论干宝《搜神记》中的诡异 = The abnormalities in Gan Bao's "Sou Shen Ji"

Abstract

The Wei and Jin Dynasty is an era of havoc and volatility. Its people were living in misery and uncertainty, and this changes the individual pursue and their perspective about the meaning of life. Therefore, there is a great emphasis in observing the people‟s attitude towards life. In addition, the society then was manifested by a complicated system of various religious thinking and a great deal of the talks is about the angels and spirits. Their sense of helplessness and feeling of insecurity spur them to turn to the different channels in search for a greater spiritual consolation. The book “Sou Shen Ji” is a widely recognized book of its time, and its author, Gan Bao, the “Shi Guan” (Historian) of the East Jin Dynasty. He had an extensive collection of the weird stories from the commoners. Therefore, in a way these stories reflect a great deal about their thinking and culture at that time. The objective of my thesis is to understand the people's perspective of life and death and religious thinking during the East Jin Dynasty. I had specially chosen to analyze “Sou Shen Ji” as it consists of various types of queer phenomenon such as regeneration, change in shape etc. I will be analyzing it using the highly debated topic among the Daoism and the Buddhism concerning the “Shape (xing)” and the “soul (Shen)”. In addition, I will also analyze the “Changes in shape (Bian Xing)” and “Changes in the phenomenon (Bian Xiang)” in the stories to understand the people's religious superstition.