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Chinese folk religion or Chinese popular religion is the religious tradition of the Han Chinese, in which government officials and common people of China share religious practices and beliefs, including veneration of forces of nature and ancestors, exorcism of harmful forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature which can be influenced by human beings and their rulers.[3] The gods or spirits (shen, meaning the forces that generate phenomena and make things grow)[4] can be nature deities, city deities or tutelary deities of other human groups, national deities, cultural heroes and demigods, ancestors and progenitors, and deities of the kinship. Stories regarding some of these gods are codified into the body of Chinese mythology. By the eleventh century (Song period) these practices had been blended with Buddhist ideas of karma (retribution) and rebirth, and Taoist teachings about hierarchies of gods, to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day.[5]
Chinese folk religion has a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized inadequately as "Taoism" or "folk Taoism",[6] since institutional Taoism acts as a "liturgical framework" of local religions.[7] Zhengyi Taoism is especially intertwined with local cults, with Zhengyi daoshi (道士, "masters of the Tao") often performing rituals for local temples and communities. Various orders of ritual ministers operate in folk religion but outside codified Taoism. Confucianism advocates worship of gods and ancestors through proper rites, which have ethical importance.[8][note 2] Confucian liturgy (儒 rú or 正统 zhèngtǒng, "orthoprax", ritual style) led by Confucian ritual masters (礼生 lǐshēng), is used on occasions in folk temples and by lineage churches.[10] Taoism in its various currents, either comprehended or not within the Chinese folk religion, has some of its origins from Wuism.[11] Chinese religion mirrors the social landscape, and takes on different shades for different people.[12]
Despite their great diversity, all the expressions of Chinese folk religion have a common core that can be summarised as four spiritual, cosmological, and moral concepts[13]—Tian (天), Heaven, the source of moral meaning, the utmost god and the universe itself; qi (气), the breath or substance of the universe; jingzu (敬祖), the veneration of ancestors; bao ying (报应), moral reciprocity—, and two traditional concepts of fate and meaning[14]—ming yun (命运), the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuan fen (缘分), "fateful coincidence",[15] good and bad chances and potential relationships.[15] Yin and yang is the polarity that describes the order of the universe,[16] held in balance by the interaction of principles of growth (shen) and principles of waning (gui),[17] with act (yang) usually preferred over receptiveness (yin).[18] Ling (numen or sacred) is the "medium" of the bivalency, and the inchoate order of creation.[18]
Both in imperial China and under the modern nation, the state has opposed or attempted to eradicate these practices as "superstition". Yet Chinese folk religions are currently experiencing a revival in both mainland China and Taiwan.[19][20] Various forms of culture have received forms of official recognition by the government of China, such as Mazuism and the Xia teaching in southeastern China,[21] Huangdi worship,[22] and other forms of local worship, for example the Longwang, Pangu or Caishen worship.[23]
While in the English language academic literature Chinese "popular religion" or "folk religion" (中国民间宗教 Zhōngguó mínjiān zōngjiào) or "folk belief" (民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng) have long been used to define the complex of
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Some within the Chinese community in India practice the Chinese folk religion. The community of Kolkata have built some "churches" to the Chinese gods.
The Chinese in the city of Phuket are noted for their nine-day vegetarian festival between September and October. During the festive season, devotees will abstain from meat and mortification of the flesh by Chinese mediums are also commonly seen, along with rites devoted to the worship of Tua Pek Kong. Such traditions were developed during the 19th century in Phuket by the local Chinese with influences from Thai culture.[230]
The Chinese folk religion of Thailand has developed local features, including the worship of local gods.[228] Major Chinese festivals such as the Nian, Zhongqiu and Qingming are widely celebrated especially in Bangkok, Phuket, and other parts of Thailand where there are large Chinese populations.[229]
Thailand has a large population of Thai Chinese, people of Chinese or partial Chinese origin. Most of those who follow Buddhism have been integrated into the Theravada Buddhist tradition of the country, with only a negligible minority having retained Chinese Buddhism. However, many others have retained the Chinese folk religions and Taoism.[228] Despite the large number of followers and temples, and although they are practiced freely, these religions have no state recognition, their temples are not counted as places of worship, and their followers are counted as "Theravada Buddhists" in officially released religious figures.[228] In Thailand, Chinese temples are called sanchao (Thai: ศาลเจ้า).[228]
In Malaysia the Malaysian Chinese constitute a large segment of the population, mostly adherent of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese traditional religion has a relatively significant following in the states of Sarawak (6%) and Penang (5%). One prominent sect is that of Tua Pek Kong (大伯公 Dabo Gong), and it has incorporated the sect of the Na Tuk Kong (拿督公 Nadu Gong) of local Malay origin.
Another movement in Indonesia is the Tridharma (Sanskrit: "religion of the Three"), syncretising elements of different religions, the Chinese three teachings amongst others.[227] After the fall of Suharto rule it is undergoing a process of systematisation of doctrines and rituals.[227] Tridharma temples always consist of three main rooms: the front room for Tian or God, the middle for the main deity of the temple, the back room for the three teachers and their pantheon: Confucius, Laozi, and Buddha. There are also many Taoist associations in Indonesia.
The Master said, "Great indeed was Yao as a sovereign! How majestic was he! It is only Heaven that is grand, and only Yao corresponded to it. How vast was his virtue! The people could find no name for it. How majestic was he in the works which he accomplished! How glorious in the elegant regulations which he instituted!" (VIII, xix, tr. Legge 1893:214)
The first precept of Pancasila (the Five Basic Principles of the Indonesian state) stipulates belief in the one and only God. The Confucian philosophy is able to fulfill this, for Confucius mentioned only one God in his teaching, the Heaven or Shangdi. The Heaven possess the characteristic of Yuan Heng Li Zhen, or Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent, Just.[226]
All religions insist on peace. From this we might think that the religious struggle for peace is simple... but it is not. The deep problem is that people use religion wrongly in pursuit of victory and triumph. This sad fact then leads to conflict with people who have different beliefs.[225]
The Chinese folk religion of the Chinese Indonesians is named "Confucianism", and officially recognised by the government as Agama Khonghucu or religion of Confucius, which was chosen because of the political condition in Indonesia before the end of Suharto rule in 1998, which saw the Chinese religions forbidden and the Chinese forced to convert to Buddhism or Christianity. The Chinese Indonesians had their culture and religious rights restored only after the fourth president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, issued a regulation that recognised "Confucianism" among the legal religions of the country. He said that:
Chinese temples in Indonesia and Malaysia are called kelenteng or klenteng in local Malay languages, or alternatively bio, the southern Chinese pronunciation of Mandarin miao (庙).
In Singapore about 11% of the total population is Taoist, composed by a 14.4% of the Chinese Singaporeans identifying as Taoists.[222] In Malaysia, around 3% of Chinese Malaysians practice Chinese folk religions, corresponding to around 1% of the whole country population.[223] In Indonesia, Taosu Agung Kusumo, leader of the Majelis Agama Tao Indonesia, claims there are 5 million Taoist followers in the country as of 2009.[224]
Being the Chinese folk religion an Yiguandao and Deism, have also succeeded in spreading amongst Southeast Asian Chinese communities.
This groundwork, which was already there in imperial China and plays an important role in modern Taiwan,[218] is seen as the driving force in the rapid economic development in parts of rural China, especially the southern and eastern coasts.[219][220] It is an "embedded capitalism", which preserves local identity and autonomy.[221] The drive for individual accumulation of money is tempered by the religious and kinship ethics of generosity in sharing wealth for devotion, ritual, and the construction of the civil society.[221]
Scholars have studied the economic dimension of Chinese folk religion,[216] with its ritual and templar economy that constitutes a form of grassroots capitalism, that produces well-being among local communities through the circulation of wealth and its investment in the "sacred capital" of temples, gods and ancestors.[217]
In Taiwan, Chinese folk religions are mostly subsumed under the label and the institutions of "Taoism", which is the religion of 33% of the population.[215]
A 2010 survey has found the following numbers: 754 million (56.2%) people practice Chinese ancestral veneration, but only 216 million people (16%) believe in the existence of ancestral shen (spirits).[note 17] The same survey says 173 million (13%) adopt Taoist practices on a level which is indistinguishable from the Chinese folk religion.[214]
The Pew Research Center has collected statistics saying that in China 22%[211] of the population practices the Chinese indigenous religion. Another estimate puts it at over 30% of the total population.[212] Kenneth Dean estimates a higher proportion.[note 16]
The Chinese dragon (long 龙) is a very important symbol in Chinese indigenous tradition: it is a positive creature representing yang, and thus the life-giving creative force, the universal generating power (Tian-Shangdi) and qi,[70] from which also the kin lineage.[209][210]
As in Taoism, also in the Chinese folk religion the yin and yang concept can be represented through the taijitu symbol, but also in pairs of complementary figures such as the dragon and the phoenix, heaven and earth, or water and fire. The taijitu is often represented in the hands of creator deities such as Pangu, who represent the originating principle separating into heaven and earth. The bagua of I Ching is also a symbol used in Chinese folk religion.
Chinese folk religion followers and temples make use of different symbols, from symbols with cosmological or generative significance to symbols peculiar of specific deities, lineages or areas.
Ancestral shrines are sacred places in which lineages of related families, identified by shared surnames, worship their common progenitors. These temples are the "collective representation" of a group, and function as centers where religious, social and economic activities intersect.[208]
Folk religious temples are distinct from Taoist temples in that they are established and administered by local managers, village communities, lineage congregations and worship associations, and don't have professional priests, although Taoist daoshi, fashi, Confucian lisheng, and also wu and tongji shamans, may perform services within these temples. Folk temples are often decorated with traditional figures on their roofs (dragons and deities).
Temples of the Chinese folk religion can be distinguished into miao (庙) or dian (殿), meaning "temple"; private temples (simiao 私庙 or jiamiao 家庙), or ancestral shrines or temples (citang 祠堂, zongci 宗祠 or zumiao 祖庙; dedicated to ancestory gods and heroes, deified virtuous men). The terms have often been used interchangeably. However miao is the general Chinese term for "temple" understood as "sacred precinct". In Chinese folk religion this term is mostly associated to temples which enshrine nature gods and patron gods, especially when these temples are focal points of a deity's cult. The term cí 祠, literally "shrine", or shéncí (神祠 "shrine of a god"), besides referring to the ancestral shrines, also refers to lesser, informal, places for the worship of a god. Another term of common usage is 宫 gong ("palace"), referring to a temple complex of multiple buildings. The jing is a broader "territory of a god" that is constituted by multiple temples or complexes of temples and delineated by the processions.
In the holistic view about nature and the human body and life, as macro and microcosmos, the life process of a human being is equated with the rhythm of seasons and cosmic changes.[207] Hence, birth is likened to spring, youth to summer, maturity to autumn and old age to winter.[207]
A variety of practices are concerned with personal well-being and spiritual growth.[207] Rites of passage are intended to narrate the holy significance of each crucial change throughout a life course.[207] These changes, which are biological and physical and at the same time also social and spiritual, are marked by elaborate social customs and religious rituals.[207]
This rite, of great political importance, can be intended for the whole nation.[206] In fact, as early as the Song dynasty, emperors asked renowned Taoists to perform such rituals on their behalf or for the entire nation.[206] The modern Chinese republic has given approval for Taoists to conduct such rituals since the 1990s, with the aim of protecting the country and the nation.[206]
The aims of rituals and sacrifices may be of thanksgiving and redeeming, usually involving both.[204] Various sacrifices are intended to express gratitude toward the gods in the hope that spiritual blessing and protection will continue.[204] The jiào 醮, an elaborate Taoist sacrifice or "rite of universal salvation", is intended to be a cosmic community renewal, that is to say a reconciliation of a community around its spiritual centre.[206] The jiao ritual usually starts with zhai, "fasting and purification", that is meant as an atonement for evil-doing, then followed by sacrificial offerings.[206]
Both in past history and at the present, all sacrifices are assigned with both religious and political purposes.[204] Some gods are considered carnivorous, for example Heshen (河神) or the Longwang (龙王), and offering to them requires animal sacrifice.[205]
Sacrifices usually differ according to the kind of deity they are devoted to.[203] Traditionally, cosmic and nature gods are offered uncooked (or whole) food, while ancestors are offered cooked food.[203] Moreover, sacrifices for gods are made inside the temples that enshrine them, while sacrifices for ancestors are made outside temples.[203] Yearly sacrifices (ji) are made to Confucius, the Red and Yellow Emperor, and other cultural heroes and ancestors.[203]
Classical Chinese has characters for different types of sacrifice, probably the oldest way to communicate with divine forces, today generally encompassed by the definition jìsì 祭祀.[197] However different in scale and quantity, all types of sacrifice would normally involve food, wine, meat and later incense.[203]
Deities can also be respected through moral deeds in their name (shanshi 善事), and self-cultivation (xiuxing 修行).[200] Some forms of folk religion develop clear prescriptions for believers, such as detailed lists of meritorious and sinful deeds in the form of "morality books" (shanshu 善书) and ledgers of merit and demerit.[201] Involvement in the affairs of communal or intra-village temples are perceived by believers as ways for accumulating merit (gongde 功德).[201] Virtue is believed to accumulate in one's heart, which is seen as energetic centre of the human body (zai jun xin zuo tian fu 在君心作福田).[202] Practices of communication with the gods comprehend different forms of Chinese shamanism, such as wu shamanism and tongji mediumship, or fuji practice.
A simple form of individual practice is to show respect for the gods (jing shen 敬神) through jingxiang (incense offering), and the exchange of vows (huan yuan 还愿).[110] Sacrifice can consist of incense, oil, and candles, as well as money.[199] Religious devotion may also express in the form of performance troupes (huahui), involving many types of professionals such as stilt walkers, lion dancers, musicians, martial arts masters, yangge dancers, and story-tellers.[199]
[52] Leaders are usually selected among male heads of families or lineages, or village heads.[52] Being Chinese culture a
Generally speaking, the Chinese believe that spiritual and material well-being ensues from the harmony of humanity and gods in their participation in the same cosmic power, and also believe that by taking the right path and practice anybody is able to reach the absolute reality.[197] Religious practice is therefore regarded as the bridge to link the human world to the spiritual source,[197] maintaining the harmony of the micro and macrocosmos, protecting the individual and the world from disruption.[110] In this sense, the Chinese view of human life is not deterministic, but one is a master of his own life and can choose to collaborate with the deities for a harmonious world.[110]
Adam Yuet Chau (2011) identifies five styles of "doing" Chinese religion:[196]
Scholars have defined the Chinese traditional religion as "polytropic" (poly, "many"; tropoi, "turnings")[196] that is to say an underlying way of being that expresses itself through different "modalities" or "styles" of "doing religion".[196] This creates a context of dialectical competition between different modalities of doing religion and within each modality itself.[196]
Other goddesses worshipped in China include Canmu[lower-roman 13] (蚕母 "Silkworm Mother"; or Cangu 蚕姑, "Silkworm Maiden"),[189] identified with Leizu (嫘祖, the wife of the Yellow Emperor), Magu (麻姑 "Hemp Maiden"), Saoqing Niangniang (扫清娘娘 "Goddess who Sweeps Clean"),[lower-roman 14][195] Sanzhou Niangniang (三洲娘娘 "Goddess of the Three Isles"),[195] and Wusheng Laomu, the goddess that is the central idea of many of the folk religious sects.[189]
Altars of goddess worship are usually arranged with Bixia at the center and two goddesses at her sides, most frequently the Lady of Eyesight and the Lady of Offspring.[191] A different figure but with the same astral connections as Bixia is the Qixing Niangniang (七星娘娘 "Goddess of the Seven Stars").[lower-roman 12] There is also the cluster of the Holy Mothers of the Three Skies (三霄聖母 Sanxiao Shengmu; or "Ladies of the Three Skies", 三霄娘娘 Sanxiao Niangniang), composed of Yunxiao Guniang, Qiongxiao Guniang and Bixiao Guniang.[192] In southeastern provinces the cult of Chen Jinggu (陳靖姑) is identified by some scholars as an emanation of the northern cult of Bixia.[193]
The worship of mother goddesses for the cultivation of offspring is present all over China, but predominantly in northern provinces. There are nine main goddesses, and all of them tend to be considered as manifestations or attendant forces of a singular goddess identified variously as Bixia (Bìxiá Yuánjūn 碧霞元君, the "Princess of the Blue Dawn"; also known as Tiānxiān Niángniáng 天仙娘娘, "Heavenly Immortal Lady", or Tàishān Niángniáng 泰山娘娘, "Lady of Mount Tai",[lower-roman 10] or also Jiǔtiān Shèngmǔ 九天圣母,[187] "Holy Mother of the Nine Skies"[lower-roman 11])[188] or Houtu, the goddess of the earth.[189] Bixia herself is identified by Taoists as the more ancient goddess Xiwangmu,[190] Goddesses are commonly entitled mǔ (母 "mother"), lǎomǔ (老母 "old mother"), shèngmǔ (圣母 "Holy Mother"), niángniáng (娘娘 "lady"), nǎinai (奶奶 "granny"). The additional eight main goddesses of fertility, reproduction and growth are:[191]
Mythologically, Huangdi and Yandi fought a battle against each other; and Huang finally defeated Yan with the help of the Dragon (the controller of water, who is Huangdi himself).[184] This myth symbolises the equipoise of yin and yang, here the fire of knowledge (reason and craft) and earthly stability.[184] Yan 炎 is flame, scorching fire, or an excess of it (it is important to notice that graphically it is a double 火 huo, "fire").[184] As an excess of fire brings destruction to the earth, it has to be controlled by a ruling principle. Nothing is good in itself, without limits; good outcomes depend on the proportion in the composition of things and their interactions, never on extremes in absolute terms.[184] Huangdi and Yandi are complementary opposites, necessary for the existence of one another, and they are powers that exist together within the human being.
There are many books with lists and hierarchies of gods and immortals (神仙 shénxiān), among which the Completed Record of Immortals (神仙通鉴 Shenxian tongjian) of the Ming dynasty,[94] and the Biographies of Immortals (神仙传 Shenxian zhuan) by Ge Hong (284-343).[165]
Deities reflect the pattern or structure of development of the universe, in a hierarchy in which each god presides an aspect of reality.[12] The multifarious representation of God and deities in the Chinese cultural tradition indicates a hierarchical, multiperspective experience of divinity.[162] There are the great ancestral gods—the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors; the sky gods—Sun, Moon and the Stars; the gods of weather—Wind, Rain, Cloud, Thunder and Lightning; the scenery gods—the Five Mountains, the Three Hills, River, Lake and Sea; the vegetal gods—the Five Cereals, Flower, Wood; and the animal gods—Dragon, Phoenix, Crane, Unicorn and Turtle.[76] There are also many gods of Taoism and folk sects with long kataphatic names.[76]
In comparison with gods of an environmental nature, who tend to remain stable throughout human experience and history, individual human deities change in time. Some endure for centuries, while others remain localised cults, or vanish after a short time.[163] Immortal beings are conceived as "constellations of qi", which is so vibrant in certain historical individuals that, upon the person's death, this qi nexus does not dissipate but persists, and is reinforced by living people's worship.[168] The energetic power of a god is thought to redound on the worshipers influencing their fortune.[168]
Among those worshipped as immortal heroes (xian, exalted beings) are historical individuals distinguished for their worth or bravery, those who taught crafts to others and formed societies establishing the order of Heaven, ancestors or progenitors (zu 祖), and the creators of a spiritual tradition.[92][167] The concept of "human divinity" is not self-contradictory, as there is no unbridgeable gap between the two realms; rather, the divine and the human are mutually contained.[166]
Taoist schools in particular espouse an explicit spiritual pathway which pushes the earthly beings to the edge of eternity.[96] Since the human body is a microcosm, enlivened by the universal order of yin and yang like the whole cosmos, the means of immortality can be found within oneself.[96]
In the Doctrine of the Mean, one of the Confucian four books, the zhenren (wise) is the man who has achieved a spiritual status developing his true sincere nature.[166] This status, in turn, enables him to fully develop the true nature of others and of all things.[166] The sage is able to "assist the transforming and nourishing process of Heaven and Earth", forming a trinity (三才 Sāncái, the "Three Powers") with them.[166] In other words, in the Chinese tradition humans are or can be the medium between Heaven and Earth, and have the role of completing what had been initiated.[note 11]
In folk religions, gods (shen) and immortals (xian 仙) are not specifically distinguished from each other.[165] Gods can incarnate in human form and human beings can reach immortality, which means to attain higher spirituality, since all the spiritual principles (gods) are begotten of the primordial qi before any physical manifestation.[94]
In Chinese tradition, there is not a clear distinction between the gods and their physical body or bodies (from stars to trees and animals);[163] the qualitative difference between the two seems not to have ever been emphasised.[163] Rather, the disparity is said to be more quantitative than qualitative.[163] In doctrinal terms, the Chinese view of gods is related to the understanding of qi, the life force,[163] as the gods and their phenomenical productions are manifestations of it.[163] In this way, all natural bodies are believed to be able to attain supernatural attributes by acting according to the universal oneness.[163] Meanwhile, acting wickedly (that is to say against the Tian and its order) brings to disgrace and disaster.[164]
Chinese religions are polytheistic, meaning that many deities are worshipped as part of what has been defined as yǔzhòu shénlùn (宇宙神论), loosely translated as "cosmotheism", a worldview in which divinity is inherent to the world itself.[76] The gods (shen 神; "growth", "beings that give birth"[162]) are interwoven energies or principles that generate phenomena which reveal or reproduce the way of Heaven, that is to say the order (li) of the Great One (Tian).[note 6]
Along the southeastern coast, ritual functions of the folk religion are reportedly dominated by Taoism, both in registered and unregistered forms (Zhengyi Taoism and unrecognised fashi orders), which since the 1990s has developed quickly in the area.[159][160]
In recent years there has also been an assimilation of deities from Tibetan folk religion, especially wealth gods.[157] In Tibet, across broader western China, and in Inner Mongolia, there has been a growth of the cult of Gesar with the explicit support of the Chinese government, a cross-ethnic Han-Tibetan, Mongol and Manchu deity (the Han identify him as an aspect of the god of war analogically with Guandi) and culture hero whose mythology is embodied as a culturally important epic poem.[158]
The folk religion of northeastern China (Dongbei) has unique characteristics deriving from the interaction of Han folk faiths with Tungus and Manchu shamanisms; these include chuma xian (出馬仙 "riding (for the) the immortal gods") shamanism, the worship of foxes and other animal deities, and the fox god and goddess—Húsān Tàiyé (胡三太爷) and Húsān Tàinǎi (胡三太奶)—at the head of pantheons.[156] Otherwise, in the religious context of Inner Mongolia there has been a significant integration of Han Chinese into the traditional folk religion of the region.
Northern and southern folk religions also have a different pantheon, of which the northern one composed by more ancient gods of Chinese mythology.[154] Furthermore, folk religious sects have historically been more successful in the central plains than in southern China and central-northern folk religion shares characteristics of the sects, especially the heavy importance of mother goddess worship.[155]
In contrast with the folk religion of southern and southeastern provinces—which fabric is constituted fundamentally by the miaohui 庙会), involving processions and pilgrimages,[153] and led by indigenous ritual masters (fashi) who are often hereditary and linked to secular authority.[note 13]
The Weixinist church, which headquarters are in Taiwan, is also active in Mainland China in the key birthplaces of the Chinese culture. It has a contract with Henan government for building the "City of Eight Trigrams" templar complex on Yunmeng Mountain (of the Yan Mountains),[149] and it has also built temples in Hebei.[150]
Weixinism (Chinese: 唯心聖教; pinyin: Wéixīn shèngjiào; literally: "Holy Religion of the Only Heart" or simply 心聖教; Wéixīnjiào) is a religion primarily based on the "orthodox lineages of Yijing and feng shui",[146] the Hundred Schools of Thought,[147] and worship of the "three great ancestors" (Huangdi, Yandi and Chiyou).[148] The movement promotes the restoration of the authentic roots of the Chinese civilization and Chinese reunification.[147]
The religions focus on the worship of Tiandi (天帝), the "Heavely God" or "Heavenly Emperor",[142] on health through the proper cultivation of qi,[142] and teach a style of qigong named Tianren qigong.[143] According to scholars, Tiandi teachings derive from the Taoist tradition of Huashan,[144] where Li Yujie studied for eight years.[145] The Tiandi church is very active both in Taiwan and mainland China, where it has high-level links.[142]
The Tiandi teachings (Chinese: 天帝教; pinyin: Tiāndìjiào; literally: "teachings of the Heaven God") is a religion that encompasses two branches, Tiandi and Tiande (天德, "Heavenly Virtue"), emerged from the techings of Xiao Changming and Li Yujie, disseminated in the early 20th century.[142] Tiandi is actually a later sprout of Tiande, established in the 1980s.[142]
A further distinctive type of sects of the folk religion, that are possibly the same with the positive "secret sects", are the martial sects. They combine two aspects: the wenchang (文场 "cultural field"), that is the doctrinal aspect characterised by elborate cosmologies, theologies, initiatory and ritual patterns, and that is usually kept secretive ; and the wuchang (武场 "martial field"), that is the body cultivation practice and that is usually the "public face" of the sect.[141] They were outlawed by Ming imperial edicts that continued until the fall of the Qing dynasty in the 20th century.[141] An example of martial sect is the Meihuaquan (梅花拳 "Plum Flower Boxing"), that has become very popular throughout northern China.[141] In Taiwan, virtually all of the "redemptive societies" operate freely since the late 1980s.
[140]).Japan or Guomindang) to distinguish the paesant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the mìmì jiàomén Recent scholarship has created the label of "secret sects" (祕密教門 [140]).zōngjiào yìduān doctrines" (宗教異端 heretical, and often labeled as "early republican period They became very popular in the [140] They are religious communities of [139]).mìmì jiéshè, or 秘密結社 mìmì shèhuì, 祕密社會 huìdàomén Another category that has been sometimes confused with that of the sects of salvation by the scholarly narrative, is that of the secret societies (會道門
Many of the redemptive religions of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism.[135] This group of religions includes[136] Putian region (Xinghua) of Fujian where it is legally recognised.[21] Some of them began to register as branches of the official Taoist Association since the 1990s.[138]
They are characterised by egalitarianism; a foundation through a charismatic figure and a direct divine revelation; a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation; an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and cultivation; and an expansive orientation through good deeds, evangelism and philanthropy.[134] Their practices are focused on their moral teachings, body cultivation, and recitation of scriptures.[128]
The 20th-century expression of this kind of religions has been studied under Prasenjit Duara's definition of "redemptive societies" (救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ),[130][131] while modern Chinese scholarship tends to describe them as "folk religious sects" (民間宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào, 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài),[132] abandoning the ancient derogatory definition of xiéjiào (邪教), "evil religion".[133]
China has a long history of sect traditions characterised by a soteriological and eschatological character, often called "salvationist religions" (救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào),[128] emerged from the traditional folk faith but neither ascribable to the lineage cult of ancestors and progenitors, nor to the communal-liturgical religion of village temples, neighbourhood, corporation, or national temples.[129]
Lineages of ritual masters (法師 fashi), also referred to as practitioners of "Faism", also called "Folk Taoism" or (in southeast China) "Red Taoism", operate within the Chinese folk religion but outside institutional or official Taoism.[126] The ritual masters, who have the same role of the sanju daoshi within the fabric of society, aren't considered Taoist priests by the daoshi of Taoism who trace their lineage to the Celestial Masters. Fashi are defined as of "kataphatic" (filling) character in opposition to professional Taoists who are "kenotic" (of emptying, or apophatic, character).[127]
Some currents of Taoism are interwoven with the Chinese folk religion, especially the Zhengyi school, developing aspects of local cults within their doctrines;[7] however Taoists always highlight the distinction between their traditions and those which aren't Taoist. The daoshi (道士, "masters of the Tao") of the Zhengyi school, who are called sanju daoshi (散居道士) or huoju daoshi (火居道士), respectively meaning "scattered daoshi" and "daoshi living at home", because they can get married and perform the profession of priests as a part-time occupation, may perform rituals of offering (jiao), thanks-giving, propitiation, exorcism and rites of passage for local communities' temples and private homes.[125] Local gods of local cultures are often incorporated into their altars.[125] The Zhengyi sanju daoshi are trained by other priests of the same sect, and historically received formal ordination by the Celestial Master,[126] although the 63rd Celestial Master Zhang Enpu fled to Taiwan in the 1940s during the Chinese Civil War.
There are many organised groups of the folk religion that adopt Confucian liturgy and identity, for example the Way of the Gods according to the Confucian Tradition or phoenix churches, or the Confucian churches, schools and fellowships such as the Yidan xuetang (一耽学堂), a of Beijing,[122] the Mengmutang (孟母堂) of Shanghai,[123] the Kongshengtang (孔圣堂) started in Shenzhen,[124] the Confucian Fellowship (儒教道坛 Rújiào Dàotán) in northern Fujian, and ancestral temples of the Kong (Confucius) lineage operating as well as Confucian-teaching churches.[123]
Confucianism and Taoism—which are formalised, ritual, doctrinal or philosophical traditions—can be considered as both embedded within the larger category of Chinese traditional religion, or as separate religions. In fact, one can practice certain folk cults and espouse the tenets of Confucianism as a philosophical framework, Confucian theology instructing to uphold the moral order through the worship of gods and ancestors[8] that is the way of connecting to the Tian and awakening to its harmony (li, "rite").[121] Folk temples and ancestral shrines on special occasions may choose Confucian liturgy (that is called 儒 rú, or sometimes 正统 zhèngtǒng, meaning "orthoprax" ritual style) led by Confucian ritual masters (礼生 lǐshēng), that in many cases are the elders of a local community. Confucian liturgies are alternated with Taoist liturgies and popular devotion.[10]
Nuo traditions are ritual forms of the Chinese folk religion present especially in central-southern China and representing much of the religious life of the Tujia people. Nuo ceremonies revolve around the worship of gods and ancestors represented by characteristic wooden masks and idols. Ritual performances and dramas are carried out by circles of ritual masters wearing masks of the gods. [120]
Since the 1980s the practice and study of shamanism has undergone a massive revival in Chinese religion as a mean to repair the world to a harmonious whole after industrialisation.[118] Shamanism is viewed by many scholars as the foundation for the emergence of civilisation, and the shaman as "teacher and spirit" of peoples. The Chinese Society for Shamanic Studies was founded in Jilin City in 1988.[119]
In the Shang and Zhou dynasty, shamans had a role in the political hierarchy, and were represented institutionally by the Ministry of Rites (大宗拍). The emperor was considered the supreme shaman, intermediating between the three realms of heaven, earth and man. The mission of a shaman (巫 wu) is "to repair the dis-functionalities occurred in nature and generated after the sky had been separated from earth":[118]
According to Andreea Chirita, Confucianism itself, with its emphasis on hierarchy and ancestral rituals, derived from the shamanic discourse of the Shang dynasty.What Confucianism did was to marginalise the "dysfunctional" features of old shamanism. However, shamanic traditions continued uninterrupted within the folk religion and found precise and functional forms within Taoism.[118]
"The extent to which shamanism pervaded ancient Chinese society", says scholar Paul R. Goldin, "is a matter of scholarly dispute, but there can be no doubt that many communities relied upon the unique talents of shamans for their quotidian spiritual needs".[117] The Chinese usage distinguishes the Chinese wu tradition (巫教 wūjiào; properly shamanic, with control over the gods) from the tongji tradition (童乩; mediumship, without control of the godly movement), and from non-Han Chinese Altaic shamanisms (萨满教 sàmǎnjiào) that are practiced in northern provinces.
If their temples and their deities enshrined acquire popularity they are considered worthy of the virtue of ling, "efficacy".[116] Ancestor veneration in China (jingzu 敬祖) is observed nationally with large-scale rituals on Qingming Festival and other holidays.
The construction of large and elaborate ancestral temples traditionally represents a kin's wealth, influence and achievement.[115] Scholar K. S. Yang has explored the ethno-political dynamism of this form of religion, through which people who become distinguished for their value and virtue are considered immortal and receive posthumous divine titles, and are believed to protect their descendants, inspiring a mythological lore for the collective memory of a family or kin.[116]
Another dimension of the Chinese folk religion is based on family or genealogical worship of deities and ancestors in family altars or private temples (simiao 私庙 or jiamiao 家庙), or ancestral shrines (citang 祠堂 or zongci 宗祠, or also zumiao 祖庙).[113] Kinship associations or churches, congregating people with the same surname and belonging to the same kin, are the social expression of this religion: these lineage societies build temples where the deified ancestors of a certain group (for example the Chens or the Lins) are enshrined and worshiped.[114] These temples serve as centres of aggregation for people belonging to the same lineage, and the lineage body may provide a context of identification and mutual assistance for individual persons.[114]
This faith expresses into large-scale festivals participated by members of the whole village or larger community on the occasions of what are believed to be the birthdays of the gods or other events,[54] or to seek protection from droughts, epidemics, and other disasters.[54] Such festivals invoke the power of the gods for practical goals to "summon blessings and drive away harm".[54] Special devotional currents within this framework can be identified by specific names such as Mazuism (Mazujiao),[111] Wang Ye worship, or the cult of the Silkworm Mother.[112]
Chinese religion in its communal expression involves the worship of gods that are the generative power and tutelary spirit (genius loci) of a locality or a certain aspect of nature (for example water gods, river gods, fire gods, mountain gods), or of gods that are common ancestors of a village, a larger identity, or the Chinese nation (Shennong, Huangdi, Pangu). This type of religion has local and village-based temples or temples with a wider geographical importance (for example the Heilongdawang Temple in Shanbei) and even national importance.
The most common display of divine power is the cure of diseases after a faithful asks for aid.[106] Another manifestation is the fulfillment of a request of children.[106] The deity may also manifest through mediumship, entering the body of a shaman-medium and speaking through his or her lips.[106] There have been cases of people curing illnesses "on behalf of a god" (ti shen zhi bing 替神治病).[109] Gods may also speak to people when they are asleep (tuomeng 托梦).[106]
Within temples, it is common to see banners bearing the phrase "if the heart is sincere, the god will reveal his power" (心诚神灵 xin cheng shen ling).[110] The relationship between men and gods is an exchange of favour.[110] This implies the belief that gods respond to the entreaties of the believer, if his or her religious fervor is sincere (cheng xin 诚心).[110] If a person believes in the god's power with all his heart and expresses piety, the gods are confident in his faith and reveal their efficacious power.[110] At the same time, for faith to strengthen in the devout's heart, the deity has to prove his or her efficacy.[110] In exchange for divine favours, a faithful honours the deity with vows (huan yuan 还愿 or xu yuan 许愿), through individual worship, reverence and respect (jing shen 敬神).[110]
[109] While the opera was being played, large white snakes appeared, not afraid of people and not attacking them, seemingly watching the opera; the snakes were considered by locals as incarnations of Zhenwu, who came to watch the opera held in his honour.[109] A temporary altar with a statue of Zhenwu and a stage for performances was set up in an open space at the foots of a mountain.[109] Another example of Zavidovskaya is that of the cult of god Zhenwu in Congluo Yu,
Zavidovskaya (2012) has studied how the incentive of temples restoration since the 1980s in northern China was triggered by numerous instances of gods becoming "active", "returning", and claiming back their temples and place in society.[106] She brings the example of a Chenghuang Temple in Yulin, in Shaanxi, that during the Cultural Revolution was turned into a granary; in the 1980s the temple was restored to its original function because the seeds kept into the temple always rotted, and this event was recognized as god Chenghuang giving signs to empty his residence of grain and let him back in.[106] The ling qi, divine energy, is believed to accumulate in certain places, temples, making them holy.[106] Temples with a longer history are considered holier than newly built ones, which still need to be filled by divine energy.[106]
The term xian ling may be interpreted as the god revealing his presence in a particular area and temple,[106] through events that are perceived as extraordinary, miraculous.[107] Divine power usually manifests in the presence of a wide public.[106] The "value" of human deities (xian) is judged according to his or her efficacy.[108] The perceived effectiveness of a deity to protect or bless also determines how much he or she should be worshipped, how big a temple should be built in his or her dedication, and what position in the pantheon he or her would gain.[108]
The notion of xian ling (显灵), variously translated as "divine efficacy, virtue" or simply the "numen", is of foremost importance in the Chinese folk religion, in the relationship between men and gods.[104] It describes the manifestation, activity, of the power of a god (灵气 ling qi, "divine energy" or "effervescence"), the evidence of the holy.[105]
In Chinese religion the concept of ling (灵) is the equivalent of holy and numen.[103] Ling is the state of the "medium" of the bivalency (yin-yang), and thus it is identical with the inchoate order of creation.[18] At times shen is used as a synonym.[17] Everything inspiring awe or wonder because it is not measured by yin and yang, because it crosses the polarity and therefore can't be conceptualised, is regarded as numinous.[17] These entities possess unusual spiritual characteristics, and possess the power to disrupt the balance of yin and yang.[17]
As part of the trinity of being (the Three Powers), humans are not totally submissive to spiritual force.[96] While under the sway of spiritual forces, humans can actively engage with them, striving to change their own fate to prove the worth of their earthly life.[96] In the Chinese traditional view of human destiny, the dichotomy between "fatalism" and "optimism" is overcome; human beings can shape their personal destiny to grasp their real worth in the transformation of the universe, seeing their place in the alliance with the gods and with Heaven to surpass the constraints of the physical body and mind.[96]
These three themes of the Chinese tradition—moral reciprocity, personal destiny, fateful coincidence—are completed by a fourth notion:[102]
Ming yun and yuan fen are linked, because what appears on the surface to be chance (either positive or negative), is part of the deeper rhythm that shapes personal life based on how destiny is directed.[98] Recognising this connection has the result of making a person responsible for his or her actions:[99] doing good for others spiritually improves oneself and contributes to the harmony between men and environmental gods and thus to the wealth of a human community.[101]
The cosmic significance of bao ying is better understood by exploring other two traditional concepts of fate and meaning:[14]
The Chinese traditional concept of bao ying ("reciprocity", "retribution" or "judgement"), is inscribed in the cosmological view of an ordered world, in which all manifestations of being have an allotted span (shu) and destiny,[97] and are rewarded according to the moral-cosmic quality of their actions.[98] It determines fate, as written in Zhou texts: "on the doer of good, heaven sends down all blessings, and on the doer of evil, he sends down all calamities" (《书经•汤诰》).[99]
In fact, in the Chinese tradition there is no distinction between gods (shen) and immortal beings (xian), transcendental principles and their bodily manifestations.[93] Gods can incarnate with a human form and human beings can reach higher spiritual states by the right way of action, that is to say by emulating the order of Heaven.[94] Humans are considered one of the three aspects of a trinity (三才 Sāncái, "Three Powers"),[95] the three foundations of all being; specifically, men are the medium between Heaven that engenders order and forms and Earth which receives and nourishes them.[95] Men are endowed with the role of completing creation.[95][note 11]
Ancestors are means of connection with the Tian, the primordial god which does not have form.[44] As ancestors have form, they shape the destiny of humans.[44] Ancestors who have had a significant impact in shaping the destiny of large groups of people, creators of genetic lineages or spiritual traditions, and historical leaders who have invented crafts and institutions for the wealth of the Chinese nation (culture heroes), are exalted among the highest divine manifestations or immortal beings (xian 仙).[92]
The shen of men who are properly cultivated and honoured after their death are upheld ancestors and progenitors (zuxian 祖先 or simply zu 祖).[82] When ancestries aren't properly cultivated the world falls into disruption, and they become gui.[82] Ancestral worship is intertwined with totemism, as the earliest ancestors of an ethnic lineage are often represented as animals or associated to them.[44][91]
To extend life to its full potential the human shen must be cultivated, resulting in ever clearer, more luminous states of being.[17] It can transform in the pure intelligent breath of deities.[89] In man there's no distinction between rationality and intuition, thinking and feeling: the human being is xin (心), mind-heart.[78] With death, while the po returns to the earth and disappears, the hun is thought to be pure awareness or qi, and is the shen to whom ancestral sacrifices are dedicated.[90]
Like all things in matter, also humans have a soul that is a dialectic of hun and po (魂魄), respectively the yang spirit or mind, and the yin animal soul that is the body.[87] Hun (mind) is the shen (that gives a form to the qi) of humans, and it develops through the po, stretching and moving intelligently in order to grasp things.[88] The po is the "feminine" soul which controls the physiological and psychological activities of man,[89] while the hun, the god attached to the vital breath, is the "masculine" soul that is totally independent of corporeal substance.[89] The hun is virile, independent and perpetual, and as such it never allows itself to be limited in matter.[89][note 10]
While in popular thought they have conscience and personality,[84] Neo-Confucian scholars tended to rationalise them.[85] Zhu Xi wrote that they act according to the li.[81] Zhang Zai wrote that they are "the inherent potential (liang neng) of the two ways of qi".[86] Cheng Yi said that they are "traces of the creative process".[81] Chen Chun wrote that shen and gui are expansions and contractions, going and coming, of yin and yang—qi.[81]
In Taoist and Confucian thought, the supreme God and its order and the multiplicity of shen are identified as one and the same.[83] In the Yizhuan, a commentary to the Yijing, it is written that "one yin and one yang are called the Tao [...] the unfathomable change of yin and yang is called shen".[83] In other texts, with a tradition going back to the Han period, the gods and spirits are explained to be names of yin and yang, forces of contraction and forces of growth.[83]
The concept of 神 shén (cognate of 申 shēn, "expansion, growth"[81]) is translated as "gods" or "spirits" (from Latin spiritus, "insufflation"), as they are the essences or energies that generate and grow the different things and phenomena.[17] In poetic speech "they draw out the ten thousand things"; they make phenomena appear and things extend themselves.[17] As forces of growth the gods are regarded as yang,[17] opposed to a yin class of entities called 鬼 guǐ (cognate of 归 guī, "return, contraction"[81]), chaotic beings.[17] The dragon is a symbol of yang, the principle of generation.[70] There are gods of nature, gods of the place, and ancestral gods (zu or zuxian).[82]
Yin 阴 and yang 阳, whose root meanings respectively are "shady" and "sunny", or "dark" and "light", are modes of manifestation of the qi, not material things in themselves. Yin is the qi in its dense, dark, sinking, wet, condensing mode; yang denotes the light, and the bright, rising, dry, expanding modality. Described as Taiji (the "Great Pole"), they represent the polarity and complementarity that enlivens the cosmos.[79] They can also be conceived as "disorder" and "order", "activity" or "passivity", with act (yang) usually preferred over receptiveness (yin).[18] In Neo-Confucian terminology this polarity is li, the natural order.[79]
The qi 气 is the breath or substance of which all things are made, including inanimate matter, the living beings, thought and gods.[77] It is the continuum energy—matter.[78] Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi developed the idea of li 理, the "reason", "order" of Heaven, that is to say the pattern through which the qi develops,[17] that is the polarity of yin and yang.[79] In Taoism the Tao 道 ("Way") denotes in one concept both the impersonal absolute Tian and its order of manifestation (li).
Tian is defined in many ways, with many names, the most widely known being Tàidì 太帝 (the "Great Deity") and Shàngdì 上帝 (the "Primordial Deity").[note 6] The concept of Shangdi is especially rooted in the tradition of the Shang dynasty, which gave prominence to the worship of ancestral gods and cultural heroes. The "Primordial Deity" or "Primordial Emperor" was considered to be embodied in the human realm as the lineage of imperial power.[70] Di (帝) is a term meaning "deity" or "emperor" (Latin: imperator, verb im-perare; "making from within"), used either as a name of the primordial god or as a title of natural gods,[71] describing a principle that exerts a fatherly dominance over what it produces.[72] With the Zhou dynasty, that preferred a religion focused on gods of nature, Tian became a more abstract and impersonal idea of God.[70] A popular representation is the Jade Deity (玉帝 Yùdì) or Jade Emperor (玉皇 Yùhuáng)[note 7] originally formulated by Taoists.[76]
In Chinese religion, Tian 天 ("Heaven" or "Sky"; translated philologically as "Great One", "Great Whole", "Great All") is the absolute principle that is spring of the universal reality, of moral meaning and of all creativity inherent to the nature.[64] This creativity or virtue (de), in humans is the potentiality to transcend the given conditions and act wisely and morally.[65] Tian is therefore both transcendent and immanent.[65] Various interpretations of the idea of Tian have been elaborated by Confucians, Taoists, and other schools of thought.[66]
Despite their great diversity, all the expressions of Chinese folk religion have a common core that can be summarised as four spiritual, cosmological, and moral concepts:[13] Tian (天), Heaven, the source of moral meaning; qi (气), the breath or substance of which all things are made; the practice of jingzu (敬祖), the veneration of ancestors; bao ying (报应), moral reciprocity.
Instead of signing the demise of traditional religiousness, China's economic development has brought a spiritual renewal.[55] The worldview of the Chinese indigenous religion is distinctive;[55] its images and practices are shapen by the codes of Chinese culture, helping Chinese people to face the challenges of modernisation.[55]
Since then, Chinese folk religion is exhibiting a dramatic revival throughout China,[53][54] with millions of temples being rebuilt or built from scratch.[54] Since the 1980s the central government moved to a policy of benign neglect or wu wei (无为) in regard to rural community life, and the local government's new regulatory relationship with local society is characterized by practical mutual dependence; these factors have given much space for popular religion to develop.[54] In recent years, in some cases, local governments have taken an even positive and supportive attitude towards indigenous religion in the name of promoting cultural heritage.[54]
The Chinese folk religion was subject to persecution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many local temples were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion in the late 1800s;[52] others suffered severe damage during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.[52] The Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 brought a third systematic effort to destroy folk religious devotion.[52]
From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei, accompaining the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the Chinese indigenous religion. A cult of Ganesha (象头神 Xiàngtóushén, "Elephant-Head God") is attested in the year 531.[51] Pollination from Indian religions included processions of carts with images of gods or floats borne on shoulders, with musicians and chanting.[50]
By the she" was the god of the earth, and in others a deified virtuous person (xiān 仙, "immortal"). Some cults such as that of Liu Zhang, a king in what is today Shandong, date back to this period.[50]
There are many public-domain folk religion texts such as Journeys to the Underworld, The Peach Blossom Spring, the Shi Yi Ji, the Investiture of the Gods, the Shanhaijing, and notably the Yijing divination book, distributed in temples (often without charge) or sold in religious goods stores.
The prime criterion for participation in Chinese folk religion is not "to believe" in an official doctrine or dogma, but "to belong" to the local unit of Chinese religiousness, that is the "village" or the "kinship", with their gods and rituals.[47] Scholar Richard Madsen describes Chinese religion, adopting the definition of Tu Weiming,[48] as characterised by "immanent transcendence" grounded in a devotion to "concrete humanity", focused on building moral community within concrete humanity.[49]
Village temple associations and kinship-lineage associations with their temple-congregations, pilgrimage associations and formalised prayers, rituals and expressions of virtues, are the common forms of organisation of Chinese folk religion on the local level.[43] Neither initiation rituals nor official membership into a church organisation separate from one person's native identity are mandatory in order to be involved in religious activities.[43] Contrarywise to institutional religions, Chinese indigenous religion does not require "conversion" for participation.[46]
The Chinese folk religion is a [46]
Chinese folk religion is very diverse, varying from province to province and even from a village to another, for it is bound to local communities, kinship, and environments.[43] In each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms.[43] Temples and the gods enshrined acquire symbolic character, with specific functions involved in the everyday life of the local community.[43] Local religion preserves aspects of natural beliefs such as totemism,[44] animism and shamanism.[45]
According to Chen Jinguo 陳進國, folk religion is a core element of Chinese cultural and religious self-awareness (wenhua zijue 文化自覺, xinyang zijue 信仰自覺).[40] He has proposed a theoretical definition of Chinese indigenous religion in "three inseparable attributes" (sanwei yiti 三位一體), apparently inspired to Tang Junyi's thought:[42]
Contemporary Chinese scholars have also identified what they find to be the essential features of the folk (or indigenous—ethnic) religion of China. According to Chen Xiaoyi 陳曉毅 local indigenous religion is the crucial factor for a harmonious "religious ecology" (zongjiao shengtai 宗教生態), that is the balance of forces in a given community.[39] Professor Han Bingfang 韓秉芳 has called for a rectification of distorted names (zhengming 正名). Distorted names are "superstitious activities" (mixin huodong 迷信活動) or "feudal superstition" (fengjian mixin 封建迷信), that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the label "feudal superstition" in order to undermine their religious competitor.[40] Han calls for the acknowledgment of folk religion for what it really is, the "core and soul of popular culture" (suwenhua de hexin yu linghun 俗文化的核心與靈魂).[41]
"Chinese Universism", not in the sense of "universalism", that is a system of universal application, but in the original sense of "uni-verse" which is "towards the One", that is Shangdi—Tian in Chinese thought, is a coinage of Jan Jakob Maria de Groot that refers to the metaphysical perspective that lies behind the Chinese religious tradition.[note 4]
"Shendao" (神道 Shéndào, the "Way of the Gods") is a term already used in the Yijing referring to the divine order of nature.[note 3] Around the time of the spread of Buddhism in the Han period (206 BCE-220 CE), it was used to distinguish the indigenous religion from the imported religion. Ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism.[33] The term was subsequently adopted in Japan in the 6th century as Shindo, later Shinto, with the same purpose of identification of the Japanese indigenous religion.[34][35] In the 14th century, the Hongwu Emperor (Taizu of the Ming dynasty, 1328-1398) used the term "Shendao" clearly identifying the indigenous cults, which he strengthened and systematised.[36]
With the rise of the study of traditional cults and the creation of a government agency to give legal status to this religion,[27] intellectuals and philosophers in China have proposed the adoption of a formal name in order to solve the terminological problems of confusion with folk religious sects and conceptualise a definite field for research and administration.[28] The terms that have been proposed include "Chinese native religion" or "Chinese indigenous religion" (民俗宗教 mínsú zōngjiào), "Chinese ethnic religion" (民族宗教 mínzú zōngjiào),[29] or also simply "Chinese religion" (中華教 Zhōnghuájiào) viewed as comparable to the usage of the term "Hinduism" for Indian religion,[30] and "Shenxianism" (神仙教 Shénxiānjiào, "religion of deities and immortals"), partly inspired by the term "Shenism" (神仙教 Shénjiào) that was used in the 1950s by the anthropologist Allan J. A. Elliott[31] and earlier by the Qing dynasty scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin in reference to Japanese Shinto.[32] Other definitions that have been used are "folk cults" (民间崇拜 mínjiān chóngbài),"spontaneous religion" (自发宗教 zìfā zōngjiào), "lived (or living) religion" (生活宗教 shēnghuó zōngjiào), "local religion" (地方宗教 dìfāng zōngjiào), and "diffused religion" (分散性宗教 fēnsàn xìng zōngjiào).[6]
[26]) is a technical term with little usage outside the academia.minjian xinyang "Folk beliefs" ([25]
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