Is there really a phoenix in the world?

(1) The records of the phoenix in various ancient books in China show that the phoenix is an objective bird in nature. When you are old, the image of the phoenix is like a deer's front, a snake's tail, a stork, a turtle's back, a bird's beak and five colors. From the eastern gentleman's country, flying over the four seas, crossing Kunlun Mountain, drinking columns, breaking feathers and weak water, seeing Mosufeng Cave, the world is at peace. ""Phoenix has tens of thousands of birds flying. "Luan" is also the essence of the gods, red, five colors, chicken-shaped, singing five tones, singing ... when Zhou Chengwang, he provided a phoenix bird. "Prison bird", Phoenix is a kind of divine bird ... During Zhou's trip, prison birds sang in Qishan River, and some were as big as prison birds, with red eyes. When commenting on Er Ya Shi Bird, Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty said that the phoenix is "the head of a chicken, the neck of a snake, the chin of a swallow, the back of a turtle, the tail of a fish, five colors, and six feet high". It is true that Shuowen said that the phoenix is a "bird of god" or a "god" when explaining the phoenix. But here Xu Shen is talking about the god bird in nature, not the bird in the myth and legend. While describing the shape and feathers of the phoenix, Xu Shen and Guo Pu recorded the size, shape, sound, habit, genus, origin, activity area of the phoenix and its relationship with other birds and humans, especially the historical fact of giving a phoenix to a strongman in Zhou Chengwang. Xu Shen explained the phoenix as an objective bird in nature, not a mythical animal.

According to the Book of Songs. Elegant. Volume 1 says: "The wind blows from the south ... Feng has wings, filial piety and virtue, thus guiding him with wings ... Feng Huang Yu Fei inserted a feather when he was 18, and also put away his feather ... He was also blessed by heaven ... Feng Huangming, who is in Gorkon. The phoenix tree was born in the morning. I will serve you and I will be happy. " Records of Rites and Music in Han Dynasty contains Song of Sacrificing Heaven and Earth in the Suburb: "The sound is far away." According to "Shangshu Yiji", Wei Xiao hosted an interesting story, "Xiao Shao is a phoenix." You Guoen's "Li Sao" is edited: "The phoenix wings carry the flag and fly high." "Xunzi. Mourning for the public: "Phoenix is in the tree"; In his article "Qi Xie", he wrote: "Poetry says: Phoenix Qiu Qiu has several wings and sounds like a flute." "Book of Rites": "The voice of harmony and love, marching in martial arts, tends to be moderate and protects it, so raise your ears." "Li Yu ion. Assess the situation ":"Let the phoenix come ". Phoenix flies from the south in the strong wind, and colorful wings are flying in the air; Falling on a buttonwood tree in Gorkon or Chaoyang, pecking at the fruit on the tree, with beautiful posture, beautiful singing and the sound of music, is a realistic record. According to the Book of Rites. Li Yun: "Phoenix and Kirin were both shot in the suburbs." "Phoenix thinks of livestock". "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals. Ancient Music: "Di Ku is a person who beats drums, rings bells, plays bamboo orders and shows off bamboo and tigers, because it makes phoenix birds dance with the sky." Phoenix is a tame bird and can be domesticated by domestic animals, so the ancients may train it to dance. According to "Huainanzi Lan Mingxun": "Phoenix flies to Germany ... roaming around the world ... Jizhou City"; In the past, the Yellow Emperor ruled the world ... and the phoenix flew in the courtyard. Phoenix sometimes flies into people's yards, so that people can observe it at close range and listen to its beautiful calls. According to "Searching for the Gods", "Danfeng Comes" was written by Qi's wife Jia. At that time, when a red phoenix appeared, there was Song Like's Here comes the Red Phoenix. "Guo Pei is in Yongjia, and Dai Wenmou lives in seclusion in Yangcheng Mountain ... At the sight of a big bird with five colors, dozens of white pigeons followed, and the northeast entered the clouds." Dai Wenmou lived in seclusion in Yangcheng Mountain, and a bird flew into his room by mistake. This bird is big and colorful, like a phoenix. It can be seen from the above numerous ancient books that the phoenix flies from the distant sky to the living area of human beings, and its voice, habitat, eating habits and its domestication by human beings are also described as an objective bird rather than a mythical animal.

According to Shan Hai Jing Nan Shan Jing, "Danxue Mountain ... fresh water flows out and flows into Bohai Sea in the south. There is a bird, which is shaped like a chicken. Named Phoenix, the first literary talent, wing literary talent, back literary talent, fake literary talent, belly literary talent. It is a bird, eating naturally, singing and dancing, and seeing the world at peace. " His Overseas Western Classics: "In the wild, the phoenix sings and dances. Phoenix eggs are eaten by the people. " Seas and West Classics: "There are phoenixes and phoenixes in the enlightened west ... and phoenixes and phoenixes in the civilized north are all covered with shields (fá)". "Wild West Classic": "There are five crowned birds, which are called crazy (burning) birds." "There are many states. The bird with five picks flies to the sky, which is called a singing bird, so there is a wind of Baile singing and dancing (Phoenix). " Hainei Jing: "There are colorful birds flying all over the country, called birds." The Classic of Mountains and Seas also describes the different aliases, forms, habits, activity areas of the phoenix and its relationship with human beings, especially the historical fact that people eat the eggs of the phoenix. Obviously, Shan Hai Jing also described the phoenix as an objective bird.

According to Yu's "Oracle Bone Inscriptions Forest", there is a saying in Shang and Oracle Bone Inscriptions: "Jia Yin makes up, and it sounds clean, and you get a phoenix. Bing Chen won five. " On the day of Jiayin, the righteous hexagrams (auspicious hexagrams) were performed, and everyone beat drums with nets and caught a phoenix. Later, on the day of Chen Bing Festival, five more phoenixes were captured. According to Guo Moruo's Textual Research on Two-week Inscriptions on Bronze Inscriptions. Zhong Ding ",the inscription in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty also recorded that" Phoenix is king ". Zhou Wang's subordinates caught a live phoenix and presented it to Zhou Wang. Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Zhong Dingwen's descriptions of the phoenix and the ancient records of the birds offered by Bian Qiang in Shuowen are mutually supportive, which confirms the existence of ancient phoenix.

(2) The records of Phoenix in ancient official history books prove that Phoenix does exist in nature. According to Lu's outline, when the Yellow Emperor was in the Yellow Emperor, "the phoenix nested in Aji"; In the seventh year of Yao's reign, "the phoenix nest in Aji"; The "Phoenix Lion" Pavilion, which was built in Shungeng Yin for five years, is an ancient wooden house. Phoenix landed in the yard, built its nest in the wooden house, and made blind dates with people nearby. When Shao Hao's family was young, "the phoenix bird is smooth, because the bird is an official." Inspired by Phoenix, Shao Hao created bird-shaped characters, and took the name of bird as the name of administrative post and calendar. There are some stories about birds in the history of our country, and these records are not false. According to He Xin's statistics, from 84 BC to A.D. 1 142, ancient books such as Hanshu, Houhanshu, The History of the Three Kingdoms, The Book of Jin, The Book of Song, The Book of Jin and Wen Tongkao recorded the appearance of the Phoenix for more than 40 times, covering Hebei. The most concrete example is as follows: According to the Records of Hanshu, Zhao Han said in three years, "In winter and October, the phoenix gathers in the East China Sea, and the messengers pay homage to it." In the second year of Xuandi Festival, in summer and April, the phoenix gathers in Luxian County, and the birds follow. Amnesty the world. " In the second year of Shen Jue (sparrow), "in the first ugly month, Phoenix and Mana merged with the capital, and the flock of birds ranged from tens of thousands." In the spring of February, 2004, "Phoenix, Manna, Shi Jing ... both husband and wife were in full swing and gathered together. In the evening of fasting, the divine light is remarkable. On the night of recommendation, the gods and lights are intertwined. Or descend to the sky, or climb to the ground, or gather on the altar from all directions. " "In winter and October, Phoenix 11 episodes in Ling Du." "1February, Phoenix came to the forest." Five Phoenix years, "ugly in March, husband and wife gathered in the east tree of Changle Palace, flying to the ground, colorful articles, leaving more than ten minutes for the government and the people to watch." In February of the third year of Ganlu, "the phoenix gathers in Xincai, and the birds are in all directions, all standing towards the phoenix, with tens of thousands." According to "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Four Years of Spirit Emperor Guanghe", "In autumn and July, the geese and phoenixes in Henan saw the new city, and the birds followed." Its "Emperor Guangwu Ji" was built in 17, and "there are five phoenixes in Jia County of Yingchuan". His "cheep". Five elements 2: "Phoenix 149No. See you at the end of Johnny." In the spring and February of the third year of Yan Guang Xiaozong, "Wuzi, Jin' an, said that Chenghuo Shoushe was born in Fenghuang County." According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms and Wu Shu, both Sun Liang and Sun Hao changed their roles because of the appearance of Phoenix. The latest record of Phoenix's appearance is recorded in the general inspection of continuing literature. Twelve things are different. It was in Yuzhou, Henan Province in the second year of Ming Di's apocalypse (A.D. 1622), less than 400 years ago.

Imagine that so many ancient books in China, especially historical works, have records about the Phoenix. Phoenix not only appears frequently, the area is clear, the flying amount is specific, and the morphology and habits are distinct. Even the ups and downs in the capital, the palace and the imperial garden caused other birds to hover and soar, which could be seen by officials and people. The scene is spectacular, and emperors of all dynasties have been fasting, offering sacrifices, offering sacrifices to forgive and changing yuan. Shan Hai Jing, as a natural history work of ancient geography in China, "the mountains and rivers contained in the book can be roughly recompressed". Phoenix, as a lucky bird described in many places, can it be groundless? China's official official historical records have always been meticulous, and some historians do not hesitate to fight to the death with powerful people and sacrifice their lives for the accuracy of historical facts. Even though we think that some of the records in Shan Hai Jing and other works may be due to legends, we should never deny the authenticity of the records in historical books such as Hanshu and the History of the Three Kingdoms. Even if it is difficult to rule out some mistakes or a few records in the Historical Records, for some reason, we should never think that all the records in the Historical Records are wrong, but we can only be sure that most of them are true and credible. Otherwise, it would be like denying China's history of civilization for thousands of years, thinking that China's history is fabricated out of thin air and has no factual basis, thus plunging itself into the quagmire of historical nihilism. Therefore, as long as we admit the reliability or basic reliability of the above historical records, we should not doubt the certainty of Phoenix as an objective creature in nature. In other words, the original ecological phoenix is not the product of the subjective will of the ancients, but an elegant, colorful, beautiful, elegant and docile bird, which has objectively survived in nature.