Hello everyone
so nice to see you again.
Today
we will be focusing on an interesting part of mythology.
How do mythology in Chinese culture and western culture
look at individual persons?
What do individuals look at themselves
when weighing their own interests in a group
especially when their personal interests are
in conflict with the group's?
Let's start with the Chinese myths.
In Chinese mythology
it is not difficult to see
that the collectivism is always given priority to.
Chinese people are inclined to view their deities as
superheroes
who always come to their rescue
when they are in sufferings.
If the deities sacrifice themselves
for the redemption of the mankind
they are praised
thought highly of and worshipped.
However
their heroic and self-sacrificial action
is kind of taken for granted
because they are always expected by the humans to have
complete devotion for the "bigger self" of the world.
In Chinese
it is called “sacrifice oneself for the great good.”
牺牲小我 成全大我
Chinese nation tends to give priority to the benefit of group
before making every decision
and associate individual benefit
with the benefit of the community.
We see this social feature reflected in Chinese mythology
and explains why
many of the gods and deities in Chinese myths
are self-sacrificial and altruistic.
There is a widely celebrated tale of the Great Flood
of Gun-Yu.
During the reign of Emperor Yao
there was a major flood that continued for two generations
and left people in great storms and famine.
Gun
one the gods in heaven
stole a piece of magic soil
which is called Xirang
from the Supreme Divinity to dam the flood.
When Gun was almost successful in controlling the water
the supreme deity
furious with him
issued and order of his execution.
Miraculously
three years later
out of Gun’s preserved body born a son
another heroic figure in Chinese Mythology
Da Yu
who continued his father’s undertaking for years.
With different but successful approaches
to control the flood
Da Yu eventually achieved success.
Like his father Gun who died for the flood-control
Da Yu was renowned for
so much commitment to the project
that for three times
he saved the chance to stop by his own home
even though it was very near
which is the famous story of
“Three Passes without Entering”.
“三过家门而不入”
People are grateful to Da Yu and his father Gun
for their personal sacrifice to make the earth
a suitable and peaceful place for human habitation.
Da Yu literally means “Great Yu”
to reflect people’s admiration
and gratefulness for him.
Interestingly
we might see something quite different
in western mythology about
priority of person vs group
either for gods or for humans.
In western society
an individual person is
the smallest component of a society a
nd is considered having equal rights
and independence from each other
and bonded by the social contract.
Thus the goal of life is to obtain maximum profit
and individual enjoyment
which is reflected in the mythology
to result in the sensual and pleasure-seeking gods
in heavenly kingdom.
Therefore
compared with the Chinese mythology
there are more factors of playfulness
between the gods and the mankind.
To fulfill one's personal needs
some despicable deeds were seen in some deities
even in high heavenly rank.
One of the striking figures in Greek myths is Hera
Zeus’ wife
the Queen of gods.
She was extremely jealous
and she kept giving punishment
to the innocent lovers of Zeus
and their offspring.
She cut off Lamia’s eye lids
because she was Zeus’ lover
killed her children in front her
and turned her into a child-eating monster.
Hera’s husband
Zeus loved consorting with nymphs on Earth.
When the suspicious Hera was trying to catch Zeus
with the nymphs
Echo
the nymph tried to protect Zeus
because he had ordered her to
by talking too much.
This endured Hera’s wrath
and made her unable to speak complete sentences
but the last two words spoken to her
because of which
Echo was unable to tell Narcissus
the love of her life
how much she loved him.
Eventually
she sadly watched him fall in love with himself and died.
Echo died after him
in extreme sorrow and despair.
OK
Are you all clear about our major points today?
Let’s see how well you have done today
Questions
1
How does the individual’s interest compete
with the group’s
in terms of the gods’ personalities?
In Chinese mythology
there is a tendency to put collective interests
above individual’s
which is often reflected in the personalities of deities
as a world-saving heroism
sometimes involving self-sacrifice.
While in western mythology
personal needs and enjoyment is very much valued.
When individual needs clashes with collective interests
in many cases
the former beats the latter.
Personal needs are so much emphasized
that we see extreme and immoral actions taken
to protect one’s personal rights
and important heavenly figures
are accepted to conduct such kind of actions.
2
Can you give any examples of mythical figures
to support your opinion
in the above statement?
In Chinese mythology
we have tons of heroic figures
who sacrifice their own interest
even life for a better life of the mortals.
Such as Gun-Yu
the father and son
who build the dam and control the Great Flood
by stealing magic soil from heaven
and sacrifice himself
or save the chances to care for his family.
While in Greek mythology
we see many cases of deities
giving priority to their personal needs
and in some extreme cases
have done immoral deeds.
Case in point is Hera
the Queen of gods.
Being very jealous
she has done some cruel things to Zeus’ lovers
sons and people
who have helped to hide Zeus’ love affairs.