Yuanshi Tianzun
Chinese · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
The registry held the Jade Emperor and not the three deities above him, which is roughly the position of a Greek registry holding Zeus and not knowing about Chronos, Ouranos or Chaos — except that here the arrangement is doctrinal rather than genealogical. The Sanqing are not ancestors of the Jade Emperor; they are the Dao at three stages of becoming articulate, and the Jade Emperor administers what they constitute. Daoist temples have a Sanqing Hall and it is the principal one.
Domains
- creation
- supreme deity
Relations
- patron of: Jiang ZiyaThe whole machinery of the Investiture of the Gods runs on this grant.Reference treatment of Yuanshi Tianzun bestowing the Fengshen Bang on Jiang Ziya. (secondary)
Sources
- Yuanshi Tianzun is the first of the Three Pure Ones, highest deities of the Daoist pantheon, holder of Jade Purity and the first stage of the Dao's unfolding, who in the Fengshen Yanyi gives Jiang Ziya the list by which the gods are invested.: Reference treatments of the Sanqing and of the Fengshen Yanyi. (secondary)