[2024-02-07]Quora问答：中国人是怎么看待宗教的？中国人现在还信奉佛教和道教吗？
文章原始标题：How do the Chinese view religions? Do the Chinese practice Buddhism and Taoism now?
国外来源地址：https://www.quora.com/How-do-the-Chinese-view-religions-Do-the-Chinese-practice-Buddhism-and-Taoism-now
该译文由蓝林网编辑，转载请声明来源（蓝林网）
内容简介： 大多数中国人不信仰宗教，但几乎每个人都相信因果关系
AHChat.cn几乎无所不知帮我写一篇XX主题的文章讲稿→请帮我写个HTTP的GET访问代码→变形金刚是买车险，还是买人险？→
Yangdong Chao
Most Chinese people do not believe in religion, but almost everyone believes in causal relationships (close to Buddhist teachings), similar to how if you do something bad today, it will one day come to you in the form of a curse
On the contrary, if you do something good today, the future will also come to you with a blessing
The Chinese government will not interfere with the religious beliefs of the Chinese people (it will not encourage or suppress them), but when your beliefs affect others (attacking innocent passersby or inciting others to self harm due to religious beliefs), you will taste the iron fist, which can also be considered a causal relationship
【回答】
大多数中国人不信仰宗教，但几乎每个人都相信因果关系（类似佛教教义），就像如果你今天做了坏事，总有一天它会以诅咒的形式降临到你头上一样。
相反，如果你今天做了好事，未来也会给你带来祝福
中国政府不会干涉中国人的宗教信仰（不鼓励也不打压），但当你的信仰影响到他人时（因宗教信仰攻击无辜路人或煽动他人自残），你就会尝到铁拳的滋味，这也可以说是一种因果关系
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Марина Синица
China has a balanced approach to religions. In Russia there is freedom of religion and a law to protect the feelings of believers, that no one can desecrate religious symbols. There is also government support for religion, which is again considered the basis of morality. Most people believe in God as Orthodox Christians or as Muslims, and in Russia there are also Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Buddhists and Jews. And even pagans, but this is a non-state religion. But all extremist religious movements that advocate violence on religious grounds are banned and prosecuted. Priests of all faiths explain to parishioners that violence is wrong and is not condoned by any religion.
【回复】中国对宗教的态度是平衡的。俄罗斯有宗教自由和保护信徒感情的法律，任何人不得亵渎宗教象征。政府也支持宗教，并认为宗教是道德的基础。大多数人作为东正教徒或穆斯林信仰上帝，俄罗斯也有天主教徒、基督新教徒、佛教徒和犹太人。甚至还有异教徒，但这属于非国家宗教。但所有以宗教为由鼓吹暴力的极端主义宗教运动都被禁止并受到起诉。所有宗教的牧师都会向教民解释，暴力是错误的，任何宗教都不会宽恕。
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Zw Zhu
Most people in China are atheists. We generally think of religious beliefs as a private matter, so proselytizing and offending someone else's religion is seen as unsavory. In serious cases it may even be illegal.
My mother believes in Buddhism and has been offering fresh fruits to the Buddha for decades. Her wish is also very simple. She hopes that the Bodhisattva will bless us with good health.
My father was a member of the Communist Party, and although he was an atheist, he respected my mother's religious beliefs.
I argued with my mother several times as a teenager about whether there was a god, and I said things that were offensive to the gods, which made her sad for a while.
As I matured into adulthood, while still an atheist, I began to respect my mother's beliefs as much as my father did. I will try my best to remain decent in front of the Bodhisattva. I'm sure my mother saw the transformation in me.
China's native religion is Taoism, but it doesn't look like a real religion. It actually uses the cognitive level of ancient people to reason about the laws of the universe and humans.
【回答】
中国大多数人都是无神论者。我们通常认为宗教信仰是个人隐私，因此传教和冒犯他人的宗教信仰被视为不光彩的事。严重的甚至会触犯法律。
母亲信佛，几十年来一直用新鲜水果供佛。她的愿望也很简单。她希望菩萨保佑我们身体健康。
我的父亲是一名共产党员，虽然他是一名无神论者，但他尊重我母亲的宗教信仰。
我十几岁时曾多次与母亲争论是否存在神灵，我说了一些冒犯神灵的话，这让母亲伤心了好一阵子。
长大成人后，虽然我仍是无神论者，但我开始像父亲一样尊重母亲的信仰。在菩萨面前，我会尽力保持体面。我相信母亲看到了我的转变。
中国的本土宗教是道教，但它看起来并不像真正的宗教。它实际上是用古人的认知水平来推理宇宙和人类的规律。
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Марина Синица
It's clear. In Russia, there are also prayers for the search for a spouse and for study. There are still prayers for the Fatherland, power and army.
【回复】很清楚。在俄罗斯也有为寻找配偶和学习而祈祷的。还有对祖国、权力和军队的祈祷。
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Khengchat Ng
The historian Edward Gibbon in his epic “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” described the Augustinian Roman view toward religion as being all true and being all false. Provided they bring about social cohesion and harmony, they are tolerated. In other words-cynically pragmatic. The Chinese share it with them. The concept of religion is nebulous to them. God as defined in Abrahamic religions is all foreign. They adopt various parts of Taoism and Buddhism as fits into their requirements. They go through the rituals and find them comforting. They are just as happy to leave them alone of circumstances dictate. During the cultural revolution, my dad sent money to relatives in China for the Tomb Sweeping Festival to honour ancestors. They were meant to purchase prayer items. In 2017, whilst visiting them in China, we found the money was used to buy necessary groceries. The tombs were not visited. Pragmatism dictates caring for the living over praying for the dead.
【回答】
历史学家爱德华-吉本在其史诗《罗马帝国衰亡史》中描述了奥古斯丁式的罗马人对宗教的看法，认为宗教有真有假。只要它们能带来社会凝聚力与和谐，就会被允许。换句话说，就是实用主义。中国人也是如此。对他们来说，宗教的概念是模糊的。亚伯拉罕宗教中定义的上帝都是外来的。他们采用道教和佛教中符合他们要求的不同部分。他们通过宗教仪式来获得安慰。如果情况需要，他们也很乐意不去管它们。文革期间，我父亲寄钱给中国的亲戚，用于清明节祭祖。这些钱本来是用来购买祈福物品的。2017 年，我们到中国探望他们时，发现这些钱被用来购买必要的日用品，没有去祭拜陵墓。实用主义决定了对生者的关怀胜过对逝者的祈祷。
Old Six Rabbit
Chinese creed: heaven and earth are heartless，treat everyone on earth as animal ➡️ I am the master of my own fate (天地不仁以万物为刍狗 ➡️ 我命由我不由天)
In modern society, many religious claims have been exposed by scientific and technological means. If still blindly paranoid about those ' truth' of religions, our view is: Are you kidding?
However, we also don't object to other people's beliefs. Next door to our company is a Christian meeting place,The distance from my home to Qingdao Mosque is no more than 2km…many cities have five religions temples, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam,Christianity,Catholicism,Orthodox,Shamanis lol 😃Many universities have various religious majors.
China's religious belief is free,believe or not is your freedom.Nobody can force you,this is a right protected by law.
【回答】
中国的信条：天地不仁，以万物为刍狗，我命由我不由天
在现代社会中，许多宗教主张已被科学技术手段揭穿了。如果仍然盲目地偏执于宗教的那些 "真理"，我们的看法是："你在开玩笑吗？”
但是，我们也不反对别人的信仰。我家到青岛清真寺的距离不超过 2 公里......许多城市都有五教寺庙，佛教、道教、伊斯兰教、基督教、天主教、东正教、萨满教，哈哈😃，许多大学都有各种宗教专业。
中国的宗教信仰是自由的，信不信是你的自由，谁也不能强迫你，这是一项受法律保护的权利。
Tsing Hsiung Ye
According to open data, as of 2021, China has over 144k religious places, including 33.5k Buddhism temples, 9k Taoism temples, 35k masjids/mosques, 6k Catholic churches, 60k Christian churches.
As to believers, there are over 20 million Muslims, 6 million Catholics, 38 million Christians, as to Buddhists and Taoists..hard to count.
The problem is this “hard to count”. Both Buddhism and Taoism don’t ask believers to practice religious rites and participate activitices routinely. I have visited Buddhist and Taoist temples hundreds of times but I don’t believe in any of them, so, am I a believer? If not, but I also believe some of the doctrines and concepts in Buddhism and Taoism like Yin Yang, the circles of lives, so, am I a non-believer?
【回答】
公开数据显示，截至 2021 年，中国共有宗教活动场所 14.4 万余处，其中佛教寺庙 3.35 万余处，道教寺庙 9 万余处，清真寺 3.5 万余处，天主教堂 6 万余处，基督教堂 6 万余处。
至于信徒，有 2000 多万穆斯林、600 多万天主教徒、3800 多万基督徒，至于佛教徒和道教徒......难以计数。
问题就在于这个 "难以计数 "上。佛教和道教都不要求信徒例行宗教仪式和参加宗教活动。我去过几百次佛教和道教的寺庙，但我一个都不信，那我是信徒吗？如果不是，但我也相信佛教和道教中的一些教义和概念，如阴阳、生命轮回，那么，我是非信徒吗？
The answer is: both Buddhism and Taoism became a part of Chinese culture.
First of all, in Chinese people’s eyes, the gods should serve the people. Like, people usually go to temples for some reason: I want a good exam result, I want a son/daugher, I want promotion..And the gods, received their offerings, should work, to make people’s wishes come true. Therefore, the judging standard for Chinese temples is 灵 (if the gods in that temple echos people’s wishes, and how often/effective it echos). So Chinese people usually say, “let’s go to XX temple, it is very 灵!” If a temple is not 灵, or dramatically often bringing opposite results like I want promotion but got fired, fewer and fewer people will visit it, sometimes it will be torn down. Bad god! Lazy god! Useless god! Rubbish! Return my offerings!
回答是：佛教和道教都成为了中国文化的一部分。
首先，在中国人眼里，神灵应该为人们服务。比如，人们去寺庙通常是有原因的：我想考个好成绩，我想生个儿子/女儿，我想升官发财......而神灵接受了供奉，就应该发挥作用，让人们的愿望成真。因此，中国寺庙的评判标准就是“灵”（寺庙里的神灵是否能回应人们的愿望，以及回应的频率和效果）。因此，中国人通常会说："我们去 XX 寺庙吧，那里很灵！"如果一个寺庙不灵，或者经常戏剧性地带来相反的结果，比如我想升职却被炒了鱿鱼，那么去的人就会越来越少，有时还会被拆掉。坏神！懒神！没用的神！垃圾！还我祭品！
Secondly, you may be confused by “gods in that temple”. Like India (or unlike Abraham religions), Chinese demostic religion is a multigod system. No matter Buddhism or Taoism, there are a lot of different gods. In Chinese perspectives, Buddhism is about after lives, while Taoism is about present lives. In Taoism, there are Dragon gods, they are in charge of water, including rivers, lakes, rainfalls, snowfalls, their duty is to guarantee the climate steady and weather comfortable for agriculture. If there’s a drought, people will go to dragon god’s temple, asking for rainfalls, once, it will send the demand to heaven, and Jade Emperor will issue an order to the dragon, then dragon god, along with wind gods, thunder gods, cloud gods, will bring a rainfall to the drought area. In Buddhism, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas usually in charge of the after lives, like there is a Ksitigarbharaja, who works like Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus, who judges people’s merits and sins after they died and send them to heaven or hell accordingly.
其次，你可能对 "庙里的神 "感到困惑。与印度宗教（或者说与亚伯拉罕宗教不同）一样，中国的宗教也是一个多神系统。不管是佛教还是道教，都有很多不同的神。在中国人看来，佛教讲来世，道教讲今生。道教有龙神，他们掌管水，包括河流、湖泊、降雨、降雪，他们的职责是保证气候稳定，天气舒适，有利于农业生产。如果发生旱灾，人们就会到龙王庙求雨，龙王庙会把要求传到天上，玉皇大帝就会向龙下达命令，龙神就会和风神、雷神、云神一起给旱区降雨。在佛教中，佛和菩萨通常掌管后世，如地藏王菩萨就像米诺斯、罗达曼提斯和埃阿库斯一样，判定人死后的功过是非，并据此送人上天堂或下地狱。
Thirdly, the rainfall work seems very complicated, that’s right. Because Chinese gods system is people’s projecting of their ideal government. In Taoism, the heaven is actually the “sky government”, Jade Emperor is supreme leader, there are sky armies, sky civil affair departments, sky natural disaster departments…and on earth, there are thousands local gods, the most famous ones including Earth god and Town god. Earth god incharge a large area of land, and they work like the basic level staffs in a company, they monitor everything, the happinesses and sorrows, the population, the conflicts…and then report to the heaven, so that heaven knows the situation of their people and deals with the problems accordingly.
第三，降雨工作看起来非常复杂，没错。因为中国的神系是人们对理想政府的投射。在道教中，天庭实际上是 "天上的政府"，玉皇大帝是最高领袖，有天兵天将、天上民政部门、天上自然灾害部门......而在人间，有成千上万的地方神，最著名的有土地公和城隍爷。地方神负责管理一大片土地，他们的工作就像公司里的基层员工一样，监视着一切，包括喜怒哀乐、人口、矛盾......然后上报给天庭，让天庭了解他们人民的情况，并据此处理问题。
Forthly, Saints can be gods. The most famous one is Confucius and Guanyu (the god of arms), both are real historical figures. The picture below is a temple called “Army Temple” which worships PLA..pay attenstion to the stars and the characters in it, they are 八一, August 1st, the date PLA established.
And there are also not-real gods, but people’s wishes, obviously the following gods are for students: STEM god(left), Computer god (right)
PE god (a basketball?)
Lastly, religions in China are not exclusive to each other. Sometimes you can see an old lady worships Jesus in the manner she used in a Buddhist temple, and no one blames her. It basically comes from my first and second point, no matter Jesus or Muhanmad, God or Allah, they are just one of the gods up in the sky, and they shall work to bring fortune to the people.
其次，圣人也可以是神。最有名的是孔子和关羽（武神），他们都是真实的历史人物。下图是一座供奉解放军的庙宇，名叫“军庙”，请注意其中的星星和文字，上面写着“八一”，八月一日，解放军成立的日子。
还有一些不是真的神，而是人们的愿望，下面这些神显然是为学生们准备的：STEM之神（左）、计算机之神（右）
体育之神（篮球？）
最后，中国的宗教并不互相排斥。有时，你会看到一位老太太用她在佛寺里的方式拜耶稣，也没有人会责怪她。这基本上源于我的第一点和第二点，不管是耶稣还是穆罕默德，不管是上帝还是真主，他们都只是天上的神灵之一，都要为人们带来福气。
The green flag writes: Christmas Cup basketball match for Muslims….
Taoist, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Christian, we are a family.
Anyway, a god not serving the people, is not a good god.
绿旗写着：穆斯林圣诞杯篮球赛.... 
道教、佛教、天主教、伊斯兰教、基督教，我们都是一家人。
总之，不为人民服务的神不是好神。
Most Chinese people do not believe in religion, but almost everyone believes in causal relationships (close to Buddhist teachings), similar to how if you do something bad today, it will one day come to you in the form of a curse
On the contrary, if you do something good today, the future will also come to you with a blessing
The Chinese government will not interfere with the religious beliefs of the Chinese people (it will not encourage or suppress them), but when your beliefs affect others (attacking innocent passersby or inciting others to self harm due to religious beliefs), you will taste the iron fist, which can also be considered a causal relationship
【回答】
大多数中国人不信仰宗教，但几乎每个人都相信因果关系（类似佛教教义），就像如果你今天做了坏事，总有一天它会以诅咒的形式降临到你头上一样。
相反，如果你今天做了好事，未来也会给你带来祝福
中国政府不会干涉中国人的宗教信仰（不鼓励也不打压），但当你的信仰影响到他人时（因宗教信仰攻击无辜路人或煽动他人自残），你就会尝到铁拳的滋味，这也可以说是一种因果关系
-------------------------------------------------------
Марина Синица
China has a balanced approach to religions. In Russia there is freedom of religion and a law to protect the feelings of believers, that no one can desecrate religious symbols. There is also government support for religion, which is again considered the basis of morality. Most people believe in God as Orthodox Christians or as Muslims, and in Russia there are also Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Buddhists and Jews. And even pagans, but this is a non-state religion. But all extremist religious movements that advocate violence on religious grounds are banned and prosecuted. Priests of all faiths explain to parishioners that violence is wrong and is not condoned by any religion.
【回复】中国对宗教的态度是平衡的。俄罗斯有宗教自由和保护信徒感情的法律，任何人不得亵渎宗教象征。政府也支持宗教，并认为宗教是道德的基础。大多数人作为东正教徒或穆斯林信仰上帝，俄罗斯也有天主教徒、基督新教徒、佛教徒和犹太人。甚至还有异教徒，但这属于非国家宗教。但所有以宗教为由鼓吹暴力的极端主义宗教运动都被禁止并受到起诉。所有宗教的牧师都会向教民解释，暴力是错误的，任何宗教都不会宽恕。
-------------------------------------------------------
Zw Zhu
Most people in China are atheists. We generally think of religious beliefs as a private matter, so proselytizing and offending someone else's religion is seen as unsavory. In serious cases it may even be illegal.
My mother believes in Buddhism and has been offering fresh fruits to the Buddha for decades. Her wish is also very simple. She hopes that the Bodhisattva will bless us with good health.
My father was a member of the Communist Party, and although he was an atheist, he respected my mother's religious beliefs.
I argued with my mother several times as a teenager about whether there was a god, and I said things that were offensive to the gods, which made her sad for a while.
As I matured into adulthood, while still an atheist, I began to respect my mother's beliefs as much as my father did. I will try my best to remain decent in front of the Bodhisattva. I'm sure my mother saw the transformation in me.
China's native religion is Taoism, but it doesn't look like a real religion. It actually uses the cognitive level of ancient people to reason about the laws of the universe and humans.
【回答】
中国大多数人都是无神论者。我们通常认为宗教信仰是个人隐私，因此传教和冒犯他人的宗教信仰被视为不光彩的事。严重的甚至会触犯法律。
母亲信佛，几十年来一直用新鲜水果供佛。她的愿望也很简单。她希望菩萨保佑我们身体健康。
我的父亲是一名共产党员，虽然他是一名无神论者，但他尊重我母亲的宗教信仰。
我十几岁时曾多次与母亲争论是否存在神灵，我说了一些冒犯神灵的话，这让母亲伤心了好一阵子。
长大成人后，虽然我仍是无神论者，但我开始像父亲一样尊重母亲的信仰。在菩萨面前，我会尽力保持体面。我相信母亲看到了我的转变。
中国的本土宗教是道教，但它看起来并不像真正的宗教。它实际上是用古人的认知水平来推理宇宙和人类的规律。
-------------------------------------------------------
Марина Синица
It's clear. In Russia, there are also prayers for the search for a spouse and for study. There are still prayers for the Fatherland, power and army.
【回复】很清楚。在俄罗斯也有为寻找配偶和学习而祈祷的。还有对祖国、权力和军队的祈祷。
-------------------------------------------------------
Khengchat Ng
The historian Edward Gibbon in his epic “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” described the Augustinian Roman view toward religion as being all true and being all false. Provided they bring about social cohesion and harmony, they are tolerated. In other words-cynically pragmatic. The Chinese share it with them. The concept of religion is nebulous to them. God as defined in Abrahamic religions is all foreign. They adopt various parts of Taoism and Buddhism as fits into their requirements. They go through the rituals and find them comforting. They are just as happy to leave them alone of circumstances dictate. During the cultural revolution, my dad sent money to relatives in China for the Tomb Sweeping Festival to honour ancestors. They were meant to purchase prayer items. In 2017, whilst visiting them in China, we found the money was used to buy necessary groceries. The tombs were not visited. Pragmatism dictates caring for the living over praying for the dead.
【回答】
历史学家爱德华-吉本在其史诗《罗马帝国衰亡史》中描述了奥古斯丁式的罗马人对宗教的看法，认为宗教有真有假。只要它们能带来社会凝聚力与和谐，就会被允许。换句话说，就是实用主义。中国人也是如此。对他们来说，宗教的概念是模糊的。亚伯拉罕宗教中定义的上帝都是外来的。他们采用道教和佛教中符合他们要求的不同部分。他们通过宗教仪式来获得安慰。如果情况需要，他们也很乐意不去管它们。文革期间，我父亲寄钱给中国的亲戚，用于清明节祭祖。这些钱本来是用来购买祈福物品的。2017 年，我们到中国探望他们时，发现这些钱被用来购买必要的日用品，没有去祭拜陵墓。实用主义决定了对生者的关怀胜过对逝者的祈祷。
Old Six Rabbit
Chinese creed: heaven and earth are heartless，treat everyone on earth as animal ➡️ I am the master of my own fate (天地不仁以万物为刍狗 ➡️ 我命由我不由天)
In modern society, many religious claims have been exposed by scientific and technological means. If still blindly paranoid about those ' truth' of religions, our view is: Are you kidding?
However, we also don't object to other people's beliefs. Next door to our company is a Christian meeting place,The distance from my home to Qingdao Mosque is no more than 2km…many cities have five religions temples, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam,Christianity,Catholicism,Orthodox,Shamanis lol 😃Many universities have various religious majors.
China's religious belief is free,believe or not is your freedom.Nobody can force you,this is a right protected by law.
【回答】
中国的信条：天地不仁，以万物为刍狗，我命由我不由天
在现代社会中，许多宗教主张已被科学技术手段揭穿了。如果仍然盲目地偏执于宗教的那些 "真理"，我们的看法是："你在开玩笑吗？”
但是，我们也不反对别人的信仰。我家到青岛清真寺的距离不超过 2 公里......许多城市都有五教寺庙，佛教、道教、伊斯兰教、基督教、天主教、东正教、萨满教，哈哈😃，许多大学都有各种宗教专业。
中国的宗教信仰是自由的，信不信是你的自由，谁也不能强迫你，这是一项受法律保护的权利。
Tsing Hsiung Ye
According to open data, as of 2021, China has over 144k religious places, including 33.5k Buddhism temples, 9k Taoism temples, 35k masjids/mosques, 6k Catholic churches, 60k Christian churches.
As to believers, there are over 20 million Muslims, 6 million Catholics, 38 million Christians, as to Buddhists and Taoists..hard to count.
The problem is this “hard to count”. Both Buddhism and Taoism don’t ask believers to practice religious rites and participate activitices routinely. I have visited Buddhist and Taoist temples hundreds of times but I don’t believe in any of them, so, am I a believer? If not, but I also believe some of the doctrines and concepts in Buddhism and Taoism like Yin Yang, the circles of lives, so, am I a non-believer?
【回答】
公开数据显示，截至 2021 年，中国共有宗教活动场所 14.4 万余处，其中佛教寺庙 3.35 万余处，道教寺庙 9 万余处，清真寺 3.5 万余处，天主教堂 6 万余处，基督教堂 6 万余处。
至于信徒，有 2000 多万穆斯林、600 多万天主教徒、3800 多万基督徒，至于佛教徒和道教徒......难以计数。
问题就在于这个 "难以计数 "上。佛教和道教都不要求信徒例行宗教仪式和参加宗教活动。我去过几百次佛教和道教的寺庙，但我一个都不信，那我是信徒吗？如果不是，但我也相信佛教和道教中的一些教义和概念，如阴阳、生命轮回，那么，我是非信徒吗？
The answer is: both Buddhism and Taoism became a part of Chinese culture.
First of all, in Chinese people’s eyes, the gods should serve the people. Like, people usually go to temples for some reason: I want a good exam result, I want a son/daugher, I want promotion..And the gods, received their offerings, should work, to make people’s wishes come true. Therefore, the judging standard for Chinese temples is 灵 (if the gods in that temple echos people’s wishes, and how often/effective it echos). So Chinese people usually say, “let’s go to XX temple, it is very 灵!” If a temple is not 灵, or dramatically often bringing opposite results like I want promotion but got fired, fewer and fewer people will visit it, sometimes it will be torn down. Bad god! Lazy god! Useless god! Rubbish! Return my offerings!
回答是：佛教和道教都成为了中国文化的一部分。
首先，在中国人眼里，神灵应该为人们服务。比如，人们去寺庙通常是有原因的：我想考个好成绩，我想生个儿子/女儿，我想升官发财......而神灵接受了供奉，就应该发挥作用，让人们的愿望成真。因此，中国寺庙的评判标准就是“灵”（寺庙里的神灵是否能回应人们的愿望，以及回应的频率和效果）。因此，中国人通常会说："我们去 XX 寺庙吧，那里很灵！"如果一个寺庙不灵，或者经常戏剧性地带来相反的结果，比如我想升职却被炒了鱿鱼，那么去的人就会越来越少，有时还会被拆掉。坏神！懒神！没用的神！垃圾！还我祭品！
Secondly, you may be confused by “gods in that temple”. Like India (or unlike Abraham religions), Chinese demostic religion is a multigod system. No matter Buddhism or Taoism, there are a lot of different gods. In Chinese perspectives, Buddhism is about after lives, while Taoism is about present lives. In Taoism, there are Dragon gods, they are in charge of water, including rivers, lakes, rainfalls, snowfalls, their duty is to guarantee the climate steady and weather comfortable for agriculture. If there’s a drought, people will go to dragon god’s temple, asking for rainfalls, once, it will send the demand to heaven, and Jade Emperor will issue an order to the dragon, then dragon god, along with wind gods, thunder gods, cloud gods, will bring a rainfall to the drought area. In Buddhism, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas usually in charge of the after lives, like there is a Ksitigarbharaja, who works like Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus, who judges people’s merits and sins after they died and send them to heaven or hell accordingly.
其次，你可能对 "庙里的神 "感到困惑。与印度宗教（或者说与亚伯拉罕宗教不同）一样，中国的宗教也是一个多神系统。不管是佛教还是道教，都有很多不同的神。在中国人看来，佛教讲来世，道教讲今生。道教有龙神，他们掌管水，包括河流、湖泊、降雨、降雪，他们的职责是保证气候稳定，天气舒适，有利于农业生产。如果发生旱灾，人们就会到龙王庙求雨，龙王庙会把要求传到天上，玉皇大帝就会向龙下达命令，龙神就会和风神、雷神、云神一起给旱区降雨。在佛教中，佛和菩萨通常掌管后世，如地藏王菩萨就像米诺斯、罗达曼提斯和埃阿库斯一样，判定人死后的功过是非，并据此送人上天堂或下地狱。
Thirdly, the rainfall work seems very complicated, that’s right. Because Chinese gods system is people’s projecting of their ideal government. In Taoism, the heaven is actually the “sky government”, Jade Emperor is supreme leader, there are sky armies, sky civil affair departments, sky natural disaster departments…and on earth, there are thousands local gods, the most famous ones including Earth god and Town god. Earth god incharge a large area of land, and they work like the basic level staffs in a company, they monitor everything, the happinesses and sorrows, the population, the conflicts…and then report to the heaven, so that heaven knows the situation of their people and deals with the problems accordingly.
第三，降雨工作看起来非常复杂，没错。因为中国的神系是人们对理想政府的投射。在道教中，天庭实际上是 "天上的政府"，玉皇大帝是最高领袖，有天兵天将、天上民政部门、天上自然灾害部门......而在人间，有成千上万的地方神，最著名的有土地公和城隍爷。地方神负责管理一大片土地，他们的工作就像公司里的基层员工一样，监视着一切，包括喜怒哀乐、人口、矛盾......然后上报给天庭，让天庭了解他们人民的情况，并据此处理问题。
Forthly, Saints can be gods. The most famous one is Confucius and Guanyu (the god of arms), both are real historical figures. The picture below is a temple called “Army Temple” which worships PLA..pay attenstion to the stars and the characters in it, they are 八一, August 1st, the date PLA established.
And there are also not-real gods, but people’s wishes, obviously the following gods are for students: STEM god(left), Computer god (right)
PE god (a basketball?)
Lastly, religions in China are not exclusive to each other. Sometimes you can see an old lady worships Jesus in the manner she used in a Buddhist temple, and no one blames her. It basically comes from my first and second point, no matter Jesus or Muhanmad, God or Allah, they are just one of the gods up in the sky, and they shall work to bring fortune to the people.
其次，圣人也可以是神。最有名的是孔子和关羽（武神），他们都是真实的历史人物。下图是一座供奉解放军的庙宇，名叫“军庙”，请注意其中的星星和文字，上面写着“八一”，八月一日，解放军成立的日子。
还有一些不是真的神，而是人们的愿望，下面这些神显然是为学生们准备的：STEM之神（左）、计算机之神（右）
体育之神（篮球？）
最后，中国的宗教并不互相排斥。有时，你会看到一位老太太用她在佛寺里的方式拜耶稣，也没有人会责怪她。这基本上源于我的第一点和第二点，不管是耶稣还是穆罕默德，不管是上帝还是真主，他们都只是天上的神灵之一，都要为人们带来福气。
The green flag writes: Christmas Cup basketball match for Muslims….
Taoist, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Christian, we are a family.
Anyway, a god not serving the people, is not a good god.
绿旗写着：穆斯林圣诞杯篮球赛....
道教、佛教、天主教、伊斯兰教、基督教，我们都是一家人。
总之，不为人民服务的神不是好神。
