# Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 1/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V
The Domestic Altar 家神
The domestic altar is called chia k‘an hsiang huo 家龕香火 or shên k‘an 神龕 or shên kuei 丨櫃; on the upper part is an incense pot; in the niche or cupboard is t‘u ti 土地 the precinct god. This shrine is the last thing to leave the house when the habitants remove, and as long as it is there the owner of it claims to be in possession. When he removes the cupboard he invites the domestic gods to follow him, ch‘ing chia-shên 請家神, the colloquial for worshipping them being kung 供 chia-shên.
The Heaven and Earth tablet 天地君親師 t‘ien ti chün ch‘in shih is dedicated to Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Ancestors and Teachers. It is said this tablet originated with Ssŭ tzŭ Yen wang 四子燕王 of the Han dynasty. Before he became emperor he fled before soldiers seeking to kill him, but stopped at the request of some friendly folk who asked him to write a tablet for the family altar. He wrote the above five characters, and explained that "Heaven has a covering grace, Earth a supporting grace," and so on.
​Another account says they were written by 漢班超, Pan chao, also of the Han dynasty. Both men may have done it, but the former story is the more generally believed.
The writing of a family altar tablet is an important matter with many people. The wisest and most learned man available is asked to write it; he puts on his best official robes and breathes upon his pencil to give life to it and to the tablet.
The ancient ancestral tablet 門中歷代高曾遠祖位 mên chung li tai kao tsêng yüan tsu wei, has largely been ousted by the Heaven and Earth tablet; but some scholars still use it because they consider Heaven and Earth are only to be worshipped by the emperor. The ancestral tablet is only written to three generations next to the living head of the family, but in all, eighteen are included, nine ascending generations and nine descending. The nine dead are named, 鼻祖 pi tsu, nose ancestor, or first ancestor; so called because the nose is the part supposed to be first conceived is the womb; 2, yüan 遠 or distant, 3, tʽai 太 great; 4, lieh 烈 illustrious; 5, tʽien 天 heavenly; 6, kao 高 high; each of these adjectives being joined to tsu, ancestor; the deceased great-grandfather, grandfather and father are respectively 7, tsêng tsu 曾祖, 8, tsu kung 祖公 and 9, hsien kʽao 顯考. The nine descending generations are the son, called nan. 男, and the rest are sun 孫 grandson combined with the following adjectives: ssŭ 祀, hsüan 玄, lai 來, kʽun 晜, jêng 礽 yün 雲, and êrh 耳; the last name being again on the supposition that the ear is the latest member formed.
These eighteen generations come within the scope of the family altar. Sometimes, for brevity, pi tsu represents the ancestors and êrh sun the posterity.
Thus in ancestral worship prayer is made to the departed heads of the family for a long continuation of the line; this is spoken of as 香爐灰不斷 hsiang lu hui pu tuan, to perpetuate the ashes in the incense pot. There can be no greater insult than to empty out the ashes from the incense urn; and for fear of this being done many old people will not permit the family altar to be touched by anyone.
To obtain sons they make pilgrimages to distant shrines; a man on changing his residence invokes the spirits of his ​ancestors to follow him. Everything pertaining to idolatry may be given up easily, but ancestor worship only with great difficulty. Some have pretended to be without a family altar, while they have still been continuing the worship in a secluded part of the house. This is the kernel of the religion of the Chinese; fear of the displeasure of departed ancestors is very real, and no expense is spared to make their spirits rest in peace.
The idea of transmigration or rather rotation of souls seems to be found in this altar, and the tzŭ p‘ai 字派 of the family bears this out. Most families use only sixteen names; but some have thirty-two and a few have twenty-four; when these have run their course the round begins afresh, and the spirits of ancestors are probably supposed to do the same.
The furniture in the chief room in the house does not belong to any individual member of the family, but is attached to the family altar and is family property.
A tablet to three classes of religions is not uncommon, and in some homes it takes the place of the Heaven and Earth tablet. It includes (1) 上三教 shang san chiao, the upper three religions, viz.—Confucius 儒教孔聖 ju chiao K‘ung shêng; the Taoist Sage 道教老君 tao chiao Lao chün; Buddha, 釋教牟尼 Shih chiao mu ni. (2) Chung 中 san chiao, the middle three religions: the god of Literature 文昌帝君 Wên Ch‘ang ti chün; the god of War 銀闕大帝 Yin ch‘üeh ta ti; the god of dark Heaven 玄天上帝 hsüan t‘ien shang ti. (3) Hsia 下 san chiao, the lower three religions: the god of Medicine 藥王菩薩 Yo wang p‘u sa; the goddess of Mercy 觀音大士 Kuan Yin ta shih; the god of cattle Niu 牛 wang p‘u sa.
On this tablet there is also written 歷代昭穆 li tai chao mu, to the ancestors far and near.
At the outer left hand side of the door as one enters a house may be seen an idol or tablet to the Taoist trinity, 三品三元三官大帝 san p‘in san yuan san küan ta ti. The worshipper bows to the outside as he is supposed to be worshipping heaven. The idol is generally a painting about a foot square.
​The Kitchen god 竈神 Tsao shên, is the universally worshipped god of the kitchen, who preserves the lives of the families from starvation and poison. There is said to be a wife also, who acts as the god's deputy when he ascends to heaven on the 23rd of each month to give in his monthly report. In the last moon he goes up to report to the heavenly emperor on the family's conduct through the year. Before he goes incense is burned on his altar, and sugar candy offered him to gain his favour and get a good report.
He is said to have been Sui jên 燧人 the Prometheus who taught the Chinese how to get fire. The belief dates back to the mythological period. Fire was then produced by driving a drill into different kinds of wood according to the seasons; in spring the elm and willow were used; in summer the date and apricot, or in late summer the silk-worm oak; in autumn the gardenia and rosewood, and in winter the oak and hornbeam.
The kitchen god has been styled the lord of the house. He has two assistants, the stick-gatherer 搬柴童子 pan chʽai tʽung tzŭ, and the water-carrier 運水郎君 yün shui lang chün. He is chiefly worshipped in his niche in the kitchen, but occasionally in the chief room. He takes special care of the domestic animals, chickens, cats, dogs, etc., and sometimes a picture of these is put up just below his shrine. In the kitchen fire nothing dirty may be burned, for fear of offending him, nor may flesh of dog or cow be cooked in his pot. No quarrelling is allowed in the kitchen, lest he should hear and report, 一家吵鬧使我不安我必降災廚登牛犬穢氣觸我我必降災.
"If in kitchen vessels the vile odour of dog or cow annoys me I will send calamity; if the family quarrels and disturbs me I will send calamity."
The domestic lares are husband and wife, 長生土地 chʽang shêng tʽu ti and 瑞慶夫人 jui chʽing fu jên. The domestic god of the soil bestows long life, and his wife gives good luck to the household. His place in the house is just below the Heaven and Earth tablet, and special offerings are made to him on the 7th of the 7th moon.
​If the family worships a tʽan shên 壇神 or altar of lemuria or shades, then that spirit looks after the animals; otherwise the duty falls on this tutelary god and the kitchen god. Often when a child falls sick or the pig gets the measles, an offering is made to this god. He has two slaves, chao tʽsai 招財 and chin pao 進寶. These names are often given to dogs; hence a saying 來狗主富 lai kou chu fu, when a dog comes he rules the riches.
Tʽan shên is the altar of the lemuria or ghosts. The spirit is believed to be a man named Chao, 趙 formerly prefect in Nan Yang. The altar is in the left-hand corner of the chief room. Some are fixed shrines, others are moveable and are often a hollow stone in which incense is burned. It is mostly used by the superstitious wealthy.
Every three or five years there is a 'tranquillizing' ceremony: see under Sorcery and particularly under the heading ching tʽan.
When a family changes its abode or when anything unlucky has happened in the house the family altar has to be pacified 安神 an shên. This is the work of the huo chü tao 火居道, married Taoist Sorcerer.
The same class of priest is used for the worship of heaven 供天 kung tʽien. During this ceremony the family altar is covered with a chart or tablet. A table is placed outside the door under the open sky and an offering of incense and candles is made.
The ceremony is most commonly performed when the paying back of a vow is required. A son may, for example, vow to offer to heaven so many sets of candles and incense sticks if a parent is healed of a sickness, or gains a lawsuit, or has a safe journey. A set means 32 of each kind, but if a Buddhist priest officiates (which is seldom, except at a funeral), the set is only 24.
What would appear to have been originally an exceptionally pure act of worship is now often a pretext for gratifying the lowest passions. For instance a man may vow an offering to heaven if a certain enemy dies or has his line of succession cut off, and the like.
​The tablet used is 三十二天帝中央一𠀘梵天帝君 san shih êrh tʽien shang ti chung yang i chʽi fan tʽien ti chün; or a Buddhist priest uses 二十四諸天菩薩無量世尊 êrh shih ssŭ chu tʽien pʽu sa wu liang shih tsun.
Note that there is one incense stick and one candle for each spirit worshipped.
Another ceremony is the worshipping or thanking Earth kung ti 供地 or hsieh tʽu 謝土.
This is deemed necessary when a house has been repaired, the dragon having possibly been disturbed; or when a new house is first occupied, or when 土府不安 tʽu fu pu an, the place does not agree with the resident. This is indicated perhaps by his digging up some unlucky thing, such as tʽu lung tan 土龍蛋 dragon's eggs, which are black, soft balls with contents like blood: in such cases there is need to worship Earth. Or it may be necessary because a geomancer states that the resident is at variance with the five capital evils 五皇煞 wu huang sha, or with those of the current year sui 歲 sha, or with that of the yellow flag huang fan 黄幡 sha or that of the leopard's tail pao wei 豹尾 sha; when Earth is worshipped these disturbing spirits are worshipped.
This ceremony also is managed by a married Taoist sorcerer. A table is set outside the house and candles and incense lighted on it. On the ground the four points of the compass are marked by lines of dry lime, a candle being stuck in the earth at each extremity of the lines and in the centre. Sometimes, especially when the fault is with the house itself, the ceremony is performed in the chief room.
Five tablets are set up to the five dragons of the five points wu lung shên 五龍神, inscribed with 東方青帝青龍神君 tung fang chʽing ti chʽing lung shên chün, the eastern green dragon spirit, and similarly for the other four, which are the southern red, the western white, the northern black, and the central yellow dragon spirits. Along with these tablets there are others to the gods of the five planets; in the east the wood-virtue god (Jupiter), while south, west, north and middle are the gods of fire-virtue (Mars), metal-virtue (Venus), water-virtue (Mercury), and earth-virtue (Saturn) respectively. The inscriptions are 東方木德星君 tung fang mu tê hsing chün, etc.
​The five dragons and five planets have an intimate association with the five cardinal tenets of the secret societies.
Another tablet of a more general nature is set up, 土府九壘高皇大帝 tʽu fu chiu lei kao huang ta ti. This is for worshipping the god of springs and placating the five dragons. Tʽu fu seems to include the whole family of Earth, while chiu lei is said to refer to the nine continents.
There is also a somewhat similar ceremony of worshipping the gods of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, Rain, Sun, Moon and Stars; the tablets being Fêng po 風伯 (fêng, wind); this was a statesman of the T'ang dynasty named Kʽuei Chêng 魏徵. He is said to have killed the five-horned dragon. Yü Shih 雨師 (yü, rain), a statesman of the Yin dynasty, by name Fu Yüeh 傅説. Le tsu 雷詛 (lei, thunder) is said to have been Wên tʽai shih 文太師. And lastly Yün lung 雲龍, the cloud dragon. The sun is the emperor, the moon the empress, the planets the statesmen, the larger stars the provincial officials and the smaller stars, the people.
There is also thanksgiving to the Fire-star, 謝火星君 hsieh huo hsing chün, both a parochial and a domestic affair. We here speak only of the domestic side, the other being dealt with under the Feast of All Souls. When there has been anything approaching to a conflagration in the house, or anything to indicate that the fire-demon is in the ascendant, a few pieces of red-hot coal are taken from the kitchen fire, put into a jar, and extinguished with water, while the priest chants the incantations necessary to drive the demon from the house.
Those who live by rivers and marshes worship or thank the Water-star 謝水星 hsieh shui hsing, hoping to be thus saved from flood. In this ritual the dragon of the five cardinal points is the chief object of worship. A jug of water is brought from the river, and the priest chants his incantations over it. After the ceremony both jug and water are taken outside and thrown away.