1. Changes in the sea:
Once upon a time there were two immortals, one named Wang Yuan and the other named Magu. Once, they met to have a drink at Cai Jing's house. On the appointed day, Wang Yuan, surrounded by a group of trumpeters and attendants riding unicorns, sat in a car pulled by five dragons and headed for Cai Jing's house. But I saw that he was wearing a travel hat, a colorful ribbon, and a tiger-head-shaped quiver, and he looked majestic.
After Wang Yuan and his party landed in the courtyard of Cai Jing’s house, all the people surrounding him disappeared. Then, Wang Yuan and members of the Cai family greeted each other, and then sat there alone waiting for Magu's arrival. Wang Yuan waited for a long time but did not see Magu arriving, so he waved in the air and ordered the envoy to invite her.
No one in Cai Jing’s family knew which fairy Magu was in the sky, so they waited eagerly. After a while, the messenger reported to Wang Yuan in the air: "Ma Gu ordered me to greet you first. She said that she has not seen Mr. for more than five hundred years. At this moment, she was ordered to inspect Penglai Island and will wait for a while. , I will come to meet you."
Wang Yuan nodded slightly and waited patiently. Not long after, Magu landed from the sky. Her entourage was only half of Wang Yuan's. Only then did the people of Cai Jing's family see that Magu looked like a beautiful girl of eighteen or nineteen years old in the world. She has long hair that reaches her waist, and her clothes are made of an unknown material and are embroidered with beautiful patterns, which are dazzling.
After Magu and Wang Yuan bowed to each other, Wang Yuan ordered the banquet to begin. The utensils on the banquet are all made of gold and jade, which are precious and exquisite; the dishes served inside are mostly exotic flowers and fruits, which are fragrant. All of this has never been seen by anyone in Cai Jing’s family.
During the dinner, Magu said to Wang Yuan: "Since I gained enlightenment and accepted my destiny, I have witnessed the East China Sea turn into mulberry fields three times. I just arrived in Penglai and saw that the sea water is shallower than the previous period. Halfway through, is it going to become land again?" Wang Yuan sighed: "Yes, the sages say that the water in the sea is falling and dust will rise again."
Later generations used the idiom " vicissitudes of life" to describe the great changes in the world. It was also called " vicissitudes of life ", or simply "vicissitudes of life".
2. Yu Gong moved mountains:
In front of Yu Gong’s gate are Taihang and Wangwu mountains. Yu Gong, who lived directly opposite the mountain, suffered from the obstruction in the northern part of the mountain and had to take a detour when going in and out, so Yu Gong decided to move the two mountains. The neighbor Zhisou said it could not be completed and laughed at Yu Gong's stubbornness and stupidity. Yu Gong said: "I can't finish the move and my descendants will have to move it from generation to generation." In the end, Yu Gong's move moved the Emperor of Heaven, who ordered Hercules to praise her. His two sons carried the two mountains on their backs.
"The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains" is a fable written by Liezi, a thinker during the Warring States Period. The article narrates the story of Yu Gong who was not afraid of difficulties, persevered and kept digging mountains, and finally moved the Emperor of Heaven to move the mountains away.
Through the Yu Gong’s perseverance and the wise old man’s timidity, as well as the contrast between "foolishness" and "wisdom", it shows the confidence and perseverance of the working people in ancient China, and illustrates that to overcome difficulties, we must The principle of perseverance. The full text is neatly narrated, echoes from beginning to end, the plot is complete, the dialogues are vivid, and the dialogues that fit the personality perfectly promote the development of the plot.
3. Pangu created the world:
An egg contains the entire universe. There was chaos and darkness inside the egg. There was no heaven and earth, no sun, moon, stars, and no human existence. However, in this chaotic darkness, Pangu, who created the world, was born.
After Pangu was conceived in this big egg, he slept for eighteen thousand years before waking up. At this time, he found that he was living in a big dark and chaotic egg. He felt depressed and panicked, and felt as if he was bound by a rope. He couldn't see any light, so he decided to stretch his muscles and bones and pierce the big egg.
Pangu stretched out his arms and kicked his legs, and the big egg was shattered. However, when he opened his eyes and looked, up, down, left, right, and in all directions, it was still pitch black and indistinguishable. Pangu became anxious. He raised his fist and hit it, and raised his foot and kicked it. Pangu's arms, legs and feet were thick and big, as if they were made of iron.
His kicks and hits condensed eighteen thousand years of chaos and darkness, and they were all shaken by the kicks. Pangu swayed three times and two times, and the chaotic darkness that tightly entangled Pangu slowly separated.
The light and clear part (yang) floated, rising slowly, and turned into the blue sky; while the heavier part (yin) gradually settled and turned into the earth.
As soon as the heaven and earth separated, Pangu felt much more comfortable. He took a long breath and tried to stand up, but the sky pressed heavily on his head. He realized that if the heavens did not rise high into the sky, there would never be life on earth. So he sat down and thought about how to solve this problem. Finally, he concluded that only if he holds the sky up can all living beings in the world multiply and survive. So Pangu held up the sky with his hands and pushed on the ground, trying hard to prevent the sky from pressing down on the ground.
Day after day, year after year, eighteen thousand years have passed. During this time, all Pangu ate was the mist that floated into his mouth, and he never slept. At first, he could only rest on his elbows and rest on his knees, because he had to use all his strength to push the sky up with his hands. Finally, Pangu could straighten his body and raise his hands to push the sky up. The body grew ten feet a day, and the sky and the earth moved away ten feet a day. The higher the sky rose, the longer Pangu's body became. He stretched the world ninety thousand miles apart, and he grew into a giant ninety thousand miles tall.
The sky was finally positioned high above the earth, but Pangu felt exhausted. He looked up at the sky above his hands, and then looked down at the deep earth beneath his feet. He concluded that there was already a considerable distance between heaven and earth, and he could lie down and rest without worrying that the sky would fall and crush the earth.
So Pangu lay down and fell asleep. He died in his sleep. Pangu was exhausted. He created the world and exhausted all his efforts and sweat. In his sleep, he was still thinking: It is not enough to just have a blue sky and an earth, but we must also create a sun, moon, mountains, rivers, and all human beings between heaven and earth. But he was exhausted and could no longer make these with his own hands. Finally, he thought: Leave my body to the world.
Thus, Pangu's body gave the universe its shape and also gave it matter.
Pangu's head became the east mountain, his feet became the west mountain, his body became the middle mountain, his left arm became the south mountain, and his right arm became the north mountain. These five sacred mountains define the four corners and center of the square land. They stand on the earth like huge stone pillars, each supporting a corner of the sky.
Pangu’s left eye turned into a round, big and bright sun, hanging high in the sky, providing warmth to the earth day and night; his right eye turned into a bright moon, lighting up the earth. When he opened his eyes, the moon was round, and when he blinked, it turned into a crescent moon again.
His hair and eyebrows turned into stars in the sky, filling the blue sky, walking with the moon, following the moon.
The breath exhaled from his mouth turned into spring breeze and clouds, causing all things to grow. His voice turned into thunder and lightning. His muscles became the soil of the earth, and his sinews became roads.
His limbs turned into high mountains, his yang roots turned into Fuxi, his breasts turned into Nuwa, and his bones and teeth turned into gold, silver, copper, iron, and jade buried underground. treasure. His blood turned into rolling rivers, and his sweat turned into rain and dew. His hair turned into flowers, plants and trees; his spirits turned into birds, beasts, fish and insects.
From then on, there were the sun, moon and stars in the sky, mountains, rivers, trees, birds, beasts, insects, and fish on the ground, and the world between heaven and earth.
4. The early land god Houtu:
The early land god was Houtu. The original meaning of "hou" is the king's head, so Houtu means the length of the land. Lord of the Earth is not actually the name of the Earth God, but just a general name for the Earth God. It is said that the earliest person to hold the post of Houtu or Earth God was Julong, the son of Jinggong. Jinggong was a human body with the body of a dragon. Julong, as the God of the Earth, was naturally also a dragon. Yu also served as the God of Hou Tu. Yu controlled the floods and brought peace to the nine states. Yu was actually the founder of the earth. His role as the God of Hou Tu was well deserved.
Houtu was originally just a general name for the god of earth, but after being used too much, it gradually evolved into the name of the god of earth. However, the gods of Houtu such as Julong and Yu were forgotten, so Houtu became Evolved into a concrete god. Because in the concept of the ancients, the sky belongs to Yang and the earth belongs to Yin, and Yang is male and Yin is female, Houtu gradually became female. The people called her the Queen of Houtu, and the statue in Houtu Temple was also Female statue.
Since people are buried in the earth after death, the God of the land is responsible for the affairs of the underworld. Therefore, Hou Tu has been responsible for managing the underworld since ancient times. Later, the earth gods and earth gods in various places still inherited this Function, so after a person dies, he must first go to the Tu Tu Temple to report to the temple, because the soul of the deceased is allowed to report to the Tu Tu God and Tu Tu Gong.
Chengtian followed the example of Hou Tu Huang Di Zhi, who is the fourth god among the "Four Imperial Gods" of Taoism. He is referred to as "Hou Tu" and is commonly known as "Hou Tu Empress". Coupled with the Jade Emperor who presides over the heaven, she is a female deity who dominates the earth, mountains and rivers.
Houtu belief originated from the worship of land in ancient China. "Book of Rites: Du Te Sheng" says: "The earth carries all things, and the sky hangs down like it. The materials are taken from the earth, and the laws are taken from the sky. This is to respect the sky and be close to the earth. Therefore, we teach the people good things and repay them." In ancient times, people's lives depended on Therefore, they were "close to the earth" and "beautifully rewarded and offered sacrifices", so there was the worship of "Houtu", which probably began in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Chengtian followed the example of Hou Tu Huang Di Zhi, who is the fourth god among the "Four Imperial Gods" of Taoism. He is referred to as "Hou Tu" and is commonly known as "Hou Tu Empress". Coupled with the Jade Emperor who presides over the heaven, she is a female deity who dominates the earth, mountains and rivers.
Houtu belief originated from the worship of land in ancient China. "Book of Rites: Du Te Sheng" says: "The earth carries all things, and the sky hangs down like it. The materials are taken from the earth, and the laws are taken from the sky. This is to respect the sky and be close to the earth. Therefore, we teach the people good things and repay them." In ancient times, people's lives depended on Therefore, they were "close to the earth" and "beautifully rewarded and offered sacrifices", so there was the worship of "Houtu", which probably began in the Spring and Autumn Period.
5. Birthday of the Earth God:
It is said that the Earth God is the most loyal and honest. He often sees the three leprous eating fish and meat, but he can't even eat. Once, he asked San Leizi, "How come you have fish and meat to eat every day? I don't even have food to eat." San Leizi said, "Oh, I have a hoop. If you put the hoop on your head, you will have a headache." , he will prepare something delicious for me to eat. If you want something to eat, I will lend you this hoop." The Tugong borrowed San Leizi's hoop, and San Leizi told him to hoop the horses. On the head of the sedan chair.
One day when the landowner saw a man riding a horse, he put a hoop on the horse's head. The horse immediately felt terrible pain and ran forward desperately. The landowner was so exhausted that he had nothing to eat. The landowner took off the hoop and told San Leizi that he had not been fed. San Leizi said: "Don't hoop those who are walking, but hoop those who are not walking."
One day, the landowner saw a human figure tied with straw. He thought it was a person who was not walking, so he put a hoop around it. After hanging on the human-shaped head tied with straw for several days without getting any food, he came back and told the truth to San Leizi again. San Leizi told him again: "You need to hoop someone who can walk slowly."
One day, a beggar was walking slowly on the road. The beggar was hooped on the head, but he did it wrong and he didn't get any food. Originally, the beggars had no food to eat themselves, so there was fish and meat for the landowners to eat! So the landowner returned the hoop to the three leprechauns.
The common people think that the Tudigong is very honest and has nothing to eat all year round, so every year on the second day of the second lunar month, they fry poached eggs and give them to the Tudigong. And this day is designated as the birthday of the Earth God every year.