Whose is the coffin that no one dares to worship on the cliff and that no expert dares to touch?
No matter who you are, you must meet your destiny. Therefore, over the past thousands of years, although many people have been diligently pursuing the method of immortality, they often found nothing in the end. They had to accept their fate and build their own tombs beautifully, hoping that they could enjoy it underground. The same treatment as before his death. Especially in ancient society, the greatest respect for the elderly is to be laid to rest.
In ancient times, due to inconvenient transportation and communication, the tomb culture in various regions was often very different. For example, in Tibet and other places, there is also the form of returning to heaven. In the southeastern coastal areas, there are also rituals such as water burial and sea burial. But the most special thing is probably the "hanging coffins" in Sichuan.
After discovering the special burial culture of hanging coffins, modern archaeologists believe that it is very likely that they belong to an ancient race that has disappeared. You must know that cultures that occupy a dominant position in history often build tombs underground. Whether they are water burials or burials, these are limited by local culture. Although Sichuan had inconvenient transportation in ancient times, it still had sufficient communication with the outside world. At least during the Han Dynasty, this place had been connected with the Central Plains. Archaeologists also discovered that these coffins were often placed on cliffs tens of meters high, which was not as convenient in ancient times as it is in modern times. So how were these coffins placed? How to worship them afterwards? This has puzzled scientists.
And the most surprising thing is that after analyzing the materials of the coffins, archaeologists found that the oldest one was only two hundred years ago, during the Ming Dynasty. However, after reading the history books of the Ming Dynasty and county annals in Sichuan, archaeologists found it difficult to find records about these hanging coffins. It is not in the book, so we can only ask the local people. Although the results of the inquiry are not very good, the archaeologists still got some clues. These hanging coffins were probably built by the Bo people, or perhaps not just the Bo people, but also some Shu people who merged with them and accepted their customs.
According to the records of the Ming Dynasty's "Pingman Stele", in the Ming Dynasty, officers and soldiers once entered the Shu region westward and fought a battle with the barbarians, but they were unsuccessful. Who this barbarian is is not stated. But judging from the Shu area and the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that the barbarians that the Ming army wants to attack here are very similar to the Bo people. After the Bo people were conquered, they were naturally integrated into the Ming Dynasty. Those who disobeyed were either killed in battle or became slaves, while others gradually integrated into the Ming Dynasty culture. The history of the Bo people for hundreds of years has just disappeared.
But the strange thing is that although the Ming Dynasty was the winner, it burned all the history of the Bo people and did not record it in the official history. This is still very strange. Judging from these clues about the Ming Dynasty, it is very likely that the cultural level of the Bo people lagged behind that of the Central Plains of Shu until the Ming Dynasty.
There are not many records about the Bo people that have been handed down from later generations. But the stories heard among the people of Sichuan gave archaeologists a wake-up call. You may have heard these two stories several times. One is that an old scholar infiltrated among the Bo people and used his knowledge of Feng Shui to encourage them to bury the corpses on the cliff, causing these people to fall into the cliff in order to place their ancestors.
Another version replaces the protagonist with Zhuge Liang. The process and explanation are almost exactly the same. The overlap between the two gave archaeologists their own idea: the Bo people may believe in ghosts, gods and Feng Shui. Since ancient times in our country, the Sichuan area has been the origin of many cultures. There is nothing strange about believing in natural ghosts and gods. In addition, hanging coffins have always been placed in natural caves. How can ordinary people do this? Therefore, scholars believe that the people placed here are actually Bo people who died abnormally.
In ancient times, it was important to die a good life or die in a meaningful way. If they died on the battlefield, they would respect them as heroes; but if they were unlucky, died young, contracted diseases, etc., it would be an "injustice". This kind of situation was not uncommon in the Central Plains in ancient times. In Yunnan and Guizhou, there is still a culture of "inverted altar burial".
Therefore, it is reasonable for people in the Sichuan area with inconvenient transportation to dispose of these "grievable" coffins by themselves. In the "Book of Changes", there are detailed records of tombs. Why people pay attention to burial is actually because the earth can allow their souls to reincarnate. But once it cannot reach the sky or the earth, it means that the soul will be stuck between the two. This is quite suitable for the location of the hanging coffin, which is located in a natural cliff cave.
As for why we don’t worship them, it’s because there is no need at all. Since in the social culture at that time, hanging coffins were considered to be "resentful", then the Bo people who believed in ghosts and gods would naturally not seek trouble for themselves and worship these people. Moreover, due to time and natural conditions, most of the current hanging coffins are severely decayed. The hanging coffin has also become one of the local folk cultures, so experts are naturally interested in investigating, but due to limited conditions, there is no way to carry out large-scale research and excavations.