Chinese folk religion

===''Hun'' and ''po'', and ''zu'' and ''xian''===
[[File:Temple of the Filial Blessing in Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China (2).jpg|thumb|Temple of the Filial Blessing ({{lang-zh|孝佑宮}} ''Xiàoyòugōng'') in [[Ouhai District|Ouhai]], [[Wenzhou]], [[Zhejiang]]. It is a place for the worship of ancestors.]]
Like all things in matter, the human soul is characterised by a [[Dialectics|dialectic]] of ''yang'' and ''yin''. These correspond to the [[hun and po|''hun'' and ''po'']] ({{lang-zh|魂魄}}) respectively. The ''hun'' is the traditionally "masculine", ''yang'', rational soul or mind, and the ''po'' is the traditionally "feminine", ''yin'', animal soul that is associated with the body.<ref>Adler, 2011. p. 19</ref> ''Hun'' (mind) is the soul (''shen'') that gives a form to the vital breath (''qi'') of humans, and it develops through the ''po'', stretching and moving intelligently in order to grasp things.<ref>Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 68</ref> The ''po'' is the soul (''shen'') which controls the physiological and psychological activities of humans,<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69">Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69</ref> while the ''hun'', the ''shen'' attached to the vital breath (''qi''), is the soul (''shen'') that is totally independent of corporeal substance.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69"/> The ''hun'' is independent and perpetual, and as such it never allows itself to be limited in matter.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69"/>{{refn|group=note|The ''po'' can be compared with the ''[[psyche (psychology)|psyche]]'' or ''[[thymos]]'' of the Greek philosophy and tradition, while the ''hun'' with the ''[[pneuma]]'' or "immortal soul".<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69"/>}} Otherwise said, the ''po'' is the [[Di (Chinese concept)|"earthly" (''di'')]] soul that goes downward, while the ''hun'' is the "heavenly" (''tian'') soul that moves upward.{{sfnb|Teiser|1996|p=31}}

To extend life to its full potential the human ''shen'' must be cultivated, resulting in ever clearer, more luminous states of being.<ref name="Teiser, 1996"/> It can transform in the pure intelligent breath of deities.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 69"/> In the human psyche there's no distinction between rationality and intuition, thinking and feeling: the human being is ''xin'' ({{lang-zh|心}}), mind-heart.<ref name="Adler, 2011. p. 21"/> With death, while the ''po'' returns to the earth and disappears, the ''hun'' is thought to be pure awareness or ''qi'', and is the ''shen'' to whom ancestral sacrifices are dedicated.<ref>Adler, 2011. pp. 19–20</ref>

The ''shen'' of men who are properly cultivated and honoured after their death are upheld [[ancestor]]s and [[progenitor]]s (''zuxian'' {{lang-zh|祖先}} or ''zu'' {{lang-zh|祖}}).<ref name="Adler, 2011. p. 14">Adler, 2011. p. 14</ref> When ancestries aren't properly cultivated the world falls into disruption, and they become ''gui''.<ref name="Adler, 2011. p. 14"/> Ancestral worship is intertwined with [[totemism]], as the earliest ancestors of an ethnic lineage are often represented as animals or associated to them.<ref name="Wang, 2004. pp. 60-61"/><ref>Sautman, 1997. p. 78</ref>

Ancestors are means of connection with the ''[[Tian]]'', the primordial god which does not have form.<ref name="Wang, 2004. pp. 60-61"/> As ancestors have form, they shape the destiny of humans.<ref name="Wang, 2004. pp. 60-61"/> Ancestors who have had a significant impact in shaping the destiny of large groups of people, creators of genetic lineages or spiritual traditions, and historical leaders who have invented crafts and institutions for the wealth of the Chinese nation ([[culture hero]]es), are exalted among the highest divine manifestations or immortal beings (''[[xian (Taoism)|xian]]'' {{lang-zh|仙}}).{{sfnp|Yao|2010|pp=162, 165}}

In fact, in the Chinese tradition there is no distinction between gods (''shen'') and immortal beings (''xian''), transcendental principles and their bodily manifestations.{{sfnp|Yao|2010|pp=158–161}} Gods can incarnate with a human form and human beings can reach higher spiritual states by the right way of action, that is to say by emulating the order of Heaven.{{sfnp|Yao|2010|p=159}} Humans are considered one of the three aspects of a trinity ({{lang-zh|三才}} ''Sāncái'', "Three Powers"),{{sfnp|Yao|2010|pp=162–164}} the three foundations of all being; specifically, men are the medium between Heaven that engenders order and forms and Earth which receives and nourishes them.{{sfnp|Yao|2010|pp=162–164}} Men are endowed with the role of completing creation.{{sfnp|Yao|2010|pp=162–164}}{{refn|group=note|name=Sancai|By the words of the [[Han dynasty]] scholar Dong Zhongshu: "Heaven, Earth and humankind are the foundations of all living things. Heaven engenders all living things, Earth nourishes them, and humankind completes them." In the ''[[Daodejing]]'': "Tao is great. Heaven is great. Earth is great. And the king [humankind] is also great." The concept of the Three Powers / Agents / Ultimates is furtherly discussed in Confucian commentaries of the ''[[Yijing]]''.{{sfnp|Yao|2010|p=164}}}}