Rumor is the afterlife of one of the twelve ancestors, and it has become the Meng Po of the underworld, right?

Mother of the Earth: Inheriting Heaven and Imitating the Empress.

It was called (Nu Wa) in ancient times.

Empress Chengtian imitates the earth, which is the fourth god among the "Four Emperors" in Taoism. Paired with the jade emperor who presided over the heaven, she is the goddess who dominates the mountains and rivers of the earth.

The belief in thick soil originated from the land worship in ancient China. "Book of Rites Special Sacrifice" says: "The earth carries everything, and the sky hangs like an elephant. Borrowing materials from the earth and taking the method of heaven is a respect for the sky and a kiss to the earth. So the people in the church have good news. " In ancient times, people were born on the ground, so they were "near the ground" and "admired and worshipped", so the worship of "Houtu" began in the Spring and Autumn Period.

There are many records about Houtu, mainly concentrated in Zuozhuan, Book of Rites, Shan Mei Classic and Huainanzi. In the article, Houtu is called the son of Gonggong and the God of the Central Committee. For example:

"Twenty-nine Years of Zuo Zhuan Gong": "Therefore, the official has five elements, which refer to five senses, namely, wood is for Zhu Rong, fire is for Admiralty, water is for mystery, and soil is for thick soil. Zhuan Xu's son, Li, is Zhu Rong. Gonggong scientists have a saying called "dragon", which means "being buried". After that, it is the soil of society.

"Rites of Sacrifice Law": "The father-in-law is the king of Kyushu, and his son's name is Hou Tu, so he worships it as a society.

"Book of Rites and Moon Order": "The central soil, its emperor Huangdi, its god is behind the soil." (Zheng Note: King Yuzhu, the god of local officials, is also the son of Zhuan Xu and a local official. )

"Shan Mei Neijing": "Gong Gong gives birth to the afterlife, choking in the afterlife, choking for ten years." Guo Pu's Note: Twelve sons are born in the name of "year old", so they are called clouds. Yuan Ke's full translation of Shan Mei Jing: In ancient mythology, it was said that choke was born at the age of twelve or at the age of one in December.

"Shan Mei Jing Ye Xijing": "Li (Houtu) is stuck in the ground, and in the west pole, he can travel to the sun, the moon and the stars." This choke is the god of time. )

Shan Mei Jing Ye Bei Jing: "In the wild, there is a mountain called Chengdu Zaitian. Some people named two yellow snakes Kuafu. After being born locally, Xin was born in Kuafu. " Hao Yixing's Note: Houtu, the son of a Gonggong family, see Zuo Zhuan in the 19th year of Zhao and Jing.

"Shan Mei Neijing": "Together, the earth is born." Yuan Ke's "Complete Translation of Shan Mei Jing" case: "Guoyu Luyu" says: "Gonggong is the overlord of Nine, and his son is called the earth, which can level Nine." That is, the history of "working together to breed the earth".

"Evocation of Chu Ci": "Yuan Jun is more secluded here." Wang Yi's Note: Especially all of them are underground soil governance. Underground ghost, so it's called moderation.

"Huainanzi Astronomical Training": "China is also its emperor Huangdi, and its auxiliary soil is also."

The above records about Hou Di, some appear as immortals, some as ordinary people, and some record official names, all of which are men. However, in the ancient tradition of China, the sky is sunny and the ground is cloudy. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen, the word "Hou" is the shape of a woman. As for "earth", the explanation of the name and Heaven said: "Earth, spit it, can spit everything.

The word "Houtu" first appeared in several Confucian classics. For example, Shangshu Wucheng has the words "sue the emperor's land", Zuo Zhuan's Eighteen Years of Wengong has the words "make the master slap Pepsi", and Li Zhouguan's pure uncle has the words "Wang Dafang, sue the land first". Judging from these sentences, Houtu is a ruler who enjoys high authority. Any major event in the country should be reported to him first and let him manage it.

So what's the situation? We must examine it from the historical records. "Twenty-nine Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Guang" said, "The soil is like the back soil." Houtu is both "soil" and "soil", which shows that he has a lot to do with the land. So what is "soil correction"? Let's take a look at what the word "positive" means. The right man is opposite to evil. As a full-time worker. There is a saying in Zuo Zhuan Liu Zanggong that Du Yu, an annotator in the Western Jin Dynasty, noted that "the five senses are the length of the five senses", which shows that the upright man is indeed the chief executive in official position, that is, the highest among the chief executives. What did the director do? Nature is a question of leadership and management. Therefore, the so-called "Zheng Tu" is the highest official in charge of land management. As mentioned earlier, since Zheng Tu and Houtu are equal, Houtu is the highest official in land management. However, there is a new problem. Why did the Chief Executive receive the word "Hou"? It also has its meaning. Shangshu Mo Yu once said, "After overcoming difficulties, I will overcome them." People who overcome difficulties are called overcoming difficulties, that is, completing tasks. Translated, after the task is completed, I finished my task. The ministers here are obviously relative. According to Guo Moruo's textual research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, they are "the same things with the people" and "slaves in ancient times" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, the working people. Since it is relative to the masses, it is of course the master of the masses. In the same text of Shangshu, there is also a saying that "post-non-public", which just illustrates this point. In short, the queen means the monarch, and there is no right or wrong. Houtu is the monarch who manages the land. According to Yang Zhao's Rebuilding Taining Hall in Song Dynasty, Houdi is the most revered land god.

Is the most respected god in this land a man or a woman? Worth studying. "Nine years of Zuo Zhao's official career" said: "My father-in-law's family has a son called' Dragon', which is the last soil"; The Book of Rites Sacrifice says, "My father-in-law rules Kyushu, and his son Hou Tu can make Kyushu peaceful." Both of these books refer to Houtu as the son of Gonggong, the son and the man, so Houtu is a man. However, in the Houtu Temple established by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the image of Houtu is female, and later called the Virgin and Queen. Why? It turns out that it is also recorded in ancient books that Hou Di is a woman. "Wen Tong Kao" contains: "When the Emperor of the Han and Yuan Dynasties worshiped the land, the high position followed." High position, Lv Zhi, the wife of Emperor Gaozu, also matched Lv Hou with the God of the Earth, indicating that the God of the Earth was a woman. "History of the later Han Dynasty: In the first year of Guangwu Central Plains, the high queen allocated land, the land was rich, and the land god also allocated the high queen. It can be seen that the land god is a woman. Tongdian, Book of Jin and Book of Song also recorded the matching of ancestors and queens when Cao and Dong Jin became emperors and offered sacrifices to the land gods. All these show that at that time, people regarded the God of the Land as a woman, that is, Hou Di was a woman.

At this point, should Hou Di be a man or a woman? This becomes a problem. In order to understand it, we must start with the famous Zhouyi. The fifth chapter of the Book of Changes: "One yin and one yang are called Tao", and Tao is the law of the change of the universe. Here, the interaction of Yin and Yang formed the law of the change of the universe, thus the concept and function of Yin and Yang were first put forward. The sixth chapter of the book of changes, the biography of copula, says: "dry, yang; Kun, the matter of yin is also. Chapter 11 of Zhouyi Shuo Gua Zhuan says: "Dry, for heaven, for father" and "Kun, for earth, for mother". "That is to say, heaven is male; The earth-yin girl. Furthermore, from the perspective of divination, the dry divination symbolizes heaven and the Kun divination symbolizes earth. Guo Moruo said in the article "Social Life in the Period of Zhouyi": "Draw a male root and divide it into a female yin", and also explained that the day is male and the land is female. This view of heaven and earth is the earliest and most authoritative definition of the nature of heaven and earth in China's classical philosophy, and no one can deny it until today. Since the earth is a woman, the most sacred representative of the earth, Houtu, naturally belongs to women. In this way, it makes sense that the image of Houtu Temple is the image of the Virgin Mary. This change from a goddess to a goddess reflects people's repeated and tortuous understanding of the nature of the earth and is a manifestation of people's cognitive ability improvement.

Since Hou Di is the highest female land god, she and Nu Wa are naturally connected. The book "Customs in Ba Huang" records the legends in ancient China, and leads the cloud to "Wei Shu in the Spring and Autumn Period". In ancient times, the so-called emperors, the Yellow Emperor of Huang San and Ren Huang were Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong respectively. Since Nu Wa is the emperor here, she naturally belongs to the same person as the most respected God of the land. The statue of Houtu Temple, which was re-carved in Jiajing Autumn of Ming Dynasty, said that "Houtu is the land of emperors", also known as Houtu Emperor, so it can be seen that Houtu and Nuwa of Huangdi are inseparable. In other words, Nu Wa is the afterlife, and the afterlife is Nu Wa. Can this two-in-one statement be established? Yes Guo Moruo said in the article "Ancient Society in Oracle Bone Inscriptions": "In myths and legends, it is common for one person to become more than two people and one thing to become more than two things." After textual research, he came to the conclusion that "Di Ku and Shun Di are one person". So we can also boldly say that Houtu and Nuwa are really two names of the same person. This is the smoothest inference and the most reasonable judgment. From this, we can also say that Houtu Temple is the ancient grave shade in today's Wanrong Village. It was Loi Wo Temple. From today on, we can call the most revered god of the land and the most authoritative one as Houtu Nuwa.

The third great god born after Pangu is called Houtu. It is now very famous Houtu, also called Houtu. She masters Yin and Yang and nurtures everything, so she is called the mother of the earth. Is the earliest king on earth. The earliest animals were divided into two categories: birds and beasts. Kirin is the king of beasts, and birds are revered by phoenix. Therefore, some people say that Phoenix is still a kind of bird in the world! As soon as the phoenix was born, it was able to die because of the intercourse between heaven and earth. When its vitality is exhausted, it dies from Brahma and can be resurrected on the ashes after death. It gave birth to two very different sons, Peacock and Dapeng, more than a hundred years later! When the peacock was born, it was more than 200 feet tall. Because its mother Phoenix is like a fire, it can spray flames with its mouth. The flames are deserted everywhere, and the tail can be spread out. There are countless feathers on it, as hard as steel. When it meets people or animals when it is hungry, it can take its life by opening the screen and flying out a steel feather. As the years get longer, its evil spirits become more and more serious after hundreds of years. It can actually suck people and eat meat from 40 to 50 miles away, and it will be fierce for a while! Later, because of eating the golden statue before the Tathagata became a Buddha by mistake, he was accepted by the Tathagata and was named the mother peacock Daming King.