Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [182]
In her novel The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan has an American character ask if the kitchen god is like Santa Claus. An elderly Chinese woman replies in a huff, “He is not Santa Claus. More like a spy—FBI agent, CIA, Mafia, worse than IRS, that kind of person. And he does not give you gifts, you must give him things. All year long you have to show him respect—give him tea and oranges. When Chinese New Year’s time comes, you must give him even better things—maybe whiskey to drink, cigarettes to smoke, candy to eat, that kind of thing. You are hoping all the time his tongue will be sweet, his head a little drunk, so when he has his meeting with the big boss, maybe he reports good things about you.” Then the Chinese mother adds, “His wife was the good one, not him.”
Yao (Tang Di Yao) Another of the three sage rulers of antiquity, Yao is a mythical emperor who is elevated to the status of a god. Yao lives frugally and always cares for his people. But because his son is not worthy to ascend to the throne, Yao chooses his son-in-law as his successor, and Confucius singles him out for praise as a model ruler.
Yi (Hou I, Hou Yi) Perhaps the greatest of the Chinese hero-gods, Yi is the great archer who figures in a myth dating from the sixth century BCE. In this tale, there are ten suns, each one the son of the ruler of heaven. When they all appear at the same time, their intense heat withers the crops and the lord of heaven sends the archer Yi to restore order. But instead of commanding the suns to go home, Yi shoots nine of them with his arrows. Even though the farmers are happy, Yi is banished by the lord of heaven to live as a mortal on earth with his wife, Chang E. Upset at losing her immortality, Chang E acquires a special elixir from the Queen Mother of the West and consumes it all, even though half is meant for her husband. For her disobedience, Chang E is sent to the moon and becomes the moon goddess. Yi accepts his mortality, but in some accounts, goes back to heaven after being forgiven.
Yu (Da Yu) Another of the three sage rulers of antiquity, Yu is a god and an engineer who appears in a foundation myth. When the Emperor Shun (above) asks Yu to work on containing the waters of the great flood, he leaves his wife and children to do the job. Instead of building a boat to escape the deluges, Yu spends thirteen years creating canals to control the floodwaters that periodically threaten parts of China. Yu is awarded the throne for his work. He is said to have founded the legendary first Chinese dynasty, the Xia, between 2205 and 2197 BCE, but there are no confirmed historical accounts of any such dynasty.
MYTHIC VOICES
The Master said, At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them with docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart, for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.
—from The Analects of Confucius
He [Confucius] has had a greater influence on China than any other human being. Yet almost nothing is known about him as a man…. The central teaching of Confucius was that nothing is more important to man than man. He himself refused to have anything to do with four kinds of thing: what was violent, what was disorderly, what was strange and what had to do with the supernatural. “One should revere the ghosts and gods,” he once said, “but still keep them distant.”
—from Alasdair Clayre, The Heart of the Dragon
What do fortune cookies have to do with Chinese religion?
“Confucius say…”