Chapter 38 - The Mystery Of The Black Temple Flag

Many people have heard of the black temple flag, and have seen it before, but they do not know its significance and what it is used for. When a close friend found out that I was working on this book, he urged me to write about the secret of the black temple flag so people will no longer be curious about the piece of black cloth that flies either in front of or behind some temples. Therefore, I decided to add this chapter to the book.

Many people think that since countries have national flags, deities also should have their own flags. They think, therefore, the black flags hung at temples must be used to represent certain deities. This is a correct analysis. A black flag that is raised up on a staff and fluttering in the air symbolizes that the temple does have a guardian god of its own. In the spiritual realm, spirits travel to and fro, and they communicate with each other. In larger temples where the black flag is usually not flown, the spirits would use as identification the three deities associated with prosperity, officialdom, and longevity, or the seven jewel pagoda found in the temples. Besides serving as a symbol for the deities, the black temple flag also has at least three other functions. I shall list these as follows:

1) To invoke the deities to act as mediators. An extremely quick method to invoke the deities is to first light an incense, then pray while facing the black flag, and then place the incense above the black flag. Some experts also prepare three fragrant cups of tea for the passing deities to quench their thirst. Whether a black flag is installed in front of or behind a temple, one should keep the surrounding grounds clean and refrain from touching the flag casually, especially if one's hands are filthy. Sometimes Fu's (magic charms) used for invocation or consecration are also attached to the flags.

2) For the installation of the Five Barracks of Spiritual Armies. In the past, when an altar or temple was set up, there would also be an invocation to the spiritual realm to send the Five Spiritual Barracks to protect the altar. The Five Barracks represented the position of front, back, left, right, and center. These could be troops from the heavenly realm or from the nether world, and they could be installed on top of the black flag by attaching paper money to it. The installation of fivecolored paper strips denote the heavenly troops; the installation of spirit money denotes the troops from the nether world.

It is not necessary to strip all the bamboo leaves from the bamboo pole, as the leaves can thrive on the spiritual energy. So if we see colorful strips or spirit papers hanging from a black flag, we can tell it represents the Five Spiritual Barracks. This replaces the even older method of installing Five Spiritual Flags and enshrining the heads of the five army generals. The Five Spiritual Flags are white (representing heavenly troops), red (thunder gods), yellow (the ten great generals), green (guardian troops), and black (troops from the nether world). Some people also use the color green to invoke the Liuchia and Liu Ting gods. The five troops serve similar functions in guarding the temple and conducting reconnaissance.

3) As a vanguard and purifying agent. Generally, in a religious procession, when a deity is taken out of a temple and carried in a sedan, the path of the parade will be "swept" and led by the black temple flag. The chief purpose is to chase away all evil spirits, so they do not interfere with the procession of the deities. Therefore, one often sees the black temple flag being held by one person who waves it back and forth in front of the statues of the gods.

The black temple flag is constructed of a bamboo pole and a rectangular or triangular black cloth. Sometimes magic charms for invocation or purification are written on the black cloth. Some black temple flags only have the Chinese word "command" on it. The bamboo pole and black cloth must be purified and empowered in a ritual before using, as it is considered a spiritual flag. This energizing or empowerment ritual of the flag is the most important step in the process of making the flag, as it often determines its degree of spiritual power. In my opinion, the best example of the proper installation of a black temple flag can be found at the Sheng An Temple at Hualian.

Here I would like to divulge a secret. The best kinds of spiritual guards to invoke from the nether world for a temple are souls from memorial temples dedicated to martyrs or heroes. Next best would be wandering ghosts or someone's ancestors. There is also one source of energy that is sometimes used by temples to empower the black temple flag-the spirit of a young, strong person who has died in an auto accident.

This is due to the fact that the soul of such a deceased person is usually vivacious and still full of potential. In this method, one must have the opportunity of getting to the scene of the accident and actually being able to get blood stains onto seven pieces of gold charm papers. One then places the gold charm papers on an altar and chants the Soul Invocation Mantra between 1 1:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.. After forty-nine days of making offerings to the soul, the papers are burnt while the black flag to be empowered is moved back and forth above the fire. This is the Soul Invocation Mantra,

"Ghost Spirit Ghost Spirit Ghost Sees Ghost, I now empower you to follow me. Report any impending fortune or disaster, as well as visitors, to me. Help me with spiritual divination and quickly return to me when I command. Chi Chi Ju Tai Shang Lao Chun Lu Ling Gang."

Once I went to the Sheng Ming Temple at Taichung whose abbot knew me very well. As soon as I walked into the temple, I saw a man standing under the black temple flag with blood stains on his neck.

His head was twisted to one side while both of his eyes were bulging out and his tongue was sticking out of his mouth. He was just standing there motionless. I immediately went to find the abbot who was chatting with several people in front of the altar. When they saw me walking hurriedly towards them, the abbot asked,

"Lao Lu, what's the rush?"

"Are you doing the black flag empowerment ritual?"

"Oh yes, what's the matter?"

"If you are doing the ritual using the soul of a deceased person, why didn't you first purify the soul body? He is now standing there under the black flag with all those blood stains on him. It looks so horrifying ! How could you do such a thing?"

One of the other people present asked me, "You actually saw him?"

The abbot said, "You have to take Lao Lu's word as he can see with his third eye. We have indeed forgotten to do the step of cleaning the body. Let me go and get some purification mantra papers. Lao Lu, would you like to help us clean him?"

While I was nodding my head, I heard several people conversing in a low voice.

"We are doing the black flag empowerment ritual using a soul who has just died in a car accident, and this young man actually knew about it as soon as he walked in the door."

"It just goes to show that spirits do exist."

"You mean you still doubt their existence?"

"As I can't see them, it really makes no difference to me"

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