In China, as in several other countries, the colour of an animal, plant, or stone was believed to reveal its character and attributes. A red berry was regarded with favour, because it displayed the life colour. A red stone was favoured for the same reason. When it is nowadays found that some particular berry or herb, favoured of old as an “All-heal”, is really an efficacious medicine, an enthusiast may incline to regard it as a wonderful thing that modern medical science has not achieved, in [[164]]some lines, greater triumphs than were achieved by the “simple observers” of ancient times. But it may be that the real cures were of accidental discovery, and that the effective berry or herb would, on account of its colour alone, have continued in use whether it had cured or not.
In China not only the berry with a “good colour” was used by “curers”, but even the stone with a “good colour”. The physicians, for instance, sometimes prescribed ground jade, and we read of men who died, because, as it was thought, the quantities of jade-medicine taken were much too large. Some ancient writers assert, in this connection, that although a dose of ground jade may bring this life to a speedy end, it will ensure prolonged life in the next world.
The berries and stones which were reputed to be “All-heals” were not always devoured. They could be used simply as charms. The vital essence or “soul substance” in berry or stone was supposed to be so powerful that it warded off the attacks of the demons of disease, or expelled the demons after they had taken possession of a patient. Medicines might be prepared by simply dipping the charms into pure well water. These charms were often worn as body-ornaments. All the ancient personal ornaments were magic charms that gave protection or regulated the functions of body organs. When symbols were carved on jade, the ornaments were believed to acquire increased effectiveness. Gold ornaments were invariably given symbolic shape. Like the horse-shoe, which in western Europe is nailed on a door for “luck”—that is, to ward off evil—these symbolic ornaments were credited with luck-bringing virtues. The most ancient gold ornaments in the world are found in Egypt, and these are models of shells, which had been worn as “luck-bringers” long before [[165]]gold was worked.[3] These shells had an intimate association with the Mother Goddess, who, in one of her aspects, personified the birth-aiding and fertilizing shell.
The idea that the coloured fruits and the coloured stones were life-giving “avatars” of the Mother Goddess is well illustrated in the glowing accounts of the Chinese Paradise. The Tree of Life might bear fruit or gems. The souls swallowed gems as readily as fruit. In the Japanese Paradise the immortals devour powdered mother-of-pearl shells as well as peaches, dried cassia pods, cinnabar, pine needles, or pine cones.
Jade was connected with vegetation on this earth as well as in Paradise. As we have seen, the Great Mother goddess created this famous mineral for the benefit of mankind. It contained her “soul substance”, as did the trees, their blossoms, and their fruit, and even their leaves and bark. This quaint belief is enshrined in the following quotation from the Illustrated Mirror of Jades, translated by Laufer and given without comment:
“In the second month, the plants in the mountains receive a bright lustre. When their leaves fall, they change into jade. The spirit of jade is like a beautiful woman.”[4]
It is obvious that the “beautiful woman” is the Goddess of the West. Reference to coral trees in Paradise are numerous. It was believed not only in China but in western Europe, until comparatively recent times, that coral was a marine tree—the tree of the water-goddess. The Great Mother was connected with the [[166]]water above and beyond the firmament, as well as the rivers and the sea.
“Good health” in the Otherworld was immortality or great longevity. A soul which ate of a peach from the World Tree was assured of 3000 years of good health. He renewed his youth, and never grew old, so long as the supply of peaches was assured.[5]
In China men lengthened their days by partaking of “soul substance” in various forms. The pine-tree cult made decoctions of pine needles and cones, or of the fungus found at the roots of pines. “The juice of the pine”, says one Chinese sage, “when consumed for a long time, renders the body light, prevents man from growing old, and lengthens his life. Its leaves preserve the interior of the body; they cause a man never to feel hunger, and increase the years of his life.” The cypress was also favoured. “Cypress seeds,” the same writer asserts, “if consumed for a long period, render a man hale and healthy. They endow him with a good colour, sharpen his ears and eyes, cause him never to experience the feeling of hunger, nor to grow old.” The camphor tree comes next to the pine and cypress as “a dispenser and depository of vital power”.[6]
Apparently the fact that pines and cypresses are evergreens recommended them to the Chinese, although it was not for that reason only the belief arose about their richness of “soul substance”. An ancient Chinese sage has declared: “Pines and cypresses alone on this earth are endowed with life, in the midst of winter as [[167]]well as in summer they are evergreen. Pines 1000 years old resemble a blue ox, a blue dog, or a blue human being. Cypresses 1000 years old have deep roots shaped like men in a sitting posture.… When they are cut they lose blood.… Branches of pines which are 3000 years old have underneath the bark accumulations of resin in the shape of dragons, which, if pounded and consumed in a quantity of full ten pounds, will enable a man to live 500 years.”[7]