8o SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



The element of luck, which is greater in primitive Hfe, does much 

 to maintain if not to create the beHef in a mysterious potency, lucky 

 days, and various customs generally classed together as superstitions. 

 One day everything goes well : game is killed, and all have plenty. At 

 other times the boats get wrecked, no game is found, people become ill, 

 and all goes wrong. To the more primitive mind, unable to give scien- 

 tific explanations, and lacking scientific methods and means of con- 

 trolling nature about him, the things that we have been describing 

 seem perfectly natural. 



The emotions of awe and wonder, and the emotional thrill, allied 

 to the mana reaction, are elements that are exceedingly important, and 

 which lie near the heart of the primitive religions. The organized 

 religions of Szechuan, perhaps more or less unconsciously, have 

 become past-masters in arousing these emotions. In large temples, 

 located on hills that are seen far and wide or on spots noted for the 

 wonders of their natural phenomena, great deities, wearing the cloth- 

 ing of temporal rulers and often wearing crowns and covered with 

 gold-leaf, priests with beautiful official robes and masters of the rites, 

 incantations, and ceremonies, and great festivals that are the crowning 

 religious and social events of the year — all these arouse wonder, 

 admiration, and awe, and result in the loyalty of the common people 

 to their religious organizations. 



The social customs, ideals, and conceptions are clearly reflected in 

 those of religion. The attitudes, customs, and practices that have to 

 do with priests and gods are duplications of those of the Manchu 

 Dynasty. The customs of this world are carried over into the world 

 of the departed spirits, so much so that the souls of the dead must be 

 given food and money. China is now being swept from end to end 

 by democratic ideals, so that anything that even smacks of monarchy 

 is taboo, but there has so far been almost no effect on religious ideals, 

 rites, and ceremonies. 



Under Tsang Tao Lin and other leaders Taoism, many centuries 

 ago, gained the adherence of the masses in China by identifying itself 

 with the popular religion that has come down among the lower classes 

 of the Chinese from ancient times. Buddhism came to China from 

 India, a high, philosophical religion, but for centuries was unable to 

 win the masses until it, like Taoism, identified itself with the religion 

 of the common people. Today it is a rival of Taoism as a popular 

 religion of Szechuan. The Chinese love life in this world, and nirvana 

 has no appeal to them, but the religion of Amitabha, the merciful ruler 

 of western heaven, with Kuanyin, the merciful goddess, has won 

 the hearts of the people. Many of the indigenous gods of China are 



