More on millenarian Spain at time of Columbus

In the article Columbus, Magellan and the "Hidden King,"  the millennial environment that existed in Spain during the time of Columbus and Magellan was discussed.

The kingdom of Valencia, where I have suggested that Sayabiga elements had settled during Moorish times, turns out to be an epicenter of influence that created an environment in Spain favorable both the expeditions of both Columbus and Magellan.  Not only did Valencia host the Sayabiga, but it was also a center of post-Templar influence in Spain.

According to the theory presented here earlier, the "Gypsy" peoples known as the Zutt, who were possibly a Jat group from the Sindh in South Asia, and the Sayabiga from Zabag moved along with their rice farming and buffalo herding through the Middle East.  Probably they were the ones that introduced both rice and the buffalo to Egypt, and from there on to southern Spain.  The rice culture there involves a tidal wet system and the Japonica strain, and I have suggested this rice was farmed by the Sayabiga.


Adoration of the Magi, Northern Spain, 1125-40 (Source: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/50921)

Much of the agriculture in Moorish Spain did come from Egypt both dry and irrigated types.  Tidal rice was also planted by the Sayabiga in southern Mesopotamia, but they would have used regular wet rice agriculture in the Nile Valley before leapfrogging across North Africa to use the tidal system again in places like Lake Albufera in Valencia.

These Sayabiga in Spain, I have suggested, were an important link in the diplomatic efforts of "Prester John" of Zabag in Europe.  They would have been the "Indians" or "fairy people" mentioned by Wolfram von Eschenbach and other medieval writers, and linked with the Plantagenet family and the Holy Grail.


Gypsies in Spain 

The Gypsies in Spain are known as Gitano, a word that had been suggested to have been derived from "Jat," but most likely is a shortened form of Egyptiano "Egyptian."

Like the Romani Gypsies in other parts of Europe, the Gitano show linguistic traces of their origin from India.  Therefore it is quite likely that they are descendants at least partly of the aforementioned Zutt.  At one time, it was widely thought in Spain that the Gitano were descendants of Moriscos -- Muslims who had been converted to Catholicism.  However, after the language relationship with the Romani was discovered, many suggested that the Gitano had migrated into Spain after the Romani appeared in Eastern Europe.

However, researchers like Susan G. Drummond have shown that the evidence suggests two streams of Gypsies into Spain.  A Romani one in the north, and an older Gitano one in the south that dates to Moorish times.  The Calo language of the Gitano displays a large number of Hispano-Arabic words, and their Flamenco music shows similar influence, both of which are absent among the Romani.


Adoration of the Magi, Fuentiduena Chapel, Castilla-Leon, 1175-1200 (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2937556978/sizes/l/)

The presence of the Gitano can be seen as evidence of the migration of Zutt during Moorish times, and their ethnonym would agree with the suggestion that they came directly from Egypt.  Also the fact that they show no signs of Orthodox Christianity would suggest that they converted in Spain, i.e. that they were Moriscos or conversos.

Quite possibly the Gitano were once Zutt buffalo herders, which could explain their wandering ways.  The Zutt and their buffalo were moved to Syria and Anatolia to deal with the lion populations there -- a job that might have required a lot of movement from place to place.  Since the Zutt and Sayabiga tended to move around together, they probably migrated from that region to Egypt with the Sayabiga engaged mainly in farming.  The Sayabiga in Spain would have been rice farmers, and thus sedentary.  Also, the literary evidence would suggest, according to theory suggested here, that they were less endogamous as compared to the Gitano and freely intermarried.


Royal Morisco link from Valencia

Interestingly, both Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs of Spain who supported Columbus' voyage, both descend from a Morisca from Valencia.  Her name was Zaida, the daughter-in-law of al-Mutamid, the emir of Seville.  Zaida is sometimes referred to as the daughter of al-Mutamid in latter works, but contemporary Muslim sources state that she was his daughter-in-law of unknown ancestry. She lived in Denia in the Alicante, which was then part of the Kingdom of Valencia but now forms its own province. Like Valencia, Alicante is noted for its rice production.

Zaida, a contemporary of the first "fairy" count of Anjou, Fulk IV,  converted to Christianity and was either married to or was the concubine of Alfonso IV, king of Castile and Leon.  Both Ferdinand and Isabella descend from Zaida through Alfonso Fernandez, King of Castile, who descends through Constance de Hohenstaufen from Constance de Hauteville, the daughter of Elvira Alphonsez.  The latter was in turn was the daughter of Zaida.

Both monarchs may also descend from Zaida through Henry II's mother, a descendant of Zaida's other daughter Sancha Alfonsez,  but this genealogy is less secure.

A Valencian clan that claimed royal descent was the Borgia family, which rose to great heights during the Renaissance.   Accounts beginning in the early 17th century claim that the Borgias descend from King Ramiro of Spain, but the genealogies differ.  The actual documentation from Valencia and Aragon suggests instead that the Borgias trace their origins to one Gonzalo de Borja, who had no formal title.

The surnames Borja, Borge, Borgia, etc. come from the name of the Moorish town, and the surname is found on lists of Morisco surnames.  Evidence suggests that the Borgia clan, or at least their paternal ancestors, came originally from Borja in Aragon, but had been settled in the huerta of Valencia for some time before rising to prominence.

The first Borgia to gain fame was Alfonso from Canals, Valencia who became Pope Callisto III (Callixtus III) in 1455.  Alfonso had once served as an ambassador for the Aragonese kings.  He and the rest of his family became famed for their corruption and he appointed his nephew Rodrigo de Borgia, from Jativa, Valencia, as cardinal.

Rodrigo would become Pope Alexander VI in the same year that Columbus sailed on his first voyage.  As Pope, he granted the coveted rights to the Americas to Spain after a request from King Ferdinand, who had helped bring Rodrigo to power.

The children of Alexander VI and others in the Borgia clan quickly gained titles of nobility including Duke of Gandia in Valencia, and a number of titles in Italy.  Alexander VI's son Cesare Borgia became Duke of Valentinois, and inspired Machiavelli's work "The Prince."

Annio of Viterbo, possibly with the consent of Alexander VI, created a genealogy for the Borgias that claims the family descends from the Egyptian god-king Osiris -- interesting given the Zutt and Sayabiga's Egypt connection -- although Annio makes these links ancient and extends them to Italy.



The Borgia coat of arms with the bull representing Apis as an aspect of Osiris. (Source: Wikipedia)


Templars in Spain

When the Templars were disbanded, those in Portugal took refuge among the Order of Christ.  The Templars in Spain joined the Order of Montesa in Valencia.  Both of these orders play a part in the navigation to the Indies and the voyages of Columbus. Earlier in this blog, I suggested that the Templars had a political relationship with Prester John via Sayabiga/Assassin intermediaries. 

The Order of Christ knights were used by Prince Henry of Portugal, himself the Grandmaster of the organization, during his voyages of discovery.

An interesting possible direct connection between the Order of Montesa, which was located in the Kingdom of Valencia, and Columbus comes through Carlos de Viana (Charles of Viana). 

Carlos was a prince of Aragon, the son of the future John II, and himself the heir to the crown of Navarre. He also held the title of Prince of Viana.  According to one theory, Prince Carlos was actually Christopher Columbus' father!   A team of geneticists lead by Jose A. Lorente and Mark Stoneking had set out to test whether this theory was valid and they were expected to release results in 2005.  However, I have not seen anything further published on this research.

One of Prince Carlos' sons, Felipe, Count of Beaufort, and possibly a half-brother of Columbus, quit his position as Archbishop of Palermo in 1485 to become Grandmaster of the Order of Montesa.

A member of the Borgia family -- Don Pedro Luis Galceran de Borgia -- would become the last Grandmaster of the Order of Montesa in 1572.


Rise in millenarianism

In Columbus' "Book of Prophecies" (Libro de las profecias), the discoverer claims that he had found the Biblical lands of Tarshish, Cathyr and Ophir.

Likely one of the main reasons that both Columbus and Magellan were able to find fertile ground in Spain while failing elsewhere lies in the millennial environment that existed in the area at the time.  The Valencian alchemist Arnold of Villanova (1235-1311) was probably the first person responsible for popularizing the millenarian views of Joachim of Fiore in Spain.

He modified Joachimite prophecies combining them with earlier material from Pseudo-Methodius and others, and claiming that the Last Emperor who would reconquer Zion would come from Spain.  After Arnold of Villanova, another Valencian, Francesc Eixemensis further popularized these millennial views both in Valencia and throughout Spain.  Peter of Aragon, a member of the royal family and a Franciscan also helped promote the idea in the late 14th century that the King of Aragon would retake Jerusalem.

During the period of King Ferdinand V, the belief that this monarch was the prophesied one were widespread throughout Spain.  Given that Columbus himself was also deeply interested in prophecy, and also apparently considered himself a divine instrument in prophetic fulfillment, he was destined to eventually come to the monarchs of Aragon and Castile.

In the introduction to the Book of Prophecies, Columbus also mentions that the islands he had discovered were the same archipelago of 7,448 islands off the coast of South China (Manzi) mentioned by Marco Polo.  In the millenarian views of the time, islands were seen as important elements in the fulfillment of prophecy.  The conquest of the islands at the end of the earth was widely seen as an important mission of the millennial king in the last days.


Message from Prester John

The millenarian environment helped fuel the thirst for exploration, but it was information from the far east that provided the geographic knowledge necessary for Columbus to set off on his journey.

Nicolo di Conti and the eastern ambassador who came together with the entourage of papal envoy Alberto de Sarteano provided that knowledge.  Previously, I have suggested that the eastern delegate came from the kingdom of Prester John, which Conti claimed to have spent much time at during his Asian travels.  The ambassador claims to have come from a Nestorian kingdom in "Upper India" about 20 days from Cathay, i.e., the kingdom of Prester John.

The knowledge they provided completed a set of influences that appear to have convinced Columbus and others of the feasibility of the western voyages.  The other influences were:

• Marco Polo's account of the eastern islands off South China and their richness in gold, which Columbus apparently equates with Biblical gold of Ophir.
• The book attributed to John of Mandeville in the mid to late 14th century suggests that circumnavigation of the world is possible.  Columbus refers to Mandeville's work as having a great influence on him. Mandeville described Prester John's eastern realm as follows:
  
  

  "Toward the east part of Prester John's land is an isle good and great, that men clepe Taprobane, that is full noble and full fructuous...Beside that isle, toward the east, be two other isles. And men clepe that one Orille, and that other Argyte, of the which all the
  land is mine of gold and silver. And those isles be right where that the Red Sea departeth from the sea ocean."

  Orille and Argyte are the Chryse and Argye, the islands of gold and silver mentioned by Ptolemy who  locates them beyond the Golden Chersonese (Malaya Peninsula).
  
  At the extreme east of the kingdoms was the land of Eden:
  
  
  

  "And beyond the land and the isles and the deserts of Prester John's lordship, in going straight toward the east, men find nothing but mountains and rocks, full great. And there is the dark region, where no man may see, neither by day ne by night, as they of the country say. And that desert and that place of darkness dure from this coast unto Paradise terrestrial, where that Adam, our formest father, and Eve were put, that dwelled there but little while: and that is towards the east at the beginning of the earth. But that is not that east that we clepe our east, on this half, where the sun riseth to us. For when the sun is
  east in those parts towards Paradise terrestrial, it is then midnight in our parts on this half, for the roundness of the earth, of the which I have touched to you of before."

  Mandeville then describes the journeys on the 'other half' of the globe that involve "coasting" from the lands of Prester John:
  
  

  "From those isles that I have spoken of before, in the Land of Prester John, that be under earth as to us that be on this half, and of other isles that be more further beyond, whoso will, pursue them for to come again right to the parts that he came from, and so environ all earth. But what for the isles, what for the sea, and what for strong rowing, few folk assay for to pass that passage; albeit that men might do it well, that might be of power to dress them thereto, as I have said you before. And therefore men return from those isles above said by other isles, coasting from the land of Prester John."

Columbus learned of the testimony of Conti and the eastern ambassador at least from the letter of astronomer Paolo Toscanelli to Fernao Martins in 1474.  If the second letter of Toscanelli to Columbus is authentic, Columbus was also told to expect to find Christians on a journey to the East Indies.  Francis Millet Rogers has suggested that Columbus was additionally familiar with Conti through the work of Pero Tafur. If so, then he might easily have connected Prester John as mentioned in Tafur with the eastern ambassador from the Nestorian kingdom in Upper India.  Conti also mentions Nestorians in India, and in Tafur's account he describes the subjects of Prester John saying that "they know nothing of our Romish Church, nor are governed by it."

Tafur suggests that Prester John had an interest in the Christian world: "I learnt from Nicolo de' Conti that Prester John kept him continuously at his court, enquiring of him as to the Christian world, and concerning the princes and their estates, and the wars they were waging, and while he was there he saw Prester John on two occasions dispatch ambassadors to Christian princes, but he did not hear whether any news of them had been received."  Since the king was interested in making contact with Christendom logically he would have sent an ambassador along with Conti.

Upon analyzing the itinerary of Conti as supplied to papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini, Columbus probably noted that Conti's long sojourn with Prester John must have taken place sometime after the former had visited Champa.  That was the period before Conti began his journey back to India and Europe, and the one in which he spent most of his time in Asia. 

Therefore, Columbus quite logically would place Prester John's kingdom somewhere in Southeast Asia, in the same eastern archipelago mentioned by Marco Polo as lying off the coast of South China.  In this location, Columbus, venturing to an unknown part of the world, could expect to meet the friendly Nestorian Christians of Prester John's kingdom.   And Conti's testimony appears to have convinced many including Toscanelli and Columbus that the East Indies could be reached by sailing west from Europe around the globe.

Thus, Columbus' sailing course toward the equatorial latitudes, of which he expected to land in the East Indies, is not surprising.  Magellan also folllowed a similar course, and we know from his notes that he also appeared to be searching for the islands of Tarshish and Ophir.

By the time of Columbus, Valencia had become the commercial capital of the Crown of Aragon, and it was through the city's port that Spain controlled much of the trade that occurred in the European part of the Mediterranean.  Valencia provided the first round of funding for Columbus voyage as financiers like Jewish converso Luis de Santangel responded to Queen Isabella's call for financial backing.

After Prester John of Zabag sent letters to Western Christendom in the latter part of the 12th century, he became relatively quiet.  Maybe the conquests of the Mongols eased the urgency of dealing with expanding threats along the trade routes. However, by the mid-15th century Islam began to expand quickly in Southeast Asia with the establishment of the Sultanate of Aceh, and with Islamic kingdoms already existing in Kedah and Pasai by 1380.  At this time, the remnants of old Zabag were now consolidated into a kingdom known widely as Luzon. So the interest that "Prester John" showed Nicolo di Conti in the goings on of Christian nations in the West is logical.

Spain, for reasons that extend back to the original Prester John of Zabag, was the natural kingdom to have supported Columbus' millenarian plan to reach the fabled islands of Tarshish and Ophir.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Columbus, Christopher, Kay Brigham, and Kay Brigham. Christopher Columbus's Book of Prophecies. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Clie, 1991.

Constable, Olivia R. Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500. Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought, Ser. 4, 24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Dandelet, Thomas James. Spanish Rome, 1500-1700. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Lorente, Jose A. DNA challenges posed in attempting to solve Christopher Columbus misteries [sic], http://www.promega.com/GENETICIDPROC/ussymp14proc/oralpresentations/Lorente.pdf, 2003.

Reeves, Marjorie. The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages A Study in Joachimism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

Rogers, Francis Millet. The Quest for Eastern Christians. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1962.

Tafur, Pero and Malcolm Letts (translator). Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), New York: Harper and Brothers, 1926.

Tompsett, Brian. Directory of Royal Genealogical Data, http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/GEDCOM.html, 2005.

Watts, Pauline Moffitt. "Prophecy and Discovery:  On the Spiritual Origins of ChristopherColumbus's 'Enterprise of the Indies'," American Historical Review, Feb. 1985, 73-102.

West, Delno C. "Medieval Ideas of Apocalyptic Mission and the Early Franciscans in Mexico," The Americas vol. XLV, Jan. 1989, no. 3, 292-313.

More on Qingtong

Details of Qingtong's realm in Fangzhou described in the Chen Kao (489 CE) coincide with a series of notices about the country of Fusang in other works. The Liangshu, the annals of the Liang Dynasty compiled in the 7th century, tell of a priest or shaman named Huishen who comes to China in 499 CE as an envoy from Fusang. The same source mentions that in 458 CE, missionaries from Ki-pen brought the Buddhist religion to Fusang. The Liang Si Gong Zhi written in 695 tells of envoys from Fusang who bring official gifts in 520 CE.

Given the timing and the fact that one of Qingtong's titles is "Fusang Great Emperor" (Fusang Daidi, 扶桑大帝) , one can say that Qingtong's domain was intended by the Daoists to refer to the contemporary political entity known as Fusang that had sent two missions to China. And again there is the coincidence also of the introduction of Buddhism to Fusang described in the Liangshu and the mention in the Chen Kao of Buddhism in western Lesser Fangzhu.

Huishen's directions to Fusang are rather confused and have led to a great many theories connecting the legendary land to the Americas across the Pacific Ocean. However, as we have noted earlier the older descriptions of Fusang's location are quite different than those given by Huishen. The Fusang priest states that Fusang is tens of thousands of li to the east of Japan. However, at the same time he mentions the Lieu-kieu (Ryukyu) islands as existing to the north of Fusang.

Also, Huishen in attempting to relate the positions of the Kingdom of Dogs and Kingdom of Women, both linked in his story with Fusang, states that these countries had been visited by a ship from a Fujian port that was blown off course. Therefore it seems that even in Huishen's account, we get an idea of the more traditional location of Fusang. The Kingdom of Dogs (Kou kuo) is described in the contemporary (5th century CE) Hou Han Shu as an island located to the southeast of Zhejiang (Kuai-chi county) matching the geographical location for Fangzhu in the Chen Kao. Possibly the journey to the east of Japan mentioned by Huishen is related to some indirect route to Fusang using the Kuroshio Current.

Buddhism appears to have been introduced to Cambodia, known to the Chinese at the time as Chenla, around about 500 CE. Possibly this what is referred to in the Liangshu and the Chen Kao about the existence of the Buddhist religion in the southern regions.

In the Liang Si Gong Zhi, Prince Yukie interrogates the Fusang envoy of 520 CE about his distant kingdom. In the following passages derived from the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys' translation, the gifts from Fusang are described.

The envoy from Fusang wept, and responded with respectful ardour. The offering which he presented consisted principally of three hundred pounds of yellow silk, spun by the silkworm of the fusang tree, and of an extraordinary strength. The emperor had an incense-burner of massive gold, of a weight of fifty kin. This could be lifted and held suspended by six of these threads without breaking them. There was also among the presents offered to the emperor a sort of semi-transparent precious stone, cut in the form of a mirror, and of the circumference of more than a foot. In observing the sun by reflection by means of this stone, the palace which the sun contains appeared very distinctly.

The silk from the Fusang Tree is probably barkcloth and that would agree with Huishen's account in which the people make writing paper from Fusang Tree bark. The envoy goes on to describe the Kingdom of Women, where he says the female inhabitants marry serpents rather than dogs as in other accounts.

In this kingdom there are no books, and they know nothing of the art of writing. They believe firmly in the efficacy of certain forms of prayers or maledictions. The women who act uprightly prolong their lives, and those who swerve from the right are immediately cut off. The worship of spirits imposes laws that none dare to violate. To the south of Ho-cheu (the Island of Fire) , situated to the south of this country, is the mountain Yen-kuen (Burning Mountain), the inhabitants of which eat locusts, crabs, and hairy serpents, to preserve themselves from the heat. In this land of Ho-cheu, the ho-mu (trees of fire) grow ; their bark furnishes a solid tissue. Upon the summit of the mountain Yen-kuen there live fire rats (ho-shu), the hair of which serves also for the fabrication of an incombustible stuff, which is cleansed by fire instead of by water. To the north of this Kingdom of Women is the Black Valley (He-ko), and north of the Black Valley are mountains so high that they reach to the heavens...The attendants of tbe court were much amused at these stories. They all laughed and clapped their hands, and said that better stories had never been told. A minister of the emperor, named Wang-yun, interrupted Yu-kie with this bantering objection: 'If we believe the official accounts which have been collected regarding the Kingdom of Women, situated to the west of the country of Tsan-yai and to the south of the Kingdom of Dogs (Keu-kwoh), it is merely inhabited by barbarians of the race of the Kiang-jong, who have a woman as their sovereign; but there has never been any question of serpents filling the office of husbands. How do you account for that?' Yu-kie responded with pleasantry with a new explosion of extravagancies, in the midst of which there appeared here and there a true idea, burlesqued for diversion.

These passages indicate that as in almost all ancient and medieval accounts, reliable facts are interspersed into a great deal of legend and hyperbole meant to amuse the listener or reader. The knowledgeable were expected to know how to discern the reliable information from entertainment. Of interest above for the themes of this blog is the mention of the "Island of Fire," and the "Burning Mountain."


Religion in Fangzhu

In the last post, the meditation known as 'ingesting the rays of the Sun and Moon' was mentioned. The name of Fangzhu itself might relate to the reverence of the solar and lunar luminaries.

In Daoism, the fangzhu mirrors were believed to capture the essence of the Sun and the Moon in a manner similar to Cinnabar Gold (danjin), which was used to make dishes and cups.

Further, take one pound of this elixir and place it over a fire. Fan it, and it will transmute itself into a flowing scarlet gold, called Elixir-Gold. If you smear daggers and swords with this Gold, they will keep the other weapons ten thousand miles away. If you cast plates and bowls with the Elixir-Gold and take food and drinks from them, you will live a long life. Just as you can collect a liquid from the [the essences of] the sun and the moon, and obtain their liquor. If you drink it, you will be free from death.

-- Ge Hong (3rd-4th century CE) , Baopu zi, 4.83, (Fabrizio Pregadio, 2006: 117)

In the article on alchemy in this blog, we discuss the story in the Shiji in which the fangshi wizard Lin Shaojun advises the Qin Emperor to use drinking and eating vessels of cinnabar transmuted into gold to prolong life.

Li Shaojun then advised the emperor, "If you sacrifice to the fireplace you can call the spirits to you, and if the spirits come you can transform cinnabar into gold. Using this gold, you may make drinking and eating vessels, which will prolong the years of your life. With prolonged life you may visit the immortals who live on the island of Penglai in the middle of the sea. If you visit them and perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices, you will never die."

The name "Fangzhu" referring to the square mirror basins that absorb the energies of the Sun and Moon, may thus relate to the importance of the Sun and Moon in local spiritual techniques including those practiced by Qingtong.

Qingtong is also specially charged with the duty of distributing to the realized seed people a powerful charm known as the "Bell of Flowing Gold and Fire" (liu-chin huo-ling) . This amulet is apparently modeled on the small globular ornamental bells that appear in the region as early as the Late Ban Chiang and Dongson periods.


Bronze bracelet with small pellet bells from Late Period Ban Chiang.


The Dongson variety of these bells, often worn on the ankles or on the fringes of clothing, is decorated with the signature Dongsonian motif of rows of circles joined by tangents. The well-known "tiger bells" that continue to be made today originate from these more ancient grelots and are still used as charms against danger and demons.

Considered one of the most powerful amulets in Shangqing tradition, this bell is considered to consist of the "elemental essence of the Nine Stars [of the Dipper]," and it allows the adept to magically transport away from danger to a place of safety. Qingtong himself is said to be garbed in a blue-green damask with a small bell as his pendant.


Qingtong and Later Millenarian Traditions

As already noted, the messianic beliefs in Qingtong show obvious links with the Buddhist savior Prince Moonlight. In some of the Prince Moonlight texts, we find the term "Luminous King" or "Mingwang" used for the this messianic figure.

The title Mingwang would appear frequently in the latter development of messianic sects. Two of the most important of these sects were the White Lotus Tradition and the Hong Society.

In both traditions, the concepts of a chosen elect, of a future paradise and of a bridge, as found in the Qingtong and Prince Moonlight texts, survive. A feature that is added to both the White Lotus Tradition and Hong Society is that of a boat that assists in the journey to the refuge of the elect.

In White Lotus lore this vessel is known as the "Dharma Boat" (fachuan) and the Hong Society version is naturally called the "Hong Boat."

Often we see earlier themes pop up in latter messianic movements. Such is probably the case with the "Immortal Lad," who was originally named Liu Xi Gour (Liu Xi "The Dog") born in 1778. His deceased father was said to be either a Maitreya Buddha or an Immortal making him an Immortal Lad (xiantong). Around the same time, born in 1778, was Li Quan'er (Li the Dog) who was said to have the characters of the Sun and Moon on his palms together with the ideograph for the Ming Dynasty. Hong Society members believed that the messiah would be a prince from the Ming Dynasty lineage. In both these accounts, we can see motifs that may be related to that of the Blue-Green Lad, the Dog People of Fusang and the Fangzhu reverence for Sun and Moon.

The divine boat that rescues the elect is said by Hong Society members to transport passengers to the "City of Willows." The exact location of this city is not given but it involves an important journey over a body of water and it was located near the "Mountain of Fire" guarded by a deity known as the Hong Child. In White Lotus lore, Guanyin is often said to captain the boat of salvation. Sometimes this ship is said to take the elect to Putuoshan island, at other times to Mt. Ling, the Vulture Peak where the Buddha preached the Dharma, or to other locations. Guanyin is also often described as one of the divine passengers on the Hong Boat.

There may be an impulse from the regions south of China in the introduction of the boat motif. Guanyin in her form as Guanyin Nanhai or "Guanyin of the South Seas" is often shown riding across the sea standing on a giant fish's head or on the head of a dragon. Alternatively she is shown standing in a boat. The giant fish and dragon could be forms of the whale boat found in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The whale features throughout the region as a savior of people lost at sea, or as one who brings back people stranded on the Island of Women or some other distant place. Also, some researchers believe the Eternal Venerable Mother (Wusheng Laomu), the White Lotus supreme deity, originates primarily from Guanyin Laomu, who may appear earlier in the literature.

When Chinese migrants, mainly from the South -- Fujian and Canton -- began searching for the "Golden Mountain" and its riches in Southeast Asia and western America, they were accompanied by secret societies. These are often known as triad societies, many of them millenarian, although not all are involved in organized crime. Sun Yat-sen was surprised at the very high percentage of overseas Chinese who were members of these societies. He is believed to have become a member himself, of the Zhigongtang in Honolulu, and enlisted their aid in the fight against the Ching Dynasty.

Probably the reason for the strength of the triads among the Chinese diaspora lies in the fact that so many of the migrants were laborers for whom the attraction of the societies was great. We can not though discount any millenarian motivations among triad members to find the fabled overseas paradise -- once known as the home of Qingtong, the Fusang Great Emperor.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Pregadio, Fabrizio. Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Medieval China, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.

Ter Haar, B. J. Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads: Creating an Identity. Sinica Leidensia Series, 43. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2000.

Vining, E. P. An Inglorious Columbus, D. Appleton and Co., 1885.

Yu, Chun-Fang. Kuan Yin The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteshvara, Columbia University Press, 2001.

Qingtong, Lord Lad of the East

In the mid to late 4th century CE, messianic Daoist texts particularly those of the Shangqing sect mention the Divine King known as Qingtong, whose island home known as Fangzhu was also the location of the Hot Water Valley (Tanggu) and the fabled Fusang Tree. Qingtong means literally the "Blue-Green Lad" as qing is a blue-green color, but in scholarly literature he is usually referred to as Azure Lad, Green Lad or Blue Lad. He is also called the "Blue-Green-Clad Lad."

The Qingtong theme developed from older beliefs in Dongwanggong the "King Father of the East." Indeed, Qingtong took not only most of the roles of the Eastern King, but also of his consort Xiwangmu "Queen Mother of the West." His home region is also known as the "Eastern Florescence" or the "Blue-Green Florescence" as blue-green is the color of the East in Wuxing cosmology. So, "Blue-Green Lad" is synonymous with "Eastern Lad."

Early texts place Dongwanggong not only in the Eastern seas but decidedly in the southern regions, i.e., to the southeast. In the Zhouli ("Rites of Zhou") redacted around 130 BCE, but containing material mostly from the Zhou Dynasty, Dongwanggong, known by one of his alternate names, Mugong ("Wood Sire"), is said to reside at Chien-mu "the Determining Tree."

The Huainanzi (2nd century BCE) says of the Chien-mu Tree:

The Chien-mu is in Tu-kuang. All the gods ascended and descended by it. It cast no shadow in the sun and it made no echo when someone shouted. No doubt this is because it is the center of Heaven and earth.

As the Chien-mu tree casts no shadows at some point in the year, we should suspect an equatorial location. The Shanhaijing, from about the same period as the Huainanzi, confirms the statement of the Chien-mu Tree casting no shadow and adds:

Beyond the South Sea, between Black River and Green River. . .There is a tree with green leaves, a purple trunk, black blossoms, and yellow fruit called the Chien-mu tree. For one thousand feet upward it bears no branches, and there are nine tanglewoods, while underneath there are nine root twinings. Its fruit is like hemp seed; its leaves resemble bearded grass. T'ai Hao used to pass up and down by it.

In the Shangqing and other medieval texts, the Chien-mu "Determining Tree" is equated with the Fusang Tree, and this probably was also the case in more ancient times judging from the similar geography and characteristics. Medieval sources also place Dongwanggong's home on the island of Penglai suggesting a further equation with this fabled location.

Penglai along with the other paradise islands was famed for its location to the east, but ancient sources also confirm that this should be specifically to the southeast. According to Liezi (4th century BCE), there were originally five paradise islands beyond the eastern seas that floated on the backs of great turtles. A giant caught two of these islands with a fishing line to sacrifice them for tortoise shell divination causing two islands to float away. The remaining three isles of the blest led by Penglai were located near the Ta-Ho a great abyss into which "the waters from the eight points of the compass and from the uttermost parts of the earth, and from the streams of the Milky Way all flow." And it is further states that "this they do without causing any appreciable change in the depth of the 'Abyss."

Zhuangzi from about the same period as Liezi calls this cosmic drain into which all waters flow the Weilu and notes that "it never empties."

In the Chuci, a collection of poems from the state of Chu dating to the Warring States period, this "gap" in the ocean is located to the southeast where the waters drained after Gong Gong caused the earth to lean in that direction.

Kang Hui [Gong Gong] was enraged, and the land leaned southeast [why?]
The nine provinces were askew; the river valleys were fouled [how?]
The eastward flow never fills the sea [who knows why?]

(John S. Major, 1993:64, emphasis added )

Zhuangzi also mentions a geographical feature known as the 'Southern Stygia," to which the Phoenix (Feng) flies regularly with the south-blowing monsoon in the sixth month. This deep or underworld location is also called the "Stygian Sea," and is located a great distance to the South. The 4th to 5th century CE geographical work Hai Nei Shih Chou Chi associates the dark waters of the Southern Stygia with Penglai. During the T'ang Dynasty, the Southern Stygia was located in the midst of the South Sea (Nanhai) where the goddess Lady of the Southern Stygia (Nan ming fu jen) dwelt. Medieval texts also locate the Weilu clearly in the southeastern regions of the ocean.

The Chen Kao dated to about 489 CE states that Qingtong's home of Fangzhu, described as having a square shape, is located in the ocean southeast of Kuai-chi county, the latter corresponding approximately to modern Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province. The name "Fangzhu" has been translated "Square Speculum" and probably is linked to a bronze mirror that was thought in ancient times to collect lunar dew drops during the Full Moon. There was a Greater Fangzhu proper and two Lesser Fangzhus on the eastern and western sides of Greater Fangzhu. There were two great mountains among the ranges of Fangzhu, the Great Mountain of Lasting Light and the High Mound of Night's Moonlight. Qingtong's palace was located on the Mountain of Eastern Florescence. The Lesser Fangzhus were described as circular in shape. The western Lesser Fangzhu had a large Buddhist population with many prominent stupas and tiered buildings. The eastern Lesser Fangzhu was a storehouse of treasures and the plants of immortality. Interestingly with reference to Buddhism in western Fangzhu, the Liangshu states that in 458 CE just 31 years earlier than the Chen Kao, Buddhist monks introduced their religion to the country of Fusang. In 520 CE, emissaries from Fusang are said to have brought to China a gift of a semi-transparent jewel or crystal about a foot in circumference used for gazing at the Sun (Joseph Needham, 1962: 114).


Messianic background

Qingtong plays an important role in Daoist millenarian texts through his connection with Li Hong, the end-times savior believed by some sects to be a reincarnation of the sage Laozi.

Daoist messianism traces its roots back to the earliest sages. Confucius, Laozi and Mencius all believed in a type of savior king who ruled, and shall rule, in the Teh "the age of perfect virtue. Daoists know this virtue as wu-wei and Confucianists call it jen. According to Mencius, a new savior sage or king appears cyclically every 500 years. Zhuangzi used the term "Great Peace" or Taiping to describe the golden ages, and "Perfect Ruler" or Zhenjun for the savior king. These terms would appear predominantly in latter millenarian literature. Early in the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi and the father of Sima Qian expressed expectations of a new sage or king as the period of 500 years from Confucius was fast approaching. A Daoist book, "The Classic on Great Peace and on the conservation of the Origin according to the Calendar revealed by the Officers of Heaven" was presented to the emperor requesting that the dynasty renew the Mandate of Heaven. The author was promptly imprisoned and terminated. Rebellions broke out leading up to the first great millenarian Taiping revolt of 184 CE.

If we admit to a greater antiquity for the legendary history, there are also cosmological cycles of destruction and creation that may have helped in the development of later millenarian views. The great deluges caused by Gong Gong and the battle between the fire and water gods are examples of such upheavals. These world catastrophes are usually followed by golden age periods. The Wupian Zhenwen of Ge Chaofu (400 CE) describes the deluge as the most important element in the turning of the great ages. Medieval punning on the sound "hong" as in the savior Li Hong's name is believed to be linked with the word hong "flood, vast, e.g., the first Ming emperor uses the word in his first year title with suggested millenarian motivations (David Ownby, Mary F. Somers Heidhues, 1993: 167).

By at least the mid-T'ang period, we also see the Daoist idea of the geological formation known as the "Mulberry Fields" in the eastern Ocean that undergoes cyclical catastrophic change. Due to changing sea levels and/or rising land formations, the Mulberry Fields would periodically rise above the ocean allowing people to cross on the resulting land bridge to Penglai. In latter times, messianic Buddhists believed that Prince Moonlight would lead the elect across this land bridge to hide in caverns under Mount Penglai during the apocalypse, which is characterized by a great world flood.

Among Daoists, Qingtong leads the 'seed people' across the Mulberry Fields to Fangzhu during the end-times tribulation.

During the Six Dynasties period, texts like the Spirit Spells of the Abyss suggested that a sage during the Former Han Dynasty known as Muzi Gongkou, the cryptic four character spelling of Li Hong, was an avatar of Laozi. The Shiji (2nd or 1st century BCE) of Sima Qian states that Laozi had the surname of Li and it became a Daoist tradition that future messiahs would have the same surname. Some also suggested they should have the same name as the Han dynasty sage Li Hong. Shangqing texts make Li Hong the deity of the Golden Porte in Heaven, to whom Qingtong visits to obtain millenarian scriptures.

It is Qingtong, acting as a mediator, who delivers these texts to humanity. In some versions, he must deliver them twice because people cannot decipher their hidden meanings. As mentioned, Qingtong also leads the elect over the Eastern Sea dryshod via the Mulberry Fields to his island Fangzhu, and from there to the heavenly Golden Porte of Li Hong during the latter's return.


Solar symbolism

Another example of cosmic cycles in Chinese myth may be found in the story of the archer Yi's shooting down of nine of the Ten Suns. The superfluous Suns rose from the Fusang Tree and fell into the Weilu. Although the legends do not connect the events directly with cyclic periods, the geological and climate upheavals associated with this myth and similar ones in neighboring regions indicate catastrophic and cyclic thinking. The Ten Suns are related to the cyclical ten celestial stems used in astrology and calendrics that originate from at least Shang Dynasty times.

With his residence near the Fusang Tree and "Sun Valley" (Yanggu), Qingtong has clear solar associations. He is called the Lord and Master of the brilliance and "florescence" of the dawn, and one 6th century text states that his given name is Yang "Sun." Thus, it is not surprising that Qingtong along with other residents of Fangzhu practice a type of alchemical mediation known as 'ingesting the rays of the Sun and Moon.'

Performing the Way of holding the sun in the heart, the moon in the "Clay Pellet," is referred to as "Reducing Change" (sheng i). If one is able purposefully to perform it, there will be no marantic or knotted things within. It is a Way of eradicating the Three Corpses of the body, the hundred diseases, and the thousand malevolences, of refining the cloud-souls and constraining the white-souls. If sun and moon constantly illuminate the interior of your physical form, demons will then have no form in which to hide. The Azure Lord performs it (i.e., this exercise) now as he did in the past. We pattern ourselves on his person.

-- Chen Kao
(translated in Paul W. Kroll, 1985: 82)

Another important aspect about Qingtong is his youth. The theme of the precocious child and the child prodigy date back to some of China's oldest extant literature including what is believed to be the most ancient layers of the Book of Odes. Possibly this theme, which became very popular during the Han Dynasty, helped in the development of Qingtong. The Buddhist savior Prince Moonlight, who appears somewhat later, is also portrayed as a youth. In the case of Qingtong though he is only young in appearance as his age in years is great.

There appears to be a good argument for Prince Moonlight developing out of the Qingtong theme. The latter originating from legends of Dongwanggong "King Father of the East" who lives in the region of the Chien-mu "Determining Tree." The Chien-mu is not only to the East but to the South, i.e. to the Southeast in the South Sea and the equatorial region where the Sun casts no shadows at certain times. The Chien-mu acts as an axis mundi and in latter literature is equated with the Fusang Tree. Also in latter literature, Dongwanggong's home is specified as Penglai.

Qingtong's home is said to be in the region of the Chien-mu/Fusang Tree, while Buddhist literature says Prince Moonlight resides on Penglai. Both lead the elect across a land bridge to their paradise islands in the latter days. From Fangzhu, Qingtong leads the seed people to the Golden Porte of Heaven, an obvious reference to the Chien-mu axis mundi. In a similar sense, Prince Moonlight in some versions escorts the chosen people to Penglai but in others to the Tushita Heaven. The following passages, translated by Kroll, from the Chen Kao describe a flight through the heavens that starts from Qingtong's home in the Eastern Florescence.

Relaxed and rested in the stillness of Eastern Florescence,

I take aloft the screened carriage, circumvolve the
Eight Directions.

Looking down peer amidst mounds and ant-hills,
Not at all aware of the Five Marchmounts' eminence.

Those numinous hursts are the equivalent of abyssal
springs;

Larger and smaller follow one another in exchange.

"Length" and "brevity" are lacking in any "more" or
"less";

The great cedrela in just a moment is come to its end.

-So why not commission the compliance of Heaven,
And take office as an unleashed spirit in the Hollow
of space?

The geologic catastrophism associated with Qingtong's home region in the Southeast is noteworthy. In the tales of the loss of two of the original five paradise islands, the catastrophes of the Mulberry Fields, the shooting down of the multiple Suns and the resulting fiery water-consuming Weilu, we could have significations of the "Ring of Fire" environment.

The floating away of the two isles of the blessed could possibly preserve ancient oral remembrance of times when rising sea levels submerged whole islands. The reference to the forming of land bridges at the Mulberry Fields could also possibly refer to the climate cooling phase that started about 5,000 to 5,500 years ago in which sea levels dropped before stabilizing to current levels. During that time, land bridges could have indeed formed among some small island chains.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Birrell, Anne. Chinese Mythology, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1993.

Bokencamp, Stephen R. Early Daoist Scriptures, University of California Press, 1999.

Kroll, Paul W. "In the Halls of the Azure Lad," Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 105, No. 1. (Jan. - Mar., 1985), pp. 75-94.

Liu, Kwang-Ching and Richard Shek [eds.]. Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China, Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, 2004.

Major, John S. Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four and Five of the Huainanzi, State University of New York Press , July 1993.

Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China. Cambridge University Press, 1962.

Ownby, David; Heidues, Mary Somers, Editors. Secret Societies Reconsidered, Perspectives on the social history of modern South Asia and Southeast Asia, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y., 1993

Schafer, Edward H. "Wu Yün's 'Cantos on Pacing the Void'," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 41, 1981, 377-415.

__. 'Three divine women of south China', CLEAR, 1 (1979), 31-42

Wang, Eugene Y. Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in. Medieval China, Seattle WA: University of Washington Press, 2005.

The Whale and the Millenarian Cycle

In my book, Sailing the Black Current, I discuss the motif of the whale or other giant sea creature and its connection with the "navel of the sea," and natural disasters including the millennial Great Flood and the coming millennium.

In the 1987 film Whale Rider. Witi Ihimaera tells the story of a Whangara Maori prophecy in which a recurrent golden age is ushered in by the coming of a leader riding on a whale.

From Southeast Asia throughout much of the Pacific, tales of whale riders and otherwise helpful whales are commonly found. In coastal central and south Vietnam, whales are seen as protectors of fisherman and sailors who rescue those at sea by allowing them to ride on their backs. A dead whale is seen as a sign of coming prosperity, a type of golden age if you will.

These Vietnamese beliefs appear to originate in the Cham whale cult of Po Rayak. Whale temples house the bones of dead whales who are given royal funerals by coastal peoples. The person who finds the dead whale takes on the role of the cetacean's first-born child and performs formal mourning. After the whale carcass has been interred for three years, the bones are recovered for placement in a temple. During the Nguyen Dynasty, the dead whales were granted titles by the emperor usually with rank of a "general" or "admiral" of the highest order.

Whales were considered incarnations of Thanh Nam Hai "God of the South Seas," and were sometimes called Nam Hai Dai Vuong "Great King of the South Seas." Revolutionary heroes like Ngyuen Trung Truc and Marshall Nguyen Huynh Duc are often seen as incarnations themselves of the whale god Ka Ong.


Whales and the Ebisu Cult of Japan

The Japanese patron deity of fishing, Ebisu, is often viewed as a whale in coastal regions of Japan in a cult that Sakurada Katsunori believes originates in southern Kyushu.

Ebisu is a form of the "divine visitor" also known as Miroku and as Marebito in the Ryukyus. When Ebisu visits, an age of prosperity ensues. This may be viewed naturally, outside of other considerations, in two ways, either the whale chases fish toward the shore or beaches itself providing the bounty of a whale carcass.

Whaling is seen as a sacred venture, and as in Vietnam, whale monuments dot the Japanese coast. About 25 matsuri festivals are held yearly as memorial festivals for whales many with the purpose of helping the whale spirit reach enlightenment to become a Buddha in Paradise. Traditional whalers are known to say the Namu Amida Butsu prayer at the death of a whale in hopes that the whale will become a Buddha.

The whale is also sometimes seen as the great fish Namazu-e (literally 'catfish'), who causes earthquakes and brings about world destruction and renewal.


Whales and the Navel of the Sea in the Philippines and Indonesia

Among the Maranao of the South Philippines, there is giant fish called Lumbang, probably a whale, that dwells at the "navel of the sea" that causes earthquakes when it moves around. The Maguidanao know this huge fish as Limbo. In some languages of the Philippines, lumba-lumba means "dolphin" or "tuna."

The Batak of Palawan tell of a great dragon known as Tandayag who causes floods by closing up the navel of the sea, which they call burungan. The word tandayag means "whale" or "giant fish" in various other Philippine languages like Waray and Maguindanao. Marcos de Lisbon, writing in 1754, defines tandayag in the Bicol language as 'a very great snake, that they say went to the sea, and returned there as a whale' ("una culebra muy grande, que dicen se iba a la mar, y se volven alla ballena").

In other Philippine mythologies, the creature associated with the navel of the sea and the linked Earth pillars is a dragon, giant serpent, giant crab, giant eel, etc. The great animal or fish causes earthquakes or floods often because of the wrath of the Supreme Deity at the sins of humanity. The Great Deluge of yore in Philippine mythology is usually associated with this creature stopping up the navel of the sea, and thus renewing the age.

Usually the same creature, attracted by the Moon is said to cause the ebb and flow of the tide by moving in and out of the navel of the sea, and also the eclipse of the lunar and solar orbs. It is sometimes thought to be female in gender and is known as the lord of the sea or waters, the king of fishes or even as the Supreme God itself.

In some cases, if God's anger is not propitiated, the destruction of the world ensues. This is known at times by the Malay Muslim word Harikiamat "Day of Judgement" (alikiamat, Tiruray; harikiama, Maranao; harikiamat, Maguindanao).

However, among the indigenous peoples, Harikiamat is not associated with the Islamic prophecies of the al-Mahdi, the descent of Isa (Jesus) and the final war with the Antichrist. Instead, we find the native beliefs in the destruction of the world by flood or earthquake associated with the navel of the sea and the great whale, dragon, serpent, etc.


Leviathan

Speaking of whales and the end of the world, the great biblical sea creature Leviathan, often also thought of as female, is identified as a whale by many commentators. In Jewish lore, Leviathan's massive carcass provides the fare for the great messianic feast at the end of the age.

Leviathan is also often associated with the "beast" that John of the Book of Revelation sees rising out of the sea as he stands on the shore. This beast is not a carcass but has a deadly wound that is healed by a "dragon" before the great apocalypse.

Of course, one also needs to think of the story of Jonah when thinking about whales. Jonah is swallowed by a 'great fish' and spat up on a beach to warn Nineveh of impending doom. Back in 1837, FC Baur studied the similarity of the Jonah motif with that of Babylonian Oannes, the fish-man who also comes from the sea to the shore at the start of a new age. Oannes is one of the abgal, messengers who come regularly from the sea to Mesopotamia at the start of a new kingdom.

Thus, Oannes like Jonah, the doomsday prophet, has millenarian aspects. Some have even suggested that the etymologies of the two names are linked.

Herman Melville, in his 1851 American classic Moby Dick, identifies Leviathan with the whale and specifically the great albino sperm whale of his story. He further makes a connection with the Hindu Matsya Avatara, the first cyclic iincarnation of the god Visnu. The Matsya Avatara is described as a great fish (matsya) that rescues the Hindu Adam, known as Manu, from the Great Flood that ushers in the new age (Satyayuga).

Interestingly, Melville describes among the crew of the whaler Ahab the "Manila men" with "tiger yellow" skin who when rowing Ahab's boat seemed "all steel and whalebone; like five trip-hammers they rose and fell with regular strokes of strength."

The phantoms, for so they then seemed, were flitting on the other side of the deck, and, with noiseless celerity, were casting loose the tackles and bands of the boat which swung there. This boat had always been deemed one of the spare boats, though technically called the captain's, on account of its hanging from the starboard quarter. The figure that now stood by its bows was tall and swart, with one white toothe evilly protruding from its steel-like lips. A rumpled Chinese jacket of black cotton funereally invested him, with wide black trowsers of the same dark stuff.
But strangely crowning this eboness was a glistening white plaited turban, the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head. Less swart in aspect, the companions of this figure were of that vivid, tiger-yellow complexion peculiar to some of the aboriginal natives of the Manillas; -- a race notorious for a certain diabolism of subtilty, and by some honest white mariners supposed to be the paid
spies and secret confidential agents on the water of the devil, their lord, whose counting-room they suppose to be elsewhere.

Ahab's ship passed the Philippines while searching for Moby Dick along the Kuroshio Current and the final encounter with the whale occurred near the equator somewhere southeast of Japan.

The writing style of Moby Dick certainly invites the search for hidden meanings and it has been described as following the apocalyptic archetype with Ahab even identified as St. John the Divine, author of the Book of Revelation. The whale itself seems to alternately symbolize good and evil, God and Satan (or the beast of Revelation). Melville writes:

All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.

Moby Dick is seen by some as symbolizing the human and specifically American obsession with destroying evil.

Although an early supporter of the new doctrine of Manifest Destiny to some extent, Melville strongly rebelled against the treatment of Polynesians and other Pacific Islanders. He considered the Pacific as the new frontier that was being destroyed by the coming of "snivelization." He chided Americans for their ruthless colonialism:

The Anglo-Saxons -- lacking grace
To win the love of any race;
Hated by myriads dispossessed
Of rights -- the Indians East and West.
These pirates of the sphere! grave looters--
Grave, canting, Mammonite freebotters,
Who in the name of Christ and Trade
(Oh, bucklered forehead of the brass!)
Deflower the world's last sylvan glade.

Clarel 4.9.117-25

Journey to the Navel of the Sea

Although most descriptions of Philippine and Indonesian myths of the navel of the sea are rather cursory, Dario Novellino has conducted a significant study of this theme among the Batak of Palawan.

The Batak believe that once this navel known as burungan is open, if the Tandayag dragon is not appeased the universe will eventually dissolve following the great floods.

To help prevent this occurrence, the Batak shaman (babailan) undertakes a spirit journey to the burungan to "renew the world."

To then ‘renew the world’, the most important phase of the ritual is the trance performed by the shaman. The shaman holds coconut oil in one hand, while dancing. During the trance the kiaruwa’ of the shaman will move in search of selected spirit guides, and will require their help to reach the burungan. These spirit guides are associated with animal species, and they represent their ‘spiritualised’ version. They are the kiaruwa’ of animals ‘of the water’ and ‘of the higher up’, and include the swallow, the otter, the monitor lizard, and the river turtle. The kiaruwa’ of the river turtle is considered the most enduring and capable of confronting the fury of the water at the burungan. It will also play a shamanic role by dancing the same dance as the shaman, thus fostering the closing of the two boulders over the burungan. While the turtle’s kiaruwa’ dances, the shaman smears the two boulders with coconut oil, facilitating the coming together of the two stones above the burungan opening, thus stopping the water outflow. According to the informants, a particular malevolent panya’en appears at the burungan site in the form of an attractive woman, and she will try to call on her the shaman’s attention. It is said that if the shamans looks back at the malevolent panya’en, he may be hit by the water outflow, and fall inside the burungan hole. Finally, with the assistance of the spirit guides, the shaman will try to place the rooster claw back on the metal bar. In so doing the rooster will stop flapping its wings and, the storm will end.

When the burungan is closed, offerings of chickens, ceramics and human blood (but not sacrifice) are made to the Tandayag, the guardian of the burungan.

The millenarian idea of "healing" or "renewing" the world is quite interesting. Possibly related to this is the old practice of the Igorots of Kagubatan who regularly fed the sacred eels of the Kagubatan lake. If these eels are not fed, it is believed a drought would ensue and crops would fail. The eels are so accustomed to the feeding that they rise to the surface like goldfish when the Igorots sang specific songs meant to summon them. The eels here could have been seen forms of their supreme god Lumauig's python that controls the waters at the navel of the sea.

In studying the importance of the whale or some similar large sea creature in millenarian myth, we can note that the whale or sea serpent is often conflated with the sea boat in totemic cultures. The cargo cult mentality places much emphasis on the "treasure boat," and thus the boat-whale symbolism would take on special importance. Indeed, the whale itself brings abundant cargo when it lands on a beach. In addition to acting as a tutelary god, the whale is sometimes seen as an ancestor. For example, the Maori Paikea, ancestor of the Ngāti Porou, is sometimes described as riding a whale, but at other times as a whale himself.

I explore the connection of the whale-dragon and the navel of the sea with natural disasters and apocalyptic beliefs in Sailing the Black Current focusing on the area of the Philippine Trench near the beginning of the Kuroshio Current (Black Tide).

Regards,
Paul Kekai Mananasala
Sacramento

References

McLeod, Mark W. Culture and Customs of Vietnam, Greenwood Press, 2001.

Melville, H., Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1851.

Naumann, Nelly. "Whale and Fish Cult in Japan: A Basic Feature of Ebisu Worship," Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1 (1974), 1-15.

Novellino, D. Contrasting Landscapes, Conflicting ontologies. Assessing environmental conservation on Palawan Island (The Philippines), University of Kent, n.d., (http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/class_text_082.pdf)

Ouwehand, C. Namazu-e and Their Themes, An Interpretive A4pproach to Some Aspects of Iapanese Folk Religion, E.J. Brill, Leiden, I964.

Taylor, Philipp. Goddess on the Rise: Pilgrimage and Popular Religion in Vietnam, University of Hawaii Press, 2004.

British-Israelism, America and the Philippines (Article)

With the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first British settlement in the Americas, commemorated today, we can explore the link of this event with the theme of our blog.

When Philip II united the Spanish and Portuguese empires under Spain, many thought he had become the prophesied Last World Emperor, a veritable second Solomon. However, in 1587 the Protestant princess Elizabeth ruined the king's hopes of placing a Catholic monarch on the English throne.

Elizabeth I became the queen of Protestant England and supported Dutch Protestant rebels against Spain. This set up the Anglo-Spanish War which outlasted both Philip II and Elizabeth I and led to the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Spain, only shortly after reaching its greatest height, now began a slow decline.

England, on the other hand, had imperial ambitions of its own as expressed by authors like Samuel Purchas and John Dee.

Dee, the sometime-astrologer of Elizabeth I, had weighted in on the "Ophirian Conjecture," and had even devised a plan for a new British empire in Europe and throughout the world.

Unlike the Catholics before them, the rising Protestant movement looked at the Jews in a favorable light and even sought association with the Jewish people. In the late 1600s, works like Abasalom and Achitophel brought to light analogies between the British and Jewish peoples.

In 1714, John Toland propounded a common descent of the British and the Hebrews. This might be considered the rise of what is known today as British-Israelism or Anglo-Israelism, the belief that the British were, like the Jews, God's Chosen People.

By the mid-1700s, British-Israelism had taken hold not only in Britain, as in 1783 the book The United States elevated to Glory and Honor by Ezra Stiles shows that the theory was also taking root in Anglo-America.

"Ophirian Conjecture"

The British-Israelists adopted Catholic ideas of Tarshish and Ophir to some extent while rejecting the idea of a Last World Emperor or Great Monarch that was so popular among Iberians, the French and the Catholic Germans/Austrians.

In the British view, Tarshish of the prophecies was not in the East Indies, but was a reference either to Britain or Spain. According to the former theory, Britain was Tarshish and its colonies particularly the United States were the "young lions of Tarshish" mentioned in biblical prophecy.

The other view, which seems to have become more prominent, stated that Spain was Tarshish and according to the theory was related to the ancient Iberian port of Tartessos. The "ships of Tarshish" mentioned in the Bible refer to the Spanish discovery of the Americas, which were supposedly known as the "isles."

"The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents" (Psalm 72)

The Anglo-Saxons, according to the theory, were descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes who had assimilated with the Scythians, and the British kings were said to be related to the Davidic line of Judah.

American believers in this world-view asserted that the United States would fulfill a role in end-times prophecies as the modern Tarshish that confronts the Antichrist in Ezekial's prophecy.

Of course, to some extent this required wresting Spain's title as the great Ophirian empire.

Ideas of Anglo-Saxon supremacy helped in the development of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the justification for American world expansion. Among Protestant, and especially Methodist ministers in America, the idea of America's prophetic calling was loudly trumpeted in the 19th century.

Methodist ministers like Lorenzo Dow, Fountain Pitts and Samuel Davies Baldwin spoke of America's part in the final battle of Armageddon.

"Surely the isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far." --- Isa. lx...America answers to the term "isles," and "the ships of Tarshish first," to the discovery of America by the ships of Spain, opening the way to the emigration of God's people, to form a nationality in "the isles."


-- Samuel Davies Baldwin, Armageddon: Or, The Overthrow of Romanism and Monarchy; the Existence of the United States

In an address at the U.S. Capitol on the anniversary of Washington's Birthday in 1857, Fountain Pitts delivered two discourses on "Defence of Armageddon, or, Our Great Country Foretold in the Holy Scriptures."

The waiting isles of Isaiaih are a sublime announcement of our great country and its early occupation by European emigrants. "Surely, the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord they God, and to the Holy One of Israel."

Pitts told of the last war with Gog and Magog, the monarchies of Russia and England, but in which "Republicanism every where prevail, and nations learn war no more. Then sets in that millenial day, when science, commerce, manufactures and the arts would spread, the religion of the Son of God have sway, "righteousness and peace among the people walk, Messiah reign, and earth keen jubilee a thousand years."

A book based on Pitts sermons sold in four editions and was highly popular.


Methodist views, William Mckinley and the Philippines

William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, the leader who fought the war against Spain, the other Ophirian candidate from Europe.

McKinley was a Methodist and would have been exposed to the American Israelism of Methodist ministers like Dow, Pitts and Baldwin.

Spain had sought Tarshish and Ophir in the Philippines and other islands of the East Indies and the West Pacific. When McKinley chose to take possession of the Philippines as part of the "white man's burden" he later explained his decision to a delegation of Methodist ministers.

Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.

When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!

In the the 1898 edition of American Monthly Magazine published by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mary S. Lockwood explained the American victory in the Spanish-American War as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy:

"Howl ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste."

We know the disasters that befel the ships of Tarshish and the above quotations are prophetic of disasters that have fallen upon Spanish fleets, which have floated on the Spanish waters that have laved the shores of Guadalquivir since the days that Hiram brought the ships of Tarshish to Solomon...to the day that the Spanish flag was struck over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and "Old Glory" floated over the waters at the command of Dewey. The great naval expedition planned and sent out by King Philip of Spain against England in the days of Queen Elizabeth, known as the invincible armada, was collected at Cadiz...Admiral Drake made a dash into the harbor of Cadiz and destroyed one hundred ships, with abundant arms and stores, repeating the prophecy, "Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish."

Lockwood noted that Anglo-Saxon America and Britain should now take the world stage as divinely-ordained protector of humanity.

Now, what is our duty? To establish a solid, orderly government and to occupy these islands until such an government obtains, if that means that "Old Glory" shall forever float over them. Our second duty: Let us make an alliance of hearts if not of hands with our kinsmen over the sea. The God of their battles has been the God of our battles, their prophecies have been our prophecies. We are of one tongue, one blood, one purpose -- the uplifting of humanity. Cruel as is war, its results, it is well if out of it comes a day when "the Star-Spangled Banner" and the Union Jack float together protecting the human side of the world.

America had willingly assumed the Ophirian mantle, the culmination of centuries of Anglo-Israel thought development.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Baldwin, Samuel Davies. Armageddon: Or, The Overthrow of Romanism and Monarchy; the Existence of the United States, Applegate, 1863.

Dow, Lorenzo and Peggy Dow. History of Cosmopolite, Or the Four Volumes of Lorenzo Dow's Journal, J. Martin, 1848.

Lockwood, Mary and Daughters of the American Revolution. The American Monthly Magazine, R.R. Bowker Co., 1898, pp. 326-329.

Pitts, Fountain E. A Defence of Armageddon, Or Our Great Country Foretold in the Holy Scriptures: In Two Discourses, J. W. Bull, 1862.

Weinbrot, Howard D. Britannia's Issue: The Rise of British Literature from Dryden to Ossian, Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 419-422.

Jonitus and the development of Prester John

Medieval Syriac works like the Book of the Cave Treasures (6th century CE) and Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius (7th century CE) introduce us to the character of Jonitus, the fourth son of Noah.

Although not mentioned in biblical texts, the Jonitus figure becomes very important in latter European Christian apocalyptic tradition. The name occurs in many variations including Jonitho, Ionitus, Ionitum, Ionton, Yonton (Jonathan), Yoniko, Yoniton, Maniton, Baniton, etc.

For centuries, commentators have linked the origin of Prester John's name, Joannes or Johannes in Latin, with that of Oannes, the maritime sage mentioned in the Mesopotamian works of Berossus.

Various theories find the origin of the name "Oannes" in forms like U-khan-na "Lord of the Fish," or Ea-khan "Ea the Fish" in the Akkadian language. Oannes shares attributes of the fish-like god Ea/Enki and also of the sage Adapa.

It becomes apparent that if some form of these Akkadian originals Eakhan or Ukhanna had been preserved in the Middle East along with "Oannes" that they could serve also as a source for the name "Ionton."

The connection of Ionton/Jonitus with Oannes has been previously proposed (see Stephen Gero below). According to tradition, Ionton like Oannes is located in the very far east across the ocean and brings the art of statecraft and the sciences including astronomy to Mesopotamia. In the case of Ionton, he passes on these arts, which he receives directly from God, to Nimrod, the king of "Babel."

Jonitus is generally known to have been born after the Flood, although latter tradition including probably the Anglo-Saxon tradition of Sceaf appears to interpret Jonitus as the ark-born son of Noah.

Noah sent Jonitus to the farthest East, to the hiliu chora, which would mean either the "Region of the Sun (regio solis)," or the "Fire of the Sun," where the Sun is said to rise. This region, according to Pseudo-Methodius, is the same as, or includes, the biblical land of Nod, east of Eden.

Many theories exist as to why a fourth son of Noah was created. At least one of the reasons appears to be the need to account for the pre-Christian idea of the Earth as divided into four quarters or "corners." One son of Noah establishes a kingdom in each of these corners of the Earth.

Lineage of Jonitus
Pseudo-Methodius writes that at the end of the world a king of the lineage (cognatione) of Jonitus, the son of Noah, would reunite the four corners of the world into a single world empire.

The author also mentions in the end-times a king who shall trace his descent to Chuseth, the daughter of King Phul of Ethiopia, who shall rise from the Ethiopian Sea (Indian Ocean) and become emperor of the Greeks and Romans.

It is unclear whether this is the same person as the Jonitus king. In previous tradition, I have mentioned that as early as Middle Kingdom Egypt, there may have been dual apocalyptic traditions, one involving an eastern king of the "Isle of Fire" and the other associated with eastern Africa, south of Egypt, a royal descendant of a "daughter of Ta-Seti (Cush/Nubia)."

In late ancient and medieval tradition, Tarshish and Ophir become associated with the East Indies, and in biblical end-times prophecies like Psalm 72 and Ezekiel 38, Tarshish is often mentioned in conjunction with Sheba and Saba. These latter locations in medieval times were generally conflated with "Ethiopia" and "Abyssinia."

Prester John was a king of the Indies, the latter geographical concept covering the region from Southeast Asia to East Africa. Even in Pseudo-Methodius, the terms hendu and hendwaie are often used for "Ethiopia" and "Ethiopian."

Like the coming king of Jonitus lineage, Prester John had apocalyptic attributes. It was this latter king who would release Gog and Magog and the Ten Tribes in the last days.

In the famed letter of Prester John to the Christian emperors, he claims that one of his sons, a future Prester John, would accept the Christian empire of Europe after saving the region from Gog and Magog:

"These accursed fifteen nations will burst forth from the four quarters of the earth at the end of the world, in the times of Antichrist, and overrun all the abodes of the Saints as well as the great city Rome, which, by the way, we are prepared to give to our son who will be born, along with all Italy, Germany, the two Gauls, Britain and Scotland. We shall also give him Spain and all the land as far as the icy sea. The nations to which I have alluded, according to the words of the prophet, shall not stand in the judgment, on account of their offensive practices, but will be consumed to ashes by a fire which will fall on them from heaven."

Here we have a reference to the "Last World Emperor," a concept that developed in medieval times from works like the Tiburtine Sybil and Pseudo-Methodius.

Thus, the "John" in "Prester John" could refer to the prophesied king of the line of Jonitus, both names linked with Oannes and Joannes possibly through an Akkadian original form Eakhan or Ukhanna.

Prester John is a priest or priest-king (presbyter) of the Jonitus family, one of whom will figure in apocalyptic events. The idea of the the sage transformed to that of the the priest was a natural one, or the idea of priesthood may have been preserved directly from Oannes who taught and performed priestly rituals.

Pseudo-Methodius wrote during a time when Muslim invaders had conquered much of Christendom in Asia and Africa. In latter periods, there arose a series of Byzantine millennial prophecies of the Last World Emperor whose great duty was to vanquish the Muslim enemy. This theme also caught on in Western Christendom.

Centuries later, Prester John was viewed as the Eastern king to fulfill this role and reconquer Jerusalem.

It seems not unlikely that Pseudo-Methodius and those who followed him took earlier themes like the fourth son of Noah, and combined them with the prophetic Rex Orientis "King of the East" of late antiquity to construct a Christian savior from Muslim onslaught who eventually becomes the medival Prester John.

The title Prester John is used to describe, at first, an East Indian king (of Sanfotsi or Zabag) who is worried about Muslim interference in the spice trade routes between Southeast Asia and eastern Africa.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References
Aerts, Willem Johan, George A.A Kortekaas and Pseudo-Methodius. Die Apokalypse Des Pseudo-Methodius: die ältesten griechischen und lateinischen Übersetzungen, Peeters Publishers, 1998.

Gero, Stephen. "The Legend of the Fourth Son of Noah," The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 73, No. 1/2, Dedicated to the Centennial of the Society of Biblical Literature (Jan. - Apr., 1980), pp. 321-330.

Hill, Thomas D. "The Myth of the Ark-Born Son of Noe and the West-Saxon Royal Genealogical Tables," The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Jul., 1987), pp. 379-383.

Su-Min Ri. Commentaire de La Caverne Des Tresors: étude sur l'histoire du texte et de ses sources, Peeters Publishers, 2000.

Millenarianism (Glossary)

Millenarianism can be defined as the belief in a future period of prosperity, happiness, justice, etc. Such beliefs generally involve the concept of cyclic eras or a linear era of birth, decay and rebirth, the latter following an apocalypse or the 'end of the age.' In some cases, the apocalypse is seen ultimately as the end of the world, or even the end of the physical universe.

Nusantao millenarianism

The cargo cults that erupted throughout the Pacific at the time of European contact were not multiple spontaneous inventions, but derive from reactions based on common inherited cultural concepts of a "return to the source."

We can surmise that Nusantao millenarianism is based on ideas of transmigration, reincarnation and generational cycles.

Heroes foretold to return in the future like Lono in Hawai'i and Lumauig in the Philippines have genealogical significance. Studies of East Indonesian cultures have provided valuable clues to the importance of genealogical history that likely apply to broader Nusantao thought processes.

Genealogies provided not only the timeline for the past but also for the future. Among Formosan and Philippine peoples, five or six successive generations were seen as successive parts of the human body. A body of generational time. These generations could both precede and follow the present one.

Using genealogies, marriages were made aimed at future "return" and "unification." Thus, two lineages might be reunited in the future, carefully avoiding taboos, by planning a series of future "courtships." Ancestral heirlooms could be brought back to their original house using the same strategies.

A lack of documentation and the loss of oral traditions accounts for the lack of specific knowledge of but a few pre-colonial Nusantao millenarian traditions. However, we do know that these thrived throughout the region during colonial times. They could be divided into two types, one Southeast Asian and the other Pacific.

Between these two regions, there were common links like the ideas of "return to the source" and reincarnation. In the Pacific, the emphasis was on "cargo" and the return of the "other" -- the one that had left to cross the "pond" or "river."

Southeast Asian millenarianism was characterized by peasant revolutions and hidden royal and/or priestly lineages. The material counterpart of Pacific cargo was found in magical heirlooms and amulets.

Bergano left a clue to the concept of the apocalypse among ancient Kapampangans in his dictionary entry for sucu: Datang mangga quing sucu "hasta el termino, o duracion de las edades" ('Until the end or duration of the ages'). The author noted though that not much was known anymore about the origin of this concept in his time.

Sucu (Suku), which also means 'time and place,' is the name preserved in Kapampangan folklore tradition for the god of Mount Arayat, with the alternate form of Sinukuan (s-in-uku-an).

Sucu may have been a god of time judging by his name, similar probably to Laon, mentioned by the early Spanish writers as a supreme god of the Bisayans of the central Philippines. The word laon denotes the passage or flow of time.

In Timor, the cycle of rebirth was likened to recurring seasonal patterns. The dead souls first entered the ancestral mountain, and after a time they were taken by ship out to sea. From there they rose into the sky as vapors to form the black rain clouds. When the rain of Heaven mixes with the "milk" of the Earth, new life is born.

The recurring cosmic battles between Sucu and his archrival Mallari of Pinatubo were also likened to the monsoon weather pattern with Mallari bringing the storms from the Sambal mountains. In the end, despite the conflict, the son of Mallari and the daughter of Sucu end up getting married renewing the cycle.

Five Phases

Nusantao in Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo, viewed a succession of five generations as analogous to the feet, knees, waist, elbows and head of the human body (or some similar scheme). This idea of time in relation to the human body may also be found in reconstructions of Austronesian words for "body," "year" and "season."

Oracle Bone Inscriptions from China indicate that the Shang had a ritual cycle of five rites conducted throughout the year in honor of the ancestors. These rites may have been based on the order of the Sifang, a five-part view of the world. This conception probably gave rise to the Wuxing or Five Phases view of cyclic time that arises in the Warring States Period. The ritual Wuxing halls of the Han Dynasty had the same general sifang or ya cruciform character shape as the ancestral tombs of the Shang.

Wuxing regulated the cycles of birth, change and dissolution, and gave rise to the concept of "dynastic cycles."

Aspects of previous cyclic turnover are found in Chinese cosmology. In the Huainanzi, Nuwa kills the flood demon Gonggong after a cataclysm involving the gods of fire and water. After repairing the sky, her husband Fu Hsi, belonging to the dog man theme relevant to other apocalyptic traditions, teaches various arts leading to a new golden age. Although this story has some cosmological aspects, neither Nuwa or Fu Hsi represent the first human populations. Before them Chinese tradition tells of the clan of Suiren, who taught people to build houses on trees, and Youchao who taught the art of making fire.

In the Shangshu, it is Yao rather than Fu Shi who is the first emperor, and it is he who conquers Gonggong and ushers in a new world order. Here Yao, and also the Shang ancestor Di Ku, appear to be forms of Shang-ti, the god connected with both dogs and rice. At that time, according to Sarah Allan, the ti character used with the names Yao and Ku referred specifically to Shang-ti.

Ideas of cyclic dynastic change and the periodic arising of new sage movements were already developed in early Daoism and Confucianism. By about the 2nd century BCE, the belief that the sage Lao Tzu (Laozi) would return at regular intervals as the savior Li Hung arose.

Later in medieval times, these millenarian ideas eventually led to the development of the mixed Buddhist-Daoist concept of Prince Moonlight and the King of Light, who engage in all-out war with the forces of evil.

In Chinese Buddhist texts, especially of the Pureland school, we also find the concept of five 500 years periods or a total of 2500 years of decline from the time of the Buddha.

An interesting comparison can be made between the concept of five generations comprising a "body" of time, and the five Chinese ages/phases, with ideas that arose much further to the West. In the second chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read how that prophet interprets the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in which he saw a great image of a metallic man.

31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

-- Daniel 2

Daniel further interprets the image as representing five successive kingdoms. The difference in value in the metals as one goes from the head to the feet corresponds to a period of decline. These kingdoms, with the exception of the gold head represeting Nebuchadnezzar realm, are all projected into future time. This may be recognized as one of the earliest examples of the popular notion of metallic ages or cycles.

The order in time with the head representing the oldest period and the feet the newest is the reverse of that found in the generational scheme further east.

Rgvedic tradition also records the representation of the four castes in what could be considered an "evolutionary" order as parts of the body of the primordial Purusa deity:

11 When they divided Purusa how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?

12 The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made.
His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced.

-- Rgveda 10, XC

Here the order from a chronological standpoint could be argued to more closely match that of the Austronesian version of body-time, if one considers an evolution from Sudra to Brahmin.

Earlier in the same hymn, we hear of the annual Purusa sacrifice: "When Gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusa as their offering, Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood."

Reference here is to the year-long Purusamedha sacrifice, which corresponds closely to the Asvamedha horse sacrifice. The body of the Purusa, which translates as "person, man," is linked to the time period of the solar year. In the Philippines, words for "year" (taon, taun, etc.) appear derived from the same root as those for "body" (katawan, ka-tau-an) and "person" (tao, tau, etc.)

India also has a four-ages scheme known as caturyuga, which however is not so strongly linked with metals. A declining cycle of five metal ages -- gold, silver, two of bronze and iron -- is mentioned by the Greek writer Hesiod. The Zoroastrian Bahman Yasht, which was written only in Muslim times but contains older eschatological information, appears to glue on a four-age setup to their older system of ten millennia.

Ancient Egypt and Hermetic Thought

Egypt has the earliest extant texts of clearly apocalyptic literature. The "complaint" texts of the Middle Kingdom dating back to 2000 BCE, tell of the decline of the nation and the coming of a savior king.

The New Kingdom Book of the Dead, chapter 175, tells of destruction of the world by Atum in which Osiris and Horus survive:

You will live more than millions of years, an era of millions, but in the end I will destroy everything that I have created, the earth will become again part of the Primeval Ocean, like the Abyss of waters in their original state. Then I will be what will remain, just I and Osiris, when I will have changed myself back into the Old Serpent who knew no man and saw no god. How fair is that which I have done for Osiris, a fate different from that of all the other gods! I have given him the region of the dead while I have put his son Horus as heir upon his throne in the Isle of Fire, I have thus made his place for him in the Boat of Millions of Years, in that Horus remains on his throne to carry on his work.

In this blog, we have discussed how the Isle of Fire may have been a concept that reached Egypt through Nusantao contacts including those after the establishment of the Punt (Rhapta) spice trade.

Indeed, many aspects of the Isle of Fire can be found in the Middle Kingdom Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor who encounters an island and prince of Punt. Christopher J. Eyre states: "There is a direct comparison here with the island in the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor: a place which stands at the edge of the cosmos; where the god survives after cataclysmic fire from the sky; where food and spirit (k3)are found to perfection; where the sailor burns his offerings, and is threatened with destruction by fire; but where he receives assurance of post-cataclysmic order, and a renewal of his life, restoration to the created world following his passage through this place of danger."

Egyptian apocalyptic literature down into Ptolemaic times has themes of both a savior king arising from Egypt and another king who comes "from the East" or "from the Sun." An example of the first king is given in the prophecy of Neferti:

A king will come from the South,
Ameny, by name,
Son of a woman of Ta-Seti (Nubia), a child of Khenkhen (Upper Egypt).
He will take the White Crown,
He will wear the Red Crown;
He will join the Double Crown,
He will please the Two Lords with what they desire,
The land in his fist, oar in his grasp.
Rejoice, O people of his time,
The son of man will make his name for all eternity!

I believe the "King from the East", on the other hand, relates to the imagery of Horus waiting to accomplish his works in the Isle of Fire, at the ends of the earth to the East where the Sun was born. The idea of the primordial location as a waiting area figures also in other millenarian traditions.

Here Horus standing for royalty also symbolizes the establishment of a new order, and enmity with the older regime, represented by Seth. In the Nusantao field of action, Tala represents the new order against the older trading clans, and it is from the fiery sacred mountains that he returns.

The term "King from the Sun" sometimes translated "King from the East" is found both in the Potter's Oracle that has been dated anywhere between the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, and the Sybilline Oracles, a work considered roughly contemporaneous with the Potter's Oracle. In the latter work, following a period of serious decline, "Egypt will increase when the king from the sun, who is benevolent for fifty-five years, becomes present, appointed by the greatest goddess Isis."

In the Sybilline Oracles we read: "And then God will send a king from the sun, who will stop the entire earth from evil war, killing some, imposing oaths of fidelity on others. He will not do all these things by his own plans, but in obedience to the noble teachings of the great God."

In Hebrew tradition, the idea of a people coming from the East in latter times is found in II Esdras 1:

1:36 They have seen no prophets, yet will recall their former state.

1:37 I call to witness the gratitude of the people that is to come, whose children rejoice with gladness; though they do not see me with bodily eyes, yet with the spirit they will believe the things I have said.

1:38 "And now, father, look with pride and see the people coming from the east."

Isaiah 41 also speaks of one who is "stirred up" from the East and a savior who comes from the "rising sun." Although often interpreted differently, the "Kings of the East" in Revelation may refer to the same theme. According to some commentators, Apollyon, the king in Revelation who is usually now interpreted as the Devil, leads the armies of God from the East in Revelation.

Dog and horse imagery

Apollyon's army has been widely compared to the apocalyptic hordes mentioned in the second chapter of Joel and characterized as the camp of heaven.

The Lord raises his voice at the head of his army; For immense indeed is his camp, yes, mighty, and it does his bidding. For great is the day of the Lord, and exceedingly terrible; who can bear it?

In the same chapter, we read of this mighty host: " Their appearance is that of horses; like steeds they run." Revelation 9 also describes the army of Apollyon has having a horse-like look. Imagery of the dog, the horse and also the water buffalo/bull pervade many millenarian traditions. We have already mentioned the dog-related qualities of Fu Hsi and Yao (as Shang-ti).

Hermetic apocalyptic literature makes Hermes Tat (Hermes Thoth) a form of the god Hermanubis (Hermes-Anubis). The latter god has the human body and dog/jackal head of Anubis and the wand and clothing of Hermes. Hermanubis plays also the role of Horus as the opponent of Typhon (Seth). The prophetic literature tell of the dark period brought by the Typhonians before a final cataclysmic battle. Some aspects of Hermanubis including his identity as "Son of God" and "Logos" anticipate Christian beliefs.


Hermanubis


St. Christopher of Egypt, the dog-headed saint.


Horse-headed Kalki

In a strange transformation though, latter Christian illumination of Revelation frequently portrays all the satanic hordes including the seven-headed dragon known as the "Beast" with canine heads. This may be due to the dog's relationship with the Underworld. In Norse myth, the wolf Fenrir is turned loose at the advent of the apocalypse.

Horse imagery seems to step in for the earlier canine theme. In Christian, Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist belief, for example, we find the messianic savior arriving on horseback, and sometimes even depicted as a horse or horse-headed man.

However, canine aspects persist in the Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist saviors although submerged below the surface. Kalki, for example, although an incarnation of Visnu is said to take on the destroying powers of Siva. This destructive aspect of Siva is represented by both Bhairava, a god shown accompanied by dogs and also sometimes depicted as a dog himself, and by Rudra.

Rudra is known in the Yajurveda as Svapati "Lord of the Dogs," and the Arthavaveda says that he is followed by howling dogs, so he seems like an early model for Bhairava. The destructive powers of Kalki are known as Ekadesha Rudra (Eleven Rudras). Similarly, Raudracakrin, the Shambhala savior-king, is known as Rudra with the Discus/Wheel. In Kalacakra texts, he is often said to be aided by Rudra in his battles, and apparently he is sometimes also referred to simply as "Rudra." Such destructive aspects also might be present in Apollyon, the Jewish Greek form of the name Apollo, which translates as "Destroyer." The god was closely associated with the wolf.

An eastern explanation might be found for this dog and horse imagery where both animals are often conflated with the primordial pantheistic god. We have seen this latter being can also be identified with the concept of cyclic time represented by the human body divided into five parts. Therefore we can suggest that the pantheistic God with the accompanying dog/horse aspects is identifiable with cyclic and deified time, thus explaining the animal imagery of the apocalyptic battlefield.

'Paradise Terrestrial'

Many traditions exist of end-times actors waiting patiently in the terrestrial paradise or the 'intermediate heaven' for the coming apocalypse. These persons are often said to have escaped death.

In China, Prince Moonlight and the King of Light reigned on the paradise island of Penglai. The Zoroastrians believed that immortal heroes awaited the final battle in Kangdez, where Bahram Varjavand would organize armies from Hind and Chin to fight the forces of evil.

A popular Christian tradition interpreted verses in Revelation concerning the "two witnesses" as applying to the biblical figures Enoch and Elijah, who never died according to tradition. The two witnesses are described as revealing prophecy and battling with the Antichrist before they are killed by the beast. Enoch and Elijah were said to live in the Garden of Eden until those fateful days.

It can be shown that, starting in the early medieval period and clearly established by the middle of that period, a sacred waiting-place of millennial warriors, both good and evil, was located at the eastern edge of insular and tropical Asia. The same place suggested here that the germ of these beliefs arose.

These locations include Kangdez, the fortress of heroes, and the Vourukasha Sea (Sea of Chin) where the great dragon awaited the last days; the Garden of Eden around which one could find Enoch, Elijah and Prester John; Bratayil, the island of al-Dajjal, the Muslim Antichrist, found somewhere in the East Indies; and Penglai the kingdom of Prince Moonlight and the King of Light.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Eyma, Aayko and C. J. Bennett. A Delta-man in Yebu: Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum No. 1, Universal Publishers, 2003, pp. 240-4.

Eyre, Christopher J. Cannibal Hymn: a cultural and literary study, Liverpool University Press, 2002, pp. 82-3.

Muller, Kal. East of Bali: From Lombok to Timor, Tuttle Publishing, 2001, pp. 36-39.