Chinese Mythology and Tales

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PLAGUEHEALINGWenQiong.pdf

Wen Qiong By Vincent Goossaert (Original text in French) One of the most famous epidemic gods is Wen Qiong 溫瓊. In Wenzhou, Hangzhou, and elsewhere in Zhejiang, huge Wen processions to prevent epidemics took place every year until the turn of the 20th century. Wen Qiong's hagiography (Diqi shangjiang Wen taibao zhuan 地祇 上將溫太保傳, Daozang, 780, circa 1274) talks a lot about the difference between demons and gods epidemics (Wen belongs to the second category and fights the first). An episode shows him as a moral god, preferring to poison himself than to kill innocent people:

General Wen is just and loyal, upright, and honest. He is one of the deities under the authority of the Peak of the East, but has always been (also) in the service of the worship of the Dark Emperor and the Emperor of the Peak of the East praises him in this. One day, the Emperor from the north descended to the peak of the East, bringing a thousand pestilential pellets, ordering him to send an envoy to spread the epidemic to those who, on earth, would be found guilty of lack of loyalty or filial piety, of having killed or harmed living beings. The Eastern Peak Emperor, having received this edict, summoned (Wen) Qiong and entrusted him with this mission of spreading the epidemics. Qiong accepted the order and took the poisons, then reflected in detail. The poison of a single dumpling, he thought, can kill a thousand people and a thousand dead ruin the lives of a thousand families. A fortiori, the climate of this season will spread miasmas; various diseases will take advantage of these poisons to settle and more people (other than those affected by the epidemic) will be affected and the dead will be countless. It would totally go against the love-of-life virtue promoted by the Most High. Better that I sacrifice myself in place of these thousands of humans, saving countless lives; I will have nothing to regret. Then, looking towards the sky, facing north, he swallowed all the pellets. Immediately his belly was taken by great pain and his whole body became feverish, to an unbearable point. So, offering incense, he went to appear before the Emperor of the East Peak. His body had turned into that of a fierce demon; he presented a report giving an account of his action and bowed down while awaiting his punishment. At the same time, the Emperor of the North had issued orders to expedite the inspection of humans (to be affected by the epidemics). The Eastern Peak Emperor could only answer him by telling him how Wen Qiong had failed in his mission. He, therefore, sent a memorial to the Emperor of the north and then ordered the administration of Aid to the Saint to rule on his fault. But, the Dark Emperor approved of Wen Qiong's motives; he also sent a memoir recommending and begging him to be pardoned. The Northern Emperor approved this request and proclaimed an edict now placing (Wen Qiong)

entirely at the service of the Dark Emperor, in charge of preaching to humans and executing demons; since then his reputation was even stronger.

溫將公忠正直,既為嶽神,永護玄帝香火,嶽帝嘉之。一日,北帝降下瘟藥千丸於

東嶽,勑令遣使行瘟,檢察世間,不忠不孝,殺生害命損物之人。嶽帝受詔,召瓊

行瘟。 瓊奉命領藥,再三以思。一丸之藥,殺及千人,千人之死,害及于千家。況氣候傳

流,借毒行疾,又在此外餘殃及人,何可數計,甚失太上好生之德,不若我以一身

以代千人,救得無限性命,又何所恨。乃仰天面北,一吞而盡。須臾腹痛身熱,不

可支持,乃焚香直詣嶽帝前,變作一大猛鬼,奏聞其事,俯伏待罪。 適北帝勑下催督檢察,嶽帝只得直述溫瓊不職之罪,奏聞北帝,遂下右勝院督過。

玄帝嘉其用心,保明奏上,丐赦瓊之罪。北帝可其請就,勑令專奉玄帝命,令闡化

誅魔,由是威名愈震。 This theme is very common and is found in stories around many other gods (for example several "governors", ​zongguan​ 總管, territorial gods of the Jiangnan region). It aims to give a moral nature (and therefore to integrate into the bureaucratic pantheon) of the gods with demonic origins while justifying them that they keep a visible trace of it (the iconography reflecting the aspect of a poisoned body).