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玉德堂书院成立以来，第一个组织研究的社会科学项目便是“以盘古开天地为首篇的中华创世神话研究”。目前，研究项目已经完成，取得了丰硕成果，完成了《中国盘古创世文化论文集》和《中华创世神话》两本专著书稿。在书籍出版发行前，我们计划分三十六期发表这套书的编委会主任赵宪尧教授推荐的部分内容，以飨读者。

十五，颛顼传奇

原文：

    顓頊，黃帝之孫，昌意之子也。母蜀山氏女昌僕，見瑤光貫月之象，感而有孕，歷十二載而生帝於若水。帝首戴干戈，性沉靜，有聖德。

   黃帝崩，顓頊繼為天子，都於帝丘。時天地相通，民與神雜糅，家為巫史，惑亂綱常。顓頊乃命重舉天，黎撫地，絕地天通——使重主天，掌神祀；黎主地，理民事。民神異業，各安其序，天下始寧。

   共工氏，炎帝之裔，性桀驁，不服顓頊，乃率部叛，欲奪天下。顓頊親征，戰於不周之野。共工兵敗，怒而觸不周山，天柱折，地維絕，天傾西北，地陷東南。顓頊命女媧氏補蒼天，立四極，重整乾坤。

   帝又巡行四海，北至幽陵，南達交趾，西抵流沙，東及蟠木。革九黎之陋俗，禁巫蠱淫祀，定婚姻之禮，序人倫之道。制曆法，分四季，使民知農時；作樂舞《承雲》，以祭上帝，協和萬邦。

   在位七十八年，功德被於四海。崩後，葬於濮陽。其子窮蟬、鯀，皆有賢名，鯀之子禹，更承治水之功，開夏之基。蓋顓頊承黃帝之業，理天地之序，固華夏之基，故與黃帝並稱「黃顓」，為五帝之一，永受後世尊崇。

简中原文：

    颛顼，黄帝之孙，昌意之子也。母蜀山氏女昌仆，见瑶光贯月之象，感而有孕，历十二载而生帝于若水。帝首戴干戈，性沉静，有圣德。

    黄帝崩，颛顼继为天子，都于帝丘。时天地相通，民与神杂糅，家为巫史，惑乱纲常。颛顼乃命重举天，黎抚地，绝地天通——使重主天，掌神祀；黎主地，理民事。民神异业，各安其序，天下始宁。

    共工氏，炎帝之裔，性桀骜，不服颛顼，乃率部叛，欲夺天下。颛顼亲征，战于不周之野。共工兵败，怒而触不周山，天柱折，地维绝，天倾西北，地陷东南。颛顼命女娲氏补苍天，立四极，重整乾坤。

    帝又巡行四海，北至幽陵，南达交趾，西抵流沙，东及蟠木。革九黎之陋俗，禁巫蛊淫祀，定婚姻之礼，序人伦之道。制历法，分四季，使民知农时；作乐舞《承云》，以祭上帝，协和万邦。

   在位七十八年，功德被于四海。崩后，葬于濮阳。其子穷蝉、鲧，皆有贤名，鲧之子禹，更承治水之功，开夏之基。盖颛顼承黄帝之业，理天地之序，固华夏之基，故与黄帝并称“黄颛”，为五帝之一，永受后世尊崇。

简中译文：

颛顼传奇

    颛顼，是黄帝的孙子、昌意的儿子。他的母亲是蜀山氏的女儿昌仆，昌仆看见瑶光星穿过月亮的异象，心生感应而怀孕，历经十二年，在若水之畔生下了颛顼。颛顼刚出生时，头顶就像顶着兵器干戈，性情沉稳安静，拥有圣明的德行。

    黄帝去世后，颛顼继承天子之位，定都于帝丘。当时天地之间的通道尚未断绝，人与神混杂相处，家家户户都充当巫祝掌管祭祀，导致伦理纲常混乱。颛顼于是命令重把天向上举，命令黎将地往下按，断绝了天地之间的通道——让重主管上天事务，掌管对神灵的祭祀；让黎主管大地事务，治理百姓的民事。从此，人与神的职责分离，各自安守秩序，天下才开始安定。

    共工氏，是炎帝的后代，性情凶暴倔强，不服颛顼的统治，于是率领部众发动叛乱，想要夺取天下。颛顼亲自率军征讨，在不周山的原野上展开战斗。共工战败后，愤怒地撞击不周山，支撑天空的柱子断裂，维系大地的绳索断绝，天空向西北方向倾斜，大地向东南方向塌陷。颛顼随即命令女娲氏修补苍天，重新竖立四方的天柱，整顿恢复天地间的秩序。

    颛顼还巡视天下四海，向北到达幽陵，向南抵达交趾，向西抵达流沙，向东到达蟠木。他改革九黎部落的落后习俗，禁止巫术蛊术和不合礼制的祭祀，制定婚姻礼仪，规范人伦道德。他制定历法，划分四季，让百姓知晓耕种收获的时节；创作了乐舞《承云》，用来祭祀上天，使天下诸侯邦国和睦相处。

    颛顼在位七十八年，功德遍及天下四海。去世后，安葬在濮阳。他的儿子穷蝉、鲧，都有着贤能的名声，鲧的儿子禹，更是继承了治水的大业，开创了夏朝的根基。由此可见，颛顼继承黄帝的事业，理顺天地间的秩序，巩固了华夏民族的根基，因此与黄帝并称“黄颛”，作为上古五帝之一，永远受到后世的尊崇。

英译文：

The Legend of Zhuanxu

Zhuanxu was the grandson of Huang Di (the Yellow Emperor) and the son of Changyi. His mother was Changpu, a daughter of the Shushan clan. When Changpu witnessed the rare phenomenon of the Yaoguang Star passing through the moon, she was spiritually moved and became pregnant. After twelve years, she gave birth to Zhuanxu by the Ruo River. From birth, Zhuanxu had a head shape resembling weapons (gan and ge), and he was calm and quiet by nature, with virtuous and sage-like virtues.

  After Huang Di passed away, Zhuanxu ascended to the throne of the Son of Heaven and established his capital in Diqiu. At that time, the passage between heaven and earth had not yet been cut off, and humans and deities lived together in confusion. Every household acted as shamans to preside over sacrifices, leading to chaos in ethical order. Therefore, Zhuanxu ordered Zhong to lift heaven upward and Li to press earth downward, severing the passage between heaven and earth. He appointed Zhong to take charge of heavenly affairs and oversee sacrifices to deities, and Li to manage earthly affairs and govern the people’s daily lives. From then on, the duties of humans and deities were separated, each abiding by their own order, and the world finally became stable.

  Gonggong, a descendant of Yan Di (the Flame Emperor), was fierce and stubborn by nature. He refused to submit to Zhuanxu’s rule, so he led his followers in a rebellion to seize control of the world. Zhuanxu personally led his army to suppress the rebellion, and a battle broke out on the wilderness of Mount Buzhou. After being defeated, Gonggong furiously crashed into Mount Buzhou. The pillars supporting heaven broke, the ropes holding earth snapped, the sky tilted toward the northwest, and the earth sank toward the southeast. Zhuanxu immediately ordered Nüwa to mend the sky, re-erect the celestial pillars at the four directions, and restore order between heaven and earth.

  Zhuanxu also toured all four seas of the world: he went north to Youling, south to Jiaozhi, west to Liusha (Quicksand), and east to Panmu. He reformed the backward customs of the Jiuli tribe, prohibited witchcraft, poison sorcery, and unritualistic sacrifices, formulated marriage rituals, and standardized ethical morality. He created a calendar, divided the four seasons, and let the people know the right times for farming and harvesting; he composed the music and dance Chengyun (Cloud-Bearing) to worship heaven, enabling harmonious coexistence among all feudal lords and states under heaven.

  Zhuanxu reigned for seventy-eight years, and his merits and virtues spread to all corners of the world. After his death, he was buried in Puyang. His sons Qiongchan and Gun were both renowned for their virtue and ability; Gun’s son Yu even inherited the great cause of controlling floods and laid the foundation for the Xia Dynasty. It can be seen that Zhuanxu inherited Huang Di’s cause, straightened out the order between heaven and earth, and consolidated the foundation of the Chinese nation. Therefore, he is collectively called "Huang Zhuan" (Huang Di and Zhuanxu) together with Huang Di, and as one of the Five Great Emperors of ancient times, he has been revered by later generations forever.

短评：

绝天地通定秩序明德立礼铸邦本——颛顼传奇的精神价值与文化自信内核

    颛顼传奇作为中华创世神话中梳理天地人伦秩序的关键篇章，以“绝天地通”的创举与整饬文明的功绩，为中华民族世界观、人生观、价值观的建构筑牢秩序根基，更成为深化民族文化自信的重要精神源泉。

   从世界观来看，颛顼“命重黎绝天地通”的举措，构建了中华民族“天人有序、各守其位”的认知框架。他打破人神混杂共处的混沌状态，划分天地职司边界，让神灵祭祀归于天界、民事治理归于人间，这种对天地人伦秩序的主动梳理，奠定了先民敬畏天地却不盲从、立足人间却不僭越的世界观底色，催生了“道法自然、天人分际”的朴素哲学思想。

   在人生观层面，颛顼的作为诠释了“匡正秩序、担当济世”的人生追求。面对伦理纲常混乱的局面，他以帝王之尊划定人神界限；遭遇共工叛乱、天柱倾颓的危机，他率军平叛、重整天地秩序；在位期间更巡狩四方、改革陋俗、制定礼法，以毕生精力推动华夏文明走向规整。这种以“定国安邦、理顺乾坤”为己任的担当精神，为中华民族树立了心怀苍生、守正创新的人生标杆，让“以天下为己任”的信念融入民族血脉。

   于价值观维度，颛顼传奇凝练出“崇德尚礼、革故鼎新”的价值内核。他革除九黎部落巫术蛊祀的落后习俗，制定婚姻礼仪、规范人伦道德，以礼法教化百姓；又定历法、创乐舞，推动社会从蒙昧走向文明。这种重秩序、尚教化、求革新的价值取向，构建了中华民族尊礼崇德、守正出新的道德准则，成为维系社会稳定与文明赓续的精神纽带。

   在文化自信的建构中，颛顼传说有着不可替代的独特意义。其一，它印证了华夏早期文明从混沌走向有序的演进轨迹，“绝天地通”“整饬人伦”的记载，为探寻上古社会治理模式提供了神话叙事层面的佐证，彰显了中华文明的悠久历史与深厚底蕴；其二，颛顼所承载的秩序观念、担当精神与革新意识，历经数千年依然与当代社会的治理理念、价值追求同频共振，凸显出中华优秀传统文化超越时空的强大生命力；其三，颛顼作为“上古五帝”之一，其传说与黄帝等人文始祖的叙事一脉相承，共同构筑了中华民族的始祖文化体系，成为凝聚海内外中华儿女文化认同的重要符号，让民族文化自信拥有了坚实的历史根基与精神底气。

   不周山的余韵早已消散，颛顼所奠定的秩序精神却跨越千年。这则古老传说以其独特的文化内涵，丰富着中华民族的精神图谱，为我们在新时代坚定文化自信、推进文明建设提供了深刻的历史启示。

Short Review:

Severing the Connection Between Heaven and Earth to Establish Order, Upholding Virtue and Instituting Rituals to Forge the Foundation of the State — The Spiritual Value and Cultural Confidence Core of the Zhuanxu Legend

As a pivotal chapter in Chinese creation myths that sorts out the order of heaven, earth and human relations, the legend of Zhuanxu, with the pioneering feat of "severing the connection between heaven and earth" and the meritorious achievements of regulating civilization, has laid a solid order-based foundation for the construction of the Chinese nation’s world outlook, outlook on life and values, and further emerged as an important spiritual source for deepening national cultural confidence.

 From the perspective of world outlook, Zhuanxu’s measure of "ordering Zhong and Li to sever the connection between heaven and earth" constructed the cognitive framework of the Chinese nation featuring "heaven and humanity in orderly positions, each abiding by its own place". He shattered the chaotic state where humans and gods coexisted indiscriminately, defined the boundaries of duties between heaven and earth, consigned divine sacrifices to the celestial realm and civil governance to the human world. This active sorting out of the order of heaven, earth and human relations laid the ideological foundation for the ancestors’ world outlook—revering heaven and earth yet not following blindly, rooting themselves in the human world yet not overstepping bounds, and gave birth to the simple philosophical thought of "following the way of nature and distinguishing the boundaries between heaven and humanity".

 At the level of outlook on life, Zhuanxu’s deeds interpret the life pursuit of "rectifying order and taking responsibility for relieving the world". Faced with the disorder of ethical codes, he, in his capacity as an emperor, demarcated the boundary between humans and gods; when confronted with the crisis of Gonggong’s rebellion and the collapse of the celestial pillar, he led his army to suppress the rebellion and reorganize the order of heaven and earth; during his reign, he further inspected all regions, reformed outdated customs, formulated rituals and laws, and devoted his entire life to promoting Huaxia civilization toward regularization. This sense of responsibility that takes "stabilizing the state, securing the nation and rationalizing heaven and earth" as his own mission set a life benchmark of caring for all living beings and upholding integrity while pursuing innovation for the Chinese nation, integrating the belief of "taking the whole nation’s affairs as one’s own" into the national blood.

 In the dimension of values, the legend of Zhuanxu condenses the value core of "upholding virtue and respecting rituals, discarding the obsolete and establishing the new". He abolished the backward customs of witchcraft and poisonous sacrifices of the Jiuli tribes, formulated marriage rituals, standardized human ethics and morality, and educated the people through rituals and laws; he also formulated calendars and created music and dances, propelling society to evolve from barbarism to civilization. This value orientation that emphasizes order, advocates education and pursues innovation has constructed the moral code of the Chinese nation that honors rituals and values virtue, upholds integrity while fostering new ideas, becoming a spiritual bond that maintains social stability and the continuity of civilization.

 In the construction of cultural confidence, the legend of Zhuanxu holds irreplaceable unique significance. First, it confirms the evolutionary trajectory of early Huaxia civilization from chaos to order. The records of "severing the connection between heaven and earth" and "regulating human relations" provide mythological narrative evidence for exploring the social governance model of ancient times, highlighting the long history and profound heritage of Chinese civilization. Second, the concept of order, sense of responsibility and awareness of innovation embodied by Zhuanxu still resonate with the governance concepts and value pursuits of contemporary society after thousands of years, demonstrating the powerful timeless vitality of excellent traditional Chinese culture. Third, as one of the "Five Emperors of Antiquity", Zhuanxu’s legend is in the same vein as the narratives of Huang Di and other founding fathers of Chinese civilization, jointly constructing the ancestor culture system of the Chinese nation, and emerging as an important symbol for uniting the cultural identity of Chinese people at home and abroad, endowing national cultural confidence with a solid historical foundation and spiritual strength.