Lord Cheng Huang (城隍公) aka Duke Cheng Huang (城隍侯) or Cheng Huang Ye (城隍爺) /Cheng Huang Shen (城隍神), a Deity who is being appointed as the Officer of doing registration of Life and Death in the Mortal World (人間注生死).
In the Ancient period, each area/city in China will need to dedicate a Temple to Cheng Huang, in-order to get the blessing and necessary looking-after by the Deities.
In some era, Cheng Huang also act as a "media" for people to make complaints (證紛爭), witnesses of Divorce and Marriage or some (證婚姻), giving birth (證生), etc.
In Taoism, Cheng Huang can easily be categorize as Five Level (五階官):
1) Du Cheng Huang aka Jing Cheng Huang (都城隍/京城隍) - given the title King, in Chinese Wang (王)
Official Title: Ming Ling Wang (明靈王)
And to be accurate, in the Whole Chinese Deities System, there can be only one Du Cheng Huang which is in the Imperial Capital of Ancient China 帝都 (which now got no more).
2) Fu Cheng Huang (府城隍) - given the title Duke/Lord (公)
Official Title: Wei Ling Gong (威靈公)
This is the 2nd Level and in Singapore, you are able to find him at Tanjong Pagar Sheng Hong Temple.
3) Zhou Cheng Huang (州城隍) - given the title Marquis (侯)
Official Title: Sui Jing Hou (綏靖侯)
4) Xian Cheng Huang (縣城隍) - given the title Bo (伯)
Official Title: Xian You Bo (顯佑伯)
5) Cheng (as in City or an Area) Cheng Huang (城城隍) - folks addressed hikm with the title Ye (Officer/Magistrate)
Official Title: Cheng Huang Ye (城隍爺)
For High Res Pics, please proceed to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taoism_deity_singapore_2007/photos/album/1948677957/pic/list
城隍尊神寶誥
ReplyDeleteCheng Huang Zun Shen Bao Gao (Praise Mantra)
至心皈命禮。
Zhi Xin Gui Ming Li
社稷古公。天下正神。
She Ji Gu Gong, Tian Xia Zheng Shen
銓福國顯忠之行。
Quan Fu Guo Xian Zhong Zhi Xing
稟賞善罰惡之仁。
Bing Shang Shan Fa E Zhi Ren
都邑之主。諸郡侍從。
Du Yi Zhi Zhu, Zhu Jun Si Chong
所隸十三布政。
Suo Li Shi San Bu Zheng
案判一十八司。
An Pan Yi Shi Ba Si
廟社萬年。恩扶億劫。
Miao She Wan Nian, En Fu Yi Jie
設作福作威之柄。
She Zuo Fu Zuo Wei Zhi Bing
造注生注死之權。
Zao Zhu Sheng Zhu Si Zhi Quan
運神力以護郢川。
Yun Shen Li Yi Hu Ying Chuan
遇陰兵而驅夷寇。
Yu Yin Bin Er Qu Yi Kou
至靈至聖。乃正乃公。
Zhi Ling Zhi Sheng, Nai Zheng Nai Gong
護國保寧。佑聖王。
Hu Guo Bao Ning, You Sheng Wang
威靈公。感應尊神。
Wei Ling Gong, Gan Ying Zun Shen
In the past, there's a saying of "Cheng Huang can be anyone but not everyone can be Cheng Huang (hokkien version: 城隍易為人,人難成城隍)".
ReplyDeleteSo what's this phrase means?
Actually it means that, if a person is upright and always engage in Justice Judgement on the issues that he faced, he can be a Cheng Huang or after he passed-away, he can be appointed as Cheng Huang.
But if a person is not upright or etc, forever he cant be a Deity neither being a good ghost.
Hi, what do you meant by saying Cheng Huang can be categorize as Five Level (五階官)? meaning in ranks or in as what....?
ReplyDeleteso in local, the most common Cheng Huang Ye is which name?
Thanks.
:)
Yup, the 5 Level refer to the ranking, to be more accurate, there shall be more than 5, but till today, records only shown 5 Level or 5 Position.
ReplyDeleteThe most common ranking in Spore are the 3rd (Sui Jing Hou) and 4th Level (Xian You Bo) Cheng Huang.
In some era, Cheng Huang also act as a "media" for people to make complaints (證紛爭), witnesses of Divorce and Marriage or some (證婚姻), giving birth (證生), etc.
ReplyDeletewell my temple stil believe in this .. whenever a lady came and inform she has divorced .. mt god wil ask her to pray to cheng huang gong to inform .. cause we pray to "tian di"during marriage so if divorced we also need to inform .. =)
It's good to know that your Tua still practise that :P
ReplyDeleteAt least we can still see some olden days' culture being passed-down or carry-on.
ya .. these culture is an heritage to us .. hope that we can always pass it down .. =)
ReplyDeletehey bro, i have a few questions here:
ReplyDelete1.for cheng huang who is given the title Marquis (侯), does he have to be 綏靖侯). cause i seen b4 eg. 忠佑侯。 or different XX 侯 means different "people".
2.then for 杨桃园城隍： 清溪显佑伯主， 清溪 means?
3. as you mentioned, in china context, from the different title given to individual cheng huang, we can identified the respective areas that he is in-charge of. however in singapore context, how do we "divide" our areas to different cheng huang under the 5 categories which u have mentioned earlier?
4. since cheng huang is the officer of doing registration of life and death of mortals, do they literally tell da er ye bo, XXX will pass away at XXXX hrs and then the pair will bring the soul to his/her next destination.
thanks in advance for clarifying my doubts. cause today just went to yang tao yuan. suddenly thot of few questions =p
Hahahaha.. bro, u not the 1st one to ask these qns.. :P
ReplyDeleteHere it goes:
1) Cheng Huang Ye which has the third ranking in the Cheng Huang System can only be called Sui Jing Hou, even they are from different areas, city, etc... usually at the front of the Sui Jing Hou, the folks will tend to add in the area/city's name in-order to allow the other people to know he come from, for eg: An Xi Sui Jing Hou, Guang Dong Sui Jing Hou, etc etc.. the rest are very new titles, usually we dont take them in as record.
2) 清溪 is a place in Hokkien Province, just like An Xi, in Spore, alot of Cheng Huang came from Qing Xi and An Xi, few came from Jin Jiang or Shi Shi.
3) In Spore, it's impossible to divide our country into small portions, unless u are using town to indicate the area for the Cheng Huang. Cos Spore in the ancient era was consider as a individual City by it's own, so the initial Cheng Huang who was put in-charge was given the 2nd Rank (jus like a small Empire on it's own), which we addressed him as Gong, now located at Tanjong Pagar Sheng Hong Temple.
4) Upon receiving the records of who and who goin to leave this world, Cheng Huang will need to send out the order to the surbodinates to carry the tasks, not necessary to be Da Er Ye, can be Niu Tou Ma Mian or other soul-catchers (usually Tu Di Gong will accompany them to the place for soul-catching, in-order to minimize the mistakes made)...
oic haha thanks bro !
ReplyDeletehahahahaa.. welcome welcome.. my pleasure to share.
ReplyDeleteXian You Bo Zhu is in charge of people living at Ubi Ave 1 which his temple at Arumugan.
ReplyDeleteNew Cheng Huang pics added (chenghuang_new01.jpg - chenghuang_new11.jpg)
ReplyDeletewho's the lady?
ReplyDeleteThats the Wife of Cheng Huang aka Madam Sheng Hong.
ReplyDeleteooo...
ReplyDeleteHahahaha.. in Singapore, its quite rare to see this, but in China, Taiwan, almost all Cheng Huang Temple will dedicated a statue to the Wife of Cheng Huang.
ReplyDeletei think i saw it at khoo chye ba sht lei.. saw a female kim sim at the centre of the hall not sure if she is mdm sheng hong.
ReplyDeleteShifu, can there never be another 明靈王 again?
ReplyDeleteAnd can a Cheng Huang from another place extend help to a person from another place? We usually visit Shi Shi yearly and pray in the Cheng Huang Temple there, on the second floor is a Dou Mu and 60 Tai Sue Hall. I remember there is also a Wang Ling Guan on the 2nd floor and Zhang Tian Shi beside the Wang Ling Guan if my memory serves me right.
Can Shishi cheng huang extend help to us, or what were we doing just common courtesy? Thanks in advance.
There cannot be another Ming Ling Wang appeared, cos there's no more Emperor or higher authorities to bestow another Cheng Huang to promote to that level - but alot of temples still tend to perform that themselves cos they just wanted to over-ride the others on the ranking of their own deities, etc.
ReplyDeleteShi Shi Cheng Huang is one of the very ancient & old Cheng Huang in Hokkien Province. Usually alot of temples from Jin Jiang area will visit the temples and overseas Cheng Huang temples that have connection with Jin Jiang will go over to the main temple to invite the joss-urn.
If you are interested and hoping that Shi Shi Cheng Huang will give you the necessary blessing, you shall go over to Shi Shi Cheng Huang Temple to seek permission in getting the joss-urn from the temple to ur own temple, then, the blessing will be much more enhanced than just normal paying respect, etc.
Do you mean the ashes shifu?
ReplyDeleteYup. besides that ashes, some of such temples will allowed you to get a statue and being enhanced in the temple itself in-order to being the separate energy of the main Deity back to the overseas temples.
ReplyDeleteAfter shishi we will also go to many other places is it okay to bring the statue all around then after a few days be enshrined here?
ReplyDeleteIf you all want, you all can put the statue in the temple for receiving of offerings by the public, when you all ready to go back to ur country, then go back to the temple to invite back the statue.
ReplyDeleteDuring the whole ceremony, a Spiritual Master must be present.
I sure do hope that a spiritual master would be present there. Oh I saw someone with very long hair then tied on top of the head... I sure do hope that they will be cooperative.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha.. usually this Spiritual Master cannot be the one in the main temple itself, the Master must be from ur temple side in-order for him to do the communication between the main temple and ur temple's deities.
ReplyDeleteI usually do talk with the Cheng Huang of Shishi during my trips there, Last time I have an urgent issue that he instantly helped me. He told me that the Cheng Huang I have here is actually him and not the cheng huang in my area. Thats why I asked you if a deity over there can help over here, and I still don't know what is the reason why in the ceremony of dotting he was the one invoked. I later confirmed this thru the blocks and I have received more than three consecutive yes answers.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why I have affinity with Shishi... hahaha
Hahahaha, usually such Deities will find their right times to do the right traveling to the predestinated place where they wished to go and promote their very own culture, and maybe, this is why you are being chosen.
ReplyDeleteGood that you have the affinity with them. Shi Shi Cheng Huang is one of the Cheng Huangs that I respect alot... do consider of inviting him to ur temple.
Okay I will, Shifu will I talk tot hose persons over there to dot the statues for me or should we do the dotting ourselves?
ReplyDeleteWill we buy the Statue in Shishi or in other places? I don't think they have statues there for sale of ShiShi Cheng Huang. I only saw little shops and lots of fresh fishes... hahaha cos you have to walk thru the market. Have you been there shifu?
Hahahahaha... you can bring the statue over and if the Priests there are willing to dot for you, then it wil be great and definitely, ang bao will be requested by them.
ReplyDeleteI been wanting to go, but til today, hav yet to hav a chance to go.. cos not only visiting the temple, but my ancestors' hometown is there.
Where Long Shan Men stayed during the late Qing Dynasty.
In ShiShi? WOW! Shifu I will be in shishi in March 18-24 want to come? We will also visit Xian Gong Shan, Hua Shan, Buyi Shan, Quan Zhou. I thin we'll also visit Ma Zu in Mei Zhou and Qing SHui Zu Shi, Lin shui gong, Su Fu Ren Gu, the Guan Gong temple in Quan Zhou City...
ReplyDeleteWe would like to visit the place of the deities in Quan Zhou cos the purpose of the trip is paying respects to deities, it will be great if you will also be there. Please do come please please please! We'll take care of your travel expenses shifu.
March, I'm afraid I cant, cos I will need to prepare for a Conference-meeting-up in Indonesia, unless the Conference is being post-pone.
ReplyDeleteWill keep you all informed.
Hope it'll be postponed! Please do inform us. We'll be waiting for you.
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha, I will try...
ReplyDeleteThat conference is also about Taoism. If it will be successfully organized, you all will needed to go and attend too.
What!!! Oh no... we've already bought the plane tickets cos they were on promo the other week...hehe Hope it will definitely be postponed so that Shifu can come with us and we could come with shifu to indonesia, but maybe not all of us. Maybe Jun and I. haha
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha.. dont worry, cos things have yet to confirm. Will update you all after all stuffs being confirmed.
ReplyDeleteOk shifu. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI heard toa payoh cheng huang is du cheng also..is it true shifu?
ReplyDeleteNo, that is being claimed by ppl later in our Singapore Culture.
ReplyDeleteDu Cheng Huang, there's only One, and that is the one located in Tanjong Pagar.
Then toa payoh one is which rank?
ReplyDeleteLower than 3rd Level.
ReplyDeleteNew pics added (chenghuang_new06122008_01.jpg - chenghuang_new06122008_05.jpg)
ReplyDeleteNew pics added (chenghuang_new01062009_01.jpg - chenghuang_new01062009_11.jpg)
ReplyDeletejavewu do u know Pandan Garden Cheng Huang history how it come??
ReplyDeleteI think you can find the History in the Temple itself. They have a book being published on the History. Maybe you can approach the Temple for more Details.
ReplyDeleteFor what i know 1st Cheng Huang and 6th Cheng Huang had already reborn in singapore!
ReplyDeleteyou guys will think i am crazy but i am NOT :)
any of you passlife is Cheng Huang Ye???
Pandan garden seng ong is related to anxi cheng huang .
ReplyDeleteNew pics added (chenghuang_new17112010_01.jpg - chenghuang_new17112010_08.jpg)
ReplyDeleteIts always good to see the statues of Xie Bi An & Fan Wu Jiu being placed correctly :P
ReplyDelete:) looks like Bao Qing Tian (Judge Bao). I wonder whether Bao Qing Tian is also a Cheng Huang?
ReplyDeleteHahaha, this is one type of the many Cheng Huang.
ReplyDeleteBao Gong had never being regards as Cheng Huang before.
Hi Jave,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it the more senior is on the right?
For Xie Bi An & Fan Wu Jiu is different.
ReplyDeleteFor the accurate positioning, Xie Bi An shall be on the left and Fan Wu Jiu shall be on the right as seen here in the picture.
Any picture/statue of them?
ReplyDelete