In many folk beliefs, human beings always seem to be deeply sinful, and killing is naturally one of them. In traditional times, scenes of cattle slaughter are often quite scary. The cow is a friend of humans, and it is said that like humans, it was born from the birth of a pregnant child in October. As an adult, he had to shoulder the endless labor of ploughing the fields, harrowing the fields, and pulling the mills, while eating the grass cut from the field. Once incapacitated, they are slaughtered. It is said that when the cattle are slaughtered, the cattle will shed tears and beg, so they will have to blindfold them, and the onlookers must turn their hands behind their backs to show that they are being tied up and are no longer able to save each other... The poor old cow was blindfolded, and at this time did he really think that his master was powerless to save him? And the surrounding spectators, as long as they put their hands behind their backs, can easily get rid of the crime of killing? This is like in daily life, the people of the world are wise to protect themselves, unwilling to come to the aid of others in times of danger, and do not often put on a look of not caring about themselves and being powerless? The ruthlessness and sophistication of human beings are vividly expressed here! Of course, the more brutal ones are still to come, but the butcher is seen picking up a large axe, slamming the cow's head, causing it to faint, and then stabbing the knife to bleed, peeling the skin and removing the bones - a bloody killing, and the end of the end.
In addition to slaughtering cattle, the scene of killing pigs is sometimes terrifying. In Huizhou, a good butcher should stab the key point with a knife, but at the same time, he can't make the pig lose his breath immediately. The ideal state is that after the stabbing, the fat pig is still alive and can run around dripping blood until it runs out of blood. If you are lucky, the blood stain happens to be in a closed circle, which is even more auspicious. It is said that in that way, you can perfectly receive the dragon qi...
These butchers who slaughter cattle and pigs have experienced countless killing scenes in their lives, and they are naturally at ease. However, the more the night road is walked, the inner heart is inevitably quite worried. In some places in Huizhou, butchers, like midwives, perform rituals when they are buried after death in order to eliminate the evil fate of life. Among them, the most important thing is to put a red cloth bag on the hand. This is of course because these people's hands were stained with blood when they were alive, and they were suspected of slaughtering living beings. It is said that when passing through the hades mansion, The Prince of Yan would have ordered his hands to be cut off as punishment. However, as long as he put on the red cloth bag, the king of Yama saw that his hands were bloodied and could not see the ten fingers, and he thought that they had been cut off, so he did not deal with them separately. However, I doubt very much that the shrewd King of Yama is really old-eyed? His old man had lived in the shadows for many years, holding the power of life and death of all sentient beings, and he would not be able to see these pediatrics in the world because of the dim light? In my mind, there is a bigger possibility: he is just turning a blind eye. Just like many policies in the world are always extremely strict, but there are countermeasures under the policies, meat eaters are by no means inedible ate human fireworks, they are actually aware of the little tricks on the market or even see the fire. Although it is said that "yin justice is not biased", as long as you give the king of Yan Luo a little face, make a show, and let him cope with the heavens in form, usually, he will also happily temporarily release you for a yard. There is a way to "vigorously engage in formalities, and seriously go through the formalities", it seems that the truth between hades and the world is actually the same.
First, "Broken Blood Lake" and Zheng Benmu played together
As the saying goes: "Drama is a small life, a big stage in life." "On many occasions, every Chinese is a talented actor. In traditional China, all kinds of ceremonies are very important, and many ceremonies have important symbolic significance. For example, the "Lake of Broken Blood" is a ritual performed specifically for women. On this point, the Qing Dynasty Anon. "Yishan Bamboo Branch Words" chanted:
The old woman burns incense and holds rosary beads, and the unknown pure land is born without it.
On his deathbed, he told his children and grandchildren that hell would open the Broken Blood Lake.
Mu Lian jumped through the knife door at night, and the letter girl Shi Zhai sat in the blood basin.
Together to ensure peace and greet the great master, and to beat the drums of gold to collect the plague.
This bamboo branch poem is a vivid historical material reflecting the religious life of women in Yixian County, Huizhou, and the "Mulian Drama" in the poem is a customary writing of "Mulian Drama". It is mentioned that the faithful women burn incense and pray to the Buddha every day, and when they are dying, they must instruct their children and grandchildren to do the ritual of "breaking the lake of blood" for themselves. In addition, during the performance of the repertoire, they sat in the blood basin, greeted Guanyin, expelled the plague, and blessed the peace of their families...
The so-called "hell opens the broken blood lake" in the bamboo branch word refers to doing "breaking the hell" first, and then doing the "broken blood lake". "Breaking hell" is a ritual performed for men in the world. According to folklore, mortals often commit greed, fornication, infidelity, filial piety, and many other sins before they die, and when they die, they will be interrogated by the ten kings in the temple, and according to the severity of the circumstances, they will be sent to eighteen hells, and they will never be reborn. To this end, the Huizhou people usually asked paper tyrestriers to tie up a hell city government, which contained eighteen layers of hell, and set up the main god tablet in the eighteenth layer of hell. When the ceremony was held, the invited Daoist priest held a sword in his hand, and with his divine light mana, he tried to break through the gates of hell and snatch out the spirit cards in it, so that the undead of his relatives could be pulled to the Immortal Realm.
"Broken Hell Kewen", Qing Dynasty Huizhou Keyi codex
As for the "Broken Blood Lake", it is made for women. It is said that this is because women have frequent menstruation before they die, and when they have children, there will be dirty blood dumped on the land and pollute the river. Some will also dry their underwear at will, desecrating the three lights, and touching the holy truth of heaven and earth, so that after death, they will be punished and fall into the hell of the blood lake. According to folklore, the blood lake filled with menstrual blood is quite filthy, usually where the Heavenly Rune Treasure Basket cannot be reached, and only the True Martial Ancestor, Taiyi Rescue Suffering Tianzun, etc. can not avoid the blood stain and save many female souls. To this end, folk legend has "Blood Lake Myo Jing", "Blood Lake Treasure Confession" and other confessions passed down from generation to generation, mainly for the purpose of female transformation. According to the guidance of the Book of Kindness, women should often recite the holy trumpet of "Taiyi Save the Suffering Heavenly Dignity" during their lifetime, copy and recite the "True Scripture of the Blood Lake", accumulate virtue and do good deeds, and leave a way for future life. And the men associated with them, in order to repay their mother's nurturing grace, should also recite the Blood Lake Scripture with reverence in order to save the birth mother from the hell of the Blood Lake. The author has at hand a copy of the folded Blood Basin Sutra, and the inscription under the title reads: "Spread the word with clean hands, be careful not to defile." "It can be seen that its holders are extremely religious about this. In the past, the depiction of "Mu Lian [Lian] drama jumping at the knife door at night, and the letter girl Shi Zhai sitting in the blood basin" can be seen, and the ceremony of "Breaking the Blood Lake" is often associated with the performance of mu lian opera.
Late Qing Dynasty Huizhou Manuscript "Mu Lian Saves Mother"
Huizhou Sutra Folding "Blood Basin Classic", late Qing Dynasty or Republic of China
In traditional Huizhou, the "Broken Blood Lake" is a kind of faith activity to eliminate disasters and evacuate, and it is generally believed to be closely related to "Zheng Benmu Lianju". The so-called Zheng Benmu Lian Opera refers to the Mu Lian Opera Book adapted by Zheng Zhizhen in the Ming Dynasty. Zheng Zhizhen Ziyu, a native of Gaoshishan and a native of Qingxi Village, Qimen County, Huizhou, wrote the "Mulian Saving Mother Persuasion and Drama Text" in three volumes, which was published during the Wanli Dynasty. The book shows in detail the story of the Fu family to the Buddha, Liu Shi opening the meat to the prison, Mu Lian traveling west to seek the Buddha, and going through the eighteen layers of hell to save his mother's supernatural life. The drama is full of glory and suffering, and its "singing tone is mournful, repetitive, and whimpering". It is precisely because of its artistic appeal in content and form that after the publication of the book, the mulian drama was widely circulated. In Huizhou, especially in the leap year of the summer calendar, the Mulian opera class performed four times, and each performance time was often several consecutive days, gathering for a long night. In the hometown of Zheng Benmu's continuous drama, Qimen folk are known as "out of the ring sand, woven in Qingxi, hit in chestnut wood". "Out of Huansha" refers to the story of the Good and Evil of the Fu family in Huansha Village, Qimen County; "compiled in Qingxi", which naturally means that the editor of "Mulian Saving Mother's Persuasion to Be Good" is Zheng Zhizhen of Qingxi; and "Hitting in Limu" refers to the acting of the Mulian Opera Class in Limu Village, which is the most influential "Damulian" in Qimen and even Huizhou. According to the research of Huizhou scholar Chen Changwen, Zheng Zhizhen's script was performed in a group class in Limu Village shortly after it was unscripted. Nearly twenty years ago, just after the Spring Festival, the author went to southern Anhui to participate in the "International Academic Seminar on Opera, Folklore and Hui Culture", during which he had watched the local Mulian opera performances in the Lixi Village area, when it was the spring cold material, the Mulian opera was halfway through, and suddenly there were snowflakes floating in the sky.
Mulian opera performance, spring 2003, Anhui Qimen Lixi
According to the "New Catalogue of Lian Persuasion and Drama Texts", the golden and majestic Heavenly Palace has ten heavy treasure halls, while the Iron Dragon's Ji Ji Hell has eighteen heavy Yin Divisions. The Ten Great Kings divide the eighteen hells. The third hall is the Song Emperor, in charge of the iron bed and blood lake in the underworld. The iron bed and the blood lake are two hells, "the iron bed burns its anointing oil, and the blood lake floods its bones", or the fire is baked, or the water is flooded, punishing a cadre of prisoners who have committed adultery before they die. Regarding the Blood Lake, the Three Temples seeking motherhood writes:
The wind in the humble flat lake is gusting, the water is red like the sunset red, and the woman of the family is upside down and drowned and drifts in this.
[Small] The woman's blood and water stained the three lights, gathered as the water of the Flat Lake, and now I have passed on the pool of the Blood Lake, and the flooded and drifted away from the disaster.
After that, Mo Ke, the prison officer of the Three Temples, carefully counted the sins of Liu Shi's life: one was the three rays of blood and water filth, and the other was the violation of the oath to open the light. He believes that the former is "not polluted with evil blood", while the latter is "deeply hateful with evil blood in the heart". In this regard, Liu Shi sang "Seven Words", describing the hardships of his pregnancy in October, and the various tribulations he suffered in the iron bed and blood lake. She repeatedly pleaded with the living children of Yang Jian to be grateful for the kindness of her own children and generously donated funds to set up a fast, in order to save her own mother from the plague of blood. In this passage, Liu Repeatedly advises good men and women to "do good deeds and cultivate Blessings and Prosperity." At the end of "Three Temples seeking mother", it is Mu Lian who "knocks on the hell fairy staff, and sees the blood lake and the iron bed".
"Mercy Ranbonmu Lian Confession Method Dojo", date unknown, collection of waseda University Library, Japan
In Huizhou, folklore says that Mu Lianniang Liu's heart was originally pure and kind, and shi ren helped the people. Unexpectedly, the next two sons suffered bad luck. The grief-stricken Liu Clan was unusual, behaving obediently, killing chickens and dogs on weekdays, drinking alcohol and opening meat, and using dog meat steamed buns to fast monks, thus offending the gods. One day, the sharecropper came with his daughter to pay the rent, and Liu Shi was arrogant and despicable, she saw that the girl was young and beautiful, and she had evil thoughts, and forcibly left her as an envoy. Soon, Liu gave birth to a son, who was named "Fu Luobu". When he became an adult, he neither entered the business nor entered the world, but devoted himself to goodness and became a monk. Soon, Liu Shi fell ill and died, because he had evil intentions during his lifetime, so he was beaten into eighteen layers of hell and suffered all kinds of sufferings in the Yin Cao Prefecture. When Fu Luobu learned of his mother's sin, he solemnly began a Buddhist service, planted a wide range of futians, begged Yan Luo's ghost to forgive his sins, and finally went through many hardships to rescue Liu Shi. This affair changed and gradually evolved into a folk "broken blood lake" ceremony.
2. Huizhou's "Blood Lake Victory Society" document
Many years ago, Professor John Lagerwey co-edited the Huizhou Traditional Society Series, and many of the articles included in the book mentioned the ceremony of "breaking the lake of blood". According to wu Zhengfang, a poplar from Shexian County, when doing "broken blood lake", the first thing to do is to tie a circular blood lake pool made of paper paste, the blood lake pool has two layers, the upper layer is placed in a paper boat, which can be rotated, and the lower layer is placed in a blood lake basin, and the basin contains red blood-like water. There are four lotus lanterns along the edge of the Blood Lake Pool. At that time, the women watching can put the coins into the boat, and they will also recite the words "take the boat and release the money" in their mouths, so as to pray for their own disasters and avoid disasters. Then the monk raised his staff and smashed open the door of the Blood Lake, and one of the descendants of the Lord of the Matter saw the situation and used a bowl to scoop "blood water" into the Blood Lake basin to drink. It is said that by doing so, filial piety and grandson can pray for the relief of the deceased mother. Similar practices are not uncommon elsewhere in Huizhou.
Eds., between Lao Gewen and Wang Zhenzhong, Huizhou Traditional Society Series, 5 kinds and 6 volumes, Fudan University Press, 2011-2016
"Blood Lake Victory Society" instrument, 1934
Later, I collected a set of documents about the "Broken Blood Lake" in southern Anhui, and its form was quite elaborate. The piece is enclosed in a peach-red envelope, with ten figures on the front of which reads "Blood Lake Victory Will Wen Mu, PayIng The Leaf Gate Xu Clan Receipt", and the reverse side reads: "The Master of the Kyaw Sex Hall Is Meritorious Hongfa Buddhist Gate Seal." Among them, the words "Blood Lake", "Yemen XuShi", "Juezhitang" and "Buddha" are all written with brushes, and the others are printed, indicating that this kind of envelope may have been uniformly printed by the temples in Huizhou. In terms of content, this time it was presided over by a Buddhist hall called "Kyaw Sangha", which held a religious ceremony for the Yemeni Hsu clan to hold the "Blood Lake Victory Society". The background outside the envelope text is decorated with several dragons on the front, while the reverse text has four immortal-like figures on each side. Above the middle text is a cornucopia, and below the text is a blooming lotus flower. In addition, the main body part is also printed, similar to the color of the envelope, and on the left is some text:
Feng Buddhist cultivators prayed to the Blood Lake Jifu Yansheng to believe in the female Yemen Xu clan, burn incense seals, worship the golden guest with affection, prostrate themselves Kun Geng, months and days, jiansheng, pay attention to the light of the Buddha, say that the fate of the fate, repay Yan Fu, and the parents were ordered in the form of pottery and false yin and yang, so the birth was difficult,...... Sin is due to procreation, karma is for men and women, the sea of blood is accumulated and there is no period, and the mountain is troubled and why it falls down, it is to make a heart, to trickle up the day of the moon, to pay tribute to the treasure of the blood lake for an eternal day, to pray for the confession and to exhaust the blood lake, and to be diligent in the golden bell and swear to pull out the sea of suffering. Looking up to the Buddha's mercy, bending and convenient, collapsing on the luo mountain, drying up the sea of blood, extending the three treasures of the dragon heaven, doing all the merits of The Pri, and specializing in the study of wonderful fruits. For this reason, according to the teachings to the faith girl, wear it with her, and license it forever.
Right Hand to Pay Confession Blood Lake Plant Fu Yan Sheng Letter Daughter Received. Wishing that the Buddha's light shines, the four lives of Li cha, the seven ancestors of Enchen, enter the Sea of Vila Nature, and the same as the Flower Tibetan Dharma Gate.
Shi Wei republic of China commemorated the 3rd year of September 15 to give.
On the right side of the main text is a beautiful print of the "Blood Lake Victory Society", the upper part of which depicts four people, two who look like buddhist monks, and the one in the middle riding a monster, judging from the flag flying behind it, that is, the "Nether Sect Leader". Behind them was a soul-inducing boy, and the banner of the aforementioned "Nether Sect Leader" seemed to be held by him. This distinctive image is described in a number of good books. For example, the Qing dynasty's "Illustration of the Yin QiWen" is interpreted in the form of a picture and text, and the articles are analyzed. Among them, the "removal of the tiles and stones of the road" is written: "The new An Lu Shize is determined to be thick-minded, and when he sees the tiles and stones on the road, he will remove them, and when he is sixty years old, he will be sick, and there will be two children holding a banner to introduce him to the Underworld Sect Leader, and he will be engraved with a convenient heart, and he should increase his life expectancy." The monk folded the two branches of the osmanthus flower and taught it, and it was said that this er had always been the reward for removing the tile stone. He was able to return the soul, and after the life expectancy of ninety, he had one, and the second son, Ju Dengkejia. The note "The second boy holding a banner to introduce the Nether Sect Leader" is quite consistent with the image on the painting. It can also be inferred that the monk on the right side of the print should be the "Mu Lian Monk". The one on the left side of the picture is dressed like a famous Taoist, which may reflect the mixture of Buddha and Tao in folk beliefs. Beneath the four of them lay a cloud of good fortune, separating Hades from Hell. Below this, there is a pool of blood surrounded by a railing, of which four or five women are in the water, and several lotus flowers lined with lotus leaves float on the surface of the water. Although they had a face full of affection, they did not appear similar to the situation of all sentient beings struggling in the blood and water after the trial of the Ten Halls of the Jade Calendar to treasure money. The reason for this is that after the "Broken Blood Lake" ceremony is completed, the female Dao undead can transcend and be free from the pain of reincarnation. This is like what Mu Lian exhorted Shan Shan to call it, "I accepted the use of the gold box of colored coins and broke away from the net of heaven and earth." Therefore, the woman in the lake of blood is still full of confidence in the future.
The images of Buddha and Taoism that appear in the shangdeographs reflect the fusion of folk culture in themselves. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Confucian merchant Fang Qixun mentioned in the letter "Traces of Fish and Geese": "The seven seven of the first ci do the Shakya dojo, and the final seven Daoists do the broken blood lake, and set off the flame mouth at night, but do the heart of the son of man, and talk from the common ear." Fang Qixun regarded himself as a reader, and he believed that doing shakya dojos, breaking blood lakes and flaming mouths during funerals was just a matter of chatting with customs. It can be seen from this that under normal circumstances, the "Broken Blood Lake" ceremony is performed by Taoist priests. Of course, there are also places where monks do it. For example, according to Xu Ji's description, in Xu Village, Beixiang, Shexian County, the locals did the Breaking Blood Lake and untying the knots during the "May Seventh" period. At that time, a square stool will be placed in the "Treasure House of Blood Lake" with a wooden basin in the stool, a bowl in the basin, and a small boat inside the bowl, and the boat is covered with the tablets of the mother-in-law. Hanging above the paper city are green cloth knots, and each knot is wrapped with tea leaves and Shunzhi coins, and the words on each Shunzhi copper coin are painted red with cinnabar. When the "Broken Blood Lake" ceremony was held, the believers, under the auspices of the monks, were tied by each descendant, and the rest of the family went to grab the Shunzhi money that had fallen to the ground, and it was said that those who found it could avoid evil. After that, he also threw the Shunzhi money in hand at the Mulian Niangniang tablet standing on the boat in the city, and those who hit it were blessed. Then down is the monk breaking the four doors, but seeing the monk holding a tin staff, singing one door, breaking one door, the repertoire sung is nothing more than "The Five Aggregates Are Empty" and "Pregnant in October". But whoever breaks a door, the descendants will drink a bowl of ecstasy soup (that is, red bean soup)...
Breakdown of the Ritual of Breaking Hell, Manuscript of the Celebratory Candle Incense Society, Thirteen Years of Qing Guangxu (1887)
The "Nether Sect Master" on the print is also the Jizo King Bodhisattva. According to folklore, the Application Dojo of the Bodhisattva Jizo King was at Mount Jiuhua in Chizhou, Anhui. From the Ming Dynasty at the latest, Huizhou believers usually had to go to Jiuhua Mountain during their lifetimes, especially to the Tiantai Peak on Jiuhua Mountain to enter the mountain for incense, called "Chao Jiuhua". In addition to Chaojiuhua, some also want to go to Qiyun Mountain Chaoxiang, commonly known as "Shangqiyun". In the Qing Dynasty, the "Huayun Jinxiang" that combined "Chaojiuhua" and "Shangqiyun" was formed, and related to it was the "Huayun Society" that was quite common in the folk. When participating in the "Huayun Society", good men and women often have to do the ceremony of "breaking the blood lake". In this regard, a 1916 transcript of the "Miscellaneous Words of Enlightenment" describes it as follows:
...... Make incense wishes, go to Jiuhua, bathe and fast; go up to Qiyun, chant the sutra Buddha, touch the gods; ... Holding bowls, dragging tin rods, breaking the blood lake; carrying the soul pavilion, holding the Hua banner, hanging gold and silver hanging; putting on the Mengshan Mountain, putting on the flame mouth, the golden mountain and silver mountain; praying confession, fasting the ten kings, passing on the scriptures and making sacrifices; leading the spirits, spinning the lamp tree, doing the seven upper churches; walking full of scattered, thanking the gods and Buddhas, the paper horns; repaying the kindness of relatives, eliminating sins, and summoning the degree of super-ascension.
Usually, at the same time as the pilgrimage to the mountain incense procession, the villagers who stay at home need to clean the ancestral hall, arrange the prayer hall, and display the "Ten Halls Of Yama King Reward Good and Punish Evil Map". These measures are intended to warn the people of the world that anyone who commits a crime of blasphemy in life, even if he escapes punishment in the yang realm, will never escape the punishment of the king of Yama after death. During the incense festival, feasts are held everywhere, and relatives and friends gather. At that time, all the schedules (such as laying, relieving boredom, fasting, bathing, greeting the gods, hell, arhats, broken blood lakes, untying, chasing places, and flaming mouths, etc.) must be written in advance on rhubarb table paper and announced on a list. The existing manuscript of the "Yin Affairs Writing And Neglecting" contains dozens of sparse texts such as "Qiu Yu Shu", "Jiu Hua Shu", "Qi Yun Shu", "Guanyin Shu", "Sanguan Shu", "Recitation Of Scriptures", "Sending Fire Loosely", "White Tiger Shu", "Kaiguang Feng Rampant", "Mengshan Shu", "Shan Hui Xu Shen Shu", "Soul Hunting", "Hell Shu", "An Shan Shu", "Blood Lake Shu" and "Li Qishu", reflecting many aspects related to "Huayun Hui" and "Broken Blood Lake". Among some of the existing image props, the picture showing the Blood Lake in Hades is the most.
The Blood Lake in the Huizhou Documents
Shexian ritual props, private collection
Wuyuan legal props, provided by Bu Yongjian, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Third, the extensive impact of the "Broken Blood Lake"
The ceremony of "Breaking The Blood Lake" is, of course, not only seen in Huizhou. More than 20 years ago, at a cold stall in Shanghai, I saw a batch of religious ritual manuscripts from Songyang, Zhejiang Province, including "Blood Lake Family", "Blood Lake Treasure Confession" and "Taishang Blood Lake Treasure Confession". In addition, as far as I know, even in Huizhou, the practices in the six counties of yifu are not the same. In 1928, a seventy-six-year-old lady in Beixiang, Shexian County, died, and at the beginning of the "Funeral Account" left by Qi Dexintang, who handled the funeral, there was a "seven singles", which mentioned that by May 7, "untie the broken blood lake", which can be compared with xu Jizhi's description. The grandmother of Zhan Mingduo, the last Xiucai of Wuyuan, died, and the family extended the monks to confess, "from the altar of purification, to the detention, to Shenwen, to open, as well as to break the blood lake and cross the Immortal Bridge, all of which were done as usual." According to Zhan Shi's Zhang Hui body autobiography "My Little History", "On the night of the Broken Blood Lake, there was a little monk dressed as a woman, sitting in the pool of the Blood Lake, and suddenly saw the god card, and flew to a dragonfly, everyone was amazed, and everyone said that this merit was not small, and the good deeds were cited as the evidence of 'Feathering Dengxian'. This scene is different from shexian's approach.
The "Broken Blood Lake" in the Letters of the Huishang merchants in the Qing Dynasty, the Documents of the Fangkeng Jiang Clan in Shexian County
In traditional times, the stage of the drama and the holding of the "Broken Blood Lake" ceremony have had a profound impact on civil society. On this point, in the past, researchers often quoted a passage from the Republic of China's "Chronicle of Qimen County": After the lectures of the Self-theorist Zhu Xi in Huizhou, from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty for more than 700 years, "The Ziyang school has been endless, and the Jiang, Daixing and Anhui schools have swept the world." Ran dominated the hearts and minds of the people in the middle and lower society for three hundred years, allowing the Zheng family to be pushed. Indeed, this sentence vividly summarizes a major salient feature of Huizhou culture, that is, elite culture and popular culture coexist and prosper. In the spread of folk popular culture, the influence of the "Zheng clan" (that is, Zheng Benmu Lianju) is particularly important.
Zheng Benmu even plays the drama of the world, and his singing lyrics are "clutching sorrow and joy, suppressing and exhorting and punishing", which is extremely infectious. Many of the proverbs mentioned in the play have always been familiar to folk women and children. For example, "the adopter knows the grace of his parents", "The good man deceives the heavens and does not deceive", "There is a god who raises his head three feet", "The king of Yama is destined to die three times, and he will not leave anyone to five more", "Try to see the eaves of the water, and the point is not different", "but you will look at the crab with a cold eye, see how long you are rampaging", etc., the language comes from experience, and can be used as a maxim view, so it soon became a popular saying in the streets of the alley. In particular, the "three great sufferings" sung by Liu Siniang in the play "Three Temples Looking for Mother" have become the mantra of many women. In Zheng Benmu's continuous play, Liu Shi sang: "Life should not be a woman's body, and it is hard to be a woman." The suffering of the daughter-in-law is also the same, and it is said that the suffering of the mother is with the world to hear. Then she counted the pains of her october pregnancy:
I have not seen it all the time since I was a child, and it is difficult to be happy. Pregnant with white dew in January, peach blossom-shaped in February.
Pregnancy in March is divided into men and women, and pregnancy in April is complete. Pregnancy in May becomes bone and bone, and fetal hair occurs in June.
The right hand moves in July, and the left hand is extended in August. In September, the fetus was conceived three times, and the fetus was conceived in October.
The belly is about to decompose, and a wish is made to the gods in advance. Make a wish to bless your heart, and you will not know that once your stomach hurts.
The pain was so hot that the heat did not connect, and the pain was cold and sweaty. Biting the green hair in his mouth, he gave birth to a son who was worth thousands of dollars.
When the ashes were covered, the blood was all over the ground, and the dirty clothes were washed with blood. Three dynasties and five days are still in arrears of milk, please be attentive to a milk.
……
It's three years of breastfeeding bitterness, whoops! The adopted son knows the grace of his parents, and he cannot say enough hardships, and his life cannot be a woman's body.
The lyrics detail the various cares and fears in the process of children's growth, singing three sighs, and it is too many to repeat. Similar to this poignant sadness, later also formed a lot of borrowed themes to renovate the folk rap. For example, the category of "Mu Lian Seeking Mother's Blood Basin complaining" is much the same as the "three great sufferings" sung by Liu Siniang. In the 1935 Huizhou Folk Religion Manuscript, there are also "Wen Wu Geng", in which the repeated chanting is also "The blood lake suffers a lot, and it is all a woman's body". These spoken words, clear words, and vigilance have become the golden bell treasures of the world.
Huizhou Manuscript "Blood Basin Complaint"
In addition to the popularity in China, the ceremony of "Breaking the Blood Lake" also appears many times among overseas Chinese. In December 2017, in Paris, France, I turned to a religious ritual book called "Attacking on Texts and Platoons", which was published in March of the fourth year of the Vietnamese Restoration (1910), which also included "Prison Breaking Altar", "Unjust Relief Altar" and "Blood Lake Altar", although some of the text of the book is different from the Chinese language, but from the illustrations in it, the rituals such as "Breaking Hell" and "Breaking blood lake" are obviously the same. On this point, perhaps it can be left to be studied later.
Illustration of "Altar of Blood Lake", "Attacking the Text" collected by the French Asian Society
Vietnam's Broken Blood Lake Documents, Online Materials