The mysterious totem worship of the Tibetan nation--the worship of the ox head

In recent years, I have been wandering around, and I have often seen some friends engaged in art, with cow heads that are regarded as works of art hanging in their rooms. In addition, you can also see hawkers selling cow heads engraved with Tibetan incantations as decorative art works. It goes without saying that these cow heads all come from Tibetan areas. But do you really know what the ox head means to the Tibetan people?

Just as the desolate Mexican Valley holds mystery to people of different cultures, the simple plateau inhabited by the Tibetan people is also full of temptation to most outsiders. As we all know, the Tibetan nation is a nation with its own complete and unique cultural traditions, with its own language, writing, customs and habits, religious beliefs, historical political system of unity of religion and religion, and a nomadic or farming life that is at ease. In recent years, Tibetan studies have attracted increasing attention from the world and Tibetan Buddhism has been understood by more and more people. This nation has also attracted more people's interest. In particular, it has attracted the attention of many artists. Groups of art pilgrims flock here, including poets, writers, photographers, painters and film and television workers. When they returned home, in addition to bringing back their own works, many of them still remembered bringing back a commemorative cow head to show off their pilgrimage.

In fact, people who have been to this last pure land in the world will notice that whether on the top of high mountains or on the banks of the river, there are many weathered or freshly placed cows 'heads piled under the altars called gods. Even some temples and cottages have cow heads built on the top of the village doors or roofs. On some Ebo websites in Tibetan areas, there are also large wild cattle heads. Its crude, mysterious and masculine strength have fascinated many artists and regarded it as a treasure. The most spectacular ones are at the foot of the Potala Palace and Yaowang Mountain in Lhasa, where countless cow heads are piled, and the Tibetan six-character mantra is engraved on their foreheads. In Lhasa, you can also see many costumes, works of art and tourist souvenirs that are either woven or color printed with cow head patterns. No matter how unobservant a person may be, as long as he has been to Tibetan areas, he will not notice this unique phenomenon. so. Why does this nation, which believes in Buddhism, like and admire the cow's head so much, and even devoutly worships it?

This starts with the original Tibetan beliefs.

Like other ethnic groups, ancient Tibetans also believed in totems. Some of this worship has long disappeared or transformed, but some have been passed down and practiced to this day, and has attracted much attention from the world because of its strong vitality and spiritual connotation. Totem worship varies according to race, ethnicity, and region. Each ethnic group has different differences within each tribe and family worship. For example, some tribes worship wolves or bears, some tribes worship birds, and some worship flowers, trees, mountains, rivers. But generally speaking, each ethnic group still has its own fixed typical and famous unified totem objects. For example, it is very typical and common for Han people to worship dragon and phoenix totems.

The same is true for Tibetans. From each tribe, their worshipers are different. But to the entire Tibetan nation, like dragon and phoenix are to the entire Han nation, yak is a universal and important totem idol belonging to the entire nation. The only reason why it has been able to continue to this day is that Tibetans have believed that all things have spirits since ancient times. In addition, after Buddhism was introduced into Tibetan areas, in order to survive and develop, it integrated and absorbed Tibetan primitive religions, forming a unique Tibetan Buddhism. Secondly, because yak was one of the earliest domesticated livestock of Tibetans, it has survived with the Tibetan people to this day. It is not only cold-resistant and adaptable to survival at high altitudes, but also has a gentle temperament and easy to maintain. It can also be used as a means of transportation in mountainous areas where people are inaccessible and transportation is backward. It is commonly known as the "Boat of the Plateau". However, the most important reason why it is regarded as a totem worship object by the Tibetan people is that in the thousands or even tens of thousands of years of history, it has used its flesh and blood and character to feed and influence this struggling to survive on the plateau. The nation. Its meat, milk, butter, etc. are the staple foods of Tibetans, and its leather and wool are also indispensable raw materials for Tibetan daily necessities. More importantly, its extraordinary survival and hard-working, kind and unafraid of violence have influenced the entire Tibetan nation. It can be said that if the Tibetan nation in history lost its yak, it would lose half of its living resources and the spiritual support to survive. Therefore, excluding the parts of its body that were used, the remaining head was enshrined high as a spiritual representative of the entire cow, winning worship and admiration as a totem of the entire nation. There is a historical record that "the Jiaxu people provided the statue of a cow's head and a human body, white stone was used to embed the cow's head on the wall, and the roof was used to provide the cow's head"(Wang Tingliang's "Jiaxu and the Yak Qiang"). The History of the Qiang People also said,"To this day, the Jiarong Tibetans in the Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture worship the great god in their homes is the 'ox head and human body'. Among the "Nian" totems described in the Tibetan "Five Remains of Religion·God and Ghost Department", the fifth is the Nian Chieftain Gong with the head of a yak. Moreover, among the six original Tibetan surnames, there is the Yak tribe. It is said that the royal family originated in the Six Yak tribe in Yalong. In addition, Tibetan areas also have materialized Yak Mountain and Yak River. There is also a wonderful legend about Yak Mountain, which says,"Lotus nut first entered Tibet. When he entered Nepal, he pulled and pulled shampoo to reveal his original form. He transformed into a snow-white yak, like a mountain, roaring like thunder, and shook the mountains and the earth."("Five Remnants"). Later, he was subverted by Lotus nut and became the patron saint of Buddhism. There are many mountains in Tibetan areas that have used the names of various tribal castes, ancestors and totem gods as mountain names since ancient times."These sacred mountains have become eternal monuments to the ancestral light of the Tibetan people. Although there are no inscriptions on this special form of monuments, artistic images have been passed down from generation to generation, and these images have been fixed in paintings, sculptures, myths, legends and sacrificial words."The historical value of the various cultural customs is no less than that of ancient tombs preserved underground for four to five thousand years." (Read more about "Exploring the Historical Kinship of the Tibetan and Han Nationalities")