The Journey to the West said that in the era of Emperor Taizong, Weichi Gong began to guard the gate, so he used images as the door gods to ward off evil spirits and make his home safe. In fact, it is rare to regard Guan Gong as a door god, because Guan Gong's position in later generations has always been very lofty.
It is a common custom of Han nationality in China to worship the ancestors of Heaven and Earth together. For example, Guan Jun, Master Guanyin, Shennong, Kitchen God, Twelve o'clock, Confucius and his own ancestor Wang were all enshrined together.
Honesty is an important way to worship Guan Yu. Besides burning incense to pay homage to dishonesty, drawing lots to ask questions is also an important way. The "front of Guandi mausoleum" handed down from ancient times is the main medium to communicate with God. This custom actually originated in Beijing and has a long history. Ji Yun, a "tongru" in posthumous title in Qing dynasty, said:
"Temple rate sign, mourning in Guandi; Guandi's signature, Moline Temple near Zhengyang Gate. Cover one year old, from New Year's Day to New Year's Eve; During the day, from ignorance to dusk, those who drum are always ringing. If you don't give a bucket, just buy a few buckets. Miscellaneous, all of a sudden, not only too busy to check, but also beyond imagination. Although there are thousands of eyes, you can't answer them all again. However, all the signatures you get are like face-to-face signatures. Why? " It can be seen that the impact is great. Rong Zhaozu, a modern scholar, believes that hexagrams are taken from Yi. Yi's words are fixed, and divination is explained by words. Later, the focus of divination gradually shifted to words, and the meaning of divination evolved from Zhouyi to Xiang and Xun to philosophy. Divination is not only the signing of poems and sentences, but also the signing, sacred meaning, Dongpo interpretation, fairy tale, Yue interpretation, Zhan interpretation and so on. , or historical allusions, or three or four sentences simply explain good or bad, which has the meaning of persuasion, and is very similar to the function of "philosophical thinking".
There is 100 in front of Guandi Mausoleum, which is divided into two different titles, A and B, and there are also several Guandi Mausoleum with different contents in Historical Records, which are not very popular. In the early days, there were only seven words to sign the poem and "Xie Yue" (or "Xie Dongpo"), but later versions were decorated with inscriptions and "Bi Zhu Xian".
"Before Guan Di Ling" can be traced back to "Before Wang Ling Ling of Jiangdong" written by Ye Fu, a native of Putian in the Southern Song Dynasty. There is ample evidence that it spread from Suzhou to Wang Guan Temple in the capital during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, and was later renamed as the front of Guandi Mausoleum. Since then, with the imperial examination scholars, officials and businessmen, the whereabouts of overseas Chinese have gradually spread to the whole country and even overseas.
Guan Yu not only plays the role of protector, but also is Wu Caishen. Many restaurants and shops in Hongkong and China will offer sacrifices to Guan Di, hoping to bring him good luck. Guan Gong's belief has gone beyond the original taboos of the three religions, because it has crossed the three schools of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, spread to the bottom of the people and penetrated into family and daily life. As for all kinds of good faith, there are those who attach themselves to Buddhism, those who respect Taoism and those who respect Confucianism, and they can also keep their taboos and suit their own circumstances.