Religions of Ancient China | Page 3

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Etext prepared by John Bickers, [email protected] and Dagny, [email protected]

RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA
by HERBERT A. GILES, M.A., LL.D. (Aberd.)

Professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge, Author of "Historic China," "A History of Chinese Literature," "China and the Chinese," etc., etc.
First Published 1906 by Constable and Company Ltd., London.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This book was published as part of the series Religions: Ancient and Modern.
The Psychological Origin and Nature of Religion, by J. H. Leuba. Judaism, by Israel Abraham. Celtic Religion, by Professor E. Anwye. Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan, by W. G. Aston, C.M.G. The Religion of Ancient Rome, by Cyril Bailey, M.A. Hinduism, by Dr. L. D. Barnett. The Religion of Ancient Palestine, by Stanley A. Cook. Animism, by Edward Clodd. Scandinavian Religion, by William A. Craigie. Early Buddhism, by Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids, LL.D. The Religions of Ancient China, by Prof. Giles, LL.D. Magic and Fetishism, by Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. The Religion of Ancient Greece, by Jane Harrison. The Religion of Ancient Egypt, by W. M. Flinders Petrie, F.R.S. Pantheism, by James Allanson Picton. The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Theophilus G. Pinches. Early Christianity (Paul to Origen), by S. B. Slack. The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru, by Lewis Spence, M.A. The Mythology of Ancient Britain and Island, by Charles Squire. Islam, by Ameer Ali, Syed, M.A., C.I.E. Mithraism, by W. G. Pythian-Adams.
The publishers were: Constable and Company Ltd, London; Open Court Company, Chicago. The 1918 edition was printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner, Frome and London.

RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA


CHAPTER I
THE ANCIENT FAITH
Philosophical Theory of the Universe.--The problem of the universe has never offered the slightest difficulty to Chinese philosophers. Before the beginning of all things, there was Nothing. In the lapse of ages Nothing coalesced into Unity, the Great Monad. After more ages, the Great Monad separated into Duality, the Male and Female Principles in nature; and then, by a process of biogenesis, the visible universe was produced.
Popular Cosmogeny.--An addition, however, to this simple system had to be made, in deference to, and on a plane with, the intelligence of the masses. According to this, the Male and Female Principles were each subdivided into Greater and Lesser, and then from the interaction of these four agencies a being, named P'an Ku, came into existence. He seems to have come into life endowed with perfect knowledge, and his function was to set the economy of the universe in order. He is often depicted as wielding a huge adze, and engaged in constructing the world. With his death the details of creation began. His breath became the wind; his voice, the thunder; his left eye, the sun; his right eye, the moon; his blood flowed in rivers; his hair grew into trees and plants; his flesh became the soil; his sweat descended as rain; while the parasites which infested his body were the origin of the human race.
Recognition and Worship of Spirits.--Early Chinese writers tell us that Fu Hsi, B.C. 2953-2838, was the first Emperor to organize sacrifices to, and worship of, spirits. In this he was followed by the Yellow Emperor, B.C. 2698-2598, who built a temple for the worship of God, in which incense was used, and first sacrificed