Although Cihang Zhenren and Guanyin Bodhisattva appear to be identical in appearance, in Taoism, Cihang Zhenren and Guanyin Bodhisattva are two completely different people.
Let me give you a simple example.
gender.
For Taoism, Taoist Cihang is a Taoist female deity who was originally a woman before she became a deity through practicing Taoism.
According to the "General History of Immortals in the Past Dynasties", there was a female Zhenjun in the Chaoyin Cave of Luojia Rock in Putuo. It is said that she practiced Taoism here during the Shang Dynasty and had acquired supernatural powers. She vowed to save all men and women in the world. She often used elixirs and nectar to help the people. People in the South China Sea called her Cihang Dashi.
The ancient scripture "Lingbao Sutra" records that Taoist Cihang was originally the youngest daughter of King Zhui in the Chanli world. She was four years old but still could not speak. King Zhui found it very strange and disliked her, so he abandoned her in the Akong Mountain in Nanfusang. There was no food in the mountain, and she was young and could not pick or hunt, but she could swallow the essence of the sun and the moon.
According to records in ancient books, Taoist Cihang was originally a female. This is different from Buddhism. In the popular view of Buddhism, Guanyin Bodhisattva was originally a man and later transformed into a woman.
There is another very obvious difference.
time.
Taoism is a native religion in China, with a history of more than 4,000 years. According to the "General History of Immortals in the Past Dynasties", Cihang Zhenren had already become an immortal during the reign of King Shang; in addition, the "Investiture of the Gods" records that during the reign of King Zhou of Shang, Cihang Zhenren was one of the twelve golden immortals under Yuanshi Tianzun, ranking third.
From this we can know that Cihang Zhenren had existed in Chinese history at the latest in the late Shang Dynasty and early Zhou Dynasty, and Buddhism first originated in the Han Dynasty, approximately between 400-500 BC, and was introduced to China around the Eastern Han Dynasty, so Guanyin Bodhisattva first appeared in history in the Han Dynasty.
In addition, there is also a difference in the appearance of the two. The statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva worshipped in temples has a Buddhist symbol of "卍" on its chest, while the statue of Cihang Taoist worshipped in Taoist temples definitely does not have this.
When Zhu Ping'an heard the young eunuch talking about Taoist Master Cihang and thought of the religious beliefs of Buddhism and Taoism, he roughly guessed why Emperor Jiajing was in a bad mood.
really.
What the young eunuch said the next second also confirmed Zhu Ping'an's guess.
"Coincidentally, June 19th is also the day when Guanyin Bodhisattva attained enlightenment. Yesterday, the emperor sent the Royal Guards to collect folk customs to see how the common people celebrated the Enlightenment Day of Master Cihang, and to see if the incense offerings to Master Cihang were good. However, these ignorant people in the folks, 'every family worships Amitabha Buddha, every household worships Guanyin', most of them are praying to Guanyin Bodhisattva, and very few are praying to Master Cihang. The incense offerings in the temples are in full swing, but the incense offerings in the Taoist temples are not as good as expected..."
The young eunuch leaned close to Zhu Ping'an's ear and spoke, his eyebrows slightly frowned, with an indignant expression on his face, and his voice was full of complaints.
"You said these foolish and ignorant people, they make His Majesty so sad. For them, His Majesty practices Taoism, fasts and prays for blessings day and night, praying to God to eliminate and alleviate natural disasters, and praying for peace and prosperity for the country and the people. Isn't it all because of these foolish people? How many sleepless nights did His Majesty pray for blessings? You said they are so good, receiving the blessings from His Majesty, but they worship Guanyin like ungrateful wolves!"
The young eunuch felt very indignant for Emperor Jiajing. When he talked about the fact that common people worshipped Guanyin instead of Cihang Zhenjun, he looked like he wanted to spit in their faces.
"So, it is because of this matter that His Majesty is in a bad mood. The officials such as Prime Minister Yan, Elder Xu, and others who were summoned to Yongshou Palace this morning, as well as those who stayed in Wuyi Palace, are all writing furiously because of this matter." The young eunuch then got back to the point, "So, it is for the good of Master Zhu that I didn't pass the message just now."
"Ping'an thanks you again, father-in-law." Zhu Ping'an bowed and thanked him. After understanding the whole story, he had an idea in his mind.
If you want to get an audience with Emperor Jiajing, it seems that the only way is...
After thanking the young eunuch, Zhu Ping'an returned to Wuyi Palace. At this time, three officials in Wuyi Palace had completed their masterpieces and were standing next to another official who was writing furiously. While discussing their masterpieces, they were waiting for the official to finish his masterpiece so that they could hand it over to the eunuch in charge of Wuyi Palace, who would then present it to Yongshou Palace.
Generally speaking, the eunuchs of the Sizhi would collect four or five works and then present them together to the Yongshou Palace for the emperor to review.
If you write one article, the eunuch will deliver one, and if he writes one article, the eunuch will have to deliver one more. Wouldn't the eunuch's legs be broken from running...
"Please wait for me for a while, my colleagues. Allow me to polish it a little more and finish it. Then we can send it to Emperor Cheng for his review." The official who was writing furiously at his seat raised his head and said apologetically to the three colleagues and friends who were waiting on the side.
"It's okay. It won't take too long. Just write it down."
"Haha, we just want to exchange some ideas. Brother Zhang, just take your time and write."
"Hahaha... Today we are finally a little faster than Brother Zhang. If Brother Zhang feels guilty, you can treat us to a meal some other day."
The three officials standing by smiled and consoled him, saying that they had been writing for a whole day and they didn't mind having a cup of tea.
The official named Zhang naturally agreed with a smile, then lowered his head and concentrated on writing.
He spent a whole day writing this article with great effort. The writing style and conception are among his rare masterpieces in recent years. Now all he needs is the ending, so he has to think carefully and not ruin this masterpiece by adding a poor ending.
Zhu Ping'an heard their conversation and his eyes lit up. When he passed by them, he smiled slightly and bowed to greet them.
The three standing officials nodded in response. Their official positions were higher than Zhu Ping'an's, and their seniority in Wuyi Palace was much longer than Zhu Ping'an's. There was nothing wrong with returning the gift in this way.
"Didn't Lord Zhu go to inspect Taicang on imperial orders? How come he has time to come to Wuyi Palace?" asked an official.
"Oh, I just came from Taicang." Zhu Pingan replied, "I just went to the Imperial Observatory to ask for a change of auspicious date for the warehouse gate..."
"Um... ... "
Several officials nodded and said nothing more. The official just asked casually. As for Zhu Ping'an's inspection of Taicang, it had nothing to do with them. If they insisted that it was related, it was just that the Taicang inspection team was reduced to only Zhu Ping'an before the inspection, which only added to their after-dinner jokes.
Seeing this, Zhu Ping'an bowed again and went back to his office.
The other two officials in the room were still busy writing. When they saw Zhu Ping'an coming, they just looked up and then lowered their heads to write quickly.
After entering the room, Zhu Pingan sat down, laid out the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and began to grind ink...