Jade Emperor
Di Yu (Chinese玉帝, Pinyin Yù Dì or玉皇, Yù Huang ), the Jade Emperor (Chinese: Yu = " jade " ), is one of the most important deities in Chinese mythology. The Jade Emperor is worshiped in Daoism as the main God, is recognized as the highest principle of the sky. According to Daoist conception of the Emperor of China was regarded as the earthly son of the Jade Emperor ( son of heaven ).
Cult
His cult was promoted especially in the 11th century by the Song dynasty and they built many temples for him. He is often depicted sitting on a throne with imperial dragon robes, in his hand the ceremony table. The Jade Emperor is one of the Three Pure (三 清Sanqing ) that inhabit the three pure heaven.
Environment and function
In the 17th century BC, Emperor Cheng Tang was the Xia Dynasty destroyed and founded the Shang Dynasty. At that time, the cult of the supreme god " Shangdi " (his titulary so ) and ancestor worship moved closely together. The king, it was believed, received his ruler mandate from heaven and returned after his death back to the side of the " Shangdi " was therefore worshiped with this as the supreme deity.
The Jade Emperor governed from his palace in the sky from all heavenly and earthly affairs. He was Minister, a powerful pedantic administration, numerous personnel, etc., and was thus a reflection of the Confucian system of state administration. From the bottom to the top of the social ladder at his court reports were submitted, praise and blame were distributed, there were promotions and demotions, new gods replaced depending on the power the old ones, a task that of the earthly reign of the Emperor by decree ( the so Emperor finally decided on the " professional " career of the gods ) or but was perceived by Daoist priests, whose religious concepts were now, like those of Buddhism partially fused with Confucianism, especially to clarify the open there left metaphysical questions to (which in the long term but failed to see Neo-Confucianism ). Once a year, on New Year's, all departmental deities reimbursed him report.
Jade
The titulary " Jade Sublime " is not accidental, because the ritualistic appreciation of jade is an essential part of Chinese culture. Early on, and already in the Neolithic people believed that jade make it possible for people to get in touch with the gods and used it as a medium between the earthly and the celestial sphere. About this magical aspect, they associated it with the idea of purity, beauty and grandeur. Jade was also as the embodiment of the bright male Yang principle within the yin-yang duality, and it was the symbol of life force. In particular, the identification of jade with the male principle should have a direct impact on the later combination of ruler and jade. The name Jade Emperor is but for other reasons as further evidence of his Confucian origin, as in Confucianism there was early a Jadekult from which there was a distinct jade - ethics developed, whose key sentence was: " The noble man compares his virtue with Jade". From this ethics then emerged as a late symptom of a relatively rigid Zeremonialjade system.