Q&As on using 'Protection All In One' Talisman

Protection All In One Talisman (a.k.a "36 Heavenly Warriors" Talisman)

1. Does this talisman have to be in my altar room at all times to ensure the deities' presence? If it is removed, does it mean the deities are no longer in my house?

Answer: Yes, the 'Protection All In One' Talisman need to be on the altar or at the altar room at all time to ensure the deities presence. Once removed, deities will no longer there. Because your deity statues are not consecrated. This talisman is the main 'spiritual power' source to activate the altar, especially for the westerners who bought Taoist / Buddhist Deity Statues, not knowing that statues need to go through 'spiritual activation' ritual (开光 - Kai Guang).

Related Article:

• Activate Your Taoist Altar with "36 Heavenly Warriors" Talisman
• Consecration Of Taoist Deity Statues

Take Note: 'Protection All In One' Talisman can also be folded and kept inside wallet / purse to be carried around wherever You go.  When You want to pray to it, You can put the talisman (being folded is ok) onto a tray and light up incense and pray to it. Without Deity Statues at home, the 'Protection All In One' Talisman alone can be 'stand alone' on the altar to be prayed to.

Related Article:

• How an Average American Guy end up choosing the Taoist Magical Path (and how You can pray like him)

2. How can it protect me from danger whilst I'm at work or elsewhere if it is kept framed up in my altar room?

Answer: When you are praying at the altar to seek protection, deities will hear you and protect you whereever you go. Just like how you go to a temple to pray and still be blessed by the deities when you are away from temple.

3. What happens if the talisman is misplaced, lost or stolen?

Answer: Nothing will happen, you just lost the protection, but the person who steal the talisman will face punishment by the deities.

Related Website / Blog: talisman-4-u.blogspot.com

4. Is it correct to say that joss sticks or incense has to be burnt in order to communicate with either deities or ghosts? May I also use resin incense?

Answer: Yes, joss sticks, aroma cones, or resin incense (Example: Kemenyan (Benzoin)) is Ok. In Taoist Practice, lighting up Joss Sticks is a must when communicating with the deities and also a form of respect. Even spiritual masters, black magic practitioners of other faiths also need to use incense or prayer materials to produce smoke when performing ritual.

Related Article: Why Taoists need and must burn Joss Sticks and Joss Papers? AND WHY SHOULD YOU?

5. I travel constantly for work and cannot burn joss sticks in my hotel rooms. How then do I communicate with the deities or ghost companions?

Answer: When You cannot light up joss sticks, just hold onto the talisman on Your palm in prayer manner and pray to it. The deities or ghosts will understand.

6. May I burn Joss papers to honour the deities, and hell notes as offerings to my spirit companions to show my extreme gratitude? I would like to do that everyday at home. Are there any protocols or procedures I should follow in the process of doing so?

Answer: You can burn joss papers to honour the deities . If You are doing it inside a room, 1 piece or few pieces in odd numbers will do.  You don't have to burn joss papers everyday. You can do it on every 1st and 15th of Chinese Lunar Month,  important days (spiritual manifestation day / birthday / enlightenment day) of the particular deities You are praying to, and during Traditional Chinese Festivals . All in all,  it is still up to You.

7. Is there any conflict in having two talismans (Protection All In One Talisman & 5 Ghosts Multi-Purpose Talisman) for life? I am after all, seeking help from both gods and ghosts at the same time; asking for the very same things you mentioned that are important in life; namely safety, health and peace.

Answer: There is no conflict in praying to the Protection All In One Talisman & 5 Ghosts Multi-Purpose Talisman together.

Related Article: Ultimate 5 Ghosts Multi-Purpose Talisman

8. My job needs me to always on the move and travel around. I am very vulnerable to all sorts of spiritual attacks, accidents and mishaps. There are many unclean and unpleasant spirits residing in the hotels rooms that I stay in at the end of the day. I plan on not framing my protection talisman and hanging it in my altar room, until my luck improves. Do you have any advise or suggestions?

Answer: You can fold the talismans nicely and keep inside Your wallet, purse, pouch or bag and carry along wherever You go. When You are travelling, example:in Your hotel room or any places that You are inconvenient to light up incense sticks to pray, just hold the talisman and put in between both palms in prayer manner and pray to it. When You return home, You can put them on a tray or a box, then light up incense stick and pray to it.

Related Article: Check out how an American guy set up his Taoist Altar and pray to the 'Protection All in one' Talisman >> How an Average American Guy end up choosing the Taoist Magical Path

Chinese Ghost Marriage - Why they want to do it?

"Hello Taoist Sorcery Master.. Can You tell me more about ghost marriage.. What is this?"

Ghost Marriage is also known as Posthumous marriage, or Necrogamy.

Chinese Ghost Marriage is also known as 配骨 (Bone Matching), 阴婚 (Yin Marriage), 鬼婚 (Ghosts Marriage), 灵婚 (Spirit Marriage).

In Folk Chinese Tradition, Ghost Marriage means either a living person marry a deceased person, or 2 deceased individuals getting married.

Ghost Marriages are also practiced in South Korea.

Ghost Marriages in Ancient China

There are many records of Ghost Marriages in Ancient Chinese Texts. The 2 popular ones are:

1) During the Jian-An Period, at the Year 208, Cao Chong (曹冲), who was one of the son of Cao Cao (曹操), died at the young age of 13. Cao Cao, out of his love for his son, betrothed the deceased lady of Surname Zhen (甄氏小姐) as Cao Chong’s wife and buried them together.

2) From an ancient Book - 昨梦录 (Dream Records Of Yesterdays) , written during Southern Song Period, by Kang Yu Zi (康与之), it was written that the families of deceased individuals of eligible age would seek help from ghost match-makers. If the deceased couples were found to be matchable，they would proceed with the ceremony of Ghost Marriage. (年当嫁娶未婚而死者，两家令媒互求之，谓之鬼媒人。通家状细帖，各以父母命祷而卜之。得卜，即制服冥衣，男带女裙帔等毕备，媒者就墓备酒果，祭以合婚。)

Why seek for Ghost Marriage Ceromony or Ritual?

In the past, it was believed that if there was a lonely grave in the ancestral grave, that would affect the prosperity of future generations. It was unlucky, so it was necessary to hold a marriage for the deceased.

Living persons seeking "Ghost Marriage" Ritual

1) Human life is unpredictable. One person is alive and the next second, he or she might be gone. When a steady couple has planned to get married but suddenly passed away due to accident or illness, the living person hope to complete the marriage, so as to be forever remembered in his / her heart, will seek for "Ghost Marriage" Ceromony. (Occasionally still practiced).

2) If a Chinese man has "double wives"or "multi-wives" luck in his life's destiny, usually the parents, and even the wife agree to has the husband do the "Ghost Marriage" with a deceased woman or several deceased Women. This will help to maintain the living wife to be the only wife in the man's life. The 1st deceased woman to be married will be considered the Number 1 wife and 2nd deceased wife will be numbered as 2nd wife and so forth. The living wife will be always demoted as the last wife.

3) A deceased married Chinese woman's tablet is kept at the altar of her husband's family. However, if a woman of eligible age pass away unmarried, her family is prohibited from placing her tablet on the altar of her natal home. She will be "given a temporary paper tablet, placed not on the domestic altar but in a corner near the door. Hence, the important duty of Chinese parents in marrying off their children becomes increasingly important for their daughters. Since women are only able to acquire membership in descent lines through marriage, ghost marriage became a viable solution to ensure that unmarried, deceased daughters still had "affiliation to a male descent line" and could be appropriately cared for after death.

In Taiwan, please do not pick up the Red Packets (Ang Bao) on the floor, thinking that You might be lucky to find money inside. The parents of a deceased unwed daughter wanted to marry her off to a living man, so they will put some money, the daughter's hair and Bazi (Date of Birth and particulars) inside a Red Packet and leave it on the floor, waiting for a man to pick it up. Once You pick it up, the parents will appear from their hiding ground and welcome You to be the bridegroom / husband for the Ghost Marriage Proposal. You will be given a certain amount of wealth or benefits, but You cannot run away from the marriage. If You turn down the ghost marriage proposal, the ghost of the deceased daugther will hunt you down and create havoc in Your life.

In some desperate cases, some families are afraid that no one would pick up the red packets, thereby would simply, ramdomly attached the "red packet" onto a scooter / motorbike or anything that is normally owned by a mature male.

4) Younger brothers should not marry before their elder brothers, therefore a ghost marriage for an older, deceased brother may be arranged just before a younger brother's wedding to avoid incurring the disfavour of his brother's ghost.

Ghosts seeking "Ghost Marriage" Ritual

A ghost might happened to like a particular living person (living boyfriend or living girlfriend, or happen to spot a particular someone on the street), so the ghost will send hints to the living person through dreams or creating paranormal activities. The living person may consult a Spirit Medium in the temple to be told about the issue. Sometime, the female or male ghost was asking for a marriage ritual with another ghost (boyfriend or girlfriend who died together, or met another ghost in the ghost realm).

When a loving to-be-married couple happened to die together (usually accident cases), they will hint the living parents through dreams that they want a "Ghost Marriage" Ritual.

Take Note: If any Westerners and westernised Chinese were to laugh at this custom, please watch the Movie - "Ghost (1990)" and listen to the Song - "Unchained Melody" and then rethink again.

Beware of what You said - A real ghost story happened in Singapore

One man happened to walk pass a graveyard. He spotted a photo of the face of a  deceased girl on the tomb stone. He said:" What a beautiful girl, if she was alive, I'd like her to be my wife".  The ghost heard it and stick to him ever since. One day, he was riding his motorbike on the road at the opposite flow of traffic (Ghost covering eyes - 鬼遮眼). He was hit by a car and died in the accident. The deceased man's dad felt suspicious because he was not an alcoholic and never take drug and was a well-behaved person. He decided to consult the spirit medium in the temple near his home. The deity (in trance of spirit medium) told  the dad that a female ghost fall in love with his son and wanted him to be her husband and took away his life to be with her, due to what his son's said at her grave. A "Ghost Wedding" Ritual was performed  for them.

Video of 'Chinese Ghost Marriage' Ritual of 2 deceased persons
(Old Granny chanting mantra in Cantonese Language)

Related ghost movies & songs:

- Ghost (1990) - Romantic Ghost Story / Song - Unchained Melody

- The Ghost Bride (鬼新娘) 2017 - A Filipino horror film starring Kim Chiu and Alice Dixson with Ina Raymundo.

- 蔡琴- 被遗忘的时光 (Cai qin - Forgotten time)

Conclusion: Ghost Marriages are rarely practiced nowadays but it is still available in some Chinese Communities. Please beware of the Red Packets You found lying on the floor.

Who are 文判官 (Wen Pan Guan) & 武判官 (Wu Pan Guan) ? - The Prosecutors of the Taoist Netherworld

"I'm from Myanmar and I'm interested in Taoism. I want to know about the gods' history, namely - 文判官 (Wen Pan Guan)，武判官 (Wu Pan Guan) - the bodyguards of earth god. Because most people in Myanmar believe Tu Ti Gong but they only know Tu Ti Gong's history. They don't know about 文判官，武判官".

文判官 (Wen Pan Guan) means 'Civil' Magistrate. 武判官 (Wu Pan Guan) means 'Military / Martial' Magistrate. To make it more understandable, they are like prosecutors in modern-day terms.

Often time, the statues of 文判官 (Wen Pan Guan) & 武判官 (Wu Pan Guan) can be found in public Chinese temples, both standing side by side of Fu De Zheng Shen (福德正神) aka Da Bo Gong 大伯公 (only in South East Asia), Tu Di Gong (土地公) and also being seen standing at both sides of other Deities that take charge of underworlds' matters, such as 东岳大帝 (Dong Yu Da Di), 酆都大帝 (Feng Du Da Di), 十殿阎君 (Si Dian Yuan Jun) aka Judges of 10 halls of Hells and Cheng Huang Ye 城隍爺 (Chen Huang Ye) aka City God.

文判官 (Wen Pan Guan) would be seen one hand holding on a chinese calligraphy brush and another hand holding on a book - Shen Si Bu (生死簿) (Book of Life & Death). He is responsible for investigating the world of goods and evils, in order to determine the length of each person's life.

武判官 (Wu Pan Guan) would be seen carrying a 锏锥 (Jian Chui) - Baton, also known as 九节（层）鞭 - Nine Layers Lash. His duty is to escort spirits, flipping through the Book Of Life & Death (生死簿 Sheng Si Bu).

On the lay-man level of Taoist Practice, folks don't need to pay much attention on praying to 文判官 (Wen Pan Guan) & 武判官 (Wu Pan Guan). You just focus on praying to the main deity (the deity standing in the middle of the two) will do.

Below is the advanced level of Taoism that Priest Level will know. It is general information for the Folk Taoists.

Base on the Taoist Text Records -'Dao Fa Hui Yuan' (道法会元):

There are also magistrates in the subordinates courts of the Feng Du Cheng (酆都城) - Nether world, and the consulates of the Tian Shu Yuan (天枢院) from the nine titles, assisting the divisions in dealing with official duties, and the official positions are relatively light, all of them are judged by the Tian Shu Yuan (天枢院), with a total of 21 magistrates: (酆都城内阴间各司下亦设有判官一职，领天枢院从九品衔，协助各司处理公务，官职较轻，皆号曰天枢院酆都判官, 共计二十一位，乃:)

追魂案判官-王福 (Prosecutor of 'Souls Chasing' Case - Wang Fu)
监生案判官-班简 (Prosecutor of 'Supersivor' Case - Ban Jian )
考掠案判官-訾和 (Prosecutor of 'Beating' Case - Zi He)
罪业案判官-贾元 (Prosecutor of 'Criminal Occupation' Case - Jia Yuan)
断刑案判官-赵胜 (Prosecutor of 'Breaking' Case - Zhao Sheng)
主罪案判官-张琪 (Prosecutor of 'Main Crime' Case - Zhang Qi)
受生案判官-杨通 (Prosecutor of 'Receiving Birth' Case - Yang Tong)
受牒案判官-符朴 (Prosecutor of 'Receiving documents' Case - Fu Pu)
刀山案判官-祝顺 (Prosecutor of 'Knife Mountain' Case - Zhu Shun)
剑树案判官-李恭 (Prosecutor of 'Sword Tree' Case - Li Gong)
注死案判官-薛忠 (Prosecutor of 'Register Of Death' Case - Xue Zhong)
执对案判官-永真 (Prosecutor of 'Execution' Case - Yong Zhen)
注生案判官-卢忠策 (Prosecutor of 'Register Of Birth' Case - Lu Zhong Ce)
注禄案判官-成珣 (Prosecutor of 'Register of Salary / Fortune' Case -  Cheng Xun)
注病案判官-黄寿 (Prosecutor of 'Register of Sickness' Case - Huang Shou)
注等案判官-周毕 (Prosecutor of  'Register of  Rank' Case - Zhou Bi)
注善案判官-釆伸 (Prosecutor of 'Register of Kindness' Case - Bian Shen)
欠杀案判官-程德 (Prosecutor of 'Owe a Killing' Case - Cheng De)
劫监案判官-刘宝 (Prosecutor of 'Rob Prison' Case - Liu Bao)
放生案判官-董杰 (Prosecutor of  'Life Release' Case - Dong Jie)
五道案判官-郭愿 (Prosecutor of 'Five Realms' Case - Guo Yuan)

判王都督-辛天君 (辖管诸判官) The overall head of magistrates - Xin Tian Jun (Overall-In-Charge Prosecutor)

Base on Folk Taoism and influenced of Chinese 'Version' Buddhism:

Outside the contexts of Taoism 10 Courts of Hells, base on Chinese Buddhism - Maudgalyayana, the assistant of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, will inspects the good and bad deeds of the person who just pass-away, with his 4 assistants, namely: (据民间传说，十殿以外亦设有佛家目莲尊者部下的四大判官，目连尊者是地藏王菩萨的辅佐人，会在人死后复查其功德罪业，更有四司判官辅佐:)

查察司判官-李玄邃 (Prosecutor of 'Examine & Research'  - Li Xuan Sui)
赏善司判官-杨玄感 (Prosecutor of 'Bestowing Goodness' - Yang Xuan Gan )
罚恶司判官-韩子通 (Prosecutor of 'Punishment of Evil' -  Han Zi Tong)
阴律司判官-崔子玉 (Prosecutor of 'Implicit Law' - Cui Zi Yu)

Of the 4 Prosecutors, the main prosecutor is Cui Zi Yu (崔子玉). Prosecutor Cui is in charge of the Records of Life & Death, making sure the death date of the deceased person match the records,  if unmatched will be dispatched to 'tragic death' wall. Prosecutor Li is in charge of the Life Reflecting Mirror, reflect one's life while living. Prosecutor Yang calculates the good deeds of the deceased person. Prosecutor Han calculates the evil deeds of the deceased person. (四判官以崔为首，崔判官掌生死簿，与死者魂魄核对，如年寿未到即死，就贬入枉死城；李判官掌孽镜台，照出死者的生前情况，命死者伏罪；杨判官计算死者善业，韩判官计算死者恶业.)

According to the Min-Nan People (Southern Chinese / Fu-Jian people), during the Folk Taoist / Buddhist liberation ritual of a deceased person, these 4 spiritual officers were involved during the trial periods (49days and beyond), before going for rebirth / transmigration.

Important person to take note - Cui Zi Yu (崔子玉)

Cui Pan Guan (崔判官) aka The Scholar Recording Officer Cui, a well-known Immortal in the Chinese Deity System.

His real name was Cui Yu (崔鈺) or Cui Zi Yu (崔子玉), born in Sui Tang Dynasty 隋唐 (Around AD600++).

In AD633, he got his 1st official title in the Tang Dynasty Imperial Court, due to his credit, merits and the upright way of dealing with cases and releasing of innocent suspects, he was being respected like a Deity at that Era and after that Era.

After he passed-away, in-order to repay the gratitude to him, the folks who knew him dedicated a Temple to him and gave him  the title : Cui Pan Guan (崔判官).