Taoist Cosmology - Diyu, Tian, Ba Gua (Paperback)

Chapters: Diyu, Tian, Ba Gua. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 31. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Tian (Chinese: pinyin: tin; Wade-Giles: t'ien; literally "Sky or heaven, heavens; god, gods") is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the cosmos and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang Dynasty (17th11th centuries BCE) the Chinese called god Shangdi ( "lord on high") or Di ("lord"), and during the Zhou Dynasty (11th3rd centuries BCE) Tian "heaven; god" became synonymous with Shangdi. Heaven worship was, for thousands of years, the orthodox state cult of imperial China. In the Chinese philosophical systems of Taoism and Confucianism, Tian is often translated as "Heaven" and is mentioned in relationship to its complementary aspect of D¬ (), which is most often translated as "Earth." These two aspects of Daoist cosmology are representative of the dualistic nature of Daoism. They are thought to maintain the two poles of the Three Realms () of reality, with the middle realm occupied by Humanity ( Ren). Chinese Bronze script for tian "heaven" Chinese Oracle script for tian "heaven" Tian's modern Chinese character combines da "great; large" and yi "one," but some of the original characters in Shang oracle bone script and Zhou bronzeware script anthropomorphically portray a large head on a great person. The ancient oracle and bronze ideograms for da depict a stick figure person with arms stretched out denoting "great; large." The oracle and bronze characters for tian emphasize the cranium of this "great (person)," either with a square or round head, or head marked with one or two lines. Since Shang scribes cut oracle inscriptions on bone or shell, their characters often have straight lines where later bronze inscriptions have curved lines. Schuessle...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=476248