ised, has done more than any one since
Confucius himself to disseminate a rigid materialism among his
fellow-countrymen. The "God" of the Canon is explained away as an
"Eternal Principle;" the phenomena of the universe are attributed to
Nature, with its absurd personification so commonly met with in Western
writers; and spirits generally are associated with the perfervid
imaginations of sick persons and enthusiasts.

"Is consciousness dispersed after death, or does it still exist?" said
an enquirer.

"It is not dispersed," replied Chu Hsi; "it is at an end. When vitality
comes to an end, consciousness comes to an end with it."

He got into more trouble over the verse quoted earlier,

King Wen is on high,
In glory in heaven.
His comings and his goings
Are to and from the presence of God.

"If it is asserted," he argued, "that King Wen was really in the
presence of God, and that there really is such a Being as God, He
certainly cannot have the form in which He is represented by the clay
or wooden images in vogue. Still, as these statements were made by the
Prophets of old, there must have been some foundation for them."

There is, however, a certain amount of inconsistency in his writings on
the supernatural, for in another passage he says,

"When God is about to send down calamities upon us, He first raises up
the hero whose genius shall finally prevail against those calamities."

Sometimes he seems to be addressing the educated Confucianist; at other
times, the common herd whose weaknesses have to be taken into account.

CHAPTER V -- BUDDHISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

So early as the third century B.C., Buddhism seems to have appeared in
China, though it was not until the latter part of the first century A.D.
that a regular propaganda was established, and not until a century or
two later still that this religion began to take a firm hold of the
Chinese people. It was bitterly opposed by the Taoists, and only after
the lapse of many centuries were the two doctrines able to exist side
by side in peace. Each religion began early to borrow from the other. In
the words of the philosopher Chu Hsi, of the twelfth century, "Buddhism
stole the best features of Taoism; Taoism stole the worst features of
Buddhism. It is as though one took a jewel from the other, and the loser
recouped the loss with a stone."

From Buddhism the Taoists borrowed their whole scheme of temples,
priests, nuns, and ritua