Zoroastrianism replaced the early belief system and was adopted by the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC). At some point in the late imperial history (or earlier, according to some scholars), a question arose, that is, how Ahriman-and evil-existed in a world created by an all-good, all-powerful God. This question is answered by Zorvana (commonly known as Zoroastrian heresy), who is the hour god in early Iranian religion, the supreme existence and the Lord of infinite time. Zowen gave birth to Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, so Ahura Mazda is not responsible for evil. Evil is the result of Ahriman's own choice to pursue the opposite of the ultimate good. The image of Ahriman, the enemy of God and the instigator of the conflict, is believed to have influenced the creation of similar supernatural entities in later religions, such as Satan in Judaism, Christianity and Iblis in * * * *.
Early appearance and personality
Ahriman appeared in Zoroastrian literature without introduction, as if the audience should already be familiar with him.
Before the 3rd century BC, the early Iranian religion developed in the region known as Greater Iran (Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia), when an immigrant people (known as Aryans, meaning "noble" or "free") settled in Iran's "Aryan land". Their religion is polytheism, maintained through oral traditions and passed down from generation to generation through stories, rituals and traditions.
This belief system was reformed by the prophet Zoroaster, who re-imagined the early gods and created a new religion-Zoroastrianism-which is monotheism. This confidence also made this traditional oral writing without commitment, until Sassanian Empire (224-65 1 CE) and most of the so-called early Iranian religions came from Zoroastrian documents, such as Avisto, Denkar and Bendahin of Wenddad, which quoted early gods and stories-now called ancient Persian myths-about the world, humans and gods and Shahnan.
Ahriman appeared in Zoroastrian literature without introduction, just as the audience should have been familiar with him, which is undoubtedly a continuation of the early oral tradition. So he has no origin story, no development, and he appears to be a fully mature person for the first time. Scholar John R. Hin Nares described the nature of Ahriman:
He is a demon among demons, living in the endless dark abyss in the north, a traditional home of demons. Ignorance, harmfulness and disorder are the characteristics of Ahriman. He can change his appearance and become a lizard, a snake or a youth. His goal is always to destroy the creation of [Ahura Mazda], so he follows the work of the creator and tries to destroy it. Just as Ahura Mazda created life, Ahriman created death; For the sake of health, he creates diseases; For beauty and ugliness. All human diseases are caused by Ahriman. (52)
Early religions believed that the world was created by Ahura Mazda through seven steps:
sky
water
earth
plant
animal
mankind
fire
The sky is a sphere. Ahura Mazda poured water into it, then separated the water from the soil and planted plants on the land. Then he created the original bull Gavaevodta (also called "uniquely created bull", original cow, original cow). It was so beautiful that Ahriman killed it. Ahriman didn't kill Gavada for any special reason. He did it only because he wanted to and because he could. This incident is the characteristic of all the follow-up actions in Ahriman, and so is Ahura Mazda's reaction.
Ahura Mazda took Gavaeft's body to the moon, where it was purified and all animals were created from purified seeds. Ahura Mazda thus turned Ahriman's evil behavior into a positive purpose. Ahura Mazda then created the first man, Jia Iomar Tan (also known as Jia Iomar, Kiyumas), who was also beautiful and was soon killed by Ahriman. The sun purified the seeds of Iomar Tan, and 40 years later, rhubarb plants grew out of it, giving birth to the first couple-Marcia and Marcia Yage. They lived in harmony with the earth, animals and their creators until Ahriman appeared, and lied to them in a low voice, telling them that he was their creator and that Ahumazda was a liar and their enemy.
The couple believed these lies, so evil entered the world through their suspicion, and their harmony with animals and each other disappeared. They can't get pregnant for years after falling. When Mashyanag finally gave birth to a child, they ate the child because they had completely lost their understanding of reason. They finally gave birth to twins, and they continue to live on the earth, but Ahriman's lies destroyed the earlier paradise, and now human beings will live in conflict, at odds with animals and each other.
After Jia Iomar Tan was born, Ahura Mazda regarded fire as the last aspect of his creation. However, due to Ahriman's intervention and human depraved nature, it is necessary to create gods to help people spend their lives, especially to help them choose between deciding to follow Ahura Mazda's road or Ahriman's road, because this choice will define everyone's life on earth and after death.
Zoroastrianism
It is impossible to know whether this emphasis on choice and the importance of human free will is really a part of early Iranian religion. People think this is because of how some passages in Zoroastrian literature are later interpreted. However, because Zoroastrianism completely reformed the old religion, the meaning of free will may be a later development.
Zoroaster was once a priest of an ancient religion. He knew that God's message had been misunderstood and misinterpreted. He was told that Ahumazda is the only god, not one of many gods, and the current religious belief must be reformed. Zoroaster encountered strong resistance when he preached his new faith, until he successfully converted to King Vesta Spa, who later changed his people and established Zoroastrianism.
Ahriman is still Ahura Mazda's opponent, while other gods are either reimagined as demons or incarnated as different aspects of Ahura Mazda's divinity. This new belief is based on five principles:
Ahura Mazda is the only supreme god.
Ahura Mazda, everything is fine.
Ahura Mazda's opponent Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) is evil.
Goodness is manifested through good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
Everyone has the free will to choose good and evil.
It is speculated that the new belief covers all aspects of the old belief system, but from a monotheistic point of view, it retains the same weakness: if the omnipotent Ahura Mazda created the world, where did the evil come from? No creation myth provides the origin of Ahriman, nor does it provide the existence of the demon army Davas under his command, so it seems that Ahriman is from Ahumazda, which is impossible, because evil cannot originate from the ultimate good.
The problem of evil and Zowanism
In fact, the problem of evil is more difficult to solve in the current monotheistic paradigm, because Ahumazda is the first non-creative existence in the universe, from which everything else comes. If so, then evil should not exist-however, human experience contradicts this-so Ahumazda can't be the creator of a world containing evil.
This problem was solved by the so-called "heresy" of Zor's culture and education, which made Zor Wen, the god of small time in early Iranian religion, the supreme god of infinite time. Zofan, the creative principle that has not been created in the universe, hopes to have a child, so he prays for his descendants. When he did this, he experienced a moment when he doubted whether his wish was good. At this time, Ahriman appeared, and once it was over, Ahura Mazda also appeared.
Zowanism solves the problem of evil, but it contradicts the central premise of Zoroastrianism: the superiority of human free will.
Ahriman left the primitive womb before he was born, because he knew that his eldest son would rule the world, but Wen Zuo Wei set a time limit for his rule-9000 years-after which Ahura Mazda would be defeated and take his place. Ahumazda is still responsible for creating the world and everything in it, but the evil comes from the moment when Zuowan doubts his creative impulse.
Therefore, Zowanism has solved the evil problem, and Ahumazda can still be the creator of omnipotence and kindness, but this solution contradicts the central premise of Zoroastrianism: the superiority of human free will. If time is the first principle of omnipotence, then one's choice is irrelevant, because time creates everything, moves everything and destroys everything, and there is nothing one can do about it. Whether you choose a or b, you still have to be restricted by time. Time is the ultimate power of the universe, and Ahumazda is a creature. The attraction to him can't produce their final effect in Zoroastrianism, because there is a stronger force than Ahura Mazda now.
It was not until the 9th century/KLOC that Ahriman's existence was explained and the evil problem was solved. German orientalist Martin Haug (L. 1827- 1876 CE) suggested that Ahriman did not actually exist as a god, but as a destructive negative energy release from Ahura Mazda's creative behavior. This is equivalent to a person releasing a certain amount of energy during exercise, if this energy becomes conscious later. In Haug's view, Ahriman was not "born evil", but another incarnation of Ahumazda-just like other Zoroastrian gods-except that unlike them, he chose to do evil. Then, evil comes from Ahriman's free will, not from Ahumazda's creative behavior.
Ahriman's goal and Zahak's story
This proposal was accepted by Zoroastrianism in India-they saved the holy books from the invasion of Iran by * * * * in 65 1 year and took them out of Iran-and were supported by the stories about Ahriman in these scriptures. Scholar J. Duchesne-Guillemin wrote when referring to Zoroastrian tradition and Persian tradition:
Ahriman is an evil choice. "No," he said, "I can't create anything good, but I can't." To prove this, he created a peacock. (Iranian Encyclopedia, Ahriman, 8)
Ahriman is committed to subverting any kindness advocated by Ahura Mazda, which is not any means to an end, but the end itself; It is his only interest to destroy kindness and disturb order at every turn. At any time, he can easily use his own strength to promote people instead of destroying them, but this has not aroused his interest, as the story of the prince and later king Zahak (also known as Zahak) illustrates.
In the mythical era when the great king Zemhid ruled the world, Zahak was the son of a kind and just king, Merdas. Zahak is handsome and charming, but he is spoiled by his father, weak-willed, lazy and easily led astray by bad people. One day, he met an equally charming and handsome young man (actually young Ahriman), and they became good friends. Slowly, Ahriman began to hint at how easy it was for Zahak to kill his father and become king. Finally, he followed the advice of his new friend.
When Zahak became king, his friend disappeared, so he hired a new cook (Ahriman again) in the palace. This chef can cook any meal in the world, and every meal is better than the last one. Zahak wanted to reward him and ask him what he wanted, but the chef refused any treasure or honor and only let him kiss Zahak on the shoulder. Sure enough, the serpent suddenly appeared from the place where the chef kissed, and the chef himself disappeared.
Zahak tried to remove these snakes, but every time they were cut off, they reappeared. Fortunately-or Zahak thinks-a particularly skilled new doctor arrived at the palace (Ahriman again) and said that he had a remedy: the only way to solve this problem was to feed the snake's brain every day. If this is not possible, the snake will eat Zahak himself.
At this time, Dzhemshid has ruled the world peacefully and harmoniously for 300 years, but Ahriman visited him, whispered in his ear, and-as he did to the first king, the clever imam, a long time ago-persuaded Dzhemshid that he no longer needed God and made him think too highly of himself. Dzhemshid's rule became corrupt and his people suffered, so when Zahak opposed him, he got everyone's support. Zahak overthrew Dzhemshid, sawed him in half and ascended the throne of the world.
People were ecstatic until they found that Zahak was a tyrant worse than Dzhemshid. Besides, they are losing relatives and friends every day. They were taken to the palace and killed to get their brains to feed Zahak's shoulder snake. Zahak's reign of terror lasted until Kavi the blacksmith lost 65,438+08 sons of Zahak's snake. He launched a rebellion, and with the help of the hero Feraidun (also known as Saratona), * * * people. With the restoration of order and peace in Feraidun, Zahak was overthrown, imprisoned and bled.
conclusion
In this story, just like any other story about Ahriman, the death of Meldas, the corruption of Zahak and Zemhide, and thousands of young people who were eaten by snakes did him no good, except that he destroyed his kindness and the joy of throwing. Ahura Mazda's orderly world is chaotic. Ahriman embodies unexpected, unpleasant and often chaotic challenges in life. These challenges seem to strike for no reason, destroying one's orderly life and plans for one day, one week and the future.
When talking about this topic, in his book Isis and Osiris, Plutarch (lost in 46- 120 CE) wrote:
Because if the law of nature is that everything is born out of nothing, and if good cannot provide a reason for evil, then nature must have the source and origin of evil, just as it contains the source and origin of good. (45. I)
In Plutarch's view, it is nature-life itself-that contains the duality of "good" and "evil" explained by human beings. Ahura Mazda and Ahriman represent the duality of human perception of existence-kindness and order, evil and chaos-and whether nature/life really contains this duality, because its existence, as far as human conditions are concerned, is irrelevant and must rely on people's explanations. According to these ideas, Ahriman's origin is not mysterious, because he, like Ahumazda or any other gods, can be understood as the creation of human beings, trying to understand a world that disappoints hopeful expectations and brings them returns.