Why is it that when the phoenix is mentioned, people think of rebirth by fire, nirvana ......

The Four Divine Beasts In ancient China, the four divine beasts are the Green Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu, which are the most fearsome and powerful. Green Dragon is the god of the East; White Tiger is the god of the West; Vermilion Bird is the god of the South; Xuanwu is the god of the North, turtle and snake. Therefore, there is a "Green Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu, the four spirits of the sky, in order to correct the four directions, the king's system of palaces and pavilions to take law."

In the ancient times, the ancients divided the sky into four palaces east, west, south, north and south, respectively, to the Green Dragon (Canglong), White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu (a tortoise-shaped God) for the name. In fact, the sky was divided into four parts, and the seven major stars in each part were connected to form a line and named after their shapes.

The horns, hyper, clans, rooms, hearts, tails, and mines in the east are shaped like dragons, so the eastern palace is called the Green Dragon or Canglong;

The seven western stars, Kui, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Horn, and Sam, are shaped like tigers, so the western palace is called the White Tiger;

The southern wells, ghosts, lius, stars, Zhang, wings, and squares are linked in the shape of birds, which is called the Jubilee Bird;

The seven northern stars, Doo, Niou, Nünü, Void, Dangerous, Room , wall, whose shape is like a turtle, called Xuanwu.

So the Green Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu became the four gods that guarded the Heavenly Officials, warding off evil and regulating yin and yang. Among the four gods, the green dragon and the white tiger, because of their courageous appearance, were mainly used as gods to suppress evil spirits, and their images appeared in the palace, the temple gate, the city gate, or the tomb building and its artifacts, and in the last occasion, the dragon was no longer to help the owner of the tomb to ascend to heaven, but to suppress the evil spirits and to defend the owner of the tomb's soul peace.

The Green Dragon and White Tiger hold the four directions, the Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu follow the yin and yang, the four sacred beasts Canglong, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu, the four spirits of heaven, although they rarely appear in European and American fantasies, in Chinese and Japanese myths and legends they appear as the four sacred beasts of honor and dignity.

There are many legends about dragons, and there are many accounts of their provenance, some saying that they were imported from India, some saying that they were transformed by the Chinese star. India itself is in the claim of the dragon god, but the dragon in India is not high, but also has a physical object - python.

In the prevalence of the five elements in the era, slowly began to circulate stories about the Green Dragon; the five elements of the five elements according to the yin and yang five elements of the southeast, west, north and west, with five colors, and each color is matched with a beast and a deity; east for the green, with the dragon, west for the white, with the tiger, the south for the vermilion, with the sparrow, the north for the black, with the martial arts, and the yellow for the center of the positive color.

The Green Dragon, also known as "Canglong", is the god of the East in ancient mythology. The dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation, since the Yellow Emperor authorized the sky, the might of the four directions, the dragon has become a symbol of the Chinese nation and even the whole of China, and a more definitive shape is in the Han Dynasty, from the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the dragon has been identified as a symbol of the emperor and representative. In the Eastern legend, the green dragon body like a long snake, qilin head, carp tail, face with long beard, horns like a deer, has five claws, looks mighty, while in Western mythology, the dragon is more like a winged lizard.

Among the deities of the four directions, according to the Shanhaijing, "Zhu Rong in the south, with the body of a beast and the face of a man, rides two dragons." ; "In the west, Matsu, with a snake in his left ear, rides two dragons." In the east, there is Jumang, with a bird body and a human face, riding on two dragons." In the north, Yujian has a black body, hands and feet, and rides on two dragons." It is interesting to note that the dragons in the Shanhaijing are ridden, while the snakes of the same kind are held, manipulated or wrapped around their necks, showing the difference between the two; however, the five deities of the Five Directions are not quite the same as the four deities of the Four Directions, so I won't go into the details here. Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu (black tortoise and snake, wu is the meaning of tortoise and snake), Qinglong, White Tiger and represent the twenty-eight constellations of the four directions, the dragon is the seven constellations of the east - horn, hyper, dibutyl, room, heart, tail, minuscule, and the seven constellations of the east are extremely similar to the shape of the dragon, which is evident from the meanings of their characters, the horn is the dragon's horns, the hyper is the neck, the dibutyl is the present, but the the root of the neck, Fang is the bladder, the coercion, Xin is the heart, Tail is the tail, and Ji is the end of the tail. The Qian Gua in <<Zhou Yi>> includes the "Six Dragons", which are Hyper Dragon, Flying Dragon in the Sky, Submerged Dragon, or Abyss in the Continent, Seeing the Dragon in the Field, and Group Dragon without Head. The "Six Dragons" can be explained as follows: when the Canglong star is located near the sun, people can not see the Canglong star covered by the sun's rays, we call it the submerged dragon, after that, the Dragon's Horn and the Tiantian star appeared on the horizon at the same time, it is called the dragon in the field of the see the dragon in the Canglong star appeared in the later that the whole of the "or the abyss in the continent! "When the Canglong star rises to the highest point, across the southern sky, people see" Flying Dragon in the sky ", after that, the dragon body began to sink" Excessive Dragon "Finally, the Canglong as a whole fell back below the horizon. The "dragons without heads" cannot be interpreted as the last part of this astronomical cycle. If the dustpan is placed outside, the dragon without the dustpan is curled up, and in the ancient texts, the words "group" and "curled up" are exactly the same, that is to say, this last sentence means that the curled up dragon swooped down from the sky, and its head has already fallen below the horizon. The word "dragon" itself is an astrological picture of the ancient times.

Spirit Beast - Green Dragon

Introduction

The Green Dragon is one of the four elephants in traditional Chinese culture. According to the Five Elements doctrine, it is a spirit beast representing the east as a green-colored dragon; the Green Dragon's bearing is east, left, representing spring; the White Tiger's bearing is west, right, representing autumn; the Vermilion Bird's bearing is south, front, representing summer; and the Xuanwu's bearing is North, rear, representing winter.

In the Chinese twenty-eight astrological constellations, the Green Dragon is the general name for the seven eastern stars (Horn, Hyper, Dih, Room, Heart, Tail, and Min).

The seven eastern stars

Also known as the Canglong, the Canglong's seven eastern stars - Horn, Hyper, 氐, 房, 心, 尾, 箕, and the shape of these seven stars is extremely similar to the shape of a dragon, which can be seen from the meanings of their words, Horn is the dragon's horns, Hyper is the neck, 氐, rather, is the root of the neck,房, the bladder, is the coercion, 心, is the heart, 尾 is the tail, and箕 is the end of the tail.

Related Sayings

There is also the part in the heart of the dragon that some people call the 'Great Fire', which is related to sunshine and rain, and because the Green Dragon belongs to the wood, it is also the yearly taiyao of the year of the planet Jupiter. And in many dynasties there are some monarchs to take the green dragon to do their own year, such as the Three Kingdoms of Wei Mingdi is an example, and the historical records of the Xia Dynasty is also about the dynasty belonging to the wood virtue, so he had 'green dragon born in the suburbs' of the auspicious omen of the record.

The story of the Green Dragon

In the prevalence of the five elements of the era, slowly began to circulate the story of the Green Dragon; five elements of the five elements of the five elements of yin and yang to the southeast, west, north, north and west, with five kinds of color, and each color is matched with a beast and a deity; the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, the Xuanwu, the four Spirit of Heaven, in order to correct the four sides of the king's system of the palace and the cabinet to take the method of the law. " . Hold Parker Zi - Miscellaneous should be" cited "immortal scripture" depicting the image of the old king said: the left has twelve blue dragons, the right has twenty-six white tigers, before the twenty-four Vermilion Bird, after the seventy-two Xuanwu. It is very imposing and powerful. Later, the four elephants gradually be personified, and has its seal, according to the "North Pole seven yuan Ziyan secret" records, the green dragon number for "Meng Zhang Shenjun", the white tiger number for the "Supervisor of the army Shenjun", the Zhu Bird number for the "Lingshuang Shenjun The name of the Green Dragon was "Meng Zhang Shen Jun", the name of the White Tiger was "Supervisor of Soldiers", the name of the Vermilion Bird was "Ling Guang Shen Jun", and the name of the Xuanwu was "De Ming Shen Jun". Soon, Xuanwu (i.e., Zhenwu) faith gradually expanding, from the four elephants stand out, jumped to the "great emperor" position, Qinglong, White Tiger is included in the ranks of the door god, specializing in guarding the door of the Taoist temple. Fan Zhineng of the Song Dynasty wrote in Yueyang Geographic Records: "There are two gods in Laozi's shrine, which are called the Green Dragon and White Tiger." Ming Yao Zongyi "Changshu private record - Shu Temple Temple" cloud: "to the Taoist temple gate two gods, the left is the green dragon Meng Zhang Shen Jun, the right is the white tiger Supervisor of the army Shen Jun.

Related Records

The Taishang Huangshu Zhaiyi, Volume 44, said the Qinglong Dongdouxingjun "is:" Jiaojiu Tianmenxingjun, Kangjiu Tingtingxingjun, Dijiu Tianfuxingjun, Fangjiu Tianyixingjun, Xinshenxiangtianwangxingjun, Tailjiu Tianjixingjun, Minjiu Tianluxingjun." As for its image, "Taoism must use the collection" Volume VII cloud: "the eastern dragon horn hyper essence, spit clouds Yu Qi, shouting thunder sound, flying eight poles, traveling around the four netherworlds, come to stand on my left. In addition, Taoism will also be used in alchemy language, such as "cloud book seven dance" volume 72 cited "ancient scripture" four gods of the dan said: the green dragon, the east of the A and B wood water and silver, clarification is not love, churning is not turbid, close to the unavailability of far from being unable to give up, the potential for endless changes, so that the dragon is also said.

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Place name

For Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, see Qinglong County;

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Year numbers

Year numbers in Chinese history:

Qinglong (Wei): the year number of Cao Rui, Ming Emperor of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms, 233 to 237, *** counting five years.

Qinglong (Later Zhao): the year of Shi Jian of Later Zhao, only one year i.e. 350 years.

Qinglong (Houyan): the year of Lanhan of Houyan, only one year i.e. 398.

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Colloquialism

Male genitals without pubic hair, also called Qinglong in the past.

In the Chinese four sacred beasts, another often compared to the dragon is the tiger; tiger, for the longest of all beasts, its might and legendary ability to subdue ghosts, making it also become a yang beast, often followed by the dragon together, "clouds from the dragon, wind from the tiger," to become a pair of the best partner to subdue the ghosts.

The White Tiger is also the god of war and killing. The White Tiger has the power to ward off evil spirits, avoid calamities, pray for abundance and punish evil, promote goodness, make wealth and good fortune, and tie the knot of good fortune. And it is one of the Four Spirits, and of course, it is transformed by the star constellation. It is one of the 28 star constellations, the western seven constellations: Kui, Lou, Gastric, Ang, Bi, Chou, Sam. So is the representative of the West, and its white, is because it is the West, the West in the five elements of gold, the color is white. So it is called the White Tiger not because it is white, but from the five elements to say. The White Tiger is the god of the West in ancient mythology. It resembles a tiger in shape, white and fierce, and thus became a symbol of honor and dignity. At the same time, the white tiger also symbolizes might and the army, so many ancient places with the white tiger in the title are related to military matters, such as the white tiger flag in the ancient army and the white tiger statue on the soldier's talisman.

The Vermilion Bird can also be said to be the Phoenix or Xuan Bird. The Vermilion Bird is one of the Four Spirits, and also like the other three, it comes from the astrological hosts, which is a general term for the seven southern hosts: the well, the ghost, the willow, the star, the Zhang, the wing and the square. The association is Vermilion Bird. Zhu is red, like fire, and the south is fire, hence the name Phoenix. It also has the property of rebuilding itself from fire, like the immortal bird of the West, so it is also called the Fire Phoenix.

In the ancient records of the phoenix is a beautiful bird, and with its song and grooming for the king of all birds, it can bring auspiciousness to the earth, but also has 'not wutong do not perch, not the bamboo fruit does not eat, not the sweet springs do not drink' special spirituality, and because it is the 'feathered insects 's long, so and 'scale insects' long dragon in the legend gradually became a pair, a changeable, a good virtue, became a pair of complementary folklore, more because the dragon symbolizes the yang, and the original also has the yin and yang of the phoenix (phoenix for male, female phoenix) in the opposite with the dragon after the Gradually become the representative of pure Yin.

The phoenix has a variety of original forms. Such as the golden chicken, peacock, eagle vulture, swan, Xuanbird (swallow) and so on ... It is also said that it is the Buddhist roc golden-winged bird turned into. The phoenix myth says that the phoenix has the head of a chicken, the chin of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish, and has five-colored stripes. The phoenix is also said to come in five varieties, divided by color: red is the phoenix, green is the luan bird, white is the swan, and there are also yellow and purple ones.

And the Xuanbird is said to be from the Book of Songs. Shang Song. The bird of paradise" says: "The bird of paradise is the order of the heavens, descending and giving birth to the Shang Dynasty, which is the land of Yin, and it is the land of Mangmang. Ancient emperor order Wu Tang, is the domain of his four directions.' The descendants of Yin Shang said that their ancestor, Qi, was born from the Xuanbird and established the powerful Shang dynasty. Therefore, Xuanbird became the ancestor of merchants. The Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian). The History of Yin (殷本记), also records this history: 'Yin Qi, whose mother was Jandi, the daughter of Yuji, was the second consort of Emperor ?i?u. ...... Three people line bath, see the Xuan bird with its eggs, Jane Di take and swallow, because of the pregnancy born Che.' In addition to Yin and Shang, Qin during the Warring States period, the founding fathers of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty and the founding fathers of Silla in Korea are also related to the swallowing of the egg of the Genbird by a nymph. Both the Genbird and the Phoenix were transformed from a finch, peacock, pheasant, etc., into a half-human, half-bird by the development of Taoism... The transformation first into a half-human, half-bird, nymph who preaches the art of war to a fully human nymph follows the development of Taoism.

And in Beijing there used to be three temples dedicated to Xuan Nü, called the Temple of the Ninth Heavenly Maiden and the Temple of the Xuan Nü. There are also Xuan Nü temples in both northern and southern places.

Xuanwu is a kind of spiritual creature which is a combination of a turtle and a snake. The original meaning of Xuanwu is Xuanmei, and the ancient sounds of wu and hei are related. Wu, means black; Hei, means yin. XuanMei was initially a description of turtle divination: the turtle's back is black, and turtle divination is to invite the turtle to go to the underworld to ask the ancestors, bring back the answer, and show it to the world in the form of divination signs. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu was a turtle. Later, the meaning of XuanMei is constantly expanding. Turtle lives in rivers, lakes and seas (including sea turtles), so XuanMei became the god of water; turtle longevity, XuanMei became a symbol of immortality; the original Hades is in the north, Yin Shang oracle bone divination, that is, "its divination must be northward", so XuanMei became the god of the north. Xuanwu, also known as "Zhenwu", commonly known as "Zhenwu Da Di", is a god worshipped by Taoism. Legend has it that the ancient net music king's prince, born and God fierce, the East China Sea to swim, met the God of the heavens awarded with a sword, into the Hubei Wudang Mountain training, after forty-two years and the work is done, the sun rises, the town of the North, the number of Xuanwu Jun. But the Song Dynasty taboo Xuan word, and thus renamed Zhenwu. Xuanwu and rumor itself is a big turtle in the North Sea, this turtle was once used as a pillar to support the entire Penglai fairy mountain, because of its spirituality, after many years of listening to the Tao heard the Tao, and finally got the right result. So the emperor's tomb more than the turtle of the monument, it is this metaphor Xuanwu. In addition, the Xuanwu also called Xuanmei, so also known as the North Underworld, hear this name is estimated that many readers and reminiscent of the North Underworld return to the sea, as well as Mr. Jin Yong character of the old character of the free son of the "North Underworld Divine Power". It is the same as the other three spirits, Xuanwu also by the world's twenty-eight stars into the: bucket, cow, female, virtual, dangerous, room, wall. People after the ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu, "Xuanwu" is the tortoise. The Book of Rites. Qu Li Shang" cloud: "line, before the Zhu bird and after the Xuanwu...". "Xuanwu" is a tortoise and snake. The chu qi - far travel" Hong xingzu supplementary note: "xuanwu, is the turtle snake. It is located in the north, so it is called Xuanwu. The body has scales and armor, so it is called Wu. "Xuanwu" is the merging of the snake and the tortoise with the snake.

But Xuanwu was upgraded by later Taoist priests to be the Great Emperor of the North, Zhenwu Da Di. It is distinct from the other three spirits. The others, the Green Dragon and White Tiger, were only made into door deities of mountain temples, while the Vermilion Bird became the Nine Heavenly Xuanwu.