section_path: Diversity
section_name: Diversity
paragraph_text: Diversity
  
  Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Despite this diversity, there is a common core that can be summarised as four theological, cosmological, and moral concepts: Tian (Chinese: 天; pinyin: tiān; lit. ' Heaven '), the transcendent source of moral meaning; qi (simplified Chinese: 气; traditional Chinese: 氣; pinyin: qì), the breath or energy that animates the universe; jingzu (Chinese: 敬祖; pinyin: jìng zǔ), the veneration of ancestors; and bao ying (Chinese: 報應; pinyin: bàoyìng), moral reciprocity; together with two traditional concepts of fate and meaning: ming yun (Chinese: 命運; pinyin: mìngyùn), the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuan fen (Chinese: 緣分; pinyin: yuánfèn), "fateful coincidence ", good and bad chances and potential relationships.
  
  Yin and yang (Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng) is the polarity that describes the order of the universe, held in balance by the interaction of principles of "extension" (Chinese: 神; pinyin: shén; lit. ' spirit ') and principles of "returning" (Chinese: 鬼; pinyin: guǐ; lit. ' ghost '), with yang ("act") usually preferred over yin ("receptiveness") in common religion. The taijitu is used in folk religion, along with the bagua, to represent the natural forces and power that deities like Zhong Kui wield. Ling (Chinese: 靈; pinyin: líng), " numen " or " sacred ", is the "medium" of the two states and the inchoate order of creation.