He Xiangu attained enlightenment and became an immortal
Anyone who has a little knowledge of traditional Chinese culture will definitely be familiar with the term "Eight Immortals ". The so-called "Eight Immortals" refer to Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, Tieguaili, Cao Guojiu, Lu Dongbin, Han The eight immortals Xiangzi, Lan Caihe, and He Xiangu were all born as mortals, and they became immortals only after practicing hard and accumulating good deeds. The only female among the Eight Immortals is He Xiangu. She is like the only red spot in the green bush among the Eight Immortals, so she is particularly eye-catching.
He Xiangu, whose original name was He Qiong, was born in an ordinary farmer's family in Lingling in the first year of Kaiyao, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Local people said that on the day He Qiong was born, a bright and auspicious purple air shrouded the top of the He family's thatched house, and a group of cranes flew up and down in the purple air. After a while, a strong sika deer carried a man with pigtails on his head. The girl wearing a red bellyband rushed into He's house. At this moment, He's mother gave birth to a white and fat baby girl.
Speaking of He Qiong's hometown, Lingling is a geomantic treasure land with beautiful mountains and rivers. It is located at the confluence of the Xiao and Xiang rivers. It looks to the south of Hengshan Mountain in the north and the towering Five Ridges in the south. It is the gateway of Chu and Guangdong. There is a mica mountain in the west of Lingling County. The mountain is rich in five-color mica stones. Mica stones were the medicine used to seek immortality in ancient times. A clear and winding stream flows down from the mountain, called Mica Creek, where He Qiong's family is located. By the beautiful Mica Creek.
He Qiong, who grew up drinking mica water, has a beautiful appearance. She has liked to play and roam alone by the mica stream since she was a child. When she was fourteen years old, she met a white-haired old man with a long beard on the bank of Mica Creek. The old man asked her about some local landscape conditions, and He Qiong answered them all intelligently. The old man was very happy and took out a fresh flat peach from his backpack and gave it to He Qiong. He Qiong took it, thanked the old man, and then ate the peach in threes and fives. The old man watched her finish eating, nodded with a smile on his face, turned around and disappeared. After returning home, He Qiong didn't feel hungry for several days, so she didn't want to eat, but she was more energetic than before. A month later, He Qiong met the old man again by the Mica River. This time the old man took her to Mica Mountain and taught her how to collect mica and how to take mica. He Qiong followed his words and went to Mica Mountain to eat mica every day. Gradually, he felt that he was as light as a swallow, walking to and from the top of the mountain like flying. In addition, she can also identify and pick various fairy herbs and elixirs in the mountains, treat various diseases for nearby people, and can predict people and events, so people around her call her "He Xiangu".
The news of He Qiong's enlightenment and immortality spread further and further, and finally reached the ears of Wu Zetian in the imperial palace in the capital.
At that time, Wu Zetian was the queen of Tang Gaozong, but she controlled the real power of the court. Wu Zetian was influenced by her mother to believe in Buddhism since she was a child. When she became queen, she tried her best to promote Buddhism in the palace and throughout the country, hoping to overwhelm the momentum of Taoism respected by the Li and Tang Dynasties, and used certain Buddhist scriptures as a basis for her to usurp the throne. The theoretical basis for proclaiming himself emperor. The "Faxiang Sect" of Buddhism advocates "two emptiness", which means that one should regard oneself and all things as empty and void, so as to achieve the lofty realm where all things in the universe and I become one. In layman's terms, it means comprehending with your heart and forgetting both things and yourself. Then you can soar in the day, soar in the clouds and mist, and live forever. Wu Zetian was very convinced of this. When she heard that there was a He Xiangu in Lingling, who could travel freely to the top of the mountain without eating the fireworks of the world, she was very interested. She sent someone to visit her and gave He Xiangu a gift. Attack the morning glow suit. He Xiangu accepted the morning glow dress and put it on with great interest. After hearing the news, the people around her came from all directions to watch. They saw He Xiangu's body was dazzling with rays of light, as if she were a god descending to earth. The villagers were shocked when they saw this and couldn't help but gather together. They all knelt down on the ground and worshiped He Xiangu. He Xiangu felt quite contented, but her mother was panicked and thought: "Who would dare to marry such a daughter?"
As expected, when He Xiangu was eighteen years old, her mother urgently asked a matchmaker to choose a son-in-law for her. Although He Xiangu was born as beautiful as a flower, no one dared to marry her because of her great ability. He's mother was worried, but He Xiangu herself was as if nothing had happened. She wandered around the mountains and countryside all day long, busy collecting medicines and treating people's illnesses, and lived a very fulfilling life.
One day, He Xiangu entered the deep forest of Mica Mountain to collect herbs and met two magical people. One of them was a lame old man, holding an iron crutch and carrying a huge wine gourd. He was dressed in rags and looked like a beggar; the other was a beggar. Wearing a neat blue shirt, holding a medicine hoe, and carrying a medicine basket on his shoulder, he looked very handsome. The two people were not far in front of He Xiangu, singing together and murmuring words. After a while, they flew away in the air and disappeared. These two people are Tieguai Li and Lan Caihe among the Eight Immortals. He Xiangu paid attention to their appearance and recited the formula she had secretly learned. She was able to ride the wind and clouds and fly across the valley like them. From then on, she often quietly went to the mountains to practice alone. She became more and more proficient in her movements and could fly farther and farther. She used this skill to often fly to distant mountains, returning in the morning and evening, and brought back some strange mountain fruits for her family to taste. The family found them sweet and delicious, and their spirits increased, but they did not know what kind of fruits they were.
Seeing that she went out early and came back late every day, He's mother became suspicious and asked her where she was going and what she was doing. She couldn't resist her, so she said that she went to famous mountains and fairylands every day to talk about Buddhism with immortals and Buddhas. Gradually, the news spread that He Xiangu was knowledgeable about Buddhism. After Wu Zetian heard about it, he sent an envoy to Lingling, prepared carriages and horses, and summoned He Xiangu to go to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to discuss Buddhism and Taoism. The officials and He Xiangu traveled through mountains and rivers to the outside of Luoyang City. While waiting for the boat to cross the Luoshui River, they suddenly disappeared. The envoys were panicked and ordered people to search everywhere, but no clues were found. Everyone was so frightened that they sat in a daze by the Luo River. At dusk, He Xiangu descended from the sky and told the envoys calmly: "I have gone to the Forbidden Palace to see the Queen of Heaven. You can return to the court to resume your duties."
The envoys returned to Luoyang Palace with doubts. When they inquired, they found out that He Xiangu had come to visit Empress Wu that day and had a long talk with her in the palace for half a day. The envoys were surprised.
In order to reward He Xiangu for her kindness, Wu Zetian ordered the local officials in Lingling to build a majestic Huixian Pavilion at Fenghuang Terrace in the south of Lingling City as a place for He Xiangu to preach and preach. When He Xiangu was not preaching, she often sat on the stone steps in front of the museum, peeling and eating a round fairy fruit, and throwing the core around. Later, lychee trees grew around the Huixian Pavilion. The lychees produced on these trees were actually green-skinned lychees. People called it "the green lychees on the Phoenix Terrace."
He Xiangu also wrote a poem "Phoenix Terrace":
Phoenix mica is like smallpox, refined into hibiscus and white cloud buds;
The laughing madman has no idea, and where can he find cinnabar?
On the surface, this poem is about Phoenix Tower, but in fact, the true meaning of taking food to seek the truth is hidden in the poem: the method of taking mica. People say that He Xiangu is a Taoist believer based on her characteristics of taking food and cultivating. Others attribute her to a Buddhist disciple based on the ideological content of her sermons. In fact, He Xiangu can be said to be both Taoist and Buddhist, but neither Taoist nor Buddhist. She has reached the state of unity between heaven and man, how can the Buddhist path in the mortal world frame her!
One day, He Xiangu suddenly had an inspiration and wrote a poem "Inscribed on Magu Peak":
Magu laughed at me for falling in love with the hustle and bustle of the world, separated by the immortal road;
Fly to Cangzhou to see the bright moon, ride the yellow crane upside down and listen to the flute.
This poem full of fairy rhyme seems to contain some kind of omen. Sure enough, one day in the first year of Jinglong, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, 26-year-old He Xiangu was sitting on the Phoenix Terrace, looking up at the distant sky in trance. Suddenly she saw Tieguai Li standing in the clouds in the distance, dancing his iron Hui, seemed to be greeting her. Unknowingly, He Xiangu's body rose up like a colorful phoenix, soaring into the sky and following Tieguai Li. A beaded shoe on her foot fell to the ground. The next day, a well suddenly appeared where the beaded shoe fell. The water in the well was clear and sweet, and the fragrance was fragrant. The well fence around it was shaped like a bowed shoe. appearance. The local people built a He Xiangu temple next to the well, which was full of incense every day. Because the water in the well was not only refreshing and thirst-quenching, but also capable of curing various diseases, it was talked about by people near and far.
He Xiangu ascended to the sky during the day, attained enlightenment and became an immortal, thus becoming the only red pink among the Eight Immortals, creating a situation of a little red among the green. After becoming an immortal, He Xiangu never forgot the sufferings in the world and often spread clouds and rain in the south to eliminate epidemics and relieve suffering. Whenever kind people need her help, they just need to silently pray to the sky, and she will arrive like "timely rain" and give them magical power.
In the ninth year of Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it has been more than thirty years since He Xiangu became an immortal. One day, after a heavy rain, the blue sky was as clear as water. People in Lingling saw a colorful auspicious cloud floating leisurely. He Xiangu was standing in the cloud wearing a morning glow dress. While people knelt down to worship, a bunch of yellow silk fell from the air. On the Phoenix stage, there is a poem like this:
The Mica River bank is a beautiful rooftop, with thousands of peach trees blooming;
The jade flute blows through the Huanglong Cave, but don't lead the length of the crane to come.
I would like to send a message to the Zhang family and the Li family, don’t let your worldly affairs get involved in leisurely affairs;
The weak water in Penglai is now clear and shallow, and the ground is covered with flowers to protect the moonlight.
Already taking advantage of the gods to enter the crape myrtle, it is still too late to look back at the water town;
I kept the shoes by the well for thousands of years and told the fairy in the thatched cottage.
The poem contains a nostalgia for the scenery of the hometown, a sincere admonishment for the locals, and a confession of the lonely feelings of the immortal life, advising mortals to cherish their own lives. It's true that "everyone says that gods are good, but who knows that gods have troubles. I advise you to cherish mortals and don't wait for time to disappear"!
This article tells the story of He Xiangu's legendary life experience and how she served the people and civilized Wu Zetian.
The beauty of He Xiangu lies not only in her beautiful appearance, but also in her pure and beautiful heart. He Xiangu does not only think about herself, but also worries about the people. She uses her abilities to serve the people, treat diseases for the people, and predict personnel matters, which reflects her beautiful heart that is willing to help others. This is also an important factor in her qualifications to become an immortal. After becoming an immortal, He Xiangu never forgets the sufferings of the world, and often spreads clouds and rain in the south to eliminate epidemics and relieve suffering. Whenever kind people need her help, they just need to silently pray to the sky, and she will be able to catch up with them like "timely rain". to give people magical powers.
He Xiangu's ability to go to Mica Mountain on time to collect mica according to the old man's words reflects her perseverance. Gradually, little things add up, practice makes perfect, and she has a good body. She can walk to and from the top of the mountain like flying. She is also very studious and has learned to identify and pick various fairy herbs and elixirs in the mountains.
Advising mortals to cherish their lives is also something we should keep in mind. "Everyone says that gods are good, but who knows that gods have troubles. When I advise you to cherish mortals, don't wait for time to disappear!" Let us cherish the good times, enrich ourselves, and make every minute and every second of our lives count. Become valuable and meaningful.