Introduction: In Zhuangzi's pen, there are two sacred birds, Kunpeng and Quail, and the difference is that fish and birds can be interacted with each other, but this imagination is not empty, in addition to the ancient cultural genes of prehistoric painted pottery fish and bird patterns, it is more likely to come from pre-Qin classics such as "Shan Hai Jing" and "Chu Ci". And once the interaction between fish and birds coincides with the four directions, the connotation is spontaneous.
The ancestors envied the fish in the water and the birds in the sky, probably hoping to have their magical ability to wade through the water and fly. In the case that both fish and bear paws want to have both, the ancients combined the two, resulting in the myth and legend of fish turning into birds.
Fish and birds
In the primitive mind, fish swim back and forth in the water, like birds soaring in the air; fish have fins, like birds have wings; fish sometimes jump out of the water, just as birds occasionally skim low on the surface of the water. How do fish and birds combine? The Classic of Mountains and Seas gives a near-perfect answer.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > (i) Flying fish in the Shan Hai Jing</h1>
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Zhongshan Classic, the name of "flying fish" is mentioned: "The water of labor is out of the water, and the west stream is injected into the water, which is a multi-flying fish, and its shape is like a carp." But the "flying fish" information here is rather brief, neither describing its physical characteristics nor explicitly combining fish and birds. The following examples are really more typical "flying fish":
Fish
"Shan Hai Jing Dong Shan Jing": And the west flow is injected into Yu Ru Zhi Ze. Among them, there are many fish, whose shape is like a fish and bird wings, there is light in and out, and its sound is like a mandarin duck, and it is a great drought in the world.
Image from Sugizawa's "Watching mountains and seas"
Wen ray
"Shan Hai Jing Xi Shan Jing": Xi Liu is injected into quicksand. It is a multi-text ray, shaped like a carp, with a fish body and bird wings, a white and white beak, often traveling in the West Sea, swimming in the East China Sea, flying at night. ”
Fishing
"Shan Hai Jing , Bei Shan Jing": And the west stream is injected into the water of Qianhu Lake, of which there are many fish, which are like chickens and red hairs, three tails, six legs, and four songs, and their sounds are like magpies, and they can be worried about eating. "
The fish "is shaped like a fish and bird wings", the mandarin ray is "shaped like a carp, the body of the fish and the wings of the bird, flying at night", the fish "its shape is like a chicken and red hair, three tails, six legs, four songs, its sound is like a magpie".
A closer look reveals that there seems to be some kind of progressive relationship between these three:
Fish are still fish in essence, but with more bird wings;
The rayfish more specifically transforms the species of fish into a carp, not only has bird wings, but also adds the characteristics of night flight;
As for the fish, it seems that in addition to the name, whether it is appearance (like a chicken) or sound (sound like a magpie), it seems to have broken away from the body of the fish and completely changed into the shape of a bird.
The cage of the fish cannot hold the soul of the bird, because every scale of it flashes with the freedom to flutter its wings.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > (ii) Zhuangzi's Kunpeng and Grebe</h1>
After having such a basic understanding, let's look at the two famous images written by Zhuangzi in the pre-Qin period, one is "Kunpeng" and the other is "Crane".
Interestingly, they themselves are typical cases of the interaction of fish and birds, and the source of this imagination may be derived from the description of various "flying fish" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Kunpeng
Kun, "Erya Shiyu" said: "Kun, caviar", Guo Pu's explanation is: "the general name of the son of the fish is Kun", Duan Yujie said more directly: "The caviar is not born, the carp is the egg word". To put it bluntly, the original meaning of the carp is fish eggs.
However, the carp was supposed to be a small fish, why did it become the image of a big fish here in Zhuangzi, is this a metaphor for the "kun" has the divinity of being able to be small and large, and can be hidden and appear?
Mustard Sumire
Peng, Guo Pu notes "Peng" as a phoenix, and the connotation and extension of the phoenix has always been full of uncertainty, in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", there are multicolored birds, phoenix emperors, partridges, etc. all belong to the category of phoenixes.
As for the bird, which is in the same mountain as the Fenghuang Emperor, Guo Pu notes: "Also the genus of the phoenix", indicating that it also belongs to this category.
"Classic of Mountains and Seas, Nanshan Classic": Five hundred and eighty miles to the east, the mountain of Nanyu... The water flows out of the water, and the southeast flows into the sea, with the phoenix emperor and the bird.
Grebe
In "The Getaway", the carp begins as a fish, then turns into a peng, and the direction of flight is from north to south, to the south.
"There is a fish in the North, and its name is Kun... Transformed into a bird, its name is Peng... It's the birds, and the sea will migrate to the South."
In "Huizi Xiangliang", it is mentioned that the Quail departed from the South China Sea and headed for the North Sea, which is the opposite of Kunpeng.
Zhuangzi looked at it and said, "There is a bird in the south, and its name is Quail, and the son knows it?" The grebe originates in the South China Sea and flies in the North Sea
The birds of the South China Sea can actually "enter the sea as fish", such as "Ge Zhi Jingyuan" quoted "Linhai Foreign Object Chronicle" as follows: "There are yellow finches in the South China Sea, which turn into yellow finches in June, and fish in october"
It is not difficult to see that Kunpeng and The Crane have this four-point connection:
First, they can all be classified as a genus of sacred birds such as luans and phoenixes; second, they all have the special divinity of the interaction of fish and birds; third, they all have the habit of migrating at any time. The only difference is that the two migrate in opposite directions: Kunpeng to the south and the Quail to the north.
flying fish
Let's go back to the three records of the "Flying Fish" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, what is the direction of their migration?
The rivers of life, without exception, are "flowing westward into the waters of (YuruZhize, Quicksand, and Qianhu Lake)", while the trajectory of movement is "always traveling in the West Sea and swimming in the East China Sea", which indicates that they migrate from west to east.
Is there some mysterious connection between these unique orientations and the interaction of fish and birds? This has become the key to solving the mutual interaction of fish and birds.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > (iii) the imagination and metaphor of the four-square world</h1>
East and west, south and north, do have metaphors of different natures in the world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. As stated in the Huainanzi Di Jixun, this is the imagination of the ancients for the wasteland of the four-way world:
There is immortal grass in the south, ice in the north, a kingdom of gentlemen in the east, and tangible corpses in the west
The same expression can also be seen in Qu Yuan's "Summoning Souls" in the Warring States period: Soul, or come back, there are ten days in the east, there are vipers in the south, there are quicksand in the west, and there is ice and snow in the north, these places are too dangerous.
Qu Yuan Chu Ci Summoning Soul Chapter
In fact, the more systematic and detailed world structure should come from the "Great Wilderness Classic" of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas". The scholar Qiu Yiwen's view is very insightful, he said: "The construction of time and space is based on the trajectory of the sun, the rise and fall of the sun's power, combined with the meaning of yin and yang, as the skeleton of the overall conception."
It is true that the sun rises in the east, so in the east there is Yutani (where the sun is bathed), there is the kingdom of gentlemen and green hills, symbolizing vitality; the south is hot, so there is the land of Shouma that stands without a shadow and the country of feathers where birds and beasts breed; the sun sets in the west, so there is Yuyuan (where the sun is gone), and there are "corpses of the form" that symbolize death; and the north, because it is in the southern hemisphere, is imagined to be a dark and cold world.
Schematic diagram of the transformation trajectory of Kunpeng, Partridge and Flying Fish
As far as this schematic diagram of the interaction of fish and birds is concerned, standing in the north meditation is Yu Qiang, which has the divine characteristics of a combination of fish and birds. And it is in this Arctic shadow that there is a mountain of feathers, the so-called "feathers" is the meaning of birds falling, which means that in this place, birds will die and fish will be reborn.
"Huainanzi • Terrain": "The candle dragon is in the north of Yanmen, hidden in the mountain of Weiyu, and does not see the sun." Youyun: "The north is known as ice accumulation, and the feathers are known as the feathers." Gao Lure: "Wei Yu, the name of the mountain, in the yin of the Arctic, do not see the sun also." ”
For the Quail and the Yellow Finches, they start from the South China Sea, arrive in the North Sea, and then the bird turns into a fish, which may be related to the symbolism of the Arctic Yu Land; for the Kunpeng, it is from the Arctic Wei Yu Land, reborn as a fish, and then transformed into a peng bird, migrating to the South Pole; as for the flying fish, it is essentially a combination of fish and birds, from west to east, just like the North Yu Qiang standing in the center.
The Kunpeng of the Big Fish Begonia
That is to say, the fish in the east become birds, corresponding to the sunrise, ascension, warming, transcendence and ascension from north to south, while the birds in the west become fish, corresponding to the sunset, descent, coldness, falling and entering the ground from south to north. The North Pole, from west to east, is in a balance between the two natures, with the supernatural characteristics of resurrection from the dead. For example, the Northern Emperor had the example of "dying and reviving, turning into a fish woman".
The bird dies and the fish is born - the fish ascends into a bird - the bird falls into a fish, and the beginning and end of life point to the fish.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > (4) The yin and yang of fish and birds in Chinese paintings</h1>
If it is said that in the pre-Qin literature such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and zhuangzi, there is already a bud about the yin and yang theory of fish and birds, then the Han painting may be more obvious and prominent, and it is extremely vividly displayed in the Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb Painting.
Ma Wang Piu painted the lower part
In the lower part of the painting, the lux lifted in the middle is invariably believed to be Yu Qiang, that is, the sea god and the wind god of the combination of fish and bird. The two big fish under the feet are interpreted as "ao" and some think that they should be "big fish", while the upper left corner and the upper right corner are turtles and birds, which is exactly what Qu Yuan said: "The turtle is the turtle", which means the resurrection of the dead. In general, this is the underground space dominated by the god Yu Qiang, and it is also the junction of the Taiyin Land and the North Sea Domain, so there are elements such as big fish, owl (owl) and Northern Yu Qiang, symbolizing the rebirth of yin, cold and death.
Ma Wangdui paints the upper part
In the upper part of the painting, there is a different scene, the center of the picture is a human snake-tailed god (or candle dragon), on the left and right is the sun and moon represented by the golden toad, and in addition to the golden crow, there are eight small dots on the Fuso tree, which together constitute the image of "nine days to shine on the Fuso", in addition, there are pegasus and dragons and seven birds and other things. In general, the nine days of Jinwu, Fusang Menggu, dragons and pegasus, and seven birds gather, and the combination of these images symbolizes masculinity, warmth, and rebirth immortality.
Ma Wang Heap painting
In fact, in mythological philosophy, there are three-point concepts - after heaven, earth, and water, birds and fish naturally become symbols of the corresponding space and space of heaven and water, while in the concept of the five elements of yin and yang, birds and fish add symbols in the sense of day and yang, night and hades, and time. Therefore, the order of time and space, dominated by fish and birds, constitutes this relationship of dualistic opposition and unity.
Conclusion: Fish and birds, not only the two most familiar animals in the lives of the ancestors, but also the creatures they feel the most mysterious, the ability to fly and wade in the water has triggered the symbolic meaning of the sky and the water in the primitive thinking, and the mutual transformation, death and rebirth of fish and birds are the embodiment of this dualistic opposition model, and Zhuangzi's Kunpeng and The Flying Fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas are excellent cross-sections to explore this concept.