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Chinese theology

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Chinese theology,which comes in different interpretations according to theChinese classicsandChinese folk religion,and specificallyConfucian,Taoist,and otherphilosophicalformulations,[1]is fundamentallymonistic,[2]that is to say it sees the world and thegods of its phenomenaas an organic whole, or cosmos, which continuously emerges from a simple principle.[3]This is expressed by the concept that "all things have one and the same principle" (wànwù yīlǐVạn vật một lý).[4]This principle is commonly referred to asTiānThiên,a concept generally translated as "Heaven", referring to thenorthern culmen and starry vault of the skiesand its natural laws which regulate earthly phenomena and generate beings as their progenitors.[5]Ancestors are therefore regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society,[6]and therefore as the means connecting back to Heaven which is the "utmost ancestral father" (Tằng tổ phụzēngzǔfù).[7]Chinese theology may be also calledTiānxuéThiên học( "study of Heaven" ), a term already in use in the 17th and 18th centuries.[8]

The universal principle that gives origin to the world is conceived astranscendentandimmanentto creation, at the same time.[9]The Chinese idea of the universal God is expressed in different ways; there are many names of God from the different sources of Chinese tradition, reflecting a "hierarchic, multiperspective" observation of the supreme God.[10]

Chinese scholars emphasise that the Chinese tradition contains two facets of the idea of God: one is the personified God of popular devotion, and the other one is the impersonal God of philosophical inquiry.[11]Together they express an "integrated definition of the monistic world".[12]

Interest in traditional Chinese theology has waxed and waned over the various periods of the history of China. For instance, theGreat Leap Forwardenacted in the mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance withMaoistideology. From the 1980s onward, public revivals have taken place. The Chinese believe that deities or stars, are arranged in a "celestial bureaucracy" which influences earthly activities and is reflected by the hierarchy of the Chinese state itself. These beliefs have similarities with broader Asian shamanism. The alignment of earthly and heavenly forces is upheld through the practice of rites and rituals (Li),for instance thejiaofestivals in which sacrificial offerings of incense and other products are set up by local temples, with participants hoping to renew the perceived alliance between community leaders and the gods.[13][14]

Creation as ordering of primordial potentiality[edit]

As explained by the scholarStephan Feuchtwang,in Chinese cosmology "the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy" (hundunandqi), organising as the polarity ofyin and yangwhich characterises any thing and life. Creation is therefore a continuous ordering; it is not acreatio ex nihilo.Yin and yang are the invisible and the visible, the receptive and the active, the unshaped and the shaped; they characterise the yearly cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (shady and bright), the sexes (female and male), and even sociopolitical history (disorder and order).[15]The gods themselves are divided into yin forces of contraction,Quỷguǐ( "demons" or "ghosts" ) and yang forces of expansionThầnshén( "gods" or "spirits" ); in the human being they are thehun and po(wherehun(Hồn) is yang andpo(Phách) is yin; respectively, the rational and emotional soul, or the ethereal and the corporeal soul). Together,Quỷ thầnguishenis another way to define the twofold operation of the God of Heaven, its resulting dynamism being called itselfshen,spirit.

By the words of the Neo-Confucian thinkerCheng Yi:[16]

[Heaven] is called... thegǔi-shénwith respect to its operation, theshénwith respect to its wonderful functioning.

Another Neo-Confucian,Zhu Xi,says:[17]

Theshénis expansion and thegǔiis contraction. As long as it is blowing wind, raining, thundering, or flashing, [we call it]shén,while it stops, [we call it]gǔi.

TheChinese dragon,associated with the constellationDracowinding the northecliptic poleand slithering between theLittleandBig Dipper(or Great Chariot), represents the "protean" primordial power, which embodies both yin and yang in unity,[18][failed verification]and therefore the awesome unlimited power (qi) of divinity.[19]InHan-dynastytraditions, Draco is described as the spear of the supreme God.[20]

Heaven continuously begets—according to its own manifest model which is the starry vault revolving around the northern culmen (Bắc cựcBěijí)—and reabsorbs, the temporal things and worlds. As explained in modern Confucian theology:[21]

... the historical Heaven, namely the generated Heaven, [is] one particular form or modification (marked by the emergence of celestial bodies) of the eternal Heaven. This eternal Heaven was embodied in purebefore its historical form had been realized.

Rather than "creation" (Tạozào), which has a long Western connotation of creationex nihilo,modern Chinese theologians prefer to speak of "evolution" (Hóahuà) to describe the begetting of the cosmos; even in modern Chinese language the two concepts are frequently held together,zàohuà( "creation-evolution" ).[22]Such ordering power, which belongs to deities but also to humans, expresses itself in rites (Lễ). They are the means by which alignment between the forces of the starry sky, of earthly phenomena, and the acts of human beings (the three realms ofHeaven-Earth-humanity,Thiên địa ngườiTiāndìrén), is established. Such harmonisation is referred to as "centring" (ƯơngyāngorTrungzhōng). Rituals may be performed by government officials, family elders, popular ritual masters, and Taoists, the latter cultivating local gods to centre the forces of the universe upon a particular locality. Since humans are capable of centering natural forces, by the means of rites, they are themselves "central" to creation.[15]

Human beings participate in the ongoing creation-evolution of the God of Heaven, acting as ancestors who may produce and influence other beings:[23]

The involvement of an evolution in the divine creation hints that, although the Creator functions everywhere and all the time, every little creation is also participated by one particular thing which was previously created by the Creator. That is to say, each creature plays both the roles of creature and creator, and consequently is not only a fixed constituent of, but also a promoter and author of, the diversity or richness of the world.

The relationship between oneness and multiplicity, between the supreme principle and the myriad things, is notably explained by Zhu Xi through the "metaphor of the moon":[24]

Fundamentally there is only one Great Pole (Tàijí), yet each of the myriad things has been endowed with it and each in itself possesses the Great Ultimate in its entirety. This is similar to the fact that there is only one moon in the sky, but when its light is scattered upon rivers and lakes, it can be seen everywhere. It cannot be said that the moon has been split.

In his terminology, the myriad things are generated as effects or actualities (Dùngyòng) of the supreme principle, which, before in potence (Thể), sets in motionqi.The effects are different, forming the "myriad species" (Vạn thùwànshū), each relying upon their myriad modifications of the principle, depending on the varying contexts and engagements. Difference exists not only between the various categories of beings, but among individuals belonging to the same category as well, so that each creature is a unique coalescence of the cosmic principle.[24]Theqiof kindred beings accord and communicate with one another, and the same happens for theqiof worshippers and the god receiving sacrifice, and for theqiof an ancestor and his descendants.[25]All beings are, at different levels, "in" the God of Heaven, not in the sense of addition but in the sense of belonging.[26]

In the Confucian tradition, the perfect government is that which emulates the ordering of the starry vault of Heaven:

To conduct government by virtue may be compared to the North Star: it occupied its place, while the myriad stars revolve around it.

Names and attributes of the God of Heaven in the tradition[edit]

Tian isdianĐiên( "top" ), the highest and unexceeded. It derives from the charactersyiMột,"one", anddaĐại,"big".[27]

Since theShang(1600–1046 BCE) andZhou dynasty1046–256 BCE), the radical Chinese terms for the supreme God areTiānThiênandShangdiThượng đế(the "Highest Deity" ) or simplyĐế( "Deity" ).[28][29][note 1]Another concept isTàidìQuá đế(the "Great Deity" ). These names are combined in different ways in Chinese theological literature, often interchanged in the same paragraph if not in the same sentence.[31]One of the combinations is the name of God used at theTemple of Heavenin Beijing, which is the "Highest Deity the Heavenly King" (Hoàng thiên thượng đếHuángtiān Shàngdì);[32]others are "Great Deity the Heavenly King" (Thiên Hoàng Đại ĐếTiānhuáng Dàdì) and "Supreme Deity of the Vast Heaven" (Hạo Thiên Thượng ĐếHàotiān Shàngdì).[33]

God is considered manifest in this world as thenorthern culmen and starry vault of the skieswhich regulate nature.[5]As its see, thecircumpolar stars(theLittleandBig Dipper,or broader Ursa Minor and Ursa Major) are known, among various names, asTiānménThiên môn( "Gate of Heaven" )[34]andTiānshūThiên Xu( "Pivot of Heaven" ), or the "celestial clock" regulating the four seasons of time.[35]The Chinese supreme God is compared to the conception of the supreme God identified as the north celestial pole in other cultures, including theMesopotamianAn( "Heaven" itself), andEnlilandEnki/Marduk,theVedicIndraandMitra–Varuna,theZoroastrianAhura Mazda,[36]as well as theDyeusof commonProto-Indo-European religion.[37]

Throughout the Chinese theological literary tradition, the Dipper constellations, and especially the Big Dipper (Sao Bắc đẩuBěidǒuxīng,"Northern Dipper" ), also known as Great Chariot, within Ursa Major, are portrayed as the potent symbols of spirit, divinity, or of theactivity of the supreme God regulating nature.Examples include:

The Dipper is the Deity’s carriage. It revolves about the centre, visiting and regulating each of the four regions. It divides yin from yang, establishes the four seasons, equalises the five elemental phases, deploys the seasonal junctures and angular measures, and determines the various periodicities: all these are tied to the Dipper.

— Sima Qian,Treatise on the Celestial Officers[38]

When the handle of the Dipper points to the east at dawn, it is spring to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the south it is summer to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the west, it is autumn to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the north, it is winter to all the world. As the handle of the Dipper rotates above, so affairs are set below.

— Heguanzi,5:21/1-4[39]

is literally a title expressing dominance over theall-under-Heaven,that is all created things.[40]It is etymologically and figuratively analogous to the concept ofdias the base of a fruit, which falls and produces other fruits. This analogy is attested in theShuowen Jieziexplaining "deity" as "what faces the base of a melon fruit".[41]Tiānis usually translated as "Heaven", but by graphical etymology it means "Great One" and scholars relate it to the samethrough phonetic etymology and trace their common root, through their archaic forms respectively*Teeŋand*Tees,to the symbols of the celestial pole and its spinning stars.[5]Other words, such asĐỉnhdǐng( "on top", "apex" ) would share the same etymology, all connected to a conceptualisation—according to the scholar John C. Didier—of the north celestial pole godhead as cosmic square (DīngKhẩu ).[42]Zhou (2005) even connects,throughOld Chinese*Teesand by phonetic etymology, to theProto-Indo-EuropeanDyeus.[43]Medhurst (1847) also shows affinities in the usage of "deity", Chinesedi,Greektheosand Latindeus,for incarnate powers resembling the supreme godhead.[44]

Shang–Zhou theology[edit]

Ulrich Libbrechtdistinguishes two layers in the development of early Chinese theology, traditions derived respectively from the Shang and subsequent Zhou dynasties. The religion of the Shang was based on the worship of ancestors and god-kings, who survived as unseen divine forces after death. They were not transcendent entities, since the cosmos was "by itself so", not created by a force outside of it but generated by internal rhythms and cosmic powers. The royal ancestors were called(Đế;'deities'), and the utmost progenitor was Shangdi, identified with the dragon.[19]Already in Shang theology, the multiplicity of gods of nature and ancestors were viewed as parts of Shangdi, and the fourfāng(Phương;'directions') and theirfēng(Phong;'winds') as his cosmic will.[45]

The Zhou dynasty, which overthrew the Shang, emphasised a more universal idea ofTian(Thiên"Heaven" ).[19]The Shang dynasty's identification of Shangdi as their ancestor-god had asserted their claim to power by divine right; the Zhou transformed this claim into a legitimacy based on moral power, theMandate of Heaven.In Zhou theology, Tian had no singular earthly progeny, but bestowed divine favour on virtuous rulers. Zhou kings declared that their victory over the Shang was because they were virtuous and loved their people, while the Shang were tyrants and thus were deprived of power by Tian.[46]

Tian[edit]

Temple of All-Heaven (Đều thiên miếudōutiānmiào) in Longgang,Cangnan,Wenzhou,Zhe gian g.

Tianis bothtranscendentandimmanentas the starry vault, manifesting in the three forms of dominance, destiny, and nature. There are many compounds of the nameTian,and many of these clearly distinguish a "Heaven of dominance", a "Heaven of destiny", and a "Heaven of nature" as attributes of the supreme cosmic God.[47]

In theWujing yiyi(Ngũ kinh dị nghĩa,"Different Meanings in theFive Classics"),Xu Shenexplains that the designation of Heaven is quintuple:[47]

  • Huáng TiānHoàng thiên— "August Heaven", "Yellow Heaven", or "Shining Heaven", when it is venerated as the lord of creation;
  • Hào TiānHạo thiên— "Vast Heaven", with regard to the vastness of its vital breath (qi);
  • Mín TiānMân thiên— "Compassionate Heaven", for it hears and corresponds to justice to the all-under-Heaven;
  • Shàng TiānTrời cao— "Highest Heaven" or "First Heaven", for it is the primordial being supervising all-under-Heaven;
  • Cāng TiānTrời xanh— "Deep-Green Heaven", for it being unfathomably deep.

Other names of the God of Heaven include:

  • TiāndìThiên Đế—the "Deity of Heaven" or "Emperor of Heaven":[48]"On Rectification" (Zheng lun) of theXunziuses this term to refer to the active God of Heaven setting in motion creation;[40]
  • TiānzhǔThiên Chúa—the "Lord of Heaven": In "The Document of Offering Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth on the Mountain Tai" (Fengshan shu) of theRecords of the Grand Historianit is used as the title of the first God from whom all the other gods derive.[47]
  • TiānhuángThiên hoàng—the "August Personage of Heaven": In the "Poem of Fathoming Profundity" (Si'xuan fu), transcribed in "The History of the Later Han Dynasty" (Hou Han shu), Zhang Heng ornately writes: «I ask the superintendent of the Heavenly Gate to open the door and let me visit the King of Heaven at the Jade Palace»;[48]
  • TiānwángThiên vương—the "King of Heaven" or "Monarch of Heaven".
  • TiāngōngÔng trời—the "Duke of Heaven" or "General of Heaven";[49]
  • TiānjūnThiên Quân—the "Prince of Heaven" or "Lord of Heaven";[49]
  • TiānzūnThiên Tôn—the "Heavenly Venerable", also a title for high gods in Taoist theologies;[48]
  • TiānshénThiên thần—the "God of Heaven", interpreted in theShuowen Jiezias "the being that gives birth to all things";[40]
  • ShénhuángThần hoàng— "God the August", attested inTaihong( "The Origin of Vital Breath" );[40]
  • Lǎotiānyé(Ông trời)—the "Olden Heavenly Father".[48]

Attributes of the supreme God of Heaven include:[50]

  • TiāndàoThiên Đạo— "Way of Heaven"; it is the God's will of power, which decides the development of things: TheBook of Historical Documentssays that «the Way of Heaven is to bless the good, and make the bad miserable». It is also used to refer toXiantiandaoand is the name of some religious traditions within it; and it is used inmany philosophical and religious contexts inthe Sinosphere;
  • TiānmìngThiên mệnh— "Mandate of Heaven", defining the destiny of things;
  • TiānyìÝ trời— "Decree of Heaven", the same concept of destiny but implying an active decision;
  • TiānxiàThiên hạ— "Under Heaven"; means creation, an ongoing process generated by the supreme God.

Shangdi[edit]

Shang graphemes for stars–gods–ancestors
Images 1 to 4 are all Shang script variants fork:Tinhxīng,"star(s)", "god(s)", "ancestor(s)", composed by three to five grouped khẩudīng.It continues in modernk:Tinhjīng( "crystal", "shining" ).[51]Image 5 is a variant ofShàngjiǎk:Thượng giáp,"Supreme Ancestor", i.e. Shangdi.[52]

Shàngdì(Thượng đế"Highest Deity" ), sometimes shortened simply to(Đế"Deity" ), is another name of the supreme God inherited from Shang and Zhou times. TheClassic of Poetryrecites: «How vast is the Highest Deity, the ruler of men below!».[40]is also applied to the name of cosmic gods besides the supreme godhead, and is used to compose titles of divinity; for instanceDìjūnĐế quân( "Divine Ruler", Latin:Dominus Deus), used in Taoism for high deities in the celestial hierarchy.[40]

In the Shang dynasty, as discussed by John C. Didier, Shangdi was the same asDīng(Khẩu,modernĐinh), the "square" as the northcelestial pole,andShàngjiǎ(Thượng giáp"Supreme Ancestor" ) was an alternative name.[53]Shangdi was conceived as the utmost ancestor of the Shang royal lineage, the Zi (Tử) lineage, also called Ku (or Kui) or Diku ( "DivusKu "), attested in theShijiand other texts.[54]

The other gods associated with thecircumpolar starswere all embraced by Shangdi, and they were conceived as the ancestors of side noble lineages of the Shang and even non-Shang peripheral peoples who benefited from the identification of their ancestor-gods as part of Di. Together they were calledHạ đếxiàdì,"lower deities" part of the "Highest Deity" of the Shang. With the supreme God identified as the pivot of the skies, all the lesser gods were its starsTinhxīng,a word which in Shang script was illustrated by a few groupedKhẩudīng(cf.jīngTinh,"perfect [celestial, i.e., star] light", andPhẩmpǐn,originally "starlight" ); up to the Han dynasty it was still common to represent the stars as small squares.[53]The Shang conducted magnificent sacrifices to these ancestor-gods, whose altar mimicked the stars of the north celestial pole. Through this sympathetic magic, which consisted of reproducing the celestial centre on earth, the Shang established and monopolised the centralising political power.[53]

Qin-Han theology[edit]

The emperors of theQin dynasty(221–206 BCE) are credited with an effort to unify the cults of theWǔfāng Shàngdì(Ngũ phương thượng đế"Five Forms of the Highest Deity" ), which were previously held at different locations, into single temple complexes.[55]The Five Deities are a cosmological conception of the fivefold manifestation of the supreme God, or his five changing faces,[56]that goes back to theNeolithicand continues in theclassic texts.They "reflect the cosmic structure of the world" in which yin, yang, and all forces are held in balance, and are associated with the four directions of space and the centre, thefive sacred mountains,thefive phases of creation,and thefive constellations rotating around the celestial poleand five planets.[57]

During theHan dynasty(206 BCE–220 CE), the theology of the state religion developed side by side with the Huang–Lao religious movement which in turn influenced the early Taoist Church,[58]and focused on a conceptualisation of the supreme God of the culmen of the sky as the Yellow God of the centre, and its human incarnation, the Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity. Unlike previous Shang concepts of human incarnations of the supreme godhead, considered exclusively as the progenitors of the royal lineage, the Yellow Emperor was a more universal archetype of the human being. The competing factions of the Confucians and thefāngshì(Phương sĩ"masters of directions" ), regarded as representatives of the ancient religious tradition inherited from previous dynasties, concurred in the formulation of the Han state religion.[59]

Taiyi[edit]

Tàiyī(Quá một;also spelledThái ẤtTàiyǐorThái mộtTàiyī;[60]"Great Oneness" or "Great Unity" ), also known as "Supreme Oneness of the Central Yellow" (Trung hoàng Thái ẤtZhōnghuáng Tàiyǐ), or the "Yellow God of theNorthern Dipper"(Hoàng thần Bắc ĐẩuHuángshén Běidǒu[note 2]), or "Heavenly Venerable Supreme Unity" (Quá một ngày tônTàiyī Tiānzūn), is a name of the supreme God of Heaven that had become prominent besides the older ones during the Han dynasty in relation to the figure of theYellow Emperor.It harkens back to theWarring States period,as attested in the poemThe Supreme Oneness Gives Birth to Water,and possibly to the Shang dynasty asDàyī(Đại một"Big Oneness" ), an alternative name for the Shangs' (and universe's) foremost ancestor.[61]

Taiyi was worshipped by the social elites in the Warring States, and is also the first god described in the Nine Songs, shamanic hymns collected in theChuci( "Songs of Chu" ).[62]Throughout the Qin and the Han dynasties, a distinction became evident between Taiyi as the supreme godhead identified with the northern culmen of the sky and its spinning stars, and a more abstract concept of( một "One" ), which begets the polar godhead bringing into existence the principles ofYin and Yang,the pivotsan bao,then "the myriad of beings" and "the ten thousand things"; the more abstract Yi was an "interiorisation" of the supreme God which was influenced by the Confucian discourse.[63]

During the Han dynasty, the concept of Taiyi became part of the imperialsect[clarification needed],and at the same time it was the central concept of Huang–Lao, which influenced the early Taoist Church; in early Taoism, Taiyi was identified as theDàoNói.The "Inscription for Laozi" (Laozi ming), a Han stela, describes the Taiyi as the source of inspiration and immortality forLaozi.In Huang-Lao, the philosopher-god Laozi was identified as the same as the Yellow Emperor, and received imperial sacrifices, for instance byEmperor Huan(146–168).[64]In Han apocryphal texts, the Big Dipper is described as the instrument of Taiyi, the ladle from which he pours out the primordial breath (yuanqi), and as his heavenly chariot.[62]

A part of theShijibySima Qianidentifies Taiyi with the simple nameDi(Deity) and tells:[62]

The Dipper is the Thearch's carriage. It revolves around the central point and majestically regulates the four realms. The distribution of yin and yang, the fi xing of the four seasons, the coordination of the five phases, the progression of rotational measurements, and the determining of all celestial markers—all of these are linked to the Dipper.

In 113 BCE,Emperor Wu of Han,under the influence of prominentfangshi—Miu Ji and later Gongsun Qing—officially integrated the Huang–Lao theology of Taiyi with the Confucian state religion and theology of the Five Forms of the Highest Deity inherited from the erstwhile dynasties.[65]

Huangdi[edit]

Temple of the Yellow Deity inJinyun,Lishui,Zhe gian g.
Wooden sculpture of the eagle-faced Thunder God (Lôi ThầnLéishén), punisher of those who go against the order of Heaven, at the Temple of the Eastern Peak of Baishan inPu,Linfen,Shanxi.In the oldest accounts, he is one and the same with the Yellow Emperor.

Huángdì(Huỳnh Đế"Yellow Emperor" or "Yellow Deity" ) is another name of the God of Heaven, associated with thecelestial poleand with the power of thewu(shamans).[66]: 12, note 33 In the older cosmological tradition of the Wufang Shangdi, the Yellow Deity is the main one, associated with the centre of the cosmos. He is also calledHuángshénHoàng thần( "Yellow God" ),Xuānyuán(Hiên Viên"Chariot Shaft"[67]), which is said to have been his personal name as a human incarnation,Xuānyuánshì(Hiên Viên thị"Master of the Chariot Shaft" ), orXuanyuan Huangdi( "Yellow Deity of the Chariot Shaft" ).

In Chinese religion he is the deity who shapes the material world (), the creator of theHuaxiacivilisation, of marriage and morality, language and lineage, and is theprogenitor of all Chinese.[68]In the cosmology of the Wufang Shangdi his astral body isSaturn,but he is also identified as the Sun God, and with the starRegulus(α Leonis) andconstellations Leo and Lynx,of which the latter is said to represent the body of the Yellow Dragon, his serpentine form.[69]The characterHoànghuáng,for "yellow", also means, byhomophonyand sharedetymology,Hoànghuáng,"august", "creator" and "radiant", attributes of the supreme God.[70]

As a progenitor, Huangdi is portrayed as the historical incarnation of the Yellow God of the Northern Dipper.[71]According to a definition given by apocryphal texts related to theHétúHà Đồ,the Yellow Emperor "proceeds from the essence of the Yellow God of the Northern Dipper", is born to "a daughter of a chthonic deity", and as such he is "a cosmic product of the conflation of Heaven and Earth".[58]

As a human being, the Yellow Emperor was conceived by a virgin mother, Fubao, who was impregnated by Taiyi's radiance (yuanqi,"primordial pneuma" ), a lightning, which she saw encircling the Northern Dipper (Great Chariot, or broader Ursa Major), or the celestial pole, while walking in the countryside. She delivered her son after twenty-four months on the mount of Shou (Longevity) or mount Xuanyuan, after which he was named.[72]Through his human side, he was a descendant ofCó hùng thịYǒuxióng,the lineage of the Bear—another reference to the Ursa Major. Didier has studied the parallels that the Yellow Emperor's mythology has in other cultures, deducing a plausible ancient origin of the myth inSiberiaor in north Asia.[73]

In older accounts, the Yellow Emperor is identified as a deity of light (and his name is explained in theShuowen Jiezito derive fromguāngQuang,"light" ) and thunder, and as one and the same with the "Thunder God" (Lôi ThầnLéishén),[74][75]who in turn, as a later mythological character, is distinguished as the Yellow Emperor's foremost pupil, such as in theHuangdi Neijing.

As the deity of the centre, the Yellow Emperor is theZhongyuedadi(Trung nhạc đại đế"Great Deity of the Central Peak" ) and he represents the essence of earth and the Yellow Dragon.[76]He represents the hub of creation, theaxis mundi(Kunlun) that is the manifestation of the divine order in physical reality, opening the way to immortality.[76]As the centre of the four directions, in theShizihe is described as "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" (Huỳnh Đế tứ phíaHuángdì Sìmiàn).[77]The "Four-Faced God" or "Ubiquitous God" (Tứ phía thầnSìmiànshén) is also the Chinese name ofBrahma.

Huangdi is the model of those who merge their self with the self of the supreme God, of theasceticswho reach enlightenment or immortality.[78]He is the god of nobility, the patron of Taoism andmedicine.In theShiji,as well as in the Taoist bookZhuangzi,he is also described as the perfect king. There are records of dialogues in which Huangdi took the advice of wise counselors, contained in theHuangdi Neijing( "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" ) as well as in theShiwen( "Ten Questions" ). In the Huang–Lao tradition he is the model of a king turned immortal, and is associated with the transmission of various mantic and medical techniques.[79]Besides theInner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor,Huangdi is also associated with other textual bodies of knowledge including theHuangdi Sijing( "Four Scriptures of the Yellow Emperor" ) and theHuangdi zhaijing( "Scripture of the Dwellings of the Yellow Emperor" ).[80]

In the cosmology of the Wufang Shangdi, besides the Yellow Deity, theBlack Deity(Hắc đếHēidì) of the north, winter andMercury,is portrayed bySima Qianas Huangdi's grandson, and is himself associated with the north pole stars.[81]The "Green Deity" or "Blue Deity" (Thương đếCāngdìorThanh ĐếQīngdì), of the east, spring, and identified withJupiter,[82]is frequently worshipped as the supreme God and its main temple atMount Tai(the cult centre of allEastern Peak Temples) is attested as a site for fire sacrifices to the supreme God since prehistoric times.[83]

Yudi[edit]

Temple of the Jade Deity inTianjin.

Yùdì(Ngọc Đế"Jade Deity" or "Jade Emperor" ), orYùhuáng(Ngọc Hoàng"Jade King" ), is a personification of the supreme God of Heaven in popular religion.[84]More elaborate names for the Jade Deity includeYùhuáng Shàngdì(Ngọc Hoàng thượng đế"Highest Deity the Jade King" ) andYùhuángdàdì(Ngọc Hoàng Đại Đế"Great Deity the Jade King" ), while among the common people he is intimately referred to as the "Lord of Heaven" (Ông trờiTiāngōng).[84]

He is also present in Taoist theology, where, however, he is not regarded as the supreme principle though he has a high position in the pantheon. In Taoism his formal title is the "Most Honourable Great Deity the Jade King in the Golden Tower of the Clear Heaven" (Hàotiān Jīnquē Zhìzūn YùhuángdàdìHạo thiên kim khuyết chí tôn Ngọc Hoàng Đại Đế), and he is one of the Four Sovereigns, the four deities proceeding directly from theThree Pure Ones,which in Taoism are the representation of the supreme principle.[84]

The eminence of the Jade Deity is relatively recent, emerging in popular religion during theTang dynasty(618–907) and becoming established during theSong dynasty(960–1279), especially underEmperor ZhenzongandEmperor Huizong of Song.[84]By the Tang dynasty the name of "Jade King" had been widely adopted by the common people to refer to the God of Heaven, and this got the attention of the Taoists who integrated the deity in their pantheon.[84]The cult of the Jade Deity became so widespread that during the Song dynasty it was proclaimed by imperial decree that this popular conception of God was the same supreme God of Heaven whom the elites had the privilege to worship at theTemple of Heaven.[85]

There are a great number of temples in China dedicated to the Jade Deity (Miếu Ngọc HoàngyùhuángmiàoorNgọc Hoàng cácyùhuánggé,et al.), and his birthday on the 9th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar is one of the biggest festivals.[85]He is also celebrated on the 25th day of the 12th month, when he is believed to turn to the human world to inspect all goods and evils to determine awards or punishments.[85]In everyday language the Jade Deity is also called the Olden Heavenly Father (LǎotiānyéÔng trời) and simply Heaven.[85]

Taidi[edit]

Tàidì(Quá đế"Utmost Deity" or "Great Deity" ), is another name that has been used to describe the supreme God in some contexts. It appears in the mystical narratives of theHuainanziwhere the supreme God is associated withMount Kunlun,theaxis mundi.[86]

Shen[edit]

ThầnShénis a general concept meaning "spirit", and usually defines the plurality ofgods in the world,however, in certain contexts it has been used as singular denoting the supreme God, the "being that gives birth to all things".[10]

Concepts includingshenexpressing the idea of the supreme God include:[10]

  • TiānshénThiên thần,the "God of Heaven", interpreted in theShuowen Jiezi(Thuyết Văn Giải Tự) as "the being that gives birth to all things";
  • ShénhuángThần hoàng,"God the King", attested inTaihong( "The Origin of Vital Breath" ).

Shéndào(Thần đạo"Way of the God[s]" ), in theYijing,is the path or way of manifestation of the supreme God and the gods of nature.

It is too delicate to be grasped. It cannot be perceived through reason. It cannot be seen through the eyes. It does without knowing how it can do. This is what we call the Way of the God[s].[10]

Since the Qin and Han dynasty, "Shendao" became a descriptor for the "Chinese religion" as theshèjiàoXã giáo,"social religion" of the nation.[87]The phraseShéndào shèjiào(Tuyên truyền đạo thần) literally means "established religion of the way of the gods".[88]

Zi[edit]

A temple of popular religion in Nanbaixiang,Ouhai,Wenzhou,Zhe gian g.The facade of the left side building features the modern stylisation of theLộc/Tửzisymbol →.

ZiTử,literally meaning "son", "(male) offspring", is another concept associated with the supreme God of Heaven as the northcelestial poleand its spinning stars.Tự,meaning "word" and "symbol", is one of its near homophonous and graphic cognates. It was the surname used by the royal lineage of the Shang dynasty.[89]It is a component of concepts includingThiên tửTiānzǐ( "Son of Heaven" ) andQuân tửjūnzǐ( "son of a lord", which in Confucianism became the concept of morally perfected person). According to Didier, in Shang and Zhou forms, the graphemeziitself depicts someone linked to the godhead of the squared north celestial pole (KhẩuDīng), and is related toTrungzhōng,the concept of spiritual, and thus political, centrality.[90]

Olden versions of the graphemes forziandzhong
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Images 1 to 4 are Shang versions of the graphemek:Tửzi.Images 5 to 8 are archaic versions of the graphemek:Trungzhōng,"centrality", "middle", "inside", "within". Respectively, from left to right, the latter are in Shangbronzeware script,Qinbamboo and wooden slipsscript, one of the versions recorded in theHanShuowen Jiezi,and Hansmall seal script.
According to John C. Didier, bothziandzhonggraphemes express spiritual filiation and alignment with the supreme godhead of the north celestial pole. They share the graphic element representing the celestial square itself (KhẩuDīng) and the ritual vessel and ritual space used to mimic it on earth, and thus commune with it, establishing spiritual and political centrality.[90]
Image 9 is a Shang version ofk:Tự,"word" and "symbol", representing a "son" enshrined under a "roof".

In modern Chinese popular religion,ziis a synonym ofLộc( "prosperity", "furthering", "welfare" ).Lùxīng(Lộc tinh"Star of Prosperity" ) isMizar,a star of the Big Dipper (Great Chariot) constellation which rotates around the north celestial pole; it is the second star of the "handle" of the Dipper. Lu xing is conceived as a member of two clusters of gods, theSānxīng(Tam tinh"Three Stars" ) and theJiǔhuángshén(Chín hoàng thần"Nine God-Kings" ). The latter are the seven stars of the Big Dipper with the addition of two less visible ones thwartwise the "handle", and they are conceived as the ninefold manifestation of the supreme God of Heaven, which in this tradition is calledJiǔhuángdàdì(Chín hoàng đại đế,"Great Deity of the Nine Kings" ),[91]Xuántiān Shàngdì(Huyền thiên thượng đế"Highest Deity of the Dark Heaven" ),[92]orDòufù(Đấu phụ"Father of the Chariot" ). The number nine is for this reason associated with the yang masculine power of the dragon, and celebrated in theDouble Ninth Festivaland Nine God-Kings Festival.[92]The Big Dipper is the expansion of the supreme principle, governing wa xing and life (yang), while the Little Dipper is its reabsorption, governing waning and death (yin).[91][92]The mother of theJiuhuangshenisDǒumǔ(Đấu mẫu"Mother of the Chariot" ), the female aspect of the supreme.[91][92]

The stars are consistent regardless of the name in different languages, cultures, or viewpoint on Earth's Northern/Southern hemisphere with the same sky, sun, stars, and moon

Theology of the schools[edit]

As explained by Stephan Feuchtwang, the fundamental difference between Confucianism and Taoism lies in the fact that the former focuses on the realisation of the starry order of Heaven in human society, while the latter on the contemplation of the Dao which spontaneously arises in nature.[93]Taoism also focuses on the cultivation of local gods, to centre the order of Heaven upon a particular locality.[15]

Confucian theology[edit]

Worship at the Great Temple of Lord Zhang Hui (Trương huy công đại điệnZhāng Huī gōng dàdiàn), the cathedralancestral shrineof theZhanglineage corporation, at theirancestral homeinQinghe,Hebei
Olden versions of the graphemeNho,meaning "scholar", "refined one", "Confucian". It is composed ofNgườirén( "man" ) andCần( "to await" ), itself composed of( "rain", "instruction" ) andér( "sky" ), graphically a "man under the rain". Its full meaning is "man receiving instruction from Heaven". According toKang Youwei,Hu Shih,andYao Xinzhong,they were the official shaman-priests (Vu) experts in rites and astronomy of the Shang, and later Zhou, dynasty.[94]

Confucius(551–479 BCE) emerged in the criticalWarring States periodas a reformer of the religious tradition inherited from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. His elaboration of ancient theology gives centrality to self-cultivation and human agency,[46]and to the educational power of the self-established individual in assisting others to establish themselves (the principle ofÁi nhânàirén,"loving others" ).[95]

Philosophers in the Warring States compiled theAnalectsand formulated the classic metaphysics which became the lash of Confucianism. In accordance with the Master, they identified mental tranquility as the state of Tian, or the One ( một), which in each individual is the Heaven-bestowed divine power to rule one's own life and the world. Going beyond the Master, they theorised the oneness of production and reabsorption into the cosmic source, and the possibility to understand and therefore re-attain it through meditation. This line of thought would have influenced all Chinese individual and collective-political mystical theories and practices thereafter.[96]

Fu Pei-Jun characterises the Heaven of ancient Confucianism, before theQin dynasty,as "dominator", "creator", "sustainer", "revealer" and "judge".[97]TheHan-dynastyConfucian scholarDong Zhongshu(179–104 BCE) described Heaven as "the supreme God possessing a will".[98]In theSong dynasty,Neo-Confucianism,especially the major exponentZhu Xi(1130–1200), generally rationalised the theology, cosmology, and ontology inherited from the foregoing tradition.[99]Neo-Confucian thinkers reaffirmed the unity of the "heavenly city" and the earthly "divine city"; the city that the God of Heaven morally organises in the natural world through humanity is not ontologically separate from Heaven itself,[100]so that the compound "Heaven-Earth" (Thiên địaTiāndì) is another name of the God of Heaven itself in Neo-Confucian texts.[101]Heaven contains Earth as part of its nature, and the myriad things are begotten ( sinhshēng) by Heaven and raised up (Dưỡngyǎng) by Earth.[102]Neo-Confucians also discussed Heaven under the termThái CựcTàijí( "Great Pole" ).[103]

Stephan Feuchtwang says that Confucianism consists of the search for "middle ways" between yin and yang in each new configuration of the world, to align reality with Heaven through rites. The order of Heaven is emphasised; it is a moral power and fully realises in patriarchy, that is to say, the worship of progenitors, in the Han tradition in the male line, who are considered to have embodied Heaven. This conception is put into practice as the religious worship of progenitors in the system ofancestral shrines,dedicated to the deified progenitors oflineages(groups of families sharing the same surname).[93]The philosopher Promise Hsu identifies Tian as the foundation of a civil theology of China.[104]

Three models[edit]

Huang Yong (2007) has discerned three models of theology in the Confucian tradition:[105]

  • (i) Theology of Heaven as discussed in the Confucian canonical texts, theClassic of History,theClassic of Poetry,and theAnalects of Confucius,as a transcendent concept of God similar to the conception of God in the Hellenistic and Abrahamic traditions;
  • (ii) Theology of Heaven in contemporaryNew Confucianism,represented especially byXiong Shili,Mou Zongsan,andTu Weiming,as an "immanently transcendent" God, the ultimate reality immanent in the world to transcend the world;
  • (iii) Theology of Heaven in Neo-Confucianism, particularly theCheng brothersin the Song dynasty, as the wonderful life-giving activity transcending the world within the world.
Canonical theology[edit]

The supreme power in Confucianism isTian,Shangdi,orDiin the early or classic Confucian tradition, later also discussed in its activity asThiên lýTiānlǐorThiên ĐạoTiāndào,the "Order of Heaven" or "Way of Heaven" by Neo-Confucians.[106][107]A number of scholars support the theistic reading of early Confucian texts.[108]In theAnalects,Heaven is treated as a conscious and providential being concerned not only with the human order in general, but with Confucius' own mission in particular.[106]Confucius claimed to be a transmitter of an ancient knowledge rather than a renovator.[109]

In Confucianism, God has not created man in order to neglect him, but is always with man, and sustains the order of nature and human society, by teaching rulers how to be good to secure the peace of the countries.[110]The theistic idea of early Confucianism gave later way to a depersonalisation of Heaven, identifying it as the pattern discernible in the unfolding of nature and his will (Tianming) as peoples' consensus, culminating in theMenciusand theXunzi.[111]

Immanent transcendence[edit]

Contemporary New Confucian theologians have resolved the ancient dispute between the theistic and nontheistic, immanent and transcendent interpretations ofTian,elaborating the concept of "immanent transcendence" (Nội tại siêu việtnèizài chāoyuè), contrasting it with the "external transcendence" (Ngoại tại siêu việtwàizài chāoyuè) of the God ofChristianity.While the God of the Christians is outside the world that he creates, the God of the Confucians is immanent in the world to call for the transcendence of the given situation, thus promoting an ongoing transformation.[112]

The first theologian to discuss immanent transcendence was Xiong Shili. According to him,noumenon(Thể) andphenomenon(Dùngyòng) are not separate, but the noumenon is right within the phenomenon. At the same time, the noumenon is also transcendent, not in the sense that it has independent existence, separated from the "ten thousand things", but in the sense that it is the substance of all things. As the substance, it is transcendent because it is not transformed by the ten thousand things but is rather their master: it "transcends the surface of things".[113]By transcending the surface, one realises the self-nature (Tự tính thầnzì xìng shén) of himself and of all things; to the extent that a thing has not fully realised its own self-nature, God is also that on which any particular thing or human being depends (Y hắn thầnyī tā shén).[114]

According to the further explanations of Xiong's student Mou Zongsan, Heaven is not merely the sky, and just like the God of the Judaic and Hellenistic-Christian tradition, it is not one of the beings in the world. However, unlike the God of Western religions, the God of Confucianism is not outside the world either, but is within humans—who are the primary concern of Confucianism—and within other beings in the world.[115]Tianis the ontological substance of reality, it is immanent in every human being as the human nature (ren); however, the human being on the phenomenal level is not identical with its metaphysical essence.[115]Mencius stated that «the one who can fully realise one's heart–mind can understand one's nature, and the one who can understand one's own nature can know Tian». This means thatTianis within the human being, but before this last comes to realise his true heart–mind, or know his true nature, Heaven still appears transcendent to him. Mou citesMax Mullersaying that «a human being itself is potentially a God, a God one presently ought to become», to explain the idea of the relationship of God and humanity in Confucianism and other Eastern religions. What is crucial is to transcend the phenomenon to reachTian.[115]

Mou makes an important distinction between Confucianism and Christianity: the latter does not ask one to become a Christ, because the nature of Christ is unreachable for ordinary humans, who are not conceived as having a divine essence; by contrast, in Confucianism, sages who have realisedTianteach to others how to become sages and worthy themselves, since Heaven is present in everyone and may be cultivated.[115]Mou defines Confucianism as a "religion of morality", a religion of the "fulfillment of virtues", whose meaning lies in seeking the infinite and the complete in the finitude of earthly life.[115]

Tu Weiming, a student of Mou, furtherly develops the theology of "immanent transcendence". By his own words:[116]

A person is in this world and yet does not belong to this world. He regards this secular world as divine only because he realizes the divine value in this secular world. Here the secular world in which the divinity is manifested is not a world separate from the divinity, and the divinity manifested in the secular is not some Ideal externally transcendent of the secular world.

According to Tu, the more man may penetrate his own inner source, the more he may transcend himself. By the metaphorical words of Mencius (7a29), this process is like "digging a well to reach the source of water".[116]It is for this emphasis on transcending the phenomena to reach the true self, which is the divine, that Tu defines Confucian religiosity as the "ultimate self-transformation as a communal act and as a faithful dialogical response to the transcendent"; Confucianism is about developing the nature of humanity in the right, harmonious way.[116]Tu further explains this as a prognosis and diagnosis of humanity: "we are not what we ought to be but what we ought to be is inherent in the structure of what we are".[116]

Heaven bids and impels humans to realise their true self.[117]Humans have the inborn ability to respond to Heaven.[117]One may obtain knowledge of divinity through his inner experience (tizhi), and knowledge, developing his heavenly virtue. This is a central concern of Tu's theology, at the same time intellectual and affectional—a question of mind and heart at the same time.[117]

Theology of activity[edit]

Huang Yong has named a third approach to Confucian theology, interpreting the Neo-Confucianism of the brothersCheng Hao(1032–1085) andCheng Yi(1033–1107). Instead of regarding the divinity ofTianas a substance, this theology emphasises its creative "life-giving activity" ( sinhshēng) that is within the world in order to transcend the world itself.[118]Also in the works of Zhou Xi, Heaven is discussed as always operating within beings in conjunction with their singular tâmxīn( "heart–mind" ).[26]

Neo-Confucians incorporated in Confucianism the discussion about the traditional concept of,variously translated as "form", "law", "reason", "order", "pattern", "organism", and most commonly "principle", regarding it as the supreme principle of the cosmos.[118]The Chengs useLiinterchangeably with other terms. For instance, discussing the supreme principle, Cheng Hao says that it "is called change (Dễ) with respect to its reality; is calledNóidàowith respect to itsli;is called divinity (Thầnshén) with respect to its function; and is called nature (Tínhxìng) with respect to it as the destiny in a person ". Cheng Yi also states that the supreme principle" with respect toliit is called Heaven (ThiênTiān); with respect to endowment, it is called nature, and with respect to its being in a person, it is called heart–mind ". As it appears from these analogies, theLiis considered by the Chengs as identical with Heaven.[118]

By the words of the Chengs, Huang clarifies the immanent transcendence of theLi,since it comes ontologically before things but it does not exist outside of things, or outsideqi,the energy–matter of which things are made. In Chengs' theology theLiis not some entity but the "activity" of things,sheng.Explaining it through an analogy, according to theShuowen Jiezi,Liis originally a verb meaning to work on jade.[119]The Chengs further identify this activity as the true human nature.[120]Sages, who have realised the true nature, are identical with theLiand their actions are identical to the creativity of theLi.[121]

Generally, in Confucian texts,Cônggōng( "work", "work of merit" or "beneficial work" ) andĐức( "virtue" ) are frequently used to refer to the ways of becoming an honourable man of Heaven, and thus they may be regarded as attributes of Heaven itself. Zhu Xi himself characterises Heaven as extremely "active" or "vital" (jiànKiện), while the Earth is responsive (Thuậnshùn).[122]

Humanity as the incarnation of Heaven[edit]

The relationship "between Heaven and mankind" (tiānrénzhījìThiên nhân khoảnh khắc), that is to say how Heaven generates men and how they should behave to follow its order, is a common theme discussed in the Confucian theology of Heaven.[107]Generally, Confucianism sees humanity, or the form-quality of the human being,Nhânrén(translatable as "benevolence", "love", "humanity" ), as a quality of the God of Heaven itself, and therefore it sees humanity as an incarnation of Heaven.[123]This theory is not at odds with the classical non-Confucian theology which viewsHuangdias the incarnated God of Heaven, since Huangdi is a representation of nobility and the pursuit of Confucianism is to make all humans noble (jūnzǐQuân tử) or sages and holy men (Thánh nhânshèngrén).

According toBenjamin I. Schwartz,in theXunziit is explained that:[124]

[Dissonances] between man and Heaven [are] only provisional... the human intellect which brings order to chaos is itself an incarnation of the powers of Heaven. Heaven's working in the non-human sphere is described in a language which can almost be described as mystical. Once the normative human culture is realized, man is aligned with the harmonies of the universe.

In the "Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind"(Thiên nhân cảm ứngTiānrénGǎnyìng) written by the Han-dynasty scholarDong Zhongshu,humanity is discussed as the incarnation of Heaven. Human physiological structure, thought, emotions, and moral character are all modelled after Heaven. In the Confucian discourse, ancestors who accomplished great actions are regarded as the incarnation of Heaven, and they last as a form shaping their descendants.[125]Rénis the virtue endowed by Heaven and at the same time the means by which man may comprehend his divine nature and achieve oneness with Heaven.[126]

Discourse about evil, suffering, and world renewal[edit]

In Confucian theology, there is nooriginal sin,and rather humanity, as the incarnate image of Heaven's virtue, is born good (Lương tâmliángxín,"good heart–mind" ).[127]In Confuciantheodicy,the rise of evil in a given cosmic configuration is attributed to failings in the moral organisation ofqi,which depends on mankind's (or the "practising subject",shíjiàn zhǔtǐThực tiễn chủ thể,inZhu Xi) free will, that is to say the ability to choose whether to harmonise or not with the order of Heaven, which is part of the creature's ability to co-create with the creator.[128]

Paraphrasing Zhu Xi:[129]

... each human activity, found in either the mind, the body, or in both of them simultaneously, either follows principles of the just Heaven, or is corrupted by selfish appetites.

Humanqi,the primordial potential substance, organises according to theyin and yangpolarity in the two facets ofHìnhxíng( "body" ) andThầnshén( "soul" ).[130]Qiis open to both disorder (yin) and order (yang), bodily and heavenly appetites.[131]While other creatures have a limited perfection, the human being alone has an "unlimited nature", that is to say the ability to cultivate itsqiin amounts and directions of its own choice, either yin or yang.[132]While Confucians prescribe to be moderate in pursuing appetites, since even the bodily ones are necessary for life,[133]when the "proprietorship of corporeality" (xíngqì zhīsīHình khí chi tư) prevails, selfishness and therefore immorality ensue.[134]

When evil dominates, the world falls into disaster, society shatters up, and individuals are hit by diseases, giving the way for a new heavenly configuration to emerge. By the words of Zhu Xi:[135]

Once [Heaven] sees that human beings' immorality comes to its apex, it will crush everything up. What will be left is only a chaos, wherein all humans and things lose their being. Subsequently, a new world will emerge.

Sufferings, however, are also regarded by Confucians as a way of Heaven to refine a person preparing him for a future role. According toMencius:[136]

When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

Likewise, Zhu Xi says:[128]

Helplessness, poverty, adversity, and obstacles can strengthen one's will, and cultivate his humanity (ren).

Taoist theology[edit]

Hall of the Three Purities at the Temple ofGuandi(Quan Đế miếu) ofQiqihar,Heilong gian g.
Altar to Shangdi andDoumu(Đấu mẫu"Mother of the Chariot" ), representing the originating principle of the universe in masculine and feminine form, in theChengxu TempleofZhouzhuang,Jiangxi.

Religious traditions under the label of "Taoism"have their own theologies which, characterised byhenotheism,are meant to accommodate local deities in the Taoist celestial hierarchy.[32]According to Stephan Feuchtwang, Taoism is concerned with the cultivation of local deities, bringing them in alignment with the broader cosmology, in order to "centre" through the power of rite each locality with its peculiarities.[15]It has hermetic and lay liturgical traditions, the most practised at the popular level being those for healing and exorcism, codified into a textual corpus commissioned and approved by emperors throughout the dynasties, theTaoist Canon.[93]

The core of Taoist theology is the concept ofDàoNói,the "Way", which is both the order of nature and the source of it. Differently from common religion or even Confucianism, Taoism espouses anegative theologydeclaring the impossibility to define the Dao. The core text of Taoism, theDaodejing,opens with the verses: «The Dao that can be said is not the eternal Dao, the name that can be said is not the eternal name». Feuchtwang explains the Dao as equivalent to the ancient Greek conception ofphysis,that is "nature" as the generation and regeneration of beings.[93]Taoists seek "perfection", which isimmortality,achieved by becoming one with the Dao, or the rhythms of nature.[93]

Through time, Taoist Theology created its own deities. Certain sects modeled their temples to dedicate to certain deities.[137]Deities who take part in the Dao are arranged in a hierarchy. The supreme powers are three, theThree Pure Ones,and represent the centre of the cosmos and its two modalities of manifestation (yin and yang).[138]The hierarchy of the highest powers of the cosmos is arranged as follows:[32]

  • Yùqīng(Ngọc thanh) — "Jade Purity";
Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn(Nguyên Thủy Thiên Tôn) — "Heavenly Honourable of the First Beginning"
Língbǎo Tiānzūn(Linh Bảo Thiên Tôn) — "Heavenly Honourable of the Numinous Treasure"
Dàodé Tiānzūn(Đạo Đức Thiên Tôn) — "Heavenly Honourable of the Way and its Virtue", incarnated historically asLaozi
  • Sìyù(Bốn ngự) — "Four Sovereigns":

Trends in modern Chinese political and civil theology[edit]

Statues ofthe Yellow Deity and the Red Deitycarved in the rock at a ceremonial complex inZhengzhou,Henan

Interest in traditional Chinese theology has waxed and waned throughout the dynasties of thehistory of China.For instance, theGreat Leap Forwardenacted in the mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance withMaoistideology. From the 1980s onwards a revival has taken place, with public sacrifices held at temples meant to renew the perceived alliance between community leaders and the gods.[13]Most people in China today take part in some rituals and festivals, especially those around the lunar new year,[139]and culture heroes like the Yellow Emperor are celebrated by the contemporary Chinese government.[140]

EvenChinese Buddhism,a religion which originally came from abroad, adapted to common Chinese cosmology by paralleling its concept of a triune supreme withShakyamuni,Amithaba,andMaitreya,representing respectively enlightenment, salvation, and post-apocalyptic paradise.[138]TheTathātā(Đúng nhưzhēnrú,"suchness" ) is generally identified as the supreme being itself.[32]

In the wake ofGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,many scholars understand Confucian theology as anatural theology.[99]The Chinese theological conception of the God of Heaven's ongoing self-creation/evolution in the "divine city" and the broader cosmos is contrasted with that of God as a craftsman external to his creation which is the type of theism of Christianity.[141]Contemporary scholars also compare Confucianism and Christianity on the matters of humanity's good nature and ofpneumatology,that is to say the respective doctrines of theshendynamism produced by God's activity (guishen) and of theHoly Spirit,finding that the Confucian doctrine is trulyhumanisticsince the spirit is the creative dynamism always present in humanity, while in the Christian doctrine, the Holy Spirit ultimately belongs to God alone.[142]According to the philosopher Promise Hsu, in the wake ofEric Voegelin,while Christianity fails to provide a public,civil theology,Confucianism with its idea of Tian, within broader Chinese cosmological religion, is particularly apt to fill the void left by the failing of Christianity.[104]ParaphrasingVarro,Hsu says:[104]

A society exists concretely, with regard to space, time, and human beings. Their organizational form and its symbols are sacred in their concreteness, regardless of... speculations about their meaning.

Quoting fromEllis Sandoz's works, Hsu says:[104]

Civil theology consists of propositionally stated true scientific knowledge of the divine order. It is the theology discerned and validated through reason by the philosopher, on the one hand, and through common sense and thelogique du Coeurevoked by the persuasive beauty of mythic narrative and imitative representations, on the other hand.

Also, Joël Thoraval characterises the common Chinese religion, or what he calls a "popular Confucianism", which has powerfully revived since the 1980s, consisting of the widespread belief and worship of five cosmological entities—Heaven and Earth (Di), the sovereign or the government (jūnQuân), ancestors (qīnThân), and masters (shī)—, as China's civil religion.[143]

See also[edit]

Related cultures[edit]

Abrahamic syncretism[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Đếis sometimes translated as "thearch",from the Greektheos( "deity" ), witharche( "principle", "origin" ), thus meaning "divine principle", "divine origin". In sinology it has been used to designate the incarnated gods who, according to Chinese tradition, sustain the world order and originated China.[30]
  2. ^AĐấudǒuin Chinese is an entire semantic field meaning the shape of a "dipper", as theBig Dipper(Bắc ĐẩuBěidǒu), or a "cup", signifying a "whirl", and also has martial connotations meaning "fight", "struggle", "battle".

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Adler (2011),pp. 4–5.
  2. ^Zhong (2014),p. 98 ff.
  3. ^Cai (2004),p. 314.
  4. ^Zhong (2014),p. 182.
  5. ^abcDidier (2009),passim.
  6. ^Zhong (2014),pp. 76–77.
  7. ^Zhong (2014),p. 84, note 282.
  8. ^Zhong (2014),pp. 15–16.
  9. ^Adler (2011),p. 5.
  10. ^abcdLü & Gong (2014),p. 63.
  11. ^Lü & Gong (2014),pp. 71–72.
  12. ^Lü & Gong (2014),p. 73.
  13. ^abStafford, Charles, ed. (2013).Ordinary Ethics in China.A & C Black.ISBN978-0857854605.pp. 198–199.
  14. ^McLeod, Alexus (2016).Astronomy in the Ancient World: Early and Modern Views on Celestial Events.Springer.ISBN978-3319236001.pp. 89–90: "According to the Chinese view, the circumpolar stars represent the palace surrounding the emperor, who is the pole star, and the various members of the celestial bureaucracy. Indeed, the Chinese saw the night sky as a mirror of the empire, and saw the empire as a mirror of the sky, on earth. The sky was...tian..., and the empire had the authority oftian".
  15. ^abcdFeuchtwang (2016),p. 150.
  16. ^Zhong (2014),p. 223.
  17. ^Zhong (2014),p. 215.
  18. ^Pankenier (2013),p. 55.
  19. ^abcLibbrecht (2007),p. 43.
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  21. ^Zhong (2014),p. 118.
  22. ^Zhong (2014),pp. 125–127.
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  27. ^Didier (2009),p. 1, Vol. III.
  28. ^Chang (2000).
  29. ^Lü & Gong (2014),pp. 63–67.
  30. ^Pregadio (2013),p. 504: "Each sector of heaven (the four points of the compass and the center) was personified by adiĐế(a term which indicates not only an emperor but also an ancestral "thearch" and "god" ) ".
  31. ^Zhong (2014),p. 66, note 224.
  32. ^abcdLü & Gong (2014),p. 71.
  33. ^Zhong (2014),p. 70.
  34. ^Reiter, Florian C. (2007).Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium.Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN978-3447055130.p. 190.
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  38. ^Pankenier (2013),p. 9.
  39. ^Pankenier (2004),p. 220.
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  41. ^Zhao (2012),p. 51.
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  43. ^Zhou (2005).
  44. ^Medhurst (1847),p. 260.
  45. ^Didier (2009),pp. 143–144, Vol. II.
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  49. ^abLagerwey & Kalinowski (2008),p. 981.
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  51. ^Didier (2009),p. 217.
  52. ^Didier (2009),p. 210, 227–228.
  53. ^abcDidier (2009),pp. 213–219, Vol. II, comprising the sections "Khẩu,Di, the Ancestors, Shangdi, and Xiadi "and"Khẩuas the Central Stellar Home of the High Ancestors and Conduit of Communication from the Center of Earth with the Center of the Sky ".
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  55. ^Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008),p. 784, chapter: Bujard, Marianne. "State and Local Cults in Han Religion".
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  57. ^Little & Eichman (2000),p. 250. It describes aMing dynastypainting representing (among other figures) the Wudi: "In the foreground are the gods of the Five Directions, dressed as emperors of high antiquity, holding tablets of rank in front of them. [...] These gods are significant because they reflect the cosmic structure of the world, in which yin, yang and the Five Phases (Elements) are in balance. They predate religious Taoism, and may have originated as chthonic gods of the Neolithic period. Governing all directions (east, south, west, north and center), they correspond not only to the Five Elements, but to the seasons, the Five Sacred Peaks, the Five Planets, and zodiac symbols as well. [...]".
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  59. ^Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008),pp. 778–779, chapter: Bujard, Marianne. "State and Local Cults in Han Religion".
  60. ^Zhong (2014),p. 69.
  61. ^Didier (2009),passimVol. III, esp. "Chapter 6: Great Ancestor DayiĐại Ất;Polar God TaiyiThái Ất;YiMột,"One"; and the Development of Early Imperial Chinese Cosmology ".
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  63. ^Didier (2009),pp. 86–90, Vol. III.
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  74. ^Song, Yaoliang (2015).The Deified Human Face Petroglyphs of Prehistoric China.World Scientific.ISBN978-1938368332.p. 239: in theHetudijitongand theChunqiuhechengtuthe Yellow Emperor is identified as the Thunder God.
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  77. ^Sun & Kistemaker (1997),p. 120.
  78. ^Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008),p. 674.
  79. ^Pregadio (2013),p. 505.
  80. ^Pregadio (2013),p. 1229.
  81. ^Didier (2009),p. 156, Vol. I.
  82. ^Zhou (2005),passim.
  83. ^Zhou (2005),p. 1.
  84. ^abcdePregadio (2013),p. 1197.
  85. ^abcdYao & Zhao (2010),p. 155.
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  87. ^Zhao (2012),p. 47.
  88. ^Zhong (2014),p. 124.
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Works cited[edit]

Further reading[edit]