Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Györgyi FAJCSÁK: The hun soul's wanderings. A pair of Chinese burial jars from the 13th century

GYÖRGYI FAJCSÁK THE HUN SOUL'S WANDERINGS A PAIR OF CHINESE BURIAL JARS FROM THE 13

th CENTURY "By evening I had reached the Hanging Gardens. I wanted to rest awhile by its spirit gates, But the sun hurried on its setting." (Qu Yuan: Encountering Sorrow, detail)

1 THE HUN AND THE PO SOULS According to the belief of Chinese people there are two souls living in every human being which rove over different routes after death. The soul called 'hun' emerges from human body after death to leave for its wanderings and rise into heaven after many trials and tribulations. There, in the celestial empire of the Lord Omnipotent (Shangdi) every hun soul passes time according to the earthly rank of the human being: thus life goes on similarly to terrestrial days. The way leading to heaven was eventful and full of ups and downs. During its journey the hun soul was endangered by monsters at the four cardinal points of the world, and it had to fight with the Governor of Earth and the Heavenly Wolf. The hun soul had to be aware of what to say to the nine guardians of heaven's gate, otherwise it would not be allowed to enter. During its journey to the heaven the hun soul needed a guide, too, who was familiar with the way to heaven and who accompanied it, showing the right direction ahead. The other soul living in the human being, called 'po'

, remained in the tomb of the deceased person until the soul had become a spirit (gui), or until it had risen into one of the various unearthly empires. Though the faith of the po soul was transmitted differently in various traditions, many descriptions agree on the fact that the po soul had to remain in the buried body or near the corpse, something ensured by the offerings of living relatives in order to keep prevent the po soul disturbing them as a hungry spirit. So as to make the po soul remain in the body, they put fine jade objects into the body's orifices and cavities (ears, eyes, nose, mouth, under the tongue, teeth, armpit, etc.). Hungry spirits visiting home intruded upon living relatives in their dreams, or caused illness as revenge. The po soul died together with the decaying corpse after the three years of mourning. The idea of the future life of the po soul took shape quite early, according to which the underworld empire of po souls was situated in the area of the Yellow Springs or the Nine Springs. Thus, po souls were living here, as the earthly counterpart to the heavenly empire of hun souls.

2 A PAIR OF BURIAL JARS IN THE FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EASTERN ASIATIC ARTS Valuable archaeological findings in Chinese tombs reveal Chinese ideas about life after death. The Chinese especially favoured depicting the wanderings of the hun soul and its ascent into heaven after death. The history of these representations spans a very interesting period in Chinese