Tianlong

Tianlong 天聾 "Heavenly Deaf" (with the character long 聾 "deaf" combining the "ear radical" 耳 and a long 龍 phonetic element) and Diya 地啞 "Earthly Dumb" are legendary attendants to Wenchang Wang 文昌王, the patron deity of literature.

Qian 乾 "The Creative", the first hexagram, says: — Qian 乾 "The Creative", Yijing[2] Commentaries on these explain: — Commentary on the Decision (彖傳)[3]—Commentary on the Images (象傳)[4]The earliest usage of tianlong 天龍 "heavenly dragon", according to the Hanyu Da Cidian, is in the Xinxu 新序 "New Prefaces" by Liu Xiang (79–8 BCE).

The (1578 CE) Bencao Gangmu pharmacopeia's entry for long "dragon" describes "a pearl under its chin",[9] and Read notes, The constellation Draco has the appearance of guarding and encircling the northern pole which is the centre of the movement of the fixed stars.

The Chinese paintings of the Dragon straining after a mystical "Pearl" undoubtedly relate to this relationship to the North Pole Star, though other explanations are given for this.

[11] The Bencao Gangmu entry for wugong 蜈蚣 "centipede" lists tianlong 天龍 "heavenly dragon" as an alternate name.

"[13] The Erya dictionary defines jili 蒺蔾 "thorns; puncture vine; bramble" as jieju 蝍蛆 "centipede; cricket";[14] which Guo Pu's commentary says resembles a huang 蝗 "locust" with a large abdomen, long horns, and which eats snake brains.

The lower 6 categories are yecha 夜叉 "Yaksha; cannibalistic devils; nature spirits", gantapo 乾闥婆 "Gandharva; half-ghost music masters", axiuluo 阿修羅 "Asura; evil and violent demigods", jialouluo 迦樓羅 "Garuda; golden bird-like demons that eat dragons", jinnaluo 緊那羅 "Kinnara; half-human half-bird celestial music masters", and maholuluojia 摩睺羅迦 "Mahoraga; earthly snake spirits".

Tianlong Babu 天龍八部 is also the title of a 1963 wuxia novel by Jin Yong, translated as English Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.