What exactly is the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'?
What exactly is the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'?
1. The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is a Taoist cosmogonic scripture believed to have been established during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (around the 5th century).
It is a text that describes the creation of heaven and earth, the circulation of primordial energy (yuanqi), and the hierarchical structure of the gods on a grand scale.
The author is unknown, and it is included in the Dongshen section of the 'Zhengtong Daozang'.
1-1 What is the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'?
① Establishment and Background
・Estimated period of establishment: Northern and Southern Dynasties (around the 5th century).
・Author: Unknown.
・Collection: 'Zhengtong Daozang', Dongshen section, main text category.
・Nature:
A scripture centered on Taoist cosmology.
A syncretic text that blends Laozi's philosophy, the theory of Dao-birth, and Buddhist worldviews (reincarnation and the end of the kalpa).
② Core of the content: The beginning and circulation of the universe
The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' depicts a grand cosmological view in which the universe is born from the 'Dao' and repeats an infinite cycle of opening and closing (kaihe).
③ Cosmogony (Creation)
・The 'Dao' is the absolute principle that is formless, nameless, soundless, colorless, and tasteless.
・When the Dao condenses, it becomes primordial energy (yuanqi),
Pure energy → Heaven
Turbid energy → Earth
・The sun, moon, stars, five elements, and four seasons are generated one after another.
④ Cycles of the universe
・Heaven and earth 'meet' once every 360 billion years and then open again.
・The essence of Yang becomes fire, and the essence of Yin becomes water, burning up heaven and earth, then leveling out and returning to a state of chaotic unity.
・This opening and closing continues infinitely.
⑤ Birth of humans and all things
・Through the interaction of the energies of heaven and earth,
people, birds and beasts, plants, and creeping things are born.
1-2 World structure: Heavenly realm, earthly realm, and gods
① Heavenly realm
・There are nine heavens, and countless layers of heaven exist above them.
・Those with high merit are born in the upper layers of heaven.
・The Heavenly Emperor rules over 36,000 gods.
② Earthly realm
・There are nine earths, with layers of water and wind stacked beneath them.
・Earthquakes are explained as being caused by the 'shaking of wind and water'.
・Underground, there are ghost officials and hells.
③ Mount Kunlun
・Depicted as the destination for all things after death.
・The junction between the heavenly and earthly realms.
1-3 Ideological characteristics
① Nature as a compilation of Taoist cosmology
・The cosmogony of 'Dao' → 'Primordial Energy' → Heaven, Earth, and all things is a synthesis of ideas from Laozi, the 'Taiping Jing', and Lingbao scriptures.
② Inclusion of Buddhist elements
・Fire and water disasters at the end of the kalpa
・Hierarchies of reincarnation based on merit
Harmony with the Buddhist worldview can be seen in these elements.
③ Emphasis on Shenxian (immortal) thought
・True persons (Zhenren) who have accumulated merit reach 'above the Nine Heavens and Mysterious Origin' and become beings that transcend the changes of heaven and earth.
1-4 What kind of scripture is it?
・One of the texts that speaks most grandly about Taoist cosmology.
・An encyclopedic scripture of the Taoist worldview that integrates cosmogony, eschatology, and the theory of immortals.
・It is not a type widely used in rituals, but is treated as an ideological and metaphysical scripture.
1-5 The charm of this scripture in a word
The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is a book that condenses the essence of the East Asian worldview, where 'the universe opens and closes as if breathing from the infinite silence of the Dao'.
2. What is the relationship between the 'Daodejing' and the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'?
The 'Daodejing' and the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' are deeply connected in that both consider the 'Dao' to be the root of the universe, but the former is a philosophical book that teaches 'the way of the Dao and how people should live,' while the latter is a mythical cosmology that depicts 'how the Dao gives birth to and circulates the universe'.
The relationship is: Daodejing = Poetics of Principle / Taishang Miaoshi Jing = Story of Universal Creation.
2-1 Basic positioning of the two scriptures
① 'Daodejing'
・A philosophical book from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (around the 6th–4th century BC)
・Passed down under the name of Laozi
・Teaches 'what the Dao is' and 'how people should live' in concise poetic verses
・Contains cosmology, but it is abstract and principled
② 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・A Taoist scripture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (around the 5th century)
・Author unknown
・Describes in detail the creation of heaven and earth, the differentiation of primordial energy, the structure of the heavenly realm, and the circulation of the end of the kalpa
・A grand cosmology that even speaks of the hierarchy of gods and the cycles of the universe
2-2 Core of the relationship: The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is an 'expansion' of the cosmology of the 'Daodejing'
At the beginning of the 'Daodejing', it says:
・The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things
・Chapter 1 of the 'Daodejing'
The 'seeds' of the cosmogony spoken of here—
・Nameless Dao → Beginning of heaven and earth
・Named Dao → Mother of all things
—were greatly expanded in later Taoism, and one of the grandest forms of this is the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'.
① How it is specifically expanded
'Daodejing'
・The Dao is formless, nameless, and desireless
・The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth
・The named is the mother of all things
・The universe circulates (Reversal is the movement of the Dao)
'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・The Dao is depicted as a formless primordial existence, from which primordial energy is generated
・Primordial energy divides into pure and turbid, generating heaven and earth
・People, birds and beasts, and plants are born from the interaction of the energies of heaven and earth
・Heaven and earth open and close every 3.6 billion years, regenerating after fire and water disasters
The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' can be said to be a text that has mythically and systematically expanded the cosmological fragments of the 'Daodejing'.
2-3 Ideological relationship: The 'mythologization and religionization' of Laozi's thought
Taoism was established by mixing:
・Laozi's philosophy (Daoism)
・Folk beliefs
・The religious system of the Lingbao scriptures
Among these, the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is a scripture that deifies and mythologizes Laozi's 'Dao' as the subject of universal creation.
① The process of Laozi's thought becoming religious
・'Daodejing': Dao = Formless principle
・Lingbao scriptures: Dao = Personal god (Taishang Laojun)
・'Taishang Miaoshi Jing': Dao = Primordial existence that opens the universe, the one that controls the rhythm of the breathing of heaven and earth
In this flow, the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is responsible for the cosmological deepening of Laozi's thought.
2-4 On interest: The 'resonance' of the two scriptures
In terms of poetic and philosophical sensibility,
the 'Daodejing' speaks of the 'silence of the Dao,' while the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' speaks of the sound of 'the silence opening up'.
・The 'Daodejing' is a short poem that condenses the 'invisible work' of the Dao
・The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is a long myth in which that work unfolds as the 'breathing of the universe'
When reading both side by side,
a grand circulation emerges of how the Dao gives birth to the world and how the world returns to the Dao.
3 Comparison with modern cosmology
Although the cosmological view of the 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' is not directly connected to modern cosmology, it shows a surprisingly 'structural resonance' with the questions of 'how the universe began, how it circulates, and how it ends'.
3-1 The beginning of the universe: Generation from nothing
① 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・The 'Dao' is the absolute principle that is formless, nameless, and soundless.
・The Dao condenses to create primordial energy,
Pure energy → Heaven
Turbid energy → Earth
・The universe repeats opening and closing like 'breathing'.
② Modern cosmology (Big Bang)
・The universe is said to have rapidly expanded from a singularity state (infinite density).
・Time, space, and matter were born at this moment.
・Quantum fluctuations become the seeds of structure formation.
③ Resonance point
・The structure of 'generation from nothing' is common.
・In Taoism, primordial energy wells up from the 'stillness of nothing'.
・In modern physics, fluctuations arise from the 'quantum vacuum'.
・Both share the intuition that 'the beginning has no form'.
・This has also been pointed out in studies discussing the affinity between Eastern thought and quantum theory.
3-2 Structure of the universe: Hierarchy vs. Dimension
① 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・Nine heavens, nine earths, and a multi-layered heavenly structure.
・The world is established by the density of energy and the balance of Yin and Yang.
② Modern cosmology
・Hierarchical and multi-layered universe images such as the multi-dimensional universe (brane cosmology) and the many-worlds interpretation have been proposed.
・Quantum fields fill the entire universe as 'invisible layers'.
③ Resonance point
・The Taoist 'heavenly realm as layers' can be reinterpreted as a metaphor for the 'multi-dimensional/multi-layered structure' of modern physics.
・Some researchers attempt to compare the hierarchical universe of Taoism as a 'symbolic expression of dimensional structure'.
3-3 The end of the universe: Fire/water disasters vs. Heat death/Big Crunch
① 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・The universe periodically
Fire disaster (extreme of Yang)
Water disaster (extreme of Yin)
returns to chaotic unity.
・This is an eternal cycle.
② Modern cosmology
・There are multiple end-of-universe models:
Heat death (entropy maximization)
Big Crunch (re-contraction)
Big Rip (runaway accelerated expansion)
③ Resonance point
・The cyclic universe model, where 'the universe ends once and begins again in another form,' is also discussed in modern physics.
・In particular, comparative studies between Hawking's quantum cosmology and Taoism point to an ideological proximity in the idea of 'universal self-regeneration'.
3-4 Generation of all things: Energy vs. Quantum field
① 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・Primordial energy differentiates, and Yin and Yang interact to give birth to all things.
・Energy is the 'substrate of existence'.
② Modern cosmology/Quantum field theory
・Quantum fields fluctuate, and particles are generated.
・The field is the 'foundation of existence'.
③ Resonance point
・The structure that 'everything is born from one field (energy)' matches.
・The 'non-locality' of quantum fields resonates with the Taoist worldview that 'all things resonate with each other'.
3-5 View of time: Circulation vs. Thermodynamic time
① 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing'
・The universe is an eternal cycle of opening and closing.
・Time is circular.
② Modern cosmology
・Thermodynamic time is unidirectional.
・However, in quantum gravity theory, the essence of time is being re-examined.
③ Resonance point
・The intuition that 'time is not absolute' is common.
・The 'circular time' of Taoism has an affinity with the cyclic models of the universe.
3-6 In summary
① The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' depicts the universe as a 'breathing existence,' while modern cosmology depicts the universe as an 'evolving physical process'.
However, both share a 'structural poetics' such as generation from nothing, the universe as layers, cyclic endings, and the unification of the substrate of all things.
The 'Taishang Miaoshi Jing' speaks of the rhythm of the universe as a myth, and modern cosmology speaks of that rhythm as an equation. When the two are superimposed, a 'breathing-like structure' at the depths of the universe emerges.
References
・Reading Chinese Thought through Energy (Qi), Masaharu Ikegami, Kodansha (1995)