Chinese Mythology and Tales

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD (c. 220-589 C.E.)

Mu-chou Poo

77ae Development of the Concept of the Ghost in Early China

In early China the term gui can roughly be equated with the term

"ghost" in modern English, although other terms such hun po fiN, ling mei wu {PJ and guai can all have the connotation of ghost in certain contexts.l The most common conception regarding the origin of gui-ghosts is that they are the spirits of deceased humans.

Oftentimes, however, people in ancient China believed in the existence

of ghosts or spirits of animals and even inanimate objects such as trees

and rocks, just as E. B. Taylor pointed out long ago in Primitive Culture.

It is noteworthy that although non-human spirits constitute a special category of beings in the Chinese belief system and folklore, and can

rightly be treated separately,2 in this article I prefer to include them in

the category of gui-ghost, since during the Six Dynasties period, which

is the period discussed here, it is often difficult to treat them differently

from human ghosts, given their images, their behavior, their interaction with human beings, and their anthropomorphic nature in general. Our understanding of gui-ghosts in early China is naturally lim-

ited and shaped by the available evidence. For the Shang (c. 17—11

century B.C.E.) period, the oracle bone inscriptions provide the main

source of evidence. The gui-ghosts mentioned there are usually those

deceased ancestors who caused certain diseases, especially to the kings

Mu-chou Poo, "The Concept of Ghost in Ancient Chinese Religion," in John Lagerwey ed., Chinese Religion and Society vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004), pp. 173-91.

For a discussion of the concept of wu, see Du Zhengsheng "Gudai wuguai Zhi yanjiu Dalu Zazhi 104, 1 (2001): 1—14; 104,

2 (2001): 1—15; 104, 3 (2001): 1—10. For the idea of mei, see Lin Fu-shih, "Shi mei: yi

Xian Qin Zhi Dong Han shiqi de wenxian ziliao weizhu de kaocha in Pu Muzhou (Mu-chou Poo) ed.,

Guimei shenmo: Zhongguo tongsu wenhua cexie

(Taipei: Maitian, 2005), pp. 109—34.

238 MU-CHOU POO

and nobles. The information provided by these texts basically relates

to what the ghosts did, but not the reasons why they did it, or where they came from. Nor is there any information on the appearance of

the ghosts. For the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046—256 B.C.E.), the persona of gui-ghosts gradually takes shape, as more textual evidence related to

ghosts gradually appears. In general two views of gui-ghosts can be

deduced from the textual and iconographical evidence of this period.

The view represented by certain elite-intellectuals, later known for convenience sake as the Confucians, regards ghosts as formless and

invisible beings. As such, they could not have possessed any concrete

image. Yet it is perhaps against human cognitive instinct to imagine a "being" that could exert power and influence on people's lives yet

without having a form. Thus this view belonged to the minority even

amongst the elites. Instead, most people in our sources tend to take the

position that ghosts, despite their illusive nature, are a kind of tangible

existence perceptible by human senses. In fact, most religious sacrifices of this and the previous period imply

a belief in the concrete nature of ghosts and spirits. One passage in the Zuozhuan, the major source for the history of the Eastern Zhou (c. 770—256 B.C.E.) period, mentions that even ghosts needed to be

fed, which is a clear indication of the anthropomorphic imagination of

the nature of the ghost.3 It is unlikely that the author of the Zuozhuan

would have fabricated an idea that was not already accepted in the

common mentality, since presumably he is striving to convince his audience. Thus the passage could serve as an indication of the general

religious mentality of the time. In the book of Mozi, written during the

early fourth century B.C.E., the author uses a common-sense approach

to prove the existence of ghosts by quoting incidences where people

claimed to have seen ghosts.4 Regardless of the logical problem inher-

ent in Mozi's argument, it is undeniable that the author's words are

representative of the common conception of ghost in his time. Since they are regarded as concrete beings, it follows that gui-ghosts

must have possessed certain physical attributes. Of course, exactly how a ghost should look can vary greatly from one instance to another.

The general impression is that ghosts could possess certain strange

Zuozhuan 21: 21, Mu-chou Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare (Albany: State University of New York Pess, 1998), p. 55.

4 Wu Yujiang Mozi jiaozhu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), p. 337.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 239

or ferocious features, either in human or in animal form, although

not completely beyond imagination. This accessibility of ghosts to the

human senses formed the basis of the subsequent development of the culture of ghosts in Chinese history.5

The Intellectual and Social Milieu of the Era of Disunity

The second half of the Second Century C.E. saw the beginning of the

disintegration of the Han empire. The reasons are multifarious: fierce court politics between official literati, royal relatives and inner court

eunuchs; the rise of local powers in the northern, southern, and western

provinces; the rise of the Yellow Turbans, a collection of distressed and

armed cult groups who propagated the coming of a new era; and the

warlords who, by subduing the Yellow Turbans, developed and expanded

their own military power and finally brought down the unified state and created the Three Kingdoms. From the rise of the Yellow Turbans

in 184 until the reunification of the country under Emperor Wu of Jin dynasty in 280, therefore, China had undergone a century of political,

social, and intellectual turmoil. Confucian tradition was challenged

by Buddhism and Daoist philosophy; ordinary citizens tried to search

for a way of getting around the harsh life, whether through traditional

worship of spirits and deities, or through the new teachings of Daoist masters or Buddhist monks.6

A partial view of the general mentality of the late Eastern Han can be illustrated by Ying Shao's (c. 165—204 C.E.) description of the con-

temporary customs. He mentions that during the year 125 C.E. when a great epidemic was raging in the Luoyang area, a rumor had it that

there was a malicious plague ghost by the name of Youguang. No one has ever seen this ghost, but he caused the plague to occur year after

year. The way to ward off this ghost, as Ying Shao reports in his A Penetrating Account of Manners and Customs (Fengsu tongyi), is to tie

a piece of newly woven silk cloth on the doorway.7 A similar custom

5 Poo, "The Concept of Ghost in Ancient Chinese Religion,' pp. 173—91. 6 For the historical background of the Later Han, see B. J. Mansvelt Beck, "The

Fall of Han," in Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe eds., Tae Cambridge History of China vol. I Ihe Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.—A.D. 220 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 317—76.

7 Wang Liqi Fengsu tongyi jiaozhu (Taipei: Mingwen 1988 reprint), p. 605.

240 MU-CHOU POO

of decorating the door with red string and a five-colored stamp made of peach wood is said to be able to create a certain apotropaic effect of

warding off gui-ghosts or evil spirits.

The fact that this exorcistic method was practiced widely and trans-

mitted to the later generations indicates that there was a certain sense

of anxiety in society, an anxiety that was connected not only with the

current plague, but even more with the almost unknown factor of the

ghosts that caused the plague. Thus according to A Penetrating Account of Manners and Customs:

By custom, [the people of] Guiji favored excessive cults and preferred divination. Everyone sacrificed by offering cattle. Shamans exacted money and gifts (from the people), but the people did not dare to refuse for fear

that they be cursed by the shamans. Thus people's wealth was spent on

ghosts and spirits, and their properties were consumed by sacrifices. Some poor families who were unable to make timely sacrifice did not even dare to eat beef. [It is said that] a person about to die from illness would make the mooing sound of cattle. That is how they fear (the shamans).8

In a sense, people were controlled by the local shamans because they

believed that they were threatened by various ghosts, and only shamans

could save them from the attack of ghosts and evil spirits. A collective mentality that betrays a deep anxiety can be felt here.

In the "Rhapsody on the Eastern Capital" (Dongjingfu by

a famous scholar Zhang Heng }kfiJ, the ritual of the Great Exorcism (dano performed at the years' end was described in a most vivid

fashion. The main concern of the ritual was also the expulsion of the

evil spirits that caused illness to the people.9 As a form of regular ritual

activity with a long history in society, it is an expression of a constant

apprehension of unknown misfortune.

The plague was not to go away easily, and took many lives regardless of social position. A late Eastern Han physician by the name Zhang Zhongjing wrote in the preface to his medical treatise the following

words:

8 Wang Liqi, Fengsu tongyi jiaozhu, p. 401. 9 Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, pp. 132-33; Derk Bodde, Festivals in Classical

China (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 117—27; Lee Fengmao *MM, "Daozang suoshou zaoqi daoshu de wenyi guan in

Zhonwto wenzhe yanjiu jikan 3 (1993): 417—52; esp. 420—22. Also Mu-chou Poo, "Ritual and Ritual Texts in Early China," in John Lagerwey ed., Early Chinese Religion, Part I: Shang through Han (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming).

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 241

My family had more than two hundred members, yet not more than ten years passed since the Jian-an era and two-thirds have died, and seven out of ten of them died of coldness.10

The Jian-an era that Zhang referred to was actually the year 196 C.E.

when a plague broke out in the capital. During the final years of the

Eastern Han, the raging plague was still a subject that deeply troubled

many people, as Cao Pi (187—226 C.E.), later Emperor Wen of Wei, said in a letter to his friend:

During the plague of that year (i.e., 217 C.E.), many friends and relatives fell victim, and Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ying Yang, and Liu Zhen all passed

away together.ll

Cao Zhi (192—232 C.E.), the younger brother of Cao Pi, also wrote

an essay "On the Qi of Infectious Disease" in which he mentioned the

current belief in the ghost of the plague:

In the twenty-second year of Jian-an (217 C.E.), the infectious disease

roamed about, every family experienced the pain of death, and every household was mourning with sad outcry. Some families died out com- pletely, other clans perished altogether. People thought that the disease

was caused by ghosts and spirits.. .. This is because yin and yang are dis- located and hot and cold weathers missed their proper time. This is why disease comes about. And yet foolish people hang talismans to exorcise it, which is quite laughable.12

Cao Zhi's rebuttal referred to a common belief that it was ghosts who caused the plague. In the same spirit, early Daoist texts such as the

Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing often mention the raging ghosts of

plague and the widespread destruction they brought:

The Dao says: There are great ghost lords in the country: Deng Ai, Zhong Shiji, Zhao Shan, Wang Mang, Li Ao, Du Zhou, .. .... etc. There are these great ghost-lords. Some people nowadays worship Emperor Wu and King

10 See Zhang Zhongjing s preface to his work, in Chen Y iren ed., Shang- hanlun Yishi (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 1995).

Yan Kejun Quan ShalWÆ sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen/ Quan San- 11

guo wen (Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1982), 7: 5b.

For the date of the plague, see Chen Shou Sanguozhi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1971), p. 602, also, Sanguozhi, p. 51. For a detailed list of all the recorded epidem-

ics and natural disasters in Chinese history, see Satö Taketoshi Chügoku

saigaishi nempyö (Tokyo: Kogushu kankökai, 1993). 12 Yan Kejun, Quan Shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen/ Quan Sanguo

wen, 18: 8—9.

242 MU-CHOU POO

Wen, whose shrines continue to be supplied by the people, and who each commanded troops and haunted people everywhere, and killed people with diseases year in and year out, and cause to circulate tens of thousands

of kinds of diseases. Some cause bodily fatigue, cold, fever and diarrhea, swelling with water in the stomach, or the black disease with pain in the

head and eyes, and fever in the chest and on the back. Others cause yel-

low sickness, loss of voice and difficulty swallowing.13

Diseases, according to such an understanding, were therefore caused

by the ghosts of the deceased people, emperors and soldiers alike.14

The purpose of the Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing was to prepare

the Daoist adepts to perform various ritual incantations to exorcise the

disease-causing ghosts. Although probably written in the Fifth century,

the text could very probably have reflected the social reality of an ear-

lier period. Thus we see a connection between people's fear of plague

and of the attack of ghosts, as confirmed also by the ghost Youguang

reported by Ying Shao.

Moreover, the general anxiety might have been caused not only by the plague, but equally, if not more, by the incessant warfare at the end

of the Eastern Han. In 184 C.E., the Yellow Turban uprising caused

great turbulence in the country, which affected the lives of millions of

people. The uprising was suppressed within one year, yet immediately

afterwards a serious plague broke out, which might have caused the

destruction of people's daily life by the wide-spread warfare of the

previous year.l The suppression of the Yellow Turbans did not mean the end of war-

fare. On the contrary, in addition to numerous local rebellions, a series of civil battles began to be waged between several powerful military leaders; some claimed to be the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, but

some used other appellations.16 The incessant warfare finally set off the

downfall of the Han Dyansty. The disastrous aftermath of the civil wars was noted in more than one passage in the History of the Later Han:

Daozang, 6: 25, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing 7: 5b.

14 See Lin Fushih "Donghan wanqi de jiyi yu zongjiao

H Lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan 66, 3 (1995): 695—745. See also Li Fengmao "Dongyuan shenzhoujing de shenmoguan ji qi kezhishuo

Dongfang zongiiao yanjiu (new series) 2 (1991): 133-54.

15 Houhanshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1971), 8: 351. 16 Houhanshu 71: 2301.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 243

At the time bandits and thieves roamed about in Changan without restriction and pillaged during the day. Therefore Li Que, Guo Fan and Zhou divided the city into three parts, each guarding his border. Still, the situation could not be controlled. Yet their subjects were abusing power and taxing the people. At the time the price of grain was one bucket for

half million coins, and the price of bean and barley was two hundred

thousand coins. People were eating each other, white bones gathered in piles and filthy refuse filled the road. I7

It is notable that Ying Shao, the author of A Penetrating Account of Manners and Customs, was one of the local offcials who fought with the Yellow Turbans.18 His account of the local custom of shamanistic

activities should therefore be viewed in the context of a time of social

unrest and widespread disease and anxiety.

Ying Shao's experience was not unique. Throughout the Eastern

Han there was a constant confrontation between local offcials and the magicians (fangshi Jj±) who were known to be able to wield supernatural powers in various ways, many of which directly related to the livelihood of ordinary people.19 The fact that stories about the

magicians were preserved in the written as well as oral tradition indi-

cates that the society as a whole was not regarding the magical stories

as all nonsense but something worth reporting and even aspiring to.

The underlying mentality was one that craved for the extraordinary in

a time of seemingly endless distress. A type of bronze mirror current in the late Eastern Han period has the following inscriptions:

The Royal Workshop made this mirror so that the barbarians would be

subdued, the country blessed and people rested, the barbarians destroyed and all under heaven rejuvenated, the seasons in tune and the five grains

ripened.20

Here is a personal but also collective prayer voiced at a time when barbarians from the northwest were invading, and the domestic situ-

ation was in deep trouble. This is in glaring contrast to another type

17 Houhanshu 72: 2336. 18 Houhanshu 9: 372. 19 See Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, chapter 8. For fangshi, see Kenneth J.

DeWoskin tr., Doctors, diviners, and magicians of ancient China: Biographies of fang- shih (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983).

Zhongguo gudai tongjing20 Kong Xiangxing and Liu Yiman

(Beijin: Wenwu, 1984), p. 97; cf. Michael Loewe, Ways to Paradise: 73ae Chi- nese Quest for Immortality (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1979), pp. 194—95.

MU-CHOU POO

of mirror inscription, current since the Western Han that describes a

future life among the immortals:

The Royal Workshop made this mirror and truly it is very fine. Upon it are immortal beings oblivious of old age. When they thirst they drink from the spring of jade, when they hunger they feed on jujubes. They roam at large throughout the world, wandering between the four oceans. They rove at will on the well-known hills plucking the Herb of Life. Long life

be yours, like that of metal and stone, and may you be protector of the land; eternal joy without end; as is fit for nobleman or king.2

The change of mood from the hope for a happy personal future life to a better this-worldly condition speaks of a different social atmosphere.

The general depredation of social life during the latter half of the Eastern

Han can also be gleaned from The Canon of Great Peace (Taipingjing), dated as early as the Eastern Han, and could have been connected

to the uprising of the Yellow Turbans and the Way of the Heavenly Master, one of the earliest knowable Daoist religious sects.22 It is stated

plainly that there are four great evils in the world: war, plague, flood,

and fire.23 Numerous passages in the Canon of Great Peace expounded

the miseries caused by these evils and emphasized the need for a true

Way to save the world. In view of this general background, an investigation of the concept

of ghost in this period, as revealed through various media, might be

helpful for our understanding of the continuity and change of popular

religious mentality. Where did ghosts come from? What was the image of the ghost? How did Daoists and Buddhists understand the nature of ghosts, their relationship with human beings, and what were the actions taken to deal with them?

77ae Origin of Ghosts

Ever since the pre-Qin era, similar origins of ghosts, i.e., deceased

human beings or animals, are suggested by different genres of evidence. Regarding the human ghosts, while most of the people simply assume

21 Loewe, Ways to Paradise, p. 198. 22

Barbara Hendrischke, Tie Scripture on Great Peace: 'Ibe Taiping jing and the Beginnings of Daoism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).

23 Wang Ming Taipingjing hejiao (Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), p. 3.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 245

their existence, it is also implicitly agreed that if a person received

proper burial and sacrifice, the ghost of this person will not come back to harm people. One explanation is to see this as the outcome of a communal need to take care of the dead members of society, and to

ensure the proper transition of a member from the society of the living into the realm of the ancestors. Thus anxiety would rise if a member is not buried properly, which could be the reason for the return of the

revenant.24 For the non-human ghosts, however, their affective power is probably prompted by a primordial fear of the unknown that resides deep within the human psyche. By far the most important source concerning the idea of the ghost

in the literature of the Six Dynasties period are the so-called stories of

the anomaly (zhiguai), a genre of short stories about ghosts and spirits

and supernatural events.25 The reasons for the prevalence of such stories

during this period are more than one: the rise of private writing, the

increase in literacy, the change in the political, economic and intellectual

situations, even the increased use of paper. All these contributed to

the development of literary activities in general, and at the same time

conditioned the character of its content.26 The fashion of "pure talk,"

that is, private gatherings of intellectuals for the purposes of either com-

menting on current political and social problems, or engaging in literary

and philosophical debates, provided another venue for the exchange

of the stories.27 Various legends and ghost stories were thus dispersed

24 Jean-Claude Schmitt, Ghosts in the Middle Ages: Tze Living and the Dead in Medi- eval Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), pp. 5—7. See "Introduction"

to the present volume.

25 See a study by R. Campany, Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medi- eval China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996); Mu-chou Poo, "The Completion of an Ideal World: The Human Ghost in Early Medieval China," Asia Major 10 1/2 (1997): 69—94; Liu Yuan-ju's article in this volume.

26 For a general account of the intellectual atmosphere at the beginning of this period,

see C. Holcombe, In the Shadow of the Han (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994). For the relationship between the rise of the anomaly stories and the contemporary

society, see Lu Nun, Zongguo Xiaoshuo shilue (Taipei: Ming-lun, n.d.

rpt); Wu Hung-i "Liuchao guishen kuaiyi xiaoshuo yu shidai beijing de guanxi -HfikJWfh," Zongguo kudian wenxue yanjiu congkan:

xiaoshuo zhibu (1) ) (Taipei: Juliu, 1977),

pp. 55—89; Wang Guoliang Wei-Jin Nanbeichao zhiguai xiaoshuo yanjiu (Taipei: Wen-shi-zhe, 1984), pp. 13—36.

For reference, see Poo, "The Completion of an Ideal World: The Human Ghost27

in Early Medieval China," pp. 69—94.

246 MU-CHOU POO

amongst the literati, who then could have collected them into books.28 The rise of the Daoist and Buddhist religions brought about a massive

production of religious literature on a scale unprecedented in China,

which also accounted for the increased interest in the issue of ghosts

and spirits, since they were what needed to be exorcised.

The literary accounts of ghosts in the anomaly stories usually would

reveal the identity and origin of the ghosts, as it is a necessary part of

the narrative strategy. The common feature of these ghosts and spirits is that they are basically anthropomorphic, but would resume or be

forced to reveal their original forms somewhere in the story, either

as dead humans, animals, or even inanimate things such as trees or

rocks,29 thus creating certain surprising and entertaining sensations for the readers.

For the early Daoist texts, a different purpose is required of the

accounts about ghosts and spirits. 77qe Canon of Great Peace (Taiping-

jing), for example, has its own explanation of the origin of ghosts based on the theory of Y in-yang balance:

The living person is yang; the dead person is yin. One should not serve the yin more than one serves the yang. Yang is the sovereign and yin the subject. One should not serve the subject more than one serves the sover- eign. If one serve the yin more than yang, it will cause the adverse ether to arrive, ... the harm would be that the yin ether conquers the yang, the subjects deceive the overlord, ghosts and gods and evil things flourish greatly, and they ride together on the road, and often walk in the daytime

and do not avoid people. If diseases cannot be extinguished, the many ghosts will not stop to appear.. .. The living persons are yang, ghosts and

spirits are yin, the living belongs to day, while the ghosts and spirits belong to night.. .. When yang rises, it will overcome the yin, so that yin will be hidden and does not dare to appear at will. As a consequence ghosts and

spirits become hidden. If yin rises, it will overcome yang, and when yang is hidden, ghosts and spirits could be seen in daylight. Thus when yin overcomes, it means that ghosts and spirits will cause harm.30

28 Li Jianguo *ÉIJü, Tangqian zhiguai xiaoshuoshi (Tianjin: Nankai daxue chubanshe, 1984), pp. 238—40. For a general account of the intellec- tual atmosphere at the beginning of this period, see Holcombe, In the Shadow of the Han.

29 For a story about tree spirit, see Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen (Tai- pei: Tangshan, 1989 reprint), p. 134; for a jade fairy, see Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 146; for a rock fairy, see Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 192; for the spirits of a pillow and a shoe, Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 394.

30 Wang Ming, Taipingiing hejiao, pp. 49—51.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 247

This deliberation of the nature and mutual relation of yin and yang, of

course, does not replace the idea that ghosts are dead humans, only that

their appearances are regulated or conditioned by the balance of the

yin and yang forces. Moreover, in accordance with the ancient Daoist

philosophy that everything in the universe is the gathering of ether

or qi, the evil ghosts and spirits can also be explained as originating

from evil qi. As the Nüqingguilü an early Daoist text, has it,

there was no evil ghost when heaven and earth were first created. Yet

because people did not believe in the Dao, the evil qi began to rise and

became myriads of ghosts.31 There is also the "old ether (gu qi {QQI)"

that could somehow congeal into powerful beings, assume offcial titles, and become leaders of the ghosts of the dead soldiers and generals. One

text has the following paragraph:

The old ether of the Six Heavens claimed to be officials and assumed

titles and associated with hundreds of spirits and the five harmful ghosts.

There are also the dead generals of defeated armies, the dead soldiers of

the disarrayed troops, those men who called themselves generals, and those women who called themselves ladies; they led the ghost soldiers and followed the army and roamed the world, acting in a whimsical way that threatened the people and took away their fortune. They disturbed the temples and demanded sacrifice.32

This view may have reflected the sorry situation of a time of incessant wars and plagues since the end of the Eastern Han. The explanation of

the ghost as a product of qi, though indeed a special kind of under-

standing of the origin of ghost, still falls into a form of early Chinese

cosmological thinking from the pre-Qin era. In fact, even in the Daoist

tradition, the range of the origins of ghosts extended far more than the

qi and those who died in military action. The Canon of Great Peace itself provided another view of the origin of some evil ghosts:

There often existed in the world ferocious ghosts, evil spirits, brutal dis-

eases, guilty corpses and people who died of criminal acts. When they come to attach to people, it was like the poisonous weapons and arrows that struck the body—the pain was unbearable.33

The Taishang zhengyi zhouguijing another early

Daoist text composed probably during the Six Dynasties period, also

31

32

33

Daozang 18: 239, Nuqin guilu Daozang 24: 779, Lu xiansheng daomen kelue

Wang Ming, Taipingjing hejiao, p. 295.

248 MU-CHOU POO

provided several extravagant lists of ghosts that indicate their origins.

One of the lists reads as follows:

Ghosts and Spirits: There are... ghost of thinking, ghost of disabilities,

ghosts of Wang-liang, the ghost of the constellation Ying-huo, ghosts of

roaming and exorcism, ghosts of mouth disease, ghosts of dead bodies, ghosts of those who died of abscess, ghosts of those who died of sexual excess, ghosts of those who died of old age, ghosts of the official residence, ghosts of travelers, ghosts of the army camp, ghosts of the prisoner, ghosts of the publicly executed, ghosts of those who frightened people, ghosts of those who died of wood, ghosts of those who died of fire, ghosts of those who died of water, ghosts of those who died when traveling, ghosts of the unburied, ghosts of the road, ghosts of those killed by weapons, ghosts of those who died because of their constellation, ghosts who died because of blood, ghosts of those who died of hasty prayers, ghosts of the beheaded, ghosts of the hanged, ghosts of the offended, ghosts of those who killed themselves, ghosts of those who are afraid of people, ghosts of those who died unnaturally, two-headed ghosts, horse-riding ghosts, chariot-driving

ghosts, mountain ghosts, godly ghosts, earth ghosts, mountain peak ghosts,

water ghosts, ceiling-beam ghosts, road ghosts, ghosts of the Qiang and

Hu barbarians, ghosts of the Manyi barbarians, ghosts of prohibitions, ghosts of animals, ghosts of spirits, ghosts of various insects, ghosts of

wells, stoves, ponds, and marshes, ghosts of ten thousand roads, hidden ghosts, the Not-efficacious ghosts, false ghosts, and all the hundreds of

great and small spirits and ghosts.34

It can be seen that although many of the ghosts listed belong to the category of unnatural or premature death, there are also those that died

of natural causes such as old age. It is remarkable that the author of this

text deemed it necessary to name as many as possible of ghosts that originated from human beings, as well as a host of other non-human ghosts that are thought to have existed in all manner of places: ghosts

of ceiling beams, roads, animals, various insects, wells, stoves, ponds,

and marshes. It is tempting to see in this an ancient concept of animism

which is already visible in the Daybook (rishu of the late Warring

States period.35 Remarkably, even abstract "thinking" can also become

a "ghost of thinking."

The investigation of the origin of ghosts, however, reminds us of the

conceptual ambiguity between deified human beings and ghosts. As early as the Western Han, Emperor Wu allowed the cult of a certain

34 Daozang 28: 370, Taishang zhengyi zhouguijing.

35 Donald Harper, "A Chinese Demonography of the Third Century B.C.," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 45 (1985): 459—98.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 249

Divine Lady to be set up in the palace. This Divine Lady, however, was

originally no more than a ghost who is said to have appeared to Emperor Wu's mother and was subsequently worshipped as a divine being.36 The

famous general of King Xuan of Zhou, Du Bo worshiped in the capital Changan area, was referred to in the early Han as "the smallest ghost that was effcacious."37 Du Bo was known as a vengeful ghost in the pre-imperial texts, yet he was later elevated to the status of a deity

because of his allegedly extraordinary power. The Taishang dongyuan

shenzhoujing mentions a number of famous people, such as Deng Ai, wang Mang, Du Zhou (i.e. Du Bo), Xiahou Ying, Xiao He, and Han Xin, as "great ghost-lords." They were apparently historical figures dei-

fied after death and worshiped by the people. However, what they did

as deities was not necessarily beneficial to the people. Under special

conditions they could become hostile ghosts that plague the world. In

the Daoist language, they had under their command numerous "sol- diers" who could send all kinds of diseases to harm the people:

The Dao says: There are great ghost lords in the country: Deng Ai, Zhong Shiji, Zhao Shan, Wang Mang, Li Ao, Du Zhou, . etc. There are these great ghost lords. Some people nowadays worship Emperor Wu and King Wen, whose shrines continue to be supplied by the people, and who each commanded troops and haunted people everywhere, and killed people with diseases year in and year out, and caused to circulate tens of thousands

of diseases; some causing bodily fatigue, or cold and fever and diarrhea, or swelling with water in the stomach, or the black disease causing pain

in the head and eyes, or fever in the chest and on the back, some with

yellow sickness, lost of voice and difficulty swallowing, and all sorts of

diseases that kill people without number. Ihe Dao says, all these people used to be great generals and men of important positions; after they died, each was worshiped by the people and continue to be worshiped. Now it is said that there are hundreds of ghosts attached to them, forming a

great crowd, while they still assume human shape, and go off to kill the people, and cause all sorts of disasters. Ihese disasters came to kill many people from different places. Now I send giant guardian soldiers of the Red Hut, who are a hundred thousand feet tall, eight hundred thousand strong. Each commands three hundred million soldiers and comes down to

arrest these ghost kings, and kill them right away without any mercy.38

36 Shiji 28: 1384.

37 Shiji 28: 1375. 38 Daozang 6: 25, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 7: 5b.

250 MU-CHOU POO

Similar lists of ghosts with specific names are also found in the Nüqing

Guilü. Thus it is clear that Daoist texts often offer elaborate accounts

of various kinds of ghosts, stating their specific origins: dead humans,

the ethers of the universe, or all sorts of animals or inanimate materials

and objects. In other words, the origin of ghosts was an important and

sensitive subject in the Daoist tradition. This might have to do with

the development of Daoist activities in Chinese society, as the primary

function of the Daoist priest was to perform exorcism of all sorts in

order to expel evil ghosts and guard the safety of people's households,

as shown in the last passage quoted above. Knowing the origins of vari- ous ghosts became important for the Daoist priests, since to know the names of the evil ghosts was the first step to have power over them. An exorcistic spell of the second century C.E., found in an Eastern Han

tomb, confirms the importance of knowing the name of the ghost to be exorcised:

He who died on the yisi-day has the ghost-name "Heavenly light." . Quickly go away three thousand miles. If you do not go immediately,

the (monster?) of the South Mountain is ordered to eat you. Hurry, as prescribed by the law and ordinance."

In the early Chinese Buddhist sutras, repeated mention of the term gui/

ghost is made. However, there is the problem of translating the origi-

nal Indian concept into Chinese. Some of the ghosts, such as "yecha

gui (Sanskrit Yaksa)" and "luosha (Sanskrit Raksasa)"

are generic terms for man-eating demons, while "egui fifin (Sanskrit

Preta)" are those suffering hunger in hell for their sins on earth.40 Thus

to become a hungry ghost, that is, to be hungry forever instead of gain-

ing satisfaction, is a punishment for the wrongdoings of the greedy.

This, however, is somewhat different from a type of hungry ghost that

existed in China long before the coming of Buddhism. According to

the tradition preserved in the Daybook, for example, when a person

died of hunger, he could become a hungry ghost, constantly asking for

Jiangsusheng wenwu guanli weiyuanhui t, "Jiangsu gaoyou 39

shaojiagou Handai yizhi de qingli Kaogu 1960.10: 18.

40 Examples are numerous. Taishö vol. 2 no. 151, p. 883c; Taishö vol. 1, no. 23,

pp. 297b, 302c. For a study of the ghost festival, which involves the subject of the hungry ghosts, see Stephen F. Teiser, Tze Ghost Festival in Medieval China (Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 124—29.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 251

food.41 This has nothing to do with the moral behavior of the ghost

when he/she was still alive on earth. It is also further evidence to sup-

port the view that before the onslaught of Buddhism, Chinese popular

conceptions of ghosts were not related to any strong moral or ethical

values. The fact that the early translators of the sutra use the Chinese

term "gui—ghost" as a designation for these beings indicates that in

their mind these are more or less equivalent to the Chinese concept of gui, the spirit or soul of the dead or of other animals and sprits, in

that their images are usually extremely ferocious and terrifying, and

that they tend to harm people when they appear. However, the origins of these ghosts, especially with regard to Yaksa and Raksasa, are rarely mentioned in the Buddhist texts.

Images of Ghosts

As mentioned above, the images of ghosts, just as their origins, are multifarious, as they could assume a human shape, in an animal form, or even in the form of non-animate things. 42 By the late second century

C.E., literary mentioning of ghosts in general continued the consensus

reached by the early Western Han (late third century B.C.E.). During the third century, Ge Hong (c. 283—363 C.E.), a most

important writer in early Daoism, purported to have advocated the idea

that when living creatures died, they would in general become ghosts, but could be in a changed form. Thus the ghost of a horse looks like

fire, the ghost ofa goose looks like a woman, yet the ghost of a monkey simply looks like a monkey.43 The assumption behind this is that ghosts

of animals could assume any form, whether human or non-human. Literary texts of the Six Dynasties period portray a number of fear-

some looking ghosts, such as the one Ruan Deru met in the toilet one

night: "the ghost was about 10 feet high, with black skin and big eyes,

wearing a white dress and a flat headdress."44 Another ghost in a story

about Yu Liang also appears in the toilet, and is described as "having the shape of Fang Xiang (demon-expelling deity in the Great Exorcism

Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, p. 80. 41

42 Poo, "The Concept of Ghost in Ancient Chinese Religion," pp. 173—91.

43 Yan Kejun, Quan Shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen/Quan Jin wen 117: II.

44 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 115.

252 MU-CHOU POO

ritual), with two red eyes and shining body, emerging slowly from the

earth."45 The idea is that the ghosts are basically human-like, yet with

certain exaggerated physical features. Of course the ghosts could also be perfectly human-like, such as the female ghost in the Tan Sheng story who lived together with Tan and even had children with him.46

Turning to the the early Daoist text, one passage in Taishang

dongyuan shenzhoujing provides a number of descriptions of the images

of ghosts:

The Dao says: In the year of Xuyin, there is a giant ghost with a red nose whose name is Fuzi. His height is nine feet, and he has three faces and one eye. There is another ghost who has two heads and one body, three feet tall. They all have red eyes. There is again another ghost whose name is Daye, with three heads and one body, seven feet tall. They go together carrying white knives, roaming the world to take the lives of

small children. They fly about in the clouds and produce red qi and cause people to suffer cold and heat and vomit blood, with swelling heart and discomfort in the chest. At this time, if one could have the master of the

Three Caverns come and recite the scripture, then the sick will be healed and trouble with the government will be resolved. If the sickness is not

healed, the ghost-king shall be held responsible.47

The vivid descriptions of the various ghosts concentrate on their images

and acts, i.e., their ruthless slaughtering in the world. In fact, the entire

text of Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing contains seemingly endless lists

of malicious ghosts that betray the rich imagination of the author. It

seems that the text becomes a place where the author demonstrates his

talent for ghost-painting, and that there is a certain entertaining effect

for the readers: the myriads of life-threatening, ferocious-looking, blood-

thirsty demonic soldiers and ghost-generals are like players of a horror

drama in an imaginary world. Different from the literary ghosts found

in the zhiguai, the evil ghosts described in the Daoist texts have the fol-

lowing characteristics: their numbers are astronomical, and it seems that

people at this time are trying to account for every disease and disaster

in the world by detailing a corresponding number of evil ghosts:

The Dao says, Now there are eight thousand black-bodied ghosts. [Such] ghosts are six inches tall. They clinch on the birds and fly into the water,

or they could come with wind and rain, and when they touch people,

45 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, pp. 156—57.

46 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 144. Daozang 6: 28, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 8: 2b.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 253

people will die. Then there are thirty-nine thousand Barbarian ghosts of the desert. They are three inches tall, their color is red-white, and they

will attach to the people with the rise of the flood. Then there are eight

hundred thousand giant wet ghosts. The name of such ghosts is "Heav- enly Head." Their leaders also like violence and each commands thirty thousand ghost thieves who enter people's houses and cause the houses to catch fire with flames that cannot be extinguished. 48

The ghosts are described as appearing in groups and with certain

generic names:

The Dao says: Now there are Eighty-nine thousand black-faced giant ghosts. The name of [such ghosts] is Red Beard, and the height is seventy feet. ... They came into people's houses and take away every man and woman, old and young, and cause everyone under heaven to become sick. There are dead people everywhere and also in every household. The

ghost soldiers stationed in people's neighborhood, snatched people and animals, enacted their vicious deeds, and caused people to be arrested

by the officials, charged with crimes, put into jail without discrimination, having no harvest, and everything was ruined.49

It is worth noticing that the colorful ways that the ghosts are described

in the texts must have emanated from a popular mentality that is in favor

of the fantastic and the extraordinary, in order to impress the audience.

Yet it is also undeniable that the obsession with such multifarious ghosts

reflects deep fear and anxiety originating in the miseries of the world

in these apocalyptic times.50

In contrast to the Daoist texts, the Buddhist sutras offer less explicit

descriptions of the images of ghosts and spirits, although the term

gui/ghost appears repeatedly. Yet one can still occasionally find in the

sutras stories aimed at impressing the adepts, such as one passage in

Puyao jing when the demon king Mara commands his "ghost soldiers" to threaten the Bodhisattva:

Each of them changed into the shapes of lion, bear, tiger, rhino, elephant, dragon, bull, horse, dog, pig, monkey, and so forth, some with insect's head and human body, or snake's body and turtle's head, or one face with six eyes, or one neck with multiple heads.. .51

48 Daozang 6: 37, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 10: 78b. Daozang 6: 38, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 10: 8b.

49

50 Cf. Christine Mollier, Une apocalypse taoiste du siécle: Le livre des Incantations divines des grottes abyssales (Paris: Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1990)

51 Taishö vol. 3, no. 186, p. 521.

254 MU-CHOU POO

The Exorcistic Rituals

The desire and need to exorcise ghosts has a long history in Chinese

society, as has been discussed often.52 The early Daoist writer Ge Hong mentions in his Baopuzi many exorcistic methods against all sorts of dangerous spirits and animals for people who intended to go into the mountains.53 These exorcistic methods resemble what one finds in the

Daybook of the third century B.C.E. For example,

If you encounter an official, but only hear his voice without seeing any shape as it keeps shouting to you, throw a white stone at it, and it will stop. Another way is to make a reed spear and prick the creature with it; then everything will be fine. If you meet a ghost coming and shout- ing continuously to you for food, throw a white reed at it and it will die

instantly.54

Similarly, according to a section of exorcism in the Daybook,55 white

sand, white reeds and other materials are used to ward off evil ghosts

and spirits. It seems clear that the Daoist exorcism of the Six Dynasties

inherited a long tradition of the earlier period.

During the early years of the development of Daoist religion, Daoist

advocates often have to confront the so-called "lascivious cults" and

forbid their followers to worship local ghosts and spirits with blood sac-

rifices. An often quoted paragraph clearly indicates this situation: "The vulgar teachers beat the drums and worshiping the gods, they kill pigs and dogs and chicken as three kinds of sacrifice over grass and water.

They call for the hundred ghosts and worship the wild deities."56 Drum beating is certainly one method often used in exorcistic rituals, as well

as the killing of animals and spreading of blood over grass and water.

A story preserved in the collection Lu Yi Zhuan mentions a certain Ni Yansi of the Wu dynasty who encountered a ghost at home. He then invited a Daoist priest to come and expel the ghost. After the offering of wine and meal, the priest began to beat the drum and called for various

52 Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, chapter 3.

53 Wang Ming Baopuzi neipian jiaoshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), pp. 299—314.

54 Wang Ming, Baopuzi neipien jiaoshi, p. 304; translation is from James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the China of A.D. 320: Tae Nei P'ien of Ko Hung (Pao- p'u tzu) (Cambridge: 'Ihe M.I.T. Press, 1966), p. 288.

55 For a discussion, see Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, chapter 4. 56

Daozang 6: 30, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 8: 8a.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 255

deities to drive away the ghost.57 Disregarding the arguments concerning

whether the Daoist religion is different from the "popular cults" only in

the degree in which they worshiped ghosts or in a more fundamental

way,58 it is evident that exorcism is one of the most important subjects

in the daily operations of the Daoist priests and adepts.

There are various ways to expel the unwelcome ghosts, but reciting spells is the most common method. A "Northern Emperor's Method of Killing Ghosts (Beidi shagui fa)," recorded in Tao Hongjing's Dengzhen yinjue reads as follows:

One should first grind one's teeth thirty six times and chant: Heavenly tent, heavenly tent, nine elements that kill the child, the com-

mander of five soldiers, the high knife and the northern elder, seven

righteous [ones] and eight spirits, the supreme and great villain, long- headed monster, holding the cup of the emperor, the three gods of the

white owl(?), whose spirits ride on the dragon, who bravely kill the divine king, with purple qi rise up to heaven as red clouds gush forth, swallow Mara and consume the ghosts. The Red Emperor will drain the blood and the Big Dipper will burn the bone. The Four Luminaries will break

the skeleton, and the Heavenly Genera159 will extinguish their ilk. As the

divine knife strikes, myriads of ghosts will desist.60

One way to put the exorcistic text into effect and be saved by the ghost kings is, for example, to recite it in a fasting ritual for one day and one

night, and to practice the Dao at all times, giving alms to the poor and performing meditation.61 The Nüqing Guilü also lists a long string of

names of ghosts, and provides various methods to exorcise the ghosts:

pronouncing the names of the ghosts, carrying talismans written with

57 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 413. For arguments from both directions, see Rolf A. Stein, "Religious Daoism and58

Popular Religion from the Second to Seventh Centuries," in H. Welch and A. Seidel eds., Facets of Taoism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), pp. 53—81; Lai Chi- tim, "The Opposition of Celestial-Master Taoism to Popular Cults during the Six

Dynasties," Asia Major 11, 1 (1998): 1—20; Lin Fushih "Shilun liuchao shiqi

de daowu Zhi bie Guoshi fuhai kaixin lu: Yu Yingshi

jiaoshou rongtui lunwenji (Taipei: Lianjing 2002), pp. 19—38.

Tianyou zhenjun is one of the four heavenly generals (sisheng zhenjun 59

in the Taoist pantheon. See Hu Fushen ed., Zhonghua daojiao dacidian (Beijing: Zhonggou shehui chubanshe, 1995), p. 1466.

60 Daozang 6: 613, Dengzhen yinjue 61 Daozang 6: 929, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 7: 12b.

256 MU-CHOU POO

the names of the ghosts, or hanging talismans over the doorway,62 which

is probably what Cao Zhi was referring to in his essay on the plague.

There are, moreover, specific exorcistic rituals for the Daoist adepts

who might encounter evil spirits in their daily lives or during their meditation practice:

Whenever a Daoist travels and sleeps alone in a place with demons and evil ghosts, he should clap his left teeth 36 times, hold his breath, and

pray in a low voice: "The Supreme Emperor who possesses the power of yang and who could snare a thousand ghosts, if the myriads of poison- ous creatures dare to stop in front of me, giant beasts with huge mouth will devour their body, the emissary of the deity and the guards, those

soldiers dressed in yellow, will kill the ghosts and destroy the myriads of demons... .." When finished, again clap the teeth 36 times.63

The spells are basically built upon the idea that the spiritual world is

a form of celestial government and all the Daoist priest has to do is to

invoke the proper celestial offcials to deal with the demons and ghosts.

The Daoist priest can also assume that he himself is the heavenly official,

as seen in a ghost expelling spell: "People who know the names of the palace gates of the Six Heavens of Fengdu city, will not be harmed by

the hundred ghosts. When one intends to sleep, one should face north and recite three times in low voice." The spell goes on:

I am the disciple of the Supreme Lord, overseeing the Six Heavens. The palace of the Six Heavens is under my control. Not only it is under my control, it is by the command of the Supreme Lord. I know the palace of the Six Heavens, therefore I have acquired immortality. Anyone who dares to offend me, the Supreme Lord, should cut your body (in half) 64

In other words, the evil spirits and ghosts exist in the same spiritual

world together with the most esteemed heavenly emperor, and are sub-

ject to the rule of the celestial officials, just as the bandits and thieves

of the human world are supposed to be subject to the rule of secular government. This indicates the extent to which the Daoist idea of the

structure of the world of the immortals is influenced by and modeled

on the mundane world.

62 Daozang 18: 239—52, Nüqing guilü. 63 Daozang 32: 564, Shangqing xiushen yaoshijing 5b—6a. For

a discussion of spells in the Daoist texts, see Michel Strickmann, Chinese Magical

Medicine (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), pp. 89—122.

Daozang 20: 579, Zhengao 15: lb—2a. 64

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 257

The actual procedures of the exorcistic rituals are often described in

the texts. One such text, the "The Method of Performing the Divine staff," shows what is going on in the mind of the Daoist priest who performs the ritual.65 The text indicates that the priest is to imagine

the coming of the Jade Ladies as representatives of the Five Emperors

in helping him to pronounce the exorcistic spells and perform the

necessary ritual acts. Some of the exorcistic spells can be employed

in a wide variety of situations. The Jade Emperor's Supreme Spell of

Exorcising Ghosts and Protecting Spirits in particular uses the method

of clapping the teeth.66 The method of clapping one's teeth is thought

to be particularly useful for expelling ghosts and evil spirits, as stated

in another text:

When traveling in the night one should often clap one's teeth, and there is no particular limit as to how many times (one should clap). Malicious and evil ghosts always fear the sound of teeth clapping; therefore they would

not attack people. If one adds to the clapping by rinsing his mouth with saliva, it will be even better for the pronouncement of the spell.67

The expected result achieved by the exorcistic spells, according to the

Taishang Zhengyi zhouguijing, is to fulfill people's wishes to practice the

Dao, to cultivate one's self, to cure illness, to prolong life, to deliver one

from disasters, to ascend to heaven in daylight, to ask for peace in the

household, to ask for successful harvest, to gain profit in business, to

have many slaves and servants, to be promoted to high office, to win litigation, to have longevity for men and women, to protect offspring, and to have safe pregnancy for women.68

When the great Daoist scholar Lu Xiujing was trying to reform Daoist rituals and worship, he claimed that he had "Issued one

thousand and two hundred official edicts and ten thousand talismans to

attack the temples and to kill the ghosts, so that the people are cleansed

and the universe is illuminated with justice, and so that the entire world

be no more haunted by lascivious ghosts."69 The "edicts" and talismans

are no less than various exorcistic spells to drive away the ghosts.

Despite all the efforts, it seems that the Daoist masters were engaging

in a self-defeating business—that is to say, their exorcistic rituals could

65 Daozang 32: 66 Daozang 32: 67 Daozang 20:

68 Daozang 28: 69 Daozang 24:

566,

566,

548

368,

779,

Shangqing xiushen yaoshijing, 9b—10a.

Shangqing xiushen yaoshijing, 10a.

Zhengao, 10: 8a.

Taishang Zhengyi zhougueijin. Lu xiansheng daomen kelue.

258 MU-CHOU POO

never expunge all the evil ghosts and spirits from the world, because

they allowed the belief in the existence of ghosts in the mind of the

people. One suspects that the elaborate rituals had probably achieved the opposite goal: the confirmation that evil spirits will continue to haunt

the world. It may be exactly the case: evil could never be expelled from the world, therefore religious personnel are always needed. This seems

to have been prophesized by the Great Exorcism discussed elsewhere.70

That the Great Exorcism needs to be performed each year indicates

that evil also belongs to the cosmic cycle, which could never be rid of,

but, thinking positively, could serve as a reminder to the people to be

constantly alert and perform benevolent deeds.

As I suggested before, when rituals are performed by the Daoist priests, what draws people together is not simply their wish to have a

blessed life, but also the attraction of the complicated and mysterious

language of the spells, the enchanting music, the splendid costume,

and the physical actions such as the "Pace of Yü" that the priests act

out. Separately the spells are serious exorcistic texts, yet when they appear in ritual context, they assume a more entertaining role to the

71 participating audience.

In the Chinese Buddhist sutras, the idea of ghost/spirit (guishen)

is often mentioned as one of the most impertinent ideas that needs

to be expunged from people's mind. As one passage in the Banzhou

sanmeijing puts it:

The Buddha says: You who wish to learn (the way of Buddha) should uphold the five commandments and succumb to the Three. What are the three? To succumb to the Buddha, to succumb to the law, and to succumb to the monk. You should not serve the other sects. You should not wor-

ship Heaven, should not make sacrifice to ghosts and spirits, should not look up the auspicious days, should not flirt and act lasciviously with the thought of women, and you should not have covetous ideas.72

Similar warning is also given in the Foban nihuanjing

"The Buddha says, ... people in general have eight evil characters. What are they? To make sacrifice to the ghosts and spirits, and cast divina- tions and kill in vain, this is the first evil character "73 Typically, the

70 See Poo, "Ritual and Ritual Texts in Early China."

71 For a general overview of the Daoist ritual procedure, see John Lagerwey, Taoist

Ritual in Chinese Society and History (New York: Macmillan, 1987). 72 Taishö vol. 13, no. 417, p. 901 b. 73

Taishö vol. 1, no. 5, p. 172a.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 259

Buddhist sutras argue that the idea of ghosts is nothing but illusions

of the mind, and thus non-existent:

Where did ghosts and spirits come from? There are those inner ghosts and spirits that numbered hundreds and thousands. Those from outside

are the same. If there is no fear inside, there should be no apprehension outside. If there is no sadness within, then there should be no tear to

shed. If one begins to think about ghosts and spirits, there will be many hundreds and thousands of ghosts and spirits from outside. They all come to him, which is the cause for sickness, and some ended up dead and suf- fered numerous hardships. All these are because the heart is not upright. The Bodhisattva realizes the emptiness of void and the non-existent of

ghosts and spirits, as everything arises from the mind.74

While on the one hand the fundamental Buddhist conception is to

expound the "emptiness" of everything perceptible from the human point of view, with the existence of the ghosts and spirits still empha-

sized in the sutras, on the other hand, ghosts are evil opponents of the

followers of the Buddhist teaching, and so should be expelled by all

sorts of methods. The Fahua jing one of the most impor-

tant Chinese Buddhist texts, assures the readers that by the power

of Avalokitesvara, the omnipresence of ghosts and demons will be curtailed:

As for all the ghosts and spirits of the three thousand worlds and those evil demons who wish to harm people, if one concentrates on calling the name of Avalokitesvara, they will naturally be subdued and cannot make wanton offence. Malevolent intention will not rise, and there shall be no

evil perspective.75

One way, or the only way, to drive away the ghosts is to follow the Buddhist teaching. When one follows the way of the Buddha, no ghosts or spirits could do any harm: "When ghosts and spirits and beasts wanted to come and harm people, they could not succeed. Why? Because people followed Buddha and obtained the Way." 76 There are, however,

concrete or tangible ways to achieve similar goals. To make oneself clean,

for example, is effcacious in preventing the harming of the ghosts and

spirits." One can also rely on certain sacred objects that could deter the encroachment of ghosts and spirits: "If a man or a woman takes the

74

75

76

Taishö vol.

Taishö vol.

Taishö vol.

Taishö vol.

11, no. 315a, p. 772.

9, no. 263, p. 128.

8, no. 224, p . 431 c.

8, no. 224, p. 435c.

260 MU-CHOU POO

Mani-bead and wears it, ghosts and spirits will immediately run away.

If one is hit by fever, takes the Mani-bead and wears it, the fever will

be gone immediately.

Yet all these are still mostly passive ways to avoid the attack or influ-

ence of the ghosts and spirits. The more aggressive action would be

to cast spells to the evil ghosts. A special section of the Biographies of Eminent Monks, the first collection of the biographies of some eminent

monks in the early phase of the spread of Buddhism in China, is termed

"thaumaturgy," which clearly shows the importance of supernatural

power for the monks in their effort to convert the Chinese people.79 For

example, in the Biography of Dharmaraksa (Tanwuchen

Tanwuchen once told Mengxun (the leader of one of the northern dynas- ties): There are ghosts coming into the settlement, and disasters and plagues are due to occur.. .. It is better that we should purify ourselves and fast and use divine spells (shenzhou to expel them. Then he

recited the spells for three days and told Mengxun: "The ghosts are gone." At the time, people at the border saw ghosts and reported that a few

hundred plague ghosts scurried away from the district.80

Telling evidence can be found by looking at a catalog of early Buddhist

texts compiled in the early Sixth Century, Chu sanzangjiji which lists a number of spell books amongst the sutras. This confirms

the assertion that spell casting was a well established practice in early Buddhism.81

Not only spells, however, but Buddhist sutras themselves could be

used as effective apotropaic tools. The monks themselves, moreover,

are thought to have possessed exorcistic power, as the ability to recite

sutras and to cast spells is internalized and becomes part of the essence

of a monk. One story in the Biographies of Eminent Monks records:

Lady Liu, the wife of Xiao Sihua, was sick and often saw ghosts coming

to haunt her, and she was frightened. At the time, they happened to invite Zhiyan to give a lecture on the Dharma. As soon as Zhiyan arrived at the

outer hall, Lady Liu saw a flock of ghosts scurry away.82

78 Taishö vol. 8, no. 224, p. 435c.

79 John Kieschnick, 'lhe Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagi-

ography (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), p. 67ff.

80 Hui Jiao *OZ, Tang Yungtongw ed., Gaosengzhuan (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), p. 78.

81 Kieschnick, Ihe Eminent Monk, 84—87. 82

Hui Jiao, Gaosengzhuan, p. 99.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 261

Other than the sutras, a number of the anomaly tales of the Six Dynasties

period were written or edited by Buddhist adepts to propagate Buddhist

teachings. An example of the competition between Daoist and Buddhist proselytes is a story in Shu Yi ji 83 The main point of the story is to

convey the idea that a Buddhist sutra is more effcient than the Daoist

exorcistic rituals and spells.

Another story is even more explicit about which is more powerful:

Shi Juan was a learned person who followed the Dao and despised Bud- dhism. He often told people: 'C The Buddha is a small god who is not worthwhile to follow." Whenever he saw a statue of the Buddha he would

ridicule it. Later he was sick and his leg swelled up. Various ways to pray for a cure were all useless. His friend Zhao Wen said to him: "You can try to build the statue of Avalokitesvara." Since Juan was suffering greatly, he decided to follow the advice and built a statue. When the statue was finished, he dreamt of Avalokitesvara, and indeed he soon recovered from the illness.84

In doing so, however, the Buddhist proselyte has to accept the premise

that ghosts do exist, and the Buddhist monks and Daoist masters are

competing with each other to gain the trust of the people. The story

quoted just above gives us a vivid example of the confrontation and

competition between the Daoists and the Buddhists in their attempt

to gain the trust of the Chinese people.

Ghosts and Morality

One kind of argument in early Daoism sees ghosts as the instrument of

the just celestial court, sanctioned by the Heavenly Emperor:

83

85

Whenever people daily practice evil or good deeds, the heaven and earth all know about the details. When one murders a life, the deity can see his form, and when one has something in mind or speaks, the ghosts can hear the human voice. When a person has committed a hundred forbid- den things, the ghosts will take away his spirit; when one has committed a thousand forbidden things, the earth will record the human shape and when he commits evil deeds in the daytime, the cuffs will appear imme- diately. Such is the retribution of yin and yang.85

Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 177. Lu Xun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, p. 438. Daozang 3: 445, Chisongzi zhongiiejing 4a•

262 MU-CHOU POO

Here the attack of ghosts and spirits on humans is explained as a punish-

ment inflicted upon people with deficient moral character. The Daoist

texts, not infrequently, also try to spread the message that the harmful

ghosts are under the command of a number of ghost-kings (guiwang), and that the ghost-kings ordered a series of actions carried out by their

ghost soldiers. In other words, the action of the ghosts is not arbitrary

but with a purpose. This is connected with the idea of kalpa or jie, that

great disaster that is destroying human kind because people had com-

mitted all sorts of crimes. As Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing states,

the crime might be that the people did not adhere to the teachings of

the Dao and in turn worshiped improper deities and ghosts:

The Dao says, you people of later generations are not observing the great Dao. The vulgar teachers beat the drums and worship the gods. They kill pigs and dogs and chicken as three kinds of sacrifice over grass and water.

They call for the hundred ghosts and worship the wild deities. This is all preposterous and wicked. 86

This paragraph points out the confrontation between the early Daoist

religion and the so-called popular religion: the Daoist adepts despise

those "vulgar teachers," probably local shamans, who worship all sorts of ghosts and spirits. What is ironic is that, by denouncing the activities of the ghost worshipers, the Daoists themselves in a way confirm the

existence of the ghosts and spirits. The difference, then, is that the Daoist

priests claim that they are able to recognize and control the myriad

ghosts, often using exorcistic rituals. A typical passage describing the carnage carried out by the evil ghosts reads as follows:

The Dao says: The great disaster is coming, the government is not in order, people are in distress, the wind and rain do not come in time, and the five grains do not mature. People have hatched evil intentions and

become rebellious. Fathers and sons and brothers try to take advantage of each other and cause their death. Angry bandits will roam about and

kill innocent people. During this time, plagues permeate the world and there are ninety kinds of illnesses that kill evil people. There is also the

Red-headed "ghost-killing Ghost King," a hundred thousand feet tall, who leads thirty six hundred million "ghost-killing ghosts," each carrying a red

club and traveling around the world, with the special intention of taking

the lives of people.87

86 Daozang 6: 30, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 8: 8a. 87 Daozang 6: 3, Taishang dongyuan shenzhoujing, 1: 4a—4b.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 263

All these ghosts, to be sure, could be destroyed by the Daoist priest

when proper rituals are performed. This gruesome picture of the world seems to have originated from a deep anxiety or disillusion of the current

social and political injustice. Whether we could further substantiate this observation, however, needs to be dealt with in another context.

On the other hand, however, it is also true that the free actions of the evil spirits and ghosts in early Daoist texts often lack any recognizable

moral ground, as has been shown in some of the quoted passages in

section three above. In other words, there are two kinds of ghosts: those

that are the agents of the heavenly court, and those that act according

to their own initiative, which could cause senseless destruction. Not surprisingly, Buddhist texts also see the attack of ghosts as a

form of punishment for the wrong doings of people. It is announced

in the Foshuo manfa jing that those who do not abide by the teaching of the Buddha but instead seek all sorts of devious ways to

serve evil ghosts and spirits are to be afflicted by the ghosts.88 For another

example, in the Anan wen shifo jixiong jing it is said that

If the sick people still have doubts and do not believe (in the teaching of Buddha), call for shamans and make divinations to ask for solutions, and make sacrifice to the evil spirits, then the heavenly gods will be far away and they will not be well protected. Demons and ghosts will daily approach them, malicious ghosts will fill their doorway and cause them to become weak and exhausted.89

Thus the harming demons and ghosts are still somehow recognized as having power over people. In other words, only the Buddhist teaching

could help the people to fight back the encroachment of the evil spirits.

The Buddhist proselytism therefore does not really deny the existence

of the traditional concept of ghosts and evil spirits. Instead, it tries to

utilize these concepts and make them a useful deterrent that could

somehow encourage or cajole the people to accept Buddhist teachings as the true way toward salvation.

It is only in the literary works, such as the anomaly stories, that

we see a more nuanced take on the relationship between ghosts and humans. In a story preserved in the Zhenyi zhuan a certain

88 Taishö vol. 17, no. 739, p. 543a.

89 Taishö vol. 14, no. 429, p. 754c.

264 MU-CHOU POO

Zhang Kai was due to be summoned away by the underworld mes- senger who was referred to as a ghost. Because of Zhang's kindness to the ghost, who pretended to be a man in need of help in order to test his personality, the ghost decided, under the plea of Zhang Kai after he learned that the ghost was to summon him to the underworld, to take the life of another person by the name of Huang Kai. The ghost did this unjust deed and left these words with Zhang Kai: "You have

a physiognomy of high position, so I feel sorry for you and help you by unjustly bending the principle. But the way of the deities is a secret that should not be revealed. "90

The story reveals that people's imagination of the world of the dead is

a world similar to the human world in its pitfalls and vices. The theme that people could be wrongly summoned to death by the underworld officials, which is already a theme in a third century B.C.E. text and in

some of the Han dynasty tomb quelling texts," further evolves into a type of story in which negotiation is made with the summoning offcial

so that a person of the same name, even only the given name, could be

seized by the official to substitute for the one that he is originally after.

That this deceitful and unjust act is possible at all in people's imagination

indicates a common mentality concerning how a bureaucracy works, a skeptical attitude that is deeply ingrained in the people's perception of

the world they live in. In the story quoted, although Zhang Kai might

be a kind person, this does not justify the taking away of the life of

another innocent person.

A similar story has it that a certain Song Qingbo was visited by three offcials from the underworld, obviously intended to summon him to his death. Song pleaded to the offcials and they agreed to withhold the

death call under the condition that he would offer them a banquet, and,

of course, not to reveal the truth about this. Yet Song's wife suspected

that the offcials were ghosts who intended to cheat them. Song was compelled to tell her the fact, but soon the offcials appeared to him,

blaming him for not keeping his promise. Song consequently died of sudden illness." Again, the fact that the death call could be withheld as

a secret personal favor indicates how the world of the ghost is imagined on the model of the world of the living. The morality of the ghosts, in

90 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, pp. 155—56. 91

Donald Harper, "Resurrection in Warring States Popular Religion," Taoist Resources 5, 2 (1994): 13-28.

92 Lu Nun, Guxiaoshuo gouchen, pp. 183—84.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 265

such context, also shows the unfortunate yet perhaps realistic picture

of corruption and injustice. Since the subject of the character of ghosts in literary texts has been

discussed elsewhere, suffce it to say that the purpose of these texts

was mainly to provide the reader with certain entertainment, though

inevitably they would also carry various reflections on human morality, social justice, and ghostly retribution. They could, therefore, be seen as a

means to address certain anxieties that people encountered in their daily

life, a form of catharsis that could relieve the fear of the known.93

Conclusion

In the Song dynasty (420—479 C.E.), a monk by the name of Baolin wrote a treatise in the form of an offcial communication to Mount Tai,

specifically to the Record Keeper of the Palace of the Eastern Mountain

The treatise begins by adopting the usual Daoist dis-

course on the origin of the universe. The Five Mountains all inherited

the pure ether of the cosmos and occupied the central position in the

world, reaching upward to the ultimate void, and downward to nur-

ture the myriad of creatures. He even says that the Eastern Emperor and Western Queen (Queen Mother of the West) exist in the far away world of purity, which is not connected to the human world. However, Baolin continues, there are evil ghosts who pretended to be the officials of Mount Tai and fabricated sacred cannons and statues to deceive the

foolish people. Baolin further quotes from several works, presumably

Daoist texts, and demonstrates that those "deities" who committed crimes against humanity are not true deities but evil ghosts:

Those who call themselves mountain gods must be pythons. Those who call themselves gods of river and sea must be turtles and fish. Those who call themselves gods of heavenly father and earthly mother must be wild

cats and raccoons. Those who call themselves gods of generals must be bears, tigers and leopards. Those who call themselves gods of gentlemen must be monkeys and orangutans. Those who call themselves gods of the house must be dogs, sheep, pigs, calves, doors, wells, stoves and broken

Mu-chou Poo, "The Completion of an Ideal World: The Human Ghost in Early Medieval China," idem, "Ghost Literature: Exorcistic Ritual Texts or Daily Entertain-

ment?" Asia Major 13,1 (2000): 43—64; Mu-chou Poo, "Justice, Morality, and Skepticism in Six-Dynasties Ghost Stories," in Alan Chan ed., Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China (Albany: State University of New York Press, forthcoming).

266 MU-CHOU POO

vessels, and the like. These are ghosts and demons who in their pretension all call themselves gods. They frightened the people and emit the ether of lascivious ghosts. These facts have been recorded in the cannons and

have been transmitted and proven true."

The Record Keeper that the communication is directed to, in fact, is

also a false god, since he could not demonstrate any power to benefit

the country and remove the diseases. Baolin thus proclaims that

You are a minor ghost. If you dare to touch the three lights, it would be like a feather of the crane that is thrown into the fire, or like a fish that is

swimming in hot soup. It would be like pouring the water of the river to extinguish a fire, or like the morning dew that sees the sun. I have a kind heart and pity what you have done, and divined for this perilous situation which upon consideration would be sorrowful. You should immediately resume your original form before me and return to the far away sea shore, and retard no more. You should accept and obey this command.95

Otherwise, the Buddhist gods together with the divine army will be

summoned to exterminate the evil ghosts. Thus Baolin adopts a strategy of attacking the popular beliefs on the one hand, but still trying to draw

support from the people by acknowledging some basic premises of the

traditional cosmological concepts on the other. He does not declare

directly that the traditional belief system is wrong. He even admits the legitimacy of the Daoist deities, but only that the deities that appeared

to the people are false gods. From his enumeration of the ghosts, it

can again be confirmed that in the popular mentality of that time, evil

ghosts originated from all sorts of animals or even objects. These had

to reflect the contemporary popular beliefs to a certain degree. Since

Baolin's aim is to persuade people of the falsehood of the "gods" who are in fact evil ghosts and spirits, these have to be part of the religious

vocabularies that people can relate to or believe in.

The example of Baolin, therefore, gives us a vivid view of the intel-

lectual and religious atmosphere of the Six Dynasties period. Buddhist

proselytes and Daoist adepts both tried to demonstrate their ability

in dealing with the attack of ghosts. The ordinary people from whom Buddhists and Daoists tried to solicit confidence could choose from

either of the two faiths. The literary texts, though potentially fictitious,

94 Yan Kejun, Quan Shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen/Quan Song wen

64: 1-2.

95 Yan Kejun, Quan Shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen/Quan Song wen, 64: 3.

THE CULTURE OF GHOSTS IN THE SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD 267

provide a mental background or stage for us to understand the activi-

ties of the Buddhist and Daoist adepts. There is certainly compromise

between their ideas and the indigenous conception of ghosts shown in

the literary texts. The compromise is reached differently, though. The

Daoists basically accept the traditional conception of ghosts in terms of

their origins and images. They give various explanations of the reason

why ghosts appear, and assign the exorcistic duty to the Daoist priests. The Buddhists, on the other hand, do not retain the traditional con-

ception about the origins of ghosts. Although the sutras often mention

the term gui/ghost, they are either those demons in the original Indian

context, or evil spirits with vague origins, such as the "ghost soldiers"

mentioned in the passage quoted above, or of simply unknown origin. However, on a more mundane level, the Buddhist monks could not

but try to demonstrate their ability to expel the "indigenous ghosts"

that people encounter in their lives. When the forces of Buddhism and Daoism play out, as shown in the case of Baolin and a number of the

anomaly stories, we see both sides trying to use the framework of the popular conception of the ghost to further their own cause. Both, of course, claim to be able to handle the problem of ghosts for the people.

Yet without really breaking away from that traditional framework by admitting the existence of ghosts, the idea of ghosts handed down from

the pre-imperial period is never completely replaced, thus leaving open

the possibility of the later development of "popular religion."