混元三教九流图 | Be not Defeated by the Rain

http://benotdefeatedbytherain.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post.html

混元三教九流图

On the box of my sword that I ordered from Hanwei, there was a strange figure that Hanwei was using as the logo for their Shaolin line. When I asked Sifu about what it meant he told me that it was a figure that was carved on a stele in the Shaolin temple, dating from the Ming dynasty by 朱載堉 1536-1611, a ninth generation descendent of the first Ming Emperor and notable literati and mystic. It was called the 混元三教九流图 or the Hunyuan Picture of the three religions and nine teachings and represented the depth of Shaolin teachings, encompassing all of Chinese culture. Ostensibly it shows the three teachers Lao Zi, Confucius and the Buddha in one embrace.

The circle shape has a special meaning in Chinese culture and can be taken to symbolize fullness, harmony, perfection, purity and in Chinese metaphysics it represents the origin of the universe or the source of life which is divided into the tai ji and into the myriad things.

The combination of the three religions had already began in the Northern and Southern dynasties and started to gain popularity in the Song dynasty, but it was not until the Ming dynasty that it began to become widespread amongst the literati.

The term Hunyuan comes from Taoism and represents the beginning of the universe, chaotic and without form with the term first used in the Tang dynasty by the Crystal Stream Daoist 青溪道士.

The picture is comprised of three circles, the first circle represents the universe, the middle circle with the three men represents the three religions and the third small circle represents the 9 teachings. (seen better on the stele than the figure above). The imagery is clear that the universe is that from which all things arise and return and the three religions and the nine teachings are all from that origin. Compared to the universe they are but a grain of sand in a vast sea. 滄海一粟

The three men can be seen clearly with a fat Buddha in the center and Lao Zi on the left and Confucius on the right. It is interesting to see that Buddhism is placed in the center and is seen to be in some ways superior to the other two religions (it is the Shaolin temple after all). Although pictures of the three holy men together are quite common dating from the Tang dynasty but they always painted as individual figures and never combined into one body like this, taking advantage of an optical illusion.

In the center is a picture of a nine leafed flower representing the 9 streams of teaching which are Confucians 儒家, Daoists 道家, Yin-Yang 陰陽|阴阳, Legalists 法家, Logicians 名家, Mohists 墨家, Political Strategists 縱橫|纵横, Ecletics 雜家|杂家, Agriculturists 農傢|农家 representing the schools of the early Qin. This in time became another term for the hundred schools, everflowing from the source and the nine leafed flower was emblematic of what never withered.

On the top of the stele is writing stating the benefits of the three religions.