Sindoism
Sindoism Menghean: 신도교 / 神道教, Sindo-gyo), sometimes translated as "the Path of the Gods," is a catch-all term encompassing a variety of traditional religions practiced by the Meng people. Descended from a vast array of prehistoric animistic beliefs about spirits inhabiting natural objects, it has evolved into a widespread religion with a more or less consistent set of core deities and principles. It is characterized by the worship of Sin (신/神), spirits and deities who embody moral principles, natural phenomena, and prominent ancestors.
Like many other polytheistic religions, Sindoism is notable for its dynamic and syncretic character. Its practices broadly overlap with those of Chŏndoism, and it has adopted some deities from Central Hemithean Buddhism. Many Meng people report in surveys that they regularly carry out prayer rituals at Sindo shrines and temples but do not genuinely believe in the existence of Sindo gods, making an "accurate" count of Sindo believers difficult to collect.
Names and definitions
For much of Menghean history, there was no single, overarching term used to distinguish traditional religious practices as a group from other religions such as Buddhism and Shahidism. Rather, they were seen as a normal and unremarkable part of everyday life, varying from one province or village to another with fluid boundaries and terms of inclusion.
In the 14th century, it became common for court officials to distinguish between Chŏndo, "the way of Heaven," and Sindo, "the way of the Gods," with the former referring to Choe Je-wu's abstract moral system and the latter referring to the worship of specific spirits and deities. These early sources, however, treated the two as different strands or approaches within the same broad cultural tradition, rather than two distinct belief systems. In the centuries that followed, Sindoism and Chŏndoism continued to blend with one another, with Sindo writings increasingly emphasizing the role of Heaven as embodied by Chŏnjo and Chŏndo writings stressing the moral value of conducting rites to gods and ancestors.
The Menghean word for religion, jonggyo, was imported in the late 19th century as a reading of the Dayashinese Kanji 宗教 (Shūkyō), which was itself developed after contact with Casaterran missionaries. This gave rise to some alternative Menghean names like mingan jonggyo (folk religion) or Mengjok jonggyo (religion of the Meng people). Rising nationalist cultural currents and external pressure from Casaterran colonial powers fostered an intellectual effort to define a unified ethnic or national religion as part of the Menghean identity, paving over local distinctions in the process. Sindoism, as Sindo-gyo, remains the most widespread umbrella term, though even its boundaries are unclear; many northern sects, for example, involve shamanistic practices and local pantheons very different from those seen in the center and south.
History
Major deities
Heavenly lineage
The highest-ranking god in Sindoism is Chŏnjo (천조/天祖, "heavenly ancestor"), also known as Chŏnjo Sangje (천조 상제/天祖上帝, "supreme emperor Chŏnjo"), Sangje alone, or Hanŭlnim. He is depicted as a bearded man in flowing white robes with sky-blue trim. The first god to emerge from the cosmic egg, he created the earthly world and rules over it from his palace in the sky. In contrast to monotheistic deities, Chŏnjo is neither omniscient nor omnipotent; he rules over the heavenly realm as an emperor would, taking in information from his messengers and ordering other gods to do his bidding. According to some millenarian sects, when Chŏnjo does return to earth to wield his limitless power directly, this will bring about the end times.
Chŏnjo is accompanied by Chŏnja (천자/天子, "Son of Heaven"), who was born from the sweat of the former's brow after he created the earth. Chŏnja is also depicted in white robes, but younger, and sometimes without a beard. Unlike his father, who is mostly content to rule over the gods from the Heavenly Palace, Chŏnja feels a strong attachment to the mortal world and human affairs; in some legends, he descends to earth on an enormous chariot to protect an Emperor from defeat in battle.
On his first visit to the newly created earth, Chŏnja had a child with Hwangnyŏ, the daughter of the earth gods Hwangsin and Hwangmo. This child, half heavenly and half earthly, became the Yellow Emperor (황제/黄帝, Hwangje), founding the first human kingdom and teaching his people civilized customs. The Yellow Emperor had three sons, who he appointed as the Jade Emperor (옥제/玉帝, Okje), the Stone Emperor (석제/石帝,, Sŏkje), and the Metal Emperor (킴제/金帝, Kimje). At the end of his earthly reign, the Yellow Emperor dispatched his three sons to different areas of the earth, where they set up their own kingdoms. The Stone Emperor's kingdom fell prey to pride, and the Metal Emperor's kingdom fell prey to greed, but the Jade Emperor's kingdom flourished and grew, eventually absorbing the others. As such, the Jade Emperor is considered the cultural forefather of Menghean civilization, directly descended from the highest deity in Heaven.
Elemental Gods
Also known as the "Second-Rank Gods," these are the highest in rank after Chŏnjo himself. All are regarded as earth deities, because they sprang from the earth at the moment of its creation, and they spend most of their time in their earthly palaces, which were once believed to exist in real locations in the mortal world. Only on special occasions do they travel to the spirit world to stay in their guest houses and pay respect to Chŏnjo. Each elemental god has at least one equal associated with an opposing force, as represented in the ohaeng and ŭm-yang, and in theory they are all equals. Unlike the "vertical opposition" of the three worlds, in which Heaven is good and the Underworld is evil, these earth deities are in "horizontal opposition," representing aspects of the earthly world which balance one another. Any one force becomes dangerous in excess, and balance or harmonious rotation are ideal.
- The Gods of the Firmament sprang upward to form the sun and moon, where they built their palaces. They are usually regarded as separate from the Twelve Earth Deities, as they live on the firmament rather than in the mortal world, but like the Earth Deities they were born from the mortal world at the moment of its creation.
- Ilsin (日神), the Sun God, lives in a palace on the sun and leads it across the sky every day, pulling the firmament along behind him.
- Wŏlsin (月神), the Moon Goddess, lives in a palace on the moon.
- The Gods of Ŭm and Yang are descended from Wŏlsin and Ilsin, respectively; legend tells that they were shaped from the surface of the sun and moon and sent down to the young earth to help maintain balance. As such, they inherited some of the characteristics of the sun and moon.
- Sŏwangmu (西王母), the "Queen Mother of the West," is the embodiment of the ŭm principle. She is also associated with tigers and weaving. She lives in a luxurious palace on the enchanted mountain Hyangsan, and owns an orchard whose peaches grant eternal life.
- Dongwanggong (東王公), the "King Duke of the East," is the embodiment of the yang principle. He is also associated with falcons and archery. He lives in a floating castle in the eastern ocean, and his training can turn any worthy visitor into an unstoppable warrior.
- The Five Elemental Deities are all male and human in appearance. Sometimes they are called the Five Emperors. Each is associated with one element, and they regularly hand control of the climate from one to another, rotating the world through the four seasons. Hwangsin, who lives at the center, maintains the peace between them and ensures that they follow the cycle, but is ultimately their equal.
- Baeksin (白神), the "White God," is associated with autumn and metal, and lives in the west.
- Hŭksin (黑神), the "Black God," is associated with winter and water, and lives in the north.
- Changsin (蒼神), the "Green God," is associated with spring and wood, and lives in the east.
- Jŏksin (赤神), the "Crimson God," is associated with summer and fire, and lives in the south.
- Hwangsin (黄神), the "Yellow God," is associated with yearly unity and earth, and lives at the center of the world.
- The Wind Mothers all take the form of women with human torsos and snakelike tails for legs. Each is associated with one of the winds. Unlike the Five Elemental Deities, they are vengeful and temperamental, and their constant quarrels produce storms, floods, and droughts.
- Umo (雨母), the "Rain Mother," commands rainy winds and lives in the southeast.
- Hanmo (旱母), the "Drought Mother," commands dry winds and lives in the northwest.
- Ryŏlmo (熱母), the "Warm Mother," commands humid winds and lives in the southwest.
- Sŏlmo (雪母), the "Snow Mother," commands snowy winds and lives in the northeast.
- Hwangmo (凰母), the "Phoenix Mother," lives in the center and strives to maintain harmony between her sisters. She is married to Hwangsin.
Gods of natural phenomena
These gods, which either spontaneously appeared at the moment of creation or were born from higher elemental gods, are most closely illustrative of Sindoism's animistic origins. Some natural phenomena, such as fire and the sea, are represented by a single deity; others, such as individual mountains and streams, are each inhabited by a single spirit, whose power is proportional to the size of that mountain or stream. In some cases they overlap: Rinsin is the god of wood and forests, but individual forests each have their own gods, and individual trees have their own minor spirits. This list is by no means exhaustive, covering only the more well-known deities and categories of spirits.
- Baksin (雹神) is the god of hailstorms.
- Chungsin (蟲神) is the god of worms and insects.
- Goksin (谷神) are the gods of gorges and valleys.
- Hasin (河神) are the gods of rivers and watercourses. The gods of the White, Jade, and Silver rivers are the most powerful.
- Haesin (海神), the Sea God, commands the waves, storms, and currents. Sailors pray to him for safety during long voyages.
- Hosin (湖神) are the gods of lakes and ponds.
- Hosin (狐神), the Fox Goddess, is a woman with nine fox tails, more significant in the northeast.
- Hwasin (火神), the Fire God, was born with the name Chugyung (祝融). He is considered the patron god of the State of Tae.
- Jŏngsin (井神) are the spirits that live in natural springs, including artificial wells.
- Masin (馬神) is the god of horses.
- Musin (木神) is the god of wood and forests, the son of Changsin.
- Rangsin (狼神) is the god of wolves. Like the fox goddess Hosin, he is more significant in the northeast, and seen as Hosin's rival.
- Roesin (雷神) and his consort Jŏnmo (電母) are the gods of thunder and lightning, respectively.
- Sansin (山神) are the spirits of mountains. The highest among them is Sangun (山君), who lives in Mount Taesan.
- Samsin (森神) are the spirits of forests and groves.
- Susin (樹神) are the spirits of individual trees, who grow wiser as their trees age.
- Wusin (牛神) is the god of oxen, cattle, and water buffalo.
Gods of human virtues
These gods were incorporated into the Sindo pantheon after the gods of nature. Some were created by Chŏnjo or born from elemental deities, and taught their virtues and skills to humankind; others represent the souls of exceptionally outstanding mortals who ascended to the status of gods due to their earthly achievements.
- Chasin (車神), the god of vehicles, was historically celebrated as the inventor of the cart and wheelbarrow but from the 20th century onward grew in popularity as the guardian god of automobiles.
- Dosin (陶神) is the god of potters and pottery.
- Gŏsin (渠神) is the god of canals and other manmade waterways. He is the divine incarnation of the spirit of Ryu Bing, the chief architect of the Grand Gangwŏn Canal.
- Gwangong (關公) is the god of bravery and warriors. He is the divine incarnation of the spirit of Gwan Wu, a famous hero from the Five States and Seven Fiefdoms period. During the Kang, Sŭng, and Myŏn dynasties, he was worshipped as the paramount god of war.
- Gwanŭm (觀音), or "she who hears the cries of the world," is the goddess of kindness and mercy, who listens to the prayers of those in need and sends assistance. Her character is influenced by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.
- Gwisŏng (魁星) is the god who brings success in major examinations, including the modern-day National Administration Exam and the National College Entrance Exam. He is often depicted standing on the head of a turtle, in reference to the saying "to stand alone on the head of a turtle" (獨佔鰲頭), meaning to come first in the examinations.
- Jaesin (財神), the god of wealth and riches, brings good fortune to merchants.
- Jammo (蠶母), the "silkworm mother," introduced the art of sericulture during the time of the Yellow Emperor's kingdom, and remains the patron goddess of silkworm farmers.
- Jiksin (織神) is the goddess of weavers, and a daughter of the Queen Mother of the West.
- Muhyu (無休) and Mugul (無屈) are the two spirits who stand by the river of souls. Muhyu, or "without rest," an unkempt man in ragged clothes, stirs the souls in the river with a giant dipper and scoops their refined life essence into a barrel. Mugul (roughly, "without mercy" or "unyielding"), a young man with a spear, forces hesitant souls into the river and prevents the most evil souls from entering. According to myth, they were once a pair of brothers who flew to the river on a magic raft in the hopes of stealing its life essence; Chŏnja caught them in the act and stole their old names, condemning them to endlessly stir and guard the river for eternity.
- Munchangsin (文昌神) is the god of culture.
- Nongsin (農神) is the god of agriculture and a son of Hwangsin, who helped teach the Yellow Emperor's people how to farm.
- Palsŏn (八仙), the eight immortals, are eight talented persons from the Kang dynasty who gained immortality and were allowed to travel to the heavenly realm. Each is associated with a specific tool or instrument in which they channel their expertise, and they are symbols of longevity.
- Saengsin (生神) is the goddess of new life. Depicted as a young, white-haired maiden, she collects soul essence from Muhyu and delivers it to pregnant women and animals.
- Sŭngsin (勝神), also known as Manjŏnmansŭngnim (萬戰萬勝님, "the one who fought ten thousand battles and won ten thousand victories") or Mansŭngnim (萬勝님, "the lord of ten thousand victories"), is the highest general in Heaven, appointed by Chŏnjo to lead the elite troops of the Heavenly Army. Unlike Gwangong, who can grant bravery and strength to both sides in a battle if they conduct the proper rites, Sŭngsin chooses the side which is morally just in the eyes of Heaven and leads it to a decisive victory. During the Yi dynasty, and to some extent in the modern Menghean armed forces, he is considered the paramount god of war.
- Yaksin (藥神) is the god of health and medicine, whose statue is often seen outside of hospitals.
Core beliefs and principles
Creation
According to the most common version of the Sindo creation myth, the universe began as a formless cosmic egg in which silt and water gradually settled down on the bottom. The heavenly deity Chŏnjo appeared at the upper edge of the world and descended to the middle, stirring up the surface with a dipper. This stirring settled the dirt into continents and the water into oceans, and caused the Sun and Moon, ŭm and yang, Five Elemental Deities, and Five Wind Mothers to spring forth and fly to all corners of the earth. The disturbance from this stirring also caused a vast multitude of evil demons to awaken in the bottom levels of the cosmic egg, the underworld.
Chŏnjo had one son, Chŏnja, who emerged from the sweat on his brow and descended to the earth. There, he had one son with the daughter of the earth deities Hwangsin and Hwangmo. The child's grandparents hid him on the mainland, where his mother pleaded for two snake spirits, Nyŏwae and Buhyi, to make clay servants to protect him. These clay servants became the first humans, and the abandoned child became the Yellow Emperor, who taught them divine inventions and fought to vanquish the primordial demons that roamed the world. The Yellow Emperor's oldest child, the Jade Emperor, then proceeded to found the first Menghean kingdom. In this way, the Sindo creation myth has also been adapted into a Menghean national epic, explaining the origin of the Meng people and placing Menghe at the center of the world.
Layout of the world
Mainstream Sindo mythology of the post-Sŭng period holds that the world is divided into three layers: the spirit world, the mortal world, and the underworld. These are arranged on top of one another, and travel between them is only possible with divine assistance. This arrangement has some connections with the Chŏndo duality of Heaven and Earth, though Chŏndoism does not include a separate underworld, and Sindoism regards Heaven as the lower boundary of the spirit world.
Spirit world
The spirit world (천계/天界, Chŏn'gye), also translated as "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Heavenly Realm," is a divine realm at the center of the world's uppermost layer. It is divided into nine concentric rings, which are separated from one another by high walls. The outermost three layers house the spirits of mortals who have crossed the River of Souls. The next three house the halls and manors of heavenly gods, some of whom spend most of their time in supernatural palaces on earth. The innermost three rings form the Heavenly Palace, housing the servants in the third layer and the court of officials in the second layer. The innermost layer consists of the vast palace hall from which Chŏnjo, the Emperor of Heaven and the highest deity, reigns with Chŏnja, his son and link to humanity.
Mortal world
The mortal world (진세/塵世, Jinse), sometimes rendered as "the earthly world" or more elaborately "the world of cinder and dust," consists of a circular Heaven sitting above a square Earth. Heaven is held up by eight enormous pillars, one on each corner of the earth and one on each side. At the base of each side pillar is the palace of an Elemental Deity, and at the base of each corner pillar is the palace of a Wind Mother. These deities' personalities form the wind and weather patterns which shape the mortal world's climate. Conventionally, the exact center of the mortal world is located at Haejungdo, the central island in Lake Jijunghae, which houses the Palace of the Earth Spirits; by extension, Menghe, which wraps around Lake Jijunghae, is located at the center of the world.
Underworld
Beneath the ground lies the underworld (지옥/地獄, Jiok). Formed from the heaviest and most impure sediments of the primordial cosmic egg and awakened soon after the earth's creation, it is inhabited by monsters, demons, and mindless corpses that were improperly buried. In the post-Sŭng version of the Sindo mythos, the underworld is led not by a morally just King of the Dead, but by a Demon Lord whose sole wish is to overthrow Chŏnjo and return the entire world to its pre-creation state of primordial chaos. Notably, in this version of the mythos the souls of the dead do not travel to the underworld, even if they were morally bad in life; when evil souls are destroyed, however, their life essence sinks through the mortal world and collects in a pool at the bottom of the underworld.
Firmament
In the traditional Sindo model of the universe, the stars are fixed to a spherical firmament that wraps around the three layers and rotates around them. The sun and moon are sometimes referred to as being in heaven, but because they are also visible from above in the spirit world and pass below the mortal world, they are more correctly modeled as moving in between the three-layer world and the firmament. In this same intermediate space is a vast river of life energy which flows around the worlds in a ring shape, visible from earth as the milky way.
Afterlife
Evolution of the legend
Sindo beliefs concerning the afterlife have undergone many changes since ancient times. Early Sindo texts place the realm of all souls in the underworld, and involve an entirely different set of afterlife-related customs and deities. Themiclesian beliefs and practices, for example, differ sharply in a large number of areas, because they evolved from Sindo beliefs as they existed in the 6th century CE. Dayashinese Shinto beliefs about the underworld were also influenced by pre-Yi dynasty Menghean legends, and later took on a character of their own.
The current "standard" version materialized during the Sŭng dynasty (10th-13th centuries CE) but was definitively summarized in an account written in the Honsŏ (혼서/魂書), usually translated as "Book of Souls," a text composed in the 14th century by a Yi dynasty religious scholar. Though this account invented a number of features with no clear root in earlier Sindo texts, the Yi emperors accepted it as religious canon and gave it official status. It has since become widely accepted in Menghe and the immediately neighboring areas of the Meng diaspora. Some regional sects in Menghe hold different beliefs about the afterlife, but with the country's growing interconnectedness, they have steadily faded away in favor of the version summarized below.
Departure of the soul
According to Sindo reasoning, death occurs when the body is no longer able to support the soul inhabiting it, either because of aging, illness, or serious injury. At the time of death, the soul (혼/魂, Hon) is expelled from the body, which becomes an empty husk. The expelled soul may dwell on the earth for a short time, but it will steadily lose its form and memories if it stays for too long without a funerary shrine. Currently prevailing Sindo custom holds that a corpse should be cremated within ten days of death, at a special funerary ceremony in which friends and relatives arrive to wish the soul good will on its journey to the spirit world.
After the funeral concludes, the soul flies up to the edge of the universe, where it arrives at the River of Souls (하혼/魂河, Honha). This is a vast ring of spirit energy running around the firmament and circling the three-layered universe, visible at night as the milky way. This river contains the life force of all deceased beings, distilled down to their essence after the fading souls have lost their personalities and memories. At the bank of the river are two minor gods. Muhyu scoops life force out of the river with a giant dipper and collects it in a barrel, so that the goddess Saengsin can deliver new life to pregnant women and animals. His brother, Mugul, stands guard at the outer bank with a heavenly spear crafted by Chŏnja. Both brothers are automatons controlled by heavenly law, purged of their wills and personalities as punishment for attempting to steal life force from the river.
If Mugul, controlled by heavenly law, senses that an arriving soul is contaminated with evil, he impales it with the spear of justice. The soul's evil personality then trickles down to the very base of the underworld, while its life energy returns to the river. If Mugul judges the soul to be sufficiently pure, he allows it to wade across the river, but this brings its own trial: as the soul crosses the river, its life energy drains away, leaving only a fragile shell made from the departed person's memories and personality. The more prayers, offerings, and praise given to a soul at its funeral, the better its chances of crossing safely. The souls of those forgotten at death are quickly consumed by the eternal current.
Upon reaching the other bank, the departed soul crosses a vast, empty plain until it arrives in the spirit world. This world is divided into nine concentric circles, separated from one another by high walls. Departed souls initially take up residence in the outermost ring, living as commoners in the heavenly kingdom. From here, they can descend on brief visits to the mortal realm to be with their relatives during festivals, though they cannot interact with the living. Depending on how many offerings and prayers they receive from the mortal world over the centuries that follow, departed souls can move into the eighth and seventh tiers, reserved for departed souls who are remembered and honored by more people. As fewer people remember the departed and give offerings at festivals, its soul begins to fade and it is again confined to the outer city; once a departed soul is fully forgotten, it fades from heavenly existence forever, experiencing a "second death."
If a soul in the seventh tier has been remembered for a long enough time by enough people, or if it represents a person of especially high moral caliber, it may advance to the Divine Gate of the sixth tier. There, the god Munjŏn stands guard with a magical broad-sided saber. Munjŏn asks the petitioning soul if it wishes to enter the Heavenly City; if it answers in the affirmative, Munjŏn raises his sword and cuts through the soul. The sword, imbued with divine wisdom, passes judgment as it cleaves through the soul, separating out any remaining evil or impure elements and banishing them to the depths of the underworld. If the petitioning soul survives this excruciating process, Munjŏn steps aside and allows it to enter the next layer of the Heavenly Realm.
Once within the sixth tier, the purified soul becomes a Sin (신/神), a spirit or god. Its form and appearance will no longer fade if forgotten, and it dons colorful clothing rather than the plain white robes of common souls. Spirits at this rank can interact with the living when they descend to earth, and can mingle with the Sindo deities living at each level. Those in the sixth tier remain at a sort of high commoner rank, catering to higher spirits or working as servants or soldiers within the Heavenly Realm, but those of the greatest moral quality can be promoted to the fifth and fourth levels. The fourth tier, which puts them on equal footing with the major gods in the Sindo pantheon, is mainly reserved for particularly distinguished individuals, such as famous poets, war heroes, former Emperors, and the heads of ancestral bloodlines.
Funerary practices
The Book of Souls had a major impact on Meng funerary practices. Cremation, once one among multiple diverse burial rites, gained status as the only ceremonially proper way to dispose of the bodies of the dead. Because thorough cremation at a sufficiently high temperature could be an expensive affair, for much of history it remained reserved for those able to afford the ceremony, as well as certain strata, like scholar-officials and soldiers, whose funerary expenses were paid from state coffers. From the 15th century onward, only commoners practiced burial in earth, which was regarded as an impure rite practiced out of necessity. Only in the last third of the 20th century did modern crematoria become sufficiently widespread to make cremation available to the vast bulk of the population; today, some 96 percent of ethnic Meng are cremated after death.
According to standard Sindo theology, death takes place because the body becomes unfit for habitation by the soul. As soon as the soul has left, the body is unclean, and if it begins to decay, the soul cannot go near it without experiencing great distress. It is also believed that corpses which are buried or abandoned on the ground can be pulled downward into the underworld, where they will serve as mindless soldiers for the Demon Lord. For this reason, commoners' corpses destined for earth burial were often bound up in rope or fabric to prevent them from causing harm as demons, and in some cases their tendons were cut. This is also why historically, Menghean military units went to great lengths to ensure that fallen soldiers were recovered and cremated, even though common soldiers could be of low social rank.
Cremation of the corpse in the presence of a Sindo priest is regarded as the only way to purify the remains and keep them out of the underworld. The resulting ashes are gathered into an urn which usually takes the form of a stone, bronze, or lacquerware box. Once purified, the ashes serve as an anchor tying the soul to the mortal world: souls at the ninth, eighth, and seventh tiers can only visit the earth at sites where their ashes are present. Ashes from a single person can be divided between multiple containers, usually with the majority kept in a single site but with small amounts of ash or individual finger bones stored in miniature, portable urns. All ash samples can be used in rites for communing with the departed, regardless of how widely they are scattered, allowing far-flung relatives to conduct rites even if they are unable to visit the main repository. Depending on the host household's wealth, the primary urn containing most of the ash and the skull and sacrum may be enshrined in a special room in the house, an ancestral lineage hall devoted to an extended family, or a local Sindo temple in the community.
At funerals, mourners burn paper slips bearing messages of support and encouragement, to help the departed cross the River of Souls safely. During the Sŭng dynasty, it was customary to burn money instead as payment for a safe crossing, but the Yi dynasty outlawed this practice out of concern that it encouraged wasteful behavior and unfairly privileged the wealthy. In strict religious interpretation, these messages must be handwritten by a person who is thinking of the departed, but today it is possible to buy pre-printed booklets full of stock messages.
Long after the funeral, living relatives and friends are encouraged to keep the departed soul "alive" by making prayers and offerings in the presence of a sample of the deceased person's ashes. These customs are especially valued because the spiritual fate of the departed depends not only on the moral balance of their deeds in life, but also on the extent to which future generations favorably remember them. If the offerings stop, the departed soul is expelled to the outermost tier of the heavenly kingdom; if the departed soul is forgotten by all living beings, it experiences a "second death" and fades from heavenly existence completely. Many traditional Meng holidays, such as the Pure Brightness Festival, center on sweeping the altars and tombs of the deceased and presenting fresh offerings of food or burning additional message papers. Beyond immediate friends and relatives, living worshipers are also encouraged to make offerings to ancestors further up the family tree, or to visit public funerary temples for important historical individuals.
Some variations exist on these customs, with varying degrees of endorsement from Sindo religious authorities. During the Yi dynasty, it was common for samples of a hero or relative's ashes to be used as carbon additive in the forging of steel swords, on the reasoning that this would create a Suhohon: a soul which inhabits the weapon and lends it its personal characteristics in return for a faster progression to the gates of Heaven. Since 1991, the Menghean Navy has applied a version of this practice to the steel used in large warships. In Chŏndo rites, individuals who made especially great contributions during their lives may be honored with Sŏngindan, temple-like structures where members of the general public can come to make prayers and offerings. Recent popularized strains of Sindoism also reassure living friends and relatives that even if the ashes are not nearby, stopping to think about and remember the deceased can contribute to strengthening the departed soul.
Gwisin
Popular folk culture holds that if a person is dissatisfied with their life at the moment of their passing, their soul may remain on the earth after their funeral, a fate not mentioned in the Book of Souls. These lingering souls are known as gwisin (귀신 / 鬼神). Some are said to stay behind because they had yet to complete some important task on earth, others because they are not ready to part with their loved ones, and others still because they are afraid of the perilous journey through the afterlife.
Most gwisin are thought to be relatively benign, and will not cause harm to living people, though they may harass them in order to gain their attention and ask for help. Sindo custom holds that these gwisin should be addressed without fear and helped, so that they may continue on their journey through the afterlife. If a gwisin has an unfinished task, for example, living friends or Sindo priests may attempt to determine what that task is and set it right. If a gwisin is too attached to its family to leave, relatives can make generous offerings to show that it will still enjoy their support when crossing the River of Souls.
Some gwisin, however, are malignant and aggressive. "Unfinished business on earth" may include revenge against people who wronged the departed in life. The souls of greedy or corrupt people may also remain behind because they fear that Mugul will deny them entry into the river of souls. Folk culture holds that these gwisin can cause real harm to living people, either by manifesting physically and attacking them or by arranging a mysterious accident. Minor rituals, such as the posting of magical seals to repel evil, can keep minor gwisin at bay, but only a Sindo priest can banish them from the mortal world and deliver them to Mugul.
Gwisin are usually depicted as floating, legless, semi-transparent beings wearing white robes, though they may also appear in clothing which was important to the departed before their death. Benign gwisin retain the appearance of the deceased, sometimes even resembling the deceased in their youth, but malevolent ones may appear to rot and decay as time passes. Like souls in the heavenly kingdom, they steadily begin to lose their form if forgotten, but if living people remember them they manifest more sharply. Depending on the legend, they may be visible under certain circumstances, or they may manifest themselves only in dreams and nightmares. Today, gwisin have passed into urban legend as a popular subject for Menghean horror fiction, giving rise to a wide range of variations and elaborations on the original folk concept.
Extent
Religion in Menghe (2015)
Because the definition of Sindoism is unclear, attempts to determine the number of Sindo practitioners have reached varying results. Few Mengheans today report that they believe in the actual existence of Sindo gods, or the existence of a heavenly realm in the sky. Early Sindo texts state that the earth is flat, square, and 10,000 Ri (5,000 kilometers) long per side, yet as early as the Sŭng dynasty Menghean sailors made repeated voyages beyond the alleged locations of the outer pillars, and today asserted belief in flat earth or young earth creationism is very uncommon in Menghe. Yet many Sindo traditions, such as prayer at temples and family altars, remain widespread, even among people who profess to be secular.
One of the reasons for this problem of definition is that Sindoism, unlike many organized religions, does not require people to undergo an official conversion ceremony in order to enter a Sindo shrine and pray at the altar. Similarly, there is no cultural taboo against entering a temple to another deity, as Sindoism is a polytheistic religion and its major pantheons vary from province to province. Historically it was common for Buddhists and Sindoists to visit each other's religious buildings, especially for deities such as Gwanŭm who overlap between the two faiths. This cross-pollination of altars is even more common between Sindoism and Chŏndoism, as most strains of the latter treat proper observance of religious rites as a morally correct action.
The official Menghean census question on religion uses the unusually broad category "Chŏndoism, cultural Sindoism, or no religion" to account for this range of variation. This definition, however, is laden with political biases, as government census takers simultaneously wish to overstate the scope of scientific secularism in the population and paint a picture of religious and cultural homogeneity among the Meng people. The 2015 census added a separate category, "Organized Sindoism," which it defined as those respondents who have registered themselves as members of a community temple organization and profess belief in the existence of deities and spirits. This measure supposedly separated out a larger portion of "true believers," but the ambiguous wording of the question and the differing importance of temple organization member lists across villages complicates interpretation.
Beyond Menghe's borders, Sindoism is common in the Meng ethnic diaspora, where it was carried abroad by emigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries. Overseas, its syncretic tendencies have led it to evolve differently than in Menghe proper, through the incorporation of local religious traditions or the promotion of different customs and beliefs by temple priests. Attendance at Sindo temples is generally more common among more closely-knit and less assimilated communities, consistent with its connection to community structure.