Four animals - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

four animals (Chinese: zh 四獸, pinyin: sì shòu), still called four capacities (zh 四靈, sì líng) or four figures (zh 四象, sì xiàng), are the symbols and the guards of the four orients in the Chinese Astrologie and the Feng shui. They are the Dragon azure Is, the black Tortue North, the white tiger of the West and the Oiseau vermilion of the South. Towards the end of the Kingdoms combatants, they were integrated in the system of the five elements with the yellow unicorn of the Center.

They are also recognized by the tradition Japanese occultist Onmyodo, inspired by the Chinese theory of the five elements, and very often evoked in the Manga S, cartoons and video games Japanese.

Origin

The concept of gods of the four orients seems to go back to Antiquity, just like the association of the colors and the directions. However, their identity varied. A passage of the Liji quotes the unicorn and the phoenix in the place of the tiger and the bird; this last can be confused besides with the phoenix. The Book of the mounts and the seas mentions different gods, with some resemblances nevertheless: that of the West has “claws of tiger”, and the name of the god of the East could be a homonym of “snake”, relative of the dragon. The origin of the current symbols is not cleared up yet. Some, like the black tortoise, seem to be the interpretation of the form of the Astérisme S of the district zodiacal which they represent.

Characteristics

The general connotations of the animals are those their associations in the system of the five elements. In addition:

the dragon azure shows the characteristics of all the dragon S and the bird vermilion those of the phoenix.
the tiger is associated with the military power. A white Jade carrying the representation of a tiger was offered to the generals. According to the Yearly of Wu and Yue, three days after the burial of a king, a white tiger formed by the concretion of the element metal appears on its tomb. The white color announces moreover one magic animal to exceptional longevity, because it is claimed that a tiger which succeeds in surviving five hundred years becomes white.
the black tortoise is also the name of a astral god.

Astrology, feng shui and taoism

In astrology, they represent each one a district of the zodiac, that is to say seven astral houses. The black tortoise of north has a particularly important place because the asterisms of the septentrional sky close to the celestial Pôle, axis of the sky, play a great part in the destinies.

As regards feng shui, the influence of China of the north, where ideal housing faces the south, makes that the bird vermilion represents the front one, the black tortoise the back, the dragon azure the left and the white tiger the line. A certain imbalance is introduced as a whole, the bird (southern) being preferred with the tortoise (northern) and the dragon (is) with the tiger (western). Indeed, the geographical factors of sunning and associations of the five elements give to the west and in north have a a little sinister connotation (metal and water sink), contrary to the east and the south entirely positive (vegetation and sunny heat). This concept is found in the large temples where the principal room is framed of two small rooms, that of the dragon on the left and that of the tiger on the right. Traditionally, the faithful ones enter by the door of the dragon and leave by that the tiger; this direction of circulation symbolizes the introduction of the favourable influences and the expulsion of the harmful ones. Sometimes a head of dragon appears inside the temple and a head of tiger outside.

Before certain meditations Taoist S like those of the school Shangqing, the follower convenes the four animals, gods of the four orients, who come to keep each one in his place space from meditation.

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