Nature
Before humanity, celestial bodies shine, weather moves, rivers flow and vegetation grows and withers. This whole operates without human institutions and forms a self-running natural world.
Textual and Narrative Context
Pangu transformation supplies origins for natural features. Taiyi Sheng Shui and the Huainanzi discuss order and cycles. In the Laozi, ziran means something closer to self-so or being as it is, not only scenery or wilderness.
How to Read This Entry
Modern usage often contrasts nature with the artificial. Early uses of ziran can describe a manner of occurring by itself. Date and grammar determine which sense is present.
Relation to Other Creation Accounts
The many things are members of nature, cosmic order is their network of operation, and divine beings and mythic animals show that early traditions did not fully separate nature from sacred presence.
Comparative Reading
Read the term in its sentence, relation and period before comparing later interpretations. Modern meaning cannot replace early context.
All things, divine beings, nature and mythic beasts occupy the world before humanity. Light, weather, landforms and living relations already operate, while human origin and cultural institutions remain later questions.
What the Sources Establish
The modern category “natural world” should not replace every early use of ziran. The presence of divine beings also does not erase observation of weather, growth and celestial cycles.
Related Reading
References
- Laozi passages concerning ziran
- Huainanzi discussions of nature and cosmic order
- Natural-world materials in Pangu traditions and the Classic of Mountains and Seas