Tian
Sign in to saveAlso known as T'ien, Tien, Heaven, God
Tian () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and is a central concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th–11th century BCE), the highest deity was referred to as Shangdi or Di (, "Lord"). In the subsequent Zhou dynasty, Tian became synonymous with this figure. Prior to the 20th century, the worship of Tian was considered an orthodox cosmic principle in China.
Key facts
- Chinese.title
- Tian
- Chinese.pic
- 天-bronze-shang.svg
- Chinese.piccap
- Chinese Bronze script character for Tian.
- Chinese.picsize
- 200px
- Chinese.c
- 天
- Chinese.l
- heaven, nature
- Chinese.p
- tiān
- Chinese.w
- t'ien1
- Chinese.bpmf
- ㄊㄧㄢ
- Chinese.mc
- tʰen
- Chinese.j
- tin1
- Chinese.y
- tīn
- Chinese.gan
- tien1
- Chinese.oc zz
- /*qʰl'iːn/
- Chinese.poj
- thiⁿ
- Chinese.wuu
- thi (T1)
- Chinese.kanji
- 天
- Chinese.kana
- てん
via Wikipedia infobox
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Article
20 sectionsContents
- Characters
- Etymology
- Compounds
- Chinese interpretations
- Confucianism
- Confucius
- Mozi
- Schools of cosmology
- Buddhism
- Taoism
- Chinese folk religion
- Ahom religion
- Yiguandao
- Japanese interpretations
- Interpretation by Western sinologists
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Sources
- External links
Tian () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and is a central concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th–11th century BCE), the highest deity was referred to as Shangdi or Di (, "Lord"). In the subsequent Zhou dynasty, Tian became synonymous with this figure. Prior to the 20th century, the worship of Tian was considered an orthodox cosmic principle in China.
In Taoism and Confucianism, Tian (the celestial aspect of the cosmos, often translated as "Heaven") is described in relation to its complementary aspect, Dì (, often translated as "Earth"). Together, they were understood to represent the two poles of the Three Realms of reality, with Humanity (, ) occupying the middle realm, and the lower world inhabited by demons (, ) and spirits or "ghosts" (, ).