The Local Version of Global Entanglements
About Xu Sanli
Xu Sanli (1625-91) 許三禮 was well known as a promoter and funder for local education 講學 and an advocate of new thoughts. was born in Henan 河南. In 1645, at his twenty Xu became a student at the state academy 博士員. At his thirty-nine, he achieved Jinshi degree. During this period, he was famous in the elite circle of Beijing, but his real achievement was during his time in Haining 海寧county of Zhejiang 浙江. As the county magistrate, Xu quickly resolved many local societal problems and established a local academy to provide free education for people of all the classes. He had a close relationship with Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲, the famous scholar in late Ming and Qing, and his students, and even invited Huang to his academy to give lectures once. In Haining, Xu built the famous Gaotian lou 告天樓 to worship the Heaven or Shangdi. Later, he was promoted to the central government.[1]
Xu's Thoughts
The Ritual of Heaven must be followed in a rigid procedure.:
First, to thank parents who give birth to us: every dawn, one must wash his hands, burn the incense, and worship the holy spirit of Heaven, Land, Emperor, Families, and Teachers 天地君親師. Then, he read a text aloud on his knees. Second, to express one’s authentic understanding to the Heaven/ Shangdi and one’s respect to the holy sages: one has to read four texts aloud with three kowtows after finishing each text. Then, stamp on the ritual calendar to record today’s practice. Third, to explore the relationship between the Heaven and man: sit towards the east for two hours. Then, read excerpt from Book of Rites 禮記, excerpt from Book of Filial Piety 孝經, excerpt from Book of Change 易經, and excerpt from Taixuan Book 太玄經. Then, write a sentence on the ritual calendar, indicating the date, the constellation of the day, the auspicious place of the stars, what is auspicious to do today, and what is not. Last, pray for the people: one must be on his knees. Say his date of birth, place of birth, vow, and words of appreciation to the Heaven. Then, one must swear to the Heaven his will and behaviors are all for the good of his people. when finished, do three kowtows. Then, read a text to apologize to the Heaven if one hurt his people’s lives or properties. Then, three kowtows, followed by a two-hour sitting. Burn another incense, and reading a text in the mind.
The whole ritual would be done twice a day (one in the morning, one in the evening). One can do Zhiyao 擲爻, a rite commonly performed by people to learn the Heaven’s will, every five or ten days, or every month, to see the effectiveness of his Ritual of Heaven practices. According to Xu, if one can do the ritual everyday for thirty years, he can achieve psychological happiness. If one keep practicing it for fifty years, he can achieve the “freedom of heart 隨心所欲不踰矩“.
In Xu’s belief, there is no difference between the Heaven 天 and Shangdi 上帝. The two are the same one. His Ritual of Heaven is not only for personal good but, more importantly, for the social good. The ritual was particularly designed to prescribe officials, not with power in this world but with an absolute transcending power. Xu’s Ritual of Heaven was characterized by reading holy texts 念經, which is commonly practiced by Buddhists. Except for Buddhist influence, Xu’s belief also absorbed elements of Han mode Confucianism like heaven-man induction 天人感應 and number divination 象數. He believed by these Confucian skills one can predict the future, know the lost history, even pray for rain. [2]
Xu Sanli wanted to convince people Confucianism was used to be a religion and it should be again. The motive behind this purpose is that he wanted to transform Confucianism into a religion so as to compete with Buddhism, Taoism, and popular religions which had greatly threatened Confucianism’s survival in the populace. Since the reason of Confucianism’s decline was that it tried to persuade people to be morally good but cannot provide a promised happy result, Xu was dedicated to build the relationship between goodness and good results.
He was greatly influenced by some moral books like wenchangdi xun 文昌帝訓, taishang ganying pian 太上感應篇, and liming pian 立命書 and started to perform some popular religious practices: worshiping Wenchang God 文昌帝君, doing lottery 文昌籤, worshiping and praying for the Heaven every night, etc. Like Zhu Zongyuan, Xu was among the scholars who condemn the Neo-Confucianism’s interpretation of the Heaven as people’s inner mind. He saw the Heaven as a personized transcending being that oversees the human world. Starting at the personized Heaven, Xu established a whole worshiping system called Ritual of Heaven 告天 and practiced it in his Gaotian lou.
太上感應篇圖說