Chapter 43 Section 3 Piety and Betrayal to Religion

Humans originally had no religious beliefs.In the final analysis, the origin of religion lies in the low level of productivity. Human beings are still dominated by natural forces to a considerable extent. Primitive religion is a manifestation of the weakness of primitive people to nature.The earliest form of religion is totem worship that appeared in clan society.Another form of primitive religion is witchcraft, or magic.Witchcraft has a dual nature, it is not only a certain belief or belief, but also a behavior pattern. People deeply believe that through witchcraft, they can achieve goals that are difficult to achieve in real life.Totemism predates witchcraft.

Heroic epics have various religious beliefs, religious ceremonies, and the transformation of humans and elves derived from witchcraft.Especially when fighting, both sides always try to use magic to win and so on.It can be said that any heroic epic is inextricably linked with the religious culture of the nation that created it.Some heroic epics mixed primitive religion and man-made religion at the same time. The main religious orientation of the basic storyline of "Gesar" is early Tibetan Buddhist Tantra.The protagonist and his family not only have corresponding identities of gods and Buddhas, but the main heroes also practice Tantric practice.But at the same time, this epic retains many gods and rituals of Bon religion.Before each battle, or if there is any important event, special personnel are sent to the mountain to "simmer mulberry", that is, to burn firewood to smoke and pray to the gods.This is the ritual of the religion.In the northern part of our country, the people who found heroic epics believe in shamanism that is everywhere in the epics.Both the Bon religion and Shamanism have the concept of immortality of the soul, and primitive peoples believe that the more capable a hero is, the less likely he is to die.It's because he has more soul objects than ordinary people, and the more important the soul objects, the more closely they are hidden.With the development of society, this original thinking has become a fantasy art technique.Those folklore full of romantic spirit and the plot of resurrecting the dead in classical classics can be traced back to the concept of immortality of the soul in primitive thinking.It explains the inheritance and continuation of human culture, which is very tortuous and interesting.

"Manas" has a large number of shamans, fortune tellers and magicians.Manas's mother, Qiyirdi, conceived after praying to the gods in the forest. In fact, it was a wild marriage of a woman, but Shamanism believes that it is the blessing of the forest god, which is the worship of plants.Alimanbet, Manas' foster brother, is a very powerful magician. During the sixth expedition, the epic exaggerated Alimanbet's miraculous magic. The heroic epics infiltrated by Buddhist culture generally have a common pattern, and the plot structure is generally composed of suffering in the world, the descent of the gods, heroic deeds, and return to the heavens.There is also a unique type of image in the heroic epics of the Dai people, that is, Palaxi (wild monk), that is, the initial propagator of Theravada Buddhism in the Dai people's area. Most of them are praised, and some are criticized.They are capable, almost demigods.The hero fell into trouble at an early age and was raised and raised by Palaxi.With the appearance of Palaxi, everything is turned into good luck, just like the fairy in folk tales.Palaxi, the medium between gods and humans, has almost broken into every corner of Dai people's life as Theravada Buddhism replaced primitive religion in Dai areas.In fact, they are supported by the Dai people, but the Buddhist culture preaches that Palasy gifted everything to people.

However, there is an interesting phenomenon common to all heroic epics, that is, heroes have the courage to fight against all evils, or use violence at all costs for the benefit of their collective.This is against the spirit of any religion.In essence, religion is to influence people to compromise with reality, or seek to change the status quo with the help of gods.The creators of heroic epics are not satisfied with singing divine poems, they are more keen to praise the use of violence to obtain everything.They unintentionally betrayed the shackles of various religions, eager to use their own power to change reality and push history forward!What they practice, they don't necessarily really realize.And when we use modern thinking to investigate, we clearly recognize the value of heroic epics.

This epoch-making classical form helps modern people understand themselves and the past.