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taoism and folk chinese religion

Friends, is Taoism monotheistic? I read that in Taoism, there is worship of Jade Emperor as the Supreme Deity. This is carried over from Ancient chinese religion which worshiped Shangdi as the Supreme. Can Jade Emperor be deemed as equivalent to Shangdi?
 

vaguelyhumanoid

Active Member
Having a supreme deity ≠ being monotheistic. There are countless deities and revered ancestral spirits in Chinese folk religion, which is often practiced under the auspices of Taoism. As for Taoist philosophy itself, "Tao precedes the gods".
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
Belief in a Supreme Being or creator is really a matter of philosophy which gets incorporated into religion. Things don't just appear out of nowhere, so the existence of the universe suggests that it was created. But people don't encounter the creator (even Muhammad only claimed to have met an angel). Belief in a creator is pretty widespread, but it can come and go. The early Greeks didn't have a such a belief, but they acquired one in Roman times. Conversely, the ancient Chinese did believe in Shangdi as a creator, but the idea has been largely lost. The imperial cult preserved it. The Emperor would pray at his sacrifice "You made heaven, you made earth, you made man. You have condescended, O Di, to hear us, for you regard us as does a Father."

A statement from the China Daoist Association said "Dao is the origin of everything, Dao took form in the being of the Grandmother Goddess. She came to Earth to enlighten humanity." In other words, Dao is not regarded as a person, but as a force that can manifest as a person, just as Brahman manifests as Ishana in Hindu thought.

The Jade Emperor, Yu Huang, is not the supreme being, but rather the presiding god of this world, responsible for mankind.
 
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