Table of Contents
CONCEPT OF THREE LUCKY GODS
Fu Lu Shou – Three Lucky Gods (Vietnamese Phước Lộc Thọ) is the term usually used in East Asian culture, to talk about the three basic things of a good life: many posterities, wealth, and longevity. Each thing is symbolized by a god; these three are always with together.
Fu Lu Shou – Three Lucky Gods.
LEGEND OF THREE LUCKY GODS
1. LEGEND OF FU
Mr. Fu brings happiness to people. Mr. Fu’s real name is Guo Ziyi (Vietnamese Quách Tử Nghi), the Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty (The dynasty lasted from 201BC to 207BC) in Chinese history. For his descendants, he nurtured to become good people. For his relatives, he supported the poor people. For his people in the country, he was an official full of integrity who took care of the people for all his life.
Because of his integrity, his family was not so rich. However, he was loved by the public, his wife loved her husband a lot, and did chores hard, his children and grandchildren were obedient. He died at 83 years old, at the same time with his wife. His funeral was attended by many people, descendants were crowded. After his death, people cast statues to remember him. His statue has a child in his arms or many grandchildren around. People have believed that displaying him in the home would bring much happiness to the family.
2. LEGEND OF LU
Mr. Lu brings money and property to people. His real name was Dau Tu Quan, who was the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty (266-420) and His hometown was Jiangxi. He was born into a rich family, enjoyed countless gold and silver. In spite of being a rich person, but he did not enjoy happiness alone. He built many retirement homes and hospitals to take care of the lonely elderly and the disabled and opened many schools for children. He usually opened rice storehouses to distributed to the poor. Despite being rich, he was very humble, simple and sociable with everybody. He was loved by everyone; after his death, the people made statues to remember. The statue of him is wearing an officer hat and holding a scepter and a gold bar as the symbol of power and wealth.
3. LEGEND OF SHOU
Mr. Shou brings longevity to humans. He was a prime minister of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220) named Dongfang Shuo (Vietnamese: Đông Phương Sóc). He was an officer full of integrity and took care of people’s lives for all his life, especially the elderly and the disabled. His temperament was simple, happy, open, harmonious with everybody. Therefore, he was loved by the people and family. He died at 125 years old. His funeral had so many people attending. His descendants were all over the country but they all returned to attend the funeral. After his death, people cast statues to remember him. His statue shows an old man with white hair and a beard, his right hand holding a stick with medicinal gourds, his left hand handing a peach.
Mr. Fu, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Shou lived in 3 different periods but have been honored by the people as gods bringing happiness, wealth, and longevity to people.
THE WAY TO PUT THE STATUES OF FU, LU, and SHOU
The three statues Fu, Lu, and Shou – Three Lucky Gods should be put on a high table in the living room or on a high shelf in the office. Placing the statues in the kitchen, bathroom or bedroom is considered disrespectful and very bad according to feng shui.
The three statues Fu, Lu, and Shou are always placed next to each other, never separated and in a certain order. On the left (apart from looking at) is always Mr. Fu, in the middle is Mr. Lu, Mr. Shou is always on the right. The faces of the three gods looked at the door together.
