What are the legendary four spirits and four elephants? What is the difference?

Four mythical beasts. The four great beasts are the legendary beasts in ancient China, namely, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu, which belong to the combination of ancient mythology and astronomy.

Four kinds of animals are represented by different colors: oriental cyan is wood, western white is gold, southern red is fire, northern black is water, and middle yellow is earth. In addition, Huainanzi mentioned that Huanglong, one of the five dragons, is in the middle, which is the length of four beasts.

Four images: Four images refer to the four star regions in the southeast, northwest and southeast of the sky. In ancient China mythology, the four images first refer to Lao Yang, the old yin, the young yang and the young yin, and Tai Chi gives birth to two devices, and the two devices give birth to four images. Tai Chi is one, which means chaos. The two devices refer to Yin and Yang, and the four images are derived from Yin and Yang.

In the traditional culture of China, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu are the representatives of the four elephants, Qinglong represents wood, Baihu represents gold, Suzaku represents fire and Xuanwu represents water. They also represent the east, west, south and north directions respectively.

Difference:

1, which means different:

The four spirits are the four great beasts, and the four elephants refer to the four star regions in the southeast and northwest of the sky.

2. Different sources:

The four spirits are the product of the combination of ancient mythology and astronomy. The four images are related to the gossip in the Book of Changes.

3, the scope is different:

The four spirits are the representatives of the four elephants.

Extended data

In ancient China mythology, the four images first refer to Lao Yang, the old yin, the young yang and the young yin, and Tai Chi gives birth to two devices, and the two devices give birth to four images. Tai Chi is one, which means chaos. The two devices refer to Yin and Yang, and the four images are derived from Yin and Yang.

In the traditional culture of China, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu are the representatives of the four elephants, Qinglong represents wood, Baihu represents gold, Suzaku represents fire and Xuanwu represents water. They also represent the east, west, south and north directions respectively. In the twenty-eight lodgings, the four elephants are used to divide the stars in the sky, also known as the four gods and four spirits.

Daoism says: Four Elephants, Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, Xuanwu.

In Yi Zhuan, the four elephants are called Shaoyang, Lao Yang, Shaoyin and Laoyin.

In the Song and Ming Dynasties, the Four Elephants of Zhouyi were equivalent to the Four Elephants of the Star, and it was easy to say that they were formed in the sky and underground. Therefore, the four images of the sun, the moon and the stars are divided into yin and yang, and the four images of fire, water and earth are divided into rigidity and softness.

The traditional orientation of China is that the south is above, which is different from the modern north. Therefore, when describing the orientation of the four images, they will be expressed by Zuo Qinglong (east), You Baihu (west), Qiansuzaku (south) and HouXuanwu (north), which echoes the orientation of the five elements (Dongmu, Xijin, Beishui and Nanhuo).

The concept of "Four Elephants" was highly valued in ancient Japan and Korea, which were often called "Four Saints" and "Four Holy Beasts". It is worth noting that, in fact, China has only the title of "Four Saints" for the Four Spirits of Heaven, and there is no such thing as four Saints.

Baidu encyclopedia-four elephants

Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Great Beasts