A Study Of Religious Cultural And The Anecdotal Novel Of Tang And Five Dynasties

The anecdotal novel is a kind of classical Chinese short story which regards character activities as the centre and narrates stories of mankind and spirits, by the way of recording them freely and optionally. As one of the basic types of the classical Chinese novel of Tang and Five Dynasties, the anecdotal novel comprises mankind stories and spirits stories, which including two classes of subject matters taking anecdotal personnel activity as the centre of strange recording or writing about weird, uncanny or supernatural things of ghosts and gods. Research results for Legend Novel of Tang and Bianwen(变文) of Dunhuang are abundant, but the independent studies on the anecdotal novel of Tang and Five Dynasties is weak in terms of religious culture, it is essential too.The dissertation includes a foreword, an bibliography and a main text that it composed of six parts. The review to the anecdotal novel research and the study of the relations between the novel and religious culture of Tang and Five Dynasties is in the foreword. The foreword also gives a qualification to the anecdotal novel's definition, and expounds the basic train of thought and the method of the subject research, and the basic problem to be solved.The first chapter discusses the religious feelings that anecdotal novel create, which about the social culture forming of psychology of worship for Buddha and celestial being, the author's personal orthodox characteristic or unearthly characteristic, and the religious motivation.Chapter two investigates the relations between Chinese Traditional Patriarchal Religion and anecdotal novel of Tang and Five Dynasties. This chapter has reviewed the question of "Confucianism" that has caused contending extensively in the academia since last century at first, and maintain the "Confucianism " is not a religion. Under the foundation of absorbing the viewpoint that Traditional Patriarchal Religion is the ancient national religion of China, the thesis carries on comparatively detailed exposition to the idea , emotion , behavior and organization system of this religion according to the theory of the" four religious key elements", and point out its determine status among national politics, religion, culture life fundamental. Section three in this chapter discusses how the traditional religion influences the creation of the anecdotal novel and the relevant religious exposition of the thought that demonstrate in the novel.Chapter three is the research about sorcery culture and anecdotal novel. Section one explains the principle and rule of sorcery. Section two expounds the fact that sorcery culture preserving in the social life and points out the difference of magic arts and sorcery. According to the sorcery culture background of the precise strange stories in the anecdotal novel, regarding the Tiger stories in Guang Yi Ji(广异记) and Hui Chang Jie Yi Lu(会昌解颐录) as examples, section three unscrambles the sorcery culture and points out the folk characteristic of this kind of story.