Feng Shui is a landscape evaluation system for finding auspicious places in architecture. It is the art of China's ancient geographical location and layout, and can't be simply called superstition or science according to western concepts. This uniqueness? China's location selection system has both scientific and metaphysical elements. This chapter will reveal the origin of ancient geomantic omen in China through in-depth exploration from different angles.

The third section "Four Elephants" cultural relics unearthed and the origin of geomantic omen

In China's traditional cultural concept, heaven is divided into four palaces; Divide the earth into four directions, namely the oriental pale (green) dragon; West white tiger; Southern suzaku; North Xuanwu. Use it to correspond to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter and the 28 stars in the sky. On the origin of the concept of "four images", predecessors Zhu Kezhen, Xia Nai, Qian Baoyu and others have done a lot of research and formed different opinions. Regrettably, these senior scholars failed to see the images of the four elephants and twenty-eight families unearthed in recent years. In fact, China's concept of "Four Elephants" originated very early. This is an introduction to them.

First, the concept of "Four Elephants" is closely related to the division of twenty-eight lodges and four seasons.

In ancient China, the concepts of astronomical phenomena, geography and climate were interlinked. In geomantic geography, East black dragon, Xibaihu, Nansai and BeiXuanwu are the most widely used terms. Finding relevant images and literature records is considered to be the witness of ancient people using geomantic omen for site selection and layout. In the division of the four seasons throughout the year, the pale (green) dragon is spring; Suzaku is summer; White tiger is autumn; Xuanwu is winter. The related images and words represent the ancient people's understanding of the seasons. In the astronomical phenomena, the East Palace is a pale (green) dragon, corresponding to the horn, sound, fork, room, heart, tail and basket. West Palace White Tiger, corresponding to Kui, Lou, Stomach, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen for seven nights. Nangong Suzaku, corresponding to well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang,? Seven nights. Gong Bei Xuanwu, corresponding to fighting, cattle, women, emptiness, danger, houses and walls for seven nights. According to the names of the 28 constellations, Zhu Kezhen determined that the sky is divided into four palaces (or four elephants, namely black dragon, white tiger, suzaku and Xuanwu) along the equator. Wang Jianmin and others believe that "the establishment of the Twenty-eight Hostel is closely related to the Four Elephants". The orientation of 28 hotels must have the concept of four elephants. The determination of the four elephants needs to be based on the location of the twenty-eight lodges. The ancients measured these four images according to the celestial phenomena around the vernal equinox when they fainted for the first time. At this time, the central room of the Oriental Seven Nights is just near the eastern horizon. The center of the Seven Nights in the West is near the western horizon. The central star of the Southern Seven Nights is just south of Zhongtian. The center of the seven northern huts, Xu Su, is on the lower meridian, that is, below the horizon corresponding to the position of the stars. And the vernal equinox is divided into four years? key

For the emergence of such a concept of astronomy, geography and climate, the ancients used the images of pale (green) dragon, white tiger, suzaku and Xuanwu as symbols, which were collectively called "four beasts". The research on the images of the "Four Beasts" cultural relics has extensive and special significance in the history of ancient science and technology in China.

2. The dragon and tiger images of Yangshao cultural site in Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province.

Up to now, the earliest figures of Oriental Qinglong and Western White Tiger in China were unearthed in the tombs of Yangshao culture era. Yang Shaowen? About 6000 years ago. In Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province, there are two, three, four and five floors of cultural sites belonging to Yangshao era. Tomb 45 is under the fourth floor, and the fifth floor is broken. This shows that it is an early Yangshao tomb. "The owner of the tomb is an adult man, with a length of1.84m. He was buried in the middle of the tomb with his back straight, his head south and his feet north." "The left and right sides were carefully decorated with dragon and tiger patterns with mussels."

This excavation briefing was published at 1988. This archaeological excavation proves that the concepts of the left (oriental) dragon and the right (western) white tiger in China's four elephants appeared at least 6,000 years ago in the Yangshao culture period. The understanding of the origin of the four elephants is two or three thousand years ahead of schedule.

Huaiyang was called "Zhuan Xu's Legacy Capital" in ancient times. Cite historical records, biographies of the five emperors, and collect explanations? "Huanglan" said: "Zhuan Xu was buried in Guangyang Lane outside Dunqiu Gate in Puyang, Dong Jun." According to Zhu Kezhen's research, "Zhuan Xu has set up two official posts, one is to observe the transit of stars, and the other is to watch the twilight of' fire'". In Zhuan Xu's time, there was a man who was in charge of observing twenty-eight hotels. This is not entirely accidental coincidence with the dragon and tiger images unearthed in Yangshao period of Puyang, but there will be a connection between them. In addition, the relationship between the distribution of Xi 'an Banpo site and the surrounding topography and water system has always been in line with the principle of Feng Shui site selection.

Three, four gods living in Zhoufengjing Wadang

Archaeological findings show that as early as the late Shang Dynasty and the early Zhou Dynasty, there were plastic ornaments of four animals in Fengjingwa, Zhou Zong. This picture has been loaded into China by the Commercial Press at 1938. In the series of Cultural History, Itochu, the author of Architectural History of China, and Chen Qingquan, the translator, concluded that "Zhou Zong Fengjing Wadang".

Fengjing was built before logging in Zhou Wuwang. In the Book of Songs, Wang Wen has a voice, which says: "Wang Wen was ordered to have this martial art, that is, to worship and become rich." Fengjing was built in the late Shang Dynasty, and it was very large after the Zhou Dynasty. The site of the ancient city is located on the west bank of Fenghe River, a tributary of Weihe River in Shaanxi Province. It reaches Lingnuma River in the west, Keshengzhuang and Zhangjiapo in the north and Qin Dou Town in the south. Now, dense residential areas, burial pits, rammed platforms and underground sewer pipes are still found here. On the four beast tiles in Fengjing, the Oriental Dragon is lifelike. Western images, like bears and cows, are less like tigers. Why is this?

In the Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Wuding in Shang Dynasty, the fire, birds, Ang and other stars in the Twenty-eight Hostels have been recorded. This has completely solved the question of whether the 28 hotels that have been debated internationally for hundreds of years originated from China, India or Arabia.

The four elephants in Kau Gong Ji, Zhou Li are western bears and tigers. The four beasts in Fengjing Wadang are like bears (tigers) in the west. These four beasts in Fengjing belong to the early Zhou Dynasty, which has been around for more than 3,000 years. This is consistent with the record of Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji. It shows that the cooperation of twenty-eight schools and four elephants not only originated and appeared, but also became a three-dimensional model, which was reflected in the materials of Miyagi architecture.

Four. Images of Twenty-eight Masters, Qinglong and White Tiger in the Tomb of Zeng Houyi in Sui County, Hubei Province

1978, the tomb of Zeng Houyi in 433 BC or later was excavated in Leigudun, Sui County, Hubei Province. "At the east end of the tomb, on the surface of a lacquer box cover, there is a circle of 28 lodging ancient place names around the center. Images of dragons and white tigers are painted on both ends of the cover. " The picture shows that the four elephants and twenty-eight lodges at that time had already been integrated into folk life. Its content also reflects the record in Records of the Historian Tianguanshu, that is, the "fight" of the Big Dipper. Twenty-eight lodges correspond to four elephants, which was the full name of twenty-eight lodges at that time. Its scientific significance lies in that it embodies the close relationship between the Twenty-eight Hostels and the Four Elephants, "referring to the reliable records of all the names of the Twenty-eight Hostels in China to the early Warring States Period" and "advancing the appearance of the Four Elephants from the Qin and Han Dynasties".

Since then, it has been quite common for the four sacred beasts to be tiled in the Qin and Han Dynasties. By the Tang Dynasty, the collocation of Twenty-eight Hostels, Four Elephants and Eight Diagrams had become an inseparable part of the folk custom.

In a word, the excavation of Qinglong and Baihu map in Puyang, Henan Province, and the discovery of Wadang, the four beasts in Fengjing are important materials for studying the history of astronomy, geography and science and technology.