Study On The State Sacrifices Of The Yuan Dynasty

State Sacrifices of the Yuan Dynasty are important issues which have notyet been paid enough attention on by scholars. State Sacrifices, as the topof Chinese Five Rites, are the core of the ancient state ideology. StateSacrifices of the Yuan Dynasty, under the violent collision and the blendbetween Mongolian and Chinese cultures, in other wors, nomadic andagricultural cultures, represented significant features of the times. TheMongolian and Chinese bicultural core, compatible with multi-culturalcharacteristics, could be seen not only in specific rituals, sacrificeofferings and other details, but on the frame structure of the system of theState Sacrifices. In this paper, the chapter structure will show theframework of the State Sacrifices, and the articles in every chapters areresearches on historical facts and proper subjects.Both the Mongols and Han Chinese took Heaven (Chinese: Tian,天; Mongolian: Tengri) as the highest object of worship. In the tradition ofChinese culture, the rite of sacrifice to Heaven is called Jiao-Si (郊祀).Many Chinese documents take the sacrifice to Heaven on the year1252(the2ndyear under the reign of Xian-Zong,宪宗, M ngke Qan) as thegeneration and beginnig of the ritual system of the Yuan Dynasty.However, details of this event are not clear. After researching on thegeographical location of the Ri-Yue Mountain (日月山), and thefootprints M ngke Qan and Qubilai (aka. Shi-Zu,世祖) left at that time,along with the tablets (shen-zhu,神主) that were used on the Ri-YueMountain, we concluded that the sacrifice to Heaven on1252withMongkhe Khan in charge and Qubilai’s participation, is pricipallyMongolian, while Chinese ritual was used only as a kind of performance.Jiao-Si formally ascended only after Qubilai Qa’an enthroned, andbecame complete in the later years under the reign of Cheng-Zong (成宗).This paper discusses the constuction of Jiao Si system, the panorama of Jiao-Si of the Yuan Dynasty, and principal tablets as ritual core of theJiao-Si, and finally summarizes the characteristics of Jiao-Si in the Yuanperiod.In the Mongolian ritual of sacrifice to Heaven, spilling horse milk wasthe principal part. Starting from The Secret History of Mongols (《�'�古秘史》), we examine Chinese and Western historical materials, survey theMongolian sacrifice to Heaven in the whole Mongol-Yuan period, andthen sum up the regularity and characteristics of its ritual, date, andlocation. We must point out that the sacrifice to Heaven in the6thmonthwas special, explain the reason why it appeared and how the Chineseetiquette influenced it.Ancestors were worshipped by both Mongolian and Chinese people. TheImperial Ancestral Temple (Tai-miao,太庙) was the most importantform of Chinese way. The changes of room-ranking (Shi-ci,室次) in theImperial Ancestral Temple of the Yuan Dynasty, are studied from the perspectives of the collision between its Mongolian and Chinese culturaltraditions, and the relationship between room-ranking in the ImperialAncestral Temple and temporal political realities. This paper proposessolutions or research results of he room-ranking in the later Shi-Zu periodand Cheng-Zong period. clarify for the first time Wu-Zong (武宗)’smotivation for restructuring of the room-ranking, demonstrated theunknown impact of the Imperial Ancestral Temple system in the YuanDynasty after Tai-Ding-Di (泰定帝)’s re-adjusting Zhao-Mu (昭穆) onthe Chinese ritual history.The main form of Mongolian sacrifice to ancestors was Burning Foods(Shao-Fan,烧饭), which was closely related to the system of Qo i (inMongolian; Chinese: Huo-Shi,火室). Based on predecessors’achievement, this paper discusses the Mongolian linguistic meaning ofqo i, inggis Qan’s Ordos’ sacrifices as the source of the qo i system, thechanges of Qo i system ever since Qubilai Qa’an period, and then combine the qo i with the Burning-Foods sacrifices, with the use ofMongolian historical materials, and dispose some new insights into theBurning-Foods sacrifices’ ritual dates, locations, and Mongolian name.The “Dynastic Customs and Old Rituals”(Guo-Su Jiu-Li,国俗旧礼),which is the title of a section in Yuan Shi (《元史》), stands forMongol-Yuan Dynasty’s attempt to preserve their own custom andculture. It is particularly important since Mongol rulers of the YuanDynasty had distinct self-cultural awareness. This paper analyzes thecontent and historical source of the “Dynastic Customs and Old Rituals”in Yuan Shi, and gathers some scattered ones outside Yuan Shi. Dividedinto independent style and implanted style, the posion of the DynasticCustoms and Old Rituals and discusses in the State Scrifice system isdiscussed. At last by observing the ritual of shooting straw dogs, it makessense of protecting Mongolian culture and strengthening ethnic identity.Among Chinese traditional sacrifices, Yue-Zhen-Hai-Du (岳镇海渎) was the first for Mongol rulers to put into practice on their own initiative. TheYue-Zhen-Hai-Du Temples located in various areas, and a large numberof inscriptions are extant. This chapter first traces back to both Chineseand Mongolian origins of the sacrifice to Yue-Zhen-Hai-Du of the YuanDynasty. Secondly, we sum up three stages which are germination period,the formation period, and the maturity period in terms of development.Thirdly, the contents of the system of Sacrifice to Yue-Zhen-Hai-Du inthe Yuan Dynasty are studied, including sacrifice locations, routes of theenvoys, offerings, and rituals. At last, this chapter described the sacrificeto Yue-Zhen-Hai-Du as a link between the court and lay society.The Dynastic Common Sacrifices (Tian-Xia-Tong-Si,天下通祀), whichwere promoted all over the Dynasty by the court, can well embody theideology of a unified dynasty. In this paper, the Dynastic CommonSacrifices in the Yuan Dynasty are divided into two systems. The Altar(Tan-Wei,坛壝) system，includes: She-Ji(社稷), Masters of Wind, Rain and thunder (风雨雷师). This chapter examines how they wereestablished them in the Yuan Dynasty and their status in the Chineseritual system, and then judges two extant historical objects counterfeit ornot. The Temple system includes: Confucius(宣圣), Three Sovereigns (三皇), Phags-pa the Imperial Preceptor (八思巴帝师). Taking theConfucius Temples in Dadu (大都), Shangdu (上都), and Qufu (曲阜)for examples, the recovery and development of Confucius Temples, andthe unification of north-south differences in the ritual system arediscussed. The establishment of Three Sovereigns Temple played atransitional role betweem the Confucius Temple and he ImperialPreceptor Temple in the Sacrifice system of the Yuan Dynasty. Thischapter also researches the establishment of the Imperial PreceptorTemple, its sacrifice dates and architectural layout, the reason why it wasestablished, the result of its promotion, its relationship with theMongolian script school. Based on researches on the Dynastic Common Sacrifices, this chapter finally discusses the uniqueness of the ideology ofthe Yuan Dynasty.Mahākāla(大黑天) was a protective deity in Tibetan Buddhism, whileZhen-Wu(真武) was a Daoist diety which can be traced back to ancienttimes and has risen up since the Northern Song Dynasty. These twodieties had a confrontation in a story about the war between Song andYuan Dynasty. Through tracking the dissemination of the text anddiscussing the context of different versions of the story, we believe thatMahākāla had already been accepted in Mongols in the1240’s, muchearlier than Phags-pa and Dam-pa’s propaganda. This paper alsodiscusses Zhen-Wu’s different images in the Song, Yuan and Mingimperial court, and find out its homology in both Song and Ming Dynasty,while the inheritance of Mahākāla form Yuan to Mongol regime in MingDynasty and then to Qing Dynasty. This chapter points out thatworshipping some deity has a close relationship to the political culture of a dynasty.Sacrifice to Dun-jia(遁甲) embodies the Yin-Yang aspect of StateSacrifices, and also has some relationship with Daoism. By studyingTai-yi Daoism and Dun-jia monasteries in the two capital cities of YuanDynasty, we correct the long-time confusion between Tai-yi Daoism(太一教) and Dun-jia. and clarify the concept of Sacrifice to Dun-jia, whichextremely relied on the political power of Yuan Dynasty, so that was notan independent religious sect but a form of State Sacrifices.As a kind of practice, praying for rain was very prosperous from the courtto local governments and then to lay people during the Yuan period. Allkinds of rituals of sacrifices appearred in the praying for rain activities.Various cultural factors including Chinese traditional rituals, Buddhist,Taoist, Christian, shamanism have rendered. Through the investigation inpraying for rain, we can see Mongolian and Chinese binary, withMongolian inside and Chinese outside, comprehensiveness of multiculture, the idea of Mongolian and Chinese Heaven-Blessingbecoming similar, the growing pragmatism on sacrifices of the court andlay people in the Yuan Dynasty.Finally, we summarize the characteristics of the State Sacrifices of theYuan Dynasty in three aspects: religious functions, political strategy, andcultural orientation. The practicality of the pan-religious, and politicalstrategy to win the Chinese people was the main features of the earlyMongol-Yuan Dynasty accepting Chinese traditional sacrifices. SinceQubilai Qa’an enthroned, the State Sacrifices system with Mongolian andChinese bicultural core, compatible with multi-cultural factors graduallyformed. And it developed into two-way deviation from the biculturaltradition in the middle and late Yuan period, which could be a reason ofthe Yuan Dynasty’s demise.