Phan Ku Creator
a Chinese tale

The space of the universe was in the shape of a hen's egg. Within the egg was a great mass called no thing. Inside no thing was something not yet born. It was not yet developed, and it was called Phan Ku.

In no time, Phan Ku burst from the egg. He was the first being. He was the Great Creator. Phan Ku was the size of a giant. He grew ten feet a day and lived for eighteen thousand years. Hair grew all over Phan Ku. Horns curved up out of his head, and tusks jutted from his jaw. In one hand he held a chisel, and with it he carved out the world.

Phan Ku separated sky from earth. The light, pure sky was yang, and the heavy, dark weight of earth was yin. The vast Phan Ku himself filled the space between earth and sky, yin and yang.

He chiseled out earth's rivers; he scooped out the valleys. It was easy for him to layer the mountains and pile them high upon high.

Then Phan Ku placed the stars and moon in the night sky and the sun into the day. He put the great seas where they are now, and he showed the people how to fashion ships, how to build bridges.

Only when Phan Ku died was the world at last complete. The dome of the sky was made from Phan Ku's skull. Soil was formed from his body. Rocks were made from his bones, rivers and seas from his blood. All of plant life came from Phan Ku's hair. Thunder and lightning are the sound of his voice. The wind and the clouds are his breath. Rain was made from his sweat. And from the fleas that lived in the hair covering him came all of humankind.

The form of Phan Ku vanished in the making of the world. After he was gone, there was room then for pain, and that is how suffering came to human beings.

COMMENT: This cosmic egg type myth from China dates from 600 B.C. Phan Ku was a popular god of the period, and there are many variations of this legend. He completes the creation of the world by means of his own sacrifice. The sky dome comes from his skull, and his body's vermin becomes humanity. Because the god was sacred, humanity was sacred. But by losing the living god Phan Ku, humanity loses its creator and therefore suffers forever.