"In July, the edict of the Jiangyong earth dragon", "Lixiang for the earth dragon gathering witch to pray", these are the records of "earth dragon praying for rain" in the history records of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which shows that the imperial court at that time still attached great importance to this method.
However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, this situation changed, and the attitude of the imperial court towards "earth dragon praying for rain" changed more obviously.
If you want to know exactly the official way of praying for rain in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the development of the traditional rain prayer method of "earth dragon praying for rain" in the Northern Song Dynasty, you must look for answers in historical records. Next, we will gradually understand and analyze the practice of praying for rain recorded in historical records.
01 Examples of praying for rain
1. "The Law of Praying for Rain in the Five Dragons"
The so-called "Worship of the Five Dragons and Pray for Rain" is from the record of the "History of Song, Lizhi". Simply put, the imperial court made some more detailed regulations on the basis of the original "earth dragon praying for rain".
According to this theory, the "earth dragon praying for rain" during this period was organized by local officials to take soil to make dragons, hoping to descend from heaven. After sufficient rain, invite the dragon into the water. In this process, you can't use music, witchcraft, etc., and some details have been refined.
From here, we can see that due to historical reasons, the imperial court in this period still used the method of "earth dragon praying for rain" to a certain extent, but it has been modified to a certain extent according to the needs of reality, and some content containing witchcraft has been deliberately deleted.
2. "Draw dragons for rain"
"The black fish looked left, surrounded by ten stars of the sky; The middle is a white dragon, and the spitting clouds are black; Under the painting of water waves, there are turtles looking left, spitting black gas like lines, and gold and silver zhudan decorated with dragon shapes." In the third year of Jingde of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court decreed that the method of "painting dragons and praying for rain" was used instead of the original "earth dragon praying for rain".
Although this way of praying for rain still has the element of "dragon", the original element of "witch" has been greatly reduced, and the element of Taoism has been greatly increased, which is a more obvious change.
During this period, there were still some records of "earth dragons praying for rain", but the official rain prayer activities were greatly reduced. From this, we can also see that the change of "Earth Dragon Praying for Rain" has a process and does not disappear immediately in a short period of time.
Moreover, the change of the imperial court and the continuation of the folk use also shows that it is the ruler who is leading the change in the way of "earth dragon praying for rain".
3. "Lizards pray for rain"
The reason why people adopt the method of "earth dragon praying for rain" to express their eagerness for rainfall is because this method is also in line with the idea of "things calling each other".
Therefore, even though the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty largely modified the "earth dragon praying for rain", they still followed some of its elements.
During the reign of Emperor Xining of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court made further adjustments to the way of praying for rain, and lizards replaced dragons to pray for rain. This was a major change in the way the Northern Song Dynasty prayed for rain, and it was recorded by historians in historical records.
02 The reason for the change in the way of praying for rain in the Northern Song Dynasty
The reign of the Northern Song Dynasty was an important period in which the way of praying for rain changed. The reason for this is that it has a lot to do with the Northern Song rulers' advocating Taoism.
So, in ancient China, where Confucianism was the mainstream of thought, did the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty still hold Taoism in such reverence?
In fact, in ancient China, although the Confucian school became a prominent school in the field of thought after Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty "deposed hundreds of schools and respected Confucianism", it did not mean that there were only Confucian schools in the field of thought.
For a long time, the field of thought was "three religions merged into Confucianism" and "three religions in parallel", so the development of Taoism was not only in the Northern Song Dynasty, but only because of the attitude of the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty, Taoism developed better in this period, and could further influence other fields.
"Isn't the yellow robe an ordinary thing, who believes in the army?" The emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty worshiped religion, and they had to start with the unusual founding history of this dynasty.
In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin, who was inspected in front of the Later Zhou Palace, used a trick to make himself "yellow robe to his body", thus opening the history of more than three hundred years in the two Song Dynasties, and this process of creating an imperial dynasty is very special.
In the eyes of many, Zhao Kuangyin's behavior was not in line with the traditional Confucian concept of the courtier's "loyalty" to the monarch, and he also lost the "righteousness" due to the eldest husband by bullying the orphans and widows of Houzhou and stealing the world.
Therefore, after losing the traditional Confucian concept of "loyalty" and "righteousness", Zhao Kuangyin and his group urgently needed to find a word in the ideological field to justify the existence of their own regime, so they began to worship religion.
Not only that, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty gradually discovered the multiple benefits of worship.
That is, while providing rationality for the establishment of one's own imperial dynasty, it can help the ruler stabilize the overall situation and strengthen his rule.
For example, Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty directed three declines of the Book of Heaven, and then carried out a large-scale consecration ceremony, the purpose of which was to whitewash the Taiping and consolidate his rule.
The emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty also put some effort into the development of Taoism, not only revering Taoism, but also suppressing other ideas to a certain extent, so it is not surprising that the "witch" element decreased during the Northern Song Dynasty.
Not only that, for Buddhism, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty also took certain measures. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, there was also a campaign to exterminate Buddhism, which rulers used to influence customs to achieve their own political goals.
Therefore, this way of rule gradually developed in various fields, and affected the rain prayer activities of the imperial court and the people, resulting in a change in the rain prayer policy in the Northern Song Dynasty.
epilogue
"Earth Dragon Praying for Rain" has been circulating in mainland history for quite some time, and from historical records, it has appeared in political life at the national level as late as the SenseTime period.
From the pre-Qin dynasty to the two Han dynasties, to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Sui and Tang dynasties, this way of praying for rain was used by people and became an integral part of production and political life.
However, by the Northern Song Dynasty, this situation changed, and the imperial court began to modify the "Earth Dragon Praying for Rain". Not only did he explicitly edict the "method of praying for rain with five dragons", but also innovatively implemented the rain prayer methods of "painting dragons for rain" and "lizards praying for rain".
This change was not just because of what the imperial court wanted to do to the rain prayer itself, but for deeper reasons.
Since the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, the rulers' respect for Taoism is very obvious, which has a lot to do with the social environment and the historical facts of the Northern Song Dynasty.
It can be said that it is the rulers who are consolidating their rule by adjusting the way they pray for rain.
bibliography
Ancient Chinese History
"Ancient Dragon Sacrifices and Primitive Astronomy Reflected in Prehistoric Dragon-shaped Sculptures"
History of Song
"General Guide to Governance"
"Investigation of the characteristics of witchcraft in the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties"