Daoist Deities 01
雷公[雷神]
Thunder Lord [Thunder Spirit]
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东海中有流波山,其上有兽,……其名曰夔。黄帝得之,以其皮为鼓,橛以雷兽之骨,声闻五百里, 以威天下。
-山海经
In the Eastern Sea a wild beast lived on top of Mount Flowing Wave, it was called ‘Kui‘ [1]. The Yellow Emperor obtained a drum made from its skin, and a drumstick from the bone of a thunder beast. It sound could be heard five hundred Chinese miles, and its might [was felt by] all under the Heavens.
-The Classic of Mountains and Seas
The Thunder Deity is often the protector or guardian Spirit at the front hall of temples, the same place one will often find the Divine Official [ling guan灵官]. The Thunder Deity or Thunder Spirit [lei shen] iconolgy is a hammer and chisel, and has the appearance of a bird with a beak. His body’s skin color is light blue and at the entrance of Tai Shan Miao, on White Horse Mountain, he is endowed with golden wings (one of Li Shi Fu’s requirements is not to take pictures of deities unless the photograph is part of erecting an altar; therefore no image will be provided here). In reverence to him several Chinese medicine classics are named after him, such as the most famous ‘Lei’s Treatise on the Preparation of Drugs‘ [lei gong pao zhi lun 雷公炮制论] from the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (around 500 AD), ‘Herb Pairs of the Lightening Lord‘ [雷公药对] and ‚the ‘Addendum of Lei Gong Introduction of the Manufacturing of Herbal Medicines‘ [补遗雷公炮制便览], which was completed in 1591 AD.
Furthermore, the Thunder Spirit is featured several times in the Daoist ‘Morning Scripture‘ [zao gong ke 早功课] in Daoism under the name ‘Heavenly Worthy of the Nine Heavens’ Responsive Primordial Thunder Sound Universal Transformation’ [jiu tian ying yuan lei sheng pu hua tian zun 九天应元雷声普化天尊]. Therefore it comes as no surprise that an entire scripture is dedicated to him, entitled the ‘Treasured Scripture of the Jade Pivot of the Heavenly Worthy of the Nine Heavens’ Responsive Primordial Thunder Sound Universal Transformation’ [jiu tian ying yuan lei sheng pu hua tian zun yu shu bao jing 九天应元雷声普化天尊玉枢宝经].
[1] Chinese rain deity
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