[117] Cf. Martin, The Lore of Cathay (1901), p. 226.
[118] Though the people are shut out from participation in the state worship, they have set up for themselves a multitude of local shrines where they worship the spirits of almost every earthly thing, such as mountains, rivers, trees, and rocks. “Men debarred from communion with the Great Spirit resorted more eagerly to inferior spirits, to spirits of the fathers, and to spirits generally.... The accredited worship of ancestors, with that of the departed great added to it, was not enough to satisfy the cravings of men’s minds.” (Legge, The Religions of China (1881), p. 176).
[119] The Lore of Cathay (1901), p. 274.
[120] Williams, The Middle Kingdom (1883), vol. ii, p. 239.
[121] We do not mention Buddhism in this connection for the reason that it is not possible to trace any decisive influence, save in the promotion of toleration, that this system has exercised upon Chinese morality. Buddhism enjoins celibacy, and this, like Christian asceticism, is in radical opposition to the genius of Confucianism. For this reason, in conjunction with others,—among these its early degeneracy,—Buddhism has remained practically inert as an ethical force in Chinese society. What little influence it has exerted has been confined almost wholly to the monasteries.
[122] “The dread of spirits is the nightmare of the Chinaman’s life.”—Legge, The Religions of China (1881), p. 197.
[123] The Religion of the Chinese (1910), p. 34.
[124] The Taoist doctrines are contained in the Tao-teh-king, supposed to have been written by Lao-tsze, a sage who lived in the fifth century B.C. The religion which grew out of his philosophy became in time degenerate, absorbed the worst elements of Buddhism, and is to-day a system of gross superstitions, magic, and sorcery, which has undeniably a blighting effect upon morality.
[125] De Groot, The Religion of the Chinese (1910), pp. 139 ff.
[126] Ibid. 138.