In Chinese mythology, Hundun (渾敦) is the worthless son of the Yellow Emperor, one of the mythical Sixiong 四凶 "Four Fiends" banished by Shun.
Origin
The ancient emperor Hung [Hwang-te] had a descendant devoid of ability [and virtue]. He hid righteousness from himself, and was a villain at heart; he delighted in the practice of the worst vices; he was shameless and vile, obstinate, stupid, and unfriendly, cultivating only the intimacy of such as himself. All the people under heaven called him Chaos. … When Shun became Yaou's minister, he received the nobles from the four quarters of the empire, and banished these four wicked ones, Chaos, Monster, Block, and Glutton, casting them out into the four distant regions, to meet the spite of the sprites and evil things. (tr. Legge 1872 5:283)
The other "fiends" are Qiongqi 窮奇, Taowu 梼杌, and Taotie 饕餮.
Description
The Shanhaijing collection of early myths and legends uses hundun 渾敦 describing a shen 神 "spirit; god" on Tian Shan 天山 "Heaven Mountain".
There is a god here who looks like a yellow sack. He is scarlet like cinnabar fire. He has six feet and four wings. He is Muddle Thick. He has no face and no eyes. He knows how to sing and dance. He is in truth the great god Long River. (2, tr. Birrell 2000:226)
This "great god Long River" translates Di Jiang 帝江 "Emperor Yangtze River", which is identified with Huang Di 黄帝 "Yellow Emperor". Toshihiko Izutsu (1967 2:19, cited by Girardot 1983:82) suggests that singing and dancing here and in Zhuangzi refers to shamanic trance-inducing ceremonies, "the monster is said to be a bird, which is most probably an indication that the shamanistic dancing here in question was some kind of feather dance in which the shaman was ritually ornamented with a feathered headdress."
The Shen yi jing 神異經 "Classic of Divine Wonders" records a later variation of Hundun mythology. It describes him as a divine dog who lived on Mt. Kunlun, the mythical mountain at the center of the world.
It has eyes but can't see, walks without moving; and has two ears but can't hear. It has the knowledge of a man yet its belly is without the five internal organs and, although having a rectum, it doesn't evacuate food. It punches virtuous men and stays with the non-virtuous. It is called. Hun-tun. …Quoting the Zuozhuan Hun-tun was Meng-shih's untalented son. He always gnaws his tail, going round and round. Everyone ridiculed him. (tr. Girardot 1983:188)
Theories
Norman J. Girardot, professor of Chinese religion at Lehigh University, has written articles and a definitive book on hundun. He summarizes this mythology as follows.
- . The hun-tun theme in early Taoism represents an ensemble of mythic elements coming from different cultural and religious situations.
- . The symbolic coherence of the hun-tun theme in the Taoist texts basically reflects a creative reworking of a limited set of interrelated mythological typologies: especially the cosmic egg-gourd, the animal ancestor-cosmic giant, and primordial couple mythologies. The last two of these typologies are especially, although not exclusively, linked to what may be called the deluge cycle of mythology found primarily in southern local cultures.
- . While there may also be a cultural connection between the southern deluge cycle and the cosmogonic scenario of the cosmic egg (i.e., via the "thunder-egg," "origin of ancestors [culture hero] from egg or gourd," and "origin of agriculture and mankind from gourd" myths), the fundamental linkage for all these typologies is the early Taoist, innovative perception of a shared symbolic intention that accounts for, and supports, a particular cosmogonic, metaphysical, and mystical vision of creation and life. (1983:209)
References
- Birrell, Anne, tr. 2000. The Classic of Mountains and Seas. Penguin Classics.
- Eberhard, 1968. The Local Cultures of South and East China. E.J. Brill.
- Girardot, Norman J. 1983. Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism: The Theme of Chaos (Hun-Tun). University of California Press.
- Graham, Angus C., tr. 1990. The Book of Lieh-tzǔ: A Classic of Tao. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Hawkes, David. 1985. The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets. Penguin.
- Legge, James. 1872. The Chinese Classics. 5 vols. Trubner.
- Mair, Victor H. 1990. Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, by Lao Tzu; an entirely new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts. Bantam Books.
- Mair, Victor H. 1994. Introduction and Notes for a Complete Translation of the Chuang Tzu. Sino-Platonic Papers 48.