Legendary story of Guo Pu, a geomantic master in the Eastern Jin Dynasty
Guo Pu Xian Dun, a municipal cultural relics protection unit.
Guo Pu (276-324) was born in Wenxi, Shanxi. Guo Pu loved ancient Chinese characters since childhood and wrote hundreds of poems all his life. In the Book of Jin, he is called "erudite and versatile" ... Poetry and Fu are the crown of Zhongxing. He was not only proficient in mathematical skills, but also read a large number of Confucian classics and annotated many literary works before the Jin Dynasty. He tried many times in geomantic omen and was called the originator of geomantic omen by later generations. In his book Cave in the Woods, we can see the legendary story of Guo Pu's divination.
During the Yongjia period of the Western Jin Dynasty, due to political corruption, the consorts fought for power and profit, which eventually led to the "Eight Kings Rebellion". In this chaos, Guo Pu predicted that the north was difficult to defend, so he decided to go to the southeast to escape the war. One day, Guo Pu came to the mansion of his friend General Zhao Gu. Who knows, the horse that followed Zhao Gu through many battles just died, which led to Zhao Gu's closure. Hearing this, Guo Pu said to the doorman, "Go and inform the general. Don't worry, I can save the general's horse." . When the door official heard the news, he told the truth. Hearing this, Zhao Gu was overjoyed. Hurriedly greeted Guo Pu and asked, "Sir, is there any way to save my war horse?" Guo Pu said, "The general only needs to send 20 or 30 people to walk 30 miles east with bamboo poles, where there is a community temple. Let the foot soldiers walk around the temple with bamboo poles, and then they can get things and bring them back immediately. I can use it to revive your war horse. " . Zhao Gu immediately asked his men to act according to law. Sure enough, the soldiers caught a monkey-like animal from the temple. Guo Pu put the monkey beside the horse and watched it with Zhao Gu. I saw the small animals turn around the horse several times, and then breathe near the horse's nose. After a while, something strange happened. I saw the horse suddenly stand up and scream at the sky. At this time, small animals like monkeys are nowhere to be found. After reading this story, maybe you will think of the Monkey King who made a scene in the Journey to the West! At first, the Jade Emperor named the Monkey King "Bi" in charge of the court. That's the jade emperor's way of employing people. It can be said that "people do their best!"
Relief of Guo Pu Exhibition Hall in Xuanwu Lake Scenic Area
In the first year of Yongchang (322), Wang Dun, who had long planned to overthrow Sima's regime, wanted to arise and rebel. At this point, Guo Pu is Wang Dun's clerk to join the army. Before Wang Dun's rebellion, he invited Guo Pu to perform divination for him to test the success of this move. Guo Pu bluntly said: "General, this move can't be successful!" Wang Dun was very unhappy after hearing this. He asked Dunpu again, "Do you know how long I will live?" Guo Pu pretended to be divining divination and said, "If the general stays put, your life is unpredictable." . At this point, Wang Dun has been secretly murdered. He asked Guo Pu again, "Can you calculate how long you can live?" Without thinking, Guo Pu replied, "I can only live until noon today". Wang Dun smiled cunningly and said, "All right! Then I will help you. " Say, then make the samurai Guo Pu to Nangang to be put to death. In this way, a generation of writers died in order to safeguard Sima's regime and oppose national division.
Guo Pu Statue in Xuanwu Lake Scenic Area
Ge Hong said in his Biography of Immortals that three days after Guo Pu's death, he dressed up as usual and talked and laughed with a group of acquaintances. When the news reached Wang Dun, he was so frightened that he quickly sent someone to dig the grave. At first glance, it was an empty grave. It turned out that Guo Pu was reborn as an immortal by "military solution".
After Wang Dun's rebellion failed, the Eastern Jin regime regarded Guo Pu as the first loyal minister. Guo Pu, posthumous title, Jin Mingdi, was the "Governor of Hongnong" and personally chose Xuanwu Lake to build Guo Pu's tomb.
According to legend, in the Southern Dynasties, allusions such as "laughing" and "Jiang Lang was exhausted" were also related to Guo Pu! According to the Biography of Southern History Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan was a famous writer in the Southern Dynasties, and was honored as "Jiang Lang" because of his outstanding talent. Legend has it that when he was a child, he got colorful magic pens in his dreams, so his literary talent was outstanding and his writing was like a god. The songs he wrote are unique among the gorgeous fashion styles in the Southern Dynasties. In particular, his "Hate Fu" and "Bie Fu" were the most famous works in Southern Dynasties literature at that time. These two poems were later included in Selected Works by Prince Xiao Tong of Zhaoming. Then how did Jiang Lang get out later? Some people say that it is because Jiang Yan gained a sense of superiority and stopped working hard. But in Zhong Rong's poems, there is such a fairy tale:
Portrait of Jiang Lang gifted scholar Jiang Yan
After Jiang Yan's Xuancheng satrap was dismissed, he was unhappy all day. One day, he swam to Jiankang and lived in a pavilion in Yeshan. In the evening, he dreamed that a handsome man calling himself Guo Pu said to him, "Jiang Lang, I have lent you that colored magic pen for many years. Now it's time to give it back to me! " Jiang Yan took out a pen from her arms and gave it back to Guo Pu. From then on, Jiang Yan could never write a good article, which is the origin of the idiom "Jiang Lang is exhausted". In essence, this is Jiang Yan's choice of "fatigue" as an excuse to preserve his sanity in troubled times.
Author: the voice of mountains and rivers and the rhyme of lakes
Date: Monday, April 8, 2022/KLOC-0.
Note: For more information, please read the history of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing historical and cultural series.