Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain collector's help and info page

GLOSSARY

Five

The number five is important in several areas of Chinese culture, where there are taken to be: Five Elements, Five Directions, Five Sacred Mountains, Five Buddha families, Five Blessings, Five Relations, and Five Wisdoms.

In Tantric Buddhism each of the Five Transcendent Buddhas is represented in a different color - red, green, white, blue and yellow.

In Daoism the representation of five is taken still further with the concept of divine correspondence.

The Five Elements relate to the Five Directions, while there is recognition of the Five Sacred Peaks and the Five Planets, and five-colored concentric bands of light are depicted over the peak known as Heaven's Column at Wudang Shan.

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