Why did the King of Hell kneel down to Li Shimin? Who was he in his previous life? Even the Jade Emperor had to show courtesy
Text | Flying Fishing Records
Editor | Flying Fishing Records
Li Shimin, the son of Li Yuan, died in the 23rd year of Zhenguan.
In "Journey to the West", there is such a record: After Li Shimin died, his soul arrived at the Palace of Hell. All the gods and little ghosts came out to look at him. Kneel down and bow respectfully.
What was Li Shimin’s identity in his previous life? Why did the kings of hell pay him such great courtesy, and even the Jade Emperor had to show courtesy to him?
It is said in the tenth chapter of "Journey to the West" "The Second General's Palace Gate to Suppress Ghosts and the Resurrection of Tang Taizong in the Underworld" After arriving, Li Shimin was taken to the gate of the Palace of Hell after his death. The black and white impermanence that guided the road turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared in front of Li Shimin's eyes.
Li Shimin swept away the smoke in front of his eyes with his hands, and the words "Ghost Gate" suddenly appeared on the plaque of the vermilion gate. A vermilion gate suddenly appeared in front of him.
There is a plaque with the words "Ghost Gate" hanging on the door. Behind the door stands a crowd of demons and monsters. Standing in the front are a few fierce and burly men. The big man is the king of hell.
When Yama of the Tenth Palace saw Li Shimin, his expression changed from the serious look just now to a respectful posture.
They winked at each other, took the initiative to step forward, knelt down in unison, performed a kneeling ceremony, and said in unison: "Your Majesty, please pardon me for my mistake in welcoming you far away." They asked Li Shimin to forgive them. A crime for not coming out earlier to greet me.
You must know that this kneeling ceremony is an honor that can only be enjoyed by figures like the Jade Emperor.
Before the kings of hell could answer, Judge Cui came to hand over the book of life and death, asking the kings of hell to verify whether the souls who had arrived in the underworld had expired.
After passing the book of life and death to each other, the kings of hell said to Li Shimin in a low voice: "Your Majesty is exhausted." So they arranged for Judge Cui to save Li Shimin.
Li Shimin could not accept the fact that he had passed away, and slumped down on the ground weakly. Black and White Wuchang quickly appeared and helped him up.
At this time, Wei Zheng, the minister who accepts ghosts and gods, took a secret passage to the underworld and dressed up as a ghost presenting the book of life and death.
I saw him dipping his hand into the ink on his shoes, and with lightning speed, he drew on the date of Li Shimin's death, changing "13" to "23" .
The ten Yamas looked at each other, speechless for a moment, not knowing what to do.
The kings of hell seemed to be very afraid of Li Shimin. In order not to offend Li Shimin, they still sent Judge Cui to work with Black and White Wuchang to send Li Shimin to the reincarnation bridge and send him back to continue to be the emperor of the world and protect the world. Ten years of peace.
In order to ensure that Li Shimin could reach the human world safely, the Tenth Palace of Hell sent Judge Cui to cooperate with Black and White Wuchang to send him back to the earth.
Judge Cui respectfully escorted Li Shimin all the way and preached to him: Since the last time Bi Mawen caused trouble in the underworld, the road to returning to Yang has been changed into twists and turns.
Li Shimin and his party first arrived at the Netherworld Mountain. This mountain is extraordinary and there are ghosts and ghosts hidden deep in the jungle. The cliffs and the bottomless black river are full of life-seeking ghosts. The ghosts scream and are full of resentment.
Li Shimin's Yang Qi has not been exhausted, attracting countless evil ghosts. If he is not careful, he may bury the newly harvested Yang Qi in this mountain, but for some reason, none of these evil ghosts dare to approach him.
Li Shimin closed his eyes and ears tightly all the way, supported by Black and White Wuchang, feeling all kinds of violence, and silently reciting Buddhist scriptures in his heart to prevent being disturbed by evil ghosts and disrupting his mind.
Then Li Shimin and his party went to the legendary "Eighteen Levels of Hell", where the evil spirits committed many evil deeds during their lifetimes and the sins they committed are unforgivable.
Evil ghosts were escorted here and subjected to various cruel tortures, such as being whipped, boiled in oil, and burned, to atone for the mistakes they committed during their lifetimes.
The screams and curses of the evil ghosts in the layers of hell are endless. They are so pitiful and sharp that you are already frightened just by hearing them, let alone seeing them with your own eyes.
Li Shimin thought that he had wrongly killed many people during his lifetime and was guilty of serious sins. He was frightened and uneasy. He seemed to have seen himself in the near future. He was suffering in his heart and just wanted to leave quickly.
Then Li Shimin and his party arrived at the City of In vain, and Li Shimin saw many ghosts with chains tied around their necks.
Some of them struggled hard and waved the swords in their hands, like generals fighting bravely to kill the enemy.
Some were kneeling on the ground with their hands raised, as if they were risking their lives to remonstrate.
There were children who had not yet reached the age of hair, and there were old women on crutches...
Li Shimin was silent for a long time, recalling the "Xuanwumen Incident" he initiated. This incident cost the lives of countless innocent people and destroyed many families. He also personally killed many of his close relatives. The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more he regretted it.
Judge Cui told Li Shimin that these dead souls were left unattended and were not allowed to be reincarnated. There was no one to offer incense in the mortal world, so they could only be locked up here and suffer.
Li Shimin thought of some of the ridiculous laws he promulgated during his reign, as well as those loyal ministers who were unjustly killed. He urgently wanted to return to the underworld and hold a land and water conference to save these dead souls.
These people who should have enjoyed the beauty of the world were tortured in the underworld. Li Shimin was determined to do something for the people to make up for his mistakes.
After Li Shimin's soul returned to his body, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked at the people kneeling in front of the hall, and pondered for a long time. Everything he had just experienced was still vivid in his mind.
Shortly after returning to his soul, Li Shimin held a water and land conference, and specially invited famous magicians to save the people who died innocently and tragically in the coup, and burned some paper money for them, hoping that by doing these things, he could help Things, seek peace of mind.
In terms of governing the country, Li Shimin decided to change his past mistakes and no longer let the people suffer and his loyal ministers die in vain.
Li Shimin witnessed the demise of the Sui Dynasty, understood the shortcomings of the Sui Dynasty's politics, and determined to take a political line completely opposite to that of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty.
Before Li Shimin established three provinces and six ministries, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, kings of the past dynasties often used atrocities to intimidate the counties below. This could easily lead to tyranny and leave a reputation as a tyrant.
Li Shimin established the "three provinces and six ministries" system, assigning state power to the "three provinces", namely Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province.
Decentralized management can weaken the imperial power and prevent the emperor from acting arbitrarily, promulgating inappropriate laws, and doing arbitrary things.
Li Shimin also understood that the people depended on the sky for their livelihood. Whenever there were natural or man-made disasters, the people would suffer miserably.
So every time when natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and locust plagues occurred, he opened the treasury, actively allocated funds for repairs, extended kindness, and reduced taxes so that the people could obtain survival guarantees.
Li Shimin set up yamen all over the country to provide people with a place to complain and redress their grievances. He cherished the people and did not deal with them easily.
At the same time, Li Shimin also advocated frugality and once sent more than 3,000 palace maids home, which not only saved unnecessary expenses but also reunited them with their families.
There is a good story among the people: Li Shimin pitied the prisoners in the prison who could not return home and suffered from longing, so he granted amnesty to the prisoners to go home to visit relatives.
In gratitude for the emperor's kindness, the prisoners returned home to visit relatives and returned to the prison in full. No one escaped!
In the court, Li Shimin opened up his voice, appointed people on their merits, reused ministers such as Wei Zheng who were outspoken in admonishing him, and actively improved the imperial examination so that talented people from poor families could enter the court and serve as officials.
In terms of war, Li Shimin strived to stabilize the border situation, eliminate separatist forces, minimize encounters on the battlefield, and minimize killings, so that the people would be less displaced and the world would be stable.
Li Shimin created the prosperous age of the "Government of Zhenguan". The people had adequate food and clothing, lived and worked in peace and contentment, all officials fulfilled their duties and spoke out to give advice, and the world was full of vitality from the inside out.
The overall situation of the world is stable, and the country and the country are in a state of prosperity.
On this day, Li Shimin wanted to discuss with Wei Zheng the matter of regaining the border, so he invited him to the palace to play chess. Wei Zheng was a critic of his generation. When he heard that Li Shimin invited him to play chess again, he thought that "the Dongchuang Incident had happened", so he took the initiative. Frankly, he explained exactly why Li Shimin went to hell.
It turns out that in the capital, there is an old man who is extremely accurate in divination. This fortune teller is Yuan Shoucheng, the uncle of the Tang Dynasty Feng Shui master Yuan Tiangang.
Not only was Yuan Shoucheng's fortune-telling accurate, but he also did not charge money, so ordinary people rushed to ask him for fortune-telling, including some fishermen. Every time Yuan Shoucheng can accurately calculate the location of the Jinghe River Aquarium, the fishermen always return with a full load.
The number of aquatic animals in the Jinghe River dropped sharply, which alarmed the Dragon King of the Jinghe River.
The Dragon King of the Jinghe River transformed into a young man in white and went ashore to inquire about the fisherman. When he learned that Yuan Shoucheng was obstructing him, he aggressively approached Yuan Shoucheng to argue with him and even made a bet with him.
The Dragon King of Jinghe asked Yuan Shoucheng to calculate when it would rain tomorrow and how much it would rain.
Yuan Shoucheng counted with his fingers, shook his fan and replied: It will rain at noon tomorrow, and it will stop after only three seconds. When it stops, the total amount of rainwater will reach a height of three feet and three feet.
The Dragon King of Jinghe secretly rejoiced, how could such mortals know the celestial phenomena? He was the god of rain, so he would definitely win this bet.
So he took advantage of the situation and increased the bet. If Yuan Shoucheng's calculation was accurate, he would hand over fifty taels of gold as fortune-telling money. If his calculation was inaccurate, Yuan Shoucheng would leave the capital and would not be allowed to do it again in this life. Fortune telling.
When the Dragon King of Jinghe was feeling proud, an imperial edict came from heaven, informing him when it would rain tomorrow and the number of rains, which were all in line with Yuan Shoucheng's expectations.
The Dragon King of Jinghe was shocked, but he did not want to lose the bet, so he revised the imperial edict privately. The rain that Yuan Shoucheng expected did not come as expected.
The Dragon King of Jinghe won the bet and was about to expel Yuan Shoucheng to leave the capital.
Yuan Shoucheng told him that in fact, Yuan Shoucheng had figured out his identity when they met and expected that he would disobey the imperial edict in order to win. Now that the Dragon King of Jinghe has committed such a serious crime, he will be punished. Send it to Dragon Cutting Platform.
Only then did the Dragon King of Jinghe River realize that he had caused a big disaster, and begged Yuan Shoucheng to save his life, promising not to go ashore to disturb him again.
Yuan Shoucheng nodded in agreement, counted a hexagram with his fingers, and learned that the person who oversees his execution this time is the Heavenly Court official Cao Wei - Wei Zheng. The Dragon King of Jinghe wants to live, please beg Li Shimin for a glimmer of hope.
At night, the Jinghe Dragon King sneaked into Li Shimin's dream and begged Li Shimin to hold Wei Zheng down tomorrow. If he could do it, he would ensure that the people of the Tang Dynasty would have good weather from now on. Li Shimin happily agreed.
After the morning court on the second day, Li Shimin said to Wei Zheng: "Ai Qing is a great chess player. Can you solve the unsolved chess game in my dream?" He wanted to invite Wei Zheng to play chess, but Wei Zheng couldn't refuse. , and went with Li Shimin.
Li Shimin thought that as long as he delayed Wei Zheng until three quarters of noon and missed the execution time, he would be able to save the life of the Dragon King of Jinghe River. But who knew that Wei Zheng would actually use the trick of leaving the body, or would he be able to save his life? He went to the Dragon Slaying Platform and oversaw the execution of the Dragon King of Jinghe River.
After his death, the Dragon King of Jinghe was so full of resentment that he pestered Li Shimin day and night, making Li Shimin unable to sleep and eat well. Even though ministers Qin Shubao and Yu Chigong stood guard at the door of the dormitory every night, they could not solve the problem. Li Shimin's worries.
Wei Zheng knew that he was also responsible for this matter, and he was ashamed. He thought that he had harmed Li Shimin, so he invited Guanyin Bodhisattva to take away the wronged soul of the Dragon King of Jinghe River.
Li Shimin couldn't rest well for several days and nights, and his body was no longer what it used to be. He passed away soon after, and that's when Li Shimin went to the underworld.
Apart from Bi Mawen, who caused trouble in the underworld hundreds of years ago, Li Shimin is the only one who can return safely from hell.
But when Bi Mawen was causing trouble in the underworld, all the ten kings of hell ignored him and suppressed him in various ways. However, he was not as respectful as he was when facing Li Shimin. What's the secret behind this?
Li Shimin is a human emperor in this life, but in his previous life he was the "Arctic Ziwei Emperor". This status has a very high status in the Three Realms, second only to the Jade Emperor, and is one of the Four Emperors of Taoism.
Emperor Ziwei occupies Ziweixing, and Ziweixing is located in Zhongyuan. Zhongyuan has the most important position in the Three Yuans. The direction pointed by the constellation of Ziwei Star is the Forbidden City, which is the sect of all things and where all the stars are. Holding, the position is excellent, and it also indicates the extremely high status of Emperor Ziwei.
Since ancient times, people have speculated on the rise and fall of dynasties by observing the fortune of Ziwei star, so Ziwei star is also called the "Emperor Star".
As Li Shimin’s imperial younger brother, Tang Seng was the golden cicada in his previous life, not to mention Li Shimin’s status.
When Tang Monk was about to set off to obtain scriptures, the three treasures sent by Li Shimin, namely the nine-ring tin staff, the brocade cassock and the purple gold alms bowl, were also precious magical artifacts from the Nine Heavens.
On their way to obtain the Western Scriptures, Tang Monk, his master and his disciples, would report to themselves every time they visited a country: "The poor monk came from the Tang Dynasty in the east and went to the West to worship Buddha by the emperor's decree. Seeking scriptures." As soon as these words came out, the kings of various countries would welcome them and stamp their national seals on their customs clearance documents.
These actions by the kings of various countries are not only to express their gratitude to Tang Monk for killing demons for them, but also to express their awe for Tang Wang Li Shimin and their honor for establishing diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty.
Why did Emperor Ziwei, who was supposed to be above the nine heavens, appear in the human world?
According to the laws of the Three Realms, if gods want to achieve higher cultivation, in addition to nourishing themselves with elixirs and jade wine, they also need to go down to earth to experience the sufferings of the world, help people live and work in peace and contentment, and hone their minds.
Ordinary immortals start from ordinary people to gain experience in the human world, but Emperor Ziwei’s cultivation has reached a certain level and he descended to earth to possess the emperor. No wonder the Jade Emperor would be courteous to him.
Emperor Ziwei can take over the three realms, and can rectify the demons and ghosts below. He also has four powerful generals, Tianpeng, Tianyou, Yisheng and Zhenwu, all of whom are important ministers holding important positions in the heaven.
In his previous life, Li Shimin was the "Arctic Ziwei Emperor" and his status was extremely noble. No wonder after he went to the underworld, the Tenth Palace of Hell personally greeted him and bowed down respectfully. It is reasonable for the Jade Emperor to be afraid of him. .