Sanguan Dadi, the Three Officials, are a triad of Taoist deities who together oversee the fate of every human being under the authority of the Jade Emperor: Tianguan, the Official of Heaven, who bestows happiness and blessings, Diguan, the Official of Earth, who grants remission of sins, and Shuiguan, the Official of Water, who averts misfortune and calamity. Each reports on the conduct of the living within his own realm, sky, earth or sea, and the three together are understood to determine how long a person lives and what fortune they are owed. Worship of the Three Officials can be traced to the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, the second century CE movement out of which Zhang Daoling founded the Celestial Masters tradition, whose healing ritual involved writing three petitions addressed to Heaven, Earth and Water on behalf of the sick. Their birthdays, the fifteenth day of the first, seventh and tenth lunar months, are still kept today as the Three Yuan festivals, when worshippers burn incense and offer sacrifice at their temples.
History & Origin
Traced to the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, the movement in which Zhang Daoling founded the Celestial Masters tradition in the second century CE; its healing ritual had a sick petitioner's household write out three copies of a confession and request, one addressed to Heaven, one buried in the Earth and one cast into a river for Water, the practice from which the cult of the three officials as a formal triad is understood to have grown.
Facts
Identity
GenderCollective / plural, not a single figure 1 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Origins
Origin of the NameSanguan reads literally as "three officials," Dadi as "great emperor" or "great thearch," a title of high imperial rank; the three individual names, Tianguan, Diguan and Shuiguan, each pair the realm each official governs, heaven, earth or water, with guan, official. 1 Attestation
Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2 Cult
Attributes and IconographyDepicted as three bearded officials in the formal court dress and headgear of imperial ministers, seated in a row or shown individually on temple altars, each distinguished by the emblem of his own realm, sky, earth or water. 1 Function
Domain / Function Domain / Function Attributions
Mythic AssociationWorship of the Three Officials traces to the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, the second century movement out of which Zhang Daoling founded the Celestial Masters tradition of Daoism. 1 Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)
Sources
1. The Encyclopedia of Taoism
Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.), Routledge, 2008Entry on Sanguan / the Three OfficialsView the Source 2. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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