Journal
of Chinese Religions
36 (2008), pp. 84-117.
What Yuan Mei Spoke of
(abstract)
Underlying many of the stories of Yuan Mei (袁枚; 1716-1798) in his Zi bu yu (子不語 What the Master Would
Not Speak of) is an "occult cosmology", where the usually invisible yin realm occasionally produces
visible outcomes. A number of the stories concern gods (shen 神), in which Yuan Mei had an
ambivalent faith. The stories discuss the behavior of many gods, some
that are famous members of the Chinese pantheon, but others that are
more obscure. In many cases, we see how the yin bureaucracy recruits from among
those living in the yang realm. Finally, many stories demonstrate how
the gods of the yin realm
rule over humans in the yang
world.