The Cosmic Egg

The idea of a cosmic egg often crops up in the creation myths that explain the origin of the world.  This idea has even been taken up in astronomy.  An early theory of the Big Bang was known as the Theory of the Cosmic Egg.

My favourite egg creation myths comes from China. This is the story of P’An Ku or Pango.  There are many versions of this tale.  The first documented version dates from the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-265 AD). Our deeper knowledge is fragementary due to the cultural purge in 213BC.  Shu Huang Di, the first emperor of a united China wanted a clean break with the past.  Shu Huang Di incidently was the emperor who built the first wall of China and assembled the Terracota army.  Under his decree all ancient books were burned.  Some documents, such as the Pango myth might have been hidden by the Taoists, meaning that the tale is more ancient that the reign of Shu Huang Di.  It may have orignated outside the empire among the the people of Burma or Vietnam.  the The myth is certainly a precursor to modern Budism, particularly in the treatment of Ying and Yang. 

In the beginning there was nothing.  Because there was nothing there was something. The forces of nothing and something were perfectly balanced within the cosmic egg.  These were the forces of Ying and Yang.  The egg floated in the void.  Within the egg there was chaos. Opposites were perfectly mixed and the world could not be.

Gradually, order formed from the chaos.  Gradually, the smallest homunculis came into being.  Over the aons, P’An Ku, the primordial man, formed from the chaos within the egg.  He floated for 18,000 years in the ether of the egg.  P’An Ku grew nutured by chaos. The little man became a dwarf.  The dwarf grew into a man.  The man grew into a giant.

In time P’An Ku grew too big for the egg.  When he stretched out his cramped form his limbs brushed against the shell. Impatient, he seized upon an axe (from who knows where) and hacked upon the shell with all his might.  The shell broke under his mighty strokes liberating P’An Ku from the chaotic forces of Ying and Yang within the egg.