[4], Yoder's third definition was that often employed within folkloristics, which held that folk religion was "the interaction of belief, ritual, custom, and mythology in traditional societies", representing that which was often pejoratively characterised as superstition. Old Martial Art Strengthens Social Cohesion in Chinese Rural Areas, Christianity and the Taiwanese Religious Landscape, Weixinism propagates Chinese culture and Yi-Ching, Grand Master Hun Yuan leads Weixinism for world peace, Honoring the contribution of the Three-Great-Chinese-Ancestor Culture to develop world peace, Build the City of the Eight Trigrams on Yunmeng Mountain, integrate the differences within Chinese culture, and support the union of the Chinese people, Build temples for the Three Great Chinese Ancestors, solidify the national union, and pray together for Cross-Strait and worldwide peace, On the Nature and Transmission of Bimo Knowledge in Liangshan, People’s Republic of China: Religions and Churches Statistical Overview 2011, Folk Temples and the Chinese Religious Economy, Dejiao: A Chinese Religion in Southeast Asia, The Development and Distribution of Dejiao Associations in Malaysia and Singapore, A Study on a Religious Organization, "The Politics of Legitimation and the Revival of Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China", "A Different Kind of Religious Diversity: Ritual Service Providers and Consumers in China", "Confucius and the Mediums: Is There a "Popular Confucianism"? [102][note 7], 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,[104] and are rewarded according to the moral-cosmic quality of their actions. [80][81] It is the continuum energy—matter. [14], Ancient Chinese "popular religion" or "folk religion" or "folk belief" have long been used to indicate the local and communal religious life and complexities of Han local indigenous cults of China in English-language academic literature, though the Chinese language historically has not had a concept or overarching name for this. [120] In his words: "every kind and type of god [shen] can have an association [hui]", for example the Zhaogong Association, the Guanyin Association, the Guangong Association, the Dashen Association, the Bogong Association, the Wenchang Association, and the like. By the 11th century (Song period), these practices had been blended with Buddhist ideas of karma (one's own doing) 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. [13] Other prominent academics involved in the study of the phenomenon were Heinrich Schauert and Rudolf Kriss, the latter of whom collected one of the largest collections of folk-religious art and material culture in Europe, later housed in Munich's Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. [188] 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. [116] A temporary altar with a statue of Zhenwu and a stage for the performance were set up in an open space at the foot of a mountain. [37] Contrary to institutional religions, Chinese religion does not require "conversion" for participation. [201] He is therefore described in the Shizi as the "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" (Chinese: 黃帝四面 Huángdì Sìmiàn). This idea began with early eschatalogical aggadah and was then further developed by the kabbalists. [47][52], After 1978 the ancient Chinese religion started to rapidly revive in China,[53][54] with millions of temples being rebuilt or built from scratch. In many cases, folk Buddhism merely appropriated and subordinated indigenous symbols, beliefs, and practices with very little change in meaning. Chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized with Taoism, since over the centuries institutional Taoism has been attempting to assimilate or administrate local religions. [178]:45 Usually, indigenous ritual practices remain unaffected and are adopted into Taoist liturgy, while indigenous gods are identified with Chinese gods. Source for information on Folk Religion: Folk Islam: Encyclopedia of Religion dictionary. [45], From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei, accompanying the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the ancient Chinese indigenous religion. [172][173], Goossaert talks of this distinction, although recognising it as an oversimplification, of a "Taoist south" and a "village-religion/Confucian centre-north",[166]:47 with the northern context also characterised by important orders of "folk Taoist" ritual masters, one of which are the Chinese: 陰陽生 yīnyángshēng ("sages of yin and yang"),[174][166]:86 and sectarian traditions,[166]:92 and also by a low influence of Buddhism and official Taoism.[166]:90. A. [238], This religious economy already played a role in periods of imperial China, plays a significant role in modern Taiwan, and is seen as a driving force in the rapid economic development in parts of rural China, especially the southern and eastern coasts.[239]. in Doing Theology in the Philippines. [90] 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". [217] Traditionally, cosmic and nature gods are offered uncooked (or whole) food, while ancestors are offered cooked food. These conceptions of the ancient Chinese religion began to change in Taiwan in the late 20th century and in mainland China in the 21st. The qi Chinese: 气 is the breath or substance of which all things are made, including inanimate matter, the living beings, thought and gods. [140] Some currents of Taoism are deeply interwoven with the Chinese folk religion, especially the Zhengyi school, developing aspects of local cults within their doctrines;[140] however Taoists always highlight the distinction between their traditions and those which aren't Taoist. The largest folk religion in the world is the Chinese folk religion which has an estimated 400 million followers worldwide or about 6.6 percent of the world’s population. [6], Yin and yang (Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng) is the polarity that describes the order of the universe,[7] held in balance by the interaction of principles of “extension” (Chinese: 神; pinyin: shén; lit. [99][189] 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. [205] Bixia herself is identified by Taoists as the more ancient goddess Xiwangmu,[206] Goddesses are commonly entitled mǔ (Chinese: 母 "mother"), lǎomǔ (Chinese: 老母 "old mother"), shèngmǔ (Chinese: 聖母 "holy mother"), niángniáng (Chinese: 娘娘 "lady"), nǎinai (Chinese: 奶奶 "granny"). [162], The Weixinist Church, whose headquarters are in Taiwan, is also active in Mainland China in the key birthplaces of the Chinese culture. [86] Chen Chun wrote that shen and gui are expansions and contractions, going and coming, of yin and yang—qi. [18] He highlighted the example of the prominent sociologist of religion Émile Durkheim, who insisted that "religion" was organized in order to contrast it with "magic". [116] During the course of the opera, large white snakes appeared, passive and unafraid of the people, seemingly watching the opera; the snakes were considered by locals to be incarnations of Zhenwu, come to watch the opera held in his honour. Rather than writing replacing the power of the spoken word, both existed side by side. An example is the revival of lineages of bimo ("scripture sages") priests among the Yi peoples. The term “folk religion” is relatively new, dating back only to 1901, when a Lutheran theologian and pastor, Paul Drews, penned the German Religiöse Volkskunde, or folk religion. [117] This implies the belief that gods respond to the entreaties of the believer if his or her religious fervour is sincere (cheng xin Chinese: 誠心). [175] 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. This type of religious trusts can be dedicated to a god which is bound to a single village or temple or to a god which has a wider following, in multiple villages, provinces or even a national importance. [136], Folk temples and ancestral shrines on special occasions may choose Confucian liturgy (that is called Chinese: 儒 rú, or sometimes Chinese: 正統 zhèngtǒng, meaning "orthoprax" ritual style) led by Confucian "sages of rites" (Chinese: 禮生 lǐshēng) who in many cases are the elders of a local community. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of a religion, but outside official doctrine and practices.[1]. [101], 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. [146], The 20th-century expression of this religions has been studied under Prasenjit Duara's definition of "redemptive societies" (Chinese: 救世團體 jiùshì tuántǐ),[147][148] while modern Chinese scholarship describes them as "folk religious sects" (Chinese: 民間宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào, Chinese: 民間教門 mínjiān jiàomén or Chinese: 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài),[149] abandoning the ancient derogatory definition of xiéjiào (Chinese: 邪教), "evil religion". [57], Writer Stephen Sharot has stated that Jewish popular religion in common with other forms of folk religion, has a focus on the apotropaic, or thaumaturgical, i.e. Chinese religion is composed of four main traditions: Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. 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 (Luanism), or the Confucian churches, schools and fellowships such as the Yīdān xuétáng (Chinese: 一耽學堂) of Beijing,[138] the Mèngmǔtáng (Chinese: 孟母堂) of Shanghai,[139] the Confucian Fellowship (Chinese: 儒教道壇 Rújiào Dàotán) in northern Fujian, and ancestral temples of the Kong (Confucius) lineage operating as well as Confucian-teaching churches. 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. Vernacular literature and the folk religious sects have produced a great body of popular mythological and theological literature, the baojuan (Chinese: 寶卷; lit. The Chinese worship Genghis as the ancestral god of the, The main axis of the Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity (, Overmyer (2009, p. 73), says that from the late 19th to the 20th century few professional priests (i.e. Tian is both the physical heavens, the home of the sun, moon, and stars, and also the home of the gods and ancestors. Therefore there is no place where gods and spirits do not exist". There are at least 800,000,000 followers of Chinese folk religion worldwide (estimate). The emperor was considered the supreme shaman, intermediating between the three realms of heaven, earth and man. In its interior, the temple enshrines a statue of Genghis Khan (at the center) and four of his men on each side (the total making nine, a symbolic number in Mongolian culture), there is an altar where offerings to the godly men are made, and three white suldes made with white horse hair. [37] Local religion preserves aspects of natural beliefs such as totemism,[38] animism, and shamanism. [47][49], In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing other ones. In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. This consists in filling the incense burner of the new temple with ashes brought from the incense burner of an existing temple. Chinese mythology includes the worship of shen (spirit, god, awareness, consciousness) which can be nature deities, Taizu or clan deities, city gods, national deities, culture heroes and demigods, dragons and ancestors. The jing Chinese: 境 is a broader "territory of a god", a geographic region or a village or city with its surroundings, marked by multiple temples or complexes of temples and delineated by the processions. Wu Hsin-Chao (2014) distinguishes four kinds of Chinese traditional religious organisation:[118] ancestry worship; deity worship; secret societies; and folk religious sects. [176] 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. Thus, he summarized folk religion as "the totality of all those views and practices of religion that exist among the people apart from and alongside the strictly theological and liturgical forms of the official religion". In many cases the "lord of the she" was the god of the earth, and in others a deified virtuous person (xiān Chinese: 仙, "immortal"). Old sinology, especially Western, tried to distinguish "popular" and "élite" traditions (the latter being Confucianism and Taoism conceived as independent systems). [217], Both in past history and at the present, all sacrifices are assigned with both religious and political purposes. [47], A simple form of individual practice is to show respect for the gods (jing shen Chinese: 敬神) through jingxiang (incense offering), and the exchange of vows (huan yuan Chinese: 還願). [10] After the fall of the empire in 1911, governments and elites opposed or attempted to eradicate the ancient Chinese religion in order to promote "modern" values, and many condemned "feudal superstition". Other articles where Folk religion is discussed: Buddhism: New Year’s and harvest festivals: …same interplay between Buddhism and folk tradition is observable elsewhere. [126] Kinship associations or churches (zōngzú xiéhuì Chinese: 宗族協會), 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. A Summary of French Studies on Chinese Religion, Towards the City! [178]:44, A process of sinicization, or more appropriately a "Taoisation", is also the more recent experience of the indigenous religions of some distinct ethnic minorities of China, especially southwestern people. [89], The notion of xian ling (Chinese: 顯靈), variously translated as "divine efficacy, virtue" or simply the "numen", is important for the relationship between men and gods. Scriptures had to be recited and heard in order to be efficacious, and the limitations of written texts were acknowledged particularly in Taoism and folk religion.[58]. [note 7], Taoist schools in particular espouse an explicit spiritual pathway which pushes the earthly beings to the edge of eternity. [113] Another manifestation is granting a request of children. Indigenous Philippine folk religions are the distinct native religions of various ethnic groups in the Philippines, where most follow belief systems in line with animism. Folk Religion. This phenomenon, which locals attributed to the god Chenghuang, was taken a sign to empty his residence of grain and allow him back in. Some endure for centuries, while others remain localised cults, or vanish after a short time. ", Overmyer, 2009. p. 15: "[...] Popular religious sects with their own forms of organization, leaders, deities, rituals, beliefs and scripture texts were active throughout the Ming and Qing periods, particularly in north China. 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