文昌帝君又稱梓童帝君或文昌公，職司考試、功名，源於四川成都平原，傳說始於漢武帝時代，最初可能是山神之類的自然神，隨著信仰者日眾，逐漸轉變成人格神。於《十六國春秋》裡，文昌帝君的身份是「張惡子」，根據四川地方用語，惡子與蛇有關，推測文昌帝君原來可能是蛇神。張惡子在唐朝時因為助皇室有功，唐玄宗(712-756)授為左丞。唐僖宗(874-888)逃到四川時，張惡子再度顯靈於利縣的桔伯亭，襄助唐朝皇室，張惡子被封為濟順王。宋朝1004年時，因協助官方壓制四川暴亂，封為英顯王，至1316年（元延祐3年）時，仁宗敕封為「輔元開化文昌司祿宏仁帝君」。值此階段，張惡子已經轉化原有的地方神和山神色彩，成為普遍流傳的神祇，稱號也變成目前流傳的文昌帝君。
除了歷代帝王的赦封外，自十一至十二世紀起，梓潼信仰和預言科舉考試的宗教實踐之間，其關係愈趨密切。梓童真君對參與科舉考試者示以各種預言，經由氣候變化、夢境、或化為真人，提示考生以考試的重點。由於頗有靈驗，讀書人於是祭祀之以求功名。後來，文昌帝君也產生經典《梓潼帝君化書》，目前收於《道藏》洞真部，經中記載梓潼君多次感生降世的歷程，並對世人示現以儒家官員的道德典範。此外，文昌化書的相關內容如《文昌君陰騭文》也產生敬惜字紙的傳統，民間廟宇興建有敬字亭。相關的種種發展將梓童信仰塑造成今天的文君帝君，成為職掌讀書人和科舉考試的神祇。由於文昌信仰日益發展，也形成陪祀神祗的系統，明、清時期文昌帝君先是發展出侍神天聾、地啞，後來又有「五文昌」的組合模式。五文昌包括梓潼帝君、孚佑帝君、文衡帝君、朱衣神君與魁斗星君。
魁斗星君是另一個與文昌帝君有關的信仰，源於古代的星神。魁星是北斗七星斗部四顆星的總稱，魁是第一的意思，魁星乃是主管文字能力、考試等的星神。北斗七星也有文昌宮，是指北斗七星中斗魁背上成半月型的六顆星。北斗星與文運、考試有關，這是因為古代有謂南斗注生，北斗注死，因為北斗是掌管人的命數，又因文昌宮和文昌星又剛好在北斗裡，所以人們祈求文星以得功名。文昌和梓童聯結的結果，因此魁斗星也成為五文昌之一。
台灣各地早期的文昌廟多與學堂結合，又稱「文祠」、「文昌祠」，多由地方士人為促進學風籌資興建。因此，全臺灣有許多文昌祠或供奉文昌的地方，目前是在書院裡或以書院為名，甚至座落在學校裡，例如南投明新書院即座落在南投集集的永昌國小內。此外，全省各地幾乎都有文昌祠，且各大廟幾乎都有文昌為陪祠神，以滿足民眾的需求。民眾在文昌誕辰或考期將近時，會帶一些諧音有吉祥之意的供品拜文昌，例如蔥表聰明；芹菜表勤勞；蘿蔔，以台語的菜頭表示好采頭；還有桂花表貴等等代表好吉兆的供品，希望這些供品帶來好運，文昌帝君賜予子女或自己學業進步、金榜題名。
關鍵詞：文昌帝君、魁斗星君、梓潼、文昌化書。
參考資料
Kleeman, Terry F . (1994) A God's own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang: the Divine Lord o f Zitong. Albany: SUNY.
Kleeman, Terry F . (1988) Wenchang and the viper : the creation of a Chinese nationaI God. Berkeley : Universityof California .
高梧。2008。《文昌信仰習俗研究》。四川：巴蜀出版社。
梁其姿。1994。〈清代的惜字會〉。《新史學》，5 ( 2 ) : 83－115。
Wenchang dijun is called Zitong dijun, Wenchang jun, or Wenchang gung also. His major function is blessing Confucian student to get the official rank in civil examination. Wenchang is origins from Sichuan province (四川省). It is said that he was beginning in Han dynasty. Regarding to a unofficial historical record, Shiliu guo chunqiu (十六國春秋), Wenchang’s name was Zhang E-zi (張惡子) before. E-zi means viper in Sichuan dialect. It is suppose that Wenchang was a god in relation to snake or a mountain god before. The first time Wenchang getting promotion was in Tang dynasty. Tang Xuan-zong (唐玄宗, 712-756) did this because of Wenchang assisting him during the An Shi Rebellion (安史之亂, 755-763). Tang Xuan zong decreed Zhang E-zi as the Left Minister (左丞相). Zhang E-zi showed off once again when it was Tang Xizong (唐僖宗) reined in Jiboting, Li county, Si-chuan (四川利縣佶伯亭). Then Zhang E-zi was promoted to be the wang (王) whose title was Jishun (濟順). In 1004, Song dynasty ,Zhang E-zi helped authority suppress the riot in Sichuan and was decreed as Ying-xian wang (英顯王). In 1316, Yuan dynasty, Wenchang got his longest title from Yuan ren-zong (元仁宗) that was Fuyuan Kaihua Wenchang Silu Hongren dijun (輔元開化文昌司祿宏仁帝君). At that time, Wenchang was totally liberated from his viper god identity and became a person god. After Zhang E-zi changed his title, people call it shortly as Wenchang dijun.
Another one important thread about Wenchang was combined with predicating the civil examination from 11 to 12 century. People who wanted to take the civil examination believe that Wenchang could manifest the omen or the hint about the examination’s question to them by way of climate changes, dream experience, incarnation as someone etc. Because of Wenchang’s efficacious, ling yan (靈驗), Wenchang was majorly worshiped by Confucian student. Wenchang even created its own scripture by means of spirit writing (鸞書). The scripture’s title is Zitong dijun Huashu (梓潼帝君化書). In this scripture, Wenchang incarnated many times as as a role model of Confucian scholar and officers. Apparently, its target reader is Confucian students. Besides scriptures, the cult of Wenchang also created its own new religious practice. It is xi zi (惜字) or jing zi (敬字). Its basic rule is embedded with Buddhist kama theory and combined with the idea of respecting and cherishing words and paper. The practice of xi zi is when people deal with the paper which words is on it, people should deposit the paper into a specific sacred place, a pagoda called xi zi ting (惜字亭)or jing zi ting (敬字亭), and burn it. Wenchang also developed his own hierarchy. There are five Wenchang gods, including Zitong dijun (梓潼帝君), Fuyou dijun (孚佑帝君), Wenheng dijun (文衡帝君) , Zhuyi shen jun (朱衣神君), and Kuidou xing jun (魁斗星君) and it own two servant gods, Tianlong (天聾), Diya (地啞).
In early Taiwan, most of Wenchang temples were founded by local Confucian officers, scholars and merchandise. They raised fund for the Wenchang temple and established it with shu yuan (書院), a kind of private school, in order to promote the studying of Confucianism. That is the reason why there are some Wehchang temples located in public school or named with shu yuan now. For example, in Nantou county (南投縣), the Mingxin shu yuan (明新書院), a Wenchang temple, is located in a elementary school.
Because of the need of praying for passing the examination, almost all kind of temples set the statue or image of Wenchang. When the civil examination or joint admission examination of university is going to held on, people will offer some food or flowers with auspice, such as celery, Chinese radish (daikon), or osmanthus to pray to Wenchang for themselves or their family members.
Keywords: Wenchang dijun, Zitong, Zitong dijun Huashu
References:
Kleeman, Terry F . (1994) A God's own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang: the Divine Lord o f Zitong. Albany: SUNY.
Kleeman, Terry F . (1988) Wenchang and the viper : the creation of a Chinese nationaI God. Berkeley : Universityof California .
高梧。2008。《文昌信仰習俗研究》。四川：巴蜀出版社。
梁其姿。1994。〈清代的惜字會〉。《新史學》，5 ( 2 ) : 83－115。