The Legend of Tiantai County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province

"The shoes are broken, the hat is broken, and the robes are broken; You laugh at me, he laughs at me, and a fan is broken ... "As soon as you hum the theme song of this well-known" Jigong "series, people will naturally think of ragged and crazy Jigong Living Buddha. The legend of Jigong is a kind of folk oral literature developed from the story of Zen monk Daoji in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is mainly distributed in Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province, and thus radiates the whole country and affects the world. In May 2006, the legend of Jigong in Tiantai, Zhejiang Province was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council, which belongs to folk literature. In the early years of Southern Song Dynasty, Jigong was born into an official family in Yongning Village, north of Tiantai City. His surname is Li, and his first name is (or). He first went to Xiaoguo Temple to learn from Fakong, then went to the Daoqing Temple and Kannonji Daojing, and finally went to Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, where he was fully warned and named "Dao Ji" under Hui Yuan, a monk's blind hall. When he was a child, he read poetry books, and he was smart and evil. After converting to Buddhism, playing the fool and helping others is called "helping the poor". Before and after Doggi's death, there were many supernatural legends about him on the rooftop, which were talked about by people. Through word-of-mouth, the legend of Jigong has been widely spread all over the country and become a household name, which has had a great influence on the formation of Tiantai people's character and even the formation of the Chinese national spirit. There are hundreds of legends about helping the public in Tiantai. These legends are based on the life experience of Jigong, centered on punishing evil and promoting good, and based on humor. The content covers Ji Gong's life experience, childhood life, helping the poor, playing tricks on demons, folk customs and other aspects.

1, the legend of Jigong's life experience. There are legends of Yongning Village, Longxi Garden and the reincarnation of Dragon Lohan. The Li family, who told the story of Jigong's father, moved from the north to the south and lived in Yongning Village, north of Tiantai. The garden built is called Longxi Garden, which expresses homesickness. Jigong's ancestors worshipped Buddha, and his parents especially loved Buddha, so they were charitable. Because I was old and had no children, I ran to the front of the Dajiu Temple Lohan on the rooftop to ask for children, and was induced by the Dragon Lohan and reborn. Such legends often praise the extraordinary life experience of Jigong, implying great achievements in the future.

2. The legend of childhood life. At the age of one, Jigong studied in Chicheng Mountain, ashamed of being an apprentice, and Xiu Yuan became a monk. It is said that Jigong was smart and witty when he was young, and he forgot to eat and sleep when he studied poetry. Young Jigong fished by the Zhexi River, catching crabs and playing cricket; Singing, hide-and-seek and somersaulting between Shan Ye; Go to Xiaoguo Temple to listen to the scriptures and worship Buddha; I went to Ruixia Cave in Chicheng Mountain to chant Buddhist scripture, and I couldn't put it down. This legend is full of childlike innocence.

3. The legend of helping the poor. Tell stories about helping the weak and helping the poor, such as "mustard leaves splashing water to save the temple", "cricket returning to life to save the young monk", "drawing water with a sieve", "turning cattle into thanking the old farmer", "helping the public to save women" and "pig dropping dung". Jigong made a plan to let the small laborers drown the sow of the villain Yin Si; Get back the salary for Xu Debao and win the lawsuit; Advise yang to be independent and make a fool of himself; Give advice to the little girl who can't stand the abuse and bullying of her stepmother, and let her stepmother change her attitude. Especially amazing is the legend of "mustard throwing water to save the temple", which tells that Jigong washed vegetables in Zhexi, Tiantai, and doused the fire in Jingci Temple, Hangzhou with a piece of mustard. This kind of legend highlights the spirit of helping others and helping others without me.

4, the legend of playing the devil. Praise Jigong for hating evil, punishing evil and promoting good. For example, Jigong punishes evil and promoting good, and flies a knife at Qin Gui. What should I do? Fight evil, blow the horn, kill with a stick, drop the handle of wooden fish, persuade unscrupulous evildoers with difficult problems, and catch stolen treasures with wisdom. "The handle of a wooden fish" tells the story that Du Zhifu in Tiantai was greedy for money, robbed imperial academy's treasures, and was fanned to the west of Zhejiang by Jigong with a banana fan, thus losing his official position and returning the treasures. There are also some legends that Jigong designed Kang Wang to run barefoot for thousands of miles, which ended in a bad end, Qin Gui; Stick to the flying company and punish evil as a county; Wisdom saves widow Zhu and teaches local ruffians and villains; See through the sign that the dog thief smashed the sheep's head to buy dog meat. Express people's psychological wishes through stories of saving people's suffering and preaching justice.

5. Folklore and legends. There are The Legend of Li Ji Bridge, The Legend of Ji Shuyan, The Origin of Jigong's Hat, Broken Banana Fan and Puxie, Broken Copper Clam, The Origin of Wandering, Five-flavor Porridge, The Origin of Burrito Drum, etc. This paper discusses the origins of place names and things related to Jigong and explains them. The Origin of Jigong's Hat tells the reason why Jigong likes to wear out shirts, hats and palm fans with his hands. Describe Xiao Jigong's love for cricket fighting, and deduce the origin of wandering. The "burrito tube" pioneered by Jigong has become the most distinctive flavor snack on the rooftop; The five-flavor porridge invented by Jigong has become a must-have "delicacy" for Tiantai people's Spring Festival breakfast, which means a bumper harvest. In Hangzhou and other places, there are legends such as Feilaifeng and Mu Yun Gu Jing.

The legend of Jigong praises the spirit of Jigong's intelligence, wisdom, fearlessness of violence, punishing evil and promoting good, and selfless dedication from different angles, and expresses the people's yearning for a better life. The legend of Jigong relies on real historical figures and has regional originality; Highlight the mysterious supernatural power and have the magic of the plot; It embodies the Zen thought and arhat belief in history and has cultural inheritance; Widely involved in all aspects of life, with diverse contents; Reflect the people's joys and sorrows, with distinctive people's nature. As Premier Zhou Enlai said, "The people like to help the public very much, because he cares about the people and does evil. There are many beautiful legends about Jigong among the people. "

For more than 800 years, the legend of Jigong has become a vivid literary and artistic material, which has been widely used in novels, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, film and television and other fields. At the same time, the legend of Jigong, as a unique cultural phenomenon, is deeply imprinted in the hearts of the general public and has a great influence on carrying forward traditional morality and condensing national spirit.