of
Confucianism throughout the latter half of Chinese history--_i.e._
the last two thousand years--it is surprising that the Chinese dared
to think about supernatural matters at all, except in the matter of
propitiating their dead ancestors. That they did so is evidence not
only of human nature's inherent tendency to tell stories, but also
of the irrepressible strength of feeling which breaks all laws and
commandments under great stimulus. On the opposing unaesthetic side
this may be compared to the feeling which prompts the unpremeditated
assassination of a man who is guilty of great injustice, even though
it be certain that in due course he would have met his deserts at
the hands of the public executioner.

The Influence of Religion

Apart from this, the influence of Confucianism would have been even
greater than it was, but for the imperial partiality periodically
shown for rival doctrines, such as Buddhism and Taoism, which threw
their weight on the side of the supernatural, and which at times
were exalted to such great heights as to be officially recognized as
State religions. These, Buddhism especially, appealed to the popular
imagination and love of the marvellous. Buddhism spoke of the future
state and the nature of the gods in no uncertain tones. It showed
men how to reach the one and attain to the other. Its founder was
virtuous; his commandments pure and life-sustaining. It supplied in
great part what Confucianism lacked. And, as in the fifth and sixth
centuries A.D., when Buddhism and Taoism joined forces and a working
union existed between them, they practically excluded for the time
all the "chilly growth of Confucian classicism."

Other opponents of myth, including a critical philosopher of great
ability, we shall have occasion to notice presently.

History and Myth

The sobriety and accuracy of Chinese historians is proverbial. I
have dilated upon this in another work, and need add here only what
I inadvertently omitted there--a point hitherto unnoticed or at least
unremarked--that the very word for history in Chinese (_shih_) means
impartiality or an impartial annalist. It has been said that where
there is much myth there is little history, and _vice versa_, and
though this may not be universally true, undoubtedly the persistently
truthful recording of facts, events, and sayings, even at the risk
of loss, yea, and actual loss of life of the historian as the result
of his refusal to make false