Wu Ying Shen Jiang (五營神將) aka Wu Ying Yuan Shuai (五營元帥) or Wu Fang Jiang Shuai (五方將帥), meaning the Five Directional Camp Generals or Marshals.
Usually this group of Marshals will only appeared in Folks Culture Contexts or Folks Deities System (民間信仰/民間神明文化), whereas in Main-Stream Taoism (正統道教), we have other groups of Marshals or Generals who are appointed as the Protectors for an Area or Ritual/Ceremony areas.
So who are they (五營為何人)?
For Five Directional Camp Generals or Marshals, there are a few groups being recorded, here's some brief introduction on them:
1 - From Feng Shen Bang (Creation of Deities) 由封神榜演變而來
East: Lei Zhen Zi (東營雷震子)
South: Nan Gong Shi or Nan Gong Que (南營南宮適/南宮闕)
West: Yang Jian (西營楊戩)
North: Wu Ji (北營武吉)
Central: Li Na Zha (中央李哪吒)
East: Lei Zhen Zi (東營雷震子)
South: Huang Fei Hu (南營黃飛虎)
West: Yang Jian (西營楊戩)
North: Chong Hei Hu (北營崇黑虎)
Central: Li Na Zha (中央李哪吒)
2 – From the Record of 36 Generals 由三十六將演變而來
East to North: Zhang, Xiao, Lian, Liu (東至北營:張/蕭/連/劉)
Central: Li Na Zha (中央李哪吒)
3 – From Buddhist Context 由佛教護法演變而來
East to North: The Four Heavenly King aka Si Da Jin Gang
(東至北營:魔禮青/紅/海/壽 - 俗稱四大金剛)
Central: Pagoda King Li Jing (中央托塔天王李靖)
Besides these few groups, there are some other groups, but after going thru the details, I found that, they are not suitable for releasing or putting-up, so please forgive me for that.
Here are some introductions on Rituals/Ceremonies that involved in the Marshals/Armies (與五營兵將相關法事):
1 – Diao Bing Qian Jiang (調兵遣將), this is a procedure that ALL groups that needed to perform before any Events commence
2 – Fa Bing Dian Jiang (發兵點將), this is a procedure to summon, gather and appoint tasks to the Marshals and their respective subordinates
3 – Jie Jie Ding Fang (結界定方), this is a procedure to set the Territory for the Marshals and Armies to stand guard, etc (mend for External and Internal Camps 外內界營相同)
4 – Gao Shang Jun Ma (犒賞軍馬), this is a procedure to reward the Marshals and Armies after a certain Ritual/Ceremony ended
5 – Dian Jiang Shou Ying (點將收營), this procedure only occurred at the end of the whole Ritual/Ceremony, this is to send back all the Marshals and their Armies to their respective posts (各營皆回各自崗位).
For Higher Res Pictures, please proceed to this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taoism_deity_singapore_2007/photos/album/1266794661/pic/list
Thanks for the post. May I ask what is the difference between Lei Zhen Zi and Lei Gong or are they the same deity? I've yet to see a Nan Gong Shi statue that is not part of the Wu Ying group why is he not that popular?
ReplyDeleteLei Zhen Zi and Lei Gong are of different Deities.
ReplyDeleteTo be more accurate, in the Heavenly Realm, there are lots of Lei Gong - Lei Gong is just a form of address for a post, each Lei Gong will have their own name and bestowed-title.
Nan Gong Shi is not that popular, seldom will people pay attention to him, even in the story Feng Shen Bang, he didnt really have much appearances.
And this is the reason that in the Folks Culture, alot of different combination came out...
Ah I see.
ReplyDeleteBesides these few groups, there are some other groups, but after going thru the details, I found that, they are not suitable for releasing or putting-up, so please forgive me for that.
ReplyDeletehaha im interested in this .. hahahaha
tis is special ..
ReplyDeletezhang xiao liu lian sheng zhe ?
ReplyDeletezhang xiao liu lian gong as well ??
ReplyDeleteYup, in Taiwan, most of the temples or grps will use Zhang Xiao Liu Lian, only in SEA, then we use other combination 5 Camps.
ReplyDeleteZhang Xiao Liu Lian Lee are the so-called recognised Protectors or commandors for the spiritual armies.
i agree with what jave had said.
ReplyDeleteSEA uses other combinations very often but what i believe in and pray to are still the original Zhang Xiao Liu Lian Lee Combination
Its good to keep the traditional going.
ReplyDeleteYa, i certainly agree. Many are quite mislead by the info.
ReplyDeleteOne situation is when a disciple who does not have enough knowledge goes ard setting up tua or preach, which causes the wrong things to be passed down.
Yup, this happened almost in all places now.
ReplyDeletebut for my place ther is no body teach, even kitong himself nv learn b4 / nobody teach b4...
ReplyDeleteDear Luo,
ReplyDeleteAs long as you are interested, all of us here can assist you, no worries :P
hope so.... thx
ReplyDeletebut sixi selfish.........hehehe
hope to meet u guys soon
Hahahahahaha, mayb u dint ask him abt the five camps, how he share with u leh?
ReplyDeleteeh !!! u everytime ask me i every answer u til u quiet quiet still say i didnt help u ah !!
ReplyDeletedont kn who is the one when wanna chat say must go home watch soccer .. if not play mahjong .. we go play billard u also rather go home .. how to talk ?? hahah ..
lucky got jave help me .. if not my name smelly here liao loh hahahaha
ReplyDeletehahahahahaha.. no need fight la.. next time we go to his place, he watch soccer, we talk abt Deities, then he can watch and listen to the same time lo, but how much can he absorb, up to him la... wahahahahahaha
ReplyDeletehahaha okok .. where u live ??
ReplyDeleteMe in the Wood Land lo... cover in grasses. wahahahaha
ReplyDeletehahah den near la .. find one day come out chat chat loh ..
ReplyDeleteSure, look forward for that, you mus hav my number rite, jus drop me a sms when u ok.
ReplyDeletenah .. i didnt have it leh .. pm me can ??
ReplyDeletePm u liao, do go and check, anytime can sms me for a kopi :P
ReplyDeletehaha okok no worries .. thanks !!
ReplyDeletejavewu...
ReplyDeletebasically, 五營神將 need how many kinds of minimum food offerings on their special day... me not sure if is the lunar 2nd day and/or fifteen day of each month...
if me is very very poor, then what food offerings me can offer to 五營神將?...
dsfz
It doesn't matter whether they have a lot of food or wat. Sometime even you ta pao 5 pkts of mixed vege rice will be more than enf. Basically it's ur heart dat matters. They will know bout the situation u r facing oso.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahaha.. like what I like to say to the other people, paying respect to Deities is out of sincerity and not physical materials.
ReplyDeleteIf you cant afford on grand offerings on 2day n 16day for the Armies, you can just prepare Tea leave, Jian Hup, 1 stalk of josspaper and Yellow Notes and Jia Ma, and of cos some plucked grass for the horses.
Bring them to a suitable place and offer ur offerings, all these are enough.
PS: some who can will buy a packet of rice (cook or uncook - up to individual).
javewu and wangye...
ReplyDeletethanks... -_-
dsfz
Welcome welcome.
ReplyDeletedear 五營神將... please bless me can win toto and 4d...
ReplyDeletedsfz
Wahahahahaha.. Wu Ying do not look into such issues for mortals..
ReplyDeletemaybe Wu Ying can relay my prayers to Cai Shen Ye... n_n
ReplyDeletedsfz
why not jus go cai shen temple ? isnt tat easier ??
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha... each deity got their task to perform, if the request doesnt concern them, they wont hav the authorities to do consideration or passing of messages.. this is one mistake that alot of people tend to make.
ReplyDeletea simple comparison:
when u sick, u wil need to consult a doctor, u wont go to look for a soldier to do consultation... rite?
ya .. i agreed wit that ..each diety was given a post and to work on the post he/she being dedicated ..
ReplyDeletebut for passing message i think stil can .. unless wit a valid reason .. eg u cant find the gods temple etc or got somethin urgent .. =)
Besides the normal Five Camp Marshals that some Taoist Groups used, some major Taoist Groups will also invite the Five Elements Marshals to look after the Spiritual Armies.
ReplyDeleteThey are:
East: Marshal of Element Wood (東方木德星君)
South: Marshal of Element Fire (南方火德星君)
West: Marshal of Element Gold (西方金德星君)
North: Marshal of Element Water (北方水德星君)
Central: Wang Ling Guan (中央總鎮王靈官星君)
Five Camp Marshals and Five Camp Elements please bless my family, friends and neighbours...
ReplyDeletedsfz
New pics added (wuying_new_01.jpg - wuying_new_05.jpg)
ReplyDeleteA group of very special pics of the Five Camps.
y in the oic only see 1 general and two jiang don have five person .
ReplyDeleteon the pic wuying 05 the two long chiam is wat god y they r together with 5 yar .
For those pics with only one General, cos that pic is only taken at one position in the village, there are other four such altars being placed at the other corners.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rack, the 2 Deities are other 2 Generals that assist the Generals, not common to see in Singapore.
Here's a very special set of Wu Ying: wuying_new_06.jpg
ReplyDeleteShi Fu....is there a Bao Gao for the Five Directional Generals/Marshal??....would like to recite them during CNY....regards,sp
ReplyDeleteThere are no Bao Gao being created for them, cos Wu Ying are a group of Generals that being honour in very recent Era, less than about 200 years (in late Qing Dynasty).
ReplyDeleteEven there are Bao Gao being created today, by reciting, it does not help anything, cos Wu Ying does not made up of only 5 Generals, but made up of uncountable quantities of Beings in the 3 Realms.
Wu Ying can only be summoned, trained and thru rewarding, in-order for them to improve in their cultivation.
i tot tis 1 is tak kun the ying general n nt wuying
ReplyDeleteWahahaha, maybe you are from the Sintuas, so you may not know that actually meaning of such placement, do try to find out more again, you will know the answer.
ReplyDeletehi. may i know the two generals at the side serve as wat purpose? do u have their background history? thanks!
ReplyDeletehi bro, the chiam with tiger head and green head are?
ReplyDeleteUsually for display purposes, but some Spiritual Masters will also enhanced them to become the Generals that assist the Five Commandors.
ReplyDeleteThis depend on what the Taoist Group wanted to achieve, different ppl have different explanation on that.
ReplyDeleteicic. thanks
ReplyDeletevery nice set ~ hardly seen in local ~
ReplyDeleteTrue, this is a very old set.
ReplyDeletehi there! I would like to know if there's anyone having fa zhu gong 3 brothers' mantras to share. Have been searching for quite a while...
ReplyDeletethankssss...
You can proceed to my Tao Bro's Web at:
ReplyDeletehttp://z15.invisionfree.com/ZhangGongFaZhuGong/index.php?
I'm sure he is able to assist you.
hi bro, i just got some info from other site stating that li ne zha is not in any 5 directional camp.. in fact he is the overall incharge.. the li in the 2 directional army is li yuan ba.. how true is this?
ReplyDeleteTo be more accurate, Li Na Zha doesnt even exist in this Group at All.
ReplyDeleteYou must remember that, this is only a Man-made Character from Feng Shen Bang or being imported in from the Hinduism Context. In Taoism, we does not have him.
Li Yuan Ba is also not true, cos Li Yuan Ba is the Younger Brother of Tang Tai Zong Li Shi Ming. He doesnt being Bestowed any Official Title in Taoism.
What does the different Arrangements of the Five Directions means?
ReplyDeleteNo meaning, this is arrange according to Folks need.
ReplyDeletecan we pray 五營神將 at home?
ReplyDeleteUsually NO.
ReplyDeleteWhy? shi fu
ReplyDeleteFive Directional Generals need special way of Honouring, such as using Meat stuffs & special dishes, on every 2nd & 16th Day of Lunar Month, besides that, during these 2 Days, mantras must be recited, etc.
ReplyDeleteHi Shifu,
ReplyDeleteIs it ok to honour the Five Directional Generals only once a month, e.g. every 2nd day of Lunar Month?
In most of the photo, the 5 colors flag all open (unfolded). Should it be that way or folded up? Can you share with me the mantras? Thks & Rgds.
Hi Chua,
ReplyDeleteYes you can do so, but before doing that, you will need to tell the Armies that you all have changed the Honouring to once in a Month and on which Day you all will be doing the Honouring.
To be more accurate, the Flag must be open.
Hi master Jave , i will like to know the amount of soldiers the 5 camps each have or hold ? Hope you can help me . Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteFor East Camp: 99,900
ReplyDeleteFor South Camp: 88,800
For West Camp: 66,600
For North Camp: 55,500
For Central Camp: 33,300
Hi master Jave . thanks for helping me with the answers :)
ReplyDeleteHi master Jave , is there any mantra that can summon the five directional camp and the amount of soldiers all together ? Hope you can help me with this . thanks :)
ReplyDeleteYes, its possible, but for the mantra, I will need to visit the respective temple or sintua in-order to impart to the people.
ReplyDeleteo ok:) thanks Master Jave , cause my father is in need for this mantra
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can arrange for a day for me to visit your temple/sintua, from there, see how I can assist you all.
ReplyDeletebut the temple is not yet ready and the temple name is not up yet so does it counted as a temple yet ?
ReplyDeleteI c, for the moment you all are setting up. Hmmm, this will be difficult cos it wont be easy to summon the Spiritual Armies without proper reporting and informing. Anyway, no worries, once we meet up, see what I can do.
ReplyDeletemy house / sintuas have a zhong tan yuan shuai statue and other gods by al means is it going to be much more easy to summon them with zhong tam yuan shuai around ?
ReplyDeletenot really i can say. zhong tan is only being appointed to look after the Armies and not him who can recruit the armies. Only with the Imperial Decree that you all get from the Heaven, den from there, recruiting can be done and zhong tan can take up his task as the Training and Overall Commandor.
ReplyDeleteok then its ok thanks for your help Master Jave :)
ReplyDeleteSo erm... Master Jave do you still need to come over to my place ?
ReplyDeleteYup, if is ok for you all. You can email you contact and address and possible, the date, so that I can arrange to go over.
ReplyDeleteHi master Jave , you haven't tell me when you are free to come over my place to have a look
ReplyDeleteThat Day i sms you on Saturday, but you dint reply? I will try to go over tmr morning, will you be at home?
ReplyDeleteeh master jave , i did not receive anything , did you send to the wrong number ? Btw i will be at home but what time you coming over ? Do i have to prepare anything for you ?
ReplyDeletehmmm.. maybe something wrong with my hp. but nvm, I will try to go over in the morning. no need to prepare anything for me, the most important tmr is for me to change the overall surrounding and also, let you all ask qns.
ReplyDeleteBut what time you coming over ? Cause my parents will be still at home till 8.30 am and i hope i will not disturb them cause after they got go working plus my sisters will be at home i also hope wont disturb them . btw let not change the surroundings look around first :)
ReplyDeleteoh sorry, not change but check..wahahaha...
ReplyDeletei will try to go at abt 11am, hope that wont disturb them...
hi master jave , later are you free to come over my place ?
ReplyDeleteNew pics added (wuying_new28072010_01.jpg - wuying_new28072010_04.jpg)
ReplyDeletehi i wanna ask...on the 2nd and 16th lunar date...i offer food...n nitta burn joss paper...but wat paper am i to ask for..??is it the horse and coin paper..??pls specify the joss paper to ask..thanks
ReplyDeleteYup, you need to prepare foods for them, besides that, Wine and Chinese Tea are 2 must items.
ReplyDeletePaper will be the Huang Qian Jia Ma and San Bao Jin aka Shou JIn, which is the normal Paper that we used to honour Deities.
can i see an example of these joss papers pls..
ReplyDeleteSan Bao Jin aka Shou JIn:
ReplyDeleteHuang Qian Jia Ma:
oki so in ur previous post u said must recite mamtras all..??
ReplyDeletewat mantras is it..??
i have the five general in my home...
how to recite the mantras...
i'm an indian by the way...
n also can give the generals their offerins under the blk where they burn the joss paper or must be infront of the generals...
thanks alot bro..
For the mantras, you will need to be trained.
ReplyDeleteFor the offerings, you must offered in front of them and as for the papers, you can burn downstairs.