SECT OF TAU OR RATIONALISTS. 243 with all the rites and histories of former times. During his life, he made a journey through Central Asia, but what was its extent and duration is not recorded. De Guignes says he went to Ta Tsin, a country under the rule of the Romans, but he forgets that the Romans had not then even conquered Italy; some suppose Ta Tsin to be Judea. His only philosophical work, the Tau Teh King, or Memoir on Reason and Virtue, was written before his travels, but whether the teachings contained in it are entirely his own, or were derived from hints imported from India and Persia, cannot be decided. A parallel has been suggested between the tenets of the Rationalists of China, the Zoroastrians of Persia, Essenes of Judea, Gnostics of the primitive church, and the eremites of the Thebaid, but a common source for their conformity-the desire to live without labor on the credulity of their fellow men-explains most of the likeness, without supposing that their tenets were derived from each other. The teachings of Lautsz' are not unlike those of Zeno; both recommend retirement and contemplation as the most effectual means of purifying the spiritual part of our nature, annihilating the material passions, and finally returning to the bosom of the supreme Reason. He says "All material visible forms are only emanations of Tau or Reason; this formed all beings. Before their emanation, the universe was only an indistinct confused mass, a chaos of all the elements in a state of a germ or subtle essence." In another section he says, "All the visible parts of the universe, all beings composing it, the heavens and all the stellar systems, all have been formed of the first elementary matter before the birth of heaven and earth, there existed only an immense silence in illimitable space, an immeasurable void in endless silence. Reason alone circulated in this infinite void and silence." In one of his sections, Lautsz' says, "Reason has produced one, one produced two, two produced three, and three made all things. All beings repose on the feminine principle, and they embrace, envelope the male principle; a fecundating breath keeps up their harmony." He teaches the emanation and return of all good beings into the bosom of Reason, and their eternal existence therein, but if not good, the miseries of successive births and their accompanying sorrows, await them. M. Pauthier, in his high estimation of these speculations, regards this as the Asiatic form of the doctrine and procession of the Trinity, and the Biblical idea of the reunion of good men with their Maker! His own life was passed in ascetic privacy, and he recommends the practice of contemplation, joined with the performance of good deeds. Lautsz' says, when enforcing benevolent acts, "The holy man has not an inexorable heart: He makes his heart like that of all men. The virtuous man should be treated as a virtuous man, The vicious man should likewise be treated as a virtuous man ; This is wisdom and virtue. The sincere and faithful man should be treated as a sincere and faithful man, The insincere and unfaithful should likewise be treated as a sincere and faithful man: This is wisdom and sincerity. The perfect man lives in the world tranquil and calm; It is only on account of the world, for the happiness of man, that his heart experiences disquiet. Though all men think only of pleasing their eyes and their ears, Those who are in a state of sanctity will treat them as a father treats his children." M. Pauthier, in his admiration of the Chinese philosopher, says, "La sagesse humaine n'a peutêtre jamais exprimé des paroles plus saintes et plus profondes ;" and perhaps he properly compares Lautsz' with his countryman Rousseau in his complaints upon the evil of the times. The precept found in the Confucian school of commencing all reformation at home, and making our own thoughts and actions correct before endeavoring to regulate those of others, is also found in the Tau Teh King. "He who knows men is wise; He who knows himself is truly enlightened. He who knows when he has enough is rich. He who accomplishes difficult and meritorious works leaves a durable remembrancer among men. He who does not dissipate his life is imperishable; He who dies and is not forgotten has eternal life." The writings of this teacher, unlike those of Confucius, seldom CHARACTER OF THEIR FOUNDER. 245 refer to ancient models or personages; he derives his ideas of reason and virtue entirely from his own conceptions. These have been strangely altered and travestied by his followers, and their notions, both of the reason they pretend to follow, and of the founder of their sect, have given them a character nearly allied to the magicians of Egypt; but so far as can be learned from the Tau Teh King, their extravagant vagaries are not fully chargeable to Lautsz' himself, or to his doctrine. M. Pauthier is enthusiastic in his praises of this teacher (Chine, pp. 110-120), and estimates the value of his instructions much higher than has been usually done; but the students of Chinese ethics are under obligations to him for his translation, which enables them to judge of their character for themselves. One of the most celebrated Rationalist writers is Chwang-tsz', a disciple of Lautsz', from whom his followers derive more of their opinions than from their master himself; his writings have been repeatedly commented upon by members of the fraternity, and are referred to as authoritative. In ancient times, small parties of them retired to secluded places to meditate upon virtue. When Confucius visited Lautsz', the cynic upbraided the sage for his ambition in collecting so many disciples and seeking after office, and added that such a course of conduct was more likely to nourish pride than cherish the love of virtue and wisdom. "The wise man," he said, "loves obscurity; far from being ambitious of offices, he avoids them. Persuaded that at the end of life, a man can only leave behind him such good maxims as he has taught to those who were in a state to receive and practise them, he does not reveal himself to all he meets: he observes time and place. If the times be good, he speaks; if bad, he keeps quiet. He who possesses a treasure, conceals it with care lest it be taken from him; he is careful about publishing everywhere that he has it at his disposal. The truly virtuous man makes no parade of his virtue, he does not announce to the world that he is a wise man. This is all I have to say; make as much of it as you please." Such speculative teachings and waiting till the times were good, were not adapted to entertain or benefit, and Confucius understood his countrymen and his own duty much better than Lautsz', in doing all he could by precept and practice, to show them the excellence of what he believed to be right. The dis ciples of Lautsz' discourse upon Reason in a way that would befit the pages of the Dial, and the teachings of the ancient and modern transcendentalists are alike destitute of common sense and unproductive of good to their fellow-men. Dr. Medhurst quotes one of the Chinese Rationalists, who praises reason in a most rapturous rhapsody : "What is there superior to heaven, and from which heaven and earth sprang? Nay, what is there superior to space and which moves in space? The great Tau is the parent of space, and space is the parent of heaven and earth, and heaven and earth produced men and things." "The venerable prince (Reason) arose prior to the great original, standing at the commencement of the mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep obscurity. He is spontaneous and self-existing, produced before the beginning of emptiness, commencing prior to uncaused existences, pervading all heaven and earth, whose beginning and end no years can circumscribe." The sectarians suppose their founder was merely an impersonation of this power, and that he whom they call "the venerable prince, the origin of primary matter, the root of heaven and earth, the occupier of infinite space, the commencement of all things, further back than the utmost stretch of numbers can reach, created the universe." They notice three incarnations of him during the present epoch, one during the Shang dynasty, B. c. 1407, one at the time of Confucius, and a third about A. D. 623, when a man of Shansí reported having seen an old man, who called himself Laukiun. Only the priests of this sect are regarded as its members; they live in temples and small communities with their families, cultivating the ground attached to the establishment, and thus perpetuate their body; many lead a wandering life, and derive a precarious livelihood from the sale of charms and medical nostrums. They shave the sides of the head, and coil the rest of the hair in a tuft upon the crown, thrusting a pin through it; and are moreover recognised by their slate colored robes. They study astrology, and profess to have dealings with spirits, and their books contain a great variety of stories of priests who have done wonderful acts by their help; the Pastimes of the Study, already noticed, is one of these books, and Davis introduces a pleasant story of Chwang and his wife from another work.* They long endeavored to find a beverage which * The Chinese, Vol. II., pp. 113-128. RITES AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE TAUSZ'. 247 would insure longevity or immortality, and during the Tang dynasty, the emperor and highest officers were carried away with the delusion. The title of Heavenly Doctors was conferred on them, and a superb temple erected to Laukiun, containing his statue; examinations were ordered in A. D. 674, to be held in his Memoir on Reason, and some of the priests reached the highest honors in the state. Since that time they have degenerated, and are now looked upon as ignorant cheats and designing jugglers, who are quite as willing to use their magical powers to injure their enemies as to help those who seek their aid. In some places, the votaries of Tau on the third day of the third month go barefoot over ignited charcoal; and on the anniversary of the birthday of the High Emperor of the Sombre Heavens, "they assemble together before the temple of this imaginary being, and having made a great fire, about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, go over it barefoot, preceded by the priests, and bearing the gods in their arms. The previous ceremonies consist in chanting prayers, ringing bells, sprinkling holy water, blowing horns, and brandishing swords in and over the flames in order to subdue the demon, after which they dart through the devouring element. They firmly assert that if they possess a sincere mind, they will not be injured by the fire, but both priests and people get miserably burnt on these occasions. Yet such is the delusion, and the idea the people entertain of the benefit |