Dragon King of the East Sea (东海龙王)
Alternative Names (異名):
东海龙王, Dōnghǎi Lóngwáng, Dragon King of the East Sea, 敖光[1], Ào Guǎng, 敖广[2]
The Dragon King of the East Sea (Chinese: 东海龙王; Pinyin: Dōnghǎi Lóngwáng), named Ao Guang (Chinese: 敖广 or 敖光; Pinyin: Ào Guǎng) is the Dragon King of the East Sea in Chinese mythology. He appeared in different works including Fengshen Yanyi and Journey to the West.
Fengshen Yanyi
In Fengshen Yanyi, following the passage of many years, Ao Guang had brought chaos to the world by forming disastrous droughts, storms, and so forth. Due to the people's immense fear towards the dragon king and his sons, they never reported Ao Guang's actions to the Jade Emperor. Thus, Ao Guang enjoyed countless offerings by the people throughout a time interval of many years. After Nezha cleansed himself at a neighboring stream of the East Sea, Ao Guang's palace began to shake at an annoying level. After Ao Guang's favorite investigator Li Gen and third son Ao Bing were both killed by the hands of Nezha, Ao Guang would set out to talk to Nezha's father, Li Jing. After discussing the matter with his friend for a long period of time in his state of great anger, he transformed himself back into a dragon and ascended to the heavens to state the issue to the supreme Jade Emperor. After the cruel Nezha appeared in heaven, he began to beat Ao Guang very violently. Nezha even began to tear scales from Ao Guang's dragon skin, which caused for blood to profusely spill out. In the end, the unfortunate Ao Guang was forced to turn himself into a small snake and come with Nezha back to the Old Pond Pass to forget about the incident completely.
Later on within this chapter following Ao Guang's leave from Nezha, he would once again see the Jade Emperor. Soon enough, Ao Guang, along with three other dragon kings would come to Old Pond Pass and take both Li Jing and his wife Lady Yin. Nezha however would quickly appear and claims that he will cut out every internal organ from his body as to save his parents. Ao Guang personally agrees to Nezha's resolution with happiness and brings his internal organs to the Jade Emperor. Following this point, the Eastern Dragon King Ao Guang's fate is unknown.
Journey to the West
In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong obtained Ruyi Jingu Bang from Ao Guang. This weapon was originally a stick for measuring sea water depth by Da Yu in his flood control and treatment efforts, hence its ability to vary its shape and length. After Da Yu left, it remained in the sea and became the "Pillar holding down the sea", an unmovable treasure of the undersea palace of the Ao Guang.
One of Wukong's senior advisors had told him to seek out the dragon-kin in order to get a powerful weapon befitting his skill. There in the dragon palace, he tried out several kinds of ancient heavenly weapons, many of which bent or completely broke as he wielded them. Ao Guang's wife then suggested the "pillar" (thinking he would not be able to lift it). But when Wukong neared the pillar, it began to glow, signifying that the monkey king was its true owner. It obediently listened to his commands and shrank to a manageable size so Wukong could wield it effectively. This not only awed the dragon and his wife, it also threw the sea into confusion, since the monkey king had removed the only thing controlling the ebb and flow of the ocean's tides. In addition to the magic staff, Wukong also forced Ao Guang to give him other magical gifts; including golden chain mail, a phoenix-feather cap, and cloud-walking boots.
Notes
[1] Fengshen Yanyi Chapter 12.
[2] Journey to the West Chapter 3.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ao_Guang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology
Fengshen Yanyi characters | Chinese gods | Journey to the West
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