite sides match like the yin and the yang. The goddess has said that this slip expresses her true advice in this particular situation. The woman picks up the blocks, returns them to the altar table and then holding the selected bamboo stick requests the corresponding slip of paper from the temple attendants. Several of them have their desks along the side wall of the major hall: they receive donations, write out receipts, hand out oracle slips and protective talismans, and upon request, explain the meaning of the oracle, if the text is not clear enough by itself.\n\nLater, back in the touring car, I ask the woman about her oracle. She tells me she had consulted the oracle several times: some relatives had commissioned her with their own problems, but the very last one was her own. The result was not too encouraging: the slip she received was no. 16, one of rather gloomy forecast. The question addressed to Matsu was whether a proposed engagement between her son and a young girl from a neighbouring village would be advisable. From a merely human viewpoint, everything", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210062, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 33, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "12\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\n(Yin) oracle practice is well documented, there is up to now almost no evidence about the assumed transition from osteomancy to the use of I ching related divination. And yet many authors believe that there was a transition or change from the use of oracle bones to a different, yarrow stalk related type of divination, which ultimately crystallized into the Book of Changes.3 One can, however, with equal or even more probability assume that consultation by means of the dried stalks of yarrow or milfoil had an independent origin and that the I ching type of divination somehow resulted from a combination of scapulomancy and achilleomancy.\n\nThat the ancient form of divining from oracle bones was not completely or immediately abolished by the use of milfoil stalks, is evident from texts such as the Shu ching: it is stated there several times that rulers resorted to the double consultation of the tortoise and the milfoil stalks.4 During the Chou, however, the diagrams of the I-ching started to prevail. It is believed that King Wen and the Duke of Chou had a role in the creation of the diagrams, although legend holds that they go back to the mythical ruler Fu-hsi. The origin of the linear patterns is not known. Few researchers have come up with a probable hypothesis concerning the original meaning of the basic diagrams -- and --. Their identification with yin and yang is almost certainly secondary; even their description as \"whole\", and \"broken\" or \"divided\" does not seem to correspond with their origin. In my view, the most plausible theory is to see them as an early expression of number symbolism related to the use of sticks or stalks as counting tools. This is the assumption made by Miyazaki Ichisada, who admits that he does not understand much of the I ching, \"the most difficult and the most unintelligible” book among the Confucian classics.5 I agree with him that the figures called kua are the basis of the whole text, and that the later commentaries are philosophical rationalizations of an ancient simple divination technique.\n\nHis main argument consists in the etymological analysis of several Chinese characters related to divination: for example the characters chi “good luck, good fortune\" and hsiung, “bad luck” actually express an odd and an even number respectively. This indicates that originally the yarrow stick divination proceeded as follows: \"a certain number of sticks were placed in a box; one took", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210064, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 35, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "JULIAN PAS \n\ndivination and the use of milfoil. The former method as practised by several Mongolian tribes produced various linear patterns in the shoulder blades of sheep when they were roasted in fire. These lines, caused by fissures and cracks due to the heat, appear to be much more complicated than the ones found on the Shang oracle bones and show a strong affinity with lines obtained through the use of stalks. The milfoil may have been an alternative method used whenever bones were not available.\n\nYet another method of using sticks or stalks consists in numbering or marking a certain amount of them, and then drawing one at random. This technique is also called sortilege or \"the act or practice of drawing lots; divination by drawing lots.\" A related method is called belomancy: \"drawing an arrow to obtain an answer to a problem. The ancient Babylonians used this technique: they put arrows in a container; after shaking they took one out at random to determine further action. These arrows had previously been marked with signs.\" Moslem authors describe the same method as used by the Arabs; seven arrows without points or feathers, each marked with a significant word, were put in a container and mixed. After prayers to the main temple deity one arrow was drawn.\"2 The use of sticks was common to all tribes of Scythians in Asia, and from there was transmitted to the Chinese.\n\nAlthough this type of divination with stalks is quite different from the more complex I ching consultation, there may have been a definite connection between the two. I would like to presume that the simpler way of using numbered sticks was a popular adaptation made available to the non-specialized layman. The I ching developed into a very complex system not only in its philosophy but also in its manipulation of the sticks. The common people needed a simpler way for obtaining answers in difficult situations. All the data were on hand in the I ching system: what was needed was a simplification of the texts and an easier technique. At what time such an adaptation was first attempted, is as yet not known. But the still surviving and in some places of the Chinese world very popular custom of consulting the temple oracles is very likely an offshoot of the old I Ching related methodology.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210066, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 37, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "16\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nFrom Sung times on, the blockprint method made the spread of temple oracles much easier. I also believe that once one temple started using the oracles, the practice must have spread as quickly as fire to other temples to attract worshippers and increase temple revenue. Nowadays the great majority of temples in Taiwan have sets of bamboo lots for the use of visitors. Few temples, mostly those of Buddhist affiliation, can afford not to include them in their paraphernalia, and even then many Buddhist temples do make use of them. Taking over a successful practice, however, does not necessarily mean downright imitation. Personal inspiration and possibly competition amongst the temples resulted in an incredible variety of oracle texts. These texts, written by diviners, priests and even poets share the same basic orientation or purpose: to give answers to people in distress or uncertainty. It is believed that when the worshipper shakes the container, the divine influence will make the right answer appear. Besides this one universal characteristic, each set of oracles has its own individual traits, as will be shown below.\n\nThe oldest set of oracles discovered so far probably dates from the Sung dynasty (ca. 1250) and was reprinted in 1958.1 In W. Banck's text edition, oracle no. 78 of that blockprint series has been reproduced; it is interesting to notice that in the interpretation given, the character kua | is used: this immediately links this oracle to the diagrams of the I Ching which are always called kua.\n\nLocal influences, individual tastes and the talents of their creators must have given each series its own particularities. Obviously competition among various shrines must have also influenced the authors. In modern times the rich variety of oracle sets is amazing: in W. Banck's collection 55 different sets are photographically reproduced: 46 sets were collected in Taiwan temples, the remaining ones are from Hong Kong (3), Macao (1), Malaysia (3), Bangkok (1) and even California (1). Besides these, I collected in Taiwan some other sets not included in Banck's collection. One wonders how many more sets were once in use in mainland temples, since the varieties found in Taiwan mostly reflect the situation in Fukien and in a more limited way in Kuangtung.\n\nThe Taotsang, the collection of sacred writings of the Taoists17 has preserved 7 or 8 oracle series, probably derived from other", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210068, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 39, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "18\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\ndoes not play any role in the actual consultation; only 49 stalks are thus used. Although two sets of 49 oracles are found in the Taotsang, none has so far been spotted in actual use in Taiwan or other places.\n\nA Sample Study in Taichung, Central Taiwan\n\nMy own research and collecting of samples in Taiwan started in 1977-78 and was continued in 1980. Each time when I visited a temple, I tried to obtain a few sample sheets of the oracles either hanging on a side-wall in the temple, or stacked away in specially built wooden cabinets with small drawers for each oracle. Whenever I came across a new variety, I asked the temple superintendent's permission to collect sample sheets of the whole series. I did not always receive a friendly welcome, but in most cases, the response was excellent, especially when I explained that I was studying and trying to understand all aspects of Chinese folk religion. A donation to the temple made all wrinkles of doubt disappear. In the autumn of 1978, I discovered W. Banck's publication, which increased my interest in this area but left quite a few questions unanswered. I hope he will soon complete his second volume. In the meantime, I decided to examine the relative frequency of each type of oracle sets and to test the possibility that the proper character or affiliation of a temple also indicates the type of oracles that can be found there. After collecting about 340 samples throughout Taiwan, I came to certain basic conclusions: the set of 100 oracles, called the Kuan Ti series (Banck #2), is always found in temples dedicated to Kuan Ti (obviously) but is also usually adopted in city god temples, and often but not always in temples in honour of Hsuan-t'ien Shang-Ti, Yu-huang Ta-ti, and even Sakyamuni Buddha. In other words, this oracle is almost never found in the temples honouring the common folk deities (there are a few exceptions). It is certainly not the most frequently found oracle, as will be pointed out below. By far, the most popular series is the 60 slips Matsu oracle (Banck #1).\n\nThen I decided to take the city of Taichung as a sample case. It is located in central Taiwan and has a fast-growing population, being already over 600,000 inhabitants. The newly built harbour will continue to influence the city's growth for many years to come.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210070, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "20\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\n1980, I received photocopies of the new additions to the register. The 1976 register lists 107 temples: they are numbered according to their location within the city. By the end of 1980, the number had gone up to 154. The main reason for such a drastic increase was the inclusion of churches. As a matter of fact, the new list with handwritten additions so far contains 21 Christian churches (2 Roman Catholic, 19 Protestant), 1 mosque, one Ta-t'ung and one Tenrikyo shrine (two new religions).\n\nThe Taichung city hall list provides for each temple the following details: district, name of the temple, the main deity worshipped, the religious affiliation, the correct postal address, the person in charge (Kuan-li jen) and the number given by the city. I presume that much more data is contained in the city's files, for I looked at the local file in Kaohsiung and found that many more details regarding temple properties, income, and regular activities are contained in the full register. But the Taichung city hall list is a useful, practical document, making it possible to go and visit the temples for interviews. I visited roughly half of the listed temples myself, while the other half were taken care of by assistants and college students as a field work project. One of the purposes of the visit was to collect samples of their oracles. Each different type of oracle has been given a number, preceded by B: this is the numbering found in W. Banck's text edition, which I adopt here (see Footnote 15). He allotted numbers according to the frequency of the oracles he found: in most cases this frequency coincides with my field work experience, but there are occasional discrepancies.\n\nThe categorization of temples as \"Taoist\" or \"Buddhist” is found in the listings of Taichung City Hall. I have reservations about the category of “Taoist” temples, as the official lists simplify the affiliation of temples: whatever is not a Confucian or Buddhist temple, is said to be a Taoist temple. That is stretching the concept too far; most of these temples are community temples and belong more properly to the folk religion.\n\nThe table shows that at least 85 out of 115 temples make use of temple oracles, which is almost 74%. There are certainly more temples using them, for the group \"not available\" contains a number of temples where we could not obtain samples, because", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210072, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 43, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "22\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nside Taichung, especially in Tainan City.\n\nThe majority of temples using the B-1 oracle (Matsu) are not dedicated to the goddess Matsu, but to a variety of gods and goddesses of the popular cult. In most cases Matsu has her image in these temples as well, but many deities do not have a particular set of their own and borrow the most commonly used one. Most of these oracle slips are printed in Taichung by a local printing shop, which also publishes the Matsu, Kuan Ti and Kuan Yin oracles in booklet form. (See Appendix I and bibliography).\n\nBesides the above listed temples, duly registered in the city hall of Taichung, I discovered during my marathon walks crisscross through the city, a considerable number of smaller temples, often essentially private family shrines to which the public are allowed access, which also contain temple oracles for the use of worshippers. These temples are not found in the City Hall list since the owners do not wish government interference in their operations. Moreover, there is no strict rule that these semi-private shrines have to be registered. It is also possible that these smaller shrines do not fully satisfy some of the conditions outlined by the government.\n\nTable 2: Non-registered temples or shrines in Taichung City (36 temples: 37 oracles)\n\n \n \n B-1\n B-2\n B-6\n B-43\n Not Avail.\n Total\n \n \n Taoist\n 26\n 6\n 1\n \n 1\n 28\n \n \n Buddhist\n 7\n \n \n 1\n \n 7\n \n \n \n 1\n \n \n \n 1\n \n \n \n Total\n 34\n 3\n \n \n 37\n \n \n\nThe grand total of Tables 1 and 2 combined are as follows:\n\nTable 3: Registered and Non-registered Temples in Taichung City\n\n \n \n B-1\n B-2\n B-6\n B-9\n B-43\n Other\n Not Avail.\n Total\n \n \n Confucian\n \n \n \n \n \n 1\n \n 1\n \n \n Taoist\n 69\n 21\n 1\n \n 1\n 11\n 1\n 104\n \n \n Buddhist\n 16\n 7\n \n 6\n \n 18\n \n 47\n \n \n \n 85\n 28\n 7\n 1\n 1\n 0\n 30\n 152", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210074, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 45, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "24\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\n46, and 54) or in two temples (B-12, 38 and 55). In a few older cities or towns one finds the richest variety:\n\nTainan: Taipei: Lukang:\n\n5 different sets (cp. Banck, who has 9) 8 different sets (cp. Banck: 12)\n\n3 different sets (cp. Banck 6)\n\nIn Banck's collection are also included the Pescadores (P'eng-hu) islands: he has 6 sets from there, whereas I did not collect there at all. The great variety in older centres of immigrant settlements indicates that those sets were very likely brought to Taiwan from different \"mother-temples” (tsung-miao) in the mainland; whereas in later times newly constructed temples took over the more popular sets available in Taiwan itself. In Taiwan, the more popular a cult, the larger the number of “daughter-temples” (fen-miao) it produced: that would explain the popularity of B-1 and B-2.\n\nTo summarize my findings, I'd like to combine the data shown in tables 3 and 4 and then conclude with some final considerations:\n\nTable 5: Joint Survey of Temple Oracles in Taiwan\n\n \n B-I\n 2\n 3\n 4\n 6\n 7\n 8\n 9\n Other B\n Not in B\n Not Avail.\n Total\n \n \n Confucian\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 1\n \n \n Taoist\n 1\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 1\n \n \n Buddhist\n \n 2\n \n 6\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2\n \n \n \n 158\n 71\n 8\n 2\n 1\n 3\n 6\n 4\n 22\n \n 28.10\n \n \n \n 5\n 11\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 291\n \n \n \n 1\n 2\n \n 18\n \n 18\n \n \n \n \n \n 18\n \n \n \n 186\n 81\n 8\n 2\n 7\n 3\n 6\n 4\n 24\n \n \n \n \n \n 6\n 30\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 357\n \n\nOne important remark concerns the representative value of this survey: in my view, the sample taken cannot be considered to have general validity, except with regard to table 1 (and perhaps tables 2 and 3). A more detailed and carefully prepared research would produce a more accurate knowledge of the spread of the oracles. Taiwan nowadays counts between 4,000 to 5,000 registered temples, and a large number of non-registered shrines. Among the latter group are literally thousands of T’u-ti-kung shrines, sometimes small roadside chapels or altar-like structures, which have no oracle sets available.\n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210076, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 47, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "26\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\ntion is divinely pre-ordained and therefore contains a message which is the best possible in the particular circumstances. That even applies to medical temple oracles, which at first view is rather shocking. Some devotees will hardly consult a medical doctor when a health problem arises. They will go to the temple, usually dedicated to one of the deities of healing (for example Pao-sheng Ta-ti, Shen-nung Ta-ti), where medical divination slips are still being used. The pattern of consultation is the same as for ordinary temple oracles, but the end result is different: the devotee will receive a divination slip which contains a herbal recipe. This is taken to a traditional drug store where the divine prescription is filled and if followed with confidence and trust in the deity, health will supposedly gradually be restored.\n\nWhether or not the results of divination are authentic, i.e. whether or not there really is a deity behind the scene who makes a decision in each individual case concerning the best solution, is psychologically unimportant: the worshipper accepts the premises of divine guidance and with one stone hits two birds: he believes in the supernatural outcome of his consultation, and also circumvents the painful process of decision-making on his own. As a psychological support for action, as a method of divine counseling, divination appeals to a great number of people. Since the temple oracles are easy to manipulate, they are very popular, just as the I Ching consultation keeps its strong appeal also in the West for more educated people.\n\n—\n\nThe Chinese temple oracles have, moreover, another way of exercising a strong attraction: most of the sets included in this survey are rather complex in that they contain various appendices to their basic texts. The oracles are usually written in verse form: four lines of either five or seven characters. What happened to the I Ching, has happened here in a similar fashion: commentators added their own interpretations or characterizations to the text (the \"wings\" of the temple oracles?) Two types of these commentaries need further elaboration: first, areas of concern and secondly, historical precedents.\n\n1. Most sets of oracles list out the areas of vital concern which for most worshippers cover the majority of cases about which they", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210078, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "28\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nvidualized advice, or to supplement the temple oracle with information gained through other divinatory practices, such as face and hand reading, or the casting of horoscopes. The Wong Tai Sin temple in Hong Kong is a famous shrine where everyday crowds of people go to consult the oracles. In the temple neighbourhood dozens of diviners have their small stalls, where they often receive visitors after they have consulted the temple deity.\n\nAlthough the temple oracles do have a “life” of their own, i.e. are strictly speaking independent from any other practice, still they must be seen and interpreted within the wider context of overall religious beliefs and practices of the Chinese people. One example has already been given: the results of the oracles can be checked and compared with information from other sources. I also found from different types of field work experience, that many believers consult the temple oracles as a matter of routine, even in matters of no great urgency, or even, and especially in the case of young people, with a strong dose of scepticism. In situations that border on urgency or desperation, the believer would forego the temple oracle, but ask for more immediate or direct advice from gods or goddesses through consultation of a medium. In that case, the advice is also more personal, as opposed to the stereotyped answers received in the temple.\n\nThe issue of stereotyping human problem situations, however, cannot be easily dismissed as being meaningless or irrelevant. Many types of divination if not all — imply the belief in set patterns of answers for similar or identical situations. The I Ching is not an exception: it provides a map for human action, based on 64 variations of vital concerns in life. These 64 hexagrams somehow summarize all possible situations of doubt, anxiety, even perplexity. In a more popular way, the temple oracles have done the same thing in different ways: they have changed the number of situations and answers, but the exact number is not too relevant. What underlies any particular number of oracles, is the common presumption that human reactions to problem situations follow certain patterns, because in general, human lives follow the same processes of development. The creators or innovators of the temple oracles have sensed this phenomenon and have incorporated it in their oracles.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210080, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 51, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "30\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nalso different in other sets. This point, however, needs further detailed study. One example may serve as a warning to prevent rash conclusions: in set B-11 (or 12), there is reference to a play or story which is at first view similar to the one quoted above (no.10 of the B-2 set):\n\n\"No. 47: Lady Kao Ta becomes famous at fifty.\"23\n\nAlthough the story referred to is different, still the moral drawn from it may be similar. Therefore a detailed analysis of all the story/play types should be undertaken.\n\nFrom all this it is obvious that Chinese history is here used as a rich source for moral examples, or for predictions concerning one's future. Human life in its endless chain of apparently personal events, still can be reduced to a number of prototypes; although the exact details vary ad infinitum, the models resemble each other in their basic orientation. What happened 2,000 years ago to so and so, may happen again to me right now, if my action follows the same pattern, and is inspired by the same intention. Chinese history has been well known to all levels of society through drama performances at the community stage or in the temple precincts, and through story telling or reading. Good and bad examples abound in the rich heritage and are used in divination as promises or warnings in our present situation.\n\nReligious literatures of other traditions offer parallel examples, where past events are used as models for action or even for divining purposes. St. Augustine describes his own experience in his Confessions (Book 8): during his 32nd year he passed through a painful crisis of doubt: The Christian way of life attracted him strongly but his old habits of worldly attachments kept him back. In this intense struggle a special event shook him up: he divined the Scriptures and the answer he received helped him to overcome all further obstacles.\n\nSo was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, \"Take up and read; Take up and read.\" Instantly, my counte-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210082, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 53, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "32\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\ned as a particular method of prayer and if the right belief in God's guidance is maintained, we could have a new and popular way of Christian prayer, adjusted to the need of many Christians.\n\nOne final concern about the validity of I Ching and temple oracles has to be expressed: it is assumed and often clearly stated that the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching summarize and symbolize all human situations and contain advice for all possible conflicts. If that is correct, it also follows that the temple oracles do likewise. In other words, the value of all these oracles depends largely on their completeness with regard to human life. A city map which leaves out important roads or central buildings would not be very useful. So the question arises: do these oracles actually fulfill this condition? So far as I am aware, no one has ever checked and questioned the I Ching in this regard. But in the case of the temple oracles, it seems that in modern times which create new situations and therefore result in new decision making problems, the oracles may need to be complemented. One example will illustrate this: when a devotee questions the oracle about marriage, it refers to customs of traditional China, where matches were made by the families, not by the individuals concerned. This has now changed. Furthermore, the question about marriage, as expressed in the temple oracles, always assumes that a marriage has not yet taken place: the question is whether it will be advisable to proceed; whether it will work out all right. There is an implicit assumption that marriages will last. If a conflict arises 5 or 10 years later, and husband and wife doubt whether they should stay together or not, there is no answer to be found in the oracles. This is a case where the oracles need adjustment in order to keep serving a truly advisory purpose for the benefit of the believers today.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210086, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "36\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nSample No. 4 (B-34)\n\nA unique set of 38 oracles is found in the Changhua Matsu temple \"Nan-Yao kung\". The text is reduced to a minimum: short verses with a very short interpretation. (See bibliography Ch'ien-shu chu-chieh).\n\n振\n\n電影\n\n·让化\n\n印市\n\n刷四山\n\n麻富枯東\n\n衣貴木風\n\n換從新得\n\n二錦人發意\n\n敬七三\n\n贈\n\n#號猇\n\n角\n\n字\n\n衣愿枝 好\n\n前婚\n\n婚行\n\n之慎之\n\n論\n\n新让\n\n斷\n\n头\n\n保定\n\n前程依邇\n\n問事咸宜\n\n失 人\n\n約好\n\n運音\n\n途\n\n通通\n\n曰", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210088, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "38 \n\nSample No. 6 (B-55) \n\nJULIAN PAS \n\nLu Tung-pin's oracles have been printed in booklet form both in Taiwan and in Hong Kong. Several editions only carry the oracle verses without any extra commentary. Only the Hong Kong edition has short commentaries. (See bibliography: Lu Ti ling-ch'ien hsien-fang; Po-chi hsien-fang, and Fu-Yu Ti-chun), \n\n息陽 \n\n陰盛於 \n\n柔順而靜 \n\n只不均 \n\n若此消息 只待羊兎相宜 \n\n坤之六爻皆吉 \n\n不怕亢龍之悔 \n\n宜悔者 \n\n若陰柔 第 \n\n第 \n\n五 \n\n得一天明不宜順蓬 \n\n第一 \n\n意陽地 在來自當 \n\n秋已無三 時復私五 \n\n他正行東 方好舟關 \n\n下圖仙玉 地全賜桃 長計方香 \n\n籖 \n\n必男水萊", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210090, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 61, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "JULIAN PAS\n\nAPPENDIX II: CHINESE DIVINATION TERMINOLOGY\n\nThe terminology used in the context of ancient Chinese divination practices is often conflicting and confusing. It is therefore appropriate to define the terms, both in English and in Chinese.\n\nA. English Terminology\n\nThe two basic types relate to bone divination and to plant (stalk) divination.\n\n1. OSTEOMANCY, general term for Bone Divination\n\nDates from the Shang period or even from earlier times, and includes divination types using a variety of animal bones, especially bovines, sheep or pigs, later also tortoises. Subdivisions, using specific kinds of animal bones:\n\n(a) SCAPULIMANCY or SCAPULOMANCY: using the shoulder blades of sheep, oxen, etc. This term is often inaccurately used for bone divinations in general,\n\n(b) CHELONIOMANCY: using the carapace of tortoise or turtle;\n\n(c) PLASTROMANCY: using the 'plastron' (lower bone) of tortoise.\n\n2. ACHILLEOMANCY: divination of Chou origin (probably) using a number of stalks derived from the milfoil plant, also called yarrow. One of the methods using stalks is the ICHING consultation, which is perhaps an early ancestor of the popularized temple oracles.\n\nB. Chinese Terminology\n\n卜 pu (Karlgren or K. no. 757) to divine by tortoise shell; to divine (shows fissures in heated shell).\n\n兆 (K. no. 1182; Mathews or M. 247) prognostic, omen (cracks in burnt tortoise shell, read as prognostics) a sign, omen.\n\n爻 (K. no. 217; M. 2583) Yao— intertwine; change; lines in the hexagrams of I-ching.\n\nMiyazaki (p. 162); this character yao \"is nothing else but the figure of two of those crosses\", obtained by counting divination sticks, to see whether their number was odd or even.\n\n夬 (K. 161) (accident), calamitous, unfortunate, sad; of bad omen; cruel [a man falling with legs upwards into a pit]\n\nMiyazaki: (p. 162); two sticks remaining in a box or container: means \"bad omen, unlucky”, since representing an even number.\n\n吉 (K. 325) auspicious, lucky, good, (an affair: which may be spoken of, not taboo).\n\nMiyazaki: three sticks (odd number) remaining in divination: therefore 'good omen, lucky'. For unknown reason, \"container' replaced by 'mouth'; perhaps pronounced aloud.\n\n卦 (K. 433): 8 trigrams, basis of I ching (from 2 x three yao plus 'divination')\n\n占 (K. 1162; M. 125) to discern omens, inquire into prognostics, prognosticate, to divine; a lot (to interpret prognostics); to divine by casting lots; to observe signs, to foretell", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210092, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 63, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "42\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\nWebster's Dictionary (1979), p. 1733.\n\n10 Webster's Dictionary (1979), p. 170.\n\nLenormant (1875), p. 18.\n\n12 Lenormant (1875), p. 19.\n\n13 Lenormant (1875), p. 30.\n\n14 Needham (1956), p. 349.\n\nBanck (1976).\n\n16 CHENG, Chen-tuo, Editor, T'ien-chu ling-ch'ien\n\n(Reproduction of the\n\nEarliest Preserved Set of Temple Oracles) Folklore & Folk Literature Series of National Peking University. (reprint), Taipei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1958.\n\n17\n\n19\n\nI have used the cheng-t'ong or Ming edition, as reprinted in Taipei.\n\nEberhard (1970), p. 193.\n\nHuang-ti shen-kung Ħ☎1⁄2, Banck (1976), #17.\n\n20 Eberhard (1970), p. 191-192.\n\n21 Jordan (1982).\n\n11 W. Eberhard (1970), p. 195. The Chinese text: 1+X8\n\n23\n\n24\n\nThe Chinese text: 高達五十得名\n\nSt. Augustine's Confessions, translated by William Benham (New York: Collies & Son, 1909), pp. 141-142.\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nA. Sources\n\n(i) Taiwan (& Hong Kong) Oracles, published in booklets\n\nB-I\n\nB-I\n\nB-I\n\nB-2\n\nB-2\n\nB-2\n\nSheng-ch'ien chu-chieh E, Kuan Yin Fo-tsu, T'ien-shang Sheng-mu &Ħ, X_L, Taichung, Jui-ch'eng Bookstore AĦĦ , 1972, (1st ed. date, unknown).\n\nK'ai-t'ai Ma-tsu chien-chieh, published by the Feng-t'ien Temple in Hsin-kang, Chia-yi *, ****8. (n.d. circa 1978). The oracle texts are on pp. 1-30.\n\n+\n\nLing-ch'ien chich-shuo, with commentaries by Yeh Shan #ll, Taichung: Ch'uang-shih Publishing House, & FURN 1979.\n\n+\n\nPai-shou ch'ien-chieh, Published by the Hsing-sheng Temple in Taichung 台中市行聖宮,1977.\n\nLing-ch'ien chieh-shuo *, with commentaries by Yeh Shan #. Taichung: Ch'uang-shih Publishing House, ÷ÞOKRE 1975 (1st ed.: 1966)\n\nKuan-sheng Ti-chún ch'ien-shih chich MESE the Shui-hsien Temple in Nan-kang, Chia-yi, \n\n1\n\nPublished by\n\n*, 1964,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210094, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "44\n\nJULIAN PAS\n\n6. Hou-wang ling-ch'ien 14, published by Tsui-ching tang f**, Canton, n.d. (block print edition; 64 oracles).\n\n7. Pei-ti ling-chien w, published by Wu-kui t'ang in Canton, n.d. (block print; 50 oracles, identical with above Shang-ti ling-ch'ien).\n\n(iv) Oracles reproduced in the Tao-tsang\n\n1.\n\n2.\n\n3.\n\n4.\n\n5.\n\n6.\n\n✯ (−TT), 1977 Taipei reprint. Szu-sheng chen-chin ling-ch'ien 145, vol. 54, pp. 44056-44080, TT. 1298 (1 scroll; 49 oracles).\n\nHsian-chen ling-ying pao-ch'ien KERAK, vol. 54, pp. 44081-44137, TT. 1299 (3 scrolls; 365 oracles, divided over 12 daily hours each of which has 30 slips, i.e. 360 plus one slip for each of the five agents).\n\nTa-tz'u hao sheng chiu-t'ien wei-fang Sheng-mu yilan-chun ling-ying pao-ch'ien KkP;AMP@!#MEW, vol. 54, pp. 44138-44150, TT. 1300 (1 scroll; 99 oracles).\n\nHung-en ling-chi chen-chân ling chien light hi. Vol. 54, pp. 44150-44154, TT. 1301 (1 scroll; 53 oracles).\n\nLing-chi chen-chün chu-sheng ling ch’ien OBZIRAR, vol. 54, pp. 44155-44159, TT. 1302 (1 scroll; 64 oracles).\n\nFu-t'ien kuang-sheng ru-i ling-ch'ien KQE✯, vol. 54, pp. 44160-44190, TT. 1303 (1 scroll; 120 oracles).\n\n7. B-2 Hu-kuo chia-chi chiang-tung-wang ling-ch'ien ARMORIA, vol. 54, pp. 44193-44213, TT. 1305 (1 scroll; 100 oracles).\n\n8. Hsuan-t'ien Shang-ti kan-ying ling-ch'ien K, vol. 60, pp. 48479-48506 (49 oracles).\n\n(v) 1. Sham Francis, Trans., Kwun Yum Fortune Slip Predictions. Hong Kong: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Board of Directors, 1983. (This set corresponds with the Kuan Yin set found in Lukang; B-11 and -12).\n\n2. Sham Francis, Trans., Predictions of Wong Tai Sin. Hong Kong: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Board of Directors, 1984. Chai, Tung-yeh # !f, \"Ling-chien malo-chii” NUE.\n\n3. Heaven-Earth-man Journal Ke (published in Taichung, Taiwan), no. 1 (1968), 117-147.\n\nB. Studies\n\n1. BAUER, Wolfgang, China and the Search for Happiness. Recurring Themes in Four Thousand Years of Chinese Cultural History. (Translated from the German by Michael Shaw.) New York: The Seabury Press, 1976 (German Ed.: 1971)\n\n2. EBERHARD, Wolfram, \"Oracle and Theater in China\", pp. 191-199, Studies in Chinese Folklore and Related Essays, The Hague: Mouton, 1970.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210959, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 21, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "Council. Mr. Gilkes' service and contribution to the work of the Society over so many years is being suitably recognised by a presentation following this report. Meantime, we are delighted that he can continue as Vice-President.\n\nPublications\n\nThe annual Journal is our major contribution to knowledge of the Hong Kong region and further afield. Academic standards must be maintained, and each issue requires much time and effort. As I said last year, its production is dependent upon the spare time and energy of our editors. The 1984 Journal, which has been lagging behind, is with the printer, and the 1986 Journal is in an advanced stage of preparation. Both will appear shortly. We have also a book-length publication with the printer. This is an important study of religion in China today, edited by Dr. Julian Pas, one of our members and a past contributor to the Journal, who is with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. The book is an expensive publication by reason of its size and photographic content, and I am happy to report that, following an application by me as President, the Chinese Temples Committee has approved a grant of $50,000 which will meet half the cost. A publication on historic buildings in Hong Kong is still under consideration, together with a possible further volume of photographs of old buildings.\n\nThe Library\n\nAs members will see from the Hon. Librarian's report, our library collection has continued to increase in size through donations and purchases. We are grateful to all donors, and encourage other members to follow suit. Its value is now considerable, both in scholarly content and in monetary terms. Old books on China are in short supply and are ever increasing in cost, judging by the spiralling prices shown in specialist booksellers' catalogues.\n\nAs reported previously, it is held in the Kowloon Central Library at Homantin, Kowloon. The chief librarian reports 44 enquiries in the past year, with consultations on 100 books and 17 borrowings by members. Though an improvement on last year's figures, the collection is still under-utilised. In an attempt to...\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211296, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "in Rev. Carl Smith's articles reprinted in the 1986 Journal. His accounts of 19th century Cantonese entrepreneurs like Ho A-mei show that Chinese energy and enterprise was fuelled and sustained by the opportunities opened by colonial Hong Kong, and remind us that what we see and marvel at today has also happened yesterday.\n\nWe have another publication nearing completion. This is the book entitled The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today which is a collection of papers by authors with first-hand knowledge of the subject and edited by one of our members, Professor Julian Pas of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.\n\nLibrary\n\nMembers will have noted the greater expenditure on our library in the year's accounts. We are continuing the RAS tradition of building up a fine reference library of books on China. At a time when such books are in increasingly short supply, as reflected in booksellers' rising prices, the financial value of our collection grows from year to year.\n\nSince 1985, the Library has been kept at the Kowloon Central Library, as part of the reference collection there. The advantage of housing it in a public library is that more people can use it, but the disadvantage from our members' viewpoint is that most of them live on Hong Kong Island. Their use of the RAS Collection is undoubtedly limited thereby, especially as the Kowloon Central Library is not located on or near an MTR station. I have therefore discussed with the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, the possibility of moving it back to the Island when an opportunity occurs. Mrs. Luk tells me that this can be done when the City Hall's Hong Kong Central Library is replaced on the same or another site in the 1990s, and that she is willing to do so at that time. I have written to her subsequently to formalize this request.\n\nAn allied problem is the availability of the collection. Under normal library policies, access to the stacks (the shelves where the books are kept) is very limited. This is the case at Kowloon Central Library, where books other than ours are kept in the same section. On the other hand, the books are ours, and our members should have better access to them, instead of being confined to the catalogue and making a requisition. Mrs.\n\nXi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211829, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 244, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "219\n\nColins: Mrs. C.R. Faylor Love Laughs at Locksmiths Robin: Mes. C.R. Faylor\n\nJuliac: Mrs. E. Yeanians\n\nDame Durden: Mr. E. Yeamans.\n\nPaddy Druden: C.R. Faylor\n\nOnly an advertisement for this performance was published in the Herald of May 7. The stage often has its own laws as to the gender of the participants. In amateur theatricals, men dressed up as women à l'outrance, whereas in a professional company like the present one male characters were personified by ladies and vice versa!\n\n14.5.1864 (Sat)\n\nPerformance by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery.\n\nNo titles of plays recorded.\n\nTh: N.N. (H)\n\nR: NCH 21.5.1864\n\n17.5.1864 (Tue)\n\nRepeat of 14.5.1864.\n\n26.5.1864 (Thur)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “Whitebait at Greenwich\" (1835)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC. MATHEWS: \"Little Toddlekins” (1852)\n\nT: Comic drama (1 act)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “Poor Pillicoddy” (1848)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps\n\nF: Epilogue spoken by R.C. Antrobus, commander of the S.V.C.\n\nTh: N.N. (H)\n\nN: Final performance of the season\n\nR: For the occasion Edward LAWRENCE, who was a \"practitioner at Law and Notary Public” according to the “Shanghai Almanac for 1862”, had written an epilogue which was read by the commander of the S.V.C., Robert Crawford ANTROBUS (member of the Municipal Council 1864-1865). And, as if to give more weight to its reception, the Herald added that “many of the ladies joined in the applause” (NCH 28.5.1864).\n\n28.5.1864 (Sat)\n\n**An Evening at Home**: \"Songs interspersed with anecdotes and conversation of the most lively description”.\n\nC: Mr. J.R. Black\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\n31.5.1864 (Tue)\n\nAs on 28.5.1864.\n\n3.6.1864 (Fri) As on 28.5.1864.\n\n13.6.1864 (Mon)\n\n\"An Evening at Home - Great Jacobite Night\" by Messrs. J.R. Black and Marquis Chisholm. Performance of the play The Advantages of Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Rising of 1745 (No piece with this title appears in HED), as well as ballads and songs (including 'Vi ravviso from Bellini's \"La Sonnambula\", act 1).\n\nTh: Olympic Theater (H)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212121, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 63, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "40\n\nDean. Kenneth “Revival of Religious Practices in Fujian: a Case Study in Pas. Julian F. (ed.) The Turning of the Tide: Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society & Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 72.\n\n4\n\nMr. Pang Cheng-chuen (Peng Zheng-chuen), interviewed by author, Fanling, Dec. 30. 1990.\n\nP\n\nDean. 54. A student of the University of Hong Kong told me on Feb. 3, 1991 that he saw, by chance, a Jiao festival in 1990. He could not recall the exact date and location. However, he was very sure, from the celebrating flower boards, that it was a Jiao festival.\n\nK\n\nIbid., 776.\n\nLiu Zhi-wan, Taibeishi Songshan qi an jian jiao jidian, Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica Monograph, no. 14, (Taipei: The Institute, 1967). Besides Liu, the research team from the Academia Sinica included Song Lung-fei and Xu Jia-ming. Song's paper concentrated on aspects of folk architecture and decoration while Xu focused on the economic and social aspects. See Song Lung-fei \"Song-shan jian jiao jiao tan jianzhu di zhuan shi Yi shu\" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 157-217; Xu Jia-ming: \"Songshan jian jiao yu shequ\" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 109-153.\n\n4\n\nLi Zian-zhang. \"Daojiao jiaoyi di kaizhan yu xiandai di jiao” Sinological Researches 5 (1968): 261.\n\nIbid., p. 201.\n\nSaso, Michael R., Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (Washington: Washington State Univ. Press, 1972), 34.\n\nLaw, Joan & B.E. Ward, Chinese Festivals (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1982), 83.\n\nOkada, Yuzuru, Kiso Shakai (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1949).\n\nSee Brim, John A. “Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong\" in Wolf. A.P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1974), 93–103; and Suenari, Michio \"Sonbyo to sonkyo: Taiwan Hakka shuraku no jirei kara” [Village temple and village boundary: a case study of the Hakka communities in Taiwan] Bunka Jinna Gaku [Cultural Anthropology] (1985) 2:255-260.\n\n15 Ueno, Hiroko, \"Taiwan nanbo no osho to sonraku: Tainanken hito saishiken no sonraku aida kankei\" (Wang Jiao and villages in southern Taiwan: worshipping area and village relationship] Bunka Jinriú Gaku 5 (1988): 64-82.\n\n+\n\nTaylor, W.A. \"The Spirit Festival\" Bulletin of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival 1980 (Cheung Chau: n.p., 1980), 39-41. (reprinted from Wide World Magazine, Dec. 1953). The annual Cheung Chau Jiao festival is better known to westerners as the Bun festival because of the three tall \"bun mountains\" erected at the ritual area. The festival is the most studied Jiao festival in Hong Kong probably due to the fact that (1) the island is comparatively easy to get to, (2) it is celebrated every year and (3) it is widely publicized by the Hong Kong Tourist Information Bureau. Besides Tanaka's accounts (see note 36), see also Jonathan Chamberlain and Ian Lambot's photographic account. The Bun Festival of Cheung Chau (Hong Kong Studio Publications, 1990).\n\nדן\n\nI owe my interest in the Jiao festival to Prof. Ward who first introduced me to Jiao festivals in 1980. She then suggested that I participate in the Jiao festival in Kau Lau Wan.\n\nK\n\nLaw & Ward, 83-84.\n\nHayes, James W., The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes (Hong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213855, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "180\n\nThe\n\nIssei, \"The Jiao Festival in Hong Kong and the New Territories,\" in Julian F. Pas, ed., Turning of the Tides: Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 271-298\n\nInterviews: K'ung Chao-hsiang (age 79), Lung Tseng Tau, Jul 6, 1991; Hsieh Ch'i, op. cit.\n\nInterview of Mo Shu-ling (age 65), Mok Ka, Jun 29, 1991\n\nInterview of Lo Ch'uan, op. cit., Jul 8, 1991\n\n[hid]\n\n\"Ho, op. cit.; while some villagers did not remember the role of the Houwang in the rituals, an old man, who had witnessed the festival three times, indicated that the Houwang idol would be \"invited\" from the temple and enshrined on an altar set up for the ceremony (Interview of Lo Ch'uan, op. cit., Chap Mun Tau, Jun 22, 1991)\n\n\"Tanaka, op. cit., pp. 273-274\n\n*Faure, 1986, op. cit., p. 84\n\n14\n\nJames Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 159-160\n\n\"Ho, op. cit., p. 6\n\n16\n\nInterviews: Cheng P'o, op. cit.; K'ung Chao-hsiang, op. cit.\n\n\"Interviews: Cheng Man-hung, op. cit.; the Tung Chung Public School, Jul 1991; Tseng Kuan-hsing (age 60+), Upper Ling Pei, Jul 12, 1991\n\n*Interview of K'ung Chao-hsiang, op. cit.\n\n14\n\nJCH\n\nIbid.; Interviews: \"Uncle Li\", op. cit.; Cheng Man-hung, op. cit.; the Tung Chung Rural Committee, Aug 12, 1991\n\nInterview of Feng Po (age 65), Ma Wan Chung, Jun 16, 1991\n\nBrum, op. cit.\n\n*James Hayes, \"Chinese Temples in the Local Setting,\" in Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, Week-end symposium, Oct 2, 1966, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 92\n\n\"Faure, 1981, op. cit., p. 76\n\n**\"Ch'ung-hsiu Houwang-miao pei-chih,\" IV, 1910, collected in K'o Ta-wen, Lu Hung-chi, & Wu Lun Ni-hsia, comp., Hsiang-kang...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214825, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1999", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "206\n\n8\n\nbeen affixed. A case of this kind from Chekiang in 1909 was cited in Lin Shao-yang, A Chinese Appeal to Christendom Concerning Christian Missions (London, Watts & Co., 1911), p.236.\n\n* Rev. S. Beal, Buddhism in China (London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), p.241.\n\n? Holmes Welch, Buddhism under Mao (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1966), p.\n\nFor an updated statement on Buddhism in Hong Kong, see Bartholomew P.M. Tsui, \"Recent Developments in Buddhism in Hong Kong\" at pp.299-311 of Julian F.Pas (ed.) The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, in association with Oxford University Press, 1989).\n\n10 During a recent visit with friends to a small religious house in the hills behind Tsuen Wan (the Sai Chuk Lam), the couplets in the hall dedicated to the care of ancestral tablets of former inmates and the departed relatives of its clients gave the following messages to visitors: Place Trust in Kuan Yin's Great Mercy and Kindness (right) and Relieve Those in Hardship and Suffering by Reciting Her Name (left); with (above) another scroll to the effect that the Mercy Boat will Carry All over the Cruel Sea. I am grateful to Mr. Simon C.P. Yeung for discussing this with me on the visit. Hong Kong persons, temples, deities and places in these Notes are given in Cantonese romanisation.\n\nA whole chapter on \"The Moral Tract Literature of China\" is devoted to this subject by Rev. John L. Nevius, China and the Chinese (Philadelphia, Presbyterian Board of Publication, revised edition, 1882), pp.226-236.\n\n12 H.A.Giles, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1915), p.469. A translation of the work is given at pp.469-487.\n\n13 Besides the Buddhist and Taoist works in their collection (Moral Tenets and Customs in China, Ho-kien-fu, Catholic Mission Press, 1913) Fathers Wieger and Davrout also include some Confucian contributions. One of these was yet another very influential work, the Chu Pai Lu Chia Shun or the \"Familiar Instructions of Chu Pai-lu”, a 17th century Confucian scholar. The \"Instructions\" were particularly favoured by generations of teachers. Enshrined in countless vertical scrolls and horizontal exemplars brushed by distinguished calligraphers, their text, in full or in part, served as suitable texts for pupils to copy. In both\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]