The nirvana of Phoenix Society was nearly 100 years ago.
Phoenix is actually an old bird. According to the time when Shan Hai Jing was written, it is at least 2400 years old. In Shan Hai Jing, the phoenix appeared 12 times, which shows its importance. It is the king of birds, the god of dance, the god of good fortune, and the embodiment of Confucian benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and faith. Later, the phoenix bird's ability expanded to "learn from all things, understand heaven and earth, like all things", and its virtue improved to "prepare for civil and military affairs and govern the country", and finally it became the only auspicious beast in the sequence of ancient beasts in China, standing on a par with the dragon and standing on the top of theocracy.
Nevertheless, before 1920, Phoenix was a 28-year-old international student from China, and would not be reborn or reborn. During his study in Japan, this romantic young man whimsically linked the Phoenix, the supreme bird in ancient China, with the "Phoenix" in western mythology, compiled a story of "Phoenix Nirvana" and wrote a long poem with the same theme. Because the images of the two are well combined and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, this "new stalk" has become a new "allusion".
This change is not accidental, but comes from the youth's sensitivity to the times. 1920 China was in troubled times. Thousands of years of feudal system was destroyed, the kingship was overthrown, the myth of the real dragon was shattered, and the phoenix culture that followed fell from the top of power. Royal no longer, everyone can be a dragon and a phoenix. Young people studying abroad are keenly aware of the great changes in this era, and take western culture as a boat to regenerate the phoenix soul of ancient China in the new era.
The young man's name is Guo Kaizhen and his pen name is Mo Ruo. And that amazing long poem, together with Goddess of Assembly, became the pioneering work of China's new poetry.
A god bird transformed by the wind
Phoenix, written as "Phoenix Emperor" in its early years, comes from the combination of the male and female names of this divine bird. The phoenix bird is male and the emperor bird is female. Phoenix was first seen in Shan Hai Jing. Nan Shan Jing says that the Phoenix comes from Dan Snow Mountain, so it is also called "Feng Dan". Generally, it is a kind of lucky bird with five-color lines. When you see it, the world is peaceful. According to China linguist Zhu, the former head of the Chinese Department of Chengdu University, the image of the Phoenix has gradually evolved from a god bird in ancient mythology to an "ideal" incarnation, which has undergone complex historical changes.
Academics believe that the original god of Phoenix is Fengshen. "Feng" and "Feng" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Ruins are the same word. The ancestors worshipped the natural forces and mythologized them, making the wind look like a phoenix. Zhu said that in the era of word-making, there was no such bird as phoenix. "In people's minds, the phoenix is actually the quasi-materialization of the image of Fengshen, so the words created are both the name of the phoenix as Fengshen and the name of the wind excited by Fengshen."
Henry Hui Wang, a professor in the history department of Shaanxi Normal University, also believes that "wind" and "phoenix" are of the same origin, and the phoenix is a cognitive result of ancestors on migratory birds. In the Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there are four fengshen (namely, four monsoon) in the southeast and northwest. As the embodiment of Fengshen, Phoenix Bird is the messenger of the Emperor of Heaven, which appears with the change of monsoon and predicts the season. According to Henry Hui Wang's research, the prototype of Phoenix is not a bird, "because it is a migratory bird with the ability to distinguish migration time", so in the pre-Qin period, the image of Phoenix also changed with different dynasties and tribal countries. For example, the red phoenix revered by the Zhou Dynasty is red in color, also known as "fire essence". During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the tribes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River also worshipped phoenix birds, which were "black birds" (big black birds) and were recorded in Chu Ci.
After the Qin dynasty unified all countries, military economy and culture began to blend into one, and the image of Phoenix gradually became a bird of five virtues. This is the first great change in the image of the phoenix: it has evolved from a migratory bird that tells the time to an omnipotent and all-saints bird. "Phoenix" came into being. It symbolizes the end of the era of tribal princes and the formation of a unified ideological and cultural situation. "At this time, the phoenix has completely changed from the primitive nature worship to the symbol of kingship virtue.
Royal family and feminization
In the pre-Qin period, Phoenix, a symbol of good weather, was endowed with the highest and most beautiful image, and with the status of Emperor Tian, it later evolved into the embodiment of virtue and the hope of saving the world. There are two records in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals that when an official is virtuous, a phoenix bird will come to earth. It can also be said that saints can make the phoenix come to the instrument and make the world peaceful.
From the Han Dynasty, things related to the emperor began to be called "Phoenix", the official residence before the emperor's succession was called "Phoenix House", the ritual ceremony of the emperor was called "Phoenix Cover", and the royal garden was also called "Phoenix Garden". But at this time, Phoenix has not been completely monopolized by imperial power, and talents can also be compared to "Phoenix", because "the virtue of phoenix birds and the virtue of gentlemen have psychological potential overlap." In the Analects of Confucius, people with virtue are called phoenix, which means "Phoenix is like phoenix, and virtue declines". Pang Tong, a strategist in the Three Kingdoms period, was called "Mr. Feng Chu" because he ruled the country by virtue. Li Shangyin, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, compared his son's superiority to his father with "Little Phoenix is brighter than Old Phoenix".
Some studies believe that because of the monopoly of imperial power on dragons and phoenixes, the direction of phoenixes is gradually biased towards women. Before the Tang Dynasty, there was not much difference in the use of dragons and phoenixes in the royal family. Among them, Empress Wu Zetian especially loves Phoenix, and often compares herself with "Phoenix", changing Zhongshu Province to Fengge and Xiamen Province to Luantai, which promotes the feminine application of Phoenix. After the Song Dynasty, the dragon became the emperor's exclusive, while the phoenix gradually became the queen's decoration. After the Yuan Dynasty, the dragon and phoenix system was fixed, which made the dragon pattern completely surpass the phoenix and made the phoenix a subsidiary of the emperor (male power). After the Ming Dynasty, all married women of grade nine or above could adopt "crested phoenix", and then folk women could wear "crested phoenix summer clothes" when they got married. In this way, the phoenix has become the symbol of theocracy closest to the people.
Wanli in Ming Dynasty, jade inlaid with pearls, golden dragon and phoenix crown. (Collection of Beijing Palace Museum)
Qing Dynasty, Yunnan CuiFeng Huangwen Touhua. (Collection of Beijing Palace Museum)
Phoenix is one of the favorite decorative patterns of ancient women, which not only symbolizes auspiciousness, but also implies harmony between Yin and Yang and conjugal love. Feng Chai is often used to refer to women in poetry. Phoenix is also commonly used in women's names. One of the most famous examples is Wang Xifeng, the only phoenix bird in A Dream of Red Mansions. This complex and capable woman is not only a symbol of the glory of the second government of Rongning, but also a harbinger of its decline. Her assertion: "All birds (disassembled from the traditional word" catfish ") come from the last days, and they all know that they love their talents in this life." Obviously, the general trend, no matter how high her status and ability are, is just the dust of the times.
As a result, the end of every bird really came. 12 February 12 February, the last emperor Xuan Tong abdicated, ending China's more than 5,000 years of monarchy. The royal ceremony suddenly disappeared from the historical stage. 17 February this year is Lunar New Year's Eve, as Guo Moruo described in his poem: the air near New Year's Eve/a pair of phoenixes flying around/singing a sad song ... phoenixes are tired of flying/phoenixes are tired of flying/their death is approaching.
Shoushan stone, dragon and phoenix, Swiss beast, New Zealand, "the treasure of Empress Dowager Cixi". Beijing Palace Museum)
Phoenix reborn from the fire
Although Phoenix has a long history and complex cultural connotation, its rebirth only acquired new skills in modern times. 1986, the painter Huang Yongyu prepared a national gift for his trip to Hiroshima, Japan: the traditional Chinese painting "Phoenix Nirvana". When he looked up relevant information, he found that he had searched all the reference rooms and visited every temple in Beijing. "There is no shadow about these four words in the material." I have no choice but to call Qian Zhongshu for advice. Qian Zhongshu answered him. This idiom has no basis. "It is the title of a poem compiled by Guo Moruo 192 1."
1986, Huang Yongyu presented the Chinese painting "phoenix nirvana" to Hiroshima.
Phoenix is a fairy bird in western mythology. It is the top beast in Harry Potter and can devour Voldemort's death curse, so President Dumbledore named this organization against Voldemort the Order of the Phoenix. But the Chinese word "Phoenix" is not a proper translation, because it and Phoenix are two completely different birds.
The magical animal "Phoenix" in Harry Potter. Painting/Jim Key
Phoenix originated in ancient Egypt. It is said that people who live in the desert will burn themselves to the woodpile after hundreds of years of existence, and then be reborn from the ashes. Also known as fairy bird or longevity bird, the image is close to that of eagle. In western religious culture, the immortal bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and spiritual eternity. It is completely different from the auspicious image of "Phoenix" in China traditional culture, and has nothing to do with the Buddhist "Nirvana" (meaning liberation, a state of immortality).
Phoenix Relief in Coptic Belief in Egypt. (Archaeological Museum, University of Amsterdam)
However, Guo Moruo, who is well-read and memorized, intuitively links Phoenix with Phoenix and Nirvana in his blog. On the third day after he wrote Zong Baihua's letter, he wrote a long poem in vernacular Chinese with the idea of saying goodbye to the old-fashioned poems in the past, abandoning the traditional writing techniques and trying to get rid of the "new life". The image of long poems chooses the phoenix with rebirth skills. After all, he doesn't write English poems, so Guo Moruo "intuitively" chose Phoenix, a Chinese bird with the same status as Phoenix.
The title of this poem is "Phoenix Nirvana" and the subtitle is "Phoenix Body (Phoenix Comedy)". The whole poem describes the whole process of phoenix and phoenix's death, being watched and rebirth.
"It's getting dark,
The incense wood has burned,
Phoenix is tired of pecking,
I'm tired of fanning the flames,
Their time of death is not far away!
Ah ah!
Mourn for the phoenix!
Phoenix dance, low!
Singing, tragic!
Phoenix dances,
Burning and singing,
A flock of birds,
Flying in from outer space to see the funeral. "
Guo Moruo made it clear in the preface that Phoenix is the Phoenix of China. Since then, Phoenix has become the standard Chinese translation of Phoenix.
192065438+1October 26th, six days after the writing of "phoenix nirvana", Guo Moruo wrote to Zong Baihua again, saying that he had purged his past. "Now that I have lost a practice, I want to live in a bright world ..."
The Phoenix Nirvana, written by Guo Moruo for the rebirth of personal thoughts, is regarded as the true spirit of the times by Wen Yiduo. What he really understands is the essence of material annihilation represented by the phoenix, not the immortality of the soul. "The 20th century is a world of death, but this kind of death is a kind of death that is predicted to be reborn. This is China in the 20th century, especially at the end of the 20th century. "
At the same time, Wen Yiduo also saw that Guo Jun was too Europeanized. He saw Guo Jun clamoring for destruction, resistance and creation. However, the root of his poetry is the spirit of the west. Even if there are allusions to China, it is also a westernized China. "The Lao Tzu he loves is probably just the Lao Tzu that Tolstoy loves." The Phoenix he wrote is the Phoenix in the west, "not the Phoenix in China".
But at this time, Guo Jun's "Bathing Fire Phoenix" has been integrated into the spark of the new culture movement.
Some reference materials:
Guo Moruo's collection of letters
"Spirit of the Times" and "Native Land", Wen Yiduo.
Zhu, Interpretation of "Phoenix" from Shuo Wen Jie Zi
The background of multiple dislocation phoenix nirvana, Shu Jianjun.
On the prototype, implication and evolution of the worship of Zhu Bird and Dan Feng in Zhou Culture.