What is a variety of square arts?

Fangjutsu is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, which had an extremely profound impact on the social life of ancient China, and it is necessary to understand ancient Chinese Fangjutsu in order to understand China's politics, economy, science and culture.

Fangjutsu in ancient China is a very broad definition of the content, including charms, witch doctors, fairy magic, divination, astrology, divination, six non-non, qimen zhunjia, fortune-telling, word-breaking, starting lessons, dream divination, mediumship, geomancy, external dan, internal dan, health care, serving, grain, miscellaneous arts, qigong and other content.

Fangjutsu originated from witchcraft in primitive society. Due to the low productivity and limited scientific knowledge of the ancient society, people believed that heaven dominated all things and the rulers on earth were commanded by heaven, and the essence of the formulaic arts was a faith activity under the domination of the theory of heavenly destiny and theism. In the thinking of the ancients and some modern people, people's wealth and poverty, good and bad luck, life and death, life and death, poverty and gain and loss, and even childbirth, etc., are not subject to the supernatural power of the netherworld, and thus hope that through a variety of methods to know the secrets of the heavens, foretell the fate of the gods and ghosts, in order to pray for blessings and avoid disasters, and avoid good luck and bad luck.

Before the Han Dynasty, various kinds of magic were prevalent, and a large number of magicians emerged in the coastal areas of Yan and Qi. They claimed that there were three "sacred mountains" in the Bohai Sea - Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou. The palaces on these mountains were made of gold and silver and housed immortals who lived forever and hid immortality pills. King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Qi and King Zhao of Yan listened to these nonsense stories and sent people to Bohai Sea many times to look for them, but those who came back always said that the three sacred mountains were as far away as the clouds, and the ship sank to the bottom of the sea as soon as it approached; and that once it got close to the sacred mountains, the winds blew the ship apart.

The first emperor of Qin, who was on a sea cruise and believed the ghostly words of the fangshi, sent Han Feng and others to seek the elixir of immortality, but none of them returned with it. Later, he sent Xu Fu to build a bigger ship and lead 500 boys and girls to seek it, but none of them returned.

Han Wu Di was even more superstitious about fairy magic and aspired to become immortal and ascend to heaven as the Yellow Emperor. After the pacification of the Min Yue state, he built a Yue Zhu shrine in his palace and asked Yue Wu to pray for him to have a long life, but to no avail. It was only when Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty that the sacrifice was dispensed with at the request of Kuang Heng. Later, because Emperor Ai of Han was often sick, in order to seek blessings, the number of sacrifices in a year reached 37,000 times!

In modern times, with the development of natural science, the superstitious activities of the square art began to decrease. Especially after the founding of New China, with the widespread popularization of culture and education, the masses gradually improve their ideological understanding, especially young people, generally accept the theory of materialism, most do not believe in the square magic, but in the old people and cultural knowledge of relatively backward rural areas, the square magic and there is still a certain market.

Predictive techniques to measure the eight characters

The eight characters that is based on the eight characters of the birth year and the flow of the year, such as the dry branches of the projected life of the various stages of the good and bad luck. The art of fortune-telling began in the two Han Dynasty and was developed by Li Xuzhong in the Tang Dynasty and Xu Ziping in the Song Dynasty, basically forming a system that has been passed down to the present day.

Fortune-tellers carry parcels on their shoulders and travel through streets and alleys to solicit business. Fortune-tellers must first report the eight characters of the birth date, and then fortune-tellers read from their mouths, pinching the joints of the index finger and middle finger with their thumbs, according to the Heavenly Stem, Earthly Branches, Five Elements, and the Palace of Life to project a number of things, and then say the fortune-teller's life of good fortune, bad luck, and ways of avoiding calamities.

When a child is born, it is common to ask for a fortune teller to predict the fate of the child's life. If a child's destiny in the five elements of the lack of which one, in the name of the child to add to fill in, such as the lack of "earth", the name of the addition of the "earth" character side, the lack of "gold" add "The name of the child should be added to the name.

Engaged, but also often the men and women's birthdays and eight characters to the fortune-teller projections, the common belief that the fate of the phases can be combined, the phases should not be married. In the city, fortune-telling form of fancy. Now some people put the birth date and eight characters into a program, enter the computer. Calendar this, people just enter their own birth date in the computer, the computer will be able to output their personality, hobbies, socializing, career, marriage and so on.

Some people call it "modern fortune-telling" and "computerized fortune-telling". Fortune-telling is a pseudo-scientific art, which is quite deceptive.

Life Scale

Life Scale is also known as the Scale Bone Fortune Telling Method, which is very popular among the people. This method is to compare the lunar year, month, day, time of a person's birth, and respectively, to find his scale bones, to summarize, can be found on the scale bone song about his life's glory and blight assertion. Such as born in the year of the first year of the bone weight of _ two two money, the first month of the six money, the first day of the five money, the son of the two money, the above four kinds of weight added together, the weight of their own destiny is three two nine money, according to the "Scale Bone Song" stipulates that the three two nine money article assertion for "this life is not lucky, labor and work are all empty. If you work hard to build a family, you will be in a dream at that time''. Because of the simplicity and ease of this fortune-telling technique, there is a "no teacher", ''fortune-telling does not ask for help'', so it is widely spread in the folklore.

Face reading

Face reading is based on the observation of a person's face, features, bones, hand lines, color, body shape, etc. to project their fortune, such as good and bad luck, rich and poor, noble and lowly, and longevity of life, etc., because of the face of the face is the main, so the name.

The folk popular face art. Face readers often set up stalls in places where people come and go, or go in and out of the countryside to solicit customers. Stalls are often set up in front of the stalls some head portraits, indicating the various parts of the symbols of good and bad luck. Some of them also charge free of charge for those who come to the face of the bitter, and double the charge for those who come to the face of the good in order to solicit business. Some face readers also have potions to remove bad moles. There is also a blind man with his hands touching the bones of the human head, commonly known as "touch bone", and the principle of face reading is similar.

Divination

It is a method of fortune-telling that speculates on life's fortunes and misfortunes. Manipulating this industry is more people, often in the streets and alleys, fairs and temples and other places to set up stalls, to "Wen Wang class" phase boast. They are good at looking at the face, no matter what to ask, can be seen from your speech and demeanor in some clues, and then combined with the trigrams to render. There are a number of things guessed, convincing; the rest is ambiguous, by people imagine.

In recent years, divination and more. Some young people are also learning divination, good talk "Zhouyi" hexagrams. But more out of novelty, the divination as a pastime game. There is also a folk called "bird trigrams", commonly known as "bird life". The diviner raised a yellow finch, can peck according to the instructions of the person to take the trigrams, the diviner will be this sign for the person to solve the fate.

Signs

Signs for the bamboo strip, the top marked with a number, by dozens of bamboo sticks to form a set, placed in the cylinder. The drawer kowtowed to worship God, kneeling holding the cylinder, shaking hard, so that one of the pop-up, is considered to be drawn out, and then according to the number on the stick, check the appropriate stick spectrum (this spectrum is mostly in the form of poetry, four lines per stick, so called "stick poetry"). Signs are generally divided into on, on, in, under, under the next 5, etc., but also divided into on, on the middle, up and down, in the upper, in the middle, in the middle, in the next, under the upper, under the middle, under the next 9, etc. or on, in, under the next 3, etc., on the upper sign for the lucky, under the sign for the bad. The proportion of upper and middle signatures greatly exceeds that of lower signatures, generally accounting for more than 80%. As the interpretation of the poem is generally ambiguous, available for multiple interpretations, so the sign-seekers can be satisfied and go.

Because of the relative simplicity of the rituals of divination, since ancient times to the temple in the divination of a lot of people. There are specialists in temples who are dedicated to the interpretation of temple priests, and those who draw lots are generally required to pay a number of incense money.

Dreams

Dreams are also known as dreams, dream interpretation, dream interpretation and so on. Ancient people did not understand why they dreamed, and they felt mysterious and fearful of many scenes in their dreams (such as talking and playing with the dead, chasing and fighting with animals, as well as ascending into the air and water, etc.), and they felt that the objects or experiences in their dreams foretold some kind of good or bad fortune, so they asked the shamans or the dreamers to divine the good fortune or bad fortune of their dreams and their implied contents, and so they took possession of their dreams.

Medium-planning

Medium-planning is also called fuluan (扶鸾), and descending to divination (降卜). There are two common forms of mediumship: one is made of mahogany or bamboo in the shape of a frame, the lower end of which is tied to a pen or a wooden stick. Two people each use a hand to hold one end of the shelf, in the sand or ash scattered on the plane of writing. Another kind of dustpan, rice pan, rice sieve and other bamboo weaving upside down over, covered with clothes, tied a wooden stick or a pen underneath, two people opposite holding a dustpan to write on the sand plate, so it is also known as Fu Kei.

In folklore, mediumship is regarded as an important way for humans to communicate with the spirits, so it is mostly performed on the night of the first day of the month at the medium. Before the mediumship, the shaman would bathe and change his clothes, burn incense and offer sacrifices, and recite words under his breath; at the same time, the medium was required to be neat and pious. As the mediums are either specially trained or driven by a mysterious religious atmosphere, their spirits are highly concentrated, their arms subconsciously tremble, and their wooden frames move on the sand table, drawing various traces. The sorcerer claimed that these traces, which seemed to be words but not words, were the mediumship of the gods, and after their identification, they would then give some explanations. After the founding of new China, the people's government mobilized the masses to eliminate feudal superstitions, and achieved remarkable results, mediumship activities are almost extinct.

Listening to the trigrams and listen to incense

Listening to the trigrams refers to the good men and women hiding behind the temple, listening to pedestrians to speak the first sentence or the first sound, as the gods point out or imply the sound of fortune and misfortune, to be understood to determine the fortune and misfortune of the year, so listen to the trigrams more than in the first half of the first month. Fuzhou has a "listening to singing" practice, similar to this.

Listening to the incense and listen to trigrams similar. Good men and women to the temple to pray to the gods, through the divination cup to determine where to listen to incense, and then from the incense burner out of a lit incense, quietly come to the gods point to a home, to hear the first words of a family member as the gods point to the sound of fortune and misfortune, and to understand the understanding of the speculation of good and bad luck.

The art of longevity

The art of grain cultivation is also known as "but the grain", "break grain", "absolute grain", "rest grain", "absolute grain ", is a Taoist practice, is not eat food, including grains and cereals, meat, eggs and vegetables and other things. The theory behind this type of cultivation is that although everyday food can sustain life, it can leave toxic residue in the body, which can cause fire, bring about disease, and reduce life expectancy. In order to maintain life, Taoists mainly consume medicines or things called "qi" when practicing jinggu. The art of jinggu originated in the pre-Qin period, around the same time as the art of practicing qi.

The practice is also an ancient method of Chinese people's health. There is also a scientific basis, because the human body after ingesting too much food will greatly enhance the digestion, transformation and other functions of the load, so that the stomach and intestines, heart, lungs, liver and gallbladder do not get a good rest, affecting the health and longevity. In addition, there is a lot of residue in the stomach and intestines, germs, such as these things are not removed, the human body is easy to get sick.

Serving food

Also known as serving bait, it means taking medicine and is also a form of cultivation. Taoists believe that you can live forever if you take food, and the medicine you take is the medicine of immortality. These medicines are actually mixtures of minerals, including dansha (丹砂), gold, silver, and jade, which are sometimes refined into pills or turned into liquid.

Guidance

Also called dao-guiding, it is a form of health and fitness that was popular as early as the 5th century BC to the 3rd century BC. It is actually an exercise similar to current gymnastics and qigong, and was used by Taoists as a way to pursue immortality. According to Taoists, guiding not only dispels diseases and strengthens the body, eliminates fatigue, but more importantly, removes evil qi from the body and preserves positive qi. There are also specialized drawings to guide in the actual practice.

Exercising qi

Actually, it is a breathing method, which is sometimes called serving qi, eating qi, swallowing qi, and refining qi. Taoism attaches great importance to the so-called qi, which is not only reflected in its religious theories but also in its daily practice. There are various methods and schools for practicing qi. The main point is that breathing must be even, slow, and long, with more inhalation and less exhalation. Sometimes it is also referred to as "tui na", which means to breathe out the dirty air and breathe in the fresh air.

Household arts

Household arts appeared early, but it was not until the Wei Pu North and South Dynasties that a system was basically formed, and it was the study of sexual life. Among the Taoist means of pursuing longevity, one very important one is the art of the room. The so-called art of the room is the art of sex; it is the collective name of Taoism for sexual hygiene, sexual psychology and sexual skills. In ancient China, it was used by Taoists as a means of longevity, and it is particularly rich in content. Since Confucianism has been dominant in China for thousands of years, the art of rooming-in has been viewed as a lewd and indecent product of pornography. In fact, the mainstream of room sex is very healthy. Of course, one cannot really become immortal or live forever through this method. However, the Taoist art of room sex contains many elements that are in line with modern medicine and are conducive to one's physical health and marital happiness, and it can be said to be a healthy science of sex. It emphasizes a harmonious sex life, sexual health, detailed discussions on contraception and pregnancy, and methods of treating sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are a lot of bad things in it, such as "more sex and less discharge can prolong life" and so on.

Consideration

It is also known as cunxin, which means that when practicing Taoism, one closes one's eyes tightly and contemplates a specific object until one reaches a state where one can see it without using one's eyes. According to Taoism, the idea of thinking can enable one to foretell good and bad luck, and to live a long life and become immortal. It is even believed that, if practiced well, one can see one's internal organs clearly.

Alchemy

Alchemy is the art of making immortality pills, which originated in the Qin and Han dynasties and belongs to Taoism. Its contents are very complicated, and can be roughly categorized into internal and external alchemy. Inner Dan is to explore the study of human vitality, and later evolved into the inner work, some evolved into the current qigong. It has been proven to be an effective way to keep fit and healthy. Caution should be exercised with regard to the external elixir. Wai Dan is actually pills made from some minerals, mostly including dan sand, mercury, lead and gold and silver. When Taoists make an elixir, it is usually done by a few people in a very private place. This method was so prevalent in China between the 4th and 9th centuries that it formed a social trend. However, in practice, exodan, as a chemical material, was quite toxic and many people died as a result. The art of exodan was not only a pioneer in modern chemistry, but also contributed to the invention of medicine and gunpowder later on. Since the dangers of exoteric elixir were gradually recognized, Taoists later focused mainly on the cultivation of internal elixir, i.e., imagining one's own body as a cauldron for alchemy, and one's own essence as medicine for cultivation. This method is similar to, but not identical with, modern qigong.

Fu Mantra

Fu Mantra is a general term for rune seals and incantations. The term "Fu" refers to pictures drawn on paper with a vermilion or ink brush that appear to be words but are not, and is called Fu Seal, Dan Shu, Ink Book, Cloud Book, and Fu Character in Taoist books. "Mantra" is a phrase recited by the mouth that can or cannot be interpreted. The practitioners claimed that the incantations could drive away ghosts and demons and cure people's diseases.

There are many kinds of talismanic seals, and the ones circulating in folklore include the Five Ghosts Talisman (used for expelling evil spirits, epidemics, thieves, and injuries), the Five Ghosts Talisman (five ghosts are drawn on the paper, and incinerated on the birthday or other days of the festival), the Household Suppressing Talisman (affixed on the beams or the top of the main door), the Peacefulness Talisman (affixed to the door wall), the Monster Suppressing Talisman, the Nightmare Suppressing Talisman, the Amplifying Talisman, the Fertility Suppressing Talisman, the Birth Promoting Talisman, the Malaria Breaking Talisman, the Lunar Talisman (30 kinds of Talisman according to the different dates), and the Wo Hoping Talisman (according to different dates). There are 30 kinds of these talismans (according to different dates), the talisman of harmony, the talisman of separation, and so on. Most of the five male talismans are not recognizable, so there is a saying that "ghosts draw talismans". Recognizable public talisman more with the tone of edicts, common "Supreme Lord Ruling", "urgent as Ruling" and so on. 'Public symbols can be posted, can be hung, can be carried around, can also be made gray water to eat. Ash water is mostly used for curing illnesses and suppressing fear, while the others are mostly used for driving away evil spirits and suppressing demons. When you need a talisman, you have to go to a temple to burn incense and worship and then ask for it, and you have to pay some money for the incense.

There are also curses and gambling spells related to incantations. Curses are used to make an enemy ill, sick or even dead by reciting an incantation. Objectively, curses cannot harm people, but many people believe in them. Gambling is one of the ways of swearing, folk disputes, difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, more than the use of gambling and swearing way to solve. Usually only verbal oath to the sky, commonly known as "betting on the sky". Events a little serious, only by verbal incantations can not meet the requirements, we must go to the city god or other deities are considered the most spiritual in front of the oath. Stricter to kill a chicken in front of the statue of the god to make an oath. More incense and kneeling when betting, that if the words are false, willing to be severely punished by the gods (such as thunder and lightning, the death of the whole family, the severance of children and grandchildren, and so on).

In the old days, the people were in awe of the gods and were afraid of being punished by them, so they did not dare to gamble easily, and most of them did not dare to deceive the gods when they gambled. Officials can not judge the case of doubt, there is also the use of incantation to solve the way, so it is not immune to miscarriage of justice, wrongful imprisonment.

Spirit jumping

Spirit jumpers claim to be possessed by the gods, and do all sorts of strange behaviors that are different from those of ordinary people, and it is a kind of superstitious activity that fools the people. God jumpers are male and female, male commonly known as "jumping boy", "God Han"; female commonly known as "fairy girl", "God sister", etc., originating from the witch. In ancient times, jumping to the gods was a popular activity. In addition to the individual divinity jumping, most of the people with deep knowledge of sorcery suddenly announced that they were possessed by the gods and spirits, and claimed that they could pray for blessings and avoid calamities for the people like demons. The god-jumping people's homes are usually dedicated to the gods, and when the god-seeker enters the house, the god-jumpers will burn incense and worship, close their eyes to rest their souls, yawn, stretch, sneeze, shed tears, and then, after making a show of being mysterious, they will suddenly leap up, or shiver all over, or shake their heads, or dance with their feet and hands and proclaim that "so-and-so god is coming" or "so-and-so fairy goddess is coming", and make strange noises. ", strange voice and singing, crying and laughing, claiming that the gods are possessed, then on behalf of the gods say, for people to drive away evil spirits, curing diseases, explaining the difficult, judging good and bad luck, etc..

In ancient times, the number of "immortal nuns" greatly exceeded the number of "jumping children". They claimed to pray for people to eliminate disasters, but also often for people to "ask the dead". "Ask the dead", that is, the identity of the dead witch with the living dialog. Called differently in different parts of the world, Min Dong said "mentioning the dead", Min Northwest said "ask the God" or "ask the immortal", Fuzhou said "hook the dead soul" or "ask the dead". "discussing the dead", Putian area called "looking for the dead", Minnan said "ask the dead". It is a superstitious belief that people can live in the netherworld after death. People who want to know the living conditions of their dead relatives in the netherworld can go to the "immortal nuns" to ask for the dead. First told the name of the deceased, address, birth and death, and then "immortal nuns"

Burning incense and prayers, crouching on the table, reciting words under his breath, or using chopsticks to beat the table, the rhythm from slow to fast, into a hypnotic state. A few moments after waking up, both eyes bleary, claiming to have found in the netherworld of the deceased relatives of the inquirer, whose soul is attached to the body of the "immortal nun", and ask the dead to talk to; but also pretend to be the voice of the dead tone, telling their own life in the netherworld situation; will also be on the life of the prophecy or advice; but also will require loved ones to burn send paper money, offerings. Ask the dead often believe in the truth, and be fooled. After the founding of New China, jumping god activity once disappeared. 1980s after the resurgence of, fooled many people.

Often for people to "ask the dead". Called different places, Min Dong said "mention the dead", Northwest Min said "ask the God" or "ask the immortal", Fuzhou said "hook the dead soul" or "discuss the dead". "discussing the dead", Putian area called "looking for the dead", Minnan said "ask the dead". It is a superstitious belief that people can live in the netherworld after death. Living people want to know the living conditions of their dead relatives in the netherworld, they can go to the "immortal nuns" to ask for the dead. First told the name of the deceased, address, birth and death, and then "immortal nuns"

Burning incense and prayers, crouching on the table, reciting words, or chopsticks on the table, the rhythm from slow to fast, into a hypnotic state. A few moments after waking up, both eyes bleary, claiming to have found in the netherworld of the deceased relatives of the inquirer, whose soul is attached to the body of the "immortal nun", and ask the dead to talk to; but also pretend to be the voice of the dead tone, telling their own life in the netherworld situation; will also be on the life of the prophecy or advice; but also will require loved ones to burn send paper money, offerings. Ask the dead often believe in the truth, and be fooled. After the founding of New China, jumping god activity once disappeared. 1980s and resurfaced, fooled a lot of people.