《天问》难题一则——“焉有虬龙,负熊以游”试解

AN INTERPRETATION OF THE PROBLEM IN QUESTIONS TO HEAVEN

《楚辞·天问》,表面看,未解者无多;其实难题还不少,解而不确、论而无证者尤多。“焉有虬龙,负熊以游”,以问伯鲧沉渊化熊事,可能较大。夏禹变成黄龙由化熊的伯鲧腹中剖裂而出,旋即将“熊体”(鲧尸)“负”出水面,一起回归江海,自由翔游———象征其生命与事业之生生不已。在“宇宙生命一体化”的观念支配之下,神话思维以为万物皆可随机转化,不但人与兽可以互变,动植之间,鸟兽之间,有生无生之间,也能相互变化。鲧禹都曾化熊、化龙,熊、龙可以混形,龙、鱼也能互渗。红山文化的玉制“熊首蜷龙”或“蚕龙”,即可为证。

On the face of the interpretation of Questions to Heaven , Songs of Chu , there seem to be few problems unsolved, but actually many problems are to be interpreted more exactly and studied with proofs .One of the major problems in about the myth: Gun sank into a pool and turned into a bear. Then Yu changed into a yellow dragon, burst out of the bear's belly, carried the bear's body(Gun's body) to the surface of the pool and swam together to the sea. All this symbolizes the continuity of life and career. Under the influence of te ideology that 'all lives are integrated in the universe', people of mythical thinking hold that everything can be transformed. No wonder that Jun and Yu respectively turned into a bear and a dragon in Chinese myth. A good proof is the jade 'ragon with a bear head' in Hongshan culture.