|
According
to one legend, the Buddha decided to name each year
after an animal. He told His disciples to invite all
the animals to heaven so that He could determine their
places in the zodiac. After His disciple had conveyed
the Buddha's invitation to the animals, the Rat turned
to his best friend the Cat and said, "Let's wake each
other up so that we shall be the first to arrive." The
Cat agreed to the Rat's suggestion and went to sleep.
However, the Rat was conniving and decided to sleep
in the ear of the Ox, knowing that the Ox was used to
waking up early.
The
next morning, the Ox woke up and started the long journey
to heaven. When he arrived at heaven's gates, the Rat
jumped out from his ear and rushed to greet the Buddha.
The Buddha then named each year after the animals which
arrived first - the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon,
Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. There
is no cat in the zodiac because the Cat never did wake
up. That is the reason the Cat and the Rat are deadly
enemies to this day.
There
is a realistic reason for the existence of the animal
zodiac (or 12 Earthly Branches). More than 3,000 years
ago, Chinese people invented the 10 Heavenly Stems and
12 Earthly Branches for chronological purposes. These
signs are used to designate the hours, days, months
and years. However, most people at that time were illiterate
and could not understand the signs. In an effort to
make things easier to memorize, people used animals
to symbolize the12 Earthly Branches. The animals used
were the 12 animals as we know in the Chinese zodiac
today.
Many
Chinese people strongly believe that the time of a person's
birth is the primary factor in determining that person's
personality and fortune in life. Some people may brush
it off as mere superstition, but then the accuracy of
predictions using this method has amazed countless people.
|
