Chapter 17 Section 3 God of Agriculture and Medicine

From the primitive agricultural society to the feudal society, our country is based on agriculture, and there are many myths about the god of agriculture.The agricultural gods of some ethnic groups are animals, that is, some kind of animals found grain seeds for humans and are regarded as the God of Valley.This is because the relationship between humans and animals is very close in primitive society. Even beyond the totem society, some animals that used to be totems still have a very important position in people's minds.Miao people have a saying that dogs fetch grain seeds from the sky. Zhuang mythology says that when a nine-tailed dog fetched grain seeds from the sky, eight tails were cut off by the god of guarding the valley, so only one remained.People are grateful for their kindness and are willing to raise it with white rice.The Shui people eat the New (Valley) Festival every year. After offering sacrifices to the God of Valley, they also feed rice to the dogs.The Gelao people had no rice in ancient times. Because the dog ran into the middle of the moon and fell asleep in the grain pile, it was awakened by the grain awns, and it returned to the world with an ear and left it in front of the house. After that, people knew how to grow rice.There are also grain seeds found from the belly of the bird when it is dissected.

The god of agriculture in ancient Chinese books is not so old, and has even transformed from a female to a male.Legend has it that Shennong has the head of a cow and the body of a human. He lived in Jiangshui (now Qishan County, Shaanxi Province), so he was surnamed Jiang.The geographical climate in Jiangshui area is suitable for planting.Legend has it that Shennong's background was very unusual. His mother Nüdeng went to Huayang to play one day and mated with the god to give birth to him.Shennong saw that everyone lived by eating animal meat, drinking raw water, and wearing furs, and it was difficult to maintain for a long time, so he went around looking for plants that could feed his hunger, and sometimes he was poisoned a lot in one day.His spirit moved the heavens, and he got help from the gods. "During the time of Shennong, it rained millet in the sky, and Shennong plowed and planted it." ("Book of Zhou" quoted in Volume 11 of "Yiwen Leiju"] Seeds fell from the sky for him to plant.He also said: "There are nine ears of grain in Danyang's mouth, and when they fall to the ground, the emperor picks them up and plants them in the field." ("Supplements") The sunbird holds a branch of nine ears of grain in its mouth, and the grains that fall on the ground, Shennong picked them up as seeds.Shennong also processed wood, made Lei Lei tools, taught people to plant seeds according to the season, and soaked the seeds in horse urine.People are very grateful to Shennong because they have food to eat.Of course, the invention of agriculture will never be the credit of one person, but the accumulated experience of many people.The achievements of Shennong are the creations of the outstanding people in primitive agriculture.In order to highlight his relationship with agriculture, people gave him the head of a cow.Cattle are sacred animals in agricultural society and are forbidden to be slaughtered, and they are buried with generous ceremonies after death. "The cattle are the ones who plant the grain, and the fate of the people." ("Huainanzi·Shuoshan Xun") Shennong retains the appearance of a combination of man and beast, which can better show the divine affiliation.

Houji was also a famous agricultural god in ancient times.The fourth chapter mentioned that he, as the ancestor of the Zhou nationality, was also regarded as the god of a hundred grains. "Historical Records Zhou Benji" records his life experience in detail, saying that his name is Qi, and his mother is the daughter of You He, named Jiang Yuan.Jiang Yuan became Emperor Ku's concubine, and she became pregnant because she stepped on the footprints of a giant in the suburbs.He felt that it was inauspicious to give birth to this son, so he abandoned him in an alley.Horses and oxen don't step on him wherever they go.He was thrown into the forest again, just as there were many people in the forest.Finally placed on ice, the bird covers him with its wings.Jiang Yuan felt very divine, so she took her back to raise her.Because it was abandoned at first, it is named abandonment.Qi Qi has high aspirations since he was a child. When playing games, he likes to grow hemp and beans, and they grow well.When he grew up, he devoted himself to farming.He knows how to choose soil and cultivate it, and others follow his example.After Emperor Yao knew about it, he ordered him to be a farmer, and the whole world benefited from it.Later, Yao sealed and abandoned Tai's place, taking the title "Hou Ji" and taking Ji as his surname.Houji's clan has had a good reputation in the past dynasties.

The first half is myth, and the second half is almost history. "Poetry Shengmin" sings about the birth of Hou Ji, his contribution to agriculture, and people's sacrifices and prayers for the New Year under his leadership: those who pound rice, wash rice, steam rice, burn artemisia and boil oil, slaughter sheep and roast sheep.Put these offerings in wooden trays and stirrups, and a scent rises straight up.This is to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. "Houji worshiped, and the common people have no guilt and repentance, so far." From Houji, this is the way to pray to God, so I won't feel that there is any fault in my heart.This has continued to this day (referring to the Zhou Dynasty).

There are also records that Houji didn't even care about going home in order to plow the fields, passed through his gate three times and refused to enter, and finally died in the mountains due to hard work.Due to the many historical legends of Houji, ancient books mostly record his specific methods and achievements in agricultural production, and he is praised as the Lord of Heaven and Earth.His grandson Shujun was also the god of agriculture, and he went a step further than him, and began to use oxen to plow the fields. "The grandson of Ji is called Shujun, and he started farming cattle." ("Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing") Shu Jun is called the God of Tian.

The discovery of drugs by the primitive ancestors went through hardships and dangers, which are difficult for people in the prosperous period of science to understand.There are two reasons for the integration of witchcraft and medicine in ancient times: first, people at that time regarded diseases as ghosts, and exorcising ghosts was one of the functions of wizards.Second, truly capable great witches, on the one hand, they are practitioners of witchcraft, and on the other hand, they are the inheritors and preservers of ancient culture. Through practice, they have indeed mastered some primitive medical knowledge.Therefore, the earliest medicine was inseparable from witches, and they were called witch doctors.So many plants and animals that can cure diseases have been recorded. These can neither be tested nor completely denied, and they really reflect the characteristics of the initial stage of Chinese medicine.Witch doctors are very mysterious and cannot be equated with scientific medicine; witch doctors and medicine are an inevitable process for human beings to understand the world at the initial stage.The God of Medicine can be said to be the refinement and sublimation of the witch doctor. "Shiben" said: "Wu Peng is a doctor." That is to say, Peng is a witch doctor. "Shan Hai Jing Da Huang Xi Jing" records the situation of the ten witches collecting medicine: "There are Lingshan, Wu Xian, Wu Ji, Wu Yi, Wu Peng, Wu Gu, Wu Zhen, Wu Li, Wu Da, Wu Xie, Wu Luo From then on, the ten witches go up and down, and a hundred medicines are here." Here, it is said that the ten witches go to get medicine from the high spiritual mountain, but it is actually a myth of witch doctors going to the steep mountain to collect medicine.Among the ten witches, there may be wizards and witches, but because the memory is too brief, it is impossible to judge.Collecting herbs must be tasted, but if you don't try, how will you know which ones are usable and which ones cannot be used?The discovery of medicine mentioned in the second chapter of this book is a by-product of Shennong’s agricultural work, because people must first solve their hunger before they can talk about curing diseases.Shennong is also known as the god of medicine because he tasted a hundred grains and whipped a hundred herbs. According to the second volume of "Shu Yi Ji", there is a tripod for Shennong to taste medicine in Shenfugang, Taiyuan.On Chengyang Mountain, the place where Shennong whipped medicine is called Shennongyuan, also known as Herb Mountain.There is Ziyang Temple on the mountain. According to legend, Shennong identified hundreds of herbs here, and there is still a thousand-year-old borneol.It is not true that Shennong ran from Jiangshui to Taiyuan, but because people are willing to strive to be the hometown of cultural heroes. This is a common phenomenon of time and space in myths and legends.