"Legend has it that his birthday is the ninth day of the first month of the Xia calendar. Ming Dynasty Wang Kui's "Li Hai Collection" Jade Emperor
Jade Emperor
It was recorded that the gods descended from the heavens and rose from the heavens with righteousness. The Jade Emperor was born on the ninth day of the first lunar month. The number of yang qi begins at one and ends at nine, which is the beginning and the end.”It meant that "one" was the head of the Yang number, and nine was the extreme of the Yang number, so it was considered the birthday of the Jade Emperor God. Ming Huang Daozhou's [Moon Order Clear Meaning]:"On the first day of the first lunar month, the Heavenly Gods and Houtu worship the Three Pure Jade Emperor. On the ninth day of the lunar month, it is the Jade Emperor's Christmas. There was a similar record in Huang Shi's Yue Ling Notes.
The Minnan people and the Hakka people would start their sacrificial activities on the ninth day of the first lunar month (11 pm). In recent years, under the influence of environmental protection and Buddhism, some people advocated that the Jade Emperor God was a high god. They were vegetarian and did not eat meat. Generally, they only prepared flowers and fruits. They could use candies, fruits, and longan tea to worship the New Year. Incense, candles, burning gold, longevity money, etc. were used to ensure the safety of the whole family. Some people also went to the temple to worship flowers and fruits. Fruits should be avoided: Sakyamuni (this fruit looks like the head of Sakyamuni Buddha and is disrespectful to Buddha), tomatoes, guava (in ancient times, tomatoes and guava were often seen as unclean after humans went to the toilet).
The famous Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's poem "Dream of Immortals" had a poem that said,"I pay my respects to the Jade Emperor and kowtow to him sincerely." The poet Yuan Zhen's poem "Praise Letian with the State House" also has the sentence "I am the history of the Jade Emperor's incense case". An important Daoist scripture, The Jade Emperor's Collection of Classics, was written around the time of the Tang and Song Dynasties. It described in detail the Jade Emperor's origins and origins: A long time ago, there was a country of light and beauty. King Jingde and Queen Baoyueguang were old and childless, so they asked Taoist priests to pray. Later, they dreamed that the Taishang Taoist Lord carried a baby and gave it to the queen. After waking up from the dream, she became pregnant. She was born in the palace at noon on the ninth day of the first month of the year of Bingwu. When the prince grew up, he inherited the throne. Soon after, he left the country and went to Mount Xiangyan in Puming to cultivate Taoism. He succeeded in transcending the world. After 3,000 tribulations, he would become a Golden Immortal. After more than 100 million kalpas, he became the Jade Emperor. In the eighth year (1105) of Song Zhenzong's Dazhong Xiangfu (1008-1017), the Jade Emperor God was honored as the Great Heavenly Emperor of the Jade Emperor. In the sixth year (1116) of Song Huizong's reign (1111-1118), the title of the Jade Emperor was also honored as "Taishang Kaitian Zhifu Yuli Hanzhen Body Dao Haotian Jade Emperor God".
The Jade Emperor God not only gave orders to the Son of Heaven and ruled the human world, but also ruled Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and other immortals, the Jade Emperor, as well as the gods, Houtu, humans, and ghosts. The gods were the deified ones of all natural things in heaven, including the sun, moon, stars, the Lord of the Wind, the Lord of the Rain, the Lord of the Ming, the Three Officials, the Five Reverent Emperors, and so on. The Jade Emperor was also one of the gods, and Houtu was the deified ones of all natural things on the ground, including the God of Earth, the God of Land and Grain, the God of Mountains, the God of Rivers, and the God of Seas. The Five Sacrificial Gods, as well as the God of All Things, were deified after the death of historical figures, including ancestors, teachers, meritorious officials, and other historical figures.
Zhongtian Fold
Zhongtian was the residence of the Jade Emperor, who ruled the 36 Heavens and 3,000 Great Worlds. He controlled the seventy-two lands and all the living beings in the four major parts.
Eastern Sky Fold
The East Heaven was controlled by the Three Official Great Emperors. They were in charge of extending one's life, resolving disasters, absolving sins, and eliminating disasters.
Southern Sky Fold
Southern Heaven was controlled by the " Sacred Emperor Wen Heng." It was entrusted by the gods to investigate the merits and sins of the gods.
Western folded
The western paradise was controlled by 'Chengtian imitated Houtu Emperor Houtu' and was in charge of the world's underworld.
Northern Sky Fold
The Northern Heaven was controlled by the Emperor Ziwei, who bestowed blessings and wealth.
God Folds
The Jade Emperor was the first god of the Great Ultimate Realm that the Three Pure Ones had incarnated into. He was also the most revered heaven of the ancients. He lived in the Jade Pure Palace and controlled the 36 Heavens, 3,000 worlds, various gods, and Buddhas. He had jurisdiction over 72 lands and four provinces. He was in charge of the gods, immortals, Buddhas, and hundreds of millions of living beings in the mortal world. Therefore, he was respectfully called the Jade Emperor Great Heavenly Venerate, Xuanling High God.
The Jade Emperor originated from the worship of the ancient Heavenly Emperor. During the Shang Dynasty, people called the highest god the Emperor, or the Heavenly Emperor, or the God. He was a great immortal who ruled over the heavens, the earth, and the netherworld. The rulers of the Zhou Dynasty and later generations used the worship of the Heavenly Emperor to advocate the divine right to rule. They strongly advocated that they were the sons of the Heavenly Emperor and received the mandate of heaven, so they were called the Son of Heaven. Statues or portraits of the Jade Emperor, only after the Tang and Song Dynasties did the animated image of the Jade Emperor appear.
Jade Emperor animated image
Gradually, it became fixed. They were usually dressed in nine-way clothing, with twelve rows of beaded crowns on their heads. Some held jade boards and waited on golden boys and jade girls. They were completely dressed like the emperors of Qin and Han Dynasties.
There was a story recorded in the High Jade Emperor's Collection of Classics: In ancient times, there was a country called Guangyan Miaole. The king was King Jingde and the queen was called Baoyue Guang. She was old and had no descendants. One night, he dreamed that Taishang Laojun carried a baby into the queen's arms. The queen respectfully received him. When she woke up, she felt pregnant. She was pregnant for twelve months and gave birth to the prince on the ninth day of the first month of the year of Bingwu. The Crown Prince was intelligent since childhood. When he grew up, he assisted the king, diligently governed the country, loved the people, and did good deeds to save the poor. After the death of the king, Prince Xi Chan became a minister and fled into the mountains to cultivate Taoism. After 800 tribulations, he sacrificed himself to transcend all living beings. Finally, he cultivated the true path and ascended to the nine heavens, gaining the support of all gods. Thus, he ruled the three realms as the Jade Emperor.
The ninth day of the first lunar month was the birthday of the Jade Emperor. The first month is the beginning of a year, the first of the four seasons, the beginning of wood qi, and all life sprouts from it. Nine was the most respected number, representing the meaning of "extremely large, extremely many, and extremely high". Therefore, the first ninth day of the year (the upper ninth) was the Jade Emperor's Christmas, which echoed his supreme status. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Kui's Collection of Li Hai said: "The gods descended from the heavens and rose from the heavens. The Jade Emperor was born on the ninth day of the first lunar month. The number of yang qi begins at one and ends at nine, which is the beginning and the end.”It meant that the birthdays of the gods had a certain special meaning.
The Jade Emperor's sacrifice originated from the worship of heaven and earth in ancient times. It was closely related to the ancient people's idea of respecting heaven and earth. The ancients believed that heaven was the master of all things in the universe and the origin of all things 'growth and reproduction. Therefore, they had to respect heaven and fear life and follow the way of heaven. Therefore, he thought that there was a supreme god in the natural world who ruled over all things. Therefore, Heaven ordered the king to come to the human world to govern the people. The king must comply with Heaven's will. Only in this way could the weather be smooth, the country prosperous, and the people peaceful. Otherwise, if the king violated Heaven's will, Heaven would send down all kinds of ominous signs and disaster punishments. The ruler revered Heaven, and so did the commoners and officials. Since the ruler ruled the world by Heaven's orders, he had no choice but to worship Heaven and offer sacrifices to Heaven regularly. It was not only the duty of the ruler, but also a grand ceremony of the country. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the kings of each dynasty would hold a grand suburban sacrifice every year. It was the highest representation of the idea of worshipping heaven, but only the emperor had the right to sacrifice. It was not until the end of the feudal era that the people began to sacrifice to heaven.
According to historical records, the Tang, Sui, Jin, Wei, Han, and even Qin dynasties all had grand ceremonies for emperors to worship the heavens. However, the heavens that were worshipped at that time purely referred to the heavens of nature, namely "Heaven" and "Haotian". However, the universe was formless and formless, so how could they offer sacrifices? In this way, the universe was gradually materialized and called the Jade Emperor. As the Jade Emperor represented the supreme universe, people could not visualize him even after racking their brains. It was not until the Song Emperor Zhenzong that the emperor personally made a statue of him and worshipped him as his ancestor. He was called the Great Heavenly Emperor of the Jade Emperor of the Taishang Kaitian Yuli Hanzhen Body Dao several times. After the rise of Taoism, humans at that time worshiped the universe as a human-shaped god with thoughts and feelings, so that the image of "Heaven Duke" and "God" continued to exist through the image of the Jade Emperor. Over time, the two combined into one. The image of the universe and the sky was fixed in the hearts of ordinary people. As a result, the " Heaven Duke " worshipped by the people for a long time gradually separated from the natural heaven worshipped by the ancient emperors.
The Jade Emperor's birth ceremony was far more grand and solemn than that of ordinary gods. Because the common people believed that Heaven Duke was the supreme and most authoritative god, they did not dare to casually carve his statue. Instead, they used the "Heaven Duke Furnace" and "Heaven Duke Seat" as symbols. Most temples had a Heavenly Duke Furnace placed in front of the temple. When worshipping, one had to first worship the sky. This was the basic etiquette of burning incense.
Because the Jade Emperor was the most powerful god in the eyes of ordinary believers and folk beliefs, the ceremony of worshipping Heaven Duke was more solemn than that of ordinary gods. The night before, the whole family had to fast and bathe, set up an altar, offer a sumptuous sacrifice, and then burn incense in order, and perform three bows and nine kowtows. And on the day of sacrifice, women's clothes and pants were not allowed to be exposed to the sun, and the toilet was not allowed to be emptied, so as to avoid the crime of disrespect when Heaven Duke saw it. The occasion of the group ceremony must be grand and solemn, and it must be done with all one's strength. It must be the most gorgeous of the many ceremonies.
The Jade Emperor had a very noble status, so he had no time to care about small matters in the mortal world. Therefore, the Jade Emperor may not have the time to give him money, heirs, fame and profit.
To worship the Jade Emperor, a group of civil and military officials, gods, and generals should be present. The statue of the Jade Emperor should not be worshipped alone. Otherwise, it would become a lonely monarch and would not be able to show the majesty and respect of the Jade Emperor.
The ninth day of the first lunar month was the birthday of the Jade Emperor, commonly known as "Heaven's Birth" in Taiwan. That day, the Taoist temple was going to hold a grand birthday ceremony and chant scriptures. Every household would kowtow to the sky on this day and hold the grandest sacrificial ceremony.
In the feudal era, there were restrictions on the level of worship. Only the Son of Heaven was qualified to worship the Jade Emperor. Ordinary people could not worship casually. It wasn't until the feudal era ended that this taboo was broken. However, until now, most people still believed that the Jade Emperor was so noble and great that they did not dare to carve a statue for him without authorization. Instead, they used a "Heavenly Duke Furnace" or "God Tablet" to replace it. When the believers worshipped the Jade Emperor, they would burn incense and worship the Heavenly Duke Furnace.
The ceremony of worshipping Heaven Duke began at dawn on the ninth day of the lunar month and lasted until dawn. On the eve of this day, the whole family had to fast and bathe, and hold a worship ceremony with a solemn and respectful mood. Every family had to place an eight immortals table in front of the main hall, set up an altar, and prepare a magic lamp and five fruits on the altar.(mandarin, orange, apple, banana, sugar cane), six vegetarian dishes (golden needles, fungus, mushrooms, cabbage, peas, tofu, etc.), and a line tower, and there are three cups of tea, sweet drama, community turtle, when the time comes, the whole family tidies up their clothes, according to the order of seniority, incense, three kneeling and nine kowtows, and then burn Tiangong gold.
In addition to the sacrificial ceremony, there were also some taboos to be observed on this day. For example, women's clothes and pants were not allowed to be exposed to the sun, and they were not allowed to dump the toilet bucket, so as to prevent the Jade Emperor from committing a crime of disrespect. As for the chicken, one of the five animals in the sacrifice, it could not be a hen. It was best to use a capon or a rooster, as well as pigs and sheep. (Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty believed in Buddhism, and Taoism was greatly influenced by Buddhism. Therefore, vegetarian food gradually replaced meat and fish in worship.”
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