Today, I would like to talk to you about the religion of the ancient Persian Empire, Zoroastrianism, which is widely known in China.
In the process of development, Persian civilization has similarities with the development of other civilizations, and in the development of Persian religion, it has also been influenced by many cultures. The Persians originally belonged to the Indo-European language family, and the original religion was very similar to the religion of the Aryans.
Later, as Persia entered classical times, Zoroastrianism emerged and eventually became a widely popular religion in Iran and had a relatively large influence on other religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
As I said above, the earliest religions of Persia were very similar to those of the Aryans, glorified by qualities of strength and bravery, hoping to attain a comfortable material life through faith.
But as the social environment changed, the Persian Zoroastrians founded a new religion named after himself.
Generally speaking, most scholars believe that Zoroastrians lived in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC. Coming from an aristocratic family, he left home around the age of 20 in search of wisdom, which seems to be similar to the founder of Buddhism, Gautama Siddhartha. After more than a decade of travel, he finally believed that the supreme god was Ahula Mazda, also known as the god of wisdom. And he himself has been chosen by God as a prophet.
Zoroastrian and his followers believe that Ahura Mazda is the Supreme God, the Creator of all the good things in the world, but at the same time believes that there are six secondary gods who assist the Supreme God. In addition, there is a god in a state of hostility with the supreme god, Ahula Mazda, called Anga Menius, a god who represents evil and destruction. The two gods are engaged in a cosmic war that will last for about twelve thousand years, in which the god of goodness and wisdom will eventually triumph, the god of evil destruction will disappear forever, the human soul will be judged, the accomplished and virtuous will go to heaven, and the devil and his kind will be like hell.
It should be noted that Zoroaster does not advocate asceticism, he believes that the enjoyment of the material world is also a blessing, as long as it is not excessively enjoyed, and can be honest with others, people can enjoy wealth, sexual pleasure and social honor.
In the 6th century BC, Zoroastrianism began to attract a large number of believers and eventually began with Darius, gradually rising to become a religious belief at the national level.
Later, with the control of Alexander's empire over the Persian region, Zoroastrianism was severely damaged, a large number of temples were destroyed, and a large number of clergy were killed.
Entering the Sassanid Persian dynasty, Zoroastrianism ushered in its spring.
But eventually, in the 7th century, after the Islamic Arabs overthrew Sassanid Persia, Zoroastrianism fell back into trouble. In today's Iran, there are only a few thousand Zoroastrian believers.
Obviously, according to the doctrine, it is easy to feel that Zoroastrianism had a very profound influence on other religions that would later influence the world.