Xiaoziye (), also known as San Ye (; lit. "Third Lord"), is a deity venerated in some regional traditions of Chinese folk religion. He is associated with the Heibai Wuchang, a pair of underworld officials, and is identified in some traditions with Ding Lan (), a figure known for his filial piety in The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars ().
Origin
The origin of Xiaoziye is associated with legendary or historical figures known for filial piety. One prominent example is Dong Yong (), a figure from Chinese folklore who is said to have sold himself into servitude to pay for his father's funeral. His story became widely known through Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy (), in which his filial devotion moves the heavens and leads to divine intervention and his marriage to a heavenly fairy.
The image of Xiaoziye closely resembles that of Bai Wuchang (White Impermanence), one of the Heibai Wuchang (Black and White Impermanence), and the two are sometimes confused. Heibai Wuchang are underworld officials who serve deities such as Yanluo Wang, the City God, and Dongyue Dadi.
Legend Xiaoziye's legend is based on the tale of Ding Lan, known as Carving Wood to Serve His Parents (). According to the legend, Ding Lan lived during the Eastern Han dynasty and lost his parents while he was still young. He carved wooden images of them and treated them as he would have treated them in life, consulting them on daily matters, offering them food, and paying his respects morning and night. One day, his wife pricked the finger of one of the wooden images with a needle. The image then bled and wept. When Ding Lan discovered what had happened, he divorced his wife for disrespecting the image of his parent. The story presents Ding Lan as an exemplar of filial piety (xiào, 孝).
According to some folk traditions, Xiaoziye is the honorific title of Lord Third (, Sān Yé), an underworld official who was said to have been a wealthy but unfilial man during his lifetime. He spent his time gambling, drinking, visiting prostitutes, and demanding money from his mother, whom he sometimes abused. He later repented after seeing a young bird feeding its mother and a lamb kneeling while nursing, but returned home to find that his mother had died. He mourned her death and later died himself. He was punished in the underworld but refused reincarnation after completing his sentence, considering himself unworthy. Yanluo Wang eventually appointed him to manage the finances of the underworld, after which he became known as Lord Third and was worshipped as Xiaoziye.
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