There are eight saints in Chinese history, and seven of them are like thunder, so why is the sword saint alone unknown?

What kind of person can be called a "saint".

It must be those who have high character, great wisdom, and who have made incomparable contributions in a certain field to be qualified to be called "holy."

For example, we are familiar with Wensheng Confucius and Wusheng Guanyu.

Of course, Chinese culture is broad and profound, and there are characters in various fields who can be called "holy".

Later, the world summed up and summarized eight, corresponding to the eight fields of literature, martial arts, books, painting, tea, wine, medicine, and swords.

Among them, the first seven saints all existed like thunder, but only the Sword Saint was unknown, and few people still knew about it. This is strange, since it can be called a "saint", why is the fame so low?

The name of the Seven Saints

Although today's protagonist is the Sword Saint, since the "Eight Saints" are mentioned, it is necessary to briefly understand the other seven. Let's see if they can really live up to the title of "saints" as history says.

Confucius and Guan Yu, the two saints of literature and martial arts, needless to say, have been gods since ancient times, so there is no problem in calling them "saints".

The third is wang Xizhi, the "book saint". This great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is still a lifelong idol for all those who study calligraphy. Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is like Li Bai's poem: "Only heaven should exist."

In particular, the "Orchid Pavilion Preface" written by Wang Xizhi after he was drunk is a legend in calligraphy, and even he himself cannot recreate it.

In history, Wang Xizhi's name can indeed be described as thunderous, and in terms of morality, ability and influence, he is also a veritable "book saint".

The fourth is Wu Daozi, the "Painting Sage". It is said that there is a specialty in the art industry, painting is not the same as we think, painting can be proficient in anything. Some people are good at landscapes, some are good at characters, and some are good at flowers and birds.

For example, the Italian missionary Lang Shining, who studied Chinese painting for 50 years after coming to China, although it reached the master level, it was limited to animals, flowers and birds, and it seemed to have poor charm for figures and landscape paintings. In other words, there are very few all-round painters in history.

But Wu Daozi was such an all-rounder, and he was proficient in the mainstream genres of the time, such as landscapes, characters, birds and beasts, and even Buddha statues, gods and ghosts.

In addition, on any carrier that can drop the pen, he can show his peak painting level.

His paintings are too difficult to surpass, even if they can be compared to him in one aspect, but they are not all-rounders. Therefore, he was called "painting saint" by future generations, and there is no suspense.

The remaining four are The Tea Saint Lu Yu, the Wine Saint Du Kang, the Medical Saint Zhang Zhongjing, and the Sword Saint Pei Min.

People who like to drink tea have probably read Lu Yu's "Tea Classic", in which the history, circulation, production and tea drinking techniques of tea are recorded in detail, and it is like an encyclopedia of tea.

There is no need to say more about the wine saint Du Kang, in Cao Cao's "Short Song Line": "How to relieve worries, only Du Kang", is enough to explain Du Kang's position in wine culture.

Zhang Zhongjing, one of the three great divine doctors in Chinese history, his magnum opus "On Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" is the basic principle of TCM clinical practice and the soul of TCM. Therefore, only he can be called a "healer".

We look at the above seven, casually mention one, that is a thunderous figure in history, some even influenced to this day.

However, the eighth sword saint Pei Min was rarely known.

So what does his "sword" refer to? Even if it is named by posterity, it is still unknown, why is this?

A mural at Tiangong Temple made Pei Min famous

Sword Saint Pei Min, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty.

According to the records of the New Book of Tang, Vol. 22, among the three masterpieces recognized by the people of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to Li Bai's poems and Zhang Xu's cursive writing, Pei Min's sword dance was counted.

Pei Min is good at sword dance, and his sword dance is all from the heart, free to do as he pleases, without any fixed moves.

However, for a long time, people did not know his sword dance talent, until the mural of Tiangong Temple came out, and the world was in an uproar.

In the Tang Dynasty's "DuYizhi", it is recorded that Pei Min's mother died during the Kaiyuan period. In order to express filial piety, Pei Min wanted to ask Saint Wu Daozi to paint a mural at the Tiangong Temple to surpass the undead for his mother. The reason why Wu Daozi was invited was because the painter was an all-rounder, and the gods, ghosts, immortals, and Buddhas were omnipotent.

And Wu Daozi heard that Pei Min's sword dance crown was unparalleled, but he never believed it.

Wu Daozi has traveled the world and seen countless extraordinary dances, and the sword dance wants to reach the pinnacle, only a woman with a soft body can do it, Pei Min is an iron-blooded man, how can he exert the essence of the sword dance?

For this reason, Wu Daozi deliberately tried Pei Min to see how Pei Min's sword dance was.

Pei Min did not dare to be idle, immediately took off the filial piety clothes on his body, and then drew the sword around his waist, and a "horse flying, left and right" began his performance.

Then Wu Daozi only saw a silver dragon flying up and down, sometimes slowly like a cloud, sometimes as fast as lightning, and where the sword passed, it was accustomed to the wind, which made people have a strange feeling of entering the otherworld.

However, just when Wu Daozi was still immersed, Pei Min's sword collection style made him quite amazed.

The original words in the book are:

"Throw the sword into the clouds with closed eyes, tens of feet high, and if the electric light shoots down, Min leads the hand to hold the sheath, and the sword penetrates the room."

This means that Pei Min threw the sword in his hand into the air with his eyes closed, like a silver dragon flying in the sky, and then shot straight down, steadily caught by the sword sheath in Pei Min's hand, so that the sword body went straight into the sword sheath, like a silver dragon returning to the sea.

After wu Daozi read it, his heart was magnificent, and he immediately raised his pen and painted a mural of "the magnificence of the world" on the wall.

Since then, the two not only formed a deep friendship, but the story of this mural has also spread, making Pei Min famous and finally recorded in "Du Yi Zhi".

Shixian Li Bai met Pei Min when he was an official in the imperial court, and also saw Pei Min's sword dance.

Li Bai himself liked sword dance, and after seeing Pei Min's sword dance, he was satisfied and convinced, and then he learned from his teacher, which led to Li Bai, who was the second in the world's swordplay.

Of course, the first nature is Pei Min, with his achievements in sword dance, indeed no one can compare. In addition, Pei Min fought all his life and participated in many wars against the Xi people, Khitan and Tubo, and made great contributions to the harmony and stability of the country.

Therefore, later generations of people called Pei Min a "sword saint".

However, his fame can be described as obscure compared to the previous seven, and even many people do not know his existence.

The reason behind the obscurity

Among the first seven, Confucius's Confucianism can make the country stable and harmonious, Guan Yu's loyalty can show the way for the world, and Wang Xizhi's calligraphy and Wu Daozi's paintings can become the objects of study for posterity.

The remaining tea, wine, and medicine are closely related to people's lives and are indispensable.

Although Pei Min has the name of "Sword Saint", compared to the others, the audience is much smaller, and even seems to be a little out of place, at best it is just a way of pastime, and there is no practical use.

Moreover, the dynasties after the Tang Dynasty did not have a dashing and open environment, and the sword dance had no room for development.

Over time, Pei Min became obscure.

In fact, this also reflects the way the ancients handled the world. Although the sword dance was carried forward by Pei Min, it was only a hobby and was not the right way.

The right way in people's minds is that people who read books can be on the list, officials can be fair and honest, businessmen should be honest and trustworthy, and doctors should be hanging pots and save the world.

It is precisely because people's hearts are full of the right path, so the sword dance is classified into the category of "playthings lose their minds", and slowly and naturally no one cares.

However, this does not negate Pei Min's contribution and talent in sword dance, otherwise it would not be possible to be on a par with Li Bai and Zhang Xu.

References: Old Book of Tang, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Jin