The ancient Han people imagined the seven nights in the east, west, north and south as four animal images, called four elephants. In the traditional culture of China, the four elephants refer to the dragon, the white tiger, the suzaku and the Xuanwu, representing the east, west, south and north respectively, which originated from the belief in the stars in ancient China.
In ancient China, the working people of the Han nationality divided the sky into four regions: the east, the north, the west, the south and the middle. They called the east the black dragon elephant, the north the Xuanwu (tortoise and snake) elephant, the west the white tiger elephant and the south the suzaku elephant, which were collectively called the "four elephants". Also known as "Four Gods" and "Four Spirits".
Hehe, four images
In Zhouyi, the four images refer to the sun, Shaoyin, Shaoyang and Taiyin, which are derived from two instruments (Yang instrument and Yin instrument), namely the natural weather of the four seasons.
The four images in ancient China mythology first referred to wood, fire, gold and water. Qinglong represents wood, white tiger represents gold, Suzaku represents fire, and Xuanwu represents water. They also represent east, west, south and north respectively.
First, the four elephants of Qinglong
Qinglong was originally the God of the East in ancient mythology, and one of the Seven Hosts and Four Elephants in the East in Taoism. Twenty-eight lodging houses, and seven lodging houses in the East (Jiao, Kang, Bian, Fang, Xin, Wei and Fan) have the image of dragons, which are located in the East, belong to wood and are blue in color, collectively called Qinglong, also known as Black Dragon.
Qinglong-the patron saint of the East in Taoism
In folklore, Qinglong looks like a long snake, a unicorn head, a carp tail, a bearded face, deer-like horns and five claws, which is awesome. There are seven clouds in "The Essence of Daomen Jiao Tong": "The Dragon Horn in the East is full of vigor and spirit, breathing clouds, thundering, flying octupole, swimming four ghosts, standing on my left."
Second, the white tiger of the four elephants
The white tiger was originally the western god in ancient mythology, and it was one of the four images of the seven Pleiades in Taoism. The seven western lodgings (Kui, Lou, Wei, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen) are twenty-eight lodgings. Its elephant is a tiger, located in the west, belonging to gold and white in color.
White Tiger
The white tiger is the leader of all animals. Its strength and legendary ability to subdue ghosts make it a beast belonging to Yang. White tiger is also the god of war and war. White tiger has many magical powers, such as avoiding evil, avoiding disasters, praying and punishing evil, promoting good, making a fortune and getting married.
And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also changed from the stars. There are seven clouds in The Collection of Doom and Jiao Tong: "In the West, we should stay in the tiger, Ying Ying's quality, be quiet, intimidate animals, and stir up mountains to establish our rights."
Suzaku with three or four elephants
Suzaku was originally the god of the south in ancient mythology, and one of the seven stars and four elephants in southern Taoism. The seven southern lodgings (well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and bird) are twenty-eight lodgings, and their image birds are located in the south, belonging to fire and red in color, which are collectively called Suzaku, also known as "Suzaku".
rosefinch
Suzaku is not a phoenix, a mysterious bird or a three-legged sun. Suzaku is one of the four spirits. Like the other three spirits, it comes from the stars and is the general name of the seven nights in the south.
There are seven clouds in "The Collection of Must-Use in Jiao Tong": "South Suzaku, the length of many birds, the metamorphosis of Dan Dian, the sound of blue thunder, the colorful colors and the six images of artifacts, to guide me."
Fourth, the four images of Xuanwu
Xuanwu was originally the God of the North in ancient mythology and one of the Seven Stars and Four Elephants of Northern Taoism. There are 28 nights in the seven nights in the north (Doudou, Niu Niu, female, virtual, dangerous, house and wall). The image turtle, also known as the tortoise-snake combination, is located in the north, belongs to water, and its color is mysterious, which is collectively called "Xuanwu".
turtle
Xuanwu is a spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. Xuanwu originally meant Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Xuan means black; Ghost means yin.
At first, Xuan Ming described the turtle divination as follows: the turtle's back is black, and the turtle divination first invited the turtle to ask questions in the underworld, brought back the answers and showed them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise.
There are seven clouds in "The Must-Use Collection of Daomen Jiao Tong": "North Xuanwu, Taiyin Metaplasia, danger, tortoise and snake platform, traveling around nine places, taking pictures of the gods, coming from my right."