——Cows in Africa

Africa is the homeland of human civilization. The cattle raising industry there has continued since tens of millions of years ago, and the worship of cattle has also been around for a long time. The Maasai people in Africa are a people who live only on milk and cow blood all their lives. Their standard for measuring value is how many cows a family has, and cows are used as currency units. The Masai people don't even care about whether the cow has the highest milk production and focus on cultivating the most beautiful cows, so their cows have long sharp horns and are very tall and beautiful. Madagascar is also known as the "Kingdom of Cows". People here have a special, almost fanatical worship of cows. The cow is a symbol of personal wealth, and the cow's head is regarded as a symbol of the country. The cows are baptized here like children and cannot be forced to work on one day of the week. It is said that there is also an image of a bull-headed human body in ancient African myths and legends, but I have not found the exact written record yet, so I will check it here. "Mr. Meyer Raging Waves" - The Minotaur outside Crete Page 3 *** 40 pages

The God from Heaven

-The Minotaur in Egypt

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The Egyptians worshiped the sacred cow quite early, reaching its peak around the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC), with Memphis as the center, connecting the worship of the sacred eagle in the Old Kingdom and the worship of the sacred sheep in the New Kingdom ( This coincides with China's egg-laying myth and bird totem culture. The Yin Shang Dynasty also worshiped the black bird totem. According to myths and legends, their ancestor Qi was conceived after his mother Jian Di swallowed a swallow's egg.)

The representative of the bull head among the Egyptian gods is Apis, the god of fertility and production, who looks like a bull (xie note: this god is probably related to the god Baal - yes, It’s “the” sun god Baal, even somewhat indirectly related to Baal in “DIABLO II” or “Bald’s Gate”); the patron saint who symbolizes the power of the pharaoh, Horus, who looks like an eagle and has a human body. His wife is Hathor, the Egyptian bull-headed goddess. Hathor is the most beautiful of all the goddesses in ancient Egypt. She transforms into a cow. She is also one of the oldest goddesses in Egypt. Greek mentions her as the goddess of the sky. She was once considered the god of death in Thebes, but she is generally regarded as the god of death. She is considered the goddess of love, dance, wine and foreign countries.

Goddess Hathor

The sacred cow Hathor exists as a benevolent protector. Her image was widely carved on the stone walls of a large number of pharaonic tombs between 1350 and 1100 BC. She is depicted as a bull lying on a reed mat, as a goddess with a bull's head, or as a beautiful goddess, usually wearing a sun disk between the horns of his head. Occasionally a Menat (a special necklace-like pendant, but instead of jewelry, was worn as a ritual instrument, also used to transmit the power of the goddess to the pharaoh). "Mr. Meyer Raging Waves" - The Minotaur outside Crete Page 4*** 40 pages

Restricted

-The Semitic Taurus Worship

The Semitic (Hebrew) people have a long history of worshiping cows. The ancient worship of Baal (the golden calf god) and the Baal gods can be traced back to the 14th century BC. This is It has something to do with the bull worship of the "Apis sacred cow" of the Egyptian civilization (see above), and there is even a ceremony in which a girl's "first night" is dedicated to the golden bull (xie note: mouthful... what a waste! The editor said: Are you challenging the page size?) Later, Spain also accepted this worship, which was linked to sun worship because of the constellation Taurus.

The best harp in the world

——Sumerian bull head

The cow is one of the symbols of Sumerian culture. In the tombs of King Abalji and Queen Subad of the Ur Dynasty, one of the ancient kingdoms of the First Dynasty of the Sumerians, a gold bull-head harp was discovered.

The harp uses an ox head as its handle. It has an exquisite shape, powerful lines, well-proportioned structure, exquisite and gorgeous features. The body of the harp is decorated with lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, shells from the Indian Ocean, and pink limestone from northern Iraq. It is the earliest harp discovered so far in the world. . It is a relic that has been determined to be around 2600 BC.

Defending the homeland

——The Bull Head and the Assyrians

The Mesopotamia plain in the Mesopotamia basin is one of the four ancient One of the birthplaces of civilization, the Sumerian city-states, the Babylonian Empire, the Assyrian Empire, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire successively dominated the military and political arena there. A distinctive feature of the metal crafts here is that the shapes of the works are mostly winged lions, cattle, sheep, deer and other images. Lamassu is a human-headed, half-lion, half-bull monster in Assyrian/Babylonian mythology who defended the temples and palaces of the Assyrians. They have wings, can fly, and are very powerful. Corresponding to this is Shedu, also a winged monster with the head of a man and an ox, who together with Lamassu defended the temples and palaces of the Assyrians. At the entrance to Dursharukin, the palace of King Sargon II of Assyria, there is a huge ox-body statue with wings. The object of their worship is not the body of a cow but the body of a cow and the head of a human...

The cow's expression is very vivid, and the cow's nose seems to be trembling.

This statue is called the "Ox of Assyria" and is one of the main gods of the Assyrians. The face is said to be carved in the image of King Sargon II himself. "Mr. Meyer·The Raging Waves"——The Minotaur Outside Crete Page 5*** Page 40

Lamasu

"Mr. Meyer·The Raging Waves" 》——The Minotaur outside Crete Page 6*** 40 pages

Blooming everywhere

——The Minotaur in Greece

Greek civilization inherited The Cretan civilization worshiped cows. Zeus once transformed into a cow when he went down to earth to pick up girls, and he even put girls on the cow's back and took them to the New World - that is, the origin of Europa. There are too many stories about cows in Greek mythology. The legend of Crete belongs to the early Greek mythology. But since the topic we are talking about this time is "cow heads outside Crete", then these popular goods that can be seen everywhere are Don’t post it to cheat on manuscript fees. King Minos is rarely mentioned in general legends (xie note: he is the husband of the Minotaur's mother - what a twist). He was the son of Zeus and Europa during his lifetime, and became one of the "Three Kings of Hades (Judge)" after his death. , his rule was known for its strict rule of law. It is also worth mentioning that the Minoan civilization entered the Bronze Age in 2500 BC, while Athens entered the Bronze Age around 1200 BC, so the comparison between the two at that time was like a city man and a bumpkin.

[Theseus vs. the Minotaur]

This classic scene can be found in a large number of pottery, murals, bronze statues, sculptures and other art forms. "Mr. Meyer Raging Waves" - The Minotaur outside Crete Page 7*** Page 40

Love you enough to kill you

——Niu Niu and European barbarians

(Readers under 18 years old please skip this paragraph) According to the book "Priests and Kings, Celtic Ireland": When the ancient Irish became kings, there was a The custom is to make a [mosaic] with a white cow, and then the lover's face will change at will. After this cow has sex with you, the other cow will kill you to make soup, and the king and his ministers will eat meat together... Although most of them are It’s just pretending, but some people are very serious about it, which makes people a little unbearable. (This paragraph is restricted content, please be aware of it. The editor said angrily: If you continue to say these dirty jokes, I won’t give you the publication fee!) .

The iconic image of the legendary Nordic Vikings, in addition to having beards, long hair shawl, wearing iron skirts, and driving large ships, how could they not be without a horn helmet? Woolen cloth? This also symbolizes their gloomy, struggling, brave and tenacious national spirit (well, in fact, ordinary Viking warriors do not wear those exaggerated horn helmets, only a few highly respected military leaders and priests occasionally do so during sacrificial ceremonies) Of).

In the Nordic creation myth, the cow Odumbula and the giant Ymir of the Origin are the two earliest creatures. The huge cow makes a living by licking the ice and snow and some salt frost on the ice. The huge Ymir He feeds on the milk of Odumbra. The cow licked the cloth, the ancestor of the gods, from the salt and frost. Therefore, for the Nordic people, the cow is the ancestor of all things, and it is natural for them to regard the cow as their own image symbol.

In fact, the helmets commonly worn by pirates are not decorated with horns.

Look for sure, I am the genuine product!

A is me

——The cow and the Latin alphabet

Phoenician (a North Semitic language, now Hebrew alphabet, Arabic Alphabet, Greek alphabet, Latin alphabet, etc., all can be traced back to the Phoenician alphabet) The first letter α comes from the Sinaitic alphabet "ox", the Semitic language (speakers include Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Carthaginians) Southerners) is pronounced aleph; the second letter β comes from the Sinaitic letter "house", which is pronounced beth in Semitic, so the first letter in Greek is pronounced alpha and the second is pronounced beta. The bull "Apis" is the Egyptian god (see above). It is probably for this reason that the Phoenicians took α (ox head, symbolizing bull) as their first letter. Later, the Latins made another innovation, standing α upright and writing it as A. As a result, it became the first letter of almost all alphabetical texts. Remember in the future, every time you write the letter "a", you are actually drawing a bull's head...

Incarnation of Heaven and Earth

——Niu Niu in Iran

In Persepolis, the ancient capital of Iran, you can still see statues with bull heads and human bodies. Their myths and legends regard cows as the beginning of creation of the world.

In Iran's "Genesis", the god Ahura Mazda began to create the material world after creating the divine world. He created the original man Kayomaart and the original ox from clay, and used the light of the sky The sperm of the original people and the original cattle were created from the water and placed in the bellies of the original people and the original cattle, in the hope that humans and animals could reproduce from them. The sun god Mithras, born from the goddess of the earth, was ordered by his mother to sacrifice a white bull. After the bull died, its torso turned into the moon, its fur turned into stars, its tail turned into grains, its blood turned into grapes, and the semen left from the penis All things in the world are generated, and not only the universe is formed from it, but also the value judgments such as good and evil are based on it. The myth that Mithras slaughtered the aurochs to create all things spread throughout Asia Minor and the Mediterranean coast. This can be seen from the large number of carvings and pictures found in Mithras temples in these areas. Mithras was originally the sun god of the Indo-Iranians. Before the emergence of Christianity, Mithras worship had been widely spread in South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Europe, and became the main religion of the Roman Empire (see below). Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of carvings and pictures about Mithras killing cattle and creating the world in the territory of the ancient Roman Empire, which shows the influence of Mithras worship among various ancient peoples. "Mr. Maier Raging Waves" - The Minotaur outside Crete Page 8*** Page 40

The ancient Iranian scripture "Avesta" does not mention Mithras killing the cow However, there is a saying that the aurochs is dying and regenerating. In "Avesta" and "Genesis", the aurochs was not killed by Mithras, but was killed together with the original people in the attack of the demon Ahriman. After the aurochs died, he was reincarnated into all things in the world. , and after the original man Guyomart was killed by the devil, he left the sperm behind before his death, and two plants grew out of the place where it was scattered, from which the first man and woman in the world were transformed. Under the temptation of evil spirits, these twin brothers and sisters ate forbidden fruits and had blood relations with each other. Their mating resulted in the creation of a whole world of people.

In another Iranian creation myth, the original man "used his head to create the sky, his feet to create the earth, his tears to create water, his hair to create plants, and his right hand to create cattle. ", reason is used to create fire." The cow is placed side by side with heaven, earth, water, plants and fire, and its status is evident. ——Cows in India

India is probably the country that worships cows the most in the world. The tradition of worshiping sacred cows can be traced back to ancient times.

At that time, when the Aryan tribes migrated to the subcontinent, their destiny was closely linked to the lives of cattle. Many Hindus hoped that they would be reincarnated as a cow in the next life. Cow protection and cow worship were written into the core teachings of Hinduism. Except for West Bengal and Kerala, the laws of other states prohibit the slaughter of cows. Paragraph 48 of the "Guiding Principles of National Policy" clearly stipulates: "The slaughter of cows and calves is prohibited, and Other milk-producing and beasts of burden”. Milk, cheese, butter, cow urine and cow dung are called the five treasures, and cow urine and cow dung are sacred objects that can remove impurities and cleanse sins. There are tens of thousands of free sacred cows in Delhi. They roam freely on the streets. No one will drive them away. Other vehicles must make way for the cows. If a cow happens to arrive at the vegetable market, it can choose and eat whatever dishes it likes. Jamur, the birthplace of the Ganges, means "cow's mouth" in Hindi. The Ganges water is a clear spring spit out from the mouth of the god-cow, so it is regarded as holy. In the past, rabbis in ancient Judea prohibited Jews from eating pork to prevent the infection of trichomoniasis; similarly, sages in ancient India worshiped cattle as gods to prevent the cattle that the people relied on for survival from being slaughtered. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was a devout believer in the Hindu doctrine of cow protection. He said: "The core fact of Hinduism is cow protection...Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world...Hinduism will be the same as protection of cows." Cow Indians live forever”.

Toyota had a lawsuit with Geely Automobile two years ago over similar trademarks

Eliminate diseases

——Niutou in Japan

The Gion Festival held every July is the annual event of Yasaka-Jinja. The origin of the Gion Festival is that the early Kyoto people specially invited the Minotaur God from India to suppress the plague. It has been passed down to this day and has been transformed into one of the three major festivals in Kyoto. Yasaka Shrine enshrines the God of God. It is a very special shrine building in Japan. It is not only popular in incense but also the temple most visited by geisha.

In addition, there is another theory: the Bull-Headed Heavenly King is Sugu Mingzun, and Sugu Mingzun is the Bull-Headed Heavenly King. The "Plague God" does not come from India, but the "Ox-Headed Heavenly King" who is believed by the "Qin Family" in Kyoto. ". As the name suggests, the Qin family is the Qin family and its descendants from the mainland in ancient times. They came to Japan to escape war during the Han Dynasty of China. They claimed to be descendants of Qin Shihuang. They not only brought advanced production technology, but also transformed life. Customs and beliefs were brought to foreign countries. In the 9th century, the Qin family, the "people from across the country," was quite influential, and the bull-headed king it believed in, the god of plague, was also welcomed to Gion Shrine and became the deity of Gion Shrine.

If you like Japanese cars, then pay attention! In addition to being a deformation of the first letter T of TOYOTA, Toyota's logo is also an abstract bull's head. When you buy a Toyota car, you also buy a "cow" car to take home. ——Niutou in China

"Shangshu" claims that Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi are the three oldest emperors in China. In the Han Dynasty, there were still legends about the three emperors among the gods. In the Weishu of the late Western Han Dynasty, the three emperors were the emperor of heaven, the emperor of earth, and the emperor of humans. In the Taoist classics, the Three Emperors are divided into three groups: the first, middle and last groups: the first three emperors still have human form; the middle three emperors have human faces and snake bodies or dragon bodies; among the last three emperors, the queen queen has a human head and a snake body, namely Fuxi and Hou Di. The emperor had the head of a snake and the body of a snake, that is Nuwa, and the descendants of the emperor had the head of an ox and the body of a snake, that is Shennong.

Shen Nong (Emperor Yan): "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, encountered seventy-two poisons every day, and solved them in full swing." This is recorded in "Shen Nong's Materia Medica". The story of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs is a legend that has been widely circulated and influential in ancient China. Shennong is the "Yan Emperor" who is regarded as the ancestor of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors by the descendants of the Yan and Huang people of the Chinese nation. He is a representative figure of China's prehistoric ancestors. According to legend, Shennong was a bull-headed man. "Emperor Century" said: "Emperor Yan had the body of a bull and grew longer than Jiang Shui." "Emperor Genealogy" said: "Shen Nong had the head of a bull." This may be the ancestors who had mastered farming technology at that time. The conception of the image of Shennong, the "god of agriculture".

Chi You: Chi You also had an ox’s head, hooves and sharp horns.

"——Descendants of Niutou

Chiyou's tribe is called "Jiuli", and his descendants "Sanmiao" are the ancestors of the current Miao people ("Jiuli, the nine members of the Li family, Chiyou's migration", Also "Three Miao, the Queen of Jiuli" ~ "Mandarin·Chu Language"), so Chi You is still an ancestor god of the Miao people, and has a very high status in the hearts of the Miao people. The Miao people believe that Chi You is an ancient god. The creator of the Miao language (now lost), in the "Chi You Myth" circulated in the Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, emphasizes that Chi You began to use copper weapons earlier than the Yellow Emperor. The name "Chiyou" is retained, that is, ZidYeus. Zid here means "father" and Yeus means "man". Together they refer to a brave and capable man. , others often call him ZidYeus. When the Miao people in the Wenshan area of ??Yunnan "step on the flower mountain" to dance the Lusheng, they must first worship their ancestor Chiyou, set up a flower pole, and hang a red cloth with osmanthus, which is the "Chiyou flag." When offering sacrifices to Chiyou, the priest chants. Singing in the temple tells the story of Chi You's battle with the Yellow Emperor and the migration process after his defeat. Because Chi You loved and respected cows, the most typical headdress of the Miao family is the head of a cow emerging from the flowers in the grass, and the two raised high in the silver horn headdress of Miao girls. Bent buffalo horns are a symbol of beauty and supremacy of the Miao people. In the past, only village flowers could wear such headwear.

The Envoy of Souls

——Nuo Head in Folk

In China's long agricultural society, farmers have great respect for cattle. They believe that if a person has a pair of "ox eyes", he will be "unable to make a fortune and live a long life." If you grow into a "cow shape", you will not only be "rarely ill in your life", but also "born with unspeakable blessings, a strong face, a calm heart, and a humble voice. If you have a slow and slow pace, you will have a thousand warehouses and a rich farm." - Street fortune teller "The Complete Collection of Divine Appearances" says so.

[Ox Head: The Messenger of Souls]

In the mythology of the Zhuang people, the cow is originally a divine creature in the sky, and the Bull Demon King is the god of heaven. , sent the Ox King down to earth to plant grass, and then stayed to graze and cultivate in the human world. The eighth day of April every year is the birthday of the Ox King, which is the traditional "Ox Soul Festival" of the Zhuang people. In Zhuang language, it is called "gen kun wai". , a very grand sacrificial event will be held.

In folklore, the bull head and horse face are the famous messengers of the underworld. The image of bull head and horse face is found in the ghost city of Fengdu and in various places. Also called Abang, he is in the shape of an ox-headed person, holding a steel fork, and has the power to move mountains. According to the "Tiecheng Mud Plow Sutra": "When Abang was a human, he was unfilial to his parents and after his death, he took the form of an ox-headed person and served as a patrol. and the government officials who hunted down escaped criminals." On the Gobi Desert in Xincheng Township, 20 kilometers northeast of Jiayuguan City, there are more than 1,400 underground mural brick tombs from the Wei and Jin Dynasties (220-419 AD), known as "the world's largest "Underground Gallery". Among them, Tomb No. 6 is the most representative. The door wall of the tomb is inlaid with architectural bricks such as the red-banded warrior, thunder god, supporting beast, chicken-headed body and ox-headed body.

Classic passed down from generation to generation - —The Cow of Zen

[Ten Cows Picture 1: Looking for the Cow]

The "Ten Cows Picture" uses cow herding as a metaphor for the ten processes of a Zen man from the beginning to the successful end.

It is worth mentioning that Buddhist thought has been particularly sublimated in the form of cattle in China. The cow originally symbolized the freedom of life and death in Zen Buddhism, and Buddha was likened to the Ox King. In the twelfth century, a Zen master Kuo'an expanded and redrawn the "Eight Cows Picture" handed down by Chinese Taoism into the "Ode to the Ten Cows Pictures". The ten pictures showed the process from looking for cattle and finding one's heart to returning home and sitting still. Explaining the methods and sequence of practice, it is known as the pinnacle of Zen art. It has become a treasure for Zen masters of all ages to teach their apprentices, and even a condensed symbol of a huge doctrinal system.

The so-called "Ten Cows Pictures" uses ten pictures to show a practitioner, like a shepherd boy, looking for cows, seeing cows, getting cows, forgetting cows, and finally returning to his roots and dying. (Street market refers to the mundane world) With your hands down, how can you reveal your original scenery or the white cow on the ground - the natural wonderful mind or Prajna Buddha nature, gradually overcome the troubles and attachments, and exert the natural and wonderful function of transforming the world. Although these are not the ten stages that every practitioner will go through or must go through, they can already provide some information about the process of practice.

"Ten Ox Pictures" was jointly printed with "Faith Inscription", "Song of Enlightenment" and "Zazen Ritual", and was called the Four Records. It had a great influence in the Zen forest. It was not only popular in China, but also spread as far as Korea and Japan, and had a wide impact. Japan's Ichiyama Kokutoshi wrote "Ode to the Ten Cows", which was created based on the framework of Shiyuan's "Ode to the Ten Cows".