has many young friends and colleagues. When chatting on weekdays, they especially like to talk about the twelve zodiac signs, and use the twelve zodiac signs to analyze their personalities and predict their fortunes. Almost no young man talks about the twelve zodiac signs, although in traditional Chinese photo books, the twelve zodiac signs are also one of the calculation lessons. In fact, the topic of the twelve zodiac signs is neither fashionable nor modern. Why? Because the , the Song Dynasty people were already talking about the fortunes of the twelve zodiac signs like you. But at that time it was not called the twelve zodiac signs, but the "twelve zodiac sign palace".
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes 61, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, the twelve star palace map on the tide of light Buddha map
The first astronomical record of the twelve zodiac signs came from ancient Babylon. Astronomers in ancient Babylon divided zodiac twelve equal parts and divided them into twelve star palaces. Then " Zodiac twelve palaces " was introduced into ancient Greek , and then from ancient Greece to India (India), and was absorbed into Buddhist scriptures by Indian monks. Around , the Sui Dynasty, , the "Zodiac Palace" was introduced to China with Buddhist scriptures.
Xuanhua Liao Tomb mural twelve star palace map
The Indian monk who brought the concept of the twelve star palace to China was named Narentiyeshe. In the early years of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty, he brought a batch of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures from India, one of which was called "Mahayana Dafang and Suncang Sutra", which mentioned the twelve-star palaces:
is September, and the shooting god is the master;
October, the exhausted god is the master of the month;
November, the water vessel is the master of the month;
December, the god of the sky fish is the master of the month;
December, the god of the sky fish is the master of the month;
in the first month, the god of the special sheep is the master of the month;
In February, the god of the special cow is the month;
is March, the god of the two birds is the month;
is April, the god of the crab is the month;
is May, the god of the lion is the month;
is June, the god of the heavenly woman is the month;
is July, the god of the scale is the month;
is August, the god of the scorpion is the month.
can be seen that the order of the twelve star palaces during the Sui Dynasty was the same as the current twelve star signs, and the names were similar, such as Pisces wrote as "Tianyu", Aries wrote as "Special Sheep", Taurus wrote as "Special Cow", Gemini wrote as "Two Birds", Virgo wrote as "Tianwo", and Capricorn wrote as "Fuqi". Since the translation was not yet unified at that time, it was sometimes written as "Fujijie".
twelve-star palace map on the Jin Dynasty big iron bell in Kaiyuan Temple
twelve-star palace theory in Buddhist scriptures was soon absorbed by the local Taoist in China. There are also records of the twelve-shaped palaces of the zodiac in "Daozang", and correspond to the "earth branch" and "twelve times" in the traditional Chinese calendar:
son is called Xuan Bai, also called Bao Fei ( Aquarius );
Hai is called thorn , also called Pisces,
Xu is called Jianglou , also called Aries Aries , also called Pisces,
Xu is called Jianglou , also called Aries 2;
You is called Daliang, also called Taurus,
Shen is called Shi Shen, also called Yin and Yang (Temini);
Wei is called Que Head, also called Cancer;
Wu is called Que Fire , also called Lion;
Si is called Que Tail, also called Double Women (Virgin);
Chen is called Birthday Star, also called Libra ;
Mao is called Dahuo, also called Scorpio;
Yin is called Alimu , also called Sagittarius (Sakura);
Chou is called Star Chronicle, also called Ferry Scorpion (Capricorn).
By the Song Dynasty, the statement of the Twelve Star Palace had been widely spread, and image historical materials, documentary records and unearthed cultural relics all proved that the civil society of the Song Dynasty had widely known the Twelve Star Palace.
Northern Song Dynasty "The Great Power and Virtue of the Buddha's Top of the Rising Light Buddha's Top Auspicious Dharani Sutra (Collection of Nara Temple in Japan) (972). The picture at the beginning of the volume is a circle of twelve constellations, but it may be because the craftsman who engraved the scriptures was careless and missed Leo , and the order of Scorpio and Libra was also misaligned.
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Suzhou The "Qiu Dharani Sutra" (collection of Suzhou Museum ) in the second year of Jingde in the Northern Song Dynasty (1005) was discovered in the ruins of Ruiguang Temple in the Song Dynasty. There is also a circular twelve-star palace map on it. The pattern is very clear and there is almost no difference from the image of the twelve zodiac signs we see today. The pattern of Libra Palace is still a Western balance, rather than a traditional Chinese rod scale. Only Capricorn Palace draws the winged monster with dragon head fish body, which is different from the common sheep head fish body picture today.
Zhangjiakou mural also has a twelve-star palace map. Except for the pattern of Taurus Palace that was destroyed by the cave thieves, the patterns of the other eleven palaces are kept intact.
On the north and south walls of the corridor of Cave 61 of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, there are also pictures of the Buddha's pictures of the radiant light left by the Western Xia period. Some of the star palace pictures on it have been weathered and peeled off, but the star palace pictures of Scorpio, Cancer, Taurus, Capricorn, Pisces, Libra, etc. are still clearly visible.
Cancer and Leo on the Jin Dynasty iron bell in Kaiyuan Temple in Kaiyuan Temple
There is a large iron bell cast in Jin Dynasty , and the iron bell is also engraved with the Twelve Star Palace. Among them, the pattern of Libra Palace became a traditional Chinese rod scale; the Gemini was carved into a sun and moon pattern, because the Chinese wrote Gemini as "Yin and Yang Palace", and some craftsmen used the sun and moon patterns to represent Yin and Yang; the Capricorn Palace was carved into a stone tablet by craftsmen at that time, probably because "Capricorn" was written into a "beating stele", and craftsmen of the Jin Dynasty imagined "beating stele" as a stele.
In the works of the Song people, the saying of the Twelve Star Palace is not uncommon. For example, Fu Gong of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote a book called "Crab Record" and collected a bunch of allusions related to crabs, which said, "There are Cancers in the Twelve Star Palaces." For example, Chen Yuanliang of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote a home daily encyclopedia " Things Lin Guangji ", which mentioned a "Picture of the Zodiac Dividing of the Twelve Palaces" in the astronomical category, matching the Twelve Star Palaces with the Twelve States of China: Baobo is equipped with Qingzhou , Capricorn is equipped with Yangzhou , Sagittarius is equipped with Youzhou , Scorpio is equipped with Yuzhou , Libra is equipped with Yanzhou , Virgin is equipped with jingzhou, Lion is equipped with Luozhou , Cancer is equipped with Yongzhou , Gemini is equipped with Yizhou, Taurus is equipped with Jizhou , Aries is equipped with Xuzhou , Pisces is equipped with Bingzhou.
Literati likes to play this kind of text game. Chen Shuke, a poet at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, filled out a small poem about the fragrance of Guizhi, which contains the sentence "Qin stars are reflected in the night, and Chu frost is full of autumn". The Qin here is Qin land Yongzhou, which refers to crabs.
It can be imagined that the literati of the Song Dynasty would definitely talk about the twelve zodiac signs when chatting to show off their knowledge. If you don’t have the knowledge of the Twelve Star Palace, you will travel to the Song Dynasty and meet the Song people’s elegant gatherings, holding crabs and drinking, and talking about “Qin land” and “Yongzhou”, you will really feel inexplicably and confused.
Pisces and Aries
Of course, like today's young people, when people in the Song Dynasty talked about the twelve zodiac signs, they often used the twelve zodiac signs to predict fortune and fortune.
Su Dongpo has a lot of knowledge and is also quite knowledgeable about the twelve zodiac signs. He has expressed his feelings more than once: I and I are both Capricorns, who are both sick and sympathetic, have bad fate, and are destined to be slanderous throughout my life.
It turns out that it is because Han Yu said in his poem " Three Stars ": When I was born, the moon was in the dove, the altar of the earth moves its horns, and the ji star opens its mouth. There is no sign of Altar pulling luxury cars, no sign of wine, only the divine is shown alone, causing me to be bumpy for a lifetime. According to the astrology of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Dou Sui of the twenty-eight constellations corresponds to the Capricorn Palace in the zodiac twelve palaces, and the star palace where the moon is located is the "body palace" (equivalent to the moon sign). It can be seen that Han Yu's body palace is Capricorn. Su ShiAfter reading Han's poem "Three Stars" and thinking about his birthday and half-life fate, I couldn't help feeling resentful.
Su Shi's birthday in the Gregorian calendar is January 8, 1037, and the sun happens to be in the Capricorn Palace. The "life palace" (equivalent to the Sun sign) of the person born at this time is Capricorn.The sign we are talking about today is Capricorn, which means that the sun position on the day of birth is in Capricorn - Master Su is indeed Capricorn, and Han Yu is "Moon Capricorn".
Capricorn's "Capricorn" actually has two images, one is the "sheep body, fish tail" monster we see today. According to legend, it is the incarnation of the herd god Pain in ancient Greek mythology; the other is the river god in Indian mythology, which is said to be an animal with a long nose, sharp teeth and fish body (Makara). "Capricorn" entered China with Buddhism much earlier than the introduction of the Twelve Star Palace. The pattern of Capricorn Palace depicted by the Chinese, Makara from India, is a monster with a "dragon head and fish body" and is very different from the pattern of Capricorn "sheep body and fish tail" in the West.
Celadon-shaped water bowl
It is said that Eastern Jin Gu Kaizhi's " Luo God Fu Picture " paints the image of Capricorn. By the Tang and Song dynasties, Capricorn shapes had been completely Chinese, and were integrated with the images of traditional Chinese auspicious animals, fish and dragons. They were often depicted as cute dragon fish. They were widely painted as decorative patterns on porcelain, bronze, lacquerware . Many porcelain, jade, gold and silver jewelry were also made into the shape of Capricorn. This is of course because Capricorn has been given auspicious meaning by the people of the Tang and Song dynasties. Tang and Song cultural relics with Capricorn as their shape or patterns are also common in museums: Liaoning Provincial Museum contains Five Dynasties Yaozhou Kiln Celadon Capricorn-shaped water bowl, Sichuan Museum collects a Southern Song bronze Capricorn pen holder, Shaanxi History Museum contains a Capricorn opera pearl pattern gold flower silver plate from Tang Dynasty .
In short, the twelve zodiac signs are not a very modern and fashionable topic, they are just the remnant of their predecessors.
"Modern Reading" magazine recommended
Guangxi Normal University Press "Feng Ya Song: The Visible Great Song Civilization"
Author: Wu Gou
