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!44
the living.
EAST ASIA.
The Chinese recognise in the individual three distinct /men, or soulo
the rational residing in the head, the sensuous in the breast, the material in the
stomach. Of these the first two may after death be fixed, one in the memorial
tablets, the other in the tomb ; but the third escapes into space, seeking to enter
some other body, and its influence may become hostile to the family if they neglect
their religious observances. The huen of children are most to be feared, because
they were still imperfect at the moment of death, and unappeased by a regular cult.
The incense sticks burning at the entrance of the houses and shops are to prevent
these and all other malignant spirits from entering.
The choice of a grave is of the last importance. Should the soul of the deceased
be exposed to baneful influences, it will certainly endeavour to avenge itself, and
its anger will be shown in the endless disasters that may fall on the family. The
good and evil genii, who "come in the cloud and vanish in the fog," arc eternally
wandering over the surface of the earth, and the essential point is to build the
houses, erect monuments, lay down roads, construct canals, and sink wells in such
a way as to obstruct the flight of the hostile and favour that of the beneficent
spirits.
But the knowledge of all this is extremely difficult, and all calamities are
attributed to the carelessness or ignorance of the professor of feng-shui. In every
part of the country mines and quarries have been filled by the local authorities,
because the inhabitants have complained that they have caused bad harvests by
allowing the demons to pass by. Lawsuits often occur between neighbours accusing
each other of having made changes on their lands, turning the good spirits aside.
A single tree planted on the right spot, or a tower raised on an eminence, will at
times suffice to place the whole district under a happy conjunction of the elements.
From the north came the bad, from the south the good spirits, and in general
winding streams or gently rounded hills promote prosperity, while sharp turnings
and steep bluffs are dangerous^ to the surrounding populations. Hence straight
lines must be avoided, and all the roofs of the buildings are curved upwards, so that
the evil influences may be turned aside.
In some respects the feng-shui constitutes the rudiments of natural science.
According to its professors it embraces the study of the general order of things,
their numerical proportions, their inner life and outward forms. When the
European engineer digs straight trenches in the ground, throws bridges athwart
the torrent, tunnels the hills obliquely, lays down iron rails across the graves of the
dead, the people look on with a feeling of downright dismay. The great opposition
to railways is due not only to the fear entertained by the Government that Euro-
peans may gradually make themselves masters of the land, but also to the
traditional respect of the people for the earth that bears and nourishes them.
The religious system founded by Lao-tze, and which originally differed
essentially from the national religion represented by Confucius, has gradually
reverted to the old superstitions, and now differs little, if at all, from the practices
of feng-shui. Lao-tze did not, like Confucius, look to the past to discover a model
of conduct for the future, lie sought for absolute truth, without troubling himself
with precedents drawn from the history of the emperors.
Heedless of good or evil