Boudewijn Walraven

Confucians and ShamansIn: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, Vol. 6, 1991. pp. 21-44.

RésuméLes descriptions de la Corée durant la période Chosôn (1392- 1910) mettent souvent en avant le contraste entre les valeursconfucéennes de la classe supérieure des yangban et les pratiques chamaniques de la majorité de la population. Confucéens etchamanes apparaissent dès lors en opposition absolue. Cette vision ne rend pas justice du fait que, malgré de nombreusesdifférences évidentes, les confucéens et les chamanes avaient aussi des points communs. L'examen, tenté dans cet article, desconvictions qu'ils partageaient, peut expliquer comment deux systèmes de croyance, à première vue diamétralement opposés,pouvaient coexister dans la société coréenne. Les points suivants sont importants pour notre démonstration : 1) les confucéensne niaient pas catégoriquement la réalité des divinités et des esprits, objets du culte chamanique; 2) ils croyaient en un ordreinvisible liant l'homme à un niveau d'existence supérieure et aux réponses divines à des actions humaines; 3) ils insistaient surl'importance de la pureté rituelle et acceptaient le principe de contamination par contact, ce qui les prédisposait à croire enl'efficacité de la magie noire; 4) enfin, ils mettaient en pratique une forme confucéenne de propitiation à l'adresse des espritsvindicatifs des morts. Leurs convictions fondamentales sur ces points étaient souvent similaires à celles des chamanes, même siles idées qui en dérivaient pouvaient grandement différer, comme différait aussi le style de leurs rituels.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Walraven Boudewijn. Confucians and Shamans. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, Vol. 6, 1991. pp. 21-44.

doi : 10.3406/asie.1991.972

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/asie_0766-1177_1991_num_6_1_972

CONFUCIANS AND SHAMANS

B.C. A. Walraven

Les descriptions de la Corée durant la période Chosôn (1392- 1910) mettent souvent en avant le contraste entre les valeurs confucéennes de la classe supérieure des yangban et les pratiques chamaniques de la majorité de la population. Confucéens et chamanes apparaissent dès lors en opposition absolue. Cette vision ne rend pas justice du fait que, malgré de nombreuses différences évidentes, les confucéens et les chamanes avaient aussi des points communs. L'examen, tenté dans cet article, des convictions qu'ils partageaient, peut expliquer comment deux systèmes de croyance, à première vue diamétralement opposés, pouvaient coexister dans la société coréenne. Les points suivants sont importants pour notre démonstration : 1) les confucéens ne niaient pas catégoriquement la réalité des divinités et des esprits, objets du culte chamanique; 2) ils croyaient en un ordre invisible liant l'homme à un niveau d'existence supérieure et aux réponses divines à des actions humaines; 3) ils insistaient sur l'importance de la pureté rituelle et acceptaient le principe de contamination par contact, ce qui les prédisposait à croire en l'efficacité de la magie noire; 4) enfin, ils mettaient en pratique une forme confucéenne de propitiation à l'adresse des esprits vindicatifs des morts. Leurs convictions fondamentales sur ces points étaient souvent similaires à celles des chamanes, même si les idées qui en dérivaient pouvaient grandement différer, comme différait aussi le style de leurs rituels.

Introduction

In his P'aegwan chapki (A Storyteller's Miscellany) Ô Sukkwôn i&è$M (1525- 1554) tells us about his great-grandfather Ô Hyoch'ôm jfx^f'M (1405-1475), a prominent official in an age when the Confucianization of Korean society was a hotly debated issue among the literati (Ô 1971: Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-) — henceforth TY — vol. 1, Korean translation pp. 439-440, Chinese text p. 737). Ô Hyoch'ôm, he says, put no trust in spirits, and shamans (mudang) were forbidden entrance to his house. When he was appointed to a post in the Office of the Inspector-General, he took vigorous action against the cult of the deity venerated by the clerks of this office. In his time it was customary to take wine and rice cakes to the house of a shaman on the third and seventh days after a death in the family.

Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 6 (1991-1992) : 21-44

22 B.C.A. Walraven

The ghost of the deceased would then possess the mudang and, using her as the medium, would relate past events and predict the future. When Ô Hyoch'ôm had passed away, slaves from his household went to consult a mudang for this purpose. The mudang became possessed by the spirit of Ô and berated the slaves, saying: "In my lifetime I never took pleasure in such things! Quickly go home, the lot of you!"

What exactly was the author's attitude to the concluding part of this anecdote ? Did he really believe that his ancestor's ghost spoke through the mouth of the mudang ? Or did he but want to hold up to ridicule the superstitious and the uneducated who relied on the services of the shamans ? I prefer to withhold judgement in this matter and introduce a second story, one told by a royal son-in- law and ascribed to the year 1672 (Chông Chaeryun 1983: transi, pp. 163-164, Chinese text pp. 248-249).

A certain spirit regularly took possession of a young mudang and gave her all kinds of information, which she then used to sow discord between fathers and sons, older and younger brothers, masters and servants. One day she was called to a house where someone was said to have fallen ill. She went, but never returned. Some time later she was found dead in a gully outside the city walls, killed by one of the enemies she had made. The same ghost subsequently entered another person and was asked why he had not warned the mudang that her life was in danger. The ghost answered that those who meet with misfortune do so because they have offended the Creator (Chomulchu ia^ï). If he had warned the mudang, she would have turned this knowledge to her own profit, at least temporarily. But because she, as a mudang, had always been intent on harming others and gaining advantage for herself, it was inevitable that she should incur the punishment of Heaven. "How could a ghost have saved her ?"

Both these stories suggest a somewhat ambiguous attitude towards shamanistic beliefs. The mudang themselves are condemned by the Confucian authors, but their power to establish contact with ghosts and the existence of these ghosts are not denied. This is why I have chosen these anecdotes as an introduction to a discussion of certain aspects of the complex and ambiguous relationship between Confucians1 and shamans in the Chosôn $J$f- period (1392-1910).

One might argue that the attitude of Confucians towards shamanism was simply one of total rejection and in no way complex; that Confucians and mudang were representatives of two completely opposite aspects of Korean society and had nothing in common. There is much to be said for this view. The literati of the Chosôn

1) The term Confucian is used here in rather a loose fashion to refer to the members of the upper class who strived to attain positions in society through the study of the Confucian classics, and who wrote (and read) literary works in classical Chinese. It is these writings I have used as the most important source material for this article. Confucians in this sense of the word may, of course, entertain notions which bear no relation to Confucian philosophy at all or are even in conflict with it. In the attitudes they displayed towards shamanism the China-oriented Confucians of Korea often followed Chinese examples. For many of the stories in this article striking parallels can be found in China {cf. Lévi 1986).

Confucians and Shamans 23

period would have agreed with it whole-heartedly and many modern Koreans do so in fact, scholars and laymen alike. Scholarly publications frequently emphasize the contrast between Confucians and shamans in pre-modern society. At first sight, Confucianism and shamanism are, indeed, worlds apart. Confucian ritual is slow and solemn, as is the music which accompanies it on certain occasions. If dance is an element of the ritual — it rarely is — the movements are of a soporific simplicity. The temple where Confucius is worshipped is as bare as a Calvinist church, without pictures or naturalistic images of the Sages. The celebrants — always male — intone, without emotion, invocations in classical Chinese. In almost every respect such rituals are in complete contrast to those of the mudang (predominantly women) who dance energetically to the loud music of drums, gongs and cymbals and who move their audiences to tears and laughter with their songs and histrionics. The walls of their shrines are covered with painted pictures of their gods. Whereas in Confucian rituals all is dignity and propriety, and the minds of the participants are not supposed to dwell on possible benefits to be received from worship, the mudang and their patrons are unashamedly preoccupied with human desires, such as wealth, children and good health. Seen in this way, Confucians and mudang seem, indeed, absolute opposites. I will argue that Confucians, although admittedly quite different form the mudang in certain respects, entertained similar conceptions in others. This ought to surprise no one. After all, the two so-called opposites belonged to one and the same culture, and among the patrons of the mudang one might not infrequently find the mothers and wives of Confucians.

In this article a survey will be presented of those aspects of Confucian beliefs which may, in one way or another, be linked to shamanistic beliefs. This survey will not be — and for reasons of space cannot be — a full historic treatment tracing the development of the relationship between shamans and Confucians over the centuries.2 Its aim is rather to add some nuance to the prevailing view of Confucians and mudang as complete opposites.

Historical Context

Although the complete history of the relationship between Confucians and shamans cannot be given here, a very brief introduction to the historical context will be indispensable. In the oldest Korean kingdoms, shamans seem to have played a prominent role in society. In ancient Silla IffH a term used to refer to the king is said to have been a native word for shaman, which suggests an identity of kings and shamans (Yi Nunghwa 1927: 5). In later ages, however, the shaman's status declined steadily and as early as the Koryô r%M period (918-1392) one finds instances of literati ruthlessly attacking shamanism, or expressing contempt for the hocus pocus

2) A historical account of religious developments in the Chosôn period can be found in Hwang Sônmyông 1985.

24 B.C. A. Walraven

of the mudang. The statesman and writer Yi Kyubo $if#. (1 168-1241) in one of his poems is very scathing about the old mudanghe depicts (Yi Nùnghwa 1927: 8- 9). Kim Yônsu ^Mim' (1237-1306) ordered the flogging of the mudang responsible for the performance of an annual religious festival in the community where he had been appointed magistrate, and then burned the wooden effigy of the deity (Sinjùng Tongguk yôji sùngnam (Kugyôk -) — henceforth STYS — 1971: vol. 2, transi, p. 452, Chinese text p. 138; = kwôn 14: 19b). In spite of such repression mudang continued to take part in court rituals side by side with government officials, and their advice was often heeded. Something of the ambiguity in the attitude toward the mudang and their gods transpires in records about a certain Ham Yuil J&'fë— (1 106-1 1 85). Ham was a sceptic who is said to have put the miraculous powers of mountain gods to the test, burning the shrines of those gods who, in his opinion, failed to prove themselves. This he did with the shrine of the mountain god of Yongsusan II If lL|. But the following night, it is reported, the god appeared to the king in a dream and asked for his help. The king then gave orders to rebuild the shrine (STYS 1971: vol. 1, transi, p. 485, Chinese text p. 94, = kwôn 5:1a). Another passage in the same source relates how Ham shot an arrow at the image of the deity of Kuryong )iM Mountain. A sudden gust of wind closed the doors of the shrine, so that the arrow did not reach its target (STYS 1971: vol. 5, transi, p. 379, Chinese text p. 117, = kwôn 42: 24b).

Yi Kyubo's poem "The Old Mudang" approvingly mentions the iconoclastic activities of this Ham Yuil, but at the same time leaves no doubt that mudang found support even among the literati. During the entire Koryô period the mudang were still regularly employed by the court. With the advent of the Chosen period, however, a vigorous and systematic attempt was made to reorganize society in accordance with Confucian ideals. All forms of worship were to be brought under the control of the state, and each member of society might only offer worship to the gods who fitted his social status (Han Ugùn 1976). In practice this was impossible to realize in full. Yet, eventually, Korean society was considerably changed by these ideals. The transformation was not, of course, achieved overnight. In fact, it took several centuries before the reforms really took hold. From the outset, however, rigorous measures were taken to suppress shamanism and Buddhism and replace them with proper Confucian ritual. Gods who had been worshipped by government officials and mudang together, now were to be offered incense in Confucian style by the officials alone. "For the gods," said King T'aejong Jk'M (r. 1401-1418) "do not take pleasure in a lack of propriety (pirye ^Ëit) " (Chosôn wangjo sillok — henceforth CWS — 1956: vol. 1 = T'aejong sillok, kwôn 22: 10b). It should be noted that only the form of the ritual was affected; there was no denial of the existence of the gods.

Measures against the mudang were not always effective, especially in the early years of the dynasty. Although laws were promulgated expelling all mudang from the capital, a 1478 source complains that these were without effect and that no one, to the knowledge of the authors, had been punished for breaking the law (CWS

Confucians and Shamans 25

1956: vol. 9, = Sôngjong sillok, kwôn 98:28b). According to another source, government officials routinely attended mudang rituals for the god of Songak Mountain f&SrlLl in Kaesông I#M up till the time of King Sôngjong J&^c, who reigned from 1469 until 1494 (Sin Hum 1971: TYvol. 6, transi, p. 262, Chinese text p. 560). There is substantial evidence too that in the first century of the Chosôn period the mudang still enjoyed the confidence of at least part of the literati class. Even in the 17th century the Confucians of Hamgyông $M Province — an outlying region where changes probably came slowly — would not take médecine when ill but consulted a mudang, a book published in 1693 reports (cited in Richô kakushu bunken fuzoku kankei shiryô satsuyô — henceforth RS — 1944: 690). According to this source, Confucians had started to abandon this habit only in recent years. Ultimately, however, it was to become the hallmark of a true yangban not to avail himself of the services of the mudang when ill. So we learn from Pak Chiwôn's # fÊlk?J! famous story "Yangban chôn" MJffi#, "The Tale of a Yangban" (Yi Kawôn 1961: 222). This did not mean that mudang were no longer seen at court, or in the houses of the literati, for upper-class women maintained their faith in them. Queens and ladies-in-waiting often had shamans perform rituals when the king or the crown prince was ill, much to the dismay of court officials, who would at times take drastic action against the mudang. At the death of King Hyojong (r. 1649-1659) the queen dowager ordered a big mudang ritual. While it was in progress, the Inspector-General sent men who, wielding whips, smashed the altar tables and led the mudang in charge of the proceedings away in fetters. He further ordered the mudang's execution, but then himself had to face the ire of the queen dowager, who demanded that he pay with his life for his misconduct. Nevertheless nothing so drastic happened, the king being reluctant to undertake more than formal disciplinary action against him (RS 1944: 1402-1403).3

Such incidents reveal a glaring contrast in the attitudes of men and women of the ruling class. Women did rely on shamanism but, lacking formal power, even the highest ladies of the court were not always able successfully to resist the suppression of the cults they favoured. The men, for their part, did not succeed in completely eradicating shamanism. In spite of repressive measures, shamans continued to visit the court right up to the end of the Chosôn period. The redoubtable Queen Min ffi (1851-1895) showed herself a great patroness of the mudang (Yi Nùnghwa 1927:14-15). The marriage, in 1906, of the crown prince to Lady Yun (1894-1966) was accompanied by a yôt'am kut, a shamanistic ritual to announce to the gods important changes in the family (Kim Yongsuk 1987: 279).

Evidence of the activities of mudang in yangban [ffijjGE households is not lacking. A 17th-century source tells of a mudang being called to the house of a Prime

3) In several cases rituals were performed because of illness of the king: e.g., Chông Chaeryun 1983: transi, p. 82, Chin, text p. 123 (eye disease of Hyojong); Yi Kungik 1966: vol. 1, transi, p. 233, Chin, text p. 659, = kwôn 3 (for Sejong) and vol. 2, transi, p. 162, Chinese text p. 631, = kwôn 6 (for Sôngjong).

26 B.C.A. Walraven

Minister whose child was ill (cited in RS 1944: 1259). In another instance a shaman was summoned to the house of a City Magistrate where the spirit of his first wife, who had died childless and consequently full of rancour, was causing trouble (cited in RS 1944: 1256). Modern Cheju shamans have a specific song for families whose ancestors were officials in the Chosôn period (Hyôn 1980: 854).

Confucians, Gods and Ghosts

Confucianism is, of course, above all preoccupied with the proper ordering of society. It shows little interest in what lies beyond death, or in the non-human sphere of ghosts and gods. The Confucian Analects contain such well-known passages as: "Chi Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, 'While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits ?'" and "The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder and supernatural beings" (Legge 1923: 142, 87). This is not to say that the existence of gods and ghosts is denied. These, too, are part of a cosmos in which elements are conceived of as hierarchically ordered and interrelated. The proper ordering of society demands, among other things, that gods be worshipped only by persons whose station in life corresponds with the hierarchical ranking of the divine beings which are the object of this veneration. The worship of gods, therefore, should reflect the hierarchical relations in human society. Only the supreme ruler, for instance, was to worship Heaven.4

Every form of worship performed by unqualified persons was "irregular worship" (umsa /iJjfE). "When someone makes offerings to ghosts who are not his [to worship], this is irregular worship," reads a definition of umsa (originally from the Chinese Book of Rites) which is repeatedly found in the sources (CWS 1956: vol. 9) = Sôngjong sillok, kwôn 86: 17b and kwôn 98: 28b; Yi Kyugyông 1982: vol. 2, p. 379; Han Yôngu 1987: 37). 5 This definition indicates that Confucian attacks on irregular worship (which was, in practice, almost synonymous with shamanism) were not founded on the belief that it was devoted to non-existent gods. The objection to umsa expressed in this definition was that the worshippers were thought not to have the proper qualifications.

The system devised by Confucian scholars in the early years of the Chosôn dynasty severely curtailed religious activities, especially for the common people, who were only supposed to perform a limited form of ancestor worship at home and take part in worship at village shrines (Han Ugùn 1976: 153). Such a hierarchical system of worship may be regarded as a symbolic expression of the Confucian ideal

4) During the Chôson period it was repeatedly debated whether the Korean king was entitled to worship Heaven, or if this prerogative belonged exclusively to the Chinese emperor. In spite of opposition, in the 1 5th century Korean kings occasionally sacrificed to Heaven — as Koryô kings had done before them — but the practice was discontinued near the end of the century (Han Yôngu 1987: 32-37) and only taken up again when the Korean king took the title of emperor after the defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese War.

5) Cf. Stein 1979: 57,77-78.

Confucians and Shamans 27

of social order. This does not mean, however, that it was purely symbolic and that the world of gods and ghosts was powerless to exert influence on the world of man. When the ruler lacked virtue, Heaven would respond, sending warnings in various forms: unseasonal weather, strange births and other anomalies (Park 1977, 1978a, 1978b, 1979). Angry gods and disgruntled ghosts were held responsible for epidemics. In such cases corrective action was necessary in the form of more sincere attempts at self-cultivation or special worship. This solution was, however, only chosen if the gods and ghosts concerned were deemed worthy of such an approach. If not, there was a quite different way of dealing with the non-human realm of deities and spirits, one characterized by aggression rather than by fear and reverence. The existence of the kind of ghosts that possessed the mudang was not denied,6 but they were regarded as evil beings (e.g., Yi Ik 1982: vol. 3, transi, p. 24, Chinese text pp. 6-7; = kwôn 7: 12b- 13a) who could not harm a person protected by the proper moral armour. Virtue would be stronger than these wicked powers and there was no reason to defer to them.

Stories about resolute Confucians suppressing "irregular worship" should not, therefore, be taken as proof that they did not believe in the existence of ghosts; it appears, rather, that it was due to their higher moral perfection or to their superior position in an order which encompassed humans as well as ghosts and gods that they were able to get rid of "dirty," supposedly inferior ghosts. In the West, one tends to assume that the supernatural is a plane of existence which should only be approached with circumspection and respect. Korean records sometimes show quite a different attitude, as the following examples will demonstrate.

To begin with, there is a record from the Koryô period about King Ch'ungsuk & 0 (r. 1313-1330 and 1332-1339). It relates how he, in anger, had the shrine of a local tutelary deity (Sônghwang $cPâ7) burnt down, because he held this god responsible for a sudden incidence of deaths among his horses and falcons (STYS vol. 2, transi, p. 387, Chinese text p. 1 17; = kwôn 13 :4a). The king obviously felt that the god had shown a lack of reverence for him, the highest ruler in the land, who was entitled to the respect of both the humans and the lower gods within his realm.

Then there is a story — mentioned approvingly by the Sirhak 'M^ scholar Tasan Chông Yagyong MU T^lfc (1762-1836) — about Hwang U jM, a government official of the late Koryô and early Chosôn period. A woman in his district fell ill, showing signs of possession. According to a mudang, the possessing ghost was a soldier who after death had become an underling of the local Sônghwang.

6) The views of several Confucian thinkers with regard to the existence and nature of ghosts are summarized in Chosen no kijin 1929: 99-1 19.

7) Sônghwang is the Korean pronunciation of Ch'eng-huang, the name of the Chinese god of the walls and moats of a city. In Korea, however, Sônghwang is used as a more general designation for local guardian deities (not necessarily of a city), who often do not have a proper shrine but are worshipped at an old tree or a heap of stones.

28 B.C.A. Walraven

Angry that this ghost was allowed to harass one of the people entrusted to his care, Hwang had a wooden effigy of this Songhwang flogged and thrown into a stream (Chông Yagyong 1981 : transi, p. 241, Chinese text p. 375, — kwôn 23). The woman then recovered. What this amounts to is that Hwang, the local magistrate, took on the role of an exorcist, a role sometimes also assumed by mudang.

Tasan, furthermore, briefly mentions the example of Hong Yunsông i^-;fcj& (1425-1475) who set fire to a shrine (Chông Yagyong 1981: transi. 241-242, Chinese text p. 375, = kwôn 23). There is another version of this incident, more colourful and more detailed, which deserves our attention (Ch'a Ch'ôllo 1971: TY vol. 2, transi, p. 64, Chinese text p. 521). The Songhwang of Naju mf\'\ demanded that people show respect for him by dismounting from their horses when passing his shrine. Magistrate Hong stayed in the saddle, but he had not gone far before his horse fell down, dead. Hong then had the horse slaughtered and the meat (which is never eaten in Korea) brought to the shrine, along with ten jars of wine. "Why have you killed my horse ? Do you want to eat it, perhaps ? Take it as an appetizer with the wine. If you don't, I will burn your shrine!" The volume of the wine decreased somewhat, the story says, but the amount of horse meat remaining the same, Hong did as he had threatened. The god sought refuge elsewhere and there instructed his worshippers always to offer some wine to Hong before they worshipped himself. At other places of "irregular worship," too, people would first offer a libation to Hong who, sitting at home, sometimes unexpectedly felt as if he were intoxicated. He would then say that somewhere people must be worshipping him. When he made inquiries afterwards, this always turned out really to have been the case, so the story concludes.8

This is a fanciful variation on a theme that often recurs in the sources in a plainer form. Generally such stories are reported without notable signs of scepticism on the part of the authors, which suggests that to the community of authors and readers of these sources — the literati who knew classical Chinese — the existence of ghosts that could be overcome by a correct spiritual attitude was not as strange as it might seem to us.

To conclude this section we will present two more examples of humans who show themselves superior to supernatural adversaries. In the first an official enters into a contest of power with a mudang and the powers she serves. The mudang causes all the places where the official sits down to shake, so that he cannot sit quietly. Yet he never loses his composure and in the end the mudang is forced to give up. (RS 1944: 1350-1351).

The second example concerns a woman from a yangban household, an aunt of the famous Confucian Song Siyôl 'M^'fM (1607-1689), who wrote a short biographical piece about her. Her entire life she avoided contact with mudang and never put her trust in ghosts. One rainy night a spirit with dishevelled hair appeared to her, but

8) Cf. Lévi 1986: 99, for a Chinese example of such tele-intoxication.

Confucians and Shamans 29

she just laughed and addressed it contemptuously, whereupon it quickly disappeared. "Her behaviour was truly like that of the people of old," concludes Song admiringly (Song Siyôl 1983: vol. 11, transi, p. 273, Chinese text, p. 107; = kwôn 158: "Komo sugin Song-ssi chôn" fà^MA^&B)9

If we summarize the attitude of the literati towards ghosts and gods and compare it with the beliefs of the mudang, we note first of all that Confucians did not deny the existence of the beings worshipped by the mudang. They were of the opinion, however, that many of these beings did not deserve veneration, because they were evil and contemptible forces of darkness. Those among the deities of the mudang who did deserve worship, such as the Sônghwang, should be worshipped only by persons whose position in society entitled them to do so. The Confucian view of the world of the gods was analogous to their view of society and just as orderly and hierarchical. Although in consequence they were under greater restrictions than the mudang as regards access to the gods, the literati, too, believed that the gods could be approached and, with proper ritual, be made to grant their blessings to man. Confucians, unlike the mudang, had a tendency to prescribe self- cultivation rather than ceremonial sacrifice as the means to restore harmony between man and the supernatural, but this approach never completely replaced conciliatory ritual.

In the remainder of this article more specific points of resemblance in the thinking of mudang and Confucians will be discussed.

Invisible links

However much Confucians might seem to be concerned with the everyday, visible world of human society, as has been said above, they still believed in the reality of invisible links between the various parts of the universe.10 Rulers would interpret calamities such as droughts and floods and the occurrence of strange, "unnatural" phenomena as heavenly signs of their own lack of virtue. In their belief that certain forms of human behaviour elicited a divine response they thought like the mudang, who would (and will) often explain misfortune as due to human transgressions.

Different, however, was the Confucian conviction that such transgressions were predominantly of an ethical nature and the fact that within society certain individuals — the highest ruler first and foremost — had special responsibilities in this respect. Korean kings, for instance, tended to assume responsibility when fire broke out in the royal palace or in the buildings at the site of ancient ancestral graves, and they would in consequence take special measures, such as abstaining from court business for a while and forbidding music and sumptuous meals. Instances of this can be

9) Also see RS 1944: 938 and 997-998. 10) For their view of the correlations between cosmic phenomena, Korean literati were

heavily indebted to the Chinese system of the principles of yin and yang and the five primary substances; cf. Needham 1956: 232-304.

30 B.C.A. Walraven

found from 1400 to 1900, almost the entire span of the dynasty (Chùngbo munhôn pigo— hereafter CMP — 1959: kwôn 1 1: 19a-22a).

The source which furnishes this information lists unusual phenomena systematically under a great variety of headings: trees, plants, fish, dragons, wild animals, et cetera, all because of the special value attached to these as divine warnings or omens. Without the assumption that such things were not considered mere accidents, but were believed to carry a deeper meaning, it is difficult to understand why so much attention was paid to these matters. When, for instance, it was reported in 1766 that a girl of six had given birth to a child, King Yôngjo ^ffl. (r. 1724-1776) thought this merited sending a Royal Inspector to investigate the case (Yi Tôngmu 1978-1982: kwôn 68, transi, pp. 39-40, Chinese text pp. 13-14, "Chongdan" #?#: also CMP 1959: kwôn 11: 10b). The man who had fathered the child was sent into exile, and so were, less predictably, mother and child. The name of the place where the girl had lived, Sanùm LU fês (which means "Dark Side of the Mountain," but could also be interpreted as "Mountain Licentiousness"), was changed to Sanch'ông |lr/# ("Mountain Purity"). One may object that in this case the king apparently did not take this event as a personal admonishment. This does not, however, affect the argument presented here, which is that the universe was seen as an interrelated and meaningful entity, in which a relatively minor disruption in the "natural" order of things was an indication that something was wrong in the commonwealth. Dread that this might be so explains the attention devoted to this particular occurrence and the quite inhuman treatment of the girl. She is reported to have died, with the baby, not long after arriving at her place of exile (an inhospitable island), perhaps a not altogether unforeseen consequence of her punishment.

The concept of the universe as an entity of related elements is also at the basis of the belief in divination, a belief that Confucians generally shared with the mudang, although their opinions differed when it came to the question of what were the correct methods of divination.11 Roughly, the difference is that the mudang's predictions are inspirational and made with the help of personal agents, spirits of the dead and the gods that possess the mudang, while the methods favoured by Confucians were more "objective" and could be methodically studied.

Pollution Beliefs and Black Magic

Just as Confucians and mudang shared a fundamental belief in divination, while the actual form of divination they practised was different, so Confucians and mudang both were much concerned with notions of purity and pollution, each group articulating such beliefs in its own manner. Because I have discussed this subject elsewhere (Walraven 1988), here a brief summary will suffice.

11) Certain individuals viewed divination with scepticism; e.g., Sô Kôjông (Sô Kôjông 1971: TY vol. 1, transi, pp. 277-278, Chinese text 673-674, = kwôn 1).

Confucians and Shamans 3 1

Even today, mudang begin their rituals by removing pujông ^f'0 (impurity) and will take great care to be ritually clean before they go to the mountains to pray. Confucians make elaborate preparations to ensure their purity before they worship in the Temple of Confucius (RS 1944: 365). The ritual purity of the Confucians, unlike that of the mudang, has a strong ethical component. Still, events for which one bears no ethical responsibility, such as death in the family, may also compromise one's ability to take part in a ritual. In recognizing the pollution resulting from birth and death, the thinking of Confucians of the Chosôn period was like that of the mudang; they seem, however, sometimes to have entertained a different concept of the scope of the social relationships through which pollution could be transmitted.

Closely related to the largely parallel ideas of Confucians and mudang on this subject is the concept that invisible forces carrying good and bad luck can attach themselves to persons with whom they happen to come into contact. One example: when in the royal palace a high official was chosen to supervise the birth of a prince or princess, invariably someone who had many sons, was wealthy and in no way tainted by misfortune would be appointed (RS 1944: 985; Kim Yongsuk 1987: 246). Negatively, the same belief was fundamental to the concept of sorcery as it existed during the Chosôn period (Walraven 1980).

Black magic was understood to transmit its evil effects when a person was brought into contact with "evil" or "impure" substances, hidden near the place where he lived, in the lining of his clothes or inside his pillow. Great virtue might protect a person against the influence of sorcery (Inhyôn wanghu chôn. Ongnangja chôn. Oyuran chôn 1978: 74), but judging from the almost universal dread sorcery inspired, hardly anyone felt himself immune from it.

All classes of society seem to have believed in the reality of black magic. In the historical records of this period there is substantial evidence that the ruling class regarded sorcery as a very serious threat at least up till the second half of the 1 8th century. When, after that, sorcery disappears from the official histories, it may well have been because the social and political circumstances which commonly triggered sorcery accusations had changed, not because of a change in the fundamental assumptions which made accusations possible.

Sorcery accusations brought by literati not only provide evidence that they shared a belief in its reality, they also show that Confucians acknowledged that the mudang were not mere impostors, but possessed special skills and powers, however despicable these might be. In many sorcery cases mudang are named as accomplices who, allegedly, have used their occult arts on behalf of patrons wishing to destroy their enemies.12

There can be no doubt that Confucians believed in sorcery. It is another matter whether this belief can, in some way, be seen as a consequence of what they

12) To avoid misunderstanding, it should be pointed out that this does not mean that mudang habitually lent themselves to such practices. Sorcery was a crime one accused others of, rather than something actually practised (Walraven 1980: 70).

32 B.C.A. Walraven

believed as Confucians. To a certain extent, I think, Confucian teachings did indeed predispose them to accept the reality of sorcery. Confucianism accepted the existence of invisible links in the universe, and the prescriptions for ritual purity are based on a concept of transmissible influences which, when applied negatively, is remarkably like the concept underlying sorcery. However this may be, it is indisputable that conceptions regarding sorcery, shared by courtiers and commoners, constituted one of the fundamental beliefs of Chosôn-dynasty society.

The Worship of the Unworshipped

Of great importance in the beliefs of the mudang, are the ghosts of those who have died prematurely and with their desires unsatisfied, or of those who have died in a gruesome manner (which is ground for rancour even after death). Such ghosts, yearning to fulfil their desires after death, cannot bear to take leave of the human world and linger in the vicinity of the living, to whom they may cause great harm (Kendall 1985: 99-102). In many shamanistic rituals one part is devoted to the yôngsan, ghosts of those who have died in an unnatural manner. In the shaman songs long lists of these ghosts appear. Among them are the victims of the penal system of the Chosôn dynasty (Walraven 1985: 23):

Yôngsan of those whose heads were cut off And exposed on a stake at the gate of the barracks, Yôngsan of those whose limbs were torn off At the cross-roads near the Little West Gate, Yôngsan of those who were decapitated posthumously.

There are also modern yôngsan (Walraven 1985: 24) :

Yôngsan of those who have been hit by a street-car, By a train, by a horse-drawn cart, by an automobile, Yôngsan of those who died in a bombing attack, Yôngsan of those who died by bullet and sword.

The belief that such ghosts need their own form of worship, so that the evil influences they can exert on man may be averted is, however, not unique to shamanism. It was also part of Confucian beliefs. When the Confucianization of Korea was attempted, four places of orthodox, regular worship were established in every town (Chông Yagyong 1981: transi, p. 216, Chinese text p. 370, = kwôn 23; STYS 1971: vol. 2, transi, p. 26, Chinese text p. 13, = kwôn 6: 14b). The first was dedicated to the Sajik ttH, the deities of land and grain, the second to Confucius and other sages, the third to the local guardian spirit (Sônghwang). The fourth was the so-called yôdan MPÊL, the altar of the unworshipped ghosts (that is, ghosts who did not receive

Confucians and Shamans 33

prayers and offerings — for instance as ancestors — elsewhere). Here fifteen different kinds of ghost were worshipped. A complete list of them is given by Chông Tasan (Chông Yagyong 1981: transi, p. 226, Chinese text p. 371, = kwôn 23; also see #S 1944: 675 and 1817):

1 . Those who died because of swords and lances, 2. Those who died because of fire, water and bandits, 3. Those driven to death because their property had been taken by others, 4. Those who died because their wives or concubines had been taken by others, 5. Those who died undergoing unjust punishment, 6. Those who died because of natural calamities or infectious diseases, 7. Those who died bitten by wild animals or poisonous insects, 8. Those who froze or starved to death, 9. Those who fell in war, 10. Those who committed suicide because of the pressure of circumstances, 1 1 . Those crushed to death by collapsing walls or houses, 12. Those who died in childbirth, 13. Those hit by lightning, 14. Those who fell to death from a height, 1 5. Those who died without issue.

If such ghosts were left uncared for, they might cause illness, the disruption of harmonious relations among men and natural calamities (Kwôn Kùn 1969: vol. 2, kwôn 31: 12b- 13a).

Worship at the yôdan may have been a minor aspect of Confucian ritual in its totality, still it was sufficiently important to have its place in every centre of local administration. It seems to have been performed, moreover, throughout the Chosôn period (Yi Kùngik 1966: vol. 9, transi. 268-269, Chinese text 635-636, = YôUyôsiî kisul pyôlchip kwôn 4, with a reference to the year 1400; CMP 1959: kwôn 63: 16b- 19a, with a reference to yôdan worship in the year 1 896: p. 1 8b).

Ghosts with a grudge, who would not normally be the object of worship, were feared by Confucians and therefore propitiated by means of special rituals. In the middle of the 15th century King Munjong jt/f< (r. 1450-1452) personally wrote an invocation with which to worship the ghosts of those who in the Koryô period had fallen on the battlefield of Kûksông $#i$ in Hwanghae $=?#£ Province. The presence of a great number of disgruntled spirits had, it was thought, caused "pestilential vapours," which spread over the entire province and eventually even reached Kyônggi MWk Province, bringing disease and death (STYS: vol. 5, transi, p. 283, Chinese text p. 90, = kwôn 41 : 8a-9a).

It is also likely that the shrines for the souls of Korean and Chinese soldiers built after the Japanese invasions of the late 16th century were not meant only to promote the civic virtue of loyalty to the throne. Another purpose of the shrines must have

34 B.C. A. Walraven

been to avert the danger that might threaten because the war had prematurely ended the lives of so many soldiers.

One more example of the belief among the literati that ghosts with a grudge could be a threat to the living concerns the spirit of the boy-king Tanjong $S^ (r. 1452-1455) who was deposed and murdered by his uncle. Yôngwôl r-M, where Tanjong died, was known in the early 16th century as a place where magistrates sent by the central government would die suddenly, for no apparent reason. Reputedly this was because of the anger of Tanjong's ghost. Such sudden deaths caused by angry ghosts are part of the folk tradition and popular literature of the Chosen period, but there is some proof that in this case more was involved than just a popular tradition. The alleged grudge of Tanjong seems to have been taken seriously by Confucian literati as well. When a certain Pak Ch'ungwôn %\-&jt was appointed magistrate of Yôngwôl in 1541, he composed an invocation to Tanjong and had a ritual performed for him, which is reported to have had the desired effect. Thereafter, the death rate among Yôngwôl magistrates did not exceed the norm.

Pak's invocation was still used in rituals for Tanjong in Yôngwôl near the end of the 16th century (Yi Kùngik 1966: vol. 3, transi, pp. 185-186, Chinese text p. 605 = kwôn 1 1 "Myôngjong-jo munhyông" ^Tjf^jjtfêr; Yi Sugwang 1915: vol. 2, p. 268, = kwôn 19; Yi Chônghyông 1971: TY vol. 13, transi, p. 524, Chinese text p. 101). It is interesting, in this context, that various strange occurrences were also ascribed to the anger of the ghost of Tanjong's mother, who had been demoted to the status of a commoner. Strange things happened around the time when the usurper Sejo titffl. had her grave removed, and when in 1513, half a century later, a proposal to reinstate her was left undecided for some time, lightning struck a tree in the grounds of the Royal Ancestral Shrine. The king, advised by his ministers, took this as a warning, personally made offerings at the shrine and ordered that the remains of Tanjong's mother be reinterred at the original place with all honour due to her (Yi Cha 1971: TV vol. 2, transi, pp. 155-156 and 174, Chinese text pp. 558-559 and 566; Kim Allo 1971: TV vol. 3, transi, pp. 462-464, Chinese text p. 114; Park Seong-Rae 1979: 99).

Finally, clear evidence that Confucians believed that the grudges of the spirits of the dead could affect the living is also provided by Chosôn-period jurisprudence. The concept that the spirits of crime victims harbour a grievance after death played an important part in the juridical thinking of the ruling literati. Because an accumulation of these grievances might upset the "natural order" they strove to placate the souls of the victims by meting out fitting punishment to the perpetrators of the crimes. Confucians also believed that grievances of living persons who were unjustly treated by the judicial system could upset the cosmic balance and cause natural calamities such as droughts (Shaw 1981: 56-59), 120; Nam Hyoon 1971: TY vol.1, transi, pp. 351-352, Chinese text p. 702; Park Seong-Rae 1979: 92).

Conjucians and Shamans 35

Worship in Times of Special Need

The most frequently performed Confucian rituals, such as ancestor worship, were performed on regular, fixed dates. Confucians also performed rituals, however, in response to special circumstances. Rituals in the latter category are most similar to those of the rnudang. In fact, mudang rituals might be performed for exactly the same purposes.

One of the most common emergency rituals in the agrarian society of traditional Korea was praying for rain when crop failure threatened because of prolonged drought. For the Koryô period it would in fact not be improper to call it a mudang ritual in the sense that in that time mudang regularly took part in it. T'aejong, the third king of the Chosôn period, is recorded to have said in 1412 that drought was a result of the ruler's lack of virtue and that it was useless to let monks and mudang pray for rain (CWS 1956: vol. 1, = T'aejong sillok, kwôn 24: 1 lb; Han Ugun 1976: 199; Cf. Yi Nùnghwa 1927: 9). In spite of this, such rituals continued to be performed by order of the government, and at least until the middle of the 16th century (perhaps even later) mudang took part in them. In 1638 the Board of Rites still judged it necessary to state explicitly that mudang should not be employed to pray for rain (CWS 1956: vol. 35 - Injo sillok, kwôn 36: 29a-b; Yi Nùnghwa 1927: 11). Though in the end mudang were no longer allowed to participate, the ritual itself was by no means abandoned. The records of the reign of King Kojong i£j^< (r. 1863-1907) report rain prayers as late as 1906 (Kojong Sunjong sillok 1970: Aw?47:41a.b, 42a.b).

Chông Tasan (1762-1836) furnishes interesting information about these rain rituals (Chông Yagyong 1981: transi, pp.. 144-255, Chinese text pp. 376-379). First, he makes it clear that magistrates would resort to all kinds of methods to bring rain, using straw effigies of dragons, burying bones, et cetera. To Tasan, this was an abomination. He strongly rejected such mumbo-jumbo and recommended that the magistrate perform his rain prayers in an atmosphere of quiet and serenity. He also believed that the magistrate should lighten the burdens of the people and quickly settle long-pending law cases. The latter may of course be explained as an attempt to remove grudges that had upset the natural course of things. For all his opposition to "improper" rain rituals and his recommendations for alternative forms of action to achieve the same result, Tasan does not fundamentally question the desirability of holding the rain prayers.

Equally interesting are the actual examples of rain-ritual invocations Tasan cites with approval. In one of these the ire of the Mountain God is explicitly given as the cause of the drought. This explanation of a natural calamity would be immediately acceptable to the mudang. However, in their invocations, magistrates might also appeal to a god's sense of responsibility for the people "entrusted to his care," drawing a parallel with their own responsibilities as administrators. One invocation even points out that the god will hardly escape criticism if everyone dies. Such an

36 B.C. A. Walraven

attitude is typical of Confucians, who thought that the world of the divine had a structure similar to that of their own world.

In conclusion, one may say that Confucians shared certain assumptions with the mudang about rain prayers, but, as with many other things mentioned in this article, developed beliefs and practices based on these assumptions in a different manner.

Among emergency rituals, rain rituals were the most frequently performed. But other rituals would be performed to stop the rain when precipitation was excessive and for cold weather when winter temperatures were unseasonally high. In 1636 King Injo -f^il (r. 1623-1649), who had sought refuge from the onslaught of the Manchu armies in the Namhan Mountain Fortress, gave orders to offer prayers to the local Sônghwang to obtain his support (CMP 1959: kwôn 61 : 26a).

More common were rituals to put an end to illness. In 1690, for instance, the king sent someone to pray at various "famous mountains" (numinous mountains which had been officially designated for worship), because a fatal disease was ravaging the population of Sôhùng 1$!* County (Yi Kungik 1966: vol. 9, transi, p. 260, Chinese text p. 632, = Yôllyôsil kisul pyôlchip, kwôn 4). Prayers for the health of an individual person (in this case, the first wife of the future King Sunjong M/7?, r. 1907-1910) were offered as late as 1904, in such a variety of places as the Altar of Heaven, the Royal Ancestral Shrine, the hall for the ancestors of the royal family who were not worshipped in the Ancestral Shrine (Yôngnyôngjôn /X^-Mt), the altars of the Gods of Land and Grain and at sacred mountains and rivers (Kojong Sunjong sillok 1970: k won 44: 86a).

Certain gods would be invoked when horses or cattle suffered from disease. The worship of such deities might be neglected temporarily, to be resumed when illness visited the stables (CMP 1959: kwôn 63: 13a-15a; Yi Kùngik 1966: vol. 9, transi, pp. 267-268, Chinese text p. 635, = Yôllyôsil kisul pyôlchip, kwôn 4).

Prayers to the gods to take away the cause of illness are quite similar to the rituals of the mudang, one of whose main tasks it was, and is, to heal disease caused by divine anger or the intrusion of malignant forces. They are also like most mudang rituals in that they are in response to a crisis. Patrons of the mudang usually will sponsor a full-scale ritual only if there is a special and urgent reason to do so.

One form of "Confucian" worship not mentioned so far are prayers for passing the state examinations by which government officials were selected. These prayers were held at a shrine on Mt. Inwang i '.T: dedicated to Ch'ilsông t'fil ("Seven Stars," i.e., the seven stars of the Big Dipper), a deity who might rightfully be called Taoist, Buddhist or shamanistic, but certainly not Confucian. The worship was therefore Confucian only in the sense that it was performed by the very persons who aspired to become the guardians of Confucian orthodoxy (Yi Kyugyông 1982: vol. 2, p. 380, = kwôn 43). Its existence is eloquent proof of the fact that, in their way of thinking, Confucians were closer to shamanism than their vociferous denunciations of the mudang might have us believe.

The historian Han Ugùn, in a long and most informative article about Confucian

Confucians and Shamans 37

attitudes towards Buddhism, Taoism and shamanism in the early Chosôn period, contends that the rather small number of Confucian officials who filled the most important posts did not really believe that "magical" rituals, such as those for rain, had the desired effect. They had them performed, nevertheless, because they could not disregard the force of long-established customs cherished by a significant percentage of both the upper and lower classes in Korean society (Han Ugùn 1976). As principal proof he cites the remarks of King T'aejong about the doubtful efficacy of rain prayers, which were referred to earlier. T'aejong declared that lack of rain was caused by his own failings as a ruler and that he had never seen any results when mudang were called upon to pray (Han Ugùn 1976: 199). Han's conclusion is not fundamentally different from the position taken by the present author, because he, too, admits that belief in the efficacy of the rituals was wide-spread even among the upper-classes. There seem to be some grounds, however, for arguing that rituals of a magical nature — as Han calls the rituals for obtaining blessings — were not merely performed because of the force of tradition. When drought was very severe, rituals were performed not only at the places officially designated for such purposes, but also at other places where prayers were reputed to be effective (Han Ugùn 1976: 187). Prayer at the official locations should, one would think, have sufficed to satisfy the demands of tradition; multiplying the venues hardly makes sense if one does not believe in the efficacy of the rain prayers. Furthermore, as mentioned above, certain rituals that had been abandoned (the one for a deity protecting horses, for instance) were revived when circumstances required. In such cases the force of tradition cannot explain worship.

Of course, Neo-Confucian theory, stressing moral factors, would first of all hold the ruler responsible for calamities and recommend cultivation of virtue as the means to redress the situation. But this was the official doctrine and not necessarily identical to the actual way Confucians thought and acted. It was, moreover, a rather uncomfortable doctrine for the ruler and one which offered little solace when immediate problems such as war, pestilence and drought threatened the country. Even for the ruling elite among the Confucians, the king included, the temptation must have been great not to put their trust in the cultivation of virtue only, but in the efficacy of ritual as well. The evidence with regard to sorcery irrefutably shows that even this elite believed in the reality of certain forms of magic. One should also remember their concern about the negative spiritual influence of the victims of miscarriages of justice, worshipped, along with other vengeful ghosts, at the yôdan. The offerings at this altar may be regarded as an admission that where justice (that is, ultimately, virtue) has failed, redress through worship is necessary.

Individual scepticism, with regard to prayers for blessings or for delivery from ills, unquestionably existed (and was encouraged by certain aspects of Neo- Confucianism), but these forms of prayer were such an enduring element of Chosôn- period society that it is unlikely that a majority of the ruling elite were sceptics.

38 B.C.A. Walraven

Final Remarks

It is perhaps superfluous to point out that the above does not present a full account of the way Confucians thought. Attention has been concentrated on those aspects of their thinking that have something in common with the beliefs of the mudang. These aspects may not have been very prominent within the totality of their lives. On the other hand, Confucians and mudang were in reality perhaps even less different than might appear from the evidence presented here. It is doubtful that the Confucians who vehemently denounced the mudang and burned down their shrines were representative of the majority. One cannot but note that for a period of 500 years, when actions against the mudang are referred to in the sources, it is always the same incidents that are trotted out, and that centuries of protest against shamanism apparently had but a limited effect. In his list of Korean officials who had demonstrated exemplary behaviour by suppressing superstitious cults, Tasan begins with figures from the Koryô period. Yet, he has to admit that in his own day, that is around 1 800, shamanism is far from dead (Chông Yagyong 1981: transi, pp. 240-244, Chin, text pp. 375-376, = kwôn 23). 0 Hyoch'ôm (see the introduction to this article) near the beginning of the dynasty tried to put an end to the cult of the deity Pugun MM (or Pugùn HH&), but although his example is said to have been widely followed, at the end of the Chosôn period the veneration of Pugun flourished as before (Ô Sukkwôn 1971: TY vol. 1, transi, pp. 439-440, Chin, text p. 737; Yi Kyugyông 1982: vol.2, p. 380, = kwôn 43; Yi Sugwang 1915: vol. 2, p. 205 = kwôn 17). As this cult was observed within the compounds of government offices, it must have been with the tacit approval of higher officials.

Occasional furious attacks notwithstanding, it is reasonable to assume a certain tolerance towards shamanism on the part of Confucian officials, a tolerance fed by a less than total rejection of what the mudang stood for. Confucians did not reject the belief in and worship of gods per se and shared with the mudang the conviction that vengeful ghosts, unclean spirits and malicious sorcery could harm man. They also shared a belief in such things as divination, portents and oracles of various kinds (e. g. CMP 1959: kwôn 1 1 :14a- 15b), lucky and unlucky days (Ô Sukkwôn 1941: 215- 244), dream prognostication and the use of written charms (Hong Sôngmo 1939: 6 and 31). They differed most when it came to the form and style of worship. For Confucians the hierarchical order of society decided what forms of worship were permitted. This, if strictly adhered to, would largely deny most groups within society the comforts of religion, leaving them little with which to allay the anxieties of human life. No wonder that application of this system was resisted and that, when faced with one of the major anxieties of their lives — the question of passing the state examinations — even Confucians would step outside the bounds of prescribed orthodoxy and pray at the shrine of the Seven Stars.

In sum, if we review the attitude Confucians displayed towards shamanism, we note that they often rejected superficial aspects and social implications of mudang

Confucians and Shamans 39

rituals rather than the fundamental assumptions of the shamanistic world view. They would object to the disorderliness of the mudang, their claims to be in direct contact with gods "far above their station" or with ghosts who had not, in the Confucian view, a place in the cosmic order justifying their veneration. And naturally they would condemn the shamans' lack of propriety, the undignified noise of their drums and gongs, their ecstatic dancing, and the free mingling of the sexes at their shrines. Perhaps another reason for not taking shamanism seriously was the fact that the majority of shamans were women. It is interesting to note that the male blind exorcists, the p'ansu, although increasingly the object of Confucian repression, were more highly regarded than the female mudang. The functions and the spiritual world of the p'ansu were not basically different, only their style was more dignified, one of their main activities being "reciting scriptures" (Chinese texts in Buddho- Taoist style). King Yôngjo, in the middle of the 18th century, deigned to attend one of these scripture readings in the palace (Kim Yongsuk 1987: 280) and the social status of the p'ansu seems to have been higher than that of the despised mudang. Even Ministers of State, says one source, would treat a p'ansu with a certain measure of respect, as if he were a chungin rPA, a member of the professional class, which ranked between the yangban and the commoners (Yi Kyugyông 1982: vol. 2, pp. 519-521, = kwôn 47 " Myôngt'ongsa" !$&#).

The attitude of the Korean literati towards popular religion is in many ways strikingly similar to that of their Chinese counterparts as described by Lévi (1986) and Stein (1979). Although their work is of great interest also for Koreanologists, I have not attempted to link the phenomena they discuss with those in Korea for two reasons. The first is that my primary aim was not to explain the nature of Korean Confucian beliefs and attitudes by pointing out their roots in Chinese tradition, but rather to challenge the belief, common among students of Korean culture, that in Korea Confucians and shamans were separated by an unbridgeable chasm. The second reason is that a truly comparative study of Chinese and Korean Confucianism and popular religion requires more groundwork, at least from the Korean angle. Almost all the topics discussed above need to be studied in greater detail and in their historical context, while care should be taken not to assume, when positive evidence is lacking, that the Chinese pattern was followed without change. Without such detailed studies, similarity with China may easily be assumed to be greater than is warranted. The sources available for the study of the religious history of Korea have a strong "Chinese" bias: the language and phraseology are Chinese and so are their literary models. Because of this, the substance they describe may seem more Chinese than in reality it was. At this point I would hesitate to say that the Korean Confucian attitude toward popular religion was exactly the same as that in China, numerous similarities notwithstanding. Such a statement would certainly need qualification. One should specify, for instance, which period is referred to. Korean Confucians of the 1 5th century, it seems, differed in their attitudes from those of the 19th century. A clearer picture of developments in Korea is needed to study the question of how elements of Chinese culture were accepted or modified by Koreans.

40 B.C. A. Walraven

Abbreviations

CMP: Chùngbo munhôn pigo CWS: Chosôn wangjo sillok RS: Richô kakushu bunken fuzoku kankei shiryô satsuyô STYS: Sinjùng Tongguk yôji sùngnam (Kugyôk-) TY : Taedong yasûng (Kugyôk-)

REFERENCES

Cha Ch'ôllo :£*$&■ 1 97 1 Osan sôllim ch 'ogo JLÛi iftft^H

[Osan's Draft Discourses], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-) vol. 2, transi. 1-76, Chinese text pp. 497-526.

Chông Chaeryun Ml^icîro 1983 Kongsa kyônmun nok 'Mk^tMl

[Record of Things Seen and Heard, Public and Private], Seoul (original text and Korean translation).

Chông Yagyong f^âl (= Tasan ^ 1981 Mongminsimsô ( Yôkchu -) tfel^k* (liri- -)

[The Spirit that Cares for the People (with translation and annotations)], vol. 3, ed. by Tasan yôn'guhoe $l_lj$F2£#, Seoul.

Chosen no kijin ^W 1929 [Gods and Ghosts of Korea], comp. by Chôsen sôtokufu

Hi, Keijô ffM.

Chosôn wangjo sillok |fj#£|^gli 1956 [Veritable Records of the Chosôn Dynasty], photolithographic

reprint in 48 vols., ed. by Kuksa p'yônch'an wiwônhoe S^li^# Jl#, Seoul.

Chùngbo munhôn pigo 'ÎPMXMWÈ^ [Supplemented Encyclopedia], Kojôn kanhaenghoe ^i"HT"iJfj'# ed., Seoul.

Confucians and Shamans 4 1

HANUgun >W{fcJr)} 1976 "Chosôn wangjo ch'ogi-e issôsô-ùi yugyo inyom-ùi silch'ôn-gwa

sinang • chonggyo-saje munje-rùl chungsim-ùro-"

["Unorthodox Religions" and the Realization of Confucian Ideals in the Early Chosôn Period — with emphasis on the problem of worship], Han'guksaron *$M$lim 3: 147-228.

Han Yôngu £f tR/Ii 1987 Chosôn chôrigi sahoe sasang yôn'gu $Mtw\MH.1^ ÏSMbR % [Social

Thought in the Early Chosôn Period], 2nd éd., Seoul.

Hong Sôngmo î&j&M 1939 Tongguk sesigi J&IHiiSfl^NS [Seasonal Customs of Korea] reprinted

in Sesigi samjong ̂ Mït-JÈ., éd. by Choe Namsôn W§ #, pp. 1- 52, Keijo PM.

Hwang Sônmyông 1985 Chosônjo chonggyo-sahoe-sa yôn'gu

[Studies in the Religious and Social History of the Chosôn Dynasty], Seoul.

Hyôn Yongjun 1980 Cheju-do musok charyo sajôn :M\MMWM%¥$-& [Dictionary of

Materials Concerning the Shamanism of Cheju Island], Seoul.

Inhyôn wanghu chôn. Ongnangja chôn. Oyuran chôniZMJ-fnM. J£&ll H$. .^^ MB.

1978 [The Story of Queen Inhyôn. The Story of the Girl Ongnang. The Story of Oyuran], ed. and transi, by Han'guk kojôn munhak p'yônjip wiwônhoe ^S^^-J^^lill^M'#', Seoul.

Kendall, Laurel 1985 Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in

Korean Ritual Life, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

Kim Allo 1 97 1 Yongch 'ôndam chôkki

[Record of Yongch'ôn's Quiet Conversations] in Taedong yasung (Kugyôk-), vol. 3, transi, pp. 455-530, Chinese text pp. 113-128, Seoul.

1987 Chosônjo kungjung p'ungsok yûn'gu ®\$$t$ g' [Studies of the Palace Customs of the Chosôn Dynasty], 2nd éd., Seoul.

42 B.C. A. Walraven

Kojong Sunjong sillok tà>j<$i>J<;@;£i 1970 [Veritable Records of Kojong and Sunjong], 3 vols. Seoul.

Kwôn Kùn $Ëfà 1 969 Yangch 'on munjip fà¥ï%%

[Collected Writings of Yangch'on], 2 vols., Seoul.

Legge, James 1923 The Four Books, The Commercial Press, Shanghai.

Levi, Jean 1986 "Les fonctionnaires et le divin : luttes de pouvoir entre divinités et

administrateurs dans les contes des Six Dynasties et des Tang," Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 2: 81-1 10.

Nam Hyoon îlf#7Jm. 1 97 1 Ch'ugang naenghwa Jfkiï.ïyiÊ

[Conversations in the Chill of an Autumn River], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-) vol. 1, transi, pp. 345-363, Chinese text pp. 700-706, Seoul.

Needham, Joseph 1956 Science and Civilization in China, vol. 2, Cambridge University

Press, Cambridge.

Ô Sukkwôn 1 94 1 Kosa chwaryo $t Untile

[Essential References], photolithogr. éd., Keijô ^E 1971 P'aegwan chapki ffifâM Ici

[A Storyteller's Miscellany], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-), vol. 1, transi, pp. 417-554, Chinese text pp. 728-784, Seoul.

Park, Seong-Rae 1977 "Portentography in Korea," Journal of Social Sciences and

Humanities 46: 54-7 1 . 1978a "Portents in Korean history," Journal of Social Sciences and

Humanities 47: 31-92. 1978b "Rise of Confucian Portentology in Korea," Journal of Social

Sciences and Humanities 48 : 1 -45 . 1979 "Portents and Neo-Confucian Politics in Korea, 1392-1519,"

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 49: 53- 1 1 7.

Richô kakushu bunken fUzoku kankei shiryô satsuyô &^&%ÊX$ifcMMM$iWJ&M.

1944 [Essential References Concerning Customs from Various Sources of the Yi Dynasty], comp. by Chôsen sôtokufu chûsûin ^Wê%, Keijô <?

Confucians and Shamans 43

Shaw, William 1981 Legal Norms in a Confucian State, Institute of East Asian Studies,

Univ. of California, Berkeley.

Sin Hum 1971 Sangch 'on chamnok Mitt MM

[Miscellaneous Records of Sangch'on], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-) vol. 6, transi, pp. 245-272, Chinese text pp. 54-59.

Sinjùng Tongguk yôji sùngnam (Kugyôk -) 1969 [Gazetteer of Korea, with New Additions (with Korean translation)],

ed. and transi, by Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe &f]kX/\kffiMfî , 7vols., Seoul.

Sô Kôjông fâmiE 1971 P'irwôn chapki H ̂aft ïû

[Miscellany from the Garden of Brushes], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-) vol. 1, transi, pp. 259-344, Chinese text pp. 665-699, Seoul.

Song Siyôl 1983 Songja taejôn (Kugyôk-)

[Complete Works of Master Song (with Korean transi.)], ed. and transi, by Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe BLikXitMM'W, Seoul.

Stein, Rolf A. 1979 "Religious Taoism and Popular Religion from the Second to

Seventh Centuries," in Holmes Welch & Anna Seidel (eds.), Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk -) j^MWM (PHIP-) 1971 [Unofficial Histories of the Great East (with Korean transi.)], ed.

and transi, by Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe BLM'XitBMiO' , 18 vols., Seoul.

Walraven, B.C. A.

1980 "The Social Significance of Sorcery and Sorcery Accusations in Korea," Asiatische Studien /Etudes asiatiques 34, 2: 69-90.

1985 Muga : The Songs of Korean Shamanism, Dissertation, Leiden. 1988 "Pollution Beliefs in Traditional Korean Thought," Korea Journal

28,9:16-23.

Yi Cha $ 197 1 Ûmae ilgi Wm H ît [Diary of Cfmae], in Taedong yasùng (Kugyôk-)

vol. 2, transi, pp. 135-183, Chinese text pp. 551-570, Seoul.

44 B.C. A. Walraven

Yi Chônghyông -^^'fÇ 1 97 1 Tonggak chapki j& « nil

[Miscellany of the Eastern Pavilion], in Taedong y asùng (Kugyôk-) vol. 13, transi, pp. 323-549, Chinese text pp. 88-106, Seoul.

Yi Ik &m 1982 SônghosasôlMïriJIÏi^

[Discourses in Detail of Sôngho], photolithographic éd., Seoul.

Yi Kawôn ^--'i<JM 1961 transi, and comp., Yijo hanmun sosôl son ^MiVkX/hfilM

[A Selection of Stories in Chinese from the Yi Dynasty], Seoul.

Yi Kungik ^nM 1966 Yôllyôsil kisul (Kugyôk-) MB'ÊM&fMU-)

[Descriptive Records of Yôllyôsil (with Korean transi.)], transi, and ed. by Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe ïiMXit^.M^â , 12 vols., incl. YôJlyôsil kisul pyôlchip #0 %, Seoul.

YiKyugyong=£JiM 1982 Oju yômnun changjôn san'go E:âWiX^MMU

[Oju's Random Collection of Glosses and Comments], photolithographic ed. Seoul.

Yi Nùnghwa &fâM 1 927 "Chosôn musok ko" » W#

[Korean Shamanism], Kyemyông^M 19: 1-85.

Yi Sugwang 1915 Chibong yusôî IE 0-M

[Chibong's Classified Discourses], ed. Chôsen kosho kankôkai #Jlf- Wtff'JtrW, Keijô Mm.

Yi Tongmu 4^WJ& 1978-1982 Ch'ôngjanggwan chônsô (Kugyôk-) #ft|g^#(f$i?£-)

[Collected Works of Yi Tôngmu (with Korean translation)], ed. and transi, by Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe të 13 vols., Seoul.

Yu Tongsik 1975 Han'guk mugyo-ùi yôksa-wa

[The History and Structure of Korean Shamanism], Seoul.