I grew up in the mountainous area of ​​northwestern Fujian. The first god I heard about was probably the mountain essence monster. When I was a child, I went into the mountain to collect firewood and pick mushrooms. The adults told us that if you hear someone calling us, you must not answer. Once you answer, your soul will follow the mountain ghost. In the mountains, we don’t call the names of our companions, but they will call "Hey———" so that the mountain ghosts will not hear it. The mountain ghosts can also distinguish the sound of the mountain ghosts. It is said that there is no tail sound, just like a ghost without a shadow.

The most impressive mountain spirit is Shi Bogong. A shouting everywhere in the valley caused a long echo. The villagers said that it was Shi Bogong who was learning to speak. Shi Bogong often made pranks, liked to hide people, hide animals, and hide things, but seemed to be afraid of the sound of metal. Whoever disappeared in the mountains was probably because Shi Bogong hid. The villagers held up pine trees and beat gongs to wash the basin, and went into the mountains to find Shi Bogong to call people...

Shi Bogong did not see the record, but I looked through the book and felt it was similar to the mandrill. "Tang Yun" says: "The mandrill, a single-legged ghost, came out of Tingzhou." Tingzhou is near my hometown. The notes of Hong Mai, a Song Dynasty man, tells the stories of many mountain wood monsters in Fujian, including mandrill, Shandu, and Muke, which he called them Wutongshen. There were many Wutongshen temples in northwest of Fujian in the Song Dynasty. I think Shi Bogong was considered the most primitive and grassroots natural worship.

Totem ruins: a testimony to the integration of ethnic groups in Fujian

Fujian is known for its polytheism. However, how many gods are there? I have never seen statistics. According to Mr. Lin Guoping, there should be more than 1,000 kinds of gods in Fujian. As for the temples in Fujian, there is an incomplete number. According to the 2002 research report of the Ethnic and Religious Committee of the FJ Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, there are 25,102 folk belief activity venues in the province with more than 10 square meters. In addition, there are still tens of thousands of small land temples and simple shrines not included in the statistics.

In the eyes of ancient Fujian people, there was a mysterious spirit hidden in the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, water, fire, wood, stones, wind, rain, thunder and lightning. This is actually the animism of all things believed by early humans, which is the primitive religion mentioned in the academic community. The Sun, the Moon Empress, the Mountain Ghost, the Water God, the Dragon King, the Fire Official, the Wind Lion Master, the Land Lord, the Plant and the Animal Elves, all have the ability to harm or protect humans, and are worthy of people's prayers and sacrifices. This is the worship of nature. Natural worship originates from people's ignorance and fear of mysterious things. In history, with the development of intellectual rationality, the mystery of nature has been solved one by one, and natural worship has embarked on the path of decline.

Fujian preserved many relics of nature worship, because Fujian was very late to Kaihua. It is generally believed that the earliest residents of Fujian were the Min people. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, King Huai of Chu destroyed the Yue Kingdom, and some Yue people fled into Fujian, integrating into a new ethnic group - the Min Yue people. In the early Western Han Dynasty, the Min Yue people established a Min Yue Kingdom. In 110 BC, Emperor Wu of Han destroyed the Min Yue Kingdom and moved the Min Yue people north to the Jianghuai area. As for the Han people entering Fujian in large scale, it was a matter after the Jin Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Han people immigrated a large number of Han people, becoming the main ethnic group, and Fujian's humanities began to begin.

Ancient southern nations believed in ghosts and gods very much. The "Han Shu·Geography" said that the Yue people "believe in witches and ghosts and value lewd sacrifices." The Yue witches in the Western Han Dynasty were famous all over the world, and once caused bloody palaces, called the witchcraft disaster. We lack specific information on the natural worship of the people of Minyue, but Xu Shen said in "Shuowen Jiezi": "Min, Southeast Yue, snake seeds." It can be seen that they regard themselves as descendants of snakes and use snakes as totem symbols.

Totem worship is a kind of nature worship. Although all things have spirits, they are still divided into closeness and distantness. For the nations that collect fishing and hunting, animal worship is the most developed, and some animals closely related to their lives are often worshipped by them as totems and regarded as their ancestors. The Han people regard themselves as descendants of dragons, while the ancient Fujian people in the mountains and forests regard themselves as descendants of snakes. We can still find traces of the totem worship of ancestors from the popular nature worship in Fujian, and see the process of ethnic integration in ancient Fujian from them.

Let’s talk about snake worship first. The Snake King Temple in Fujian is the most famous of Fuqing Hall in Zhanghuban, Nanping. Fuqing Hall is also known as Liangong Temple, Snake King Temple. It is located on the banks of the Minjiang River and worships Master Liangong. I originally thought that the Snake King Temple is the main worship of a python. When I came to the scene, I saw three human gods wearing python robes. The snake god has become a personified. Legend has it that Master Liangong is a python spirit and practices in Gutian to become an immortal. One year, the plague broke out in Zhanghuban. The villagers prayed to him and turned into a python and flew into the sky, spitting flames, and dispelling the plague

Due to the epidemic, people have established temples to commemorate them. The Ming Dynasty man Xie Zaihang recorded this incident: "There is a place name Zhuchuanban (now Zhanghuban) above the water mouth, and there are snake king temples. There are hundreds of snakes in the temple. They compete in the gods once in summer and autumn. The biggest snakes may wrap around people's waists or heads, and they will compete." It can be seen that there is a certain origin. Today, people in Zhanghuban still celebrate the Snake King Festival on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh month every year. Adults and children will have a snake in their hands and follow the snake god's sedan carriage to go out for patrol. Snake worship has also influenced other folk customs in Zhanghuban, such as the Lantern Festival of Snake Lanterns.

Zhanghu is an important town in the middle of the Minjiang River. Because of the construction of the Shuikou Power Station, the entire town moved to a high place. The Snake King Temple also moved to its current location in 1992. It was not the time for me to go. The person who was guarding the Snake King Temple pointed out an empty snake cage and said that the snakes were stored in NP city and would be sent back in early July. However, the roof of the Snake King Temple was full of snake ornaments, and a spiral snake was poked out from each high eaves. There was a python entrenched on its ridge, and it was raised to spit out a letter.

Opposite the Snake King Temple, across the vast Minjiang River, belongs to Xikou Village, Zhanghu Town. There is a frog temple. We drove from the Shuikou Power Station and embarked on a long-abandoned sandy road. After suffering all the hardships, we arrived at Xikou for more than two hours. It was already dark. In the night sky, the Frog Temple is located in the center of a large pond by the Minjiang River, surrounded by water on three sides, and the temple is lighted. Similar to the Snake King Temple, the Frog Temple was relocated and rebuilt at the end of the last century. The main worship was not a frog, but a black-faced frog god Zhang Shengjun. According to legend, Zhang Shengjun was a native of Yongtai County. He made a living by repairing hoe handles in his early years. He was known as "Zhang Hoe Handle". Later, he went to Lushan to study the law, save the world and the people, and became ascended to heaven. There is an ancient stone frog statue in front of the temple. It is said that it is a relic of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which adds a little weirdness to this simple temple.

In ancient Fujian books, there are many records of frog worship. Shi Hongbao, a native of the Qing Dynasty, described a frog god who accidentally broke into the Guangze County government office. He said that there were thousands of local people, including five people, and they went in and out in turn and worshipped. He also said that the frog god was addicted to drinking and drinking wine and liked to watch operas. The Zhanghu Frog Temple is actually a remnant of frog worship that was widely popular in the ancient Minjiang River Basin. Now, every July 21st, Xikou Village will hold a frog god outing event. At that time, a frog with green back and white belly and seven black dots on the back of his head will accompany the frog god to patrol.

The snake worship and frog worship in Zhanghu aroused the interest of the academic community. It is obvious that they originated from the totem worship of the two major ethnic groups in early Fujian. Most scholars believe that the Fujian people used snakes as totem symbols. The Yue people were a nation that invented rice and believed in the frog gods related to agriculture.

After the Fujian and Yue people, the third major ethnic group that moved to Fujian in large numbers was the Han people. There are a large number of Dragon King Temples everywhere to highlight their totem symbols. We are already familiar with them, so I will not repeat them here.

After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Fujian moved to the fourth important ethnic group, the She people brought dog worship. The She people worshipped dogs because their ancestor Panhu was originally the five-color hairy dog ​​of Emperor Gaoxin. I have seen comic strips depicting the origin of the She people in Ninghua, also known as "Dog King Picture". Legend has it that when the ancient Quanrong invaded, Emperor Gaoxin issued an edict that if the King of the Quanrong was killed, the third princess would be betrothed to him. As a result, the emperor's dog named Panhu entered the enemy camp at night, bit the head of the King of the Fan, became the son-in-law, and reproduced the She people. Dog worship in Fujian was mainly popular among the She people. They strictly prohibited killing dogs and did not eat dog meat.

Faith is a strange thing, more tenacious and long-lasting than bloodline. You see, both the Min and Yue tribes disappeared, but their totem worship has been preserved for more than two thousand years and has been inherited by another nation. The Zhanghu people who participated in the Snake King Festival did not realize that it was a group of distant strangers who selected this animal for them from all things. They were the adopted sons of faith.

Evolution of the Gods: Gods with Tails Hidden

In ancient Fujian, there were deep mountains and dense forests, beasts and poisonous insects everywhere, hurricanes and tsunamis along the coast, and the living environment was very bad. This situation deepened people's dependence on faith. The people of Minyue were animists of all things, and everything was a god. The Han people who entered Fujian later failed to change customs and became fascinated by witch culture, ancient woods and strange stones, mountain essence and water monsters, plague gods and ghosts, and had more believers. This phenomenon continued until the late Qing Dynasty. During the Daoguang period, Zhou Kai's "Xiamen Zhi·Civil Records" edited by Zhou Kai was still ridiculing the people of southern Fujian to create gods: "Wu Yue is good ghosts, and has a long history... Evil monsters are handed over, stone lions are silently called masters, big trees are sacrificing for no reason, puppets are floating, ancient coffins are hesitating, guessing gods and immortals, singing hundreds of harmony. Wine, meat, fragrant paper, men and women are crazy about it."

The strange powers and chaos in Fujian are the most developed worship of the plague gods, and their evolution process is also very interesting.

The worship of the plague gods belongs to the primitive religion, which can be classified as the worship of the elves or the worship of ghosts. The ancients commonly called various acute infectious diseases plagues, and believed that the plagues arose because the plague ghosts are in the human body. The treatment method is to ask the witch to drive away the plague ghosts. The problem is that the witch Tao's ability is not reassuring, and it fails repeatedly. People think that the plague ghost is particularly powerful, so they change their strategies and start to please and bribe the plague ghosts, and respect them elsewhere. The plague ghost thus becomes the plague god.

Mr. Xu Xiaowang believes that the popular plague gods in Fuzhou evolved from the Five Gods of the Five Gods. The Five Gods of the Five Gods are a collection of mountain essence monsters in the mountains. In Fuzhou, they were originally five monsters of water monkeys, water birds, clams, bass, and water frogs. They could carry out disasters and bruises. People respected them as the Five Emperors and Five Saints. From the monsters to the emperor, the animal gods evolved into human gods, but the statues of the gods are still shaped like hideously. The Five Emperors are prominent gods in Fuzhou. In the spring of 1642, a plague occurred in Fuzhou. The gods welcoming activities lasted for half a year, which shows their grand occasion. Modern scholar Guo Baiyang said: "Five emperors are the most lewd sacrifices in Fuzhou."

Lust sacrifice is a severe accusation, which is equivalent to the cult we are today, and we want to demolish temples. Confucianism has always opposed lust sacrifices. We know that Confucius respected ghosts and gods and distanced them from them. Zhu Zi Yulei also has a sentence that "If you do a prefecture and county, you must go to lust temples." After the Western Han Dynasty respected Confucianism, the Central Plains culture gradually became rational, believing that the worship of ghosts and gods in the south was ignorant and backward, so they used political and cultural power to suppress and ban them. According to the concept of the teachings of the gods, the Northern Song Dynasty court included the folk gods in the sacrificial rituals and managed them. For the righteous gods and good gods who have contributed to the country and the local government, they confirmed their status of the righteous gods and good gods through commendation and imperial enthronement, such as Guan Gong, Chenghuang, Mazu, etc.; all ghosts and gods who have not been included in the sacrificial ritual worship, especially the worship of primitive elves with wide influence in the south, such as the five gods who taught lewd and stolen souls, the poison of bad people's minds, and the plague gods who did many evil deeds are all listed in the official list of official sweeping lewd sacrifices.

In order to escape the attacks of the government, after the Tang and Song dynasties, the natural gods in Fujian were personalized one after another. Think about it, when Neo-Confucians saw an old snake or a frog on the divine platform, and the crowd worshipped them below, how could they bear it? Personalizing the snake king and the frog god, giving people the image, character and character, and the literati were easily accepted by the scholars.

Although the Five Gods were changed to the Five Emperors, due to widespread believers and excessive exposure, the details were exposed by sharp-eyed people. The local government suppressed them mercilessly. There is a Five Holy Temple on Fujian Street near the Confucius Temple in Fuzhou. Because it was renamed Mawang Temple, it escaped the disaster in history. However, most of the demolished city has been demolished. When I went to the interview, I was wandering around at the door, but I never thought that this broken wooden house was the once famous Five Emperors Temple. A woman enthusiastically helped us open the door, saying, "The gods here are very powerful. If someone is sick, come to worship you and you will be fine soon."

I didn't see the Five Emperors. On the desolate shrine, there was only an old man with a rosy face holding a folded fan. Guo Chenhui, the head of the Mawang Temple, later told me that it was Prince Ma, the general government of the Five Emperors; the statue of the Five Emperors had been lost; it was said that Prince Ma was an imperial physician, and was sent to Fuzhou to treat the plague by the emperor. He died in the temple and became the general government of the Five Emperors. In this way, Prince Ma was a righteous god who benefited the countryside. Obviously, the temple blessings at that time just regarded Prince Ma as the guise of the Five Emperors.

The plague gods in southern Fujian are called princes, and the sacrifices are more grand than Fuzhou. Taking the plague gods as an example, Fuzhou is basically paper-made people and ships sent into the rivers and seas; the southern Fujian area often uses real ships to burn or send them into the sea. A few years ago, the king ships were burned in Hongjian Village, Longhai City. I saw a four or five-meter-long wooden boat full of paper-made colorful gods, guards of honor and daily necessities. After worshiping the gods, they piled them on the open space and burned them.

The best one built by the King's Boat is the Fumei Palace in Quanzhou. It is said to be two or three feet long. Not only are there paper-made gods, but there are also live chickens, sheep, firewood, rice, oil and salt, which are extremely luxurious. Fumei Palace once sent more than 100 sturdy prince ships, which went down the Jinjiang River, and often floated safely across the straits, picked up by Taiwanese residents, and built temples to sacrifice. The gods of Fujian were introduced to Taiwan, and they usually used the way of dividing body and dispersing incense. Only the prince worshiped and divided spirits through drifting. I have seen a piece of information. In Taiwan, the number of palaces and temples with princes as the main worship ranks first, surpassing the Land Temple and Mazu Temple.

I went to see Fumei Palace and unexpectedly found that it was a very small palace temple. It was smoked and burned for a long time, and worshipped Taifu Xiao and 24 princes. Taifu Xiao was named Xiao Wangzhi, with a black face, long beard, and handsome appearance. He was actually a man in history. He was a minister of the Western Han Dynasty. He was known for his integrity and integrity. He became the commander of all princes here. The 24 princes under him were all kind and upright. In fact, the people of southern Fujian did not regard the prince as a plague god, but as a god who manages the evil spirits of the Plague Department, which was similar to the Ma Prince in Fuzhou. In short, the plague god also achieved a good result in southern Fujian. Perhaps because of this reason, the prince's worship finally escaped the attacks of government officials throughout the ages and still has a large number of believers today.

From the Wutong Temple to the Five Emperors Temple, the Mawang Temple, and the Plague God Temple to the Prince's Mansion, reflects the tenacious transformation of Fujian's natural worship under the high pressure of political power representing northern culture. After repeated transformations, the natural gods got rid of their lowly origins, and the evil ghosts eventually evolved into the righteous gods, becoming closer and closer to the Confucian values.

The evolution of the Monkey King Temple in Fuzhou is the most dramatic. With the help of popular culture, the Monkey King completed the transformation from an animal god to a personality god, and became a Buddha with Sun Wukong. No one dared to say that Qitian Mansion was a lewd sacrifice.

As early as the Tang and Song dynasties, there were legends of monkey spirits and worships Monkey Kings in central Fujian, and finally summarized them as Danxia Great Sage. According to "Faiji of Mindu", Danxia Great Sage is a monkey spirit with red hair all over his body. He is a monkey spirit with red hair and is committed crimes everywhere. Because of his crime of rape of a woman, he was caught by Linshui's wife Chen Jinggu, castrated off the roots of lust and settled in Wushishan to stay in the Cave of Yuanshi Mountain. After reforming, Danxia Great Sage has achieved boundless magic power and shows the people. "There are Qitian Mansions in cities and villages, which are commonly called Monkey King Temple." Some scholars believe that the Monkey King Danxia Great Sage in Fuzhou is the prototype of Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West".

Since "Journey to the West" became popular, Monkey King Temples in various places have transformed the Danxia Great Sage according to the image of Sun Wukong, and mostly worshiped the Dou Zhan Zhuang Buddha. After becoming a Buddha, Sun Wukong sat upright with his eyes wide open, without changing his fiery eyes and golden eyes, which was intimidating. The Monkey King of Qitian Mansion in Min'an Town, Fuzhou also defeated the Buddha. He was hypocritical and golden, but the statue of the god was shaped with a sharp-mouthed monkey cheek, with a restless monkey cheek, and the words "Huaguo Mountain" and "Shuijian Cave" were written on both sides.

This is a very interesting phenomenon: the worship of the monkey king in Fujian once inspired Journey to the West. In turn, the worship of the monkey king in Fujian changed the worship of the monkey king in Fujian after its popularity. Now, it is not easy to find a Danxia Great Sage Temple that has nothing to do with Sun Wukong. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, Neo-Confucianism changed the direction of Fujian culture, the gods were forced to evolve, and the gods hid their tails. Sometimes we were simply trampled by their past and present lives.

The Age of God Creation: The Birth of the Gods in Central Fujian

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Han people became the main ethnic group in Fujian. As soon as they completed cultural integration, their creativity exploded vigorously, and their manifestations in the field of faith were that they created a large number of gods. Today, some gods with greater influence were mostly in this period of their lives. At that time, people's evaluation of the customs of Fujian people was similar to those of the people in the Qin and Han Dynasties. The poet Liu Yuxi, a middle-Tang Dynasty poet, discussed Fujian: "Min is rich in the sea, and its people are fierce and common ghosts." "Song History·Geography" talked about the folk customs of Fujian Road, saying that "the customs believe in ghosts and worships". It was a witch wind and ghost rain.

However, the Han immigrants also improved the level of god creation in Bamin, and most of them were created as gods of personality. In that era of crazy god creation, any Taoist priest who were good at catching ghosts, Zen masters with great magic, witch doctors who hung pots to save the world, benefited the sages in the country, and even strange people with strange behavior, might be erected by someone after death, burned incense, and prayed. Once the prayer was met, it would be immediately passed on as a miracle, attracting more believers and incense. After the increase of believers, they would have the capital to build temples and build supernatural deeds, so as to attract more believers. Generation after generation, the fire has been passed down and has been passed down to this day.

The founding ancestors in various places are most likely to be regarded as gods. Chen Yuanguang of the Tang Dynasty was respected as the Saint of Kaizhang because he led his people to quell the rebellion of the Barbarians and founded Zhangzhou. The founding ancestors of Fujian were laid the foundation for Fujian's economy and humanities, and was known as the "King of Kaimin" and the "Big Min people's ancestors", and was worshipped as the founding ancestors of Fujian. In northern Fujian, the wife of Lian was praised as the "Mother of the City" because she exempted Jianzhou (now Jianou) from the difficulty of massacre of the city and became the goddess of the city protection. She has been invincible for thousands of years. This is a way for people to commemorate the predecessors who have made contributions to the local area.

Buddhism in central Fujian also entered its heyday at this time. In the background of witch culture, in order to prove that the Dharma is boundless, some famous Zen masters not only often subdued demons and demons for the people, but also showed their skills in secular activities such as praying for sunshine, rainfall, curing diseases, and sending children, thus becoming a vulgar god. There are many examples in this regard, such as the peaceful Sanping Patriarch, the Qingshui Patriarch in Anxi, the Dingguang Ancient Buddha in western Fujian, the Kuobing Ancient Buddha in Wuyi Mountain, etc.

However, the most worshipped by people is the witch Tao that can show spirits and drive away demons. Local chronicles record many examples of witches worshipping people after their deaths, Mazu, Emperor Baosheng and Lady Linshui, these three most influential gods in Fujian, all belonged to the witch Taoism during their lifetime.

Linshui’s wife Chen Jinggu is the biggest belief in the Minjiang River Basin. I searched for her ruins in Cangshan, Fuzhou. She was born under the underground ferry and now has a small and exquisite Fuzhou-style building. It was rebuilt after relocation. There is an ancient well in the yard of Longquan. The temple of Tating’s grandmother is very small and old, and the door is closed tightly. I turned to the corner of Longtan, Shangdu. Chen Jinggu’s place in Linhe was quite cramped in praying for rain, but it was just a worship of Guanyin of the South China Sea, Empress Dowager Chen and his master.

The small temple of Xu Zhenjun on the mountain is green outside the window. I was thinking that the ancestral temple of Mrs. Linshui should not be so narrow. I looked up and saw a towering palace temple on the hillside opposite the street, so I climbed up the steps. It turned out that this was the newly built palace temple of Chen Jinggu praying for rain. The temple was spacious and the statue was tall. In addition to Queen Mother Chen, Guanyin, and Xu Zhenjun, many gods in the system of Mrs. Linshui, Lin Jiuniang, Li Sanniang, Hu Po Milk, White Chicken Milk and Danxia Great Sage.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Chen Jinggu was just an ordinary god. According to the "Gutian County Chronicles" of the Wanli Ming Dynasty, we know that she was born in a witch family in the Tang Dynasty. She was also a witch. She married Liu Qi, a native of Gutian, and died unfortunately. Before her death, she made a vow to save the pain of difficult labor of women in the world. Myths such as "Jin's Anyi Zhi", "Biography of Chen Jinggu", and "Linsula Demon Records" appeared in the Qing Dynasty, which reinterpreted her deeds before and after her death. According to the "Mindu Bie Ji", which had a great influence, Guanyin turned into Chen Jinggu's blood by snapping his fingers, and in 9

Born in the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in 2004, he fought against marriage and ran away from home at the age of 16. He went to Lushan at the bottom of the Minjiang River to learn magic. All the magic was excellent, but he did not learn the art of helping the fetus and saving birth. When Yicheng returned, Chen Jinggu showed his skills and eliminated demons and monsters in Fuzhou. At the age of 24, his brother Chen Shouyuan prayed for rain in the palace of Fujian. He was beheaded and cried to ask his sister for help. Chen Jinggu had to be born and pray for rain. He was killed by the long pit ghosts and white snake spirits. After becoming a god, Chen Jinggu showed his miracles many times and led his 36 aunts to drive away ghosts and devils everywhere to save the troubles of women and children.

Mrs. Linshui is a very distinctive god, specializing in pregnancy and child care, and protecting women and children. Her believers are mainly concentrated in Fuzhou and the eastern Mind dialect areas. Under its radiation, there are also many Linshui palaces in northern Fujian and southern Zhejiang. Fuzhou immigrants brought Mrs. Linshui's beliefs to Taiwan and overseas.

The most influential god in southern Fujian is Emperor Baosheng. There are two ancestral palaces of Emperor Baosheng, both on the north shore of the estuary of Jiulong River, Tzu Chi West Palace in Bai Reef, Longhai Bai Reef and Tzu Chi East Palace in Qingjiao, Xiamen Qingjiao. The streets of the two villages are now completely connected, but they belong to Zhangzhou and Xiamen respectively. The ancestral palace dispute has been in trouble for a thousand years.

Emperor Baosheng's name was Wu Ben (Yi Shuben). According to the "Records of Tzu Chi Palace" written by Yang Zhi, a Jinshi of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wu Ben was from Qingjiao, the Northern Song Dynasty. His father was Wu Tong and his mother was Huang. He was born on the 15th day of the third lunar month in 1979 and died on the second day of the fifth lunar month in 1036 at the age of 57. Wu Ben did not like to play since he was a child, did not eat meat, and did not marry a wife. After he became an adult, he had great medical skills and regarded him as a miracle doctor. After his death, he was sacrificed by his fellow villagers and had many miracles. The Song Dynasty court praised him many times.

The people in southern Fujian generally call Wu Ben Tzu Chi Zhenren, Wu Zhenren, Dadaogong, Baosheng Emperor, etc. The title of Emperor Baosheng came from the Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that Wu Zhenren showed his spirit to cure the breast disease of Empress Chengzu Wen of Ming Dynasty, so he was granted the title. Mr. Zheng Zhenman's article "A Study of Emperor Baosheng Emperor" believes that the title is probably fabricated by later generations. Although it was fabricated, it is very precise, because Wu Zhenren's specialty is to cure diseases and save people, and is well-known as the god of medicine. Fujian in the Song Dynasty

, swamps, forests, bacteria, poisons and insects breed, are a place of miasma that people feel disgusting. There is also a shortage of medical treatment and medicine. The god of medicine is particularly popular, so it spread rapidly throughout southern Fujian. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, immigrants from southern Fujian brought the statue of Wu Zhenren to Taiwan, becoming a powerful tool for local miasma malaria. In recent years, every year on the birthday of the gods, many incense groups from both sides of the Taiwan Strait came to the two Tzu Chi Ancestral Palaces to pay homage to their ancestors. The ceremony was grand, the scene was grand and spectacular.

In Qingjiao East Palace, I met the famous Baosheng Emperor's medicine sign. The medicine signs are divided into internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics, and are hidden in different cabinets. Small notes of signs, pink or beige, with three or four kinds of medicines printed with lead. My father is a retired Chinese doctor. I showed him the medicine signs from Tzu Chi East Palace. His opinion was that the medicine tastes small and the dosage was very light, and there was no big problem even if he took the wrong one. He also thought that the medicine signs were very professional and paid attention to the left and right envoys of the monarch and ministers. He did not understand some medicine names, so he probably used local herbs.

There are hundreds of local gods in Fujian, and most of them only have a small impact on one area. This is mainly caused by the breakdown of Fujian's geography and language. Mountainous areas such as western Fujian and northern Fujian have inconvenient transportation, numerous dialects, and difficult to spread. There are few gods worshipped in several counties. The coastal areas of southern Fujian, Putian and Fuzhou have flat terrain and wide dialect coverage, resulting in many cross-county gods with wide believers. In addition, the main gods in Fujian are concentrated in the coastal areas of southeast Fujian, which are also related to culture and economy. Compared with northern Fujian, southeast Fujian has developed later and is richer, and the funds to promote the spread of faith are relatively strong.

Things will turn back when extremes are achieved. In the late period of the Age of Creation of Gods, Fujian, represented by Zhu Xi, was born in northern Fujian, also known as Neo-Confucianism. The academic origin of Fujian studies comes from Northern Luoshu, collectively known as Cheng-Zhu School. As a rational thought trend that emerged in Fujian, Neo-Confucianism gave a fatal blow to the culture of the witches in Fujian and ended the Age of Creation of Gods in Fujian.

Human Relationships: God and the Queen’s tragedy

There is a Lingji Palace in Qingpu Village, Qingkou Town, Minhou, which is the ancestral palace of Erxu Zhenren. Not many people know about it.

Lingji Palace is in the village, but it is difficult to find. The alleyway is narrow and curved and cannot be opened to traffic. The top of the mountain gate is written with three words "Jin'aomen". The couplets on both sides are: "If you want to see the BJ Emperor's Palace, first look at the Lingji Palace in Qingpu." What a big tone! The wooden imperial stele pavilion on the right is a bit tilted, but it is magnificent, with an authentic Ming Dynasty style. The tall stone tablet, the broken turtle tiles, is thick and spectacular. The inscription was written by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty and the cabinet's chief assistant Xie Jin, is a rare fine product.

The Lingji Palace, which is boastful in the couplet, is quite shabby. The temple is made of blue bricks, with a simple modern style, which is recorded to be rebuilt in 1940. The hall is quite spacious, but there are too many beams and pillars, which is a bit petty. The front hall is a stage, and there are three temples in the back hall. The center of the head is "Imperially Fare God Hongen" and Xu Zhizheng, who is wearing a dragon robe, and Xu Zhiyan brothers. The two gods live in seclusion in a noisy village in Minhou County, and I always feel a little inappropriate.

Many gods' deeds are made up, but Er Xu Zhenren was really named God.

Xu Zhizheng, the Xu Zhiyan brothers were generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. They led their troops to Fujian without any offense, so people sacrificed their sacrifices. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, they were just ordinary local gods. In the early Ming Dynasty, Taoist priests of Lingji Palace cured the disease of Ming Chengzu with fairy medicine. The emperor was very grateful and ordered the reconstruction of Lingji Palace in Minhou and built a larger Lingji Palace in BJ for constant worship. Since then, several generations of Ming emperors have also believed in Er Xu Zhenren and have continuously added titles. In 1486, Emperor Xianzong of Ming Dynasty named Er Xu Zhenren "God of Jinque" and "God of Yuque", reaching the peak. In 1488, under the strong opposition of the cabinet ministers, the title of "God" was removed and he was still the True Lord. Er Xu Zhenren only stayed in the position of "God" for two years, and the seat was too late to warm up.

After talking about God, let’s talk about the Queen.

Mazu, also known as Tianfei, Tianhou, and from Putian. It is said that Putian has a population of less than Minnan and Mindong, and has fewer believers, but Mazu stood out and won widespread beliefs in Fujian. I have seen Tianhou Palace in Pucheng and Ninghua, which shows that she is also popular in northern and western Fujian.

The earliest existing texts that record Mazu's deeds are "Records of the Reconstruction of Shunji Temple by the famous Jinshi Liao Pengfei in 1150. The article says: "(God) surnamed Lin, a native of Meizhouyu. At first, he took witches as a matter of work and could predict human misfortune and fortune; after his death, the people built temples in this island." It can be seen that Mazu was just a witch on Meizhouyu who could predict misfortune and fortune on Meizhouyu. After his death, he was established as a small temple for sacrifice. In 1190, he was granted the title of Linghui Concubine Ling for his spiritual relieving drought. This is the highest title given to her by the Song Dynasty. Mazu in the Song Dynasty was very ordinary and did not even establish authority in his own professional field - navigation. As the leading port in China, the QZ Maritime Bureau prayed twice a year for wind at the King of Tongyuan who prayed for wind at Jiuri Mountain. It can be seen that Tongyuan was the most prominent sea god in the Song Dynasty.

The turning point occurred in the Yuan Dynasty. In 1281, due to the merits of escorting the canal transportation, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, appointed the goddess of Meizhou as "Protecting the Country and Ming Yingtian Concubine". She changed from an ordinary mortal god to the heavenly god, governed the gods and monsters of the four seas, and established the sovereignty of protecting the gods on the sea. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were very friendly to Mazu, and a total of 15 Jiaxuns were granted 140 times. By the seventh year of Xianfeng, Mazu received a posthumous title of 64 characters, and used up all good words. The full text is as follows:

Protect the country and the people, the wonderful spirit Zhao Hongren, the universal blessing and blessing of all the lives, sincere feelings, Xianfu shows his gods, praises, compassion, and peace, Lanli, and the fortune of the people, the god of the queen of heaven, Qingjing, Yang, Xixi, Zhou De, Wei, Cao, Baotai, Zhenwu, Suijiang, the god of the queen of heaven

The most important thing about the Qing Dynasty was that in 1684, Shi Lang, who had pacified Taiwan, asked Mazu to be granted. Kangxi was happy and sent out the title of "Queen Tian". Concubine Tian was God's second wife, and Queen Tian was God's right match, which meant that Mazu had been promoted to a god of the same level as God. Mazu's divine character reached its limit.

As Mazu's identity became increasingly noble and its influence expanded, efforts to deify Mazu also began. Throughout the ages, a complete biography of Mazu was pieced together. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a consensus had been reached about Mazu's life: her name was Lin Moniang, and she was Ji Nu, the inspector of Putian Capital. She was born on the 23rd day of the lunar month in 960. She was unmarried. She ascended on the ninth day of the ninth month of the 9th month of 987 at the age of 28. The Buddhist and Taoist religions also began to compete for Mazu. In the late Ming Dynasty, "The Legend of the Concubine Exhibits of the Concubine" came forward to reconcile and describe the birth of Tianfei according to the Buddhist system.

It is said that Tianfei's mother dreamed that Guanyin gave her pills and became pregnant. In order to make up for the losses of Taoism, it is said that Tianfei was dressed up in a well when she was a girl, and a god brought a pair of copper talismans to her. At the age of 13, an old Taoist priest came to teach the mysterious secret method. It can be seen that although the birth of Tianfei was Guanyin, he learned Taoist Dharma. Confucianism had long rejected Mazu, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty named Mazu the queen of heaven that his attitude changed. Putian scholar Chen Chiyang wrote a "Factory of Filial Daughter", focusing on Lin's behavior of saving his father and burying his brother, and treating Tianfei as a filial daughter.

Mazu was the god of sailing. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Mazu's faith was brought to coastal areas by Fujian sailors. In Taiwan, Mazu was the most widely believed god. The wave of immigration in modern times, with the main body of coastal residents of Fujian and Guangdong spreading Mazu's faith to Southeast Asian countries, even the Americas and Europe. It can be said that wherever there is a place for Chinese people to live, there is a place for Mazu's faith.

I visited Meizhou Island in early 2005. It was a 14-square-kilometer island with an hourly ferry. On the island, the stone statue of Mazu is tall and majestic, with acacia trees and pine forests rustling, and the temples are magnificent and built against the mountains. I saw women wearing big red flowers, wearing cloth bags embroidered with "Mazu Blessing Peace" on their shoulders, coming to temples after temples, kneeling in front of the statues, and burning incense devoutly. On the ferry back, I met an incense group from Taiwan. Everyone was wearing yellow clothes and wearing badges. How many people were holding a little Mazu tightly in their arms. I asked if he invited Mazu back?

"I have invited you a long time ago, and now I will let Mazu go back to her parents' home."

“How often do I go back?”

"I've been back every year. I've been back three or four times. She misses home too."

I think in the eyes of believers, Mazu is too humane, like an ordinary woman on earth.

Among the gods in Fujian, the second Xu Zhenren received the highest imperial title, followed by Mazu. One emperor and one queen had a very different fate. The second Xu Zhenren was only favored by the Ming royal family and had no broad base of believers. Once the dynasty changes, the Qing royal family will lose interest in them and quickly decline. The goddess of Meizhou is compassionate and versatile, and is close to the lower class people. Her function in navigation and rescue is combined with Fujian's splendid marine culture, and the rulers have fueled the fire, so she becomes a star god that is popular at home and abroad.

Look at the magnificent Tianhou Temple in Meizhou Island, and then look at the dilapidated God's residence in Lingji Palace. The world is in a cool and sarcastic way, which makes people feel a lot of emotion.

Between Gods and Man: The Glory of God Maker

There are many local gods in Fujian, with complex contexts, and it is very difficult to describe them. Fortunately, Mr. Xu Xiaowang's "The Origin of Folk Faith in Fujian" and Mr. Lin Guoping's "Fujian Folk Faith" have been sorted out. Many materials and opinions in this article are quoted from these two works. I would like to thank you! Now I raise my head from the desk and think about some issues that are entangled in my heart.

The first feeling is that in ancient Fujian people, whether they are Minyue people or Han immigrants in the Middle Ages, how close they have to the gods! We say that out of weakness and ignorance, they created gods. However, the gods are so heroic. They opened their fresh and childish eyes and looked for the figure of gods from all things. Once they gain something, they immediately acted. According to the "Bamin Tongzhi", the Lingjin Temple in Lianjiang County, commonly known as the Pumice King Temple, was just because they saw a stone floating on the water and drifting with the flow, "there were many strangers and then built a temple." I remembered my own experience. One year, I picked up a pumice stone from another place and put it in a washbasin to carry it down and show it to my family with pride. They understood that this was a special volcanic stone. There were many bubbles in the stone, and they were indifferent and didn't know where to throw the pumice stone.

Scientific reason is the natural enemy of nature worship. As knowledge increases, the world becomes more and more materialized, and we gradually lose the ability to create gods - we occasionally create gods, like soap bubbles, always shattering instantly. This is obviously a kind of progress, and human beings become more confident and strong. At the same time, we become more lonely and alone.

What is God? It is a miracle, the most incredible meaning within things, and it is the spiritual self-contemplation. People without gods crawl on the earth all their lives, and are subject to various constraints of the real environment. The spiritual world is narrow. Once they accept gods, they set up their spiritual dimensions. The world has a height. They begin to think about things that are higher than the sky and farther than death. Religion can make a loose nation into a steel knife. Think about the Hebrews, who have been wandering in the world for thousands of years, and finally returned to their original place by faith; think about the Arabs, who knows where they were before the sixth century? But the prophet Muhammad gathered them together and became one of the protagonists of world history.

The same is true for Fujian people. Zheng Chenggong led his children from southern Fujian to expedition to Taiwan. The Baijiao people went to Tzu Chi Palace to pray, and invited a statue of the Emperor Baosheng to put it on a warship, and crossed the sea to the east. Before going to the South China Ocean, the people of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou always had to go to the guardian god in their hometown to ask for incense ash, carry it with them, and once they arrived at the residence, they would worship their homes, and build temples if they could be built. People praised the people of southern Fujian for their good sailing and went further than other people's institutions, because they were protected by the sea gods, and no matter where they walked, the gods in their hometown were with them.

Reading the history of early development in Taiwan, I can feel the vivid relationship between gods and believers. The places where the Hui'an immigrants gather are dedicated to Qingshan Gong, the Anxi people worship Qingshui ancestors, the Nan'an people worship Guangze Zunwang, the Pinghe people worship Sanping ancestors, the Tong'an people worship Baosheng Emperor, the Fuzhou people worship Lady Linshui, and the Hakka people worship Dingguang Ancient Buddha... Looking at their gods, you will understand the ancestral homes of these immigrants. Once the immigrants in various counties fight, the two sides waving their own flags to protect the gods to charge. The Tong'an people fight with Nan'an people, that is, the Emperor Baosheng and the King Guangze Zunwang; the people in Zhangzhou conflict with the Hakka people are fighting, that is, the Saint King Kaizhang and the Ancient Buddha Dingguang Ancient Buddha; of course, the reconciliation among the people also means the handshake of the gods. In that era, the people and the gods supported each other, depended on each other, and walked through the dark history together.

Gods are a controversial legacy left to us by the ancients. In any case, I am still grateful that so many gods accompany our nation along the way. Many gods are still active and comfort the hearts of millions of people. I stayed in the Heavenly Palace, Tzu Chi Palace, and Linshui Palace, with green smoke and fragrance spreading. I saw the faces of good men and women radiating piety. I feel that no matter how humble, ignorant, or afraid the gods were at the beginning, their creations were indeed shining, and even illuminating us thousands of years later.

What other glory is worthy of creating a god that transcends our lives?
Chapter completed!