Jerome Yuchien's Ph.D Thesis
Chapter Nine: Conclusion (part I)
I. Introduction:
The previous chapters reflect the fact that the textual data relating to Chinese divine stones and trees are limited and thus that it is difficult to understand these three deities by studying the texts alone. On the other hand, since the worship of the divine stones and trees is rather marginal in Chinese world, it is not plausible to grasp the belief only by field research.(note.1) Consequently, in the thesis, I made efforts to study the divine stones and trees from many points of view. Hopefully, they can, together, offer a new comprehension of these deities.
In this concluding chapter, I shall first set a typology for the divine stones and trees included in study here. I shall also summarise the findings from the previous studies to explain how and why the three deities were anthropomorphised, historicised, and standardised. Then, I demonstrate that common people only partly accept the authority of the standardised written accounts and take them as one of their authorities. Besides them, they have many authorities to follow. Finally, I discuss the recent changes of the divine stones and trees in Taiwan.
II. Typology of the Deities:
So far, we realise that the Land God represented by a stone and/or tree is often mixed up with the Stone God and/or the Tree God, or even with other divine stones and trees since they are closely connected. However, these deities can be distinguished according to their legends, traits, functions, images, deification legends, the dates of birthday festivals and so on:
1, The Land God represented by a stone and/or tree:(note.2) The term "the Land God" is a title of office and not the honourific of a specific person. If loyal to his community, any person may be promoted to an office after his death. In Taiwan the Land God is usually represented by a statue, picture, stone or tree. If being represented by a statue or picture, he is depicted as a kind, local elder with a long white beard. If represented by a stone, he is called "Chio Tho.-ti- kong" ("stone Land God") or "chio kong" ("stone god"). He is called "Chhiu kong" ("tree god") if represented by a tree.
The main task of the God is to look after the piece of land he governs. He is traditionally conceived of as in charge of a specific geographically defined jurisdiction, within which his duties are usually compared by informants to those of a "local policeman" or "local junior official".
Probably because Chinese believe that souls dwell somewhere under the land, in Taiwan and generally in southeastern China, the grave site is guarded by the Land God who is called "the Earth Governor" ("Houtu"; see figure 112) in this context. Besides, he is traditionally regarded as the guardian of wandering souls, of family, of business, and of community. Indeed, he is indispensable to everything concerning the land. However, for a number of reasons noted in the previous chapters, he is not favoured as a parent for nominal adoption. Moreover, the Land God, though bound by the social ethics or morality, is sometimes connected with gambling.
In addition, since both the "She" Cult and Ancestor Worship are offshoots of the ancient Chinese fertility cult, some shrines of the Land God look like the tombs of ancestors and most stones were chosen to represent him had a human or cylindrical form.
2, The Stone God and the Tree God:(note.3) The second type of divine stones and trees are those who are treated as the Stone God and the Tree God. In Taiwan, divine trees of this type are typically called "Tua-chhiu-kong" ("the Tree God") or "Chhiu kong" ("tree god"). Divine stones of this type are usually called "Chio-thau-kong" ("the Stone God") or "chio kong" ("stone god").
In Chapter Two, we saw that Chinese divine stones and trees are commonly connected with fertilizing capability. In Taiwan, they are also traditionally regarded as the guardians of children who suffer health problems. Usually, higher-ranking deities with great protective power and goddesses with maternal nature are preferred as the nominal parents. The Stone and Tree Gods, though belonging to the lower ranks and thus having little hierarchical power, are widely favoured to be nominal parents, because people hope their unhealthy children might grow as strong as the Stone God and as big as the Tree God. This might be a functional extension of the life-giving stones described in Chapter Two.
While retaining their geological or botanical forms, most stones and trees are regarded as the Stone God or the Tree God because they evoked the sense of reverence by performing miracles, being on special locations, with unusual origins and with unusual appearances etc. Nonetheless, because they are less influenced by standardised written accounts, the deity statues and legends that anthropomorphise and historicise them share a few features in common.
These two deities, together with the Third Prince, Jigong, and so on, are not bound by the officially approved morality and are outside the orthodox interpretation. Thus, they are favoured by the Bettors as the guardians of the Lottery to reveal the winning numbers.
Just as ancient "She" altars were set in the open air in order to get the fructifying forces of heaven, in many localities, the Stone God and the Tree God are preferably left open to the sky. However, this does not necessarily show that they are the surviving examples of the "She" Cult, since they perhaps developed out of the ancient worship of natural objects or other origins. Moreover, as explained in the previous chapters, the present cults of the Stone God and the Tree God are quite unlike the "She" Cult and no worshipers I interviewed told me that their cults come from the "She" Cult.
3, Stones and trees identified with deities other than the Land God, the Stone God, and the Tree God:(note.4) There are some divine stones and trees regarded as deities other than the Land God, the Stone God, and the Tree God.
There is no specific term for this type of god, but normally these deities are called "the stone [...]" or "the tree [...]" according to their identifications. For instance, a standing stone wrapped with a red ribbon is worshipped by local gamblers on the sea shore of Ho-peng Ward as a stone deity (#S16; see figure 16). Because the appearance of the stone resembles a goddess, she is sometimes identified as Mazu (the Granny) and sometimes as Guanyin. Anyway, if identified as Mazu, she is called "the stone Mazu" and if identified as Guanyin, the stone is called "the stone Guanyin". If a stone is identified as "the Good Brothers", it is called "the stone Good Brothers" (e.g. #S22, #S24, #S26). By the same token, the stone which is identified as a divine turtle, is called "the stone Turtle" (#S56; see figure 61).
If a stone or tree belonging to this type is identified with any higher-ranking deity, it is regarded as having great protective power and thus become a guardian of children, that is, a nominal parent (e.g. #S45).
However, since they are not deified because of moral deeds, in the past several years some of them have been endowed with a new function as gambling deities. That is, they can reveal the winning numbers of the Lottery to gamblers so that they can bet and win (e.g. #S41, #S46, #S56, #S57). Furthermore, because these stones and trees are identified with various deities, their dates of birthday festivals, images, and legends also vary.
