Page 639 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

KAITIAN JING 597

Kaitian jing

Scripture of the Opening of Heaven

This work, probably dating from the Tang period, is found twice in the Taoist
Canon, once in the *Yunji qiqian (2.9a-14b) and once, with minor variants, as
an independent text (CT 1437). It describes one of the many Taoist versions of
the genesis of the world, and integrates this theme with two others: that of
the god *Laojun as the master of the world and its rulers, which places him
before the generation of the world as the instructor who presides over its or-
ganized form and order; and that of the sacred scriptures that preside over the
creation of order before and after the cosmos is generated (see *REVELATIONS
AND SACRED TEXTS).
The text, which shows slight and purely formal traces of Buddhist influ-
ence, begins with a description of Laojun standing alone in dark emptiness,
using several sets of negations and terms that commonly refer to the Dao
(e.g., "not visible," "not audible"). This is followed by a narrative descrip-
tion of the gradual formation of the world over long cosmic eras, with
various precosmic geneses succeeding each other according to the pattern
of the so-called Five Greats (wutai Ji A; see *COSMOGONY). At each of these
geneses, Laojun descends to give teachings and issues a sacred scripture.
Then Heaven and Earth progressively begin to separate and space becomes
organized; then there appear the sun, the moon, and human beings, who at
first are without conscience, names, and funerary rites. After them comes
Chaos (*hundun), which generates two sons, the gods of the mountains
and rivers. Then come the Nine Palaces (*jiugong), which allude to the nine-
fold organization of Heaven and Earth. Thereafter Laojun continues to
descend to earth in order to assist the first mythical emperors who reign at
the beginning of humanity, still producing scriptures and teaching the first
artifacts, the basic elements of cosmic knowledge, and the rules of civilized
order.
The text ends at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty and concludes with
a passage on the structure of the world based on numbers, cyclic signs, and
trigrams in the tradition of the Han cosmologists. Laojun speaks of himself
as a cosmic being, whose individual bodily parts are endowed with numbers
following the so-called Luoshu (Writ of the Luo [River]) magic square (see