Er Tao's introduction: In Journey to the West, the appearance of Erlang Shen is described as follows: his appearance is clear and handsome, his ears are lopped and his shoulders are bright. Wearing a three-mountain flying phoenix hat and a light yellow collar. The gold boots are lined with dragon socks, and the jade belt is decorated with eight treasures of flowers. He has a crescent-shaped slingshot on his waist and a three-pointed two-edged gun in his hand. (Excerpt) Praising Erlang Shen for his handsomeness and amazing appearance. But it is not said that Erlang Shen has a third eye. So why does Erlangshen have three eyes?
In Chewangfu Quben (the general name for the opera, folk art engravings and manuscripts collected by the Mongolian Chechen Khan's Palace in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty) "Feng Shen Bang", it is written that Yang Jian has three eyes:? When the knife is applied, the pink teeth look like jade, and the bridge of the nose is as high as gallbladder. He has one eye and three eyes, and three locks of beard are floating in the wind under his forehead. ?Lin Lin has a figure of one foot, and her immortal demeanor is extraordinary. From the description, we can see that Erlang Shen has white and tender skin and jade-like teeth. The bridge of his nose is high, and his three-stroked beard flutters in the wind. Lisheng glanced at the handsome face.
In the mythical stories before the Qing Dynasty, there is no record that Erlang God had a third special eye. With the development of society, people's spare time life has begun to diversify, just like square dancing now. In the late Qing Dynasty, people's attention to opera increased. The opportunities for Yang Jian, an opera character, to appear will also increase. In order to highlight Yang Jian's outstanding talents and character image, a large part of the opera troupe, in order to better attract the audience, drew the third character of Yang Jian's character in the opera based on the records in the "Fengshen Bang", the royal opera book. Only eyes. In this way, with the spread of popular opera, people began to accept the image of Erlang God's third eye, and this image also spread among the common people and gradually became known to people.
Every incident has its own social background. In the late Ming Dynasty, the country's power turned from prosperity to decline, eunuchs interfered in politics, and social conflicts intensified. As an intellectual at that time, Wu Cheng'en's illusions about kingship and imperial power were also the sustenance of his personal political ideals. The disappointment with the imperial power was integrated into Tang Seng's character: cowardly, incompetent, and indifferent to black and white.