Shangdi

This article is about the Chinese concept of supreme god. 上帝. For the unrelated Beijing subway station, see Shangdi Station. For cognate concepts, see Tian and the Jade Emperor.
Annual heavenly sacrifice (祭天 jìtiān) in honour of the Heavenly Ruling Highest Deity (皇天上帝 Huángtiān Shàngdì) is held at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. State pomp and a variety of Confucian religious groups have contributed in the reviving of worship of the Highest Deity in the 2000s.

Shangdi (Chinese: 上帝; pinyin: Shàngdì; Wade–Giles: Shang Ti), also written simply as Di (Chinese: 帝; pinyin: Dì; Wade–Giles: Ti; "Deity", "Emperor"), is the Chinese term for "Supreme Deity" or "Highest Deity".

Along with Tian ("Heaven" or "Great Whole"), it is one of the terms used to refer to the absolute God of the universe in Chinese traditional religions and philosophy.[1] it is used in a variety of religious traditions, including Confucianism,[2] the Chinese folk religious sects (such as Yiguandao) and Chinese Protestant Christianity, while its usage among contemporary and secular Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese societies typically imply a universal deity that may be influenced by Christianity[3] and Japanese usage for a general "god"[4]

Etymology

The name is the pinyin romanization of two Chinese characters. The first – 上, Shàng – means "high", "highest", "first", "primordial"; the second – 帝, Dì – is the same character used in the name of Huangdi—the Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity, incarnation of Shangdi and originator of the Chinese civilisation—and the homonymous huangdi, title of the emperors of China, and is usually translated as "emperor", but it properly means "deity" (manifested god).[1]

The name Shangdi is thus generally translated as "Highest Deity", but also "Primordial Deity" or "First Deity". The deity preceded the title and the emperors of China were named after him in their role as Tianzi, the sons of Heaven.

History

Shang dynasty

Oracle bone script, the earliest known form of Chinese.

The earliest references to Shangdi are found in oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty in the 2nd millennium BC, although the later work Classic of History claims yearly sacrifices were made to him by Emperor Shun, even before the Xia Dynasty.

Shangdi was regarded as the ultimate spiritual power by the ruling elite of the Huaxia during the Shang dynasty: he was believed to control victory in battle, success or failure of harvests, weather conditions such as the floods of the Yellow River, and the fate of the kingdom. Shangdi seems to have ruled a hierarchy of other gods controlling nature, as well as the spirits of the deceased.[5] These ideas were later mirrored or carried on by the Taoist Jade Emperor and his celestial bureaucracy.

Shangdi was probably more transcendental than immanent, only working through lesser gods.[5] Shangdi was considered too distant to be worshiped directly by ordinary mortals. Instead, the Shang kings proclaimed that Shangdi had made himself accessible through the souls of their royal ancestors,[6] both in the legendary past and in recent generations as the departed Shang kings joined him in the afterlife. The emperors could thus successfully entreat Shangdi directly.[7] Many of the oracle bone inscriptions record these petitions, usually praying for rain[8] but also seeking approval from Shangdi for state action.

Zhou dynasty

In the later Shang and Zhou dynasties, Shangdi was conflated with Heaven (天, Tiān).[9] The Duke of Zhou justified his clan's usurpation through the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, which proposed that the protection of Shangdi was not connected to their clan membership but by their just governance. Shangdi was no longer tribal but instead an unambiguously good moral force, exercising its power according to exacting standards.[10] It could thus be lost and even "inherited" by a new dynasty, provided they upheld the proper rituals.

Nonetheless, the connection of many rituals with the Shang clan meant that Shang nobles continued to rule several locations (despite their rebellions) and to serve as court advisors and priests. The Duke of Zhou even created an entire ceremonial city along strict cosmological principals to house the Shang aristocracy and the nine tripods representing Huaxia sovereignty; the Shang were then charged with maintaining the Rites of Zhou. Likewise, the Shang's lesser houses, the shi knightly class, developed directly into the learned Confucian gentry and scholars who advised the Zhou rulers on courtly etiquette and ceremony.[11] The Confucian classics carried on and ordered the earlier traditions, including the worship of Shangdi. All of them include references:

Occurrences of Shangdi in the Five Classics
Chinese Name Pinyin English Name Occurrences
書經 Shujing Classic of History 32 times
詩經 Shijing Classic of Poetry 24 times
禮記 Liji Classic of Rites 20 times
春秋 Chunqiu Spring and Autumn Annals 8 times
易經 Yijing Classic of Changes 2 times

The Four Books mention Shangdi as well but, as it is a later compilation, the references are much more sparse and abstract. Shangdi appears most commonly in earlier works: this pattern may reflect increasing rationalization of Shangdi over time, the shift from a known and arbitrary tribal god to a more abstract and philosophical concept,[12][13] or his conflation and absorption by other deities.

Han dynasty

By the time of the Han dynasty, the influential Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan glossed: "Shangdi is another name for Heaven". Dong Zhongshu said: "Heaven is the ultimate authority, the king of gods who should be admired by the king".[14]

In later eras, he was commonly known by the name "Heavenly Ruling Highest Deity" (皇天上帝, Huángtiān Shàngdì) and, in this usage, he is especially conflated with the Taoist Jade Emperor.

Contemporary Confucianism

Contemporary Confucian theologians have emphasised differences between the Confucian idea of Shangdi, conceived as both transcendent and immanent, and act only as a governor of the world, and the Christian idea of God, which they conceived contrary to those of Christian as a deity that is completely otherwordly (transcendent) and is merely a creator of the world.[15][2]

Worship

Sacred altar at Temple of Heaven.

As mentioned above, sacrifices offered to Shangdi by the king are claimed by traditional Chinese histories to predate the Xia dynasty. The surviving archaeological record shows that by the Shang, the shoulder blades of sacrificed oxen were used to send questions or communication through fire and smoke to the divine realm, a practice known as scapulimancy. The heat would cause the bones to crack and royal diviners would interpret the marks as Shangdi's response to the king. Inscriptions used for divination were buried into special orderly pits, while those that were for practice or records were buried in common middens after use.[16]

Under Shangdi or his later names, the deity received sacrifices from the ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty annually at a great Temple of Heaven in the imperial capital. Following the principles of Chinese geomancy, this would always be located in the southern quarter of the city.[17] During the ritual, a completely healthy bull would be slaughtered and presented as an animal sacrifice to Shangdi.[18] The Book of Rites states the sacrifice should occur on the "longest day" on a round-mound altar. The altar would have three tiers: the highest for Shangdi and the Son of Heaven; the second-highest for the sun and moon; and the lowest for the natural gods such as the stars, clouds, rain, wind, and thunder.

It is important to note that Shangdi is never represented with either images or idols. Instead, in the center building of the Temple of Heaven, in a structure called the "Imperial Vault of Heaven", a "spirit tablet" (神位, or shénwèi) inscribed with the name of Shangdi is stored on the throne, Huangtian Shangdi (皇天上帝). During an annual sacrifice, the emperor would carry these tablets to the north part of the Temple of Heaven, a place called the "Prayer Hall For Good Harvests", and place them on that throne.[19]

Conflation with Concept of the Universal God

It was during Ming and Qing dynasty, when Christianity was introduced by Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci, that the idea of "Shangdi" started to be applied to the Christian conception of God.

While initially he utilized the term Tianzhu, Ricci gradually changed the translation into "Shangdi" instead.[20][21] His usage of Shangdi was contested by Confucians, as they believed that the concept of Tian and "Shangdi" is different from that of Christian's God: Zhōng Shǐ-shēng, through his books,[22][23] stated that Shangdi only governs, while Christian's God is a creator, and thus differ.[24] Ricci's translation also invited the displeasure of Dominicans and that of the Roman Curia; On March 19, 1715, Pope Clement XI released the Edict Ex Illa Die, stating that Catholics must use "Tianzhu" instead of "Shangdi" for Christianity's God.

When Protestantism entered China in the mid of 19th century, the Protestant missionaries also encountered a similar issue; some preferred the term "Shangdi", while some preferred the term Shen (god). A conference held in 1877 in Shanghai, discussing the translation issue, also believed that "Shangdi" of Confucianism and the Christian concept of God are different in nature.[25]

However, by the 20th century, most British missionaries, some Catholics, Chinese Orthodox Christians,[26] and Evangelicals preferred Shangdi as a connection with Chinese native monotheism[27] with some furhter the argument by linking it with the unknown god as described in bible passage of Acts 17:23-31.[28][29] Catholics preferred to avoid it, due to compromises with the local authority in order to do their missions, as well as fear such translation may associate the Christian God to Chinese polytheism.[30]

Nowadays, through the secular Chinese-language media, the Chinese word of "Shangdi", along with "Tianzhu", are frequently used to refer to the Western idea of God (Elohim in Hebrew, Theos in Greek) into Chinese, while Confucians and intellectuals in contemporary China and Taiwan attempt to realign the term to its original meaning. The Catholics officially use the term Tianzhu (Chinese: 天主, Tiānzhǔ), lit. "The Lord of Heaven", while Evangelicals typically utilize Shangdi (上帝).

See also

Look up 上帝 in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Other
Comparation

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Chang (2000).
  2. 1 2 Huang (2007), p. 457.
  3. ↑ http://www.thenewslens.com/post/313239/
  4. ↑ http://news.163.com/special/reviews/customer0223.html
  5. 1 2 Zhao, Yanxia. Chinese Religion: A Contextual Approach. 2010. p. 154
  6. ↑ Jeaneane D. Fowler, Merv Fowler, 2008, Chinese religions: beliefs and practices, Sussex Academic Press.
  7. ↑ Wu, 8
  8. ↑ Wu, 173
  9. ↑ "Shangdi", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011.
  10. ↑ Book of Documents.
  11. ↑ "Chinese Philosophy". China Renmin Univ., 2006.
  12. ↑ The Book of Documents says: "August Heaven has no partisan affections: it supports only the virtuous".
  13. ↑ The Zuo Zhuan says: "Unless one is virtuous, the people will not be in harmony and the spirits will not partake of one's offerings. What the spirits are attracted to is one's virtue".
  14. ↑ Dong Zhongshu. Chunqiu Fanlu.
  15. ↑ Zhōng Shǐ-shēng, 天学初征: "天是「統御世間、主善罰惡之天，即《詩》、《易》、《中庸》所稱上帝是也」，但這個主宰之天只是「治世，而非生世，譬如帝王，但治民而非生民也」"
  16. ↑ Xu Yahui. Caltonhill, Mark & al., trans. Ancient Chinese Writing: Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the Ruins of Yin. Academia Sinica. Nat'l Palace Museum (Taipei), 2002. Govt. Publ. No. 1009100250.
  17. ↑ For instance, the Classic of History records the Duke of Zhou building an altar in the southern part of Luo.
  18. ↑ Although the Duke of Zhou is presented as sacrificing two.
  19. ↑ "JSDJ".
  20. ↑ “上帝給人雙目、雙耳、雙手、雙足，欲兩友相助，方爲事有成矣。”《交友論》,1595
  21. ↑ “上帝者，生物原始，宰物本主也。”《二十五言》,1599
  22. ↑ 天学初征
  23. ↑ 天学再征
  24. ↑ 程小娟：《God的汉译史——争论、接受与启示》，社会科学文献出版社，2013年
  25. ↑ 艾約瑟譯《各省教師集議記略》，載李天綱編校《萬國公報文選》，北京：生活·讀書·新知三聯書店，1998年，第22頁。
  26. ↑ Chinese Orthodox Church
  27. ↑ Legge, James, The Religions of China, Hodder and Stoughton, 1880, p24-25: "'He sacrificed specifically, but with the ordinary forms, to ShangTi' -that is, we have seen, to God."
  28. ↑ http://www.rlhymersjr.com/Online_Sermons_Chinese/2012/092912PM_TheUnknownGod.html
  29. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=GzimxWlnh8YC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=%E6%9C%AA%E8%AD%98%E4%B9%8B%E7%A5%9E%E4%B8%8A%E5%B8%9D&source=bl&ots=DxRsF2XPfv&sig=zC3h5h_AAAJmTbFBapc1l39s_rg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4ipKq4qrMAhUMsIMKHZ1hBHcQ6AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=%E6%9C%AA%E8%AD%98%E4%B9%8B%E7%A5%9E%E4%B8%8A%E5%B8%9D&f=false
  30. ↑ Lee, Archie CC (Oct 2005), God's Asian Names: Rendering the Biblical God in Chinese, SBL Forum

References

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