THE SYMBOLISM OF JADE
Jade in Early Times—Used to Reanimate and Preserve the Dead—Jade as
a Night-shining Jewel—Connection with the Pearl, Coral, Mandrake,
Moon, Dragon, Fish, &c.—Jade Beliefs in Japan—Jade Amulets—The
Chinese Cicada Amulet and Egyptian Search—Butterfly, Frog, and Bird
Amulets—Jade and the Mother-goddess—The Chinese Universe—Great Bear
and “World Mill”—Babylonian Astronomy in China—Star Deities—The
Fung-shui Doctrine—Jade Symbols of Deities—Tigress as a
Mother-goddess—Links with the West—The Two Souls in China and
Egypt—Jade as an Elixir—Jade and Herbs—Jade and Babylonian
Nig-gil-ma—Jade and Rhinoceros Horn—Jade Beliefs in Prehistoric
Europe—Jade and Colour Symbolism—Jade contains Heat and
Moisture—Jade as “The Jewel that Grants all Desires”.
One’s thoughts at once turn to China when mention is made of jade, for
in no other country in the world has it been utilized for such a
variety of purposes or connected more closely with the social
organization and with religious beliefs and ceremonies.
This tough mineral, which is also called nephrite and “axe-stone”, and
is of different chemical composition to jadeite, was known to the
Chinese at the very dawn of their history. It was used by them at first
like flint or obsidian for the manufacture of axes, arrow-heads,
knives, and chisels, as well as for votive objects and personal
ornaments of magical or religious character, and then, as time went on,
for mortuary amulets, for images or symbols of deities, for mirrors,
[294] for seals and symbols of rank, and even for musical instruments,
possessing, as it does, wonderful resonant qualities. The latter
include jade flutes and jade “luck gongs”, which have religious
associations.
Native artisans acquired great skill in working this tenacious mineral,
and the finest art products in China are those exquisite jade
ornaments, symbols, and vessels that survive from various periods of
its history. Not only did the accomplished and patient workers,
especially of the Han period (200 B.C.–200 A.D.), achieve a high degree
of excellence in carving and engraving jade, and in producing beautiful
forms; they also dealt with their hard mineral so as to utilize its
various colours and shades, and thus increase the æsthetic qualities of
their art products. The artistic genius, as well as the religious
beliefs, of the Chinese has been enshrined in nephrite.
When the prehistoric Chinese settled in Shensi, they found jade in that
area. “All the Chinese questioned by me, experts in antiquarian
matters, agree”, Laufer writes, “in stating that the jades of the Chou
and Han Dynasties are made of indigenous material once dug on the very
soil of Shensi Province, that these quarries have been long ago
exhausted, no jade whatever being found there nowadays. My informant
pointed to Lan-tʼien and Fêng-siang-fu as the chief ancient mines.”
[295]
But although the early Chinese made use of indigenous jade, it does not
follow, as has been noted, that the early beliefs connected with this
famous mineral were of indigenous origin. It cannot be overlooked that
the symbolism of jade is similar in character to the older symbolism of
pearls, precious stones, and precious metals, and that the associated
beliefs can be traced not in China alone, but in such widely-separated
countries as India, Babylonia, and Egypt. There was evidently a
psychological motive for the importance attached by the early Chinese
to jade, which they called yu. [296] It had been regarded elsewhere as
a precious mineral before they began to search for it and make use of
it, especially for religious purposes.
It is not necessary to go back to the “Age of Stone” to theorize
regarding Chinese jade beliefs. It has yet to be established that China
had a Neolithic Age. “As far as the present state of our archæological
knowledge and the literary records point out”, says Laufer, “the
Chinese have never passed through an epoch which, for other culture
regions, has been designated as a Stone Age.” [297]
Stone implements have been found, but, as in ancient Egypt, these were
still being manufactured long after metals came into general use.
The fact that the same beliefs were connected with jade as with pearls,
shells, gold, &c., is brought out very clearly in Chinese records
regarding ancient burial customs. It was considered to be as necessary
in ancient China as in ancient Egypt that the bodies of the dead should
be preserved from decay. The Egyptians mummified their dead, and laid
on and beside them a variety of charms that were supposed to afford
protection and assist in the process of reanimation; withal, food
offerings were provided. The Chinese, who have long been noted for
their tendency to find substitutes for religious offerings, including
paper money, believed that the bodies of the dead could be preserved by
magic. At any rate, they did not consider it necessary to practise the
science of mummification. In the Li Ki (chapter 56) the orthodox
treatment of the bodies of the Emperor and others is set forth as
follows:
“The mouth of the Son of Heaven is stuffed with nine cowries, that of a
feudal lord with seven, that of a great officer with five, and that of
an ordinary official with three”. [298]
Gold and jade were used in like manner. Laufer quotes from Ko Hung the
significant statement: “If there is gold and jade in the nine apertures
of the corpse, it will preserve the body from putrefaction”. A
fifth-century Chinese writer says: “When on opening an ancient grave
the corpse looks like alive, then there is inside and outside of the
body a large quantity of gold and jade. According to the regulations of
the Han Dynasty, princes and lords were buried in clothes adorned with
pearls and with boxes of jade for the purpose of preserving the body
from decay.” [299]
According to De Groot, pearls were introduced into the mouth of the
dead during the Han Dynasty. “At least”, he says, “it is stated that
their mouths were filled with rice, and pearls and jade stone were put
therein, in accordance with the established ceremonial usages.” And Poh
hu thung i, a well-known work, professedly written in the first
century, says: “On stuffing the mouth of the Son of Heaven with rice,
they put jade therein; in the case of a feudal lord they introduce
pearls; in that of a great officer and so downwards, as also in that of
ordinary officials, cowries are used to this end”.
De Groot, commenting on the evidence, writes: “The same reasons why
gold and jade were used for stuffing the mouth of the dead hold good
for the use of pearls in this connection”. He notes that in Chinese
literature pearls were regarded as “depositories of Yang matter”, that
medical works declare “they can further and facilitate the procreation
of children”, and “can be useful for recalling to life those who have
expired, or are at the point of dying”. [300]
In India, as a Bengali friend, Mr. Jimut Bahan Sen, M.A., informs me, a
native medicine administered to those who are believed to be at the
point of death is a mixture of pounded gold and mercury. It is named
Makara-dhwaja. The makara [301] is in India depicted in a variety of
forms. As a composite lion-legged and fish-tailed “wonder beast”
resembling the Chinese dragon, it is the vehicle of the god Varuna, as
the Babylonian “sea goat” or “antelope fish” is the vehicle of the god
Ea or of the god Marduk (Merodach). The makara of the northern
Buddhists is likewise a combination of land and sea animals or
reptiles, including the dolphin with the head of an elephant, goat,
ram, lion, dog, or alligator. [302]
In China the lion-headed shark, a form of the sea-god, is likewise a
makara or sea-dragon. Gold and night-shining pearls are connected with
the makara as with the dragon. The Chinese dragon, as we have seen, is
born from gold, while curative herbs like the “Red Cloud herb” and the
“dragon’s whiskers herb” are emanations of the dragon. Gold, like the
herb, contains “soul substance” in concentrated form. Pounded gold, the
chief ingredient in the makara-dhwaja medicine, is believed in India to
renew youth and promote longevity like pounded jade and gold in China.
“In Yung-cheu, which is situated in the Eastern Ocean, rocks exist,”
wrote a Chinese sage in the early part of the Christian era. “From
these rocks there issues a brook like sweet wine; it is called the
Brook of Jade Must. If, after drinking some pints out of it, one
suddenly feels intoxicated, it will prolong life.... Grease of jade,”
we are further told, “is formed inside the mountains which contain
jade. It is always to be found in steep and dangerous spots. [303] The
jade juice, after issuing from those mountains, coagulates into such
grease after more than ten thousand years. This grease is fresh and
limpid, like crystal. If you find it, pulverize it and mix it with the
juice of herbs that have no pith; it immediately liquefies; drink one
pint of it then and you will live a thousand years.... He who swallows
gold will exist as long as gold; he who swallows jade will exist as
long as jade. Those who swallow the real essence of the dark sphere
(heavens) will enjoy an everlasting existence; the real essence of the
dark sphere is another name for jade. Bits of jade, when swallowed or
taken with water, can in both these cases render man immortal.” [304]
As we have seen, the belief prevailed in China that pearls shone by
night. The mandrake root was believed elsewhere to shine in like
manner. The view is consequently urged by the writer that the myths
regarding precious stones, jade, pearls, and herbs of nocturnal
luminosity owe their origin to the arbitrary connection of these
objects with the moon, and the lunar-goddess or sky-goddess. In China
Ye Kuang (“light of the night”) “is”, Laufer notes, “an ancient term to
designate the moon”. [305]
The intimate connection between the Mother deity and precious metals
and stones is brought out by Lucian in his De Dea Syria. He refers to
the goddess Hera of Hierapolis, who has “something of the attributes of
Athene, and of Aphrodite, and of Selene, and of Rhea, and of Artemis,
and of Nemesis, and of the Fates”, and describes her as follows:
“In one of her hands she holds a sceptre, and in the other a
distaff; [306] on her head she bears rays and a tower, and she has
a girdle wherewith they adorn none but Aphrodite of the sky. And
without she is gilt with gold, and gems of great price adorn her,
some white, some sea-green, others wine-dark, others flashing like
fire. Besides these there are many onyxes from Sardinia, and the
jacinth and emeralds, the offerings of the Egyptians and of the
Indians, Ethiopians, Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians. But the
greatest wonder of all I will proceed to tell: she bears a gem on
her head, called a Lychnis; it takes its name from its attribute.
From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that
the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of
candles, but in the day-time the brightness grows faint; the gem
has the likeness of a bright fire.” [307]
Laufer notes in his The Diamond [308] that “the name lychnis is
connected with the Greek lychnos” (“a portable lamp”), and that,
“according to Pliny, the stone is so called from its lustre being
heightened by the light of a lamp”. He thinks the stone in question is
the tourmaline. Laufer reviews a mass of evidence regarding precious
stones that were reported to shine by night, and comes to the
conclusion that there is no evidence on record “to show that the
Chinese ever understood how to render precious stones phosphorescent”.
He adds: “Since this experiment is difficult, there is hardly reason to
believe that they should ever have attempted it. Altogether,” he
concludes, “we have to regard the traditions about gems luminous at
night, not as a result of scientific effort, but as folk-lore
connecting the Orient with the Occident, Chinese society with the
Hellenistic world.” As Laufer shows, the Chinese imported legends
regarding magical gems from Fu-lin (“the forest of Fu”), an island in
the Mediterranean Sea, which was known to them as “the Western Sea” (Si
hai). [309] At a very much earlier period they imported other legends
and beliefs regarding metals and minerals.
Pearls and gold having been connected with the makara or dragon, it is
not surprising to find that their lunar attributes were imparted to
jade. Laufer quotes Chinese references to the “moonlight pearl” and the
“moon-reflecting gem”, [310] while De Groot deals with Chinese legends
about “effulgent pearls”, about “pearls shining during the night”,
“flaming or fiery pearls”, and “pearls lighting like the moon”. De
Groot adds, “Similar legends have always been current in the empire (of
China) about jade stone”, and he notes in this regard that “at the time
of the Emperor Shen-nung (twenty-fifth century B.C.) there existed”,
according to Chinese records, “jade which was obtained from agate
rocks, under the name of ‘Light shining at night’. If cast into the
waters in the dark it floated on the surface, without its light being
extinguished.” [311]
The wishing jewel (“Jewel that grants all desires”) of India, Japan,
and China is said to be “the pupil of a fish eye”. In India it was
known in Sanskrit as the cintimani, and was believed to have originated
from the makara. [312] The Chinese records have references to
“moonlight pearls” from the eyes of female whales, and from the eyes of
dolphins. [313] It does not follow that this belief about the origin of
shining pearls had a connection with observations made of the
phosphorescing of parts of marine animals, because the Chinese writers
refer too, for instance, to the nocturnal luminosity of rhinoceros
horn. [314] Even coral, which, like jade, was connected with the lunar-
or sky-goddess, was supposed to shine by night. Laufer quotes from the
work, Si King tsa (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, i.e.
Si-ngan-fu), in this connection:
“In the pond Tsi-tsʼui there are coral trees twelve feet high. Each
trunk produces three stems, which send forth 426 branches. These
have been presented by Chao Tʼo, King of Nan Yūe (Annam), and were
styled ‘beacon-fire trees’. At night they emitted a brilliant light
as though they would go up in flames.” [315]
The “coral tree” here links with the pine, peach, and cassia trees, and
the shining mandrake, as well as with jade, gold, precious stones, and
pearls. In Persia the pearl and coral are called margan, which
signifies “life-giver” or “life-owner”. Lapis-lazuli was called Kin
tsin (“essence of gold”) during the Tiang period in China. [316]
As the metal associated with the moon was usually silver, gold being
chiefly, although not always, the sun metal, we should expect to find
silver connected with jade and pearls.
De Groot, who is frankly puzzled over Chinese beliefs regarding pearls,
and has to “plead incompetency” to solve the problem why they were
“considered as depositories and distributors of vital force”, [317]
provides the translation of a passage in the Ta Tsʼing thung li that
connects silver with pearls. It states in reference to burial customs
that “in the case of an official of the first, second, or third degree,
five small pearls and pieces of jade shall be used for stuffing the
mouth; in that of one of the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh rank,
five small pieces of gold and of jade. The gentry shall use three bits
of broken gold or silver; among ordinary people the mouth shall be
stuffed with three pieces of silver.”
De Groot insists that the principal object of the practice of stuffing
the mouths of the dead was “to save the body from a speedy decay”.
[318]
It is significant therefore to find references in Chinese literature to
“Pearls of Jade”, to “Fire Jade” that sheds light or even “boils a
pot”, and to find silver being regarded as a substitute for jade.
Shells, pearls, gold, silver, and jade contained “soul substance”
derived from the Great Mother. As we have seen, Nu Kwa, the mythical
Chinese Empress (the sister of Fu Hi, the “Chinese Adam”), who stopped
the Deluge, took the place of the ancient goddess in popular legend.
She was credited, as has been indicated, with planning the course of
the Celestial River, with creating dragons, with re-erecting one of the
four pillars that supported the firmament, and with creating jade for
the benefit of mankind. In Japan Nu Kwa is remembered as Jokwa.
The Japanese beliefs connected with jade are clearly traceable to
China. A Tama may be a piece of jade, a crystal, a tapering pearl, or
the pearl carried on the head of a Japanese dragon. “The Tama”, says
Joly, “is associated not only with the Bosatsu and other Buddhist
deities or saints, but also with the gods of luck.” [319] There are a
number of heroic legends in which the Tama figures. In a story,
relegated to the eighth century B.C., a famous jade stone is called
“the Tama”. It tells that Pien Ho (the Japanese Benwa) saw an eagle
standing on a large block of jade which he took possession of and
carried to his king. The royal magicians thought it valueless, and
Benwa’s right foot was cut off. He made his way to the mountains and
replaced the jade, and soon afterwards observed that the same eagle
returned and perched upon it again. When a new king came to the throne
Benwa carried the jade to the court, but only to have his left foot cut
off. A third king came to the throne, and on seeing Benwa weeping by
the gate of the palace he inquired into the cause of his grief, and had
the stone tested, when it was found to be a perfect gem. This Tama was
afterwards regarded so valuable that it was demanded as “a ransom for
fifteen cities”. [320]
Here the eagle is associated with the gems containing “soul substance”.
Joly notes that “foxes are also shown holding the Tama”, and he wonders
if the globe “held under their talons by the heraldic lions has a
similar meaning”. [321] Foxes and wolves were, like dragons, capable of
assuming human form and figure among the were-animals of the Far East.
As these were-animals include the tiger, which is a god in China, it is
possible that they were ancient deities. The lion is associated with
the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, with the Cretan mother-goddess, while
the Egyptian Tefnut has a lioness form. Tammuz of Babylon is, as
Nin-girsu of Lagash, a lion-headed eagle. The Indian Vishnu has a
lion-headed avatar.
The connection of the precious jewel and of gold with the supreme deity
is traceable to the ancient beliefs regarding the shark-guardian of
pearls. As the beliefs associated with pearls were transferred to jade,
it need not surprise us to find the sacred fish—a form of the Great
Mother—connected with jade. A significant text is quoted by Laufer,
without comment, which brings out this connection. He says that “Lü
Pu-wei, who died in B.C. 235, reports in his book Lu-shih Chʼun Tsʼiu:
‘Pearls are placed in the mouth of the dead, and fish-scales are added;
these are now utilized for interment with the dead.’ The Commentary to
this passage explains: ‘To place pearls in the mouth of the dead (han
chu) means to fill the mouth with them; the addition of fish-scales
means, to enclose these in a jade casket which is placed on the body of
the deceased, as if it should be covered with fish-scales.’” [322] Jade
fish-symbols figure among the Chinese mortuary amulets.
Light is thrown on Chinese beliefs regarding resurrection by the cicada
mortuary amulet which was made of jade. It was placed on the tongue of
the dead and seems therefore to have been like the Egyptian scarab
amulet, a guarantee of immortality.
One of the important ceremonies in connection with the process of
reanimating an Egyptian corpse was “the opening of the mouth”. It was
necessary that the reanimated corpse should speak with “the true voice”
and justify itself in the court of Osiris, judge of the dead, when the
heart was weighed in the balance.
Tongue and heart were closely connected. According to the beliefs
associated with the cult of Ptah, which was fused with the cult of
Osiris, the heart was “the mind”, and the source of all power and all
life. The tongue expressed the thoughts of the mind.
Ptah, the great, is the mind and tongue of the gods.
Ptah, from whom proceeded the power
Of the mind,
And of the tongue....
It (the mind) is the one that bringeth forth every
successful issue.
It is the tongue that repeats the thoughts of the mind. [323]
The mind was the essence of life: the tongue, which formed the word,
was the active agent of the mind (heart).
As “the stuffing of the corpse with jade took the place of embalming”
[324] in China, the custom of placing a jade amulet on the tongue is of
marked significance. It is quite evidently an imported custom. The
cicada takes the place of the Egyptian scarabæus, the beetle-god of
Egypt, named Khepera and called in the texts “father of the gods”. In
ancient Egypt scarabs were placed on the bodies and in the tombs of the
dead to protect heart (mind) and tongue and ensure resurrection. A text
sets forth in this connection: “And behold, thou shalt make a scarab of
green stone, with a rim of gold, and this shall be placed in the heart
of a man, and it shall perform for him the ‘Opening of the Mouth’”. The
scarab is to be anointed with “ānti unguent” and then “words of power”
are to be recited over it. In “words of power” the deceased addresses
the scarab as “my heart, my mother: my heart whereby I came into
being”.
The beetle-god, in whose form the scarab was made, “becomes”, as Budge
says, “in a manner a type of the dead body, that is to say, he
represents matter containing a living germ which is about to pass from
a state of inertness into one of active life. As he was a living germ
in the abyss of Nu (the primeval deep) and made himself emerge
therefrom in the form of the rising sun, so the germ of the living
soul, which existed in the dead body of man, and was to burst into new
life in a new world by means of the prayers recited during the
performance of appropriate ceremonies, emerged from its old body in a
new form either in the realm of Osiris or in the boat of Ra (the
sun-god).” [325]
This Egyptian doctrine was symbolized by the beetle which rolls a bit
of dung in the dust into the form of a ball, and then, having dug a
hole in the ground, pushes it in and buries it. Thereafter the beetle
enters the subterranean chamber to devour the ball. This beetle also
collects dung to feed the larvæ which ultimately emerge from the ground
in beetle form.
As the Chinese substituted jade for pearls, so did they substitute the
cicada for the dung-beetle.
The cicada belongs to that class of insect which feeds on the juices of
plants. It is large and broad with brightly-coloured wings. The male
has on each side of the body a sort of drum which enables it to make
that chirping noise called “the song of the cicada”, referred to by the
ancient classical poets. When the female lays her eggs she bores a hole
in a tree and deposits them in it. Wingless larvæ are hatched, and they
bore their way into the ground to feed on the juices of roots. After a
time—in some cases after the lapse of several years—the cicada emerges
from the ground, the skin breaks open, and the winged insect rises in
the air. The most remarkable species of the cicada is found in the
United States, where it passes through a life-history of seventeen
years, the greater part of that time being spent underground—the larval
stage. In China the newly-hatched larva sometimes bores down into the
earth to a depth of about twenty feet.
“The observation of this wonderful process of nature,” says Laufer,
“seems to be the basic idea of this (cicada) amulet. The dead will
awaken to a new life from his grave as the chirping cicada rises from
the pupa buried in the ground. This amulet, accordingly, was an emblem
of resurrection.” Laufer quotes in this connection from the Chinese
philosopher Wang Chʼung, who wrote: “Prior to casting off the exuviæ, a
cicada is a chrysalis. When it casts them off, it leaves the pupa
state, and is transformed into a cicada. The vital spirit of a dead man
leaving the body may be compared to the cicada emerging from the
chrysalis.” [326]
The fact that the cicada feeds on the juices of plants apparently
connected it with the idea of the Tree of Life, the source of “soul
substance”.
Another insect symbol of resurrection was the butterfly, which was
connected with the Plum Tree of Life. Laufer notes that some
butterflies carved from jade, which were used as mortuary amulets, have
a plum-blossom pattern between the antennæ and plum-blossoms “carved à
jour in the wings”. [327]
He notes that “in modern times the combination of butterfly and
plum-blossom is used to express a rebus with the meaning ‘Always great
age’”. This amulet is of great antiquity.
The butterfly symbol of resurrection is found in Mexico. The Codex
Remensis shows an anthropomorphic butterfly from whose mouth a human
face emerges. Freyja, the Scandinavian goddess, is connected with the
butterfly, and in Greece and Italy the same insect was associated with
the idea of resurrection. Psyche (a name signifying “soul”) has
butterfly wings. Apparently the butterfly, like the cicada, was
supposed to derive its vitality from the mother-goddess’s Tree of Life.
Another important Chinese mortuary jade object was the frog or toad
amulet. As we have seen, the frog was connected with the moon and the
lunar goddess, and in China, as in ancient Egypt, was a symbol of
resurrection.
Among the interesting jade amulets shown by Laufer are two that roughly
resemble in shape the Egyptian scarabs. “The two pieces”, he writes,
“show traces of gilding, and resemble helmets in their shape, and are
moulded into the figures of a curious monster which it is difficult to
name. It seems to me that it is possibly some fabulous giant bird, for
on the sides, two wings, each marked by five pinions, are brought out,
a long, curved neck rises from below, though the two triangular ears do
not fit the conception of a bird.” [328] The figure apparently
represents a “composite wonder beast”. Fishes and composite quadrapeds
were also depicted in jade and placed in graves. Human figures are
rare.
Stone coffins were used in ancient times. The books of the later Han
Dynasty (at the beginning of our era) tell about a pious governor, Wang
Khiao, who receives a jade coffin from heaven. It was placed by unseen
hands in his hall. His servants endeavoured to take it away, but found
it could not be moved.
De Groot, [329] who translates the story, continues: “Khiao said, ‘Can
this mean that the Emperor of Heaven calls me towards him?’ He bathed
himself, put on his official attire with its ornaments, and lay down in
the coffin, the lid being immediately closed over him. When the night
had passed, they buried him on the east side of the city, and the earth
heaped itself over him in the shape a tumulus. All the cows in the
district on that evening were wet with perspiration and got out of
breath, and nobody knew whence this came. The people thereupon erected
a temple for him.”
De Groot quotes from another work written in the fifth century, which
relates that “at Lin-siang there is in the water a couch of stone, upon
which stand two coffins of solid stone, green like copper mirrors.
There is nobody who can give information regarding them.” [330]
Here we have jade used for the preservation of the dead, associated
with the sky, with cows, water, and stone, and, in addition, a
reference to green copper. Jade has taken the place of pearls, and
pearls were, as has been shown, connected with the mother-goddess, the
sky and cow deity who was the source of fertilizing and creative
moisture and “soul substance”. The standing stones of the
mother-goddess were supposed to perspire, and to split and give birth
to dragons or gods. This idea appears to lie behind the story regarding
the perspiring cows. An influence was at work on the night when the
sage was buried in the jade coffin, and that influence came from the
sky, and was concentrated in jade. It is necessary, therefore, at this
point, to get at Chinese ideas regarding the connection between jade
and the mysterious influence or influences in what we call “Nature”.
Behind all mythologies lie basic ideas regarding the universe. To
understand a local or localized mythology, it is necessary that we
should know something regarding the world in which lived those who
invented or perpetuated the myths.
The Chinese world was flat, and over it was the dome of the firmament
supported by four pillars. These pillars were situated at the four
cardinal points, and were each guarded by a sentinel deity. The deities
exercised an influence on the world and on all living beings in it, and
their influence was particularly strong during their seasons.
Like the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians the Chinese believed that
their world was surrounded by water. There are references in the texts
to the “Four Seas”, and to what the Egyptians called the “Great Circle”
(Okeanos).
The Babylonians believed the world was a mountain, and their temples
were models of their world. Thus the temple of Enlil, as the world-god,
was called E-Kur, which signifies “mountain house”. His consort Ninlil
was also called Nin-Kharsag, “the lady of the mountain”. [331] The
Babylonian and Egyptian temples were not only places of worship, but
seats of learning, and they had workshops in which the dyers,
metal-workers, &c., plied their sacred trades.
Chinese palaces and universities were in ancient times models of the
world. One of the odes says of King Wu:
“In the capital of Hao he built his hall with its circlet of water.
From the west to the east, from the south to the north, there was
not a thought but did him homage.” [332]
This hall was a royal college, “built”, says Legge, “in the middle of a
circle of water”. Colleges might also have semicircular pools in front
of them, “as may now be seen in front of the temples of Confucius in
the metropolitan cities of the provinces”. [333] Ceremonies were
studied in these institutions. There were also grave-pools. In
Singapore these grave-pools have had to be abolished because they were
utilized for hatching purposes by mosquitoes.
Much attention was paid by the Chinese to the shape and situation of a
temple, college, palace, or grave. Each was subjected to good and bad
influences, and as seafarers set their sails to take full advantage of
a favourable breeze, so did the Chinese construct edifices and graves
to take full advantage of favourable influences emanating from what may
be called the “magic tanks” of the universe—the cardinal points and the
sky.
The beliefs involved in this custom are not peculiar to China. In
Scottish Gaelic, for instance, there is the old saying:
Shut the north window,
And quickly close the window to the south;
And shut the window facing west;
Evil never came from the east.
Another saying is: “Shut the windows to the north, open the windows to
the south, and do not let the fire go out”. Both in Scottish and Irish
Gaelic the north is the “airt” (cardinal point) of evil influence, and
is coloured black, as is the north in China, and the south in India.
The black Indian south is “Yama’s gate”, that is the “gate” of the god
of death. One cannot say anything worse to a Hindu than “Go to Yama’s
gate”. The north is the good and white “airt” of Indian mythology; the
good go northward to Paradise, as in Scotland they go southward. A
Japanese poet has written: “The Paradise is in the south; only fools
pray towards the west”. [334]
In the Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt the east is held by the solar
cult “to be the most sacred of all regions”, while the west is the
sacred “airt” of the Osirian cult. [335] In the east the sun-god, to
whom the soul of the dead Pharaoh went, was supposed to be reborn every
morning. The Chinese regarded the east “as the quarter”, says De Groot,
“in which is rooted the life of everything, the great genitor of life
(the sun) being born there every day”. [336] As we have seen, there was
in China, as in Egypt, a rival cult of the west.
The gods of the four quarters of China, from whom influences flowed,
were: The Blue (or Green) Dragon (east), the Red Bird (south), the
White Tiger (west), and the Black Tortoise (north). The east is the
left side, and the west is the right side; a worshipper therefore faces
the south. In Irish and Scottish Gaelic lore the south is the right
side, and the north is the left side; a worshipper therefore faces the
east.
According to Kwang-tze, the Taoist, it was believed in China that “the
breath (or influence) of the east is wind, and wind creates wood”; that
“the breath of the south is Yang, which creates fire”; that “the centre
is earth”; that “the breath of the west is Yin, which gives birth to
metal”; and that the breath of the north “is cold, by which water is
produced”. Another native pre-Christian writer says that “the east
appertains to wood, the south to fire, the west to metal, and the north
to water”. [337] Thus taking in the seasons we have the following
combinations, showing the organs of the body influenced by the gods of
the “airts”:
East—the Blue Dragon, Spring, Wood; Planet, Jupiter; liver and
gall.
South—the Red Bird, Summer, Fire, the Sun; Planet, Mars; heart and
large intestines.
West—the White Tiger, Autumn, Wind, Metal; Planet, Venus; lungs and
small intestine.
North—the Black Tortoise, Winter, Cold, Water; Planet, Mercury;
kidneys and bladder.
The good influence (or breath) was summed up in the term Yang, and bad
influence in the term Yin. Yang refers to what is bright, warm, active,
and life-giving; and Yin to what is inactive, cold, and of the earth
earthy. “When”, says a Chinese writer, “we speak of the Yin and the
Yang, we mean the air (or ether) collected in the Great Void. When we
speak of the Hard and Soft, we mean that ether collected and formed
into substance.” [338] Says De Groot in this connection: “In China
vital power is specially assimilated with the Yang, the chief part of
the Cosmos, identified with light, warmth, and life”. Yin is “the
principle of darkness, cold, and death, standing in the universe
diametrically opposite to Yang”. [339] The chief source of Yang is the
sun, which gives forth “shen” or “soul substance”; the chief source of
Yin is the moon. Yang strengthens the vital energy, and is the active
principle in various elixirs of life, including, as De Groot notes,
“the cock, jade, gold, pearls, and the products of pine and cypress
trees”. [340]
Yin and Yang are controlled by the constellation, the Great Bear,
called in China “the Bushel”. In the Shi Ki there is a reference to
“the seven stars of the Bushel”, styled “the Revolving Pearls or the
Balance of Jasper”, and arrayed “to form the body of seven rulers”.
This constellation is “the chariot of the Emperor (of Heaven).
Revolving around the pole, it descends to rule the four quarters of the
sphere and to separate the Yin and the Yang; by so doing it fixes the
four seasons, upholds the equilibrium between the five elements, moves
forward the subdivisions of the sphere, and establishes all order in
the Universe.” [341]
An ancient Chinese writer says in this connection that when the handle
(tail) of the Bushel (Great Bear) points to the east (at nightfall), it
is spring to all the world. When the handle points to the south it is
summer, when it points to the west it is autumn, and when it points to
the north it is winter. In the Shu King (Part II, Book I) the Great
Bear is referred to as “the pearl-adorned turning sphere with its
transverse tube of jade”. [342] The Polar Star is the “Pivot of the
Sky”, which revolves in its place, “carrying round with it all the
other heavenly bodies”. In like manner the Taoists taught that “the
body of man is carried round his spirit and by it”. The spirit is thus
the “Pivot of Jade”. That is why the Pivot of Jade is used in the
ritual services of Taoism. [343]
In Norse-Icelandic mythology the World Mill controls the seasons and
the movements of the heavenly bodies. The heavens revolve round the
Polar Star, Veraldar Nagli (“the world spike”). Nine giant maids turn
the world mill. [344]
The Babylonians, who were the pioneer astronomers and astrologers of
Asia, identified the stable and controlling spirit of the night sky
with the Polar Star, which was called “Ilu Sar” (“the god Shar”) or
“Anshar” (“Star of the Height” or “Star of the Most High”). [345]
Isaiah (xiv, 4–14) refers to the supreme star-god when he makes Lucifer
declare: “I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be the most High”.
Chinese astronomy and the Chinese calendar are undoubtedly of
Babylonian origin. The Babylonian god of the Pole Star has not been
forgotten. Dr. Edkins once asked a Chinese schoolmaster: “Who is the
Lord of heaven and earth?” He replied “that he knew none but the Pole
Star,” called in the Chinese language Teen-hwang-ta-te, the great
imperial ruler of heaven. [346]
There is a god and a goddess in the Great Bear. “Among the liturgical
works used by the priests of Tao”, says Edkins, “one of the commonest
consists of prayers to Towmoo, a female divinity supposed to reside in
the Great Bear. A part of the same constellation is worshipped under
the name Kwei-sing. A small temple is erected to this deity on the east
side of the entrance to Confucian temples, and he is regarded as being
favourable to literature.” But the chief god of literature is
“Wen-chang”, who is identified with a constellation near the Great Bear
which bears his name. He is prayed to by scholars to assist them in
their examinations. Temples were erected to him on elevated earthen
terraces. “Wen-chang”, says Edkins, “is said to have come down to our
world during many generations at irregular intervals. Virtuous and
highly-gifted men were chosen from history as likely to have been
incarnations of this divinity.” [347]
The five elements controlled by the Great Bear as it swings round the
Polar Star are in China (1) water, (2) fire, (3) wood, (4) metal, and
(5) earth. These elements compose what we call Nature. As we have seen,
they were placed under the guardianship of animal gods. The White Tiger
of the West, for instance, is associated with metal. When, therefore,
metal is placed in a grave, a ceremonial connection with the tiger-god
is effected. “According to the Annals of Wu and Yueh, three days after
the burial of the king, the essence of the element metal assumed the
shape of a white tiger and crouched down on the top of the grave.”
[348] Here the tiger is a protector—a preserver.
Jade being strongly imbued with Yang or “soul substance” was intimately
associated with all the gods, and the various colours of jade were
connected with the colours of the “airts” and of the heavens and earth.
Laufer quotes from the eighteenth chapter of Chou li, which deals with
the functions of the Master of Religious Ceremonies:
“He makes of jade the six objects to do homage to Heaven, to Earth,
and to the Four Points of the compass. With the round tablet pi of
bluish (or greenish) colour, he does homage to Heaven. With the
yellow jade tube tsʼung, he does homage to Earth. With the green
[349] tablet Kuei, he renders homage to the region of the East.
With the red tablet chang, he renders homage to the region of the
South. With the white tablet in the shape of a tiger (hu), he
renders homage to the region of the West. With the black jade piece
of semicircular shape (huang) he renders homage to the region of
the North. The colour of the victims and of the pieces of silk for
these various spirits correspond to that of the jade tablet.” [350]
The shape, as well as the colours, of the jade symbols was of
ritualistic importance.
What would appear to be the most ancient Chinese doctrine regarding the
influences or “breaths” that emanated from Nature, and affected the
living and the dead, is summed up in the term Fung-shui. “Fung” means
wind, and “shui” means “the water from the clouds which the wind
distributes over the world”. Certain winds are good, and certain winds
are bad.
The importance attached to wind and water appears to be connected with
the ancient belief, found in Babylonia and Egypt, that wind is the
“breath of life”, the soul, and that water is the source of all
life—“the water of life”.
“Fung-shui”, says De Groot, “denotes the atmospherical influences which
bear absolute sway over the fate of man, as none of the principal
elements of life can be produced without favourable weather and rains.”
It also means, he adds, “a quasi-scientific system, supposed to teach
men where and how to build graves, temples, and dwellings, in order
that the dead, the gods, and the living may be located therein
exclusively, or as far as possible, under the auspicious influences of
Nature”. [351]
The controllers of wind and water are the White Tiger god of the West,
and the Blue (or green) Dragon god of the East. “These animals”, says
De Groot, “represent all that is expressed by the word Fung-shui, viz.,
both æolian and aquatic influences, Confucius being reputed to have
said that ‘the winds follow the tiger’, and the dragon having, since
time immemorial, in Chinese cosmological mythology played the part of
chief spirit of water and rain.” [352]
When the dead were buried it was considered necessary, according to
Fung-shui principles, to have graves facing the south, and the Dragon
symbol on the left (east) side of the coffin, and the Tiger symbol on
the right (west) side, while the Red Bird of the south was on the
front, and the Black Tortoise of the north on the back.
These symbols were, so to speak, set amidst natural surroundings that
allowed the “free flow” of auspicious influences or “breaths”. A site
for a burial-ground was carefully selected, due account being taken of
the configurations of the surrounding country and the courses followed
by streams. [353]
Not only graves, but houses and towns, were so placed as to secure the
requisite balance between the forces of Nature. De Groot notes that
Amoy is reputed by Chinese believers of the Fung-shui system to owe its
prosperity to two knolls flanking the inner harbour, called “Tiger-head
Hill” and “Dragon-head Hill”. Canton is influenced by the “White
clouds”, a chain of hills representing the Dragon on one side of its
river, and by undulating ground opposite representing the Tiger.
“Similarly”, he says, “Peking is protected on the north-west by the
Kin-shan or Golden Hills, which represent the Tiger and ensure its
prosperity, together with that of the whole empire and the reigning
dynasty. These hills contain the sources of a felicitous watercourse,
called Yu-ho or ‘Jade River’, which enters Peking on the north-west,
and flows through the grounds at the back of the Imperial Palace, then
accumulates its beneficial influences in three large reservoirs or
lakes dug on the west side, and finally flows past the entire front of
the inner palace, where it bears the name of the Golden Water.” [354]
Here we find jade and gold closely associated in the Fung-shui system.
As we have seen, white jade was used when the Tiger god of the West was
worshipped; it is known as “tiger jade”; a tiger was depicted on the
jade symbol. To the Chinese the tiger was the king of all animals and
“lord of the mountains”, and the tiger-jade ornament was specially
reserved for commanders of armies. The male tiger was, among other
things, the god of war, and in this capacity it not only assisted the
armies of the emperors, but fought the demons that threatened the dead
in their graves.
There are traces in China of a tigress shape of the goddess of the
West. Laufer refers to an ancient legend of the country of Chu, which
tells of a prince who in the eighth century B.C. married a princess of
Yün. A son was born to them and named Tou Po-pi. The father died and
the widow returned to Yün, where Tou Po-pi, in his youth, had an
intrigue with a princess who bore him a son. “The grandmother ordered
the infant to be carried away and deserted on a marsh, but a tigress
came to suckle the child. One day when the prince of Yün was out
hunting, he discovered this circumstance, and when he returned home
terror-stricken, his wife unveiled to him the affair. Touched by this
marvellous incident, they sent messengers after the child, and had it
cared for. The people of Chʼu, who spoke a language differing from
Chinese, called suckling nou, and a tiger they called yü-tʼu; hence the
boy was named Nou Yü-tʼu (‘Suckled by a Tigress’). He subsequently
became minister of Chʼu.” [355]
This Far Eastern legend recalls that of Romulus and Remus, who were
thrown into the Tiber but were preserved and rescued; they were
afterwards suckled by a she-wolf. The Cretan Zeus was suckled,
according to one legend, by a sow, and to another by a goat. A Knossian
seal depicts a child suckled by a horned sheep. Sir Arthur Evans
refers, in this connection, to the legends of the grandson of Minos who
was suckled by a bitch; of Miletos, “the mythical founder of the city
of that name”, being nursed by wolves. [356] Vultures guarded the
Indian heroine Shakuntala, the Assyrian Semiramis was protected by
doves, while the Babylonian Gilgamesh and the Persian patriarch
Akhamanish were protected and rescued at birth by eagles. Horus of
Egypt was nourished and concealed by the serpent goddess Uazit, and in
his boyhood made friends of wild animals, as did also Bharata, the son
of the Indian vulture-guarded Shakuntala. Horus figures in the
constellation of Argo as a child floating in a chest or boat like the
abandoned Moses, the abandoned Indian Karna, the abandoned Sargon of
Akkad, and, as it would appear, Tammuz who in childhood lay in a
“sunken boat”. Horus of the older Egyptian legends was concealed on a
green floating island on the Nile—the “green bed of Horus”. [357]
The oldest known form of the suckling legend is found in the Pyramid
Texts of Ancient Egypt. When the soul of the Pharaoh went to the
Otherworld he was suckled by a goddess or by the goddesses of the north
and south. The latter are referred to in the Texts as “the two vultures
with long hair and hanging breasts”. [358] Here the vultures take the
place of the cow-goddess Hathor. In Troy the cow-mother, covered with
stars, becomes the star-adorned sow-mother. [359] Demeter had a sow
form and Athene a goat form, and other goddesses had dove, eagle, wolf,
bitch, &c., forms. The Chinese tigress-goddess is evidently a Far
Eastern animal form of the Great Mother who suckles the souls of the
dead and the abandoned children who are destined to become notables.
Thus behind the wind-god, in the Chinese Fung-shui system, we meet with
complex ideas regarding the source of the “air of life”, and the source
of the food-supply. The Blue Dragon of the East is the Naga form of the
Aryo-Indian Indra, [360] the rain-controller, the fertilizer, who is
closely associated with Vayu, the wind-god; the dragon is the
thunderer, too, like Indra. The close association of the tiger- and
dragon-gods in the Fung-shui system may account for the custom of
decorating jade symbols of the tiger with the thunder pattern. [361]
In jade-lore, as will be seen, we touch on complex religious beliefs
and conceptions not entirely of Chinese origin. Indeed, it is necessary
to leave China and investigate the religious systems of more ancient
countries to understand rightly Chinese ideas regarding jade as a
substitute for gold, pearls, precious stones, &c., and its connection
with vegetation and the Great Mother, the source of all life.
It remains with us to deal with Chinese ideas regarding the soul which
was protected by jade, the concentrated form of “soul substance”.
The Chinese believed that a human being had two souls. One was the
Kwei, that is the soul which partook of the nature of the element Yin
and returned to the earth from which it originally came; [362] the
other soul was the shen which partook of the element Yang. When the
shen is in the living body, it is called Khi or “breath”; after death
“it lives forth as a refulgent spirit, styled ming”. The other soul,
called Kwei, is known as the pʼoh during life; after death it lives on
in the grave beside the body, which is supposed to be protected against
decay by the jade, gold, pearls, shells, &c., and the good influences
“flowing” from east and west.
The shen, like the cicada, may also dwell for a time in the grave or in
the gravestone before it rises on wings to the Sky Paradise, or passes
to the Western Paradise or the Eastern “Islands of the Blest”. Ancient
local and tribal beliefs and beliefs imported at different periods from
different culture centres were evidently fused in China, and we
consequently meet with a variety of ideas regarding the destiny of the
shen. “Departed souls”, says De Groot, “are sometimes popularly
represented as repairing to the regions of bliss on the back of a
crane.” [363] The soul may sail to the Western Paradise in a boat.
“Thou hast departed to the West, from whence there is no returning in
the barge of mercy”, runs an address to the corpse.[363] Here we have
the Ra-boat of Egypt conveying the soul to the Osirian Paradise. As has
been shown, souls sometimes departed on the backs of dragons, or rose
in the air towards cloudland, there to sail in boats or ride on the
backs of birds or kirins, or reached the moon or star-land by climbing
a gigantic tree. Belief in transmigration of souls can also be traced
in China, the result apparently of the importation of pre-Buddhist as
well as Buddhist beliefs from India.
The living performed ceremonies to assist the soul of the dead on its
last journey. Priests chanted:
I salute Ye, Celestial Judges of the three spheres constituting the
higher, middle, and lower divisions of the Universe, and Ye, host
of Kings and nobles of the departments of land and water and of the
world of men! Remember the soul of the dead, and help it forward in
going to the Paradise of the West. [364]
Egyptian, Babylonian, and Indian ideas regarding the Western Paradise
are here significantly mingled.
During life the soul might leave the body for a period, either during
sleep or when one fainted suddenly.
This belief is widespread. The soul, in folk-stories, is sometimes
seen, as in Scotland, as a bee, or bird, or serpent, as in Norway as an
insect or mouse, as in Indonesia and elsewhere as a worm, snake,
butterfly, or mouse, and even, as in different countries, as deer,
cats, pigs, crocodiles, &c. Chinese beliefs regarding souls as
butterflies, cicadas, &c., have already been referred to.
The wandering soul could be “called back” by repeating the individual’s
name. In China, even the dead were called back, and the ceremony of
recalling the soul is prominent in funeral rites, as De Groot shows.
[365] Peoples as far separated as the Mongolian Buriats and the
inhabitants of England, Scotland, and Ireland believed that ghosts
could be enticed to return to the body. [366] The “death-howl” in China
and Egypt, and elsewhere, is evidently connected with this ancient
belief.
Of special interest is the evidence regarding Korean customs and
beliefs. Mrs. Bishop writes: “Man is supposed to have three souls.
After death one occupies the tablet, one the grave, and one the
unknown. During the passing of the spirit there is complete silence.
The under-garments of the dead are taken out by a servant, who waves
them in the air, and calls him by name, the relations and friends
meantime wailing loudly. After a time the clothes are thrown upon the
roof.” When a man dies, one of his souls is supposed to be seized and
carried to the unknown and placed on trial before the Ten Judges, who
sentence it “either to ‘a good place’ or to one of the manifold hells”.
[367]
Professor Elliot Smith, reviewing the Chinese ideas regarding the two
souls, comes to the conclusion that “the early Chinese conceptions of
the soul and its functions are essentially identical with the Egyptian,
and must have been derived from the same source”. [368] As the Chinese
have the shen and the Kwei, so had the Egyptians the Ka and the ba. The
Ka was the spirit of the placenta, “which was accredited with the
attributes of the life-giving and birth-promoting Great Mother and
intimately related to the moon and the earliest totem”. [369] In China
the beliefs and customs connected with the placenta and the moon are
quite Egyptian in character. [370]
Even in the worship of ancestors in China one can trace the influence
of Ancient Egyptian ideas. When the Pharaoh died, he was identified
with the god. King Unis, in the Pyramid Texts, becomes Osiris, who
controls the Nile. “It is Unis”, we read, “who inundates the land.”
Pepi I, in like manner, supplanted the god, and he is addressed as
Osiris, as is also King Mernere—“Ho this Osiris, King Mernere!” runs a
Pyramid Text. [371] The sun-god Ra was similarly supplanted by his son,
the dead Pharaoh.
The souls of Chinese ancestors, who passed to the Otherworld, became
identified with the deities who protected households. Emperors became,
after death, emperors in heaven and their souls were the deified
preservers of their dynasties. Clan and tribal ancestors were
protectors of their clans and tribes, and families were ever under the
care of the souls of their founders. The belief became deeply rooted in
China that the ancestral soul exercised from generation to generation a
beneficent influence over a home. It is not surprising to find,
therefore, that gods are exceedingly numerous in China, and that it is
sometimes difficult to distinguish an ancestor from a god and a god
from an ancestor. The State religion was something apart from domestic
religion. Emperors worshipped the deities that controlled the nation’s
destinies, and families worshipped the deities of the household.
Local and imported beliefs were fused and developed on Chinese soil,
and when, in time, Buddhism was introduced it was mixed with
pre-existing religious systems. Chinese Buddhism is consequently found
to have local features that distinguish it from the Buddhism of Tibet,
Burmah, and Japan, in which countries there was, in like manner,
culture-mixing.
Beliefs connected with jade, which date back to the time when the jade
fished from the rivers of Chinese Turkestan was identified with pearls
and gold, were similarly developed in China. At first the jade was used
to assist birth and to cure diseases. It likewise brought luck, being
an object that radiated the influence of the All-Mother. As the living
had their days prolonged and their youth revived by jade, so were the
dead preserved from decay by the influence of the famous mineral. The
custom ultimately obtained of eating jade, as has already been noted in
these pages. Ground jade or “pure extract of jade” was not only
supposed to promote longevity, but to effect a ceremonial connection
between the worshipper and the spirits or deities. In the Chou li it is
stated that “when the Emperor purifies himself by abstinence, the chief
in charge of the jade works prepares for him the jade which he is
obliged to eat”. [372] It is explained by commentators that “the
emperor fasts and purifies himself before communicating with the
spirits; he must take the pure extract of jade; it is dissolved that he
may eat it”. Jade was also pounded with rice as food for the corpse. “A
marvellous kind of jade”, says Laufer, “was called Yü ying, ‘the
perfection of jade’,” which ensured eternal life. “In 163 B.C. a jade
cup of this kind was discovered on which the words were engraved ‘May
the sovereign of men have his longevity prolonged’.” Immortality was
secured by eating from jade bowls, or, as we have seen, by drinking dew
from a jade bowl. [373]
As has been shown, the Great Mother created jade for the benefit of
mankind, and “the spirit of jade is like a beautiful woman”. [374] Jade
was also “the essence of the purity of the male principle”. [375]
Apparently the god who was husband and son of the Great Mother was
connected with jade. The Mother was the life-giver, and the son, as
Osiris, was “the imperishable principle of life wherever found”. [376]
If men died, the seed of life in the body was preserved by jade
amulets; the plants might shed their leaves, but the life of the plants
was perpetuated by the spirit of jade. “In the second month”, says The
Illustrated Mirror of Jade, “the plants in the mountains receive a
brighter lustre. When their leaves fall, they change into jade.” [377]
The mountain plants in question appear to be the curative herbs that
contained, like jade, the elixir of life, and the chief of these plants
was the ginseng (mandrake), an avatar of the Great Mother. The plant,
or ground jade, or food or moisture from the jade vessel renewed youth
and prolonged life. All the elixirs were concentrated in jade; the
vital principle in human beings and plants was derived from and
preserved by jade.
It is of special interest to find that the Chinese Nu Kwa who caused
the flood to retreat was the creator of the jade which protected
mankind and ensured longevity by preserving the seed or shen of life,
being impregnated with Yang, the male principle. In Babylonia, the seed
of mankind was preserved during the flood by the nig-gil-ma.
In the Sumerian version of the Creation legend, the three great gods
Anu, Enlil, and Enki, assisted by the Great Mother goddess
Ninkharasagga, first created mankind, then the nig-gil-ma, and lastly
the four-legged animals of the field. The mysterious nig-gil-ma is
referred to in the story of the Deluge as “Preserver of the seed of
mankind”, while the ship or ark is “Preserver of Life”, literally “She
that preserves life”. A later magical text refers to the creation after
that of mankind and animals of “two small creatures, one white and one
black”. Man and animals were saved from the flood and the nig-gil-ma
played its or their part “in ensuring their survival”.
Leonard W. King, who has gathered together the surviving evidence
regarding the mysterious nig-gil-ma [378] points out that the name is
sometimes preceded by “the determinative for ‘pot’, ‘jar’, or ‘bowl’”,
and is identical with the Semitic word mashkhalu. In the Tell-el-Amarna
letters there are references to a mashkhalu of silver and a mashkhalu
of stone (a silver vessel and a stone vessel). The nig-gil-ma may be
simply a “jar” or “bowl”. “But”, says Mr. L. King, “the accompanying
references to the ground, to its production from the ground, and to its
springing up ... suggest rather some kind of plant; and this, from its
employment in magical rites, may also have given its name to a bowl or
vessel which held it. A very similar plant was that found and lost by
Gilgamesh, after his sojourn with Ut-napishtim [379]; it too had potent
magical power, and bore a title descriptive of its peculiar virtue of
transforming old age to youth.” The nig-gil-ma may therefore be a
plant, a ship, a stone bowl or jar, or a vessel of silver (the moon
metal). If we regard it as a symbol or avatar of the mother-goddess it
was any of these things and all of these things—the Mother Pot, the
inexhaustible womb of Nature, the Plant of Life containing “soul
substance”, the red clay, the moon-silver, or, as in China, the jade of
which the sacred vessel was made. The Great Mother’s herb-avatar was
the ginseng (mandrake), as in the Egyptian Deluge story it was the red
earth didi from Elephantine placed in the beer prepared for the
slaughtering goddess Hathor-Sekhet as a surrogate of blood and a
soporific drink; the mixture was “the giver of life”, the red aqua
vitae, like the red wine and the juice of red berries in different
areas. [380] The mandrake was the didi of southern Europe and of China.
Dr. Rendel Harris shows that the early Greek magicians and doctors
referred to the male mandrake, which was white, and the female
mandrake, which was black. The black mandrake was personified as the
Black Aphrodite. [381]
The Babylonian reference in a magical text to the nig-gil-ma as “two
small creatures, one white and one black” is therefore highly
significant. Apparently, like jade, the nig-gil-ma symbolized “the male
principle”, and “the spirit” of “a beautiful woman”. Thus mandrake
(ginseng), the Plant of Life, red earth, jade, the pearl and the pot or
jar or bowl, and the Deluge ship, and the ship of the sun-god, were
forms, avatars, or manifestations of the Great Mother who preserved the
seed of mankind and the elixir of life—in the Pot it grew the Plant of
Life, and from it could be drunk the dew of life, the water of life,
plant and water being impregnated with the “spirit” of jade. Jade-lore
is of highly complex character because, as has been indicated, the
early instructors of the Chinese attached to the mineral the
Egypto-Babylonian doctrines regarding the Great Mother and her shells,
pearls, precious stones, gold, silver and copper, herbs, trees,
cereals, red earth, &c. The Babylonian evidence regarding the
nig-gil-ma as a herb, and as a silver or stone jar, pot, or cup, in
which was preserved the seed of mankind (“soul substance”) may explain
why in the Chinese Deluge myth there is no ark or ship. The goddess
provided jade instead of a boat and she created dragons to control the
rain-supply, so that the world might not again suffer from the effects
of a flood.
The virtues of jade were shared to a certain degree by rhinoceros horn,
which, as we have seen, was reputed to shine by night.
Laufer has gathered together sufficient evidence to prove that the
rhinoceros was one of the wild animals known in ancient China. [382] A
hero of the Chou Dynasty, who subdued rebels and established peace
throughout the Empire, “drove away also the tigers, leopards,
rhinoceroses and elephants—and all the people were greatly delighted”.
[383] A native writer says: “To travel by water and not avoid
sea-serpents and dragons—this is the courage of a fisherman. To travel
by land and not avoid the rhinoceros and the tiger—this is the courage
of hunters.” In ancient times certain of the lords attending on the
emperor had a tiger symbol on each chariot wheel, while other lords had
on their wheels crouching rhinoceroses. [384] Laufer expresses the view
that “the strong desire prevailing in the epoch of the Chou for the
horn of the animal (rhinoceros) which was carved into ornamental cups,
and for its valuable skin, which was worked up into armour, had ...
contributed to its final destruction.” [385] The rhinoceros-horn cups
were used, like jade cups, chiefly for religious purposes. Rice-wine
was drunk from them when vows were made, and from them were poured
libations to ancestors. The animal’s skin was used not only for armour,
because of its toughness and durability, but because the rhinoceros was
a longevity animal, and a form of the god of longevity (shou-sing). It
was used, too, for the coffin of the “Son of Heaven” (the Emperor).
“The innermost coffin was formed by hide of water buffalo and
rhinoceros.” This case was enclosed in white poplar timber and the two
outer cases were of catalpa wood. [386] The jade coffin was similarly a
protecting life-giver.
As there were black and white nig-gil-ma, and black and white deities,
so were there black and white rhinoceroses and black and white
elephants. Gautama Buddha entered his mother’s right side “in the form
of a superb white elephant”. [387]
The water-rhinoceros had “pearl-like armour” (a significant comparison
when it is remembered that pearl-lore and jade-lore are so similar),
but not the mountain rhinoceros. It was the horn of the male animal
that had special virtues. The markings on it included a red line, which
was a result of his habit of gazing at the moon; the spots were stars.
As the animal was connected with the “material sky”, the horn was
impregnated with the Yang principle. A horn that “communicated with the
sky” was of the “first quality”. Laufer quotes the statement: “If the
horn of the rhinoceros ‘communicating with the sky’ emits light, so
that it can be seen by night, it is called ‘horn shining at night’ (ye
ming si): hence it can communicate with the spirits and open a way
through the water”. A man who carried in his mouth a piece of
rhinoceros horn found, it was alleged, on diving into the sea, that the
water gave way so as to allow a space for breathing. [388] The
pearl-fishers may therefore have used the magic horn, believing that it
protected and assisted them.
It is recorded of a horn presented to an emperor of the Tʼang Dynasty
that “at night it emitted light so that a space of a hundred paces was
illuminated. Manifold silk wrappers laid around it could not hide its
luminous power. The emperor ordered it to be cut into slices and worked
up into a girdle; and whenever he went out on a hunting expedition, he
saved candle light at night.” With the aid of the horn it was possible
“to see supernatural monsters in water”. [389]
There was warm rhinoceros horn and cold rhinoceros horn, as there was
warm jade and cold jade. A Chinese work of the eighth century mentions
“cold-dispelling rhinoceros horn (pi han si), whose colour is golden.
[390]... During the winter months it spreads warmth which imparts a
genial feeling to man.” Another work speaks of “heat-dispelling
rhinoceros horn (pi shu si).... During the summer months it can cool
off the hot temperature.” Girdles of “wrath-dispelling” horn caused men
“to abandon their anger”; hair-pins, combs, &c., were made from “dust
dispelling” horn. Rhinoceros horn had, like jade, healing properties. A
fourth-century Chinese writer tells that “the horn can neutralize
poison because the animal devours all sorts of vegetable poisons with
its food”. Chinese drug stores still stock shavings of the horn to cure
fever, smallpox, ophthalmia, &c. [391] According to S. W. Williams
[392] “a decoction of the horn shavings is given to women just before
parturition and also to frighten children”. A medicine is prepared from
rhinoceros skin, too. Laufer states that “the skin, as well as the
horn, the blood, and the teeth, were medicinally employed in Cambodja,
notably against heart diseases.... In Japan rhinoceros horn is powdered
and used as a specific in fever cases of all kind.” Dragon bones were
used in like manner in China. It is of importance to note that the
rhinoceros horn derived its healing qualities because the animal fed on
plants and trees provided with thorns. [393] Like the dragon, the
rhinoceros had an intimate connection with certain plants; like the
ginseng-devouring goat, it carried in its blood the virtue of the
plants and herbs it devoured. In Tibet and China the rhinoceros became
confused with the stag, antelope, and goat with one horn. It was the
prototype of the unicorn. In India and Iran it was confused with the
horse. There is in Chinese lore a “spiritual rhinoceros (ling si)” with
the body of an ox, the hump of a zebu, cloven feet, the snout of a pig,
and a horn in front. [394] It may be that in ancient times the lore
connected with the hippopotamus was transferred by the searchers for
pearls, precious stones, and metals to the Chinese “water-rhinoceros”.
Like the composite wonder-beast in the Osirian hall of judgment, which
tore the unworthy soul to pieces, the rhinoceros had its place in
judicial proceedings in China. In its goat form it solved a difficult
case when Kas Yas administered justice by butting the guilty party and
sparing the innocent. [395]
The importance attached to jade in prehistoric Europe raises an
interesting problem. Jade artifacts have been found associated with the
Swiss lake-dwellings, and at “Neolithic sites” in Brittany and Ireland,
as well as in Malta and Sicily, and other parts of Europe. Schliemann
found votive axes of green and white jade (nephrite) in the stratum of
the first city of Troy. It was believed at the time that the European
jade artifacts had been imported from the borders of China, and
Professor Fischer expressed the wish “that before the end of his life
the fortune might be allotted to him of finding out what people brought
them to Europe”. [396] Professor Max Muller believed that the Aryans
were the carriers of jade. “If”, he wrote, “the Aryan settlers could
carry with them into Europe so ponderous a tool as their language,
without chipping a single facet, there is nothing so very surprising in
their having carried along and carefully preserved from generation to
generation so handy and so valuable an instrument as a scraper or a
knife, made of a substance which is Aere perennuis”. [397]
After a prolonged search, European scientists have located nephrite
(jade proper) or jadeite in situ in Silesia, Austria, North Germany,
Italy, and among the Alps. “A sort of nephrite workshop was discovered
in the vicinity of Maurach (Switzerland), where hatchets chiselled from
the mineral and one hundred and fifty-four pieces of cuttings were
found.” [398]
Laufer writes in this connection: “If we consider how many years, and
what strenuous efforts it required for European scientists to discover
the actual sites of jade in Central Europe, which is geographically so
well explored, we may realize that it could not have been quite such an
easy task for primitive man to hunt up these hidden places”. Laufer
thinks that in undertaking to overcome the difficulties experienced in
discovering jade in Europe, early man “must have been prompted by a
motive pre-existing and acting in his mind; the impetus of searching
for jade he must have received somehow from somewhere.... Nothing”, he
says, “could induce me to believe that primitive man of Central Europe
incidentally and spontaneously embarked on the laborious task of
quarrying and working jade. The psychological motive for this act must
be supplied.... From the standpoint of the general development of
culture in the Old World there is absolutely no vestige of originality
in the prehistoric cultures of Europe which appear as an appendix to
Asia.” [399]
Apparently the “psychological motive” for searching for jade in China
and Europe came from the Khotan area in Chinese Turkestan, whence jade
was carried to Babylonia during the Sumerian period. It is probable
that bronze was first manufactured in the jade-bearing area of Asia,
and that the people who carried “the knowledge of bronze-making into
Europe”, as Professor Elliot Smith suggests, “also introduced the
appreciation of jade”. Laufer comments in this connection: “Originality
is certainly the rarest thing in the world, and in the history of
mankind the original thoughts are appallingly sparse. There is, in the
light of historical facts and experience, no reason to credit the
prehistoric and early populations of Europe with any spontaneous ideas
relative to jade.” After receiving jade and adopting the beliefs
attached to it, they set out to search for it, and found it in Europe.
The polished axe pendants of jade found in Malta were evidently charms.
Among the Greeks jade was “the kidney stone”; it cured diseases of the
kidneys. The Spaniards brought jade or jadeite from Mexico, and called
it “the loin stone” (piedra de hijada). Sir Walter Raleigh introduced
it into England, and used the Spanish name from which “jade” is
derived.
Red, green, blue, white, grey, and black jade were used, by reason of
their colours, for various deities in China, and to indicate the rank
of officials. “White jade, considered the most precious, was the
privileged ornament of the emperor; jade green like the mountains was
reserved for the princes of the first and second ranks; water-blue jade
was for the great prefects; the heir apparent had a special kind of
jade.” [400] Mottled jades—some resembling granite—were likewise
favoured for a variety of purposes.
Jade played an important part in Chinese rain-getting ceremonies.
Dragon jade symbols, decorated with fish-scales, were placed on the
altar as offerings and for the purpose of invoking the rain-controlling
“composite wonder beast” and god. Sometimes bronze and silver dragon
symbols were used. According to Laufer, “the jade image of the dragon
remained restricted to the Han period, and was substituted at later
ages by prayers inscribed on jade or metal tablets. A survival of the
ancient custom”, he adds, “may be seen in the large paper or papier
mâché figures of dragons carried around in the streets by festival
processions in times of drought to ensure the benefit of rain.” [401]
In front of these dragons are carried the red ball, which symbolizes
the moon, the source of fertilizing moisture—of dew, of rain, and
therefore of the streams and rivers that flow to the sea.
Jade links with pearls in the ocean surrounding the world, in which
lies a gigantic oyster that gapes after rain falls, and sends forth the
gleaming rainbow. The Greek historian, Isidorus of Charace (c. 300
B.C.), referring to the pearl-fishing in the Persian Gulf, relates a
story about the breeding of pearls being influenced by thunder-storms.
[402] The jade ceremonial object, which roused the dragon, had thus
indirectly a share in pearl production. Pearls were, as we have seen,
likewise produced by dragons, who spat them out during storms. As
certain pearls were supposed to be formed by dew that dropped from the
moon, it may be that the Chinese gigantic oyster was, when it gaped to
send forth the rainbow, receiving the substance of a gigantic pearl
from the celestial regions. The life-prolonging and youth-renewing “Red
Cloud herb” came into existence during a thunder- and rain-storm.
As we have seen, jade contains, according to Far Eastern belief, the
essence of heat as well as of moisture. It contains, too, the essence
of cold—not the cold of winter but the coolness desired in hot weather.
[403] In the Tu yang tsa pien, a Chinese work of the ninth century, it
is recorded that the Emperor of China received from Japan “an engraved
gobang board of warm jade, on which the game could be played in winter
without getting cold, and that it was most highly prized”. It is told
in this connection that “thirty thousand li (leagues) east of Japan is
the island of Tsi-mo, and upon this island the Ninghia Terrace, on
which terrace is the Gobang Player’s Lake. This lake produces the
chess-men which need no carving, and are naturally divided into black
and white. They are warm in winter, cool in summer, and known as cool
and warm jade. It also produces the catalpa-jade, in structure like the
wood of the catalpa tree, which is carved into chess-boards, shining
and brilliant as mirrors.” [404]
Jade is, in short, a “luck stone”: the giver of children, health,
immortality, wisdom, power, victory, growth, food, clothing, &c. It is
“the jewel that grants all desires” in this world and the next, and is
therefore connected with all religious beliefs, while it also plays its
part as a symbol in the social organization, being the medium through
which the mysterious forces of nature exercise their influence in every
sphere of human thought and activity.