is composed of a large number of officials. The principal ones are
Lei Tsu, the Ancestor of Thunder, Lei Kung, the Duke of Thunder, Tien
Mu, the Mother of Lightning, Feng Po, the Count of Wind, and Y['u]
Shih, the Master of Rain. These correspond to the Buddhist Asuras,
the "fourth class of sentient beings, the mightiest of all demons,
titanic enemies of the Devas," and the Vedic Maruta, storm-demons. In
the temples Lei Tsu is placed in the centre with the other four to
right and left. There are also sometimes represented other gods of
rain, or attendants. These are Hsing T'ien Chuen and T'ao T'ien Chuen,
both officers of Wen Chung, or Lei Tsu, Ma Yuean-shuai, Generalissimo
Ma, whose exploits are referred to later, and others.

The President of the Ministry of Thunder

This divinity has three eyes, one in the middle of his forehead, from
which, when open, a ray of white light proceeds to a distance of more
than two feet. Mounted on a black unicorn, he traverses millions of
miles in the twinkling of an eye.

His origin is ascribed to a man named Wen Chung, generally known
as Wen Chung T'ai-shih, 'the Great Teacher Wen Chung,' He was
a minister of the tyrant king Chou (1154-1122 B.C.), and fought
against the armies of the Chou dynasty. Being defeated, he fled
to the mountains of Yen, Yen Shan, where he met Ch'ih Ching-tzu,
one of the alleged discoverers of fire, and joined battle with him;
the latter, however, flashed his _yin-yang_ mirror at the unicorn,
and put it out of action. Lei Chen-tzu, one of Wu Wang's marshals,
then struck the animal with his staff, and severed it in twain.

Wen Chung escaped in the direction of the mountains of Chueeh-lung Ling,
where another marshal, Yuen Chung-tzu, barred his way. Yuen's hands had
the power of producing lightning, and eight columns of mysterious fire
suddenly came out of the earth, completely enveloping Wen Chung. They
were thirty feet high and ten feet in circumference. Ninety fiery
dragons came out of each and flew away up into the air. The sky was
like a furnace, and the earth shook with the awful claps of thunder. In
this fiery prison Wen Chung died.

When the new dynasty finally proved victorious, Chiang Tzu-ya, by
order of Yuean-shih T'ien-tsun, conferred on Wen Chung the supreme
direction of the Ministry of Thunder, appointing him celestial prince
and plenipotentiary defender of the laws governing the distribution of
clouds and rain. His full title was Celesti