k EARLY MYTH AND THE GODDESS IN kk ANCIENT CHINA kIllustrations and map of ancient China are included on this titlepage and elsewhere in the registered version.⌐ 1994Ben BlumenbergReality SoftwarePO Box 105Waldoboro, ME 04572-0105H TABLE OF CONTENTS GJ INTRODUCTION: DYNASTIES TO 900 A.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2J CHINA C.550 B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4J CHINESE MYTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5J THE REALITY OF MYTH IN CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6J DID THE GODDESS LIVE IN CHINA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. 9J THE GODDESS IN YANG-SHAO AND DAWENKOU CULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10J MYTH AND THE GODDESS IN SHANG CULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11J ORACLE BONE INSCRIPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16J THE MAIMING OF THE KING: BUSKINS AND PARTRIDGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17J MYTH AND ICONOGRAPHY ON SHANG BRONZES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21J GODDESS FRAGMENTS IN EARLY TAOISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26J EARLY TAOIST MYTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27J CHOU DYNASTY BRONZES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30J THE QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY AND THE QUEEN MOTHER OF THE WEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34J N▄ KUA AS PRIMAL CREATRIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35J THE GODDESS OF SOVEREIGNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37J THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS OF ORCHID FRAGRANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40J WE HAVE CHOSEN A TIMELY DAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41J SOLAR GODS, SOLAR GODDESSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43J FEMALE SHAMANS AND SORCERESSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44J THE GODDESS OF WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47J THE GODDESS AS WEAVER OF FATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48J LO! HOLY CREATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 J THE DEATH OF THE GODDESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51J SHAMANS IN THE MING DYNASTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53J GODDESSES IN THE SHAMANIC MYTHS OF THE MANCHU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53J REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 H INTRODUCTION: DYNASTIES TO 900 A.D. HôIN ANCIENT CHINA, HOWEVER, WHERE THERE WAS NO CLEARLY DEFINED OTHER,SUPERNATURAL REALM, MYTH AND HISTORY WERE ALWAYS INSEPARABLE.ö1 DynastyDe Bary et al 1960 Chang 1977Keightley 1983Yang-shao Culture2 5700 - 2100 B.C. Fu Hsi3 2852 B.C. Shen Nung4 2737 B.C. Yellow Emperor5 2697 B.C. Yao 6 2357 B.C. Shun7 2255 B.C. Yⁿ8 2205 B.C. 1 Allen 1991: 23.2 The Yang-shao is the most prominent Neolithic culture of China, but by no means the only one, as aquick perusal of Barnes (1993) will reveal where the Yang-shao is only discussed as a pottery tradition.3 Fu Hsi is the mythical culture hero credited with the invention of writing, fishing nets, hunting, the EightTrigrams, music and musical instruments and cooking. He is depicted with animal features and laterbecomes the consort of the goddess Nⁿ Kua. Both deities are then depicted with serpentine lower bodies.He holds a carpenterÆs square and knotted rope (Birrell 1993: 42-46, 300; Williams 1976: 203-204). Aswith all the culture heroes in this table, assigned dates are legendary and, are not supported by eitherarcheological or modern interpretations of ancient texts. Fu Hsi was still worshipped in Nanking in theearly twentieth century (Williams 1976: 285).4 Shen Nung is the culture hero who invented agriculture and commerce.5 The Yellow Emperor named Chi was born of Shao Tien and was the half brother of the Flame Emperorwho he defeated in a contest for the whole world. He defeated ChÆih Yu, the god of war and many otherdeities but is depicted in later tradition as a peaceful culture bearer, where he is associated with boats,agriculture, the fire drill and musical instruments. The Yellow Emperor was taught the secrets of thecosmos and supernatural beings by the Beast of White Marsh and the art of warfare by the Dark Lady. Hebecame the supreme deity of Taoism (Birrell 1993: 130-137, 235-236, 314).6 Yao, also known as Fang Hsun, TÆao TÆang or TÆang is the first of the three sage kings of ChinaÆs mythicalGolden Age. His life became the model for the Confucian sage-king. Believing his own sons unworthy, hechose Shun as his successor (Birrell 1993: 138, 193, 238, 313-314).7 Shun, also known as ChÆung Hua, became the archetype of filial piety. Following the model of hismentor Yao, who made him heir over his own sons, Shun in turn passed over his sons for succession infavor of Yⁿ (Birrell 1993: 74-77, 167- 169, 310). He was said to be extraordinarily intelligent and to haddouble pupils in his eyes (Williams 1976: 359).8 Yⁿ, the last of the three demi-god sage kings, was born miraculously from his fatherÆs belly. Hecontrolled the devastating world flood, measured the world and divided it into Nine Provinces. He cast theNine Cauldrons and called the first assembly of the gods. He killed many beasts as a warrior and thenHsia Dynastyc.1900 - 1766 B.C.c.2010 - 1324 B.C.Shang Dynasty9 c.1766 - 1122 B.C.c.1722 - 1122 B.C.c.1460 - 1040 B.C.W. Chou Dynasty 1115 - 722 B.C.c.1122 - 770 B.C.E. Chou Dynasty 722 - 221 B.C. 770 - 221 B.C. Warring States 403 - 221 B.C.Barnes 1993ChÆin Dynasty 221 - 207 B.C. 221 - 206 B.C.Han Dynasty 202 B.C. - 220 A.D.221 B.C. - 220 A.D.3 Kingdoms, 6 Dynasties 220 - 589 A.D. 220 - 581 A.D.Sui Dynasty 589 - 618 A.D. 589 - 618 A.D.TÆang Dynasty 618 - 906 A.D. 618 - 906 A.D. metamorphosed into a bear. Yⁿ was also the founder of the Hsia Dynasty; he married the TÆu-shan girl whogave him a son from her stone womb (Birrell 1993: 146-159, 315).9 The founding dates for the Shang taken from de Bary et al (1960) and Chang (1977) reflect an older viewamong some archeologists that the Hsia Dynasty is but the earliest phase of the Shang.*CHINESE MYTH*SHANG DYNASTYHEAVEN - TI CHUN?1722 - 1460 - 1040 B.C.MULBERRY (Fu Sang) TREE (East)IN WHICH SIT THE TEN SUNS WHICH ARE BIRDS.As Ti K'u - Black BirdimpregnatesCONSORTRuo Tree (West)Jian Tree (axis mundi)Chien Ti gives birth toWang Hai (Shang ancestor).CONSORTHsi Ho - Mother of Ten SunsCONSORTChang Hsi - Mother Twelve MoonsCONSORTE Huang gives birth tofirst Sage King - Yao.BOW & ARROWYao orders Yi the Archerto shoot nine of the ten suns.CONSORTCHOU DYNASTIES(1122 - 222 B.C.)Chang Yuan gives (virgin) birth to Hou Chi -ONE Chou ancestor.SUNNu Kua and Fu HsiPrimeval CoupleHAN DYNASTY(202 B.C. - 220 A.D.)c Ben BlumenbergReality SoftwareWaldoboro, Maine 04572July 19,1994,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,g The Reality of Myth in China gôI ARGUE THAT BOTH THE MYTHS AND THE ART OF SUCH [MYTHOLOGICAL]SOCIETIES DERIVE DIRECTLY FROM THE RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE AND THAT BOTHNECESSARILY BREACH THE BOUNDS OF NATURAL REALITY AS A SIGN OF THEIRSACRED CHARACTER.ö10 ôMYTHS ARE NOT ISOLATED PHENOMENA. THEY EXIST WITHIN A SOCIAL ANDINTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE OUTSIDE OF WHICH THEY APPEAR INCOMPREHENSIBLEOR SIMPLY IRRATIONAL.ö11 The viewpoint that China is strangely devoid of obvious myth hascharacterized much of the academic Western view of early Chinese religionfor well over a century. Impressed by the I Ching and the philosophy ofConfucius, as well as the absence of the long mythological narrative socharacteristic of Classic civilizations in the West, Western scholars quickly identified thebrilliance of the Chinese mind at creating succinct, abstract philosophy and findingessential, pragmatic truths in the world about us. Ubiquitous ancestor worship became themodel for a tightly woven system of ethics and morality that was devoid of easilyidentifiable myth and it was applied both to the family, and the society at large, in the handsof Confucius. Where were the Gods? Where was the Goddess? KÆo (1993) sees threereasons why there is a widespread impression that China lacks a coherent mythology. 1)Historians cannot find in Chinese history the incredible bards and poets who populatedmost Western cultures and whose lives were devoted to the learning and then retellingand/or performing epic myths at a high level literary modality. There are no counterpartsin ancient Chinese society to such Western figures as Homer or Taliesin. Written Chinesemyth is fragmented, truncated and condensed and appears in comparatively late texts. 2)Pictographic in origin, early Chinese script could not embrace the sophisticated metaphorof myth and so mytho-poetics were ærestrictedÆ to an oral tradition.12 3) Early Chinesescholars viewed myth through a negative lens, particularly if they were Confucianists.Determined to remain grounded in pragmatic reality, myths were viewed with prejudiceand often dismissed as fanciful tales of little value and unable to contain deep meaning.More often than not, myths were converted into æhistoryÆ, a complicated process we shallexplore below.13 10 Allen 1991: 18.11 Allen 1991: 2312 This is hardly a good reason to believe myth cannot be found in ancient China, for such was thecircumstance in Mycenae, Archaic Greece and Celtic society until the early Middle Ages, to name just afew cultures with the same context.The evidence of gods, narrative myth and, more specifically, the Goddessherself is hard to find and is unlike the encyclopedic data that exists in theWest. ô ... (W)hy is there so little myth in early Chinese texts ... ?ö (Allen1991: ix) From the Neolithic until this century, the focus of Chinese cult and ritual hasbeen ancestor worship; people live on after death and will exercise power over the living.Deceased ancestors need food and provisions. Throughout the Neolithic in China, potteryvessels filled with grain were buried with the dead. The extraordinary bronze vessels ofthe Shang Dynasty were filled with food and buried in tombs. The elaborate and costlysystem of oracle bone divination supported by the court was used to determine theappropriate gifts to be made to the ancestors, in order to avoid their curses and make use oftheir powers to solve problems in this æworldÆ. While none of these premises is unknownin the West, the degree to which it dominated Chinese ritual is unknown elsewhere andserves to place Chinese mytho-poetics in a unique position. ôWithin this system, the spiritswere only important as they related to the living; they had no life of their own after death.There was no æotherÆ, supernatural world of gods who were different in kind from humanbeings and interacted with one anotherö (Allen 1991: 19).If we restrict the investigation to texts, it appears that the Chinese mind nevercontacted a pantheon of deities, each with complex lives, relationships andpersonal dramas. There could be no equivalent to the Greek pantheon situatedon Mt. Olympus, the epic adventures of Odysseus or the great cycles of Celtic myth.Furthermore, the endless fascinating dalliance of gods with mortals, both within andwithout the bedchamber, so characteristic of the West is nearly absent in China. There wasno First Eon in China when the gods inhabited the earth before they created mortals. TheChinese deities of early and Classic texts appear to be deceased mortals, ancestors whoexpanded their influence to include those not related to them.Another feature of the early texts from the Chou and Han Dynasties, which hasbeen recognized for nearly a century, is that they 1) do have a distinctlymythical aura; but 2) the buried mythical narratives, which are nearlyinvisible, appear to have been historicized for reasons that include the establishment of animperial genealogy of impeccable credentials.14 Important texts in China were neverviewed as the æword of GodÆ as is the Judeo-Christian Bible. They were livingdocuments, one of the highest achievements of the human mind, and could be edited andaltered by those competent to do so. This ongoing evolutionary process whichcharacterizes the history of these texts makes their analysis extremely complicated (cf.Allen 1991: 19-23). The assumption that myth derives from history is no longer tenable asa starting assumption that is not to be questioned. Many examples of this principle doabound; perhaps the most famous in the West is the legend of King Arthur. Nonetheless,this premise should be taken as working hypothesis to be corroborated with evidence, ifpossible, not as a fundamental premise about the direction of the mythic process. 13 The process of transforming an historical event or figure to æmythÆ because of the extraordinaryqualities inherent in the person or experience is fairly well known. That the reverse process is equallyimportant to a history of mythology is not well understood.14 Such a motive is widespread and may be found in cultures as diverse as Japan and Celtic Europe.ôIn fact, the world could be explained by the theory of yin and yang, withoutthe intervention of any god or personal spirit, by the reciprocal interactionof the two primordial substances which, in their transformations, producedall things. Before these grand cosmic laws, universal and immutable, the divinities of theofficial pantheon cut a poor figure. The Lord on High could still save himself by becomingmore and more depersonalized, to become simple Heaven, TÆien - which is to say, the firstand most general materialization of the yang, just as Sovereign Earth and, in general, allthe gods of the soil became the materialization of the yin. But there was no place for theothers. And as for the Lord on High himself, there was doubt that he could intervene inparticular cases. When Prince Ching of ChÆi was ill and thought to immolate his prayingpriest so as to send him to Shang-ti to eulogize his lord, the minister Yen-tzu dissuaded himby saying: æIf the Lord on High is all-powerful, [your priest] will be unable to deceive him.If he is not all-powerful, the priest will serve no purpose!ÆôLikewise, with regard to the souls of the dead, although nothing was saidflatly as to their existence, doubts were expressed about whether theyhad retained full consciousness; and the phrase æif the dead possessconsciousnessÆ recurs frequently in the writings at the end of the Chou. This trend ofthought resulted in a tendency to restrain, not the sacrifices and religious festivalsthemselves, but the conception people had of the role, always rather vague, which the godsand spirits played in the ceremonies of worship; and it tended to eliminate them from thephilosophical interpretations regarding the efficacy of the sacrificeö (Maspero 1978: 164-165).ôAltogether, from Chou times on, one sees manifested the characteristicattitude of the Chinese towards religious ideas and acts. Both wereaccepted (belief in the power of spirits and in the vengeance of ghosts,on the one hand, ritual acts and gestures, on the other) on the condition that they could begiven a rationalistic explanation, bringing no religious agency into play. This attitude, inwhich various superstitious practices and a theoretical rationalism were mixed in varyingdegrees, has remained that of cultivated Chinese to our own day ...ö (Maspero 1978: 168).Our eyes and perceptions are just beginning to be attuned to the search for arich mythology in China and the evidence is just beginning to come in.Several pioneer studies have laid the foundation for unveiling the gods andgoddesses of ancient China. GiradotÆs (1983) breakthrough study of mysticism in earlyTaoism has firmly established the existence of complex mythological fragments in one ofthe earliest surviving Chinese texts. The gods are there, although in a disjointed andincomplete form. We can assume, I think correctly, that a corpus of full-fledgedmythological narrative has been lost because it existed only in oral form and antedated thefirst written texts of the first millennium B.C. (Chou Dynasty). BirrellÆs (1993) masterfulsurvey of Chinese mythology is the result of decades of study which includes a deepimmersion in Classical Chinese texts, most of which will never see an English translation.AllenÆs (1991) study of the artifacts and iconography of the Shang Dynasty also mademasterful use of original language sources and the results are breathtaking. She hasuncovered the narratives which formed the earliest known cosmological myths of Chinawithin a society that used writing only for the purpose of recording divination.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _g Myth and the Goddess in Shang Culture gUntil recently, it was very difficult to find scholars who would give credenceto the existence of mythology in Shang Culture (Munsterberg, 1986: 19-34).We know that the morphology of early Chinese texts strongly suggests thatearly mythic narrative was transformed - historicized - by the literati of theChou Dynasty. If so, then if we are to have any chance at finding recognizable myth, wemust look at the one body of writing that has survived from the preceding Shang Dynasty,the oracle inscriptions on turtle plastrons and buffalo scapula. The early script employedin the Shang has been translated as well as oracle bone inscriptions. Unfortunately for ourquest, these inscriptions are about ritual propositions and the proper offerings to be madeto ancestors and nature spirits in order to influence important events. There are no stories,no epics, no tales of love, war and peace. We can reconstruct an arcane ritual practice inconsiderable detail but we do not know who loved, cried, hated and fought for whateverrationale, be it petty or grand . . . . .ARE YOU INTRIGUED? ARE YOU INTERESTED? DO YOU WANTTO EXPLORE EARLY MYTH AND THE GODDESS IN ANCIENTCHINA IN DEPTH? 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