春秋祖先神的神性职能

春秋祖先神的基本职能是保护族人,人与祖神的沟通方式主要有祭祀、祈祷和托梦。祖先成为宗族保护神的信仰基础是春秋人相信人祖之间具有永恒不变的血亲关系和利害攸关的依存关系。国君的祖先神则具有宗族保护神和国家保护神的双重神性职能。现实需要、社稷观念和宗法政治诸因素相互作用,使国君祖先神得以成为一国保护神,其中家天下的宗法政治文化环境中形成的权力结构亲族化和统治阶层世袭化,是特别值得关注的因素。春秋国君祖先神作为国家保护神,保护的对象本质上是列国君主及其宗族的家天下,而不是国中的民众。

Functions of Ancestral Gods in the Spring and Autumn Period

The basic function of the ancestral gods in the Spring and Autumn (Chun Qiu) Period is to protect their clansmen. People communicate with their ancestral gods mainly through sacrifice, prayer and revelation in a dream. In this period, people's belief in ancestral gods rests on their conviction of the eternal consanguine link between them and their ancestors as well as on the notion that the alive and the dead are interdependent, the well-being of each resting with the other. The ancestral gods of the kings have a dual function as the guardian gods of both the king's clan and the state. Practical needs, the concept of states and the patriarchal clan system all work together to ascend the ancestral gods of the kings to the status of the guardian gods of the state. The most notable among those factors are the kinship-based power structure and the hereditary ruling class developed under the Political and cultural framework shaped by the notion of "Family Governing Monarchic Country". In essence, as the guardian gods of the state, the ancestral gods of the kings in the Spring and Autumn Period protect the kings and the power of their clans, instead of the well-being of the People.