Chinese gods and immortals

Many are worshiped as deities because traditional Chinese religion is polytheistic, stemming from a pantheistic view that divinity is inherent in the world.

[1] The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating, and propagating the way of heaven (天, Tian),[2] which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order.

[8] Tian bridges the gap between supernatural phenomena and many kinds of beings, giving them a single source from spiritual energy in some Chinese belief systems.

[2] However, there is a significant belief in Taoism which differentiates tian from the forces of earth and water, which are held to be equally powerful.

[9] Since all gods are considered manifestations of qì (氣), the "power" or pneuma of Heaven, in some views of tian, some scholars have employed the term "polypneumatism" or "(poly)pneumatolatry", first coined by Walter Medhurst (1796–1857), to describe the practice of Chinese polytheism.

[11] Modern Confucian theology sometimes compares them to substantial forms or entelechies (inner purposes) as described by Leibniz as a force that generates all types of beings, so that "even mountains and rivers are worshipped as something capable of enjoying sacrificial offerings".

[clarification needed] Rather, it depends on the choices of common people; persons are deified when they have made extraordinary deeds and have left an efficacious legacy.

[13] Chinese traditional theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the classic texts, and specifically Confucian, Taoist, and other philosophical formulations,[14] is fundamentally monistic, that is to say, it sees the world and the gods who produce it as an organic whole, or cosmos.

[20] Tian is usually translated as "Heaven", but by graphical etymology, it means "Great One" and a number of scholars relate it to the same Dì through phonetic etymology and trace their common root, through their archaic forms, respectively *Teeŋ and *Tees, to the symbols of the squared north celestial pole godhead (口, Dīng).

[25] Other names of the God of Heaven are attested in the vast Chinese religio-philosophical literary tradition: Tian is both transcendent and immanent, manifesting in the three forms of dominance, destiny, and nature of things.

Couplets or polarities, such as Fuxi and Nuwa, Xiwangmu and Dongwanggong, and the highest couple of Heaven and Earth, all embody yin and yang and are at once the originators and maintainers of the ordering process of space and time.

[34] Chinese folk religion that incorporates elements of the three teachings in modern times and prior eras sometimes viewed Confucius and the Buddha as immortals or beings synonymous to them.

[69] Northeast China has clusters of deities which are peculiar to the area, deriving from the Manchu and broader Tungusic substratum of the local population.

Qing dynasty Water and Land Ritual painting ( 水陆画 ) of Buddhist, Daoist, and Folk Deities.
A complex of deities at an outdoor fountain-altar with incense burners at a pilgrimage area in Weihai , Shandong . At the centre stands Mazu , surrounded by the four Dragon Gods ( 龍神 ) and various lesser deities. Distant behind Mazu stands the Sun Goddess ( 太陽神 ).
Zhenkong, "Void of Truth".
Zhenkong, "Void of Truth".
Main altar and statue of Doumu inside the Temple of Doumu in Butterworth, Penang , Malaysia .
A temple dedicated to Pangu in Zhunan, Miaoli .
Stoneware figure of a Daoist (Taoist) deity. From China, Ming dynasty, 16th century CE. The British Museum
Wufang Shangdi ( 五方上帝 ), the order of Heaven inscribing worlds as tán , "altar", the Chinese concept equivalent to the Indian mandala . The supreme God conceptualised as the Yellow Deity, and Xuanyuan as its human form, is the heart of the universe and the other Four Deities are his emanations. The diagram is based on the Huainanzi . [ 49 ]
Statue and ceremonial complex of the Yellow and Red Gods in Zhengzhou , Henan .
Temple of the Three Officials of Heaven in Chiling, Zhangpu , Fujian .
Temple of the Great Deity of the Eastern Peak at Mount Tai , Tai'an , Shandong .
Temple of the Wind God in Tainan .
Guan Yu (middle), Guan Ping (his right) and Zhou Cang (his left) at a Chinese folk religious temple in Osaka , Japan . Guandi is one of the most revered gods among Han Chinese.
The Waterside Dame and her two attendants, Lin Jiuniang and Li Sanniang, at the Temple of Heavenly Harmony of the Lushan school of Red Taoism in Luodong , Yilan , Taiwan .
Temple of the Dragon Mother in Deqing , Guangdong .
Taiwanese wooden icon of the Queen of the Earth (Houtu).
Temple of the Four-Faced God in Changhua , Taiwan.