Zhu Yijun's "side-lying" burial posture is indeed extremely rare and has no written records. Why did he have his body made like this after he died? Wang Xiuling boldly deduced that this was the "Seven Dou Star Burial Ceremony", and the emperor's burial code was suddenly deciphered! It turns out that judging from the skeleton, the body is lying on its side with the legs slightly bent as if sleeping, and its shape is very similar to the Big Dipper in the sky. On this basis, Wang analyzed the origin of this burial style -
Zhu Yijun's burial style originated from celestial phenomena.
In the past, the "Big Dipper" was considered the pole star, pointing due north and located in the center of the sky. Among the stars, it belongs to Ziweiyuan. Zheng Qiao's "Tongzhi" of the Song Dynasty called Ziwei, Taiwei and Tianshi the three walls. Sanyuan refers to the three star regions. Ziweiyuan is a star area composed of the Big Dipper as the center and the surrounding stars. In ancient times, changes in the astrology were often used to predict good and bad fortunes, and the three walls were associated with the human world. The Ziwei wall corresponded to the emperor in the human world and was the location of the emperor star. Therefore, the Pole Star Beidou is considered to be the place where the Emperor of Heaven lives. Lang Ying, a scholar and bibliophile in the Ming Dynasty, said in his book "Seven Revised Catalogues: Astronomy" that "the residence of the emperor is called Zichen". Feudal emperors also always believed that they were the masters sent to the world by heaven, so they used to call the emperor the "True Dragon Emperor". They believed in the ideas of "the power of kings is given by heaven" and "the unity of heaven and man", and regarded the throne as "the throne of heaven". To die is to "ascend to heaven." Therefore, according to this concept, the mystery of Zhu Yijun's weird burial style becomes clear.
The strange burial posture may also be related to Feng Shui theory.
In the past, Feng Shui experts believed that the Big Dipper had the effect of warding off evil spirits. The secret lies in its shape, which is exactly the shape of a huge S-shape that gathers energy. In ancient times, the study of aura was based on immobile stars. Specifically, it was linked to the Big Dipper. The seven stars represented the seven fields. The core of Feng Shui was called Qi in ancient times. The movement form of Qi, according to the numbers in ancient river diagrams, is a clockwise left-handed gas field and an S-shaped gas field. Combined with the emperor's selection of the mausoleum site, he must choose a place that can "gather Qi and store wind". The selection criterion is to be surrounded by mountains and water, because if you are surrounded by mountains and water, you must have Qi. In Feng Shui, the auspiciousness of water and roads is described as "the music brings love". The mountains undulate in an S-shape, and the rivers are more obvious, always twisting and turning.
The "Shui Long Jing·On Shape Situation" says: "When water sees three bends, it brings happiness and longevity; when it bends in the Song Dynasty, it brings prosperity and prosperity." It refers to a piece of water with three "S" shapes in a row. Good aura. When the emperor was buried in the underground palace, he entered the underground palace from the tunnel gate through the Ming Tower. The route was also S-shaped. Analyzing according to the concept of "things die as things live", the emperor also needs to be alive after death. This S-shaped burial method is chosen to be able to "gather Qi". With vitality, there will be all things, which indicates the prosperity of future generations. . If this is the case, it is not unreasonable that the strange burial styles of Zhu Yijun and the Queen originated from celestial phenomena.
I also learned that there is another view in the archaeological community that Zhu Yijun’s strange burial posture has nothing to do with celestial phenomena or Feng Shui, but is due to the "Nirvana" posture of Sakyamuni. The reason is that Zhu Yijun was a devout missionary during his lifetime. This was also mentioned in Wang Xiuling's paper -
According to the posture of the eighth "Nirvana" in Sakyamuni's "Eight Phases of Enlightenment" recorded in "Mahayana Awakening Faith", the Buddha Sakyamou When he was 80 years old, he knew that his life was about to end, so he set out from Rajagaha for the last time, and accompanied by his disciple Ananda, he went to Po, a village not far from the capital of the Mara Kingdom, Kusnagara. Near Pava, under the two Sala trees on the west bank of the Hinyavati River outside the village, head to the north, facing west, support the head with the right hand, place the left hand on the body, put the feet together, and lie on the side. Entering Nirvana.
Judging from the postures of the corpses of Zhu Yijun and the two queens, they are very similar to the postures of Sakyamuni's "Nirvana" because Zhu Yijun and his queen believed in Buddhism very much during his lifetime. Buddhism helps "protect the country and benefit the people." In the eighteenth year of Wanli (1590), he pointed out in the teachings given to Wanfo Temple that "the teachings of the United Buddha are contained in the classics and used to guide good people and enlighten people." "In order to protect the country and the people, we should not be helpless." He also asked the monks in the temple, "Your temple must solemnly recite chants, respect and treasure it, and do not allow people of all kinds to play with it, resulting in loss and damage. I will give you special protection. To hang it down forever."
The objects unearthed from Dingling Mausoleum can also fully prove that he was a full-fledged Buddhist: there are many patterns with Buddhist content on the clothes of the emperor and empress, such as scriptures, filial piety to the empress The top layer of the corpse is covered with a "Sutra quilt"; there are scriptures written in Zhu script on it, and the handwriting is blurred, but the four characters "Namo Ami" in the middle and the two characters "Huayan" in the lower right part can be seen.
In Zhu Yijun's coffin, there is a "red eight-treasure pattern dark satin tapestry dragon robe with dragon and Buddha characters on it and a collar clip on it". The front and back chests are filled with dragons playing with pearls on the front, and a gold "Buddha" is embossed on the top of the dragon's head. Character.
In the back coffin of Xiaoduan there is a "yellow bouquet of flowers, boy's climbing vine, dark flower satin embroidered with Buddha's words, square patchwork and square collar women's jacket", with the word "Buddha" on the square patchwork interior, and the lower part of the word "Buddha" is decorated with lotus flowers. pattern; on the back, there is a phoenix embroidered above and below the word "Buddha". The so-called "Eight Auspiciousness" refers to the eight patterns of wheel, snail, umbrella, cover, flower, pot, fish and plate. The Eight Auspiciousness is also called "Eight Treasures of the Buddha". The most convincing thing is that Zhu Yijun also holds a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, from which we can imagine the extent of his belief in Buddhism. Not only did he believe it during his lifetime, but he also remembered it after his death. Experts believe that his weird burial posture imitated the Nirvana posture of Sakyamuni.
Whether Zhu Yijun’s weird burial style originated from celestial phenomena or Buddhism, there is currently no conclusion in the academic world. However, according to the Big Dipper-shaped layout of his mausoleum, the theory that it originated from celestial phenomena is more solid. In the 1990s, relevant parties used aircraft aerial photography technology when inspecting the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing. They were surprised to find that the layout of the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, turned out to be the "Big Dipper" layout. This incident caused great concern. sensation. This may provide evidence for the strange burial rituals in the coffins of emperors of the Ming Dynasty.