Dragon is the Chinese nation has been worshipping holy relics since ancient times, the long-standing Chinese culture is also known as the culture of the dragon, Longshan, Longgang, Longjiang, Longtan, the traces of the dragon are everywhere, the dragon flying phoenix dance, painting the dragon dot Qing, the tiger is on the dragon disk, Ye Gong good dragon, the dragon culture is all-encompassing. The dragon has penetrated into the blood of the Chinese nation and become the soul of the Chinese nation, so that the supreme rulers of the Chinese nation have been called the true dragon tianzi, and the people are the descendants of the dragon, and the dragon has become the banner of the Chinese nation and the symbol of the great spirit.
However, what exactly this sacred thing is is an ancient mystery in the history of the Chinese nation, and some people say that the dragon is an entity, a python, a crocodile, a galloping horse, a wind and clouds in the sky, a rainbow, a wave in the water, and a constellation in the universe. Some people also say that the dragon is a totem, a belief, the god of thunderstorms in religion, the god of evil in culture, the god of music in art, and the god of bells and drums, which has produced a variety of dragon artistic images and magical and wonderful stories and legends.
I. Interpretation and legend of the dragon
Throughout the ages, people have had a variety of interpretations of dragons.
"The Dragon, the Scaled Worm is long, can be subtle, can be thin and huge, can be short and long,
The spring equinox ascends to the heavens, and the autumn equinox rises to the heavens."
"Pipes, Water and Land" "The dragon was born in the water, and was swam by the five colors, so the gods, if they want to be small, they will turn into insects and flies, if they want to be big, they will hide in the world, if they want to be above, they will be above the clouds, and if they want to go down, they will enter the deep spring, and there is no day for change, and there is no time for going up and down."
Hong Fan. "Dragons, insects are born in the abyss, invisible, and swim in the heavens."
The Classic of Mountains and Seas. Zhongshan Sutra "The Mountain of Light, on which there is much bi, below it is woody, the gods are deceived, and their human beings and dragon heads are constantly swimming in Zhangyuan, and there will be heavy rain in and out."
"Huainanzi" "Lei Ze has a god, the head of the dragon, drums its belly and Xi".
The stories and legends about dragons that have spread throughout the country are innumerable.
Second, the image and evolution of the dragon
The earliest chinese current artistic image of the dragon, when pushed archaeology found in the Yangshao culture period west
The pottery pot dragon pattern excavated from the An Banpo site is shaped like a snake body fish, which is the totem image of the yangshao culture clan residents, and a dragon pattern similar to Banpo has also been found in the Linfen Xia Ruins site in Shanxi. According to this, some experts pointed out that the image and shape of the dragon seen in later generations evolved from the long fish pattern of the half slope, so there is also the theory that the fish and dragon are mixed.
By the Han Dynasty, dragons had detached themselves from real life and the specific animal images in nature, and had become special animals that combined the spirituality of many animals. Luo Yuan's "Erya Wing" says that the form of the dragon has nine similarities: "The head is like a camel, the horns are like a deer, the eyes are like rabbits, the ears are like cattle, the neck is like a snake, the abdomen is like a mirage, the scales are like carps, the claws are like eagles, and the palms are like tigers." Its back has eighty-one scales, with nine nine yang numbers, its sound is like ga copper, handicap, there is a pearl under the jaw, there are reverse scales under the throat, there is Boshan on the head, also known as the ruler wood, the dragon without a ruler wood can not ascend to heaven, the breath can become a cloud, it can turn into water and fire." At this time, the dragon seemed to be omnipotent, which is roughly in line with the artistic images of various dragons we see today, and because of this, many scholars believe that the dragon is the totem of China's ancient ancestors, a kind of imaginary animal.
Iii. The Dragon's Truth Conjecture
The second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is a traditional Chinese festival - the Green Dragon Festival, which is a very ancient one
The festival, and directly related to the dragon, commonly known as "dragon head up", some areas also call this day "hulei sting", hulei is thunderbolt, hibernating refers to the hibernating animal awakening. The Qinglong Festival is the time before and after the twenty-four solar terms, it is the season of the revival of all things, the ancient Chinese believe that the dragon is a kind of god who is good at change, its dormant after autumn, early spring sting, sting is to look up, after the dragon stings up for a whole winter, it emits a rumbling roar, and then it flies away, so there is lightning and thunder in the sky, the ancients do not know what this lightning and thunder is, and can only be called according to the sound. In ancient times, the god of thunder was called "Fenglong", that is, boom, long - dragon homophony, and ancient times were also synonymous. When people heard the thunder, they rushed to say that "the dragon is coming", and the arrival of the dragon brought the breath of spring and the hope of life to the earth.
With the emergence and development of human culture, people should have a specific image depiction of the dragon, the sound of the dragon can be heard, but its shape is really difficult to identify, people can only see a dazzling electric light, fleeting, no one can say what it looks like, only feels that it is curved, teeth and claws, unpredictable, this is the origin of the dragon seeing the beginning and not the end. Although it is impossible to distinguish the exact appearance of the dragon, there must always be an image for people to worship, so people will depict an image according to observation and imagination. Since the dragon can lie dormant, looks long, and can be bent, it is somewhat similar to the python on the ground, but it is certainly not an ordinary python, so it is based on the shape of the python and the lightning, with all kinds of spiritual animals flying in the sky, running underground, and swimming in the water, so that it can penetrate the heavens, turn the sea and the river, have great powers, and be omnipotent, and the image of the dragon is born from this.
4. The Birth of Dragon Worship
Rumbling thunder, shaking the earth, often accompanied by wild storms and torrential rains, floods raging,
Houses collapse, even towering trees will be uprooted, and the forest fires caused by lightning are even more thrilling and daunting. In the face of this powerful natural mana, people are extremely small and helpless, and they can only bow down and worship. But this rumbling thunder is both frightening and unsettling, causing disaster, and blessing. When the sun is scorching, the land is red, the streams are dry, and the heat is unbearable, people look forward to the dragon to bring people wind and rain coolness. When the cold wind roared, everything returned home, and there was a snow cover everywhere, people were eagerly looking forward to the appearance of the dragon and injecting vitality and vitality into the earth. This complex psychology of both fear and dependence prompts people to pray for the dragon to bless and eliminate disasters, and to protect people to live a peaceful and happy life, which forms the worship of dragons, the reverence for nature, is the earliest human worship, and dragon worship originates from nature worship.
5. The Formation of Dragon Culture
Culture is the symbol that distinguishes human beings from the animal kingdom, and language is the carrier of culture, and human beings are the earliest
The culture produced is the language culture, and the dragon culture should be the culture of the language culture period. In the era when there was no writing, people could only inherit culture through language, the dragon was mighty and strong, both ascending to heaven and entering the earth, both precipitation and fire, both auspicious and disaster, these unpredictable magical stories were passed down from generation to generation among people, forming an early dragon culture.
With the advent of the agricultural era, people rely on the sky to eat, the wind and rain have become the most envisaged beautiful scene, rain with the dragon, only the dragon can do the clouds and rain, to help people realize this good wish, so the dragon is more worshiped by people, the dragon culture has been further developed. It was in this era that writing was produced, and the earliest Chinese characters in China were created mainly based on pictograms, pointing things, and meeting intentions. Rumbling thunder can be spoken, but it is difficult to understand, and this rumble is not unique to thunder, so it is necessary to create a separate word, and the earliest oracle we see today is the image of a reptile with a large mouth and a glowing body, which seems to indicate a glowing, reptile roaring. As the script has evolved several times, although it is no longer what it used to be, there are still traces of its archetype until the Time of the Seal. From this, we have reason to think that the dragon is a composite of thunder and electricity, or that the dragon is the life of the god of thunder, which is the reason why the god of clouds, rain and thunder in Chinese mythology is called "Fenglong".
6. The Development of Dragon Culture
Dragon culture was further developed during the Yan and Huang Emperor periods, and the Yan Emperor Shennong clan was again
The name Candle Dragon, or Vulcan, shows that this is a tribe that worships the God of Fire. Although drilling wood can make fire, and the earliest fire on the ground should come from thunder and lightning in the sky, then the worship of the fire god should also originate from the worship of thunder and lightning. The "Century of Kings" says: "There is a divine dragon who feels that the first female ascends to the Changyang Shengyan Emperor. He also said: "The Yandi Shennong clan grew up in ginger water, began to teach the world, and ate grains, killed in order to save life, tasted herbs and trees, preached medicine to cure diseases, and saved the lives of the dead and injured." "It can be seen that the Yandi is a clan with agriculture as its main activity, and it is said that he was the inventor of farming and medicine, and since he began our ancestors to enter the agricultural era, thus worshipping the god of thunder and lightning more and more, so the worship of the Yandi tribe is the worship of the dragon.
The Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan clan, which was the same era as the Yan Emperor, worshipped the god of thunder and lightning, and the "Imperial Century" says: "The Yellow Emperor, the son of Shaodian, the surname of Ji, the mother is attached to the treasure, see the great electric light around the Big Dipper Pivot Star, Illuminate the Wild, Feel the Treasure, and give birth to the Yellow Emperor in Shouqiu." The "Imperial Lineage" says: "The Yellow Emperor lived in Xuanyuan's hill, married to the daughter of the Xiling clan, called the Changzu clan", 嫘祖, also known as Lei Zu, that is, the god of thunder.
The Yanhuang and Huang tribes have fought over interests, the two sides have fought in Hanquan three times, but there are also cultural identities, common worship, and similar cultural identities, which have contributed to the great integration of the two tribes, both unified under the dragon's command, and their descendants have also become the descendants of the dragon.
The era of the Yellow Emperor has entered the era of agricultural civilization, so the worship of dragons has also entered a new period, "Lü Shi Chunqiu. Gu Le" records the Yellow Emperor: "Let the flying dragon do the sound of the eight winds, and the name is Chengyun". "Flying Dragon" is the god of thunderstorms, Fenglong, the "Left Biography" says: "Taihao clan to the dragon age, and the Yellow Emperor to the cloud age", the relationship between the dragon and the cloud is extremely close, the functional relationship between the cloud and the thunderstorm should be the basis for the production of the image of the dragon. "Yi Tong Gua Test" "The cloud is more black and moist, and there is a dragon under it". Dragons travel by clouds, thunder and lightning always flash in the clouds, there must be thunder and lightning there must be clouds. Thunder and lightning have a variety of different colors, cyan is often accompanied by a big earthquake, is the color of disaster, the main killing; red is the color of the thunderbolt fireball, often causing fire, the main disaster; yellow is the main color of lightning, but also the color of auspiciousness, so the Yellow Emperor with the cloud as the age is the true legend of the dragon, yellow, it has become the color of the true dragon.
The officials of the Yellow Emperor clan are named after the cloud, which is exactly the image of the cloud embracing the dragon, the cloud is the imperial car, and the Yellow Emperor travels, and must ride the cloud. Dark clouds rolling, lightning and thunder, this is our most common thunderstorm weather, so this can further prove that the dragon is thunder and lightning, and the dragon worship is the thunder worship.
"Ancient and Modern Notes" "The Yellow Emperor Rides the Dragon to Heaven". The Book of Feng Zen collects explanations: "The Yellow Emperor mined the first mountain and cast the bronze under the Jingshan Mountain, and the Ding was completed, and there was a dragon hanging under the beard, and the Yellow Emperor was greeted, and the Yellow Emperor rode on it." The Kaiyuan Zhanjing quotes the Spring and Autumn River Chengtu as saying, "If the Yellow Emperor will die, the Yellow Dragon will fall." All these records prove the relationship between the Yellow Emperor and the dragon. According to these records, we can make such a guess, in a day of lightning and thunder, wind and rain, the great tribal leader Who was supported by the people died, and people said that the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven by dragon.
7. The integration of dragon culture
The Chinese nation, which has a long history, in the long years, the various tribes for their own interests to fight each other, but also reconcile with each other, a variety of different cultures mutually exclusive and mutual attraction, from the surface to form a colorful Chinese culture, so it can be said that Chinese culture is an inclusive culture, the story of the Dragon King of the Four Seas is a culture with obvious Dongyi cultural color.
The Dongyi people have lived in the coastal area for generations, and they have observed in their long-term lives that the clouds, rains, thunderstorms and lightning mostly originate from the sea, so they believe that the dragon is usually lurking in the sea, which has the saying that "the sea is the dragon world". China's coastal zone is mostly east, therefore, in ancient Times, China said that the East Sea has the widest range, and the East Sea Dragon King has become the most powerful Dragon King, followed by the North Sea Dragon King and the South Sea Dragon King, and the West Sea Dragon King has the least influence. The emergence of the Dragon King of the Four Seas has become the god of clouds and rain, the Dragon King has become the idol worshipped by the dragon, influenced by the dragon culture, each different tribe has also created a variety of different dragon art images according to their different cultural inheritance, and the dragon has also spread from the ocean to every corner of the river and mountain spring, so that there is a famous sentence that "the mountain is not in the high and the immortal is named, and the water is not in the depth of the dragon is the spirit". Since then, the dragon culture has entered a more colorful era, from which it can be said that the dragon culture is also a witness to the great integration of the Chinese nation, and all ethnic groups in China are the descendants of the dragon.
VIII. The Promotion of the Dragon Spirit
The dragon is the common worship and belief of the Chinese nation, the dragon culture is the common cultural identity of the Chinese nation, in the dragon body to the Chinese people unlimited romance and wonder imagination, it seems to be nothing, swimming between the three realms, into the quiet, out of the sound in the sky, can be said not to sound, a blockbuster. The dragon is not only a cultural reality, but also an abstract symbol, it is a spirit, a belief, a meaning, a strength. The I Ching, which has the source of the Dao And is known as the head of the scriptures, uses the dragon to symbolize the heavens, and the dragon to symbolize the changes in the heavenly path, the dissipation of yin and yang, and the advance and retreat of human affairs, and also symbolizes the infinite potential of the heavens. "Easy. Qian" "Great Qianyuan, the beginning of all materials, is the unification of the heavens, the clouds of rain, the line of character, the daming always, the six times of the time, the time multiplied by the six dragons to the heavens, the change of the dry road, the life of each zheng, the protection of the Taihe, the lizhen, the first out of the shu, the xianning of all nations." Qian is the first gua of the I Ching, and Qian is written as "Jian" in the Book of Books, and Qiangua is the gua of JianWu, that is, the dragon gua. Although the Six Dragons of Qiangua are divided into the positions of diving, seeing, tidding, leaping, flying, and soaring, they are summed up as the six multiplications of their dragons, and the changes of these six dragons are like the rotation of the wheels, which do not violate the Heavenly Dao, no matter how they change, and the heavens are in time. Time also, luck also, seize the luck of the times, you can control the heavens.
Dragons can lurk and sleep, but dragons will always awaken, and when they get to heaven, they will soar to heaven, with infinite potential in infinite space. Dragons are strong, but dragons are not strong and competitive, and the dragons get along and help each other, and they will not invite danger, only auspiciousness and peace. The spirit of the dragon is a kind of martial spirit, which with the power of thunder and thunder, destroys the trend of decay, sweeps away all the mud and muddy water, and is widely used by the world, so it can be worshiped by the people of the world. Sometimes the dragon moves and moves, Zhang Chi has a degree, rigidity and softness, and the luck of the heavens, so it can live forever, and its descendants are also endless.
Tianxingjian, a gentleman who strives for self-improvement. A Chinese nation that has made tremendous contributions to world civilization will surely stand tall in the forefront of the world's nations with the great spirit of unremitting self-improvement, and reproduce its glory for the prosperity of mankind and for world peace and development.