Why can Zhong Kui catch ghosts? The legend of Zhong Kui catching ghosts
First of all, Zhong Kui's prototype is a wooden stick, which is a tool to exorcise ghosts. Zhong Kui is a fictional character in ancient Zhong Kui and an artifact used by ancient families. In other words, wooden stick is an ancient surname, which is rare now. The origin of this surname is also closely related to the stick. Zhong Kui's family specializes in making sticks and mallets. Therefore, it seems that we can infer that a long time ago, the host of the exorcism ceremony was a wizard who danced with a big stick. The big stick in his hand is called Zhong Kui, also called Zhu. Wizards often use Zhong Kui to exorcise ghosts. Over time, people think that sticks have magical power, and then think that the name Zhong Kui also symbolizes good luck, and even use the word Zhong Kui as the name. According to legend, in ancient times, some patients thought that ghosts were worshipping at home and picked up sticks to drive them away. Since the Six Dynasties, many people named their children Zhong Kui, such as Wei Xianwen, because Zhong Kui was considered to have the function of exorcism. General yang; Li, the king of Dunqiu in Wei Xiaowen's period, Zhong Kui, the eunuch in Northern Qi's period, and Joe in the period were all for the purpose of caring for ghosts and gods and maintaining peace.
Secondly, Zhong Kui's ghost hunting was inspired by the emperor and was authoritative and feasible. Before the Tang Dynasty, the image of Zhong Kui was not widely circulated, but since the Tang Dynasty dreamed that Zhong Kui was catching ghosts, Zhong Kui became popular. It is said that during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, he suffered from malignant malaria for more than a month. One night, in his dream, he saw a leprechaun steal a real purple sachet and the little jade emperor. Then he came to GREAT GHOST and ate it. Don asked him who he was. He replied that Zhong Kui, a scholar in Zhong Nanshan, vowed to help the emperor because he had never touched the stage before taking the martial arts exam. Although all the evil spirits in the world recovered after waking up, Emperor Tang Ming ordered Wu Daozi to paint a portrait of Zhong Kui, and printed and distributed the portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts to every minister, and hung it at the door to exorcise evil spirits on New Year's Eve. Then this method was introduced into Zhong Kui, which became the gatekeeper of every household.
Thirdly, Wu Daozi, a famous painter in the Tang Dynasty, created a vivid image of Zhong Kui catching ghosts. Since then, Zhong Kui's image has been basically stereotyped, intuitive and wise. According to records, Wu Daozi, a painter in the Tang Dynasty, was the first master who was good at Zhong Bin's painting. Although his "Zhong Kui Map" has been lost, it has been seen in the imperial palace of the Northern Song Dynasty. Guo, a connoisseur of the Northern Song Dynasty, described the original image of Zhong Kui in detail in Wu Daozi. Guo wrote in Recent Events, Volume VI of Pictures, Stories and Records: In the past, Wu Daozi painted Zhong Kui, wearing a blue shirt, one foot, one eye, a waist, a towel, unkempt hair, and catching ghosts with his left hand and his right hand. Calligraphy is very strong, and so is the unique painting style. The so-called blue shirt is synonymous with the word rags, which means wearing rags. Waist water is to put water on the belt, which is a wooden ritual vessel held by ministers when they are in court. The distribution of headscarves is a tool to describe his Confucian identity and poverty. Judging from the description of Wu Daozi's paintings by Guo, an expert in calligraphy and painting in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhong Kui is really an ugly and poor scholar. Zhong Kui's fierce ghost-catching image jumped from the page and left a deep impression on people. It had a great influence on later painters. Therefore, Wu Daozi created a precedent for painters, writers and dramatists to paint Zhong Kui, write Zhong Kui and play Zhong Kui.
Fourthly, Zhong Kui is directly related to exorcism, which strengthens the historical basis and influence of ghost hunting in Zhong Kui. There is a passage in Zhou Li Overlooking Sima: Fang Xiang is wearing bearskin, with bearskin on his face and four golden eyes on his mask. The factors that make China people wear masks and totems. Fang Xiang's fierce modeling is based on the beliefs of the ancients. Wearing a demon mask can scare away ghosts and drive them away. This is a similar way, or a way to control evil with evil and evil with evil. It can have the effect of scaring ghosts with ghosts. Zhong Kui's ugly appearance may have evolved from Fang wearing a terrible mask. What Zhong Kui and Fang Xiang have in common is that they are ugly. The most dry place, a Zhong Kui Nuo unearthed in Dunhuang, records that Zhong Kui appeared in Nuo instruments. Meng Yuan's Dream of Tokyo in Song Dynasty recorded the grand Nuo ceremonies held in the palace, including Zhong Kui. The most active figure in Nuo dance is Zhong Kui. Because of his frequent appearances and absolute leading role, people sometimes call him Zhong Kui, a Nuo dancer. Slightly different from the exorcism ceremony in the Tang Dynasty, Zhong Kui wore a lieutenant's costume instead of leopard skin, and his 654.38+ ten thousand jungle monsters were simplified to four lieutenants. However, his role in the ceremony has not changed, and he is still catching ghosts.
Fifth, Zhong Kui's ruthlessness, crossing the underworld and death, is miraculous and hideous, making ghosts tremble with fear. He is the best person to catch ghosts. According to the original belief, diseases and disasters are worshipped by some elves and ghosts, just like poisonous snakes and wild animals. They may be fired. The method used by the ancients to cure strangeness. People with strange looks usually have magical qualities and extraordinary skills. Therefore, the folk door gods always keep their eyes wide open and face ferocious, holding all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, always ready to fight with ghosts who dare to come to the door. His method of catching ghosts is to gouge out his eyes before eating. Thunder is also bold and spicy. Besides, he is ambitious. He publicly declared that he would catch all the evil spirits in the world, which triggered a ghost-catching storm that lasted for thousands of years.
Zhong Kui has a chivalrous face and looks ferocious. Behind his strong character, there is a hateful and extremely kind heart. This strong contrast is enough to form a classic artistic image. Folk painters either carve their works on stones or carve them into auspicious paintings to exorcise evil spirits and celebrate the New Year. They stick them on the door or hang them in the hall for good luck. Lingbi's painting of Zhong Kui shows Zhong Kui's bravery, ferocious face and charm. In terms of modeling, it has gradually formed a unique local feature, with a sword-shaped eyebrows and tiger eyes, a broad campus, rough and bold, powerful and aggressive, rough and ugly with rhyme, bold and elegant, unrestrained and gentle, and strong and self-contained.
Works handed down from ancient times, such as Judge Ye, Zhong Kuifu and Zhong Wei. Rough and elegant appearance, dignified and gentle expression, violent and kind character, plain and mysterious atmosphere. The image of Zhong Kui is wearing a red official uniform, with boots on his feet and clean hands; Clench your fist with your right hand. Hold the sword in your left hand and raise it above your head. Take a step to the left. You are doing a powerful exorcism. In particular, he locked his waist with a knife eyebrow, stared at a pair of angry eyes, and his bushy beard must have opened vigorously, like a roaring oriental lion. Zhong Kui night patrol map, Zhong Kui ghost-catching map, Zhong Kui ghost-catching map, Zhong Kui sword-dancing map, etc.
Sixth, Zhong Kui's unyielding character made him a fair judge. Give him the position and ability to catch ghosts. Let's look at the early gods again. They are full-time ghost hunters. This is a portrait brick in the Western Han Dynasty, when Shen Tu and Lei Yu were experts in catching ghosts. In the fairy tales of the Han Dynasty, they were brothers and were famous for their bravery. Their images often appear in brick paintings of the Han Dynasty. Shen Tu and Lei Yu are the oldest ghost hunters. This is called Chiyou, which is a special demon terminator. According to "The Strange Classic of Southeast Asia", the ruler Guo catches ghosts by instinct-eating his stomach. Legend has it that he only swallowed 3000 demons at breakfast and 300 at dinner at night.
Before the Tang Dynasty, these people were all powerful ghost hunters. But the appearance of Zhong Kui eclipsed them. Zhong Kui is a typical representative of ancient civilian intellectuals. When Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, he went to Chang 'an to take the exam. Zhong Kui wrote five articles "Yingzhou Banquet", which was praised as a wizard by the examiner and ranked first in the "case-solving". However, in the imperial examination, the traitor Qilu judged people by their appearances and slandered others constantly, so he lost the highest prize. In a rage, Zhong Kui died and hit his head on the temple pillar, shocking the ruling and opposition parties. The emperor's funeral of the highest official.
In this story, Zhong Kui was only one step away from his dream, but he lost his career and bright future because of the emperor's personal likes and dislikes. Presumably, his grievance experience resonated with scholars of all ages. Since the Song Dynasty, this story is strikingly similar in almost all versions of Zhong Kui's story. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, folk stories have successfully endowed Zhong Kui with the status of literati, and its practical significance has been recognized by people. His indomitable character makes him a fair judge, which blends with Bao Zheng's image as an honest official in the world, and finally makes him the most trustworthy ghost catcher.
This is also the uniqueness of Zhong Kui as a god: although the image of Zhong Kui appears frequently in various paintings, there are countless legends about him; But because he is really unfounded in history, everything has no code, and he is ugly and full of ghosts. It didn't get the title of emperor, and the central government didn't personally preside over the construction of Zhong Kui Temple. But because of this, people have more freedom in shaping Zhong Kui. This gives Zhong Kui a distinctive secular character.
Zhong Kui's injustice touched the Jade Emperor, the supreme ruler of the sacred world. It turns out that after Zhong Kui's death, like everyone else, he will suffer in the underworld and be under the jurisdiction of the terrifying. But when the Jade Emperor heard Zhong Kui's grievance, he was very sympathetic, so he was very kind. Send messengers to inform the lower bound and release them all the way. The Jade Emperor seems to appreciate Zhong Kui's strong and unyielding character, and also intends to entrust him with an important task. On the ecliptic, Zhong Kui received a letter of appointment and was appointed as the judge of Yin and Yang by the Jade Emperor. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, folk stories have successfully endowed Zhong Kui with the status of literati, and its practical significance has been recognized by people. His indomitable character makes him a fair judge, which blends with Bao Zheng's image as an honest official in the world, and finally makes him the most trustworthy ghost catcher.
Seventh, Zhong Kui's ghost-catching portraits are posted everywhere among the people, spreading widely and becoming a daily posting ceremony for people to ward off evil spirits and seek happiness. Zhong Kui's portrait gives people a strong psychological hint and comfort. Lingbi County, Anhui Province is famous for Zhong Bin's famous paintings since ancient times, and the whole street is full of calligraphy and painting shops running this way. Every year, nearly 10,000 portraits of Zhong Kui flow from here to the whole country and even other countries.
Looking up the Lingbi County Records compiled in the early years of Qing Dynasty, we can see that by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this number must be doubled to tens of thousands. In other New Year pictures producing areas, Zhong Kui portrait is also one of the most popular varieties. This shows that people really believe in Zhong Kui's ability to catch ghosts and gods. It also reflects the deep-rooted concept of ancient folk ghosts and gods from one side. It is precisely because of the superstition of ghosts and gods that people have shaped Zhong Kui who catches ghosts.