- Title Pages
- Figures
- Charts
- Tables
- Foreword
- Introduction Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money
- Chapter 1 Some Occasional Rites Performed by the Singapore Cantonese
- Chapter 2 Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul, with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom
- Chapter 3 Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship
- Chapter 4 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese
- Chapter 5 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note
- Chapter 6 Chinese Women’s Vegetarian Houses in Singapore
- Chapter 7 Chinese Religion and Religious Institutions in Singapore
- Chapter 8 The Emergence and Social Function of Chinese Religious Associations in Singapore
- Chapter 9 The Great Way of Former Heaven: A Group of Chinese Secret Religious Sects
- Chapter 10 Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century
- Chapter 11 The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese
- Chapter 12 Capital, Saving and Credit among Indigenous Rice Farmers and Immigrant Vegetable Farmers in Hong Kong’s New Territories
- Chapter 13 Some Basic Conceptions and Their Traditional Relationship to Society
- Chapter 14 Chinese Occasional Rites in Hong Kong
- Chapter 15 Notes on Some Vegetarian Halls in Hong Kong Belonging to the Sect of <i>Hsien-T’ien Tao</i> (The Way of Former Heaven)
- Chapter 16 Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwangtung
- Chapter 17 Chinese Traditional Ideas and the Treatment of Disease: Two Examples from Hong Kong
- Chapter 18 Cosmic Antagonisms: A Mother-Child Syndrome
- Chapter 19 Chinese and Western Medicine in Hong Kong: Some Social and Cultural Determinants of Variation, Interaction and Change
- Chapter 20 Chinese Traditional Aetiology and Methods of Cure in Hong Kong
- Appendix
- Index
Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship
Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship
(1953)*
- Chapter:
- (p.72) (p.73) Chapter 3 Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship
- Source:
- Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore
- Author(s):
Marjorie Topley
, Jean DeBernardi- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
There are few Chinese rites for which some kind of paper charm or prayer sheet is not necessary. Some of these papers are specific to a particular rite but many may be used in a general way to cover most of the misfortunes which man may encounter wherever he lives. Some charms can be used for several or all of these purposes, but an individual may prefer, or by trial and error come to regard as more potent, a particular one of the many varieties available. Charms generally carry religious texts, sometimes in Sanskrit or Pali translated phonetically into Chinese characters, and some have a drawing of the god or saint appealed to. Mystic symbols are used to donate constellations, and archaic writing adds power to a charm. Paper charms are of various kinds, usually with the functions they claim to perform printed on them in bold letters. One of the commonest kinds is the fu2 amulet.
Keywords: Chinese rites, paper charm, prayer sheet, misfortunes, religious texts, Sanskrit, Pali, mystic symbols, amulet
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- Title Pages
- Figures
- Charts
- Tables
- Foreword
- Introduction Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money
- Chapter 1 Some Occasional Rites Performed by the Singapore Cantonese
- Chapter 2 Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul, with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom
- Chapter 3 Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship
- Chapter 4 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese
- Chapter 5 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note
- Chapter 6 Chinese Women’s Vegetarian Houses in Singapore
- Chapter 7 Chinese Religion and Religious Institutions in Singapore
- Chapter 8 The Emergence and Social Function of Chinese Religious Associations in Singapore
- Chapter 9 The Great Way of Former Heaven: A Group of Chinese Secret Religious Sects
- Chapter 10 Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century
- Chapter 11 The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese
- Chapter 12 Capital, Saving and Credit among Indigenous Rice Farmers and Immigrant Vegetable Farmers in Hong Kong’s New Territories
- Chapter 13 Some Basic Conceptions and Their Traditional Relationship to Society
- Chapter 14 Chinese Occasional Rites in Hong Kong
- Chapter 15 Notes on Some Vegetarian Halls in Hong Kong Belonging to the Sect of <i>Hsien-T’ien Tao</i> (The Way of Former Heaven)
- Chapter 16 Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwangtung
- Chapter 17 Chinese Traditional Ideas and the Treatment of Disease: Two Examples from Hong Kong
- Chapter 18 Cosmic Antagonisms: A Mother-Child Syndrome
- Chapter 19 Chinese and Western Medicine in Hong Kong: Some Social and Cultural Determinants of Variation, Interaction and Change
- Chapter 20 Chinese Traditional Aetiology and Methods of Cure in Hong Kong
- Appendix
- Index