This thing is the treasure of the fairy family. Since I came here, I have seen through the same truth at home and abroad. I want some panacea to help people, and I have no time to get home unexpectedly. Today is fate, but I bumped into it. While I'm away, wait for me to take some of his medicine and try a new one.
The Monkey King immediately turned the gourd upside down and swallowed the elixir like fried beans.
There are three problems worth discussing in the above plot. 1. What is the elixir in the Heavenly Palace gourd? Second, why does Taishang Laojun want to make an alchemy in Tiangong? 3. What do you think of the Monkey King's Treasure of the Fairy Family? Now, let's examine these three issues separately.
First of all, let's talk about what is "then"? The so-called "so" can be divided into external and internal. External elixir, referred to as "external elixir", refers to drugs made of stone. "Dan" is cinnabar, which is red mercuric sulfide. Then the production method is mainly the method of "flying refining", and "flying" is actually a way of "sublimation". The so-called "sublimation" refers to the phenomenon that solid matter is directly transformed into gas without going through liquid state. In the process of alchemy, the medicine formed by sublimation is the elixir. This technology of refining elixir is called alchemy. Because cinnabar can be refined into medicinal gold, and alchemy is also called alchemy.
External alchemy was later used as a metaphor for the adjustment of human vitality. An alchemist compares the body to a furnace tripod, the mind to a "fire", and jing yuan to an alchemist's raw materials. Adjusting breathing, just like blowing fire with wind when an external alchemist is burning, has the function of "entering the fire", and thus a complete set of internal alchemy theory has been formed. On this aspect, The Journey to the West has a symbolic description in many subsequent plots. But in the fifth episode, the plot about the Monkey King stealing the elixir is mainly about the story of foreign orders.
Secondly, let's talk about why Taishang Laojun is trying to make an alchemy in the Heavenly Palace. As the leader of Taoism, the name Taishang Laojun is very sacred. "Too old gentleman" means supreme, and "old gentleman" means immortality. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling founded Taoism, taking Laozi as the leader, educating the people with five thousand words of Laozi's classic Tao Te Ching, and honoring Laozi as "great grandfather".
/f 7246 b 600 c 338744 fcff 32 b 45 a 0 FD 9 f 9d 72 aa 03 b？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 From various historical documents in the pre-Qin period, we can't find any records about Laozi's alchemy. However, when Laozi became a Taoist leader, he had an indissoluble bond with ancient alchemy. On the one hand, a large number of Taoist documents describe the teaching of Dan Dao by Taishang Laojun. For example, "A Record of Taishang Mixed Yuan" tells how Lao Zi made Yin pass, which means the tactics that Lao Jun gave Yin Jing, Jin Ye Jing and Dan Fu Huo after nine rounds of refining. Obviously, these three books are all about the refinement of then. On the other hand, in many Taoist holy places, there are also various relics and legends about the alchemy of Taishang Laojun. For example, there is an "old gentleman's alchemy room" behind Laojuntai Hall in Luyi County, Henan Province. Another example is Xia Qing Palace, Zhong Nanshan, Huashan Mountain in Luoyang, Henan, and Laojun Mountain in various places. There are almost all legends and sacred objects about the alchemy of Taishang Laojun. Facts have proved that the alchemy of Taishang Laojun has actually accumulated into a cultural prototype. Taishang Laojun is not only the leader of Taoism, but also a symbol of inspiring Taoists to cultivate elixir.
It is not accidental that the old gentleman in Taishang became attached to the alchemist, but the result of the blending of history and culture. From the source, Taoist culture can be traced back to the era of the Yellow Emperor five thousand years ago. According to legend, during the period of the Yellow Emperor, he already knew the technology of alchemy. Li Bai, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in The Legend of the Flying Dragon:
The emperor cast a tripod in Jingshan,
Alchemy sand, Alchemy sand becomes gold,
Ride a dragonfly to Taiqing's house,
Worrying about the clouds and thinking about the sea is embarrassing.
Maids are as beautiful as flowers,
Drifting with the waves, summer purple,
Get on a Luan car from the longitudinal body of the wind.
Get on the Luan car and serve Xuanyuan,
Wandering in the blue sky, his joy is beyond words.
Li Bai's poem is based on the gold wares made by the Yellow Emperor in Jingshan alchemy, which shows the happiness and beauty of taking Dan medicine and soaring to the authentic place. As a poet, Li Bai wrote this poem Introduction to Flying Dragon, which is full of artistic imagination, but it is not completely unfounded. In fact, in the well-known Historical Records of Sima Qian? In the Closed Sutra and Huangdi Jiuding Shendan Sutra published in the Western Han Dynasty, Huangdi's tripod casting and alchemy have long been recorded and described. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor took the copper from the first mountain, cast a tripod in Jingshan, and made an alchemist to eat. From time to time, dragons descended from the sky, hanging down long dragon whiskers to meet the Yellow Emperor, and the Yellow Emperor followed the dragon whiskers on the dragon's back. At this time, more than 70 ministers in the harem followed the dragon back, and Long Ranran got up. Those small ministers who didn't have time to go to the dragon's back scrambled to catch the dragon's whiskers and wanted to fly high with the Yellow Emperor. Because too many people were caught, we also caught the dragon beard. The dragon shook its head and wagged its tail, shaking off a long bow carried by the Yellow Emperor. The common people looked up at the flying figure of the Yellow Emperor, holding a long bow, hanging down a dragon beard and crying loudly, so later generations called the place where the Yellow Emperor flew "Dinghu" and the long bow "Wu Hao" as a souvenir. According to such an ancient legend, Li Baihe wrote the poem Introduction to Dragonfly.
/242 DD 42 a 2834349 b 223 c 734 DC 2 ea 15 ce 36d 3 be 3b？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 was there an alchemy activity in the period of the Yellow Emperor? We haven't found the exact physical evidence yet. But in Taoism and Taoist cultural system, he has always been a flag and symbol of ancient alchemy activities. During the Warring States period, the study of Huang Lao flourished. Huangdi's theory and Laozi's theory are closely linked, forming an ideological force and cultural tradition with great influence. Since there was the Yellow Emperor before the practice of alchemy, Laozi who was left behind should inherit the ideology and culture of the Yellow Emperor and naturally be the inheritor of the theory of alchemy, which is in line with the logic of historical evolution.
Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, the works of Jin Danxue have often quoted Laozi's remarks in the Tao Te Ching as the basis. It is no wonder that the old gentleman on the journey to the west became the big boss, chief engineer, chief designer and chief chemist of Tiangong Fangdan. Not only did he have a team of firefighters, but he was eventually refined into a "nine-turn elixir." The old gentleman in Taishang should have held a "Dan Yuan Conference" to let the immortals, laymen and bodhisattvas from all over the world come to taste the "Nine-turn elixir", but the Monkey King ate it up. From the perspective of heaven, this is of course a pity; But for the Monkey King, this is undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so when the Monkey King found the five gourds placed in the Temple of Heaven, he was very excited and praised them, saying, "This is the treasure of the fairy family".
From a historical point of view, the role at that time was quite complicated. This complexity can be explained from three aspects:
First, then it used to be very attractive. Many myths and legends with the theme of that time have been passed down to this day, such as the story of "Xihe Girl". Ge Hong's Biography of Immortals said: In ancient times, two officials passed by the Xijiang River. They saw a girl of seventeen or eighteen whipping an old man, so they went forward to persuade her. The girl replied, "Oh, Chang Xi and Miss, please don't mind. I hit my son." Hearing this, the adults seem to be walking in the clouds of five miles, which is very confusing. The girl said, "Sir, listen to me. A long time ago, my uncle gave me some pills. I took it according to my uncle's advice, so I always looked young. In order to make my son equally young, I asked him to take medicine. He refused to eat because he was disobedient. I have to teach him a lesson! " Although this story is a bit incredible, it expresses the determination of Chinese ancestors to resist aging.
Second, there are all kinds of panacea. Some people took the elixir of life, while others ate it and died. How to take the elixir of life has a dose control problem. But no matter how you take it, there are side effects, because cinnabar is toxic as "mercury sulfide". In history, many emperors and literati were superstitious about elixir, taking too much, which led to illness and death, especially in the Tang Dynasty. This is a historical lesson worthy of reflection.
Thirdly, alchemy has experienced long-term experiments and played a positive role in promoting ancient chemistry, medicine and health preservation. In four great inventions of ancient china, the invention of gunpowder came from the experiment at that time, and everyone's favorite tofu was also related to the experiment at that time. According to legend, in the Western Han Dynasty, Liu An, king of Huainan, called thousands of guests from all over the country to give lectures and write books. Among the guests he called, there were eight experts, known as the "Eight Masters", who were good at alchemy. In the experiment, they found a method of making tofu, which has been handed down endlessly. As for the role of that in pharmacology, many scientists have made a summary. Today, many drugs in Chinese medicine have the word "Dan", such as Ren Dan and Jiuxin Dan, which shows that the ancient then culture is still valuable in our lives.
From the above situation, although we can't fully agree with the Monkey King's view that "this thing is the treasure of the immortal family", we should see the positive role of the experiment at that time in promoting the development of ancient science and technology. Therefore, Doulv Tiangong, the site of Taishang Laojun's alchemy, should be regarded as a world-class cultural relic protection unit, or apply to UNESCO for "intangible cultural heritage" and be carefully protected. The Monkey King, who ate the elixir secretly, has social morality, but he can do experiments with his own body, which is a contribution. If UNESCO can allocate a sum of money for cultural relics protection to Douzhi Palace, I suggest giving the Monkey King an appropriate reward! This is exactly:
When in love with wine, the Great Sage strayed into the pocket palace;
The eye knows the treasure, and the fairy magic pill is wonderful.