People who like "Journey to the West" are certainly no strangers to the dragon king who can raise clouds and rain in it. On the one hand, Sun Wukong borrowed the most important ** in the book in the East China Sea Dragon Palace, where there are many treasures-Ruyi Golden Hoop Stick; On the other hand, on the way to learn the scriptures, up to the Sea Dragon King, down to the Well Dragon King, the big and small dragon kings often helped the four masters and apprentices to save the day through rainfall and other means. In addition, Tang Seng's mount, the White Dragon Horse, was transformed from the third prince of the Dragon King of the East China Sea who made a mistake.
Painter Zhong Jinzhi's "Gods of the Water Country" (detail) depicts the scene of the dragon king walking in the rain Courtesy of Shi Aidong.
It should be noted that the dragon king is different from what we call the dragon as a symbol of the Chinese nation. It is not a supreme dragon, but a personified local god born of a fusion of multiple cultures. Just like the land gods and mountain gods that often appear in "Journey to the West", they are the small gods who manage one side, and the various dragon kings of Sishui are not too high in the god world. The Dragon King must listen to the Jade Emperor's dispatch, and the slightest mistake may lead to death.
There is a process of personifying the dragon of an animal and turning it into a dragon king with human emotions. Just like the morning glory in the sky, when he was defined as a sacrificial livestock cow, it was impossible to have a romantic relationship with the Weaver Girl, and only in the Han Dynasty, when the morning glory was personified and became a cowherd, the story of him and the Weaver Girl could begin. In the same way, no matter how magical the dragon in ancient legends is, it cannot be the protagonist of the story without personification, and even in the famous story of Ye Gonghao Dragon, the dragon is still a supporting character.
The personification of the dragon originated from the introduction of the concept of the dragon king in Buddhism. Ji Xianlin said: "The word 'dragon' in the Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures is actually a translation of the Sanskrit word nāga. Nāga means 'snake'. Therefore, we can also say that after the introduction of Buddhism, the meaning of 'dragon' changed. In Buddhist scriptures, as well as in Tang Dynasty legends, the 'dragon king' is a translation of the Sanskrit nāgarāja, nāgarāj, or nāgarājan. ”
In 285 AD, Zhu Fahu, a translator of the Western Jin Dynasty, translated the Sutra of the Buddha and the Sea Dragon King, translating nāga into the dragon king, unveiling the history of the fusion of the Buddhist dragon king and the Chinese divine dragon.
In the concept of Buddhism, the dragon is an important god of Buddhism, and the dragon king is the king of the dragon. The dragon king's mana is strong, but his status is very low, and only the dragon king who has achieved positive results can get out of the way. In other words, the status of the Buddhist dragon is far below that of people, which is different from the status of the Chinese dragon.
However, the Buddhist dragon king also has many similarities with the Chinese dragon, they both have snake-like bodies, they are all powerful, good at change, and both have the functions of water and rain.
The Dragon King was crowned. In traditional Chinese culture, dragons are associated with specific directions, such as "the green dragon on the left, the white tiger on the right", and the "seven dragons of the east", which were produced before the Han Dynasty. However, the concept of the dragon king of the five directions and the dragon king of the four seas only emerged after Buddhism was introduced to China.
As early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Buddhist translation of the Great Empowerment Sutra, it recorded the five dragon kings of the east, south, west, north, and middle. The names of these dragon kings, such as Ashuhe, Natou Huati, etc., seem to be Buddhist names, but as long as you look at the titles of these dragon kings - the Eastern Green Dragon God King, the Southern Red Dragon God King, the Western White Dragon God King, the Northern Black Dragon God King, and the **Yellow Dragon God King, you will know that this is an authentic "Chinese specialty", at least a mixed-blood dragon mixed with the Chinese Five Elements concept. That is to say, when the translator or copyist translates the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, he has already referred to the Chinese cultural concept and Sinicized the content of the Buddhist scriptures.
After the Han and Wei dynasties, a large number of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese, accompanied by oral preaching by monks, and the story of the dragon king of Buddhism was widely spread among the people. On this basis, Taoism further developed the concept of the Dragon King of the Four Seas. The situation of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties ended, the centralization of power in the Sui and Tang dynasties was continuously strengthened, and the Taoist immortal system was also adaptively adjusted. This positioning was soon approved by the Tang Dynasty, according to Du You's "General Dictionary", Tang Xuanzong in the tenth year of Tianbao (751) bestowed the title of the Dragon King of the Four Seas, with the East China Sea as the King of Guangde, the South China Sea as the King of Guangli, the West Sea as the King of Guangrun, and the North Sea as the King of Guangze.
That is to say, the Tang Dynasty strengthened the self-positioning of the ** ruler through the system of dividing the gods, incorporated the theocratic rule of mountains, rivers, lakes and seas into the unified management system of the ** dynasty, and made it clear that the Dragon King was only a subordinate of the Tang Dynasty and was responsible for managing the territory of the four seas. Later dynasties have always followed this system, and constantly strengthened the prosperous situation of "the dragon king of the four seas came to enter the table, and the eight directions returned to the holy king".
The official authoritative certification has directly led to the comprehensive prosperity and increasing flooding of the Dragon King Temple, and the Dragon King Temple has sprung up one after another. The dragon is no longer the earth dragon in the old temple, but a humanoid dragon king who has transformed into a crown and a crown, standing high on the altar in the name of the main god. Buddhism, Taoism and the state system affirm the status of the dragon king, which has strongly promoted the dragon king, that is, the personification of the Chinese dragon god, and also led to the decline of the divine power of the original water god and the river system of rivers, lakes and seas. The large and small dragon kings gradually took over all the large sea areas, rivers, small lakes, deep streams at all levels of water, and the functions of the Chinese dragon have also undergone subtle changes, and the management of water and rain has become the most important priesthood of the dragon king.
The dragon lady is affectionate. Early Chinese dragon gods rarely touched on gender issues, and there was never an image of a dragon woman, but in Buddhism there are many stories of dragon women being grateful and marrying people.
The Chinese image of the dragon girl appeared earlier in the Tang legend "The Four Records of the Duke of Liang", the story says that Emperor Wu of Liang learned that the seventh daughter of the Dragon King of the East China Sea was in charge of the orb, and knew that the dragon girl liked to eat roasted swallows, so he sent an envoy to seek the treasure: "(The messenger) with its (burning swallows) on the upper one to offer the dragon girl, the dragon girl eats the great good." and on the jade letter green silk, with Emperor Chen's will. There is a thousand-year-old dragon in the cave, which can change, enter and exit the world, and have a good translation of the sayings of the times. The dragon girl knows the emperor's ceremony, with a big pearl.
3. Small beads. Seventh, miscellaneous beads and one stone, in order to repay the emperor. "In the story, there is not only a dragon girl in charge of jewelry, but also a Chitose dragon who can act as a translator between humans and dragons.
Since the Tang Dynasty, a large number of stories of dragon kings and dragon maidens have emerged, and the most influential one for later generations is Li Chaowei's (c. 766-820) The Biography of Liu Yi, in which both the dragon king and the dragon girl show distinct personality characteristics. The story tells that Liu Yi, a scholar of Luodi, returned to his hometown, passed through Jingyang, and met a fallen dragon girl who married the second son of the Dragon King of Jingchuan. Liu Yi passed on the book and rushed to Dongting thousands of miles away. Dongting Longjun's younger brother Qiantang Longjun was a violent temper, and when he heard the news, he immediately showed the dragon's body, flew to Jingchuan, killed Jingchuan Longzi, and rescued the dragon girl. After many twists and turns, the dragon girl and Liu Yi finally became married.
The Biography of Liu Yi is a famous article in the history of China, and it is an earlier space crossing, in which each dragon king has a different personality, and the description of the dragon shape before the war, the human form and personality changes of the Qiantang Dragon King before the war is particularly vivid, and the Dongting Dragon King is calm and benevolent, and the characteristics of scheming and calculating are also very distinct. The Dragon Girl said to Liu Yi the famous words "Don't take it as anything else, then it is unintentional", which means don't think that if we are not human beings, we will not have human feelings, which has a great influence on the creation of the story of the Dragon King and the Dragon Girl in later generations.
The Buddhist dragon king not only has personified thinking and emotion, but also has dependents, dragon palaces, has a strict hierarchy, and there are all kinds of rare treasures hidden in the palace.
The image of the affectionate and righteous dragon king greatly stimulates the people's enthusiasm for dragon culture and the creation of dragon stories. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, the genealogy of the dragon king family has been continuously improved in the oral narrative of the people, and the story of the dragon mother, the story of the dragon girl, the story of the dragon father and son, and the story of the dragon brother have been emerging, constituting an extremely large system of dragon king legends.
Dragon Palace Duobao. The early Chinese dragons were mainly used as a means of transportation between heaven and earth, and people never cared about their dwelling and wealth. The concept of the dragon palace comes from Buddhism, most of the dragon palaces in the Buddhist scriptures are in the deep sea, and the Sui translation of the Buddhist scriptures "** Judrani Sutra" says: "It is the sea, the water depth is 84,000 by ten years, and under it is the residence of the palace of the dragons, and the palace residence of Asura Garuda." "The Dragon Palace, and the idea that the Dragon Palace is rich in the infinite treasures of the sea, has also profoundly influenced the story of the Dragon King in China.
The image of the Dragon Palace described in the Biography of Liu Yi is China's ideal paradise, "the pavilion is facing each other, the door is tens of millions, the strange grass and precious trees, there are everything", and its Lingxu Hall is "the treasures of the world are all here, the pillars are made of white bi, the bricks are made of green jade, the beds are made of coral, the curtains are made of water spirits, the carved glass is in the green frieze, the amber is decorated in the rainbow building, the strange show is deep, and it is unspeakable". The banquet scene of the Dragon Palace is also similar to the hall meeting of the palace of the human world.
It is precisely because the dragon king has countless treasures that the dragon king repays the favor and gives treasures, which has become a common theme in the story of the dragon king. The treasures given by the dragon king are often rare things in the world, and after the recipient gets the treasure, he not only has no worries about food and clothing, but also can be rich. "The Biography of Liu Yi" said that the Dragon King gave the treasure, and Liu Yi returned to the world: "Because of the Guangling treasure, the income of the treasure is not one in a hundred, and the wealth has been surplus." ”
The most well-known of the legends of the Dragon Palace is the origin of the Monkey King's golden hoop stick mentioned in "Journey to the West". During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the spread of the legend of the dragon king, the status of the dragon king in the divine realm was also declining. Sun Wukong lacked a worthy weapon, and heard that the Dragon King of the East China Sea "Hedonized Yao Palace Beique" and went to ask for treasure. The Dragon King couldn't find a weapon that Wukong was satisfied with, so Wukong played a scoundrel and said, "The ancients said: 'The Dragon King of the Sea has no treasure!'" Then you will look for it, and if there is anything you want, you will give you an offer. He actually took away the Tianhe Dingdi Shenzhen Iron of the Dragon Palace as a wishful golden hoop stick, not only did not pay a penny, but also "fought all the way out", and did not take the Dragon King of the Four Seas seriously at all.
Although the Buddhist dragon king is not equal to the Chinese dragon, the symbolic identity of the dragon character has laid a linguistic foundation for the semantic integration of the two. The collision and integration of different languages and semantics inspired the wonderful growth of language and stimulated the vigorous rebirth of the original culture, which is the meaning of cultural exchange. (ENDS).
Author Shi Aidong (Researcher, Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).
*: Bright.com.