Written by Bu Xifeng
Unlike ancient Greek mythology, the Chinese mythological system is scattered, mostly found in fragments. According to the available information, the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven was first seen in the Liezi Tang Qian:
However, the heavens and the earth are also things, and there are deficiencies in things, so in the past, the Nuwa clan refined five-colored stones to make up for their gaps; the broken jaws were enough to erect the four poles. [1]
The record of Nüwa supplementing the heavens in the Liezi is extremely brief, with only events and few descriptions.
The myth of Nüwa Supplementing Heaven is also recorded in the Huainanzi Lan Meditation:
In ancient times, the four poles were abandoned, Kyushu was split, the sky was not restored, the earth was not carried around, the fire was not extinguished, and the water was vast and endless. The beast eats the people, and the bird grabs the old and weak, so nuwa refines five-colored stones to replenish the heavens, breaks the jaws enough to erect the four poles, kills the black dragon to save Jizhou, and accumulates ash to stop the water. Heaven makes up for it, the four poles are positive, the obscene water is dry, Jizhou Ping, the cunning worms die, and the people's livelihood is destroyed. [2]
This account is much more detailed than that recorded in the Liezi, adding a description of the disaster and the specific actions and results of Nüwa to make up for the heavens.
The myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven still exists in the "On Balance" and "Three Emperors Benji", and the account in the "On Balance" is:
Confucian saying: Gonggong and Gonggong fight for the Son of Heaven, and they are invincible, and they are angry and do not touch the mountain, so that the pillar of heaven is broken, and the earth is destroyed. Nuwa sold five-colored stones to replenish the heavens, and the broken jaw was enough to erect four poles. The sky is not enough in the northwest, so the sun and the moon move; the earth is not enough in the southeast, so the hundred rivers are focused. [3]
The account in the Three Emperors Is:
Nuwa Yimud King... In his last years, the princes also had the Gonggong clan, and Ren Zhi punished him to be a strong hegemon rather than a king. It is a battle with Zhu Rong, invincible and angry, but the head cannot touch the mountain, collapse, the pillar of heaven is broken, and the earth is lacking. Nuwa is refining five-colored stones to replenish the heavens, breaking the jaws enough to erect four poles, gathering reed ash to stop the water, and saving Jizhou. So the earth is level, and the old things are not changed. [4]
From these records, we can roughly see that there was no co-work in the early Nüwa supplementary heaven myth, and it was not until the "On Balance" written by Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty that there was a plot of co-work that could not touch the Zhou Mountain. Mr. Zhu Tanwen speculated that this was the reason why Wang Chong confused the legend of Nüwa Patching Heaven in "Huainanzi Lan Meditation" with the battle of Gonggong and Huan in "Huainanzi Astronomical Training". [5] This possibility certainly exists, but it is only one possibility. In the "Liezi Tang Qing", there is also a legend that the gonggong and the Emperor of The Emperor were not successful, and the anger could not touch the Zhou Mountain, and although the book "Liezi" was doubtful, it appeared very early, and it was already recorded in the "Hanshu Yiwenzhi". Ban Gu and Wang Chong lived in about the same age, staggered for more than ten years, coupled with the fact that the "Book of Han and Yiwenzhi" itself was added and deleted on the basis of the "Seven Sketches", so we cannot rule out the possibility that Wang Chong used the "Liezi" to generate the myth of Nüwa Supplementing Heaven in "On Heng", and the content of the "Liezi" record of gonggong not touching the Zhou Mountain followed closely after Nüwa Supplementing Heaven, and there are also words such as "heaven tilting to the northwest" and "dissatisfaction with the southeast", which seems to be closer to the record in "On Heng". However, no matter how you argue, both of these possibilities are speculations and difficult to prove.
But no matter how this rewriting process is carried out, we can conclude that the content of the myth of Nüwa Supplementing Heaven is also constantly being supplemented, and in terms of storytelling, it is constantly improving.
Judging from the phrase "the earth fell to the southeast on that day" in the first episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", it seems to be inconsistent with the records in "Huainanzi" and "Three Emperors Benji", and seems to be related to "the sky is not enough in the northwest" and "the earth is not enough in the southeast" in "On Balance". However, this kind of examination is undoubtedly a major flaw, and it is not enough to confirm that the mother book rewritten by Cao Xueqin is the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven in "On Balance". There is also a phrase in the Chu Ci Tianwen (Chu Ci Tianwen) that reads "What is the loss in the southeast". After all, it is very difficult to determine its source by the word "southeast of the sink", and it is inevitable to force interpretation.
In order to integrate the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven with the novel, Cao Xueqin rewrote the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven, which turned "Dream of the Red Chamber" into a "sequel" to the "Nüwa Myth", which is necessary from the perspective of the creation of the novel, and enhances the appeal from the reader's point of view.
Let's see how Cao Xueqin rewrites the myth of Nüwa supplementing the heavens. First of all, Cao Xueqin set the location of Nüwa's refining stone: the Great Desolate Mountain Cliff; at the same time, she set the size of the stone she was refining: twelve zhang in height and twenty-four zhang in square longitude; and finally set the number of stones, thirty-six thousand five hundred and one pieces.
These rewrites, through the lipogram, pointed out some of the meanings, such as the Great Desolate Mountain Cliff implies the meaning of "absurdity and nonsense", and the twelve and twenty-four zhangs correspond to "twelve plates" and "vice twelve plates" respectively, and the number is also the number of weeks and days. This interpretation has been accepted by most people in the academic community.
It should be noted that the first time there is a fat batch:
wonderful! He claims to be the root of depravity, so he has no use in replenishing the heavens.
This commentary attributes the reason why the heavenly relics cannot make up the heavens to the fallen love root, because it has produced love, so it cannot be repaired. In other words, emotion has become a burden on the heavenly relics. This undoubtedly provides a path for the development of the following article.
In this rewriting process, the first thing to be completed is the transformation of the protagonist in the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven, who is transformed from the absolute protagonist of this story into the creator of the stone, and the protagonist becomes the stone abandoned in Qinggan Peak. With the change of the protagonist, the storyline is also transformed from the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven to the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven in "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the meanings contained in the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven, such as compassion and solemnity, are naturally transferred to the novel. This stone that was tempered became the text carrier or witness in the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In other words, Cao Xueqin's description of the story of this stone can also be regarded as the remnant of the myth of Nüwa patching up the heavens, but the most important thing is that this rewritten myth of Nüwa patching the sky has essentially become the myth of "patching the heavens and leaving the stone", thus becoming an organic part of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In the novel, this abandoned stone has a spiritual understanding, but it is very different from the heavenly stones, and the stones can make up the heavens, but it can only be abandoned under the Qinggeng Peak to complain about itself. At this time a monk appeared together, and the book wrote:
One day, just as the mourning was in place, a monk came from afar, born with extraordinary bones, and the gods of abundance were different, talking and laughing to the bottom of the peak, sitting on the edge of the stone, and talking about happiness. First he said something about clouds, mountains, fog, and gods, and then he talked about the glory and wealth in the red dust. When this stone heard this, he did not feel that he was impressed by the hearts of mortals, and he also wanted to go to the human world to enjoy this glory and wealth, but he hated himself and was stupid, so he had no choice but to spit out his words and said to the monk, "Master, disciple is stupid, you can't see the ceremony." It is appropriate to hear the two of them talk about the glory and prosperity of the world, and their hearts are eager to admire it. Although the disciple's quality is rough and stupid, his sex is slightly clear, and seeing the second master's immortal-shaped Daoist body, he must have extraordinary qualities, and he will have the material of replenishing the heavens and the world, and the virtue of benefiting things and helping people. If you are blessed with a little compassion, carry your disciples into the red dust, enjoy them for a few years in that rich field and gentle township, and be forever peihong, and never forget the disasters. After the Second Immortal Master listened, Qi Xian smiled and said, "Zenza, Zenza!" There are some happy things in that red dust, but they can't be relied on forever, and there are eight words of 'beauty and inadequacy, good things and many demons' that are closely linked, and in an instant, they are extremely happy and sad, people are not exchanged for things, and it is the end of a dream, and all the worlds are empty. It's better not to go. ”
This stone man's heart was blazing, and when he heard these words, he begged again and again. The Second Immortal knew that it could not be forced, but sighed: "This is also a quiet and extremely moving thought, and there is a number out of nothing." Even so, we will take you with you to enjoy it, but when you are unhappy, do not regret it. Shi Dao: "Nature, nature." The monk added, "If you are said to be spiritual, but you are so stupid and even more precious, you will have to tiptoe like this." Or, now I have given the Dharma to help you, and when the end of the disaster comes, I will restore the essence and solve this case. Are you okay? Stone listened, thank you inexhaustibly. The monk then chanted a spell and performed a great illusion, turning a large stone into a bright and beautiful jade, and shrinking it into a pendant-sized kopecuna. The monk leaned over his palm and smiled, "The form is also a treasure!" There is no real benefit that must be engraved with numbers, so that people can know at first sight that they are strange and wonderful. Then I will take you to the land of Prosperity, the clan of poetry, the flourishing of flowers and willows, and the gentle and rich countryside to settle down and work. When the stone heard this, he could not help but be overjoyed, but asked, "I don't know the few strange things that I gave my disciple, and I don't know where I took my disciple with me?" Pray to make it clear so that the disciple will not be confused. The monk smiled and said, "Don't ask, you will understand it in the future." Saying this, he took the stone and drifted away with the Daoist, not knowing where to go.
The large quotation text is because of the extremely large content in the paragraph, which involves cao Xueqin's structural thinking on the entire "Dream of the Red Chamber" and Cao Xueqin's description of the title of "Dream of the Red Chamber". The most relevant thing to this section is that Cao Xueqin changed the shape of the stone in this text, giving the stone desire.
Since the stone has been trained, the spirit has been passed, but under the Qinggeng Peak, it is difficult to generate desire. The words of the vast master and the humble real person evoked the mortal heart of the stone to the glorious and rich mortal world to "enjoy it". This kind of mortal heart can be said to be a yearning from curiosity, but this curiosity comes from the description of a monk.
The words of the stone are touching, and it calls itself a "stupid thing", which is not a response to the inferiority of its own materials and inability to make up for the heavens. However, inferiority did not stop its desire, and the eagerness of this yearning was known from the last resort. And his words were also earnest, and the pleas to a monk really made people feel pitiful and lamentable. "The wall stands on a thousand feet, and the desirelessness is rigid", when the stone produces desire, its own divinity is gradually annihilated, and the spirituality produced by the exercise is also blinded.
A monk was either impressed by his sincerity, or in order to wash away the mortal heart that arose, it was finally a great illusion, transforming this heavenly relic stone into a piece of beautiful jade that could be admired and taken, and engraved some words, so that people would know that it was a treasure at first sight. Through this passage, Cao Xueqin completed the transformation of the shape of the stone and turned it into a piece of beautiful jade. The beauty of stone is called jade, and in any case, this evaluation of beauty and unbeautifulness comes from people, and the formation of people's ideas has a secular side in itself. When the stone is complacent about becoming jade, the stone in nature is stained with "popularity".
This process of rewriting is very similar to the "triple realm" of The Zen Master Kiyohara. From "Dream of the Red Chamber", we can see that Cao Xueqin is familiar with Zen stories, such as the Zen poems of Liuzu Huineng in the twenty-second episode of the novel "Listening to Quwen Baoyu Wu Zen Machine Riddle Jia Zheng's Tragic Sayings". Whether there is a succession relationship between the two is difficult to discern, but the possibility cannot be ruled out.
Let's also look at the "triple realm" of The Zen Master Of The Pure Plains:
Jizhou Qingyuan only believed in Zen master, and went to the church: "When the old monk did not participate in Zen thirty years ago, he saw that the mountain was a mountain, and the water was water. Later, when I saw knowledge with my own eyes, there was an entry. Seeing mountains is not mountains, seeing water is not water. And now I have to take a rest place, and I see that the mountain is only a mountain, and the water is only water. The public, these three views, are the same or different? Some people concluded that Xu Ru personally saw the old monk. ”[6]
In modern times, this "triple realm" is very famous. We look at this "quotation" in conjunction with the story of this "Heavenly Relic Stone": The stone that was abandoned under the "Qinggeng Peak" was undoubtedly seen before a monk was a mountain, and the water was water, and everything in its eyes only showed its original characteristics. The words of a monk make the stone lust, the temptation in the red dust obscures the true appearance of the mountains and waters, everything is like seeing flowers in the fog, and the stone also gives birth to the idea of entering the world. And this process of joining the WTO provides the reason for the creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber". Stones are also blinded in the world, and in the twenty-fifth episode of the novel, the monk recites the "Psychic Treasure Jade", which includes the phrase "powder stained grease stained treasure light". All this shows the confusion and wandering of the stone in the red dust. In the first time, the empty karate people saw the heavenly relics stone that returned to the source, and at this time, the heavenly relics stone was already very accessible, and it also returned to the realm of seeing the mountain is the mountain and seeing the water is the water, as it said to the karate people, "But only take its physical reason, and why should it be confined to the age of the dynasty", straight to the essence, it is not limited to the image, this is a kind of insight into the world after the return to the truth.
Cao Xueqin's use of this stone is not so far, he also gives this stone the function of narrative and carrier.
In the early circulation process of "Dream of the Red Chamber", it was named after "Stone Record", and the origin of the name is precisely because of this stone left by Nuwa to supplement the heavens. Or there are two meanings: first, the story is recorded in stone; second, the story is recorded in stone. That is to say, the "Book of Stones" is a description of the narrative function of the stone, and it is also a description of the function of the stone carrier, both of which are both.
Since this story is written by stone, the stone must become an important participant in the novel. In Dream of the Red Chamber, this is mainly reflected in the narrative perspective about stones.
In some of the plots of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the stone is used as the first perspective to narrate. As in the fifteenth episode:
Sister Feng was afraid that the psychic jade would be lost, so she waited for Baoyu to sleep and ordered someone to stuff it on her pillow. Bao Yu did not know what account he had calculated with Qin Zhong, did not see the truth, did not remember, this was a suspicious case, and did not dare to create it.
This narrative responds to the dialogue between the stone and the karate people in the first time, "It is not as good as these women I have seen and heard with my own eyes in half a lifetime", and at the same time strengthens the identity of the recorder for the stone, and gets rid of the omniscient and omnipotent perspective similar to that of the storyteller, thus creating an unreliable narrative and increasing the reader's imagination space.
But after all, the use of stone as the first perspective to narrate, limiting the creation of the novel, but also not conducive to the laying out of the plot, so this perspective is actually not universal in "Dream of the Red Chamber", occasionally, it is still interesting, if there is more, it is too boring. As Li Yanzhai said: "Therefore, I specially use these two or three hidden things, borrow the stone to see the truth, faintly hidden, the more I feel that the clouds and smoke are in the middle, the infinite hills are in the air." ”
In addition to the perspective function, the stone also acts as a main line. Mao Dun wrote in the introduction to his abridged version of Dream of the Red Chamber:
Only the piece of jade that Jia Baoyu brought from his mouth seemed to be a tendon because it was repeatedly mentioned in the whole book, and when it was cut, it was not in shape, so it had to be kept;[7]
In the whole "Dream of the Red Chamber", from the plot point of view, this stone refined by Nuwa has experienced the experience of returning from the immortal world to the mortal world, and then to the Great Desolate Mountain; from the physical point of view, it has changed from stone to jade and from jade to stone. Throughout this process, stone is a thread throughout the book, constantly reminding the reader that this is a story about stone.
Cao Xueqin, through the processing and transformation of the myth of Nüwa supplementing the heavens, made this myth complete the transformation of the protagonist, from Nüwa to stone, and also completed the transformation of the purpose, from the stone of the heaven to the stone of the record. In the rewriting of the myth of Nüwa Patching Heaven, Cao Xueqin, on the basis of inheritance, broke through the traditional way of writing, so that the mythological story is no longer limited to the origin and conclusion, but perfectly blends the myth into the novel, so that it has the function of a carrier, and at the same time, the characteristics of the stone are transferred, so that people and things have similarity, which not only enriches the level of narrative, but also enhances the philosophical reflection.
[1] Jingzhong Translation, Liezi, Zhonghua Bookstore, December 2007, first edition, p. 135
[2] Gu Qian's translation notes, Huainanzi, Zhonghua Bookstore, March 2009, first edition, pp. 97-98.
[3] Huang Hui, "On the Interpretation of Heng Proofreading", Zhonghua Bookstore, February 1990, first edition, pp. 469-470.
[4] Sima Zhen wrote "The Three Emperors of the Book", quoted from Takikawa Ziyan Examination, compiled by Yang Haizheng, and Sima Qian's "Annotation Examination of the Historical Records", Shanghai Century Publishing Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, April 2015, 1st edition. pp. 2-3.
[5] Zhu Tanwen, "The Origin of the Myth of the Dream of the Red Chamber", Journal of the Dream of the Red Chamber, No. 1, 1985, p. 3.
[6] Song Puji, Five Lantern Society Yuan, vol. XVII, zhonghua bookstore, 1984, p. 1135.
[7] Cao Xueqin's original work, edited by Mao Dunjie, Dream of the Red Chamber, Baowentang Bookstore, April 1982, p. 8.