Long information

Dragons originated in the early Neolithic age, and the time from today will not be less than 8000 years. During this period, primitive ancestors did not simply and passively rely on God's reward. They raise wild horses, bison, wild boar and so on. We don't just eat those picked wild fruits, but selectively plant grains to harvest them. They can skillfully use fire, learn to build simple houses with wood, start grinding stone tools and bone tools, make pottery by hand, and gradually settle down and engage in production activities. Production activities make people's contact with nature more and more extensive, and nature, as an incredible force outside people, has a greater impact on people's spiritual world.

Why can't fish swim? Crocodiles in the bay sound like Hong Zhong, snakes are eerie and lizards have strange shapes. Why are clouds rolling, thunder and lightning, and heavy rain pouring down? Why do waves roll, rainbows run through the sky, and mudslides roar down, devouring people and animals and being invincible? ..... The behavior of these animals and the ever-changing natural phenomena are beyond the scientific explanation of the ancients.

They vaguely guessed that there should be such a powerful "sacred object" related to "water" to command and manage these animals and astronomical phenomena, just as a clan must have a leader; In other words, these animals and natural phenomena are the embodiment of this "sacred object", just like people want to talk, scream, eat, drink, sleep, laugh and curse.

As a worship phenomenon and an "understanding" of incredible natural forces, the dragon began its "fuzzy collection" from this time.

The "dragon carving" unearthed from the site of the original village of Chahai in Fuxin, Liaoning Province provides evidence for our "time positioning". Chahai site belongs to the "pre-Hongshan Culture" remains, dating back about 8,000 years. The "Dragon Sculpture" is located in the central square of this primitive village site and is made of red-brown stones of equal size. This dragon is nearly 20 meters long and 2 meters wide. Its first mouth is tilted, its back is bent and its tail is looming. This stone dragon is the oldest and largest dragon found in China so far. It is said that there is a 10,000-year-old fish-tailed deer Longyan painting on the stone cliff of Persimmon Beach in Jixian County, Shanxi Province, which is considered as the earliest prototype of the dragon. This rock painting has not been published, and its appearance is still unknown. Then there are pottery dragon patterns unearthed in Xinglong Valley, Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, painted pottery dragon patterns unearthed in Beishouling Site, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, and dragon patterns unearthed in Xishuipo, Puyang City, Henan Province, dating back more than 6,400 years.

The process of fuzzy dragon mining began in the Neolithic Age, and it basically took shape in the Qin and Han Dynasties after considerable development in the Shang, Zhou and Warring States periods. This "basic" has two meanings. One is that the framework, elements and styles of dragons were basically available in Qin and Han dynasties; Second, the dragon is an open and constantly absorbing new systems, which does not meet the basic formation of Qin and Han Dynasties. Later dynasties, until today, are constantly changing and developing. How did dragons form? There have always been different views, such as from crocodiles, snakes, lizards, horses, pigs, lightning, rainbows and so on. The author's viewpoint is "fuzzy set theory", and his thinking is that the ancestors of the Neolithic Age faced the outside world with primitive thinking, which is a "fuzzy thinking" characterized by intuitive superficiality, overall relevance, illogical mystery and group representation. This kind of thinking is enough to lead our ancestors to gather and sublimate various objects from the outside world into several "sacred objects" and then worship them.

In the eyes of the ancients, the world outside is mysterious and confusing, and the intuition and superficiality of fuzzy thinking make them unable to distinguish clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, tides and mudslides as clearly as modern people. It is also impossible for modern people to study the living habits of fish, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, pigs, horses, cattle and other animals with rich biological knowledge. In their view, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows and so on are all related to rain, almost of the same kind; Fish, crocodiles, snakes, etc. Swimming in the rivers and lakes is close to the water, and it is generally the same kind; Pigs like water, and horses, cows and so on can't live without water-hippos and buffaloes are aquatic things. And the rain in the sky falls to the ground, which is water; Water rises to the sky and then falls. This is rain. Since the rain in the sky and the water flowing on the ground are the same thing, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, etc. Rain is almost the same as fish, crocodiles and snakes. They are closely related to water and swim in rivers and lakes. Moderate rain, abundant grass and abundant grains; Less rain, withered leaves and hay, and drought in all crops; There is too much rain, people and animals are flooded and farmland is destroyed. Production and life can't rely on rain, but rain often makes people rely on it. Look at these rain-related images: clouds are rolling around and changing; Lightning is all-powerful in the sky, thunderous; The rainbow bows its head and bows its back, with magnificent colors; There are fish, crocodiles, snakes, lizards and so on. Different sizes, different temperaments and different lengths: how mysterious, magnificent and terrible all this is!

Therefore, the ancients speculated that there must be a "sacred object" in charge of all this, leading all this forever, dominating all this and rehearsing all this. This "sacred object" is very large, but it can be large or small; Skin color is diverse, which can be bright or dark; It should also have a head and a tail, be able to get up and lie down, be good at climbing and swimming, be tortuous and act quickly; In a word, it has great energy, can go up and down, is good at changing, can fly in the sky, can hide in the water, integrates all kinds of "water" characteristics, and has a particularly close relationship with rain.

What should I call this "sacred object"? It is found that when it rains, dark clouds surge, lightning flashes and thunder is accompanied by "rumbling" thunder; Tides rise and fall, tornadoes absorb water, and mudslides go down the mountain, all of which make a "rumbling" sound; Crocodiles, cattle, pythons and other animals are also close to the "rumbling" sound; The "rumbling" sound itself is thick, vigorous, deep and distant, giving people a feeling of terror, heroism, loftiness and mystery. Therefore, people call this vague "sacred object" by its sound and "long" sound.

The pronunciation of "holy things" is onomatopoeia. What should the image of "sacred objects" look like? Some people say it is like a fish, some people say it is like a crocodile, some people say it is like a snake, some people say it is like a cloud, like lightning, like a rainbow; It is also possible that today is like this, tomorrow is like that, and the day after tomorrow is another way; You might think it's both this and that. When you rise to the sky, it is clouds, lightning and rainbows. Fish, crocodiles and snakes fall into the water. On land, it is pigs, horses and cows. Fuzzy thinking has no logic and is unaware of contradictions. This kind of thinking allows the same object to appear in different places at the same time, allowing parts to be the same as the whole, singular and plural.

It's time to create Chinese characters, and it's time to give this sacred object named "Dragon" a symbol. At first, our ancestors created characters with images. So, what shape should this relic be? Some people say they are like crocodiles, so they made several figures like dragons. Some people say it looks like a snake, so they made a few words like "dragon"; Others said it was like lightning, so they created several words like lightning. Others say that the body is like a crocodile, a snake and lightning, but the head is like a horse, a cow and a pig, so make a few "dragons" like this. Therefore, various characters of "dragon" appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wenzhong. Later, it gradually evolved until it was finally simplified into this "dragon".

In this way, we can say that the dragon is a kind of deity produced by the ancient people in China who vaguely gathered fish, crocodiles, snakes, pigs, horses, cows, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows and other natural phenomena. Based on the real biological and natural phenomena, the ancestors infiltrated, bet and concretized the fear, dependence, suspicion, imagination and worship of the outside world into the fuzzy collection of dragons.

From the aesthetic point of view, the dragon is undoubtedly the artistic creation of the ancients. It comes from fish, crocodile, snake, cloud, electricity, rainbow and other concrete images, and through the fuzzy collection of many people, it forms a new image based on and including each concrete image. Its formation process is the process of integrating the factors of "beauty". In a popular saying, it is "from life, higher than life", which is permeated with ancient myths and conjectures, religious interests, aesthetic pleasure and artistic interests.

Totem, originally a dialect vocabulary of American Indian Gibois, means "his kin". The core of totem worship is that an animal, a plant or an inanimate object is related to one's clan, and is the ancestor and relative of the clan, so it is regarded as the symbol, symbol and protector of the clan. Many scholars around the world have investigated and studied totem worship, an ancient and peculiar cultural phenomenon. It is generally believed that many nationalities in the world once had totem worship, and its remains can still be seen in some modern nationalities.

The dragon totem was first put forward by Wen Yiduo. In one of his articles devoted to dragons and phoenixes, Mr. Wen said: "In the earliest sense, dragons and phoenixes represent the two most basic units of our ancient nation-Xia and Yin, because people have vaguely seen this in the two myths of' changing the Huanglong after death, using it for it' and' the bird of destiny (that is, the phoenix) descended and gave birth to business'. Because the Xia and Yin Dynasties in history have been far away from the totem culture period, and the so-called totem is a system and belief of the Xia and Yin people far before the Xia and Yin Dynasties), it is no longer appropriate to regard the dragon and phoenix as the symbol of the birthplace of our nation and the beginning of culture. "

So, how did the dragon totem form? In his masterpiece Fuxi Kao, Mr. Wen said: the dragon totem "is a virtual creature that exists only in totems but not in biology, because it is a synthesis made up of many different totems"; It is the result of the annexation and assimilation of many weak units by the snake totem.

Dragon totem theory began in the 1940s, and has been passed down to this day, once becoming the mainstream view. In 1980s, some scholars began to question the dragon totem theory, and some negative views appeared. In any case, totems are always real objects in nature. Because in the final analysis, the totem system embodies the relationship between human beings and nature. Therefore, according to the prevailing theories and accepted materials in academic circles, it is unacceptable that dragons, as totems, do not exist in nature at the same time. "(Yan Yunxiang)" So far, there is no credible information in archaeology and history to prove that there was a powerful clan tribe with snakes as its totem in the history of China. As for the idea of integrating other clan tribes with horses, dogs, fish, birds and deer as totems, it is entirely out of imagination. " (Liu Zhixiong, Yang Jingrong)

Scholars also pointed out that it is also very wrong to regard the animal shapes or ornamentation appearing on ancient cultural relics in China as the manifestation of totem. Because a certain type of culture in archaeology and a clan tribe in sociology are two completely different concepts. In terms of time and space, the former is much bigger than the latter. Therefore, it is impossible to equate a certain decoration in a certain culture with the totem of a certain clan. Some scholars put forward paradoxes from the basic characteristics of totem culture, such as: totem is the object revered by clan members and cannot be destroyed, killed or eaten. In China's ancient books, myths and legends, there are many descriptions of belittling, insulting, fighting, chopping dragons and eating dragons.

Looking at the dragon totem debate, I think there are at least two issues worth considering:

One problem is that totem theory comes from western scholars. Did the ancient clan tribes in China have the same totem worship period as those in Australia and North America? Analyzing the relevant records in ancient books, the answer seems to be yes. However, according to the general view of academic circles, totem culture occurred in the middle of Paleolithic Age and flourished in the late Paleolithic Age. Entering the Neolithic Age, it tends to decline and enter the class society, leaving only some remnants to continue. According to the physical data provided by archaeology, the origin of the dragon should be after the Neolithic Age, which leads to a problem: totem worship has declined, but the dragon originated. It is against the basic logic of the development of things to classify the rising dragon as a declining worship phenomenon.

Another problem is that the concept of totem has its original connotation and extension, which is basically recognized by the academic community. Such a totem is a totem in a strict sense, and it can also be called a "narrow totem". The totem after its connotation and extension is not a totem in the strict sense, but also a "generalized totem". Strictly speaking, totems are physical objects that exist in nature, but dragons do not meet this condition. They are sacred objects that do not exist in nature. Therefore, if the dragon is a totem, it can only be classified as a generalized totem. The problem is that narrow totem and broad totem sometimes conflict. For example, according to the requirements of narrow totem, totem is not allowed to be insulted and killed, while dragon, as a broad totem, has been repeatedly punished and beheaded. How to explain this problem? If I have to choose between narrow totem and broad totem, I prefer narrow totem, because I think totem is totem, and we should respect the original connotation and extension. If it is too broad, there will be no totem.

In view of this, I did not use the word "totem" in a series of books and articles about dragons, but chose the concept of "emblem".

The divinity of dragons can be summarized by love the water, flying, flying, fickle, supernatural, auspicious, ominous and indicative.

In the divinity of dragons, "love the water" ranks first. This is because dragons are originally "water" and "water phase", or that dragons originated from "water" and "water phase". Many vague collection objects of dragons can be said to be "water objects" or "water phases". Fish, crocodiles, hippos, seahorses and buffaloes live in water; Snakes and lizards like to be in wet places; Pigs, cows, horses and deer can't live without water. However, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, tides, tornadoes, mudslides and other natural phenomena are closely related to rain and water. It seems that jujube can be called "water phase". How can a dragon that originated from water and water not "like water"?

The divinity of "love the water" makes the dragon particularly competent for running clouds, distributing rain and managing water.

"Good flying" occupies a particularly important position in the basic divinity of dragons. Dragons "fly well" for several reasons: First, as the fuzzy collection objects of dragons, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, etc. are originally "astronomical phenomena" flying in the air; Second, fish, crocodiles, snakes, etc. Swim fast in the water, while horses, cows, deer, etc. Running at a speed similar to "flying" on land; Thirdly, due to the fuzziness of thinking, the ancients often put fish, crocodiles, snakes and so on. Diving, horses, cows, deer, etc. Running on land, there are clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows and so on. Flying in the air is a different manifestation of a sacred object, so that if you can swim in the water and run on the ground, you can fly in the sky. Fourthly, since human beings have a spiritual life, they have been dreaming of transcending their own limitations, getting rid of the suffering of this world and soaring to the sky full of stars, moons and white clouds. As a sacred object that embodies the ideals of the ancients, the dragon can't fly, and it is not a dragon if it can't fly well.

The divinity of "flying well" makes the dragon a natural convenience for some immortals, sages and emperors.

The direction and field of "flying" is naturally and can only be a mysterious, vast and supreme sky. Therefore, "flying well" is bound to "reach the sky." As early as the black pottery ear basin unearthed from Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, there were patterns depicting "fish algae pattern" and "bird pattern" together. The "bird and fish pattern" unearthed from the site of Beishouling in Shaanxi Province also connects the birds flying in the sky with the fuzzy collections of fish, dates and dragons swimming in the water, indicating that as early as the early Neolithic Age, at the beginning of the fuzzy collection of dragons, many architectural sculptures and paintings in later generations made dragons appear in boundless sky and clouds, such as the Yunlong column in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Yunlong stone in the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Dragon in the Confucius Temple.

Dragons "like water", and water gathers on the ground; The dragon "flies well" and soars in. In this way, the dragon has the ability to communicate with heaven and earth and become a bridge and messenger between heaven and earth. Those emperors compared themselves with dragons because they saw the divinity of dragons and their ability to act as bridges and messengers between heaven and earth.

Because the dragon is a fuzzy collection of many objects, and there are such differences between the collected objects, the dragon has a "fickle" divinity. In the eyes of the ancients, Long Zaitian can be clouds, electricity or rainbows, pigs, horses or cows on the ground, fish, crocodiles or snakes in the water. That is to say, clouds, electricity and rainbows in the sky, pigs, horses and cows on the ground, fish, crocodiles and snakes in the water and so on. Can be variants and incarnations of dragons.

The dragon has an impetuous divinity, and if it changes, it will inevitably produce some lightness, knowledge, implication, effectiveness, absurdity, strangeness and weirdness. Therefore, the dragon has a supernatural divinity and has become one of the "four spirits" in the minds of the ancients (the other three spirits are forest, wind and ghost).

One of the purposes for people to create and worship God is to believe that God can bring benefits to themselves. Dragon is a mythical creature created by ancient people's fuzzy collection of many animals and astronomical phenomena. If this mythical creature can't bring happiness and auspiciousness to the world, what did the ancients create it for? The gods of the above dragons all provide the foundation for the divinity of the dragon's symbol auspicious Kerry: the dragon loves water, and water is the lifeblood of production and life; Dragonfly well, flying is the yearning to transcend suffering and get rid of difficulties; The dragon reaches the sky, and the sky is where the emperor of heaven and the gods live; Dragons are fickle, and change is an adaptation to the living environment; Dragons are supernatural, which makes them mysterious and extraordinary. If all these advantages are concentrated on one person, how can the dragon be unlucky?

Dragons can be "auspicious" or "unlucky". This is also in line with dialectics, which is based on the verification of reality and the historical and moral evaluation. For example, the "dragon demon" that led to the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the chaos in the ancient three temples, "the sun demon comes out at night, the dragon is born in the temple, and the dog cries in the city", and so on.

In the temperament of the dragon, there is also a fierce and arrogant side. We usually call it "demonstration". The dragon's "demonstration" stems from the habit and harm of the dragon's fuzzy collection objects. For example, crocodiles in the bay hurt people cruelly, poisonous snakes bite people maliciously, thunderstorms flooded rivers, tornadoes swept away people and animals and trees, mudslides destroyed houses and fields, and so on. The ancients had no scientific explanation for these phenomena, so they had to say "dragon anger", "dragon resentment", "dragon revenge" and "dragon evil"

References:

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