Menshen
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Menshen, or door gods,Template:Sfnp are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu (Template:Zh) and Yulü (Template:Zh) under the Han, but the deified generals Qin Shubao (Template:Zh) and Yuchi Gong (Template:Zh) have been more popular since the Tang. In cases where a door god is affixed to a single door, Wei Zheng or Zhong Kui is commonly used.
History
The gates and doors of Chinese houses have long received special ritual attention.Template:Sfnp Sacrifices to a door spirit are recorded as early as the Book of Rites.Template:Sfnp[1] By the Han, this spirit had become the two gods Shenshu and Yulü, whose names or images were painted into peachwood and attached to doors.Template:Sfnp When the Emperor Taizong of the Tang was being plagued by nightmares, he ordered portraits of his generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to be affixed to gates.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". They eventually came to be considered divine protectors, replacing Shentu and Yulü and remaining the most common door gods to the present day.Template:Sfnp Qin and Yuchi, along with various other deified military leaders, make up a class of martial door gods intended to ward off evil spirits and bad influences. A separate group of scholars make up a class of civil door gods intended to attract blessings and good fortune.Template:Sfnp Some deities are also thought to have guardians who serve a similar role at their temples, such as Mazu's companions Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er.
Legends
The 10th chapter of the Chinese novel Journey to the West includes an account of the origin of door gods. In it, the Dragon King of the Jing River disguised himself as a human to outsmart the fortune teller Yuan Shoucheng. Since he was able to control the weather, he made a bet with Yuan about Chang'an's forecast for the next day. He was nonplussed, however, when he received an order from the Jade Emperor telling him to give the city precisely the weather Yuan had predicted. The Dragon King preferred to win the bet and disregarded the order, going to Yuan to gloat the next day. Yuan remained calm and revealed that he had known the Dragon King's identity all along. Moreover, since the dragon had been so arrogant as to disregard an order from the Jade Emperor, his doom would be short in coming. The dragon was shocked to see his disobedience known and immediately pleaded with Yuan to save him. Yuan let him know that the Jade Emperor would send Wei Zheng—a senior minister from the court of the Emperor Taizong of the Tang—to execute him at noon the following day. He told him his best course of action was to ask Taizong for help and, taking pity on the Dragon King, the emperor agreed to save him. In order to do so, the emperor summoned Wei Zheng to play go with him in the morning. He endeavored to keep Wei from leaving until after noon, preventing him from carrying out the Jade Emperor's order, and was delighted when Wei grew so tired with the long game that he fell asleep. A little while later, however, the Great Ancestor was told that a dragon's head had fallen from the sky. Wei awoke and told him that his spirit had left his body during his nap and gone to Heaven to carry out the Jade Emperor's order. The annoyed spirit of the Dragon King then haunted the Great Ancestor each night until his generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong volunteered to stand guard at his door. The emperor enjoyed his peaceful sleep but did not want to continue bothering his two generals. In their place, he had artists paint their portraits and paste them to the doors. This was then copied by his subjects.[2]
Architecture
In modern use, door gods are usually printed images which are pasted to paired doors. They are usually replaced every Chinese New Year.Template:Sfnp Occasionally, they are sculpted in relief or placed as statues to either side of a door. The figures should face each other; it is considered bad luck to place them back to back.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Worship
In ancient China, there was a ritual for a sacrifice to the door spirit of a wealthy home recorded in the Book of Rites.[1] In modern China, door gods do not make up a formal element of Taoism and are included as traditional decorations or as nods to popular superstition.Template:Sfnp There are, however, some deities worshipped for other reasons—including the Azure Dragon,Template:Sfnp the White Tiger,Template:Sfnp and Mazu's companions Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er—who also serve as door gods at Taoist temples.Template:Sfnp
Korea
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List
The following persons, some of whom are mythological figures, are known to have been worshipped as door gods.
| Names | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| English | Chinese (trad.) | |
| Shenshu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | The earliest-attested door gods, appearing in the Mountain and Sea Classic. Ordered by the Jade Emperor to guard the trees of the Peaches of Immortality, which were being gnawed upon by demons. |
| Yulü | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Wangtianjun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Attendants of the North God; seen at Taoist temples |
| Matianjun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Azure Dragon | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Seen at Taoist temples |
| White Tiger | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Qianliyan | Script error: No such module "Lang". | "All-seeing" and "All-hearing" demons sometimes considered the deified forms of the brothers Gao Ming and Gao Jue, rapacious generals or bandits of the era of King Zhou of the Shang, who were subdued and befriended by the Fujianese shamaness and sea goddess Mazu. They typically serve as the door gods of her temples, although they also appear as the "eyes" and "ears" of the Jade Emperor in The Journey to the West. |
| Shunfeng'er | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Fangbi | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Two figures from The Creation of the Gods |
| Fangxiang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Tianguan Dadi | Script error: No such module "Lang". | A form of the most-high God and the founder of Quanzhen Taoism. Seen in Taoist temples. |
| Liu Haichan | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Miji Jingang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Also known as the Hēnghā Èrjiàng (Script error: No such module "Lang".), derived from the Buddhist Vajrapani, derived from Greco-Buddhist forms of Heracles. Seen in Buddhist and Taoist temples. |
| Naluoyan Jingang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| He | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Collectively, the "2 Immortals He and He", with names meaning "Harmony" and "Union". |
| He | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Qin Shubao | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Tang generals whose image was ordered placed upon gates by the Great Ancestor of the Tang ("Emperor Taizong") |
| Yuchi Gong | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Sun Bin | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Warring-States generals; worshipped in parts of Shaanxi. |
| Pang Juan | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Bai Qi | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Warring-States generals |
| Li Mu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Randeng Daoren | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Two more figures from The Creation of the Gods |
| Zhao Gongming | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Fusu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | A Qin crown prince and general who defended Qin's northern border against the Xiongnu. |
| Meng Tian | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Chen Sheng | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Rebels who led the Dazexiang Uprising against the Qin Empire |
| Wu Guang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Ziying, King of Qin | Script error: No such module "Lang". | The last ruler of the Qin dynasty and his successor, who nominally oversaw the Eighteen Kingdoms that preceded the establishment of the Han dynasty |
| Emperor Yi of Chu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Ying Bu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Han generals under Liu Bang, founder of Han |
| Peng Yue | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Yao Qi | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Fictionalized leaders under Emperor Guangwu in the Romance of the Eastern Han (Script error: No such module "Lang".) |
| Ma Wu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Guan Yu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were Shu generals during the Three Kingdoms, depicted as Liu Bei's sworn brothers in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and numbered among the Five Tiger Generals. Guan Ping was his son. Zhou Cang was a fictional subordinate in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Sheng was a fictional descendant who appears in the novel Outlaws of the Marsh. |
| Zhang Fei Guan Ping Zhou Cang Guan Sheng |
Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Zhao Yun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Shu generals during the Three Kingdoms, numbered among the Five Tiger Generals. Seen in parts of Henan. |
| Ma Chao | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Ma Chao | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Shu generals during the Three Kingdoms. Seen in parts of Hebei. |
| Ma Dai | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Zhuge Liang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Chief ministers of the states of Shu and Wei during the Three Kingdoms, depicted as nemeses in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms |
| Sima Yi | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Pei Yuanqing | Script error: No such module "Lang". | A fictional rebel general and a fictionalized historical son of Li Yuan, founder of the Tang, who appear in the Shuo Tang |
| Li Yuanba | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Wei Zheng | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Early Tang officials |
| Li Shiji | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Xue Rengui | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Generals from both sides of the Tang-Goguryeo War. Seen in parts of northern Hebei. |
| Yŏn Kaesomun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Zhang Xun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Tang officials who died defending Suiyang against the An Lushan Rebellion. |
| Xu Yuan | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Zhao Kuangyin | Script error: No such module "Lang". | The Great Ancestor ("Emperor Taizu") of the Song dynasty and the ancestor of the Song's dynasty of Yang generals |
| Yang Gun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Meng Liang | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Fictionalized subordinates of the Yang generals |
| Jiao Zan | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Yue Fei | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Song dynasty general and his son. |
| Yue Yun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | A Song general and a Taoist deity |
| Wen Taibao | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Yue Yun | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Yue Fei's son and subordinate |
| Di Lei | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Xu Yanzhao | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Yang Bo | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Fan Lihua | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Fictional wives of Xue Dingshan depicted in the Xiaobei Taishuai Gong in Tainan, Taiwan.[3] |
| Chen Jinding | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
| Mu Guiying | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Mu was a fictional female general from the Northern Song related to the Yang generals. Qin was a female general from Sichuan under the Ming.[4][5][6] |
| Qin Liangyu | Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
Gallery
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In popular culture
1983 Shaw Brothers Movie Of Ghosts Galore Starring Chin Siu Ho And Chiang Kam In A Final Fight Against A Japanese Sorcerer (Hwang Jang Lee).
See also
- Chinese gods and immortals
- Dvarapala
- Feng shui, which also employs shield walls, talismans, mirrors, and yin-yang symbols to protect doorways
- Gate guardian
- Nio (Buddhism) and Heng and Ha, pairs of protective deities at Chinese temples
- Imperial guardian lions
- Munsin
References
Citations
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Bibliography
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