Dragon and phoenix allusions and legends

In the traditional auspicious patterns in China, dragons and phoenixes are very beautiful. In the picture, the dragon and the phoenix live in half. The dragon is a rising dragon. Open your mouth and turn around and look back at the phoenix. Phoenix is a auspicious peak, spreading its wings and raising its tail, looking up at the dragon. There are many clouds around, and there is a peaceful atmosphere.

Why do dragons and phoenixes cooperate and appear accordingly?

A painted pottery bottle of dragon and phoenix was unearthed from Yangshao cultural site in Beishouling, Baoji, Shaanxi. This precious cultural relic shows that both dragons and phoenixes originated in the Neolithic Age 7000-8000 years ago, and they were synchronous.

As a long and rich cultural phenomenon, both dragons and phoenixes are the marks, emblems, signs and symbols of the Chinese nation. If the traditional cultural symbols of the Chinese nation are ranked according to their functions and effects, the dragon will undoubtedly occupy the first place, and then the second place is the Phoenix.

Dragon is a kind of deity produced by the ancient people's vague collection of fish, crocodiles, snakes, pigs, horses, cows and other natural phenomena such as clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows and so on. Reptiles and mammals are the main collection objects of dragons, so dragons are often called the head of scales and the king of animals.

Phoenix is a kind of god produced by the ancient people's fuzzy collection of many kinds of birds and some stray animals. Birds with wings are the main gathering objects of Phoenix, so Phoenix ascended the throne of Feather Family and was called the king of birds.

The dragon has the divinity of loving water, flying, flying, fickle, supernatural, auspicious, ominous and demonstrative.

Phoenix has such gods as love of fire, sunshine, virtue, auspiciousness, loftiness, Shang Jie, beauty and metaphor.

The complementarity and correspondence of divinity combine dragons and phoenixes: one is the king of beasts and the other is the king of birds; Change into the sky, change into magic, change into elegance, change into beauty, change into auspiciousness; When the beautiful relationship of mutual assistance and cooperation between them is established, dragons and phoenixes will emerge as the times require.

Phoenix is mainly made of birds, and most birds like warmth and sunshine. Therefore, Phoenix is also called Sunbird, Sunbird and Fire Essence, so-called Feng Dan Chaoyang, Feng Ming Chaoyang and Fire Phoenix.

In this way, from the Neolithic Age to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements prevailed, most of the phoenixes appeared as penises.

Dragons, on the other hand, are basically cloudy at the initial stage because they are mostly made of water, water animals and water images.

The coordination, combination and correspondence between dragons and phoenixes embody the ancient concept of Yin and Yang.

Unearthed jade ornaments and Yu Pei in Shang Dynasty and Warring States Period, some dragons hold the phoenix, some are under the phoenix, and some are the same as the dragon and phoenix, indicating that people realized at that time that Yin and Yang are different, relative and related, and no one can live without each other.

Yu Pei, a dragon and phoenix crowned figure in Yin and Shang Dynasties, is typical. The dragon is on the right, the phoenix is on the left, the dragon opens its mouth and bows its head, while the phoenix crookneck looks up. The combination of dragon and phoenix, worn on the head at the same time, not only embodies the concept of harmony between yin and yang, but also shows the degree to which dragon and phoenix were respected by people at that time.

If Yu Pei, a figure with a crested phoenix in Dai Long, reflects the ancient people's respect for the dragon and phoenix, then it is not only respect that is reflected in the silk paintings of the dragon and phoenix figures.

This silk painting was unearthed in the Chu Tomb of Chenjiadashan, Changsha, Hunan. The dragon on the screen, with its tail curled vertically, its head facing the sky, and its claws paddling, is eager to climb up. Next to it is its partner-the phoenix with its head held high and its wings spread. Under the dragon and phoenix, stood a woman in a dress, her hands crossed, praying for ascension.

Obviously, the dragon and phoenix work closely together here, and * * * shoulders the heavy responsibility of guiding people to get rid of secular dust and ascend to heaven, and is the object of people's worship and prayer.

During the Warring States period, there were also some figures intertwined with dragons and phoenixes.

The four dragons and four phoenixes unearthed from the tomb of Sun Yat-sen in Pingshan County, Hebei Province are very famous. The surface of the wooden box has been damaged, and the box seat is wrapped with four dragons and four phoenixes, and the four lying deer are the box feet, which are arranged around the chassis respectively. The dragon has two bodies and three tails, and the tail tip is hung with a dragon horn; The dragon shoulders have wings, and the dragon wings are connected. The crested chicken feet are exposed from the chain of the dragon tail. The scales of the dragon are clearly distinguishable from the feathers of the phoenix.

A number of silk fabrics were unearthed from the No.1 Chu Tomb in Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei. The embroidery patterns on it are all beautiful dragons and phoenixes. There are dragon and phoenix patterns, phoenix chasing dragon patterns, phoenix flying dragon patterns, dragon and phoenix combination patterns and so on. The dragons and phoenixes in these patterns dance with each other, are happy, are intertwined, or look forward to life.

There is a story that Confucius made a special trip to Luoyi to visit Laozi. After coming back, Confucius didn't speak for three days. His disciples asked him what he said when he met Lao Tzu. Confucius sighed: I actually saw a dragon! Dragons, combined into an adult, are scattered into chapters and fly by clouds. If you can't close your mouth, your tongue won't talk. How can I persuade others? This is Confucius calling Laozi a dragon.

Another story says: Seeing Confucius walking in front with five disciples, I asked: Who are those in front? Answer: Lutz is brave and strong, Zi Gong is wise, Ceng Zi is filial to his parents, Yan Hui is particular about benevolence and righteousness, and Zhang Zi has martial arts. Hearing this, Lao Tzu sighed: I heard that there are birds in the south, named Phoenix, and the text of Phoenix Birds, wearing a baby, have wisdom on the right and wisdom on the left. This is that Laozi is more phoenix than Confucius.

Dragon and phoenix are made for each other, and Kong Lao is also made for each other. How to explain this phenomenon of natural coincidence?

We say that Confucius compared the dragon to Laozi, taking the dragon to heaven and diving into the deep, and the fickle divinity to compare Laozi's static and dynamic appearance, as well as his eclectic thinking ability. When I compare Phoenix with Confucius, I compare the divinity of Phoenix's pro-virtue and benevolence with Confucius' character of wisdom, kindness and joy, and the virtues of benevolence, self-discipline and benefiting others.

This is probably the earliest record of the coordination between dragons and phoenixes in the literature.

Since Qin and Han Dynasties, the relationship between dragon and phoenix has changed.

On the one hand, continue to correspond to the combination, such as the dragon and phoenix gold-plated silver plate in Qin dynasty; Four-god tiles and dragon and phoenix patterns on the stone gate of Han tomb unearthed in Yulin, northern Shaanxi; Decorative painting on the edge of epitaph in Northern Wei Dynasty: immortal Lapras cross-phoenix stone carving; Celadon of the sui dynasty crested dragon handle pot; Bronze mirror of dragon and phoenix in Tang dynasty; Jade bowl with phoenix dragon handle in Song Dynasty; In the Yuan Dynasty, Longquan Kiln was covered with decals with dragon and phoenix patterns. Dragon and phoenix pictures and dragon and phoenix stones in the Temple of Heaven in Ming Dynasty; In the Qing Dynasty, there were enamel dragon and phoenix double bottles, embroidered dragon and phoenix auspicious patterns, colored embroidered dragon and phoenix double happiness gauze curtains, and so on.

This correspondence and combination has continued to the present age.

On the other hand, the dragon began to have the divinity symbolizing the monarch and the emperor-both the monarch and the emperor said that they were the sons of the real dragon. For example, Qin Shihuang claimed to be the ancestor of the dragon, Emperor Gaozu was born with the dragon feeling of his mother, and he was born with a long and accurate face. Wang Mang wanted to be a fairy dragon, and Emperor Guangwu of Han dreamed of a red dragon, and so on.

Since the emperors called the dragon Buron, as a counterpart, the queens began to call the phoenix more than the phoenix. The emperor holds a dragon robe and the queen wears a rockhopper; The emperor lives in Tommy Tam, and the emperor will live in Fenglou; The emperor has robes and fire clothes, the emperor has Feng Touxie, and so on.

Correspondingly, the phoenix has undergone great changes: from yang to yin, it tends to be feminine as a whole. Because the vast majority of emperors are men, holding the supreme power in their hands, and because of the wide range of things, dragons have gathered and possessed many penis characteristics, and their power to call the wind and rain and the energy to fly and change are also consistent with the men to whom the yang belongs; Because of his beautiful appearance, Feng is closer to women who like to dress up beautifully.

There is also Phoenix, the abbreviation of Phoenix, which is divided into male and female: male is phoenix and female is phoenix. The so-called phoenix seeks to burn. But when the dragon is the emperor, it is male or female, and the whole earth is feminine.

In the archway township of Hengyang, Hunan Province, there is an archway named Prince and Genv. According to legend, an emperor toured here in his early years and got to know the clever and beautiful wine seller Li, from which a story of a prince and a dancer was deduced. Someone also made up a play based on this.

Later, Li died unfortunately. After hearing the news, the emperor wrote a letter and built this stone archway at the foot of the local Phoenix Mountain as a souvenir.

According to legend, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Tiangang, who was proficient in astrology, went south to Shu from Chang 'an, the capital city, and arrived in Lizhou City, today's Guangyuan City, on Duanyang Festival. At that time, the Jialing River was holding a dragon boat race, and about a warrior from Lizhou also sat on the official boat to watch. Suddenly, an oolong jumped out from the depths of the river and flew to the western hills; Almost at the same time, a phoenix came with rosy clouds, rang at the top of Dongshan Mountain, and then flew north. Everyone and the commander-in-chief of the three armies were stunned by the scene before them, but Yuan Tiangang said with a loud smile: "This is called a phoenix in Yi Long, and there must be nobles here." . In the first month of the second year, the wife of the military commander gave birth to a girl, who was the only female emperor in China later-Wu Zetian.

It is said that when Wu Zetian was two years old, the military commander invited Yuan Tiangang to see the photos. At that time, Wu Zetian was wearing children's clothes and was held by the wet nurse. After studying for a while, Yuan Tiangang exclaimed: "The sun is beautiful, the phoenix in the dzi bead is beautiful, and the Fuxi phase is extremely noble." . When I learned that it was a girl, I still asserted that if it was a woman, it was also the master of the world.

Such a legend is hard to get rid of the suspicion of fabrication. However, mythical thinking and god-making activities are originally a way of life of human beings. Therefore, meaningful legends will generally spread for a long time, becoming more and more strange and becoming a cultural resource that can be developed and utilized. For example, according to the legend that dragons and phoenixes become nobles, people in Lizhou renamed Xishan and Dongshan as Wulong Mountain Scenic Resort and Fenghuang Mountain. Wulong Mountain Scenic Resort has Huangze Temple and Fenghuang Mountain has Phoenix Tower-two buildings have become the symbols of Guangyuan City.

There was an emperor in name in the late Qing Dynasty, and the actual power was in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi. The emperor is a dragon, the queen is a phoenix, the dragon is the main one, and the phoenix follows. This is traditional culture. Cixi is unhappy, but she can't completely change it. The compromise is to give consideration to both dragons and phoenixes. As a result, there were some scenes called dragons and phoenixes in the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty.

Bronze dragons and phoenixes are displayed on the platform in front of Renshou Palace in the Summer Palace. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi accepted the worship of ministers and listened to her talk about politics.

There are three big pine trees in front of the temple. It is said that in order to please her master, Li hung lanterns on three pine trees to celebrate Cixi's birthday. One tree is decorated with the shape of a dragon, and the other two trees are close together. One tree is decorated with a phoenix head, and the other is decorated with a phoenix wing and a phoenix tail. Together, they are called dragons and phoenixes. Such a birthday present delighted Cixi, rewarded Li and asked her to install electric lights in all the halls of the park. This is almost the earliest record of using electric light in China.

Among Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace, Nanhu Island is the largest, commonly known as Longwang Temple. It is located in the southeast of the lake, and there is a Longwang Temple on the island. This round island is called Phoenix Wharf, formerly known as Youlong Pavilion, and it is the palace of the Dragon King. According to legend, Cixi visited the lake and asked about the name and origin of the island. The eunuch told her truthfully that Cixi was very unhappy. The autocratic empress dowager certainly doesn't like dragons everywhere. When Li saw this scene, he came up with an idea to change his name, so Youlong Pavilion became the Phoenix Pier.

This phoenix pier is symmetrical with Longwang Temple, which constitutes another place where dragons and phoenixes appear in the Summer Palace.

In the contrast between dragon and phoenix, highlighting the phoenix can be said to be the lifelong pursuit of Cixi. When she was in Dehe Garden, the seat was not called the dragon position, nor the dragon chair, but the throne with golden lacquer and enamel and birds facing the phoenix. It is said that at first she often asked Emperor Guangxu to accompany her to the theatre, but she didn't give her seat to the child emperor. Poor Guangxu can only stand behind her. Later, Liu Gansan, an ugly and famous man, was unhappy. He deliberately added this line during the performance: Look, I am a fake emperor, and I still have a seat. The real emperor doesn't even have a seat. Perhaps Cixi was in a good mood at the theatre. Instead of blaming Liu Gansan, she moved a chair for the emperor.

Ding Dong Mausoleum in the Qing Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Cixi and Ci 'an. The three halls of Cixi Mausoleum, with their huge gold consumption and exquisite craftsmanship, dwarf the palaces of the twenty-four emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In particular, the single stone carving in the middle of Long 'en Hall is even more ingenious. This stone carving is 1.6 meters wide and more than 3 meters long. The pattern is a phoenix attracting dragons: a soaring Taihō spreads its wings in the air and bows through the clouds; A little dragon came out of the water, lowered his head and looked up at Taihō. The same moral pattern also appeared on the white marble railing around Long 'en Hall. On the platform, on the boulder, the phoenix is on the top and the dragon is on the bottom. These flocks of phoenixes, with their heads held high and their wings slightly spread, seem to be full of ambition. They are simply arrogant phoenixes! And the dragon living in a lower position, with a small head and thin body, only looks forward to the arrogant phoenix, which is a pity!

Cixi's practice of raising a phoenix on a dragon is rare in the long history of the development of Longfeng culture. Under normal circumstances, the dragon is dominant, the phoenix is subordinate, the dragon is the first, and the phoenix is the second; At the same time, most of the dragons are high and the phoenix is low, and the dragons are big and the phoenix is small, which clearly reflects the reality of the patriarchal society in China.

The golden crown of Emperor Wanli unearthed in Dingling is made of fine gold thread and decorated with lifelike two dragons playing beads, which is called the Dragon Crown. The Queen wears three rockhoppers, one is dragon three Rockhopper, the other is Jiujiulong Rockhopper and the other is dragon three Rockhopper. The golden dragons decorated above are all on the emerald phoenix.

Dragon and phoenix are sacred objects created by the working people, which embodies the people's good wishes. Naturally, it is impossible for the emperor and the queen to monopolize all of them.

The harmonious correspondence between dragons and phoenixes is widely circulated among the people and reflected in the customs of different regions and nationalities. Its moral is harmony between yin and yang, happy marriage and love, and seeking good luck and happiness.

There is a legend among Koreans living in the northeast that the dragon first turned into a snake lang, and then turned into a handsome boy to woo the three girls. After the marriage, the three girls' sister stole the snakeskin left by Long Er, so that the snake lang in the senior high school entrance examination could only fly back as a dragon. Three girls committed suicide and became a burning phoenix. So, dragons, phoenixes and Song all flew into the sky.

A kind of rubbings is sold in Confucius Temple in Beijing. The pattern is dominated by the dragon and phoenix, with pine and cypress, crane and unicorn, forming a big birthday character, named dragon and phoenix auspicious.

In Qufu, Shandong Province, Confucius' hometown, with the discovery and excavation of Nishan Zhusha stone, the custom of carving dragon and phoenix seals arose: when a child was born, he chose dragon as a boy to express his hope that his son would become a dragon; If you are a girl, choosing Phoenix means expecting a woman to become a phoenix. Or young men choose phoenix to send young women, and young women choose dragon to send young men, which means that dragons and phoenixes are married and happy for a long time.

If he is happy to give birth to twins, triplets and quadruplets, people will match twins.

In terms of language, there are dragon and phoenix dances, dragon and phoenix strokes, dragon and phoenix dances, dragon eyebrows and phoenix orders, dragon liver and phoenix marrow, dragon born phoenix, mouse's son can dig holes, dragon knows pearls, phoenix knows treasures, cattle and horses only know straw and so on.

Longfeng also entered the advertising language. For example, an advertisement in xifeng liquor, Shaanxi Province is: xifeng liquor, xifeng liquor, accompany me to eternity.

Friends who like to collect all know that there is a precious copper coin called Longfeng Bao Tong. Bao Tong, the dragon and phoenix, was the currency minted when the Red Scarf Army peasant uprising in Yuan Dynasty welcomed Han Liner as emperor and built the dragon and phoenix. On the front of this coin is the regular script word Yang Wen Long Feng Bao Tong, with a dignified font. But there are no dragon and phoenix patterns on both sides.

Coins with dragon and phoenix patterns are extremely expensive for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This kind of big money is not used for circulation, but a commemorative coin with the nature of furnace opening or special casting to celebrate success. There are six or seven kinds of big money that have been discovered. The largest one weighs about nine pounds, and its size and weight are the highest in history. Big-style double dragons grab pearls on the front and double phoenixes on the back.

The Dragon and Phoenix Gold Medal is a set of two highly pure gold commemorative medals first issued by the People's Bank of China on 1983. Its front pattern is a soaring dragon and phoenix.

The bronze medal of double happiness, dragon and phoenix is also a commemorative medal with collectible value. Made by Shanghai Mint, issueNo. 1984. Full set of two pieces. The front pattern is a double magpie with happy characters, and the back pattern is a flying dragon and a flying phoenix, which means happiness and good luck.

Longfeng also flew abroad together.

It can be said that China culture spreads there, where dragons and phoenixes are auspicious, healthy and gorgeous; Wherever the footprints of Chinese children go, there are dragons and phoenixes.

Although these dragon and phoenix patterns vary from country to country, their basic forms all come from the dragons and phoenixes of China. Its implication is also consistent with the local dragons and phoenixes in China: harmony between Yin and Yang, happy marriage and good luck.

Ying Long was a very popular dragon in the Han Dynasty. Ying Long is a dragon with wings. Wings should be the characteristics of the phoenix. In the Qing dynasty, the phoenix-tailed dragon also appeared, with a winding body and phoenix-tailed feathers.

Phoenix's wings and flower tails appear on the dragon. This dragon has the composition of phoenix, and the dragon has the nature of phoenix.

In Shang dynasty, there was a stork with deformed phoenix lines at the bottom, dragon horns and dragon tails. When Shuowen talks about the phoenix, it says that the phoenix has dragons. Of course, the phoenix has feathers, and this feather pattern and the scales on the dragon are actually the same thing in the eyes of the ancients. All these show that the phoenix has absorbed something from the dragon, and there are dragons in the phoenix.

Dragon and phoenix attract each other, which embodies the blending and infiltration of dragon and phoenix worship. Just like men and women in the world, you have me, I have you (men are half women), and so are dragons and phoenixes.

Without the phoenix, the dragon is a lonely dragon; Without dragons, Phoenix is a sad phoenix. Dragons are born of strength, and phoenixes are born of beauty. The strength of the dragon provides support and destination for the beauty of the phoenix, and the beauty of the phoenix provides a goal for the strength of the dragon, adding a particularly charming style. It is generally believed that dragons and phoenixes are mythical animals invented by the ancients, but this fiction is not achieved in one step, but the result of gradual deduction.

The word "dragon" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the head of a snake, with the symbol "Xin" on the top of the head, representing a knife-shaped device. The animal's head indicates that layered lightning illuminates the clouds in a plane shape, similar to the animal's face, giving people the shocking power of heaven's anger; The snake body represents banded lightning; The symbol "Xin" stands for "driven". The pronunciation of the word "dragon" is exactly "rumbling" thunder. Therefore, the dragon is driven by the sky to control the lightning and rumbling thunder that scatter rain in the clouds.

The word "phoenix" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a bird with the symbol "letter" on its head. This bird is actually the wind related to rain, which is the phoenix. The pronunciation of "wind" is to simulate the sound of four or five kinds of wind blowing in the ear, which is between "bang" and "buzz". So Phoenix is the wind driven by the sky, blowing the wind and flying like a bird.

With the development of social productive forces, a number of leisure classes have emerged that are divorced from agricultural production. These people lack direct perception and experience of dragons and phoenixes, and only see the words "dragon" and "phoenix", and only see the head of an animal and the shape of a bird in the two glyphs. They beautified and deified the dragon and phoenix according to their own understanding, and finally pushed the dragon and phoenix to the altar, sealing up the original image of the dragon and phoenix "making rain and sending rain" with a magnificent and powerful face. Later, according to the shape of the animal's head with the word "dragon", the dragon was attached as the king of scale insects, and the beast was famous for its power and grandeur, and then it was attached as the embodiment of the emperor; According to the bird shape in the word "phoenix", phoenix is attached as the king of birds, and birds are famous for their beauty and splendor, and further attached as the embodiment of the emperor's empresses.