死者의 知覺 有無에 대한 고대 중국인의 인식 고찰

Abstract

This article examines ancient Chinese people’s views about the dead in terms of their possession of consciousness by focusing on term, “死者有知”, that makes direct reference to it. Although archaeological findings generally suggest that ancient people regarded the dead conscious, it is observable from the transmitted texts including historical records and the writings of the Hundred Schools of Thoughts that the depicted figures and narrators either do not express a definite opinion on this issue, or consider the dead unconscious. Their uncertain attitude towards this subject is shown from their use of conditional clauses and they apply this grammatical structure to express strong emotions, to reinforce their argument, or to request blessing from the dead. As for people who argue that the dead are insentient, they do not completely reject the rituals dedicated to the dead for moral reasons, to avoid conflicts with others having a different belief, or to stop people from performing luxurious burials. The contradiction between the beliefs reflected in the transmitted texts and entombed objects might due to several reasons, such as the rhetorical purposes pursued by authors, the diminishing power and influence believed to be possessed by the dead, and the social background which was full of active discussion, encouraging people to have diverse ideas, and so on.