Monday, September 22, 2008

Formation of Universe

Chinese title: (Opening of the skies and the breaking of the ground)
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(Translated from the Chinese mythology read to me)

Legend has it that the skies and the earth used to be joined together.
The whole universe looks like or rather resembles a big egg. However, the insides of the egg are a mess and darkness eludes the entire environment.

Within the egg, there is a legendary hero.
He is the legendary Pan Gu; the man who possessed extraordinary skills and was, according to legend, the father or creator of the universe.

Pan Gu persevered within the egg before his birth for 18,000 years and when he finally opened his eyes to the world (literally speaking), he realized that everything around him was total darkness.

Pitch black.
In a sudden anger, he took up an axe and started waving it frantically in the air; without any defined motion nor direction and that was where the particles start to separate into proportion. This was said as the actual formation of the universe where the lighter particles grouped together and formed the top of the sky; the heavier particles falling to the earth to form the ground on which we walk on today.

He was elated to see the outcome of his so-called martial art form of swish-swashing as he sees the obvious segregation of the particles which formed the top and bottom.
However, his happiness was short-lived when the skies and the earth joined again in union and in an act of desperation; he held his head high up to hold against the skies and thumped his feet on the ground to hold the earth down.

He stood there this way; determined to hold the two apart and there he remained for another 18,000 years.
At the same time, his head grew a foot a day which distanced the sky the same length as his growth and his feet remained stamped on the ground; which was also a foot in depth each day.

That was how thousands of years passed and skies became as high as possible; where the height cannot be measured within means and the earth sunk in infinite depth.
Pan Gu at the same time, also grew to be a gigantic man where his height is no longer comparable to a normal human being.
Even then, Pan Gu still refused to move from his position and remained rooted to his position; adamant that there he will stay until the situation proved to him that the skies and earth will no longer join as one.

Again, another thousands of years passed and as time goes by, the skies and earth were too far apart which was really impossible to join in union again. It was also then that Pan Gu was at a high point of exhaustion where he really wished for rest in eternity.

He took a step back to look at his works; where the skies and earth are now well defined in distance and he smiled with content and pride at his hard work, while wishing for a good rest.
As our legendary hero laid down to his rest, he closed his eyes to rest and that was where his body undergo the following tremendous transformation.

His left eye became the sun; the right eye became the moon and as he breathed out his last, that became the wind and the clouds in the skies.
His hair became what we see today as the shooting star; while his body limbs (hand, body and legs) turned into mountains and hills. His blood flowed as the river and springs, his veins formed the roads, muscles transformed into the paddy fields, and the flesh and hair became the greens and the flowers, trees and the plains.
His decayed teeth and bones became the stones and rocks; bone marrow became the treasures of the earth – the pearls and the jade. Even his sweat brought the drops of rain and morning dew on the flower and leaves.

With this great and marvelous contribution and works; Pan Gu who had used his strength and might to create the universe and sacrificed his body and every part of his body to instill the natural beauty into it to give it life, he became one of the first hero in the legendary stories in China.
Till today, it is one of the fable which was shared through generations on the creation of the universe.

This was an interesting version of a folklore of how the universe was created.
In my religion, God was the creator of the universe and he did it in 7 days.
I am a believer, but this is an interesting perspective on how the rest of the world and culture view this creation.
Hope you enjoyed the story as much as I do:)


SandyCarlson said...

I love this story. It seems legends from so many cultures demonstrate an idea of separation, of growing distance, as they try to make sense of the cosmos.

Christy said...

Hie sandy, i agree with you; it's always fascinating to know that there's so many different views which naturally comes to terms with the way it was:)
Thanks for dropping by my blog!~

U.Lee said...

Hi Christy, very interesting. Always love reading these legends....
You have a great week and keep well, Lee.

Christy said...

Hi Lee, thanks for dropping by!~
I am working a few more to be translated...stay tune and nice to meet you!:D

j00ky said...

Hey there.. I stumbled across your blog when I wanted to read up what people had said about a particular movie I saw (cos it wasn't rated that highly on ImDb when I thought it was actually pretty good lol) anyways, you have lots of interesting posts! Keep it up when you have time :) cheers~

Christy said...

Hie U.Lee, thanks! =)

Christy said...

Hihi j00ky, thanks for the compliment. I have been tied up lately, but I will be updating this very soon with some interesting stories =)