The most popular Wong Tai Sin in Hong Kong was actually a Taoist priest from Maoshan?

  The most famous Taoist temple in Hong Kong is the Wong Tai Sin Temple. Some people take the name literally and think that Wong Tai Sin is a weasel, but this is completely wrong. Wong Tai Sin is not a weasel at all, and he doesn't have the surname "Wong". So who exactly is the long-famous Wong Tai Sin and why is he highly respected by believers in the Lingnan region? This is because the origin of Wong Tai Sin is extraordinary; coupled with some unexpected factors, it has created the renowned Wong Tai Sin.

Wong Tai Sin's original surname is not Wong. His original name was Huang Chuping, and he was from Danxi, Zhejiang Province. His family was poor, and he made a living by herding sheep since childhood. A Taoist priest who achieved enlightenment met Huang Chuping and thought he was kind and cautious, so he accepted him as a disciple and took him to Jinhua Mountain for cultivation. In ancient times, the inheritance of Taoist practices mainly relied on the masters finding disciples, not as people imagine that disciples seek masters.

Huang Chuping cultivated on Jinhua Mountain for more than forty years. During this period, his elder brother, Huang Chuqi, thought his younger brother had been abducted and sold and never gave up looking for him. But after searching for decades, he still couldn't find him. Later, a Taoist priest who was good at divination appeared in the market. Huang Chuqi asked him to divine the whereabouts of his younger brother. This Taoist priest was likely Huang Chuping's master, and he knew exactly where Huang Chuping was.

Huang Chuqi was overjoyed and immediately followed the Taoist priest to Jinhua Mountain to search. Sure enough, the two brothers met on Jinhua Mountain. Seeing that his younger brother had achieved enlightenment, Huang Chuqi also learned Taoist arts from his younger brother. Later, both brothers achieved the fruit of enlightenment.

The above is the simple cultivation experience of Huang Chuping, and it doesn't differ much from the general biographies of immortals. The reason why Huang Chuping transformed into Wong Tai Sin is also related to later developments. According to the Taoist belief, Huang Chuping from Zhejiang Province, after achieving enlightenment in cultivation, was appointed by the Jade Emperor as the deity in charge of Mount Hengshan in Nanyue and was responsible for the divisions of the world.

The Five Mountains hold an important position in the hearts of the Chinese people, so Huang Chuping was also recognized by the government. During the Southern Song Dynasty, he was conferred the title of "Yangsu True Man" by the imperial court and entered the official sequence of government sacrifices. This step was very crucial and had an extremely special significance for the birth of Wong Tai Sin.

Shortly after Huang Chuping was conferred by the imperial court, a Taoist group centered around Luofu Mountain emerged in Lingnan. Because the Maoshan School was very powerful at that time, this Taoist group also called itself the "Maoshan School". To distinguish it from the Maoshan School in Jurong, this school was called the Southern Maoshan School. And because Ge Hong, the Little Immortal Master, once refined elixirs on Luofu Mountain, the Southern Maoshan School regarded Ge Hong as its founding master.

The Southern Maoshan School highly respected Huang Chuping, who was "officially recognized", and believed that he was Ge Hong's disciple. Therefore, Wong Tai Sin also became a "Maoshan" Taoist priest. To avoid unnecessary troubles, people changed "Huang" to "Wong", which gave rise to the later highly influential Wong Tai Sin. The belief in Wong Tai Sin gradually spread in Lingnan.
Of course, the reason why Wong Tai Sin could have such later influence also lies in the "Divination Sticks of Wong Tai Sin" and the "Medicine Prescriptions of Wong Tai Sin". These two divination books were not included in the 正统道藏 Orthodox Taoist Canon (Orthodox Taoist Canon) of the Ming Dynasty, but they couldn't resist the strong support from the folk. Taoist temples dedicated to Wong Tai Sin all have divination sticks, divination poems, and medicine prescriptions. Most believers enter the Wong Tai Sin Temple for this purpose.

From the deity in charge of Mount Hengshan to the widely-believed Wong Tai Sin, on the one hand, Huang Chuping relied on his own efforts in cultivation, and on the other hand, he was more blessed by luck. It is said that the divination sticks of Wong Tai Sin are very accurate. I wonder if anyone has sought divination?