NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM I79 



it was cut into small pieces and sold as medicine. One tree still 

 standing in 1948 was still worshiped. 



Outside the west gate of Lo-shan is a great banyan tree that is a 

 tree god and is called Huang-ko-chiang-chun, or General Banyan. 

 Another tree god is a great pine tree in the Ta-o-ssu, or Great Goose 

 Monastery, on Mount Omei. Another, a banyan tree at P'ai-fang- 

 shan, east of Pigsty Rapid, above Ch'ian-wei, is called Huang-ko-ta- 

 hsien, or Great Immortal Banyan, and is famed for its ability to 

 heal sore feet. In the village of Huang-lung-ch'i, near Chiang-k'ou, 

 is a very large banyan tree that is worshiped as a god and is called 

 Huang-ko-cheng-jen, or Banyan Immortal. In the City God Temple 

 of Chengtu, just inside the Great East Gate, is a very large ginkgo 

 tree that is worshiped as a divinity. Near a temple at Kuan-hsien I 

 saw a hardwood tree called Nan mu 5 feet in diameter and nearby a 

 large cypress tree, parts of which resembled human eyes, nose, mouth, 

 and feet. Both were worshiped as divinities. No doubt there are 

 many other such trees in West China which I have not seen. 



That trees should be worshiped as gods in West China is not at 

 all strange, for they are regarded as living, sentient creatures. Any 

 tree of great age, like a human being that becomes an immortal and 

 never dies, may become a god. At Kan-pai-shou, a village on the Min 

 River above I-pin, is an old dead cypress tree that is still worshiped as 

 a deity even after it is dead. 



In the region between Lo-shan and Chengtu turnips sometimes 

 grow to a very large size. It is asserted that they sometimes weigh 

 between 25 and 50 pounds. Such a large turnip is regarded as a god 

 and is called a lo-pu-wang, or turnip king. When such a turnip 

 grows on a man's farm it is the duty of the farmer to build a plat- 

 form and to have ceremonies of worship performed, besides giving 

 a feast. Such ceremonies of worship are believed to cause turnips to 

 grow better in that locality. They are so expensive that many farmers 

 dig the turnips up and eat or sell them before they get too large, so 

 that they will not have to perform the ceremonies of worship. 



Many Chinese gods are commonly worshiped by both Buddhists 

 and Taoists and so belong exclusively to neither religion. There has 

 also been much mutual borrowing. Kuanyin, originally a Buddhist 

 deity, is as popular and common among the Taoists as among the 

 Buddhists (Bredon and Mitrophanow, 1927, p. 52). 



The following is a partial list of the Buddhist gods. Some Bud- 

 dhists regard them all as not different gods, but merely different mani- 



