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"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is a geographical naturalist chronicle of northern China, and the earliest document that records monsters. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info "Chu Ci" divination and sacrifice of the southern people. If something violates the normal state on the ground, it is named "demon". For example, a man dressing up as a woman or a woman dressing up as a man is a shemale. Left Pass? The fifteenth year of Xuan Gong": "When the sky is reversed, it is a disaster, and the earth is a demon." "When things get old, they change into fine. Xu Shen's "Saying Words and Interpreting Words": "Charm, old essence." Wang Chong's "On Balance": "The old man of things is a human being." "The Jin Dynasty historian Ganbao's "Sou Shen Ji" has a clearer definition. "Sou Shen Ji" volume 6: "Monsters, those who cover the essence of things." The air is chaotic in the middle, and the things change outside. ”

"Demon" has two basic meanings, one refers to abnormal and strange things and phenomena, which is the original meaning of demons. "Shuowen Jie Zi" interprets it as: "The earth is anti-object, from the show, and the same kind of God." "The Fifteenth Year of Xuangong" recorded: "When the sky is reversed, it is a disaster, the earth is a demon, the people are against morality, and chaos is a disaster." "Anti-matter refers to the loss of the original normality of the group of things. "Zuo Chuan: The Fourteenth Year of Zhuang Gong": "If people abandon the usual, the demons will prosper, so there are demons." The demon here does not necessarily have an elf entity, such as "serving the demon" does not mean that the clothes have become fine, but in ancient times, when there were strict regulations on people's clothing decoration, people wore strange costumes, messed up the etiquette system, and contained derogatory meanings.

The second refers to the spirits that various natural objects have become, and demons in this sense generally have a prototype as an entity, such as fox demons, snake demons, etc.

"Strange", "Shuowen Jie Zi" interprets as "strange", which refers to strange and grotesque things or things in nature. Zhuangzi said, "Demons and monsters are evil." The original meaning of monster and monster is similar, so people often refer to the two together as "monster", referring to strange and abnormal things and phenomena. In ancient times, people often regarded the appearance of monsters as a precursor to a terrible calamity, and thought that it was a warning from heaven to people. "Confucius Congzi and the Festival" said: "If the valley of Zhongshan, the monster thing is not the so-called Tianxiang." "Hanshu, Follower Biography, Gong Sui" said: "For a long time, there were several monsters in the palace, and the king asked Sui, so he thought that there was a big worry, and the palace would be empty." ”

"Essence", the ancients believed that everything in heaven and earth was born with essence. "Zhou Yi Zhi Ci I": "The essence is the object, and the wandering soul is the change." Kong Yingda Shu in the Tang Dynasty: "The cloud essence is the qi of things, which is called the qi of yin and yang elves, and the accumulation of clouds is all things." "The ancients believed that the animals, plants and utensils that had been in the old age could obtain the yin and yang qi of heaven and earth and become spirits with supernatural powers, which people called jing. Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty said in "On Heng and Ordering Ghosts Chapter 65": "The old man of the husband and the object is the essence of the person; There are also those who are not old, and their performance changes, like the shape of a human being. The Jin Dynasty immortal Ge Hong's "Hug Puzi" said: "The old man of all things, his essence can pretend to be human. "Things other than human beings acquire soul and divine power and can create monsters, which are spirits. It is also always seen as an abnormal, different from the righteous spirit, and a spirit that often brings calamity to people. It has a fixed natural object or artifact as the original form, and it is a spirit formed by the transformation of things.

Jing is sometimes referred to as "thing" or "charm". Sima Qian said: "Scholars often say that there are no ghosts and gods, but there are things. "Something here refers to a monster or monster that is transformed from an animal, a plant, or an artifact. "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" Jiushang Ghost Department: "Charm, old things are fine." ”

Essence also refers to abnormal and strange things, and always brings disasters to people, and the meaning of demons and monsters is similar, so people are often called spirits and goblins. Jin Ganbao's "Sou Shen Ji" volume 18 records: "Tomorrow will be the old fox." Since it is a pavilion, there are no monsters. "The monsters here are the elves that the fox turned. Gan Bao said in the sixth volume of "Sou Shen Ji": "The monster is also the one who covers the essence of the object." "In other words, youkai are things that are transformed into all kinds of heaven and earth spirits.

"Demon", the abbreviation of the Sanskrit word "Moluo", the ancient translation of the scriptures is mostly "grinding", to the time of Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty, it was annoying to be annoying, so it was changed to "demon". In Buddhism, all mental activities that disturb the mind and body, destroy good deeds, and hinder spiritual practice are called "demons." The Treatise on Great Wisdom, Volume 5: "Ask, 'Why are you famous?' He replied: 'Taking away the life of wisdom and the merits of the bad way is why it is called the devil. In ancient Indian mythology and religion, the world has many layers of heaven, and the ruler of the sixth heaven is the demon king Bo Xun. He and his demon subjects often go to the Nether to cause trouble and do bad things, so they are regarded as representatives of evil and called demons. The only difference is that Chinese demons are not necessarily harmful.

Since the Indian "demons" and the Chinese native "monsters" are all evil and appear as alien forces of human beings, in the process of long-term collision between religious culture and Chinese secular culture, foreign "demons" gradually merge with the "monsters" in Chinese culture, such as the "demons", "splashing demons" and "demons" commonly used in novels refer to monsters. And almost all the "demons" in gods and demons novels are "monsters", "demons", and "spirits". For example, in "Journey to the West", the Bull Demon King, Jiao Demon King, and Peng Demon King among the Seven Brothers of the Monkey King in China are actually Niu Jing, Jiao Jing, Peng Jing, or Niu Monster, Jiao Monster, Peng Monster. There is no saying that the demon is more powerful than the demon.,On the contrary, the demon king is only a little more powerful than the ordinary demon.,It's not as powerful as the big monster.。

With the development of society, the concept of yokai has also undergone subtle changes. With the concept of "demon" as the core, words such as monster, goblin, demon, and spirit have been formed, all of which refer to demons or are aliases of demons. In folk customs and beliefs, the meaning of these words is basically the same, especially in Chinese folk, monsters, goblins, demons, and spirits can basically explain each other, and they are often mixed or interchanged in Zhiwei novels and gods and demons novels. In "Journey to the West", sometimes "monster", sometimes "goblin", and sometimes "demon" are used to refer to the same thing.

To sum up, the concept of monsters in ancient China was divided into broad and narrow senses. Before the Han Dynasty, the concept of monsters was mostly generalized, referring to all strange and abnormal things and phenomena. The concept of monsters in the narrow sense, which gradually matured from the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Sui and Tang dynasties, refers to animals, plants, and inanimate creatures that have become refined over time and have acquired supernatural abilities. With the spread and prosperity of Buddhism, the concept of "demon" in Buddhism entered Chinese culture, and its characteristics and nature were similar to the image of local Chinese monsters, and Buddhist demons were assimilated into a kind of demons. That is, animals, plants and inanimate creatures have acquired the yin and yang qi of heaven and earth over time, and can transform into human form, move in the world, and have superhuman skills and unpredictable abilities. They have the thinking, emotion, personality and other characteristics of the incarnated object, and at the same time have some characteristics of the original object; In behavior, on the one hand, they are disturbing and harmful, but sometimes they can also coexist peacefully with people, and even in some ancient narrative literature, they can help people.

India

Ramayana and Mahabharata

Japan

Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Kofutoki, Heike Monogatari, Tales of the Past and Present, Spirits of Japan, The Tale of Soluri, Mikako, Kayoko