Nezha III

Nezha knew he had committed an unpardonable blunder, for Empress Shiji was the queen of all demons. He then boned himself and presented all his bones to his own father. The flesh after the boning was given his mother. But his soul could reach the Buddha, who took pity on him. The Tathagata then turned lotus stems into Nezha's bones to recreate a new Enfant Terrible. Lotus roots became Nezha's flish and lotus leaves his skin. Then Nezha was awarded a divine edict of the Wheel of the Dharma, with which to conquer all the demon kings and their troops. Nezha was successful and the Jade Emperor had to make him the commander-in-chief of his 36 generals, with the headquarters set up by the Zhentianmen (鎮天門) or Pacification Heaven Gate.

The story of Nezha has been made into several animated films. One of the best known of them is Nezha Nao Hai (哪吒鬧海), translated into English on the recent DVD release as Nezha Conquers the Dragon King. The story, of course, differs somewhat from what Taoist mythology has depicted him. As a matter of fact, miracles the Nezha adherents attributed to him were added to recreate a popular life story of Prince the Enfant Terrible.

According to that popular biography, Nezha was the third son of General Li Jing (李靖), who was the commander of a garrison at Chentang guan (陳塘) or Fortress Chentang during the reign of Emperor Zhou (紂王) of the Shang Dynasty (商朝1766-1122 B.C.) When his mother became pregnant, she waited for three years and six months to deliver the baby, who, however, appeared as a ball of flesh. His father was so angry that he split the flesh ball with a sword, causing Nezha to jump out and grow fully, even though his mind and temperament were that of a child. While he was still a small boy, Nezha became a disciple of Taiyi zhenren (太乙真人) True Man of Primordial Unity, who was a Taoist immortal. The boy learned all the magic his immortal guru could teach him. He could disappear into the thin air. His martial art was unmatched. In addition, he was armed with a fire-sharp spear, wheels of wind and fire, a gold hoop of heaven and earth, and gold bricks. He also carried a sack made of leopard skin, a carryall containing all other kinds of handy magic weapons. In other words, he was a warrior par excellence no humans could ever wish to defeat.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email