Suiren, also spelt as Sui-Ren and known as Sui-Ren-Shi, Yen Di and Yen Ti, is the god who taught how to cook and to use fire.
He is also said to have been the discoverer of fire, and is whom got people to use fire to cook. He is one of the three rulers of China known as the San Huang (the first Fu Xi, second Shennong and the last is Suiren). He notably has three eyes and is bearded.
Originally a man who came from another land to China. Suiren feed all those who needed food, human and non-human. It was one day that he saw a bird, a woodpecker, that began pecking at a tree. At this moment he realised how to start a fire, by drilling a twig into a branch. However, upon learning this method of creating fire he didn’t know much of keeping and utilizing it. Over time it was however learnt.
Showing posts with label Shennong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shennong. Show all posts
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Gods And Goddesses: Fu Xi
Fu Xi is a god said to have been born with a body of a serpent but a head of a human occurring in the 29th century BC. Fu Xi is the first of the San Huang, a group of three sovereigns of China who taught mankind many important skills and is said to have ruled from 2952BC to 2836BC or from 2852BC to 2737BC.
Besides being described as a man with a head of a man and the body of a serpent, Fu Xi is at times described as a man wearing animal skins and with long hair. Often in Taoist temples Fu Xi is often with the symbol known as the baqua.
Many things are attributed to Fu Xi which include creating the well known symbol called baqua (or Eight Trigrams) that is used in divination, the creation of casting oracles using yarrow stalks, the breeding of silk worms, and the taming of wild animals.
Fu Xi is said to have created the basis of Chinese writing itself and invented the many Chinese family names with the decree that only those with differing family names shall marry.
Fu Xi also taught how to hunt with weapons of iron, while also how to fish with nets in which fishing nets were inspired by a spider weaving a web.
One time, this god came across a tortoise with cosmic numbers on its shell. This lead to Fu Xi’s invention of the Magic Square where all lines add up to fifteen:
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
Fu Xi, along with the gods Shennong and Huangdi created an instrument called guqin that is also referred as “the father of Chinese music” and “the instrument of the sages”.
A marriage between Fu Xi and his sister, Nu Wa, occurred after approval from Heaven using smoke from fire. Both Fu Xi and Nu Wa appear in the Dynasty Warriors games after Dynasty Warriors 3 with Fu Xi being depicted as a 180cm tall eighteen year old.
Besides being described as a man with a head of a man and the body of a serpent, Fu Xi is at times described as a man wearing animal skins and with long hair. Often in Taoist temples Fu Xi is often with the symbol known as the baqua.
Many things are attributed to Fu Xi which include creating the well known symbol called baqua (or Eight Trigrams) that is used in divination, the creation of casting oracles using yarrow stalks, the breeding of silk worms, and the taming of wild animals.
Fu Xi is said to have created the basis of Chinese writing itself and invented the many Chinese family names with the decree that only those with differing family names shall marry.
Fu Xi also taught how to hunt with weapons of iron, while also how to fish with nets in which fishing nets were inspired by a spider weaving a web.
One time, this god came across a tortoise with cosmic numbers on its shell. This lead to Fu Xi’s invention of the Magic Square where all lines add up to fifteen:
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
Fu Xi, along with the gods Shennong and Huangdi created an instrument called guqin that is also referred as “the father of Chinese music” and “the instrument of the sages”.
A marriage between Fu Xi and his sister, Nu Wa, occurred after approval from Heaven using smoke from fire. Both Fu Xi and Nu Wa appear in the Dynasty Warriors games after Dynasty Warriors 3 with Fu Xi being depicted as a 180cm tall eighteen year old.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Gods And Goddesses: Shennong
Shennong, also known as the Farmer God, Divine Farmer and the Emperor of the Five Grains, is the Chinese god of Chinese medicine, agriculture, farming and of the five grains. It is said that Shennong was first known as Yan Di, or the Emperor of Fire.
Shennong is considered the father of Chinese agriculture who taught his people how to cultivate grain as food and how to avoid killing animals. Shennong himself is said to have helped people transition from a diet of meat, clams and wild fruits to one based on grains and vegetables plus for developing herbal medicine. The Shennong Herb-Root Classic is attributed to Shennong, which was first compiled during the end of the Western Han Dynasty which lists various medicinal herbs discovered by Shennong.
It was Shennong who went around testing hundreds of herbs for their properties to which he is well known for and was crucial to the development of traditional Chinese medicine. Tea is claimed to be Shennong’s discovery, where leaves of tea twigs blew upwards from a fire and landed in the cauldron of boiling water. It is also notable that Shennong was able to identify seventy poisonous plants that he had tried himself.
Shennong and Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, are even said to be friends who shared alchemical secrets of medicine, immortality and making gold. Supposedly the two are kin and the Han Chinese regarded them both as joint ancestors. It is also said that Shennong, with Huangdi and another god, Fuxi, took part in creation of an instrument known as the guqin which is referred as “the father of Chinese music” or “the instrument of the sages”.
Shennong has two horns on his head, clothed with leaves and often with a plant in one of his hands to be tasted.
Shennong is considered the father of Chinese agriculture who taught his people how to cultivate grain as food and how to avoid killing animals. Shennong himself is said to have helped people transition from a diet of meat, clams and wild fruits to one based on grains and vegetables plus for developing herbal medicine. The Shennong Herb-Root Classic is attributed to Shennong, which was first compiled during the end of the Western Han Dynasty which lists various medicinal herbs discovered by Shennong.
It was Shennong who went around testing hundreds of herbs for their properties to which he is well known for and was crucial to the development of traditional Chinese medicine. Tea is claimed to be Shennong’s discovery, where leaves of tea twigs blew upwards from a fire and landed in the cauldron of boiling water. It is also notable that Shennong was able to identify seventy poisonous plants that he had tried himself.
Shennong and Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, are even said to be friends who shared alchemical secrets of medicine, immortality and making gold. Supposedly the two are kin and the Han Chinese regarded them both as joint ancestors. It is also said that Shennong, with Huangdi and another god, Fuxi, took part in creation of an instrument known as the guqin which is referred as “the father of Chinese music” or “the instrument of the sages”.
Shennong has two horns on his head, clothed with leaves and often with a plant in one of his hands to be tasted.
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