Nowadays, the Taiwanese, 85 percent of whom are descendents of those original immigrants from Fukien and Kwangtung, rely on this pantheon as they seek secular security, set their ideals, and earn their living. Such religious phenomena are an integral part of Chinese tradition and culture. As such, the pantheon offers an insight into the thought and activity of contemporary Chinese on Taiwan.
The Taiwanese pantheon exhibits the characteristics of anthropomorphism, geographical relatedness, efficacy, and laissez-faire.
Anthropomorphism
All kinds of objects can be anthropomorphized as personal gods or goddesses. For instance, there are the gods or goddesses of heaven, such as the heavens themselves, the five directions of the firmament, and those of the sun, moon, and stars, and of lightning, thunder, rain, and wind; of earth, including the earth itself, the five directions of the earth's foundation, the seas, waters (rivers, lakes), mountains, stones, and plants; of animals, especially the dragon, phoenix, turtle, snake, tiger, lion, pig, dog, and cat; plus fetishes, such as bones of the dead, packages of incense, idols, icons, written spells, and magic tools; and spirits of the dead, including those of ancestors, sages and heroes, wandering spirits, and fierce ghosts.
Moreover, there are social levels in the kingdom of the pantheon, just as there are in human society, and the members must have their needs provided for; this is made easier by assigning them titles like those in the mundane world.
Titles fall into two general categories, official and familial. The former include the following: Emperor (or more specifically, the Jade Emperor); King (King Hsieh); General (General Fan); and Commander-in-Chief (Commander-in-Chief Kang). These are all gods.
There are also high-ranking goddesses: Queen (Queen Tien); Princess (The Princess of the Jade Emperor); and Madam (Madam Cheng Huang).
The latter category of family includes the male god, Grandfather (Grandfather Earth), and Grandmother (Grand mother Wenchou, who is a local Matsu); and Maiden (Maiden Seven Stars).
Gods, like humans, require a home. Thus, geographical positioning and maintenance of temples is a key part of Taiwanese folk religion.
Temples are the houses of gods and goddesses. More correctly stated, they are actually their palaces or courts.
Birthdays for the gods or goddesses are an explicit result of anthropomorphism. Examples are the 9th day of the 1st month for Grandfather Tien, the 23rd day of the 3rd month for Matsu, the double 7th for Maiden Seven Stars, and the double 9th for King Chung Yang. Almost every day of the year as reckoned by the lunar calendar is the birthday of some member of the Taiwanese pantheon.
Offerings are important to the pantheonic society. Like humans, the gods and goddesses need food, clothing, and money for their daily existence. Generally people offer pigs and goats to the pantheon when the most important festivals are underway. Considerable quantities of delicious Chinese food are first offered to the pantheon, then the worshippers eat what remains. Moreover, large amounts of paper money are burned for their use; sometimes there are even offerings of new clothes decorated with old-fashioned gold medals for the gods.
Family, according to tradition, is also a key heavenly institution. The gods may have their wives and children living together in a joyful family atmosphere. People give their children the titles of princes or princesses, and call their wives "madam." Unfortunately a god always has many wives, such as Madam Cheng Huang No. 1 and No.4. It is unclear whether or not family quarrels and divorce often occur in the polygamous society of the gods.
Clearly, pantheonic society is a copy of human society. People follow their own ideals when constructing their pantheonic kingdom. And people's needs and customs are reflected in the pantheon as well. Nevertheless, the traditional ideology still remains in place. So far the gods of the pantheon have not become Westernized to the extent of wearing Western jackets and neckties; they continue wearing the old-fashioned robes of officials. In addition, worshippers do not offer Western food or U.S. dollars to the Taiwanese pantheon—they are as much strangers to the intricacies of knives and forks as they are to the customs of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Geographical Relatedness
Taiwanese people have a strong sense of being related to their own locality. Such a tendency also expresses itself in worship objects, especially the so-called local protective pantheon. Generally the local protective gods are connected with the immigrants' homelands in Fukien and Kwangtung. People worship them as an expression of community identity as they seek to earn their living. Some especially popular local protective gods are as follows:
People and their Locality Protective gods
Chuanchou people, Fukien Kuang Tse Tsun Wang
ChangChou people, Fukien Kai Chang Sheng Wang
Anshi people, Fukien Ching Shui Ysu Shih
Hakka people, Kwangtung San Shan Kuo Wang
Efficacy
Taiwanese go to temples looking for security. They explicitly require efficacy from their gods. Any god that gives people the blessings they want earns great quantities of "burning incense." On the other hand, if the god they approach cannot help them (or so the worshippers feel), he is left alone so that only a spider's web keeps him company in his temple.
To such a tendency as this, Max Mueller gave the term "kathenotheism," for people choose their worship objects according to their own likes and dislikes. "Matsu could not help me, so I went to ask Grandfather Earth, but when I doubted his efficacy I prayed to the Tiger God." Everyone seeks his gods or goddesses according to how he feels at the time. So this kind of kathenotheistic current causes people to fall into superstition—the members of the pantheon are their servants, seemingly like the genie in the Arabian Nights whom people urge to do what they want. Obviously, the relationship between gods and men is upside down: the gods are the servants and men are the lords of the pantheon.
Laissez-faire or "Doing your own thing"
There is a Taiwanese saying: "It is better to believe in something than not to believe in anything." This attitude makes Taiwanese believe in all kinds of gods. For instance: Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats in Buddhism; Confucius in Confucianism; Lao Tzu and the pantheon in Taoism; even Jesus and Mohammed have been accepted as their protective gods.
In olden times, people talked about three religions (Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism) in one, but today it is five or six (the previous three, plus Christianity, Islam, and Shintoism) in one. Even now, new gods or goddesses are freely coming into being all the time. All divine beings, even dead spirits or demons, may be worshipped if they can help people live in peace.
About 15 years ago a serious flood occurred in the central part of Taiwan, causing many deaths. Among the dead was a young girl, whose body was washed down Chuohsui River and found by villagers. They were afraid that her spirit would harm them, because according to traditional beliefs, it was thought that due to her unnatural death her spirit would be exceptionally malevolent. So they began worshipping her as a goddess called Chang Yu Koo. Through the propaganda of shamans and sorcerers, the place suddenly became a sacred spot and attracted many pilgrims from all over the island. This extraordinary religious phenomenon lasted for several years until it finally ended in police intervention.
Furthermore, people in Taiwan also believe in the pantheon that comes from Chinese classical histories and fiction. This includes figures from The Legend of Deification, Pilgrims to the West also known as The Adventures of Monkey, and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
So far, for example, the Prince of No Cha in The Legend of Deification, Sun Wu Kung or the Great Monkey in Pilgrims to the West, and Kuan Kung in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms are among the most important gods in Taiwan. No Cha and Sun Wu Kung are both fictional characters, only Kuan Kung is an historical figure from the Three Kingdoms era (220-265 A.D.).
From these examples we can clearly see how Taiwanese do as they please in religious beliefs.
Social structures in the Taiwanese pantheon
Before considering the social structures in the Taiwanese pantheon, it would be useful to examine two diagrams that illustrate the external expression of Taiwanese folk beliefs. These will help put the following analysis into more understandable form:
Diagram One
Diagram One. The inner circle represents the three major religions found in Taiwan: Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. These make up the core of folk belief, but Taoism occupies half of the circle to demonstrate its stronger influence on folk religion generally speaking.
The outer circle in the first diagram is labeled "animism." This represents an operational hypothesis to describe folk beliefs, including all the elements of primitive religious phenomena. These include, for example, nature worship, ancestor worship, fetishism, and magic.
Diagram Two
Diagram Two. The innermost circle has five key objects of worship:
A. Grandfather Heaven
B. Grandfather Earth
C. The Sea Goddess, Matsu
D. The Healing God, Ta Tao Kung
E. The Pestilence God, Wang Yeh
The second circle from the center in Diagram Two represents the next echelon of 12 important gods and goddesses in Taiwan:
The Gods of Confucianism: (1) Confucius (2) Kuan Kung, and (3) Koxinga;
The Gods of Buddhism: (4) Buddhas (Trinity Buddhas), (5) Bodhisattvas (Kuanyin and Ti Tsang), (6) Ching Shui Tsu Shih (who is the protective god of Anshi people in Fukien Province) and 18 Arhats;
The Gods of Taoism: (7) Lu Tung Pin, (8) San Chieh Kung, (9) Hsuan Tien Shang Ti, (10) Shen Nung Ta Ti, (11) Prince No Cha, and (12) Wang Mu Niang Niang.
The third, outer circle of the second diagram represents various categories of popular worship in Taiwan:
(a) Ancestor worship or filial piety; (b) Animism, which includes the four major sub-categories of: Nature worship (sun, moon, stars; the five directions of both heaven and earth; thunder, lightning, storm, and wind; mountains and the waters of the four seas; and animals, vegetables, stones, and the earth); Worship of the Dead (demons, unnatural dead, hungry ghosts, malevolent spirits, dead relatives, historical heroes, and sages); Fetishism (natural fetishes such as dead bones and turtle shells, and artificial fetishes such as idols and magic tools); and Magic (shamans, exorcists, spells, and charms);
(c) Local protecting gods and goddesses;
(d) Gods and goddesses protecting various occupations;
(e) Gods and goddesses from myths and legends; and
(f) Foreign gods and goddesses.
Both diagrams present a summary of Taiwanese folk beliefs. The first indicates their syncretic religious content; the second expresses the totality of worshipped objects.
The latter diagram has especially deep implications for Taiwanese religious life. The innermost circle represents the core of folk beliefs. Grandfather Heaven is the highest god, expressing Taiwanese dependence upon Heaven for earning a living. Grandfather Earth is a production god, for Taiwanese work very hard and have an intimate relationship with the soil. The Sea Goddess, Matsu, is a sacred Mother of the Taiwanese people, reflecting the adventurous spirit of their ancestors who crossed the terrible Taiwan Straits. The Healing God, Ta Tao Kung, is a Preserver of the Taiwanese, reflecting the need of the people for security. The Pestilence God, Wang Yeh, is a Destroyer-so people hold a great festival every three years to humor him and prevent pestilence.
The second circle contains 12 gods and goddesses in three groups belonging to Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Among them, the members of the Taoist pantheon are greater in number than those of the other two. It is easy to find very strong sectarian Taoist influence in Taiwanese folk religion.
The outer circle shows the popular pantheon in Taiwan. Clearly the pantheon in this circle has religious phenomena which are psychologically primitive, traditional, and syncretic. It may even be called a new pantheon in the making, for today Jesus, Mohammed, Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek are all accepted as new gods in Taiwanese folk beliefs. This shows the unrestricted laissez-faire nature of local religious attitudes.
The Hierarchy of the Taiwanese Pantheon
At the apex of the Taiwanese pantheon is Grandfather Heaven, also known as the Jade Emperor. Next in power and importance are two gods who sit at either hand, the God of Life (The Southern Star God) who is Left Prime Minister of Heaven, and the God of Death (The Northern Star God) who is Right Prime Minister of Heaven.
Next there is a trinity of officials (San Chieh Kung): the God of Blessing (Shang Yuan or Heaven Official), the God of Forgiving (Chung Yuan or Earth Official), and the God of Saving (Hsia Yuan or Water Official).
On a lower level of power and importance come the Gods judging certain localities. These include Cheng Huang, who is the city god; the Lord of Area, Grandfather Earth and Wang Yeh.
Next come Gods protecting various occupations and special groups, who are so important to the daily life of Taiwanese:
God Occupation
Shen Nung Agriculture, Medicine
Kuan Ti Commerce
Lu Tung Pin Barbers
Ching Shui Tsu Shih Butchers
Hsi Chin Wang Yeh Musicians
Tien Tu Yuan Shuai Actors
Hsuan Tien Shang Ti Exorcists
Shui Hsien Tsun Wang Seamen
Matsu Voyagers
Tai Tzu Yeh Shamans
San Nai Fu Jen Mediums
Special Groups
Chi Hsing Niang Niang Children
Chu Sheng Niang Niang Women
Kuanyin Children, mothers
Tu Ti Kung Fertility
Other categories of gods are listed below to give a sense of the diversity of the Taiwanese pantheon. These are still but a portion of the virtually uncounted total:
Gods protecting people from certain localities
Kai Tai Sheng Wang Taiwan
Kai Chang Sheng Wang Changchou, Fukien
Kuang Tse Tsun Wang Chuanchou, Fukien
Ching Shu Tsu Shih Anshi, Fukien
San Shan Kuo Wang Hakka people, Kwangtung
The gods judging in hell are the Ti Tsang Bodhisattva, Tung Yueh Ta Ti, and an additional Ten Gods of the Courts in Hell. These are served by various other gods, such as the Assistant gods (one who holds the seal on the left side, and another who holds the sword on the right side); Assistants to the judge gods (the secretary god who sits on the left side, and the god of punishment on the right side; and Matsu's assistant gods (the god with thousand mile eyes, and the god with radio-like ears).
The civic organization of the gods is matched with a military one that is once again a copy of the organization found in the mundane world:
The Military Organization of the Taiwanese Pantheon
These social and military structures in the Taiwanese pantheon are copied from ancient Chinese society, and therefore their organized systems can never be changed. Today Taiwanese still keep this traditional ideology as part of their beliefs, for they satisfy such areas as mysticism.
In spite of scientific developments, Taiwanese steadfastly believe in a trichotomous view of the cosmos: the Heavenly World, the Earthly World, and the World of Dead Spirits. Each world has its ruler and officers, and its organization and specific activities, but the whole cosmos is controlled by the highest God, the Heavenly Grandfather. The kingdom of the pantheon always faces its rivals—demons, evil spirits, malevolent ghosts, and wandering devils, for example, so it needs military forces to exorcize them and keep the people at peace.
Conclusion
It may be wondered why Taiwanese people still worship such a pantheon in this civilized era. The answers lie in the realization that folk beliefs have their cultural essence and also their historical background. It is unjust to call this religious phenomenon superstition, for it is a true religious experience among Taiwanese people. For example, though many people are converted in their hearts to more institutionalized religions such as Christianity, and appear to have forsaken traditional worship, they still cannot forsake the old ideology. As a result, some Taiwanese Christians may be described as "folk religion Christians" because they seek security in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and look to God the Creator as a benevolent old man—an Earthly Grandpa—while praying to Jesus as a healing god.
This can be illustrated by the Christian church elder who asked his dying father to protect his family during the funeral. How natural Christian ancestor worship is! If every kind of religious experience is true, it is very difficult to say these kinds of religious expression are superstitious.
Polytheistic beliefs are a necessary tendency of an agricultural society because the cultural situation supports people in this way of thinking. Obviously it cannot be denied that folk beliefs include superstitions, especially laissez faire religious attitudes such as living in fear of demons, believing in shamanic therapy, and control by unknown divine beings. But these beliefs are the contemporary manifestations of a lengthy, and continuing, tradition. —(Dr. Tong Fung-wan is academic dean and an associate professor in the history of religion at Taiwan Theological Seminary).