DURING THE DARK AGES WHeN THE WEST CIVILIZATION WAS LOST DURING THE FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE THE EAST STARTED A NEW CIVILIZATION
Hsi Wang Mu
As Mu Kung, formed of the Eastern Air, is the active Page 137principle of the male air and sovereign of the Eastern Air, so Hsi Wang Mu, born of the Western Air, is the passive or female
principle (yin) and sovereign of the Western Air. These two
principles, co-operating, engender Heaven and earth and all the beings
of the
universe, and thus become the two principles of life and of the
subsistence of all that exists. She is the head of the troop
of genii dwelling on the K’un-lun Mountains (the Taoist equivalent of
the Buddhist Sumêru), and from time to time holds intercourse
with favoured imperial votaries.
The Feast of Peaches
Hsi Wang Mu’s palace is situated in the high mountains of the snowy K’un-lun. It is 1000 li (about 333 miles) in circuit; a rampart of massive gold surrounds its battlements of precious stones. Its right wing rises
on the edge of the Kingfishers’ River. It is the usual abode of the Immortals, who are divided into seven special categories
according to the colour of their garments—red, blue, black, violet, yellow, green, and ‘nature-colour.’ There is a marvellous
fountain built of precious stones, where the periodical banquet of the Immortals is held. This feast is called P’an-t’ao Hui,
‘the Feast of Peaches.’ It takes place on the borders of the Yao Ch’ih, Lake of Gems, and is attended by both male and female
Immortals. Besides several superfine meats, they are served with bears’ paws, monkeys’ lips, dragons’ liver, phoenix marrow,
and peaches gathered in the orchard, endowed with the mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who have the good luck
to taste them. It was by these peaches that the date of the banquet was fixed. The tree put forth leaves once every three
Page 138thousand years, and it required three thousand years after that for the fruit to ripen. These were Hsi Wang Mu’s birthdays,
when all the Immortals assembled for the great feast, “the occasion being more festive than solemn, for there was music on
invisible instruments, and songs not from mortal tongues.”..
The First Taoist Pope
Chang Tao-ling, the first Taoist pope, was born in A.D.
35, in the reign of the Emperor Kuang Wu Ti of the Han dynasty. His
birthplace is variously given as the T’ien-mu Shan, ‘Eye of Heaven
Mountain,’ in Lin-an Hsien, in Chekiang, and Fêng-yang
Fu, in Anhui. He devoted himself wholly to study and meditation,
declining all offers to enter the service of the State. He
preferred to take up his abode in the mountains of Western China, where
he persevered in the study of alchemy and in cultivating
the virtues of purity and mental abstraction. From the hands of Lao Tzŭ
he received supernaturally a mystic treatise, by following
the instructions in which he was successful in his search for the elixir
of life.
One day when he was engaged in experimenting with the ‘Dragon-tiger elixir’ a spiritual being appeared to him and said: “On
Po-sung Mountain is a stone house in which are concealed the writings of the Three Emperors of antiquity and a canonical work.
By obtaining these you may ascend to Heaven, if you undergo the course of discipline they prescribe.”
Chang Tao-ling found these works, and by means of them obtained the power of flying, of hearing distant sounds, and of leaving
his body. After going through a thousand days of discipline, and receiving instruction from a goddess, who taught him to walk
about among the stars, he proceeded to fight with the king of the demons, to divide mountains and seas, and to command the wind and thunder.
All the demons fled before him. On account of the prodigious slaughter of demons by this hero the wind and thunder were reduced
to subjection, and various divinities came with eager haste to acknowledge their faults. In nine years he gained the power
to ascend to Heaven
Chang Tao-ling may rightly be considered as the true founder of modern
Taoism. The recipes for the pills of immortality contained
in the mysterious books, and the invention of talismans for the cure of
all sorts of maladies, not only exalted him to the
high position he has since occupied in the minds of his numerous
disciples, but enabled them in turn to exploit successfully
this new source of power and wealth. From that time the Taoist sect
began to specialize in the art of healing. Protecting
or curing talismans bearing the Master’s seal were purchased for
enormous sums. It is thus seen that he was after all a deceiver
of the people, and unbelievers or rival partisans of other sects have
dubbed him a ‘rice-thief’
Exactly on that day there arrived from the East a man named Chao Shêng, who was the person indicated by Chang Tao-ling. He was recognized by a manifestation of himself he had caused to appear in advance of his coming. Chang then led all his disciples, to the number of three hundred, to the highest peak of the Yün-t’ai. Below them they saw a peach-tree growing near a pointed rock, stretching out its branches like arms above a fathomless abyss. It was a large tree, covered with ripe fruit. Chang said to his disciples: “I will communicate a spiritual formula to the one among you who will dare to gather the fruit of that tree.” They all leaned over to look, but each declared the feat to be impossible. Chao Shêng alone had the courage to rush out to the point of the rock and up the tree stretching Page 141out into space. With firm foot he stood and gathered the peaches, placing them in the folds of his cloak, as many as it would hold, but when he wished to climb back up the precipitous slope, his hands slipped on the smooth rock, and all his attempts were in vain. Accordingly, he threw the peaches, three hundred and two in all, one by one up to Chang Tao-ling, who distributed them. Each disciple ate one, as also did Chang, who reserved the remaining one for Chao Shêng, whom he helped to climb up again. To do this Chang extended his arm to a length of thirty feet, all present marvelling at the miracle. After Chao had eaten his peach Chang stood on the edge of the precipice, and said with a laugh: “Chao Shêng was brave enough to climb out to that tree and his foot never tripped. I too will make the attempt. If I succeed I will have a big peach as a reward.” Having spoken thus, he leapt into space, and alighted in the branches of the peach-tree. Wang Ch’ang and Chao Shêng also jumped into the tree and stood one on each side of him. There Chang communicated to them the mysterious formula. Three days later they returned to their homes; then, having made final arrangements, they repaired once more to the mountain peak, whence, in the presence of the other disciples, who followed them with their eyes until they had completely disappeared from view, all three ascended to Heaven in broad daylight
The name of Chang Tao-ling, the Heavenly Teacher, is a household word in China. He is on earth the Vicegerent of the Pearly Emperor in Heaven, and the Commander-in-Chief of the hosts of Taoism. He, the chief of the wizards, the ‘true [i.e. ideal] man,’ as he is called, Page 142wields an immense spiritual power throughout the land. The present pope boasts of an unbroken line for three-score generations. His family obtained possession of the Dragon-tiger Mountain in Kiangsi about A.D. 1000. “This personage,” says a pre-Republican writer, “assumes a state which mimics the imperial. He confers buttons like an emperor. Priests come to him from various cities and temples to receive promotion, whom he invests with titles and presents with seals of office.
Kings of Heaven
The Four Kings of Heaven, Ssŭ Ta T’ien-wang, reside on Mount Sumêru (Hsü-mi Shan), the centre of the universe. It is 3,360,000
li—that is, about a million miles—high.9 Its eastern slope is of gold, its western of silver, its south-eastern of crystal, and its north-eastern of agate. The Four
Kings appear to be the Taoist reflection of the four Chin-kang of Buddhism already noticed. Their names are Li, Ma, Chao, and Wên. They are represented as holding a pagoda, sword, two
swords, and spiked club respectively. Their worship appears to be due to their auspicious appearance and aid on various critical
occasions in the dynastic history of the T’ang and Sung Periods.
The Duke of Thunder
The Spirit of Thunder, for whom Lei Tsu is often mistaken, is represented as an ugly, black, bat-winged Page 200demon, with clawed feet, monkey’s head, and eagle’s beak, who holds in one hand a steel chisel, and in the other a spiritual
hammer, with which he beats numerous drums strung about him, thus producing the terrific noise of thunder. According to Chinese
reasoning it is the sound of these drums, and not the lightning, which causes death.
A. Gruenwedel, in his Guide to the Lamaist Collection of Prince Uchtomsky, p. 161, states that the Chino-Japanese God of Thunder, Lei Kung, has the shape of the Indian divine bird Garuda. Are we to
suppose, then, that the Chinese Lei Kung is of Indian origin? In modern pictures the God of Thunder is depicted with a cock’s
head and claws, carrying in one hand the hammer, in the other the chisel. We learn, however, from Wang Ch’ung’s Lun Hêng that in the first century B.C., when Buddhism was not yet introduced into China, the ‘Thunderer’ was represented as a strong
man, not as a bird, with one hand dragging a cluster of drums, and with the other brandishing a hammer. Thus Lei Kung existed
already in China when the latter received her first knowledge of India. Yet his modern image may well owe its wings to the
Indian rain-god Vajrapani, who in one form appears with Garuda wings.
Lei Kung in the Tree
A certain Yeh Ch’ien-chao of Hsin Chou, when a youth, used to climb the mountain Chien-ch’ang Shan for the purpose of cutting
firewood and collecting medicinal Page 201herbs. One day when he had taken refuge under a tree during a rain-storm there was a loud clap of thunder, and he saw a winged
being, with a blue face, large mouth, and bird’s claws, caught in a cleft of the tree. This being addressed Yeh, saying: “I
am Lei Kung. In splitting this tree I got caught in it; if you will free me I will reward you handsomely.” The woodcutter
opened the cleft wider by driving in some stones as wedges, and liberated the prisoner. “Return to this spot to-morrow,” said
the latter, “and I will reward you.” The next day the woodcutter kept the appointment, and received from Lei Kung a book.
“If you consult this work,” he explained, “you will be able at will to bring thunder or rain, cure sickness, or assuage sorrow.
We are five brothers, of whom I am the youngest. When you want to bring rain call one or other of my brothers; but call me
only in case of pressing necessity, because I have a bad character; but I will come if it is really necessary.” Having said
these words, he disappeared.
Yeh Ch’ien-chao, by means of the prescriptions contained in the mysterious book, could cure illnesses as easily as the sun
dissipates the morning mist. One day, when he was intoxicated and had gone to bed in the temple of Chi-chou Ssŭ, the magistrate
wished to arrest and punish him. But when he reached the steps of the yamên,
Ch’ien-chao called Lei Kung to his aid. A terrible clap of thunder
immediately resounded throughout the district. The magistrate,
nearly dead with fright, at once dismissed the case without punishing
the culprit. The four brothers never failed to come
to his aid.
By the use of his power Ch’ien-chao saved many regions from famine by bringing timely rain.
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