The Study On The Ben Ming Faith

The Ben Ming faith has been worshiped and believed among the people since itcame into being. As a part of the numerous folk beliefs in our country, it is praisedhighly even by emperors or empresses in some dynasties, turning into an importantcourt etiquette. The Ben Ming faith experiences several dynasties, stretching long andendlessly. It has great influence on people’s life and ideas. There are still many devoteestoday. Though folk faith is prevalent widely in ancient as well as modern, people’sunderstanding of folk faith just stops at the perceptual level and fails to find the natureof it. The common understanding towards folk faith at present is that people just knowthe superficial phenomena but are ignorant about its nature and the reasons of itsemergence.It is obviously very necessary and important to explore the root causes of the BenMing faith. Ben Ming faith is a folk belief that covers an extensive range, whichinvolves multitudinous details such as Chinese era, Chinese zodiac, Jupiter annals andGrand Duke Jupiter annals. The complex contents of folk faith determine that theinvestigation of folk faith should be considered comprehensively from different angelsinstead of being limited to a one-side point of view. Based on the investigation to thecauses of the Ben Ming faith, it is concluded that this folk belief is in essence a kind ofastrologic faith. That is, the ancients think that sky appearances and the movements ofcelestial bodies will influence or even determine fortunes and disasters of man’s world.Specifically, it is a reflection on the worship of Dipper and Grand Duke Jupiter inancients’ ideas on life.One of the most important contents in folk faith is the belief for one’s animal year.The animal year is thought to be rather dangerous and it is an ominous year in one’s life.This idea originates from people’s senses that the animal year is a year for one’s rebirth,which is closely related to specific production and living conditions and medical andhealth levels in ancient. The animal year symbolizes that one is reproduced. It meansthat one will again face all kinds of dangerous conditions and fragile life state that aresimilar to his born year. This reflects the similarity law of the mythical thinking in theBen Ming faith. The way of exorcising dangerous disasters in the animal year bywearing a red ornament is a reflection on the worship of the color red in the Ben Mingfaith.