Patron to police officers, god of war, martial arts and even literature, Guan Yu is the mortal who appeared in Romance of the Three Kingdoms and later became a god. His appearance includes a long beard and a red face, with a green robe worn over body armour. Guan Yu is often depicted stroking his beard and with his weapon called Green Dragon, a halberd like weapon known as a ‘guan dao’.
Guan Yu is refered as “Saintly Emperor Guan” and “Guan Gong” (which means ‘Lord Guan’).
A well known story of Guan Yu is how he got a poisoned arrowed to the arm and had to get surgery. Guan Yu calmly played a game of solitaire while receiving the needed treatment on his arm.
Little is known of Guan Yu’s early life. It is known that he was born in Xie County, Hedong and ended up fleeing his hometown at age twenty-three after killed a man Lu Xiong who was harassing a lady. Five years later he met Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, with the three becoming sworn brothers in a peach orchid.
Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei would sleep in the same room and had meals together, as if they were actual brothers. Originally they fought the group known as the Yellow Turbans. The Yellow Turbans fell and after Liu Bei gained independence from warlord Cao Cao, the Xu Province was taken.
Guan Yu was placed in charge of the regional capital of the city of Xiapi. Xiapi fell soon after and was captured by Cao Cao. Guan Yu was treated respectfully and appointed deputy general. A man known as Yan Liang was sent to attack a place known as Boma and was killed by Guan Yu. Guan Yu got given the title of “Marquis of Hanshou”, but however left to rejoin his sworn brother Liu Bei leaving the gifts from Cao Cao behind.
After Liu Bei lost the Battle of Guandu and having the Jing Province thrown into confusion, Liu Bei and Guan Yu met up. An alliance between Liu Bei and a warlord, Sun Quan, was formed and Cao Cao was defeated at the Battle of Red Cliffs.
Liu Bei eventually become a powerful warlord and was able to conquer the southern Jing Province which lead to Guan Yu being promoted to “General Who Exterminates Rebels”. Later on, after the Battle of Fancheng Guan Yu was captured along with his son Guan Ping by the Wu. Guan Yu was to change sides or die, to which Guan Yu refused due to loyalty and thus executed.
After death Guan Yu’s spirit came to Yuquan Hill, outside of present day Dangyang, Hubei, and protected locals from evil. The worship of Guan Yu is said to have originated from this area. Notably, as a god of war he blesses those who observe righteousness rather going to battle.
Showing posts with label Guan Yu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guan Yu. Show all posts
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Gods And Goddesses: Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor is known by many names and titles that include Heavenly Grandfather, Most Venerable Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Golden Palace, Supremely High Emperor of the Heavens, Holder of Talismans, Container of Perfection and Embodiment of Tao, Most Venerable and Highest Jade Emperor of All Embracing Sublime Spontaneous Existence of the Heavenly Golden Palace, the Pure August Jade Emperor, August Personage of Jade, Huanling High Sovereign and Peace Absolving, Central August Spirit Exalted, Ancient Buddha, Most Pious and Honourable, His Highness the Jade Emperor, Xuanling High Sovereign.
While he is the ruler of Heaven and the realms below, the Jade Emperor is below to three known as the Three Pure One’s.
Interestingly a crater discovered by the spacecraft Voyager 2 on Saturn’s moon Rhea is named after the Jade Emperor. The birthday of the Jade Emperor is said to be the ninth day of the first lunar month and on this day incense and food offerings are given to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor is also worshipped by many on the day before the first day of Chinese New Year as it is said to be the day the Jade Emperor makes his annual inspection of the deeds of mortals, rewarding and punishing accordingly.
Originally the Jade Emperor was the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzu (whom is said to be the limitless and eternal creator of Heaven and earth) who picked the Jade Emperor as a successor as a ruler of Heaven. It is said that the successor of the Jade Emperor will be the god of war, Guan Yu.
The Jade Emperor has many sons and daughters that include Tzu-sun Niang-niang (fertility goddess who grants children to couples), Yen-kuang Niang-niang (goddess whom provides good eyesight) and Zhi Nu (who is responsible for weaving colourful clouds in Heaven). The wife is the Jade Emperor is known as Wang Ma and is said to have had ten sons, nine who were killed by the divine archer known as Houyi.
The Jade Emperor’s daughter Zhi Nu would go down to earth everyday with the help of a magical robe so she could bathe, with one day being different as a lowly cowherd named Niu Lang spotted Zhi Nu bathing in a stream. Niu Lang fell in love with Zhi Nu and stole her rove, when Zhi Nu left the stream she was left unable to go back to Heaven and Niu Lang grabbed her, carrying her to home. When the Jade Emperor heard of this he was furious but he couldn’t do much seeing as by the time he learnt of what happened, his daughter already fallen in love and married the cowherd.
Over time, Zhi Nu grew homesick and did miss her father. Zhi Nu did one day find her magic robe that allowed her to go back to Heaven, letting her to see the Jade Emperor once again. The Jade Emperor summoned a river across the sky (notably, this is the Milky Way) making Zhi Nu to get back home and see Niu Lang again. The Jade Emperor took pity on the two and once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month he allows Zhi Nu and Niu Lang to meet. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a holiday known as Qi Xi, which is also called Chinese Valentine’s Day by some.
The Jade Emperor is said to be originally the crown prince of a kingdom of Pure Felicity and Majestic Heavenly Lights and Ornaments. Upon birth a light filled the entire kingdom and when young the Jade Emperor is described to have been kind, intelligent and wise, helping those in need. When the Jade Emperor’s father died the Jade Emperor himself took his father’s place on the throne, where he made sure that everyone within his kingdom found both peace and contentment.
It was the Jade Emperor who said to his ministers that he wished to cultivate Tao on what is known as the Bright and Fragrant Cliff. Story goes that after 1550 kalpas (one kalpa being 129,600 years) the Jade Emperor attained ‘Golden Immortality” and after another one hundred million years of cultivation of Tao finally became the Jade Emperor.
How the Jade Emperor came to be ruler of Heaven starts at the beginning of time where the earth was vastly different to today. This was a time of not many gods but plenty of demons. The Jade Emperor was at the time an immortal at this time who helped as many people as possible.
Eventually the Jade Emperor retreated into a mountain cave to cultivate Tao, where it is said he went through 3,200 trials, each lasting three million years. A demon wanted to become the ruler of the entire universe and did the same as the Jade Emperor to try to expand its own power although at a later time.
This demon went through the trials and was confident, recruiting an army of demons to attack Heaven.
The gods fought this demon and were unable to defeat this demon and the immortals were preparing themselves to fight this demon. The Jade Emperor fortunately came along and defeated the demon, allowing for the army prepared by this powerful demon to be defeated. Due to this the Jade Emperor became the ruler of Heaven.
While he is the ruler of Heaven and the realms below, the Jade Emperor is below to three known as the Three Pure One’s.
Interestingly a crater discovered by the spacecraft Voyager 2 on Saturn’s moon Rhea is named after the Jade Emperor. The birthday of the Jade Emperor is said to be the ninth day of the first lunar month and on this day incense and food offerings are given to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor is also worshipped by many on the day before the first day of Chinese New Year as it is said to be the day the Jade Emperor makes his annual inspection of the deeds of mortals, rewarding and punishing accordingly.
Originally the Jade Emperor was the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzu (whom is said to be the limitless and eternal creator of Heaven and earth) who picked the Jade Emperor as a successor as a ruler of Heaven. It is said that the successor of the Jade Emperor will be the god of war, Guan Yu.
The Jade Emperor has many sons and daughters that include Tzu-sun Niang-niang (fertility goddess who grants children to couples), Yen-kuang Niang-niang (goddess whom provides good eyesight) and Zhi Nu (who is responsible for weaving colourful clouds in Heaven). The wife is the Jade Emperor is known as Wang Ma and is said to have had ten sons, nine who were killed by the divine archer known as Houyi.
The Jade Emperor’s daughter Zhi Nu would go down to earth everyday with the help of a magical robe so she could bathe, with one day being different as a lowly cowherd named Niu Lang spotted Zhi Nu bathing in a stream. Niu Lang fell in love with Zhi Nu and stole her rove, when Zhi Nu left the stream she was left unable to go back to Heaven and Niu Lang grabbed her, carrying her to home. When the Jade Emperor heard of this he was furious but he couldn’t do much seeing as by the time he learnt of what happened, his daughter already fallen in love and married the cowherd.
Over time, Zhi Nu grew homesick and did miss her father. Zhi Nu did one day find her magic robe that allowed her to go back to Heaven, letting her to see the Jade Emperor once again. The Jade Emperor summoned a river across the sky (notably, this is the Milky Way) making Zhi Nu to get back home and see Niu Lang again. The Jade Emperor took pity on the two and once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month he allows Zhi Nu and Niu Lang to meet. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a holiday known as Qi Xi, which is also called Chinese Valentine’s Day by some.
The Jade Emperor is said to be originally the crown prince of a kingdom of Pure Felicity and Majestic Heavenly Lights and Ornaments. Upon birth a light filled the entire kingdom and when young the Jade Emperor is described to have been kind, intelligent and wise, helping those in need. When the Jade Emperor’s father died the Jade Emperor himself took his father’s place on the throne, where he made sure that everyone within his kingdom found both peace and contentment.
It was the Jade Emperor who said to his ministers that he wished to cultivate Tao on what is known as the Bright and Fragrant Cliff. Story goes that after 1550 kalpas (one kalpa being 129,600 years) the Jade Emperor attained ‘Golden Immortality” and after another one hundred million years of cultivation of Tao finally became the Jade Emperor.
How the Jade Emperor came to be ruler of Heaven starts at the beginning of time where the earth was vastly different to today. This was a time of not many gods but plenty of demons. The Jade Emperor was at the time an immortal at this time who helped as many people as possible.
Eventually the Jade Emperor retreated into a mountain cave to cultivate Tao, where it is said he went through 3,200 trials, each lasting three million years. A demon wanted to become the ruler of the entire universe and did the same as the Jade Emperor to try to expand its own power although at a later time.
This demon went through the trials and was confident, recruiting an army of demons to attack Heaven.
The gods fought this demon and were unable to defeat this demon and the immortals were preparing themselves to fight this demon. The Jade Emperor fortunately came along and defeated the demon, allowing for the army prepared by this powerful demon to be defeated. Due to this the Jade Emperor became the ruler of Heaven.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival is the most important traditional Chinese holiday and it ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. The next Chinese New Year is to be on February 3rd and it is only a time to get together with family to celebrate but to also remember family who have died.
The days before the New Year families buy presents, decorations, food, new clothes and have their entire houses clean. The intent of the cleaning is to clean away the bad luck and on the New Year Day it is bad luck to clean the house as it is seen as cleaning the good luck away.
On Chinese New Year there is celebration using firecrackers, lanterns, torches and bonfires to chase away the evil spirits believed to be scared off by the light and noise, with dragon and lion dances taking place throughout the first few days of the Chinese New Year.
Red envelops are a common gift around this time of year. The red of the envelop symbolizes good luck and money, with money usually an amount of a lucky number such as one containing multiple eights (as in Chinese it sound similar to “prosperity”.
Certain foods are eaten more often during the Chinese New Year, such as Year Cake and Prosperity Cake, dumplings, a salad of raw fish (known as you sheng), mandarins as they are a symbol of wealth and good fortune, red Jujubes (or ‘Chinese Dates’) which symbolize prosperity, steamed fish as they symbolize long life and good fortune, uncut noodles during to their symbolism of longevity and baked foods with seeds to symbolize fertility. Quite a few things but that is what is eaten during Chinese New Year.
The beginning of Chinese New Year is said to have started with a fight against a beast known as the Nien.
The story goes that the Nien would come to a village on the first day of the New Year where it would eat livestock, crops and villagers (especially children), and because of this villagers would place food in front of their doors at the beginning of each year. Then one time people saw the Nien being scared away by a child wearing red and people knew it was the red that scared the beast away, so people began hanging red lanterns at the start of every New Year. People also used firecrackers to scare away the Nien. The Nien never did go back to the village, and was eventually captured by a Taoist monk by the name of Hongjun Laozu.
With fifteen days or the Chinese New Year there are much to celebrate.
The first day is of the welcoming of deities of both Heaven and earth with meat and the killing of animal often being abstained from this day. Lion and dragon dances are common this day along with fireworks. The first day is also known as the birthday of Budai, the Laughing Buddha.
The second day praying to one’s ancestors and all of the gods are occur this day. It is also the birthday of all dogs this day, so dogs are treated with extra kindness with being given an extra nice meal.
The third day is known as ‘chi kou’ which means ‘red mouth’. Nothing much happens this day as it thought to not be a good day to socialise. Nothing much happens on the fourth day, either.
The fifth day it is known as the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth, Tsai Shen Yeh, and it common to shoot off firecrackers to get the attention of the god of war, Guan Yu, for his favour and good fortune.
On the sixth day is another day of not much happenings but on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year it is known as the common mans birthday and raw fish salad is tossed.
The eighth day is when the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor is celebrated, with the ninth day the birthday of the Jade Emperor is celebrated. Prayers to the Jade Emperor are said and offerings are given, usually of incense, tea, fruit and vegetarian food. The tenth day is also another day when the Jade Emperor is celebrated.
Sadly, nothing can be said by me for the eleventh and twelfth days… But on the thirteenth day people will tend to only eat vegetarian food and this day is dedicated to Guan Yu, the god of war. It is this day where most organization and business in China will pray to Guan Yu.
Fourteenth day nothing much again but on the fifteenth day the Lantern Festival is celebrated and candles are lit outside houses to help guide spirits home.
The days before the New Year families buy presents, decorations, food, new clothes and have their entire houses clean. The intent of the cleaning is to clean away the bad luck and on the New Year Day it is bad luck to clean the house as it is seen as cleaning the good luck away.
On Chinese New Year there is celebration using firecrackers, lanterns, torches and bonfires to chase away the evil spirits believed to be scared off by the light and noise, with dragon and lion dances taking place throughout the first few days of the Chinese New Year.
Red envelops are a common gift around this time of year. The red of the envelop symbolizes good luck and money, with money usually an amount of a lucky number such as one containing multiple eights (as in Chinese it sound similar to “prosperity”.
Certain foods are eaten more often during the Chinese New Year, such as Year Cake and Prosperity Cake, dumplings, a salad of raw fish (known as you sheng), mandarins as they are a symbol of wealth and good fortune, red Jujubes (or ‘Chinese Dates’) which symbolize prosperity, steamed fish as they symbolize long life and good fortune, uncut noodles during to their symbolism of longevity and baked foods with seeds to symbolize fertility. Quite a few things but that is what is eaten during Chinese New Year.
The beginning of Chinese New Year is said to have started with a fight against a beast known as the Nien.
The story goes that the Nien would come to a village on the first day of the New Year where it would eat livestock, crops and villagers (especially children), and because of this villagers would place food in front of their doors at the beginning of each year. Then one time people saw the Nien being scared away by a child wearing red and people knew it was the red that scared the beast away, so people began hanging red lanterns at the start of every New Year. People also used firecrackers to scare away the Nien. The Nien never did go back to the village, and was eventually captured by a Taoist monk by the name of Hongjun Laozu.
With fifteen days or the Chinese New Year there are much to celebrate.
The first day is of the welcoming of deities of both Heaven and earth with meat and the killing of animal often being abstained from this day. Lion and dragon dances are common this day along with fireworks. The first day is also known as the birthday of Budai, the Laughing Buddha.
The second day praying to one’s ancestors and all of the gods are occur this day. It is also the birthday of all dogs this day, so dogs are treated with extra kindness with being given an extra nice meal.
The third day is known as ‘chi kou’ which means ‘red mouth’. Nothing much happens this day as it thought to not be a good day to socialise. Nothing much happens on the fourth day, either.
The fifth day it is known as the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth, Tsai Shen Yeh, and it common to shoot off firecrackers to get the attention of the god of war, Guan Yu, for his favour and good fortune.
On the sixth day is another day of not much happenings but on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year it is known as the common mans birthday and raw fish salad is tossed.
The eighth day is when the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor is celebrated, with the ninth day the birthday of the Jade Emperor is celebrated. Prayers to the Jade Emperor are said and offerings are given, usually of incense, tea, fruit and vegetarian food. The tenth day is also another day when the Jade Emperor is celebrated.
Sadly, nothing can be said by me for the eleventh and twelfth days… But on the thirteenth day people will tend to only eat vegetarian food and this day is dedicated to Guan Yu, the god of war. It is this day where most organization and business in China will pray to Guan Yu.
Fourteenth day nothing much again but on the fifteenth day the Lantern Festival is celebrated and candles are lit outside houses to help guide spirits home.
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