ASTRONOMY 9: HISTORY OF COSMOLOGY

Handout #5

J. E. Baker
UC Berkeley, Spring 2000

Origin Myths: India, China, Japan

• Many are not overtly theistic
• Advent of cosmological philosophy

1.

Japan (indigenous)

• Creation by supreme being

  (a)

  Ainu: In the Beginning the World Was Slush

  • Creator (remote, sky-bound) makes a helper Bird to make Earth
  • Islands stamped out of ``dismal slush'' by treading and tail-wagging
  • cf. Native American cosmologies

2.

India

• Creation through Divine Sacrifice

  (a)

  Rig-Veda X, xc: Sacrifice of Primal Man

  • Very anthropomorphic, Primal Man is central to the universe (1/4 worldly beings, 3/4 immortal heavens)
  • ``Man is this greatness''
  • Body of Primal Man $\Rightarrow$ natural elements, cardinal directions, human class structure, religious order

• Creation from the Unknown

  (a)

  Rig-Veda X, cxxix: In the Beginning

  • Recognizes ground of being must transcend Being / Not-Being
  • Unique admission of myth's conceptual limitations
  • ``Who knows truly?'' ``Whatever was ...''
  • God may not even comprehend the origin
  • Heat as generative

  (b)

  Kena Upanishad

  • Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond comprehension
  • Warns against common idolatry
  • Focus on ground of being

• The Cosmic Egg

  (a)

  Brahmanas: Creation from an Egg

  • Animistic primal waters $\Rightarrow$ heat $\Rightarrow$ egg $\Rightarrow$ Prajapati
  • One-year incubation (cf. childbirth, nature), 1000-year life
  • Creates good / evil duality

  (b)

  Chandogya Upanishad

  • Origin from Not-Being (i) or from Being (ii - can Being arise from Not-Being?)
  • One-year egg (i), parts create the world:
  • Gold/silver $\Rightarrow$ Sky/earth; Inner/outer $\Rightarrow$ Cloud/mountains; Veins/fluid $\Rightarrow$ Rivers/oceans
  • Brahma is the Sun
  • Being (ii) $\Rightarrow$ heat $\Rightarrow$ water (sweat, tears) $\Rightarrow$ food (as from rain)

  (c)

  Laws of Manu

  • Self-created Brahman, creation out of thought
  • Creates 1-year egg out of watery chaos for own birth
  • Unifies cause/result, father/son, creator/man

• The Eternal Universe

  (a)

  Jinasena: There Is No Creator

  • World ordered into heaven/earth/hell
  • If created, what was before?
  • Can't form material out of immaterial
  • God's will = ``silly stuff''
  • If God is already perfect, why bother with creation?
  • If imperfect, can't create everything
  • Why does evil exist?
  • Believers ``maddened by evil doctrine''

• The Rhythmic (Cyclic) Universe

  (a)

  Buddha: How the World Evolved

  • Cyclic rebirth/suffering/mortality
  • Universal expansion/contraction is unaffected by any gods, no creator
  • Punctures Brahman myth: delusion of beings who first leave the heavenly realm during each cycle

  (b)

  Other Indian Myths

  • Kalpa (Day of Brahma): $4.32\times 10^9$ years (cf. 15 billion years since the Big Bang!) = 1 cycle
  • Gradual deterioration of man, then rebirth
  • Dancing Shiva

3.

China

• Creation from ``Chaos''

  (a)

  Creation Out of Chaos

  • Chaos $\Rightarrow$ light (sky) / dark (earth) $\Rightarrow$ ``10,000 creations''
  • Yin: male, bright, active, strength, force, fire
  • Yang: female, dark, passive, soft, tranquil, water
  • Mixture $\Rightarrow$ 5 elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) $\Rightarrow$ ``Old Emperor''
  • Asks questions of the divine, who explains cosmic order
  • Earth floats on sea, heaven supported by 8 poles and central mountain
  • ``Great in the small and small in the great''

  (b)

  The Myth of P'an Ku (4 versions)

  i.

  Chaos

  • Chaos and time $\Rightarrow$ ``something'' $\Rightarrow$ male/female, P'an Ku (creator) and primal man

  ii.

  Cosmic Egg

  • Inner chaos, P'an Ku as embryo
  • Fashions world, chisels earth/sky, places sun/moon/stars
  • Teaches and orders man

  iii.

  Sacrifice

  • Sacrifice perfects the world
  • Skull / flesh $\Rightarrow$ sky dome / soil
  • Man from vermin on skin!
  • Blood $\Rightarrow$ rivers, seas

  (c)

  Lao Tzu: Tao te Ching

  • Philosophical meditation (cf. story of creation)
  • Tao = oneness, the ``Way'', no thing, no duality, ground of being
  • Tao $\Rightarrow$ the One $\Rightarrow$ Two (yin/yang) $\Rightarrow$ Three $\Rightarrow$ myriad creatures
  • Man modeled on earth, earth on heaven, heaven on Tao
  • Beyond power of speech/naming
  • Glimpse only by ridding of ego, desires (= manifestations)
  • Non-action as accord with nature

  (d)

  Huai-nan Tzu: Creation of the Universe

  • Chaos leads to emptiness, the universe, and force
  • Clear, light goes up to heaven; heavy, turbid goes down to earth (cf. Aristotle)
  • Elements as mix of yin/yang
  • True man is reunited with Oneness, returns to Formless

  (e)

  Kuo Hsiang: Nature and Non-existence

  • Argues Being can't change to Not-Being and vice versa
  • No First Cause
  • All is spontaneous, by nature, no divine creation
  • Non-action leads to power

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