Shiva, one of the three Hindu gods, is the god of destruction.
The predecessor of the Indus civilization was the god of reproduction, "Lord of the Beasts" and the god of Vedic storms, Rudra, who had both reproductive and destructive, creative and destructive dual personality, showing a variety of strange and grotesque different looks, mainly Rinnegah, horror, tenderness, superhuman, three-faced look, the king of the dance, the lord of the liga look, the Lord of the half-female and other variations. The Linga (male root) is the most basic symbol of Shiva.
Like many gods in mythology, Shiva's gender is not fixed due to Shiva's omniscience and omnipotence, but changes from time to time depending on the phase.
All the gods are the same, but they are not the same. Riksha Sect, Related Cultures, Shiva Festival, Shiva Dance, Shiva Temple, Chinese Relics, Status Shiva is one of the three phases of Hinduism along with Brahma and Vishnu. Shiva's status is that of a destroyer, combining fertility and destruction, creation and devastation. Shiva, the God of Dance The Ten States of God God acts as the Originator, Sustainer and Melter. In this state, God exerts His three main attributes (sifat) of generation, maintenance and melting. This "three-in-one" state corresponds to the trinity of Vedanta: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (sustainer), and Shiva (Mahesh, destroyer). Sufism is synonymous with Afridgar, Parvardigar and Fanakar. Religious Lore Shiva, India Shiva is the Hindu god of destruction, whose myths are contained in the two great epics of the Brahmanas and Upanishads and in the books of the past. He is said to have great power to subdue demons, and the third eye on his forehead can spew out fire that destroys everything. He once burned down three demonic cities and the goddess of love who seduced him, and was called the destroyer of the three demonic cities. When the gods and asuras stirred up the sea of milk, he swallowed the poison that could destroy the world, and his neck was burned to a greenish-black color, earning him the name of Green Neck. Hinduism believes that "destruction" has the meaning of "regeneration", so the male genitals, Linga, which represents fertility, is a symbol of his creativity and is worshipped by the Sexual Power Sect and the Shiva Sect. Shiva is the god of asceticism. Shiva is the god of austerity, practicing austerity all year round on Mount Jibhasa in the Himalayas, acquiring the deepest knowledge and magical power through the most rigorous austerities and the most thorough contemplation. He is also the God of Dance, creating both rigid and flexible dances and is known as the King of Dance. He is the commander-in-chief of demons and devils, who are all subject to him. His wife was the goddess of the snowy mountains and his two sons were Segandha and Ganesh. The former was the commander-in-chief of the celestial army and the latter was the head of the minor gods who served Shiva. The image of Shiva is depicted as having three eyes and four hands, which are divided into three forks, a sacred conch, a pitcher of water, a drum, etc.; he is dressed in animal skins, covered with gray paint, with a crescent moon on his head as a decoration, and his hair coiled in the shape of horns with the symbol of the Ganges River on it. Legend has it that when the Ganges River descended to the earth it had first fallen on his head and flowed to the earth in seven ways, with a serpent wrapped around his neck. The mount was a large white bull. His stories are scattered in various texts. The followers of his sect worship him as the supreme god, with eight incarnations: earth, water, fire, wind, air, sun, moon, and sacrifice, who can create in addition to destroying. Buddhist texts refer to him as the Great Self-Realizer, who lives at the top of the *** and is the lord of the 3,000 realms. Shiva resides on Mount Kalashi (the sacred mountain of Gunjungpochin in Ali, Tibet, China), his mount is the bull Nandi, and his divine consort is the snowy mountain goddess Parvatī, also known as Umā (bright, beautiful). Shiva's consort originated from the indigenous mother goddesses of India, and like Shiva, is both fertile and destructive, with different appearances such as the gentle phase and the terrifying phase. The image of Parvati or Uma is that of a dainty and skillful wife. Durgā, another image of Shiva's consort, is a beautiful and murderous goddess of vengeance, who kills the buffalo demon Hirsha on behalf of the gods. Another figure, Kalī (the black goddess), is a grim-faced, blood-sacrificing, purely macabre god of death. Ganesh, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is the lovable elephant-headed god, and Skanda, the other son, is the great and handsome god of war who is brave and righteous. Skanda is the Buddhist protector of the heavens: Vedanta. Vedanta Bodhisattva: Sanskrit name Skanda, Pali name KHANDA, also known as General Vai, General Vai Tian, was originally a Brahmin god of war, with six heads and twelve arms, holding a bow and arrows, riding a peacock. Worship of the beliefs of the Waisang initially popular in South India, the fifth century after the spread to North India, was attracted to Mahayana Buddhism as a guardian deity, is one of the eight generals of the southern growth of the sky, ranked in the four heavenly kings under the thirty-two generals of the first. Vairocana was born intelligent and left the dust and desires early, and later converted to Buddhism and became the guardian deity of the Dharma. Legend has it that during the Tang Dynasty, Lawyer Dao Xuan had a meeting with a celestial being and mentioned that there was a General Wei under the Southern Heavenly King's ministry, thus sensing that he appeared as a protector of the Dharma, wearing armor and standing with his palms together and his pestle and mortar placed across his arm. Since then, statues of General Vairocana in the form of a heavenly general have been erected in Chinese dojos. The name "Shiva" appeared in the Hindu era, and his prototype is generally considered to be Rudra, the god of storms in the Vedic era. Shiva, also translated as "Shiva", means "mercy" and symbolizes "prosperity" and "good fortune", but at the same time symbolizes "destruction". He is also a symbol of "destruction". Buddhist literature calls him the Great Self-Realization Heaven, who lives at the top of the *** and is the lord of the three thousand realms. He has eight incarnations: earth, water, fire, wind, air, sun, moon, and sacrifice, and possesses the power of destruction and regeneration. Shiva is depicted with three eyes and four arms on one side, and is able to view every part of the world with ease. Shiva's dress is out of place compared to the other gods who are richly dressed. His face is majestic and handsome, with a very light complexion, long blue-black hair of an ascetic's tousled hair, adorned with the Ganges River and the moon on top of his head, and a necklace of skulls around his neck; he is half-naked, with a tiger's skin around his lower body, wrapped around a cobra, and armed with a trident and bow and arrows, he wanders among the tombs of ghosts and spirits. When he showed his horrible appearance, all beings in the universe would tremble. Therefore, he is called the "Lord of Spirits". In addition, Shiva has a more common image - Linga. The linga is the male genitalia, symbolizing rebirth. According to legend, Shiva did not take the creation of the world with Brahma seriously and went to the bottom of the sea to practice alone, but when he came out of the sea, he found that everything in the world had been arranged. When he came out of the sea, he found that everything had been arranged in the world. Angry, he cut off his genitals and threw them to the earth, and since then there has been the worship of Linga by the Indians. Although the name of the god of destruction sounds horrible, but Shiva is a multi-talented god - he is the originator of the Indian dance, and therefore is also honored as the "God of Dance". Shiva can perform 108 dances, divided into two main types: the soft female dance and the strong male dance. He likes to dance in times of joy and sorrow, either alone or with his wife. Usually Shiva dances in a circle of fire, with his hair flying upwards, with one foot on a gnome representing ignorance, and the other leg and hand twisting and swaying in the air in a marvelous and splendid manner. His right hand holds a drum, symbolizing life; his left palm holds a flame, symbolizing destruction. Therefore, in Shiva's hands, he holds the two elements of creation and destruction. The dance symbolizes both the glory of Shiva and the eternal movement of the universe, the movement is to make the universe immortal. At the end of an old age, he also accomplishes the destruction of the world by dancing the dance of Tandava and returning it to the spirit of the universe. Shiva As the god of destruction and devastation, Shiva naturally has the strongest fighting power among the gods. He practiced yoga at Jibhasa Peak in the Himalayas, acquiring the deepest knowledge and magical wisdom through the most rigorous austerities and the most thorough contemplation. At the same time, he possessed a powerful army, all of whose soldiers were made up of devils in horrifying forms. The third eye on his forehead was a weapon even more terrible than a nuclear bomb. This eye is usually closed, but when it opens, it will spew out fire of destructive rage, destroying everything in sight, even the gods are not immune. Even the gods are not spared. The goddess of love, who once seduced Shiva, was burnt to ashes by this eye. Shiva is also rich in self-sacrifice. When the Goddess Ganges descended from the snowy mountains to the earth, Shiva, in order to prevent the water from overpowering and drowning all living beings, personally caught the water with his head, letting the Ganges River flow for a thousand years between the locks of his hair, and then flow to the earth after the buffer. In addition, Shiva's mount is a white bull, and the trident in his hand is a symbol of lightning, which can drive away storms; the black bow and arrows on his back are capable of spreading the plague. The cobra wrapped around the body, more quickly rushed to the enemy to feed the poison. With these weapons, Shiva fought in all directions, killing countless demons and destroying Asura's three cities. Statue of Shiva in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA Shiva is the deity that best exemplifies the complex and two-faced nature of the Hindu gods. He has a dual character of good and evil, both irritable and gentle; both as the ferocious and terrible "Lord of Demons" to accept the "living sacrifice", but also as a loving and warm "Lord of all" to accept worship; both as the "Lord of the world" to accept worship; both as the "Lord of the world" to accept worship. "He is both a symbol of wisdom and an idol of the ignorant, an avenger and a protector, an energetic ideal man and an ascetic. He is an energetic ideal man, and an ascetic with little desire. When he goes berserk, his fury will make the whole universe tremble; when he is gentle, he has a strong sense of ***, and gives generous favors to people. To describe him in one sentence, he is absolutely strong and absolutely cool! In addition to the above, Shiva has many functions and diversions; he rules over storms and lightning, and bestows medicine and health; he is the god of animals and beasts, and represents fertility; he is also the god of wisdom and generosity, and the lord of songs and sacrifices. As the de facto most powerful god of Hinduism, Shiva possesses an unrivaled and noble position that surpasses the 333,300,000,000,000 gods of Hinduism and overlooks all beings in the heavens. Shiva's strange paradoxical charisma, the absence of evil, his deviant philosophy, his haughty and aloof personality, and the madness of his renunciation of all things, have made him an important character in many works of literature. He symbolizes the mysterious and furious forces of nature, and his simple and capricious and at the same time unfathomable character has mesmerized countless devotees. He is regarded as the supreme god of the universe by the Shiva sect of Hinduism, and is the most widely worshipped god in India among the lower classes. Iconography Shiva temple in the Hinduism of the existing icon, the most important, the most famous, is cast in the Churu era of Shiva bronze statue, known as Nataraja, meaning the king of the dance or the king of the dancers. Such statues were created in large numbers during the Jura period and continued in South India until the 12th century. In Hindu statues, Shiva is usually dressed as a yogic ascetic, ash-coated, with hair in a bun, a crescent moon on his head, a snake around his neck, a string of skulls on his chest, a tiger skin around his waist, and a trident, an axe, a tambourine, a club, or a doe in each of his four hands. He has a third eye on his forehead, which can shoot divine fire to burn everything to ashes. Legend has it that Kama, the god of love, disturbed Shiva when he was practicing austerities, and the divine fire ejected from Shiva's third eye burned the god of love to the bone, but the god of love didn't die, only that there was no form left, so it is said that love is formless. Shiva is shown dancing the celestial dance of creation and destruction of the world. His hair falls out in disarray as he dances, fluttering to the rhythm of the hourglass-mounted snare drum he holds in his right upper hand. Complementing this moment of creation is the simultaneous destruction of the universe, symbolized by the flames surrounding the chakra and the solitary flame in Shiva's left hand. This single flame reduces everything to nothingness: exactly in balance with the drum of creation in his right hand. The lower right hand indicates the need to comfort his devotees by making a reassuringly fearless gesture to bestow blessings. Further blessings are bestowed by the "elephant hand" (gaja hasta) of the lower left hand. This "flag" gesture consists of the fingers dropping down to caress the trunk of the elephant, here pointing to the left foot that is raised from the back of the ignorant dwarf. This symbolic gesture relieves the devotee from the sufferings of Māyā. Among many other interesting details, there is a skull adorning the crown of this deity, and a crescent moon, symbolizing Shiva's phased emergence into the cosmos and his constant presence there even when hidden. In his hair, which is interspersed with the ashes of the dead, Shiva takes on the Ganges River that falls from the sky - a miniature statue of the goddess Ganges stands on the right side of his hair. She is a hybrid mermaid statue with a female upper body and a mokoro lower body. The symbolism is endless, and for followers of Shivaism, this icon illustrates the mercy and power of the one who danced to create and destroy the universe. Weapons Shiva's most powerful weapon is the third eye on his forehead. This eye emits a fire that destroys everything in the universe, and in the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, it is written that Shiva once destroyed three giant castles in space with the fire emanating from the third eye. At the end of each cosmic period, Shiva opens his third eye, and all the gods and goddesses, men and animals in the universe are destroyed by his divine fire. In addition to his eye, which emits divine fire, Shiva has other types of weapons, namely a trident called the Binaka and a bow called the Ajagava. Not much is known about the latter two, except that "Binaka" is a symbol of lightning, meaning that Shiva is the god of storms. Shiva Swallows Poisonous Juice In Hindu mythology, gods live longer than mortals, but they do die. The gods have always been troubled by this problem, and later had a heated dispute with Asura. Brahma, in order to mediate this dispute, discussed with Asura and the gods, and decided to work together to stir the sea, so that the sea can be made to appear in the elixir of immortality - Sumer, and then the gods and Asura have succeeded in making the milky sea (because the sea has been stirred into the milky sea) appear in Sumer. Later, the gods and the asuras succeeded in making the Sea of Milk (because the sea had already been stirred into the Sea of Milk) appear as Sumeru, but near the end, the giant snake Brahma Suji, who was responsible for binding the highest mountain in the universe, Mount Sumeru, to stir up the sea, couldn't bear the severe pain, and spewed out an oceanic amount of poisonous juice from his mouth, which splashed down on the ground to form a river that flowed into the sea and poisoned beings in the three realms. The gods at their wits' end decided to find the great god Shiva to help, Shiva could not bear to let all beings suffer, had to swallow the poisonous juice into the mouth, the toxicity of the juice flowed through Shiva's throat, Shiva's neck burned into a greenish-black, so Shiva was also known as the Indian people "Nila Kanta", meaning green neck. Family Shiva's first wife was Sati, Sati was dissatisfied with his father Daksha's insults to Shiva and threw himself into the fire, Shiva learned that his wife in order to Daksha's humiliation of his own suicide, it is like a knife in the heart, hurt and desperate Shiva killed his husband Daksha, beheaded, and arson fire burning the heavens, dancing in the fire, intending to destroy the world. In order to protect the world, Vishnu used his magic to fight with Shiva and cut Sati's body into 50 pieces, which were scattered in the three worlds. At this time, Brahma also intervened to make peace for him and Shiva, feeling disillusioned, decided to go into the Himalayas to live in seclusion and isolate himself from the rest of the world. After Sati's death, she was reborn as the Snowy Mountain Goddess, the daughter of the Himalayas. (There is a legend that Shiva's wife was Tibi of the Triple Goddesses, and that Sati and the Snowy Mountain Goddess (Parvati) were two of Tibi's four incarnations. (The other two incarnations are the Mother of Difficulty and the Mother of Time). Giant idol sculpture of Shiva meditating in Bangalore The snowy mountain goddess put in countless efforts to get Shiva, who was disillusioned by the loss of his ex-wife Sati, to come back to his senses and remarry her. After a hundred years, and the snow mountain goddess in this long period of time for Shiva gave birth to a son Hatmala, also known as Murokunda, another son is the elephant god Ganesh Wife Symbol of India's greatest sacred river Ganges Ganges River Goddess of the Ganges River, dignified appearance, one side of the three eyes and four arms, dressed in a white sari, wearing a crown of jewels, a lotus flower in one hand, a kettle in the other hand, seated in the symbol of the river, the crocodile and the lotus flower above. The name of the Ganges is mentioned only twice in the Rig Veda, but during the period of the history books, the goddess Ganges gradually became extremely important. Legend has it that the waters of the Ganges are the shell of the universe that flowed into the three worlds from beyond the universe when it was pierced by the foot of the dwarf incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The scriptures say that Ganges was the daughter of Parvatarju Aja, the king of the snowy mountains, and thus she was the sister of Goddess Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva. The coming of the Ganges to earth is a very famous myth in India. Sagar, the king of Ayodhya, was a maharaja without an heir, so he practiced austerities for a long time and impressed Lord Shiva with the blessing of having 60,000 sons. When these 60,000 sons grew up, Maharaja Sagar resolved to perform a horse sacrifice, which would give one the invincible status of a celestial emperor. Fearing that the Maharaja would succeed in performing the sacrifice and take over his throne, Indra, the emperor of heaven, stole the horse used in the horse sacrifice. Indra took the horse to a lower world, put it next to the great sage Kapila (the progenitor of the School of Numerology), who was meditating, and left. The 60,000 princes searched the whole earth without finding the horse, so they dug a hole and came to the lower world. They found the horse next to the sage Kapila, so they decided that the sage was the one who had stolen the horse, and they began to beat the sage while he was in meditation. This atrocity enraged the sage and he burned all 60,000 princes to ashes with the fire of his divine powers. The sage Nārjuna Ardha, who was roaming around, told the Maharaja of Sagar about the burning of the princes. The Maharaja prayed to sage Kapila to forgive his son, so the sage advised him to bring the Ganges River to earth, and if his son was washed by the waters of the Ganges he would be resurrected and cleansed of all his sins. So the Maharaja passed on his throne to his only surviving son, and went to the forest himself for austerities, but because he died soon afterward, he was unsuccessful in inviting the Ganges to come down. His son then passed on his throne to the next generation of princes, Dalip. Prince Dalip had no son although he had two wives. He prayed for the blessings of Lord Shiva and was blessed with a son named Bhagavan Ijuat. Baji Iruat was very ugly in appearance, but when he came of age, he met a sage who gave him his blessings and became very handsome. He performed various austerities to the gods and prayed with devotion for an extremely long time. Finally the great god Shiva and the goddess Ganges were touched by him and decided to come to earth. But Baji Yijuat was afraid that the impact of the Ganges would crash the earth. The great Lord Shiva decided to catch the Ganges with his own head to lessen the impact of the river on the earth. The Ganges descended in three parts, she landed in the hair of Lord Shiva, who was seated in the Himalayas, and then Lord Shiva allowed one of the parts to flow down to the earth. Ba to Iruat blew the conch given to him by Lord Vishnu to divert the Ganges to the sea and then from the sea to the underworld, and all the 60,000 princes were resurrected by the washing of the Ganges. When the Ganges River flowed to the earth and the underground world, the beings in the heavenly world also prayed to Brahma to bring the Ganges River to the heaven, and they also needed the water of the Ganges River to purify their sins． For this reason Brahma promised them to keep a part of the Ganges in the heavenly realm as well. Thus the Ganges is known as Mandakri in heaven, Ganges on earth and Baji Yiju Ati underground. The Ganges has an extremely important place in the sacred texts. The Book of the Past declares that one can be cleansed of one's sins by either seeing, touching, or chanting the name of the Ganges. Those who bathe in the Ganges are blessed with the highest blessings. Not only can one be born in the heavenly realm by bathing in the holy river, but one can also be born in the heavenly realm by leaving one's hair, bones, etc. in the Ganges after death. The area through which the Ganges flows is also considered holy ground. Until now, cremation next to the Ganges River is considered the most auspicious by the Indians, who throw the burnt bones into the holy river, believing that this can help bring relief to the deceased. The water of the Ganges River is regarded as extremely sacred by the Hindus, and any Hindu who holds the water of the Ganges River in his hands will not dare to tell lies, so it is obvious that its status is very important. Shooting the god of love Shiva and the snowy mountain goddess had a love affair tens of thousands of years ago. At that time, the Snow Goddess was Sati, the daughter of Daksha, the son of Mahavira. Sati and Shiva's life was peaceful and carefree, but later, an incident happened that broke their beautiful life. Sati's father, Daksha, once held a great feast to which almost all the gods of the universe were invited, but not Shiva. Sati was very upset about this, and went to the feast to argue with her father in person, but the gods insulted Shiva. Sati was devastated and blamed herself for disgracing Shiva, so she threw herself into the fire and set herself on fire. Shiva was heartbroken to learn that his wife had committed suicide for his sake and decided to go into seclusion in the Himalayas. After 10,000 years, the dead Sati was reincarnated as the Snow Mountain Goddess. Due to the karma of her previous life, the Snow Mountain Goddess in this life still loves Shiva, but Shiva has become an ascetic with no desires and wants, and is indifferent to the love of the Snow Mountain Goddess. The snowy mountain goddess was at her wits' end and had to ask the god of love, Kama, for help. One day, the snowy mountain goddess, who loved Shiva y, went to the Himalayan mountain to pay homage to him. At that time, the goddess of love, Kama, holding a bow made of sugarcane, bees and butterflies, put on the arrows made of flowers, and shot at Shiva's heart, and Shiva, who had been hit by the arrows, was suddenly in love with the snowy mountain goddess in front of him. He was furious. The third eye on his forehead suddenly opened, emitting a divine fire that could destroy everything in the universe, burning Eros Gama to ashes. However, Eros Gama did not die because of this, only that he had to be a formless and faceless deity from now on, so Eros Gama was called "formless" by the Indians. Shiva Sect Shiva Sect, one of the Hindu sects, with Lord Shiva as the supreme deity. According to surviving documents, this sect had considerable power during the Kushan dynasty in the second century CE. Buddhist texts often contain references to ash-painted laymen who worship the Self-realized Heaven or the Great Self-realized Heaven, or laymen who use skulls as jewelry, etc. These are all practitioners of the Shiva school. The followers of this school have three horizontal lines painted on their foreheads, chests and wrists with ash or white sandalwood and saffron, and this mark is called Tripu爞 countenance. This is the most powerful of the modern Hindu sects, along with Vishnu. Sects Since the sixth and seventh centuries, the Shiva Sect has split into a number of branches with unique sacred texts and theology, among which the seven more important ones are summarized as follows: Sacred Texts of Shiva Sect Sacred Texts of Shiva Sect (Shiva Siddhanta, 愁椀瘀愀-siddhānta)：This sect is especially prevalent in Thamil in South India, and it possesses twenty-eight sacred texts such as the Kāmikāgama, all of them are said to be from the sacred texts of Lord Shiva, and they are said to have been written by Lord Shiva. All are said to have come from the mouth of Lord Shiva. In this school of theology, the world is divided into three principles: the Lord (pati), the domestic animal (pa甁), and the rope (pā sorrow). The "Lord" is Shiva, the supreme deity; the "domestic animal" is the individual self; and the "rope" is non-spiritual matter. The individual self is pure and free from all contamination, but due to the bondage of ignorance, karma and delusion, it sinks into the world of rebirth. We are blessed with the power and liberation by the grace of Lord Shiva. There are many saints of this school, the most famous being Appar, Niyana Bhandar of the seventh century, and Sundararar of the eighth or ninth century, who are often referred to as the "Three Saints". Manikabhashakar of the tenth century is also an important figure. Their hymns in the Tamil language were compiled into collections of hymns such as Tibaram or Tirbhachakam, which are still popular today, and are full of passionate faith and love for Lord Shiva. The theological achievements of this school are better known in the Shay Baba Shah, a commentary on the Brahma Sutras. Kashmiri Shiva Particularly prevalent in Kashmir, originally known as "Tolika". Originally the same as the Canonical Shiva School, this school has tended to emphasize non-dual monism since the Shiva Sutras were written by Baskhur Siddhartha in the ninth century, and the theological foundations were later laid by Baskhur Siddhartha's disciples, Bhadrakaratha and Soma Nandu. This school believes that the reincarnating individual self is identical with the Absolute (the supreme Shiva), and that we sink into the world of reincarnation because of our ignorance and inability to realize that we are one and the same as Shiva. Therefore, liberation is nothing but the overcoming of ignorance and the re-cognition of its identity. Therefore, this school is also known as the "Re-recognition School". A famous figure of this school is Abhinavamsa Shastra of the tenth century. He not only composed commentaries on several sacred texts, but also wrote theological works and extremely systematic works on aesthetics, such as treatises on poetry, opera, and music. The Beast Lord Sect The Beast Lord Sect (Pa甁瀀 countenance琀椀)：The founder of this sect, Lakrishya (birth and death dates unknown), was the twenty-eighth incarnation of the god Shiva, who wrote the fundamental sacred text, the Pashupada Sutra. Kavintinia wrote a detailed commentary on this sacred text. This school is based on the five principles of cause, effect, yoga, teaching (rituals), and the end of suffering. Cause" refers to Lord Shiva; "effect" refers to the Self; "yoga" refers to the unity of Lord Shiva with the Self; "ordinance" refers to the effort to seek Shiva and the Self; and "ritual" refers to the effort to seek Shiva. Yoga" refers to the unity of Lord Shiva with the Self; and "teaching" refers to the practice of seeking the unity of Lord Shiva with the Self. This school of practice is characterized by the willful performance of strange acts that the world is unwilling to perform. Sexual Power School Sexual Power School (ā欁琀愀): the practice of the sacred texts of the Tantra. Mercury Sect Rase: This sect believes that mercury is the elixir of immortality produced by the union of Lord Shiva and his consort. Taking mercury and practicing yoga will lead to liberation in life. Li朞āyata (also known as Vīra-Shiva, Vīra椀瘀愀): This sect was founded by Basava in the twelfth century, and is especially popular in Kalunadaka. The followers of this school often carried the symbol of Lord Shiva, Linga, and valued the favor of God, denied the class system, and abolished idolatry and formal rituals such as parade. Kāpālika School Kāpālika: This school has a unique practice of stringing human bones into headdresses. The monk Xuanzang, who traveled to India in the seventh century, witnessed practitioners of this sect. Characters from this sect often appear in medieval Sanskrit operas. Related Culture Siva Festival Siva Festival Hindu festival. Scheduled for the third night of the second half of the month of May in the Indian calendar (July and August), is the birth anniversary of Shiva. Shiva is one of the great gods of Hinduism. During the festival, people recite hymns in praise of Shiva and worship Shiva Linga (Shiva's male genitalia) at the Shiva Temple. Since Shiva is a man of austerity, devotees show their devotion by performing austerities and asceticism. Shiva's Dance Shiva is the master of the world's cycle of reincarnation, and his dance signals both destruction and rebirth. He dances with his hair flying wildly in unison with his movements and to the rhythm of the hourglass drum in his upper right hand. This rhythm is the sound of the heartbeat of the universe (moyen), created through the good deeds of the dance of creation. The universe itself is represented as the halo that surrounds this god, a halo that comes from the mouth of the multiplication of the mokoro at the base of the statue. Complementing this moment of creation is the simultaneous destruction of the universe, symbolized by the flames that border the halo and by a single flame held in the god's left hand. This single flame reduces everything to nothingness: it is precisely balanced by the drum of creation in the right hand of the god. The lower right hand signifies the reassuring fearlessness that precedes the preparation of the blessing to comfort his followers. Further confirmation of the blessing is the elephant sign (gaja hasta) of the lower left hand. This "flag" gesture consists of a hanging finger simulating the trunk of an elephant, here pointing to the left foot that literally springs up from the back of an ignorant dwarf. This symbolic gesture gives the devotee the hope of relieving Moya's suffering. Shiva Temple Built in Kathmandu's Durbar Square, the Shiva Temple is a three-story roofed building with a nine-story plinth. Built in 1690 during the Malla dynasty, the Shiva temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Shiva, the god of destruction, is worshipped by the Nepali people, and Shiva temples or temples dedicated to Shiva and his incarnations can be found all over the Kathmandu Valley. Inside the temple Lord Shiva and his consort goddesses stand next to an upstairs window overlooking pedestrians coming and going below. The temple was built by Bahadur Shah, son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, in the late 18th century. Shiva Temple Chinese Remains No records of Shivaism have been found in Yuan Dynasty literature. Since the 1930s, Quanzhou has repeatedly found more than 200 carved relics of Shivaism in the Yuan Dynasty***, especially in recent years, there have been repeated new discoveries, and at the end of 1984, scholars found a party of Shivaism stone carvings near the city wall of Tonghuaimen in Quanzhou. The stone is rectangular in shape, with a volume of 47×57×22 centimeters, and the quality of the stone is pyroxene. The main part of the stone is carved into a square niche in the shape of a house, with a bell-shaped decoration at the top of the niche, a lion's head at the top of the ridge, and a multi-layered lotus pillar carved under the house on each side, and a tower-like millstone carved in the middle of the niche, resting on the blooming lotus flower. Tower-like millboard left and right there is a god, head wearing a crown, neck necklace decorated with rosary beads, wrist bracelet ring, in the same position sitting on the lotus seat. The idol here is Siva, the Hindu god of destruction, or one of his followers, and the pagoda in the niche is Linga, the most basic incarnation of Siva (i.e., the male root). Shivaism believes that destruction must be followed by creation. Though Shiva is the god of destruction, he also has the power to create; the linga is its symbol. This stone carving belongs to the architectural ornamentation of Shivaism and is often embedded on the roof of the inner temple. A similar niche stone was collected by Wu Wenliang in the early 1950s. There are a lot of Shiva idols found around Quanzhou.