Why is Guan the God of Wealth?

The origin of the god of wealth is quite difficult to test, and the gods sacrificed vary from time to time. Generally speaking, the God of Wealth is Zhao Gongming, Fan Li, Guan Yu, Wu Caishen, Lishi Xian Guan and Liu Haichan. These God of Wealth can be divided into two categories: God of Wealth and Wu Caishen. The most famous god of wealth is Zhao Gongming.

1, Zhao Gongming-the god of wealth of mankind.

Zhao Gongming is the god of wealth worshipped by the world. According to the "Three Religions Seeking God", Zhao Gongming has great magical powers and endless changes. He can drive thunder and electricity, call the wind and rain, cut malaria, and save lives and solve problems. Therefore, it is called "the great contribution of marshal". Anti-business seeking wealth, as long as you pray for Zhao Gongming, will be satisfied, so people regard him as the god of wealth. In the past New Year pictures, most of the images of Zhao Gongming were wearing an iron crown, holding a treasure whip, a dark face and a thick beard. He was fierce, so people also called him Wu Caishen.

The folklore about Zhao Gongming has a long history. As early as the Jin Dynasty, in Gan Bao's Search for Ji Shen, Zhao Gongming was one of the ghosts who killed people. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Tao Hongjing recorded in the "True Letters Patent" that Zhao Gongming was the god of plague that caused diseases. The Complete Book of Three Religions Seeking Gods in Sui and Tang Dynasties records that in June of the 11th year of Emperor Wendi, five mighty men appeared in the air, dressed in blue, red, white, black and yellow robes, each holding one thing: one holding a ladle and an altar, one holding a leather bag and a sword, one holding a hammer, one holding a fan and one holding a kettle. Wendi Deng asked Taishi Juren, "Who are they? What kind of disaster? " Zhang said, "They are five gods. They are five ghosts in the sky and five disasters on the earth: Zhang in spring, Liu Yuanda in summer, the clock in autumn and the clock in winter. They are in charge of Wen Zhong's history and literature, as well as the plague in the world. This is a disease caused by the operation of heaven and earth. " Emperor Wen asked, "How can we stop it and save the world from the plague?" Zhang Yue said, "The plague fell from the sky and cannot be stopped." . Many people died of the plague that year. At that time, Emperor Wen ordered the establishment of a shrine, and on June 27, he made the five-party lux a general.

Zhao Gongming's character of epidemic ghosts is more specific in Biography of Immortals, but he has changed from one of the five epidemic ghosts to one of the eight ghost coaches: in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, there were eight ghost coaches who led hundreds of millions of ghost soldiers and traveled all over the world. Liu Yuan led the ghost soldiers to carry out miscellaneous diseases, Zhang led the ghost to carry out plague, led the ghost to carry out dysentery, the clock (bell) to carry out sores and swelling, the stone to carry out cold syndrome, Fan Juqing to carry out acid and barren, Yao Gong to carry out five poisons, and Li Jinxing was crazy, which brought many disasters and diseases to the world, took all people's lives and wasted countless lives.

It was not until The Romance of Gods was published that Zhao Gongming was no longer full of evil spirits, something congenial and pestilence as it used to be. Jiang Taigong was given the title of Jade and Gold God by the orders of Yuan God, and named Zhao Gongming as "Golden Dragon Ruyi is the real King of Dragon and Tiger Tan Xuan". His duty is to specialize in gold and silver treasures and welcome good fortune. From then on, Zhao Gongming began to take charge of the world wealth and became the God of Wealth. Zhao Gongming's wealth management can make people live in harmony and get rich, which is in line with the world's desire to seek wealth. Therefore, Zhao Gongming is widely admired by people, and his original image as a ghost, plague and handsome ghost has been gradually forgotten. Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth worshipped by the people, is wearing armor, a shirt and a whip. His face is dark, his beard is thick and his image is formidable. Surrounded by cornucopia, big ingots, orbs, corals, etc., it enhances the effect of extensive financial resources.

2. Fan Li-Tao Zhugong has a good luck.

Fan Li is also a god of wealth. He was an outstanding politician, thinker and strategist during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and he was also a big businessman who could make money.

Fan Li was taciturn and brilliant, and had a clear mind when he was a teenager. Later, he was worshipped as a scholar-bureaucrat by Gou Jian, the king of Yue. The State of Yue was defeated by the State of Wu, and Fan Li followed the King of Yue to serve Fu Cha, the king of Wu. After returning home, he helped the King of Yue defeat the State of Wu. After the downfall of the State of Wu, the monarch and ministers of the State of Yue gave a banquet to celebrate their achievements. The ministers were all very happy, but Gou Jian's face was not happy. After observing, Fan Li came to the conclusion that the King of Yue did not hesitate to kill the minister in order to compete for territory. Now he has got his wish, so he doesn't want to owe his officials. Therefore, Fan Li resolutely resigned from the position of King Yue and took his family and entourage across the East China Sea to Qi.

Fan Li and his son farmed in the seaside of Qi State, and after diligent production and management, they accumulated hundreds of thousands of gold. Qi people have heard of Qi Xian. Please take a picture of him. Fan Li sighed: "If you stay at home, you will get a daughter. If you stay in an official position, you will get a dear friend. This kind of cloth is very good. It's been a long time. " So, it returned to Xiangyin, gave all the money to friends and neighbors, took only the most valuable things, secretly left Qidu and quietly came to Tao Di. He thinks that Tao is located in the center of the world and is the only way to trade, from which he can make a fortune, and that this is the guarantee for the rest of his life. From then on, he lived and called himself Tao Zhugong. ("Tao" refers to pottery land, or the argot "escape"; "Zhu" is a symbol of the rich, or I am already a senior official; "Gong", once said, is a title of respect for elders and peers, or once a duke). Through farming and raising livestock, Fan Li and his son accumulated tens of thousands of wealth in business and became monopolists of pottery land. Later, the two families shared their wealth with the people. Everyone praised Tao Zhugong and worshipped him as the God of Wealth.

Tao Zhugong's management wisdom has always been admired by people, so many rich businesses have been entrusted to Tao Zhugong. For example, "eighteen taboos in business": be diligent in business and avoid laziness; The price should be specific and not vague; Save money and avoid extravagance; Credit should be recognized and abused; Goods should be inspected face to face, and abuse is strictly prohibited; Be careful when entering and leaving, and avoid doodling; Use people to be square and avoid evil; Advantages and disadvantages should be subdivided and not confused; The goods should be trimmed and must not be sloppy; The deadline should be agreed, not sloppy; Buy and sell in a timely manner and avoid delay; Be careful with your money to avoid being confused; Do your duty in case of trouble, and avoid false entrustment; Accounts should be audited, not lazy; Acceptance should be moderate and not violent; Be quiet, not rude; Speak appropriately, don't be impetuous ... 18 Avoid the experience of businessmen, and use Tao Zhugong's name. Thus, as a god of wealth, he is a wise image in the eyes of folk businessmen. Fan Li worked hard all his life and accumulated tens of thousands of dollars; Good at management, good at financial management, can spread money widely, naturally known as the god of wealth.

3. Guan Yu-a loyal Guan Yu.

Guan Yu, or Guan Yu, is a well-known figure in China. In modern times, more and more people regard Guan Gong as an all-powerful protector, professional god and god of wealth. The author of the photo exhibition of folk New Year idols said: "Guan Gong is regarded as the god of wealth and the god who protects businessmen. When people are in dispute, they should seek their insight and make a decision. During the drought, people ask him for rain, and they can ask the patient for a prescription, which is the most powerful person to exorcise evil spirits. "

According to Xu Dao's "Fairy Mirror of Past Dynasties", Guan Gong's previous life was "Xie Liang Lao Long". When the Han Dynasty became Emperor Heng, there was a drought in Hedong for years, and Lao Long was eager to pity the public. It was the night when the clouds cleared and the Yellow River drained. Seeing that the old dragon was against his destiny, the Jade Emperor picked up the water seal and asked Cao Tian to cut it off with his sword and throw its head to the ground. It's the faucet found by the county monk by the stream, which he mentioned and put in the jar in the middle of Lu. It's a nine-day spell. When he heard the sound in the jar, he saw that there was nothing in the jar, and a baby landed at Guan Yi's house in Baochi, Xie Ping village, east of Xihe River. His name was Changshou, and his name was Changshou. Later, he named himself Feather, which had a long word. According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, originally from the evil mansion, got rid of people by relying on the situation, so he killed the evil mansion and traveled all over the rivers and lakes. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei "became sworn friends in Taoyuan" and vowed to live and die, fighting for hegemony with the rebels. In the fifth year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao sent troops to defeat Liu Bei. Liu Bei took refuge in Yuan Shao. Cao Cao captured Guan Yu, took a fancy to Guan Yu's loyalty and worshipped him as a partial general. After knowing that Guan Yu had no intention of staying long, Cao Cao bought it with a lot of gold, silver and jewels, high officials and beautiful women, but Guan Yu was not moved by money and fame. Knowing that Liu Bei was at Yuan Shao's place, Guan Yu immediately sealed the golden seal and went to Liu Bei after five passes. Liu Bei established himself as the king of Hanzhong and named Guan Yu the head of the Five Tigers. Cao Cao was furious and designed it with Sima Yi, and joined hands with Sun Quan to take Jingzhou. Liu Bei worshipped Guan Yu as a "former general", in charge of Jingxiang County, and ordered Fancheng to be taken. Guan Yu divided his forces and captured Fancheng, but unfortunately Monroe cheated Jingzhou away. He left Maicheng at night, was defeated and captured, and died unyielding. After the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was recorded that after Guan Yu was killed, the ghost lingered and swayed through the city until he shouted over Yuquan Mountain in Dangyang County, Jingzhou: "Give me my head back!" Pu Wenjing, an old monk on the mountain, said, "The past is not the present. We don't want to talk about everything ... Now the general has been harmed by Lu Meng, shouting' Give me my head back', but whose head do you want?" Guan Yu suddenly realized and converted to Buddhism.

Guan Yu was brave and trustworthy all his life, and believed in Buddhism and Confucianism. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guan Yu was very prominent and was honored as "King of Martial Arts" and "Warrior Saint". As a result, Guan Yu was endowed with "all-powerful" powers such as managing imperial examinations, treating diseases and eliminating disasters, and exorcising evil spirits, and all walks of life in the folk worshipped Guan Di, the "all-powerful god". The reason why people regard Guan Yu as a god of wealth is probably because Guan Yu is unmoved by gold and silver treasures and associates with some greedy and hypocritical people in the world.

In stark contrast. People all over the world, especially businessmen, admire Guan Gong's loyalty and trustworthiness and hope that Guan Gong will become the patron saint of their wealth. In addition, people hope that businessmen will stick to honesty and trade, and regard Guan Gong as a just man who maintains the traditional moral order.

4. The Five-Road God and Lishi Xian Guan-the God of Wealth who made a fortune.

The civil and military god of wealth is the so-called righteous god of wealth among the people. In addition to the positive god of wealth, there is also the partial god of wealth, which is from the position of the gods where the god of wealth is located. The folk god of wealth often refers to the god of wealth known as the "Five Gods". In the Romance of the Gods, the Five-way God of Wealth refers to Marshal Zhao Gong, Zhao Baotian and Xiao Sheng, Na Tian Zhen and Cao Bao, the lucky messenger Chen Jiugong and Lishi Xian Guan Yao Shaosi. The "Five Gods" also guide the way and act as gods. Yao Fujun, a Qing man, said: "The Five-way God, commonly known as the God of Wealth, is actually a god who worships five doors. You can make money by going out five ways. " Among them, the five roads refer to the east, west, north and south, which means that you can get good luck and make a fortune when you are away from home. The five gods of wealth are auspicious gods and common images in folk auspicious New Year pictures. They are deeply loved and worshipped by people. The fifth day of the first month of every year is the birthday of Wutong God of Wealth. Even at dawn every day, firecrackers can be heard in urban and rural areas. In order to receive the God of Wealth first, merchants usually hold a ceremony to greet God on the fourth night of the fourth day, prepare sacrifices such as fruits, cakes and pig heads, and invite the God of Wealth to drink. At that time, the owner will take back the God of Wealth from the five halls of God of Wealth in the southeast, northwest and China. After the five gods of wealth get together, they will hang up the paper horses of the gods of wealth and light incense sticks, and everyone will worship and burn them together.

In the early morning of the fifth day, people first opened the gate, beat gongs and drums, set off firecrackers and greeted the god of wealth. After taking over the god of wealth, everyone got together and drank roadside wine until dawn. It is said that "business is booming and financial resources are rolling in" for one year. There is a vivid description in Cai Yun's Wu Bei Monument in Qing Dynasty: five days of financial resources, one year of reward. Beware of meeting God early elsewhere, and grabbing the road head overnight. The so-called "grabbing the road" is to grab the five-way god of wealth. People strive to set off firecrackers early, hoping to make a fortune.

Among the folk gods of wealth, Lishi Xian Guan (one of the Five Gods) is always around, whether it is Marshal Zhao Gong or the official who prays for heaven. Therefore, Lishi Xian Guan can be said to be an out-and-out partial god of wealth. As for the origin of Lishi Xian Guan, it is recorded in The Romance of Gods: Lishi Xian Guan, whose real name is Yao Shaosi, was a disciple of Zhao Gongming, the great god of wealth, and was later named as the god of welcoming good fortune by Jiang Ziya. The so-called "profit market" contains three meanings: first, it refers to the profits obtained when doing business; Second, it means good luck, good luck; Third, it refers to festive or festive money such as lucky money. People believe in him, hoping that the god of wealth in Deli will bless life and all the best. In modern times, during the Chinese New Year, some people, especially businessmen, will put a portrait of Lishi Xian Guan on the door, with an auspicious teenager on it, and write couplets: "Lucky boy comes" and "Lishi Xian Guan comes", which means that wealth is abundant and prosperity is great.

5. Liu Haichan-a quasi-god of wealth who scatters money to help the poor.

Among the many gods of wealth in Chinese folk beliefs, one can only be regarded as a quasi-god of wealth, that is, he has not won the title of god of wealth. However, because this god can bring people a certain fortune and bear some responsibilities of the god of wealth, people regard it as the god of wealth. Liu Haichan is one of the most representative prospective wealth gods.

Liu Haichan, formerly known as Liu Hai, was born in Yanshan (now Beijing) in the Five Dynasties. He was a scholar in Liao Dynasty, and later he was the prime minister who assisted Liu, the prince of Yan. This person is used to "the study of Huang Lao".

There is a saying in The Mirror of Immortals in Past Dynasties: One day, a Taoist priest who claimed to be Zhengyangzi (Lv Dongbin) came to see him, and Liu Hai treated him with courtesy. Taoist practitioners practice "the sign of purity and inaction, and the golden liquid returns to Dan"! Collect ten eggs and ten dollars, one egg at a time, and pile them high into a tower. Liu Hai exclaimed, "It's too dangerous!" The Taoist replied: "Living in Rong Lu is a worry, and the danger of the Prime Minister is even worse than this!" Liu Hai suddenly realized. Later, he took off his seal and changed his name to Liu Xuanying. In the name of "The Sea Toad", he took Lv Dongbin as his teacher and became immortal, wandering between Zhong Nanshan and Taihua Mountain. Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu named him "the true king who knew the great Tao by the sea toad", and Emperor Wu Zong added "the pure emperor who knew the great Tao by the sea toad".

From this point of view, Liu Hai is a Taoist who abandoned his wealth after enlightenment, and he has no chance to become a god of wealth. Perhaps Liu Hai became a god of wealth because of his Taoist name "sea toad". Toad, that is, toad, its secretion is highly toxic and harmful to human body. It is listed as one of the five poisons (scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad). Venenum Bufonis, the secretion of toad, has the functions of strengthening the heart, relieving pain and stopping bleeding, so it is also worshipped by people. "Peaceful Magnolia" quotes the cloud in Xuanzhong Ji: "Toads have horns at first, eat them, live for thousands of years, and eat mountain spirits." At that time, people regarded toad as a mascot to ward off evil spirits, suppress evil spirits, urge people to die, and manage wealth, which was a kind of aura. Liu Hai is famous for his "toad" as the road sign, and is honored as the God of Wealth with the legend of "Liu Hai hits the golden toad".

The golden toad in Liu Hai's opera appears in a large number of folk New Year pictures and paper-cuts, and many masterpieces on this subject have been handed down by painters of all ages. In these works, Liu Hai is an urchin who dances and smiles. Fluffy hair, drooping forehead, dancing with a bunch of money in his hand. A three-legged golden toad holds the other end of the money string in a jumping shape, full of festive and auspicious wealth. The golden toad played by Liu Hai is not an ordinary toad, but a rare three-legged golden toad in the world. The golden toad is regarded as a spiritual thing, and the ancients thought it could make people rich. This is the main basis for Liu Hai to be shaped into a god of wealth. According to legend, Liu Hai used this plan to collect and pay the golden toad who had been practicing for many years, and became immortal. Liu Hai plays Jin Chan, who spits money. He scattered money everywhere, which helped many poor people. People respect him, thank him and call him a "living immortal". To this end, the Liu Hai Temple was built, and his story was made into a drama and sung everywhere.