Do you know Zhong Kui? Today, the China story network will give you a detailed introduction.
When it comes to “Zhong Kui”, Xiao Bian actually has the impression that he is a Taoist who can catch ghosts, but it seems that this is not the case. Then some people have to ask, who is Zhong Kui? If it is found through research, does Zhong Kui really exist in history? Now we might as well analyze and uncover the secrets of these problems together!
Who is Zhong Kui?
Zhong Kui, with the word Zhengnan, is a God who can beat ghosts and drive away evil spirits in Chinese folklore. In the old days, Chinese people often hung the image of Zhong Kui to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters. It is the “Tang bless the sage of the town” in Chinese traditional culture. According to ancient books, he was a native of Zhongnan, Chang’an, in the early Tang Dynasty (according to ancient books and research by experts and scholars, Zhong Kui is a native of Zhongnan village, Zhongnan Town, Zhouzhi County, the middle section of the Qinling Mountains in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, and now there is Zhongnan Zhong Kui’s hometown Temple). He has an iron face and curly temples and looks strange; However, he is a talented, well-educated and talented person. He is always upright, straightforward and honest.
During the Spring Festival, Zhong Kui was the door god (one of the most famous immortals in Taoism), and during the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhong Kui was the Heavenly Master who cut five poisons. Zhong Kui was the only God of all kinds in Chinese traditional Taoism. If you want to be blessed, get rich, and respond to every request.
Is there Zhong Kui in history?
Zhong Kui is really a man in history.
Zhong Kui, whose surname is Zhong Kui and whose name is Zhengnan, is a God who can beat ghosts and drive away evil spirits in Chinese folklore. In the old days, Chinese people often hung the image of Zhong Kui to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters. It is the “Tang bless the sage of the town” in Chinese traditional culture. According to ancient books, he was a native of Zhongnan in Yongzhou in the early Tang Dynasty (according to ancient books and research by experts and scholars, Zhong Kui is a native of Zhongnan village, Zhongnan Town, Zhouzhi County, the middle section of the Qinling Mountains in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, and there is a temple in Zhongnan Zhong Kui’s hometown). He has an iron face and strange appearance; However, he is a talented, well-educated and talented person. He is always upright, straightforward, honest and sincere.
Since the first painting of Zhong Kui catching ghosts by wudaozi in the Tang Dynasty came out, the paintings of Huang Jia and Wang daoqiu in the Five Dynasties, Yang and ligunglin in the Song Dynasty, Chen Lin and Wang Meng in the Yuan Dynasty, Qian Gu and Liu Fang in the Ming Dynasty, Gao Qipei, Ren Bonian and Wu Changshuo in the Qing Dynasty, and Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong and Zhang Daqian in modern times have made leopards with eyes and iron beards, wearing red robes and soap boots, holding swords and stepping on ghosts, The majestic image of Zhong Kui is deeply rooted in the folk. The stories about the origin of Zhong Kui and his ghost raising frequently appear in novels, stages and folk legends. Among them, the more extensive statements are: “the theory of tangxuanzong”, “the theory of Tangdezong”, “the theory of Zhongkui” and “the theory of Zhang Guolao”.
According to the Mengxi Bi Tan written by Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Kaiyuan period, Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty (Xuanzong) came back from the Lishan school field and suddenly suffered from falciparum malaria. The Wizards tried their best to work for more than a month without getting better. Late one night, the Ming emperor saw a little ghost in a dream, dressed in red, with boots on one foot, bare feet on the other, and a boot hanging around his waist. The little ghost secretly stole the purple sachet of imperial concubine Yang and the jade flute of the Ming emperor. The Ming emperor was furious and denounced him. The kid claims to be “wasted”. At this time, I saw a big ghost “wearing a broken hat, wearing a blue robe, wearing a band of horns, catching the little ghost, pointing at its eyes, breaking and eating it”. The Ming emperor asked him who he was, and said, “Zhong Kui, a scholar in the southern part of the country, died because he failed in the imperial examination and touched the steps of the temple. He was ordered to give him a green robe and bury him, vowing to rid the world of wasted demons.” Emperor Ming woke up from his dream and recovered from his illness. So Wu Daozi, a great painter, was called to paint it, and an imperial edict was issued for this matter. He ordered Zhong Kui to hang an image on New Year’s Eve, “to dispel evil spirits and calm the evil atmosphere.” Thanks to the great praise and criticism of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhong Kui established his position as the number one gate god for catching ghosts.
According to the “Ode to dream dance Zhongkui” written by Zhou you of the Tang Dynasty in the “summary of the general catalogue of quhai” and “literary garden Yinghua”, there was a kind of dance called “dance Zhongkui” used to cure diseases in the era of the Ming emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Zhong Kui was just a character in the dance who “strove to grow his beard in a broad vision, with a full tilt collar; scratched his hair in a round head, and was about to fall in shape. From this point of view, there was no Zhong Kui in the period of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and Zhong Kui was just a figure in a dance drama.
It is recorded in Tang Zhongkui’s ghost biography published by the Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty and the world music published by zhangdafu of the Qing Dynasty:
During the reign of emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a scholar named Zhong Kui. His face was ferocious and amazing. Although he was ugly, Zhong Kui was kind-hearted, talented and excellent in martial arts.
It coincided with the autumn imperial examination. Zhong Kui said goodbye to his relatives and friends and went to Beijing for the examination. He came to the imperial capital, Chang’an, and was very happy to see the bustling buildings in the capital. He wandered up the street. Seeing that there was a divination stall in front of him, he went to the stall and said, “Sir, I’m the son of the exam taker. You can tell me good or bad luck and calculate my future.” He wrote a word “Kui”. Mr. character measuring carefully looked at the word “Kui”, pondered for a moment, and said: “the word Kui is the first of nine harmonies. Now it’s September. If you come to take the exam, you must be at the top of the list. However, if this word is left aside, I’m afraid there will be great disaster in ten days. I hope the prime minister will be cautious.” Hearing this, Zhong Kui thought to himself: if a man is alive, as long as he sits upright, how can there be a great disaster? Therefore, he didn’t take it personally, paid the money, and left.
A few days later, Zhong Kui entered the examination room to take the exam. Zhong Kui read the examination questions and immediately wrote the article in one go and handed it in. On that day, the examiner was Han Yu, a minister of the Ministry of officials, and the associate examiner was Lu Zhi, a bachelor. After reading Zhong Kui’s paper, the two men couldn’t help but brighten their eyes and said in unison: “Wizards, wizards! This article is full of jewels and can be followed by Li Taibai and Du Zimei!” So Zhong Kui was named first.
Emperor Dezong listened to Han Yu and said that Zhong Kui, the No. 1 scholar in the new discipline, was talented, so he summoned him at the golden hall. As soon as the emperor saw his ugly appearance, he was immediately unhappy and said, “I chose a scholar in the imperial court. It’s all in my body, words and books. How can such ugly people be named the No. 1 scholar in the gold department?” Han Yu hurriedly knelt down and said, “the merits of a person are not in his appearance. The holy Master heard that Yan Ying was three feet old and was in line with his appearance. Zhou Chang stuttered and was able to assist the Han Dynasty. Confucius judged people by their appearance and lost his son’s feather. I hope your Majesty would think twice.” Emperor Dezong pondered for a moment and said, “although Han Aiqing’s words are reasonable, when I was Emperor Taizong, I had a good talk about the visit of eighteen scholars to Yingzhou. He was the number one scholar. I’m afraid the world would laugh at my ignorance of talents.” The Prime Minister Lu Qi was narrow-minded and envious of virtue and ability. After listening to the emperor’s words, he quickly knelt down and said, “the top scholar in the golden list must study both inside and outside. There are 300 candidates in this course. Why not choose another one?”
Zhong Kui was so angry that he pointed to Lu Qi and scolded: “if you are so confused, will you harm the country?” After that, he punched Lu Qi. When Dezong saw this, he said angrily, “you dare to raise your son and make a big fuss in the golden palace. Take it quickly!” In his anger, Zhong Kui pulled out the sword at the general’s waist and sighed loudly, “it’s hard for a frustrated cat to learn from a tiger. A parrot with a defeated feather is not as good as a chicken.” After that, he killed himself.
Dezong had an accident when he saw that Zhong Kui was so angry that he killed himself. In order to win the hearts of the people, Lu Qi was demoted and Zhong Kui was named the “great God of exorcism”, who traveled all over the world to cut off evil spirits. Yan Jun also helped him to become a man of letters and martial arts — two generals who were wronged and defeated. However, the bridge guarding imp turned into a bat and served as a guide for Zhong Kui. Zhong Kui cut ghosts, made great achievements, played the Jade Emperor, and was awarded the title of “Yi Sheng dispelling evil spirits, thunder dispelling demons emperor”.
However, the fallacy of this theory is that when Prime Minister Lu Qi died in 785 ad, Han Yu, a minister of the Ministry of officials, was seventeen years old, so they could not be officials in the same Dynasty; Moreover, this story describes Zhong Kui’s character measurement on the street in too much detail, which is obviously a fabrication
From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, many scholars have made research from the perspective of phonology, “Zhong Kui’s theory was covered before the Six Dynasties. Because it has been spread, it will not be a day to hold ghosts.” According to the book of rites of the Zhou Dynasty, kaogong Ji: “Dagui (a kind of jade name) is the head of the sunflower.” Note: “Zhongkui, Xieya.” Shu: “the Qi people said that the vertebrae was the final sunflower.” The so-called “vertebrae” are also sticks. What is the use of vertebrates? “The ancients used to chase ghosts by vertebrae, which was like a big Nuo.” (rizhilu) it can be inferred from this that in ancient times, Qi people took “Zhongkui” as “the vertebral body for chasing ghosts”, and later generations took it as a human name because it was used to ward off evil spirits. After being spread for a long time, they forget that it was originally a thing to ward off evil spirits, and regard it as a God who chases ghosts, because the words and sounds are the same. “Zhongkui” can also be written as “Zhongkui”. Later, people personified it. Coupled with the exaggeration of the dream of the Ming emperor and the popularity of wudaozi’s paintings, the “God of chasing ghosts” was attached to Zhongnan Mountain Jinshi, whose surname was Zhong and his name was Kui, who caught ghosts and ate ghosts.
According to Taoism, Zhong Kui was a judge to dispel evil spirits, that is, Zhang Guolao, one of the eight immortals. He was transformed into a black-and-white bat at the beginning of chaos.
Although it is impossible to determine where Zhong Kui came from, as a special artistic image, he was ugly but beautiful in heart, evil to ghosts but good to people, and had a wide impact on China’s folk customs, art, drama and novels. Disclaimer: the above content originates from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. Please inform us if your original copyright is infringed, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.