Chinese mythology defines the whole of mythological and legendary myths, beliefs and historical understanding accumulated by Chinese folk and culture.
It is a combination of Chinese mythology, history, legends and myths.
Historians assume that Chinese mythology began to form around the 12th century BC.
The most important part of Chinese mythology appeared later in the written period.
Looking at the history of East Asia, it is seen that Chinese, Japanese and Korean histories begin with mythology and
that no exact distinction can be made between historical personalities and legendary personalities.
The origin of the tribes that formed the Chinese nation by settling along the yellow river valley is still open to study.
These early settlers were
adventurous people, no matter where they came from.
We come across them scattered along the Yangtze river, around the current city of hankou,
and far east of the zhejang hills.
The general belief, which emerged as a result of the first contemporary studies of Chinese mythology,
was that the Chinese culture contained a very small and ineffective mythology different from other cultures.
The greatest evidence for this was that references to Chinese myths are often quite fragmented in ancient Chinese texts.
While it is unlikely to mention a whole myth in these inscriptions, major mythical themes do not stand out either.
In addition, the ancient Chinese script is largely non-narrative and avoids the epic tone
epic narratives are rather weak
Although various studies in later periods have concluded that cosmology, religion and philosophy occupy
a much greater place and importance in texts than mythology and it is possible that a religious culture can emerge without mythology,
this Chinese religious thought does not contain a mythology and there is Chinese mythology. does not mean that it is not or is weak.
Beginnings and ends are of great importance in Chinese mythology.
This is evident from the various creation myths and
many myths about the origin of events, inventions, and living things.
Other important elements in Chinese mythology are universal catastrophes and new
that may result from them creation situations.
Chinese mythology differed with the spread of Buddhism in China.
For this reason, pre-Buddhist Chinese mythology
and post-Buddhist Chinese mythology, although very similar, contain differences, and
synchterism is common in post-Buddhist Chinese mythology.
Sources of pre-Buddhist Chinese mythology are scarce, and
most of the work in this area today is from Confucian texts, which may be relatively newer than when it was the subject.
Chinese mythology has a very intense political character;
later Confucian scholars and writers generally interpreted myths as political and historical realities;
they attributed political and historical meanings to them.
For example, they recorded their political and social ideas such as "good emperor" and "bad emperor" as historical lessons
of advice and advice in these myths.
Before getting into Chinese mythology and Taoism,
let's start by getting to know some important mythological beings in Chinese mythology.
In Chinese mythology, Buddhism had a polytheistic character at the time of its arrival,
and despite the blending of beliefs and great differences in local communities,
countless gods and goddesses were believed, each associated with a separate subject and task.
But over time they took on the role of spiritual beings and their numbers dwindled.
Some important gods and goddesses are as follows;
First of all, there is a trilogy in Chinese mythology as in many mythologies.
Known as the Taoist trilogy and called the "three purities", this trilogy
consists of Tien pao, Ling pao, and Shen pao.
Guanyin One of
China's most beloved and best known gods, Guanyin
is called the "Goddess of Mercy".
It is believed to help those in a difficult situation, those in distress and suffering,
the hungry, and all those who need Him.
Jade Emperor
Considered the greatest god of Chinese mythology, Jade Emperor;
He rules the entire cosmos and lives with his family in a magnificent palace at the top of heaven.
He governs all other gods and goddesses in Chinese mythological stories.
Wang Mu Niang Niang is the wife of the Jade Emperor, the greatest god in Chinese mythology.
It is also known as the Queen of the West.
She is the goddess of happiness, health and long life.
He gives orders to all other goddesses with the name of his wife.
If he wishes, he can give people eternal life.
Yan WangYan Wang also known as theDeath King; He is the mythological Chinese god who ruled the underworld, that is, Hell.
He records the life and death of all people.
The god of Hell punishes people according to their mistakes after their death.
Dragon King is the god known as Dragon King or Long Wang, who rules the seas.
He rules all living things in the water. Dragon King is also the god who controls rain and wind.
He takes his orders directly from the Jade Emperor.
Nüwa
According to the mythological Chinese belief, all humans were created by Nüwa.
By shaping the yellow mud, he breathed spirit into it and created man.
It controls the sky with the powers it has.
Nezha, one of the most beloved gods in Chinese mythology, is the god of youth.
He is one of the heavenly generals. He helped the Monkey King fight the wicked.
Caishen is the
god of abundance, fertility and wealth in Chinese Mythology.
Especially many Chinese and businessmen make offerings to Caishen to fulfill their wishes.
Zao Shen is the
god of cuisine in Chinese mythology.
It is represented by an article prepared by the most prestigious woman of the household.
Responsible for the happiness and well-being of the homes.
Niu Lang / Zhi Nu
Chinese mythology cupid and goddess of love.
In Chinese culture, many people pray to them to find the love and happiness they seek.
Now let's come to Taoism. Taosim originated in the lands of China today and is
based on Laozi's work Dao De Jing.
The correct spelling is Dao, according to the Pinyin typing guide.
In Chinese, it refers to meanings such as road, walking, speaking, direction, method, flow.
The founding representatives of the Dao Teaching are Laozi and Chuangzi
Dao Doctrine encompasses a wide range of fields such as the origin and birth of the universe, the laws and
principles of nature, the relationship and relationship between man and man with real nature, nature and medicine.
While the beginning period of the teaching (6th century ) was considered as the scientific or philosophical Dao,
eight centuries after its emergence, some rituals and practices were seen in some segments of the people.
Thousands of years later, in translations made by Christian missionaries who traveled to the east,
it was suggested that the Dao Doctrine, intentionally or unintentionally, could be a different religion, and
the Dao could be a kind of god, adhering to their own religious beliefs.
Neither in the Dao doctrine nor in the Chinese traditional structure has a single or multiple understanding of gods.
However, it is known that a very strong and detailed moral hierarchical understanding exists in the structure of Chinese society,
especially with the influence of Confucius, whose traces are seen even today.
This strong moralistic understanding of the confucius was criticized by leading figures of the Dao Teaching, such as Laozi
and the later Chuangzi, and they disagreed that this was not the way of nature.
One of the main reasons behind the perception of the Dao Teaching as religion in the west was
that missionaries adapted these teachings to their own beliefs.
Today, controversy continues to question whether this teaching is a natural religion or philosophy or a different kind of science.
The most important concepts that were often misinterpreted in the days when it was first translated into European languages,
and sometimes even today, are:
Dao (Path) as god,
Tien-Di (Heaven and Earth) heaven, Shen divine spirit.
It has been seen that there are communities that take Dao thought from the informational dimension
to the dimension of ritualistic belief, but there was noofin any of these views god concept.
used in a religious sense heaven There is no concept of.
Shan; Although it includes all aspects such as mood, psychology, mind, mind, heart, emotions,
and senses, it has spirit in the religious sense no relation with the.
So wrong translations made Dao Thought perceive it like religion.
Dao De Jing is one of the first source books that dealt with Dao teaching.
Dao is like the moment when everything is born but it has no permanent name.
It is also the first source of the first of all births. Heaven and Earth arise from Dao.
Everything that is like matter, that is like matter and which is non-material, that is electromagnetic, originates from the Earth and Sky.
With the principle of circularity, everything turns into Dao, Dao becomes everything again.
Movement and change begin with the opposites of Yin and Yang.
According to the Yin Yang principle, everything exists by its opposite
and they are not absolute, they can be transformed into one another.
The two cornerstones of vibration driving change are Yin and Yang opposition, and they are an integral part of each other.
In the following pages, topics such as cycles of change, emptiness and fullness,
basic relations of opposites with each other, transmissions about "earth" and "sky", water and dao, emptiness and dao are mentioned.
Nowadays, increasing studies, researches and competent translations
suggest that the laws of nature mentioned in
the Dao Doctrine have principles overlapping with Quantum Physics that emerged in the 20th century.
These include the uncertainty principle, the black hole idea, and the theory of multiverse.
Although some approaches that are radically different from the eastern and western understanding of the universe
and scientific criteria cause difficulties in understanding each other,
these difficulties have started to evolve into a different dimension with China's transition
from the traditional closed order to the open order to the world.
So how does the creation of the universe correspond in Chinese mythology?
As you know, every mythology has a creation story.
We've reviewed these one by one in my mythology video series.
The Chinese mythology equivalent of the creation story is very similar to Indian mythology.
There are many different creation myths in Chinese mythology.
These myths differ from each other in terms of both their character and their different religious tendencies.
However, certain themes prevail in all of them: the transition from chaos to order,
the emergence of the second universe model with order, and yin and yang.
In addition,in Ibrahimi religions in general in myths creatio ex nihilo different from the understanding of,
"to create (to create) from nothing", thecreation process ofmeans the transformation of an existing but
shapeless, chaotic situation into a shaped, specific and ordered state
In thedating from the middle of the 2nd century BC,
there Huai Nan Zi text named,is a creation myth describing how two gods created the universe.
These two gods are not named, the gods emerging from chaos create the earth and the sky,
and they themselves form yin and yang
In another creation myth in Chinese mythology, no god is mentioned.
According to this myth, there is neither a god nor a god-like thing at the beginning;
only an enormous cloud of water vapor exists.
Over time, this cloud changes from a chaotic and amorphous state to a regular and shaped state,
forming the yin and yang that form the basis of the universe model of different natures.
The most well-known creation myth in Chinese mythology that has dominated many creation myths
before itPan Gu (or Panguis a creation myth that stars the).
This myth, which can be considered quite new compared to other myths, originated in the 3rd century AD,
mentions a time when nothing happened, only chaos existed in the form of dark moisture inside a giant egg.
Over time, Pan Gu, who will be creative, begins to grow in the egg, which contains all the elements necessary for creation.
Pan Gu wakes up when fully grown and comes out of the egg, breaking it.
In the meantime, the creative elements in the egg are scattered all over.
Yin-based items create the supply, while yang-based items create the sky.
Pan Gu separates the two by moving between them and carrying the sky so that the two do not mix up again.
Thousands of years keep the two separate in this way,
thinking that chaos will arise again if they mix with each other.
Later, when he believes that the sky and the earth are completely separated, he quits his job and reaches out to the earth to rest.
The body and different parts of the dying Pan Gu's existence constitute natural phenomena and geographical forms:
while his hands and feet form the corners of the Earth, which is believed to be square,
the rain of his sweat, the winds of his breath, the rivers of his blood, the Moon of one eye and the Sun of his body five.
One point associated with this general creation myth also relates myth to the creation of man:
the fleas on Pan Gu's body make up humans.
However, these changes took place in different ways in different sources.
In another myth, it is mentioned that Pan Gu created human beings with his hands from mud
and then left him to dry,
According to this story, while Pan Gu continues to create humans, it starts to rain when evening falls, and
although Pan Gu tried to move his still-not-dried works to a safe place, some of them were damaged by the rain.
It was believed that these damaged works are the ancestors of disabled people.
There are also myths about the birth of humanity that star the mother goddess Nü Wa.
In one of these myths from the Han Dynasty,
it is mentioned how lonely Nü Wa felt on Earth before humanity was created.
One day, seeing his opposite in a pond,
Nü Wa sets his mind to create a creature that looks like him and
can befriend him and begins to make mud little people.
As soon as he puts them on the ground, the creatures come alive and turn into human beings.
Nü Wa, who made people in this way for a while, realizes that if he continues at this speed,
it is not possible for him to do so many people to spread all over the world.
On top of that he takes a rope and dips the rope into mud,
then spins this rope in the air.
When the scattered mud droplets fall on the ground,
they turn into people and in this way humanity spreads to the world.
It was believed that the people consisting of mud droplets scattered
in this way constituted the poor and noble people,
and the people made by their own hands constituted the rich and noble people.
Let's take another subject, the flood.
The which has taken its place in many mythologies flood phenomenon,
also takes its place in Chinese mythology.
In a myth about a great flood, Nü Wa and Fu Xi, believed to be both his brother and wife,
are featured as the children of a farmer.
One day the farmer Thundercatches theand imprisons it.
When he needs to come to the market,
he advises his children not to give water to Thunder no matter what happens,
but after he leaves, he gives water to his daughter Thunder.
Upon this, Thunder, which suddenly overflowed from the place where he was imprisoned,
gives a tooth to the two brothers.
He tells them to plant the tooth.
When he returns home, the farmer realizes what has happened and senses that a great storm will occur and begins to build an iron ship.
Children plant teeth.
A from the planted ground vine and a large vine gourd grows on
The brothers who open the inside of the gourd
see that there are many teeth similar to the teeth they have cultivated.
As the storm approaches, they take out the contents of the gourd and get on the gourd just in time.
The farmer gets on his finished ship.
For a long time the storm continues and the waters rise to heaven.
When this happens, the farmer who hits the door of heaven angers those in heaven,
and those in heaven make the water recede in a moment.
As a result of the sudden withdrawal of the water beneath them, both ships fall to the ground.
The farmer's iron ship hits the ground and shatters, while the farmer dies.
The soft gourd of the children, on the other hand, descends slightly.
The only people living in the world are now brothers.
These are named "Fu Xi Brothers" after this event; Fu Xi means gourd in Chinese.
The brothers get married, and the sister becomes pregnant, giving birth to a piece of meat.
On top of that, they cut the piece of meat into small pieces and wrap it on a piece of paper.
But as a result of the blowing wind, the meat pieces are scattered around.
Humans are also made of these pieces of meat.
With this video, the mythology series is now over.
Thanks for watching.
See you in my next video, goodbye.
