At the end of "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slaughter record in the Heavenly Heavens" in 1993, Zhao Min's affectionate look back at the sentence "Come to most of them to find me" made many people's hearts and minds.
And this wait is decades, until the beginning of the year finally launched Wang Jing's sequel "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon Record of the Nine Yang Divine Gong" and "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon Sacred Fire Heroic Wind". If you don't know it yet, then don't regret it at all, this drama has now fallen to a low of 3.5 points on a certain flap, accompanied by scolding.
Although there are a lot of old drama bones participating, they can't stand the shape of Thunderman, and there are thunderous plots, not that magic reform is not OK, but some places really make the audience unable to stop complaining.
Comparison of the shape of the old and new "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"
Zhang Sanfeng saw Zhang Cuishan being killed, and then swept through the thousand armies as soon as he appeared, Zhang Wuji shook back the Six Gate Sect with only one lion roar, and Xiao Zhao was able to fly across the wall as soon as he appeared... However, in any case, with the enthusiasm of so many people to spend money to watch the drama, this will certainly not be the last time to slay the dragon.
Speaking of which, "The Tale of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens" is undoubtedly the initial enlightenment of many people's martial arts dreams, about good and evil, beauty and ugliness, truth and hypocrisy, justice and conscience, etc., as well as those who are happy to take revenge, wantonly free, and sing on sunny days, each of which has flesh and blood to make people yearn.
And it is also in this fictional world that many people have more or less mastered some strange or true or false historical knowledge.
For example, Mr. Jin Yong's book portrays Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor, as a member of the Ming Sect, who seized the world with the help of the Ming Sect's power, and therefore set the name of the country as "Ming", and many of the Ming Sect followers who followed him became his right and left arm, so is this true?
Zhu Yuanzhang is a legendary figure, and his crescent face and the mole on it have become the talk of people's gossip. He was probably also the most humble of the many emperors.
Zhu Yuanzhang in "The Book of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens"
First of all, he made a walking boy for the monks in order to survive, cleaned the incense and chanted in the temple, and because the famine temple could not support it, he could only go out to the clouds to change his fate, saying that the ugly thing was to go out and beg.
A good monk can't do it, but instead becomes a beggar, at the bottom of society. If Zhu Yuanzhang, in a desperate situation, defected to the Red Turban Army and joined the Ming Sect as a believer, it would be logical. However, why did he take the throne and then use harsh means to ban the Ming Sect? What exactly is the entanglement between the two?
Screenshot of the TV series "Zhu Yuanzhang"
And what kind of mysterious existence is the Persian Ming Sect Leader who has only relied on the Sancheng Sacred Fire Order Kung Fu to defeat the invincible hand in the Central Plains, and has almost lost most of China from the sea route? Legend has it that the old man huo shan in the Persian mountains who originally made the holy fire order the world's martial arts move, and who is sacred? Why did the Persian Church have those strange and harsh canons?
In fact, many of them are related to the former Sassanid Persian Empire, which is a powerful force in western Asia during the Han to Tang Dynasties, once on a par with the Roman Empire, with its own unique history and culture, but has gradually been forgotten, today Xiaobei wants to combine some clues of "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon" to talk to you about this mysterious empire.
01
A direct source of Mingism
In fact, in the real historical documents, there is no record that Zhu Yuanzhang was a Ming Sect member. Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded in the uprising by relying on a detachment called the "Red Turban Army", but the original leader of the Red Turban Army, Han Shantong, claimed to be closely related to the Ming Sect.
Therefore, although the historical data do not record that Zhu Yuanzhang was a member of the Ming Sect, we cannot come up with direct evidence that they are unrelated.
Screenshot of the TV series "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"
Why among the many jianghu sects at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, only the "Ming Sect" shined. Ming sect belongs to the first sect in Mr. Jin Yong's novel, and the Ming sect takes it as its mission to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, but it is besieged by the six major factions and jointly destroyed.
In fact, the Ming Sect was not invented by Mr. Jin Yong, and this sect really existed in history, but the Ming Sect in real history was different from the Wulin Sect, but a very mysterious religious sect, and it was imported from abroad.
The four great kings of the Ming Sect, the Left and Right Protectors, and the Sacred Fire Order all originated from exotic lands.
Screenshot of the TV series "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"
Mingism, also known as Manichaeism, originated in the Sassanid Dynasty of ancient Persia. Founded by the Persian Manichaeans in the middle of the third century AD, it is a dualistic religion with Gnostic overtones.
In the Book of the Slaughter of the Dragon in the Heavens, the Ming Sect recites the phrase "For the sake of good and evil, only the light is the reason", and the "Bright Left Messenger", "Bright Right Messenger", and "Bright Top" of the Ming Sect are taken because Manichaeism advocates light.
Manichaeism, along with Jingjiao and Zoroastrianism (also known as Zoroastrianism), was introduced to China by the Silk Road and was known as the Three Foreign Religions during the Tang Dynasty.
After the introduction of Manichaeism to China, it was improved based on China itself. After a period of development in China, although the basic doctrine of religion is still based on the dualism of Manichaeism, it is actually far from the original Manichaeism, which is also mixed with the concepts of Taoism, yin and yang in China.
Mani Images
02
The mysterious Persian Sassanid Dynasty
So how did the original Manichaeanism come into being in the Sassanid Dynasty of Persia? What was the Sassanid Dynasty?
The Sassanid Empire was founded by Ardashir I, who after Ardashir I ascended the throne, Zoroastrianism was revered as the official religion of the Empire, a religion that existed before the establishment of the Sassanid Empire and worshipped the god Ahura Mazda.
The king of the Sassanid Empire was called the "king of kings", and the king was at the center of the world, with the sun and moon circling around him. The other rulers were his vassals, and there were three small thrones in his court, prepared for the Roman, Turkic and Chinese rulers. It can be seen that at this time, China and Sassanid Persia already had relatively close exchanges.
In order to show his imperial spirit, the Sassanid king had to wear colorful clothes, makeup, and decorate his beard with gold every day, because the crown was too heavy, and he could only hang the crown on the ceiling. At that time, if an Assassin wanted to assassinate the king, it was probably the best way to cut the thread that hung the crown.
The social hierarchy of the Sassanid Empire was divided into four classes, from top to bottom: priests, warriors, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants. Priests were able to communicate with the gods, worship the gods for the country, and gain the power of the gods; samurai defended the country from foreign aggression; peasants provided food to support all social classes; craftsmen and merchants engaged in handicrafts and commercial development. It can be seen that the Sassanid Empire, like ancient China, also adopted the method of heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce.
The status of women in the Sassanid Empire depended on their class. Women of high rank, as wives and mothers of the king, were much more free in all fields, they could attend banquets and hunting, and two queens appeared. But this is like Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty on the mainland, only a minority, not the norm.
Ordinary women are considered to be the subjects of men, and the female virtue written by male priests is "obedience", and society believes that "women have no wisdom", which coincides with the Chinese saying that "women without talent are virtuous". Usually men want to get "women who love shame" and "marry young women".
Legally, women were considered equivalent to slaves. Society requires that women must dress plainly, look humble, cover their heads and feet, ordinary women may be forbidden to wear makeup and wigs, and menstruating women are contagious and most dangerous to all living beings.
Screenshot of the TV series "The Biography of Zhen Huan"
In order to consolidate their rule, the Sassanid kings religiously controlled the populace, and when they promoted Zoroastrianism, they devoted themselves to the construction of sacred fire shrines. The flame of the Fire Shrine is served by priests and has temporary slaves, and people dedicate their time to working for the Fire Shrine in order to purify the soul or achieve religious purposes. These people were called "Fire Slaves". It is precisely because Zoroastrian called the worship of the holy fire that later generations called it Zoroastrianism.
The Ming Sect in the Book of the Slaughtering dragon in the Heavenly Heavens also needs the "Sacred Fire Order" to command believers. In the novel, when the six major sects besiege the top of the light, the Ming Sect people recite the scriptures with "burn my body and burn the holy fire", hoping to defeat the six major sects with the help of God's power.
When Ardashir I's son, Shapur I, succeeded to the throne, the prophet Mani appeared on the stage of history, the founder of Manichaeism.
Manichaeism at this time, influenced by Gnosticism, was a dualistic system that used Zoroastrian terminology in order to disseminate teachings to those familiar with Zoroastrian gods and teachings.
Screenshot of the TV series "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"
For example, the opposition between light and darkness in Manichaeism, fused with the yin and yang of China itself, is embodied in the novel as the "Nine Yin True Classic" and "Nine Yang True Classic", the Ming Sect leader is Yang Dingtian, and Cheng Kun, as the villain, is proficient in martial arts illusion yin finger.
However, at this time, the Zoroastrianism of Manichaeism was not the same religion as the Zoroastrianism of the Sassanid royal family, and the Zoroastrianism of the Sassanid royal family was a deviation from its tradition, a heretic, and was not accepted by the people of the empire, but was only respected by the royal family.
Manichaean Zoroastrianism, or can be directly manichaeism, is more in line with the Zoroastrian tradition, so Mani is a missionary to the people of the Iranian plateau who believe in Ahura Mazda and other Zoroastrian gods.
It can therefore be said that due to the departure of the Sassanid royal family from the Zoroastrian tradition, the populace began to turn to the Zoroastrianism, which was closer to the tradition and more inclusive of Manichaeanism. Many people have the misunderstanding that Manichaeism is Zoroastrianism, but this is not the case.
Ahullah Mazda's ceremony of authorization to Ardashir I
03
What effect they had on the Ming Dynasty
Manichaeism's acceptance of Zoroastrianism is only part of its religion, and its differences are obvious.
First, Mani taught the opposition between spirit and matter. All spiritual things are good, and all material things are evil. This is in stark contrast to the Zoroastrian conception of good life, which holds that all beautiful and pleasing creations at this time are the masterpieces of Ahura Mazda and his collaborators, the Immortal God of Abundance.
In Manichaeism, not rejecting sexual desire eventually leads to the imprisonment of the light factor in the flesh (the human body), so for the Manichaean monastic electors, asceticism is at the heart of its doctrine. It can be seen that in the novel, the Purple Shirt Dragon King and Xiao Zhao, as saints, must be virgins all their lives.
Screenshot of the TV series "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"
In Zoroastrianism, on the contrary, the act of creation, the enjoyment of the fruits of the world, and the celebration of the riches of the earth should all be celebrated. Thus, during the Sassanid Empire, the life of the court and the nobility was luxurious and hedonistic, but they may also have been the first to pay attention to the management of the body.
The nobles rode horses and hunted in order to burn away the mountain treasures and seafood they ate, after all, it was almond crisp in the summer, milk cake in the winter, and it was difficult not to be blessed by eating running chickens fed with olive oil and cheese soup, accompanied by Assyrian wine.
Sassanid Persian Hunting Silver Bowl
Thus, we can summarize the difference between the two religions by calling Manichaeism anti-matter and non-earthly, while Zoroastrianism is earthly, and that it enjoys the creation of Ahura Mazda in both this and other lifetimes.
Mani also organized a team of scribes for missionary purposes. The scribes of the Sassanid Empire were rigorously trained to learn the seven scripts in order to write different documents in different situations. Of course, all Kumon have strict sentence requirements, similar to the Eight Strands.
These scribes set out to translate Manichaean ideas into different languages, to write them into different languages, and each book was written in a different language, thus greatly accelerating the spread of Manichaeism.
The Sassanid Empire reached its maximum territorial extent under Khoslau II
After Manichaeism was introduced to China, because of its own complexity and ambiguity, it is easy to explain it with the help of China's inherent philosophical concepts, justice and evil correspond to yin and yang, and the pursuit of light can be entangled with some factors of Buddhism.
The Yuan Dynasty silk painting "Pluto Holy Frame", Mani sat on the lotus platform
Have you seen the new version of "Dragon Slayer in the Sky"? How much do you know about Jin Yong's Mingjiao prototype? What other hardcore knowledge do you know behind Jin Yong's novels? We'll see you in the comments section. Xiao Bei will select two lucky readers from the message and give away today's theme book "Sassanid Persia".
You can't understand the world without understanding Iran, and you can't know Iran without understanding Sassanid!