文档介绍:RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA
RELIGIONS OF
ANCIENT CHINA
by HERBERT A. GILES, ., .
1
RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA
CHAPTER I
THE ANCIENT FAITH
Philosophical Theory of the Universe.--The problem of the universe
has never offered the slightest difficulty to Chinese philosophers. Before
the beginning of all things, there was Nothing. In the lapse of ages
Nothing coalesced into Unity, the Great Monad. After more ages, the
Great Monad separated into Duality, the Male and Female Principles in
nature; and then, by a process of biogenesis, the visible universe was
produced.
Popular Cosmogeny.--An addition, however, to this simple system had
to be made, in deference to, and on a plane with, the intelligence of the
masses. According to this, the Male and Female Principles were each
subdivided into Greater and Lesser, and then from the interaction of these
four agencies a being, named P'an Ku, came into existence. He seems to
e into life endowed with perfect knowledge, and his function was
to set the economy of the universe in order. He is often depicted as
wielding a huge adze, and engaged in constructing the world. With his
death the details of creation began. His breath became the wind; his voice,
the thunder; his left eye, the sun; his right eye, the moon; his blood flowed
in rivers; his hair grew into trees and plants; his flesh became the soil; his
sweat descended as rain; while the parasites which infested his body were
the origin of the human race.
Recognition and Worship of Spirits.--Early Chinese writers tell us that
Fu Hsi, . 2953-2838, was the first Emperor anize sacrifices to,
and worship of, spirits. In this he was followed by the Yellow Emperor,
. 2698-2598, who built a temple for the worship of God, in which
incense was used, and first sacrificed to the Mountains and Rivers. He is
also said to have established the worship of the sun, moon, and five
s, and to have elaborated the ceremonial of ancestral worship.