Guandi

Deification of Guan Yu, historical character of the time of the Three kingdoms and hero of History of the Three kingdoms , Guandi is one of the most popular gods of the Chinese religion. Raised with the row of Bodhisattva by the Buddhism, it was set up in paragon of virtue by the Confucianisme, which sees in him the “warlike saint” ( wusheng 武聖) making during to the “saint well-read man” ( wensheng 文聖) Confucius.

Indeed, the character of Guan Yu such as it appears in the Histoire and the Littérature incarnate all the traditional virtues, particularly fidelity (with the word given, the emperor, the friends), the chivalrous spirit, the courage and the self-control.

Like all the Chinese gods, it has several names corresponding to the various titles granted by the imperial administration during the successive dynasties, or to the particular functions which are allotted to him by such or such religious current, like the Taoïsme or the Confucianisme.

Guan Yu was déifié as of the dynasty of the Sui (588 - 618) and is always venerated in China, as well like Chinese divinity as like Buddhist divinity or divinity guardian of the taoism and even confucéenne.

In Occident, Guan Yu is sometimes called “God taoist of the war”. However, it differs from the warlike divinities like Mars or Tyr by the fact that it inevitably does not bless nor exclusively the combatants, but those which show of fraternity and uprightness.

General worship

One is often called Guan Yu Empereur Guan , diminutive of his complete title of Saint Emperor Guan . Temples which are exclusively dedicated to him can be found a little everywhere in the Chinese world. Some of them, like that of Xiezhou, have the shape of a palate, in reference to its statute of emperor.

The deification after its death of an exceptional character is current in China. The popularity of the god can be recognized officially by the sovereigns by granting a title to him. The rise of Guan Yu to the position of divine emperor was done by stages. Four decades after its death, it accepted from Liu Shan, second emperor of the Shu, the title of marquis de Zhuangmou. Under Song, the Huizong Emperor named it duke of Zhonghui, then later “prince”, position confirmed in 1187 pennies the reign of the Xiaozong Emperor and by the Wenzong emperor of the Yuan when the Mongols had demolishes Song.

It is in 1614 under the Ming that it accepted the title “of emperor” granted by Wanli, confirmed in 1644 under the Qing by the emperor Shunzhi.

One often allotted to Guan Yu military successes. Under Ming, it would have helped the fleet of the emperor founder Zhu Yuanzhang at the time of the battle of Boyang. In 1402, Zhu Di launched a coup d'etat against its nephew, the emperor Jianwen, informant to be blessed by the spirit of Guan Yu. At the end of the 16th century, one allotted to him the failure of the Japanese invasion of Korea tried by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Manchu imperial house of the Qing dynasty was associated with martial qualities of Guan Yu. At the 20th century, Guan Yu was venerated by the Seigneur of the war Yuan Shikai, president, then emperor of China.

Guan Yu is always venerated by the common people. In Hong-Kong, it throne on a small furnace bridge in all the police stations; although it is not about an obligation, the majority of the Chinese police officers révèrent it. In a rather ironic way, many members of the Triad S as well as the Hung clan venerate it too. According to the Chinese popular belief, a code of honor incarnated in Guan Yu exists in the other-world. In Hong-Kong one often calls it Yi gor , “second big brother” in Cantonese, reference to the oath of fraternity of the novel of the Histoire of the Three kingdoms. Guan Yu is also venerated by the business men and the tradesmen as god of the richness and a “patron saint”, since it is judicious to bless uprightness and to protect from the cheating ones.

Worship taoist

One venerates Guan Yu as a Saint Emperor Guan and divinity subjecting the demons. The taoists started to dedicate to him a worship starting from second half of the 12th century, under the Song dynasty. According to the legend, the salted lake of Xiezhou lost little by little its salinity and produced salt less and less. The Huizong Emperor made call the celestial Maître Zhang Jixian, descendant of Zhang Daoling, in order to inquire into the causes. The Master declared that it was about a misdeed of Chi You, a divinity of the war. He called upon the assistance of Guan Yu to face Chi You and the lake found its usual production. The Emperor conferred on Guan Yu the title of Immortel of Chongning , officially introducing it like divinity taoist. At the beginning of the dynasty of Ming, the celestial Main 42e, Zhang Zhengchang, recorded the event in the Livre of the chalk-lining of the celestial Masters of Hans , first traditional taoist to mention this legend.

Nowadays, in fact the practices taoists are most current in the worship of Guan Yu. Many the temples which are dedicated to him present a strong coloring taoist. Every year, at the time of the 13th day of the lunar fifth month, its divine birthday, a procession takes place in its honor.

Buddhist worship

In Buddhism, one honors Guan Yu like Bodhisattva and guard with the Dharma. It is called Bodhisattva Sangharama, “temple” in Sanskrit, which makes of Guan Yu the guard of the temple. Its statue is in general located on the left principal furnace bridge, vis-a-vis its counterpart, Bodhisattva Skanda.

According to the Buddhist accounts, Guan Yu appeared with a procession of other spirits one harms of 592 in front of the Master Tripitaka Zhiyi, founder of the Buddhist school Tiantai, which was then in meditation on the Yuquan mount. When Guan Yu had accepted are teaching, it obtained the Five Precepts and became the guard of the temples and Dharma. According to other legends, Guan Yu helped Zhiyi in the construction of the Yuquan temple which exists still nowadays.

Others

Guandi is one of the gods of the syncretistic religion Ikuan CAT

Random links: