Is it good for Taoism to worship crape myrtle?
First, the Four Emperors are the Jade Emperor, Wei Zi, Gou Chen and Hou Tu;
Second, the four emperors are Gou Chen (Tian), Wei Zi (North), Changsheng (South) and Houtu (Earth);
Three or six emperors are Jade Emperor (Heaven), Gouchen (West), Wei Zi (North), Antarctic (South), Taiyi (East) and Houtu (Earth);
Fourth, the four emperors are Wei Zi in the Arctic, Tsinghua in the East Pole, Changsheng in the Antarctic and Taiji in the West Pole;
As far as I know, I support the second statement, that is, the Four Emperors are gods representing four directions, up and down, north and south, excluding the Jade Emperor. These include:
1, the Great Emperor Wei Zi of the Arctic, as the North Star, is in charge of the Five Thunder and the latitude of heaven and earth, and commands three star stars and mountain gods. Because Wei Zi Garden symbolizes the Forbidden City in astrology, and the emperor faces south, Emperor Wei Zi directly represents the emperor (God, etc. ) on earth.
2. Emperor Gou Chen, as the six stars of Gou Chen, was in charge of the North and South poles and the talents of heaven and earth, ruled the stars and presided over the military revolution on earth. Because he is under the Five Emperors, he represents the harem, generals, three fairs and so on.
3. Generally speaking, the immortal emperor of Antarctica is not represented by the exact stars, or is the identity of the six stars in Nandou. In charge of all souls, in charge of all souls' longevity, because there is a saying that "Nan Dou pays attention to life", which is the longevity old man in Samsung.
4. The queen of the earth is only the goddess who is in charge of Yin and Yang and breeds the mountains and rivers of the earth. There is an understanding that Nu Wa Niangniang.
This is one of the most common sayings of the Four Emperors, and so is the statue of the Four Emperors on the first floor of Sanqing Pavilion in Beijing Baiyun Temple, with the memorial tablet of the Jade Emperor in the middle. Therefore, it can be said that under the Sanqing, there was a jade emperor, and under the jade emperor, there were four emperors who assisted the jade emperor in governance.
In addition, the nine imperial rules mean that the six imperial rules add up to three Ming rules.
On the function, another way of saying it is that there are ten thousand kinds in the North Pole-all stars, the South Pole-all spirits, the West Pole-all gods and the East Pole. Corresponding to the fourth statement is a strong sense of attachment.
In fact, the problem of Taoist divinity spectrum has never been complete and accurate. Gou Chen and Wei Zi are from astrology, both in the northern starry sky; The immortal emperor of Antarctica is the six-star commander in chief of Nandou, corresponding to the Big Dipper. As for Emperor Tsinghua, it originated from the worship of Taiyi (Taiyi-Taiyi-Qinghua); Hou simply represents the earth directly. It is also a pity that the six-dimensional orientation of the Taoist Association of later generations began to coordinate the existing images of gods and integrate the views of the four emperors, which contained political implications, but could not be unified. Anyway, there is no need to go too far.
However, I think it is debatable to denounce theology in the name of quietness. Theology is a part of Taoist culture, and even our ancestors dare not speak out of turn, let alone our generation. In the early days, Changyue Wang's immortals mainly worshipped in practice, and Qiu Chuji also took teaching people with scientific instruments as an important lesson. How can theology be said to be trivial? "The List of Gods" and The Journey to the West are novels with many fallacies and heresies, which are not internal Taoist sayings. Moreover, there is no ancestor Hongjun in Taoism, and Sanqing is not the three leaders in this respect.