Image of Nezha in Fengshen Yanyi.
According to Fengshen Yanyi, Nezha was born during the Shang dynasty in a military fortress at Chentang Pass, as the incarnation of Lingzhu Zi (灵珠子), who is destined to assist King Wu of Zhou in the upcoming war against the Shang. His father was a military commander Li Jing, who later became the "Pagoda-wielding Heavenly King". Nezha's mother, Lady Yin, gave birth to a ball of flesh after gestating for three years and six months. Li Jing thought his wife had given birth to a demon and attacked the ball with his sword. The ball split open, and Nezha jumped out as a boy instead of an infant. Nezha could jump and walk immediately after birth. He was later accepted by the immortal Taiyi Zhenren as a student. He had two older brothers, Jinzha, a disciple of Wenshu Guangfa Tianzun, and Muzha.
When Nezha was seven years old, he asked his mother for permission to go play outside of Chentang Pass. She agreed, on the condition that he took a family servant with him. After walking for about a mile, he became sick of the summer heat, and decided to take a bath in the nearby Jiuwan Stream, using his weapon, a red sash named Huntian Ling (混天绫) as a towel. It sent tremors through the water, shaking the East Sea Dragon King, Ao Guang's undersea palace. A Yaksha, Li Gen, was sent to investigate the disturbance. Nezha insulted him, causing him to attack Nezha and be killed by his set of rings called the Qiankun Quan (乾坤圈). The Dragon King's soldiers reported Li Gen's death to him, and Ao Bing, his third son, volunteered to deal with Nezha.
Nezha slew him in combat, then pulled out his tendons to make a belt for Li Jing. When Ao Guang learned of his son's death, he transformed into a human scholar and went to Li Jing's residence to protest. Nezha admitted to killing Ao Bing and returned his tendons to Ao Guang, who told Li Jing he would file a complaint to the Jade Emperor.
Facing his parents' wrath, Nezha went to Taiyi Zhenren for help. He drew an invisibility talisman on Nezha and told him to ambush Ao Guang under the Heavenly Gate. Nezha subjected the Dragon King to a beating, then forced him to turn into a small snake and return to Chentang Pass with him. Upon arrival, Ao Guang transformed back into his human form, proclaiming he would gather the other Dragon Kings of the Four Seas and report the Li family to the Jade Emperor together, before disappearing in a breeze.
Lady Yin then sent Nezha into the back garden. He climbed up the barbican, where he came across the weapons Qiankun Bow (乾坤弓) and Zhengtian Arrows (震天箭) of the Yellow Emperor, sitting on a weapon rack. Eager for some archery practice, he lifted the bow and shot an arrow into the air, which flew all the way to White Bone Cave and killed the Biyun Tongzi (碧云童子; lit: Verdant Cloud Boy), an acolyte of Lady Shiji (石矶娘娘). Because Li Jing had carved his name onto the arrow, Shiji went to Chentang Pass, seized him, and took him back to her abode.
Li Jing explained to her that no one had been strong enough to lift the Yellow Emperor's bow since it was placed in Chentang Pass, and she allowed him to return to the pass to find the real culprit. When he learned that Nezha was responsible, he took his son back to the White Bone Cave to answer to Shiji. Nezha attacked her other acolyte and tried to fight Shiji, but had both of his weapons taken away, forcing him to flee to his master's abode. Taiyi Zhenren killed Shiji with the flames of the Jiulong Shenhuo Zhao (九龙神火罩; lit: Nine Dragon Divine Bell Cover), reducing her to her true form: a rock.
Taiyi then informed Nezha that the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, with the permission of the Jade Emperor, had come for his parents.To save his family, Nezha killed himself then, carving up his own flesh and dismembering his bones, "returning" these to his parents in repayment for the debt of his birth.[4]
Nezha then appeared in his mother's dream. In the dream, he asked her to build a temple for him, so that his soul would have a place to rest. This constitutes a link to Nezha's birth because the night before Nezha was born, Lady Yin had a dream where a Taoist put something into her bosom and told her to take this child. In both instances, a dream was used to communicate a message.
His mother then secretly built a temple for Nezha, and this temple later flourished. This temple became well-known and grew vastly because of Nezha's efficiency at granting prayers. However, Li Jing soon found out about this temple and burned it down because he was still angry at Nezha and felt that he had already caused too much trouble for their family.
Li Jing burning the temple caused Nezha to desire his father's death. Thus, the enmity between father and son grew. Nezha was later brought back to life by his teacher, Taiyi Zhenren, who used lotus roots to construct a human body for his soul and gave him two new weapons: the Fenghuolun or Wind Fire Wheels (風火輪) and the Huojianqiang or Fire-tipped Spear (火尖槍). With the reincarnation of Nezha by his master, Li Jing and Nezha fought many battles. However, Li Jing soon realized that his mortal body was no match for Nezha and so he ran for his life. On the run, he met his second son, Muzha, who fought and was defeated by Nezha. At this, Li Jing attempted suicide but was stopped by Wenshu Guangfa Tianzun, who also contained Nezha. In the end, Nezha was forced to submit to his father by another deity, Randeng Daoren.[5]
In popular culture, Nezha's killing of Li Gen and Ao Bing is often seen as a result of Ao Guang demanding young boys and girls from Chentang Pass as sacrifices. When the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas threatened to flood Chentang Pass in retaliation, Nezha committed suicide to save his family and the people.
The above plot is only found in the 1979 Shanghai Animation Film Studio movie, Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, and not in the Fengshen Yanyi novel or Qing dynasty opera adaptations. The 19th century Guci manuscript, Fengshen Bang, is the earliest source that mentions the flooding of Chentang Pass: the North Sea Dragon King, Ao Ji, first proposed the idea during the four Dragon Kings' gathering.[6] However, the South Sea Dragon King, Ao Shun, convinced his brothers to submit a complaint to the Jade Emperor together instead.[6]
According to The Journey to the West, Nezha was born with the word Ne written on the palm of his left hand and zha on his right, hence his name. But after he caused havoc in the Eastern Ocean, the Heavenly King had been so worried about the disastrous consequences that he decided to kill Nezha.
Thus Nezha returned his flesh and blood to his mother and bones to his father. Then Nezha's soul went to the Buddha, who resurrected him. After, he used his vast powers to subdue 96 caves of demons through dharma. After this Nezha wanted to kill his father because he had to remove every piece of flesh and every stain of blood to return his bones to his father. The heavenly king had no choice but to seek help from the Buddha. The Buddha gave him an intricately made golden pagoda, in each story of which were Buddhas radiant with splendor. The Buddha told Nezha to regard these Buddhas as his father, thus ending the hatred between the father and the son and Li Jing earned the title of Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly king.
Popular Culture
Nezha is a patron saint of sorts for misfits in society and is especially popular among teenagers. Since he travels around on fiery wheels, he’s also a favorite among taxi drivers and other professional drivers.
Nezha is a prominent figure in Chinese culture and has been featured in a number of TV shows, movies and songs. Perhaps most notably, he was the subject of the popular animated children’s TV show, The Legend of Nezha. He was also featured in Dragon Ball as Chiaotzu and is a character in the video game, Warframe.
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