The Revival of the Spiritual Tradition: The God of Theatre focuses on rituals involving the theatrical arts in China and the god of theatre. Ritual theatrical performances played an important part in religious practice of China. Various forms of dramatic arts were employed as part of the religious ritual, “such as marionette and exorcistic drama” (317). The rites provided entertainment and a spiritual connection with various deities. For example, in Southern China, the rituals revolve mainly around the protector deity T'ien Tu-yiian-shuai, also known as the Young Master (317). The Young Master is a powerful deity that uses the “dramaturgy of sacred dance … [to create] dimensions of space with movement and gesture” to the musical score of the universe (317). Thus,
…show more content…
Common deities supplicated by the Young Master were “Yama, the ruler of the underworld, and Kuan-yin, the bodhisattva of compassion” (318). The rituals performed were highly structured. They were carried out at temples on bamboo stages constructed solely for the purpose of the service configured “in the shape of the Book of Change's eight basic hexagrams” and performed at certain times, usually “between the hours of midnight and dawn” (318). The ceremony highlights the importance of honoring the spirit realm and the practitioner's belief in correspondence between the gods and the tangible rewards that they believed the rituals could engender. The marionette dramas were not the only form of ritual used to honor and connect to the gods. A line dance, known as Nuo exorcism, is another form of ritual theatre where young men allow themselves to be possessed by a myriad of deities in efforts of driving away “baneful influences and noxious spiritual forces (319). Overall, the reading shows various theatrical rituals and how they were used in the past and the present to bring about favorable outcomes with the assistance of the
Common deities supplicated by the Young Master were “Yama, the ruler of the underworld, and Kuan-yin, the bodhisattva of compassion” (318). The rituals performed were highly structured. They were carried out at temples on bamboo stages constructed solely for the purpose of the service configured “in the shape of the Book of Change's eight basic hexagrams” and performed at certain times, usually “between the hours of midnight and dawn” (318). The ceremony highlights the importance of honoring the spirit realm and the practitioner's belief in correspondence between the gods and the tangible rewards that they believed the rituals could engender. The marionette dramas were not the only form of ritual used to honor and connect to the gods. A line dance, known as Nuo exorcism, is another form of ritual theatre where young men allow themselves to be possessed by a myriad of deities in efforts of driving away “baneful influences and noxious spiritual forces (319). Overall, the reading shows various theatrical rituals and how they were used in the past and the present to bring about favorable outcomes with the assistance of the