Who is the Leigong 雷公 Master of Thunder

Leigong, also known as "Leishi" (Master of Thunder) and "Leishen" (God of Thunder), is the deity in charge of thunder among the gods of Taoism. The belief in Leigong has a long history, originating from the ancient Chinese ancestors' natural worship of thunder and lightning. In ancient times, climate changes were abnormal: a clear sky would suddenly be covered with dark clouds, with rumbling thunder and flashing lightning. Sometimes, thunder and lightning would destroy trees and harm people and animals, making people think that there was a god in the sky who was angry, thus generating fear and offering worship to it.

There are various images of Leigong. Shan Hai Jing · Hai Nei Dong Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas · Records of the Eastern Regions Within the Seas) states: "In the Lei Ze (Thunder Marsh) lives the Thunder God, with the body of a dragon and the head of a human, who beats his belly (to make thunder)." This image is half-human and half-beast. People believed that thunder resounded in the sky, and dragons also soared in the sky, so they combined the two, and imagined that there was a drum around his waist, and the drum produced thunder. Later, the image of Leigong further evolved.

Youyang Zazu · Qian Ji (Miscellaneous Records of Youyang · First Collection) describes him as: "Having a pig's head, two fingers on each hand and foot, holding a red snake and gnawing on it."

Gu Jin Tushu Jicheng · Shenyi Dian (Comprehensive Collection of Ancient and Modern Books · Volume of Divine Wonders) says: "With a pig's head and a scaly body."

Zhu Ding Yu Wen (Remaining Notes on Tripod Casting) records: "Having a large head and a ghost-like shape, with white hair around the neck, a vermilion calf-nose belt, a yellow sash, holding an axe in the right hand and a chisel in the left hand, and moving connected drums in the fire."

Ji Shuo Quan Zhen (Explanations of Truths from Collected Sayings) quotes Sou Shen Ji (Records of Searching for Gods) as: "His color is like cinnabar, his eyes are like mirrors, his hair and horns are more than three feet long, his shape is like domestic animals, and his head is like a macaque."

Yi Jian Bing Zhi (Records of Yi Jian・Third Collection) describes his appearance as a strange ghost: "About three feet tall, with a face and flesh all in green. There is a headscarf on the head, like the 幞头 (a type of headwear) in the world, but it is made of flesh, connected to the forehead."

In short, the image of Leigong is inconsistent. His body shape can be that of a dragon, a human, or a beast; his face can be human-like, monkey-like, pig-like, or ghost-like. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the image of Leigong tended to be unified, and its standard image was generally as described in Ji Shuo Quan Zhen: "Shaped like a strong man, with a bare chest and belly, two wings inserted on the back, three eyes on the forehead, a red face like a monkey, a long and sharp chin, feet like an eagle or a crane with sharper claws, holding a chisel in the left hand and a hammer in the right hand, in a posture ready to strike. From the top of the head to the side, there are five connected drums hanging in a ring, and one drum is stepped on by the left and right feet. He is called 'Leigong Jiang Tianjun' (Heavenly Lord Jiang, the God of Thunder)." It can be seen that the most obvious features of Leigong at this time were a monkey face and a pointed mouth.

Leigong's birthday is the 24th day of the sixth lunar month.