From Ancient Rituals to Modern Spirituality:The Evolution and Personalization of Religious Experience

This paper explores the evolution of religious experience from ancient nature worship and ancestor reverence to modern individualized spirituality.It examines how early spiritual practices were deeply intertwined with daily life,later becoming institutionalized through formalized religions with complex rituals and doctrines.The rise of mysticism,emphasizing personal connections with the divine,persisted alongside institutional religions.In contemporary society,the shift towards"spiritual but not religious"reflects a return to personalized spiritual paths,driven by individualism and the desire for direct,meaningful spiritual experiences.This trend's implications for both individuals and society are also discussed.

Exploring Mazu Worship at Fujian Assembly Hall in Hoi An,Vietnam

Hoi An Ancient Town in Vietnam is not only a UNESCO(United Nations Educational,Scientific,and Cultural Organization)World Heritage Site but also a convergence point of traditional and modern cultures.Throughout its historical transitions,the cultural heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town has been well preserved and developed,and the worship of Mazu,an essential component of Hoi An’s culture,is no exception.As far as is known,Hoi An in central Vietnam houses the most Mazu temples,including the Chung Wah Hall,the Guangzhou Assembly Hall,the Fujian Assembly Hall,the Teochew Assembly Hall,and the Hainan Assembly Hall,among others,with the Fujian Assembly Hall being the most vibrant center of Mazu worship.This study employs field surveys and literature research to explore the Mazu worship practices at the Fujian Assembly Hall in Hoi An,Quang Nam Province,Vietnam.

The Cult of Mazu in Hainan,China and Among Vietnamese Hainanese Diaspora:A Comparative Study of Mazu Culture

The cult of Mazu is a common folk belief in China and Vietnam.Originating from the Song and Yuan Dynasties,particularly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the cult of Mazu spread to Vietnam through maritime trade and migration from coastal regions of China.After centuries of integration and development,it evolved into its own cultural system of Mazu worship,becoming an important component of Vietnamese folk culture.Hainan,China,as a crucial supply station on the Maritime Silk Road,has close connections with the transmission of Mazu culture to Vietnam.This paper adopts field investigations and literature research methods to explore the Mazu worship and culture in Hainan,China,and the Qiongfu Assembly Halls in Vietnam.

Ancestors Worshipped(Jino nationality)

ALL Jino people will make an offering to "Api’e’e" before meals. Api’e’e is considered Jino people’s ancestor, dating back to the time when Amoyaobu created the world. At that time, human beings lived in peace and happiness and in harmony with all things on earth. Then one year the world was suddenly stricken by a flood. Crops, villages, livestock and people were drowned. Mahei and Maniu were friends

Origin of Fengshui Woods and Its Enlightenment to Modern Society

Origin of Fengshui Woods was studied, 3 representative standpoints (Fengshui doctrines, greening and worship of the god of land) about Fengshui woods were analyzed, and worship of the god of land was believed as a reasonable origin view through considering natural and social factors of ancient China, as well as universal mental characteristics of people in the prescience age. To identify advantages and disadvantages of these 3 views, Carl G. Jung' theory of mythological prototype criticism and Sir James George Frazer's anthropological study were borrowed to prove that Fengshui Woods originated from ancient Chinese worship of the god of land, and such worship gradually evolved into practices of planting Fengshui Woods for their propitious signs. On this basis, enlightenment of Fengshui Woods to modern society was disclosed to protect present Fengshui Woods and forest resources.

Application of the Mongol-Yuan Culture in the Modern Landscape Design

The application principles of the Mongol-Yuan culture in the landscape elements are found out,through the research on the meaning of Mongol-Yuan culture and the connectivity between culture and landscape elements.The application of the Mongol-Yuan culture is specified by a typical design case analysis so as to offer some references for the modern landscape design.The Mongol-Yuan culture can be applied to the modern landscape elements,such as landform,architecture,sculpture,paving and so on.And the artistic conception of the Mongol-Yuan culture can be created by the application of the Mongolian totem culture,characteristic style,featured pattern,local customs and so on.

中国古代祈晴祭祀研究——兼说民俗中的“扫晴娘”

First of all,the chapter on the ancient Chinese festival yu and floods Festival,to correct for Qiu Yu Yu Festival Festival of errors.That the ancient Chinese Qing Yu Garden Festival in the same breath with the rain,the performance of the same belief in the concept of goal difference.Oracle combination of research results,further sweep the ancient Ching Chi-day religious ceremony,a long history of origin.From all over the folk culture of looking for some clear religious imperative,such as Chinese the Broom Woman for Fine Days and Japan’s sunny dolls,to explore their image of the godhead,clear imperative to explore the thinking behind religious connotations.Clear from the worship of our ancestors that efforts to change the reality of the situation as a means of survival,see human nature to the fight against the awakening of consciousness,ceremony and customs of their farming civilization of knowledge and research there is a value that can not ignored.

The Relationship between Dali Lord Worship Ritual Activity and Regional Landscape Architecture in China

The paper had introduced Lord Worship ritual activity unique to Bai Nationality and analyzed Dali landscape characteristics from the aspects of landscape pattern, architectural courtyard pattern and plants landscaping. In the perspective of surface, line and spot landscape architectures, Lord Worship ritual activity had been analyzed. It had revealed that the development of Lord Worship ritual activity was rooted in local landscape environment, and temple's site selection, square construction, activities' route selection and construction of forest land in front of residences were all based on landscape environment. After the analysis of the relationship between Lord Worship ritual activity and landscape places, it had opened a new thought for researches on religious activities and regional landscape. It could explore and recover some traditional folk cultures when environmental landscapes had been studied, so as to promote the inheritance of national culture.

Anti-Confucianism:The Formation Process and the Ideology Essence of the Cultural Policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

The“anti-Confucianism”constituted the main feature of the cultural policy of the Taiping Rebellion.However,the anti-Confucianism movement of the Taiping Rebellion was mainly in form rather than in content,and mainly in action rather than in thought,which manifested itself in a policy of banning and destroying the physical forms of Confucian memorial tablets,Confucian temples,and Confucian classics.The core elements of Confucianism were all inherited and retained by Hong Xiuquan,who was committed to subverting Confucius’position as the cultural authority of Chinese society,so Confucianism,together with Christian thought and folk religious thought,constituted the main source of the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion.It was the influence of Confucianism and folk religious thought on Hong Xiuquan that gave the idea of worshipping God a localized character and made a new type of religion that combined Chinese and Western elements.The“anti-Confucianism”was mostly based on an irrational political movement,and the Taiping Rebellion never criticized the doctrine of Confucius and Mencius from a theoretical point of view.Thus the political submission of civil society to the Taiping Rebellion hardly rose to the level of political identification.Cultural antipathy,to some extent,led to the eventual defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The White Stone Worship of Qiang People

The White Stone worship is an inseparable cultural part among Qiang People in the history and their daily lives.It has relationship with the God,with Qiang people's fondness of the white color,with the fire-making,with the function of white stones as the tool and weapon for survival,and with the worship for Snow Mountain.The White Stone is the oblation in Qiang Families,the architecture-Blockhouse relating to the white stone is famous worldwide.The essay also discusses the links between the white stone worship with Qiang people in the past and in the future,

The White Stone Worship of Qiang People

The White Stone worship is an inseparable cultural part among Qiang People in the history and their daily lives. It has relationship with the God, with Qiang people' s fondness of the white color, with the fire-making, with the function of white stones as the tool and weapon for survival, and with the worship for Snow Mountain. The White Stone is the oblation in Qiang Families, the architecture-Blockhouse relating to the white stone is famous worldwide. The essay also discusses the links between the white stone worship with Qiang people in the past and in the future.

Characterization of Acoustical Worship Heritage in Schmerzhaften Mutter Gottes, Vilgertshofen-Germany

The dynamics between sound decay and soundscape determines the acoustical worship heritage in a worship space that needs to be conserved along interventions in time.The soundscape of Schmerzhaften Mutter Gottes,Vilgertshofen was measured by derived Acoustical Worship Parameters:Sacred Awe(SAWE),Sacred Intelligibility(SINT),and Sacred Silence(SSIL)for“TOCCATA”of Johann Sebastian Bach rendered on the pipe organ.The sound energy decay in the church,conducted from two sources:choir loft and altar,generated acoustical monaural measures(RT60,EDT,D50,C80,TS,STI,Leq)in accordance with ISO-3382.The Reverberation Time(RT60)spectral analysis and Loudness(Leq)positional analysis showed the church to be more reverberant for the impulse from the altar location on the sanctuary floor and optimally loud for the impulse from the pipe-organ location on the choir-loft.SAWE,SINT and SSIL significantly related with subjective acoustical quality of Balance(SAQBAL)and Loudness(Leq)(p≤0.05).SAQBAL showed positive correlation with rapid speech transmission index(RASTI)(p=0.18).

Hungry Ghost Festival, An Ancestor Worship Day

THE fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (August 15 this year) is the Hungry Ghost Festival or Zhong Yuan Festival. It has been a day for ancestor worship, mourning for the dead, and burning paper money to honor the deceased. The Hungry Ghost Festival and New Year’s Eve, Qingming Festival, and Chongyang Festival (which will be introduced in detail later in this magazine) are the traditional festivals in which Chinese people pay tribute to their ancestors, each having their own characteristics. As an ancient Chinese traditional festival, it has a history of thousands of years.

The Application to Evaluate Worship Location Based on Geospatial Analysis: Case of Indonesia

The application of geospatial analysis is a need to respond to the increasing number of social conflicts caused by the existence of public places of worships (PPW) in Indonesia. This conflict eventually becomes endemic among Indonesian cross-cultural society. Even though the government has produced a regulation-like policy namely SKB 2006 to manage the establishment of PPW, its contribution to avoiding or reducing the conflicts is in question. Researchers notice that the policy is misused in some incidents to even trigger the conflict. It is due to the presence of people participation defined in SKB 2006 particularly to determine the legalization of PPW. Currently there is no exact foundation used by the government to precisely measure the status of PPW, hence the decision to permit or reject any proposal to establish PPW is determined by the acceptance of surrounding society which in many occasions becomes the cause of the conflict. Therefore the government needs to regain control over the existence of PPW since these types of buildings are public facilities used by people in cross-cultural society. The research is to provide accurate information regarding the existence of PPW and the impact of their presence using geospatial analysis. The objective is to analyze the interaction between PPW and its surrounding objects. The analysis is based on PPW coverage, overlapping and blank spot area. A case study has been conducted to analyze the existence of PPW at Cemorokandang village, a part of Malang city in the province of East Java. The application highlights the issue of overwhelming PPW in the location of analysis.

Erik Erikson and the Church： Corporate Worship thatSustains through Crises

The work of developmental psychologist Erik Erikson （1902-1994） has profound implications for understandingand ministering to the different generations represented in the church. Erikson has garnered attention from religiouswriters in recent years including Eric Geiger, Lee Steele, and Catherine Stonehouse because of the correlation of hiswork with religious thought and values. Though Scripture must remain the standard by which worship is governed.

A Study of Hanshan’s Beings Protection Thoughts and Snyder’s Holism

The Chinese poet monk Hanshan(寒山)advocated ahimsa,beings protection and vegetarian diet etc.,aiming to spread beings protection doctrines of Buddhism through his poetry.The contemporary American poet Gary Snyder is influenced deeply by Hanshan’s works and his life style,and Snyder develops his holism on environment protection,which is rightly based on Hanshan’s beings protection thoughts combining Indians’nature worship tradition.

Research on Ancestral Beliefs and the Evolution of Memorial Tablet

The main part of Chinese traditional belief is the ancestor god,which values the relationship between man and ancestor.Nowadays,the form of ancestor worship we can see is the adoration of memorial tablet.The souls of the dead are considered to be in the memorial tablet.Ancestor attached itself to the memorial tablet which had a long history of development in China.Its origin,name and writing showed the massive of traditional culture.Especially in the form.The memorial tablet had a very diverse evolution.And it recorded the history of“ancestor worship”,a culture concept that never disappeared.

Discussion on Agricultural Religion in the Pre-Qin Period of China

Since ancient times,agricultural religion has been infiltrated into all aspects of economic,political and social life in China. Using rich historical data such as archeology,anthropology and ethnology,this paper discussed the historical process of agricultural religion in the pre-Qin period from animal worship to agricultural worship. It also discussed the agricultural objects,land,celestial nature,and labor ghosts.Finally,it revealed the inevitable trend of combination of social sacrificing activities.

An Islamic Scriptural Anthropology

A proper way of understanding humanity is not possible without knowing where humanity is from and why he is here. While there are a number of Qur＇anic verses that speak of humanity＇s creation and mission, the one that speaks most clearly of the telos of that creation is Al-Dhariyat 56, which reads, ＂I have not created jinn and mankind except to serve me.＂ A summary examination of some of the prominent Qur＇anic commentators and their interpretation of the verse give insight into the understanding of the telos of humanity＇s creation according to the Qur＇an. The examination of the commentaries reveals certain recurring themes. Through the revelation of the Qur＇an, one is able to know humanity＇s place and mission in the created world and thereby act accordingly.