Chinese Terms For God

Chinese terms for God, especially a "Supreme God", have produced many variations for the title. The oldest records of the term Westerners translate as "God", "Most High God", "Greatest Lord" appear to exist in the earliest documents of Chinese literature as Shangdi (上帝, pinyin: Shàngdì, literally "Above Emperor"). This representation may be as old as 2000 BC. However, as Chinese religion changed to incorporate later interpretations of Confucianism, Daoism, & Buddhism, the term seems to have merged, in the views of some philosophers, with an impersonal Shung Tian, or heaven. (See Shangdi, Pangu, Tian, and Chinese Mythology, for examples and details.)

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Famous quotes containing the words terms and/or god:

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