Yi Mai: The Burial Sacrifice in Ancient Chinese Ritual 瘗埋
Paul Peng瘗埋 Yi Mai
The Burial Sacrifice in Ancient Chinese Ritual · 周代瘗埋祭地之礼
🔑 Key Takeaways
- 瘗埋 (Yi Mai) is the Zhou dynasty burial sacrifice — offerings interred in the earth to reach terrestrial spirits, mountain gods, and lords of the soil.
- The characters 瘗 (yì, to inter) and 埋 (mái, to bury) together name the defining act: placing offerings beneath the earth's surface.
- One of three cosmic disposal methods: 燔 (burning for Heaven), 瘗 (burial for Earth), and 沉 (submersion for Water).
- Recorded in the Zhouli (周礼) with commentary by Zheng Xuan (郑玄, Han dynasty).
- Its logic survives in Zhengyi Taoist practice of burying talisman ashes and ritual implements at sacred earth sites.
Definition · 定义
瘗埋 (Yi Mai, Yì Mái) is an ancient Chinese sacrificial method in which offerings are buried in the earth to reach the spirits of the terrestrial realm. The character 瘗 (yì) means to inter or bury with ritual intent; 埋 (mái) means burial. Together they name a specific sacrificial technology: the deliberate interment of offerings beneath the earth's surface as a means of transmitting them to the spirits who dwell there.
瘗埋 was the standard Zhou method for sacrificing to terrestrial spirits — earth gods (土神, tǔ shén), mountain spirits (山神, shān shén), lords of the soil (社神, shè shén), and the spirits of forests and marshes. The underlying logic was one of elemental correspondence: just as burning sends offerings upward to the celestial spirits through smoke and flame, burial sends offerings downward to the terrestrial spirits through the medium of the earth itself.
— 《周礼》郑玄注
The Three Cosmic Disposal Methods · 三种祭祀处置法
瘗埋 cannot be understood in isolation — it was one element of a tripartite system of sacrificial disposal that structured the entire Zhou offering tradition. The three methods corresponded to the three cosmic domains:
Offerings burned on the altar sent their essence upward through smoke and flame to the celestial spirits — Heaven, the sun, the moon, and the stars. Fire was the medium of communication with the upper realm, transforming material offerings into the ethereal form that celestial spirits could receive.
Offerings interred in the earth sent their essence downward to the terrestrial spirits — earth gods, mountain spirits, lords of the soil, and the spirits of forests and marshes. Earth was the medium of communication with the lower realm, receiving material offerings and transmitting them to the spirits who inhabited the ground beneath.
Offerings cast into rivers, lakes, or the sea sent their essence to the aquatic spirits — river gods, sea deities, and the spirits of marshes and wetlands. Water was the medium of communication with the aquatic realm, carrying offerings to the spirits who governed the waters.
This tripartite system reflects the Zhou cosmological understanding that the universe was divided into three domains — Heaven, Earth, and Water — each governed by its own class of spirits and requiring its own method of ritual communication. The broader state sacrifice system within which 瘗埋 operated is documented in the Da Si great state sacrifice (大祀) tradition.
Classical Sources · 文献来源
The primary textual source for 瘗埋 is the Zhouli (周礼, Rites of Zhou), which systematically records the full range of Zhou sacrificial methods and their appropriate applications. The relevant passage specifies that burial (貍, an archaic form of 瘗) and submersion (沉) are the proper methods for sacrificing to the spirits of mountains, forests, rivers, and marshes.
Zheng Xuan (郑玄, 127–200 CE) provides the authoritative commentary, clarifying that 貍 (lí/mái) means burying the offering in the earth as a sacrifice to terrestrial spirits. His gloss establishes the elemental logic of 瘗埋: the offering must be delivered through the medium appropriate to the recipient's domain. Chen Yaoting's (陈耀庭) Encyclopedia of Taoism (道教大辞典) preserves this classical interpretation within the broader Taoist encyclopedic tradition.
Zhengyi Taoist Connection · 正一道传承
The elemental logic of 瘗埋 — that offerings to terrestrial spirits must be delivered through the medium of the earth — did not disappear with the Zhou dynasty. It was absorbed into the Taoist ritual tradition, where it informs the Zhengyi school's (正一道) practice of burying ritual materials at sacred earth sites.
In Zhengyi liturgy, talisman ashes, ritual implements, and written petitions addressed to earth gods and local spirits are buried at designated sacred locations rather than burned. This practice directly preserves the classical logic of 瘗埋: the method of offering must match the domain of the recipient spirit. The formal procedures of these Taoist earth-offering rites are documented in the Taoist ritual process, while the historical development of the offering tradition is traced in the history of Taoist fasting and offering rituals.
Anonymous. Zhouli (周礼). Warring States period. With commentary by Zheng Xuan (郑玄, Han dynasty).
Chen Yaoting (陈耀庭). Encyclopedia of Taoism (道教大辞典). Shanghai: Shanghai Cishu Chubanshe. Entry: '瘗埋' (Yi Mai).
