| Abstract |
The “Qinghua Bamboo Slips （9） •Dao Ci” has been published for years and has undergone extensive efforts and research by many scholars. Although the basic interpretation of the text and its meaning have been largely determined, there are still unanswered questions related to the sacrificial rituals. In terms of its documentary nature, it is likely a standardized application text designed for local leaders who had practical needs for sacrificial prayers.In order to meet the practical administrative needs of the various layers and regions of the state of Chu during the Warring States period, the authors of the “Prayers” may not have been individuals from a specific time or place. Instead, they likely extracted the necessary meanings for actual sacrifices and prayers from various types and levels of ritual ceremonies, and pieced them together to form the six prayers that we see today. Each prayer, when actually used, only requires the insertion of the place name（the name of the village or town）, the person’s name（the name of the local leader）, and the purpose of the sacrifice and prayer. This allows for easy disassembly and reassembly to meet the actual needs of the local leaders’sacrifices, making it a convenient and standardized application style.The research project will sequentially discuss the following topics related to sacrificial rituals: “命落” refers to the inauguration ceremony of a community shrine, “繁邑寔始昌” is an unmarked conditional clause, and the characters “藏”, “獻”, and “畜” in the text all carry the meaning of offering sacrifices.“東方之白馬” is derived from the Eastern offering, with the color white representing the ability to control wood, stop the wind, and the “offering of the lord’s libation” where “libation” does not refer to the millet-based libation, and “offering” refers to the offering of refined rice and the offering of a turtle, which were abundant in the state of Chu. The “Dao Ci” is the result of layer upon layer of descending rituals. By tracing its hidden veins, one can still imagine the grand scale before the descending and killing rituals took place. |
