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Peng (mythology)

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Wing of the Peng from the JapaneseKyoka Hyaku Monogatari

Peng(traditional Chinese:Bằng;simplified Chinese:Bằng;pinyin:péng;Wade–Giles:p'eng) orDapeng(Đại bàng) is a giant bird that transforms from aKun(Côn;Côn;kūn;k'un) giant fish inChinese mythology.

Names[edit]

The Chineselogogramsforpengandkunexemplify commonradical-phonetic characters.Peng( bằng ) combines the "bird radical" (Điểu) with apeng(Bằng"friend" ) phonetic, andkuncombines the "fish radical" (Cá) with akun(Côn"progeny; insect" ) phonetic.

Both the mythic ChinesePengandKunnames involveword play.Peng(Bằng) was anciently avariant Chinese characterforfeng(Phượng) infenghuang( phượng hoàng "Chinese phoenix" ca. 100 CEShuowen Jiezi);KunCônoriginally meant "fishroe;fry;spawn"(ca. 200 BCEErya).

Synonyms of Peng include Dapeng ( đại bàng "Big Peng", "Great Peng" ) andDapengniao( chim đại bàng "Great Peng Bird" ).Dapengis also aplace namefor a few places ingreater China,most notably inShenzhenandTaiwan.

After recent fossil discoveries in northeast China, Chinesepaleontologistsused Peng to name theenantiornithinebirdPengornisand thewukongopteridpterosaurKunpengopterus.

Literature[edit]

Zhuangzi[edit]

InChinese literature,theDaoistclassicZhuangzihas the oldest record of the Kun Peng myth. The first chapter ( "Free and Easy Wandering" tiêu dao dupinyinxiāoyáoyóu) begins with three versions of this parable; thelead paragraph,a quote from theQixie( tề hài "Universal Harmony", probably invented by Zhuangzi), and a quote from theTang zhi wen Ji( canh chi hỏi gai "Questions ofTangto Ji ", cf.Liezichapter 5,Tang wenCanh hỏi ). The first account contrasts the giant Peng bird with a smalltiao( điêu "cicada" ) andjiu( cưu "pigeon; turtledove" ) and the third with ayan( ngạn or yến "quail" ). The Peng fish-bird transformation is not only the beginning myth inZhuangzi,butRobert Allinsonclaims, "the central myth".[1]

In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un. The K'un is so huge I don't know how many thousandlihe measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is P'eng. The back of the P'eng measures I don't know how many thousandliacross and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven.

TheUniversal Harmonyrecords various wonders, and it says: "When the P'eng journeys to the southern darkness, the waters are roiled for three thousandli.He beats the whirlwind and rises ninety thousandli,setting off on the sixth month gale. "Wavering heat, bits of dust, living things blowing each other about – the sky looks very blue. Is that its real color, or is it because it is so far away and has no end? When the bird looks down, all he sees is blue too.

If water is not piled up deep enough, it won't have the strength to bear up a big boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the floor and bits of trash will sail on it like boats. But set the cup there and it will stick fast, for the water is too shallow and the boat too large. If wind is not piled up deep enough, it won't have the strength to bear up great wings. Therefore when the P'eng rises ninety thousandli,he must have the wind under him like that. Only then can he mount on the back of the wind, shoulder the blue sky, and nothing can hinder or block him. Only then can he set his eyes to the south.

The cicada and the little dove laugh at this saying, "When we make an effort and fly up, we can get as far as the elm or thesapanwoodtree, but sometimes we don't make it and just fall down on the ground. Now how is anyone going to go ninety thousand li to the south! "

If you go off to the green woods nearby, you can take along food for three meals and come back with your stomach as full as ever. If you are going a hundredli,you must grind your grain the night before; and if you are going a thousandliyou must start getting together provisions three months in advance. What do these two creatures understand? Little understanding cannot come up to great understanding; the short-lived cannot come up to the long-lived....

Among the questions of T'ang to Ch'i we find the same thing. In the bald and barren north, there is a dark sea, the Lake of Heaven. In it is a fish which is several thousandliacross, and no one knows how long. His name is K'un. There is also a bird there, named P'eng, with a back likeMount T'aiand wings like clouds filling the sky. He beats the whirlwind, leaps into the air, and rises up ninety thousandli,cutting through the clouds and mist, shouldering the blue sky, and then he turns his eyes south and prepares to journey to the southern darkness.

The little quail laughs at him, saying, "Where does he thinkhe'sgoing? I give a great leap and fly up, but I never get more than ten or twelve yards before I come down fluttering among the weeds and brambles. And that's the best kind of flying anyway! Where does he thinkhe'sgoing? "Such is the difference between big and little.[2]

Analysis and interpretations[edit]

ManyZhuangzischolars have debated the Peng story. Lian Xinda calls it "arguably the most controversial image in the text, which has been inviting conflicting interpretations for the past seventeen centuries."[3]

In traditional Chinese scholarship, the standard Peng interpretation was the "equality theory" ofGuo Xiang(d. 312 CE), whoredactedand annotated the receivedZhuangzitext. Guo's commentary said,

The flight of the fabulous (P'eng) bird may take half a year and will not stop until it gets to the Celestial Lake. The flight of a small bird takes only half of the morning and stops at getting from tree to tree. So far as capacities are concerned, there is a difference. But in adapting to their nature, they are the same.[4]

Some Chinese scholars gave alternate interpretations. TheBuddhist monkZhi Dun(314-366 CE) associated the Peng's flight with the highest satisfaction achieved by thezhiren( đến người "perfect person; sage; saint", cf.zhenren).[5]

Now, that which wanders free and easy is clearly the mind of the Perfected Man. Master Chuang spoke of the great Tao and expressed his meaning with the P'eng bird and the quail. Because the P'eng bird's path through life is far reaching, it neglects [spiritual] satisfaction beyond the body. Because the quail is nearby, it laughs at what is distant and is pleased with itself in its heart. The Perfected Man [however] ascends heaven directly and joyfully wanders endlessly in freedom.[6]

TheChan Buddhistmaster Hanshan Deqing ( khờ sơn đức thanh, 1546–1623) also declares the Peng is the image of the Daoist sage, and suggests the bird's flight does not result from the piling up of wind but from the deep piling up ofde"virtue; power".[7]

In modern scholarship, some scholars reject Guo's "equality theory" construal. Lian differentiates contemporary interpretations between whether Zhuangzi was aradical skepticand/or arelativist.

The Peng bird can either be construed as an image of freedom, even the epitome of the highest Daoist ideal, which supports the argument that Zhuangzi does privilege a perspective and hence is not a relativist in the rigid sense of the term; or it is taken for a creature that is no better or worse than the cicada and the little birds, which serves to illustrate the relativist view that all perspectives are equal. "[8]

Julian Pas concurs that "the true sage is compared to the enormous bird."[9]Angus Charles Grahamsees the Peng as "soaring above the restricted viewpoints of the worldly."[10]Allinson finds it "very clear and very explicit that the standpoint of the big bird and the standpoint of the cicada and the dove are not seen as possessing equal value."[11]Karen Carr andPhilip J. Ivanhoefind "positive ideals" in the Peng symbolizing the "mythical creature that rises above the more mundane concerns of the word.[12]Brian Lundberg says Zhuangzi uses the image to urge us to "go beyond restrictedsmallpoints of views. "[13]Eric Schwitzgebelinterprets, "Being small creatures, we cannot understand great things like the Peng (and the rest of theZhuangzi?). "[14]Steve Coutinho describes the Peng as a "recluse who wanders beyond the realm of the recognizable", in contrast the tiny birds that "cannot begin to understand what lies so utterly beyond the confines of their mundane experience."[15]Scott Cook writes, "We are, at first, led by Zhuangzi almost imperceptibly into an unreflective infatuation with the bird."[16]Lian concludes the Peng is "An inspiring example of soaring up and going beyond, the image is used to broaden the outlook of the small mind; its function is thus more therapeutic than instructional."[17]Bryan W. Van Nordensuggests, "The likely effect of this passage on the reader is a combination of awe and disorientation."[18]

Zhuangzi's Peng bird became a famous literarymetaphor.Two early examples were theShen yi jing( thần dị kinh "Classic of Divine Marvels" ) byDongfang Shuo(154 BCE – 93 CE) and theCommentary on the Water Classic( thủy kinh chú ).[19]

Comparisons[edit]

Incomparative mythologyof giant creatures, Peng is similar to theRocorGarudaand Kun to theLeviathan.

Notable people named Peng ( bằng / bằng )[edit]

Penglinguistically symbolizes "greatness; great promise; great accomplishments"; for instance, theidiompéng chéng wàn lǐ( bay xa vạn dặm, literally, the Peng journeys 10,000li) means "have a bright/unlimited future". This character is commonly used inChinese given namesand several important mainland Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese politicians havePengin their given names. In contrast, the characterKun( côn / côn ) is seldom used.

Mainland China:

Hong Kong:

Taiwan:

Southeast Asia:

  • Alex Au Waipang( khu vĩ bằng ), Singaporean LGBT rights activist
  • Goh Choon Phong( Ngô tuấn bằng ), Singaporean businessman and CEO of Singapore Airlines
  • Prajogo Pangestu( Bành vân bằng ), Indonesian business magnate of Chinese descent

Japan:

The Chinese characterpengis pronouncedhōinJapanese,as seen in the sumoring namesTaihō Kōki( đại bàng may mà ),Hakuhō Shō( bạch bằng tường ),Enhō Akira( viêm bằng hoảng ),Daishōhō Kiyohiro( đại tường bằng thanh dương ),Tokushinhō Motohisa( đức thật bằng nguyên lâu ),Wakanohō Toshinori( nếu ノ bằng thọ tắc ),Kyokutenhō Masaru( húc thiên bằng thắng ) and so on. It is also used in company names, such asTaiho Pharmaceutical( đại bàng dược phẩm công nghiệp ).

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Robert E. Allinson (1989),Chuang-Tzu for Spiritual Transformation: An Analysis of the Inner Chapters,SUNY Press, 180.
  2. ^Watson, Burton, tr. (1968),The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu,Columbia University Press, pp. 29-31.
  3. ^Lian Xinda (2009), "Zhuangzi the Poet: Re-Reading the Peng Bird Image",Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy8.3, 234.
  4. ^Tr. Wing-Tsit Chan (1963),A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy,Princeton University Press, 326.
  5. ^Lian (2009), 234.
  6. ^Tr. Charles Holcombe (1994),In the Shadow of the Han: Literati thought and society at the beginning of the Han,University of Hawaii Press, p. 115.
  7. ^Lian (2009), 239.
  8. ^Lian (2009), 235, see 239-241.
  9. ^Julian Pas (1981), "Chuang Tzu's Essays on 'Free Flight Into Transcendence' and 'Responsive Rulership'",Journal of Chinese Philosophy8.4, 482.
  10. ^A.C. Graham (1981),Chuang-Tzu: The Inner Chapters,George Allen & Unwin, 43.
  11. ^Allinson (1989), 44.
  12. ^Karen Carr and Philip Ivanhoe (2000),The Sense of Antirationalism: The Religious Thought of Zhuangzi and Kierkegaard,Seven Bridges Press, 100.
  13. ^Brian Lundberg (1998), "A Meditation on Friendship," inWandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi,ed. byRoger Ames,SUNY, 214.
  14. ^Eric Schwitzgebel(1996). "Zhuangzi's Attitude Toward Language and His Skepticism," inEssays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi,ed. by Paul Kjelberg and Philip Ivanhoe, SUNY Press, 71.
  15. ^Steve Coutinho (2004),Zhuangzi and Early Chinese Philosophy: Vagueness, Transformation and Paradox,Ashgate, 69-70.
  16. ^Scott Cook (2003), "Harmony and Cacophony in the Panpipes of Heaven," inHiding the World in the World; Uneven Discourses on the Zhuangzi,SUNY Press, 70.
  17. ^Lian (2009), 233.
  18. ^Van Norden, Bryan W. (1996), "Competing Interpretations of the Inner Chapters of theZhuangzi,"Philosophy East and West46 (2):247-268.
  19. ^Victor H. Mair, ed. (2002),The Columbia history of Chinese literature,Columbia University Press, p. 298.
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