吕大吉

1.原始人的宗教信仰，不但是整个人类宗教的发端，在一定意义上，也是人类社会各种文化形式的源泉。文明时代的各种宗教，不管它们崇拜的神灵多么伟大，信奉的教义信条多么玄秘，构建的礼仪体制多么神圣，实际上都不是来自神灵的启示，而是起源于原始时代野蛮人粗俗不堪的膜拜。同样，文明时代各种高雅精致的文化形式：崇高的道德规范，庄严的政治制度，赏心悦目的文学艺术，智慧深邃的哲学思辨……尽管它们各有自己植根的社会土壤，但在其发育的初期，几乎无不脱胎寄养于原始宗教的腹中。宗教和其他文化形式在发生学和发育学上的这一事实，凸显出研究原始宗教的学术意义。人们如果想了解宗教和其他文化形式的本质和奥秘，就得探索它们得以产生的根据和发展的原因，对之进行追根溯源的研究。正是由于这个缘故，许许多多的宗教学家、哲学家、伦理学家、文学家、艺术家、人类学家、民族学家、社会学家、历史学家……像探寻金矿的淘金者一样，都情不自禁地走进原始宗教这个令人困惑不解而又使人兴奋不已的领域。

2.宗教如何产生，这在宗教学中是一个至关重要的问题。传统的信仰总是相信神圣的宗教必有其神圣的来源，宗教神学家则说成是神的启示。科学的宗教研究打破了这种神话。历史上的启蒙思想家们用理性的批判精神破除信仰主义的独断，肯定宗教这种事物和世界上其他一切事物一样都有其形成和发展的自然过程，并从人而不是从神那里寻找宗教的本质及其产生的根据。对宗教进行的这种理智性探讨，使得宗教研究得以摆脱神学的束缚，在19世纪下半叶形成为一门独立的人文学科——宗教学。研究宗教的起源和发展问题，不仅催生了近代宗教学，而且一直是宗教学者乐此不疲、孜孜以求的热点。达尔文生物进化论的胜利，更对近代宗教学的发展给予了极大的推动。既然人类是从类人猿进化而来，那末，人类所有的一切，包括神圣的宗教，理所当然地也有其从产生到发展、从低级形式到高级形式的进化过程。于是，野蛮的原始人代替“神圣的上帝”成了人类宗教的最初创建人，也成了探索宗教之根的宗教学者们追踪逐猎的主要目标。一时之间，对世界上各个民族的原始社会、原始文化和原始宗教进行实地调查、文献收集和学术研究之风，勃然兴起，成为学术界的时尚。

3.从19世纪下半纪宗教学的诞生到20世纪初，是近代宗教学蓬勃发展的时期，名家辈出，学派林立，百花竞放。他们争鸣的焦点主要集中在宗教如何产生、如何发展问题上。单以宗教起源论而言，其中之影响较大者，就有德国自然神话学派的“自然神话说”4200431，泰勒的“万物有灵论”4200432，斯宾塞的“祖灵论”4200433，杜尔凯姆和弗洛伊德的“图腾说”4200434，马雷特的“前万物有灵论”4200435，施米特的“原始启示说”或“原始一神论”4200436……除了“原始启示说”把最初的宗教说成是“上帝”对原始人的启示以外，其他诸种宗教起源论实质上都是把宗教的发端归结为原始人的错误观念和错误联想，把宗教的神还原为原始人的幻想，把神的神性还原为原始人的人性。这些宗教学说的争鸣，使近代宗教学从其问世之日起就展现出一种波澜壮阔的态势。

研究宗教之起源并非始自19世纪，早在古代希腊罗马时代，思想家们即已提出过种种不同的理论。如：克塞诺芬尼的“神灵拟人说”4200437，德谟克里特、伊壁鸠鲁、卢克莱修的“恐惧造神说”4200438，普罗蒂库斯的“感恩说”4200439，克里底亚的“神道设教说”4200440，亚里士多德的“天象惊奇说”4200441，犹希麦如的“人死封神说”4200442……这些宗教起源论也是把宗教和神的产生归结为人的错误观念，是一种反信仰主义的理智性探讨。但近代宗教学的宗教起源论有一个大不相同的特点。古代的宗教起源论没有与生物进化论有关的“原始人”观念，没有有关“原始宗教”的实证资料，基本上是一种哲学性的思辨与推理。近代宗教学则不然，它非常重视原始社会之宗教与文化的实地调查和实证资料的积累。近代宗教学的奠基人麦克斯·缪勒以巨大的热情整理并翻译古代东方的宗教典籍（特别是古印度的吠陀经典），出版了震惊学术界的《东方圣书集》（原文有五十卷）；宗教人类学的开创者爱德华·泰勒青年时代深入墨西哥对原始文化与原始宗教进行实地考察，写成不朽之作《原始文化》；弗雷泽通过《关于未开化或半开化的各民族的风尚、习俗、宗教、迷信等问题的调查》，广泛收集世界各地许多原始民族的宗教、习俗的资料，写成了关于原始宗教的巨作《金枝》；马林诺夫斯基等许多卓有贡献的宗教学家都曾长时期深入到原始部落民中生活，实地调查原始民族的宗教信仰，在占有实证资料的基础上进行理论著述。可以毫不过分地认为，如果没有关于人类早期和古代宗教信仰的调查和有关资料的积累，就不可能有近代宗教学的诞生。

4.与此同时，我们也不能不注意到事情的另一方面：近代宗教学发展初期出现的各种宗教起源论，不仅在理论上各执一词，而且在经验事实上往往也互相冲突。这种情况的继续，便使不少宗教学者产生了对研究原始宗教的怀疑。文明民族的原始时代毕竟已成遥远的过去，当代尚存的原始民族情况又非常复杂，任何学者都不可能穷尽所有民族原始宗教信仰的情况，了解和掌握全部有关资料。因此，当时的宗教学者们在构建其人类宗教的起源和发展理论体系时，难免就会以偏赅全，用半哲学性的思辨去填补历史事实上的缺环。鉴于这种情况，有些宗教学者便认为，关于宗教起源和发展问题的研究不可能得到经验材料的实证而成为真正的科学。于是，他们逐渐放弃此种性质的研究，转向对各种宗教信仰和宗教现象进行同时性的比较分析，作心理学、社会学和现象学的解释。这样一来，在近代宗教学的领域中，除了宗教人类学、宗教史学之外，又形成了宗教心理学、宗教社会学、宗教现象学等宗教研究的新理论与新方法。但是，宗教学的这种发展绝不意味着降低或否定研究原始宗教的重要学术意义。宗教学作为一门独立的人文学科出现于学术之林，毕竟只有短暂的一百余年，在其发展的早期，出现不同学术见解的纷争，是一种势之必然的正常状况。各种宗教起源论和宗教发展观都有一定的事实根据，从不同方面加深了我们的认识。我们不会因此而离开真理，而是更接近真理。学术上的争论只是告诉我们，应当在更广大的范围内加强对世界各民族原始宗教的调查研究，收集更多、更全面的事实，为进行新的理论综合打下更坚实的资料基础。

宗教心理学、宗教社会学、宗教现象学之类同时性的比较研究方法无疑是有价值的，但它们实际上也得益于早期宗教学者关于原始宗教的研究，从它们对原始人之所以产生宗教神灵观念，并以各种方式进行崇拜活动的分析上汲取营养，进一步对原始人的宗教信仰进行心理学和社会学的分析，作出现象学的解释。在宗教信仰活动的心理基础问题上，原始人的宗教心理最为单纯；在宗教的社会功能上，原始宗教在原始社会中体现得最为充分；在各种宗教现象的人性基础上，原始人的“人性”更为直接地展现在宗教生活的现象形态之中。离开原始宗教，这些宗教研究的新方法不可能得到充分的发展。

5.研究原始宗教的意义远不限于宗教学领域。在漫长的历史中，宗教一直高踞于社会上层建筑的顶端，支配着广大人类的精神世界。正像宗教的神被视为君临世界的主宰一样，它也被视为人类社会各种文化形式的神圣之源。古代中国人把人世的一切都说成是天命所定。此即《尚书》所谓“天惟与我民彝”、“天叙有典”、“天秩有礼”、“天命有德”。西方人更有甚焉，认为上帝创造世界，天命决定一切。

近代各种人文学科都在各自领域内不断批判这种传统观念，而宗教学关于原始宗教的研究则从根本上予以毁灭性的一击。既然人类最早的神不过是原始时代野蛮人的创造，那么，一切文化形式也和宗教一样，它们的真正创造者便不是神，而是人；而文化的最初创造者便是最初造出了神的原始人。各种文化的幼芽几乎无不包容在原始人的宗教观念和宗教活动之中。不管泰勒的“万物有灵论”能否得到宗教学者的普遍赞同，但相信万物有灵的原始民族在世界上确是相当普遍。所谓神灵支配万物虽有宗教的幻想，但原始人有这种幻想却是确定无疑的事实。正是这种普遍的信念给原始人配上一副“万物有灵论”的眼镜，把观察所及的世界投入于宗教神秘主义的浓云密雾之中。原始时代的宗教变成了原始人包罗万象的纲领，成为他们思想的原理，行为的原则，激情的源泉，道德的仿效的准则，人际关系的纽带，社会秩序的保证。原始人的社会生活和各种文化形式无不打上宗教的印记，从宗教观念汲取成长所需的营养，通过宗教活动来展现自己的存在，并由之而取得自己的表现形式。原始时代文化与宗教的这种结合，不仅不曾阻碍各种文化的成长，反倒是促使其进一步发展的契机。原始宗教体系赖以构成的基本要素，诸如宗教的观念、宗教的感情、宗教的行为、宗教的体制，都对原始文化的生长产生过“激素”似的作用。

6.原始人的头脑中产生出某种灵魂观念和神灵观念，应该说是人类思维发展史上一次质的飞跃，从高深的神学理论和现代文明人的眼光看，原始人的神灵粗俗不堪，但在使用石器的原始时代，神灵观念却是原始人所能设想出来的最伟大、最崇高的一种存在。它集中了原始人的最高智慧，寄托着他们对美好生活的期待以及对自身命运的关注。凭借自然本能、终日以生存为务的原始人群，不知何时竟能构想出某种能脱离肉体的“灵魂”观念，再进一步，竟至设想灵魂的不死，设想出飘忽不定的“精灵”，设想出能创造原始人所不能创造的“奇迹”的“神灵”……这样的幻想，较之于现代科学家设计脱离地球引力的宇宙飞船，是毫不逊色的，那是划破原始时代黑暗世界的一道曙光。原始宗教的神灵观念给原始人的想象添上了超自然的羽翼，使之解脱了人类生理本能的自然束缚，翱翔于超自然的无垠空间；也使原始人超出动物式的感性直观，进入人所特有的抽象思维领域。正是这种具有超自然性质的宗教观念和神灵观念，孕育了人类关于人与超人、自然与超自然的思考，成了文明时代各种哲学思辨和科学探索的起点。我们当然不能像泰勒那样，把产生万物有灵观念的原始人称之为“原始的哲学家”，因为他们头脑中所有的，不过是某种模模糊糊的信念，而不是明晰的推理。但是，如果原始人没有某种关于“超自然力量”的信念，就不会有宗教的神，也就不会在文明发展的一定阶段出现论证它的哲学与神学；当然，也不会因此而激发起把这种“超自然力量”还原为自然力量的自然科学和启蒙科学。

7.原始人一旦在自己的幻想世界里生出超人间、超自然的神灵观念，必然伴生出对神灵的依赖之感和敬畏之情。随着神灵观念的演进，神的神性愈益崇高，神的权能日渐强大，人对神的依赖感和敬畏感也就相应膨胀。对神的信仰愈是虔诚，人的宗教感情便越发强烈。情动于中势必发之于外，表现为相应的言词和身体动作。由于神灵只是幻想中的存在，任何人都不可能对神有实在感触，所以，一切表现神灵的言词和身体动作便不能不是拟人化的、象征性的。或者用某种物质性的实物和偶像象征那本属虚无的神灵，或者用比喻性的语词来表象神灵的性状，或者用模拟化的身体动作再现神灵的活动……一切“象征”性的表现，都是人性的创造活动，成为形象化的艺术。语言的象征，发展为讴歌神灵事功、感谢神灵恩德的文学艺术（诗歌和神话之类）；身体动作的象征性模拟，发展为舞蹈艺术；神灵偶像的制作，发展为雕塑绘画之类造型艺术……原始人的艺术活动和艺术创作之最深刻的源泉无疑是他们的社会实践，但同样无疑的事实是，原始艺术在原始社会的存在与发展，不可能脱离宗教观念的刺激和宗教崇拜活动的哺育。文化人类学的研究告诉我们，世界各民族的早期文化艺术几乎无不具有宗教的色彩，寄生于原始人的宗教生活。

8.原始人对神灵的依赖，必然表现为向神祈求、对神献祭之类崇拜行为；对神灵的敬畏又必然体现为对自身行为上的限制和禁戒规定。由于相信万物有灵，原始人的活动几乎成了事事献祭、处处禁忌的宗教生活，原始社会是一个以血缘关系为纽带而结成的氏族制社会，全体氏族成员信仰共同的神灵，进行共同参加的宗教活动，这就逐渐形成了全体氏族成员必须共同遵奉的规范化的宗教礼仪，它把氏族全体成员纳入于普遍性的行为模式和统一性的宗教体制之中。规范化的宗教礼仪具有超个人的权威，对氏族集团中的每一个人的行为与活动具有社会的强制力。氏族社会赋予宗教禁忌规定和宗教礼仪以神圣的权威，迫使原始人逐渐强化对社会规范的服从和对个人行为的约束。这些神圣的禁忌和规范成了原始人在生活中必须遵守的“无上命令”，使原始人的动物性本能受到抑制，由此而受到自制的教诲。年深日久，这些神圣的禁忌和行为规范演变而成为氏族的习尚，外在的强制化为内在的责任，行为上的“必须”积淀为良心上的“应该”，这就强化了源于人际关系的行为准则和伦理意识。弗雷泽说，与神圣观念相联系的禁忌制度，在人类早期的社会生活中，对稳定社会秩序，对确立私有财产不被盗窃和不受侵犯，对婚姻的神圣性，对保护和尊重人的生命，都有重大作用。这个说法确有道理。在原始社会，如果没有与宗教崇拜相联系的礼仪制度和禁戒规定，以及随之而来的严酷可怕的神圣制裁，原始人的道德规范和“法纪”规约是难以建立的，社会的文明与进步就难以想象了。

9.在原始时代，宗教的体制与社会的体制是浑然一体的。氏族制度被宗教化，宗教崇拜活动的体制也构成氏族社会的社会制度。由图腾崇拜而固定了同一图腾氏族男女不婚的外婚制；由祖先崇拜而规定出丧葬制度，与生产活动相联系的丰产巫术发展为各种祭祀制度……这一切都说明，原始宗教渗透到氏族社会生活的各个方面，固定以至构成氏族社会的各种制度，它是原始社会的无所不包的上层建筑。当然，各种上层建筑（其中包括宗教）的终极根源是社会的经济基础，但它们在原始社会是作为原始宗教的一个组成部分而表现出来的。尽管随着社会的演进、许多上层建筑和社会制度都先后脱去了宗教的外衣，但如追根溯源，我们几乎总是可以在原始时代的宗教中找到它们诞生之初的表现形态。

10.探究事物的根源，集中反映出人类理智的本性。人类的理智之所以有别于动物的感知，就表现在它不满足于感官的直观陈述，而不断追溯直观背后的根源，以至根源的根源……这种追根溯源的研究激发起思想的热度，促进认识的深化。地理学家探寻长江、黄河的源头，目的不是使江河倒流，而是为了科学地揭示其形成过程，预见其未来的发展，以求更好地整治和利用。同样，从原始宗教那里去探寻各种文化形式的源流，并不是把文明还原为野蛮，贬低文化的高雅和价值，而是从原始人性中寻找各种文化的种子，揭示出文化发展的真正轨迹。

11.原始社会是一个漫长的历史过程，原始宗教为我们的研究留下了巨大的时间和空间，是宗教学和其他人文学科取之不尽的知识之源。但是，如要研究原始社会的宗教，就得广泛收集一切有关的资料。没有资料就没有学术研究。而有关人类早期宗教情况的第一手资料，只能是原始人的遗骸和文化遗址。尽管宗教的观念不可感知，但如其萌生于原始人的思想之中，迟早总得外化为相应的语言和行为，表现为宗教崇拜活动。活动本身可以消失，但活动的后果却会以感性化、物态化的形式留存于世（如山顶洞人的随葬品，新石器时代原始人的墓葬，红山文化遗址的神庙和祭仪礼器……），人类学、考古学可以对这些原始遗物进行比较分析，推断原始人的宗教观念和崇拜活动。考古发现的宗教遗物本身并不能直接陈述原始人宗教崇拜的故事，我们只能根据与之处于同一文化时代的现代原始民族的宗教信仰情况，通过类比推理对之作出诠释。地理大发现以来，世界各地区、各民族的社会生活和文化习俗越来越多地为人们所了解。其中，不少民族至今尚处于原始社会阶段，民族学的资料可以为我们的研究提供直接根据和参照系统。

12.中国是人类发祥地之一。中华各民族的原始祖先都有自己的原始性宗教信仰。大多数民族在其发展的一定阶段跨入文明时代，但迟至20世纪50年代，仍有一些民族停留在原始社会，他们是原始宗教和原始文化的“活化石”。即使像华夏民族这样早已创造了世界最古老文明的民族，其传统宗教也并未彻底除去原始祖先的印迹，其历史文献更大量保存有关于原始宗教生活的记叙和历史追述；至于考古发现的原始宗教遗址，则遍布长城内外、江河南北。所有这些，为我们研究中国各民族原始社会、原始宗教和原始文化提供了丰富的人类学、考古学、历史学和民族学的资料。如果我们今天想要追溯中国文化和中国宗教的源头，必须对我国各民族的原始宗教给以特殊的关注。

鉴于原始宗教研究的重大学术意义，我在1983年于福州召开的我国第六个“五年计划”（1981—1985）期间哲学社会科学规划会议上，建议把研究中国原始宗教、收集整理有关资料列为国家科研计划。这个建议得到了学术界的重视。1986年在北京召开的“七五”期间哲学社会科学规划会议把这项研究列入国家重点科研项目，并委托我为这一课题的主持人。全国各地许多宗教学者、民族学者热烈支持此项研究，愿意投身到这一学术事业中来。在很短时间内，数十名学有专长、卓有成就的专家和教授参加我们这个规模壮观的课题组，展开广泛的协作。

13.当务之急是要广泛深入地进行调查研究，全面系统地占有原始资料，整理出版，为广大的宗教学者和其他人文学科的学术工作者提供最有权威的资料。为此，我们决定，在实地调查和整理文献记载和考古资料的基础上，编辑出版这一套《中国各民族原始宗教资料集成》（原名“丛编”）。本书将尽可能汇集迄今为止有关各民族原始宗教的全部资料，其来源有四：一是实地调查，二是考古发现，三是历史文献记载，四是学术论著中具有资料价值的记叙。这将是我国各民族原始宗教研究资料的全面集成。这里，我们应该强调指出的是：尽管我国各民族有关原始宗教的资料是丰富的，但长期以来我国学术界对它的调查研究却是不充分的。20世纪50年代、60年代，出于社会改革的需要，我国政府曾组织大批力量（其中不少是民族学者）对各民族的社会和历史进行过规模颇大的社会调查，获得了不少有关各民族传统文化和民俗活动的资料，这些资料是非常难得的、宝贵的。但是，由于种种历史原因，当时的调查主要侧重于社会经济形态和阶级构成，对于传统宗教的调查（通常视为迷信之类，不予重视），一般不过是一鳞半爪，浅尝辄止。对原始性宗教的表层现象虽有所记述，但对其深层内容则触及不多。这使我们失去了许许多多至今无法补救的、珍贵的、不可重复的第一手资料。如果我们今天再想补上宗教调查这一课，客观上确有难以克服的困难。可是，对各民族原始宗教的调查与研究，又不允许我们继续拖延下去。中华人民共和国成立40年来，是社会大变动和各族文化交融加速进行的历史时期。随着社会的改造和开放，至今尚存的原始民族以及各民族原始性宗教的传统遗迹已经很少了，并正在加快消失——这加重了我们完成这项事业的历史责任感和紧迫感。对各民族原始性传统宗教的调查研究以及资料的收集整理，是一桩带有抢救性的文化学术工程，必须充分重视，立即行动，抓紧进行。现在开展这方面的调查，为时已嫌过晚，如果一误再误，将来时过境迁，让时间的洪流冲刷尽原始性宗教的最后痕迹，我们就后悔莫及了。我们课题组全体同仁就是本着这样的认识承担起这副历史担子的。我们在经费短缺、人手不够的情况下，一方面对现有文献资料进行大规模的收集整理，一方面深入民族地区进行实地调查。有些同志年事已高，体弱多病，但他们却忘我地献身于这项事业，跋涉于高山深谷之地，奔走于穷乡僻壤之间。阅读本《集成》各卷的学界同事，当能从中体味到他们所作的奉献。对由于客观条件的限制而引起的某些资料缺欠，也就能更多地予以谅解。

14.本书的性质决定我们编选的资料只限于各民族的原始性宗教，可我国的大多数民族早已越过原始阶段，进入阶级社会，原始宗教的因素已沉积和混杂于后来发展的宗教之中。这就有一个按“原始宗教”的内涵和外延来收集和编选有关资料的问题。我们课题组对此作过多次研讨并达成共识。我们认为，所谓“原始宗教”的“原始”，是一个历史范畴，本意是指产生于原始社会的宗教形态，它是人类宗教的发端。原始宗教随着原始社会的发展而演变，但并不随原始社会发展为阶段社会而完全消失。它的许多因素和表现形式都经过变形而沉积在后代的宗教之中。尽管阶级社会的宗教已不再是标准意义的“原始宗教”，但却保留“原始性”宗教的因素。只要我们应用科学的分析方法，不难剥离阶级社会的“附加品”，筛选出原始宗教的“沉积物”。如果要对这种“附加品”和“沉积物”作出科学的甄别，我们必须对原始宗教不同于非原始宗教的特殊性有一个科学的认识。我们认为，这种特殊性主要表现在两个方面：

第一，原始宗教是原始氏族制社会的上层建筑和社会意识的总汇，它的社会本质集中体现为巩固氏族制度和维护氏族社会的传统。原始宗教所包含的各种基本要素（宗教观念、崇拜对象、崇拜行为、崇拜礼仪、宗教体制……）无论在内容和形式上，都体现出原始时代人际关系的性质和氏族制度的需要，并与氏族制的社会结构浑然一体，成为制约整个氏族集体所有成员之意识和行为的规范。原始宗教是氏族集团全民信仰的“氏族宗教”，不具有阶级社会所特有的阶级色彩。

第二，原始人的宗教观念是原始时代支配人们日常生活的异己力量在原始人头脑中的幻想反映。从人类诞生之日起，人就要仰赖于自然界以维持生存的需要。在当时，人要从自然界获取生存所需，便必须依赖由血缘关系结成的群体共同从事生产活动。这就决定原始人的生活既服从于自然力量的支配，又要接受社会关系的制约。两种异己力量在原始人的幻想世界中反映为神圣而又神秘的对象，集中表现为祖先崇拜和自然崇拜。这两种是原始社会氏族宗教的基本观念和基本崇拜对象，其他的崇拜对象大体上均由此衍化而来。图腾崇拜则是原始人观念世界中人与自然朦胧未分之际把自然物视为氏族祖先和氏族象征的一种宗教表现。阶级社会中的图腾崇拜、祖先崇拜、自然崇拜等宗教现象，本质上是原始宗教的“沉积物”，只要我们剥离其阶级色彩，就可在一定程度上还原原始宗教的一些现象形态。

《中国各民族原始宗教资料集成》各卷大体上就是按此理论原则来进行资料的调查、收集、选择和编辑处理的。

由于中国在世界上是一个率先进入文明时代的文明古国，除少数几个民族以外，绝大多数民族早已脱离原始时代，所以，严格意义上的“原始宗教”形态早已成为历史的陈迹。如果不采用这种剥离“附加品”，提取“沉积物”的办法，那些原始性的宗教因素就将永远埋没在历史的底层。这就像开采黄金一样，我们只有通过复杂的筛选程序或者取粹提纯，或者沙里淘金。在自然界，天然的纯金即令不是绝对没有，至少也是稀世之珍。它总是作为因素或颗粒，共生于包含诸多元素的矿石之内，散存于大片沙砾之中，主观上，我们当然希望淘取的“黄金”纯而又纯，但在实际的淘取过程中却不能不受客观的限制。有些宗教意识的共生物常常被历史化合为一种新的质态，如果想要把它还原为组合成它的原始因素，只能通过理论分析。可这样做，我们献给社会的产品，便不是原始资料，而是某种理论的抽象物了。基于这种考虑，《集成》各卷有时不得不向读者和学界提供某些原始宗教与其他宗教的“共生物”。对于志在研究中国原始宗教及其历史发展的学者，这种“共生物”也许更能使他们了解原始宗教的踪迹及其与其他宗教的关系。我们试想，这不仅不会降低此类性质资料的学术价值，反倒可以激发学者们进一步的联想。

15.我国是一个多民族国家，各民族的原始性宗教既有共同性因素，也各有其民族特色。为保持这种特性，我们决定以民族为单元，并依据某些民族族源的相似性或地区上的共同性，分卷编辑出版。除了各民族分卷以外，还包括《考古卷》和《古代文献卷》。

《集成》的编辑与出版，是一项意义重大的学术事业，工程浩大，卷帙繁多。但由于课题组同仁们的艰苦努力和精诚合作，工程进展相当顺利，可以预期必成。我们现在已推出第一批成果，在未来的几年内，将陆续完成计划中的全部分卷。此时此刻，我们在享受收获之乐的激动之余，不能不向中国社会科学出版社表示我们由衷的敬意和谢意，没有他们开拓学术新边疆的远见卓识和实际支持，在目前这种出版事业大不景气的时候，本书各卷的出版是难以想象的。

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO A SER IES OF SOURCEBOOKS ON THE PR IMITIVE REL IGIONS OF CHINA

Lü Daji

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The religious beliefs of primitive peoples were not only the beginning of religion of all the people,but also,in some sense,the origin of all forms of culture of human society.The various religions in the epoch of civi lization,no matter how great their deities,how mystic their creeds and how holy their ritual institutions,in fact,came from the vulgar worship of the barbarians of primitive society instead of through divine revelation.The same is true of the various forms of the refined,elaborated cultures:norms of lofty morality,solemn institutions of politics,literature and arts pleasant to both the mind and eyes,philosophical thoughts wise and deep,etc.,which,for all they took their roots in societies,grew and developed in primitive religions.The genesis and evolutionary development of religion and other forms of culture show that the study of primitive religion is of great significance.In order to have a good understanding of the nature and mystery of religion and other forms of culture,we should research their roots and the reasons for their genesis and development.For this reason,many scholars of religion,philosophy,ethics,literature,arts,anthropology,ethnology,sociology,history,etc.,like those who rush to a newly-discovered gold-field,cannot help going into the research field of primitive religion,which always makes one both puzzled and excited.

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How religion came into being is an issue of great importance in the study of religion.According to traditional belief a holy religion must have its holy origin.Theologists believe that their religion came from divine revelations.But the scientific study of religion broke away from the mythical interpretation.The thinkers emerging during the Enlightenment eradicated the dictatorial decision of fideism with j udgments made through rational criticism.They confirmed that religion,like other things in the world,has its process of formation and development.They tried to find out the nature of religion and the basis of its origin among human beings instead of deities.Owing to the rational re-search into religion,the st udy of religion shook off the yoke of theology and developed into an independent branch of the humanities-the science of religion-in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The research into the origin and evolutionary development of religion not only helped the modern science of religion to take shape but also has been a field of great interest to scholars of religion who pursue the subj ect avidly.Darwinism has played agreat role in the development of the modern science of religion.Since man evolved from the anthropoid ape,everything in the human world naturally has its process of development,which is basically the evolutionary development of more complicated forms of life from earlier and simpler forms.Religion is no exception.Therefore,it was not the sacred gods and deities but the barbarians in primitive society who founded religion,and thus they become the target of the research into the origin of religion.As a result,it became a fashion to do field work and investigation on the subj ect of primitive societies,primitive cultures and primitive religions of various ethnic groups in the world.

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From the late nineteenth century,when the science of religion had j ust been founded,to the early twentieth century,the modern science of religion achieved a vigorous development that produced a host of prominent scholars and academic schools in relation to religion.The diversity of their points of view on religion focused on its origin and development.Let us review some of the different conclusions on the problem of the origin of religion.Some German scholars held that the“gods”in religion and myths originated in the natural forces (especially the sun,the moon and the stars),which were personifled by the ancient people.According to Edward Burnett Tylor,religion arose from the ancient people's animistic ideas that developed through the process of a faulty logic drawn from physiological and psychological phenomena such as dreams,visions and trances.Herbert Spencer held that religion originated from the ancient people's worship of ancestors.Robertson Smith,Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud regarded the worship of the totem as the beginning of religion.R.R.Marett of Britain believed that the ancient people had held some more primitive forms of religious belief,such as“Manataboo”among the Melanesians.Before they believed in animism.The German Roman Catholic priest and ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt maintained that all the primitive people believed in a supreme God,that the idea of one God emerged in ancient times from the God's revelation to the human beings and that polytheism was the degeneration of the primitive monotheism.Other conclusions on the origin of religion owe it to the primitive people's faulty concepts and faulty association of ideas and attribute gods (obj ects of religious belief)to people's fantasy and the nature of god to the human nature.As a result of the extensive debate in relation to religion,the modern science of religion swept ahead magnificently ever since it came into eing.

The study of the origin of religion did not begin in the nineteenth century.As early as the Greco-Roman period,philosophers already raised various theories.Xenophanes defined deities as man's fantasy,the result of personification.According to Democritus (460？一362 B.C.),Epicurus(342?—270 B.C.),and Lucretius(997—755 B.C.),men's ideas of deities originated from their fear of the forces of nature.Pradikos,a Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C.,attributed religion and the concepts of deities and spirits to the activities by which men showed gratitude to the forces of nature that were critical to the existence of human beings.Critias,another Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C.,believed that deities were fabricated by ancient legislators as supervisors and j udges of morals so as to control the people.Aristotle maintained that religion,like philosophy,originated in man's awe and confusion about the creation of all things in nature and the movements of celestial obj ects.According to him,in order to explain the unknown,people produced religious myths,and in order to free the people from the stupidity of myths,philosophy came into being.Euhemerus,a Greek of the fourth-third centuries B.C.,attributed gods to the deification of the deceased eminent emperors and heroes.All these conclusions on the origin of religion ascribe the starting point of religion and gods to man's faulty ideas and therefore are a rational study based on antifideism.

Nevertheless,the approach to the study of the genesis of religion is quite different in the modern science of religion.In ancient society the study of the origin of religion was chiefly a philosophical inference,which had neither the concept of“primitive people"in relation to evolutionism nor positive evidence of“primitive religion”:while the modern science of religion put stress on field-work investigation and the collection of evidence in relation to the religion and culture of primitive society.

Max Muller,the founder of the modern science of religion,devoted great enthusiasm to the edition and translation of Oriental religious classic books (particularly the Veda of ancient India) and published Sacred Books ofthe East,which created a great sensation in academic circles.Edward Tylor,the founder of religious anthropology,wrote a well-known book,Primitive Culture,based on the field-work of primitive religion and culture he had made in Mexico when he was young.On the basis of his Questions onthe Manners.Customs,Religions,Superstitions,etc.ofUncivilized or Semicivilized Peoples and through the investigation of religious beliefs and customs of primi tive people,James G.Frazer wrote and published GoldenBough,a masterpiece of primitive religion.Malinowski and many other fruitful scholars of religion all made long-term investigations into the religious belief of primitive peoples and worked among tribesmen before they wrote books with the materials collected from their field-work.So it can be held that without the investigation of the religious beliefs of the primitive and ancient peoples and the accumulation of materials,there could not have been the mod-ern science of religion.

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At the same time we have to notice that in the early period of the modern science of religion various theoretical conclusions on the origin of religion were expounded,but many of them were in conflict with each other in theory and facts.This situation thus made many scholars of religion cast doubts on the value of the study of primitive reli-gion.Since the primitive age had become a remote past,as they thought,and the reli-gious belief of the existing primitive tribes was too complex for anyone to have a thor-ough and comprehensive understanding of it,the scholars of religion in developing the theories of the origin and evolution of religion had to take a part as a whole and make use of pseudo-philosophical deductions to substitute the missing links of historical facts.In view of this,some scholars maintained it was impossible for the study of the origin and growth of religion to become a true science because it could not be proved by experi-mental evidence.So they gradually gave up the study and turned to the contemporary comparative study of various religious beliefs and religious phenomena,giving psycho-logical,sociological and phenomenologieal interpretations to them.Thus,in the mod-ern science of religion,in addition to anthropological and historical studies of religion,there emerged new theories and new methods-psychological,sociological,and phenom-enological studies of religion.

Nevertheless,the growth of new disciplines in the science of religion certainly did not mean that the academic importance of the study of primitive religion was reduced or negated.It is only a century since the science of religion was established and developed as an independent branch of humane studies.It is only natural that in its early period there were different points of view in relation to the study of religion.This was a result of in depth study and a subsequent understanding of the origin and growth of religion from different stands because the different theories on the subj ect are all based on cer-tain facts.Instead of going away from it,scholars have come nearer to the truth.The di-versity of academic discussions only shows that we should put more stress on he investi-gation of the peoples of the world on a wider scale and collect more comprehensive data that contain more facts,so as to lay down a more solid base for the newly-established comprehensive study of religion.

The contemporary comparative study of religion made by religious psychologists,religious sociologists,religious phenomenologists and others was doubtless important.In fact,they benefited considerably from the study of primitive religions made by the early scholars,who had made analyses of the starting point of the primitive people's religious concent of gods and their various activities of worship.By absorbing nutrition from the early analyses,the contemporary comparative study of religion gives psychological and sociological analysis and phenomenological interpretation of primitive religious belief.As to the psychology of religious activities,the primitive people's religious psychology was the simplest:as to the social functions of religion,the social functions of Drimitive religions were given the fullest expression in the primitive society:as to the human nature reflected in various religious phenomena,it was most directly reflected in the dhenomenal forms of religious life in the primitive society.Thus it can be seen that without the study of primitive religions,these new approaches to the study of religion could not have attained its fullest development.

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The significance of the study of primitive religion is not limited within the science of religion.Throughout history religion has been high on the top of the superstructure of society,controlling the spiritual world of the masses of people.J ust as gods are eonsidered as the rulers of the world,religion is taken as the sacred origin of all forms of cul ture in the human society.To the ancient Chinese,all things in the world were decided by the Mandate of Heaven,as it is said in Shang Shu (BookofHistory),a Chinese classic.It is all the more for the westerners,who maintain that God created the world and Heaven decides all.

In modern times this traditional concept was criticized in all the disciplines of the humanities,and the study of primitive religion gave it a crushing blow.Since the earliest gods were but a creation by the savages in the primitive era,the real creator of all forms of culture must have been man instead of god:the earliest creator of culture must have been the primitive people who created god.Almost all the young shoots of culture began in the religious concepts and activities of the primitive people.No matter whether Ty or's“animism”has enjoyed the support of many scholars,the fact is that most of the primitive peoples of the world believed in animism.The belief that all objects are controlled by deities and spirits is a religious fantasy,but it is a doubtless fact that the primitive people had the fantasy.It was j ust such a universal belief that provided the primitive people with the“glasses o animism”,through which everything in their eyes were covered by clouds of religious mysticism.The religion in the primitive era became an all-embracing guiding principle of their life,a basis of their thoughts,a principle of their behavior,an origin of their passion,a standard of their morals,the ties of their social and personal relations,and a guarantee of their social order.The social life and all forms of culture of the primitive people were stamped with the brand of religion.They absorbed nutrition necessary for their growth from religious concepts,showed their ex-istence through religious activities and thus developed their different forms of represen-tation.The connection of culture with religion in the primitive era was not an obstruction but a promotion to the growth of culture.The fundamental elements necessary to the formation of religious system,such as religious concepts,religious feelings,religious actions and religious instit utions—all played a role similar to“hormones" in the growth of the primitive culture.

6

It should be taken as a qualitative change in the evolutionary development of the thoughts of human beings that the primitive people conceived of the ideas of souls and gods.Though they are vulgar and ill in taste in the light of the profound theories of the-ology and in the eyes of modern men,souls and gods in the primitive era were the grea-test and loftiest existence the primitive men had ever imagined,on which they concen-trated their highest wisdom and placed their hope for a happy life and the concern about their fate.It is not known how primitive people,who spent all the day seeking food to support their life by means of their natural capacities,could have conceived of the idea that a soul was able to leave the human body.Moreover.they imagined that“spirits"were floating and“gods"could create the miracles men could not make...The imagina-tion,like the light of early dawn that broke the dark world of the primitive era,was not in the least inferior to the design of the first spaceship made by modern scien-tists.The concepts of gods and spirits of primitive religion put a pair of supernatural wings on the imagination of primitive people.Thanks to the wings,they shook off the natural yoke of men's physiological instincts and thus made men fly freely in the limit-less supernatural space.Therefore,the primitive people went beyond the world directly perceived through senses into the sphere of abstract thinking that can be achieved only by human beings.

It was the supernatural religious ideas and the coucept of gods that made men ponder over men and supermen,nature and supernature,and that thus became the starting point of all philosophical thoughts and scientific research in the epoch of civilization.We cannot,of course,call the primitive people who had the conception of animism“primi-tive philosophers”as Tylor did,because what they formed in their minds was but a dim belief instead of a clear inference.On the other hand,if the primitive people did not have a certain belief in“supernatural power",there would not have been either reli-gious concepts of gods,or the philosophy and theology that expounded and proved it later in a certain period of civilization; nor would there have been the natural science and the Enlightenment philosophy that have subsequently returned the“supernatural forces"to the original forces of nature.

7

Once the imagination about the supernatural and above-the-world gods and spirits emerged in their unrealistic fancies,the primitive people were certainly in awe of and dependent on them.With the development of the imagination,the higher the divinity was,the stronger the divine power became,and the deeper the feelings of awe and de-pendence were.

Feelings had to be expressed outwardly through speech and physical actions.Since gods were but an existence in men's fancies,nobody could have physical contacts with them.Therefore,all the speech and physical actions that represented divinities had to be personified and symbolized.All symbolized representations,whether they are the sym-bolization of the purely illusory gods through obj ects and idols,or the representation of the nature and form of gods through speech by analogy,or the imitation of the imagined actions of gods through ment's physical acts,were the creation of human nature and be-came visualized arts afterwards.As a result,the symbols of speech developed into the literature and arts (poems,myths and so on) that express men's praise of and grati-tudes to the meritorious contributions of gods:symbolized imitation through physical actions developed into dances,and the creation of idols of gods developed into plastic arts such as sculpture and painting.

The artistic activities and creation of the primitive people doubtlessly came first of all from their social practices,and on the other hand it was also a doubtless fact that the primitive arts in the primitive society could not exist and develop without the stimulus of religious conception and the nutrition of religious worship.The studies of cultural an-thropology show that the early arts of all peoples without exception were tinged with re-ligion and dependent on their religious life.

8

The primitive people's dependency on gods and spirits was expressed as the worship of gods(praying and offering sacrifices),their feelings of respect and awe of gods were expressed in the restriction of their own acts(taboos and the like) .Owing to the belief of animism,the daily activities of the primitive people almost became a religious life full of sacrifices and taboos.Primitive society was of the clan system based on blood ties.In the society the members of a clan all believed in their common gods and thus engaged in common religious activities.This resulted in the gradual formation of the institutionalized religious rituals,which all clan members should observe and therefore brought them into a universal pattern of behavior and a unitary religious institution.The rituals enj oyed superpersonal authority and imposed many restrictions on the behavior and action of every member of the clan.The clan society gave religious taboos and rituals sacred authority,which forced the primitive people to gradually intensify the observation of social norms and the control of personal behavior.The sacred taboos and norms became the“highest orders”the primitive people had to obey in their daily life.Under the“orders" their animal instincts were restrained and they learnt to control themselves.With time passing by,the sacred taboos and the norms of behavior evolved into the cusstoms and habits of the clan,the outward compulsion into inner voice urging one to ehave in a certain way,and the“necessity”in one's behavior into the“obligation"required by one's conscience.All this caused the strengthening of behavior norms and consciousness of moral principles.

According to Frazer,in the early societies,the taboo institution,related to the concept of sacred,played an important role in stabilizing social order,guarding private property from robbery and encroachment,establishing the sacred nature of marriage,and safeguarding and respecting a person's life.There is truth in the argument.In primitive society,without ritual institutions and taboo regulations,which were related to religious worship,and the terrifying holy sanctions that would follow,the primitive peop e's moral principles and“laws"would have been difficult to set up,let alone the development of civilization and social progress.

9

Religious institutions and.social institutions formed a harmonious whole in the primitive epoch.The clan system became religious,and the institution of religious worship became a social institution of clan society.The totem worship stipulated exogamy,by which marriage was prohibited within a totemic clan.Ancestor worship stipulated funeral institutions.Beliefs in relation to productive activities evolved into various sacrificial rites,etc.All this shows that the primitive religion penetrated into all the aspects of the clan's social life and fixed and even formed all of its social institutions.It was an al lembracing superstructure of primitive society.All superstructures(including religion) originated,of course,from the economic base of the society,but in primitive society they expressed themselves as a part of primitive religion.With the evolution of societies,many superstructures and social institutions have taken off the overcoat of religion,but,if we trace back to their origin,we can almost always find their earliest forms in primitive religion.

10

Research into the roots of things reflects the nature of human intellect.What distinguishes human intellect from animal perception lies in the fact that the power of the human mind to reason is not satisfied with the information gained j ust through the senses and thus continuously attempts to trace back to the roots,even the roots of roots,behind the direct perception.The research by way of tracing back to roots arouses the enthusiasm in thinking and intensifies understanding.The scientists of geography who traced the origin of the Yangtse River and the Yellow River did not aim to make them run backward,but to scientifically reveal the formation of the two rivers and foresee their future changes in order to control and make use of them.Similarly,the search for the origin of all forms of culture in primitive religion does not aim to make civilization go back to barbarism and degenerate the elegance and high value of the culture,but to find the seeds of all forms of culture in the human nature of the primitive people,revealing the true traces of the evolution of culture.

11

The period of primitive society covered a very long time in history.The primitive religion that covered a long time and great space is in fact the origin of later knowledge,in exhaustible and essential for the science of religion and other disciplines of the humanities.But,if we are to study the religion of primitive society,it is necessary to collect all the relevant materials available.Without materials,there certainly will not be scientific study.

The first-hand materials about the early religions could only be the remains and cu1tural relics of primitive man.The concept of religion cannot be perceived,but,as it began to grow in the mind of primitive man,it would be sooner or later expressed through speech and action as the activities of religious worship.The activities themselves might have passed away,but the result they left behind might have been materialized and stay in the world(such as the funeral obj ects of Upper Cave Man,the ancient tombs of the Neolithic Age,the temples and sacrificial objects and other cultural relics of the Hongs han Culture) .Therefore,anthropologists and archaeologists can make a comparative study of the primitive relics and then deduce a conclusion about the primitive man's religious concepts and worship activities.The religious relics in the archaeological findings themselves can not show how primitive man had carried out their religious worship.We can only make an explanation of it on the basis of a comparative study of the religious beliefs of the modern primitive ethnic groups which are analogous to those of the ancient people.With the great Geographical Discoveries the peoples in the world began to know each other's social life,customs and habits.There are still a number of peoples who live in primitive societies,about which ethnological information can provide our studies with a direct basis and a referral system.

12

China is one of the cradles of human beings.The ancestors of all the peoples in China had their own primitive religious beliefs.Most of the ethnic groups have entered into the epoch of civilization,but a few of them still remained in primitive society as late as the 1950s.They could be taken as the“living fossils”of primitive religion and culture.Even the Chinese people,who created one of the oldest civilizations in the world,cannot get away from the prinis their ancestors have left in the traditional religion.In their historical documents there are a lot of records of primitive religious life.As to the relics of primitive religion in archaeological findings,they have a wide spread in China,inside and outside of the Great Wall and to the north and south of the great rivers.All these findings provide our study of the primitive societies,religions and cultures of the various ethnic groups in China with rich information in anthropology,archaeology,history and ethnology.If we hope to trace the origin of Chinese culture and religion,we must pay a great deal of attention to the primitive religions of China's various nationalities.In view of the importance of the scientific study of primitive religions,on the conference held in Fuzhou in 1983 for making the program of philosophical and social sciences in the period of the Sixth Five-Year Plan of China(1981—1985)I proposed that we should list the study of Chinese primitive religions and the collection of information concerned as a part of the national program of scientific studies.The proposal was highly valued by the academic circles.The conference for making the program of philosophical and social sciences in the Seventh Five-Year Plan(1986—1990)held in Beijing in 1986 listed the proj ect I had proposed as one of the important items of the program and entrusted the work to me.Many scholars of religion and ethnology warmly supported the project,hoping to take part in the work.In a short time dozens of experts and professors that had made remarkable achievements in their studies took part in one of the most comprehensive studies of primitive religions,that has been carried out involving broad multi-sided cooperatlon.

13

The most pressing task at the moment is that we must make an indepth investigation of wide scope and get overall systematic firsthand data and have them published so as to provide the scholars of religion and other disciplines of the humanities studies with the most authoritative information.For this purpose we decide that A Series ofSourcebooks onthe Primitive Religions ofChinashould be edited and published after collecting and sorting out,systematically,the archaeological findings,historical literatures and the field investigation data an the nation's primitive religions.The collection will gather as much data as possible about the primitive religions of various ethnic groups of China up to the present day.The sources consist of(1) field-work reports,(2) archaeological findings,(3) historical records,and(4) valuable data in academic works,It will be a comprehensive expression of all the data concerned.

On the other hand,we should notice that,though the primitive religions of China are rich in color,our academic circles have not made sufficient investigations of them.In the 1950s and 1960s,to meet the needs of social reforms,the Chinese government sent a large number of personnel (of whom many were ethnologists) to carry out a largescale investigation of the society and history of all minority nationalities in China.From the investigation a lot of data about the traditional culture and folk activities of minority groups was gathered.The data was of course very valuable.But,for some historic reasons,the investigation laid particular stress on socio-economic formation and classformation.As to the investigation of traditional religions,it stopped after only scratching the surface.There were only fragmentary records of superficial knowledge of the religions,and few touched the inside of them.Today,as we make up for the missed investigation of religions,we will certainly meet with many difficulties that cannot be overcome obj ectively.However,the investigation does not allow us to put it aside any longer.The forty years since the founding of the People's Republic of China have witnessed a historical period in which China has experienced great changes and the cultural interchange between nationalities has sped up.With social reforms,the existing primitive societies and the remains of primitive religions are dying away quickly.This situation heightened our responsibility to fulfill the task.To investigate and study primitive traditional religions of all the peoples in China and to sort out the data is an academic proj ect to record the primitive culture.We must pay much attention to it and carry it out as soon as possible.To do the work at the moment is already rather late.If we delay it a gain and again,when the last traces of primitive religions are washed away in the torrents of time,it will be too late to repent.That is why all the scholars who take part in the proj ect are eager to undertake this important historical responsibility.For all the shortage of financial support and hands,we began to collect and sort out written records and to carry out field-work in the areas of national minorities in China.Some of our group members are of old age and in bad health,but they selflessly threw themselves into the work,traveling across mountains and rivers in remote and undeveloped places.When you read the series,you will know in what difficult situations they have made the contributions and thus will have a sympathetic understanding of the shortage of data caused by obj ective conditions.

14

The nature of A Series ofSourcebooks onthe Primitive Religions ofChinahas decided that the sources involved should be only the data af the primitive religions.But.since most Chinese nationalities have passed over the primitive period and entered class society,and the elements of their primitive religions have fallen into or mixed with later developed religions,the collecting and sorting out of the data must be in accordance with the intension and extension of“primitive religion".After several discussions we reached a better understanding of the term.The“primitive”here,we think,is a historical category,referring to the religious form.that emerged in primitive society as the origin of all religious.Though they.grew with the development of primitive society,primitive religions did not disappear when the primitive society evolved into class society.Many of their elements and forms through transformation were deposited in the religions of later generations.The religions of class society are not“primitive”in its true sense,but they have kept many elements of the“primitive religions".If we use scientific methods to analyze them,it will not be difficult to tear off the elements added by class society and discover the original characteristics of the primitive religions.

If we want to clarify the distinctions between the two scientifically.we should have a scientific understanding of the characteristics of primitive religions,which,we think,lie in the following two aspects:

First,the primitive religion was a comprehensive expression of the superstructure and social consciousness of the primitive society of the clan system.Its social nature was mainly embodied in the consolidation of the clan system and the safeguarding of the tradition of clan society.The fundamental elements of primitive religion such as religious concepts,obj ects of worship,acts of worship,rites of worship,religious institutions—all reflected,both in content and form,the nature of human relationship and the needs of the clan system in primitive times,and mixed with the social structure of the clam systern to form a harmonious whole as the norms which put the thinking and behavior of all the members of the clan under control.The primitive religion was also a“clan religion”,which all members of a clan believed in and which was not colored by class consciousness.

Second,the religious concepts of the primitive people were the fantastic reflection in their minds of the alien powers that decided their daily life.From the earliest times,human beings had to rely on nature to maintain their existence.At that time,in order to get what they needed for their daily life,they had to carry out productive activities in groups based on blood ties.Thus,their life was under the control of natural forces and restricted by social relations.The two alien powers were imagined by them as sacred and mysterious obj ects,which were mainly expressed as ancestor worship and nature worship.Ancestors and nature were the main concepts and obj ects of worship of the clan religion in primitive society,from which other obj ects of worship developed.

Totem worship was a religious expression,by which natural obj ects were considered as clan ancestors and clan symbols when the primitive people could not clearly distinguish men from nature in their minds.The totem worship,ancestor worship,nature worship and other religious expressions in a class society are in nature the“deposited elements"derived from primitive religion.We may infer to some extent some other phenomena of primitive religion from them,provided we tear off their class color.

It is generally according to this theoretical principle that the field-work investigation for A Series ofSourcebooks onthe Primitive Religions ofChinawas made,and the sources were collected,sorted out and edited.

China is one of the pioneer civilized ancient countries.The majority of ethnic groups in China have long passed over the primitive period of social development,and cultural and religious interchange has been frequent among them.Except in a few ethnic groups,the forms of“primitive religion"in its strict sense have long become things of the past.If we do not use the scientific method to pick up the original characteristics by way of taking off the“added elements"as mentioned above,the primitive religious ele ments will be buried at the bottom of history forever.

It is j ust like digging gold.In the natural world,pure gold is very rare.Gold,as a rule,is always found in the ore consisting of many other metallic elements,or in sand.Gold can be purified and refined by sieving and other methods.Of course,we should like to have our gold panned as pure as possible.But in reality the work is always restricted by obj ective conditions.The same holds good of our work.The primi—tive religious consciousness and their co-existing practices have always been combined by history into some new religious understandings.To restore them to their original state requires theoretical analysis.If we did so,what we offer to our readers would not be the sources but some theoretical abstracts.Nevertheless,A Series ofSourcebooksonthe Primitive Religions ofChinasometimes have to provide our readers with some“co-existing obj ects”of these co-existing practices and not j ust the primitive religions in their original form.To those who are interested in the study of Chinese primitive religions and their history,the“co-existing practices”will perhaps give them a better understanding of the traces of primitive religions and the relations between the primitive religions and other religions.Instead of reducing the academic value of the sources,we think,this will enlighten the scholars.

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China is a multi-national country.The primitive religions of the minority nationalities have common elements,while each has its characteristic features.To keep the national characteristics,we shall publish the Series with a nationality as one unit.But for the convenience of printing,some nationalities who have many similarities in beliefs or who inhabit the same area are put into one volume.So,besides the volumes about the nationalities,there is a volume on archaeology and a volume on ancient documents in the Series.The editing and publishing of the Series with so many volumes is an important and difficult academic proj ect.Thanks to the hard work and sincere cooperation of our colleagues,things have gone smoothly and the project will be accomplished on schedule.Now we are offering the first fruits to the readers.In the coming years we shall complete the writing of other volumes.At this moment when we are over joyed at our harvest,we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the China Social Sciences Publishing House.Without their foresight and sagacity in opening up new academic frontiers and their great support,the publishing of the Series would have been impossible at the present time when the publishing business is at a low ebb.

English translation by

Chen Guansheng（陈观胜）