In the history of China before the Song Dynasty, during the prosperous age, one of the most grand and solemn rituals was held. At the same time, this was also the most mysterious ritual. This ritual was Feng Chan.
There are so many emperors in Chinese history, and the only emperors who made Zen are Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Han Wu Emperor, Han Guangwu Emperor, Tang Gaozong, Wu Zetian, Tang Xuanzong and Song Zhenzong. Among them, with the exception of Wu Zetian in Songshan, the other emperors were in Taishan. So, what kind of ritual is such a rite of worship? What secrets are hidden behind it?
1. The origin and conditions of the ceremony of enshrining Zen.
Feng Chan bluntly is a large-scale ritual used by ancient Chinese monarchs (not limited to emperors) to sacrifice to heaven and earth. It is a ritual to worship the heaven, and Zen is a ritual to worship the earth. This ritual has a long history and is not exclusively exclusive to the royal family.
"Five Classics General Righteousness" says: "Yi surname and king, to Taiping, Taishan must be sealed, Zen Liangfu, destiny to be king, to make people live, to report peace to heaven, and to report the merits of the gods." The description of the function of Feng Chan. That is, since ancient times, when the emperor had two conditions at the same time, he had to confer Zen, one is to change the dynasty, and the other is to make the world peaceful. Under this circumstance, the emperor used the ritual of enshrining meditation to report to the gods about his political achievements, showing that the emperor was granted by the gods.
When it came to the Warring States Period, Qi Huangong also wanted to conquer Zen after he dominated. So he had an interesting conversation with Guan Zhong, who prevented him. This is recorded in "Han Shu·Jiao Si Zhi 1".
In the nine years of Mu Gongli, Qi Huan was overlord, and he met princes in Caiqiu, and wanted to become Zen. Guan Zhong said: "The ancients named Taishan Zen and Liang's father seventy-two, but Yiwu's reporters have ten and two. In the past, there was no Huai family who sealed Mount Tai and Chan Yunyun; Fengyi sealed Mount Tai and Chan Yunyun; Shennong's family sealed Mount Tai and Zen. Yunyun; Emperor Yan sealed Mount Tai, Zen Yunyun; Huangdi sealed Mount Tai, Zen Pavilion; Zhuan Xu sealed Mount Tai, Chan Yunyun; Emperor Yu sealed Mount Tai, Zen Yunyun; Shun sealed Mount Tai, Chan Yunyun; Yu sealed Mount Tai, Zen Kuaiji; Tang Fengfeng Mount Tai, Chan Yunyun; King Zhou Cheng Feng Taishan, Zen at the head of the society; all were ordered and then conferred Zen." Huan Gong said: "The widows expedition to the north and pass the solitary bamboo; West Expedition, Shuma County Che, Shangbei The mountain of ears; from the southern expedition to Zhaoling, ascend Xiong'er Mountain to look at the river and Han. Three of the chariots, six of the chariots, the nine princes, the world is a kuang, and the princes shall not violate me. The past three generations were ordered, so why are they different "So Guan Zhong saw that Huan Gong could not be exhausted. Because of the set of things, he said: "In ancient times, Fengshang Chan, Shanshang Millet, Beilihe, so it is prosperous; Jiang and Huai have three ridges, so they are borrowed. East China Sea To the fish of the flounder, the west sea to the bird of the north wing. Then there are five kinds of things that do not call and come. Nowadays, the phoenix and the unicorn are not, the golden grass does not grow, but the basil, the quinoa, the owl flocks, But if you want to confine Zen, you can't care about nothing?"
In this passage, we can see that since ancient times, there have been at least 72 kings who have sealed Mount Tai, and Guan Zhong remembers twelve. He defined the conditions for holding the meditation as two, one is that the monarch of the meditation must be an ordained monarch, and the world is peaceful, and the other is that various auspicious items must appear. This dismissed Qi Huan Gong's idea of conferring Zen.
Although Qi Huangong’s move to confer Zen was cancelled by Guan Zhong, the conditions of Zen conferring prescribed by Guan Zhong have been passed down. From then on, in order to confer Zen, these two conditions must be observed. In the words of Sima Qian, " has been ordered to be an emperor since ancient times, but hasn't it been a zen? There are people who use things if they don't have it, and those who haven't seen Fu Rui but don't reach Mount Tai. Although they have been ordered to do nothing, Until Liang's father was inconsistent with his morals, he had no time to give, so he had no time to give it.”
It is precisely because of the harsh conditions that in the long river of Chinese history, these two can be met. The conditions of the emperor are very few. The emperor who can meet the conditions of entrusting Zen must be Mingjun, and the world must be peaceful and prosperous. Feng Chan has become a symbol of China's prosperity.
Second, the ceremony of enshrining Zen.
The ceremony of sealing Zen is very mysterious. Due to the mystery, the true ceremony of enshrining Zen has long been lost. History records that Confucius climbed Mount Tai, Seeing 72 kings engraved with the names of Feng Chan, Confucius could not fully understand the names of these kings, showing the long history of Feng Chan. And Sima Qian said in the "Historical Records of Feng Chan", "Each life is prosperous, the Zen answers Yan, and decays. Those who are far away have more than a thousand years, and those who are close for hundreds of years, so their rituals are extinguished. The details are unavailable, but I remember it.”
Then, since the rituals have been annihilated, what rituals did the descendants follow to enshrine the Zen? This starts with the emperor Qin Shihuang.
Feng Chan had no way of mentioning it in the Spring and Autumn Period. When Qin Shihuang unified the world, he established China's first unified feudal centralized state. At this time, Feng Chan mentioned Qin Shihuang's schedule.
秦始皇
Qin Shihuang originally wanted Confucian scholars to formulate the ritual procedures for ennobling Zen. In the "Historical Records of Feng Chan", the process of Qin Shihuang's formulation of the ceremonies of the Zen was also recorded.
(Qin Shihuang) was the emperor for three years, and he patrolled prefectures and counties in the east, and chanted Qin's merits. So seventy Confucian and Ph.D. students were recruited from Qilu, even at the foot of Mount Tai. The Confucian scholars might say: "The ancients named Zen as a caravan, hurting the earth, stone, grass and trees of the mountain; offering sacrifices to the ground, using stalks for the mats, and saying that it is easy to follow." The first emperor heard that the opinions were different and difficult to apply. This dwarfs scholars. In addition to the driveway, from Mount Tai to the top of Yang, standing stone chanted the virtues of the first emperor of Qin, and it was clearly granted. From the vagina, Zen Yu Father Liang. The rituals are quite well used by Taizhu’s sacrifice to God, but the seals are secret, and the world cannot remember them.
Qin Shihuang did not use the perverse procedures formulated by Confucian scholars, and he himself formulated the procedures for enforcing Zen. Although he adopted the site of being sealed at the top of Mount Tai, in Liang Fu Chan. However, the etiquette adopts the etiquette of Qin's ancestors and ancestors offering sacrifices to gods. But the sealed locations are very secret and unknown to outsiders.
In this way, the ritual procedure of Feng Chan is settled. From then on, all feng chan basically followed this set of procedures. Although there are some gains and losses, they are just the same. However, there are still secrets that are not shared by outsiders.
Taishan Fengchan Grand Ceremony
Third, the highest ideal of the ancient Chinese.
This secret is the method of communication with the gods in the meditation ceremony. Feng Chan is not just looking for a place to bury the performance report for God in it. There is a deep connotation in it. To explain this connotation, we must start with the highest ideals of the ancient Chinese.
In China's thousands of years of history, what have Chinese people been thinking and doing? What is their highest ideal? In my opinion, their highest ideals are two things, one is to be an emperor, and the other is to live forever and become immortal.
Being an emperor is not easy. In the history of China for thousands of years, among the hundreds of millions of Chinese, only a few thousand have become emperors. The pursuit higher than being an emperor is becoming a fairy. In order, the emperor is of course the person who should become immortal. Because he is the emperor, the most powerful person.
So, the emperor spent all his life wondering how to live forever. Seek for oneself and for offspring. But not many people have reached the state of success for thousands of years. Nonetheless, this kind of unremitting pursuit is very firm. This is also the internal driving force of China's thousands of years of history, a continuous driving force, a driving force that may be overlooked.
汉武帝
During the reign of Wenjing in the Han Dynasty, the emperor’s pursuit of becoming immortal was recorded by later generations. There is a poem saying, "Poor night half-empty front seat, Don't ask the common people and ask the ghosts and gods." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said that if you become an immortal like the Yellow Emperor, I will treat your wife as if you are going to die. When he arrived in Tang Xuanzong, Tang Xuanzong said that if you can become an immortal, I regard the position of emperor as old clothes. The list goes on.
Everyone knows that Confucianism proposed to cultivate one's moral integrity and one family to govern the country and the world, which has become the goal of literati and officialdom's firm struggle for thousands of years. And similar to this ideal motivation, the emperors' goal of becoming immortals is equally firm.
However, it is not easy to become an emperor. It is even more innocent to want to live forever and ascend to heaven. But why are the emperors so strongDo you have to fight for becoming immortal? That's because the emperors have their own clear example, that is, the Yellow Emperor. Historically known as the Yellow Emperor, he was "successful and ascended to the sky". The details of his ascending to the sky, passed down through the ages, made the emperors fascinated and became the inner motivation for their struggle.
Let’s take a look at these emperors who are keen to enshrine Zen. Except for emperors of Han Guangwu, Wu Zetian, and Song Zhenzong, the remaining four emperors have one common characteristic, that is, they like gods and dream of immortality. Become a fairy. This kind of motivation is vividly reflected in them.
Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian
Fourth, the secrets hidden behind Feng Chan.
Feng Chan is a very noble and long-standing ritual, and it must have a purpose for existence. If you just tell the heaven and earth sacrifices, affirm your work achievements, and show your reasonable orthodox emperor status, it seems that you don't need to mobilize so much. So what is its real hidden secret?
This answer, we can find the answer from the "Historical Records Feng Chan Shu" and "Han Shu Jiao Si Zhi". Both books record the fundamental role of the alchemist Xiang Han Wudi Chen Mingfeng Chan, which is the story of Huangdi's ascension to heaven. Huangdi Chengxian is directly related to Fengchan. The stories of the two books are similar and slightly different. The "Han Shu" states:
Shen Gong said: ‘The Emperor of the Han also became the upper seal, and the upper seal was able to ascend to heaven. The Yellow Emperor has thousands of princes, and the gods have 7,000 monarchs. Eight are famous in the world, three are in the barbarians, and five are in China. China Huashan, Shoushan, Taishi Mountain, Taishan Mountain, Donglai Mountain, these five mountains are the place where the Yellow Emperor often visits and meets with gods. The Yellow Emperor fights and learns immortality, and the people who suffer from it are not the first, but he is not the ghost and god. More than a hundred years old and then have magical powers. Huangdi Jiaoyong God, stay in March. The area code of the ghost is Dahong, and Yong is buried in death, so Hong Tomb is also. Later, the Yellow Emperor took over Wan Ling Ming Court. Those of Ming Ting, Gan Quan also. The so-called poor family, Taniguchi. The Yellow Emperor took the bronze from the first mountain and cast the tripod under Jingshan. The tripod is completed, and there is a dragon hanging and a beard to welcome the Yellow Emperor. Huangdi rode up, the harem of the group of officials from Shanglong more than seventy people, Long Nai went up. Yu Xiaochen couldn't get on, but he held the dragon's beard, pulled the dragon's beard, fell, and fell into the bow of the Yellow Emperor. When the common people looked for the Yellow Emperor to go to heaven, they held his bow and dragon's beard, so later generations called it Dinghu, and its bow was called Wuhao'. "So the emperor said: "Huh! Sincerely like the Yellow Emperor, I see my wife as Tuoqi ears. ”
We are all atheists now and don’t believe in ghosts, monsters and immortals. However, in historical books such as "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", it is clearly pointed out that the peoples directly connected with God, the world only Chinese and Jews. Jews say that they are a race chosen by God, while Chinese people are more direct and think that they are the people of God in the world. The king is the person chosen by God to lead this nation. Therefore, the Chinese call themselves The descendant of the dragon, and the emperor is called the emperor. The form to achieve the connection between the king and the god is to rely on sacrifice, and the highest form of sacrifice to heaven and earth is Fengchan.
黄帝升仙图
If you look at the origin of Feng Chan, it comes from a mysterious connection. This connection is a possibility looming in ancient Chinese society. This connection is the connection with the sky, the one with the "god" This kind of connection. This kind of connection is a long-lasting and fixed connection. This kind of connection is carried out on a regular basis. The historical record says: "The Huangdi and the above are all monsters and magical powers. ”
If we compare "Shi Ji Feng Chan Shu" and "Han Shu Jiao Si Zhi" with the "Bible", we will find that there are many coincidences. There are records of supernatural phenomena on both sides. And supernatural power comes from There is no trace and no trace. In the Chinese classics, the records are more detailed.
For example, it is recorded in the "Historical Records Feng Chan Shu" that when Qin Wengong, "Nine years after writing, Wen Gong received Ruo Shiyun, in Chencang Beibancheng Temple. Its god or age is not reaching, or age. It often comes with night, shining like a meteor, coming from the east, gathered in the temple city, like a male pheasant, its sound is Yin Yin, pheasant crows at night. Taking a prison temple, the life is called Chen Bao. "
At the time of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, due to illness, he met the god of spring, "It is not possible to see, hear the words, words and human voices. Whenever comes, the wind will come. In the curtains of the living room, we speak day and night, but often night. ”
The Fengchan Temple left by Emperor Wu of the Han DynastyIf there is light at night, there will be white clouds in the day. And the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said in the edict that he issued after returning, "I take the body of the sting to the supreme, and I am afraid and not responsible. Vide is thin, and I am not aware of rituals and music. If there is an image and a light in the temple, if there is a scene, the scorpion is as hopeful. , Shocked by the monster, dared not to stop, then Dengfeng Taishan, as for the father of Liang, then Zen is awe-inspiring.
Discussed with Liu Xiang when Emperor Han Cheng, Liu Xiang talked about the gods, "And Chen Baoci, more than 700 years old since Qin Wengong, Han Xingshi often come , The light is red and yellow, the length is four or five zhang, straight to the temple, the sound is faint, the pheasants are all scorpions. Whenever you see the Yongtaizhu Temple with a prison, the person who sends the waiter will travel in the place by passing the legend, thinking of blessing. Sixteen, seventy-five years of Emperor Wu, twenty-five years of Emperor Xuan, twenty years since the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, this old temple of Yang Qi is also.”
These unexplainable supernatural phenomena have created The foundation of Feng Chan. Feng Chan is the highest link between the king and the gods, and it is to show the gods of their achievements. The gods also rewarded the king according to his merits. Huangdi was taken away by the gods and became a member of the gods because of his outstanding achievements. Becoming immortals through Feng Chan, this is the fundamental reason why those emperors are keen to Feng Chan. How to get in touch with God is the biggest secret in Chinese history.
However, because Feng Chan is the highest secret in Chinese history. The methods and methods of enshrining Zen are the strictest royal conservatives. All history books say that the matter is secret, the world does not know. After many years, the specific content of all the Feng Chan can no longer be investigated, and the connection with the so-called god is gradually separated. Feng Chan also gradually became a form for the emperor to declare his political achievements.
Since the emperor's desire to become a fairy has been unable to reach, Feng Chan also slowly stopped. Feng Chan, the biggest secret in Chinese history, has also been annihilated in the long river of Chinese history.
