Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-11-19
CHINESE RELIGION.
TIE RESULTS OF A SAN FRANCISCO
REPORTERS INVESTIGATIONS.

The Con;acien Chinamaa's Iselief-1he
Taoi,t = liberal Sort of Mnterialist.
The Metaphysical NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Maxiins Of the Ceiostiais.
Stepping into p shop in Chinatown, a gen
| tlCman. among other things, asked the owner
what Ii religious belief was, and tho result
| of tic conversation was TINT he found the
| shojkreper TO lie believer IN all three of the
| national relisions, accepting the gods of each
| otrhand, paying his money to support the
| priests Of al, and, if it would have made bust
ness q little brisker, All Wang would have
| undoubtedly announced himself Christian
| Oh any denomination required This then is
one of the most striking peculiartics: that
while there are three distinct religions, thew
see no Inconsistency in accepting all The
Conturian thinaman believes in a spiritual
| anls al to the moral nature He believes in
| conscience, sees a difference between virtue
| and vice prctends TO believe in law and ORDER
ami i, a firm believer in paying religions
| vcnera ion to his ancestors; and. above all, is
| remarkable for his filial piety
TIRE MATERIALIsTIC TAoIsT
| The faoist is a materialist. To him the
soul is something tangible, physical some
thing. purer than the human form. II is not
essentially immortal, but attains this state
| only by n physical training after passing
| through a certain pseudo-Chemical process
| lie believes in various gods is a liberal of
| liberals in this Even the stars are divine or
diVinities, The Taoist is also a great be
| lever III hernntS, physicians, magicians and
| holy men Of all kinds The Chinese Budd
| hist differs from these HIS religion is meta
| physical. He delights in arsumentive phil
o5ophy, and gives vent to his Imagination in
| building up his beliefs on an ethereal plat
form His gods are not realities, but the
| mere perSonificatiOn of ideas. Matter, as
such, is entirely disregarled, and ideas, or
| theories founded upon ideas, accepted. Tao
| ism Is perhaps aspopular among the ma joriiy
rs any, a, it is OF practical use; thus, sick
man VIII consult his god Of medicine, which
| l. IL I've found in some of the houses and the
| priest Will tell the patient exactly what
| uls1tIolnc or drugs are required to heal him.
| Over and around these gods are seen testi-
| monalS of patients that have been cured.
tn. Taoist religion l. built up from work
of about 300 characters. written by the
famous Chin.ss Philosopher Lao-tsa 1t is
clied The book OF the way to virtue, or
Tgo-.r kir mud ,,-.,.,,,s from, il ar. t,',,,J
printed on sips i'll many of the stores in
Chinatown. On many Of which Will Lc found
,he SAVINGS Of this philosopher, Whose prime
t!ca va, to impress upon mankind that non
existence va, far 10 he prctcrlpd above ey-
lstenre- This Is not quite up to the modern
French philosopher. who proved with ease
that cyIStencc was an inlpossibiiitv. If
IJoi>t Is asked for any papers relating To this
religion he viii. in all probability, provide
r<tract, from a work called th, Book of Re
ward, and P,ni>bments These ruoxims arc
to he found on many If he Chinese works of
at, and probably no chinese work has such a
circulation IN san Francisco as this The
work it-slf !, printed by substitution in
Chua and Is given by the rich subscribers TO
these who cannot afford 10 buy 1t. Some of
tie TJEIms that may be observed in the
store, her" are us follows: Be humane TO
anmals. Have pity upon orphans and
show compassion to Widows" DO not
expose III" faults OF others "Bestow IA
Not> without expecting rrcumpenSe;" Give
willingly; Wives, respect your husbands
mote that it Is not obey. \ handsome figure
exclttN the admiration of the world, but it
doc not deceive h"avcu. and MANY more all
OF winch have decided flavor of Christian
ethi7 ahcai them
rE"TES9rESEsS OF Tue GODS
MANY If the crntesuuc tiaur.s sen nm Inn
nei>. and csperiaIIv ON fans. and IN tbc ,,ur-
ion, books. arr. the gods, nearly all of whom
are the result, Of the Imagination of Lao-ts.'s
disciples. or, PERHAPS, to nut if more cor
recty wh"a buddhism was introduced into
China, the gods came as one of the results
The Oh BudlhistS had worshiped Lakva-
mum, and now the Chinese Taoists defied
th"lr philosopher, Iao-tse. The ancient
buddhist doctrine presented three precious
ones, the IaalSts Of to-day go TO a stepfather;
th"y UoTship-pan-r>" rs one called San Using.
Yet they term him ''the three poor ones, and
the visitor 10 Chinatown will. perharrs. find
hHu represented nv three images. The arts
tooTacy OF China. or rabhcrthe HIGHER classes.
do not always worship the same cod rs the
lower people San Using is worshiprd mostly
by priests and rulers. While the ordinary
clasS-aundrynen and the liIle-to Introduce
a homeiv simile. have a special cod. that
among the Taoists is chief among lO.O 600 Heis
known hy the pupbonious title of the .Pearly
Emperor Sr1preme Eulern 1t is sunposad nv
the dryuut believer that he is the maker and
producer of everything. and tobim tbe-otber
cols bend and refer all temporal and spiritual
things. When ANYTHING unusual hapnens ss
the last wears troubles with the white peonle
incense, taxing their Other gods with them.