What are the characteristics of ancient folk beliefs in China?

Chinese folk beliefs mainly refer to secular beliefs, that is, non-religious beliefs. This belief has a long history in China, and it has more folk characteristics than Buddhism and Taoism. A typical feature of common gods in folk beliefs in China is that the gods of traditional beliefs are repeatedly screened, eliminated and combined with the gods of various religions, forming a chaotic belief system of gods. Regardless of the origin of the gods, there is a strong spirit. This clearly reflects the diversity and utility of China's secular beliefs.

The secular gods in Chinese folk beliefs mainly include natural gods, professional gods and human gods. Let's briefly introduce them respectively.

2. God of Nature

The so-called natural god is that natural phenomena are personified and upgraded to gods. There are many natural gods in Chinese folk beliefs. This paper mainly introduces several influential natural gods in ancient China.

(1 Tiandao, "The Golden Que in Wutian is supreme, supreme, natural and wonderful, and together with Milo, it is the true jade emperor." The highest god of Taoism was originally the Yuan God, but in folk beliefs, the position of the Jade Emperor far surpassed the Yuan God and became the highest god governing all the gods in the world, so that the original Taoist highest god gradually retired to the Jade Emperor.

The worship of the heavenly queen is also the most widespread secular worship in China. The Queen Mother, also known as the Queen Mother of the West, is called Yaochi Jinniang. Folk worship is also influenced by many legends of the Queen Mother of the West. For example, it is said that the Queen Mother is an elegant lady. One year on July 7th, she gave four flat peaches to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty felt very good after eating it, so he wanted to plant it. The heavenly queen said that this kind of flat peach bears fruit once every three thousand years, and it is impossible for it to grow alive in the world. There is also a legend that Hou Yi once asked the Queen Mother of the West for a flat peach, which is a medicine for immortality. It was stolen by Chang 'e and ascended to the Moon Palace. All these legends make people believe in the Queen Mother more and think that she can bless and prolong life.

(2) Lei Shenlong in folk beliefs has a bird's beak and chicken feet on his head, wings on his back and a mallet in his hand. The worship of thunder and lightning, which developed from the worship of thunder and lightning, is also a major feature of Chinese folk belief in astronomical phenomena. Chinese folk beliefs like to marry gods. Therefore, in folk beliefs, Raytheon is closely related to the lightning god, and there is the saying of Leigong Dian Mu.

(3) In the year of "Calling Heaven and Calling Earth" and "Descendants of Dragons", the Northern Song Dynasty sent an envoy to Korea and was killed at sea. It is said that it was also saved by Maureen and reported to the court, so the court issued a decree to award Shunzhi (the queen of the earth) (7 Dongyue Emperor is the god of Mount Tai, an important mountain god in Taoism. But later, Dongyue God was regarded as the master of ghost teachers, and Taishan became the mansion of ghost governance. Why is this? Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, China did not have the concept of heaven and hell, but only went to the dead. Since the Han Dynasty, people have believed that the soul belongs to Mount Tai after death, and Mount Tai has thus become a temple for treating ghosts. Dongyue Emperor also became the keeper of eighteen layers of hell and life and death on earth. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Emperor Dongyue, the hell of Buddhism, the underworld of Taoism and folklore formed the hell in Chinese folk beliefs. There is hell in the six Buddhist divisions, and its ruler, the king of the nether world, is the king of hell. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a saying of "Ten Temples in Yamaraja". In Taoism, there is also a king of the nether world named Fengdu Emperor, the ancestor of human ghosts and gods. Du Feng refers to Du Feng, which is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River in eastern Sichuan, which is now Fengdu. There is a Pingdu Mountain in the northeast of Fengdu City, which is a famous secluded capital in China and a strict underworld of Taoist emperors. According to "The Condor Heroes", Emperor Dongyue was the general of Shang Dynasty, Huang. After his death, he was named the first of the five mountains by Jiang Ziya, who was in charge of eighteen hell. There is a typical Dongyue Temple in Baishan, pucheng county, Shanxi Province, which is all built underground and has a complete eighteen layers of hell. The top floor is Emperor Huang of Dongyue, followed by the judges of the Ten Temples, all of which are dazzling and lifelike. There are 120 ghosts in hell who are being tortured by cutting, grinding, gouging out their eyes, cutting their tongues, cutting their hearts, sawing and frying, which reproduces the truth of hell in China mythology. At this time, the Dongyue Emperor is completely different from the original Taishan God.

Due to the change of the position of Dongyue Emperor, Bi Xia Yuan Jun of Bi Xia Temple is now sitting on the top of Mount Tai, and her full name is Fairy Bi Xia Yuan Jun. Yuan Jun Tai Shan Niangniang Tai Gua indicates that "heaven and earth are connected, and everything is connected" to send children to the empress. "In ancient legends, the god who guards the city is called the God of the City God, who is the master of a city in the world of ghosts and gods, and its scope of authority is equivalent to that of the county magistrate in the world. Taoism regards the city god as a professional god who "kills demons, protects the country and defends the country", "shows great power" and "Cultural Revolution" (nine days, one star, one person on the ground).

Folk beliefs also include the worship of a large number of industry function gods, such as craftsmen and other production industry gods or the gods worshipped by different social classes, ages and genders, all of which belong to this common god, such as the old prostitute god, the pear garden god, the merchant god and the ship industry god. Of course, most of the industry gods are ancestral gods, and they are all enshrined by great craftsmen, so they are not secular gods.

Goddess (1), the Jade Girl of Mount Tai, the Emperor of Dongyue, was named Prince Bi Xia by Song Zhenzong, and later spread widely among the people, becoming a great god specializing in women's fertility and protecting children's safety. The theory of sending a son to avalokitesvara originated from the Buddhist avalokitesvara bodhisattva. Because the original name is too difficult to remember, it is literally translated as "Guanyin" (3) the praying god is the object of worship of folk praying. Originated from the lucky star, there are also "lucky stars shine high" and "longevity stars" among the people. It is a god who prays for longevity and is in charge of people's lives. The birthday girl refers to the Antarctic old roller among the 28 stars. The birthday girl in traditional belief, with bald head and white beard, long forehead, big ears and short stature, is one of the most popular secular gods among the people. In the past, every family made sacrifices to the god of longevity, which became a symbol of desire.

Worship of the God of Wealth is also one of the most common secular beliefs. In the Ming Dynasty, it was said that the God of Wealth in Baolicheng was Marshal Zhao Gong, that is, Zhao Gongming. There are four gods under this god, namely Cao Sheng, the Buddha of Zhao Bao, Cao Bao, the angel of Zhao Bao, Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi of Lishi Xian Guan. These gods are all dedicated to money, and Zhao Gongming is the main god of wealth. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, the temple of God of Wealth was full of incense. Businessmen and ordinary people greet the God of Wealth every year. The image of the God of Wealth is dark, with a beard, Strafe in his hand, crossing the black lake, dressed as a military commander. Therefore, it is also commonly known as "Wu Caishen" among the people. On the night before God of Wealth's birthday, every family held a banquet to celebrate God of Wealth. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Marshal Zhao Gong is the most respected. Many shops and houses are dedicated to his woodcut image, which looks like the bottom of a pot, holding Strafe in his hand and riding Hei Hu, which is very powerful. On the fifth day of the first month, shops open and firecrackers are set off early in the morning to welcome the god of wealth. Businessmen who believe in Guan Di Sheng Jun will sacrifice, set off firecrackers and burn gold paper for Guan Gong on the fifth day of the first month, and ask Guan Di Sheng Jun to bless a prosperous year.

(4) swords, spears, halberds, axes, forks, whips, hammers, hammers, claws, kidnappers, meteors, etc. In order to meet people's needs of promoting to a higher position, having more children and prolonging life, many civil servants' door gods and praying door gods have appeared one after another. The door god of praying for blessings is not the protector of the portal, but only used for praying for blessings. The central figure is the official of praying for blessings. There are also bangs, golden toad, lucky boy and little god of wealth. The families of believers and posters are mostly business people, hoping to gain fame and fortune from the door god of blessing. After several generations of changes, the door-keeper has become a multi-functional protector, with the functions of exorcising evil spirits, defending homeland, keeping peace, helping utility, and making money into treasure. It has become one of the most popular folk gods, enduring for a long time and still prospering today. According to the origin, the god of wealth can be classified as the human gods we will introduce below, while the door gods belong to the natural gods. We classify these gods as professional gods according to their functions. Some scholars have created a new category, which classifies happiness, wealth, longevity, happiness, wealth and door gods as social gods.

(5 Furnace Holy Mother, "God"

China people not only believe in God, but also believe in ghosts. People believe that people will become gods or ghosts after death because they believe that the soul will not die after death. Before Qin and Han Dynasties, there was no concept of heaven and hell in China. People are not very clear about the whereabouts of ghosts and gods, but vaguely think that immortals live in the sky, ghosts wander around the world, or die. Therefore, China people not only pay attention to offering sacrifices to ancestors, Huangdi and Yandi, but also offer sacrifices to many local officials who work for the people, so that their souls can have a home after death. But this kind of sacrifice is not a common worship of god. Not many people worship heroes as gods in China, mainly Yue Fei and Guan Yu. The deification of Yue Fei began in the Southern Song Dynasty, and now the Wang Yue Temple near the West Lake in Hangzhou was built in Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, the most common god in Chinese folk beliefs is Guan Yu.

(1 Born in the year of Cao Xinying's "Guandi Temple" in Han Dynasty), Guan Yu was named "So, who is Wong Tai Sin and how did he become a" fairy "? There is a shepherd in Jin Huashan. I wonder if it is Chuping. " Huang Chu got up and went to Jin Huashan, where he found Huang Chuping, whose appearance has not changed. When the two brothers met, Huang Chu asked about the whereabouts of the sheep at that time. Huang Chuping shouted "Raising Sheep" on the mountain, gave alms to persuade goodness, and established the Golden Flower Taoist Temple on the left side of "Shuanglong Cave". This is the earliest Wong Tai Sin Temple.

Now, Wong Tai Sin Temple is distributed all over the world, including Hong Kong, Nanyang, the United States, Guangzhou and Xiqiao in the South China Sea.

5. Concluding remarks

Since the beginning of human culture, folk beliefs have generally occurred among ethnic groups. The reason why ancient people in China believed in the gods we just introduced was mainly to relieve their troubles, family and social disputes, and the torture of the natural environment. Ancient people had to turn to the guidance of the gods for help, relief and blessing when they could not solve it with human physical strength and intelligence for a while.