the worship to the mountains

7/31/2019 The Worship to the Mountains

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The worship to the mountains: a study of thecreation myths of the chinese culture

http://www.rupestreweb.info/china.html

Patricio Bustamante D [email protected] Researcher in Archaeoastronomy,Taller Taucan, Fellow researcher of The Los Alamos National Laboratory Geographic

Information Systems for the Preservation of Archaeological Sites and Petroglyphs. Member of AURA, the Australian Rock Art Research Association .

W. Fay Yao [email protected] IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Nuclear and PlasmaSciences Society, Resource and Information Specialist, Albuquerque Public SchoolsSystem, Research Associates, Archaeology & Petroglyph Study Group, Los Alamos

National Laboratory .

Daniela Bustamante [email protected] Architecture graduated .

Abstract

The following article analyzes the possible sacralization of certain elements of thenatural landscape in the origin of three mythological characters: Pan-Gu ( ), Fu-

Xi ( ) and Shen-Nong ( ), all belonging to the formative period of the Chineseculture.

The analysis of the folklores indicates that these three prominent figures, in their origin,might have been three humanized mountains that were sacralized. We believe that it was strongly due to the phenomena of Pareidolia, Apophenia and Hierophany, the PAH triad, that explain the many instances where we attribute religious significance or extraordinary connections to ordinary imagery and themes. These three mythologicalcharacters might have represented in their origin, the spirit of mountains.

Visual examination of illustrations and photographs from various sources indicates that giant mimetoliths might have been the inspiration for these legends. According to thelegends, after Pan-Gus death, his body transformed into the 5 sacred mountains of China. This might represent the biggest mimetoliths discovered until this day ( 1,100 km

length per 660 km width).

In Chinese literature, Classic of Mountains and Seas ( Shan Hai Jing ) givessolid evidence of the sacralization of the landscape and the elements that constitute it.This is by means of the transformation in visual symbols (mimetoliths) due to the

pareidolia phenomena, which established a series of relations between the mountainsand the characters. While further illusionary connections were made between thelandscape and the characters due to the apophenia-related phenomena. According to

Birrel, the intention was "to provide a comprehensive Survey of the Whole World, adescriptio mundi ".


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The phenomenon described in this research allow establishing a relation between theancient inhabitants of China and other human groups from all five continents, based onthe fact that all of them share the same psychology and an similar planet environment

1. Introduction

The present article reviewed various sources, including the British Encyclopedia andWikipedia. Together they provide the essential information that characterizes theseprominent figures. For the analysis of more recent studies of the content of the originallegends, other sources were examined as indicated in the text.

Wikipedia is used in that paper as usually personal communication is used inarchaeological and anthropological researches. An investigation by Giles in Naturemagazine in 2005 suggested that for scientific articles Wikipedia came close to the levelof accuracy of Encyclopdia Britannica and had a similar rate of "serious errors."

The legends of the three prominent figures of the formative stage of the Chinese cultureare examined in relation to the phenomena of sacralization of certain archaeologicalsites and natural formations in the landscape, depending on the natural familiarity tohumans or animals, which seems to award them a special attribution.

The following articles describe archaeological sites that exemplified the formation of the landscapes that coincidentally present observable images of natural forms similar tohuman beings or animals: Bustamante 2006a, 2007b, 2007d, 2008a, 2008c.

This articles analyzes the influence of the psychological phenomena Pareidolia,Apophenia and Hierophany (PAH Triad) in the recognition of mimetoliths that seem tobe present in the origin of the legends of the formative period of diverse cultures.

Wikipedia defines Pareidolia as a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Commonexamples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.

For Apophenia , the same source indicates that it is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by KlausConrad, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a

"specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness" .

Hierophany is described in the Encyclopdia Britannica as shown in the followingquote the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and theybelieved in the Lord and in his servant Moses. The purpose of a miraculousoccurrence is thus often to reveal a divine reality or numinous dimension. Theoccurrence may be an event concerned with natural needs or situations, such as illness,hunger, or distress, or a specifically religious event that effects...

Now, the influence of the phenomena of the PAH Triad is changeable in intensityamong diverse individuals. In some it shows pathologically (mental illnesses), at the far

end there are the individuals who do not see any figure and do not imagine anything inthe matter, this can happen for cultural or religious reasons as in the aniconic religions


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(Judaism, Islamism). The way in which it shows up will depend of: A) the particularbeliefs of the observer. B) The context in which the observer lives. C) Observersmental condition. D) Cultural background.

The PAH triad is part of the unconscious mechanisms inherent in every human being,

present in the primary stages of the development of the human conscience.

Mimetolith 1.a. a natural topographic feature, rock outcrop, rock specimen, mineralspecimen, or loose stone the shape of which resembles something else e.g., a real or

fancied animal, plant, manufactured item, or part(s) thereof. b. a topographic feature,rock outcrop, rock specimen, mineral specimen, or loose stone, the surface pattern of which resembles a real or fancied animal ... c. a topographic feature (et alia) with anycombination of shape and pattern that resembles a real or fancied animal,... [Greek mimetes (an imitator) and lithos(stone); term coined by Thomas Orzo MacAdoo , cited by Dietrich, 1989)

In the article Qu Parece? Como Pregunta Orientadora en el Estudio de la TopografaSagrada en la cultura Azteca (Bustamante 2008 a), we analyze various examples of human shaped hills that seem to have originated Aztec legends contained in former pre-Columbian codices, such as the Vindovonensis Codex, constituting the first solid proof that the original inhabitants of America were observing the natural shapes of the hillsand assigned a meaning to them.

In the present article, ancient legends and illustrations of three mythical prominentfigures seem to confirm a similar find for the formative stage of the Chinese culture.

2. Precedents

China is a mosaic of diverse groups and of multitudes of traditions... When we speak of Chinese mythology we need to be clear that it represents streams flowing together,running parallel, merging or diverging from many places and from many different models of reality. (Palmer Martin and Xiaomin Zhao, 1997) . For example, The Classicof the Mountains and seas describes 204 mythical figures, 33 featured as a group and 14shamans, the total is 251.

The statements of the formative stage of the current Chinese culture, placed during themythical period of the three august and five emperors, were gathered in texts that date

back approximately 2.000 years, by scholars who reinterpreted them in agreement withtheir philosophical or religious conceptions.

Many practices, stories and world-view in the formative period of Chinese culture, arereflected in the subsequent emergence of Taoism, Confucianism y Buddhism, thereforedepending on the sources, these legends present diverse variations.

This article examines the legends of three relevant prominent figures: Pan-Gu (Pan Gu,P'an Ku, Pangu), Fu-Xi (Fu Hsi) and Shen-Nong (Shen Nung, Sennong, Shennong), theway of writing these names changes according to the source. There are manyinterpretations regarding to the origin of these prominent figures, the legends are

analyzed from the perspective of their possible origin in elements of the landscape asMimetoliths - and the relation with the psychological phenomena of the PAH Triad.


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The following affirmations provide an important track regarding to the sacralization of the mountains in the Ancient China:

All mountains, wheather large or small, have gods and spirits. (Ge Hong,283-343, quoted in Ware James 1966)

Thus the written names of the mountains were determined by their respectivenatural shapes, and the reality of the mountains is enshrined in symbols.(Needham 2000)

3. Methodology

Analysis of the legends under the perspective of the PAH triad. Visual examination of images relative to these three prominent figures. Analysis of these images in relation to the psychological phenomena PAH. We strive to standardize the Chinese names spelling by Pinyin for it is the

official form used in Mainland China; except where quoted directly from asource.

The Chinese names are in the simplified style, which is the official usage in thePeoples Republic of China/Mainland China.

The recognition of Mimetoliths is a psychological-visual phenomenon; thereforea relevant part of the analysis is the visual inspection of the images.

4. Material

Quoted bibliographical sources. Use of wikipedia as a source: A Jim Giles survey indicate that Wikipedia

comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries. A Nature investigation finds is about as good a source of accurate information asBritannica. (Special Report Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Nature 438, 900-901 (15 December 2005))(http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html )

Regarding this article, the information contained in properly checkedwebsites can be considered equivalent to personal communication. the lastconsultation date is been indicated after each link.

5. Objectives

To analyze the legends related to these three prominent figures and to examinethe coincidences with phenomena described in articles mentioned in theintroduction.

To identify the possible influence of the PAH Triad and Mimetoliths recognitionin the origin of these legends.

6. Description of three prominent figures corresponding to the formative stage of the Chinese mythology:

6.1. Pan-Gu


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Figure 1: Pan-Gu holding the yinyang symbol, 19th-century European print after a Chinese drawing; in the British Museum

British Encyclopedia

Pan Ku, Chinese mythology Pinyin Pan Gu: Central figure in Chinese Taoist legendsof creation. Pan Ku, the first man, is said to have come forth from chaos (an egg) withtwo horns, two tusks, and a hairy body. Some accounts credit him with the separation of heaven and earth, setting the sun, moon, stars, and planets in place, and dividing the

four seas. He shaped the earth by chiselling out valleys and stacking up mountains. Allthis was accomplished from Pan Kus knowledge of yinyang, the inescapable

principle of duality in all things.

Another legend asserts that the universe derived from Pan Kus gigantic corpse. Hiseyes became the sun and moon, his blood formed rivers, his hair grew into trees and

plants, his sweat turned to rivers, and his body became soil. The human race, moreover,evolved from parasites that infested Pan Kus body. These creation myths date from the3rd to the 6th century. Artistic representations frequently depict Pan Ku as a dwarf clothed with leaves . (British Encyclopedia a)

Wikipedia

Pangu: In the beginning there was nothing in the universe except a formless chaos. However this chaos coalesced into a cosmic egg for 18,000 years. Within it, the perfectly opposed principles of Yin and Yang became balanced and Pangu emerged (or woke up) from the egg. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant with hornson his head and clad in furs. Pangu set about the task of creating the world: he

separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin)and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. This task took 18,000 years; with each day the sky grew ten feet higher, the Earth ten feet wider, and Pangu ten feet taller. In some versions of the story,Pangu is aided in this task by the four most prominent beasts, namely the Turtle, theQilin, the Phoenix, and the Dragon. After the 18,000 years had elapsed, Pangu was laid to rest. His breath became the wind; his voice the thunder; left eye the sun and right eyethe moon; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur thebushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became the

fish and animals throughout the land. Nugua the Goddess then used the mud of thewater bed to form the shape of humans. These humans were very smart since they were


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individually crafted. Nugua then became bored of individually making every human soshe started putting a rope in the water bed and lettings the drops of mud that fell from it become new humans. These small drops became new humans, not as smart as the first.The first writer to record the myth of Pan-Gu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms

period (Wikipedia a)

6.2 Fu-Xi

Figure 2: Fu Hsi, painting on silk; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

British Encyclopedia

Fu Hsi: Chinese mythological emperor, Pinyin Fu Xi , formally (Wade-Gilesromanization) Tai Hao (Chinese: The Great Bright One) , also called Pao Hsi , or Mi

Hsi.

First of Chinas mythical emperors. His miraculous birth, as a divine being with aserpents body, is said to have occurred in the 29th century bc. Some representationsshow him as a leaf-wreathed head growing out of a mountain or as a man clothed withanimal skins. Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the famous Chinese trigrams used indivination and thus to have contributed, in some uncertain way, to the development of writing. He domesticated animals, taught his people to cook, to fish with nets, and tohunt with weapons made of iron. He likewise instituted marriage and offered the first open-air sacrifice to heaven. A stone tablet dated ad 160 depicts him with N Kua, a

frequent companion, who was either his wife or sister ( British Encyclopedia b)

Wikipedia

Fu Xi: Mid 2800s BCE. Was the first of the mythical Three Sovereigns ( ) of ancient China. He is a culture hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and trapping. However Cangjie is also said to have invented writing.

Fu Xi was born on the lower-middle reaches of the Yellow River in a place called Chengji (possibly modern Lantian, Shaanxi or Tianshui, Gansu).

According to legend the land was swept by a great flood and only Fuxi and his sister Nwa survived, leaving all other disappeared and vanished from the surface. They

retired to Kunlun Mountain where they prayed for a sign from the Emperor of Heaven.The divine being approved their union and the siblings set about procreating the human


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race. It was said that in order to speed up the procreation of humans, Fu Xi and Nwa found an additional way by using clay to create human figures, and with the power divine being entrusted to them, they made the clay figures to come alive. Fu Xi thencame to rule over his descendents although reports of his long reign vary betweensources from 115 years (BCE 2852-2737) to 116 years (BCE 2952-2836).

He lived for 197 years altogether and died at a place called Chen (modern Huaiyang, Henan) where his mausoleum can still be found and visited as a tourist attraction.

Among the three primogenitors of Hua-Xia civilization, Fu Xi in Huaiyang Countryranks first.

During the time of his predecessor Nwa (who according to some sources was also hiswife and/or sister), society was matriarchal and primitive. Childbirth was seen to bemiraculous not requiring the participation of the male and children only knew their mothers. As the reproductive process became better understood ancient Chinese societymoved towards a patriarchal system and Fu Xi assumed primary importance.

In the beginning there was as yet no moral or social order. Men knew their mothersonly, not their fathers. When hungry, they searched for food; when satisfied, they threwaway the remnants. They devoured their food hide and hair, drank the blood, and clad themselves in skins and rushes. Then came Fu Hsi and looked upward and contemplated the images in the heavens, and looked downward and contemplated theoccurrences on earth. He united man and wife, regulated the five stages of change, and laid down the laws of humanity. He devised the eight trigrams, in order to gain masteryover the world. Ban Gu, Baihu tongyi

Fu Hsi taught his subjects to cook, to fish with nets, and to hunt with weapons made of iron. He instituted marriage and offered the first open air sacrifices to heaven. A stonetablet, dated 160 AD shows Fu Hsi with Nwa.

Traditionally, Fu Hsi is considered the originator of the I Ching (also known as the Yi Jing or Zhou Yi), which work is attributed to his reading of the He Map (or the Yellow River Map). According to this tradition, Fu Hsi had the arrangement of the trigrams( ) of the I Ching revealed to him supernaturally. This arrangement

precedes the compilation of the I Ching during the Zhou dynasty. Fu Hsi is said to havediscovered the arrangement in markings on the back of a mythical dragon-horse

(sometimes said to be a turtle) that emerged from the river Luo. This discovery is alsosaid to have been the origin of calligraphy (Wikipedia b)

6.3 Shen-Nong


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Figure 3: Shen Nung, engraving from San-tsai tu-hui (160709);in the collection of the University of Hong Kong.

British Encyclopedia:

Shen Nung, Chinese mythological emperor, Pinyin Shen Nong (Chinese: Divine Husbandman) , formally Yen Ti

Second of Chinas mythical emperors, said to have been born in the 28th century bcwith the head of a bull and the body of a man. By inventing the cart and plow, by tamingthe ox and yoking the horse, and by teaching his people to clear the land with fire, Shen

Nung reputedly established a stable agricultural society in China. His catalog of 365species of medicinal plants became the basis of later herbological studies. Tales of his

youth relate that he spoke after three days, walked within a week, and could plow a field at age three (British Encyclopedia c)

Figure 4

Wikipedia

Shennong: Is a legendary ruler of China and culture hero of Chinese mythology who isbelieved to have lived some 5,000 years ago, and taught ancient China the practices of agriculture. Appropriately, his name means "the Divine Farmer". Considered to be the

father of Chinese agriculture, Shennong taught his people how to cultivate grains as food, so as to avoid killing animals.

He is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medical value. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is the Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic. First

compiled some time during the end of the Western Han Dynasty, several thousand yearsafter Shennong existed which lists the various medical herbs such as reishi whichwere discovered by Shennong and given grade and rarity ratings. This work isconsidered to be the earliest Chinese pharmacopoeia. It includes 365 medicines derived

from minerals, plants, and animals. Shennong is credited with identifying hundreds of medical (and poisonous) herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucialto the development of Traditional Chinese medicine. Legend has it that Shennong had atransparent body and thus could see the effects of different plants and herbs on himself.Tea, which acts as an antidote against the poisonous effects of some seventy herbs, isalso said to be his discovery. Chinese legend places this discovery in 2737 B.C.,according to which Shennong first tasted tea from tea leaves on burning tea twigs,

which were carried up from the fire by the hot air, and landed in his cauldron of boiling


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water.[1] Shennong is venerated as the Father of Chinese medicine. He is also believed to have introduced the technique of acupuncture.

A close kinsman of the Yellow Emperor, he is said to be a patriarch of the Chinese. The Han Chinese regarded them both as their joint ancestors. He is also considered one of

the ancestors of the Vietnamese people (De Minh, grandfather , was athird generation descendent of Shennong). [2] He was deified as one of the San Huang

for his contributions to mankind.

Shennong is said to have played a part in the creation of the Guqin, together with Fuxiand the Yellow Emperor.

Scholarly works mention that the paternal family of famous Song Dynasty General YueFei traced their origins back to Shennong.[3] (Wikipedia c)

6.4 In short:

Pan-Gu: Creation myth of the world (Cosmogony); Separates the Yin (land) and theYang (sky), extracts the order from the chaos, after 18.00 years of work, gives origin toour Universe, after his death, his head transforms into the mount Thai and his body inother beings and elements of the landscape.

Fu-Xi: Creation myth of mankind; Joins man with woman (Fu Xi - A Wa), with claycreates the first human beings, teaches to cook the food, teaches to going fishing withnets (after a net made of spider web), teaches to hunting with iron weapon, invents thewriting, invents the 8 trigrams, creator of the I Ching or book of the changes, creator of astrology.

Shen-Nong: Invention myth of agriculture and medicine; taught the agriculture to thehumanity, taught the use of medicinal plants, developed Chinese medicine.

7. Analysis of graphical representations of the three prominent figures

7.1 Common characteristics.

Figure 5: A) Pan-Gu, B) Fu-Xi, C) Shen-Nong.

The images which traditionally represent these three characters, shows variations, but

also important similarities, allowing us to establish parallels that might contribute trackskey to understand their archaic origin


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Figure 5 shows: A) Pan-Gu (British Encyclopedia a), B) Fu-Xi (painting of the 13thcentury), C) Shen-Nong (Dharmananda 2001 fig 2), a visual comparison allows toestablish the following parallel between the three figures:

Small horns: they present over heads protuberances similar to small horns. Body covered with greens: they present bodies covered by vegetables (leaves

or weeds)Works attributed: main works that attributed to them; A) separation of the Yinfrom the Yang, B) creation of the 8 trigrams, C) Use of medicinal herbs.

Bare feet: none of the characters present signs of footwear. Sitting on portion of land: In these figures the characters are sitting on a small

portion of land with reversed semi conical shape (as a reversed mountain).

7.2 Pan-Gu

Figure 6: Pan-Gu

In figure 6, image A), taken from Wikipedia (d), shows a Portrait of Pangu (from SancaiTuhui), dressed in fur and in two horns on the head. Image B) taken from (BritishEncyclopedia a ), illustrates Pan Ku holding the yinyang symbol, 19th-centuryEuropean print after a Chinese drawing; in the British Museum. C) Taken from (Emily2006), Imagine encountering him at the top of a large, stone tower. He is eight feet tallwhen seated. He has a dragon for a mouth and two demons for a nose. He hascrustaceans crawling around his face, and the sun and the moon cross his forehead.The three figures show the characteristic horns over the head, the body covered inweeds and especially figure 6 C) shows Pan Gu characterized as a mountain, formed by

the animals, plants and stars that surround it.

The essential content of this legend indicates that it is a cosmogony matter. It indicatesthat the world begins with the original chaos that gives origin to a cosmic egg ororiginal indefinite Universe. From this egg is born P'an-Ku, after 18.000 years of gestation. After 18.000 years of work gives origin to our Universe.

Werner (1994) indicates : The most conspicuous figure in Chinese cosmogony is PanKu. He chiseled the universe out of Chaos. According to Chinese ideas, he was theoffspring of the original dual powers of Nature, the yin and the yang (to be considered

presently), which, having in some incomprehensible way produced him, set him the task of giving form to Chaos and making the heavens and the earth.


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Some accounts describe him as the actual creator of the universethe ancestor of Heaven and earth and all that live and move and have their being. Pan means theshell of an egg, and Ku to secure, solid, referring to Pan Ku being hatched fromout of Chaos and to his settling the arrangement of the causes to which his origin wasdue. The characters themselves may, however, mean nothing more than Researches

into antiquity, though some bolder translators have assigned to them the significance if not the literal sense of aboriginal abyss, or the Babylonian Tiamat, the Deep.

Pan Ku is pictured as a man of dwarfish stature clothed in bearskin, or merely inleaves or with an apron of leaves. He has two horns on his head. In his right hand heholds a hammer and in his left a chisel (sometimes these are reversed), the onlyimplements he used in carrying out his great task. Other pictures show him attended inhis labours by the four supernatural creaturesthe unicorn, phoenix, tortoise, and dragon; others again with the sun in one hand and the moon in the other, Page 77someof the first fruits of his stupendous labours. (The reason for these being there will beapparent presently.) His task occupied eighteen thousand years, during which he

formed the sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth, himself increasing instature day by day, being daily six feet taller than the day before, until, his laboursended, he died that his works might live. His head became the mountains, his breath thewind and clouds, his voice the thunder, his limbs the four quarters of the earth, hisblood the rivers, his flesh the soil, his beard the constellations, his skin and hair theherbs and trees, his teeth, bones, and marrow the metals, rocks, and precious stones, hissweat the rain, and the insects creeping over his body human beings .

7.3 Fu-Xi

Figure 7, image A) taken from Yi King's (Wilhelm 1973), shows Fu Xi with the shape of mountain, writing the trigrams. B) Shows a very similar image (Schoning) . In bothdrawings, Fu Xi has nor body nor legs, showing only a hand and the head, which islocated on a conical shape similar to a mountain.

Figure 7: Fu-Xi

7.4 Shen-Nong


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In Understanding Chinese Medicine, Dharmananda, (2001 1: The quasi-religious natureof traditional Chinese medicine) points that The world's major religions have a

fundamental book or collection of books that contain the absolute knowledge that formsthe religious base. In addition, they all have one or more divine human figures of the

past who are representatives of potential that is beyond normal human limitations.

These divine human figures have generally delivered the books or the teachingscontained in the books. Participation in the religion involves, as a minimum,undertaking some activities and having some thoughts that refer to the contents of the

fundamental book(s) and to the divine human figure(s).

This phrase is applied in a precise way to Shen-Nong's case, in the following figures.

Figure 8: Shen-Nong

In figure 8 A, B and C Shen-Nong dressed in a suit of weeds and chewing a medicinalherb. Over his head, he has two small protuberances similar to horns. In figure C theseprotuberances really look like the silhouette of a mountain, probably indicating themountainous origin of the myth.

8 Discussions based on PAH as a analysis tool

8.1 China, Construction of the myth

In Definitions of Myth, Birrell (b) say The Chinese term for myth, shen-hua, almostexactly coincides with one of the many contemporary Western definitions of myths assacred narrative. Shen means god , holy; hua means speech oral account, tale,oral narrative. In this respect, the second part of the Chinese term, hua , is equivalent tothe original meaning of the word mythology : the root of the word myth begins with theProto-Indian-European root mu to mutter or murmur, from which the Greek stem myand the noun mythos , meaning word or story, are derived, while the Greek nounlogos denotes word, ordered discourse, or doctrine. (Introduction pag.2)

According to Werner (2008) in The Prerequisites to Myth(p. 56) But the mere increaseof constructive imagination is not sufficient to produce myth. If it were, it would bereasonable to argue that as intellectual progress goes on myths become morenumerous, and the greater the progress the greater the number of myths. This we do not


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find. In fact, if constructive imagination went on increasing without the intervention of any further factor, there need not necessarily be any myth at all.

We might almost say that the reverse is the case. We connect myth with primitive folk,not with the greatest hilosophers or the most advanced nations-not, that is, with the

most advanced stages of national progress wherein constructive imagination makes thenation great and strong. In these stages the philosopher studies or criticizes myth, hedoes not make it.

It means that the origin of the myths is placed in the formative stage of the Chineseculture. It is reasonable to think that in this period was fully in force the worship to themountains and that it had a great influence on the genesis of the myths of Pan Gu, Fu Xiand Shennong.

Later he indicates in Stimulus Necessary (p.24). The next condition is that there must be to stimulus . We suggest that in the examined cases, the stimulus that gave origin tothese legends could be human shaped mountains or mimetoliths.

8.2 China, Origin of the myth

Werner (2008) in Sources of Chinese Myth (pg. 25), writes Every one who is familiar with the ways and the language of the people knows that the country is full of commonobjects to which poetic names have been given, and with many of them there isassociated a legend or a myth. A deep river's gorge is called 'the Blind Man's Pass,' because a peculiar bit of rock, looked at from a certain angle, assumes the outline of thehuman form, and there comes to be connected therewith a pleasing story which reachesits climax in the petrifaction of the hero .

This, in other words, means that pareidolia allows associating natural shapes with ahuman figure, with given characteristics, and the apophenia explains the petrification of the character.

Werner also points that (p. 26) A mountain's crest shaped like a swooping eagle will from some one have received the name of 'Eagle Mountain,' whilst by its side another shaped like a couchant lion will have a name to match. There is no lack of poetryamong the people, and most striking objects claim a poetic name, and not a few of themare associated with curious legendsThe soul in China is everywhere in evidence,

and if myths have "first and foremost to do with the life of the soul" it would appear strange that the Chinese, having spiritualized everything from a stone to the sky, havenot been creative of myth. Why they have not the foregoing considerations show usclearly enough. We must take them and their myths as we find them. Let us, then, notebriefly the result of their mental workings as reacted on by their environment.

The influence of the PAH triad seems to be clear in the origin of certain myths.

8.3 Pan Ku as a mountain

According to Werner (p. 28) when Pan Ku dies His head became the mountains, his

breath the wind and clouds, his voice the thunder, his limbs the four quarters of theearth, his blood the rivers, his flesh the soil, his beard the constellations, his skin and


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hair the herbs and trees, his teeth, bones, and marrow the metals, rocks, and preciousstones, his sweat the rain, and the insects creeping over his body human beings

Having discussed in previous articles this phenomenon, we are in position to suggestthat the shape of the mountain that resembles a human, possibly allowed the first

inhabitants of the place to bring order to the chaos and give an explanation for the originof the universe, and thanks to that, the mountain acquired a sacred shade. In this case,also seems probable the influence of the PAH triad.

As for the antiquity of this Myth, according to Werner (p. 30) The period before theappearance of the P'an Ku myth may be divided into two parts; that from some earlyunknown dates(date) up to about the middle of the Confucian epoch, say 500 B.C., and that from 500 B.C. to A.D. 400.

8.4 Pan Gu as personification of the "Environment"

Figure 7.2 C shows the effigy of Pan Gu, Made out of animals, plants and Stars. Pan Guis not an individual but a multiplicity; he is an incarnation of the "Surrounding"

8.5 An Avatar of P'an Ku

InAn Avatar of P'an Ku, Werner (p. 49) says According to the tradition of Chin Hung,the God of T'ai Shan of the fifth generation from P'an Ku, this being, then called Yan-shih T'ien-wang, was an avatar of P'an Ku. It came about in this wise. In remote agesthere lived on the mountains an old man, Yan-shih T'ien-wang, who used to sit on arock and preach to the multitude. He spoke of the highest antiquity as if from personalexperience

8.6 Seating figures

Probably the seating figure (fig. 9), that represents the three described characters, isinfluenced by the Buddhist tradition. For example, these figures are similar to thepainting of the Seated Luohan, (16th-17th century, Ming dynasty, Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk) Even when the position and the figure are similar, Luohan clearlyshows human characteristics, does not show protuberances over the head, his gown is of a gender, has in front of him a pair of slippers. Over his head a halo that indicates hisholiness.

Figure 9: Seated Luohan


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8.7 Mount Tai

Evidences of human activity date back 400,000 years to Yiyuan, to men of thePalaeolithic Period. By Neolithic times , 5,000-6,000 years ago, became a significantcultural centre with two cultures, the Dawenkou to the north and the Longshan to the

south of the mountain. In the Chinese culture all other mountains are below mount Tai.

According to Ziling (2003) The Chinese generally believe the Mount Tai symbolizes agod. It has a most majestic appearance, like a giant tower surging out of the earth,overlooking all directions in the center of China. Ancient Chinese scholars havedescribed Mount Tai as "a land pulled from the earth to heaven," and "the pillar that supports heaven," it has also been described as "the center of the world" and "the joint of heaven and earth." Ancient Chinese legends tell of a mystical mountain, known as theKun Lun Mountain. Kun Lun Mountain was said to be the abode of the gods and theemperor of the gods. About 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, gods taught humans the necessaryskills and knowledge in order to survive on earth, as well as a set of moral values toguide man's lives. Chinese ancestors lived and prospered in the region of Kun Lun

Mountain. Approximately 4,700 years ago, the Yellow Emperor established a brilliant and magnificent Chinese civilization in the region of Kun Lun Mountain. According toan ancient literary record, "The Yellow Emperor resides in the misty Kun Lun

Mountain." "The peak of Kun Lun Mountain situates the Palace of the Yellow Emperor." Actually, Kun Lun Mountain was "the mountain in the center of theworld," today's Eastern Mountain, or Mount Tai

8.8 Pan Gu Mount Tai

Figure 10 A) shows Pan Gu with a split head, as a mountain with double summit or as astep between mountains. In B) the south door towards the sky shows a crack similar tothe one shown at the previous figure. It is not the highest summit of the mountain, butthe crack can be the one that indicates the importance.

Figure 10: A) Pan-Gu, B) South Heaven Gate

8.9 Pan-Gu and the five sacred mountains


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Ancient legends say: Tai Shan was formed by the head of Pan Gu, who after creatingheaven and earth, dies from exhaustion. His head and limbs became the five mountains.The Five Great Mountains are arranged according to the five cardinal directions:

Chinese geomancy includes the centre as a direction.

In ancient times, Mt. Huashan was called Mt. Taihuashan. From a distance the fivepeaks seem to form the shape of a 'flower' (hua in Chinese), hence the name 'Huashan'.

Ziling (2003) say According to Shu Yi Ji (or A Collection of Bizarre Stories) authored by Ren Fang of the Liang Dynasty, citing Chinese folklore, Pang Gu was the first ruler of the universe. Ren tells a story: "Once upon a time when Pang Gu died, his head became the Four Sacred Mountains, his eyes became the sun and the moon, his body fat became the rivers and the seas, his hair became prairies and forests." Legends from theQin and Han Dynasties inform us that Pang Gu's head became the Eastern Mountain,his chest became the Central Mountain, the left arm became the Southern Mountain, hisright arm became the Northern Mountain and his feet became the Western Mountain." Since the existence of this legend, the Eastern Mountain, or Mount Tai, thus became thehead of the Five Sacred Mountains.

Figure 11 shows A) the distribution and distance between the 5 sacred mountains. B)Based on the legends, a (free) visual interpretation of 5 mountains as the body of PanGu. Because of its dimensions, this is the biggest Mimetolith that we have discovereduntil now.

The Classic of Mountain and Seas describe Five Sacred Peaks: In this text themountains which became identified with the five sacred peaks in the five cardinaldirections (including the centre) where not accorded a special emphasis among the 447 mountains described in the first five books, which were all considered to be holy. The

five peaks are, however, the subject of the commentaries on certain passages. They are Mount great (Tai) in the east, Shantung; Mount Balance (heng) in the South, Hunan; Mounth Blossom (hua), in the west Shensi; Mounth Ever (heng) in the North, Hopei;and Mounth Exalted (Sung) in the centre, Honan. (pag. 219)


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Figure 11: A) 5 sacred mountains, B) 5 mountains as Pan-Gu (Mimetolith)

8.10 The Wu in Ancient China

It is possible that the five sacred mountains and the sacred space that they defined had

its origin in some ancient shamanic practices. The Chinese character Wu means five,for example wu hsing (five elements). Hopkins and Schafer were the first proposing totranslate wu as (shaman comes from the Tungusu-Manchurian language), but Boileau(2002) say my conclusion is that even the common point between wu and Siberianshaman (the link with sexuality) is not sufficient to allow for a translation of wu byshaman, especially in view of the differences of social and historical context .

The oldest writing style of the character Wu depicts the four cardinal directions-North,South, East, and West. This is the pattern that the ancient Wu applied to the center of their bodies, the point to communicate with the other four directions, it was through thispractice that they understood the Universal Way.

The character Wu then may be a key, a synthesis of the shamanic knowledge of geography and astronomy Excluded from the rubric of mythical figures are fourteennamed shamans, who may have been historical figures (The Classic of the Mountainsand seas XXIII). The five sacred mountains (the body of Pan Gu) as a giant Wusymbol, define the sacred and ritual space. The influence of PAH triad looks clear.

In The Classic of Mountains and seas, From Cosmology to Mithogeography (VXI),Birrel declares: The primary model used by the authors of the Classic may beexpressed by the following world picture. The sky is a round canopy composed of ninelayers wish covers a square earth. The two elements of light sky and heavy earth areseparated by world mountains wish prop up the sky. The four corners of the earth serveas directional markers; the centre of the earth serves as a fifth directional marker.Surrounding this earthly square is a linear stretch of water, named the North, South,

East and West Seas. Surrounding the Four seas is a further linear area known as thewilderness, named after the four compass points Earlier cosmological accountsof this world picture presented a simple model of a square earth canopied by a round sky (XVI)

The wu zhu coins (fig. 12 A) appeared in China approximately 2.000 years ago and firststarted appearing following the Han Dynasty, some coins have stars, moons, auspiciousclouds, etc. The Wu Zhu coins may be a symbol of Wu, the union of the sky and earth(yin and yang). The circle may represent the horizon and sky, the central square mayrepresent the four cardinal directions with the centre. Using pareidolia and apopheniawe can say that the Wu Zhu coin is the same symbol that represents Pan Gu where thefive mountains drawn a square in the landscape. It might be interpreted as topologicalrepresentations on a modern geographic information system (GIS).


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figure 12

In the figure 12: A) The wu zhu coin shown here has what appears to be a series of four"stars" on its reverse side below the square hole (Wu Zhu Coins(http://primaltrek.com/charmcoins.html ) (june 2009) B) The circle of the coin may representthe horizon, the central square the four cardinal points, Pan Gus body is both, thesquare and the centre.

The same design is in the True Form of the Five Marchmounts, figure 24 A). Accordingto Sima Chengzhen (674-735) cited by Yuejin Wang (2005) , the mirror shows heavenas a circle and earth as a square.

8.11 The worship to the mountains in China:

Terry F. Kleeman (Mountain deities in China: the domestication of the mountain godand the subjugation of the margins. (Journal of the American Oriental Society, April-June, 1994 ( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2081/is_/ai_n28648194 ), describes the originand characteristics of the cult to the mountains in Ghosts, Sprites, and Imps of theMountains:

The Scripture of Mountains and Seas (Shanghaiing) describes the gods of manymountains, and they are a frightening collection of freaks and monstrosities. The godssurrounding Mount Min in Sichuan, for example, have horse bodies and dragon heads,while those of Great Palace Mountain have human faces on each of their three heads.(31) Most of the beings that the ancient Chinese envisioned in the mountains had morein common with these semi-zoomorphic entities than the staid regional rulers of themarch mounts, but even the march mounts reveal a more unorthodox aspect in later legend

Ge Hong (A.D. 283-343), the fourth-century proponent of alchemy, was forced toenter the mountains to collect the numinous substances needed for his elixirs. Hedevotes an entire chapter of his Master Embracing Simplicity (Baopuzi) to themountains, their wonders, and their dangers, beginning with the following

passage:(32)

All mountains, whether large or small, have gods and spirits. If the mountain is large,the god is great; if the mountain is small, the god is minor. If someone enters themountain possessed of no magical arts, he will certainly suffer harm...

The belief in sprites (jing) is founded on the conception that as living beings age, theyaccumulate spirit (jing).(35) Exceptionally long-lived beings, be they animals like the


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turtle or crane, or plants like the pine tree, could accumulate enough jing to attain the power of transformation. These are the creatures described above, and they wereusually considered to be malefic in nature. Ge Hong equates them with mei, which I translate "devil" because of its common use in collocation with names of fearsomemonsters like the wangliang (variously written as or).(36)

At this early stage there seems to be no consistent differentiation between mountaingods (shanshen), mountain spirits (shanling), and mountain ghosts (shangui)...

Towards the end of the article, he writes Other denizens of the mountains includemountain gods, ghosts of the dead, demons, and sprites, as well as fearsome fauna liketigers, wolves, and dholes. In early accounts all these creatures are dangerous becauseof their capriciousness, amorality, and supernatural powers. Over time the class of mountain gods was redefined as dead human beings filling fixed official posts in thesupernatural bureaucracy; ghosts, sprites, and demons were subjugated to their rule. Inthis way the order of civilized life was gradually extended to the mountains, which had once been defined as a marginal realm beyond the confines of the Chinese world.

The relation Mimetoliths - PAH Triad seems to provide an adapted frame to explain atleast partly the phenomenon of deification of the mountains described in Kleeman'sarticle.

The Worship to the mountains evolved in China alongside with the culture. Probably inthe beginning Pan Gu, Fu Xi and Shennong, were local gods, who later mutated intomythological prominent figures, bureaucratized with the Chinese state and nowadaysthey are a mixture of historical prominent figures with mythological beings.

During the course of time they were evolving, acquiring diverse attributes andfunctions, filtered by the Taoism, the Buddhism, the Confucianism, the communism andnowadays by the western culture. These mutations make it hard to recognize the origins,as former mountains gods, origin of the universe and teachers of the humanity.

8.12 The Legend of Fu Xi

Figure 13: Portrait of Huang Di (1), Fu-Xi (2) and Shen-Nong (3 ancient emperors)

Figure 13 A) This portrait is created after the image of divine beings in the Classic of the Mountains and Seas ( http://www.cultural-

china.com/chinaWH/html/en/Traditions67bye2424.html ). B) a similar image shows Fu Xi andShen Nong with split heads and Huang Di with a normal head,


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(http://iccsg.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/orang-tionghoa-keturunan-dari-yan-dan-huang-di-asal-usul-dari-nama-tionghoa-zhonghua /). It seems to be clear that the figure in the centre (Fu Xi withthe 8 trigrams) and figure on the right Shen Nong, with a bunch of herbs, representmountains with heads of double summit with a central crack, the aspect is very similarto the previous figure that shows to Pan Gu with head of double summit.

8.13 Nu Kua and Fu-Hsi

Munsterberg (1986: 81-84, fig. 21-23) describes what may be the earliest depiction of N Kua and Fu Hsi: their imagery is that of serpent deities. A spectacular Shang kuanghas human figures on two of the legs in which either the lower body is that of a serpent or it is the human body with a snake coiled around it. Two other Shang bronzes showsnake ornaments covering the legs of a man who on one bronze is hugged withaffection, not aggression, ( Bennett Blumenberg, EARLY MYTH AND THE GODDESS IN,ANCIENT CHINA , Blumenberg Associates LLC, 2006, p. 22 ).

Fu Xi and Nu Kua probably are not serpent deities, but Earth deities. The serpentshaped bodies may be referred to the shape of the mountains that seems a serpentobserved from distance (Fu Xi - mountain) and Milky Way (Nu Wua - Sky). The figure14 show to both with a serpent shaped body and instruments in his hands. A) Fu Xi andNu Wa surrounded by constellations, source:(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NuwaFuxi.gif ), B) Source: Li Ung Bing, Outlines of Chinese History, Shanghai 1914, 151 AD, mural painting from Han dynasty. C) In thetop left, a bird (sky animal) and at top right a rat (earth animal), source: Chinesemythological figures Nu Wa and Fu Xi with an unidentified third party. Han dynasty.Tomb mural.

Figura 14: Fu Xi and Nu Wa

Mark Edward Lewis says, This role of linking Heaven to Earth also figures in thedepictions of Fu Xi and N Wa. First, in Han tombs their elongated, serpent bodiesstretch from the bottom of the register to the top, and in later depictions this verticalascent becomes even clearer. In Sichuan sarcophagi they play the iconographic role of the dragons on the Mawangdui banners that physically link the earthly realm to that of

Heaven. This idea is reinforced through the regular inclusion of two other iconographictraits. Fu Xi and N Wa are often depicted with the sun and moon, and they are shownholding a carpenters square (Fu Xi) and a drawing compass (N Wa). The former aremetonyms for Heaven and the celestial equivalents of yin and yang. The latter suggeststhe linking of square Earth to the round Heaven. Most scholars agree that the role of the intertwined Fu Xi and N Wa was to depict the interaction of yin and yang that


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underlies cosmic order and thereby secure an auspicious environment for the denizen of the tomb. (Writing and Authority in Early China, 204(http://books.google.com/books?id=ql7ATHGee50C&pg=PA272IA2&dq="the+square+with+the+plumb+bob+hanging+from+it"&ei=

MjfRSIWWMYPWtgOD8eTbAw&sig=ACfU3U3VwWZwcsMEsCyvuqCbBkmN6ZC8ig#PPA272-IA2,M1 )

The square is a symbol that represents the land, and the compass represents the sky

8.14 Fu-Xi, 8 trigrams, 64 hexagrams.

Fu Xi created the 8 trigrams, representing what happens on the ground and in the sky.The 8 celestial trigrams by turning on the 8 terrestrial trigrams give origin to the 64hexagrams of the I Ching. Fu Xi's mountain like figure, shows 8 terrestrial trigrams thatmust be complemented with 8 celestial trigrams, that is to say the marriage of the skyand the ground, the union of the Yin and the Yang.

In Handbook of Chinese Mythology, Humans Were Re-created by the Brother-SisterCouple, Lihui Yang, Deming An, Jessica A. Turner say This myth basically states that in remote antiquity, there was a great disaster (flood, fire mixed with oil, uncommonsnow, etc.). All humans in the world were destroyed except for a brother and his sister.They wanted to marry each other in order to repopulate the earth but wondered whether this was proper. They agreed that if certain things happened in a test, theyshould get married. The test in some myth versions was to roll two pieces of a millstonedown different sides of a mountain. If the stones touched at the bottom of the mountain,the siblings should marry.

Figure 14: Fragment of a millstone

figure 14 "A pair of millstones (broken) is worshipped in Fuxi Temple at Tianshui City,Gansu Province, northwest China, to commemorate the first sibling-couple ancestors,1995. (Courtesy of Yang Lihui) "(http://books.google.cl/books?id=Wf40ofEMGzIC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=Taihao+Fuxi&source=bl&ots=V7lOJT6bpY&sig=MBVaDSjw3zEnbvvXsuclernP0sM&hl=es&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result ), pg. 68

Probably the Mill stones represent the pair Fu Xi - Nu Wa or sky - ground, or moon -Sun (that resembles two mill wheels during sunrise and sunset when the moon is full)


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and the mystical union between both of them, according to divine commands. The unionbetween the sky and the land originated the human race. Figure 15 shows Theiconography of Fuxi and Nuwa employed as the sun and the moon gods also appeared in Buddhist art, on the ceiling of Dunhuang Cave 285" (Tianshu Zhu, The Sun God andthe Wind Deity at Kizil, http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/tianshu.html )

Figure 15: mural of Fu-Xi as the sun y Nu Wa as the moon

8.15 I Ching, the book of the mutations

Fu Xi had the Eight Diagrams revealed to him supernaturally. By the time of Yu, theEight Diagrams had been developed into hexagrams, which were recorded in thescripture Lian Shan. Lian Shan, meaning "continuous mountains" in Chinese, beginswith the hexagram Bound, which depicts a mountain, mounting on another and isbelieved to be the origin of the scripture's name.(http://www1.chinaculture.org/created/att/20050928/xinsrc_400902281335626478339.bmp )

Probably Lian Shans "continuous mountains refers to the phenomenon that we havebeen analyzing in which the mountains and shapes you recognize in them, were usefulto interpret the landscape and transformed into "teachers" of the humanity.

D. J. Bogelman

Apparently the key for the intimate meaning of the I Ching or book of the mutations, it isexpressed in the presentation by D. J. Bogelman (South American Publishing house,tenth Edition 1991) of the edition in Castilian(Spanish) (p. 12). " In the origin, the I Ching is a book without words. It is a finite succession of not idiomatic signs withinfinite meanings ": A perfect algebraic system."

This book without words works as a "spot" in Rorscach's test, that is to say, itsuggests shapes, images and meaning to the observer. When the hexagrams areobserved, the mind of the viewer activates the mechanism of the Pareidolia.


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As Bogelman writes, As such reading, the application and interpretation is equallyunlimited and universal. Thanks to the total abstraction, it can an encyclopaedicsynthesis of the reality, from the most diverse angles; it can be interpreted as acosmogony, as a system of logic, or of mathematics, in last instance as a representationof the evident plot of the world, or beyond this one, as a representation of its secret

plot."

As soon as the mind of the observer manages to find the shape, the image and themeaning, the interpretation is produced by means of the associations that thisrecognition causes. It is to say, the apofenia operates.

Bogelman again: "The verbal text assigned that came to us - one of the infinite verbal possible translations of the signs - is an epistemological human creation

It is to say, the importance of the I Ching does not relies on the text, but on the signsthat serve as a spot that forces the mind to first look for the meaning (pareidolia) andthen unties the train of associations(Apofenia).

Bogelman: inspired on a metaphysical vision of this cycle of changeable graphicalimages of omnivalent meaning.

Because it is a "revealed" book, therefore "sacred, it can only contain absolute truths,solid guides to interpret the world, life, past, future, etc. This means that the thirdpsychological mechanism is working, Hierophany.

Bogelman: "The text of the I Ching is one of the biggest poetical books and as suchvirtually untranslatably, and not only because the original one is written in Chinese

It means that every interpretation is personal, is the mind of who consults the one thatmust be put in operation to find the real meaning. The one who consults experiments thetriad PAH.

C. G. Jung

The numinous character of the I Ching is highlighted by the psychiatrist Carl GustavJung in the prologue, when in the interpretation he says (p. 30) "To ask the samequestion a second time would have been tactless and so I did not do it: "the master

speaks but once."

Later on Jung points that (p. 34) If the I Ching is not accepted by the conscious, at least the unconscious meets it halfway, and the I Ching is more closely connected withthe unconscious than with the rational attitude of consciousness. It is the field inwhich the PAH triad works.

He also emphasizes the relation to the unconscious In the exploration of theunconscious we come upon very strange things, from which a rationalist turns awaywith horror, claiming afterward that he did not see anything.

Indicates the intimate and personal character (P. 36) Clearly the method aims at self-knowledge, though at all times it has also been put to superstitious use.


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Later, referring to the answers he got from the I Ching, he writes (P. 41) Had a humanbeing made such replies, I should, as a psychiatrist, have had to pronounce him of sound mind, at least on the basis of the material presented. Indeed, I should not havebeen able to discover anything delirious, idiotic, or schizophrenic in the four answers.

Finally Jung indicates On the other hand, any person of clever and versatile mind canturn the whole thing around and show how I have projected my subjective contents intothe symbolism of the hexagrams. Such a critique, though catastrophic from thestandpoint of Western rationality, does no harm to the function of the I Ching. On thecontrary, the Chinese sage would smilingly tell me: "Don't you see how useful the I Ching is in making you project your hitherto unrealized thoughts into its abstrusesymbolism?

Jung's introduction seems to indicate that the same psychological unconsciousmechanisms, inherent in everything human being, that give origin to three prominentfigures: Pan Gu, Fu Xi And Shen Nong, gave origin to the trigrams, the hexagrams andrepresent the "psychological Environment" in which those that consult the I Ching, canobtain a answer. They are a dynamic and current proof of the way in which the PAHtriad operates.

Probably it also was the "psychological Environment that gave origin to the Chinesewriting associated with the oracular function in the Oracle Bones.

8.16 Shen-Nong and the human shaped mountain

According to the legend, in ancient times, a man called Shennong, who also was theEmperor Yan, forefather of the Chinese nation, was savoring there hundreds of speciesof grass to treat the diseases of the people. Since the mountains were so high and full of dangers, Shennong was making stairs and gathering medicinal herbs. Later, to honor hismemory the people named this area "Shennongjia" or Shennong's strairs(http://espanol.cri.cn/1/2003/12/08/[email protected] )

The triad PAH allows offering an alternative explanation. Figure 16, elaborated basedon photographies taken from ( http://www.pbase.com/frankhuang/primitive_worldshenongjia ),shows the area of Shen Nong's altar in Shennongjia, Province of Hubei. A) Shows ShenNong's figure in the first plane, on his head two horns. B) Shows a panoramic view of the altar with the mountain on the back. C) The picture rotated 90 , allows seeing the

human profile and on the top left a protuberance that might have suggested the horns.This figure shows that probably the model for Shen Nong's representation was actuallythe mountain.


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Figure 16: Shen Nongs Altar in Shennongjia and mountain as a mimetolith

8.17 Monte Tai, Human shaped mountain

In figures 17 A and 17 B Mount Thai exhibits a human profile that could be use asmodel or suggest the legend of the transformation of the body of Pan-Gu in a mountain.

Figure 17: A) Tai Mount from Taishan square shows the shape of a face(source: Panoramio, Googleearth, photo by Nian). B) Shows the "face" turned in 90 .

Figure 17: B) Show the view of the Tai'an from the hotel window.The arrow points to the face shape of the mountain. A) The face rotated 90.

8.18 Gongshi Chinese viewing stones

The Gonshi demonstrates the relevance of the phenomenon of the pareidolia and theMimetoliths in the Chinese culture. In Japan are called Suiseki (sui = water and seki =stone, Suseok in Korea, landscape stones, viewing stones or mimetoliths in modernlanguage.


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Gongshi is the Chinese term for stones that evoke something from the viewer. G ong means "spirit" and shi equals "stone", 'Spirit Stones', the most popular English term forthese stones today is 'Scholar's Rocks'. Gonshi and Mimetolith are synonym.

The Chinese interest in collecting rocks for religious or aesthetic purposes has begun

probably during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) when Chinese people started touse stones to decorate their gardens and courtyards. The Gonshi is the art of enjoyingrocks and stones shape in their natural state.

Figure 18

Fig 18. Gongshi stones ( http://www.art-by-nature.nl/category.php?cat=Medium%20Stone ) A)Butterfly and flowers, B) Bird and flower, C) Landscape, D) The moon shines in theriver.

The Gongshi demonstrates that what the western culture today knows as Mimetolithsand the phenomena associated with the PAH triad, in China has a thousand-year-old

presence.Gonshi, Suiseki, Suseok, as Mimetoliths, produced then, and today, a hugepsychological impact, they are the dynamic expression, constantly updated and re-elaborated by diverse cultures, of the phenomena of the PAH triad.

8.19 The Suiseki

Figure 19: Suiseki

The suiseki stones must be classified in three categories:

1. Landscape: yama-gata-ishi (Mountain), dan-seki (Plateau), shimagata-ishi (Island),keiryu-seki (Mountains Rivers), mizutamari-ishi (Lake), dokutsu-ishi (Cave), yadori(shelter) , or domon-ishi (tunnel), isogata-ishi (Coast with Beach), iwagata-ishi (withcliff ), - taki-ishi = Waterfall.


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2. Objects: funagata ishi (boat), hashi ishi (bridge), yagata ishi (house), dobutsu seki(animals) o sugata ishi (antropomorphics).

3. Precious stones: A) shikisai seki (different kindm of color), B) monyo seki

(different surface (vegetables, abstract, astronomical objects)

This demonstrates a high degree of specialization and refinement in this way of observation of the nature. It gives origin to a particular style of rock works, in whichnatural rocks with evocative forms are considered "special" and preserved for furthercontemplation, becoming transportable rock works, that is to say that can be movedwithout losing the relations with other rock works or with the "surrounding", as in thecase of the not transportable rock works, that make sense in relation with theirenvironment (Bustamante 2005-1, http://rupestreweb.info/elmauro.html , Bustamante 2005-3,http://rupestreweb.info/obrasrupestres.html ).

Figure 19 A, ( http://groups.google.es/group/foro-de-suiseki ), shows a modern example of astone that resembles a mountain or yama-gata-ishi , in Japanese. Figure 18 B(http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suiseki ), shows a human shaped rock or sugata-ishi , in Japanese.

The Three images of figure 20 show Suseok's examples:A- Landscape ( http://www.lgw98.com/zeroboardlgw98/zboard.php?id=suseokgallery )B- Dog ( http://www.ystones.com/dujiangyanstones.html )C- Landscape ( http://www.lgw98.com/zeroboardlgw98/zboard.php?id=suseokgallery )

Figure 20: rocks, Suiseki

8.20 Mountains of double summit

The drawings that show Pan Gu, Fu Xi and Shennong with a cracked head as amountain with double summit, might be indicating phenomena similar to that of theChahuareche mountain, IVth Region, Chile that shows a double summit and during thewinter, the snow produces an effect similar to a human face on the hillside(http://rupestreweb.info/hierofania.html , fig 7 y http://www.rupestreweb.info/pareidolia2.htm fig 9).


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with the temporal administration, the marchmounts seem to embody the ancient civilization of China. There was, however, another side to the supernatural denizens of China's mountains. (Mountain deities in China: the domestication of the mountain

god and the subjugation of the margins. http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/terry.html .

Time after, the original symbolic meaning was loss and the Daoist was replaced by adifferent kind of symbolism. In Shaping the Lotus Sutra, Yuejin Wang say The Chart of the True Form of the Five Marchmounts (Wuyue zhenxing tu), as seen in some old engraving whose date remains unclear, exemplifies the topographic map as analternative form of talismanic symbolism. (fig. 4.16), as opposed to the incantatoryinventory mode. Paramount among the Daoist ilustrations, the charts of this kind werealready in existence in the third century and where perpetuated, and most likelyadapted, in Tang times and later The True Form of the Five Marchmounts is animage of the mountains and river. Its coiling and tortuous form conveys the shapes and dynamics of the mountain ridges and hills, their varying altitudes, lengths, curves, and stretches. The streams look like flung brushtrokes whose traces overrun hills and cliffs.The dark wildernes of the cloudly forests spreads in the manner of writen characters (Mapping and Transformation, 212).

Fig. 23 A) Detail of pre-modern design of The Chart of the True Form

of The Five Marchmounts, B) Modern contour map.

According to Yuejin Wang While the received engravings (fig. 4.16 [fig. 23 A in thisarticle]) match this account, it is not clear to what extent they preserve the medievaldesign. One reliable Tang period version of The Chart of the True Form of The Five

Marchmounts is contained in the design of the Mirror Containing Simulacra(hanxiangjian). Sima Chengzhen (674-735), a prominent eight-century Daoist master,

provide a prece glossing of the design94. According to Sima, the mirror shows heavenas a circle and earth as a square. Inside the square are five geometric configurations,characterized as the linked mountains and patterns of earth, that represent thefive marchmounts (fig. 4.17 a [fig. 24 A in this article]). It is easy to see the pictorial

variations of this design on some eight-century mirror featuring one peak in the center and four spaced evenly around it, surrounded by the tumbling waves of the oceans (fig.4.17 b [fig. 24 B in this article])). (Mapping Transformation, 213, Yuejin WangEugene, Shaping the Lotus Sutra, Buddhist visual culture in medieval China, Universityof Washington Press, 2005, ISBN 0295984627, 9780295984629,http://books.google.cl/books?id=8X2bNasjuW4C )


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Fig. 24 A) Ink rubbing of back of bronze mirror with cosmological design including a representation of

theTrue Form of the Five Marchmounts, Eight century. Palace Museum, Beijing. B) Five Marchmounts and seascape on the back of a bronze mirror. Eight century. Sengoku Tadashi Collection, Kaisai City, Japan .

The formal impulse and the allaround rotating viewing stance in the pictorial mirror (fig. 4.17 b [fig. 24 B in this article]) may have informed the design of the map of theTodaiji Precinct dated 756, in Japan (fig. 4.18) The mirror design matches more closelythe accounts of The Chart of the True Form of The Five Marchmounts contained in Theesoteric Transmissions concerning the Martial Thearch of the Han (Han wudineizhuan),95 probably a late-fourth- or early-fifth-century text.96. The Chart of theTrue Form of The Five Marchmounts is said to have come from the hand of the Daoist god known as the Supreme Ruler of the Three Heavens:

[He] went down to see the wide world and investigated the differences of lengths and breadths among the rivers and the seas. He also observed the differences of height

among the hills and mountains. Then he established the [position o the] Pillar of Heaven and arranged the geographic features in their positions all around it. Then he placed [on the map] the five mountains [in a manner] imitated from the method of concentric zones [i.e. taking one as a central and disposing the others symmetrically]The rivers are also seen flowing [on the map], some green some black. The assembly of spirits is depicted cradled on the waves; all the inmortals and jade girls are gathered there ...Thus by the use of the compass and the square the rivers and their upper reaches were measured, and the mountains drawn with circular and curving lines. Themountain ranges bend back up on themselves and the smaller hills wander back and

fort. The height of the mountains and the extent of their slopes are shown by linesturning and curving. Indeed, they look like written characters. Thus the written names

of the mountains were determined by their respective natural shapes, and the reality of the mountains is enshrined in symbols. 47 (Mapping Transformation, 214-217, YuejinWang Eugene, Shaping the Lotus Sutra )

8.22 Influence of pareidolia in the design of graphs.

The influence of the pareidolia seems to remain demonstrated with the followingphrases by Yuejin Wang:


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The iconography on the mirror reinforces the association of the landscape withwritten characters by evoking the lore of the revelation of celestial graphs(page. 217)

The original design of the esoteric graphs is now lost. Medieval accounts

characterize them as grand patterns originating in footprints of birds,derivates of nature; characters congealed from the pneuma out of the emptyspace (page. 218)

The tortuous form that doubles as both topographic contours and celestialgraphs acquire talismanic value largely because of the latters imagined capacity to communicate with the gods and spirits. Misfortunes are oftenattributed to the workings of myriad spirits and unseen powers. Topographybecame a way of classifying and localizing these into chtonic gods and spirits of mountains and rivers. To propitiate or control them involves special means of communication beyond human language. To the extent that sinuous formsrepresent topographic contours, which were enchanted in the medievalimagination, they have the potential to evoke the presence of gods and spiritsassociated with topography; insofar as they masquerade as and evoke celestialgraphs, the form can be seen as a special means of communication with thespirit world. The topographic picture then becomes a special form of knowledgeand power; it lays claim to knowledge of the workings of the unseen forces byway of topographic mapping, thereby symbolically taking in and fixing thenuminous topography (page. 218)

8.23 Science and Mythology

The line between some scientific and mythological knowledge is tenuous and vague.What today seems to us not to be scientific might be a category of considered relevantphenomena in the antiquity, but irrelevant or not existing in the present.

Birrell points that The wealth of scientific information in the five books of the classicsuggest either that the author was a traveller naturalist who observed living things inall the regions of China, or the data was collated from regional informants Then heindicates The careful description of both recognizable and mythological things in

nature begs the question, what was perceived to be the dividing line if any, betweenscience and fabulous art? If it is not feasible to pursue that question here, it is possibleto comment on the evidence on the Classic for the foundation of a scientificmethodology. The style is schematic and systematic, within the parameters of classicalnatural history. Each of the twenty six chapters of Books One to Five discusses in turna mountain, its rivers, its flora, minerals and fauna. The description of livings things ismainly conducted by means of analogy, correlations and homologue... (The Classic of

Mountains and Seas, XXXI y XXXIII). this way, objects and beings are describeddepending on its resemblance to something.

It integrates in a method and in a coherent unit something that for us constitute two

different spheres. The categories of real and mythical are valid for our culture, but inancient cultures both were the same, just seen as reality. For example, in the Classic one


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of the Mountains and the Seas , it was logical to describe from a therapeutic andpreventive point of view a remedy for a disease as the rheumatism and at the same timeand with the same tools a remedy for the bad luck.

It seems like our "scientific medicine" has left definitively behind that one, but in the

words of Dr. Carlos Viesca T., The medicine is the most human of the sciences and themost scientific of the arts "... Referring to the scientific medicine of the second half of the 20th century indicates Among the most serious doubts about the real dimensionof the scientific advances which the current medicine displays, it is counted the related to the existence itself of the disease. Do they exist, ontologically, the disease, as genre,or the diseases, the morbid species? That is to say, are they real objects? ".... It mightseem inconceivable for us, but this raises the question of which in the future as ithappens to us with the medicine of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, some of thenowadays considered real diseases might be catalogued of imaginary or non-existent. Inthis way, the limit between science and mythology seems tenuous. Referring to theoccupation of the medical practice, Dr. Viesca indicates " Medicine is not only ahuman biology applied to the study of the diseases and their mechanisms, it is likewise a

phenomenology that assumes the reality of the well-considered thing, of the lived by thesick human being, for the patient who gives place to the expression of a pathos that isnot only a suffering, but passion in the sense of sensitive and emotive alteration, of affection of the individual history. The disease modifies habits and perceptions of theworld, feelings and thoughts, is not only psychosomatic but also has an existentialrepercussion" (http://www.anmm.org.mx/academia/?Q=content/la-medicina-conocimiento-y-significado-acad-carlos-viesca-t ).

9. Conclusions:

The precedents analyzed seem to indicate that Pan-Gu, Fu-Xi and Shen-Nong, in theirorigin, might have been three mountains that thanks to the psychological phenomena of Pareidolia, Apofenia and Hierofana (PAH triad), were humanized and sacralized.

These three prominent figures might have represented the spirit of these mountains.

The visual analysis of illustrations and photographies of the mentioned sources,indicates that the origin of these legends might have been mimetoliths.

The 5 sacred mountains in which the body of Pan Gu transformed into after his death,represent the biggest mimetolith discovered until now (1,100 km length per 660 kmwidth).

All of the sources presented seem to be an evidence of the influence of the PAH triadand the megaliths in the origin of the relevant legends of the Chinese culture.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas " carries a solid confirmation of the sacralizationof the landscape and the elements that constitute it, by means of the transformation invisual symbols (mimetoliths) thanks to the Pareidolia, establishing a series of relationsbetween them and with the surroundings thanks to the apophenia. According to Birrel

the aim was to provide to comprehensive Survey of the Whole World, a descriptiomundi ".


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Special thanks to

My dearest friends Roberto Gonzlez and his wife Lourdes Gispert, to Jos Miguel RuizTagle and his wife Ximena.

Preguntas, comentarios? escriba a: [email protected]

Cmo citar este artculo :

Bustamante D , Patricio, Bustamante, Daniela y Yao, W. Fay. The Worship to the Mountains: A Study of the Creation Myths of the Chinese Culture.

En Rupestreweb, http://www.rupestreweb.info/china.html

2010

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