for regret; succeeding, no cause
for congratulation. And thus they could scale heights without fear;
enter water without becoming wet, and fire without feeling hot. The pure
men of old slept without dreams, and waked without anxiety. They ate
without discrimination, breathing deep breaths. For pure men draw breath
from their heels; the vulgar only from their throats."

Coupled with what may be called intellectual Taoism, as opposed to the
grosser form under which this faith appeals to the people at large, is
a curious theory that human life reaches the earth from some
extraordinarily dazzling centre away in the depths of space, "beyond
the range of conceptions." This centre appears to be the home of eternal
principles, the abode of a First Cause, where perfectly spotless and
pure beings "drink of the spiritual and feed on force," and where
likeness exists without form. To get back to that state should be the
object of all men, and this is only to be attained by a process of
mental and physical purification prolonged through all conditions of
existence. Then, when body and soul are fitted for the change, there
comes what ordinary mortals call death; and the pure being closes his
eyes, to awake forthwith in his original glory from the sleep which
mortals call life.

For many centuries Buddhism and Taoism were in bitter antagonism.
Sometimes the court was Buddhist, sometimes Taoist; first one faith was
suppressed altogether, then the other; in A.D. 574 both were abolished
in deference to Confucianism, which, however, no emperor has ever dared
to interfere with seriously. At present, all the "three religions"
flourish happily side by side.

The Chinese believe firmly in the existence of spirits, which they
classify simply as good and evil. They do not trouble their heads much
about the former, but they are terribly afraid of the latter. Hideous
devils infest dark corners, and lie in wait to injure unfortunate
passers-by, often for no cause whatever. The spirits of persons who have
been wronged are especially dreaded by those who have done the wrong.
A man who has been defrauded of money will commit suicide, usually by
poison, at the door of the wrongdoer, who will thereby first fall into
the hands of the authorities, and if he escapes in that quarter,
will still have to count with the injured ghost of his victim. A
daughter-in-law will drown or hang herself to get free from, and also to
avenge, the tyranny or cruelty of