Page 368 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 361
Thunder

lei

Thunder and lightning are mentioned in very early texts: ‘Thunder is the sound of
fire, and it is the laughter of heaven’ (Huang-di Nei-jing). Elsewhere, we are told that
thunder is the anger of the god of heaven: when thunder rolls, one should sit fully
clothed, wearing a hat, and taking care not to be flippant.
Thunder was sometimes represented as a drummer, equipped with a number of drums.
He began to beat his drums in the 2nd month of the Chinese year ( dragon) and laid
them aside in the 2nd month of autumn.
In later texts, thunder is represented as a beast with the head of a pig or an ape, with
horns and with claws on his hands and feet, and with

The god of thunder

large wings which were of flesh, not of feathers. He had red hair. When the thunder-beast
comes into contact with a pregnant woman (i.e. when she is struck by lightning) it can no
longer rise up, and falls back to the ground. Then we can see what it really looks like.
Just as dangerous for it is contact with a chamber-pot.
Thunder travels about in a chariot drawn by the spirits of the dead. One story tells
how lightning was about to strike a woman who had failed in her pious duty towards her
aunt. She, however, covered her head with her blood-bespattered stocking, and the
thunder-beast fell helplessly to earth. It looked like an eagle. People who eat pork and
fish together are more likely than others to be struck by lightning.