Ritual in the Imperial Court: The Tang Dynasty

The Yankee

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Good day, everybody. This is my first article on this History board, even though I've spent some time in here, mostly in Vrylakas' quiz.

This was my first term paper in college, finished the very early Monday morning before Thanksgiving last fall for my 6 credit course. I imagine there was a good grade on it because I aced the course and this paper was 25% of the grade. So, without further delay, my term paper:

[size=+3]Ritual in the Imperial Court: The Tang Dynasty[/size]

By William W. Travis
November 24, 2003

Rituals have long been an important part of Chinese society. Various rituals have been in practice by the Chinese people for thousands of years, since prehistoric times. Rituals have been more important in China than perhaps most places in the world at any given time. Chinese rituals followed a long line of tradition; the rituals were unchanged for centuries, even millennia.

The people that took these rituals the most seriously were the rulers. In prehistoric times, the rulers were likely the religious leaders of their clans. Thus, they would have to lead their people in rituals and maintain their own religious purity. However, because they were the only ones believed to have direct contact with the spirits and the heavens, they were given leadership over their clans to guide the people towards a greater unity with these spirits. With a monopoly on spiritual power, these leaders could claim that they are the rightful rulers because that would be the spirits’ will. This is at the core of the “Mandate of Heaven” concept that was used by Chinese emperors and dynasties and also used to justify overthrowing a dynasty since the Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty to the end of the dynastic cycle in 1911 A.D.

Religion and ritual weren’t used only for their own beliefs. The rituals were the only way of life for the Chinese people, even down to the lowest class of farmers. Therefore, it was imperative that the ruling class would also take part in these rituals or risk losing their support and their status. However, the ruling class always attempted to use ritual to their advantage (as in the case of the Mandate of Heaven) and it also was a powerful tool for rulers to integrate themselves fully into the traditional Chinese society. The Tang dynasty used traditional Chinese beliefs to win the support of the society and keep a hold on their power. In the process, the Tang rulers changed the rituals and beliefs in the imperial court, embracing a different belief system and further introducing a foreign philosophy to the court. Politics was the driving force behind the change.

Long before the Tang dynasty, Confucianism dug its roots into Chinese society and had become an integral part of the administration. The emperors had established the rituals of ancestor veneration that were so dear to Confucian philoshophy. These rituals had also been incorporated as state rituals that would be followed by everyone in the imperial court as well as anyone working for the government.

This all-important ritual in Confucian thought had a very strict guideline that must be followed or the family, especially the ruling dynasty, could suffer from its misdeeds. Confucianism went farther with this ritual than had previously been done in ancient China and set the standard for the ritual for many centuries and through all of the dynasties, including the Tang. “Formal Confucianism merely extended respect for one’s elders to those who had gone before, valuing them as models and performing regular rituals in small household shrines to keep their memory alive.” The duties for the rituals were relegated to the eldest son upon his father’s death. He was responsible for continuing the family line as well as keeping the predecessor’s memory alive with frequent offerings to the spirits. This was standard practice for the Chinese people and they expected their rulers to perform the very same rituals. By the time the Tang dynasty came to power, these rituals were in practice for over one thousand years.

New ideas, in particular, Buddhism, were introduced to China coming from the north, through the Tarim Basin to the “barbarian” kingdoms in the north after the fall of the Han dynasty. As such, the northern rulers were not as discriminating to the foreign faith, unlike the traditional south. Buddhism was quite favored by the ruling class of the north. “Buddhism, unlike Christianity in the Roman Empire, apparently was taken up by the rich before it spread downward to the poor.” This explains why the Tang rulers were very open-minded to new ideas.

The Tang founders that emerged victorious after the fall of the short-lived Sui dynasty were people from northern China that were mixed Chinese and “barbarian.” Since they came from the north, they had a lot of experience with the new ideas that were entering China. The Tang rulers were fascinated by new thoughts and styles from the edges of the empire. However, they had to remain firm in their beliefs in Confucianism in order to satisfy the large traditional Chinese society and keep power. The heavy Confucian influence on the ruling class and the imperial court was also due to the traditional educational system. “Since Confucian ideology lay at the basis of Chinese education, the ruling class was thoroughly imbued with ethical principles, concepts of loyalty to existing authority, and a strong sense of the value of rituals and decorum.”

The traditional Confucian values and rituals remained strong inside the Tang imperial court. The rituals of ancestor veneration as well as the standard sacrifices to the spirits of the ancestors were still in practice under the Tang. The concept of filial piety showed the strength of family unity. Confucianism places a great importance on respect for parents and the elderly. The concept was continued into the Tang. This was standard practice as the Tang sought to keep in touch with the traditional Chinese culture and prove that they were fit to govern. “The Confucian ethic was indisputably the single most important factor in the determination of the style of life in Tang China and the values held by its people.”

Another important pillar of Confucian thought is the concept of li. This concept is the belief of how the society should be structured and the relationships between them. Confucianism pointed out five relationships in society and how each person, in regards to their position in the relationship, should behave in accordance to li. The relationship between ruler and subject was especially important to the Tang court. The court had to ensure that they followed the doctrines that the relationship or they would lose the Mandate of Heaven and be forced from power.

A lasting monument to Confucian thought influencing the Tang court was the Tang legal system, otherwise known as the Code. Much of the code is attributed to the emperor Taizong’s brother-in-law, Zhangsun Wuji. The Code focuses heavily on Confucian traditions such as family relations and conflict resolution in the local community. Also, the Code recognized Confucian dispositions to consider particular statuses, hierarchal distinctions, and degrees of personal relationship. Article 6 of the Code deals with offenses against the society and is appropriately titled The Ten Abominations. The laws and explanations of the various abominations have very deep roots in Confucian thought. Many of the ideas and punishments are taken from the Analects, a great Confucian text that outlines Confucius’s thoughts and conversations about society with his disciples. The Code set a standard for the laws regarding rituals and relationships within society for future dynasties in China.

One other facet of imperial ritual and governance that continued with the traditional Confucian ideal was that of the civil service examinations. The examination system was introduced during the Han dynasty. The basic subjects of the examinations were on the Confucian classics. It can be said that the examination system and Confucian teachings kept the ideology alive from Han times to Tang rule, where the examinations were revised and improved into a form that continued until the end of the dynastic cycle in the early 20th century.

The examinations themselves were administered with rituals. One of the six ministries that were introduced by the Tang, the Ministry of Rites, dealt with this administration. The ministry would perform very elaborate rituals during the imperial examinations. These examinations were crucial to the Tang court. People who received degrees from certain categories in the examinations were often elevated to very prestigious posts in the imperial court, often to positions that required them to perform the very same rituals for the examinations or for rituals in which the emperor took part.

The examinations were by and large the same as those introduced by the Han dynasty several centuries earlier. Candidates had to know Confucian classics such as the Analects, the Classic of Filiality, as well as the Five Classics, which were referred to often by Confucius and following Confucian scholars. However, there was the introduction of a new category of examination that focused on Daoist classics. “Because the imperial house claimed descent from Laozi (founder of Daoism), there was also one type of examination based on a knowledge of Daoist texts.” The introduction of a Daoist examination with all its rituals for administration did not change the fact that most imperial civil servants had to be very well versed in Confucian thought.


Part Two is next.
 
[size=+3]Part Two[/size]

Claiming that they were descendants from the founder of Daoism, the Tang emperors had decided to give a special preference to Daoist beliefs. While many emperors did not follow the teachings of Daoism, they did respect their lineage from its founder, a very Confucian belief in ancestor veneration. Because of that family line, the early Tang emperor Taizong declared that Daoists would be given official preference over Buddhists.

“T’ai-tsung (Taizong) talked with the abbot and tried to explain the official favor shown to the Taoists (Daoists). T’ai-tsung said that since the imperial house was descended from Lao-tzu (Laozi), it was necessary to give Taoists preference over Buddhists, but he wondered whether the latter were not resentful. The abbot, supple and respectful, replied, ‘Your Majesty, in honoring an ancestor, is following an established practice. Who would dare harbor resentment?’”

After the proclamation that Taoists would be given preference over Buddhists and that Daoism would be the officially sponsored ideology of the empire, there were fierce clashes between Taizong and the Buddhist clergy. Prominent Buddhist monks were disallowed to protest the emperor’s decision in an audience. The monks then accused the Daoists of not following the teachings of Laozi, which would break any legitimate connection with the imperial house, but rather following the ways of the Yellow Turbans, an extremist Daoist group that rebelled against the Later Han dynasty. Afterwards, the Tang imperial family spent the remaining years of the dynasty delicately balancing Daoism and Buddhism with only a few instances of suppressing Buddhism.

Such a pattern was not outside the norm for the early Tang dynasty. The early Tang emperors took a cool stance towards Buddhism. “They felt a special affinity with Taoism because they bore the same family name, Li, as did Lao-tzu, its legendary founder whom they revered as their ancestor. At the start of the Tang dynasty, Buddhism was given far less preference by the court, even before Taizong’s proclamation. “Kao-tsu, the first emperor of the T’ang, was sharply critical of the Buddhists and actively sought to restrict the power and wealth of the temples and monasteries. In the year 625, some seven years after ascending the throne, he issued an edict in which he declared that Taoism and Confucianism constituted the foundations of the empire, whereas Buddhism was of foreign origin. He decreed, therefore, that Taoism should be accorded first place in order of precedence; Confucianism, second place; and Buddhism, last place.” This proclamation would gain support with the southern part of the empire, which was fiercely traditional and did not recognize the legitimacy of Buddhism.

However, these proclamations did not mean that Buddhism would never take hold in the imperial court. In order to gain support from the Buddhists, later emperors would warm up to Buddhist ideas, if only for show. Tang emperors endowed much land and status upon the Buddhist monasteries over the years. “Each of the early T’ang emperors, in spite of attempts to exercise control over the church, contributed to the founding of new temples, had sutras chanted at court, arranged for the ordination of monks, heard lectures on scripture, and sponsored masses for the dead.”

These acts of piety were common under preceding dynasties in the north, before the empire was unified once again. This was a change of pace; that a foreign belief would be openly practiced in the imperial court was a new concept. But, the emperors did not do this because they suddenly found themselves believing in the words and teachings of Buddha and wanted to enlighten themselves in Buddhist teachings and texts. The emperors allowed these rituals to occur at the imperial court because it was convenient for them politically. To support the expansion of Buddhist monasteries and thought would win great favor with the rapidly increasing Buddhist population in the northern part of the empire. Such open shows of acceptance and affection for Buddhist teachings was nothing more than lip service to the Buddhist faith and to gain greater support with the Buddhist followers in the north. “With the early T’ang emperors, however, we get the impression that these public displays of devotion were carried out, not so much to satisfy their own religious yearnings in the direction of Buddhism, as for political expediency.”

Buddhist philosophy in Tang China reached its peak during the reign of Empress Wu, around the year 700. The empress was famous not only for being a woman at the throne but also because she had been a Buddhist nun before ascending to the imperial throne. Therefore, she held Buddhist rituals at the imperial court not because there was political gain, but because that was her belief. However, by the time of her reign, Buddhism was vastly different from the Buddhist philosophy that first entered China. After a couple of centuries of Chinese influence, Buddhism had been molded to fit into the Chinese society and become a more acceptable form of Buddhism to the traditionalists in China. The role of Empress Wu as a true patron of Buddhist philosophy is outside the normal practice of the Tang emperors. After Wu’s reign, Buddhism again started to fall out of favor with the court, finally being suppressed once again in the middle and later years of the Tang. The suppressions after Wu’s reign were less harsh, with a few exceptions, and were carried out for reasons other than the faith being a “barbarian” religion.

As Buddhism became more popular, especially during Wu’s reign, more court officials as well as members of the imperial family became believers in the Buddhist faith. The persecutions of Buddhist monasteries were not due to the fact that the imperial court wanted to get rid of the faith. They were carried out simply because the government needed more funds. The monasteries held large amounts of land, tax-free, and have many gilt-bronze statues and other sources of wealth that the imperial court desperately needed to fund military expeditions among other needs. Individual believers in Buddhism were not harmed in any way. Rituals devoted to Buddhist faith were still carried out in the imperial court for many years until a fiercely Daoist emperor ordered a great persecution of anything Buddhist during the years 841 to 845.

Under this fanatic Daoist, many Buddhist monasteries were destroyed while monks and nuns were forced to return to the tax registers. These acts crippled the spread and growth of Buddhism both in society as well as in the imperial court. After 845, the civil service examinations returned to its focus of Confucian ideals. Because Buddhism was no longer part of the required knowledge, the imperial officials no longer studied any of the scripts nor did they practice any part of the faith. After 845, Buddhism was successfully torn out of the Tang imperial court. Buddhism never again fell in favor of the imperial court.

Although China has always been a devoutly traditional society, there were times when the Tang imperial court supported something that was out of the realm of Chinese tradition to win and keep the support of a certain section of the population. While the emperors always believed in the Mandate of Heaven for the sake of staying in the imperial court, their other beliefs were subject to change. When it was convenient to favor one particular belief over the other, the emperors would support that belief. Often, the imperial court would be supporting multiple faiths at once. An example would be that while Confucian ideals were still the focus of the civil service examinations to win a seat in the imperial court, the emperor would also have Buddhist rituals on the grounds of the court as well as Confucian sacrifices to ancestral spirits and Daoist rituals. Daoism was the official belief of the Tang dynasty but Confucianism was still highly visible in the imperial court to win favor with the traditional south and continue along the rituals of staying in power and Buddhism rituals were performed to win the favor of other members of the emperor’s family, who had origins in the multicultural north, as well as the rest of the northern people, many of whom embraced Buddhism. With only a few exceptions, that was the status quo for the Tang dynasty and what was practiced in the imperial court. Only when a religious fanatic was in power did this system radically change, such as in Empress Wu’s reign and during the great persecution of Buddhism in 845. Throughout the rest of the Tang dynasty, the rituals at the imperial court were for show and to win the support of the vastly different peoples of the empire. This was pure politics.

The End
 
Hmm, it looks less impressive in posts than it does on paper...but it did go around 10 pages, though 1.5 spaced in the lines, and was the longest paper in the class. Obviously some massive 90 pages book on the topic wasn't needed. It also doesn't put down footnotes, of which I had 40 of them.

Maybe when I have the time and patience, I'll go back, put the footnotes in brackets in the paper, then post them all somewhere else.

Anyway, here is the bibliography:

Capon, Edmund. Tang China: Vision and Splendour of a Golden Age. London: Macdonald Orbis, 1989.


De Bary, William Theodore, and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.


Fairbank, John K., Edwin O. Reischauer, and Albert M. Craig. East Asia: Tradition and Transformation. Rev. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989.


Murphey, Rhoads. East Asia: A New History. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.


Wright, Arthur F., and Denis Twitchett., eds. Perspectives on the T’ang. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973
 
My lowest grade ever on a paper (2.9 [that's 56 % back home]), was on Buddhism in T'ang China...:lol:

Good job BTW :goodjob:
 
wow....really good.....:)
 
calgacus said:
My lowest grade ever on a paper (2.9 [that's 56 % back home]), was on Buddhism in T'ang China...:lol:

Good job BTW :goodjob:
You have no idea how hard this was to research. I got almost all of my research one week before the due date, from the central library at 42nd Street in Midtown, where I can't take books out, have to wait half an hour to get the books, and dumped about $5 making copies of all the relevant pages!

For the class, everyone had a different topic. My first choices were all taken, things like the Boxer Rebellion and so forth. I settled on this.
 
Thank you....(we need a bowing smiley)

Never thought it was all that great....and I underestimated again the quick reading abilities of the History forum, myself included. You guys actually read the entire thing? I've been advertising copies of the paper as the perfect way to fall asleep. :lol:
 
:bump:

So....any comments on this. Did y'all actually read it? ;)
 
The Yankee said:
You have no idea how hard this was to research. I got almost all of my research one week before the due date, from the central library at 42nd Street in Midtown, where I can't take books out, have to wait half an hour to get the books, and dumped about $5 making copies of all the relevant pages!

I read almost half of the article slowly and the rest quickly. What are references in easily readable books? You wrote all this within only one week? Great work!!!
 
The actual typing I did in about 14 hours, most of it in the latter half of that period. I remember from really starting my research to finished product was about four or five days. I had been lazily searching around before then but hadn't picked up much until I found some older, scholarly books in the Research Library here in New York.
 
Chalk it up to things that didn't take five days to start and complete!

Plus I had to reply...I'm so devoted to my nonexistant fans! :)

Besides, I wanted to read through my paper again since I'm on a computer that doesn't have it stored. I was actually smart when I wrote this in November 2003. Wow, where did it all go?

And it isn't really history, though it could be viewed as such in the future, this other long-winded paper for an international relations class I wrote about a year after this one. So I was smart then too. What happened in the 9 months since!? :p
 
The longest term paper I have ever written was a 25 page paper about Taoism.
 
Taoism in general or during a specific period? Any way you could post it on this forum? Unless it's hard copy only or you don't have it anymore. I need to reconnect with ancient China after having gone through a phase (class) of Europe and Russia from 1800 to the First World War.
 
I will try to find it, don't know if I still have it. It was mostly an analysis of the philosophy of Chung Tzu.
 
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