"The Chinese are traditionally and incurably pagan. They are the people who worship most divinities and semi-gods. Each home is a temple where the Chinese, out of scepticism or superstition, pay homage to a long list of ancestors whose names are written on a tablet called the "lin-pai", meaning "house of the spirit" The history of the Chinese pantheon is interesting but of even greater interest is the sacred art of China - the idols have viscera!"
The veneration of the ancestors which for the Chinese has great religious significance is not essentially very different from the Portuguese who show their devotion by lighting candles in front of portraits of deceased relatives.
Since ancient times, the Chinese have worshipped their ancestors in a cult which has remained alive up to the present day. The souls of the ancestors reside in the tablet on which their name is inscribed.
The most famous characters from Chinese history are included in the long list of divinities. Most of the Chinese gods were military or popular heroes who served the Empire and were consequently canonized by ancient emperors.
The three oldest Chinese emperors are Fung-si, the god of music, Seng-ling, the god of hunting and Yuangtei, the god of fishing. After them come several ministers who were given recognition for their loyalty and wisdom. Yan-in was distinguished for his unselfishness and prudence; Kun-nen for his renowned sagacity; Pai-kan for being the most talented man in all of China after Confucius. When Pai-kan died, the Emperor ordered his chest to be ripped open in order to prove that there were truly seven cavities in his heart as the people claimed.
Of the canonized generals, the most important one is Kuan-tai, the god of war, a man as brave as the name of his sword implied -Yen-Yua-Tou (the sword which covers the moon) - for when he raised his sword, it truly covered the moon.
T'chan-tei, the brother of Kuan-tai, was also a general who was no less brave but whose hand was more feeble. Finally, we have Tcha-Che-Long, companion-in-arms of the two above-mentioned heroes and no less intrepid a warrior than the other two. The Chinese say that Tcha-Che-Long's body is full of gall, a substance which in ancient times was the symbol of courage.
Of the bonzes whose holy life and habits raised them to the status of gods, worth mentioning are the "immortal eight" whom the Chinese call "Pat-Tai-Sin". This group acquired divinity through the practice of the most austere virtues for many years.
Official Gods and Democratic Minor Gods
Many years before the Sung Dynasty, there were relatively few Chinese gods although those which existed were highly respected because of their glorious histories. During this dynasty there was an emperor called U-Chi-Cheong who added many gods and minor gods to the Chinese Olympus. Some of them, however, hardly deserved this honour such as the four Chi-Lang. They were four bullies who wreaked all kinds of offence, thefts, murders, corruption, disorder and so on up to the moment of death when they repented of all their sins and were made into model gods.
The same emperor also gave divine status to Yu-Yang-Sang-Fei, the Pearl Emperor and Celestial King, giving him control over all the other gods and responsibility for Heaven and Earth. It is he who receives the news from Earth from the T'chan-Kuan (kitchen gods) whose statue is placed behind the stove in every home. This Yu-Yang was born to the king of Mai-Lou on the ninth day of the first moon. In actual fact, he had already lived in some unidentified place for a period of eighty one "chie" (one "chie" is an incalculable number of years) prior to being born.
From the time of Emperor U-Chi-Cheong, more than one thousand years ago, up to the present, his successors have nominated very few new gods.
In addition to these official gods who were mostly nominated by emperors and who are entitled to be worshipped in any temple, there is another group of minor democratic gods who have attained divine status through popular acclaim.
It is said that the origin of the Chinese gods is comparatively recent and, in fact, this is true.
In the beginning, the Chinese only worshipped Heaven and Earth and a few unspecified spirits. The gods which are now worshipped were still unknown during the Yan Dynasty (1280-1368).
During this dynasty, there was an emperor called Yu Ti who was involved in a war with the King of India. He took control of several territories and on an expedition which his soldiers made to the conquered area they found a gold statue about sixteen feet high which they duly sent to the emperor. The emperor, thinking that it was the statue of an incredibly important or powerful individual, ordered it to be taken to a special place where it was placed under guard. It turned out that the emperor was right. A few days later he had a dream of a man who was remarkably similar to the statue who told him that he was Mou-Lai-Fu, the twentieth reincarnation of Buddha. After this dream, the emperor ordered a temple to be built in the huge gardens of the palace, in honour of the god.
Buddhism versus Confucianism
There was an increase in this kind of temple and they were filled up with second and third class gods. Following the example of the emperor, most Chinese converted to Buddhism against the will of the scholars who urged people to keep to the old religion.
Buddhism already existed in India before its introduction into China. It was regarded as a mystic religion. With more and more translations of the scriptures, the Chinese population became better acquainted with Buddhism. Of the translators of the Buddhist sutras, the most famous was Chan Zang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) who studied in India for seventeen years and created his own Buddhist sect called "Wei Si T'chong" when he returned to China. In addition to this sect, there were also many other Buddhist sects, called "Wei Chi Chong".
Besides these sects there were various other Buddhist sects, among them the "Chan" sect. This sect was the most representative of Chinese Buddhism. In the beginning, the "Chan" sect spread amongst the lower classes and was only accepted by intellectuals later on. In any case, it had much less influence on Chinese culture than Confucianism.
Even so, the scholars declared themselves against this change in religion and attacked the new religion which they called "San-Chiao" or a religion of idols. They said that it was a move by the emperor to inculcate fear in his subjects by the threat of the terrible majesty and wrath of the gods.
For that purpose, the emperor had ordered that the ugliest and most ghastly pictures imaginable of the gods should be painted on the temple walls. The artists understood the emperor's motives immediately and painted gods so dreadful that the people stopped visiting the temples because they were so afraid of the diabolical, terrifying pictures.
The Chinese, like almost all pagan people, are not only polytheistic but also pantheistic. They worship Heaven and Earth and give a divine image to certain natural phenomena such as thunder, storms, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes, dedicating temples to these gods.
Teetotal, Drunken and Vegetarian Gods
Using their chisels to try to bring matter to life, Chinese sculptors tried to express the ideal which the most talented European sculptors tried in vain to capture. Nevertheless, they were always defeated in their task and if ever any sculptor managed to make a statue speak... it only answered in stony silence. Chinese sculptors, however, know very well that even the most beautiful and exquisite statue cannot speak if it has not been given the gift of speech. Consequently, as soon as a statue has been finished, the first thing to be done is to give it its senses. This is a very simple but very efficient operation. A small table with two cups of wine is placed in front of the idol, if of course, this is a god which likes drinking. Not all gods enjoy this bad habit. If it is a Buddha for instance, it should be given tea just as the divine image of Hunger should be given rice. After the drinks have been served, a chicken is killed in front of the idol so long as the god is not vegetarian. If the god does not eat meat, the chicken is replaced by a vegetable soup, fruits and vegetables.
In the former case, the blood of the bird is spread over the little table and the face of the idol. Afterwards, the artist burns a paper scroll and traces some magical circles around the idol's eyes while saying: "Let your eyes, nose, mouth and ears be open!"
Once the sense have been "opened", the idol is then able to talk with its creator.
The Open Senses
Once the statue has its five senses, the scupltor introduces five different-coloured silk threads into an opening in its back leading to the thorax. Once inside, the threads become the five viscera: the heart, lungs, liver, kidney and spleen. He also puts in the stalk of a plant to serve as the intestines. Two dried seeds from a certain vegetable very similar to the bean plant will serve as a telescope for the idol allowing him to see over a distance of a hundred leagues. A little piece of wood is the ladder which will let him climb up to Heaven whenever he wants. Two berries from a certain plant become his eardrums allowing him to hear the slightest sound, however far away it may be. Finally, the idol has a sea-horse, dried in the sun to let him ride to the bottom of the ocean without getting his clothes wet, and rice and tea leaves so that he dies neither of thirst nor of hunger on the trip.
Cavalry gods are always portrayed with their horses. After they have been made, it is essential to give life to these animals too. In order to do this, the sculptor throws some water or tea on them and puts some hay in their mouths so that they never feel hungry or thirsty on their arduous trips.
So far, nothing more than just the body of the idol has been discussed. It still lacks a soul. Its soul is achieved by uniting "Kuai", the evil spirit, with its body to form a perfect... devil!
T'ou Tei- illustration by Ung Vai Meng.
* Journalist and Historian on Macau
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