The Elements Chineese and others civilizations

THE GREEK ELEMENTS



The four classical elements were independently proposed by early Presocratic philosophers: water (Thales), air (Anaximenes), earth (Xenophanes), and fire (Heraclitus). Empedocles proposed that they all existed together in fixed quantities from the beginning. Plato later conceived of them as consisting of atoms with the geometrical shapes of four of the five regular geometrical solids that had been discovered by the Pythagoreans but described by Plato (in the Timaeus). We now call these the Platonic Solids. Their surfaces consist entirely of regular triangles (3, the tetrahedron; 8, the octahedron; and 20, the icosahedron), squares (6, the cube), and pentagons (12, the dodecahedron). These are, of course, not the true shapes of atoms; but it turns out that they are some of the true shapes of packed atoms and molecules, namely crystals: The mineral salt (halite, NaCl) occurs in cubic crystals; fluorite (calcium floride, CaF₂) in octahedrons; and pyrite ("Fool's Gold," iron sulfide, FeS₂) in dodecahedrons [1]; etc. Aristotle discarded Plato's mathematical interest and saw the elements as combinations of two sets of opposite qualities, hot & cold, wet & dry. Aristotle's view was ultimately the accepted one all through the Middle Ages.
EmpedoclesFireAirWaterPlato:Platonic Solids with TrianglesAristotlehot & dryhot & wetcold & wetEmpedoclesEarthPlato:PlatonicSolid withSquaresAristotlecold & dry[Note: the white text on black background appears as a link. Do not click on it unless you wish to make the text black, for the purpose of printing out the page.] The fifth Platonic Solid, the dodecahedron, Plato obscurely remarks, "...the god used for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven" (Timaeus 55) [2]. He didn't really know what else to do with it. Aristotle added a fifth element, aithêr (aether in Latin, "ether" in English). Our word "quintessence" comes from a Latin expression for this -- the "fifth essence." Aristotle thought that the heavens were made of this element. But he had no interest in matching it with Plato's fifth solid, even though it didn't fit in with his scheme of opposites for the other four.

It is noteworthy that Plato's theory has a very modern flavor, with mathematically defined, transmutable atoms. The theory misses its target, since Plato didn't have a clue about the modern chemical elements, and atoms do not have such geometrical structures. Nevertheless, he was not so far off the mark, and we only have to shift our aim slightly, to the crystaline packings of atoms, to find the appropriate modern applications of Plato's geometry. Aristotle, by contrast, has a completely archaic theory which looks back to the theories about opposites of Anaximander, Heraclitus, and the Pythagoreans. It is of no use whatsoever today.
We should ask why Plato's theory is so progressive, why Aristotle's is so archaic, and why Plato is usually given so little credit for his theory. The answer to all these is the same: Plato comes up with this kind of theory because of his Pythagorean faith that mathematics would reveal the structure of the world. Aristotle had no such faith, regarding mathematics only as a calculating device (the common opinion in the Middle Ages). In turn, Plato is usually overlooked by down-to-earth philosophers and historians of science because his Pythagorean number mysticism seems to them of a piece with the rest of his philosophy, which they regard as, in general, a mysticism unworthy of consideration. Yet modern science, which is distinctively mathematical, was set on its way by just those scientists, like Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, who shared Plato's mystical faith in mathematics. That is the most conspicuous in Kepler, whose flights of fancy, which included a science fiction book about life on the Moon (the Somnium or "Dream"), are found together with the most serious, hard mathematical breakthrough in the formulation of modern astronomy short of Isaac Newton's own theory of universal gravitation: Kepler's Three Laws of planetary motion.
Platonic and Archimedean Polyhedra
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Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

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The Greek Elements, Note 1

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The form of pyrite crystals is not, strictly speaking, a true Platonic dodecahedron. That is because the pentagons on the surface are actually not regular pentagons -- all the sides and interior angles are not equal. The characteristic form of pryite is thus called a "pyritohedron." The distortion occurs because the crystals can also occur in cubic form or, most interestingly, in a combination of cube and pyritohedron faces, with 6 rectangular and 12 pentagonal faces -- as shown at right. The black faces may be imagined as planes where a cube slightly truncates a pyritohedron.
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The Greek Elements, Note 2

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That remark led the great astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) into an absurd series of speculations about how the orbits of the planets, whose nature for the first time he had accurately understood, corresponded to the Platonic solids. Kepler imagined that nesting the solids inside each other would produce the ratios that he had independently posited in his Third Law of planetary motion. That didn't work.
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THE FOUR HUMORS

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With a theory based on that of the four elements, by the Middle Ages health was though to depend on a balance of four fluids, or humors, in the human body: fire corresponded to blood; air to yellow bile; water to phlegm; and earth to black bile. The notion that health depended on the balance of the four elements arose shortly after Empedocles introduced his theory. The theory of the four humors developed by the time of Hippocrates (c.460-c.377 BC). We still say that people can be in a "good humor" or a "bad humor," and terms derived from the Greek or Latin names of the humors are still sometimes used to describe moods, attitudes, or personalities:
FromBlood (Sanguis)comes:FromYellow Bile(Bilis, Kholê) and its associations come:FromPhlegm (Phlegma)comes:And fromBlack Bile(Melancholia) comes:

sanguine, meaning "sturdy, confident, optimistic, cheerful, happy."

choler, meaning "the quality or state of being irascible";choleric, meaning "angry, irate, irascible"; bile, meaning "inclination to anger, spleen"; bilious, meaning "pevish, ill-natured"; gall, meaning "bitterness, rancor, insolence"; spleen, meaning "mingled ill will & bad temper"; and jaundiced, meaning "envy, distaste, hostility."

phlegmatic, meaning "slow, stolid, cool, impassive."

melancholic, meaning "depressed, tending to depress the spirits, irascible, sad, saddening."

Notice that the passivity of "cold" humors, Phelgm and Black Bile, contrasts with the activity of the "hot" humors, Blood and Yellow Bile.

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

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THE INDIAN AND BUDDHIST ELEMENTS, AND THE GUN.AS

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The Chândogya Upanis.ad contains the earliest Indian view of the elements. There are three: 1) fire (agni), 2) water (ap), & 3) earth (prithivi). These emanate in sequence from each other. Fire is associated with oil, butter, and fat, while earth is associated with all other kinds of food. Each, as food, gives rise to three bodily subdivisions: Fire into bone, marrow, and speech; water into urine, blood, and prân.a (breath); and earth into feces, flesh, and mind.
The three elements of the Chândogya Upanis.ad effectively correspond to the three gun.as of the Sankhya School and the Bhagavad Gita, with a change in sequence. The three gun.as are the three forces of nature in Sankhya thought, which, even more, are the causes of everything that happens, of which the true Self (âtman/purus.a) is only the spectator, and the sources of attachment and bondage, the causes of rebirth in the natural or phenomenal world (prakr.ti). Water corresponds to sattva, the desire for knowledge and goodness, associated with the color white and the Brahmin caste; fire corresponds to rajas, the desire for action, associated with the color red and the Ks.atriya caste; and earth corresponds to tamas, sloth, associated with the color brown (or black) and the Vaishya (or Shudra) caste (or the Untouchables). Eventually the theory of the gun.as is widely accepted in orthodox philosophy, and the association or the correspondence to the theory of the elements is lost.
ElementColorFoodsBodyGun.aCaste1. Fire2. Rajas2. Water1. Sattva3. Earth3. Tamas

red	oil, butter, and fat	bone, marrow, & speech	2. Ks.atriyas
white	water	urine, blood, & prân.a (breath)	1. Brahmins
black	other foods	feces, flesh, & mind	3. Vaishyas, 4. Shudras, & 5. Untouchables

Later other elements are added. Fire itself comes to be seen as emanating from air (vâyu), which is later seen to emanate from "aether" (âkâsha). These are similar enough to the Greek elements, and their introduction occurs late enough, that Greek influence cannot be discounted. Despite the additions, numerical systematizations (e.g. "three kinds of food," etc.) tend to use the number three, but often with a somewhat distinct fourth element: three twice born varnas (brahmins, ks.atriyas, & vaishyas), with a fourth varna (shudras); three Vedas (R.g, Sama, & Yajur), with a fourth (Atharva).

In Buddhism, the fifth element could be interpreted differently from Hinduism. The Sanskrit word , used for "aether," could also mean "sky" or "clear space." This could be the equivalent of "emptiness" (shunyata) in Buddhism, and the fifth element in Buddhism is consequently often given as "space" or the "void." The five Buddhist elements were subsequently exported with Buddhism itself to China and countries influenced by China, viz. Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The five Buddhist elements in the Far East thus should not be confused with the original five elements of Chinese philosophy. The colors associated with the Buddhist elements below are out of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Another version exists in which the white and blue are reversed. These can actually be combined, as shown, with the "body" one color but the "light" the other. I have also seen Mâmakî and Locanâ reversed (and spelled differently, e.g. Rocanî), and Âkâshadhâtu as Vajradhâteshvarî.


THE BUDDHIST ELEMENTS & ASSOCIATIONSelementVOIDWATEREARTHFIREAIRBuddhasShaktis(Tibet)Bodhisattvas,maleBodhisattvas,femaleBuddha Functionwisdomfamilyemblemjewelsbright colorssoft colorsdirectionshapeseed wordsaggregatesconsciousnessmudrâmantrathronebodilyconstituentsorgansobjectspoisonspost-mortemrealmsOTHER BUDDHIST FIVES, ASSOCIATIONS UNCERTAINvirtuesoffensespreceptspungentrootsLotus Sutra

Vairocana (Nainichi, Jp.)	Aks.obhya	Ratnasambhava	Amitâbha (Amida, Jp.)	Amoghasiddhi
Âkâsha- dhâtu	Locanâ	Mâmakî	Pân.d.arâ	Târâ
--	Maitreya (Miroku, Jp.)	Âkâshagarbha (Kokuzô, Jp.)	Avaloki- teshvara	Vajrapân.i
	Ks.iti- garbha (Jizô, Jp.)	Samatabhadra	Mañjushrî	Dîpanî
	Lâsyâ	Mâlâ	Gîtâ	Gandha
	Pushpâ	Dhûpa	Âloka	Naivedya
Buddha nature, approach	wisdom to realize, raising	condition to practice, cultivating	fruit of: Boddhisattva	fruit of: Nirvâna
dharma- realm	great perfect mirror	non-discrim- inating	subtle observation	accomplishing
buddha	vajra, thunderbolt	gem/jewel, ratna	lotus, padma	action, karma
stûpa	five prong vajra	gem/jewel	lotus	three prong vajra, vishvavajra
sapphire	diamond	gold	ruby	emerald
white body	blue body	yellow	red	green
blue light	white light
white	smoky	blue	yellow	red
center	east	south	west	north
almond	sphere	square	triangle	crescent
kha (void)	vaktva (word)	anutpâda (unborn)	raja (dust)	hetva (origin)
cognition/ consciousness	form	sensation	conception/ perception	emotion/ volition
--	store	defiled mind	mental	five senses
teaching	earth- touching	giving	meditation	fearlessness
om.	hûm.	tram.	hrîh.	âh.
lion	elephant	horse	peacock	garud.a
crown	navel	knee	chest	brow
mind	ears	eyes	nose	tongue/body
--	sounds	sights	smells	tastes/textures
delusion	anger	pride	lust	envy
ignorance	hatred	envy	craving	pride
day 1	day 2	day 3	day 4	day 5
gods	hells	human	[url=http://www.friesian.com/history/guadal.htm] hungry ghosts	demons
kindness	goodness	respect	economy	altruism
matricide	patricide	killing an Arhat	wounding the Buddha	disrupting the Sangha
no killing	no theft	chastity	sobriety	no lying
garlic	ginger	scallions/ chives	leeks	onions
Myô-	hô-	ren-	ge-	kyô

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The Indian and Buddhist Elements, Note 1

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It is also common to see six realms cited: gods, hells, human, hungry ghosts, demons, and animals. In fact, where five realms are given, it is often the animal rather than the demon realm that is found. The demons are âsuras, who are contrasted with the devas, gods. There can also be four more realms more specific to Buddhism, (1) the "voice hearers," shravakas, adepts at Theravâda practice, (2) the pratyeka Buddhas, who have achieved enlightenment independently, through their own insight, (3) Bodhisattvas, adepts of Mahâyâna practice, and (4) Buddhas. This can bring the number of realms to ten. The "voice hearer" realm itself can have four parts, (1) "stream enterers," (2) once returners, (3) non-returners, and (4) arhats, "saints," the highest Theravada achievement.
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THE CHINESE ELEMENTS
AND ASSOCIATIONS

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The Chinese elements come early, and their development in Chinese philosophy cannot be followed as can the development of the Greek and Indian elements. The system of five elements and classifying things by fives is already evident in Classics like the Tao Te Ching () and the Shu Ching (, the Book of History), both of uncertain date and authorship. Later such classifications are expanded almost without limit (when Buddhism arrives from India with its own five elements, it adds its own system of fives). The first individual known to have written about the five elements was Tsou Yen, of the Yin-Yang or "Cosmologist" School (), who lived in the third century B.C. But even with him, the original texts are lost, and all we know is what the Han historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien (Sima Qian) says about him in the Shih Chi (, Historical Records), the first great Chinese dynastic history.
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THE CHINESE ELEMENTS & ASSOCIATIONSWOODFIREEARTHMETALWATERcolorssymbolsseasonsmonthsdirectionsconditionsmutually producing, xiangsheng [1]mutually overcoming, xiangke [1]peoplesmountainsplanetsdays[2]animalsactionssensessoundsnotestastessmellsorgansemperorsministersOTHER CHINESE FIVES, ASSOCIATIONS UNCERTAINmetalsrelationsrankspoisonousanimalsgrainsspiritspunishments

elements [Mandarin, Cantonese]
blue/green	red	yellow	white	black
dragon	phoenix	cauldron	tiger	turtle
spring	summer	between	autumn	winter
1-2	4-5	3,6,9,12	7-8	10-11
east	south	center	west	north
rain	heat	wind	clear	cold
wood produces fire	fire produces earth	earth produces metal	metal produces water	water produces wood
wood overcomes earth	fire overcomes metal	earth overcomes water	metal overcomes wood	water overcomes fire
Mongol	Chinese	Manchu	Tibetan	Muslims
T'ai, Shantung	Heng, Hunan	Sung, Honan	Hua, Shensi	Heng, Hopei
Jupiter	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
Thursday	Tuesday	Saturday	Friday	Wednesday
scaled	winged	naked	furred	shelled
countenance	sight	thought	speech	listening
sight	taste	touch	smell	hearing
calling	laughing	singing	lamenting	moaning
chiao/kaku/E	chih/chi/G	kung/kyû/C	shang/shô/D	yü/u/A
sour	bitter	sweet	acrid/spicy	salty
goatish	burning	fragrant	rank	rotten
liver	heart	spleen	lungs	kidneys
hsien-p'i	hsien-fei	hsien-hsin	hsien-kan	hsien-shen
virtues [Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese]	benevolence	propriety	good faith	righteousness	knowledge
	yen4	lei5	sên3	yi6	ji1
	nhân	lê	tín	nghía	trí
Fu-hsi	Shen-nung	Huang-ti	Shao-hao	Chüan-hsü
T'ai-hau	Yen-ti	Huang-ti	Shao-hao	Chüan-hsü
Chü-mang	Chü-jung	Hou-t'u	Jung-shou	Hsüan-ming
iron	copper	gold	silver	tin
ruler minister	father son	husband wife	elder younger	friend friend
snakes	toads	lizards	scorpions	centipedes
barley/wheat	rice	millet	corn [millet][3]	beans
mind	soul (hun)	spirit	soul (p'e)	will
tattooing	mutilation	maiming	castration	execution
fines	detention	exile	life exile	death

The Buddhist elements that were imported into China were never combined with the Chinese elements, but they did, of course, need to be translated. "Air" was translated as "wind," . "Aether" or the "void" was translated with a character, , that could mean "sky, "air," or "emptiness." This suits the ambiguities of the notion of aether just fine, since the Sanskrit word could mean "aether," "sky," or "emptiness," while a kind of "air" is just the original meaning of the Greek word aithêr. Although these were, as I say, never combined into the system of five Chinese elements, we do find wind together with water in a very traditional Chinese context, , "wind and water," the name of Chinese geomancy, the method of siting, orienting, and arranging houses, temples, graves, etc. for best effect. This has become rather familiar elsewhere around the world, and one even hears the proper pronunciation ("fung shue"), which is a little unusual.
While the "symbols" associated with the five elements include four animals for East, West, North, and South and a "caldron" in the Center, we get a slightly different picture with the separate system of "animals" associated with the elements. There we get "scaled," which corresponds to the East and the dragon, "furred," with the West and the tiger, "shelled," with the North and the turtle, "winged," with the South and the phoenix, and finally "naked," associated with the Center. A caldron, of course, isn't an animal, and "naked" doesn't apply to it. "Naked" applies to one animal in particular, man. So the picture we get for the five animals are the four symbolic animals surrounding man in the Center (though he is not shown, of course, naked).


colors

blue, green, black, azure Jp. sei, shô, ao blue, green, light green			red Jp. seki, shaku, aka(i) red, crimson	yellow Jp. kô, ô, ki yellow	white Jp. kaku, byaku, shiro(i) white	black Jp. koku, kuro black
green, azure Jp. sô, ao blue, pale
green Jp. roku, midori green	blue, indigo Jp. ran, ai indigo	purple, violet Jp. kon dark blue	red Jp. gu, ku, kô beni red

In the canonical names of the Chinese colors, there are not separate words for green and blue. The character can mean both. This ambiguity carries over into Japanese. There are other Chinese color characters that are more precise, though also has an interesting ambiguity. In Chinese, this first of all means green, but it can also be the azure of the sky. In Japanese, however, it only means blue, which we see in the name of the Japanese aircraft carrier, the Sôryu, , "Blue Dragon." Another ambiguity we see with , which in Chinese means violet or purple, but in Japanese now means dark blue, navy blue, or Prussian blue. With the two characters for red, there doesn't seem to be that much difference in meaning, but now looks like the preferred character in Chinese, while in Japanese usage it is still mainly , as we see in the name of the Japanese aircraft carrier, the Akagi, , "Red Castle" (from the name of a mountain). Note that the Japanese words in italics are the kun reading of the character, i.e. the actual word from Japanese, while otherwise, given first, is the on reading, the word as it was borrowed into Japanese from Chinese.

The Chinese Elements and Associations, Note 1

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The "mutually producing," , and "mutually overcoming," , cycles were used in the analysis of Chinese history. Each Dynasty was expected to go through Five Phases (), corresponding to the five elements. The "mutually overcoming" cycle was used first, for the Warring States Period; but then the "mutually producing" cycle becomes popular during the Han Dynasty. The use of these cycles may be one explanation of the choice of the name Ch'ing (Qing) for their Dynasty by the Manchus, since "Clear" can imply water, while Ming, "Bright" implies fire, and water overcomes fire. The Manchus will also have liked it that "fire produces earth" since they used "fire" and "red" for the Chinese, the Han people, and "yellow" and "earth" for the Manchus themselves. Yellow was also the Imperial color.
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The Chinese Elements and Associations, Note 2

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The seven day week is Western; and Sunday and Monday are, of course, associated with the sun and the moon. The Chinese would have known about the seven day week during, at the latest, the Middle Ages, through Nestorian missionaries; but full awareness of Western astronomy arrived during the Ming with the Jesuits, whose knowledge was impressive enough that they were given official posts and responsibilities with respect to the Chinese calendar.
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The Chinese Elements and Associations, Note 3

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Originally a second variety of millet. Corn did not exist in China, of course, until introduced from the New World.
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Fantasy Seven
Element Theory

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China ends up with two systems of five elements, one from Chinese philosophy and one imported from India with Buddhism. Three elements match in each system, fire, water, and earth. The Chinese elements then include two missing from the Buddhist elements, metal and wood; and the Buddhist elements include two missing from the Chinese, air and aether (or the void).
Chinese philosophy thus has, as a matter of fact, seven elements, although these were never combined into one system. In combining them now, as a fantasy exercise, we might take a clue from Western philosophy, where the seven planets were the basis of the theory in Mediaeval alchemy that there were seven metals. As it happens, the five naked eye planets in Chinese astronomy were matched up with the five elements. In the adoption of the seven day week from the West, Chinese usage then assigns the five planets to the days of the week apart from Sunday and Monday, which are then named, obviously enough, after the Sun and the Moon. If we want to add two extra elements, then, the Sun and the Moon provide the slots for them. Since the element air gets translated as "wind" in Chinese, the Moon, which moves the fastest of the heavenly bodies, seems the appropriate match, while the Sun, illuminating the heavens, is not inappropriate for aether/void.
The accompanying table lists the seven elements with their Chinese characters, in the ascending order of the planets as recognized in Mediaeval Western astronomy, with the planetary symbols and the metals that Western alchemy associated with them. The toughest problem with all this are the associated colors. The Buddhist and the Chinese elements have definite color associations, which only agree for fire (red) and earth (yellow). The Greek elements do not have a traditional color scheme, but I would take red, yellow, green, and blue, from Jung's Mandala Symbolism, as appropriate for Western concepts of the four elements (with no color, i.e. white, for the often overlooked aether) -- as it happens, these are the four colors used in the 1997 Bruce Willis movie The Fifth Element. Of the five colors associated each with the Chinese and Buddhist elements, Chinese does not distinguish blue from green, which Buddhism does, and Chinese uses black, which Buddhism does not. If we distinguish blue from green and add black, that still only gives six colors, so a seventh is necessary. Meanwhile, we could do some sorting. All agree on red for fire. Chinese colors of white for metal and green for wood seem natural enough. Blue for water, instead of Buddhist white or Chinese black, seems better, as it actually occurs instead of black in the yin-yang diagram on the flag of South Korea. Buddhist green for air seems unnatural, while yellow for earth, although with Buddhist agreement, only seems the most appropriate for the floodplain of the Yellow River. Thus, yellow, the color of the air I often see in Los Angeles, is possible, while black has been thought the color of earth in many places since Ancient Egypt, the "Black Land." That only leaves one element and one color short. When I consider that purple clouds are a sign of someone entering the Pure Land of the Buddha Amida, purple may be a natural color to suggest for the element that can be used as a name of the Buddha, Kong Wang, "King of Emptiness."

An important part of Chinese five element theory is the direction represented by each element, with earth in the center. In the accompanying diagram, arranged around earth are squares containing the appropriate Chinese elements, in the right directions, if north is up and west to the left. If these five squares were to be folded up into a cube, one side would be open. If that open side were used for air, and the cube unfolded, then the arrangement would be with the square for air attached to one of the four outer elements. If air is attached as shown, then the vertical column of squares contains the original four Greek elements, which are shown with their hot/cold, wet/dry classifications by Aristotle. The folded cube is shown at left, with transparent sides for air, water, and metal and with solid colors for earth, wood, and fire, and at right with solid colors for air, water, and metal.
This leaves aether/void unaccounted for. Now earth, which was in the center for the Chinese elements, is displaced by its position on a side of the cube. The empty center of the cube thus might seem the likely place for aether/void, and it is therefore so shown at left inside a purple framework of the cube.
An alternative idea about aether could be derived from the idea of the "three kingdoms" in India, namely the Earth, the Air, and the Heavens. Earth could be the five Chinese elements. Air is then, of course, above the earth, and since we are actually in the air, the outer four elements could still be folded up as in the cubes shown above. Aether, however, as the sky or the heavens, would be even above air, and this would put it outside the cube altogether, as at right.

The use of the cube for six of the seven elements means that the Greek/Buddhist and Chinese elements can be represented, respectively, just by leaving off the appropriate sides of the cube. Thus, at far left, are the sides for the four original Greek elements, with two sides left off, while at immediate left is the cube with only one side left off for the five Chinese elements.

Finally, we might consider the relationship between the Chinese "five virtues" and how they seem to fit with the Kantian character typology considered elsewhere. None of the Chinese element associations match the Kantian typology, except one, imperfectly. However, if the idea is to map the five Chinese virtues onto the four Western humors, then some bumping and rearranging is going to happen. If "good faith," a central virtue indeed as Kantian good will, is to continue in the "center," then it would go to aether, not remain with earth. Righteousness replaces good faith; propriety goes to air; and kindness comes in to replace propriety. This leaves "knowledge" in place, but the Kantian virtue is now the closely related one of prudence.

If we regret the loss of associated virtues for metal and wood, there is going to be no difficulty supplying them from other Confucian virtues. Zhong and shù, "conscientiousness" or "loyalty" and "consideration," will do. Or xiào, "filial piety," is also available. Indeed, this more than we need. Along with the original "knowledge," two virtues at least will have no place in the seven element theory. Maybe we need eight or nine elements, not just seven.

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The Seven Lucky Gods of Japan

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The list of virtues is reminiscent of a story about the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu (1623-1651), who in 1623 asked the monk Tenkei what virtues would constitute nobility. Tenkei replied that there were seven: Longevity, fortune, popularity, candor, amiability, dignity, and magnanimity. The Shogun then supposedly told Tenkei to select seven gods that would exemplify these virtues, and Tenkei picked out the gods that would then become the shichi fukujin, the seven (shichi) lucky (fuku) gods (shin), or seven gods of good fortune, (cf. Reiko Chiba, The Seven Lucky Gods of Japan, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1966, 1992, pp.7-8, & Ian Reader, Religion in Contemporary Japan, U. of Hawaii Press, 1991, pp.164-165).
The "virtues" listed, however, are really not moral virtues. Most are gifts or graces of fortune, and the gods themselves have much more to do with benefits than with morality. This makes it rather hard to match them with Confucian virtues. Also, the match between gifts and gods is not always precise. Chiba herself gives Hotei for both popularity and magnanimity, while Jurojin represents wisdom, not one of Tenkei's virtues. Also, the gods as described by Reader sometimes have different benefits. The table gives both sets, respectively.

FukurokujuDaikoku(ten)HoteiEbisuBen(zai)-tenBishamon(-ten)Jurôjin

longevity	wealth, fortune	popularity, magnanimity	candor, fair dealing	amiability, beauty, music	dignity	wisdom
popularity	abundance	contentment, magnanimity	honesty, prosperity	music, arts	authority	longevity

Hotei is the most familiar of these to Westerners, though his fat, laughing figure is often called the "laughing Buddha." But Hotei is not the, or a, Buddha, but a Chinese god, Bùdài in Chinese -- he is named after the "cloth bag," , that he carries, like Santa Claus, with gifts. Reader might be thought to have made a mistake with Fukurokuju, since Chiba convincingly illustrates his gift of longevity with a specific story. But the character for "longevity," ju, actually occurs in the names of both Fukurokuju and Jurôjin, so there is nothing preventing the gift from being associated with both, as Chiba does note it used to be with Jurôjin. Fukurokuju is of particular interest since his name combines the names of three separate and very popular Chinese gods: (fuku), (roku), and (ju). Fú, "happiness, blessing," sometimes is shown holding a baby. Lù, "prosperity, success, salary," is usually in the robes of a Chinese judge -- the good fortune of official pay. And Shòu, "longevity," looks like a Taoist sage, carrying a staff, gourd, or peach, and with the bulging forehead also characteristic of Fukurokuju.
The next step would be to match the seven gods with the seven elements. Since there is no real obvious basis for that match, I will leave it to further consideration. However, in the meantime it seems a shame to leave the matter entirely fallow, so I will employ a device to at least end on a colorful note. I am not aware of a canonical order for the seven gods, but a plaque I bought on Mt. Hiei has them standing in a row that I will match up with the sequence of the planets above.
HoteiJurôjinFukurokujuBishamon(ten)Ben(zai)-tenDaikoku(ten)EbisuAirWaterMetalAetherFireWoodEarthYellowBlueWhitePurpleRedGreenBlackTaoistTaoistTaoistBuddhistHinduBuddhistShinto

popularity, magnanimity	wisdom	longevity, popularity	dignity, authority	amiability, beauty, music	wealth, fortune	candor, honesty, prosperity

The last row in the table indicates the religious origin of the gods, according to Ian Reader. The first three are from Taoism, the . Bishamonten and Daikokuten derive from Buddhism, the , where the former begins as Vaisravans and the latter as Mahakala in India. Benzaiten derives from Hinduism, and is no less than the major goddess Sarasvatî. I am not sure that there is a pre-modern word in Japanese for Hinduism, as distinct from Buddhism. Indian gods came to Japan through Buddhism, and the character , used in the name of the Indian god Brahmâ, was often used with Buddhism, as was Brahmâ himself. Nevertheless, since there is another character for Buddhism, and this one is used to mean "India," "Sanskrit," and the like, it seems reasonable that , the "doctrine of Brahmâ" could mean Hinduism. Ebisu is a native Japanese god, and thus would be part of Shintoism, the , the "Way of the gods." Bishamonten and Daikokuten, along with another Indian god, the goddess Marishiten (Mârîtchi), also used to be regarded as the three gods of war, , the Sansenjin.

Fantasy Elemental Dragons

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"Dragon" is a Greek word (drákôn), but the Greeks may only have been thinking of snakes. Mediaeval dragons, which give us the images of dragons typical in the European tradition, may actually have come from China, brought with steppe migrants like the Huns and Alans. Chinese dragons -- -- in popular religion tended to be associated with water, rivers, rain, etc. I don't think we get Chinese dragons breathing fire. That may be peculiar to European dragons, with the fire derived from images of Hell. In the association with the elements, however, the archetypal Chinese dragon is associated with the East, and with the element Wood. The color that goes with this can be read as either blue or green, so we alternatively hear of the Blue or the Green Dragon. But there are also Chinese Imperial dragons, where the Imperial color is yellow. All in all, a fan of dragons begins to yearn for dragons more systematically matched to the elements and the colors. A Blue Dragon, using the colors from the Fantasy Seven Element Theory, sounds more like water. A Red Dragon certainly goes with fire. A Yellow Dragon goes with air, and a Green Dragon with earth.

Chinese river dragons lived, of course, in rivers. A Rain Dragon (the name of Judge Dee's sword), like European fire-breathing dragons, can be imagined flying in the sky, like the Yellow Dragon for air. An earth dragon is something else. In John Boorman's movie Excalibur [1981], Merlin seems to be saying that the whole world rests on a great dragon, which is responsible for creation. Merlin's "charm of making" draws out the "dragon's breath." This is very evocative. Merlin's dragon is also pretty much invisible, which we would expect for a dragon under the earth -- it is disturbed, throwing Merlin off balance, when Excalibur is thrust into the earth by Arthur. To complete the image, fire dragons and water dragons can be imagined linking sky and earth, since volcanoes definitely contain fire, but erupt into the air, while water dragons, although a lot of water is low lying, must be in the air also as rain. Air dragons can be seen in the wind.
A Red Dragon occurs in the Bible, in the Book of Revelations:

(Revelations 12:3) And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon [drákôn pyrròs mégas], having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
(12:4) And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
(12:5) And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
(12:6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
(12:7) And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
(12:8) And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
(12:9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil [Diábolos], and Satan [Satanâs], which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

This Red Dragon is Satan, and we have the account of the revolt of the angels and the casting of Satan out of Heaven, later elaborated by Milton in Paradise Lost. The modern incarnation of this, however, is not Satan, but a serial killer, the human devil of Red Dragon [1981] by Thomas Harris, now a successful movie [2002], with Anthony Hopkins again playing Hannibal Lecter, a character famous from The Silence of the Lambs but first introduced in the Red Dragon. The symbolism of Red Dragon also includes the Mah Jongg tile called the "red dragon," one of the set of red, green, and white tiles called "dragons" in the game. This name of the tiles, however, does not seem to originally be Chinese but was introduced by Western players of the game. So this doesn't involve a connection, as we might think, back to Chinese dragons.

Something more obscure but formerly quite widespread does apparently go back to Chinese dragons. According to my colleague Gunar Freibergs ("Why Are There Two Other Dragons at the Slaying of Fafnir? Tracing the Migration of a Dragon Motif Across Eurasia"), a decorative motif of two dragons, with tails intertwined, arching down over a scene, occurs early in Chinese art and later turns up in Sythian, Sarmatian, Celtic, and even Viking art. In China, it was often an arching, two-headed dragon, which is actually found as a character on Shang oracle bones. This was often reproduced in decorative pieces in jade or bronze from the Chou all the way down to the T'ang Dynasties. Gunar quotes Victor Mair, of the University of Pennsylvania, that this character, pronounced huáng, meant "rainbow." This apparently is character number 2299 in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard University Press, 1972]. The dictionary definition is curious: "Ancient ornament of jade, of a semi-circular shape; it was hung up as a tinkling pendant." Since the actual heads of the dragons can be discerned on many of the ornaments, the definition is curiously agnostic. That this was supposed to be the rainbow may be something that has dropped out even of Chinese consciousness, though that the rainbow should be dragons seems quite reasonable in the context of the tradition.


Reference : http://www.friesian.com/elements.htm