Jade, in the eyes of westerners, is just a beautiful stone, however, here in China, it has a special unusual meaning. It has infiltrated into the blood of this nation, condensed a civilization, and formed a cultural accumulation with the passage of time.
"The beauty of stone is jade", this is xu shen in "shuo wen jie zi" for jade do solution. Jade, indeed beautiful. Natural beauty stone condensation of the essence of heaven and earth, infiltration of a kind of moist light, let mold in the numerous stones stand out. Its beauty is recognized not only by the Chinese, but also by other nations in the world.
There are many countries producing jade in the world, such as the United States, Canada and Russia. The mayan civilization, which lasted for four thousand years, produced jade in a way that was not inferior to that of its Chinese counterpart, no matter in terms of modeling or manufacturing techniques. But no matter how advanced the technology, jade, in their eyes, is just a beautiful stone, and its jade tradition marks the end of the mayan civilization.
However, in Chinese eyes, jade is not only beautiful, but also has a special and unusual meaning.
The artifact of communication between heaven and earth
In prehistoric times, beautiful and hard jade was a tool to communicate with the sky. At that time, people could not explain the land they lived on with their own thoughts. They regarded the ruling dao as the decree of heaven, and these beautiful, rare, precious and even harder natural jade than ordinary metal tools were regarded as the gift of god to the earth. Primitive humans believed that in jade, there was a mystical psychic nature.
In primitive sacrificial ceremonies, people crowded around jade objects that symbolized the will of heaven, praying for blessings from the gods.
From the ancient times of ignorance, the increasingly capable human beings also began to rule from the primitive scattered tribes to a unified country. In a country ruled by a king, jade is no longer a symbol of ancient witchcraft, but it still radiates mysterious light.
During this period, wang's authority continued to be evident on the jade, and the stones bore the most sacred meaning.
The royal cong, the jade tiger, the jade gnat and so on were used as ritual vessels in all kinds of rites.
Jade, this beautiful stone, in the shang and zhou dynasties, was also endowed with a rigid concept of hierarchy. It was the most conspicuous decoration on the bodies of Kings and nobles, and the color, size and shape of each piece of jade symbolized different hierarchies.
The king of shang zhou was cruel but he loved jade. Even when he was defeated and burned, he did not forget to burn jade for four thousand years.
In the spring and autumn period, the famous "heshi" pieces were still carved by qin shihuang as the imperial seal.
Currently, 23 of the 25 imperial seals in the imperial palace are jade seals.
The embodiment of noble quality
"To be gentle and gentle is to be benevolent"; "to be wise is to be near to be reasonable"; "to be firm but not frowning; to be righteous"; "to be clear but not old is to be virtuous."
Confucius, the founder of Chinese Confucianism, duly endowed jade with 11 kinds of excellent virtues according to people's thought of precious jade at that time, thus completely changing the connotation of jade used by people, completely covering it in the light of humanism, and brimming with a kind of noble moral sense and rich ethical spirit.
In the view of Confucius, the beautiful jade, due to the gift of heaven, naturally condensed with the gentleman's good character of eleven virtues. These moral characters are the gentleman's lifelong pursuit, comparison and learning of the highest state.
The gentleman is more virtuous than the jade, the jade is not only the status symbol, the representative of the kingship, but also the embodiment of moral integrity. A gentleman should wear jade to clean the body, without reason jade do not go to the body. The gentleman wears the wind of jade, also prevail from this.
The gentleman, who wore jade ornaments, moved in a more respectful manner, even with a limited stride. With every move and gesture, the jade objects collide with a clear and rhythmic sound, purify people's soul, convey the connotation of the highest ceremony, and make the whole social norm move towards harmony and order in the rhythmic sound. People's worship of jade has changed from blind worship to rational reverence, and its cultural connotation has become richer and thicker.
Immortal and exorcising spirits
In the nearly ten thousand years of Chinese jade culture heritage, not only deeply influenced by the Confucian theory, yunji family culture is also its main carrier, although, it did not become the mainstream of Chinese jade culture.
Under the influence of Taoism in the han dynasty, people believed that jade was the essence of nature, a supernatural thing with life, can grow, can be channelled, and can soar. After death, as long as wear stop is called "jade box" jin-lu clothes, you can retain the essence of the human body, make the soul attached to the immortal body, the afterlife can get eternal life.
And the idea that jade can make people immortal makes people gradually endowed with the function of driving away evil. Gang MAO yan MAO, weng zhong and si nan pei are three jade treasures that people used to avoid disasters in the han dynasty.
In addition, Taoism also believes that jade is the essence of Yang wu, living clothes can prolong life. During the qin and han dynasties, the upper nobility not only took the elixir, but also took the jade dust.
Han wudi, before the creation of the gods in the jizhang yu platform, from the copper hand support dew plate, and then by the fangshi take plate frost water and jade dust let the emperor take it.
The intervention of buddhist forces
The well-mannered system of wearing jade undoubtedly has educational significance in the prosperous times of courtesy system, but it can only serve as a paper story to be recalled by people in the chaotic times of warlord fighting and the law of the jungle. After the collapse of the eastern han empire, the traditional etiquette has become pale and lifeless.
After the wei, jin, southern and northern dynasties, the buddhist culture quickly flooded in. In the integration and development with the central plains culture, the precious jade tradition of the Chinese people was still included.
Then again, most of the mahayana Buddhism in China did not come directly from India, but from the western regions centered in khotan. Jade, long before it was introduced to the mainland, was closely linked with Buddhism. After Buddhism was introduced into central China on a large scale, it only integrated Confucianism and paid more attention to jade.
Jade has been listed as one of the "seven treasures" of Buddhism in the fa hua jing of tang dynasty, and jade Buddha statues have become sacred objects that people chase after.
Blend with secular culture
With the continuous integration of various cultures, jade gradually lost its aura of holiness and mystery. By the song dynasty, jade wares had completely got rid of the exclusive status of aristocrats, and a large number of them flowed into the people. The making themes of jade wares also integrated into the content of People's Daily life.
The most popular boy in song dynasty was from folk, which reflected the folk custom in central China.
The original version of the boy was a buddhist god named morpura, who was once a king. Fall into the dark hell after 60 thousand years just extricate oneself into the womb, six years old to become a Buddha, and then gradually become a woman in begging when the worship of auspicious things. Song dynasty, qixi worship mo throat luo has become a custom.
At that time, people worship the hands of the moguoluo often hold a lotus leaf, so on the qixi festival, many children are dressed up fresh and beautiful, holding lotus leaves, in the streets of the parade and play. Therefore, the boy holding lotus became one of the best themes of jade.
After this, jade is no longer mysterious, sacred, and became a symbol of wealth, aesthetic art. Today, people are still willing to wear on the body - warm and moist jade jewelry, represents a good wish.
Looking back on the history of jade culture in China for nearly ten thousand years, jade is never just a beautiful stone in Chinese people's mind. It has penetrated into the blood of this nation, condensed a civilization, and formed a cultural accumulation with the passage of time.