Concept
Chinese spiritual world concepts
Related concepts (16)
Chinese fortune telling
Chinese fortune telling, better known as Suan ming () has utilized many varying divination techniques throughout the dynastic periods. There are many methods still in practice in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking regions such as Malaysia and Singapore today. Over time, some of these concepts have moved into Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese culture under other names. For example, "Saju" in Korea is the same as the Chinese four pillar (Chinese: 四柱八字) method.
Chinese theology
Chinese theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the classic texts and the common religion, and specifically Confucian, Taoist, and other philosophical formulations, is fundamentally monistic, that is to say it sees the world and the gods of its phenomena as an organic whole, or cosmos, which continuously emerges from a simple principle. This is expressed by the concept that "all things have one and the same principle" (wànwù yīlǐ 萬物一理).
Bagua
The bagua (pinyin) or pa-kua (Wade-Giles) (八卦) are a set of eight symbols that originated in China, used in Daoist / Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each line either "broken" or "unbroken", respectively representing yin or yang. Due to their tripartite structure, they are often referred to as Eight Trigrams in English. The trigrams are related to Yijing and Taiji philosophy, and the Wuxing, or "five elements".
Diyu
Diyu () is the realm of the dead or "hell" in Chinese mythology. It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions. The concept parallels purgatory in certain Christian denomininations. Diyu is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for the sins they committed when they were alive.
Ancestor veneration in China
Chinese ancestor veneration, also called Chinese ancestor worship, is an aspect of the Chinese traditional religion which revolves around the ritual celebration of the deified ancestors and tutelary deities of people with the same surname organised into lineage societies in ancestral shrines. Ancestors, their ghosts, or spirits, and gods are considered part of "this world". They are neither supernatural (in the sense of being outside nature) nor transcendent in the sense of being beyond nature.
Chinese zodiac
The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Shigandang
Shigandang (; ishigantō) is an ornamental stone tablet with writing, which is used to exorcise evil spirits in east Asia. 石敢當 are often associated with Mount Tai, and are often placed on street intersections or three-way junctions, especially in the crossing, which is often considered a spiritually dangerous place (). Erecting Taishan shi-gan-dang nearby the houses, villages, bridges and roads has a long history in China. The phrase “石敢當” first appeared in Han Dynasty.
Guangxi
Guangxi (gwæŋˈʃiː, ; AUDGuangxi.ogggwang3.xi1; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; Gvangjsih), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the Gulf of Tonkin. Formerly a province, Guangxi became an autonomous region in 1958. Its current capital is Nanning. Guangxi's location, in mountainous terrain in the far south of China, has placed it on the frontier of Chinese civilization throughout much of Chinese history.
Ghost Festival
The Ghost Festival or Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival (traditional Chinese: 中元節; simplified Chinese: 中元节) in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival () in Buddhism, is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist festival held in certain East Asian countries. According to the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in parts of southern China).
Kau chim
Kau chim or kau cim, also known as lottery poetry (), is a fortune telling practice that originated in China in which a person poses questions and interprets answers from flat sticks inscribed with text or numerals. The practice is often performed in a Taoist or Buddhist temple in front of an altar. Kau chim is often referred to as chien tung or Chinese fortune sticks by westerners. In the US, a version has been sold since 1915 under the name chi chi sticks.