Peter's Myth Blog

In the ancient India, there was a prince named Siddhartha who was born into wealth, power, and privileges. Siddhartha was an unusual and precocious kid. He could stand by himself when he turned two months old, walked when he was eight months old, and spoke when he was barely eleven months old. His parents were totally taken by awe and surprise when Siddhartha held a pencil and started writing at 2 years and 3 months old!  Siddhartha's parents, who were the king and queen of the city state of Kapila in the Indian subcontinent, thought it was gods' benevolent will that they sent this highly intelligent, gifted, and precocious son into the world. The king of Kapila, who was Siddhartha's father, appointed Prince Siddhartha as his successor when he was merely 4 years old. His older siblings were outraged. Siddhartha had two older brothers who were 21 years old and 17 years old. The jealous and malicious brothers decided to do something evil. They decided to poison Siddh...

I liked Buddha's reflective and meditative nature: "I would be off to find eternal beatitude. The deep joy I feel, the indomitable strength that now sustains my will, the assurance that I have a protector even though I am alone, all these things tell me that I am about to attain my goal. The hour has come; I am on the road to deliverance." He decided to abandon his life's pleasures to become a deeper spiritual being. For someone born with wealth and privileges, I thought it was a very difficult decision to do. It was also very interesting how Siddhartha was talking to a horse with so much genuine emotion: "Companions in arms or in pleasure are not hard to find, and we never want for friends when we set out to acquire wealth, but companions and friends desert us when it is the path of holiness we would take. Know then, O Kanthaka, that it is a virtuous impulse that moves me. Lend me your strength and your speed; the world's salvation and your own is at ...

I really liked the interesting 'genesis' story of Buddha. Buddha was actually a prince! It was a very surprising discovery for me that Buddha was born as a royal prince of a kingdom. The birth dream story of Buddha was also fascinating. I found a common theme of Buddhism and Hinduism from Queen Maya's dream: Elephants are considered sacred and mythical animal. Queen Maya saw six tusks in the elephant, which resembles that of typical Hindu elephant paintings. Both religions originated in the subcontinent of India, so the similarities remain. I really liked this vivid description of the king's (Buddha's father) nervous expectation of his new born son: "His limbs faltered, his hands trembled and tears welled from his eyes. And he thought: "Never, not even in the heat of battle when fighting my bravest enemies, have I felt as profoundly disturbed as at this moment. Why is it I can not enter the wood where the queen awaits me? Can anyone explain my agitation...

Note: This story was added to my  Portfolio . Sindbad was an immature, greedy, and selfish kid. His parents, who made massive fortunes by trading with other countries, loved Sindbad no matter how unruly and immature he was. Sindbad grew up without having been disciplined once by his parents. In fact, school teachers hated Sindbad and his parents even more because Sindbad always behaved unruly, bragged his family wealth, and hit other pupils to show his wealth and dominance. Sindbad was an ugly, spoiled kid. In an unfortunate and tearful accident, Sindbad's parents, while on the way to China for their biggest trade deal ever, were swept away by massive sea currents. Their huge cargo ship, carrying all of their wealth including gold, diamonds, slaves, and wealth-claim documents (real estate and stock receipts), was flipped upside down, drowning fast due to Sindbad's parents' ginormous wealth. Heartbroken and sorrowful, Sindbad was left alone. He couldn't even hold...

I really liked the unique first person narrative format of the story. I was easy to read and honestly draw my full attention while reading. Other stories that I have read before were written in Old English and old languages, so it was difficult to read and took a lot of time to find definition of the words. Sindbad was a greedy person. Although he inherited a considerable fortune from his rich parents, he spent them carelessly and recklessly, and he had to find out a way to regain his wealth. That's how his voyage journey began. I thought it was silly that he couldn't even manage inherited wealth from his parents. Not a lot of people inherit a lot of fortune from their parents, and if the wealth is managed well, he or she could live off of that inheritance for the rest of their life. If I were Sindbad, I would have managed it better and did a lot of savings, so I wouldn't have to work for the rest of my life. I would have just played golf and enjoyed my life. It was in...

Link to My Portfolio                                               Skyline of Seoul. Source:  Seoul Skyline

I really liked the story of the Holy Book. I once again praised Noah's diligence and thirst for knowledge and wisdom: he read the necessary 'wisdom' book given to Adam by angel Raziel to survive. I also found the birth of a child story between Samuel and Eve fascinating. In a sense, Adam was immature "kidult" (kid+adult) who wasn't prepared to become a parent. Emotional control was non-existent in his impulsive and aggressive action: When Adam came back from a walk in Paradise, he found a howling, screaming child with Eve, who, in reply to his question, told him it was Samael's. Adam was annoyed, and his annoyance grew as the boy cried and screamed more and more violently. In his vexation he dealt the little one a blow that killed him. But the corpse did not cease to wail and weep, nor did it cease when Adam cut it up into bits. It honestly made me feel uncomfortable and I almost threw up because it was a vivid, graphic description of Adam's h...