79-542: The Queen Mother of the West , known by various local names , is a mother goddess in Chinese religion and mythology , also worshipped later in neighbouring countries. She is attested from ancient times. The first historical information on her can be traced back to Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions that record sacrifices to a "Western Mother". Even though these inscriptions illustrate that she predates organized Taoism , she
158-505: A creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, and/or the life-giving bounties thereof in a maternal relation with humanity or other gods. When equated in this lattermost function with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as the Mother Earth or Earth Mother , deity in various animistic or pantheistic religions. The earth goddess
237-599: A Crowd! A lofty meeting inside the Cyan Audience Hall. Arrayed Attendants perform Cloud Songs; Realized intonations fill the Grand Empty Space. Every thousand years, her purple crabapple ripens; Every four kalpas , her numinous melon produces abundantly. This music differs from that at the feast in the wilderness— So convivial, and certainly infinite. The first mentions of the Queen Mother date back to
316-548: A Mother Letter, and every word uttered by Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a Mother Word, and His Tablet a Mother Tablet." There is difference of opinion between the academic and the popular conception of the term Mother goddess . The popular view is mainly driven by the Goddess movement and reads that primitive societies initially were matriarchal , worshipping a sovereign, nurturing, motherly earth goddess . This
395-534: A child is born. The Bamboo Annals record that in the 9th year of reign of the legendary sage king Emperor Shun , "messengers from the western Wang-mu (Queen Mother) came to do him homage." It further notes that "the coming to court from the Western Wang-mu was to present white stone rings and archers' thimbles of gem." Shun's immediate successor was Yu the Great , who was Shun's prime minister and already present in
474-408: A female-dominated one). That this form of society ever existed was supposedly supported by many figurines that were found. In academic circles, this prehistoric matriarchy is considered unlikely. Firstly, worshiping a mother goddess does not necessarily mean that women ruled society. In addition, the figurines can also portray ordinary women or goddesses, and it is unclear whether there really ever
553-532: A goddess of war and sex. Other stories hold that she is a mountain goddess or a divine tigress. She is also popularly thought to have blessed the Eight Immortals with their supernatural abilities. After her integration into the Taoist pantheon, she gradually took on associations with other aspects, such as immortality , as well as being the god of stars, directions, profit, and the sun and moon. The worship of
632-586: A long life. They see the Mother sitting on the Lotus Throne , surrounded by golden light. They are received and led to their original place. In the sect tradition, for example as explained in the "Precious Repentance of Blood Lake" of Hongyangism ( 弘阳敎 ), the condition of suffering is inherent to the human being in the world, necessary to creation itself. The material world is likened to a "Blood Lake", filthy and dirty waters that necessarily flow out of women's bodies when
711-675: A parallel in calling Mary "Our Mother" and the Almighty Yahweh as "Our Father". In contrast to the Pagan notion of a fertility goddess , Mary is both the Perpetual Virgin and the Mother of God at the same time, she is not considered the "Heavenly Mother" in reference to God the Father or the "Heavenly Father" as her consort . St Mary has never been referred to as a goddess in the Gospel 's accounts of
790-489: A part of the collective unconscious of all humans; various adherents of Jung, most notably Erich Neumann and Ernst Whitmont , have argued that such an archetype underpins many of its own mythologies and may even precede the image of the paternal "father." Such speculations help explain the universality of such mother goddess imagery around the world. The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have been sometimes explained as depictions of an Earth Goddess similar to Gaia. In
869-510: A society dominated by women: Emphasis on sex in art is invariably connected with male impulse and desire. The idea that there could have been a matriarchy and a cult of the mother goddess was supported by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . This gave rise to a modern cult of the Mother Goddess with annual pilgrimages being organized at Çatalhöyük. Since 1993, excavations were resumed, now headed by Ian Hodder with Lynn Meskell as head of
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#1732851411548948-675: Is archetypally the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky Father or Father Heaven , particularly in theologies derived from the Proto-Indo-European sphere (i.e. from Dheghom and Dyeus ). In some polytheistic cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion which narrates the cosmic egg myth, the sky is instead seen as the Heavenly Mother or Sky Mother as in Nut and Hathor , and
1027-500: Is described in Li Qi's long work "Songs of the Queen Mother": The Martial Illustrious One fasted and observed abstinence in his Basilica for Receiving Florescence; As he stood upright with folded hands, instantly the Queen Mother came to grant him an audience. Rainbow standards numinously flashing: her qilin-drawn chariots, With feathered parasols streaming and pheasant fans. Her fingers holding intertwined pears, she sent them along for
1106-716: Is described in many ways in the scriptures of some Chinese folk religious sects . For instance, an excerpt from the Precious Scripture of the Dragon Flower ( c. 1654 ), pertaining to the Dragon Flower sect, says: After the emergence of the Ancient Awakened, heaven and earth were established; after the rise of the Eternal Venerable Mother, Former Heaven was established. The Eternal Venerable Mother conceives from herself and begets yin and yang . The yin
1185-458: Is highly unlikely that such a civilization ever existed. For a long time, feminist authors claimed that these peaceful, matriarchal agrarian societies were exterminated or subjugated by nomadic, patriarchal warrior tribes. An important contribution to this was that of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . Her work in this field has been questioned. Among feminist archaeologists this vision is nowadays also considered highly controversial. Since
1264-766: Is most often associated with Taoism. The growing popularity of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the beliefs that she was the dispenser of prosperity, longevity, and eternal bliss, took place during Han dynasty , in the 2nd century BCE, when the northern and western parts of China became more accessible through the opening of the Silk Road . Queen Mother of the West is a calque of Xiwangmu in Chinese sources , Seiōbo in Japan , Seowangmo in Korea , and Tây Vương Mẫu in Vietnam . She has numerous titles, one being Yaochi Jinmu ( 瑤池金母 ),
1343-496: Is sometimes called "Mother" because she bore stars and Sun god . Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine. In Kongo religion , the Sky Mother , Nzambici , was the female counterpart of the Sky Father and Solar god , Nzambi Mpungu . Originally, they were seen as one spirit with one half male and the other half female. After the introduction of Christianity to Central Africa ,
1422-579: Is the daughter and the yang is the son. Their names are Fuxi and Nüwa respectively. From another section of the Dragon Flower , "It is required that all male and female members gather with neither difference nor discrimination". Equality of men and women is a characteristic element of the Chinese sectarian tradition, for both males and females are equally children of the Eternal Mother, and both of them are
1501-468: Is the divine ground of all being, the "world soul". This masculine potential is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately all manifestations of the one great mother. Shakti, herself, can free the individual from demons of ego, ignorance, and desire that bind the soul in maya (illusion) . Practitioners of the Tantric tradition focus on Shakti to free themselves from
1580-579: The Dao De Jing . This dichotomy of the Queen Mother as the superior is a characteristic of Shangqing Taoism , a goddess worshiping sect of Taoism of which Tu Kuang-ting was a master. There is also an account of a meeting between the Queen Mother and Laozi in Tang poetry. This account however, being of traditional Taoist thought, has the Queen Mother taking an inferior role to Laozi, calling him "Primordial Lord" (the title of his highest manifestation) and pays homage to
1659-759: The Annunciation , Wedding at Cana , or the Magnificat . Since the Apostolic age the church has believed that Mary entered heaven alive after her death and subsequent resurrection , known as the Assumption in the west and the Dormition in the east. As the foremost saint , some Christians believe she continues to supernaturally intervene in the world through Marian apparitions ( Our Lady of Velankanni ), Marian shrines ( Our Lady of Zeitoun ) and Marian devotions ( Our Lady of
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#17328514115481738-608: The Baháʼí Faith , Baha'u'llah uses the Mother as an attribute of God: "And when He Who is well-grounded in all knowledge, He Who is the Mother, the Soul, the Secret, and the Essence thereof, revealeth that which is the least contrary to their desire, they bitterly oppose Him and shamelessly deny Him.". Baha'u'llah further writes that "Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God is indeed
1817-692: The Latter Day Saint denomination . Some believe in multiple Heavenly Mothers married to one Heavenly Father in a polygynous relationship. Zahng Gil-jah is a South Korean woman, by the World Mission Society Church of God believed to be “God the Mother” ( Korean : 어머니 하나님 ; RR : Eomeoni Hananim ; Korean pronunciation: [ʌmʌɲi hanaɲim] ). Church members may also call her “ New Jerusalem Mother”, “Mother Jerusalem”, or “Heavenly Mother”. In Theosophy ,
1896-517: The Stanford Figurines Project that examined the figurines of Çatalhöyük. This team came to different conclusions than Gimbutas and Mellaart. Only a few of the figurines were identified as female and these figurines were found not so much in sacred spaces, but seemed to have been discarded randomly, sometimes in garbage heaps. This rendered a cult of the mother goddess in this location as unlikely. In Egyptian mythology , sky goddess Nut
1975-572: The Warring States period . The book is not a narrative, as the "plot" involves detailed descriptions of locations in the cardinal directions of the Mountains , Regions Beyond Seas , Regions Within Seas , and Wilderness . The descriptions are usually of medicines , animals, and geological features. Many descriptions are very mundane, and an equal number are fanciful or strange. Each chapter follows roughly
2054-697: The absolute principle of reality , or the creational origin of all things. Tang writers called her "Golden Mother the First Ruler", the "Golden Mother of Tortoise Mountain", "She of the Nine Numina and the Grand Marvel", and the "Perfected Marvel of the Western Florescence and Ultimate Worthy of the Cavernous Darkness". Commoners and poets of the era referred to her more simply as the "Queen Mother",
2133-407: The cosmos . The Shakti sect is strongly associated with Samkhya , and Tantra Hindu philosophies and ultimately, is monist . The primordial feminine creative-preservative-destructive energy, Shakti , is considered to be the motive force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos. The cosmos itself is purusha , the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality that
2212-530: The earth god is regarded as the male, paternal, and terrestrial partner, as in Osiris or Geb who hatched out of the maternal cosmic egg . Between 1961 and 1965 James Mellaart led a series of excavations at Çatalhöyük , north of the Taurus Mountains in a fertile agricultural region of South- Anatolia . Striking were the many statues found here, which Mellaart suggested represented a Great goddess, who headed
2291-485: The oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty (1766 – 1122 BCE). One inscription reads: Crack-making on day IX (9th day), we divined. If we make offering to the eastern mother and the western mother, there will be approval. Western Mother refers to an archaic divinity residing in the west. The exact nature of the Mother divinities in the Shang dynasty is unclear, but they were seen as powerful forces deserving of ritual by
2370-475: The "Divine Mother", or simply "Nanny" ( Amah ). The Queen Mother of the West is most often depicted holding court within her palace on the mythological Mount Kunlun , usually supposed to be in western China (a modern Mount Kunlun is named after this). Her palace is believed to be a perfect and complete paradise, where it was used as a meeting place for the deities and a cosmic pillar where communications between deities and humans were possible. At her palace she
2449-546: The "Golden Mother of the Jade Pond (瑤池)" (also translated "Turquoise Pond"). She is also known in contemporary sources as the Lady Queen Mother. In Chinese salvationist religions , she is believed to be the same being as their main deity, Wusheng Laomu ( Chinese : 無生老母 ; lit. 'birthless old mother'), also known as Wujimu ( 無極母 ; lit. ' infinite mother ' ). The title, Wujimu, signifies
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2528-518: The "Overseas Classic" and "Inside Seas Classic" were written by people from the Qin dynasty , and the "Great Farmland Classic" was produced when Liu Xiu revised it. Moving to the 20th century, some scholars put forward that the author of the book was Zou Yan in the Warring States period . This theory originated from Liu Shipei, who in his research on "A Study of Zou Yan's Theory on the Plurality of Literature in
2607-409: The 1960s, especially in popular culture , the alleged worship of the mother goddess and the social position that women in prehistoric societies supposedly assumed, were linked. This made the debate a political one. According to the goddess movement, the current male-dominated society should return to the egalitarian matriarchy of earlier times (though a matriarchy is not an egalitarian society, but
2686-701: The Celestial Illustrious One's palace." Turning her head back, she told the servant girl, Dong Shuangcheng, "The wind is finished; you may perform on the Cloud Harmony Mouth Organ." Red auroral clouds and the white sun, in strict attendance, did not move; Seven dragons and five phoenixes in variegated disarray greeted them. How regrettable! He was too ambitious and arrogant; the divinities were not satisfied, But sighed and lamented over his horses' hooves and chariots' wheel tracks. In his covered walkways, song bells became hard to discern in
2765-567: The Collyridians as heretics, holding that Mary was only to be honoured, and not to be worshipped like the God-man of Christianity . In the Latter Day Saint movement , particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , many adherents believe in a Heavenly Mother as the wife of God the Father. They are collectively referred to as Heavenly Parents . The theology varies, however, according to
2844-637: The Creatress of all life. She is associated with the full moon and stars, the Earth , and the sea. In Wicca , the Earth Goddess is sometimes called Gaia . The name of the mother goddess varies depending on the Wiccan tradition. English historian Ronald Hutton, however, has forcefully stated that any use of the term "Mother-Goddess" can be accounted for, and disregarded, as the scholars and mythographers' own projection of
2923-428: The Earth goddess is called the " Planetary Logos of Earth ". The Mother Goddess, or Great Goddess , is a composite of various feminine deities from past and present world cultures, worshiped by modern Wicca and others broadly known as Neopagans. She is considered sometimes identified as a Triple Goddess , who takes the form of Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes . She is described as Mother Earth, Mother Nature, or
3002-893: The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, and disregard Protestant objections to Marian devotion . She is regarded as "Our Mother", the Blessed Mother , or the Holy Mother as she gave birth to Jesus Christ , since Christians alike refer to themselves as " Brothers and Sisters in Christ ". There is a Pater Noster but no equivalent Mater Nostra , however the Hail Mary and the Sub Tuum Praesidium have been popular forms of prayer and praise to Virgin Mary for many centuries. Some may perceive
3081-691: The Grand Historian - Biography of Dawan". The author of the book was first clearly identified in "The table of the Classic Mountains and Seas" written by Liu Xiu in the Western Han dynasty . Liu Xiu believed that the Classic of Mountains and Seas was written by Yu the Great and Boyi , during the classical era around Xia dynasty . Wang Chong and Zhao Ye in the Eastern Han dynasty also identified
3160-549: The Queen Mother and Laozi (Lord Lao): "In the 25th year of King Chao of the Chou dynasty (1028 BCE) ..." "...Lord Lao and the realized person Yin Hsi went traveling..." "...on their behalf, the Queen Mother of the West explicated the Scripture of Constant Purity and Quiet." In this account, the Queen Mother plays the role of Laozi's superior and is credited with the ultimate authorship of
3239-548: The Queen Mother is organised today in Taiwan as Yaochidao . One of the earliest written references to the Queen Mother comes from the writings of the Taoist writer Zhuangzi ( c. 4th century BCE ): The Queen Mother of the West obtained it [the Dao]... ...and took up her seat at Shao kuang. No one knows her beginning; no one knows her end. Zhuangzi describes the Queen Mother as one of
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3318-570: The Queen Mother of the West and King Mu has been compared to that of a Taoist master and disciple. She passes on secret teachings to him at his request and he, the disciple, fails to benefit, and dies like any other mortal. The first emperor of the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang , united the Warring States of China through brilliant military strategy and diplomacy to control the greatest territory yet seen in China. It
3397-421: The Rosary ). According to Mariology and Scholasticism branches of study, though Mary is venerated as the foremost saint, she is still a creature and never viewed as an equal of the Triune God who is the Creator . In pre-Islamic Arabia , Collyridians were an unorthodox Christian denomination who reportedly worshipped Virgin Mary by making burnt offerings of dough to her. Ancient Christians viewed
3476-400: The Virgin Mary onto the evidence and source data. More recently Hutton was criticized in a review for ignoring the evidence of numerous goddesses identified as either mothers or both virgin and mother in pre-Christian antiquity, in addition to providing no evidence or secondary citations with which to substantiate his own position. Carl Gustav Jung suggested that the archetypal mother was
3555-403: The Warring States period", based on the books Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven and Tian Wen . On the basis of summarizing the research achievements of the previous dynasties scholars, Bi Yuan of the Qing dynasty further proposed that different sections of the book were written separately by different authors. He claimed that the "Mountains Classic" was written by Yu the Great and Boyi ,
3634-470: The West met during the height of Wu's reign, when she visited him during the night of Double Seven , the night for encounters between mortal men and divine women. When the Queen Mother of the West visits Emperor Wu she shares a banquet with him, grants him special teachings, and then departs. Emperor Wu just like King Mu before him fails to follow her teachings, and fails to put them into practice, and therefore he inevitably dies. The whole story of their meeting
3713-425: The Western Han Dynasty" inferred that, according to records in Mozi , the book Biographic of the Great Yu was a combined version of Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dawan and the Classic of Mountains and Seas , which supports the idea that the book was written by Zou Yan. In addition, some scholars also believe that the author of the book is written by a disciple of Mozi , named Sui Chaozi, during
3792-410: The approaching evening; In the deep palace, peach and plum flowers turned snowy. Now I just look at my blue jade five-branched lamp; Its coiled dragon spits fire as the light is about to be severed. Mother goddess A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of
3871-405: The authenticity of assigning the book's authors as Yu the Great and Boyi . Chen Zhensun's Zhizhai Bibliography , Zhu Xi 's Annotations on Chu Ci: Dialectical Differentiation of Chu Ci , Hu Yinglin's Shaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster and others have acknowledged that it is a book written during the classical era, but it is not written by Yu the Great and Boyi . Many people also believe that
3950-416: The author as Boyi in their works, and was modified by later generations in the process of spreading. In Zhao Ye's Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue , Guo Pu 's Preface of Classic Mountains and Seas , and Yan Zhitui's The Yan Family's instructions ,' all of them supported the idea that the book's authors are Yu the Great and Boyi . However, scholars after the Tang dynasty raised doubts about
4029-430: The belief in Chinese thinking is that the teacher automatically surpasses the pupil in seniority and wisdom. Probably one of the best known stories of contact between a goddess and a mortal ruler is between King Mu of Zhou and the Queen Mother of the West. There are several different accounts of this story but they all agree that King Mu, one of the greatest rulers of the Zhou, set out on a trip with his eight chargers to
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#17328514115484108-435: The book different orientations according to various research directions and theories. Due to the introduction of Western anthropology, folklore/ etc., many scholars regarded the book as a synthesis of various disciplines, using it as a reference for analysis and summarizations. The mythological creatures first described in Shanhaijing appear in many historical and modern stories and art based on Chinese mythology; for examples,
4187-413: The book was written by the descendants according to a map, which is the text description of the map named "Mountains and Seas". Zhu Xi from the Southern Song dynasty and the scholar from Ming dynasty Hu Yinglin believed that the book was written by a curious person during the Warring States period . Hu Yinglin recorded in his Shaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster that the book was by "a curious man in
4266-410: The chance to meet the Queen Mother serves as a warning to later men, as despite huge and costly efforts to pursue immortality, he died and speaks no more. The 9th century poet Zhuang Nanjie wrote: His flourishing breath once departed, he never more will speak; His white bones buried deep, the evening mountains turn cyan. According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty and the Queen Mother of
4345-484: The court at this time. The Xunzi , a 3rd-century BCE classic of statecraft written by Xun Kuang , wrote that "Yu studied with the Queen Mother of the West". This passage refers to Yu the Great , the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty , and posits that the Queen Mother of the West was Yu's teacher. It is believed that she grants Yu both legitimacy, and the right to rule, and the techniques necessary for ruling. The fact that she taught Yu gives her enormous power, since
4424-399: The cycle of karma . The worship of the mother deity can be traced back to early Vedic culture. The Rigveda calls the divine female power Mahimata (R.V. 1.164.33) which means "great mother". Although no Mother Goddess exists in Christianity, both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church revere Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, a rendering of Theotokos and Deipara since
4503-407: The depiction of him in the Classic of History . Earlier Chinese scholars referred to it as a bestiary , but apparently assumed it was accurate. In fact, the information in the book is mythological. It is not known why it was written or how it came to be viewed as an accurate geography book. Ancient Chinese scholars also called it an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge and a strange work with
4582-468: The description of Nzambi changed to Creator God and Nzambici to his wife, "God the essence, the god on earth, the great princess, the mother of all the animals, and the mystery of the Earth." In Hinduism , Saraswati , Lakshmi , Radha , Parvati , Durga and other goddesses represents both the feminine aspect and the shakti (power) of the supreme being known as the Brahman . The divine mother goddess, manifests herself in various forms, representing
4661-472: The early Han dynasty . It is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre- Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology . The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels . Since Sima Qian , the debate about the author(s) of the book has been going on for more than two thousand years. The earliest records of the Classic of Mountains and Seas can be found in Sima Qian 's "Records of
4740-470: The emperor to eat; By means of them one can prolong life and preside over the cosmos. On top of her head she wore the nine-starred crown; She led a flock of jade lads, then sat facing south. "Do you want to hear my essential words? Now I'll report them to you." The emperor thereupon burned incense and requested such a discussion. "If you can rarefy your earth soul and dispatch the three corpses, Afterward you will certainly have an audience with me at
4819-469: The far western regions of his empire. As he obtains the eight chargers and has the circuit of his realm, it proves that he has the Mandate of Heaven. On his journey he encounters the Queen Mother of the West on the mythical Mount Kunlun. They then have a love affair, and King Mu, hoping to obtain immortality, gives the Queen Mother important national treasures. In the end he must return to the human realm, and does not receive immortality. The relationship between
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#17328514115484898-414: The highest of the deities, meaning she had gained immortality and celestial powers. Zhuangzi also states that Xiwangmu is seated upon a spiritual western mountain range, suggesting she is connected to not only the heavens, but also to the west. In Tu Kuang-ting's text, he includes narrative accounts of the Queen Mother's encounters with legendary Chinese heroes. One such account narrates an encounter between
4977-443: The most myths that records ancient China's "history, philosophy, mythology, religion, medicine, folklore, and ethnicity", reflecting a wide range of cultural phenomena and also involving "geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals ..." Contemporary academia has three main different arguments for the nature of the book: During this period, the contents of the book were considered authentic and reliable. All
5056-437: The mountains, rivers, strange objects and creatures recorded in the book are credible. Through this period, the book was regarded as a fictional work. Due to people's increasing cognition of the world and the prevalence of novels in the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, the credibility of the Classic of Mountains and Seas gradually decreased. More people started to believe in the Novel Theory. During this period, researchers gave
5135-414: The pantheon of an essentially matriarchal culture. A seated female figure, flanked by what Mellaart describes as lionesses , was found in a grain-bin; she may have intended to protect the harvest and grain. He considered the sites as shrines , with especially the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük capturing the imagination. There was also a large number of sexless figurines, which Mellaart regarded as typical for
5214-498: The peaches were located, the Queen Mother of the West is widely known for serving peaches to her guests, which would then make them immortal. She normally wears a distinctive headdress with the Peaches of Immortality suspended from it. Flourishing parasols, we reach the chronograms' extremity; Riding on the mist, I wander to Lofty Whirlwind Peak. The Lady of the Supreme Primordial descends through jade interior doors; The Queen Mother opens her Blue-gem Palace. Celestial people—What
5293-420: The people of the Shang dynasty. Originally, from the earliest known depictions of her in accounts like the Classic of Mountains and Seas during the Zhou dynasty , she was a ferocious goddess of death with the teeth of a tiger , who rules over wild beasts and sends down heavenly punishments such as pestilences . She was also mentioned as an authority ruling over other divinities such as Jiutian Xuannü ,
5372-482: The period) from the Tang dynasty. After the fall of the Tang dynasty, ( c. 910 – c. 920 ) a Shang-ching Taoist master and court chronicler named Du Guangting wrote a hagiographical biography of the queen mother as part of his text "Yung ch'eng chi hsien lu" ("Records of the Assembled Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City"). This account represents the most complete source of information about Tang society's perceptions of Xiwangmu. Because she
5451-407: The sage. During the Tang dynasty (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907) poetry flourished throughout China (this period is commonly known as the "Golden age of Chinese poetry"). It was during this period that the Queen Mother became an extremely popular figure in poetry. Her mythology was recorded in the poems of the Complete Tang Poems , a collection of surviving poems (of an estimated 50,000 written during
5530-408: The same formula, and the whole book is repetitious in this way. It contains many short myths, and most rarely exceed a paragraph. A famous ancient Chinese myth from this book is that of Yu the Great , who spent years trying to control the deluge . The account of him is in the last chapter, chapter 18, in the 2nd to last paragraph (roughly verse 40). This account is a much more fanciful account than
5609-429: The same in the "Former Heaven", the original state of birth from the goddess. The aim of every follower of the Wusheng Laomu is to return to her. For example, an excerpt of the "Precious Scroll Explaining the Great Vehicle " says: After preaching the wonderful message with an enlightened mind and manifested nature, they return home in complete pleasure. ... All children are redeemed and reunited ... and they will resume
5688-453: The universal creative force . She becomes Mother Nature (Mula Prakriti), who gives birth to all life forms and nourishes them through her body. Ultimately she re-absorbs all life forms back into herself, or "devours" them to sustain herself as the power of death feeding on life to produce new life. She also gives rise to Maya (the illusory world) and to prakriti , the force that galvanizes the divine ground of existence into self-projection as
5767-450: The way are her dependents. The Queen Mother of the West was said to care for all woman Daoists in the universe, both perfected and aspirants. Tang writers frequently refer to her in poems about Daoist women. In accordance with the Shang Ch'ing vision expressed by Tu, she appears as teacher judge, registrar, and Guardian of female believers. Her forms reflect Tu's definitions. The Queen Mother
5846-462: Was a mother goddess. Classic of Mountains and Seas The Classic of Mountains and Seas , also known as Shanhai jing ( Chinese : 山海经 ), formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching , is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE, but the present form was not reached until
5925-527: Was also under his command that workers joined pre-existing sections of wall to create the Great Wall of China. Even after these accomplishments he is known in history as a failure both as a king and as a seeker of immortality. Qin had the opportunity to meet the Queen Mother of the West and attain greatness from her, but instead wasted it and died without the Mandate of Heaven or a dynasty. His story of not jumping at
6004-460: Was based upon the nineteenth-century ideas of unilineal evolution of Johann Jakob Bachofen . According to the academic view, however, both Bachofen and the modern Goddess theories are a projection of contemporary world views on ancient myths, rather than attempting to understand the mentalité of that time. Often this is accompanied by a desire for a lost civilization from a bygone era that would have been just, peaceful, and wise. However, it
6083-472: Was held in especially high regard by Chinese women who did not represent the societal norm of the submissive woman. To these women, The Queen Mother of the West was seen as "a powerful, independent deity representing the ultimate yin controlling immortality and the afterlife." Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Wusheng Laomu
6162-509: Was surrounded by a female retinue of prominent goddesses and spiritual attendants. One of her symbols is the Big Dipper . Although not definite there are many beliefs that her garden had a special orchard of longevity peaches which would ripen once every three thousand years, others believe though that her court on Mount Kunlun was nearby to the orchard of the Peaches of Immortality . No matter where
6241-460: Was the highest goddess of the Taoist religion and ruler of female Transcendents, The Queen Mother was seen to have had a special relationship with all women. In the beginning section of Tu Kuang-ting's hagiography, he lists the most important functions of the Queen Mother: In heaven, beneath heaven, in the three worlds, and in the ten directions all women who ascend to transcendence and attain
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