Chinese creation myth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Chinese creation myths explain the legendary beginnings of the universe, earth, and life.

Contents

1 Mythology 2 Cosmogony 3 References 4 External links

Mythology

Sancai Tuhui's portrait of Pangu Early Chinese texts recorded fragments of creation stories. The Zhuangzi and Huainanzi cosmogonically mention Hundun. The Shujing and Guoyu describe the separation of Heaven and Earth during the legendary era of Zhuanxu. The Huainanzi and Chuci say that Nwa created the first humans from yellow clay and repaired the fallen pillars of Heaven (cf. Axis mundi).

One of the most popular creation myths in Chinese mythology describes Pangu separating the world egg-like Hundun "primordial chaos" into Heaven and Earth. However, none of the ancient Chinese classics mentions the Pangu myth, which was first recorded in the (3rd century CE) Sanwu Liji "Record of Cycles in Threes and Fives", written by Three Kingdoms period Daoist author Xu Zheng. Derk Bodde, who linked the myth to the ancestral mythologies of the Miao people and Yao people in southern China, paraphrases. Heaven and Earth were once inextricably commingled (hun-tun) like a chicken's egg, within which was engendered P'an-ku (a name perhaps meaning "Coiled-up Antiquity"). After 18,000 years, this inchoate mass split apart, what was bright and light forming Heaven, and what was dark and heavy forming Earth. Thereafter, during another 18,000 years, Heaven daily increased ten feet in height, Earth daily increased ten feet in thickness, and P'an-ku, between the two, daily increased ten feet in size. This is how Heaven and Earth came to be separated by their present distance of 9 million li (roughly 30,000 English miles). (1961:3823)

Cosmogony

The (ca. 4th century BCE) Daodejing suggests a less mythical Chinese cosmogony and has some of the earliest allusions to creation. There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent amorphous it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. Not knowing its name, I style it the "Way." (tr. Mair 1990:90) The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. The myriad creatures bear yin on their back and embrace yang in their bosoms. They neutralize these vapors and thereby achieve harmony. (tr. Mair 1990:9)

Later Daoists interpreted this sequence to mean the Dao "Way", formless Wuji "Without Ultimate", unitary Taiji "Great Ultimate", and binary yin and yang or Heaven and Earth. The (ca. 4th-3rd centuries BCE) Taiyi Shengshui "Great One gave birth to water", a Daoist text recently excavated in the Guodian Chu Slips, offers an alternate creation myth, but analysis remains uncertain.

Zhou's Taiji tushuo diagram The (ca. 120 CE) Lingxian , by the polymath Zhang Heng, thoroughly accounts for the creation of Heaven and Earth. Before the Great Plainness (or Great Basis, Taisu ) came to be, there was dark limpidity and mysterious quiescence, dim and dark. No image of it can be formed. Its midst was void; its exterior was non-existence. Things remained thus for long ages; this is called obscurity (mingxing ). It was the root of the Dao. When the stem of the Dao had been grown, creatures came into being and shapes were formed. At this stage, the original qi split and divided, hard and soft first divided, pure and turbid took up different positions. Heaven formed on the outside, and Earth became fixed within. Heaven took it body from the Yang, so it was round and in motion; Earth took its body from the Yin, so it was flat and quiescent. Through motion there was action and giving forth; through quiescence there was conjoining and transformation. Through binding together there was fertilization, and in time all the kinds of things were brought to growth. This is called the Great Origin (Taiyuan ). It was the fruition of the Dao. (tr. Cullen 2008:47) The Neo-Confucianist philosopher Zhou Dunyi provided a multifaceted cosmology in his Taiji tushuo "Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate", which integrated the Yijing with Daoism and Chinese Buddhism.