Part 30 (2/2)

The Chinese traditions concerning the birth of Fo-hi are, some of them, highly poetical. That which has received the widest acceptance is as follows:

”Three nymphs came down from heaven to wash themselves in a river; but scarce had they got there before the herb _lotus_ appeared on one of their garments, with its coral fruit upon it. They could not imagine whence it proceeded, and one was tempted to taste it, whereby she became pregnant and was delivered of a boy, who afterwards became a great man, a founder of religion, a conqueror, and legislator.”[119:4]

The sect of _Xaca_, which is evidently a corruption of Buddhism, claim that their master was also of supernatural origin. Alvarez Semedo, speaking of them, says:

”The third religious sect among the Chinese is from India, from the parts of Hindostan, which sect they call _Xaca_, from the founder of it, concerning whom they fable--that he was conceived by his mother Maya, from a white elephant, which she saw in her sleep, and for more purity she brought him from one of her sides.”[120:1]

_Lao-kiun_, sometimes celled _Lao-tsze_, who is said to have been born in the third year of the emperor _Ting-w.a.n.g_, of the Chow dynasty (604 B. C.), was another miraculously-born man. He acquired great reputation for sanct.i.ty, and marvelous stories were told of his birth. It was said that he had existed from all eternity; that he had descended on earth _and was born of a virgin_, black in complexion, described ”marvelous and beautiful as jasper.” Splendid temples were erected to him, and he was wors.h.i.+ped as a _G.o.d_. His disciples were called ”Heavenly Teachers.”

They inculcated great tenderness toward animals, and considered strict celibacy necessary for the attainment of perfect holiness. Lao-kiun believed in _One G.o.d_ whom he called _Tao_, and the sect which he formed is called _Tao-tse_, or ”Sect of Reason.” Sir Thomas Thornton, speaking of him, says:

”The mythological history of this 'prince of the doctrine of the _Taou_,' which is current amongst his followers, _represents him as a divine emanation incarnate in a human form_. They term him the 'most high and venerable prince of the portals of gold of the palace of the _genii_,' and say that he condescended to a contact with humanity when he became incorporated with the 'miraculous and excellent Virgin of jasper.' Like Buddha, he came out of his mother's side, and was born under a tree.

”The legends of the _Taou-tse_ declare their founder to have existed antecedent to the birth of the elements, in the Great Absolute; that he is the 'pure essence of the teen;' that he is the 'original ancestor of the prime breath of life;' and that he gave form to the heavens and the earth.”[120:2]

M. Le Compte says:

”Those who have made this (the religion of Taou-tsze) their professed business, are called _Tien-se_, that is, 'Heavenly Doctors;' they have houses (Monasteries) given them to live together in society; they erect, in divers parts, temples to their master, and king and people honor him with _divine_ wors.h.i.+p.”

_Yu_ was another _virgin-born_ Chinese sage, who is said to have lived upon earth many ages ago. Confucius--as though he had been questioned about him--says: ”I see no defect in the character of Yu. He was sober in eating and drinking, and eminently pious toward spirits and ancestors.”[120:3]

_Hau-ki_, the Chinese hero, was of supernatural origin.

The following is the history of his birth, according to the ”s.h.i.+h-King:”

”His mother, who was childless, had presented a pure offering and sacrificed, that her childlessness might be taken away.

She then trod on a toe-print made by G.o.d, and was moved,[121:1] in the large place where she rested. She became pregnant; she dwelt retired; she gave birth to and nourished a son, who was _Hau-ki_. When she had fulfilled her months, her first-born son came forth like a lamb. There was no bursting, no rending, no injury, no hurt; showing how wonderful he would be. Did not G.o.d give her comfort? Had he not accepted her pure offering and sacrifice, so that thus easily she brought forth her son?”[121:2]

Even the sober Confucius (born B. C. 501) was of supernatural origin.

The most important event in Chinese literary and ethical history is the birth of _Kung-foo-tsze_ (Confucius), both in its effects on the moral organization of this great empire, and the study of Chinese philosophy in Europe.

Kung-foo-tsze (meaning ”the sage Kung” or ”the wise excellence”) was of _royal descent_; and his family the most ancient in the empire, as his genealogy was traceable directly up to Hw.a.n.g-te, the reputed organizer of the state, the first emperor of the semi-historical period (beginning 2696 B. C.).

At his birth a prodigious quadruped, called the Ke-lin, appeared and prophesied that the new-born infant ”would be a king without throne or territory.” Two dragons hovered about the couch of _Yen-she_ (his mother), and five celestial sages, or angels, entered at the moment of the birth of the wondrous child; heavenly strains were heard in the air, and harmonious chords followed each other, fast and full. Thus was Confucius ushered into the world.

His disciples, who were to expound his precepts, were seventy-two in number, _twelve_ of whom were his ordinary companions, the depositories of his thoughts, and the witnesses of all his actions. To them he minutely explained his doctrines, and charged them with their propagation after his death. YAN-HWUY was his favorite disciple, who, in his opinion, had attained the highest degree of moral perfection.

Confucius addressed him in terms of great affection, which denoted that he relied mainly upon him for the accomplishment of his work.[121:3]

Even as late as the seventeenth century of our era, do we find the myth of the virgin-born G.o.d in China.[121:4]

All these G.o.d-begotten and virgin-born men were called _Tien-tse_, _i.

e._, ”Sons of Heaven.”

If from China we should turn to Egypt we would find that, for ages before the time of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediating deity, born of a virgin, and without a worldly father, was a portion of the Egyptian belief.[122:1]

_Horus_, who had the epithet of ”_Saviour_,” was born of the virgin Isis. ”His birth was one of the greatest Mysteries of the Egyptian religion. Pictures representing it appear on the walls of temples.”[122:2] He is ”the second emanation of _Amon_, the son whom he begot.”[122:3] Egyptian monuments represent the infant Saviour in the arms of his virgin mother, or sitting on her knee.[122:4] An inscription on a monument, translated by Champollion, reads thus:

”O thou avenger, G.o.d, son of a G.o.d; O thou avenger, Horus, manifested by Osiris, engendered of the G.o.ddess Isis.”[122:5]

<script>