Why is the romance of apotheosis written in mythology? What is the author’s real intention? Let’s take a look at the following Chinese story network Xiaobian’s detailed introduction!
Today I’d like to talk about the myth part of this novel!
Why is it written in myth?
“The romance of the gods” is also known as “the complete biography of the kingdoms of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties”, which can not help but remind us of another classical masterpiece, “the chronicles of the kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty”. If it is said that the complete biography of the kingdoms of the Shang and Zhou dynasties wrote about the era when Shang destroyed Zhou’s prosperity, then the chronicles of the kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty wrote about the five hundred year history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
However, why does the former strive to deify while the latter strives to be realistic?
This is related to the different cultures of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties – the Shang Dynasty believed in ghosts and gods, and the Zhou Dynasty valued personnel!
Why did the Zhou Dynasty attach importance to personnel? The most prominent example is the patriarchal system established by King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, which adopted the system of rites and music. These two systems combined into a kind of humanism, which has influenced China for more than 3000 years. Therefore, Confucius took a “respectful and distant” attitude towards ghosts and gods.
Figure 1 “the romance of God” 2019 TV series starring Wang Likun and Luo Jin
However, the Shang Dynasty is a dynasty that “respects ghosts and gods” from top to bottom. The most prominent example is that the Shang Dynasty likes to sacrifice people! Therefore, it is appropriate to describe the Shang Dynasty in the form of divination.
However, the later imperial dynasties all grew up drinking the milk of Zhou, so they held a negative attitude towards the “concept of ghosts and gods” of the Shang Dynasty. Therefore, in the romance of gods, the author also expressed his attitude in an obscure way: for example, why are the gods more willing to help Xiqi Zongzhou? It is because Zong Zhou practiced benevolence and justice, and although the immortals who helped the Yin and Shang Dynasties were also powerful, they always gave people a feeling of ghosts and monsters — this is also a manifestation of humanism, that is, man can conquer heaven!
The most typical example of the whole book is that, as mentioned above, although Jiang Ziya reached the level of elucidating immortals, the prince of the Zhou Dynasty, and the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, he strove the people, but finally he was not named in the list of deities because he “only wanted to give others enfeoffments and forget himself”. He became a “three no’s” – in sharp contrast to his mount “four don’t look like”!
In addition.
This kind of ending shows that the author appreciates Jiang Ziya, who was the founder of the state of Qi, more than Jiang Ziya, who was the God!
Fig. 2 Jiang Ziya (about 1156-1017 BC)
The immortality system of the apotheosis, Taoism? Buddhism?
Now there is a great competition among the gods on the Internet, and the root of it is this romance of gods.
Yes, the romance of gods talks about the battle of gods. What is it? Mana! So, whose magic power is strong? Whose magic power is weak? Naturally, we have to compete!
According to the legend of Fengshen, at the beginning of the birth of the universe, there was a congenital yuan spirit, which is the ancestor of all ages and the ancestor of all gods! Tiantian Yuanling has four disciples, namely, the first disciple, Taoist Hongjun, who practices “Xuanqing Qi”, the second disciple, Taoist hunkun, who practices “Xuanling Qi”, the third disciple, Nu Wa, who practices “Xuanqi”, and the fourth disciple, Taoist Lu Ya, who practices “xuanming Qi”. The combination is “Qingling, Kongming”. Then Taoist Hongjun, the eldest disciple, had three more disciples. The eldest disciple was supreme Lao Jun, the second disciple was Yuanshi Tianzun (Pangu), and the third disciple was Tongtian leader. Then the second disciple, Taoist hunkun, also had two disciples. The first disciple was Jieyin immortal (it is said that he was transformed into a Buddha in the West), and the second disciple was tizhun immortal (it is said that he was the Bodhi patriarch, the master of Sun Wukong). The third disciple Nu Wa and the fourth disciple Lu Ya did not accept any disciples.
Fig. 3 Taoist Hongjun is one of the characters in the Ming Dynasty novel the romance of the gods. He is a character created by Xu Zhonglin, the Ming Dynasty novelist. Taoism has never acknowledged that Taoist Hongjun has nothing to do with Taoism
Later, the first disciple of Taoist Hongjun created Renjiao for the Supreme Lord, the second disciple created elucidation for Yuanshi Tianzun, and the third disciple created jiejiao for Tongtian leader. Yuanshi Tianzun accepted the eldest disciple Antarctica Xianweng, the second disciple Yandeng Taoist (said to be the Buddha who lit the lamp in the western sky), the third disciple Yun zhongzi, the fourth disciple Jiang Ziya, the fifth disciple Shen Gongbao (traitor on the back), and the twelve golden immortals such as Manjusri Guangfa Tianzun (Manjusri Bodhisattva in Buddhism), Puxian immortal (later Puxian Bodhisattva), Cihang immortal (later Guanyin Bodhisattva), and Erlang gods Yang Jian, Nezha, Lei Zhenzi and so on!
There are many disciples of the leader of Tongtian cult, including the eldest disciple daoren dobao (later dobao Tathagata), the second younger brother’s daughter Jinling virgin, the third disciple Wudang Virgin (later Lishan’s mother), the fourth disciple Guiling virgin, the God of wealth Zhao Gongming, and the three Xiao Niang (Yunxiao, Bixiao, Qiongxiao). In addition, the 36 Tiangang and 72 Disha in the later water margin are all his disciples.
So, does this group of immortals belong to the Taoist system or the Buddhist system?
A: the four dissimilarities are neither Tao nor Buddha!
Fig. 4 Yuanshi Tianzun, whose full name is “qingxuanzu qiyuqing Yuanshi Tianzun has no God”, also known as “jade is clear, purple is empty and lofty, and the supreme emperor of Yuan Dynasty is one of the three highest gods of Taoism
Let’s talk about Taoism first. In the immortal system of Taoism, the highest reverence is that of the three Qings – Yuanshi Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun and supreme Laojun. Note that this is the Sanqing in orthodox Taoism, and the Sanqing in the “Fengshen” department is the three incarnations of Laozi; On the other hand, there is no heavenly leader among the immortals of orthodox Taoism; In addition, the most powerful deity in the “Fengshen” family is the four disciples of Tiantian Yuanling, none of them except Pangu and Nuwa. Therefore, we can see that “Fengshen” is not a Taoist God.
Let’s talk about Buddhism again. In the romance of deification, it is said that the Taoist who took two disciples to light the lamp was the Buddha who lit the lamp; The disciple of the people’s Congress of Taoist Hun Kun introduced the real Buddha; The second disciple, tizhun, is the Bodhi patriarch; There are also twelve golden immortals such as Manjusri Guangfa Tianzun, Samantabhadra immortal and Cihang immortal. These are not recognized by orthodox Buddhism! Buddhism inherits the religious view of Hinduism, but its essence is a godless religion – Buddhism believes that “God” is useless, like Brahma Shiva Vishnu in Hinduism, who will also be destroyed and die. People are the core of the six ways of heaven and earth, and only people can become Buddhas – after becoming Buddhas, they are no longer affected by the karma of heaven and earth. Therefore, it can be said that in the six ways (God is also in the six ways), man is the first; Among the people, the Buddha (awakened person) is the most respected!
Figure 5 Buddhism
In a word, according to Buddhism, all living beings have Buddha nature and have become Buddhas. From before to after the infinite disaster, everyone has become a Buddha, and everyone will become a Buddha again!
Therefore, there is no saying in the “Fengshen” department that Buddhism is used for Taoism – you can’t say that Buddhism doesn’t approve of you, but are you right?
So, what exactly does the God of “Fengshen” belong to? The answer is: after the Ming Dynasty, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were integrated. In order to unify their thoughts, the rulers tried to integrate the three religions into one. The most typical example is today’s baiyun temple, where “immortal Puxian”, “immortal Cihang” and “Confucius” are enshrined respectively!
However, the purpose of the integration of feudal rulers is to achieve “harmony”. Today, some netizens on the Internet really want to “fight” the gods. It is really boring and laughable!
Fig. 6 illustrations of journey to the West in the Qing Dynasty
The duel between the gods in the romance of gods and the journey to the West
Some people said that since you said that “the romance of gods” is neither Buddhism nor Taoism, and does not have the power of interpretation in the immortal laws of Buddhism and Taoism, so the war of gods can not be launched between Buddhism and Taoism, then I will let “the romance of gods” fight the Immortals in “journey to the west” – they are all literary works anyway!
Note that this seems impossible!
“Journey to the west” has its own fairy system, and “the romance of the gods” also has its own fairy system. There is no connection between the two – unlike Jin Yong’s martial arts Trilogy “the legend of the Eagle Shooting hero”, “the eagle heroes” and “leaning on the sky to kill the dragon”, which are successive, it seems that they can’t compete simply!
I would like to add that the Buddha in journey to the west is neither Buddha nor Tao! It is said that Buddhism is not Buddhism and Taoism is not Taoism in journey to the West because the author Wu Chengen (a saying) has a deep understanding of the essence of Buddhism and Taoism – the essence of Buddhism is emptiness and the essence of Taoism is nothingness. However, the so-called “Taoist” immortals headed by the Jade Emperor and the “Buddhist immortals” headed by the “Tathagata Buddha” can not reflect the essence of Buddhism and Taoism at all!
Figure 7 Zen Master Wu Chao, the original character in the classic journey to the West
The true Buddhists and Taoists in journey to the West are Zen master WuChao and Bodhi. One of them recited the Heart Sutra to warn Tang monk to be empty, and the other knew that Sun Wukong should be “open-minded” – nothing. These two families are the true Buddhists.
The other “Taoist immortals” (the Jade Emperor’s anger, the three-year drought in Fengxian County) and greedy “Buddhist immortals” (like Tang monks demanding bribes) are in fact objective and practical literary symbols of the Ming court, dignitaries, royal guards and so on. It goes without saying that since there is no more talk, what should we compete for?
Therefore, it is better to “seal” (seal) the list of gods than to call it China’s “war of gods”. It is the “list of final gods” and the “end of gods”! The author’s original intention should be: goodbye, ghost (ghost like) God! Disclaimer: the above content originates from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. If your original copyright is infringed, please inform us, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.