[ { "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": 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": 208761, "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": 218, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRESENT-DAY TAIWAN\n\n191\n\n10 See M. Saso, The Teachings of Master Chuang. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978.\n\n11 Journal of Buddhist Culture, Fo-Chiao wen-hua hsüeh-pao,*** published by the Institute for the Study of Buddhist Culture since 1972. Articles are in Chinese or English.\n\n12 Journal of Taoist Culture, Tao-chiao wen-hua,Maxit published by the Taoist Culture Journal Association since 1976. Articles are in Chinese.\n\n13 Examples are: Fo-kuang hsüeh-pao,1*£* published by the Buddhist monastery on Fo-kuang mountain near Kaohsiung, since 1975 or 1976; Boahedrum, Pw-ti-shu,### Taichung: Hui-châ, & Torch Wisdom, Taipei; Hal Ming-tao, published in Tounan (Yünlin district).\n\nof\n\n14 See E. Ahern, The Cult of the Dead in a Chinese Village, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1973.\n\n15 See L. G. Thompson, \"Notes on Religious Trends in Taiwan\", Mon. Ser., vol. 23 (1964), 319-350.\n\n16 See A. P. Cohen, \"Fiscal Remarks on some Folk Religion Temples in Taiwan\", Mon. Ser., vol. 32 (1976), 85-158.\n\n17 See Liu Chih-wan, Taipei-shih Sung-shan ch'i-an chien-chiao chi-tien (Great Propitiatory Rites of Petition for Bene-ficence at Sungshan, Taipei, Taiwan), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology, (monographs no. 14), 1967, Liu Chih-wan, Chung-kuo min-chien hsin-yang lun-chi (Essays on Chinese Folk Belief and Folk Cults), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology (monographs no. 22), 1974.\n\nM. Saso, Taoism or the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, Washington State University Press, 1972.\n\n18 See St. Harrell, \"Modes of Belief in Chinese Folk Religion\", in JSSR, vol. 16 (1977), 55-65.\n\n19 See D. Jordan, Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors. Folk Religion in a Taiwanese Village, University of California Press, 1972, G. Seaman, Temple Organization in a Chinese Village (Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, vol. 101), Taipei: Chinese Association for Folklore, 1978,\n\n20 See D. Overmyer, \"The Saying of Master Lu\", Unpublished paper, given at the joint panel of the CASA and the CSSR on Chinese Religion at the Conference of the Learned Societies in Saskatoon, May, 1979.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "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": 209054, "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": 216, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TAOISM IN ORIENTAL LANGUAGES\n\nWILLIAM Y CHEN*\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nTaoism is a philosophical-religious tradition which has greatly contributed to shaping Chinese cultural and social life for more than two thousand years.\n\nThe philosophy of Taoism (Tao-chia 道家) is based on the advocacy of Huang-Lao (Huang-Ti or Yellow Emperor, and Lao-tzu) on wu wei (non-action), quiescence, and the unity of man with nature. With the later addition of magico-religious arts, of the immortality or longevity cults, Taoist religion (Tao-chiao 道教) gradually took shape.\n\nAccording to the Taoist tradition, Taoist philosophy originated during the reign of the legendary Yellow Emperor who is believed to have ascended to heaven about 4,600 years ago, after he had mastered the essence of Taoism and become an immortal. The major breakthrough of Taoist philosophy, however, came with the Tao te ching (Classic of the Way and its Power), attributed to Lao-tzu. It was the beginning of a philosophical spiritual stream that would develop through the centuries into a mighty river.\n\nThe formal organization of the Taoist religion, with hierarchy and rituals, is the work of Chang Tao-ling (2nd century A.D.), who became the first \"Heavenly Master\", or spiritual head of Taoism, whose 64th successor controls the Taoist \"Church\" in present-day Taiwan. Most modern sects of Taoism consider Chang Tao-ling as their founder. He infused into Taoism its formal priesthood, as well as aspects of magical faith-healing and exorcism; moreover, moral conduct and the performance of good works became a characteristic of Taoism ever since Han times.\n\nTaoism gradually created its own pantheon, but a distinction should be made between the gods worshipped by the people (gods of \"latter heaven\") and the supreme deities of \"former heaven\".\n\n*Mr Chen is a member of the library staff 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 } ]