鬼证:清人丧祭观的另类演绎

Ghosts as Evidence:An Exceptional Deduction into the Popular View on Matters of Funeral and Sacrifice Offering in the Qing Dynasty

在确信鬼神存在的前提下,清人通过志异小说,大大发展了对鬼神百态的揣测,并积极尝试就丧葬、祭祀问题从鬼神方面寻求验证,包括从死亡发生、袭、敛、出殃与回煞、厝、葬直至祭、享等各个环节,最终归宿为把死者纳入宗族体系,貌似拓展了时空维度,实则是既有观念的延伸与投射。比之清人有关丧祭的大量学术性研讨,这几乎是将枯燥的理论发明转化成鲜活的现场表演。当然,相应于"鬼神世界"百孔千疮的状况,鬼神能为丧祭观提供的证明也支离破碎,乃至自相矛盾。

On the premise of cherishing a firm belief in the existence of supernatural beings in the form of ghosts and deities,the Qing literati had vastly developed the speculation and depiction of a myriad forms and figures of miscellaneous ghosts and deities through producing fiction about gods and ghosts known as ＇Strange Tales＇.They tried hard to seek proof about the burial and sacrifice matters in the behavior of ghosts and deities.,encompassing the whole process right from the occurrence of death,the dressing up of the dead,encoffining,soul lingering and returning,pending for burial,conducting of the burial ceremony and the offering enjoyment,etc.,culminating in bringing the dead into the clan-system to which he was supposed to belong.This appeared to have opened up dimensions in time and space yet actually effecting an extension of notions and projections.This was tantamount to turning the dry theoretical approaches to vivid on-site performance.Of course,confronting the current situation of the supernatural world＇s being in a state of having a thousand boils and hundreds of holes,the capability of the supernatural in providing evidence to the view on burial and sacrifice matters were,more often than not,very fragmentary and even self-contradictory.