Ancient Chinese Mythology: Nezha, The Fearless Young Calf

Legend has it that Ne Zha, a fierce general under the Jade Emperor, was six feet tall, wore a golden collar around his neck, had three heads, nine eyes that could see for miles, and eight long and short arms; he spat out green clouds, and his feet had two wheels of fire that burned with hot flames that made him move with great power; in his hands were a halberd and a wheel of magic. This Wheel of Law is not to be trifled with, and when it is smashed, the mountains will crumble and the earth will crack.

At the end of the Yin Shang period, many demons and devils appeared in the world, and King Zhou was under the influence of villains and his government was corrupt. The Jade Emperor ordered Nezha to come down to earth to subdue the demons and help King Wu of Zhou take over the kingdom. So he was reborn to Mrs. Su Zhi, the wife of Li Jing, the King of Heaven, who carried the child for three years and six months, and it took five days for the child to be born.

Nezha was only five days old when he was born, and he was jumping and running around. His parents were very worried about him, but he ran off to bathe in the East China Sea as if nothing had happened. He wasn’t a mortal, so as soon as he jumped into the sea, he danced around and created huge waves that shook the Dragon Palace and toppled the jade buildings, but Nezha didn’t notice and continued to play in the sea.

The Dragon King was furious and ordered the Shrimp Soldiers and Shrimp Generals to rush to the sea to kill Ne Zha. When a group of fierce minions saw Nezha bathing in the sea, they didn’t give him a second thought, but the crab generals were the first to go, waving their claws and charging forward. Nezha saw that such a big monster would hurt him, so he took off his necklace and smashed it at the crab general. With a flash of light, the Crab General was smashed to a bloody pulp, killing him instantly.

The other generals surrounded Nezha and tried to make quick work of him, but Nezha used his golden collar as a weapon, dodging left and right, very cleverly. As Nezha became enraged, a dozen of his generals were defeated and fled back to the Dragon Palace.

The King of the Dragon, seeing his soldiers and generals so defeated, was so angry that he personally went into battle, and after a dozen rounds, the King of the Dragon said, “Little brat, look at you, you must be a disciple of one of the great immortals, hurry and tell me your master’s name.

Nezha laughed and said, “I was only born a few days ago, where is my master?”

The Dragon King was furious and said, “How dare you go to the Jade Emperor and argue with me?”

Nezha said, “Who is the Jade Emperor, and is his place fun?”

The Dragon King grabbed Nezha’s hand and flew away.

Once in the Heavenly Court, the Dragon King went into the hall and Nezha stayed outside the door. He was so bored that he slipped away quietly. Nezha was walking around the Heavenly Court when he suddenly saw a bow and arrow on a platform. He thought it was funny, so he opened the bow and drew the arrow, and with a whoosh, he shot an arrow that unexpectedly hit a disciple of Mother Shiji right in the center of his heart. The disciple did not even have time to scream before he died.

Shiji Maiden rushed over and touched her disciple’s cold hands and feet. She was so angry that she gritted her teeth, pulled out the arrow to take a closer look, the arrow is engraved with the words “Shocking Sky Arrow”. Rocky Maiden understand, the original Zhentian arrow is Emperor Xuanyuan War Chiyu passed down, a total of three, and Qiankun bow are placed in the Tianting on the generals platform. She took the arrow to the Heavenly Court, to the Jade Emperor, the disciples were killed by the arrow.

The Jade Emperor listened to the Dragon King’s explanation, and also heard a report from the star officer that Nezha, Li Jing’s son, had shot an arrow at the general’s platform. He immediately summoned Li Jing and scolded him indiscriminately. Li Jing did not know what to do when he heard that this five-day-old child was so powerful and had caused so much trouble. He found his son in the heavenly court and brought him back to the tent.

I don’t know who leaked the news, but the Dragon King and Lady Shiji sent soldiers to surround Li Jing’s beautiful home that night. The soldiers at the gate panicked and reported that Li Jing was full of remorse, but his son was young and ignorant, so he could not be blamed. Li Jing greeted them with a smile and an apology.

The Dragon King and Lady Shiji forced Li Jing to hand over Nezha or else they would destroy the house. Li Jing did not know what to do. At that moment, Li Jing was surprised to see Nezha coming out of the house, and he was speechless for a long time. Nezha kowtowed to Li Jing three times, drew his guard’s sword and wiped it on his neck, and then the blood flowed out, and he collapsed to the ground and died.

When Li Jing and his wife saw this, they hugged Nezha’s cold body and cried bitterly, and the two enemies left.

Although Nezha’s body was dead, his soul fluttered and flew to the World Honored One. When the World Honored One saw that it was the spirit of a child, he felt compassion. He told the child to go to the Heavenly Pond and collect lotus petals, leaves and roots. He formed human limbs from the roots, made the lotus blossom his heart, and the leaves his clothes, and placed a golden necklace in the middle and performed Dharma. Ne Zha’s soul was attached to the lotus flower and immediately appeared in a form identical to his original one. Nezha became a teacher of the World Honored One and learned the Secret Wheel of Dharma. He also learned the incantation “Wooden Nagas” which, when recited, enabled him to be large and small and to pass through the clouds and the sea.

A few years later, having developed a body invulnerable to swords and spears, Nezha descended to the mortal world again to help King Wu defeat the King of Zhou.

Ancient Books Notes:

The Classic of Mountains and Seas is an ancient Chinese narrative book, written between the Warring States period and the early Han dynasty, and is known as one of the three most curious books of the past, along with the I Ching and the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon. The whole book is now 18, the content is extensive, including geography, history, mythology, astronomy, plants and animals and other fields, preserved a large number of ancient myths and legends and fables, such as Kuafu chasing the sun, Nuwa mending the sky, etc., is China’s ancient records of myths and stories of the oldest book, for the study of history and civilization of ancient history has an extraordinary value of literature.

Huai Nan Zi is a philosophical work jointly written by Liu An, the king of Huai Nan in the Western Han Dynasty, and his disciples, and is a work of Taoism. Based on the inheritance of pre-Qin Taoist thought, the book combines yin and yang, ink, law and part of Confucianism, but the main purpose still belongs to Taoism. The twenty-one volumes of the book are very comprehensive, covering many fields such as philosophy, history and astronomy, and preserving ancient myths such as “Nüwa Mending Heaven”, which had a profound influence on later generations. Liang Qichao called it “the wealth of Taoism in the Western Han Dynasty,” and it is a treasure of Han Dynasty thought and culture.