Teng Xinxian Associate Professor, School of Marine Culture and Law, Shanghai Ocean University
Most people who have read "Shan Hai Jing·The Great Wilderness Northern Jing" will be impressed by Feng Bo, the wind god who helped Chi You fight the Yellow Emperor. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, Feng Bo has entered the national ceremonial ceremony and became the most authoritative wind god in my country. However, what is less known is that in ancient Jiangnan, there once appeared a female Fengshen whose regional influence far exceeded Feng Bo, and she was Meng Po.
The 23rd of the lunar calendar is the anniversary of Mazu’s birth. People are parading around the Mazu temple held in the scenic area of Tianfei Palace in Nanjing. Xinhua News Agency
Nowadays, when people hear "Meng Po", the first thing they think of is the old woman who is resident by the Naihe Bridge and uses a bowl of five-flavored soup to make countless ghosts forget all their passions. It is still difficult to determine whether Mengpo in the prefecture and the god of wind are the same deity. But what is certain is that Fengshen Mengpo appeared much earlier than the underworld exit manager. According to textual research, the reincarnation of the ghost from the prefecture appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and Meng Po, the emissary of the Yin, appeared even later. As the god of wind in the south of the Yangtze River, Po Meng had already had a great influence in the vast south of the Yangtze River during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
According to the Records of Danqian by Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty, after Li Luxiu, a native of the Northern Qi Dynasty, came to the south of the Yangtze River, he curiously asked Lu Shixiu-"There is Meng Po in Jiangnan, who is the god?" Lu Shixiu replied, "Shan Hai Jing The daughter of the emperor swims in the river, and she must follow the wind and rain when she enters and exits. The daughter of the emperor is called'Meng Po', and the ambition of the suburbs is to worship the land as the Thai woman." It is very strange to northerners, but it is already very famous in Jiangnan area.
"Danqian Zonglu" also mentioned: "There is a strong wind in the south of the Yangtze River in July, which is stronger than Bodao. According to legend, the savages thought that Meng Po was angry." The "Bodao" mentioned here refers to the writing of Su Shi and other poets. Chuanchao Wind" is the southeast monsoon in meteorology today. Although this record is very rough, judging from the time, wind direction, wind force and other aspects, the "high wind" mentioned here is a typhoon. People from Jiangnan regarded the typhoon as Meng Po's anger, apparently treating her as a wind god. Because wind and rain always come together, this Jiangnan goddess always has wind and rain when he acts.
From the Southern Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the influence of the wind god Meng Po in the south of the Yangtze River continued to expand and gradually evolved into a well-known wind god across the country. Not only people in the south of the Yangtze River and South China directly call the rainbow-shaped cloud before the typhoon "Meng Po", but people in the north are no longer unfamiliar with the goddess of the south. In addition to the influence of immigration and other factors, the reason has a lot to do with the outstanding poetry works of Jiangnan talents and the development of the cultural and entertainment industry in the Song Dynasty. Suzhou was the Dijie Town in the Song Dynasty, and Song Huizong was very familiar with Wu dialect. He once wrote a poem "Xiang Zao Xiao Ci", which contains "Meng Po, Meng Po, you can do something convenient, blow the boat upside down". In this regard, Yang Shen explained in his "Sheng'an Poetry Talks": "Meng Po, Song Bianjing Goulan, said Feng Ye." It can be seen that with the singing of some "Jiangnan Wind" lyrics and music, Feng Shen Meng Po was also in the north. Well known. Because of this, the writer Chu Renhuo in the late Ming Dynasty directly said in "Jianhu Ji" that "the wind god was called Meng Po in ancient times".
What's interesting is that although Po Meng, the god of wind, was born in the south of the Yangtze River and was once famous, now it is hard to find in the south of the Yangtze River. Although there are some relics of its temples in Huzhou, Dongyang and other areas that were severely affected by typhoons in ancient times, they are often mistaken for the place where people worshipped Meng Po, the prefecture. The reason for this phenomenon is more complicated. But in the final analysis, the reason for the decline of Fengshen Mengpo's influence still has a lot to do with her own image.
There are few documents about Fengshen Mengpo, but from the Jiangnan people’s belief that Mengpo must be accompanied by violent storms and rain, and that when she gets angry, there will be very destructive typhoons. She is even considered in people’s minds. Not a fierce god, but also grumpy and intimidating. With the popularization and deepening of humanistic education in Jiangnan, this image is obviously more and more difficult to satisfy people's expectations of God's character. It is undoubtedly unacceptable for them to continue to believe in such a tyrannical wind god.
However, according to the ancients, the wind must be managed by God. As a result, the Jiangnan people reformed the image of Meng Po's Fengshen, while at the same time "inviting" other gods to share the responsibilities of wind prevention and protection.
Since the late Northern Song Dynasty, Meng Po's image as the wind god of the south has undergone tremendous changes. Like the legendary white lady, Meng Po, the god of wind, gradually faded away from its tyrannical natural attributes and evolved into a female image with ideal personality characteristics. For example, in the area of Mengpoling, Jinhua, Zhejiang, people said Mengpo was a virtuous peasant woman in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the year of severe drought, she prayed for rain to heaven, but unfortunately died violently, she became a god. According to legend, if you pray to her in a year of severe drought, there will be a strong wind carrying the rain; when you pray to her when the wind and rain are heavy, the wind and rain will soon cease. Obviously, the transformed Meng Po is no longer the mysterious and tyrannical emperor in the minds of Jiangnan people, but a dear and respectable citizen's daughter.
In addition to transforming the image of Meng Po, Jiangnan people also forwarded the hope of mitigating typhoon disasters to those gods who fit their personality ideals. For the Jiangnan coastal areas, most of the wind disasters caused by the typhoon itself are not serious. The most frightening thing is the secondary disaster caused by the intrusion of typhoon and sea tide-tidal disaster. Therefore, some river gods, sea gods, etc. have joined the ranks of fighting the typhoon under the support of Jiangnan people. For example, Zhou Kai, the influential "Pingshui King" in Jiangnan area. Zhou Kai was originally a celebrity in Jiangnan during the Western Jin Dynasty. He is both civil and military, and he is deeply loved by people to eliminate floods for the people. Because he unfortunately died while leading the crowd to resist the typhoon, he was revered as the god of lake and sea. The "Pingyang County Chronicles" of the Republic of China recorded that when a typhoon struck with a frenzy and was about to swallow the lives of the people, Zhou Kai stepped forward and furiously said: "I will calm it down with my body! Rushing into the tide...Russia and the waters are flat, but the river’s misfortune is the end." This kind of courage to calm the tide is really moving. Therefore, when a typhoon came in the old days, people along the river and coastal people prayed for the hero who resisted the typhoon and prayed for calm.
Another example is that in Wenzhou, one of the main landing places of typhoons, there is a sea god named Tian. According to legend, he was a general of the Tang Dynasty before his life, and sacrificed for the people to pacify the chaos. He was not only loyal and righteous during his lifetime, but he did not forget to protect the people after his death. The fishermen prayed to him when they encountered a typhoon at sea, and most of them could turn the crisis into peace. In addition, there are many legends of gods such as Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period, Tao Hongjing in the Southern Dynasties, and the rising goddess Mazu from the outside world. There are also many legends about using divine power and magic to contain the typhoon and huge waves and protect the people. Although these legendary gods cannot actually protect the south of the Yangtze River during the typhoon, we can clearly see the evolution of the image of the wind god Mengpo and the phenomenon that people often pray to those brave and selfless gods when the typhoon comes. Out: Even in an era when science and technology are backward and humans are vulnerable to typhoons, Jiangnan people have not given up their pursuit of humanistic ideals in the face of the threat of powerful natural forces.
The image of Meng Po from a fierce god to a good god, and various legends of gods fighting against typhoons not only reflect the value orientation of Jiangnan people, but also show their unyielding character.