sage and
teacher. Lao-Tze, whose great work, the "Tao-Teh-King," is a classic,
taught Reincarnation to his inner circle of students and adherents, at
least so many authorities claim. He taught that there existed a
fundamental principle called "Tao," which is held to have been identical
with the "primordial reason," a manifestation of which was the "Teh," or
the creative activity of the universe. From the union and action of the
"Tao" and the "Teh" proceeded the universe, including the human soul,
which he taught was composed of several parts, among them being the
"huen," or spiritual principle; and the "phi," or semi-material vital
principle, which together animate the body. Lao-Tze said: "To be
ignorant that the true self is immortal, is to remain in a grievous
state of error, and to experience many calamities by reason thereof.
Know ye, that there is a part of man which is subtle and spiritual, and
which is the heaven-bound portion of himself; that which has to do with
flesh, bones, and body, belongs to the earth; earthly to earth--heavenly
to heaven. Such is the Law." Some have held that Lao-Tze taught the
immediate return of the "huen" to the "tao" after death, but from the
writings of his early followers it may be seen that he really taught
that the "huen" persisted in individual existence, throughout repeated
incarnations, returning to the "tao" only when it had completed its
round of experience-life. For instance, in the Si Haei, it is said that:
"The vital essence is dispersed after death together with the body,
bones and flesh; but the soul, or knowing principle of the self, is
preserved and does not perish. There is no immediate absorption of the
individuality into the Tao, for individuality persists, and manifests
itself according to the Law." And Chuang-Tze said: "Death is but the
commencement of a new life." It was also taught by the early Taoists,
that the deeds, good and evil, of the present life would bear fruit in
future existences; in addition to the orthodox heavens and hells, in
which the Chinese believed, and of which they had a great variety
adapted to the requirements of the various grades of saints and sinners,
the minute details of which places being described with that attention
to minor details and particulars peculiar to the Chinese mind. The
teachings of a later date, that the soul of the ancestor abided in the
hall of the ancestors, etc., were a corruption of the ancient teaching.
Other Chin