Do all the four great beasts in ancient myths and legends have owners?

In ancient times, the four great beasts were Qinglong White Tiger Suzaku Xuanwu, all of which were ownerless.

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.

The so-called sky, left Qinglong, right White Tiger, former Suzaku, and later Xuanwu. Therefore, you can know the order of the sun and the moon in the shade of the class, and you can know the cold and heat of the world by seeing the ice in the bottle. ?

In ancient China, the stars in the sky were divided into seven star zones, namely "Three Walls" and "Four Elephants". The so-called "wall" is the "city wall". ? Three walls are arranged in a triangle around Polaris. There are four elephants around the three walls: East Black Dragon, West White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu. ?

That is to say, the stars in the east are like dragons, the stars in the west are like tigers, the stars in the south are like big birds, and the stars in the north are like turtles and snakes. As the earth revolves around the sun, the stars in the sky change with the seasons. Every evening at the turn of winter and spring, the black dragon appears; At the turn of spring and summer, Xuanwu rose; At the turn of summer and autumn, white tigers emerge; At the turn of autumn and winter, Suzaku rose, known as the "four great beasts". ?

In addition, the four great beasts are also four of the six beasts corresponding to the hexagrams in Zhouyi, which are collectively called "Six Gods", namely Qinglong, Suzaku, Gouchen, Tengshe, Baihu and Xuanwu. They not only represent the five elements and directions, but also reflect the information of the hexagrams.

Extended data:

Four ancient gods and beasts with the same name as the four ancient gods and beasts:

1, ever-changing

According to legend, Bai Zhu is the left protector of Nu Wa Empress. After Pangu opened the sky, Nu Wa was very lonely, so she made up a pair of pets, which were snakes with her. One is a white bamboo as a female, and the other is a poisonous snake as a male. When she was mending the sky by the goddess, her colored stones were not enough, so she mended the sky by herself, while white bamboo and.

Legend has it that the mother of White Snake, together with three other spirit beasts, helped Nu Wa to destroy the four deadly beasts, and was sent by Nu Wa to seek treasure and exorcise evil spirits. But now she is reluctant to return to heaven because she is attached to the scenery in South Vietnam. After getting rid of the ghost of time, he was named high priest by the State of South Vietnam, and finally returned to the celestial world and ascended the throne again.

2. Viper

He is the right protector of Nu Wa, and he is a pair with Baibian. It is said that he is a flying snake. The story of the mantis snake comes from the sentence "The mantis snake has no feet to fly, and the flying mouse has no skills" in Xunzi's "Persuasion", which means that as long as people concentrate on their work, they will succeed in the end. Vipers and turtles are also called members of Xuanwu. Cao Cao once wrote a poem, "Fog stings snakes and eventually turns to ashes", in which the stinging snakes are mentioned.

Third, Bai Ze.

This is a legendary symbol of good luck. It is a god beast that can make people lucky. Bai Ze can also speak human words. He knows everything in the world and what it looks like.

Legend has it that Bai Ze is the body of a lion, with two horns on its head and a beard shaped like a goat. It was first recorded in Bao Puzi by Ge Hong, not Shan Hai Jing. There is a Bai Ze flag in the army, and some people call themselves Bai Ze, because they avoid evil spirits. It is regarded as an auspicious and exorcist god and is worshipped by people.

Fourth, Kirin.

Legend has it that it is gentle and can live for two thousand years. The ancients said that it is the patron saint of many treasures, so where there is it, there must be auspiciousness. It is also a god's mount, which is used to describe people with outstanding talents and both ability and political integrity. In Book of Rites Nine, it is recorded that "the forest, phoenix, turtle and dragon are called the four spirits".

From his appearance, we can see that he has the head of a lion, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a tiger, the body of an elk, the scales of a dragon and the tail of a cow. You can breathe fire. It sounds like thunder. And he is also the leader of the caterpillar. It can be found in Song Shu, Shuo Wen Jie Zi and other documents.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Great Beasts