Chinese Cosmology & Mythology




Surrealist style drawing is copyright D. Carlton Rossi 2006.


1.Chinese View of the Constellations

Aquila

** Aquila Constellation: Chinese text around 500 B.C. identifies pattern of Aquila with the draught ox.

In Chinese myth, the herdsman Ch'ien Niu (the star Altair) is separated from his lover Chih Nu (the star Vega) by the Sun King or T'ien-tsin for their neglect of their duties. They are separated by the river (Milky Way). The princess is sorrowful and asks help of the birds (Aquila and Cygnus "swan"). In Chinese tradition, the magpies form a bridge with their wings over the river. It is also said that the magpies may have built the bridge out of small twigs they carried. The lovers are able to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. A third star or Deneb represents the "tai bai" fairy or the chaperone of the two lovers. The cowherd carries their two sons (the two stars on either side of Altair or Alshain and Tarazed) to reunite with their mother.

The Lovers Chih Nu and Ch'ien Niu


"Brilliant show the Draught Oxen, but they do not serve to draw our carts". The three bright stars were their Cowherd from whom the Magpie's Bridge gives access to the Spinning Damsel (Lyra) across the River of the Sky; the Milky Way. [SLM p.58].


古詩十九首 GUSHI SHIJIU SHOU (Nineteen Old Poems)


之十 ZHI SHI (no.10)

迢迢 颗P牵ę訚h女。

纖纖擢素手,札札弄機杼。

終日不成章,泣涕零如雨。

河漢清且淺,相去復几許。

盈盈一水間,脈脈不得語。



Poem #10:

Far away twinkles the Herd-boy star;
Brightly shines the Lady of the Han River.
Slender, slender she plies her white fingers;
Click, click goes the shuttle of her loom.

At the end of the day she has not finished her task;
Her bitter tears fall like streaming rain.
The Han River runs shallow and clear;
Set between them, how short a space!
But the river water will not let them pass,
Gazing at each other but never able to speak.



古詩十九首 GUSHI SHIJIU SHOU (Nineteen Old Poems)之十 ZHI SHI (no.10) SHI (no.10)

From 詩集 Shi Jing (Shih-ching), Book II,5.(203) ("The Book of Songs" ed. Waley,A.,1937.L.21954) hymns of the Zhou Dynasty, sixth to the third centuries B.C.E
http://www.advancedpoetx.com/ZHINUWEB/zh2005poetry.html



2.The Pleiades

The Pleiades marked the beginning of the rainy season. They could be found in the heart of the Chinese Dragon constellation.

"On the Frontier" by Li He.

In the still of autumn see the Pleiades.
Far out on the sands, danger in the furze.
North of their tents is surely the sky's end
Where the sound of the river streams beyond the border.

The mao2 tou2 refers to yak-tail, and also to a kind of ancient flag, decorated with yak tail at the top. However, mao2 tou2 (mao head) actually referred to the Pleiades. The modern Chinese name is mao3. As Graham points out, the flickering of the Pleiades was an omen of invasion by the northern barbarians.

http://www.cjvlang.com/Pfloyd/liho3.html





3. ** Confucius was born on the 20th day after the eclipse of the sun which took place in the 10th month of 552 B.C., or the 27th of the 8th moon as worked out to-day.
(for the year 2005 this means September 30 and for year 2006 it means Oct. 18)


8th month Osmanthumens (osmanthus month) 宩寧: osmanthus blossoms.

Ancient China Simplified, Edward Harper Parker, Chapter V, Evidence of Eclipses.
Confucius' birthday Confucius himself records thirty-seven eclipses of the sun between 720 and 481, those of 709, 601, and 549 being total. Of course, Confucius primarily recorded the eclipses as seen from his own vassal state of Lu in Shan Tung province (lat. 35” 40’ N., long, 117” E.).

Ancient China Simplified
Edward Harper Parker
http://www.authorama.com/ancient-china-simplified-6.html



4. Confucius Star

The architecture of the Temple of Confucius resembles that of the Forbidden City in many ways....
The first (southernmost) gate is named "Lingxing Gate" after a star in the Great Bear constellation, the name suggests that Confucius is a star from heaven.

Qufu


5. Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star. (Confucius)


6. He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it. (Confucius, Analects)


7. "In about 12,000 years, the brightest star of the Constellation Lyre will become the North Star. A slight wobble in Earth's daily rotation causes our north pole to trace a circle among the stars every 26,000 years. This motion is called precession and it causes the pole to point at different stars over this 26,000 year period."



8. "The Polar Star is the Centre of Heaven. Shang-te's
throne is in Tsze-wei,that is, the Polar Star. Immediately over the central peak of Kwen-lun appears the Polar star, which is Shang-te's heavenly abode. In the central place the Polar star of Heaven, the one Bright One, the Great Monad, always dwells.

The Polar Star in Chinese Mythology


9. Starry Skies, Constellation Lyre
http://starryskies.com/articles/2004/07/lyra.html

The parallelogram shaped Lyre may be seen in the map of the early autumn skies where it is positioned at a higher latitude, but between a line running through the Constellation Hercules and Aquila.

The Constellation Lyre

North Circumpolar Stars which include Hercules and Lyre



10. About 350 B.C., Shih Shen compiled a list of stars containing 122 constellations and 809 stars


11. In 352 B.C. Chinese observers report a supernova--the earliest recorded sighting.
This sighting may have inspired Shih Shen to create his star map.


12. The Early Chinese Constellations
Star Lab Planetarium

Refer to the The Chinese write the Book of Silk, which is the earliest known atlas of comets. The book is discovered in a tomb in 1973.


13. THE WOLF STAR -- SIRIUS

A. SIRIUS

The Chinese called Sirius by the name of 天狼星 (tiān láng xīng; tenrōsei) or literally the heavenly wolf star. They knew this place as the bridge between heaven and hell, the bridge of the gatherer, the judge. In the higher mind are gathered the results of the experiences of the personality. Between each life, the soul judges its past progress and the conditions needed to aid its future growth. As long as it is attached to desire, sensation, and needs experiences, it takes a body. The soul cannot pass over the "bridge" until it is perfected.

天狼星 is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. It appears as a white star about 10 times brighter than our sun. It was described by Sima Qian in the Shih Chi-day Official Book written around 100 B.C. as "White than wolf".

Sirius Color of Ancient Chinese Records
written by Jiang Xiao Yuan, 1992

Sirius -- The Heavenly Wolf Star


B. SIRIUS AND THE PLANET VENUS

In the Soochow Astronomical Chart, an eight-centuries-old inscription in stone, in a section that deals with past irregularities in the heavens, there is the following statement: “Once T’ai-P’ai (Venus) suddenly ran into Lang Hsing (Wolf Star, Sirius), though it is more than 40 degrees south of the Yellow Road.”6 The Yellow Road is the ecliptic.7 The same ancient tradition was referred to by the early eighth-century A.D. Chinese astronomer Y-hang. As told by Gaubil,8 Y-hang wrote that “in the time of Tsin one saw the star Sirius eclipsed by the planet Venus. Y-hang, after having reported this alleged observation, assures that Sirius has 40 degrees south latitude, and that therefore Heaven changed the course of this planet in the time of Tsin.

As the Chinese astronomer correctly observed, the ancient records of Venus' movements cited by him would require the planet to travel outside of the ecliptic, on an orbit quite different from its present course. Whereas the Soochow Astronomical Chart might leave the impression of a one-time event, the more detailed records cited by Y-hang tell of a regular phenomenon. The brightest of the planets approaching the brightest of the fixed stars and merging its light with the heavenly wolf star, if that is the correct interpretation of the texts, must have been an impressive sight.

Venus and Sirius
Ancient Cosmologies, Jan Sammer


The ancient Chinese regarded the planet Venus as a male warrior, so Venus' occultation of Sirius would herald a time of strife. Venus is ten times brighter than any star and Sirius is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. They must have been quite a brilliant pair as Venus approached Sirius.


C. SIRIUS B -- A WHITE DWARF STAR

A main-sequence star with this mass would have emitted a few times more light than Regulus in Leo, which a 2005 study found has 3.4 solar masses. If Sirius B shone so brightly today, it would look brighter than Venus or bright enough to cast shadows.

The Life and Times of Sirius B
Ken Croswell, July 27, 2005

Sirius B shone as a main-sequence star and then a red giant for 101 to 126 million years or the expected lifetime of a star born with about 5 solar masses.

Every 49.9 years, Sirius A and B, come as close together as their orbits allow, creating huge magnetic storms between them. As they approach each other, the stars both begin to spin faster as tidal forces become stronger, finally flip-flopping over, actually trading places with each other.

每隔49.9 年,天狼星 A 和B, 在它们的轨道允许的情况下尽可能亲密接触, 从而在它们之间造成巨大的磁性风暴。当它们互相接近时,随着潮汐力量的加强,两颗星星的转速不断加快, 最后突然翻转, 实际上相互交换位置。   中国人把Sirius 命名为天狼星。他们把这个地方作为天堂和地狱之间的桥梁, 召集人和法官之间的桥梁。在较高级的头脑里,汇集了个人的经验的结晶。在每一个生命之间, 灵魂会判断有助于他未来成长的过去的进步及境况。只要它和欲望, 灵感相结合并且需要体验, 就会形成肉体。一个人的灵魂无法通过这座"桥梁" ,除非他的灵魂达到了完善的程度。   天狼星是北半球最明亮的星。它看起来是一个白色的星球,大约比我们的太阳亮10倍。大约在公元前100年,司马迁在《史记•天宫书》中描述它“白比狼” 。

14. The Ancient Chinese View of Eclipses

To the ancient Chinese, solar eclipses meant that dragons were devouring the sun.

Observing total solar eclipses was a major element of forecasting the future health and successes of the Emperor, and astrologers were left with the onerous task of trying to anticipate when these events might occur. Failure to get the prediction right since the pattern of total solar eclipses is erratic in any specific geographic location resulted in the beheading in 2300 B.C of two astrologers.

Ancient Chinese Solar Eclipses




15. Mawangdui or Horse King Hill Texts (Book of Silk)
Other cultures have not been so optimistic. The Chinese, known for their meticulous observations, have left such fabulous relics as the Mawangdui silk, a textbook of 29 different cometary forms and the various disasters associated with them.




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