Legend Of The Candle Dragon That Could Lighten The Darkest Gate Of Heaven

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - There is a beautiful Chinese legend telling the story of the Candle Dragon. It represents one of the most ancient and traditional Chinese stories.

The Candle Dragon (zhu yin - 'illuminating the darkness') is only mentioned in a few ancient texts, and one of them is the 'Classic of Mountain and Sea' ('shan hai jing'), dated to around 500 BC – 200 BC and recorded many of China's most fantastic myths and legends.

Image credit: Adobe Stock - Grafigator

One of his eyes represented the sun, the other the moon, and in his mouth, he often held a candle to illuminate the dark gate of heaven.

One legend says that to the north of the Chishui River, beyond the distant Northwest Sea, there was a mysterious mountain named Zhangwei Mountain, where a magical god of the hill lived.

This magical god had a human head and a red, curving snake-like body of more than 1000 li long (1 li means a half-kilometer (500 meters), in the form of a serpent.

His slanting eyes- one representing the sun, the other the moon - were quite different from human eyes.

They usually vertically hung on his face.

Shokuin  (Zhuyin), the spirit of China's Purple Mountain) from the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. Image credit: Toriyama Sekien  - Public Domain

One legend says to the north of the Chishui River, beyond the distant Northwest Sea, was a mysterious mountain named Zhangwei Mountain, where a magical god of the hill lived.

The sun went down, and darkness fell when he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, the world turned into daytime.

The Candle Dragon was mighty; he neither ate nor drank nor slept. His breath produced strong winds and terrible torrential rains; once he blew, there would be winter in a second with the sky filled with black clouds and heavy snow storms; once he sniffed, there would be midsummer in no time with the scorching sun that could even melt the stones.

He winked and winked, and days and nights occurred alternately.

The red and long body of the mountain god could shine beautifully, brightening even the darkest and most profound underground realm.

Guo Pu (276-324 CE), a Chinese historian, poet, and writer during the Eastern Jin period, wrote:

'Enlightener' is a dragon; he enlightens the nine yin (darknesses, i.e. the nine points of the compass at the opposite, dark side of the earth, which is a flat disk; these nine points are North, South, East, West, North-east, North-west, South-east, South-west, and the Centre)..."

For ancient people, he was Candle Dragon, a tremendously powerful creature because they believed that The Candle Dragon is mighty, as is the weather with its terrible forces.