Our traditional culture is broad and profound, and the colloquial culture in traditional culture is the experience and wisdom summed up by our ancestors for thousands of years. Sayings are all-encompassing, especially in our lives, and there are sayings everywhere. For example, our ancestors were very particular about the choice and construction of the homestead and living environment, and many sayings about living houses were born in life.
For example, this saying that "the green dragon is strong and tall, rich and majestic" is the wisdom of choosing a house and building a house handed down by the ancestors. So, what does this saying mean?
We had the saying "four spirits" in ancient times. The so-called "four spirits" refers to the ancient legend of the sacred beasts that guard the four directions of the town, which are the green dragon in the east of the town, the white tiger in the west of the town, the suzaku in the south of the town, and the Xuanwu in the north of the town.
The saying "Green Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku, Xuanwu" originally originated from the ancient star worship, people divide the twenty-eight stars in the sky into four groups according to the orientation of east, west, south and north, the east seven houses are called green dragons, the west seven houses are called white tigers, the south seven houses are called suzaku, and the north seven houses are called Xuanwu.
Later, the ancestors of our people used the four spirits to refer to the four directions of east, west, south and north. And this saying that "the green dragon is strong and tall, rich and majestic", the green dragon in it is actually the location of the East!
And this sentence "Green Dragon is strong and tall, rich and noble" refers to the position of the Green Dragon, that is, the East must be tall, so that the owner of the house can be "rich and noble". Such a statement seems to have no scientific reason today, but in ancient times, it was generally believed that the buildings in the east should be higher and the buildings in the west should be lower, so as not to affect the family home.
Folk sayings also include "It is better for the green dragon to be tall and tall, and not to let the white tiger look up", "the white tiger covers the green dragon, and there are people who are poor from generation to generation" and so on. The green dragon and white tiger mentioned in these sayings actually refer to the direction, the green dragon refers to the east, and the white tiger refers to the west. This means that it is better to make the east side much higher than the west side a little higher.
So, why did the ancestors pay such attention? Why can't the White Tiger suppress the Green Dragon? Why can't the buildings on the west side be tall?
This kind of exquisiteness of the old ancestors is actually related to the ancient concept of Zun Dong and Zun Zuo.
The ancestors built houses to pay attention to "sitting north and facing south", such a way of building leads to the fact that the south side of the house is the main house, and the left hand side is the east side, so whether it is Zun Zuo or Zun Dong, in the customs and habits of building houses are the same reason.
In the eyes of the ancients, the east symbolized vitality and vitality, while the west symbolized killing and decline. In the folk courtyard, if someone in the family dies, when the spirit is stopped, it will often stop in the west house.
In addition, the east is the land of sunrise, which is the representative of "yang" in the eyes of the ancients, while the west is the land of sunset, which is the expression of "yin". Therefore, the yang house where the living live must be high in the east and low in the west. If the mausoleum is built, then it will be the other way around!
Although there seems to be no scientific reason for the attention of the folk ancestors, it contains the philosophical ideas of the ancients. The influence of traditional culture has penetrated into all aspects of the folk, and this saying that "the green dragon is strong and tall, rich and majestic" is only a drop in the ocean of the influence of traditional culture on the life of the old ancestors of the people.