1. Asian Religion Essay
Jessica Heetland
Dear Neighbor,
I’ve been informed that you want to know more about Asian religion, and I’m
studying it in school. Popular religion in Asia includes more than day to day activity.
There are several rituals that take place that are used for continuing a sense of
community. There are daily rituals, seasonal rituals, annual rituals, and life cycle
events. Popular religion is very different than institutionalized religion. It does not
have missionaries or priesthood. It also does not have anything comparable to a
Bible, and the members of the religion do not congregate and take part in regular
religious services. The religions in Asia are all similar. They might all be located in
different countries, but each country uses a part of each religion. There are three
categories of Chinese cosmology that are important in Asian religion: ancestors,
gods/goddesses, and ghosts. The last topic I will discuss is the rituals for the
ancestors and whether or not religion is dying out in Asia.
In some religions, death separates family. Once a person dies, they are no
longer a big part of their family that is still living. In Asian religion, this is
completely untrue. Once a family member dies, that family member becomes an
ancestor, and is worshipped and taken care of by the family members that are still
living. Once the ancestors move to the afterlife, they still need everything they
needed when they were alive. They need food, drink, shelter, and emotional
support. That is why it is so important for the living members of the family to help
out their ancestors. The living also have very positive attitudes toward the

2. ancestors because they are indebted to them. Everything the living members have
is because of their ancestors: marital status, spiritual maturity, and wisdom. The
rituals are important to both the ancestors and the living members of the family. It
is important to the living members because when they perform the rituals they feel
as if it is helping them pay the debt that they owe to the ancestors. The living
members of the family also want to give the ancestors a good life because if they
help the ancestors, the ancestors will help them. The ancestors are worshipped
daily in the home. They give them food and make sure that they are happy in the
afterlife with everything they are given. They are also worshipped on more special
dates such as their birthday and death date. In Asia, there are two different types of
worship. There is rural and urban worship. Both of the types use metaphors, have
repetitive routines, and may cause conflict. In the rural type of worship, the
metaphors are shown by burning presents and scattering paper. In the urban type
of worship, metaphors are used in the burning of presents. Repetitive routines are
shown in the rural and urban worship types because they take place at the same
time during the year and they have the same order. Conflict may be caused in the
rural way of worship because the altars are out in the open and some families might
have more than others, so they can provide more for their ancestors. In urban
worship, the number of family members that come to the ceremony will be able to
be seen by all the other families in the area because they all worship in a big tent
area. The Taiwanese believe that the ancestors have two sides: a disembodied spirit
and a mystified set of bones. They believe that in spirit form, the ancestor is
attached to a tablet and hovers above their grave and in the form of bones, the

3. ancestor is permanently buried in the ground. It is believed that if the grave is near
a place where the winds and water are favorable, the descendants will have good
fortune. The whole point of the rituals for the ancestors is to make sure that the
ancestors have a good afterlife and to help the living descendants have good fortune.
The gods are important because they form legislative regulations and
maintain the social order. The gods are hierarchically ranked, just like human
bureaucrats. The Jade Emperor is at the top of the hierarchy. Under him are the
local deities, such as Guan Yin and Guan Gong. Guan Gong was a military general
when the Han Dynasty was ending. He died in a battle, became immortal, and now
is able to help those who worship him. He is usually seen in pictures with a red face
holding a broadsword. Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of compassion. She is sometimes
called the “Hearer of the Cries of the World.” She is usually described as a goddess
of compassion and a savior from all types of misfortune. She is the most popular
Daoist deity with ordinary Chinese, partly because she has a place within the
Buddhist pantheon. The gods are viewed as rulers of communities, states, and the
cosmos. Most people do not feel obligated to make offerings to any god. The reason
gods are worshipped is if people want to gain assistance from the gods in order to
grant a certain wish from them, such as having a desirable number of children, a
reasonable income, good fortune, and a peaceful life. The gods can be bribed. If a
person wants to make sure the god will grant their wish and help them with what
they want, they will bring a small sacrifice to the god the first time they visit him and
ask for their help. To ensure the god helps them, they will promise a larger sacrifice
in return for helping them. People often worship the gods on their birthdays and

4. special holidays, but unlike the ancestors, it is not necessary to worship the gods on
a daily basis, unless one runs into a problem they need the gods’ assistance with. To
become a god in the afterlife, one must have done exceptional deeds, accumulated
merits, or devoted themselves to the salvation of others in the previous life. If a
person did not perform these acts, they find themselves in a nonbureaucratic
category in the afterlife.
Ghosts are not structured. They are judged by the gods and punished for the
actions they committed in their previous life. A person will become a ghost if their
living descendants do not worship them or if the person doesn’t have any living
descendants to worship them. If their living descendants ignore them and do not
give them food or take care of them, they drift off into the heavens and wander
around aimlessly. Another way that people become ghosts is if they have a tragic or
untimely death. Some people believe that if they have no familial ties with an
ancestor, even if someone else does, that ancestor is a ghost to them. Some people
also think that ghosts are dangerous and usually use them as an explanation for
disaster.
Given everything I have explained, you should take away that your exchange
student doesn’t “belong” to a certain religion. He or she uses different parts of
several religions and puts them all together. I guess it’s kind of like creating your
own religion. They piece together different religions to form their own rituals.
Religion might be dying out in Asia because the country has been industrialized.
The families no longer have to rely on ancestral farms, so it changed the family’s
views on ties with the ancestors and future descendants. There are many aspects of

5. many different religions that tie into Asian religion, and sometimes it can be hard to
understand. I hope you can understand your exchange student better now.