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Four Heavenly Ministers
The Four Heavenly Ministers (), also translated as the Four Sovereigns, are four of the highest sky deities of Daoism and subordinate only to the Three Pure Ones (). They assist the Three Pure Ones in administering all phenomenon of the universe. Four Sovereigns The Four Heavenly Ministers are: # the Great Jade Emperor # the Great Emperor of the North Star (Polaris) in the Purple Forbidden enclosure at the center of Heaven (''Tian'') # the Great Heavenly Emperor of the Highest Palace of the Curved Array (Little Dipper) # the Empress of the Earth The ''Great Jade Emperor'' is the head of all sky deities and presides over the heaven. The ''Great Emperor of the North Star'' assists the Jade Emperor in managing the sun, the moon, stars, and the climate of the four seasons. The ''Great Emperor of the Curved Array/Little Dipper'' oversees all matters in heaven, earth, and the human world. The ''Empress of the Earth'' is in charge of fertility, land, rivers, and mountains. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sky Deities
The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'' reflects this by separating the category of "Sky-god" (A210) from that of "Star-god" (A250). In mythology, nighttime gods are usually known as night deities and gods of stars simply as star gods. Both of these categories are included here since they relate to the sky. Luminary deities are included as well since the sun and moon are located in the sky. Some religions may also have a deity or personification of the day, distinct from the god of the day lit sky, to complement the deity or personification of the night. Daytime gods and nighttime gods are frequently deities of an " upper world" or "celestial world" opposed to the earth and a "netherworld" (gods of the underworld are sometimes called "chthonic" deities). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Father Of The East
King Father of the East, also known as Dongwanggong (東王公), is the tutelary deity of the Taoist immortals. Legends say that the King Father of the East is the consort of Queen Mother of the West. He is the manifestation of yang energy. Legends When the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) was a mountain demon, she was in love with the King Father of the East (Dongwanggong). Xiwangmu ruled the west and Dongwanggong ruled the east. In some versions of the Chinese creation myth, the two lovers created humanity through their union. According to one text in the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', there was a bronze pillar on Kunlun Mountain that was so tall that it reached the sky. On top of this column, there was a huge bird named Xiyou (literally meaning "rare"). Under its left-wing, it held Dongwanggong and under its right wing, it held Xiwangmu. When Xiwangmu first met Dongwanggong, she had to climb onto the bird's wing to reach him. In another account, Dongwanggong lived in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Gods
Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic; many deities are worshipped in a pantheistic view where 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 connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father" ( ''zēngzǔfù''). Gods are innumerable, as every phenomenon has or is one or more gods, and they are organised in a complex celestial hierarchy. Besides the traditional worship of these entities, Confucianism, Taoism and formal thinkers in general give theological interpretations affirming a monistic essence of divinity. "Pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Heavenly Ministers
The Four Heavenly Ministers (), also translated as the Four Sovereigns, are four of the highest sky deities of Daoism and subordinate only to the Three Pure Ones (). They assist the Three Pure Ones in administering all phenomenon of the universe. Four Sovereigns The Four Heavenly Ministers are: # the Great Jade Emperor # the Great Emperor of the North Star (Polaris) in the Purple Forbidden enclosure at the center of Heaven (''Tian'') # the Great Heavenly Emperor of the Highest Palace of the Curved Array (Little Dipper) # the Empress of the Earth The ''Great Jade Emperor'' is the head of all sky deities and presides over the heaven. The ''Great Emperor of the North Star'' assists the Jade Emperor in managing the sun, the moon, stars, and the climate of the four seasons. The ''Great Emperor of the Curved Array/Little Dipper'' oversees all matters in heaven, earth, and the human world. The ''Empress of the Earth'' is in charge of fertility, land, rivers, and mountains. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of the mythology involves exciting stories full of fantastic people and beings, the use of magical powers, often taking place in an exotic mythological place or time. Like many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion. Many stories regarding characters and events of the distant past have a double tradition: ones which present a more historicized or euhemerized version and ones which present a more mythological version. Many myths involve the creation and cosmology of the universe and its deities and inhabitants. Some mythology involves creation myths, the origin of things, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiyi Tianzun
Taiyi Zhenren () is a deity in Chinese folk religion, Chinese religion and Taoism. ''Taiyi'' () means "primordial unity of yin and yang" and ''Zhenren'' () is a Daoist term for "Perfected Person". According to the opening of the classical novel ''Fengshen Bang'', he is the reincarnation of the first emperor of the Shang dynasty, Tang of Shang. Taiyi Tianzun Taiyi Zhenren is the name given to him in Investiture of the Gods and he is based on the deity Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun (). In orthodox Taoism, he is the deity of salvation for all sentient beings in the 10 directions with a different incarnation for each direction and can transform into other incarnations for any purpose. He is invoked during funerals and rituals for the dead to send them to the Eastern Heavenly Pure Land Buddhism, Pureland Chang Le where he resides and is also invoked to save suffering souls from Diyu, hell during the Ghost Festival. In fiction In ''Fengshen Bang'', Taiyi Zhenren is the renowned teacher of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Man Of The South Pole
The Old Man of the South Pole (in or ja, 南極老人) is the Taoist deification of Canopus, the brightest star of the constellation Carina. It is the symbol of happiness and longevity in Far Eastern culture. Description The Old Man of the South Pole is often depicted in Chinese pictures as an old man with a long white beard with a deer by his side. This style of picture is related to the story of an emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, who had invited such an old man from the street and later considered the old man as the sign of his longevity. In Chinese, Canopus is usually called the Star of the Old Man (in ) or the Star of the Old Man of the South Pole (in ). Since Carina is a Southern constellation, Canopus is rarely seen in Northern China and, if seen in good weather, looks reddish lying near the southern horizon. Because the color red is the symbol of happiness and longevity in China, Canopus is also known in China and the neighboring countries of Korea, Japan, and Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Mother Of The West
The Queen Mother of the West, known by various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese religion and mythology, also worshipped in neighbouring Asian countries, and attested from ancient times. From her name alone some of her most important characteristics are revealed: she is royal, female, and is associated with the west. The first historical information on her can be traced back to oracle bone inscriptions of the 15th century BCE that record sacrifices to a "Western Mother". Even though these inscriptions illustrate that she predates organized Taoism, she is most often associated with Taoism. The growing popularity of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the beliefs that she was the dispenser of prosperity, longevity, and eternal bliss, took place during Han dynasty, in the 2nd century BCE, when the northern and western parts of China were able to be better known because of the opening of the Silk Road. Names ''Queen Mother of the West'' is a calque of Xiwangmu in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CNKI
CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure; ) is a private-owned publishing company in China since 2014. CNKI maintains high annual subscription fees due to its ''de facto'' monopoly status on journal search in China. Because its subscription fee raised sharply every year, many elite Chinese universities and research institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University, have stopped subscribing to CNKI. CNKI owns a system called "China Integrated Knowledge Resources System," including journals, doctoral dissertations, masters' theses, proceedings, newspapers, yearbooks, statistical yearbooks, e-books, patents and standards. In January 2013, CNKI became the second designated DOI agent in mainland China, after the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China under the Ministry of Science and Technology. In May 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation of China launched an antitrust investigation into CNKI for anti-competitive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' (, 'Thoroughfare'); the ''Tao'' is generally defined as the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality. The ''Tao Te Ching'', a book containing teachings attributed to Laozi (), together with the later writings of Zhuangzi, are both widely considered the keystone works of Taoism. Taoism teaches about the various disciplines for achieving perfection through self-cultivation. This can be done through the use of Taoist techniques and by becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the all, called "the way" or "Tao". Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize ''wu wei'' (action without intention), naturalness, simplicity, spontaneity and the Three Treasures: , compassion, , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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