Daoism Jian

yuanzhumin · 30th January 2007, 05:31 PM

Hi
My level of chinese is not good enough to translate this prayer and my wife, that is Taiwanese, is not at home now to help me in the translation. Anyway, this kind of prayer/charm is usually difficult to translate for the persons that are not initiated.

In fact, these are magic prayers, from the taoist religion, also called the chinese popular religion. Living here in Taiwan, where this religion has not been affected by a communist regim, it is very easy to see its pious manifestations everywhere...even on my doorway.

My mother in law being very superstititous like most of the people here, we have some taoist charms in every corner of our home with one stuck on the top of our entrance door. You'll immediately see on the pics the similarity between the one on my entrance door, written on a paper, and the ones on the swords.

Basically, the purpose is always the same : get rid of the evil and protect the bearer. If I had not my mother in law to think about these things, I guess that i would have been damned already.

Best,
yuanzhumin

athena · 31st January 2007, 02:34 AM

fenlander · 31st January 2007, 05:13 AM

the tangs on those swords look kind of feeble.

Nice looking though. How much do you want for them ?

fearn · 4th February 2007, 03:05 AM

Looking at this again, I'd also point out that the zig-zag is probably related to the seven stars of the Big Dipper, which is also talismanic.

F

athena · 4th February 2007, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenlander

the tangs on those swords look kind of feeble.

Nice looking though. How much do you want for them ?

I would like to keep them in my collection. The steel is very good, intense forged.

30th January 2007, 05:31 PM	#1
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	Taoist charm Hi My level of chinese is not good enough to translate this prayer and my wife, that is Taiwanese, is not at home now to help me in the translation. Anyway, this kind of prayer/charm is usually difficult to translate for the persons that are not initiated. In fact, these are magic prayers, from the taoist religion, also called the chinese popular religion. Living here in Taiwan, where this religion has not been affected by a communist regim, it is very easy to see its pious manifestations everywhere...even on my doorway. My mother in law being very superstititous like most of the people here, we have some taoist charms in every corner of our home with one stuck on the top of our entrance door. You'll immediately see on the pics the similarity between the one on my entrance door, written on a paper, and the ones on the swords. Basically, the purpose is always the same : get rid of the evil and protect the bearer. If I had not my mother in law to think about these things, I guess that i would have been damned already. Best, yuanzhumin Attached Images

31st January 2007, 05:13 AM	#3
fenlander Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 62	Tangs the tangs on those swords look kind of feeble. Nice looking though. How much do you want for them ?

31st January 2007, 02:34 AM	#2
athena Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 42

4th February 2007, 03:05 AM	#4
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Looking at this again, I'd also point out that the zig-zag is probably related to the seven stars of the Big Dipper, which is also talismanic. F