"Descendants of Maoshan" is a novel describing the traditional Chinese secret art - Maoshan Taoism. The story tells the story of Zhang Guozhong and Zhang Yicheng, father and son, using Maoshan Taoism to travel around the world, from exorcising ghosts and suppressing evil spirits to exploring secrets. Strange and omnipresent, unjust cases among the people and eternal mysteries will be uncovered one by one. Their footprints have even spread to Asia and Europe, different cultures, different regions, and different beliefs. Regardless of whether the Taoism mentioned in it is true or false, this is a popular literary and artistic work that brings the mysterious Taoism to the eyes of ordinary readers.
Due to my interest in Taoism and Taoism, I almost listened to it in one breath, and then I found a physical book to read. So what is the charm of this online novel? How could it attract me so much?
1. The plot in the work is ups and downs and exciting, but the main thread running through it is patriotism. This patriotism is not the rhetorical patriotism of a politician, but ordinary people who are willing to take risks to defend national property through what they have learned. After success, no one is aware of it, and then returns to ordinary people's lives. As the saying goes, "successful people never live again."
2. The author of Taoism and Taoism theories mentioned in his works can often justify himself and explain many difficult-to-explain phenomena and common idioms in life very clearly from the level of Taoism. After "Descendants of Maoshan" became a bestseller, many Taoists came out to criticize and correct the name on the grounds that the content in the book misled readers' understanding and judgment of Taoism. If a novel can arouse the interest of readers in the declining Taoism, then readers who are willing to study in depth will take the initiative to contact Taoist culture and understand the essence of Taoist culture. Moreover, for a literary and artistic work, we should not simply project it onto reality. On the Descendants of Maoshan forum, someone compared the characters in the book with the Taoist priests in real life and did comparative research, which also attracted the attention of some people. This is helpful for ordinary people to understand the Taoist predecessors, but if immature readers make a one-to-one correspondence between the words and deeds of the characters in the book, it will seem naive.
It can be seen from the article that the author has put a lot of effort into writing. The tomb games and spells mentioned in it are explained and analyzed in detail. Here are a few examples:
The art of surrender originated in the late Song Dynasty. It is a kind of magic that uses the special power of yin and yang and the five elements to harm living beings that trigger certain necessary conditions. For example, some witchcraft in later generations of Japan can kill people with a hair and a straw man. , which evolved from the art of descending. The earliest descending technique evolved from Maoshan technique and was invented by a man named Luo Youchang. Luo Youchang was once a disciple of Maoshan sect at that time. Later, he was punished for using the magic in Maoshan technique for personal gain or revenge. Lu Xiangling, the master of Maoshan Sect at that time, had his legs broken and he was expelled from the sect. After Luo Youchang was expelled from the school, instead of repenting, he was full of resentment. He then passed on this resentment to everyone. He simply gave up studying Maoshan Shu and began to concentrate on studying some of Maoshan Shu's spells. The art of harming others and attracting people with evil intentions. In the early Yuan Dynasty, Luo Youchang established his own "Jiangjiao", and the name of Jiangsu was spread.
The Fire Game, also known as the Red Flame Game, is an extremely vicious tomb game. The human soul is Yin, strong when exposed to water and weak when exposed to fire. The method of laying out the fire fire bureau is to use six three-foot stone piles to carve the twelve earthly branches Ji, Wu, Wei, Hai, Zi and Chou respectively, and bury them around the tomb, with Ji, Wu and Wei included, Hai With the exception of , Zi, and Chou, among the "Three Earthly Branches", Ji, Wu, and Wei are the southern fire; Hai, Zi, and Chou are the northern fire. These two fires are called "six earth fires" in Maoshan art. For a normal person's soul, this is nothing but the greatest torture. In addition to this, the tomb must be based on incense ash, and the body is buried at noon on the Great Summer Day. The coffin is placed in the north-south direction, and is decorated with "Twinkle wood" (a legendary perennial woody plant, in Maoshan Shu). It is a pure Yang wood and is produced in Sichuan. The wood is hard, but it is by no means a material for making coffins. The use of truncate wood for making coffins is purely due to the specific needs of this scene. It is said that the ancient wheelchair Zhuge Kongming sat on was made of truncate wood. make.
)" as the coffin, "red saltpeter" (a kind of saltpeter powder, belongs to Yang in Maoshan surgery, is better than cinnabar, but much more precious than cinnabar, so most folk rituals use cinnabar instead, only the royal family or dignitaries have the strength to do so) "Red saltpeter" is used in rituals. When a tomb is covered with fire, the soul of the tomb owner will be trapped in the tomb and unable to be reincarnated, and will have to endure the torment of red flames forever. To put it simply, this kind of tomb is simply A man-made "Eternal Purgatory" (Buddhism believes that hell is divided into eight levels, namely, Dinghuo, Black Rope, Zhonghe, Shouting, Big Shouting, Scorching Heat, Great Scorching Heat and Infinite Purgatory. The deeper it is, the more torment it is. The last one is One layer of endless purgatory, also known as Abi hell, represents eternal darkness and pain). Regardless of whether the tomb owner has performed good deeds during his or her lifetime, he will experience eternal pain in this man-made purgatory after death. This kind of tomb layout was created by a man named Liu Chongde in the Ming Dynasty. Mr. Feng Shui invented it at the request of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. According to the records in "Maoshan Picture Chronicles", this tomb was only used once until the end of the Qing Dynasty, but there was no mention of which unlucky person it was used to torment.
There are three common auras in the Wisdom Eye: anger, yin energy, and evil spirit. Normal people and ordinary small animals usually show orange color in the observation of the wisdom eye. (For example, enlightened monks, real people and various spiritual beasts) often appear fiery red or purple. Some evil beasts or beasts cultivating immortals will also appear orange-red in the eyes of wisdom, but the dispersion is relatively dim and has no light. Those who have cultivated their true bodies will appear light yellow, which are collectively called "qi". Wild ghosts are white in the eyes of wisdom, and evil ghosts and resentful souls are mostly gray in the eyes of wisdom, and some are black. These are collectively called Yin Qi. In short, the darker the color, the more difficult it is to deal with; and then there is the evil spirit, which is mostly cyan, with a bit of blue hair. The traditional Yangzhai Feng Shui believes that "benefits lead to evil", that is to say, things with edges and corners have evil spirits. The sharper it is, the heavier the evil spirit. In Maoshan Shu, there is another way of saying the evil spirit. Maoshan Shu believes that "killing living things is an evil spirit, injuring ghosts and gods is a great evil spirit, and injuring the stars is a severe evil spirit. The evil spirit can tire it, and killing can also confuse it." "Shangyan", in layman's terms, someone who has killed living beings (especially people) will have evil spirits. If he has poisoned ghosts and gods, his evil energy will be very strong. And someone who has killed big people is the most evil thing. The evil spirit can be accumulated. If there are many poisonous ghosts, gods or ordinary people with the same weapon, the evil spirit will be greater than that of the person who killed many important people.
3. The background of the author's selection of Dali Vajra Palm is in Tianjin. , the places mentioned in the work are all places that I am very familiar with. Among them, Zhang Yicheng went to help Liu Mengmeng’s classmates solve problems. The Rehabilitation Garden he went to was the community (Rehabilitation Garden) opposite my home. The Daily Building was mentioned many times in the article. It’s my lover’s unit. This adds another layer of immersion.
In the 6 main works, the author describes important mysterious events in history, such as the traces of the Lanting Collection and the failure of the Taiping Rebellion. The reasons, etc., are combined with the plot, allowing people who are familiar with these historical events to examine the development of history from another perspective. Some people say that "history is a lie once it is written." If the official history cannot reflect the facts well, there is still something wrong. If a taboo situation occurs, it may not be a good way to understand it from another angle.