Three pure
The three pure ones (三 清 sān qīng) represent the highest triad of the Daoist pantheon . They are embodiments of the original Qì (元气 yuánqì), the Dào and the cosmic deity .
The Yuanqi is embodied by the Yuánshǐ Tianzun (元始天尊), the sky very worthy of first beginning, the Dào by Língbǎo Tianzun (灵宝天尊), the sky very worthy of the above natural treasure and cosmic deity by the divinised Lǎozǐ , Taishang Daojun (太上道君), the highest venerable of the Dào, or Dàodé Tiānzūn (道德 天尊), the heavenly venerable of the way and virtue, also called Lǎojūn (老君), the venerable old man.
The three pure also denote the three heavens in which these deities reside. The three heavens are Yùqīng (玉清), the jader unit, assigned to the Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn, Shàng qīng (上清), the highest purity, assigned to the Língbǎo Tiānzūn and Tài qīng (太清), the great purity with the Dàodé Tiānzūn.
During the Sòng dynasty , the Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn was replaced by the Jade Emperor (玉帝 Yù Dì or 玉皇 Yù Huáng) as the highest deity.
The iconography of the three pure is multifaceted and was often depicted for liturgical purposes in particular . The three of them have cheerful faces and sit side by side surrounded by a richly decorated aureole . Their coats are adorned with clouds, constellations, pearls and trigrams . They wear the headgear of Daoist priests and in front of each is the head of a monster.
The Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn sits in the middle, sometimes with the eight trigrams in his hand, on his right sits Lǎozǐ with a fan in his hand and on his left the Língbǎo Tiānzūn, who holds a scepter in the form of a magic mushroom.
Today most Daoist groups worship the three pure ones. Some groups worship the deified Laozi as the highest deity because they assume that he is the Dao itself, that it existed before the cosmos was created and that it appears in different forms. In every Taoist temple there is a hall of the three pure.
literature
- Werner Eichhorn : The religions of China. In: Christel Matthias Schröder (ed.): The religions of mankind. Vol. 21. Stuttgart, Kohlhammer 1973.
- Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the Eastern wisdom teachings. Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. (Everything about philosophy, religion, psychology, mysticism, culture, literature of the Far East) . 2nd edition of the special edition. Munich, Barth 1994, ISBN 3-502-67403-5 .
