'Brug (Dragon)

Tibetan sources present these portraits as warnings, not as a fixed fate. In Gyurme Dorje's words, the predictions "are not considered to be deterministic, but cautionary and prescriptive", and a negative portent is met with rites that "have the power to nullify" it.

The White Beryl, the seventeenth-century treatise of the regent Sangs-rgyas rGya-mtsho, gives the Dragon a fiery portrait. In Dorje's translation: "Natives of the dragon year are not only ferocious, but lacking in breadth, balance and subtlety. Not simply loud-mouthed, they scorn the inadequacies of others. Not merely energetic, they will never procrastinate, asserting that there will be time to relax once their purpose has been achieved at the present moment through rigorous discipline. Short-tempered, kind-hearted and boisterous, they denigrate the advice of others as well as their own limitations. If rare illnesses befall, there will be great danger to the life-essence."

Philippe Cornu's Tibetan Astrology sees the Dragon as flamboyant, impetuous and lucky, "blessed with four things: wealth, virtue, harmony, and long life — as long as it is in control": a natural leader convinced of its superiority, intuitive and generous, a born showman, inclined to megalomania but sincere, tactless and terrible in anger but quick to forgive.

Both portraits see an energetic, impatient and proud Dragon, but Cornu adds luck and leadership where the White Beryl warns of fierceness. ZodiAtlas gives the White Beryl first because it is the Tibetan text itself, written down in the seventeenth century; Cornu does not say which Tibetan text his portraits come from.

Every Dragon year shares the same vitality (srog): earth, the element of the intermediate directions, where the Dragon stands on the divination turtle. Its life-spirit (bla) is fire, the element that is "mother" to earth. Its wind-horse (rlung-rta), the force of luck and good reputation, is wood: the Dragon belongs to the luck group of the Mouse, Dragon and Monkey, whose luck is the Tiger's element, wood.

Body (lus) and power (dbang-thang) change with each of the five Dragon years. In the Wood Dragon year the body is fire and the power wood; in the Fire Dragon, earth and fire; in the Earth Dragon, wood and earth; in the Iron Dragon, iron and iron; in the Water Dragon, water and water. The power element is the one that names the year.

Dragon natives fall under the numeric squares Red Nine, White Six and Blue Three, which also govern the Ox, the Sheep and the Dog.

Wood Dragon (shing-pho 'brug-lo). They are "skilled in the arts, refined in speech and easy to befriend", sometimes wishing to travel and sometimes to stay at home; others will envy them, but "they will possess their rightful share of food and wealth". Sixty-six years, six obstacles, few children.

Fire Dragon (me-pho 'brug-lo). "Corpulent and wealthy", combative with their relatives and troubled by thieves and enemies, they have "great dexterity even when resources are scant" and "will acquire an abundance of food, wealth and material resources". Seventy-one years, seven obstacles, two children.

Earth Dragon (sa-pho 'brug-lo). They "will not speak the truth", are "extremely indolent, fond of alcohol", and "will commit adultery"; "their minds will be joyful, light and most deceitful", though they suffer few diseases and enjoy abundance. Fifty-five years, six obstacles, five or seven children.

Iron Dragon (lcags-pho 'brug-lo). They are "corpulent and strong, with great pride"; they postpone virtuous actions, "for their hearts are evil even when their words appear to be gentle"; king spirits may bring madness. Eighty years, three obstacles, one or five children.

Water Dragon (chu-pho 'brug-lo). They "have moles on their bodies", "continuously change their residence" and "enjoy archery and other sports"; they have much wealth and many children, yet "their family line may well come to an end" and they squander what they own. Sixty-two years, six obstacles.

The years of one's own sign, at ages 13, 25, 37, 49, 61 and 73, bring what the White Beryl calls "natural obstacles" (rang-keg). In them it advises performing virtuous actions, drawing in prosperity and long life by ritual means, and avoiding contact "with those in grief, or invalids". The years of the seventh sign, the Dog, fall at ages 7, 19, 31, 43 and 55. At seven, adversarial forces must be ritually averted; the nineteenth year is "the time for making money"; the thirty-first brings the risk of divorce, the forty-third hostile forces against wealth, and the fifty-fifth difficult breathing. The Dragon is also one of the four "adversarial" signs (gshed-bzhi) with the Ox, the Sheep and the Dog.

According to sMon-'gro Paṇḍita, as Dorje reports, the twenty-sixth day of the last winter month of a Dragon year is a "black day".

Philippe Cornu adds a table of good and bad days for each sign, shown below; he does not name its Tibetan source. For Cornu, a Year of the Dragon is energetic, "giving rise to celebrations and grandiose projects"; it is "auspicious for marriage, birth, and new beginnings", a year of surprises and of natural disturbances.

• Excellent day: Sunday
• Good day: Wednesday
• Bad day: Thursday
• Day of basis: day 3 of the lunar month
• Day of power: day 12 of the lunar month
• Day of success: day 17 of the lunar month
• Day of obstacles: day 8 of the lunar month
• Day of disturbance: day 9 of the lunar month
• Day of enemies: day 11 of the lunar month

From Philippe Cornu, Tibetan Astrology, tables 26 and 27. Cornu does not name the Tibetan source of these days.

The White Beryl also divines illness from the animal of the day. A Dragon day is "heavy" for men and "light" for women; its illnesses are severe ones: of the brain, the lungs and the heart, the lower organs, the kidneys and the lumbar region, madness and diarrhoea. For the most severe diseases, those with signs of impending death, the text adds that the rites vary with the year-sign of the sick person.

On the divination turtle the Dragon belongs to the intermediate directions, the sector of earth, the spleen, the four trigrams Khon, Khen, Gin and Zon and the planet Saturn. Diviners use this sector to divine matters concerning "land and houses". Among the twelve hidden spirit lords, the Dragon's is Ba-dan ser-po.

Among the five constitutional types, Ox, Dragon, Sheep and Dog years are "friend" years for the wood type, son years for the fire type, destiny years for the earth type, "mother" years for the iron type and enemy years for the water type. The Dragon year itself is the year of "greater penalty" for the earth and water types and of "lesser penalty" for the fire type.

The White Beryl judges a birth by the father's sign. A father born in an Ox, Sheep, Dog or Dragon year and a child born in a Bird or Monkey year give the auspicious prediction called "spear at the top and sister at the bottom"; with a child of the Tiger or Hare, the prediction is "short lifespan, inauspicious in both the short and long term".

Seen from the child's side, a Dragon child of a Horse or Snake father has the auspicious "high fortress construction"; with a Mouse or Pig father, the prediction is short life.

For a Dragon child, the autumn months are the delicate ones. Birth in the Monkey month falls in the sector of ill-health, in the Bird month in that of death, and in the Dog month in that of the tomb, "inauspicious to oneself and one's father".

The White Beryl makes earth the presiding element at death when a deceased of the Ox, Dragon, Sheep or Dog sign also bears the other marks of earth: the earth constitutional type, one of the trigrams Khen, Khon, Gin or Zon, the numeric square Yellow Five, the planet Saturn, and three generations of the family, father and son included, of the same sign. "In all such cases, and during the four last seasonal months", the body should not be given sky burial in the mountains.

Cremation is auspicious for someone who dies in a Dragon year if most living relatives are Mouse or Pig; interment is auspicious if they are Tiger or Hare. In each case the trigrams or numeric squares must also agree. The corpse itself should not be carried towards the east, "otherwise, it will be inauspicious for friends".

When the deceased is a Dragon, the White Beryl warns that the demonic influence may fall on relatives of the Monkey or Dog sign, and prescribes rites "for the slaying of the avengers".

For every negative reading the White Beryl gives a remedy. In the years of one's own sign it prescribes recitations, such as the sNang-brgyad and the Pañcarakṣā at thirteen and the Vajravidāraṇa and the Amitāyus Sūtra at twenty-five, together with long-life rituals. Weak forces are restored with a ransom for vitality (srog-bslu) and with prayer flags for the wind-horse. As the book itself says, "if the appropriate rituals are correctly undertaken, the negative conjunctions will turn out to be auspicious."

The White Beryl manuscript gives several lists of couples, each with its own prognosis; we show them as they are. The Dragon forms two loving triads, with the Mouse and the Bird and with the Bird and the Monkey; with the Monkey it also has many children, and with the Pig it becomes rich and powerful.

With the Ox the couple divorces; with the Sheep it has difficulty raising children; with the Dog it suffers "unremitting losses"; with the Horse it is a "mediocre" ill-omen. No compatible relationship is possible between the Dragon and the Snake: "they will become entangled". Two Dragon partners are "exceedingly quarrelsome, and live from hand to mouth" in one list, while another list calls the same couple of good auspice.

Philippe Cornu's table rates the Dragon's partners differently. For him the Rat is excellent, the Snake good, the Cow neutral, and the Tiger and the Hare enemies; he prints nothing for the other six signs. Cornu himself admits that "Chinese, Tibetan, and Western writers are not in complete agreement as to compatibility".