Abstract
The history of religious thought and the history of human thought are closely interrelated, so the study of Chinese psychology of religion should pay attention to the study of Chinese history. In this paper, we summarize the history of Han Chinese psychology of religion in three stages from the perspectives of the history of Chinese thought, the history of Chinese religion, and the history of Chinese psychology. In the accumulation stage during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, debates about “human nature” were central to a psychology of religion. We hope that this will be helpful for the further study of Chinese psychology of religion.
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Notes
This includes all historical periods previous to the Qin Dynasty—from the emergence of human beings to 221 BC.
Chinese society consist of fifty-six nationalities but we will just focus on the Han ethnicity, which is the main nationality in China.
This period is also called the Dongzhou period; it includes the Spring and Autumn period (770 BC to 476 BC) and the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC).
The first word is the name of the book, the second is name of the chapter. In ancient Chinese texts, no page number is given. We Chinese regard some ancient books as classics; when they are cited, we just give the name of the book and the title of the chapter.
See, The Spring and Autumn of Lv Buwei, Qu Si.
The patriarchal system was established from 1046 BC to 771 BC.
There was a 4-year gap, it was a political break-up period.
The end of the Imperial period occurred at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911).
All these are noble titles: some mean sage, some mean a duke who had a profound influence on the country, etc.
Zou Yan (324-250 BC), born in Qi, was a famous thinker during the late Warring States period, a master of yin-yang and the Five Primary Elements. Yin-yang are the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive, and their interaction leads to change in the world. The Five Primary Elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth) were held by the ancients to compose the physical universe and later used in traditional Chinese medicine to explain various physiological and pathological phenomena.
Chen-Wei means divination combined with mystical Confucianist belief (prevalent during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220).
It includes the Southern Dynasties (420 AD–589 AD) and the Northern Dynasty (439 AD–589 AD).
The Sui Dynasty extended from 581-618 AD and the Tang Dynasty from 618-907 AD.
These are all noble titles, with meanings such as sage, duke, and the emperor’s teacher, and some are as honorable as the title of king.
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Acknowledgements
We are deeply grateful to professor Jim Nelson, who proofread our paper very carefully and gave us many insightful suggestions. We wish also to thank editors Alvin Dueck, Lewis Rambo and Kathy McKay for their helpful suggestions and editing work.
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Lu, L., Ke, J. A Concise History of Chinese Psychology of Religion. Pastoral Psychol 61, 623–639 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0395-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0395-y