义和团的神灵观

义和团所请神灵多来自传统戏文小说,此种选神方法的便捷之处在于戏曲是舞台艺术,具有可感性,戏中英雄为团众提供了直观模拟的对象。义和团崇拜的戏曲人物有四种系列,分为正统神灵和反叛神灵两大类。关羽、岳飞、杨家将等皆属正神系列,而武松、孙悟空、猪八戒等则分别为世俗和神怪反叛式神灵。这些神灵不仅本领非凡,而且富有动感,能直接触及团民的日常生活志趣。团众选神是严酷形势和紧急情况下的行为,因此,其所选择的神灵有人数众多、来路驳杂的特征,但是,此类神灵的反智特性、好战禀赋以及冤屈遭遇,局部意义上反叛了清朝官方和士绅集团拥戴的正神系列,但依然有与正统神灵系列重叠之处。团众选神是时代风云际会促生的产物,反映了晚清至高权力松动状态下意识形态的摇摆状态。

The Boxer's Divine Outlook

The deities worshiped by the Boxer are selected from traditional skits.Those gods are classified into two categories：orthodox gods and rebellious gods,for example,Guanyu,Yuefei and generals of the Yang Family belong to orthodox gods,while Wusong,the Monkey King and Zhubajie are rebellious gods.They usually have fantastic capabilities,are rich in dynamic sense and are able to touch the Boxer＇s daily interests.In fact,the behavior of a group selecting deities is conducted in rigorous and critical situations.Such behavior is the result of a given time and it mirrors a kind of swaying ideology in Late-Qing period.