If you are talking about the pins that the Shan Cai medium has skewered through his back and arms, those are not 九阴军 pins, lol.

Those are pins representing Heavenly generals.

Enlightens me, master

The full cohort of principal Heavenly generals is thirty-six in number, a figure that includes Lord Guan and some of the Five Camp Commanders - all of them come under the overall leadership of Lord Xuan Wu (I have spoken about all these named personages earlier in the thread).

These thirty-six generals have different abilities, and a medium wishing to harness and utilise their powers will pierce himself with pins that are crafted in their likenesses.

anybody keen on abit of thai-buddism ?

Probably on another thread, else Nacht will kill us..lol.

Definitely one of the best thread I've read in a long long time.

I, myself grew up in a sintua environment as my father frequents these temples since I am 4-5 and I am now 29.

Keep them coming and my dad's close friend is a medium of fa zhu gong too!

No updates?

Question...why is it that Hokkien seems the most common, if not the only dialect used by the medium under trance?

This post has been edited by yeeck: Mar 19 2015, 01:07 AM

How about you ask questions, pass comments and make the thread an interactive one, instead of leaving little old me to do all the work?

Pretty simple, actually.

Chinese folk religion, particularly the mediumship aspect of it, is primarily a Hokkien and Teochew thing.

Hokkiens and Teochews are descendants of the Yao tribe, a prehistoric tribe that were renowned for shamanistic practices, from which present-day sintua mediumship evolved.

Furthermore, a fair number of sintua gods were Hokkiens when still mortal, including Lord Zhang and the Black and White Brothers.

The gods also adapt to speak the language of their largest subset of devotees (the Hokkien they use is usually an ancient, rarified form of the language that few are able to comprehend without an interpreter), although there are some who speak in Mandarin, some who speak in Malay (Datuks) and others who speak in nothing that even resembles human language (also requiring an interpreter).

For an example of the latter, listen to what this White Brother from the Ninth Court of Hell has to say.



This post has been edited by nachtsider: Mar 19 2015, 04:06 AM

http://www.faithology.com/chinese-folk-religion/overview

Agree/disagree?

http://www.aaronshep.com/extras/MonkeyKing_note2.html

I have never thought of monkey king this way...

If you are not happy with Establishment, let's worship this 'hero of rebels'

It's a pretty accurate overview, actually.

I'm especially pleased with how they recognise and acknowledge Chinese folk religion's ancient shamanistic origins.

The Monkey King is Chinese folk religion's most famous rebel, lol.

Other anti-establishment figures include Na Zha and Ji Gong, whom I've already spoken about at length.

The 4 Great Classical Novel of China
- Water Margin 水浒传
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三国演义
- Journey to the West 西游记
- Dream of the Red Chamber 红楼梦

Other than the last book, all of them is wriiten/finish in the Ming Dynasty, which is a dynasty with empires that craves for power, and lurk with notorious special agent department 特务机构

COINCIDENTLY, all of the three books involves in rebelling to the authority, up rising power of the grass roots, defaming the government and etc.

you know your history, very good

Tai Sui 太岁

Tai Sui, is a mythical star created by ancient Chinese Astronomer to help with their job in Astrology, mainly to maintain the accuracy of the calendar year.

Ancient Chinese used to record their years with according to Jupiter (known as Star Sui 岁星) during the Warring State Era 战国时期, know as the Star Shui Calendar Methodology 岁星纪年. However, there is a few problems with this methodology. The Jupiter travel across the sky from West to East, in contrary with most other stars the Chinese observes. Also, The Jupiter travels 31 degree a year and across the sky in 11.8 years, thus creating loopholes in the calendar every 86 years. To tackle these problems, ancient Chinese Astronomers created the perfect star, Tai Sui, to replace the Jupiter.

Tai Sui is formulated to travel exactly 30 degree a year, and across the sky in 12 years sharp. Also, Tai Sui is set to travel from east due west, following the trajectory of other stars and object the astronomer observes. The Chinese astronomer will uses the Sexagenary Cycle System 六十甲子 in according to the trajectory of Tai Sui to denominate the year, hence born the Classical Chinese Calendar that most Chinese still uses till today in Chinese festive and celebration such as Wedding, House Moving, and so on.

Additional Info
Sexagenary Cycle System 六十甲子, is a system to record times, days and years among the Chinese, consist of one Heavenly Stems 天干 and one Earthy Branches 地支. There is 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthy Branches, together they form 60 combinations in total.

The 10 Heavenly Stems are 甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸 Jia Yi Bing Ding Wu Ji Geng Xin Ren Gui
The 12 Earthy Branches are 子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥 Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai

For Example, the starter of the Sexagenary Cycle System is 甲子 Jia Zi, End with the 癸亥 Gui Hai. Translate into calendar we know today, 甲子 Jia Zi can refer to year 1984 or 2044 (and many others). Also, 2015 is 乙未 Yi Wei.

Lord Star of Tai Sui 太岁星君
The ancient Chinese is a farming nation, which a lot of factors that contributed to a good year are out of their hand. Not able to have a peek into the future, yet life need to go on no matter what, the ancient Chinese seek peace of mind by praying and worshipping Tai Sui every new year. Slowly, the star being deified and become what we know today as the Lord of Star Tai Sui 太岁星君.

Due to there is 60 combinations in the Sexagenary Cycle System, so there is 60 Lord of Star, most of them characterized as General. One said that they are in duty to aid the Jade Emperor to maintain the well being of the mortal, to determine the fate of the mortal they shall faces in the year. The 60 generals take turns every years, and is known to led by the Heavenly Marshal Yin Jiao 殷郊元帅.

Each and every Lord Star of Tai Sui have different appearance and hold different weapon or artifacts that bears symbolic meanings.

The Praying of Tai Sui 安太岁/摄太岁
Every Chinese New Year, one particular praying activities play an important role for the family so that they are blessed and to avoid any potential mishaps. This is the Praying of Tai Sui 安太岁/摄太岁 where used to take place at home, now mostly done in various temples. However, not everyone need to pray to the Lord Star, only those few that fits special criteria that are deemed to bad luck is required to pray.

Examples are those individuals with the same Chinese Zodiac生肖 as the Lord Star of Tai Sui, had offended the Lord Star (knows as 犯太岁), thus is required to pray to the Lord Star. Other includes those zodiac with 6 years difference (known as 冲太岁), those with zodiac in 3 years difference (known as 刑太岁/偏冲太岁).

Some other criteria is related with the relationship among the 12 Earthy Branches in Sexagenary Cycle System, which will in result of different situations. (Also known as 破太岁, 害太岁)

For an example, 2015 乙未 The year of Goat
Lord Star of Tai Sui in duty: General Yang Xian 杨仙大将军
犯太岁: Individual with Goat zodiac
冲太岁: Individual with Ox zodiac
刑太岁: Individual with Dog zodiac
害太岁: Individual with Rat zodiac

- TBC -

This post has been edited by JunJun04035: Mar 20 2015, 08:55 AM

I think I'll go out on a limb and ask a potentially stupid question.
Why is it that having the same zodiac with Tai Sui is considered offending him?
Can anyone tell me the logic behind it?

Please read page 18. Answered.

'Offending' the Tai Sui is actually just a figure of speech. In truth, the Tai Sui probably doesn't even know you exist, being an impersonal cosmic force.

As the Tai Sui star travels across the sky, it passes through the stellar sectors corresponding to various constellations and therefore zodiac signs. The resulting interplay of cosmic energies (conflict between the energy of the Tai Sui star and that of the various constellations) exerts an effect on people whose birth dates correspond to these zodiac signs. This effect can be quite devastating, resulting in physical illness, misfortune and the like. Rituals to 'appease' the Tai Sui (in actual fact, to stave off the negative interplay of cosmic energy) are thus performed in order to avoid adverse effects.

The seemingly random ill-effects that Tai Sui can cause have led to its personification as a wrathful deity by the name of Marshal Yin Jiao/殷郊, whose story is a tragic one.

The son of the cruel King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty, Yin Jiao was born a formless lump of flesh. His father's equally wicked concubine, Da Ji the fox spirit, convinced King Wu to execute Yin Jiao's mother, the queen, on account of her 'giving birth to a monster'. Abandoned in the forest, the lump of flesh was discovered by He Xian Gu of the Eight Immortals (whom I have spoken about earlier in this thread). She recognised it for an immortal embryo; cutting it open, she retrieved a healthy baby boy from within and raised him like her own child.

Yin Jiao developed tremendous magical power as he grew up. When he came of age, He Xian Gu revealed to him the truth behind his birth; he flew into a terrible rage and swore revenge for his mother. Yin Jiao joined forces with a rebel alliance who sought to overthrow his father, and helped them to seize power after a series of massive battles. Da Ji died at Yin Jiao's hand, while King Zhou committed suicide rather than surrender.

Having such a messed up childhood, it's small wonder that he's so angry all the time and randomly lashes out - well, that's how the story attempts to explain the abovementioned cosmic principles, anyway.



This post has been edited by nachtsider: Mar 22 2015, 03:19 AM