2005 12 1-18 The Somatized Religiosity of the Chinese * Sun Lung-kee 麽 爲 * 1
Abstract The article begins with the stereotyped imagery of the Chinese, to the effect that they are a people not bound by any dietary taboos. The article tries to place this Chinese omnivorism on a religious basis. A comparison with the world-denying Indian religiosity throws into sharp focus the somatized strain of the Chinese religion. This strain underlies the Confucian cult of filial piety, i.e., the perpetuation of physical immortality through one s progeny. The somatization tendency is most notably embodied in Daoist macrobiotics and its quest for corporeal immortality. The Indian Vedanta regards the body as putrid and attempts to transcend it, whereas the Chinese try their best to preserve the body. Amazingly, Daoist deities even establish their abode within the human body. The Chinese concept of matter is food-based, thus the harvesting of nature s quintessence for nourishment is a religious experience. The accusation of cannibalism as a largely Chinese phenomenon is not well-founded, for this phenomenon is universal. The article nonetheless admits that feeding one s flesh to one s parents as medical cure is a unique Chinese religious experience. Finally, the ideal government as laid down by The Zhou Rites shows that the Chinese somatized religiosity coincides with their highest political ideal. Keywords somatization, cannibalism, the Nine Worms of the Three Corpses, bodily essence and energy, macrobiotics. 2
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