This work 1s an "Inquire Within for Everything" concerning the Uninese rautueon, 1t Wests the general aspects. of the Three Aiengions and we principal Triads, furnishing as well a detailed count of kindred subjects. 1t deals with the gods, culture heroes, mortals and the Various worthies of the three religious. Who are the Three Pure Unes, the Three Kwers are questions often recurnag to bother the reader and non-pius the student. Whence did the idea of the God of Literature arise, and how the conflicting accounts of the sex of Kuan Yin may be adjusted create much uncertainty and confusion. This work does much to smooth out these difficulties. People may live long in China without knowing that the Three Rulers are primarily connected with Heaven, Earth and Water and end up by becoming through various _transformations the deified mythological personages Yao, Shun, and Vu w the Taoist and Buddhist pantheon.
Reading the account of the transformations undergone by the mythical personages described in this work suggests pre-eminently the development of doctrine. Cardinal Newman made much of this in dealing. with Catholic dogma. Chinese theories are full of such doctrine. Most developments have advanced on the lines of showing the intimate relations between the physical and spiritual, according to Chinese ideas of cosmic processes; thus satisfying the philosophical conceptions of the Chinese mind on the unity of creation. The development of the myth is truly characteristic of the elaborate thinking and imagination of the Chinese, and amply justify the author's title of Chinese superstitions. The growth of the myth generally follows the needs and anticipations of the mental situation and environment, and a fine example of their creation 1s seen in the transformations undergone by the God of Literature, one of the chief objects of worship of the literati.
Avoruer "Gotpen Hoven."
The Taoists have been particularly ingenious and versatile in this respect. They have created endless theories of life and the significance of phenomena, and many if not most of their ideas have been gathered in 'Researches.' The work is a successful effort to collate and tabulate the vast ramifications of Chinese folklore, and to trace to their sources the underlying ideas of these transformations and to explain why an animal should become a human being and vice versa, and is a worthy companion to the works of Fraser in other fields. In particular the history of Wen Chang offers a typical example of such an' examination. Consider his birth and rebirths, about 13 of them with something fresh and with some new accretion in each transformation (v. B51).
Hwan ann Divine.
There is matter in this volume that will"help the student to understand the process of the deification of the starry elements and the connexion between them and human personalities. This process is clearly set forth by the learned author 'm the case of Kuan Ti (pages 78-80). And we have a very Interesting item in the tendency to nationalize foreign ideas, such as the displacement of the' alien guardian deity, Indra, adopted first from India, by the substitu. tion of the hero Kuan Ti, which change was made by the Buddhists themselves to satisfy a national pique, A further and last development wag made by the Tsing dynasty who crowned the hero by ving him divine honours equal with Confucius, Another phase of development is seen in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Its form in China has been principally determined by the Mahayana school, The Hinayana or earlier phase has never found much favour in China, which prefers the metaphysical speculations and abstractions of the 2nd phase, or, 'Great Vehicle.'
should be mentioned that the process of development and the additional content is well outlined in the Introduction given by the translator, M. Kennelly 8. J. Indewd this Introduction is a most valuable addition, It gives.an admirable summary of the work and presents a conspectus of the whole that is easily mastered, The students of religion will find full information' of the history of the Pusa, Kuan Yin, in this work. Her history is full of the transformations of personality and the development of doctrine. This supplies the essence of Chinese Buddhism, We are told that she is the first communist and by the accretion of ideas that have gathered round her she has eclipsed Buddha himself? as Mr, Kennelly says.
The translation is excellently done and the work is beautifully Printed and illustrated, and the price is only five dollars,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.