2020- 12-05

Is Yang Jian, who saved Mrs. Han, the Erlang God worshipped by the people? Look at the truth about China's eight million gods.

Crazy Nezha, superhuman powers. It's up to you whether it's a demon or a fairy. Tai Gong Zi Ya, the length of the gods. Show the list of gods, and make ten thousand generations of extension in a week. In the grave, Lei Zhen was born extraordinary, with wings between his ribs and soaring into the sky. Jiro Yang Jian, a teenager with red soul. Good at shooting and fighting, breaking the war situation and turning it around. A man surnamed Wen wears a hair and holds a whip. Stabilize the prosperity of Yin merchants, and the town will sing.

Li, a master of classical literature in Chinese Department of Peking University, said: "Since hidden things have existed or still exist, they will certainly play a role in society, just as dark matter plays a role in the universe. As modern people, although we don't have to believe them, we must not be ignorant, but we must know the existence of these things. "

Feng Shen Ji: Li's Feng Shen Ji is another masterpiece after Ji Li's interpretation of China and Four Great Classical Novels, which gives us a glimpse of the truth of China's "Eight Million Feng Shen".

Erlang God Yang Jian in The Romance of the Gods There was a man named Yang Jian in history. He was a eunuch in the Song Dynasty. In Song Huizong's time, he was also in power.

At that time, there was a Korean lady in Song Huizong Palace at Emperor Wen of Sui's home for illness. After Mrs. Han recovered, she went to Erlang Temple to make a wish. Sun Shentong, a temple official, has a crush on Mrs. Han because of her magical power.

So he pretended to be Erlang God every day and went to Yang Jian Mansion to have an affair with Mrs. Han. Yang Jian found a Taoist priest to break his magic, and suddenly a stick knocked off one of Sun Shentong's boots. Then Yang Jian followed the boot and traced it back to the source, just to solve the case. This story of Emperor Wen of Sui was recorded in Sanyan in the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone can see that this Yang Jian has nothing to do with Erlang God, but stories related to Erlang God appear in his home. People like to gossip about people around them, so they spread it around, so Erlang became Yang Jian in the Romance of Gods.

In fact, the source of the real Erlang God is more complicated. If you want to find out his origin, you must have the ability to study Tang Shi, the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the history of Central Asia and the history of folk customs. Liu Zongdi, a folklorist at Shandong University, said that Erlang God is Sirius in Central Asia. After it was spread to Zhongshan, it became the Erlang God in the west of China and the Kuixing Star in the Central Plains, so Erlang God is a very complicated god, because it belongs to the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions.

So folk temples don't support the real Emperor Wen of Sui, but there is one exception. In today's Erwang Temple in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, there is also a Yang Erlang, that is, Yang Jian, sitting next to the Lord God Erlang.

Emperor Wen of Sui originated from literary works such as Sanyan, so he will be active in literary works. For example, the Erlang God in The Romance of the Gods of Journey to the West is Yang Jian. In fact, the Erlang God worshipped by people is not Yang Jian who saved Mrs. Han.

In the Romance of Gods, the mode of "deification" is usually like this. Someone was killed and a soul went to the altar. Then, after Wu Wang's successful attack, Jiang Ziya unified God. You can be this god or he can be that god.

However, in the history of China, the real "God" was formed in this way.

1, from religion. Whether it is the old gentleman on the throne, Tathagata Buddha, Jade Emperor, King Tota, Guanyin Bodhisattva, etc. , and related statues, portraits, books, etc. In religion. Those imaginative religious believers began to fabricate their own "list of gods" as early as the Ming Dynasty.

The earliest and most complete "list of gods" in China is "Bitmap of True Spirit" written by Taoist master Tao Hongjing in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is a very systematic Taoist spectrum, which divides immortals into seven grades, and each grade is also divided into median, left position and right position.

This spectrum includes not only the Jade Emperor and Guanyin Bodhisattva, which we are familiar with, but also many historical figures.

These historical figures were all heroes when they were alive, but unfortunately they were all born in troubled times. They must be responsible for the ghost of Du Feng, and they can only rise after Ford succeeds.

This "worship of God" behavior of religion can't stop from the beginning. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Supreme Secret Book compiled by Taoist personages in the Northern Zhou Dynasty also recorded the divine spectrum of early Taoism.

In the Song Dynasty, there appeared a "Rhubarb Su Li", in which 3,600 Taoist immortals were listed in the "Gate of the Divine Position", ranging from the Jade Emperor to Erlang God, and then to various ghosts and gods.

From this point of view, one of the main sources of immortals was religion at that time, and religious circles occupied a dominant position.

2. Imperial examination conferring. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the imperial court has continuously collected various natural gods such as heaven and earth, sun and moon, mountains and rivers, as well as ancient sages and celebrities, and canonized and sacrificed them in the name of the country, which is called the "National Sacrifice Code".

By the Song Dynasty, the operation of "apotheosis" was very mature, and it was divided into three levels: large, medium and small, all of which were compiled into Zhengci Lu, which was equivalent to an official "apotheosis list".

Where did these messages from God come from? It was basically reported by the local government. As long as the local people are willing, everyone can discuss and raise money to donate, and they can make a god anytime and anywhere.

These gods are not only natural objects such as the sun, moon, mountains and rivers that people admire and rely on, but also historical celebrities who have made contributions to the people. Everyone has an obligation to sacrifice and admire them.

Therefore, it is very interesting to say that "sealing gods" is a question of whether the gods are right or wrong. It is not the jade emperor who has the final say, but the human beings who have the final say. In Song Dynasty, this idea of "worshipping gods" was called "giving life to control gods, combining kindness and prestige", and gods could be "driven away", so they gradually lost their sacredness and became builders of ancient imperial power.

3. Civil power. Folk literature, such as the Romance of the Gods, sealed eight righteous gods with 365 people at one time, and these so-called righteous gods are not the same as the gods sacrificed by the imperial court, and they are also very different from the gods certified by religion.

What does this mean? It's just that some folk forces are competing with the power of the court and religion for the right to worship the gods. They no longer believe in the order stipulated by the imperial court and are not interested in various complicated religious lineages.

People's "worship of god" behavior, like underground magma, is not felt in the earth's crust, although it is in a fierce conflict. If magma comes out one day, it will be a huge social unrest.

Folk beliefs cannot be destroyed. It is better to "practice religion" than to fight to the death. As long as they don't harm living things, the court will acquiesce in their coexistence with orthodox religions.

China's "Eight Million Gods", who is in charge of ten thousand places, has never been the god of mountains, rivers, the sun and the moon, storms, thunder and lightning, nor is it the god of the people. They all come from the simplest beliefs in the hearts of ordinary people and are inseparable from their daily life, food, clothing, housing and transportation, illness and death.

Thor is in charge of rain, Vulcan is in charge of fire, "snow and thunder", "fog, rain and hail", and even immortals such as smoke and frost. These natural phenomena can have a practical impact on people's lives. It needs admiration and admiration.

People even think that every year, every month, every day and in every direction, there are all kinds of gods and evil spirits, all kinds of daily activities, such as traveling, building houses, marriage and litigation, and all kinds of gods work in the dark.

This cultural thought has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Many people will check the yellow calendar when they meet weddings, funerals and weddings to see if the six gods of the Chinese zodiac, such as Qinglong and Yutang, are on duty.

Those who curse are called "Sang Men Star", those who save themselves are called "life-saving stars", and those who make inexplicable mistakes are called "mistakes by mistake". For example, the names of evil spirits such as Luo Tian, Wang Di, Gai Hua and Taohua still exist in our daily spoken language.

Conclusion: If "deification" is regarded as the fruit of human culture, it seems to tell us that human beings are beginning to try to intervene in the maintenance of world order and are no longer slaves prostrating themselves under the majesty of gods.

End—