Why are there tombstones in front of graves?

The main function of tombstones is to provide future generations with a little information about their predecessors, so that they can understand their own experiences. Another popular way of saying it is to pass on the family line and understand one's own life experience.

Ancient tombstones had many uses:

First, wooden stele was erected in front of the palace gate, so it was said that "there must be a stele in the palace". This wooden stele is used to identify the sun's shadow. From the yin and yang of the sun's shadow, seasonal changes can be measured;

Secondly, a stele was erected in front of the ancient ancestral temple. There are holes on the stele. Tie the rope to tie the sacrificial animal, and after it is eaten by the gods, the animal is taken out for blood sacrifice;

Thirdly, the ancient stele is a tool for leading the coffin into the burial.

Modern tombstones are mainly used to write inscriptions, and the writing of tombstones is rich in content. Including Feng Shui conditions, place of origin, name, identity, dates of birth and death, descendants, who erected the monument, and the date of burial or reburial.

1． According to Feng Shui conditions, the left side of the tombstone is called the dragon's edge, which is an important part of the tombstone. Here you need to write the mountain direction, the mountain direction line, and the golden line. For example, "Li Guishan Dingxiang and Ziwu two points use Bingzi to divide gold." The purpose is to inform future generations. Even if there is a natural disaster, flood erosion, or war destruction, future generations can still follow the Feng Shui conditions on the stele. , find the original Feng Shui direction and re-erect the monument. : "(Yuan Keli) was buried on the 27th day of the twelfth month of Ding Chou in Chongzhen. The tomb is in the south of the county, two miles away from the ancestral tomb. It is the tomb road built by imperial decree and has the same purpose as the tunnel!"

< p>2． As for place of origin, in cemeteries with a large number of immigrants, especially those who died in a foreign country, the name of the province, city, and county of origin must be engraved on the most conspicuous parts of the left and right corners of the tombstone. Some only have the name of the region and village engraved. This is a sign of attachment to the hometown, and it also provides convenience for future generations, relatives and friends to find the tomb when sweeping the memorial ceremony. : "According to the form: The public taboo can be established, with the courtesy name of Liqing and the nickname of Jiehuan. He lived in Fengyang for generations, and his ancestor was Rong. In the early days of the country, he used his military exploits to strengthen the city and guard hundreds of households, which is now Suiyang Wei. Then he moved to Sui, Look forward to it with virtue."

3. The name is written in the center of the tombstone. This is called "midlist". When writing the name of the tomb owner, the number of characters is related to the feng shui auspicious omen. In order to respect the elders, many words of respect were added in the past, such as kao, xiankao, xiankao for father, concubine, xianhei for mother, Gong and Fujun for men, and surname and Ruren for women. Moreover, the number of words is based on the five characters of "birth, old age, illness, death, and suffering". Among them, the two characters "生" and "老" falling on the sixth, seventh, eleventh, twelfth, sixteenth and seventeenth are auspicious. If it falls on the word "disease", it will be moderate, if it falls on the word "death" or "suffering", it will be unlucky. Therefore, when planning to win the lottery, try to use numbers in an auspicious format. For example: "The 19th generation of Chengxinjiangshe was awarded the title of Fengzhengdafu Kaoquanyuan Qiufu Junjia City", which is 21 characters long, which fits the character of "birth" and is the most auspicious. If the names of the couple are written on the stele, they will be arranged according to the left and right, with men on the left and women on the right. In the 22nd year of the Republic of China, "Henan Tongzhi·Suixian Interview Draft·Mausoleum": "Yuan Shangshu Ke's tomb is located five miles south of the city (Suizhou) and south of Luozhuang. The monument states that the senior official was in charge of the Shangqing and the Minister of War, Yuan Jiehuan (Yuan Keli) Tomb "

4. The dates of birth and death are written on both sides of the middle list, still according to the male left and female right. It is best to write all the years, months and days. Because as time goes by, household registrations are canceled and passed down from generation to generation, it is very difficult to find the dates of birth and death of ancestors after several generations. The Ming Dynasty Wangduo's "Prince Shaobao's Minister of War and the Ministry of War, Jie Huan Yuan Gong's Shinto Stele": "On the 11th day of the tenth month of Guiyou, the seventh season of the emperor's rule of the world, the senior official, the Minister of War and the Ministry of War, Jie Huan and Yuan Gong (Yuan Keli) finally came home."

5． The person who built the monument, including children, relatives, friends, and groups, should be written on the tiger side of the monument, that is, on the right side. Their children should all be written, and deceased children may have a frame around their names. Still arranged according to seniority, from left to right. There are also those who do not want to reveal their names, so they can write that their children are standing in respect, or they are standing in front of them, or they are standing in a hundred bows. : "On the 27th of December, Ding Chou, the tenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the male shu (Yuan Shu) wept blood and accepted the stone."

6． The time when the tomb was built or rebuilt is written on the side of the stele. There are many texts in China that record time, including the AD and the lunar calendar. Most of them record winter solstice and Qingming. Years and dates also often use stems and branches. A, B, B, D, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui in the heavenly stems, and Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Shu, and Hai in the earthly branches. Combined to represent days or months on the calendar. Such as Jiazi, Yichou... Some literati divide the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter into twelve months, and each month has its own name. For example, January is called Meng Chun, February is called Zhong Chun, March is called Ji Chun; April is called Meng Xia, May is called Zhong Xia, June is called Ji Xia; July is called Meng Qiu, August is called Zhong Qiu, September is called Ji Qiu; October is called Meng Dong. November is called midwinter, and December is called season winter. There are also twelve months named after flowers and trees, such as the plum moon in January, the apricot moon in February, the peach moon in March, the locust moon in April, the durian moon in May, the lychee moon in June, the melon moon in July, the laurel moon in August, The chrysanthemum moon in September, the sandalwood moon in October, the jia moon in eleventh month, and the oak moon in twelfth month. "Gu Dan", "Ji Dan" and "Ji Day" are also commonly seen on tombstones. These are not specific dates. "Gu Dan" comes from "The Book of Songs", which means "Gu Shan" and "Dan Ming", which means good times. And "auspicious days" and "auspicious days" only have auspicious meanings. They are all used to make up the number of words when arranging the number of auspicious words. Also, if one cannot remember or cannot remember the month and day of birth and death, auspicious months and days are often written on them, so that the family members of the tomb owner can get psychological comfort. Epitaphs include epitaphs, epitaphs and tombstones. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, monuments were erected directly in front of the cemetery. The tomb owner's official title, name, and date of birth are engraved on the stele.

Later, the family history and life achievements of the tomb owner were engraved and praised on the stele. In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the government banned the erection of monuments many times. They believe that "since the Han Dynasty, the world has been extravagant in death, and many stone chambers, stone beasts, inscriptions and other objects have been built." In the 10th year of Jian'an (205), Cao Cao issued an order prohibiting grand burials and the erection of monuments. In the fourth year of Xianxiang (278), Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty issued another edict: "This stone animal stele is not only a private praise, but also a hypocrisy in prosperity, and it is harmful to wealth and people. There is nothing more serious than this, so it is forbidden to erect it." Since the erection of the stele was prohibited several times, so Tombstones went underground, giving rise to epitaphs. From the time when it was popular in the Tang Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, a large number of epitaphs were unearthed.

The epitaph is composed of two square stone tablets, called a combination. Above is the tomb cover with relatively simple text. Generally, the dynasty, official title and surname are written in regular script or seal script. For example, "The epitaph of the late Zhang Fujun of the Tang Dynasty", "The epitaph of the late King Yong of the Tang Dynasty", "The epitaph of the late Princess Yang of the Song Dynasty", "The epitaph of the Zheng family, the king of Yongshou County, the royal family of the Song Dynasty". Exquisite flower and bird patterns are engraved around the text. On the other side, the name of the tomb owner is engraved. His place of origin and a long description of his life story, and finally there are inscriptions, most of which are four-character rhymes. Each epitaph contains historical, literary, calligraphy, and artistic content, reflecting the cultural characteristics of that era to varying degrees. : "Xianxian Yuan Gong, a great man in the world. He came out at the right time and became a treasured minister. Luan Jiji is in the thorn office, Fengming is in the cypress mansion. The lungs and stones are not wide (jue), but the clothes are full."

The Shinto Monument originated from the Northern Dynasties. The Northern Dynasties paid special attention to Feng Shui, and Feng Shui experts regarded the south as the Shinto. In fact, the Shinto is the tomb passage to the south, so if a monument is erected on the Shinto, it is a Shinto monument. In the Tang Dynasty, the overall rectangular shape was called a stele, while the ring-shaped or square-circle shape with a small top and a large bottom was called a tablet. There are hierarchical distinctions in the use of tablets. Officials of the fifth rank and above can erect monuments, and officials of the seventh rank and above can erect tablets. In the Qing Dynasty, officials of the fifth rank and above used turtles and chi-head tablets, while officials below the fifth rank used square and round heads. In principle, steles are not allowed to be erected in front of the tombs of common people. However, the social atmosphere cannot be suppressed. However, the monuments erected by the common people are smaller and have no seats. Moreover, only the names, dates of birth and death, and the person who erected the monuments are written on the tombstones, but no biography or epitaph is written.

The Shinto stele in the tombs of emperors of past dynasties has no size restrictions, and the stele is tall and majestic. There are also very spectacular stele towers, just take the Jingling Mausoleum of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty as an example. There is a stele tower for holy virtues and meritorious deeds on the Shinto, commonly known as the big stele tower. There is a stele with a dragon's head and a turtle's head in it. Emperor Kangxi was the longest reigning emperor in China. Because of his great merits and numerous articles, with the approval of Emperor Yongzheng, two stone steles were erected side by side in the stele building, with Manchu characters engraved on the left and Chinese characters engraved on the right. Under the base of the stele is a dragon, and on the head of the stele are engraved two dragons playing with beads and the seal characters "Stele of Holy Virtue and Divine Merit of Jingling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty". The text on the stele body includes preface, narrative and inscription. Although there are beautiful words praising the emperor and real historical data on various aspects of society at that time, they still have certain historical value. There are no Shinto stele and Minglou stele in the emperor's tomb. The Shinto stele is placed on the Shinto in front of the mausoleum gate, and its stele tower is commonly known as the small stele tower. The stele set up there is still a dragon head and turtle foot, but its shape is smaller than the stele of holy virtues and magical merits. The inscription is engraved with the emperor's temple name and all his posthumous titles. The temple name is the special name given to the emperor when he is enshrined in the Ancestral Temple after his death. The posthumous title is a title used to evaluate the emperor's deeds during his lifetime. In addition to being engraved with Emperor Sheng Zuren on the Shinto stele, there are also some beautiful words during his lifetime and after his death. The emperor can enjoy 22 words. The Ming Tower is the tallest building in the mausoleum area. It is located in front of the tomb (treasure top). Inside the Ming Tower, there is a dragon head stele, also known as the Holy Name Stele. It is engraved with "Mausoleum of Emperor Sheng Zuren" in Manchu and Mongolian Chinese characters. In short, the supremacy of imperial power is highlighted everywhere in the imperial tombs. The emperor also advocated "ruling the world with filial piety." This may also be a kind of royal filial piety.

In modern cemeteries, most tombstones only contain the name of the tomb owner, the year of birth and death, the person who erected the tombstone, and the time when the tombstone was erected. There are also phrases such as "Fu Yin Descendants" and "Benevolent Descendants" engraved on the back of the tombstone, and short phrases such as "Missing" and "Sorrow" are engraved on the tomb lid. There is a brief biography of the tomb owner on the tombstone of a celebrity. There are also sentences written by living people with their hearts, emotions, tears, blood and love. It condenses the long road of life and expresses the infinite feelings of the world. There are sad sorrows, happy memories, heroic words to inspire people to forge ahead, and heroic words to warn future generations. This text about the emotional blending of the living and the dead is full of the philosophy of life, and the true meaning of life is revealed between the lines. It is an encyclopedia that can never be finished.

i) Name monument. The front of the tombstone is marked with the name of the person in the tomb, the person who erected the tombstone, and the time when the tombstone was erected. Most of these monuments were erected by the descendants of the deceased. There are also students who set up tombstones for their teachers, sons-in-law for their father-in-law and mother-in-law, husbands for their wives, wives for their husbands, and friends. Here is a brief introduction to the names of the deceased in tombstone inscriptions:

ii) A tombstone that introduces the inscriptions on the life of the deceased. This kind of inscription generally includes name, place of origin, family background, experience, writings, date of death, burial place, and finally the inscription, which is mostly in rhyme, and can be three-character, four-character, five-character, seven-character, or Sao style. Most of them were written by the descendants of the deceased who asked others to write them. Such as Han Yu's "Liu Zihou's Epitaph". There are also inscriptions and brief epitaphs that introduce the deceased more simply.

Exhibiting the ancestor’s spirit (to his grandfather) The spirit of a certain ruler of a certain house (to his father)

The spirit of a certain person (to his father)

The spirit of an old child of a certain concubine (to his mother)

Show the spirit of Mrs. Mrs. XX (to mother)

The spirit of father-in-law (to father-in-law)

Therefore, the spirit of Mrs. ×× is tabooed by Yue Kao (To the father-in-law)

The spirit of a certain wife, the mother-in-law (to the mother-in-law)

The spirit of the old child of a certain family of the concubine-in-law (to the mother-in-law)

Master The spirit of Mr. So-and-so (to the teacher)

The spirit of the late husband Mr. So-and-so (to the husband)

The spirit of the late Mrs. So-and-so (to the wife)

< p>The spirit of a certain gentleman (to a friend)

The spirit of a certain gentleman (to a friend or disciple)