2025-02 Longhua Template

Preface

Today, I went to Longhua Temple with my family leader and friends. I have been in Shanghai for so long, and although I often pass by Longhua Station by subway, I have never set foot there. This time, I just followed the small team to join in the fun, to see what the situation is like, and to record it.

Why go

The reason is that one day my family leader WeChatted me and said: Uncle and aunt violated the Tai Sui, go and help them find some mascots like red ropes.

Remember some things

Since I was a child, there have been some worship ceremonies at home during festivals or the New Year, such as worshiping the land, worshiping the sun, and worshiping the contract. I always followed the family’s instructions and did it step by step. In the past, when I asked my family, they would say, “Hurry up and worship. It’s good to worship. Remember to say some auspicious words (bless the health of the family, bless the study…).” Up to now, I still don’t quite understand what I worship and what the actual effect is. So when I was told to worship Tai Sui, I was also puzzled.

Photos

I spent 20 yuan at the entrance of the temple to buy a share of incense (online payment is supported, or you can bring your own incense). After entering the temple, I followed the flow of people and walked around Longhua Pagoda three times with incense in my hands. According to my observation, during the process of walking around, some pilgrims would stop and worship when they reached the four directions (east, south, west, and north) of the pagoda, and some pilgrims would stop and worship when they reached the south and north directions of the pagoda.

After walking around Longhua Pagoda, I continued to hold the incense to the Maitreya Hall to worship (also according to the observation, worshiped in four directions), and after worshiping the Maitreya Hall, I inserted the incense into the incense pool.

People are worshiping the Maitreya Hall, with uniform vests and handheld equipment, and it is guessed that they should come in groups.

After inserting/dropping the incense into the incense pool, we came to the side of the affairs circulation office to line up to buy hand ropes.

The following are the hand ropes purchased. The one on the left is the Tai Sui hand rope, and the one on the right is the Sanhe zodiac hand rope. The so-called Sanhe zodiac hand rope means that all three zodiac signs can be worn. For example, this year is 2025, then those who violate the Tai Sui (pig)/offend the Tai Sui (tiger)/break the Tai Sui (monkey), those who belong to the pig, the tiger, and the monkey can all wear it.

By the way, the price is:

• Ordinary hand rope (Tai Sui hand rope) 168 yuan
• Sanhe zodiac hand rope 198 yuan

There is a small door next to the affairs circulation office, in which there are several deer and a big clock.

The environment inside the temple is quite good, and from time to time you can see cats basking in the sun under the trees, which is quite cozy.

Immediately afterwards, we took a simple stroll inside the temple and decided to eat a bowl of Arhat noodles here before going back.

It is only two or three hundred meters from the Maitreya Hall to the dining hall, and there are quite a lot of people inside.

Why worship Tai Sui

Out of curiosity, I checked on the Internet what it means to worship Tai Sui.

Tai Sui, that is, the God of Tai Sui. In ancient times, Ganzhi chronology and twelve earthly branches were used, and the twelve earthly branches corresponded to the twelve zodiac signs, and 60 Tai Sui were combined with the heavenly stems and earthly branches.

What is Tai Sui

According to custom, it is believed that every year there is a deity as the supervisor to monitor human affairs, and this supervisor’s position is called Tai Sui. There are 60 Tai Sui in total, and each year is supervised by one Tai Sui.

How to calculate the 60 Tai Sui

There are 10 heavenly stems: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, Xin, Ren, and Gui

There are 12 earthly branches: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai

The heavenly stems and earthly branches are paired in pairs, forming 60 combinations: Jiazi, Yichou, Bingyin…all the way to Guihai

Each such combination of heavenly stems and earthly branches represents a sixty-year chronology cycle, corresponding to a Tai Sui god

So there are a total of 60 Tai Sui gods, corresponding to 60 combinations of heavenly stems and earthly branches

In plain words, it is the least common multiple of 10 and 12.

There is also such a saying on the Internet: Yang matches Yang, Yin matches Yin

• From the perspective of the heavenly stems

One heavenly stem corresponds to six earthly branches, that is, 10 * 6

• From the perspective of the earthly branches

One earthly branch corresponds to five heavenly stems, that is, 12 * 5

Offend Tai Sui?

Offending Tai Sui means conflicting with the Tai Sui of the current year, and is often regarded as an unfavorable year.

The following is the “Table of the Chinese Zodiac Offending Tai Sui, Conflicting Tai Sui, and Punishing Tai Sui”

Why worship

In plain words: The God of Tai Sui is regarded as a deity with a significant influence on human affairs, and worshiping them is believed to bring good luck and avoid bad luck, which stems from the ancient Chinese cosmology and mystical beliefs.

Epilogue

I once saw such a question before:

Q: With such advanced science and technology, why do some people still believe in religion?

A: If you don’t believe in God, where do you get your spiritual strength from?

References

Tai Sui - Wikipedia