Today, I would like to talk to you about the kuí "dragon" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Why the quotation marks? In fact, in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", it is not clearly recorded that the 夔 is a dragon, but later generations often call it a dragon.
The original text of the Fourteenth Book of Mountains and Seas, the Great Wilderness East Classic: "There is a liubo mountain in the East China Sea, and it flows into the sea for seven thousand miles." There are beasts on it, shaped like an ox, with a body and no horns, one foot, and when entering and leaving the water, it will be windy and rainy, its light is like the sun and the moon, its sound is like thunder, and its name is called The Hammer. The Yellow Emperor won it, with his skin as a drum, with the bones of a thunder beast, and heard for five hundred miles, to dominate the world. ”
Translation: There is a mountain in the East China Sea called Liubo Mountain, which is seven thousand miles away from the coast. There is a beast on the mountain, its shape is similar to that of an ox, it has a pale body, it has no horns on its head, only one leg, when it enters the water, it must be accompanied by wind and rain, the light emitted by this beast is like the sun and the moon, it emits a sound like thunder, its name is called 夔. After the Yellow Emperor got it, he used its skin as a drum face, and used the bones on the body of the thunder beast to beat the drum, and the drum could be transmitted to five hundred miles away, and the Yellow Emperor used it to shock the world.
The original text does not describe the word 夔 as a dragon, but only mentions that it is a divine beast with special abilities. How did the title of dragon come about? In line with the principle of not daring to say anything, the fat man still checked a large number of relevant ancient books and some archaeological records, and roughly sorted out the following:
First, Guo Pu commented on the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "The thunder beast is the thunder god, the human face dragon body, and the one who drums his belly." Let's look again at the original text of the god of thunder recorded in the thirteenth volume of the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "There is a god of thunder in The Lei Ze, a dragon body and a human head, and a drum in his belly." In Wuxi. This is one of the bases for posterity to call the dragon and also the god of thunder, but the fat man was very surprised, and the original text said that "with its skin as a drum, with the bone of the thunder beast," does not it mean that the skin of the hammer is used as a drum face, and the bone of the god of thunder is used as a drumstick? I hope that the little friends who know do not stingy to solve the problems of fat people.
Second, The Dragon was two officials of the Yao Shun period. The Book. Shundian (舜典): "Bo Bai Ji Shou, let Yu Yu Long." Kong Chuan: "Dragon, the name of the second minister." There is also a poem Saint Du Fu also wrote in the poem "Giving Xiao Twelve Envoys": "Chao Xu Shan Lin Zhi, Chuan Long Lang Temple Zhen." Liang Chenyu "Huan Sha Ji Wu Jie": "Bo Yao that old thief Oh! I wholeheartedly believe that you are the Ji Shi Chuan Dragon, who knows that you are a silverfish owl. Yelü Chucai "Harmony Rhyme" No. 2: "AndeKuo Long Li Lang Temple, support Yao Shun Ji Si Min." From these poems and documents, it is not difficult to see that the dragon was actually two sages of the Yao Shun period, according to the record: 夔 is a music official, the dragon is a counselor, and later used as a metaphor to refer to the auxiliary good ministers.
Third, I think this is the most convincing one. 夔龙纹, in the late Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties in the bronze dragon pattern is often referred to as the 夔文 and 夔龙纹, 夔龙 pattern is one of the main ornaments, the image is mostly Zhang, curly tail of the long strip, the shape and bronze finish of the structural line is suitable, with straight lines as the mainstay, arc as a supplement, with an ancient beauty. On bronzes, all objects that represent one foot and resemble reptiles are called 夔, which is a reference to the ancient book "夔一足" record, some scholars believe that the one-legged animal is the side shape of bipedal animals, so the word 夔 pattern is not used, called 夔龙纹 or dragon pattern. In the bronze ornamentation, all the animals with larger, winding bodies can be classified as dragons, called dragon patterns. The fat man thinks that this statement is still relatively reliable, let's appreciate the dragon pattern on these bronzes.
Two more: in the "Commentary on the Interpretation of Words", it is said that "夔, the divine charm is also, like a dragon's foot." "Tokyo Endowment": "The monster of wood and stone, like a dragon..." And Yang Junsong of the Tang Dynasty once directly classified it as a dragon, and also mentioned in the book "Dragon Classic": "The dragon is the lord of the dragons, does not swim in turbid water, does not drink turbid springs." ”
After talking about the dragon and then talking about the cattle, the "Divine Demon Zhiyi Spirit Beast Chapter" records: The ancient strange beast, shaped like a green bull, has three legs and no horns, and roars like thunder. Living in the deep sea for a long time, three thousand years is a birth, and when it is born, it is wind and rain, thunder and lightning, and the world is called the mount of the god of thunder. Wu Renchen's "Guangdong Commentary on the Classic of Mountains and Seas" quotes the "Biography of Guangchengzi": "Xuan you copper-headed stone, flying in the air and taking dangers." Take the cowhide as a drum, stop it with nine blows, especially cannot fly away, so it is killed. ”
The description in the Classic of Mountains and Seas is also like an ox, in fact, there is a record of cattle in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas says, "Three hundred miles to the northeast, the Min Mountains." The river flows out of the water, and the northeast flows into the sea, among which there are many good turtles and many shrews. There is more gold and jade on it, and more white min on the bottom. Its wood is more plum and tang, its beasts are rhinoceros and elephants, more cattle, and its birds are more than Han and pigeons. The Zhongshan Classic also records: "One hundred and fifty miles to the east, Kunshan Mountain." The river flows out of the river and flows east into the big river, which is full of strange snakes and many fish. Its wood is multi-lined, it is multi-plum, and its beast is multi-ox, antelope, rhinoceros, and goon. There are birds, shaped like owls and bare-bodied and white-headed, whose name is stealing grease, which can withstand fire. ”
Here first explain that the system of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" includes three parts: "inside the sea", "overseas", and "great wilderness", and the geographical division is divided into five services, from the imperial capital city as the center to the outside, namely Dianfu, Houfu, Suifu, Yaofu, and Desertu. Hai Nei refers to Dianfu, Houfu, and Suifu. Overseas and wilderness refer to serving and wilderness.
After reading the original text of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and the original text of the cow, the fat man guessed that the cow and the cow were two kinds of creatures. Because the 夔 comes from the Great Wilderness East Classic, it belongs to the wilderness in the map of the Shanhai Jing, which is often called the wild land in the novel, and the Zhongshan Jing should belong to the sea, and the two are far apart, so the fat man guesses that these two should not be a creature: the cow should be a common creature and the same as the cow, and the cow is not very common, and most of the literature is also written about the dragon or the dragon instead of the cow, of course, this is just a personal speculation and no relevant records have been found.
Finally, let's talk about "夔一足", "Shuowen Jiezi" says "夔, the divine charm is also like a dragon's foot." "Six Thesis" cloud "夔, one foot, and walk." The "Lü Shi Chunqiu Cha Biography" records: "Lu Aigong asked Confucius: "Le Zheng Chu is a foot, believe it?" Confucius said: "In the past, Shun wanted to preach to the world with pleasure, but he made Chongli juju enter in the grass, and Shun thought that he was happy." Then the six laws, and the five sounds, to pass through the eight winds. And the world is in big clothes. Chongli also wanted to gain people, Shun Yue: "Fu Le, the essence of heaven and earth, the festival of gain and loss." Therefore, only saints are the basis of energy and happiness. If the hammer can make peace with it, it is enough to equalize the world, and if the one who is a hammer is enough'. Therefore, it is said that 'one foot', not 'one foot'. ””
Interestingly, "Han Feizi Wai Chu said the bottom left. Thirty-third, however, records two different stories.
The first paragraph: "The Duke of Sorrow asked Confucius: "I have heard a foot, believe it?" "Man, man, why is it a foot?" He is no different, but unique. Yao Yue: 'One is enough. 'Make it right. Therefore, the gentleman said: 'There is a foot in the womb.' 'Non-one-legged also. ”
The second paragraph: "Lu Aigong asked Confucius: "I have heard that the ancients have a foot, and their fruit is a foot?" Confucius said to him, "No, it is not a foot." The mourners are angry and disgusting, and many people do not say hiya. Although, therefore it is free from the victims of man, also by its faith. Everyone knows: 'One is enough.' 'Not one foot, one foot.' "Judgment is enough." "Interested friends can check the translation."
About the "one foot" thing is actually quite funny, Lu Aigong is likely to confuse the musician and the divine beast, he heard others say "one foot" and thought that the musician was a leg, so there were two different dialogues, after all, it is normal to confuse the name.
To sum up, in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" recorded does not belong to the dragon, but a special ability of the divine beast, as for the dragon may be called by posterity based on the bronze on the one-foot dragon pattern inferred, the dragon pattern symbolizes the meaning of the magnate and the auxiliary bow liangchen, to put it simply, according to the legend, the myth evolved into a belief, and passed it on. According to the story of Lu Aigong, the fat man sighed that when we eat melons on the Internet, we should first understand the truth of the matter, rather than spreading false rumors and taking meaning out of context, resulting in the development of the incident in a complex direction.