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Chinese Folk Religion.pptx
- 1. CHINESE FOLK RELIGION Presented by: Syeda Ayesha Amna Aftab Amna Naveed
- 2. Agenda • Introduction • History • Beliefs • Chinese gods • Worship • Difference from other religions.
- 3. Introduction of Chinese Folk Religion
- 4. Cntd… • Chinese Folk Religion is a combination of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. • Many people, in addition to practicing religion, adhere to a set of deeply established beliefs known as "traditional Chinese folk religion.”
- 5. Cntd… • Traditional Chinese folk religion includes the worship of local deities, including Buddhist and Taoist figures, astrology, animal totem worship, and ancestor worship. • Various schools of thought, particularly Confucianism and Taoism, have influenced Chinese folk religion over the course of its history.
- 6. Cntd… • The gods of Chinese folk religion are little more than deified humans, with mysterious and extraordinary powers. • Almost all experts on Chinese religion agree that folk religion was the mainstream of the Chinese religious tradition.
- 7. History of Chinese Folk Religion
- 8. Cntd… • Chinese folk religion was once mistakenly thought to be a fusion of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, but it is now widely recognized as a distinct system of belief and practice. • Chinese folk religion is a recent concept developed by academics. The concept of religion as a distinct part of culture is novel.
- 9. Cntd… • In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing others. • During the Japanese invasion of China between 1937 to 1945 many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare.
- 10. Cntd… • In the 20th century, with the decline of the empire, increasing urbanization and Western influence, the issue for the new intellectuals who looked to the West was no longer controlling unauthorized worship of unregistered gods, but the delegitimisation of the ancient Chinese religion as a superstitious obstacle to modernization.
- 11. Beliefs of Chinese Folk Religion
- 12. Cntd… • According to ethnographic research, Chinese popular religion is a syncretic system comprised of elements from Buddhism, Daoism, and other traditional religious beliefs. • Folk religion adherents not only worship various types of spirits, but also believe in supernatural forces such as destiny and geomancy.
- 13. Cntd… • The temple of Chinese gods and goddesses is vast, spanning thousands of years, different ethnic groups, and shifting geographical boundaries • Folk religion is alive in various forms of magic and sorcery.
- 14. Cntd… • The worship of personal household gods, personalized spirits, and ancestral ghosts, and the rituals of antler-headed shaman and local holy men. • Shamanism and animism have persisted, especially in the countryside.
- 15. Chinese Gods
- 16. Cntd… • Chinese religion in its communal expression involves the worship of gods that are the generative power and tutelary spirit of a locality or a certain aspect of nature for example water, river, fire and mountain gods. • The names of the gods are as follows:
- 17. Cntd… • Bixia The Chinese goddess of fertility and guardian of children and mothers. • Caishen Chinese God of wealth and money, whose cudgel turns into iron and gold.
- 18. Cntd… • Doumu Chinese goddess and cosmic diety, mother of the Big Dipper constellation. • Dragon King The “Dragon King” Chinese god of all waters, weather and dragons.
- 19. Cntd… • Mazu Chinese goddess of the sea, patron of sailors, fisherman and travelers. • Eight Immortals Legendary Chinese heroes who fight for justice and vanquish evil.
- 20. Cntd… • Ji Gong The “Mad Monk” Chinese folk hero and champion for the poor and oppressed. • Jade Emperor The Supreme rule of emperor in Chinese mythology, first emperor of China.
- 21. Worship
- 22. Cntd… • 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. • Chinese folk religious practice is often intermingled with political, educational and economic concerns.
- 23. Cntd… • A gathering or event may be encompassed with all of these aspects; in general, the commitment (belief) and the process or rite (practice) together form the internal and external dimensions of Chinese religious life. • In village communities, religious services are often organised and led by local people themselves.
- 24. Cntd… • Leaders are usually selected among male heads of families or lineages, or village heads. • Deities can also be respected through moral deeds in their name and self-cultivation.
- 25. Cntd… • 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" and ledgers of merit and demerit
- 26. Difference from other religions
- 27. Cntd… • Chinese folk religion is a religion that has been practiced in China, and in areas inhabited by Chinese people. • There is no standardized mythology or clergy rites are often performed by the father of a family.
- 28. Cntd… • Since the 1950s, Chinese folk-religion is also sometimes referred to as Shenism or Shéni. • In this context, shen refers to a spirit or a deity. • The term Shenism was first used by A. J. A Elliot in 1955.
- 29. Cntd… • It is difficult to make a clear distinction between Chinese folk religion and other beliefs, because Chinese folk religion has elements of veneration of the dead, local spirits, clan spirits and traditional Eastern religions, such as Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, but also superstition, geomancy and Feng hui.
- 30. THANK YOU!!!