Kopi Talk - Fengshui In Burial Pt 1/3

When I was in china paying respect to our deceased ancestor was viewed as a closely united group of living and dead relatives.

Ancestor worship is a religious practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, that the spirits of deceased ancestors will look after the family, take an interest in the affairs of the world, and possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living.

Unity of the group is reinforced through ancestor veneration, offering of various kinds help to keep the ancestors happy in the spiritual world, who, in return, will bless the family.
Ancestor worshipping is not asking for favours, but to fulfil one’s filial duties. The act is a way to respect, honour and look after ancestors in their afterlives guaranteeing the ancestors’ well-being and positive disposition towards the living, as well as possibly seeking the ancestors’ wisdom, guidance or assistance for their living descendants in a win win situation.

By paying respect and homage to the ancestors, instilled memories of the deceased, that thay are the ones having brought the descendants into the world, nourished them and having prepared the conditions under which the descendants grew up, hence ancestor veneration is a pay back of spiritual debts.

Being an important aspect of the Chinese culture, the social or non-religious function of ancestor worship is to cultivate kinship values like filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage.

Ancestor worship is a family affair, it is held in homes and temples and consists of offering joss stick, serving as communication and greetings to the deceased, prayers and offering items before tablets.
In homes, the shrines can be a shelf on the wall, a table or an altar like architectural structure, integrated in the structure of the house or even an entire room, depending on the financial status of the family.
The shrine will show a tablet with the ancestor's name inscribed on it, as well as a picture or photograph. Most likely, the patrilineal ancestors and their wives will be honoured. The shrine will have an incense stick holder, at times with a Golden Flower, and plates for food offerings, some might feature glasses or a set of tea cups for quenching the ancestors’ thirst. Some shrines show symbolic objects or objects honoured by the deceased. Flowers,fruit,food offerings, most likely fresh ones or sometimes in form of a garland, can be found as well.

In our China ancestor home the  cemeteries were generally located on hillsides as this is thought to improve the feng shui. The further up the hill the grave is, the better its situation is thought to be a blessing to all the generation to come. In Singapore a whole house dedicated for the dead either you are very rich or strong beliefer in feng shui. In China the Chinese belief that bigger, higher the better. In fact the whole world is obsessive compulsive with height and length, trying their best to compete each other on building the tallest building, medicine to booster the length of our c$%ck etc.