COPD study group Community Group
Created for study & discussion of living/dying with terminal/chronic illness.
A bit of a forward to this compendium. I did edit it so as not to be too boring - after a while the transliterated proper names and such got a little crazy for me. At the beginning of the creation and afterlife sections I provided the web pages I plagiarized. As I am not an adherent to this religion, I made no attempt to comment or expand on the documented beliefs and rituals. I also deleted all cross-religion derivatives as I considered those being opinions of the researchers...
Enjoy!
Zoroastrians - the beginning
Zoroastrianism has its roots in ancient persia. The name of the founding Prophet of Zoroastrianism is Zarathushtra, which means, in ancient Iranian, "yellow camel." (zara = yellow, ushtra = camel). An alternate reading is "old camel." Animals such as camels and horses were essential and even sacred to the people of Zarathushtra's age, and thus a name containing one of these animals marks a person as important. While the web pages I perused were fairly scattered as to the timing, he came on the scene around the 2nd or 1st millennium BC
The later Zoroastrians, perhaps embarrassed by their prophet's primitive-sounding name, said that the name meant "Golden Light," deriving their meaning from the word zara and the word ushas, light or dawn. There is no doubt about Zarathushtra's clan name, which is Spitama - perhaps meaning "white." Zarathushtra's father was named Pouruchaspa (many horses) and his mother was named Dughdova (milkmaid). His birthday is celebrated on March 26, as part of the Iranian New Year Festival.
Zoroastrians - Creation (taken from www.read-legends-and-myths.com)
The Zoroastrian creation myth says that in the beginning, there was nothing in the world but Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who lived in the Endless Light. And the evil Evil Spirit Ahriman, who lived in the Absolute Darkness. And between these realms was emptiness.
One day, Ahura Mazda decided to make different creations. First he shaped the sky made of metal, shining and bright. Second, he made pure water. Third, he created the earth, flat and round with no mountains or valleys. Fourth he made the plants, moist with no thorns. Fifth, created animals, big and small.
Then, he created the First Man, called Gayomard, bright, tall, and handsome. Last he created fire and distributed it within the creation. The Wise Lord ordered fire to serve mankind in preparing food and overcoming cold.
The Evil Spirit peeked out of his dark world to see all the amazing new creations. The Wise Lord called him and said: "Evil Spirit! Aid my creatures and give them praise so that you will be immortal". The Evil Spirit snarled: "Why should I aid your creatures? Why Should I praise them? I am more powerful! I will destroy you and your creatures". Then he crawled back to the darkness to shape demons, witches, and monsters to attack the Endless Light.
The Wise Lord was All-Knowing. He knew what the Evil Spirit was doing, and he also knew would be a great battle with the Dark side. So the Wise Lord fashioned six spirit: The Holy Immortals, to guard His creations against the Endless Darkness. The Wise Lord shaped the Holy Immortals from his own soul, each giving His own nature.
The first Holy Spirit, based on what the Zoroastrian creation myth tell us, was Khashathra, the Righteous Power, guardian of the sky. Then the Wise Lord created Haurvatat, the Peace and Perfection, she was the protector of the waters. Next was Spenta Armaiti, the Holy Devotion, she was the Earth guardian. The other Holy Spirit , Ameretat, the Immortality, was the protector of the plants. Vohu Manah, the Good Mind, decided to protect the animals. And Asha Vahishta, the Justice was the guardian of the Fire. Lastly, the Wise Lord made his own Holy Spirit protector of mankind.
Ahriman saw the Wise Lord's Holy Immortals and was enraged. "Ahura Mazda! I will destroy you and all your creations. You will never be victorious" he cried. So he, and his demons attacked God's creations one by one. They tried to destroy the water but they could only bring bitterness to it. They tried to destroy the Earth but they could only put mountains and valleys. They tried to wither the plants but they only grew horns. The Evil Spirit and his demons brought sadness against happiness, pain against pleasure, pollution against purification and death against life. They attacked Gayomard, the First Man, and gave him sickness and death.
The Evil Spirit thought he had destroyed the mankind and became victorious against the light, but he was ignorant and foolish. when Gayomard died, from his bones grew a rhubarb plant. After forty years, a man and a woman, Mashya and Mashyana, grew out of the plant. Mashya and Mashyana promised the Wise Lord that their children would help Him in His battle with the Evil Spirit, then gave birth to fifteen twins and every pair scattered around the world and became a race. Then each person followed the good thoughts, good deeds and good words. Each became the follower of the Wise Lord in His battle with the Evil Spirit.
Zoroastrians - Afterlife (abridged from heritageinstitute.com)
Human beings are constituted from both the material (physical) or gaetha and spiritual or mainyu existences. The body is gaetha and the various spiritual components are mainyu. When a person dies, it is the body that dies and the spiritual components continue to exist in the spiritual existence. The fate of the three primary spiritual components, the soul, fravashi and spirit, depend on the kind of life a person has led from the age of reason, fifteen years of age (see navjote). This includes the person's store of thoughts, words and deeds, how well the person has kept her or his word, the person's conscience and sense of justice.
Zoroastrians take comfort in the faith that if they have led a life as true Zoroastrians, that is, if they have led a life of honest work, goodness, and helpfulness to others, they can approach death with no fear. The Zoroastrians of Yazd, Iran, hold that since they know the fate of the soul and spirit after death, there is no mourning when a loved one dies - only celebration. Their memorial stones state the date of a person's passing from this existence to the next, as the date of that person's second birth.
When all is said and done, the soul receives in the afterlife what it has given out in this life. In other words, the soul creates its heaven or hell, both of which are a state of spiritual existence and not places. Regardless of its fate, a soul does not perish after death. A soul will continue to exist as long as creation and time exists (also see Zoroastrian concepts of time). The state in which the soul resides also continues until the end of time. At the end of time all souls will return to God after a cleansing. Souls of the ashavan - individuals who have led their lives according to the precepts of asha (goodness in short) - unite with the fravashi and spirit to form a united fravashi. A united fravashi has the ability to become a guardian angel. Zoroastrianism suggests the goal of one's life is to achieve ushta - abiding peace and happiness - humanity at peace with itself and an individual at peace with oneself.
Preparing for One's Demise
The focus of an individual and family members when preparing for a person's demise is three fold. First, to be serene and at peace with oneself - armaiti. The second, is to conclude preparations for the soul's afterlife. The third, is one's legacy - a passing of the spiritual flame, and where possible, a tangible legacy of service to the community. These steps contribute to a person accepting the inevitability of mortality and a realization that while mortal life is short, spiritual life will exist till the end of time.
Assault of Evil Spirits
Shortly after a person passes away, evil spirits, the nasu, try and assail both soul and body. Special cleaning rituals and prayers are required to be performed expeditiously in order to keep these evil spirits at bay. The nasu are primarily the agents of diseases that can cause great harm to the living. The nasu cause nasa: death, pollution, putrefaction, contamination, and decay, and will multiply greatly in a dead body and use the corpse as a means to harm the living - unless appropriate measures are taken upon a person's passing away, a primary purpose of the rituals and stipulations. A contaminated object is also called nasa.
Spiritual Guide / Daena
The soul remains in the vicinity of the body for three days and nights after the person has passed away. At the dawn of the fourth day, the soul is guided to the bridge of judgment and separation, chinvat peretum (later called chinvat pol) by the person's discerning beliefs (daena) - beliefs that have formed the underpinnings of the person's thoughts, words and deeds. If the beliefs were those that led to good thoughts, words and deeds, daena becomes a beautiful guide. If the beliefs had led to evil thoughts, words and deeds, daena becomes as ugly as the person's beliefs - an ugly harbinger of the fate the soul will soon face (cf. Yasht 22).
While on this earth, the soul had the freedom and opportunity to chose the nature of its spirit and a person's every thought, word and deed. In other words, it had control over its destiny in the after-life through its body's ability to think, speak and act. When separated from the body after death, the soul no longer has the opportunity to influence its destiny. That fate will be decided when it reaches the bridge of the requiter - the chinvat bridge. To use an old metaphor, when in the world of the living, the soul makes its bed upon which it will sleep in the afterlife.
One interesting interpretation of the etymology of chinvat (Avestan), chinvar (Pahlavi), is that the name is derived from a combination of the Avestan chinaeta or Pahlavi chitan, meaning to arrange or lay as in bricklaying and the verbal root vid meaning knowledge or recognition. The conclusion is that the chinvat bridge is constructed over a lifetime of attaining wisdom and goodness.
When the soul arrives at the bridge, it will find present at the bridge three angels: Mithra, Soroush and Rashnu (or Rashn / Rashne). These angels are the guardians of a person's core values - the person's moral and ethical constitution. Mithra represents the qualities of showing kindness to others and keeping one's word (mithraic qualities). Soroush (also spelt Saroosh) is the guardian of a person's conscience. Rashnu is the guardian of justice and a person's sense of justice. Rashnu is characterized as razishta (most just and upright) and stands with gold scales of justice - scales which cannot be tarnished.
The person's core values and every thought, word and deed will be known to these angels who will reflect them back to the soul for it to behold and either take comfort in the good it has done or despair in the hurt and harm it has caused - a final realization from which there is no escape.
The manner in which Rashnu's scales will tip will determine the width of the Chinvat bridge - a width that is determined by the soul's beliefs, values, thoughts, words and deeds accumulated over its past life from the age of reason.
- If the person has been as ashavan, a person whose life was based on the precepts of asha or goodness, the bridge will be wide and accompanied by its daena, the crossing to the abode of song and light, garo-demana (house of song), or heaven, will be effortless.
- Sins such as murder are beyond redemption and the bridge will be razor sharp causing the soul to fall into an abyss of darkness, evil and deceit, house of lies/abode of liars, or hell, doomed to wait an eternity of despair before the resurrection, a final cleansing, and a return to God.
- In between these two ends, the width of the bridge will be determined by the balance of the soul's goodness over badness as determined by Rashnu's scales of justice.
Eschatology / Frasho-kereti
Zoroastrianism is credited by authors of comparative religion as the religion that developed the original concept of eschatology or the doctrine of the end of the world and time, a doctrine that includes a final judgment and the resurrection of the souls of the righteous.
These Zoroastrian beliefs and ideas were known to the west early in history. Greek biographer Diogenes Laertius (c. 230 CE) quotes earlier Greek writers Theopompus (380 - BCE) and Eudemus (370 - 300 BCE) as being familiar with the Zoroastrian eschatology of the magi.
Zoroastrian eschatology developed from concepts included as a part of Zoroastrian theology to an elaborate apocalyptic mythology found in middle Persian books. The name of this future event also evolved from frasho-kereti to frashkart and frashegird.
In the final analysis, frasho-kereti is seen as the transformation to an ultimate and ideal future existence both in the material and spiritual existences - the realization of the goal of creation. Goodness will reign supreme over evil. Frasho-kereti is also a time when all human beings will have realized their khvarenah - their full potential in grace. For the living, the culmination of their efforts and the efforts of preceding generations will result in the best possible existence on earth.
For the souls of the dead, the imagery of this final event is that all souls will pass through a river of molten metal to be cleansed. For the souls of the righteous, this passage will feel like wading through milk. The souls of the wicked will experience a final torment. The cleansed souls will return to God.
In one interpretation, the souls of the righteous will be resurrected to live in a paradise on earth until the end of measureable time, when all souls will return to God.
Enjoy!
Zoroastrians - the beginning
Zoroastrianism has its roots in ancient persia. The name of the founding Prophet of Zoroastrianism is Zarathushtra, which means, in ancient Iranian, "yellow camel." (zara = yellow, ushtra = camel). An alternate reading is "old camel." Animals such as camels and horses were essential and even sacred to the people of Zarathushtra's age, and thus a name containing one of these animals marks a person as important. While the web pages I perused were fairly scattered as to the timing, he came on the scene around the 2nd or 1st millennium BC
The later Zoroastrians, perhaps embarrassed by their prophet's primitive-sounding name, said that the name meant "Golden Light," deriving their meaning from the word zara and the word ushas, light or dawn. There is no doubt about Zarathushtra's clan name, which is Spitama - perhaps meaning "white." Zarathushtra's father was named Pouruchaspa (many horses) and his mother was named Dughdova (milkmaid). His birthday is celebrated on March 26, as part of the Iranian New Year Festival.
Zoroastrians - Creation (taken from www.read-legends-and-myths.com)
The Zoroastrian creation myth says that in the beginning, there was nothing in the world but Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who lived in the Endless Light. And the evil Evil Spirit Ahriman, who lived in the Absolute Darkness. And between these realms was emptiness.
One day, Ahura Mazda decided to make different creations. First he shaped the sky made of metal, shining and bright. Second, he made pure water. Third, he created the earth, flat and round with no mountains or valleys. Fourth he made the plants, moist with no thorns. Fifth, created animals, big and small.
Then, he created the First Man, called Gayomard, bright, tall, and handsome. Last he created fire and distributed it within the creation. The Wise Lord ordered fire to serve mankind in preparing food and overcoming cold.
The Evil Spirit peeked out of his dark world to see all the amazing new creations. The Wise Lord called him and said: "Evil Spirit! Aid my creatures and give them praise so that you will be immortal". The Evil Spirit snarled: "Why should I aid your creatures? Why Should I praise them? I am more powerful! I will destroy you and your creatures". Then he crawled back to the darkness to shape demons, witches, and monsters to attack the Endless Light.
The Wise Lord was All-Knowing. He knew what the Evil Spirit was doing, and he also knew would be a great battle with the Dark side. So the Wise Lord fashioned six spirit: The Holy Immortals, to guard His creations against the Endless Darkness. The Wise Lord shaped the Holy Immortals from his own soul, each giving His own nature.
The first Holy Spirit, based on what the Zoroastrian creation myth tell us, was Khashathra, the Righteous Power, guardian of the sky. Then the Wise Lord created Haurvatat, the Peace and Perfection, she was the protector of the waters. Next was Spenta Armaiti, the Holy Devotion, she was the Earth guardian. The other Holy Spirit , Ameretat, the Immortality, was the protector of the plants. Vohu Manah, the Good Mind, decided to protect the animals. And Asha Vahishta, the Justice was the guardian of the Fire. Lastly, the Wise Lord made his own Holy Spirit protector of mankind.
Ahriman saw the Wise Lord's Holy Immortals and was enraged. "Ahura Mazda! I will destroy you and all your creations. You will never be victorious" he cried. So he, and his demons attacked God's creations one by one. They tried to destroy the water but they could only bring bitterness to it. They tried to destroy the Earth but they could only put mountains and valleys. They tried to wither the plants but they only grew horns. The Evil Spirit and his demons brought sadness against happiness, pain against pleasure, pollution against purification and death against life. They attacked Gayomard, the First Man, and gave him sickness and death.
The Evil Spirit thought he had destroyed the mankind and became victorious against the light, but he was ignorant and foolish. when Gayomard died, from his bones grew a rhubarb plant. After forty years, a man and a woman, Mashya and Mashyana, grew out of the plant. Mashya and Mashyana promised the Wise Lord that their children would help Him in His battle with the Evil Spirit, then gave birth to fifteen twins and every pair scattered around the world and became a race. Then each person followed the good thoughts, good deeds and good words. Each became the follower of the Wise Lord in His battle with the Evil Spirit.
Zoroastrians - Afterlife (abridged from heritageinstitute.com)
Human beings are constituted from both the material (physical) or gaetha and spiritual or mainyu existences. The body is gaetha and the various spiritual components are mainyu. When a person dies, it is the body that dies and the spiritual components continue to exist in the spiritual existence. The fate of the three primary spiritual components, the soul, fravashi and spirit, depend on the kind of life a person has led from the age of reason, fifteen years of age (see navjote). This includes the person's store of thoughts, words and deeds, how well the person has kept her or his word, the person's conscience and sense of justice.
Zoroastrians take comfort in the faith that if they have led a life as true Zoroastrians, that is, if they have led a life of honest work, goodness, and helpfulness to others, they can approach death with no fear. The Zoroastrians of Yazd, Iran, hold that since they know the fate of the soul and spirit after death, there is no mourning when a loved one dies - only celebration. Their memorial stones state the date of a person's passing from this existence to the next, as the date of that person's second birth.
When all is said and done, the soul receives in the afterlife what it has given out in this life. In other words, the soul creates its heaven or hell, both of which are a state of spiritual existence and not places. Regardless of its fate, a soul does not perish after death. A soul will continue to exist as long as creation and time exists (also see Zoroastrian concepts of time). The state in which the soul resides also continues until the end of time. At the end of time all souls will return to God after a cleansing. Souls of the ashavan - individuals who have led their lives according to the precepts of asha (goodness in short) - unite with the fravashi and spirit to form a united fravashi. A united fravashi has the ability to become a guardian angel. Zoroastrianism suggests the goal of one's life is to achieve ushta - abiding peace and happiness - humanity at peace with itself and an individual at peace with oneself.
Preparing for One's Demise
The focus of an individual and family members when preparing for a person's demise is three fold. First, to be serene and at peace with oneself - armaiti. The second, is to conclude preparations for the soul's afterlife. The third, is one's legacy - a passing of the spiritual flame, and where possible, a tangible legacy of service to the community. These steps contribute to a person accepting the inevitability of mortality and a realization that while mortal life is short, spiritual life will exist till the end of time.
Assault of Evil Spirits
Shortly after a person passes away, evil spirits, the nasu, try and assail both soul and body. Special cleaning rituals and prayers are required to be performed expeditiously in order to keep these evil spirits at bay. The nasu are primarily the agents of diseases that can cause great harm to the living. The nasu cause nasa: death, pollution, putrefaction, contamination, and decay, and will multiply greatly in a dead body and use the corpse as a means to harm the living - unless appropriate measures are taken upon a person's passing away, a primary purpose of the rituals and stipulations. A contaminated object is also called nasa.
Spiritual Guide / Daena
The soul remains in the vicinity of the body for three days and nights after the person has passed away. At the dawn of the fourth day, the soul is guided to the bridge of judgment and separation, chinvat peretum (later called chinvat pol) by the person's discerning beliefs (daena) - beliefs that have formed the underpinnings of the person's thoughts, words and deeds. If the beliefs were those that led to good thoughts, words and deeds, daena becomes a beautiful guide. If the beliefs had led to evil thoughts, words and deeds, daena becomes as ugly as the person's beliefs - an ugly harbinger of the fate the soul will soon face (cf. Yasht 22).
While on this earth, the soul had the freedom and opportunity to chose the nature of its spirit and a person's every thought, word and deed. In other words, it had control over its destiny in the after-life through its body's ability to think, speak and act. When separated from the body after death, the soul no longer has the opportunity to influence its destiny. That fate will be decided when it reaches the bridge of the requiter - the chinvat bridge. To use an old metaphor, when in the world of the living, the soul makes its bed upon which it will sleep in the afterlife.
One interesting interpretation of the etymology of chinvat (Avestan), chinvar (Pahlavi), is that the name is derived from a combination of the Avestan chinaeta or Pahlavi chitan, meaning to arrange or lay as in bricklaying and the verbal root vid meaning knowledge or recognition. The conclusion is that the chinvat bridge is constructed over a lifetime of attaining wisdom and goodness.
When the soul arrives at the bridge, it will find present at the bridge three angels: Mithra, Soroush and Rashnu (or Rashn / Rashne). These angels are the guardians of a person's core values - the person's moral and ethical constitution. Mithra represents the qualities of showing kindness to others and keeping one's word (mithraic qualities). Soroush (also spelt Saroosh) is the guardian of a person's conscience. Rashnu is the guardian of justice and a person's sense of justice. Rashnu is characterized as razishta (most just and upright) and stands with gold scales of justice - scales which cannot be tarnished.
The person's core values and every thought, word and deed will be known to these angels who will reflect them back to the soul for it to behold and either take comfort in the good it has done or despair in the hurt and harm it has caused - a final realization from which there is no escape.
The manner in which Rashnu's scales will tip will determine the width of the Chinvat bridge - a width that is determined by the soul's beliefs, values, thoughts, words and deeds accumulated over its past life from the age of reason.
- If the person has been as ashavan, a person whose life was based on the precepts of asha or goodness, the bridge will be wide and accompanied by its daena, the crossing to the abode of song and light, garo-demana (house of song), or heaven, will be effortless.
- Sins such as murder are beyond redemption and the bridge will be razor sharp causing the soul to fall into an abyss of darkness, evil and deceit, house of lies/abode of liars, or hell, doomed to wait an eternity of despair before the resurrection, a final cleansing, and a return to God.
- In between these two ends, the width of the bridge will be determined by the balance of the soul's goodness over badness as determined by Rashnu's scales of justice.
Eschatology / Frasho-kereti
Zoroastrianism is credited by authors of comparative religion as the religion that developed the original concept of eschatology or the doctrine of the end of the world and time, a doctrine that includes a final judgment and the resurrection of the souls of the righteous.
These Zoroastrian beliefs and ideas were known to the west early in history. Greek biographer Diogenes Laertius (c. 230 CE) quotes earlier Greek writers Theopompus (380 - BCE) and Eudemus (370 - 300 BCE) as being familiar with the Zoroastrian eschatology of the magi.
Zoroastrian eschatology developed from concepts included as a part of Zoroastrian theology to an elaborate apocalyptic mythology found in middle Persian books. The name of this future event also evolved from frasho-kereti to frashkart and frashegird.
In the final analysis, frasho-kereti is seen as the transformation to an ultimate and ideal future existence both in the material and spiritual existences - the realization of the goal of creation. Goodness will reign supreme over evil. Frasho-kereti is also a time when all human beings will have realized their khvarenah - their full potential in grace. For the living, the culmination of their efforts and the efforts of preceding generations will result in the best possible existence on earth.
For the souls of the dead, the imagery of this final event is that all souls will pass through a river of molten metal to be cleansed. For the souls of the righteous, this passage will feel like wading through milk. The souls of the wicked will experience a final torment. The cleansed souls will return to God.
In one interpretation, the souls of the righteous will be resurrected to live in a paradise on earth until the end of measureable time, when all souls will return to God.
ZOROSATRIAN TEMPLE IN LONDON
Just curious, do you happen to know if Zoroastrians in Iran are as misogynist (female hating) as many Muslims in Iran? Are they culturally similar?
Interesting read. Fairly typical creation & afterlife themes, except that all souls return to God.
Thanks much!