Jianmu is a kind of god tree, what is its prototype? Is the bronze sacred tree of Sanxingdui a jianmu? According to my deduction, in fact, the construction wood should be the grafting product of the low horse mulberry tree and other trees, and this new tree is very tall, as if it can reach the sky. Later, people did not need the Tongtian God Tree, and no one grafted it again, leaving only ordinary dwarf mulberry trees. So Jianmu became a legend, and only the bronze sacred tree of Sanxingdui was left in later generations.
Records of Jianmu
The description of the shape of the building wood, the place of its existence, and the function of the heavens are specifically recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Huainanzi.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Southern Classic of Hai Nei records: "There is wood, its shape is like an ox, and it has skin, and it is a wisp and a yellow snake." Its leaves are like Luo, in fact, like Qi, its wood is like a lotus, and its name is Jianmu. On the water of the West Weak. ”
The translation is that there is a tree, shaped like an ox, which peels off its bark when it is pulled, and the bark is like a ribbon on the crown cap, a yellow snakeskin. Its leaves resemble a net, its fruits resemble the fruits of a luan tree, and its trunk resembles a thorn elm, and its name is Jianmu. This building tree grows on the edge of a weak water to the west of the site of the leaf.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of Hai Nei also yun: "There is wood, green leaf purple stem, Xuanhua Huangshi, mingri Jianmu, hundreds of trees without branches, nine trees, nine wolfbeams underneath, in fact, like hemp, its leaves are like mang, the big mist has passed, and the Yellow Emperor has done it." ”
Sanxingdui bronze tree decoration
Translated as, here grows a kind of tree, blue leaves, purple stems, black flowers, yellow fruits, its name is Jianmu. It was up to a hundred taels high, but no branches grew on the trunk, and on the top of the tree there were nine winding branches extending into the sky, and under the tree there were nine intertwined root nodes that grasped the earth; its fruit was like a hemp seed, and its leaves were like mango leaves. It was from here that the Taihao Fuxi and xuanyuan Yellow Emperors ascended to heaven and earth.
Judging from the records of the classics, the shape of the jianmu is similar to that of the horse mulberry tree. More importantly, the mulberry tree is also said to have a heavenly divinity.
Mulberry
Legend has it that there was a tall mulberry tree whose trunk was empty. The top of the mulberry tree can lead to the Heavenly Palace, and the roots of the mulberry tree are on the ground. The little insects in the sky that spit silk come from the hollow of the mulberry trunk to the ground and feed on the mulberry tree. There have been silkworms on the ground ever since.
The key to the mulberry tree's passage to the sky is the hollow trunk. In other words, the empty mulberry can reach the sky. Ever find the word Khlong Sang quaint and familiar? Don't doubt your feelings or memories, Khlong Sang is indeed a special place - the Capital City of Yandi. This is now Qufu, Shandong.
At that time, the Yan Emperor's capital city took the empty sang, which may be the meaning of the empty sang through the heavens. In ancient times, the leader was also a wizard and had the function of reaching heaven. As the co-lord of the Yan Emperor, it was naturally his duty to reach the heavens. Later emperors always said that they were "shepherding on behalf of heaven", which is what it means.
Sanxingdui Bronze Sacred Tree
The shape of the Bronze God Tree in Sanxingdui is like this: the Bronze God Tree is divided into three layers, each of which has three branches. From a distance, the Bronze Sacred Tree can be said to be leafy and extremely grand.
The bronze sacred tree appears in the sacrificial pit, indicating its use, and the construction of the wood also has a spiritual meaning, which is very similar.
Shudi is the land of silk, the ancestor of silkworm farming, the ancestral hometown of the ancestors, the local people must also worship the mulberry tree. The rulers of Shudi were also descendants of the Yellow Emperor, and they should also think that mulberry trees could reach the heavens.
Jedi Heavenly Pass
Legend has it that before emperor Huan "Jedi Tongtian", people and celestial beings could go up and down at will by relying on "Jianmu". Later, the building wood was cut off, and the heavens and the earth were completely cut off. We can think of it this way, emperor Huan no longer allows people and gods to communicate, so he ordered that the tongshen tree will no longer be grafted, so that only ordinary horse mulberry trees are left in the world. The original tall wooden building was also cut off by order of emperor Huan.
Some netizens may think that grafting is a high-tech, and ancient people will not have this technology. However, it has been mentioned in the myth of the Yellow Emperor that Changyi, the son of the Yellow Emperor, married the peach tree. So grafting mulberry trees is not a problem. The above-mentioned "acts of the Yellow Emperor" can be translated as cultivated by the Yellow Emperor. Cultivation can also be understood as "grafting cultivation".
It is possible that the mole has not only grafted mulberry trees, but also cultivated mulberry trees. The Yellow Emperor tribe takes the sericulture industry as an important industry, and naturally attaches importance to the cultivation of mulberry trees. The low mulberry trees are good for women to pick mulberry leaves, and the mulberry trees we see now are probably shorter than in ancient times.
Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor
Legend of the Shooting Sun
The mulberry tree itself has a magical legend about shooting the sun, which explains why it has become shorter. Regarding the myth of the sun shooting, each race has a different version. Whether it is the identity of the hero of the sun shooting, the number of sun shooting and the specific process, they are not the same.
According to Yi legend, in order to make a bow that shoots the sun, the hero of the sun specially took the horse mulberry tree as a raw material. When the sun was shooting, the Yi hero stood on the masang tree, which was tall and close to the sky, and the hero was able to shoot the sun. But the mulberry tree was trampled on and later became shorter.
Some legends also say that the mulberry tree was cursed and became shorter.
In fact, no matter what tree is used as the sun-shooting bow, it is impossible to shoot the sun. This legend only shows that in people's minds, the horse mulberry tree has more power than other trees, large enough to shoot the sun as a bow. And we can see from the legend that the horse mulberry tree was once able to rise into the clouds and had the function of communicating with the sky.
The Hmong go up the knife mountain or build wood remains
One of the Hmong Badai's unique skills is to go up the Knife Mountain. The so-called knife mountain is to erect a piece of wood, and there are many knives inserted in the wood, and Badai will step on the knife. Now this activity is basically an entertainment activity, without too much meaning, and is protected as an intangible cultural heritage.
Many Hmong tourist villages have developed this project, which always amazes people, but few people associate it with Jianmu.
We can imagine that in ancient times, the shaman alone climbed up a tall building and performed rituals on it, divination as a result of providence.
Later, the Jedi Heavenly Passage was not allowed to divinate privately, and other tribes could only change the divination ceremony to the activity of going up the knife mountain.
Therefore, the worship of Jianmu is actually the worship of empty sang, which gradually fades out of people's vision with the Jedi Heavenly Pass.