Introduction
According to statistics, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, only 7 emperors have conducted Fengshan in Chinese history, including 6 emperors, Fengshan , Taishan , , Wuzhou , Empress , Wu Zetian , Fengshan , Songshan . Why is this?
1
Qin Shihuang : The disliked "First Person in Fengshan"
China is a country of etiquette, and there are naturally many sacrificial rituals. Among the many sacrificial ceremonies, the most solemn and grand is naturally Fengshan. The so-called seal is to build soil into an altar and repay the merits of heaven; Zen is to open up a field to worship the earth and repay the virtues of earth- To put it bluntly, Fengshan is the reward for the merits of heaven and earth after the emperors on earth unify the world.
The first person in Fengshan who can be proven history is Qin Shihuang. A difficult problem that Qin Shihuang faced after unifying the world was that although he conquered the six countries through force, he did not completely conquer these countries on ideological . Therefore, he imitated the "four-side hunting" system of the ancient emperors, visited the country several times, and carved stones in famous mountains in various places to praise merits. The ancient emperor's "Fengshan" ceremony advocated by Confucian scholars in Qilu naturally also caught his eye.
Qin Shihuang Taishan Fengshan
Qin Shihuang urgently needs to demonstrate his achievements through a grand ceremony, and at the same time show the people of the world that he unified the six kingdoms by the will of heaven. For Confucian scholars, this is an opportunity to reach the sky in one step. However, Confucian scholars have made difficulties in the issue of Fengshan.
Since the Fengshan theory in the Spring and Autumn Period was a great achievement, when Qin Shihuang, who was full of expectations, found the Confucian scholars of Qi and Lu and asked them to come up with a specific and feasible Fengshan ceremony process, everyone was shocked to find: how to Fengshan, what to do first and what to do later, there was no rules at all. Therefore, the Confucian scholars held a heated discussion, and these opinions were completely inconsistent with Qin Shihuang's wishes. In the end, Qin Shihuang simply put aside the Confucian scholars and used the rituals of Qin to complete the Fengshan Dynasty!
But this caused trouble. The Qin State has been located in a remote western region for a long time, which is very different from the etiquette advocated by Confucian scholars in Qi and Lu. Not only that, Qin Shihuang also proposed the requirement of building roads so that he could ride a car to the mountain and carve stones to praise his merits. As a result, he did not expect that the storm and rain were made on the way, and once photographed Qin Shihuang under a tree!
Taishan
Now, the Confucian scholars are proud: The Fengshan Emperor Qin Shihuang, God does not recognize it! Later, the Second Emperor of Qin died, which further confirmed the conjectures of Confucian scholars. Therefore, when the Han Dynasty 3 was , everyone collectively denied Qin Shihuang's behavior of Fengshan. However, although the Fengshan period of the First Emperor was not recognized by Confucian scholars, it still left valuable heritage for later emperors - such as climbing the top of Mount Tai to seal the sky, going to the meditation land of Liangfu Mountain after going down the mountain, carving stones on the top of the mountain to praise virtue, etc.
2
Han: The increasingly mature Fengshan system
Han When Emperor Wu of Han , the status of Confucian scholars was improved, and the Fengshan ceremony was naturally pushed to the stage.
At that time, after solving internal and external troubles, Emperor Wu of Han felt that his merits were fulfilled and his destiny was returned. It happened that the treasure tripod was obtained in Fenyin in the fourth year of Yuan Ding (113 BC). After identification, everyone thought that this was the "Zhou Ding". "The heavenly throne has virtue and the treasure tripod came out of itself", which was auspicious, which shows that the time is ripe and it is time for Fengshan Mountain.
The process of the feudal ceremony this time was extremely complicated. Emperor Wu of Han first went to Liangfu Mountain to "Li Temple Landlord", and then held a public feudal ceremony somewhere east of Mount Tai, and then took Huo Qubing 's son alone. At that time, Huo Xian , who was only 10 years old, climbed Mount Tai together and gave another completely private feudal ceremony on the top of the mountain. Then go down the mountain and walk on the Suran Mountain northeast of Mount Tai.
Emperor Wu of Han Fengshan
Eastern Han After the founding of the country, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu wanted to Fengshan again and ordered a visit to the etiquette system during the Fengshan period of Emperor Wu of Han. After a lot of effort, I finally recovered some of them based on various documents. However, the entire process of Emperor Wu of Han's second conferred the rituals was kept secret. Only 10-year-old Huo Xian was accompanied by, but the child died of illness not long after the Fengshan period. So no one knows what the second conferred the rituals were.
But it doesn’t matter. There is no ready-made system, so let’s improve it. Emperor Guangwu turned the two letters and one Zens of Emperor Wu of Han that year into one Zen. The ceremony at the foot of the mountain turned into the mountain god who sacrificed the sky and Mount Tai, and the secret letter at the foot of the mountain that went up the mountain turned into an open letter. Other rituals of have also changed, but these are not the key. The key is that Liu Xiu's Fengshan this time set an interesting precedent.
Fengshan is essentially a ceremony for the replacement of dynasties and the emperors to "successfully achieve Fengshan to tell the world" after "receiving the surnames". Although Liu Xiu was the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he did not "received the order to change his surname" - so why are you doing Fengshan? Therefore, Liu Xiu's Fengshan this time was criticized by many people in the future.
However, these critics of Liu Xiu may not have expected that the next Fengshan period will be more than 600 years later.
3
Li Tang : Why did the most qualified Taizong not Fengshan
After the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties continued to be in turmoil and wars occurred frequently. In the past 400 years, countless emperors have come and gone, passing through the long night of history like meteors. It was not until Tang Dynasty that they settled down. During this period, several emperors had the idea of Fengshan, but in the end they failed to do so due to one reason or another. The most regrettable one is Tang Taizong Li Shimin.
Portrait of Li Shimin
In the hearts of many people, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty Li Shimin was a well-deserved emperor of the ages. He reigned for 23 years, had outstanding civil and political governance and excellent martial arts. No matter from any perspective, he is qualified to go to Fengshan. But it was such a powerful Emperor Taizong of Tang who "discussed the Fengshan Five" during his reign, but ultimately failed to do so.
The reason why Emperor Taizong of Tang failed to be a feudal throne was very complicated. In general, in the early years of Zhenguan, he rejected the ministers' request for feudal throne, mainly because the country had just recovered from the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and "the people and things were withered, and they were afraid of labor and expenses." However, according to scholars' speculation, there are also factors that worried that he had seized power through the "Xuanwu Gate Incident" and was afraid that God would be dissatisfied and lost his life due to the feudal throne.
By the middle of Zhenguan period, Emperor Taizong of Tang's power became increasingly stable, and Fengshan's mind gradually became urgent. However, because it was too long since the Qin and Han dynasties, the relevant etiquette could not be verified, and in the end, too much effort was wasted on formulating etiquette.
In the 14th year of Zhenguan (640 AD), Emperor Taizong of Tang finally made up his mind, but shortly after this determination, he encountered the comet change again. In desperation, he had to cancel the original Fengshan plan. In the 21st year of Zhenguan (647 AD), the Fengshan proposal reappeared. Emperor Taizong of Tang made up his mind again, but was forced to cancel it again due to constant border quarrels and floods in Hebei. In this way, he passed Fengshan in a confused manner.
Although Emperor Taizong of Tang failed to succeed in Fengshan, the Fengshan etiquette he determined during his reign was left behind. Tang Gaozong In October of the second year of Linde (665 AD), Gaozong and his group set out from the eastern capital Luoyang, and took civil and military officials and chiefs of various countries to Fengshan Mountain. The team "several hundreds of miles", with people and horses neighing, and the momentum was huge. The biggest feature of Fengshan this time was that the participants of the Zen ceremony joined the concubines in the harem. The person who made this suggestion was Wu Zetian, the leader of the harem at that time.
4
Wu Zhou: The Fengshan Mountains in the chaos
In December of the second year of Yongchun (683 AD), Emperor Gaozong of Tang collapsed in Luoyang , and Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Li Xian ascended the throne. Seven years later, the Wu Zhou revolutionized and Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang. The next year, the ministers submitted a petition to Fengshan, but this time they asked not to enthrone Mount Tai, but Zhongyue Songshan.
Wu Zetian Songshan Fengshan
Wu Zetian in Tiancai's second year (696 AD) Fengshan Mountain in the twelfth month, Zen Shaoshi Mountain. The etiquette adopted in Fengshan this time is basically the same as the etiquette of Emperor Gaozong of Tang in the first year of Qianfeng. The process of Fengshan was extremely smooth, breaking the situation of Fengshan's "only Taishen" since ancient times. Why is this happening?
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the unified dynasty of ancient China often presents a very interesting situation, that is, the cultural center and the political center do not completely overlap. , Fengshan, as an ancient ritual advocated by Confucian scholars and alchemists in Qilu, the place where Fengshan will be held will naturally fall on Mount Tai. However, with the increasing frequency of cultural exchanges since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the phenomenon of cultural centers and political centers in the Unified Empire gradually resolved. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, some people put forward the view that "all five mountains can be sealed". Among them, Songshan, as the "Among the Six Miles", has been praised by many people.
Of course, Fengshan Songshan has other factors that affect it. The most important one is Wu Zetian’s personal preferences. She believes that her surname Wu originated from the Ji surname, and the Ji surname naturally traces back to the Zhou Emperor . Zhou King Wu once worshiped the sky in Songshan, believing that Songshan is the center of the world, and Wu Zetian naturally recognizes that Songshan is the mountain of her own destiny.
After the Wu Zhou Dynasty, Li Longji re-promoted the Tang Dynasty and created a prosperous Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in the 13th year of Kaiyuan (725 AD), Li Longji, the Fengshan Mountains of Tai, was quite meaningful to rectify the chaos.
Wu Zetian's "natal mountain" thought also left a deep mark on Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Xuanzong is a rooster, born in the year of Yiyou, and You is metal, and metal is in the west, Xiyue is Huashan. According to this reason, Xuanzong's natal sacred mountain is naturally Huashan. Therefore, after Fengshan Mountain, Xuanzong quickly had the idea of Fengshan Mountain Hua, but because of the fire in Huayue Temple, he had to give up this idea. After the outbreak of " Anshi Rebellion ", the Tang Dynasty declined from prosperity, and it became even more impossible to hold a Fengshan ceremony.
Source: New Weekly
