Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ... RELIGIONS OF CHINA. China has had three great religions, all of which continue to the present day and exist somewhat in harmony side by side. They are known to us as Confucianism, Tauism or Rationalism, and Buddhism. The ancient Chinese adored a creator god whom they called Shang Ti, and below him an infinite number of secondary gods, of the winds, the stars, the waters, mountains, etc. In the sixth century before our era, Confucius, the most noteworthy personage in all Chinese history, edited a work upon the State religion in which the rites, popular and imperial, to be performed to the superior powers are described. These ancient rites of which Confucius was the mere recorder, in part as conserved by him, with a system of moral philosophy in which man's duty to his fellows was one of the chief objects insisted upon, constitute the elements of what we regard as the first of these three great religions. Tauism or Rationalism had its origin in Lau Tsz', a philosopher whose birth preceded by some fifty years that of the sage Confucius. It is organized into a regular hierarchy, and in its existing development appears to be a mixture of the metaphysical doctrines of Lau Tsz' with the local superstitions. Buddhism, the third of the Chinese religions, was introduced from India. In China, according to Dr. S. Wells Williams, there is no term for religion in its usual sense. The word kiau, which means " to teach," or " doctrine taught," is applied to all sects or associations having a creed or ritual, the three sects above described being known pre-eminently as 52 the San Kiau or " three sects.' They do not interfere with each other, and a man may worship at a Buddhist shrine or join in a Tauist festival while he accepts all the tenets of...
