Across families

Chinese Folk Religion and Shaivism

Different families with 10 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.16 (0 would be identical).

Chinese Folk ReligionEast Asian

Ancestors, local gods, Buddhist figures and Daoist ritual specialists used together without embarrassment, organised around efficacy rather than around creed. Belonging is to a family and a place, not to a doctrine.

ShaivismHinduism

Shiva as both the absolute and the immediate reality of consciousness, approached through recognition, yoga and temple practice. Spans ascetic and tantric extremes, so D3 sits mid-scale with a wide dispersion for good reason.

Where they agree

C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.00.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.02.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — a gap of 0.03.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at leaning animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.04.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.05.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.05.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.07.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.10.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.10.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated — a gap of 0.10.

Where they part company

A3 Plurality
Chinese Folk Religion: many powers and spirits. Shaivism: between strictly one and many powers and spirits. A gap of 0.57 on an axis running from “strictly one” to “many powers and spirits”.

All seventeen axes

Axis	Chinese Folk Religion	Shaivism	Gap
A1 Divine reality	a divine reality certainly exists	a divine reality certainly exists	0.05
A2 Personhood	leaning a personal being one can address	leaning a personal being one can address	0.05
A3 Plurality	many powers and spirits	between strictly one and many powers and spirits	0.57
A4 Locus	fully present within it	fully present within it	0.03
B1 Source of truth	between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience	between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience	0.10
B2 Reading of sacred text	leaning metaphorical, or no text at all	between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all	0.30
B3 Institutional authority	between clergy and tradition decide and individual conscience decides	leaning clergy and tradition decide	0.26
C1 Survival of the self	continues in some form	continues in some form	0.00
C2 Shape of time	between one life, then judgment and cyclical return	cyclical return	0.28
C3 The human condition	leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound	leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound	0.10
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good	leaning achieved by effort or insight	leaning achieved by effort or insight	0.02
D2 Centrality of ritual	essential and prescribed	essential and prescribed	0.07
D3 The body	between to be disciplined and to be celebrated	between to be disciplined and to be celebrated	0.10
E1 Exclusivity	many valid paths	between one true path and many valid paths	0.30
E2 Origin of the cosmos	between an intentional act and beginningless or natural	beginningless or natural	0.23
E3 Locus of belonging	leaning a people, inherited	between a people, inherited and an individual choice	0.20
E4 Standing of nature	leaning animate and itself sacred	leaning animate and itself sacred	0.04

Positions for Chinese Folk Religion rest principally on Ethnographic scholarship on Chinese popular religion (Feuchtwang, Yang); for Shaivism, on Shaiva Agamas, Tirumantiram and Kashmir Shaiva Pratyabhijna texts. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.

Which of the two is closer to you?

The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.