Chinese Astrology

[david_dawei]

Based on the "lao gong/lao po" thread, I got curious why mouse has the 'lao', as in "lao shu".

 

( Tiger is " 'lao' hu" because he is considered 'king' of animals in china...)

 

 

Here is one common story:

 

http://www.jyotishvani.com/chinese/

 

The dying Buddha asked all the animals of the world to come before him to bid them farewell, for which they would receive gifts. Most of the animals failing to comprehend the reason behind the request, failed to arrive before the Buddha. Those who did appear before the Buddha, however, were only 12 in number. These twelve animals were the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

 

 

Here is the competition story:

 

http://angelabode.net/czod.htm

 

The legend goes that the Buddha of the sky decided to hold a competition for the animals' places in the zodiac sequence. What would happen is that the first animal who reported to the Buddha would be placed first in the sequence and so on. Originally, the rat and the cat were friends, and agreed that they would wake each other up on the day of the competition so that they would have a head start ahead of the other animals. However, the rat was rather conniving, and decided to sleep in the ear of the ox. The rat knew that the ox was accustomed to waking up early. The next morning, the ox woke up very early, travelled across ponds and charged through valleys and just before they arrived in front of the Buddha, the rat jumped out of the tired ox's ear and gained first place in the sequence. The other animals followed, and you can see that the laziest animal, the boar, won the last spot in the sequence. The reason that there is no cat in the zodiac sequence is because the cat never woke up. This is the reason the cat and rat are enemies to this day.

 

---

 

I asked my SO the legend and she related the competition story with a twist. The cat and mouse both rode the Ox across the pond, and the mouse pushed the cat off, into the water...

 

She also related how the 12 animals relate to the time of day:

 

23:00-1:00 ÀÏÊó rat (eats)

1:00-3:00 ţox (eats)

3:00-5:00 ÀÏ»¢ tiger (eats)

5:00-7:00 Ãâ×Órabbit (eats)

7:00-9:00 Áú dragon (works)

9:00-11:00 Éß snake (works)

11:00-13:00 Âíhorse (works)

13:00-15:00 Ñòsheep (eats)

15:00-17:00 ºï monkey (works)

17:00-19:00 ¼¦ chicken (sleeps)

19:00-21:00 ¹· dog (works)

21:00-23:00 Öí pig (sleeps)

[tonado]

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/12-zodiac.shtml

[tonado]

http://www.zodiac-signs-daily-horoscopes-a...com/origin.html

 

According to the legend, the order of the twelve signs was determined by Buddha upon celebration of the Chinese New Year. It is believed that Buddha invited all of the animals of the kingdom for a meeting, but only 12 creatures attended.

 

Instead of arriving together, each animal arrived separately, one after the other in the following order:

 

* The first animal to arrive was the talkative Rat.

* The second to arrive was the serious, enduring and hard-working Ox.

* He was than followed by the honorable Tiger.

* The cautious Cat arrived fourth.

* The outspoken Dragon was the fifth to joined the others.

* The philosophical Snake arrived next.

* The physically active Horse arrived seventh.

* Followed by the artistic Sheep.

* Than it was the turn of the spirited Monkey to arrive.

* He was followed close by the showy Rooster.

* The last to join the others was the watchful Dog.

* Followed by the meticulous and resigned Pig that closed the march.

 

This order of arrival explains the order in which you find the different signs when you read your horoscope. And based on this order of arrival, Buddha gave each animal a year of its own, bestowing the nature and characteristics of each to those born in that animal year.

[izus]

Based on the "lao gong/lao po" thread, I got curious why mouse has the 'lao', as in "lao shu". 

 

( Tiger is " 'lao' hu" because he is considered 'king' of animals in china...)

 

 

Here is one common story:

 

http://www.jyotishvani.com/chinese/

 

The dying Buddha asked all the animals of the world to come before him to bid them farewell, for which they would receive gifts. Most of the animals failing to comprehend the reason behind the request, failed to arrive before the Buddha. Those who did appear before the Buddha, however, were only 12 in number. These twelve animals were the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

 

 

Here is the competition story:

 

http://angelabode.net/czod.htm

 

The legend goes that the Buddha of the sky decided to hold a competition for the animals' places in the zodiac sequence. What would happen is that the first animal who reported to the Buddha would be placed first in the sequence and so on. Originally, the rat and the cat were friends, and agreed that they would wake each other up on the day of the competition so that they would have a head start ahead of the other animals. However, the rat was rather conniving, and decided to sleep in the ear of the ox. The rat knew that the ox was accustomed to waking up early. The next morning, the ox woke up very early, travelled across ponds and charged through valleys and just before they arrived in front of the Buddha, the rat jumped out of the tired ox's ear and gained first place in the sequence. The other animals followed, and you can see that the laziest animal, the boar, won the last spot in the sequence. The reason that there is no cat in the zodiac sequence is because the cat never woke up. This is the reason the cat and rat are enemies to this day.

 

---

 

I asked my SO the legend and she related the competition story with a twist. The cat and mouse both rode the Ox across the pond, and the mouse pushed the cat off, into the water...

 

She also related how the 12 animals relate to the time of day:

 

23:00-1:00 ÀÏÊó rat (eats)

1:00-3:00 Å£ox  (eats)

3:00-5:00 ÀÏ»¢ tiger (eats)

5:00-7:00 Ãâ×Órabbit  (eats)

7:00-9:00  Áú dragon (works)

9:00-11:00 Éß snake (works)

11:00-13:00 Âíhorse  (works)

13:00-15:00 Ñòsheep (eats)

15:00-17:00 ºï monkey (works)

17:00-19:00 ¼¦ chicken (sleeps)

19:00-21:00 ¹· dog  (works)

21:00-23:00 Öí pig (sleeps)

150483[/snapback]

cool stories

never trust a RAT!!

[tonado]

Rats are leaders.

[Trigg]

"origin of animals?" Is this a Darwninian thing?