In the first, his skull, like the top of the eggshell, becomes the dome of the sky, and his body becomes the elements of the earth. They were engaged in this labour for 18,000 years and each day P'an Ku grew ten feet, using his own body as a pillar to force heaven and earth apart. According to a primitive Chinese myth, at the beginning of time, the universe had the shape of an egg. is that there is only one god out of these 4 myths… and that they’re all named in these short stories. Two great horns grew out of his head (the horned head is always the symbol of supernatural power in China); two long tusks grew from his upper jaw, and he was covered with hair. Phan Ku was the size of a giant. As the substance of the egg, Chaos is again the essential basis of creation, here forming the raw material in which the embryonic P'an Ku develops and the stuff from which he makes the basic things of the universe. And the rest, light and clear, drifted up to form the heavens. P'an Ku, A Chinese Creation Tale. The evidence for this is slender. He's a primeval sort of giant/god/man who grows for 18,000 years at the same rate the sky and earth are growing at … Long, long ago—not in a land before time, but a time before land—there was nothing in the universe except an enormous egg-shaped entity. Attributes of P'an Ku Contradictions P' an Ku: - Cosmic - Colossal - Filthy - Nu Kwa: Creator and Savior - Alternate versions of the story state that the top half of P'an Ku's egg became heaven and the bottom half became earth. Our new “Mythistory” series introduces you to the main characters of the marvelous legends of China. Time passed and nothing became something. Though at first glance the multiple myths of creation may appear to be different, they share traits such as a supreme god, multiple minor god for minor implications, and the idea that humanity was spawned from these creatures. The presentation follows a clear structure and can therefore be used exactly how it has been laid out. Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world's premier classical Chinese dance and music company, established in New York in 2006. The idea of how we came about, why are we here, where did we come from, are universe in almost every society and culture encountered through history. WHEN P'AN KU wept his tears became the Yellow River, and V when he died his body formed the five sacred mountains of China. Yang formed the sky and Yin condensed to become the Earth. Senior Scholar Wei Juxian states that the Pangu story is derived from Western Zhou Dynasty stories 1000 years earlier. After 18,000 years Pan-Ku died. When the separation was complete and they had settled in their places, P'an Ku died. For 5,000 years, divine culture flourished in the land of China. This toil, the conscientious giant endured for another six million five hundred and seventy thousand days, or another 18,000 years, until he was certain that the realms were finally stabilized. P'an Ku had to stand between them holding up the heavens to keep them from colliding with the earth. Chinese Creation story starts with an egg.But before we begin with retelling this story, its important to understand that within the Chinese Society, there are many stories around creation. But Pan Gu was anxious that the halves would close up again, and so he stood between the two halves to keep them apart. Modern versions of the myth can be traced back to Xu Zheng, an ancient Chinese author and government official who lived during the Three Kingdoms period, who was the first person to record it in writing. The two variant endings of the myth show P'an Ku creating the world by self sacrifice. Phan Ku Creator a Chinese tale. The Earth and sky were all mushed together as Chaos. It is said that P'an Ku's image can still be seen in a cave cherished by the Miao tribe in the Mountains of Kuangsi, and that along with the image of P'an Ku stand also images of the three great sovereigns who followed him: the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of Earth, and the Lord of Man. He piled up the mountains on the earth and dug the valleys deep, and made courses for the rivers. I. He opened his eyes, but saw only pitch-blackness. T'ai Mountain, in the east, rose from his head; Sung Mountain, in the center, from his body; Heng Mountain of the north rose from his right arm, Heng Mountain of the south from his left; Hua Mountain in the west grew out of his feet. IV. Nugua - created men and woman Modeled after clay. It may seem that every culture has its own tale about the creation of the world and the beginnings of mankind -- and China is no different. These included at least one fu,a type of rhymed prose that had been developed during the Han dynasty. A full 60 minute lesson covering The Chinese Creation Story. Copyright ©2021 Shen Yun Performing Arts. Then, from his body, he made the world a better place with mountains, rivers, winds and clouds, thunder, the sun and moon, stars, rain, and dew. Through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is reviving this glorious culture. A full 60 minute lesson covering The Chinese Creation Story. The walls of the egg became a prison. (In the second, more local variant, P'an Ku's body forms the five sacred mountains of China.) Time passed and something split in two: the two were male and female. He also compiled an account of a conference held at court in 79. This video is unavailable. Pan Gu sacrificed his life to create the world and his body to enrich and beautify it. Then with a great crash, Pan Gu lay down and died. Chinese Myths and Fantasies Retold by Cyril Birch: Heaven and Earth and Man (Page 3-8) There are some consistent themes I recognize in the Chinese Creation Myth. Every day the sky and earth got 10,000ft further from each other, as P'an Ku also grew and held it … He chiseled the land and sky apart. He taught mankind to build boats and showed him how to throw bridges over rivers, and he told them the secrets of the precious stones. Godchecker guide to Pan Gu (also known as P'an-Ku), the Chinese God of Creation from Chinese mythology. Through it, of course, the sacrality of the world is established, but there is an implicit notion of tremendous sacrifice and loss, the irrevocable end of the golden age when the creator god existed. He was the first being. AT FIRST there was nothing. P'an Ku In this creation story from the southwest region of China (maybe foreign), the "Hun Tun" (cosmic mess) is pictured to be concealed in an egg, where P'an Ku was formed. From his saliva or sweat came rain. Pan Ku also wrote other compositions. Pattern of Creation Chaos came before Zeus Tiamat of Pangu is a prominent figure in Chinese creation mythology. Given its fecundity, one presumes it was conceived as an indistinct mass–as Chaos or "no-thing," the potentiality of all matter–rather than as the absence or negation of matter. Ancient China was a land where gods and mortals lived in tandem and created a divinely inspired culture. His breath became the wind and clouds, his eyes became the sun and moon. In it, the King Zhao of Chu asked Guanshefu a question: "What did ancient classic "Zhou Shu" mean by the se… Only his death could perfect the universe: from his skull was shaped the dome of the sky, and from his flesh was formed the soil of the fields; from his bones came the rocks, from his blood the rivers and seas; from his hair came all vegetation. How does P'an Ku describe the creation story? Slowly, yin and yang began to separate. Then P’an Ku grabbed an axe (which appeared from who knows where). It was not yet developed, and it was called Phan Ku. The most conspicuous figure in Chinese cosmogony is P’an Ku. FOUR VERSIONS OF THE MYTH OF P'AN KU. Some say that Pan Gu’s spirit never ceased but turned into humans, which accounts for the ancient Chinese belief that humans are the soul of all matter. Inside the “egg,” the opposite forces of yin and yang were all scrambled; it was a complete mess. And so it became that early Chinese history and mythology are wholly intertwined. Watch Queue Queue Now the skies are graced with luminous celestial bodies, the Earth, contoured by great mountains and rivers and flora and fauna galore. 200 "He came from the south, travelling north, making animals and birds as he passed along" There names were Kabezya-Mpungu, God, P’an ku, and old man. Chinese creation myths are symbolic narratives about the origins of the universe, earth, and life. As the weary Pan Gu collapsed, a miraculous transformation took place: his final breath turned into winds and clouds; his voice into rumbling thunder; his left eye blazed into the sun and right eye gleamed into the moon; his hair and beard became stars of the Milky Way; his limbs and hands and feet transformed into great mountains and the blood running through his veins into flowing rivers; his flesh converted into fertile farmlands, his bones turned to precious gems and minerals; his teeth and nails became lustrous metals; the hairs on his skin burgeoned into lush vegetation; and the sweat from his extended labors fell as rainwater for the mortal world. He is hatched from a cosmic egg. P’an Ku is pictured as a man of dwarfish stature clothed in bearskin, or merely in leaves or with an apron of leaves. Within the egg was a great mass called no thing. In his right hand he holds a hammer and in his left a chisel (sometimes these are reversed), the only implements he used in carrying out his great task. Inside the egg was Chaos, and floating in Chaos was P'an Ku, the Undeveloped, the divine Embryo. All Rights Reserved. A variation of this myth envisages an equally close bond between P'an Ku and Chaos. Among his acts of creation were the separation of the earth and sky, the placement of the stars and planets in the heavens, and the shaping of the earth's surface. Ugandan Tale, The Creation of the World. To this day, the Zhuang people sing a traditional song about Pangu creating the Heaven and Earth. This presentation includes: Differentiated learning objectives, activities and outcomes A range of images and a video clip A range of AFL activities for pupils to complete with the lesson A starter, main activity and a plenary. High above ride the sun and moon and stars in the sky where P'an Ku placed them; below roll the four seas. II. According to Chinese ideas, he was the offspring of the original dual powers of Nature, the yin and the yang, which, having in some incomprehensible way produced him, set him the task of giving form to Chaos and “making the heavens and the earth.” And from the vermin which covered his body came forth mankind. But over time, the interactions between various substances and energies eventually conceived a being—a shaggy, horned giant named Pan Gu. Shen Yun, or 神韻, can be translated as: “The beauty of divine beings dancing.”, Ne Zha - The Most Unusual Boy in Chinese Mythology. From the third to the sixth century A.D., particularly in southern China, a popular creation myth centered around the immense generative power and fertility of the god P'an Ku. Taoistsymbols, such as the Bagua, are associated with Pangu in these shrines. Pan Gu, Wade-Giles romanization P’an Ku, also spelled Pangu, central figure in Chinese Daoist legends of creation. While it is claimed in the first of four versions of this myth that P'an Ku arose out of "nothing," that void was indeed a rich one. FIRST there was the great cosmic egg. Everything dark and heavy sank down to form the Earth. However, most if not all of these are modern creations built since the 1970s. For 18,000 years P'an Ku grew 10 feet a day and separated heaven and earth. In this instance, the beginning is depicted as a cosmic egg–a principle of fertility, or wholeness and duality–from which the creator springs forth. P'an ku: The Chinese Creation Myth. (from Maria Leach, The Beginning [New York, Funk and Wagnalls: 1956], pp. The egg split into two with a thunderous crack. P'an Ku Man born of an egg that spread into two parts - Heaven and Earth. In all versions of the myth, Pangu and the universe are described as emerging from an egg; there are discrepancies, however, as to how Pangu manages to free himself and … She got bored When the egg broke, a giant, Pan-Ku, came out of it along with two basic elements: Yin and Yang. Giant Creator God born of the Cosmic Egg His breath was the wind; his voice made thunder; his right eye became the moon, his left eye, the sun. Yin and Yang. He started as something infinitely small but gradually he became larger and larger until eventually his vast arms came up against the sides of the everything egg. 224-26.). Pan Gu sacrificed his life to create the world and his body to enrich and beautify it. The identity of the world with the sacrificed body of a god is a powerful concept. While it is claimed in the first of four versions of this myth that P'an Ku arose out of "nothing," that void was indeed a rich one. He grows taller each day for 18,000 years, gradually pushing them apart until they reach their appointed places. Three main views emerge to describe the origin of the Pangu myth. According to Chinese legend, the mighty Pangu, above, broke through the chaos with his strength and axe to create the world as we know it. III. THE WORLD was never finished until P'an Ku died. Inside no thing was something not yet born. Chinese Creation myths, though created in a remote area of the world and …show more content… The "light" parts of the egg, the yang, rose and formed the heavens while the "heavy" parts of the egg, the yin, sank and formed the earth (Shan 1). For 18,000 years, Pan Gu (pan goo) slept and grew. It performs classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance, with orchestral accompaniment and solo performers. The four myths were Chinese, Ugandan, Blackfoot Indian, and the Book of Genesis. Pan-Ku. When P'an Ku woke, he was disappointed in what he say so he picked up the sky and separated it from the earth. The origin of the Pangu myth has been much debated. Pan Ku's account of the discussions is entitled, in brief, the Po hu t'ung,or White Tige… He was the Great Creator. The Pangu King Temple built in 1809 is located in Guangdong Province, northwest Huadu District (west of G106 / north of S118), north of Shiling Town at the foot of t… Pan Gu found his dreary surroundings highly disturbing. This was the second occasion that a Chinese emperor had convened a formal meeting of scholars to discuss problems which concerned the authenticity and interpretation of certain versions of early Chinese canonical writings. And Pan Gu, the giant-god who came out of an egg, is nowhere, yet everywhere to be found. It is said that the turtle helped Pangu (also known as P’an Ku) create the world: the creator goddess Nuwa or Nugua cuts the legs off a sea turtle and uses them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong destroys the mountain that had supported the sky. And P'an Ku burst out of the egg, four times larger than any man today, with an adze in his hand (or a hammer and chisel) with which he fashioned the world. In these shrines, Pangu is usually depicted in stereotypical "caveman" regalia, with leopard-skin tunics and long hair. He it was who chiselled the universe out of Chaos. Pangu is worshipped at a number of shrines in contemporary China. Now the skies are graced with luminous celestial bodies, the Earth, contoured by great mountains and rivers and flora and fauna galore. When he died his body parts became the universe. Flustered, Pan Gu conjured a magical ax and landed upon the egg a mighty chop. The vermin on his body are transformed into humans who are thus still nourished by his being. And Pan Gu, the giant-god who came out of an egg, is nowhere, yet everywhere to be found. Pangu (simplified Chinese: 盘古; traditional Chinese: 盤古; pinyin: Pángǔ; Wade–Giles: P'an-ku) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers. Following the lead taken by some media and other organizations, we are now also referring to the coronavirus as "the CCP virus," as it is the Chinese Communist Party's mismanagement and cover-up that has led to the global pandemic. Half the shell is above him as the sky, the other half below him as the earth. One day, he suddenly awoke. Phan Ku - P'an Ku Of various creation stories which evolve in China, the most striking is that of P'an Ku. P'an Ku went to work at once, mightily, to put the world in order. P'an Ku Chinese Creator with Eb Major Scale in Music Athermas: Zorzos, Gregory: 9781480099333: Books - Amazon.ca The space of the universe was in the shape of a hen's egg. It was a lonely and strenuous job. 200 "Do you want to condemn my creatures, the lions, the tigers, and the serpents, to see nothing of the world I made?" With each passing day, the sky rose 10 feet further above him, the Earth thickened 10 feet below him, and Pan Gu himself grew 10 feet just to keep up with the growing expanse and hold on. Pangu is an important figure to a number of minority ethnic groups in China, and each has their own oral version of his creation myth. In no time, Phan Ku burst from the egg. He strained his ears, but heard only unnerving silence. From the third to the sixth century A.D., particularly in southern China, a popular creation myth centered around the immense generative power and fertility of the god P'an Ku. The little embryo became a vast god. In Chinese mythology, Pan Gu was the first living creature and the creator of the world. Pan Gu, the first man, is said to have come forth from chaos (an egg) with two horns, two tusks, and a hairy body. The concepts of divinity and creation have existed since the dawn of human conscious, yet despite our supposed differences each tale shares surprisingly similar traits. One was when P’an Ku died after creating the Earth. He cites the story of Zhong and Li in the "Chuyu" section of the ancient classics Guoyu. He has two horns on his head. These two produced two more, and these two produced P'an Ku, the first being, the Great Man, the Creator. The first is that the story is indigenous, and developed or was transmitted through time to Xu Zheng. P’an Ku slowly grew and grew. Out of those myths there are only two similarities. 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