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    Spirit Realms of Vietnam: Volume I The Context
    Spirit Realms of Vietnam: Volume I The Context
    Spirit Realms of Vietnam: Volume I The Context
    Ebook113 pages1 hour

    Spirit Realms of Vietnam: Volume I The Context

    By Judith Mann

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    a 'stand-alone' guide for investigating the layered spiritual aspects of Vietnamese culture and an in-depth resource companion to 'Spirit Realms of Vietnam: The Diaries'. Includes research on Vietnamese and Cham cosmologies, symbols and funeral customs: spirit stones; wandering souls; sacred sites, mediumships, shamanism.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJudith Mann
    Release dateAug 3, 2012
    ISBN9780961929046
    Spirit Realms of Vietnam: Volume I The Context
    Author

    Judith Mann

    Judith Mann, an intrepid traveler/photographer/writer, has spent much of her productive life investigating the sacred in Europe and South East Asia. The Trail of Gnosis is the culmination of 28 years of gnostic research journeys on several continents. Mann would like to share the fruits of her compelling pilgrimages as inspiration for your own exploration of Gnosis. The Revised 4th Edition is available in paperback, Kindle and other e-formats. Four trips to Vietnam since 2006 has led to the publication of 'Spirit Realms of Vietnam' available as two volumes, 'The Diaries' and its in-depth reference source companion, The Context', both available in paperback. The Context is also available in Kindle and other e-formats.

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    Reviews for Spirit Realms of Vietnam

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This book is very interesting. I like to read about the spirits, belief and the goddess at Vietnam.
    • 5/5
      "The Context" illuminated for me the rich living spiritual heritage of the Vietnamese people. I had no prior knowledge of this aspect of their culture, yet the clear, authoritative writing and depth of historical exploration easily led me into a fascinating esoteric world. It well-prepared me for the journey of "The Diaries". I found the knowledge in "The Context" to be a beautiful journey in itself." --M.K., 4/12“Seekers, travelers, or travelers at heart, will find this compelling reading." --D.W. 5/12 "Very easy to follow and understand." --T.M. 8/12

    Book preview

    Spirit Realms of Vietnam - Judith Mann

    What Others Are Saying About

    Spirit Realms of Vietnam:

    The Context

    Fabulous work! Really includes a lot of unique information and golden nuggets. Very easy to follow and understand.

    --Adam Bray, travel writer-photographer for 23 guidebooks

    'The Context' illuminates the rich living spiritual heritage of the Vietnamese people. I had no prior knowledge of this aspect of their culture, yet the clear, authoritative writing and depth of historical exploration easily led me into a fascinating esoteric world.

    --M.K

    Spirit Realms of Vietnam

    Volume I

    The Context

    Judith Mann

    Published by Pacific Rim Press at Smashwords

    Copyright 2012 Judith Mann

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Discover other titles by Judith Mann at Smashwords.com

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Chapter 1 The Spirit Realm

    Chapter 2 Direct Worship: Luong Dan

    Chapter 2A Direct Worship: Hoa Hao

    Chapter 3 Wandering Ghosts

    Chapter 4 Ancestor Veneration

    Chapter 5 Viet Funerals

    Chapter 6 Intermediaries Thay

    Chapter 6A Thay Cung

    Chapter 6B Thay Dong Ho

    Chapter 6C Thay Boi

    Chapter 6D ThayPhap

    Chapter 6E Thay Lang/Thay Dong Y

    Chapter 7 The Cham Heritage

    Chapter 8 Islam In Champa

    Chapter 9 Vietnamized Cham Deities

    Chapter 10 Cham Funerals

    Chapter 11 Cham Sites

    Chapter 12 Spirit Stones

    Chapter 13 Sacred Stones Called ‘But’

    Chapter 14 Conjuring Stones & Talisman

    Chapter 15 Lightening Stones

    Chapter 16 Leopold Cadiere

    Bibliography

    Glossary

    About The Author

    Other Books By The Author

    back to top

    Introduction

    In 2005, a chance reading of an internet blog about sacred stones resonated deeply. It literally set me packing to follow the footsteps and early twentieth century research of Father Leopold Cadière in central Vietnam. I was intrigued by the possibility that the mysterious stones he documented might still be venerated.

    Father Léopold-Michel Cadière (1869-1955), a missionary with the French Société des Missions Etrangeres, became one of Indochina's most famous ethnologists, writing two hundred fifty research works on Vietnamese history, religions, customs and linguistics in the early twentieth century.

    After spending the better part of a year translating Father Cadiere's writings, I embarked on three trips to Vietnam to search for tangible manifestations of local spirits and what has survived of stone worship that has reached the early twenty-first century.

    To establish a context for my encounters with the sacred stones and sites in Vietnam, I inquired into Cham rituals and sites, shamanism, the Mother Goddess pantheon, hungry ghosts, ancestor veneration and funeral rites; all fascinating and often applicable to our own lives.

    This book is intended as a detailed companion resource to Spirit Realms of Vietnam: The Diaries. It is also a 'stand-alone' guide for investigating spiritual aspects of Vietnamese culture

    I humbly share the results of my investigations and explorations with you.

    --Judith Mann

    Village Shrine

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    Chapter 1 The Spirit Realm

    Under the surface of Vietnam's tight weave of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism lies a dynamic layer of veneration for ancestors, divinities and spirits. This aspect of Vietnam's spiritual culture originated at least 2,000 years ago with its indigenous Sa Huynh, Dong Son and Dong Nai cultures.

    Adopting successive beliefs does not necessarily mean the abandonment of earlier faiths to the Vietnamese, who welcome all divine help. A possible exception might be Sunni Muslim Chams, who have broken with their Hindu-Buddhist past and acknowledge only Islam.

    According to Fr. Leopold Cadière:

    "Between heaven and earth lies another, a reflective realm, that of spirits. Direct communication with the spirit world seems entirely conceivable when supported by ancient and deeply held practices and beliefs.

    Spirits fly fast in the air and arrive with the wind. They advance by the ways or descend the courses from rivers. They hide at the bottom of water, in the dangerous pits as well as in the quiet ponds. They are fond of mountain dells and shaded forests. Raised peaks, rocks that bar rivers, a simple stone can shelter them. Large trees afford asylum and certain animals possess or can acquire their virtues. They can appear in the simplest ways, most commonly through the chant of a cock, the cry of a cat or a gleam in late night.

    Happiness or misfortune depends upon spirits intrinsic in all the forces of nature. Their activity merges into the life of humans and influences destinies. Spirits supervise all life, sticking to humans as part of a greater design until death or perhaps beyond.

    Two worlds, the seen, natural world, and another, which we can only intuit, are what impel us. When troubled, people calculate and force efforts, which can be useless. Success depends much more on another dimension that emanates invisible forces for or against a person. The human share of a particular action is quite minimal in comparison to those of invisible forces.

    In Vietnam, the human side seems a blend of ritual and the interior states of being that infuse daily life. Average people, such as farmers, fishermen and market women, continually drift towards the supernatural. Even those who have been thoroughly initiated into Western disciplines do not fully break away from the influence of the supernatural and ancestral honorifics. Twenty-five centuries of Confucian counsel is still heeded.

    Vietnamese beliefs and practices may be influenced by the exchange of stories about the power of certain spirits and about miraculous events, along with information disseminated by popular media. Paradoxically, traditional practices are being revived at the same time as acute cultural and social change is combining with an opening to Western modernity".

    back to top

    Chapter 2 Direct Worship: Luong Dan

    The primary spiritual practice of ‘good people’, luong dan, is the veneration of natural forces endowed with sacred properties. Forms such as rocks or trees, considered inanimate in the West, are typical dwelling places of spirits. With no doctrine, scripture or clergy to follow, petition is made directly to these supernatural beings. To engage the aid of a spirit, modest gifts are offered along with a spontaneous or conventional prayer in front of a rock, a tree or a shrine.

    As this worship is usually collective, proxies, such as the head of the family, the village chief, and in the past, the emperor, make offerings. Through their mouths, the collective addresses the spirit directly, without an intermediary, a gnostic act. Temple guardians, objects offered to the spirits, those who conduct rituals, can all be considered as representatives for the community, which acts through them.

    The most renowned example of such worship is The Sacrifice of

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