Editing Shangdi (section)

==Identification==
{{Further|Chinese theology}}

===The Shang progenitor===

{{see also|Religion of the Shang dynasty}}
In Shang sources, Di is already described as the supreme ordainer of the events which occur in nature, such as wind, lightning and thunder, and in human affairs and politics. All the gods of nature are conceived as his envoys or manifestations. Shang sources also attest his cosmological [[Wufang Shangdi|Five Ministries]].{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=71}} Di, or Tian, as later texts explain, did not receive [[cult (religious practice)|cult]] for being too remote for living humans to sacrifice to directly. Instead, an intermediary such as an ancestor was necessary to convey to Di the offerings of the living.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=72}}

According to some prominent scholars, including [[Guo Moruo]], Shangdi was originally identical to [[Emperor Ku|Ku]] (or Kui) or Diku ("''[[Divus]]'' Ku"), the [[progenitor]] (first ancestor) of the Zi ({{lang|zh|子}}) lineage, the founders of the Shang dynasty, attested in the ''[[Shiji]]'' and other texts.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=72}} According to this interpretation, this identification had profound political implications, because it meant that the earthly Shang kings were themselves by birth aspects of divinity.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=73}}

[[File:Shang grapheme for Shàngjiǎ 上甲 (Supreme Ancestor), version 1.svg|thumb|right|180px|alt=Shang designated character for the high ancestor Shangjia.|Shang designated character for the high ancestor Shang Jia.]]Further evidence from Shang sources suggests that there wasn't a complete identification between the two, as Di controls spirits of nature, while Kui does not; Di is frequently pictured sending down "approvals", while Kui is never so pictured; and Kui received cult, while Di did not. Moreover, Kui is frequently appealed in "horizontal" relationship with other powers, undermining any portrait of him as the apex of the pantheon.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=73}}

Interpretations of Shang oracle bones yield the possibility of Di being equated with Shang Jia, the utmost and supreme being of the "Six Spirits" who were predynastic Shang male ancestors. The bone graph for Shang Jia consists of a square encompassing a cross. Since the cross shape is understood to be "Jia", the square is therefore "Shang", indicating it to be the ancestral square that constitute Di's central core.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}}

===Shangdi as the celestial pole===
David Pankenier has studied the astral connections of Shangdi, drawing on a view that interest in the sky was a focal character of the religious practices of the Shang, but also of the earlier [[Xia dynasty|Xia]] and [[Erlitou culture]]s. Especially intriguing is the fact that palatial and ceremonial structures of these cultures were carefully aligned to the [[celestial pole]] and the procession of [[pole star]]s. Pankenier notes that the true celestial pole lies in a sky template which is vacant of significant stars, and that the various pole stars are those nearest to this vacant apex which is of crucial importance.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|pp=73-74}}

He illustrates how the Shang [[oracle bone script|oracular script]] for Di can be projected on the north pole template of the ancient sky in such a way that its extremity points correspond with the visible star, while the intersection of the linear axes at the centre will map to the vacant celestial pole. Pankenier argues that the supreme Di was identified with the celestial pole, an idea familiar in later stages of Chinese religion, linking with the ''Tàiyī'' 太一 ("Great One") fully documented as early as the 4th century BC.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=74}}

The interpretation of Shangdi as the celestial pole, Taiyi and as Ku the progenitor of the Shang is not contradictory. Feng Shi argues that Ku and Di are indeed identical. The Shang probably deliberately identified their ancestor with a universal god recognized in different regions and local cultures in order to legitimize their power.{{sfnb|Eno|2008|p=75}}

=== Multiplicity of Di ===

{{multiple image
| align             = center
| width             = 150
| header            = <small>Shang characters for ''Shangdi'', designed in three most frequently used versions. In all three cases, the central component of the character is a manifestation of the polar square which housed main-lineage Shang ancestors.</small>
| image1            = Shang grapheme for Dì 帝 (Deity), version 1.svg
| caption1          = 
| image2            = Shang grapheme for Dì 帝 (Deity), version 2.svg
| caption2          = 
| image3            = Shang grapheme for dì 禘 or dǐng 鼎 (to divine, to sacrifice).svg
| caption3          = 
}}

Inscriptions of the Shang dynasty point out the collective nature of Shangdi. The fact that the word "Di" was also used to address Shang ancestors show that Di was intimately related to the ancestral spirits. The Shang character for Di features a squared pattern, which was a symbol of the northern ecliptic pole.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} This square composes many Shang ancestral names, and it even denotes temples and altars dedicated to the foremost Shang predynastic ancestors. J. C. Didier pointed out that the central square of the word "Di" housed all main-lineage Shang ancestral spirits.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} These spirits represented Di's core of cosmic divinity and carry his will to bless the human world.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} "Di" also emcompasses non-ancestral deities that could be unfavorable towards living beings, a result of adopting foreign cults. These gods represent Di's authority to exercise control over disastrous events, contrary to "friendly" Shang ancestral square.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} Spirits were considered by the Shang to be consular spirits of Di, and often were given direct offerings as representations of the supreme deity.

Many inscriptions found on Shang bones and bronze indicate that Di's multiplicity could be further understood by interpreting the "Shang" in "Shangdi". Scholars argue that the "Shang" component illustrated the inequivalence between ''Di'' and ''Shangdi''.{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} Shangdi, according to them, was only a part of Di in the mind of the Shang people, and that there was presence of Shangdi's counterpart. Interpreting versions of the character "Di" in Shang texts, Didier found out that versions with two horizontal lines above the graph denoted "Shangdi", while those possessing three lines would connote a broader meaning of "''Shangxiadi''" ({{lang|zh|上下帝}}).{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} This connotation appearing in Shang inscriptions reveal the multiplicity in which the deity was divided into superior (''shang'') and lesser ranks (''xia''). They argued that the adopted spirits which constitute Di's unfavorable actions to them living realm would, possibly, be housed in the lesser rank, or "Xiadi" ({{lang|zh|下帝}}),{{sfnb|Didier|2009}} while the "friendly" ancestral spirits would compose the "Shangdi" as a counterpart.

===Contemporary Confucianism===
Contemporary Confucian theologians have emphasised differences between the Confucian idea of Shangdi, conceived as both [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent]] and [[immanent]], and act only as a governor of the world, and the Christian idea of God, which they conceived contrary to those of Christian as a deity that is completely otherworldly (transcendent) and is merely a creator of the world.<ref>Zhōng Shǐ-shēng, {{lang|zh|天学初征: "天是「統御世間、主善罰惡之天，即《詩》、《易》、《中庸》所稱上帝是也」，但這個主宰之天只是「治世，而非生世，譬如帝王，但治民而非生民也」}}"</ref>{{sfnb|Huang|2007|p=457}}{{Clarification needed|reason=Are the subjects mixed up or reversed here? The God in Christianity article says, in the 2nd sentence, that God is "both transcendent and immanent," whereas this very article says "Shangdi was probably more transcendent than immanent, only working through lesser gods." But this sentence seems to imply the opposite, that Shangdi is immanent, unlike the Christian God.|date=October 2024}}