很久很久以前,天地一片混沌,清的和浊的大气混在一起,不断地变化着。其中自然也有很多怪异的生灵不仅习惯了混沌和黑暗,有许多还化为了神。
混沌就是这样一个神,也有叫它帝江的。混沌生活在距西部山系的头山崇吾山以西三百五十里的一个叫做天山的地方。
混沌的形体象黄囊,和大象的躯体一样庞大,但是比大象多两只腿;六只脚象熊掌,却不象熊掌那样坚实;皮色红,象丹火;背上还长了四个翅膀;有像狗一样的尾巴;浑然没有面部,更没有耳目口鼻,但他能欣赏歌舞,能听得懂混茫中的声音,能判断出从自己身边经过的是好人还是恶人;它行动起来如一团不透明的影子,缓慢而艰难。
也许混沌正在化生天地的精气,涵蓄宇宙世界诞生的能量。
有一天,生活在海里的两个时间神路过天山时看见了混沌,就来和他说话。混沌能听懂他们的话,也待他们很友好。两个神都深深地为混沌感到遗憾,因为混沌和他们不一样,没有眼耳口鼻,他们想不出混沌是怎么在天地中生存的。他们决定帮助混沌,用斧头、凿子等工具为混沌开七窍。
两位好友对混沌说:“混沌呀,我们的好朋友,我们知道你是蕴涵了天地精华的神,靠亿万年和天地的亲密接触,你也能听到和感知到事物,但是你知道吗,天地中的生物都是有眼耳口鼻的,眼睛能把世界看清楚,耳朵能更好的听见世间万物的涌动,有了口可以尝到天地精华孕育的美味,鼻子能分辨百味……”
“真的吗?经你们这么一说,我还真的有点动心,虽然在天地的怀抱生活了这么多年,但天地到底是什么样子我还真不知道。”
“那就允许我们给你开凿七窍好吗?”
“好呀,那我就能感受到七窍的神奇力量了!”
两个热心的朋友先用两天的时间在混沌前面两个翅膀和两条腿之间的比较平的部位凿了两只眼睛,第三、四天他们又在眼睛的下部凿了两个鼻孔,第五天又在鼻子下面凿了一个嘴巴,第六、七天又在眼睛的左右下方分别凿了两只耳朵。
七天过去了,混沌神拥有了七窍,然而随着七窍的开凿,混沌体内蕴涵的天地精华也不断地向外飘散,又过了七天,混沌逐渐与天地化为了一体。
Long long time ago, there are full of ever-changing chaos and obscurity wrapped in clear and smoggy air between the sky and the earth. Out of this chaos and darkness, a lot strange creatures lived and some of them turned into gods.
One god is called HunDun who lived in Mount Tian. He had a huge body of an elephant’s, six legs. His six feet looked like those of bears but were not as strong as those of bears. His skin was red like fire. He had four wings on his back and a dog’s tail. He did not have a face at all, not mention of eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. But he could enjoy dancing and singing, could hear any sound out of the chaos, and could judge who was kind or evil among those whoever passed by him. He moved as a ball of opaque shadow, slow and heavy.
Perhaps HunDun was extracting the essence out of the sky and the earth and absorbing the origin energy produced as the universe was coming into being.
One day, two gods living in the ocean stopped by Mt. Tian and saw HunDun and went to talk to him. HunDun could surely understood their conversations and treated them very well. However, two gods felt very regretful for HunDun for he were different from them, without eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. They could not imagine how HunDun lived in the world. They decided to help him in making him seven orifices by using axe and chisel.
Two gods told HunDun, “Dear HunDun, our good friend, we know that you have stored up the essence from the sky and the earth by close touching with them for tens of millions of years. We know you can hear and feel everything. But do you know that everything in the world has eyes, ears, nose and mouth. With eyes, you can see the world clearly, with ears you can hear the pulse and springing up of everything, with a mouth you can taste every flavor in the world, with a nose you can smell hundreds of different smells. …”
“Really? What you say really moves my heart. I really don’t know what the sky and the earth look like though I’ve been living within their brace so many years.” “Then let us open seven orifices for you, OK?”
“Sure. Then I can feel the amazing power of the seven orifices.”
On the first two days, the two warm-hearted friends chiseled two eyes in the upper flat area between its two front wings and its two front legs. On the third and fourth day, they chiseled two nostrils below the eyes. On the fifth day, they chiseled a mouth below the nose. And on the sixth and seventh day, they chiseled two ears besides the two eyes.
After seven days, Hundun had its seven orifices. However, the essence of the sky and the earth stored within its body started to flow out of its body as one after another orifice was open. On the end of the seven days, Hundun melted into the sky and the earth.