The zodiac is an intuitive representation of the twelve earthly branches, namely, Zi (mouse), Ugly (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei (sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken) and Xu (chicken).
Abbreviated as: mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig.
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The origin of the zodiac;
The zodiac signs correspond to the twelve earthly branches one by one: the son is a mouse, the ugly is a cow, the yin is a tiger, the hair is a rabbit, the Chen is a dragon, it is a snake, the afternoon is a horse, not a sheep, Shen is a monkey, you is a chicken, you are a dog, and Hai is a pig. The order of the zodiac is fixed.
At least in the Han dynasty, the zodiac appeared now, in the same order as today. Wang Chong, a thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty, mentioned eleven kinds of Chinese zodiac except dragons in the book "Things and Potential" in Volume III of Lun Heng.
This article mainly talks about the twelve zodiac signs corresponding to twelve branches, and the five elements corresponding to twelve branches. As we all know, the five elements are mutually dependent, so there are also zodiac signs that are mutually dependent and mutually dependent, which is a superstition that is quite particular in later generations. Especially in marriage, the first thing to look at is whether the other person's zodiac is appropriate.
However, Wang Chong disagreed and refuted this popular statement. We can give an example. Zi corresponds to the water in the five elements, the mouse in the zodiac, the midday fire in the five elements and the horse in the zodiac. "Water is better than fire. Why don't mice chase horses?" This shows that this statement is rootless.
Wang Heng mentioned "Chen belongs to the dragon" in Volume 23 of Lun Heng, which constitutes the zodiac.
Wang Chong's Lun Heng is not the first to mention the zodiac, but it shows that our current zodiac can be traced back at least two thousand years ago. Scholars discovered other versions of the zodiac before Lun Heng, but these versions came out nearly two thousand years later than Lun Heng.
In the last century, a large number of Chu bamboo slips, Qin bamboo slips and Han bamboo slips reappeared in the world, and some of them mentioned the zodiac. Here's an example.
During the period of 1975, archaeologists excavated a number of precious bamboo slips in the Qin tomb of Crouching Tiger Land in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province. These are the famous Qin bamboo slips Sleeping Tiger Land, among which there are a number of Japanese books. The so-called "Japanese book" is a reference book for ordinary people to choose the date when they are engaged in weddings, funerals and groundbreaking activities. The ancients thought that something was auspicious at a certain time, but at other times.
In this batch of Japanese books, the twelve zodiac animals that are inconsistent with Lun Heng are completely mentioned.
The twelve zodiac signs mentioned in the Qin bamboo slips of Sleeping Tiger Land: Zi, Ugly, Yin and Mao correspond to mouse, ox, tiger and rabbit respectively, which is consistent with today; The animal corresponding to Chen is unloaded; Corresponding to "worm", ancient philologists interpreted it as snake; Noon corresponds to deer, not to horse, which is different from today;
Shen corresponds to "ring", some ancient philologists think it is a monkey, unitary corresponds to "water", and some ancient philologists think it is a chicken, but there are still different views on the interpretation of the two; The corresponding is "old sheep", which is different from today; Hai corresponds to pigs, which is consistent with today.
Scholars have done a lot of argumentation and speculation on the origin of the zodiac, and there is no conclusion so far. Some people hold the "foreign theory", while others hold the "native theory". With the appearance of a number of bamboo slips such as Sleeping Tiger Bamboo Slips, the "nativism" seems to be more convincing.
About the origin of the zodiac, some people say it is related to the twelve stars in the sky, others say it is related to the animal worship of the ancients, and there are different opinions.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Zodiac
People's Daily Online-When did the China Zodiac originate?