Contemporary Confucianism Shangdi

sacred altar @ temple of heaven, beijing

as mentioned above, sacrifices offered shangdi king claimed traditional chinese histories predate xia dynasty. surviving archaeological record shows shang, shoulder blades of sacrificed oxen used send questions or communication through fire , smoke divine realm, practice known scapulimancy. heat cause bones crack , royal diviners interpret marks shangdi s response king. inscriptions used divination buried special orderly pits, while practice or records buried in common middens after use.

under shangdi or later names, deity received sacrifices ruler of china in every chinese dynasty annually @ great temple of heaven in imperial capital. following principles of chinese geomancy, located in southern quarter of city. during ritual, healthy bull slaughtered , presented animal sacrifice shangdi. book of rites states sacrifice should occur on longest day on round-mound altar. altar have 3 tiers: highest shangdi , son of heaven; second-highest sun , moon; , lowest natural gods such stars, clouds, rain, wind, , thunder.

it important note shangdi never represented either images or idols. instead, in center building of temple of heaven, in structure called imperial vault of heaven , spirit tablet (神位, shénwèi) inscribed name of shangdi stored on throne, huangtian shangdi (皇天上帝). during annual sacrifice, emperor carry these tablets north part of temple of heaven, place called prayer hall harvests , , place them on throne.

cite error: there <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on page, references not show without {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see page).