Big Dipper and spells

We have introduced many stories about the Big Dipper, and we also know that the Big Dipper is actually very practical in guiding the seasons and directions, so it has received high attention in all countries in the world, and even regarded as gods, but the Big Dipper is actually These are not the only uses!

I don’t know if you have seen the spells used by Taoist priests. It’s just yellow-yellow or red-red strips of paper, with strange words or patterns on them, usually written in red or black ink, and sometimes stamped with seals. And so on, and then after reciting the spell, you will burn it, or give you a discount for you to take home, put it under the bed or wear it on your body, but there is a very prominent feature, that is, there are often seven circles in the spell. The dots are connected by lines.

At first glance, you may think that this jagged connection is just a decorative pattern, but if you look closely, the seven dots are actually drawn in a fixed way. Although each spell is drawn differently, there are certain rules. .

In fact, if you stretch out the seven dots, you will see the pattern of the Big Dipper.

Yes, those seven dots represent the Big Dipper.

Actually! Almost all primitive tribes around the world use graphics or skeletons of insects and beasts as symbols, and then use spells to communicate with the supernatural or spiritual world, and use them as spells to predict good or bad or control certain things. Simplified, it gradually became presented in hieroglyphs, and became spells that only use words. For example, there are curses written in hieroglyphs in the pyramids, and in China, the last is the long-shaped spells we see.

Basically, this kind of talisman is used by Taoist priests. For example, the Taoist classic "Tai Shang Lao Jun Said the Magical Sutra of Yi Shun Shen Fu" has an explanation. The so-called talisman was originally used by the emperor to give orders. If you want to order your subordinates to do something, in addition to the content of the order, there will be an additional authentication procedure, which may be a secret code or an agreed pattern, so that the official or general who receives the order will know the truth. It was the emperor's order, not a fraud.

Therefore, in addition to commands, these symbols must also have anti-counterfeiting designs.

We also know that the starry sky in China is also called Tiangongtu, which is to turn the sky into a government agency located in the sky. The Jade Emperor sits on the North Star, and when the Jade Emperor wants to order other star officials to do things, they will issue a talisman.

Therefore, when Taoist priests or mages want to issue orders under the guise of the Jade Emperor, they will use these spells, and therefore the word "edict" will be written on them, which means that Taoist priests are now ordering these gods to do things, because they are at this time. Under the guise of the Jade Emperor, these official documents were issued from the heavens.

This sounds quite powerful, and you can actually order these gods to do things for you under the guise of the Jade Emperor!

With the talisman, there is also a spell with the content of the command. As long as the talisman is used, these star officials in the sky can be mobilized to help you do things. You can write the words in the sky, and what you write at this time becomes a magic talisman, which can be used to deal with demons and ghosts.

Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor was able to defeat Chiyou only because of Jiutian Xuannv who taught the magic rune!

So what role does the Big Dipper play here? Because the Big Dipper itself is the carriage of the Emperor of Heaven, it also has the meaning of conveying messages. Many spells will have the last sentence written "urgent as the law", and the mouth may read "I am sending this order now, quickly listen to the order. Hurry up." Sentences like the Nine Heavens Law." Simply put, it is to urge those gods to move faster, because those are the most urgent tasks sent by the emperor's carriage!

But is it really good to spread the decree like this? If the temple is full of incense, these gods will be very busy! In short, the gods of Taoism can be ordered by humans, which is quite interesting to say.

By the way, the origins on some spells are not seven, but five, which are connected in a zigzag shape. This represents the five thunders, which is the five thunders of the idiom "five thunders hit the top". The meaning is the same, that is, the action must be fast, like thunder It means the same speed, but at this time it has nothing to do with the stars, because the five thunders correspond to the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Another very interesting thing is Ziwei Doushu, which is completely a fortune-telling method based on the astrological chart, and the name already tells us that it is called "doushu".

Ziwei Doushu's Dou refers to Nandou and Beidou, who are in charge of life and death, especially everyone is afraid of encountering bad things, so Beidou Qixing is particularly valued.

It should be noted that in the Tiangong map, the Big Dipper refers to the names of star officials, namely "Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang", but in Taoism developed In Ziwei Doushu, the names used are "Greeding Wolf, Jumen, Lucun, Wenqu, Lianzhen, Wuqu, Pojun", but the name of this version is said to come from Buddhism, which is the Buddhist concept of Beidou. The name of the seven stars shows that Buddhism and Taoism are mixed here.

Ziwei Doushu will be arranged according to the year of birth, in the way of the zodiac, to observe which star belongs to the Southern Dipper or the Big Dipper, to identify the situation of life, it is a bit like using the zodiac constellation, plus the rising Calculating life with descending, planetary movement, etc. In short, everyone thinks that the stars are very related to people's life, so they care about the position of the stars in the sky.

Interestingly, Buddhism also has the habit of worshipping the Big Dipper! Because even in Hinduism, the Big Dipper is also a star related to death, so people who are afraid of death will especially want to worship the Big Dipper to avoid being cursed, so the Buddhist version from Hinduism also continues this tradition. Legend has it that a Brahmin monk went to Tang to teach this sutra, which is also known as the "Buddha Said the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sutra of Extending Life". In this Buddhist sutra, the seven stars of the Big Dipper correspond to seven different Tathagata Buddhas, which are called the Seven Star Buddhas. It is written that "everything big or small belongs to the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper", so as long as you worship these seven stars, that is, the seven Tathagata Buddhas, and then recite this sutra every day, you can protect your wealth, longevity, and family safety. There is no disaster, and after death, you can go directly to the Western Paradise, without going to hell, which is really super powerful.

Of course, we all know now that the positions of the stars are always changing, so these fortune-telling methods are actually just an interesting imagination, but on the other hand, this is also a proof of the infinite human imagination, which is actually very interesting! I don’t know if you look at the sky at night, do you also feel that God is talking to you?

It is not surprising that the story of the Big Dipper will basically appear in the Middle East, because it is the birthplace of human civilization, but the difference between the views of the Aryans and the Semites is not small, at least the west of the Arabian Peninsula did not place the Big Dipper. It is very common to see the Big Dipper as a pig in the east of India.

However, it is very interesting to regard the seven stars as the seven Tathagata Buddhas. You can search for the "Buddha Said the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sutra". The complex version includes a whole ceremony, even the Guanyin Bodhisattva and the like have to be found. It is quite fun to say. .

And the source of this sutra is a Brahmin monk, not a Buddhist monk! But there are many people who are skeptical, because Buddhism was introduced in the Han Empire, and then competed with the Taoist system for the emperor's influence, which often became the fuse of coups and wars between countries. As a result, teachings and gods also mixed and copied each other. In the end, it was a little difficult to clarify. This also caused the problem of mutual cut-and-paste between Buddhist scriptures and Taoism written in China. In addition, in order to cater to the emperor, the integration with Confucian views was very obvious. If you want to compare the original teachings , may have to go to an older era to find.

In particular, Buddhism may have to look for the pure Indian original version to see it more clearly, especially for this kind of content involving constellation stories, but it also adds more research fun.

Although Xuanzang introduced a batch of new translations of Buddhist scriptures during the Tang Empire (he went to get the scriptures because the original translations were too bad), this state of killing and mixing has not improved, especially in Chinese astronomy. In the service of the emperor, many parts are faked, especially after the divination involves the unfavorable part of the emperor, and many times even fabricated astrology that does not exist, so some new scriptures have even been written by the ancients until recent years. , in order to tell the present, so some legend sources need to compare more texts to know the age of production.