God is Chinese’s work horse.
Chinese are probably the earliest to see the true nature of the so-called "God". Therefore, it seems that the Chinese are also multi-divine and even "all things animistic（Animism）". However, in the bones, Chinese’s attitude to God, Ghost, or any other spirits are kind of very "realistic utilitarianism". As long as the God/Ghost/Spirit can provide blessings/luck and wealth, Chinese are open to worship any of them. Even they know he is devils or evil ghost. They hold a trading mentality, and they are expecting get something big with a small amount of incense. Once the “return of the investment” is not good as expected, they will immediately turn around and discard them, and find new objects. On the other way, Once the God provide what they need, they are quite generous to provide more incense during their second visit(还愿). when you want to, so there are many objects in the temples of China that are still worthy of dedication. You could find a thin gold medal, or a pair of giant stone pillars carved with dragons, all these are common to find in temple, which are contributed by the believers. But apart from this "trading relationship", there is no advantage and it is impossible to be just a devout faith. In the event of an accident or loss of life and property, they will never be as humble as a Western Christian. Chinese will not think in the way as "This is God's will", and they almost never have such a concept. It is very simple and very realistic, only the dichotomy of "competent and incompetence(to fulfil believer’s wish)"; so it is analyzed from the bones; basically Chinese’s devotion is limited to the surface, and people perform very cumbersome, very lively, and rich in sacrifices. However, in fact, there is no such thing as "pious" or "sincere" in mind. Some points about this can be seen from the interaction of Taiwanese and their God/belief.
Since the beginning of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when Zheng Chenggong drove the Dutch to start new era in Taiwan, in addition to setting off a large-scale immigration wave, there was also a large-scale "God migrant wave", like the most common Buddha, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Jade Emperor, Mazu, and other God of Taoism. Other god of local belief also has been moved to Taiwan as well, such as “King of three mountains(三山國王)” and “God of KaiZhang(開漳聖王)”.
While people need keep exploring new land and unknow areas, they will ask for blessings from all kinds of Gods. To fight with disease, they even worship the “God of disease”. At the same time, immigrants also fight with other tribes to get more natural sources. During these fighting and natural plagues, a lot of the deceased were single or have no descendants, which mean no one sacrifice them after the death. A lot of temple were built to host these souls without descendants. The traditional concept of “the deceased should be respected still very popular. All kind of believes are prevalent in Taiwan.
However, no matter what kind of gods are believed, basically, for a long time, the general believers are psychologically quite devout, and almost never heard of the destructive behavior of God. However, since the Lottery and mark six began to be popular in Taiwan area, The status of the gods suddenly plummeted...
This is of course related to the greed of the people who want to get rich in one night; those wealthy gamblers, in order to get the inspiration for the selection of the endorsement, often resort to various gods, hope that due to the guidance of the gods, get the number of the lottery, to get big bonus. At the same time, they promised if they won the prize, they will come back and reward the god/temple in various ways.
It is conceivable that this kind of gambler who asked the gods and ghosts, often put a big stake in lottery or mark six. It is not just a psychology to play with, but of course it is very serious. However, compared with the odds of random numbers, although there are a few people who are really winning, not that many. Most of the gamblers lost their money. The huge loss of the money made these believers not believe thg Gods anymore, even got angry and resentment in the gods. In some extreme case, the believers set fire to the temple, or take the knife to smash the statue...
In the author's memory, in the 1970s, there was the crazy wave of buying patriotic lottery. The temple that was first smashed by mad gamblers set fire to vent their anger, it seems to be the "Nine-heaven fairy Palace (九天玄女宮)" somewhere in the north. After this, a lot God statue in the temples of Taiwan have always been destroyed, which was previously piously dedicated
Some of them were slashed by scabbards and slashed with knives. Some were turned into coke by burning fire, and some were thrown into the river. Suddenly there was a new kind of God in Taiwan. It is called "Homeless god". As long as there is a lottery and new result of lottery revealed, there will be many "Homeless god" that have been cut, burned, and throwed the river. Later, some people have built a simple shed. To accommodate these dilapidated gods that have been abandoned, it is really ridiculous after watching it.
On the time six mark and lottery was popular all over the Taiwan, there were many temples that claim they could predict the result of lottery or six mark.
These child media claim they could predict. Lots of temples without child media started to recruit child media to the temples. So, the salary of child media suddenly increased a lot, and the demand of child media kept increasing. Therefore, there were even some training class about “how to become a child media quickly”. A lots of child media was trained quickly and start working in these temples.
However, in the same way, there are only a handful of people who can win the lottery. Most of the gamblers lost their money, some of them even lost all of their wealth. How could these gamblers easily give up? Some of the gamblers start damage the status in the temples. These behaviors were pretty reasonable. However, some of the temples even didn’t have child media, and never claimed that they could predict the result of lottery. Some believers pray and draw divination sticks at the temple, similarly, some temples have been torn up after reveal of the lottery result.
From this, we can see that the status of the gods in Taiwan has plummeted, and we have seen the irrational side of the beliefs of Taiwanese folks and ghosts, especially the greedy behavior of gamblers. However, because of this unique phenomenon of Taiwan, it allows us to see the essence of the beliefs of the ghosts and gods in Taiwan nakedly, and then we can deduce the essence of the beliefs of ghosts and gods throughout China since ancient times;
That is to say, on the surface, because of the influence of the Confucian teaching of "respecting the ghosts and the gods, the generally stay away from them”, most of the educated people just respect the god/ghost. For the general public, most of them were not educated, in order to pray for blessing, the worship of the gods and ghosts were very popular. General people like have a close relationship with god/ghost. Not only do they like travel far away to the temple and worship, but they are also very happy to bring these statues to the home and put on the table which is originally dedicated to ancestors. The purpose was to welcome the gods who were known as the mighty gods in the temple to be private, to make the public god as private god to protect the luck and wealth of the family.
However, as a result, the respect is only limit to the surface. The actual position of the gods has been degraded. It is more straightforward to say that in fact, the Chinese have a contradictory behavior that they do not know, and on the one hand they are very awed of ghosts and gods, on the one hand, they use ghosts and gods as servants for their own interest. Just like how the master manages the general servants, one hand is full of candy, but another hand holds whip, which is the two-faced tactics of reward and punishment. In addition to the usual worship of the fragrant incense, they also sacrifice animal during every 1st and 15th of the lunar month and birthday of the God. This is a kind of trading behavior, because it is not just a pure faith of devout, but the purpose behind it is that it hopes to win the favor of the ghosts/gods, and further to obtain more luck and wealth. All the goal is for believer’s private interest.
then,
When they are sick or family member is sick, ask the ghosts for blessings or prescript of herb medicine.
When they take the exam, ask ghosts and Gods for blessing and good luck.
When they are short of money, ask ghosts and Gods to give wealth.
When they start new business, ask the God for good luck of the business.
When they or their family member go out, ask the ghosts and gods to protect the journey.
Single men and women pray for ghosts and gods to find the object for marriage.
When they got something stolen or have a loss of livestock, pray the ghosts and gods to quickly find them.
發表於 2020-3-11 21:25:52
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