In ancient times, people's thinking was not as meticulous and advanced as it is now, and the restriction of strange forces and gods often existed on people, especially for some unexplained phenomena in nature, which was always attributed to ghosts and gods, because this phenomenon was too common at that time, so the theory of ghosts and gods was considered to be true for a considerable period of time.
People describe these invisible things in nature as Taoists, Taoists, half-immortals and other professions that claim to be able to communicate with the gods, which makes this unknown ghost and god have a greater proportion in people's hearts, and even from the initial curiosity to later fear, and later there is also a novel with related descriptions - "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".
This book, written during the Warring States Period, covers a wide range of social knowledge before the pre-Qin period, including but not limited to history, astronomy, mythology, animals, plants, medicine, etc.
According to the records and analysis in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, hell is not in the underground as people understand, but in the Bohai Sea, and even Ji Xiaolan of the Qing Dynasty has found clues and tried his best to delete them.
The emergence and development of the concept of "hell".
Even many people in modern times still have a simple worldview about hell in their hearts, and in the minds of the older generation, after death, people will set foot on Huangquan Road, walk to the Nai He Bridge, and look at the flowers blooming on the other side of the bank, and the raging Lethe River below, or walk across the Nai He Bridge, or take the ferryman's boat.
In short, the bowl of Meng Po soup before this is the only way, so we often say that it is helpless to meet again in this life, but the encounter in the next life, Meng Po soup goes down, and from then on each goes its own way, such a scene may be extremely magnificent, but it is the hell in the eyes of most people, a place where a person will go after death, the concept of "hell" appeared very early.
The concept of hell is very deep in people's impression, and it is inseparable from death, in ancient times, people's survival is a problem, and there is no concept of ancestors and sacrifices, for those who die by accident or because of old age in the tribe, the corpse will basically be directly abandoned, without any funeral and rituals.
Until the Shang Dynasty, people began to generally believe in the existence of the soul, and even showed great fear and reverence for its expression, so the sacrificial activities after death were also a very important priority at that time, and its main purpose was to serve the rulers and nobles, in their cognition, the underworld is the mirror image of the yang world, and the yang world is the true reflection of the underworld.
The underworld mentioned here is actually "resisting" in the yang world in their understanding, the Yin Shang aristocracy is in a dominant position, oppressing the people and slaves to constantly promote production, and in hell, it is still a similar situation, the ruling class and the ruled class still exist, but the service of the ruling class has changed from human beings to ghosts and gods, and the place has changed from human beings to hell.
Therefore, since the reign of the Shang Dynasty, there has been a vague concept of hell, the law and system are to let the people of the yang world form a hierarchy, and the sacrifices and prayers are to let the people of hell form a hierarchy, but at that time, it was only clear that the existence of hell was not clearly stated.
Judging from the documentary records at that time, hell is the continuation of human life, still hierarchical, everything needed in the world is still needed in a world full of ghosts, nothing more than the difference in its own nature, Cong people have become ghosts, and the rest of the changes are not very big, but in the subsequent development, people's concepts of ghosts and hell have begun to have social attributes.
This is inseparable from the imprisonment and ideological propaganda of the rulers, who often call the shots as a kind of superior, and they compare themselves to gods, the so-called merchant suburbs, indicating their recognition of the underworld, and believing that the power of the king is exercised by the orders of the gods, and in general, this concept of gods is also evolved from ghosts.
The human soul is called a ghost, so the place where the soul gathers, it also leads to the concept of hell, that is, the final destination of the soul, in Chu Ci, it is emphasized that the soul lives in the Yellow Spring, which is called the hidden capital, which is also the earliest name of hell, and even in some cultural relics and murals unearthed later, there is a description of the "hidden capital".
Judging from the specific content of the mural, the animals above are not real things in nature, the most appearing is the tiger head and cow body, and there has been a divine beast holding a halberd, and there are horns on the head, and later after research, these things did not appear out of thin air in the hell that the ancients said, each strange animal, has its own unique function.
For example, the existence holding a halberd, the main task is to hook the soul, and most poets also write poems based on it, so that the image of hell is constantly enriched in people's impressions.
Generalization of the idea of hell
After the unification of the Six Kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang carried out the practice of burning books and Confucianism in order to strengthen the autocracy of thought, and almost all the classics were burned, but the idea of hell and the underworld has always existed, and some things have been preserved in the form of legends, although they have lost their book records.
By the time of the Han Dynasty, there was a saying about "Mount Tai curing ghosts" in the society, mainly about some of the behaviors of Emperor Taishan about summoning spirits, and was called "Sun".
"Sun" is the ruler of the ghost world, that is, the supreme leader of hell, who knows the blessings and misfortunes of people, and is in charge of people's life and death.
This concept has continued until the great chaos of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties later, at this time the underworld under the rule of Taishan Mansion is also called the underworld, in which there are also officials set up, and the candidates are all after the death of the people in the yang world, because at this time people believe that there is no absolute boundary between the yang world and the underworld.
The conversion between the human world and the underworld can always be completed inadvertently, as long as it is in the human world, it can be achieved without any special way or method, once a person enters the underworld because of death, Taishan Mansion will appoint these ghosts to hold different positions according to the different positions in life.
After entering the underworld, some people will even find that their former friends and friends have a place here, and in the underworld, there are also the same human feelings and corruption and bribery as the yang world, such as in the novel Journey to the West.
Because Li Shimin promised to save the Dragon King of Jinghe was killed by Wei Zheng in a dream, so he carried his head that night to ask for his life, after which Li Shimin had a serious illness, and when he was dying, a monk had put a letter in Li Shimin's hand, and asked him to hand it over to a ghost in the underworld, so there was a later three-way confrontation and the Tang King traveled to the underworld.
It is precisely because of the dredging in the relationship that Li Shimin has the opportunity to return to the yang world, from the legend of "Mount Tai to cure ghosts" to the narration in the novel, we can be sure that hell and the underworld did exist in the concept of people at that time, and they still occupied a certain position in the continuous development.
Judging from the specific location, the legendary underworld is under Mount Tai, and the underworld in the novel is directly underground, but in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", hell is located in an unusual place - "Bohai".
Ji Xiaolan and the Classic of Mountains and Seas
The Qianlong period was the heyday of feudal society, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, the Quartet was developed and the song and dance were leveled, and the Qianlong Emperor had nothing to do one day, so he appointed his scholar Ji Xiaolan to collect some book knowledge, integrate it together, and compile a "Siku Quanshu", which is a book with summary significance.
It took Ji Xiaolan a total of ten years to create, but I don't know what the reason is, not long after the book was written, Emperor Qianlong ordered all the books to be burned, and Ji Xiaolan was not annoyed at this time, but showed a very willing attitude, there is only one reason, that is, he wants to destroy the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
The so-called Classic of Mountains and Seas, which mainly records some mountains, rivers and oceans and folk anecdotes and legends, because it is a collection of predecessors' information, so the statements are true and false, some of the myths and monsters portrayed people would rather believe that they have, not believe that they do not, and even some too true and appropriate descriptions make people inevitably wonder if someone has seen it with their own eyes.
In one of the passages in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there is a description of hell, but it is not called the underworld or the underworld in the name, it is directly called Guixu, it is worth mentioning that this hell with a fantastic name is not in the underground as people understand, but in the Bohai Sea, because Guixu refers to the place where the sun and moon land in the book.
The so-called "return to the ruins" itself also has the meaning of returning, and it also refers to the place where the sun and the moon set, because this place is a vast ocean, deep and barren, so it is the place where the underworld is defended.
According to the description in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there was a deep trench in the void, and there were many souls of the dead wandering in the trench, not only that, but in addition to the rising sun in the sky, there was still a sun running in the trench, like a master in hell, which played a role in attracting these souls.
This is the redefinition of hell in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the structure is similar but breaks people's previous cognition, and even some people go to find the place of "returning to the ruins" after learning about the mystery of the depths of the Bohai Sea, but there is still no result.
epilogue
Whether it is hell, the underworld, or the ruins in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, these are the emotional sustenance of the ancient people, and they are also a challenge to the status quo of the excessively backward society at that time.
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