Cut the mountain to save my mother

Cut the mountain to save my mother

As an extension of Erlang's water control legend, pitching mountains to save his mother can be seen in the ancient novels or volumes, and there is Erlang's volumes

12 kinds of Taoist books

"Journey to the west" and "three collections of the Tang Dynasty's journey to the west"

And so on recorded the myth that Erlang God split Taoshan to rescue his mother.

There are also myths and legends that aloes split Huashan to save their mother.

Note: Erlang God has no sister in ancient books and records. Sansheng's mother is a member of the Huayue deity family. Her father is the Huayue deity King Jintian, and her brother is Huayue Sanlang.

Mythological image

In the popular folk story of "Erlang cleaves the mountain to save his mother", Erlang is a child. On the one hand, he is the only son born by the combination of Yunhua girl from bullfight palace and Yang Tianyou, the golden boy. On the other hand, he is the only son born by the combination of the third princess of the Jade Emperor and Yang Tianyou, the lower world. The legend of Erlang God splitting the mountain to save his mother comes from folklore. It reveals the human nature behind the divinity of Erlang God, and draws close to the common people in the world. It is stained with the color of filial piety and respect for relatives, and has more human nature. However, this myth is not as important as other myths and legends of Erlang God (Erlang River)

Erlang catches the Dragon

And Erlang killed Jiao

To catch up with the sun

Search the mountain to subdue the devil

）The records in local chronicles of historians can only be found in the novels or volumes of the ancients.

The origin of myth

Erlang God saves his mother

The saying that Erlang God is the descendant of emperor Tiandi (jade emperor) has been spread as early as the Southern Song Dynasty. The inscription of Zhaohui Lingxian king in Kaixi period of the Southern Song Dynasty shows that the husband Zhaohui Lingxian king came from Shuchuan, which is the congenital God of the descendants of Xiangdi. Xiangdi is the emperor of heaven. Zhaohui lingxianwang was granted the title of Erlang God in the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the Jade Emperor absorbed the spirit of Haotian (the emperor of heaven) and became the Supreme God. In journey to the west, Erlang God was the nephew of the Jade Emperor, and Zhaohui lingxianwang was granted the title of Erlang God.

Erlang split the mountain from the prototype of Erlang God, Li Bing and his son started the mountain to control the water. According to the inscription of Guangying Huiwang and his son by fan chuanzheng of Tang Dynasty, "since Qin Dynasty, there are thousands of worships. Wei Wang father and son (Li Bing father and son), Shu Jing is the shelter. The river originates from Shu, and Wang chisels its resistance. In the aftermath of Shu irrigation, Jue Shi Nai Pu was the king

The painting of deyuzhai by Li Luo of Song Dynasty: the son of Li Bing, the governor of Qin and Shu, who opened the two rivers and made water monsters, the people of Shu were virtuous, and their ancestral temple was at Guankou, the so-called Guankou Erlang. It's a capital of style and dignity. However, he wandered along the two rivers with a bomb and became a temple food.

It can be seen that the prototype of Erlang God is the son of Li Bing. In Song Dynasty, Erlang split mountains to control water and divert water. In Chongde Temple written by Fan Chengda in Song Dynasty, Erlang split mountains to divert water

The south wind of the snow mountain melts the snow juice and turns it into the water of Minjiang River. I don't know how many new paintings are going up, but I feel like wanlei is running in front of the building. < / I heaven teaches this water to enter China, and the two mountains are separated. My family Changchuan to the sea, but in the source of wine. How many shoes in life to do this service, such as travel, God should be. We are ready to go back to the East. We are ready to sail tomorrow. The beach is flat and the days are thousands of miles away. It has been a dream that perches are like snow. Looking back at the red maple cable, the floating clouds on the jade base are safe.

(Note: in Song Dynasty, Erlang temple was called Chongde temple The Chongde temple outside the city of Yongkang army on Shu Road is the ancestral hall of Li Taishou and his son Jiangxiang people are also called "Guankou Erlang" in the ancestral temple today. They say: "every time you sacrifice, you can cook a mutton."

Another poem of Fan Chengda, Ji Dui Xing, records that Erlang's axe cleaves mountains and rocks to control water“

The mountain is hard, the stone is hard, the tiger lies down, and the axe trace is chiseled through the scales. There is a dragon lock under the pool. Since the diversion of water into Shimen, Xizhou rice such as HuangYun. In the spring and Autumn period, he cut down the roots of Cang tobacco. I used to be an official counsellor, but every year I've stimulated the water of the Xijiang River. No matter how much money you have, you can see the silkworm market with silk pipes. Section of the door must be sprinkled qingzun, pepper pulp GUI wine cut mutton meat. If you want to say a word to God, you will love sheep like a lover.

In Song Dynasty, these two poems about Erlang and Li Bing's father and son's flood control all have records about Pieri (cutting mountains) and axe trace. It should be known that Erlang God, as the God of water, has the miracle of splitting mountains. (as mentioned later, the giant spirit God, who is also the God of water, also has the miracle of splitting mountains.)

Erlang saved his mother from Mulian. The earliest spread of the story of saving mother is that Mulian monk saved his mother (Mulian saved his mother), who was introduced into China by Buddhism in the Han Dynasty. In the Sutra of Yulan basin by Buddha, Mulian monk's mother was sent to hell for greed and became a ghost in the hungry ghost way. He could not eat anything and could not get rid of it. Therefore, Mulian monk became a monk. On July 15, he gathered the power of chongseng Buddha and put the food in the Yulan basin. Finally, he sent the human food to the hungry ghost way and let his mother get rid of it Mother's kindness. So July 15 became the origin of the festival. In fact, this story comes from Sakyamuni's disciple named "muqianlian", who was translated as Mulian monk when he was introduced into China. The most important part of the Yulan basin Festival is to sacrifice the lotus leaf lamp to the ancestors at the end.

In the Song Dynasty, Mulian Opera (muqianlian saving his mother) was popular among the people. In the eighth volume of "Menghua records in Tokyo", it is said that since the Seventh Festival of the seventh lunar month, he has performed the opera "Mulian saving his mother" Erlang God, as a deity worshipped by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, was absorbed into Taoism in the late Song Dynasty, and became a Dharma protector in Buddhism in the Yuan Dynasty. In the book "the birthday of Zhenjun in Qingyuan on June 24" of the Yuan Dynasty, Erlang God recorded "the Department of life and death of Mount Tai, the doctrine of protecting Buddhism, Dharma and compassion":

It is still six days late for Meng Qiu to exercise the power of the White Emperor, and the mid summer celebrates the birth of the sage of Qingyuan. The change of land and the balance of power will last for a long time. Gongwei Qingyuan Zhenjun, xiuchu Xiandong, Weizhen Lingguan. Breaking the waves to make up demons shows the hand of killing the dragon; insinuation shows the skill of chopping mirage. It's the Department of life and death of Zuotai mountain, and the teaching of protecting Buddha's Dharma and compassion.

In the Ming Dynasty, Buddhism intensified its propaganda. Buddhists linked the plot of Erlang splitting the mountain and Erlang shouldering the mountain, and wrote a complete Erlang scroll of the legend of splitting the mountain to save his mother, following the example of the Buddhist sutra Mulian.

At the end of Erlang Baojuan, it is pointed out that Erlang saved his mother by imitating Mulian

Erlang saves his mother, visits Mulian venerable, Lingshan Shizun, seeks advice from the west, xuepenzhenjing, Youyu saves his mother < I, Jiuhuan Xizhang, with a loud voice, Youming sect leader, Shidi Yanjun, Shiba prison king, 75Si, cuifu Zhenjun, all come to meet me. When my Buddha comes to prison, what's the sound, Mulian says, I'm going to visit prison to save my mother. When the prison master hears about it, he leads me to move forward and swim to Nai In he qiaozhong, my mother called to save me from rebirth. She looked forward and ate a bowl of holy rice in her stomach. She turned it into ash charcoal, lotus flower into life, eighteen hell, seventy-five division, and put on my name of Mahayana. Later, men and women came out of the nether world early.

In Erlang's scroll, "Mount Tai cracked and a solitary light appeared on the sea floor. In the early days of the introduction of Buddhism, monks translated "hell" into "Mount Tai" and "Mount Tai" in order to better spread their faith. The cause of this incident is very simple. Mount Tai's belief is broad enough, so we just borrow its name. Therefore, muqianlian's mother is in hell, but Erlang's mother in Erlang's scroll is trapped under "Taishan".

"Erlang Baojuan" contains the doctrinal thought of good and evil retribution in Buddhism. For example, the Baojuan mentions that "the Yin retribution, the Yang retribution must be reported, this life and the next life are always this life. If you want to stop being vicious, the sky will prove it. Good deeds should be done in one's life, and those who cheat are loyal. It's better to be good in mind than to repent when evil comes The purpose is "to leave the world behind, to persuade good people and to understand the mind of Buddha."

The essence of Erlang God's saving his mother from the mountain is the story of preaching scriptures. Erlang saves his mother, Wenchang saves his mother, and Guanyin saves his father. Both of them are religious believers who use stories about the life of gods to spread their beliefs in order to publicize their doctrines.

The prototype of Erlang's mother is the story of mujiezhu, the third princess of Qiang's heavenly father. It is combined with muqianlian who was introduced into China in the Han Dynasty to save his mother, which leads to the legend of Erlang God cutting mountains to save his mother. Mujiezhu, the mother goddess of Qiang nationality, is the princess of her father. She has three sisters in her family. The eldest sister married the Dragon King, the second sister married the God, and the third sister gave birth to the Qiang ancestors. All over the country, the opera "the third sister comes down to earth" (the third sister is Erlang's mother). Erlang's mother is the third princess of the Jade Emperor and has three sisters. Corresponding to Erlang Baojuan, Erlang's mother and her family are also three sisters, the goddess of three flowers gathering at the top. In many Han operas, such as the third sister's coming down to earth, the jade emperor has three daughters. The eldest princess married Aoguang, the second princess married Tianwang, and the third princess gave birth to Erlang, which is exactly the same as the three sisters of Mu Jiezhu. Yang Erlang, the god worshipped by the di Qiang people, is widely worshipped by the Qiang people in Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan. Influenced by Qiang mythology, Erlang mythology produced Erlang's mother, the third princess of the Jade Emperor, whose prototype is mu Jie Zhu. That's why Erlang God was regarded as the leader of Sichuan, where Diqiang people gathered. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Jade Emperor's genealogy was perfected because of the spread of Yang Erlang's story.

In journey to the west, the story of Erlang God splitting the mountain to save his mother evolved into the story of the Jade Emperor's younger sister thinking about the lower world, combining with a mortal named Yang to give birth to Erlang God, who later split Taoshan to save his mother.

Chenxiang saves her mother

In 1957, the book Dong Yong's collection of Chenxiang (edited by Du Yingtao) quoted the complete biography of Chenxiang prince from the late Qing Dynasty as saying that Liu Xiang, a scholar of the Han Dynasty, passed through the Huashan temple and wrote poems to tease the temple God huanue Sanniang, who was angry and wanted to kill him. Jade Emperor

Chinese PinYin : Pi Shan Jiu Mu