A Preliminary Study On The Confucius Worship Among The Folk In Tang China

Scholars of Modern China denied the relationship between the folk and Confucian Temple,Contemporary scholars believe that the worship of Confucian Temple was for the collective appeal.While in Medieval China,the common people went to Confucian temples to search for the personal welfare.The records of officials and individuals from North Wei to Tang dynasty witnessed women went to Master's temple to be pregnant.A magistrate of Fanyang county in mid-Tang went to Master's Temple to worship and pray for the rain.After that,Confucius came to his dream crying for not being repaired in time.This story was weaved in the inscription located in the Master's Temple.There is also a story about a grassroots officers named Jian who had won in a battle.What was important is that the story attributed this victory and his promotion to his diligent service to the sculpture of Confucius.All in all,Confucius was worshipped as a deity who owns the extra-human power in folk contexts.The extra-human power of Confucius,this image in the minds of ordinary believers was different with the orthodox and legitimacy one.This essay focuses on the case study about the folk worship of Confucius,posing issues why popular understandings went beyond misreading and misunderstanding to the standardization efforts by the state.The state committed itself to the standardization of Confucian knowledge.The representation of Confucian knowledge promoted to the folk is the Xiaojing and the idea of Xiao.Actually,we could see not only the Xiaojing commented by the emperor but also the one illustrated by myths and stories interpreted by the common and folk songs adapted from Xiaojing.These tunes and folk songs were adapted to extended spread.Confucius were remarked as deity and set side by side with Buddha and Laozi,Xiaojing were envisioned as the supernatural classic just like the Diamond Sutra and the Tao Te Ching.In the poems and compositions written for the children education guidance and named as Confucius such as Kongzi Prepares Asked that book,what Confucius interested was not only the Confucian knowledge but also the knowledge of Buddhism and folk religion.It seems self-evident that these compositions represent the knowledge structure of the folk in Dunhuang.Confucius actually became an erudite scholar who was proficient not only Confucian knowledge but also Buddhism and folk religion.Based on the context of conflicts of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism in Tang dynasty,Confucius were portrayed as the Rutong Bodhisattva,a deity of Buddhism and Zhenguan,a deity of Taoism.These images were spread in the folk.Chenwei stories about Confucius were weaved in East Han,which envisioned Confucius as the king without noble blood(Xuansheng Suwang)and the one who was destined to make the practice of compiling the historiography by the Heaven God.Actually in Six Dynasties,there were some Taoists who attached himself to Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and Confucius to cheat the illiterate.Based on the discussion above,this chapter present a view that the illiterate's perception of Confucius was affected by the Confucius images in the Buddhist and Taoist classics and Chenwei stories.The images of Confucius in Confucian knowledge and Buddhists or Taoist classics and Chenwei stories are in some extent deities.It was the process common people was affected when these texts spread to the folk.Besides,the common were asked to watch the ceremony of Confucius in every county.In the inscription of Confucian temples,it was said that the common was preached by the ceremony.Considering most of these inscriptions were written for memorizing the achievements of local officials,while,was this the record that the ceremony helps to preach the folk historical or historiographical?Actually,when it comes to the practice of the ceremony of Confucius,we could see the local practice was different with the design texts by the state in a largely extent.The local practice of the ceremony of Confucius were also use images and paintings like idol worship such as the Buddhist ones.There were even traces of sacrificial incense in the worship of Confucius of Dunhuang.In the end of the ceremony,the zhuban(a piece of wood or jade with the prayer words were written on it)was burning to guarantee Confucius to read these prayer words.Which was almost same as the procedure of Zhaijiao keyi,the general rituals and activities of Taoist.All in all,the structure of rituals of the ceremony of Confucius' local practice was similar with the rites of folk religion,so does the primacy of performance.The worship to the Confucian Temple of the folk in search for their personal welfare was forbidden by the state after song dynasty although,the common still envisioned Confucius or Confucian temple as a deity or shrine.What was different with medieval times was that the folk was excluded and Confucian temple became a place where only the scholars and officials were authorized to worship for their welfare.