What are the 6 beasts in the 6th line?
They are: Qinglong, Xuanwu, White Tiger, Snake, Gouchen and Suzaku
Among them, Qinglong, Xuanwu, White Tiger and Suzaku are the four great mythical beasts in ancient China, and the 6 beasts in the 6th line belong to the twelve original gods (1 , Qinglong: good news.
2. Mingtang: good news.
3. Heavenly Punishment: Yima is strong.
4. Suzaku: tongue. p>
5. Golden Chamber: Good Fortune
6. Heavenly Virtue: Officials are good
7. White Tiger: Words are bad. p> 8. Yutang: Ji.
9. Tianlao: Bad luck.
10. Xuanwu; assassination by thieves.
11. , Si Ming: Official Ji.
12. Gou Chen: Words are involved
Tell me about the four mythical beasts of ancient China
The Oriental Green Dragon
There are many legends about dragons, and there are many theories about the origin of dragons. Some say they were introduced from India, and some say they were transformed from Chinese stars. India itself is said to be about the dragon god, but the dragon is in the world. The status of India is not high, but there is also a real thing - python
In the era when the Five Elements theory was popular, stories about the green dragon gradually began to spread; the Five Elements masters gave them according to Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. There are five colors in the southeast, northwest, and each color is paired with a mythical beast and a god; the east is cyan, with dragons, the west is white, with tigers, the south is vermilion, with birds, and the north is black, with weapons. Yellow is the central color.
Among the gods in the four directions, according to the Book of Mountains and Seas, "Zhurong in the south has a beast body and a human face, riding on two dragons."; "Two dragons."; "There is Jumang in the east, with the body of a bird and the face of a human, riding on two dragons."; "In the north of Yujiang, with black body and limbs, riding on two dragons." What is more interesting is that the Dragon City in the Classic of Mountains and Seas They are ridden, while snakes of the same kind are held, manipulated or wrapped around the neck, showing the difference between the two; however, the five gods in the five directions are not the same as the four gods in the four directions. Here I won’t go into details anymore. Suzaku, Xuanwu (black turtle and snake, Wu means turtle and snake), Qinglong and White Tiger respectively represent the twenty-eight constellations in the four directions, and the dragon represents the seven constellations in the east - Jiao, Kang, Di and Fang. , heart, tail, Ji, and the shape of these seven constellations is very similar to the shape of a dragon. It can be seen from the meaning of their words that the horn is the horn of the dragon, the horn is the neck, the di is the base, but the root of the neck, and the room is The shoulder is the side, the heart is the heart, the tail is the tail, and the Ji is the end of the tail.
There is also the part of the dragon's heart that some people call "fire", which is related to sunshine and rain, and because Qinglong belongs to wood. , so it was also the age of Jupiter in that year. After the rise of Taoism, these four spirits were also given human names to make it easier for humans to call them. The green dragon was called "Meng Zhang", the white tiger was called "Jianbing", and the red bird was called "Ling Guang". Xuanwu means "Zhi Ming", and in many dynasties, some monarchs took Qinglong as their reign name, such as Emperor Wei Ming of the Three Kingdoms, and there is also a mention in historical records that the Xia Dynasty was a dynasty of Mu De, so he There is a record of the auspicious omen of "a blue dragon born in the suburbs".
In ancient China, the one with horns on its head was called a male dragon; the one with two horns was called a dragon; the one with one horn was called a dragon; Called mother and son Chi; the dragon's status is much higher than that in India. Because in China, the dragon is a divine creature, the supreme being, and the symbol of the emperor. It is also a representative of the East. Among the five elements, it belongs to wood. Because cyan belongs to wood, it is said that it is a green dragon on the left and a white tiger on the right.
Among the twenty-eight constellations, the seven constellations in the east are used - Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji. The ancients imagined them to be the image of dragons. Because they are located in the east, they are arranged according to the five elements of Yin and Yang. According to the theory of color matching for the five directions, the east is green, hence the name "Blue Dragon".
There is also a folk saying that the dragon's nature is lustful. When it has sex with an ox, it will give birth to a unicorn, and when it has sex with a pig, it will give birth to an elephant.
The saying that the dragon gave birth to nine sons, none of whom are like dragons, is like this -
The eldest son is called Qi Niu: he loves music, so he always stands on the head of the piano. . Such as the Huqin of the Han people and the Sanxianqin of the Bai people. The Mongolian Morin Khuur may also be a variant of the Prison Niu.
The second son is Jai Pi: it loves to kill, so it is often placed on weapons to intimidate the enemy. At the same time, it is also used in ceremonies to appear more majestic.
The third son is Chaofeng: it is a beast-shaped dragon, which looks a bit like a dog. It is good at looking out, so it is often placed in the corner of the palace. It is said that it can intimidate demons and eliminate disasters.
The fourth one is Pulao: it likes to roar, so people put it on the bell, mostly in the image of Pulao. It is said that it lives on the beach, but is very afraid of whales. Once a whale attacks, it will scream in fear. Therefore, people shaped the wooden pestle into the shape of a whale to make the copper bell extra loud.
The fifth child is Suanni: shaped like a lion. It is a foreign product that was introduced to China with Buddhism, so its personality is a bit like that of Buddha. It is so quiet and loves fireworks. Therefore, it is often placed on the Buddha's throne or on the incense burner to protect Buddhism.
The sixth son is Baxia: also known as Bibi, he looks like a turtle. According to legend, in ancient times, it often carried three mountains and five mountains on its back to create trouble. Later, he was subdued by Xia Yu and made many great contributions to Xia Yu. After the flood control was successful, Xia Yu let it carry out its achievements. Therefore, most of China's stone monuments are carried on its back.
The seventh child is Bian: also known as Charter, it looks like a tiger. According to legend, it upholds justice and can distinguish right from wrong, so it is placed above and below the prison door, on both sides of the door lobby, and on top of the cards that officials quietly avoid when they go on patrol to maintain the solemn atmosphere of the court.
The eighth child is negative: because it loves literature, it is placed on two sides of the stone tablet.
Mozi is Chiki: also known as Ouwei, a fish-shaped dragon. According to legend, around the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the "Moji Fish" from India was introduced with Buddhism. It is the object under the seat of the rain god in Buddhist scriptures and can extinguish fire. Therefore, the chi kiss was transformed from this, so it is often placed at both ends of the roof ridge to eliminate disasters and extinguish fires.
White Tiger of the West
Among the four sacred animals in China, another one that is often compared to the dragon is the "white tiger"; the tiger is the leader of all beasts, and its power is as legendary as The ability to subdue ghosts makes it become a yang mythical beast, and it often goes out with the dragon. "Cloud follows the dragon, wind follows the tiger" becoming the best pair for subduing ghosts.
The white tiger is also the god of war and killing. The white tiger has many magical powers such as avoiding evil, warding off disasters, praying for prosperity and punishing evil, promoting good deeds, making wealth, and getting married. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also made of stars. Among the twenty-eight constellations, there are seven in the west: Kui, Lou, Wei, Ang, Bi, Xi, and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the West, and its white color is because it is the West. The West belongs to gold among the five elements, and its color is white. So it is called White Tiger not because it is white, but because of the five elements.
In addition to the four spirits in Taoism, including the green dragon and white tiger, when Feng Shui masters explore cemeteries, the protruding terrain on the left and right in front of the terrain, which can be used as tombs, all have unique titles. They are called green dragons on the left and white tigers on the right, taking the meaning of their protection. The same decoration is also found in the public hall, with green dragons and hundreds of tigers painted on the left and right pillars to suppress evil spirits. After the rise of Taoism, dragon and tiger were borrowed as the terminology of Taoist chain elixir, which refers to the synonyms of "lead and mercury, Kanli, water and fire, yin and yang", etc. The Taoist chain elixir is divided into internal and external elixirs (inner elixirs for refining qi and external elixirs for refining elixirs. The author is not very knowledgeable and I am not sure). Inner elixirs are based on yin and yang and the five elements. Longyang is born from Li, and Li belongs to fire, so it is said that "Long Cong" "Out of the fire", tiger yin is born in the ridge, which belongs to water, so it is said that "the tiger is born near the water". After the two are combined, one yin and one yang harmonize with each other, which is called the Tao. They are both the soul and the origin. The representative of essence. Another way of saying it is that nature belongs to wood, and wood represents the east. It is in the hexagram Zhen, so it is compared to a green dragon; love belongs to gold, and gold represents the west. In the hexagram, it is dui, and gold is white, so it is called a white tiger. Metal can overcome wood, so emotions can damage nature. If you use the true essence of the two eights to combine them into one, then metal and wood will be seamless, and dragons and tigers will form elixirs by themselves. In the human body, the liver is the dragon and the kidneys are the elixir. Tiger, while Waidan still takes the meaning of yin and yang, with dragon as lead and tiger as mercury.
In the minds of ancient people, tigers are both scary and respectable things. The scary thing is that it can eat humans and animals. What is admirable is that it is extremely powerful and can ward off evil spirits.
And in some ancient books, such as Eastern Han Dynasty. Ying Shao's "Customs and Meanings." "Sacrificial Code": "Painting a tiger on the door will prevent ghosts from entering." "Tiger is the phallus and the leader of all beasts. It can hold, sharpen, sharpen, and eat ghosts. Today, when a soldier encounters a bad encounter, he burns tiger skin and drinks it. "His claws can also ward off evil." The ancients also believed that the white tiger was an auspicious animal: "the most virtuous bird and beast."
The original Western Star God was a bear and an owl. But later, the totem of the ancient Qiang people changed from bear to dragon. And when the Yellow Emperor developed eastward, the dragon totem was brought to the east and merged with the "Eastern Blue Dragon Constellation", and the red bird became the new home of the phoenix totem in the kingdom of heaven when the south was unified. Due to the fusion of the two tribes, Finally it became "dragon and phoenix presenting auspiciousness". As an ancient totem, it is an east phoenix and a west dragon; as an astrology, it is an east blue dragon and a west red bird. After the Zhou Dynasty, the feudal system was formally established and the Five Elements thought matured. The celestial images were re-divided, and the red bird was placed in the south and worshiped together with the Zhurong Fire God. In the West, white tigers are worshiped. In the tribal struggle and migration, the dragon in the northwest moves eastward, the phoenix in the east moves south, and the tiger in the south moves north. The whole country shows a great turnover concept movement. In the Han Dynasty, the concept of the Five Elements became a unified thought, and Xuanwu was added to complete the "God of the Four Directions" package.
In ancient times, "Historical Records. "Tiangong Shu" "East Palace Canglong, South Palace Zhuniao, West Palace Xianchi, North Palace Xuanwu." What is here is not the white tiger, but the Xianchi. Xianchi is the star of grains and autumn. Since grains are harvested in autumn, it is placed in autumn. But it is not an animal. How can it be matched with dragons, birds and turtles to form the four spirits? In "Justice": "The three stars of Xianchi are among the five chariots, and the sky is in the south, where the fish and birds are." Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, a question was raised: "Canglong, Zhuniao, Xuanwu, each has seven constellations. As for Xian There is another explanation for Xianchi, which is the place where the sun bathes. In the Astronomical Chapter of Huainanzi: "The sun rises from Yanggu, bathes in the Xianchi, and brushes against the fusang." It's called morning." It can be seen that Xianchi was originally regarded as the place where the sun rises by the Qiang people. Xianchi is also a saltwater lake, which should be a lake in the Minshan area or Qinghai. This proves that the star palaces and celestial phenomena worshiped by primitive people do not yet have the concept of green dragons and white tigers. In "Book of Rites." "Li Yun" said: "Lin, phoenix, turtle, dragon, are called the four spirits." Replace Xianchi, which is not an animal, with Qilin. In later generations, it was customary to have a lin among the four spirits and a tiger among the four elephants.
And because the white tiger is the god of war, many fierce generals are said to be white tiger stars throughout the world, such as: Tang Dynasty generals Luo Cheng, Xue Rengui and his son. In addition, the white tiger was absorbed by Taoism and deified, becoming the door god of various temples.
Southern Suzaku
The Suzaku can also be said to be a phoenix or black bird. Suzaku is one of the four spirits. Like the other three spirits, it comes from the stars and is the general name of the seven stars in the south: Well, Ghost, Willow, Star, Zhang, Yi, and Zhen. When I think of it, it's Suzaku. Zhu is red, like fire, and the south belongs to fire, so it is called Phoenix. It also has the property of being reincarnated from the fire, just like the phoenix in the West, so it is also called the Fire Phoenix.
According to records in ancient books, the phoenix is a beautiful bird, and with its singing and appearance, it is the king of birds. "It has the special spirituality of not eating anything but bamboo, and not drinking from springs of sweet wine." And because it is the length of a "feather insect", the dragon and the length of a "scale insect" have gradually become a pair in the legend, and one is ever-changing. A person with good virtues becomes a complementary pair in folk customs. Moreover, because the dragon symbolizes the Yang, and the phoenix, which originally had yin and yang (the phoenix is the male and the female is the phoenix), gradually becomes pure after facing the dragon. Yin represents.
There are many original forms of the phoenix. Such as golden pheasant, peacock, eagle, swan, black bird (swallow) and so on. ． ． It is also said that it was transformed into the Buddhist Dapeng Garuda. The phoenix mentioned in the Phoenix myth has the head of a chicken, the chin of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish, and has five-color patterns. There are five kinds of phoenixes, divided by color: red is the phoenix, green is the phoenix, white is the swan, and there are yellow and purple.
Xuanniao’s statement comes from the Book of Songs. Song of Shang. "Xuanniao" said: "The destiny of Xuanniiao descends and gives birth to Shang, and its Yin earth shines brightly. The ancient emperor ordered Wutang to be in the four directions of Zhengyu.
”, the descendants of the Yin and Shang Dynasties said that their ancestor Qi was born from Xuanniao and established a powerful Shang Dynasty. Therefore, Xuanniao became the founder of merchants. "Historical Records. "Yin Benji" also records this history: "Yin Qi's mother was called Jian Di, and there was a daughter named Rong Di, who was the emperor's second concubine... The three of them were bathing when they saw a black bird with its eggs, and Jian Di took them. "Swallowing it will give birth to a contract." In addition to the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the Shizu of the Qin Dynasty during the Warring States Period, the Shizu of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Shizuo of the Korean Silla were also related to fairies swallowing black bird eggs. Regardless of whether it is a black bird or a phoenix, following the development of Taoism, it was transformed from a bird, a peacock, a pheasant, etc. ． ． The transformation from a half-human, half-animal fairy who taught the art of war to a completely human fairy all followed the development of Taoism.
In the past, there were three temples dedicated to Xuannv in Beijing, called Jiutian Niangniang Temple and Xuannv Temple. There are also Xuannv temples in the north and south.
Northern Xuanwu
Xuanwu is a spiritual creature composed of a turtle and a snake. The original meaning of Xuanwu is Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are connected. Wu means black; Ming means yin. Xuanming originally described turtle divination: the back of the turtle is black, and turtle divination is to ask the turtle to go to the underworld to ask the ancestors, bring the answer back, and show it to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu was the turtle. Later, the meaning of Xuan Ming continued to expand. Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including turtles), so Xuan Ming became the god of water; turtles live long, and Xuan Ming became a symbol of immortality; the original underworld was in the north, and the oracle bone divination of the Yin and Shang Dynasties stated that "the divination must be northward", So Xuan Ming became the Northern God again.
Like the other three spirits, Xuanwu is also transformed from the twenty-eight constellations in the world: Dou, Niu, Female, Xu, Danger, Room, and Wall. People in ancient times have the following interpretations of Xuanwu. "Xuanwu" means turtle. "Book of Rites." "Qu Li Shang" says: "OK, the first is Zhuniao and then the Xuanwu..." "Xuanwu" is the turtle and snake. "Chu Ci." "Yuanyou" Hong Xingzu added annotation: "Xuanwu means turtle and snake. It is located in the north, so it is called Xuan. It has scales and armor on its body, so it is called Wu. "Xuanwu" is a combination of snakes, a cross between a turtle and a snake.
” "Book of the Later Han Dynasty." "The Biography of Wang Liang": ""Chifu Fu" said: "Wang Liang Zhuheng made Xuanwu." Li Xian noted: "Xuanwu, the god of the north, a combination of turtle and snake." "Xuanwu" is the god of water and the god of the north. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty." "Biography of Wang Liang": "Xuanwu, the name of the water god." Volume 6 of "Zhongxiu Weishu Collection" "Hetu Emperor Lanxi": "Born from Xuanwu in the north,... controls the north and governs wind and rain."
But Xuanwu was upgraded by later Taoist priests to become the great emperor of the north, "Emperor Zhenwu". It is different from the other three spirits. The other Qinglong and Baihu only became the door gods of the mountain temple, while Zhuniao became Youtian Xuannv.
Xuanwu's status increased in the Song Dynasty and was personified. This is inseparable from the fact that the emperors of the Song Dynasty added fuel to the flames. At the time of Taizu in the early Song Dynasty, there were legends that Zhenwu, Tianpeng and others were the generals of heaven. In the first year of Tianxi reign of Emperor Wei Zhenzong, something happened in the military camp. In the seventh volume of "Shijiyuan": "If a soldier in the camp saw a snake, the sergeant built a Zhenwu Hall because of it. In the fourth month of the second year, a spring gushed out beside the hall and was inexhaustible. People who were sick and infected were healed by drinking more." When Emperor Zhenzong heard about this, he issued an edict to build a temple on the spot and named it "Xiangyuan". This is probably the earliest Zhenwu Temple in China.
The life experience of Emperor Zhenwu is mostly said by later generations to be during the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. The Jade Emperor reincarnated one of his three souls into the Queen of Zhuole Kingdom. He hated the world and gave up his throne to practice on Mount Wudang. , successfully ascended and guarded the north, nicknamed: Xuanwu