Post 2b/?
As for the native Americans also seeing the shape of a *hare* on the moon, here's some supporting statements:
encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/hare
In the above, observe that not only do several native Americans identify a hare on the moon - as seen in the statement "Other American Indian bands also see a hare in the moon" - but the Cree Algonquin native N American tradition moreover contains all 3 features seen in the native Chinese tradition too: hare + going to live on the moon + immortality, as indicated in bold and blue above. Which means: Buddhism can't claim that the "immortality" or "the dwelling on the moon" parts of the Chinese (Taoist) tradition on the Jade Rabbit was gifted by Buddhism to China either.
But there's of course Taoist reasons behind why Taoism has their Jade Rabbit making the elixir of immortality and why the cassia tree is associated with this process. Also, in Taoism, the moon - associated with the feminine aspect of the Tao (while the sun is associated with the masculine aspect) - is IIRC connected with immortality. [Stating the obvious, but Taoism is very much concerned with making mortal Taoists into Immortals. Sort of like that popularised line from the Vedam which aims for the same.] Further, the Moon Goddess resides on the Moon while her Husband, the divine archer and an immortal too, went to reside on the Sun**. Both have company there, because in Taoism, the Jade Rabbit is connected with the Moon just as the Sun is connected with a Gold Raven. (They have deep esoteric meanings in Taoism: the male Jade Rabbit on the female Moon is the Yang inside the Yin, just as the Golden Raven -IIRC female- living in the male Sun is the Yin inside the Yang. And this denotes all kinds of deep things.) Writers claiming the Jade Rabbit as of "Indian" or "Buddhist" origins often - conveniently - forget the Golden Raven, despite the Jade Rabbit and the Golden Raven being two inseparable aspects of one cosmological view - that of Taoism.
[** It's easy in narratives and poetics to just work with the aesthetic notion (of symmetry) that the sun and moon are "equal" - such as in size or light-giving capacity - or "equal and opposite" such as in heat-giving vs cooling effects and day-light vs night-light. I suspect the readiness to suspend disbelief when it comes to this notion derives not only from the fact that, to the various heathen cultures, both are divinities or have divinities associated with them, but also from the fact of earth's curious position w.r.t. the sun and moon, which makes perfect solar eclipses possible: when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and the moon is able to perfectly conceal the sun such that only the edges/solar wind is visible, it is easy to conceive of the moon as equal in size to the sun. And then, one heavenly body tends to be seen at night when it's colder, the other is conspicious in that it is generally not seen at night but in the day when the world's warmer. Etc. Thus, Hindoos envision a balanced equality in the form of one earring of Amman as the moon and the other as the sun, and one eye of a Hindoo God as the moon and the other as the sun. Likewise, in Taoism, the sun and moon represent equal and opposite, being an important case of Yin and Yang. Yet a unification of the two heavenly spheres - since Yin and Yang are ultimately inseparable and in natural balance - is seen also in the husband living on the sun and his wife Chang-e living on the moon.]
Actually, here's some supporting links for some further claims I made just above:
khandro.net/animal_hare_rabbit.htm
b. Stating for the record (i.e. pre-emptively, as usual, 'cause you never know with oryanists): the "hare on the moon" can't be claimed for oryanism either. Since N American Native Americans ALSO have it.
This next link is also handy, not just for its mention of Aztecs also perceiving a hare on the moon, but because the first recorded *date* of the Chinese associating a Rabbit with the moon (and its activity of making the immortality potion) predates Buddhism's presence in China by about 500 years = 0.5 millennia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit
The important thing is that the above provides a date - the timeframe of "The Warring States period" - for the Chinese tradition of having a rabbit (and a toad too!) on the moon - and the rabbit is already pounding the herbs for the immortality medicine.
The Warring States period is dated even by wackypedia to the range 481 - 403 BCE:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period
Buddhism didn't arrive in China yet back then.
While Ashoka was to have sent off emissaries to China in mid 3rd century BCE, whether Ashoka is properly dated or not is actually irrelevant (dates for the Indian Buddhist Jataka fable featuring the rabbit also become irrelevant), because we can skip considering the (mis)dating of Indian history here and just look to the Chinese end: Buddhism in China is dated to the 1st century CE. (And the earliest case of Buddhism in China is set in the latter half of the 1st century CE.) This makes the difference between China's famous "Warring States Period" and the first record of Buddhism in China about 5 centuries. At minimum. Because there is no indication that the reference during the Warring States period to the Chinese Moon Rabbit was the first Chinese instance to make the connection between the rabbit and Earth's satellite (and the immortality potion), as the ancient Chinese poem could well be re-stating a view that was already long-lived among Chinese back then.
And not that it would have mattered anyway had Buddhism magically arrived in China before or during the Warring States Period: since there is ample evidence that the Chinese traditions of seeing a Rabbit on the moon and associating it with (making the elixir of) immortality is just as independently-derived as the native N American traditions of how a "hare gained immortality by traveling to the moon, where he still can be seen today". Most of the present extent traditions concerning the Jade Rabbit have nothing to do with the Buddhist spins on pre-existing Hindu views about the Hare and the Moon. And those distinctly-Chinese traditions are obviously native, as they are the very ones that precede Buddhist entry into China. (Nor do they have any particular connection to the Hindu Hare-Moon association either, no more than -say- the Algonquin Cree Indians' view has.)
If people want to claim otherwise, then - as usual - they may *prove* otherwise.
As for the native Americans also seeing the shape of a *hare* on the moon, here's some supporting statements:
encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/hare
Quote:The Moon, the Hare, and the Feminine
Many peoples throughout the world have linked the hare with the moon. While American children are told to look for the face of "the man in the moon," storytellers from many other cultures have for centuries told tales about the "hare in the moon."
The Romans associated the hare with Diana, a goddess who presided over treaties, childbirth, and women in general, and one of whose symbols was the moon. The moon itself was seen as feminine by the Greeks and Romans. The hare shared this symbolic association with the feminine. In addition, the hare's great fertility made it a symbol of springtime in much of pre-Christian Europe.
(Hence the old tradition of the "Easter Bunny".)
[...]
Asian Folklore
The "hare in the moon" is a common theme in Asian folklore, as is the connection made between the hare, death, and immortality.
An ancient Chinese folktale explains how a hare came to reside on the surface of the moon. According to this legend the hare in the moon grinds the elixir of immortality while sitting at the foot of a cassia tree. One Chinese custom encourages children to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by carrying hare-shaped lanterns to the tops of hills in the early evening, where they admire the moon's beauty and identify the immortal hare under the cassia tree in the light and dark shapes on the moon's surface. Indeed, in Chinese mythology hares symbolize longevity and are mystically linked to the moon. What's more, the hare is a symbol in the Chinese zodiac. Those born in the year of the hare are thought to share in its personality traits: kindness, diplomacy, good manners, a love of beauty, luck with money, and a boundless self-confidence which may turn into conceit.
Other peoples throughout Asia also see a hare rather than a man in the moon.** The Japanese see a hare pounding rice cakes in the dark and light spots on the moon.
(** Note that native Chinese tradition also has an (old, divine) man on the moon, besides Chang-e and the Jade Rabbit.)
A Buddhist folktale recounts that the Buddha, in an earlier incarnation as a hare, willingly gave his own flesh to help feed a hungry soul. He gained immortality through this good deed, rising in the shape of a hare to the moon, where he is still visible to us today. A legend from India claims that a hare once performed a great act of compassion for the god Indra. The hare spied Indra, disguised as a famished pilgrim, praying for food. The hare had nothing but his body to give so he cast himself on the fire so that the pilgrim might eat. The god rewarded the hare by granting him immortal life on the moon.
American Indian Folklore
Many American Indians also told tales about the cleverness of the hare. Several Algonquin tribes of eastern North America told mythic tales about the Great Hare which portrayed him as a trickster god and culture hero who helped to shape and enlarge the earth. A tale known among one group of the Algonquins known as the Cree Indians told of how a resourceful hare gained immortality by traveling to the moon, where he still can be seen today. Other American Indian bands also see a hare in the moon. Many southeastern tribes portray the rabbit as a clever culture hero who brought the first fire to humankind. According to one tale Rabbit stole the first flames from across the ocean. He outran his pursuers and brought fire back across the sea to America, but ended up by setting the woods ablaze. Great Basin tribes tell similar stories about how Rabbit stole the sun.
[...]
In the above, observe that not only do several native Americans identify a hare on the moon - as seen in the statement "Other American Indian bands also see a hare in the moon" - but the Cree Algonquin native N American tradition moreover contains all 3 features seen in the native Chinese tradition too: hare + going to live on the moon + immortality, as indicated in bold and blue above. Which means: Buddhism can't claim that the "immortality" or "the dwelling on the moon" parts of the Chinese (Taoist) tradition on the Jade Rabbit was gifted by Buddhism to China either.
But there's of course Taoist reasons behind why Taoism has their Jade Rabbit making the elixir of immortality and why the cassia tree is associated with this process. Also, in Taoism, the moon - associated with the feminine aspect of the Tao (while the sun is associated with the masculine aspect) - is IIRC connected with immortality. [Stating the obvious, but Taoism is very much concerned with making mortal Taoists into Immortals. Sort of like that popularised line from the Vedam which aims for the same.] Further, the Moon Goddess resides on the Moon while her Husband, the divine archer and an immortal too, went to reside on the Sun**. Both have company there, because in Taoism, the Jade Rabbit is connected with the Moon just as the Sun is connected with a Gold Raven. (They have deep esoteric meanings in Taoism: the male Jade Rabbit on the female Moon is the Yang inside the Yin, just as the Golden Raven -IIRC female- living in the male Sun is the Yin inside the Yang. And this denotes all kinds of deep things.) Writers claiming the Jade Rabbit as of "Indian" or "Buddhist" origins often - conveniently - forget the Golden Raven, despite the Jade Rabbit and the Golden Raven being two inseparable aspects of one cosmological view - that of Taoism.
[** It's easy in narratives and poetics to just work with the aesthetic notion (of symmetry) that the sun and moon are "equal" - such as in size or light-giving capacity - or "equal and opposite" such as in heat-giving vs cooling effects and day-light vs night-light. I suspect the readiness to suspend disbelief when it comes to this notion derives not only from the fact that, to the various heathen cultures, both are divinities or have divinities associated with them, but also from the fact of earth's curious position w.r.t. the sun and moon, which makes perfect solar eclipses possible: when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and the moon is able to perfectly conceal the sun such that only the edges/solar wind is visible, it is easy to conceive of the moon as equal in size to the sun. And then, one heavenly body tends to be seen at night when it's colder, the other is conspicious in that it is generally not seen at night but in the day when the world's warmer. Etc. Thus, Hindoos envision a balanced equality in the form of one earring of Amman as the moon and the other as the sun, and one eye of a Hindoo God as the moon and the other as the sun. Likewise, in Taoism, the sun and moon represent equal and opposite, being an important case of Yin and Yang. Yet a unification of the two heavenly spheres - since Yin and Yang are ultimately inseparable and in natural balance - is seen also in the husband living on the sun and his wife Chang-e living on the moon.]
Actually, here's some supporting links for some further claims I made just above:
khandro.net/animal_hare_rabbit.htm
Quote:In English-speaking lands, we see The Man in the Moon, but it is the image of a hare that is seen by many Asian cultural groups. Hare (or "Rabbit") is the guardian of medicinal herbs that he can convert into an elixir of longevity or even of immortality, which he then stores on the moon.(Note that the above link shows that Vietnam still uses the *Taoist* Zodiac - due to Vietnam's historical relationship with Taoism - though Vietnam replaces the rabbit/hare with the cat)
Quote:The Inner Teachings of Taoism - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0834828359
Chang Po - 2013 - Religion
The solar yang soul and the gold raven symbolize the finest part of conscious
knowledge; the jade rabbit and the lunar yin soul symbolize the light of wisdom of
...
b. Stating for the record (i.e. pre-emptively, as usual, 'cause you never know with oryanists): the "hare on the moon" can't be claimed for oryanism either. Since N American Native Americans ALSO have it.
This next link is also handy, not just for its mention of Aztecs also perceiving a hare on the moon, but because the first recorded *date* of the Chinese associating a Rabbit with the moon (and its activity of making the immortality potion) predates Buddhism's presence in China by about 500 years = 0.5 millennia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit
Quote:The Moon rabbit in folklore is a rabbit that lives on the Moon, based on pareidolia that identifies the markings of the Moon as a rabbit. The story exists in many cultures, prominently in East Asian folklore and Aztec mythology.[1][2] In East Asia, it is seen pounding in a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklore. In Chinese folklore, it is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her; but in Japanese and Korean versions, it is pounding the ingredients for rice cake.(And seeing faces or shapes of characters everywhere is called "pareidolia", apparently. Useful word to know.)
(I thought it was both rice cake AND immortality elixir in China...)
History
An early mention that there is a rabbit on the Moon appears in the Chu Ci, a Western Han anthology of Chinese poems from the Warring States period, which notes that along with a toad, there is a rabbit on the Moon who constantly pounds herbs for the immortals. This notion is supported by later texts, including the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era encyclopedia of the Song Dynasty. Han Dynasty poets call the rabbit on the Moon the "Jade Rabbit" (çŽâ°Ã¥â¦â) or the "Gold Rabbit" (éâ¡âÃ¥â¦â), and these phrases were often used in place of the word for the Moon. A famous poet of the Tang Dynasty period, Li Bai, relates how: "The rabbit in the Moon pounds the medicine in vain" in his poem "The Old Dust."
The important thing is that the above provides a date - the timeframe of "The Warring States period" - for the Chinese tradition of having a rabbit (and a toad too!) on the moon - and the rabbit is already pounding the herbs for the immortality medicine.
The Warring States period is dated even by wackypedia to the range 481 - 403 BCE:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period
Quote:The Warring States period (simplified Chinese: æËËÃ¥âºÂ½Ã¦â¶ä»£; traditional Chinese: æË°åÅâ¹Ã¦â¢â代; pinyin: Zhànguó ShÃÂdài) is a period in ancient China following the Spring and Autumn period and concluding with the victory of the state of Qin in 221 BC, creating a unified China under the Qin dynasty. Different scholars use dates for the beginning of the period ranging between 481 BC and 403 BC, but Sima Qian's date of 475 BC is most often cited. Most of this period coincides with the second half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, although the Chinese sovereign (king of Zhou) was merely a figurehead.
The name of the period was derived from the Record of the Warring States, a work compiled early in the Han dynasty.
Buddhism didn't arrive in China yet back then.
While Ashoka was to have sent off emissaries to China in mid 3rd century BCE, whether Ashoka is properly dated or not is actually irrelevant (dates for the Indian Buddhist Jataka fable featuring the rabbit also become irrelevant), because we can skip considering the (mis)dating of Indian history here and just look to the Chinese end: Buddhism in China is dated to the 1st century CE. (And the earliest case of Buddhism in China is set in the latter half of the 1st century CE.) This makes the difference between China's famous "Warring States Period" and the first record of Buddhism in China about 5 centuries. At minimum. Because there is no indication that the reference during the Warring States period to the Chinese Moon Rabbit was the first Chinese instance to make the connection between the rabbit and Earth's satellite (and the immortality potion), as the ancient Chinese poem could well be re-stating a view that was already long-lived among Chinese back then.
And not that it would have mattered anyway had Buddhism magically arrived in China before or during the Warring States Period: since there is ample evidence that the Chinese traditions of seeing a Rabbit on the moon and associating it with (making the elixir of) immortality is just as independently-derived as the native N American traditions of how a "hare gained immortality by traveling to the moon, where he still can be seen today". Most of the present extent traditions concerning the Jade Rabbit have nothing to do with the Buddhist spins on pre-existing Hindu views about the Hare and the Moon. And those distinctly-Chinese traditions are obviously native, as they are the very ones that precede Buddhist entry into China. (Nor do they have any particular connection to the Hindu Hare-Moon association either, no more than -say- the Algonquin Cree Indians' view has.)
If people want to claim otherwise, then - as usual - they may *prove* otherwise.