What do you want to eradicate their dwelling places for?

Most spirits are quite content to keep themselves to themselves and not poke their noses in our affairs.

If you have a tree in your garden that spirits inhabit, but they do nothing to bother you, my advice would be to leave them be and peacefully co-exist.

That being said, if you absolutely have to clear some old-growth plants, make an apology to whomever resides in them, set out offerings for them and make provision to accommodate them someplace else - by planting new trees nearby, for instance.

i agree we should not cut down trees freely. but sometimes it is just necessary, as cutting down or even burning trees are way of exterminating termites that has infested one's garden.

Eh...wasn't it mentioned before that Datuks are mostly historical Malay figures?

Would that really be incompatible with them being earth deities/nature spirits?

Not at all, if you ask me.

How so? Being an earth deity is more like the Taoist concept of Tu Di Gong. Unless...what the Guai Tan series said is true hehe...that local masters after their death can become the local Tu Di Gong.

Guai Tan may be a load of crap for the most part, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Datuks and Tu Di Gong are somewhat similar in terms of their origins and roles, yes. And the spirit of a local worthy or hero indeed has a shot at becoming the tutelary deity of his area, provided he gains sufficient spiritual influence.

This post has been edited by nachtsider: Jun 26 2015, 03:14 AM

Chanting also helps in reducing negative karma for us as well as our departed family and friends .

hello guys,
need a little help here

How to worship a 关二哥？
any specifice date or just chinese calender 初一 and 初十五？
what i need to prepare for the worship? chicken? siew yuk?
is 关二哥 vegetarian?

In Buddhism got teach about the earth-bound and tree deities.

I was told the tree deities inhabit some parallel dimension inside the tree holes and they are known as yakkhas - quite fierce and protective of their dwelling.

Some of them were hostile and disturbed the monks during the Buddha time. The Buddha taught them monks meditation of "Metta" loving kindness and radiate the energy to the entire forests, then the tree spirits left the monks alone.

My uncle last time went into forest and cut some trees for bonfire. At that night one of his friends were possessed by spirit and scolded them Kao Kao. My uncles who was an atheist until today dont dare go back that forest

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Jun 27 2015, 12:24 PM

Hello blek,

Lord Guan is considered to be a Dharma protector by certain Buddhist sects, a view that Chinese folk religion devotees generally agree with; we therefore offer him vegetarian items only, along with standard incense.

His sacred dates include the 13th day of the 1th lunar month (the date of his ascension), the 13th day of the 5th lunar month (the date he attained enlightenment, which falls tomorrow this year, on the 28th of June) and the 24th day of the 6th lunar month (his birthday); we hold feasts in his honour on these occasions.

The 1st and 15th days of each month are also appropriate times to present him with special treats.

Nachty

But wine, sacrificing a black ox and white horse should be fine since he swore the 'Oath of Peach Garden' in the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, right?

Like I said, he has now embraced the Dharma.

Those days are behind him.

Natch is right , a vegan meal , offerings would suffice.

Hi Nachtsider,

I've been lurking around this thread for some months so thought I should drop by to say hi.

Let me just share a bit about myself. I'm a banana and was raised in a fundamentalist Christian family in Klang Valley although I identify as agnostic nowadays. My only interaction with Sintua practices was during my relatives' funerals, which never made any sense due to the language barrier.

Thanks for all the in depth elaboration in polished English, I finally understand what was previously incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo to me. Relatives could give me no satisfactory answer when I asked, with tradition just something to be blindly adhered to.

I would consider myself somewhat of an anthropologist so after stumbling across this thread, I find reading about what you have been sharing about Chinese folk religion very fascinating and have been doing more reading on my own.

For instance, take the practice of datuk worship, since it was obviously a practice rooted in traditional Malay society but since eradicated with the advent of a more conservative brand of Islam. I find it intriguing that the Malaysian Chinese community has adopted and syncretized the practice while many Malays are not aware of its roots.

So, they are the ones who started everything?

Are these based on folklore or were they revealed during trances, etc?

Actually I think traditional Malay society just kept it to visiting graves of Islamic mystics or warriors or teachers, but it should be the Chinese which incorporated it into sintua practice by having statues or names of the datuks housed in little shrines, offering joss-sticks and food.

Hi Havoc, I'm glad you've found my thread to be enlightening and informative. Please feel free to ask any burning or unanswered questions regarding the subject matter; I'm more than willing to answer whatever you have on your mind. Blind adherence to tradition without properly comprehending the reasons behind said tradition is an attitude I absolutely deplore, as it does nothing but perpetuate ignorance and turn meaningful practices into mindless rigmarole. I prefer to adopt the educational approach and detail things in full, so as to instil both comprehension and appreciation in those who are interested, and thus ensure that the relevant knowledge is not lost.

Datuk worship is very much the darling of anthropologists and socio-cultural scholars, given its uniquely syncretic nature. At the bedrock of this practice lies the acknowledgement by Chinese immigrants that their newfound homeland is Malay property, and that the Malay nature spirits who are its keepers warrant reverence as its owners, in exchange for their blessings to utilise the land and its resources. A spiritual gentleman's agreement if there ever was one, and a shining example of racial, religious and cultural harmony.

Go drive along chinese populated places, and in chance you will find a Datuk Gong Temple with their malay name in tact

Natchsider, can you verify if Datuk worship in its present form is a Malaysian Chinese "invention" as Yeeck is implying or, adopted "as is" from the historical Malay community. Like, historically did the Malays build shrines and made offerings?

Deities who manifest during trances do refer to or otherwise acknowledge the San Qing; the talismans they issue often feature markings that represent this divine triumvirate (take a look at the one below - see the three tick symbols at the top).

I would regard their acknowledgement of the San Qing to be enough indication that (1) they exist and that (2) they were, indeed, responsible for what they are said to be responsible for.