CONCLUSION.
It would be a very interesting study to examine the points of
similarity and difference in the writings of the early Buddhists and
the teachings of Lao-tzŭ; but this cannot be attempted here. There is
one circumstance, however, to which I shall allude, that is, the
resemblance of the Buddhist Bodhisattva (Pʽusa) Mandjusri to Lao-tzŭ.
The Nepaulese traditions about this Pʽusa also make him to be a
foreigner and to have come to their country from China, though other
accounts represent him as returning from the latter country to his
home in Nepaul. A full and very interesting account of Mandjusri, or
“Mañdjuçri,” as Burnouf writes it, will be found in that accomplished
scholar’s “Le Lotus de la bonne Loi.”[1] Rémusat and Pauthier insist
on the western origin of Lao-tzŭ’s doctrines, and there are certainly
not a few points of resemblance between them and some of the early
Indian systems of religion and philosophy. Of these the doctrine of
annihilation, or at least of final absorption, is one of the most
striking.
Another interesting study in connection with Lao-tzŭ would be to trace
the history of his opinions among succeeding generations. This would
however, be in great degree a painful study. The metaphysical work of
Chwang-tzŭ, wild and extravagant though it be occasionally, is worthy
of being read, and M. Julien has kindly promised to translate it for
us. Lie-tzŭ and several others of his followers are also worth
reading, but the great majority of so called Taoist books are utterly
despicable at least in our eyes. Mr. Edkins says of the “Taoist
system”—“Its appeal is made to the lower wants of the Chinese. It
invents divinities to promote the physical well-being of the people.
The gods of riches, of longevity, of war, and of particular disease,
all belong to this religion.”[2] The pure and spiritual sayings
uttered by Lao-tzŭ have been taken in a gross sense and perverted by
thoughtless, faithless people, who would have a meritorious life
consist solely in external acts, thus entirely reversing their
master’s precepts. He spoke of length of days to be desired as the
result of a calm and philosophic life, but degenerate followers sought
for many years, in ways shameful to relate. They changed his plain and
simple language into euphuistic terms which cause them to be
reproached. The Taoists, says one author, call the chattering of their
teeth the Heavenly drum, they swallow their spittle and call it the
Fairy Spring, they speak of horse’s excrement as magical fuel and of
rats as vivifying medicine. By _such_ means they think they can attain
Tao, but, as the writer asks,—can they attain it?[3]
Though his doctrines, however, have become greatly corrupted and
perverted the greatness of Lao-tzŭ himself has not diminished. From
the time of the Empress (竇) of the West Hans, near the end of the Chou
dynasty, the beginning of his honour dates, and from the time of the
Chin and Liang dynasties down to the Great Tʽang dynasty, his
doctrines and his name were glorified.[4] He was promoted to be a
God, and wonderful things were invented about him and the _Tao_ of
which he spoke so much. One of the Tʽang emperors conferred on him the
sublime title—Great Ruler of the very exalted mysterious Beginning.
Nor has he remained without honour among outside barbarians.
Cunningham says:—“He (Lao-tzŭ) was therefore a contemporary of Sakya
Muni, by whom he is said to have been worsted in argument. By the
Tibetan Buddhists he is called Sen-rabs; but this perhaps signifies
nothing more than that he was of the race or family of Sena. His faith
continued paramount in Great Tibet for nine centuries, until Buddhism
was generally introduced by Seong-Stan in the middle of the seventh
century.”[5] It seems to me more than doubtful, however, whether these
Tirthikas of India, to whom Cunningham alludes as the adherents of
Lao-tzŭ’s faith, can be regarded as such. A large and influential
school could not be established in so short a time as elapsed between
the time when Lao-tzŭ flourished and the time of Buddha’s preaching,
if indeed any time whatever elapsed. It is perhaps sufficient to
observe that there is a considerable amount of similarity between the
tenets imputed to the Tirthikas and those of the Chinese philosopher.
The followers of Lao-tzŭ spread his fame among the Japanese islands
also, where Sinto or Shên-tao, that is the Spiritual Tao, was known
before Buddhism was introduced. Sir R. Alcock, however, says—“That
there was an indigenous religion as old as their (the Japanese)
history, one formed by and for themselves in long-past ages, the
Sintoo, which survives to this day; that some ten or fifteen centuries
ago or more, this was overlaid by the Confucian doctrines—a code of
moral ethics, not a religion in the proper sense of the term—and about
the seventh century both were in great degree supplemented by the
Buddhist faith derived from China, we do know with tolerable
certainty. But this is nearly the sum.”[6] Mr. Edkins has given a
short but very interesting account of Taoism in Japan, derived
principally from Kæmpfer. It is somewhat remarkable that as the
Japanese have their spiritual chief or Mikado so the Chinese Taoists
also have one, and each is supposed to be a present deity having a
sacred title derived through many ages. The Chinese chief, however, is
a much less powerful and important personage than the Mikado. The
first of the Taoist patriarchs in China was Chang Tao-ling (張道陵) who
lived in the time of the Han dynasty.[7] Lao-tzŭ appeared to him on
the Stork-cry Hill and told him that in order to attain the state of
immortality which he was seeking he must subdue a number of demons.
Tao-ling in his eagerness slew too many, and Lao-tzŭ told him that
Shang Ti required him to do penance for a time. Finally, however, he
was allowed to become an immortal, and the spiritual chiefdom of the
Taoists was given to his family for ever. The descendants of Tao-ling
reside at the Dragon-tiger Hill near Kwei-hsi in the province of
Kiangsi. It is apparently about this Chang Tao-ling that Edkins
says—“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 hands,
shooting the heavenly dog.”[8] One title of this spiritual chief in
China is Tʽien-shi, or Heavenly Teacher and the original patriarch
seems to be worshipped in Japan under this name. Commodore Perry says
that of the two and twenty shrines in the kingdom which command the
homage of pilgrimage, “the great and most sacred one is that of the
Sun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-sin, at Isye.” Previously he had stated—“It
is said that the only object of _worship_ among the Sintoos is the
Sun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-zin, who is deemed the patron divinity of
Japan *** The Mikado is supposed to be her lineal descendant.”[8] Why,
however, the deity should be a female and a Sun-goddess I do not
understand.
We must now bid farewell to Lao-tzŭ. The study of his work and his
life, as also of the fortunes of his doctrines, is a difficult task
but not without interest and instruction, and the writer is afraid he
has lingered too long over it. He hopes, however, that his efforts
will even in a very small degree help to raise Lao-tzŭ to the place in
the history of Philosophy, and in the history of the benefactors of
humanity, to which he is fairly entitled.
[1] Page 498, &c.
[2] Religious Condition, &c., p. 68.
[3] See the Yuan-chien, &c., ch. 319.
[4] See Chu-hsi’s Tsa-cho, ch. 9.
[5] Ladak, p. 358.
[6] The Capital of the Tycoon, vol. ii., p. 258
[7] See for this man the 尙友錄 ch. 8.
[8] Religious Condition, &c., p. 140.
[9] American Expedition to Japan, ps. 24–5.
FINIS.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Obvious minor typographical errors have been silently corrected.
2. Hyphenation of words and titles has been standardized to the most
commonly used version for a given part of speech.
3. Spelling has been standardized except in the case of direct quotes
of other writers.
4. Footnotes have been renumbered and placed at the end of each
chapter.
5. Chinese romanization standardized to use the Unicode reversed
comma ʽ to mark aspirated stops in initial consonants.