Who in ancient times could not even enter their ancestral graves after their death?
As for the qualifications for being buried in ancestral tombs, I first thought of a small detail about the Eastern Qing Tombs and the Western Qing Tombs, that is, the tombs of emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty no longer have "two-pillar gates" after Daoguang. The stone pillar gate located between the main entrance of the mausoleum and the "Five Stone Offerings" did not have this setting after Daoguang because all the people in power after Daoguang lost their territory, including the Empress Dowager Cixi. This is the burial rule of the emperor's house in the Qing Dynasty. Those who have lost their land are not qualified to set up a "two-pillar gate". This has the same effect as the qualifications for entering the ancestral tomb mentioned in the title.
The so-called qualifications for entering the ancestral tombs are nothing more than considering the feng shui of the ancestral tombs and the impact on future generations
“The person who is buried takes advantage of the Qi. The scriptures say that the Qi will be dispersed by the wind, and the boundary water will disperse. When people gather together, they will not disperse, so it is called Feng Shui." - "The Book of Burial"
Funeral in ancient my country is a very particular thing. Feng shui is important when choosing the location of a tomb, especially the location of a family’s ancestral tomb, which must be surveyed by a feng shui master. The ancestral tombs of famous families spend a lot of money to fix the acupoints. These funeral rituals and the feng shui of ancestral tombs have always been interspersed in Chinese culture. As we now call the "Five Clothes", it mainly refers to the distance relationship between relatives, but its origin is the five filial clothes during the funeral: "Zhan Shei, Qi Shei, Da Gong, Xiao Gong, and Yi Ma". In traditional funeral rituals, men wear different mourning clothes to pay tribute to the deceased. This difference is based on the relationship between the man and the deceased, so it has evolved into the current closeness and distance between relatives.
The same is true for the location of ancestral tombs. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that Feng Shui is a treasure land. The ancients believed that the Feng Shui of ancestral tombs directly affects the fate of the family and future generations, so the site selection is particularly cautious. Once the geographical location of the ancestral tomb is determined, many rules will be set around the feng shui of the ancestral tomb, such as no thorny trees on the ancestral tomb, no corners or water channels in the four directions of the ancestral tomb, etc. Feudal emperors would sometimes start from ancestral graves for the sake of national destiny. For example, in the late Ming Dynasty, the imperial mausoleums of the Jin Kingdom were destroyed in order to cut off the Jurchens' dragon veins and protect the Ming Dynasty forever. This behavior may seem pedantic, but it also shows that the influence of Feng Shui in our country Ancient times are deeply rooted in people's hearts.
The feng shui of ancient ancestral tombs is not only reflected in the tomb itself. In the long-term cultural accumulation, many kinds of dead people are unfavorable to the feng shui of ancestral tombs. The main basis for restricting the deceased from being buried in ancestral graves is marriage and heirs, cause of death, and occupational impact.
Marriage and heirs
“If a son dies without a wife, he may ask for his deceased daughter’s bones to be buried together.” - "Yuan Shi Biography of Lienu"
General Generally speaking, a man who died unmarried was not qualified to enter the ancestral grave. In ancient times, unmarried men were regarded as a shame. Men of marriageable age who could not marry a wife were considered bachelors. Entering the ancestral grave after such a person died would affect the prosperity of future generations. Generally, families will build a separate grave for men, but in wealthy families, such separate graves are called solitary graves, which will also affect the prosperity of future generations of the family. Therefore, ghost marriages will be used to solve this problem in wealthy families. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao's beloved son Cao Chong died unmarried. Cao Cao hired the deceased Miss Zhen to be Cao Chong's wife and buried them together. According to the excavation of Cao Cao's tomb, Cao Chong's tomb belongs to the Anyang Wei royal tomb family, so It shows that ghost marriage solves the problem of qualifications for entering ancestral graves.
Similarly, unmarried women are not allowed to enter the ancestral graves. This is easy to understand, because women have to marry. Women usually follow their husbands into the ancestral graves of their husbands, and are mostly buried with their husbands. There are also burials with, Burial and other forms. Therefore, if a woman died before getting married, most families would set up a separate "aunt's grave" away from the ancestral grave. In ancient times, it was a shame for a daughter not to get married. Excluding the ancestral grave was also to avoid affecting the marriage of future generations of women. In order to solve the problem of women's solitary graves, a unique funeral method called "bone-building" was formed in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. That is, if an unmarried man or woman died among the villagers, they would be buried together, and the men and women would become in-laws at home. , called "bone and corpse relatives", they take advantage of the night to do white things as happy events. At the same time, after the burial, a marriage ceremony will be held. The father, mother and other family members of the man and woman cry and say "great joy" ”, which is also really weird!
The situation of the heirs is an important factor in deciding whether to enter the ancestral tomb. In ancient times, it was said that "there are three types of unfilial piety, and the worst is to have no heirs." If a man has no heirs after marriage, he can adopt his brother through adoption. This kind of adoption is to keep the man in the ancestral tomb. qualifications. Women cannot enjoy the benefits of adoption. If they are unable to have children, the most likely possibility is to be divorced, which satisfies the "seven out and three out" requirements of the divorce system: "no child under forty-nine, no child will be born", followed by Can't enter the man's ancestral grave.
Causes of Death
The ancients were not only afraid of death, but also in awe. Therefore, the cause of death of the deceased has a greater impact on the burial in the ancestral graves. There is an unspoken rule that the dead are not allowed to enter the ancestral graves. This is also affected by the spread of Buddhist culture, that is, karma, retribution, and reincarnation of good and evil will have an impact on future generations.
"This is a person who is destined to die and has not been reborn. Within seven or seven days, he will look for his family members, flesh and blood, and save them with the power to bring benefits. After this time, he will receive retribution according to his karma. If he is a sinner , there will be no day of liberation for thousands of years. If you commit the five uninterrupted sins, you will fall into the great hell and suffer eternal suffering for thousands of kalpas." - "Ksitigarbha Sutra"
The untimely death in Buddhism. The most important thing is unintentional death, that is, death was not expected but ended up in the end. For example, a minor illness turned into a serious illness and died without treatment. This kind of death generally does not restrict the deceased from being buried in ancestral graves. Unexpected deaths in Buddhism also include death in prison, sudden death due to excessive killing, fire, drowning, animal bites, falling off a cliff, poisoning, and starvation. In addition, the ancients were more concerned about accidental death, such as the death of a woman during childbirth, which was very detrimental to her husband and family, and was generally not allowed to enter the ancestral grave; or death from a serious disease, which was detrimental to the healthy growth of future generations, and was not allowed to enter the ancestral grave.
For another example, if a young son dies young, ancient customs believe that a person who dies young is a person who died as a result of divine punishment, and being buried in an ancestral grave will be unlucky for the future fortune of the family; a person who commits suicide is a person who has not yet reached the end of his or her lifespan. To terminate one's life is to go against heaven's will and is a great act of unfilial piety, so one cannot enter the ancestral grave. These factors also vary from person to person, but most Han people will follow the funeral customs. After the Manchus entered the customs, they also learned the funeral customs of the Han people. Many emperors' tombs clearly left places in the underground palaces and side halls, but they always left them empty. The burial of concubines involves this aspect.
Occupational influence
The occupation of the ancients affects the qualifications for burial in ancestral tombs mainly from two aspects. One is related to the heirs and the cause of death, and the other is related to the ancient ethics of respect and inferiority. There is a relationship.
In feudal society, men are vassals of the clan, and women are vassals of men. The inheritance of a man’s family line is the task and responsibility of a family. If the industry in which a man is engaged cannot allow him to take on the task of carrying on the family line, then he They cannot be buried in ancestral graves, which is the same reason as the above-mentioned descendants, such as eunuchs and monks. Monk is a profession in the temple system. The death of a monk is arranged by the temple and has nothing to do with the family; and eunuchs are almost unable to return to family life after their service time expires. Not only are they unable to carry on the family lineage, but they are also incomplete and alternative. , in ancient society, no one would be willing to be an eunuch unless their family was poor. This profession is both pitiful and deplorable.
The profession of beggars in ancient times was not just for poor and down-and-out people. According to historical records, professional beggars appeared in the Song Dynasty. They were organized and disciplined professional groups, but these people are typical Unfilial people are those who are "lazy in their four branches" as mentioned in "Mencius". Regardless of their social status or feudal ethics, such people are a shame to the family and cannot be buried in their ancestral graves.
When it comes to social status, we have to talk about the popular saying of "three religions and nine streams" in ancient my country. Just as the "Book of Rites" says, "coffins are divided into thick and thin, and people are divided into high and low." As the name suggests, the three religions refer to the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The nine streams are divided into upper, middle and lower classes through social development and division of labor. There is also a saying of "three religions, nine streams, five elements and eight works" for social industries, which embodies the characteristics of ancient Chinese society. There is a lot of respect and inferiority in the industry, and many industries are despised and looked down upon by others.
Basically speaking, the unpopular professions are summarized as follows: first-rate actor, second-rate pusher, third-rate bastard, fourth-rate turtle, fifth-rate head shaver, sixth-rate back-scrubber, seventh-rate prostitute, eighth-rate thief, and ninth-rate blowjob. Erliutui refers to professions such as coachman, tortoise refers to professions such as witches who practice magic to cure diseases, and turtle refers to the watchman who rings the bell in the middle of the night.
Needless to say, actors were the most despised profession in ancient times. They were representatives of ruthlessness and the playthings of wealthy families. If a family had an actor, it would be a shame to the family. It is worth mentioning that prostitutes in ancient times were not the same type of people. Prostitutes sold their bodies and worked in red buildings, while prostitutes only performed arts and worked in brothels. Therefore, in ancient times, when wealthy families married women from brothels, no one said they would marry women from red buildings. From this point of view, , Prostitutes and actors are the same profession, and they are equally unpopular. Even if they are married into a wealthy family, they cannot enter the ancestral graves of wealthy families.
Witches who dance with gods are of the same type as fortune tellers and fortune tellers. They often have the problem of leaking heavenly secrets. Such people are highly sought after in the world of heaven, but will be punished in the underworld, so they cannot enter the ancestral graves.
Let’s talk about barbering. This was a very special profession in ancient times. The ancients said that “the body’s hair and skin are affected by its parents.” Losing hair is like cutting off the head. During the Three Kingdoms period, when Cao Cao’s car entered the farmland, he shaved his hair instead of his head. , based on the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty, it can be seen that the barber's business is like "murder". Similar to this are executioners and butchers. These two professions are truly excessive in killing, and such people should not be placed in ancestral graves.
To sum up, many professions in ancient times restricted the deceased from entering ancestral graves, which was mainly caused by feudal thinking. Looking at today, actors in the past were similar to today's entertainment stars, but they have become the upper class of society. This is also due to the social Today, with the development and progress and abundant material civilization, people are more pursuing spiritual civilization.