台湾华人“虚“的身体经验 Chinese Bodily Experience of the "Emptiness"

Abstract

This paper discusses the bodily experience of "emptiness" of Han Chinese in Taiwan using C. Geertz's concepts of common sense and local knowledge. The term "emptiness" is widely used both in present day Taiwan and in traditional Chinese medical texts. This provides the possibility for the study of "local biology", a term derived from Geertz's local knowledge. "Emptiness" refers to a feeling of fatigue or pathological depletion as well as a state of mind or physical exhaustion. It also refers to an environmental wildness or supernatural evil.

This paper will focus on the folk beliefs and folk healings of emptiness using material from fieldwork. The author will show that the bodily experience of emptiness is deeply embedded in the yin/yang cosmology and there is a correlation between experiences of "emptiness/fullness", "cold/hot" and "yin/yang".

Keywords: sensory experience. bodily experience, emptiness, common sense, local biology