Pan Gu Creates the World

盘古开天

A ccording to Classified Anthology of Literary Works，the sky and the earth were at first one blurred¹ entity² like an egg. Pangu was born into it. The separation of the sky and the earth took eighteen thousand years-the yang which was light and pure rose to become the skv,and the vin which was heave andmurky sank to form the earth.Between the sky and the earth was Pangu，who went through changes with them.Every day the sky rose ten feet higher，the earth be-came ten feet thicker，and Pan-gu grew ten feet taller. Another eighteen thousand years pas-sed，and there was an ex-tremely high sky，an extremely thick earth，and an extremely tall Pangu.The sky is ninety thousand li from the earth. No-body knows how many years passed，and then Pangu finally felldown.Just before his death，the earth underwent a miraculouschange:Pangu's breath turned into wind and cloud，his sound thunderbolt，his left eye the sun，his right eye the moon，his four limbs the four corners of the sky，his five body constit-vents the Five Famous Mountains in China，his blood the rivers，his veins³ the roads，his muscles the fields，his hair and moustache the stars，his skin and hair the grass and trees，his teeth and bones the metals and stones，his marrow⁴ the pearls and jades，and his sweat the rain. The vitality⁵ in Pangu，touched by the wind，turned into the common people. Thus came the dawn of the vigorous earth.

据《艺文类聚》记载:天之初，浑沌一体，像鸡蛋一样。盘古便生于其中。天地开辟耗时18000年之久:阳清者上升为天，阴浊者下沉为地盘古在天地之间，随着天地的变化而变化。天日高一丈，地日厚一丈，盘古也日长一丈。如此又过了一万八千年，天变得极高，地变得极厚，盘古也变得极长，天地之间的距离有九万里。又不知过了多少年，盘古终于倒下了。就在盘古临死的时候，世界突然发生了奇异的变化:他呼出的气变成了风云，声音变成了雷霆，左眼变成了太阳，右眼变成了月亮，四肢五体变成了四极五岳，血液变成了江河，筋脉变成了道路，肌肉变成了田土，发鬓变成了星辰，皮毛变成了草木，齿骨变成了金石，精髓变成了珠玉，汗水变成了雨泽。而盘古身体中的生命体，因风所感，变成了老百姓。世界从此充满了活力。