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Chinese theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the
Chinese classics The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian traditi ...
and
Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion comprises a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. This includes the veneration of ''Shen (Chinese folk religion), shen'' ('spirits') and Chinese ancestor worship, ances ...
, and specifically
Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...
,
Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
, and other
philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
formulations, is fundamentally
monistic Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
, 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 centuries. The universal principle that gives origin to the world is conceived as transcendent and
immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheist ...
to creation at the same time. The Chinese idea of the universal God is expressed in different ways; there are many names of God from the various sources of Chinese tradition, reflecting a "hierarchic, multiperspective" observation of the supreme God. 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. Together, they express an "integrated definition of the monistic world". Interest in traditional Chinese theology has waxed and waned over the various periods of the history of China. For instance, the
Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from an agrarian society into an indu ...
enacted in the mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance with
Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
ideology. From the 1980s onward, public revivals have taken place. Historically, Chinese theology has espoused that deities or stars are arranged in a "celestial bureaucracy" that influences earthly activities and is reflected by the hierarchy of the Chinese state itself. These beliefs have similarities with broader Asian
Shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
. The alignment of earthly and heavenly forces is upheld through the practice of rites and rituals ('' Li),'' for instance, the festivals 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. pp. 198–199.


Creation as ordering of primordial potentiality

As explained by the scholar Stephan Feuchtwang, in Chinese cosmology "the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy" (''
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' ...
'' and '' qi''), organising as the polarity of
yin and yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
which characterises any thing and life. Creation is therefore a continuous ordering; it is not a . 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). The gods themselves are divided into yin forces of contraction, and yang forces of expansion ; in the human being they are the
hun and po ''Hun'' and ''po'' are types of souls in Chinese philosophy and traditional religion. Within this ancient soul dualism tradition, every living human has both a spiritual, ethereal, yang soul which leaves the body after death, and also a c ...
(where is yang and is yin; respectively, the rational and emotional soul, or the ethereal and the corporeal soul). Together, is another way to define the twofold operation of the God of Heaven, its resulting dynamism being called itself ''shen'', spirit. By the words of the Neo-Confucian thinker Cheng Yi: Another Neo-Confucian,
Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
, says: The
Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon or loong is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture generally. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms, such as Bixi (mythology), turtles and Chiwen, fish, but are most commonly ...
, associated with the constellation Draco winding the north ecliptic pole and slithering between the Little and
Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...
(or Great Chariot), represents the "protean" primordial power, which embodies both yin and yang in unity, and therefore the awesome unlimited power (''qi'') of
divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
. In Han-dynasty traditions, Draco is described as the spear of the supreme God. Heaven continuously begets—according to its own manifest model which is the starry vault revolving around the northern culmen ()—and reabsorbs, the temporal things and worlds. As explained in modern Confucian theology: Rather than "creation" (), which has a long Western connotation of creation , modern Chinese theologians prefer to speak of "evolution" () to describe the begetting of the cosmos; even in modern Chinese language the two concepts are frequently held together, ("creation-evolution"). Such ordering power, which belongs to deities but also to humans, expresses itself in rites (). 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 of
Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
-
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
-humanity, ), is established. Such harmonisation is referred to as "centering" ( or ). 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. Human beings participate in the ongoing creation-evolution of the God of Heaven, acting as ancestors who may produce and influence other beings: 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": In his terminology, the myriad things are generated as effects or actualities () of the supreme principle, which, before in potence (), sets in motion ''qi''. The effects are different, forming the "myriad species" (), 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. The ''qi'' of kindred beings accord and communicate with one another, and the same happens for the ''qi'' of worshippers and the god receiving sacrifice, and for the ''qi'' of an ancestor and his descendants. All beings are, at different levels, "in" the God of Heaven, not in the sense of addition but in the sense of belonging. In the Confucian tradition, the perfect government is that which emulates the ordering of the starry vault of Heaven:


Names and attributes of the God of Heaven in the tradition

Since the Shang (1600–1046 BCE) and
Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...
1046–256 BCE), the radical Chinese terms for the supreme God are and or simply . Another concept is . These names are combined in different ways in Chinese theological literature, often interchanged in the same paragraph if not in the same sentence. One of the combinations is the name of God used at the
Temple of Heaven The Temple of Heaven () is a complex of imperial Religious Confucianism, religious Confucian buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperor of China, Emperors of the Ming dynasty, Ming and ...
in Beijing, which is the ; others are and . God is considered manifest in this world as the northern culmen and starry vault of the skies which regulate nature. As its see, the circumpolar stars (the Little and
Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...
, or broader Ursa Minor and Ursa Major) are known, among various names, as and , or the "celestial clock" regulating the four seasons of time. The Chinese supreme God is compared to the conception of the supreme God identified as the north celestial pole in other cultures, including the
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
n '' An'' ("Heaven" itself), and
Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...
and
Enki Enki ( ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea () or Ae p. 324, note 27. in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and ...
/
Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...
, the
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.  volumes Indra is the m ...
and Mitra–Varuna, the
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...
Ahura Mazda Ahura Mazda (; ; or , ),The former is the New Persian rendering of the Avestan form, while the latter derives from Middle Persian. also known as Horomazes (),, is the only creator deity and Sky deity, god of the sky in the ancient Iranian ...
, as well as the ''Dyeus'' of common
Proto-Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-In ...
. Throughout the Chinese theological literary tradition, the Dipper constellations, and especially the Big Dipper (), also known as Great Chariot, within Ursa Major, are portrayed as the potent symbols of spirit, divinity, or of the activity of the supreme God regulating nature. Examples include: is literally a title expressing dominance over the all-under-Heaven, that is all created things. It is etymologically and figuratively analogous to the concept of ''di'' as the base of a fruit, which falls and produces other fruits. This analogy is attested in the ''
Shuowen Jiezi The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the ...
'' explaining "deity" as "what faces the base of a melon fruit". is usually translated as "Heaven", but by graphical etymology it means "Great One" and scholars relate it to the same through phonetic etymology and trace their common root, through their archaic forms respectively ''*Teeŋ'' and ''*Tees'', to the symbols of the celestial pole and its spinning stars. Other words, such as 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 (). Zhou (2005) even connects , through
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
and by phonetic etymology, to the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
''Dyeus''. Medhurst (1847) also shows affinities in the usage of "deity", Chinese ''di'', Greek and Latin , for incarnate powers resembling the supreme godhead.


Shang–Zhou theology

Ulrich Libbrecht Ulrich Libbrecht (10 July 1928, Avelgem – 15 May 2017) was a Belgium, Belgian philosopher and author in the field of comparative philosophy. His magnum opus consists of four books in Dutch - called "Introduction to Comparative Philosophy". A ...
distinguishes 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 , and the utmost progenitor was Shangdi, identified with the dragon. Already in Shang theology, the multiplicity of gods of nature and ancestors were viewed as parts of Shangdi, and the four and their as his cosmic will. The Zhou dynasty, which overthrew the Shang, emphasised a more universal idea of . 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, the
Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven ( zh, t=天命, p=Tiānmìng, w=, l=Heaven's command) is a Chinese ideology#Political ideologies, political ideology that was used in History of China#Ancient China, Ancient China and Chinese Empire, Imperial China to legit ...
. 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.


Tian

is both transcendent and
immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheist ...
as the starry vault, manifesting in the three forms of dominance, destiny, and nature. There are many compounds of the name ''Tian'', 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. In the , "Different Meanings in the
Five Classics The Four Books and Five Classics are authoritative and important books associated with Confucianism, written before 300 BC. They are traditionally believed to have been either written, edited or commented by Confucius or one of his disciples. S ...
"),
Xu Shen Xu Shen () was a Chinese calligrapher, philologist, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty (25–189 CE). During his own lifetime, Xu was recognized as a preeminent scholar of the Five Classics. He was the author of ''Shuowen Jiezi'' ...
explains that the designation of Heaven is quintuple: * —"August Heaven", "Yellow Heaven", or "Shining Heaven", when it is venerated as the lord of creation; * —"Vast Heaven", with regard to the vastness of its vital breath (''qi''); * —"Compassionate Heaven", for it hears and corresponds to justice to the all-under-Heaven; * —"Highest Heaven" or "First Heaven", for it is the primordial being supervising all-under-Heaven; * —"Deep-Green Heaven", for it being unfathomably deep. Other names of the God of Heaven include: * —the "Deity of Heaven" or "Emperor of Heaven": "On Rectification" () of the uses this term to refer to the active God of Heaven setting in motion creation; * —the "Lord of Heaven": In "The Document of Offering Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth on the Mountain Tai" () of the ''
Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...
'' it is used as the title of the first God from whom all the other gods derive. * —the "August Personage of Heaven": In the "Poem of Fathoming Profundity" (), transcribed in "The History of the Later Han Dynasty" (), 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"; * —the "King of Heaven" or "Monarch of Heaven". * —the "Duke of Heaven" or "General of Heaven"; * —the "Prince of Heaven" or "Lord of Heaven"; * —the "Heavenly Venerable", also a title for high gods in Taoist theologies; * —the "God of Heaven", interpreted in the as "the being that gives birth to all things"; * —"God the August", attested in ("The Origin of Vital Breath"); * )—the "Olden Heavenly Father". Attributes of the supreme God of Heaven include: * —"Way of Heaven"; it is the God's will of power, which decides the development of things: The ''Book of Historical Documents'' says that "the Way of Heaven is to bless the good, and make the bad miserable". It is also used to refer to
Xiantiandao The Xiantiandao (, or "Way of the Primordial"; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ', Japanese language, Japanese: ') or known as Blue/Green Lotus sect (), also simply Tiandao (; Vietnamese: ', Japanese: ') is one of the most productive currents of C ...
and is the name of some religious traditions within it; and it is used in many philosophical and religious contexts in the Sinosphere; * —"Mandate of Heaven", defining the destiny of things; * —"Decree of Heaven", the same concept of destiny but implying an active decision; * —"Under Heaven"; means creation, an ongoing process generated by the supreme God.


Shangdi

, sometimes shortened simply to , is another name of the supreme God inherited from Shang and Zhou times. The ''
Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...
'' recites: "How vast is the Highest Deity, the ruler of men below!". ''Dì'' is also applied to the name of cosmic gods besides the supreme godhead, and is used to compose titles of
divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
; for instance , used in Taoism for high deities in the celestial hierarchy. In the Shang dynasty, as discussed by John C. Didier, Shangdi was the same as (, modern ), the "square" as the north
celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers at ...
, and was an alternative name. Shangdi was conceived as the utmost ancestor of the Shang royal lineage, the Zi () lineage, also called Ku (or Kui) or Diku ("''
Divus The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...
'' Ku"), attested in the ''
Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...
'' and other texts. The other gods associated with the circumpolar stars were 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 called , 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 stars , a word which in Shang script was illustrated by a few grouped (cf. , and ); up to the Han dynasty it was still common to represent the stars as small squares. 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.


Qin-Han theology

The emperors of the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...
(221–206 BCE) are credited with an effort to unify the cults of the , which were previously held at different locations, into single temple complexes. The Five Deities are a cosmological conception of the fivefold manifestation of the supreme God, or his five changing faces, that are elaborated in the classic texts and may originate from the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
. 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, the
five sacred mountains The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into several groups. The ''Five Great Mountains'' () refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, which have been the subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. The ...
, the five phases of creation, and the five constellations rotating around the celestial pole and five planets. During the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
(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, 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 the , regarded as representatives of the ancient religious tradition inherited from previous dynasties, concurred in the formulation of the Han state religion.


Taiyi

(; also spelled or , also known as , or the ), or , 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 the
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...
. It harkens back to the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
, as attested in the poem '' The Supreme Oneness Gives Birth to Water'', and possibly to the Shang dynasty as , an alternative name for the Shangs' (and universe's) foremost ancestor. 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 the ("Songs of Chu"). 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 , which begets the polar godhead bringing into existence the principles of
Yin and Yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
, the pivot san 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. During the Han dynasty, the concept of Taiyi became part of the imperial
sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...
, 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 the . The "Inscription for Laozi" (), a Han stela, describes the Taiyi as the source of inspiration and immortality for
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) ...
. In Huang-Lao, the philosopher-god Laozi was identified as the same as the Yellow Emperor, and received imperial sacrifices, for instance by Emperor Huan (146–168). In Han apocryphal texts, the Big Dipper is described as the instrument of Taiyi, the ladle from which he pours out the primordial breath (), and as his heavenly chariot. A part of the ''
Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...
'' by
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
identifies Taiyi with the simple name ''Di'' (Deity) and tells: In 113 BCE,
Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...
, under the influence of prominent —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.


Huangdi

() is another name of the God of Heaven, associated with the
celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers at ...
and with the power of the '' wu'' (shamans). 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 called , ), which is said to have been his personal name as a human incarnation, , or . In Chinese religion he is the deity who shapes the material world (), the creator of the civilisation, of marriage and morality, language and lineage, and is the progenitor of all Chinese. In the cosmology of the Wufang Shangdi his astral body is
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
, but he is also identified as the Sun God, and with the star
Regulus Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo (constellation), Leo and one of the List of brightest stars, brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation designated α Leonis, which is Latinisation of names, ...
(α Leonis) and constellations Leo and Lynx, of which the latter is said to represent the body of the Yellow Dragon, his serpentine form. The character , for "yellow", also means, by
homophony In music, homophony (;, Greek: ὁμόφωνος, ''homóphōnos'', from ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and φωνή, ''phōnē'', "sound, tone") is a texture in which a primary part is supported by one or more additional strands that provide ...
and shared
etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
, , attributes of the supreme God. As a progenitor, Huangdi is portrayed as the historical incarnation of the Yellow God of the Northern Dipper. According to a definition given by apocryphal texts related to the , 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". As a human being, the Yellow Emperor was conceived by a virgin mother, Fubao, who was impregnated by Taiyi's radiance (, "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. Through his human side, he was a descendant of , 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 in
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
or in north Asia. In older accounts, the Yellow Emperor is identified as a deity of light (and his name is explained in the to derive from ) and thunder, and as one and the same with the "Thunder God" (), who in turn, as a later mythological character, is distinguished as the Yellow Emperor's foremost pupil, such as in the . As the deity of the centre, the Yellow Emperor is the and he represents the essence of earth and the Yellow Dragon. He represents the hub of creation, the (
Kunlun The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kunlu ...
) that is the manifestation of the divine order in physical reality, opening the way to immortality. As the centre of the four directions, in the he is described as . The is also the Chinese name of
Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...
. Huangdi is the model of those who merge their self with the self of the supreme God, of the ascetics who reach enlightenment or immortality. He is the god of nobility, the patron of Taoism and
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
. In the , as well as in the Taoist book , he is also described as the perfect king. There are records of dialogues in which Huangdi took the advice of wise counselors, contained in the ("Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor") as well as in the ("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. Besides the ''Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', Huangdi is also associated with other textual bodies of knowledge including the ("Four Scriptures of the Yellow Emperor") and the ("Scripture of the Dwellings of the Yellow Emperor"). In the cosmology of the Wufang Shangdi, besides the Yellow Deity, the of the north, winter and Mercury, is portrayed by
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
as Huangdi's grandson, and is himself associated with the north pole stars. The or , of the east, spring, and identified with
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
, is frequently worshipped as the supreme God and its main temple at
Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the ''Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...
(the cult centre of all Eastern Peak Temples) is attested as a site for fire sacrifices to the supreme God since prehistoric times.


Yudi

(, or , is a personification of the supreme God of Heaven in popular religion. More elaborate names for the Jade Deity include and , while among the common people he is intimately referred to as the . 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 , and he is one of the Four Sovereigns, the four deities proceeding directly from the Three Pure Ones, which in Taoism are the representation of the supreme principle. The eminence of the Jade Deity is relatively recent, emerging in popular religion during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907) and becoming established during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
(960–1279), especially under
Emperor Zhenzong Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was change ...
and
Emperor Huizong of Song Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the penultimate emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. He was also a very well-known painter, poet and calli ...
. 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. 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 the
Temple of Heaven The Temple of Heaven () is a complex of imperial Religious Confucianism, religious Confucian buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperor of China, Emperors of the Ming dynasty, Ming and ...
. There are a great number of temples in China dedicated to the Jade Deity ( or , et al.), and his birthday on the 9th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar is one of the biggest festivals. 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. In everyday language the Jade Deity is also called the and simply Heaven.


Taidi

(), is another name that has been used to describe the supreme God in some contexts. It appears in the mystical narratives of the where the supreme God is associated with Mount Kunlun, the ''
axis mundi In astronomy, is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the is the axis of ...
''.


Shen

is a general concept meaning "spirit", and usually defines the plurality of gods 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". Concepts including ''shen'' expressing the idea of the supreme God include: * , interpreted in the as "the being that gives birth to all things"; * , attested in ("The Origin of Vital Breath"). ), in the ''
Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
'', is the path or way of manifestation of the supreme God and the gods of nature. Since the Qin and Han dynasty, "Shendao" became a descriptor for the "Chinese religion" as the of the nation. The phrase literally means "established religion of the way of the gods".


Zi

, literally meaning "son", "(male) offspring", is another concept associated with the supreme God of Heaven as the north
celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers at ...
and its spinning stars. , 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. It is a component of concepts including and ("son of a lord", which in Confucianism became the concept of morally perfected person). According to Didier, in Shang and Zhou forms, the grapheme itself depicts someone linked to the godhead of the squared north celestial pole (), and is related to , the concept of spiritual, and thus political, centrality. In modern Chinese popular religion, is a synonym of . is Mizar, 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. Luxing is conceived as a member of two clusters of gods, the and the . 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 called , p. 19. , or . The number nine is for this reason associated with the yang masculine power of the dragon, and celebrated in the Double Ninth Festival and Nine God-Kings Festival. The Big Dipper is the expansion of the supreme principle, governing waxing and life (yang), while the Little Dipper is its reabsorption, governing waning and death (yin). The mother of the is , the female aspect of the supreme. 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

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. Taoism also focuses on the cultivation of local gods, to centre the order of Heaven upon a particular locality.


Confucian theology

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
(551–479 BCE) emerged in the critical
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
as 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, and to the educational power of the self-established individual in assisting others to establish themselves (the principle of ). Philosophers in the Warring States compiled the ''
Analects The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...
'' and 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 (), 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. Fu Pei-Jun characterises the Heaven of ancient Confucianism, before the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...
, as "dominator", "creator", "sustainer", "revealer" and "judge". The Han-dynasty Confucian scholar
Dong Zhongshu Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, favoring heaven worsh ...
(179–104 BCE) described Heaven as "the supreme God possessing a will". In the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
,
Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...
, especially the major exponent
Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
(1130–1200), generally rationalised the theology, cosmology, and ontology inherited from the foregoing tradition. 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, so that the compound "Heaven-Earth" () is another name of the God of Heaven itself in Neo-Confucian texts. Heaven contains Earth as part of its nature, and the myriad things are begotten () by Heaven and raised up () by Earth. Neo-Confucians also discussed Heaven under the term . 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 of
ancestral shrines An ancestral shrine, hall or temple ( or , ; Chữ Hán: ; ), also called lineage temple, is a temple dedicated to Ancestor veneration in China, deified ancestors and progenitors of surname lineages or families in the Chinese tradition. Ance ...
, dedicated to the deified progenitors of lineages (groups of families sharing the same surname). The philosopher Promise Hsu identifies Tian as the foundation of a civil theology of China.


Three models

Huang Yong (2007) has discerned three models of theology in the Confucian tradition: * (i) Theology of Heaven as discussed in the Confucian canonical texts, the ''
Classic of History The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, an ...
'', the ''
Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...
,'' and the ''
Analects of Confucius The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...
'', as a transcendent concept of God similar to the conception of God in the Hellenistic and Abrahamic traditions; * (ii) Theology of Heaven in contemporary
New Confucianism New Confucianism () is an intellectual movement of Confucianism that began in the early 20th century in Republic of China (1912–1949), Republican China, and further developed in post-Mao era People's Republic of China, contemporary China. I ...
, represented especially by
Xiong Shili Xiong Shili (, 1885 – May 23, 1968) was a Chinese essayist and philosopher whose major work ''A New Treatise on Vijñaptimātra'' (新唯識論, ''Xin Weishi Lun'') is a Confucian critique of the Buddhist ''Vijñapti-mātra'' "consciousnes ...
,
Mou Zongsan Mou Zongsan (; 12 June 1909 – 12 April 1995) was a Chinese philosopher and translator. He was born in Shandong province and graduated from Peking University. In 1949 he moved to Taiwan, and later Hong Kong, remaining outside of mainland China ...
, and Tu 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 the Cheng brothers in the Song dynasty, as the wonderful life-giving activity transcending the world within the world.


=Canonical theology

= The supreme power in Confucianism is ''Tian'', ''Shangdi,'' or ''Di'' in the early or classic Confucian tradition, later also discussed in its activity as or , the "Order of Heaven" or "Way of Heaven" by Neo-Confucians. A number of scholars support the theistic reading of early Confucian texts. In the ''Analects,'' 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. Confucius claimed to be a transmitter of an ancient knowledge rather than a renovator. 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. 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 () as peoples' consensus, culminating in the ''
Mencius Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...
'' and the '' Xunzi''.


=Immanent transcendence

= Contemporary New Confucian theologians have resolved the ancient dispute between the theistic and nontheistic, immanent and transcendent interpretations of ''Tian'', elaborating the concept of "immanent transcendence" (), contrasting it with the "external transcendence" () of the God of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. 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. The first theologian to discuss immanent transcendence was Xiong Shili. According to him,
noumenon In philosophy, a noumenon (, ; from ; : noumena) is knowledge posited as an Object (philosophy), object that exists independently of human sense. The term ''noumenon'' is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to, the term ''Phenomena ...
() and
phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...
() 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". By transcending the surface, one realises the self-nature () 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 (). 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. ''Tian'' is 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. 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 that ''Tian'' is 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 cites
Max Muller Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ( ...
saying 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 reach ''Tian''. 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 realised ''Tian'' teach to others how to become sages and worthy themselves, since Heaven is present in everyone and may be cultivated. 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. Tu Weiming, a student of Mou, furtherly develops the theology of "immanent transcendence". By his own words: 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". 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. 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". Heaven bids and impels humans to realise their true self. Humans have the inborn ability to respond to Heaven. One may obtain knowledge of
divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
through his inner experience (), 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.


=Theology of activity

= Huang Yong has named a third approach to Confucian theology, interpreting the Neo-Confucianism of the brothers
Cheng Hao Chéng Hào (, 1032–1085), Courtesy name Bóchún (), was a Chinese philosopher and politician from Luoyang, China. In his youth, he and his younger brother Cheng Yi were students of Zhou Dunyi, one of the architects of Neo-Confucian cosm ...
(1032–1085) and Cheng Yi (1033–1107). Instead of regarding the
divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
of ''Tian'' as a substance, this theology emphasises its creative "life-giving activity" () that is within the world in order to transcend the world itself. Also in the works of Zhou Xi, Heaven is discussed as always operating within beings in conjunction with their singular ("heart–mind"). 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. The Chengs use ''Li'' interchangeably with other terms. For instance, discussing the supreme principle, Cheng Hao says that it "is called change () with respect to its reality; is called with respect to its ''li''; is called divinity () with respect to its function; and is called nature () with respect to it as the destiny in a person". Cheng Yi also states that the supreme principle "with respect to ''li'' it is called Heaven (); 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, the ''Li'' is considered by the Chengs as identical with Heaven. By the words of the Chengs, Huang clarifies the immanent transcendence of the ''Li'', since it comes ontologically before things but it does not exist outside of things, or outside '' qi'', the energy–matter of which things are made. In Chengs' theology the ''Li'' is not some entity but the "activity" of things, ''sheng''. Explaining it through an analogy, according to the ''
Shuowen Jiezi The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the ...
'', ''Li'' is originally a verb meaning to work on jade. The Chengs further identify this activity as the true human nature. Sages, who have realised the true nature, are identical with the ''Li'' and their actions are identical to the creativity of the ''Li''. Generally, in Confucian texts, and 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" (), while the Earth is responsive ().


Humanity as the incarnation of Heaven

The relationship "between Heaven and mankind" (), 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. Generally, Confucianism sees humanity, or the form-quality of the human being, (translatable as "benevolence", "love", "humanity"), as a quality of the God of Heaven itself, and therefore it sees humanity as an incarnation of Heaven. This theory is not at odds with the classical non-Confucian theology which views Huangdi as the incarnated God of Heaven, since Huangdi is a representation of nobility and the pursuit of Confucianism is to make all humans noble () or sages and holy men (). According to Benjamin I. Schwartz, in the '' Xunzi'' it is explained that: In the " Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind" () written by the Han-dynasty scholar
Dong Zhongshu Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, favoring heaven worsh ...
, 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. is 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.


Discourse about evil, suffering, and world renewal

In Confucian theology, there is no
original sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...
, and rather humanity, as the incarnate image of Heaven's virtue, is born good (). In Confucian
theodicy In the philosophy of religion, a theodicy (; meaning 'vindication of God', from Ancient Greek θεός ''theos'', "god" and δίκη ''dikē'', "justice") is an argument that attempts to resolve the problem of evil that arises when all powe ...
, the rise of evil in a given cosmic configuration is attributed to failings in the moral organisation of '' qi'', which depends on mankind's (or the , in
Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
) 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. Paraphrasing Zhu Xi: Human ''qi'', the primordial potential substance, organises according to the
yin and yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
polarity in the two facets of and . ''Qi'' is open to both disorder (yin) and order (yang), bodily and heavenly appetites. While other creatures have a limited perfection, the human being alone has an "unlimited nature", that is to say the ability to cultivate its ''qi'' in amounts and directions of its own choice, either yin or yang. While Confucians prescribe to be moderate in pursuing appetites, since even the bodily ones are necessary for life, when the "proprietorship of corporeality" () prevails, selfishness and therefore immorality ensue. 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: Sufferings, however, are also regarded by Confucians as a way of Heaven to refine a person preparing him for a future role. According to
Mencius Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...
: Likewise, Zhu Xi says:


Taoist theology

Religious traditions under the label of "Taoism" have their own theologies which, characterised by
henotheism Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities that may be worshipped. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) ...
, are meant to accommodate local deities in the Taoist celestial hierarchy. 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. 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, the Taoist Canon. The core of Taoist theology is the concept of , the "Way", which is both the order of nature and the source of it. Differently from common religion or even Confucianism, Taoism espouses a
negative theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness tha ...
declaring the impossibility to define the Dao. The core text of Taoism, the ''
Daodejing The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated po ...
'', 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 of ''
physis Physis (; ; pl. physeis, φύσεις) is a Greek philosophical, theological, and scientific term, usually translated into English—according to its Latin translation "natura"—as "nature". The term originated in ancient Greek philosophy, a ...
'', that is "nature" as the generation and regeneration of beings. Taoists seek "perfection", which is
immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...
, achieved by becoming one with the Dao, or the rhythms of nature. Through time, Taoist Theology created its own deities. Certain sects modeled their temples to dedicate to certain deities. Deities who take part in the Dao are arranged in a hierarchy. The supreme powers are three, the Three Pure Ones, and represent the centre of the cosmos and its two modalities of manifestation (yin and yang). The hierarchy of the highest powers of the cosmos is arranged as follows: * — "Three Pure Ones": :* — "Jade Purity"; :: — "Heavenly Honourable of the First Beginning" :* — "High Purity"; :: — "Heavenly Honourable of the Numinous Treasure" :* — "Supreme Purity"; :: — "Heavenly Honourable of the Way and its Virtue", incarnated historically as
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) ...
* — "Four Sovereigns": :* — "Most Honourable Great Deity the Jade Emperor in the Golden Tower of the Clear Heaven" :* — "Great Deity of the Purple Subtlety of the
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 t ...
at the center of Heaven" :* — "Great Deity the Heavenly King in the High Palace at the Old Hook" :* — "Land Appeasing Soil Ruler who Imitates the Law which Sustains Heaven", who is the goddess Hòutǔ


Trends in modern Chinese political and civil theology

Interest in traditional Chinese theology has waxed and waned throughout the dynasties of the
history of China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the ...
. For instance, the
Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from an agrarian society into an indu ...
enacted in the mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance with
Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
ideology. 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. Most people in China today take part in some rituals and festivals, especially those around the lunar new year, and culture heroes like the Yellow Emperor are celebrated by the contemporary Chinese government. Even
Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...
, a religion which originally came from abroad, adapted to common Chinese cosmology by paralleling its concept of a triune supreme with Shakyamuni, Amithaba, and
Maitreya Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali), is a bodhisattva who is regarded as the future Buddhahood, Buddha of this world in all schools of Buddhism, prophesied to become Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: Th ...
, representing respectively enlightenment, salvation, and post-apocalyptic paradise. The
Tathātā Tathātā (; ; ) is a Buddhist term variously translated as "thusness" or "suchness", referring to the nature of reality free from conceptual elaborations and the subject–object distinction. Although it is a significant concept in Mahayana Budd ...
() is generally identified as the supreme being itself. In the wake of
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to ...
, many scholars understand Confucian theology as a
natural theology Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as ...
. 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. Contemporary scholars also compare Confucianism and Christianity on the matters of humanity's good nature and of
pneumatology Pneumatology refers to a particular discipline within Christian theology that focuses on the study of the Holy Spirit in Christianity, Holy Spirit. The term is derived from the Greek language, Greek word ''Pneuma'' (wikt:πνεῦμα, πνε ...
, that is to say the respective doctrines of the ''shen'' dynamism produced by God's activity (''guishen'') and of the
Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
, finding that the Confucian doctrine is truly
humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
since the spirit is the creative dynamism always present in humanity, while in the Christian doctrine, the Holy Spirit ultimately belongs to God alone. According to the philosopher Promise Hsu, in the wake of
Eric Voegelin Eric Voegelin (born Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin, ; January 3, 1901 – January 19, 1985) was a German-American political philosopher. He was born in Cologne, and educated in political science at the University of Vienna, where he became an ass ...
, 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. Paraphrasing
Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...
, Hsu says: Quoting from
Ellis Sandoz Ellis Sandoz Jr. (February 10, 1931 – September 19, 2023) was an American academic and political scientist. He was the Hermann Moyse Jr. Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute for American Renais ...
's works, Hsu says: 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 (), the sovereign or the government (), ancestors (), and masters ()—as China's civil religion.


Chinese gods and immortals

In China, "gods" are often referred to together with "xian"(immortals).The gods and immortals() believed in by
Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
and
Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...
can be roughly divided into two categories, namely "gods" and "
xian Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
" (immortals). Among them,"Gods" are also called
deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
and there are many kinds, that is, god of heaven(), god of ground(), wuling(: animism, the spirit of all things), god of netherworld(), god of human body(), god of human ghost()etc. Among these "gods" such as god of heaven(), god of ground(), god of netherworld(), god of human body() are innate beings. "Xian" (immortals) is acquired the cultivation of the Tao,persons with vast supernatural powers, unpredictable changes and immortality.


See also

* Chinese spiritual world concepts *
Three teachings In Chinese philosophy, the ''three teachings'' (; , Chữ Hán: 三教) are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The learning and the understanding of the three teachings are traditionally considered to be a harmonious aggregate within Chinese ...


Related cultures

* Amenominakanushi * Haneullim *
Tengri Tengri (; Old Uyghur: ; Middle Turkic: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Proto-Turkic: / ; Mongolian script: , ; , ; , ) is the all-encompassing God of Heaven in the traditional Turkic, Yeniseian, Mongolic, and various other nomadic religious beliefs. So ...


Abrahamic syncretism

*
Han Kitab The Han Kitab (; ) are a collection of Islam in China, Chinese Islamic texts, written by Islam in China, Chinese Muslims, which explains Islam through Confucianism, Confucian terminology. Its name reflects this utilization: ''Han'' is the Chinese ...
* Sino-Christian theology


References


Notes


Citations


Works cited

* * * * *
Volume I: The Ancient Eurasian World and the Celestial Pivot
'',
Volume II: Representations and Identities of High Powers in Neolithic and Bronze China
'',
Volume III: Terrestrial and Celestial Transformations in Zhou and Early-Imperial China
''. * *
Consulted HAL-SHS version
, pages 1–56. * * * * * * * * * * Original preserved at The British Library. Digitalised in 2014. * * * Two volumes: 1) A-L; 2) L-Z. * * * * * * *


Further reading

* {{, c=斗母
Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
Religious Confucianism Taoism Theology