Erlang Shen Yang Jian 二郎神杨戬
A deity of the Chinese Taoist-Buddhist pantheon, a dragon-slaying god who controls the flooding of rivers, and the greatest warrior of Heaven.
A character from a number of classic legends, including Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West. His defining attribute is an all-seeing third eye.
By origin, he is a deified version of several semi-mythical heroes dating back to the legends of the Qin, Sui, and Jin dynasties. Later Buddhist sources describe him as the second son of Vaiśravaṇa, the Northern Heavenly King, which to some extent associates him with Muzha, the second brother of the child deity Nezha.
In the Ming dynasty mythological novels Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, as well as in the legend of the Lotus Lantern, Erlang Shen Yang Jian appears as the nephew of the Jade Emperor, and in the latter he is the second son born of the forbidden union between the Jade Emperor's sister and a mortal man.
