The Hero with a Thousand Faces 读书笔记4
A Mabinog (Welsh) is a bard's apprentice The term mabinogi, 'juvenile instruction' denotes the traditional material (myths, legends, poens, etc) taught to a mabinogi, was the name given by Guest to her translation of 11 romances from the 'Ancient Books'.
Etymology
The word mabinogi itself is something of a puzzle, although clearly derived from the Welsh mab, which means "son, boy, young person". Eric P. Hamp of the earlier school traditions in mythology, found a suggestive connection with Maponos "the Divine Son", a Gaulish deity. Mabinogi properly applies only to the Four Branches, which is a tightly organised quartet very likely by one author, where the other seven are so very diverse (see below). Each of these four tales ends with the colophon "thus ends this branch of the Mabinogi" (in various spellings), hence the name.
Devata
Deva is the Hindu term for deity; however, devata (Devanagari: देवता; Khmer: ទេវតា (tevoda); Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, Malay and Indonesian: dewata; Batak languages: debata (Toba), dibata (Karo), naibata (Simalungun); Philippine languages: diwata) is a smaller, more focused deva. The term "devata" can also mean deva (pl: devatas, meaning the gods). There are male and female devatas. There are many kinds of devatas: vanadevatas (forest spirits, perhaps descendants of early nature-spirit cults), gramadevata (village gods), devatas of river crossings, caves, mountains, and so on. In Hinduism, the devatas that guard the eight, nine and ten cardinal points are called Lokapala (Guardians of the Directions) or, more specifically in ancient Java tradition, Dewata Nawa Sanga(Guardians of Nine Directions). Every human activity has its devata, its spiritual counterpart or aspect.
Dr. Jung:
The incomparably useful function of the dogmatic symbol it protects a person from a direct experience of God as long as he doesn't mischievously expose himself. But if.... he leaves home and family, lives too long alone, and gazes too deeply into the dark mirror, then the awful event of the meeting may befall him. Yet even then the traditional symbol, come to full flower through the centuries, may operate like a healing draught and divert the fatal incursion of the living godhead int the hallowed spaces of the church.
P178: .3 Rescue from Without
If the hero-like Muchukunda- is unwilling, the disturber suffers an ugly shock; but on the other hand, if the summoned one is only delayed-sealed in by the beatitude of the state of perfect being (which resembles death)-an apparent rescue is effected, and the adventurer returns.
Once, in a battle, the deities were defeated by the asuras. Tormented by arrows, they sought help from king Muchukunda. King Muchukunda agreed to help them and fought against the asuras for a long time.[2] Since the deities did not have an able commander, king Muchukunda protected them against the onslaught by asuras, until the deities got an able commander like Kartikeya, the son of Lord Shiva. Then Indrasaid to the king Muchukunda, "O king, we, the deities are indebted to you for the help and protection which you have given us, by sacrificing your own family life. Here in the heaven, one year equals three hundred and sixty years of the earth (theory of relativity). Since, it has been a long time, there is no sign of your kingdom and family because it has been destroyed with the passage of time. We are happy and pleased with you, so ask for any boon except Moksha (liberation) because Moksha (liberation) is beyond our capacities".
Muchkunda asks Indra for a boon to sleep. While fighting on the side of the deities, King Muchukunda did not get an opportunity to sleep even for a moment. Now, since his responsibilities were over, overcome by tiredness, he was feeling very sleepy. So, he said, "O King of the deities, I want to sleep. Anyone who dares to disturb my sleep should get burnt to ashes immediately".
Indra said, "So be it, go to the earth and enjoy your sleep, one who awakens you would be reduced to ashes".
After this, King Muchukunda descended to earth and selected a cave on a hill, where he could sleep undisturbed. The hills and the cave where Muchukunda rested is located to Mount Girnar in the state of Gujarat, or Ananthagiri hills in the state of Telangana.
soul - inua (Eskimo)
Shinto (神道 Shintō), or kami-no-michi (among other names)[note 1] is the ethnic religion of Japan that focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past.[2]
Amaterasu (天照), Amaterasu-ōmikami (天照大神／天照大御神／天照皇大神) or Ōhirume-no-muchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神) is a part of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is seen as the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. The name Amaterasu derived from Amateru means "shining in heaven". The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great august kami (god) who shines in the heaven".[N 1] According to the Kojikiand Nihon Shoki in Japanese mythology, the Emperors of Japan are considered to be direct descendants of Amaterasu.
The motif of the sun as a goddess, instead of as a god, is a rare and precious survival from an archaic, apparently once widely diffused, mythological context. The great maternal divinity of South arabia is the feminine sun, Ilat. The word in German for the sun (die Sonne) is feminine. Throughout Siberia, as well as in North America, scattered stories survive of a female sun. And in the fairy tale of Red Ridinghood, who was eaten by the wolf but rescued from its belly by the hunter, we may have a remote echo of the same adventure as that of Amaterasu.
Traces remain in many lands; but only in Japan do we find the once great mythology will effective in civilization; for the Emperor is a direct descendant of the grandson of Amaterasu, and as ancestress of the royal house she is honored as one of the supreme divinities of the national tradition of Shinto. In her adventures may be sensed a different world-feeling from that of the now better-known mythologies of the solar god: a certain tenderness toward the lovely gift of light, a gentle gratitude for things made visible - such as must once have distinguished the religious mood of many people.
Shimenawa (標縄・注連縄・七五三縄, "enclosing rope") are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp[1] ropeused for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. They can vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with shide. A space bound by shimenawa often indicates a sacred or pure space, such as that of a Shinto shrine.[2]
Shimenawa are believed to act as a ward against evil spirits and are often set up at a ground-breaking ceremony before construction begins on a new building. They are often found at Shinto shrines, torii gates, and sacred landmarks.
They are also used around yorishiro (objects capable of attracting spirits, hence inhabited by spirits). These notably include certain trees, in which case the inhabiting spirits are called kodama, and cutting down these trees is thought to bring misfortune. In cases of stones, the stones are known as iwakura(磐座、岩座).[3]
eon after eon
