In Shan Hai Jing, there is a Zhongshan God named Candle dragon, also known as Candle Nine Shadows. Candle dragon can be seen in many modern fantasy novels. He has magical power, magic and begging for rain. Some people think that Candle dragon is the earliest prototype of Pangu God. Who's Candle dragon? We look for the answer from the original text of Shan Hai Jing.
The image of Candle dragon
"Northwest overseas, north of Chishui, there is Zhang Weishan. There is a god, the snake's face is red, and his eyes are riding a horse. Its eyes are gloomy and bright, it doesn't eat or sleep, it's endless, and the storm is coming, which is embarrassing. It is a nine-yin candle, which means Candle dragon. "
This record can be found in Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Bei Jing. Overseas in the Northwest Sea and north of Chishui, there is a Zhang Weishan. There is a mountain god in the mountains. Others have a snake face and a reddish body-Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty commented that he was "a thousand miles long" here, and Wang Niansun in the Qing Dynasty said: "The word" a thousand miles long "is also misinformed in the text. Wang Niansun's statement is right. It is found that the word "a thousand miles long" does exist in the original version of The Wild Classic, and it is recorded in the book Wen Xin Xia Ju compiled by Ou Yangxun in the Tang Dynasty and the book "Ghosts and Ghosts in the Taiping Imperial Palace II" in the Song Dynasty, all of which are called "a thousand miles long" belonging to the original version. The only difference is that The Collection of Arts and Literature is called "thousands of feet Chang".
What are Candle dragon's eyes like? The original text says: "Straight eyes are for riding", and Guo Pu's Notes on Mountains and Seas says: "Straight eyes are also smooth; Cheng Zheng has never heard of it. This word has a vertical meaning since ancient times. As for the meaning of Cheng Zheng, Guo Pu said that he had never heard of it. Bi Yuan of the Qing Dynasty explained this, and he thought that "the word' I' is a falsetto and a vulgar sound"-this explanation is not unreasonable. The word "I" was first seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. During the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, I had the meaning of crack, which could be extended to the gap between two objects, and it was also said that the original meaning of "I" was ship seam, but there was no convincing data to prove this explanation.
Candle dragon's eyes are vertical, whether it is a seam or a seam. When he closed his eyes, it looked like two long cracks.
Candle dragon's eyes dominate day and night. When he opened his eyes, it was daytime, and when he closed his eyes, it was night. He doesn't eat, drink, sleep or breathe, and he has the magical power to call the wind and rain. He can also illuminate dark places, so he is called Candle dragon.
Candle dragon's head.
Candle dragon's residence and image are recorded in Wild Classic, and his magical power is mentioned by the way. But how are these magical forces manifested? We can find the answer in Shan Hai Jing Overseas North Jing:
"The God of Zhongshan, named Yin Candle, regards it as day, night, winter and summer. Without drinking or eating, rest is the wind. It is thousands of miles long, to the east of Wudi (qǐ). It's a thing. The snake's face is red and it lives at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain. "
The Great Northern Wilderness Classic says that Candle dragon lives in Zhang Wei, and here he is said to be a Zhongshan God. Is it because the author made a mistake, or are there two different Candle dragon?
In fact, Zhang Wei is Zhongshan Mountain. In ancient exegetics, there is a saying that when the initials of Chinese characters are the same, the words are separated because of the change of vowels. Here, "Zhang" and "Zhong" belong to this situation. For the sake of understanding, we can simply think that "Zhang" and "Zhong" pass and leave in this sentence.
Candle dragon, also known as "Candle Nine Shades" and "Yin Candle", is the mountain god of Zhongshan. "Seeing the sun as night" is consistent with the description in The Great Northern Wilderness Classic. As for his magical power, it is shown that blowing is winter, exhaling is summer, and generally he can't breathe. Once he breathes, he can become the wind. He is thousands of miles long, which can be used as a footnote in The Great Northern Wilderness Classic, and it can also be inferred that the record of "thousands of feet's length" in Selected Works is incorrect.
The status of Candle dragon
Candle dragon has appeared in many ancient books and poems in China since The Classic of Mountains and Seas, and his views are basically the same. For example, in Huai Nan Zi, it is said that "Candle dragon's God-man has a dragon body but no feet", which is the image of Candle dragon. In this kind of ancient books, the meaning of dragon body and snake body is roughly the same.
Qu Yuan also wrote in The Songs of Chu: "How can Candle dragon shine if the sun doesn't shine?" He said why the sun can't shine in that place and why Candle dragon shines-that place is the northwest of the sky. In ancient mythology, there is a ghost country in the west of the sky, where the light comes from Candle dragon without the sun. In Shan Hai Jing, Guo Pu thinks that Candle dragon can shine because. It is also called "Yin Candle" because it can bring light to a dark and gloomy country.
Thus, Candle dragon is indeed a dragon and a mountain god in Zhongshan, but other records are different:
Candle dragon was ordered to carry the torch, and he stopped at Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.
Said Candle dragon was actually recruited by the gods, let him hold the torch, after Zhongshan, rest here, if we put all the above information together, we can find that Candle dragon's identity is very interesting:
Candle dragon is a dragon with a face (snake) and a red body. He can shine, but he must rely on the essence of fire in his mouth. The place he illuminates is limited to a shadowless country without the sun. He was also recruited by a higher-ranking fairy to light a fire for him. He is very tired all day long, so he can only have a rest by passing through Zhongshan, so he is regarded as the mountain god of Zhongshan.
Is the torchbearer around the Great God equivalent to the position of the general of the shutter around the Jade Emperor (joke)? It seems that Candle dragon's position is not so high.
However, in the Ming Dynasty, Candle dragon's position was rising. In the Ming Dynasty, Tao wrote Tan cymbals, which became the symbol of the sun. This is not without reason, because Candle dragon originally contains the essence of fire, bringing a bright dragon to the dark world.
Since then, Candle dragon has become the object of sacrifice. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, even the royal sacrifices had the status of Candle dragon, and together with another ancient god beast, Ying Long, they really became the dragon god!