Chinese and Mayan concepts of the Three Worlds

[mirrored from http://www.msu.edu/~hockettj/china462b.htm]

Part II Introduction

Pre-Columbian culture displays a unique continuity in evolution and symbolism. All of the Meso-American civilizations are closely related in most aspects of daily and ritual life. Like China, this region of the world has a single root nourishing several stems. Beginning in 1300 BC, with the Olmec, three thousand years of indigenous culture flourished. What remains is a legacy of tremendous human creativity and action. Likewise, Chinese culture represents a nearly unbroken line of evolution and progress. It might seem natural that both the Chinese and Meso-American cultures would have a preoccupation with time. Historical documentation and preservation were of paramount importance to both. Calendars invented by the Maya, arguably the most accurate the world has ever known, were developed to keep meticulous track of time’s passage while being used to help divine the path of future events. Ideas involving the potent influence of ancestors on the earthly world which permeate the religious conceptions of both cultural traditions are telling of how history played a supreme role. History is truth. The more history that exists the more truth exists. Without history their is no human reality. In both China and Meso-America this realization came to guide their development in art, religion and government to establish a reality of incredible complexities and simple truths. A careful and methodical search for more history reveals more truth. As a race of beings we must keep searching for that which binds us together. History and the histories of Art, Religion and Philosophy are the vast world yet to be created and understood by us today and allowing us to unravel the knot of complexities in world cultures to one day leads us back to the simple movement. The purpose of this paper is to use this comparison as a vehicle to describe and identify certain uncanny similarities that exist between the aesthetic values of ancient Chinese and Pre-Columbian canons. Visual analysis of both the funerary banner found in tomb no. 1 in Ma-wang-tui, and the sarcophagus cover of Pakal, in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque, will serve to act as the framework in which to discuss striking parallels between numerous other objects found elsewhere in both China and the Pre-Columbian world. I also hope to show how the concept of time is a unifying factor in all human activity, and that the sophisticated Han and Mayan cosmologies depicted in their works of art reveal a depth of intuition about the truth of reality, about the indivisible link between past, present and future. The discussion of these two works will begin with general treatment of composition and structure. As this becomes more developed, so too will the comparisons of more individual features and components drawing on artifacts which may lie outside of the particular cultures under study. Because of the continuity exhibited within the Chinese and Meso-American civilizations, it is appropriate to span the larger historical context in support of the affinity I believe exist between the two. Again, this comparison is a vehicle intended to elucidate common themes and motifs presented by their respective artistic production as it relates to time, but which, is not limited to the specific periods of the Western Han and Classic Maya of Palenque. I believe that discussions of what connects us as human beings, whether it be through art, philosophy, religion, celebration, etc., is absolutely required for future human development. The question is not one of who influenced whom. It is not a matter of which culture or race is more or less sophisticated. Such trivial and subjective thought runs counter to the goal of this paper (and to the purpose of humanity), which is to foster a further and fuller understanding of both Chinese and Pre-Columbian life and of life itself, by searching for what they, and we, have in common. Being of this world demands certain common traits be possessed by all peoples. It is through the discovery of the other that our self may be elevated and enlightened. Those of us living today are the heirs to an incredible World Culture. We have at our finger tips the combined knowledge of thousands and thousands of years worth of human creation. We must take full advantage of what evidence remains of our human past as to gain a better sense of self and of reality. There is no doubt, regardless of what contacts may or may not be found, that both of these regions have developed cultural systems uniquely adapted to their environments and to the reality of their worlds from which has risen magnificent pinnacles in human civilization. However, as is true on the genetic scale, we are all linked more than we are separated. Cultural affinities may simply reveal a more well-defined human identity, showing us that we all share the same goals, aversions, desires and fears. In fact, metaphysical theories such as have been purported by Hegel, Bergson, or Jung may aptly enough explain how these similarities become manifest without finding evidence of physical contact or direct influence. I steadfastly believe that there exists a Universal Idea dwelling in the collective and inherited psyche of all people. The Idea is essentially Truth. The goal of History is to expose, elaborate and evolve this Idea, to teach us more about ourselves, to expand within ourselves, to keep reminding us of who we are and what we are all about, thereby enlarging and expanding the concept of what it means to exist and to be human; it is constant rebirth and reinvention. I submit for consideration, The Funerary Banner of Lady Dai and The Sarcophagus Cover of Pakal: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and Meso-American Motif and Cosmology Debate has raged for well over a century between cultural diffusionists and parallel evolutionists. The former attributes cultural resemblance to cultural contact while the latter describes a process of independent development based on “psychic unity”, or the similarity of the human mind. Edward Tylor linked the two by predicating diffusion and independent invention upon the “psychic unity” of man.1 He argued that in order for one culture to adopt certain traits or motifs from another, a similarity of mind must exist to allow the receiving culture to find within those traits something that is meaningful and useful to it, i.e. to associate with and incorporate various traits from an outside source it is required that the receiving culture share common characteristics of mind and spirit as to be open to outside influences. In other words all cultural resemblance first depends on a “psychic unity” regardless of whether cultural affinities are rooted in actual contact or coincidental independent development. Paul Shao has written two books describing possible cultural influence of Asia on the Americas. He stresses that analysis needs to focus on “arbitrary trait-complexes”, defined as being ‘composed of several traits arranged in a particular juxtaposition.’2 He avoids simple or singular trait comparisons as well as motifs based on ‘functional and structural constraints.’ This paper offers examples of similar trait-complexes possessed by the funerary objects of a Mayan king and a Chinese countess. The sarcophagus lid of Pakal’s tomb in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque incorporates a complete cosmological system.(Fig. 1) It depicts Pakal himself at the moment of death being swallowed up in the jaws of the Quadripartite Monster3 who dwells in Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. According to their belief, the deceased King must enter Xibalba in order to confront the Lords of the Underworld. If he is victorious he is then transformed into a god. The cross-shaped object above Pakal is the Maya World Tree, symbolic of the Milky Way which is the road to Xibalba. A double-headed dragon is draped across its branches. Perched on the top limb the a Divine Serpent-Bird, Itzam Ye. The composition is very symmetrical and divided into three horizontal fields representative of the three worlds, the world of Paradise, the earthly world, and the Underworld. A border of astronomical glyphs frames the scene. Every sculpted detail has specific symbolic meaning derived from a rich iconographic system. The First Countess of Dai, wife of Liu Sheng, the, was unearthed from Tomb no. 1 at Ma-wang-tui.(Fig. 2) Her magnificent funeral banner lay atop the last of her four coffins. It too displays a well developed cosmology divided symmetrically and into three horizontal registers. Variously interpreted, the banner may depict, from the bottom, images of the underworld, earthly world and heavenly world. The central region probably represents Countess Dai’s ascension through the Island P’eng-lai, the Island of the Vase, to the palace of Ti, or paradise, seen in the upper horizontal cross-bar. The dragons, extending up either side of the vertical section and linked in the center by a pi disc, create the silhouette of a vase and lift the Countess to the upper realm of heaven.4 Here, flanked by the moon and sun, a half woman, half serpent deity presides. Although the meaning behind the iconography cannot yet be fully explained, due to the complex dynamic of several evolving religious philosophies, she has been identified as Ti, Fu Hsi or Nu Kua , or as one scholar argues, she is perhaps the Countess herself.5 The very general similarities between these two funerary objects offer a solid base from which we might investigate a more revealing comparative analysis. Clearly, these are both symbolic of the journey each decedent must make in order to attain immortality. The concepts these works are symbolic of come from rich systems of cultural tradition. They, as all ancient people, lived according to the natural pulse of universal duration. This natural rhythm allows human intellect to nurture intuition. Their obsessions with time shaped their intuitive knowledge of the universe which in turn was honed into cosmological systems. The artistic renderings of these concepts help us unlock a better vision of their worlds. The body of Pakal on the sarcophagus lid is adorned with several interesting ornaments describing his rank and status. His headdress is almost identical to the one worn by the god emerging from the mouth of the left dragon in the cieba tree, the sacred Mayan World Tree. According the Linda Schele, this indicates the belief that Pakal is to be reborn as this god, K’awil, the so-called God K or flare god. He is the god of royalty and transformations. Both God K and the Jester God, who is seen in the mouth of the opposite dragon, are ‘associated with the bestowing of power for kingship in Palenque.’6 Attached to the tip of Pakal’s nose is a nose plug, a common attribute of entombed individuals, conceived of as a symbol of bone or a seed and therefore also of rebirth. Around his neck hangs a pectoral combining elements of both the turtle and the serpent, symbolic of Mayan royalty. Although relatively insignificant characters, two turtles are present on Lady Dai’s funeral banner apparently pushing against the sides of the vase. The Lieh-tzu speaks of turtles being sent by Ti to anchor the five islands of P’eng-lai, because the immortal beings there were worried that they might drift away in the currents of the eastern sea.7 I do not consider this to be an important link, however the turtle is associated with immortals in both Chinese and Mayan inconography since all Mayan kings, it was assumed, would ultimately become gods. Pakal also sports anklets, bracelets, a belt and a skirt made of jade beads. The importance of jade to both the cultures of China and Meso-America will be discussed below. For our purpose, most important among these is the skirt. This ensemble is the costume of the First Father, who had been resurrected as the Maize God, Hun Nal Ye, after being killed by the Lords of the Underworld as told in the Mayan creation myth, from the Popul Vuh.8 Wearing it ensures rebirth as a god. This same skirt can be seen adorning numerous Mayan kings in examples of relief sculpture and Stelae. Stelae H from Copan wears such a skirt. Paul Shao, in one of his most convincing ‘trait-complexity’ comparisons9, notes its striking similarity to traditional Tibetan beaded ceremonial skirts(Fig.3), with its distinct diamond pattern. Pakal is shown falling into the jaws of the Underworld Monster. He is seated on a bloodletting bowl, from which the World Tree springs. Bloodletting and ritual human sacrifice were integral components of Mayan ceremonial life. Mayan kings and shaman ritually let blood as appeasement offerings to the gods to maintain balance and order in the world. We can see the schematic lower jaws enveloping the deceased king. The upper tips on either side of Pakal vaguely resemble abstracted ‘flared lip’ dragon motifs and help to create symmetry. Below the bloodletting bowl is the mask-like face of the Quadripartite Monster. Below the bottom six teeth and jaw bone a beard is readily apparent. This and other attributes manifest this god also as the Underworld Sun, all are ‘concerned with death, the Underworld and rebirth.’10 This, Schele explains, makes the god of both worlds, of the living and of the dead. Mayan kings are thought of as being like the World Tree, both a part of the earthly world and, like the roots of a tree, part of the Underworld. This will be of some interest later in the discussion. Pakal, as king, is the incarnation of the sun on earth, and represents the sun setting, which each night passes through the Underworld to be reborn in the east sustaining the world of the living. In this sense Pakal emulates the eternal cycle of the rising and setting sun to become immortal himself. But he must first confront the Lords of the Underworld to reach his immortal goal. A striking parallel exists within the progression of Lady Dai to the realm of eternity. Above her earthly world of ceremony and feast, she is carried aloft on mystical winged dragons to the Island of P’eng-lai. Once at P’eng-lai, like Pakal in Xibalba, she must secure her journey to the realm of Ti. Stories abound during the Han times of P’eng-lai and its immortal inhabitants. The island was the source of ‘elixirs that could confer that blessing’ of immortality so desperately sought.11 This is perhaps what we witness in the central register of Countess Dai ‘s funerary banner. One such story was told to Wu ti around 130 BC by an intermediary named Li Shao-chun. …the complex process of achieving this blessing, [would require] a belief in certain processes of alchemy. It was first necessary to sacrifice to the spirit or god of the [hearth] in order to acquire the necessary material objects; and with these it would be possible to transmute cinnabar powder into gold. Once the gold had been manufactured it would be fashioned into vessels used for eating and drinking; and by these means a man’s span of life would be prolonged. With such results, it would be right and proper to visit the immortals on the isles of P’eng-lai; and once such a visit had been paid and ceremonies such and the Feng and Shan sacrifices performed, one could achieve a state of deathlessness.12 Here again we see a provocative connection. The Mayan were intensely interested in ideas of transformation and its relationship to blood. They were particularly fascinated by substances colored red, like cinnabar. Hematite mirrors were also believed to be holes through which the real, unseen world, was revealed. When hematite is ground into a powder, it becomes iron oxide, a blood red pigment. This magical transformation from a mirror to something resembling blood only intensified its identification with magic. Cinnabar, or sulfite mercury, is blood red to begin with, but when heated, the sulphur evaporates, leaving pure mercury, which is like a liquid mirror—exactly the reverse of the hematite transformation.13 The connection elucidates another common characteristic of both Chinese and Meso-American cultures, the importance of the mirror as a tool for seeing the unseen. Schuyler Cammann concluded that the pattern found on TVL mirror X9005 represent the ‘Universe as though seen by a heavenly eye looking down from the palace of the Supreme Emperor through the hole in the dome of the sky.’14 There is also a close link between TVL Mirrors and divination boards. The diviner’s board comprised two discs which could be rotated so as to record observations of an actual situation for the appropriate conclusions to be drawn. The TLV mirror however is fashioned as a single fixed piece, which includes many of the elements that are seen on the board. The mirror in fact presents the two discs of the cosmos, in the hope that the deceased person with whom it was buried would be blissfully situated in that position for eternity.15 I have included an illustration of the Aztec calendar stone to show another similarity between Chinese and Meso-American cosmological motifs. It bears an incredible resemblance to TLV Mirrors of the Han and Tang dynasties.(Figs. 4,5 ) The path of Lady Dai, as does Pakal’s, begins in the earthly realm, shown in the bottom domestic scene, generally believe to be a funeral ceremony and feast with what is possibly one of Lady Dai’s coffins in the center, just below the shelf of vases. Curiously the structure of the painting’s three horizontal divisions places both the earthly world and the underworld, seen being held up by an Atlas-like creature, in the same register. As has already been noted, the depiction on the sarcophagus cover also links these two worlds, as if the underworld supports the earthly. Another parallel may be drawn between the attendants present with Lady Dai and the ancestor attendants on the sides of Pakal’s sarcophagus. In the central band the countess is facing two figures while three stand quietly behind her. Loewe mentions that this configuration is mirrored in the five vessels in the funeral scene, two of which are painted as to set them apart from the three with no decoration. Again at the top, we see five birds flanking the woman-serpent deity, two on the left and three on the right. Loewe and other scholars refer to the figures with Lady Dai in the middle band as attendants who will assist her on the journey. On the sides of Pakal’s tomb are carved portraits of ancestors. Upon his arrival in Xibalba, these ancestors will rise to greet and protect Pakal, and act as an allied force of intimidation to ensure victory against the Under World Lords. The scene of Lady Hsin Chui and her attendants, again, in the central panel, is supported by what Loewe calls a ‘causeway’ which acts as a pedestal for the horizontal element upon which they stand.(Fig. 6) This terra cotta colored decoration is flanked by two outward facing leopards and seems to rest on the pi. Here, I want to introduce a Mayan ceramic vessel that displays an incredible affinity with Shang vessels, but which is also decorated with big cats, panthers, and squared spirals like those of the Shang bronzes and those seen here on the banner.(Fig.7) Notice too, that there is a mask present on the face of the Mayan vessel. Above the causeway rests a platform Loewe describes as having a design found on countless jade pieces from China. From either end of this platform billows a cloud motif. Jade makes its appearance and importance made in several areas of the banner. The roof-like structure above the banquet scene has been identified as a jade object. Of course, the jade pi disc linking the two dragons has a long history in Chinese tradition. It is believed that its origin lies in sun worship. Gradually it became symbolic of heaven. A real jade pi was found fastened to the inner-most coffin, just above the funeral banner. Perhaps it was placed there in order to keep Lady Hsin Chui focused on her goal or to bring her goal into focus. Discs of jade were often placed in the graves of Meso-America.(Figs.8,9,10) Although I have not yet confirmed this, I am confident that these discs are associated with the sun, and the sun is almost exclusively associated with heaven. Jade is extremely important to burial practice in China and Meso-America. Plugs of jade were used to seal the orifices of the deceased, as seen in Figs. In 320 AD, Go Hong wrote in the Book of Master Bao Bu, ‘with jade and gold in the nine orifices, even a dead body will be everlasting.16 In the sarcophagus, Pakal was adorned with numerous jade objects, including a jade death-mask. Most interesting for this discussion, however, is that Pakal was holding in his right hand a jade cube and in his left a jade sphere. This is a like three-dimensional version of the ts’ung ritual objects found in countless graves representing heaven and earth. In Mayan cultures, jade is associated with time, prophecy, seeds, the World Tree, ahau, the sun god. The words Yax, tun and am are all encompass meanings related to jade. In many Mayan languages the word for jade is Yaxiltun. Yaxche is the word for the World Tree. Prophetic stones, which served the same purpose as oracle bones, are called amtun, closely related is the word amte, meaning seed or woody material.17 Mayan shaman connected with the cult of ahau used the divination stones of jade to ‘apprehend and master’ the ’mysteries of cyclical creation’.18 Jade is then clearly associated with ideas of immortality and rebirth in both China and Meso-America. This, once again, is an area of shared cultural trait-complexes that requires an immense amount of knowledge in both archeological and cultural aspects of jade and its usage. It is beyond the scope of this paper to delve to deeply into this topic, but I have included several pictures of jade objects which share a striking resemblance.(Figs.10,11,12 ) On Lady Dai’s funeral banner, the jade pi is used to interlace the two dragons acting as the body of the P’eng-lai vase. They also serve as a means of transport for the deceased Countess. These dragons are highly stylized, depicted with wings and beards. The schematic rendering of the Mayan double-headed serpent is far more elaborate and abstracted, but a certain kinship is clearly evident. The serpent god Itzam is the most important in Mayan culture. The root, Itz, meaning “magic” or “enchantment”, has a myriad of applications. Itz is also a supernatural force of good or evil. It is up to the shaman priests to keep this power balanced or else face terrible natural disaster or forces such as earthquakes and lightning if the equilibrium is lost. This is the partial basis for the ritual human sacrifice and bloodletting, as blood is the physical manifestation of Itz. Here, the double-headed serpent is the sky-snake, the words for which are interchangeable, ka’an or chan. In the World Tree it represents the ecliptic path of the sun and planets. The sky-snake is often used in Mayan iconography. Images of kings holding double serpent scepters in the crooks of their elbows with their hands in the “crab-claw”(Fig.13 ) position relates to a ‘formal gesture used for presenting newborn babies, and means protection. Held in this way, the scepter becomes a symbol for the way in which the divine king nourishes, protects and controls the cosmos.’19 This element, including the gods emerging from the mouths of each serpent, will be discussed below relating to the serpent deity in Lady Dai’s funeral banner. In China their is no more omnipresent an icon as the dragon. Today China is synonymous with the mythological creature. The dragon is associated with rain and clouds, sky and heaven, fertility and fecundity. It is also responsible for impregnating the mothers of Chinese emperors. For example, it is reported by Ssu-ma Ch’ien, the great Chinese historian of the Han period, that the founder of the Han dynasty was conceived by a scaly dragon who was seen lying over his mother, Lady Liu. As a result, she became pregnant and bore the emperor Kao-tsu.20 Clearly, in the funeral banner they are symbolic of Lady Hsin Chiu’s status as a countess. Loewe contends that it may be that their union is ‘intended to evoke the concept of Yin and Yang.’21 The yin/yang concept is very similar to the Mayan concept of reality, based on an interconnectedness and balance existing between things in the universe. The extent to which the dragon/serpent (I am using the Chinese dragon and the Meso-American serpent interchangeably)22 motif in both cultures permeates their iconographic and symbolic vocabulary is truly phenomenal. Beyond the symbolic lies an even more telling “psychic unity”, which is to be found in the stylistic. Paul Shao has assembled an incredible collection of comparisons which cannot be dismissed. Examining the elaboration and abstraction of this heavenly creature, and the way it is incorporated into the design and composition, reveals such a strong correspondence it is difficult to fathom how it is possible. It is the way in which each culture rendered the dragons with beards, the way their upper and lower lips flair, that makes them seem as parts of a bigger whole. Moving back up the ascension scene of Lady Dai, we see what is perhaps the Luan huang lifting the lid of the P’eng-lai vase. The top of the lid is surmounted by a fleur-de-lis shaped flange, this same stylized form makes an appearance on the sarcophagus lid. Directly below the head of Pakal it is part of the four glyphs upon which he rests. Starting from the far left the first is a shell, then a stingray spine used for bloodletting, a cross glyph and then finally the stylized plant very similar to the one depicted in Lady Dai’s banner. The Mayan version stands at the entrance of Xibalba, while the Han motif pushes up towards the gates of heaven. Once we enter through this gate we are in the realm of Ti. Two dragons flank a bell positioned below the main deity. The moon and sun occupy the upper left and right corners with their standard attributes. Taking center-stage, is a hybrid immortal creature, being half serpent and half woman. Note that the tail of the goddess ends at the mouth of the wingless dragon on the right, as if she had emerged from its mouth. This dragon is entangled with a vine-like tree bearing its fruit of suns, probably related to the Fu-sang tree. Transformation, as we have seen, fascinated the Maya. As was seen earlier, gods and kings are depicted emerging from the mouths of serpents, certainly derived from the fact that snakes molt their skin and are transformed anew. They had similar fetishes with cicadas for the same reason. The upper scene of Pakal’s sarcophagus lid is dominated by the Celestial Bird, Itzam Ye. Two ahau or Sun God glyphs, slightly offset, are the other two figures given significant treatment. Within the border of the lid, at the upper left and upper right, are the night sign, akbal, and sun sign, kin, which seem to correspond nicely with the moon and sun on Lady Dai’s banner. The moon is associated with a rabbit in both Mayan and Chinese iconography. The toad in the funeral banner associated with Heng O who stole the drug of immortality from her husband I and fled to the moon. The toad (Figs.14,15) is ‘specifically credited with the power of conferring immortality in a passage of the Hsuan-chung-chi which reads ‘Horns grow on the toad’s head, consumption of which brings 1000 years of life and ability to feed on the Essence of the Mountains.’23 The woman on the dragon may be identified with Heng O as an exemplar for Lady Dai to follow on her quest for immortality, or with Lady Dai herself. The moon is associated with women, weaving and with the rabbit. Indeed both the Chinese and Maya see a rabbit in the moon, as opposed to the man, which we in the West have seen. The artists charged with the task of achieving a visual representation of the complex structures of their religion, philosophy, astronomy and tradition, were actually the ones who closed the circle of understanding. They are the ones who helped their people achieve immortality through the setting to stone and silk their unique perspective on the meaning and potential in life in an enduring monument to the benefit of informing the future of their existence and of their own duration. We can see in the funeral banner of Lady Dai and in the sarcophagus lid of Pakal an implement of utility, a tool for us to use in order to create ourselves. With the knowledge of their existence, we give our world culture greater texture and depth, swelling with the accumulated experience and information of thousands of years of human evolution and activity. Experience is automatically stored in memory. With memory we are able to take those events and images of the past and recreate them in the present. Memory is what allows us to bring back into existence those things that have already happened to us, being stored to inform our present. The more we experience, the more sources we have to draw upon in helping us predict the future. We base our choices on projecting into the future possible outcomes from each choice. The more information we have to cross reference, network and reconfigure, the better we are at making proper choices. We assert, at the outset, that if there be memory, that is, the survival of past images, these images mingle with our perception of the present, and may even take its place. For if they have survived it is with a view to utility; at every moment the complete our present experience, enriching it with experience already acquired; and, as the latter is ever-increasing, it must end by covering up and submerging the former.24 The human mind is such, that the understanding of the new cannot begin until it has done everything in its power to relate it to the old.25 The Maya and Han obsession with the past and divination of the future can be explained by their intuition of true reality which is the expansion of the universe and the creation that arises from it. For them, knowledge of the past was absolutely necessary in order to understand the future; to act in the present, we as humans rely on our ability to both remember and predict. They realized that which exists in the memory is never passed, that history is alive within us to help guide our present action. Their systems of cultural tradition linked past, present and future in a unified system. When man, sprung from divinity, succeeds in returning to it, he perceives that what he had first taken to be two opposed movements of coming [the future] and going [the past] are in fact a single movement.26 That ideas of immortality would arise from such philosophic inquiry is not surprising. For having intuited the singular movement of coming and going, of past and future, they realized beings endure long after their physical form has ceased to exist. For the Han and the Maya, the spirits of ancestors had efficacy in the world of the living. The soul persisted. In the cosmology of the Maya, each person has two aspects of soul, one is the ch’ulel, meaning, “spirit.” The second aspect is your animal alter ego, the nawal or way. As an alter ego, it shares your ch’ulel. The Zinacanteco Maya of Chiapas believe that each person’s ch’ulel is indivisible, indestructible, and has thirteen parts. When a person is sick, part of their ch’ulel has gone away, and special rituals are required to lure it back. In both Siberia and Chiapas, babies must be protected from sudden fright, because fear can scare away part of their souls, and unless the soul part is lured back through special ceremony, the patient may suffer for a long time.27 It is further believed, that a person’s ch’ulel was given to them by their ancestors out of a pool of ch’ulels which is kept in the Other World. Everyone’s ch’ulel belonged to one of their ancestors, and after death, it will be returned to the pool and used again by one of their descendants. The ch’ulel a person is using may have belonged to one of their grandparents. That is why Maya children are often named for one of their grand parents, and why a Maya child may refer to their opposite-sex grandparent as “husband” or “wife.” Through ceremonial trance-dancing, kings transformed themselves into living reincarnations of their own ancestors, and assumed their names.28 Early in the Han dynasty, ancestors also played an active role in the living world. Elaborate rituals were developed in order to appease the dead spirits for long enough thereby diffusing its potential malevolence. Human nature is seen as having three elements, one of the body and two of the spiritual. The physical form of man, or hsing, may be regarded as the wick and substance of the candle. Of the two spiritual elements, the p’o was regarded as being like the force that keeps the candle alight; it keeps the body alive, controlling its five organs. The other spiritual element, the hun, was thought to be like the light that emanates from the candle, endowing a human being with intelligence and spiritual qualities.29 The p’o and hun separate at death. The hun attempted to pass on to the realm of Shang ti, while the p’o remained with the hsing as long as there were provisions enough for it to remain enticed. After a three year mourning period, it is presumed the p’o went to Huang ch’uan, or Yellow Springs, where it was held as prisoner to live a wretched existence. ‘This world was populated by p’o; it existed in parallel with the paradise to which the hun tried to proceed…’30 Does it not seem logical that if the gifted members of the Han culture had themselves come to realize that all life is united, that past and future merge to create the possibility of choice and freedom in the present of humans, that they were themselves individual movements within the movement of the expanding universe, they would see the potential for the spirit to connect with that movement, to become a part of it, thereby achieving the desperately sought immortality? Of course, as Bergson has stated, no one view was wholly correct. We see in the Han time, many rival schools of thought, and indeed we see this throughout China’s history. Inter-mingling of philosophies and religions constantly spread aspects of them all amongst the population, creating a complex dynamic of ritual and tradition which were ultimately established for answering the real questioned posed to humans, the question of their own mortality. It is a double-edged sword to be conscious, to persist as memory. We have the power to truly live life, to create and act upon the world, but it comes at the cost of realizing our own duration is but brief and finite. This is the question that humanity has always grappled with. It is perhaps the source of culture itself, the attempt to express this knowledge of our own mortality, to in some way transcend it by creating, by becoming active ourselves in the process of creation. I believe the intuition of the true duration of life, of its becoming and its creation was based on the witnessing of the rounds of the seasons, the cycles of sun, moon and stars, of growth, decay and renewal, and of life, death and rebirth. This intuitive ability nurtured by intellect and memory ultimately established their cosmological systems rooted in observation of and reflection on passage of time. This intuitive grasp on the inter-penetration and inter-dependency of the present with that of past and future, is the basis for the traditions and cosmologies we have seen. Artists in particular have a way of expressing the inexpressible, and have left in the wake of their creation windows into their worlds. They convey to us, as a people, in light of their having entered into the duration of reality, how they chose to respond, how their accumulation of memory, history and knowledge honed creative potential and fashioned a whole universe, one created in the minds of men, one that expanded, just as the universe around them. Ultimately Western science will come to no greater conclusion. I hope to have shown in this paper that there are still mysteries that need to be sought out in order to bring us as a race of beings closer together. Through the visual comparison of the works discussed, I wish to deepen the mystery and the curiosity which might work the imagination. I believe the psychological similarities among human beings is far more important to elucidate than the ideas of diffusion. For if the diffusion theory proves true, we are still left with the psychological component. The physical artifacts themselves beg comparison serving the needs of a deeper investigation lead by our inquisitive interest. What one finds under the surface is an even more complex net of interconnection and affinity. I have used the philosophy of Henri Bergson as a conceptual vocabulary from which to build a framework to discuss why the Han and Mayan people had such an obsessive pre-occupation with time. These civilizations offer to us tremendous significance, as they reveal to us a further sense of the duration and expansion of the universe. If we so desire they may impart their wisdom contributing to the widening of our perception and perhaps leading us into the duration itself by making us wonder and search.