Taiyi Shengshui

Taiyi Shengshui (Chinese: 太一生水; pinyin: Tàiyī Shēngshuǐ; lit. 'The Great One Gave Birth to Water') was an ancient Chinese text written about 300 BC during the Warring States period. It is part of the Guodian Chu Slips.

It is a Taoist creation myth. The opening lines are:

太一生水 水反輔大一， 是以成天。[地] 天地...也， 是以成神明。 神明復相輔也， 是以成陰陽。

The Great One Gave Birth to Water. Water returned and assisted The Great One ("Taiyi"), in this way developing heaven and Earth. Heaven and earth repeatedly assisted each other, in this way developing the "gods above and below". The "gods above and below" repeatedly assisted each other, in this way developing yin and yang.

Commentators describe Taiyi as a representation of Heaven (James Legge), an impersonal "Watery Chaos" (Kong Yingda). At least one scholar (Medhurst) interprets this as the "Supreme One", possibly Shangdi.

In Japan, Amaterasu is traditionally considered syncretic deity with Taiyi. The name O-Amaterasu-Omikami is also sometime use for Amenominakanushi-no-kami.

The Taiyi Shengshui was written on 14 bamboo strips and was discovered in 1993 in Hubei, Jingmen (the Guodian Chu Slips).[1]