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In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums,tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell"s "enforcers", the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations.

Voices from the Underworldoffers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple"s spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions on the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices.

Graham"s innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the de-stigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.

Graham makes a convincing case that hell deity worship has grown in scale and taken new forms in the period that he seeks to document. Through ethnographic research that is both intensive and extensive,
he demonstrates that veneration of the Underworld gods and the Ten Courts of Hell is an important part of contemporary vernacular religious practice. The book is filled with detailed reports on his ethnographic interviews and observations that testify to the inventiveness and imagination of the practitioners of Chinese popular religion, and the Underworld merits a book-length study of this sort."

China Review International

"Voices from the Underworld,  2020, by Fabian Graham,  published by Manchester University Press

Huaguang Dadi is is also known as Lingguan Ma Yuanshuai, or Marshal Ma, one of the Four Guardian Marshals of Taoism. Illustrating the need for imperial recognition by  orthodox Taoism and Buddhism  in medieval China,  the two religions share many deities, but in different roles. Therefore, while a warrior deity in Taoism, and also venerated by Cantonese Opera troupes as the God of Performing Arts, and by extension, of southern styles of kungfu practiced by the opera troupes, in Buddhism,  Huaguang became a generic term for one of the historical Buddhas ten primary disciples.

As Chinese folk religion  has its roots in so many traditions, most deities have multiple mythologies, some from religious texts, and others from romantic fiction such as the books "Journey to the West" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". 

In the Lingbao school of Taoism, Huaguang, aka, Marshal Ma, became associated with "The Five Manifestations", precursors to the "Money Gods of the Five Directions" worshipped in Taiwan today. "The Five Manifestations were first reinvented though as the five Huaguang Heavenly Marshals , and charged by the supreme Taoist being, Yuanshi Tianzun, to protect human souls against the ravages of malevolent demons, and to assist human souls on their post-mortal journeys in the afterlife. Meanwhile, in Buddhism, The Five Manifestations were incarnated in the Lotus Sutra as the bodhisattva Huaguang, a deity later identified with the Bodhisattva Manjusri (Wenshu Pusa) in the novel Journey to the South.

In this particular photograph, Huaguang is depicted in his martial role as Marshal Ma, a Taoist protector of humanity.

One of the four Taoist Marshals, Marshal Wen - Chinese Deities 5

The "Laughing Buddha" the Buddhist Boddhisattva Mile Pusa (Sanskrit: Maitreya), commonly known as Milofo who is in fact the "Future Buddha" - the original Shakyamuni Buddha returned after 5000 years to reteach his teachings before Armageddon. 

In the non-Mahayana schools of Buddhism, the only Bodhisattvas recognized are the previous incarnations of the Siddhartha Gautama as recorded in the Jataka books of the Khuddaka-Nikaya , and Mile Pusa (Maitreya) , the future Buddha predicted to be born after a lapse of five thousand years. The religious goal of Buddhism was through meditation and correct conduct, to become an arhat, one who has escaped the cycle of rebirths (Rahula 1959). The Mahayana presented a new idea, the Bodhisattva, who out of compassion, achieves enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, as only a Buddha possesses the knowledge and wisdom to help the greatest number of people (Skilton 1994). The Chinese Mahayana tradition, while maintaining the precept of the illusionary nature of all phenomena, has also promoted the concept of accruing merit by both making and worshipping Buddhist images. Over the course of time, Buddhist images have become increasingly Sinicized, so that some bear little or no resemblance to earlier or more realistic images (Kieschnick 2003). Typical second century Mathura depictions of the future Buddha as a slim, simply robed spiritual aspirant have transformed into the jovial, golden, bald headed and extremely fat laughing Buddha either sat on a mound of coins or carrying chains of golden coins or yuanbao.

Kieschnick, J. 2003. The impact of Buddhism on Chinese material culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rahula, R. 1959. What the Buddha taught. Bedford: The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd.
Skilton, A. 1994. A concise history of Buddhism. Birmingham, UK :Windhorse Publications.

The "Laughing Buddha" dancing in flowers - Chinese Deities 8

The Decagon is the infinitely evolving, always unique, and eternally open membership token of the Decaverse. Designed by Kjetil Golid.

Decagon

Decagon #31980

TRYST

TRYST explores the moments and the non-moments, the loves, the losses, and the in-between that make up the lives of the people of Brooklyn. A set of three lyrical and arresting short stories, TRYST offers a glimpse into the poetic and expansive inner lives of the people we walk past every day.

Offered as a collection of 100, each edition comes with an original cover by artist Alexandria Sofija. 

memories of the county fair

rodeo in the round

jersey hat

squawk dance

cowcowboy

Frammenti by Stefano Contiero

Memories define us. Made of countless fragments, they are an ever-changing snapshot of our past. Frammenti is a digital explosion of life, inspired by our most personal treasures.

Frammenti #29

The Buddhist Bodhisattva, Guanyin. Goddess of Mercy, prayed to in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Tibetan Buddhism.

Guanyin: Goddess of Mercy - Chinese Deities 6

While some Chinese deities are present in thousands of temples, for example, Guan Gong the patron deity of business; Mazu, Goddess of the Sea, and the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy Guanyin, others are obscure, some only being worshipped in a single temple. This is the case for the Blue Tiger General who is worshipped exclusively at a palatial temple in Klang, Malaysia. In the temple"s own mythology, the General is in charge of controlling ghosts on Earth, and bringing them to the Chinese Underworld to await reincarnation.

Blue Tiger General, Malaysia - Deities 3

NFT-LOTTERY

A lottery ticket for Art Blocks #312000101

Art Blocks #312000101 ticket #107

New collection, Liquidity. Getting creative with 15 years of research photos as a visual anthropologist researching Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese Folk religion in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. 

The Nine Emperor God festival is Taoist, and is  held annually on the ninth day if the ninth lunar month when it us believed that the gods, who usually reside in the constellation of the Big Dipped, descend to Earth for Nine days to bring blessings and renewal to their devotees. It is a major event in the religious calendars of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. 

The picture is rare as it depicts the 1st and eldest and hence and most senior of the Nine Emperor Gods as he possesses his spirit medium who is in a rrance possession state. He is being attended to by a crowd of tempe helpers and 2 more junior Emperor Gods to his left and right. This is a highly valued photograph in my collection due to its rarity.