s
(_Sheng-jen_), Heroes (_Chen-jen_), and Immortals (_Hsien-jen_),
occupying the three Heavens respectively in that order.

The Three Causes

Connected with Taoism, but not exclusively associated with that
religion, is the worship of the Three Causes, the deities presiding
over three departments of physical nature, Heaven, earth, and
water. They are known by various designations: _San Kuan_, 'the Three
Agents'; _San Yuean_, 'the Three Origins'; _San Kuan Ta Ti_, 'the Three
Great Emperor Agents'; and _T'ai Shang San Kuan_, 'the Three Supreme
Agents.' This worship has passed through four chief phases, as follows:

The first comprises Heaven, earth, and water, _T'ien, Ti, Shui_,
the sources of happiness, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from
evil respectively. Each of these is called King-emperor. Their names,
written on labels and offered to Heaven (on a mountain), earth (by
burial), and water (by immersion), are supposed to cure sickness. This
idea dates from the Han dynasty, being first noted about A.D. 172.

The second, _San Yuean_ dating from A.D. 407 under the Wei dynasty,
identified the Three Agents with three dates of which they were
respectively made the patrons. The year was divided into three unequal
parts: the first to the seventh moon; the seventh to the tenth; and
the tenth to the twelfth. Of these, the fifteenth day of the first,
seventh, and tenth moons respectively became the three principal dates
of these periods. Thus the Agent of Heaven became the principal patron
of the first division, honoured on the fifteenth day of the first moon,
and so on.

The third phase, _San Kuan_, resulted from the first two being found
too complicated for popular favour. The _San Kuan_ were the three
sons of a man, Ch'en Tzu-ch'un, who was so handsome and intelligent
that the three daughters of Lung Wang, the Dragon-king, fell in
love with him and went to live with him. The eldest girl was the
mother of the Superior Cause, the second of the Medium Cause, and the
third of the Inferior Cause. All these were gifted with supernatural
powers. Yuean-shih T'ien-tsun canonized them as the Three Great Emperor
Agents of Heaven, earth, and water, governors of all beings, devils
or gods, in the three regions of the universe. As in the first phase,
the _T'ien Kuan_ confers happiness, the _Ti Kuan_ grants remission
of sins, and the _Shui Kuan_ delivers from evil or misfortune.

The fourth phase consisted simply in the substit