Belief in the Yellow Emperor & oral tradition

[Guest guest]

Excellent points from Simon - the role of the story-teller and shaman, and

methods of transmission -- which bear out in the context of particular

Native American traditions in which I once had some teaching/training. The

transmission methods were surely effective, and the roles were maintained.

Similar phenomena surely were present in pre-historic Chinese culture.

 

Wed, 06 Oct 2004 02:23:11 -0000, " wackname " <wackname wrote:

 

> … among hunter-gatherer societies in which people have much less free

time to spend philosophising …

 

This is a good take-off for pointing out that modern Western myths (in the

biased sense) as to the nature of pre-historic life often fall into two,

somewhat polarized notions:

 

1) The myth of the easy-life of a quasi-paradisical state. This was

prominent in European culture around the Enlightenment - the myth of the

idyllic, pastoral life, often entertained by nobility. And in the mid to

late 19th century, as nostalgia in the face of the brutal social effects

(on peasantry turned working class) of industrialization, and the

de-peasantization which became governmental policy and spread through parts

of Europe.

 

2) A more contemporary myth of a life of non-stop arduous labor, which you

(Simon) appear to allude to here. Some find evidence for this in observing

the difficult lifestyle of, say peasant farmers, for instance in Mexico. A

counter argument is that many indigenous peoples have been pushed into such

lifestyles by being driven from their homeland (and related means of

support) and otherwise oppressed by the onslaught of modern 'civilization'.

 

I would just like to present a bit of evidence from what I learned from

some Native American traditions. Namely, that given a rich environment, and

a certain amount of cleverness. via tradition, many enjoyed a relatively

balanced lifestyle, between effort and leisure. For instance, in one case,

there was the practice of in springtime, setting up mounds, in each seeds

of corn, squash and beans - a small scale sort of agriculture. A good

watering and covering of the ground. Then they would go off for weeks or

months traveling around the region, tending to traps, checking out where

the berry patches were blooming (to return at the end of summer for

harvest), etc. The seeds, given permaculture-like technology, and probably

occasional rain, would take care of themselves: the corn grew into a stalk

which the beans would climb, and the squash provided ground cover to retain

water. In late summer there was a harvest of the grain (corn/maize -

'carbs'), legumes (beans - protein), and vegetable (squash). The latter

provided a supply of gourds/containers, the stalks and cobs became utility

objects, etc. etc.

 

Much like in classical Chinese philosophy of life and health, there was an

intimate understanding of the cycles of nature, and how a cultivated

harmony with them could easily support human life, year-round. And a

measure of respect and reverence for the whole system. E.g. another aspect:

with an understanding that all living beings at some point give their lives

up to nourish other life (we also nourish worms and the earth when we

pass), cultivating and taking life 'in a sacred manner', i.e. in ecological

balance, was practiced.

 

Another tidbit, read a while ago in a article in Scientific American

(magazine): on the basis of dental anthropology - the similarity of the

presence and pattern of cusps on certain teeth - a similarity was

discovered between (some/many, I don't recall) Native American peoples and

Han Chinese, as of some 25,000 years ago (since there has been divergence).

 

Didn't surprise me. A widespread theme in NA religious cosmology is the

6-directions notion - heaven (Great Spirit), (mother) earth, and east (red,

hawk), south (yellow, coyote), west (brown bear), and north (white bear).

Note: just like in early 5-phase correspondences, even into the neijing,

the specific associations (color, totem animal, etc.) in NA traditions were

different across different peoples. Also, what is life? (an NA answer) The

dance between fire and water! (Ki yin/yang).

 

Just some thoughts/associations.

 

 

[Guest guest]

--- < escreveu:

 

 

>Another tidbit, read a while ago in a article in Scientific

>American

>(magazine): on the basis of dental anthropology - the similarity

>of the

>presence and pattern of cusps on certain teeth - a similarity

was

>discovered between (some/many, I don't recall) Native American

>peoples and

>Han Chinese, as of some 25,000 years ago (since there has been

>divergence).

 

Yes, that's another little (dental)detail:-)

Anthropologists have beeen looking up this connection for a long

time; that since the last ice-age mongolian nomads entered the

American continent, etc...

A japanese friend of mine once was a translator for a team of

researchers from Japan in the Amazon researching the Indians

there, they where totally convinced of the genetic relationship

between the native americans there and the asian mongolic

stock(japanese,chinese, siberian eskimo,...).

Marcos

 

 

>Didn't surprise me. A widespread theme in NA religious cosmology

>is the

>6-directions notion - heaven (Great Spirit), (mother) earth, and

>east (red,

>hawk), south (yellow, coyote), west (brown bear), and north

(white bear).

>Note: just like in early 5-phase correspondences, even into the

>neijing,

>the specific associations (color, totem animal, etc.) in NA

>traditions were

>different across different peoples. Also, what is life? (an NA

>answer) The

>dance between fire and water! (Ki yin/yang).

>

>.Just some thoughts/associations.

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

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