page_title: Chinese gods and immortals
section_title: Three Patrons and Five Deities
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese gods and immortals / Lists of gods, deities and immortals / Cosmic gods / Three Patrons and Five Deities
caption_attribution_description: 泰安岱庙—— 天贶殿
context_page_description: Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic; many deities are worshipped in a pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating and propagating the way of Heaven, which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements; most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore as the means connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father".
  Gods are innumerable, as every phenomenon has or is one or more gods, and they are organised in a complex celestial hierarchy. Besides the traditional worship of these entities, Confucianism, Taoism and formal thinkers in general give theological interpretations affirming a monistic essence of divinity. "Polytheism" and "monotheism" are categories derived from Western religion and do not fit Chinese religion, which has never conceived the two things as opposites.
context_section_description: 三皇 Sānhuáng — Three Patrons (or Augusts) or 三才 Sāncái — Three Potencies; they are the "vertical" manifestation of Heaven spatially corresponding to the Three Realms (三界 Sānjiè), representing the yin and yang and the medium between them, that is the human being:
  伏羲 Fúxī the patron of heaven (天皇 Tiānhuáng), also called Bāguàzǔshī (八卦祖師 "Venerable Inventor of the Bagua") by the Taoists, is a divine man reputed to have taught to humanity writing, fishing, and hunting.
  女媧 Nǚwā the patron of earth (地皇 Dehuáng), is a goddess attributed for the creation of mankind and mending the order of the world when it was broken.
  神農 Shénnóng — Peasant God, the patron of humanity (人皇 Rénhuáng), identified as Yándì (炎帝 "Flame Deity" or "Fiery Deity"), a divine man said to have taught the techniques of farming, herbal medicine and marketing. He is often represented as a human with horns and other features of an ox.
  五帝 Wǔdì — Five Deities, also Wǔfāng Shàngdì (五方上帝 "Five Manifestations of the Highest Deity"), Wǔfāng Tiānshén (五方天神 "Five Manifestations of the Heavenly God"), Wǔfāngdì (五方帝 "Five Forms Deity"), Wǔtiāndì (五天帝 "Five Heavenly Deities"), Wǔlǎojūn (五老君 "Five Ancient Lords"), Wǔdàoshén (五道神 "Five Ways God(s)"); they are the five main "horizontal" manifestations of Heaven and according with the Three Potencies they have a celestial, a terrestrial and a chthonic form. They correspond to the five phases of creation, the five constellations rotating around the celestial pole and five planets, the five sacred mountains and five directions of space (their terrestrial form), and the five Dragon Gods which represent their mounts, that is to say the material forces they preside over (their chthonic form).
  黃帝 Huángdì — Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity; or 黃神 Huángshén — Yellow God, also known as Xuānyuán Huángdì (軒轅黃帝 "Yellow Deity of the Chariot Shaft"), is the Zhōngyuèdàdì (中岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Central Peak"): he represents the essence of earth and the Yellow Dragon, and is associated with Saturn. The character 黃 huáng, for "yellow", also means, by homophony and shared etymology with 皇 huáng, "august", "creator" and "radiant", identifying the Yellow Emperor with Shangdi (the "Highest Deity"). Huangdi represents the heart of creation, the axis mundi (Kunlun) that is the manifestation of the divine order in physical reality, opening the way to immortality. As the deity of the centre, intersecting the Three Patrons and the Five Deities, in the Shizi he is described as "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" (黃帝四面 Huángdì Sìmiàn). As a human, he is said to have been the fruit of a virginal birth, as his mother Fubao conceived him as she was aroused, while walking in the country, by a lightning from the Big Dipper (Great Chariot). She delivered her son after twenty-four months on the mount of Shou (Longevity) or mount Xuanyuan (Chariot Shaft), after which he was named. He is reputed to be the founder of the Huaxia civilisation, and the Han Chinese identify themselves as the descendants of Yandi and Huangdi.
  蒼帝 Cāngdì — Green Deity; or 青帝 Qīngdì — Blue Deity or Bluegreen Deity, the Dōngdì (東帝 "East Deity") or Dōngyuèdàdì (東岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak"): he is Tàihào 太昊, associated with the essence of wood and with Jupiter, and is the god of fertility and spring. The Bluegreen Dragon is both his animal form and constellation. His female consort is the goddess of fertility Bixia.
  黑帝 Hēidì — Black Deity, the Běidì (北帝 "North Deity") or Běiyuèdàdì (北岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Northern Peak"): he is Zhuānxū (顓頊), today frequently worshipped as Xuánwǔ (玄武 "Dark Warrior") or Zhēnwǔ (真武), and is associated with the essence of water and winter, and with Mercury. His animal form is the Black Dragon and his stellar animal is the tortoise-snake.
  赤帝 Chìdì — Red Deity, the Nándì (帝 "South Deity") or Nányuèdàdì (南岳大帝 "Great Deity of the Southern Peak"): he is Shennong (the "Divine Farmer"), the Yandi ("Fiery Deity"), associated with the essence of fire and summer, and with Mars. His animal form is the Red Dragon and his stellar animal is the phoenix. He is the god
caption: Temple of the Great Deity of the Eastern Peak at Mount Tai, Tai'an, Shandong.
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