The Different Religions Similar Concept of a World Order

Swastika – Tao

The Tocharians, an indoeuropean group which doesn’t any longer exists, went from their homeland in Caucasus to China for around 5.000 years ago. They opened the Silk road, and introduced both Taosism and copper. They spread Buddhism, but also Taoism, which is two local variations of our religion. Both of these religions use the Swastika, which is a persian word and means well-being. It is about living in peace with your self and in harmony with rest of the universe.

In Armenia swastika is called “vardan“, “arevakhach” and “ker khach” and is the ancient symbol of eternal light (i.e. God). Swastikas in Armenia were founded on petroglyphs. Among the oldest petroglyphs is the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet – “E” (which means “is” or “to be”) – depicted as half-swastika. Swastikas can also be seen on early Medieval churches and fortresses, including the principal tower in Armenia’s historical capital city of Ani. The same symbol can be found on Armenian carpets, cross-stones (khachkar) and in medieval manuscripts.

The world oldest swastika was found from a burial site of a hunting culture, worlds earliest temple Gobekli Tepe was created by non-porcelain, non-agricultural hunter gatherer people, likely also nomadic. However the earlist porcelain and agricultural people did not creat meaningful symbols or temples, implying the agricultural people lacked organizational trait. The hunter gatherers, later to become the first agroculturalists, from Near East, especially Anatolia, the Armenian Highland, were the first nomads, they are the root of world civilization. These people are still around, some migrated to Europe, settling in Africa, Europe and Asia, mixing with locals there. The descendents of nomadic heritage can be proud of it.

The archeological founds in the Halaf culture in the Armenian Highland shares similarities with Indian ones. The Mitanni language, which is a very archaic Indo-Iranian language (older and more archaic than old Avestan and Rigvedic and which according to Indo-European linguists forms a fifth independant Indo-Iranian group – oldest swastika( 6000-5000 B.C) in a Hurrian city. In fact the Hurrians and the Aryans (Armenians) established Mitanni, later Ur-Ar-at (Ararat) and then Armenia. While the Aryans became Armenians, the Hurrians became the Kurds (Iranian speaking).

“There may have been later “Taoists”, or interpreters of Taoism, that thought differently, but they do not conform to the teachings of Lao Tzu, and K’ung-fu-tzu and the other authors of the I Ching. The Tao is the same as God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus although the ancient Chinese sages did not know of these individuals. The brilliance of Taoism is the way that they conceived of God, which is not contrary to the Bible, but complementary to it. And yes, God is everything. There is only one Substance out of which everything is made, including thought, and it is called the Tao, or God.”

Taoism reminds of the Japanese and Korean term mu or Chinese wu meaning “not have; without” is a keyword in Buddhism, especially the Chan and Zen traditions. The Chinese word wu “not; nothing” was borrowed by East Asian Languages, particularly the Sino-Xenic “CJKV” languages of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

The Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation wu historically derives from (c. 7th century CE) Middle Chinese mju, (c. 3rd century CE) Late Han Chinese muɑ, and reconstructed (c. 6th century BCE) Old Chinese *ma. Old Chinese ma is cognate with the Proto-Tibeto-Burman ma “not”. This reconstructed root is widely represented in Tibeto-Burman languages, for instance, ma means “not” in both Written Tibetan and Written Burmese.

Some English translation equivalents of wu or mu are: “no”, “not”, “nothing”, or “without”, nothing, not, nothingness, un-, is not, has not, not any or nonexistence; nonbeing; not having; a lack of, without. A negative. Caused to be nonexistent. Impossible; lacking reason or cause. Pure human awareness, prior to experience or knowledge. This meaning is used especially by the Chan school. The ‘original nonbeing’ from which being is produced in the Daode jing.

In the original text, the question is used as a conventional beginning to a question-and-answer exchange (mondo). The reference is to the Nirvana Sutra, which says for example: In this light, the undisclosed store of the Tathagata is proclaimed: “All beings have the Buddha-Nature”.

The earliest Swastika known has been found from Mezine, Ukraine. It is carved on late paleolithic figurine of mammoth ivory, being dated as early as about 10,000 BC. It has been suggested this Swastika is a stylized picture of a stork in flight. Aragil or Stork – considered as the messenger of Ara the Beautiful, as well as the defender of fields. According to ancient mythological conceptions, two stork symbolize the sun. Ara ‘Ara the Beautiful’is the god of spring, flora, agriculture, sowing and water. He is associated with Osiris, Vishnu and Dionysus, as the symbol of new life.

Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC) mention the people of Ermenen, and says in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars”.

Maat

Maat or ma’at (meaning “(world-) order” and/or “harmony”) – the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation. Her (ideological) counterpart was Isfet, meaning “injustice”, “lie”, “wickedness”, “uncleanliness”, “chaos”, or “political unrest”; as a verb, “to do evil.

Maatwith Ankh

Ankh

Maat wearing feather of truth

Maat was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman, sitting or standing, holding a was scepter, the symbol of power, in one hand and an ankh, the symbol of eternal life, in the other. Sometimes she is depicted with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head. Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their role in upholding the laws of the Creator.

Depictions of Maat as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE). The earliest evidence for a dedicated temple is in the New Kingdom (c. 1569 to 1081 BCE) era, despite the great importance placed on Maat. Amenhotep III commissioned a temple in the Karnak complex, whilst textual evidence indicates that other temples of Maat were located in Memphis and at Deir el-Medina.

Isfet (meaning “injustice”, “lie”, “wickedness”, “uncleanliness”, “chaos”, or “political unrest”; as a verb, “to do evil”) is an ancient Egyptian term from Egyptian mythology used in philosophy, which was built on a religious, social and political affected dualism.

Isfet was thought to be the counterpart of the term Ma’at (meaning “(world-) order” and/or “harmony”). According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, Isfet and Ma’at built a complementary and also paradoxical dualism: one could not exist without its counterpart. Isfet and Ma’at balanced each other. An Egyptian king (pharaoh) was appointed to “achieve” Ma’at, which means that he had to keep and protect justice and harmony by destroying Isfet.

The principles of the contrariness between Isfet and Ma’at are exemplified in a popular tale from the Middle Kingdom, called “the moaning of the Bedouin”: Those who destroy the lie promote Ma’at; those who promote the good will erase the evil. As fullness casts out appetite, as clothes cover the nude and as heaven clears up after a storm.

In the eyes of the Egyptians the world was always ambiguous; the actions and judgements of a king were thought to simplify these principles in order to keep Ma’at by separating order from chaos/good from evil.

Coffin Text 335a asserts the necessity of the dead being cleansed of Isfet in order to be reborn in the Duat, the underworld. The Duat one would think to reside in an area under the Earth, but ancient Egyptians often referred to the sky. The Duat is the realm of the god Osiris and the residence of other gods and supernatural beings. It is the region through which the sun god Ra travels from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It also was the place where people’s souls went after death for judgement, though it was not the full extent of the afterlife. Burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat, and spirits could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat.

The underlying concepts of Taoism and Confucianism resemble the Egyptian Maat at times. Maat or ma’at, also spelled māt or mayet, was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation. Her (ideological) counterpart was Isfet.

The earliest surviving records indicating Maat is the norm for nature and society, in this world and the next, were recorded during the Old Kingdom, the earliest substantial surviving examples being found in the pyramid texts of Unas (ca. 2375 BCE and 2345 BCE).

Later, as a goddess in other traditions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth and their attributes are the same. After the rise of Ra they were depicted together in the Solar Barque.

Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, and being one of the two deities (the other being Ma’at) who stood on either side of Ra’s boat. In the later history of ancient Egypt, Thoth became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science, and the judgment of the dead.

After her role in creation and continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos, her primary role in Egyptian mythology dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld, Duat. Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully.

Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period the King would describe himself as the “Lord of Maat” who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart.

The significance of Maat developed to the point that it embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons, heavenly movements, religious observations and fair dealings, honesty and truthfulness in social interactions.

The ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of an underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious King could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual. In opposition to the right order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet: chaos, lies and violence.

In addition to the importance of the Maat, several other principles within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to tradition as opposed to change, the importance of rhetorical skill, and the significance of achieving impartiality, and social justice. In one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c. 1664 BCE) text the Creator declares “I made every man like his fellow”. Maat called the rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: “I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked” and “I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan”.

To the Egyptian mind, Maat bound all things together in an indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by Maat. Many of these concepts were codified into laws, and many of the concepts often were discussed by ancient Egyptian philosophers and officials who referred to the spiritual text known as the Book of the Dead.

There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules (as found in Mosaic law of the 1st millennium BCE). Maat was the norm and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty (c. 2510-2370 BCE) onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat and in later periods judges wore images of Maat.

Later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These spiritual texts dealt with common social or professional situations and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat. It was very practical advice, and highly case-based, so that few specific and general rules could be derived from them.

During the Greek period in Egyptian history, Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law. The Egyptian law preserved the rights of women who were allowed to act independently of men and own substantial personal property and in time this influenced the more restrictive conventions of the Greeks and Romans. When the Romans took control of Egypt, the Roman legal system which existed throughout the Roman Empire was imposed in Egypt.

Scribes held prestigious positions in ancient Egyptian society in view of their importance in the transmission of religious, political and commercial information.

Thoth was the patron of scribes who is described as the one “who reveals Maat and reckons Maat; who loves Maat and gives Maat to the doer of Maat”. In texts such as the Instruction of Amenemope the scribe is urged to follow the precepts of Maat in his private life as well as his work. The exhortations to live according to Maat are such that these kinds of instructional texts have been described as “Maat Literature”.

The sun-god Ra came from the primaeval mound of creation only after he set his daughter Maat in place of Isfet (chaos). Kings inherited the duty to ensure Maat remained in place and they with Ra are said to “live on Maat”, with Akhenaten (r. 1372-1355 BCE) in particular emphasising the concept to a degree that, John D. Ray asserts, the kings contemporaries viewed as intolerance and fanaticism. Some kings incorporated Maat into their names, being referred to as Lords of Maat, or Meri-Maat (Beloved of Maat). When beliefs about Thoth arose in the Egyptian pantheon and started to consume the earlier beliefs at Hermopolis about the Ogdoad, it was said that she was the mother of the Ogdoad and Thoth the father.

In the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against her single “Feather of Ma’at”, symbolically representing the concept of Maat, in the Hall of Two Truths. A heart which was unworthy was devoured by the goddess Ammit and its owner condemned to remain in the Duat. The heart was considered the location of the soul by ancient Egyptians. Those people with good and pure hearts were sent on to Aaru. Osiris came to be seen as the guardian of the gates of Aaru after he became part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition.

The weighing of the heart, pictured on papyrus in the Book of the Dead typically, or in tomb scenes, shows Anubis overseeing the weighing and the lioness Ammit seated awaiting the results so she could consume those who failed. The image would be the vertical heart on one flat surface of the balance scale and the vertical Shu-feather standing on the other balance scale surface. Other traditions hold that Anubis brought the soul before the posthumous Osiris who performed the weighing.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the fields of Aaru (iArw meaning “reeds”) (alternatives: Yaaru, Iaru, Aalu) or the Egyptian reed fields, are the heavenly paradise, where Osiris ruled after he became part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition. It has been described as the ka (a part of the soul) of the Nile Delta.

Only souls who weighed exactly the same as the feather of the goddess Ma’at were allowed to start a long and perilous journey to Aaru, where they would exist in pleasure for all eternity. The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul resided in the heart. Those whose heart did not match the weight of the feather of Ma’at due to their sins were excluded. They were said to suffer a second death when devoured by another being, Ammit, while still in Duat for judgment.

The souls who did qualify had to undergo a long journey and face many perils before reaching Aaru. Once they arrived, they had to enter through a series of gates. The exact number of gates varies according to sources, some say 15, some 21. They are however uniformly described as being guarded by evil demons armed with knives.

Aaru usually was placed in the east, where the Sun rises, and is described as eternal reed fields, very much like those of the earthly Nile delta: an ideal hunting and fishing ground, and hence, those deceased who, after judgment, were allowed to reside there, were often called the eternally living. More precisely, Aaru was envisaged as a series of islands, covered in “fields of rushes” (Sekhet Aaru), Aaru being the Egyptian word for rushes. The part where Osiris later dwelt was sometimes known as the “field of offerings”, Sekhet Hetepet in Egyptian.

Maat

Maat

Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul