In early Chinese mythology of the Daoist traditions, Hùndùn (混沌) is the primeval, formless state before existence, and is also symbolic of innocence, simplicity and being unaware of external sensory input, and thus is the ideal state of attainment and union with the Dao. There is a story in Zhuāngzǐ (莊子; c. 369–286 BCE) about how two other early, well-meaning gods (Shù 儵 and Hū 忽) tried to “enlighten” Hùndùn by exposing him to the outside world and its influences and of the consequences:

The ruler over the southern sea was Shù and over the northern was Hū; the ruler over the center was Hùndùn. Occasionally Shù and Hū would meet in the realm of Hùndùn who always received them with great hospitality. One day the two began pondering how they could possibly repay Hùndùn’s kindness. They said, “All beings have seven sensory orifices by which they can see, hear, eat and breathe: He alone hasn’t any. Let us try to make them for him!” So every day they bored a hole into him, and on the seventh day… Hùndùn died.