,,religions ,,of ,,ancient ,,china by ,herbert ,a4 ,giles ,professor of ,chinese at the ,university of ,cambridge1 ,author of ,historic ,china1 ,a ,history of ,chinese ,literature1 ,china and the ,chinese1 etc41 etc4 ,first ,published #aijf by ,constable and ,company ,ltd41 ,london4 ,,preparer',s ,,note ,this book was published as part of the series ,religions3 ,ancient and ,modern4 ,the ,psychological ,origin and ,nature of ,religion1 by ,j4 ,h4 ,leuba4 ,judaism1 by ,israel ,abraham4 ,celtic ,religion1 by ,professor ,e4 ,anwye4 ,shinto3 ,the ,ancient ,religion of ,japan1 by ,w4 ,g4 ,aston1 ,c4,m4,g4 ,the ,religion of ,ancient ,rome1 by ,cyril ,bailey1 ,m4,a4 ,hinduism1 by ,dr4 ,l4 ,d4 ,barnett4 ,the ,religion of ,ancient ,palestine1 by ,stanley ,a4 ,cook4 ,animism1 by ,edward ,clodd4 ,scandinavian ,religion1 by ,william ,a4 ,craigie4 ,early ,buddhism1 by ,prof4 ,t4 ,w4 ,rhys ,davids1 ,,ll4,d4 ,the ,religions of ,ancient ,china1 by ,prof4 ,giles1 ,,ll4,d4 ,magic and ,fetishism1 by ,dr4 ,a4 ,c4 ,haddon1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,the ,religion of ,ancient ,greece1 by ,jane ,harrison4 ,the ,religion of ,ancient ,egypt1 by ,w4 ,m4 ,flinders ,petrie1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,pantheism1 by ,james ,allanson ,picton4 ,the ,religion of ,babylonia and ,assyria1 by ,theophilus ,g4 ,pinches4 ,early ,christianity 7,paul to ,origen71 by ,s4 ,b4 ,slack4 ,the ,mythologies of ,ancient ,mexico and ,peru1 by ,lewis ,spence1 ,m4,a4 ,the ,mythology of ,ancient ,britain and ,island1 by ,charles ,squire4 ,islam1 by ,ameer ,ali1 ,syed1 ,m4,a41 ,c4,i4,e4 ,mithraism1 by ,w4 ,g4 ,pythian-,adams4 ,the publishers were3 ,constable and ,company ,ltd1 ,london2 ,open ,court ,company1 ,chicago4 ,the #aiah edition was printed in ,great ,britain by ,butler ,tanner1 ,frome and ,london4 ,,religions ,,of ,,ancient ,,china ,,chapter ,i -- ,,the ,,ancient ,,faith ,philosophical ,theory of the ,universe4--,the problem of the universe has never offered the slightest difficulty to ,chinese philosophers4 ,before the beginning of all things1 there was ,nothing4 ,in the lapse of ages ,nothing coalesced into ,unity1 the ,great ,monad4 ,after more ages1 the ,great ,monad separated into ,duality1 the ,male and ,female ,principles in nature2 and then1 by a process of biogenesis1 the visible universe was produced4 ,popular ,cosmogeny4--,an addition1 however1 to this simple system had to be made1 in deference to1 and on a plane with1 the intelligence of the masses4 ,according to this1 the ,male and ,female ,principles were each subdivided into ,greater and ,lesser1 and then from the interaction of these four agencies a being1 named ,p'an ,ku1 came into existence4 ,he seems to have come into life endowed with perfect knowledge1 and his function was to set the economy of the universe in order4 ,he is often depicted as wielding a huge adze1 and engaged in constructing the world4 ,with his death the details of creation began4 ,his breath became the wind2 his voice1 the thunder2 his left eye1 the sun2 his right eye1 the moon2 his blood flowed in rivers2 his hair grew into trees and plants2 his flesh became the soil2 his sweat descended as rain2 while the parasites which infested his body were the origin of the human race4 ,recognition and ,worship of ,spirits4--,early ,chinese writers tell us that ,fu ,hsi1 ,b4,c4 #biec-bhch1 was the first ,emperor to organize sacrifices to1 and worship of1 spirits4 ,in this he was followed by the ,yellow ,emperor1 ,b4,c4 #bfih-beih1 who built a temple for the worship of ,god1 in which incense was used1 and first sacrificed to the ,mountains and ,rivers4 ,he is also said to have established the worship of the sun1 moon1 and five planets1 and to have elaborated the ceremonial of ancestral worship4 ,god the ,father1 ,earth the ,mother4--,the ,yellow ,emperor was followed by the ,emperor ,shao ,hao1 ,b4,c4 #beih-bead1 who instituted the music of the ,great ,abyss in order to bring spirits and men into harmony4 ,then came the ,emperor ,chuan ,hsu1 ,b4,c4 #bead-bdcf1 of whom it is said that he appointed an officer to preside over the worship of ,god and ,earth1 in order to form a link between the spirits and man1 and also caused music to be played for the enjoyment of ,god4 ,music1 by the way1 is said to have been introduced into worship in imitation of thunder1 and was therefore supposed to be pleasing to the ,almighty4 ,after him followed the ,emperor ,ti ,k'u1 ,b4,c4 #bdcf-bcff1 who dabbled in astronomy1 and came to a knowledge of spiritual beings1 which he respectfully worshipped4 ,the ,emperor ,yao1 ,b4,c4 #bceg-bbee1 built a temple for the worship of ,god1 and also caused dances to be performed for the enjoyment of ,god on occasions of special sacrifice and communication with the spiritual world4 ,after him1 we reach the ,emperor ,shun1 ,b4,c4 #bbee-bbje1 in whose favour ,yao abdicated4 ,additional ,deities4--,before1 however1 ,shun ventured to mount the throne1 he consulted the stars1 in order to find out if the unseen ,powers were favourable to his elevation2 and on receiving a satisfactory reply1 he proceeded to sacrifice to ,god1 to the ,six ,honoured ,ones 7unknown71 to the ,mountains and ,rivers1 and to ,spirits in general4 4 4 4 ,in the second month of the year1 he made a tour of inspection eastwards1 as far as ,mount ,t'ai 7in modern ,shantung71 where he presented a burnt offering to ,god1 and sacrificed to the ,mountains and ,rivers4 ,god punishes the wicked and rewards the good4--,the ,great ,yu1 who drained the empire1 and came to the throne in ,b4,c4 #bbje as first ,emperor of the ,hsia dynasty1 followed in the lines of his pious predecessors4 ,but the ,emperor ,k'ung ,chia1 ,b4,c4 #ahgi-ahdh1 who at first had treated the ,spirits with all due reverence1 fell into evil ways1 and was abandoned by ,god4 ,this was the beginning of the end4 ,in ,b4,c4 #agff ,t'ang the ,completer1 founder of the ,shang dynasty1 set to work to overthrow ,chieh ,kuei1 the last ruler of the ,hsia dynasty4 ,he began by sacrificing to ,almighty ,god1 and asked for a blessing on his undertaking4 ,and in his subsequent proclamation to the empire1 he spoke of that ,god as follows3 ,god has given to every man a conscience2 and if all men acted in accordance with its dictates1 they would not stray from the right path4 4 4 4 ,the way of ,god is to bless the good and punish the bad4 ,he has sent down calamities on the ,house of ,hsia1 to make manifest its crimes4 ,god manifests displeasure4--,in ,b4,c4 #afcg the ,emperor ,t'ai ,mou succeeded4 ,his reign was marked by the supernatural appearance in the palace of two mulberry-trees1 which in a single night grew to such a size that they could hardly be spanned by two hands4 ,the ,emperor was terrified2 whereupon a ,minister said1 ,no prodigy is a match for virtue4 ,your ,majesty's government is no doubt at fault1 and some reform of conduct is necessary4 ,accordingly1 the ,emperor began to act more circumspectly2 after which the mulberry-trees soon withered and died4 ,revelation in a dream4--,the ,emperor ,wu ,ting1 ,b4,c4 #acbd-abfd1 began his reign by not speaking for three years1 leaving all ,state affairs to be decided by his ,prime ,minister1 while he himself gained experience4 ,later on1 the features of a sage were revealed to him in a dream2 and on waking1 he caused a portrait of the apparition to be prepared and circulated throughout the empire4 ,the sage was found1 and for a long time aided the ,emperor in the right administration of government4 ,on the occasion of a sacrifice1 a pheasant perched upon the handle of the great sacrificial tripod1 and crowed1 at which the ,emperor was much alarmed4 ,be not afraid1 cried a ,minister2 but begin by reforming your government4 ,god looks down upon mortals1 and in accordance with their deserts grants them many years or few4 ,god does not shorten men's lives2 they do that themselves4 ,some are wanting in virtue1 and will not acknowledge their transgressions2 only when ,god chastens them do they cry1 ,what are we to do8 ,anthropomorphism and ,fetishism4--,one of the last ,emperors of the ,shang dynasty1 ,wu ,i1 who reigned ,b4,c4 #aaih-aaid1 even went so far as to make an image in human form1 which he called ,god4 ,with this image he used to play at dice1 causing some one to throw for the image2 and if ',god' lost1 he would overwhelm the image with insult4 ,he also made a bag of leather1 which he filled with blood and hung up4 ,then he would shoot at it1 saying that he was shooting ,god4 ,by and by1 when he was out hunting1 he was struck down by a violent thunderclap1 and killed4 ,god indignant4--,finally1 when the ,shang dynasty sank into the lowest depths of moral abasement1 ,king ,wu1 who charged himself with its overthrow1 and who subsequently became the first sovereign of the ,chou dynasty1 offered sacrifices to ,almighty ,god1 and also to ,mother ,earth4 ,the ,king of ,shang1 he said in his address to the high officers who collected around him1 does not reverence ,god above1 and inflicts calamities on the people below4 ,almighty ,god is moved with indignation4 ,on the day of the final battle he declared that he was acting in the matter of punishment merely as the instrument of ,god2 and after his great victory and the establishment of his own line1 it was to ,god that he rendered thanks4 ,no ,devil1 ,no ,hell4--,in this primitive monotheism1 of which only scanty1 but no doubt genuine1 records remain1 no place was found for any being such as the ,buddhist ,mara or the ,devil of the ,old and ,new ,testaments4 ,god inflicted ,his own punishments by visiting calamities on mankind1 just as ,he bestowed ,his own rewards by sending bounteous harvests in due season4 ,evil spirits were a later invention1 and their operations were even then confined chiefly to tearing people's hearts out1 and so forth1 for their own particular pleasure2 we certainly meet no cases of evil spirits wishing to undermine man's allegiance to ,god1 or desiring to make people wicked in order to secure their everlasting punishment4 ,the vision of ,purgatory1 with all its horrid tortures1 was introduced into ,china by ,buddhism1 and was subsequently annexed by the ,taoists1 some time between the third and sixth centuries ,a4,d4 ,chinese ,terms for ,god4--,before passing to the firmer ground1 historically speaking1 of the ,chou dynasty1 it may be as well to state here that there are two terms in ancient ,chinese literature which seem to be used indiscriminately for ,god4 ,one is ,t'ien1 which has come to include the material heavens1 the sky2 and the other is ,shang ,ti1 which has come to include the spirits of deceased ,emperors4 ,these two terms appear simultaneously1 so to speak1 in the earliest documents which have come down to us1 dating back to something like the twentieth century before ,christ4 ,priority1 however1 belongs beyond all doubt to ,t'ien1 which it would have been more natural to find meaning1 first the visible heavens1 and secondly the ,deity1 whose existence beyond the sky would be inferred from such phenomena as lightning1 thunder1 wind1 and rain4 ,but the process appears to have been the other way1 so far at any rate as the written language is concerned4 ,the ,chinese script1 when it first came into existence1 was purely pictorial1 and confined to visible objects which were comparatively easy to depict4 ,there does not seem to have been any attempt to draw a picture of the sky4 ,on the other hand1 the character ,t'ien was just such a representation of a human being as would be expected from the hand of a prehistoric artist2 and under this unmistakable shape the character appears on bells and tripods1 as seen in collections of inscriptions1 so late as the sixth and seventh centuries ,b4,c41 after which the head is flattered to a line1 and the arms are raised until they form another line parallel to that of the head4 ,distinction between ,t'ien and ,shang ,ti4--,the term ,shang ,ti means literally ,supreme ,ruler4 ,it is not quite so vague as ,t'ien1 which seems to be more of an abstraction1 while ,shang ,ti is a genuinely personal ,god4 ,reference to ,t'ien is usually associated with fate or destiny1 calamities1 blessings1 prayers for help1 etc4 ,the commandments of ,t'ien are hard to obey2 ,he is compassionate1 to be feared1 unjust1 and cruel4 ,shang ,ti lives in heaven1 walks1 leaves tracks on the ground1 enjoys the sweet savour of sacrifice1 approves or disapproves of conduct1 deals with rewards and punishments in a more particular way1 and comes more actually into touch with the human race4 ,thus ,shang ,ti would be the ,god who walked in the garden in the cool of the day1 the ,god who smelled the sweet savour of ,noah's sacrifice1 and the ,god who allowed ,moses to see ,his back4 ,t'ien would be the ,god of ,gods of the ,psalms1 whose mercy endureth for ever2 the everlasting ,god of ,isaiah1 who fainteth not1 neither is weary4 ,roman ,catholic ,dissensions4--,these two1 in fact1 were the very terms favoured by the early ,jesuit missionaries to ,china1 though not with the limitations above suggested1 as fit the proper renderings for ,god2 and of the two terms the great ,manchu ,emperor ,k'ang ,hsi chose ,t'ien4 ,it has been thought that the conversion of ,china to ,christianity under the guiding influence of the ,jesuits would soon have become an accomplished fact1 but for the ignorant opposition to the use of these terms by the ,franciscans and ,dominicans1 who referred this question1 among others1 to the ,pope4 ,in #agjd ,clement ,,xi published a bull declaring that the ,chinese equivalent for ,god was ,t'ien ,chu,lord of ,heaven2 and such it has continued to be ever since1 so far as the ,roman ,catholic church is concerned1 in spite of the fact that ,t'ien ,chu was a name given at the close of the third century ,b4,c4 to one of the ,eight ,spirits4 ,the two ,terms are ,one4--,that the two terms refer in ,chinese thought to one and the same ,being1 though possibly with differing attributes1 even down to modern times1 may be seen from the account of a dream by the ,emperor ,yung ,lo1 ,a4,d4 #adjc-adbe1 in which ,his ,majesty relates that an angel appeared to him1 with a message from ,shang ,ti2 upon which the ,emperor remarked1 ,is not this a command from ,t'ien8 ,a comparison might perhaps be instituted with the use of ,god and ,jehovah in the ,bible4 ,at the same time it must be noted that this view was not suggested by the ,emperor ,k'ang ,hsi1 who fixed upon ,t'ien as the appropriate term4 ,it is probable that1 vigorous ,confucianist as he was1 he was anxious to appear on the side rather of an abstract than of a personal ,deity1 and that he was repelled by the overwrought anthropomorphism of the ,christian ,god4 ,his conversion was said to have been very near at times2 we read1 however1 that1 when hard pressed by the missionaries to accept baptism1 he always excused himself by saying that he worshipped the same ,god as the ,christians4 ,god in the ,odes4--,the ,chou dynasty lasted from ,b4,c4 #aabb to ,b4,c4 #bee4 ,it was ,china's feudal age1 when the empire1 then included between latitude #cd-dj and longitude #aji-aah1 was split up into a number of vassal ,states1 which owned allegiance to a suzerain ,state4 ,and it is to the earlier centuries of the ,chou dynasty that must be attributed the composition of a large number of ballads of various kinds1 ultimately collected and edited by ,confucius1 and now known as the ,odes4 ,from these ,odes it is abundantly clear that the ,chinese people continued to hold1 more clearly and more firmly than ever1 a deep-seated belief in the existence of an anthropomorphic and personal ,god1 whose one care was the welfare of the human race3-- ,there is ,almighty ,god2 ,does ,he hate any one8 ,he reigns in glory4--,the soul of ,king ,wen1 father of the ,king ,wu below1 and posthumously raised by his son to royal rank1 is represented as enjoying happiness in a state beyond the grave3-- ,king ,wen is on high1 ,in glory in heaven4 ,his comings and his goings ,are to and from the presence of ,god4 ,he is a ,spirit4--,sometimes in the ,odes there is a hint that ,god1 in spite of ,his anthropomorphic semblance1 is a spirit3-- ,the doings of ,god ,have neither sound nor smell4 ,spiritual ,beings4--,spirits were certainly supposed to move freely among mortals3-- ,do not say1 ,this place is not public2 ,no one can see me here4 ,the approaches of spiritual ,beings ,cannot be calculated beforehand2 ,but on no account should they be ignored4 ,the ,god of ,battle4--,in the hour of battle the ,god of ancient ,china was as much a participator in the fight as the ,god of ,israel in the ,old ,testament3-- ,god is on your side6 was the cry which stimulated ,king ,wu to break down the opposing ranks of ,shang4 ,to ,king ,wu's father1 and others1 direct communications had previously been made from heaven1 with a view to the regeneration of the empire3-- ,the dynasties of ,hsia and ,shang ,had not satisfied ,god with their government2 ,so throughout the various ,states ,he sought and considered ,for a ,state on which ,he might confer the rule4 ,god said to ,king ,wen1 ,i am pleased with your conspicuous virtue1 ,without noise and without display1 ,without heat and without change1 ,without consciousness of effort1 ,following the pattern of ,god4 ,god said to ,king ,wen1 ,take measures against hostile ,states1 ,along with your brethren1 ,get ready your grappling-irons1 ,and your engines of assault1 ,to attack the walls of ,ts'ung4 ,god sends ,famine4--,the ,ode from which the following extract is taken carries us back to the ninth century ,b4,c41 at the time of a prolonged and disastrous drought3-- ,glorious was the ,milky ,way1 ,revolving brightly in the sky1 ,when the king said1 ,alas6 ,what crime have my people committed now1 ,that ,god sends down death and disorder1 ,and famine comes upon us again8 ,there is no spirit to whom ,i have not sacrificed2 ,there is no victim that ,i have grudged2 ,our sacrificial symbols are all used up2-- ,how is it that ,i am not heard8 ,the ,confucian ,criterion4--,the keystone of the ,confucian philosophy1 that man is born good1 will be found in the following lines3-- ,how mighty is ,god6 ,how clothed in majesty is ,god1 ,and how unsearchable are ,his judgments6 ,god gives birth to the people1 ,but their natures are not constant2 ,all have the same beginning1 ,but few have the same end4 ,god1 however1 is not held responsible for the sufferings of mankind4 ,king ,wen1 in an address to the last tyrant of the ,house of ,shang1 says plainly1 ,it is not ,god who has caused this evil time1 ,but it is you who have strayed from the old paths4 ,the ,associate of ,god4--,worshipped on certain occasions as the ,associate of ,god1 and often summoned to aid in hours of distress or danger1 was a personage known as ,hou ,chi1 said to have been the original ancestor of the ,house of ,chou4 ,his story1 sufficiently told in the ,odes1 is curious for several reasons1 and especially for an instance in ,chinese literature1 which1 in the absence of any known husband1 comes near suggesting the much-vexed question of parthenogenesis3-- ,she who first gave birth to our people ,was the lady ,chiang ,yuan4 ,how did she give birth to them8 ,she offered up a sacrifice ,that she might not be childless2 ,then she trod in a footprint of ,god's1 and conceived1 ,the great and blessed one1 ,pregnant with a new birth to be1 ,and brought forth and nourished ,him who was ,hou ,chi4 ,when she had fulfilled her months1 ,her firstborn came forth like a lamb4 ,there was no bursting1 no rending1 ,no injury1 no hurt1 ,in order to emphasise his divinity4 ,did not ,god give her comfort8 ,had ,he not accepted her sacrifice1 ,so that thus easily she brought forth her son8 ,he was exposed in a narrow lane1 ,but sheep and oxen protected and suckled him2 ,he was exposed in a wide forest1 ,but woodcutters found him2 ,he was exposed on cold ice1 ,but birds covered him with their wings4 ,apotheosis of ,hou ,chi4--,and so he grew to man's estate1 and taught the people husbandry1 with a success that has never been rivalled4 ,consequently1 he was deified1 and during several centuries of the ,chou dynasty was united in worship with ,god3-- ,o wise ,hou ,chi1 ,fit ,associate of our ,god1 ,founder of our race1 ,there is none greater than thou6 ,thou gavest us wheat and barley1 ,which ,god appointed for our nourishment1 ,and without distinction of territory1 ,didst inculcate the virtues over our vast dominions4 ,other ,deities4--,during the long period covered by the ,chou dynasty1 various other deities1 of more or less importance1 were called into existence4 ,the patriarchal ,emperor ,shen ,nung1 ,b4,c4 #bhch-bfih1 who had taught his people to till the ground and eat of the fruits of their labour1 was deified as the tutelary genius of agriculture3-- ,that my fields are in such good condition ,is matter of joy to my husbandmen4 ,with lutes1 and with drums beating1 ,we will invoke the ,father of ,husbandry1 ,and pray for sweet rain1 ,to increase the produce of our millet fields1 ,and to bless my men and their wives4 ,there were also sacrifices to the ,father of ,war1 whoever he may have been2 to the ,spirits of ,wind1 ,rain1 and ,fire2 and even to a deity who watched over the welfare of silkworms4 ,since those days1 the number of spiritual beings who receive worship from the ,chinese1 some in one part of the empire1 some in another1 has increased enormously4 ,a single work1 published in #afdj1 gives notices of no fewer than eight hundred divinities4 ,superstitions4--,during the period under consideration1 all kinds of superstition prevailed2 among others1 that of referring to the rainbow4 ,the rainbow was believed by the vulgar to be an emanation from an enormous oyster away in the great ocean which surrounded the world1 i4e4 ,china4 ,philosophers held it to be the result of undue proportions in the mixture of the two cosmogonical principles which when properly blended produce the harmony of nature4 ,by both parties it was considered to be an inauspicious manifestation1 and merely to point at it would produce a sore on the hand4 ,supernatural ,manifestations4--,several events of a supernatural character are recorded as having taken place under the ,chou dynasty4 ,in ,b4,c4 #gef1 one of the feudal ,dukes saw a vision of a yellow serpent which descended from heaven and laid its head on the slope of a mountain4 ,the ,duke spoke of this to his astrologer1 who said1 ,it is a manifestation of ,god2 sacrifice to it4 ,in ,b4,c4 #gdg1 another ,duke found on a mountain a being in the semblance of a stone4 ,sacrifices were at once offered1 and the stone was deified1 and received regular worship from that time forward4 ,in ,b4,c4 #fei1 a third ,duke was in a trance for five days1 when he saw a vision of ,god1 and received from ,him instructions as to matters then pressing4 ,for many generations afterwards the story ran that the ,duke had been up to ,heaven4 ,this became a favourite theme for romancers4 ,it is stated in the biography of a certain ,feng ,po that one night he saw the gate of heaven open1 and beheld exceeding glory within1 which shone into his courtyard4 ,the following story is told by ,huai-nan ,tzu 7d4 ,b4,c4 #abb73--,once when the ,duke of ,lu-yang was at war with the ,han ,state1 and sunset drew near while a battle was still fiercely raging1 the ,duke held up his spear and shook it at the sun1 which forthwith went back three zodiacal signs4 ,only the ,emperor worships ,god and ,earth4--,from the records of this period we can also see how jealously the worship of ,god and ,earth was reserved for the ,emperor alone4 ,in ,b4,c4 #fea1 ,duke ,huan of the ,ch'i ,state1 one of the feudal nobles to be mentioned later on1 wished to signalise his accession to the post of doyen or leader of the vassal ,states by offering the great sacrifices to ,god and to ,earth4 ,he was1 however1 dissuaded from this by a wise ,minister1 who pointed out that only those could perform these ceremonies who had personally received the ,imperial mandate from ,god4 ,this same ,minister is said to be responsible for the following utterance3-- ,duke ,huan asked ,kuan ,chang1 saying1 ,to what should a prince attach the highest importance8 ,to ,god1 replied the ,minister2 at which ,duke ,huan gazed upwards to the sky4 ,the ,god ,i mean1 continued ,kuan ,chung1 is not the illimitable blue above4 ,a true prince makes the people his ,god4 ,sacrifices4--,much has been recorded by the ,chinese on the subject of sacrifice1--more indeed than can be easily condensed into a small compass4 ,first of all1 there were the great sacrifices to ,god and to ,earth1 at the winter and summer solstices respectively1 which were reserved for the ,son of ,heaven alone4 ,besides what may be called private sacrifices1 the ,emperor sacrificed also to the four quarters1 and to the mountains and rivers of the empire2 while the feudal nobles sacrificed each to his own quarter1 and to the mountains and rivers of his own domain4 ,the victim offered by the ,emperor on a blazing pile of wood was an ox of one colour1 always a young animal2 a feudal noble would use any fatted ox2 and a petty official a sheep or a pig4 ,when sacrificing to the spirits of the land and of grain1 the ,son of ,heaven used a bull1 a ram1 and a boar2 the feudal nobles only a ram and a boar2 and the common people1 scallions and eggs in spring1 wheat and fish in summer1 millet and a sucking-pig in autumn1 and unhulled rice and a goose in winter4 ,if there was anything infelicitous about the victim intended for ,god1 it was used for ,hou ,chi4 ,the victim intended for ,god required to be kept in a clean stall for three months2 that for ,hou ,chi simply required to be perfect in its parts4 ,this was the way in which they distinguished between heavenly and earthly spirits4 ,in primeval times1 we are told1 sacrifices consisted of meat and drink1 the latter being the mysterious liquid1 water1 for which wine was substituted later on4 ,the ancients roasted millet and pieces of pork2 they made a hole in the ground and scooped the water from it with their two hands1 beating upon an earthen drum with a clay drumstick4 ,thus they expressed their reverence for spiritual beings4 ,sacrifices1 according to the ,book of ,rites 7,legge's translation71 should not be frequently repeated4 ,such frequency is an indication of importunateness2 and importunateness is inconsistent with reverence4 ,nor should they be at distant intervals4 ,such infrequency is indicative of indifference2 and indifference leads to forgetting them altogether4 ,therefore the superior man1 in harmony with the course of ,nature1 offers the sacrifices of spring and autumn4 ,when he treads on the dew which has descended as hoar-frost he cannot help a feeling of sadness1 which arises in his mind1 and which cannot be ascribed to the cold4 ,in spring1 when he treads on the ground1 wet with the rains and dews that have fallen heavily1 he cannot avoid being moved by a feeling as if he were seeing his departed friends4 ,we meet the approach of our friends with music1 and escort them away with sadness1 and hence at the sacrifice in spring we use music1 but not at the sacrifice in autumn4 ,sacrifice is not a thing coming to a man from without2 it issues from within him1 and has its birth in his heart4 ,when the heart is deeply moved1 expression is given to it by ceremonies2 and hence1 only men of ability and virtue can give complete exhibition to the idea of sacrifice4 ,it was in this sense that ,confucius warned his followers not to sacrifice to spirits which did not belong to them1 i4e4 to other than those of their own immediate ancestors4 ,to do otherwise would raise a suspicion of ulterior motives4 ,ancestral ,worship4--,for the purpose of ancestral worship1 which had been practised from the earliest ages1 the ,emperor had seven shrines1 each with its altar representing various forefathers2 and at all of these a sacrifice was offered every month4 ,feudal nobles could have only five sets of these1 and the various officials three or fewer1 on a descending scale in proportion to their rank4 ,petty officers and the people generally had no ancestral shrine1 but worshipped the shades of their forefathers as best they could in their houses and cottages4 ,for three days before sacrificing to ancestors1 a strict vigil and purification was maintained1 and by the end of that time1 from sheer concentration of thought1 the mourner was able to see the spirits of the departed2 and at the sacrifice next day seemed to hear their very movements1 and even the murmur of their sighs4 ,the object of the ceremony was to bring down the spirits from above1 together with the shades of ancestors1 and thus to secure the blessing of ,god2 at the same time to please the souls of the departed1 and to create a link between the living and the dead4 ,the object in sacrifices is not to pray2 the time should not be hastened on2 a great apparatus is not required2 ornamental details are not to be approved2 the victims need not be fat and large 7cf4 ,horace1 ,od4 ,,iii1 #bc2 ,immunis aram1 etc472 a profusion of the other offerings is not to be admired4 ,there must1 however1 be no parsimony4 ,a high official1 well able to afford better things1 was justly blamed for having sacrificed to the manes of his father a sucking-pig which did not fill the dish4 ,religious ,dances4--,the various dances displayed the gravity of the performers1 but did not awaken the emotion of delight4 ,the ancestral temple produced the impression of majesty1 but did not dispose one to rest on it4 ,its vessels might be employed1 but could not be conveniently used for any other purpose4 ,the idea which leads to intercourse with spiritual ,beings is not interchangeable with that which finds its realisation in rest and pleasure4 ,priestcraft4--,from the ceremonial of ancestor worship the thin end of the wedge of priestcraft was rigorously excluded4 ,for the words of prayer and blessing and those of benediction to be kept hidden away by the officers of prayer of the ancestral temple1 and by the sorcerers and recorders1 is a violation of the rules of propriety4 ,this may be called keeping in a state of darkness4 ,confucius sums up the value of sacrifices in the following words4 ,by their great sacrificial ceremonies the ancients served ,god2 by their ceremonies in the ancestral temple they worshipped their forefathers4 ,he who should understand the great sacrificial ceremonies1 and the meaning of the ceremonies in the ancestral temple1 would find it as easy to govern the empire as to look upon the palm of his hand4 ,filial ,piety4--,intimately connected with ancestral worship is the practice of filial piety2 it is in fact on filial piety that ancestral worship is dependent for its existence4 ,in early ages1 sons sacrificed to the manes of their parents and ancestors generally1 in order to afford some mysterious pleasure to the disembodied spirits4 ,there was then no idea of propitiation1 of benefits to ensue4 ,in later times1 the character of the sacrifice underwent a change1 until a sentiment of do ut des became the real mainspring of the ceremony4 ,meanwhile1 ,confucius had complained that the filial piety of his day only meant the support of parents4 ,but1 argued the ,sage1 we support our dogs and our horses2 without reverence1 what is there to distinguish one from the other8 ,he affirmed that children who would be accounted filial should give their parents no cause of anxiety beyond such anxiety as might be occasioned by ill-health4 ,filial piety1 he said again1 did not consist in relieving the parents of toil1 or in setting before them wine and food2 it did consist in serving them while alive according to the established rules1 in burying them when dead according to the established rules1 and in sacrificing to them after death1 also according to the established rules4 ,in another passage ,confucius declared that filial piety consists in carrying on the aims of our forefathers1 which really amounts to serving the dead as they would have been served if alive4 ,divination4--,divination seems to have been practised in ,china from the earliest ages4 ,the implements used were the shell of the tortoise1 spiritualised by the long life of its occupant1 and the stalks of a kind of grass1 to which also spiritual powers had for some reason or other been attributed4 ,these were the methods1 we are told1 by which the ancient ,kings made their people revere spirits1 obey the law1 and settle all their doubts4 ,god gave these spiritual boons to mankind1 and the sages took advantage of them4 ,to explore what is complex1 to search out what is hidden1 to hook up what lies deep1 and to reach to what is distant1 thereby determining the issues for good or ill of all events under the sky1 and making all men full of strenuous endeavour1 there are no agencies greater than those of the stalks and the tortoise shell4 ,in ,b4,c4 #bbbd1 when the ,emperor ,shun wished to associate the ,great ,yu with him in the government1 the latter begged that recourse might be had to divination1 in order to discover the most suitable among the ,ministers for this exalted position4 ,the ,emperor refused1 saying that his choice had already been confirmed by the body of ,ministers4 ,the spirits too have signified their assent1 the tortoise and grass having both concurred4 ,divination1 when fortunate1 may not be repeated4 ,sincerity1 on which ,confucius lays such especial stress1 is closely associated with success in divination4 ,sincerity is of ,god2 cultivation of sincerity is of man4 ,he who is naturally sincere is he who hits his mark without effort1 and without thinking apprehends4 ,he easily keeps to the golden mean2 he is inspired4 ,he who cultivates sincerity is he who chooses what is good and holds fast to it4 ,it is characteristic of the most entire sincerity to be able to foreknow4 ,when a ,state or a family is about to flourish1 there are sure to be happy omens2 and when it is about to perish1 there are sure to be unpropitious omens4 ,the events portended are set forth by the divining-grass and the tortoise4 ,when calamity or good fortune may be about to come1 the evil or the good will be foreknown by the perfectly sincere man1 who may therefore be compared with a spirit4 ,the tortoise and the grass have long since disappeared as instruments of divination1 which is now carried on by means of lots drawn from a vase1 with answers attached2 by planchette2 and by the chiao4 ,the last consists of two pieces of wood1 anciently of stone1 in the shape of the two halves of a kidney bean4 ,these are thrown into the air before the altar in a temple1--,buddhist or ,taoist1 it matters nothing1--with the following results4 ,two convex sides uppermost mean a response indifferently good2 two flat sides mean negative and bad2 one convex and one flat side mean that the prayer will be granted4 ,this form of divination1 though widely practised at the present day1 is by no means of recent date4 ,it was common in the ,ch'u ,state1 which was destroyed ,b4,c4 #cjj1 after four hundred and twenty years of existence4 ,,chapter ,,ii -- ,,confucianism ,attitude of ,confucius4--,under the influence of ,confucius1 ,b4,c4 #eea-dgi1 the old order of things began to undergo a change4 ,the ,sage's attitude of mind towards religion was one of a benevolent agnosticism1 as summed up in his famous utterance1 ,respect the spirits1 but keep them at a distance4 ,that he fully recognised the existence of a spirit world1 though admitting that he knew nothing about it1 is manifest from the following remarks of his3-- ,how abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them6 ,we look for1 but do not see them2 we listen for1 but do not hear them2 yet they enter into all things1 and there is nothing without them4 ,they cause all the people in the empire to fast and purify themselves1 and array themselves in their richest dresses1 in order to attend at their sacrifices4 ,then1 like overflowing water1 they seem to be over the heads1 and on the right and left1 of their worshippers4 ,he believed that he himself was1 at any rate to some extent1 a prophet of ,god1 as witness his remarks when in danger from the people of ,k'uang3-- ,after the death of ,king ,wen1 was not wisdom lodged in me8 ,if ,god were to destroy this wisdom1 future generations could not possess it4 ,so long as ,god does not destroy this wisdom1 what can the people of ,k'uang do to me8 ,again1 when ,confucius cried1 ,alas6 there is no one that knows me1 and a disciple asked what was meant1 he replied1 ,i do not murmur against ,god4 ,i do not mumble against man4 ,my studies lie low1 and my penetration lies high4 ,but there is ,god2 ,he knows me4 ,we know that ,confucius fasted1 and we know that he sacrificed to the spirits as though the spirits were present2 it is even stated that when a friend sent him a present1 though it might be a carriage and horses1 unless it were flesh which had been used in sacrifice1 he did not bow4 ,he declared that for a person in mourning food and music were without flavour and charm2 and whenever he saw anyone approaching who was in mourning dress1 even though younger than himself1 he would immediately rise from his seat4 ,he believed in destiny2 he was superstitious1 changing colour at a squall or at a clap of thunder2 and he even countenanced the ceremonies performed by villagers when driving out evil spirits from their dwellings4 ,he protested against any attempt to impose on ,god4 ,he said that he who offends against ,god has none to whom he can pray2 and when in an hour of sickness a disciple asked to be allowed to pray for him1 he replied1 ,my praying has been for a long time4 ,yet he declined to speak to his disciples of ,god1 of spiritual beings or even of death and a hereafter1 holding that life and its problems were alone sufficient to tax the energies of the human race4 ,while not altogether ignoring man's duty towards ,god1 he subordinated it in every way to man's duty towards his neighbour4 ,he also did much towards weakening the personality of ,god1 for whom he invariably used ,t'ien1 never ,shang ,ti1 regarding ,him evidently more as an abstraction than as a living sentient ,being1 with the physical attributes of man4 ,confucianism is therefore entirely a system of morality1 and not a religion4 ,it is also a curious fact that throughout the ,spring and ,autumn1 or ,annals of the ,state of ,lu1 which extend from ,b4,c4 #gbb to ,b4,c4 #dhd1 there is no allusion of any kind to the interposition of ,god in human affairs1 although a variety of natural phenomena are recorded1 such as have always been regarded by primitive peoples as the direct acts of an angered or benevolent ,deity4 ,lu was the ,state in which ,confucius was born1 and its annals were compiled by the ,sage himself2 and throughout these ,annals the term ,god is never used except in connection with the word ,king1 where it always has the sense of by the grace of ,god1 and once where the suzerain is spoken of as the ,son of ,god1 or1 as we usually phrase it1 the ,son of ,heaven4 ,how to bring rain4--,in the famous ,commentary by ,tso-ch'iu ,ming on the ,spring and ,autumn1 which imparts a human interest to the bald entries set against each year of these annals1 there are several allusions to the ,supreme ,being4 ,for instance1 at a time of great drought the ,duke of ,lu wished1 in accordance with custom1 to burn a witch and a person in the last stage of consumption2 the latter being sometimes exposed in the sun so as to excite the compassion of ,god1 who would then cause rain to fall4 ,a ,minister vigorously protested against this superstition1 pointing out that the proper way to meet a drought would be to reduce the quantity of food consumed1 and to practise rigid economy in all things4 ,what have these creatures to do with the matter8 he asked4 ,if ,god had wished to put them to death1 ,he had better not have given them life4 ,if they can really produce drought1 to burn them will only increase the calamity4 ,the ,duke accordingly desisted2 and although there was a famine1 it is said to have been less severe than usual4 ,in ,b4,c4 #ebc there was a comet4 ,a ,minister said1 ,this broom-star sweeps away the old1 and brings in the new4 ,the doings of ,god are constantly attended by such appearances4 ,under ,b4,c4 #ecb we have the record of a stone speaking4 ,the ,marquis of ,lu enquired of his chief musician if this was a fact1 and received the following answer3 ,stones cannot speak4 ,perhaps this one was possessed by a spirit4 ,if not1 the people must have heard wrong4 ,and yet it is said that when things are done out of season1 and discontents and complaints are stirring among the people1 then speechless things do speak4 ,human ,sacrifices4--,human sacrifices appear to have been not altogether unknown4 ,the ,commentary tells us that in ,b4,c4 #fcg1 in consequence of a failure to appear and enter into a covenant1 the ,viscount of ,tseng was immolated by the people of the ,chu ,state1 to appease the wild tribes of the east4 ,the ,minister of ,war protested3 ,in ancient times the six domestic animals were not offered promiscuously in sacrifice2 and for small matters1 the regular sacrificial animals were not used4 ,how then should we dare to offer up a man8 ,sacrifices are performed for the benefit of men1 who thus as it were entertain the spirits4 ,but if men sacrifice men1 who will enjoy the offering8 ,again1 in ,b4,c4 #ebi1 the ruler of the ,ch'u ,state destroyed the ,ts'ai ,state1 and offered up the heir apparent as a victim4 ,an officer said1 ,this is inauspicious4 ,if the five sacrificial animals may not be used promiscuously1 how much less can a feudal prince be offered up8 ,the custom of burying live persons with the dead was first practised in ,china in ,b4,c4 #ehj4 ,it is said to have been suggested by an earlier and more harmless custom of placing straw and wooden effigies in the mausolea of the great4 ,when the ,first ,emperor died in ,b4,c4 #baj1 all those among his wives who had borne no children were buried alive with him4 ,praying for ,rain4--,from another ,commentary on the ,spring and ,autumn1 by ,ku-liang ,shu1 fourth century ,b4,c41 we have the following note on ,prayers for ,rain1 which are still offered up on occasions of drought1 but now generally through the medium of ,taoist and ,buddhist priests3-- ,prayers for rain should be offered up in spring and summer only2 not in autumn and winter4 ,why not in autumn and winter8 ,perhaps the moisture of growing things is not then exhausted2 neither has man reached the limit of his skill4 ,why in spring and summer8 ,because time is pressing and man's skill is of no further avail4 ,how so8 ,because without rain just then nothing could be made to grow2 the crops would fail1 and famine ensue4 ,but why wait until time is pressing1 and man's skill of no further avail8 ,because to pray for rain is the same thing as asking a favour1 and the ancients did not lightly ask favours4 ,why so8 ,because they held it more blessed to give than to receive2 and as the latter excludes the former1 the main object of man's life is taken away4 ,how is praying for rain asking a favour8 ,it is a request that ,god will do something for us4 ,the divine men of old who had any request to make to ,god were careful to prefer it in due season4 ,at the head of all his high officers of ,state1 the prince would proceed in person to offer up his prayer4 ,he could not ask any one else to go as his proxy4 ,posthumous ,honours for ,confucius4--,before leaving ,confucius1 it is necessary to add that now for many centuries he has been the central figure and object of a cult as sincere as ever offered by man to any being1 human or divine4 ,the ruler of ,confucius' native ,state of ,lu was profoundly distressed by the ,sage's death1 and is said to have built a shrine to commemorate his great worth1 at which sacrifices were offered at the four seasons4 ,by the time however that the ,chou dynasty was drawing to its close 7third century ,b4,c471 it would be safe to say that1 owing to civil war and the great political upheaval generally1 the worship of ,confucius was altogether discontinued4 ,it certainly did not flourish under the ,first ,emperor 7see post71 and was only revived in ,b4,c4 #aie by the first ,emperor of the ,han dynasty1 who visited the grave of ,confucius in ,shantung and sacrificed to his spirit a pig1 a sheep1 and an ox4 ,fifty years later a temple was built to ,confucius at his native place2 and in ,a4,d4 #gb his seventy-two disciples were admitted to share in the worship1 music being shortly afterwards added to the ceremonial4 ,gradually1 the people came to look upon ,confucius as a god1 and women used to pray to him for children1 until the practice was stopped by ,edict in ,a4,d4 #dgb4 ,in #eje1 which some consider to be the date of the first genuine ,confucian ,temple1 wooden images of the ,sage were introduced2 in #aecj these were abolished1 and inscribed tablets of wood1 in use at the present day1 were substituted4 ,in #eee temples were placed in all prefectural cities2 and later on1 in all the important cities and towns of the empire4 ,in the second and eighth months of each year1 before dawn1 sacrifices to ,confucius are still celebrated with considerable solemnity and pomp1 including music and dances by bands of either thirty-six or sixty-four performers4 ,mencius and ,confucianism4--,mencius1 who lived ,b4,c4 #cgb-bhi1 and devoted himself to the task of spreading and consolidating the ,confucian teachings1 made no attempt to lead back the ,chinese people towards their early beliefs in a personal ,god and in a spiritual world beyond the ken of mortals4 ,he observes in a general way that those who obey ,god are saved1 while those who rebel against ,him perish1 but his reference is to this life1 and not to a future one4 ,he also says that those whom ,god destines for some great part1 ,he first chastens by suffering and toil4 ,but perhaps his most original contribution will be found in the following paragraph3-- ,by exerting his mental powers to the full1 man comes to understand his own nature4 ,when he understands his own nature1 he understands ,god4 ,in all the above instances the term used for ,god is ,t'ien4 ,only in one single passage does ,mencius use ,shang ,ti3--,though a man be wicked1 if he duly prepares himself by fasting and abstinence and purification by water1 he may sacrifice to ,god4 ,ch'u ,yuan4--,the statesman-poet ,ch'u ,yuan1 ,b4,c4 #ccb-bie1 who drowned himself in despair at his country's outlook1 and whose body is still searched for annually at the ,dragon-,boat festival1 frequently alludes to a ,supreme ,being3-- ,almighty ,god1 ,thou who art impartial1 ,and dost appoint the virtuous among men as ,thy ,assistants4 ,one of his poems is entitled ,god ,questions1 and consists of a number of questions on various mysteries in the universe4 ,the meaning of the title would be better expressed by ,questions put to ,god1 but we are told that such a phrase was impossible on account of the holiness of ,god and the irreverence of questioning ,him4 ,one question was1 ,who has handed down to us an account of the beginning of all things1 and how do we know anything about the time when heaven and earth were without form8 ,another question was1 ,as ,nu-ch'i had no husband1 how could she bear nine sons8 ,the ,commentary tells us that ,nu-ch'i was a divine maiden1 but nothing more seems to be known about her4 ,the following prose passage is taken from ,ch'u ,yuan's biography3-- ,man came originally from ,god1 just as the individual comes from his parents4 ,when his span is at an end1 he goes back to that from which he sprang4 ,thus it is that in the hour of bitter trial and exhaustion1 there is no man but calls to ,god1 just as in his hours of sickness and sorrow every one of us will turn to his parents4 ,the great sacrifices to ,god and to ,earth1 as performed by the early rulers of ,china1 had been traditionally associated with ,mount ,t'ai1 in the modern province of ,shantung1 one of ,china's five sacred mountains4 ,accordingly1 in ,b4,c4 #bai1 the self-styled ,first ,emperor1 desirous of restoring the old custom1 which had already fallen into desuetude1 proceeded to the summit of ,mount ,t'ai1 where he is said to have carried out his purpose1 though what actually took place was always kept a profound secret4 ,the literati1 however1 whom the ,first ,emperor had persecuted by forbidding any further study of the ,confucian ,canon1 and burning all the copies he could lay hands on1 gave out that he had been prevented from performing the sacrifices by a violent storm of rain1 alleging as a reason that he was altogether deficient in the virtue required for such a ceremony4 ,it may be added that in ,b4,c4 #aaj the then reigning ,emperor proceeded to the summit of ,mount ,t'ai1 and performed the great sacrifice to ,god1 following this up by sacrificing to ,earth on a hill at the foot of the mountain4 ,at the ceremony he was dressed in yellow robes1 and was accompanied by music4 ,during the night there was light1 and a white cloud hung over the altar4 ,the ,emperor himself declared that he saw a dazzling glory1 and heard a voice speaking to him4 ,the truthful historian--the ,herodotus of ,china--who has left an account of these proceedings1 accompanied the ,emperor on this and other occasions2 he was also present at the sacrifices offered before the departure of the mission1 and has left it on record that he himself actually heard the voices of spirits4 ,,chapter ,,iii -- ,,taoism ,lao ,tzu4--,meanwhile1 other influences had been helping to divert the attention of the ,chinese people from the simple worship of ,god and of the powers of nature4 ,the philosophy associated with the name of ,lao ,tzu1 who lived nobody knows when1--probably about ,b4,c4 #fjj--which is popularly known as ,taoism1 from ,tao1 the omnipresent1 omnipotent1 and unthinkable principle on which it is based1 operated with ,confucianism1 though in an opposite direction1 in dislimning the old faith while putting nothing satisfactory in its place4 ,confucianism1 with its shadowy monotheistic background1 was at any rate a practical system for everyday use1 and it may be said to contain all the great ethical truths to be found in the teachings of ,christ4 ,lao ,tzu harped upon a doctrine of ,inaction1 by virtue of which all things were to be accomplished1--a perpetual accommodation of self to one's surroundings1 with the minimum of effort1 all progress being spontaneous and in the line of least resistance4 ,such a system was naturally far better fitted for the study1 where in fact it has always remained1 than for use in ordinary life4 ,in one of the few genuine utterances of ,lao ,tzu which have survived the wreck of time1 we find an allusion to a spiritual world4 ,unfortunately1 it is impossible to say exactly what the passage means4 ,according to ,han ,fei 7died ,b4,c4 #bcc71 who wrote several chapters to elucidate the sayings of ,lao ,tzu1 the following is the correct interpretation3-- ,govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish 7i4e4 do not overdo it74 ,if the empire is governed according to ,tao1 evil spirits will not be worshipped as good ones4 ,if evil spirits are not worshipped as good ones1 good ones will do no injury4 ,neither will the ,sages injure the people4 ,each will not injure the other4 ,and if neither injures the other1 then there will be mutual profit4 ,the latter portion is explained by another commentator as follows3-- ,spirits do not hurt the natural4 ,if people are natural1 spirits have no means of manifesting themselves2 and if spirits do not manifest themselves1 we are not conscious of their existence as such4 ,likewise1 if we are not conscious of the existence of spirits as such1 we must be equally unconscious of the existence of inspired teachers as such2 and to be unconscious of the existence of spirits and of inspired teachers is the very essence of ,tao4 ,adumbrations of ,heracleitus4--,in the hands of ,lao ,tzu's more immediate followers1 ,tao became the ,absolute1 the ,first ,cause1 and finally ,one in whose obliterating unity all seemingly opposed conditions of time and space were indistinguishably blended4 ,this ,one1 the source of human life1 was placed beyond the limits of our visible universe2 and in order for human life to return thither at death and to enjoy immortality1 it was only necessary to refine away corporeal grossness according to the doctrines of ,lao ,tzu4 ,later on1 this ,one came to be regarded as a fixed point of dazzling luminosity1 in remote ether1 around which circled for ever and ever1 in the supremest glory of motion1 the souls of those who had successfully passed through the ordeal of life1 and who had left the slough of humanity behind them4 ,the final state is best described by a poet of the ninth century ,a4,d43-- ,like a whirling water-wheel1 ,like rolling pearls1-- ,yet how are these worthy to be named8 ,they are but illustrations for fools4 ,there is the mighty axis of ,earth1 ,the never-resting pole of ,heaven2 ,let us grasp their clue1 ,and with them be blended in ,one1 ,beyond the bounds of thought1 ,circling for ever in the great ,void1 ,an orbit of a thousand years1-- ,yes1 this is the key to my theme4 ,debased ,taoism4--,this view naturally suggested the prolongation of earthly life by artificial means2 hence the search for an elixir1 carried on through many centuries by degenerate disciples of ,taoism4 ,but here we must pass on to consider some of the speculations on ,god1 life1 death1 and immortality1 indulged in by ,taoist philosophers and others1 who were not fettered1 as the ,confucianists were1 by traditional reticence on the subject of spirits and an unseen universe4 ,spirits must exist4--,mo ,tzu1 a philosopher of the fourth and fifth centuries ,b4,c41 was arguing one day for the existence of spirits with a disbelieving opponent4 ,all you have to do1 he said1 is to go into any village and make enquiries4 ,from of old until now the people have constantly seen and heard spiritual beings2 how then can you say they do not exist8 ,if they had never seen nor heard them1 could people say that they existed8 ,of course1 replied the disbeliever1 many people have seen and heard spirits2 but is there any instance of a properly verified appearance8 ,mo ,tzu then told a long story of how ,king ,hsuan1 ,b4,c4 #hbg-gha1 unjustly put to death a ,minister1 and how the latter had said to the ,king1 ,if there is no consciousness after death1 this matter will be at an end2 but if there is1 then within three years you will hear from me4 ,three years later1 at a grand durbar1 the ,minister descended from heaven on a white horse1 and shot the ,king dead before the eyes of all4 ,traces of ,mysticism4--,chuang ,tzu1 the famous philosopher of the third and fourth centuries ,b4,c41 and exponent of the ,tao of ,lao ,tzu1 has the following allusions to ,god1 of course as seen through ,taoist glasses3-- ,god is a principle which exists by virtue of its own intrinsicality1 and operates spontaneously without self-manifestation4 ,he who knows what ,god is1 and what ,man is1 has attained4 ,knowing what ,god is1 he knows that he himself proceeded therefrom4 ,knowing what ,man is1 he rests in the knowledge of the known1 waiting for the knowledge of the unknown4 ,the ultimate end is ,god4 ,he is manifested in the laws of nature4 ,he is the hidden spring4 ,at the beginning of all things1 ,he was4 ,taoism1 however1 does not seem to have succeeded altogether1 any more than ,confucianism1 in altogether estranging the ,chinese people from their traditions of a ,god1 more or less personal1 whose power was the real determining factor in human events4 ,the great general ,hsiang ,yu1 ,b4,c4 #bcc-bjb1 said to his charioteer at the battle which proved fatal to his fortunes1 ,i have fought no fewer than seventy fights1 and have gained dominion over the empire4 ,that ,i am now brought to this pass is because ,god has deserted me4 ,,chapter ,,iv -- ,,materialism ,yang ,hsiung4--,yang ,hsiung was a philosopher who flourished ,b4,c4 #ec - ,a4,d4 #ah4 ,he taught that the nature of man at birth is neither good nor evil1 but a mixture of both1 and that development in either direction depends wholly upon environment4 ,to one who asked about ,god1 he replied1 ,what have ,i to do with ,god8 ,watch how without doing anything ,he does all things4 ,to another who said1 ,surely it is ,god who fashions and adorns all earthly forms1 he replied1 ,not so2 if ,god in an earthly sense were to fashion and adorn all things1 ,his strength would not be adequate to the task4 ,wang ,ch'ung4--,wang ,ch'ung1 ,a4,d4 #bg-ig1 denies that men after death live again as spiritual beings on earth4 ,animals1 he argues1 do not become spirits after death2 why should man alone undergo this change8 4 4 4 ,that which informs man at birth is vitality1 and at death this vitality is extinguished4 ,vitality is produced by the pulsations of the blood2 when these cease1 vitality is extinguished1 the body decays1 and becomes dust4 ,how can it become a spirit8 4 4 4 ,when a man dies1 his soul ascends to heaven1 and his bones return 7kuei7 to earth2 therefore he is spoken of as a disembodied spirit 7kuei71 the latter word really meaning that which has returned4 4 4 4 ,vitality becomes humanity1 just as water becomes ice4 ,the ice melts and is water again2 man dies and reverts to spirituality4 4 4 4 ,the spirits which people see are invariably in the form of human beings1 and that very fact is enough of itself to prove that these apparitions cannot be the souls of dead men4 ,if a sack is filled with grain1 it will stand up1 and is obviously a sack of grain2 but if the sack is burst and the grain falls out1 then it collapses and disappears from view4 ,now1 man's soul is enfolded in his body as grain in a sack4 ,when he dies his body decays and his vitality is dissipated2 and if when the grain is taken away the sack loses its form1 why1 when the vitality is gone1 should the body obtain a new shape in which to appear again in the world8 4 4 4 ,the number of persons who have died since the world began1 old1 middle-aged1 and young1 must run into thousands of millions1 far exceeding the number of persons alive at the present day4 ,if every one of these has become a disembodied spirit1 there must be at least one to every yard as we walk along the road2 and those who die must now suddenly find themselves face to face with vast crowds of spirits1 filling every house and street4 4 4 4 ,people say that spirits are the souls of dead men4 ,that being the case1 spirits should always appear naked1 for surely it is not contended that clothes have souls as well as men4 4 4 4 ,it can further be shown not only that dead men never become spirits1 but also that they are without consciousness1 by the fact that before birth they are without consciousness4 ,before birth man rests in the ,first ,cause2 when he dies he goes back to the ,first ,cause4 ,the ,first ,cause is vague and without form1 and man's soul is there in a state of unconsciousness4 ,at death the soul reverts to its original state3 how then can it possess consciousness8 4 4 4 ,as a matter of fact1 the universe is full of disembodied spirits1 but these are not the souls of dead men4 ,they are beings only of the mind1 conjured up for the most part in sickness1 when the patient is especially subject to fear4 ,for sickness induces fear of spirits2 fear of spirits causes the mind to dwell upon them2 and thus apparitions are produced4 ,another writer enlarges on the view that kuei disembodied spirit is the same as kuei to return4 ,at death1 man's soul returns to heaven1 his flesh to earth1 his blood to water1 his blood-vessels to marshes1 his voice to thunder1 his motion to the wind1 his sleep to the sun and moon1 his bones to trees1 his muscles to hills1 his teeth to stones1 his fat to dew1 his hair to grass1 while his breath returns to man4 ,attributes of ,god4--,there was a certain philosopher1 named ,ch'in ,mi 7died ,a4,d4 #bbf71 whose services were much required by the ,king of ,wu1 who sent an envoy to fetch him4 ,the envoy took upon himself to catechise the philosopher1 with the following result3-- ,you are engaged in study1 are you not8 asked the envoy4 ,any slip of a boy may be that1 replied ,ch'in2 why not ,i8 ,has ,god a head8 said the envoy4 ,he has1 was the reply4 ,where is ,he8 was the next question4 ,in the ,west4 ,the ,odes say1 ,he gazed fondly on the ,west1 ,from which it may be inferred that his head was in the ,west4 ,has ,god got ears8 ,god sits on high1 replied ,ch'in1 but hears the lowly4 ,the ,odes say1 ,the crane cries in the marsh1 ,and its cry is heard by ,god4 ,if ,he had not ears1 how could ,he hear it8 ,has ,god feet8 asked the envoy4 ,he has1 replied ,ch'in4 ,the ,odes say1 ,the steps of ,god are difficult2 ,this man does not follow them4 ,if ,he had no feet1 how could ,he step8 ,has ,god a surname8 enquired the envoy4 ,and if so1 what is it8 ,he has a surname1 said ,ch'in1 and it is ,liu4 ,how do you know that8 rejoined the other4 ,the surname of the ,emperor1 who is the ,son of ,heaven1 is ,liu1 replied ,ch'in2 and that is how ,i know it4 ,these answers1 we are told1 came as quickly as echo after sound4 ,a writer of the ninth century ,a4,d41 when reverence for the one ,god of ancient ,china had been to a great extent weakened by the multiplication of inferior deities1 tells a story how this ,god1 whose name was ,liu1 had been displaced by another ,god whose name was ,chang4 ,the ,hsing ying tsa lu has the following story4 ,there was once a very poor scholar1 who made it his nightly practice to burn incense and pray to ,god4 ,one evening he heard a voice from above1 saying1 ,god has been touched by your earnestness1 and has sent me to ask what you require4 ,i wish1 replied the scholar1 for clothes and food1 coarse if you will1 sufficient for my necessities in this life1 and to be able to roam1 free from care1 among the mountains and streams1 until ,i complete my allotted span2 that is all4 ,all6 cried the voice1 amid peals of laughter from the clouds4 ,why1 that is the happiness enjoyed by the spirits in heaven2 you can't have that4 ,ask rather for wealth and rank4 ,good and ,evil4--,it has already been stated that the ,chinese imagination has never conceived of an ,evil ,one1 deliverance from whom might be secured by prayer4 ,the existence of evil in the abstract has however received some attention4 ,wei ,tao ,tzu asked ,yu ,li ,tzu1 saying1 ,is it true that ,god loves good and hates evil8 ,it is1 replied ,yu4 ,in that case1 rejoined ,wei1 goodness should abound in the ,empire and evil should be scarce4 ,yet among birds1 kites and falcons outnumber phoenixes2 among beasts1 wolves are many and unicorns are few2 among growing plants1 thorns are many and cereals are few2 among those who eat cooked food and stand erect1 the wicked are many and the virtuous are few2 and in none of these cases can you say that the latter are evil and the former good4 ,can it be possible that what man regards as evil1 ,god regards as good1 and vice versa8 ,is it that ,god is unable to determine the characteristics of each1 and lets each follow its own bent and develop good or evil accordingly8 ,if ,he allows good men to be put upon1 and evil men to be a source of fear1 is not this to admit that ,god has ,his likes and dislikes8 ,from of old until now1 times of misgovernment have always exceeded times of right government2 and when men of principle have contended with the ignoble1 the latter have usually won4 ,where then is ,god's love of good and hatred of evil8 ,yu ,li ,tzu had no answer to make4 ,the ,tan yen tsa lu says1 ,if the people are contented and happy1 ,god is at peace in ,his mind4 ,when ,god is at peace in ,his mind1 the two great motive ,powers act in harmony4 ,where is ,god8--,the ,pi ch'ou says1 ,the empyrean above you is not ,god2 it is but ,his outward manifestation4 ,that which remains ever fixed in man's heart and which rules over all things without cease1 that is ,god4 ,alas1 you earnestly seek ,god in the blue sky1 while forgetting ,him altogether in your hearts4 ,can you expect your prayers to be answered8 ,this view--,for behold1 the kingdom of ,god is within you1 ,st4 ,luke xvii4 #ba1--;has been brought out by the philosopher ,shao ,yung1 ,a4,d4 #ajaa-ajgg1 in the following lines3-- ,the heavens are still3 no sound4 ,where then shall ,god be found8 4 4 4 ,search not in distant skies2 ,in man's own heart ,he lies4 ,conflict of ,faiths4--,han ,wen-kung1 ,a4,d4 #gfh-hbd1 the eminent philosopher1 poet1 and statesman1 who suffered banishment for his opposition to the ,buddhist religion1 complains that1 of old there was but one faith2 now there are three1--meaning ,confucianism1 ,buddhism1 and ,taoism4 ,he thus pictures the simplicity of ,china's ancient kings3-- ,their clothes were of cloth or of silk4 ,they dwelt in palaces or in ordinary houses4 ,they ate grain and vegetables and fruit and fish and flesh4 ,their method was easy of comprehension3 their doctrines were easily carried into practice4 ,hence their lives passed pleasantly away1 a source of satisfaction to themselves1 a source of benefit to mankind4 ,at peace within their own hearts1 they readily adapted themselves to the necessities of the family and of the ,state4 ,happy in life1 they were remembered after death4 ,their sacrifices were grateful to the ,god of ,heaven1 and the spirits of the departed rejoiced in the honours of ancestral worship4 ,his mind seems to have been open on the subject of a future state4 ,in a lamentation on the death of a favourite nephew1 he writes1 ,if there is knowledge after death1 this separation will be but for a little while4 ,if there is no knowledge after death1 so will this sorrow be but for a little while1 and then no more sorrow for ever4 ,his views as to the existence of spirits on this earth are not very logical3-- ,if there is whistling among the rafters1 and ,i take a light but fail to see anything1--is that a spirit8 ,it is not2 for spirits are soundless4 ,if there is something in the room1 and ,i look for it but cannot see it1--is that a spirit8 ,it is not2 spirits are formless4 ,if something brushes against me1 and ,i grab at1 but do not seize it1--is that a spirit8 ,it is not2 for if spirits are soundless and formless1 how can they have substance8 ,if then spirits have neither sound nor form nor substance1 are they consequently non-existent8 ,things which have form without sound exist in nature2 for instance1 earth1 and stones4 ,things which have sound without form exist in nature2 for instance1 wind1 and thunder4 ,things which have both sound and form exist in nature2 for instance1 men1 and animals4 ,and things which have neither sound nor form also exist in nature2 for instance1 disembodied spirits and angels4 ,for his own poetical spirit1 according to the funeral elegy written some two hundred and fifty years after his death1 a great honour was reserved3-- ,above in heaven there was no music1 and ,god was sad1 ,and summoned him to his place beside the ,throne4 ,his friend and contemporary1 ,liu ,tsung-yuan1 a poet and philosopher like himself1 was tempted into the following reflections by the contemplation of a beautiful landscape which he discovered far from the beaten track3-- ,now1 ,i have always had my doubts about the existence of a ,god2 but this scene made me think ,he really must exist4 ,at the same time1 however1 ,i began to wonder why ,he did not place it in some worthy centre of civilisation1 rather than in this out-of-the-way barbarous region1 where for centuries there has been no one to enjoy its beauty4 ,and so1 on the other hand1 such waste of labour and incongruity of position disposed me to think that there could not be a ,god after all4 ,letter from ,god4--,in ,a4,d4 #ajjh there was a pretended revelation from ,god in the form of a letter1 recalling the letter from ,christ on the neglect of the ,sabbath mentioned by ,roger of ,wendover and ,hoveden1 contemporary chroniclers4 ,the ,emperor and his ,court regarded this communication with profound awe2 but a high official of the day said1 ,i have learnt 7from the ,confucian ,discourses7 that ,god does not even speak2 how then should ,he write a letter8 ,modern ,materialism4--,the philosopher and commentator1 ,chu ,hsi1 ,a4,d4 #aacj-abjj1 whose interpretations of the ,confucian ,canon are the only ones now officially recognised1 has done more than any one since ,confucius himself to disseminate a rigid materialism among his fellow-countrymen4 ,the ,god of the ,canon is explained away as an ,eternal ,principle2 the phenomena of the universe are attributed to ,nature1 with its absurd personification so commonly met with in ,western writers2 and spirits generally are associated with the perfervid imaginations of sick persons and enthusiasts4 ,is consciousness dispersed after death1 or does it still exist8 said an enquirer4 ,it is not dispersed1 replied ,chu ,hsi2 it is at an end4 ,when vitality comes to an end1 consciousness comes to an end with it4 ,he got into more trouble over the verse quoted earlier1 ,king ,wen is on high1 ,in glory in heaven4 ,his comings and his goings ,are to and from the presence of ,god4 ,if it is asserted1 he argued1 that ,king ,wen was really in the presence of ,god1 and that there really is such a ,being as ,god1 ,he certainly cannot have the form in which ,he is represented by the clay or wooden images in vogue4 ,still1 as these statements were made by the ,prophets of old1 there must have been some foundation for them4 ,there is1 however1 a certain amount of inconsistency in his writings on the supernatural1 for in another passage he says1 ,when ,god is about to send down calamities upon us1 ,he first raises up the hero whose genius shall finally prevail against those calamities4 ,sometimes he seems to be addressing the educated ,confucianist2 at other times1 the common herd whose weaknesses have to be taken into account4 ,,chapter ,v -- ,,buddhism ,,and ,,other ,,religions ,so early as the third century ,b4,c41 ,buddhism seems to have appeared in ,china1 though it was not until the latter part of the first century ,a4,d4 that a regular propaganda was established1 and not until a century or two later still that this religion began to take a firm hold of the ,chinese people4 ,it was bitterly opposed by the ,taoists1 and only after the lapse of many centuries were the two doctrines able to exist side by side in peace4 ,each religion began early to borrow from the other4 ,in the words of the philosopher ,chu ,hsi1 of the twelfth century1 ,buddhism stole the best features of ,taoism2 ,taoism stole the worst features of ,buddhism4 ,it is as though one took a jewel from the other1 and the loser recouped the loss with a stone4 ,from ,buddhism the ,taoists borrowed their whole scheme of temples1 priests1 nuns1 and ritual4 ,they drew up liturgies to resemble the ,buddhist ,sutras1 and also prayers for the dead4 ,they adopted the idea of a ,trinity1 consisting of ,lao ,tzu1 ,p'an ,ku1 and the ,ruler of the ,universe2 and they further appropriated the ,buddhist ,purgatory with all its frightful terrors and tortures after death4 ,nowadays it takes an expert to distinguish between the temples and priests of the two religions1 and members of both hierarchies are often simultaneously summoned by persons needing religious consolation or ceremonial of any kind4 ,doubts4--,in a chapter on ,doubts1 by the ,taoist philosopher ,mou ,tzu1 we read1 ,some one said to ,mou1 ,the ,buddhist doctrine teaches that when men die they are born again4 ,i cannot believe this4 ,when a man is at the point of death1 replied ,mou1 his family mount upon the house-top and call to him to stay4 ,if he is already dead1 to whom do they call8 ,they call his soul1 said the other4 ,if the soul comes back1 the man lives1 answered ,mou2 but if it does not1 whither does it go8 ,it becomes a disembodied spirit1 was the reply4 ,precisely so1 said ,mou4 ,the soul is imperishable2 only the body decays1 just as the stalks of corn perish1 while the grain continues for ever and ever4 ,did not ,lao ,tzu say1 ',the reason why ,i suffer so much is because ,i have a body'8 ,but all men die whether they have found the truth or not1 urged the questioner2 what then is the difference between them8 ,that1 replied ,mou1 is like considering your reward before you have put in right conduct for a single day4 ,if a man has found the truth1 even though he dies1 his spirit will go to heaven2 if he has led an evil life his spirit will suffer everlastingly4 ,a fool knows when a thing is done1 but a wise man knows beforehand4 ,to have found the truth and not to have found it are as unlike as gold and leather2 good and evil1 as black and white4 ,how then can you ask what is the difference8 ,buddhism1 which forbids the slaughter of any living creature1 has wisely abstained from denouncing the sacrifice of victims at the ,temple of ,heaven and at the ,confucian ,temple4 ,but backed by ,confucianism it denounces the slaughter for food of the ox which tills the soil4 ,some lines of doggerel to this effect1 based upon the ,buddhist doctrine of the transmigration of souls and put into the mouth of an ox1 have been rendered as follows3-- ,my murderers shall come to grief1 ,along with all who relish beef2 ,when ,i'm a man and you're a cow1 ,i'll eat you as you eat me now4 ,fire ,worshippers4--,mazdeism1 the religion of ,zoroaster1 based upon the worship of fire1 and in that sense not altogether unfamiliar to the ,chinese1 reached ,china some time in the seventh century ,a4,d4 ,the first temple was built at ,ch'ang-an1 the capital1 in #fba1 ten years after which came the famous missionary1 ,ho ,lu the ,magus4 ,but the lease of life enjoyed by this religion was of short duration4 ,islamism4--,mahometans first settled in ,china in the year of the ,mission1 ,a4,d4 #fbh1 under ,wahb-,abi-,kabcha1 a maternal uncle of ,mahomet1 who was sent with presents to the ,emperor4 ,the first mosque was built at ,canton1 where1 after several restorations1 it still exists4 ,there is at present a very large ,mahometan community in ,china1 chiefly in the province of ,yunnan4 ,these people carry on their worship unmolested1 on the sole condition that in each mosque there shall be exhibited a small tablet with an inscription1 the purport of which is recognition of allegiance to the reigning ,emperor4 ,nestorians4--,in ,a4,d4 #fca the ,nestorian ,church introduced ,christianity into ,china1 under the title of ,the ,luminous ,doctrine2 and in #fcf ,nestorian missionaries were allowed to settle at the capital4 ,in #gha the famous ,nestorian ,tablet1 with a bilingual inscription in ,chinese and ,syriac1 was set up at ,si-ngan ,fu1 where it still remains1 and where it was discovered in #afbe by ,father ,semedo1 long after ,nestorianism had altogether disappeared1 leaving not a rack behind4 ,manichaeans4--,in ,a4,d4 #gai an ambassador from ,tokharestan arrived at the capital4 ,he was accompanied by one ,ta-mou-she1 who is said to have taught the religion of the ,chaldean ,mani1 or ,manes1 who died about ,a4,d4 #bgd4 ,in #hjg the ,manichaean sect made formal application to be allowed to have recognised places of meeting2 shortly after which they too disappear from history4 ,judaism4--,the ,jews1 known to the ,chinese as those who take out the sinew1 from their peculiar method of preparing meat1 are said by some to have reached ,china1 and to have founded a colony in ,honan1 shortly after the ,captivity1 carrying the ,pentateuch with them4 ,three inscriptions on stone tablets are still extant1 dated #adhi1 #aeab1 and #affc1 respectively4 ,the first says the ,jews came to ,china during the ,sung dynasty2 the second1 during the ,han dynasty2 and the third1 during the ,chou dynasty4 ,the first is probably the correct account4 ,we know that the ,jews built a synagogue at ,k'ai-feng ,fu in ,a4,d4 #aafd1 where they were discovered by ,ricci in the seventeenth century1 and where1 in #ahej1 there were still to be found traces of the old faith1 now said to be completely effaced4 ,christianity4--,with the advent of the ,jesuit ,fathers in the sixteenth century1 and of the ,protestant missionaries1 ,marshman and ,morrison1 in #agii and #ahjg respectively1 we pass gradually down to the present day1 where we may well pause and look around to see what remains to the modern ,chinese of their ancient faiths4 ,it is scarcely too much to say that all idea of the early ,god of their forefathers has long since ceased to vivify their religious instincts1 though the sacrifices to ,god and to ,earth are still annually performed by the ,emperor4 ,ancestor-worship1 and the cult of ,confucius1 are probably very much what they were many hundreds of years ago2 while ,taoism1 once a pure philosophy1 is now a corrupt religion4 ,as to alien faiths1 the ,buddhism of ,china would certainly not be recognised by the ,founder of ,buddhism in ,india2 ,mahometanism is fairly flourishing2 ,christianity is still bitterly opposed4 ,,chronological ,,syllabus ,legendary ,period 7,twenty-ninth ,century to ,tenth ,century ,b4,c47--,p'an ,ku and ,creation--,first ,worship of ,spirits--,worship of ,god1 with incense--,sacrifices to ,mountains and ,rivers--,worship of ,sun1 ,moon1 and ,stars--,institution of ,ancestral ,worship--,god enjoys music1 dancing1 and burnt offerings--,god resents bad government--,revelation in a ,dream--,anthropomorphism--,fetishism--, no ,devil--,no ,hell--,terms for ,god--,the ,character for ,god is a picture of a ,man--,god and ,jehovah--,god in the ,odes--,hou ,chi and ,parthenogenesis--,superstitions and ,supernatural ,manifestations--,sacrifice--,ancestral ,worship--,filial ,piety4 ,feudal ,age 7,tenth ,century to ,third ,century ,b4,c47--,the ,influence of ,confucianism--,his ,agnosticism--,weakening of ,supernatural ,beliefs--,consolidation of ,confucianism--,human ,sacrifices--,prayers for ,rain--,the ,philosophy of ,taoism--,a ,rival to ,confucianism--,but uniting to weaken the old ,monotheistic ,faith--,its ,theory of ,spirits--,modifications of ,taoism--,the ,elixir of ,life--,evidences of a ,spiritual ,world--,mysticism4 ,the ,empire 7,third ,century ,b4,c4 to modern times7--,arguments against a ,spiritual ,world--,attributes of ,god--,good and ,evil--,buddhism appears--,conflict of ,faiths--,struggle between ,buddhism and ,taoism--,taoism borrows from ,buddhism and becomes a ,religion--,mazdeism appears--,followed closely by ,mahometanism1 ,nestorian ,christianity1 and ,manichaeism--,mahometanism alone survived--,jews arrived about ,eleventh ,century ,a4,d4--,chu ,hsi materialised the ,confucian ,canon--,henceforward ,agnosticism the rule for literati--,buddhism and ,taoism 7both debased7 for the ,masses--,the ,jesuits arrive in the ,sixteenth ,century--,protestant ,missionaries date from #agii4 ,,selected ,,works ,,bearing ,,on ,,the ,,religions ,,of ,,china ,religion in ,china4 ,joseph ,edkins1 ,d4,d4 ,the ,religions of ,china4 ,james ,legge1 ,d4,d4 ,the ,dragon1 ,image and ,demon1 or the three ,religions of ,china4 ,rev4 ,h4 ,c4 du ,bose4 ,les ,religions de la ,chine4 ,c4 de ,harbez4 ,the ,religious ,system of ,china3 ,its ancient forms1 evolution1 history1 etc4 ,j4 ,j4 de ,groot1 ,ph4,d4 ,the ,sacred ,books of ,china4 ,james ,legge1 ,d4,d4 ,chinese ,buddhism4 ,joseph ,edkins1 ,d4,d4 ,le ,shinntoisme4 ,michel ,revon4