Pangu Creates the World (Taoist creation myth)
The Pangu creation myth is a prominent Taoist narrative about the origins of the world, primarily documented in various versions, with the oldest dating back to the third century CE. The myth begins with a cosmic egg containing a primordial mass, within which the giant Pangu exists. After eighteen thousand years, the egg breaks, leading to the separation of the universe into the sky and the earth, symbolizing the Daoist principles of yin and yang. Pangu grows continuously, influencing the expansion of the universe over time. Upon his death, his body transforms into all aspects of the world, including mountains, rivers, and celestial bodies, illustrating a deep connection between the creator and the creation. While the myth incorporates elements from earlier traditions and has influenced other cultures, such as Japanese mythology, it has not universally defined Chinese cosmology. Scholars continue to explore its roots and connections to ancient beliefs, highlighting its significance within the broader context of Taoist philosophy and mythology.
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Pangu Creates the World (Taoist creation myth)
Author: Xu Zheng
Time Period: 1 CE–500 CE
Country or Culture: China
Genre: Myth
PLOT SUMMARY
The Chinese Daoist (Taoist) world creation myth about Pangu (Panku) exists in many different versions, with newer ones adding details to the oldest two transcribed in the third century CE. In the beginning, the world resembles an opaque swirling mass inside an egg. Inside this egg, Pangu is born. After eighteen thousand years, the egg breaks open. This happens either by itself or by Pangu wielding an ax from the inside, causing the shell to break.
As the egg splits, the primordial mass of the universe separates, either by itself or through Pangu’s ax. The result of this separation is shown to correspond to the Daoist principle of yin and yang. The clear part of the primordial mass of the world becomes the sky, or the heavens, expressing the male yang force. The murky part of the universe coalesces into the earth, resembling the female yin force.
Pangu stands in the middle of the emerged world. In the oldest version, he transforms himself by growing taller and bigger nine times every day, and acts like a god in heaven and as a wise man on earth. The universe expands. Every day for eighteen thousand years, the sky moves away from the earth by one zhang (3.2 meters or 10.5 feet), the earth grows one zhang wider, and Pangu grows taller by one zhang. He is often depicted as a hairy giant with horns on his head, wearing fur clothing. Later versions of the myth give Pangu four magical companions during this time: the turtle, the qilin or Chinese fire-unicorn, the dragon, and the phoenix.
After eighteen thousand years of growing, Pangu dies. In death, his body transforms itself to create the features of the world. Every intangible and tangible part of his body contributes to the creation of the known universe.
Pangu’s breath becomes the wind and the clouds, and his voice becomes the thunder. His left eye changes into the sun, and his right eye into the moon. His four extremities become the four directions of the compass. His main body transforms into five mountains. His blood turns into rivers and his sinews bestow features to the surface of the land. Pangu’s muscles become the fertile soil of fields. The hair and beard of Pangu turn into stars and planets. His skin and the hair on it become grasses and trees.
Pangu’s teeth and bones become bronze and jade rocks. His semen and his bone marrow turn into pearls and precious gemstones. From his sweat, rain and lakes are created. Finally, either the worms in his body or the insects dwelling in his fur clothes become the common people of the world.
SIGNIFICANCE
The two oldest versions of the Chinese myth about Pangu creating the world were written down by the Chinese Daoist author Xu Zheng (220–265 CE). The first part of the myth, with the cosmic egg breaking apart, is found in Xu’s chronicle Sanwu liji (record of the three and five). The second part, Pangu’s postmortem transformation into the features of the world, is told in Xu’s fragment Wu yun li nianji (annals of the five-phase cycles). Later classical writers added to the myth in their own works.
The oral origins and traditions of Pangu are subject to great contemporary scholarly debate. Some scholars believe that the myth’s core tale of the division of heaven and earth can be traced back to the Paleolithic, or Stone Age, in China. Evidence for this may be provided by the layout of the burial site of a fifth-millennium BCE shaman of China’s Yangshao culture found in Henan Province, China. This grave features a cosmogram with a separate round heaven and a square earth.
The transformation of Pangu’s body to make up the parts of the universe is likely to have been influenced by a similar myth, the Purusha sukta. This hymn is found in the tenth book, or mandala, of the Indian epic the Rig Veda. Here, the cosmic being Purusha creates the world from the tangible and intangible parts of his body. This act is strikingly similar to Pangu’s second act of creation. Though there are many variants in the details, there are stunning similarities. Both Purusha and Pangu, for example, create the sun from their eyes. After the Rig Veda was composed in the period from 1700 to 1100 BCE, it was passed down by an exact oral tradition for over two millennia. Many scholars believe knowledge of its myths not only travelled west to the Middle East and Europe, but to China as well. This view is supported by the evidence of a Pangu myth among the Miao and Yao people of southern China. From them, the myth may have travelled further north in China.
In the Pangu creation myth, the separation of the universe follows the core Daoist doctrine of the two complementary forces of yin and yang that order all life and existence. For this reason, many scholars believe that the Chinese Daoists, who began to flourish as an organized philosophical movement by the late second century CE, used some older myth material to give their myth of Pangu its distinct Daoist shape. In the form written down first by Xu Zheng, the Pangu myth describes how the Daoist order of the world came into existence.
Even though Daoism became very influential in China by the first half of the first millennium CE, Pangu’s myth never became a universally recognized or literally believed creation story in China. However, in the wake of Japan’s contact with China, especially during the Tang dynasty beginning in the seventh century CE, the myth of Pangu arrived in Japan. There, it strongly influenced Japanese creation mythology. Many scholars see significant Chinese influence on authentic Japanese myths transcribed in the opening of Japan’s Kojiki (711–712 CE), which tells of the beginning of the world. For example, when Izanagi-no-Mikoto washes his left eye, he gives birth to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the divine ancestress of Japan’s imperial line. As Izanagi washes his right eye, Tsukuyomi, the moon god, is born. The parallel to the transformation of Pangu’s eyes is obvious. Yet Izanagi gives birth to a third deity, Susanoo the storm god, through his nose, indicating the persistence of original Japanese myth material in the Kojiki as well.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chang, Kwang-chih. Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in China. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1983. Print.
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“Chinese Creation Myths.” Crystalinks. Ellie Crystal, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.
“Creation of Heaven and Earth by Pangu.” China Daily. China Daily, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 May 2013.
Yang, Lihui, and Deming An. Handbook of Chinese Mythology. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. 63–66. Print.