104 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



the medium called her by name. "Your husband says," he began, and 

 gave her a long message. She was thrilled, believing that her hus- 

 band had spoken to her through the medium. I heard of another man 

 who received a message supposedly from his father. On hearing the 

 words of the medium, he knelt down and burst into tears. 



What are the reasons for the success and gradual growth of the 

 Ju T'an at the very time when Buddhism and Taoism were waging 

 a life-and-death struggle for their very existence in West China? 

 They are, first, the borrowing of the prestige of the literati through 

 its name; second, the uses of methods and ceremonies acceptable to 

 most of the people; and third, and I would say mainly, because of its 

 supposed ability to obtain at will messages from the gods and from 

 deceased relatives and ancestors. 



THE WU CHIAO, OR RELIGION OF MAGIC 



In any village, town, or city in Szechwan one can find tuan kungs, 

 sometimes called yin-yang hsien sheng, or professors of yin-yang. 

 The front doors of their homes are generally wide open, as though 

 to invite passersby to enter. On the two sides of the front room one 

 will see a great many herbs, bones, etc., which are used as medicine. 

 In the center, on a table below the shrine, are printed or written paper 

 charms and instruments of divination. Against the back wall, on the 

 floor, on the table, or on the shrine, are 30 to 50 images of various 

 deities. Among these are the god of wealth, Kwanyin, the goddess 

 of mercy, and many other of the more common gods. One of these 

 is Wu Ts'ang, who is an acrobat, standing on his hands on the back 

 of a tiger, his heels in the air. When business is dull and the magician 

 has not enough to do, he sometimes sends out Wu Ts'ang, who harms 

 people, causing them to come to the tuan kiing and pay him for recall- 

 ing the god or exorcising demons. Two others of the gods, a male 

 and a female, have heads but no bodies. When called to people's 

 homes to conduct ceremonies, the tuan kung takes these two gods, has 

 the hosts furnish the clothing, and performs his ceremonies. 



At funerals and memorial ceremonies, people who are very poor 

 often employ a tuan kung, while others with more money call in 

 Buddhist or Taoist priests. The priest of the Wu Chiao sect is re- 

 garded as belonging to a hsi chiao, or heretical society of black magic. 

 Unlike Buddhist or Taoist priests, he leaps and dances as he per- 

 forms his ceremonies, much like the Ch'uan Miao tuan kung. In- 

 deed, there are those who believe that the Chinese tuan kung learned 

 his art from the Miao, and among the Miao he is orthodox, while 

 among the Chinese he is heretical. 



