Monday 17 March 2008

Introduction on the Filling of Spiritual Coffer Ritual/Ceremony (補庫科儀儀式簡介)

Being doing follow-up on such Rituals/Ceremonies and to my horror, a lot of the Rituals/Ceremonies conducted are not going according to what is being passed-down and some of the culture or information that being shared around are totally being distorted and destroyed. This is how sad our ignorant folks can do to our Upright Culture.
 
Filling of Spiritual Coffer, is a Taoist Ritual/Ceremony and a Solely Taoist Culture (純道教科儀法事). But due to the influence and the attention that the Ritual/Ceremony can gain, a lot of Non-Taoist Religions (非傳統中華本土宗教) started to Copy and change the Content, which resulted in Distorting and Degarding the Actual Upright Culture of Taoism. This is something that cannot be forgiven and tolerate.
 
Now in the Market, almost All the Rituals/Ceremonies conducted, using the name of Taoist Filling of Spiritual Coffer, are commercially planned and not going according to the Actual Culture & Teaching, which may result in Non-effective and harming one self Spiritual Will and Cultivation.
 
So what is Spiritual Coffer & the Ritual/Ceremony involved?
 
Filling or so-called Topping-up of Spiritual Coffer is a form of Ritual/Ceremony that conducted by Taoist Priests (道士) or Authorize Spiritual Masters (正規道教宗師) to refill the Spiritual Money/Amount in one self Spiritual Coffer (Spiritual Bank Account) in the other Realms .
 
Such Money/Amount is needed to support ones Luck, Life and Prosperity.
 
According to Taoist Scriptures, by constantly refilling the Spiritual Coffer, one self will be granted with better luck and also, will be able to clear certain sins & debts, in-order for the next reborn to be a good one (for normal Taoists not Cultivated Taoists).
 
And according to the Taoist Scriptures, before each person is born, a Spiritual Coffer is already appointed to that person. The Money/Amount in the Spiritual Coffer is being top-up according to the persons next life and the Credits/Merits that the persons Future-to-be Family has or accumulated.
 
If the person is granted a Good Life, the Spiritual Coffer will be fully/mostly filled whereas a Bad Life person will be granted with a certain Money/Amount only.
 
After a person is born, the Spiritual Coffer will not automatically top-up or top-up un-necessary. The Spiritual Coffer that belongs to the person will only top-up according to the Good Deeds that he/she does or by certain Merits/Credits being transfer to him/her.
 
If a person is so bad that he/she always do bad things that harm the others and created a lot of un-solvable problem, the Money/Amount in the Spiritual Coffer will be deducted accordingly, which some may result in serious illness, disease, early death or un-known death.
 
When a person who is always doing Good Deeds and found that his/her Luck did not improve or the Luck is getting worst, then the Filling of Spiritual Coffer Ritual/Ceremony will be needed to conduct or engage.
 
So how the Filling of Spiritual Coffer go about?
 
Like what I mentioned earlier, for such Ritual/Ceremony, only Taoist Priests & Spiritual Masters can be engaged, other then that, no.
 
No other personnel are being Officially Authorized to conduct this Ritual/Ceremony. Once such Ritual/Ceremony is being mis-conducted, Life & Death issues might arise and by the time, regrets will be encountered.
 
Usually for such Filling of Spiritual Coffer can only be conducted not more than 3 times in a year for each individual (some Taoists will only conduct this Ritual/Ceremony for not more than 3 times in a Life-time). Once it exceeded the limitation, the Topping-up will not be accepted and the person Luck might not get better but instead, drop.
 
If one self found out that he/she needed this Ritual/Ceremony to be conducted, he/she can approached any Taoist Temples to check out on Dates that they conduct such Rituals/Ceremonies, if not, one self can called-up any Taoist Priests to make arrangement for the Ritual/Ceremony to be conducted at home, in front of the Heaven Altar, etc.
 
During the Ritual/Ceremony, the Taoist Priest will do Reporting to the Three Realms, the In-charge of the Coffers, Coffer Officers (庫官 which is only 12, not 60) and the Horoscope Officers (元辰星官 which is also only 12, not 60). Once the Reporting is done, the Taoist Priest will do the Invitation of Deities and the necessary Officers to be present for the Filling of Spiritual Coffer Ritual/Ceremony.
 
By according to each persons Birthday, Birth Time and Gender, a certain Money/Amount will needed to be Top-up at a Time (the Priest will prepare for the person), in some Folks Culture, the folks thought that by Topping-up more, their Luck will be increase, which is absolutely Wrong.
 
After the Reporting & Inviting, the Taoist Priest will start the Chanting and this is the Peak (the Most Important Period) in the Ritual/Ceremony. Without the Chanting of the Correct Scriptures, the Filling of Spiritual Coffer wont achieve its objective and the person who wished to top-up his/her Spiritual Coffer wont be done. A Trained and Authorized Taoist Priest will know of which Taoist Scriptures to chant and who to call-upon during the Ritual/Ceremony.
 
Once the whole Ritual/Ceremony is completed, the Priest will assist the person to send-off the Petition and Incense-paper for the Filling of Spiritual Coffer.
 
And this will more or less mark an end to the Ritual/Ceremony.
 
So when will be the best timing/dates for conducting such Ritual/Ceremony?
 
According to Taoist Practice, on the San Yuan Festivals (三元節 15 Day or Lunar 1/7/10 Month), any Feast Day of Taoist Deities or on the Birthday of the person, will be best.
 
But again, keep in mind that such Ritual/Ceremony cannot be conducted more than 3 times for an individual.
 
As mentioned earlier, there are 2 sets of 12 Officers, so who are they?
 
In Taoism Filling of Coffer Ritual/Ceremony & Coffer Knowledge, there are only 12 Coffer Officers which are now under the Supervision of Dong Yue Da Di aka Lord Emperor of Dong Yue (東岳大帝). Their names and tasks are being recorded in the Scriptures that dedicated to the Filling of Spiritual Coffer Ritual/Ceremony known as Ling Bao Tian Zun Shuo Lu Ku Shou Sheng Jing (靈寶天尊說祿庫受生經).
 
Like what I have mentioned earlier, due to the attraction and the attention that this Ritual/Ceremony can gain, a lot of Non-Taoist Religions tend to Copy & Import into their Religious System. Some Religions even rewrite the whole Scripture into their own way, which resulted in the distorting of our Taoism Reputation and Uprightness.
 
Heres the 12 Coffer Officers:
 
Officer Li – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Rat
(子生人-庫曹官姓李)
 
Officer Tian – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Cow
(丑生人-庫曹官姓田)
 
Officer Lei – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Tiger
(寅生人-庫曹官姓雷)
 
Officer Liu – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Rabbit
(卯生人-庫曹官姓柳)
 
Officer Yuan – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Dragon
(辰生人-庫曹官姓袁)
 
Officer Ji – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Snake
(巳生人-庫曹官姓紀)
 
Officer Xu – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Horse
(午生人-庫曹官姓許)
 
Officer Zhu – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Goat
(未生人-庫曹官姓朱)
 
Officer Ju – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Monkey
(申生人-庫曹官姓車)
 
Officer Zheng – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Rooster
(酉生人-庫曹官姓鄭)
 
Officer Cheng – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Dog
(戌生人-庫曹官姓成)
 
Officer Kang – Incharge of the Coffer for Horoscope Pig
(亥生人-庫曹官姓亢)
 
Besides these 12 Coffer Officers, the 12 Horoscope Officers will also be invited according to the persons Birthday, they are:
 
Officer Liu Wen Zhen – Horoscope Officer for Rat
(子生人本命元辰劉文真)
 
Officer Meng Hou – Horoscope Officer for Cow
(丑生人-本命元辰星官孟候)
 
Officer Zhong Yuan – Horoscope Officer for Tiger
(寅生人-本命元辰星官鍾元)
 
Officer He Yuan – Horoscope Officer for Rabbit
(卯生人-本命元辰星官郝元)
 
Officer Li Wen Liang – Horoscope Officer for Dragon
(辰生人-本命元辰星官李文亮)
 
Officer Cao Jiao – Horoscope Officer for Snake
(巳生人-本命元辰星官曹交)
 
Officer Zhang Si – Horoscope Officer for Horse
(午生人-本命元辰星官張巳)
 
Officer Sun Gong – Horoscope Officer for Goat
(未生人-本命元辰星官孫恭)
 
Officer Du Zhun – Horoscope Officer for Monkey
(申生人-本命元辰星官杜準)
 
Officer Tian Jiao You – Horoscope Officer for Rooster
(酉生人-本命元辰星官田交佑)
 
Officer Cui Jian Jin – Horoscope Officer for Dog
(戌生人-本命元辰星官崔漸進)
 
Officer Wang Shuang – Horoscope Officer for Pig
(亥生人-本命元辰星官王爽)
 
In summary: Do not hesitate to find out more and do comparison on the different ways of people conducting such Ritual/Ceremony. Always find the Upright & Accurate one to engage for the conducting of this type of Ritual/Ceremony.
 
Due to too many cons and un-orthodox cheaters in the Market and Religious Society, one self must really know what is True and what is Fake in-order not to be conned.
 
Approach those who know and truthfully accept and learn the Positive & Upright Culture & Teaching.
 
Last of all, Good Luck to you.
 
Wu Liang Guan 無量關
Wu Liang Shou 無量壽
 

24 comments:

  1. Shi Fu.........is this about "Gai Yun"?????...pls confirm..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gai Yun & Bu Ku are 2 different Rituals, but usually Taoist Priest will conduct them together in-order to reach the maximum effect.

    A good set of Gai Yun Ritual can take up a whole day, same goes to Bu Ku.

    The last Ritual that I have done, part of it is the Bu Ku & Gai Yun - but is a small scale one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Different, we have different set of Rituals/Ceremonies to perform.

    Gai Yun to change and Bu Yun to "refill" or "replenish", never the same.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there, how are you recently? take care.

    May i know that do 库官招财法and 库官补库法 these two methods related to this 仪式? Are these 2 methods the actual taoist practises or just the rituals from 法教?

    Thx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fine, busy with Rituals/Ceremonies :P

    For the 1st one, not an Upright or Actual Taoist Ritual, cos Ku Guan does not give you Luck of Wealth, this is a Man-made or newliy creation set of dont know what Ritual.

    As for the Second, Bu Ku is one Ritual that related with Ku Guan and so, the title that being used no need to add Ku Guan, just Bu Ku will do.

    From the titles, seems like some ppl out there are trying to create some new stuffs again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 招财. This 2 words will attract a lot of attention. Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yup, this is how these Unorthodox Groups cheat & con on ignorant folks.

    Locally and Internationally, there are some many such Groups exist which really degrade and put our Taoism into disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Folks would believe in such, got conned and blames the religions.
    Partly, their fault.

    Such con groups, cheated others using a "grand" name.
    Partly, their fault.

    Because Taoism have a lot of rituals with long titles, many bluffed their way thru folks that do not know much.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yup, this is partly the fault of the Olden Day Priests, cos for a small group of our Taoist Priests do not make enough effort to share the true meaning & the benefits of such Rituals/Ceremonies and this is why, those con-men in nowadays can use all these Upright Rituals/Ceremonies to con on other ignorant folks.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Shifu, may I ask, do ALL mortals have a spiritual coffer or only Chinese/Taoist? Also, how much is a "reasonable" cost for offerings (paper offerings, fruit, etc) for this ritual?

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is mend for ALL Beings.

    Usually depend on the Amount that Oneself owe. Usually not more than S$100.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ok, what about the "ang pao" for the Shifu who does it? What is a "respectable" amount to give?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shifu, one last question: how long does it take for this ceremony? If the ceremony is only one hour, is it an authentic ceremony?

    ReplyDelete
  14. This depend on individual, no standard amt. For those who request for alot.. then.. hmmm.. you know that the Master is somehow... ... ...

    ReplyDelete
  15. This depend on what Ritual or Scriptures the Master recite on.

    Some can last 1.5 hrs to a full day Ritual.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Master, how will we know whether we have reached the limit for replenishing of spiritual coffer? For people who do it three times in a lifetime, usually what age or time do they do it and how do we know when it is necessary to do it?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Usually we wont be able to reach the limite of the replenshing, cos whenever a mortal "committed" something bad, the coffer will be "deducted" and so, it will be hard for us to "deposite" till its full.

    Three times in a life time is to make sure that, what we own "up there" will be lesser when on the day we leave this mortal realm.

    Best timing to do it will be before Lunar New Year & Tian Men Kai Day.

    ReplyDelete

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