About Guan Gong

Guan Yu (162-220), Han nationality. Born in the third year of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was born in Hedong (now Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province). It has always been the object of worship. During the Three Kingdoms period, Shu and Han generals, former generals, Tinghou of Hanshou, military strategist. After his death, he was respected by the people and praised by the court. He was honored as Guan Shengdi, Buddhism called him Galand Bodhisattva, and he was honored as Guan Gong. The famous soldier of Shu in the Three Kingdoms period. He was honored as a "warrior sage" by later rulers, and was nicknamed "Wen Sheng" along with Confucius. Later generations have poems praising Guan Yu: an outstanding strategist and strategist of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. In addition, Guan Yu is regarded as a benefactor by Taiwan Province compatriots, and there are also Guan Yu admirers in Japan.

Guan Yu kept his promise, kept his word, and was infinitely loyal to the interests of Liu Bei and his group. He shared weal and woe with Liu Bei for many years, kept his faith and never changed his mind. Even though Baima was captured and in Cao Ying, he still remembered his old love and finally returned to Liu Bei. His loyalty and integrity were the same for a while.

Guan Yu's bravery is extraordinary, which is the highest in the whole army. In later novels, he wrote that Hua Xiong, Lu Bu, Che Zhou, Yan Liang and Wen Chou rode thousands of miles alone, went to the meeting with one knife and drove seven armies. Although some of them go against historical facts, they also highlight his military courage and charm. As for curettage, it is well known.

Guan Yu was shot by random arrows and hit his left arm. Although the wound has healed, the bone often hurts when it rains. The doctor said: "Sagittarius is poisonous, poisonous to the bones." Treat the broken arm as a wound, scrape the bone to remove poison, and then cut the ear. " Guan Yu stretched out his arm to let the doctor cut the wound. At that time, Guan Yu was entertaining the generals, saying that "the blood on the arm was off the plate, the feathers were cut, the wine was roasted, and the jokes were like cucumbers" ("Three Kingdoms Shu Shu Liu Guan Yu").

When describing this passage in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is even more wonderful: "The knife cuts the meat to the bone, and the bone is blue; Scraping bones with a knife, hearing voices, and everything seen on the account was covered with shame. Drinking and eating meat, laughing and playing chess, there is no pain. " Guan Yu's position

In order to consolidate its ruling position, the feudal ruling class of past dynasties regarded Guan Yu as the embodiment of loyalty and righteousness, and Guan Yu's status was getting higher and higher, from "being crowned king" to "being proclaimed emperor" and finally being honored as "warrior sage". During the period of Chen Sui, the Buddha took the lead in building a temple in Dangyang under the guise of Guan Yu. In the third year of Tang Jianzhong (782), Guan Yu was listed as one of the 64 famous generals in ancient and modern times, and was put into the Wu Temple to enjoy Jiang Taigong. After the Song Dynasty, Guan Yu was crowned as a "warrior sage". Guan Yu, who has been unknown for 800 years, was promoted by Song Huizong to three levels: first, he was named "Zhong Gong", then "Zhong Ning Zhenjun", and then he was named "King Zhaolie Wu 'an" and "King Wu Yong 'an". Yuan Wenzong named Guan Yu "the king of Miao Zhuang Yi Wu 'an, showing his spirit to help Britain", and Ming Shenzong named him "the Great Demon of the Three Realms is far away in Megatronus, Guan Sheng Di", and named Guan Yu Temple as "Wu Temple", which is juxtaposed with Confucian Temple. The Qing emperor flaunted Guan Yu as "the best in the world" and named him "loyal, benevolent, brave, protecting the country and benefiting the people, sincere appeasement, righteous praise, Xuande, Guan Sheng the Great" ("Rites and Music in Qing Dynasty"), and built Guandi Temple in Beijing, ordered the whole country to build Guandi Temple and offer sacrifices to incense on time. The number of Guan Gong temples in Vu Thang far exceeds that of Confucius temples in Wensheng. In the Qing Dynasty, there were 1 16 temples in Beijing alone. And some closed temples are much larger than Confucius temples. Some people say that Guan Yu is a culture; Some people say that Guan Gong is a kind of spirit. Otherwise, why are there so many temples for Guan Gong in China and overseas?

Of all the Guandi Temple buildings in China, five or six are best preserved so far: Changping Guandi Temple, the hometown of Guan Yu in Shanxi, Guanlin in Luoyang, Henan, Guanling in Dangyang, Hubei, Guandi Temple in Jingzhou and Baling Bridge Guandi Temple in Xuchang, Henan, etc. One of the largest and most magnificent is Guandi Temple, located in Guan Yu's hometown, west of Jiezhou, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. The largest Guandi Temple in China is still preserved. There are more than 300 pavilions in the temple, which is one of the tourist attractions. It can be called the first temple in the world.

In the historical process of China's drama development, there has been an upsurge of "Three Kingdoms Drama", and there are quite a number of "Three Kingdoms Drama" and "Guan Gong Drama" in many famous dramas. Take Beijing Opera as an example. There are 148 "Three Kingdoms Plays", and there are only 20 about Guan Gong. Take Zhou Pu Bangzi, the hometown of Guan Yu, as an example. There are 88 recorded "Three Kingdoms Plays", of which "Guan Gong Plays" are 18. On the stage, Guan Gong's image is a perfect hero, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, long beard and hale and hearty spirit. Even in Walking in Maicheng, his heroic qualities are still increasing.

For thousands of years, Guan Yu, a perfect image representing the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, has appeared in front of the world after being sealed by rulers of past dynasties and described in operas and literature. "Serve the country faithfully, be kind to others, act with wisdom, make friends with righteousness, and fight with courage." He rose from a "strange man through the ages" to a "god among gods" and became a god of war, a god of wealth, a god of literature and a god of agriculture. He is an all-powerful god, worshipped by rulers and people of past dynasties. China and Japan are overseas, at home and abroad.

Needless to say, the feudal rulers of past dynasties revered Guan Yu, and even Li Zicheng, Zhang, Hong Xiuquan and other peasant uprising leaders worshipped Guan Yu as a hero.

Moreover, in China, Japan, Southeast Asia and overseas Chinese, the worship of Guan Yu is still vivid.

In Taiwan Province Province, with a population of more than 20 million, there are as many as 8 million followers of Guan Gong, and almost every household has set up incense tables, set up memorial tablets and hung icons for Guan Gong. The annual sales volume of Guan Gong's portraits in Taiwan Province Province far exceeds their most revered god Mazu.

The American "Longgang General Association" is a non-governmental organization, whose ancestor is Guan Yu, and there are more than 140 branches all over the world where Chinese live.

Countries in South Asia are competing to build temples to worship Guan Gong, and Thailand is the most prosperous.

In Japan, there was Guandi Temple as early as the Qing Dynasty. A new Guandi Temple was built a few years ago, which is said to be the largest Guandi Temple overseas.

Mr. David Jordan, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego and a doctor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, once said a very interesting sentence. "I respect you, great God, and he deserves everyone's respect. His benevolence, righteousness, wisdom and courage are still meaningful until now. Benevolence is love, righteousness is credibility, wisdom is culture, and courage is not afraid of difficulties. If all God's people are like your Guan Gong, our world will be a better place. " The American scholar's words are quite insightful.

The loyalty, faithfulness, wisdom, benevolence and courage condensed on Guan Yu and suppressed by the eternal * * * * contains the ethics and ideals of China traditional culture, permeates the essence of Confucianism in the Spring and Autumn Period, and merges with Buddhism and Taoism. Essentially, it is the soul of China people, which shines like the sun and the moon and has a noble atmosphere.