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Hongjun Xiang
Hongjun Laozu () lit. "Ancestor of the Great Balance" is a deity in Chinese folk religion and Taoism, teacher of the Three Pure Ones in Taoist mythology. ''Hongjun'' is a graphic variant of ''hungjun'' () "primordial nature", as used in the Chinese idiom ''Xian you hongjun hou you tian'' "First there was Hongjun and then there was Heaven". Daoists mythologize Hongjun Laozu as the ancestor of ''xian'' "trancendents; immortals" and use the honorific name Hongyuan Laozu () "Great Primal Ancestor". In Chinese creation myths, ''hongyuan'' or is a cosmological term for "the universe before the separation of heaven and earth". Some myths about the creator Pangu refer to Hongjun Laozu as Xuanxuan Shangren () "Mystery of Mysteries Saint" (a reference to the ''Daodejing'', "Mystery or mysteries, the gate of all wonders!"). Hongjun Laozu is also referred to as Hunyuan Laozu ( - "Ancestor of Original Chaos"). Myth Hongjun Laozu has hardly been the subject of academic studies and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literal Translation
Literal translation, direct translation, or word-for-word translation is the translation of a text done by translating each word separately without analysing how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence. In translation theory, another term for literal translation is ''metaphrase'' (as opposed to ''paraphrase'' for an analogous translation). It is to be distinguished from an Language interpretation, interpretation (done, for example, by an interpreter). Literal translation leads to mistranslation of idioms, which can be a serious problem for machine translation. Translation studies Usage The term "literal translation" often appeared in the titles of 19th-century English translations of the classical Bible and other texts. Cribs Word-for-word translations ("cribs", "ponies", or "trots") are sometimes prepared for writers who are translating a work written in a language they do not know. For example, Robert Pinsky is reported to have used a literal translation in prep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laozi
Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzu #Name, among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher and author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' (''Laozi''), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the ''Zhuangzi (book), Zhuangzi''. The name, literally meaning 'Old Master', was likely intended to portray an archaic anonymity that could converse with Confucianism. Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as later inventions, and his opus a collaboration. Traditional accounts addend him as , born in the 6th-centuryBC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period (). Serving as the royal archivist for the Zhou dynasty, Zhou court at Wangcheng (Zhou dynasty), Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), he met and impressed Confucius () on one occasion, composing the ''Tao Te Ching'' in a single session before retiring into the western wilderness. A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is generally considered the founder of Taoism. He was cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creation Myths
A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and therefore typically have multiple versions." While in popular usage the term ''myth'' often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truthsmetaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical mythsthat is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness. Creation myths often share several features. They often are considered sacred accounts and can be found in nearly all known religious traditions. They are all stories ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Gods
Chinese gods and immortals are beings in various Chinese religions seen in a variety of ways and mythological contexts. Many are worshiped as deities because traditional Chinese religion is polytheistic, stemming from a pantheistic view that divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating, and propagating the way of heaven (, ''Tian''), which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements. Most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore, as the means of connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father" (, ). There are a variety of immortals in Chinese thought, and one major type is the ''xian'', which is thought in some religious Taoism movements to be a human given long or infi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hundun
Hundun ( zh, c=混沌, p=Hùndùn, w=Hun4-tun4, l=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. Linguistics ''Hundun'' 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 "primordial chaos" is usually written as in contemporary vernacular, it is also written as —as in the Daoist classic '' Zhuangzi''—or —as in the '' Zuozhuan''. "chaos; muddled; confused" is written either or . These two are interchangeable graphic variants read as ) and (). ("dull; confused") is written as either or . 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and Borders of China, borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest country by land area. The country is divided into 33 Province-level divisions of China, province-level divisions: 22 provinces of China, provinces, 5 autonomous regions of China, autonomous regions, 4 direct-administered municipalities of China, municipalities, and 2 semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the country's capital, while Shanghai is List of cities in China by population, its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center. Considered one of six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nian
A ''nian'' beast () is a beast in Chinese mythology. According to Chinese mythology, the ''nian'' lives under the sea or in the mountains. The Chinese character ''nian'' more usually means "year" or "new year". The earliest written sources that refer to the ''nian'' as a creature date to the early 20th century. As a result, it is unclear whether the ''nian'' creature is an authentic part of traditional folk mythology, or a part of a local oral tradition that was recorded in the early 20th century. ''Nian'' is one of the key characters in the Chinese New Year. Scholars cite it as the reason behind several practices during the celebration, such as wearing red clothing and creating noise from drums and fireworks. Modern legends Once every year at the beginning of Chinese New Year, the ''nian'' would come out of its hiding place to feed, mostly on people and animals. During the winter, when food was scarce, it would raid villages, eating the crops and sometimes the villagers themselves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, and has been added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists#Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Humanity list by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2024. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of Spring (season), spring, this festival takes place from Chinese New Year's Eve (the evening preceding the first day of the year) to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February. The Chinese New Year is associated with several myths and customs. The festival was traditionally a time to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wuxing (Chinese Philosophy)
( zh, c=五行, p=wǔxíng), usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents, is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain a wide array of phenomena, including terrestrial and celestial relationships, influences, and cycles, that characterise the interactions and relationships within Science and technology in China, science, Traditional Chinese medicine, medicine, Confucianism, politics, Taoism, religion and social relationships and education within Chinese culture. The five agents are traditionally associated with the classical planets Mars, Mercury (planet), Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn as depicted in the #Etymology, etymological section below. In ancient Chinese astronomy and Chinese astrology, astrology, that spread throughout East Asia, was a reflection of the seven-day planetary order of Fire (wuxing), Fire, Water (wuxing), Water, Wood (wuxing), Wood, Metal (wuxing), Metal, Earth (wuxing), Earth.), they are Wood, Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wufang Shangdi
The Wǔfāng Shàngdì ( "Five Regions' Highest Deities" or "Highest Deities of the Five Regions"), or simply or are, in Chinese classics, Chinese canonical texts and common Chinese folk religion, Chinese religion, the fivefold manifestation of the Chinese theology, supreme God of Heaven (, or equivalently ). This theology dates back at least to the Shang dynasty. Described as the "five changeable faces of Heaven", they represent Heaven's cosmic activity which shapes worlds as , "altars", imitating its order which is visible in the starry vault, the north celestial pole and its spinning constellations. The Five Deities themselves represent these constellations. In accordance with the Three Powers () they have a celestial, a terrestrial and a chthonic form. The Han Chinese identify themselves as the Yan Huang Zisun, descendants of the Red and Yellow Deities. They are associated with the Color in Chinese culture, five colors, the Wuxing (Chinese philosophy), five phases of the con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taichung
Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Central Taiwan. It serves as the core of the Taichung–Changhua metropolitan area, Taiwan's second-largest metropolitan area. Located in the Taichung Basin, the city was initially developed from several scattered hamlets helmed by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples. It was constructed to be the new capital of Taiwan Province and renamed "Taiwanfu (other), Taiwan-fu" in the late Taiwan under Qing rule, Qing dynastic era between 1887 and 1894. During the Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese era from 1895, the urban planning of present-day Taichung was performed and developed by the Japanese. The urban area of Taichung was organized as a Provincial city (Taiwan), provincial city from the start of ROC rule in 1945 until 25 December 2010, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lingbao Tianzun
Lingbao Tianzun, also known in English as the Heavenly Lord of Spiritual Treasures, is a Taoist god. Also known as Shangqing, he is numbered among the Three Pure Ones who head some forms of the Taoist pantheon. He is thought to be able to control everything that goes on in the present. Often invoked during Taoist funeral rituals, Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun is described as an avatar of Lingbao Tianzun, and able to manifest himself in any form to lead souls to paradise. Record According to the ''Yunji Qiqian'' (Seven Bamboo Tablets of the Cloudy Satchel), Lingbao Tianzun is one of the manifestations of the Great Dao, and is described as "the essence of the Jade Emperor (Yuchen), the purple mist of nine auspicious clouds, radiant with jade brilliance and flowing with golden light. He embodies the convergence of transformation and beauty, containing and nurturing the primordial spirit. He was conceived within his mother's womb and took human form." ''The Lingbao Lüeji'' (Brief Records o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
