Model humanity:
38-452: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: The Eight Pillars ( Chinese : 八柱, bāzhù) also known as Eight Pillars of the Sky are a concept from Chinese mythology . Located in the eight cardinal directions, they are a group of eight mountains or pillars which have been thought to hold up
76-544: A Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism , a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation , a specific theology written in holy texts , a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy . Some scholars consider these religions
114-563: A Confucian identity, with the foundation of the Holy Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups. Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism, advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world", or even interacting with
152-399: A long life. When flying cranes are combined with growing pines, the symbol of longevity is intensified. In popular prints, a crane is sometimes depicted with the herb of immortality ( zhi ) in its beak; this is a double symbol of longevity. According to Chinese beliefs, the combination of a tortoise and crane is associated with longevity. Like the crane, the tortoise is also one of
190-555: A pillar of the sky (or earth), sometimes appearing as being composed of multiple tiers (Yang 2005: 160), with the commonality of "mystery, grandeur, or magnificence" being emphasized in the mythological descriptions. The base of the Kunlun Mountain is said to penetrate as far into the earth, as its above-ground part proceeds towards the sky (Christie1968: 74). As the mythology related to the Kunlun developed, it became influenced by
228-507: A single group they are said to have the same number of followers of the five state-sanctioned religions of China taken together. Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 the State Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions. In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with
266-416: A single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism , Buddhism and Taoism . Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God ( Shangdi ), represented as either male, female, or genderless, and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God. "Chinese salvationist religions" ( 救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào )
304-507: Is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" ( 民间宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào , 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài ) or "folk beliefs" ( 民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng ). They are distinct from
342-553: Is associated with the Eight Pillars, including the eight mountain pillars themselves along with surrounding or intervening terrain, such as the Moving Sands . The eight mountain pillars include Kunlun , Jade Mountain , Mount Buzhou , and five more (Yang Lihui 2005: passim ). Kunlun functions as a sort of ladder which could be used to travel between earth and Heaven. Accordingly, any person who succeeded in climbing up to
380-473: Is believed to have lived for centuries. According to Chinese legends, at the age of 1000, a crane would turn grey and after another 1000 years, the crane would turn dark; thus being termed as "the mysterious crane". According to some legends, a black crane no longer eats food and only drinks water when it turns 600 years old. A crane which is used as a form of immortal ride is called an immortal crane . In East Asian culture (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam),
418-604: Is referred as yuhua (羽化; lit. "turning into a feathered (Crane)"). Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China . The geographic area of "China" is of course a concept which has evolved of changed through history. Chinese mythology include myths in Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other minority ethnic groups . According to some Chinese legends, there are 4 kinds of cranes which differ in colours: white, yellow, blue, and black. The black crane
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#1732775505470456-452: Is the second most important bird after the fenghuang , the symbol of the empress, in China. The motifs of cranes may vary in a range from reference to real cranes (such as the red-crowned crane ) referring to transformed Taoist immortals ( xian ) , who sometimes were said to have magical abilities to transform into cranes in order to fly on various journeys. When a taoist priest dies, it
494-591: The Book of Rites . Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism , Mohism and shamanic traditions . In the Ming and Qing dynasties many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" ( 邪教 xiéjiào ). With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by
532-457: The Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" ( 救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ ), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara . A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of
570-484: The early republican government . The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again, although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have received some form of official recognition. In Taiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s. Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as
608-467: The red-crowned crane is a symbol of happiness. good luck, long life, and marital bliss. In ancient Chinese legends, the crane shows the elegance of the immortals, which included the meaning of elegance, moral integrity and the personal dignity of the immortals. The crane is often praised in classical Chinese literature and is perceived as elegant and graceful, and when a crane spreads its wings, it reflects an outstanding temperament. Cranes are one of
646-533: The Qing dynasty is huìdàomén ( 会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì ( 会 "church, society, association, congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào ( 道 "way") or mén ( 门 "gate[way], door"). Their congregations and points of worship are usually called táng ( 堂 "church, hall") or tán ( 坛 "altar"). Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as " Protestant " churches. The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from
684-598: The back of a magical crane or dragon. The Wu or shamans were people that practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing, generally through the use of spirit flight. They generally seem to have become immortals. The Eight Pillars are a subject of poetic allusion from the ancient poems " Li Sao " and " Heavenly Questions " by Qu Yuan ; and, on through later times, in Classical Chinese poetry . The immortals, or xian , were Daoist immortals (humans who had metamorphosed into superhuman form), which
722-475: The combination of peaches and immortals evoke penglai , which is an isle for immortals. Cranes were depicted on the mandarin square of the Ming and Qing dynasties' court robes. In the Ming dynasty, the first class civil official would wear a buzi with a fairy crane ( Chinese : 仙鹤 ; pinyin : xiānhè ). The crane mandarin square when combined in a crane, water, clouds, and blue sky design reflects
760-473: The crane symbolizes the relationship between father and son. Depictions of cranes in pairs were also associated with elderly couples as white feathers give the impression of the white hair of an elderly. The Japanese accepted the concept that the crane represented longevity when Chinese culture gradually influenced Japanese culture; the Japanese then gradually modified into becoming a symbol of joy. Since
798-576: The emphasis on the wisdom and talent of the Chinese Imperial court's civil officials. The illustrations of two cranes flying up towards the sun is used to express the wishes that the recipient of the illustration may 'rise high'. When a crane is depicted with a fenghuang , mandarin duck , heron and a wagtail , this represents the Confucianist concepts of the five relationship between people (五伦). In this particular combination,
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#1732775505470836-467: The four quarters of the compass (Christie 1968:74). Another of the Eight Pillars was Jade Mountain. Various other mythological geography is associated with the Eight Pillars. This includes the four rivers flowing from Kunlun Mountain and the Moving Sands. Various activities took place at the eight pillars. For one, they were often thought of as reaching from Earth to Heaven; thus, climbing one of
874-419: The idea of longevity . In China, the crane mythology is associated with the divine bird worship in the animal totemism ; cranes have a spiritual meaning where they are a form of divine bird which travels between heaven and man's world. Cranes regularly appear in Chinese arts such as paintings, tapestry, and decorative arts; they are also often depicted carrying the souls of the deceased to heaven. The crane
912-605: The label "secret sects" ( 秘密教门 mìmì jiàomén ) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan ). Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart ) that
950-461: The later introduction of ideas about an axis mundi from the cosmology of India. The Kunlun became identified with (or took on the attributes of) Mount Sumeru . Another historical development in the mythology of Kunlun, (again with Indian influence) was that rather than just being the source of the Yellow River , Kunlun began to be considered to be the source of four major rivers flowing to
988-506: The modern discourse of an Asian -centered universal civilisation. The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching the Yangtze River Delta since the 16th century. The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in
1026-573: The north (and west of the Moving Sands ), Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of Meng Hao in the West, in later accounts was relocated to a palace protected by golden ramparts, within which immortals ( xian ) feasted on bear paws, monkey lips, and the livers of dragons, served at the edge of the Lake of Gems. Every 6000 years the peaches which conferred immortality upon those who ate them would be served (except
1064-428: The pillars would allow one to reach Heaven from Earth. The eight mountain pillars were favorite places for all sorts of characters to visit or dwell. This includes various deities, immortals, and shamans. Various deities inhabited or visited one or more of the eight mountain pillars. These include Xiwangmu and others on Kunlun. Although not originally located on Kunlun, but rather on a Jade Mountain neighboring to
1102-689: The population of China, which is around 30 million people, claim to be members of folk religious sects. The actual number of followers may be higher, about the same as the number of members of the five state-sanctioned religions of China if counted together. In Taiwan, recognised folk religious movements of salvation gather approximately 10% of the population as of the mid-2000s. Crane in Chinese mythology Cranes ( simplified Chinese : 鹤 ; traditional Chinese : 鶴 ; pinyin : Hè ) are an important motif in Chinese mythology . There are various myths involving cranes , and in Chinese mythology cranes are generally symbolically connected with
1140-552: The region already in the Han dynasty , and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of
1178-494: The same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements. A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" ( 秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì , or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè ), religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as " heretical doctrines" ( 宗教异端 zōngjiào yìduān ). Recent scholarship has begun to use
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1216-610: The sky. They are symbolically important as types of axis mundi and cosmology . Their functions in mythology ranged from pillars which functioned to hold apart the Earth and the Sky (or Heaven), as ladders allowing travel between the two, and as the location of various paradises or wonderland with associated magical people, plants, and animals. The Eight Pillars are a central aspect to Chinese mythology, and also have been used extensively in poetic allusion. Some variations exist, such as only having four pillars. Various mythological geography
1254-422: The symbols of longevity in Chinese culture. The combination of a crane with peaches is one of the Chinese symbols of longevity, due to their associations with immortals (i.e. they were used as conveyance for immortals ). Both of them are symbols of longevity in Chinese mythology. Immortals are often depicted on the back of cranes while mythical peaches are believed to grow in the orchard of Xiwangmu ; therefore
1292-415: The symbols of longevity in Chinese culture; as such, they are often depicted together with a pine tree or a stone, or together with a tortoise or a deer . It is also customary for Chinese people to give the picture of a crane to elderly people on their birthdays as it symbolizes good health and longevity. Pine trees and cranes together are symbols of longevity and also symbolize the last years of
1330-423: The time when they were purloined by Monkey King ). Originally a plague deity with tiger teeth and leopard tail, she became a beautiful and well-mannered goddess responsible for guarding the herb of immortality (Christie 1968: 78–79). The immortals, or xian , were Daoist immortals (humans who had metamorphosed into superhuman form). The xian were often seen as temporary residents, who visited by means of flying on
1368-477: The top of Kunlun would magically become an immortal spirit (Yang 2005: 160–162). Buzhou was the defective mountain pillar. Having been damaged by Gonggong , it no longer separated the Earth and the Heaven for the proper distance. Bu-zhou was the northwest one (Hawkes, 1985 (2011): 94–95, 135–136, 323). Kunlun Mountain has been described in various texts, as well as being depicted in art. Sometimes Kunlun appears as
1406-459: Was already active in the Song dynasty ; others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng , and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan ; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" ( datong 大同 ) on a world scale, as dreamt of in
1444-449: Was presided over by Xiwangmu. The xian were often seen as temporary residents, who visited by means of flying on the back of a magical crane or dragon. Chinese salvationist religions Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are
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