Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history,diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs,events,or omens,or through alleged contact or interaction with supernatural agencies such as spirits,gods,god-like-beings or the "will of the universe".
Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons,religious worship,aromatherapy,meditation,and ceremony. It may also be used as a simple deodorant or insect repellent.
Wong Tai Sin Temple is a well known shrine and tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is dedicated to Wong Tai Sin,or the Great Immortal Wong. The 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft) Taoist temple is famed for the many prayers answered:"What you request is what you get" (有求必應) via a practice called kau chim. The temple is located on the southern side of Lion Rock in the north of Kowloon.
Omikuji (御御籤/御神籤/おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "sacred lot",these are usually received by making a small offering and randomly choosing one from a box,hoping for the resulting fortune to be good. As of 2011,vending machines sometimes dispense omikuji.
Taoism in Singapore is the religion of about 8.8% of the country's entire population as per the 2020 census. The definition of "Taoism" in the country is included as part of the wider Chinese folk religion. In general,nearly all adherents of Taoism in Singapore are associated with the mainstream Zhengyi school. Larger proportion of older residents adhere to Taoism,as compared with those in younger age groups.
Patrick Ho Chi-ping is a Hong Kong ophthalmologist turned politician.
The Thean Hou Temple is a six-tiered temple of the Chinese sea goddess Mazu located in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. It is located on 1.67 acres (6,758 m2) of land atop Robson Heights on Lorong Bellamy,overlooking Jalan Syed Putra. It was completed in 1987 and officially opened in 1989. The temple was built by Hainanese living in Malaysia and the property belongs to and is run by the Selangor and Federal Territory Hainan Association. It is one of the largest temples in Southeast Asia.
Che Kung Miu,also called Che Kung Temple,are temples dedicated to Che Kung,who was a general during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) in imperial China. He is believed by some worshipers to have been involved in the attempt to keep the Song state alive by bringing Prince Ping and his brother to the South. There are two temples dedicated to Che Kung in Hong Kong:one in Sha Tin and one in Ho Chung. Other temples in Hong Kong are partly dedicated to Che Kung.
Religion in Hong Kong is characterised by a multi-faith diversity of beliefs and practices.
Yuanshi Tianzun,the Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning or the Primeval Lord of Heaven,is one of the highest deities of Taoism. He is one of the Three Pure Ones and is also known as the Jade Pure One. He resides in the Great Web or the Heaven of Jade Purity. It is believed that he came into being at the beginning of the universe as a result of the merging of pure breaths. He then created Heaven and Earth.
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 method.
Chinese spiritual world concepts are cultural practices or methods found in Chinese culture. Some fit in the realms of a particular religion,others do not. In general these concepts were uniquely evolved from the Chinese values of filial piety,tacit acknowledgment of the co-existence of the living and the deceased,and the belief in causality and reincarnation,with or without religious overtones.
Fuji,also colloquially known as "Chinese Ouija",is a method of "planchette writing",or "spirit writing",that uses a suspended sieve or tray to guide a stick which writes Chinese characters in sand or incense ashes.
Moon blocks or jiaobei,also poe,are wooden divination tools originating from China,which are used in pairs and thrown to seek divine guidance in the form of a yes or no question. They are made out of wood or bamboo and carved into a crescent shape. A pair of clam shells can also be used. Each block is round on one side and flat on the other. It is one of the more commonly used items found in Chinese traditional religion and are used in temples and home shrines along with fortune sticks,both of which are often used together when requesting an answer from the Deities.
In each year's Chinese New Year celebrations in Hong Kong,a member of the Hong Kong Government represents the city in a divination ritual called kau chim. The event takes place on the second day of the Lunar New Year at Che Kung temple,Sha Tin,where a fortune stick is drawn. The luck of the city for that upcoming Lunar year will be foretold by the message on the fortune stick. The message is written in the form of classical Chinese poetry and is then interpreted by a Feng shui sifu or fortune teller.
Dong Huling was a master of tai chi,known for teaching Yang style and Dong style,and an early leader in the spread of tai chi worldwide. Born in Ren County,Hebei,China,his father Dong Yingjie was a top disciple of Yang Chengfu and famous for his fighting skills. Also highly skilled and creative himself,Dong Huling taught in mainland China,Hong Kong,Macau,Southeast Asia,North America,and Europe. He then emigrated to Hawaii,founding a school in Honolulu,continued teaching workshops around the world,and carried on the Dong family legacy.
Taoism in Hong Kong is the religion of approximately 14% of the population. This figure did not include the large number of local population who are following Chinese folk religious traditions without indicating their religious affiliation.
Poe divination is a traditional Chinese divination method,in which the diviner throws or drops two small wooden pieces on the floor,and interprets the divine answer using the positions of the pieces. This method can be used to tell whether the future course of action the diviner is considering is recommended or not. The pieces,called 桮;poe (bwei) in Taiwanese or jiaobei in Mandarin,look somewhat like two shells of a clam or bivalve mollusk.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Taoism:
Chinese folk religion plays a dynamic role in the lives of the overseas Chinese who have settled in the countries of this geographic region,particularly Burmese Chinese,Singaporean Chinese,Malaysian Chinese,Thai Chinese and Hoa. The Indonesian Chinese,by contrast,were forced to adopt en masse either Buddhism or Christianity in the 1950s and 1960s,abandoning traditional worship,due to Indonesia's religious policies which at the time forbade Chinese traditional religion or did not recognize it as a "religion" thus making it vulnerable to discrimination. Some Chinese Filipinos also still practice some Chinese traditional religions,besides Christianity of either Roman Catholicism or Protestantism,of which some have also varyingly syncretized traditional Chinese religious practices with. Chinese folk religion,the ethnic religion of Han Chinese,"Shenism" was especially coined referring to its Southeast Asian expression;another Southeast Asian name for the religion is the Sanskrit expression Satya Dharma.
