Divinity and Salvation: The Great Goddesses of China

Abstract

Though Chinese mythology and religion have been dominated by male gods and masters, the presence of female divinities has always been a part of Chinese folk belief. These various divinities, usually identified with the feminine principle of moist, dark, receptive nature, constitute a somewhat obscure pantheon of water sprites, dragon ladies, snake queens, moon-goddesses, and rulers of heaven and earth. Among them may be recognized four divinities whose collective popularity extends from ancient times to the present. These four are Niigua -& #fi, the ancient Zhou dynasty creatress; Xiwangmu EEB, the Queen Mother of the West; Guanyin as, the Goddess of Mercy; and Tianhou *G, the Empress of Heaven. These four divinities have an interesting and significant relationship with each other, indicative of the dynamic social and cultural history of China. Collectively, they represent the presence of the feminine element, divinized to the highest degree, in an almost unbroken continuity of spiritual potency and significance for both the masses of China, as well as for various religious and ~olitical groups. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss these four figures and to show how their interrelationship has developed in the face of a dominant male religious and political environment. The basic difference between the religious environment of classical and post-classical China might best be characterized as the difference between a warring hegemony of hereditary Chinese warlords and a central bureaucracy, dominated by a structured hierarchy of nonhereditary officials (BODDE 1961, 369). By the end of the Han Dynasty (220 c.E.), the spiritual hierarchy began to resemble, at least officially, the actual structure of the imperial order. Subsequently, the Han