| Erlang Shen | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 二郎神 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 二郎神 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Second-Lad/Son God | ||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Nhị Lang Thần | ||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 二郎神 | ||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul | 이랑진군 이랑신 | ||||||||
| Hanja | 二郞眞君 二郎神 | ||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kanji | 二郎神 顕聖二郎真君 | ||||||||
| Hiragana | じろうしん けんせいじろうしんくん | ||||||||
| Katakana | ジロウシン ケンセイジロウシンクン | ||||||||
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Erlang Shen, or simply Erlang, is a god in Chinese folk religion and Daoism, associated with water (mainly flood control), warriorhood, hunting, and demon subdual. He is commonly depicted as a young man with a third, truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead, wielding a three-pronged spear, and being accompanied by his loyal hunting dog, Xiaotian Quan.
The origin of Erlang is complex. He is most commonly believed to be the deification of Li Erlang, the second son of Li Bing, a hydraulic engineer of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Later stories identify him as the deification of Yang Jian, the nephew of the legendary Jade Emperor. He is also identified with several other folk heroes associated with controlling floods.
In the Ming-era semi-mythical novels Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, Erlang Shen is the nephew of the Jade Emperor. In the former novel, he assists the Zhou army in defeating the Shang. In the latter, he is the second son of a mortal and the Jade Emperor's sister Yunhua, as well as an enemy-turned-ally of the Monkey King. In his legends he is known as the greatest warrior god of heaven, and was a disciple of Yuding Zhenren, who taught him fighting and magical skills such as the 72 Earthly Transformations.[1][2][3]
- ^ "The disciple of Bajinggong-not to blame Yuding's low level of realism, he is not worthy to be Yang Jian's master". INF. 16 March 2020.
- ^ Zhonglin, Xu (June 2011). Creation of the Gods. Asiapac Books Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-229-588-0.
- ^ "二郎神杨戬的师父并非玉鼎真人？_黄龙". Sohu (in Chinese). 8 July 2019.