Chinese theology

rdf:langString Chinese theology

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rdf:langString , "Supreme Ancestor", i.e. Shangdi.

rdf:langString According to Qiu Xigui, the character "yellow" signifies the power of the

rdf:langString ❷ k:方 fāng — "square", "phase", "direction", "power" and other meanings of ordering, which was used interchangeably with the grapheme wu;

rdf:langString ❹ Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ k:上甲, "Supreme Ancestor", an alternate name of Shangdi.

rdf:langString wū . The Yellow God is the north celestial pole, or the pole star, and it is "the spirit father and astral double of the Yellow Emperor".

rdf:langString ér , graphically a "man under the rain". Its full meaning is "man receiving instruction from Heaven". According to Kang Youwei, Hu Shih, and Yao Xinzhong, they were the official shaman-priests experts in rites and astronomy of the Shang, and later Zhou, dynasty.

rdf:langString Olden versions of the grapheme

rdf:langString rú, meaning "scholar", "refined one", "Confucian". It is composed of

rdf:langString jīng . Image 5 is a variant of Shàngjiǎ k:

rdf:langString ❺ The most common Zhou version of the grapheme Tiān k:天, represented as a man with a squared head.

rdf:langString rén and

rdf:langString Images ❶ to ❹ are Shang versions of the grapheme k:子 zi. Images ❺ to ❽ are olden versions of the grapheme k:中 zhōng, "centrality", "middle", "inside", "within". Respectively, from left to right, the latter are in Shang bronzeware script, Qin bamboo and wooden slips script, one of the versions recorded in the Han Shuowen Jiezi, and Han small seal script.

rdf:langString xū , itself composed of

rdf:langString yǔ and

rdf:langString Images 1 to 4 are all Shang script variants for k:星 xīng, "star", "god", "ancestor", composed by three to five grouped 口 dīng. It continues in modern k:

rdf:langString ❷ Another version of the Shang grapheme for the nominal Dì.

rdf:langString ❶ One version of the Shang grapheme for the nominal Dì k:帝 , which according to David W. Pankenier was drawn by connecting the stars of the "handle" of Ursa Major and the "scoop" of Ursa Minor determining the northern culmen . Otherwise, according to John C. Didier this and all the other graphemes ultimately represent Dīng 口 , the north celestial pole godhead as a square. The bar on top, which is either present or not and one or two in Shang script, is the k:上 shàng to signify "highest". The crossbar element in the middle represents a carpenter's square, and is present in other graphemes including 方 fāng, itself meaning "square", "direction", "phase", "way" and "power", which in Shang versions was alternately represented as a cross potent ☩, homographically to 巫 wū . Dì is equivalent to symbols like wàn 卍 and Mesopotamian 𒀭 Dingir/An .

rdf:langString According to John C. Didier, both zi and zhong graphemes express spiritual filiation and alignment with the supreme godhead of the north celestial pole. They share the graphic element representing the celestial square itself and the ritual vessel and ritual space used to mimic it on earth, and thus commune with it, establishing spiritual and political centrality.

rdf:langString All of them contain the rod element signifying the square tool, used to make right angles. According to David W. Pankenier, the same staff is the horizontal line in the grapheme 帝 dì, "deity" or "emperor".

rdf:langString ❻ Another Zhou version of the grapheme for Tiān.

rdf:langString ❶ k:巫 wū — "shaman", "man who knows", the cross potent ☩ being a symbol of the magi and magic/craft also in Western cultures;

rdf:langString Image ❾ is a Shang version of k:字 zì, "word" and "symbol", representing a "son" enshrined under a "roof".

rdf:langString ❶ Shang oracle bone script;

rdf:langString ❷ Western Zhou bronzeware script;

rdf:langString ❸ Han Shuowen Jiezi;

rdf:langString ❸ k:矩 jǔ — "carpenter's square";

rdf:langString ❹ Yuan Liushutong.

rdf:langString ❹ k:央 yāng — "centring".

rdf:langString ❸ One version of the Shang grapheme for the verbal dì k:禘, "to divine, to sacrifice ". The modern standard version is distinguished by the prefixion of the signifier for "cult" to the nominal Dì. It may represent a fish entering the square of the north celestial pole , or rather k:定 dìng, i.e. the Square of Pegasus or Celestial Temple, when aligning with Dì and thus framing true north. Also dǐng k:鼎 may have derived from the verbal dì.

rdf:langString (Olden versions of the grapheme 黄 huáng, "yellow")

rdf:langString (Olden versions of the graphemes for zi and zhong)

rdf:langString (Shang and Zhou graphemes for Di and Tian)

rdf:langString (Shang graphemes for stars–gods–ancestors)

rdf:langString (Shang-dynasty graphemes signifying the power of ordering)

rdf:langString ACC-L30678.svg

rdf:langString ACC-s05667.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for Dì 帝 , version 1.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for Dì 帝 , version 2.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for dì 禘 or dǐng 鼎 .svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for fāng 方 .svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for jǔ 矩 .svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for xīng 星 , version 1.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for xīng 星 , version 2.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for xīng 星 , version 3.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for xīng 星 , version 4.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for yāng 央 .svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for zi 子 , version 1.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for zi 子 , version 2.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for zi 子 , version 3.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for zi 子 , version 4.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for 巫 wū .svg

rdf:langString Zhou grapheme for Tiān 天 , version 1.svg

rdf:langString Zhou grapheme for Tiān 天 , version 2.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ 上甲 , version 2.svg

rdf:langString Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ 上甲 , version 1.svg

rdf:langString 中-ancient.svg

rdf:langString 中-bronze-shang.svg

rdf:langString 中-seal.svg

rdf:langString 中-slip.svg

rdf:langString 字-bronze-shang.svg

rdf:langString 黄-bigseal.svg

rdf:langString 黄-bronze.svg

rdf:langString 黄-oracle.svg

rdf:langString 黄-seal.svg

rdf:langString Chinese theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the classic texts and the common 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" (wànwù yīlǐ 萬物一理). This principle is commonly referred to as Tiān 天, 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 therefore as the means connecting back to Heaven which is the "utmost ancestral father" (曾祖父 zēngzǔfù). Chinese theology may be also called Tiānxué 天學 ("study of Heaven"), a term already in use in the 17th and 18th century. [In contrast to the God of Western religions who is above the space and time] the God of Fuxi, Xuanyuan and Wang Yangming is under in our space and time. ... To Chinese thought, ancestor is creator. — Leo Koguan, The Yellow Emperor Hypothesis The universal principle that gives origin to the world is conceived as transcendent and immanent 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 different 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 enacted in the mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance with Maoist ideology. From the 1980s onward, public revivals have taken place. The Chinese believe that deities or stars, are arranged in a "celestial bureaucracy" which influences earthly activities and is reflected by the hierarchy of the Chinese state itself. These beliefs have similarities with broader Asian shamanism. The alignment of earthly and heavenly forces is upheld through the practice of rites, for instance the jiao festivals in which sacrificial offerings of incense and other products are set up by local temples, participants hoping to renew the perceived alliance between community leaders and the gods.