I'm part chinese and from an area in philippines with a considerable hokkien population to the point that we have two folk religion temples (although they are refered to as taoist). I became acquainted with folk religion when I became very disillusioned with the catholic church in the states and have always wanted to convert but never knew how. does anybody know what i should do? Paying a visit to the aforementioned temples are not viable right now since i've moved away from my hometown.

How far back can we trace Shenism, based purely on archaeological evidence?

From my research, the earliest form of Shenism is shamanism and worship of heaven (Shangdi or later Tian), which was recorded on Oracle bones of Shang dynasty. (Shang dynasty is older than Vedic period, so does this mean Shenism is technically older than Hinduism? I don't know)

What do you guys think?

Im trying to learn more about shenism but cant find much info, anyone know where i can get info?

So i have a consecrated statue of Guan Gong and a consecrated image of the lady of the ninth heaven. This morning i dreamt that his statue was broken and the lady's frame was still hanging but without her incense bowl. In my dream i was heartbroken as i picked up his pieces and damn near cried. I am not a practicing taoist but i do talk to them both and offer water and incense and fruits and more as i ask them to help me in daily life. What does a broken statue mean for Shenists. Any help or input would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, I'm FlintDeathJwlldFowl, Fowl for short, I am here to understand Chinese Han Folk religion because I have Chinese ancestry and wanted to connect with that via folk religion.

I am from ZheJiang province which is a little north of where most of the ancestral provinces of the Southeast Asian diaspora are (Fujian, Guangdong), we have some similarities like plenty of 法师 and ZhengYi daoshi. There is a large presence of Buddhism and there are also some QuanZhen Daoists (more common in the north). It is common for people to go baishen, people go to vegetarian restaurants for first and 15th lunar month, and ancestral halls are important along with temples for deities. Also some Confucian temples, in Quzhou there is a large Confucian center due to the presence of descendants of the lineage. I see a lot of videos of practice from SG and MY, and even see temples who now do services in English which is really cool. I also hear that Chinese religion seems to be declining due to the presence of Christianity (especially Protestant) and a Westernized young population who no longer care about the culture. How true is this, what is the situation like on the ground?

So I'm trying to understand Shenism more. I know what it is and I'm studying about the Chinese Gods. I'm just trying to understand it, if it makes sense what I'm trying to say. Now, I'm fully aware that Shenism and Taoism are two different religions. But I've noticed some similarities between both religions. My question is, would it be helpful to use Taoist altars and rituals for beginners who want to understand or even practice Chinese Religion?

I'm guessing no but I'm still curious. also would like further reading on Chinese folk religions and rites

So I've been recently interested in learning about Chinese Folk Religion. I am still trying to understand it. My question is, how do you practice it? Also, how are your altar(s) to any of the Shen (or deities)?

I spent a lot of time in mainland China. Over a year of my life working with a bunch of friends traveling all over the country to over 200 temples when I was a Buddhist, and I chose to leave that all behind for very good reasons, as did my friends (I was part of a mass exodus from Buddhism, almost everyone in my film crew not only left Buddhism in a span of 3 weeks, but many of us don't speak to each other anymore).

After that the Harbin incident, (a fateful, religious experience where a Daoshi rescued me from a Qigong cult I had joined) I became a Daoist. I post here in /r/shenism because like some people who feel alienated from the white people Daoism that just involves atheism with a moron who thinks they read the Daodejing and that's it to Daoism.

Anyways, it's exhausting that every time I talk to a white person, or an overseas Chinese person, they always are incredulous that I don't practice both Daoism and Buddhism.

Daoism and traditional Chinese Polytheism have more than a thousand years of independent development before Buddhism really started to take root in the country, and my Daoshi, who I keep in contact with has informed me that there are thousands upon thousands of pure Daoists in China and abroad.

It's just endlessly exhausting. I respect people who want to worship Guanyin in a Daoist context or who want to syncretize but that's not the only way to practice this religion and I wish that people would establish reasonable boundaries but it seems like nobody wants to.

When I was brought into Daoism by my Daoshi, he eventually took me to a shrine in the rural part of Jilin and he prayed to Húxiān Niángniáng to give me a 本神 to worship. Now, that same clan god is part of my worship. The name given to clan gods in that part of China varies. However mine contains my Chinese family name, the village name where it was given to me, and a reference to the lineage that my master, Yao Daoshi belongs to.

Hey all, could you please tell me about these two figures?
Do you worship them on tablets?

Shenism, a syncretic Chinese religion, with elements of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Folk traditions.

How can I practice Chinese new year

1. Incorporating the worship of Hindu gods
2. In a family that is disapproves of Chinese practices

我该如何练习中国新年

1. 纳入对印度教神的崇拜

2. 在一个不赞成中国做法的家庭中

I come from an orthodox Hindu family that is lest than appreciative of Chinese ideas. However I insider myself as Hindu and take ideas from Confucianism, Taoism, and now Shenism. We keep a small photo of my grandfather who died before I was born and pray to it daily, which I do in a kowtow. What other forms of veneration can I do?

So I have some questions for both the creator of the subreddit and to people following it. I want to preface this with me this is not me judging you or calling you wrong if I disagree with certain distinctions but rather, me stating I've come to a different conclusion, one that is simply different. I want to understand your conclusion so that I can better understand mine, if that makes sense!

With that out of the way, here's the questions for the subreddit creator:

1. Where do you draw the line between 神教 (Chinese folk religion), 巫教 (Chinese shamanism) and the Tao?

2. Are you yourself Han? Were you born in China or Taiwan or were you born in Singapore, as your flair states?

3. What deities do you consider part of Shenjiao but not wujiao? Do you consider gods like 狐仙娘娘 part of Shenjiao?

And more general questions for everyone:

1. What religious label do you use if any? Buddhist? Tao? Chinese folk? If a Chinese or Western person asked you does that change your answer?

2. Do you practice because of your ethnicity? Or because of your interest in Chinese culture or is it something your parents practiced?

3. Do you speak Chinese? Any variety, I'm literate in Standard Chinese myself but I cannot read Traditional that well.

4. Do you primarily worship regional gods or more cosmopolitan across the Chinese regions?

Now you might be asking yourself why I asked the first question. To me, I consider the Tao to be the same as Shenjiao, but both to be distinct from Buddhism (though it's obviously very common for there to be overlap; the reason that I distinguish is partially because of my experiences of being Buddhist that let me to instead become part of the Tao.) And the reason why is because I don't consider philosophical Tao to be historical, and by that I mean it was designed to overlay, interface and be taken with the traditional Chinese theology. Removing it from that context is ahistorical and very much a result of secularization under the CCP, not getting political. That being said I'm glad that you have a space like this because Tao spaces with English speaking audiences tend to be westerners LARPing as philosophers and atheist focused so it's nice to have spaces like this.

I might in the future join in the discussion here with some of my own personal stories and religious traditions that I have adopted primarily from Han era Taoist texts, in particular the Baopuzi.

I have a few questions in regards to Shenism. My first question is which deities can be worshipped at home as in on an altar/shrine? My second question would be what is the proper way to set up an altar/shrine at home? My third question would be is it really required to have an idol/statue's eyes open, because I have seen where that specific ceremony can cost a foreigner around $2,000 to $6,000? My last question would be on the afterlife aspect of things, like what happens after death? Sorry for all the questions and for bothering you all.

Thanks!

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I’m looking for information about Shizu (始祖) temple. Dedicated to Bukuri the ancestor of the Qing dynasty. Does anyone here know anything about it?

Here are a few of my books relevant to Shénjiào: I hope others may add to the list.

Adam Yuet Chau. Religion in China. [An anthropologist whose approach is "lived religion" — what people actually do as opposed to the study of theories like Daoism or Confucianism.]

Eva Wong. Taoism. [An independent scholar who trained in the Complete Reality tradition at the White Cloud monastery in Beijing, she deals with the history and practices like ritual, divination, magic, meditation, and internal alchemy; and she provides good guides to further reading.]

Kristofer Schipper. Taoist Body. [An anthropologist who trained as an assistant priest in the Heavenly Masters tradition in Taiwan. A good book, but with limited knowledge of any other tradition or of mainland China.]

Xinzhong Yao. An Introduction to Confucianism. [A professor of religious studies, his book is not exactly light reading.]

Henri Maspero. Taoism and Chinese Religion. [A classic reference work, but based on literary studies — he never got nearer China than Vietnam.]

Jordan Paper. The Spirits are Drunk. [An American Jew who converted to Shénjiào, he deals with both early history and modern practice, concentrating on ritual, ecstatic experience, and women in religion. He includes a rather amusing evaluation of Christianity by his Chinese wife.]

Naturally, I also have the Confucian classics and the Dàodé Jīng.

Hello everyone!

I'm a Shenist practitioner from Singapore. Most of my current knowledge is passed down from my parents and relatives, hence I do not have a very deep understanding of most of the meaning and reason behind rituals and the like. I wish to move more seasoned practitioners come to this subreddit in the future.

For now, feel free to ask me anything about Shenism, and I will do my best to answer them.

Thank you!

大家好！

我是來自新加坡的神教徒。我絕大部分關於神教的知識都是由父母及親戚傳授給我的，所以並不具備對禮儀及玄學的深入理解。希望將來會有更多更資深的教徒來給大家科普。

如果大家有任何問題，我會盡力回答的。

謝謝！

Welcome to the r/Shenism subreddit!

Please read through and familiarise yourself with our community rules and posting guide before engaging in the community.

You may want to add a personal flair, it is located near the left side of the subreddit, under the “About Community” section, find the “USER FLAIR PREVIEW” section. Flair should be rendered in the form “(Location) (Main deity/sect)”.

A general list of sects (non-exhaustive) can be found here.

Shenism, also known as Chinese folk religion, is a general term covering a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. It can be described as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled with the contents of institutionalised religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, the Chinese syncretic religions".

As an active practitioner, you may share pictures or other media of you practising Shenism. Ideas include altars, pilgrimages, sutras and scriptures, and chants. Pictures of statues are allowed but please do not take flash or excessive amounts of photos of deities in temples/monasteries, this practice is disrespectful to the deities and their adherence.

If you are interested in Shenism but not an active practitioner, you can post questions about Shenism and active practitioners may answer your queries.

Check out our wiki for more information on Shenism!

Thank you for joining the community, and making sure that it is an open and inclusive community!

歡迎來到 r/Shenism -神教副設。

發文前請先閲讀並熟悉本副設的規則及貼文指南。

你可以添加用戶標簽，請到 “About Community” > “USER FLAIR PREVIEW” 來添加或更換標簽。標簽應以「（地區）（主信仰/教派）」的形式呈現。

可以參考本副設的神教教派列表(非完整)。

神教或中國民間信仰是指一種發源自遠古時期以自然崇拜和祖先崇拜為基礎的多神論發散性宗教，包含道教、儒教、大乘佛教、原始巫覡宗教等諸多宗教元素，但在信仰實踐中通常不作區分，奉行相互貫通的宗教融合主義。

如果你是現神教徒，可以在此分享你信奉神教的各個方面，包括「祭壇擺設、朝聖旅途、經書閲讀抄寫、念經過程、等等」。本副設允許寺廟裡神祗雕像的相片，但請絕勿過度重拍同一尊神像，或拍照時使用閃光，對神祗及教徒此行為是極不禮貌的，本副設絕不包容此惡行。

如果你對神教有興趣，但不是現行神教徒。可以在此副設對教徒發提問貼文。

也不妨參考我們的維基。

謝謝您光臨本紅迪副設，並確保它能成為一個開放及包容的社會。