Pictures of Men Shen aka Door Deities (一戶門神兩護尉)

Men Shen (門神), known as Deity of Doors or Guardian of the Home. The culture of Paying Respect to Deity of Doors was believed to start in Yin Dynasty, during that Era, Door Deity don't have any form, folks only pay respect to the real Door. Only in Han Dynasty (漢朝), Door Deity was being humanized (門神才被人格化).

Door Deities in Han Dynasty (漢朝門神):

In Han Dynasty, 3 Door Deities was recorded, they were Cheng Qing (成慶), Shen Tu (神荼) and Yu Lei (鬱壘).

From records, they were 3 Generals in Han Dynasty, which assist in subduing of demons and ghosts, from then, folks respect them as Deities for protecting the home. In-order to scare-off demons and ghosts, the folks made sketches of these 3 Generals (some recorded as by writing their names on the Door) and paste them on the main door.

Door Deities in Tang Dynasty (唐朝門神):

In Tang Dynasty, another 3 Door Deities was being introduced to the folks culture, they were Qin Shu Bao (秦叔寶), Wei Chi Gong (尉遲恭) and Zhong Kui (鍾馗), out of these 3, 2 of them were real historical characters.

Qin Shu Bao and Wei Chi Gong, 2 real historical characters of Tang Dynasty, whom assist Emperor Li Shi Ming (唐太宗) to get his Empire.

In one incident, Emperor Li Shi Ming was being disturbed by the soul of a Dragon Duke. After nights of such disturbances, Emperor Li was found getting weaker and soon, he was sick (which end up absence for a lot of Important Morning Meeting with the Officers). Upon knowing the case of the sickness, Premier Wei Zheng (魏徵) approached Qin Shu Bao and Wei Chi Gong to stand guard besides Emperor Li to chase the soul of the Dragon Duke away, on that night, Emperor Li was able to have a peaceful rest. Next day, after Emperor Li woke up, he found out that Qin Shu Bao and Wei Chi Gong were the solution for his peaceful rest, so he made them stand guard again for the next few days.

After several nights of non-sleeping, the 2 Generals were slowly getting weak, after Premier Wei Zheng found out that, he suggested to Emperor Li that maybe he should get someone to draw the sketches of the 2 Generals to paste on the door instead of making the 2 human Generals to stand guard without resting. After accepting the suggestion, the sketch was done.

From that night, Emperor Li was able to have good rest. Soon the news was being spread to all folks of Tang Era, sketches of the 2 Generals were made and pasted on doors to ward-off negative entities.

Door Deities in Song Dynasty (宋朝門神):

In Late Song Dynasty, a few more Door Deities were being added according to the credits, merits and their contributions to the Society, they were:

1 – Yue Fei (岳飛): loyalty to the Country
2 – Di Qing (狄青): fighting against all invaders
3 – Zhao Yun (趙雲): brotherly-love and upright
4 – Zhang Fei (張飛): loyalty to Country
5 – Zhao Gong Ming (趙公明): Deity of Wealth, blessing of good lucks

Door Deities for Buddhism (佛教門神):

In Buddhism, the Religion itself does have it's own set of Door Deities (Protectors), which later Taoism also import them in, they are:

1 – The Four Heavenly King (四大金剛)
2 – Heng & Ha Generals (哼哈二將)

Different Deities using different set of Door Deities (不同等級神祇配祀不同門神):

In Chinese Culture/Custom, ranking/position level is very important. Usually people will used different objects or assistants to show their power or authorities, this happened in the Spiritual World too.

In the past, for a Temple, by looking at the Door Deities on the main door, folks were be able to know the ranking of the main Deity inside the Temple, but today, due to lack of such knowledge, we can rarely find people following such culture or practices.

So who's Temple will use which set of Door Deities?

Here's the introduction:

1 – High Ranking Officers (such as Jade Emperor or Dukes 高等級主神),

A)Warrior Door Deities (武身門神) will be used, such as Qin Shu Bao & Wei Chi Gong, Yue Fei & Di Qing
B)Eunuch Door Deities (太監) will be used

2 – Lady Deities (such as Mother Queen or Ma Zu aka Goddess of the Sea 女神祇)

A)Eunuch Door Deities (太監) will be used
B)Palace Maiden (宮娥) will be used

3 – Scholarly Deities (such as Wen Chang Di Jun or Bao Sheng Da Di 文神)
A)Scholarly Door Deities (文官門神) will be used (look like normal Magistrate Officers)

B)Fu Lu Shou (福祿壽三星), the 3 Star Lords of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity

4 – For Lower Ranking Deities (such as Diety of Earth, Cheng Huang 低等級神祇)

A) Usually the Temples will used pictures with auspicious meaning to replace painting of Door Deities, such paintings are Chinese Peony Flower (牡丹花), Tigers (虎), Dragons (龍/蛟), little Kids (喜童), etc.

Last of all, Door Deities not only exist in our Chinese Religions, but also in other Religions, so next time, do keep a look out at the Religious Places of other Religions around your area, you will see something special.

For Higher Res Pictures, please proceed to this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taoism_deity_singapore_2007/photos/album/1467207849/pic/list