Birds and Beasts
(禽獸)
Chinese naturalists make five grand divisions of animated nature, the feathered, hairy, naked, shelly and scaly animals; at the head of the feathered race they class the fènghuáng (鳳凰), or Phoenix; among hairy animals, the qílín (戲麟), or Unicorn, stands pre-eminent; man is the chief of all naked animals; while the Tortoise and the Dragon rate respectively as leaders of the shelly and scaly tribes. The six domestic animals of China (六畜) are the Horse, Ox, Goat, Pig, Dog, and Fowl, and these, with the exception of the Horse, constitute the five sacrificial beasts (五性). Each of the TWELVE TERRESTRIAL BRANCHES (q. v.) has its corresponding animal or bird.
About three or four thousand years ago China is said to have been suddenly invaded by numbers of wild beasts, and the Yellow Emperor (
The skins of many animals are converted into wearing apparel for the winter. The lower orders use those of sheep, cats, dogs, goats, squirrels, and even rats and mice. The expensive fur dresses of the higher orders descend from father to son, and sometimes form no inconsiderable portion of the family inheritance. It is the custom for both rich and poor to pawn their furs in the summer, as they are well looked after in the pawnshops, which are generally strong, substantial buildings immune from the attacks of thieves, and, moreover, the better kinds are properly licensed by the government. The civil and military official grades were formerly distinguished by the insignia of different birds and animals embroidered upon the bûzî (補子) or badges on the back and front of the robes worn on ceremonial occasions.
“Chinese proverb-makers have not overlooked the many apt illustrations of human life and conduct which are to be gathered from the habits and instincts of the animated beings around them; and some of their comparisons are strikingly characteristic of the modes of thinking so prominent in the popular mind. Thus, for example, the practice of filial duty is enforced by a reference to the lamb and kid:‘Look’, say they, ‘at the lamb; it always kneels when it is suckled by the dam’.”20
Many creatures are supposed to have the power of changing their shape, and of coming and going in a mysterious way. Some are said to have been once men, and will, after many years, be permitted to regain, permanently, their human form. If they come in contact with mankind, sickness and death will result to the latter. It is therefore considered necessary to propitiate them with shrines and offerings in the countryside. The denizens of the zoological kingdom have a share in the communistic theory of Buddhism; the stories of past existence in animal form is said to form the basis of Aesop’s fables, and the animals are said to have wept bitterly on the death of their master and protector. To liberate a captured animal or bird is regarded by the Buddhists as a good deed that will not be unrewarded in the next world.
Birds and animals figure largely in Chinese symbolism, and many representations of them are to be seen in pictures, on chinaware, in bronze or stone, and as architectural reliefs etc. (Vide separate notices on individual species, and also the Author’s Chinese Metaphorical Zoology, Journal, N. C. B. Royal Asiatic Society, 1919, p. 26.)
Birth
(生子)
The birth of a child, particularly a son, is regarded by the Chinese as a highly fortunate event (喜事), on which great importance is placed owing to the necessity for the continuity of the worship of the family ancestors, which is the underlying principle of the system of Chinese ethics (vide ANCESTRAL WORSHIP). The youthful scion of the race is therefore regarded as the apple of the eye, and protected by all manner of talismans and safeguards against the spirits of evil everywhere said to be intent on encompassing the death of unsuspecting infants (vide CHARMS).
In early ages it was the custom to announce the birth of a son by hanging a bow at the door; and the emblem of male supremacy, a valuable malachite ornament (障), like a marshal’s bâton, was given to him to play with. The arrival of a daughter into this vale of tears was regarded as of secondary importance, and a curved tile, used as a weight for the spindle, and constituting the emblem of the female, was considered suitable as a plaything in her case. It is probable that these emblems are connected with an ancient form of phallic worship, which forms the basis of so many religions.
On the hundredth day after the birth of a male infant, a tray containing various small articles of apparel, toilet, etc., used by males and females, is placed before him, and, whatever article the child grasps is considered to indicate his character in after life.
The following customs connected with the birth of children are prevalent in Foochow. When a family has a daughter married since the fifteenth day of the previous year, who has not yet given birth to a male infant, a present of several articles is sent to her by her relatives on a lucky day between the fifth and fourteenth of the first month. The articles sent are as follows: a paper lantern bearing a picture of the Goddess of Mercy, KUAN YIN (q. v.), with a child in her arms, and the inscription,“May Kuan Yin present you with a son” (觀音送子), oysters in an earthenware vessel; rice-cakes; oranges; and garlic. The oysters (螺), having the same sound, dì, in the local dialect, as “younger brother” (佛) signify “May a younger brother come.” The earthen vessel xiāo (碑), stands for “to come” in the patois. The cakes, gāo (糕), represent “elder brother” (哥), and imply “May you have more than one son.”The oranges, jú (佶), stand for the word “speedily” (急); and the garlic, suàngēn (蒜根), for “grandchildren and children” (孫兒). In the second year, if there are still no children in spite of all these auspicious arrangements, a lantern is presented bearing a device and the inscription,“The child seated in the tub” (孩兒坐盆), a reference to the wooden tub which generally receives the Chinese baby at the time of birth. In the third year an orange-shaped lantern (梧燈) is sent. An offering of sugar-cane, which is long and in many sections (節節高), signifies “many elder brothers” (as many as the sections); flowers of the rape (油菜花), having “many seeds” (多子) imply “many sons”; beancurd, dòufû (豆腐), has the same sound as “sure to have” in the local parlance, and infers that a son is certain to arrive eventually. From such origins many of the common Chinese emblems are derived. A piece of porcelain, scroll, or silk bed-spread, decorated in various colours with the pleasing design of the hundred infants (百子圖), will also express the hope for the blessing of numerous offspring, and at the same time there is an allusion to the golden age of Yao and Shun, when the people of China lived in such prosperity that scholars, farmers, and merchants alike felt as light-hearted as little children. There are actually only 99 children in the design, in reference to Wén Wáng (文王), Duke of Zhōu, 1231–1135 B.C., who had 99 children of his own, and adopted one more, whom he found in a field after a thunderstorm.
Bodhi Tree
(菩提樹)
The Bôdhi or Bo Tree, Sanskrit, Bôdhidruma, the Tree of Intelligence, was a pippala or peepaul-tree (Ficus religiosa, Willd.), and is so called because under it SHÂKYAMUNI BUDDHA (q. v.), the Indian prince, seeking to be emancipated from the sorrows and agonies of life and the evanescence of worldly pleasures, first attached Bôdhi (Enlightenment). Shâkyamuni spent a penance of seven years under its shade before he became a Buddha. Hence it is also known as the Tree of Meditation (思惟樹). The original tree grew near Gaya in Bengal, and “a slip of it was taken and planted in the sacred city of Amarapoora in Burmah, 288 B.C. This is said to be still in existence.”21
As the founder of Buddhism sat and and reflected under the spreading boughs, “peace came to his mind with the conviction that man is tormented by greed for gain or by sorrow for loss simply because he is held captive within the narrow limits of self-interest, and that beyond this captivity stretches out a vast expanse of