Why Tibetans are taboo on eating fish

 

Why Tibetans are taboo on eating fish

 

The wise man Agudengba chatted with the caravan leader Lacuo about some taboos in Tibetan folk customs.

Agudenba said:

Tibetan dietary taboos are closely related to region. Some urban residents in western Tibet eat fish, but in eastern Tibet, aquatic animals such as fish and frogs are believed to be pets of the dragon god. If they are hurt or touched, they will contract diseases. Therefore, friends who go to eastern Tibet must not eat fish there, nor touch snakes, frogs and other animals.

Most Tibetans are taboo against eating fish, which has also formed a consensus in Tibetan society. If most of the people at a banquet are Tibetans, there will be almost no seafood.

Agudumba added:

The taboo on eating fish may have come from the rise of the Yarlung dynasty in Tibet. The Bon religion gradually formed in the local area. The Bon religion sorted out and merged various ancient sacrificial and divination systems, and finally established a unified object of worship and its god system. It was also gradually improved, and finally the Bon spirit system with the concept of three realms of gods as the core was formed in society, namely the heavenly realm of gods, the earthly realm of Zan, and the underwater realm of Lu. The concept of the gods of the three realms has a profound influence on the entire Tibetan nation. It has completely penetrated into religion and folk culture and has become a system of belief in gods that the people firmly believe in and put into practice.

In the view of the gods of the three realms, fish and aquatic creatures are considered to be in the category of "Lu", and it is believed that offending "Lu" will lead to disease and disaster.

When I read Tibetan historical documents, I found many surprising stories that were completely in line with the values of modern Tibetans.

For example, the famous Tibetan historical book "The Wise Man's Wedding Banquet" records: "The 30th generation of Tubo, Zanpu Zhongnian Deru, married the beautiful woman Qinsalujie from Dabu. This Dabu is today's Jiacha County, Shannan, Tibet. and Lang County, Linzhi Prefecture.

Later, Qinsalujie gradually lost her beauty. Zamp asked her what was the reason?

Chinsaroj replied:

Here, it’s because I can’t eat fried fish frogs from my hometown.

Zanpu then ordered his slave to fetch a large amount of fried fish and frogs and hide them in the warehouse for her to enjoy slowly.

Soon, Chinsaruji's face was radiant and he regained his former charming appearance.

When Zanpu saw it, he was greatly surprised and thought to himself: Why should I try it?

Zamp opened the library to search for this fish frog, and found a large number of dead fish frogs, which he thought was ominous. Soon, Zamp fell ill with leprosy.

Later, the princess gave birth to a blind prince, and Zamp made a will: in order to prevent the royal family from getting sick and dying, he and the princess both lay in the tomb. As a result, the princess was buried alive.

Agudemba said:

From this miserable story, we can see that people in the Dabu area had the habit of eating fish at that time. From today's perspective, this area is located on the southwest border of Tibet, with rivers running through it, deep canyons, and abundant fish. However, However, it is not suitable for operating vast agriculture and animal husbandry. Its cultural location is also on the edge of the Yalong and Tubo cultural radiation areas, so it has a contemptuous title: "Dabbu Fish-eating Land".

Later, when Buddhism developed in Tibet, it was also due to the special geographical environment of the Dabu area, as well as the cultural environment of the gathering of marginalized ethnic groups such as the Monba, Loba, and Deng people. The influence of Buddhism here was far less than that of the central Weizang area. Therefore, in the traditional songs and dances of Tibet in the last century, there are still depictions that contain regional discrimination, such as "from the ignorant land of Dabu, a song is presented to the holy city of Lhasa".

Agudemba said again:

Judging from the attitude of Zampu of the Yarlung tribe at that time, he was very taboo about fish, which is almost completely in line with the modern anthropological definition of taboo foods.

Zamp believes that seeing dead fish and frogs is a very ominous thing. This and the series of tragic stories that later happened to Zamp actually follow the concept of karma based on the concept of gods in the three realms. Specifically, This princess from Dabu offended the gods worshiped by Zanpu after eating fish and frogs in the palace, which brought bad luck and was retaliated by the gods.

Agudemba continued:

Usually Tibetans are very taboo about offending "Lu". It has no fixed form and takes on various forms. In Hinduism and Buddhism, "Lu" is expressed as a half-human and half-snake image. In Tibetan local culture, "Lu" lives in the sea, Lakes, rivers, swamps, waterfalls, pools, springs, rocks, land, woods and other places above and below the ground. Moreover, in the "Black, White, and Flower One Hundred Thousand Lu Jing", a ritual scripture used by both Buddhism and Bon religion, the taboo scope and avoidance scope of "Lu" were even extended to the natural ecology and aquatic and land wild animals, and finally It is prohibited to destroy or pollute the water sources that the ethnic group depends on for survival, etc., in terms of specific behaviors. These ecologically damaging behaviors are condemned by legal sanctions and social morality in modern civilized society.

During the Tubo period, the various tribes in Tibet were unified and a powerful empire was established. The social economy, military, culture, and religion made great progress. However, people still tabooed eating fish and abided by strict dietary taboos.

It is recorded in the "New Book of Tang Dynasty: Tubo Biography": The Tubo envoy Xila followed the Central Plains envoy to the dynasty. The emperor of the Tang Dynasty gave him a purple robe and a gold "Lu". However, Xila accepted the clothes and declined the fish, saying that Tubo did not have this custom. , dare not accept it. This can also fully prove the taboo on eating "Lu" in Tubo society at that time. Such small details of the foreign envoys are incredible and impressive in the eyes of the Central Plains people, so they are specially recorded in history books.

Agudemba continued:

In Tibetan opera and Tibetan folk culture, there are also some cultural reflections about fishermen, but they are often called "net pullers" and these people are classified as untouchables along with butchers and blacksmiths because they have lost their orthodox farming and animal husbandry Industry.

In the Tibetan opera "Dolvasam", the king married the Brahmin daughter Dolmasam, who later gave birth to a pair of brothers and sisters. However, the princess who turned into a witch was jealous and made things difficult for Zhuo Vasam all the time. Zhuo Vasam was eventually forced to fly into Brahma.

The Demon Queen decided to take advantage of this situation to eliminate the two siblings, so she pretended to be sick and claimed that she could only recover by eating the hearts of the two children.

At first, the demon princess ordered two butchers to kill the child and get the heart back. However, after the child complained about it, the butcher felt compassion, killed the two dogs and gave the heart to the princess. But later he was discovered by the princess and sent two fishermen again. Finally, the fishermen also felt compassion and put the two of them into the forest to escape.

The content of Tibetan opera is based on Buddhist thought and inherits Tibetan traditional local values and ancient culture.

Agudengba continued to Lacuo:

It is worth mentioning that in Tibetan myths and legends, Tibetans believe that the land we live on sits on the back of a giant fish called the "Fish of the Universe". If this fish shakes its wings and tail, it will attract There are some very miraculous sayings about earthquakes in some edge places, and it is said that the snowy area is located at the head of the fish, so there are very few earthquakes.

I don’t know whether this myth and legend originated in Tibet or spread from surrounding countries, but one thing is worthy of affirmation: in addition to taboos on eating fish, the Tibetan people also have a reverence for fish, which has nothing to do with the survival of the ethnic group itself. Regarding comfort, ancient people did not understand the scientific principles of earthquake disasters, so they naturally attributed this strange natural disaster to some mysterious force.

Many people simply explain the Tibetan people's taboo on eating fish because water burials were popular in the grasslands in the past, and water and fish were used to dissolve the body of the soul. Tibetans also have to go around to cause evil spirits when performing traditional rituals to drive away ghosts and other unclean things. The idea that something is cursed and then expelled from the land and from the depths of the soul into the water. Some people even attribute the reason why Tibetans don’t eat fish to their belief in Buddhism.

I believe that water burials are also flourishing in the agricultural areas of central Tibet. However, this kind of water burial is a no choice and is not an inherent local custom of sky burial. Because the ecology of Tibet has undergone serious changes and there are no vultures visiting the sky burial platform, people can only choose water burial. After water burial, the corpse can only be decomposed by fish eating or being washed away by water, but I have never heard of letting water and fish dissolve the soul. Therefore, the theory that eating fish is taboo in water burials is untenable. In addition, I have never heard of the Tibetan people cursing unclean things and driving them into the water during rituals.

Nowadays, when you go to various places in Tibetan areas, you can see holy mountains and lakes with prayer flags, springs, hot springs, etc., as well as trees painted with red paint. People are not only taboo about destroying these iconic taboo places, they are also taboo about killing wild animals. Animals, fisheries, poultry, insects, etc. In any case, whether Tibetans eat fish is related to their religious beliefs and cultural customs. In fact, there is not much point in arguing about this dietary custom.

Agudemba sang a song called "The Fish of the Universe":

 

This is my visit to the Tibetan areas of the Western Regions,

A magical legend I heard,

Tibetans here are taboo on eating fish.

This is the survival comfort of the tribe,

I am also in awe of fish,

Believe in some mysterious power.

 

No one will dissuade superstition,

Tibetans will not give up their faith.

This reminds me of the cosmic fish,

That's the fishbowl universe theory.

Humanity is looking for aliens,

Scientists are extremely persistent about this,

From emitting electromagnetic waves into space,

From radio telescopes to sky eyes,

Human beings want to find extraterrestrial civilization,

I don’t want to lose myself in ignorance.

 

But so far, humans

Still no aliens found.

If before humankind becomes extinct,

Still no aliens found,

So the environment we are in,

It's in a solar system fishbowl.

We can see the real universe,

But there is a glass curtain wall in the middle.

This curtain wall is the Oort cloud,

The cloud is a light-year across.

This ending is the worst plan,

But it is the core of the fish tank universe theory.

 

Extrapolate from the worst outcome,

It's very scary without aliens.

Like a fish living in pure water,

The fish cannot find others of its kind,

Then it's not in the ocean,

Instead, he lives in a fishbowl.

Someone made up a fictional space red fish,

It lives in the three-body galaxy,

Their bodies are red,

Have a highly developed brain,

Form efficient group actions,

pose a huge threat to mankind.

fictional space redfish creature,

It is deeply loved and sought after by science fiction fans.

 

The taboo against eating fish is a religious belief.

Space red fish is the apotheosis of science fiction,

How high is human intelligence?

No one can find the answer.