A Fresh Look At The Ghosts And Spirits Of The Zuozhuan

The Zuozhuan is an important work of Chinese historiography, recounting in great detail historical events that took place in the Zhongyuan region and its fringes during the Spring and Autumn Period. In addition to recording the wars and conflicts between the various kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the ceremonies attended by their leaders and ambassadors, and internal political wrangling within these kingdoms, it also recounts various conversations and short, anecdotal tales having to do with these events, constituting a rich and detailed expression of the opinions of the various historical figures on the events unfolding before their eyes, as well as their opinions and viewpoints on the theory of state rule and other related themes.From the time of Liu Xin’s establishing the Zuozhuan as a canonical work formally belonging to jingxue in the Western Han Dynasty, the Zuozhuan has received the attention of generations of scholars; it has been an object of study and research in Chinese scholasticism for two thousand years. Many places in the Zuozhuan record historical events having to do with or involving ghosts and spirit; these passages have received attention from scholars throughout the ages. In general, ancient scholars expressed doubt and misgivings about the preoccupation of the Zuozhuan with the spirit world, believing descriptions of ghosts and spirits to be part of its non-historical content and a testament to the erroneous supernatural tendencies latent in the thinking of its authors. However, from the middle of the20th century, scholars began to demonstrate a change in attitude toward the recollections of ghosts and spirits in the Zuozhuan; scholars began to see the Zuozhuan as a text to be valued for what it shows about the beliefs and values of its authors. From the time of this change in attitude, scholars have attempted to induce from the content of the Zuozhuan ideas about the ideas of its authors regarding theory of state rule and their cosmology, beginning to use narratives of ghosts and spirits in the Zuozhuan as research materials to understand the ideas of thinkers of pre-Qin China. Especially in the last thirty years, scholars have paid special attention to the recollections of ghosts and spirits in the Zuozhuan, attempting use these recollections to discuss the views of the Zuozhuan authors toward spirits and ghosts, ancestral sacrifice, cosmology and the theory of state rule.The following thesis will, on the basis of previous scholarship continue to explore the philosophical content of the Zuozhuan, taking as the object of its study the narratives of the Zuozhuan having to do or involving ghosts and spirits. There are over one hundred references to ghosts and spirits in the Zuozhuan, and a question that receives great attention throughout the Zuozhuan is,"What role should spirits, ancestor sacrifice, and knowledge pertaining to ghosts and spirits have in the practice of ruling the state?" Knowledge about spirits and ghosts is patently an important component in the philosophical discourse of the Zuozhuan. Accordingly, this thesis attempts to make use of the explications of previous scholars on the language of the Zuozhuan as well as previous studies into the Spring and Autumn Period in order to analyze through close reading passages, dialogues, and anecdotes within the Zuozhuan that make reference to ghosts and spirits, and also draw conclusions about Zuozhuan’s understanding in various places on the function and influence of ghosts and spirits on the enterprise of state rule and the meaning of ghosts and spirits to the individual. In the second chapter, the author makes reference to multiple examples in order to demonstrate the close association between Zuozhuan’s discourse on ghosts and spirits, discussing the responsibilities of state ruler to ghosts and spirits, the relationship between the representation of ghosts in the Zuozhuan and the notion of fidelity, ancestral sacrifice as a symbol of ruling power, and knowledge of ghosts as a component of rhetorical skill. The third chapter studies Zuozhuan’s narration of spiritual sacrifice, discussing the place of ritual sacrifice in the body of rites and rituals belonging to Zhou dynastic rule and the meaning of spiritual sacrifice in its historical context. The fourth chapter discusses episodes having to do with the protection of the spirits in the Zuozhuan, concluding that the appearance of ghosts within the narrative and discussion of the influence of spirits constitutes an exploration on the part of Zuozhuan of the protection of the spirits as well as a description of the melange of the court life and a revelation of the personality traits of historical figures (whose traits can be used to interpret the causes of historical events). The conclusion emphasizes the Zuozhuan’s complex, subtle relationship with spirits and knowledge of the spirits, and suggests that in order to understand the Zuozhuan’s treatment of ghosts, it is necessary analyze these in the light of knowledge regarding the period in which the Zuozhuan was compiled and the origin of the historical materials from which it was compiled.