Hongjun Laozu () lit. "Ancestor of the Great Balance" is a

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...

and

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

, teacher of the Three Pure Ones in Taoist mythology. ''Hongjun'' is a graphic variant of ''hungjun'' () "primordial nature", as used in the

Chinese idiom ''Chengyu'' () are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expression, most of which consist of four characters. ''Chengyu'' were widely used in Classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and in the spoken language ...

''Xian you hongjun hou you tian'' "First there was Hongjun and then there was Heaven". Daoists mythologize Hongjun Laozu as the ancestor of '' xian'' "trancendents; immortals" (Werner 1922:133-134) and use the honorific name Hongyuan Laozu () "Great Primal Ancestor". In Chinese creation myths, ''hongyuan'' or is a

cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

term for "the universe before the separation of heaven and earth". Some myths about the creator

Pangu Pangu (, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers. Legends The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during t ...

(Werner 1922:128-130) refer to Hongjun Laozu as Xuanxuan Shangren () "Mystery of Mysteries Saint" (a reference to the '' Daodejing'' 1, tr. Mair 1990:59, "Mystery or mysteries, the gate of all wonders!"). Hongjun Laozu is also referred to as Hunyuan Laozu (混元老祖 - "Ancestor of Original Chaos").

Myth

Hongjun Laozu has hardly been the subject of academic studies and the role assigned to it may vary according to the faithful. Some only know his interpretations in fiction. Hongjun Laozu makes his first major appearance in Chinese literature in the popular novel The Investiture of the Gods, under the name of Hongjun Daoren (鴻鈞道人). According to ''The Investiture of the Gods'', he is the eldest of the four beings created by the Spirit of Creation (Chuangshi Yuanling; 創始元靈), the others being Hunkun Zushi (混鯤祖師), Nüwa Niangniang, and Luya Daojun (陸壓道君). His disciples are the Three Purities: Daode Tianzun (道德天尊) alias

Laozi Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state ...

Yuanshi Tianzun Yuanshi Tianzun (), the ''Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning'' or the ''Primeval Lord of Heaven'', is one of the highest deities of Taoism. He is one of the Three Pure Ones () and is also known as the ''Jade Pure One'' (). He resides ...

, and

Tongtian Jiaozhu Tongtian Jiaozhu (通天教主) or sometimes translated as ''Grandmaster of Heaven'' is the third disciple of Hongjun Laozu and younger brother of Yuanshi Tianzun and Taishang Laojun. He has appeared as an antagonist in many legends, classic nov ...

(通天教主), assimilated to Lingbao Tianzun. The first two are found in the novel in conflict with the last. According to the Wujihongjun Gong temple (無極黌君宮) in Taipei, he is the principle behind the universe. The Cihui Tang temple (慈惠堂) in Zhonggang,

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of T ...

Zhonggang cihuitang
/ref> offers the faithful three interpretations: *He is the origin of the universe, from him are born the Three Pure Ones and then the Five Ancients (''wulao'' 五老), rulers associated with the five elements and the five directions. He is also the ancestor of all immortals. * The original chaos (''hunyuangui'' 混元規) gave birth to the celestial order (''tiangui'' 天規) embodied by Haotian Laozu (昊天老祖; "Ancestor of the Boundless Sky") and the earthly order (''digui'' 地規) embodied by Hongjun Laozu. * He is a form of

and also goes by the name Xuanxuan Shangren (玄玄上人). Hongjun Laozu was also told about in the myth of

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

. He was the person who captured Nian, the great beast that terrorised the people of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

every Chinese New Year. Every Chinese New Year was a time of suffering and fear for the people of China because of Nian, the great beast. One Chinese New Year's Eve, the monk, Hongjun Laozu, came to a village in

. He saw how everyone looked sad and frightened, so he went to a young man and said, "Why are you so sad? It is

, a time for celebration." The man replied, "Do you not know? Have you not heard about Nian? He comes every New Year and terrorises us, even eats us." The monk said, "I will go and reason with Nian." So off he went, to find Nian. When Hongjun Laozu came to Nian, he said, "Nian, I have come to reason with you. Stop eating and terrorising the people of

." But Nian said, "Haha. You have delivered yourself to me, old man, so now I will eat you." The man replied, "Oh, but what will that prove? Eating me isn't great! Would you dare to eat the poisonous snakes on the mountains?" "Bah! What's so difficult about that?" So Nian went to the poisonous snakes and ate them up. "How is this? Am I not great?" "At the back of the mountain there are many great beasts. Can you subdue them?" So Nian went and scared all of the dangerous beasts out of the back of the mountain. "Old man, now it's time for me to eat you!" "Sure, but just wait while I take my clothes off, I will taste much better then". So the old man took his clothes off to reveal his undergarments, which were red. "OK, you can eat me now." But Nian said, "Ah! a red undergarment! I dearly hate red, get out of my sight quickly." "Haha! I knew you were afraid of red!" The old man went into the town on top of Nian and said, "Dear villagers, do not be afraid. Nian is most terrified of red. From now on each house must paste red on each of their doors to prevent Nian creating havoc." After that, the people started to paste red paper on their front doors before

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

. After that incident, Nian never came to the village again. Hongjun Laozu eventually captured Nian and after that, Nian retreated to a nearby mountain. The name of the mountain has long been lost over the years.

References

*Mair, Victor H. 1990. ''Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, by Lao Tzu; an entirely new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts''. Bantam Books. *Werner, E.T.C. 1922
''Myths & Legends of China''
Graham Brash. {{Chinese mythology Chinese gods Creation myths Deities in Taoism Taoist immortals

Myth

See also

References