Taoists and Toltecs (and their Feathery Serpent like Beasts)

[MatthewQi]

Interesting little similarity here, I was reading about Taoist Immortals when a Toltec practicing friend emailed me the place they were going to in Mexico which talked about Quetzacoatl so I did a quick Wiki look up. As if the words aren't enough, check out the pics at the links. What to my wondering eyes should appear, but a feathery snake like beast like those used to ring in the new year!

 

Quetzalcoatl (pronounced [ketsalˈkoːaːtɬ] in Nahuatl) is an Aztec sky and creator god. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and coatl, meaning serpent. Quetzalcoatl is often referred to as The Feathered Serpent and was connected to the planet Venus.

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl

 

The earliest representations of Chinese immortals, dating from the Han Dynasty, portray them flying with feathery wings (the word yuren 羽人 "feathered person" later meant "Daoist") or riding dragons.

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xian_%28Daoist_immortal%29

 

Oh yea as qouted in the subtitle, "Surfin' Bird" by the Ramones...

 

If anyone had the time to read the Daoist Immortal description, interested in discussing...

 

Best,

 

Matt

[Wun Yuen Gong]

There is the Garuda and in daoism they have a thunder god which has wings and looks like a bird, holds a hammer and drum to create thunder and lightening. These dieties are used during meditations to bring force energies from nature.

[Procurator]

 

 

If anyone had the time to read the Daoist Immortal description, interested in discussing...

 

Best,

 

Matt

They have square eyes and long ears, are covered in hair among other things.

[MatthewQi]

They have square eyes and long ears, are covered in hair among other things.

 

 

Sorry, I just reread the way I phrased what I was interested in discussing and realized I didn't articulate it clearly at all. I already know what they look like

 

I am interested in discussing the stories or qoutations in the Taoist Link that I posted. Many of these have different spins on them then what I have read in the past. For example, one level immortal was a person who faked his own death left his family and life and then might thought to have been seen in other provinces. But this type of immortal was alive, but just picked up and left, a fake one, lol.

 

 

Matt

[thelerner]

In Japan the legendary martial artists of the past were taught by bird spirits. Maybe the name was Tenku?

 

Michael

 

edit, its Tengu

 

Being shape-shifters, tengu are capable of assuming a variety of forms or casting various illusions to deceive humans, but their essential nature is invariably avian. They hatch from enormous eggs, and make their homes in pine and cryptomeria trees. Tengu in old fairy-tales often take the form of birds of prey - usually kites or kestrels - especially when defeated or tormented, although in modern times the bird they are most associated with is the crow (karasu, which in Japanese can actually refer to any member of genus Corvus). Originally, tengu were portrayed as human-like creatures with a bird's beak, wings and tailfeathers on their backs, and claws on their fingers and toes. Unlike the generic anthropomorphic birds drawn by modern roleplaying gamers, traditional tengu were usually plantigrade, featherless except for their wings, and often had ears and hair. Some of the more monstrous depictions give them scaled digits or lips, mouths full of sharp teeth, three-toed bird's feet, or somewhat bat-like webbed flight feathers. They are sometimes associated with the color red, although sources differ on whether this applies to their skin, hair, or clothing.

 

A tengu differs from a kitsune in that his usual human form is not beautiful, and his beak often becomes a very large nose. Sometimes he retain his wings. This humanoid form has become so popular that today, "tengu" is often translated simply as "long-nosed goblin", and the creatures are associated with the phallic-nosed Shinto god Sarutahiko. The old-fashioned bird-man form of tengu is called karasu-tengu to distinguish it. The long-nosed tengu (sometimes labeled konoha-tengu) are said to be in charge of the beaked ones, although one must assume that such capricious shape-changers are merely "wearing" their appearance as a badge of their rank.