Author Xu Jiangwei authorized the release
This "Lu" was originally the name of the country, which was the fiefdom of Zhou Gongdan, the brother of King Wu of Zhou, but later it was found that this word already appeared in the oracle bone. The author believes that the source of Lu's pronunciation contains information about where Zhou Tianzi and the Lu royal family came from and what language they originally spoke.
The words of the Chinese dictionary are explained like this: "Lu, the original meaning is to mean delicious, ancient ancestors fished and ate, fish as a delicacy." But this is just a kind of conjecture from the glyph of "Lu", which cannot withstand scrutiny, and can even be said to be an absurd statement.
The oracle bone "Lu" and the "Lu" character in the Golden Script
The "Lu" of the oracle bone gold text, the upper part of which depicts a human-shaped upright "fish", also resembles a bird with wings that can fly, and the lower part is a "mouth", but this does not refer to "eating fish", specifically referring to the "mouth" of the king's command (the same way as "Shang" and "Zhou"). That is to say, it is a "god fish" that can give orders, respect the party, and have the right to rule for hereditary succession, rather than aquatic products and seafood that people can cook and eat.
The original meaning of this "Lu" is "dragon". Tibetan and Altaic still refer to dragons as "lu", and Tibetan is written (pinyin transliteration lu). Notice that the "fish" in the picture above not only has the shape of a bird, but also has "dragon scales" on its body, indicating that it can fly, and "dragon" is a god that can swim in the water and fly in the air.
Primitive Bon believes that there are gods ruling in the sky, on the earth and in the waters, and the gods in the heavens are called "Zan", the earthly ones are called "Nian", and the waters are called "Lu". The latter belongs to the local deity, the "land god", also called "sada" in Tibetan, which means "the one who respects one side".
The Tibetan word for "dragon" is also called "zhou" (nchuh), which is more extensive in scope of power, of course, more noble, and this is the "ritual" relationship between the "son of heaven" of Zhou and the princes, which corresponds to the historical fact that "Lu" is a local kingdom.
The "Lu" of Bon has the characteristics of the gods of underground, underwater and water sources, and usually refers to a group and a system of gods: it includes aquatic and amphibians such as fish, snakes, frogs, turtles, etc., and is considered to be "dragon children and dragon grandchildren", of course, they cannot be eaten, otherwise they will be punished by the gods, and the light will suffer from "dragon disease" (pronounced "Lu Pi"), usually referring to serious skin diseases such as leprosy, and immediate death.
This "Lu" is also considered to be the mother of the creator god, as mentioned in the "100,000 Dragon Sutra" (100,000 Dragon Sutra), the first thing that appears in the world is "lu", and good and evil are beautiful and ugly. They are each based on a river, characterized by irritability, the slightest disappointment will bring disaster, so they must be careful to serve the offerings, and when grazing, moving the soil or cutting, they must first ask for their permission.
The 100,000 Dragon Sutra also says that "Lu" was originally born from the six eggs of the founding golden turtle. The Dragon Collection says that dragons are transformed from fish, and fish are the mother of dragons, and they are all born of "mother fish". In Tibetan culture, "gold-eyed fish" is synonymous with "dragon". For example, the Kagyu patriarch Milarepa () often compares himself to a gold-eyed fish in his collection of songs, saying: "I am actually the son of a big fish that can shake huge waves, and as early as my mother's womb, my golden eyes have been formed, and when I am an adult, I have become a fish swimming in the ocean..."
Lu worship is closely related to the unique "fish worship" customs of the ancient inland plateau nomads, and the farming and settled peoples living in the water network area or the seashore do not produce this custom, because fish, shrimp, snails, mussels, frogs and other aquatic products are an important source of their protein, where there are too many types of fish, so many that they can't tell the difference, which kind of fish do you tell them to worship? But the situation is different on the inland plateau, where fish are scarce and difficult to catch, and fish will not become a source of protein for the highland peoples, so that fish worship customs can be produced and existed.
Archaeology shows that the concept of "fish is the son of the dragon", which has appeared as early as the distant prehistoric era, is widely expressed in the Dadiwan culture, Majiayao culture and Yangshao culture faience pottery, containing the "inner mechanism" of the origin of Chinese civilization:
The fierce-looking "Lu" fish on the Majiayao cultural faience pot is the "dragon plate", a ceremonial vessel that only noble kings can use.
The "Lu" fish on the Yangshao culture faience pot, with its huge eyes, is twisted in the shape of a dragon, which is a reflection of the fish worship customs of the tribe of the tomb owner.
"History of Zhou Benji": "The Duke of Zhou was ordered by Hedong Tu and Lu Tianzi. This "Lu" is used as a verb, that is, to become the lord of one party, and to inherit the power of life and death.
In fact, the concept of "the dragon comes from the fish" has not completely disappeared, it is reflected in the story of "carp jumping the dragon gate", but people have long been unaware of its original meaning.
It is precisely because the original meaning of "Lu" is dragon, and it is also an irritable local deity, in Chinese, it has slowly acquired the meaning of rashness, rudeness, recklessness, and fury. For example, the Analects: "Samyelu." This means that Ginseng is a reckless person. If the original meaning of "Lu" is a delicacy, there is no way to produce such an extended meaning.