Cangjie 倉頡／蒼頡 Simplified: 仓颉
- God of writing, Chinese characters, Literacy
Blurb on Cangjie
- Cangjie was originally known only as a cultural hero, one of the Yellow Emperor's ministers, who invented writing
- When his legend was incorporated into Daoist mythology centuries later, his figure began to take on more mythical attributes: four eyes, a dragon face, being able to write upon birth.
- After his creation of writing, it was said that the heavens rained grain, and ghosts cried out during the night.
- Some sources said that he lived the life of a hermit, creating his system of writing out in the wilderness, and that he died alone there.
- As for his invention of writing, there are a few main theories as to how it came about: 1) he was born being able to write, 2) he viewed the natural patterns around him and modeled the characters on them, 3) he invented the characters after thinking deeply about everything around him, 4) he took natural patterns, the divination trigrams, the five elements, and combined them all into a writing system
- These theories reflect several philosophical schools of thought on the nature of writing, a main theme in ancient Chinese philosophy
- In summary, Cangjie seems to have started out as a cultural hero who created writing, and was eventually imbued with mythological traits until he became the god of writing worshipped in some areas of China today.
- "Cangjie" more recently was used to title the Cangjie input system for inputting characters on a computer, a secondary input system today. It was created by the Taiwanese government but later adapted for Mainland China Simplified Character use.
Blurb on Ancient Chinese Philosophy
Xunzi was a philosopher who lived about two hundred years after Confucius. Since Confucius did not directly address whether people are born inherently good or evil or neutral, his followers split into several sects after his death over this question. Mencius, another famous philosopher, argued that humans were inherently good (and his views were generally accepted by Confucians throughout the ages), while Xunzi believed that humans were inherently evil, and that we must overcome this evil through intense study of the classics. This attention to study and the written word was carried on by the Legalists, who believed that since humans were inherently evil, they must be controlled by strict laws and punishments to keep the world in order.
Sources
Xunzi - 荀子
- In the Xunzi, Cangjie is referred to as a cultural hero who was one of many to create a writing system, but since he devoted his whole life to the process, his system was the only one to be passed down to future generations.
《解蔽》故好書者眾矣，而倉頡獨傳者，壹也；好稼者眾矣，而后稷獨傳者，壹也⋯⋯自古及今，未嘗有兩而能精者也。
Thus, there were many who liked to write, but there was only one whose writing was passed down through the ages, Cangjie, because of the soleness of his creation. There were many who liked to farm, but only one whose farming techniques were passed down, Houji, due to the soleness of his passion...From early times until now, there has not been a person who could polish two different things to their finest.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*Xunzi was a Confucian philosopher who lived from 313-238 BC. He wrote the Xunzi as a manual for his disciples later in life. Xunzi was a the teacher of Han Fei, and many of Han Fei's Legalist ideas were inspired by Xunzi's take on Confucianism.
Hanfeizi －韓非子
- Han Fei spoke of Cangjie as the inventor of writing, but also attached some high knowledge of the nature of things to his method of creation, saying that Cangjie must have known that the nature of the self is to be selfish, and that the nature of something that is public is to be good for all, thus creating these mutually conflicting characters with said meaning attached. Cangjie is seen to be a wise man who created the Chinese conceptual system of thought. As a Legalist philosopher, the exact meaning of words was a very important subject, as it was the basis for the system of rules and punishments that would keep the masses in check and keep order in the kingdom.
《五蠹》古者蒼頡之作書也，自環者謂之私，背私謂之公，公私之相背也，乃蒼頡固以知之矣。
The ancient Cangjie, when he created characters, he must have known that that which revolves around itself (the meaning of the character 私) is selfish, and that which turns its back on the self (the meaning of the character 公) is for the good of all or public, and that selfish and public are mutually conflicting ideas.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Han Feizi is a Legalist philosophical book written by Han Fei (280-233 BC) at the end of the Warring States period.
Lv Shi Chun Qiu －呂氏春秋
- In the Lv Shi Chun Qiu's description of Cangjie, he is seen to be a mere inventor of a tool (writing). This invention was merely something that he made, rather than proceeding from a natural process. Thus Cangjie was simply a man and could not even be considered a sage, or a complete man, who works through non-action (無為) and follows the natural way of things. In extension, writing is unnatural and a human creation, and thus somehow "fake" or "false" in nature. Such a notion is rather Daoist in philosophy (harkening back to the Daodejing 道德經 and Zhuangzi 莊子, which also decry writing as being fundamentally flawed and unable to fully convey meaning).
《審分覽：君守》奚仲作車，蒼頡作書，后稷作稼，皋陶作刑，昆吾作陶，夏鯀作城，此六人者所作當矣，然而非主道者，故曰作者憂，因者平。惟彼君道，得命之情，故任天下而不彊，此之謂全人。
Xi Zhong invented the cart, Cangjie invented writing, Houji discovered farming, Gaotao created the law code, Kunwu invented pottery, Xia Gun created the wall, what these six men created still stands, and yet they do not belong to the main ruling Dao, and thus it is said that those who "make" are despondent, and those who are the "cause" are peaceful. It is only that gentlemanly Dao, the feeling of succumbing to one's fate, that thus allows one to rule everything on the earth without change, and this ruler is what is called the Complete Man.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Lv Shi Chun Qiu was compiled around 239 BC by Qin Dynasty chancellor Lv Buwei, and is an enormously long encyclopedic book with essays on many varied topics.
Huainanzi － 淮南子
- It is in the Huainanzi that the first mention of Cangjie being anything more than a normal man appears. This is perhaps due to the mixed philosophical nature of this text, which takes Confucian and Legalist philosophy, and mixes it with early Daoist philosophy and later Daoist mysticism. And thus the figure of Cangjie, who had appeared only as a mere human minister to the historical figure of the Yellow Emperor entered the supernatural world and caused a series of unnatural reactions with his invention of writing, although he still seems to be on the level of legendary hero rather than god.
- When Cangjie created writing, the heavens rained millet and ghosts wailed in the night, both bad omens. At the same time, when Boyi made wells, the dragons and gods disappeared from the earth.
- Since both of these acts are "doing" rather than "letting be," a quality prized by Daoism, the heavens and earth responded with bad omens and the world became more chaotic.
《本經訓》昔者蒼頡作書，而天雨粟，鬼夜哭；伯益作井，而龍登玄雲，神棲昆侖；能愈多而德愈薄矣。
In ancient times, Cangjie created writing, and the heavens rained grain, and the ghosts wailed in the night. Boyi made wells, and the dragons climbed into the murky clouds, and the gods went up to the top of Mt. Kunlun. There was more and more "ability" (a learned habit) and less and less "virtue" (something inherent or natural).
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
- Later in the Huainanzi, however, such cultural hero inventors are complimented as having godly and sagely powers. By being able to pass their works down through the ages, they have accomplished something most could not. But even men as talented as they were could only be blessed in one such area, therefore each of them only invented one thing. The notion of doing something over and over until it is refined as being sage like and worthy of pursuit is quite Legalist and slightly Confucian in nature.
《脩務訓》昔者，蒼頡作書，容成造曆，胡曹為衣，後稷耕稼，儀狄作酒，奚仲為車，此六人者，皆有神明之道，聖智之跡，故人作一事而遺後世，非能一人而獨兼有之。
In ancient times, Cangjie invented writing, Rongcheng created the calendar, Hucao made clothing, Houji discovered farming, Yidi made wine, Xizhong invented carts. These six men all had a godly Dao, and the intelligence of a sage. Thus when a man does something well enough that it can be passed down to later ages, it is not possible for that one man to be good at two things at the same time.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Huainanzi is a philosophical classic completed in 139 BC by Liu An during the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is a mixture of the Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist philosophical ideas of the time.
Lunheng － 論衡
- The Lunheng, on the other hand, is an atheist book which tries to rationalize the now slightly mythological historical figures passed down in the Huainanzi. The book cuts ties of Cangjie to the ghosts and raining millet, saying that they were unrelated.
- Slightly confusing in logic, the book then goes on to use his opponents logic to defeat them (hereby slightly weakening his own argument), saying that since the heavens sent down pictures and drawings as good omens to the people, and pictures are very similar to characters, then Cangjie's creation of writing is also good in nature.
- The author Wang Chong strikingly believed that humans can better themselves through writing, a concept which would be considered to be enlightened by a modern audience.
《感虛：傳書》言：「倉頡作書，天雨粟，鬼夜哭。」此言文章興而亂漸見，故其妖變致天雨粟、鬼夜哭也。夫言天雨粟、鬼夜哭，實也。言其應倉頡作書，虛也。夫河出《圖》，洛出《書》，聖帝明王之瑞應也。圖書文章，與倉頡所作字畫何以異？天地為圖書，倉頡作文字，業與天地同⋯⋯天不惡人有書，作書何非，而致此怪？或時倉頡適作書，天適雨粟，鬼偶夜哭，而雨粟、鬼神哭，自有所為，世見應書而至，則謂作書生亂敗之象，應事而動也。
"Chuan Shu" says: "Cangjie created writing, grain rained from the skies, and the ghosts cried through the night." This means that literacy spread through the land and chaos began to spread as a result, and thus the demons created the phenomenon of raining grain and ghosts cried at night. When it said that grain fell from the skies and ghosts cried, this truly happened. But when it implies that the cause was Cangjie's creation of writing, this is false. Drawings first came from the Yellow River, and books from the Luo. These are good omens in response to the holiness of emperors and the enlightenment of kings. Pictures, books, writings, how are these different from the characters created by Cangjie? The heavens and earth created books and pictures, Cangjie created characters, the work done by Cangjie is the same as that done by heaven and earth...Heaven does not dislike that man has writing, what is wrong with writing? And why would it blame humans because of it? Perhaps when Cangjie created writing, the heavens really did rain millet, or the ghosts did perhaps cry out, but these occurences had their own reasons, occurring simultaneously by chance. Humans should become better people through writing. Thus the act of creating writing to be thought to cause the world to become more chaotic should be considered on a case by case basis.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
- Although Cangjie has been de-deified in the Lunheng, he still holds up the invention of writing as being no small feat, a monumental task.
《謝短》造車作書，易曉也，必將應曰：「倉頡作書，奚仲作車。」詰曰：「倉頡何感而作書？奚仲何起而作車？」又不知也。文吏所當知，然而不知，亦不博覽之過也。
"Making carts, writing, these are easy tasks to understand." If you hear such a statement, you must thus reply: "Cangjie wrote, and Xizhong made carts." They will then question you saying, "Why did Cangjie write? How did Xizhong first make a cart?" They will not know the answer. Officials who think they know everything, do not know anything. Thus one should learn as much as one can.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
- Although the Lunheng still perpetuates the story of Cangjie as seeing natural phenomena and then modeling characters on them, he disagrees with the thought that he was inspired by the gods or the heavens to do these things. Cangjie was inspired by natural phenomena and patterns, not ordered to do so by the gods.
《感類》以見鳥跡而知為書，見蜚蓬而知為車，天非以鳥跡命倉頡，以蜚蓬使奚仲也。奚仲感蜚蓬，而倉頡起鳥跡也。
Seeing bird footprints and knowing how to write, seeing insects transport food and knowing how to make a cart, Heaven did not use the footprints as an order to Cangjie, just as Heaven did not use insects as an order to Xizhong. Xizhong was inspired to make a cart after he saw the insects, just as Cangjie started writing after seeing the footprints.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
- During this period of time, people believed that the sounds of the wind and the shapes of fog were really ghosts, but Wang Chong puts forth the notion that they were really simply natural phenomena.
《訂鬼》世稱紂之時，夜郊鬼哭，及倉頡作書，鬼夜哭。氣能象人聲而哭，則亦能象人形而見，則人以為鬼矣。
When Zhou was the ruler of the world, ghosts would cry in the rural areas at night, and thus when Cangjie created writing, ghosts cried at night. The weather can create sounds that are like people crying, and thus it can also create forms that look like people's outlines, and so people think that these are ghosts.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
- Lastly, in the Lunheng we find the first mention of Cangjie having four eyes. In earlier (Daoist) books, it was often told that the Yellow Emperor and other early leaders of China had "four eyes," a symbol of intelligence and omniscience. Some think that this refers to early glasses?, but whether or not this was true, later Daoist legends obviously perpetuate the notion that these early leaders/gods really did have four eyes. And Cangjie was no exception.
《骨相》蒼頡四目，為黃帝史。
Cangjie had four eyes, and was minister for the Yellow Emperor.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Lunheng is a Confucian and markedly atheist work written by Wang Chong (27-97 AD) during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Shuowen Jiezi －說文解字
- The Shuowen gives a more diplomatic account of Cangjie's invention process: he looked at the patterns and shapes of the things around him, and created picture-like characters from them. Later, sound components were added to these picture characters, making them into the modern ideograms, and allowing for more abstract thinking and complete correspondence with spoken language.
《說文解字序》：“倉頡之初作書，蓋依類象形，故謂之文；其後形聲相益，即謂之字。”
When Cangjie first created characters, he acted according to kind to create shapes and patterns, and thus these were called “wen" (文); later shape and sound became mutually reinforcing, and these were called characters (字).
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Shuowen is an early dictionary, finished in 100 AD but presented to the emperor in 121, compiled by Xu Shen of the Western Han Dynasty.
Zhonglun － 中論
- It is finally in the Zhonglun that Cangjie seems to achieve the level of "god," rather than simply a cultural hero. He is put on the level of Tai Hao, Suiren, and the Yellow Emperor in his feat of creating writing. This knowledge is also called "godly" and said to have come from the natural pattern of things, rather than how earlier works described the invention as something made rather than natural.
《治學》故太昊觀天地而畫八卦，燧人察時令而鑽火，帝軒聞鳳鳴而調律，倉頡視鳥跡而作書，斯大聖之學乎神明而發乎物類也。
Thus Tai Hao looked at the earth and the sky, and drew the divination trigrams, Suiren observed the passing of time and created fire, the Yellow Emperor heard the calls of the phoenix and tuned his instrument, Cangjie viewed the markings of bird's feet on the ground and created writing. The knowledge garnered by these wise men is godly and springs from the natural patterns of things.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*Zhonglun is a political and philosophical book written with Confucian and Daoist influences by Xu Gan (171-217 AD) during the Wei Jin period.
Wen Xin Diao Long － 文心雕龍
- In this later book, Cangjie is still seen as the creator of writing, but of a writing that has since disappeared with the burning of the books during the Qin Dynasty.
- Cangjie is described as a hermit, who created writing out in the wilderness, where he lived and was later burned on a pyre.
- Cangjie is again described as having four eyes and creating the characters through a wealth of methods, including combining natural patterns with divination symbols and the five elements, a mark of how the philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism had so completely mixed together by this point in history.
- Writing is condemned as a machination, and something that leads humans to chaos and away from their natural state, following from (slightly misappropriated) Daoist thought.
《卷十六 : 穀水》古文出于黃帝之世，倉頡本鳥跡為字，取其孳乳相生，故文字有六義焉。自秦用篆書，焚燒先典，古文絶矣。
Ancient writing began in the time of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie first based characters off of bird footprints, then using the shape of their milk and offspring too, thus characters each have six meanings. Since the Qin Dynasty began using seal script, and burned all of the ancient books, the original ancient writing has disappeared.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
《群書治要：卷十一：史記上：本紀》
故號曰黄帝四目，又使岐伯嘗味草木，典醫疾，今經方本草之書咸出焉。其史倉頡，又象鳥迹，始作文字，自黄帝以上，穴居而野處，死則厚衣以薪，葬之中野。
And thus the Yellow Emperor had four eyes, and he ordered his minister Qi Bo to try all of the vegetation, in order to create medicine to heal ailments. Today we go by the medical book written after this experimentation. His minister Cangjie, from the shapes of the footprints of birds, was the first to invent writing and characters, and from the Yellow Emperor on, he lived in a cave and dwelled in the wild, and when he died he was burned on a pyre wearing heavy clothes, and buried in the middle of the wilderness.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
《藝文類聚：卷五十八：雜文部四：筆》
《晉成公綏故筆賦》曰：有倉頡之奇生，列四目而兼明，慕羲氏之畫卦，載萬物於五行，乃發慮於書契⋯⋯乃皆是筆之勳，人日用而不寤，仡盡力於萬機，卒見棄於行路。
"Jin Cheng Gong Sui Gu Bi Fu" recorded: There was the mysterious birth of Cangjie, who could see from each of four eyes, he took the trigrams of Fuxi, added to them the five elements that comprise all things, and created characters etched into stone⋯⋯These all are the 'merits' of the pen, which men use and do not wake, valiant in using all of their strength to accomplish their many machinations, in the end to be seen discarded at the side of the road.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
＊The Wen Xin Diao Long was China's first book of art and literature theory, using the concepts from the Yi Jing, the first Chinese divination manual. It was written by Liu Xie (465- ? AD) during the North and South Dynasties.
Famous Paintings throughout the Ages － 歷代名畫記
- It is in this book, which tells of the origins of painting in China, that a more legendary/mythical account of Cangjie comes to light. It is probable that while a more literary, believable, historical version of Cangjie's story was recorded in philosophical books before this time, a different, more mythical version was being circulated orally, and this is simply the first time that it was written down in its entirety. Cangjie is a god with four eyes, who viewed the nature around him: the sky, the birds' footprints, the prints of turtles, and then created characters in their image. In response, heaven rained millet and the ghosts, afraid of how the characters would be used against them, cried out in the night. Since Cangjie was a god, it is only natural that Zhang Yanyuan went on to say that it was the gods who created writing to express things that could not be talked about or could not be seen. While more matter of fact in the legendary aspects of this story, the subject matter remains almost exactly the same.
頡有四目，仰觀天象。因儷烏龜之跡，遂定書字之形。造化不能藏其秘，故天雨粟；靈怪不能遁其形，故鬼夜哭。是時也，書畫同體而未分，象制肇創而猶略。無以傳其意故有書，無以見其形故有畫，天地聖人之意也。
Cangjie had four eyes, and he looked up at the sky. According to the footprints of the birds and the turtles, he created set shapes for written characters. The secret of this sort of change could not be hidden, and thus the heavens rained millet; the ghosts and spirits were afraid that they would be scolded by these signs which they could not follow, and thus they cried in the night. At this time, pictures and characters were the same, and had not yet been separated. Images were created and then seemed as if forgotten. The intention of the heavens and earth and the sages was that when they were unable to pass on their meaning, they created a character to do it for them, and when others were unable to perceive a shape, they created a picture.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Famous Paintings throughout the Ages was written by Zhang Yanyuan (815-907), considered to be the father of Chinese painting history, during the Tang Dynasty.
Chun Qiu Yuan Ming Bao － 春秋元命苞
- This very late quote (Qing Dynasty) comes from a collections of divinations and legends of the time. It was labelled as a "wei shu," or a book that interprets the classics according to mysticism, and was black listed many times, but it is really simply a record of the myths being told at the time. Here it is recorded that Cangjie had the face of a dragon, four eyes, was clever, godly, and could write upon birth. Again, he viewed nature and created characters from their image. After he had made them, millet rained down and the ghosts cried out, and the dragons hid themselves away. This rings as a synopsis of many of the previous quotes, and is basically the legend still told orally today.
龍顏侈侈，四目靈光，實有睿德，生而能書。於是窮天地之變，仰觀奎星圓曲之勢，俯察龜文鳥羽山川，指掌而創文字，天為雨粟，鬼為夜哭，龍乃潛藏。
Cangjie had a large dragon's face, with four bright eyes. He was clever and virtuous, and could write upon birth. Because of the endless changes of the universe, he looked up at how the stars turned about in the heavens, and looked down upon the cracks in the tortoise's shell and the birds' feathers in the mountains and valleys, made a fist and create characters for writing. And then the heavens made grain rain from the sky, and the ghosts cried in the night, and the dragons hid away out of sight.
(Translated by the blogger, Christine Welch)
*The Chun Qiu Yuan Ming Bao was a book that fell into the category of "Wei Shu," or a forbidden book due to its false use of mysticism to interpret the classics. It is essentially a collection of divinations and legends compiled by Ma Guohan (1794-1857) during the Qing Dynasty.
Conclusion
The story of Cangjie seemed to take a road slightly different from many other myths. Cangjie began as a normal man who created writing, probably the collective embodiment of many scribes during the Shang Dynasty who formulated the writing system first used for divination and then for crop records and later, historical records. Then, as Daoism repossessed many of the Confucian historical figures and mythicized them, turning them into gods, Cangjie too became an almost animalistic deity, with a dragon face and four eyes, the embodiment of wisdom and brains. The origin of Chinese characters is an interesting tale in and of itself, and the way the philosophy of the
Secondary Reference Materials
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