Why is the dragon one of the twelve zodiac signs and the only fictional animal in the zodiac?

Of the twelve zodiac signs, the dragon is the only one that is not found in real life, thus it has the most symbolic meaning and mysterious power. In people's imagination, the dragon has a long face like a horse, a body like a snake, limbs like chicken claws, and eighty-one scales. It can fly in the air, and can swim in the water, God, unpredictable.

In the ancient classification of animals, the dragon belongs to the scale department. The "Shuowen" said: "The dragon, scale insects of the long, can be hidden can be bright, can be small can be big, can be long can be short, the spring equinox and ascend to the sky, the autumn equinox and into the river."

There are many types of dragons, "Guangya" cloud; "there are scales said scaly dragon, there are wings said Yinglong, there are horns said gnarled dragon, no horns said chi dragon." Dialect" cloud: "the dragon did not ascend to heaven said coiled dragon." Hetu" said: "green gold a thousand years old yellow dragon, gold a thousand years old green dragon, red and white gold a thousand years old each dragon." And all kinds of dragons, and all have extraordinary appearance and characteristics. The Classic of Mountains and Seas says: "The god of Zhongshan Mountain, named Candle Dragon, regarded as the day, borer for the night, body length of three thousand miles." Pipe" said: "Jiao long, the name of the god in the water, also, ride the water is the god stand, lose water is the god abolished." South Vietnam said: "Coiled dragon body length of four zhang, green and black, red belt such as Jinwen, often with the Wei water and down, into the sea, injuries that is dead." Obviously, these are out of people's imagination.

There is a kingdom of dragons in the myth, the so-called Dragon Pond. The map says, "The mountain of Dragon Pond is high in all directions, with a pool in the center, seven hundred miles square, where the dragons live; there are many five-flower trees, and the dragons eat them." It looks like a place with mountains, water and trees, and for the survival of dragons, water is the most important. Xunzi said, "When water is accumulated to form a river, a dragon is born." It was also written in the "Chu Shi" that "The divine dragon loses water and lives on land, and is cut down by mole crickets." Dragons act in a very imposing way because there are clouds to follow them. The Huainanzi said, "The dragon lifts up while the scenic clouds belong to it." The Yuan Wei Bao explains this feature in terms of yin and yang: "The dragon's words are also the yang in the yin. Therefore, it is said that the dragon lifts and the clouds rise."

Mythical dragons are often attached to the ancient deeds of the Chinese people, where one of their roles was to become the mounts of emperors and immortals. The Classic of Mountains and Seas says: "The field of Dale, where Xia Houqi rode two dragons." The Han Wu Nei Zhuan said: "The Queen Mother rode in the carriage of purple clouds and rode the nine-colored spotted dragon." Therefore, legend has it that there are people who raise and control dragons. The Zuo Zhuan (左传) said, "The ancient people stored dragons, so the country had the Dragon Breeding Clan and the Dragon Royalty Clan."

In ancient Chinese numerology, the appearance of dragons often heralded the arrival of adults or saints. The Zhou Yi says: "Jiu Er, see the dragon in the field, and it is good to see the adults. Xiang said: Germany lost universal also. Nine five, flying dragon in the sky, the great man-made also." The most famous example to be considered the birth of Confucius. "Gleanings" said: "Confucius when the birth of the night, the two dragons across the sky and down, to attach the levy in the room, and thus the birth of the husband, there are two goddesses Prime incense dew in the air to bathe in the levy." From this point of view, the lofty status of the dragon in traditional Chinese culture is also taken for granted.

The Sage Confucius was born from a dragon's dream, but he cast himself as a dragon and ceded that honor to Laozi. Zhuangzi says: "Confucius saw the old man and did not talk for three days. The disciple asked: the husband saw the old hire what peeps? Zi said: people with the intention of like a fly, for the bow and crossbow shot; such as swimming deer, walking dogs and chase; bitter swimming fish, fishing to cast. I now see the dragon, combined into a body, scattered into a chapter, the remaining mouth can not babble, tongue out can not speak." Whether Confucius and Lao had a meeting is still an open question in the history of Chinese culture. But Confucius to the dragon metaphor in his own eyes of the great man, more show that the dragon in the hearts of people's lofty position. No wonder the emperors of the past generations to be called the true dragon son of heaven.

The dragon is a fictional animal, so it is extremely free action, up to the sky and into the ground, no discomfort. The proverb says: "The dragon has not risen, with the fish and turtles; and its ascension to heaven, scales can not be seen." Said is the dragon soaring when the floating appearance. And "Chu sage biography" recorded Song Yu said to the king of Chu: "the dragon towards the ruins of Kunlun, the twilight of the Mengzhu, over the clouds and Han of the table. Wan turn the four blasphemous miles." More said the dragon across the world, traveling around the world's feat. Is between the so-called push: "there is a dragon in the fly, around the world". This characteristic of being beyond the surface of things has made the dragon y worshipped by human beings and become the patron deity of the righteous forces on earth. Legend has it that Yu relied on the power of the dragon to overcome evil. According to the "Map", "Yu killed the Fangfeng Clan, and when the Xia Hou De Sheng, the two dragons descended on him. When Yu made Fan travel with him, he passed through the south, and when the god of wind prevention saw Yu's anger, he shot at him, and when there was swift thunder, the two dragons ascended, and the god, fearing him, struck himself through the heart with his blade and died. Yu mourned his death, and buried him in immortality grass, and all of them were born, and the name of the country of the pierced breasts was given to him." The idea that a group of wise men like Yu were blessed by dragons is an expression of mankind's hope for the good of the dragons.

The dragon's majesty makes it seem unattainable. But in some legends, the dragon also has a warm side, and people have a friendly and intimate back and forth. Ge Hong "Immortals" said: "Fei Changfang and the pot public with go. After the pot Gong thanks and condemnation. Changfang worry can not reach home, the public and the use of staff ride. Suddenly like sleep, has reached home, to ride the staff thrown Ge Pei in, look at the, is the green dragon also." Here, the Green Dragon was willing to be the servant of the Immortals. Lixian Zhuan (Biography of the Immortals): "Lingshiyang Ziming was a good fisherman, and he found a white dragon in a stream, and unhooked the hook and released it. Later, he got a white fish with a book in its belly, and taught Ziming to take it, so he took five stone fat to take it. Three years later, the white dragon came to meet him and stopped at Longyang Mountain for more than a hundred years." The immortal saved the son of the white dragon, and the white dragon passed on the method of becoming an immortal, so it can be said that they complement each other. There are also some magicians who can play the dragon in the palm of their hands, and further utilize the dragon for the benefit of mankind. In the "Clasp of Parks", it is written in the western region that "foreign priests who can do the 呪 (呪), blowing on the air in Linchuan Yubu, will bring the dragon to the surface. The dragon would float out of the sky. The dragon was several feet long at first. When the priest blew, the dragon was always shrinking, and when it was a few inches long, it was taken into a pot and raised in a little water. Foreign countries often suffer from droughts, so the square scholar heard that there is a drought, they will present a dragon to sell, a dragon straight thousands of gold, raise the Congress convergence to hire it. Straight after, is the pot in the dragon, the abyss, because the rest of the Yubu blowing, long dozens of feet, in a moment and rain four sets carry." What Da expresses is still the beautiful wish of mankind to conquer nature. The dragon has the power beyond nature, the dragon will be tamed, can also be swayed by nature, people long for in the fight against nature, there are dragons such as can call the wind and rain of friends or servants.

What is a dragon

The class, family, and order to which the dragon belongs in the classification of animals is a difficult question to answer, because we are too familiar with it. For thousands of years, its relationship with us has been so close that we proudly call ourselves "descendants of the dragon". Emperors preferred to refer to themselves as the "True Dragon Sons". However, we are no longer sure what a dragon looks like or whether it still exists in the world.

From the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, horse, sheep, monkey, dog, pig are mammals; chicken belongs to the birds, can be done as a representative of birds; snake belongs to the reptiles, can be done as a representative of the reptiles; only the dragon exceptions, what is the animal, and it represents a class of animals, it has always been a zoologist is very hurtful to the problem.

About what the dragon is, scholars have different opinions, the main point of view has the following categories:

1. the dragon has never existed, it is people's imagination, it is not an entity, but a concept.

2. The dragon is the agriculture, symbolizing the origin and development of agriculture.

3. The dragon is Chong, symbolizing exaltation (or Lung, rises high).

4. The dragon is the rainbow, and the rainbow is known as the dragon sucking water.

5. The dragon is thunder and lightning; the light traces of lightning resemble dragons, and thunder is the dragon's roar.

6. The dragon is the cloud, which is related to water; the cloud shape is uncertain and changeable, as is the dragon.

7. The dragon is the star, the twelve earthly branches of the eon is the dragon, and the eon means the star. In the I Ching, the Qian Gua's "submerged dragons do not use" and "flying dragons in the sky" are believed to be the emergence of the stars, marking the different seasons.

8. Dragon for the tree, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Nanhua County, the local people worship a kind of dragon tree, the roots of the tree is sacred, can not be touched, the tree (gecko often live on it, because of the secretion of this tree, is the gecko's cuisine) also followed the sacred, also known as the dragon.

9. Dragon for the dinosaurs, dinosaurs about 60 million years ago extinction, when there was no man, perhaps primitive man has long been unearthed dinosaur fossils, know this huge animal, and called the dragon.

10. Chinese dragons and the worship of dragons, imported from the West, that is, the poisonous dragons in Western culture, are from the Babylonian culture.

11. The dragon is an animal of some kind.

(1) The original form of the dragon is a snake, the snake is known as the little dragon in folklore, the folk proverb "February 2, the dragon raises its head", that is to say that the snake in the spring from the dormant state of crawling out (another way of saying, is to refer to the stars).

(2) the dragon for the horse, there is a dragon horse said, the horse is six feet long for the dragon, in the gossip culture Hetu Luoshu is an important part. It is said that the Hetu is brought out from the Yellow River by the dragon horse. A good horse is often called a dragon horse.

(3) The dragon is a tiger, Fuxi and Nuwa are known as the earliest human ancestor, Nuwa is a serpent (dragon) body, Fuxi is a tiger (ethnic minorities), the dragon and the tiger can be cross-tailed and also can change each other.

(4) The dragon is a pig, China has been unearthed in the primitive society period of the pig dragon jade jewelry.

(5) The dragon is a dog, and the She people have the myth of the dragon and the dog, i.e. Pangu.

(6) The dragon is a gecko.

(7) The dragon is the earthworm, which is also known as the Earth Dragon.

(8) The Dragon is the Silkworm; the origin of the Silkworm is related to the Horse, and the Horse is related to the Dragon, so the Dragon is related to the Silkworm.

(9) The dragon is the pangolin, and there are twelve animal temples in Yunnan, in which the dragon is in the shape of a pangolin, although the locals do not know that the pangolin is also known by its scientific name, dragon carp.

(10) The dragon is a lizard.

(11) The dragon is a crocodile, a claim that has gained a number of supporters in recent years.

(12) The dragon is a fish.

12. The dragon is a synthesis of many kinds of animals, this is a kind of totem, that in ancient times there are many tribes, respectively, deer snake, camel, mirage, fish, eagle, tiger, cattle, pigs, dogs, crocodiles, lizards, pangolin and so on animals as their respective totem, and then they united, and so they created a new totem animal - -Dragon. Therefore, different parts of the dragon retain the shape of different animals, such as horns like a deer, head like a camel, body like a snake, scales like a fish, palm like a tiger, claws like an eagle ......

13. The dragon is a deity, most likely the god of water.

14. The dragon is the male genitalia, and to this day, folk still use the green dragon, white tiger alludes to male and female genitalia.

15. The dragon is a flying saucer, the so-called ancient celestial son riding a dragon, may be aliens brought civilization