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| Tian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Chinese Bronze script character for Tian. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 天 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | heaven, nature | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | thiên | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 天 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 천 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 天 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 天 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kana | てん | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese folk religion |
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Major cultural forms
Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions:
 Confucian churches and sects: |
Tian (天) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their highest god as Shangdi or Di (帝, 'Lord').[1] During the following Zhou dynasty, Tian became synonymous with this figure. Before the 20th century, worship of Tian was an orthodox state religion of China.[further explanation needed]
In Taoism and Confucianism, Tian (the celestial aspect of the cosmos, often translated as "Heaven") is mentioned in relationship to its complementary aspect of Dì (地, often translated as "Earth").[2][3] They are thought to maintain the two poles of the Three Realms of reality, with the middle realm occupied by Humanity (人, rén), and the lower world occupied by demons (魔, mó) and "ghosts", the damned, (鬼, guǐ).[4] Tian was variously thought as a "supreme power reigning over lesser gods and human beings"[5][6] that brought "order and calm...or catastrophe and punishment",[7] a deity,[8][9] destiny,[9][7] an impersonal force that controls events,[5][9] a holy world or afterlife containing other worlds or afterlives,[10][11] or one or more of these.[5]
- ^ Stefon, Matt (2010-02-03). "Shangdi". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ Woodhead, Linda; Partridge, Christopher; Kawanami, Hiroko (2016). Religions in the Modern World (Third ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-0-415-85881-6.
- ^ Wilson, Andrew, ed. (1995). World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts (1st paperback ed.). St. Paul, Minnesota: Paragon House Publishers. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-55778-723-1.
- ^ Woolf, Greg (2007). Ancient civilizations: the illustrated guide to belief, mythology, and art. Barnes & Noble. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-4351-0121-0.
- ^ a b c "tian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
- ^ Harari, Yuval Noah (2015). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Translated by Harari, Yuval Noah; Purcell, John; Watzman, Haim. London: Penguin Random House UK. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-09-959008-8. OCLC 910498369.
- ^ a b Storm, Rachel (2011). Sudell, Helen (ed.). Myths & Legends of India, Egypt, China & Japan (2nd ed.). Wigston, Leicestershire: Lorenz Books. p. 233.
- ^ Willard Gurdon Oxtoby, ed. (2002). World Religions: Eastern Traditions (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. p. 424. ISBN 0-19-541521-3. OCLC 46661540.
- ^ a b c Carrasco et al. 1999, p. 1096.
- ^ "xian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
- ^ Carlson, Kathie; Flanagin, Michael N.; Martin, Kathleen; Martin, Mary E.; Mendelsohn, John; Rodgers, Priscilla Young; Ronnberg, Ami; Salman, Sherry; Wesley, Deborah A. (2010). Arm, Karen; Ueda, Kako; Thulin, Anne; Langerak, Allison; Kiley, Timothy Gus; Wolff, Mary (eds.). The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images. Köln: Taschen. p. 280. ISBN 978-3-8365-1448-4.