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CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS - University of Oregon

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— 260 —<br />

to provide for their personal wants, a house to dwell in, and a<br />

carriage or sedan-chair to travel suitably to their rank in the<br />

underworld (1).<br />

Rejecting the existence <strong>of</strong> the soul, Buddhism cannot logically<br />

lay claim to immortality, at least as Western philosophy understands<br />

this idea. No soul exists within the body,<br />

hence no soul survives<br />

after death (2). The so-called shade, admitted by Buddhism, on<br />

reaching the tenth department <strong>of</strong> Hades, is reborn as a man, a brute,<br />

a fish, a bird, a reptile or an insect, according<br />

demerits in a previous existence.<br />

to its merits or<br />

Some souls, after passing through the various hells, are found<br />

still obdurate in their evil ways. Such refractory beings are handed<br />

over to the most savage lictors <strong>of</strong> hell, and clubbed to death with<br />

peach cudgels (3). Others hold they are eternally damned, but this<br />

is opposed to the Buddhist doctrine that all will finally reach<br />

salvation.<br />

Besides the tw<strong>of</strong>old soul admitted by Chinese philosophy (4),<br />

Buddhists seem to have invented a third one, which is borne in<br />

funeral processions, and placed for the occasion in a temporary<br />

soul-tablet (5). This, it is said, gives a kind <strong>of</strong> artificial body to<br />

the shade, and prevents its dissolution. Later on, a permanent<br />

tablet is set up, and kept in the family for several generations. Such<br />

a device enables the deceased, though departed from this world, to<br />

live on among<br />

his descendants.<br />

With regard to the tortures endured in the Buddhist hells, it<br />

may be said <strong>of</strong> them that they combine all that is horrible to the<br />

(1) See Chinese Superstitions. Vol.1, p. 58-59: p. 61 , 82, 117-123, 128-129.<br />

(2) Monier Williams. Buddhism, p. 107. — Johnston. Buddhist China,<br />

p. 50. — Geden. Studies in the Religions <strong>of</strong> the East. p. 522.<br />

(3) See Chinese Superstitions. Vol V. p. 506, 719. note 2.<br />

(4) See Chinese Superstitions. Vol. I. Preface, p. Ill: Vol. III. p. 243<br />

(Taoist philosophy <strong>of</strong> the soul).<br />

(5) Chinese Superstitions. Vol. 1. p. 80 (Temporary seat <strong>of</strong> the soul).—<br />

De Groot. The Beligious System <strong>of</strong> China. Vol I. p. 174-176 (The soul-<br />

banner).

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