A Brief review of Taoist blessings and rituals drawing from the example of the Spring Festival

Song, Chongdao (author), Čeh, Jure (author)

This article offers a brief introduction to Taoist rituals that are performed to seek blessings. The focus is especially on the Taoist blessing ceremonies that take place during the Spring Festival, which is now recognized as a United Nations floating holiday since 2024. The article explains that Taoist rituals for blessings have been performed since ancient times and can be divided into three categories: daily religious activities, festival rituals, and special religious activities. The article also briefly discusses other categorizing methods for Taoist rituals. The two major rites of Taoist rituals are Retreat (Zhai) and Offering (Jiao). Other important elements of Taoist rituals include the altar, scriptures, talismans, and more. As a religion that actively engages in social activities, Taoism is not only concerned with the self-cultivation and enlightenment of Taoists but also pays close attention to the demands and needs of the public. Serving the people has always been a fundamental principle of Taoism. It leads to a range of practices centred on individual wishes and blessings. The second and third categories of Taoist activities mentioned above are primarily oriented towards the purpose of blessing.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Taoism, the Spring Festival, blessings, Taoist retreat and offering, Quanzhen Taoism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.04 - Professional Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2024
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 255-269
• Numbering: Letn. 79, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-166208
• UDC: 221.3-534.3
• ISSN on article: 2335-4127
• DOI: 10.34291/Edinost/79/02/Song
• COBISS.SI-ID: 220265987
• Publication date in RUL: 24.12.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Edinost in dialog : revija za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog
• Publisher: Inštitut za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog pri Teološki fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, Inštitut za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog pri Teološki fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, Inštitut Stanka Janežiča za dogmatično, osnovno in ekumensko teologijo ter religiologijo in dialog, Teološka fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2335-4127
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268194560

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Kratka predstavitev daoističnih blagoslovov in obredja na primeru praznovanja kitajskega novega leta (Praznovanje pomladi)

Abstract

Daoizem je prvobitna kitajska religija, ki je vsrkana v vse pore kitajske družbe že več kot 4700 let. Izhaja iz raznolikih oblik ljudskega verovanja, ki je vključevalo šamanske in zdravilne prakse ter uporabo talismanov in poudarjalo pomembnost odnosa med človekom in naravo. Zaradi raznovrstnih religioznih praks, iz katerih se je razvil, so mnenja o tem, kdaj in kako je nastal, še vedno deljena. Njegovo obredje bi lahko razvrstili v tri kategorije: vsakodnevna religiozna praksa, praznični rituali in obredje za posebne priložnosti. Posebej pomembna sta rituala odmika (Zhai) in darovanja (Jiao), ki sta temeljna za krepitev vere in tudi za oblikovanje krepostne osebnosti, ki se zaveda pomena usklajenosti s potjo Neba, hvaležnosti do prednikov in okolja, v katerem biva, ter dobrobiti, ki jo s svojim ravnanjem prikliče v življenje. V prispevku je predstavljeno predvsem obredje daoizma Quanzhen.

• Keywords: daoizem, pomladni praznik, kitajsko novo leto, daoistični oltar, daoistični blagoslov, daoistični odmik (Zhai), daoistična daritev (Jiao), Quanzhen, Zhengyi