Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, there are many cursed songs in legend, and the listeners are either desperate or killed, or destroyed their families, and the most serious ones even have songs of national subjugation. As far as I know, the earliest recorded cursed song was born in the Shang Dynasty. The historical account goes like this:
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According to the "Records of History", Emperor Xin of the Shang Dynasty was an extremely intelligent man, who had strong learning ability, infinite strength, and was able to speak eloquently. However, he did not use his wisdom in the right way, but specialized in crooked ways.
The King of Lu likes to listen to lascivious music. Of course, we can't imagine what this kind of music looks like now, and Sima Qian only uses four words to describe it: the sound of jingjing.
Di Xin, accompanied by the sound of melancholy, chased the women naked. Di Xin and Daji invented all kinds of cruel punishments to kill living beings.
In ancient times, the music could communicate with ghosts and gods, and the people could be educated. For example, Shun sang "South Wind", so that the world was governed.
The poet of the Funan Wind grows the sound of the voice, and the music and the heavens and the earth agree, and the hearts of all nations are pleased.
Because the song "South Wind" is a growth sound, the will of the compound heaven and earth, and it has won the joy of all nations. However, the song of the King of Lu did not conform to the will of heaven and earth, so the country perished.
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Several generations later, in the Spring and Autumn Period, in the post station by the Pushui River, Wei Linggong was half sleepless at night. Just as he was pacing in the room, he suddenly heard a strange piano sound. It was a piece of music he had never heard before, like a temptation in the darkness.
He asked the people around him if they had heard the piano, and the people around him said no. He summoned the music official Shi Juan again, and he said to Shi Juan:
I heard the sound of the drums and pianos, asked left and right, and did not hear them. It resembles a ghost, and it is written for me to hear.
Shi Juan heard. He asked Shi Juan to listen carefully and record the score. Shi Juanduan sat down, listened carefully, and actually recorded the score.
Shi Juan told Wei Linggong that the score had already been written down. But not yet familiar. Wei Linggong allowed him to practice one more night. The next day Shi Juan said yes, so they got up and went to Jinguo.
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Duke Jinping set up a banquet on the Shihui platform to entertain Wei Linggong. When the drink was in full swing, Wei Linggong said, I have brought a new song, please play it for you. Then he ordered the master to take the piano and play it.
Before the song could be played, Jinguo's musician stopped him. The Jinguo musician said that this was the sound that Shi Yan had made for the King of Sui. After the death of King Huan, Shi Yan threw himself into Pushui and died. This is a cursed song, and the country that hears this song is bound to perish.
But Jin Pinggong said, I just like this kind of music, let Shi Juan finish him. Jin Pinggong turned to his musician and asked if there was any more sad and moving song. The music official said that the Yellow Emperor's song of worshipping ghosts and gods is more moving, but your virtue is too shallow to listen to.
Jin Pinggong insisted on listening, and the musician had to play. Suddenly, a fierce storm came, and the tiles were blown all over the sky. In the following three years, there was a great drought in the Jin Dynasty, and there was no grass.
"When the wind came and the rain followed, the flying corridor tiles, left and right, all running. Ping Gong was terrified and crouched between the porch houses. The Jin Dynasty was in a drought and the red land was three years old. ”
After this, the Jin state gradually weakened, the six secretaries were all large, and the three families of Zhao Han and Wei were divided into Jin.
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Is there really a cursed tune? I don't think so. What Tai Shi Gong wants to express is not that there is really such a thing as a curse. The so-called cursed tunes are nothing more than spiritual opium.
The emperors of antiquity played music not to entertain themselves, but to govern the people. In the Confucian concept, music is a tool for propagating virtue, and the music played must be compounded and standardized.
"The king of the ancient Ming Dynasty, who is happy, does not entertain himself, but is happy and will be cured."
When the King of Lu and the Duke of Jinping indulged in this kind of melancholy, they could no longer focus on governing the country. Then he no longer listened to the advice of his loyalists, and no longer listened to the voices of the people. The state is bound to decay.