The Religions Book

38

See also: Created for a purpose 32 ■ The burden of observance 50

■ The Five Great Vows 68–71

M

ost societies have

developed a system

of morality based

on an appeal to notions of human

goodness, reinforced by sanctions

from religious and social authorites.

Very few cultures have existed

where ideas such as crime and

warfare are unknown, but the few

that have been found have been

tribal peoples eking out a hunter-

gatherer existence in the rainforest.

One such tribe is the Chewong of

Peninsular Malaysia, whose first

contact with Europeans was in

the 1930s. They now number

around 350 people.

The Chewong are nonviolent

and noncompetitive; their

language has no words for war,

fight, crime, or punishment. They

believe the first human beings

were taught the right way to live

by their culture hero Yinlugen Bud

—a forest spirit who existed before

the first humans. Yinlugen Bud

gave the Chewong their most

important rule, maro, which

specifies that food must always

be shared. To eat alone is regarded

as both dangerous and wrong.

Only by looking after the entire

population in a spirit of fairness

and sharing can the group hope

to survive. The Chewong believe

that violation of their moral code—

by not sharing food, by showing

anger at misfortune, by expressing

anticipation of pleasure, or by

nursing ungratified desires—will

have supernatural repercussions

such as illness, or physical or

psychic attack, either by a tiger,

snake, or poisonous millipede, or

the ruwai or soul of the animal. ■

IN CONTEXT

KEY BELIEVERS

Chewong

WHEN AND WHERE

From 3000 BCE,

Peninsular Malaysia

BEFORE

From prehistory The

Chewong are one of the 18

indigenous tribes of Peninsular

Malaysia collectively known as

the Orang Asli—the “original

people”. Each tribe has its

own language and culture.

AFTER

1930s Europeans first

encounter the Chewong;

contact with Chinese and

other Malay ethnic groups is

also very restricted until this

time because of the tribe’s

remote forest location.

From 1950s Chewong come

under pressure to assimilate

themselves into mainstream

Malay society and convert to

Islam; many choose to retain

their traditional practices.

Human beings should

never eat alone. You must

always share with others.

Yinlugen Bud

WE SHOULD

BE GOOD

LIVING IN HARMONY