Date of Graduation
12-2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in History (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
History
Advisor/Mentor
Rembrandt Wolpert
Committee Member
Elizabeth Markham
Second Committee Member
Liang Cai
Keywords
Early China, Mountain, Sacred Space, Shang Dynasty, Shanhaijing, Yugong
Abstract
In this thesis I explore the conception of the mountain as a "sacred space" based on the definition provided by Mircea Eliade in The Sacred and The Profane and other works. I recognize three major elements in Eliadean sacral spatiality: a) order and orientation b) liminality and c) reality. Using various sources but mainly the oracle bones inscriptions, the Yugong ("Tributes of Yu") of the Shujing ("Book of Documents") and the Shanjing ("Classic of Mountains") of the Shanhaijing ("Classic of Mountains and Seas"), I demonstrate how the three basic components of sacrality are to be found in each of the aforementioned sources, therefore showing the prevalence of the understanding of the mountain as a sacred space from the late Shang, through the Warring States, until the early imperial periods; and explaining its epochal variations throughout the course of early Chinese history. In doing this, I also argue that the acquisition of numinous properties from mountains was quintessential to the construction of religious power and political legitimacy in Early China.
Citation
Rivera Espinoza, M. (2014). The Sacrality of The Mountain. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2072
Included in
Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Comparative Philosophy Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons