Hongjun Laozu
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Hongjun Laozu (simplified Chinese: 鸿钧老祖; traditional Chinese: 鴻鈞老祖; pinyin: Hóngjūn Lǎozǔ; Wade-Giles: Hung-chün Lao-tsu) lit. "Great Balance Ancestor" is a Daoist deity and legendary teacher of the Three Pure Ones in Chinese mythology. Hongjun 鴻鈞 is a graphic variant of hungjun (simplified Chinese: 洪钧; traditional Chinese: 洪鈞; pinyin: hóngjūn; Wade-Giles: hung-chün) "primordial nature", as used in the Chinese idiom Xian you hongjun hou you tian 先有鸿钧后有天 "First there was Nature 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 (simplified Chinese: 鸿元老祖; traditional Chinese: 鴻元老祖; pinyin: Hóngyuán Lǎozǔ; Wade-Giles: Hung-yuan Lao-tsu) "Great Primal Ancestor". In Chinese creation myths, hongyuan 鸿元 or 洪元 is a cosmological term for "the universe before the separation of heaven and earth".
Some legends about the creator Pangu (Werner 1922:128-130) refer to Hongjun Laozu as Xuanxuan Shangren (simplified Chinese: 玄玄上人; traditional Chinese: 玄玄上人; pinyin: Xuánxuán Shàngrén; Wade-Giles: Hsüan-hsüan Shang-jen) "Mystery of Mysteries Saint" (a reference to the Daodejing 1, tr. Mair 1990:59, "Mystery or mysteries, the gate of all wonders!").
[edit] 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.
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