Whose mounts were the four great beasts in ancient China?

The ancients divided the sky into four palaces, east, west, north and south, named after Qinglong (black dragon), white tiger, suzaku and Xuanwu (a turtle-shaped god). In fact, the sky is divided into four parts, which are connected by seven main stars in each part and named after their shapes. The horn, horn, room, heart, tail and dustpan of the East Palace are shaped like dragons, so it is called Qinglong or Black Dragon. The seven western stars, Kui, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Horn and Shen, are shaped like tigers, calling the West Palace the White Tiger. The well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and net in the south are bird-shaped, called suzaku; The northern seven-star bucket, cow, female, empty, dangerous, houses and walls are shaped like turtles and called Xuanwu. As a result, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu have become the four gods who guard the heavenly officials, create evil and regulate Yin and Yang.

Dongfang Qinglong

There are many legends about dragons, and there are also many stories about the origin of dragons. Some said it was imported from India, while others said it was transformed from China. India itself is said by the dragon god, but the status of dragons in India is not high, and there is a real thing-python.

In the era when the Five Elements Theory prevailed, the story about Qinglong began to spread slowly. According to the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, the Five Elements assigned five colors to the Southeast, Northwest and China, and each color assigned a beast and a god. East is cyan, with dragons, west is white, with tigers, south is scarlet, north is black, with martial arts, and yellow is the central positive color.

Among the four gods, according to Shan Hai Jing, "Southern Zhurong is a beast with human face and rides two dragons. 」; "In the west of Ru Shou, there is a snake's left ear, riding two dragons. 」; "In the East, there is Ju Mang, a bird and a face, riding two dragons. 」; "North yujiang county, black hands and feet, was two dragons. Interestingly, the dragons in Shan Hai Jing are all riding, while the snakes of the same kind with him are all being led or held or held or wrapped around their necks, which shows the difference between them. However, the five gods are different from the four gods, so I won't elaborate here. Suzaku, Xuanwu (black tortoise snake, martial arts means tortoise snake), Qinglong and Baihu represent the twenty-eight lodges in four directions respectively. Dragons are seven small houses in the East, namely, the corner, the room, the heart, the tail and the dustpan. The shapes of these seven small houses are very dragon-shaped, which can be seen from their meanings.

There is still a part of the dragon's heart, which some people call "fire", which is related to sunny and rainy days, and because Qinglong is wood, it is also the age of Jupiter. After the rise of Taoism, these four spirits have also been given names, which are convenient for human beings to call. Qinglong is called Meng Zhang, White Tiger is called Jianbing, Suzaku is called Lingguang, and Xuanwu is called Meiji. In many dynasties, some monarchs took Qinglong as their national title, such as Wei Mingdi in the Three Kingdoms. "Historical Records" also said that the Xia Dynasty belonged to the Mude Dynasty, so there was ".

In China after ancient times, the male dragon had horns on his head; Double horns are called dragons, and single horns are called dumplings; Those with horns are poisonous snakes. In ancient times, there were often large and small Ssangyong in Yu Pei, and it was still called mother and son poisonous snakes. The status of dragons is much higher than that of India. Because it is sacred and supreme in the dragon, 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 is the saying of Zuo Qinglong and you Bai Hu.

Among these 28 stars, seven stars in the east-Jiao, Kang, Bian, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji-are used as stars. The ancients imagined them as Jackie Chan. Because it is located in the east, the five elements are colored according to yin and yang, and the east is blue, hence the name "Qinglong".

There is also a folk saying that dragons are lustful, that is, having sex with cows will give birth to unicorns, and having sex with pigs will give birth to elephants.

The so-called dragon gives birth to nine children, unlike the dragon. Here's the thing-

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

The second son's name is Chipi: He loves to kill people, so he is often put on weapons to intimidate the enemy. At the same time, it is used in ceremonial ceremonies to appear more solemn.

The third son's name is Mo Chifeng: it is an animal-shaped dragon, which looks a bit like a dog. It is good at viewing, so it is often placed in the corner of the temple. It is said that it can deter demons and eliminate disasters.

The first Si Er is not old: people like to growl, so they put it on the clock, mostly the image of not old. It is said that it lives by the sea, but it is very afraid of whales. Once a whale attacks, it screams in fear. Therefore, people make the wooden pestle into the shape of a whale, which makes the bronze bell particularly loud.

The fifth son is a sister-in-law: shaped like a lion. It's imported, and it was introduced to China with Buddhism, so it's a bit like Buddha. It is so quiet and likes fireworks. Therefore, it is often placed on the Buddha's seat or incense burner to protect the dharma.

Liuzi is a bully: also called scorpion, 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 appeased by Yu Xia, he made many contributions to Yu Xia. After flood control became an attack, Yu Xia accepted its advantages and let it recover on its own. So 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 between right and wrong, so it is placed on the top and bottom of the prison gate, in the lobby and at the top of the sign of silence and avoidance when officials patrol, in order to maintain the awe-inspiring atmosphere of the court.

Eight sons are negative coffins: they are placed in two stone tablets because they love literature.

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

Western white tiger

In Four Holy Beasts, China, another dragon is often compared with the "white tiger"; Tigers are the leaders of many animals. Its strength and legendary ability to subdue ghosts make it a beast belonging to Yang, and it often goes out with dragons. "Cloud follows dragon, wind follows tiger" becomes the best partner to subdue ghosts.

And the white tiger is also the god of war and war. White tiger has many magical powers, such as avoiding evil, avoiding disasters, praying and punishing evil, promoting good, making a fortune and getting married. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also changed from the stars. Among these 28 stars, there are 7 in the west: osmium, building, stomach, ang, bi, Gou and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the west, and its whiteness is due to the west. The five elements belong to gold and the color is white. So it is called white tiger not because it is white, but because it comes from five elements.

In addition to the four spirits in Taoism, including dragons and white tigers, and even when Feng Shui masters explore cemeteries, the terrain protruding from the left and right sides in front of the terrain can be used as burial rooms, which have unique titles, called Zuo Qinglong and Right White Tiger, to take the meaning of their guards, and also have the same decoration in the court. The left and right pillars are painted with dragons and white tigers to suppress evil spirits. After the rise of Taoism, dragon and tiger were borrowed as Taoist alchemy terms, meaning "lead, mercury, fire, water, yin and yang" and so on. Taoist alchemy is divided into inner Dan and outer Dan (inner Dan and outer Dan), and the author has only a little knowledge. As far as Yin and Yang and the five elements are concerned, Inner Dan means that Yang Long was born out of fire, so the cloud "Dragon is born out of fire", Tiger Yin was born in the ridge, and the ridge belongs to water, so the cloud "Tiger was born in water". After the combination of the two, one yin and one yang blend together, which is called Tao Ben. Both of them are representatives of Shen Yuan and jing yuan. Another way of saying this is that sex belongs to wood, and wood represents the East. In divination, it is an earthquake, 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 white tiger. Gold can crush wood, so feelings are more harmful. If we use the true meaning of 28 to make it one, then it will be seamless, and the dragon and tiger will change from crouching tiger to Dan. In the human body, the liver is the dragon and the kidney is the tiger, while the external Dan still takes the meaning of yin and yang, with the dragon as the lead and the tiger as the mercury.

In the eyes of the ancients, the tiger is a terrible thing and a respectable thing. The terrible thing is that it will eat people and animals. Respectably, it can ward off evil spirits because of its great power. In some ancient books, such as Ying Shao's Custom Yi Tong. Sacrifice in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Draw a tiger on the door, but ghosts dare not enter", "A tiger is a penis, and all animals are long. Can resist sharpness and eat ghosts. Today, people have to burn tiger skin to drink after they die. Beating its paws can also cure evil. This is also a fact. The ancients also thought that the white tiger was auspicious: "Virtue is for all kinds of birds and animals. 」

The original West Star gods were bears and owls, and later, because of the totem of the ancient Qiang people, when bears became dragons. When the Yellow Emperor developed eastward, the dragon totem was brought to the east and merged with the "Oriental Black Dragon Constellation". Zhuniao became the new home of the phoenix totem in the kingdom of heaven when the south was unified, and eventually became a "dragon and phoenix" due to 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 also became mature. The astronomical phenomena were re-divided, and the Zhu bird was placed in the south, where it was sacrificed 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. The whole country presents the concept of great turnover, and the concept of five generations and five elements becomes a unified thought, and then Xuanwu is supplemented to complete the "four gods"

In the ancient Biography of Historical Records of the Heavenly Palace, there were black dragons in the East Palace, Zhu birds in the South Palace, Xianchi in the West Palace and Xuanwu in Gong Bei. "This is not a white tiger, but a salty pool. Salty pond is the star of staple food. Mainly in autumn, because the grain is harvested in autumn, it is released in autumn. But it's not an animal. How can it be combined with dragons, birds and turtles into four spirits? In "Justice": "The three stars in the fairy pool are among the five cars, and the sky hits the south, and the fish and birds also scream. Therefore, there was a question in the Song Dynasty: "Black Dragon, Zhu Bird, Xuanwu, a total of seven nights and attention. As for Xianchi, don't be a star and stay away from 28 nights. There is another explanation for the salty pool, which is 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. This is called morning light. "It can be seen that Xianchi was originally regarded as a place of sunrise by Qiang people. Xianchi is also a salt lake, and it should be Minshan area or Yu 'er Lake in Qinghai. It can be proved that the astrology worshipped by primitive people does not have the concept of dragon and white tiger. In the Book of Rites. Do you fold robbers? : "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 four spirits, four elephants and four tigers.

And because the White Tiger is a god of war and an axe, many brave generals are said to be famous white tigers, such as Luo Cheng and Xue and his son in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, the white tiger was absorbed and released by Taoism, deified and became the keeper 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, and like the other three spirits, it comes from the star, which is the general name of the seven southern nights: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and bird. Think of it as Suzaku. Scarlet, like fire, the south belongs to fire, hence the name Phoenix. It also has the characteristics of being far from fire, also called fire phoenix, just like the immortal birds in the west.

According to ancient records, Phoenix is a beautiful bird, and its singing and manners are the king of birds. It can bring good luck to the world, and at the same time it has the special spirituality of "phoenix tree is not born, bamboo does not eat, and spring does not drink". Because it is the length of the feather worm, it gradually became a pair with the legendary dragon of the scale worm length.

There are many prototypes of Phoenix. Such as knowing U, peacock, vulture, mandarin fish, blackbird (swallow), etc ... Some people say 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 phoenixes, divided by color: red for phoenixes, green for phoenixes, white for swans, and yellow for purples.

Xuanniao's statement comes from The Book of Songs. Ode to Shang Dynasty. Xuanniaoyun: "Xuanniao's life was born in the Shang Dynasty, with fertile mountains and rivers. The ancient emperor ordered Wu Tang, in the square. " It was the descendants of the Shang Dynasty who said that their ancestors were born of mysterious birds and established a powerful Shang Dynasty. Thus, the mysterious bird became the beginning of the businessman. "Historical Records Yin Benji" also recorded this history: "Yin Qi's mother's name is Zhu Di, and she has a velvet daughter. Di Ku's second princess, ................................................................................................................................, in addition to the Shang Dynasty, the beginning of Qin and Qing Dynasties in the Warring States and Silla in Korea was also related to the fairy swallowing the eggs of the mysterious birds. Whether it is a mysterious bird or a phoenix, with the development of Taoism, it evolved from birds, peacocks or pheasants ... to a fairy who is half human and half bird, and to pass on the art of war to a fairy who is completely human.

In Beijing, there were three temples dedicated to Xuan Nv, namely Jiutian Niangniang Temple and Xuan Nv Temple. There are also Xuan Nv temples in the north and south.

Northern Xuanwu

Xuanwu is a spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. Xuanwu originally meant Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Wu means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described the turtle divination as follows: the turtle's back is black, and the turtle divination first invited the turtle to ask questions in the underworld, brought back the answers and showed them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise. Since then, the meaning of Xuanming 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 first underworld was in the north. In the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Oracle Bone Inscriptions divined that "divination will point to the north", so Xuan Ming became a northern god again.

Xuanwu, like other three spirits, is also derived from the 28 stars on earth: bucket, ox, female, air, danger, house and wall. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu. Xuanwu is a tortoise. "Book of Rites. Quli Shang says: "OK, there are Zhu birds in front, then Xuanwu ..." Xuanwu is a tortoise and snake. Supplement to Hong Xingzu's Songs of Chu: "Xuanwu is called tortoise and snake. Located in the north, it is called Xuan. With scale, it is called martial arts. " Xuanwu is a combination of snakes, turtles and snakes.

"Selected Works" Volume 15 Zhang Heng's "Fu Xuan" said: "Xuanwu leaves a shell, and the snake twists and turns." Shan Li said, "The tortoise and the snake met in Xuanwu. "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Wang Liangchuan and Hong Fu Fu" says: Wang Liang is the Lord of Xuanwu. " Note: "Wu Wu, the god of the north, is a combination of tortoise and snake." "Xuanwu" is the water god, the god of the north. Wang Liangchuan 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, north of the town, the main wind and rain. 」

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

Xuanwu gained value in the Song Dynasty and was personified. This is inseparable from the help of the emperors of the Song Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, Zhenwu and Tian Peng were legendary generals in heaven. In the first year of Tianxi, something happened in the military camp. In the seven-year book The Origin of Things: "Some soldiers saw a snake, and the sergeant built a real martial arts school because of it. In April of the following year, the spring hall was endless, and the sick people drank more. When Zhenzong heard about this, he wrote a letter to build a view at the scene and named it "Xiangyuan". This is probably the earliest Zhenwu Temple in China.

It is often said by later generations that during the reign of Yang Di, the Jade Emperor became one of his three souls, Empress Lezheng, tired of the world, abandoned Wudang Mountain for practice, and successfully ascended to heaven, defended the north and lived in Xuanwu, posthumous title.