THREE TYPES
OF CHINESE DEITIES--STONE,TREE,AND LAND
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES,
BY
Jerome
YuChien
JANUARY
1997
This thesis
deals with certain aspects of the Chinese popular religion of Taiwan;
specifically , the cult of the Land God represented by stone(Chio Tho-ti-kong)
and/or tree (Chhiu Tho-ti-kong) and the enormously complex relationships between
this deity and both the Stone God (Chio-thau-kong) and the Tree God
(Tua-chhiu-kong). The results of the study indicate that scared trees and stones
worshipped as gods can be distinguished from the Land God which is represented
by trees or stones. The distinction between the Land God and stone/tree gods can
also be applied to the study of legends, traits, functions, images, deification
stories, the dates for annual festivals etc.
This thesis
also demonstrate that common people only partly accept the authority of the
standardised written accounts fostered by elites and/or local leaders, and take
it as only one of their authorities. besides it, they have their own mechanism
to sustain their religious culture and have their own authorities to follow. The
investigation of this mechanism and/or authorities can be easily overlooked if
we limit our studies to the religious cultures dominated by the elites.
Furthermore, the mechanism fostered by the state and elites seemed to serve as a
carrier of messages such as civilization, order, and loyalty to the state, that
is, "keepers" of social values. On the contrary, the authorities preferred by
common people can serve as "challengers" to those who are privileged and who set
social values.
This thesis
consists of two parts: text and illustrations. The text, including notes,
bibliography and character list, comprises 300 pages. All the 112 illustrations
attached are colour photos I took in my field sites. The study will serve
readers in the fields of Taiwanese culture, Chinese popular religion, history of
religion, and anthropology.
Acknowledgements
I am
grateful to many people for help in carrying this thesis to completion. First,
Iwant to express my sincere gratitude to those whom I interviewed druing my
fieldwork. I also want to thank my supervisor Dr. Stewart McFarlane, especially
for his patience and advice. In addition, I hereby acknowledge the generous
financial support of the National Youth Commission of the Executive Yuan in
1992-3, and that of the Academia Sinicaa in 1993-4. Special thanks are also due
to both Dr. L. S. Davis and J. A. Laidlaw for their reading of draught chapters
and for providing invaluable criticism. Next, Mr. Andrew.T. Clarke also deserves
thanks for correcting many mistakes in my use of English.
Many academics
and staff in the Institute of Ethnology ( e.g. Prof. Zhuang Yingzhang, Prof. Xu
Jiaming, Prof. Lin Meirong, and Prof. Pan Yinghai) of Academia Sinica, Taiwan
and Department of Religious Studies ( e.g. Ms. Janice Parkes, Dr. Roderick Main,
and Prof. John Clayton), Lancaster University, England have helped me in
mumerous ways -- to all of whom I am thankful.
I am indebted to Ms. Susan
Lucas for her kindness when I studied in England. Finally, for both financial
help and general support, I am deeply grateful to my family.
