Problem description:

In The Journey to the West, he was the illegitimate child of the jade emperor's sister, but in Lotus Lantern, it was his sister who gave birth to the illegitimate child. Which is the authoritative statement?

Analysis:

Erlang Shen

Taoist common gods. According to legend, Erlang Temple was built in Surabaya after the Song Dynasty. It is said that Erlang God is the son of Qin Shu county magistrate Li Bing. It is said that Li Bing's second son was ordered by his father to chop jiaozi at the pass. Because he helped Li Bing control the water, he built a temple to worship. Legend has it that Erlang God was Zhao Yu, the satrap of Sui Dynasty. If there is a jiaozi, you can cut it in the water. After his death, Shi Sheng, the Shu people saw him riding a white horse in the fog, so they set up a temple in Guankou, called Erlang God. Song Zhenzong called him a real gentleman. It is also said that Erlang God is Li Bing or a distant relative of Jin and Deng.

Erlang Shen

Erlang God is a widely influential example of popular belief in China. Since ancient times, folk beliefs have been dominated by Jiro worship in Guankou, Sichuan, and Erlang Temple (also known as Erwang Temple) stands on the east bank of Minjiang River in Dujiangyan. Correspondingly, the worship of Erlang God among the people in Sichuan is also the most prosperous. Various folk activities, such as exorcism, exorcism house, water conservancy, seasonal competition, etc., invited Jiro. A large number of legends about Jiro have been integrated into various dramas, even affecting place names and mountain names. However, it is a difficult problem to ask Erlang's surname and first name. That is to say, taking the Erlang Temple in Guankou as an example, the contradictions caused by various opinions are reflected here: according to the record of searching for gods in the Origin of Three Religions, this temple should be a Taoist temple, and Erlang gods are Zhao Yu and Zhao Erlang, who were posthumously named as "the true king of Qingyuan Miao Dao" in Song Zhenzong; However, the statue of Erlang God in this temple was a young husband, wearing a helmet and armor, and did not need powder. The most striking thing is that he has an eye on his forehead, a three-pointed double-edged knife in his hand, and a god dog in front of his soap boots, which makes people know at a glance that this is Yang Erlang described in The Journey to the West's Romance of Gods. Surprisingly, scholars of all ages praised Erlang God as the son of Li Bing, the guardian of Shu County in pre-Qin Dynasty, for the plaques, couplets and stone carvings embedded in the temple walls. If you have an inquisitive pilgrim, you have to be vague: anyway, you worship "Erlang God".

Who is the true identity of Erlang God, or in other words, how did the folk beliefs of Erlang God spread from Sichuan to the whole country come into being?

There are various theories in history, and modern scholars have a lot of textual research and inference.

Li Erlang said. Li Bing is the commander-in-chief of Qin and Shu. During his tenure, he led the people to build Dujiangyan, and his merits lasted for thousands of years. According to the folklore in central Sichuan, in this huge project, his second son "Jiro" made great contributions to help his father get rid of the pile and open the second river, so he was regarded as a god by the people. Such a legend can be found in written records, which seems to have started in the Northern Song Dynasty. Song Yaohui records that in the eighth year of Jiayou, the God of Guangji Temple in Yongkang Army was named Hui, and he called "God the second son of Li Bing", indicating that "Erlang" means the second son. Fan Chengda, an envoy of Sichuan before the Southern Song Dynasty, probably visited this "Langjun God". His "Wu Luchuan" said: "Chongde Temple is on the mountain outside the west gate of (Yongkang) Army (now Guankou Town), and Qin Taishou Li Bing and his son temple are also eating." The Popular Compilation quoted Zhu Zi's Quotations and further pointed out: "The Erlang Temple in Shuguankou was built because Li Bing left the heap. Nowadays, many ghosts are his second son. " Later, this Erlang was awarded the title of "Hero CHO HYE SUN Saint Wang You" by the Yuan Dynasty and the title of "King of England with Outstanding Achievements" by the Qing Dynasty. When Yong Zhengdi, the governor of Sichuan, gave Jiro the title, the Ministry of Rites thought it was inappropriate to seal his son instead of his father, so Yongzheng also sealed Li Bing with "Fuze Jixing Tong Wang You" (The General Examination of Literature in Qing Dynasty and the Second Examination of Group Sacrifice). This is why the original name of Erlang Temple at Guankou was changed from Chongde Temple to Erwang Temple. Due to the emperor's seal, local chronicles were published, and the saying that Li Erlang enjoyed offering sacrifices and irrigating water spread all over the country for a long time, especially supported by scholars who paid attention to quoting classics.

Zhao Erlang said. According to the Records of Longcheng cited in Volume 39 of Ancient and Modern Books and Nerves, there was a Zhao Yu who lived in seclusion in Qingcheng Mountain in Sui Dynasty. Because Yang Di forced him to be an official, he became a satrap in Sichuan history. Sometimes the old dumplings make waves and become a scourge. Zhao Yu jumped into the river with a knife, drowned in the water and struggled with Lao Jiao. In an instant, the river was all red, and the stone embankment collapsed and roared like thunder. Finally, Zhao Yu rushed out with jiaozi's head in his left hand and a knife in his right. So the people of the state wore them and regarded them as gods. Later, Zhao Yu abandoned his official position and retired, but when Jialing River flooded, he showed his spirit several times. After learning from the memorial of local officials, Emperor Taizong named him a brave general and built a temple for him at the mouth of Guanjiang River. Later, when Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty fled to Sichuan to escape the Anshi Rebellion, he also sealed the King of Chicheng. According to scholars' research, The Story of Dragon City was written by Wang Luo, a poet in the Song Dynasty, in the name of Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty. The story about Zhao chopping jiaozi in the river should have been circulated in the Five Dynasties, but it was only a summary and record. According to the third volume of "Three Religions' Origins Seeking Gods", before Emperor Taizong became a god, the local people had built a temple for Yu Zhao in Guankou, commonly known as Guankou Jiro. When I was in the north, Yizhou was in chaos, so Zhang Guai Duck was ordered to rule Shu. Yico Zeng went to the temple to pray for God. Afterwards, he asked the emperor to honor the holy name and said, "Clear the source, wonderful, true gentleman." Since then, the reputation of this "Erlang God" has increased day by day. The Erlang God in novels, operas and folklore in Song and Yuan Dynasties is basically the image and "miracle" of this Zhao Erlang God, and it has had an important influence on the shaping of the image of Erlang God in later novels such as The Journey to the West and The Romance of Ghosts and Ghosts.

Yang Erlang said. With the help of novels, Yang Erlang became the most well-known "Erlang God" since Ming and Qing Dynasties. For the sixth time, Journey to the West called him "Zhen Xian Erlang, who lives in Guanjiangkou, Guanzhou", and pointed out its origin through the Monkey King's mouth: "When the jade emperor's sister thought of the lower bound, she cooperated with Yang Jun and gave birth to a man." The Romance of Gods more clearly mentioned his name, Yang Jian, who was Ding Yu's apprentice. In fact, Emperor Wen of Sui was a eunuch favored by Hui Zong in the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were some anecdotes about him among the people. One of the lines was later incorporated into the novel Wake the World, Volume XIII, Erlang Shen, to the effect that a Korean lady in the harem was ill and was ordered to rest in Yang Jian House. One day, accompanied by Mrs. Yang Jian as soon as possible, Mrs. Han went to Jiro Temple in Qingyuan Temple Road to burn incense. Temple official Sun prodigy peeped at her beauty, pretended to be Erlang God, and sneaked into yangfu at night, falsely claiming that she had a fairy fate with Mrs. Han and lured her into sexual intercourse. After being caught by Yang Jian, he designed arrest and punishment. Some people think that the story of Sun Shentong pretending to be a wonderful Taoist Erlang God in Qingyuan is Zhao Yu. However, intentionally or unintentionally, this anecdote about Yang Jian's capture of the false Erlang God went out of shape in the process of circulation. In the end, Yang Jian became Erlang God and was "executed" by the Romance of the Gods, which became a conclusion; Therefore, among all kinds of Erlang gods in folk popular letters, this novel "Yang Erlang" is the most unfounded. However, it was also pointed out that as early as the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the theory of "Yang Erlang" had been circulated among the people. For example, the book Tai Ping Guang Ji quoted Tong You Lu 340 times, that is, there was a saying that Lu Wei's uncle "fought against Yang Erlang" on the tower, because the folk belief was based on Erlang's surname Yang. As for Yang Jian, a real person in history, "Yang Erlang" may be attached on purpose for some reason. It is said that Hu Shi thought that Yang Jian was a "land-grabbing" figure, and at that time there was a custom of giving "negative soil" as a gift to Erlang God, so people who hated Yang Jian's virtue linked God with people and called him "Erlang" as an allusion (Fan Yan's The Transformation of Erlang God, Folklore Weekly, No.61No.62).

So who is this "Yang Erlang" who has nothing to do with Yang Jian? Li Sichun believes that its prototype is Yang Nandang, a border hero in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He is the second son of Yang Sheng, the king of Lazi, and inherited the throne of his eldest brother Yang Xuan, so he is called Jiro in legend. Historically, Yang's ruling center was Wudu, Gansu. There used to be the land of Songpan altar factory, and troops were sent into Sichuan near the pass. Sichuan is the old place of Qiang people and Miao people, and it is easy to be awed by his military strength. Therefore, since the Tang and Song Dynasties (Ten Views on Jiangcun, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1957), the establishment of temple worship has become the origin of the so-called gateway god. Zhao Kuifu also agrees that Erlang is the deity of the Di nationality, and proves with abundant historical data that the ancestors of the Di nationality first lived in the northwest of China, and have always maintained the custom of "brushing the forehead for the sky", that is, carving a mark on the forehead with a knife, and then smearing ink on the wound to make it grow into the meat, forming a permanent mark that looks like standing with one mouth. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Miao people spread from Longnan to North Sichuan and Xikang. There are not only many temples of Erlang God in this area, but also many people who are famous for Erlang God, the most famous of which is Erlang Mountain in Xikang. There are three records in Qionglai County Records: "The ancient temple in central Sichuan has many green faces ... with eyes on its head", which reflects the religious relics of people coming and going. After the Tang Dynasty, the Miao people gradually merged with the Han and Tibetan nationalities, and Erlang, the third ancestor of the Miao people, became a member of the unified Chinese immortal world. The God of Tsing Yi in Gansu and Tibet also has three eyes. I'm afraid many of them are related to the integration of Tibet and Tibet, not from India as some scholars say (Three Eyes and the Origin of Tijen, No.6 of Literature and History Knowledge, 1997).

In addition, it has also been suggested that "Yang Erlang" may be a homonym of "Yang Erlang". For example, Huang Zhigang thinks that the prototype of Erlang Pass is Dayu, the ancestor of the ancient Qiang people, and it is the custom of the Qiang people to kill sheep to worship the gods. It further proves the legend in natural history that "the surname Yang in western Sichuan is the descendant of sheep", the meaningless name of sheep in Sichuan (Yangmengshan, Yangqu County and Yangfeishan) and the custom that "people sacrifice sheep (Li Bing) for 40,000 to 50,000 yuan" in Fan Shihu's Preface to Li Dui's Poems, and infers that most of the surnames Yang in central Sichuan moved abroad. Li Sichun had a similar opinion, but he speculated that Jiro Pass should have been the shepherd and hunter of Qiang people and Miao people at first. Shooting and hunting must carry bows and arrows and hounds, so the gateway gods in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties wore armor and held bows and arrows, and the shape of Erlang God driving an eagle and leading a dog in Ming Dynasty novels also evolved from this.

How do you know that the gateway gods of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties were all armed with bows and arrows? This question even led to the initial idea that Jiro was a foreign god.

"External God" Jiro said. Records of the Ten Kingdoms in the Spring and Autumn Period recorded that in the Five Dynasties, Yan of the former dynasty wore golden armor, a beaded hat and a bow and arrow. The people looked at it and said it was like a coat god who poured his mouth. " In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, there was a statue with a bow in Guankou, which was learned from this historical material. Shuo Wen Jie Zi explains "nothing" and says: "Nothing, Shen Hu also. Judging from the signs, the sound of death. Fire is a thousand cuts. " Some people have textual research on this "clothing god", that is, the Persian god of Zoroastrianism, and some ethnic minorities in the southwest do worship fire, so it is speculated that the prototype of Erlang God should be the Persian god introduced to China from the western regions during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and then gradually localized. Zhang believes that it was introduced from India: among the gods in India, one is King Vishnu, also known as the King of the North. The second son of the heavenly king, Du Jian, often leads the heavenly soldiers to protect their national borders. There is a legend in Buddhist scriptures that in the first year of Tang Tianbao (742), five countries, such as Dashi and Kangju, besieged Anxi (now Kuche County, Xinjiang), and Anxi was in an emergency. Anxi road is far away, and it is difficult to rescue troops. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty sent a monk to ask King Vishnu to send a magic weapon to save him. The soldier who went out with troops was the second son of King Du Jian. He bit off all the crossbows of the five-nation allied forces with a golden hair as strong as a hedgehog, forcing the five countries to retreat one after another. Later, Xuanzong ordered all state capitals in the world to set up altars to support the image of the heavenly king and his followers, and it was at this time that the unique Erlang God spread widely. China, a foreign god, was often transformed, and Jiro was chosen as Zhao Yu or Emperor Wen of Sui, which was the result of the combination of local culture and foreign culture. However, judging from Jiro's deeds in Yuan and Ming zaju, the trace that he was originally the son of King Vishnu has not been eliminated (Random Talk on the Romance of Gods and Ghosts, No.4 Research on World Religions, 1982).

Shi Erlang said. Yang Jizhong pointed out that according to Cui's Collection, court musicians in the early Tang Dynasty made the inscription of Erlang God according to the folk tune of singing Erlang God, because the name of Erlang God existed before the early Tang Dynasty. As for Li Bing's second sons, Zhao Yu and Yang Jian, they are all attached to the Song Dynasty and later generations. So who is this unknown Jiro who was revered as a god by the people before the early Tang Dynasty? 1in March, 974, a circular sculpture-Li Bing was unearthed at the bottom of Dujiangyan River in Guankou. The stone man is 2.9 meters high and has three lines of inscriptions on his chest:

Yin Longchang, Chen Yi, made three sacred stones, water is eternal. Yan Jianning was the title of "Town Water" of the Eastern Han Emperor. This stone man is the earliest physical evidence that Li Bing was regarded as the town water god. The inscription says there are three stone figures. Where are the other two? 1975 65438+ 10, another stone carving man was unearthed at the bottom of the same river, only 37 meters away from where Li Bing was unearthed, about 2.2 meters high, shorter than Li Bing. Its stoniness, modeling style and erosion degree are consistent with that of Li Bing, and it can be concluded that it is one of the three immortals. As for the identity of this unknown stone man, it can be considered as an attendant of Bing, and the other remains to be discovered. Li Bing is the prefect of Shu County, and takes attendants according to the ancient method. The Eastern Han Dynasty round carving pays great attention to the beauty of symmetry, so it must have two followers. At that time, this kind of entourage was called "Lang", whose duty was to guard, accompany and assist. People can clearly call Li Bing's deity, but these two unknown deities have to be called "Lang" by their identity. Because there are two "lang", it is called "Jiro" for short, and because they are both stone men, it is also called "Shi Jiro". As the story of Li Bing's water treatment spread among the people, Jiro's stories also increased and merged into one, becoming a newly created god. This process lasted about 400 years and was completed before the early Tang Dynasty. Erlang God, also known as Shi Erlang, is actually the sound change of Shi Erlang in the early Tang Dynasty, which can provide some evidence for restoring the historical truth that Erlang God was originally two stone men (A Brief Examination of Erlang God,No. 1982,No. 1). According to Zhao Bian's Ancient and Modern Collection in the Northern Song Dynasty, there are words such as "Li Bing made his son Erlang the town river of Sanshi Man", which shows that the historical fact that Chen Yi made Sanshi Man town water in the Eastern Han Dynasty has been misrepresented as "Li Erlang" who was ordered by his father to make Sanshi Man town water. This record seems to provide another evidence for the indissoluble bond between Shi San and Erlang God.

In addition, among scholars, the archetypes of Erlang God are "Erlang God" in the legend of Bai nationality, "Two Kings of Luohe" in the legend of Qiang nationality and "Zhilong" in the legend of Yi nationality. What they have in common is that they all believe that this belief in God originated in the southwest of China, and its length is not excessive. Interestingly, any viewpoint can clearly explain the evolution of Erlang God belief. For example, insisting that Erlang God is the hero of the Qiang people and Li Bing is the Qiang people. He once led the Qiang people to control water, which became the cause of the legend that the Qiang people helped others to control water in the future, and interpreted the story of "Li Erlang"; Later, Taoism originated in Sichuan, and absorbed the god worshipped by this minority into its own god system, becoming "Zhao Erlang". On the other hand, the believers who adhere to Jiro's belief originate from Jiro's unique health-keeping thought, and Taoism takes Zhao Yu as a counterbalance because it can't tolerate the alien god's "invasion". Because Erlang Dujian is, after all, the god of other nationalities, it seems a little reluctant to ask him to help the lives of Anxi and Bashu people, so there is a need to create a national Erlang god, so the locals think of Li Bing in history and have the legend of "Li Erlang". However, scholars who insist that Li Bing's historical site of water control and the real person in Shiren Town are the basis of Erlang God's belief, based on the mutual confirmation of unearthed cultural relics and historical documents, think that all other Erlang gods are created by Buddhism and attached by scholars.

Right and wrong, there is no dispute. I don't know who can come up with a high opinion that all furniture can agree with, and finally clear up the historical fog that lingers in the mouth.