Sun Pu: An Investigation of Southwestern Ethnic Cultures: "Divine Judgment"
[Abstract] Ordeal is a method of resolving disputes in ancient societies. Through an introduction to Western ordeals, this paper focuses on the ordeal in the ethnic minority areas of Southwest China. On this basis, it comprehensively analyzes its unique ordeal procedures. It attempts to explore the ancient value orientations of law contained therein.
[Keywords] Ordeal Witchcraft
I Overview
Montesquieu said in *The Spirit of the Laws*: “Laws should be related to the natural state of a country, to its cold, hot, or temperate climate; to the quality, form, and area of its land; to the lifestyle of its people, whether they are farmers, hunters, or herdsmen; and they should be adapted to the religion, inclinations, wealth, population, trade, customs, and habits of the inhabitants…” This passage brilliantly explains the social and natural factors behind the creation, recognition, and application of all laws——including state-made laws and folk customary laws, historical laws and current laws——. As a magnificent flower among folk customary laws, the ordeal is precisely the result of the combined action of the many factors mentioned above.
The ordeal, abbreviated as divine judgment or divine adjudication, refers to a method of adjudication in the process of dispute resolution where, when evidence is insufficient and right and wrong are hard to distinguish, the resolution of the dispute is entrusted to the supernatural willpower of a god that both parties consider to be the source of justice. The suspect or both parties are placed in a real or potential state of danger, and whether they remain unharmed by the grace of the divine will is used as the testing standard for their guilt or innocence. In the early stages of the development of human legal culture, any society with written records in the world had records of ordeals. The *Bible•Old Testament* records that ancient Israelites used bitter water to test a wife's chastity; the ancient Babylonian *Code of Hammurabi* threw women suspected of adultery into the water to determine whether they were chaste based on whether they floated or sank; Article 102 of the *Narada Smriti*, a supplementary text to the ancient Indian *Manusmriti*, stipulated eight methods of ordeal, including the fire ordeal, water ordeal, balance ordeal, poison ordeal, and holy water ordeal; ancient Greece had the custom of making suspects float on the sea or jump from high rocks; poison was a commonly used method by the Ashanti people in Africa; the Ju Ju people made suspects swim across a pool full of snakes and crocodiles; the Sumatrans made people swallow a handful of raw rice or flour; the Borneo people had the custom of cockfighting and beheading apes; ancient Egypt brought suspects to temples and prayed before the gods to determine guilt or innocence; ancient Japan and ancient Germanic peoples had records of fire ordeals and boiling water ordeals. Ancient Roman augury developed extremely perfectly. Ancient China was naturally no exception, as can be seen from the structure of the ancient Chinese character “灋” for “law” (法). Regarding the explanation of 灋, nothing is more authoritative than *Shuowen Jiezi* by Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty: 灋 means punishment; it is as level as water, derived from the water radical; 廌 (the mythical beast) butts the unjust to remove them, derived from [廌] and to remove; 法 is the modern simplified form. On this point, the generally accepted view is that in ancient times, when Shun was the Son of Heaven, he appointed Gao Yao as the Minister of Justice to handle criminal cases. When encountering difficult cases where the facts were unclear and hard to decide, they would invite the single-horned beast Xiezhi to act as the judge; it would butt the guilty and not butt the innocent. Japanese scholar Hozumi Nobushige made a theoretical summary of the recorded ordeals that appeared in history around the world. Based on whether the specific means applied during the ordeal process were only for the suspect or had to be endured by both parties, he divided ordeals into two types: the single ordeal and the dual ordeal. The specific classifications are as follows:
Single Ordeal:
1. Water Ordeal: Hot Water Ordeal: The judged person tests hot water with their hand, and guilt or innocence is determined by whether the hand is injured;
Cold Water Ordeal: The judged person is placed in water, and guilt or innocence is determined by whether they sink or float.
2. Fire Ordeal: Burning Fire Ordeal: The judged person thrusts their hand into a burning fire or walks through it, and guilt or innocence is determined by whether they are injured;
Iron Fire Ordeal: Hand Iron Fire Ordeal, Foot Iron Fire Ordeal, Tongue Iron Fire Ordeal.
3. Food Ordeal: Indian Rice Ordeal•English Corsned.
4. Poison Ordeal: Poison is given to the judged person, and guilt or innocence is determined by whether they are poisoned.
5. Touch Ordeal: The suspect is made to touch an object, and guilt or innocence is determined by the changes manifested in the person or the object.
Dual Ordeal:
1. Combat Ordeal
2. Cross Ordeal•Medieval Christian States
3. Head Ordeal•Taiwanese Indigenous Tribes
4. Equal Fire Ordeal•Purma
5. Salt Ordeal•Borneo
6. Shell Ordeal•Borneo
7. Needle Ordeal•Philippine Natives
From the many enumerations above, we can roughly see that the ordeal, as a judicial means, is entirely a primitive religious activity that intervenes and takes possession of judicial activities through its controlling power over people's spiritual souls and through people's psychological fear of unknowable natural forces. It uses the power of universally recognized gods as the judge of guilt or innocence and the executor of punishment. The existence of gods and their supreme authority is the primary prerequisite for the effective operation of the ordeal. It can be seen that the successful application of the ordeal requires the following basic elements:
1. Disputed disputes with insufficient evidence where right and wrong are hard to distinguish; only when the circumstances of an event exceed people's normal cognitive range and knowledge structure, putting them in a helpless situation where their existing knowledge cannot yield a satisfactory judgment and result, do people resort to an external force beyond human power to make a judgment;
2. There must be a god who rules the world; this god is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. It must favor the upright and innocent, and deeply hate those who offend the gods and the wicked. As mentioned earlier, this is the cornerstone of the ordeal, which means that people must believe that doing things they shouldn't do or even evil things is an offense against the gods, and this god is the spiritual pillar of the people. He can uphold justice, distinguish right from wrong, and more importantly, punish evil and promote good;
3. In appearance, the suspect must be placed in a perilous situation; people in places where divine judgments are practiced mostly believe that the omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient deity they worship, who upholds justice, distinguishes right from wrong, and punishes evil while rewarding good, will not protect or favor those who commit misdeeds. Therefore, by placing the suspect in a perilous situation imbued with a divine aura, if he manages to escape unscathed, it indicates that he is innocent and has received the favor of the gods; otherwise, if he suffers disaster, it shows that he is not innocent and deserves his punishment.
From this, it can be seen that the judgment, from beginning to end, is permeated with a reverence for the unknowable and immense power of the supernatural deities. It was a last-resort method relying on divine power adopted when people could not use their own intellect to search for evidence of a crime or force the suspect to tell the truth. It lacks the slightest connotation of justice in the modern sense of logical evidence. The only thing that “can ensure that rules which seem bizarre or even absurd to another era or society achieve justice is indeed not these rules themselves, but the multitude of social and psychological factors that produced them and allowed them to function within that context.” Therefore, many scholars refer to divine judgment as a method of adjudication from the early stages of primitive society's cultural and legal development——or even during its embryonic, underdeveloped phase. For example, the aforementioned Japanese scholar Hozumi Nobushige believed that “in the early days of the state, when laws had not yet been established, the will of the gods acted as a latent force guiding public behavior. Therefore, when disputes were difficult to resolve, people often relied on divine lots and divination to discern the will of the gods to determine right from wrong, or directly sought the judgment of the gods……” “People of lower cultural levels believe that gods possess supernatural power, control human affairs, bring fortune or disaster, and reward the good and punish the wicked. Thus, in primitive societies, when disputes arose over legal matters, people often prayed to the gods for their judgment or discerned the divine will to adjudicate right from wrong.” As an important aspect of the development of human culture, law has completed its transformation from barbarism to civilization, from blind worship to rational decision-making. Therefore, if we merely view law from the perspective of the logical development of human culture, attributing divine judgment to the primitive and ignorant societies of early peoples has its logical rationale. Because, “in the historical course of human judicial practice, methods of proof have undergone two major transformations: the first was the shift from a method of proof primarily based on ‘divine proof’ to one primarily based on human testimony; the second was the shift from human testimony to one primarily based on physical evidence. Correspondingly, the history of judicial proof can be divided into three periods: the first period featured ‘divine oaths’ and ‘divine judgments’ as the main forms of proof; the second period used the statements of parties and witnesses as the primary method; the third period uses physical or scientific evidence as the primary means.” However, real-world societies often cannot be simply glossed over with logical and rational thinking. In modern society, divine judgment, as a highly effective method of adjudication, still exists in many regions. The ethnic minority concentrated areas in southwest China are a living example.
II. Divine Judgment in the Ethnic Minority Areas of Southwest China
Many scholars studying Chinese law believe that China is a society without a tradition of divine judgment. “In the ideology of our ancestors, there was absolutely no concept like that of the Greeks, who believed that every law was formulated by the gods. At the same time, our laws never relied on the power of witchcraft or religion to maintain them. Not a single known law is accompanied by a curse. Those who held judicial power were not people possessing magical or divine authority. In China, legal sanctions are separated from religious or ritual sanctions.” “In China, people's concept of the origin of law is different from the aforementioned other countries (European, West Asian countries, note by the quoter). Throughout history, no Chinese person has ever believed that any written law originated from the will of the gods, and even the most complete written law is no exception. Here we need not mention the divine judgment method involving riding a golden tiger deity, popular in the Bayu area of Sichuan. Just taking the ethnic minority areas in southwest China as an example, divine judgment, as a method of adjudicating right from wrong and good from evil, is ubiquitous, extremely common, and comes in a wide and diverse variety of forms, which remains true to this day. The author speculates that the aforementioned scholars' discussions might only refer to the situation of the Chinese legal system, which is primarily Han-based and takes Confucianism as its theoretical foundation. When discussing Chinese legal culture, we must by no means use such specific descriptions to make arbitrary generalizations about the situation across the entire country.
In the ethnic minority areas of southwest China, due to geographical and economic reasons, many ethnic minorities live in places with highly underdeveloped transportation and communication. Often, there is only one village every few dozen or hundred miles of mountain roads, and the households within the same village are often extremely scattered. Therefore, government legal departments have rarely intervened in these ethnic minority villages since long ago in history. Consequently, in these places, spontaneously formed customary law has become the basic means for resolving disputes within these ethnic villages. Coupled with the constraints of their own economic backwardness and the stage of civilizational evolution, these ethnic minorities mostly use divine judgment to resolve difficult cases and disputes. Below, we will first list three cases of divine judgment from different periods and regions, so that we may have a deeper understanding of the existence and efficacy of divine judgment.
1. Divine Judgment Document from Ping'an Village, Longji Village, Heping Township, Longsheng, Guangxi
We, the undersigned, willingly entering the shrine: Liao Gui, Liao Zhao, Yang Gang, Liang Tie, Ren Hong, and others, representing the collective of Maocheng Upper Village. It is often said that people will cry out against injustice, and sages value a society without litigation. In our case, because of a dispute over territory with Maocheng Lower Village—specifically the five gullies and five bends of Tuge Fengmucao, which were originally our shared mountain but which they claim as their own land—we invited mediators to reason it out, but the leaders of the first *jia* could not distinguish right from wrong. We secretly thought that just as government mountains and seas have their boundaries, how could locally produced mountain properties have no owner? We are each willing to pray to the gods; whoever has done wrong, with the gods three feet above their head, deceiving their own conscience, every movement and stillness is observed by the gods without the slightest error. Therefore, we are each willing to enter the temple and pray to the gods.
Before the seats of the great deities, may you observe and deliver retribution. Whoever is right or wrong, the gods are inherently impartial and will clearly adjudicate. If any of us meets with an unforeseen disaster and loses our lives, it will truly be because of fraud and usurpation, and all the money from the banpai shall belong to Tianzhai. And none of us, nor our neighbors, shall gossip or use the loss of life to stir up trouble. If anyone goes back on their word, they willingly accept their guilt. Fearing that oral words carry no proof, we establish this document of willingness and hand it to the local authorities as a license and evidence.
Those willingly establishing this document, representing the collective of the Upper Village • Liao Yang Gang • Liang Tie Fu • Sheng Ren Xian
Document holders of the First *Jia* • Liao Jin Shu • Pan Jin Wang • Chen Jing Zhang
Local witnesses • Liao Liang Rong • Yuan Hua, etc.
Scribe: Pan Tingfan. Fee: 500 wen
Sixth year of Guangxu (1880) • Second Month • Second Day • Established
2. The Case of the Qiang People Retrieving White Stones from Boiling Oil in Aba, Sichuan
In the late 1930s, in Xihu Village of Quge, there was a landlord who, despite possessing immense wealth, suffered from bad luck and lost many possessions. He suspected that Chen and a few others had stolen them. However, verbal accusations lacked proof, and he had no solid evidence. This landlord then demanded that Chen and the others join him in swearing an oath before the deities. Afterward, a pot of oil was boiled, and everyone was to retrieve white stones from the boiling oil. If a person retrieved a white stone and their hand was not scalded, it proved their innocence; otherwise, they were the thief. As a result, when the landlord himself retrieved a white stone from the boiling oil, his hand was not scalded. When Chen retrieved a white stone, his hand was also not scalded, but when he retrieved a white stone on behalf of his aunt, his hand was scalded. Chen's aunt was consequently identified as the thief.
3. The Case of the Yi People in Liangshan Swearing an Oath by Killing a Chicken
At the end of February 1987, in Waren Village, Juehuo Township, Meigu County, the family of Jiyuan Huoge of the Jierjibu sub-clan of the Jike clan discovered that 600 yuan kept in a box had been stolen. They suspected that it was stolen by the 15-year-old son of Jike Shiji of the Jishi Ashi sub-clan of the Jike clan, a neighbor who often stayed at their house. On March 2, they invited the Degu (mediators) from various sub-clans within the clan to mediate, but to no avail. Later, both parties and the Degu decided to let Jike Shiji kill a chicken for the victim Huoge to see, and swear an oath to declare his innocence. Shiji caught a white rooster from his home, draped a white felt cloak over his shoulders, wrapped a white headscarf around his head, and inserted twenty-seven peeled sacred tree branches into the headscarf. Holding a sharp knife in his right hand and the chicken and a peach branch in his left, he walked out into the wilderness. At the location designated by the mediators, he handed the chicken to nine people, including Degu Jike Mose and Ashuo Muga, for inspection. The nine individuals respectively checked whether the chicken's ears were stuffed with fireweed. According to Yi custom, if something is stuffed into the chicken's ears, the chicken-killing oath will not be efficacious; killing a chicken represents asking the deities to bear witness, and the person killing the chicken is letting the chicken's soul take the place of their own soul to endure the suffering of the oath. If the chicken's ears are blocked and the chicken is killed, even if the person killing the chicken is guilty, they will not be punished by the ancestral spirits. At this moment, the Degu's assistant, the "Mosa" or "Mouzhe", shouted loudly, saying: "This ritual is held to settle the dispute between the two families. Now that the senior Degu have left, we are the only ones supervising. Once this ritual is completed, the case cannot be reopened." Then, holding the chicken and the knife, Shiji chanted an incantation: "If anyone from the family of Jike Shiji stole the 600 yuan from Huoge's family on the day of the dog and the day of the snake, may they die just like this chicken. If we did not steal it, may all go well, may we live a long life, and may we be as pure as white snow." After chanting, he turned sideways to one of the people maintaining order and asked if he had chanted the incantation correctly. The person nodded, and he struck the chicken's head with the knife and the branch. After the chicken was killed, its head was placed on the ground facing north, the peach branch was placed on the chicken's body, and the knife was placed beside the chicken. He himself then walked backward. As he stepped back, he used the toe of his right foot to kick forward the stone that had been placed under his heel during the chicken-killing. Taking another step back, he removed the sacred branches from his head, divided them into nine groups, and planted them in the mountainous ground in front of him. That is, each group of three branches was crossed and planted in the ground, forming two corresponding rows, and a branch was diagonally placed from outside to inside at the intersection of the branches; afterward, the branches were respectively crossed from the two outer sides to the inside, meaning they were swapped left and right, and similarly placed on the crossed branches. This represented "locking the door," meaning that a magical barrier was set up to cut off the path of evil. At this point, the Degu's assistant loudly ordered everyone to retreat. Shiji turned away to wash his hands in spring water, then returned to the village entrance, where he asked the Bimo (priest) waiting there to perform an ancestral sacrifice for him and his family. He held the sacrificial chicken above his head and walked around nine times. Upon returning home, he had the Bimo perform a ritual to exorcise evil spirits, sacrificing a male goat, a male pig, and a rooster to the ancestors, and paid the Bimo a remuneration of 20 yuan.
Next, let us examine the situation of divine judgments among the ethnic minorities in southwestern China:
Yi People • Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan: Retrieving objects from boiling water or oil, Naike Duo (holding a plowshare), chewing white rice, swearing oaths by killing poultry or beasts, floating lamp wick, touching stones, breaking sticks, pulling up wooden stakes;
Qiang People • Aba, Sichuan: Retrieving objects from boiling oil, killing a chicken and hanging a dog, swearing oaths and making vows, shooting a grass effigy with a gun, rolling dice;
Zhuang People • Guangxi: Retrieving objects from boiling water, killing a chicken and a dog to file a complaint to the underworld, boiling rice, fighting cats and dogs, drawing lots, walking over fire;
Yao People • Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi: Killing a chicken and a dog, making vows, entering the shrine, burning incense, putting into a bag;
Jingpo People • Dehong, Yunnan: Retrieving objects from boiling water, killing a chicken and a dog, calling to heaven and the thunder, boiling rice, burning incense sticks, dipping in egg white, fighting field snails, divination with eggs, submerging in water;
Bai People • Dali, Yunnan: Retrieving objects from boiling oil, calling to heaven and the thunder
Hani People • Honghe, Yunnan: Cejia Lanuniu (retrieving objects from boiling water), drinking clear water, palmistry;
Dai People • Xishuangbanna and Dehong, Yunnan: Hanging a winnowing basket, boiling rice, boiling zongzi, boiling eggs, walking over fire, diving;
Lisu People • Nujiang, Yunnan: Retrieving stones, drinking blood wine, sprinkling blood wine;
Wa People • Southwestern Yunnan: Retrieving objects from boiling water or oil, examining chicken bones, examining field snails, rolling eggs, piercing hands, striking heads, balancing wooden boards on the head, holding stones;
Naxi People • Lijiang, Yunnan: Retrieving objects from boiling oil, crawling under cowhide;
Blang People • Xishuangbanna, Yunnan: Measuring rice;
Achang People • Dehong, Yunnan: Holding stones, lighting candles;
Nu People • Nujiang, Yunnan: Retrieving stones, Nuyou (pulling out stone pillars), Shunshu (drinking blood wine),
De'ang People • Dehong, Yunnan: Examining chicken tongues;
Derung People • Nujiang, Yunnan: Keerda (retrieving objects from boiling water or oil)
Miao People • Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan: Retrieving objects from boiling oil, killing a chicken and a dog, drinking blood wine, making vows, boiling rice, boiling zongzi, climbing a knife ladder, stepping on axes, stepping on plowshares;
Bouyei People • Guizhou, Guangxi: Examining chicken eyes, making vows;
Dong People • Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Hubei: Retrieving objects from boiling oil, killing a chicken and examining its eyes, chopping off a chicken's head, drinking blood wine, calling to heaven and the thunder, eating meat from the tip of a spear, boiling glutinous rice;
Tibetan People • Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Retrieving an iron axe, holding an iron plowshare, balancing a Gawu (amulet) on the head, crawling under a sacred rope, Sangerili (turning roasted barley flour dough), Daogarinah (retrieving pebbles);
Tujia People • Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan: Dachi (praying to the gods), drinking cat blood wine, climbing a knife ladder;
Gelao People • Guizhou: Retrieving objects from boiling oil
Lhoba People • Luoyu, Tibet: Biting tiger teeth, Duoniboluoding Zhadennai (swearing oaths and making vows), Dazhuerbale (examining eggs);
Deng People • Zayü, Tibet: Eating food.
Constrained by the limited scope of data collection, the author was unable to list exhaustively all the situations regarding divine judgments among the many ethnic minorities in the southwest. However, from this incomplete list alone, we can see the widespread existence of divine judgments in southwestern China, and there is no doubt that these judgment methods play an irreplaceable judicial role in these regions.
III. Procedures of the Ordeal
In any judicial activity, procedure occupies an extremely important position, and in the ordeals of various ethnic minorities, the value and significance of procedure are even more important. Because “solemn ceremonies, cumbersome procedures, and various auxiliary and restrictive rules enable the system applying the ordeal to successfully maintain its sanctity and authority.” It is evident that there must be solemn operational procedures for the ordeal; otherwise, it is difficult to maintain the authority of its results. Below, we will primarily use the Yi people of Liangshan, Sichuan as an example to explore the procedural issues of the ordeal, and use the situations of other ethnic groups to make some necessary supplementary details.
As mentioned earlier, the ordeal stems from the belief that any evil act violating or offending customary law is equally disrespectful and blasphemous to the gods. Therefore, there must first exist a fair and considerably authoritative customary law, because only when its existence has made a characterization of evil, but is unable to make a verdict of guilty or not guilty, does the ordeal emerge. Thus, before we explore the procedures of the ordeal here, we must first discuss the emergence of customary law, which guided the ordeal onto the stage of judicial decision-making.
“Customary law is like a landscape; from south to north, east to west, customs change with the landscape. Of course, customary law is ultimately a cultural landscape; therefore, comparing it to language, as 19th-century historical school jurists did, might be more accurate. …… The saying that customary law originates from nature contains two meanings. First, customary law does not stem from the will or reason of legislators (whether national, familial, or other legislative organizations), but automatically manifests in the daily life of the folk. Second, customary law is shaped by ‘nature’; this so-called nature refers not only to the actual order of life but also includes mountains, rivers, scenery, folk customs, and human relations.”
Among the Qiang people, “the discussion system, namely the ‘Ermuziba Conference’, is an early-originating customary law content regarding procedural norms. ‘Discussion’ is the democratic ritual assembly system of the early Qiang people, …… As one of the important contents of Qiang customary law, the main functions of ‘discussion’ are manifested in formulating and implementing customary law, serving both legislative and executive functions. Correspondingly, relevant procedural rules are also reflected in these two aspects.” As recorded by the author of that book, the formulation of customary law is carried out in “public discussion”. All affairs within the village, such as the election of leaders, the creation and modification of village pacts, the arrangement of major sacrifices and festival activities, property disputes, criminal cases, and the armed defense of the village, are decided in this regularly held and strictly ritualized “public discussion”. Among the Dong people at the borders of Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangxi, the Dong Kuan, formulated through democratic consultation, allows the Dong people to live a life of “having Kuan but no officials.” “‘Kuan’ means a group pact; customarily, it is used to refer to the group. The Liuzhou Gazetteer states that the Guangxi militia is called Kuan, referring to the local militia. Old gazetteers refer to assembling Kuan, which is commonly used for all matters related to executing group pacts. This dates back long before the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods of the Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that the Pingjiang District of this county (Sanjiang County) in the past prevented self-governance and self-defense. All followed the twenty-one articles established by Zhou Fu and Liu Lang as rules, which have been handed down to this day. Whenever a crowd is assembled or a group is formed, it is called ‘initiating Kuan’. Later, the Jiuhe Bureau of Xunjiang and the connected groups of villages like Heli were called either Da Kuan (large Kuan) or Kuoda Kuan (expanded Kuan). Presumably starting from this, whenever a group was formed or a Kuan was agreed upon, all would abide by it jointly and obey the command of the Kuan leader. In the event of a massive incident, chicken feathers and charcoal would be placed in a letter (actually fixed on a wooden board) as an urgent signal for transmission (the articles called it a flying card). Upon hearing this, people would brave wind and rain, rushing through the night to the designated location. Those assembling on time often exceeded ten thousand, with none daring to be late. This kind of organization has an especially long history among the Dong people. The Yao people in the Dayao Mountain of Guangxi use stone tablets as their main customary law. The provisions of their customary law must be deliberated by leaders and the masses, then engraved in writing on stone tablets (or wooden boards, etc.). Through a certain ceremony, the stone tablet is erected, and everyone must abide by it without violation. Other southwestern ethnic minorities, such as the Yi, Tibetan, Bai, Maonan, etc., have similar extremely solemn and serious generation processes for the creation and formulation of their customary laws, which will not be reiterated here. Readers can imagine that the procedures of the ordeal triggered by the violation of such extremely serious customary laws will also be highly complex and rigorous. Now let us explore the factors closely related to the ordeal, namely the executors of the ordeal, that is, the generation of the conveyors of divine will.
Among the Yi people in Liangshan, Sichuan, “personnel engaged in sacrifices can generally be divided into Bimo (priests, shamans), …… Bimo is also written as Bimu, Bingmu, Zima, Baimo, etc. ‘Bi’ means reciting, chanting, conveying, and reading aloud; ‘Mo’ refers to female, mother, elder, large, or a messenger who mediates (disputes) and persuades people. A Yi proverb says: ‘Bi is about reasoning and resolving difficulties, communicating sensibly between humans, ghosts, and gods; Mo is the intermediary, the mediating elder or messenger.’ Therefore, Bimo refers to the priests (shamans) engaged in religious sacrificial activities. They are proficient in the Yi script and historical allusions, understand the Yin-Yang calendar, and possess rich traditional culture.” In addition to the Bimo, the Dugu, who is in charge of mediating disputes, is also an indispensable participant in the Yi ordeal. Others, such as the Mulao of the Yao people, the Zhaoman of the Bulang people, the Wumengzuo of the Achang people, the Lilao of the Miao people, and the Shanguan of the Jingpo people, all have generation methods that highly value inheritance and divine will. Moreover, the judges who mediate disputes and the clergy who execute the ordeal often overlap, and they are generally considered the representatives of divine authority.
Below we will carefully discuss the procedures of the ordeal.
The solemn and fair rituals necessary for the oracle trial satisfy both the sense of mystery required by religion and the fairness required by law. General oracle trial rituals mostly include the following elements: first, the parties involved, the officiants, and the witnesses; second, recognized oracle trial articles; third, recognized procedures; fourth, recognized incantations. ”Regarding the parties involved, officiants, and witnesses, in addition to the two parties in the case, the clergy, and the witnesses of both sides, a more important participant is the clans to which both parties belong. During the execution of the oracle trial, the clans of both sides stand on their own side, armed with weapons for armed combat. If any unfair behavior occurs during the trial process, both sides will resort to force to resolve it. The recognized oracle trial articles, in addition to the necessary items required for the various oracle trial methods listed above, also include other aspects such as the color, quantity, and placement of the items, which carry profound religious significance or the wishes of the parties. For example, in some divine trials of the Yi people, the plaintiff often wears black clothes and holds a black flag, indicating that they hope the result of the divine trial will be “black,” meaning the defendant is guilty; while the defendant wears white clothes and holds a white flag, showing that they are innocent and pure, and will receive the favor of the gods. The quantity of items, such as the number of chickens in the aforementioned Yi case of killing a chicken to swear an oath, and the number of sacred branches; the “locking the door” at the end of the case where the defendant stuck the sacred branches into the ground in nine groups is a study of the placement of items; the recognized incantations are a key content in the divine trial. The clergy and both parties must chant the incantations with great care and caution, otherwise it will cause armed combat between the clans of both sides. A typical incantation by the clergy is the narrative chant of the Miao ghost master:
Turn after eating,
Turn to the gate of the sun in the void of the ox;
Scatter after drinking,
Scatter to the hometown of the sun in the sky.
Please listen to me tell the root of the matter,
Please look back at me state the cause of the matter.
We go up to the high mountains to invite the Thunder to watch,
Invite the Dragon to observe,
Guide the water to flow downwards,
To publicly judge earthly disputes.
A relatively typical incantation of the parties involved can be seen in detail in the Yi people's ritual of killing a chicken to swear an oath. The one who kills the chicken says: “If the case is related to me, I shall die like this chicken; if I am innocent, I shall be as white as snow”; or “If I committed the crime, I shall die like this chicken; if I did not commit the crime, the one who falsely accuses me shall die like this chicken.” It can be seen that these are extremely serious matters, allowing for not the slightest negligence. Below, we will use a specific case of a divine trial as an illustration:
The Yi people's case of holding the plowshare to judge the stolen cattle:
In the spring of 1929, two draft cattle were stolen from the home of Jike Danli in present-day Zhaojue County, and he suspected that they were stolen by Ri Bu'erha, who had come to visit relatives next door to his house on the day the cattle were lost. Finding a local Degu to mediate was ineffective, and it was later decided to use the divine trial ritual of holding the plowshare to determine whether Ri Bu'erha had stolen the draft cattle. Subsequently, the Degus went to invite the Bimo Ma Bi Bier to preside over the divine trial.
Thirteen days before holding the plowshare, Ri Bu'erha invited Han Ridu, a Bimo from his village, to perform an ancestor worship ritual for him. He dressed entirely in white clothes, brought white dry rations, held a white rooster, and lived on the mountain. Every day he asked the Bimo to offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven, earth, sun, moon, and stars. While the Bimo chanted sutras, he would grab the white chicken and raise it towards the sky a few times, shouting incessantly: “I, Er'ha, did not steal the cattle. Alu Bishi (the master of Jike Danli) relied on his power to falsely accuse an innocent man of being a thief. Gods of the sun, moon, heaven, and earth, sacred ancestral spirits, come and bear witness justly!” Every day he lit three fires on three hilltops, sending up three columns of smoke, and he cried out his grievances three times. His cries of injustice brought tears to the eyes, making the farmers on the hillsides and the shepherds in the fields weep again and again.
Three days before the divine trial ritual, Ma Bi Bier had arrived, and one of the ritual officiants, the blacksmith Di Rikepu, also arrived. The plaintiff, the Jike family, gathered eighty ingots of silver, and the defendant, Ri Bu'erha, gathered eighty ingots of silver, making a total of one hundred and sixty ingots, which were handed over to the executors of the ritual, the Degus and the “Mosa” (strategists), for safekeeping. The Degus killed three chickens a day to swear oaths, pledging to preside over the ritual impartially. They killed a chicken with the Bimo, the blacksmith, and the plaintiff and defendant respectively, swearing that whoever cheated or engaged in fraud during the ritual would die just like the beaten chicken. Only after the strategists, Degus, and others performed these rituals could they proceed with the following rituals with peace of mind. Furthermore, they organized over a dozen people, armed with guns, to protect the wagered funds, maintain order at the divine trial, and prepare for any emergencies.
The venue for the divine trial was chosen on a barren slope in the wilderness of Laishi Eku Village, Moni Township, present-day Meigu County. On the sheep month and sheep day, at dawn, over thirty people from the plaintiff's side sat on the right side of the venue; these were people from the Jike and Alu clans, all dressed entirely in black clothes, holding a dozen guns, and planting a black flag. On the left sat the defendant, his clan, and his master's people; they carried over twenty guns, over forty people, all dressed entirely in white clothes, with a white flag planted in front of their seats. In the middle, an earthen stove was built on the ground, and the blacksmith Di Rikepu used a sheepskin bellows to blow air into the pear wood and charcoal fire to heat the plowshare. Above the stove, the Bimo Ma Bi Bier planted a sacred branch, set up the altar for the ritual, and sat in front of it. In his left hand, he held a sutra book, and in his right hand, a divine fan. He wore a gray ritual robe, carried a divine bamboo tube on his back, wore a ritual hat, and was chanting sutras. The Degus, strategists, and over a dozen warriors maintaining order sat between the Bimo and the blacksmith. The atmosphere before the divine trial was extremely tense. The plaintiff and defendant, in particular, were at daggers drawn; no one dared to utter a sound, and only the voice of the Bimo chanting sutras could be heard.
After the Bimo finished chanting, the Degu Muguomujia ordered the defendant to hold the plowshare. Ri Bu'erha stood nervously in front of the stove. The Degu placed eight rock-crystal stones the size of corn kernels in his palms, then placed four sacred branches as thick as pen shafts, and on top of them, a piece of white cloth. Muguomujia warned everyone not to stand up to look, but to sit quietly where they were. He announced the beginning of the plowshare holding, and the blacksmith immediately used large iron tongs to pick up the red-hot plowshare and placed it on the white cloth in Ri Bu'erha's hands. Holding the glowing plowshare, Ri Bu'erha, guided by the Degu, nodded once towards each of the four directions—east, west, south, and north—according to regulations, walked nine steps, and arrived in front of the altar, where he threw the plowshare into the thicket of sacred branches. The green grass crushed by the plowshare was scorched and caught fire, but the hands of Ri Bu'erha, who held the plowshare, and the white cloth in his hands were not burned. Ri Bu'erha joyfully raised both hands, shouting wildly “It's white! It's white!” and ran towards the crowd dressed in white. The people dressed in white waved their white flags, cheered for victory, passed around a large wine jar, and howled in jubilation. Everyone present, except for the plaintiff's clan, joined the defendant's clan in the celebration.
According to custom, the person who held the plowshare could not return home that night, nor could they lodge in someone else's house. Ri Bu'erha, along with the Bimo, Degus, and over fifty others, stayed in a cave outside the village. Ri Bu'erha won the silver, treated people to wine for a狂欢, and the next day, distributed the silver to the Bimo, blacksmith, Degus, and strategists……
From this case, we can roughly see that the main procedures are: first, a dispute arises and is mediated by the Degu; second, the parties involved, the Degu, and others agree to hold an oracle trial and discuss related matters; third, a Bimo and a blacksmith are invited; fourth, before the ceremony, the suspect performs rituals to seek the protection of the gods; fifth, before the oracle trial, the Degu, Bimo, blacksmith, and advisors perform rituals to ensure fairness; sixth, when the ceremony begins, the Bimo sets up the altar and chants scriptures while the blacksmith heats the plowshare; seventh, the defendant holds the plowshare; eighth, the result of the oracle trial is announced. From the perspective of modern jurisprudence, this is simply unimaginable, yet the local people are full of trust and fear towards it. Moreover, many other cases can prove that the results obtained through this method are devoutly obeyed by both parties and their clans, and will not cause any further conflicts or disputes.
Four, Remaining Discussion
In addition to the above, another issue that must be discussed is the relationship between oracle trials and witchcraft.
Witchcraft, also known as magic, is a concept and belief of primitive people. Its emergence corresponded to the level of development of productive forces and people's cognitive level in primitive society. In primitive society, due to the low level of social productivity, primitive people did not have enough power to conquer nature; instead, they had to rely on and pray to nature. In the eyes of primitive people, the surrounding world was full of witchcraft——an unknowable force. This force existed everywhere and could cause destruction to production, society, and primitive people themselves at any time. The power of witchcraft was impossible to guard against. In addition, primitive people had their own unique way of thinking, which was intuitive. They acted based on experience, believing that the objective material world and some surreal, supernatural force beyond the material world were interconnected, and that supernatural things were also an objective existence. They revered this supernatural force, yet attempted to influence and utilize it through their own actions, thus giving rise to witchcraft. Witchcraft is a technique and desire of primitive people attempting to utilize and conquer supernatural forces. The oracle trial is the result of people's awe and worship of this supernatural force. It was precisely when intractable disputes arose in daily life that people did not have enough power to resolve that they resorted to such supernatural oracle trials. However, one cannot simply equate oracle trials with witchcraft. “Oracle trials contain quite strong elements of witchcraft, but they cannot be equated with witchcraft. Because its basic attribute is still a kind of customary law, its ultimate goal is to clarify right and wrong, truth and falsehood, and thus make a fair ruling. Therefore, it can similarly be said that witchcraft is merely a technical form of the oracle trial, while the oracle trial is the application of primitive religion (especially witchcraft) in customary law. Furthermore, the success of an oracle trial requires a sense of mystery that makes people awestruck; without this mystery, it is difficult for the oracle trial to gain people's trust. It is precisely at this critical point that customary law itself is powerless. However, various bizarre and fascinating witchcraft practices can perfectly compensate for this.” It can be seen that as an effective adjudication method, what truly works in oracle trials are the many social and psychological factors expressed through the form of witchcraft, and the people's firm belief and devotion to the concept of justice achieved through this method. Those absurd procedural forms only deepen their mystery and unknowability. It is precisely this incomprehensible absurdity, and this illogical and irrational way of thinking, that prevents people from wanting or even being supposed to investigate its underlying roots, thereby making them better subdued by that bizarre absurdity.
As a commonly used judicial adjudication method in the minority concentrated areas of southwest China, the oracle trial holds great value and significance for its existence from the perspective of the pluralistic phenomenon of legal culture. Academically, Chen Zhong Suiji referred to it as a type of latent law, while most contemporary Chinese scholars call it a type of customary law or folk law. After all, in a society dominated by geo-cultural and blood-cultural ties like China, the social structure and operation of minority concentrated areas are primarily not due to the powerful coordinating and controlling functions of state law, but often the result of the role played by their inherent, inherited folk customary law. Before law became independent and completely differentiated from other social control systems, and before law began to exert its social functions, oracle trials substituted for law and performed similar functions. Firstly, it clarified people's concepts of right and wrong, forming their standards for judging right and wrong in all matters of life; secondly, when disputes arose and evil deeds occurred, it provided a timely and effective punishment, which is crucial. This effective punitive measure enabled society to be stable, people's hearts to be pacified, and justice to be upheld; finally, and more importantly, the terrifying nature of its process caused huge psychological reflections in people's hearts, thereby producing a massive deterrent effect. It is precisely this deterrent effect that enables people to live law-abiding and peaceful lives. Through its frequent application, the oracle trial acquired powerful normative and guiding forces, providing society with a majestic and powerful standard for evaluating justice and evil, and giving people spiritual reliance and support. Thus it can be seen that “oracle trials and the later emerging forms of law jointly possess the attributes of ritual, authority, universality, as well as customs and binding force, and jointly possess social functions such as judgment, punishment, and deterrence. Moreover, even in the early stages of human society, these attributes basically formed an intersecting relationship, and it was first the oracle trial that cultivated these attributes, assumed these functions, and unequivocally influenced the evolution of law.”
It can be seen that we cannot simply judge the role and value of oracle trials from the perspective of modern jurisprudence, nor simply view them as ignorance and backwardness, nor blindly replace them with state law. Because, as a basic living habit in the minority concentrated areas of southwest China, it has already become the way of life and spiritual soil for the people in these areas. In a society where tradition and custom play a major role in people's daily behavior, even if the coercive power of state law is not reduced to a minimum, one must still carefully consider the role it can play and the position it should take. One cannot purely use modern rational and logical formulas to assimilate or replace folk customary law with state law, but should timely and appropriately seek the points of convergence and similarity between state law and folk customary law, in order to achieve effective compromise and cooperation between state law and folk customary law in the process of handling legal affairs in minority concentrated areas. Because, after all, “the fundamental purpose of any legal system and judicial practice should not be to establish an authoritative ideology, but to solve practical problems, adjust social relations, enable people to coordinate better, and achieve institutional justice.”
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