Status Updates From The Flying Phoenix: Aspects...

If it hadn't been for that story of the young medium and how his station benefited him, I might have skipped this part. Now that it goes into details of a sect, it becomes quite dry.

Wait, is the author using Taiwanese as synonymous with Hoklo and that is why he mentions Hakkas as a minority within this sect? And the account he quotes states that the sect was basically founded in the 39th year of the republic (1950), and talks about all of China. Sounds like a heavy influence from the KMT laws. AFter all, the account states that the Venerable Mother came down in Hualien.

I do wonder whether this condemnation of people going to dance halls and cinema too often is really just anti-western sentiments as the author suggested or might be based also in old sentiments towards any sort of entertainers.

naturally, a way to become immortal includes diminishing yin and refining yang. Which makes it even weirder than in another sect it is told that due to their ability to give birth etc it is easier for women to cultivate the real (yes that is what it is called), than men. The author even points out that this is in contrast to what the Great Enlightenment book says.

Naturally, the prostitute is depicted as evil. Never mind that back then it was a way of life, barely anyone ever chose. And what is this nonsense about another woman, a wife, being sentenced to be reborn for a life as a beggar and prostitute? Wouldn't that mean her sins would just accumulate anew? That sounds like a rigged system.

well, I should have guessed that some of the rules for good behavior would include women being subservient to men. I did not expect that it would directly state that women have it harder to be good and have to work twice as hard.

Great Saint Equal to Heaven? Is that referring to Sun Wukong? I would not be surprised if this was the monkey king, I saw it before that this fictional character became somehow a folkloric god.

An immortal wearing western dress and visiting a sugarcane factory. That is interesting.

I can see why the Kangxi emperor of the relatively new Qing empire would not like it if there is an alleged dragon pool in Taiwan that has such good geomancy that it would create a new emperor (a true dragon).

A Taiwan born sect called the Religion of the Yellow Emperor and it was founded in the 1950s? Was it founded by Mainlanders? It sounds like it.

descent of the phoenix, supporting the phoenix and the flying phoenix and apparently each time the word luan means phoenix. I was confused and looked it up and based on AI, the term Luan does not refer to the fenghuang but a different bird, the one actually associated with emperors and new ages and harmony. Hm, that explains a few things here and in other cases. So they should have termed the book the flying Luan.

transmitted by the flying phoenix? Are they suggesting these texts were actually transmitted by the fanghuang or is this just a figure of speech?

Odd, these teachings do not mention anything that could be intepreted for how to act towards daughters and sisters. Mothers can be subsumed under filial piety but there is nothing in regard to daughters and sisters. This is very male centric.

Not only are ther classical heretics but apparently these "Five demons" were let by "Ku-chiu Sa-Tan"? Was there some christian/jewish/muslim influence on these sect teachings?

Oh, so according with to the Venerable Mother, prostitution is something bad. Hm, that clashes directly with what others I have read about stated about the Qing empire.

Invite the phoenix? Is that some figure of speech or could that guy actually invite the fenghuang?

sorceress? Where these spirit mediums women? Later on the book states that while most accounts are from literati and so male, in the pre-literati phase there was a greater involvement of women and girls.

So spirit writing rituals in Taiwan are a manifestation of a tradition first developed in the Sung empire among commoners... but I wonder how much they still had in common.

Proscribed as a heretical religion and when it became too successful, patriach Yin was arrested, imprisoned for six years and then executed in 1582. But that cannot be, tons of people stated and state that "China" was totally religiously peaceful and knew no religious persecution.

Are spirit mediums still such a prominent characteristic in chinese religion in Taiwan? And is what the author claims colored by the belief that Taiwan was some window into chinese culture? This book came out in 1986 and I think back then that was a prominent belief.

so "the insecurity of living on the island frontier drove the settlers to supplicate gods for protection and well-being. It was said that chinese on Taiwan worshipped deities more earnestly than they cared for their own ancestors. chinese religious fervor is most clearly manifested in the three thousand temples they built during the Ch'ing period." Does that explain the many temples in Taiwan today?

"the people of the world were given to sexual indulgence and competing for fame and profit"... that is not something you usually see in regards to chinese religion.

So there was a fall from paradise as well and the venerable mother sends gods and boddhisatvas to rescue humans from their own wickedness.

a creator and savior of mankind called the eternal venerable mother, who wants humans to be good enough to return to paradise... sounds familiar.

Gosh he goes on and on about syncretic and sectrarianism.... my gosh, I wish he would get to the point already. I am already thinking about putting this book down.

Thanks to the introduction with roman numerals and constant babble I am not simply at page 9 but page 31. And this constant talk about chinese religion and society even though this here is about Taiwan makes me wonder whether this author is one of those who saw Taiwan as a window into China despite the history of both countries.