The being of Tian 天 (Heaven) is the same as that of God discussed in Chapter 1.When the Zhou dynasty came into power, they conflated Shangdi with Heaven, theirhighest god; centuries later, the Romans would do the same thing after their capture ofGreece. As with Jupiter and Zeus, Shangdi and Heaven were essentially the same beingin ancient Chinese religion; hence, He is the same being as God. For identificationpurposes, however, Tian will be translated as “Heaven” within the poem but referred toas God without.
His virtue was also passed down to his descendants, as seen in Wei Tian Zhi Ming維天之命:維天之命 “The Commandments of Heaven”維天之命 The commandments of Heaven10於穆不已 Are profound and unceasing.於乎不顯 Oh, how luminous 文王之德之純 Is King Wen’s virtue and purity!假以溢我 His virtue overflows to us;我其收之 We humbly receive it.駿惠我文王 Submit to our wise King Wen;曾孫篤之May his farthest descendants be whole-heartedly likehim.11This poem, along with the following Wo Jiang 我將, speaks of one of the great rulers ofthe Zhou: Ji Chang 姬昌, more commonly known as Zhou Wen Wang 周文王 (KingWen of Zhou), born in 1152 BC. Although a king of the Zhou people, King Wen did notrule during the Zhou dynasty, as the Western Zhou began in 1046 BC and King Wen diedin 1056 BC. However, he was instrumental in the downfall of the previous Shang dynastyby forming alliances with the neighboring Shi 士, or chiefs, during his tenure as Xi Bai西伯 (Lord of the West). This helped to build up the military strength necessary tooverthrow the Shang dynasty, an act accomplished by King Wen’s son.
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Re: 235. 文王 - Wen Wang
Date: 2021-05-18 04:41 pm (UTC)https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/10239/Thesis.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
The being of Tian 天 (Heaven) is the same as that of God discussed in Chapter 1.When the Zhou dynasty came into power, they conflated Shangdi with Heaven, theirhighest god; centuries later, the Romans would do the same thing after their capture ofGreece. As with Jupiter and Zeus, Shangdi and Heaven were essentially the same beingin ancient Chinese religion; hence, He is the same being as God. For identificationpurposes, however, Tian will be translated as “Heaven” within the poem but referred toas God without.
His virtue was also passed down to his descendants, as seen in Wei Tian Zhi Ming維天之命:維天之命 “The Commandments of Heaven”維天之命 The commandments of Heaven10於穆不已 Are profound and unceasing.於乎不顯 Oh, how luminous 文王之德之純 Is King Wen’s virtue and purity!假以溢我 His virtue overflows to us;我其收之 We humbly receive it.駿惠我文王 Submit to our wise King Wen;曾孫篤之May his farthest descendants be whole-heartedly likehim.11This poem, along with the following Wo Jiang 我將, speaks of one of the great rulers ofthe Zhou: Ji Chang 姬昌, more commonly known as Zhou Wen Wang 周文王 (KingWen of Zhou), born in 1152 BC. Although a king of the Zhou people, King Wen did notrule during the Zhou dynasty, as the Western Zhou began in 1046 BC and King Wen diedin 1056 BC. However, he was instrumental in the downfall of the previous Shang dynastyby forming alliances with the neighboring Shi 士, or chiefs, during his tenure as Xi Bai西伯 (Lord of the West). This helped to build up the military strength necessary tooverthrow the Shang dynasty, an act accomplished by King Wen’s son.