Why do people enter the ancestral temple after death? "Ancestral Hall", also known as "Ancestral Hall", is a place where ancestral tablets are enshrined, sacrifices are made, family rules are enforced, weddings and funerals are held, children and grandchildren are dealt with, and important affairs within the clan are discussed. Why did the man enter the ancestral temple after his death?
Why do people enter the ancestral temple after death? 1 The ancestral hall represents a family. He was in the ancestral temple when he was alive. It means you have a place in this family. Entering the ancestral temple after death is equivalent to bringing you into the family and letting future generations know about you. The rulers of China paid great attention to this issue, but the education at that time was not as popular as it is now, so that every citizen could have the right to education. In contrast, the ancients paid more attention to family. They set up ancestral temples and made family rules. Therefore, there is a saying that "one person gets the word, and chickens and dogs ascend to heaven".
Geomantic omen knowledge in ancestral temple architecture
Ancestral temple is the home temple of a clan, which is used to worship ancestors' spirits, pray for blessings, continue a pulse of incense and reproduce future generations. It is also a place for gathering and discussing when there are related major events in the clan. In recent years, ancestral halls have been rebuilt in many places. Now it seems that this is a part of China's national culture and the inheritance of clan culture, which has positive social significance. The ancestral temple geomantic omen is related to the rise and fall of a place and a clan, and it must not be taken lightly.
The fundamental goal pursued by Feng Shui is the harmonious balance between Yin and Yang. Before a set of western theories, such as landscape design, planning and design, and architecture, were introduced to China in the 1920s, which city, village and famous building in China was not built under the guidance of Feng Shui? "Feng Shui" was first seen in the Book of Burials written by Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty: "The burials are angry, but the qi is dispersed by the wind, and the boundary water stops. The ancients gathered to do it, so they stopped doing it. So it's called feng shui. The method of feng shui is to get water first and then hide the wind. "
This is the earliest definition of Feng Shui. It can be seen that the technique of geomantic omen, that is, the technique of knowing each other, is the core of people's choice of living or burying environment and dealing with the law of cosmic change, so as to achieve the goal of seeking good fortune and avoiding evil. Feng Shui can be divided into Yang Zhai and Yin Zhai.
The core idea of Feng Shui is the harmony between man and nature. Early geomantic omen is mainly related to the site selection, orientation, construction methods and principles of palaces, houses, villages and cemeteries. Its original intention is to choose a suitable place. Feng shui has a long history. In ancient times, geomantic omen prevailed in China cultural circle, which was a very important factor in daily life. Later, it developed into looking for funeral terrain.
Generally speaking, living in a place with good feng shui symbolizes the prosperity of personnel and hopes that future generations will be rich and outstanding. Strictly speaking, it is a geographical location or environment (so-called "good feng shui") that conforms to the principles and standards of "rich" and "expensive" in Feng Shui.
Feng Shui was also called "Feng Shui" in ancient times. In the ancient literary sense of China, "Kan" means heaven and high place, while "Yu" means tunnel and low place. "Kanyu" refers to the study of the relationship between heaven and earth, especially the terrain.
Feng shui has a long history. In ancient times, geomantic omen prevailed in the cultural circle of China, and it was a very important factor in food, clothing, housing and transportation. Many documents related to Feng Shui have been preserved. According to documents, ancient geomantic omen was mostly used in the site selection of towns and villages, as well as the construction of palaces, and later developed to find funeral terrain.
Function of ancestral temple
Ancestral temples have the functions of uniting clans, offering sacrifices, uniting and soliciting clans, promoting cultural education and cultural functions (public welfare).
1. In the ancestral hall, people get together to discuss, drink water and think about their origins, remember the achievements of their ancestors, celebrate their kindness, and think about their ancestors into wine, and the concept of ancestor worship is further strengthened.
2. Running a school in the ancestral temple. In the past, most ancestral halls were schools. For example, in the early days of liberation, there was a school in the Bao ancestral hall in Qiantang, my town, and its side room was also called "Xiawu".
3. In the old days, ancestral temples all had ancestral businesses such as sacrificial fields, righteous fields and Confucian fields, also known as "public fields". The income of Yitian is used for apportioning or donating to the poor, widowed, orphaned and widowed in families, as well as public welfare undertakings such as famine relief, temple building, bridge building and paving roads. Confucian Zitian is committed to promoting learning and subsidizing all ethnic groups to take the imperial examinations. Children of ethnic minorities who go out to take exams will be provided with travel expenses. If they pass the exam, the ancestral hall (the public) will help education. The cost of offering sacrifices to fields for ancestor worship ceremonies, etc.
4. In the old days, genealogy was also an important work in the daily management of clan management. Compile genealogy and record the names of all the men and women in the clan, so as to comprehensively document, trace back to the source, know the root, distinguish the main branches, distinguish the Ming lineage, exclude Zhao Mu, describe the clan style, cherish family ties, promote virtue and aspire to the status quo.
As Sun Yat-sen said on genealogy: "Genealogy describes the expansion of the Chinese nation from clan unity to national unity. This is a good traditional concept unique to China people and should be used. " "The relationship between China's citizens and the state structure begins with the family, then the clan, and then the state."
Why do people enter the ancestral temple after death? 2 Ancestral Temple: the material carrier for offering sacrifices and communicating with ancestors.
In ancient times, whether it was the royal aristocrats or the common people, the similar building with religious nature which had the closest relationship with families and clans was the "ancestral hall". "Temple Fair" originally refers to an activity of offering sacrifices to ancestors in spring, which is the season when everything recovers.
At the same time, it is also a suitable season for animals to start mating and breeding, so it is not difficult to understand that "shrine" activities are held in spring: on the one hand, it is to provide food for dead ancestors, on the other hand, it is also to get the blessing of ancestors and carry on the family line. Therefore, there are not many sacrifices commonly used in temple sacrifices, but the sacrificial words are very long.
The place of sacrifice can be an empty place or in a building. Because of the lack of a symbolic sacrificial object, it is necessary to artificially create a sacrificial object, that is, Kong Ying Da said that "the temple has a subject". In the sacrificial ceremony, the "Lord" is the master of the temple. In ancient times, the "Lord" was generally made of wood, so it was called "God Lord" and "Wood Lord". Now is the "memorial tablet".
The types of temples can be divided into several types:
1, Sacrificing to the True God: The story about Gou Jian, the King of Yue, was recorded in the preface to Yue Jue Shu De in Han Dynasty. After ten years of hard work, Gou Jian finally defeated Wu at one fell swoop and washed away the shame of the country, but he dared not forget history. In order to thank God for his blessing, he built shrines in many places and offered sacrifices regularly.
2. "Memorial Hall"-a shrine built for the sages: According to the Biography of Hanshi Historical Records and Wen Weng, Wen Weng was a scholar who was proficient in Confucianism. In the last years of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, he served as the prefect of Shu County and founded many schools. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, schools in various parts of Shu County had become a common practice, and the local atmosphere had greatly improved. In order to commemorate Wen Weng's achievements, officials and people set up a ancestral hall for Wen Weng.
The last one is the ancestral temple that we are familiar with. The ancestral hall evolved from paternalism, which is equivalent to the ancient "temple".
Now people often say "ancestral hall", often referring to the last kind of "ancestral hall", which is actually the product of the expansion and popularization of patriarchal clan system.
The ancestral temple in China has a long history, which appeared in the Han Dynasty, but the real large-scale development and utilization was in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The appearance of ancestral temple means the gradual disintegration of traditional ritual system and the formation of new patriarchal clan system. The ancestral temple is equivalent to the ancient ancestral temple. "Ancestors, ancestors, ancestors, ancestors. Future generations still cherish their thoughts! Still thinking about it! "
In this way, the function of the ancestral hall is also very clear: identify the relationship between relatives and friends, respect ancestors, connect the feelings of the same clan, and unite relatives within the clan. In fact, this has always been the feature and purpose of the patriarchal clan system in China, which is still widely circulated in modern times, but the scale is much smaller than that in ancient times.
Why do people enter the ancestral temple after death? What is the function of ancestral temple?
In TV series, we often see some scenes where a group of elders gather in front of the ancestral hall to discuss important things, and their place is usually the ancestral hall. What is the function of ancestral temple? This video will introduce the function of ancestral temple.
The ancestral temple is a place for Confucianism and offering sacrifices to ancestors or sages. Ancestral temples have many uses besides ancestor worship. It is worth noting that clan relatives sometimes hold meetings in ancestral halls to discuss important affairs within the clan.
In ancient Confucian ethics in China, the concept of family is quite profound. Often a family or several families with the same surname live in a village, and most of them build their own temples to worship their ancestors. Ancestral temples often appear not only in China, but also in Japan.
The name of the ancestral hall first appeared in the Han Dynasty, and it is generally called the ancestral hall. Ancestral halls can be divided into ancestral halls, branch halls and family halls. At that time, ancestral halls were all built in graves. The book Family Rites written by Zhu, an outstanding philosopher in the Southern Song Dynasty, began to establish the ancestral temple system, and from then on he called the family ancestral temple the ancestral temple. At that time, the construction level of ancestral halls was limited, and people were not allowed to set up ancestral halls. By the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1522- 1566), all Xu people had joined the temple. Later, when you became an emperor or gave Hou a surname, you could call it a family temple, and the rest were called ancestral temples.
Ancestral temples have many uses besides offering sacrifices to ancestors. The ancestral hall is also the place where clan leaders exercise clan rights. Anyone who violates clan rules will be educated, dealt with and even expelled from the ancestral hall, so it can also be said to be a moral court in feudal times. Ancestral temples can also be used as social places for families.
Some ancestral temples have affiliated schools where children of ethnic minorities go to school. Because of this, ancestral temple buildings are generally larger and of better quality than residential buildings. The more powerful and wealthy families, the more exquisite their ancestral halls are. The tall hall, exquisite carvings and excellent materials have become the symbol of this family's glory.
Most ancestral halls have hall numbers. The hall number, written by the great calligrapher surnamed Zong, was made into a gold plaque and hung high in the main hall; Next to it are plaques on the origin of surnames, ethnic pride and female chastity, and exquisite couplets. If it is sealed by the emperor, you can make a straight plaque.
The specifications and quantity of plaques in the ancestral hall are the capital that the people show off. Some ancestral halls have flagpole stones in front of them, indicating that the people have won fame. Generally speaking, ancestral halls have surnames and shrines. In the old society, clan rules were very strict, not to mention foreign surnames, that is, women or underage children in the clan were not allowed to enter without authorization, otherwise they would be severely punished.
After liberation, especially during the movement in the 1960s, ancestral halls in northern China were basically demolished, smashed or converted into office buildings. Ancestor ranking, including some genealogies hidden in it, was basically burned. Now it's hard to see ancestral temples in the north, and many people don't know why and what they are used for. In the south, such as Fujian, Guangdong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan and so on. More ancestral temples have been preserved.