as able to keep off evil spirits when put under the pillow of the sleeper, or kept near by in the library. He who is able to repeat memoriter passages from these books when walking alone need not fear the spirits.”23
Bamboo tablets were commonly used before the invention of paper. It is asserted that block-printing can be traced to the Suí Dynasty A.D. 581–618. Movable types originated at the beginning of the eleventh century. Books were first bound up in leaves about A.D. 745, before which time they were in rolls. The self-styled “First Emperor” (始皇
A book often runs to an extraordinary number of volumes or sections (卷). According to an old distich,“If one wishes to be acquainted with the Past and the Present he must read five cartloads of books!” (要通今古事須讀五車書). There is a general work of reference (類書) known as Gû Jïn Túshü Jíchéng (古今圖書集成), first published in 1726, in 10,000 books, arranged under 6,109 categories, and containing about four times as much matter as the Encyclopaedia Britannica. A copy of this wonderful production is to be seen in the British Museum. Notices of some of the principal Chinese literary works will be found in the Appendix to the Author’s Manual of Chinese Metaphor.
A common conventional design of good augury consists of two books placed together and decorated with a fillet, when it is classed as one of the various categories of EIGHT TREASURES (q. v.).
Brahma
(梵王)
Brahma, according to Indian mythology, is the creator or first person in the trinity of the Hindoos, the other two being Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer, of the creation. He is generally represented with three faces and four arms.
This deity has been made by the Buddhists into an attendant or vassal of Buddha, and the Taoists have in turn borrowed him from the Buddhists as their supreme god. He is also identified with Indra, and the Jade Ruler (vide THREE PURE ONES). He is sometimes represented as a woman.
The “Brahma Sutra” (梵王經) is used as a sacred classic in the Buddhist monasteries. It is described by De Groot in his Le Code du Mahâyâna en Chine, as “the centre of gravity of the Church, the marrow, the heart, the axis on which turns the whole existence of the monks.”
Bronze
(古銅)
The Chinese use the same denomination tóng (銅) for copper, brass, and bronze. It is made up of the character jïn (金), “gold,” and tóng (同), “similar,” indicating, according to Chinese commentators, sound, harmony, and assembling, possibly because employed in the manufacture of musical instruments.
In order to study the symbolism of China from its fundamental origin, it is necessary to devote some attention to the early bronzes, of which a detailed description, together with the significance of their ornamentation, is given in the BO GU TU (q. v.), a work published during the Sòng Dynasty.
According to the Shü Jïng (書經), nine tripods were made in the Xià Dynasty, 205–1818 B.C., of metal sent as tribute from the nine provinces, and each had a map of a province engraved thereon, though some say they were decorated with representations of spirits and demons; the earliest specimens now extant are engraved with provincial maps and date from the Shāng and Zhōu Dynasties, 1766–255 B.C.
The ancient religion of the Chinese was undoubtedly a primitive nature worship in propitiation of the elements productive of rain and sunshine for the benefit of the crops. A belief in numerous gods and spirits of mountains, rivers, clouds, etc., the deification of the luminaries of the firmament, and also of various imaginary powers, became gradually evolved, and, though no images were anciently made, certain symbols were devised to suggest the various deities, and they were engraved or moulded on the ancient bronze, food, wine, and sacrificial vessels. These symbols, with variations, have survived to the present day.
The earliest forms of the Chinese written character are to be found on the antique bronzes, of which a fine collection is on view at the Peking Museum (1930).
The age of a bronze article may be determined from the colour and brilliance of its patina, which depends partly on the composition of the alloy, and partly on the nature of the soil in which the object was buried.
Vide also DIAPER PATTERNS, DRAGON, PHOENIX, WRITTEN CHARACTERS.
Broom
(帯)
The emblem of Shí Dêi (拾得), a poet of the 7th century. It typifies insight, wisdom, and power to brush away all the dusts of worry and trouble. To read the book of nature (vide SCROLL), and sweep away all mundane difficulties, is the ideal and motto of the naturalistic theory of the ancient Chinese.
The manifold evil spirits are supposed to be afraid of a broom. “Many families are in the habit of performing a kind of pretence sweeping with a broom on the last day of the year, rather intending the removal of evil than that of filth.”24
Buddha’s Hand
(佛手)
A peculiar kind of inedible citron, Citrus medica (香梅) running almost entirely into rind, and terminating at the head in long narrow processes like fingers, is known to the Chinese as fóshôu or Buddha’s Hand. It has a very powerful and fragrant odour, and is offered up in porcelain bowls before the shrine of the household gods at the New Year Festival and other religious sacrifices. It is also used for scenting rooms.
This fruit connotes Buddhism because its form resembles a classic position of Buddha’s hand with the index and little finger pointing upward.
It is also a symbol of wealth as it illustrates the gesture of grasping money.
Butterfly
(糊蝶)
There are in China many different species of the order Lepidoptera, of which the family Papilio, or the butterflies, form an important part. Some of the latter are of a gigantic size and variegated colouring, and it is therefore not astonishing that this insect should be a favourite theme for the poet and the painter.
The philosopher Zhuāng Zî (莊子), once dreamt that he was transformed into a butterfly and found great happiness in flitting hither and thither sipping nectar from innumerable flowers. Hence the insect is an emblem of joy. It is also a symbol of summer.“The butterfly is a sign of conjugal felicity; in fact it might almost be called the Chinese Cupid. The origin of this is to be found in the story told by the Taoist philosopher Zhuāng Zî, of a young student who, running after a beautiful butterfly, unknowingly intruded into the private garden of a retired magistrate, whose daughter he thus saw, and was so struck with her charms, that he determined to work hard and try to obtain her for his wife. In this he was successful, and rose to high rank.”25
The butterfly is often conventionally depicted with great skill, and is a common decoration for embroidery and chinaware.
Cangue
(棚)
