extent, enclosed on all sides by an iron palisade. Within are
eighty-one subdivisions, each of which has its proper officers and
magisterial appointments. Beyond the palisade there is a labyrinth of
108,000 paths leading by direct and circuitous routes back to earth.
Inside it is as dark as pitch, and through it pass the spirits of
priest and layman alike. But to one who looks from the outside
everything is seen as clear as crystal, and the attendants who guard
the place all have the faces and features they had at their birth.
These attendants are chosen from virtuous people who in life were
noted for filial piety, friendship, or respect for life, and are sent
here to look after the working of the Wheel and such duties. If for a
space of five years they make no mistakes they are promoted to a
higher office; but if found to be lazy or careless they are reported
to the Throne for punishment.
Those who in life have been unfilial or have destroyed much life, when
they have been tortured in the various Courts are brought here and
beaten to death with peach twigs. They then become _chien_, and with
changed heads and altered faces are turned out into the labyrinth to
proceed by the path which ends in the brute creation.
Birds, beasts, fishes and insects, may after many myriads of _kalpas_
again resume their original shapes; and if there are any that during
three existences do not destroy life, they may be born amongst human
beings as a reward, a record being made and their names forwarded to
the First Court for approval. But all shades of men and women must
proceed to the Terrace of Oblivion.
Mother Mêng was born in the Earlier Han Dynasty. In her childhood she
studied books of the Confucian school; when she grew up she chanted
the liturgies of Buddha. Of the past and the future she had no care,
but occupied herself in exhorting mankind to desist from taking life
and become vegetarians. At eighty-one years of age her hair was white
and her complexion like a child’s. She lived and died a virgin,
calling herself simply Mêng; but men called her Mother Mêng. She
retired to the hills and lived as a _religieuse_ until the Later Han.
Then, because certain evil-doers, relying on their knowledge of the
past, used to beguile women by pretending to have been their husbands
in a former life, God commissioned Mother Mêng to build the Terrace of
Oblivion, and appointed her as guardian, with devils to wait upon her
and execute her commands. It was arranged that all shades who had been
sentenced in the Ten Courts to return in various conditions to earth
should first be dosed by her with a decoction of herbs, sweet, bitter,
acrid, sour or salt. Thus they forgot everything that has previously
happened to them, and carry away with them to earth some slight
weaknesses such as the mouth watering at the thought (of something
nice), laughter inducing perspiration, fear inducing tears, anger
inducing sobs, or spitting from nervousness. Good spirits who go back
into the world will have their senses of sight, hearing, smell, and
taste very much increased in power, and their physical strength and
constitution generally will be much bettered. But evil spirits will
experience the exact contrary of this, as a reward for previous sins
and as a warning to others to pray and repent.
The Terrace is situated in front of the Ten Courts, outside the six
bridges. It is square, measuring ten (Chinese) feet every way, and
surrounded by 108 small rooms. To the east there is a raised path, one
foot four inches in breadth, and in the rooms above-mentioned are
prepared cups of forgetfulness ready for the arrival of the shades.
Whether they swallow much or little it matters not; but sometimes
there are perverse devils who altogether refuse to drink. Then beneath
their feet sharp blades start up, and a copper tube is forced down
their throats, by which means they are compelled to swallow some. When
they have drunk, they are raised by the attendants and escorted back
by the same path. They are next pushed on to the Bitter Bamboo
floating bridge, with torrents of rushing red water on either side.
Half way across they perceive written in large characters on a red
cliff on the opposite side the following lines:--
“To be a man is easy, but to act up to one’s responsibilities as such
is hard.
Yet to be a man once again is harder still.
For those who would be born again in some happy state there is no
great difficulty;
It is only necessary to keep mouth and heart in harmony.”
When the shades have read these words they try to jump on shore, but
are beaten back into the water by two huge devils. One has on a black
official hat and embroidered clothes; in his hand he holds a paper
pencil, and over his shoulder he carries a sharp sword. Instruments of
torture hang at his waist, fiercely he glares out of his large round
eyes and laughs a horrid laugh. His name is _Short Life_. The other
has a dirty face smeared with blood; he has on a white coat, an abacus
in his hand and a rice sack over his shoulder. Round his neck hangs a
string of paper money; his brow contracts hideously, and he utters
long sighs. His name is _They have their reward_, and his duty is to
push the shades into the red water. The wicked and foolish rejoice at
the prospect of being born once more as human beings; but the better
shades weep and mourn that in life they did not lay up a store of
virtuous acts, and thus pass away from the state of mortals for
ever.[403] Yet they all rush on to birth like an infatuated or drunken
crowd; and again, in their early childhood, hanker after the forbidden
flavours.[404] Then, regardless of consequences, they begin to destroy
life, and thus forfeit all claims to the mercy and compassion of God.
They take no thought as to the end that must overtake them; and
finally, they bring themselves once more to the same horrid plight.
FOOTNOTES:
[340] The _Yü Li_ or _Divine Panorama_.
[341] The Divine Ruler, immediately below God himself.
[342] See No. XXVI., note 182.
[343] See _Author’s Own Record_ (in _Introduction_), note 28.
[344] The three worst of the Six Paths.
[345] That the state of one life is the result of behaviour in a
previous existence.
[346] _Lit._--the skin purse (of his bones).
[347] Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
[348] Violent deaths are regarded with horror by the Chinese. They
hold that a truly virtuous man always dies either of illness or old
age.
[349] Good people go to Purgatory in the flesh, and are at once passed
up to Heaven without suffering any torture, or are sent back to earth
again.
[350] The Supreme Ruler.
[351] See No. I., note 36.
[352] Supposed to be the gate of the Infernal Regions.
[353] Hades.
[354] Literally, “ten armfuls.”
[355] To Heaven, Earth, sovereign, and relatives.
[356] Held to be a great relief to the spirits of the dead.
[357] It is commonly believed that if the spirit of a murdered man can
secure the violent death of some other person he returns to earth
again as if nothing had happened, the spirit of his victim passing
into the world below and suffering all the misery of a disembodied
soul in his stead. See No. XLV., note 267.
[358] A very common trick in China. The drunken bully Lu Ta in the
celebrated novel _Shui-hu_ saved himself by these means, and I have
heard that the Mandarin who in the war of 1842 spent a large sum in
constructing a paddle-wheel steamer to be worked by men, hoping
thereby to match the wheel-ships of the Outer Barbarians, is now
expiating his failure at a monastery in Fukien. _Apropos_ of which, it
may not be generally known that at this moment there are small
paddle-wheel boats for Chinese passengers, plying up and down the
Canton river, the wheels of which are turned by gangs of coolies who
perform a movement precisely similar to that required on the
treadmill.
[359] In order that their marriage destiny may not be interfered with.
It is considered disgraceful not to accept the ransom of a slave girl
of 15 or 16 years of age. See No. XXVI., note 185.
[360] The soil of China belongs, every inch of it, to the Emperor.
Consequently, the people owe him a debt of gratitude for permitting
them to live upon it.
[361] Do their duty as men and women.
[362] A Chinaman may have three kinds of fathers; (1) his real father,
(2) an adopted father, such as an uncle without children to whom he
has been given as heir, and (3) the man his widowed mother may marry.
The first two are to all intents and purposes equal; the third is
entitled only to one year’s mourning instead of the usual three.
[363] As taxes.
[364] Visitors to Peking may often see the junkmen at T‘ung-chow
pouring water by the bucketful on to newly-arrived cargoes of Imperial
rice in order to make up the right weight and conceal the amount they
have filched on the way.
[365] That is, with a false gloss on them.
[366] In order to raise to nap and give an appearance of strength and
goodness.
[367] Costermongers and others acquire certain rights to doorsteps or
snug corners in Chinese cities which are not usually infringed by
competitors in the same line of business. Chair-coolies,
carrying-coolies, ferrymen, &c., also claim whole districts as their
particular field of operations and are very jealous of any
interference. I know of a case in which the right of “scavengering” a
town had been in the same family for generations, and no one dreamt of
trying to take it out of their hands.
[368] Chiefly alluding to small temples where some pious spirit may
have lighted a lamp or candle to the glory of his favourite P‘u-sa.
[369] This is done either by making a figure of the person to be
injured and burning it in a slow fire, like the old practice of the
wax figure in English history; or by obtaining his nativity
characters, writing them out on a piece of paper and burning them in a
candle, muttering all the time whatsoever mischief it is hoped will
befall him.
[370] Popularly known as the Chinese Pluto. The Indian _Yama_.
[371] The celebrated “See-one’s-home Terrace.”
[372] Regarded by the Chinese with intense disgust.
[373] Father’s, mother’s, and wife’s families.
[374] I know of few more pathetic passages throughout all the
exquisite imagery of the Divine Comedy than this in which the guilty
soul is supposed to look back to the home he has but lately left and
gaze in bitter anguish on his desolate hearth and broken household
gods. For once the gross tortures of Chinese Purgatory give place to
as refined and as dreadful a punishment as human ingenuity could well
devise.
[375] A long pole tipped with a kind of birdlime is cautiously
inserted between the branches of a tree, and then suddenly dabbed on
to some unsuspecting sparrow.
[376] If this is done in Winter or Spring the Spirits of the Hearth
and Threshold are liable to catch cold.
[377] I presume because God sits with his face to the south.
[378] Pious and wealthy people often give orders for an image of a
certain P‘u-sa to be made with an ounce or so of gold inside.
[379] Primarily, because no living thing should be killed for food.
The ox and the dog are specified because of their kindly services to
man in tilling the earth and guarding his home.
[380] The symbol of the Yin and the Yang, so ably and so poetically
explained by Mr. Alabaster in his pamphlet on the Doctrine of the
Ch‘i.
[381] One being male and the other being female. This calls to mind
the extreme modesty of a celebrated French lady, who would not put
books by male and female authors on the same shelf.
[382] The symbol on Buddha’s heart; more commonly known to the western
world as Thor’s Hammer.
[383] Emblems of Imperial dignity.
[384] Supposed to confer immortality.
[385] Unfit for translation.
[386] This is ingeniously expressed, as if _mothers_ were the prime
movers in such unnatural acts.
[387] On fête days at temples it is not uncommon to see cages full of
birds hawked about among the holiday-makers, that those who feel
twinges of conscience may purchase a sparrow or two and relieve
themselves from anxiety by the simple means of setting them at
liberty.
[388] Bones are used in glazing porcelain, to give a higher finish.
[389] The seven periods of seven days each which occur immediately
after a death and at which the departed shade is appeased with food
and offerings of various kinds.
[390] To warm them.
[391] When they are born again on earth.
[392] Heart, lungs, spleen, liver, and kidneys.
[393] Many millions of years.
[394] The following recipe for this deadly poison is given in the
well-known Chinese work _Instructions to Coroners_:--“Take a quantity
of insects of all kinds and throw them into a vessel of any kind;
cover them up, and let a year pass away before you look at them again.
The insects will have killed and eaten each other, until there is only
one survivor, and this one is _Ku_.”
[395] He who “turns the wheel;” a _chakravartti raja_.
[396] The capital city of the Infernal Regions.
[397] The ghosts of dead people are believed to be liable to death.
The ghost of a ghost is called _chien_.
[398] On the “Three Systems.” See note 347, _Appendix_.
[399] Women are considered in China to be far more revengeful than
men.
[400] See _Author’s Own Record_ (in _Introduction_), note 28.
[401] While in Purgatory.
[402] It was mentioned above that the rewards for virtue would be
continued to a man’s sons and grandsons.
[403] That is, go to heaven.
[404] Of meat, wine, &c.
APPENDIX B.
ANCESTRAL WORSHIP.
“The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead
ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of
working good or evil to their descendants.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol.
iii., p. 102.--_The Origin of Animal Worship._
BILOCATION.
“As a general rule, people are apt to consider it impossible for a man
to be in two places at once, and indeed a saying to that effect has
become a popular saw. But the rule is so far from being universally
accepted, that the word ‘bilocation’ has been invented to express the
miraculous faculty possessed by certain saints of the Roman Church, of
being in two places at once; like St. Alfonso di Liguori, who had the
useful power of preaching his sermon in church while he was confessing
penitents at home.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 447.
BURIAL RITES.
“Hence the various burial rites--the placing of weapons and valuables
along with the body, the daily bringing of food to it, &c. I hope
hereafter, to show that with such knowledge of facts as he has, this
interpretation is the most reasonable the savage can arrive
at.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., p. 104.--_The Origin of Animal
Worship._
DREAMS.
“The distinction so easily made by us between our life in dreams and our
real life, is one which the savage recognises in but a vague way; and he
cannot express even that distinction which he perceives. When he awakes,
and to those who have seen him lying quietly asleep, describes where he
has been, and what he has done, his rude language fails to state the
difference between seeing and dreaming that he saw, doing and dreaming
that he did. From this inadequacy of his language it not only results
that he cannot truly represent this difference to others, but also
that he cannot truly represent it to himself.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol.
iii., pp. 103, 104.
SHADE OR SHADOW.
“The ghost or phantasm seen by the dreamer or the visionary is an
unsubstantial form, like a shadow, and thus the familiar term of the
_shade_ comes in to express the soul. Thus the Tasmanian word for the
shadow is also that for the spirit; the Algonquin Indians describe a
man’s soul as _otahchuk_, ‘his shadow;’ the Quiché language uses
_natub_ for ‘shadow, soul;’ the Arawac _ueja_ means ‘shadow, soul,
image;’ the Abipones made the one word _loákal_ serve for ‘shadow,
soul, echo, image.’”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 430.
SHADOW.
“Thus the dead in Purgatory knew that Dante was alive when they saw
that, unlike theirs, his figure cast a shadow on the ground.”--TYLOR’S
_Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 431.
THE SOUL.
“The savage, conceiving a corpse to be deserted by the active
personality who dwelt in it, conceives this active personality to be
still existing, and his feelings and ideas concerning it form the
basis of his superstitions.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., p.
103.--_The Origin of Animal Worship._
TRANSMIGRATION.
“Whether the Buddhists receive the full Hindu doctrine of the
migration of the individual soul from birth to birth, or whether they
refine away into metaphysical subtleties the notion of continued
personality, they do consistently and systematically hold that a
man’s life in former existences is the cause of his now being what he
is, while at this moment he is accumulating merit or demerit whose
result will determine his fate in future lives.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive
Culture_. Vol. ii., p. 12.
TRANSMIGRATION.
“Memory, it is true, fails generally to recall these past births, but
memory, as we know, stops short of the beginning even of this present
life.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. ii., p. 12.
TRANSMIGRATION.
“As for believers, savage or civilised, in the great doctrine of
metempsychosis, these not only consider that an animal may have a
soul, but that this soul may have inhabited a human being, and thus
the creature may be in fact their own ancestor or once familiar
friend.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 469.
TREE-SOULS.
“Orthodox Buddhism decided against the tree-souls, and consequently
against the scruple to harm them, declaring trees to have no mind nor
sentient principle, though admitting that certain dewas or spirits do
reside in the body of trees, and speak from within them.”--TYLOR’S
_Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 475.
THOS. DE LA RUE AND CO., PRINTERS, BUNHILL ROW, LONDON.
INDEX TO THE NOTES.
VOL. PAGE NOTE
Abstinence from Wine and Meat i. 23 52
Actors i. 218 188
Adoption i. 386 310
„ ii. 156 137
„ ii. 272 256
Adulteration ii. 332 320
Age of graduates i. 345 274
Age to marry i. 113 112
Alchemy i. 65 83
„ ii. 313 299
Alms’-bowl i. 246 211
„ i. 395 320
Amusements, Literary i. 215 186
Anatomy, Chinese ii. 253 235
“Angels” of Taoism i. 17 48
Arbiter of Life and Death i. 226 194
Archery i. 91 92
Aristocracy, The i. 186 156
Auspicious Sites i. 336 268
Bad Sons i. 147 131
„ „ ii. 212 190
„ „ ii. 281 267
Bambooing i. 55 76
Banquets, Theatrical Entertainments during ii. 54 41
Beadles ii. 17 18
Beauty, Chinese ii. 123 94
Beggars i. 246 212
Betrothals i. 108 108
„ i. 193 165
„ i. 227 195
Bikshu i. 395 320
Blowing into meat ii. 306 292
Blue China Epoch ii. 303 290
Bôdhisatva i. 208 182
Bridal procession i. 338 269
Bridegroom living in bride’s family i. 193 163
Brotherly deference i. 314 247
„ dependence i. 318 250
Brothers having separate establishments ii. 322 314
Brown deer of Formosa i. 399 329
Buddha, Repeating the name of i. 367 293
“Bull’s hide” trick, The ii. 180 163
Burials i. 197 171
Burying stray bones, &c. ii. 147 130
Caligraphy ii. 174 157
Capping verses i. 332 262
„ „ ii. 57 44
Cash i. 6 42
„ ii. 171 148
Cat and dog Restaurant ii. 308 294
Catalepsy i. 4 40
„ ii. 73 55
Celibacy i. 23 52
Censorate, The i. 229 197
Chai-mui i. 333 265
Chamber of Horrors i. 93 94
Change of residence i. 321 251
Charitable gifts i. 137 129
Chess, Chinese i. 46 66
Chou, General ii. 221 202
Chowry ii. 71 52
Clay-image makers ii. 276 261
Clepsydra i. 49 70
“Climbing trees to catch fish” ii. 305 291
Coffins i. 102 104
„ i. 197 172
„ deposited in Temples i. 237 203
„ for poor people ii. 316 303
„ Sleeping in ii. 354 336
Concubines i. 395 321
Confucius, Descendants of i. 33 61
Conservatism i. 427 348
Contemplation, Priestly ii. 71 51
Coroners ii. 196 175
Counting cattle, Method of ii. 255 239
Cow-herd and the Lady i. 27 55
Cricket-fighting i. 75 85
Crows, Feeding the i. 279 229
Cumquats ii. 301 289
Cycle, The Chinese i. 180 152
Cynthia, The Chinese i. 171 147
Damon and Pythias i. 166 143
Death i. 150 134
„ Fear of i. 101 103
Death-summons, The i. 150 134
Decapitation ii. 78 59
Degrees, The three i. 1 37
Devils, Good and bad ii. 201 179
Dice ii. 145 125
Divorce i. 360 288
Doctors ii. 293 279
Dogs, Chinese ii. 309 296
Dolphin, Fresh-water ii. 43 31
_Double-entendres_ ii. 176 160
Dragon-boat festival ii. 168 142
Dragons ii. 112 84
„ ii. 349 331
Dreams ii. 250 231
Dwarfs i. 224 193
Drunkenness i. 30 59
„ i. 365 292
„ ii. 30 23
Eating ii. 111 83
Education i. 297 237
„ ii. 322 313
Elixir of Immortality i. 19 49
„ „ ii. 168 143
Examinations, Competitive i. 195 168
„ „ ii. 64 48
„ „ ii. 91 71
Eye, Pupils of the i. 8 43
Fa Hsien’s journey ii. 232 212
Fabulous Lion ii. 343 327
Facing the South ii. 103 76
Falconry i. 22 51
Fan, An Autumn i. 361 289
Fantan i. 421 343
Fatalism i. 340 270
Feet of betrothed tied together i. 431 354
Fêng-Shui ii. 322 312
Feudal Governor ii. 287 273
“_Fiancé_,” Death of a i. 99 101
Figure-head ii. 54 40
Fire-wells ii. 238 220
Flageolets i. 28 58
Folk-lore in the North and South ii. 329 319
Fondness for children i. 401 332
Foot-binding i. 192 161
Fortune-tellers i. 47 68
Foundries, Iron ii. 216 194
Four Books, The i. 297 237
Four Seas, The ii. 116 89
Fox influence i. 32 60
Foxes, Soothsayers possessed by ii. 358 339
Gambling i. 421 343
Ganges, The ii. 28 22
Gates of a city shut at night ii. 262 243
Geese i. 255 217
“Gentleman,” The Chinese i. 168 145
Geomancy i. 227 195
Gioros i. 66 84
Girdles, The pearl i. 283 230
Glass i. 249 214
„ ii. 233 216
Go-betweens i. 187 157
„ ii. 154 135
God of War, The i. 2 39
“Golden lilies” i. 188 159
“Golden Orchid” Societies i. 196 170
Gongs ii. 105 78
Good fortune, Absorbing only a certain
quantity of i. 342 271
Graduates by purchase i. 202 177
Graduates, Senior i. 199 175
Grave, The i. 240 207
Great beam, Fixing the ii. 267 247
Greed ii. 74 56
Han dynasty i. 258 219
Han-lin, The Chinese National Academy i. 195 169
Heart, The i. 96 97,
98
Homicide i. 353 285
Honesty in olden times ii. 250 232
“Hsi-yüan-lu,” The i. 98 100
“Hu,” The name i. 89 90
Hué i. 397 325
Human life, Value of ii. 338 323
Hungry devils ii. 270 252
Immortality i. 157 139
Immortals, Record of the ii. 88 68
Imperial mandates ii. 240 223
Impressment i. 220 190
Infernal Regions ii. 95 72
„ „ ii. 354 335
Inheritance, Law of ii. 345 328
Initiation of a Priest ii. 69 50
Inner apartments i. 53 74
„ „ i. 252 215
„ „ ii. 46 33
Jelly-fish ii. 332 321
Judas tree ii. 151 133
Judges ii. 96 74
Jugglers ii. 189 172
Khakkharam, The i. 395 320
Kangs ii. 133 114
Keeping secret professional knowledge ii. 255 238
Kidnapping i. 183 154
Kite-flying Festival ii. 268 250
Knife Hill, The ii. 205 184
Kot‘ow, The i. 388 314
K‘u-ts‘an ii. 255 237
Kuan-yin i. 241 208
Lanterns, Feast of i. 99 102
Li T‘ai-poh ii. 144 121
Lictors ii. 205 182
Lighting the Eyes ii. 224 203
Lingering death, The i. 396 322
Literary chancellor ii. 284 271
Literati, The ii. 36 29
Literature, God of ii. 320 307
Liu Ch‘üan and the melon ii. 351 334
Living Lictors of Purgatory, The i. 207 180
Loans ii. 171 146
Locusts ii. 242 224
Lohans ii. 321 311
Long Robes ii. 273 257
Lots, Drawing ii. 73 54
Love-matches i. 115 113
Lucifer Matches ii. 120 92
Lunatics ii. 30 23
Lü Tung-pin ii. 296 284
Magic Sword i. 62 80
Mandarin Dialect i. 398 327
Manslaughter i. 222 192
Marriage Ceremonies i. 10 45
„ „ i. 181 153
„ „ i. 227 195
„ „ i. 228 196
Marriages i. 108 109
„ i. 193 165
Marrying a second time i. 112 110
Mars, The Chinese i. 2 39
Medical testimonials ii. 292 278
Memorial tablet, Inking ii. 224 203
Mercy, The Goddess of i. 241 208
Messengers of good tidings ii. 252 234
Milky way, The i. 152 135
Miracles i. 396 323
“Mirror and Listen” trick ii. 251 233
Misappropriation of funds ii. 224 204
Moon, The Goddess of the i. 19 49
„ The Lady of the i. 19 49
Mothers-in-law i. 315 249
Mourning for a father i. 199 174
Mules ii. 242 225
Murders i. 230 198
Names, Family i. 92 93
„ Personal ii. 132 111
Night, Divisions of the i. 215 187
Nine grades of official life i. 388 313
Nunneries i. 262 221
Oath of confederation ii. 146 127
Oblivion, Potion of ii. 207 189
Official corruption ii. 79 60
„ responsibility i. 232 199
Officials i. 237 202
Old age ii. 31 24
Olive, the sign of peace i. 324 256
Paper men i. 49 71
„ money i. 391 317
„ „ ii. 172 150
Pao Shu i. 166 143
Patra, The i. 395 320
„ „ i. 246 211
Pawn-shops i. 198 173
Persia ii. 25 21
Phœnix Tower ii. 270 253
Physiognomy, Professors of ii. 290 275
Planchette ii. 295 283
Playing _wei-ch‘i_ for money ii. 271 254
Poetical proficiency i. 33 62
Police system i. 221 191
Politeness ii. 203 181
Poor scholars i. 160 142
Pope of the Taoists i. 118 114