Fortune telling rituals using incense in modern Chinese religious practices

Based on Chinese written sources and the authors' research field materials, the paper analyzes features of Taoist Bud-dhist practices using incense, as well as the purport of the 24 combinations that arise during fortune telling using three incense sticks - a practice used in rituals dating back to the early Middle Ages which still occupies a prominent place among China's religious practices today. The techniques that are concurrently characteristic of Buddhist practices, Taoist services as well as traditional folk be-liefs hold a prominent place during the ritual. General terminology is primarily used in the comments supplementing the rituals in the original sources. These religious rituals involve ancient representations of Heaven as a “source of moral definitions” which reacts to human deeds through various signs, the teachings of the all-encompassing Qi as the energy of the universe and its numerological embodiment, worldview ideas including ancient Taoist beliefs and practices related to the cult of ancestors as well as worship of Heaven and various spirits, and basic Buddhist postu-lates of rebirth, karma and retribution for committed acts. Conducting fortune telling rituals using incense naturally embodied folk beliefs, which was instrumental in the ongoing teachings of morality to many generations across almost two millennia. Tables and comments on the 24 fortune telling combinations are published in Russian for the first time.