The history, culture and status of dragon!

In Chinese myths and legends, the dragon is a miraculous animal with various images. It represents Yang in the Yin-Yang cosmology and is a symbol of the Chinese nation and a symbol of the ancient royal family. The ancestors of the Chinese nation, Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang, are said to have a close relationship with dragons. "The Yellow Emperor's dragon Xuanyuan's dragon picture comes out of the river" ("The Year of the Bamboo Secretary"). It is said that Emperor Yan was born and died after sensing the "dragon head" for his mother. Later he turned into a red dragon. Therefore, the Chinese call themselves "descendants of the dragon". Dragon in Western mythology is also translated as dragon, but they are not the same.

China's belief in the Dragon King emerged with the rise of Buddhism, but it is very different from the Dragon King in Indian Buddhism. It can be said that China's Dragon King is a hybrid product of Buddhism and Taoism. Taoism introduced the Buddhist Dragon King and transformed it to form its own Dragon King system, which is called the Dragon King of the Heavens, the Dragon King of the Four Seas, the Dragon King of the Five Directions, etc. Specific examples:

1. The "Dragon King Grade" in the "Tai Shang Dong Yuan Shen Curse Sutra" lists the "Five Emperors Dragon Kings" distinguished by their directions, the "Four Sea Dragon Kings" distinguished by the sea, and There are 54 names of dragon kings and 62 names of divine dragon kings divided into heaven and earth.

2. The dragon kings of the four seas in "Journey to the West" (Ao Guang of the East China Sea, Ao Qin of the West Sea, Ao Run of the South China Sea, Ao Shun of the North Sea)

3. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, an imperial edict was issued to the Dragon Pool, and an altar official was set up to offer sacrifices to the Dragon King in the manner of the Rain Master

4. In the second year of Daguan (1108), Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty issued an imperial edict to the world. The five dragons were all given royal titles, the green dragon god was named King Guangren, the red dragon god was named King Jiaze, the yellow dragon god was named King Fuying, the white dragon god was named King Yiji, and the black dragon god was named King Lingze.

5. In the second year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1863), the Dragon God of the Canal was also named the "God of the Dragon King of the Waters of Yanxi and Yingdifen", and the governor of the river was ordered to offer sacrifices at the right time.

Because the dragon is the god of water, wherever there is water, regardless of rivers, lakes, seas, ponds, ponds and wells, there is a dragon king, who is responsible for floods, droughts, and abundance. As a result, there were many Dragon King temples in the north and south of the Yangtze River, becoming an important part of Chinese dragon worship.

Taoism

Taoism is China's native religion. It was formed on the basis of primitive religion. It integrates witchcraft, nature worship, animal worship and the magical magic of the Qin and Han Dynasties. A religion that is theorized and systematized. Early Taoists had realized that the dragon came from the snake. "Huang Bai Pian" has: "The snake's transformation into a dragon is no different from that of a self-generated dragon. However, its root causes are all inspired by nature.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling advocated the Five Pecks of Rice method, which was inspired by Laozi. As the leader, Taoism gradually formed a man-made religious form with doctrines, doctrines and canons as its main classic. Since its inception, Taoism has been closely related to dragon worship in the pre-Qin period. The belief in riding a dragon to travel around the world, ascending to heaven by dragon, and using dragons to communicate with heaven and humans was completely inherited by Taoism.

The descendants of Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism, all inherited his legacy and were all called "Heavenly Masters". It is said that the messenger room is related to dragons. It is said that the third generation of Tianshi was named Lu, and it was said that he had ten sons, named "Zhang's Ten Dragons". Another legend said that Zhang Lu's daughter was washing clothes at the foot of the mountain, and suddenly there was white mist. She was pregnant out of wedlock and felt ashamed, so she committed suicide and left her last words. She must dissect her body to find out what was in her belly. The maidservant put them into the Han River. Many representatives of Taoism in China are said to have a mysterious relationship with dragons. For example, Tao Hongjing, a representative figure of Taoism in the Southern Dynasties, was said to be born from a dream of a dragon. Dragon is a species in Taoism. The main function is to help Taoist priests ascend to heaven and earth, and to communicate with ghosts and gods. The dragon here refers to one of the "three sedan chairs", the first is the dragon sedan, the second is the tiger sedan, and the third is the deer sedan. Mr. Zhang Guangzhi believes that the owner of Tomb No. 45 in Puyang was a primitive Taoist priest or wizard in the Yangshao cultural society, and the dragons and tigers were carved from clam shells. , Deer is the artistic image of the three sedan chairs he can summon and use. "He connected the clamshell dragon, tiger, and deer with the three sedan chairs of ancient primitive Taoism, and believed that the two were related.

It is said that the heavenly masters and true kings with magical power can also summon dragons and drive away dragons. Dragon. "Youyang Zazu. Strange Techniques" says: There is a landowner named Yun'an, there are fifteen miles of dangerous shoals on the river, and the boat cannot pass without relying on people to pull the rope.

Zhai Qianyou, the thin generation heavenly master, remembering the hard work of business travel, formed an altar to practice, summoned a group of dragons, and 14 dragons were transformed into old men. Master Zhai asked them to flatten the dangerous shoal to facilitate the boat's movement, and the dragons followed the order and left. Overnight, wind and thunder struck, and all fourteen miles of dangerous shoals turned into flat pools, except for the remaining one mile that remained unchanged. Master Zhai knew at a glance that it was a dragon that had not arrived yesterday, so he went to the altar again to perform rituals and ordered the gods to summon it. Three days later, a woman arrived. It turned out to be a female dragon. Hao defended himself by saying: Those who crossed the river by boat were all wealthy businessmen, and the people who pulled strings for them were poor people from Yun'an. They had always made a living by pulling strings. If the dangerous shoal is gone and boats can pass without hindrance, how will they rely on for food and clothing? I would rather have strong shoals to support the trackers than have a smooth boat to comfort the wealthy merchants. After hearing this, Tianshi Zhai nodded repeatedly, and then summoned all the dragons to restore everything to their original state.

Buddhism

In the Buddhist scriptures, the Dragon King Nāgarāja has many names. For example, the "Miaofa Lotus Sutra" says: There are eight dragon kings, one is the Nanda Dragon King, the second is the Bananda Dragon King, and the third is the Nanda Dragon King. The fourth is the Dragon King Heshuji, the fifth is the Dragon King Deyijia, the sixth is the Dragon King Anavadatta, the seventh is the Dragon King Manas, and the eighth is the Dragon King Vubala.

The relationship between dragons and Buddhism is still controversial in academic circles. One theory is that China's "Dragon King" worship was introduced from India along with Buddhism. The reason is that in China's native dragon worship, there was no "Dragon King" worship. Before the Han Dynasty, there was only the "Dragon God" but not the "Dragon King". After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhist belief was introduced to China, and Dragon King belief spread throughout China.

Another theory is that the dragon in Indian Buddhism was introduced from China, and was recreated by the Indians and became the "Dragon King". As Buddhism spread eastward, the worship of the Dragon King spread back to China. There are seven reasons:

Firstly, the dragon culture of the Chinese nation has a long history. According to methodical excavations, the earliest dragon image is a Xinglong depression discovered at the Chahai site in Fuxin, Liaoning, dating back seven or eight thousand years. The cultural stones are piled with sculptures of dragons, followed by the world-famous clam-shell dragon from Xishui Slope in Henan. The third is a giant dragon sculptured with pebbles found at the Jiaodun site in Zhangcheng Village, Baihu Township, Huangmei County. The fourth is the well-known Inner Mongolia Samsung Tala Yulong and so on. These fully prove that dragon worship was very common in China as early as six or seven thousand years ago, and also prove that dragon culture is China's native culture, not a foreign culture.

Secondly, according to the earliest archaeological data of Indian dragons seen so far, it is the mural "Dragon King and His Family" in the first century BC, and "The Dragon Tribe Worships to the Bodhi Tree" around the same time, which is later than China The Liaoning Chahai stone dragon is about five thousand years old.

Thirdly, in terms of written records, according to the currently known historical data, the earliest written record of dragons in India is "The Theory of Wisdom" written by Nagarjuna around the second century AD. One record is only about 1800 years ago. Records about dragons in China are much earlier than those in India. There are many words for "dragon" in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty and some records of dragon worship. This shows that dragon worship in China was very common 3,500 years ago.

Fourthly, since the formation of Chinese dragon culture, it has not only spread rapidly domestically, but also quickly spread abroad. Longdang in Indian Buddhism was passed from China. There may be two transmission routes: one is introduced via southwest China. According to archaeological data, as early as the Neolithic Age, the stone culture of the Yellow River Basin spread to Tibet and the areas south of it; in the early Qin and Han Dynasties, there was frequent commodity trade between southwest China and India. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Chinese dragon worship was introduced to India through this route. Another route for the spread of dragon culture is the Western Silk Road. The Central Plains Dynasty had contact with the Western Regions more than 3,000 years ago. It is said that immigrants arrived east of Congling in the early Zhou Dynasty. After the Shang Dynasty destroyed Xia, some people from the Xia tribe migrated to the northwest. After arriving in Gansu and other places, they continued to migrate westward and entered the Yanqi Kingdom in the Western Regions. Later, these Long clan tribes who moved into the Yanqi Kingdom became the rulers of the country during the Jin Dynasty, and took "Long" as their surname. There is no doubt that they brought their dragon culture into the Western Regions.

Fifth, from a linguistic point of view, there is no special word for "dragon" in ancient Indian Sanskrit. "Dragon" is represented by the same word as "snake". In ancient Indian mythology, thunder and lightning were caused by the great god Indra riding a white elephant holding a thunder chisel.

The dragon on the mural in the tomb of Yaosheng in the Southern Tang Dynasty in Jiangning, Jiangxi not only has a lion-like head, but also the entire body is somewhat similar to a lion. The main reason why the dragon absorbs the image of the lion is to express its divine power and increase its magical power.