Cāngdì (蒼帝 "Green Deity" or "Green Emperor") of Dōngyuèdàdì (东岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak") is the manifestation of the supreme God associated with the essence of wood and spring, for which he is worshipped as the god of fertility. The Bluegreen Dragon (青龙 Qīnglóng) is both his animal form and constellation, and as a human, he was Tàihào 太昊 (Fu Xi).[1] His female consort is the goddess of fertility Bixia. His astral body is Jupiter.[2]
Names
Cāngdì (蒼帝 "Green Deity" or "Green Emperor") goes by several other names, such as Cāngshén (蒼神 "Green God"), also known as Qīngdì (青帝 "Blue Deity" or "Bluegreen Deity") or Qīngshén (青神 "Bluegreen God"), and cosmologically as the Dōngdì (东帝 "East Deity") or Dōngyuèdàdì (东岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak").[1]
Overview
The Confucian text, the Rites of Zhou, discusses the concept of the so-called "Wufang Shangdi". The History, quoted in the Kokuyo, refers to the following: Cangdi (or Qingdi), Huangdi, Heidi, Chidi, and Baidi. The names of the five emperors are not specified in the literature. The name of the Green Emperor is judged to be "Ling Wei Yang".[3]
Dongyue Emperor
| Cangdi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 東嶽大帝 | ||
| Simplified Chinese | 东岳大帝 | ||
| |||
As Dōngyuèdàdì (东岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak", which is Mount Tai), Cangdi is worshipped as a Daoist deity of the sacred mountain Mount Tai.[4][1] He is also considered significant in Chinese Buddhism.[5]
Since ancient times, Mount Tai has been seen as a place where the spirits of the dead gather, so the god of Mount Tai was thought to be the supreme deity of the underworld and governs the lifespan and status of humans in this world.[6] In Daoism, it is often said that he is the grandson of the Jade Emperor.[6]
During the Han dynasty, Emperors performed the Feng Shan ceremony on Mount Tai.[7] At this time, the ceremony was considered highly important and completing Feng Shan allowed the emperor to receive the mandate of heaven.[8] It was started in 219 BC, by Qin Shihuang, after unifying China.[9]
Over time, the role of the Dongyue Emperor expanded, moving from a local deity to a deity associated with life and death as a whole.[5]
The ritual of the storming of the city (打城) is performed in Taiwan and associated Dongyue Emperor, demonstrating this shift.[5][10]
Literature
 |
The Beginning of the Ji Zhou Period
The Etiquette and Ceremonial notes state that Jiang Shu, a later concubine of Emperor Xuan, became pregnant when she stepped on the giant footprints of Emperor Qing and gave birth to Huji, who became the founder of the Zhou dynasty.
See also
References
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
