#Yellow Emperor

[dorothygale123]

Let's talk rulers of the cosmos, shall we?

There's at least one in every religion, but really old mythologies like Chinese and Egyptian have the head honcho change a few times over the millenia depending on whose popular.

The ones I've found for Chinese mythology are Shangdi, the Jade Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, and Di Jun. You could also count Xiwangmu and Dongwanggong since they ruled the west and east respectively, but some people might not count them since they technically shared power. What I want to do today is put these gods in a rough chronological order as to when they could have been in charge to give a line of succession to the throne of Heaven.

Let's start with Shangdi, the oldest deity here who gained his popularity in the Shang dynasty from 1600-1000 BC. He's called the supreme diety, but came up before the Daoists established the Heavenly Beauracracy so he was never officially king of the gods.

Next is the Queen Mother of the West and her lesser known husband the King Father of the East. As I've stated in previous posts, more modern sources will portray Xiwangmu as the consort to the Jade Emperor, so Dongwanggong gets shoved to the side a lot. A modern writer could interpret this as the two of them getting a divorce, freeing Xiwangmu up for a second marriage. Perhaps their split is what lead to the end of their reign as rulers of the universe?

Third is the Yellow Emperor, largely because he's credited as the first sole emperor of all China, so it makes sense to slot him in here after Shangdi, who had a less official role, and the couple who shared power equally.

After him I'm gonna put Di Jun, who some might remember as the father of the 10 suns from yesterday's post. The fact that he was the head god is probably why later myths gave his role as their dad to the Jade Emperor in later myths when the latter god was more popular. However, he isn't the first emperor but should definitely come before our jaded boy, so we're putting him here.

Finally we have jolly green himself, the Jade Emperor who, and I cannot stress this enough, was literally made up in 1005 AD to cover up an unpopular military decision. He presumably then married Xiwangmu and continued ruling the cosmos indefinitely.

Let's reiterate that this is not meant to be taken as fact, it's just me taking different pieces of mythology and making my own timeline with it in a way I think is cool and makes sense. If anyone disagrees, feel free to tell me how you'd structure your list and why.

Now, for my LMK people, as of the end of season 4 the Jade Emperor's throne is empty and waiting for someone to fill it. Who will it be? Who could possibly replace him? Well, my hope is that we get who I'm going to call the Lotus Emperor, Nezha. Strict and dutiful, but willing to bend when necessary and always trying to do the best he can. Not to mention he's also the Jade Emperor's grandson. It remains to be seen if it'll happen in the show, but that doesn't stop us from making fan content about it!

Sh*tpost Masterlist

[chic-beyond-the-wall]

What the wife of The Yellow Emperor would wear

[arno-vision]

Destinies — Flood, Fire, Wars, Locusts

Humanity today is hysterically afraid of global warming. The game between capitals has exaggerated the horror of climate warming. And ignorance of history has made more people accept the sophistry that global warming will lead to biological catastrophe.

[the-monkey-ruler]

Lotus Lantern (2020) 双世神灯

Director: Zhou Jiawen Starring: Gong Zhengnan / Yuan Lingyan / Cheng Dong / Ji Tao Genre: Costume Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Date: 2020-04-07 (Mainland China) Duration: 76 minutes Type: Reimanging

Summary:

Fifteen years after his mother was imprisoned in Lotus Mountain, Chenxiang grew up to be an ordinary and noisy man in the market. He became brothers with the beggar Hanuman, accidentally saved Yingluo who came to look for the Lotus Lantern, and unlike the Taoist priest who was chasing Yingluo he would never get to know each other without fighting. They embark on a search for the four beads of "wisdom, courage, benevolence and righteousness" in the fight to find the lotus lantern and rescue his mother.

Source: https://en.hkcinema.ru/film/37697

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0vM8ZVapg

[weidaoduzun3]

Commenting on a Line and Commentary from the Yellow Emperors Hidden Agreement 黃帝陰符經 as Commented by Yu Yan 俞琰 (1258-1314)

In [human] nature there are skillfulness and clumsiness; they can be hidden and stored.

Commentary by Yu Yan:

Among people, there are those who have knowledge and those who are foolish. Therefore their nature differs in skillfulness or clumsiness. With regard to [the statements] "great knowledge seems to be foolish" and "great skill seems to be clumsy," (they mean that] one's nature is hidden and stored within and is not perceived by other people. There fore it says, "in [human] nature there are skillfulness and clumsiness; they can be hidden and stored."

Why would one hide their intelligence; their skill? This is not saying to be “fake” or to come across as ignorant or appearing to be “skillful” by hiding ones “clumsiness.” There is a few things that come to mind on why it’s best to “hide our skillfulness and clumsiness.”

[NOTE: this is not an explanation on *how* to hide these things. The *how* can only be transmitted from teacher —>student from my understanding. I am musing on this for my own understanding. I am in no way encouraging anyone, nor myself to starting “hiding.” This is just to explain and help myself understand why it is good to “hide”].

For when we display our intelligence or our clumsiness so blatantly, these create preferences. To have human based preferences is a big no no in the Zhuangzi (chapter 2) and Huainanzi (1.5). The Huainanzi has this to say about preferences and our perception of them:

"When perception comes into contact with things, preferences arise. When preferences take shape and perception is enticed by external things, our nature cannot return to the self, and the heavenly patterns are destroyed."

Zhunagzi chapter 2 齊物論 gives a long dialogue on why “this is” & “this isn’t” truly misses the mark of things:

[2.11.15] "In such a way the Sage brings about harmony by taking “it is” and “it is not” and let’s them rest on the potter’s wheel of Heaven."

[12.12.4] "The manifestation of “this is” and “this is not” is what diminished the Dao."

[2.14.14] "Everyone else distinguishes things in order to impose their views on each other. Therefore, I say that in such “distinction” there is a failure to recognize."

Thus when we overtly and blatantly display our intelligence and or clumsiness, we create artificial perceptions of “I am this” and “I am that” or “I am not this” and “I am not that”. Such an err. Heaven makes our distinctions for us; Heaven has divided the ten-thousand kind of entities, and the seasons into their proper and respective places. We should follow Heaven and accord ourselves with its spontaneity 自然; for our own ziran is the same of Heavens.

So to circle back to the Yinfu Jing — the “statements” Yu Yan refers to are from Laozi 45. What do they mean? I think this is a teaching that alludes to the last of the three treasures 三寶 as mentioned in Laozi 67: 不敢為天下先. Literally it means “dare not to be first.” When we “dare not to be first” or more Simply be modest, we comply with Heaven and it’s own natural and spontaneous distinctions. For by hiding our skill and clumsy natures, we encourage the One Hundred Families to not have preferences set towards us.

This is why indeed “great knowledge seems to be foolish” and “great skill seems to be clumsy”. For when great knowledge makes itself known, we fail at 不敢為天下先, Which destroys Heavenly patterns and bars our nature from returning to the self (Huainazi 1.5).

Furthermore, this is further confirmed by Heshang Gong and his commentary on the Laozi 45: "Great skill seems as though clumsy."

大巧若抽，大巧謂多寸術也。若拙者，亦不敢見其能。

Great skill means abundantly talented and skilled. Those who "seem as though clumsy" simply do not show their abilities.

This why those who “do not show their abilities” namely the things hidden and stored as mentioned in the Yinfu Jing, seem to be clumsy, but truly they are not. For people who hide have returned to the true essence of reality 無極 — Ultimate Nothingness.

So, in conclusion as I understand Laozi 45 and the things “hidden and stored” in the Yinfu Jing — this brings about a certain clarity and tranquility that brings all under Heaven into alignment. We should let go of our preferences, or rather we must know when to stop having so many of them. For biases and preferences are evolutionary built into us for survival purposes. This is something neither you nor I can get around. Ideally, when I and the reader gains a teacher in such profound mysteries — we can learn how to properly do this without harming ourselves.

[yebreed]

Ye Family Taoist Lineage: Ancestry, Peculiarities of the Confucian Ethic, Way of the Celestial Masters

According to the genealogical canon, it goes back to the Ye branch (葉) of the Xiong (熊) family, Shen (沈) lineage, from the House of Mi (芈), the ruling clan of the Chu (楚) Kingdom [1]. The differentiation of the branch from the main clan occurred after the Ye County was added to the fief, and the new surname was accepted.

The founding ancestor of the family, Shen Zhuliang (沈諸梁), Duke of Ye (葉公高) (c. 529 BCE – after 478 BCE), descended from the Yellow Emperor through latter’s grandson and successor Zhuanxu (顓頊). A gifted strategist and wise ruler of his time, [2] the Duke surprisingly has gone down in history not so much because of his obvious merits, but because he dared to disapprove the nepotism promoted by Confucius.

It is pretty clear that with such a background, the Ye had no chance of becoming a decent Confucian family.

Part 2, Part 3.

[dovesick]

endless night

[onenicebugperday]

Yellow pasha butterfly caterpillar, Herona marathus, Apaturinae (Emperors)

Photographed in China by jiangyou

[underground-hip-hop-affiliated]

ODB, I mean The Yellow Emperor.

[heartnosekid]

the great purple emperor (sasakia charonda) | source

[beejbsbswiwisnsnwwk]

The whore is finished

[dorothygale123]

So, yesterday when I talked about Monkey stripping a guy and Buddha showing off his middle finger (no I won't give that more context) I didn't mention a couple other cool things I read in my source about Wukong and his rampage through Heaven. Namely, the fact that my source never once calls the ruler of the cosmos the Jade Emperor, as well as Kuan Yin referring to Erlang Shen as said ruler's grandson.

For those of you who aren't as big a nerd as I am and don't memorize mythological family trees this may not seem all that strange, but in mythology Erlang is consistently depicted as the Jade Emperor's nephew, the son of one his sister. One of my mutuals, @quitealotofsodapop has a pretty good visual for the Jade Emperor's possible family tree over on his blog, which I recommend checking out.

But I digress, what I wanted to do here was bring this back around to my previous post about rulers of the cosmos and my proposed order for them: Shangdi, the first ruler who reigned before the Court of Heaven was founded, Xiwangmu and Dongwanggong, the couple who ruled the Heavens together until they separated, the Yellow Emperor, the first singular ruler of all of China, Di Jun, the father of the 10 suns and 12 moons, and the Jade Emperor, the figure more modern texts point to as the ruler of the gods after some guy made him up to get out of trouble over a controversial military decision.

No I will not stop mentioning that, it is hilarious.

Anyway, I won't go into detail about my rationale for choosing those figures and giving them those placements here, but what this implies is that my source got this story from a time before the Jade Emperor was commonly seen as the head god of the Daoist pantheon. However, if we get out creative licenses out and overthink things a little, I could also imply that Monkey's rampage through Heaven, or at least his birth, could have happened BEFORE the Jade Emperor ascended to the Heavenly throne, and that the Jade Emperor is either the son of the previous ruler (who we are presuming to be Di Jun) or that one of his siblings was married to one of Di Jun's children.

Personally, I like the thought that Wukong was born before the Jade Emperor took the throne, but the fiasco with the 10 suns and Di Jun stepping down happened in his lifetime. And on the Jade Emperor's side of things, I'm leaning towards the second option where the Jade Emperor and Di Jun are in laws rather than outright related, but it could be cool either way.

I just want to restate that I'm not claiming any of this is canno to actual chinese mythology, it's just me taking a look at a cool culture and putting pieces where I think they'll fit. What do you think?

Sh*tpost Masterlist

[lowkeiloki]

what i think different penguin species would think about flying:

Emperor penguins

Emperor penguins dream about being able to fly as chicks and each one is very convinced *they* will be the one to first accomplish it. As they grow up, however, they lose interest in flying and become content with the way they are.

Adélie penguins

The concept of flying is actually a laughing matter to the Adélie penguins. Why would you want to fly? Ever seen a fish in the sky? I don't think so. You know what is in the sky? Skuas. And nobody likes those guys.

Chinstrap penguins

Chinstrap penguins get heavily annoyed when the topic of flying is brought up so it's best not to. Maybe chinstraps are bitter because they can't fly. Or, maybe, it's simply because flying birds (like skuas and petrels) are always bad news for the chinstraps.

King penguins

Flying is nice, but King penguins are okay with not being able to fly. Really, theyre over it. Believe them.

Gentoo penguins

Gentoo penguins are strong believers in the idea that penguins can, indeed, fly, they only do it underwater. Don't try to correct them on that, it's very rude.

Rockhopper penguins

Flying is a highly divisive topic amongst all subspecies of rockhopper penguins. Better not bring it up at all to avoid squabbles.

African penguins

African penguins wouldn't mind being able to fly as long as they don't have to trade off their swimming and diving skills. It would be convenient.

Fiordland penguins

Fiordland penguins would much prefer the ability to climb trees very well. But flying is the next best thing.

Yellow-eyed penguins

Yellow-eyed penguins show no particular interest in flying. They do, however, envy the penguins from Antarctica with no land predators.

Little blue penguins

Little blue penguins would love to be able to fly, it would be so much fun to them.

[arno-vision]

Destinies — Flood, Fire, Wars, Locusts

Humanity is hysterically afraid of #GlobalWarming . The game between capitals has exaggerated the horror of climate warming. At the same time, ignorance of history has made people accept the sophistry that warming will lead to biological catastrophe.

[quitealotofsodapop]

And Azure WILL bring it up once he performs his coup. He tells the brothers his discovery, something that is shocking for both Yellow Tusk and Peng to imagine. In Peng's case, they had mixed feeling because, on the one hand, that is a brilliant idea, but this further proves Wukong's betrayal to Peng. Yellow Tusk is also extremely conflicted, but curious because if Wukong had this age in up his sleeve this entire time, why had he never mentioned it before!?

And the shocked and horrified look of disbelief on Wukong's face once they have the Emperor on his knees (a reverse of what happened in their first coup is that the Emperor chose to surrender to protect Wukong rather than Wukong surrendering to protect his brothers) and a sword to his neck with his baby dangling from Peng's claws prove to Yellow Tusk that this was NOT something Wukong ha known about

Prev.

Dramatic Irony!!

The Emperor that Wukong surrendered to in order to protect his brothers-in-arms, now kneels to said brothers to protect Wukong!

Worse part is that the only reason that Xiwangmu, PIF, Nezha, or Macaque, or even the Noodle Gang are fighting back is that Wukong and Xiaotian are in super-vulnerable positions. None want to risk losing their King or his baby to rashness. Also those not in the know are pretty shocked at the revelation that Wukong is technically the a lost Celestial Prince.

When the Brotherhood force the Emperor to step down and leave his own palace "for good", he and almost every single servant leave without question.

Nezha is mortified, are they truly giving up without a fight!?

Until his grandmother whispers in his ear; "Be patient."

Once away from the main imperial ground, the Queen Mother turns to address Tang and Iron Fan with the most random question;

Xiwangmu: "How heavy is the Ruyi Jingu Bang?" Tang, without hesitation: "About 17,550 pounds, or if we use traditional measurements; 13,500 catties." PIF: "Mother, you're not-" Xiwangmu: "I am. I did not approve of him before, but if he truly is the type to leap to protect my grandson, I will welcome him with open arms." Pigsy: "Wait, what's going on?" Tang, starting to fanboy: "She's going to release the Demon Bull King." Pigsy: "She can just do that!?" Nezha: "With enough strength behind them, anyone could theoretically lift the Staff. The only question is; who's strong enough to do so?" (*everyone turns to Macaque*) Macaque, sighs defeatedly: "I know a guy." Erlang Shen: (*chilling on his day off in the Plum Hill lads home above Sichuan. Still has one or two injuries from when Macaque mauled him after the Trial.*) Erlang Shen, middle eye glowing: "They want me to do what?! And my uncle-? Sun Wukong is-? I WAS ONLY GONE ONE DAY!!"

DBK about to get a confusing af wake up call. At least he's delighted to see his wife and calf there to soften the blow. That is until he hears why so many of his past allies and enemies have come together to awaken him...

[dustteller]

The maybe-sorta-not-really-almost blowjob scene, because I don't think I've drawn them together before and this is probably the best place to start.

(Tumblr ate my quality :( pls click to rescue it)