Huang-ti Chin., lit. “Yellow Emperor”; one of the legendary emperors, whose life span is variously given as 2697-2597 B.C.E. or 2674-2575 B.C.E. He is venerated as one of the founders of religious Taoism ( tao-chiao) and furthermore credited with the creation of mankind, the invention of writing, the compass, the pottery wheel, and the breeding of silkworms. In addition, the Yellow Emperor is considered to have been a determining influence in establishing the Chinese social order, in that he allocated a name to each family. Lastly he is the alleged author of the Huang-ti nei-ching, the first medical treatise in the history of China.
According to one tradition Huang-ti spontaneously came into being as a result of the fusion of energies that marked the beginning of the world. He created man by placing earthen statues at the cardinal points of the world, leaving them exposed to the breath of the world’s beginning for a period of three hundred years. When they were totally pervaded by the energy of that breath, the statues were able to speak and move. In this way the various races of mankind came into being. Since the Warring States Period, Taoists have associated Huang-ti with the cult of the immortals. On his travels to the Sacred Mountains, Huang-ti met Master Kuan Cheng, who initiated him in the practices for the realization of the Tao. This encounter is described by Chuang-tzu (Book 11, Chapter 3) as follows (Kuan Cheng speaking): “See nothing; hear nothing; let your soul be wrapped in quiet, and your body will begin to take proper form. Let there be absolute repose and absolute purity; do not weary your body nor disturb your vitality and you will live forever. For if the eye sees nothing and the ear hears nothing, and the mind thinks nothing the soul will preserve the body and the body will live forever. Cherish that which is within you and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse. Then I will place you upon that abode of Great Light, which is the source of the positive Power (yang) and escort you through the gate of Profound Mystery, which is the source of the negative Power (yin)” (Giles 1961 ). At the age of 100 Huang-ti was possessed with magical powers and produced the gold en elixir (chin-tan). He attained immortality on Ching Mountain, whereupon he ascended to Heaven riding a dragon (fei-sheng) and became one of the five mythological emperors, who rule over the five cardinal points (the fifth being the center, ruled by Huang-ti).
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Huang-ti documents
Books on Huang-ti
External links