According to Daoist myths, the vast and complex court of the
Chinese emperor was mirrored in a celestial court of immortals
who served his heavenly counterpart, the Jade Emperor. Even
the deities of other religions such as Buddhism were seen as a
part of this huge organization of gods and goddesses. By making
offerings, believers sought the blessings and help of these deities.The Court of the Jade Emperor
Yühuang
The Jade Emperor is usually
portrayed as a bearded man
wearing the regalia of a mortal
emperor, and clasping to his
chest a tablet of jade.EAST ASIAAt the emperor’s side sat Xi Wangmu (Queen Mother of the
West), the empress of heaven. A powerful goddess, she had
her own palace, built of gold and surrounded by a garden
with trees that bore the magical Peaches of Immortality. The
fruit took a thousand years to ripen, but when they were ready
to eat, they gave eternal life to the eater.PROTECTORS OF CHINA
The Jade Emperor’s court included many gods who looked
after diferent aspects of life on Earth, helping people in their
daily lives. Longwang, known as the dragon king, took care
of the waters, especially the seas and rivers, and was also
considered to be the god of rain. Yue Lao took the
form of an old man who lived on the moon, and
cared for couples when they got married.
However, the most important god to
humans was Zao Jun, known as the Kitchen
God. People kept his image above the stove
in their kitchen. Every year they would put
up a new picture of the god and burn the
old one. As the smoke rose heavenwards,
it took a message to the Jade Emperor,
reporting how the members of the
household had behaved during the year.THE MYTH
The emperor of heaven was popularly known as Yühuang
(the Jade Emperor) but was also often referred to as Shang
Di (Lord of Heaven). He was a supreme deity but, like
Confucius, he was originally a mortal. Yühuang was
the child of a king, Ching Teh, and his queen, Pao
Yüeh. For many years, the royal couple could not have
children. Pao Yüeh asked the priests to pray for her to have a
child and the next night she dreamed that Laoze, the deified
father of Daoism, visited her carrying a baby. Soon after,
she became pregnant. She gave birth to a son who grew up
to be a kind and wise ruler, but after ensuring prosperity for
his subjects, he left his throne to follow a life of prayer and
meditation. When his perfect life was over, he was deified
as the Jade Emperor and became the ruler of the immortals.THE CELESTIAL BUREAUCRACY
The Jade Emperor lived in a celestial palace
and ruled heaven with the help of a huge
retinue of other deities, each of whom
controlled a particular department of
the heavenly civil service. This was a
vast bureaucracy that resembled in size
and complexity the organization of the
civil service that worked for the
Chinese emperor on Earth.The immortals
Many ministers and judges assisted the Jade Emperor in
the day-to-day running of the heavenly court. Devotees
of Chinese popular religion placed statues of these
immortals in temples and made offerings to them.110