How many levels are there for immortals?
Although as small as Yan Emperor and as big as Jade Emperor, they are all immortals.
But immortals are a general term.
If you want to subdivide, there are five levels.
Fairy, fairy, fairy, fairy, ghost fairy.
But from immortal to ghost fairy, it is a trend from respect to inferiority.
Therefore, the fairy is expensive, and the ghost fairy is cheap.
But these five grades are the division of Taoist immortals, and later came to the western Buddhist community, so this division is not applicable to the western Buddhist community. Here, I mainly talk about the Taoist classification of the five immortals.
Although on the whole, the combat power is from fairy to ghost fairy, from strong to weak, but this is not absolute, because the domestic fairy world has been very colorful after thousands of years of development, so the fairy is not necessarily fierce, and the ghost fairy is not necessarily weak.
Let me talk about my opinion first. The following is what I learned from The Journey to the West's novel.
1: Fairy.
I think as long as they live in the sky, or the fairy island, anyway, mortals can't go, and immortals can go. Let's call it heaven. Anyway, the immortals who live in the sky and join the Jade Emperor's fairy class are all people who accept the position and salary sealed by the Jade Emperor. These people are immortals.
For example, the four heavenly kings, Tota Li Tianwang, Nezha, Giant Spirit God, Twenty-eight Stars, Taibai Venus, Chang 'e, various immortals, Lei Po, Bi and 100,000 heavenly soldiers. . . These people are all made up, and those who have positions and salaries are listed in the book of immortals. This is a fairy, and the Jade Emperor is the head of the fairy.
Fairy's status is very high, but not all fairy spells are very powerful. For example, fairies, fairies are generally fighting.
2. Immortals.
Immortals and immortals are immortals who live in the sky.
But the immortal doesn't accept the seal of heaven and is at ease.
For example, Yuanshi Tianzun, Taishang Laojun, barefoot daxian, Eight Immortals and so on.
Although Taishang Laojun is in The Journey to the West, his appearance rate is still quite high, and he often stays with the Jade Emperor in the Lingxiao Hall. However, Tai Shang Lao Jun is not the immortal class of the jade emperor. The most speechless is the TV series Journey to the West 86, which makes Tai Shang Lao Jun timid and insults the image of Tai Shang Lao Jun. In the novel Journey to the West, the image of Tai Shang Lao Jun is ok, but the Monkey King was pushed head-on when he got out of the blast furnace. The author set up this plot, probably to highlight the power of the Monkey King.
Aside from novels, in fact, the old gentleman on the throne is worse than the jade emperor.
The jade emperor respects the old man as a gift from the younger generation.
The old gentleman on the throne also addressed the Jade Emperor as Your Majesty, but he could not bow down.
The Taishang Laojun and the Jade Emperor get along very well, so we can often see the Taishang Laojun and the Jade Emperor together.
What I want to say is that the power of heaven is not the strongest in heaven, but the bodhi old zu who is not bound by imperial edict. Therefore, if the jade emperor wants to stabilize the heaven, the first thing to do is to get on well with all kinds of bodhi old zu.
There are too many talents in heaven.
This is the way of the world, selling face to each other, and everyone is good.
3: Fairy.
A fairy is a fairy who lives on the ground.
For example, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Zi Yuan.
The Taoist temple and Dojo of the immortals can be found and obtained by mortals.
Visible.
Immortals live in the Taoist temple on earth. Immortals are basically served by fairies. For example, the fairies of Zhenyuanzi are all thousands of years old.
Immortals are serious immortals, neither dead nor alive, but they don't like to stay in the sky, but they like to be on earth. Many immortals also open doors to teach children. That's how the Monkey King found bodhi bodhi bodhi bodhi old zu.
The strongest immortal should be Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi and Bodhi.
Zhenyuanzi is so powerful that Guanyin Bodhisattva wants him to score three points.
Zhenyuanzi's position among immortals is equivalent to the jade emperor in heaven.
However, although Zhen Yuanzi is a representative of immortals, Zhen Yuanzi is not official, nor has she organized a fairy class similar to the Jade Emperor, because the purpose of immortals is to be free and unconstrained.
Zhenyuanzi knew that the Monkey King was a disciple of Bodhi Bodhi, so Zhenyuanzi wanted to become sworn brothers with the Monkey King.
Ha ha. The world is so complicated.
4: Fairy on earth.
Immortals, immortals and earthly immortals are all immortals who have achieved positive results, not mortal bodies.
But fairies are mortals living on the earth. Although there are some Taoist priests and some magical powers, they can't escape reincarnation. After all, they are mortal bodies. A mortal living like this with some magical power is called a fairy.
For example, Wei Zhi and Yuan Shoucheng in The Journey to the West.
Yuan Shoucheng is the warlock who can count on fingers, but I seriously doubt that Yuan Shoucheng was brainwashed by Guanyin, so Yuan Shoucheng cooperated with Guanyin and cheated King Jinghe together. )
Wei Zhi was also a mortal, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Wei Zhi was a mortal when he was awake, but when he was asleep, his soul was named Cao Guan by the Jade Emperor.
Cao Guan, an official in charge of human affairs, is the messenger of heaven on earth. He is mainly responsible for conveying the will of heaven to the world, reporting the situation of the world to heaven and executing punishment.
It can also be said that Wei Zhi is the executioner arranged by God on earth, and can behead the immortal who is punished by God.
No matter how powerful the immortal Taoism is, it can't go up to heaven, and it can't go down to the underworld on the fairy island. If you want to go to these places, you must have an out-of-body experience to complete it.
Therefore, we are familiar with the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, that is, after the Eight Immortals made a positive result, they went to Penglai Fairy Island and became immortals in the sky.
5: Ghost Fairy.
Ghosts and gods are mostly the same, and they are all mortal bodies before their death, and they cannot be cultivated into positive results. However, after the death of ghosts and gods, their souls are sealed in the nether world, or temples are built on earth after death to be worshipped as gods, but they become gods and have no effect in heaven. This kind of thing is all.
It's called ghost fairy
There are also some immortals who have been blocked and become officials in the underworld, and these immortals have become ghost immortals, such as the earth treasure king bodhisattva.
Common ghosts are: Land God, Mountain God, Huang Cheng, Meng Po, Tau Ma Mian, Black and White Impermanence, Ghost Judgment, Rebecca, Erlang God, Earth Treasure King Bodhisattva and Fengdu Emperor.
Note that Erlang is a ghost fairy, and Erlang does not accept the seal of heaven. The temple where Erlang lived was ruled by ghosts.
There are also various dragon kings who are also ghost immortals. Moreover, in Journey to the West, the dragon king's fighting capacity is very weak, and the immortal level is low. So the poor dragon king became the object that the immortals could bully at will.
Although the ghost fairy is a fairy, it has the lowest status among all immortals.
The residence of the ghost fairy must be the ghost of the underworld and the temple of the world.
The subordinate of a ghost fairy is not a fairy, but a ghost sentence.
The highest-ranking ghost fairy is Fengdu Emperor, and Fengdu Emperor is the king of the underworld and the Lord of hell, equivalent to the Jade Emperor in heaven. Only the Jade Emperor can manage Fengdu Emperor.
Although most ghosts and gods are not strong in fighting capacity, Erlang God and Earth Treasure Bodhisattva are very strong in fighting capacity.
Although there is no mention of Fengdu Emperor in The Journey to the West, he is definitely the strongest in the underworld, because hell is not as good as heaven, and there is no good scenery in hell, so why stay in hell for a long time? It is better to be a ghost fairy than a scattered fairy on the ground.
Therefore, those who stay in the underworld are just too weak to repair the positive results. Because of this, the Ten Temples of Yan can stabilize the order of the underworld, and Yan can accept any evil spirits and demons.
Want to know the ten halls of Yan in The Journey to the West, the fighting capacity is not strong.
There are also some powerful immortals in the underworld, but all of them have official positions, such as the earth treasure bodhisattva.
As we all know, the Tenth Hall of Hades is a civil servant sent by heaven to take charge of the underworld, but later the western Buddhist community also wanted to develop its power in the underworld, so it sent a Diwang Bodhisattva as a representative of Buddhism to develop and develop in the underworld, and named him as the leader of the underworld.
In The Journey to the West, the power of the Earth Treasure King Bodhisattva is much higher than that of the Yanshi Hall.
Although the Ten Halls of Hades are located, the power of the Bodhisattva Diksitigarbha is powerful, so the Bodhisattva Diksitigarbha has gradually become the superior of the Ten Halls of Hades.
In the original Journey to the West, the third time "Selling the Book of Life and Death" wrote:
Wukong took the book and checked all the monkeys and other famous ones. He handed down the book and said, "Pay the bill! Pay the bill! Don't worry this time! " All the way to the underworld. Not daring to go near the Ten Halls of Hades, they all went to Cui Yun Palace to worship the Bodhisattva, the King of Earth, to discuss keeping watch and to talk about heaven.
Visible, even if Yan Luowang is in a hurry, also have to play the earth treasure bodhisattva, from the standpoint, Yan Luowang's position is obviously
Lower than the earth treasure bodhisattva.
The above is the Taoist classification of immortals.
Immortals are divided into five grades, but these are all divided by local Taoist priests. With the spread of Buddhism, there are many more Buddhist immortals.
Therefore, the Taoist division of five immortals does not apply to Buddhism.
Just like today's Nepalese prince Sakyamuni, born in 623 BC, a mortal, Sakyamuni began to practice Brahmanism, but later he was dissatisfied with Brahmanism and abandoned the royal family and continued to ask for practice. Later, Sakyamuni created Buddhism and offered it to the world after his death. In this way, Sakyamuni should be a ghost fairy, but Buddhism founded by Sakyamuni is becoming more and more prosperous and has an extraordinary influence. In the end, Sakyamuni became the Buddha of the Western Heaven, but he was only an immortal. Because the Dojo of the Tathagata in The Journey to the West is in Lingshan, where all mortals can go, and Tathagata lives and practices in the Leiyin Temple in Lingshan, so according to Taoist planning, Tathagata should be an immortal.
Not only Tathagata, but also the deities and buddhas in Buddhism live on the surface of the earth, and they are all earthly immortals.
Tathagata is in Leiyin Temple in Xiling Mountain, Manjusri Bodhisattva is in Wutai Mountain, Guanyin Bodhisattva is in Putuo Temple in Nanhai, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is in Emei Mountain, and Earth-treasure Bodhisattva is in Jiuhua Mountain (later living in the underworld).
Therefore, it can only be said that the family five immortals are not applicable to the later Buddhist circles.
Because the Buddhist community came late, such a good place as heaven has long been occupied by local immortals, so the western Buddhist community has no place to stand.
I don't know where the Buddhist gods in Nepalese and Indian mythology live, but in China, Buddhism is a foreign religion, and it came late, so all the bodhisattvas of Chinese Buddhism live on the surface. Think about it, Chinese civilization has been more than 5,000 years, and civilization will create legends of gods, so the local immortals were perfect at least before the Zhou Dynasty. What Pangu, Kuafu and Nuwa? These immortals existed as early as or before the Zhou Dynasty. We should believe that these immortals actually existed as early as the primitive society in China. It's not too late to say the Zhou Dynasty, because the written records of the Zhou Dynasty have been developed and downloaded. This powerful evidence is the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Many evil spirits recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas were written by a scholar in the late Zhou Dynasty according to previous legends. As you can imagine, this time is long, but Buddhism was introduced into China in the Han Dynasty, and it began to merge. Slowly, we are familiar with the impression that the Buddhist immortals are Han Buddhism beautified by Han civilization, so Buddhism developed late and has no position in heaven, so it lives on the surface. )
Although buddhas and bodhisattvas often go to heaven to play, they still have to return to their superficial homes afterwards.
I must be unwilling to come here for so long.
Considering that we are also regarded as immortals by the people, our strength is not bad, but why do you Taoist immortals have such a good place to go, and our Buddhist community can only survive?
Right?
Therefore, the western Buddhist circles in The Journey to the West have to make every effort to develop their power by any means. First, a pit was secretly designed to kill King Jinghe, and then a trick of Tang Priest's westward journey was planned to make the people more Buddhist and methodical, and to convince Emperor Taizong. Then, when they met the immortal who was punished by the Jade Emperor, the Buddhist community sent people to brainwash, woo and convert them to Buddhism. Needless to say, there are many examples, so what is the Monkey King? In the past, not all people courted. When they met a monster as powerful as the Monkey King, they returned to the Buddhist kingdom in Zhaoan. Black bear essence, centipede essence, Hong Haier and so on all converted to Buddhism. The reason why these tricks emerge one after another is that the western Buddhist circles are not satisfied with the status quo, want to expand their power and attempt to occupy one side of heaven.