The Defeated General Whose Head Was Severed from His Body: How Did Guan Yu Get Exalted to the Heavens? (Reflections After Visiting Guan Lin Temple in Luoyang)
For a long time, Guan Yu, this ancient figure, has been a puzzle in my mind: a defeated general, his head and body separated, how did he become the emperor, sage, and deity worshipped by the world?
Guan Yu, a famous general of the Three Kingdoms, whose surname is Guan, given name Yu, and style name Yunchang, was also known as the Lord of the Beautiful Beard due his flowing, elegant long beard.
In the authoritative history "Records of the Three Kingdoms", there is not much ink spent on Guan Yu's life. The "Biography of Guan Yu" is only a few hundred words, recording only a few heroic deeds: slaying Yan Liang to lift the siege of Baima, body in Cao camp but heart in Han, scraping bone to treat poison without changing expression, flooding seven armies to capture Yu Jin and kill Pang De.
In literary works such as the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Guan Yu's heroic image is much more three-dimensional, full, and glorious. Stories such as slaying Hua Xiong while the wine was still warm, the three brothers fighting Lu Bu, slaying Yan Liang and killing Wen Chou, riding a thousand li alone, passing five gates and slaying six generals, releasing Cao Cao with righteousness at Huarong Path, and attending the meeting alone with a sword are all well-known and deeply ingrained in people's hearts.
Regardless of the authenticity of the stories in literary works, the fame that shook China could not conceal Guan Yu's tragic end. Trapped in Maicheng, already a cornered beast, Guan Yu wrote to Sun Quan begging to surrender, but was considered "he has the air of fleeing, his talk of surrender is deceitful." His surrender request denied, Guan Yu fled Maicheng in disgrace. On the escape route, he was captured alive at Linju by Ma Zhong, an unknown low-ranking soldier of Eastern Wu. Immediately, he was beheaded on Sun Quan's orders, and his head was sent to Cao Cao in Luoyang for identification.
Guan Yu, brave beyond compare and arrogant before all, thus ended with his head and body separated, his soul divided between two places. This defeat was not only an irretrievable failure in Guan Yu's own life but also caused an irretrievable failure in his elder brother Liu Bei's goal of reviving the Han dynasty and unifying the empire.
Rooting himself in Jingzhou and aiming to dominate the Central Plains was originally a grand vision Zhuge Liang had meticulously planned for Imperial Uncle Liu. Because of this defeat, the strategic layout immediately became empty talk. It caused Liu Bei to act impulsively, mobilizing the entire Shu Han force to attack Eastern Wu for revenge. Instead of avenging, he was burned by Lu Xun in the wilderness of Yiling, nearly losing his entire army, fleeing in panic, then falling ill and dying. It also forced Prime Minister Zhuge to work tirelessly, reluctantly turning northwest, launching six campaigns from Qishan, dying before achieving success, on the cold and bleak Wuzhang Plain.
The loss of the Jingzhou base deprived Shu Han of the future passage to advance into the Central Plains, forcing it to remain in a corner of the southwest, never able to leave Sichuan. The dream of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang to revive the Great Han Empire through hard work finally turned into an illusion. In 263 AD, Deng Ai, a general of Cao Wei, captured Chengdu, and Guan Yu's entire family was executed and their property confiscated.
In Luo Guanzhong's writing, whenever Guan Yu is mentioned, he is generally not called by his given name but respectfully referred to as Yunchang, Second Lord, Lord Guan, etc. This failure that ultimately ruined the team's ideals and cause was lightly described as "carelessly losing Jingzhou."
Facing execution, Guan Yunchang probably didn't even blink. Besides dying heroically, Guan Yu probably never imagined that his death would be so great, so glorious, producing such lofty integrity, such unparalleled fame, and such the highest prestige among the Three Kingdoms that endured through the ages. In the nearly two thousand years after his death, he was gradually deified into the four-character benchmark of "loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage." He could actually go from "marquis to king, king to emperor, emperor to sage, sage to heaven," with endless posthumous honors and boundless temple worship. Guan Di temples, Guan Sheng temples, Guan Wang temples, and Lord temples across China were all built for him, and the delicacies, gold, silver, and treasures on the offering tables were all dedicated to him.
Others may have inherent wealth and honor, but Guan Yu had posthumous honors that came with his death, able to continuously attract wealth and treasure, enjoying the praises and worship of the mortal world with full prostration.
In China's more than two thousand years of rigid feudal society, people of different classes had different political treatment in life and different political ladders after death. The tombs of emperors were called mausoleums (ling), the tombs of sages were called forests (lin), the tombs of princes, marquises, generals, and ministers were called mounds (zhong), and the tombs of commoners were called graves (fen). But before Guan Yu's spirit, rites collapsed and the strict system vanished.
In Chinese history, only three people had their tombs called forests after death: one modern person and two ancient people.
The modern person was Yuan Shikai, who served as both president and emperor. Because the world regarded Yuan Shikai as a national thief in a historical farce, his tomb built on the banks of the Huan River in Zhangde Prefecture (Anyang, Henan) could not be called a mausoleum but had to be downgraded to a forest.
The two ancient people were Confucius, known as the Literary Sage, and Guan Yu, known as the Martial Sage. The tomb of the Literary Sage in Qufu, Shandong, is called Kong Lin (Confucius Forest), and the tomb of the Martial Sage in Luoyang, Henan, is called Guan Lin (Guan Yu Forest). Not only that, Guan Lin is only the place where Guan Yu's head was buried. In Dangyang, Hubei, there is also a tomb for Guan Yu's body, called Guan Ling (Guan Yu Mausoleum). The treatment of the Martial Sage is truly remarkable, incomparable even to the Literary Sage or the president.
At the Guan Lin Temple in the southern suburbs of Luoyang, the main hall is ornately decorated and resplendent. On the golden dragon throne sits the gilded statue of Guan Sheng Emperor, Guan Yu dressed in a golden dragon robe and wearing a golden crown, looking exactly like the Jade Emperor reigning over the world.
Guan Lin was not originally called Guan Lin. After Sun Quan beheaded Guan Yu, fearing Liu Bei would launch a punitive expedition for revenge, he hastily sent Guan Yu's head a thousand li to Cao Cao, hoping to kill two birds with one stone: divert the trouble northward, watch the fire from across the river, and let Liu Bei and Cao Cao fight each other. Cao Cao, being old and cunning, saw through Sun Quan's scheme in a flash. Cao Cao, who had always cherished talent and admired Guan Yu's loyalty and righteousness in serving only one lord, cleverly posthumously granted Guan Yu the title of King of Jing, carved a body from aloeswood, and together with the head, built a tomb with the rites of a prince, burying Guan Yu with great honor fifteen li south of Luoyang, and establishing a temple for worship. At that time, Guan Lin was Guan Yu's tomb and temple.
In the twentieth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty (1592 AD), Emperor Shenzong Zhu Yijun ordered the expansion of the Han dynasty Guan temple, building a new Guan temple covering over 200 mu, with four courtyards and more than 150 halls and corridors. In the thirty-third year of Wanli (1605 AD), Guan Yu was further granted the title "Three Realms Demon-Suppressing Great Emperor, Mighty and Far-Protecting Guan Sheng Emperor." From then on, Guan Yu became an emperor and a sage, but the temple was still just a Guan temple, not yet called Guan Lin.
It was not until the Qing dynasty that Emperor Kangxi granted the Luoyang Guan temple the title "Loyal and Righteous, Divine and Martial Guan Sheng Great Emperor Forest." Thus, Guan Yu replaced Jiang Ziya, was newly crowned as the Martial Sage, and the Guan temple began to be called "Guan Lin," becoming one of the two great sacred domains standing alongside "Kong Lin" in Qufu, Shandong.
The reason Cao Cao treated Guan Yu so well was not only due to political and military considerations to avoid burning himself, but also because of the endless entanglements of gratitude and enmity between the two. In the Battle of Xiapi, Cao Cao captured Guan Yu but did not kill, humiliate, or treat him lightly; he provided good food and drink, gave gold and silver, and recommended Guan Yu as a partial general. When Cao Cao fought Yuan Shao and was in danger, Guan Yu without much talk rode out, slashed Yan Liang, and was again recommended by Cao Cao to be enfeoffed as Han Shouting Marquis. Guan Yu sealed the gold, hung up the seal, and left without saying goodbye to find Liu Bei. Cao's army officers advocated intercepting and killing him, but Cao Cao waved his hand and said: "He does not forget his roots in serving his lord; he is a righteous man under heaven." He issued an order allowing interception but forbidding harm, a task impossible for anyone to complete, which enabled Guan Yu's heroic feat of passing five gates and slaying six generals. Cao Cao, who had just been defeated at Red Cliffs and was like a bereaved dog, faced the natural peril of Huarong Path, sighed to heaven "My life is over." Guan Yu, ordered to guard this pass and kill the dragon, moved by emotion, returned the favor, only stared coldly without drawing his sword, and politely let Cao Mengde escape death.
Forty-odd years after Guan Yu's death, in the third year of Jingyao of Shu Han (260 AD), in September, the later ruler Liu Shan posthumously granted Guan Yu the title of Zhuangmiao Marquis.
The earliest emperor to grant Guan Yu a title without any familial relation was Emperor Huizong of Song, who posthumously granted Guan Yu the title of "Zhonghui Gong." In the Qing dynasty, from Emperor Shizu Shunzhi to Emperor Dezong Guangxu, every emperor promoted Guan Yu's rank, all titles starting with the character "Zhong" (loyalty), eventually elevating Guan Yu from the eight-character "Loyal and Righteous, Divine and Martial Guan Sheng Great Emperor" to the twenty-six-character "Loyal and Righteous, Divine and Martial, Inspiring Benevolence and Courage, Majestic and Manifest, Protecting the Country and the People, Sincere and Calm, Assisting and Praising, Spreading Virtue Guan Sheng Great Emperor."
Among the emperors of all dynasties, the most bizarre was Emperor Shundi of Yuan, who granted Guan Yu a title of as many as eighty-eight characters: "Qi Tian Hu Guo Da Jiang Jun Jian Jiao Shang Shu Shou Guan Huai Nan Jie Du Shi Jian Shan Dong He Bei Si Men Guan Zhen Zhao Tao Shi Jian Ti Diao Bian Tian Xia Zhu Gong Cha Tian Di Fen Xun An Guan Zhong Shu Men Xia Ping Zhang Zheng Shi Kai Fu Yi Tong San Si Jin Zi Guang Lu Da Fu Jia Qian Du Tong Jun Wu Hou Hou Zhuang Miao Yi Yong Wu An Ying Ji Wang Chong Ning Hu Guo Zhen Jun." Stammering through it laboriously, it could almost cripple our modern intelligence.
If Cao Cao's generous treatment of the dead Guan Yu was a mixture of politics, military, and reality, a blend of true temperament and true feelings, then "Zhuangmiao Marquis" was Liu Shan's expression of family affection and recognition of his uncle's achievements. But afterward, successive royal courts and governments promoted Guan Yu to the world, deliberately using Guan Yu as a lofty model, focusing on extracting the character "Zhong" (loyalty) from the four words of loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage. It was nothing more than the ruling class's attempt to teach the people of the world to be infinitely loyal subjects.
As the government continuously praised and enfeoffed Guan Yu, the religious institutions at the same level of superstructure also could not stay idle. They used stories to establish Guan Yu as a role model for guarding the territory, protecting the country, being loyal to the emperor, and loving the people. They endowed him with divine power to turn misfortune into good fortune, cure illnesses, and eliminate disasters with great compassion. Buddhism consecrated him as "Qie Lan Bodhisattva," Taoism revered him as "Zhen Jun Da Di," and Confucianism honored him as "Wu Sheng Fu Zi." A military man transformed from human to deity, ascending to the altar, which not only conformed to the emperor's demand for loyal subjects but also catered to the common people's hopes for blessings.
Following the example of the government and religion, the business community also smelled a big "Yi" (righteousness) from Guan Yu. They took Guan Yu's principle of keeping faith, honoring promises, and not violating covenants as a motto, placed Guan Yu's gilded statue of loyalty before the hall, plastered Guan Yu's golden word of righteous friendship on their faces, engraved loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage on the screen walls, hung wealth and prosperity on the lintels, and worshipped Guan Yu as the God of Wealth for doing business and seeking fortune. The commercial guilds and meeting places where merchants gathered naturally hung the plaque of Guan Di Temple. At some point, facing prosperous businesses, the folk summarized terms like "no profit, no early rise," "profit-seeking," "forget righteousness for profit," and "no merchant is not dishonest." One wonders how Guan Yu, who always valued righteousness over wealth, would feel on heaven seeing himself protecting shopkeepers who count abacuses and money all day, while on the other hand, starving people die of hunger everywhere. How ashamed he must be.
On the wall of Guan Lin Temple in Luoyang, there is this account: After Cao Cao buried Guan Yu's head in Guan Lin, the villagers were afraid that Guan Yu would turn into a vengeful spirit and disturb them. From gentry to commoners, they all came to burn incense and make wishes, hoping that Guan Yu's soul would not come out to frighten neighbors or do evil. However, under the influence and guidance of the three forces of government, religion, and merchants, over time, the people's concepts underwent a tremendous change. Kneeling and kowtowing, from begging Guan Yu's soul not to do evil, it turned into praying for Guan Yu's soul to bring good fortune. Thus, Guan Yu became Lord Guan, the vengeful spirit became a lucky star, and Guan Yu eventually became the omnipotent deity universally revered by the whole society.
Having finally sorted out such clues, I close the book and shut my eyes, still puzzled. Even if I don't bother to count the famous generals of the Three Kingdoms, among the Five Tiger Generals of Liu Bei's camp, does Guan Yu truly deserve the fame of "loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage"? Isn't Zhao Yun even more outstanding?
Zhao Yun followed Liu Bei in battles across the south and north for nearly thirty years. He participated in the Battle of Bowang Slope, the Battle of Changban Slope, the campaign to pacify Jiangnan, and independently commanded the campaigns to enter Sichuan, the Battle of Hanshui, and the Battle of Jigu. He was invincible in every battle, known as the Ever-Victorious General. The later ruler Liu Shan praised him as "righteousness penetrating metal and stone."
When Liu Bei was attacked from both sides by Zhang He and Gao Lan, at his wit's end and about to draw his sword to commit suicide, it was Zhao Yun who galloped on his horse, thrust his spear, killed Gao Lan, fought fiercely with Zhang He, and escorted Liu Bei to safety. When Liu Bei abandoned his wife and children at Changban Slope to flee for his life, it was Zhao Yun who charged alone into the enemy's formation, breaking in and out seven times, rescuing the frail Lady Gan and the infant Adou. When the border was in peril, it was Zhao Yun, over seventy years old, who leaped forward and killed five generals of the Western Liang general Han De, who was said to have the strength of ten thousand men. When Liu Bei was determined to avenge Guan Yu, it was Zhao Yun who risked speaking out: "The enmity of the Han bandit is public; the enmity of a brother is private. I hope Your Majesty will consider the empire as paramount." He fully displayed the noble character of loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage.
What about Guan Yu? He and his sworn brothers Liu Bei and Zhang Fei worked together; the three fought Lu Bu but failed to capture him, whom they despised from the bottom of their hearts as a "third-surname slave." Moreover, he was captured alive twice and after death his head and body were separated. Initially, Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times, had a heart-to-heart talk with Zhuge Liang, and formulated the Longzhong strategy of allying with Wu against Cao, which was destroyed by Guan Yu in one fell swoop. According to "Records of the Three Kingdoms": "Earlier, Sun Quan sent an envoy to seek Guan Yu's daughter for his son. Guan Yu insulted the envoy and refused the marriage, greatly angering Sun Quan." To consolidate the Sun-Liu alliance, Imperial Uncle Liu even stooped to conquer by marrying Sun Shangxiang. But Guan Yu insulted Sun Quan's proposal for a marital alliance, thoroughly infuriating the leader of the allied forces, causing the united front to collapse instantly. This not only brought about his own death but also ruined the future of his country. What qualification does Guan Yu still have to talk about loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage?
How can a person who cannot even protect himself be called a god, emperor, or sage? How can he bless the people and save all beings?
Just as I was puzzled, the sonorous and resounding baritone of Mr. Yang Hongji came to my ears: "The mighty Yangtze River rolls eastward, its waves washing away all heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure, all turn to nothing in an instant. The green mountains still stand, how many times the sunset glows red. On the riverbank, the white-haired angler, accustomed to the autumn moon and spring breeze. A pot of turbid wine, a joyful meeting. How many affairs of ancient and modern times are all delivered to laughter and talk."
Listening, listening, I couldn't help but smile silently, and suddenly felt enlightened in my heart: So that's it!
