There are many gods and immortals in Chinese mythology, once prominent for a while, but slowly retreating.
Especially after the appearance of the two mysterious masterpieces "Journey to the West" and "The Evolution of the Fengshen Gods", the traditional Chinese gods and immortals have come to a major reshuffle in the folk, and some fabricated new gods have replaced the old gods. For example, taiyi who is going to talk about today to save the suffering Tianzun is confused by Taiyi Zhenren, the master of Nezha in the "Fengshen Yanyi".
In fact, Taiyi Zhenren was invented by Xu Zhonglin according to the name of Taiyi Saving Suffering Tianzun, taiyi originally means "Taiyi", that is, the meaning of Taichu and Taishi, and it is really not a name that ordinary immortals can use.
In fact, Taiyi Saving Suffering Tianzun was the embodiment of Yuan Shi Tianzun, a top Taoist leader, who was originally one of the "Six Emperors" with the same name as the Jade Emperor, and the Qinghua Emperor of the Eastern Pole who ruled over all souls.
Eastern Pole Qinghua The Great in Taoist murals
The so-called "Six Emperors" are the six emperors who govern the upper, lower, eastern, western, southern and northern six sides: the Jade Emperor, the Emperor of Gouchen Shanggong, the Emperor of zhongtian Arctic Ziwei, the Emperor of Dongji Qinghua, the Emperor of Antarctic Changsheng, and the Emperor of Houtu after Chengtian imitation.
The Qinghua Emperor of the Eastern Pole, in addition to calling Taiyi to save the Suffering Heavenly Zun, also had the titles of Seeking Voice to Save the Suffering Heavenly Zun and the Qingxuan Jiuyang God, and he was the right and left arm of the Jade Emperor and was responsible for the examination of all the immortals who ascended to the Celestial Realm, equivalent to the personnel minister of the Heavenly Court.
In the earliest period, that is, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State had a temple dedicated to taiyi god (Eastern Emperor Taiyi), and later taiyi's belief was absorbed by Taoism, and the Eastern Emperor became the Eastern Prince, that is, the Eastern China Emperor; Taiyi became Taiyi to save the suffering Tianzun.
The title of Qinghua The Great appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty and was the product of Emperor Huizong's admiration of Taoism. He changed the Tianning Temple to the Shenxiao Yuqing Wanshou Palace, and set up statues of the Immortal Emperor jun and the Qinghua emperor to anesthetize the people and cover up the incompetence of the rule.
Tai Yi saves the suffering Heavenly Dignity
But why is it called to save the Suffering Heavenly Dignity?
Because the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin was too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Taoism pulled Taiyi in and made him take on the responsibility of saving suffering and saving difficulties, and competed with Guanyin for business. It is said that when people encounter difficulties, as long as they shout "Taiyi save the suffering Tianzun", the Tianzun will incarnate to save. And there are many avatars, sometimes Taoists, sometimes doctors, sometimes police :)
Later, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of Taiyi to save the suffering Tianzun, Taoism also referred to the deeds of the Buddhist Jizo King Bodhisattva, so that Taiyi saved the suffering Tianzun to increase the function of saving the souls in the Hades Mansion.
However, there were too many hellish souls, and Taiyi's rescue of the Suffering Heavenly Dignity was really too busy, so he used the incarnation Dafa to manifest the "Ten Directions to Save the Suffering Heavenly Dignity" to divide the slice management, that is:
Eastern Jade Treasure Emperor Tianzun, Southern Xuanzhen Wanfu Tianzun, Western Taimiao Extreme Heavenly Zun, Northern Xuanshang Yuchen Tianzun, SoutheastErn Haosheng Du Life Heavenly Zun, Northeast Fangdu Immortal Saint Tianzun, Southwest Tailing Void Emperor Tianzun, Northwest Immeasurable Taihua Heavenly Zun, Upper Jade Void Emperor Heavenly Zun, Lower True Emperor Cave God Heavenly Zun.
It doesn't matter if you can't remember so many Heavenly Lords, in short, the Ten Directions Saving Suffering Heavenly Ancestor later became the Ten Heavenly Lords:
The King of Qin Guang in the First Hall, the King of Chujiang in the Second Hall, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty in the Third Hall, the King of the Five Senses in the Fourth Hall, the King of Yan Luo in the Fifth Hall, the King of Bian Cheng in the Sixth Hall, the King of Taishan in the Seventh Hall, the King of the City in the Eighth Hall, the King of equality in the Nine Halls, and the King of the Wheel of the Ten Halls.
——These names will be reviewed by the older generation every year when the Qingming Festival is burned. (A separate chapter of the next laugh is elaborated)
The most cattle thing about Tai Yi saving the Suffering Heavenly Dignity is that he can eliminate karma.
Karma is a religious term introduced by Buddhism, which refers to the consequences of human actions, similar to the meaning of cause and effect. All religions believe that karmic results are the most difficult to eliminate and block, and in Buddhism there is a saying that miraculous power is not the enemy of karma. However, Taiyi Saved the Suffering Heavenly Ancestor could turn the blood lake, the symbol of karmic fruit and hellish karma, into a lotus pond.
Moreover, the sinners who are beaten into the hell of the Blood Lake are generally women, and if they want to save their relatives who are trapped in the Blood Lake, they can only pray to Taiyi to save the Suffering Heavenly Dignity, and pray with the rune taught by the Taiyi Salvation Suffering Heavenly Ancestor to be effective. ——This Taoist saying, from the current marketing perspective, can be said to have pinpointed the market segment and ate superstitious people to death.
In short, Taiyi saved the suffering Heavenly Dignity, called Taiyi Fu Shen in heaven, known as the Great Benevolent One in the world, called the Riyao Emperor in hell, called the Lion Ming King when he was evil in the outer road, and called the Dongyuan Emperor in Shuifu Yuanquan. He examined the immortals in the celestial realm, sought voices in the human realm to save suffering, and rescued the souls of the dead in the underworld, and was the goodwill messenger of Taoism in the folk and the main force against Buddhism.
By the way, Taiyi's Rescue Heavenly Zun Mount is not simple, it is a nine-headed lion, called the Nine Spirits Yuansheng in "Journey to the West", and is one of the few monsters that can win against Sun Wukong. With a roar, the nine lions were able to open the gates of the Nine Ghosts of Hell.
But at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, folk religion flourished, more and more gods and immortals saved suffering and rescued suffering, Taiyi rescued suffering Tianzun in propaganda can not play these new forces, slowly by the people ignored, forgotten, "Fengshen Yanyi" out, Taiyi Zhenren instead of Taiyi to save the suffering Tianzun, the average person only knows this Taiyi and does not know that the other Taiyi is too B.