In August of 2020 I happened upon an online listing for a carved wooden talisman block bearing Sun Wukong’s divine, rebellious title Qitian Dasheng (齊天大聖) (fig. 1). The seller was located in Singapore, so I asked my local friend to meet with them to make sure it was legitimate. Two weeks later I had the block in hand (thank you Antz). It measures 8.5 x 2.125 x 1 in (21.59 x 5.397 x 2.54 cm) and is made from some kind of light-colored, smooth-grained wood. The face contains a series of intricately carved Chinese characters and magic symbols.
Fig. 1 – The talisman block and a print (larger image). The image has been enhanced slightly for clarity. Fig. 2 – The talisman legend (larger version). See here for a version without the numbers.
I. Meaning
Here I will explain the various symbols as I understand them (fig. 2). I am by no means an expert, so I am open to comment. I’d like to thank members of the “Talismans of Asia” Heritage Group (亞洲符咒文化資訊網) on Facebook for their suggestions.
1. 齊天宮 (Qitian gong) – The “Equaling Heaven Temple”, a house of worship in Singapore dedicated to Monkey. The characters are written backwards according to traditional fashion.
2. These three checkmark-shaped symbols refer to the 三清 (Sanqing, “Three Pure Ones“), the three highest gods of Daoism. An informant also told me that they can represent heaven, earth, and man.
3. 奉齊天大聖 (Feng Qitian dasheng) – “Revere the Great Sage Equaling Heaven”, the main deity of the Qitian Temple.
4. These barbwire-like designs may represent symbolic weapons of some kind. [1]
5. 六甲 (Liujia) – Refers to the “Six Jia“, protector spirits of Daoism. They are grouped with the Six Ding (Mugitani, 2008).
6. 六丁 (Liuding) – Refers to the “Six Ding” spirits.
7. 令雷 (Ling lei) – “Commanding thunder” refers to the 雷法 (Leifa, “Thunder Ritual”), a corpus of ritual magic that enables the user to command heavenly beings to exorcize malevolent forces (Reiter, 2010). These characters are usually reversed, 雷令 (Lei ling). This essentially commands the Ding and Jia spirits to execute the order (see #9).
8. 甲將軍 (Jia jiangjun) – “Jia generals”, a reference to the Six Jia spirits.
9. 扶身保命 (Fushen baoming) – “Support the body and save life” is the order to be executed by the Ding and Jia spirits.
10. 爪 (zhao/zhua) 罡 (gang) 卩(jie) – Two halves of the character for 印 (yin, “print”), referring to the talisman, sandwich that for “firm”. 罡 (gang) increases the intensity of the command (#9).
11. This angular symbol is the 符胆 (fu dan), the talisman’s locus of power. [2]
II. Use
Unlike Western stamps which are pressed face down onto paper, the paper itself is pressed onto the face of the talisman block like Japanese woodblock prints (Leffman, 2020). This enables a popular temple to mass produce protective talismans without having to handwrite each one. The talisman is then consecrated with a spell and/or blood from a tangki (童乩) spirit-medium.
Note:
1) See #17 in Chan, 2014, p. 35.
2) Again, see #17 in Chan, 2014, p. 35.
Source:
Chan, M., Goh, R., Choo, P., & Tan, B. (2014). Tangki War Magic: The Virtuality of Spirit Warfare and the Actuality of Peace. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice,58(1), 25-46. Retrieved January 23, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24718290
Mugitani, K. (2008). Liujia and Liuding. In F. Pregadio (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Taoism: Vol. 1 & 2 (pp. 695-697). Longdon: Routledge.
Reiter, F. C. (2010). Taoist Thunder Magic (五雷法), Illustrated with the Example of the Divine Protector Chao Kung-ming 趙公明. Zeitschrift Der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft,160(1), 121-154. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.160.1.0121
Elliott (1955/1990) describes a curious glass bottle used in the worship of Sun Wukong in Singapore. Filled with “twelve o’clock water” and topped with a consecrated bulbous glass stem, it is said to make a pinging noise to signal the arrival of the monkey god in a home or temple:
There are, also, sometimes other pieces of apparatus, apart from images, which devotees like to keep in their own homes. An outstanding example is an article of equipment almost exclusively associated with the ‘Great Saint’ [大聖] which goes by the onomatopoeic name of ‘ping-pong’ [乒乓]. It consists of an ordinary bottle filled with ‘twelve o’clock water’, water drawn from a tap or well at midday. Into the neck is fitted a funnel-like piece of glass-ware open at the lower end of the funnel, which dips into the water but completely closes the top [fig. 1 and 2]. Everyday at noon, and sometimes at other hours as well, this apparatus gives off a sudden ‘pinging’ sound, as if bubbles were rising and forcing up the funnel in the bottle’s neck. When this occurs, the shen [神, god] is supposed to be revealing his presence in the temple or the home, and an immediate act of worship must be carried out by the persons there. These ‘ping-pong’ are invariably found in temples associated with the ‘Great Saint’. Devotees will purchase their own funnels and bring them to the temple for the dang-ki [童乩, spirit-medium] to consecrate them with a lick of his blood (p. 58).
Fig. 1 – The ping-pong bottle, a.k.a. “Great Sage bottle” (Dasheng ping, 大聖瓶), fitted with the bulbous stem, which is closed at the top and open at the bottom (larger version). Fig. 2 – A detail of the stem (larger version). Images found on google.
The device was also used in Hong Kong according to one personal account shared with me:
I believe the apparatus was used not just in Singapore. My mom told me that as a kid in HK in the 1940s/50s, her aunt also had something similar on the altar where she worshipped the [Great] Saint. And when the apparatus made a noise which signified his arrival, they would light up a joss stick.
I don’t know when the bottle was first associated with Sun Wukong, but the above information points to its active use in Asia as far back as the 1950s. It’s my understanding that the bottle is a rarity in modern practice, suggesting it flourished prior to mid-century.
Why the bottle was associated with the Great Sage is also a mystery to me. But the significance of twelve o’clock water may provide some clues. Astrological theory associates noon with wu (午), the seventh of twelve earthly branches, which is in turn identified with horses, the heart, fire yang, the summer solstice, and the direction south (Wu & Taylor, 2014, pp. 133-134). Readers may remember that Sun Wukong is appointed the keeper of the heavenly horses (bimawen, 弼馬溫) in chapter four of Journey to the West (Wu & Yu, 2012, pp. 148-149). Additionally, Chinese philosophy considers the heart to be the seat of the mind (xin, 心; alternatively translated “heart-mind”). This is important as Sun is called the “Mind Monkey” (xinyuan, 心猿; alternatively translated “Mind Ape”), which is a Buddho-Daoist concept denoting the disquieted, transient thoughts that keep man trapped in Samsara. Examples include the titles for chapters seven (“From the Eight Trigrams Brazier the Great Sage escapes; Beneath the Five Phases Mountain, Mind Monkey is still”) and fourteen (“Mind Monkey returns to the Right; The Six Robbers vanish from sight”).
(Before I continue, I must warn that using the 16th-century novel as a source for modern folk religion surely overlooks beliefs that I am not aware of. The above info should therefore be considered purely speculative.)
A naturalistic explanation for the pinging noise is air escaping from the bottle due to changes in atmospheric pressure. However, I’d like to speculate on a possible esoteric reason. As mentioned above, noon is identified with fire yang, which is considered the height of yang power. In fact, the hours before wu and after zi (子, midnight) are considered the best time to practice Daoist exlixir cultivation. [1] And since heaven is the embodiment of yang, [2] it’s possible worshipers believe water collected at noon is infused with strong yang energy, thereby giving it the ability to detect the presence of celestial deities like the Great Sage.
Update: 08-11-20
J.D. Martinsen contacted me and noted that “drawing noon water” (da wushi shui, 打午時水) is a common practice in coastal China during the Dragon Boat Festival. The water is apparently known for its demonifugic and medicinal properties. In fact, this custom is even practiced in Taiwan where there is a common saying: “A sip of noon water is better than three years of herbal medicine” (wushi shui yin yi zui, jiao hao buyao chi san nian, 午時水飲一嘴，較好補藥吃三年) (Chen, 2011, p. 210). Therefore, this association with warding malevolent influences/sickness may explain why Sun Wukong is connected with noon water. He is after all the exorcist par excellence, as well as a healer.
Update: 06-23-21
An informant from Singapore, who is the head of a monkey god temple, shared with me some wonderful folk knowledge about the ping-pong bottle. The words below are gently edited for readability:
He fl[ies] at a high speed which generates high heat [and] causes the ping pong to sound. The water inside the bottle where you place the ping pong [is] changed on 五月初五 (端午節) [i.e. the Dragon Boat Festival]. Every year, the replacement water is collected from your rain water. The former water will [be] use[d] to bath[e] to purify our well-being. I have pour[ed] it into a large [pail]. And bottle it and give [it] to devotees to bath[e]. Talisman[s are] issued [when we change the water at noon] (fig. 3), [we] will paste [them] on the bottle on 端午節. [W]hen urgent or danger[rous] matters [happen], we will use the [ping pong holy] water to ward off bad omen[s].
My informant said some of this knowledge was revealed to him by the monkey god.
I was also told by a collector-seller that there are different-sized glass stems (fig. 4), though he believes their hand-made nature means no two are exactly the same. My informant states the stems with the “larger diameter will sound louder” when the Great Sage arrives.
Fig. 3 – Talismans on a ping-pong bottle (larger version). Photo taken at the Wallich Street “Tai Seng Yah” (Dasheng ye) temple in Singapore during the 1970s. Courtesy of Ronni Pinsler of the BOXS project. Fig. 4 – The different sizes of ping-pong stems (larger version). Photo from a private collector.
Update: 06-26-21
My informant tells me that a beer bottle can be used to hold the pingpong stem. It must be washed and all labels removed. The preparation for the stem is a little more involved. The stem must be washed along with five kinds of flowers. The types of flowers do not matter, but no white flowers are permitted. Also, slices of green lemon can be included, but no yellow lemons are permitted. This washing must be done on the first or the 15th of the lunar month. The holy water is gathered in a pail between 11am and noon from rain the day before the Dragon Boat Festival, for it is believed that it always rains on this day. This water is poured one index finger length from the rim. This ensures it will not overflow once the pingpong stem is inserted. Then triangle-folded joss paper (jin zhi, 金紙) (fig. 5 to 8) is waved three times around the pingpong (nuo pingpong, 挪乒乓) while prayers are said. Finally, the paper is left atop the pingpong bulb for a given time. The pingpong bottle must be placed next to a statue of the Great Sage.
Fig. 5 to 8 – The process of folding the joss paper into triangles (larger version). Photos by my informant.
Notes:
1) This is noted as early as the fourth-century CE work Wondrous Record of the Golden Casket on the Spirit Immortals’ Practice of Eating Qi (Shenxian shiqi jin’gui miaolu, 神仙食氣金櫃妙錄) (Kohn, 2008, p. 84).
2) See, for example, Clearly (2003), p. 391.
Sources:
Chen, X. (2011). Taiwan li shi shang de yi min yu she hui yan jiu [The History of Taiwanese Immigration and Social Studies]. Beijing: Jiu zhou chu ban she.
Cleary, T. F. (2003). The Taoist Classics: The Collected Translations of Thomas Cleary, Volume Two. Boston, Mass: Shambhala.
Kohn, L. (2008). Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vol. 1) (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
Wu, Z., & Taylor, W. K. (2014). Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches – TianGan DiZhi: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom Traditions. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
I recently visited another Great Sage temple, this time the Wujian Purple Cloud Temple (Wujian Ziyu si, 五間紫雲寺) of Yilan (宜蘭), Taiwan. The temple was bustling with people during the Chinese New Year celebrations, so I didn’t have time to ask many questions. This entry will serve more as a picture essay until I return to conduct proper research.
1. History
Legend has it that around 1899 a man found a monkey-shaped stone and enshrined it in a thatched shed. This was eventually converted to a temple a few years later. It was destroyed by a typhoon in 1960 but subsequently rebuilt. The temple appears to recognize a trinity, with countless monkey soldiers beneath them. The Great Sage has two aspects: the “Martial Great Sage” (Wu Dasheng, 武大聖) (standing statues), who exorcises evil, and the “Civil Great Sage” (Wen Dasheng, 文大聖) (seated statues), who insures the safety of people and animals.
2. How to get there
(Note: Always consult google if you are directionally challenged like myself)
Address: No. 449, Section 3, Dafu Road, Zhuangwei Township, Yilan County, Taiwan, 263
I took bus #1571 (google calls it #1571A) from gate 15 of the Taiwan City Hall Bus Station. This heads towards the Yilan Bus Station. (If you plan to take this route, please note that buses headed to different areas of Yilan will board from this gate. So pay very close attention to the calls of the bus station attendant. For example, they called “Jiaoxi” (礁溪) (bus #1572), a small township in Yilan, and those waiting for another destination had to stand off to the side while those from different sections of the line made their way to the front. If you aren’t careful, you might end up on the wrong bus.) My destination was the first stop, the Zhuangwei (壯圍) bus stop, a small shelter by an overpass. My short walk to the temple took me passed rows of flooded rice fields and small patches of buildings.
(Click images for larger versions)
Gate 15 at the Taiwan City Hall Bus Station.
The Zhuangwei bus stop shelter (as seen from the opposite outgoing bus stop).
The route map from the Zhuangwei bus stop to the temple.
Random rice fields along Gonglao Road (see map).
A panorama of a rice field next to Lane 423, Sect. 3, Dafu Road (see map).
3. The Outside
The temple is located on the side of a busy road. It appears almost out of nowhere since the face of the holy structure is in line with the buildings on either side. The first thing that caught my eye was the highly ornate roof of the furnace covered in mythical creatures, divine heroes, and gods, features typical of South Chinese and Taiwanese temple architecture. Each face of the hexagonal body was covered with beautiful carvings on black marble, two of which included the pilgrims from Journey to the West.
The furnace visible on the left side of the temple (as seen from the road).
A marble carving of Guanyin, the White Dragon Horse, Monkey, and Tripitaka.
A detail of Monkey.
Monkey, Sha Wujing, Tripitaka on the White Dragon Horse, and Zhu Bajie.
A detail of the group.
The front of the temple houses an ornate statue of three brightly colored dragons enclosed in a fence. Looking up, I noticed beautiful hand-painted dragons and Qilin on the ceiling, along with paintings of events from Chinese mythology and Journey to the West on the cross beams. Walking towards one of the five entrances, I noticed the facade was covered in highly detailed stone carvings, some depicting events from the novel.
The front of the Purple Cloud Temple.
The front of the temple. Three of the five entrances are visible behind the dragons.
A detail of the three dragon statues.
Five hand-painted dragons on the ceiling. The Eight Immortals grace the crossbeam below.
A pair of Qilin on the ceiling. The cross beam below portrays an event from Prince Nezha‘s life.
Zhu Bajie protecting his master from the ogre that will become Sha Wujing.
A stone carving on the facade showing Monkey (top right), Zhu bajie (top center right), and Sha Wujing (center left) battling a monster (top left). The image has been enhanced for clarity.
Monkey (center) battling the heavenly army. Enhanced for clarity.
Monkey (center) leaping from Laozi’s furnace. Enhanced for clarity. Apologies for the blur.
A detail of Monkey leaping.
The Great Sage (top center) and his monkey army battling heaven. Enhanced for clarity. These are just a few of the many carvings covering the temple facade.
4. The Inside
The interior hall is wide yet shallow in depth and split between three altars, Folk religion to the right, the Great Sage in the Center, and Daoist to the left. I must admit in my zeal to photograph anything Monkey-related, I completely forgot to take pictures of the other two sections. This online image shows the folk section includes Mazu, Budai, and other deities. This image shows the Daoist section includes the Jade emperor, the Earth god, and others. Surprisingly, the incense burner in front of the main entrance was not marked with the name of the Great Sage (unlike what I’ve seen at other such temples) but that of the Jade Emperor, 玉皇上帝 (Yuhuang shangdi).
The main hall.
The incense burner bearing the name of the Jade Emperor (visible from the hall looking out the main door).
Upon entering the right side of the main hall, the first thing that caught my eye was a large wooden sculpture of a tree-bound monkey holding onto a branch with one hand and a pair of peaches in the other. Immediately behind him was a stone carving of a vague monkey with two children. (I’m not sure of the ritual importance of either statue. I’ll report on this later. However, I will say the stone statue recalls Sun Wukong’s origins as a stone monkey.) Next to both statues is one of two cylindrical towers, one positioned on each end of the hall. Each is topped by a Great Sage statue and the towers themselves are comprised of hundreds of small compartments, each filled with a small Great Sage figure. These represent a donor who has given money to the temple.
The wooden monkey statue.
A detail of the monkey holding peaches.
The stone monkey with children.
The tower of donor Great Sages.
The Great Sage topping each tower. He holds a fly whisk in one hand and a peach of immortality in the other.
The many compartments.
A mini Great Sage donor figure. He sits on a throne with his staff held over head in one hand and a calabash gourd held to his front in the other.
4.1. The Great Sage Altar
The central offering table to the Great Sage was covered in all sorts of fruits, candies, and flowers. Also included were an incense burner, offerings of wine, and a pair of crescent moon-shaped wooden blocks. These blocks are used in tandem with fortune sticks and oracles revealed on slips of paper, all of which are housed in a metal cylinder to the left of the table (see section three of this article on how these items are used).
The table laden with offerings. Take note of the young woman praying to the Great Sage. She told me that she was from Vietnam and that Monkey was not a common deity there.
The incense burner (back center), tea offerings (three cups visible in the center) and wooden blocks (front right).
The metal cylinder housing the fortune sticks (top), with the corresponding oracles located in each of the surrounding drawers.
Like in other parts of Taiwan and Singapore, this temple appears to recognize a plethora of Great Sages, from a holy trinity to an army of soldier monkeys. (I don’t yet know their individual names. I will report on this later.) All of the Great Sage figures are portrayed with golden armor, red-painted humanoid faces, golden fillets, and long, dark hair. The headband and long hair are no doubt influenced by depictions of Military Monks (Wuseng, 武僧) from Chinese opera (Bonds, 2008, pp. 177-178 and 328). Red face paint is also associated with such characters (Bonds, 2008, p. 211). While the red paint of the statues references the red faces of macaque monkeys, it definitely plays into the military monk personna. Portraying Monkey as such defines him as a divine warrior and a guardian deity.
A military monk from a modern Beijing Opera production (Bonds, 2008, p. 178).
I was pleasantly surprised to see statues of Zhu Bajie appear among the Great Sage’s army. It’s quite appropriate given this is the year of the pig according to the Chinese zodiac. Also included were statues of Ksitigarbha and Nezha.
The three main Great Sages visible in front of the ornate dragon statue. Note the long hair.
Statues of Zhu Bajie among Monkey’s soldiers.
More soldier monkeys. Take note of the Ksitigarbha (front right).
Nezha figures mixed in with the monkey soldiers (left).
This soldier monkey holds a calabash gourd at the ready.
More Nezha figures among the soldiers (right).
I have more pictures of the interior but I’ll leave those for a later article. Lastly, I want to share one of the temple flags stationed opposite the main building.
One of the most famous episodes from Journey to the West happens in chapter three after Sun Wukong returns from the undersea palace with his magic staff and is chosen as lord of the 72 monster kings. Following a lavish banquet in his honor, the Monkey King falls asleep and his soul is dragged to the Chinese underworld by two spirits:
In his sleep the Handsome Monkey King saw two men approach with a summons with the three characters “Sun Wukong” written on it. They walked up to him and, without a word, tied him up with a rope and dragged him off. The soul of the Handsome Monkey King was reeling from side to side. They reached the edge of a city. The Monkey King was gradually coming to himself, when he lifted up his head and suddenly saw above the city an iron sign bearing in large letters the three words “Region of Darkness [You mingjie, 幽冥界].” The Handsome Monkey King at once became fully conscious. “The Region of Darkness is the abode of Yama, King of Death,” he said. “Why am I here?” “Your age in the World of Life has come to an end,” the two men said. “The two of us were given this summons to arrest you.” When the Monkey King heard this, he said, “I, old Monkey himself, have transcended the Three Regions and the Five Phases [1]; hence I am no longer under Yama’s jurisdiction. Why is he so confused that he wants to arrest me?” The two summoners paid scant attention. Yanking and pulling, they were determined to haul him inside. Growing angry, the Monkey King whipped out his treasure. One wave of it turned it into the thickness of a rice bowl; he raised his hand once, and the two summoners were reduced to hash (Wu & Yu, 2012, p. 139).
The two unnamed psychopomps are simply referred to in the story as “[those who] arrest the dead” (Gou siren, 勾死人). Modern media sometimes portrays these two wearing contrasting black and white uniforms with tall hats (fig. 1).
The specific color-coded deities are known in China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore as the Heibai wuchang (黑白無常), or the “Black and White [spirits of] Impermanence.” Tan (2018) describes their mythic background and religious importance:
[A] good deal of importance attaches to the worship in Malaysia and Singapore of Heibai Wuchang … popularly known as Da Er Ye (大二爺, Eldest and Second Uncles). In charge of policing the netherworld and protecting humans from evil, they are believed to be two soldiers of the Tang dynasty, General Xie [謝] and General Fan [范]. The former was tall and was hanged by the enemy, while the latter was shorter and was drowned while fighting enemies. General Xie’s image is that of a tall person with a protruding long tongue; he’s wearing a white shirt, and his high hat has the characters yijian daji ([一見大吉] “big luck on seeing me”) or yijian shengcai ([一見生財] “getting wealth on seeing me”). General Fan’s image has a dark face, and his square hat bears the characters tianxia taiping [天下太平], or “peace in the world.” Also called Qiye (七爺) and Baye (八爺), the two generals are in charge of rewarding good people and punishing evil ones. General Xie is more popular among worshippers; frightening as he is, the Elder Uncle benefits from his association with blessing wealth (p. 58).
Chen (2014) provides a different background for the two, which is commonly told in the southern Chinese city of Fuzhou in Fujian province:
The Seventh Lord (七爺) and Eighth Lord (八爺) are frequently seen and are well-known in Taiwanese religious parades. These two deities were originally two brother-like friends in Fuzhou (福州). One was called Xie Bian (謝必安), and the other one was named Fan Wujiu (范無救; 范無咎). On a rainy day, they had an appointment to meet under the Nan Tai Bridge (南臺橋). Fan Wujiu was short with a dark complexion, but Xie Bian was tall with a light complexion. Fan Wujiu arrived at the meeting place earlier, waited there in spite of the heavy rain, and was drowned. Xie Bian tried to bring umbrellas for Fan Wujiu and was therefore late. When he arrived at the bridge, Fan Wujiu was already dead, so he decided to commit suicide because of his friendship and guilt. According to legends, the Heavenly Emperor (玉皇大帝) was touched by this pair of brother-like friends, and promoted their ghosts to supernatural officers from the underworld. The Seventh Lord is Bai Wuchang (白無常), and the Eighth Lord is Hei Wuchang (黑無常). Their mission is to bring dead people’s ghosts from the ordinary human world to the underworld at the moment of their deaths (p. 220).
Stevens (1997) goes into more detail about their function and veneration:
The pair are despatched on orders from the City God when the due date of a person’s death arrives, to seek out and identify the correct human through the local spiritual official, the Earth God [fig. 3]. They appear before the human and the Tall Demon [the white spirit] announces that the time has come. The Short Demon [the black spirit] binds the soul and drags it before the City God. The Short Demon carries the tablet of authority and the chains to arrest the soul whose due date of death has arrived [fig. 2].
The Tall Demon … receives considerable attention from devotees, often relatives of the very sick, and in a few temples he is provided with cigarettes which are to be seen continually burning having been forced in between his lips. More popularly, his mouth is smeared with a black substance to win his favour and bribe him to keep away. This used to be opium and is still said to be opium, though the substance appears to be more of a sweet sticky mess. In northern and central China, only the Tall Demon is found (p. 173).
Fig. 3 – A monumental statue of an Earth god in Taiwan (larger version).
Origins
The sources above provide two backgrounds for the spirits, historical generals or brother-like friends, all of whom died unnatural deaths. Both origins involve the tall, white figure being hanged, while the short, black figure was drowned. Both of these backgrounds have respective ties to religious beliefs of the Han (206 BCE – 220 CE) and Song (960-1279 CE) dynasties. It was common practice during the Han for generals, especially those slain by the enemy, to be deified as gods. This concept of deified mortals carried over into the Song Dynasty when tutelary gods were popular. Those deified were often pious or loyal people who died unnatural deaths. But most importantly, these individuals were deified by the very communities in which they lived, meaning they were worshiped as the protector of the specific locale and its people (Von Glahn, 2004, p. 164).
These tutelary cults find their origin in earth gods (tudishen, 土地神) worshiped as early as the Han. Just like people of the Song worshiped the worthy among their fallen community members, people of the Han worshiped the gods believed to inhabit the very earth on which their communities were established. Considering the dead were buried underground, these earth gods also served the function of “escort[ing] the deceased to the world of the afterlife” (Von Glahn, 2004, p. 165). Remember above that Stevens described the tall and short spirits relying on the local earth god to help locate the correct soul being summoned. Therefore, our spirits appear to be a combination of deified mortals (generals/worthy citizens) and earth gods who escorted the deceased to the afterlife. But there may be more to the story.
Wuchang (無常), or “impermanence”, is the Chinese term for the sanskrit Anitya. This is one of the “Three Marks” (Sk: Trilaksana) of existence in Buddhism, the other two being suffering (Duhkha) and non-self (Anatman) (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, pp. 47-48). The fact Wuchang is associated with these spirits suggests there is an added Buddhist influence. As I’ve written before, the Chinese underworld presented in Journey to the West is an amalgam of local Chinese and foreign Buddhist beliefs. In short, the Chinese Underworld consists of ten courts in which a soul is punished and sent on to the next until their karma is cleansed. The concept of purgatory and the Ten Kings or Judges of hell are products of 7th-century Chinese Buddhism. Prior to this, souls of the dead were kept en masse in a sort of Daoist city of the dead. So our two summoners were no doubt absorbed into this new Buddhist worldview. The spirits in effect could be viewed as personifications of Buddhist impermanence.
The contrasting black and white color scheme has at least two origins. One, it may have evolved from the belief that each performed duties at different times. Maspero (1981) writes, “The most famous of [the City God’s] subordinates are Master White (Bai laoye [白老爺]) and Master Black (Hei laoye [黑老爺]), who perceive everything that goes on within the constituency, the former during the day and the latter during the night” (p. 110). Two, it may draw from the dualistic nature of Chinese philosophy. Baptandier (2008) comments their color is a “personification of the yin and yang principles of life” (p. 146).
Fig. 4 – A wall mural depicting the Ba Jiajiang (Eight Generals), including General Xie (white) with the phrase “Big Luck” (daji, 大吉) on his hat (larger version) and to his left General Fan (black) with a square hat. Taken by the author in Taipei, Taiwan.
Influence
Both General Xie (the tall, white spirit) and General Fan (the short, black spirit) figure among the Ba Jiajiang(八家將), or “Eight Generals” (fig. 4). These spirit generals are considered protectors of the City God (as well as other popular folk deities) and destroyers of evil. They consist of our two spirits, two more underworld figures called Generals Gan (甘) and Liu (柳), as well as four other figures known as the Four Seasons (Siji, 四季). These generals are personified during festivals by temple parade dance troupes called Jiajiang (家將). Members paint their faces according to the prescribed wrathful iconography for each general (fig. 5) and perform all sorts of choreographed militaristic dances while wielding weapons (video 1). These performances serve to exorcize evil spirits.
Fig. 5 – The facepaint of General Xie, the tall, white spirit. A larger version can be seen on this blog. Original picture by Rich J. Matheson.
The tradition originated in Fuzhou but later spread to Taiwan by the 1870s, making it a rather recent phenomenon (Sutton, 1996).
Video 1 – A Ba Jiajiang performance.
Update: 10-29-2018
Sutton (1996) explains the ceremonial procession of the Eight Generals is modeled after yamen officials making an arrest in dynastic China. In this case, the otherworldly generals would be sent to arrest evil spirits:
The performers seen on the march—excluding the Four Seasons—represent a process, though it is never ritually played out: arrest by yamen underlings. In principle the punishment bearer warns, the messengers search out, the stave bearers pursue, Erye and Daye [the Black and White Spirits] take into custody, and the justices at the rear interrogate and record (p. 215).
In video 1, the man dressed in civilian attire and carrying the strange, yoke-like device on his shoulders (visible at 00:26) is performing the part of the punishment bearer, which I take to mean a symbol of those previously arrested and used as warnings to the evil spirits being pursued.
Update: 10-14-22
I purchased some ritual items from Singapore previously used by tangki spirit-mediums of the Heibai wuchang. These include an old-school abacus for making arcane calculations, a soul-summoning placard, and a smoking pipe (fig. 6). I feel much cooler now that I have them. My seller-collector friend, from whom I purchased this set, told me that some of the beads are missing from the abacus because they were most likely given to believers as talismans.
Fig. 6 – The ritual items used by Singaporean tangki spirit-mediums of the Heibai wuchang (larger version).
Notes
1) The Three Realms are Heaven, Earth, and Hell, and the Five Phases are the elements of fire, water, earth, metal, and wood. The point being that he is beyond the control of the three realms and the effects of the elements because he has achieved immortality.
Sources
Baptandier, B. (2008). The lady of Linshui: A Chinese female cult. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.
Chen, Y. (2014). Cinematic visualization of spiritual lesbianism in Monkia Treut’s Ghosted: countering essentialist concerns about Li Ang’s literary works In Y. Chen (Ed). New modern Chinese women and gender politics: The centennial of the end of the Qing Dynasty (pp. 210-222).
Maspero, H. (1981). Taoism and Chinese religion. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Buswell, R., & Lopez, D. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press.
Stevens, K. G. (1997). Chinese gods: the unseen world of spirits and demons. London: Collins & Brown.
Sutton, D. S. (1996). Transmission in Popular Religion: The Jiajiang Festival Troupe of Southern Taiwan in Later Imperial China in Shahar, M., & Weller, R. P. (Ed.) Unruly gods: Divinity and society in China (pp. 212-249). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Tan, C. B. (2018). Chinese religion in Malaysia: Temples and communities. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
Von Glahn, R. (2004). The sinister way: The divine and the demonic in Chinese religious culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The journey to the West: Volumes 1. Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press.
Here I present a PDF of Chinese Spirit-Medium Cults in Singapore (1955/1990) by Alan J. A. Elliott. The book contains a large chapter on the importance of spirit-mediums (Hokkien: Tangki, 童乩; Chinese: Jitong, 乩童; literally: “Divining Child”) in the worship of Sun Wukong. For those unfamiliar with spirit-mediums, I have quoted material from my article linked above:
They are believed to channel [the Great Sage’s] spirit to interact with believers, generally answering their questions, blessing them or their belongings with paper talismans, or prescribing medicine. On special occasions, they also perform a complex self-mortification ceremony […] The ritual serves several purposes. First, hacking, skewering, and poking the body with various weapons is considered a form of self-sacrifice. Second, the weapons that pierce the flesh are believed to imbue the mediums with spiritual power needed in their battle with demonic forces that pervade every corner of daily life. Third, the resulting blood is believed to have demonifugic properties, hence the reason it is smeared on paper talismans and clothing. Overall, the ritual is performed to exorcize evil spirits that cause bad luck and mental and physical illnesses.
Cover from the 1964 (2nd edition) (larger version). Note the prominence of the Monkey King.
I. Forward from the 1990 Edition
This account of Chinese spirit-medium cults describes in great detail an important aspect of the religion of overseas Chinese in Singapore. It is an historical study, since the field research was carried out over nearly two years in 1950 and 1951. It is historical for two reasons. One is that the highly personalized nature of many of these cults has meant that they are short-lived, emphemeral. The other is that in the forty years since the study was made the life of the Singapore Chinese has changed radically, and many of their ritual practices must have altered accordingly. But at the time this research was carried out, anthropological field studies of Chinese social institutions were rare, and this particular investigation was unique. Most studies of Chinese religion anywhere had been of a literary nature, concerning the ideas and practices of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism; very little information was available about how ordinary Chinese conducted their daily ritual affairs.
The significance of this study is not just focused on the past. It has contemporary relevance, and for a field far wider than Singapore alone. For anthropologists, enquiry into spirit-mediumship, shamanism, ecstatic religion, possession, has become a recognised part of the discipline, over a broad ethnographic range. But the general problems involved, of alternative personality, of apparent lack of sensitivity to external physical stimuli, of claims in the name of spirit to knowledge and authority not possessed by the human medium, can attract the attention of psychologists, psychiatrists, and all interested in the obscure and complex workings of the human mind. The issues raised involve ordinary people too, since they show how anxiety, uncertainty, fear, disappointment and greed seek assurance and resolution from some source deemed superhuman, even spiritual. The basic beliefs revealed by this study of Chinese spirit-mediumship are not confined to Chinese.
