Where is Guan Yu's loyalty and filial piety?
Guan Yu followed Liu Bei, attacked Yan Liang and defended Jingzhou, which made great contributions to Liu Bei's revival of the Han Dynasty.
There is no ever-victorious general in history. In 2 19, Guan Yu defeated Maicheng, was captured by General Ma Zhong of Pan Zhang, and was bound to see Sun Quan of Soochow. Sun Quan surrendered to Guan Yu who died at the age of 58. The Shu-Han regime built a cenotaph for Guan Yu in Chengdu, that is, the tomb of Guan Yu in Chengdu, in order to summon the soul for sacrifice.
Guan Yu's hometown, Yuncheng, Shanxi, later established the Guandi Temple, which was regarded as the place where Guan Yu's soul returned. Therefore, the folk also called Guan Yu "pillow Luoyang, lying in the sun, and returning to his hometown."
Guan Yu is a combination of loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, and his position in people's minds is very high. His brave, loyal and faithful image is unchangeable, and he has the conditions to be deified.
Rulers of all previous dynasties needed such typical figures as the patron saint of maintaining political power, so they greatly exaggerated their loyalty, bravery and integrity, hoping that more civil servants and military officers would be as loyal and brave as Guan Yu.
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, in 567, Guan Gong Temple was built in Yuquan Mountain, Dangyang County, which opened Guan Gong's folk beliefs. This is not only the product of the government's praise for Guan Gong, but also the need of ordinary people's spiritual life. From the moral point of view, the ruler preached Guan Gong's loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, which made Guan Gong's belief flourish in a short historical period.
In the Tang Dynasty, the number of temples of Guan Gong increased, and Guan Gong was often mentioned in the poems or inscriptions of literati, and the statue of Guan Gong began to be hung at home. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor thought he was blessed by Guan Yu before he entered the Central Plains. Therefore, the emperor shunzhi specially named Guan Yu as "loyal to SHEN WOO, loving the people and protecting the country, sincerely comforting and praising Liu Bei and Guan Sheng the Great". Later, some places also enshrined Guan Yu and Yue Fei, the most outstanding commanders of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the Wu Temple.
There are many legends and stories about Guan Yu among the people. The content of the story is quite extensive, from its birth, the origin of its name, its main activities and the appearance of the soul after death. Li people worship Guan Yu as a sacred emperor, so most of these legends are full of strong myths and legends.
According to folklore, Guan Yu was born as a fire dragon star. The fire dragon star in the sky is a kind and upright god.
On one occasion, the Jade Emperor ordered Long Xing to set fire to Wan Hu village on earth. He saw that the people there were simple, honest and hardworking, and they were reluctant to set fire three times. In the end, they only burned a wicked rich man in the village and went back to work. When the Jade Emperor saw that Long Xing had repeatedly disobeyed the destiny and cheated the heaven, he ordered the Pluto to bring him to justice.
When Long Xing left for the execution ground, he asked his chess friend, Xianshan Temple, to preside over the old monk, and asked him to catch the blood dripping from the guillotine in a copper basin at noon on June 17, and keep it sealed for seven days and seven nights. Only in this way can he be reincarnated.
The old monk sympathized with his friend's unfair experience and did as he said, covering the blood with the big clock in the temple. In a blink of an eye, six days have passed, and several young monks in the temple can't wait. When the master was away, they turned on the clock and saw that the blood in the basin had condensed into a blood cell the size of a bowl.
Just when the young monks were surprised, suddenly a red cloud rushed up and blood cells became children. Because there is less than one day before the deadline, the blood gas of blood cells has not been eliminated, so the child's face is latosolic red, like a heavy jujube, and this child is the future Guan Yu.
Later, people gave Guan Yu a legendary red hare. According to legend, Guan Yu was ordered to lead an army to rescue Liu Bei who was besieged by Cao Jun again in Changsaka, Dangyang. It was a hot summer, the soldiers were very thirsty, and there was no water nearby.
Guan Yu was very worried after seeing it, and kept waving his whip and sighing. Red hare got the message, growled and dug up the spring water with his front hoof. The soldiers were refreshed after drinking, defeated Cao Jun in one fell swoop and rescued Liu Bei. During the light years of the Qing dynasty, there was a stone tablet at the mouth of the spring, engraved with the words "Maban Spring".
Even Guan Yu's dragon crescent moon blade is legendary. It is said that when Guan Yu performed martial arts with a broadsword in Baling Mountain, he gained great power. He cut off the "head" of this mountain with one knife and became a flat-headed burial place from then on.
In nearly 60 years' life, Guan Yu rode a sword, galloped on the battlefield and fought among the heroes, assisting Liu Bei to complete the great cause of tripartite confrontation, and composed a magnificent and touching song of life. Guan Yu's life was full of heroic legends, and he was recommended by later generations as a moral model of "loyalty", "faithfulness", "righteousness" and "courage", and became a sacred idol widely worshipped by emperors and generals, literati and businessmen in the late ancient China.
Guandi's beliefs involve all walks of life. Some people say that the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty is the formation period of Guandi belief, the Song and Yuan Dynasties are the development period, the Ming Dynasty is the prevailing period, and the Qing Dynasty is the heyday. Its influence can be compared with Zun Kong. Xu Wei, a great writer in the Ming Dynasty, said in "Han Shu Guanhou Temple Monument":
The god of the Shu and Han dynasties, the former general and the later general, is in parallel with my Confucius' way in the world. However, Confucius in the shrine is only a county, while Hou lives in Kyushu, from the capital to the market. Although there are several fireworks, it is difficult to build a shrine. The portraits are made of bows and knives. However, although women and children are excited, they are afraid later. Compared with this matter, Confucius almost went too far. Hey, it's full, too
There are a lot of Guandi temples in China, and there were more than 200 temples in Beijing alone during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Among the people, Guan Yu is Wu Caishen, the god who protects businessmen. He also said that the signs painted in Guandi Temple were the most accurate and effective, and many literati chanted poems to add fuel to the fire.
At the same time, more and more people worship the god of wealth. In addition to Taoist temples, there are Buddhist places, commercial places and even houses, where you can see various statues of Guan Gong. It is said that there are 160 Guandi temples in Taiwan Province province. The statue of Guan Yu in Futenma Palace in Houshan, Hsinchu, together with the pedestal, is as high as forty or fifty meters. Most places where there are overseas Chinese are for the emperor, who is a symbol of loyalty, a protector of the country and a god of wealth.
Further reading
In 2 15, Liu Bei took Yizhou, and Sun Quan ordered Liu Bei to ask for Jingzhou, but the two sides were at loggerheads, and the alliance between Sun and Liu faced a breakdown. At this critical juncture, in order to maintain the alliance between Sun and Liu, Lu Su decided to discuss with Guan Yu face to face and not give Cao Cao a chance.
"Sue invited us to meet each other, and each of us kept a hundred paces, and all the generals were alone." After the talks, the two sides eased the tension. Subsequently, Sun Quan and Liu Bei agreed to divide Jingzhou equally. "Taking Hunan as the boundary, so the army will stop." The alliance between Sun and Liu was maintained.
This "one knife meeting" was later rendered by dramatists and novelists. Guan Yu became a hero, while Lu Su became a short-sighted and timid dwarf.