|
|
Presentation Box  Key Ideas
Key Ideas
StoryOnce there was a king who had two wives. His first wife bore a thousand children who all decided to become monks and follow the Buddha's law. His second wife had only two sons. The youngest was named Non-o (NON-oh) and helped his monk brothers with their worship. The eldest, Kongorikishi, however, had a much more aggressive personality. He vowed to protect the Buddha and his worshipers by fighting against evil and ignorance.
Immortal
Tale
Long, long ago a woman named Hsi Wang-mu (she wong-moo) ruled over the Land of the Immortals in the Kunlun (cun-lun) mountains. Her incredible mountain residence was renowned for its marble and jasper buildings, nine-storied tower, sparkling brooks, and especially for its beautiful gardens. In the Land of the Immortals, bountiful peach trees grew. One of the peach trees in Hsi Wang-mu's orchard blossomed only once every 3,000 years. Its luscious fruit took an additional 3,000 years to ripen. Anyone lucky enough to eat the magical fruit of this tree was granted immortality. When the peaches were harvested, Hsi Wang-mu held a huge celebration and feast at her home, at which her mortal visitors ate the precious peaches. She also invited the immortals to taste the fruit, since they, too, had to wait 6,000 years to enjoy this amazing delicacy.
Mythical TaleBefore this world existed, and far below it, the First World lay in darkness. Here lived six beings: First Man, First Woman, Salt Woman, Fire God, Coyote, and Begochiddy, the golden-haired child of the Sun. Begochiddy made four mountains in this first world - white to the east; blue to the south; yellow to the west; and black to the north. Then Begochiddy made insects and plants. But conflicts arose and the first beings, tired of the First World and its darkness, decided to leave. At the center of the First World, Begochiddy made a red mountain and planted a giant reed. The first beings gathered all of Begochiddy's creations and crawled inside of the hollow reed. The reed grew and grew and carried them into the Second World. In the Second World, which was blue, Begochiddy created still more new things. When the Cat People, who lived in the Second World, fought the newcomers, First Man used magic to overcome them. Conflicts again disrupted the harmony of this world and the first beings collected their possessions and travelled in the giant reed up to the Third World. The Third World was beautiful, yellow and filled with light. There, Begochiddy created rivers and springs, animals and birds, trees and lightning, and many kinds of human beings. When the men and women began to quarrel, Begochiddy separated them. But they were so unhappy that Begochiddy reunited them, warning that the Third World would be flooded if there was any more trouble. And then Coyote caused trouble. Walking by the river, he spied in the water a baby with long black hair. He lifted the baby from the river and hid it under his blanket, telling no one. Colorful storms and torrential rains approached from all directions. Everyone fled to the protective hollow of the giant reed, which carried them upward. But the reed stopped growing before it reached the next world. So Locust helped Begochiddy make a hole that led to the Fourth World, an island surrounded by water. Seeing the waters still rising in the Third World, Begochiddy asked who had angered the Water Monster. Coyote tightened his blanket about his body and Begochiddy ordered him to open it. There was the water baby. Coyote returned the baby to the Third World and the waters receded. In the Fourth World, Begochiddy set out the mountains and placed the moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Begochiddy taught everyone the right way to live, including how to care for plants such as corn, squash, and beans, and how to give thanks.
Creation MythsChinese Creation In the beginning, there was an
enormous egg containing chaos. On the inside the chaos raged on and on- both yin
and yang were mixed together. All the opposites were writhing together; male and
female, cold and hot, wet and dry, dark and light. Finally the egg burst open, and out
leapt the giant dragon Pan-gu. Yin and yang swirled around him and he pushed the
two shell halves apart. Thus the opposites were separated and the earth began to
take shape. Every day for 18,000 years Pan-gu grew
ten feet – thus the sky was raised a little higher every day. Once the sky was
30,000 miles above the ground, Pan-gu stopped and began to hammer out the
mountains and fill the valley with water to form great oceans. He created rivers with his fingers and
stamped the earth down to create flat lands. He gathered raw light and tossed
them into the sky to become stars. After 18,000 years, Pan-gu had grown
old and tired. He had made the world with his hands and formed the basic
principles of yin and yang. He wanted to lay down and sleep forever. Once he lay
down he never rose again. When Pan-gu died, his body formed huge mountains. His
skull formed the top of the sky, his hair formed all flowers and plants, his
bones turned to jade and pearl and his arms and legs the four directions. His blood became the rivers, his
breath turned into the wind and his voice to thunder. One eye became the sun and
the other the moon. For many years the world was a very
beautiful place but also lonely; there were no people. The half-dragon goddess Nuwa was born
after Pan-gu died, from part of the mixture of yin and yang that he had
separated. She decided to create humans to have some other beings to talk to and
share ideas with, but mostly just to love. Nuwa went down to the edge of the
Yellow River where there were vast, soft mud banks. She began forming figures
out of clay. She decided that it
would be much more practical for her creations to have legs instead of a dragon
tail, thus her humans were not made in her image. No sooner did she set the first little
mud man on the ground did he start to jump, and dance and sing. He began to
speak. “Look at me!” Nuwa was delighted and began making
more and more humans. She made hundreds and hundreds of mud
humans, but soon realized that it would take centuries for her to make enough
people to fill the vast earth completely. Nuwa grabbed hold of a muddy stick and
flung drops of mud across the land. As the sun dried each drop, it became
a new man or woman. Some say that these humans were the less intelligent ones.
Those formed by Nuwa’s own hands became great leaders. She told them to go and populate the earth. As they grew she loved them and protected them, and was revered as the mother of all humans. Egyptian Creation Long, long ago the Egyptian sun god, Re (RAY), created virtually everything that existed in the world. Simply by speaking the name of something, Re created it. As he named birds, animals, and things, they appeared. Because Re made all things, he also controlled them. More powerful than anyone, he ruled both heaven and earth.
Isis, a clever god gifted in the arts of magic, envied Re's power. She desired to know Re's secret Great Name, because it was the key to his magic and would give her greater power. Isis spent a lot of time wondering how she could obtain Re's secret. As Re grew older and weaker, she devised a plot.
Whenever Re drooled, the wily Isis gathered up his spit. Kneading the spit with soil, she created a serpent. Although the serpent came forth from Re, he had not created it, so it was outside of his control. Isis moulded the serpent into the form of a dart and placed it on Re's daily walking path across the sky. When Re passed by, the serpent reared up and stung him.
Soon, Re began to burn with the serpent's venom. He was baffled by the creature's behaviour and dismayed to discover that he had no power over it. He could not cure his body of the terrible pain. Re called to his children for help, but they could not end his suffering.
Then Isis came forth and offered to work her magic to end Re's pain. However, she insisted she could cure Re only if he revealed his secret Great Name. Re offered a variety of nicknames, but clever Isis was not fooled. Fearing for his life, Re finally gave in and transmitted the Great Name from his heart to Isis's. That is how Isis successfully learned the secret of Re's all-powerful magic.
|
|
|
Send mail to [email protected] with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
©
IMORTA Inc. 2003
Copyright ©
GOOD
STORIES
