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Belief
in the Golden Mother
The Golden Mother is also called the Golden Mother of the
Jasper Lake, or the Queen Mother of the West. She is frequently
called Auntie Queen Mother among the common people.
The Queen Mother of the West is an important deity in ancient
Chinese legends. She was first recorded in the Book of
Mountains and Seas. In the Han Dynasty, she was promoted
to a higher position and connected to Immortality beliefs.
The Han Daoist Book of the Master of Huainan mentioned
that Yi asked the Queen Mother of the West for the drug of
Immortality. But after he got it, his wife Chang'e stole it.
After Chang'e swallowed the medicine, she flew to the moon.
This story explains why the Queen Mother of the West was closely
connected to the belief in Immortality. The Queen Mother of
the West and the King Father of the East 1,
surrounded by flying winged-people, appear together in the
Han copper mirror. This signifies that she had become a center
for those who aspire to Fly to Immortality 2.
The Queen Mother of the West holds a high position in Daoism.
Her position got higher after the masses gave her new interpretations.
The Queen Mother of the West has always been an important
deity since Daoism came into being. Ge Hong's Book of Pillow
Secrets says that the highest deity is the Primordial
Celestial King, i.e., the Perfected Pangu. He existed before
the creation of Heaven and Earth. After that, he lived in
the center of Heaven -- the Jade Capital Mountain. The Vital
Breath of Dao contracted and formed another deity, the Primordial
Holy Mother. The Fushang Emperor and the Queen Mother of the
West were their descendants. In later times, the Highest Clarity
tradition regarded her highly and produced Daoist registers
related to her. The Collected Records of Immortals
3 states that the Queen Mother
of the West is the Nine-Soul Great Sublimity Golden Mother
of the Tortoise Mountain 4,
and is also called the Great Void Ninefold Glory Golden Mother
of the Tortoise Platform 5.
She was born out of the Most Perfect Vital Breath of the Eastern
Essence 6, and works together
with the King Father of the East, who was born out of the
Most Sublime Pre-Existent Vital Breath of the Western Essence
7, to manage the two vital breaths
of yin and yang. She dwells at the capital Kunlun Mountain.
The Primordial Celestial Emperor awarded her the Register
of the Nine Glories of Turtle Mountain 8
and enabled her to summon all the spirits. All the female
Immortals in Heaven and on Earth, in the Three Realms and
Ten Directions are under her authority. So she is generally
regarded as the leader of Female Immortals.
Belief in the Queen Mother of the West has lasted for two
thousand years, and has spread all over China. Queen Mother
temples and halls are very popular. There are many Queen Mother
temples in Guangdong Province where other female Immortals
are also enshrined. One of them is the Golden Flower Lady
9, who is in charge of childbirth.
Many people worship her to pray for children. Belief in the
Golden Flower Lady has now spread to Southeast Asia, following
the flow of Chinese migrants. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties,
belief in the Queen Mother of the West has changed somewhat
among the common masses, with some people believing in the
Unborn Venerable Mother 10 and
regarding her as the highest goddess. This has influenced
folk belief in the Queen Mother of the West, and led to the
formation of other beliefs in some sects.
Belief in the Golden Mother has its own tradition in Taiwan.
Its theogony is similar to that of Daoism. Belief in the Queen
Mother of the West has split into two traditions since the
Qing Dynasty; one is the Daoist tradition, the other is the
folk tradition. The Daoist tradition retains her former position
in Daoist theogony while the folk tradition is less systematic
and it is not limited by Daoist theogony. The existence of
Charity Halls 11 all over Taiwan
is a sign of the spread of Golden Mother beliefs in Taiwan.
According to the records of the Biography of Emperor Mu
12, people believe that the
Heavenly Pool (Lake Tianchi) in Xinjiang is the Jasper Lake.
So there are pilgrimages to Lake Tianchi to worship the Queen
Mother of the West.
Author:
Liu Zhongyu
Translator: Chen Xia
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