Chinese mythology versus Western mythology
What are the similarities and differences?
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01
A common basis for the origin of myths
Whether in China or Greece, including the peoples of the world, in the transition period from primitive society to civilized society, myths basically represent wars between clans and tribes, cultural heroes of early human civilization, naïve thinking of human beings on their own origins, and interpretations of the origin and creation of the universe.
There are currently two explanations for the reason why the primitive myths of the peoples of the world are extremely similar: one is the school of comparative mythology, and the other is the school of psychology.
△ Fragment of the Relief of the Twelve Gods of Olympus, Walters Art Gallery
The comparative mythological school believes that the North Indian Plateau between India and Europe is the birthplace of the common ancestor of mankind. Many primitive myths were created here by our ancestors, and their descendants brought them to Europe, India, and Persia from here. The comparative mythology school used this to explain the similarity of the primitive myths of the Indo-European language peoples.
The psychology school believes that the ancestors of the ancient period had the belief in animism, in witchcraft and deformation, in the immortality of the soul, in the belief that there is a soul when people are alive, in believing that human death is caused by black magic and that people have endless curiosity, these six commonalities.
This universal perception of the same world makes the primitive myths of the peoples of the world highly overlapping.
△ "Eighty-Seven Immortals Picture Scroll", Tang Wu Daozi (biography)
A Brief History of Myths
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02
"Far" and "Near" in the Relationship between Man and God
When human beings entered civilized society, the myths of various peoples began to differ, and the same was true of Chinese and Greek mythology.
The ancestors of antiquity created gods and divine heroes, through which they expressed their wishes and ideals, and these imaginary gods and heroes naturally became the umbrella of the ancestors and resisted various disasters.
Therefore, the relationship between the mythical gods and the ancestors is very close, which is a common phenomenon in the myths of all ethnic groups in the world. The greek myth of mount Olympus gods not only had close contact with primitive people, but also formed indissoluble relationships with the Greeks of the civilized era.
△ "Mountain and Sea Lark Map" Partial · Ming Anon
However, the relationship between man and god in Chinese mythology did not develop with time, especially after entering the Xia Shang period, most of these ancient gods no longer exerted their divine power, the relationship between man and god was basically isolated, and the new myths of the Xia Shang period were also a different stove, without using the stories of ancient gods.
The reason why Chinese and Western mythology are so different in the relationship between man and god is that slavery in ancient Greece was a democratic politics that emphasized the individuality of free people and the great role played by free people.
Because the geographical scope of ancient Greece was small and mountainous, there were no fertile rivers and vast plains, which was not conducive to agricultural development. Coupled with the long and winding coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, ancient Greece created unique navigation conditions, so the ancient Greek commerce and handicraft industry was very developed, which led to the ancient Greek free people became a powerful and independent class.
△ 450 BC, the heyday of ancient Athens
Under such a slave system, although slaves did not have any personal freedom, free people were highly respected by society. In 594 BC, the ancient Greek statesman Solon, who represented the interests of the freedmen, carried out a larger reform, eliminating the remnants of the clan system in the relationship of property ownership, recognizing the freedom of inheritance of private property, and establishing a parliament of four hundred freemen, which greatly limited the power of the nobility.
More than eighty years later, the statesman Cristinus increased the number of members of parliament from four hundred to five hundred, and expanded the scope of its powers, to a certain extent fulfilling the duties of the Athenian government.
After two reforms, the clan aristocracy of Athens collapsed completely, and the freedmen became a political force in power. Therefore, most of the Greek myths have also been passed down through the screening and transformation of the free people, plus the free people can fully exercise their power, express their ideals, express their will, when they deal with myths, they must preserve the previous close relationship between man and god, strengthen the status of man, fantasize about man as a half-man and half-god hero, enrich man's story, and let the ancient gods participate in human activities.
This led to the closer and more intimate and harmonious relationship between Greek myths and gods, and objectively made the ancient Greek myths systematically and widely circulated due to human activities.
The relationship between man and god in Chinese mythology was originally harmonious and close, but at the end of primitive society, this relationship was destroyed by the tribal leader Huan Huan. At that time, the Jiuli people in the south tried to continue the close relationship between man and god in the primitive society, and Jiuli was punished for the crime of "nine li chaotic virtue, mixed people and gods, and incomprehensible things".
Since then, the way of communication between the earthly people and the gods has been cut off, and the gods live high in the heavens, and only adopt an indifferent attitude toward the activities of mortals, or it is the people who think that God is such a distant existence.
△ "Xia Yu Wang Standing Statue Axis" Song Anon
Later, Xia Yu, the founder of the Xia Dynasty, personally led a large army to expedition to the Sanmiao clan, descendants of Jiuli, and from then on, people and gods had their own duties, and neither side violated the rules of the Jedi Heavenly Pass.
In this regard, the Yin people and the ancient Greeks were consistent, but contrary to the ancient Greeks who believed in gods and respected people, the Yin people believed in gods, but did not attach importance to the existence of people as individuals, but put ghosts and gods above people and society, believing that gods could not reduce their status to participate in human activities, which aggravated the isolation of the relationship between Chinese myths and gods.
When we came to the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou people reversed their treatment of God. Zhou Ren emphasizes reason and human will, and adopts a respectful and distant attitude toward ghosts and gods. Although they acknowledge the existence of ghosts and gods and remain respectful, they do not speak of ghosts and gods, and advocate respect for morality and protection of the people.
Under the influence of the positive and negative attitudes of the people during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the relationship between man and god in Chinese mythology has always maintained a great sense of alienation.
△ "Five Stars and Twenty-Eight Divine Figures" Tang Liang Lingzhen
Greek Mythology: The Universe, the Gods, and Man