Ling (, vi, linh) is the notion of

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

in Chinese traditional religions.

Overview

''Xian ling'' and ''shen''

It is the state or power of gods and divine beings ('' shen'') that is multiplied by their appearance in vision during trance or by location through a ritual of inspiration into the objects that represent them. Their activity, actuality, is ''

xian ling ''Xian ling'' () is the notion of a numinous, sacred ('' ling'') presence of a god or gods in the Chinese traditional religion. The term can be variously translated as "divine efficacy", "divine virtue", or also "efficacious response"; these ter ...

'', literally "holy virtue, sacred efficacy, the sacred as manifest", or

numen Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for " divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (''divina mens''), a god "whose numen ev ...

. Ling is a power, like that of the uncanny intelligence of great masters of building or of healing, and is a divine reciprocation for offerings and pledges of devotion to a deity or demon.

Mediation of ''yin'' and ''yang''

It is the inchoate order of creation, that is the "medium" of the bivalency constituted by the opposite forces of the universe (

yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

). ''Ling'' is the mediating bivalency, the "medium", between

, that is "disorder" and "order", "activity" or "passivity", with ''yang'' usually preferred over ''yin''. More specifically, the ''ling'' power of an entity resides in mediation between the two levels of order and disorder, activity and passivity, which govern social transformation. The mediating entity itself shifts of status and function between one level and another, and makes meaning in different contexts.

Liminality

''Ling'' has been described as the ability to set up spatial and temporal boundaries, represent and identify metaphors, setting apart and linking together differences. The boundary is crossed by practices such as

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

and

inspiration Inspiration, inspire, or inspired often refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, the doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible * Creative inspirat ...

(

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

). Spiritual

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

makes the individual the center of actualising possibilities, acts and events indicative of the will of the gods. The association of ''ling'' with liminality implies the possibility of constructing various kinds of social times and history. In this way, the etho-political (ethnic) dimension is nurtured, regenerated by re-enactment, and constructed at first place, imagined and motivated in the process of forging a model of reality.

Associations and symbolism

This attribute is often associated with goddesses, animal motifs such as the

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

—an amphibian animal—, the owl which takes night for day, the bat being half bird and half mammal, the rooster who crows at the crack between night and morning, but also

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

s dividing landmasses, and other "liminal" entities. There are ''yin'' gods and ''yang'' gods. ''Ling'' is a "cultural logic of symbolic relations", that mediates polarity in a dialectic governing reproduction and change.

References

Bibliography

* ** Note: in the economy of a discourse over Vietnamese religion, the author studies in deep certain concepts of Chinese religion at large. * {{refend Concepts in Chinese folk religion