Shan Huang Fu Picture · Volume III : “Green Dragon, White Tiger, Red Raven, and Black Tortoise are the four gods in heaven, whose functions are to regularize the four directions of north, south, west and east”, and here they are employed to safeguard the burial chamber. On Judgment · Book of Releasing : “In a house there are 12 main gods and the Black Dragon and the White Tiger are listed in it. The dragon and tiger are valiant gods and are the main ghosts in heaven. How can fierce flying and drifting corpses gather impetuously? Especially when the owner is valiant and brave, the wicked dare not spy.” Above the Black Dragon, fishes are inscribed, in front of which a driver is driving a covered wagon under heaven. In this drawing, “fish” and “great storehouse” are inscribed simultaneously, which indicates that the grave owner hoped to accumulate a generous amount of riches.
The White Tiger bares fangs and brandishes claws and acts as if to rush at a meal. The History of the Later Han Dynasty · Comity · Volume Two: “The tiger is drawn inside the house to eat ghosts”. Common Argumentation of Customs also says: “The tiger is the king of the beasts. It can catch gains, defeat the hasty, and bite ghosts… So it is employed to keep out the ghosts”. A dragon and a tiger are respectively inscribed on the left and right sides of this coffin, which means “Left Dragon and Right Tiger are used to ward off evil”. Of course, the objective is to lay a ghost to rest and to keep out evil to bless the dead. |
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