The Queen Mother of the West depicted in Shan Hai Jing is a totem image between man and beast, man and god. In Zhuangzi, Huai Nan Zi, Yi Lin and other classics, the Queen Mother of the West was transformed into a fairy, the auspicious god who holds the elixir of life. Novels such as Biography of Mu, Biography of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Natural History further shaped the Queen Mother of the West into a noble and beautiful woman.
A gentle and affectionate queen who is good at poetry and singing.
In the immortal pedigree of Taoism, the Queen Mother of the West is regarded as the Taoist deity and immortal leader. The Taoist classic "Yucheng Fairy" records that "the Queen Mother of the West, as the source of submission, is extremely yin, matches the West, and the mother raises a group of products, which is heaven and earth, three worlds and ten squares. The daughter of the immortal is salty. "
The legend of the Queen Mother of the West is not fabricated out of thin air. According to the investigation of some experts and scholars, more than 3,000-5,000 years ago, in the vast area between Kunlun and Qilian Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there once existed a nomadic nation-the Queen Mother of the West, whose capital, Supi, is in Tianjun County, Qinghai Province today.
A large number of documents prove that many tribes in the western motherland are headed by women, among which the tribe (the name of the Qiang tribe in Sui and Tang Dynasties) is the most famous and influential one, and the queen of this tribe has also become the object of worship. Over time, it was legendary as a goddess with infinite magic and elegant temperament.
During the long historical changes, the mother country of the West maintained long-term friendly relations with the dynasties of Huangdi, Yaoshun, Shang and Zhou in the Central Plains, and finally merged into a unified multi-ethnic country. According to the Yellow Emperor's tactics of leaving the army and Xuan Nv's biography, the Queen Mother of the West once sent her disciples to Xuan Nv for nine days to help the Yellow Emperor defeat Chiyou. Jia Yi's New Book also records that Emperor Yao "waded in quicksand, sealed the land in Dushan, and saw the Queen Mother in the west". "Listening to Shu Linghuai" said: "Shun received the benefit map from the Queen Mother of the West."
Mu Tian Zi Zhuan describes Zhou Muwang's meeting with the Queen Mother of the West.
Reciting poems, describing ambitions, showing an elegant and peaceful queen style. The Queen Mother of the West and Zhou Muwang exchanged gifts. At the banquet in Yaochi, it is not difficult to see that the empress dowager in the west was one of the earliest western clans who had close contacts with the people in the Central Plains. The encounter between the Queen Mother of the West and the emperors of the Central Plains, such as Huangdi, Yao, Shun and so on, is a portrayal of the harmonious coexistence of the nationalities in the western regions and the Central Plains. Among the unearthed cultural relics of the Queen Mother of the West, there is a bronze pot with a phoenix buckle in Long Feihu during the Warring States Period, which is as close as brothers and sisters.
The bronze pot in Jingchuan, Gansu Province, with the tiger as the pot body, the dragon as the lifting beam and the phoenix as the button, is beautifully shaped. It is a historical evidence of the communication between the ancient Central Plains countries and the Empress Dowager tribes in Jingchuan, and it is also a precious evidence of the fusion of the descendants of the Empress Dowager nomadic tribe tiger and the Central Plains farming nation dragon. The Queen Mother of the West has contributed to the formation and development of the pluralistic and integrated culture of the Chinese nation, and is a harmonious mother admired and loved by Chinese people for generations.
The Chinese nation attaches importance to life, especially Taoism, and pursues immortality. As an immortal of the Tao, the Queen Mother of the West is in charge of the "fairy medicine" and the auspicious god, which is especially believed and worshipped by people. This point is often exaggerated in novels of past dynasties, and the gift and guidance to the Queen Mother of the West is one of the most influential stories. There are three clouds in Zhang Hua's Natural History in the Western Jin Dynasty: the emperor is good at immortalization and worships the famous mountain Ozawa in order to achieve immortality. The Queen Mother of the West sent an envoy to the Emperor by Bailuyuan, and the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked for immortals, and she got "Hanwu treats Jiuhua Hall." On the night of July 7th, the Queen Mother arrived from Ziyun.
In this story, the way of keeping in good health expounded by the Queen Mother of the West is of far-reaching significance. In the view of the Queen Mother of the West, "wanton lewdness, excessive lewdness, illegal killing and indulgence in luxury" is the greatest harm to individual life and people's livelihood. Therefore, health care should "love all beings", which goes far beyond the pursuit of a person's immortality, but is based on the premise of caring for people's livelihood, the real harmony and settlement of life.
The Queen Mother's "fairy medicine" and "Xiantao" were later described as attractive flat peach immortals. However, the Queen Mother did not enjoy it exclusively.
It took 3000 years to get a mature Xiantao. Legend has it that every year on the third day of March, the sixth day of June and the eighth day of August in the lunar calendar, the Queen Mother of the West holds the Flat Peach Festival in Yaochi. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youdun's zaju "Celebrating the Flat Peach Club" said: "The flat peaches in Yaochi are flourishing, and the Queen Mother of the West invited Donghua, Antarctic, Eight Immortals, and the elders of Xiangshan Jiulao and Charlotte to hold a flat peach club.
The novel The Journey to the West said for the fifth time: "Please invite Buddhist monks, bodhisattvas, holy monks, arhats, Guanyin in the Antarctic, sages in the East, immortals in ten continents and three islands, mysterious spirits in the Arctic, and great immortals in the middle of the yellow pole and yellow angle. This is a five-party and five-old. There are five stars, four emperors of san huang with eight holes, Taiyixian and many others, the Jade Emperor with eight holes and nine bases, and Haiyuexian. The ghost head of the next eight holes pays attention to the immortals on earth. All the temples worship God and go to the Flat Peach Blossom Party together.
It seems that this flat peach festival is a gathering of immortals from all walks of life and elites from the three realms, and it is also a beautiful symbol of great harmony in the fairy society.
Of course, the flat peach fairy fruit will also spread all over the world through different channels. Dong Fangshuo has stolen it many times, and Li Bai's "Flowers in front of the Courtyard" says: "My family grows a queen peach, and it blooms every three thousand years. If you are strong, you will be laughed at, and if you are long, you will be consulted. " In this way, everyone in the world will have Xiantao.