Nan'an Shijing Town is dedicated to the Monkey King
Minnan Net reported on July 23, "The older generation in Quanzhou call Sun Wukong Monkey Qitian; in Shijing, Nan'an, there is also an incense temple that worships the Monkey King. Every year The third day of the sixth lunar month and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month are the birthdays of the Great Holy Duke and the day he became a Buddha. On the fourth floor of the west tower of Kaiyuan Temple, there is a relief sculpture of Sun Xingzhe wearing a golden hoop on his head, wearing Buddhist beads and holding a sword in his hand..." Domestic production. The 3D animated film "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" is currently being screened, and the topic " #西游记之神 Return # Monkey King in Quanzhou" has been hotly discussed on Sina Weibo in recent days.
Haidu reporter visited several sources of the above-mentioned "Great Sage Faith" mentioned by the topic initiator "ipad poop" and revealed the secrets in detail for readers.
Great Holy Palace: Incense originates from Kunshan, Jiangsu
It is the Christmas Eve recently. On Shijing Street, Shijing Ancient Town, Nan'an, next to an alley, in a stone room of less than 10 square meters, there is an endless stream of people coming to offer incense. A statue of the god sits upright, and a dated wooden plaque indicates the identity of the statue - "Monkey King".
The Great Sage is shaped into a human figure, with a complexion like Bao Gong, wearing a yellow cloak and hanging with many beads and other decorations. Enthusiastic neighbors told Haidu reporters that the golden body and wooden plaque of the Great Sage were moved from the old temple across the street. More than a year ago, the old temple was being expanded due to its old architecture. Now the Great Holy Gong is temporarily enshrined in a small shop along the street specially set aside by locals.
Wu Changyi, who participated in the management of the Dasheng Palace, said that around the Ming Dynasty, an official named Wu from his ancestors worked in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. When he removed his armor and returned to his hometown, he invited Monkey King incense from the local area. The managers of the Dasheng Palace have always been the descendants of the Wu family.
Wu Changyi said that there are currently two statues of gods preserved, and the one we see now is the larger one, which has a history of more than 60 years. The other smaller one, about 30 centimeters tall, is older and is now in a collection. It will be brought back next year after the new temple is built.
It is reported that every year on the third day of the sixth lunar month and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month are the Great Christmas Day and Buddhahood Day. Each time, the festival is bustling for several days starting from the first month of the lunar calendar. Judging from the donation list of the Dasheng Palace, there are quite a lot of believers here. In addition to Nan'an locals, there are also believers from Jinjiang, Xiamen, and even Taiwan, Malaysia, and other places. Wu Changyi said that Shijing Dasheng Palace also distributed some incense to various places.
West Pagoda: Sun Xingzhe and Xuanzang accompanied
On the fourth floor of the West Pagoda (i.e. Renshou Pagoda) of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, there is a relief sculpture of the Great Sage Qitian. The great sage here wears a cassock, a golden hoop on his head, a rosary around his neck, a large sword in his left hand, and a scroll of scripture tied around his waist. Similar to the image of the Great Sage in the TV series "Journey to the West", he is somewhat brave but also somewhat elegant.
Accompanying the relief of the Great Sage is Master Tripitaka Xuanzang who traveled to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures in the Tang Dynasty.
html More than 20 years ago, Liu Xiaolingtong, the most famous actor who played the role of Sun Wukong, went to Quanzhou with the crew. Someone specially invited him to climb the West Tower and take a photo with the Southern Song Dynasty stone carving "Sun Xingzhe". It became a legend for a while.The book "Quanzhou Folk Beliefs" written by Li Yukun, a scholar of Quanzhou literature and history, mentions that there are more than one sculptures similar to the Great Sage carved on the West Tower. A stone monkey and a stone tablet were found at the head of Huyang Bridge in Yongchun. They were engraved with Tai Chi Bagua diagrams on the top and the words "Water helps the divine light" engraved on the bottom. It is said that this is one of the important prototypes of the image of Sun Wukong in Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" - the water god Wuzhi Qi. The image of Wuzhiqi is "like an ape, with a retracted nose and a high forehead, a green and white head, golden eyes and snow teeth, and a neck stretched a hundred feet"...
□Speaking of Ru Zhiying
Quanzhou people's favorite animal gods
Dragon: In the Central Plains, Dragon totem worship and dragon god worship are widespread. The Minyue people are also one of the ethnic groups that worship the dragon totem. As people from the Central Plains immigrated to Quanzhou, belief in the Dragon God became common in Quanzhou. "Yi Jian Zhi" records: "There is a stream named Huanglong in Nan'an County, Quanzhou..." The dragon god is also widely worshiped as the water god and the rain god.
Snake: The people of Fujian and Yue worship the snake totem. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" mentions: "Min... is also a species of snake." The people of Fujian and Yue will draw boats with snakes and pray to the snake god to protect the boat safely. If the boat capsizes and falls into the water, use the snake god to protect you from the dragon. Snakes are also the protectors of ships.Among the accompanying gods of Mazu Temple, there is one with a white snake on his head, who is called Lin Xingchun. The legend of Snake Man is also spread in Fujian, Taiwan and Guangdong. There are few snake temples in Quanzhou area. It is said that there was a Snake King Temple in Yongchun during the Qing Dynasty, but it is no longer there.
Dog: There is a White Dog Temple in Quanzhou Beimen Model Lane, where white dogs are enshrined. A popular folk opera in Fujian worships the god Tiandu Marshal Lei Haiqing and a dog god called "General Lingya", also known as the Doghouse Master. In the urban area of Quanzhou, temples such as Huaqiao Palace on Zhongshan Road, Fumei Palace in the south of the city, Fengsheng Palace on West Street, etc. all enshrine the God of Dogs.
Tiger and Chicken: Like Doghouse Master, Tiger Master and Chicken Master are Taoist law-protecting deities whose function is to eliminate evil and expel ghosts. The back left side of the main hall of Huaqiao Palace in Quanzhou also enshrines Lord Tiger and Lord Chicken. Tiger is a typical image to ward off evil spirits.
(Haidu reporter Wu Yuefang, Tian Mi, intern Ke Tiantian, text/picture)
