Sunday, 7 January 2018

THE CHINESE CREATION MYTH.

In Chinese belief, the term "cosmogonic myth" is more accurate than "creation myth," since very few stories involve a creator deity or divine will and fundamentally it differs from monotheistic traditions.
The cosmogonic view perpetuated by Taoism appeared relatively late in Chinese history. In it, Tao is described as the ultimate force behind creation. With Tao, nothingness gave rise to existence, it gave rise to Yin and Yang, Yin-Yang gave rise to everything.
Another version is that of P'an Ku. This was an explanation offered by Taoist monks hundreds of years after Laozi; probably around 200CE. In this story, the universe begins as a cosmic egg. A god named P'an Ku, is hatched from a cosmic egg. As the god grew taller, the sky and the earth grew thicker and were separated further. After all this effort P'an Ku falls into pieces. Finally the god died and his body parts became different parts of the earth. His limbs become mountains, his blood the rivers, his breath the wind, his voice the thunder, his two eyes the sun and the moon, and the parasites on his body the
mankind.
Another version says that in the beginning was a huge egg containing Chaos and a mixture of Yin-Yang (female-male, cold-heat, dark-light, wet-dry, etc). Also within this Yin-Yang was P'an Ku who broke forth from the egg as a giant who separated the Yin-Yang into many opposites, including earth and sky. With a great chisel and a huge hammer, P'an Ku carved out the mountains, rivers, valleys, and oceans. He also made the sun, moon, and stars. When he died, after 18,000 years, it is said that the fleas became human beings. In short, the Chinese say that everything that is -is P'an Ku, and everything that P'an Ku is -is Yin-Yang.
Inspired by the cosmic harmony, Chinese thinkers have sought to codify this order in various ways. Whether to formulate thus underlying pattern through words and concepts or numbers and visual images has been debated since the Han dynasty.
The Book of Changes, for example, known as Yi-Jing, the oldest of the Chinese classics, explains the formation of the universe and the relationship of man to the universe. It sought to find symbolic and numerological parallels between the natural world and the Hexagrams used as a form of casting lots. Originally a prediction manual in the Western Zhou period (1000-750BC), over the course of the Warring States period and early imperial period (500-200BC) it was transformed into a cosmological text, with a series of commentaries known as the "Ten Wings." After becoming part of the Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the book was the subject of scholarly commentary and the basis for prediction practice for centuries across the Far East.
Fu Chin, in 2852BC, theorized how the Universe was formed, through his keen observation of environments and orbits of the sun, moon, and stars. He used symbols to represent his views. He said that Yin-Yang were derived from the same origin, in two opposite background of force and energy that make the universe at what it is.

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