Wudao Temple is actually composed of two temples dedicated to different gods. Its official name, a place called Wudaotang, is dedicated to five generals; A place called Shixian Temple is dedicated to "the teacher's father". There is only a wall between the two temples, so the locals call Wudaotang and Shixian Temple Wudaotang respectively.
Wudaotang sits west to east, dedicated to five generals. Five generals, commonly known as Taoist gods or road gods, belong to a god of Taoism, a local religion in China. According to Taoism, the Five Generals are the gods subordinate to Emperor Dongyue, who are in charge of the life and death of the world and Rong Lu. General Wudao is quite sympathetic. He can help and help the weak to realize their ideals.
Five temples built all over the country are generally dedicated to five generals. But in some places, in addition to the Five Generals, there are also five thieves, commonly known as thieves-Du Ping, Li Si, Ren An, Sun Li, Geng and other five famous thieves with surnames, which linger after their death.
In order to avoid being stolen, people offered sacrifices to them and begged them for mercy. General Wudao and General Five Thieves have the same pronunciation, but the name is only one word short, but the meaning is quite different.
According to relevant literature and history records, Wudaotang Mountain Gate was built on a temple platform about one and a half meters high, and it had to climb more than ten stone steps to reach it. The mountain gate is the building scale of three rooms. There are male and female soul masters around the mountain gate, and stone tablets are inlaid on both sides of the wall of the eight-character temple. On the door of the main hall of Wudaotang, there is a horizontal plaque with the words "Shenwei Distant Earthquake" written in gold on a blue background.
In case of funeral, local and surrounding people will generally go to Wudaotang for "sending slurry" and "reporting to the temple" ceremonies. People usually go to the hall of the ancient philosophers to pray that "your son will be born soon." In addition, the child was in a trance after being frightened and could not return to normal. When they go to the hospital, they may not find any problems. This situation is commonly known as "lost soul" in the local area, and people are used to asking the five generals for help.
Extended data:
The evolution of Wudao Temple;
After the founding of New China, the state advocated breaking superstitions and emancipating the mind. After many interventions by relevant parties, the public sacrifice activities around Wudao Temple gradually stopped. However, because the "Master" enshrined in Shixian Temple is a native god close to people's lives, local people who believe in "Master" have always had a certain scale. Children "lost their souls", people are still used to asking the five generals for help in the traditional way.
1966 entered the "cultural revolution" period. The whole society demands to break the old bourgeois ideology, culture and customs and establish new proletarian ideology, culture and customs. This activity was banned and once completely extinct.
After 1978, the country entered a new period of reform and opening up, and adopted an increasingly tolerant attitude towards the belief orientation of ordinary people. The local people gradually recovered their original traditional habits. On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, especially on the legendary "Master's birthday" on the eighth day of the third month of the lunar calendar, people spontaneously went to the original site of Wudao Temple to worship, and the scale of activities became larger and larger.
In 2008, Weifang demolished the original site of Wudao Temple and its nearby buildings, and combined with the demolition and reconstruction activities in this area, the Wudao Temple Museum was rebuilt in the original site of Wudao Temple.
China Social Science Network-Revealing Wudao Temple in Lao Wei County