As a famous photographic artist originally from Wan'an Town, Shuangliu County, the original intention of going to Siem Reap, Cambodia, was to see Angkor Wat, one of the seven wonders of the world, and to take pictures of the stones and cats and dogs there. Before leaving, I temporarily hugged Buddha's feet and found the "beauty of Angkor" of teacher Jiang Xun, hoping to edify it. As a result, this was so bad that it made me burst with art. I secretly decided that I could no longer be the Internet celebrity who only relied on my face to eat.
As the opening work to show the cultural heritage and achieve self-breakthrough, Mr. Liu hopes to tell everyone the beauty of Angkor through photos and my historical knowledge of half a jar of water. When Teacher Liu explains the past and present life of Angkor to everyone, please don't molest me with adoring eyes, let alone ask me nakedly where I copied it!
Hinduism VS Buddhism
Before I went to Angkor, my knowledge of Hinduism and Buddhism was still at the level of Journey to the West: in order to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, the Tang monk team traveled thousands of miles to learn scriptures, fought monsters and upgraded along the way, and finally cleared the customs. Before going to Angkor, in order to avoid the embarrassment of seeing the rubble and not knowing what to do, I conducted a one-day intensive study of the history of Angkor, and it was only then that I began to understand the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The earliest belief in Angkor was Hinduism, and temples before 1,000 AD were almost all related to Hinduism. It was not until Lamyavarman VII converted to Mahayana Buddhism that the temples of Angkor reflected more elements of Buddhism.
While walking around Angkor, you will see various statues of gods and demons, and the importance of knowledge reserve is reflected when the little sister next to you gazes at you with eager eyes and hopes that you can answer your questions. Here's a quick guide to pack B to help you stand out from the crowd of people visiting Angkor and mom won't have to worry about us fooling your little sister again.
Hinduism has three main gods, and many temples and carvings in Angkor were built to worship the three main gods. That's why it's important to recognize God when visiting Angkor.
The first main deity, and the most worshipped deity in Hinduism, is Shiva. The way to identify Lord Shiva is that he has a third eye. Lord Shiva sits on the top of a mountain and practice, and the method of practice is to cultivate until there is no desire, to cultivate to no love and hate, and to the end there is no life and death. Many demons can interfere with him, so Lord Shiva opens his third eye and can see through all delusions and interferences. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva meditates on Mount Meru, he does not move easily, and once he stands up and dances, it means the destruction of the world. So people are in awe of Lord Shiva, so temples of Lord Shiva can be found everywhere in Angkor culture.
In the carving below, Lord Shiva sits on a cow and behind Lord Shiva sits her wife, Uma. Uma's head is not known to be cut off by which defeated child...
Shiva's mount was an ox named Nandi. If you see only one cow in front of the temple in Angkor, it means that you are worshipping Lord Shiva.
As an aside, cattle in Cambodia also run around the streets, but it does not say that they cannot eat beef, and the status of cattle is not as high as in India.
The second main deity is called Visnu. This main deity is easier to identify because he has four arms, holding a sunwheel, a conch, a vajra pestle, and a lotus bud. Lord Vishnu is a god of creation, the opposite of Lord Shiva. Vishnu also had a spouse called Lakshmi, and Buddhism also inherited the role of Auspicious Goddess. Vishnu's mount is Garuda, a golden-winged bird, and if you see someone sitting on a bird in the statue, you can confidently teach your sister a lesson. Vishnu is a protagonist with a fairly high appearance rate, and I believe everyone can see it when wandering around Angkor.
The third main deity is called Brahma. In Hinduism, Brahma is the earliest chaotic state of the universe, and it is the force that formed the universe. The image of Brahma is easily recognizable, with four heads, four faces, and four arms. The Erawan Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand, is Brahma in Hinduism. Statues and reliefs of Brahma are not common in Angkor Wat, and I was not able to see or recognize the statue of Brahma when I was in Angkor, I could only find photos on the Internet to give everyone an intuitive impression. The only advice here is that when the little sister asks you for a statue that you don't recognize, don't guess Brahma, the probability of guessing is very low.
In addition to the three main gods, the sky god Indra also has a high appearance rate in Angkor, which is introduced as supplementary knowledge. Indra is the Buddhist word for the Emperor Buddha. The god of the sky is in charge of thunder and lightning and battle, and because in the sky it is also in charge of rain, so the god sacrificed in the Angkor Water Temple is Indra. Indra's mount is a three-headed image.
The most common figure carved in Angkor is Apsara, and there are more than 3,000 Apsara carvings in Angkor Wat alone. Born in the waves of the milk sea, Apsara is full of the joy of just having life, and Apsara expresses this joy with her dance.
Apsara's hands are very famous, and the movements of the hands in Thai dance are derived from Apsara. Mei Lanfang went to India specifically to learn hand movements, and the orchid finger is also derived from Apsara. Apsara's gestures represent the different stages of life, the movements of the fingers represent the buds, and the movements symbolize the process of birth, old age, illness and death.
The more than 3,000 carvings of the goddess Apsara at Angkor Wat are all toothless, except for the one pictured below. Don't ask how long we've been looking...
After you introduced several main gods of Hinduism with affection, I believe that your sister around you has begun to impress you. But comrades, please don't be complacent, if you can even comment on the animals in the stone carvings, the bonus attack effect on the girl must be better.
Hinduism is a relatively primitive form of belief, the biggest feature is that there are many animal-related images in Hinduism, here let's get to know a few animal gods of Angkor.
The snake god (Naga) is the most easily seen animal image in Angkor, and the snake god is almost found in the lintels of Angkor temples. Angkor architecture pays great attention to the carving of lintels, most of which are quite fine. The lintels of Angkor are generally composed of the bodies of two snakes, and under the lintel you can see the shape of the snake's head, which is generally divided into five-headed snake, seven-headed snake and hydra. Hindu mythology has a great influence on the world, and I heard Jiang Xun say that the legend of the Chinese White Snake was influenced by the snake god Naga.
Pictured below is the best-preserved five-headed snake statue in Bangbi Column, which remains alive after hundreds of years.
Hanuemam, the content of monkeys in Asian cultures, such as the Chinese Monkey King, is derived from the Hindu epic of the Ramayana. In the relief corridor of Angkor Wat there is the figure of the monkey god.
The monkey god represents justice in Hindu mythology, as the saying goes, righteousness. But the reality is often cruel, and the monkeys everywhere in Angkor are masters of robbery, and they have to use their hands when they don't agree with each other. It is recommended to avoid it as much as possible.
Garuda, now the symbol of Air Indonesia. Buddhism later also inherited the bird god, known in Buddhism as the Golden-winged Bird King. The bird god is the mount of the god Vishnu.
To be continued...