Page 342 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A-Z 335
A soul being interrogated by a tutelary deity in the presence of Guan-di
offerings made to others; it may then harm its relatives, and can be used by magicians
who feed it and manipulate it for their own ends. In certain circumstances, it may even be
elevated to divine status. The hun enters the human body at some point in the month
following birth; and this may be one reason why abortion does not rate as a sin in China.
The hun does not survive cremation, and the official blessing given to cremation in the
People’s Republic may well be seen as part of the drive to eradicate ancient
‘superstitions’.
Buddhists on the other hand have always sanctioned cremation. They believe that after
passing through several purgatories in which it is punished for its sins, the soul reaches a
dark room where it has to look for a skin. According to the type of skin it finds and puts
on, the soul is then reborn as a man, a woman or an animal ( hell).
The ‘soul-tablet’ is a wooden tablet with the name of the dead person
inscribed on it. It becomes ‘alive’, i.e. the locus of the soul, when it is
smeared with blood from a cock’s-comb.
Sparrow
ma-que
Sparrow
