Who is the most feared Hell deity?

This guy, of course.

If you are familiar with how a Chinese coffin looks, you'll realise that it doesn't really resemble one, lol.

Who are the Door Gods?

There exist numerous deities, some named and famous, some anonymous, who serve as the guardians of temple doorways, regulating spiritual ingress/egress to such establishments. They can take different forms, mostly depending on the nature of the temples they protect. For instance, a temple to martial deities like Lord Guan or Na Zha may feature warrior-type door gods, a temple where a goddess such as Ma Zu is enshrined may feature handmaidens or ladies-in-waiting as door gods, and a Hell-associated temple may feature ghostly/undead soldiers as door gods.

That being said, the most well-known pair of Door Gods, whom most people refer to when Door Gods are being discussed, are named Qin Qiong/秦琼...



... and Wei Chi Gong/尉迟恭.



You can tell them apart by their complexions. Qin is fair-skinned; Wei is swarthy.

They were a pair of Tang Dynasty noblemen, esteemed generals in the service of Emperor Taizong. When hauntings occurred in the palace, disturbing Taizong's sleep and leaving him seriously ill, the two dukes stood guard every night outside his bedroom door in full armour and wielding their weapons. This put a lid on the haunting. The pair were therefore deified as dispellers of evil spirits thereafter, and their images hung to either side of home doors for this very purpose.

You can pray to the door gods by pasting consecrated pictures of them on the door of your home, and making regular offerings to them; a small incense urn placed near the doorstep will suffice for this.

The Tai Shan Shi Gan Dang I would not really classify as 'deities'; rather, they are warding devices.

These stones are fragments of the bedrock of Mount Tai, which is regarded as a sacred mountain.

The stones are placed at strategic or accident-prone areas to ward off evil and prevent mishaps or even natural disasters.

Skanda, the Four Heavenly Kings and so on are overall temple guardians/protectors, and not specifically in charge of regulating ingress/egress via the temple's doorways. They are security personnel, not dedicated doormen. I would therefore not classify them as 'Door Gods'.

As for 'most sintuas being related with Hell', this is not true at all. Heaven-associated sintuas outnumber Hell-associated ones by a considerable margin.

This post has been edited by nachtsider: Mar 7 2015, 06:39 AM

Not a problem, my friend. It is important to know the whys and wherefores, lest prayer and worship de-evolve into 'monkey see, monkey do', and lest the rich heritage of Chinese folk religion go completely down the drain.

What made me write Szeto off completely was the episode where he challenged a Thai occultist to a magical duel. Instead of facing the Thai occultist directly, Szeto used the show's host, Rachel, as his proxy - a human shield, really. It was a cowardly, foolish and unethical thing to do. She could have come to serious harm, or even died.

Who is Zhong Kui?

Zhong Kui/钟馗 was once a handsome and brilliant scholar. A demon by the name of Gan Shu Hao was jealous of him, and disfigured his face after befriending Zhong Kui while disguised as a human and getting him drunk.

Zhong Kui was determined not to let this setback deter him, and sat for the Imperial examinations anyway. He made first place, but the wicked Prime Minister disqualified him on account of his looks. Heartbroken and outraged, Zhong Kui committed suicide in front of the Emperor and the entire Imperial Court.

The shocked Emperor exiled his Prime Minister and ordered that Zhong Kui be posthumously honoured as the top Imperial Scholar. The second-placed Imperial Scholar would perform the duties that Zhong Kui would have performed - becoming a personal adviser to the Emperor. The second-placed scholar happened to be Gan Shu Hao in disguise. This was his plan all along - to gain access to the Emperor and assassinate him.

Gan haunted the Emperor night after night, causing him to fall seriously ill. On the night that the Emperor would have finally succumbed to the haunting, Gan found himself faced by none other than Zhong Kui, who had been assigned the post of Hell's Chief Exorcist and Demon-Hunter by the Ten Judges, masterfully trained in the art of exorcism and dispatched to Earth to rescue the Emperor and exact his revenge. Zhong Kui destroyed Gan after an epic fight, and saved the Emperor's life.

The grateful Emperor decreed that Zhong Kui be worshipped on a widespread basis. He continues to be worshipped to this day as a dispeller of evil.

Why is bamboo often associated with Hell deities?

One often sees Hell deities wearing garments with bamboo or bamboo leaf motifs; you can see similar imagery decorating the Hell sections of temples and sintuas, too.

Bamboo is a plant that, according to myth, has evil-dispelling properties. Other myths associate it with death, on account of how the bamboo plant's massive root systems impoverish the soil and prevent anything else from growing nearby.

So there you go - associated with death, and capable of warding evil. Sounds like a pretty apt plant for the Hell deities, don't you think?

Within the Buddhist context, which is different from the Hellish context that I've outlined above, the bamboo symbolises perseverance and the ability to withstand tribulations - good qualities for a monk or nun.

At any rate, however, the plant classically associated with Guan Yin is not the bamboo, but the lotus - a bloom that represents purity.



This post has been edited by nachtsider: Mar 9 2015, 08:04 AM

That's supposed to be a willow branch, lol.

The sifu asked your friend to go and pray to the tiger, then decided to get rid of what the tiger did for your friend.

Okay.

I can think of several possibilities as to what might be happening:

1. The ritual was not properly conducted, possibly due to the medium being questionable (if the temple is an old and established place with a good reputation, this is unlikely).
2. Your friend did not adhere properly to whatever instructions the tiger gave him.
3. Your friend is being punished for making a frivolous request of the tiger.
4. The tiger is revoking whatever help he gave your friend, or otherwise punishing your friend, due to your friend being no angel.

Why did you not go to the temple and ask for an explanation instead of coming here? Or ask the sifu for an explanation, for that matter?

Alright already. Let's not turn this into a Guai Tan discussion thread.

Another possibility worth considering is that this 'master' is not as reputable as your friend thinks he is.

Those who associate with disreputable people can often suffer ill effects if they encounter a righteous deity.

But all this is speculation, really.

Well, it looks like Junjun's beaten me to the punch, lol.

I'll just add that they are not Door Gods, and that their items have magic powers.

Vaisravana's umbrella is a trapping device akin to the ghost trap from Ghostbusters, sucking evil beings into its depths when opened - it can also instigate storms and earthquakes.

Virudhaka's sword is capable of multiplying into a virtual typhoon of flying blades that he can fully control.

The music from Dhrtarastra's pipa has a mind control effect.

Virupaksa's pearl permits him control of the many magical beasts he rears as pets, which include his serpent (which can transform into a magic whip, much like Lord Zhang's cobra) plus a creature often referred to as a flying elephant that he uses as a mount, but seems more gryphon-like in some accounts.

They have Hindu-Buddhist roots.

This applies to quite a number of Chinese gods, actually.

The 'Four-Faced Buddha' is in fact not a Buddha at all, but the Hindu god Brahma given a Thai interpretation.

Who is Ji Gong?

Li Xiu Yuan/李修元 was born with a silver spoon in his mouth during the Southern Song Dynasty, the only son of a prominent statesman. Seemingly destined for a life of luxury, all that changed when his parents were killed in a terrible fire that also destroyed the family homestead and fortune. The kindly abbot of a nearby monastery took the tragically orphaned boy under his wing and cared for him. Xiu Yuan eventually took his monk's vows under the abbot's tutelage.

Maybe it was the traumatic experience of seeing his parents die that left him mentally unbalanced. Maybe it was something else. But the fact is that Xiu Yuan was prone to wildly eccentric behaviour, which included eating meat and drinking wine, telling raucous jokes, meditating while doing headstands, loudly singing nonsensical songs, neglecting his personal hygiene, playing pranks on the other monks and so on. The monastery's occupants could not stand him; it was only thanks to the abbot's influence that he was allowed to stay at the monastery. Perhaps the abbot saw potential hidden beneath the madness, as we shall see, for despite his behaviour, even Xiu Yuan's disgruntled fellow monks were begrudgingly unable to deny that he had an immensely kind heart and was always willing to help those in need, especially the wronged and downtrodden.

Things came to a head when the abbot died; his replacement was not as tolerant and expelled Xiu Yuan from the monastery. Out into the world he ventured, owning nothing but the tattered monk's outfit on his back. Wandering from village to village and town to town, Xiu Yuan more than managed to survive - it was during his travels that he discovered his ability to work miracles, particularly healing the sick, and he received ample support from the numerous people who owed him their lives. Xiu Yuan became known as Ji Gong/济公, 'Our Lord Who Aids and Relieves', as well as Huo Fo/活佛, 'Living Buddha'. His outwardly fatuous exterior belying his considerable street-smarts and cunning, Ji Gong often comes up with simple yet insightful solutions to problems of all kinds, and has overcome many an evil threat through his use of trickery.

Folk religion subscribes to them, too. But not as commonly as Buddhism does.


I already spoke about the Door Gods here:

Who are Shan Cai and Yu Nu?

Guan Yin is often shown accompanied by two children, a boy and a girl. These are her faithful attendants/disciples, Shan Cai/善才 (Sudhana in Sanskrit) and Yu Nu/玉女, the Jade Maiden (sometimes also known as Long Nu/龙女 or Dragon Maiden). They are as congenial and loving as brother and sister, despite hailing from very different backgrounds, and regard Guan Yin not merely as their teacher, but almost as a mother, too.



Shan Cai was a crippled young lad from India who became one of the very first Buddhists. Despite being lame in one leg, he travelled single-handedly, over land and sea, from India to the east, where Guan Yin resided, in order to learn the Dharma from her. Guan Yin, touched by his dedication, healed his disability and appointed him as her pageboy.

Shan Cai is often depicted in a 'standing-on-one-leg' pose. This is a reference to his penchant for performing sacred dances, and his former disability.





Yu Nu/Long Nu is not human, contrary to outward appearances. She is in fact a dragon, as her name suggests - the daughter of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, who, after witnessing Guan Yin rescue a shoal of sea creatures (her and her father's subjects) that were beached after a storm, was so touched and impressed by by Guan Yin's compassion, that she pleaded with her father for permission to take Buddhist vows and become Guan Yin's disciple. The Dragon King gave her his blessing, and Yu Nu now serves as Guan Yin's handmaiden.

What do you need Chinese translations for?

I have already provided translations for all the Chinese words and names that I have posted here.