I don't know what Master Lu Dongbin said to him after showing his immortal skills in front of Xiao Tianshu, anyway, they talked in secret in the secret room.

Then it came to July 15, the Midyear Festival, Lingzhou High Temple, every year to do the sacrifice of the wind and rain, the country and the people's peace.

The custom of worshiping ancestors in July and a half is the product of local culture, and the inclusive festival is more complicated, which is not only the folk autumn taste ancestor festival, but also the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival, the Buddhist Bon Festival, and the three streams of lay monks are one. The folk have the tradition of chasing the distance cautiously, so it is necessary to worship the ancestors, and the worship ceremony is generally held in mid-July. For example, Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty said in "Puning County Chronicles": "It is commonly known as the ancestral examination of the soul, and the salty clothes and wine are recommended, although they are poor, they dare not lack." "Among the offerings, the garment is indispensable. Because of the end of the summer in July, it is necessary to change clothes to protect against the cold, and "the fire in July is in July, and the clothes are given in September". In the old days, the Zhongyuan Festival not only had an important significance in the dimension of faith, but also a festival with high mass participation and a distinct entertainment function at the secular level.

The custom of worshipping ancestors on July 14 has existed since ancient times, and it was originally a folk ancestor worship festival, not a "ghost festival". The "July and a half" is called the "Zhongyuan Festival", which is derived from the Taoist saying after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Among the Taoist gods, there are heavenly officials, earth officials, and water officials, collectively known as the "Three Officials and Emperors", who are the representatives of the Emperor of Heaven stationed in the world, respectively, on the "Three Yuan Day" for the Emperor to inspect the merits of the world to determine rewards and punishments: "The heavenly officials are blessed by the fifteenth day of the first month, the local officials are the fifteenth day of the seventh month to forgive the sin, and the water officials are the fifteenth of October to relieve misfortune." "The local officials are in charge of the prefecture, and the focus of the inspection is naturally the ghosts from all walks of life. It is said that on the day of the Middle Yuan, the underground palace opens the gate of hell, and it is also the day when the hell opens, all the ghosts have to leave the underworld, accept the examination, the ghost who has the lord goes home, and the master wanders the world, wandering everywhere to find something to eat, so it is also called the Ghost Festival, and the activities of sacrificing ghosts are generally carried out, and the lotus lamp is lit to light the way home for the souls of the dead. The Taoist temple held a grand puja to pray for auspicious dojos, and the Taoist priest built Jiao to pray, the content of which was to transcend the soul of the deceased.

The ancients have attached great importance to sacrifice since ancient times, and "July and a half" originates from the three cultures of folk secular, Taoism and Buddhism, and its sacrificial culture has been spread for a long time and has a wide range of influences. Buddhism and Taoism have different interpretations of the meaning of the festival, with Taoism emphasizing filial piety; Buddhism, on the other hand, focuses on "purifying" the souls of the unowned and lonely souls released from the underworld. The later "July and a half" custom can be said to be a fusion of secularity, Taoism and Buddhism. In the Tang Dynasty, when the rulers promoted Taoism, the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival began to flourish, and gradually fixed "Zhongyuan" as the name of the festival.

It is generally believed that the midyear festival is also known as "Obon Festival" and "Ghost Festival"; In fact, there is a big misunderstanding of this understanding. To be correct, the 14th of July, the Ancestral Festival, the Zhongyuan Festival, and the Bon Festival belong to the folklore, Taoism, and Buddhism, and the three are juxtaposed, rather than three different names for the same festival. Since the rise of Taoism, the word "Zhongyuan" in the "Sanyuan Theory" was officially fixed as the name of the festival in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the festival date was set on July 15. This festival is a festival of three customs in one.

Before the formation of the "Midyear Festival", July 15 had already been requisitioned by Buddhism. In Buddhism, July was originally a month of Buddha's joy, not a "ghost festival". But why is Obon in July a "ghost festival"? Obon, a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Ulambana, originally meant "to save the upside down", that is, to save the ghosts suffering in hell. The Buddhist scripture "Bon Sutra" was translated into China in the Western Jin Dynasty, and there is a story of "Mulian saving the mother" in the scripture, which is secretly in line with the concept of filial piety that still exists at that time, and was later advocated by Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang of the Southern Dynasty, who advocated the "three religions have the same origin", and set it as a folk festival, when its main function was to worship the Buddha. It was only in the Song Dynasty that it changed, and it developed into a ghost who recommended the dead. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or the Obon festival attached to Taoism and Buddhism, and both the midyear festival and the Obon festival are set on July 15. So much so that later generations thought that these two were the two names of the same festival. At the same time, because its meaning and customs have long been difficult to distinguish, the customs of the two festivals began to be mixed.

Speaking of Lingzhou High Temple, every year in the Midyear Festival, the palace will be opened, attracting many tourists to visit, worship God, pray for blessings, and burn incense.

Every year, there will also be onmyoji, who come, play Taoist music, play flutes, beat drums and gongs, chant scriptures, and release the ghost realm beings after opening the ghost gate with the transcendent hell.

In addition, I would like to explain here that the onmyoji mentioned in this book is the yin-yang master of China's local culture, which is a kind of Taoist priest who usually practices at home, and when someone is invited to a funeral, he will help people recite scriptures and bury excess. (It's not that young people nowadays, watching Japanese cartoons, ask me, I'll go, Onmyoji, is it a Japanese Onmyoji?) There are also onmyoji in China? I also replied, I will go, Onmyoji is the local culture of China, and Japan is passed down. If you don't believe it, come to Lingzhou City to see how many onmyoji. ）

Onmyoji is generally a family system, and the ancestors of the family have passed it down, just like Cui Yinyang and Nianfu's grandfather mentioned earlier in this article are both Yin and Yang families.

The onmyoji also wears the flower crown of the Taoist priest, which is the understanding of Xuan Chu, in fact, it is called the five old crowns.

At first glance, there are indeed some similarities. In fact, when the Taoist priest is doing the iron pot feeding or the spiritual treasure refining and other super-class dojos, Gao Gong wears the five old crowns, which are in the shape of lotus petals, and the five lotus petals are painted with the statue of "five old people in the five directions", and there is a wisdom sword on both sides, and the wisdom sword is embroidered with the words of the Taoist gods or the words "Taiyi saves suffering Tianzun".

"Five Elders" refers to the five elders of the five directions, that is, the Eastern Blue Emperor Qingling Shi Lao Jiuqi Tianjun revered by Taoism, the Southern Red Emperor Danling Zhen Lao Sanqi Tianjun, the Central Yellow Emperor Xuanling Huang Lao Yi Qi Tianjun, the Western White Emperor Haoling Emperor Lao Qiqi Tianjun and the Northern Black Emperor Wuling Xuanlao Wuqi Tianjun, which are the gods of the east, south, middle, west and north respectively

The five old crowns are worn by the main altar in the Taoist dojo, and are not the daily clothes of Taoist priests.

The hat worn by the Tang monk is called the Five Buddha Crown, which is embroidered with the Buddha of the central Virujana, that is, the Buddha of Shakyamuni's Dharma Body Dari Rulai, and on both sides of it is the Buddha of the Eastern Xiangji World, the Buddha of the Southern Joy World, the Amitabha Buddha of the Western Elysium, and the Achievement Buddha of the Lotus World in the North, collectively known as the Buddha of the Five Directions, also called the Five Wisdom Buddhas. (This one is another Taoist one.) Early this morning, a Buddhist monk asked me, "What day did the Jade Emperor inspect the world?" It turns out that Buddhism wants to build a welcoming and driving dojo. Learn everything Taoism, and scold Taoism after learning. A fight with the Koreans. This five-Buddha crown will only be worn during major festivals, and I don't understand why Tang Seng wears it wherever he goes in Journey to the West.

The clothes of high merit are worn differently for different duties, the clothes for high merit are the clothes, and the teachers are the class clothes, but they are collectively called the clothes of the law.

Let's see the next time