What are the four great beasts in China? Where did it originate? What's the point?

Oriental Qinglong

There are many legends about dragons, and

There are also many stories about the origin of dragons. Some say that they were introduced from India, while others say that they were transformed from China. India itself is said by the dragon god, but the dragon's position in India is not high, and there is also a real thing-python.

In the era when the Five Elements Theory prevailed, stories about Qinglong began to spread slowly. According to the Yin-Yang and Five Elements, the Five Elements assigned five colors to the southeast, northwest and middle schools, and each color was accompanied by a beast and a god. East is cyan, with dragon, west is white, with tiger, south is vermilion, north is black, with martial arts, and yellow is the central positive color.

among the gods in all directions, according to Shan Hai Jing,' Zhu Rong in the south is a beast with a human face, riding two dragons.' ; In western Ru Shou, there is a snake in the left ear, and you can ride two dragons.' ; In the east, there is Ju Mang, who is a bird and a man, riding two dragons.' ; In the north, Yu Jiang, with black hands and feet, rides on two dragons.' It is interesting that dragons in the Classic of Mountains and Seas are all riding, while snakes of the same kind with him are all being held or held or held or around their necks, showing the difference between the two. However, the five gods in the five directions are not the same as the four gods in the four directions, so I won't elaborate on them here. Suzaku, Xuanwu (black tortoise and snake, martial arts means tortoise and snake), Qinglong and Baihu respectively represent the twenty-eight lodges in the four directions. The dragon is the seven lodges in the East-the horn, the sonorous, the chariot, the house, the heart, the tail and the dustpan, and the shape of these seven lodges is very dragon-shaped. From their word meaning, it can be seen that the horn is the horn of the dragon and the sonorous is the dragon.

There is also a part in the heart of the dragon, which some people call a' fire', which is related to sunny and rainy weather, and because Qinglong belongs to wood, it is also Jupiter's old age. After the rise of Taoism, these four spirits were also crowned with names, which are convenient for human beings to call. Qinglong is called Meng Zhang, White Tiger is called prison soldier, Suzaku is called Lingguang, and Xuanwu is called Zhiming. In many dynasties, some monarchs took Qinglong as their own titles, such as Wei Mingdi in the Three Kingdoms, and there are also records about Xia Dynasty belonging to Mude Dynasty, so he has'.

In China after ancient times, the head with horns was a male dragon; Double horn is called dragon, and single horn is called dumpling; The horned one is a viper. In ancient times, there were often large and small Ssangyong in Yu Pei, which was still called the mother-child viper. The status of dragons is much higher than that of India. Because it is sacred and supreme in loong, it is also a symbol of the emperor. It is also the representative of the east, and the five elements belong to wood. Because cyan belongs to wood, there are sayings of Zuo Qinglong and You Baihu.

Among the 28 stars, seven in the east-Jiao, Kang, Bian, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji-are used in the stars. The ancients imagined them as dragons. Because they were located in the east, they matched the colors of the five parties according to the five elements of Yin and Yang, and the east was blue, hence the name' Qinglong'.

And there is a folk saying that the dragon is lewd. When you have sex with cows, you will have a unicorn, and when you have sex with pigs, you will have an elephant.

The so-called dragon gives birth to nine sons, which is not like the dragon's saying. This is the case.

The eldest son is called a prison cow: he loves music, so he often stands on the head of the piano. Such as the Hu Qin of the Han nationality and the Sangqin of the Bai nationality. Ma Touqin in Mongolia may also be a variant of prison cattle.

The second son is Chi Pi: He loves to kill, so he is often put on weapons to intimidate the enemy. At the same time, it is used in ceremonial ceremonies to appear more dignified.

Saner is Mochifeng: it's a beast-shaped dragon, which looks a bit like a dog. It's good at watching, so it's often placed in the corner of the temple. It is said that it can intimidate demons and eliminate disasters.

The first Si Er is Bulao: People like to roar, so they put it on the clock, mostly in the image of Bulao. It is said that it lives on the seashore, but it is very afraid of whales. Once whales attack, it will scream with fear. Therefore, people made the wooden pestle into the shape of a whale to make the bronze bell particularly loud.

The fifth son is an elder sister-in-law: shaped like a lion. It is a foreign product, which was introduced to China with Buddhism, so it is a bit like a Buddha. It is so quiet and loves fireworks. Therefore, it is often placed on the Buddha's throne or incense burner to protect Buddhism.

The sixth son is Ba Xia: also known as the spindly, he looks like a turtle. Legend has it that in ancient times, it often carried three mountains and five mountains to make waves. After being soothed by Xia Yu, he made a lot of contributions to Xia Yu. After the flood control became an attack, Xia Yu took its merits and let it back on its own. Therefore, China's stone tablets are mostly carried by it.

The seventh son is an armadillo: also known as the Charter, it looks like a tiger. According to legend, it upholds justice and can distinguish right from wrong, so it is placed on the top and bottom of the prison gate, in the lobby and at the top of the sign that officials are silent and evasive when they are on patrol, so as to maintain the awe-inspiring atmosphere of the court.

the eighth son is a burden: because he loves literature, he has more than two items on the stone tablet.

Mozi is a kiss: also known as the tail of a fish-shaped dragon. According to legend, it was introduced from India with Buddhism around the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It is something in the Buddhist scriptures under the rain god, which can put out fires. Therefore, the kiss is changed from this, so it is placed at both ends of the roof to eliminate disasters and put out fires.

Western White Tiger

In the Four Holy Beasts of China, another dragon is often compared with the' White Tiger'; Tiger is the leader of all animals. Its power and legendary ability to subdue ghosts make it a beast belonging to Yang, and it often goes out with dragons.' Clouds follow dragons, winds follow tigers' become a pair of best partners to subdue ghosts.

and the white tiger is also a god of war and war. The white tiger has many magical powers, such as avoiding evil, avoiding disasters, praying for prosperity and punishing evil, promoting goodness, getting rich and getting married. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also changed from the stars. Among the 28 stars, there are seven in the west: Kui, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Gou and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the west, and its whiteness is due to the west, which belongs to gold in the five elements and is white in color. So it is called white tiger not because it is white, but from the five elements.

In addition to the four spirits in Taoism, including the dragon and white tiger, even when the geomantic master explored the cemetery, the terrain protruding on the left and right sides in front of the terrain could be used as a tomb, which was called Zuo Qinglong and Right White Tiger, which meant to guard it, and there were the same decorations in the court, with dragons and white tigers painted on the left and right pillars to suppress evil spirits. After the rise of Taoism, Dragon Tiger was borrowed as the term of Taoist alchemy, which means "lead and mercury, fire and water, yin and yang", and so on. Taoist alchemy is divided into internal and external parts (internal alchemy refines qi and external alchemy medicine, but I'm not quite sure about it). As far as Yin and Yang and five elements are concerned, the internal alchemy means that the dragon is born out of the fire, so the cloud' dragon comes out of the fire', the tiger yin is born in the ridge, and the ridge belongs to the water, so the cloud' tiger is born to the water'. After the two elements are combined, one yin and one yang are mutual. Another way of saying this is that sex belongs to wood, and wood represents the East, which is an earthquake in divination, so it is a dragon; Love belongs to gold, gold represents the west, and the hexagrams are exchanged, which is golden white, so it is called the white tiger. Gold can crush wood, so feelings are more harmful. If we use the true essence of 28 to make it one, then Jin Mu will be seamless, and the dragon and tiger will become Dan from the crouching. In the human body, the liver will be the dragon and the kidney will be the tiger, while the external Dan will still take the meaning of yin and yang, with the dragon as the lead and the tiger as the mercury.

in the eyes of the ancients, tigers were both terrible and respectable. The terrible thing is that it will eat people and animals. What is respectable is that it can ward off evil spirits because of its great power. In some ancient books, such as Ying Shao's "Custom Tongyi. Sacrifice Code" in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Draw a tiger on the door, ghosts dare not enter", "A tiger is a penis, and all animals are long. Can hold back sharp, eat ghosts. Today, when people die, they have to burn tiger skins and drink them. Beating its claws can also cure evil. This is also true. " The ancients also thought that the white tiger was a kind of auspicious feeling:' Virtue is the best for birds and beasts.'

At first, the West Star God was a bear and an owl, but later, because of the totem of the ancient Qiang people, it changed from a bear to a dragon. When the Yellow Emperor developed eastward, the dragon totem was brought to the east and merged with the' Oriental black dragon Constellation', and the Zhu Bird became the new home of the phoenix totem in heaven when the South was unified, and finally became a' dragon and phoenix' because of the integration of the two tribes. As an ancient totem, it is the East Phoenix and the West Dragon, and as an astrology, it is the East black dragon and the West Zhu Bird. After the Zhou Dynasty, the feudal system was formally established, and the five elements thought was also mature. The celestial phenomena were re-divided, and the Zhu bird was placed in the south and worshipped with Zhu Rong Vulcan. The west worships the white tiger. In the tribal struggle and migration, the dragon in the northwest moved eastward, the phoenix in the east moved southward, and the tiger in the south moved northward, showing a great conceptual movement throughout the country. By the Han Dynasty, the concept of five elements had become a unified idea, and then Xuanwu was supplemented to complete the' God of the Quartet'.

In the ancient Historical Records of the Heavenly Palace,' black dragon in the East Palace, Zhu Bird in the South, Xianchi in the West Palace and Xuanwu in Bei Gong'. It's not a white tiger here, but a salty pool. The salty pond is the star of the main grain. In the main autumn, because the grain is harvested in autumn, it is put in autumn. But it is not an animal. How can it be combined with dragons, birds and turtles to form four spirits? In "Justice": "The three stars in the salty pool are among the five cars, and the sky is playing south, and the fish and birds are also screaming." Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, it was questioned:' black dragon, Zhu Bird, Xuanwu, and the total seven nights are concerned. As for the salty pool, don't be a star, and stay away from 28 nights. There is another explanation for the salty pool, which is the place where the sun bathes. In Huai Nan Zi. Astronomy:' The sun rises from the valley, bathes in the salty pool, and blows on the hibiscus, which is called morning light'. It can be seen that Xianchi was originally regarded as the sunrise place by Qiang people. Xianchi is also an alkaline lake, which should be a taro lake in Minshan area or Qinghai. It can be proved that the astrological phenomena worshipped by primitive people do not have the concept of green dragon and white tiger. In the Book of Rites, it is said:' Lin Feng Gui Long is called the Four Spirits.' Replace the salty pool that does not belong to animals with Kirin. Later generations have the habit of having four spirits and four elephants and tigers.

Because the White Tiger is the God of War and Cutting, many valiant generals have been said to be White Tiger Stars, such as Luo Cheng, Xue Rengui and his son in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, the white tiger was absorbed and released by Taoism, deified and became the door gods of various temples.

southern suzaku

suzaku can also be said to be a phoenix or a mysterious bird. Suzaku is one of the four spirits.

Like the other three, it comes from the stars and is the general name of the seven southern lodges: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and Qi. Think of it as Suzaku. Zhu is red, like fire, and the south belongs to fire, hence the name Phoenix. It also has the characteristics of being heavy from the fire, and it is also called the fire phoenix, just like the immortal birds in the west.

According to the records of ancient books, the phoenix is a beautiful bird, and its singing and manners are the king of all birds. It can bring good fortune to the world, and at the same time, it has the special spirituality of "it is not a phoenix tree that does not live, it is not a bamboo that does not eat, and it is not a fountain that does not drink". Because it is a feather worm, the dragon that is as long as a scale worm has gradually become a legend.

And there are many prototypes of Phoenix. Such as golden pheasants, peacocks, vultures, mandarin ducks, black birds (swallows), etc ... It is also said that it is a Buddhist Dapeng golden winged bird. According to the phoenix myth, the phoenix has a chicken's head, a swallow's chin, a snake's neck, a fish's tail and five-color stripes. There are five kinds of phoenix, which are divided by color: red is phoenix, green is phoenix, white is swan, and yellow and purple.

The saying of Xuanniao is from The Book of Songs. Ode to Shang Dynasty. Xuanniao says:' The destiny of Xuanniao, born of Shang Dynasty, is rich in soil and luxuriant in mountain. The ancient emperor ordered the martial arts soup, and the proper territory was everywhere. " In the middle, it is the descendants of Yin Shang who said that their ancestors-Qi was born by a mysterious bird and established a powerful Shang Dynasty. Therefore, the mysterious bird became the beginning of the merchant. "Historical Records. Yin Benji" also recorded this history:' Yin Qi, whose mother was called Judie, had a velvet daughter, who was the second princess of Di Ku ................................................................................................................................ In addition to the Shang Dynasty, the beginnings of Qin and Manchu in the Warring States and Silla in Korea were also related to the fairy swallowing the eggs of the mysterious birds. No matter whether it is a mysterious bird or a phoenix, it is with the development of Taoism, and it is changed from a bird, a peacock or a pheasant, etc ... to a fairy who is half man and half bird and inherits the art of war to a fairy who is completely human.

Northern Xuanwu

Xuanwu is a kind of spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. The original intention of Xuanwu is Xuan Ming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Wu means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described turtle divination: turtle's back is black, and turtle divination is to invite turtle to the underworld to ask questions first, bring back the answers and show them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise. Since then, the meaning of Xuan Ming has been expanding. Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including turtles), so Xuan Ming became a water god; The tortoise lives long, and Xuan Ming has become a symbol of immortality; The original underworld was in the north, and the oracle bone divination in the Shang Dynasty was' its divination will be northward', so Xuan Ming became a northern god again.

Like other three spirits, Xuanwu has also changed from 28 stars in the world: fighting, ox, female, emptiness, danger, room and wall. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu.' Xuanwu' is a turtle. "Book of Rites. Quli Shang" says:' Line, before Zhu bird and then Xuanwu ...'' Xuanwu' is a tortoise and snake. Hong Xingzu's supplementary note in "Songs of the South. Traveling Far":' Xuanwu is called tortoise and snake. Located in the north, it is called Xuan. With scales, it is called martial arts. Xuanwu' is a combination of snakes, turtles and snakes.

In Selected Works, volume 15, Zhang Heng's Poem on Thinking of the Mystery says,' Xuanwu lives in a shell, and snakes meander and correct themselves.' Shan Li notes the cloud:' The tortoise meets the snake, which is called Xuanwu.' The Biography of liang wang in the Later Han Dynasty:' Red Fufu' says:' Wang Liang is the master of Xuanwu.' Li Xian notes:' Wu Wu, the God of the North, is a combination of tortoise and snake.' Xuanwu is the god of water and the god of the north. Biography of liang wang in the Later Han Dynasty:' Xuanwu is the name of the water god.' "Rebuilding the Integration of Weft Books", Volume 6, "The Emperor of the River Map":' Born in Xuanwu in the north, ... the town is in the north, and the main wind and rain.'

However, Xuanwu was upgraded by later Taoist priests to be the "Zhenwu Emperor" in the north. Different from the other three spirits. Other green dragons and white tigers only became the gatekeepers of the mountain temple, while Zhu Bird became the Xuan Nv of another day.

Xuanwu gained in value in the Song Dynasty and was personified. This is inseparable from the help of the emperors in the Song Dynasty. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, there was a legend that Zhenwu and Tianpeng were generals of heaven. In the first year of Tianxi, an incident happened in the military camp. In the "Things of the Original" for seven years:' There are people who see snakes in the camp, and the sergeant builds a real martial hall because of it. In April of the second year, the fountain is inexhaustible, and those who are sick and infected by the people drink more. " When Zhenzong heard about this, he wrote a letter to build a view on the spot and named it' Xiangyuan'. This is probably the earliest Zhenwu Temple in China.

The story of Zhenwu Emperor is often said by later generations that during Emperor Yangdi's reign, the Jade Emperor incarnated one of his three souls into the Queen of the Kingdom of Music, hated the world, abandoned his position to practice on Wudang Mountain, successfully ascended and defended the north, nicknamed Xuanwu.