Hundun ( zh, c=混沌, p=Hùndùn, w=Hun4-tun4, l=muddled confusion) is both a "legendary faceless being" in
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...
and the "primordial and central
chaos" in
Chinese cosmogony, comparable with the
world egg.
Linguistics
''Hundun'' was semantically extended from a mythic "primordial chaos; nebulous state of the universe before heaven and earth separated" to mean "unintelligible; chaotic; messy; mentally dense; innocent as a child".
While "primordial chaos" is usually written as in contemporary vernacular, it is also written as —as in the Daoist classic ''
Zhuangzi''—or —as in the ''
Zuozhuan''. "chaos; muddled; confused" is written either or . These two are interchangeable graphic variants read as ) and (). ("dull; confused") is written as either or .
Isabelle Robinet outlines the etymological origins of ''hundun''.
Semantically, the term ''hundun'' is related to several expressions, hardly translatable in Western languages, that indicate the void or a barren and primal immensity – for instance, , , , , or . It is also akin to the expression "something confused and yet complete" () found in the ''Daode jing'' 25, which denotes the state prior to the formation of the world where nothing is perceptible, but which nevertheless contains a cosmic seed. Similarly, the state of ''hundun'' is likened to an egg; in this usage, the term alludes to a complete world round and closed in itself, which is a receptacle like a cavern () or a gourd ( or ).
Most
Chinese characters
Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...
are written using "
radicals" or "semantic elements" and "
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
elements". is written with the "water radical" or and phonetics of and . "primordial chaos" is
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
with
Wonton () "wonton; dumpling soup" written with the "eat radical" zh, labels=no, c=食. Note that the English
loanword
A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
''
wonton'' is borrowed from the
Cantonese
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
pronunciation ''wan
4tan
1''.
Victor H. Mair
Victor Henry Mair (; born March 25, 1943) is an American Sinology, sinologist currently serving as a professor of Chinese language, Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other accomplishments, Mair has edited the standard ''Columbia His ...
suggests a fundamental connection between and : "The undifferentiated soup of primordial chaos. As it begins to differentiate, dumpling-blobs of matter coalesce. … With the evolution of human consciousness and reflectiveness, the soup was adopted as a suitable metaphor for chaos". This last assertion appears unsupported, however, since wonton soup is not attested in Chinese sources dating earlier than the Han dynasty, although the linguistic connection of the soup to the larger concept certainly appears real.
''Hundun'' zh, labels=no, c=混沌 has a graphic variant (using see the ''Liezi'' below), which etymologically connects to the mountain name
Kunlun
The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kunlu ...
(differentiated with the "mountain radical" ). Robinet says "Kunlun and ''hundun'' are the same closed center of the world."
Girardot quotes the Chinese philologist Lo Mengci , who says that reduplicated words like ''hundun'' "suggest cyclic movement and transformation", and speculates:
Ritually mumbling the sounds of ''hun-tun'' might, therefore, be said to have a kind on incantatory significance that both phonetically and morphologically invokes the mythological and ontological idea of the Tao as the ''creatio continua'' process of infinitely repeated moments of change and new creation.
The ''
Shuowen Jiezi
The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the ...
'' does not contain (which apparently lacked a pre-Han
Seal script
Seal script or sigillary script () is a Chinese script styles, style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of bronze script during the Zhou dynasty (1 ...
). It defines as , as the sound of "abundantly-flowing flow" or "seemingly impure", as "anger, rage; scolding" or "who", and as "ripples; eddies" or "sink into; disappear".
English ''chaos'' is a better translation of ''hundun'' in the classical sense of
''Chaos'' or ''Khaos'' in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
meaning "gaping void; formless primordial space preceding creation of the universe" than in the common sense of "disorder; confusion". The latter meaning of ''hundun'' is synonymous with Chinese . Their
linguistic compound exemplifies the "synonym compound" category in Chinese
morphology.
Early textual usages
In the Chinese written record, ''hundun'' first appears in classics dating from the
Warring States period
The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
. The following summary divides them into Confucianist, Daoist, and other categories, and presents them in roughly chronological order, with the caveat that many early textual dates are uncertain.
Confucian texts
''Hundun'' only occurs in one Confucian classic, the ''
Zuo zhuan
The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' ...
'' commentary to the ''
Spring and Autumn Annals''. Most early Confucianist ancient texts (''
Lunyu'', ''
Book of Documents
The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, a ...
'', ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
'', etc.) do not use ''hun'', with four exceptions. One, the ''
Mengzi'', uses ''hun'' in its original meaning "sound of flowing water". Mencius explains why Confucius praised water, "There is a spring of water; how it gushes out!". The other three use ''hun'' as what Girardot calls "a term of opprobrium and condemnation related to the suppression of the "barbarians" or the "legendary rebels"."
The ''
Shijing'' (237) mentions "ancient
Hunni tribe in
Turan". When
King Wen of Zhou
King Wen of Zhou ( zh, c=周文王, p=Zhōu Wén Wáng; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was the posthumous title given to Ji Chang ( zh, c=姬昌), the patriarch of the Zhou state during the final years of Shang dynasty in ancient China. J ...
opened up the roads, "The hordes of the Keun
icdisappeared, Startled and panting". The ''Chunqiu'' mentions the Luhun zh, labels=no, c=陸渾 tribe of the
Rong people, "the Jung of Luh-hwăn" The ''Zuozhuan'' commentary to the ''Chunqiu'' notes they were originally from western
Gansu
Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
and forced into northern
Henan
Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
.
Another ''Zuozhuan'' context refers to as a worthless son of the
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...
, one of the mythical "
Four Perils" banished by
Shun.
The ancient emperor Hung [Hwang-te] had a descendant devoid of ability [and virtue]. He hid righteousness from himself, and was a villain at heart; he delighted in the practice of the worst vices; he was shameless and vile, obstinate, stupid, and unfriendly, cultivating only the intimacy of such as himself. All the people under heaven called him Chaos. … When Shun became Yaou's minister, he received the nobles from the four quarters of the empire, and banished these four wicked ones, Chaos, Monster, Block, and Glutton, casting them out into the four distant regions, to meet the spite of the sprites and evil things.
The other "Perils" are , , and . Legge notes this passage "is worthy of careful study in many respects."
Girardot contrasts these rare Confucian usages of ''hundun'' pejoratively suggesting the forces thwarting civilization, "the "birds and beasts," barbarian tribes, banished ministers, and legendary rebels)" with the common Daoist usages in a "paradise lost theme".
Taoist texts
''Hundun'' commonly occurs in classics of philosophical Taoism. The ''
Daodejing'' does not mention ''hundun'' but uses both ''hun'' graphic variants. One section uses : "The sage is self-effacing in his dealings with all under heaven, and bemuddles his mind for the sake of all under heaven". Three other sections use :
*"These three cannot be fully fathomed, Therefore, They are bound together to make unity".
*"plain, as an unhewn log, muddled, as turbid waters, expansive, as a broad valley"
*"There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth"
The ''
Zhuangzi'' (ca. 3rd-2nd centuries BCE) has a famous parable involving emperors , , and . Girardot cites
Marcel Granet on Shu and Hu synonymously meaning "suddenness; quickness" and "etymologically appear to be linked to the images of lightning and thunder, or analogously, flaming arrows." The "
Heavenly Questions" chapter of the ''
Chu Ci'' uses Shu and Hu as one name: "Where are the hornless dragons which carry bears on their backs for sport? Where is the great serpent with nine heads and where is the Shu-Hu?"
The emperor of the South Sea was called Shu [Brief], the emperor of the North Sea was called Hu [Sudden], and the emperor of the central region was called Hun-tun [Chaos]. Shu and Hu from time to time came together for a meeting in the territory of Hun-tun, and Hun-tun treated them very generously. Shu and Hu discussed how they could repay his kindness. "All men," they said, "have seven openings so they can see, hear, eat, and breathe. But Hun-tun alone doesn't have any. Let's trying boring him some!" Every day they bored another hole, and on the seventh day Hun-tun died.
Compare Watson's renderings of the three characters with other ''Zhuangzi'' translators.
*Change, Suddenness, Confusion (or Chaos) — Frederic H. Balfour
*Shû, Hû, Chaos —
James Legge
James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator
who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the Lond ...
*Change, Uncertainty, Primitivity —
Yu-Lan Fung
*Shu, Hu, Hun Tun —
Herbert Giles
*Immediately, Suddenly, Undifferentiation — James R. Ware
*Light, Darkness, Primal Chaos —
Gia-Fu Feng and
Jane English
*Fast, Furious, Hun-t'un —
A.C. Graham
*Lickety, Split, Wonton — Victor H. Mair
*Change, Dramatic, Chaos —
Martin Palmer
*Helter, Skelter, Chaos — Wang Rongpei
Two other ''Zhuangzi'' contexts use ''hundun''. Chapter 11 has an allegory about
Hong Meng , who "was amusing himself by slapping his thighs and hopping around like a sparrow", which Girardot interprets as shamanic dancing comparable with the ''Shanhaijing'' below. Hong Meng poetically reduplicates in describing Daoist "mind-nourishment" meditation.
"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."
Chapter 12 tells a story about the Confucian disciple
Zigong becoming dumbfounded after meeting a Daoist sage. He reported back to Confucius, who denigrated :
"He is one of those bogus practitioners of the arts of Mr. Chaos. He knows the first thing but doesn't understand the second. He looks after what is on the inside but doesn't look after what is on the outside. A man of true brightness and purity who can enter into simplicity, who can return to the primitive through inaction, give body to his inborn nature, and embrace his spirit, and in this way wander through the everyday world – if you had met one like that, you would have had real cause for astonishment. As for the arts of Mr. Chaos, you and I need not bother to find out about them."
The ''
Huainanzi
The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
'' has one occurrence of in a cosmological description.
Heaven and earth were perfectly joined [''tung-t'ung'' zh, labels=no, c=洞同], all was chaotically unformed [''hun-tun wei p'u'' zh, labels=no, c=渾沌為樸]; and things were complete [''ch'eng'' ] yet not created. This is called [the time or condition] of the Great One. [''t'ai-i'' ]. All came from this unity which gave to each thing its differences: the birds, fish, and beasts. This is called the lot [or division, ''fen'' zh, labels=no, c=分] of things.
Three other ''Huainanzi'' chapters use ''hun'', for example, the compound ''hunhun cangcang'' ( zh, labels=no, c=渾渾蒼蒼, l=pure and unformed, vast and hazy)
The world was a unity without division into classes nor separation into orders (lit: a disorganised mass): the unaffectedness and homeliness of the natural heart had not, as yet, been corrupted: the spirit of the age was a unity, and all creation was in great affluence. Hence, if a man with the knowledge of I [ zh, labels=no, c=羿 A mythical person of great powers] appeared, the world had no use for him.
The ''
Liezi
The ''Liezi'' () is a Taoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a c. 5th century BC Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher. Although there were references to Lie's ''Liezi'' from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a number of Chinese and Western scholar ...
'' uses for ''hundun'', which is described as the confused state in which , , and have begun to exist but are still merged as one.
There was a Primal Simplicity, there was a Primal Commencement, there were Primal Beginnings, there was a Primal Material. The Primal Simplicity preceded the appearance of the breath. The Primal Beginnings were the breath beginning to assume shape. The Primal Material was the breath when it began to assume substance. Breath, shape and substance were complete, but things were not yet separated from each other; hence the name "Confusion." "Confusion" means the myriad things were confounded and not yet separated from each other.
Other texts
The ''
Shanhaijing
The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly Wade-Giles, romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may hav ...
'' collection of early myths and legends uses as an adjective to describe a on .
There is a god here who looks like a yellow sack. He is scarlet like cinnabar fire. He has six feet and four wings. He is Muddle Thick. He has no face and no eyes. He knows how to sing and dance. He is in truth the great god Long River.
In the above passage, is translated as "Muddle Thick", and the name of the god is translated as "great god Long River".
Toshihiko Izutsu suggests that singing and dancing here and in ''Zhuangzi'' refers to shamanic trance-inducing ceremonies, "the monster is said to be a bird, which is most probably an indication that the shamanistic dancing here in question was some kind of feather dance in which the shaman was ritually ornamented with a feathered headdress."
The records a later variation of Hundun mythology. It describes him as a divine dog who lived on Mt. Kunlun, the mythical mountain at the center of the world.
It has eyes but can't see, walks without moving; and has two ears but can't hear. It has the knowledge of a man yet its belly is without the five internal organs and, although having a rectum, it doesn't evacuate food. It punches virtuous men and stays with the non-virtuous. It is called. Hun-tun.
Quoting the
Zuo zhuan
The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' ...
, Hun-tun was Meng-shih's untalented son. He always gnaws his tail, going round and round. Everyone ridiculed him.
A poem in the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
collection
Hanshan refers to the ''Zhuangzi'' myth and reminisces about ''Hundun''.
How pleasant were our bodies in the days of Chaos, Needing neither to eat or piss! Who came along with his drill And bored us full of these nine holes? Morning after morning we must dress and eat; Year after year, fret over taxes. A thousand of us scrambling for a penny, We knock our heads together and yell for dear life.
Note the addition of two holes (anus and penis) to the original seven (eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth).
Interpretations
''Hundun'' myths have a complex history, with many variations on the "primordial chaos" theme and associations with other legends.
The sociologist and historian
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies.
Biography
Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a str ...
analyzed the range of various ''hundun'' myths. He treated it as a
world egg mythic "chain" from the southern Liao culture, which originated in the
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
and
Hubei
Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...
region.
# ''Hundun'' creation myths involving humanity being born from a "thunder-egg" or lump of flesh, the son of an emperor, the
Thunder god represented as a dog with bat wings, localized with the
Miao people
Miao is a word that the Chinese use to designate some ethnic minority groups living in southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia. Miao is thus officially recognized by the Chinese government as one of the largest ethnic minority groups that h ...
and
Tai peoples
Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai people, Dai, Thai people, Thai, Isan people, Isan, ...
.
# ''The animal Lei'' "is a creature like a lump, without head, eyes, hands, or feet. At midnight it produces noises like thunder."
# ''The hundun dumplings'', etymologically connected with "round", "unorganized; chaotic", and perhaps the "round mountain" Kunlun.
# ''The world-system huntian'' in ancient
Chinese astronomy
Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The Ancient China, ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categori ...
conceptualized the universe as a round egg and the earth as a yolk swimming within it.
# ''The sack and the shooting of the god'' connects sack-like descriptions of ''hundun'', perhaps with "sack" denoting "testicles", legends about
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
king
Wu Yi who lost a game of chess with the god Heaven and suspended a sack filled with blood and shot arrows at it, and later traditions of shooting at human dolls.
# is the mythological creator of the universe, also supposedly shaped like a sack, connected with dog mythologies, and who grew into a giant in order to separate Heaven and Earth.
# ''Heaven and earth as marital partners'' within the world-egg refers to the theme of
Sky father
In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The conc ...
and Earth
Mother goddess.
# is identified with
Zhu Rong "god of fire", which is a mythology from the southern state
Chu, with variations appearing as two gods Zhong and Li.
# clan, which has variant writings, originated in the
Ba (state)
Ba (, Old Chinese: ''*Pˤra'') was an ancient state in eastern Sichuan, China. Its original capital was Yicheng ( Enshi City), Hubei. Ba was conquered by Qin in 316 BC. The historical Bo people and the modern Tujia people trace some of their ...
, near present-day
Anhui
Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
.
# ''The brother-sister marriage'' is a complex of myths explaining the origins or mankind (or certain families), and their first child is usually a lump of flesh, which falls into pieces and populates the world. In later mythology, the brother
Fu Xi and sister
Nüwa
Nüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humani ...
, who lived on Mt. Kunlun, exemplify this marriage.
Norman J. Girardot, professor of Chinese religion at
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...
, has written articles and a definitive book on ''hundun''. He summarizes this mythology as follows.
# The ''hun-tun'' theme in early Taoism represents an ensemble of mythic elements coming from different cultural and religious situations.
# The symbolic coherence of the ''hun-tun'' theme in the Taoist texts basically reflects a creative reworking of a limited set of interrelated mythological typologies: especially the cosmic egg-gourd, the animal ancestor-cosmic giant, and primordial couple mythologies. The last two of these typologies are especially, although not exclusively, linked to what may be called the deluge cycle of mythology found primarily in southern local cultures.
# While there may also be a cultural connection between the southern deluge cycle and the cosmogonic scenario of the cosmic egg (i.e., via the "thunder-egg," "origin of ancestors
ulture herofrom egg or gourd," and "origin of agriculture and mankind from gourd" myths), the fundamental linkage for all these typologies is the early Taoist, innovative perception of a shared symbolic intention that accounts for, and supports, a particular cosmogonic, metaphysical, and mystical vision of creation and life.
Interpretations of ''Hundun'' have expanded from "primordial chaos" into other realms. For instance, it is a keyword in ''
Neidan
Neidan, or internal alchemy (), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan ...
'' "Chinese
internal alchemy". explains that "Alchemists begin their work by "opening" or "boring" ''hundun''; in other words, they begin from the Origin, infusing its transcendent element of precosmic light into the cosmos in order to reshape it."
In popular culture
In the 2013 film ''
Pacific Rim'', the second
kaiju
is a Japanese term that is commonly associated with media involving giant monsters. Its widespread contemporary use is credited to ''tokusatsu'' (special effects) director Eiji Tsuburaya and filmmaker Ishirō Honda, who popularized the ''kaiju'' ...
to make landfall was named Hundun, though only a brief glimpse of it is seen and it doesn't have a major role in the plot. However, concept art of the film does show it with a rounded body akin to the mythological Hundun.
In the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...
movie ''
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' is a 2021 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Shang-Chi. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is List of Marvel ...
'', the character
Morris (vocal effects provided by
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...
) is a Hundun and acts as a companion of
Trevor Slattery
Trevor Slattery is a character portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). An actor hired to portray the legendary terrorist leader of the Ten Rings dubbed " the Mandarin", he first appeared in the film ''Iron Man 3'' (201 ...
at the time when he was a
jester
A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...
for
Wenwu. As Morris entered
Ta Lo in a car with
Shang-Chi,
Xialing,
Katy, and Trevor Slattery, he appeared excited to see other Hunduns and they waved their wings at each other.
A Hundun is featured as an optional
final boss in the video game
Spelunky 2. In the game, Hundun takes the form of a large egg with two legs, two wings, a snake head, a bird head, and a large eye in the center of the egg. Hundun's interpretation in Spelunky 2 is comparable to a world egg, as his body contains the final and largest world of the game.
The Hundun is referenced in episode 11 of the anime
Lazarus.
See also
*
Chaos (cosmogony)
Chaos () is the cosmological void state preceding the creation of the universe (the cosmos) in early Greek cosmology. It can also refer to an early state of the cosmos constituted of nothing but undifferentiated and indistinguishable matter.
...
– bearing the similar name (both meaning "chaos" in Modern English) and appearing in the mythological primordial era
*
The Death of Hundun in the ''Zhuangzi''
*
Hongjun Laozu
*
Tao
The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religion. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. T ...
*
Four Perils
*
Tohu wa-bohu
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Chaos: A Thematic Continuity between Early Taoism and Taoist Inner Alchemy Paul Crowe
Stephen Field
HUN-DUN God Checker entry
{{Authority control
Creation myths
Taoist cosmology
Chinese gods
Four Perils