Many foreigners believe that China is a country without religious beliefs, but this idea is not rigorous.
Although there are no indigenous religions in our country that are similar to Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam, although there are not many devout believers in our Country's Taoist beliefs. However, the "ancestral faith" of Chinese is not possessed by foreigners.
Chinese has experienced a patrilineal society for a long time, so the degree of worship of ancestors or patrilineals is much higher than that of people in other countries. For example, the first thing the founding emperors of successive dynasties did after the enthronement ceremony was to posthumously seal their paternal lineage. The most typical is the Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, who after becoming emperor, successively posthumously named his patrilineal ancestors as the former emperors, and even named Li Er in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty as Tang Shengzu.
The Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi followed the principle of "brother and brother" to the throne, so his father was not an emperor. However, after Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, he began to crown his father Zhang Luo as an impractical emperor, and thus quarreled with Wen wuqun for more than ten years, setting off a "dispute over great gifts". The people of the old society had no opinion, and everything they did was against the ruler, which was to "work upwards and downwards." The emperor attached so much importance to the status of the deceased ancestors, and the common people were not far behind.
Of course, as a flat-headed people, they did not have the economic strength to engage in a huge posthumous ceremony like Emperor Laozi, nor did they have the ability to write the names of their patrilineal ancestors in the historical materials, so the way of the common people was different from that of the emperor. Ordinary people attach great importance to the funeral rites of their ancestors, and thus derive a set of funeral customs that are very different from the style of the outside world, and even form a unique funeral culture.
Most Western countries, when burying ancestors, just find a quiet place and bury them under a monument or a cross, which is nothing more complicated than Chinese funeral rites. Chinese there are many factors to consider when burying ancestors.
The first is Ji Lang, which is the treasure land of feng shui. The people who paid attention to the old society either followed the "Zhou Yi" to find Ji Lang, or simply found a knowledgeable feng shui gentleman and picked a treasure place with excellent feng shui. Moreover, in the process of burial, both the ceremony and the time are exquisite.
The most elaborate part of the ancient funerary is undoubtedly the tombstone.
The ancestors were buried in the ground for a long time, and the descendants could only find the ancestors' Jilang through the tombstones, which is the only evidence that can prove the existence of the ancestors. The tombstone, equivalent to the face and "identity card" of the deceased person, is also written in the above text format and typesetting.
Every year in the Qingming Dynasty, when sweeping the tombs of the ancestors, posterity can see the "inscription" on the tombstones. Although the format and content of the inscriptions of each ancestor are different, they generally contain the four words "why, xian, kao, and concubine".
However, with the decline of Old Chinese, people today do not know what the meaning of these four words represents, nor do they know what their deep meaning is. In fact, through the four words of "so, xian, kao, and concubine", we can obtain a lot of information, such as: the generations of the ancestors, and the relationship with the person who erected the monument.
So, what are the meanings of the four words "why, why, why, kao, and 妣" refer to?
In addition to the case of "white-haired people send black-haired people", most of the tombstones are erected by descendants for the deceased elders, so the inscriptions usually begin with "So First Examination" or "Former Concubine", followed by the family logo "XX Clan" to which the deceased belonged, and then, the name of the ancestor, and finally, the word "Tomb" should be added.
Here, the easiest to understand is the word "so". The usage of this word is the same in both ancient and modern times. The so-called "so" means to die and pass away, representing physical death in the medical sense and social death in the public sense. Whether ancient or modern, people are very sensitive to such words symbolizing death, and if you write "xx" on the tombstone directly, it is undoubtedly the greatest disrespect to the deceased. Of course, in ancient times, when attention was paid to posthumous affairs, this situation would never occur, so posterity replaced it with "so". A simple "why" word clearly expresses the fact that the ancestors have passed away, but also does not lose respect.
Similarly, there is the word "explicit". Although the meaning of "manifestation" and "so" are the same, when reading this word, people will not only think of the state of the end of life, but also feel that the identity of the deceased person is prominent. The so-called "manifestation" also has the meaning of prominence and nobility. In ancient times, this word was often used on the tombstones of deceased people of high-gate households to indicate the distinctive identity of the deceased. If the word "xian" is used on the tombstone of an ancestor in someone's ancestral home, it means that the identity of the ancestor is very noble and has an extraordinary social status at that time.
The deceased person of the ordinary people's family, because there is no official knight in his body, is not qualified to use the word "xian", so the word "first" used for the harmonic sound of "xian" means the same meaning. This word is also full of respect, such as: "first father", "first teacher", "first emperor", "first emperor", etc. that often appear in ancient books, are all honorific titles for deceased people.
The words "kao and 妣" are obviously much more obscure literally than "therefore and obviously", but the difficulty of understanding them is not high. The so-called "examination" means father; "concubine" means mother. However, these two words cannot be used in the living, but are honorifics for the deceased. Therefore, the "first examination" on the tombstone is a monument erected by the child for the deceased father; the "first concubine" indicates that this monument was erected by the child for the deceased mother.
Of course, according to the literature, the application of the words "explicit and first" in various places is inconsistent, and it may be related to the difference in customs or culture. For example, in some areas, people believe that if one of the parents dies and one is still alive, the word "xian" will be used only when the parents are not alive.
Again, no matter what the customs of each place are, the words "kao, you" can only be used on deceased people. If you use these two words for the living, it is far from making a joke, which is undoubtedly the greatest disrespect to parents.
Therefore, the four words of "first", "kao", and "concubine" have a very important meaning on the tombstone, and are generally written in the most central position of the tombstone. This way of writing is also called "middle list".
Although they are all written in the middle, some of the details of the "middle list" are still slightly different, and the meaning of the reference also has its own connotation.
Take the two words "kao, 妣", the use of these two words has been mentioned in the previous article, but if these two words appear in the form of "kao yu", what is the meaning? "Kao Yu" means to be buried together with father and mother. Because of the supremacy of male power in ancient Chinese society, the word "kao" representing the father should naturally be written in front, and "concubine" is on the right. In ancient China, the male left and the female right were actually male superiority and female inferiority.
There are also some tombstones in the cemetery, and the words "Kao, Yu" do not appear, what does this mean?
Obviously, the monument was not erected by the children of the deceased. For example, if the elder brother dies and the younger brother erects a monument for the elder brother, the word "kao" cannot be used, and only the two honorific titles of "former brother" or "old brother" can be used.
Careful people will surely find that the number of words in the vast majority of tombstones is regular, usually 11 words, 12 words, 16 words, 17 words, 21 words, 22 words. In fact, this is not a coincidence, but a kind of feng shui in the emphasis, is for "hop life and old age".
In Feng Shui, the five numbers "1, 2, 3, 4, and 5" represent "birth, old age, illness, death, and suffering, respectively." Obviously, compared with the latter three, the meaning of life and old age is more auspicious. 11 characters, 12 words, 16 words, 17 words, 21 words, 22 words, are all in the process of the sequence of 5 as a cycle, referring to the "raw" or "old" numbers, is the auspicious number. If other murders are used, there is no doubt that the three evils of "illness, death, and suffering" will not only hinder the peace of death of the deceased, but also adversely affect the descendants who are still alive.
For example, the "middle list" of "the tomb of the old Confucian Lord Guo Gong Houzhi" is no more than twelve words. Cycle according to the sequence of "birth, old age, illness, death, suffering", and the twelve words are exactly in line with the word "old". In the eyes of feng shui scholars, this is the "old position", which is auspicious, so it is called "Hopson Old".
Therefore, when future generations erect monuments for their ancestors, they must make up the number of words in the middle list into "Hopson Old", and they will not hesitate to add or subtract words for this reason. For example, if the number of words in the tombstone is thirteen words, then the "zigzag" of "tomb" is deleted and ended in the form of "XX tomb". If the name of the list is only ten characters, then add the words "Emperor, Qing, Gu, Xian" in front of it, or add the name to meet the requirements of "Hopson".
Of course, the rules of "Hopson" are not only applicable to tombstones. When the juniors send the words and paintings of the elders, they must also meet the requirements of the "Hopson Elder" in the number of words mentioned, if the number of words is not correct, the elders who pay attention to it will inevitably offend the younger generations of the words and paintings with bad meaning.
There is only one step between folk culture and feudal superstition, and the topic we are discussing today is actually not feudal superstition. This kind of culture that conforms to the ancestral beliefs of Chinese folk and does not hurt the people's wealth is actually part of Chinese folklore.
Looking back at the remark at the beginning of the article that foreigners commented on Chinese, "there is no faith", it is a bit funny. The origins of Chinese culture are far more profound than those of other countries. Since we were born in China, we have been influenced and nourished by traditional culture.
It can be said that the traditional culture of our country has been integrated into the details of daily life. Chinese is born in the world, every word he says, every action he does, there are allusions and exquisiteness behind it.
It's just that we're in it, and we've taken it as a norm and don't think it's just a belief or a culture.