Ritual in Early China, Essay Example

What is ritual, and what role did it play in the lives of people in early China

Donald Lopez defined Ritual as stereotype sequence of activities that involve gestures, objects and words that are performed and are designed to influence the supernatural entities so as to meet the need and interest of the people concerned. Rituals are prescribed by the traditions and religion of the community. It is therefore characterised by not only formalism and traditionalism but use of sacral symbolism and enhance the rule of governance.

Ritual has been part and parcel of the Chinese culture and way of life.   This is what makes the Chinese way of live considered as the most ancient religion and civilisation on earth. The rituals therefore were present in the complex mix of Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

During the Shang Dynasty, the ritual of divination played a major role in the providing direction to the people. For instance, turtle plastrons or cattle sculptures were made by making hollow depressions by the use o intense heat to make the T shape that was interpreted as luck or unlucky. Example of some of the things that divination was done on include hunts, good fortune of the 10 day week, weather , harvest, dreams, child bearing, issuing or orders and prayers to various spirits.

It is during the Ch’ou Dynasty that various religions in china began to unite under a single civilisation. During this period, various rituals were offered to specifics gods according to the locality of the people. Chinese started following the teachings of Confucius and Laozi.

According to China Encyclopædia Britannica, Conduction of ancestral rites is some of practises that were performed in conjunction with the divination and ancestral cults. For the Chinese, the appeasing of the dead is important meeting ground for the past present and the future.  The ancestral cult was based on the belief that the world is divided into three tiers that consist of the heaven earth and the underworld.

The Ch’in dynasty was accompanied by the abolishment of the feudal system and is characterised by the infamous suppression of intellectual ideas. The king was very afraid of death and therefore undertook rituals to the deities achieve immortality.

Donald Lopez  argued that Han dynasty was the first to fully embrace Confucianism that was used as the ideological underpinnings for all the regimes that followed till the end of the imperial china. The emperor supported the development of art, science and technology, literature and religion. While in the previous periods one of the ministries took charge of religion issues, emperor Han become directly involved in the official worship and conducting the ritual activities so as to secure spiritual blessings for the Chinese people.

The ritual of the states was therefore initially addressed to the five elements of fire, earth, water, wood and metal. The aim was for the supreme unity and appeasing the lord of the soil. In the 31BCE, the ritual to the cults was replaced with major sacrifices that are dedicated to heaven and earth. This involved changes like moving the sites of worship to the outskirts of Ch’angan and establishment of the new alters and shrines. Emperor Han also paid his respect to the supreme powers. Rituals and sacrifices were also done to for the state of the dynasty at the summit of the mount Tai.

The rituals conducted in china therefore took different forms depending on the state of the emperor. For instance, the desire of the emperor Wu-ti’s for immortality for himself and his family led him to employ intermediaries that claimed to be able to make contacts with the immortals through rituals.

Works cited

“China.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. Jan. 19, 2005 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=71629>.

Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Religions of China in Practice, Princeton, 1996