What are the characteristics of burning incense in China folk life?

First of all, it is universal. Han people burn incense, and so do most ethnic minorities. From south to north, from east to west, almost everywhere is burning.

Second, it has a long history. The existing documents "The Book of Songs" and "Shangshu" are all recorded, and their origins are definitely earlier than the era of poetry and calligraphy, that is, the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The third is universality, and almost everything has to be burned.

However, most people don't understand the meaning of using incense now. They often order a lot of incense at a time, and most of them don't pay attention to the quality of incense. Most of the incense they ordered was scented with a lot of chemical spices. This mosquito-repellent incense is not only harmful to health, but also fumigates yourself with it. How to talk about the wisdom of incense, let alone the sincerity of worshipping Buddha?

According to Buddhism, burning incense is a way to capture people's hearts, and inner purity and piety are the real support, which is more important than formal incense worship, so it is called "heart incense". Because incense is the highest respect for Buddha, burning a column of incense can smell it through the root of the nose, so that tangible smoke can activate people's inner sincerity and wisdom, take good care of it and cultivate it for a long time, so as to calm the mind and stop greed and ignorance in the heart. If you practice meditation, you can use wonderful incense to calm your mind and regulate your qi, and then all the roots can be collected and meditated. Thus, burning incense and worshiping Buddha is the ultimate victory.

Natural spices extracted from the secretions of aromatic plants or animals are used to repel insects, smoke and burn, and offer sacrifices to gods. It was after the ancient ancestors mastered the use of fire that they discovered that incense wood and balsam had the function of dispelling Qing Xiang gods when burning wood, especially agarwood, which was called "the king of incense".

Since then, people have consciously burned incense wood and balsam directly, and raised smoke to worship heaven. The specific way of offering sacrifices is: Sacrifices and jade articles are placed on firewood, and the firewood is lit to raise smoke, indicating that it is a symbol of heaven. Zhou Li: "Sacrifice the gods with bamboo poles, the sun, the moon and the stars with solid firewood, and the life of the middle school secretary as a wind teacher and a rain teacher". Note: "When you say smoke, all three sacrifices will accumulate firewood ..... The burning fire will smoke, so it will be reported to Yang". Sparse: "incense sacrifice." (Quoting Notes of Thirteen Classics)

The purpose of ancestors burning incense is very clear, and some people burn incense specially. This phenomenon is also very extensive in the world and has a long history.

Not only China burns incense, but also many nationalities and countries in the world burn incense. The English writing of incense and incense can be found in the Concise Encyclopedia of Britain (Volume VIII, page 543), which contains the following contents: The ancient Egyptians introduced spice trees from Arabia and the coastal areas of Somalia, and regarded incense as an important item in religious ceremonies. Babylonians often burned incense during prayer and divination. Incense was introduced before the Israelites were exiled to Babylon (586-538 BC). By the 5th century BC, some altars were used to burn incense. Hinduism, especially Shiva, should burn incense in formal worship and family worship; Buddhism burns incense in festival worship, adult worship and daily worship.

The ancient Egyptians introduced fragrant trees from Arabia and the coastal areas of Somalia, and regarded incense as an important item used in religious ceremonies; Babylonians often burned incense during prayer and divination, predicted "God" and paid attention to prayer and worship.

In the 8th century BC, the Greeks also had the custom of burning wood or resin to worship gods or exorcise demons. The Romans first burned incense wood, and later introduced incense for public and private sacrifices; In the 4th century AD, the Christian church began to burn incense in the Eucharist, hoping that the believers' faith could reach heaven, and at the same time, it also showed the achievements of saints. (1) Hinduism, Japanese Shintoism and Jewish ancient religion also have the custom of burning incense as gifts.

Therefore, burning incense was a very common and extensive phenomenon in ancient times. If you want to know more about Xiangxue, please visit Xiangzhizun Mall.