Shungyism

thoughts and notes on tenets and beliefs of this Vircazihmese religion.


 * all objects and beings have a true form or infinite form that exists in the other world known as the infinite realm
 * material forms/bodies in the material world are incomplete versions of the infinite form
 * deities are simply powerful beings who have attained infinite form and exist in the infinite realm. Shungyists acknowledge deities but do not worship them so much as they seek to model themselves after them.
 * humans soul is broken down into four parts:
 * light soul (good)
 * dark soul (evil)
 * male soul (yang, hot)
 * female soul (yin, cold)
 * dreams are excursions into the infinite realm and one can find their four soul-parts there as well as the true forms of others.
 * dreams also represent what your eternal realm will be like when you achieve your infinite form
 * goals:
 * to combine the four souls into a complete soul or wholeness
 * to perceive the true infinite form of objects and beings which provides ability to manipulate events in the material world
 * to shape the form of one's infinite realm -- this becomes one's eternal abode in the afterlife
 * a person who has attained wholeness will enter the infinite realm in their true infinite form at death and will have power to see and affect events in the material word--everyone else faces dissolution of the soul as different soul parts break apart.
 * practitioners follow a four part path
 * contemplation of the true infinite form of objects and beings
 * Inward contemplation of one's own soul-parts
 * dream practice - the practice of lucid dreaming to struggle with bringing your soul parts into a whole and to shape the form of your infinite world when you attain your true infinite form after death
 * mystical rituals designed to awaken the soul-parts and the take them through a journey to becoming one
 * avoidance of hedonism because it contaminates the soul and prevents wholeness by the light soul separating and abandoning you
 * avoidance of ascetism because the dark soul may separate and manifest as a demonic being which will hunt you
 * if a part of your soul separates from you, you or a priest must seek it in the dream-world and reunite it by capturing it
 * lay devotees pray to the Shungyist saints who have attained the infinite who they call the Eternals.
 * lay devotees are expected to avoid passions, hedonism and undue ascetism--this is the path of the knife-blade.
 * lay devotees confess their dreams to Shungyist priests and are given spiritual guidance.

History - Shungi was the ancient moon god who gave the first Shungyist the knowledge and secret of true form and the eternal realm

Symbols -
 * some variation of the moon and/or mandala
 * The moon is symbolic of wholeness as it contains both light and dark
 * alchemical-like symbol of male-female marriage or hermaphrodite
 * the numbers 4 and 8 and their multiples are considered sacred signs of wholeness and the infinite