Hung Mung
Encyclopedia
Hong Meng, Hung Meng, or Hung Mung is a character in the Daoist text Zhuangzi
and a metaphor for the "primordial world, primeval chaos" in Chinese creation myths. Like many Zhuangist names, Hong Meng is a word play
, translated as "Mists-of-Chaos", "Vast Obscurity", "Big Concealment", "Vital Principle", and "Natural Energy".
Hong Meng compounds hong 鴻 "wild goose, swan; vast, great" and meng 蒙 "covered; ignorant (esp. in childhood), untutored; encounter, receive; (Yijing) Hexagram 4". The (ca. 111 CE) Hanshu biography of the Daoist author Yang Xiong writes Hong Meng as 鴻濛, with the variant Chinese character
meng 濛 "mist, drizzling rain" (sharing the 氵 "water radical
in hong 鴻). In Modern Standard Chinese usage, hongmeng 鴻蒙 is a literary metonym meaning "primordial world; primeval atmosphere of nature" before Pangu
created the world.
將 "military commander, general officer; (Chinese chess) general corresponding to (chess) king
". English translators of the Zhuangzi have rendered Yun Jiang and Hong Meng as:
Yun Jiang meets Hong Meng twice in three years, both times when wandering or traveling eastward. First, Yun Jiang was passing the fuyao zhi zhi 扶搖之枝 "branch(es) of a whirlwind". Watson (1968:121) notes fuyao 扶搖 "whirlwind; typhoon" appears in Zhuangzi chapter 1, but suggests this context is an error for fusang
扶桑 "a huge mythical tree in the eastern sea from whose branches the sun rises." Both interpretations are possible, compare "an offshoot of a whirlwind" (tr. Mair 1994:97) and "the branches of the sacred wood" (tr. Wang 1999:163). Second, they meet when Yun Jiang was passing the Song zhi ye 宋之野 "wilds of Song
" (present day Henan
), and respectfully addresses Hong Meng as tian
天 "heaven; heavenly master".
Watson (1968:120) notes that Hong Meng apparently represents "the Taoist Sage".
uses Hong Heng twice, translated as "primal chaos" and "Profound Mist", and both contexts echo the Zhuangzi. The "Activating the Genuine" (Chuzhen 俶真訓) chapter says,
And "Responses of the Way" (Daoying 道應訓) says,
as Hung Mung, where he is described as "A Sage of Ancient China and Official Discordian Missionary to the Heathen Chinese [or variously 'Chinee]" and declared an Apostle of Eris and a Five Star Saint. He is credited with originating the Sacred Chao and is Patron of the Discordian Season
of Chaos. In that calendar, his particular Holyday is 'Mungday', which corresponds to the 5th of January (Gregorian), 5th of Chaos (Discordian).
A quotation from the Zhuangzi describing his habit of slapping his buttocks while proclaiming his ignorance is attributed as coming from The Honest Book of Truth: The Book of Gooks, Chapter 1, a fictional work in the Discordian mythos.
Zhuangzi (book)
The Taoist book Zhuangzi was named after its purported author Zhuangzi, the philosopher. Since 742 CE, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang mandated honorific titles for Taoist texts, it has also been known as the Nánhuá Zhēnjīng , literally meaning "True Classic of Southern Florescence," alluding to...
and a metaphor for the "primordial world, primeval chaos" in Chinese creation myths. Like many Zhuangist names, Hong Meng is a word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
, translated as "Mists-of-Chaos", "Vast Obscurity", "Big Concealment", "Vital Principle", and "Natural Energy".
Name
Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
meng 濛 "mist, drizzling rain" (sharing the 氵 "water radical
Radical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
in hong 鴻). In Modern Standard Chinese usage, hongmeng 鴻蒙 is a literary metonym meaning "primordial world; primeval atmosphere of nature" before Pangu
Pangu
Pangu was the first living being and the creator of all in Chinese mythology.- The Pangu legend:...
created the world.
Zhuangzi
Hong Meng first appears in the (ca. 3rd century BCE) "Outer Chapters" of Zhuangzi (chapter 11, Zài Yòu 在宥) paired with Yun Jiang . This character name combines yun 雲 "cloud, clouds" and jiangJiang (rank)
Jiang is the rank held by general officers in the military of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. The People's Liberation Army uses three grades at present while the Republic of China uses four, with the rank equivalent to the fourth being treated as a field officer...
將 "military commander, general officer; (Chinese chess) general corresponding to (chess) king
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
". English translators of the Zhuangzi have rendered Yun Jiang and Hong Meng as:
- Frederic H. BalfourFrederic H. BalfourFrederic Henry Balfour was a British expatriate editor, essayist, author, and sinologist, living in Shanghai during the Victorian era. He is most notable for his translation of the writings known today as the Tao Te Ching...
(1881:127) Spirit of the Clouds, Mists-of-Chaos - James LeggeJames LeggeJames Legge was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong , and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University...
(1891:300) Yün Kiang, Hung Mung - Herbert GilesHerbert GilesHerbert Allen Giles was a British diplomat and sinologist, educated at Charterhouse. He modified a Mandarin Chinese Romanization system earlier established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade-Giles Chinese transliteration system...
(1926:129) Spirit of the Clouds, Vital Principle - Burton WatsonBurton WatsonBurton Watson is an accomplished translator of Chinese and Japanese literature and poetry. He has received awards including the Gold Medal Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1981 for his translation with Hiroaki Sato of From the Country of...
(1968:120) Cloud Chief, Big Concealment - Victor H. MairVictor H. MairVictor Henry Mair is a Philologist specializing in Sinitic and Indo-European languages, and holds the position of Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States...
(1994:97) Cloud General, Vast Obscurity - Wang Rongpei (1999:163) General Cloud, Natural Energy
Yun Jiang meets Hong Meng twice in three years, both times when wandering or traveling eastward. First, Yun Jiang was passing the fuyao zhi zhi 扶搖之枝 "branch(es) of a whirlwind". Watson (1968:121) notes fuyao 扶搖 "whirlwind; typhoon" appears in Zhuangzi chapter 1, but suggests this context is an error for fusang
Fusang
Fusang or Fousang refers to several different entities in ancient Chinese literature, often either a mythological tree or a mysterious land to the East....
扶桑 "a huge mythical tree in the eastern sea from whose branches the sun rises." Both interpretations are possible, compare "an offshoot of a whirlwind" (tr. Mair 1994:97) and "the branches of the sacred wood" (tr. Wang 1999:163). Second, they meet when Yun Jiang was passing the Song zhi ye 宋之野 "wilds of Song
Song (state)
Sòng was a state during the Eastern Zhou Spring and Autumn Period . Its capital was Shangqiu . In 701 BC, a political marriage between Lady Yong of Song and Duke Zhuang of Zheng empowered Song to manipulate the management of Zheng.- Origin :After King Wu of Zhou overthrew King Zhou of Shang,...
" (present day Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
), and respectfully addresses Hong Meng as tian
Tian
Tian is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the cosmos and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang Dynasty the Chinese called god Shangdi or Di , and during the Zhou Dynasty Tian "heaven; god" became synonymous with Shangdi...
天 "heaven; heavenly master".
Cloud Chief was traveling east and had passed the branches of the Fu-yao when he suddenly came upon Big Concealment. Big Concealment at the moment was amusing himself by slapping his thighs and hopping around like a sparrow. When Cloud Chief saw this, he stopped in bewilderment, stood dead still in his tracks, and said, "Old gentleman, who are you? What is this you're doing?"
Big Concealment, without interrupting his thigh-slapping and sparrow-hopping, replied to Cloud Chief, "Amusing myself."
"I would like to ask a question," said Cloud Chief.
"Oh dear!" said Big Concealment, for the first time raising his head and looking at Cloud Chief.
"The breath of heaven is out of harmony, the breath of earth tangles and snarls," said Cloud Chief. "The six breaths do not blend properly," the four seasons do not stay in order. Now I would like to harmonize the essences of the six breaths in order to bring nourishment to all living creatures. How should I go about it?"
Big Concealment, still thigh-slapping and sparrow-hopping, shook his head. "I have no idea! I have no idea!"
So Cloud Chief got no answer. Three years later he was again traveling east and, as he passed the fields of Sung, happened upon Big Concealment once more. Cloud Chief, overjoyed, dashed forward and presented himself, saying, "Heavenly Master, have you forgotten me? Have you forgotten me?" Then he bowed his head twice and begged for some instruction from Big Concealment.
Big Concealment said, "Aimless wandering does not know what it seeks; demented drifting does not know where it goes. A wanderer, idle, unbound, I view the sights of Undeception. What more do I know?"
Cloud Chief said, "I too consider myself a demented drifter, but the people follow me wherever I go and I have no choice but to think of them. It is for their sake now that I beg one word of instruction!"
Big Concealment said, "If you confuse the constant strands of Heaven and violate the true form of things, then Dark Heaven will reach no fulfillment. Instead, the beasts will scatter from their herds, the birds will cry all night, disaster will come to the grass and trees, misfortune will reach even to the insects. Ah, this is the fault of men who 'govern'!"
"Then what should I do?" said Cloud Chief.
"Ah," said Big Concealment, "you are too far gone! Up, up, stir yourself and be off!"
Cloud Chief said, "Heavenly Master, it has been hard indeed for me to meet with you – I beg one word of instruction!"
"Well, then – mind-nourishment!" said Big Concealment. "You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless. Undo the mind, slough off spirit, be blank and soulless, and the ten thousand things one by one will return to the root – return to the root and not know why. Dark and undifferentiated chaos – to the end of life none will depart from it. But if you try to know it, you have already departed from it. Do not ask what its name is, do not try to observe its form. Things will live naturally and of themselves."
Cloud Chief said, "The Heavenly Master has favored me with this Virtue, instructed me in this Silence. All my life I have been looking for it, and now at last I have it!" He bowed his head twice, stood up, took his leave, and went away. (tr. Watson 1968:120-123)
Watson (1968:120) notes that Hong Meng apparently represents "the Taoist Sage".
Huainanzi
The (2nd century BCE) HuainanziHuainanzi
The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...
uses Hong Heng twice, translated as "primal chaos" and "Profound Mist", and both contexts echo the Zhuangzi. The "Activating the Genuine" (Chuzhen 俶真訓) chapter says,
In an age of Utmost Potency, [people] contentedly slept in boundless realms and moved [between] and lodged in indeterminate dwellings. They clasped Heaven and Earth and discarded the myriad things. They took primal chaos as their gnomon and floated freely in a limitless domain. (2, tr. Major et al. 2010:99)
And "Responses of the Way" (Daoying 道應訓) says,
One such as I – to the south, I wander to the wilderness of Wangliang [Penumbra]; to the north, I rest in the countryside of Chenmu [Sunken Tomb]; to the west, I go as far as the hamlet of Yaoming [Deep Obscurity]; to the east, I close myself up within Hongmeng [Profound Mist]. In such places, no Earth lies below; no Heaven spreads above. You listen but do not hear; you look but do not see. (12, tr. Major et al. 2010:471)
Discordianism
Hong Meng is also found in the Principia DiscordiaPrincipia Discordia
Principia Discordia is a Discordian religious text written by Greg Hill and Kerry Thornley . It was originally published under the title "Principia Discordia or How The West Was Lost" in a limited edition of 5 copies in 1965...
as Hung Mung, where he is described as "A Sage of Ancient China and Official Discordian Missionary to the Heathen Chinese [or variously 'Chinee]" and declared an Apostle of Eris and a Five Star Saint. He is credited with originating the Sacred Chao and is Patron of the Discordian Season
Discordian calendar
The Discordian or Erisian calendar is an alternative calendar used by some adherents of Discordianism. It is specified on page 00034 of the Principia Discordia.The Discordian year 1 YOLD is 1166 BC...
of Chaos. In that calendar, his particular Holyday is 'Mungday', which corresponds to the 5th of January (Gregorian), 5th of Chaos (Discordian).
A quotation from the Zhuangzi describing his habit of slapping his buttocks while proclaiming his ignorance is attributed as coming from The Honest Book of Truth: The Book of Gooks, Chapter 1, a fictional work in the Discordian mythos.