The Korean Creation Myth and its' Implications

The Korean people have a long and rich history, going back to the times of the first Chinese Emperors. They are a Jurchen/Tungus people, this is the ethnicity, which is shared by the Manchu's and the Mongols. Han (Southern) Chinese are not Jurchen/Tungus.

So, what do the books say about ancient Korean history? Well, when it was created as an ancient kingdom, it was called "Gojoseon". It was supposedly founded in 2333B.C. by a man named Hwanung, who was the son of the Father of Heaven. The Father allowed him to descend to walk the Earth, and took with him 3,000 helpers. This Hwanung could speak to animals, and one day a Tiger and a Bear came to him and prayed to him to make them human.

He instructed them to stay in a cave with no sunlight for 100 days, and only eat these 20 cloves of garlic and some mugwort. The Tiger gave up, but the Bear was persistent and after 100 days was transformed into a Woman.

Hwanung took this woman to be his wife. The legend goes that these two were the progenitors of the modern Korean people, or in those times, the tribes of proto-Koreans living. The tales goes that he had a son, named Dangun, and Dangun went on to rule the kingdom and further establish the kindgom into what can be called a kingdom, as before this, Hwanung was only present with very few fellow demi-gods or people under his rule.

The Lord of Heaven Hwanin (환인; 桓因, a name which also appears in Indian Buddhist texts), had a son Hwanung who yearned to live on the earth among the people. Hwanin relented, and Hwanung descended to Mount Taebaek with 3,000 helpers, where he founded a city he named Sinsi (신시; 神市, "City of God" or "Holy City"). Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the people various arts, medicine, and agriculture.

A tiger and a bear living in a cave prayed to Hwanung that they may become human. Upon hearing their prayers, Hwanung gave them 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort, instructing them to eat only this sacred food and remain out of the sunlight for 100 days. The tiger shortly gave up and left the cave, but the bear remained and after 21 days was transformed into a woman.

The bear-woman (Ungnyeo, 웅녀, 熊女) was very grateful and made offerings to Hwanung. She lacked a husband, however, and soon became sad and prayed beneath a Sindansu (신단수; 神檀樹, "Divine Betula") tree to be blessed with a child. Hwanung, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a son, Dangun Wanggeom (단군 왕검; 檀君王儉).

source: en.wikipedia.org...

So as you can see, I am not making this up. Does it sound familiar to you? The idea of what can only be called ancient astronaut(s), genetic modification of beasts of the Earth (turning a Bear into a woman), being of direct descent of God, the Father, or some supreme being? It sounds exactly like the legends of Sumer and the Dogon and the Maya, not to mention countless other ancient legends, and im sure you realize that it does resemble them greatly. What a coincidence right?

But more so, I do not want to offend anyone, but have you ever noticed that the eyes of a bear are PARTICULARLY almond shaped? Just like most Korean, Japanese, & Chinese people? Just food for thought there.

What are your thoughts on this? would you like to add anything you may know about these legends? Do you find it creepy that the resemblance is there? I sure do, because these people were isolated. They couldnt have gotten it from another culture..

[edit on 9/3/2008 by runetang]

Yeah that is interesting.. I have never heard it before, so thanks for that info. Do the Korean people believe this? I am wondering if this myth is part of their culture or religion.

Also, you said similar stories/myth exist for other cultures. I am particularly interested in hearing these other stories as well.. Do you have link to the other creation stories? I just wanted to get an idea of how similar they are. (especially the myan south american tribes)..

There seems to be some degree of credibility to these stories since all races obviously could not have descended from the same original ancestors. It has always puzzled me, and in my mind something that has remain unresolved.

Thanks for the thought provoking thread!

This kind of reminds me of the Terra Papers.
Except for the bear, of course....

As someone else asked already, do the Korean people generally believe this story to be true?

But more so, I do not want to offend anyone, but have you ever noticed that the eyes of a bear are PARTICULARLY almond shaped? Just like most Korean, Japanese, & Chinese people? Just food for thought there.

And bears are brown as well. Oooohhh. Freaky. Or sometimes they're black.

Wait a minute. Polar bears are white and they've got horrible black beady eyes and huge claws and........


.........where are we going with this again?

There's definately a theme running through ATS today. It's been a weird day on the board.







On a more serious note - that's an interesting story and the first i've heard of the myths of the origin of man in Korea. It's definately not a coincidence that practically every origins story from all cultures across the globe are very similar in a lot of ways. Now that's really food for thought and the kind of food you should be stuffing your brain with.







Please don't feed the bears.



[edit on 3-9-2008 by Nammu]

The funny this is....all creation myths are somewhat alike. No matter where it comes from, some god or other created all this and us included. Does thing ring a bell with anyone? I have come to the conclusion that all humans were the creation of higher beings, ET. We were made for the purpose of fighting wars between the gods, and for slave labor. Put the pieces together and you will feel the same way. Even the timeline has been altered. What to do, you ask? Hell, I don't know, but I would certainly love to question these aliens on their agenda, and ask why they felt is necessary to alter our makeup. Guess we may get the chance too, if the Nibiru guys are right.

reply to post by runetang


It's all unsubstantiated nonsense It's entertaining, as it's what people could come up with to describe the world they saw. They had no idea about geology, astrology, biology, chemistry, or even physics. They just knew what they could eat, what they couldn't, what would get them killed, etc. No wonder people came up with such rubbish. What is sickening is that people still believe this tripe thousands of years later, simply because it's what they heard first. Weird.

Originally posted by dave420
reply to post by runetang

 

It's all unsubstantiated nonsense

It's entertaining, as it's what people could come up with to describe the world they saw. They had no idea about geology, astrology, biology, chemistry, or even physics. They just knew what they could eat, what they couldn't, what would get them killed, etc. No wonder people came up with such rubbish. What is sickening is that people still believe this tripe thousands of years later, simply because it's what they heard first. Weird.

Wow, dave... You sure have YOUR mind closed. Why would culture after culture come up with virtually identical "myths?" Even isolated ones?

Perhaps because they all experienced the same ET's doing the same things around the globe.

Yes, it is reminiscent of The Terra Papers. Perhaps you might read them (they're linked in my sig). Keep in mind they PREDATE Star Wars.

And read the whole account, because I found that it read like bad scifi initially, but I persevered and when I got to the end...I was very literally shaking from a radical paradigm shift. All my WHY's were answered.

OPen your mind, dave, my dear. You will understand much more if you do.

reply to post by Amaterasu


They don't. They all come up withequally fanciful explanations.

My mind is 100% open. I just don't want to waste any of it on unsubstantiated nonsense, that's all. Regardless of our origins, we have a duty to use our brains to the full, and believing in anything without evidence is a ridiculous waste. Mankind didn't get this far by making stuff up. If we did, we wouldn't be here, as we'd still be treating diseases with witch doctors and offering sacrifices to ensure good harvests.

While it is all unsubstantiated nonsense, the romantic part of my soul enjoys speculating on, if it was possible, the effect or nature of the encounter would be.

I personally think that, like most creation myths, that humans were genetically engineered - Eve from Adam, Adam from dust, etc.

It seems more probable to my mind that an event like this occurred once, and the myth was carried around the world as the new human race colonised it. This would also explain the regional variations that follow the same core theme.

Judging from what we know from these various creation myths (Enuma Elish, Old Testament, etc) these gods could breed with humans; ergo, they were human.

Since their offspring were wildly talented and beautiful in all areas, and since we know the original slave-humans were also created this way, I would presume they are genetically engineered. This is why Hercules was so huge and strong, why Dionysus was so handsome etc - their children recieved this godlike (pun intended) genetic heritage and therefore became preeminent, as Michael Jordan would had he been competing against retarded dwarfs.

So I think it's less likely aliens, than it was an advanced human civilization. If there is anything to the myths at all.

Racism......... After read all of reply i felt racism.... i wanna ask most of u that "how old r u?". Did u open mind? It is just story.. belive it or not is just their choice why did u wandering... How about u, r u belive ur creation myth?? And acording to the story the human being is started befor bear became human. The story is just creation strory of GOJOSEON(name of country) which is origin of Korea. And the simbol of bear is tribal that obey bear. It is just culture or religion. If u open ur mind u can understand. it is just story.. It is not science. Acording to the theory of evolution , human became monky.. if u want to refute the Korean creation myth, plz refute The theory of evolution befor refute Korean creation myth.

And there are alot of Korean myth of human being.

Racism......... After read all of reply i felt racism.... i wanna ask most of u that "how old r u?". Did u open mind? It is just story.. belive it or not is just their choice why did u wandering... How about u, r u belive ur creation myth?? And acording to the story the human being is started befor bear became human. The story is just creation strory of GOJOSEON(name of country) which is origin of Korea. And the simbol of bear is tribal that obey bear. It is just culture or religion. If u open ur mind u can understand. it is just story.. It is not science. Acording to the theory of evolution , human became monky.. someone said that Please don't feed the bears. How about monkey?? if u want to refute the Korean creation myth, plz refute The theory of evolution befor refute Korean creation myth.

And there are alot of Korean myth of human being.

reply to post by runetang


It is Korean creation myth of human being


1
At the beginning the world did not exist. A deity named Yul-ryeo 율려(律呂) and a goddess named Mago 마고(麻姑) appeared . Yul-ryeo then died. Mago in turn gave birth to two goddesses: Gung-hee 궁희(穹姬) and So-hee 소희(巢姬). They in turn each gave birth to two Men of Heaven 천인(天人) and two Women of Heaven 천녀(天女).
After the appearance of the Heavenly People, Yul-ryeo 율려 is revived and through her re-birth heaven, earth, and the oceans were created, along with Chi (soul) 기(氣), fire 불(火), water 물(水), and earth 흙(土). These four elements in turn mixed and became herbs and plants, birds and animals.
Mago 마고(麻姑) decides to stay with Yul-ryeo, whose body had now become the world, and the Heavenly People ruled all living things from their heavenly fortress named Magoseong 마고성(麻姑城) in honor of the goddess.

The Coming of Humankind
There were four Heavenly Men guarding each cardinal direction of the fortress, and they were Cheong-gung 청궁(靑穹), Hwang-gung 황궁(黃穹) who were children of Gunghwee, and Hukso 흑소(黑巢), Baekso 백소(白巢)who were children of Sohwee. They in turn married the four Heavenly Women, and gave birth to twelve children, who would become the ancestors of the humans.
These ancestors were pure and were have said to drink from Earth's Milk 지유(地乳), which came from a spring inside the castle. They could speak without making sounds, and act without seeing and never died. Thus they lived for ten thousand years undisturbed.
Then there came a time when the number of people became too large. There was not enough of Earth's Milk (or "Jiyu") to go around for everyone. Because of this, a man from the line of Baekso 백소(白巢) by the name of Jiso 지소(支巢) decided to cede his meal of Earth's Milk five times to his neighbours (other versions say that he waited in line but the line was so long he never got his turn). Eventually his hunger grew intolerable, and deciding to kill himself he headed towards a cliff, where he saw a grape vine growing in the edges. Unable to suppress his hunger, he ate the grapes and immediately acquired the five tastes of sourness, bitterness, spiciness, sweetness, and saltiness. This is known as the Incident of the Five Tastes (오미의 변).
Jiso 지소(支巢) returned to his people and told them of his discovery. Soon however, those who ate from these grapes began to grow teeth. From the teeth spewed a saliva that turned into venom. This was because they had eaten another living thing in order to stay alive.
Soon they were able to see, but were no longer able to hear the heavens. Their skin became coarse, their feet heavy, and they were no longer pure. They gave birth to many animal-resembling children and their lifespans began to shrink.
There eventually came a point when the people of Magosung 마고성(麻姑城) began blaming Jiso (지소) for the transformation, and he along with his family and all those who had eaten the grapes were forced to leave Magosung 마고성(麻姑城).
As the line of Jiso was leaving, however, Hwang-gung (황궁:黃穹, one of the four guardians and a direct ancestor of the Korean people) tried to encourage them by saying that if they could recover their pure nature, they would be free of their misery.
Upon hearing this, the people became convinced that the only way to become pure once more was to drink from Earth's Milk again. They then stormed the castle and overwhelmed it, razing the fortress to its foundations in order to reveal the source of the spring that had given them Earth's Milk. The spring, however, began to flow in all directions and thereafter the milk turned into inedible earth, leaving not only the original perpetrators but all the former inhabitants of the now destroyed castle to starve.

Soon thereafter there ensued a massive famine, and everyone was reduced to devouring not only grapes, but all sorts of plants and even animals in an attempt to satiate their hunger. Of them only Hwang-gung 황궁(黃穹) came forth to Mago 마고(麻姑) and begged her for forgiveness. He swore he would not rest until mankind could recover its pure nature. From her he obtained the Three Heavenly Heirlooms, and great knowledge. He then called together all the people of the earth, taught them agriculture, and gave each clan leader a Heavenly Heirloom and then sent them off in different directions to people the earth.


[edit on 9-2-2009 by Kevin Shin]

Thank you everyone for the posts, good informative information. Please more, more.