Myths and legends about the land? Rush rush rush rush!

Chinese thousands of years down, there are many can be categorized into the mountain god land fairy god, a list of a few, may not be complete.

One: the land god.

The origin of the land god: Ancient China has the rituals and customs of the earth worship society. The community is the smallest administrative unit of the place. The book of rites, "the sacrificial law" chapter notes that "the great masters below the common people, living in groups, full of more than a hundred, can set up the community". Han Shu" of the five lines of Zhi "and" the old system, twenty-five for a community ", the ancients respected the sky and pro-earth," the land is vast, can not be all respect, so sealing the land for the community to be worshipped, in order to reward the work also ". In order to repay the gifts of the earth and the earth sacrifice society, the Eastern Han Dynasty, that is, called the god of the community for the community public or land, and said the land is even more. At the beginning, there was no name for the god of society. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the people took officials who had done good deeds or were honest and upright in their lives to be the gods of the land, and then they had personalities and family names. The Taoist scripture Taoist Spirit and Ghosts, "The God of Society", quoted from Laozi's Catalog of Heaven, Earth, Ghosts and Spirits, which says, "The God of Society in Beijing is the rightful minister of Heaven, with the left yin and the right yang, and his name is Huang Chong. His name was Huang Chong. He was a native of Liyang, Jiujiang, Yangzhou. Rank ten thousand stones, master of the world's famous mountains and gods, the community all ministers from the. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the people and more celebrities as the land of the parties.

Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, with the gradual improvement of the bureaucratic system from the center to the grassroots level of the feudal state, the land god has evolved into the lowest level of the Taoist god hierarchy can only be managed in the hometown of the local small god. The Eastern Jin Dynasty's Book of Searching for Gods and Goddesses, Volume 5, states that Jiang Ziwen, a native of Guangling, died as a result of chasing a thief. After Sun Quan came to power in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, Jiang Ziwen manifested himself and said, "I shall be the god of this land, so as to bless the people under me.

Second, supplementing the land master

The god of the earth was known as the land in the later folklore, and the altar of the god of the earth (the altar of the community) evolved into the temple of the land. In the Chinese folklore, the land god is considered to be the most popular deity in the sacred family. In the villages of rural China in the old days, there could be no other temples, but there could be no land temples. In the land temple lived the land master, and if the temple was spacious and well-fed, he would also move the land grandmother to live with him. The land master is the parent official of a party, and he has to manage all the affairs on the ground, no matter how big or small they are. Spirits and demons, monsters and evil spirits, but also to the land where the registration on the account, so even the Great Sage of Qi Tian Da Sheng Sun Wukong also have to beg him. Sun Wukong, the Monk of the Tang Dynasty, who was a monk in the West, always called out the land to ask what happened when he encountered demons and monsters in every place he went to. Origin and formation of the general folk beliefs, the gods will most likely have a clear origin, but the origin of the land god a lot of legends are too numerous to mention, this is two of the examples.

One said: the Zhou Dynasty, an official Zhang Fude, was born in the second year of King Wu of the Zhou dynasty, February 2, since the childhood of smart to filial piety, thirty-six years old, the official court total tax official, for the official integrity, diligence and love for the people, to the Zhou Mu Wang three years died at the age of 102 years old, there is a poor family to four large stones surrounded by a stone house to worship, and soon, from the poor to the rich, the people believe that God's grace blessing, is a joint venture to build temples and molded golden body worship, take its name and respect for the "Fude Zheng Shen". The people believed in the blessing of the god, so they built a joint venture temple and worshiped his golden body, taking his name and honoring him as the "God of Fude", which is often worshipped by businessmen for the development of business.

Another story is: the Zhou dynasty on the doctor's servant Zhang Mingde (or Zhang Fude), the master went to far away from his official, leaving the family's young daughter, Zhang Mingde with his daughter to find his father, on the way to meet the wind and snow, undressing to protect the Lord, and thus freezing to death on the way. On his deathbed, the air appeared "South Heavenly Fairy Fude Zheng Shen" nine words, cover for the loyal servants of the seal, on the Da Dafu Nian its loyalty, build temples to worship, King Wu of Zhou touched the Yu said: "like this heart can be called Da Dafu also", so the land public have to wear a prime minister's hat.

Three, Jumang

Jumang (or sentence dragon) is the descendant of Shao Hao, the name of the heavy, for Fuxi minister. After his death, he became the god of wood (the god of spring), in charge of the germination and growth of trees.

The sun rises on Fusang every morning, and the sacred tree Fusang is under the control of Jumang, as is the area where the sun rises. Jumang was very, very important in ancient times and had a part in the annual spring festival. His original face was a bird - a bird with a human face, riding on two dragons - and then he actually lost any influence at all. But we can see him in the rituals and yearly paintings: he becomes a cowherd boy riding a bull in spring, with a double bun on his head and a willow whip in his hand, also known as Mangtong (芒童).

What is the image of Jumang? According to the materials, the original image of Jumang, the god of spring, was a bird with a human face. The Classic of Mountains and Seas - Overseas Eastern Scripture says: "The Jumang of the East, with a bird body and a human face, rides on two dragons." The bird body and human face of Jumang suggests that the Dabaigao tribe living in the east was originally a tribe with a bird as its totem belief, and the god Jumang may have been the tribe's totem god. Was Jumang, the god of spring, female or male? There is no material to say. But the mythological tribe of Dabai Gao was already a male-dominated tribal society. There is also material that says that the face of the Jumang god was quadrangular. The Jumang figure of later times, due to the influence of the historicization of the myth and the patriarchal society, has almost completely changed into the image of an ancient courtier, except for the hair on the top of his head, which is still called "man".

Four, Houtu

The earliest land god was Houtu, the original meaning of "Houtu" is the meaning of the king, so Houtu means the head of the land, the king of the land, but in fact, it is not the name of the god of the land, but only a general name of the god of the land. It is said that the earliest person to hold the post of Hou Tu or land god was Jurong, the son of *** Gong, who had a dragon's body, so Jurong, who was a land god, naturally had a dragon's body as well. Yu also served as the god of the earth. Yu ruled over the waters and leveled the nine states, and was in fact the laying of the earth, so his role as the god of the earth was naturally well deserved.

Hou Tu was originally just a general term for the god of the land, but after more use, it gradually evolved into the name of the land god, and the gods of the land, such as Jiu Long and Yu, were forgotten, and Hou Tu then evolved into a specific god. Because in the ancient concept, the sky is yang, the earth is yin, and yang is male, yin is female, so later Hou Tu gradually became female, folk called Hou Tu Niangniang, Hou Tu temple in the statue of the god is also a female statue.

Because people are buried in the earth after death, the god of the land has the responsibility for things in the netherworld, therefore, Hou Tu has had the duty of managing the underworld since ancient times, and later the land lord and land eunuchs around the world still inherited this function, so after a person's death, they all have to go to the temple of the land to report to the temple first, as to let the spirits of the dead to report to the land lord and the land eunuchs.

Chengtian effect Houtu Huangdi is the Taoist god "four imperial" in the fourth heavenly deity, referred to as "Houtu", commonly known as "Houtu Niangniang". With the Jade Emperor, who presides over the heavenly realm, it is a female god who dominates the earth and mountains.

The belief in Houtu originated from the ancient Chinese worship of the land. The Rites of Passage - Du Te Sacrifice" said: "The earth carries all things, the sky drapes the image, takes material from the earth, takes the law from the sky, is to honor the sky and pro-earth also. Therefore, teach the people the beauty of the newspaper." In ancient times, people rely on the ground, so "pro-earth", and to be "beautiful report, offering", so there is "after the earth" worship, about the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period.

Chengtian is the fourth god of the sky among the four gods of Taoism, known as "Hou Tu", commonly known as "Hou Tu Niang Niang". With the Jade Emperor, who presides over the heavenly realm, it is a female god who dominates the earth, mountains and rivers.

The belief in Houtu originated from the ancient Chinese worship of the land. The Rites of Passage - Du Te Sacrifice" said: "The earth carries all things, the sky drapes the image, takes material from the earth, takes the law from the sky, is to honor the sky and pro-earth also. Therefore, teach the people the beauty of the newspaper." In ancient times, people rely on the ground, so "pro-earth", and to be "beautiful report, sacrifice", so there is "after the earth" worship, about the Spring and Autumn period.

There are a lot of records about Hou Tu, most of them are concentrated in Zuo Zhuan, Li Ji, Shan Mei Jing, and Huainan Zi, and the meaning of the text roughly says that Hou Tu is the son of **** Gong's son, and he is the god of the center. Such as:

"Zuo Zhuan - Zhaogong twenty-nine years": "So there are five elements of the official, is called the five officials, wood is said to be Jumang, fire is the day Zhu Rong, gold is said to be Matsui, water is said to be Xuanmei, the earth is said to be the back of the earth. Zhuan Xu's son said Lai, for Zhu Rong. **** Gong's son said sentence dragon, for the back of the earth. After the earth for the community.

"Rituals - Sacrifice Law": "*** Gong's hegemony of the nine states, his son said after the earth, can level the nine states, so the rituals for the community.

"Rituals-Moon Order": "The central earth, its emperor Huang Di, its god Hou Tu." (Zheng note: this yellow essence of the king, the god of the earth officials, also after the earth is Zhuanxu's son, said Lai, also for the earth officials.)

"Mountain Plum Classic - Plum Nei Jing": "**** worker born after the earth, after the earth was born after the choking, choking born age ten two." Guo Pu note: born twelve children, all in the name of the age of the name, so the cloud. Yuan Ke "Shanmei Jing full translation" case: ancient myths when the choking is said to be born twelve years or choking was born in December of a year.

Shan Mei Jing - the great wilderness Western Scriptures: "Lai (after the earth) is the birth of choking, in the west pole, in order to line the sun, moon and stars of the line of time." (This choking sound, cover the god of time also.)

Shan Mei Jing - Great Wasteland North Scripture: "In the middle of the Great Wasteland, there is a mountain named Chengdu Jaotian. Some people have two yellow snakes, put two yellow snakes, the name is Quaife. Houtou gave birth to Xin, and Xin gave birth to Kua Fu." Hao Yi Xing Note: Hou Tu, **** Gong's son Gou Long also, see Zhao nineteen years of Zuo Zhuan, and also see the Shan Mei Jing.

Shanmei Jing-mei Nei Jing: "*** Worker was born Hou Tu." Yuan Ke "Shan Mei Jing full translation" case: "Guoyu - Lu language" cloud: "*** work of the hegemony of the nine have also, its son said after the earth, can level nine earth." That is, the history of this sutra, "*** Worker was born after the earth".

"Chu Rhetoric - Invocation of Soul": "Jun Yuan under this Youdu some." Wang Yi note: Youdu, the underground back of the earth is also ruled. The underground is dark, so it is called Yudu.

Huainanzi Tianwenxun: "The central earth is also the emperor of the Yellow Emperor and the ruler of the earth."

The above accounts of Hou Tu appear either as a deity, or as a person in general, or record the name of an official, all of which are male. However, in ancient Chinese tradition, the character for "Hou" is in the shape of a woman in both oracle bone inscriptions and gold inscriptions, based on the idea that the sky is yang and the earth is yin. As for the "earth", "Shuo Ming - Shuo Tian" said: "earth, spit also, can spit all things also

"Hou Tu" word, the earliest in Confucianism, several classics. Such as "Shangshu - Wucheng" has "told the emperor after the earth", "Zuozhuan - Wengong eighteen years" has "so that the main after the earth, to consider all things", "Zhou Li - Chunguan - large Zongbo" has "the king of the big sealing, then the first to tell the after the earth! "and so on. From these texts, it seems that Hou Tu was a ruler who enjoyed high authority. If there was any major event in the country, it had to be reported to him first and he was asked to manage it.

So what was the position of this Hou Tu? We must examine from the historical records. Zuo Zhuan - Zhaoguang twenty-ninth year" said, "the earth is said to be after the earth". After the earth both cloud "earth", the earth is also cloud "earth", it can be seen that he is with the land has a lot to do. Then what is "Tujing"? Let us first look at the meaning of the word "Zheng", which means "far-sightedness". The word "Zheng" is the opposite of "Vice". It means a person who is in the right position. Zuo Zhuan - the sixth year of Hidden Duke" has "wing nine Zong five Zheng" sentence, the Western Jin Dynasty commentator Du Wei note: "five Zheng, the five officials of the long", can be seen that the Zheng is indeed the official governor, that is, the governor of the highest position. What does a chief do? Naturally, it is about leadership and management. Therefore, the so-called "soil chief" was the highest official in charge of land management. Since, as quoted earlier, the title of "earth minister" and the title of "queen of the earth" are equivalent, then this "queen of the earth" is also the highest official who manages the land. However, a new question arises. Why is the word "Hou" used for the highest official? It turns out that there is a meaning to it. The Shangshu-DaYuMu (The Book of History) once said, "The latter is to overcome the difficulties of the latter, and the minister is to overcome the difficulties of the minister", which means to accomplish a task. The translation of this is that the latter accomplished the tasks of the latter and the minister accomplished the tasks of the minister. Here after and minister is obviously relative, and the minister, according to Guo Moruo "oracle bone character study - interpretation of the minister Zai" test, in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, is the same with the people, "the same as the tin to the things", "all ancient slaves", that is, the vast working masses. Since the latter is opposed to the masses, it is of course the master of the masses. In the same text of the Shangshu, there are also the words "the latter are not the masses", which also illustrate this point. In a word, Hou means "sovereign" and is no different from Zheng. Hou Tu is the sovereign who manages the land, and in the words of the Song Dynasty's Yang Zhao's "Reconsolidation of the Temple of Tai Ning," "Hou Tu is the most honored god of the land.

Is the most honored god of the land, or is it a man, or is it a woman? It is worth studying. Zuozhuan - Zhaogong nine years, said: "**** Gong's son said Jurong, for the back of the earth"; "Ritual - Ritual Law" said: "**** Gong's domination of the nine states, his son said that the back of the earth, can be leveled in the nine states". These two books are called after the earth after the *** work of the son, the son of the man, the man is also, so after the earth should be male. However, after the Han Emperor Wu Di set up after the earth shrine, after the image of the earth for the female, later called the Holy Mother, Niangniang, which is why? It turns out that there are ancient texts that record that Houtu is a woman. The Documentation of the General Caucus: "When Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty sacrificed the earth to the high queen," the high queen, the wife of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Lv Xian, also, to Lv Xian and the God of the Earth with the feast, indicating that the God of the Earth is a woman. After the Han Book - Shizu Benji" planted: "Guangwu in the first year ------ high Queen with only entertained the ground, the ground only, the God of the land also, to the high Queen with its with entertained, but also explains the God of the land for women. Tongdian", "Jinshu", "Songshu", respectively, Cao Wei Mingdi, Chenggi Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty sacrificed to the God of the earth with the ancestor of the Queen of the record. All these show that people at that time regarded the god of the land as a woman, that is to say, Hou Tu was a woman.

At this point, the question arises as to whether Houtu should be male or female. The question arises. In order to understand it, we have to start from the famous "Zhou Yi". Chapter 5 of the Zhouyi-Series of Rhetoric Uploading says: "A Yin and a Yang is called Tao," and Tao is the law of cosmic change. Here, it is said that the interaction of Yin and Yang forms the law of cosmic change, and thus the concept of Yin and Yang and its role were first put forward. Zhouyi-System of Rhetoric, Chapter 6 says: "Qian, Yang things; Kun, Yin things." "Zhouyi-Speaking Gua biography" Chapter 11 Ji and said: "Qian, for the sky, for the father", "Kun, for the earth, for the mother." That is to say, the sky is the sun, for the male; the earth is the yin, for the female. Furthermore, from the trigrams, the Qian Gua symbolizing heaven is ≡, and the Kun Gua symbolizing earth is ≡ ≡. Guo Moruo in the "Zhouyi era of social life" in the article, the two hexagrams, said: "to the male root, divided into two to the female yin," also said that tomorrow for the male, the earth for the female. This view of heavenly yang and earthly yin, heavenly male and earthly female, is the earliest and most authoritative definition of the nature of heaven and earth in our classical philosophy, and no one can deny it until today. Since the earth is female, the supreme representative of the earth, Hou Tu, should naturally be female. Thus, it makes sense that the image of Hou Tu in the Hou Tu Shrine is that of the Virgin Goddess. This change from a male god to a female god reflects the repeated and tortuous process of people's understanding of the nature of the earth, and is a manifestation of people's improved cognitive ability.

Since Hou Tu is the highest female earth god, she is naturally linked to Nüwa. The ancient legends of China are recorded in the "Customs Tongyi - Emperor and Bastard", which quotes the "Spring and Autumn Annals", which says that the so-called three emperors of ancient times, the Emperor of Heaven, the Emperor of Earth and the Emperor of Man, were Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong respectively. Here Nuwa is the Emperor of the Earth, so she is naturally the same person as the most revered god of the land, Hou Tu. In the autumn of the year of Ming Jiajing bingchen re-engraving of the temple image of the temple of Hou Tu, there is "the emperor of Hou Tu only", also directly called Hou Tu for the emperor, which is even more clear that Hou Tu and the emperor of the earth Nuwa can not be separated. In other words, Nuwa is Hou Tu and Hou Tu is Nuwa. Can such a claim of merging into one be substantiated? Yes. Guo Moruo, in his article "Ancient Society in Divination," said, "It is a common occurrence in ancient and modern China and abroad that a person in myths and legends is transformed into more than two persons, or that one thing is transformed into more than two things." Therefore, we can also boldly say that Houtu and Nuwa are indeed two names of one person. This is the smoothest inference and the most reasonable judgment. From this, we can also say that the Hou Tu Ancestral Hall, which is located in the ancient Fen Yin and now in Wan Rong, was originally the Nuwa Ancestral Hall. It was the Nuwa Ancestral Hall. From today onwards, we can refer to the most revered god of the land, that is, the most authoritative emperor of the earth, as Hou Tu Nüwa.

Fifth, the city god (which should be categorized as related)

Chinese folk and Taoist belief in the guardian of the city of God "Shuowen Jiezi" said:

"City, in order to Shengmin also", "God, the city pool also. Water is said to pool, no water is said to god" ① "Zhou Yi" also has "city back in the god, do not use the division" ② "city god" the word used in conjunction with the first in the Ban Gu "two fugue - preface": "the capital to repair the palace The first use of the word "city god" was seen in Ban Gu's "Two Capitals Fugue - Preface": "the capital to repair the palace, dredge the city god" ③ city god worship, the ancients began in Yao, began in Han, began in the Three Kingdoms, but the basis is insufficient, not credible. History can be traced, about the North and South Dynasties, "Northern Qi Book - Murong Yan biography" in: Northern Qi Emperor Wen Xuan Tianbao six years (555) Murong Yan town of Ying, was surrounded by the Liang army of the Southern Dynasties, the Liang army to Dixie floods cut off the supply of waterways, the situation is critical

"The city first shrine, commonly known as the City God God, the private and public every prayer. So the heart of the soldiers, is to pray, hoping to get the blessing of the underworld. In a moment, the wind was fierce, and the waves surged and drifted off Dihong. "4 This is the earliest record of the manifestation of the deity of the city god to protect the city

The worship of the deity of the city god has been more prevalent in Tang Dynasty, and it is cited in the article "Jixian" in the article of "Xuanshou Sido of the Guangji of Taiping" that "the customs of Wu were afraid of ghosts, and every state and county must have a deity of the city god". In the Tang Dynasty, "Wu customs were afraid of ghosts, and every state and county must have a city god".5 In the Tang Dynasty, many local guards wrote and sacrificed to the city god. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan (717), Zhang Shuo firstly wrote "Sacrifice to City God Wen", which was followed by Zhang Jiuling, Xu Yuan, Han Yu, Du Mu, Li Shangyin and so on. Li Yangbing, Duan Quanwei, Lv Shu and other writers have "City God Temple Records" Du Fu, Yang Shiling has "Sai City God Poetry"

Tang Dynasty belief in the city god has become a custom, so that "drought, flood and disease must be prayed for.

Tang Dynasty belief in the city god has become a custom, so that "water, drought, disease and epidemics will be prayed for. According to "the book of Yuan Gui" Volume 34 "emperor Department of worship three" contains: after the Tang Dynasty, the last emperor Qingtai first year (934) edict Hangzhou protect the state temple, renamed Chongde Wang, the city god was renamed Shunyi Bao Ning Wang, Huzhou city god was renamed Fufu Ancheng Wang, Yuezhou city god was renamed Xingde Bao Yin Wang. Han Yindi Qianyou three years (950) sea bandits attacked Mengzhou, the state people prayed to God, the city did not fall, so Feng Mengzhou City God for inspiration King

Song Dynasty City God beliefs have been incorporated into the national rituals. According to the "song history - rites eight" contains: since the opening of the treasure, Huangyou, all the world's name in the ground, the work and the people, the palace mausoleum temples, famous mountains and rivers, can XingYunYu, and add decoration, increase into the rituals, the state and county of the city god, praying for the inductance, sealing of the more, can not be recorded. Song Zhao with the time "Bin retreat record" said the Song dynasty city god: "now its rituals a few all over the world, the dynasty or give the temple quota, or issued by the feudal title, the unordered or attack the neighboring counties of the name, or to carry the popularity of the county is different from the county different" (7) Zhao with the time also on the heard and seen, listed the temple quota feudal title of the city god of up to dozens of more