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Chinese Mythological Geography
Chinese mythological geography refers to the related mythological concepts of geography and cosmology, in the context of the geographic area now known as "China", which was typically conceived of as the center of the universe. The "Middle Kingdom" thus served as a reference point for a geography sometimes real and sometimes mythological, including lands and seas surrounding the Middle Land, with mountain peaks and sky (Heaven or heavens) above, with sacred grottoes and an underworld below, and even sometimes with some very abstract other worlds. Mythological geography of China "Chinese mythology" refers to mythology associated with the geographic area now known as "China", and in traditional Chinese mythology often known as the "Middle Kingdom". Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Chinese mythology is far from monolithic, not being an integrated system, even among just Han people. Chinese mythology is encountered in the traditions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niulang And Zhinv (Long Corridor)
Niulang is a Chinese deity who is identified as the star Altair in the constellation Aquila. He was a legendary figure and main character in the popular Chinese folk tale ''The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl''. The earliest record of this myth is traced to over 2600 years ago. Legend Some legend said that Niulang and Zhinü were actually gods on Heaven. Niulang is responsible for the celestial herds. Zhinü is the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor. They fell in love and were banished from Heaven because celestial laws forbade their romance. Zhinü was punished by her father and forced to weave colorful clouds all day long. Niulang was reincarnated as a cowherd on earth who lost his parents at a young age and lived with his older brother and sister-in-law, and their story begins. One day Zhinü came down to Earth and, while bathing in a river, Niulang was passing by the river and he saw Zhinu. He was extremely happy and stole her clothes. Without her clothes, Zhinü was unab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunlun (mythology)
The Kunlun () or Kunlun Shan is a mountain or mountain range in Chinese mythology, an important symbol representing the '' axis mundi'' and divinity. The mythological Kunlun is based on various sources — mythologic and geographic — of the modern so-called Kunlun Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and Mount Kailash (as an archetypal '' omphalos''). The term "Kunlun" has also been applied to Southeastern Asian lands or islands and seemingly even Africa — although the relationship to the mountain is not clear beyond the nomenclature. In any case, Kunlun refers to distant, exotic, and mysterious places. Different locations of Kunlun have been ascribed in the various legends, myths, and semi-historical accounts in which it appears. These accounts typically describe Kunlun as the dwelling place of various gods and goddesses where fabled plants and mythical creatures may also be found. Many important events in Chinese mythology were based around Kunlun. Historical development As the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magu (deity)
Magu () is a legendary Taoist ''xian'' () associated with the elixir of life, and a symbolic protector of women in Chinese mythology. Stories in Chinese literature describe Magu as a beautiful young woman with long birdlike fingernails, while early myths associate her with caves. ''Magu xian shou'' () is a popular motif in Chinese art. In Korean tradition and sources, Mago (麻姑 pronounced in Korean) is known as the Great Mother and the Creatrix. Mago manifests broadly and densely primarily but not limitedly in Korean sources, which includes the Budoji, folklore, place-names, art, classical literature, folksongs, shamanic songs (muga), historical and religious texts, and miscellaneous data. Based on the primary sources concerning Mago, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang reconstructed Magoism, the Way of the Creatrix. Name Magu's name compounds two common Chinese words: ''ma'' "cannabis; hemp" and ''gu'' "aunt; maid". Translating Magu into English is problematic, depending upon whether h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mulberry Fields (idiom)
In China, at least since the middle of Tang dynasty, the phrase mulberry fields is a metonymy for the land which was or will be covered by oceans.Joseph Needham, as cited by Robert F. Campany, said that this subject gave a notion of the Taoist belief, that "over vast eras", geological change will turn the ocean into land and vice versa. This term is often used in Chinese literature and poetry, for example in '' Zuo Zhuan'', which is about the death of Duke Jing of Jin and mentions the "Shaman of Mulberry Fields" ().In this case, ''sāngtián'' can be a name or a place. Along with the "blue seas" phrase, since the Han dynasty, these two phrases were combined into an idiom that has meaning about changes and changing. The mathematics book ''shushù jìyí'' 数术记遗 (''shushù jìyí'') by Xu Yue, from the Han dynasty, mentioned an idea about the turning of blue seas into mulberry fields. Yan Zhenqing, in his literature ''Magu Shan Xiantan Ji'' (痲姑山仙墰記), wrote that o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon King
The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the '' lóng'' in Chinese culture. There are also the cosmological "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas" (; ''Sihai Longwang''). Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial tutelary deity, similarly to Tudigong "Lord of the Earth" and Houtu "Queen of the Earth". Singular Dragon King The Dragon King has been regarded as holding dominion over all bodies of water, and the dispenser of rain, in rituals practiced into the modern era in China. One of his epithets is Dragon King of Wells and Springs. Rainmaking rituals Dragon processions have been held on the fifth and sixth moon of the lunar calendar all over China, especially on the 13th day of the sixth moon, held to be the Dragon King's birthday, as ritualized supplicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Sea (Chinese Literature)
The East Sea (), one of the Four Seas, is identified as the body of water east of the mainland according to ancient Chinese geography. In Chinese literature, the Four Seas are a metaphor for the boundaries of China. It contains modern day East China Sea as well as the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. In Chinese mythology, East Sea is the domain of Ao Guang, the ''Donghai Longwang'' (東海龍王), or "the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea", who is responsible for controlling its storms and tides. Supposedly, the Dragon King resides in a large "Dragon Palace", the ''Donghai Longgong'' (東海龍宮), located at its bottom. See also *Dragon King *Mulberry fields (idiom) In China, at least since the middle of Tang dynasty, the phrase mulberry fields is a metonymy for the land which was or will be covered by oceans.Joseph Needham, as cited by Robert F. Campany, said that this subject gave a notion of the Taoist belie ... References Asia in mythology Locations in Chinese mythology Seas of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jingwei
Jingwei () is a bird in Chinese mythology, who was transformed from Yandi's daughter Nüwa.Yang & An (2005), 154–155. She is also a goddess in Chinese mythology. After she drowned when playing in the Eastern Sea, she metamorphosed into a bird called Jingwei. Jingwei is determined to fill up the sea, so she continuously carries a pebble or twig in her mouth and drops it into the Eastern Sea. Classic version The story is recorded in the ''Shanhaijing'': The poet Tao Qian mentioned Jingwei in his ''Thirteen Poems upon Reading the Guideways through Mountains and Seas'', where he made an association between Jingwei and Xingtian in their persistence to overcome tragedies but also mentions their inability to be free from it:Strassberg, 18. " ingweibites hold of twigs, determined to fill up the deep-blue sea. Xingtian dances wildly with spear and shield, his old ambitions still burn fiercely. After blending with things, no anxieties should remain. After metamorphosing, all one's r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Seas
The Four Seas () were four bodies of water that metaphorically made up the boundaries of ancient China. There is a sea for each for the four cardinal directions. The West Sea is Qinghai Lake, the East Sea is the East China Sea, the North Sea is Lake Baikal, and the South Sea is the South China Sea. Two of the seas were symbolic until they were tied to genuine locations during the Han dynasty's wars with the Xiongnu. The lands "within the Four Seas", a literary name for China, are alluded to in Chinese literature and poetry. History The original Four Seas were a metaphor for the borders of pre-Han dynasty China. Only two of the Four Seas were tied to real locations, the East Sea with the East China Sea and the South Sea with the South China Sea. During the Han dynasty, wars with the Xiongnu brought them north to Lake Baikal. They recorded that the lake was a "huge sea" (hanhai) and designated it the mythical North Sea. They also encountered Qinghai Lake, which they call ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grotto-heavens
Grotto-heavens () are a type of sacred Taoist site. Grotto-heavens are usually caves, grottoes, mountain hollows, or other underground spaces. Because every community was supposed to have access to at least one grotto, there were many of them all over China. They were first organized systematically in the Tang Dynasty by Sima Chengzhen (647–735, see Zuowanglun) and Du Guangting (850-933). The most sacred of these sites were divided into two types: The ten greater grotto-heavens and the thirty-six lesser grotto-heavens.Kohn (2000), p. 696. Locations of the ten greater grotto-heavens are as follows: * Mt. Wangwu grotto (Henan) * Mt. Weiyu grotto (Zhejiang) * Mt. Xicheng grotto (Shanxi) * Mt. Xixuan grotto (Sichuan) * Mt. Qingcheng grotto (part of Huashan, Shanxi) * Mt. Chicheng grotto (Guangdong) * Mt. Luofu grotto (Guangdong) * Mt. Gouqu grotto (Jiangsu, in Lake Tai) * Mt. Linwu grotto (on Maoshan, Jiangsu) * Mt. Kuocang grotto (Zhejiang) References Sources * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumeru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. There is no clear identification of Mount Meru with a particular geophysical location. Many famous Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu temples have been built as symbolic representations of this mountain. The "Sumeru Throne" 須彌座 xūmízuò style base is a common feature of Chinese pagodas. The highest point (the finial bud) on the pyatthat, a Burmese-style multi-tiered roof, represents Mount Meru. Etymology Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru (Sanskrit: Meru), to which is added the approbatory prefix su-, resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru". ''Meru'' is also the name of the central bead in a mālā. In other languages In other languages, Mount Meru is pronounced: * Assamese: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Mundi
In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the ''axis mundi'' is the axis of rotation of the planetary spheres within the classical geocentric model of the cosmos. In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi — also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree — has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing "the connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms." Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the '' omphalos'' (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the ''axis mundi'' by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xian (Taoism)
''Xian'' () refers to a person or similar entity having a long life or being immortal. The concept of ''xian'' has different implications dependent upon the specific context: philosophical, religious, mythological, or other symbolic or cultural occurrence. The Chinese word ''xian'' is translatable into English as: * (''in Daoist philosophy and cosmology'') spiritually immortal; transcendent human; celestial being * (''in Daoist religion and pantheon'') physically immortal; immortal person; an immortal; saint * (''in Chinese alchemy'') alchemist; one who seeks the elixir of life; one who practices longevity techniques ** (''or by extension'') alchemical, dietary, or qigong methods for attaining immortality * (''in Chinese mythology'') wizard; magician; shaman; sorcerer * (''in popular Chinese literature'') genie; elf, fairy; nymph; (''xian jing'' is fairyland, faery) * (''based on the folk etymology for the character , a compound of the characters for ''person'' and ''mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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