Nezha
protection deity in Chinese folk religion
Nezha (哪吒, Nézhā) or sometimes Nezha the Crown Prince (哪吒太子, Nézhā Tàizǐ), or Natha, is a protection deity in Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar" (中壇元帥). He was then given the title "Third Lotus Prince" (蓮花三太子) after he became a deity.
Legend
According to Fengshen Yanyi, Nezha was born during the Shang dynasty in a military fortress at Chentang Pass, as the incarnation of Lingzhu Zi (靈珠子), who is destined to assist King Wu of Zhou in the upcoming war against the Shang. His father was the military commander Li Jing, who later became the "Pagoda-wielding Heavenly King". Nezha's mother, Lady Yin, gave birth to a ball of flesh after gestating for three years and six months. Li Jing thought his wife had given birth to a demon and attacked the ball with his sword. The ball split open, and Nezha jumped out as a boy instead of an infant. Nezha could jump and walk immediately after birth. He was later accepted by the immortal Taiyi Zhenren as a student.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nezha” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.