fühlen vermag, ist der Ausdruck*), wenn ein solcher gegeben
werden soll, 1-Hi-Wei (nach dem Commentator Lao-tseu’s).
homme pas excellence). Quoique le vieux Prince (Lao-Kiun) dans la succession
des siècles ne se fuit reproduit que par les lois de transformation, et ne fût pas
né d’nne manière humaine, au temps du Yang-Kia (18“ « roi de la dynastie de
Chang) son esprit se sépara et devint âme d a n s .le sein de la merveilleuse et
excellente dame de jaspe (Hiuan miao yu niu), ou il demeura 81 ans, jusque
qu’il naquit (sous le roi Wonting) dans l’endroit Khiu j i n l i du village Lai-hiang,
dans le district de Khou-hian du royaume de Thsou (1301 a. d.). Son uom de
famille était L i, son surnam Eul, son titre Pe yang et son nom posthume Tan.
Il rédigea les préceptes des deux livres de la Raison et de la Vertu. D’après le
livre authentique de la sainte généalogie de Lao-Kuin, ce très élevé vieux prince
habita dans le palais de la grande pureté (Tài thsing koung) et il est le premier
ancêtre élu souffle original vivifiant et le fondateur du ciel et de la terre. Son
origine se trouve dans la plus parfaite tranquillité et dans le Grand Absolu, ou
il existait avant l’origine du monde et avant la création. • C’est lu i qui a vivifié
le souffle et réuni les semences pures, il a produit le ciel et la terre par le
changement et il fait que l’accomplissement et la destruction se succèdent dans
une série perpétuelle et imiSRise. Il prend toutes les formes par la transmutation
et se reproduit constamment, d an s. ce monde de poussière et de sable, connaissant
parfaitement les successions innombrables des périodes de créations, il
contemple le fort et le faible du siècle, dans tous les temps il. a enseigné la
doctrine et fut de génération en génération l’instituteur des empereurs. Partout
il a répandu la loi, en la promulgant dans les neuf cieux, ou .en la transmettant
dans les quatre mers. Depuis les trois Houang, les empereurs et les. rois- de
tous les siècles T’ont vénérée et respectée, car on sait que l’ânie intelligente, qui
vivifie tout ce qui est dans le ciel et au-dessous du c ie l, n ’est que la transformation
du vieux Prince (Lao-Kuiu). Aussi a-t-il promulgué des 100,000 et
des 10,000 de lois, et il n’y a personne, qui ne se ressente de son aide et de
sa protection, les peuples en-profitent toujours (saus le savoir),
*) The Tsing-chin (soul) e sc ap e s'a t death to the region of stars and enjoys
(shang-teen or ascended to heaven) an immortality of happiness. Tschang-
tien-sse, der Vorsteher der Taotse-Secte, geht im Geist bairn, Tode auf seinen
Nachfolger fiber (die Gfitter ein- und absetzend). Die Secte des Wbo-wei-keaou
(Nichtseins) wurde 306 p. d. gestiftet. Among the liturgical works used b y the
priests of Taou, one of the commonest consist of payers to Tow-moo, a female
divinity, supposed to reside in the great Bear. A part of the same
constellation is worshipped under the name of Kwei-sing, who (like Wen-chang)
is favourable to literature. The word Kwei (in its written form) is a compound
character. Its component parts are two other characters „Kwei“ (demon) on
the left and tow, the four stars forming a trapezium in the Great Bear (so
named after a measuring vessel having that shape) on the right. I n the repre-
Niphana bedeutet Dab tanba, die Leidenschaften aüslöschen,
von der Wurzel vana, die tanha (Leidenschaften) entspricht, und
sentation of the divinity Kwei-sing a demonlike personnage is seen Kicking with
his foot the measuring vessel called tow. The Lord of heaven and earth is the
polar star Teen-hwang-ta-te (the great imperial ru le r . of heaven). One of the
28 constellations of the Chinese Zodiac consists of six stars curved like a bow-
It is called Chang (to draw a how). Near it is a cluster of seven stars, known as
the „heavenly dog“. Chang (one of the Genii of Taouist romance) is believed
to be identical with the star cluster of the same name and he is represented (by
painters and idol-makers) with a bow ,in , his hand, shooting the heavenly dog.
Creation (only by the Taonists) was the act of a material agent, called Ke (a
very’ pure form of matter or vapour). Its purer part rose and formed heaven,,
•while its grosser portion became earth. At the time of Tsin-she-hwang (200 a. d.)
many stories were current of immortal men, inhabiting islands in the Pacifci Ocean
(where the herb of immortality was growing). The genii of mountains aud islands
are terrestrial genii. There is. a highter class, the celestial genii. They - are
supposed to ascend to heaven and reside there. The abodes occupied by the
celestial genii are among the stars or higher y e t . in the region of pure rest.
Varions regions in. the sky form the residences of the new divinities, added .to
the pantheon, of the Taouists. Some idols in their temples ressemble the Buddha
and Bodhisatwa, while other« derive their çrigine from the ancient Chinese tales
of hermits and genii. The Fuh and the Poosa of the Hindoo religion are intellectual
gods (with the Buddhists) and their sphere is regarded as higher and
nobler, than that of Brahmah and Shakra, who rule rather in the physical universe.
So in Taouism, the San-Tsing are instructors. while Shang-te and thé
star-go.ds, the medical divinities, the gods of the Elements and the deified hermits,
are the rulers of the physical universe. As the soul is an essence .of
matter, the purest form of matter in the body, so there are essences belonging
to other things, which, when very pure, obtain a life and individuality of their
own. They constitute the souls of coarse matter. Of these there is a series of
five which correspond to the five modes of subsistence foipjd in material nature,
as metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The souls of the five elements rose,
when highly purified through the air to the regions of stars and became the five
planets (Mercury being the essence of water, Venus Of metal, Mars of fire, J u piter
of wood and ..Saturn of earth). The fixed stars are also the essences or
souls of matter and other essences, believed to wander through space, impelled
by an internal active life are also called stars, although not visible in the
heavens. These stars and essences -were then regarded as having divine a ttributes
and they influence the fortunes of men invisibly, but most powerfully. The
terms of soul and essence (shin and tsing) are often convertible (sing meaning
star). Wenchang (god of littérature) is prayed to by scholars, as represented by
a small constellation near the great Bear. He is said to have come down to