An Alternative View on Chinese Cultural and Religious History: Esoteric Readings of the Mythical Figure of Fuxi

Abstract The cultural hero Fúxī 伏羲 is a well-known and important figure in the Chinese mytho-historiography, particularly due to his close relation to the seminal divination manual Yìjīng 易經 (Classic of Changes). Starting with the information provided in the early Jesuit reports and compilations on Chinese history, he became well known as the first “king” of Chinese history in the European perception of the history of China. From the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, he received particular attention by several important French esoteric writers who introduced him as the most important source of a supposed primordial wisdom tradition. This article provides a detailed study of the varying interpretations the Chinese cultural hero received in the works of four important writers of the French occult nineteenth century: Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875), Joseph Alexandre Saint-Yves d’Alveydre (1842–1909), Eugène Albert Puyou de Pouvourville (1861–1939), and René Guénon (1886–1951).