Many cultures have the belief of "earth-god". Chinese believes that every household has an earth-god stationing inside. He is the first line of defense against intrusion of malignant spirits, ghosts and other beings for your house.
Earth-God is a relatively low rank deity. He is commonly selected from “enlightened spirit or ghost” (including animal spirit). This includes the spirits of people who were righteous and pious when they were alive. They are granted the title of “Fu-De-Gong” (福德公, God of blessing and virtue, the official name of earth-god) by local spiritual authority and are worshiped in temples after they had died.
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Earth-god is also regarded as “wealth-god” who takes care of the material and social well-being of the household he watches over. So there is a tremendous mass-consciousness about the power and function of earth-god for centuries— he is the protector and wealth-god of the household. It is quite common to see earth-god altars everywhere in Hong Kong, Taiwan and SE Asian countries.
In terms of consciousness, earth-god is more close to human level and is sympathetic to human needs and suffering. Hence, earth-god and other lower level deities actually are more responsive to your prayers than higher rank deities like Bodhistsattva (equivalent of St. Mary) and Buddha. Some people have joked that you may get poorer praying to Buddhist and Daoist deities because they emphasize "nothingness" and "emptiness" (don’t cling to materials and money!).
Hence if you are suffering from money emergency during the current pandemic, help is surprisingly close to you-- your own earth-god inside your house.
Higher level deities are more concerned with your overall well-being like health or spirituality and are not too responsive to minor requests, especially plea for money. My Daoist sifu had taught me that earth-god is good for bringing small fortunes and I did not believe him until I have set up an earth-god altar. Within a week of setting up the altar, I got a rush of orders for my correspondence courses AFTER Christmas (people normally are broke after holiday spending).
EARTH-GOD MANTRA (transliteration of Sanskrit)
"NaMo SanManDor, WuDaiNam. OM. DuLuDuLu. DeViSoHa"
---- Recite the mantra 7 times to enhance your plea.
HOW TO SETUP A SIMPLE EARTH-GOD ALTAR
1. Print out the earth-god picture here or do a Google-search on "Chinese earth god" and select the image you like. Print the image out (at least 5 x 7 inches size). Alternatively, you may simply write "EARTH GOD" in your own language on a piece of paper instead of an image.
2. Go to a nearby temple to have the earth-god picture rotate on top of burning incenses 3 times and at the same time, visualize (imagine) an earth-god descends from heaven and enters into the picture (if there is no temples around you, you can light 3 incenses or candles and do the same procedure at home).
3. Put a dollar bill or a small size local currency into a red packet or envelop, stick it to the back of the earth-god picture.
4. Put the earth-god picture with the red envelop into a picture frame
5. Normally, earth-god altar is put outside your house, close to your main door. If you have problem doing that (like weather or someone may steal it), you can put it inside your house in a location that faces the main door.
6. Earth-god altar should be put close to the ground (or even on the ground). You may put the picture frame against a wall on a clean tray or in the lowest level of a bookshelf. The tray is put on the floor.
7. Select a good date to set up the altar (a day that does not clash your animal sign).
HOW TO MAINTAIN AN EARTH-GOD ALTAR
a. Minimal maintenance: put 3 small cups (like 2 oz size) of water or tea in front of the altar and change the liquid daily (prefer in the morning).
b. Basic maintenance: doing "a" plus lighting 3 sticks of incense
c. Normal maintenance: doing "a and b", plus offering candies, cake and fruit (no tomato or fruit with seeds carried by bird feces) on the second and 16th days of the Moon (lunar month). Also special offerings (more varieties) during major festivals like Chinese New Year, Winter Solstice, 15th day of the 8th Moon…
d. Recite the Earth-God mantra 7 times: Pray to him if you have any request.
The offerings do not need to be huge portions, just a few pieces of candies, small cakes or a few fruits. Remember this works best for small fortune, especially legitimate emergency help. It probably works better if you make offering. Earth-god is pretty close to human consciousness in terms of thinking. So a little bit “grease” (offering) will probably keep things “smoother” for you! I always find new buying orders coming in after I have made an offering. However, your requests must be reasonable and based on good intention. Do not make ridiculous request like hitting the first prize of lottery. You may wear out your welcome mat if you keep on asking for money and/or not doing anything positive to push up your good “karma score”, like donating or volunteering for charity works. I guess treating earth-god as if he is one of your family members will help tremendously for the physical, spiritual and material well-being of your whole family.
WHERE DOES YOUR EARTH GOD MONEY COME FROM?
Chinese belief thinks how much wealth or money one enjoys is pretty much predetermined or fixed. So how does earth-god find money for you? He cannot grant you more money than your destiny is assigned. Based on my personal experience, I think he shuffles your money sources by:
- prompting people who owe your money to repay you
- prompting people who will buy your product/ service in the future to buy it NOW
- giving you "advance payment" from your future entitlement
I also think earth-god cannot do this too often except when you are in urgent need.
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE EFFECTS OF EARTH-GOD MANTRA
Besides emergency money, earth-god also does other miracles for you if he likes you. Below are some recorded examples:
- Someone recites the mantra for an extended period and got rid of his 10 year old chronic skin problem.
- Someone who had bad luck throughout his life and after recites the mantra regularly, his luck has changed and become rich from poor.
- Someone who has problem getting pregnant for 10 years, gave birth to a baby boy after reciting the mantra for a while.
- Someone’s life was full of obstacles and become smoother after reciting the mantra regularly.
- Someone find a good spouse after reciting the mantra regularly.
PRECAUTIONS
You should not kill any snake or small reptile in your property as sometimes earth-god shows up as a snake or reptile. You get very bad luck if you accidentally kill your earth-god!
If you use this article to set up an altar, please make a donation of any size to your local charity or temple or church in the name of God of Blessing and Virtue. This provides the good beginning for your altar and exchange of good energy with the universe.
Good luck and Blessing!
(Above info is taken from my "Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui and Blessing" manual)
Ken Lai
© 2020 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.
