Cameron Freeman | 416-533-6024

Internet Strategist, Managerial Anthropologist, Rogue Archivist

Menu
  • About Cameron R. Freeman
  • Socio-Cultural Anthropology
    • The Applied Anthropology Group
    • Anthropology of Culture
      • Population Control and the Colonization of Women’s Bodies in a Neo-Liberal World
      • Marketing Feminine Hygiene in a Capitalist Consumer Driven Society
      • Israeli Personhood and the Politics of Reproductive Technologies
      • The cultural biography of the Verner’s Pattern prismatic compass
      • Kinship, Kin Cues and the Fulfillment of Institutional Aims
    • Anthropology of Religion: General
      • Anthropology of Indigenous Peoples
      • A Comparison of Schleiermacher’s Inner Religious Sanctuary and the External Domain of Robert Orsi’s Religious World
      • Religion: The promise of an afterlife
      • Spiritual Interventions: Inside A.A.’s Fundamentalist Healing Program of Faith With Works
    • Medical Anthropology
      • Book Review: Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel by Susan Kahn
      • Illness Narratives and the Construction of Self and Healing
      • Collaborative partnering with traditional healers for improved access to ARVs in rural Malawi
      • Ayurvedic Ethics and Modern Medical Ethics
    • Anthropology of Religion: Hindu Tradition
      • Constructing and Deconstructing the Bonds of Modern Guruship in the Cult of Sai Baba
      • Maintaining the Guru’s Hegemonic Influence Over Devotees
      • Christianity in British Colonial India and the Crystallization of Modern Hindu Religious Identities
      • The Dynamics of Bhakti in the Guru-Shishya Relationship
      • A Film Critique of Robert Gardner’s Video Ethnography: Forest of Bliss
      • To Love Siva is to Know Siva: Reflections on Ciruttontar—the Little Devotee
    • Anthropology of Religion: Asian Traditions
      • A Precis of Thomas A Wilson’s Sacrifice and the Imperial Cult of Confucius
      • A working definition of the Chinese term ‘wuwei’ (nonaction, doing nothing)
      • Chinese Popular Religion
      • Shang Divination: A Theocratic Stage for Emerging Chinese Religious Thought and Practice
    • Anthropology of Indigenous Peoples
      • Settler Colonialism and Eliminating the Native
      • Identity, Social Invisibility, Institutional Structures of Violence and the Mortality of Aboriginal Women
      • Define or be defined: Constructing indigenous identities for health and well being
      • Recovering Native Identities: From a traumatic ruptured past to a locally driven pan-Native spiritual present for holistic health and well being
      • The Legacy of Colonial Intrusions and Native Women’s Health
    • Anthropology of Religion: Judeo-Christian Tradition
      • Scribes, Prophets, & Temple Priests: The process of establishing and maintaining Judean boundaries through the canonization of scripture.
      • Honour and Shame and the Qualifications of the Overseer (bishop) in Timothy 3:1-7
      • The successful transmission of Paul’s expectations for a centrifugal missionary tradition in the early Christian Church
      • A hypothesis for the original oral version of the Parable of the Sower
      • Jesus and First Century Jewish Purity Laws
      • Who were the post-Wycliffe Lollards, what did they practice and what became of their movement?
      • Holiness Snake-handling: A Context for Pentecostal Epistemology
  • Principia Discordia
    • Contemporary Archaeology
      • WW1 Verners pattern MKVII military marching compass
      • Antique gramophone lovers beware of crap-o-phones and franken-phones
      • Come into my parlor for afternoon tea and listen to my “authentic” Victor Victrola
    • Confessions of A Cult Leader: My Lifestream Seminar Experience
      • Confessions of a Cult Leader or How I learned to get the best of life running a personal development seminar company.
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Thursday Evening of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Friday Evening of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Saturday Morning of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Saturday Afternoon of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Saturday Evening of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Confessions of A Cult Leader: Sunday of the Lifestream Basic
      • Excerpt: The pit: a group encounter defiled, by Gene Church and Conrad DCarnes. (Out of Print)
      • Courage
      • Please Hear What I’m NOT Saying
      • Love is NOT enough! – A Handout at the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • The girl I used to know – A Handout at the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • The Penalty of Leadership – A Handout at the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • The Little Boy who put the world back together: A story by Jim Quinn, Founder of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Clarifying questions – Asked throughout the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Guiseppe – A story by Jim Quinn, Founder of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
      • Mexican Crabs – A story by Jim Quinn, Founder of the Lifestream Basic Seminar
    • Charles Haanel: The Master Key System
      • Part One: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Two: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Three: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Four: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Five: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Six: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Seven: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Eight: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Nine: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Ten: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Eleven: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twelve: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Thirteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Fourteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Fifteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Sixteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Seventeen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Eighteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Nineteen: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twenty: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twenty-One: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twenty-Two: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twenty-Three: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
      • Part Twenty-Four: The Master Key System by Charles Haanel
  • Presentations
    • Rules For Results
    • Media Skills Training
      • Case Study: Guerrilla tactics for maximizing the results of your media campaign
    • Keynote & Workshop Accolades
Menu

A Precis of Thomas A Wilson’s Sacrifice and the Imperial Cult of Confucius

Thomas A. Wilson, in his paper, Sacrifice and the Imperial Cult of Confucius, (History of Religions, Vol. 41, No.3, Feb. 2002 pp. 251-287), argues a two part hypothesis: 1) that the notion of ritual purification in Chinese sacrifice is a state of clear, single-minded purpose and concentration on the spirit who is receiving the sacrifice and that this process does not require confession and atonement of sin or transgression; and 2) that the sacrifice of the victim is not the pinnacle religious moment but simply a part of the overall sacrificial process designed to nourish the spirit present so that Heaven and Earth operates correctly. Wilson concludes with an exploration of how the cult veneration of Confucius could expand our view of it as a religion, arguing that inner spiritual transformation through moral self-cultivation is a defining aspect of Confucian theology but it misses the importance of the ritual feast and the symbiotic relationship of mortals and spirits to maintain order in the universe.

To support his argument, Wilson re-constructs the liturgy of the sacrifice to Confucius, as performed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. First he explains the imperial pantheon of gods and highlights the ritual logic involved in venerating them. Next, he establishes classical precedent that legitimizes the cult of Confucius and explains where it fits into the scheme of ritual hierarchy. Third, Wilson dissects the ritual sacrifice itself, analyzing its various components and noting the comparative differences between Chinese, Vedic and Hebrew sacrifice.

Wilson explains that the imperial gods and spirits were ordered hierarchically in the temples and alters throughout the empire. Temple cults were regulated by the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifice; serviced by ritual officers of the court; and sanctioned by the Confucian canon.

Wilson addresses several problems that existed for the court liturgist such as: where to place Confucius in the spiritual hierarchy; what spirit would be most analogous to Confucius; what kind ritual was most appropriate, and what technical activity was required to effectively carry out the ritual. It was decided, based on ritual precedents from the Confucian canon, previously recorded sacrifices to cult of Confucius, the court sanction and promotion of Confucius to the status of Exalted King of Culture and later Ultimate Sage, and the removal of the Duke of Zhou as Sage from the temple,to place Confucius akin with the gods of grains and soils. Placing Confucius on the secondary tier of ritual hierarchy gave the Confucian literati access to the temple. This is important as Confucius and his teachings were considered a personification of the empire’s orthodoxy—the foundation and framework that cultivated all literate men who served the Emperor. Like the altars of soils and grains, the Confucian temple also legitimized the state. This subsequently, gave the Confucian literati a vested interest in maintaining the cult from which they could draw power and prestige. Moreover, through the spirit of Confucius, the Confucian literati could establish a role for themselves in the spiritual hierarchy and orderly workings of the cosmos.

The particulars of the ritual were drawn from basics of similar sacrifices to analogous spirits, which determined costume and ceremony details. A master of ritual canons and liturgy, the ritual officer would be familiar with the details of sacrifices to Confucius, having participated many times in such ceremonies from his early school years.

Wilson primarily focuses on two key areas of the ritual: 1) celebrant purification through fasting that occurs prior to the day of sacrifice, and 2) the purpose of the sacrificial victim. Wilson challenges the ideas presented in Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions, by Henry Hubert and Marcel Mauss, who claim that a universal sacred-profane dichotomy exists between god and man. According to Hubert and Mauss, Vedic sacrifice aims to make man better, dissolving differences between god and man for communion to occur. Hebrew sacrifice reiterates this dichotomy. The victim represents the sacrificer, and upon its slaughter, the sins of the sacrificer are expunged as he communes with god. This highlights the slaughter of victim as defining moment of the ritual.

The sacrifice to Confucius required celebrants to prepare by bathing and fasting. Wilson argues that there is no recompense in this preparatory ritual but, rather, an attitude of inner piety and outer reverence towards the spirit. Moreover, the fast is a means by which the sacrificer empties his mind of all distractions that might disrupt his concentration on the spirit who is to receive the sacrifice. Although the slaughter of the victim is a central part of the sacrifice, it is not the most important moment. After the victim is slaughtered, the meat is cooked for a feast of aromas so that the revered smelling vapors may be consumed by the spirit present. The emphasis here, Wilson argues, is ensuring cosmic order by properly nourishing the spirits.

Wilson concludes his paper by stating the crux of the sacrifice–the religious moment–was not the inner spiritual purification of the celebrants as in Vedic and Hebrew sacrifice, but the exchange that occurred when corporeal beings and celestials spirits work harmoniously together to maintain the working order of the universe.



			

Search

US Customers – Invoice Payments

US Customers - Invoice Payments
On submit this form will redirect to my paypal account.
© 2025 Cameron Freeman | 416-533-6024 | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme