EARTHLY BRANCHES (Ti-chih/Dizhi). As heaven has its ten Heavenly Stems, earth has its 12 branches. Together, they are used to mark time and for the divination of future events.
As markers of time, the 12 branches, like the ten stems, are just numerical symbols similar to our Arabic numerals. But they were used by the Chinese as equivalents to our dating system. For example, the year I-1 is identical to the first year of a 60-year cycle (the Roman numerals represent the ten stems, whereas the Arabic numerals represent the 12 branches). For example, the year 1984 was the first year of a new 60-year cycle: it was represented by I-1; therefore 1985 was represented by II-2, etc. After 60 changes, when the year was X-12, a new 60-year cycle started.
It is interesting to notice that the ancient Chinese had a dual system for counting or measuring time: ten stems (based on the myth of ten suns?) and 12 branches (based on the 12 lunations, approximately, occurring in one solar year).
Besides their use as time markers, the 12 branches also served as indicators of good or bad luck in the popular tradition. But their value as omens depended on the five agents coinciding with each year, not just on the cyclical characters.
ECOLOGY. This is a contemporary issue that did not consciously affect the ancients, although problems did occasionally arise, as when huge demands for construction timber caused deforestation and soil erosion in North China.
But being a more modern problem, it is almost ludicrous to search for scriptural statements regarding ecological principles. Yet, written or nonwritten attitudes toward earth, creation, including animate and inanimate beings, are definitely part of various cultural or religious traditions. These can be considered the basis from which ecological principles can be extracted.
Of all traditions that we are aware of today, only two provide an ideological framework that favors and encourages ecological responsibility: the native traditions of North America and Taoism. More than any other system, these two consider human beings as part of a cosmic whole, and not necessarily even the most important part. Both regard nature as a mother who gives birth to and nourishes her children, gives of herself without calculation. That, in turn, leads to an attitude of respect for Mother Nature, especially Mother Earth: One does not exploit and hurt one’s mother and endanger her life by various kinds of abuses.
In modern times, ecology has become an urgent problem, and the causes may vary, but human greed aided by technology certainly is one of the more important factors. In Taoist philosophical writings, there is an urgent warning not to indulge in technology. Better to keep life simple with the basic needs satisfied. That is especially the tendency of the “primitivists,” as exemplified in the TTC, Chapter 80, and in Chapters 8–11 of the Chuang-tzu. In Chuang-tzu, Chapter 12 (Watson: 134), there is the marvelous anecdote about a “well sweep,” a machine devised for watering the fields before spring planting. Rather than carrying water in pitchers by hand, a frustratingly slow process, the well sweep can “In one day . . . water a hundred fields, demanding very little effort and producing excellent results . . .” (Watson: 134).
When Tzu-kung, a disciple of Confucius, tried to convince an old man to try to use it, the man got angry, and said with a sneer:
I’ve heard my teacher say, where there are machines, there are bound to be machine worries; where there are machine worries, there are bound to be machine hearts. With a machine heart in your breast, you’ve spoiled what was pure and simple; and without the pure and simple, the life of the spirit knows no rest. Where the life of the spirit knows no rest, the Way will cease to buoy you up. It’s not that I don’t know about your machine—I would be ashamed to use it! (Watson: 134)
It is not so much a matter of rejecting technology for a Taoist, it is a question of one’s “heart” becoming like a machine, and with it the threat of converting society into a “forest of machines,” that is, the danger of treating humans like machines or objects, rather than free spiritual beings. That is the ultimate poison of overdeveloped technology, as we see happening in 20th-century society.
The Lieh-tzu offers another charming anecdote that stimulates reflection (see Lieh-tzu: Themes). A poor man went to consult a very rich one about methods to accumulate wealth. “I am good at stealing,” said the rich man, but the poor man misunderstood. He started to break into houses and commit robberies until he was caught and jailed. After his term was over, he returned to the rich man to complain, only to discover that the rich man’s way of stealing was not what he had imagined. Here is the rich man’s response:
Alas! . . . Have you erred so far from the true Way of stealing? Let me explain. I have heard it said: “heaven has its seasons, earth has its benefits.” I rob heaven and earth of their seasonal benefits, the clouds and rain of their irrigating floods, the mountains and marshes of their products, in order to grow my crops, plant my seed, raise my walls, build my house. I steal birds and animals from the land, fish and turtles from the water. All this is stealing; for crops and seed, clay and wood, birds and animals, fish and turtles, are all begotten by heaven, and how can they become my possessions? Yet I suffer no retribution for robbing heaven. On the other hand, precious things such as gold and jade, and commodities such as grain and silk, are collected by men, and how can we claim that it is heaven which provides them? When you steal them, why should you resent being found guilty? (A. Graham, 1960: 30–31)
Although the word “stealing” is used in a hyperbolic way, the principle implied is that one should take from nature in moderation, to satisfy one’s needs, but not to accumulate superfluous wealth. Once again, the principle of simplicity in lifestyle is advocated and, as the TTC already expressed: display of wealth encourages robbers to come forward. Even more, extreme development of technology and its subsequent social wealth for some will lead to “overstealing” from nature and damaging it in the end. This attitude of humility, humans portrayed as “thieves,” should put a stop to overexploiting our planet.
EIGHT IMMORTALS (Pa-hsien/baxian). The Eight Immortals are a group of semihistorical, semilegendary figures prominent in Taoism as well as in the popular religion and folklore of China.
In the Taoist tradition, a great number of Immortals occur: Their legendary lives are narrated in books, such as the Lieh-hsien chuan/Liexianzhuan (see Kaltenmark, 1953).
In popular Taoist lore, eight immortals have been selected as eminent exemplars of world-transcendent, freely wandering sages, who reached their state of human perfection through various practices such as meditation, an ascetic life, and alchemy. Although in literature and art Taoist immortals are often depicted without any personal attributes, rather as stereotyped images of what an immortal is thought to be, a great number also appear with distinct personalities, with personal characteristics and emblems. The Eight Immortals are such a group: Each of them is clearly recognizable, in a way similar to Christian saints, who can be easily identified by their iconographic characteristics.
Since late imperial times, the cult of the Eight Immortals became an important national phenomenon. The number “eight” was chosen because of earlier sets of eight sages existed, and because eight is seen as a perfect number. One can think of the “eight diagrams” (pakua/bagua) and eight directions as important examples of numerology.
Why these particular eight were selected from among a vast number of candidates remains a mystery. But their selection does not appear to be a random combination: “Here we have old and young, male and female, rich and honoured, and poor and humble” (Yetts 1922: 399). Although the number eight certainly reflects a Chinese interest, the choice of particular sages may have followed a Buddhist model. In Buddhism, 16 sages had been selected as ideals of sainthood; they are the 16 arhats (lo-han) and which were later amplified to 18, and are still very often seen in Chinese temples of the Popular religion (especially in Taiwan). Another model may have been the Buddhist figure of Chi-kung/Jigong, a legendary monk who became an idealized symbol of eccentricity. Although he was reputed to break most of his monastic vows, he was a charismatic healer and miracle worker who helped the common people in sickness and misery. Thought of as a “mad monk,” he was extremely popular and is still very much so today in the Taiwanese folk cult. Chi-kung is very likely the closest parallel to the Taoist Eight Immortals, who also excelled through their eccentricity, some even through their craziness.
Here are the names of the Eight Immortals (for each of them there is a separate entry): Chung-li Ch’uan/Zhongli Quan; Ho Hsien-ku/He Xiangu; Chang Kuo(-lao)/Zhang Guo(lao); Lü Tung-pin/Lü Dongbin; Han Hsiang-tzu/Han Xiangzi; Ts’ao Kuo-chiu/Cao Guojiu; Li T’ieh-kuai/Li Tiekuai; Lan Ts’ai-ho/Lan Caiho. The order of naming is not fixed; greatest importance is usually given to Lü and Li.
The selection of eight immortals as a definite group did not occur earlier than the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (1260–1368). But the exact “when?” and “why?” are unknown. Some historic individuals go back to the T’ang dynasty. Others, rather legendary, belong to Han times. Lü Tung-pin is given the strongest historical background, but numerous legends have changed his biography into hagiography. Chung-li Ch’uan, Han Hsiang-tzu, and Chang Kuo-lao may also have been historical personalities, but for the other four, there is no reliable historic evidence.
Their stories are told in a collection about legendary Taoist figures, Lieh hsien chuan/Liexian zhuan, an illustrated compilation of 55 “biographies” by a Taoist of the Yuan period, Huan-ch’u/Huanchu. (This collection has the same title as the above mentioned Lieh hsien chuan attributed to Liu Hsiang of the first century BCE, but is a totally different work.)
One of the major factors in the popularization of the Eight Immortals was the influence of popular drama, novels, folk stories, and the spread of woodblock printing.
Representations of the Eight Immortals in art and folklore are extremely popular and diversified. Although individual members appear already in Sung times (for example, a Sung bronze mirror shows Chung-li Ch’üan and Lü Tung-pin) as a group of eight, they do not go back beyond Ming times. But ever since, their popularity and success rate have been going crescendo. Their images appear on porcelain, embroidery, fans, painting, in wood carving, bronze, and ivory and in other popular art forms. One famous and often recurring representation is “The Eight Immortals Crossing the Ocean”; it is the story of the eight on their journey to the residence of the Queen Mother of the West. They are sitting on a dragon boat carrying them across the ocean to offer their birthday congratulations to the goddess. A variation of this story tells that the eight, having decided to cross the ocean together, each dropped their emblem on the waves: It turned into a magic vehicle carrying them across.
Large embroideries of the eight immortals with a ninth figure at the center, the spirit of longevity, have become central decorations in modern religious rituals. “In village temples, the altar is covered with a length of fabric on which the Immortals are shown as a group” (Eberhard, 1986: 150).
Over time, the eight have become good luck symbols: As a result, large embroideries are hung up at the homes of groom and bride on their wedding day (this is still a current Taiwan custom). Moreover, the eight often appear in stories of romance as performers of miraculous feats, and as symbols of perfect, idealized happiness. Perhaps they reflect human nostalgia for perfect happiness.
EIGHT TRIGRAMS (Pa-kua/Bagua). These are eight graphic symbols, each composed of three lines, either a whole line ______ or a broken line ___ ___. Originally they probably were just records of divination results, each line noting down the result of one consultation. Answers were either “lucky” or “unlucky,” which was determined by odd or even numbers of a randomly picked bundle of milfoil stalks. “Lucky” results (odd numbers) were expressed by a single line _______; “unlucky” results (even numbers) were symbolized by a double line: ___ ___. If a consultation was repeated three times (which was acceptable because only once was doubtful; twice repeated could be a stalemate), there was a possible array of only eight results, graphically expressed in the eight following symbols (or trigrams, which means graphic symbols of three lines):
In a later stage of development, other meanings were superimposed on them. From simple graphics, they received philosophic (cosmic), social, and psychological dimensions. They are the basic building blocks of the classic Yi ching (Book of Changes). They are also used in feng-shui (geomancy) and in Taoist ritual (see Lo River Writing and River Chart). They are, in the Popular religious tradition of China, a powerful talisman to protect one’s home or one’s person. But they are cherished by the Taoists as well (see also Hexagrams).
EMBRYONIC RESPIRATION See BREATHING EXERCISES
EMPEROR WU (Han Wu-ti) (r. 140–87 BCE). He was the fourth emperor of the Former Han Dynasty (202 BCE–9 CE). Besides being a powerful ruler, he had an interest in Taoism and hoped to obtain the secrets of immortality.
During Emperor Wu’s reign, the power of the Han Dynasty reached its zenith. He gradually wiped out the independent princedoms inside the country, and gathered more and more power in the central government. From 127 to 119 BCE, he waged a series of wars against the Hsiung-nu people (the “Huns”), and thus secured the northern frontiers of China. In 138 BCE, he had sent Chang Ch’ien (d. 114 BCE) to the western regions (present Sinkiang and Russian Central Asia) looking for allies against the Hsiung-nu. Chang’s mission broadened the Chinese geographical and intellectual world; one of the results was the establishment of the “silk route” and silk trade both with Central Asia and with India. China’s power expanded in all directions.
In 134 BCE, Emperor Wu made Confucianism the state orthodoxy: provincial schools and a national university at the capital were established for the education of students in the Confucian classics.
He also founded state monopolies of salt, iron, liquor, and coinage. His government controlled and regulated commercial life.
With regard to Taoism, Emperor Wu is remembered for his addiction to the search for immortality. He repeatedly fell victim to the deceptions and follies of fang-shih (alchemist-magicians), who promised that they would transmute cinnabar into gold. Drinking utensils made from this alchemical gold would eventually lead to immortality. Because the fang-shih promised to realize two cherished dreams of mankind, wealth and immortality, Emperor Wu continued his support of the fang-shih, many of whom came to enjoy high honors and wealth. However, when they failed to deliver the expected results, they were often executed.
The first fang-shih who gained the emperor’s trust was Li Shao-Chün, who claimed to have met the Immortal An Ch’i-sheng on one of the far away islands in the eastern ocean. The emperor sent out search parties to find the mysterious islands, but in vain.
After Li, Shao Wong (d. 119 BCE) took over his position and claimed that he could summon the spirit of Emperor Wu’s late consort, Lady Wang, a favorite concubine. The emperor trusted him and elevated him to the rank of general. He persuaded the emperor to build the Kan-ch’uan palace, in which there was a pavilion platform with various kinds of utensils for sacrifice, used to welcome the arrival of immortals and spirits. However, because this never happened, Shao Wong was executed.
Several years later, a colleague of Shao Wong named Luan Ta (d. 112 BCE) once again claimed to possess the secrets for manufacturing alchemical gold and further claimed that he could stop the flooding of the Yellow River, that he could produce the elixir of life, and was able to make the immortals appear. Within a short time, he too was ennobled and made into a general. Once more, his claims were found to be false, and he was executed.
In 113 BCE, an ancient sacrificial cauldron (ting) was discovered in Shansi. A fang-shih named Kung-sun Ch’ing convinced Emperor Wu with the story of the Yellow Emperor’s ascent to heaven. He claimed that, after the Yellow Emperor had manufactured this vessel, a dragon appeared and took the emperor, together with more than 70 ministers and concubines, up to heaven in daylight to become immortals. Emperor Wu was greatly impressed. Kung-sun advised to build more sacrificial sites and palaces throughout the country, and to improve the road system in order to facilitate and welcome the appearance of immortals.
In 110 BCE, Emperor Wu went up to Mount T’ai in Shantung to offer the sacrifices feng and shan to heaven and earth, to prepare for the arrival of immortals. Throughout his long reign, he toured the country, visiting famous mountains and the coastal areas of the east, always with the hope of encountering the immortals. Mission after mission was sent out overseas to search for the land of the immortals. Shortly before his death, he realized that death was the common fate of all, even of an uncommon person like himself. He then issued an order to abandon all the projects involving the search for the immortals and immortality.
Waking up too late from his foolish dream, Emperor Wu had drained the national treasury. At the end of his reign, the country was bankrupt. In 89 BCE, he showed his regrets by putting an end to his foreign “adventures” and domestic “follies.” This decision gave his dynasty and the people a period of recovery and saved the dynasty from destruction.
However, the great lure of the secrets of immortality continued to attract many and laid the foundation for the development of Taoist alchemy. The dream of “eternal youth” proved to be enduring, but remained elusive.
EPITOME OF THE TAOIST CANON (Tao-tsang chi-yao/Daozang jiyao). This is a supplement to the Taoist Canon, although originally it was meant to be an “epitome” of the Tao-tsang. Indeed, in its first edition it contained 173 titles that were already included in the Tao-tsang.
This collection has been edited and augmented several times: The most widely available today was edited by Ho Lung-hsiang and P’eng Han-jan in Chengtu, Szechuan, at the Erh-hsien an (Temple of the Two Immortals) in 1906. This latest compilation has added several new works written in Szechuan.
A Guide to the Tao-tsang Chi-yao has been compiled by W. Chen: It contains a total of 308 titles. Modern reprints in circulation were published in Taipei in 1971 and 1977 (see Chen, 1987; J. Boltz, 1987).
ESSENTIALS OF SUPREME SECRETS (Wu-shang pi-yao/Wushang biyao). The earliest still surviving compendium of Taoist texts, compiled on order of Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou (Toba) (r. 561–577). It is an invaluable source of information about early Taoist scriptures, because it is “entirely composed of Taoist text citations” (Lagerwey, 1981: 1) from scriptures antedating the T’ang dynasty. It has been included in the Taoist Canon (CT 1138, TT 768–779) and consists of 100 chapters.
(For a complete discussion of the text, see J. Lagerwey, 1981. The introduction, pages 1–48, provides an excellent historical background.)
ETHICS. All religious and humanist systems propose a code of ethical prescriptions to their followers. Taoism is no exception, although it has been sometimes said that the Taoist philosophers, TTC and Chuang-tzu, reject all standards and values or consider them relative at best. That is a misinterpretation and needs rectification. In the Taoist religion, ethical rules were very important:
. . . the establishment of ethical standards and their justification and enforcement were a central element of Taoism from its inception. (T. Kleeman, 1991: 163)
This statement refers obviously to the Taoist religion. It will be discussed in some detail after the ethical position of the Taoist philosophers has been explored.
• Ethical Values in the TTC and Chuang-tzu. The TTC, written for the inspiration of sage rulers, contains a fair amount of ethical guidelines on how to govern a country. The ideal ruler, a sheng-jen or “sage,” follows the model of the Tao itself. The Tao operates spontaneously, effortlessly, without any selfish motivations, etc. (see wu-wei). Only this kind of superior ethics enables the ruler to attain his goals: bringing order to the country and realizing his personal objective of oneness with the Tao. Only in a derived sense does the TTC inspire ethical principles to follow in daily life. The greatest, richest, yet nonsuffocating ethical rule consists in wu-wei and all of its applications. There is also a stream of apparently anti-ethical principles noticeable in the TTC (Chapters 18–19; 5). This is indeed a discordant voice in the text, which originated in a rather conservative wing of Taoism and has been called “primitivist.” This stream also appears in some Chuang-tzu chapters.
The primitivist view considers all externally imposed ethical rules as offensive against the inborn nature of human beings. Specifically, in the TTC, Confucian ethics are criticized; The ethical ideals of humaneness (jen), righteousness (yi), and propriety (li), all emphasized in the Confucian system, are rejected as violating human nature, and as signs of the decline of Tao. In Chapter 5, it is stated quite bluntly that heaven and earth (the cosmos) are not guided by jen (humaneness), neither is the sage. They do not act according to those artificially imposed standards.
The primitivist chapters of the Chuang-tzu (Chapters 8–10) are even more critical of ethical values “preached” by the sages. Although Confucianism is not named, it is clear that it is the target of Chuang-tzu’s iconoclasm.
Does Chuang-tzu reject all ethical values as irrelevant? Not at all. But true and authentic human perfection goes beyond the petty ideals of ordinary society. The sage, or the “realized person,” transcends those and embodies ethical values that go far beyond them. This is not easy for “small minds” to understand! (See also Introduction: Philosophical Texts.)
• The Taoist Religion, in its various branches, has always stressed ethical rules and warned offenders against moral transgressions. To avoid being struck by disease, or in order to be healed, repentance was imposed as a necessary condition. Moreover, good works were considered to be absolute requirements to reach immortality or longevity. If the total of one’s good actions fell short when compared with one’s evil deeds, life would be shortened accordingly.
In setting up moral codes, Taoism was influenced by Confucian ethics and by Buddhist codes of discipline, as well as by the universally accepted Chinese belief in the unity of heaven, earth and humanity. As heaven grants emperors the mandate to rule, it also responds to the moral conduct of all individuals. Virtuous behavior will be rewarded, evil actions will be punished.
Various schools of Taoism set up their own standards of moral behavior. The early Heavenly Masters encouraged good works (such as socially useful projects: building roads, repairing bridges, etc.) as a way to atone for moral misdeeds.
Among those Taoists who strove for immortality, including Shang-ch’ing Taoism, rules and regulations were imposed to curb evil tendencies, to control one’s thought and behavior. Good actions were “weighed” against evil actions; the balance would be a deciding factor in one’s future destiny. This was especially expressed in “ledgers of good and evil deeds,” which lend a quasimagical quality to moral behavior. Numerical values were assigned “to good and evil acts so that one might roughly compute one’s own standing in the registers of life” (Kleeman, 1991: 164).
The Pao-p’u-tzu “contains a detailed exposition of ethical standards and their enforcement, and this account influenced much later speculation.” (Kleeman: 164)
It is claimed that the body of each adept houses “secret agents” who report to heaven about the adept’s wrongdoings and good deeds. These agents are either the “Three Worms,” the Director of Destiny, or the God of the Stove, who ascend periodically to heaven to submit their reports. As a result, an adept’s lifespan can be either shortened or lengthened.
In imitation of Buddhism, the Taoists also established codes of ethical rules, such as the five precepts, the eight and ten precepts, and other numerical categories. The group of ten appears the most important and includes prohibitions of rebellion (against one’s parents and superiors; against the government), of harming others, of having sexual relations with one’s relatives, of talking evil about the Taoist doctrine, of profaning the holy places of Taoism, etc.
The degree of rigorousness depends on each school. Whereas the Complete Realization School is very demanding (it imposes celibacy and a vegetarian diet), the Heavenly Masters are more relaxed in their code; their priests are allowed to marry, and eating meat or drinking wine are not prohibited.
In general, Taoist lay people follow five precepts, similar to those of Buddhism, and are persuaded to act ethically, because good actions will have their certain reward, while evil actions will have their necessary punishment. Of this basic law of “cause and effect” (Buddhist style), they are continuously reminded by popular scriptures, such as the Treatise on Action and Retribution (Kan-ying p’ien).
As in Buddhism, the expression “receiving the precepts” (shou-chieh) signified one’s formal initiation into Taoism, either as a cleric or as a layperson. (For an excellent survey of Taoist discipline, see T. Kleeman’s article, “Taoist Ethics,” 1991: 162–194.)
EXORCISM. It literally means “ritual expulsion of demons or of evil spirits from an individual or place” (HCDR: 352). It also could refer to the ritual purification of a person or place, with the implied intention of ridding a person or place of impersonal evil forces. In the Taoist context, exorcism serves an important function. Although cases of demon possession are very exceptional, they do occur once in a while, but exorcism of places is more frequent. Purification of the temple is one of the regular rites scheduled during the Cosmic Renewal Festival, whereas purification of homes or other buildings occurs only when the need arises: that is, when people believe that evil forces have entrenched themselves in their home.
First, a few words about individual exorcism. Demon possession and its exorcism is encountered in other religions besides Taoism. In Christianity, exorcism used to be a part of the baptism ritual, but other cases of possession may occur after baptism and need the special attention of priests-exorcists. Because in the Chinese tradition belief in good spirits (deities or shen) and in evil ones (kui) is taken for granted, states of possession occur regularly. Mostly, they are by good spirits, such as in mediumistic seances, when men or women, even young persons, are temporarily possessed by a deity, who uses their bodily faculties to advise clients about various situations or problems in life. Mediumism is very much alive today in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc., and is perhaps a remnant of ancient shamanism.
A case of demon possession is narrated by Peter Goullart, who was an eyewitness to a ritual of exorcism taking place in a Taoist temple (the date of the event is not mentioned, but the book was published in 1961). It was a dramatic event: a struggle of wills between the Taoist abbot and the possessed man, controlled by two demons. The Taoist concentrated deeply and issued orders to leave the man, but the demons fought back ferociously until, after many hours (on the third day of exorcism), they capitulated and left the man’s body. The abbot’s vital energy (ch’i) was totally exhausted, and, as a result, his life span would be shortened, like that of many other abbots, whose photographs were displayed in a temple room: They all died young as a result of their commitment to save people from evil possession (P. Goullart, 1961: 83–90. See also L. Thompson, 1979, 3rd ed.: 32–33, which has a condensed version of Goullart’s story).
Ritual purification of a temple is dramatically enacted during the chiao festival. It may occur in several forms, either performed by a Taoist master or by a stage actor, impersonating the official devil catcher Chung K’ui. The first instance occurs on the regular agenda of the chiao: One of the Taoist master’s acolytes dresses up as a demon, wearing a devil mask. He appears in the sacred area of the temple, searching for something and somersaulting. Then he steals the small incense burner, which belongs to the gods. This is sacrilege! Then the master appears with grandiose gestures, brandishing his ritual sword. He succeeds in “killing” the demon and returning the incense burner to the gods. This little drama, enlivened by frantic drum beatings and firecrackers, symbolizes the purification of the temple and restoring it to its pristine purity and sacredness.
When a stage actor, as Chung K’ui, performs the rite, it is even more dramatic. He descends from the stage, set up opposite the temple, and walks in grandiose strides toward the temple. Long “snakes” of firecrackers are set off everywhere on the temple square. Chung K’ui proceeds to the temple, enters it brandishing his magic sword, and kills all the demons. Thus, the temple is purified. This dramatic exorcism is possibly a remnant of ancient shamanistic ritual.
One final way of exorcistic purification is by “smoking out” the evil spirit. A large container filled with oil is heated up over a coal fire. Then liquor or water is poured on the boiling oil by a Taoist priest. It creates huge flames and clouds of smoke, which are believed to drive out all evil forces from the temple (or other buildings). Belief in the importance of ritual purity is a characteristic of Chinese religion.