XXXIV INTRODTJCTION. 



wers on the question ,/whence the light came?" by : //The lightcame from the holy tempte." ( ] ) 



In Question 172 andjf., of the Catechism of the Hung-league is spoken of peach-trees, whilst 

 in Answer 276 peaches, willows, firs and cedars are mentioned. ( 2 ) These trees are sacred 

 with the Chinese. Peaches have been, and are still, in China the symbol of long life or im- 

 mortality. Therefore the peach-fruit enters into all the ornaments in paint and sculpture which 

 are made in rooms, on furniture etc, and, especially, in the presents of congratulation and 

 ielicitation offered to one's superiors or equals. They are preserved as Newyears-gifts ; and, 

 by want of genuine ones, porcelain, jade or coloured-stone peaches are offered. According to 

 the Shhi-nung -Icing : //the peach Yu prevents death and eternizes life. If one has not been able 

 to eat of it early enough, yet it preserves the body incorruptibte till the end of the world." 

 According to the 8/iii-y-Ici: //whosoever eats of the fruits of the Jw-peach on the mountain Ktooh 

 Hu, gets eternal life." According to the Shin-hian-kan : //the peach of immortality produces only 



one fruit in 1000 years, but it frees man for ever from hunger This fruit is of a 



beauty and odour which are not of this world." According to the Shin-Man-thuen ; //Zao haring- 

 vaten of the gum of this peach became immortal." ( 3 ) 



According to the Taoist tradition the peach-tree was planted by a certain Wang-mu ( 4 ); 3000 

 years elapsed before the tree blossomed, and again 3000 years passed before the flowers set 

 fruit. ( 5 ) 



Another species of peach had some resemblance with the tree of the knowledge of good and 

 evil. Some peaches could not enter in the ancient sacrifices. Every peach with a doublé al- 

 mond was mortal. According to Pin-y-lu: //it is death which makes the peach feared, how 

 1hen should the sage not fear it?" According to the Shi-lan: //In the Ji^-garden was the peach 

 of death; as soon as he approached it lie feit that he would die." According to Sun-lan-tsz: 

 z/the peach-plum lias a ravishing beauty, but afterwards it gives death." According to the 

 Tong '■ su-ton g : //In the book of Hoang-ü is spoken of two brethern of the remotest antiquity 

 who found on a mountain a peach-tree under which were some hundreds of demons, to cause the 

 death of man and ruin him for ever." In the Lieh-chien is said about the evils which afilict 

 earth: //the tree of knowledge has been the cause and occasion of sin." ( 6 ) 



In accordance with the above, Answer 190 of the Catechism runs: 



On the faithful and loyal who eat of tliem Heaven bestows blessings; 

 But the traitors and vicked will see their bones rot. ( 7 ) 



The pine and cypress are since the remotest antiquity the symbols of eternal life. "When 

 all other trees fade and lose their leaves, both these trees remain green and strong. There- 

 fore Confucius said ( 8 ) : //When the year becomes cold, then we know how the pine and the cy- 



0) See pag. 183. ( 2 ) See pag. 82, seq., and pag, 102. 



( 3 ) Mémoires c. 1. Chinois, T. XI, 293. ( 4 ) ^ -£J 



l B ) Mémoires, T. III, 75. ( 6 ) Mémoires, T. XI, 293. 



l7j See pag. 84. ( 8 ) Lun-yü, Book IX, Chapt, xxvn. 



