The famous characters from 'Investiture of the Gods' are The Lord of East (黄飞虎)，Neza (哪吒)，The four demonic generals (魔家四將)，The god of wealth (趙公明)，The 10 heavenly masters (十天君)，The 3-eyed God (二郎神)，Thunder God (雷震子) etc.
On the other hand the famous characters from Journey to the West are: The Tang Monk (唐三藏)，the 8 precepts (猪八戒)，the Monkey God (孙悟空)，Monk Sha (沙悟净) etc.
And finally in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms we have the famous warrior Guangong (关公).
At first glance, all of the characters above are already gods that we can see in most Chinese temples and homes. But do you know the hidden agendas of those epics?
First the 'Investiture of the Gods' praises Taoism and belittles Buddhism. The 4 demonic generals actually refers to the 4 heavenly kings of Buddhism. On the other hand, in the Journey to the West, the pig-head and the Monk Sha refer to Taoist heavenly generals, while the Monkey God is also of Taoist origin.
So, by depicting three Taoist figures sought refuge under the Tang Monk; the author indicates that Buddhism is much superior than Taoism.
Of course, all of the above mentioned figures are of fable nature except the Tang Monk and Guangong. Interestingly speaking, Guangong worship only started in Qing Dynasty after advocated by the emperor of that time.
After rounds and rounds of title endowments by Chinese emperors, Guangong suddenly became the god of brotherhood. Perhaps the Qing emperors' message was to encourage their subjects sworn loyalty towards the Qing dynasties. Having so said, Qing dynasty toppled after about 300 years of ruling China.
If we scrutinize Taoist rituals now a days, most of the above mentioned gods would be invoked during all sorts of celebrations and rituals. My question is:
"What will join the party since all of those figures are fable or perhaps no more in existence in nature?"
A pretending entitiy, a thought form or an imagination. Else if pretending it would be something that would present this archetype.
ReplyDeleteSince a being has its form only presenting to be
recognized for its quality but its essence many could share.
A nameless who take upon the duty
can take it and as far this role is taking serious it can not be taken by a fake mischief essence.
Well said Guangong was not really patient or respectful but the Guangong who is believed has a red face, brotherhood,loyality and is respected by the underground as well as the police for a time being. Since if the real is not there a similar could come or a servant or lower ranking. Since who would not life get some attention and believe power.
While gods seem not exist.... the story about deities is as follow of local god: That he was created and feeds on the believe and offering of the locals. As long he has many followers he can do some little wonders but over time with less followers he will get smaller and powerless.
It is said that the great gods of Egypt are becoming mere shadows of themselves.
In western magic one would think of the eregor which is the group individual and conciousness awakended group soul. It is warned to not connect
to these beings as they are not the deities or beings of the spheres.
Another possibility is that as we know we have paralell reality to us in which there is a Guan Gong has or existed in a time period and could archive what is only fabled here.
We also have to consider that if a being not exist anymore there might be a replacement like a restaurant at a specific place don't change its place and name but it'so owner and is under protection like monumental protection.
In thoughtforms it is feed by the quality is created. A lustful being will be created by lustful thought if a certain time of imagination is kept alive. Since it is what it is feed on lust so it will seek to find people who has it or arouse it to survive. Now this a called negative thoughtforms but what we do if we have a positive one, like loyalness, to survive doesn't he try to find those who do that or arouse it. It is selfserving to survive.
So because of the difficulty one has to test out who one has called. Banishing rituals was developed therefore to test the called being and remove unwanted visitors and always in a sort to have a shield, a ward, a magic circle.
Don't you tell that a spirit keeper has a head spirit to manage the rest?