Mount Tai is located in the east, where Yin and Yang intersect. Everything begins to live, and life must die. So Emperor Dongyue knew the life span of people. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancients thought Mount Tai was a "very rigorous place" and a sacred place where heaven and man were connected. Therefore, in the ideology of the Chinese nation, Mount Tai has always been regarded as a place to cure ghosts. "Custom Yi Tong" quoted a rumor at that time that "generations have a golden policy, and people know that life is long and short."
During the Western Han Dynasty, the theory of "Taishan treating ghosts" appeared in the society, and Taishan God was regarded as the main book of the underworld. The earliest document that can be verified is the town tomb in Han Dynasty. The purpose of the town epitaph is "to explain the situation for the deceased, which is closely related to the superstition of ghosts and gods in society at that time". The main contents are as follows: "1. Year, month and day; Second, the angel of the Emperor of Heaven sued the home of the deceased or Qiu Cheng's tomb to provide disaster relief for the deceased and eliminate disasters for the living; Third, it is said that the deceased was born differently, and the soul of the deceased returned to Mount Tai and accepted the control of the underworld officials; The fourth is to say auspicious words such as benefiting the people or future generations. " On the vouchers unearthed in the Han Dynasty, there are many words "Death belongs to Mount Tai".
There are many tomb vouchers in Volume 15 of the Collection of Ancient Books in Zhensongtang, among which there are two references to Mount Tai: one is the tomb voucher of Liu Boping Town, which reads "Born in Chang 'an, died in Mount Tai, died in a different place, and cannot be prevented from each other"; Another coupon for the tomb of the remnant town reads: "The living return to Chang 'an in the west, and the dead return to Mount Tai." Mount Tai and Chang 'an, one for the dead and the other for everyone, Chang 'an is the capital of the Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, the town tomb voucher reflects the custom that Mount Tai is the god of ghost land.
Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, Emperor Dongyue has been in charge of life and death. "Seven Signs of Yun Qi" says: "Mount Tai leads a group of gods, with 5,900 people, who care about life and death and are the commander-in-chief of hundreds of ghosts." Therefore, most Dongyue temples dedicated to Emperor Dongyue have seventy-two or seventy-five divisions to manage people's immortal life records, such as quick report division and long sushi, to manage people's life and death respectively.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the saying that the dead returned to Mount Tai was very popular in society. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the influence of Mount Tai has penetrated into all social strata and people's daily lives. "Once"? "Biography of Wu Huan" wrote: "When Wu Huan dies, the immortal returns to Chishan. When China people die, their souls return to Daishan (that is, Mount Tai). " The ancients also always thought that Mount Tai was a place to treat ghosts and gods. Reflection? Guan Chrome said, "I'm afraid Mount Tai will treat ghosts instead of outsiders." It is also an example of treating Tai 'an as a "ghost town".
Emperors of all ages went to Mount Tai to meditate. The so-called meditation means that the emperor personally went to Mount Tai to worship heaven and earth. According to the "Historical Records of Justice" in "Tea Room Congchao", it is said: "Mount Tai built an altar to worship the heavens and reported the merits of the heavens, so it was sealed; Except for the land on the hill under Mount Tai, it is called Zen. Shinto belongs to heaven, and the king seals Mount Tai to report to heaven, then Mount Tai has Shinto. The ghost road belongs to the land, and the King once meditated on the hill of Mount Tai. For example, Yunyun, Tingting, Fu Liang and Li Haoshan reported the land, then Yun Yun, Tingting and Li Haoshan in Fu Liang had ghost roads. " When the emperor came to Mount Tai, he offered sacrifices to heaven and earth. Sacrificing to heaven is to admire the sky, that is, to seal it; Sacrificing land is the achievement of rewarding land, which is called Zen. "Phoenix" is a sacrifice to God, and "Zen" is a sacrifice to ghosts, each with its own tasks.