iisi^f&:.i «—' • -?«—> "if FEB 161910 n BL 1801 .P24 1905 .^<^ -t<-»-^ CHINA AND RELIGION Father Hwang, secular priest (affiliated to the Jesuits) at Nanking, a distinguished and profound theological scholar. The antique characters signify " ancient few dwelling," i.e. " the septua- genarian's abode," because "from ancient times but few" have reached that age. The date in the corner is equivalent to 1899. ^^Frontispiece, CHINA AND RELIGION BY EDWARD HARPER PARKER, M.A. (Manc.) PROFESSOR OF CHINESE AT THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MANCHESTER. AUTHOR OF "CHINA," "JOHN CHINAMAN," "CHINA, PAST AND PRESENT," ETC. 'V" '-. 'i^-^ ^ FtD _.i910 .\* <%/C/L Sl^^V# NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 1905 Printed in Great Britain. My affectionate old friend died at Shanghai on the 2'jth June, almost as I wrote these lines. E. H. P. Printed in Great Britain. DEDICATED Rev. a. COLOMBEL, S.J. (shanghai). NOCTURNA INGEMISCENTIS ANIMAE MEDITATIO. Fatalis ruit hora, Leo, jam tempus abire est, Pro meritisque viam carpere perpetuam, Quae te sors maneat? Coelum sperare jubebant Largus contulerat quae tibi dona Deus ; At summas claves, immenso pondere munus Tot tibi gestum annos—haec meditare gemens. Qui namque in populis excelso praestat honore, Hei misero I poenas acrius inde luet. Haec inter trepido dulcis succurrit imago Dulcior atque animo vox sonat alloquii : Quid te tanta premit formido ? aevique peracti Quid seriem repetens tristia corde foves ? Christus adest miserans, humili veniamque roganti Erratum —ah ! fidas —eluet omne tibi. —{Death-bed of Pope Leo XIII). PREFACE I MUST apologise for a certain irregularity in the spelling of Indian, Persian. Arabic, and other foreign words. For instance, " Canouge " instead of " Kanuj," and doubtless many others in the same category. Not knowing any West Asian language, I take the spelling which occurs in the best books I have consulted, some of which are more "up to date " than others ; or I adopt the " usual " spelling. I have at least tried to be all, consistent in my irregularity ; and, after in a book on Religion, scientific spelling is not of the essence. In Chinese words, of course, I profess to be right according to my own ideas of what is right ; though even here I occasionally use well-known or "popular" forms. E. H. PARKER. 1 8 Gambier Terrace, Liverpool, 2()th June 1905. LIST OF AUTHORITIES In giving a list of "authorities" which may be usefully consulted, I do not profess to have drawn up a complete list, or to have always accepted any one as an authority myself, where I have found it possible to go further back. The ultimate or most remote authority is, of course, always the best. For instance, in the case of Taoism, the Chinese authors are absolutely the sole original authorities, and the translators and opinionists can at best have but secondary value ; in this particular instance, I chiefly recognise as possessing sterling collateral value the opinions of M. Chavannes, as given in his masterly introduction to the Shi-ki {M^moires Historiques) of Sz-ma Ts'ien ; and to a certain extent also the opinions of the late Mr Faber, as published in various numbers of the China Review ; because they two alone appear to me to have conscientiously, and with full competence, examined all the Chinese originals they could get hold of in an unbiassed spirit. I regard M. Chavannes as the soundest and most industrious of living sinologists. The religious works of the venerable Paul Hwang (now approaching his 8oth year) are very profound, and of course no European can X LIST OF AUTHORITIES pretend to his wide capacity for research ; but then he is a priest, and can only pubHsh what his masters, the Jesuits, approve ; still, he appears to me to be a man of wonderfully clear and honest views, nor have I ever discovered any hiding away of the truth in his writings. In the same way Dr Legge, whose knowledge of the Chinese classics was unequalled, had always to approach the subject of religion as a missionary, and no doubt as a convinced one; hence his "detachment" was not complete. No one has done greater general service to sinology, including, indirectly, religious sinology, than the late Dr Bretschneider ; but (as he frequently told me himself) he was largely inspired by Palladius, a student of original texts of vast and retentive memory ; and over and over again he honestly repudiated the "charge" of being a first-hand sinologist. It does not, how- ever, appear to me to matter much whether a man is a blacksmith or a sinologist, so long as he discovers the means and possesses the aptitude for forming and expressing sound opinions on accepted facts, supported by all available evi- dence ; and, after all, "sinologists" are only those European students who have gone a certain modest distance—very modest— in the direction of consulting Chinese literature without native aid. I am one of these, but I often feel that I have not gone so far as I might have gone, and that even a long life will not enable any of us to go very far with present appliances. But these LIST OF AUTHORITIES xi appliances are being added to every day, and each successive Qreneration will find that the clearances made in the jungle of neglected litera- ture by his predecessors do materially shorten his labours. E. H. Parker. Shi-ki {'B.C. 4000-B.C. 90), Chapters i.-iv., diVid. passifu. Les Saintes Instructions de LEmpereur Hong-wou. By Edouard Chavannes, Hanoi : F. H. Schneider, 1903. Les Memoires historiques de Sz-ma TsHen. By Edouard Chavannes, Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1 895-1 901. Han Shu (Han Dynasty, B.C. 206-A.D. i.), Chapter Ixxxviii. Nan 5/«' (Nanking Dynasties, A.D. 420-580), Chapter Ixxv. Taoism and the Tao-teh King. By E. H. Parker, "Dublin Review," July-January, 1903-1904. Life, Labours, and Doctrines of Co7tfucius. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," April 1897. Li-k''uh (Recesses of Truth), "Catholic Press," Shanghai, 1886. The Ephthalite Turks. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," July 1902. Hou Han Shu (Later Han, a.d. 2^-220), passim. Tsih-shuioh Ts''iian-chen (Eclectic Truth). By Rev. Paul Hwang, "Catholic Press," Shanghai, 1879. Vie, ou L^gefide, de Gaudama (second edition). By Monsigneur p. Bigandet, Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1878. Sui Shu (Sui Dynasty, a.d. 580-618), Chapter xxxv. Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. By E. J. ElTEL, Hongkong : Lane Crawford & Co., 1870. (Le Bouddhisme Chinois, Museon, Louvain, 1903. Chinese Buddhism, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," October 1902. Both by E. H. PARKER (translated by M. de la V. POUSSIN). Tsin Shu (Tsin Dynasties, A.D. 265-317-420), jzJa.yj'z'w. Wei C^i(Wei Dynasty, A.D. 220-265) Chapter xxx. Chinese Knowledge of Early Persia. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," January 1903. xii LIST OF AUTHORITIES Old T\ ^'^^^:. (T'ang Dynasty,j^ a.d. 618-905) :r^ } ° j - ^ j' New T'angr'anp- -JfSnu)Shu) ^ {^l^^]''(chapteI Chapter ccxvii. Wei Shu (Toba Tartars, a.d. 386-550) Chapter cxiv. Musulmans et Manicheens chinois. By Gabriel Dev^ria, Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1898. Le Nestorianisme et rinscription de Kara-balgassoun. By Edouard ChavanneS, Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1897. Videe du PdchS chez les Indo-Eraniens de tantiquity. By L. C. Ca.sartelli, Fribourg (Suisse), 1898. The Magi, a footnote to Matthew ii. i. " By L. C. Casartelli, Dublin Review, ' October 1902. The Early Christian Road to China. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," October 1903. China, the Avars, and the Franks. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," April 1902. Services of Turks in joining Civilizations. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," April 1904. La StUe Chritienne de Si-ngan-Fou. By Henri Havret, S.J., "Catholic Press," Shanghai, 1895, 1897. Notes on the Nestoria?is in China. By E. H. Parker, Royal Asiatic Society, Shanghai, 1890. The Nestorian Tablet. By E. H. Parker, " Dublin Review," October 1902. Origine de P/slajftisfue en Chine. By Gabriel Deveria, Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1895. Inscriptions Juives de K'ai-fong-fou. By Jerome Tobar, SJ., "Catholic Press," Shanghai, 1900. History of the Churches in China. By E. H. Parker, China Mail Office, Hongkong, 1896. Yiian ^^i' (Mongols, A.D. 1206-1368), Chapters i.-xi., cxxv., passim. Calendrier-Annuaire for 1904- 1905. "Catholic Press," Shanghai, 1905. Notes depigraphie Mongole-Chinoise. By Gabriel Deveria, Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1897. Inscriptions it pihes de chancellerie chinoises de lepoque mongole. By Edouard Chavannes, Leide : E. J. Brill, 1905. Historia Ecclesiarum Sinarmn Societati Missionum ad Exteros Commissaruni By Edm. Wallays, Penang (about) 1880. LIST OF AUTHORITIES xiii Marco Polo, Marsden's and Yule's editions, 1877 and 1903. Notices of MedicEval Geography. By E. Bretschneider, Shanghai Royal Asiatic Society, 1876. Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, passim. "Presbyterian Mission Press," Shanghai, 1868-1904. Russian Ecclesiastical Mission. By John Dudgeon, "Chinese Recorder," Shanghai, 1870-1871. Russia and China. By E. H. Parker, "Asiatic Quarterly Review," January 1905. Revival of Pure Shifitau. By E. M. Satow, Japan Asiatic Society, 1874. Ko}iki. By B. H. Chamberlain, Japan Asiatic Society, 1882. — CONTENTS PAGE Introduction i CHAPTER I CHINA'S PRIMITIVE RELIGION Untutored man and his spiritual fancies. — Comparison with the finer instincts of animals. — First Chinese dual con- ception of theyin and yang- principles. — Influence of the five elements. — Conciliating the Spirits of Good and Evil. —Observations drawn from the order of Nature. The application of Music as a test or measure. Civilisation confined to the central parts of what we now call China. — Early rulers not necessarily hereditary : origin of the term " Son of Heaven."— Filial piety and ancestral worship.