Dragon Kings

dragons-inkitchen

my kitchen dragon

A fellow dragon acquaintance of mine, Mai Cheng, suggested, off-hand, that I should Dragons-01 contemplate a water king dragon because of our drought conditions in Nebraska.  I smiled and quipped that I might need to resort to that.  I asked if he would join me in contemplating the correct dragon for such a purpose.  After all, two human dragons should be able to conjure up some sort of dragon power.

Even though neither my friend nor I took our inquiry very seriously, the conversation caused us to think about the traditional Chinese dragons and, in particular, dragon kings. We like the fact that, according to Chinese Astrology, we are both Dragons, because we were both born in the year of the Dragon, 1952.  Amazingly, we were both born in the part of August that is ruled in western astrology by Leo the Lion. We’re pretty headstrong guys, so perhaps our “powers” could actually work to call up a dragon or two.

Cheng, a big fan of Chinese dragons, waxed nostalgic about his favorite dragon king, Chien-Tang is the king of all the river dragons.  He’s a 900-foot long fellow with a deep red body and firey mane. My favorite changes from time to  time.  Currently, I like Tianlong the heavenly dragon, the one depicted in our constellation, Draco.

Unlike the malevolent, warlike western dragons, eastern dragons are considered auspicious mythical creatures that are associated with favorable aspects of life.  In fact, many depictions of dragons show the creature grasping a flaming pearl.  The pearl represents prosperity, wisdom, and sometimes, good luck.

The reason that Cheng suggested that I contemplate dragons is because the creatures are associated with water.  They rule bodies of water, rivers and waterfalls.  If a dragon is insulted, he will manifest as a water spout.  In a sense, some dragons can supposedly rule the weather. During classical Chinese times, many villages erected temples dedicated to their own, particular dragon king. The communities appeased their dragons with offerings and religious rites to ask for rain or to halt it during floods.

Dragons and Chinese emperors are closely linked. The first legendary Emperor, Huangdi morphed into a dragon and flew up to heaven. His brother was born by a vision and became the mythical creature known as Yandi. This is why the dragon is thought of as the symbol of royal power.  The Chinese people traditionally have thought of themselves as descendants of the dragon.

There are hundreds of dragons to consider, but another of Cheng’s favorites is Hong, the twin headed rainbow dragon. It represents promise, faith and marriage.  It is also found in many other indigenous cultures. It’s obvious that the arching rainbow is easily seen as a helpful dragon figure.

Neither of us attribute our contemplation of dragons as having any real bearing on the weather.  But we later did pause, because we soon noticed that the short range weather forecast included rain and snow for our area.

Ciao

dragons-lungwangThe Blue Jay of Happiness hopes you can draw on the idea of the wisdom and power of the mythical dragon.

About swabby429

An eclectic guy who likes to observe the world around him and comment about those observations.
This entry was posted in cultural highlights, Friendship, Meanderings, religion and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Dragon Kings

  1. Sam says:

    Hi I was just wondering how do these dragons actually use their Powers over the weather could u tell me the details. On how they will the weather delibratly please thanks

    • swabby429 says:

      Well, dragons don’t actually exist in the material world. Because they are myths, the alleged powers they exert are only myths. Their alleged “powers” are similar to the so-called “emanations” that planets supposedly beam out that astrologers claim that exist. In ancient times, most people didn’t understand the “science” behind natural phenomenon. So, they believed certain events were caused by different gods or creatures like dragons. If a flood destroyed a town, the people beleived that they had done something to offend the “water dragon”. In the winter, when the trees were coated in hoar-frost, the priests said that the “frost dragon” had visited overnight. Whether the winds were calm or dangerous, the “air-dragon” was either pleased or unhappy. The forces that the dragons used, were unknown myths. The dragons were simply all powerful, like gods.

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