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Tian Long Ba Bu by Jin Yong

Tian Long Ba Bu

Tian Long Ba Bu is a term from Buddist Scriptures. ‘Nonhuman’ are creatures that are human by looks but not in form. Tian Long Ba Bu are all nonhumans. Amongst the 8 types of creatures. Tian and Long are counted first, thus these two are used to represent the rest. The eight types are as followed: 1. Tian (Saint) 2. Long (Dragon God) 3. Yeh-Cha (Night Guardian) 4. Gon-Da-Poh (Essence Muse) 5. Ah-Xio-Law (Horde) 6. Ga-Lau-Law (Harpy) 7. Gung-Lah-Law (Horned Muse) 8. Mo-Fuu-Law-Ga (Snakeman)

Gon-Da-Poh is a type of god that absorbs smells as a source of energy, as they do not consume food or wine as mere mortals. They serve as muse for Day-Chai, and emit wonderful scents from their bodies. In Sanskrit Gon-Da-Poh signifies ‘ever changing intangibles’, since either scents nor music can ever be captured fully.

Long are dragon gods. The dragons in Buddist scriptures are similar to the dragon descriptions of Western countries, except that Chinese dragons have no legs. Perhaps the concepts of dragon kings and dragons are introduced by Buddist scriptures, due to titles such as Fifth Dragon King, Seventh Dragon King and Eigth Dragon King exist.

Night guardians are gods that consume phantoms. They are symnonym to speed, courage, agility and secrets. The term nowadays have come to signify evil spirits, but in Buddist scriptures, many night guardians tend towards the side of good, for it is their duty to maintain ‘the balance of life’.

Tian, also known as saints. In Buddism, saints are not undefeatable. They are able to live longer than regular humans, enjoy more heavenly goods at a greater extent. Buddist philosophy dictates that nothing remains the same over time, even saints have an end to their lives, ultimately they too, will die.

Mo-Fuu-Law-Ga is a type of snake man with the head of a human with the body of a snake.

Ah-Xiao-Law are rather special. The males of this specie are indescribably ugly, while the females are stunningly beautiful. The king of Ah-Xiao-Law often fought with Day-Chai as one tribe had food and no female, while the other had females but no food. Jealousy lead to war,and war lead to immense casulties. Every battle was such that a ‘Xiao-Law’ grounds is also known as a place of battle’s aftermath, where corpses lie open as far as the eyes can see.

Ga-Lau-Law is a type of bird, with large strong wings, a puffiness on the forehead containing the charm pearl. The screeching from it saddens all listeners. It eats dragons as a food source. Legends claim Hun hero Yue-Fei was a golden winged bird in a previous life, the Ga-Lau-Law is the harpy itself. Everyday it must consume one dragon king and five hundred little dragons.

Gung-Lah-Law are similar to humans except for a horn stemming out of the forehead. They specialize in music and dances, thus are employed as Day-Chai's muses

Buddhist Scriptures - Not Translated

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