The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-20

| AAtS ~ tAJ LIOll Iilc Olu ClidPCl, "4llIll
still stands in the old place and does
| not seem to injure the Feng Shua since
| the foreigner has gone.
All hese Feng Shua difficulties do nor
occur, however, between the Chinese
and the missionaries. When the rail-
road was being surveyed from Tientsin
| to Pekin innumerable difficulties were
! found in the way and the first thing
! that had to be done in leaving Tientsin
was to cut a half circle in order to set
around the thousands Of graves. When
the railroad was being surveyed from
/ Canton to Wuchang the same difficult
ties occurred. Whenever it was pro-
/ posed to make a cut through a noun
! tain the first question that arose was
as to whether making a cut of that kind
/ would spoil the Feng Shua of the place,
| for a range Of hills to the north of a
/ city or plain acts a protection against
the bad wind of the north, the same as
/ the mound thrown up around a grave
yard acts as protection to the graves,
or as ranges of hills around the Ming
| tonbs act as a protection to the re-
mains of the emperors of the last dy-
nasty. Feng Shua is more likely to be
disturbed by alterations or interfer-
ences from the direction of the north
than from any other direction. For
this reason graves are sheltered by edi-
fees shutting them off from the north.
Allied to this curious superstition is
that which governs boring or delving
into the earth Dragons it appears, in
habit the under regions, and to disturb
them is highly inadvisable, not to say
perllous. Opening mines or boring for
oil must be governed with strict atten-
ton to this important detail. There are
certain localities where, if the Taost
priests or geomancers should forbid the
opening of a mine or the erecting of a
derrick whole village or q score of
villages would arise en- masse and drive
the intruding dragon tisturbers out of
the country. The people of these viii
lagos are without heat and without
light, except that furnished by the
burning Of weeds or cornstalks, or
tallow dip or dish of grease or OIL but
that matters not.
1t may not be generally known that
the beautiful pagoda at Tung Chou
was built, as perhaps most pagodas are,
to preserve the Feng Shua of the place
by hampering the movements of the
earth dragon. Buried in the earth near
Tung Chou there is an immense dragon,
every winking of whose eye produces
an earthquake. In order to prevent
this calamity the geomancers were con-
suited and it was decided to erect a
large pagoda exactly on the dragons
eye to prevent his winking, since which
time there has been no further trouble
in that locality from earthquakes.
Just how they located the eye it would
be interesting to know; but the geo
mancers won't tell. That is one of their
secrets
Foreigners are not always careful to
avoid antagonizing the Chinese unne-
cessarily in this matter of superstition
For instance, no Chinese woman is ever
allowed to go on top Of the wall of Pc
kin, but foreign women go there to
walk as often as they please. Women
are always forbidden to enter many of
the temples, as the Chinese hold that
the mere presence of woman there Is
defling, but foreign women go in at
will. And 1t not infrequently occurs
that foreigners conduct themselves
while in a temple in a way in which we
would not allow a Chinese to conduct
himself in one of our churches.
On one occasion an American church
dignitary of high standing was being
shown through the great Lama Temple
north of Pekin. Seeing a little mud
idol on one of the affairs which he very
much desired, he said to his guide a
See If you cannot induce
the old priest to let me have this idol"
'No, no." the missionary answered. |
II go through this temple often, and |
do not care to propose to the priest I
anything which might be distasteful to
him.
Then turning to the old priest, who
was watching the conversation, the !
said:
THE old teacher would like to have |
that little idol, but / said I would not
ask you for it,
The old priest, after looking about
him, said in an undertone;
TELL him to take it, but not to let !
anybody see him
Thereupon the church dsnitary
backed up near where the idol was,
slipped it in his overcoat pocket, and
then put a quarter into the old priests
hand, who accepted it very much as
hough he had stolen it. 1t looked very
much as if a high church dignitary
was trying to bride a Buddhist priest
o sell an idol and that the priest re-
used to do this, but allowed him to
steal the idol, and then accepted the
0ribe money.
In the court Of this same temple
here is a large monument which was
'uilt over the clathes of the Delai Lama
If Tibet, who was invited to Pekin to
yisit the Emperor Ch'len Lung, and
while there died of smallpox. His body
vas sent back to Tibet and his clothes
we're buried in this temple ground and
his monument erected to his memory
IN the body of the monument are
,arved pictures of the ten transmigra-
ions through which Buddha is sup
POSED to haps passed. In these pictures
here ere delicate carvings of deer and
,ther animals, the legs of which have
,een broken off and carried away by
ellie hunting bandits from the west. IF ,
Chinese came to our churches or monu-
nents and destroyed or defaced them
n that way, we would have them i'm
)risoned. ,
Many of these superstitions are real,
nd many others have been originated
s bugaboOs to scare children, and then I
ave become real causes Of fear to
Whole communities. Among the former