About the Dragon. The 9 sons of the dragon . Some knowledge of the phoenix and the unicorn

Brother, first of all, I can only copy some information from other websites due to the lack of culture and knowledge, I hope not to be amused, but also hope to help you.

China's chronology, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches of the Xia Dynasty, the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the twelve attributes of the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon and so on to match the match. Of these, the dragon is the most special, as it is the only animal that does not exist in the living world.

In ancient Chinese culture, the dragon is also one of the four auspicious beasts in the legend. The Book of Rites: "Lin, phoenix, tortoise and dragon are called the four spirits." According to legend, Lin is the king of beasts, phoenix is the king of birds, turtle is the king of the medium, the dragon is the king of the scales, their appearance is the harbinger of auspiciousness, for example, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", 80: "unicorn born, phoenix comes to the ceremony, the yellow dragon appeared", is used to illustrate the omen of the world. Here the dragon, phoenix and kirin are all legendary extremely spiritual animals, which is also the topic of this article. No coincidence, in other civilizations of the world also have their legends, we may wish to compare.

First of all, the dragon

China's dragon worship has a history of more than 5,000 years; feudalism, the dragon and transmuted into a symbol of imperial power, the emperor called himself "the true dragon son of heaven". According to Han Fei Zi said, dragons and emperors, have "scales" and can not be touched, otherwise the dragon's anger, the nine families. That's why Li Bai's poem says: "I don't dare to violate the dragon's scales, and I run away from the South to avoid the dust of Hu." Today, the dragon went down the altar, every Chinese people, no matter where the end of the world, they call themselves "the descendants of the dragon".

Dragon, why born? It is like an animal, some people say it is a crocodile and lizard "big *** name", some people say it evolved in the snake, there are people say it is a reminder of the dinosaurs; dragon, but also symbols, some people believe that it is the result of the merger of the totem, but also some people believe that it is a collection of clouds and water, lightning and rainbows. These are all speculations of present-day people about their ancestors.

Relatively speaking, the "serpent theory" prevails. It has been proved that Yu was related to the clan of the snake totem, and after he laid the foundation of the Xia Dynasty, his descendants sublimated the snake into a dragon, which not only embodied multiculturalism and gained the recognition of all ethnic groups, but also became the inseparable symbol of the Chinese nation (Qian Mingz, "A Brief Discussion on the Study of 100 Years of Myths", Journal of the Railway Teacher's College, Issue No. 6, 1997).

The Chinese dragons are a huge family, including the yellow dragon, the green dragon, the red dragon, the white dragon, the black dragon, the golden dragon, the dragon of a thousand years called Yinglong, the footless dragon called Candlestick Dragon, the dragon with horns called Gnarly Dragon, the dragon without horns called Chi-Dragon, and so on. They are good and bad, good and evil. In the 28th volume of the Book of the Historical Records (史记), the Book of Fengchan (封禅書), it is said that when the Yellow Emperor rode the dragon up to heaven, his ministers were unable to follow him, and could only hold the pulled-off dragon's whiskers and weep. The yellow dragon is used to symbolize the Yellow Emperor, and the ancient Chinese honored the dragon. But legends are not lacking in accounts of dragon slaying and fighting, such as Nuwa killing the black dragon, Dayu beheading the stupid dragon, Li Bing's father and son subduing the sinful dragon, and Zhou Zhi getting rid of the scaly dragon, among others.

The legend of the dragon is not unique to China, almost every major ancient civilization in the world has its palimpsest, such as the ancient dragons of Babylon, the poisonous dragons of Scandinavia, the Jews' Satan, and India's Naga. In North America, the Maya also had art featuring dragons, but there are also studies that suggest it was passed on from Asia.

The Naga of India was a dragon-like creature. It was long, footless and dominated the waters, a deification of the python by the ancient Indians. When translated into Chinese, it became a dragon.

Ahai introduces the poisonous dragons of Northern Europe in Chapter 1, "The Myth of the Creation of Heaven and Earth," of The Myths and Legends of Northern Europe, saying, "There was a hideous poisonous dragon called Nithoghog, perched beside the icy spring of Hevigelma, and devouring day and night the roots of the gigantic trees that reached into the spring. It is also said, "The poisonous dragon is born a demon in an attempt to eventually bite through the giant roots of the Cosmic Tree and destroy the world." The poisonous dragons of Northern Europe with their thirst for water are different from the ancient dragons of the Middle East, but similar to the legends of Chinese dragons. Dragons were also often used as warrior insignia in the history of European warfare.

This article is interested in the fact that the West has had dragon legends for a long time, but why did they not evolve into dragon worship? Or a culture of dragons similar to that of China? This is a huge divide between the different cultural evolutions of China and the West.

In the West, dragons are also legendary beasts and have wings. In Greek it was called Drakon, which morphed into the English Dragon, and in Latin there was also a Draco, which, although the mystery of the dragon's origins has never been solved in the West, is mostly thought to be an echo of the snake cults that were prevalent in almost every civilization in the world, and Draco, which is derived from lizards, and which in Greece also means the constellation of the dragons.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: The serpent or dragon of the Middle East was large and fierce, and was considered to be the general representative of evil; Apepi, the Egyptian god of darkness, was a huge serpent. The Greeks and Romans accepted that their dragons were evil, but also conceived of them as charitable forces; Apollo of Greece was a worshipper of the serpent, but on the whole they did not change the evil image of the dragon. The rise of Christian civilization, on the other hand, essentially destroyed the charitable imagery of the dragon in the West.

In the Bible, the dragon is the serpent. In Genesis, there is a famous serpent who tempted Eve to steal the fruit of wisdom from the Garden of Eden; and in Revelation, it is said twice more that the dragon is the ancient serpent, named the devil, and called Satan. The serpent and the dragon go back and forth, and they confuse the world. It can be seen that Christian doctrine is totally unfavorable to the formation of the Western dragon culture.

On the contrary, in the East, Buddhism and Taoism classics recorded a large number of dragons and dragon king legend, for people generally accepted, the development of the Eastern dragon culture has played a role in fueling. In the Encyclopedia Britannica also clearly distinguish between the dragon in the Eastern and Western cultures, the positive and negative image of the different. 1999 October 9, The Times, a British wrote a "raining machinery," said: China's dragons are not only rich in connotations and unique, and the rest of the world's dragons and the dragon's name the same, but the characteristics of the real different.

The good and evil of the dragon is nothing more than cultural sedimentation. Today, the dragon still maintains a positive image in Eastern culture, but it has also shed its mysterious veil, and the spirit of the dragon has become the spirit of vigor, and the dragon's nation has become the nation of self-improvement. If the dragon dance in ancient times was perhaps to offer sacrifices to the gods for rain and to sweep away the plague and evil spirits, today's dragon dance is mostly for entertainment or celebration. In the world, China's dragon dance and dragon boat rowing have become a brigade of Eastern culture penetrating into Western culture, and are cultural and recreational activities enjoyed by both East and West.

Second Kan Feng

Chinese legend of the phoenix originated from the bird, in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas": "There is a bird whose shape is like a chicken, five picks and the text, the name of the phoenix emperor." Shuo Wen: "Phoenix, god bird also." Ruiying Tu: "Phoenix, the bird of benevolence." Poetry: "The phoenix is a spirit bird." Chuang Tzu's Journey to Prosperity: "With the kun transformed into the roc, the roc is the phoenix." The phoenix also has the name luan. In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas": "There are three birds of five picks: a phoenix bird, a phoenix bird, a luan bird." "Guangya": "Luan bird, phoenix emperor genus also."

There is a "hundred birds towards the phoenix" legend, said the Yellow Emperor on the throne, conscious of the world peace, want to see with their own eyes the legendary phoenix. To do this, he asked the old man of heaven. The old man replied: the phoenix manifests itself as an omen of good fortune, and only appears in times of peace and prosperity. It is not easy to see it passing by, but to see it flying in a flock of birds is a once-in-a-lifetime blessing.

The Yellow Emperor was very unhappy to hear, he said: since my reign, the world is peaceful, why even the shadow of the phoenix have not seen? Tian Lao said: East has Chi You, West has Shao Hao, South has Yan Di, North has Zhuan Xu, the four powerful enemies eyeing, how to peace? Yellow Emperor listened to the troops crusade, so the world was unified. He saw a big bird with colorful plumes soaring in the sky, while countless exotic birds danced around it. The Yellow Emperor knew that the great bird was the phoenix, and that it was the image of the Rui Xiang that he wanted to see (Han Shi Wai Zhuan).

Phoenix, phoenix, the phoenix is the male, the phoenix is the female. Therefore, there is the Western Han Dynasty Sima Xiangru's guqin song "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix". But the dragon and phoenix together, the whole phoenix are "female" off. Ancient totems were not only snakes, but also birds, for example, the Phoenix Bird Clan and Dan Bird Clan under the Shaohao Clan. The dragon is the longest of the scale insects, and the phoenix is the king of all birds, the precious beasts and spirit birds. Although the dragon is born of the dragon, the phoenix is born of the phoenix, and the dragon and phoenix pair as early as in Shaanxi Yangshao culture site excavated "dragon and phoenix pattern" on the colored ceramic bottles appeared.

In the traditional Chinese auspicious motifs, the dragon and phoenix symbolize peace and harmony. Emperor Shun once ordered the composer to compose music, and Kui composed the "Nine Strokes", which was presented to him. Shun then led his ministers to play it, and when it came to the third stroke, all the birds sang in unison; when it came to the fourth stroke, all the beasts danced in unison; and when it came to the last stroke, the ninth stroke, he saw the golden dragons and phoenixes appearing in the clouds. Shun asked Cangshu, an old minister around him, Cangshu replied, this is the dragon and phoenix auspiciousness, the dragon came to show that the wind and rain will be smooth, the phoenix to show that the country will be peaceful. He also said: since Pangu opened the sky, only occasionally see the dragon dance or phoenix fly, the dragon and phoenix double cause, this is the first time.

Confucius once compared Laozi to a dragon, "the divine dragon sees the head but does not see the tail", changeable and unpredictable; Laozi also once compared Confucius to a phoenix, said he: "phoenix bird of the text, wear the holy infant benevolence, the right wisdom and the left virtuous." Historically, their doctrines complemented each other. Here, Confucius advocated "doing" as Yang; Laozi advocated "doing nothing" as Yin, which is the original combination of "phoenix-yang and dragon-yin". This is the original combination of "phoenix yang and dragon yin", because the phoenix is facing the sun and the dragon is near the water and yin. But later, the dragon and phoenix set in the body of men and women, will be upside down, misplaced yin and yang. Such as across the phoenix riding the dragon, refers to the husband and wife double crossing, the dragon and phoenix here refers to men and women. Interestingly, the ancient emperors and their concubines were known as the "heavenly dragon, the ground phoenix", performed a scene of the dragon and phoenix live theater.

In the idiom dictionary, it is not difficult to find idioms of dragon and phoenix pairing. For example, the idiom of "dragon and phoenix" refers to the revitalization of a king's career, "dragon leaping and phoenix singing" refers to a person's talent, "dragon's colt and phoenix's second son" or "lincoln's son and phoenix's chick" refers to a young and intelligent person, "phoenix's marrow and dragon's liver" refers to a rare food, and "dragon's chapter and phoenix's posture" refers to an off-beat article.

The phoenix, called Phoenix in English, Benu in Egypt, Garuda in India, Anqa in Arabia, and Simorgh in Persia, is a legendary and colorful bird. In Arabian legend, the phoenix is born from fire. The life of the phoenix is cyclical, and at regular intervals it burns itself. Before it burns itself, it sings a beautiful dirge and fans the fire with its wings to reduce itself to ashes, from which it regenerates. It never dies.

It is generally believed that the phoenix burns itself once every 500 years, but some say it is 300 years. The phoenix is said to have appeared five times in Egyptian history - 866 BC, 566 BC, 266 BC, 34 AD and 334 AD. This means that the Egyptian phoenix burned itself every 300 years. Coincidentally, the death and resurrection of Jesus coincided with 34 A.D., according to the monastic historian Tacitus (Online Dictionary of Idioms and Myths "Prase and Fable").

In Egyptian legend, the phoenix was associated with sun worship, and there was only one phoenix at a time at any given time, all male, and its true original form may have been an eagle or a peacock. According to Greek legend, the phoenix lived next to a well in the Arabian desert, where it bathed in the water every morning and sang a beautiful song. At this time, the Egyptian sun god would stop and listen. After the phoenix burned itself, the regeneration of the phoenix will put the ashes of the self-immolating phoenix in eggshells, and flew to the "city of the sun (Heliopolis)" in the altar of the sun god. Thus, the phoenix was also a symbol of immortality and regeneration (Encyclopedia of Mythology, online). The phoenix was later cast as the symbol of the Eternal City of the Roman Empire, which also appealed to Christian culture.

The Egyptian legend of the phoenix does not seem to be quite the same as the Chinese legend. Instead of being feminized with a dragon, it was an independent symbol of beauty and regenerated itself periodically. Guo Moruo made "phoenix nirvana" also by the influence of this culture, he could not protect himself at the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution", suddenly announced "book burning", is taken from this 500 years of self-immolation once The meaning of this is to burn oneself once in five hundred years.

The last talk about the unicorn

The unicorn worship in China is later than the worship of the dragon and the phoenix, and started in the Spring and Autumn Period. As a legendary rare beast, the unicorn is shaped like a deer, but larger, with a horse's hoof and a cow's tail, and a single horn on its head. The male is called Lin and the female is called Ki, collectively known as the Kirin. The unicorn is hideous on the outside, but benevolent on the inside. Because of its gentle nature, it does not harm humans or animals, and its hooves do not step on grass or insects, the Song Shu Fu Rui Zhi says: "The unicorn is a benevolent beast." The Ruiying Tu also said. The Rui Ying Tu also said: "Lin is also a benevolent beast, the peony is said to be Ki, the female is said to be Lin, sheep head and deer body." Because the body of the unicorn is larger than a deer, similar to a horse, there is a folk saying "staring at the unicorn said it was a horse".

We have heard the story of "Confucius weeping unicorn", that is, the 14th year of Lu Ai Gong, Shusun's hunting captured a monster, we do not know it is the unicorn, mistaken for ominous, the unicorn even recruited the abandonment of the death. Ran Qiu, a disciple of Confucius, told him about it, calling it "like a roe deer with horns". Confucius went to see it for himself, and said to the driver of the car, "If it is what Ranqiu said, isn't it a Qilin? When he arrived, he saw that it was. Confucius said, "When the world is at peace, the appearance of the unicorn, phoenix, tortoise and dragon is an omen of good fortune. Now that the Zhou family is about to be destroyed, why did it appear?" Then thinking of himself, he said with tears in his eyes, "I am to man as the Lin is to the beast; the Lin appeared and died, and my Tao has come to an end." In fact, although Confucius's Tao has suffered many calamities, it has not come to an end even to this day.

What is the relationship between Confucius and the unicorn? The Book of Gleanings says, "When Confucius was not yet born, a unicorn spit out a jade book at the house of Que Li." That is to say, when Confucius was about to be born, the unicorn appeared and spat out a piece of square silk from its mouth, on which it was written, "The descendants of the water essence, the decline of the Zhou and the king of the Suo, the symbol of the wise and bright." The next day the sage Confucius was born.

If the dragon and phoenix is a symbol of the emperor, then the unicorn is more associated with the general, such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built the Kirin Pavilion, honoring the achievements of the ministers; Song Dynasty, there is a "Thousands of people by the Confucian generals, a hundred beasts ambush the unicorn." The poem; Qing Dynasty military officials of the unicorn emblem is second only to the dragon pattern of the royal family; in folklore, there is a "unicorn to send a son" of the circulation, so that the family prosperity, it is said that it is also from the spitting scholar Kong Zi evolved.

Ancient auspicious motifs, in addition to the dragon and phoenix, there is also the unicorn. In the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, it is said, "Yu raised ten thousand people, the phoenix inhabited the tree, and the unicorn stepped in the court." This shows the peace at that time. There is an idiom called Wei Feng Xiang Lin (威凤祥麟), which refers to the majesty of the phoenix and the auspiciousness of the unicorn. Ancient people believed that the phoenix and the unicorn were both auspicious beasts, and that the presence of the phoenix and the unicorn together also symbolized the peace of the world. The phoenix and the unicorn, on the other hand, refer to being very rare.

What is the unicorn's overseas counterpart for auspicious animals? I searched the Encyclopedia Britannica, which even directly replaced it with pinyin, so perhaps no corresponding animal was found. But in the online Encyclopedia of Mythology, it says that the Unicorn is called the Kirin in China, and that the Unicorn is also a mythological animal in the West, but in English-Chinese dictionaries, some refer to it as the Unicorn, while others translate it as the Dragon Horse, none of which use it directly. However, some dictionaries refer to it as "unicorn", while others translate it as "dragon horse", neither of which uses the word "unicorn" directly. In fact, unicorn and dragon horse are two animals in ancient Chinese legends, the former is literally translated; the latter takes its auspicious meaning: "Emperor Yao and his government, the dragon horse armored." Dragon and horse also refers to bringing about social peace. But in English there is another word called Monocerotis (the constellation of the unicorn), and the note next to it is none other than Unicorn, so we compare Unicorn to the unicorn, and although we call it Dragon Horse, it is really the western unicorn, whose cultural function is similarly comparable to that of the Chinese unicorn.

According to ancient Greek prophetic legends, the Dragon Horse is a fierce animal. Only when a virgin appeared in the place where it haunts, the Dragon Horse, seeing the virgin, would lose its wildness and crouch at the feet of the virgin. For this reason, it was also known as "the beast of purity". This story became a prophetic story in the early church, with some comparing Jesus to the dragon horse and his mother to the virgin. The Dragon Horse, called Reem in Hebrew and Monokeros in the Old Testament, meaning "one-horned" because of the spiraling horn in the center of its forehead, was a divine beast with the body of a horse, a goatee and a lion's tail. The body is white, the head is red, and the eyes are blue.

The dragon horse was first described in detail by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 B.C. He recorded it as a "wild ass," based on the sightings of travelers in India. Based on this account, it has been hypothesized that the original form of the dragon horse may have been a hybrid of the Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope and the donkey.

In medieval Europe, it was widely believed that the horns of the dragon horse could protect against poisons in any liquid and cure illnesses, so vessels with the markings of the dragon horse were good luck. There is a legend that a large group of animals could not drink because a pond was poisoned. The dragon horse came after defeating the elephant that was fighting with him and dipped his horn into the water, which was soon clean. The animals jumped for joy. Because of its legendary power and noble temperament, the Dragon Horse is not only preserved in a large number of European and Arabian art, but it is also chosen as the patron saint of the British and Scottish royal families.

While the legends of the Chinese and foreign dragons, phoenixes and unicorns have different origins and are not exactly the same in content, they are all marked with their own cultural imprints, and the Chinese culture of the dragons, phoenixes and unicorns can be said to be even more intense, being a weaving of myths and histories. The phoenix and unicorn of the East and West can be said to be the world's recognition of the auspicious beasts, but the dragon culture is my China alone, and has y influenced other countries in the East.

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