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95-504: Yu Shi in Chinese folk religion and Chinese mythology generally appears in association with Feng Bo , the god of the wind; and Lei Gong , the god of thunder. There are both current religious activities and historical mythical stories associated with Yu Shi. Various references in poetry and popular culture also exist, for example in the Chu ci poems " Tian Wen " and " Yuan You ". His consort

190-426: A lacquered , two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. The earliest examples of liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. Along with divination for Da Liu Ren the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi (Pole star) through the nine palaces. The markings on a liuren/shi and the first magnetic compasses are virtually identical. The magnetic compass

285-445: A rectification of names : distorted names are 'superstitious activities' ( 迷信活動 ) or 'feudal superstition' ( 封建迷信 ), that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the label 'feudal superstition' as propaganda to undermine what they saw as religious competitition. Han calls for the acknowledgment of the ancient Chinese religion for what it really is,

380-442: A compass) Others Traditional feng shui was a system designed to aid rural villages from the effects of weather and natural disaster. As a set of consistent rules, feng shui can facilitate collective consensus on development without the need of centralized leadership. Understanding that one's actions could damage the feng shui and fortunes of the entire village, individuals were incentivized to know these rules and carefully manage

475-609: A deified virtuous person ( xiān Chinese : 仙 , "immortal"). Some cults such as that of Liu Zhang, a king in what is today Shandong , date back to this period. From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei , accompanying the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the ancient Chinese indigenous religion. A cult of Ganesha ( Chinese : 象頭神 Xiàngtóushén , "Elephant-Head God")

570-563: A direct influence on things, making phenomena appear and things grow or extend themselves. An early Chinese dictionary, the Shuowen Jiezi by Xu Shen , explains that they "are the spirits of Heaven" and they "draw out the ten thousand things". As forces of growth the gods are regarded as yang , opposed to a yin class of entities called gui ( 鬼 ; guǐ ; cognate of 歸 ; guī 'return', 'contraction'), chaotic beings. A disciple of Zhu Xi noted that "between Heaven and Earth there

665-529: A dwelling on the mythical Kunlun Mountain . In another form, Chi Songzi is depicted as a chrysalis of a silkworm who has a concubine whose face is black, holds a snake in each hand, and has a red snake coming out of one ear and a green snake coming out of the other. Yu Shi (together with Feng Bo) is said to have aided Chiyou in his struggle against the Yellow Emperor during the Battle of Zhuolu , but

760-681: A few changed into schools". During the Japanese invasion of China between 1937 and 1945 many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare. In the 19th century in the Guangdong region, monotheism , likely of a henotheistic and/or monolatrous character in at least some contexts and locations, was well-known and popular in Chinese folk religion. In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing others. In

855-528: A large plaza. It stands on a north–south axis with another building that apparently housed communal activities. Regional communities may have used the complex. A grave at Puyang (around 4000 BC) that contains mosaics— a Chinese star map of the Dragon and Tiger asterisms and Beidou ( the Big Dipper, Ladle or Bushel )— is oriented along a north–south axis. The presence of both round and square shapes in

950-442: A paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects, such as making claims about the functioning of the world that are not amenable to testing with the scientific method . The Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest known evidence for the use of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass , feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and

1045-657: A place with ideal qi . It also considers the time of important events such as the birth of the resident and the building of the structure. The Compass branch is a collection of more recent feng shui techniques based on the Eight Directions, each of which is said to have unique qi. It uses the Luopan , a disc marked with formulas in concentric rings around a magnetic compass. The Compass Branch includes techniques such as Flying Star and Eight Mansions . More recent forms of feng shui simplify principles that come from

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1140-520: A political institution and instead became an increasingly private affair. Many feng shui experts and diviners sold their services to the public market, allowing feng shui to quickly grow in popularity. During the Late Qing dynasty , feng shui became immensely popular. Widespread destitution and increasing government despotism led to feng shui becoming more widely practiced in rural areas. The Qing dynasty attempted to crack down on heterodoxy following

1235-400: A range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese , including the Chinese diaspora . This includes the veneration of shen ('spirits') and ancestors , and worship devoted to deities and immortals , who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of family lineages . Stories surrounding these gods form a loose canon of Chinese mythology . By

1330-552: A religion focused on gods of nature , Tian became a more abstract and impersonal idea of God. A popular representation is the Jade Deity ( Chinese : 玉帝 Yùdì ) or Jade Emperor ( Chinese : 玉皇 Yùhuáng ) originally formulated by Taoists. According to classical theology he manifests in five primary forms ( Chinese : 五方上帝 Wǔfāng Shàngdì , "Five Forms of the Highest Deity"). The qi Chinese : 气

1425-468: A spiritual world between heaven and earth and beseeched the gods of heaven and earth to influence the world to benefit their family. By the Han dynasty , the ancient Chinese religion mostly consisted of people organising into shè ( Chinese : 社 ["group", "body", local community altars]) who worshipped their godly principle. In many cases the "lord of the she " was the god of the earth, and in others

1520-481: A state religion), and all the various stages of the Taoist religion." Contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they consider the essential features of the Chinese indigenous religion : according to Chen Xiaoyi ( 陳曉毅 ) local indigenous religion is the crucial factor for a harmonious 'religious ecology' ( 宗教生態 ), that is the balance of forces in a given community. Han Bingfang ( 韓秉芳 ) has called for

1615-402: A system of meaning, or have brought further development in C. K. Yang's distinction between "institutional religion" and "diffused religion", the former functioning as a separate body from other social institutions, and the latter intimately part of secular social institutions. In the beginning of Chinese civilization, "[t]he most honored members of the family were...the ancestors", who lived in

1710-583: Is Yu Shiqie ( 雨师妾 ; 雨師妾 ; 'Rain Master Concubine';). According to certain versions, a certain Chisongzi ( Chinese : 赤松子 ; pinyin : Chì-Sōng-Zǐ ; Wade–Giles : Ch'ih-sung-tzu ; lit. 'Master Red Pine') during the reign of Shennong ended a severe drought by sprinkling water from an earthen bowl and was rewarded by being made the Lord of Rain with

1805-550: Is Buddhism which came to China probably before the Christian era but which began to exert nation-wide influence only after the third century A.D. The other great religion has had no generic name, but I propose to call it Siniticism. It is the native ancient religion of the Han Chinese people: it dates back to time immemorial, over 10,000 years old, and includes all such later phases of its development as Moism, Confucianism (as

1900-493: Is a common core that can be summarised as four theological, cosmological, and moral concepts: Tian , the transcendent source of moral meaning; qi , the breath or energy that animates the universe; ancestor veneration ; and bao ying 'moral reciprocity'. With these, there are two traditional concepts of fate and meaning: ming yun , the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuanfen 'fateful coincidence ', good and bad chances and potential relationships. Yin and yang

1995-507: Is a seldom used term taken by scholars in colonial Taiwan from Japanese during Japan's occupation (1895–1945). It was used between the 1990s and the early 21st century among mainland Chinese scholars. Shendao ( 神道 ; shéndào ; 'the Way of the Gods';) is a term already used in the I Ching referring to the divine order of nature. Around the time of the spread of Buddhism during

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2090-655: Is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e., fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical , astrological , architectural , cosmological , geographical , and topographical dimensions. Historically, as well as in many parts of

2185-405: Is an emphasis on continual compromise and balance in order to maintain harmony. Feng shui has been observed to play an important role in the mediation of rural conflict. Through its amoral explanation of differential fortunes, feng shui provides a universal set of cosmic rules communities seek to abide by. This can promote community unity while also creating numerous points of polarization. Through

2280-678: Is attested in the year 531. Pollination from Indian religions included processions of carts with images of gods or floats borne on shoulders, with musicians and chanting. The ancient Chinese religion was subject to persecution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many ancient temples were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion in the late 1800s. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 "most temples were turned to other uses or were destroyed, with

2375-477: Is bound to local communities, kinship, and environments. In each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms. Temples and the gods in them acquire symbolic character and perform specific functions involved in the everyday life of the local community. Local religion preserves aspects of naturalistic beliefs such as totemism , animism , and shamanism . Ancient Chinese religion pervades all aspects of social life. Many scholars, following

2470-404: Is inherently a form of ancestor worship . Popular in farming communities for centuries, it was built on the idea that the ghosts of ancestors and other independent, intangible forces, both personal and impersonal, affected the material world, and that these forces needed to be placated through rites and suitable burial places. For a fee, a Feng shui practitioner would identify suitable locations for

2565-464: Is no thing that does not consist of yin and yang, and there is no place where yin and yang are not found. Therefore, there is no place where gods and spirits do not exist". The dragon is a symbol of yang, the principle of generation. In Taoist and Confucian thought, the supreme God and its order and the multiplicity of shen are identified as one and the same. In the Ten Wings , a commentary to

2660-404: Is the breath or substance of which all things are made, including inanimate matter, the living beings, thought and gods. It is the continuum energy—matter. Stephen F. Teiser (1996) translates it as "stuff" of "psychophysical stuff". Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi developed the idea of li Chinese : 理 , the "reason", "order" of Heaven, that is to say the pattern through which

2755-488: Is the medium of the two states and the inchoate order of creation. The Chinese language historically has not had a concept or overarching term for "religion". In English, the terms 'popular religion' or 'folk religion' have long been used to mean local religious life. In Chinese academic literature and common usage 'folk religion' ( 民間宗教 ; mínjiān zōngjiào ) refers to specific organised folk religious sects . Contemporary academic study of traditional cults and

2850-803: Is the oldest branch of feng shui. Qing Wuzi in the Han dynasty describes it in the Book of the Tomb and Guo Pu of the Jin dynasty follows up with a more complete description in The Book of Burial . The Form branch was originally concerned with the location and orientation of tombs ( Yin House feng shui ), which was of great importance. The branch then progressed to the consideration of homes and other buildings ( Yang House feng shui ). The "form" in Form branch refers to

2945-431: Is the polarity that describes the order of the universe, held in balance by the interaction of principles of extension ( 神 ; shén ; 'spirit') and returning ( 鬼 ; guǐ ; 'ghost'), with yang ('act') usually preferred over yin ('receptiveness') in common religion. The taijitu and bagua are common diagrams representing the forces of nature, and the power that deities like Zhong Kui wield. Ling

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3040-490: Is the qi in its dense, dark, sinking, wet, condensing mode; yang denotes the light, and the bright, rising, dry, expanding modality. Described as Taiji (the 'Great Pole'), they represent the polarity and complementarity that enlivens the cosmos . They can also be conceived as 'disorder' and 'order', 'activity' or 'passivity', with action (yang) usually preferred over receptiveness (yin). The concept of shen ( 神 ; shén ; cognate of 申 ; shēn 'extending', 'expanding' )

3135-504: Is therefore both transcendent and immanent . Tian is defined in many ways, with many names, the most widely known being Tàidì Chinese : 太帝 (the "Great Deity") and Shàngdì Chinese : 上帝 (the "Primordial Deity"). The concept of Shangdi is especially rooted in the tradition of the Shang dynasty , which gave prominence to the worship of ancestral gods and cultural heroes . The "Primordial Deity" or "Primordial Emperor"

3230-401: Is to balance yin and yang in the body, the goal of feng shui has been described as aligning a city, site, building, or object with yin-yang force fields. Eight diagrams known as bagua loom large in feng shui, and both predate their mentions in the I Ching . The Lo (River) Chart was developed first, and is sometimes associated with Later Heaven arrangement of the bagua . This and

3325-465: Is to take advantage of vital qi by appropriate siting of graves and structures. Polarity is expressed in feng shui as yin and yang theory. That is, it is of two parts: one creating an exertion and one receiving the exertion. The development of this theory and its corollary, five phase theory (five element theory) , have also been linked with astronomical observations of sunspot . The Five Elements or Forces ( wu xing ) – which, according to

3420-472: Is translated as 'gods' or 'spirits'. There are shen of nature; gods who were once people, such as the warrior Guan Yu ; household gods, such as the Stove God ; as well as ancestral gods ( zu or zuxian ). In the domain of humanity the shen is the psyche, or the power or agency within humans. They are intimately involved in the life of this world. As spirits of stars, mountains and streams, shen exert

3515-719: The Mozi ( Mohism ), the Huainanzi , the Shizi and the Xunzi . The " Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind " ( Chinese : 《天人感應》 ; pinyin : tiānrén gǎnyìng ) is a set of Confucianised doctrines compiled in the Han dynasty by Dong Zhongshu , discussing politics in accordance with a personal Tian of whom mankind is viewed as the incarnation. Taoism has a separate body of philosophical, theological and ritual literature, including

3610-661: The Taiyi Shengshui ( Chinese : 《太一生水》 ; lit. 'The Great One Gives Birth to Water'). Another book attributed to the Yellow Emperor is the Huangdi yinfujing ( Chinese : 《黃帝陰符經》 ; lit. 'Yellow Emperor's Book of the Hidden Symbol';). Classical books of mythology include the " Classic of Mountains and Seas " ( Chinese : 《山海經》 ; pinyin : shānhǎijīng ),

3705-710: The Yellow River Chart ( Hetu , sometimes associated with the Earlier Heaven bagua ) are linked to astronomical events of the sixth millennium BC, and with the Turtle Calendar from the time of Yao. The Turtle Calendar of Yao (found in the Yaodian section of the Shangshu or Book of Documents ) dates to 2300 BC, plus or minus 250 years. In Yaodian , the cardinal directions are determined by

3800-525: The American West Coast alone. In 1904, a reform policy of the late Qing dynasty provided that schools would be built through the confiscation of temple property. "Anti-superstition" campaigns followed. The Nationalist government of the Republic of China intensified the suppression of the ancient Chinese religion with the 1928 "Standards for retaining or abolishing gods and shrines";

3895-733: The Chairman Mao period in the PRC, was the most serious and last systematic effort to destroy the ancient Chinese religion, while in Taiwan the ancient Chinese religion was very well-preserved but controlled by Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chiang Kai-Shek during his Chinese Cultural Renaissance to counter the Cultural Revolution. After 1978 the ancient Chinese religion started to rapidly revive in China, with millions of temples being rebuilt or built from scratch. Since

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3990-467: The Dragon King , Pangu or Caishen . Feng shui , acupuncture , and traditional Chinese medicine reflect this world view, since features of the landscape as well as organs of the body are in correlation with the five powers and yin and yang . Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Despite this diversity, there

4085-513: The Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE), it was used to distinguish the indigenous ancient religion from the imported religion. Ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism . The term was subsequently adopted in Japan in the 6th century as Shindo , later Shinto , with the same purpose of identification of the Japanese indigenous religion. In the 14th century,

4180-527: The Hongwu Emperor (Taizu of the Ming dynasty , 1328–1398) used the term "Shendao" clearly identifying the indigenous cults, which he strengthened and systematised. "Chinese Universism"—not in the sense of " universalism " as in "a system of universal application", as that is Tian in Chinese thought—is a coinage of Jan Jakob Maria de Groot that refers to the metaphysical perspective that lies behind

4275-520: The I Ching , it is written that "one yin and one yang are called the Tao ... the unfathomable change of yin and yang is called shen ". In other texts, with a tradition going back to the Han dynasty , the gods and spirits are explained to be names of yin and yang, forces of contraction and forces of growth. While in popular thought they have conscience and personality, Neo-Confucian scholars tended to rationalise them. Zhu Xi wrote that they act according to

4370-483: The Ming ). The astronomical history of feng shui is evident in the development of instruments and techniques. According to the Zhouli , the original feng shui instrument may have been a gnomon . Chinese used circumpolar stars to determine the north–south axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some of the cases, as Paul Wheatley observed, they bisected

4465-690: The Song dynasty (960–1279), these practices had been blended with Buddhist , Confucian , and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day. The government of China generally tolerates popular religious organizations, but has suppressed or persecuted those that they fear would undermine social stability. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, governments and modernizing elites condemned 'feudal superstition' and opposed traditional religious practices which they believed conflicted with modern values. By

4560-667: The White Lotus Rebellion and Taiping Revolt , but feng shui's decentralization made it difficult to suppress in popular and elite circles. Under China's Century of Humiliation , feng shui began to receive implicit government encouragement as a method of colonial resistance. Through the militarization of the countryside, the local gentry used feng shui to justify and promote popular attacks against missionaries and colonial infrastructure. This allowed local elites and government officials to bypass foreign extraterritoriality and maintain local sovereignty. This, in addition to

4655-610: The li . Zhang Zai wrote that they are "the inherent potential ( liang neng ) of the two ways of qi". Cheng Yi said that they are "traces of the creative process". Chen Chun wrote that shen and gui are expansions and contractions, going and coming, of yin and yang—qi. Feng shui Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Feng shui ( / ˈ f ʌ ŋ ˌ ʃ uː i / or / ˌ f ʌ ŋ ˈ ʃ w eɪ / ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy ,

4750-475: The qi develops, that is the polarity of yin and yang . In Taoism the Tao Chinese : 道 ("Way") denotes in one concept both the impersonal absolute Tian and its order of manifestation ( li ). Yin ( 陰 ; yīn ) and yang ( 陽 ; yáng ), whose root meanings respectively are 'shady' and 'sunny', or 'dark' and 'light', are modes of manifestation of the qi, not material things in themselves. Yin

4845-415: The source of moral meaning; qi ( Chinese : 氣 ), the breath or substance of which all things are made; the practice of jingzu ( Chinese : 敬祖 ), the veneration of ancestors; bao ying ( Chinese : 報應 ), moral reciprocity. Confucians, Taoists, and other schools of thought share basic concepts of Tian . Tian is both the physical heavens, the home of the sun, moon, and stars, and also

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4940-470: The " Guodian texts " in the 1990s and the Huangdi sijing ( Chinese : 《黃帝四經》 ; lit. 'Four Books of the Yellow Emperor';) in the 1970s, has given rise to new interpretations of the ancient Chinese religion and new directions in its post-Maoist renewal. Many of these books overcome the dichotomy between Confucian and Taoist traditions. The Guodian texts include, among others,

5035-587: The " Record of Heretofore Lost Works " ( Chinese : 《拾遺記 ; pinyin : shíyíjì ), " The Peach Blossom Spring " ( Chinese : 《桃花源記》 ; pinyin : táohuāyuánjì ), the " Investiture of the Gods " ( Chinese : 《封神演義》 ; pinyin : fēngshén yǎnyì ), and the " Journey to the West " ( Chinese : 《西遊記》 ; pinyin : xīyóujì ) among others. Fan and Chen summarise four spiritual, cosmological, and moral concepts: Tian ( Chinese : 天 ), Heaven,

5130-533: The 'core and soul of popular culture' ( 俗文化的核心與靈魂 ). According to Chen Jinguo ( 陳進國 ), the ancient Chinese religion is a core element of Chinese 'cultural and religious self-awareness' ( 文化自覺，信仰自覺 ). He has proposed a theoretical definition of Chinese indigenous religion in a 'trinity' ( 三位一體 ), apparently inspired to Tang Chun-i 's thought: Ancient Chinese religious practices are diverse, varying from province to province and even from one village to another, for religious behaviour

5225-465: The 1980s the central government moved to a policy of benign neglect or wu wei ( Chinese : 無為 ) in regard to rural community life, and the local government's new regulatory relationship with local society is characterised by practical mutual dependence; these factors have given much space for popular religion to develop. In recent years, in some cases, local governments have taken an even positive and supportive attitude towards indigenous religion in

5320-518: The 20th century, with the decline of the Qing dynasty, increasing urbanisation and Western influence, the issue for the new intellectuals who looked to the West was no longer controlling unauthorised worship of unregistered gods but the ancient Chinese religion itself, which they perceived as an issue halting modernisation. By 1899, 400 syncretic temples that combined folk religion elements and gods with Buddhist, Taoist, and/or Confucianist gods existed on

5415-564: The Chinese countryside. Feng shui experts remained highly sought after, in spite of numerous campaigns to suppress the practice. It was only after China's Reform and Opening-Up that feng shui would see a complete resurgence. As economic liberalization promoted social competition and individualism, feng shui was able to find new footing due to its focus on individualism and amoral justification of social differences. Feng shui views good and bad fortune as tangible elements that can be managed through predictable and consistent rules. This involves

5510-519: The Chinese religious tradition. De Groot calls Chinese Universism "the ancient metaphysical view that serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought. ... In Universism, the three components of integrated universe—understood epistemologically, 'heaven, earth and man', and understood ontologically, ' Taiji (the great beginning, the highest ultimate), yin and yang'—are formed". In 1931, Hu Shih argued that: "Two great religions have played tremendously important roles throughout Chinese history. One

5605-419: The Chinese, are metal, earth, fire, water, and wood – are first mentioned in Chinese literature in a chapter of the classic Book of History . They play a very important part in Chinese thought: ‘elements’ meaning generally not so much the actual substances as the forces essential to human life. Earth is a buffer, or an equilibrium achieved when the polarities cancel each other. While the goal of Chinese medicine

5700-547: The Puyang tomb, at Hongshan ceremonial centers and at the late Longshan settlement at Lutaigang, suggests that gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) existed in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhoubi Suanjing . Cosmography that bears a resemblance to modern feng shui devices and formulas appears on a piece of jade unearthed at Hanshan and dated around 3000 BC. Archaeologist Li Xueqin links

5795-506: The aforementioned question to find an appropriate "name" for the ancient Chinese religion, is the difficulty to define it or clearly outline its boundaries. Old sinology , especially Western, tried to distinguish "popular" and "élite" traditions (the latter being Confucianism and Taoism conceived as independent systems). Chinese sinology later adopted another dichotomy which continues in contemporary studies, distinguishing "folk beliefs" ( minjian xinyang ) and "folk religion" ( minjian zongjiao ),

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5890-514: The angle between the directions of the rising and setting sun to find north. This technique provided the more precise alignments of the Shang walls at Yanshi and Zhengzhou . Rituals for using a feng shui instrument required a diviner to examine current sky phenomena to set the device and adjust their position in relation to the device. The oldest examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes, also known as shi . These consist of

5985-608: The contemporary Chinese world, feng shui was used to choose the orientation of buildings, dwellings, and spiritually significant structures such as tombs . One scholar writes that in contemporary Western societies, however, "feng shui tends to be reduced to interior design for health and wealth. It has become increasingly visible through 'feng shui consultants' and corporate architects who charge large sums of money for their analysis, advice and design." Feng shui has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers, and it has been described as

6080-479: The creation of a government agency that gave legal status to this religion have created proposals to formalise names and deal more clearly with folk religious sects and help conceptualise research and administration. Terms that have been proposed include 'Chinese native religion' ( 民俗宗教 ; mínsú zōngjiào ), 'Chinese ethnic religion' ( 民族宗教 ; mínzú zōngjiào ), or 'Chinese religion' ( 中華教 ; zhōnghuájiào ) viewed as comparable to

6175-441: The cultural aspects of feng shui, made the practice a powerful expression of demarcation between foreign and Chinese identities. Following the rise of Communist China, religion and traditional cosmology were suppressed more than ever, in the name of ideological purity. Decentralized heterodoxies, like feng shui, were best adapted to survive this period. As a result, feng shui became one of the only alternative forms of thought within

6270-606: The design to the liuren astrolabe , zhinan zhen and luopan . Beginning with palatial structures at Erlitou , all capital cities of China followed rules of feng shui for their design and layout. During the Zhou era, the Kaogong ji ( Chinese : 考工記 ; "Manual of Crafts") codified these rules. The carpenter's manual Lu ban jing ( 魯班經 ; "Lu ban's manuscript") codified rules for builders. Graves and tombs also followed rules of feng shui from Puyang to Mawangdui and beyond. From

6365-694: The development of their land and resources. This served to prevent the Tragedy of the Commons . When conflict did erupt during development, feng shui experts played an important role in balancing interests and enforcing orderly development. Different branches of feng shui were developed and embraced in response to differing local geographies. In southern China , this often resulted in villages located on high hills safe from flooding and erosion, with pooling streams that allow for easy irrigation and drainage, fields downstream fertilized by sewage, and graves located on

6460-460: The earliest records, the structures of the graves and dwellings seem to have followed the same rules. Some of the foundations of feng shui go back more than 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass. It originated in Chinese astronomy . Some current techniques can be traced to Neolithic China, while others were added later (most notably the Han dynasty , the Tang , the Song , and

6555-733: The fundamental Daodejing ( Chinese : 《道德經》 ; lit. 'Book of the Way and its Virtue'), the Daozang (Taoist Canon), the Liezi and the Zhuangzi , and a great number of other texts either included or not within the Taoist Canon. Vernacular literature and the folk religious sects have produced a great body of popular mythological and theological literature, the baojuan ( Chinese : 寶卷 ; lit. 'precious scrolls'). Recent discovery of ancient books, such as

6650-461: The highest hills far from water and on otherwise unvaluable farmland. To this degree, feng shui could help communities manage their spaces to match their physical, environmental, and aesthetic needs. A core aspect of feng shui has been its understanding of polarity. As opposed to western dualism , in which concepts are completely oppositional and irreconcilable, Chinese polarity sees opposing concepts as constantly changing and inseparable. The result

6745-483: The hiring of feng shui experts, disputes between villagers can be peaceably resolved without losing face. In addition, these impersonal cosmic rules help regulate local jealousies over wealth and prestige. As early as the Tang dynasty , the Chinese state recognized the disruptive power popular expressions of feng shui had over government authority. At the community level, feng shui could play an important role in community mobilization and political protest. By elevating

6840-485: The home of the gods and ancestors. Tian by extension is source of moral meaning, as seen in the political principle, the Mandate of Heaven , which holds that Tian , responding to human virtue, grants the imperial family the right to rule and withdraws it when the dynasty declines in virtue. This creativity or virtue ( de ) in humans is the potentiality to transcend the given conditions and act wisely and morally. Tian

6935-576: The late Qing dynasty , scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin used the term shenjiao not referring to Shinto as a definite religious system, but to local shin beliefs in Japan. Other terms are 'folk cults' ( 民間崇拜 ; mínjiān chóngbài ), 'spontaneous religion' ( 自發宗教 ; zìfā zōngjiào ), 'lived religion' ( 生活宗教 ; shēnghuó zōngjiào ), 'local religion' ( 地方宗教 ; dìfāng zōngjiào ), and 'diffused religion' ( 分散性宗教 ; fēnsàn xìng zōngjiào ). 'Folk beliefs' ( 民間信仰 ; mínjiān xìnyǎng ),

7030-583: The late 20th century, these attitudes began to change in both mainland China and Taiwan, and many scholars now view folk religion in a positive light. In recent times traditional religion is experiencing a revival in both China and Taiwan. Some forms have received official understanding or recognition as a preservation of traditional culture, such as Mazuism and the Sanyi teaching in Fujian , Yellow Emperor worship, and other forms of local worship, such as that of

7125-454: The latter referring to the doctrinal sects. Many studies have pointed out that it is impossible to draw clear distinctions, and, since the 1970s, several sinologists swung to the idea of a unified "ancient Chinese religion" that would define the Chinese national identity, similarly to Hindu Dharma for India and Shinto for Japan . Other sinologists who have not espoused the idea of a unified "national religion" have studied Chinese religion as

7220-410: The lead of sociologist C. K. Yang , see the ancient Chinese religion deeply embedded in family and civic life, rather than expressed in a separate organizational structure like a "church", as in the West. Deity or temple associations and lineage associations , pilgrimage associations and formalized prayers, rituals and expressions of virtues, are the common forms of organization of Chinese religion on

7315-549: The limitations of written texts were acknowledged particularly in Taoism and folk religion. There are the classic books ( Chinese : 經 ; pinyin : jīng ; lit. ' warp ') such as the Confucian canon including the " Four Books and Five Classics " ( Chinese : 《四書五經》 ; pinyin : sìshū wǔjīng ) and the " Classic of Filial Piety " ( Chinese : 《孝經》 ; pinyin : xiàojīng ), then there are

7410-402: The living and the dead to achieve shū fú . The primary underlying value was material success for the living. According to Stuart Vyse , feng shui is "a very popular superstition." The PRC government has also labeled it as superstitious. Feng shui is classified as a pseudoscience since it exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects such as making claims about the functioning of

7505-453: The local level. Neither initiation rituals nor official membership into a church organization separate from one person's native identity are mandatory in order to be involved in religious activities. Contrary to institutional religions, Chinese religion does not require "conversion" for participation. The prime criterion for participation in the ancient Chinese religion is not "to believe" in an official doctrine or dogma , but "to belong" to

7600-426: The local unit of an ancient Chinese religion, that is the "association", the "village" or the "kinship", with their gods and rituals. Sociologist Richard Madsen describes the ancient Chinese religion, adopting the definition of Tu Weiming , as characterized by "immanent transcendence" grounded in a devotion to "concrete humanity", focused on building moral community within concrete humanity. Inextricably linked to

7695-438: The management of qi, an imagined form of cosmic "energy." In situating the local environment to maximize good qi , one can optimize their own good fortune. Feng shui holds that one's external environment can affect one's internal state. A goal of the practice is to achieve a "perfect spot", a location and an axis in time that can help one achieve a state of shū fú ( 舒服 ) or harmony with the universe. Traditional feng shui

7790-551: The marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals: The diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty. The sifang is much older, however. It was used at Niuheliang, and figured large in Hongshan culture 's astronomy. And it is this area of China that is linked to Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) who allegedly invented

7885-421: The name of promoting cultural heritage. Instead of signaling the demise of traditional ancient religion, China and Taiwan 's economic and technological industrialization and development has brought a spiritual renewal. Ancient Chinese religion draws from a vast heritage of sacred books, which according to the general worldview treat cosmology , history and mythology, mysticism and philosophy, as aspects of

7980-588: The policy attempted to abolish the cults of all gods with the exception of ancient great human heroes and sages such as the Yellow Emperor , Yu the Great , Guan Yu , Sun Tzu , Mazu , Xuanzang , Kūkai , Buddha , Budai , Bodhidharma , Lao Tzu , and Confucius . These policies were the background for those implemented by Communist Party after winning the Chinese Civil War and taking power in 1949. The Cultural Revolution , between 1966 and 1976 of

8075-413: The same thing. Historically, the revolutionary shift toward a preference for textual transmission and text-based knowledge over long-standing oral traditions first becomes detectable in the 1st century CE. The spoken word, however, never lost its power. Rather than writing replacing the power of the spoken word, both existed side by side. Scriptures had to be recited and heard in order to be efficacious, and

8170-424: The shape of the environment, such as mountains, rivers, plateaus, buildings, and general surroundings. It considers the five celestial animals (vermillion phoenix, azure dragon, white tiger, black turtle, and the yellow snake), the yin-yang concept and the traditional five elements ( Wu Xing : wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). The Form branch analyzes the shape of the land and flow of the wind and water to find

8265-521: The south-pointing spoon (see compass ). Traditional feng shui is an ancient system based upon the observation of heavenly time and earthly space. Literature, as well as archaeological evidence, provide some idea of the origins and nature of feng shui techniques. Aside from books, there is also a strong oral history. In many cases, masters have passed on their techniques only to selected students or relatives. Modern practitioners of feng shui draw from several branches in their own practices. The Form Branch

8360-414: The term 神教 ( shénjiào ; 'shenism'). Tan however, comments that is not the way the Chinese refer to their religion, which in any case includes worship of ancestors, not shen , and suggests it is logical to use "Chinese Religion". Shenxianism 神仙教 ( shénxiān jiào ), literally 'religion of deities and immortals ', is a term partly inspired by Elliott's "shenism" neologism. During

8455-552: The traditional branches, and focus mainly on the use of the bagua . The Eight Life Aspirations style of feng shui is a simple system which coordinates each of the eight cardinal directions with a specific life aspiration or station such as family, wealth, fame, etc., which come from the Bagua government of the eight aspirations . Life Aspirations is not otherwise a geomantic system. San Yuan Method , 三元派 (Pinyin: sān yuán pài) San He Method , 三合派 (environmental analysis using

8550-631: The universe. In 4000 BC, the doors of dwellings in Banpo were aligned with the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice —this sited the homes for solar gain . During the Zhou era, Yingshi was known as Ding and it was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing . The late Yangshao site at Dadiwan (c. 3500–3000 BC) includes a palace-like building (F901) at its center. The building faces south and borders

8645-451: The usage of the term " Hinduism " for Indian religion. In Malaysia , reports the scholar Tan Chee-Beng, Chinese do not have a definite term for their traditional religion, which is not surprising because "the religion is diffused into various aspects of Chinese culture". They refer to their religion as 'Buddha worship' ( 拜佛 ; bàifó ) or 'spirit worship' ( 拜神 ; bàishén ), which prompted Alan J. A. Elliott to suggest

8740-459: The world which are not amenable to testing with the scientific method . It has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers, and has been described as a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. Qi ( 气 , pronounced "chee") is a movable positive or negative life force which plays an essential role in feng shui. The Book of Burial says that burial takes advantage of "vital qi ". The goal of feng shui

8835-411: Was considered to be embodied in the human realm as the lineage of imperial power. Di ( Chinese : 帝 ) is a term meaning "deity" or "emperor" ( Latin : imperator , verb im-perare ; "making from within"), used either as a name of the primordial god or as a title of natural gods, describing a principle that exerts a fatherly dominance over what it produces. With the Zhou dynasty , which preferred

8930-495: Was defeated by the intervention of the drought goddess Ba . Yu Shi is worshiped by Han Chinese , Maonan people , and other people in modern southwest China as an important rain god with ritual prayer ceremonies performed to entreat for rain. Chinese folk religion Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese folk religion comprises

9025-561: Was used for feng shui since its invention. Traditional feng shui instrumentation consists of the Luopan or the earlier south-pointing spoon ( 指南針 zhinan zhen )—though a conventional compass could suffice if one understood the differences. Not to be confused with the South-pointing chariot which was used for navigation. A feng shui ruler (a later invention) may also be employed. After the Song dynasty, divination began to decline as

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