Johan Rols. “Empirically Derived Ritual: How
Prohibitions on Tree-Cutting Illustrate Relations Between Sacred Cosmology and
Empiric Knowledge.” Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore 227
(2025.3): 9–46.
壽酣。〈源於經驗的儀式：伐木禁令如何體現神聖宇宙觀與經驗知識之間的關係〉。《民俗曲藝》227 (2025.3): 9–46。
Abstract
This paper examines the foundations of knowledge of nature in ancient
and early medieval China that blended knowledge and agricultural practices with
a distinctly Chinese ritual culture. It analyzes normative discourses relating
to felling trees to understand how various tree-cutting prohibitions highlight
practices and conceptions of the relationship between humans and trees and,
through them, with nature. The key concept of “appropriate periods”(yishi 以時) is proposed in this research to understand the sacralization
of cosmologized periods specific to each human activity in normative discourses
on calendrical regulations. The term “empirically derived ritual” used in the
title summarizes the way in which the idea of a system of concordance between
human activities and the cosmic order conceptualizes tree-felling prohibitions
by also drawing on empirical knowledge. This paper also explores how this
conceptualization of calendrical and ritual prohibitions from the
cosmo-liturgical calendars and hemerological texts of Antiquity–such as the
“Shi’er ji” 十二紀 of the Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋, the cycle of “Punishments and Rewards” (“Xingde” 刑德), and Daybooks (Rishu 日書)–had an influence on medieval agricultural treatises such as
the “Fa mu” 伐木 chapter of the Qimin yaoshu 齊民要術, written in the sixth century by Jia Sixie 賈思勰.
本文透過將經驗知識和農業實踐與典型的中國禮儀文化相結合，探討了中國古代特別是中古早期自然知識的基礎。本文也分析了與砍伐森林有關的規範，以瞭解各種禁止砍伐森林的規定是如何強調人類與森林、以及人類透過森林與自然建立關係的觀念和實踐。本研究提出「以時」這個關鍵概念，以理解曆法規範中每項人類活動在宇宙化時期所特有的神聖化。而標題中使用的術語「源自經驗的儀式」，總結了人類活動與宇宙秩序在系統上的一致性的思想，是如何通過汲取經驗知識使砍伐樹木的禁令概念化。這種來自上古的宇宙儀式曆法和曆法考古文獻——諸如《呂氏春秋》的「十二紀」，「刑德」的循環，《日書》—將曆法和禮儀禁令加以概念化。本文也將分析它們如何對中古時期的農學論著—例如賈思勰於六世紀撰寫的《齊民要術》中的〈伐木〉篇——產生了影響。