Here are some Pictures of the Paper Figurines and Objects that used during Rituals/Ceremonies.
Pic 1: The Paper Figurines in Blue are the Spiritual Officers that assist in the delivery of Petitions and other Spiritual Documents.
Pic 2: Paper Figurine of Xuan Tian Shang Di
Pic 3: Blue, Yellow & White are the 3 Commanders of the 3 Directional Camps. The 2 standing at the side are Tu Di & Shan Shen.
Pic 4: Same as Pic 1.
Pic 5: Paper Figurines decoration.
Pic 6: The Yin-Yang Officer.
Pic 7: The Reporting Officer.
Pic 8: The Lantern dedicated to Jade Emperor and other Deities.
Pic 3: Blue, Yellow & White are the 3 Commanders of the 3 Directional Camps.
ReplyDeleteWhich 3 Direction do they take charge of?
South, West and Central, another 2 not in the pic.
ReplyDeleteThey are in-charge of the Spiritual Armies.
In some Taoist Rituals, we do not have the Five Camps, cos such Five Camps do not really exist in the Teaching of Taoism, only exist in Folks Culture.
And so, during Grand or Big Rituals/Ceremonies, special allocated Generals or Marshals will be invited to look after the Areas.
Okay.
ReplyDeleteSo it is like allocating the Generals or Marhsals to look after the area and the deployment of armies will be up to them?
They are in-charge of spiritual armies but the armies are not divided into camps but a big group. Generals and Marshals will deploy their needed armies to guard the direction they are allocated to.
ReplyDeleteAm i right to say so?
Yes. In the Spiritual World, most of the Spiritual Armies are trained to perform their respective tasks, not like what in this Mortal World, the Mortals think of.
ReplyDeleteOnce they are being invited or evoke, they will know who to report to and where to stand guard on.
I see. Thanks once again.
ReplyDeleteWelcome.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, when i go to those very grand Taoist temples, they do not pray to the 五营兵将 and burn the paper figures. So, izzit true that burning paper figures is a chinese tradition which absorbed into taoism?
ReplyDeleteBurning of such figurines or objects have been with our Taoism Culture for quite a long time. Since our Taoism started to perform Rituals/Ceremonies, using of such objects is a must.
ReplyDeleteBut for the Culture of the Wu Ying, this only started quite late in the Taoist History, about a few hundred years back only. So, in Main Stream Taoism, we dont really take in Cuture of Wu Ying.
in fact if we noticed , in olden temples like tian gong tua or tian hock keng, they also do not have altar for spriitual armies. But this does not mean there is no armies stationed at the temple.
ReplyDeleteFor such Temples not necessary, cos for Big Temples such as Tian Gong Miao, they have the Taoist Marshals to do the guarding and protecting, Spiritual Armies are just additions.
ReplyDelete