Demonic Warfare : Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel

Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Focusing on the once famous novel __Fengshen yanyi__ ("Canonization of the Gods"), the author maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with __Fengshen yanyi__ and its ideology, Meulenbeld is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial "novels." He first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Organized by local communities for territorial protection, these networks featured martial narratives about the powerful and heroic deeds of the gods. He then shows that it is by means of dramatic practices like ritual, theatre, and temple processions that divine acts were embodied and brought to life. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied "demon soldiers" as part of their defensive strategies. Various Ming emperors actively sought the support of these local religious networks and even continued to invite Daoist ritualists so as to efficiently marshal the forces of local gods with their local demon soldiers into the official, imperial reserves of military power. This unusual book establishes once and for all the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these different discourses. Meulenbeld's book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of "literature," "society," and "politics." He shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that "religion" cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis. Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (Canonization of the Godso), the author maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with Fengshen yanyi and its ideology, Meulenbeld is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial novels. He first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Organized by local communities for territorial protection, these networks featured martial narratives about the powerful and heroic deeds of the gods. He then shows that it is by means of dramatic practices like ritual, theatre, and temple processions that divine acts were embodied and brought to life. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied demon soldiers as part of their defensive strategies. Various Ming emperors actively sought the support of these local religious networks and even continued to invite Daoist ritualists so as to efficiently marshal the forces of local gods with their local demon soldiers into the official, imperial reserves of military power. This unusual book establishes once and for all the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these different discourses. Meulenbeld's book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of literature, society, and politics. He shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that religion cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis.-- Amazon.com Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368u1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (oCanonization of the Godso), the author maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism. By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with Fengshen yanyi and its ideology, Meulenbeld is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial onovels.o He first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Organized by local communities forterritorial protection, these networks featured martial narratives about the powerful and heroic deeds of the gods. He then shows that it is by means of dramatic practiceslike ritual, theatre, and temple processions that divine acts were embodied and brought to life. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied odemon soldierso aspart of their defensive strategies. Various Ming emperors actively sought the support of these local religious networks and even continued to invite Daoist ritualists so asto efficiently marshal the forces of local gods with their local demon soldiers into the official, imperial reserves of military power. This unusual book establishes once and for all the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these diff erent discourses. MeulenbeldAEs book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of oliterature,o osociety,o and opolitics.o He shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that oreligiono cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis.

"I learned who I was… at Kamehameha."

In 1944, J. Arthur Rath, a part-Hawaiian boy from a broken home, entered the Kamehameha School for Boys as an eighth-grade boarder. Thus began Rath's love affair with an institution that he credits with turning his life around, with giving him and other disadvantaged children of native ancestry - Hawai‘i's "lost generations" - the confidence and support necessary to make something of themselves. This is the story of that love affair. It is also the story of Rath's recent battle, together with other alumni, for the integrity of his beloved Kamehameha against the school's trustees and their organization, the powerful Bishop Estate.

In a lively talk-story manner, Rath reminisces about campus life and his classmates, many of whom became lifelong friends and influential members of the Hawaiian community. Years later Rath, a successful retired businessman, would call on these same friends to hold Kamehameha's trustees accountable for their mismanagement of Bishop Estate's vast financial holdings and ultimately their failure to carry out founder Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop's mandate to educate Hawaiian children. Rath draws on his many personal ties to the school and the estate to provide surprising revelations on the trustees and the "Bishop Estate Scandal," which made headlines daily throughout the mid-1990s.

This innovative work seriously challenges the boundaries that are commonly drawn between such fields of inquiry as Chinese literature, Daoist ritual, and late imperial Chinese society and political history. Mark Meulenbeld steers scholarly awareness in a different direction by revealing the fundamental continuities that ex-ist between vernacular fiction, on the one hand, and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, on the other. This unusual book is a thorough interdisciplinary study that establishes once and for all the importance of understanding the idealizedrealities of literary texts within the larger context of cultural practices and socio-political history. While almost no terrain is left uncovered, of special importance is the ongoing dialogue with religious ideology that informs all these different discourses. The author makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective misconstrual of China as revolving around the same secularized cultural categories used in modern, Western academia, mostnotably literature, society, and politics." CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction: Novels and the Work of the Gods 1. Invention of the Novel: From Stage Act and Temple Ritual to Literary Text 2. King Wu’s Sacred History: Th e Conquest of Inimical Gods 3. Demonic Warfare during the Yuan: Th under Ritual, Unruly Spirits, and Local Militias 4. Demonic Warfare during the Ming: Th e Emperor and His Daoist Warriors 5. The Order of the Ming Novel: Hierarchies of Spirits and Gods Conclusion: From Local Ritual to Literature of Canonization Notes Glossary Bibliography Index About The Author