What exactly are the four elephants?

The Four Elephants originated from ancient astrology in China, and refer to black dragon in the East (Qinglong), White Tiger in the West, Suzaku in the South and Xuanwu in the North (some people also refer to Taiyin, Sun, Shaoyin and Shaoyang). ）。 In ancient times, people divided the constellations in the sky into twenty-eight nights. Because of their poor memory, they divided them into four parts and replaced them with the image of an animal, called the four elephants. Seven lodging houses in the East: horn, sound, mutuality, room, heart, tail and body; Seven nights in the north: Dou, Niu (Petunia), female (bearded female), deficiency, danger, room (camp room) and wall (east wall); Seven nights in the West: Kui, Lou, Stomach, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen; Seven nights in the south: Jing (Dongjing), Ghost (Yu Ghost), Willow, Star (Seven Stars), Zhang, Wing and Yi. In addition, there are some star officials who are close to these stars and are closely related to them, such as the tomb, detached palace, ear, chopping, graupel, corpse accumulation, right jurisdiction, left jurisdiction, Changsha, Jingu, etc., which are attached to the rooms, dangerous rooms, bi, ginseng, well, ghost, and tail, respectively, and are called auxiliary officials or auxiliary seats. Twenty-eight lodges are divided into four groups according to four directions in the northeast and southwest, with seven lodges in each group, which are matched with four animal images of four colors and five species, and are called four elephants or four lands. The corresponding relationship is as follows: black dragon in the East, cyan; Xuanwu in the north, black; Western white tiger, white; Southern Suzaku, red. The concept of Twenty-eight Hostels in the Four Elephants was formed very early, and it was recorded in the early Warring States Period. Later in the Book of Rites Quli, it was said: "Before the trip, the Zhu bird followed the Xuanwu, and the left Qinglong < P > and the right white tiger." Kong Yingda Shu: "Zhu Bird, Xuanwu, Qinglong, White Tiger, the four places are also named." In the Han Dynasty, Wei Shu

Kao Ling Yao says: "Twenty-eight nights, the vitality of heaven, the essence of all things. Therefore, the Oriental Corner, Kang, Bian, House, Heart, Tail and Basket

are seven nights, which are shaped like dragons and are called' Zuo Qinglong'. The southern well, the ghost, the willow, the star, the Zhang, the wing, and the bird, which is shaped like a quail bird,

is called' the former suzaku'. In the west, Kui, Lou, Wei, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen stayed for seven nights, and their shapes were like tigers, and they were called' right white tigers'. North

Fang Dou, Niu, female, deficiency, danger, room and wall are seven nights, and its shape is like tortoise and snake, which is called' post-Xuanwu'. " (1) Taoism personifies this celestial phenomenon < P >, and gives it a name, a costume and a job title, and pays homage to it. Twenty-four Nights in Volume 24 of Seven Signs of Clouds

states: "A follows the official Yang God, and the Star of the Horn is the Lord. There are nine Yang gods. His surname is Binming Yuansheng, dressed in green and mysterious clothes, and the Star of the Horn is the Lord.

B follows the official Yin God, and Kang Xing God is the master. There are four Yin gods, surnamed Sima, with naked horse's head and a sword.

Kang Xing God is the master. " (2) the remaining 26 lodge this kind. The appearance and behavior of

28 lodgings are also described in "The Classic of the Five-Star Dwellings in Taishang Cave". As the saying goes, "The essence of a horn star often swims in a temple after beginning of spring's birthday, with little sideburns,

asking questions about Zen rituals, ... or swimming in a wine shop to drink by himself, ...

Those who know it ask for it, which shows more about people's health and sowing skills." "Kang, Di and Fang are the essence of three stars. They often walk with each other in the morning and evening, wearing green clothes, ... swimming among people or in the place of Lent, ...

The four elephants (four spirits) synthesized by twenty-eight lodges are more respected by Taoism. The main feature is to use it as a guardian god. Ge hong

takes it as the bodyguard of the old gentleman, saying that the old gentleman "has twelve green dragons on the left, twenty-six white tigers on the right, twenty-four suzaku in front and seventy-two basalts behind"; He also said that "this matter comes from the fairy scriptures." ④ the secret of prolonging the life of the purple court in the seventh

Yuan Dynasty of the Northern Emperor was even named, saying, "On the left, there is a dragon named Meng Zhang, on the right, there is a white tiger named prison soldier, in front of it, there is a suzaku tomb named

light, and then there is a Xuanwu name, building a festival and holding a building, and the bell and drum are on the back, around me." ⑤ This is the patron saint of Taoist practice < P >. Later Taoist temples also sculpted statues of Qinglong and Baihu in front of the mountain gate, taking them as the patron saint of the temples. Qing Yao

Fu Jun's Remnants of Casting Dings has a cloud:

"Song Fan Zhineng's Records of Yueyang Local Customs says:' There are two gods in Laozi Temple, the so-called Qinglong and Baihu.' Yao zong

in Ming dynasty narrated the temple view in the Private Records of Changshu:' To the two great gods at the entrance of Taoist Temple, the left is the God of Qinglong Mengzhang, and the right is the God of White Tiger'. "

The Four Spirits have only been regarded as patrons since ancient times, and their status is not very high.

first, the four spirits are different from the four gods, namely, the dragon, the white tiger, the suzaku and the Xuanwu are the four gods, the unicorn, the phoenix, the dragon and the tortoise. The biggest difference between them lies in the unicorn. According to the ancient biological classification of China, the creatures are divided into five categories: scales, feathers, ostriches and hairs, which are classified according to their body surface characteristics. Chunqiu > Writing, also died soon. People thought that Kirin didn't bring auspiciousness, so it wasn't included in the Four Gods. However, in the Han Dynasty, Kirin was still added to astronomy, and the middle palace was named after Huang Lin, which was called the Five Beasts together with the Four Gods.

The second, the Twenty-eighth Lodge was recognized to have originated in China, while the Four Lands were actually the middle part of the Four Elephants, that is, the most important star (constellation) in each of the four astrology. "In the night, the stars are empty, with Yin Zhongqiu", "The day is short and the stars are in the middle of winter", that is, the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice are determined by observing the days when the four stars (constellations) are in the southern transit at dusk, which is the standard for dividing a year. The four elephants and twenty-eight lodges are gradually formed. That's right. There are four elephants and twenty-eight lodges painted on the box of Zeng Houyi's tomb (that is, the tomb mentioned above), but the lack of Bei Gong is considered to imply the death of the owner of the tomb. In addition, the paintings by the Western officials are like tigers, and some people regard this as the basis of the West Palace. However, in the ancient tombs unearthed in Xishuipo, there are already dragon and white tiger figures. In addition, The Nangong where Suzaku is located consists of three times: the head of a quail, the fire of a quail and the tail of a quail. All this shows that Suzaku was originally a quail, but of course it was too unsightly to be juxtaposed with the other three elephants. Therefore, it was replaced by a red peacock in the Han Dynasty, and later it was the Phoenix.

Fourth, the evolution of the four elephants. With the gradual enrichment of Taoist deities, the status of the four gods gradually declined, and the function of guarding the four sides was taken over by the Four Seas Dragon King. They are enemies from generation to generation, but they have always been white tigers and green dragons. In the end, they became Taoist door gods. Suzaku almost disappeared in the myth. Only Xuanwu has become a nine-day god, that is, the God of Zhenwu North Emperor Xuantian.

Fifth, the four attributes of earth, fire and wind are not mutually related, but later people added them: earth, water, water, fire, fire and wind. And the soil is the land attribute. However, modern people attribute the wind to gold, and the thunder attribute is still linked to the wood

Four images in Zhouyi:

Sun-Shaoyin-Shaoyang-Taiyin

<; Gankun spectrum > Four images in the movie:

<; Gankun spectrum > There are four big elephants and four small elephants.

Four big elephants: pure dry (pure yang)-dry (yang)-Kun (yin)-Kun (pure yin)

Four small elephants: sun-less yin-less yang-