Three religions and nine streams refer to which three religions and which nine streams?

The three religions refer to the three traditional religions, namely Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (Buddhism).

The so-called nine streams actually refer to the three levels of "upper, middle and lower". Among the three religions, the third class of people naturally leads to nine.

The upper nine streams: emperors, sages, hermits, child immortals, literati, warriors, farmers, workers, and merchants.

The middle nine streams: Juzi, doctor, Xiangming, Danqing (painting seller), scholar, chess player, monk, Taoist, and nun.

The lower nine streams: master, government official, Shengwei (weighing scale hand), matchmaker, pawn, time demon (witch and kidnapping), thief, theft, and prostitution.

Extended information:

Confucianism

Everyone should be familiar with Confucianism, represented by Confucius and Mencius. The two of them were revered as saints and sub-sages by later generations. It can be said that their status is extremely respected.

Confucianism is regarded as the way to govern the country because it emphasizes moral cultivation, emphasizes the complementarity of benevolence and propriety, attaches great importance to ethics, and advocates benevolent government. There is also a saying that "half of the Analects governs the world." In ancient China, the status of Confucianism has always been high and unshakable.

Taoism

Taoism is actually not exactly the same as Taoism. Taoism has always been a belief, while Taoism is a class group. The representative figures of Taoism are Laozi and Zhuangzi, who advocate the Tao of doing nothing, letting nature take its course, and the harmony of nature and man. They are one of the most important philosophical thoughts in our country.

Including Buddhism, which was later introduced to China, was also deeply influenced by this idea. Later generations took Taoist thought as the core, combined with local mythology, and Fang Shu created "Taoism". The influence of Taoist thought on the Chinese people is not at all inferior to that of Confucianism.

Baidu Encyclopedia—Three Religions and Nine Streams