What myths and legends do Tibetans have among the ethnic minorities?

1. Creation Myth

The Creation Myth has the meaning of "Shibatayi", which means the creation story. When human society was still in its primitive stage, people's understanding and transformation of the objective world were naive, unconscious, and idealistic. They often magicalized the power contained in nature itself, so myths were born.

2. Serinduicuo, where the great devil is located

The great devil of Serin used to live in Doilungdeqing, west of Lhasa. Everyone was helpless against his power. He would devour thousands of people every day. All living things, whether human or beast.

After a thunderstorm, Master Padmasambhava finally decided to punish Selin. Chased by Master Padmasambhava, Selin fled into a vast turbid lake. Master Padmasambhava ordered Selin to punish him. He repented here and was never allowed to leave this lake, and named the lake "Selinduicuo".

3. Lam Latso transformed from the head of the Auspicious Heavenly Mother

In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a famous protector named "Bandan Lamu", which means Auspicious Heavenly Mother in Chinese. Because Lam Latso is a lake in the shape of a skull, Tibetans believe that Lam Latso is the head of the auspicious Heavenly Mother and the soul of the Heavenly Mother is always here.

4. Species Myths

The content of species myths is very extensive. In the minds of the ancient working people, everything in the world has a reason. It is widely spread among the people, and people in Zedang, Tibet still call this cave the Macaque Cave; it is worshiped as a sacred site of the origin of mankind. Although this myth of the origin of man is brief, it more scientifically reflects the evolutionary process of human beings from apes - great apes - to humans.

The legend that "Avalokite?vara was fed with food, and... her tail slowly disappeared" just illustrates the long journey that human ancestors went through from crawling to standing upright, from hunting for meat to slash-and-burn farming, and eating food. It goes beyond the divine creation view of fabricating humans from clay and reflects the starting point of Tibetan ancient culture.

5. The love legend of the Potala Palace

It is said that a strange old man once told a man on the street that he had not cultivated enough love in his previous life and could not live up to the customs. You must fall into the Potala Palace in Tibet and practice practice again before you can find true love. The man didn't believe it at first, but after meeting his sweetheart, he found that it was exactly what the old man said, and that his sweetheart ignored him.

Later, the man believed the old man’s words and went to Tibet, where he lost his hair and became a Buddhist. As expected, his sweetheart changed her mind, followed him to Tibet, and prostrated herself in the Potala Palace to pray. He was finally moved and followed her back to the earthly world.