Mountains and Seas Through demon beasts: Deaf onions
When reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas, people often ask such questions, why is the number of limbs used to mark the practice of strange people and monsters? For example, there is a one-eyed country, there are three-legged turtles, there are five-legged monsters, there are nine-tailed foxes, and so on. What does it mean that these monsters, which are completely different from the structure of the creatures of nature?
This is actually a system of divine beasts established by the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which divides their ranks by the number of limbs. What is the limb? Limbs in a broad sense refer to the head, facial features, limbs, hands and feet, antennae and tail of animals. By the number of limbs, it is possible to identify whether this animal is a divine beast, for example, if an animal has two heads, the goods must not be ordinary.
Not only that, the more limbs there were, the more strange the appearance of the Divine Beast, and the greater its mana might be. We were told that a fox with one tail is far less powerful than a fox with nine tails. Of course, in view of the influence of later Taoism, the number of limbs of the divine beast was often linked to the length of cultivation time, and a five-hundred-year-old fox essence, due to the long enough cultivation time, would definitely be closer to the level of the nine-tailed fox. This is the top secret of goblin evolution, please readers do not pass it on.
There have also been some exceptions in history that go beyond this law, such as the number of "one", which has the smallest value, but sometimes has a mana that is not inferior. Take this mythical beast as an example. It is said that the hammer has only one leg, but the mana is very large. The Great Desolation Sutra describes it as shining like daylight and moonlight, and its roar is as deafening as thunder, bringing wild storms every time it appears. Later, the Yellow Emperor got this divine beast, made a drum out of its skin, and also made a hammer out of the bones of the thunder beast, and when the drum was struck, the sound was loud and could be transmitted to five hundred miles away, which was enough to shock the world1.
Mountains and Seas Through Demon Beast: Di Jiang
Of course, the one that is one is ten, which is a very rare exception. In the World of Warcraft, the divine beasts basically still rely on the number of limbs to express their strength. The Classic of Mountains and Seas also has an arm country, and the inhabitants only have one arm, one eye, and one nostril, but they don't seem to have any strange mana, so they don't arouse everyone's interest.
Next, we may wish to re-inventory the Mountains and Seas Sutra Divine Beasts according to this principle, and see how their hierarchical order is set by the number of limbs.
Higher than the number of "one" is the divine beast with three numbers. There is a country called the Qiqi Kingdom, and its inhabitants also have three eyes, divided into yin eyes and yang eyes2. The Overseas Western Classics say that the Three Kingdoms have "one song and three bodies", that is, three bodies grow under one head, and they are said to be the children of the sun goddess Emperor E.E.3.
The Taoist master Guo Pu further explained in the book "Tuzan" that the strange people of the Three-Body Kingdom have the same eyes, ears, mouth, nose and mouth, and if one body is used to eat, then the other two bodies will not feel hungry. Ancient India believed in the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and also molded them into three bodies connected together, is this the prototype of the three-body kingdom of the Shan Hai Sutra? We don't have a clear answer to that yet.
In addition to the Three-Body Kingdom, there is also the Three-legged Wu, from the mythological treasure book "Huainanzi". According to its records, there is a three-legged crow in the sun, that is, a crow with three legs4. This combination of the bird and the sun is actually the image of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Ra is the shape of an eagle-headed man, and from him onwards, the image of the sun has been closely associated with the bird. However, it only had two feet during the Warring States period, but in the Han Dynasty, it grew a third foot, showing that this golden power had been evolved.
There is also a three-legged turtle, also known as Huang Neng, which is said to be transformed after the death of the earth god, but he is not willing to become an aquatic animal, trying to find a magician with high mana, bringing himself back to life and restoring himself to the gods. But during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it gradually turned into a poisonous demon beast.
Mountain and Sea Demon Beast: Nine-tailed Fox
The "four" number is a very small group, which is almost difficult to find in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, because human and animals have limbs, so they are more common and not worth making a fuss about. Only the "West Mountain Classic" provides us with a kind of "four-winged beast", saying that there is a kind of divine beast living in the Tianshan Mountains, which looks like a round and rolling ball of flesh, has no face and facial features, the color of the skin is bright red, like a burning flame, and also has six feet and four wings, is good at singing and dancing, the name is "Di Jiang", is one of the four demon beasts of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", once helped Gonggong to carry out a fierce battle with The Dragon, although it was defeated every time, it was still indomitable, so it was the first-class battle god beast 6 in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".
Please note that this Emperor Jiang has six legs, so it can also be classified into the six number series. In the Western Mountain Sutra, there is a kind of sacred fish called "Ran Yi", which has the body of a fish, the head of a snake, and six feet, and eating it can make people not doze off, but also resist knife soldiers and dangers. Similar to it is a catfish that looks like a chicken, has red feathers, four heads, three tails and six legs, and can treat depression after eating it.7
Liang Shenyue of the Southern Dynasty, in the Book of Song and Fu Ruizhi, gave high praise to such "six-legged" divine beasts, saying that they were the kings of the beasts, and whenever it gave an order, the beasts would inevitably respond in groups, with high prestige8.
But "six" was not yet the ultimate number of divine beasts. In the Divine Beast Rank Chain, only the Nine-Tailed Fox, the Nine-Headed Bird and the Hydra were the most high-end beasts. "Nine" is not the ultimate number, in ancient Chinese, "nine" is an imaginary number, representing "very much" and "infinitely many" meaning.
Cambodia is a country that believes in the god of snakes, which divides the snake into three levels according to the number of heads, of which the five-headed snake is the god of water, the seven-headed snake is the protector, and the hydra is the supreme royal symbol. But in most countries, the hydra is a symbol of evil. According to the Great Desolation of the Northern Classic, the Hydra is named Xiang Liu, has a huge body, can occupy nine mountains at the same time, constantly spit out venom, and form a stinking swamp, which can kill all birds and beasts that pass by.9
Mountain and Sea Demon Beast: Turtle Fish
Greek mythology calls this hydra, and in the world created by Marvel, it became synonymous with a vast evil organization, with iron man and Captain America.
In the "nine" level, in addition to the familiar nine-tailed fox, there is also the nine-headed bird. The Great Wilderness North Classic records that there is a sacred beast in the Arctic, with nine heads, a human face, and a bird's body, called "Nine Phoenixes", which looks like an auspicious bird.10 But later, the Nine-Headed Bird gradually became a magic beast.
In the Tang Dynasty's book "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", this nine-headed bird is called "ghost car bird", originally had ten heads, but was bitten off by a dog, and the injured neck never healed, constantly bleeding poisonous blood, no matter who is contaminated, will face disaster. In order to prevent the scourge of the nine-headed bird, and especially to prevent it from sucking away the spirit of a child, as long as it flies from the sky, it must quickly blow out the lights and let the dog drive it away. This response later became an important folk practice11.
But the "nine" number is not yet the ultimate number. Above the nine numbers, there are actually ten numbers, which may stem from the need for symmetry. In the Beishan Sutra, there is a monster called the "Turtle Fish", which is a mixture of birds and fish, with the head of a magpie and the body of a fish, with five pairs of wings, and the scales are overlapped and overlapped on the outside of the feathers of the wings, with the power to prevent fire, eating it can cure jaundice. Not only that, but its descendants also evolved into an ancient small country, called Xi Guo at the time, which was the ancestor of all Xi surnames, located in the area of Xishui County, Zunyi, Guizhou. In the hierarchical chain of the number of limbs, "ten" is undoubtedly an ultimate number, representing the apex of the Divine Beast Lineage 12.
concentrate:
1. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Eastern Classic of the Great Wilderness": "There is a liubo mountain in the East China Sea, which flows into the sea for 7,000 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. ”
2. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Overseas West Classic": "One arm of the country is in its north, one arm, one eye, and one nostril." The kingdom of Qiqiu is in its north, and its people have one arm and three eyes, yin and yang, riding on horses. ”
3. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Overseas Western Classic": "The three-body kingdom began to the north after the summer, one song and three bodies." "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness of the South": "In the midst of the great wilderness, there are mountains that are not in the court, and the waters are poor." Someone has three bodies. Emperor Jun's wife, Emperor E, was born in this three-body country. ”
4. "Huainanzi Spiritual Training": "There are toads in the day and toads in the moon." Xu Shen noted: "Squat, judean, is called a three-legged crow." ”
5. Lu Cang, "Gengwei Ed.": "In the summer of Gengcang, there were people in Taicang Prefecture who saw the fishermen, holding a turtle and three feet, and buying it back to lingzhi. Cooked, call for women to eat together, women do not want to eat, go out and sit outside the door. For a long time, he did not hear his husband's voice, and when he saw that he had lost his place, there was a wisp of hair on the ground, and his clothes were crowned, and everything was there, like a degenerate. Frightened shouts, heard in the middle, and deceives the woman for murdering her husband, and records the official. Huang Tingxuanzhi of Putian, Zhizhou, gained his affection, thought that it was heterophysical or deserved, and returned to the woman in prison. The fisherman shall set a limit for the catch of three-legged turtles. For a few days, it was given. That is, in the official hall, the woman was summoned to cook according to the previous cooking, and the heavy prisoner ordered her to eat, and the food was brought into prison, and the door was completely destroyed, and the clothes and hair stored were the same as those of the people. It is the sin of the original woman. ”
6. The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of the Western Mountains: "Three hundred and fifty miles to the west, the Heavenly Mountains, the Golden Jade, the Green and the Yellow." The Water flows out of the Water, while the Southwest Stream flows into the Yutani. There is a god, its shape is like a yellow sac, red like a Dan fire, six legs and four wings, Hun Dun has no face, it is a song and dance, and it is the only Emperor Jiangye"
7. The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of the Western Mountains: "Three hundred and fifty miles to the west, the mountain of Yingyun ... The water comes out of the water, and the north stream flows into the Lingyang Nozawa. It is a fish with a large number of relics, the body of the fish is snake with six legs, its eyes are like horse ears, and the food makes people not squint, and can resist the fierce. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of the North Mountain": "Three hundred miles to the north, the belt mountain ... Peng Shui comes out, and the west flow is injected into the water of Qianhu Lake, of which there are many fish, which are shaped like chickens and red hairs, three tails, six legs, four eyes, and their sounds are like magpies, and they can be worried about eating. ”
8. Book of Song and Fu Ruizhi: "The six-legged beast, the king's conspiracy and the multitude, then to." ”
9. The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness of the North Classic: "The name of the minister of co-workers is Xiang Xuan, the body of the nine-headed snake, the self-ring, and the food in the Nine Mountains." What it is the source of the source, not hard but bitter, a hundred beasts can not be placed. Yu annihilated the flood, killed XiangXuan, its bloody smell, can not grow valley, its land is full of water, can not live also. ”
10. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness of the North": "In the great wilderness, there is a mountain named the Arctic Heavenly Cabinet, and the sea water is injected north. There is a god, nine human-faced bird bodies, known as the Nine Phoenixes. ”
11. Duan Chengshi, "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks, Volume 16": "Ghost car bird, according to legend, there used to be ten songs of this bird, which can collect human souls, and one is eaten by dogs." Qin Zhongtian is cloudy, sometimes there is a sound, the sound is like the sound of a car, or the words are water chickens. Liu Ke, "Records of the Ridge Table": "Ghost cars, between spring and summer, a little bit of obscurity, then flying by, especially outside the ridge, love into people's souls." Or Cloud Nine Songs, once one of the dogs, often dripping blood. Blood Drop House, there is a fierce blame. Zong Yi, "Records of the Jing Chu Years": "On the night of the first moon, there are many ghosts and birds, and the family hammer bed beats the household, and the dog's ear is extinguished, and the lamp is extinguished to you." ”
12. The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of the North Mountain: "Three hundred and fifty miles to the north, the mountain of Zhuoguang is known as the mountain of zhuoguang, and the water is out of the water, and the west flows into the river." Among them, there are many turtle fish, whose shape is like a magpie and ten wings, the scales are at the end of the feather, and its sound is like a magpie, which can resist fire and eat without embarrassment. "Water Classic": "It also passes east through the north and southeast of Fu County, and the water of the Eagle Department is injected from the northeast of Fu Guan." "Zunyi Fu Zhi ShuiDao": "Its water is now the Gaodong River, which is from the bottom of the High Cave, and the natives are called The Eagle Water." This aquatic mandarin fish is not available for his water, so it is called the ancient place name of the turtle part, and its water is called the water of the eagle part. ”
The pictures in this article are from the Internet
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