Tales about Fengdu Ghost City

Tales about Fengdu Ghost City - Origin of Yanwang

Yanwang-King of Hell,also called Yanluo, Yanmo, Yemo etc., is a word from Sanskrit due to the pronunciation. It is short for Yamaraja, meaning to fetter the guilty people. Yanluo was originally the king managing the nether world in ancient Indian myth. There is a record of legend about Yanwang in extant oldest Indian poetry-Rig Veda which can be traced back to 2000 B.C., that is, the dying soul should go to register to Deity Yemo in the Elysium. At first, this belief was carried on by Brahmanism which held that Deity Yemo had shifted from the heaven to man's world and he not only supervised the deceased's behavior before they died but also imposed reward and punishment. Later, Buddhism was established and it also adopted this belief and regarded Yemo as the major deity of the hell and the chief commander of the ghostdom.

After this belief was transmitted to China with the spread of Buddhism and interacted each other with Chinese local Taoism and folk culture, the Sinologized "Shi-dian-yan-luo" (ten Kings of the hell) was produced.

In fact, the Sinologized "Shi-dian-yan-luo" is a repeat of rule system of human world. In feudal society, people could not be treated fairly in the realistic life, so they hoped that there was a Yanwang King in the nether world to uphold justice for them. There is a common belief among people that "If a man is upright when alive, he will become the Hades commander". Therefore, since the Sui and Tang Dynasty, people held that the loyalists or honorable officials would become Yanwang King. Among them were the famous "Four Yanwang Kings"-Baozheng, Han Qinhu, Fan Zhongyan and Kou Zhun.

Tales about Fengdu Ghost City - Tale of Empress Tianzi

Long long ago, there was a wealthy ministry councilor whose family name was Lu in Longshui Town, Dazhu County, Sichuan Province. His only daughter Luying was good-looking and perfect-figuring girl who was expert in music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

One day, councilor Lu went out on business trip. But he lost contact with his family for half year. His wife and daughter were very worried and came to Fengdu to pray for him. When they were praying in the Hall of the son of Heaven, Luying was absolutely infatuated with Yanluo King, saying to herself that if only she could marry such a handsome man. To her surprise, Yanluo King really looked down on her and smiled at her. After the mother and daughter came out of the Hall of the son of Heaven, a bee flew to Luying and said that her father would come back home three days later. Luying told her mother what happened, but her mother did not believe.

Surprisingly, councilor Lu really came back, saying he dreamt his servant told him to return home to make a big decision. Then, that bee came again telling her to marry Yanluo King. At that night, Mr. and Mrs. Lu dreamt that Luying was taken away by Yanluo King and became the Empress Tianzi. Mr. and Mrs. Lu were awake and hurried to Luying's room, only to find Luying gone. Then, they went to the Hall of the son of Heaven in Fengdu and found their daughter in the shrine beside Yanluo King. She had really become the Empress Tianzi. The couple could not help bursting into tears for losing their daughter. But the Buddhist abbot comforted them that it was Luying's fortune to become the respected Empress Tianzi.

From then on, the news that Empress Tianzi was a Dazhu girl was spread and every year, Duzhu people will go to Fengdu to worship Yanluo and Empress Tianzi.

Tales about Fengdu Ghost City - Origin of Black and White Impermanence

Black and White Impermanence were the two deities to seize evil spirits in the nether world.

According to the legend, Black and White Impermanence were two orphans when they were alive.

They met each other by accident and forged their brotherhood by sharing adversity. After growing up, they held posts in yamen (a government office in ancient China) and were respected by the local people because of their integrity and justice.

One day, they went out to do official business. It suddenly rained cats and dogs when they arrived at a bridge. They took shelter under the bridge but it rained more and more heavily. So White Impermanence went back to fetch umbrellas and Black Impermanence waited for him there. White Impermanence rushed home and took the umbrellas. Suddenly he had a stomachache, so he went to the bed to take a rest but fell asleep.

When he waked up the next morning and hurried to that bridge, Black Impermanence had been drowned in the flood. Seeing this, he was extremely grieved. He buried Black Impermanence and hanged himself under the bridge.

When their spirits went to the nether world, Cheng Huang (a deity protecting the city) was moved by their profound friendship and chivalrous hearts. So he appointed them deities to seize the evil spirits.

Tales about Fengdu Ghost City - Origin of Mengpo

According to the legend,Mengpo,born in the Western Han Dynasty,was a vegetarian Buddhist and did not marry during her life. Because she never thought about the past or the future, she had forgotten even her given name. What she remembered is only her family name, so others called her Mengpo (Grandma Meng). Her unique skill was to cook delicious soup and she was a generous woman that she always invited the neighbors to taste her soup.

Later, the Emperor happened to eat the tasty soup in his incognito travel and decided to bring her to the imperial palace so that she could cook the soup just for himself. Mengpo rejected his demand and was killed by the emperor. When Mengpo's spirit came to the nether world, Yanwang was suffering from the chaos that the spirits could not tell the human world from the nether one because of the memorization when they were alive.

When Yanwang learned that Mengpo had no memory and was able to cook tasty soup, which might help him solve his problem, he let Mengpo make soup at the Naihe Bridge. Every spirit must drink the soup so as to forget their past life, good or bad, poor or rich. Only after they drinking the soup can they be reborn.

Tales about Fengdu Ghost City - Tale of Niu Tou (Ox-Head) and Ma Mian (Horse-Face)

In Song Dynasty, there were two students-Niu Dou and Ma Mian living in Hujia Village, Qingzhou County. Poor Niu Dou lived in the east of the village, knowledgeable and hard-working, while the wealthy Ma Mian lived in the west of the village, ignoramus and indolent.

One year, both of them went to the capital to take an examination together. As the exam was approaching, Niu Dou still read books throughout the night while Ma Mian continued to have fun. Niu Dou advised Ma Mian to review the books. But Ma Mian laughed at him that he himself would surely get the highest scores because he had money and money was everything.

During the exam, Niu Dou dealt with the questions very smoothly while Ma Mian wrote a few strokes and then fell asleep. However, the results were quite unexpected-Ma Mian was No. one scholar and Niu Dou failed the exam. Niu Dou was aflame with indignation and drowned himself in the lake.

Niu Dou's sprit came to the nether world and turned to Deity Kuixing, but Kuixing neglected his duty and ignored him. Then Niu Dou turned to Yanwang for justice. Ridiculously, Yanwang was flattered by Ma Mian and was eaten up with pride. He spared Ma Mian's life and gave Niu Dou a lot of beatings. So Niu Dou turned to Jade Emperor (the supreme deity). Jade Emperor researched the matter and punished Kuixing and Yanwang. Niu Dou's body had been dead for many days and begun to rot, so he could not be brought to life and had to stay in the nether world. The Jade Emperor told Yanwang, "Although Ma Mian has become the top scholar through dirty trick, his destiny is not good enough to take it for he will die soon. Niu Dou is knowledgeable and Ma Mian is worldly-wise. Both of them have strong points. So keep them with you."

However, as people passed the tale down, Niu Dou and Ma Mian were falsely spread as Niu Tou (Ox-Head) and Ma Mian (Horse-Face) and even their looks were change: one is with an ox-head on a man's body and the other with a horse-face on a man's body.