The Concept of Wen in Chinese Ancestral Worship

The term ‘wen’ in Chinese and its origins can be somewhat difficult to trace. It is also difficult to understand the original meaning of the term as well as its meaning in later years.

One scholar believes that “the character [sic] wen appears to have originally had the sense of 'striped' or 'adorned,' and it may be by extension from this that wen came to mean 'accomplished,' 'accomplishments,' and even 'civilization': all of those adornments of life that distinguish the civilized man [sic] from the untutored barbarian”.

It is the opinion of another scholar that wen, in most Shi jing contexts (the Book of Songs, or the Book of Odes), is “"a stock epithet of ancestors. We do not know what it means .... Possibly quite distinct from this is another word, written with the same character. This means a pattern, and hence 'a written symbol,' book-learning as opposed to battle-prowess, the 'pen' as opposed to the 'sword,' the arts of peace as opposed to those of war”.

In the Shi jing, ode 275, known as Shiwen, provides us with a great starting point into understanding the concept of wen. The first two lines reads, “This accomplished (?) (wen) Hou Ji/ Is apt to be the counterpart of yonder Heaven”. Hou Ji was a legendary hero who was accredited with the invention of agriculture and worshipped as the ancestor of the Zhou royal house. He was also connected with the more abstract Zhou god of Heaven (Tian) at the annual Suburban Sacrifice (jiao). The song was sung during sacrifices.

In the Shiwen, and other early texts of this period, it makes it very difficult for us to understand what wen actually means; the poem takes it for granted that the audience will know what it is. According to one scholar, the concept of wen “functions as an obviously positive attribute of Hou Ji; and that, by combining it with the demonstrative si into a half-line preceding the name Hou Ji right at the beginning of the hymn, the poet endows it with particular emphasis”.

We see its meaning as ‘accomplished’ in another ode. In Ode 285, a line reads, yun wen Wen Wang, which can be translated as “The truly accomplished (?) Wen Wang”. The concept of wen, here, is a euphemistic epithet.

Wen also serves a similar meaning in the pre-Confucian chapters of the Shang shu, where official documents and speeches at Zhou state ceremonies were held. Here we can see that wen was a positive quality associated with the living and the dead. The expression seems to be component of standardized praising expressions, with an implication of high esteem, but somewhat vague in its implication.

Although it may not be possible to fully understand the concept of wen in Chinese ancestral worship here, we may still gain insight into its original semantic aspect.

Bibliography:

von Falkenhausen, Lothar (1996) The Concept of Wen in the Ancient Chinese Ancestral Cult, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR).