TAOIST TEACHINGS AND ARTS |
DISCUSSION BOARD |
Door Official |
KWUN YUM has is the holy lady of Mercy going by the name people pray to here for Mercy for crimes they have committed as well as being a Taoist god she appears in a many popular religions and she as a Buddhist "sister" as such. She has two assistants one the golden boy the other the jade girl. These two work hard to try and help KWUN YUM. The Holy Celesical Mother: T'ien Hau : She is the above and also is the goddess of rivers she is said to be a very kind goddess. She has been traditionally prayed to by people who work out in the deep sea. She has been known to destroy pirates. She in some Chinese cultures is refereed to as granny. The Wealth lord in Taoism is generally not asked for lotto numbers, the purpose of the wealth lord is that a person can afford to buy their loaf of bread. Asking for finical stability in your life and in your friends is what a Wealth Lord is for. As in the concept of Tao a medium is good. You should not want to be poor and not to be rich. For example I once saw a man try to give an entire pack of incenses to a the wealth lord but the combined heat of all the sticks made them burst into a flame. KWUN GUNG would have to be the most popular god as there are so many legends about him that there appears to be no particular reason that people follow him. In a westerners view he is a god of war but Chinese culture is far from the Greek pagan culture that we all know so well after watching xena. He is not a killing god and people do not pray to him to so they won't be killed or anything like that. He is always potrayed as a hero and nothing less. In his shrines there is his adopted son Kwan Ping and Chau Chong a lesser general who serves a weapon bearer. This site will have numerous legends of his on soon. The door officials job is to take the names of people that enter the temple. In ancient Chinese culture in every village their was a man who had this job. In his hand he holds the his list of people who enter. Wang Ling-Kuan tittle the spirit official Wang. He is a second or third rank deity and protector of Taoist scripture. He is seen at the entrance of many Taoist temples across the world. In many of which he is seen with the Ha Huh generals.
Top: Moon Goddess: By legend and by many stories the moon goddess is said to be very beautiful. She is found in many Chinese stories. Bottom: Sun God: He is the sun god and as of yet I have not read anything about him.
Laotzu, Jade Emperor, god of all truths: On both sides attendants, The Attendants purpose is to help the gods. The god of all truths role is basically given away in the name he insures truth.In the middle is Laotzu the Founder of Taoism and the writer of the Tao te Ching. Laotze the writer of the Tao Te Ching is considered a very important deity. His is considered great by religious Taoist and philosophical Taoists alike. On the Right is the Jade Emperor the ultimate god and the ruler of everything. He has a mystical army which can kill anything at any time. He is not generally worshipped directly as he is so important.
The Holy Master Yau The Four Deputies To the Majestic Holy Master :deputy Wong/ Deputy Lee/Deputy Bak/ Deputy Bik
Great Saint Wong (Huang Ta Hsien) This god is renowned for healing with herbal medicine, general protection. Around 940ad he was fifteen and while watching sheep he followed a immortal into a cave were he was taught how to become a immortal. When he was eighteen the owner of the sheep found him and demanded his sheep back. Wong turned some white stones on a hill across from them into the mans sheep. The two generals are protecting the temple as you can see in their photo that they are doing martial arts stances facing opposite one another. They look the same from first glance but they are actually different. The are known as the Blower and Snorted the are seen with Wang Ling Kuan. The two generals are heroes from Feng-Shen-Yen-i. These deities were once human: Ho Hsien Ku: She lived from around the 684-705ad in the Yun Mu mountain. One night she dreamt that she should grind a stone called Yun Mu and eat it. She did this and vowed chastity she then floated and gathered fruit and gave it to her mother. She was summoned by the empress but she disappeared. Han Hsiang Tsu: A desiple of Lu Tung Pin he did many great things and at a peach of immortality. He manufactured extraordinary plants. Han Chung li: He is the representative of military men. After a military carrier he became a hermit and the five heroes taught him to be immortal he taught the holy master Lu this knowledge. Lan Ts'ai ho- the sex of this immortal is generally considered female and she holds a flute to her mouth or holds a basket of flowers. Ts'ao Kuo-Chiu: He was connected with the imperial court until his brother committed a crime. He was so ashamed that he became a hermit and study Tao. Lu Tung Pin and Ching li found him and asked him what he was doing he said studying Tao he than pointed to the sky and then to his heart. They taught him to be a immortal. Chang Kuo-Lao: he was head of the imperial academy when he retired he became a hermit. he was summoned by the empress and when he reached the temple of jealous woman he was killed. He was revived and had a mule which could take him 1000 miles in a day. Once it reached a destination it turned to paper and he put it into his pocket. Li T'ieh Kuai: Has an iron crutch and black face. His soul went into a mountain and told his disciples to guard his body. One of the disciples left early and the burned the body one day early when he came back he found he was bodiless so he took they body of a dead crippled man. He wanted to leave it but Lao Tzu convinced him otherwise.
Sun Tsu is the patron of shoe making but even more importantly the writer the of the Sun tzu art of war. The Sun Tsu is all about how to rule over a army successfully. He lost his feet as a minister in the government that he worked for became jealous. He was to be sentenced to death after they proved him to be a traitor. It was found other wise but he had already lost his feet Master Lu Tung Pin he was probably born at the end of the eighth century AD he is usually potrayed as a Taoist scholar with a two edged sword slung across his back. It is said by some that he is still roaming the earth to this day. He is the founder of this sect. He is one of the immortals. One of this most unique abilities is the ability to transfer flesh from the dead living and back again. Lu has been adopted by many trades and even some Confucian followers. He is one of the greatest Taoist gods. For his medical skills he is prayed to by many medical students and the sick. |
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