Chinese shamanism

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Seal script

Great Seal script

Bronzeware script
Ideograms of wu in different ancient Chinese scripts.
Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: ; pinyin: W jio; literally:
"wu religion, shamanism, witchcraft"), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China.[1]
Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan
culture.[2] Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion, an overarching
term for all the indigenous religions of China. Wu masters remain important in contemporary
Chinese culture.
Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese
ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders,[3] though most orders don't selfidentify as such. Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism:[4][5] it
developed around the pursuit of long life (shou /), or the status of a xian (, "mountain
man", "holy man").[6]

Contents

1 Meaning of wu

2 Shang period

3 Zhou period

4 See also

5 References

6 Bibliography

7 External links

Meaning of wu
Main article: Wu (shaman)
The Chinese word wu "shaman, wizard", indicating a man who can mediate with the
powers generating things (the etymological meaning of "spirit", "god", or nomen agentis,
virtus, energeia), was first recorded during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE), when a
wu could be either sex. During the late Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BCE) wu was used to specify
"female shaman; sorceress" as opposed to xi "male shaman; sorcerer" (which first appears
in the 4th century BCE Guoyu). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu
for "male shaman; sorcerer; wizard"; and nwu , wun , wupo , and wuyu
for "female shaman; sorceress; witch".
The word tongji (lit. "youth diviner") "shaman; spirit-medium" is a near-synonym of
wu. The Chinese tradition distinguishes native wu from "Siberian shaman": saman or
saman ; and from Indian Shramana "wandering monk; ascetic": shamen , sangmen
, or sangmen .
Berthold Laufer (1917:370) proposed an etymological relation between Mongolian bg
"shaman", Turkish bg "shaman", Chinese bu, wu (shaman), buk, puk (to divine), and
Tibetan aba (pronounced ba, sorcerer). Coblin (1986:107) puts forward a Sino-Tibetan root
*mja "magician; sorcerer" for Chinese wu < mju < *mjag "magician; shaman" and
Written Tibetan 'ba'-po "sorcerer" and 'ba'-mo "sorcereress" (of the Bn religion). Further
connections are to the bu-mo priests of Zhuang Shigongism and the bi-mo priests of
Bimoism, the Yi indigenous faith. Also Korean mu (of Muism) is cognate to Chinese wu
.
Schuessler lists some etymologies: wu could be cognate with wu "to dance"; wu could also
be cognate with mu "mother" since wu, as opposed to xi , were typically female; wu
could be a loanword from Iranian *maghu or *magu "magi; magician", meaning an "able
one; specialist in ritual". Mair (1990) provides archaeological and linguistic evidence that
Chinese wu < *myag "shaman; witch, wizard; magician" was a loanword from Old Persian
*magu "magician; magi". Mair connects the nearly identical Chinese Bronze script for wu
and Western heraldic cross potent , an ancient symbol of a magus or magician, which
etymologically descend from the same Indo-European root.

Shang period
The Chinese religion from the Shang dynasty onwards developed around ancestral worship.[7]
The main gods from this period are not forces of nature in the Indo-European way, but deified
virtuous men.[8] The ancestors of the emperors were called di (), and the greatest of them
was called Shangdi (, "the Highest Lord").[9] He is identified with the dragon (Kui ),
symbol of the universal power (qi).[10]

Cosmic powers dominate nature: the Sun, the Moon, stars, winds and clouds were considered
informed by divine energies.[11] The earth god is She () or Tu ().[12] The Shang period had
two methods to enter in contact with divine ancestors: the first is the numinous-mystical wu
() practice, involving dances and trances; and the second is the method of the oracle bones,
a rational way.[13]

Zhou period
The Zhou dynasty, succeeding the Shang, was more rooted in an agricultural worldview.[14]
They opposed the ancestor-gods of the Shang, and gods of nature became dominant.[15] The
utmost power in this period was named Tian (, "the Great One").[16] With Di (, "earth")
he forms the whole cosmos in a complementary duality.[17]

See also

Chinese folk religion

Chinese ritual mastery traditions

Nuo rituals

Taoism