Abstract
Within the early records of human thought, one tends to find three major cosmogonic models. The first is the “mythological” model that imagines heroic figures who create Heaven and Earth and all the creatures therein. 1 The second is the “religious” model that envisions a supreme deity who makes the cosmos and humanity. The last is the “philosophical” approach, which asserts the world emerged from some foundational principle or substance. These three divergent cosmogonic modes of thought all appear to some degree within the traditions of early China. However, the historical relationship of these different perspectives remains extremely difficult to unravel.
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Notes
It has been generally understood that China’s “mythological thought” is comparatively underdeveloped, and that all major mythological records appear fairly late. However, following the discovery of the Warring States silk manuscripts at Changsha’s Chanziku, we now know that mythological creation narratives appeared much earlier. See Sarah Allen, The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (Albany: SUNY Press, 1997).
Examples of notable research include, Li Xueqin 李学勤, “Jingmen Guodian Chujian de jian Guan Yin yishuo” 荆门郭店楚简的见关尹 遗说, in Zhongguo zhexue 中国哲学 20 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1999)
Xing Wen 邢文, “Lun Guodian Laozi yu jinben Laozi de buyixi—Chujian Taiyi shengshui ji qi yiyi” 论郭店《老 子》与今本《老子》不属一系 —— 楚简《太一生水》及其意义, in Zhongguo zhexue 中国哲学 20 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1999)
Li Xueqin 李学勤, “Taiyi shengshui de shushu jieshi” 太一生 水的数术解释, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Pang Pu 庞朴, “Yizhong youji de yuzhou shengcheng tushi—jieshao Chujian Taiyi shengshui” 一种有机的宇宙 生成图式 —— 介绍楚简《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家 文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Xu Kangsheng 许抗 生, “Chu du Taiyi shengshui” 初读《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Li Ling 李零, “Du Guodian Chujian Taiyi shengshui” 读郭店楚简《太一生 水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
He Bilai 贺碧来, “Lun Taiyi shengshui” 论《太一 生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Carine Defoort 戴卡琳, “Taiyi shengshui chutan” 《 太一生水》初探, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Qiang Yu 强昱, “Taiyi shengshui yu gudai de Taiyi guan” 《太一生水》与古代的太一观, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Zhao Jianwei 赵 建伟, “Guodian Chumu zhujian Taiyi shengshui shuzheng” 郭店楚 墓竹简《太一生水》疏证, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Chen Guying 陈鼓应, “Taiyi shengshui yu Xing zi ming chu fawei” 《太一生水》与《性自命出》 发微, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999)
Pang Pu 庞朴, “Taiyi sheng shui shuo” 《太一生水》 说, in Zhongguo zhexue 中国哲学 21 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 2000)
Ye Haiyan 叶海烟, “Taiyi shengshui yu Zhuangzi de yuzhouguan” 《太一生水》与庄子的宇宙观, in Zhongguo zhexue 中 国哲学 21 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 2000)
Xing Wen 邢文, “Taiyi shengshui yu Huainanzi: Qianzaodu zai renshi” 《太一 生水》与《淮南子》 《乾凿度》再认识, in Zhongguo zhexue 中国 哲学 21 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 2000)
Sarah Allen, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi: New Light from Guodian,” in T’oung P’ao 89, no. 4/5 (2003): 237–285
Xiong Tieji 熊铁基, “Dui “shenming” de lishi kaocha—jianlun Taiyi shengshui de Daojia xingzhi” 对 “神明” 的历史考察 —— 兼论《太一生水》的道家性质, in Guodian Chujian guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 郭店楚简国际学 术研讨会论文集 (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 2000)
Peng Hao 彭浩, “Yi zhong xinde yuzhou shengcheng linian—du Taiyi shengshui” 一种新的宇宙生成理念 —— 读《太一生水》, in Guodian Chujian guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 郭店楚简国际学术研讨会论文 集 (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 2000)
Chen Songchang 陈松 长, “Taiyi shengshui kaolun” 《太一生水》考论, in Guodian Chujian guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 郭店楚简国际学术研讨会论文集 (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 2000)
Zhang Siqi 张思齐, “Taiyi shengshui yu Daojiao Xuanwu shenge” 太一生水与道教玄武神格, in Guodian Chujian guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 郭店楚简国际学术研 讨会论文集 (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 2000)
Yan Shian 颜 世安, “Dao yu ziran zhishi—tan Taiyi shengshui zai Daojia sixiangshi shang de diwei” 道与自然知识 —— 谈《太一生水》在道家思想史上 的地位, in Guodian Chujian guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 郭店楚简 国际学术研讨会论文集 (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 2000)
Qiu Xigui 裘锡圭, “Taiyi shengshui ‘mingzi’ zhang jieshi—jianlun Taiyi shengshui de fenzhang wenti” 《太一生水》 “名字” 章解释── 兼论《太一生水》的分章问题, in Zhongguo chutu guwenxian shijiang 中国出土古文献十讲 (Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2004)
Chen Wei 陈伟, “Taiyi shengshui jiaodu bing lun yu Laozi de guanxi” 《太一生水》校读并论与《老子》的关系, in Zhongguo chutu guwenxian shijiang 中国出土古文献十讲 (Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2004)
Wang Bo 王博, “Taiyi shengshui yangjiu” 《太一生水》研 究, in Zhongguo zhexue yu yixue—Zhu Bokun xiansheng bashi shouqing jinian wenji 中国哲学与易学 —— 朱伯崑先生八十寿庆纪念文集 (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2004).
For more on this, see Li Ling 李零 “Du Guodian Chujian Taiyi shengshui” 读郭店楚简《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化 研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999).
See Li Xueqin 李学勤, “Jingmen Guodian Chujian de jian Guan Yin yishuo” 荆门郭店楚简的见关尹遗说, in Zhongguo zhexue 中国哲学 20 (Liaoning: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1999).
Xu Zhongshu 徐中舒, ed. Jiaguwen zidian 甲骨文字典 (Chengdu: Sichuan cishu chubanshe, 1993), 1139–1141.
Wang Bi 王弼, Lou Yulie 楼宇烈 ed., Laozi Daodejing zhu jiaoshi 老子 道德经注校释 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2008), 56, 106.
Li Yuzhen 李毓珍, Qijing shisan pian jiaozhu 棋经十三篇校注 (Chengdu: Shurong qiyi chubanshe 蜀蓉棋艺出版社, 1988), 54.
Zhang Dainian 张岱年, Zhongguo gudian zhexue gainian fanchou gailun 中国古典哲学概念范畴概论 (Beijing: Zhonggong shehui kexue chubanshe, 1989), 55.
Schwartz once posited that the term Taiyi, something he translated as “The Great Unity,” appeared to be the origin of the Daoist mystical concept of the One. Benjamin I. Schwartz, The World of Ancient Thought in China (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1985), 375.
Zhang Dainian interprets the “Great,” in the Great One in the Zhuangzi passage mentioned above, as the “Way” and the One as the one in “The Way birthed the One.” See Zhang Dainian 张岱年, Zhongguo zhexue dagang 中国哲学大纲 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1982), 17, 29.
Zhang Zilie 张自烈 ed., Zhengzi tong 正字通, in Xuxiu Siku Quanshu 续修四库全书, Classics section vol. 234 (Shanghai: Shanghai guiji chubanshe, 2002), 244.
Ding Du ed., Ji Yun 集韵 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 517.
Guo Qingfan 郭庆藩, Zhuangzi jishi 庄子集释, vol. 2, Wang Xiaoyu 王孝鱼 ed. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), 1102–1103.
Gu Yanwu suggests the main meaing of Taiyi is “star palace,” but he never mentions the philosophical meaning of Taiyi. We feel that the sense of “star palace” developed from the term’s abstract philosophical and cosmic sense. See Gu Yanwu 顾炎武, Taiyi 太一, in Rizhilu jishi 日知录集释, vol. 2 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 30. 870.
Gu Jiegang 顾颉刚, Gu Jiegang gushi lunwenji 顾颉刚古史论文集, vol. 2 (Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1996), 55–57.
For detail on the following discussion, see Qiu Xigui 裘锡圭, “Taiyi shengshui ‘ming zi’ zhangjieshi—jianlun Taiyi shengshui de fenzhang wenti” 《太一生水》 “名字” 章解释 —— 兼论《太一生水》的 分章问题, in Zhongguo chutu wenxian shijiang 中国出土文献十讲 (Shanghai: Fudan Universeity Press, 2004), 248–251;
Li Ling 李零, “Du Guodian Chujian Taiyi shengshui” 读郭店楚简《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999), 319–320.
Concerning the meaning of water as a cultural and philosophic symbol, Sarah Allen has undertaken a thorough investigation. See Sarah Allen, The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (Albany: SUNY Press, 1997).
See Xu Kangsheng, “Chu du Taiyi shengshui” 初读《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999): 309.
Pang Pu 庞朴, “Yizhong youji de yuzhou shengcheng tushi—jieshao Chujian Taiyi shengshui” 一种有机的宇宙生成图式 —— 介绍楚简 《太一生水》, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999): 303.
Yang Bojun 杨伯峻, Liezi jishi 列子集释 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 31–32.
Li Ling 李零, ed., Hengxian 恒先, in Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhangguo Chu zhushu 上海博物馆藏战国楚竹简, vol. 3, edited by Ma Chengyuan 马承源 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2003), 288–299.
See Wang Bo 王博, “Taiyi shengshui yangjiu” 《太一生水》研究, in Zhongguo zhexue yu yixue—Zhu Bokun xiansheng bashi shouqing jinian wenji 中国哲学与易学 — 朱伯崑先生八十寿庆纪念文集 (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2004), 281.
See Ikeda Tomohisa 池田知久, ed. Kakuden Shokan no kenkyo 郭店 楚简之研究 vol. 1 (Daito Bunka University Press, 1999), 53–61
Li Ling 李零 Guodian Chujian jiaodu ji 郭店楚简校读记 (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2002), 38.
Guo Yi 郭沂, Guodia zhujian yu Xian Qin xueshu sixiang 郭店竹 简与先秦学术思想 (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe, 2001), 138.
Xu Yuangao 徐元诰, Guoyu jijie 国语集解 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2002), 504.
Sun Yirang 孙诒让, Mozi jiangu 墨子间诂 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 455.
Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 1:58. For an alternative translation, see Robin D. S. Yates, Five Lost Classics: Tao, Huanglao, and Yin-Yang in Han China (New York: Ballatine Books), 99.
Zhao Jianwei 赵建伟, “Guodian Chumu zhujian Taiyi shengshui shuzheng” 郭店楚墓竹简《太一生水》疏证, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道家文化研究 17 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1999), 388.
Li Ling 李零, Guodian Chujian xiaodu ji (xiuding ben) 郭店楚简 校读记 增订本 (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue chubanshe, 2007), 43; Zhao Jianwei, “Guodian Chumu zhujian Taiyi shengshui shuzheng,” 329.
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Wang, Z. (2016). The Cosmology of The Great One Birthed Water. In: Order in Early Chinese Excavated Texts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-54084-3_2
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