A Study of Mystical Thinking in Ancient Chinese Expressions: Focusing on “Chen Wei”
International Journal of Religion August 12, 2024 Hao Wang, Pei-Jung Wang
Mystical thinking in ancient Chinese culture was originally expressed through spoken sound and language, as seen in blessings, declarations to spirits, shamanic practices, court and folk poetry, and proverbs. This paper examines materials from the Han dynasty texts of 'Chen Wei' to analyze how mystical consciousness and a preference for cautious speech and silence over verbosity were linguistically and culturally encoded. It traces the origins of this thinking back to ancient interactions with gods and spirits, then discusses how the mode of expression gradually shifted from oral sound to writing, showing an evolution in how mystical content was conveyed across Chinese cultural history.