<p>I can provide a bit explanation. Even though it is easy to literally translate, that will not give you any meaningful understanding. The hard part is the culture background, which even majority Chinese do not know.</p>
<p>In Taoism, &quot;太乙&quot; is the name of the star at north pole, as well as the god. North sky (北天) is also the highest part of sky/heaven/space. So, among gods, &quot;太乙&quot; is higher than other gods. The earth, which we live on, is under the south sky/heaven/space (南天).</p>
<p>As for why it is called &quot;太乙&quot;: 太 means ultimate, original, intrinsical. 乙 is from the 2nd of the ten 天干, which is used to describe lifecycles. The first 2 of 天干 is 甲 and 乙. Both of the 2 belong to the 木 of 五行 (the 5 categories of change/move). 木 is the category for birth, evolve, creation, vibrate... The difference between 甲 and 乙 is that 甲 is the early 木, like a seed just break its shell, thus it is hard/tough and fast changing. On the other hand, 乙 is the later 木, like a seedling, which is soft and gentle. Imagine when the universe had a big boom, that's 甲, and then when it had cooled down and galaxy was forming, that's 乙.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-09T00:54:21.990Z
Other ways of referring to this are also "太一" and "泰一" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/太一)
mudskipper
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-04T03:23:36.407Z
2024-04-04T03:23:36.407Z
Dudu
<p>I got
Taiyi the noblest of Gods in heaven
Is that anywhere close?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-24T04:22:01.523Z
2024-03-24T04:22:01.523Z
user38707
<p>I found the phrase back on a <a href="http://chinesetaoism.taoservice.org/main.php?page=godinfo&amp;page_no=1&amp;serno=19" rel="nofollow noreferrer">道教 religious taoist site</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>東極青華大帝，誓願救度一切眾生，故名救苦而炁化救苦天尊，因「<strong>天神貴者太乙</strong>，以配東帝。」所以諱稱「太乙救苦天尊」而綜御萬類，並尊稱為「青玄上帝」。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Translation (by ChatGPT with minor modifications by me):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Eastern Ultimate Jade Splendor Great Emperor/God (東極青華大帝) made a vow to save all sentient beings, and therefore he is named the Savior from Suffering, and through his vital energy he transforms into the Heavenly Lord of Salvation from Suffering (救苦天尊). As 'Taiyi, the most honorable of the heavenly deities, is paired with the Eastern Emperor,' he is revered under the title 'Taiyi Savior from Suffering Heavenly Lord' and governs all forms of life, and is also respectfully referred to as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">'Jade Emperor'</a> (literally: 'Green/Jade Mysterious/Dark Emperor').</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am not familiar with the most common translations of the names or titles of this religious taoist deity, but apart from that, the translation seems correct to me.</p>
<p>The phrase &quot;天神貴者太乙&quot; can be read as &quot;天神之貴者太乙也&quot; (if read by itself), literally: &quot;the valuable/honorable one (貴者) of the heavenly deities (天神) is Tai Yi (太乙)&quot;. I think that in this case &quot;the valuable/honrable one&quot; gets a superlative meaning: &quot;the most valuable/honorable one&quot;, since an implicit comparison is made among all the heavenly deities. (I believe this kind of syntactical construct is pretty common in classical Chinese.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-09T01:29:11.417Z
2024-09-09T01:34:33.617Z
2024-09-09T01:34:33.617Z
mudskipper
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/f1pD9.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/f1pD9.jpg" alt="Chinese Prayer" /></a></p>
<p>I think this is a prayer in seal script but I have not been able to find the characters anywhere.
Can anyone tell me what it says in Chinese and English?
Thanks!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-21T23:01:47.137Z
Some characters here look a bit more like bronze inscriptions to me. Maybe it might be a combination of the bronze and seal script together?
prismcool
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-22T01:42:49.910Z
@prismcool this is almost certainly just "bronze inscriptions", but we don't have a tag for this.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-22T04:42:30.257Z
@dROOOze Yeah, I can tell because digging further, I can tell that this is just some kind of font made to emulate the bronze script style. Because there's no way 太 existed at the time of the bronzeware script.
prismcool
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-22T05:44:34.603Z
So it is bronze inscriptions not seal script?
What does it mean?
Is there a site where I can look up other characters like it?
Thanks !!!
user38695
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-22T22:42:31.670Z
@user38695 I personally would recommend https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/ and https://zi.tools/ if you need a free database of ancient forms of characters. Always gets the job done for me.
prismcool
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-11T19:13:06.447Z
@Dudu
Thanks for the explanation. That's awesome. I get the heavenly stems reference. By 木 (wood) are you referring to the 5 elements, fire, earth, metal, water, wood? 天神 is the gods in heaven?
How does 貴者 translate to "is greater than"?
Avie
<translation><character-identification><seal>
Can someone please translate this, I think it is seal script? (Characters identified: 天神貴者太乙)
# Can someone please translate this, I think it is seal script? (Characters identified: 天神貴者太乙)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-21)

[![Chinese Prayer](https://i.sstatic.net/f1pD9.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/f1pD9.jpg)

I think this is a prayer in seal script but I have not been able to find the characters anywhere.
Can anyone tell me what it says in Chinese and English?
Thanks!

**Tags:** translation, character-identification, seal

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Some characters here look a bit more like bronze inscriptions to me. Maybe it might be a combination of the bronze and seal script together?  
> **username_2**: @username_1 this is almost certainly just "bronze inscriptions", but we don't have a tag for this.  
> **username_1**: @username_2 Yeah, I can tell because digging further, I can tell that this is just some kind of font made to emulate the bronze script style. Because there's no way 太 existed at the time of the bronzeware script.  
> **username_3**: So it is bronze inscriptions not seal script? What does it mean? Is there a site where I can look up other characters like it? Thanks !!!  
> **username_1**: @username_3 I personally would recommend https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/ and https://zi.tools/ if you need a free database of ancient forms of characters. Always gets the job done for me.  
> **username_4**: @username_5 Thanks for the explanation. That's awesome. I get the heavenly stems reference. By 木 (wood) are you referring to the 5 elements, fire, earth, metal, water, wood? 天神 is the gods in heaven? How does 貴者 translate to "is greater than"?  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-04-04. Score: 2

I can provide a bit explanation. Even though it is easy to literally translate, that will not give you any meaningful understanding. The hard part is the culture background, which even majority Chinese do not know.

In Taoism, "太乙" is the name of the star at north pole, as well as the god. North sky (北天) is also the highest part of sky/heaven/space. So, among gods, "太乙" is higher than other gods. The earth, which we live on, is under the south sky/heaven/space (南天).

As for why it is called "太乙": 太 means ultimate, original, intrinsical. 乙 is from the 2nd of the ten 天干, which is used to describe lifecycles. The first 2 of 天干 is 甲 and 乙. Both of the 2 belong to the 木 of 五行 (the 5 categories of change/move). 木 is the category for birth, evolve, creation, vibrate... The difference between 甲 and 乙 is that 甲 is the early 木, like a seed just break its shell, thus it is hard/tough and fast changing. On the other hand, 乙 is the later 木, like a seedling, which is soft and gentle. Imagine when the universe had a big boom, that's 甲, and then when it had cooled down and galaxy was forming, that's 乙.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Other ways of referring to this are also "太一" and "泰一" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/太一)  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2024-03-24. Score: 0

I got
Taiyi the noblest of Gods in heaven
Is that anywhere close?


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2024-09-09. Score: 0

I found the phrase back on a [道教 religious taoist site](http://chinesetaoism.taoservice.org/main.php?page=godinfo&page_no=1&serno=19):

> 東極青華大帝，誓願救度一切眾生，故名救苦而炁化救苦天尊，因「**天神貴者太乙**，以配東帝。」所以諱稱「太乙救苦天尊」而綜御萬類，並尊稱為「青玄上帝」。

Translation (by ChatGPT with minor modifications by me):

> The Eastern Ultimate Jade Splendor Great Emperor/God (東極青華大帝) made a vow to save all sentient beings, and therefore he is named the Savior from Suffering, and through his vital energy he transforms into the Heavenly Lord of Salvation from Suffering (救苦天尊). As 'Taiyi, the most honorable of the heavenly deities, is paired with the Eastern Emperor,' he is revered under the title 'Taiyi Savior from Suffering Heavenly Lord' and governs all forms of life, and is also respectfully referred to as the ['Jade Emperor'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor) (literally: 'Green/Jade Mysterious/Dark Emperor').

I am not familiar with the most common translations of the names or titles of this religious taoist deity, but apart from that, the translation seems correct to me.

The phrase "天神貴者太乙" can be read as "天神之貴者太乙也" (if read by itself), literally: "the valuable/honorable one (貴者) of the heavenly deities (天神) is Tai Yi (太乙)". I think that in this case "the valuable/honrable one" gets a superlative meaning: "the most valuable/honorable one", since an implicit comparison is made among all the heavenly deities. (I believe this kind of syntactical construct is pretty common in classical Chinese.)


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