Ancestors and Anxiety

Do Reino ao Império da Religião de Salvação Universal

“…These the "unfortunate dead" became "vengeful ghosts" (ligui 厲鬼) worshiped by the people-and even by emperors and Confucians-but driven out by Daoist exorcisms. "Ancestors", to borrow from the title of a must-read book by Stephen Bokenkamp, were a source of "anxiety" (Bokenkamp 2007).…”

“…Buddhism changed all that with its introduction of paradises (tiantang 天堂) and purgatories (diyu 地獄). Buddhist "rituals of merit" (gongde 功德), done repetitively on the seven seventh days after death, could ensure transfer of merit to the deceased so that they could be reborn more rapidly and felicitously: after karma, reincarnation had the single most farreaching impact on Chinese mentalities and representations of the dead (Bokenkamp 2007).…”