If you go to Chinatown in London or many other cities, you will be able to spot Buddha statues or statues of various Taoist deities, such as the Gods of Martial Arts in Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, or souvenir shops. You can even see them being worshipped in these places. Perhaps you would also be interested in how people perform rituals near these statues, which often includes burning incense and paper offerings.
Chinese religion may seem rather perplexing to people from
other cultures. While scholars from around the world study these things from
the outside, that is to say, etically, it is not the same as those who have
learned these things from the inside, that is to say, emically, from the time
they could first remember them as very small children. This enables them to
understand the existence of many deities from two or even three religions
within the same temple. People may identify themselves as adherents to Buddhism;
nevertheless, many of them would probably kneel before Taoist deities, such as
the God of Literature. They also honour the birthdays of Taoist deities and
join in with their festivals and celebrations.
Religion
plays an important role in the lives of the Chinese people in Hong Kong and there
are many religious rituals that people still strictly follow. Hidden in rugged
hills and wedged between modern skyscrapers, temples offer a tranquil space to
meet their religious needs. Hong Kong has some 700 Chinese temples. Half of
them are Buddhist and over 300 are Taoist. The rest are a mixture of both. Hong
Kong is a multi-religious city, where there are one million Buddhist followers
and also one million Taoist followers, in addition to many followers of other
religions from around the world.
All of these practices are attributed to religious tolerance
and accommodation, as well as pragmatic views towards religion. Worshippers
fold their hands to pray in front of whichever god they need to ask for help,
protection, and guidance. Many worshippers look on both religions, Buddhism and
Taoism, as if they are the same. If you ask them about the deities, many of
them would unable to tell you whether this statue is Buddhist or if that belief
is Taoist.
Although people may not identify themselves as Buddhist or
Taoist they would still visit temples or monasteries occasionally for religious
purposes. When the examination season comes, for instance, many students, their
parents, and their grandparents visit Man Mo temples. They burn incense and
paper offerings during special rituals to worship the God of Literature and
pray for good grades. Worshipping the god gives them comfort and confidence
which helps them to overcome their uncertainty and anxiety about exams.
Why do people worship the God of Literature? Beside
religious reasons, it is closely related to the tradition of Confucianism. In
Confucianism, studying is the primary mission of aspiring scholars. In the
past, their primary goal was to study to pass the civil service examinations in
order to attain an office and then serve and contribute to the country. There
is a popular saying: “in books are found houses of gold; in books there are
girls with faces of jade.” The great tradition of studying for examinations
which is deeply rooted in the past is still seen today. Achievements in
examinations are today considered to be the key to upward social mobility. Thus
students and parents feel pressure about getting good grades and meeting social
expectations. Religion provides them with a way to come to terms with that
pressure and with those expectations.
In a similar way, people burn incense and bow to the God of War to
wish for protection and guidance. This god was an historical general, Guan Yu,
who lived in the late second and early third centuries CE. He was famous for
his loyalty, righteousness, and bravery. He was elevated to the level of a
deity by both the people and emperors. Many official honours were bestowed upon
him by those emperors. The title bestowed by the emperor in the late nineteenth
century, for instance, tells it all: “Holy Emperor Guan of Loyalty,
Righteousness, Saintliness, Benevolence, Bravery and Prestige; Protector of the
Country and Defender of the People; Prowessed and Honest Supporter of Peace and
Reconciliation; Promoter of Morality” (忠義神武靈佑仁勇威顯護國保民精誠綏靖翊贊宣德關聖大帝). Loyalty and righteousness are key concepts
in Confucianism and are still highly valued in our modern society. Ordinary
people are not the only ones who worship this god. Police and gangsters alike burn incense and
bow to him because of the moral attributes.
Religion and rituals are two of the
most fundamental social institutions. The French sociologist Emile Durkheim
cogently argues that they are important sources of social solidarity and
cohesion. They offer norms and values that serve to unite the society through
shared beliefs and practices. People are able to identify themselves and
interact with others in society. For instance, when the Ghost festival takes
place (which you will learn more about in the following week) the local
communities organize a series of activities, e.g., rituals and Chinese operas,
which require a lot of financial support and labour. Many devotees, e.g., local
companies not only donate a substantial sum of money to support these
activities; they also volunteer to help organise the activities and prepare
incense and paper offerings for the communities to use during the festival.
These shared beliefs and collective experience create a deep moral vitality and
responsibility that transform the ways in which they orient themselves in the community.
It gives the participants a profound sense of belonging and connectedness to
each other, just as Durkheim had concluded that religion gives humanity its
strongest sense of collective consciousness and that in turn lays the
foundation of modern society.
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