Lei Ting Curse Charm
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Lei Ting curse charms (), or ''Lôi Đình curse charms'', are a type of Chinese and Vietnamese numismatic charms. These charms can be described as a
talisman A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
ic coin as they are often based on
Chinese cash coins The cash or ''qian'' was a type of coin of China and the East Asian cultural sphere, Sinosphere, used from the 4th century BCE until the 20th century, characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole ( zh, c=方穿, poj=hong-chh ...
but can also have round holes instead of square ones and may also be shaped like gourd charms. Lei Ting curse charms contain inscriptions that request the
Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
God of Thunder
Leigong Leigong () or Leishen (), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their kno ...
to expel evil spirits and maleficent bogies through a magical spell incantation which usually calls upon Leigong by claiming that the inscription is in fact an order from
Laozi Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzu #Name, among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher and author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' (''Laozi''), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the ''Zhuangzi (book) ...
himself. In some cases these coin charms request that Leigong should act "with the speed of the law" - “急急如律令.”


Overview

The name "Lei Ting" (雷霆) comes from ''Lei'' (雷) which is an abbreviation for "
Leigong Leigong () or Leishen (), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their kno ...
" (雷公) or "Leishen" (雷神) who is the god of thunder and one of the officials in the celestial Ministry of Thunder and Storm who could punish on behalf of Heaven, and ''Ting'' (霆) meaning "thunderbolts" as these thunderbolts would be used for the destruction of malicious spirits as it is the noise of the thunder produced by the drums hold by Leigong that causes death of the wrong doers. It is not uncommon for the characters ''Lei'' (雷), ''Ling'' (令, "to order"), ''Sha'' (杀, "to kill"), and ''Gui'' (鬼, "spirit" or "ghost") on Lei Ting curse charms at both extremes of the inscription to be written in Taoist Fuwen as opposed to with Hanzi characters, and although the religious sects and orders of Taoism usually wish for the meaning of Fuwen characters to remain a secret the Fu characters used for these terms are actually well known. The term "Lei Ting curse charm" is a term used primarily by Chinese collectors for these coin charms. Lei Ting curse charms are an evolution of the ancient Chinese belief that everything is controlled by spirits and evil spirits should be dealt with in the same manner as human adversaries should be treated, in Ancient China a large number of
exorcists In some religions, an exorcist (from the Greek „ἐξορκιστής“) is a person who is believed to be able to exorcism, cast out the devil or performs the ridding of demons or other supernatural beings who are alleged to have demonic po ...
would roam the streets and throw spears into the air to scare evil spirits away, at the same time human prisoners would have their limbs dismembered and would be openly displayed outside the city gates to scare evil spirits away proclaiming that the same fate shall fall upon them if they dare go into the city. According to Chinese legends
Hanzi Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only one ...
characters were created by the
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...
and after "the millet fell from the heavens and the spirits cried at night", this was because legends describe spirits of being afraid of being controlled by "the magical properties of Chinese characters" as described in the
Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
. As Hanzi characters were used on amulets magical powers were prescribed to them by the superstitious, during the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
Chinese numismatic charms started to be worn as pendants to protect its wearers from the influence of bogies and evil spirits. Leigong became one of the most commonly requested Taoist Gods to request for protection. The ancient Chinese people believed that decrees and mandates issued by the government had absolutely authoritative power over them which expanded their belief that Hanzi characters somehow had magical properties. Taoist exorcists and priests claimed that they could use Hanzi characters and Fu script to make decrees that influence the spiritual world, for this reason the inscriptions of Lei Ting curse charms resemble official decrees and documents issued by the government of
imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...
but ordered by
Laozi Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzu #Name, among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher and author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' (''Laozi''), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the ''Zhuangzi (book) ...
and the person being decreed was
Leigong Leigong () or Leishen (), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their kno ...
whose job it is to punish people guilty of moral crimes such as unfilial sons or daughter as well as evil entities using the Taoist magic to harm others. The reason why Laozi was selected to be the one decreeing the order was because he was a prestigious figure who had the power needed to enforce said decree. In some cases rather than Leigong Laozi himself was used to either scare away or kill bogies and malicious spirits. Laozi is often referred to as "Taishang Laojun" ( Chinese: 太上老君;
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
: Tàishàng Lǎojūn) on Lei Ting curse charms, this title was posthumously given to him by the Emperor of the Song dynasty in the year 1013 AD. Like government decrees inscriptions on Lei Ting curse charms would carry phrases such as "quickly, quickly, this is an order" or "respect this command" to emulate them. Some curse charms contain the Chinese character for "dead ghost" as living people are startled to see a
ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
and fear seeing them as ghosts are once living people who have died, the ancient Chinese people believed that ghosts themselves feared "dead ghosts" and would be equally startled in the same way humans feared regular ghosts and that charms and amulets that had the Chinese or Fuwen character for "dead ghost" would scare ghosts away. Lei Ting curses appear on a wide variety of Chinese and Vietnamese numismatic charms such as those containing Taoist "magic" writing, a type of secret script used by Taoist priests which ancient Chinese people assigned magical properties to, charms containing images of various other Taoist deities such as Xuanwu, and other Lei Ting curse charms can have Taoist symbols on their reverse such as the
Bagua The ''bagua'' ( zh, c=八卦, p=bāguà, l=eight trigrams) is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. ''Bagua'' is a group of trigrams—co ...
(eight trigrams). These amulets were traditionally bought from Taoist masters and because they were often written in an exotic style and using Taoist "magic" writing, it was not uncommon for the inscriptions to be only readable by the Taoist masters who issued them.


List of magic incantations found on Lei Ting curse charms

The inscriptions of Lei Ting curse charms are read up to down and then right to left. Inscriptions can contain both
Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...
and Taoist "magic" writing. Usually these curse charms request Leigong to fight malicious spirits and bogies but
Laozi Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzu #Name, among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher and author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' (''Laozi''), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the ''Zhuangzi (book) ...
may also be called upon for this task. The following inscriptions are found on Lei Ting curse charms:


See also

* Chinese spiritual world concepts *
Ghosts in Chinese culture Chinese folklore features a rich variety of ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural creatures. According to traditional beliefs a ghost is the spirit form of a person who has died. Ghosts are typically malevolent and will cause harm to the li ...
* Horse coin * Zhengde Tongbao


Notes


References


Sources

* * {{Asian numismatic charms Amulets Talismans Chinese numismatic charms