Chapter 20 Avalokitesvara Explaining the Nature of Myths (2/2)
”Hmm?” Liu Shuai thought for a while, “Like Quafoo chasing after the sun, Houyi Shooting Sun, Chang'e Rushing to the Moon, and myth of the White Snake… these are all myths.”
Zhang Chi Hang looked at Liu Shuai, and shook his head. ”Don't use enumerations. Tell me the definition of myth.”
”Well … stories of gods and ghosts?” Liu Shuai scratched his head, ”or stories of magics and divine abilities?”
”Where are the gods and ghosts in the Quafoo chasing after the sun? And what kind of magics did Quafoo use? You have a smart mind, but it turns out that you only appear to have a bright future ahead of you. In your mind, is it a fairy tale that a mouse cat can talk? Or is it a science fiction that you can talk about aliens?” Zhang Chi Hang smirked.
Liu Shuai blushed. Although he was not like Lu Xun's Ah Q who did not allow others to talk about his flaws, he was not very happy to have someone sneaking a look at his bald head. He looked at me and planned to change the topic, ”Hao Ning, don't you usually talk about the importance of product definition? What do you define as myth? “
Damn, Liu Shuai had learnt to shift the gaze. How could I define a myth? I recalled the method Yan used to deal with me and chuckled, ”Liu Shuai, give me your phone.”
”Intelligent”, Liu Shuai was instantly beaming with joy, and took out his phone to check the answers on Baidu.
Zhang Chi Hang didn't even look at Liu Shuai as he faintly said, ”Whoops, why does such a bright head need a phone? Do you want to compare yourself to your phone which has a more reflective top? “
Instantly, Liu Shuai's face turned completely red. He did not know what to say, nor did he decide whether to search on his phone or not.
Zhang Chi Hang ignored Liu Shuai's awkwardness and looked at me through Liu Shuai's gaze, as if Liu Shuai was some kind of air that could be ignored. He smiled and asked me, “Your name is Hao Ning, right? It does not count to search on phone. The answers you search out are not accurate either. You must give an answer of yourself.”
He pointed to his heart, then to me.
”Do you feel …” Liu Shuai looked at me and I nodded.
Maybe I was thinking too much, but as I recalled, from the moment I entered the office, Zhang Chi Hang seemed to have spoken to me in a more courteous and patient manner. Especially compared to how he made fun of Liu Shuai just a moment ago, the way he talked to me shew an obvious difference.
I shook my head and thought about it. I had indeed once discussed this kind of question with others. Thus, I asked him back, ”are you talking about a myth or deification?”
As I said this, I dipped my finger into the water in the cup and wrote the term ”myth” and ”deification” on the tea table.
”Interesting,” Zhang Chi Hang's eyes lit up, “tell me about it.”
It seemed to work, then I said as I thought, ”in my understanding, early myths can basically be categorized as the deification of real events, such as Quafoo chasing after the sun being the story of a tribe dying in pursuit of a longer period of sunlight on crops; or a tale saying that a tribe girl getting pregnant because she stepped on a giant's footprints is probably a story of a tribe girl getting pregnant after having sexual contact with someone. These are all more or less truths behind them, but either the rumors spread later on have changed or it was inconvenient for them to tell the truth at that time …”
“Keep the truth concealed for the saint or the ruler,” Zhang Chi Hang nodded, “go on.”
This Avalokitesvara was a little interesting. How could he be so interested in this topic? I thought about this question, but my mouth never stopped, “but then it developed to a certain point, such as the worship of natural powers, foreign cultures, and so on. People added their imagination to these deified events, and the imagination went further and further away, gradually evolving into a myth. Therefore, you will find that Chinese divinatory story rarely diverges from one another. When there is Nvwa creating humans, she created humans. However, the mythological system was extremely chaotic. For example, the relationship between the Heavenly Emperor and West Empress was different in various stories, which nevertheless does not stop people from burning incense to worship them. As long as you place an immortal statue in the temple, people will come to worship it, and if people will worship it, people give donations. They care not what status the immortal they worship is in the system, as long as the worship works. “
I was not confident when I spoke of that. To explain my understanding of myths in front of him was like a monkey jumping down from a tree to tell people ”what kind of world your world is”, which was extremely absurd, so I stopped and looked at Zhang Chi Hang.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Chi Hang clapped his hands and smiled at me, ”You're right. There are no immortals in this world. The so-called immortals are just the result of people believing in the power of their idols for many years. The true power is the one that everyone believes in their souls. Such sort of power is so great that even after so long, we can only use it, but we can't figure it out. “
“Then what about the Killing Tribulation you were talking?” I tried to get the conversation back on track.
”It's the same, since people believe the existence of Killing Tribulation for gods and Buddhas, and then there must be a Killing Tribulation.” Zhang Chi Hang looked at the water vapor in the humidifier in the distance, and his eyes seemed somewhat dejected. ”All living beings live less and less in reality, but more and more in belief, don’t they?”
”But you Avalokitesvara's reputation has always been true. Avalokitesvara is a merciful Bodhisattva who sees the hardships of the world and save the livings from the sufferings,” Liu Shuai could not help but praise Zhang Chi Hang when he saw how fervent our conversation was.