The Eternal Fire Lamp, also known as the Continuous Lamp, or the Endless Lamp, is a lamp that is always bright day and night in front of the Buddha. Everlasting lanterns Since ancient times, every household has lit lanterns on New Year's Eve. Once it is lit, it cannot be blown out until the oil runs out and the candle eventually goes out on its own. This is an ancient traditional custom. Eternal lanterns are also placed in the tombs of Chinese kings, hoping that they will be as brightly lit as the palaces they lived in during their lifetimes.
Legend and Origin
The eternal fire first appeared in various mythological stories. It is said that this unquenchable fire is the fire of heaven, which was secretly brought to mankind by Prometheus. In short, human beings know this secret by chance. Perhaps a certain sage passed it on to humans, just like Shennong taught humans how to grow crops, and Youchao taught humans how to build shelters. Once humans figured out how to make permanent lights, the news spread like wildfire, and temples around the world wanted to install the lights that would never go out. According to the customs in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, dead people also need lights to drive away the darkness and illuminate the way. Therefore, it was customary to place a lamp inside the tomb before it was sealed. And a wealthy and prosperous home should be more luxurious, and put a lamp that never goes out to illuminate the deceased forever. Thousands of years later, when the vaults of these tombs were opened, excavators found that the lamps inside were still burning well. But these were facts from the past, and today it remains an unsolved mystery. In China, it is said that on New Year's Eve, as the gods ascend to heaven, all the ghosts and gods come out to look for food, especially those ghosts, monsters, demons and the like. These loose ghosts who usually do not get worshiped during the New Year and festivals are even more coveted companions ( Because every house has a lot of cakes this night). If the lights are blown out and the sky and earth are dark, it will catch people, especially if children cry in the middle of the night or old people cough, their lives will be hard to save. There are many similar records. It is recorded in the historical records that an ever-light lamp was placed in the tomb of the First Emperor of Qin. The Chinese have a tradition of treating death as life. The tomb after death is also called the Yin House. The kings pay special attention to the tomb as a residence after death. He also hoped that the lights would be as bright as the palace before his death, so there was an everlasting lantern.
Edit the structure and characteristics of this paragraph
An ever-burning lamp has a double-layer structure. The inner container contains lamp oil, the wick is soaked in vinegar, and the outer layer contains water to cool the lamp oil. ; This is a great invention, because the oil consumed by the oil lamp is not ignited, but volatilized by heat. The wick soaked in vinegar can not only keep the low temperature, but the water outside the oil jar can also effectively prevent the oil temperature from rising, but the long-lasting light is after all Ideal wishes; during the excavation of Dingling Mausoleum in Beijing, there was a large celadon vat in the main hall of the mausoleum, which contained waxy lamp oil and a wick. This was an ever-bright lamp, but apparently this lamp died soon after the mausoleum was closed. It went out because the airtight mausoleum lacked the oxygen needed for combustion.
Edit this paragraph: Eternal lamps in ancient tombs
Eternal lamps in ancient tombs
There are tomb robbers all over the world. They try every possible means to steal from ancient tombs. Gold, silver and jewelry have been buried for thousands of years, and ancient tombs are often isolated from the outside world, allowing the treasures to remain intact after thousands of years. In this ancient tomb that has never seen the light of day all year round, tomb robbers usually think that there should be nothing inside. But sometimes they were horrified to find that on the vaults of some ancient tombs, a bright lamp cast a faint light. In 527 AD, Syria was under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire. Eastern Roman soldiers in Syria at that time discovered that a lamp was burning in a niche in a pass. The lamp was covered by an exquisite cover. The cover seemed to be used for Windproof. According to inscriptions found at the time, the lamp was lit in AD 27. When the soldiers discovered it, the lamp had been burning for 500 years! Unfortunately, savage soldiers soon destroyed it, and no one knew the workings of this mysterious lamp. A Greek historian recorded a lamp burning on the door of the Temple of the Sun in Egypt. This lamp does not use any fuel and has been burning for centuries, regardless of wind or rain, it will not go out. According to the description of the Roman theologian St. Augustine, there was a similar lamp in the Temple of Venus in Egypt, which could not be extinguished by wind or rain. It was a bit like the fire found on the Flame Mountain described in "Journey to the West".
Buddha statues have different handprints, including Dharma, Wuwei, and Meditation mudras. Changming Lantern Tower of Longfu Temple
The Yanglian tray has a flat top with two grooves carved in it, and a shallow circular hole in the center. Stone lanterns are one of the temple offerings. The earliest one is the Northern Qi stone lantern of Tongzi Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The stone lantern of the Tang Dynasty is the stone lantern of Faxing Zen Temple in Cilin Mountain, Changzi County, Shanxi in the eighth year of Dali (773 AD). The stone lantern of Qianxian County, Shaanxi Niusi Tang Dynasty stone lantern, stone lantern from the Buddhist temple in the south of Zhuque Street, Longquan Prefecture, Shangjing in the late Bohai Kingdom of Ning'an, Heilongjiang Province (AD 893-906). Based on the analysis of the shapes of these stone lanterns and the mao structure on the tray of the ancient county lantern tower, it can be concluded that the upper part of the ancient county stone lantern should have a light chamber. Compared with stone lanterns of the same period, Guxian stone lanterns have fine and rigorous carving techniques and solemn and simple styles. They are precious stone carvings from the Tang Dynasty. It also has the following two characteristics: 1. It was the earliest to be established. The ancient county stone lantern is accurately dated to April of the fourth year of Chuigong. It is the earliest known stone lantern in the Tang Dynasty. 2. The ancient county stone lanterns are huge in shape, rich in carving content, and have extremely high historical value. The stone pillars of the ancient county stone lanterns are not only carved with Buddha statues, musical instruments, scriptures, but also verses, prefaces, eulogies and other contents, which are not found in other stone lanterns. [1]
Reason for editing this paragraph
Silver Changming Lamp
So does this unusual lamp represent ancient high technology? How did our ancestors invent these lamps that never go out? The eternal fire first appeared in various mythological stories. It is said that this unquenchable fire is the fire of heaven, and it was Prometheus who secretly brought it to mankind. In short, human beings know this secret by chance. Perhaps a certain sage passed it on to humans, just like Shennong taught humans how to grow crops, and Youchao taught humans how to build shelters. Once humans figured out how to make permanent lights, the news spread like wildfire, and temples around the world wanted to install the lights that would never go out. According to the customs in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, dead people also need lights to drive away the darkness and illuminate the way. Therefore, it was customary to place a lamp inside the tomb before it was sealed. And a wealthy and prosperous home should be more luxurious, and put a lamp that never goes out to illuminate the deceased forever. Thousands of years later, when the vaults of these tombs were opened, excavators found that the lamps inside were still burning well. Were the ancients familiar with making lamps that never go out? Not so, ordinary civilians do not have such lights in their tombs. However, such lamps also appeared in the tombs of ancient alchemists who were not wealthy and luxurious. For example, in 1610 AD, the tomb of an alchemist named Los Cruz was dug 120 years after his death, and people found that there was also such a burning lamp inside. So people suspected that the alchemists and casters of ancient times knew the technology of making such everlasting lamps. Could it be that the lights that don’t go out have something to do with metal?
Edit this paragraph about the mystery of the lamp that never goes out
Unfortunately, there is no trace of this kind of lamp that never goes out. Are the experiences recorded in the past true? The light that never goes out has naturally become a subject of scholarly debate. Some people believe that the records of ever-burning lamps in various countries around the world are enough to confirm that there is indeed such a lamp that does not go out, or a lamp that burns for a long time. It is just that the technology is lost and we people today cannot understand it. Most knowledgeable people in the Middle Ages believed that such lamps did exist and believed that they had some kind of magical power. Others believe that although there are so many records about ever-burning lamps, in reality there is no ever-burning lamp in public view, and the energy problem of this kind of lamp seriously violates the law of energy conservation, so this kind of lamp that does not go out should Doesn't exist. Many people think that this may be a clever joke made by the ancients in the book. If ever-burning lamps really exist, what is their source of energy? Or they are not always bright, but they burn for thousands of years. If they are ordinary kerosene lamps, they will consume tens of thousands of liters of kerosene. Can their fuel be continuously replenished? After the Middle Ages, many thinkers tried to create an ever-burning lamp by refueling, that is, quickly replenishing the fuel when it was about to run out. But none of the experiments have been successful. Even if modern continuous fuel replenishment technology is used to create a lamp that can last for thousands of years, it is not realistic.
Some people boldly speculate that this kind of lamp is a lamp that uses electricity. The liquid that looks like fuel in the lamp bowl may be mercury used to conduct electricity. Therefore, the "fuel" seems to be endless. This kind of lamp that uses electricity also Not afraid of wind and rain. The ancient Hebrews kept a modern technology called electricity secret. It is described that in the 13th century, a Frenchman named Jachery owned a lamp without any oil or wick. Usually the lamp was placed on the front porch of his room where everyone could see it. When Jacheli was asked why the light was on, he always smiled slightly: "Keep it secret!" Jacheli has done many experiments related to electricity. In order to protect himself from his enemies, he invented a discharge button that could discharge a current to the iron handle on the door. When Jacheri presses the button, shiny blue sparks pop out. If the magic lamp is really lit by electricity, how is the electricity generated? Are there machines that can generate electricity installed in temples or ancient tombs? To achieve a continuous supply of electrical energy once and for all, only solar power generation can do it. Does the magic lamp really use solar energy to generate electricity? The ancients seem unwilling to tell us the secret.
Edit this paragraph for modern explanation
The wick of the ever-burning lamp contains white phosphorus and other chemicals that are easy to spontaneously ignite when exposed to oxygen. There is a lack of oxygen in a sealed tomb. When someone opens the tomb, a large amount of The influx of fresh air with oxygen into the sealed tomb caused the spontaneous combustion of chemicals such as white phosphorus, causing the ever-burning lamp to ignite. There is a process involved in digging a tomb (especially the older sealed tombs). Due to the lack of oxygen and the toxic chemical air produced by the tomb itself after it is sealed, it is generally not allowed to enter the tomb for a period of time after the tomb is opened (many inexperienced people Tomb robbers died of suffocation or poisoning) and had to wait until the air in the tomb was clear before entering. This time difference caused people to enter the tomb and find that the lamp was burning, and mistakenly thought that the lamp was always on.