What is Chaos in Taoism? 什么是混沌

Also referred to as "Hundun". It denotes the state before the primordial Qi separated and heaven and earth took shape.

Volume 2 of Yunji Qiqian (Seven Bamboo Slips in the Cloudy Satchel) states: "The Taishi Classic says: In ancient times, before the Two Principles divided, it was called the Vast Origin. Vast, obscure and boundless, it resembled a bird's egg and was named Chaos—dim yellow, without light or form, without sound or voice, without origin or ancestor, deep and dim."

What is Chaos in Taoism?

The Dao culture also regards Chaos as the first age of the Middle Antiquity in the divine creation of the world. The Classic of the Supreme Lord Laozi Opening the Heavens records: "In the age of Chaos, mountains and rivers first came into being. Lord Laozi descended to be a teacher, instructing Chaos to govern the world for seventy-two kalpas. Chaos moved and flowed, forming its mountains and rivers; the Five Great Mountains and the Four Great Rivers, with their high and low, noble and humble, rose from this beginning. Since the time of Chaos, names and designations first came to be known. Chaos was said to have fathered two sons: the elder named Huchen, the younger named Huling. When Huchen died, he became the god of mountains and peaks; when Huling died, he became the god of waters. Hence they were named the Five Great Mountains and the Four Great Rivers."

In Zhuangzi·Responding to the Monarchs, the term "Hundun" refers to the Emperor of the Center, who was born without seven orifices. His friends, the Emperor of the South Sea and the Emperor of the North Sea, in gratitude for his kindness, bored seven orifices for him—but upon their completion, Hundun died.

Zhuangzi used this parable to illustrate that humans should follow nature, opposing forced actions that go against the ways of Yin and Yang and the inherent laws of all things.