Wei Hu韦护

History vs. fiction

The deification of the Buddhist Dharma protector in the Investiture of the Gods

• novel inventionWei Hu, a disciple of Daoxing Tianzun, holding a vajra pestle, helped the Zhou and ultimately attained sainthood with his physical body.

  In the Investiture of the Gods, Wei Hu is one of the few third-generation disciples of the Chan sect who ultimately attained sainthood with his physical body. The origin of his image is very clear, namely the Buddhist protector deity Weituo (Skanda). The author of the novel not only simplified his name to Wei Hu but also seamlessly retained his weapon, the 'vajra pestle', and incorporated him into the Taoist Chan sect to participate in the war to overthrow King Zhou of Shang. Merging indigenous deities with Buddhist bodhisattvas was a common technique in Ming dynasty novels and has nothing to do with the actual history of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.