THE BULL IN MYTHOLOGY
Taurus is today the second constellation in the Western hemisphere, in the spring. Many different cultures have seen the red-eyed bust of a bull in the arrangement of stars, and the notion of a Bull of Heaven is very ancient.
In a way, it is the opposite of the heavenly cow, for in Mesopotamian myth, it was the embodiment of a terrible drought created by Anu for the goddess Ishtar.
The Minoans did have a sacred relationship with the bull, and bull-leaping youths depicted on the walls of the palace at Knossos indicate some elaborate ritual associated with it. This involved dancing or tumbling between the sharp horns of unrestrained bulls. Horned altar stones similar to contemporary abstract sculptural pieces were also found there.
Sadly, other aspects of this seem to have a root in reality. Legend has it that offerings of youths were made regularly to the Minotaur, and indeed human remains were recently found that indicate the intentional butchering of human beings.
According to the Greeks, this relation engendered the Minotaur, a bull-headed monster who was kept in a "labyrinth" and to whom the youths of the land were sacrificed.
Later, Herakles made a lasso, and chasing the beast until it weakened, finally succeeding in throwing the lasso over the bull's head. Having pacified the beast, Heracles leapt on its back and rode it across the sea back to the Peloponese. He presented it to Eurystheus, who thought to sacrifice it to Hera, queen of heaven. But Hera continued to bear a grudge against the hero who, through no fault of his was the offspring of her husband Zeus and the earthly woman Alcmene. She refused the offering, and so the bull was released to run wild in Greece.
While serving in Persia, the Romans encountered the cult of Mithras, Sol Invictis, vanquisher of the Bull, and that religion became exceedingly popular among legionnaires of the Empire stationed everywhere.
They prayed, "Spirit of Spirit, if it be your will, lend me immortal life so that I may be reborn, and the sacred spirit breathe in me again."
Mithraism vied in popularity with Christianity to the extent that several of the important aspects of its mythology were assimilated to Christianity by the late 4th century. One of these is the important date of 25th December, the winter solstice which marks the birth of the Lord of Light, who is essentially a solar deity. It was customary to mark the day with gift-giving. Mithras can also be said to have been born of a virgin, and to have lived among shepherds. His priests were the Magi.
Shiva
Nandi means joyous. Nandi the Bull is the vahana (vehicle) of Shiva. However in ancient times, there was worshipped the Lord of Joy (Nandikeshvara), who was depicted as a man with a bull's head.
The bull is also the emblem of Adinath, the first Jain Tirthankara.
In South India, on the north shore of the Cauvery, is the Hindu temple called Vallalar Koil that is sacred to Shiva as Sri Vadhanyeshwar. At this shrine, Parvati his consort is called Gnanambika (Wisdom Mother.) At this place is the shrine of a yogi, Sri Medha Dakshinamurti. He is depicted under a banyan tree but somewhat surprisingly he is seated on Nandi, Shiva's bull.
The bull, a symbol of male sexuality, is the driving force of attainment in many symbolic systems. Consider Zeus, sky god of the Greeks who, in the form of a white bull, unrelentingly pursues Europa. It may be that the prototype of that myth is the Indian cosmogony in which the First Being, Purusha, out of loneliness, splits into two aspects, male and female. The female, aware that the two are brother and sister, out of shame assumes the form of a cow and flees her brother's advances. Accordingly, he becomes a bull, so she eludes him by becoming a mare. No matter what form she assumes, he changes to correspond, and so all the various animals of creation are born.
According to legend, Vrishabha Deva (Nandi) was getting too proud of the fact that he was the one who carried the Great God. Shiva wanted to teach him a lesson, so he placed a lock from his matted hair on the bull. Unable to bear the weight, Rishaba Deva felt humbled and realized his mistake. He prostrated before Lord Shiva begging his pardon. Shiva not only forgave him, but also initiated him into the mysteries of Divine Wisdom. Thereafter, when Shiva imbued the form of the yogi Dakshinamurti, Nandi also served as his mount.
Ox
If, as we have seen, the cow stands for wealth, then the ox stands for work.
Any castrated male animal of the cattle family, especially if it is to be used for hauling logs, a cart or a plow, can be called an ox. The plural of ox is oxen, one of the few English words still in current use that retains the ancient ending in its plural form.
A young ox is a bullock and that is how the mind is depicted in the first of
The northern musk-ox, like oxen or yaks, are classified as Bovidae, but at least up to 1997, it has been classified in the same sub-family as sheep and goats. It likely received the "ox" part of its name due to its hefty and imposing appearance. In folklore, it is often the general impression that matters, so since there is no apparent difference between the sexes except for the female's smaller size, she could satisfy our mental associations with the "ox" of East Asia's 12-animal calendar.
No Bull. Death is a Cow with Calf.
Aeons ago, during the time of Buddha Padmattara, a certain layman, seeing some monk being accorded a chief place in the sangha by that buddha, made the aspiration that he might achieve the same status under a future buddha. After he had spent many intervening lives in the heavens, he became a monk under Buddha Kashyapa. Later, he finally took a human birth during the time of Buddha Shakyamuni.
Known as Bahia, after the land of his birth, he became a wealthy trader and managed to complete seven successful overseas voyages. On his eighth trip, he was ship-wrecked though he did manage to reach shore where he emerged naked as the day he was born. He made himself a garment of bark [perhaps as he had seen certain islanders do on his travels in the Pacific] and so he became known as Barkcloth-Bahiya.
He made it back to Sopara, the legendary port north of Bombay where people set sail for Shri Lanka and other exotic places in search of riches. There, taking up a cocoanut shell, he wandered about for alms. He was treated as a holy man, given homage and receiving the usual contributions of food, shelter, clothing and medicine.
Sceptics offered him various fine things to test him, but he realized what they were doing and did not give in. That led to his being showered all the more with donations and respect so that he, himself, began to believe that he was one of the arhats.
Just then, a devata who had once been a relative in a former existence, out of compassion for him and aware of the line of thinking that had arisen in his mind, went to where he was staying said, "Hold on there, Bahiya; you are neither an arhat nor have you even entered that path. You don't even have the practice to become one!"
"Well, nagini, who in this world is one? Or who is even on the way?"
"Bahiya, there is a city in the north called Shravasti. There there is one, a real self-awakened person -- a Buddha. And he teaches the Dharma that leads to arhatship. "
Then Bahiya, chastened by his meeting with the spirit being, left Supparaka right then and, in the space of a day and a night, made it all the way to where the Blessed One was staying at Anathapindika's monastery in Jeta's Grove outside Shravasti.
At the time, a large number of monks were outside doing walking meditation. He went over to them and said, "Where, venerable sirs, is the Buddha staying? We'd like to see him."
"He's gone into town for alms."
Then Bahiya hurriedly left the Grove and entering Shravasti, saw the Blessed One out "begging" for alms. He seemed so calm and so calming, his senses and his mind at peace, tranquil and poised in the ultimate sense, accomplished, trained, composed and restrained. Just like a Naga.
So seeing him, Bahiya went over and threw himself down prostrate at His feet. He said, "Teach me the Dharma, Blessed One! Please, teach me, Tatagatha, something that will benefit me in the long run and make me happy."
The Buddha replied, "This is not the time, Bahiya. We are here in town for alms."
A second time, Bahiya said to the Buddha, "But anything could happen at any moment to you or to me. Teach me the Dharma, O Blessed One! Please, teach me, Tathagatha, what will help me and make me happy in the long run."
A second time, the Blessed One answered, "Not now, Bahiya. We have come here for alms."
So a third time, Bahiya said to the Buddha, "But our lives could end here and now. Teach me the Dharma, Blessed One! Teach me the Dharma, Tathagata, so that I may be helped and be happy forever."
"OK, Bahiya. This is it:
'When you see something, just see it.
When you hear something, just hear i't.
When you feel something, then feel it. And when you are aware of something, just know it.
That is how you should train yourself. So that when for you there is only the seen in reference to what is seen, only the heard in reference to what is heard, only the sensed in reference to what is sensed, and only the cognized in reference to what you cognize, then Bahia, there will not be any distinctions any longer.
So that when you are not "thereby", you will not be 'therein.' When you are not "therein", you will be neither 'here' nor 'there' nor in between. This, just this, is the end of stress."
And not long after that, Bahiya -- attacked by a cow with her calf -- lost his life.
Then the Blessed One, having gone out to Shravasti, and then returning from his alms round and having eaten a meal together with a large number of monks, saw that Bahiya had died.
On seeing him, he said to the monks, "Take Bahiya's body up on a litter and carry it away and cremate it; then build him a memorial. Your companion in the holy life has died."
"As you say, lord," the monks replied. After doing what the Buddha had told them to, they went back to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As they were sitting there, they said to him, "Bahiya's body has been cremated, lord, and his memorial has been built. What will happen to him? What is his future state?"
"Monks, Bark-cloth Bahia was wise. He practiced the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma and did not pester me with issues related to it. Bark-cloth Bahiya has achieved nirvana - he has been released."
Then, realizing the significance of that, he exclaimed:
"Where water, earth, fire, and wind have no footing:There the stars do not shine, the sun is not visible,the moon does not appear, darkness is not found.And when a sage, a noble person, through sagacityhas known [this] for himself, then from form & formless,from bliss & pain, he is freed".~ Khuddaka, Udana 1-10
Much later, according to the Dhammapada (v. 101, or Thousands v. 2) when Buddha was telling his disciples that Bahia had attained release after hearing just one verse, a monk asked how it was possible for a single verse to lead to Nirvana. The Buddha answered:
"Better than a thousand verses comprising useless words, is one single beneficial line that through the hearing of it, one is pacified".
Bull of No-Death
To Hindus and Buddhists, the King of Dharma and Lord of Death are one and the same: Yama, here with his sister/consort Yami and their water buffalo are shown in a bronze image at the Patan Museum, Nepal.
One of the Tibetan Buddhist dharmapalas is a manifestation of Manjushri, the midnight blue Defeater-of-death, Yamantaka also called Yamari (Yama's enemy) or Vajrabhairava (absolutely terrifying) who may be depicted as riding or standing on a bull while trampling Yama, god of death, underfoot.
In the most ancient Indian texts, the Vedas:
"Wise poets have spun a seven-strand tale
around this heavenly calf, the Sun".
Dirghatama Rishi, Rig Veda 1.164.5
In Genesis 32 we learn how Aaron the princely brother of Moses decided that it would benefit the wandering Israelites to have a visible, tangible representation. He (24) . . . told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' and "Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!" It is as if the bits of gold cohered of themselves to form the calf -- the ultimate symbol of prosperity.
Later (Deuteronomy 9: 21) we find that Moses " took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then . . . crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain."
Of all the Israelites, the descendants of Levi were the only sept (sub-clan) that remained true to the-god-without-form, and so they had the duty and the honour of being attendants at the temple in Jerusalem where the sacred Ark of the Covenant was later installed.
Available in http://www.khandro.net/animal_cow_bull.htm Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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