The Origin And Evolvement Of The Worship Of Zhenwu

Zhenwu originated from the northern Xuanwu in the ancient four symbols of direction.Xuanwu was originally a divine tortoise.After the Han Dynasty,it gradually evolved into the image of a turtle-snake combination.In secular society,Xuanwu is the northern image of sky stars as well as above-ground buildings.Many scenic spots are named after "Xuanwu".Taoism also incorporates the four symbols,including Xuanwu,into its own deities system,acting as guardians of heavenly deities along with the ascetics and the dead in the Realm of Death.From the pre-Qin dynasty to the Tang dynasty,although Xuanwu was divine,the status of the godhead was not high.It was much as a " Mythical Animals " not as a "god".Out of curiosity and imagination of the Arctic and Big Dipper,the Chinese ancestors believed that the northern starry sky has magical power.In addition,the northern part is the symbol of water while water is the origin of everything.Taoism has gradually formed a consistent northern worship,creating representatives such as Taiyi,Emperor of gods,and Ziwei Emperor to symbolize the Arctic and Big Dipper.These gods have a distinguished status and great powers.After the accumulation and integration of the Six Dynasties,a Northern emperor cult was formed in the Tang Dynasty with northern deities as worship objects.This Taoist school has shaped many Northern Emperors pushing northern worship to a climax.During the period of Five Dynasties,the Northern Emperor school Taoists in the Chuanshu area created the Zhenwu Taoist scriptures based on the Northern Emperor's classics,allowing the northern Xuanwu to stand out from the four Symbols and become a personified northern god with the responsibility of cutting demons and devils.In order to prove the legitimacy of the imperial power of Song dynasty,Song Zhenzong launched a series of god-making movements.Facing the threat from the north Khitan,Xuanwu,the guardian of the north,caught his attention.It happened that in the second year of Tianxi(1018)the propitious omen of sweet spring appeared in the military division of the Beijing Division so Song Zhenzong seized the opportunity to establish the deity hall of Xiangyuan,and deified Zhenwu as "Zhenwu spiritual response immortal",so that the Zhenwu's godhead was improved by leaps and bounds.After the death of Zhenzong,his descendants continued to construct the Zhenwu's godhead around the tone of the "spiritual response",collecting and organizing spiritual stories,compiling the classics as "The Book ofZhenwu Enlightenment",and shaped Zhenwu into the protector god of Song dynasty,god of cutting demons,god of war in the north and god of water and fire to pray for rain and fire as well as the god of blessing for disaster relief.Huizong,Qinzong,Ningzong,and Lizong continued to deified Zhenwu,and used state power to build a palace for Zhenwu,making Zhenwu a well-known and spiritually respected Taoist god.Around the time of the Song Renzong,Taoists ascetic combined the Tianpeng,Tianyou,Heisha,and Zhenwu that belong to the northern deities to form the Four Arctic Saints.The Four Saints are the priests of His Majesty the Great Arctic emperor Ziwei.The main function of them is to cut off the demons,at the same time curing diseases and praying for rain and sunshine.The Four Saints are often called by Lei Fa Taoism,such as Tianxin,Shenxiao,Donghua,Qingwei,etc.,and are the gods who protect Song dynasty,which had an important impact on the change of imperial power between the Northern Song and Southern Song.The mother of the Emperor Gao Zong of Song Dynasty,in order to thank God for grace,built the Four Saints yanxiang deity hall on Lonely Mountain in the West Lake,which made the Four Saints religion prominent.After the demise of the Song Dynasty,the other three saints gradually became obscured,and the Tianpeng was even vilified into a pig but Zhenwu's faith instead rose against the trend and then flourished.The three reasons of this phenomenon are that first the superimposed effect of the north of the north can attract people's attention more;second is because Zhenwu has been repeatedly bestowed by the royal family and has a special sacrifice outside the Four Saints Hall;the most important thing is that Zhenwu spiritual response has long-term influence in secular society.Buddhism and Taoism coexisted in Wudang Mountain in the early days so Wudang was not only the base of Buddhist Fahua and Zen Buddhism,but also the immortal mountain that Taoist Danding and hermits dreamed of.During the Song Huizong Xuanhe years,the Zixiao Palace was completed which may be the first Taoist temple dedicated to Zhenwu in Wudang Mountain.Since then,legends about Zhenwu's cultivation and ascension in Wudang Mountain had gradually emerged.In Yuan Dynasty The Wudang Qingwei School had been formed so the Wudang Mission's consciousness of the mountain has been awakened.Liu Daoming and other high schools have examined ancient books,interviewed the elders,and compiled "Wudang blessed land Secret Collection","Wu Dang Ji Sheng Ji" and "Xuan Tian God Apocalypse" and other Scriptures,one by one to implement the legend of Zhenwu into the 72 peaks,36 rocks,24 rivers in the Wudang Mountain.The Taoist priests of the Yuan Dynasty and the royalty of Ming dynasty established the palace relied on the Zhenwu legend making myths and sacred space closely combined.The original and empty Zhenwu monasticlegend became more authentic and reliable because of its implementation in specific areas.Wudang Mountain was also famous for its affiliation with the Zhenwu belief.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,many famous Taoist mountains named after Wudang such as Surpassing wudang,East,West,South,North,and middle wudang throughout the country,which witnessed the rise of the Zhenwu faith and the spread of Wudang culture.The birth and monastic stories of Emperor Zhenwu are clearly inspired by the biography of Shakyamuni.Zhenwu was enshrined into the incarnation of the Immortal Buddha,and many temples also worship Zhenwu.Zhenwu was an important Taoist god of filial piety.In history,there have been many classics of persuasion that used Zhenwu as the main god,trying to use the faith of Zhenwu to supervise the implementation and enforcement of Confucian ethics.Zhenwu belief reflected the historical trend of the integration of the three religions since the Tang and Song dynasties.Even in Zhenwu's exclusive classics,Xuantian God's deity status was not too high.He was only a god under the Emperor Yuhuang and Ziwei.However,its influence was no less than that of Sanqing and Siyu.The reason why the faith of Zhenwu was enduring was that apart from the support of the three royal families of the Song,Yuan and Ming Dynasties,it was more important that he had a diverse personality to satisfy the belief needs of different classes and professions.The spiritual response of Zhenwu had been spread,conforming to the utilitarian psychology that people hope to solve practical problems through religion.He had Wudang Mountain as a concrete sacred space,which made the legend more true,attracting countless good men and women to the mountain,and allowing the Zhenwu belief to spread along with the footprints of believers.Zhenwu was a representative of Taoism's emerging deities after the Tang and Song Dynasties,and reflected the transformation and development trend of Taoist immortal beliefs.