Wufang Shangdi

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Five Forms of the Highest Deity

Diagram and associations
from the Huainanzi.[1]
Simplified Chinese 五方上帝
Five Deities
Chinese 五帝

The Wǔfāng Shàngdì (五方上帝 "Five Forms of the Highest Deity"), or simply Wǔdì (五帝 "Five Deities") or Wǔshén (五神 "Five Gods")[2] are, in Chinese canonical texts and common Chinese religion, the five main deities proceeding from the universal God. They have cosmological significance as they describe space as a tán 壇, "altar".[note 1] According with the Three Powers (三才 Sāncái) they have a celestial, a terrestrial and a chthonic form. The Han Chinese identify themselves as the descendants of the Red and Yellow Deities.

They are associated to the five colors, the five phases of creation, the five key planets of the Solar System and the five constellations rotating around the celestial pole, the five sacred mountains and five directions of space (their terrestrial form), and the five Dragon Gods (龙神 Lóngshén) who represent their mounts, that is to say the material forces they preside over (their chthonic form).[3][4]

Names and meanings

Other names by which the Five Deities are collectively known are:

Huangdi—Yellow Deity

Temple of Huangdi in Xinzheng (the reputed birthplace of Xuanyuan), Zhengzhou, Henan.
Main article: Yellow Emperor

Huángdì (黄帝 "Yellow Emperor" or "Yellow Deity"), also called Huángshén (黄神 "Yellow God"), also known simply as Xuānyuán (轩辕, said to have been his name as a human) or by the epithet of Xuānyuán Huángdì (轩辕黄帝 "Xuanyuan the Yellow Deity"), is the Zhōngyuèdàdì (中岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Central Peak"). He is the most important god in the cosmology of the Wufang Shangdi and possibly the most important god in Chinese religion. He represents the essence of earth and the Yellow Dragon (黄龙 Huánglóng).[5] He is the deity who informs the material world (地 Dì), creator of the Huaxia civility, of marriage and morality, language and lineage, and primal ancestor of all the Chinese.[6] His astral body is Saturn, but he is also identified as the Sun God, and with the star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) and constellations Leo and Lynx, of which the latter is said to represent the body of the Yellow Dragon.[7]

He corresponds to the Huángshén Běidǒu (黄神北斗 "Yellow God of the Northern Dipper"),[8][note 2] of whom in certain historical sources he is described as the human form making an ontological distinction between the two. By the connection with the Northern Dipper, the Yellow God or Deity is identified as another name of the supreme God, Shàngdì 上帝 or Tiāndì 天帝.[8] The character 黄 huáng, for "yellow", also means, by homophony and shared etymology with 皇 huáng, "august", "creator" and "radiant", another means of identification with Shangdi (the "Highest Deity").[9]

Huangdi represents the hub of creation, the axis mundi (Kunlun) that is the manifestation of the divine order in physical reality, that opens to immortality.[5] As the deity of the centre of the cosmos, intersecting the Three Patrons (三皇 Sānhuáng) and the Five Deities, in the Shizi he is described as "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" (黄帝四面 Huángdì Sìmiàn).[10] The "Four-Faced God" or "Ubiquitous God" (四面神 Sìmiànshén) is also the Chinese name of Brahma. He is also the archetype of the human who merges his self with the self of the universal God, of the ascetics who reach enlightenment or immortality.[11]

As a human, he is said to have been the fruit of a virginal birth, as his mother Fubao conceived him as she was aroused, while walking in the country, by a lightning from the Big Dipper. She delivered her son after twenty-four months on the mount of Shou (Longevity) or mount Xuanyuan, after which he was named.[12] He is reputed to be the founder of the Huaxia civilization, and the Han Chinese identify themselves as the descendants of Yandi and Huangdi.

Cangdi—Bluegreen Deity

Cāngdì (蒼帝 "Green Deity" or "Green Emperor") or Cāngshén (蒼神 "Green God"), also known as Qīngdì (青帝 "Blue Deity" or "Bluegreen Deity") or Qīngshén (青神 "Bluegreen God"), and cosmologically as the Dōngdì (东帝 "East Deity") or Dōngyuèdàdì (东岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak", which is Mount Tai), is the deity associated with the essence of wood, and is a god of fertility and spring. The Bluegreen Dragon (青龙 Qīnglóng) is both his animal form and constellation and as a human he was Tàihào 太昊.[5] His female consort is the goddess of fertility Bixia. His astral body is Jupiter.[1]

Heidi—Black Deity

Main article: Heidi (god)

Hēidì (黑帝 "Black Deity" or "Black Emperor") or Hēishén (黑神 "Black God"), also known as the cosmological Běidì (北帝 "North Deity") or Běiyuèdàdì (北岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Northern Peak"), is also identified as Zhuānxū (颛顼), today frequently worshipped as Xuánwǔ (玄武 "Dark Warrior") or Zhēnwǔ (真武), and is associated with the essence of water and winter. His animal form is the Black Dragon (玄龙 Xuánlóng, lit. "Dark Dragon" or "Mysterious Dragon") and his stellar animal is the tortoise-snake.[5] His astral body is Mercury.[1]

Chidi—Red Deity

Yandi's sacrificial square in Zhuzhou, Hunan.

Chìdì (赤帝 "Red Deity" or "Red Emperor") or Chìshén (赤神 "Red God"), also known as the Nándì (南帝 "South Deity") or Nányuèdàdì (南岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Southern Peak"), is Shénnóng (神农 "Farmer God" or "Plowing God") who is also the same as Yándì (炎帝 "Flame Deity" or "Fiery Deity"), a function occupied by different gods and god-kings in mytho-history. Shennong is also one of the Three Patrons, specifically the patron of humanity (人皇 Rénhuáng), and the point of intersection of the Three Patrons and Huangdi.

He is also associated with Chīyóu (蚩尤), the god of some southern peoples, in both iconography and myth, as both Shennong Yandi and Chiyou fought against the Yellow Emperor, although the latter is traditionally considered more violent and has the horns of a fighting bull, while the former is more peaceful and has the horns of a plowing buffalo.[13]

His essence is fire, his animal form the Red Dragon (朱龙 Zhūlóng) and the stellar animal the phoenix. He is the god of agriculture, animal husbandry, medicinal plants and market.[5] Broaderly speaking he is the god of science and craft, and the patron of doctors and apothecaries.[13] His astral body is Mars.[1]

Baidi—White Deity

Báidì (白帝 "White Emperor" or "White Deity") or Báishén (白神 "White God"), also known as the Xīdì (西帝 "West Deity") or Xīyuèdàdì (西岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Western Peak"), as a human was Shǎohào (少昊), and he is the god of the essence of metal and autumn. His animal form is the White Dragon (白龙 Báilóng) and his stellar animal the tiger. His astral body is Venus.[1]

Contrast between the Red and the Yellow Deities

Statue and ceremonial complex of the Yellow and Red Gods in Zhengzhou, Henan.

Mythologically, Huangdi and Yandi fought a battle against each other; and Huang finally defeated Yan with the help of the Dragon (the controller of water, who is Huangdi himself).[14]

This myth symbolises the equipoise of yin and yang, here the fire of knowledge (reason and craft) and earthly stability.[14] Yan 炎 is flame, scorching fire, or an excess of it (it is important to notice that graphically it is a double 火 huo, "fire").[14]

As an excess of fire brings destruction to the earth, it has to be controlled by a ruling principle. Nothing is good in itself, without limits; good outcomes depend on the proportion in the composition of things and their interactions, never on extremes in absolute terms.[14] Huangdi and Yandi are complementary opposites, necessary for the existence of one another, and they are powers that exist together within the human being.

History of the official cult of the Five Deities

The worship of the Five Deities by both commoners and rulers of China is a very ancient practice. Originally, the cults of the White, Green, Yellow and Red Gods, had been celebrated separately in parts of the territory controlled by the dukes of Qin.[15] In 671 BCE, Duke Xuan (675-664) carried out the sacrifices for the Green God in Mi, south of the Wei River. Then, Duke Ling (?-384) instituted the sacred sites of Shàng (上 "Above") and Xià (下 "Below"), for the Yellow and Red Gods, in Wuyang, near Yong (a site where the Yellow Emperor himself was said to have sacrificed and the Zhou carried out jiào 醮 rituals or "suburban sacrifices").[15] Originally, the sacrifice for the White Deity had been carried out in 769 BCE by Duke Xiang (778-766) in Xi, near Lanzhou in Gansu. In 753 they were carried out by Duke Wen (765-716) in Fu, northeast Shaanxi.[15]

In 253 BCE the great grandfather of Qin Shihuang unified the imperial cult of the Five Deities in Yong, constructing there altars for the White, Green, Yellow and Red Gods.[15]

The pantheon was completed by Gaozu or Liu Bang (206-195), the first emperor of the Han dynasty, who added the Black God. The imperial temple at Yong was arranged placing the altars of the gods each in its respective direction, and that of the Yellow God at the centre. Outside Yong, two other temples dedicated to the Five Deities were built during the reign of Emperor Wen (180-157), one at Weiyang, northeast of Chang'an, and one at Chengji near the modern county of Tongwei in Gansu.[16]

The sacrifices at Yong held a central positions and were carried out periodically in the presence of the ruler. In the absence of the emperor the rituals were performed by masters of rites, at various times throughout the year based on the ritual calendar of the Qin. As regards liturgy, sacrificial protocol and architectural layout, the cult of the Five Deities in Yong served as a model for all the imperial rituals of the Han, especially those in Ganquan for the Taiyi ("Great One") and those at Mount Tai.[16]

In 113 BCE Emperor Wu of Han promoted the cult of the Taiyi and that of Houtu ("Queen of the Earth") together with that of the Five Deities. Twenty years before, the fangshi (shaman) Miu Ji, from Bo in modern Shandong, supported Taiyi in the imperial cult saying that the Great One had been known since remote antiquity and he was the master of the Five Deities. It was to him that ancient emperors offered the tailao sacrifice composed of three victims, an ox, a pig and a goat.[16] The rite took place at a temple with "eight entrances for the numina" in the southeastern suburb of the capital.[17] In conformity with the instructions of Miu Ji, the emperor had a temple constructed in the outskirts of Chang'an and appointed a great invocator (taizhu) to conduct the sacrifices.[17] Twenty years later, under the suggestion of another famous fangshi, Gongsun Qing, Emperor Wu sacrificed personally to the Taiyi. A temple of Taiyi and the Five Deities was built in Ganquan, 70 km northeast of Chang'an.[17]

In later times the control of different provinces and peoples by the Han dynasty was accompanied by a policy of identification or association of native deities and their cults to the imperial Han pantheon, so that cults officially promoted by the state proliferated to the hundreds. In 31 BCE court intellectuals, especially Kuang Heng and Zhang Tan, disposed a reform of the state sacrifices, suppressing hundreds of local sacrifices and identifying the Taiyi with the Tian.[18]

See also

Associations
General articles
In ancient Mesoamerica

Notes

  1. ↑ The Chinese concept equivalent of the Indian mandala.
  2. ↑ A 斗 dǒu in Chinese is an entire semantic field meaning the shape of a "dipper", as the Big Dipper (北斗 Běidǒu), or a "cup", signifying a "whirl", and also has martial connotations meaning "fight", "struggle", "battle".

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sun & Kistemaker (1997), p. 121.
  2. ↑ Medhurst (1847), p. 260.
  3. ↑ Little & Eichman (2000), p. 250. It describes a Ming dynasty painting representing (among other figures) the Wudi: "In the foreground are the gods of the Five Directions, dressed as emperors of high antiquity, holding tablets of rank in front of them. [...] These gods are significant because they reflect the cosmic structure of the world, in which yin, yang and the Five Phases (Elements) are in balance. They predate religious Taoism, and may have originated as chthonic gods of the Neolithic period. Governing all directions (east, south, west, north and center), they correspond not only to the Five Elements, but to the seasons, the Five Sacred Peaks, the Five Planets, and zodiac symbols as well. [...]".
  4. ↑ Sun & Kistemaker (1997), pp. 120-123.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Fowler (2005), pp. 200-201.
  6. ↑ Chamberlain (2009), p. 222.
  7. ↑ Sun & Kistemaker (1997), pp. 120-123.
  8. 1 2 Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), p. 1080.
  9. ↑ Pregadio (2013), pp. 504-505, vol. 2 A-L.
  10. ↑ Sun & Kistemaker (1997), p. 120.
  11. ↑ Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), p. 674.
  12. ↑ Yves Bonnefoy, Asian Mythologies. University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN 0226064565. p. 246
  13. 1 2 Bonnefoy & Doniger (1993), p. 246.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Keekok Lee. Warp and Weft, Chinese Language and Culture. Strategic Book Publishing, 2008. ISBN 1606932470. pp. 156-157
  15. 1 2 3 4 Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), p. 784.
  16. 1 2 3 Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), p. 785.
  17. 1 2 3 Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), p. 786.
  18. ↑ Lagerwey & Kalinowski (2008), pp. 790-793.

Sources

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