The Chinese Theory of Evolution

A recent rendition of the “Origin of Life” by Dato Dr. Victor Wee was inspiring. The opening premise such as: -

Inconceivable is the beginning, O disciples, of this faring on. The earliest point is not revealed of the running on, the faring on, of beings, cloaked in ignorance, tied by craving” - Samyutta Nikaya (Buddhist Cannon).

What it suggests, do not bother to ask what is the origin of life as it will not be understood by those who is bound by ignorance and craving. Therefore, the Chinese simply called it the Ultimate One (太一), without the necessary to define what constitute the One.

Implying that the One, may have arisen from the “First Cause”, it is the so called God created everything. The idea of the almighty God, is strangely, spur provocative philosophical discourse by non other then the maverick, Sir Bertrand Russell in his controversial book, “Why I am NOT a Christian”. He questioned, if God is responsible for the creation of everything, then by the same implication, God must have its own creator. In a nutshell, there is a first of the First Cause ad-infinitum.

The Chinese implied that the One as nothing more than a line (At least that is the pictogram of the Chinese character One), it also implies that the One is a line connecting all the “First Causes”. The idea of connection implies movement, as a stroke of a brush. So, the ultimate stroke is the First Cause. Scientist believes that such stroke represents another controversial idea, the “Big Bang”. The aftermath of such created water. The Chinese theory of Evolution begins with this phrase, The Ultimate One gives birth to water, water in return assisting the Ultimate One (太一生水,水反辅太一) .

The Ultimate One gives birth to water Scripts is believed to be written about 300 BC during the Warring States period on 14 bamboo strips in the Chu script. It was discovered in 1993 in Hubei, Jingmen. It is part of the Guodian Chu Slips (郭店楚簡). Thus, it became the fundamental doctrines for the Daoist art of cause and effects.

If there is a cause, there must be an effect. Water is the effect. The Greek Mythology stated that the world is created by Oceanus (son of Uranus and Gaia) and the Greeks must have a reason to believe in that. From water, the Chinese believes that The Ultimate One gives birth to water, water in return assisting the Ultimate One, therefore establishing Heaven, in return establishing Earth (太一生水,水反辅太一,是以成天. 天反辅太一,是以成地.). At this point, 2 new ideas emerged, Heaven and Earth. It was also said, the Chinese folklore has the Giant PanGu (盤古) separating Heaven and Earth, within his anatomy, landforms were shaped and rivers were excavated. Very strange that the Chinese paints his personification as a Giant similar to the Greek mythology, Titan race of Giant Atlas. More strange is in his given name PanGu (盤古) denoting “ancient plate”.

This “plate” is referring to the Milkyway Galaxy, as modern sciences revealed it to be a resemblance of a Disc! From one point it resemble a circle, the Chinese called, the Ultimate (太), while from another angle, a slim shape Disc in the form of One (一). The noble act of the Giant PanGu (盤古) separating Heaven and Earth, marks the beginning of evolution sometimes called, Heaven and Earth fixed position (天地定位). As he decomposed, his flesh and blood turn to mountains and streams which are also known as Mountain and Stream same Qi (山泽通气), so on so forth. The script TaiYi Sheng Shui states, Heaven and Earth, assisting thus, therefore establishing Gods (spiritual enlightenment), in return establishing YinYang (Duality) (天地复相辅也,是以成神明. 神明复相辅也,是以成阴阳.).

Again, the term ShenMing (神明) is rather sketchy. This term has 2 compound words. Shen (神) can mean spirit, gods or unknown forces. Ming (明) comprising sun and moon denoting enlightenment, wisdom or knowing. When both words are conjoined, it has multiple meanings but in this context it simply denotes the seeds of human evolution. The Chinese folklore continues to say, Nuwa (女媧) created humans from the mud of the Yellow River, therefore the Chinese has a yellowish skin texture. Strange similarity from the Book of Genesis, Adam is made from earth of Eden and Eve is part of Adam, personification of the mother Earth as a goddess, in this case, half human half serpent forms liked the Greek Mythology, Medusa. 

Another idea of ShenMing (神明) borrowed from the notion that states, if there is a beginning, there must be an end. If Big Bang is construed as a beginning, Big Crunch is the end. Upon the ending of the world system, lives on Earth parishes and on the other hand reborn as spiritual entities ShenMing (神明). The world system evolved to regenerate itself and when the conditions are met, such as Fire and Water does not shoot each other (水火不相射), these entities which have no gender, live within the water. When the surface of the water is exposed to the heat of the sun and coldness of the night, a crust is formed and became the sustenance of these spiritual entities. With the constant consumptions, these entities take forms of single cell organism, manifesting as crude beings on a new world. This is the beginning of life. 

The scripts continue to say, YinYang (Duality), assisting thus, therefore establishing the four seasons, in return establishing cold and warmth. Cold and warmth, assisting thus, therefore establishing wet and dry, in return establishing birth and dead (阴阳复相辅也,是以成四时. 四时复相辅也,是以成凔热. 凔热复相辅也,是以成湿燥. 湿燥复相辅也,成岁而止.), so on and so forth. The ending words, in return establishing birth and dead (成岁而止) has multiple implications. First, the word Sui (岁) means age and Zhi (止) means stop. Compounding bring forth the idea of life and death. The order of things is nothing more than a complete cycle of growth phases rather than the misconstrued productive or weakening cycles. 

Saying thus, it laid the foundation of HeTu.