Bwa3-bui 跋杯 (I) (Custom)

When proctoring an exam, sometimes I’ll see a hilarious scene like this: instead of racking his brains working out the answers, a student throws a dice-like eraser with different answers A, B, C, D on different side to decide his answers to the questions. Jokingly we call this act Bwa3-bui.

Bwa3-bui is in fact in Hoklo language, or commonly known as Taiwanese, which is a way commonly used in Taiwan to communicate with deities or the deceased. In writing we use the words擲筊(zhi2 jiao). Bui refers to a pair of crescent-shaped, wood or bamboo-made utensil. Each of the pair has two sides, or head and tail. The flat side is the positive, 正面(zheng4 mian4), or 陽, yang; while the smoothly bulging side is the negative, 反面(fan3 mian4), or 陰, yin. On every altar of every temple in Taiwan, you can see the pair. Usually they are of palm size. Custom-made size could be seen for special purposes.

  (from Jerry_Taiwan flickr.com)

As I said, Bwa3-bui is a way to communicate with the deities. When facing a dilemma or a difficult choice to make, sometimes people would turn to the deity for help. They go to the temple and worship the specific deity they’d like to ask. After burning the incense and doing the worshiping, 拜拜(bai4 bai4), the one with a question to ask would pick up筊, the wooden pair, and hold them in his palms in front of his chest, with the flat sides sticking to each other.

 (from xianqiao.net)

Before asking the question, he has to tell the deity his name, address, birthday and the question he’s asking before he throws the pairs down to the ground. To show their reverence, very often people conduct this on their knees. For the same question, you can only ask three times at most. And the question has to be put in the Yes-no question form, like “Should I change my job now?”

(from bryan@22°N 120°E flickr.com)

The way the wooden pairs display on the ground reveals the deity’s answer to the question. If it’s one positive plus one negative side, it means the god says yes, or give the green light to what you have asked. We call this shing bui in Taiwanese, written as聖杯 or 聖筊.(But we usually say it in Taiwanese.) To be cautious, if your question is of vital importance, you might ask for three shing bui in a row.

If it’s the two positive, or flat sides upside, it’s called chiu4 bui , written as笑杯or 笑筊,which means the deity hasn’t decided how to answer the question. You can repeat your question and do it all over again.

The last possibility is two negative, or bulking sides upside, which is called Yin bui, written as 陰杯 or 怒筊 It’s a “no” sign from god.

Actually the above are not the only possibilities. There are times, though  rarely, when the pair shows an extraordinary way, kia3 bui , written as 立杯 or 立筊, which means a “standing” bui. The bui stands on the sharp edge.

(from aa4355838flicker.com)

 (from Yam News)

It is generally believed such a rare pattern means the deity has some extraordinary instruction or message to give. It’s a “miracle” from god. The photo above is from a report in 2009 that the kia3 bui had been standing for some 250 days, remaining intact after earthquakes and typhoons hit. Some reports attribute the phenomenon to the rough or cracked surface of the obsolete bui, or the subtle cracks on the ground.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

 

擲筊=掷筊

陽=阳

陰=阴

聖杯=圣杯