Fucanglong

Fucanglong, the "dragon of hidden treasures," is the Chinese dragon said to lie hidden underground guarding buried wealth, the fourth of four classes of dragons in a scheme of Buddhist origin.

What the Name Means

Fucang means "lying hidden" or "hidden store," so fucanglong is the "hidden-treasure dragon." The same word fucang is used in Chinese Buddhism for hidden teachings and treasures concealed until the right time, including the terma or "treasure texts" of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Fourth Class of Dragons

Buddhism carried Indian ideas about nāgas, serpent beings who live under the earth and the waters and guard jewels, into China, where translators called them lóng. Mahayana writers divided the nāgas into four classes, a list the scholar M. W. de Visser found in a Ming dynasty Chinese encyclopedia. The fourth class were the nāgas "who are lying hidden," guarding the treasuries of the cakravartins, the ideal "wheel-turning" kings of Buddhist legend, and blessing humankind. The other three were heavenly dragons (tianlong), rain-giving divine dragons (shenlong), and river-managing earthly dragons (dilong).

In English, Cyrus Adler's 1888 report for the U.S. National Museum gave the list as four kinds of Chinese dragons, describing the fu-ts'ang-lung as the dragon "of hidden treasures, which watches over the wealth concealed from mortals." Ernest Ingersoll quoted Adler in Dragons and Dragon Lore (1928).

Volcanoes and Gems

Many popular books add that the fucanglong guards both natural treasures, such as gems and precious metals in the earth, and man-made ones, and that volcanoes are formed when these dragons burst out of the ground to report to heaven. These details are widely repeated, including on our own page on Chinese dragons, but they have not been traced to a classical Chinese source and seem to belong to modern retellings.

Comparison with Western Dragons

The fucanglong is the closest thing in Chinese tradition to the treasure-hoarding dragon of Europe, but the spirit is different. A Western dragon like Fáfnir guards gold out of greed. The hidden-treasure nāga keeps wealth in trust, out of human reach, until the proper time or the proper ruler comes. The same idea of a serpent guarding jewels runs through Indian and Southeast Asian nāga lore.

Related

• Tianlong: Tianlong, the "celestial" or "heavenly" dragon, is the Chinese dragon said to guard the palaces of the gods and hold them up so they do not fall, the highest of four classes of dragons in a scheme of Buddhist origin.
• Shenlong: Shenlong, the "spiritual" or "divine" dragon, is the Chinese dragon that raises clouds and sends wind and rain for the good of people, one of four classes of dragons in a scheme of Buddhist origin.
• Dilong: Dilong, the "earth dragon," is the Chinese dragon said to mark out and clear the courses of rivers and streams, the third of four classes of dragons in a scheme of Buddhist origin.
• Nāga: Nāgas are serpent beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain tradition, often cobras or half-human figures with cobra hoods, who live in underwater or underground kingdoms, guard treasure, and control rain and water.
• Fáfnir: Fáfnir is a dwarf turned dragon in Norse legend who guards a cursed hoard of gold until the hero Sigurd kills him by stabbing him from a pit dug in his path.
• Chinese Dragons
• Dragon Types

Sources and Further Reading

• M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1913)
• Ernest Ingersoll, Dragons and Dragon Lore (New York: Payson & Clarke, 1928)
• J. Ph. Vogel, Indian Serpent-Lore, or the Nāgas in Hindu Legend and Art (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1926)

Cite this entry: “Fucanglong,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/fucanglong.