Qinghai-Tibet Culture, Science and Technology World and Astronomical Calendar
Tibetan astronomy has a long history, rich literature and long-term practical experience. Today, Tibetan people living in Tibet, Qinghai, Ganzi, Sichuan, Diqing, Yunnan, Gannan, Gansu, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and other places still use Tibetan calendars, especially farmers, herdsmen and Tibetan doctors, who are inseparable from Tibetan calendars. They are closely related to daily life. They farm and graze in spring and collect medicines according to Tibetan calendar. Tibetan astronomical calendars have obvious ethnic and plateau characteristics, and are at a higher level in the astronomical calendars of ethnic minorities in China.
Formation and Development In the 6th century BC, the Xiangxiong Dynasty on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau began to use the chronological method of combining the twelve earthly branches with the five elements, and "Ga Xin Zi Kan" presided over the compilation of calendars. This calendar is a combination of twelve earthly branches (that is, rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs) and five elements of yin and yang (wood, fire, earth, gold and water), which is the same as the "sixty years old" in Han Dynasty. For example, this year is the Year of Rat in Muyang, and next year is the Year of the Ox in Yin Mu, with a cycle of 60 years. This feature has been preserved to this day and has become a major feature of the Tibetan calendar.
After the disintegration of the Xiangxiong dynasty, many small countries appeared on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but they all followed the original calendar. By the 2nd century BC, in the era of Bud Gong Jie, the king of Tibet in the upper part of Tibet, a year was divided into four seasons, one month's fluctuation and four weeks. By the 3rd century AD, a calendar calculation method was introduced from India and applied in some areas. In the period of Narysongzan, that is, in the 5th century, Tubo tended to be unified, its military strength became stronger, and its contacts with neighboring countries increased. During this period, the cultures of Central Plains, India and Dashi were gradually introduced. When he arrived in Songtsan Gampo (6 17-650), he unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with strong military strength, established the Tubo dynasty, and established a bridge of friendship with neighboring countries such as Tang and Nepal. Since then, Central Plains culture has been widely introduced into Tubo. Among them, astronomical calendar is a calculation method related to geomantic omen, divination and calendar. Since the Songtsan Gampo era, Buddhist culture has flooded into Tibet, and the calculation methods of different calendar schools have also been introduced into Tibet, such as the Sakyamuni era and the Sharjah era. Because the Tubo dynasty did not formulate and promulgate a unified calendar, and the disputes between Buddhism and the division of the dynasty, several years coexisted for a long time, which caused great confusion. Buddhists use teaching calendars, which are divided into two schools. Believers and farmers and herdsmen of this religion have always continued the traditional chronology of cadres and branches. With the increasing influence of Buddhism, India's time-ring calendar has been accepted by more and more scholars. Around A.D. 1025, Indian scholar Dawa Kampot went to Tibet and cooperated with Tibetan translators to translate the Sanskrit classic Wheel of Time. More than ten Tibetan versions of Time Wheel Classic have been published, but they are still unpopular in Tibet. By the 3rd century A.D./KLOC-0, karma scholar Jean Jiongduoji (1284- 1339) and master Bouton (1290- 1364) had written their own time wheel calendars according to the time wheel classics, and obtained them. Therefore, taking the translation year of Time Wheel Classic as 1027 as the first year, because 1027 coincides with the year of the fire rabbit in the Tibetan calendar, and the decorative words of the year of the fire rabbit are called "life" in Tibetan, so the era is called "the age of life". Since then, Tibetan scholars in past dynasties have supplemented and revised it and become the main astronomical calendar on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are two kinds of calendar calculations on this day, one is the calendar used for calculation, and the other is the mixed calendar of Tibetan, Chinese and Indian calendars. The contents include astronomy, calendar calculation, five-element accounting, rhythm accounting and chronology.
Principle (1) celestial bodies. Time-wheel calendar holds that the universe consists of five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and air, in which the wind wheel is in space, and there is a steam wheel, in which there is a water wheel, and there is a ground wheel, and the center of the ground wheel is the Supreme Sumi Mountain. There are two kinds of vast celestial bodies, one is the palace and the lodge, namely the zodiac and the twenty-eight lodges. The zodiac is twelve celestial bodies, located at the top of Mount Sumi, which looks like a big umbrella stretching on the top. Aries, Taurus, Twin Uterus, Cancer Palace, Lion Palace, Virgo Palace, Libra Palace, Scorpio Palace, Sagittarius Palace, Capricorn Palace, Aquarius Palace and Pisces Palace are distributed on it. Do daytime exercise clockwise to the right, and its relative position remains unchanged. There are 28 lodgings on the zodiac, namely: Kui, Lou, Stomach, Zan, Bi, Dog, God, Essence, Ghost, Willow, Star, Zhang, Wing, Qi, Horn, Vitality, Earth, Square, Faith, Health, Luck, Fight and Fight. The other celestial body is Obsidian, namely Sun Obsidian, Moon Obsidian, Fire Obsidian, Water Obsidian, Mu Obsidian, Jin Yao Obsidian and Earth Obsidian. Sun Yao is the beginning of a week, which is Sunday. Seven obsidians plus? The robbery turned into nine Obits, which were called ten Obits together with the long tail comet. Japanese Obsidian and others run on the zodiac and the night of the twenty-eight stars, except Luo? All the other obsidians run counterclockwise to the left. Due to the different directions of stars in celestial bodies, the solar terms of year, month, day, hour, four seasons and twenty-four days are formed.
(2) Year, month and day. There are three kinds of days: solar calendar day, lunar calendar day and public day. A day counts as a solar day, that is, a day and night from the day when the palm print is seen at dawn on the first day to the day when the palm print is seen at dawn on the second day. One day and night equals 2 1600 interest, and every minute 15 interest. Breathing is defined as the time required for a mature man to inhale and exhale, which is the same as the data measured by modern medicine from 14 to 18 breaths per minute. The unit of measurement above the interest rate adopts the drip system, that is, 60 streams a day and night, and the first class is 62 streams, that is, 60 minutes, which is the same as the current 24 hours a day. A day and a night are divided into twelve hours: dawn, sunrise, sunny angle, noon, solar eclipse, solar eclipse, sunset, dusk, eight hours, midnight and dawn. Due to the mutual cooperation between the solar day and lunar day in the solar sequence, there are missing days and heavy days. The lack of days and the accumulation of heavy days have formed a big month and a small month. The day of heavy shortage is calculated according to the principle of "those who are heavy are short of big, and those who are short of big are heavy". The so-called heavy shortage day means that one day is short and the other day lasts for two days. For example, four days, one day, three days, three days, four days, two days less, three days more. People will understand the lack of daytime as a fierce day and avoid it; Every auspicious day is an extra day. This is another feature of Tibetan calendar. (2) The month is divided into the sun, the moon and the moon. Generally speaking, it refers to the lunar month, in which the profit and loss of each phase of the moon is fifteen days, which adds up to one month, which is called the first day, the first day, the fifteenth day and the thirty days in the dark. Twelve months a year, 30 major projects and 29 Xiao Jian. January is divided into the first quarter, the second quarter or the first, middle and late months. There are 24 leap months every 65 years, with an average of 32.5 months. ③ There are solar year, lunar year and palace year. Generally speaking, it refers to the year of the underground palace, that is, the time required for the sun to complete a four-season cycle after twelve months, also known as the sidereal year. A palace year is equal to twelve months, and twelve months is equal to 360 palace days. The definition of the year of the underground palace is: the time for the sun to run once in the twelfth house of the sky, and it is also the time for the four seasons on the ground to cycle once. The first half of the definition refers to the sidereal year and the second half refers to the tropic year. The systematic school in the time-wheel calendar calculates the solar day as 365.445 per year, while the practical school calculates the solar day as 365.366.
(3) The main contents of the annual calendar. Almanac is divided into two categories, one is precise almanac, which is used for calculation; One is the civil calendar, similar to the yellow calendar. ① The accurate calendar used for calculation is a time-based calendar system, which mainly includes calendars and monthly calendars. Calendar: What day is the solar day? The end of the lunar calendar day; The true longitude of the sun; The true longitude of the moon. The first two items are the basic data for calculating the seriously insufficient date and arranging the size of the month, and the last two items are the basic data for determining the new moon and solar eclipse. In addition, there are "eleven functions" and "twenty-seven combinations with the Yellow Sutra" used in astrology. Calendar: The contents include the time when the sun enters the palace and the solar terms of each month, the length of day and night of neutral days, leap months, days in severe shortage, and festivals used in astrology, such as moonlight, free life, potions and poisonous water. (2) Civil calendar, the basic content is divided into three parts: annual summary, monthly summary and calendar-by-calendar annotation. The specific content can be divided into: first, the content of the calendar, which has five aspects: leap month, heavy missing day; Time of entering the palace; Moon phase, planetary orientation and solar eclipse related to astronomical phenomena; Obsidian era; According to the weather forecast of nine o'clock. Secondly, the specific content of the Gregorian calendar system is divided into five parts: spring cow, awn seed, ninety-nine and so on; Waiting for the moon; Phenology; 24 solar terms; Future weather forecast. Third, about the season and weather forecast. The calculation method is as follows: the 24th day after beginning of winter is the return day, the 40th day after beginning of winter is the bird day, the 2nd day after beginning of winter 12 is the wall day, the second half of the month is the white crow day, the next 9 days are the red-billed crow day, and the next 7 days are the harrier day. From summer to the next 2 1 day is the rainy season, the next 15 day is the half moon of raccoons, with an interval of 3 days, the next 15 day is the fox day, the next 2 1 day is the central day, and the next 15 day is the day when owls leave. There are several days, such as bird days, including six days of pregnancy, six days of wings, three days of shoulders, three days of neck fossa, three days of face, five days of wing tips and ten days of adults, totaling forty days. These proverbs are all derived from Tibetan folk proverbs, that is, traditional calendars.