Page 87 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY

Cosmogony

1. Overview

In systems of thought based on a once and for all creation of the cosmos by
a deity, or at least by a derniurge, the origin of the cosmos is a moment of
the utmost significance in which the eternal and the temporal intersect. For
quite different reasons, twenty-first century cosmologists pay great attention
to elucidating exactly what happened in the first instants after the cosmic
explosion known as the Big Bang. Such considerations are largely irrelevant
to the understanding of ancient Chinese thought, in which divine creative
activity was no longer a part of the intellectual landscape by the time cos-
mological speculation can be traced in the later Warring States period. Nor
was cosmogony a major philosophical issue. Even at times when we seem at
first sight to be confronting a cosmogonic discourse, as in the case of Zhou
Dunyi's ffll~}{@l (I017- 73; SB 277- 81) Taiji tu shuo ::t:~II~ (Explanation of
the Diagram of the Great Ultimate), it is more likely that reference is being
made not so much to a temporal sequence of evolution as to an order of
ontological priority.
When cosmogonic writing is found in its true sense of an account of the
origin of the present cosmos from some preceding state (which includes the
possibility of Non-being; see *wu and you), two characteristics stand out, apart
from the absence of a divine creator. Firstly, there is no element of explicit
teleology. The universe is not there as part of some wider purpose, or to
exhibit some message. Secondly, the universe is not a chance production, but
is the result of the unfolding of an implicit order.
One of the fullest and clearest early cosmogonies was composed by the
astronomer, poet, technologist and courtier Zhang Heng *W (78-139; IC
2II-12) around 120 CE. It forms part of a text, Lingxian 11-': (perhaps "The
Numinous Structure"), in which he sets out to give a complete account of
the large-scale order of heaven and earth.
Before the Great Plainness (or Great Basis, Taisu ::t: ~ ) [came to be], there was
dark limpidity and mysterious quiescence, dim and dark. No image of it can
be formed. Its midst was void; its exterior was non-existence. Things remained
thus for long ages; this is called obscurity (mingxing ~'i$) . It was the root of
the Dao.

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