Local Cults in the Chapter “Guai Shen” 怪神 (“Monsters and Deities”) from Ying Shao’s 應劭 Treatise Feng su tong yi 風俗通義 (Penetrating into the Meaning of Traditions and Customs). Translation from Chinese and Commentary by Tatiana V. Klementeva

This article presents a translation of two sections from the chapter “Guai Shen” 怪神 (“Monsters and Deities”) of the treatise Feng su tong yi 風俗通義 (Penetrating into the Meaning of Traditions and Customs), written by the statesman Ying Shao 應劭 (d. before 204), supplied with an introduction and comments. This chapter includes twenty-one anecdotes about human encounters with the supernatural or local religious cults. Ten of them were later included into the collection of stories Sou shen ji 搜神記 (Investigations into Deities), thus this treatise had some impact on the development of the zhiguai xiaoshuo 志怪小説 (“stories containing records of the unusual”) genre. The two sections selected for publication describe local cults that were formed during the Han era 漢 (202 B.C.E. — 220 C.E.). In the first section, Ying Shao shows how officials should control such cults using laws. In the second one, the author persuades the reader to rationally approach the foundations on which the cult arises and not to trust all rumors about the divine power of creatures. This translation provides an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of religious life at the end of the Han era.