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A famous personality in Chinese culture is the little boy-immortal who was aggressive, outspoken and brave, known as Ne Zha. The story of Ne Zha and his adventures are well documented in many novels and Chinese period drama serials. In China, a mention of Ne Zha will bring a smile to those who have read or heard of his legend.
The legend of Ne Zha is still considered a myth. Although unlike many other Chinese immortals, his story was fully documented in stories passed down by ancient Chinese to their descendants. A book entitled, "Searching the Source of Immortals of the Three Religions" also contains quite some details of the little prince. Research by scholars indicated that the story of Ne Zha was symbolic and an interpretation of past incidents which no one talks about today - cover ups for blunder made by very important people that affected quite a lot of civilians. Shhh…
Still, Ne Zha's story is quite an interesting one. He was also featured in some stories in the famous literature, "Journey To The West", where he had a couple bouts of fights with Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
It was said that Ne Zha was originally an immortal called Daluo in the court of the Jade Emperor, ruler of Heaven. Daluo was more than 20 meters tall and had three heads, nine eyes and eight arms. His mouth emits a special kind of mist and when he roared, great rain would pour and the universe would shake in fear. A description such as this gives the impression that Daluo was a most powerful and formidable immortal.
The Jade Emperor decided to send Da Luo down to Earth to subdue demons that were doing much damage to mankind. An immortal disguised as a priest brought Daluo's soul to a small kingdom in ancient China. The king's wife was approaching labor when she dreamt that a Taoist priest pushed something into her pregnant stomach. Immediately after, the child was born and King Li rushed into the room to see his newborn. The queen told him of what had happened and he thought the incident was most inauspicious. Just as he was about to kill the baby with his sword, the little bundle produced a glowing red light and a bracelet which he wore on his right wrist produced a bright dazzling golden light. The bracelet was the 'thing' that the priest had given to the queen and was in fact the 'horizon of Heaven and Earth'. The baby's life was spared and he was given the name Ne Zha. As he was the third son of King Li, he was also known as the Third Prince.
When Ne Zha was 7 years old (and over 6 foot tall), he went to bathe in the East Sea. As he was splashing around happily, his red silk trousers - a manifestation of fire- caused the sea to boil and shook the East Sea Dragon King's Crystal Palace located at the bottom of the ocean. The Dragon King was furious and sent someone to see what was happening. However Ne Zha killed the officer with his bracelet. The king's third son, Ao Ping went to the surface to subdue Ne Zha but was sent back home after a fierce fight.
The enraged Dragon King decided to lodge a complaint against Ne Zha to the Jade Emperor. Just as he was about to enter Heaven's Gates, Ne Zha appeared and killed the Dragon King. Upon hearing that their brother had been killed, the rest of the Dragon Kings (from the West Sea, North Sea and South Sea) decided to seek revenge.
Just then Ne Zha was wandering around the countryside when he accidentally killed someone by mistake with his bracelet. As it turned out, he happened to be Goddess Shi Chi's attendant. The Goddess was very angry and pursued Ne Zha. He would have been killed if not for a powerful Taoist priest who turned the Goddess into stone.
However this incident gave a wonderful opportunity for the Dragon Kings to seize Ne Zha's parents as hostages. Just as one of the Dragon Kings was about to engulf the frightened royal couple in fire, Ne Zha arrived at the scene and told them to spare his parents as he was the one who killed the East Sea Dragon King. The Dragon Kings agreed and so Ne Zha committed suicide there and then.
A few nights later, Ne Zha appeared in his mother's dream requesting her to build a temple for him, so that his soul would have a resting place. Knowing that King Li would be furious if he found out, she secretly had a temple be built for her deceased son. After a while, the temple flourished because Ne Zha granted miracle cures to the sick and crippled. News of this reached King Li, who was enraged for he felt bitter towards his son who had caused so much trouble for them. He found out the location of the temple and ordered it to be burnt down.
This greatly angered Ne Zha, for he felt that he had repaid his father with his body when he committed suicide. He sought the Taoist priest who had saved him from the wrath of Goddess Shih Chi earlier for a physical body. The priest reincarnate him from a lotus flower - the stems became his bones, the roots became his flesh, the fiber as his tendons and the leaves as his clothes. With his new 16 feet tall body, a fire-tip spear and a pair of wind-fire wheels, Ne Zha met his father in battle. A fierce fight thus ensued, but in the end King Li was defeated and had to flee from his powerful son. With Ne Zha hot on his trail, the king was about to jump to his death when an immortal appeared and stopped him. The immortal took out a small golden pagoda which magically absorbed Ne Zha and imprisoned him there. It was only after Ne Zha promised to forgive his father and live in harmony with his family that the immortal let him go free. The immortal presented the golden pagoda to King Li so that he could subdue Ne Zha should he go back on his promise.
Now that peace had been established, father and son joined forces to fight tyrants and demons. They also fought on the side of the Chou Dynasty. King Li became known as the Heavenly Pagoda-Holding King Li, and defeated mighty demons with his golden pagoda, crushing their bodies and dispersing their spirits with his powerful weapon. Ne Zha, riding on his fire wheels could travel everywhere - the rivers and seas, heaven and hell, thus making his task of fighting evil much easier. The Jade Emperor honored and conferred upon him the title "First Leader of the 36 Immortal Warriors, the Heavenly Marshal who guards the Gates of Heaven."
The legend of Ne Zha became extremely popular throughout China. The mischievous prince may not be perfect - in fact did caused a bit of trouble during his lifetime but after becoming an immortal, did much good to the people. Perhaps this is why many Chinese holds him high in regard. Today Ne Zha's birthday is celebrated with much gusto on the 8th and 9th of the fourth lunar month on the Chinese calendar.
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Suan Tew
Managing Editor for Feng Shui Times. |
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