Reply #39: The trinity pops up everywhere. [View All]

[Pacifist Patriot]

Hindu: Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu

Chinese traditions: Heaven, Earth, Humanity

TaoTeChing: "Do gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all the myriad things. The myriad things carry the yin on their backs and hold the yang in their embrace, and derive their harmony from the permeation of these forces." (42)

From one of my papers:

Triads abound when considering the nature of God. In the west, the most obvious example is the trinitarian theology of Christianity in which God is experienced in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This response to understanding the nature of Jesus took several centuries to develop and is still not entirely understood by many of the laity. Additionally, while both the Roman and Orthodox churches adopted trinitarianism as doctrine, their interpretation of the components is not in accord.

The Quran presents the nature of God in three recurring basic themes: Creator, Refuge and Judge. This tension between God as pure unity and yet the source of a diverse creation and the paradox of refuge and judge became a serious question from the beginning. The theological responses to this dilemma evolved over time and are still debated today.

In the East, Hinduism expresses the three forms of “God manifest in all life: creation, sustance and dissolution” (Bowker 2002, 90) in the Trimurti consisting of Brhama the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and Shiva the destroyer. Daoism maintains the Three who are “decisive agents in bringing the manifest world into being.” (Bowker 2002, 154) The Asian triad of heaven, humans and earth are one way the Three is perceived.