Collectively referred to as the Four Elephants. Originated from ancient astrology in China, it refers to the Black Dragon in the East, the White Tiger in the West, Suzaku in the South and Xuanwu in the North. In ancient times, people divided the constellations in the sky into 28 nights. Because of their poor memory, they divided them into four parts and replaced them with an animal image called four elephants. Seven Oriental Hostels: Angle, Sound, Correlation, Room, Mind, Tail and Body; Seven nights in the north: sinus, cow (morning glory), female (bearded female), emptiness, danger, house (barracks) and wall (east wall); Seven Nights in the West: Que, Lou, Stomach, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen; Seven nights in the south: essence (cave essence), ghost (Yu ghost), willow, star (seven stars), Zhang, wing and Yi. In addition, there are some star officials who are closely related to these star officials, such as tomb, detached palace, ear, chop, graupel, corpse accumulation, right jurisdiction, left jurisdiction, Changsha, shrine and so on. , respectively, attached to the room, dangerous room, Bi, ginseng, well, ghost, tail, known as auxiliary officials or auxiliary seats. Twenty-eight huts are divided into four groups according to the northeast and southwest directions. Each group has seven huts with four colors, five kinds and four kinds of animal images, which are called four elephants or four places. The corresponding relationship is as follows: Oriental black dragon, cyan; Xuanwu in the north, black; White tiger in the west, white; Southern Suzaku, red. The formation of four image concepts in Twenty-eight Hosting Families is very

As early as the early Warring States period, it has been recorded. Later, in the Book of Rites Quli, it was said: "Before the trip, the Zhuniao followed Xuanwu, and a Qinglong emerged.

And the right white tiger. Kong Shu: "Zhuniao, Xuanwu, Qinglong and Baihu are also named after this." . "Han Wei Shu Shang Shu

Kao Ling Yao said, "Twenty-eight nights are the breath of heaven and the essence of all things. Therefore, the horns, health, sides, houses, hearts, tails and baskets of the East.

Seven nights, its shape is like a dragon, saying' Zuo Qinglong'. Nanjing, Ghost, Willow, Star, Zhang, Wing and Seven Nights are shaped like quails.

Former Suzaku. In the west, there are Wei Xiao, Lou, Wei, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen for seven nights, which are shaped like tigers and called' right white tigers'. north

Square fights, cows, women, emptiness, danger, rooms and walls are seven nights, and they are shaped like turtles and snakes, which is called' post-Xuanwu'. "(1) the astronomical phenomena of Taoism.

Personalize it, give it a name, clothes color and position, and worship it. "Seven Signs of Cloud" Volume 24 "Twenty-eight Nights"

He said, "One is the official Yang God, the Lord of the Horn Star, and nine Yang gods, surnamed Bin Ming, dressed in green and mysterious clothes, are the Lord of the Horn Star.

B follows the official Yin God, and Kang Xing is the Lord of the gods. There are four Yin gods, surnamed Sima, naked horsehead, naked clothes and a sword.

Kang Xing is the Lord of God. "② The other 26 stay in this category." There are also about 28 five-star hostels in Shen Dong, which are run by Taiwanese businessmen.

Describes the appearance and behavior. Yue said, "The essence of the horned star often walks around the temple after the beginning of spring, leaving a moustache.

Ask about Zen rites, … or go to a restaurant for a drink, …

Those who know it ask for it, and they show the skill of health preservation and sowing. ""Kang, Bian and Fang are the essence of Samsung, and they often walk together and dress.

Green clothes, ... swimming in the crowd or in lent, ...

The four images (four spirits) synthesized by twenty-eight lodges are more respected by Taoism. The main feature is to use it as a patron saint. Ge hong

Bao Puzi's Miscellaneous Answer takes him as the old man's bodyguard, saying that the old man has twelve dragons on his left and twenty-six dragons on his right.

White tiger, with twenty-four suzaku in front and seventy-two basalts behind "; He also said, "This matter comes from the immortal scriptures." ④ Seven Northern Emperors

The secret of prolonging Yuan Ziting's life is even named: "There is a dragon on the left, named Meng Zhang, and a white tiger on the right, named prison soldier. In front of it, there is a suzaku named grave."

After the light, there is a Xuanwu name, building a building, and the bell and drum are negative, surrounding me. "(5) this is also the practice of Taoism.

The patron saint of time. Later, Taoist temples also carved statues of green dragons and white tigers in front of the mountain gates as the patron saints of the temple. Qingyao

Jun Fu's "Zhu Wen" Volume 1:

"Song Fanzhi can say in Yueyang Local Customs:' There are two gods in Laozi Temple, the so-called Qinglong and Baihu.' Ming yaozong

The document "Private Records of Changshu" describes the temple:' To the entrance of the Taoist temple, there are two great gods, the god of Alina Zhang in Qinglong on the left and the white tiger commander on the right.

Shen Jun's. "

Sifang and Siling have only been regarded as backers since ancient times, and their status is not very high.

First, the four spirits are different from the four spirits. Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu belong to the four spirits, Kirin, Phoenix and Dragon Turtle. The biggest difference between the two is Kirin. According to the classification of ancient organisms in China, organisms are divided into five categories: scale, feather, medium, hairy and naked, and classified according to their body surface characteristics. Four spirits are scales. His works in Spring and Autumn Annals died soon. People think that Kirin does not bring auspicious omen, so it is not included in the Four Gods. However, in the Han Dynasty, Kirin was still added to astronomy, and the middle palace was named Huang Lin, which was also called the Five Beasts with the Four Gods.

Second, Twenty-eight Hostels is generally acknowledged to have originated in China, and Liu Si is actually the middle part of the four constellations, that is, the most important star (constellation) in each of the four constellations. It is said that "the stars in the sun are in Yin Zhongchun", "the sparks in the sun are always in midsummer", "the stars in the night are empty in Yin Zhongqiu" and "the stars in the sun are short", which determine the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice as the criteria for dividing a year. These are the four places. Interestingly, most of these four stars were named "Sun" in later generations. Of course, their hearts are different, but it is not unreasonable to be close to the house.

Third, the four elephants and twenty-eight lodges gradually formed. That's right. There are four elephants and twenty-eight lodgers painted on the box of the tomb of Zeng Houyi (the tomb mentioned above), but the lack of Gong Bei is considered to imply the death of the owner of the tomb. In addition, the Western officials painted like tigers, and some people took this as the basis of the Western Palace. But in the ancient tombs unearthed in Xishuipo, there are already dragons and white tigers. Suzaku was not a phoenix at first. In the original Astronomical Twelve Chapters, Suzaku's Nangong consists of a quail head, a quail fire and a quail tail for three chapters, indicating that Suzaku is a quail. Of course, it is unsightly to be juxtaposed with the other three elephants, so it was replaced by a red peacock in the Han Dynasty and later a phoenix.

Fourth, the evolution of the four elephants. With the gradual enrichment of Taoist gods, the status of the four gods gradually declined, and the function of guarding the four countries was replaced by the Four Kingdoms Dragon King. In folk stories, the dragon and white tiger, born as the general of the world, have been enemies for generations, but they have always been the dragon of the white tiger. Finally, they became Taoist guardians. Suzaku almost disappeared from the myth. Only Xuanwu jumped into the nine-day throne, that is.

Five, the four attributes of soil, fire, water and wind are not related to each other, but later people added: soil and water, water and fire, fire and wind, wind and soil. In the five elements, wood can be transformed into wind and thunder, and soil is also the property of soil. But modern people attribute the wind to gold, and the attribute of thunder is still linked to wood.