Chapter 15: Spring in Ancient Mythology: Goumang, Taihao, and Fuxi

I. Goumang: The Wood Spirit and Spring Spirit, an Image of Vegetation's First Sprouting

As noted repeatedly above, the "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites names Goumang as the assistant spirit of the first month of spring. This wood spirit, presiding over spring and the east, is the central figure for understanding the mythic content of Lichun.

The very name Goumang is itself a picture of "vegetation's first sprouting." "Gou" (句) originally means bent or curled (equivalent to "gou" 勾); "mang" (芒) originally means the fine bristle or tender thorn of vegetation's first sprouting. Together, the two characters "Goumang" depict precisely the image of the bent, bristle-tipped bud as vegetation breaks through the soil—a tender shoot, in first emerging, is often bent, pushing its way up through the earth, only gradually straightening once above ground. This name subtly captures the essential nature of Lichun's "vegetation first sprouting" (that is, the "tun" within the character "chun" 萅—the difficulty of breaking through the soil). Goumang is precisely the deification of "the force of vegetation's first sprouting." To have such a spirit preside over the first month of spring, in which Lichun falls, could not be more fitting.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas, in "Classic of Regions beyond the Seas: East," records: "Goumang of the east has a bird's body and a human face, and rides upon two dragons" (东方句芒，鸟身人面，乘两龙). Goumang has a bird's body and a human face, and rides upon two dragons. "Bird's body"—the bird governs flight, governs ascent, corresponding to Wood virtue's and vital qi's quality of "rising" and "generating growth"; moreover, the bird is spring's most active creature (the oriole's call being precisely spring's herald), and the bird's body fittingly matches the image of the spring spirit. "Rides upon two dragons"—the dragon belongs to the scaly creatures (the first month of spring's "creatures are the scaly ones"), and the dragon also governs spring rain and generative growth; riding the dragon precisely displays Goumang's divine power, as spring spirit, in commanding the force of generation and growth. This image of "a bird's body, a human face, riding upon two dragons" fuses together the flying bird (ascent), the human face (communication), and the dragon (generative growth) into a single figure, perfectly presenting Goumang's multiple divine roles as wood spirit and spring spirit.

II. Goumang's Offices: Presiding over Spring, over Generation, over the East, over Longevity

The Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan), in the twenty-ninth year of Duke Zhao, records: "The Rectifier of Wood is called Goumang" (木正曰句芒)—the official (spirit) presiding over Wood is called Goumang. It also records, of the officials of the Five Phases: "The Shaohao clan had four sons... generation after generation they did not fail in their duties, and thus brought the Qiongsang region to order. This is the third of these offices" (少皞氏有四叔……世不失职，遂济穷桑。此其三祀也). Among these, the Rectifier of Wood is Goumang. Thus we see that Goumang, as "Rectifier of Wood" (the wood official, the wood spirit), had as his office the governance of all matters belonging to "Wood"—presiding over the spring season, over generation and growth, over the east, over the sprouting of vegetation and all things.

Goumang also bears a special connection to "longevity" (寿). In later transformations of the tradition, Goumang came to be regarded as the deity governing human lifespan, and especially as the deity of "generation" and of "blessings and longevity." This connection is in fact rooted in Goumang's fundamental nature as one who "governs generation"—"generation" is the beginning of all life, and one who governs "generation" naturally also bears upon the nurturing and continuation of life. From governing the "generation" of vegetation to governing human "longevity," Goumang's divine office embodies a fundamental conception held by the ancients: all "generation" between Heaven and Earth, whether the sprouting of vegetation or the lifespan of humanity, is in essence the operation of the same single "vital qi"; and the one who governs this vital qi is precisely this spring spirit, this image of vegetation's first sprouting—Goumang. In the ceremony of welcoming spring at Lichun, the "Spring Official" who often appears in the guise of "Goumang," presiding over the ceremony and whipping the spring ox, is precisely inviting this deity "who governs generation" to rouse and protect this year's vital qi on behalf of all under Heaven.

III. Taihao Fuxi: The "Founding" Sovereign of the Year's Beginning

The "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites names "Da Hao" (Taihao, that is, Taihao Fuxi) as the presiding sovereign of the first month of spring. As noted earlier, that such a civilizational founder should preside over the year's beginning carries profound meaning. Here we must delve deeper into the mythic world of this "founding sovereign."

Taihao Fuxi is one of the most exalted civilizational originators in ancient legend, honored as the foremost of the "Three Sovereigns" and "the first among all kings." His many achievements are, without exception, marked by the fundamental quality of "beginning" and "founding." Most famous and most far-reaching among these is his "first creation of the Eight Trigrams." The "Great Treatise, Part II" of the Zhouyi records: "In ancient times, when Baoxi (that is, Fuxi) ruled all under Heaven, he looked upward and observed the images in the heavens, and looked downward and observed the patterns on the earth; he observed the markings of birds and beasts and what was fitting to the land, drawing near to take from his own body and far off to take from other things, and thus he first created the Eight Trigrams, so as to comprehend the virtue of the numinous and bright, and to classify the conditions of the myriad things" (古者包牺氏之王天下也，仰则观象于天，俯则观法于地，观鸟兽之文与地之宜，近取诸身，远取诸物，于是始作八卦，以通神明之德，以类万物之情). Fuxi looked up to observe celestial phenomena and down to survey terrestrial patterns, drawing near to take from his own body and far off to take from other things, and thus created the Eight Trigrams, using them to comprehend the virtue of the numinous and bright, and to classify the conditions of the myriad things.

Observe: the method by which Fuxi created the Eight Trigrams—"looking upward and observing, looking downward and surveying"—is precisely the methodological source of all later astronomical observation and the establishment of the solar terms! The entire tradition of "respectfully bestowing the seasons upon the people" may be said to originate in this fundamental posture of Fuxi, "looking upward to observe the images in the heavens, looking downward to survey the patterns on the earth." And the Eight Trigrams, as the most fundamental abstraction and classification of the myriad things of the cosmos (Qian Heaven, Kun Earth, Zhen Thunder, Xun Wind, Kan Water, Li Fire, Gen Mountain, Dui Marsh), are further the ultimate source of yin-yang theory, the Five Phases, the Twelve Sovereign Hexagrams, and every later system of cosmology. To have such a founding sovereign—one who "looked upward and surveyed downward, creating the Eight Trigrams"—preside over the first month of spring, in which Lichun falls, as "the year's beginning," reveals a profoundly meaningful logic: the beginning of the year (Lichun) fittingly corresponds to the beginning of civilization (Fuxi); the beginning of time fittingly corresponds to the beginning of humane culture.

IV. Fuxi's Other Founding Achievements and the Civilizational Significance of "Beginning"

Fuxi's founding achievements extend far beyond the Eight Trigrams. Legend also credits him with teaching the people to weave nets for fishing and hunting, and to raise the six domestic animals (hence he is also called "Paoxi," meaning "to fill the kitchen with sacrificial animals," that is, teaching the people to domesticate fowl and livestock for food), with establishing the rites of marriage (using a pair of deer hides as betrothal gifts, rectifying surnames, so that marriage might follow proper order), and with creating stringed instruments (inventing musical instruments, so as to cultivate temperament and character). This series of achievements spans the most basic domains of human civilization—fishing and hunting, animal husbandry, marriage, and ritual and music—one might say that Fuxi is the embodiment of nearly every important "beginning" of Chinese civilization.

Why did the ancients attribute so many "beginnings" to Fuxi alone$3 And why did they have this "god of beginnings" preside over the month of Lichun$4 Behind this lies the ancients' extreme solemnity and profound apprehension regarding "beginnings." In the ancients' conception, "beginning" was the most sacred, the most critical, the most decisive—the fate of all things was often already determined at their "beginning." What Fuxi represents is precisely Chinese civilization's reverence for "beginning": he is the first sage-king who, after the opening of Heaven and Earth, established a "beginning" for the primitive human world through the power of "humane culture" (looking upward and surveying downward, creating the Eight Trigrams, teaching the people to fish and hunt, establishing rites and creating music).

And Lichun, as the "beginning" of the year, the node at which all things "owe their beginning," is, in spirit, entirely structurally identical to the "beginning of civilization" that Fuxi represents. Having Fuxi preside over the month of Lichun is precisely a matter of infusing this year's beginning with the solemn quality of "founding," "opening up," and "laying the foundation"—just as Fuxi established the fundamental beginning of human civilization, so too does Lichun establish the fundamental beginning of this year's generative growth. From Taihao Fuxi (the founding sovereign) to Goumang (the spirit of vegetation's first sprouting), this sovereign and this spirit of the first month of spring—one symbolizing "the beginning of humane culture," the other symbolizing "the beginning of nature"—together constitute the most complete, most profound mythic expression of Lichun as the node of "all things owing their beginning."

V. The Azure Dragon in the Wilds: The Eastern Azure Dragon and the Astral Myth of Lichun

Lichun belongs to the east, and within the ancients' system of celestial imagery, the east corresponds to the renowned "Eastern Azure Dragon" (东方苍龙), a group of seven lunar lodges. This astral phenomenon binds Lichun's mythic archetype and the actual night sky into a single magnificent whole.

The ancients divided the sky near the ecliptic into four great regions, the "Four Images" (四象)—the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise-Serpent of the North—corresponding respectively to the four directions and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The Eastern Azure Dragon is composed of seven lunar lodges—Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei, and Ji—which, joined together, form the shape of a giant dragon stretching across the eastern sky. "Cang" (苍) means green or azure—the Azure Dragon (苍龙) is the Green Dragon (青龙), corresponding precisely to the east, to spring, and to Wood's essential azure-green color. This green dragon is precisely the mythic embodiment, in the night sky, of spring's sacred creature, the force of generation and growth.

Most moving of all is the seasonal rhythm by which this azure dragon "rises and sets, ascends and descends" with the seasons. The six lines of the Qian hexagram in the Zhouyi, from bottom to top, are: "the submerged dragon, do not act"; "the dragon appearing in the fields"; "all day long the noble person is vigorous and cautious"; "one leaps, yet remains over the depths"; "the flying dragon is in the heavens"; and "the arrogant dragon has cause for regret." There has long been an interpretation holding that these six "dragons" depict precisely the astral phenomenon of the Eastern Azure Dragon's gradual rising, crossing the sky, and setting in the west over the course of the year. In deep winter, the azure dragon lies concealed below the horizon—this is "the submerged dragon, do not act"; by the second month of spring (around the time of Jingzhe and the Spring Equinox), the azure dragon's "horn" (the lodge Jiao) begins to emerge from the eastern horizon at dusk—this is precisely the astral origin of the folk saying "on the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head," corresponding precisely to "the dragon appearing in the fields." And Lichun falls precisely on the eve of the "submerged dragon's" imminent rising, on the eve of the imminent "dragon raising its head"—it is the moment of gestation just before the azure dragon is about to raise its head from hibernation, just before it is about to "appear in the fields."

From this, we see how perfect a unity Lichun's mythology and its astral phenomena achieve: upon the earth, Goumang (the wood spirit, riding two dragons) presides over spring, and Taihao Fuxi (the founding sovereign) holds sway; in the heavens, the seven lodges of the Eastern Azure Dragon gather their strength, poised to "raise their head." The "dragon" of mythology (that which Goumang rides, that of which Fuxi is the Green Emperor) and the "dragon" of the celestial phenomena (the seven lodges of the Eastern Azure Dragon) are thoroughly united, converging upon the single core image of "east—spring—Wood—green—generation and growth." What Lichun opens is not merely the sprouting of vegetation upon the earth, but the great prelude to that azure dragon, having lain hibernating through an entire winter in the heavens, about to raise its head and leap forth, to move the clouds and bring the rain, to rouse the myriad things into growth. This is precisely the ancients' most resplendent and most profound imagination of Heaven and humanity—a dragon in the heavens above, a spring upon the earth below.