[Hundun (Chinese: 混沌; pinyin: Hùndùn; Wade–Giles: Hun-tun; lit. 'muddled confusion') is both a "legendary faceless being" in Chinese mythology and the "primordial and central chaos" in Chinese cosmogony, comparable with the world egg.
Hundun 混沌 was semantically extended from a mythic "primordial chaos; nebulous state of the universe before heaven and earth separated" to mean "unintelligible; chaotic; messy; mentally dense; innocent as a child".
While hùndùn "primordial chaos" is usually written as 混沌 in contemporary vernacular, it is also written as 渾沌—as in the Daoist classic Zhuangzi—or 渾敦 —as in the Zuozhuan. Hùn "chaos; muddled; confused" is written either hùn (混; 'abundantly flowing', 'turbid water', 'torrent', 'mix up/in', 'confuse', 'thoughtless', 'senseless') or hún (渾; 'sound of running water', 'muddy', 'muddled', 'confused', 'dull', 'stupid'). These two are interchangeable graphic variants read as hún (混; 'muddy', 'dirty', 'filthy') [a]) and hùn (渾; 'nebulous', 'stupid') (渾沌; hùndùn). Dùn ("dull; confused") is written as either dùn (沌; 'dull', 'confused', 'stupid') or dūn (敦; 'thick', 'solid', 'generous', 'earnest', 'honest', 'sincere').
Isabelle Robinet outlines the etymological origins of hundun.
Semantically, the term hundun is related to several expressions, hardly translatable in Western languages, that indicate the void or a barren and primal immensity – for instance, hunlun (混淪), hundong (混洞), kongdong (空洞), menghong (蒙洪), or hongyuan (洪元). It is also akin to the expression "something confused and yet complete" (混成; huncheng) found in the Daode jing 25, which denotes the state prior to the formation of the world where nothing is perceptible, but which nevertheless contains a cosmic seed. Similarly, the state of hundun is likened to an egg; in this usage, the term alludes to a complete world round and closed in itself, which is a receptacle like a cavern (洞; dong) or a gourd (壺; hu or 壺盧; hulu).[1]
Zhuangzi chapter "heavenly questions" (watson trans.):
The emperor of the South Sea was called Shu [Brief], the emperor of the North Sea was called Hu [Sudden], and the emperor of the central region was called Hun-tun [Chaos]. Shu and Hu from time to time came together for a meeting in the territory of Hun-tun, and Hun-tun treated them very generously. Shu and Hu discussed how they could repay his kindness. "All men," they said, "have seven openings so they can see, hear, eat, and breathe. But Hun-tun alone doesn't have any. Let's trying boring him some!" Every day they bored another hole, and on the seventh day Hun-tun died.
The Shen yi jing (神異經; "Classic of Divine Wonders") records a later variation of Hundun mythology. It describes him as a divine dog who lived on Mt. Kunlun, the mythical mountain at the center of the world.
It has eyes but can't see, walks without moving; and has two ears but can't hear. It has the knowledge of a man yet its belly is without the five internal organs and, although having a rectum, it doesn't evacuate food. It punches virtuous men and stays with the non-virtuous. It is called. Hun-tun.
A poem in the Tang dynasty collection Hanshan refers to the Zhuangzi myth and reminisces about Hundun. (watson trans.)
How pleasant were our bodies in the days of Chaos, Needing neither to eat or piss! Who came along with his drill And bored us full of these nine holes? Morning after morning we must dress and eat; Year after year, fret over taxes. A thousand of us scrambling for a penny, We knock our heads together and yell for dear life.]
And finally, to top it off:
[A Hundun is featured as an optional final boss in the video game Spelunky 2. In the game, Hundun takes the form of a large egg with two legs, two wings, a snake head, a bird head, and a large eye in the center of the egg. Hundun's interpretation in Spelunky 2 is comparable to a world egg, as his body contains the final and largest world of the game.]
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