Zu Tianshi was once an official in Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing), because he saw the world's wind and sun, abandoned the official to hide in Luoyang's Northern Mountains, but the imperial court repeatedly commanded, so it was not suitable for seclusion, in order to find the treasure land of the Cultivation Dao, he was far away from the dusty realm, "with his disciple Wang Chang from Huai into Poyang, Dengle Ping Yanzi Peak, the mountain god worshiped in the Dao, willing to be driven, under the peak of the temple, alchemy." The mountain god was aware and the double crane guided it in and out, so it abandoned its land and flowed into the Yunmian Mountain, refining the Nine Heavenly Gods Dan, Dancheng and Dragon and Tiger See, and the Mountain Was named" (Daozang Han Tianshi Family Volume II). When Master Zu Tianshi went to Dragon Tiger Mountain to cultivate the Great Dan, there were cranes leading the way.
Jia Daoyun: "The crane must be seen by the king, and there should be immortals on the top." ("Sending Tian Zhuo into Huashan")
Cranes are ancient inhabitants of the earth. In the Cenozoic Tertiary Period, 60 million years before the appearance of humans, primitive cranes have already appeared on Earth. The earth entered the Quaternary Period (about 2 million years ago), the outbreak of the world's glacial climate caused most of the primitive cranes to become extinct, and the remaining crane species evolved in order to survive, and their physiological conditions such as skeleton feathers became more powerful and suitable for flying, becoming a large migratory group in the ornithischia. The earliest record of the characteristics of crane species appears in the Warring States period "Han Feizi". Judging from the ancient texts mentioning cranes, as of the Tang Dynasty, there were four types of cranes that people had a clear understanding of, namely red-crowned cranes, white cranes, gray cranes, and white-naped cranes.
Cranes and Chinese Culture
The crane is one of the cultural symbols of Taoism. The Chinese civilization's admiration for cranes has a long history. In "Huainanzi", Ben Yun "Crane Shou Chitose, to extremely travel". In the ancient belief in immortals, the image of immortals is mostly "feather people" with wings and can fly freely, such as the Yu Republic recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas and overseas south classics", the cloud in "Chu Ci Yuanyou" "still feather people in Danqiu Xi, leaving the old hometown of immortality", Wang Yi notes: "People have the Tao, and they are born with hairy feathers". From the records of the Chu Ci, two obvious characteristics of immortals can already be seen: immortality and free flight.
Taoism, which originated and is rooted in the land of China, takes the principles and pursuits of honoring the Noble Virtues of the Tao, the Nature of the Tao, returning to the Pure, cultivating oneself, prolonging life, and attaining the Tao of Immortality. With the fundamental purpose of cultivating immortals and the core of its religious concepts, it is also called xiandao and xianjiao. The crane's towering and unearthly image is very consistent with the image of the immortal, and more importantly, this unique spirit bird has two fundamental characteristics of "immortality": longevity and good flying, and it is no wonder that the "Xianghe Sutra" calls it "the patriarch of the Feather Clan and the Qi Ji of the Immortals". Therefore, the crane is associated with Taoism, and gradually fades its natural attributes in the long development, becoming a very typical religious and cultural symbol, condensing rich religious feelings.
In the Song Dynasty Zhang Junfang's large Taoist book "Seven Signatures of Yunji", a picture of the Neidanbu is included in the "Neidanbu", which depicts the four immortal skills that can be obtained after taking the Great Return dan: Paiyun, Crane Control, Shou Staff (to be able to kill life freely) and cast mirror (which can kill all charms). It is also convincing the food to return to Dan to be able to live forever and fly well, and has the ability to avoid hardship. It can be seen that the crane is a typical symbol of the gods in Taoism because of its elegant appearance, longevity and good flying characteristics.
Cranes in Taoist texts
There are many records of cranes in Taoist texts, which are roughly reflected as follows: cranes are immortal mounts or mortal cranes, riding cranes into immortals.
Palm Crane Lingguan
According to the Taoist classic "Fahai Relic Pearls" volume 14, there is a position of "Palm Crane Lingguan", which is specifically responsible for the immortal crane driving: "Penglai Mountain Palm Crane Lingguan Seven Members Name: The First Spiritual Officer's Name Hui xia... The first day of each month begins, and it is used in turn..." It can be seen that the crane is a commonly used mount for immortals, and it is managed by special immortals.
In the "Jinhua Jade Girl Says DanJing", the scene depicting the Lord of the Six Xuan Palace leading the heavenly crowd to greet the highest-ranking Taoist god in the sutra, the Taiji Yuan Zhen Emperor, is "Dragon Xuan Crane Riding, Immortal Battle Sen Lie, stationed in the Void Realm"; for example, tang Du Guangting's "Taoist Spiritual Examination Record" records that the Tang Dynasty Zheng Gongbi sleepwalked in the cave house, and the scene where the immortals received the order of Taishang Laojun to "return shangqing" and left was "either to control the crane, or to ride the flying dragon, and leap away".
Mortal cranes
A typical example of a mortal crane is Ding Lingwei. Ding Lingwei was a native of Liaodong during the Western Han Dynasty, who learned the Tao from Lingxu Mountain and became a white crane after becoming an immortal. The "Biography of dongxian" records that after a thousand years of becoming an immortal, it was "transformed into a white crane and set the pillar head of the city gate of the county", so the Liaodong crane and the Liaotian crane are often used as synonyms for the crane immortal in literary works.
Ride a crane to soar
Riding a crane to ascend is also one of the important ways for Taoism to become immortals, and Tang Lu Daoyuan's "Jade Scripture Fang after Taishang Elbow" records the Teaching of the East China Sea Qingtong Jun and The Nest Juzi Shiyun: "If you ask for a crane to ascend to the Ninth Heaven, it is not easy to cause it." If you travel within qiankun, keep the qi of the qi, the appearance does not change, the mind is clear, the life expectancy is not returned for hundreds of years, you can get it", it can be seen that riding a crane to ascend is a kind of cultivation result in the longevity of immortals.
Messenger of the Three Realms
Cranes also often act as messengers of immortals, coming when mortals have attained the Dao Ascension Immortals, and "the Crane Rises to Heaven" ("Records of the Collected Immortals of Yongcheng"),these are typical ways in which cranes appear in Taoist texts. In addition, in The Taoist divination and religious spells, there are trigrams and spells named after cranes. This reflects the crane as a religious symbol and a symbol of catechism, not only in the classics, but also in daily religious activities.
The crane in the poem
Cranes complement images such as pines, springs, and stones, and are most often seen in poetic works depicting the image, life, and palace view of Taoist priests. Whether it is directly comparing the character of the Daoist who escapes from the dust with the crane, or describing the image of the Taoist monk displayed in the life of the Qing cultivation accompanied by the crane, or using the crane to set off the ethereal and mysterious wind of the immortal path, or the description of the palace view, it naturally reveals the spirit of the immortal.
Meng Jiao's "Sending Xiao Alchemist into siming mountain" portrays the image of an otherworldly female Taoist:
Idle in the heart of the crane, greater than the year of Takamatsu.
Out of the table of everything, high perched on the top of the four bright peaks.
Chihiro straight split peak, 100 feet pouring spring.
Snow for my food, white clouds for my field.
Quiet words are not vulgar, and the spirit traces the sky.
At the beginning of the poem, "Crane Heart" is used to describe the high elegance of the female Tao, and with the extraordinary character of the crane and the characteristics of being a religious symbol, the word "Crane Heart" is enough to remind people of the spiritual bones of the female Tao. Behind the Qianxun Peaks and Hundred Feet of Clear Springs, with snow as rice and clouds as fields, the artistic conception of the clouds is high and wide, which further sets off the image of the Taoist.
Crane's high elegance and tranquility bring a simple and quiet meaning to the Taoist Temple, such as Li Bai's "Seeking the Hermitage of the Yong Master":
The sky is steep and green, and the year is not remembered.
Dial the clouds to find the ancient road, leaning on the stone to listen to the flowing spring.
Flowers warm green cow lying down, pine high white crane sleep.
Speaking in the twilight of the river, cold smoke fell alone.
The towering Bishan mountain has been standing in the clouds for many years, "the flowers are warm and the green cows lie down, and the pine high white crane sleeps", the two sentences outline a quiet Painting of the Yunshan Taoist Temple, and even the green insects on the flowers and the white cranes under the pine are sleeping silently. In the poem, it is only because of the poet's coming, pulling out the clouds to find the way, leaning on the stone to listen to the spring, that there is a glimmer of motivation. The whole poem does not describe Taoist temples and Taoist customs, but is just the ordinary deep mountain realm, only the "white crane" image, which points out the Taoist realm in this tranquility. Teacher Tan's geography studio is comprehensively sorted out
The spirit of Taoist culture embodied in the crane imagery
The holiness of religion. All forms of descriptions—whether they are immortals driving cranes, cranes, cranes in the Taoist realm, and describing cultivators with cranes, all have the same theme—expressing the holiness of Taoism. The Taoist Spiritual Experience Record contains that in the Middle Tang Dynasty, Huzhou Thorn Shi Cui Xuanliang "repaired the Yellow Hoop Dojo in the Ziji Palace, there were 365 cranes, Xiang Ji Tan, purple clouds flourishing, auspicious winds, and all from the northwest", the arrival of the crane brought a holy and auspicious atmosphere to the dojo.
The Taoist ideal of pursuing eternal life and freedom. For the immortals, there is no boundary of time, shou can coexist with heaven and earth; there is no boundary of space, you suddenly soar back and forth, towards the hair of Fusang, overnight in Kunlun. Immortality, flight, one is to break through the natural reality of the limit of life and death, and the other is that this body can come and go freely and break through the unreasonable shackles of various societies. The immortals are always joyful and can keep that joy and rejoicing— they can take charge of their own destiny.