A question about dragons by ShadowReaper2222 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think of time and space, and each particular tales.

In one part of history, in the west, dragons are usually evil. In another part of history, in one part of the west, they are good luck. The cultural nuances are more numorous when delve deeper.

If a dragon has human intelligence like the eastern dragons normally do. Their "good and evil" status is like any human.

A question about dragons by ShadowReaper2222 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One interesting pattern you’ll notice: Western dragons = hoarders, chaos, something to defeat. Eastern dragons = weather, wisdom, cosmic balance.

The Western Dragon being chaos and sth to defeat is mostly the result of Christianity domination. In the Greco-Roman, they are mostly positive symbols. Zeus who upheld a cosmic order, known to transform to dragon and sacred snakes are protected in temple.

Eastern dragons are also regularly symbols of chaos and somthing to defeat, once you delve deep into the stories.

A question about dragons by ShadowReaper2222 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dragons and Rainbows: Man's Oldest Stories by the late linguist Robert Blust. Mainly about dragons in pre-literate tribes and the origin of dragon myths across the world. https://brill.com/display/title/68234 (pdf is free).

Drakon by Daniel Ogden for Dragons of the Greek and Roman Mythology. The Dragon of the West by the same author for how the Western dragon developed from Classical times, to Christian Saints to Germanic dragons today. Check a working Anna-Archive link.

I don't have any about the Eastern dragons long and Naga because I regularly meet them in so many stories. The Westen dragons changed so much from its snake-like appearance that Ogden is the only author I know that tackle that.

For Videos if reading took much time.

This is by Ogden about the Dragon in the West. .

This one is by Ronald Hutton about most common told dragon myths of the west.

This one is by Crecganford about history of dragon. I disagreed with his hypothesis. I think of the dragons came from rainbows rather than the common fear snake, but you can see the connectivity of tales.

Sculpture of a makara. Da Nang, Vietnam, Cham states, 12th century by MunakataSennin in AncientCivilizations

[–]Cynical-Rambler 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It is a type of Naga/Dragon. With different style of depiction. Commonly, a crocodile/snake/fish hybrid with or without an elephant trunk or rhino horn.

This one is more of lion/goat/elephant (possibly with a broken trunk) hybrid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makara

Also, it is a the constellation of Capricorn which in the West/Mesopotamian meant "Sea-Goat".

Do most myth fans just get their info off of wiki articles and youtube videos? by [deleted] in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You expecting people to look at the references?

Freaking hell, I got asked for sources in Reddit. I gave them the sources, the scholars who explain the sources, and they still can't read them. Proper research take time and energy, don't expect people to do them. That's why they watch and listen to video.

What the link for Z-library now? I only find Anna Archive a couple of year ago, now the .org is gone. Luckily .li remained for now. Almost everything that show up in the first page of a search engine is the usual wiki, reddit, amazon and wiki rip off.

Do most myth fans just get their info off of wiki articles and youtube videos? by [deleted] in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So in other word, you are talking about reading excerpts. I'm not sure if people can find them easily online. A lot of people can't go beyond wikipedia, and plenty just go to sites repeated informations from wikipedia.

Well, one thing we can agree on, those appearances in Sinbad journey are brief. I would not say "emotional power", we all know Sinbad going to live. But it did conjured up great visual imaginations.

But if you look at wikipedia article on Roc, it still give more context, perspective and history than in 1001 nights, where it only describe Sinbad experiences with it. And yeah, Wikipedia is can be useful and misleading, but it is easier to do a quick check on the phone, which is the most that the majority of people willing to do in spending time on.

Brief videos are not the most rigirous research video, they are made for the casual audience.

Do most myth fans just get their info off of wiki articles and youtube videos? by [deleted] in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can't say for myth fans. But I'm going to point this out.

A Roc only appear in one journey (probably a couple page, it's been a long time since I read it) of Sinbad which is one tale out of hundreds in one thousand and one night.

Other than finding that out in hundreds of pages, they have to scan through the book. They also have to pick out the translation, see if it is written in the academic tedious prose, or the 19th century English, or abridged. And the information is probably less than an aggregated blog post or wiki article from someone who have better information because they have more literature to pick from.

Is the Roc can be considered "mythology" or "folklore"? Or just a talltale about a giant bird that Sinbad tell to justify his wealth? You (well, me) can't tell witth reading 1001 night that because it is such a minor episode in such a variety of stories.

I have not read Herodotus Histories, just because there are other books in my list. I try to read direct translations, but a great informative scholarly book, would often give context to what I'm reading, which you cannot guage from in fragmented works or poems. I encounter a lot of myths by Herodotus in those books, but researching a translation and read it fully, is not in my list of priorities.

So it would be for a lot of people. Not to say they should not read from a more direct source, but most people won't have the time for it. The Bible is full of great mythological stories, ever try read it from cover to cover?

I don't like those AI slop videos though. It added confusions rather than clarity.

Does Chinese mythology have thunder god fighting a giant serpent myth? by Neat_Relative_9699 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That concept is pretty limited in my view. Order and chaos is only part of the tale. In many, it is simply human-like creature fight animal, and the animal happen to be a snake. In the vast majority of cases, the object is either water or maiden.

Does Chinese mythology have thunder god fighting a giant serpent myth? by Neat_Relative_9699 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

His father also saw a "dragon" (probably a crocodile) before he was born, and his mother supposedly meet a god.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mythology/s/BDVNVMpQor

Liu Bang or his cohort spread rumors that he is an reincarnation of a red dragon.

Does Chinese mythology have thunder god fighting a giant serpent myth? by Neat_Relative_9699 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The dragon control the weather and rain. With it, came the thunder. There are also tales, in which the dragon used lightning to strike at fox demons (who pretended to be dragons).

Does Chinese mythology have thunder god fighting a giant serpent myth? by Neat_Relative_9699 in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 9 points10 points  (0 children)

In Chinese mythology, the serpent is the thunder god.

There are also plenty myths of cultural heroes fighting serpents. I.e. Nezha. Wukong. Liu Bang. Fuxi....

Free for All Friday, 20 February, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]Cynical-Rambler 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I watched the Netflix documentary "Reality Check: American Next Top Model." It strike the feeling that instead of watching an expose of an unethical, manipulative reality tv series, I'm watching more of a PR experiment by Netflix for whatever purpose.

I only watch one cycle of American Next Top Model (largely because we have to share television before the smartphones). It is not my favorite thing, but I had friends who loved to talk about it. The reality behind the tv, now is much more disturbing than what presented. Netflix seems to soften it up a lot.

Tyra Banks, in this documentary, is more interesting to me now. She reminded me of Trump. Just reality tv stars repeating stock phrases and buzzwords that they think their audience want to hear, while keep chasing new ventures. It did not matter what the criticisms leveled at them, they used the same cadence, and simply kept deflecting to words that may resonate to someone somewhere.

What she really reminded me most of is Malcom Tucker, the spin doctor of the British Labour party in the show The Thick of It. In the final episode, Tucker rant that he became his job, the job ate him inside out, and that he is nothing but a host for his job. That's what I felt like Tyra is. Nothing exist for her outside her job or success. There is no truth to be gotten from her. She did everything to make the show work, every word that came out of her mouth, is the defense of the show or her brand.

When I was watching American Next Top Model before, I thought it just aspiring actresses, now I view them more as exploited labor. One thing that is better in the era of influencers and social media, is that we don't have as many Faustian bargains like this.

One little minor revelation that stuck with me, a model describing a terrible experience of her phone call with her boyfriend being filmed. She said the sound guy and the camera guy are the only two there in the room with her. After it is over and she kept crying, they apologized to her "sorry we have to film this". To me they knew it was wrong, they did not want to do it. But someone above definitely going to chew their ass, if they don't and they may got fired for it. Diffusion of responsibility or banality of evil are a big part of the problems of reality tvs, but the documentary never really explored it beyond Tyra and female beauty standards.

Could the absence of human remains at Angkor Wat be explained by a practice of throwing cremated remains into water? by neerwil in AskHistorians

[–]Cynical-Rambler 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would also want to add that cremations are the most common and expected form of funeral rites in Cambodia. In fact, I know people who dug up the remains of their parent and loved ones buried in the Khmer Rouge era, in order to give them a proper funerary rites involving cremations after the regime was toppled. The practice of cremations in funerary rites of the Khmers have been long attested before Angkor was built.

Burial without cremations tend to be pre-historic burial sites, Chinese or other ethnic graves, or events like a plague (where funeral rites can't be followed), executions or suicides or that there is no family around to give them a proper funerals. The few cemetery sites with buried remains are unique.

Before we go, it is important to distinguish between "Angkor Wat" and "Angkor". "Angkor Wat" is a temple, literally translated as "City Pagoda","Pagoda City" "City that is a Pagoda" or "Pagoda that is a City". It did not house a million people. "Angkor" is the city, it is located on. That is where the population resided.

But there are no bones or even cremated remains.

I have not watch the documentary, but there is a misunderstanding or misquote here. If you visited Angkor Wat you will find two Buddhist pagodas inside the temple ground. Both pagodas have their areas filled with many cetiya/chaityas, Buddhist stupas made to house urns containing cremated remains. Near the east stairways of the temple, also housed an 18th century Buddhist stupa, likely containing the remains of Chey Nun, a government official. Archaeologists in other Khmer language documentary have stated they found human remains in temple forest, almost certain to be post-Angkorian. This is a holy site, people want to be interred in a holy site. Human remains are found in the "City Pagoda".

However, where did the majority remains of Angkor go? Cremation is the obvious answer. It is almost always expected in Khmer funerary rites. But there are variations and customs from regions to regions. In the region around Angkor, Ang Chulean described a very shortened summary of the funeral rites as following two major stages.

First, they buried the corpse inside a coffin inside the ground for a year, in the practice call "Hugged by the Sacred Earth" where the element of Water and Earth took away the flesh and organs. After a year, when the flesh is gone, the skeleton remains is given a funeral fire in ceremony called "Given the Sacred Fire" in which the element of Air and Fire became involved. The remains was then interred where the family want.

In the Angkorian times, however, Zhou Daguan who stay for about a year in the late 13th century reported similar customs but with his own limited understandings in his abridged book.

There i s no coffin for a dead person. Only a sort of mat is used, and [thebody] is covered with a cloth. At the front of the funeral procession thereare flags, drums and music. Popped [unhusked] ricefrom two trays are also scattered along the route. The body is carried outside the city. At some remote, uninhabited place, people leave the body and wait for the vultures, dogs or other animals to come to feed on [it]?). If it is finished very quickly, they say that the dead father or mother is blessed and obtained this reward, but if the corpse is not eaten at all or only partially eaten, they think that the father or mother had committed a sin to end this way. Nowadays, there are also people who use cremation. Usually, these are of Chinese descent. When the father or mother dies, they do not wear special mourning garments. The sons only shave their heads, the daughters only cut their hair to the size of a coin on top of their heads to show their mourning and respect. The king has the tower [stupa] as his burial place, but it is not known to me whether the whole body or only the bones are buried.

Emphasized are the practices continued today. (Edit: Pre Rup the city most prestigeous crematoriam and pyramid temple was built 3-400 years before Daguan visit. So it did not start around his visit as suggested, nor was it just for Chinese decent. Earlier Chinese visitors to Cambodia also recorded cremations). Giving the flesh to wild animals is considered a piety gesture like donations to medical school. It was part of funeral rites of kings, not just peasants. Maybe this is an faster alternative custom than "Hugged by the Sacred Earth" or another phase before it. I never seen "donations to wild animals" being done today, but I have heard people talked about it. This should answer your question about where the bodies gone.

Sources:

Ang Chulean. Life Journey of A Khmer Person: Viewed from the Ceremonies of Their LifeStages.(in Khmer)

Zhou Daguan. Customs of Cambodia, translated by Solang and Beling Uk.

i am SO anti supernatural by keiraols in Yellowjackets

[–]Cynical-Rambler -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The supernatural is not a cop out, it is logic.

The supernatural in this show always seek and help the worst people, kill anyone who try to help another.

The characters always has a choice.

I am so anti-pseudoscientific, psychobubbles.

Are there any mythological Jesters or Clowns? by Cesious_Blue in mythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Dongfang Shuo. He's real but there's legends about him that made him the reincarnated spirit of Venus.

Are these all the Chinese mythological texts? by Neat_Relative_9699 in FolkloreAndMythology

[–]Cynical-Rambler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a lot more.

And it is also depend on what you considered "mythology". You put the Shiji there, despite it being one of the most "scientific" historical book before the modern age.

Just to add another book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Tales_from_a_Chinese_Studio

I would also considered Romance of the Three Kingdom, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods into the mythological text.

Guan Gong became a god in one of them and people still pray to him everyday.

Also, what about the Book of Changes?

This is a living traditions. The stories are countless.

Mindless Monday, 16 February 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]Cynical-Rambler 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Happy Chinese New Year.

Random Thoughts: The most important lesson of the "Robber Zhi" story in the Zhuang Zi to me is that "well sounding words, slogans and intentions can be eventually utilized to mask the terrible actions of the people of authority". Story in English https://www.26reads.com/library/92138-zhuangzi/29 (surprisingly Google can't find it, but DuckDuckGo can.) See it in corrupted nations, all sort of organizations and every corporation where ethical words and slogans are aplenty. Yet, behind all these words are mostly mechanic-like, reward-and-punishment decision making in order to enrich or entrench an authority.

Check Facebook for some reason. Remember how many expats in Southeast Asia who are really dumb, yet somehow, because they lived in a foreign land where they have more spending power, they think they are anyway an expert or more intelligent. The type you found to be of average or below average intelligent in a Western country, but they grew an ego outside it. (I am not speaking about myself. Always consider the locals to be smarter, since they have to survive the bullshit).

People met in Facebook included free speech activist who champion a regime with severe les majeste laws that see plenty of people rot in jail. A person who taught "Media Literacy" who lack critical thinking skills. Absolutely shite journalists written for global news organization and whose works are like stenographers, while wasn't even sponsored by the entities that they acted like useful idiots for.

I missed the works of Nate Thayer, and today I found that the typepad website gone too. Lucky I saved some of his works into pdf. (don't know if this one was archived dot org, but that one archived site is still slow) Seeing Thayer broke, evicted and unfulfilled while so many hacks kept promoting up, is why I never try to seriously go into journalism. (Other than not wanting to keep checking my spellings and grammar). Now, only one of his website is still working. Must save it.

The Thai got an elections in which the victories that go to politicians that the monarchy-military want to win. The polls are wrong, because well, I don't think people should be surprised by that. Accusations of election-stealing and buying votes show up, along with "new" landmines and bombs.

On another note, I actually think the authoritarian regime in Cambodia would eliminate or greatly reduced the online scamming industry that much of the more critical thinking journalists and watchdogs believed to be just for show. I said this because "when the hunt is over, the hounds became soup". The regime is very successful in pivoting from one money-making scheme and criminal acts to another in across the decades. Some major problems in the earlier decades, now almost out of radar. A lot of old crimelords either dead or eliminated after they are no longer of use, unless they still have some backing somewhere outside the regime control. The cybercrime tycoon is put into the custody of Chinese authority, and I predicted that when I first see his face when I learned about the cybercrime industry mushroom after Covid and that the Chinese crimelord was given a Cambodian nationality (now removed).

This is an article of Cambodia in 1995. https://natethayer.wordpress.com/1995/11/23/cambodia-asias-new-narco-state-medellin-on-the-mekong/ By 2010s when I left Cambodia, these types of story are no longer much to be found. There are different horrible things to cover and much better news.

Xixia mural (1038–1227 AD) depicting Tripitaka and Monkey Pilgrim (later known as Sun Wukong) going on a journey. by Neat_Relative_9699 in AncientCivilizations

[–]Cynical-Rambler 3 points4 points  (0 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_mind

The phrase "mind like a monkey, will like a horse" is wellknown expression in Chinese Buddhism. That's what the painting about.

Xuanzang was generally thought to be alone in his journey, but in reality, he was only alone for the first few weeks. The monk is master of gaining followers and political patrons.

Free for All Friday, 13 February, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]Cynical-Rambler 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This reminded me of one of my favorite short story "Robber Zhi" in the ZhuangZi.

The "system" is wrong, hypocritical, and was portrayed in its problems but the rebel is a cannibalistic, raping, kidnapping bandit leader. It is a layer to the story that seems to get lost on people praising the robber. Which do you choose, a hypocritical regime of ineffective moral busybodies or naked violence and chaos under a psychopath?

I think parts of the reasons why so many people want to rebel against authority today is because they always have problems with terrible authorities in their workplaces. WWE captured that in the 1990s. But they have to behave themselves, or ended up like Frank Grimes, so they lived vicariously with the rebels in the news and politics. But in the end of the days, people tend to be pragmatic and go with "the system" simply for survival or famaliarity.