Heaven

== Chinese religions ==
[[File:天-oracle.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.6|Chinese [[Zhou Dynasty]] [[Oracle script]] for ''tian'', the character for "heaven" or "sky"]]
{{Main|Tian}}
[[File:Portraits of Jade Emperor and the Heavenly Kings.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Chinese painting of the [[Jade Emperor]] and [[Four Heavenly Kings|the Heavenly Kings]] of [[Taoist cosmology]].]]

In the native [[China|Chinese]] [[Confucian]] traditions, heaven ([[Tian]]) is an important concept, where the ancestors reside and from which emperors drew their mandate to rule in their dynastic propaganda, for example.

Heaven is a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophies, and religions, and is on one end of the spectrum a synonym of ''[[Shangdi]]'' ("Supreme Deity") and on the other naturalistic end, a synonym for [[nature]] and the sky. The Chinese term for "heaven", ''[[Tian]]'' (天), derives from the name of the supreme deity of the [[Zhou dynasty]]. After their conquest of the [[Shang dynasty]] in 1122 BC, the Zhou people considered their supreme deity ''Tian'' to be identical with the [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] supreme deity ''Shangdi''.<ref>Herrlee Creel, "The Origin of the Deity T'ien" (1970), pp. 493–506.</ref> The Zhou people attributed Heaven with anthropomorphic attributes, evidenced in the etymology of the Chinese character for heaven or sky, which originally depicted a person with a large cranium. Heaven is said to see, hear and watch over all people. Heaven is affected by people's doings, and having personality, is happy and angry with them. Heaven blesses those who please it and sends calamities upon those who offend it.<ref name="Joseph Shih pp 99-138">Joseph Shih, "The Notion of God in the Ancient Chinese Religion," Numen, Vol. 16, Fasc. 2, pp. 99–138, Brill, 1969.</ref> Heaven was also believed to transcend all other spirits and gods, with [[Confucius]] asserting, "He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray."<ref name="Joseph Shih pp 99-138"/>

Other philosophers born around the time of Confucius such as [[Mozi]] took an even more theistic view of heaven, believing that heaven is the divine ruler, just as the [[Emperor of China|Son of Heaven]] (the King of Zhou) is the earthly ruler. Mozi believed that spirits and minor gods exist, but their function is merely to carry out the will of heaven, watching for evil-doers and punishing them. Thus they function as angels of heaven and do not detract from its monotheistic government of the world. With such a high monotheism, it is not surprising that [[Mohism]] championed a concept called "universal love" (''jian'ai'', 兼愛), which taught that heaven loves all people equally and that each person should similarly love all human beings without distinguishing between his own relatives and those of others.<ref>Homer Dubs, "Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy," Philosophy of East and West, Vol 9, No 3/4, pp 163–172, University of Hawaii Press: 1960.</ref> In [[Mozi]]'s ''Will of Heaven'' (天志), he writes:

{{quote box 
| quote="I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk that so the people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and rivers, ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to man's good or bring him evil. He appointed the dukes and lords to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked, and to gather metal and wood, birds and beasts, and to engage in cultivating the five grains and flax and silk to provide for the people's food and clothing. This has been so from antiquity to the present."

Original Chinese: 「且吾所以知天之愛民之厚者有矣，曰以磨為日月星辰，以昭道之；制為四時春秋冬夏，以紀綱之；雷降雪霜雨露，以長遂五穀麻絲，使民得而財利之；列為山川谿谷，播賦百事，以臨司民之善否；為王公侯伯，使之賞賢而罰暴；賊金木鳥獸，從事乎五穀麻絲，以為民衣食之財。自古及今，未嘗不有此也。」
| source=Mozi, ''Will of Heaven'', Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. 5th Century BC
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[[Mozi]] criticized the Confucians of his own time for not following the teachings of Confucius. By the time of the later [[Han dynasty]], however, under the influence of [[Xun Kuang|Xunzi]], the Chinese concept of heaven and Confucianism itself had become mostly naturalistic, though some Confucians argued that Heaven was where ancestors reside. Worship of heaven in China continued with the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the [[Temple of Heaven]] in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to heaven, usually by slaughtering two healthy bulls as a sacrifice.