750
through one’s veins, So strong were these
beliefs that Taoist books were spared in
the general destruction by the hated Ts'in
Shih Huang-ti (8. c. 200).
However exalted the original teach-
ings of Taoism in regard to morality
and a better method of living than the
Chinese were accustomed to, this relig-
ion rapidly degenerated into a system
of exorcism, magic, demon-worship, and
all that these involve. On this point,
we read: “Magicians arose under the
agis of Taoism who professed to have
mastered the powers of nature. They
threw themselves into fire without being
burned, and into water without being
drowned. ‘They held the secret of the
philosopher’s stone, and raised tempests
at their will.”
Speaking of the degeneracy of Taoism,
also, De Groot says: —
But the principal work of the Taoist priest-
hood is the performance of magical religious
ceremonies, ‘The great Taoist and Confu-
cian prophets have stated that men who pos-
sess the Tao by having assimilated them-
selves with nature, also possess miraculous
powers, the same as those which nature her-
self displays; they are, indeed, gods, or shen,
of the same kind as those who constitute the
Tao. Among these powers the most useful
is that of destroying and casting out evil
spirits, and thus saving mankind from disease,
plague, and drought. Even the man who,
by practising Taoist discipline, is on the way
to assimilation with the Tao, that is to say,
the Taoist doctor or priest, is a magician of
this kind, of lower or higher order according
to his attainments in the Tao. He is a phy-
sician and an exorcist; he may quench confla-
grations in the distance, stop swollen rivers
and inundations, produce fogs and rains; to
these and other ends he may command the
gods. Magic has always been the central
nerve of the Taoist religion, and always de-
termined the functions of its priesthood. It
runs as a main artery through a most exten-
sive ritualism and ceremonial, aiming at the
promotion of human felicity mainly by de-
struction of evil spirits, combined with pro-
pitiation of gods. It works especially with
charms and spells, the power of which is un-
THE WATCHMAN
limited faith, By means of charms and
spells, gods are ordered to do whatever the
priests desire, and demons and their work are
dispelled and destroyed. . . Wherever ca-
lamities are to be averted or felicity is to be
established, a temporary altar is erected by
the priests, adorned with portraits of a great
number of gods, with flowers and incense
burners, and sacrificial food and drink is set
thereon. The gods, attracted by the savory
smoke and smell, are called down by means of
charms, which, being burned, reach them
through the flames and the smoke; and by
the same magic, connected with invocations
and prayers, they are prevailed upon to re-
move the calamity. Thus it is that the gods
of rain and thunder send down fructifying
water wanted for agriculture; that they stop
their rains and showers in seasons of e:.ces-
sive wetness. Thus river gods are forced
to withdraw their destructive floods, gods of
fire prevailed upon to quench conflagrations.
Thus, again, in times of epidemic or drought,
the devils which cause these calamities are
routed with the help of gods.
That magical cult of the universe, that is to
say, of gods who are parts of the mani-
festations of the universal Yang-Athmos —
that religion, sacrificial, exorcising, ritualis-
tic—is exercised in the temples .
erected everywhere by thousands throughout
the empire, nominally consecrating each to
one god, but filling it up with images and
altars of many more. Myriads of images thus
stud the Chinese soil, characterizing it as the
principal 1idolatrous country in the world.
Those idols, deemed to be actually animated
and therefore miracle-working if properly
worked on by magical worship, at the same
time characterize China as the principal coun-
try in the world for fetishism.
For the exercise of magical religion, learned
Taoists have in course of ages invented nu-
merous systems. Only a limited number of
these are practically in vogue. Those sys-
tems differ from each other in the first place
according to the gods employed; but among
these gods those of thunder and lightning,
the devil-destroying instruments of heaven,
are prominent. ‘These gods generally fight
the host of devils in close alliance with thirty-
six generals of an army of celestial warriors,
many of whom have an astrological origin.
Those systems have been carefully printed
and published for the benefit of the human
race. They have been inserted in the great