Antient Chinese Thoughts – Zhou dynasty

Ancient Chinese Thoughts - Zhou Dynasty  

 

 

 

ANTIENT CHINESE THOUGHTS – ZHOU DYNASTY

 

 

 

 

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Zhou accession brought about significant changes in public's consciousness and ideological traditions of ancient China. Zhou dynasty brought a new vision of the Supreme Deity, whom they called Tian. The original tracings of the sign "Tien" is the image of a large man with a very distinguished head and is, perhaps, the symbol of deified ancestor’s leader. However, according to Zhou myth, ancestor’s mother Ho Chi conceived stepping pas footprint of a giant. Even before Zhou dynasty conquered the Shang state, the legend of their relationship through the female line to the family of Shan kings had been born. When they conquered the Shang, those people started to identify their supreme deity Tian Shan to the supreme deity Shandy. But this required rejection of contamination koptseptsii of tribal deity. The notion is not so managed to get rid of the legacy of totemism, and its use in China remains limited within the "ancestral body" of individual dynasties. Same term "tian" in the sense of "Heaven" was used to name new archaic religious idea of universe beginning. Here we are to discuss the development of ancient Chinese worldview or cosmology in Zhou dynasty, in particular, the concept of tian or tien (Heaven) and its socio-political implications in early China.

Firstly, historical fate of the concept "Tian" was sealed at the time of  Zhou conquest, which their admirers tried to justify by the fact that the very "Sky" Shan had told them to punish the governor for his transgressions. New dynasty presented the case in such a way as though the deity had handed them its "celestial order" (Tian min) to the kingdom. It took power from entrenchments, just in the same way as the founder of the Shang dynasty once took a "celestial order" away from the last ruler of the Xia Dynasty.

The supreme god in the Shang Dynasty was di (emperor) shandy (horse Emperor). The belief in it was a form of religion in connection to shamanism. In "Hymns Home Shang" in "Shi Jing" says: "Dee put (your) son, and so was born (home) Shang" (Shih-ching, ch.20-4). Shang rulers believed that they were the sons and grandsons of the Supreme Emperor and ruled people as representatives of the Supreme sky. In this regard, they appealed for any occasion with the Tarot to the Supreme Emperor. Inscriptions on tortoise shells are just the recording of issues for resolution they came to them, such as "Day Jia-chen, will the emperor order it to be rain?", "Will it be wind?", “ Will the Emperor help me to? "" Wang wants to build a city. Will the emperor agree? " Officials in charge of divination, fortune-tellers, historians, and shamans gave different explanations and presented them as a response of the Supreme Emperor. Shan rulers interpreted natural disasters, order, and disorder in society, life and death, happiness and distress, and reward or punishment as heaven sends (Marshall 2001).

After dominance of the Shang Dynasty was replaced by the domination of slave-owning aristocracy of Western Zhou, the last accepted religious beliefs of the "Supreme Emperor" that existed during the Shang Dynasty, and by making ads, created a doctrine of "the will of Heaven."

Were there any theological and theoretical studies based on which the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang dynasty? This is the first question that first Zhou rulers had to answer, and they declared: "The great and glorious Wen-van was a great order that the sky would help him" (inscription on a tripod Dayuy din). "Di put (your) son, and so was born (home) Shang" (Chi-ching, ch.20-4)". Having changed his will, almighty Supreme Emperor handed over power to his eldest son in order for him to run a great state of Yin" (inscription on a tripod Dayuy din) Zhou Gong Yin said to the men left "Not my little possession dared to deprive a ruler Yin, Sky did not give him authority" (Shang-shu, ch.16). "Heaven has decided not to grant him the power, so being under our control people united hearts and began to act, should only be afraid of the will of Heaven" (Shang-shu, ch.16). Zhou Gong here already binds the will of Heaven to the wishes of people and justifying actions of Shan Cheng-tang, who succeeded as ruler Jie said: "I heard that the Supreme Emperor wanted people to live in joy, but the ruler of the Xia did not provide him with joy ...  Therefore the Supreme Emperor canceled his original order and sent down upon him punishment. After that, the Supreme Emperor ordered your ancestor Cheng-tanu to change the ruler of the Xia Dynasty, and the wise use, manage four cardinals "(Shang-shu, ch.16).      

Reasoning of Zhou-gong shows that the "will of Heaven is fickle" (Chi-ching, ch.16-1) and is a subject to change. The sky changes its will depending on whether the government is able to "respect and protect the people of virtue" and "to meet its virtues of Heaven". Zhou Gong believed that "The sky is sure to be to what the people want", claiming such unity "the desires of the people" and "the will of Heaven." Sky is looking for people of the ruler, but a wise ruler should "respect and protect the people of virtue", and then he will be forever "to use the mandate of heaven to rule" (Shang-shu, ch.17). Yin Zhou entertained a lot, indulged to excess, was very brutal, violated the rules of virtue and made harm to people. As a result, he lost the Mandate of Heaven to rule and support of the people.

A new interpretation of the power had far-reaching consequences. From that time, real ideological basis of power was considered to be the only personal achievement of the dynasty founder and his successors. In terms of Zhou ideology, the right to establish possession of dynasty gave some cosmic grace “do”- another concept unknown in the Shang. Originally, de sign expressed some ideas of magic power of the leader in the generic system of religion. Over time it acquired much more evident moral tone (Szczepanski 2012).

Thus, the "Sky" was conceived as a deity, which punished for misconduct and rewarded for good deeds. But for the same reason, only people themselves could influence who would be the owner of "heavenly commandments". Zhou themselves underlined that this grace of the skies was not guaranteed to them forever, and that it was not easy to be worthy. The emphasis on the moral, but impartial will of "Heaven” has caused great importance of "people" (min) category in the ideology of Zhou dynasty (Birrell 1993).

"The people" in Zhou texts is declared as herald of "Heaven’s" will and taking care of "the people" is put even before concerns about perfume. Suprageneric character of "Heaven" allowed them to incorporate tribal gods in their religious and political system under the guise of various local deities, mostly related to the cult of fruit-bearing forces of the Earth (called she). Innovations of Zhou dynasty initiated a new stage of interpretation of the world and man. At this stage, the perception of inherent tribal era of sacred power in its individual manifestations gradually pushed the all-encompassing perceptions of the absolute reality of the world as a source of constant movement and fate. Pilot perceived primitive magic gave a way to emotional perception of space communications, the ideology of tribal continuity supplemented moral arguments. Cosmic force eclipsed the old gods. "Heaven" came to mean anonymous and impersonal court that was judging without taking part in human affairs. The ratio of "heaven" to archaic deities remained fundamentally uncertain. Therefore, the rule of "Heaven" allowed some elements of archaic religion to exist, in particular, ancestor worship, natural elements, and new kinds of cults: local, family, individual, etc. A complex hierarchy of cults sealed with the concept of "Heaven" as the focus of the hierarchical order was traditional feature of the religious system of China ( Deady & DuBois 2004).

Opening of metaphysical reality was accompanied with a rethinking ritual(s) essence. It should be recalled that in the Shang ritual practice was entirely regulated by taboos associated with totemic representations and provided a high degree of formalization that witnessed, among others, highly formalized style Shan art. In the Western Zhou ritual retained its archaic significance: it was above all rites of sacrifice, a way of a direct communication with ancestors, and its scope was limited, in fact, to Chou clan leader. But even then, the moral dimension of human life was displayed in the concept of ritual (Scarpari 2006).

In accordance with the newly discovered, but not yet fully realized by ethical distance between the human and the divine, Zhou interpreted their cults as an act of separation between the world of humans and the spirit world. Their understanding of the ritual is expressed in the maxim of the ancient classical book "Conversations and Judgments" ("Lun Yu"), "to honor the gods and to keep them at a distance". Eventually, the ritual increasingly lost a connection with its cult context, and ritual communication gradually moved into the area of ​​the inner world of man, acquired the meaning of moral standards and conditions for self-evaluation, which was one of many signs of rapid secularization of Zhou culture. From that time, Zhou ritual traditions were not just committed, but were interpreted as a symbolic act, which did not even have to have a visible image. Hence the emphasis on self-restraint and self-absorbed members of the ritual, which in the eyes of Zhou’s differed from the culture of ecstatic nature worship entrenchments (Ah Xiang 2011).

In conclusion, a major role in the process of rationalization of categories and values ​​of archaic religion in ancient China was played by two factors. One of them was the essential practice of divination, which made the idea of ​​a personal God of revelation and prophetic religion impossible in ancient China. The second factor were exclusive prerogatives of the head of the clan or the ruler. Administration of the state was not separated from religious ritual. Administrative documents were sacred tablets of the gods. In the 8^th century, the Zhou dynasty and the ideology of Zhou experienced increasingly deepening crisis. Conceptually, it was above all a crisis of confidence in the concept of "Heaven" as a supreme ethical force. Obviously, advanced Chou Kung position "to respect and protect the people of virtue", and "meet the virtues of the virtues of Heaven" to some extent generalize historical experience of the fall of those rulers that emphasized the importance of people's forces, required to limit the governor and express the idea of operating with the rulers and carefully use the punishment that was progressive. At the same time, these positions expressed views that differed from the ones of the continuing will of Heaven and passive conservation ruler with reference to the will of Heaven. That helped attract Zhou rulers’ attention to the affairs the people and real politics. This is an important moment in the development of Shan religious idealism and political thought. It opened the way for servitors to teach in schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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