Chapter 74: Sacrifice
As for the reason why most ghosts become confused, it is also very simple.
There is a clear record in the "Human and Ghost" chapter of the book "Zhu": "If the deceased is a ghost, then there is no knowledge. How to test it? It is because there is no knowledge before being born. Before a person is born, he is in the vitality; After death, the vitality is restored. The vitality is desolate, and the human energy is in it. People are ignorant before they die, so how can they have knowledge? The reason why people are smart and wise is that they contain the energy of the five constants. Therefore, in human beings, the five treasures are in the form. If the five treasures are not damaged, the person will be wise and beneficial; if the five treasures are sick, the person will be desolate and stupid. When the person dies, the five treasures will be corrupted, and if they are corrupt, the five permanent things will be lost. The person who used it to hide wisdom has been destroyed, and the person who used it to be wise has gone away. The form must be formed by Qi, and the Qi must be known by form. There is no single-burning fire in the world. How can there be an essence that has no body and only knows? "
It means that if a dead person turns into a ghost, then there is nothing intellectual about it. How can we verify this statement?
It's very simple. When a person is not born, he exists in the vitality of heaven and earth. After a person dies, he returns to the vitality.
The vitality is unclear, and the qi that makes up a person exists in it. Therefore, before a person is born, he has no consciousness. After a person dies, he will return to his original state of no consciousness. How can ghosts have consciousness?
The so-called reincarnation is just like that. There is no such thing as Meng Po Tang. The underworld just recovers the energy of all things, then washes it and puts it back into the world to complete a big cycle.
The reason why people are smart and wise is because they contain the Qi of the Five Constant Beings. The reason why the Qi of the Five Constant Beings can exist in the human body is because the five internal organs are in the human body. If the five internal organs are not harmed, people will be wise. If the five internal organs are sick, the person will not be conscious. If you are not clear, you will be ignorant and demented.
When a person dies, the five internal organs will rot. When the five internal organs are rotten, there will be no place for the Wuchang Qi to rest.
The organs used to store wisdom have decayed, and the five constant qi used to produce wisdom have left the human body. The body relies on qi to generate, and the qi relies on the body to produce consciousness. There is no fire in the world that burns alone without being separated from the object. How can there be essence that separates from the body and produces consciousness alone?
This is also the reason why the ghost will be detained within seven days. Within seven days, the five internal organs have not decayed. Although his Wuchang Qi has become rootless water and sourceless fire, it still exists and can maintain short-term consciousness. After the body decomposes, it will become completely hazy.
The death of a person is like the extinguishing of fire. When the fire is extinguished, the light will no longer shine, and when a person dies, his consciousness will cease.
Therefore, ordinary ghosts cannot harm people.
Just like the uncharacterized words of a chicken egg, it dissolves in the egg, and when you look at it, it looks like the shape of water; a good female lies down, her body is ready, and after it is ready, she can peck and kick it. The death of the madam was just like the death of Xi Rong. How could the Qi of Xi Rong harm anyone?
When the egg has not hatched, it exists in a chaotic state inside the eggshell. It must wait for the hen to gestate and form a body before it can be pecked with its mouth and kicked with its feet. After death, a person returns to a state of chaos. Such a chaotic state How can anger hurt people?
And why can other evil spirits harm people?
Because they used tools, they drowned as the saying goes. Anything that can harm others is a creature of the five elements. Metal hurts people, wood beats people, earth presses people, water drowns people, and fire burns people. If you want to make people die, the spirit is a thing of the five elements and can harm people; if you don't care about it, you can't harm people. If it is not a thing, it is Qi.
It means that water and fire can drown or burn people, and anything that can hurt people is made of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Gold kills people, wood kills people, earth crushes people, water drowns people, and fire burns people.
Therefore, if a person's spirit turns into a "Five Elements thing" after death, it can harm people. If it does not turn into a "Five Elements thing", it cannot harm people. As long as it can resist the Five Elements things, it can resist the attacks of evil spirits.
These are the knowledge Li Qi got from reading books and asking Shen Shuibi last night.
Based on this knowledge, Li Qi can determine that the ghost he is facing now can not only harm people, but also curse, which shows that it should have retained some of its power. In other words, his body is still there, and there is no Completely rotten.
In this case, the method of sacrificing a "dead person" should be used.
Because, for Zhu Ren, "dead people" and "ghosts" are two completely different concepts.
Li Qi murmured to himself: "The calendar of sacrifices also has good and bad luck. If the blood is taboo and the day of the month of killing is unlucky, if you kill an animal as a sacrifice, there will be disaster. Those who offer sacrifices to husbands are also feeding ghosts; ghosts The spirit of the dead is responsible for life and death, and humans and ghosts. Seeing that living people have food and drink, ghosts who die should be able to eat and drink again. They are sensitive to things and their relatives, so they can be used as sacrifices to other gods and ghosts, although they are not dead people. , the etiquette of doing things is also the same as that of a dead person——"
This is the record of the method of worshiping the dead in the book "Zhu".
The explanation is to analogize the practice of making offerings to living people to making offerings to dead people, and treat the dead with the same etiquette as treating living people.
But the first sentence indicates that we need to pay attention to special seasons such as blood taboos and moon killings. At this time, sacrifices cannot be made, otherwise disaster will occur.
Through knowledge, the season for sacrifice has been determined, and there is no problem today.
So, let’s get started.
According to the records in the "Zhu" book, the etiquette that should be used at this time is the food-giving ceremony, which means the etiquette of offering cooked food.
The etiquette process is very complicated. First, people are invited to enter, and then two beans are offered, one bean contains kuihjing, and the other bean contains snail sauce. The beans holding the snail sauce are placed in the north.
Use a dagger to lift the body of the sacrificial animal out of the container and place it on the zu. Set up the zu for the corpse with food. The zu is placed to the west of the east steps and covered with a scarf. (Note: zu is a vessel used to hold meat during ancient sacrifices.)
Yesterday, Li Qi had asked the Wang family to prepare these things.
Then, bring in the fish and place it to the east of the pork, and place the mutton to the north of the pork and fish.
Place two bowls containing millet and millet to the south of the zu, with the west being the top.
Also place two ladles containing meat and vegetable soup to the south of the bean, and place them to the south of the bean.
At this time, the person who prays should clean the wine jug and wine cup, fill them with wine, and place them to the south of the ladles. Then open the lid of the dung and place it upside down to the south of the bowl.
Then, the person who prays stands up, stands on the right side of the altar, and begins to speak.
"The spirit of the earth, Li Qi respectfully welcomes it in the suburbs. The child is ignorant and disturbs it. Please keep it peaceful."
"Now, I have prepared enough sacrifices to invite it and comfort it... I beg for forgiveness, and I will eat it. If you have a spirit, can you tell me?"
This is asking for forgiveness.
Li Qi became nervous.
Because, the next step is: "Welcome the corpse outside the door. The host will descend and stand on the east side of the steps."
What does it mean?
Technically, the person who wishes to invite the "corpse" up the steps to the hall, and the host will descend and stand on the east side of the east steps, waiting quietly.
If the host hears it, he should come.
(This set of rituals comes from the gift-giving ceremony in the "Rites" of the Zhou Dynasty. I combined part of the "Lunheng" of the Eastern Han Dynasty and some ancient folk customs to create the original sacrifice. If there is any similarity, don't blame me.)