Ao Guang of the East China Sea, Ao Qin of the South China Sea, Ao Leun of the West China Sea, and Ao Shun of the North China Sea
The green-faced and red-bearded one is the East China Sea, the white-bearded one the West China Sea, the orange-bearded one is the South China Sea, and the black-bearded one is the North China Sea
Dragons in the life of the Chinese
Dragons are not peculiar to China, and there are many myths and legends about them in many nations. But there is no other country like China, where dragons are honored and respected, and all kinds of things are more or less related to dragons. In China, with the name of the dragon in thousands of places, among which there are numbers for the title, such as Jilin Province, two dragons, Jiangxi Province, three dragons, Liaoning Province, four dragons; some of the body of the dragon for the title, such as Jiangxi Province, the dragon head, the dragon horn of Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, the dragon forehead, the dragon claws of the Heilongjiang Province, and some of the dragons for the title of the dragon group, which can be formed into a king of the Dragon, the mother of the Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon, small dragons, the Dragon, the Golden Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon, and so on. In China, there are more than forty rivers containing the word "dragon", and we are familiar with the Yellow, Green, Red, White and Black Dragons, which have rivers named after them in Sichuan Province (Huanglong River), Hebei Province (Qinglong River and Chilong River), Tianjin (Qinglongwan River and Black Dragon Harbor River), Gansu Province (Bailongjiang River), Shanghai (Bailong Harbor River), and Heilongjiang Province (Heilongjiang River), respectively. Almost every province has dragon rivers, dragon lakes, dragon mountains, dragon caves, dragon springs, dragon pools and countless dragon king temples.
There are also traces of dragons in daily life. Clothing has dragon robe, dragon crown; food has dragon shrimp, dragon eyes, dragon beard noodles; building has dragon palace, dragon pavilion; line has dragon boat, dragon car. Family has dragon chair, dragon bed. On the fifteenth day of the first month to dance dragon lanterns, May Dragon Boat Festival to race dragon boats. Animals have dragon horse, dragon flea; plants have dragon anemone, agave, dragon grass, dragon vegetable, dragon cypress, dragon claw acacia. The feng shui land is called Dragon's Cave, the waterwheel for pumping water is called Dragon Bone Waterwheel, and the big crane is called Dragon Gate Crane. There is a dragon star in the sky and a dragon vein underground. No less than hundreds of terms related to dragons in ancient class books. A thousand years ago edited "Taiping Guangji" collection of dragon myths and novels, there are eighty-one. In China, dragons are practically omnipresent. The culture of dragons has a long history.
Images and Totems of the Dragon
The dragon is again the totem of primitive man, an illusory creature that exists only in totems and not in the biological world. The image of the dragon known today combines the characteristics of various creatures: snake body, animal legs, eagle claws, horse head, snake tail, antlers, fish scales. According to some studies, the image of the dragon has evolved over time, and in the course of a long history of wars and unions, the ethnic group that believed in the dragon totem gradually became the leader, and the dragon totem gradually became the flag that the entire Chinese nation believed in. The image of the original totem of other peoples was gradually absorbed and enriched into the image of the dragon, so the dragon has more and more characteristics, the image is increasingly complex and powerful.
People have also focused all kinds of virtues and excellent qualities on the dragon. We see from many stories and legends: the dragon is brave and warlike, it is not afraid of what violence; the dragon is smart and intelligent, it can even foresee the future; the dragon's skill is strong, it can be big and small, change a lot, Xingyunbu rain, thunder and lightning, open the river to move the mountain, the power of the law is boundless; the dragon is rich, the dragon palace has become a concentration of treasures; the dragon is upright, can think of people, in order to save the earth's suffering of the drought, it In order to relieve the drought on earth, it even went so far as to violate the laws of heaven. In the body of the dragon concentrated people's good wishes, but also often the world's outstanding people called the dragon, Zhu Geliang called Mr. Crouching Dragon is a familiar example.
The Dragon Emperor and the Emperor of Heaven
The Dragon Emperor, also known as the Emperor of Heaven, also known as the Jade Emperor, is said to be the incarnation of the Yellow Emperor, the founder of the Chinese nation. In the "Historical Records. In the Book of Fengchan, it is recorded that the Yellow Emperor and the common people mined copper at Shushan Mountain, and cast the mined copper into a very large copper tripod, which was placed at the foot of Jingshan Mountain. When the tripod was cast, there was a dragon hanging down his beard to welcome the Yellow Emperor to ascend to heaven. Yellow Emperor rode on the back of the dragon to go, his ministers and their wives and children have also climbed up, a *** on more than seventy people. When the dragon ascended to heaven, the remaining ministers could not get on, so they all grabbed the dragon's beard. The dragon's beard could not bear the weight and broke, and the bow that the Yellow Emperor was carrying was also pulled down, so the officials had to hold the dragon's beard and the bow and cry. The Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven and became the Emperor of Heaven.
In the Historical Records of the Grand Historian (史记..... In the book of the history of the heavenly officials also said: "Xuanyuan (yellow emperor's name Xuanyuan), the body of the yellow dragon", to put it simply, that is to say that the yellow emperor is the embodiment of the yellow dragon. The Yellow Dragon is the Dragon Emperor, the five elements of the earth, located in the center, is the head of the dragon family, but also the Taoist religious view of the Court of Heaven's master. It is also mentioned in the Han Dynasty canon: "The Yellow Dragon is the longest of the four directions, the right color of the four directions, and the essence of the gods and spirits. Can be huge, can be fine, can be ghost, can be bright, can be short, can be long, at first survival, at first death. The king does not filter the pool and fish, and when virtue reaches the abyss, it should swim in the pool and marsh in harmony."
The legend says that the Yellow Dragon is the image of the Yellow Dragon.
Legendary dragons
The ancients regarded the dragon as a god, a spirit, and changeable, can be fine, can be huge, can be short, can be long, can go deep underwater, but also can soar to the sky. About the dragon legend, in the ancient Chinese classics in almost every book, and about the dragon legends and myths are numerous. Classics such as the "I Ching", the dragon will be a complete systematic discussion, and endowed with philosophical meaning. The whole of the eight trigrams with the dragon to illustrate is the Qian Gua, is also the "I Ching" of the first hexagram.
Besides this, there have been dragon legends and myths throughout the ages, and many places named after the word "dragon" also have their own dragon legends. Up to the time of the Yellow Emperor, there will be the Yellow Emperor rose to heaven by the dragon, should be the dragon to help the Yellow Emperor to defeat the legend of Chiyu; Xia Yu water, the legend is that there will be a dragon with a tail to paint the ground into a river, dredging floods; Han Gaozou Liu Bang, the legend is that his mother dreamed of mating with the red dragon and pregnant and born. From many stories and legends, we see that people often focus all kinds of virtues and good qualities on the dragon. Legend has it that the tradition of frying corn on the second day of February each year commemorates the righteous dragon's efforts to relieve the suffering of the drought on earth, even at the risk of offending the laws of heaven. Legend has it that the Jade Dragon was imprisoned by the Jade Emperor because he could not bear to see the people suffer from drought and helped them to bring rain, and made a rule that he would only be released if the golden beans blossomed. The people were grateful for the Jade Dragon's act of righteousness and gathered together to fry corn, which looked like the blossoming of golden beans and made the guardian Taibai Jinxing look at it wrongly and released the Jade Dragon. The tradition of frying corn on the second day of the second month of every year has been preserved.
Of course, as the legend goes, if there are righteous dragons for good, there are also evil dragons for evil. With the opening of the people's wisdom and the introduction of Buddhism, the image of the dragon king has changed, and the dragon king, which is one of the traditions of Taoism, has begun to appear in the role of the villain. Many places in China named after the word "dragon" have their own dragon legends, and there are many stories of evil dragons wreaking havoc. For example, in the Heilongjiang River, the legend says that there was a white dragon in the past, and then in a village near the river, a family was in labor and gave birth to a black dragon. It turned out that the black dragon had come to help get rid of the white dragon, and the villagers followed its instructions and supported it, and finally the white dragon was eliminated, and the people named the river Heilongjiang in honor of the black dragon. In Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan Province, there is a Wolong Lake with a milky yellow stone beam at the bottom, which is said to be the incarnation of the White Dragon. Near Jiuzhaigou, there are two big rivers, one is called the Heishui River, which is said to have been inhabited by a big Black Dragon, and the White Dragon River, which is said to have been inhabited by a small White Dragon. Legend has it that the Black Dragon was jealous of Jiuzhaigou's scenery and sucked the water there dry. Knowing this, the little White Dragon sprayed water from the White Dragon River onto Jiuzhaigou to restore its beauty. When Black Dragon learns of this, he fights with White Dragon and when Black Dragon is outmatched, he uses a poisonous trick and White Dragon is forced to flee to one of the lakes in Jiuzhaigou. In order to find out the whereabouts of the White Dragon, the Black Dragon alerted the Tibetan God of the Ten Thousand Mountains, and was eventually imprisoned by the God of the Mountains, unable to do any more evil. The God of Mountains gave the White Dragon a set of golden armor in recognition of it, and this is the legendary origin of Wolong Lake.
Dragon Kings in Literature
Dragons are personified in folk literature and art, and there are sea dragon kings who do good for the people and those who do harm with the people. In the mythological novels "Fengshen Ban" and "Journey to the West", and in the operas "Liu Yi Chuan Shu" and "Zhang Yu Boiling the Sea", there are different kinds of good and evil, and the character of the dragon king resembles that of a human being.
In Journey to the West, there are many depictions of dragons as well as dragon stories. With the opening of the people's wisdom and the beginning of the introduction of Buddhist beliefs and other factors, the folk image of the Dragon King has changed. Before this time, the impression of the Dragon King was largely positive, but by the time Buddhism began to flourish, the status of the Dragon King began to decline, and in Journey to the West he has become a supporting character, or even a clown. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong made a big mess in the Dragon Palace of Aoguang, the familiar Green Dragon King of the East China Sea, and the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas were powerless to resist in the face of Sun Wukong, and could only offer treasures such as vajra rods and golden armor with trembling fear and only a few appearances; and because of the fire that burned down the Dragon Palace, he was almost executed by the Jade Emperor, and was fortunately rescued by Goddess of Mercy, and became the White Horse of the Tang Sanshou, which was the third dragon king of Ao Leun, the White Dragon King, of the Western Sea. White Dragon King Ao Leun's third prince.
The Dragon King in "Fengshen Yanyi"
Besides the mention of the Dragon King of the Four Seas in "Journey to the West", the Dragon King also appears in another chapter book, "Fengshen Yanyi". Also known as Fengshen Yanyi (封神演义), it was compiled by Xu Zhonglin (许仲琳) in the mid- to late-Ming Dynasty, and there is also a theory that it was rewritten by Yangzhou Daoist thinker Lu Xixing (陆西星).
The Feudal Deities is based on the story of King Wu of Zhou's crusade against King Zhou of Shang, and describes the story of Jiang Ziya, who sealed the gods. In "The Creation of the Dragon", Yoshiki Tanaka repeatedly mentions that the Dragon King of the Four Seas was ordered by the Emperor of Heaven to assist the Zhou Dynasty in its crusade against the Zhou Dynasty, and there are indeed appearances of the Dragon King in "Fengshen Yanyi". However, the Dragon King of the Four Seas does not play any important role in the Zhou Dynasty's war against the Zhou Dynasty. In fact, as Long Tang Shi said in "The Creation of the Dragon", there is no mention of the Dragon King of the Four Seas participating in the Zhou Wu's revolutionary war in any literary works or canonical texts. The role of the Dragon King in the "Feudal Reign of the Gods" has become almost as supporting and scandalous as it was in the "Journey to the West".
In "The Feudalists," Ne Zha plays the role of Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West. The mischievous Nezha, unaware that the bib and wrist bracelet he was carrying were the treasures of the immortals, placed the bib in the water while bathing in Nine Rivers Bay, making the East China Sea vibrate and shaking even the Crystal Palace. The Dragon King of the East China Sea, Ao Guang (also known as Ao Guang), sent someone to investigate, but the person sent was killed by the mischievous Ne Zha with his treasure. Aoguang then sends his third son to investigate, but the third son is also killed by Nezha, and is even skinned and torn to pieces by Nezha. In the end, Ao Guang accuses Ne Zha's father, Li Jing, of the crime and says he will report it to the Emperor. Ne Zha is not convinced, so he chases Aoguang back and beats him up on the way. In the end, the Dragon King of the Four Seas reports the incident to the Emperor and captures Li Jing and his family for trial in the Heavenly Court. Nezha took the blame for the incident, cutting out his stomach and intestines, and returning his parents' bones and flesh to them. In the end, Ne Zha was revived by his master Tai Yi Zhen Zhen, and took up the role of a vanguard in King Wu's war against the Zhou Dynasty. After this, the Dragon King is not mentioned again in the "Enchantment of the Gods". This shows that the claim that the Dragon King of the Four Seas assisted the Zhou Dynasty in its crusade against the Zhou Dynasty is indeed purely a creation of Yoshiki Tanaka, and is not supported by any precise mythological or legendary background.
The Legend of Longquan Township
The Legend of Dragon Creation mentions that Longquan Township is somewhere in Qinghai Province, but is there in fact a Longquan Township in Qinghai Province? As mentioned in the previous paragraph, almost every province has a place named "Dragon", and there are several places named "Dragon Spring". Where is Longquan? It is generally believed to be Longquan County in Zhejiang Province, which was called Longquan Township before the Tang Dynasty, when the county was established. The name "Longquan" comes from a "Longquan Treasure Sword". According to the history book of the state of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period, "The Book of Yue Jie", the king of Chu heard that there was a dry general in the state of Wu and a man named Ou Yezi in the state of Yue, both of whom were famous sword makers. So he sent someone to pay a lot of money to ask the two masters to make a few iron swords for the state of Chu. After the two were hired, chiseled through the mountain, the mountain stream drain, found the essence of the iron ore, cast into three swords, one is said to be Longyuan, one is said to be Tai'a, one is said to be the work of the cloth. Later, because of avoiding Tang Gaozu Li Yuan's taboo, Longyuan sword will be renamed as Longquan sword. Just said Longquan County, Zhejiang Province, south of the county town has a sword pool lake, according to legend is Ou Yezi casting sword place, also known as Longyuan, so this place is called Longquan.
But there are several other places also called Longquan. In addition to Longquan County in Zhejiang Province, there is also a Longquan in Yongjia County. According to the "Commentary on the Water Classic", the water in the spring takes the shape of a dragon, and livestock are afraid to drink here. There is also a Dragon Spring in Xiping County, Henan Province. Ancient books say that this spring can sharpen swords and knives, making the blades sharp. There is a Longquan field in Jiangxi Province, which was established as Longquan County in the Southern Tang Dynasty and is now called Suizhou. Guizhou has a Longquanping, also known as Longquan County in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, later changed to Fengquan County, Fenggang County. So, is there any Longquan Township in Qinghai Province? In the data that can be examined, no. Perhaps there are small villages and townships that are called this way may be, but whether it really leads to Kunlun is unknown.
The Dragon King
The dragon is one of the four spirits of ancient Chinese mythology. In the Taishang Dongyuan Divine Mantra Sutra, there is the "Dragon King Pin," which lists the "Dragon Kings of the Five Emperors," distinguished by directions, the "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas," distinguished by oceans, and the names of 54 Dragon Kings and 62 Divine Dragon Kings, distinguished by all things in heaven and earth. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Dragon Pond was used as a shrine, and an altar official was set up to offer sacrifices to the Dragon King in the same manner as that of the Rainmaker. Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty followed the system of sacrificing five dragons in Tang Dynasty. In 1108, Emperor Huizong of Song stuttered that all the five dragons in the world would be given royal titles. The Green Dragon God was named King of Guangren, the Red Dragon God was named King of Jiaze, the Yellow Dragon God was named King of Fuying, the White Dragon God was named King of Yi Ji, and the Black Dragon God was named King of Lingze. In the second year of Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1863), the Dragon God of the Canal was appointed as the "God of the Dragon King of the Water Divide of Yan Shou Xie Ying", and the Governor of the River Road was ordered to offer sacrifices on a regular basis. In "Journey to the West", the Dragon Kings are: Aoguang of the East Sea, Aoqin of the South Sea, Aojun of the West Sea, and Aoshun of the North Sea, known as the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.
Thus, the Dragon King's job is to raise the clouds and spread rain, for people to eliminate heat and trouble, the Dragon King of the water has become a common folk belief. In the Taoist "Taishang Dongyuan Divine Mantra Sutra", the "Dragon King Pin" says, "The country was in drought, and the five grains were not harvested, so I don't know how to time it", and the First Heavenly Father came to the country on the five-color cloud, and the Dragon Kings and other heavenly dragons proclaimed the righteousness of the law, and rescued the living beings, and rained down torrents of rain, which was sweet and moist in due course.
The day of the Dragon King's divine birth, a variety of documentary records and local folklore are different. In the old days, the temple dedicated to the Dragon King is almost as common as the temple of the city god and land. Whenever the wind and rain are out of balance, long drought, or long rain, the people have to go to the temple of the Dragon King to burn incense and pray for the Dragon King to rule the water, the wind and rain.
The dragon is a Chinese legend of a good change, can raise the clouds and rain, the gods and animals, for the long of the scaly insects, the four spirits (dragon, phoenix, unicorn, turtle) of the first. Ancient accounts of its image more than one. One said for the slender four-legged, horse head and snake tail. One said that the body clad in scaly armor, head with bearded horns, five claws. Compendium of Materia Medica" is said to have "nine dragons like", for a variety of animals with all the features of the alien. There are many different names for it. The one with scales is called Jiaolong, the one with wings is called Yinglong, the one with horns is called [Duo it] Long, and the one without horns is called Qionglong. The small ones are called Jiaolong, while the big ones are called Dragons. Legend has it that it can be visible and invisible, fine and huge, short and long. It ascends to the sky at the spring equinox, dives into the abyss at the fall equinox, calls the wind and calls for rain, and is omnipotent. In mythology is the underwater world master (Dragon King), in folklore is a symbol of auspiciousness, in ancient times is the embodiment of imperial rule.