(Leisure Old Way·Ancient Myth·No. 53)
The sentence "The tide of the spring river connects with the sea, and the sea and the moon coexist with the tide" tells a magnificent scene of the moon rising with the tide of the sea. Since ancient times, the magnificent and vast sea has brought endless imagination to mankind. So in ancient myths, descriptions of the sea have become commonplace.
According to ancient legends, there are three fairy mountains overseas, namely Penglai, Yingzhou and the abbot. It is said that there are elixir of life on the mountain, and Qin Shihuang has sent alchemists to the sea many times in history, but they have not achieved any success.
is actually more than the Emperor Qin Shihuang, countless emperors in history, such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, have fought the idea of these three immortal mountains, and finally ended up with the same ending-a feathered return.
In the myth, where are these three fairy mountains? This matter must start from the east of Bohai Sea. There is an idiom called Qiren worrying about the sky. It is said that in ancient times, there was a man from Qiguo who was worried that the sky would fall without support, so he was worried all day long.
The ancients also expressed their worries about the magnificent sea. They imagined what if one day the sea was full and overflowed? So a magical bottomless canyon appeared in the ancient mythology.
"Liezi Tangwen" records "the east of the Bohai Sea, I don't know hundreds of millions of miles. There is a great valley, but there is a bottomless valley, and there is no bottom under it. This submarine canyon is called "Guixu", located to the east of the Bohai Sea. With the existence of Guixu, no matter how much sea water can hold, the ancients are relieved.
In the ancient mythology, you may have heard that there are not many friends of Guixu, but there are five fairy mountains in Guixu, and they are so famous. They are: Fanghu, Yingzhou, Penglai, Daiyu, Yuanjiao. On the five fairy mountains, there are countless exotic flowers, exotic fruits, rare birds and animals. The owner of
fairy mountain is a group of fairies fluttering in white, they often soar and shuttle between the five fairy mountains like birds. Even though the immortals are at ease, they actually have troubles. These five fairy mountains drifted with the flow, changing their positions from time to time, which caused great inconvenience for the immortals to visit each other.
So the immortals went up to the heaven and complained to the heavenly emperor, and this life of no fixed residence was impossible. The emperor thought that since this happened at sea, he would send the sea god Yuqiang to do it. Of course, there is another saying that Dayu was arranged to do this. Besides, after Yuqiang took the command, he immediately dispatched 15 giants to carry the fairy mountain.
rotates every 60,000 years, which perfectly solves the drift problem of the five fairy mountains. The fairies finally breathed a sigh of relief, and became more comfortable. It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. A giant from the Longbo Kingdom happened to go fishing in the sea. He came to the vicinity of Guixu unknowingly, and saw the giant wave his fishing rod and catch the fish.
The giant ao with a fairy mountain on its back only rotates once in 60,000 years. It has already been hollowed out and was picked up by the giant for a bargain. He caught 6 giants in a row. The giant returned with a full load, eating only the shells of the six giants. The two fairy mountains, Daiyu and Yuanqiao, which lost their support, are said to have drifted all the way to the North Pole and eventually sank. Only three fairy mountains, Penglai, Yingzhou and Abbot, survived.
However, this myth has been taken seriously by the alchemists of the past. They have been advocating to the emperors to go to the sea to find immortals, but they have never found them. They can only use the word "no destiny" to communicate. In fact, Sanxian Island only exists in the myth. Only in the story.
(The picture comes from the Internet. Please contact to delete if there is any infringement.)
Reference materials: "Shanhaijing", "Huainanzi Topography Chapter", "Lie Xian Biography", "Historical Records Feng Chan Shu", "Lie Zi Tang Questions", etc. . .
