Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Aus dem Klappentext

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Way That Lives in the Heart

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Contents

Preface................................................xiA Note on Romanization.................................xvIntroduction...........................................1Part One: Heaven on Earth..............................431 Mending Luck.........................................532 Spiritual Collisions.................................813 Possessed by the Past................................121Part Two: Spirit Mediums...............................1674 Domesticating the Dead...............................1755 Self-Cultivation and the Dao.........................2016 The Teachings of a Modern Master.....................2227 Drawing on the Dark Side.............................255Conclusion.............................................293Notes..................................................307Bibliography...........................................327Chinese Glossary.......................................345Index..................................................357

Chapter One

When millionaire Chinese with great influence in their community regulate their investments by the throw of the bamboo slips in the temple of Toh Pek Kong [the God of Prosperity], it is impossible to expect the Chinese community as a whole to alter at a great rate. Purcell (1967 [1948]): 128

... Of the honored and highly placed, there is none greater that he who possesses wealth and rank....

I Ching [Yijing] (1950): 321

Recently, scholars have widely debated the question of whether the Confucian ethic has contributed to the "rise of industrial East Asia" (Tu 1996: ix). Ambrose King notes that contemporary writings on Confucianism and development are simultaneously Weberian and anti-Weberian, as these studies emphasize examination of China's ethos, but do so in order to explain China's success at modern capitalism rather than its failure (King 1996: 266). Some authors are skeptical, seeing the promotion of Confucianism in Singapore, for example, as apolitically motivated and unsuccessful revitalization movement (Kuo 1996). Others have concluded (contrary to Weber's arguments) that a social structure based on Confucian ideals of authority and cooperation is basic to the development of a distinctively Asian form of modern capitalism (see, for example, Redding 1996).

Many of these discussions focus on the impact of Confucianism on patterns of governance and social organization, to the neglect of Max Weber's arguments regarding the implications of Chinese religiosity for the life orientation of the individual. Weber was concerned with the force of morality in the practical life of believers, and in his analysis of Protestantism he argued that the Puritan concept of the calling and the Puritan practice of asceticism in everyday lives had directly influenced the development of the capitalist way of life (Weber 1946a [1906]; 1958 [1920].

Weber found these elements lacking in Chinese religion, and also noted that the Chinese "would simply refuse to be continually burdened with 'sin"' (Weber 1968 [1951]: 228). Weber argued that because god raised no ethical demands, the inner personality was never reformed by the demands of a religious ethos (Weber 1968 [1951]: 230). He also concluded that Confucian rationalism led Chinese to adapt to the world, whereas Puritan rationalism "means rational mastery of the world," an orientation that promoted the emergence of modern capitalism (Weber 1968 [1951]: 248).

In The Religion of China, Weber treated Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism as three coexisting traditions, each with its own ethos and theodicy. Contemporary scholars follow his lead by exploring implications of the Confucian ethic, with its emphasis on education, family values, and autocratic government, for modernization and capitalist development (Tu 1996). Although a useful starting point, this focus on the Confucian ethic tends to lead scholars to neglect popular religious culture. This is a significant oversight, for one finds the most convincing base for a Chinese capitalist ethos not in Confucianism, but rather in the syncretic blend of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism that informs popular religious practice.

As many have observed, the capitalists of China's south coast who migrated to Southeast Asia were not Mandarins, nor were they steeped in the Confucian classics. Rather, they were persons who "knew how to handle money, and organize men in relation to money" (Freedman 1979 [1959]: 26). Their pragmatic ethos found expression in popular religious culture, with its temples, festivals, secret societies, and spirit mediums. Confucian ethics were one important element in that culture, but Buddhism, Daoism, and local forms of worship were also blended into the syncretic mix.

This pragmatic ethos persists in the Penang Chinese community. One of Penang's community leaders, a member of a centralized steering committee that coordinated the street-level committees celebrating the Hungry Ghosts Festival to raise funds to support collective projects like private Chinese schools and the rebuilding of the Chinese Town Hall, summed up Penang Chinese values in these terms:

Penang people have the mentality (sixiang) to pray, to earn money, to support Chinese culture and Chinese education. You don't see this strength anywhere else in Malaysia. Penang people have strong feelings (ganqing).

He concluded that in coordinating the month-long, Penang-wide celebrations of this festival, the centralized committee used worship of the gods to collect the power of Penang's Chinese community. His statement points to a convergence of religion, business, and Chinese culture in defining community. (See also DeBernardi 2004: 156-81).

In this chapter, I examine the popular religious ethos rather than the Confucian ethic alone to see what it might reveal about the Chinese orientation to economic action and aspirations. In particular, I investigate the everyday habits of interpretation and action that motivate people to seek answers to problems through divination or consultation with spirit mediums. I focus on Penang Chinese concepts of the good life and its vicissitudes, as represented in people's personal narratives, in rituals performed by spirit mediums, and in the visual and narrative representations of the gods. I also explicate Hokkien terms like luck (un, yun) and fate (mia, ming), benefactors (kuijin, guiren) and opponents (siaujin, xiaoren), concepts that people draw upon to explain events in their lives. Undoubtedly, scholars who take a culturalist approach have overestimated the power of a reified Chinese culture to explain Chinese business success in Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, economic and material values and desires permeate the symbols, stories, and ritual practices of popular religious culture, and I consider it worthwhile to explore that ethos as one foundation for an understanding of Chinese popular religious culture.

Chinese popular religious symbols repeatedly and insistently celebrate the good things of life: prosperity, joy, luck, wealth, good health, long life, success, high social status, peace, and...