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Tianhuang Emperor
The Great Emperor of the Curved Array). ( zh, c=勾陳大帝, p= gōuchén dàdì), also called the Gouchen Emperor and Tianhuang Emperor, is one of the highest sky deities of Taoism. He is one of the Four Sovereigns (; ) and is in charge of heaven, earth, and human and of wars in the human world. Chinese mythology The "Curved Array" is a constellation in the Purple Forbidden enclosure, equivalent to the European constellation called ''Ursa Minor'' or the ''Little Dipper''. In Taoism, the Great Emperor of Curved Array is the eldest son of Doumu and the brother of the Ziwei Emperor. History Emperor Gaozong of Tang was called by the title Emperor Tianhuang as his Posthumous name given by Wu Zetian. Liu Yan was also given the posthumous name. Constellation There is a constellation named after the Tianhuang Emperor. See also * North Star * Myōken * Wufang Shangdi The Wǔfāng Shàngdì ( "Five Regions' Highest Deities" or "Highest Deities of the Five Regions"), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posthumous Name
A posthumous name is an honorary Personal name, name given mainly to revered dead people in East Asian cultural sphere, East Asian culture. It is predominantly used in Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or reputation, the title is assigned after death and essentially replaces the name used during life. Although most posthumous names are given to royalty, some posthumous names are given to honour significant people without hereditary titles, such as courtiers or General officer, military generals. To create a posthumous name, one or more adjectives are inserted before the deceased's title. The name of the state or domain of the owner may be added to avoid ambiguity. History Origins Early mythological rulers such as Emperor Yao were known to have posthumous names. Archaeology, Archaeological discoveries have shown that the titles of kings as far back as the Zhou dynasty (1046 to 256 BC) are po ... [...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] |
Taoist Deities
Chinese theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the Chinese classics and Chinese folk religion, and specifically Confucian, Taoist, and other philosophical formulations, is fundamentally monistic, that is to say it sees the world and the gods of its phenomena as an organic whole, or cosmos, which continuously emerges from a simple principle. This is expressed by the concept that "all things have one and the same principle" ( zh, p=wànwù yīlǐ, c=萬物一理). This principle is commonly referred to as , a concept generally translated as "Heaven", referring to the northern culmen and starry vault of the skies and its natural laws which regulate earthly phenomena and generate beings as their progenitors. Ancestors are therefore regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and hence as the means connecting back to Heaven which is the "utmost ancestral father" (). Chinese theology may be also called , a term already in use in the 17th and 18th ... [...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] |
Myōken
Myōken (, ; Chinese: 妙見菩薩 (Traditional) / 妙见菩萨 ( Simplified), ; Japanese: 妙見菩薩, ''Myōken Bosatsu''), also known as Sonjō-Ō (尊星王, "Venerable Star King", also ''Sonsei-Ō'' or ''Sonshō-Ō''), is a Buddhist deification of the North Star worshiped mainly in the Shingon, Tendai and Nichiren schools of Japanese Buddhism. Despite the alleged Sanskrit origin of his name and his bodhisattva status, Myōken is conspicuously absent from early Buddhist literature, with his name first appearing in apocryphal sutras of Chinese origin. He is thus thought to have originated from Taoist and folk beliefs regarding the northern pole star and/or the Big Dipper that had syncretized with Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. Indeed, despite being called 'bodhisattva' (''bosatsu''), the deity is actually more often classified as a deva. The cult of Myōken is believed to have been introduced to Japan around the 7th century by the '' toraijin'', immigrants from the Korea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Star
Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that fluctuates around 1.98, it is the brightest star in the constellation and is readily visible to the naked eye at night. The position of the star lies less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The stable position of the star in the Northern Sky makes it useful for navigation. As the closest Cepheid variable its distance is used as part of the cosmic distance ladder. The revised ''Hipparcos'' stellar parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about , while the successor mission ''Gaia'' gives a distance of about . Although appearing to the naked eye as a single point of light, Polaris is a triple star system, composed of the primary, a yellow supergiant designated Polaris Aa, in orbit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Yan (emperor)
Liu Yan (; 889 – 10 June 942), né Liu Yan (劉巖), also named Liu Zhi (劉陟) (from c. 896 to 911) and briefly as Liu Gong (劉龔), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Southern Han (南漢高祖), was the first Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Southern Han, Southern Han dynasty, one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period#Ten Kingdoms, Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Background Liu Yan was born in 889, during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang. His father Liu Zhiqian (also known as Liu Qian) was then the prefect of Feng Prefecture (封州, in modern Fengkai County, Fengkai, Guangdong) and was married to a Lady Wei, the niece of Wei Zhou (韋宙), a prior military governor (''Jiedushi'') of Lingnan East Circuit (嶺南東道, headquartered in modern Guangzhou, Guangdong), which Feng Prefecture belonged to. However, he also secretly had a concubine outside the home, a Lady Duan, and it was to Lady Duan tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort through her husband Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Emperor Gaozong and later as empress dowager through her sons Emperors Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong of Tang, Ruizong, from 660 to 690. She subsequently founded and ruled as Empress Regnant of the Wu Zhou dynasty of China from 16 October 690 to 21 February 705. She was the only female sovereign in the history of China who is widely Mandate of Heaven, regarded as legitimate. Under her 45-year reign, China grew larger, becoming one of the great powers of the world, its culture and economy were revitalized, and corruption in the court was reduced. She was eventually removed from power during a coup () and died a few months later. In early life, Wu was the concubine of Emper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Gaozong Of Tang
Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife Empress Wu (the future Wu Zetian), and her decrees were carried out with greater force than the decrees of Emperor Gaozong's. Emperor Gaozong was the youngest son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizong and Empress Zhangsun; his elder brothers were Li Chengqian and Li Tai. Emperor Gaozong's reign saw the primacy of Empress Wu, who became the effective power behind the Tang rule. Emperor Gaozong was aided in his rule by Empress Wu during the later years of his reign after a series of strokes left him incapacitated. Emperor Gaozong effectively after January 665 delegated all matters of state to his strong wife; after that Empress Wu acted as the power behind the emperor, "hanging the curtain and listening to politics" (''Chuílián tīn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziwei Emperor
The Great Emperor of the North Star,). also called the Ziwei Emperor. and the Beiji Emperor,; full title: Lord of the Polaris, North Pole at the center of Heaven ( zh, c=北極中天星主, p=Běijí Zhōngtiān Xingzhu). is one of the highest sky deities and one of the Four heavenly ministers, Four Sovereigns (; ) of Taoism. Chinese mythology The Ziwei Emperor resides in the middle of Heaven and assists the Jade Emperor in administrative duties of Heaven and Earth; Sun and Moon; four seasons and weather. He commands all deities of constellations, mountains, and rivers. He is the highest deity in charge of all the natural phenomena in the universe. In Chinese culture and Chinese theology, the Ziwei Emperor is also the symbol of the emperor in the human world. Notes References External links 道教文化资料库 星座探奇 神祇列傳-紫微大帝 Four heavenly ministers Chinese gods Sky and weather gods Taoist deities Twenty-Four Protective Deities { ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
