What are the five beasts representing the five elements? What do they stand for?

Qinglong (for wood)

In China, the dragon is sacred, supreme and a symbol of the emperor. Qinglong is one of the four spirits, the representative of the East, and the five elements belong to wood. Like the other three, they come from the 28 constellations, and the seven constellations in the East are collectively called horn, sound, rafter, room, heart, tail and dustpan. The ancients imagined them as Jackie Chan. Because it is located in the east, the five elements are colored according to yin and yang, so the east is blue, hence the name "Qinglong".

Suzaku (for fire)

Suzaku is a spirit representing happiness in China. There are many kinds of prototypes. Such as golden pheasant, peacock, vulture, mandarin fish, blackbird (swallow) and so on. Some people say it is a Buddhist golden-winged Dapeng 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. Phoenix is divided into five varieties, according to color: the red one is the phoenix, the green one is the phoenix, and the white one is the swan. The phoenix in Rayna Sue can also be said to be a rosefinch or a mysterious bird. Suzaku is one of the Four Spirits and the representative of the South. Five elements belong to fire. Suzaku, like the other three, comes from the general name of the seven nights in the south-central part of the 28 stars: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and Qi. Think of it as Suzaku. Because it has the characteristics of being reborn from the fire, like the immortal birds in the west, it is also called the fire phoenix.

White tiger (representing gold)

In China, the white tiger is the god of war and war. Tigers have many magical powers, such as avoiding evil, praying and punishing evil, promoting good, getting rich and getting married, etc. It is one of the four spirits, the representative of the west, and the five elements belong to gold. Like the other three, it comes from 28 stars, and there are seven lodgings in the west: Que, Lou, Wei, Ang, Bi, Gou and Shen. Because the west belongs to gold in the five elements, the color is white. So it is called white tiger not because it is white, but because it comes from five elements. 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, 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 an auspicious feeling:' Virtue is a hundred birds and beasts'.

Xuanwu (representing water)

Xuanwu originally meant Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Xuan means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described the tortoise divination as follows: the tortoise's back is black, and the tortoise divination is to let the tortoise go to the underworld to ask his ancestors, bring back the answers and show 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; It turned out that the underworld was in the north, and the divination of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty was' its divination will be in the north', so Xuan Ming became a northern god again. Xuanwu is one of the four spirits, the representative of the north, and the five elements belong to water. Like the other three spirits, they come from the north seven of the 28 stars: bucket, ox, female, air, danger, house and wall. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu. Xuanwu' is a tortoise. "。 Volume 44 of Emperor Tai Shang Ru Zhai Yi calls North Xuanwu Star Jun: "Dou Su Tian Miao Xing Jun, Niu Su Tian Ji Xing Jun, Female Su Tian Nv Jun, Xu Su Tian Qing Xing Jun, Su Su Tian Qian Xing Jun, Su Su Su Tian Qi Xing Jun, Su Bi Shi Tianxing Jun". As for its image, Jiao Tong's Essentials of Daomen has seven clouds: "North Xuanwu, Taiyin Metaplasia, and Virtual Danger. "At the same time, Taoism also uses it in alchemy. For example, Volume 72 of Yun Qi Tanabata quoted the Dan of the Four Gods in ancient books and records as saying: "Xuanwu is the black mercury in northern China, which can be soft and firm. "The Classic says: Good is like water. Not lead, tin, stones or anything like that. Water is the divine water of Hedong. It precedes heaven and earth, and medicine cannot give up for the time being. It can nurture everything, so it is called Xuanwu.

Kirin (for soil)

Kirin culture is a traditional folk culture in China. For example, having children with Kirin is an ancient fertility folk custom in China. According to legend, Kirin is a kind beast, a symbol of good luck and can bring children to people. Guarding the Chinese side, also known as the "central beast." Kirin is second only to dragons in all animals. In the ancient legend of China, Kirin, dragon and phoenix, and tortoise were combined into four spirits, and they were the king of the hairy beast. According to legend, on the eve of Confucius' birth, a unicorn spat a jade book at his home, which said "the watery son is the king of decline", meaning that he has the virtue of an emperor and does not occupy his position. Although this is a wrong statement, it is actually the basis of "Kirin gives the child", which is contained in Wang Chong's On the Balance and Immortality and Jia's Notes on the Collection of Leftovers. Folks have the reputation of "son of Kirin" and "son of forest". In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, people often called smart and lovely boys "my Kirin". Since then, "Kirin has sent pictures." As a woodcut, it is a good omen to engrave the couplet "Kirin in the sky, Lang on the ground as the champion". It is generally believed that worshipping Kirin can give birth to children. Tang Du Fu's Song of Summer Xu's Two Sons: "Don't you see Summer Xu's two sons?" Inducing auspicious dreams followed. Confucius gave the stone family, not the unicorn in the sky. China's national customs recorded in Hu Pu 'an. "Hunan" quoted "Changzhi New Age Folk Poetry": "It is also strange for a woman to be surrounded by dragons. A real dragon is not as good as a paper dragon, but it can send a child to the forest. " Original note: "If a woman is barren for many years, every time a dragon lantern comes home, she will be given a seal instrument to surround her with a dragon body once, and the dragon body will be shortened and she will ride around the hall once, which is called the gift of Qi Lin." According to Lin Qiqi, it belongs to the dragon, that is, the person who replaces Qijia with the dragon lantern.