Manchu religious culture

 

Manchu religious culture

 

Burmese musician Dorje chatted about Manchu customs and culture with Agudengba, Azhuo and Chuxingxing, and also told Yadan, Dawa and Xiangqima about the traditional festivals and etiquette culture of the Manchu people. He turned around and began to talk about the religious beliefs and culture of the Manchu people.

Dorje said:

The religious beliefs of the Manchu people are relatively diverse. At first, the Manchus and their predecessor peoples were basically shamanistic. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and came into contact with the culture of the Central Plains, in addition to retaining some shamanistic customs, the Manchu people were most influenced by the folk beliefs of the Central Plains. Buddhism, Taoism and Catholicism also have certain influences.

Dorje said:

The Manchus once believed in shamanism. "Shaman" is Tungus language, meaning "crazy person". Chinese translation is wizard. Manchu shamanism has four meanings: nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship and idol worship, so the gods worshiped are both numerous and complex. The ways of memorializing sacrifices are also different. There are differences between the palace and the people, between the rich and the poor, between regions, and between families.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the shamans in the palace were mostly intelligent women who were familiar with the dialect of the Aixinjueluo clan. They were called shaman wives. They were responsible for the emperor's holding of various sacred ceremonies, chanting Manchu to worship gods, and treating people's diseases with the people. The shaman is different.

There are two types of folk shamans. One is the shaman who dances with gods, who heals people, asks for divination, and prays to gods to drive out ghosts. The other is the house shaman who manages sacrifices and is responsible for worshiping ancestors and gods. In the past, Manchu farmers "believed in witchcraft but not medicine." If they were sick, they would first ask a shaman to perform a dance, and only when that didn't work, they would ask a doctor for diagnosis and treatment. When the shaman prays and dances, he wears a pointed hat, decorated with five-color paper strips, drooping to cover his face, hanging a small mirror, wearing a long cloth skirt, with a copper bell tied around his waist, beating drums and dancing, chanting words in his mouth.

Manchu folk sacrificial activities are divided into family sacrifices and clan sacrifices in terms of scale, morning sacrifices and evening sacrifices in terms of time, and there are many types. The content, methods, and procedures of sacrifices vary from region to region and even from family to family. The so-called "one surname, one altar of incense". There is one shaman in each family name. When worshiping ancestors, they dance and sing Manchu sacred songs to praise the harvest of the year or praise the merits of their ancestors.

In shaman sacrificial activities, shamans should use musical instruments and claps to sing and dance to pray to the gods to come to them and pray for blessings and longevity. It also serves the purpose of entertaining the gods and entertaining people. Its lyrics can communicate the relationship between humans and gods, and its dance expresses the shaman's use of force and magic to expel evil and people's piety in seeking happiness and longevity. It also expresses the shaman's journey to heaven to pray to gods, the many dangers he encounters on the way, and his struggle with evil spirits. Through singing and dancing, the purpose of inviting gods to pray for blessings is achieved.

In the shaman sacrificial activities, after the shaman offers the animal in the sacrificial ceremony, he offers wine amidst the sounds of sanxian, pipa, clappers and claps. Every time, the Sizu people sang "Eluoluo". After offering wine, the shaman held the magic sword and prayed and kowtowed in front of the shrine to the sounds of sanxian, pipa, clapper and clapping. Every time he held up the magic sword and prayed, the Situ people sang "Eluoluo". The shaman holds the magic sword and prays three times and sings the sacred song once. If you recite the sacred song three times, you will pray nine times in total. The words of prayer and blessing are recited, "Oluoluo" is a song, and the "chanting of sacred songs" is the singing of the words of prayer and blessing.

With the accompaniment of musical instruments and clapping, praying and kowtowing before entering the shrine with the magic sword is a simple dance, while singing "Oluoluo" and reciting sacred songs are obvious singing, creating a lively scene of singing and dancing before leading the sacrifice. God and man are happy together.

However, modern China advocates atheism, and shamanism has been attacked and is considered to promote feudal superstition. Before the founding of the Republic, the Manchus still maintained shamanism in places such as Ningguta and Aihui in the northeast. However, contemporary Manchus are mainly non-religious people, and traditional shamanism has long since mutated.

Dorje said:

Because the Jurchens began to be influenced by the Bohai, Goryeo, Liao and Song dynasties during the Jin Dynasty, Buddhism had been spread, so the Manchus were no strangers to Buddhism. The emperor of the Qing Dynasty has always been known as "Buddha", and Tibetans also regard him as the incarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva. Both Nurhaci and Huang Taiji had frequent contact with the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Subsequent emperors all had high attainments in Buddhism, especially the four emperors Shun, Kang, Yong, and Qian.

In the Qing Dynasty, some Manchus also believed in Buddhism and Guan Yu, but their sacrificial rituals still used shamanic sacrificial rituals, which was different from other ethnic groups. Some of the descendants of the garrison bannermen hang ancestral bags in their homes. The bags contain soil from their hometowns brought from outside the customs.

Emperor Shunzhi once worshiped Yulin Tongxiu as his guru and ordered the eunuch Wu Liangfu to become a monk on his behalf. Emperor Yongzheng even studied the Diamond Sutra assiduously, studied Zen Buddhism intensively, and was named Yuanming Jushi. Qianlong also took the third Zhangjia Hutuketu as his guru. However, Tibetan Buddhism was mainly a means for the upper class of the Qing Dynasty to win over the Mongolian and Tibetan nobles. It has little to do with the beliefs of ordinary Manchu people. The beliefs of ordinary Manchu people can be said to be different from the folk beliefs of the Central Plains where Han people mix Chinese Buddhism. Many people often burn incense and worship Sakyamuni Tathagata, Medicine Master Tathagata, Amitabha, White-robed Guanyin, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, etc.

Duoji also talked about the influence of Taoism and Central Plains folk beliefs on the Manchus.

Before the Qing troops entered the customs, the Manchus had begun to be deeply influenced by the culture and beliefs of the Han people in the Central Plains. According to legend, before Nurhaci, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, had not yet launched an army, he obtained the statue of Guan Shengdijun, the great emperor of the Demon Conqueror, at the border of the Ming Dynasty. In 1615, Nurhaci built seven major temples in Hetuala City: Tangzi, Dizang Temple, Jade Emperor Temple, Guandi Temple, Confucian Temple, City God Temple and Zhaozhong Temple. The Jade Emperor Temple and City God Temple are Taoist temples, and the Guandi Temple It is mainly dedicated to Guan Gong, the great emperor who conquered demons in the Three Realms. The Confucian Temple is dedicated to Confucius and the following 4 saints, 12 sages, 77 Confucians and 79 sages. Only Tangzi is Manchu shamanistic. Among them, the worship of Guan Yu is the most deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It soon surpassed the original tribal gods and ancestor gods of the Manchu people and became the "God of Protecting the Country".

After the Qing troops entered the customs, ordinary Manchu people were most affected by the folk beliefs of the Han people in the Central Plains. In addition to worshiping ancestors at home, the gods worshiped by the Manchus are basically the same as those of the Han people, with the worship of Emperor Guan being especially important. The Manchus and their ancestors have worshiped Guan Yu for a long time, and it was already prevalent during the Yuan Dynasty. By the Wanli period, it had already become a kind of belief.

During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus regarded Emperor Guan as the "God of National Protection" and would always honor him as "Guan Mafa". In Manchu, it means "Master Guan" or "Grandpa Guan". I dare not call him by his name, and I respect him beyond measure. Even the two generals Guan Ping and Zhou Cang beside Emperor Guan called him "Master" with great respect.

As for various Taoist gods such as Sanqing, Jade Emperor, Queen Mother, Sanguan, Yue Emperor, Beidi, Lu Zu, Tianhou, etc., most Manchus also worshiped them.

The Manchus also worship the God of Wealth, but they worship more than one God of Wealth. There are those with red robes and gauze hats wearing Ming Dynasty costumes, there are those with feathered top robes and jackets wearing Qing Dynasty costumes, and there is also a God of Wealth who is similar to a fox fairy.

The Manchus also worship the Kitchen God, who is usually accompanied by his wife "Grandma Kitchen King". Legend has it that the Kitchen God would go to heaven every year on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month to report to the Jade Emperor the status of his family over the past year, mainly to complain about his sins and seek retribution. Therefore, Manchu people in the Qing Dynasty would burn incense and offer Guandong sugar on this day, which was called a gift to the Kitchen God, and asked the Kitchen God to "speak more of good things and less of bad things". ​　　In addition, the Manchus also believe in the customs of the Changbai Mountain God, Lord Rabbit, Aunt Mao and other Han gods, as well as some other Mongolian and Tibetan gods.

Dorje also talked about the influence of Roman Catholicism on the Manchus.

Influenced by the Jesuit missionaries of the Holy See in China, the Manchus also had a certain number of Catholics in history. As early as around 1650, there are records of bannermen officers and soldiers becoming Catholics. Tong Guogang and Tong Guowei, the uncles of Emperor Kangxi, and their tribesmen Tong Guoqi all believed in Catholicism. Missionary activities and the number of people reached their peak during the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong eras.

Prince Jianyi Depei is one of the more famous examples. He was baptized as a Catholic with the Christian name "Joseph", and his wife was also baptized with the Christian name "Mary". During the same period, there were eight other devout Catholics including Urchen, Suljin, Kulchen, and Shurchen, the disciples of Dorobelesunu. Among them, the tenth son Shuerchen, whose Christian name was "Paul", was particularly pious. He once followed the general Yunqi on an expedition to Tibet and achieved great military exploits. After converting to Catholicism, Shuerchen said that from now on he would "only fight against the enemies of Jesus" and resigned from office.

By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the court banned priests from preaching due to etiquette disputes and other reasons. Banner believers such as the Sunu family were also suppressed because of this. However, it was still unable to completely ban the clan, Jueluo, and ordinary banner people from converting to Catholicism. For example, Sunu's great-grandsons Tuqin and Tumin still refused to become religious even in the 10th year of Jiaqing, and were sent to Ili together with fellow bannermen Kuimin and Woshebu. At the same time, there were examples of flag members Tong Hengshan, Tong Lan and others who resisted the imperial decree and followed the instructions.

However, Catholicism was ultimately unable to achieve further development among the Manchu people due to continuous suppression. By the time of the Republic of China, the status of the Manchus had plummeted. Many Manchus in Beijing joined Catholicism or other Christian denominations for a time, either out of faith or in the hope of receiving church relief. Ying Lianzhi is one of the most famous Manchu Catholics in modern times and the founder of Fu Jen Catholic University.

Duoji sang a "sacrificial song":

 

The winds and clouds in the sky are changing, the sun and the moon are moving,

On the ground are mountains, rocks, trees, birds and animals,

All things in the world have spiritual virtues and long-lasting virtues.

Inducing the harmonious coexistence of man, God, heaven and earth.

 

Since ancient times, sacrificial objects have been divided into three categories:

Gods, gods, humans and gods are all gods.

The gods control all things and communicate with each other up and down,

Paying homage can bring blessings and avoid disasters.

 

Offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and understanding the communication between humans and gods,

Worship heaven and earth, offer sacrifices to gods, pay tribute and offer incense,

Praying to the gods and ancestors, bowing and saluting,

Pray that the country will be prosperous and the people will be safe.

 

Kneel three times and kowtow nine times to worship Emperor Shun and worship Yan and Huang.

The gentry burned incense to worship Confucius and Mencius and paid homage to Guan Gong.

In the past, people burned sacrifices to the Dragon King and worshiped the Stove God.

Today’s faith only seeks peace and welcome the God of Wealth.

 

The heavenly spirit and the earthly spirit are so graceful,

Folk customs and traditions have remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Respecting heaven and earth and offering sacrifices to the ancestors, living in a dream,

I don’t know when the gods will bless all living beings.