Introduction to Incense Bags What is Incense Bags?

Introduction to Incense Bags What is Incense Bags?

Incense bags are religious relics containing images of gods, incense ashes, protection and safety charms and other symbols. They represent the spiritual power of the gods themselves to protect believers. Anyone who wears the incense bags of gods can obtain the blessings of the gods. Special blessing to eliminate disasters, resolve disasters, and bring peace and blessings. In particular, foreigners who are far away from home and working in other places often carry incense bags of gods worshiped in their hometown with them to pray for protection and safety. Especially since the Ming and Qing dynasties in Taiwan, many early immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong often brought gods or incense bags from their hometowns to Taiwan for protection. There are even legends about the construction of some temples. In order to go to the toilet on their way, believers temporarily hung the incense bags on the trees on the way, but suddenly they emitted a strange light, knowing that the gods wanted to exert their divine power here to protect the villagers. the start of.

The incense bag contains incense ash and incense. The origin of the so-called "incense" can be traced back to the ancient classics "The Book of Songs" and "Shangshu" of the Zhou Dynasty. "Poetry? Song of Zhou? Wei Qing": "Weiqing Jixi, the canon of King Wen. Zhaozhen. So far, it has been used successfully, Weizhou Zhen." This means that the system of emperors cleansing and sacrificing smoke began with the sacrifice of King Wen of Zhou. The Qingming festival has been spreading continuously. But at that time, it was not in the form of burning incense, but in the sacrificial area, a large amount of burnt wood was burned to the sky, and the smoke of the burnt wood was slowly rising into the sky. This phenomenon continued until the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After the spices from the Western Regions were introduced to China, the real era of burning incense began.

The contents of a general incense bag mainly include: the talisman of the main god of the temple, and the red seal stamped by the main god; or it contains the incense ashes (incense) of the main furnace. In the early days, red cloth bags with the names of gods written on them were often used for filling. Later, with the advent of modern printing paper technology and the mass production of plastic sleeves, it became popular to fill small plastic sleeves with photos of gods printed on them. A red cotton rope will be added for believers to wear the rope and hang it around their necks, or hang it from cars, trucks, etc., for daily safety or safety when driving. If there is no space to place a statue of a deity at home, or it is not convenient to worship a deity, you can generally use the deity’s incense bag to pray for blessings. When believers pray to the gods for incense bags to keep themselves safe, they can offer incense oil money or merit money according to their personal financial resources and wishes.

In addition to the paper card with the image of the god printed on it, the most important content of the incense bag is a yellow peace charm. The peace talisman is one of the commonly used talismans or spiritual talismans in Taoism and folk beliefs. It is often used by men, women, and children to keep them safe, and is known as the protective peace talisman. If it is used as a peace talisman to guard a house, it is called a town talisman. House peace talisman. Talisman is a kind of religious picture and text that has the function of exorcising evil spirits. It is usually used together with incantations in rituals and is called a charm. It is used as an important medium to communicate with gods and ghosts. Traditionally, the talismans were mostly hand-drawn by masters. However, in order to meet the needs of many people, Taiwanese temples often printed the talismans by block printing, and then stamped them with red seals engraved with the names of gods or temples. Many early wood-carved talismans The printing plate has become an exquisite folk craft.

The talisman structure of the peace talisman can be divided into three parts: talisman head, talisman body (talisman gallbladder), and talisman foot. Three "P"s are written on the head of the symbol, which represents the highest god of Taoism, the Sanqing Taozu. The body of the talisman mostly serves the orders of the gods of certain palaces and temples, and has the word "imperial order" on it. The functions of this talisman are written on it, such as exorcising evil spirits, protecting the body, and controlling the house. People are safe, the house is safe, the house is bright, the family is safe, the environment is safe, as well as words such as "sweep away thousands of disasters and resolve misfortunes, attract hundreds of blessings to gather good fortune", "Yuan Henry Zhen", etc., in addition to these, there are The talisman will be painted with Tai Chi Bagua, Hetu Luoshu and other patterns to enhance the spiritual power of the peace talisman. The form of the foot of the talisman is similar to that of a calligraphy seal, which represents the proof that Taoist priests and mage can use the talisman after receiving the urn, such as the Taoist compound character "Gang Seal" written on it. "Character. Finally, a red divine seal must be stamped on the peace talisman to show confirmation by divine power. The peace charms used for body protection are small in size and mostly made of paper. They are often folded into hexagonal shapes and put into incense bags. They can be carried with you or hung on the car to protect the safety of the person (car) from evil spirits. intrusion.