Standing at the door of Qin Banxian, Zhang Ying looked at this place with interest, this is a row of old-fashioned bungalows, a separate yard for each family, a row opens, in this small county town full of buildings, the whole house is also quiet, there is a unique scenery!

Qin Banxian's courtyard is just in the middle, across the street road, the traffic is endless, behind the house is the county government office building, on the left and right sides of the gate, there is a pair of half-meter-high "door lions"!

Here you may ask, why are they "door lions"? Aren't they all stone lions? What is the difference?

Since the birth of the stone lion has been used to guard the mausoleum, is shaped to be majestic and strong, has a strong deterrent power, can exorcise demons and drive away disasters, so it is called "tomb guarding lion", although the stone lion guarding the door is majestic and strong, but it has affinity and sharpness, the eyes are peaceful, has always been respected by people as the town house beast, the placement of the door lion can resolve the ferocity outside the house.

According to research, the custom of placing stone lions on both sides of the gate roughly appeared in the Tang and Song dynasties, and during the Tang Dynasty, most of the residential areas in the capital were equipped with architectural forms such as walls and square gates!

Among them, the square door is the common archway style of people, in order to fix the archway, windproof and earthquake-resistant, there is a pair of large stones in the foot of the pillar of the square pillar. Craftsmen used to carve images on these large stones to decorate!

These ornaments are mostly lions, unicorns, sea beasts and other animals, which are beautiful and contain rich auspicious meanings at the same time, and it is from this time that the folk have the custom of guarding the gate with stone lions and other beasts!

The stone lion has entered the folk so far, and there has been a stone lion guarding the door, and it is recorded in the Yuan Dynasty's "Xijin Zhi Ji Yi Customs": "The eunuch Shuo tax home in the capital, the head of the door of the library, the lion is mostly cast with pig iron, and the left and right doors are seated together, or the white stone people, as above. ”

This is a clear record of the stone lion guarding the gate in China, it can be seen that the stone lion of the Yuan Dynasty was not only used as a town to guard the mausoleum, but also placed in the building of the Yang house, so it began to enter the folk and became a part of the architectural decoration of the gate.

So what is the importance of the stone lion at the gate, or what is the auspicious effect of the stone lion at the gate?

The stone lion is mainly used as a guardian, the stone lion has a high status in Buddhism, he is one of the auspicious beasts of the town house and evil spirits, and the stone lion placed at the gate can help people overcome bad luck, bring peace, and prosper!

With the inheritance of the gatekeeper stone lion culture in the long history, the meaning of its stone lion carving is: auspicious town house, decorative gate and other feng shui cultural connotations.

The legends about the stone lion that follow are endless, all about auspiciousness and festivity. There are also well-known folk songs: "Touch the head of the stone lion, you don't have to worry for a lifetime; touch the back of the stone lion, so that you can live for generations; touch the mouth of the stone lion, the husband and wife will not quarrel; touch the stone lion's belly, you will never get sick, from the beginning to the end, the wealth is as wide as water." ”

The lion is noble and majestic among the beasts, with the style of a king, and the ancient Chinese elite class is a good use of the lion's status as a king in people's hearts!

Therefore, the gatekeeper stone lion naturally became a symbol of power. The family of the person who can afford the stone lion in front of the door is obviously relatively prosperous, which can be said to be a direct reflection of wealth and family prosperity and early warning disasters:

Speaking of early warning of disasters, there is a legend that when there is a natural disaster such as a flood or a sinking of land, the eyes of the stone lion guarding the gate will turn red or bleed, which is a sign that disaster is coming, and people can take immediate measures to avoid it!

Although this is an ancient legend, it carries people's good wishes and reflects people's love and trust in the stone lion guarding the gate.

There are many related meanings of the stone lions guarding the door, such as a pair of stone lions placed in front of the door, using the homonym of "lion", meaning "in pairs", "descendants are prosperous, descendants are prosperous!"

The big lion and the lion cub appear at the same time, and there is the saying of "Taishi Shaobao", which means "rising step by step", and at the same time has the meaning of "prosperous heirs" and "high-ranking officials of the generations"!

There is also the "Lion Play Hydrangea" lion for yang, hydrangea for yin, is a symbol of fertility worship, implying the reproduction of life, "all things are born".

After a long era, the stone lion guarding the door in the Ming and Qing dynasties was branded with a hierarchy on the placement and shape, and the stone lion was equipped with a specific shape according to the restrictions of the rank!

When the stone lion is placed, the lion's head must face out of the door, because the stone lion is a fierce beast, and the head is turned outward to ward off the external threat!

The gatekeeper stone lion is a male and a female, in pairs, looking out from the inside of the door, the male lion is on the left, and the female lion is on the right, which is in line with the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang!

The forelimbs of the stone lion are supported on the ground, and the hind limbs are bent and squatting on the ground, which is a triangle from the side, and there are also squatting and standing subdivisions, and the forelimbs are off the ground, holding the hydrangea or lion cub, which is not much different from the squatting style from its form, and it can be said that they all belong to the squatting form!

The original stone lion shape in China was mostly walking. For example, the stone lion in front of the stone shrine of Wu's tomb in Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province and the stone lion in front of the tomb of Gao Yi in Ya'an County, Sichuan Province in the Eastern Han Dynasty are all holding their heads open and walking!

On closer examination, this kind of shape is derived from the traditional Chinese art style, and the original animal shapes in China are mostly strutted!

In Buddhism, the lion generally appears in a squatting position. Under the influence of Buddhist stone lions, from the Northern Dynasties, squatting stone lions and drum-hugging stone lions also began to appear in the imperial palace, and there are basically drum-hugging stone lions carved in Beijing courtyards.

The Sumeru seat of the stone lion guarding the door originally referred to the holy mountain in Buddhism - Mount Meru, in order to show the nobility of the Buddha, India will use Mount Meru as the base of the Buddha statue, and the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province during the Northern Wei Dynasty used the Sumeru seat as the base of the Buddha statue at the earliest!

The shape and pattern decoration of the Sumeru seat in this period are very simple, and the four corners of the pedestal in the grotto are connected in a trapezoidal shape, like the character "work" in Chinese characters. With the development of architecture, Sumeru gradually evolved into the base of high-end buildings.

The Chinese gatekeeper stone lion, due to its special position, is placed in front of the door as a guard, and needs a step as a base and foil, and the Sumeru seat naturally becomes a perfect match with the stone lion.

The stone lion placed at the gate is a female and a male, the male lion with the hydrangea represents the supremacy of power, the female lion with the lion cub, on behalf of the prosperity of the descendants, before the Ming Dynasty, the spiral sideburns on the head of the stone lion also have corresponding attention!

This is similar to the number of pimple sideburns symbolizes the status of its owner, and the thirteen pimples correspond to the highest official rank of a product, called the "Thirteen Taibao";