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93-416: The basic Panhu myth is about a dragon-dog who transformed into a man and married a princess. In the myth, there was an old woman in an ancient Chinese king's palace who had ear pain for many years. A royal physician plucked out a small, golden worm from her ear, and placed it inside of a gourd covered with a plate. This is the origin of Panhu's name, which literally means "plate gourd". The worm then turned into

186-445: A rectification of names : distorted names are 'superstitious activities' ( 迷信活動 ) or 'feudal superstition' ( 封建迷信 ), that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the label 'feudal superstition' as propaganda to undermine what they saw as religious competitition. Han calls for the acknowledgment of the ancient Chinese religion for what it really is,

279-479: A collocation of two words A–B that cannot be idiomatically reversed as B–A, for example, English cat and mouse (not * mouse and cat ) and friend or foe (not * foe or friend ). Similarly, the usual pattern among Chinese binomial compounds is for positive A and negative B, where the A word is dominant or privileged over B. For example, tiandi 天地 "heaven and earth" and nannü 男女 "men and women". Yinyang meaning "dark and light; female and male; moon and sun",

372-642: A concept that originated in ancient Chinese philosophy that describes how opposite or contrary forces may create each other by their comparison and are to be seen as actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the Tao Te Ching at chapter 42. It becomes sensible from an initial quiescence or emptiness ( wuji , sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until quiescence

465-408: A cycle. Creation as part of yang, and destruction as part of yin, progress on one side (yang) and entropy on the other side (yin), is represented in the cycles. Yin is the black side, and yang is the white side. Other color arrangements have included the white of yang being replaced by red. The taijitu is sometimes accompanied by other shapes, such as bagua . The relationship between yin and yang

558-609: A deified virtuous person ( xiān Chinese : 仙 , "immortal"). Some cults such as that of Liu Zhang, a king in what is today Shandong , date back to this period. From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei , accompanying the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the ancient Chinese indigenous religion. A cult of Ganesha ( Chinese : 象頭神 Xiàngtóushén , "Elephant-Head God")

651-563: A direct influence on things, making phenomena appear and things grow or extend themselves. An early Chinese dictionary, the Shuowen Jiezi by Xu Shen , explains that they "are the spirits of Heaven" and they "draw out the ten thousand things". As forces of growth the gods are regarded as yang , opposed to a yin class of entities called gui ( 鬼 ; guǐ ; cognate of 歸 ; guī 'return', 'contraction'), chaotic beings. A disciple of Zhu Xi noted that "between Heaven and Earth there

744-418: A dog, Panhu, who in some versions had five colored fur. The king offered to marry his daughter to anybody that would present him with the head of his enemy. This was accomplished by Panhu. Accounts vary, but eventually Panhu and the princess had six sons and six daughters who became the famous 12 clans of Chinese mythology. There are also variant versions. In some variants, the dragon-dog became transformed into

837-681: A few changed into schools". During the Japanese invasion of China between 1937 and 1945 many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare. In the 19th century in the Guangdong region, monotheism , likely of a henotheistic and/or monolatrous character in at least some contexts and locations, was well-known and popular in Chinese folk religion. In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing others. In

930-438: A human, except for his head. (Christie 1968: 121-122) This is sometimes attributed to the princess worrying that he was starving inside the golden vessel he was placed inside of for seven days and seven nights to transform into a human, which resulted in the process being incomplete. In the study of historical Chinese culture, many of the stories that have been told regarding characters and events which have been written or told of

1023-530: A mistake or typographical error for the Chinese loanword yin-yang —yet they are not equivalents. Chinese does have some yangyin collocations , such as 洋銀 (lit. "foreign silver") "silver coin/dollar", but not even the most comprehensive dictionaries (e.g., the Hanyu Da Cidian ) enter yangyin * 陽陰 . While yang and yin can occur together in context, yangyin is not synonymous with yinyang . The linguistic term " irreversible binomial " refers to

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1116-733: A mountain or the north bank of a river will receive more direct sunlight than the opposite side. Yang refers to the "south side of a hill" in Hengyang 衡陽 , which is south of Mount Heng 衡山 in Hunan province, and to the "north bank of a river" in Luoyang 洛陽 , which is located north of the Luo River 洛河 in Henan . Similarly, yin refers to "north side of a hill" in Huayin 華陰 , which

1209-478: A mountain)" with the uncommon English geographic terms ubac "shady side of a mountain" and adret "sunny side of a mountain" (which are of French origin ). Many Chinese place names or toponyms contain the word yang "sunny side" and a few contain yin "shady side". In China , as elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere , sunlight comes predominantly from the south, and thus the south face of

1302-415: A primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, form and matter. 'Yin' is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while 'yang' is repelling, active and expansive in principle, this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference, such as biological and seasonal cycles, evolution of the landscape over days, weeks, years and eons (with

1395-454: A range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese , including the Chinese diaspora . This includes the veneration of shen ('spirits') and ancestors , and worship devoted to deities and immortals , who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of family lineages . Stories surrounding these gods form a loose canon of Chinese mythology . By

1488-552: A religion focused on gods of nature , Tian became a more abstract and impersonal idea of God. A popular representation is the Jade Deity ( Chinese : 玉帝 Yùdì ) or Jade Emperor ( Chinese : 玉皇 Yùhuáng ) originally formulated by Taoists. According to classical theology he manifests in five primary forms ( Chinese : 五方上帝 Wǔfāng Shàngdì , "Five Forms of the Highest Deity"). The qi Chinese : 气

1581-443: A rich history in the language, their etymologies and evolution analyzable through lenses of orthography , phonology , and meanings . The Chinese characters 陰 and 陽 are both considered to be phono-semantic compounds , with semantic component 阝 'mound', 'hill' , a graphical variant of 阜 —with the phonetic components 今 ; jīn (and the added semantic component 云 ; yún ; 'cloud') and 昜 ; yáng . In

1674-468: A spiritual world between heaven and earth and beseeched the gods of heaven and earth to influence the world to benefit their family. By the Han dynasty , the ancient Chinese religion mostly consisted of people organising into shè ( Chinese : 社 ["group", "body", local community altars]) who worshipped their godly principle. In many cases the "lord of the she " was the god of the earth, and in others

1767-481: A state religion), and all the various stages of the Taoist religion." Contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they consider the essential features of the Chinese indigenous religion : according to Chen Xiaoyi ( 陳曉毅 ) local indigenous religion is the crucial factor for a harmonious 'religious ecology' ( 宗教生態 ), that is the balance of forces in a given community. Han Bingfang ( 韓秉芳 ) has called for

1860-402: A system of meaning, or have brought further development in C. K. Yang's distinction between "institutional religion" and "diffused religion", the former functioning as a separate body from other social institutions, and the latter intimately part of secular social institutions. In the beginning of Chinese civilization, "[t]he most honored members of the family were...the ancestors", who lived in

1953-550: Is Buddhism which came to China probably before the Christian era but which began to exert nation-wide influence only after the third century A.D. The other great religion has had no generic name, but I propose to call it Siniticism. It is the native ancient religion of the Han Chinese people: it dates back to time immemorial, over 10,000 years old, and includes all such later phases of its development as Moism, Confucianism (as

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2046-493: Is a common core that can be summarised as four theological, cosmological, and moral concepts: Tian , the transcendent source of moral meaning; qi , the breath or energy that animates the universe; ancestor veneration ; and bao ying 'moral reciprocity'. With these, there are two traditional concepts of fate and meaning: ming yun , the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuanfen 'fateful coincidence ', good and bad chances and potential relationships. Yin and yang

2139-417: Is a concept that originated in Chinese philosophy , describing an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are important for cohesion of the whole. In Chinese cosmology , the universe creates itself out of

2232-507: Is a seldom used term taken by scholars in colonial Taiwan from Japanese during Japan's occupation (1895–1945). It was used between the 1990s and the early 21st century among mainland Chinese scholars. Shendao ( 神道 ; shéndào ; 'the Way of the Gods';) is a term already used in the I Ching referring to the divine order of nature. Around the time of the spread of Buddhism during

2325-496: Is an exception. Scholars have proposed various explanations for why yinyang violates this pattern, including "linguistic convenience" (it is easier to say yinyang than yangyin ), the idea that "proto-Chinese society was matriarchal", or perhaps, since yinyang first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was "purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions". Joseph Needham discusses yin and yang together with Five Elements as part of

2418-602: Is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu ( c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang. The Ahom philosophy of duality of the individual self han and pu is quite similar to yin and yang of Taoism. The tradition was originated in Yunnan , China and followed by some Ahom , descendants of Dai ethnic Minority . The Chinese terms 陰 ; yīn ; 'dark side' and 陽 ; yáng ; 'light side' have

2511-678: Is attested in the year 531. Pollination from Indian religions included processions of carts with images of gods or floats borne on shoulders, with musicians and chanting. The ancient Chinese religion was subject to persecution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many ancient temples were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion in the late 1800s. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 "most temples were turned to other uses or were destroyed, with

2604-477: Is bound to local communities, kinship, and environments. In each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms. Temples and the gods in them acquire symbolic character and perform specific functions involved in the everyday life of the local community. Local religion preserves aspects of naturalistic beliefs such as totemism , animism , and shamanism . Ancient Chinese religion pervades all aspects of social life. Many scholars, following

2697-513: Is most associated with these theories. Although yin and yang are not mentioned in any of the surviving documents of Zou Yan, his school was known as the Yin Yang Jia (Yin and Yang School). Needham concludes "There can be very little doubt that the philosophical use of the terms began about the beginning of the 4th century, and that the passages in older texts which mention this use are interpolations made later than that time." Yin and yang are

2790-464: Is no thing that does not consist of yin and yang, and there is no place where yin and yang are not found. Therefore, there is no place where gods and spirits do not exist". The dragon is a symbol of yang, the principle of generation. In Taoist and Confucian thought, the supreme God and its order and the multiplicity of shen are identified as one and the same. In the Ten Wings , a commentary to

2883-567: Is north of Mount Hua 華山 in Shaanxi province. In Japan , the characters are used in western Honshu to delineate the north-side San'in region 山陰 from the south-side San'yō region 山陽 , separated by the Chūgoku Mountains 中国山地 . English yin , yang , and yin-yang are familiar loanwords of Chinese origin . The Oxford English Dictionary defines: yin (jɪn) Also Yin , Yn . [Chinese yīn shade, feminine;

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2976-816: Is perhaps cognate with Chinese chāng < *k-hlaŋ 昌 ; 'prosperous', 'bright' (compare areal words like Tai plaŋ 'bright' & Proto- Viet-Muong hlaŋ ). To this word-family, Unger also includes 炳 ; bǐng < *pl(j)aŋʔ 'bright'; however Schuessler reconstructs 炳 ; bǐng 's Old Chinese pronunciation as *braŋʔ and includes it in an Austroasiatic word family, besides 亮 ; liàng < *raŋh 爽 ; shuǎng < *sraŋʔ 'twilight of dawn'; míng < *mraŋ 明 'bright', 'become light', 'enlighten'; owing to "the different OC initial consonant which seems to have no recognizable OC morphological function". Yin and yang are semantically complex words. John DeFrancis 's ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary gives

3069-453: Is reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more. Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities and create and control each other. Whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into

3162-404: Is the breath or substance of which all things are made, including inanimate matter, the living beings, thought and gods. It is the continuum energy—matter. Stephen F. Teiser (1996) translates it as "stuff" of "psychophysical stuff". Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi developed the idea of li Chinese : 理 , the "reason", "order" of Heaven, that is to say the pattern through which

3255-488: Is the medium of the two states and the inchoate order of creation. The Chinese language historically has not had a concept or overarching term for "religion". In English, the terms 'popular religion' or 'folk religion' have long been used to mean local religious life. In Chinese academic literature and common usage 'folk religion' ( 民間宗教 ; mínjiān zōngjiào ) refers to specific organised folk religious sects . Contemporary academic study of traditional cults and

3348-431: Is the polarity that describes the order of the universe, held in balance by the interaction of principles of extension ( 神 ; shén ; 'spirit') and returning ( 鬼 ; guǐ ; 'ghost'), with yang ('act') usually preferred over yin ('receptiveness') in common religion. The taijitu and bagua are common diagrams representing the forces of nature, and the power that deities like Zhong Kui wield. Ling

3441-490: Is the qi in its dense, dark, sinking, wet, condensing mode; yang denotes the light, and the bright, rising, dry, expanding modality. Described as Taiji (the 'Great Pole'), they represent the polarity and complementarity that enlivens the cosmos . They can also be conceived as 'disorder' and 'order', 'activity' or 'passivity', with action (yang) usually preferred over receptiveness (yin). The concept of shen ( 神 ; shén ; cognate of 申 ; shēn 'extending', 'expanding' )

3534-504: Is therefore both transcendent and immanent . Tian is defined in many ways, with many names, the most widely known being Tàidì Chinese : 太帝 (the "Great Deity") and Shàngdì Chinese : 上帝 (the "Primordial Deity"). The concept of Shangdi is especially rooted in the tradition of the Shang dynasty , which gave prominence to the worship of ancestral gods and cultural heroes . The "Primordial Deity" or "Primordial Emperor"

3627-472: Is translated as 'gods' or 'spirits'. There are shen of nature; gods who were once people, such as the warrior Guan Yu ; household gods, such as the Stove God ; as well as ancestral gods ( zu or zuxian ). In the domain of humanity the shen is the psyche, or the power or agency within humans. They are intimately involved in the life of this world. As spirits of stars, mountains and streams, shen exert

3720-719: The Mozi ( Mohism ), the Huainanzi , the Shizi and the Xunzi . The " Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind " ( Chinese : 《天人感應》 ; pinyin : tiānrén gǎnyìng ) is a set of Confucianised doctrines compiled in the Han dynasty by Dong Zhongshu , discussing politics in accordance with a personal Tian of whom mankind is viewed as the incarnation. Taoism has a separate body of philosophical, theological and ritual literature, including

3813-661: The Taiyi Shengshui ( Chinese : 《太一生水》 ; lit. 'The Great One Gives Birth to Water'). Another book attributed to the Yellow Emperor is the Huangdi yinfujing ( Chinese : 《黃帝陰符經》 ; lit. 'Yellow Emperor's Book of the Hidden Symbol';). Classical books of mythology include the " Classic of Mountains and Seas " ( Chinese : 《山海經》 ; pinyin : shānhǎijīng ),

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3906-525: The American West Coast alone. In 1904, a reform policy of the late Qing dynasty provided that schools would be built through the confiscation of temple property. "Anti-superstition" campaigns followed. The Nationalist government of the Republic of China intensified the suppression of the ancient Chinese religion with the 1928 "Standards for retaining or abolishing gods and shrines";

3999-733: The Chairman Mao period in the PRC, was the most serious and last systematic effort to destroy the ancient Chinese religion, while in Taiwan the ancient Chinese religion was very well-preserved but controlled by Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chiang Kai-Shek during his Chinese Cultural Renaissance to counter the Cultural Revolution. After 1978 the ancient Chinese religion started to rapidly revive in China, with millions of temples being rebuilt or built from scratch. Since

4092-467: The Dragon King , Pangu or Caishen . Feng shui , acupuncture , and traditional Chinese medicine reflect this world view, since features of the landscape as well as organs of the body are in correlation with the five powers and yin and yang . Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Despite this diversity, there

4185-513: The Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE), it was used to distinguish the indigenous ancient religion from the imported religion. Ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism . The term was subsequently adopted in Japan in the 6th century as Shindo , later Shinto , with the same purpose of identification of the Japanese indigenous religion. In the 14th century,

4278-527: The Hongwu Emperor (Taizu of the Ming dynasty , 1328–1398) used the term "Shendao" clearly identifying the indigenous cults, which he strengthened and systematised. "Chinese Universism"—not in the sense of " universalism " as in "a system of universal application", as that is Tian in Chinese thought—is a coinage of Jan Jakob Maria de Groot that refers to the metaphysical perspective that lies behind

4371-520: The I Ching , it is written that "one yin and one yang are called the Tao ... the unfathomable change of yin and yang is called shen ". In other texts, with a tradition going back to the Han dynasty , the gods and spirits are explained to be names of yin and yang, forces of contraction and forces of growth. While in popular thought they have conscience and personality, Neo-Confucian scholars tended to rationalise them. Zhu Xi wrote that they act according to

4464-688: The School of Naturalists . He says that it would be proper to begin with yin and yang before Five Elements because the former: "lay, as it were, at a deeper level in Nature, and were the most ultimate principles of which the ancient Chinese could conceive. But it so happens that we know a good deal more about the historical origin of the Five-Element theory than about that of the yin and the yang, and it will therefore be more convenient to deal with it first." He then discusses Zou Yan ( 鄒衍 ; 305–240 BC) who

4557-690: The Song dynasty (960–1279), these practices had been blended with Buddhist , Confucian , and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day. The government of China generally tolerates popular religious organizations, but has suppressed or persecuted those that they fear would undermine social stability. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, governments and modernizing elites condemned 'feudal superstition' and opposed traditional religious practices which they believed conflicted with modern values. By

4650-585: The li . Zhang Zai wrote that they are "the inherent potential ( liang neng ) of the two ways of qi". Cheng Yi said that they are "traces of the creative process". Chen Chun wrote that shen and gui are expansions and contractions, going and coming, of yin and yang—qi. Yin and yang Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Yin and yang ( English: / j ɪ n / , / j æ ŋ / ), also yinyang or yin-yang ,

4743-475: The qi develops, that is the polarity of yin and yang . In Taoism the Tao Chinese : 道 ("Way") denotes in one concept both the impersonal absolute Tian and its order of manifestation ( li ). Yin ( 陰 ; yīn ) and yang ( 陽 ; yáng ), whose root meanings respectively are 'shady' and 'sunny', or 'dark' and 'light', are modes of manifestation of the qi, not material things in themselves. Yin

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4836-415: The source of moral meaning; qi ( Chinese : 氣 ), the breath or substance of which all things are made; the practice of jingzu ( Chinese : 敬祖 ), the veneration of ancestors; bao ying ( Chinese : 報應 ), moral reciprocity. Confucians, Taoists, and other schools of thought share basic concepts of Tian . Tian is both the physical heavens, the home of the sun, moon, and stars, and also

4929-470: The " Guodian texts " in the 1990s and the Huangdi sijing ( Chinese : 《黃帝四經》 ; lit. 'Four Books of the Yellow Emperor';) in the 1970s, has given rise to new interpretations of the ancient Chinese religion and new directions in its post-Maoist renewal. Many of these books overcome the dichotomy between Confucian and Taoist traditions. The Guodian texts include, among others,

5022-587: The " Record of Heretofore Lost Works " ( Chinese : 《拾遺記 ; pinyin : shíyíjì ), " The Peach Blossom Spring " ( Chinese : 《桃花源記》 ; pinyin : táohuāyuánjì ), the " Investiture of the Gods " ( Chinese : 《封神演義》 ; pinyin : fēngshén yǎnyì ), and the " Journey to the West " ( Chinese : 《西遊記》 ; pinyin : xīyóujì ) among others. Fan and Chen summarise four spiritual, cosmological, and moral concepts: Tian ( Chinese : 天 ), Heaven,

5115-533: The 'core and soul of popular culture' ( 俗文化的核心與靈魂 ). According to Chen Jinguo ( 陳進國 ), the ancient Chinese religion is a core element of Chinese 'cultural and religious self-awareness' ( 文化自覺，信仰自覺 ). He has proposed a theoretical definition of Chinese indigenous religion in a 'trinity' ( 三位一體 ), apparently inspired to Tang Chun-i 's thought: Ancient Chinese religious practices are diverse, varying from province to province and even from one village to another, for religious behaviour

5208-465: The 1980s the central government moved to a policy of benign neglect or wu wei ( Chinese : 無為 ) in regard to rural community life, and the local government's new regulatory relationship with local society is characterised by practical mutual dependence; these factors have given much space for popular religion to develop. In recent years, in some cases, local governments have taken an even positive and supportive attitude towards indigenous religion in

5301-518: The 20th century, with the decline of the Qing dynasty, increasing urbanisation and Western influence, the issue for the new intellectuals who looked to the West was no longer controlling unauthorised worship of unregistered gods but the ancient Chinese religion itself, which they perceived as an issue halting modernisation. By 1899, 400 syncretic temples that combined folk religion elements and gods with Buddhist, Taoist, and/or Confucianist gods existed on

5394-519: The Chinese religious tradition. De Groot calls Chinese Universism "the ancient metaphysical view that serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought. ... In Universism, the three components of integrated universe—understood epistemologically, 'heaven, earth and man', and understood ontologically, ' Taiji (the great beginning, the highest ultimate), yin and yang'—are formed". In 1931, Hu Shih argued that: "Two great religions have played tremendously important roles throughout Chinese history. One

5487-506: The aforementioned question to find an appropriate "name" for the ancient Chinese religion, is the difficulty to define it or clearly outline its boundaries. Old sinology , especially Western, tried to distinguish "popular" and "élite" traditions (the latter being Confucianism and Taoism conceived as independent systems). Chinese sinology later adopted another dichotomy which continues in contemporary studies, distinguishing "folk beliefs" ( minjian xinyang ) and "folk religion" ( minjian zongjiao ),

5580-480: The bottom of the foot without the top). A way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation. Yet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two (Heaven and Earth) gives birth to human and therefore the ten thousand things. Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in

5673-479: The creation of a government agency that gave legal status to this religion have created proposals to formalise names and deal more clearly with folk religious sects and help conceptualise research and administration. Terms that have been proposed include 'Chinese native religion' ( 民俗宗教 ; mínsú zōngjiào ), 'Chinese ethnic religion' ( 民族宗教 ; mínzú zōngjiào ), or 'Chinese religion' ( 中華教 ; zhōnghuájiào ) viewed as comparable to

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5766-725: The distant past have a double tradition: one which presents a more historicized version and one which presents a more mythological version. (Yang 2005:12-13) This is also true in many of the accounts related to Panhu. Many of the myths regarding agriculture in China are related to popular religion and ritual . In modern times, Panhu has been worshiped by the She people and Yao people as "King Pan". (Yang 2005: 52-53). Chinese folk religion Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese folk religion comprises

5859-425: The duality symbolized by yin and yang. This duality, as a unity of opposites , lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science , technology and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine , and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang , tai chi , daoyin , kung fu and qigong , as well as appearing in

5952-641: The etymology of modern Chinese words. Compare these Middle Chinese and Old Chinese reconstructions of 陰 ; yīn and 陽 ; yáng : Schuessler gives probable Sino-Tibetan etymologies for both Chinese words. yin < *ʔəm compares with Burmese ʔum 'overcast', 'cloudy', Adi muk-jum 'shade', and Lepcha so'yǔm 'shade'; it is probably cognate with Chinese àn < *ʔə̂mʔ 黯 ; 'dim', 'gloomy' and qīn < *khəm 衾 ; 'blanket'. yang < *laŋ compares with Lepcha a-lóŋ 'reflecting light', Burmese laŋ 'be bright' and ə-laŋ 'light'; and

6045-518: The following translation equivalents. Yin 陰 or 阴 — Noun : ① [philosophy] female/passive/negative principle in nature, ② Surname; Bound morpheme : ① the moon, ② shaded orientation, ③ covert; concealed; hidden, ④ vagina, ⑤ penis, ⑥ of the netherworld, ⑦ negative, ⑧ north side of a hill, ⑨ south bank of a river, ⑩ reverse side of a stele, ⑪ in intaglio; Stative verb : ① overcast, ② sinister; treacherous Yang 陽 or 阳 — Bound morpheme : ① [Chinese philosophy] male/active/positive principle in nature, ②

6138-733: The fundamental Daodejing ( Chinese : 《道德經》 ; lit. 'Book of the Way and its Virtue'), the Daozang (Taoist Canon), the Liezi and the Zhuangzi , and a great number of other texts either included or not within the Taoist Canon. Vernacular literature and the folk religious sects have produced a great body of popular mythological and theological literature, the baojuan ( Chinese : 寶卷 ; lit. 'precious scrolls'). Recent discovery of ancient books, such as

6231-485: The home of the gods and ancestors. Tian by extension is source of moral meaning, as seen in the political principle, the Mandate of Heaven , which holds that Tian , responding to human virtue, grants the imperial family the right to rule and withdraws it when the dynasty declines in virtue. This creativity or virtue ( de ) in humans is the potentiality to transcend the given conditions and act wisely and morally. Tian

6324-576: The late Qing dynasty , scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin used the term shenjiao not referring to Shinto as a definite religious system, but to local shin beliefs in Japan. Other terms are 'folk cults' ( 民間崇拜 ; mínjiān chóngbài ), 'spontaneous religion' ( 自發宗教 ; zìfā zōngjiào ), 'lived religion' ( 生活宗教 ; shēnghuó zōngjiào ), 'local religion' ( 地方宗教 ; dìfāng zōngjiào ), and 'diffused religion' ( 分散性宗教 ; fēnsàn xìng zōngjiào ). 'Folk beliefs' ( 民間信仰 ; mínjiān xìnyǎng ),

6417-583: The late 20th century, these attitudes began to change in both mainland China and Taiwan, and many scholars now view folk religion in a positive light. In recent times traditional religion is experiencing a revival in both China and Taiwan. Some forms have received official understanding or recognition as a preservation of traditional culture, such as Mazuism and the Sanyi teaching in Fujian , Yellow Emperor worship, and other forms of local worship, such as that of

6510-454: The latter referring to the doctrinal sects. Many studies have pointed out that it is impossible to draw clear distinctions, and, since the 1970s, several sinologists swung to the idea of a unified "ancient Chinese religion" that would define the Chinese national identity, similarly to Hindu Dharma for India and Shinto for Japan . Other sinologists who have not espoused the idea of a unified "national religion" have studied Chinese religion as

6603-471: The latter, 昜 ; yáng ; 'bright' features 日 ; 'the Sun'; + 示 + 彡 ; 'sunbeam'. The Standard Chinese pronunciation of 陰 is usually the level first tone as yīn with the meaning 'shady', 'cloudy', or sometimes with the falling fourth tone as yìn with the distinct meaning 'to shelter', 'shade'. 陽 ; 'sunny' is always pronounced with

6696-410: The lead of sociologist C. K. Yang , see the ancient Chinese religion deeply embedded in family and civic life, rather than expressed in a separate organizational structure like a "church", as in the West. Deity or temple associations and lineage associations , pilgrimage associations and formalized prayers, rituals and expressions of virtues, are the common forms of organization of Chinese religion on

6789-549: The limitations of written texts were acknowledged particularly in Taoism and folk religion. There are the classic books ( Chinese : 經 ; pinyin : jīng ; lit. ' warp ') such as the Confucian canon including the " Four Books and Five Classics " ( Chinese : 《四書五經》 ; pinyin : sìshū wǔjīng ) and the " Classic of Filial Piety " ( Chinese : 《孝經》 ; pinyin : xiàojīng ), then there are

6882-453: The local level. Neither initiation rituals nor official membership into a church organization separate from one person's native identity are mandatory in order to be involved in religious activities. Contrary to institutional religions, Chinese religion does not require "conversion" for participation. The prime criterion for participation in the ancient Chinese religion is not "to believe" in an official doctrine or dogma , but "to belong" to

6975-426: The local unit of an ancient Chinese religion, that is the "association", the "village" or the "kinship", with their gods and rituals. Sociologist Richard Madsen describes the ancient Chinese religion, adopting the definition of Tu Weiming , as characterized by "immanent transcendence" grounded in a devotion to "concrete humanity", focused on building moral community within concrete humanity. Inextricably linked to

7068-411: The moon.] a. In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also attrib . or as adj ., and transf . Cf. yang . b. Comb ., as yin-yang , the combination or fusion of

7161-421: The name of promoting cultural heritage. Instead of signaling the demise of traditional ancient religion, China and Taiwan 's economic and technological industrialization and development has brought a spiritual renewal. Ancient Chinese religion draws from a vast heritage of sacred books, which according to the general worldview treat cosmology , history and mythology, mysticism and philosophy, as aspects of

7254-411: The ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Thus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement. Then, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall. The growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness. The cycles of the seasons and of plants that progresses or entropies depending on

7347-464: The older wuji ( 無極 ; 'without pole'). In the cosmology pertaining to yin and yang, the material energy which this universe was created from is known as qi . It is believed that the organization of qi in this cosmology of yin and yang has formed the 10 thousand things. Included among these forms are humans. Many natural dualities (such as light and dark , fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of

7440-436: The opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle. It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, traditionally it is said that Yin and Yang are known by the comparison of each other, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole (for example, there cannot be

7533-475: The original meaning of the words being the north-facing shade and the south-facing brightness of a hill), gender (female and male), as well as the formation of the character of individuals and the grand arc of sociopolitical history in disorder and order. Taiji is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate. It can be contrasted with

7626-539: The pages of the I Ching and the famous Taoist medical treatise called the Huangdi Neijing The notion of duality can be found in many areas, such as Communities of Practice . The term "dualistic-monism" or dialectical monism has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful paradox of simultaneous unity and duality. According to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light). Either of

7719-651: The policy attempted to abolish the cults of all gods with the exception of ancient great human heroes and sages such as the Yellow Emperor , Yu the Great , Guan Yu , Sun Tzu , Mazu , Xuanzang , Kūkai , Buddha , Budai , Bodhidharma , Lao Tzu , and Confucius . These policies were the background for those implemented by Communist Party after winning the Chinese Civil War and taking power in 1949. The Cultural Revolution , between 1966 and 1976 of

7812-440: The rising second tone as yáng . Sinologists and historical linguists have reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciations from data in the (7th century CE) Qieyun rhyme dictionary and later rhyme tables , which was subsequently used to reconstruct Old Chinese phonology from rhymes in the (11th–7th centuries BCE) Shijing and phonological components of Chinese characters. Reconstructions of Old Chinese have illuminated

7905-413: The same thing. Historically, the revolutionary shift toward a preference for textual transmission and text-based knowledge over long-standing oral traditions first becomes detectable in the 1st century CE. The spoken word, however, never lost its power. Rather than writing replacing the power of the spoken word, both existed side by side. Scriptures had to be recited and heard in order to be efficacious, and

7998-423: The season. In summer it seeks to procure healthier leaves, whittling (entropy) of the plant is in autumn, the degrown plants (destruction) is in winter, growth (creating) of the plant or tree during spring. Where it's gaining or progressing, fully progressed occurs during summer, summer seeks stability as it seeks to keep (progress) the leaves and branches that are healthy, growth and progress reaching its end point of

8091-426: The sun, ③ male genitals, ④ in relief, ⑤ open; overt, ⑥ belonging to this world, ⑦ [linguistics] masculine, ⑧ south side of a hill, ⑨ north bank of a river The compound yinyang 陰陽 means "yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc." The sinologist Rolf Stein etymologically translates Chinese yin 陰 "shady side (of a mountain)" and yang 陽 "sunny side (of

8184-414: The term 神教 ( shénjiào ; 'shenism'). Tan however, comments that is not the way the Chinese refer to their religion, which in any case includes worship of ancestors, not shen , and suggests it is logical to use "Chinese Religion". Shenxianism 神仙教 ( shénxiān jiào ), literally 'religion of deities and immortals ', is a term partly inspired by Elliott's "shenism" neologism. During

8277-433: The two cosmic forces; freq. attrib., esp. as yin-yang symbol , a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang , each containing a 'seed' of the other. yang (jæŋ) Also Yang . [Chinese yáng yang, sun, positive, male genitals.] a. In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) of

8370-423: The two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin and yang symbol (or taijitu ) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section. In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang

8463-491: The two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also attrib. or as adj. Cf. yin . b. Comb. : yang-yin = yin-yang s.v. yin b. For the earliest recorded "yin and yang" usages, the OED cites 1671 for yin and yang , 1850 for yin-yang , and 1959 for yang-yin . In English, yang-yin (like ying-yang ) occasionally occurs as

8556-451: The usage of the term " Hinduism " for Indian religion. In Malaysia , reports the scholar Tan Chee-Beng, Chinese do not have a definite term for their traditional religion, which is not surprising because "the religion is diffused into various aspects of Chinese culture". They refer to their religion as 'Buddha worship' ( 拜佛 ; bàifó ) or 'spirit worship' ( 拜神 ; bàishén ), which prompted Alan J. A. Elliott to suggest

8649-461: Was considered to be embodied in the human realm as the lineage of imperial power. Di ( Chinese : 帝 ) is a term meaning "deity" or "emperor" ( Latin : imperator , verb im-perare ; "making from within"), used either as a name of the primordial god or as a title of natural gods, describing a principle that exerts a fatherly dominance over what it produces. With the Zhou dynasty , which preferred

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