4 The story of the mythical beasts, the origin of the legends of the four mythical beasts

Green Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Xuanwu.

The green dragon is a dragon, the vermilion bird is a three-headed bird, the white tiger is a tiger, and the Xuanwu is a turtle and a snake combined.

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The four divine beasts are the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Xuanwu. The green dragon is the god of the East; The White Tiger is the god of the West; Suzaku is the god of the south; Xuanwu is the god of the north, and the turtle and snake are combined. Therefore, there are "green dragons, white tigers, vermilion birds, Xuanwu, the four spirits of the sky, with the four directions, the king of the palace to take the law." ”

In ancient times, the ancients divided the heavens into four palaces, east, west, north and south, which were named after the green dragon (Canglong), the white tiger, the vermilion bird, and the Xuanwu (a turtle-shaped god). In effect, the sky is divided into four parts, which are formed by the seven main constellations in each section, named after their shapes.

The green dragon, the color is green, representing wood.

The white tiger, the color is white, represents gold.

Vermilion bird, the color is red, representing fire.

Xuanwu, the color is black, representing water.

Green Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu.

**1, Qinglong.

The green dragon originated from the worship of the ancient stars. In ancient China, the stars in the sky were divided into seven star regions: "Three Walls" and "Four Elephants". "Sanyuan" is "Ziweiyuan", symbolizing the imperial palace; "Taiweiyuan" symbolizes the administrative body; "Tenshigai" symbolizes a bustling market.

These three walls are arranged in a triangular pattern around the North Star. There are "four elephants" distributed around the "three walls": "East Canglong, West White Tiger, South Vermilion Bird, and North Xuanwu".

That is, the astrological sign in the east is like a dragon. Since the earth revolves around the sun, the stars in the sky also change with the seasons. Every evening at the turn of winter and spring, the dragon appears.

2. White Tiger. The white tiger is also the god of war and killing, which originated from the ancient star worship. The white tiger has a variety of divine powers such as warding off evil spirits, fighting disasters, praying for abundance, punishing evil and promoting good, getting rich, and tying the knot. It is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also made of the stars.

It is composed of the seven Nakshatras in the west among the 28 constellations: Kui, Lou, Stomach, Pleiades, Bi, Mi, and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the West, and its whiteness is because the West is golden in the five elements, and the color is white.

So white is said from the five elements.

3. Vermilion Bird. The Vermilion Bird is one of the four elephants and one of the four sacred beasts in traditional Chinese culture, originating from the ancient star worship. It is a sacred beast that represents the south, the color it represents is red, and the season it represents is summer.

4. Xuanwu. Xuanwu originated from the worship of the ancient stars. Since the pre-Qin period, it has been a sacred beast representing the Seven Houses of the North, and in the Han Dynasty, the Five Elements Doctrine began to rise, and its symbolic meaning was more than Non Gui and winter.

Turtle and snake in ancient China is considered to be a spirit animal, a symbol of longevity, before the Han Dynasty nobles long with jade turtle pendant, now in Japan by the influence of ancient China, named and made emblem commonly used turtle pattern.

The four ancient divine beasts refer to: the Oriental Green Dragon; Southern Vermilion; Western White Tiger; Northern Xuanwu.

Southern Vermilion; The Vermilion Bird can also be said to be a phoenix or a bird. The Suzaku is one of the four spirits, and like the other three, it comes from the stars, and is the general name of the seven southern Nakshatras: Well, Ghost, Willow, Star, Zhang, Wing, and Zhen.

It's like Suzaku. Zhu is red, like fire, and the south belongs to fire, so it is called Phoenix. It also has the characteristic of being rejuvenated from the fire, and it is the same as the immortal bird in the West, so it is also called the fire phoenix.

In the records of ancient books, the phoenix is a beautiful bird, and with its song and demeanor as the king of birds, it can bring auspiciousness to the world, and also has the special spirituality of 'not the sycamore does not live, the bamboo does not eat, and the spring does not drink', and because it is the long 'feather insect', so and ' The dragon of the scale worm's length gradually became a pair in the legend, a changeable, a virtuous and beautiful, it became a pair that complemented each other in folklore, and because the dragon symbolized the yang, and the original phoenix (phoenix for male, female for phoenix) was divided into yin and yang, and the dragon gradually became a representative of pure yin.