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The Three Pure Ones.
The Three Pure Ones.

The Three Pure Ones (Chinese: 三清; Cantonese: Sarm Tsing; Mandarin: San-ch'ing), also translated as "The Three Pure Ones", "The Three Clarities", or "The Three Purities", are the three highest Taoist deities. They are:

  • the Jade Pure Pellucid One (玉清; Cantonese: Yoc-Tsing; Mandarin: Yu-ch'ing), also known as "The Universally Honoured One of Origin", or "The Universal Lord of the Primordial Beginning" (元始天尊, Yuan Shi Tian Zun).
  • the Upper Pure Pellucid One (上清; Cantonese: Serng Tsing; Mandarin: Shang-ch'ing), also known as "The Universally Honoured One of Divinities and Treasures", or "The Universal Lord of the Numinous Treasure" (靈寶天尊, Ling Bao Tian Zun).
  • the Ultra Pure Pellucid One (太清; Cantonese: Tai Tsing; Mandarin: T'ai-ch'ing), also known as "The Universally Honoured One of Tao and Virtues" or "The Universal Lord of the Way and its Virtue" (道德天尊, De Dai Tian Zun) or the "Ultra Supreme Elder Lord" (太上老君, Tai Shang Lao Zun).

In some Taoist systems, Hong-jun lao-zu (鸿钧老祖 or 鸿元老祖, the great balancer or the great primal originator) is the common teacher of The Three Pure Ones.

According to Taoist scriptures, The Universally Honoured One of Tao and Virtues had manifested many various incarnations to teach living beings, and Laozi is one of his incarnations.

The Three Pure Ones also represent the three divine natures of all living beings. They symbolize a kind of Taoist trinity: Tao begets One; one begets two; two begets three; three begets all things (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 42).