南人寒門・寒人の宗教的想像力について : 「眞誥」をめぐって

Abstract

The Taoist classic Zhengao is a record of a spirit communication performed by Xu Mi 許謐 and his son together with the spirit medium Yang Xi 楊義 that took place in Danyang 丹陽 in the second half of the Eastern Jin period. The purpose of this essay is to analyse the world order that is described by these three men's religious imagination and thereby to discover the political and social consciousness that is hidden therein. Xu Mi and Yang Xi were lower officials from southern commoner families who accepted the northern aristocratic social system even while they were rejected by that system. This position casts a subtle shadow on their spirit communication. This is manifested in their concept of the "family" (Jia 家), their understanding of the society, and especially their construction of the afterlife (the xianjie 仙界 or guijie鬼界) that is seen in the Zhengao. The afterlife of the Zhengao was situated in the same physical context as human society (complete with mountains, islands and caves). It assumed the existence of the class hierarchy dictated by Confucian morality. This concocted world reflected the structure of the actual society; however, it also revealed the upset in social position that was coming about between the commoners and the Eastern Tin aristocracy (namely the military leaders who were pursuing wars). This actual overturning of the system of ranking individuals lends significance to the denial of chaos or of any dissension with the aristocratic system which honored family background. At that time moreover, although the military aristocracy was functioning securely, due to the successive invasions of the north, the social order of the Jiangnan area was beginning to crumble. The Zhengao was indeed a product of the religious imagination of the southern commoners who, by creating a fantasy world, were trying to overcome these various contradictions.