The Later Jin regime was established between the white mountains and black waters of northeastern China, a state of multiple ethnic groups whose primitive forms of organization and religious beliefs were among the cornerstones of its legitimacy.
In this article, we will take a look at how Huang Taiji achieved his centralizing purpose by using religious means. So, what is a shaman?
For the Manchurians, shamans were a special kind of being, who were able to communicate with the gods through the future, knowing good luck and evil, and predicting the weather.
Although the literal combination of the word "shaman" is difficult to explain in Chinese, it is actually ** in the Tungusic language, which means "knower", similar to a shaman.
Shamanism originated in the era of fishing and hunting and was the religious embodiment of a matrilineal clan society. It does not belong to a particular religious denomination, nor does it have a unified deity, beliefs, rituals, and doctrines.
Shamanism is a flexible form of organization, with the core concept that "everything has a spirit", believing that everything in the world is governed by the divine and has a soul. To put it simply, shamanism is the primitive worship of nature.
The following is a discussion about the image of the Jurchens in film and television dramas. In fact, primitive religion has had an impact on the origin and development of almost all civilizations, whether it is the Shang Dynasty, nomadic peoples, or fishing and hunting peoples.
For example, archaeological finds from the Shang Dynasty show a large number of sacrificial remains, which not only reflect the worship of ancestors, but also contain reverence for nature.
This primitive nature worship gradually evolved into a state ritual in later agricultural civilizations, but its essence has not changed and is still closely related to primitive religion.
For the nomadic peoples and the fishing and hunting peoples, because their civilization development was relatively loose and lacked a unified system, the color of primitive religion was more obvious.
The Spiritual Pillars of the Manchurians: The Role and Reform of Shamanism Shamanism occupies an important place in the Manchurian faith.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the Jurchen tribes were in a state of separation, and each had its own sacrificial rules and spiritual pillars.
However, this variety of sacrificial methods seriously affected the fighting power of the Jurchens (later Manchurians).
In the war to unify the Jurchen tribes, Nurhachi destroyed the "Tangzi" of each tribe, and only retained the Aixinjue Luo clan, establishing the status of self-supremacy.
He also carried out some reforms in shamanism, established the dominant position of a few gods, and forcibly promoted these new gods, restricting the folk belief in the old gods. These reforms laid the foundation for Huang Taiji's future reforms, allowing the regime to achieve unity and stability.
Therefore, shamanism was not only the spiritual pillar of the Manchurians, but also an important factor in the stability of the regime.
The organizational form of the Jurchens determined the necessity of centralization.
The time difference between the development time and organizational forms of the Central Plains civilization and the Jurchen civilization made the political system of the Jurchens more similar to the form of tribal deliberation and the lack of effective centralized leadership before Nurhachi unified the Jurchen tribes.
Therefore, centralization has become an inevitable choice for the development of Jurchen civilization to achieve more efficient decision-making and management.
During the period from Nurhachi to Huang Taiji's accession to the throne, the Later Jin regime was jointly held by Huang Taiji, Daishan, Amin, and Mang Gurtai, and the Great Khan did not have the sole authority, and the relationship between the monarch and the minister was also quite vague, lacking institutional and etiquette constraints.
For example, Mang Gurtai once had a verbal dispute with Huang Taiji, and even drew a sword in public to threaten and openly challenge the authority of the imperial power. If this situation is not improved, the Jurchens will once again be mired in strife.
Therefore, starting from the liturgical and sacrificial aspects is indeed a very ingenious and feasible angle. Huang Taiji's religious reforms succeeded in consolidating the monarchy's power, and he clearly understood that sacrifice was no longer just about faith, but was closely linked to politics.
Therefore, he decisively implemented a series of religious ritual reforms. After Huang Taiji became emperor, he immediately embarked on the first step of reform, that is, the stipulation in the "Great Qing Huidian": "* The act of setting up a hall to worship with the people will be permanently prohibited." ”
The short text clearly indicates the principle issue, and since then, the right of ** and the people to set up a hall to worship has been cancelled, the sacrifice has become a state act, and the right to sacrifice has become the exclusive property of the royal family, thus establishing the exclusive status of Aixinjue Luo in shamanic sacrifices, and also increasing the color of political and religious integration.
In the second step of the religious ritual of Huang Tai Chi, the composition of the participants was carefully defined to highlight the central position of the emperor.
According to the record of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, at the time of the first moment, the emperor personally led Prince Heshuo, the civil and military ministers above Meler Zhangjing, as well as the prince of Joseon, the Mongolian king of the foreign domain, Baylor and his ministers to the hall to pay their respects.
This shows that religious sacrifices have risen beyond mere family acts to the national level.
The people personally led by the emperor included the prince, the imperial court**, and the high-ranking envoys of the foreign domain, showing that the people who participated in the ceremony could not only show their social status, but also express their loyalty to the emperor, and this behavior can be seen as an oath, as important as filial piety to lose a pound a day.
The third step of the sacrificial diagram (for reference only) strictly stipulates the etiquette, time, and sacrifice of the sacrifice to reflect the hierarchical status, and any transgression is strictly prohibited.
During the prescribed time, the emperor sacrificed on the first day of the new month, and the other princes performed the sacrifice on the second to the sixth day of the first month in order, and if the emperor went to the sacrifice during this period, the others must stop the sacrifice and the emperor would take precedence.
The order of sacrifice reflects the order of dignity and inferiority, and any violation of the rules is punishable as trespassing, and challenging the royal power is considered to be against the will of the Heavens, further reinforcing the concentration of imperial power.
Through the norms of Huang Taiji and the sacrificial practices of shamanism, the Eight Banners Riding and Archery has developed from the original loose, random and subjective to a temple and institutionalization. At the same time, the Reformation also helped to strengthen the imperial power, and the number of people who challenged it gradually decreased.
Therefore, the national strength of the Later Jin (which had been renamed the Qing Dynasty at this time) was also greatly integrated, laying a solid foundation for entering the Central Plains.