There has always existed in China a tribunal called the Court of Rites, invested with full authority to condeinn and suppress any hurtful innovations; and this has greatly contributed to the preservation of the ancient religion. But the plain practical teaching of Confucius had no marvels to overawe the imagination, and it prescribed no ascetic practices, or elaborate ceremonials, by which the sinner could mitigate remorse, and hope to reconcile himself with Divine Powers. Consequently, the populace manifested an inclination to adopt other forms of faith. Lao-kiun, sometimes called Lao-tseu, is supposed to have been the first who introduced foreign belief into China. He was cotemporary with Confucius, and founder of the sect called Tao-tse. Tradition reports that he voluntarily renounced the advantages of rank, and retired into the solitude of the forest, in the Land of the West; their name for India. The doctrines he taught indicate that he was a Hindoo devotee, but to what sect he belonged is unknown. He believed in the existence of One Supreme Being, invisible, eternal, and incomprehensible, called Tao, which means Reason, or Wisdom. Successive emanations from him were subordinate Spirits, who produced the world, and governed it as his agents. It was his favourite maxim that "Tao produced one; one produced two; two produced a third; and three produced all things." The science of Tao was the means of arriving at felicity and perfect freedom. This science could be obtained by severe mortification of the body, entire subjection of the passions, and devout contemplation. When a man arrived at this holy state, he was an immortal while he yet remained upon the earth. It was believed that he could foretell events, fly through the air, put back the course of the years, and ascend to heaven without dying. Lao-kiun was accustomed to say: "The Holy pronounced these words: He that takes upon himself the dust and filth of the kingdom, shall become king of the universe." He acquired great reputation for sanctity, and marvellous stories were told of his birth. It was said that he had existed from all eter

nity; that he descended to earth, and was born of a virgin, black in complexion, described "marvellous and beautiful as jasper;" that when his mission of benevolence was completed, he ascended bodily alive into the Paradise above. His statue was placed in the emperor's palace, a splendid temple was erected to him, and he was worshipped as a god. His disciples were called, "Heavenly Teachers." They inculcated great tenderness toward animals, and considered strict celibacy necessary for the attainment of perfect holiness.

One morning a book filled with magical formulas and invocations to Spirits was found suspended on the principal gate of Pekin. The followers of Lao-kiun said it had descended from heaven in the night-time. The emperor Tchin-tsong, being among the converts to the new doctrine, went on foot to the city gate, in token of humility, received the volume with all reverence, enclosed it in a golden box, and carried it back to the palace, where it has ever since been carefully preserved, as the oracle of the sect, under the title of Tao-teking. From revelations contained in these writings, the teachers profess to know how to cast out Evil Spirits from those afflicted with diseases, to predict events from the aspect of the stars, and make gold by some mysterious process of alchemy and magic. They even persuaded one of the emperors that they had discovered how to distil a liquor which would confer immortal life on whoever drank it. The teachers of this sect have great influence with the populace, to whom they sell amulets to preserve them from evil, and innumerable small images of Spirits, and of saints who have become God. The successors of Lao-kiun are always honoured with the title of chief Mandarins. The head of the sect resides in a magnificent palace in the district of Kiang-si. A great concourse of people, among whom are some persons of rank, flock thither from the neighbouring provinces, to have diseases cured, or their fortunes told.

Such practices have always been ridiculed by the school of Confucius, and the Court of Rites has uniformly con

demned them. In the third century after Confucius, the emperor, annoyed by the power thus obtained over the credulous multitude, ordered all books of magic to be burned, and put many professors of it to death; but some of the writings were secretly preserved, and afterward brought to light.

A new religion was subsequently introduced, concerning which the following traditions are preserved. In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Tchao-Wang, on the eighth day of the moon, a light from the south-west illumined the palace of the king. The monarch summoned sages skilled in predicting the future, and inquired the meaning of this splendour. They showed him books wherein it was prophesied that such a light would be seen when a great saint was born in the West, and that one thousand years after his birth, his religion would spread into China. This was one thousand and twenty-nine years before Christ. Sixty-five years after Christ, the emperor Ming-ti dreamed that a man ten feet high, of the colour of gold, and glittering like the sun, entered his palace, and said: "My religion will spread over these parts." When the sages were consulted, they opened the annals of the empire and showed him how his dream corresponded with the prophecy which had been read to Tchao-Wang a thousand years before. He was so much impressed by the coincidence, that he immediately sent ambassadors to India, with directions to seek for the Holy One, and not return until they found him. These messengers encountered some of the disciples of Bouddha Sakia, and brought back his Sacred Books, with teachers to explain them. The doctrines of this sect have been described in the chapter on Hindostan. They have been very generally adopted in China, where Bouddha is known under the name of the God Fo. Five centuries after the introduction of this religion, there were three thousand temples of Fo in the Chinese empire, and the emperor himself was so attached to the new faith, that he resigned the government into the hands of his adopted son, that he might withdraw from all

worldly affairs, and devote himself entirely to meditation on divine things.

In one of the Sacred Books brought by the ambassadors, Bouddha is understood to refer to a master more ancient than himself, called by the Chinese Om-i-to, and by the Japanese Am-i-da. It is said this name, in Sanscrit, signifies The Infinite. It is apparently a variation of Om, which Hindoos hold so peculiarly sacred as the Word which issued from the mouth of Brahma, and produced all things. In China, it is written thousands and thousands of times on all their holy places. In their prayers, they pronounce it with Fo, believing they can thus obtain re

mission of sins.

Phu-sa, a follower of Bouddha, who lived early in our fourth century, is worshipped in China, as one of those saints who had become a Spirit of Light, and voluntarily descended to earth again from motives of benevolence. He is called "The son of Bouddha, born of his mouth," because his allegorical writings are supposed to have perfected the doctrines of his master. Bodhidhorma, another of his followers, who fled from persecution in Hindostan, in our fifth century, took refuge in China, where he was received with distinguished favour by the emperor, and became his spiritual teacher. His name is held in religious veneration, and his office of imperial counsellor was the origin of an order of priests still existing, called Spiritual Princes of the Law.

The emperors of the Tartar dynasty have all embraced Lamaism, a branch of Buddhism, which will be presently explained. But whatever may be their personal predilections, the law obliges them to conform to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the ancient Sacred Books of China, in common with all magistrates and public officers. The festivals of the old religion are scrupulously observed. Every new emperor guides the plough with his own hands, to raise grain for an offering to Chang-ti. At the winter solstice, the last week in December, and the summer solstice, the last week in June, all the shops are shut

up,

the courts are closed, and no person is permitted to begin a long journey. The religious solemnities celebrated at those seasons are called Festivals of Gratitude to Tien. At the spring equinox, they set apart a day to implore the blessing of Tien on the fruits of the earth. At the autumnal equinox, they offer the first-fruits of the harvest, and return thanks.

Though the worship of Fo has been the prevailing religion of all parts of the Chinese empire for more than fifteen hundred years, it has never gained favour with a majority of their learned men, who are mostly of the school of Confucius. One of them argues thus: "This person, so cried up, who has come out of the West into China, passed, as they say, nine years on a mountain, in continual contemplation. He remained immoveable, with his eyes fixed upon the wall, without changing his position. Suppose every private person should take it into his head to follow this example, who would take care of cultivating the fields, and making the useful products of the loom? Whence would they have garments, and food to support life? Can it be imagined that a doctrine whose practice, if it were universal, would put the whole empire in confusion, is the true doctrine?" A letter from one of them, addressed to the emperor, says: "If the worship of Fo is tolerated, the people will go by hundreds to give their money and clothing to the priests; and I fear that young and old will finish by entirely neglecting their occupations. If you do not forbid these things, there will soon be persons who will mutilate their members to offer them to Fo, thus destroying our morality, and exciting the ridicule of people around us." Another writes thus to a believer in the popular doctrines: "If you do not burn paper in honour of Fo, if you do not place offerings upon his altar, he will be angry with you, and make punishment fall on your heads. Your god Fo must then be a miserable creature."

But these are merely the opinions of the learned. The populace have always been so attached to the religion of Fo, that the Court of Rites have deemed it prudent to exVOL. I.-19

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