Interesting Snippets Around Us
Paper FigurinesIn mainstream Taoism, the burning of the figurines may be deemed unnecessary. There are, however, others in Taiwan and Hong Kong who may want to stick to the influences of the folk culture, and continue with the practice for rituals.
One of them, The Ghostly King is invited during the 7th lunar month to maintain order of the wandering souls, and disallowing them to create chaos during the distribution of the offerings. In folk culture, he is the manifestation of Guan Yin aka Goddess of Mercy. In Taoism, he is the manifestation of Lord Tai Yi; whereas in Hinduism, he is the manifestation of the twin Yama Kings ( brother and sister ). |
Origin of Jiao Bei 筊杯的由来The introduction of Bei or Puay ( in Hokkien ) or Divination Blocks can be traced all the way back to Sui Dynasty 隋朝. Li Jing 李靖 aka Li Yao Shi 李藥師 was the one who created it for his Taoist prediction. He used melted gold to coat on seashells, in order to make them more durable. As such, Jiao ( 筊 ) was initially written as 鉸, with the character Gold by the side. From then on, folks started to use Bei to confirm, verify, enquire, etc when consulting deities for advice and/or assistance.
During the Han Yu 韓愈 period, folks started to use and polish a type of hard seashells for Bei. Bei was then written as 珓, with a character King or Jade by the side as many folks mistaken the polished seashell as a type of Jade. This lasted till end of Song Dynasty 宋朝. During the Song Dynasty, Jiao Bei was very popular, and followers of other chinese religions started to ' Jiao Bei ' to interact with their Deities. By the time of the Ming Dynasty 明朝, Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang used bamboo to make Bei. Bei was then written as 筊/茭 to reflect the element of plant or wood as the material for their making. The tradition was passed down till today. |