Wu (shaman)
He quotes the Shiji that Emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BCE), "wandered about on the shore of the eastern sea, and offered sacrifices to the famous mountains and the great rivers and the eight Spirits; and searched for xian "immortals", [xianmen], and the like."
[10] The contemporary Chinese character 巫 for wu combines the graphic radicals gong 工 "work" and ren 人 "person" doubled (cf.
[5] This dictionary also includes a variant Great Seal script (called a guwen "ancient script") that elaborates wu 巫. Hopkins[13] analyzes this guwen graph as gong 廾 "two hands held upward" at the bottom (like shi 筮's Seal graph) and two "mouths" with the "sleeves" on the sides; or "jade"[14] because the Shuowen defines ling 靈 "spiritual; divine" as synonymous with wu and depicting 巫以玉事神, "an inspired shaman serving the Spirits with jade.
"[15] Tu Baikui 塗白奎 suggests that the wu oracle character "was composed of two pieces of jade and originally designated a tool of divination.
[17] This 巫 component is semantically significant in several characters: A wide range of hypotheses for the etymology of wū "spirit medium; shaman" has been proposed.
[19] Schuessler notes Chinese xian < sjän < *sen 仙 "transcendent; immortal; alchemist" was probably borrowed as Written Tibetan gšen "shaman" and Thai [mɔɔ] < Proto-Tai *hmɔ "doctor; sorcerer".
Based on analysis of ancient characters, Hopkins[21] proposed that wū 巫 "shaman", wú 無 "not have; without", and wǔ 舞 "dance", "can all be traced back to one primitive figure of a man displaying by the gestures of his arms and legs the thaumaturgic powers of his inspired personality".
The present state of the documentation does not allow such a conclusion for two reasons: first, the most abundant data about the wu are to be found in Eastern Zhou texts; and, second, these texts have little in common with the data originating directly from the Shang civilization; possible ancestors of the Eastern Zhou wu are the cripples and the females burned in sacrifice to bring about rain.
It contains a story about King Zhao of Chu (r. 515-489 BCE) reading in the Shujing that the sage ruler Shun "commissioned Chong and Li to cut the communication between heaven and earth".
At that time there were certain persons who were so perspicacious, single-minded, and reverential that their understanding enabled them to make meaningful collation of what lies above and below, and their insight to illumine what is distant and profound.
This archaic yi 毉, writes Carr,[34] "ideographically depicted a shaman-doctor in the act of exorcistical healing with (矢 'arrows' in) a 医 'quiver', a 殳 'hand holding a lance', and a wu 巫 'shaman'."
Several times a year, and also during certain special occasions, such as the funeral of a prince, hordes of exorcists would race shrieking through the city streets, enter the courtyards and homes, thrusting their spears into the air, in an attempt to expel the evil creatures.
[39] Confucius quotes a "Southern Saying" that a good wuyi must have heng 恆 "constancy; ancient tradition; continuation; perseverance; regularity; proper name (e.g., Yijing Hexagram 32)".
First, the Lunyu quotes Confucius to mention the saying and refer to the Heng Hexagram: The Master said, The men of the south have a saying, Without stability a man will not even make a good shaman or witch-doctor.
(4) It quotes the "Charge to Yue" 說命 (traditionally attributed to Shang king Wu Ding) differently from the fabricated Guwen "Old Texts" Shujing "Classic of History" chapter with this name.
As Unschuld explains, "Shamans had to carry out an exhausting dance within a ring of fire until, sweating profusely, the falling drops of perspirations produced the desired rain.
The Liji uses the words puwang 暴尪 and puwu 暴巫 to describe a similar rainmaking ritual during the reign (407-375 BCE) of Duke Mu 穆公 of Lu.
Those 'infirm or unsound' wang were non-descript individuals, evidently placed somewhat on a line with the wu; perhaps they were queer hags or beldams, deformed beings, idiotic or crazy, or nervously affected to a very high degree, whose strange demeanour was ascribed to possession.
First, in 581 BCE the lord of Jin, who had slain two officers from the Zhao (趙) family, had a nightmare about their ancestral spirit, and called upon an unnamed wu "shaman" from Sangtian 桑田 and a yi "doctor" named Huan 緩 from Qin.
The marquis of [Jin] saw in a dream a great demon with disheveled hair reaching to the ground, which beat its breast, and leaped up, saying: "You have slain my descendants unrighteously, and I have presented my request to the High God in consequence."
The Duke of Zhou tells Prince Shao 召 that: I have heard that of ancient time, when King Tang had received the favoring decree, he had with him Yi Yin, making his virtue like that of great Heaven.
These ministers carried out their principles and effected their arrangements, preserving and regulating the empire of [Shang], so that, while its ceremonies lasted, those sovereigns, though deceased, were assessors to Heaven, while it extended over many years.
[70] Wu-shamans participated in court scandals and dynastic rivalries under Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141-87 BCE), particularly regarding the crime of wugu 巫蠱 (with gu "venom-based poison") "sorcery; casting harmful spells".
In 91 BCE, an attempted coup against crown prince Liu Ju involved accusations of practicing wugu, and subsequently "no less than nine long months of bloody terrorism, ending in a tremendous slaughter, cost some tens of thousands their lives!".
Schafer wrote: In the opinion of the writer, the Chou ruling class was particularly hostile to women in government, and regarded the ancient fertility rites as impure.
This is probably related to the metaphysical belief that women, embodying the principle yin, were akin to the spirits, whereas men, exemplifying the element yang, were naturally hostile to them.
At official sacrifices, they [handle] the ancestral tablets in their receptacles, the cloth on which the spirits walk, and the box containing the reeds [for presenting the sacrificial foodstuffs].
(part 26)[79] Von Falkenhausen concludes: If we are to generalize from the above enumeration, we find that the Spirit Mediums' principal functions are tied up with averting evil and pollution.
[80]The poetry anthology Chu Ci, especially its older pieces, is largely characterized by its shamanic content and style, as explicated to some extent by sinologist David Hawkes:[81] passim]]).
"Yuan You", literally "The Far-off Journey" features shamanic spirit flight as a literary device, as does Jiu Bian, as part of its climactic ending.
