We can start by tracing it back to the beliefs of the primitive earliest inhabitants.

"The occurrence of primitive beliefs is rooted in human fears," concisely explains Juan Chang-jui of the Taiwan Provincial Museum, an authority on popular religion. Sickness, death, and nature were all mysterious and fearsome to our ignorant forebears. But they still had to keep going--so magic and animism arose as they were needed.

Magic and animism are universals; but respect for Heaven (T'ien) and ancestor worship stand out among traditional Chinese beliefs.

"The Chinese have always believed there is someone who controls all the matters of the universe," says Yang Ch'ing-feng, author of Buddhism and Philosophy. But in the feudal era, worshipping Heaven was the prerogative of the Emperor (called "The Son of Heaven" in Chinese). Each deity had different levels of nobility to worship it, with rites strictly prescribed. Thus you can see how religion was a tool used by the ruler to control "political ethics."

Ancestor worship is the worship of one's own forebears; it expressed the completeness of rites for parents and ancestors, but also a fear that crossing the ancestors could lead to unhappiness for the family.

These traditional beliefs had education and stabilizing value; thus even the skeptical Confucius tacitly condoned their existence.

"Confucianism endorses reason and humanism," points out Lee Feng-mao, a professor in the Graduate School of Chinese Literature at National Chengchih University. Faced with the unknown. Confucianism took a neutral stance. As for the spirits of heaven and earth, they were included in the scope of ethics. And ancestor worship fit well with the Confucian notion of filial piety. So, in fact, the "religious" aspect of Confucianism is really a way to teach the rites.

Taoism is the one really intimately related to Chinese primitive beliefs. Some scholars even say Taoism is just a systematization or dressed up version of magic and animism.

A central focus of Taoism is the search for eternal life, which stressed one's innate state (hsing) and physical life (ming). Taoism promotes purging the heart of desires and ambitions, and uses strict rules to cultivate man's innate nature. As for "life extension," everything from alchemy to breath control to medicine--so long as it is a way to extend life--falls within the scope of Taoism. Taking alchemy, for example, it was believed that concoctions of metals could confer their durability on a person. It seems ridiculous now, but for more than 1,000 years up to the Tang and Sung dynasties, everyone from the emperor down to the ordinary peasant was engrossed in the search. Sadly, few were able to "become immortal through cultivating the Tao," and in fact countless numbers died of poisoning.

Because Taoism has no doctrine to speak of, its "hierarchy of deities" is also not very methodical. For example, the status of the gods changes from time to time, and the number of them constantly increases. This is perhaps connected to the traditional belief that those who perform meritoriously for the state can be worshipped; their status would be enhanced all the more if they were posthumously "ennobled" by the emperor to become official deities.

Magic and animism are the primitive bases of Taoism; therefore everything stresses "orienting toward the auspicious, avoiding the malevolent." Many Westerners see Chinese religion as very practical, with too much concern of gain and loss--and a close look shows that's the actual fact.

"Chinese like to worship to curry favor with the right gods," says Yuan Chang-jui humorously. When it's time for junior to take the college entrance exam, most parents go to worship the protector of students, and so on.

With the rationality of Confucianism affecting the intellectual elite, and Taoism set in the hearts of the common people, when Buddhism came over from India in the Han dynasty, it was like "a camel passing through the eye of a needle."

Compared with traditional Chinese animism, with its worship of countless gods, as well as nature, strange things, ancestors, and spirits, Buddhism is relatively "agnostic."

In Buddhist doctrine, everything in the universe is sunyata (empty). Everything that exists does so by virtue of coincidences of "primary and secondary causes." When the "causes" are exhausted, everything will change to nothing-ness. Therefore Buddhism doesn't talk about a divine order or being to control all things; on the contrary, the universe is within one's heart.

Everyone has the essence of a Buddha. But it is obscured by desires and worries. Everything is caught up in the cycle of the six paths--traveling good or bad paths in correspondence to whether one's deeds were meritorious or evil. In this way, there is trans-formation and rotation, life to death, death to life, but there is no way to ever escape the cycle. Only bodhisattvas, by allowing the innate Buddha nature of man emerge, are able to escape the cycle and get to the "pure land" of bliss without pain.

Buddhist doctrine is profound and strict. It is a religion, but also a philosophy. No wonder it quickly gained the attention of Chinese intellectuals. Buddhism contributed much in concepts of cause and effect, good and evil, and cyclic rewards and punishments to Chinese thinking.

However, for many Chinese Buddhism's cause-and-effect relations are a little too strict. Buddhism stresses that past sins that serve as obstacles can only be overcome through one's own effort, even if these are inherited from a previous lifetime. Buddhas cannot clear the obstacles for people. But to increase its appeal Buddhism had to become somewhat "sinified." The best example is the goddess Kuan Yin.

Liu Chang-po, former director of the National Central Library, points out that the original Kuan Yin was a follower of Amitabha in the Western Lands, and thus of course a male. But in the Yuan dynasty, monks attempting to spread Buddhism depicted Kuan Yin as--after getting agreement from two Taoist deities--returning to the reincarnation cycles to give merciful assistance to people entranced by fame, fortune, and pleasure.

This story became widespread among the people, but it is truly dumbfounding: not only has Kuan Yin changed sex, she is interacting with Taoist deities, and has turned into a merciful spirit who saves people pain and difficulty! Yet in the eyes of Chinese, Kuan Yin's popularity far exceeds that of the Buddhist founder Sakyamuni.

Kuan Yin is so popular, in fact, that Chinese often slaughter animals as offerings at Kuan Yin festivals--never mind that Buddhism forbids killing any sentient being! Liu Chih-wan concludes, "This is at root two different belief systems, so that the rationality is of course not clear, and you can never find the point at which they intersect!"

Buddhism appears to have an exalted place. But its profound philosophy is beyond the reach of most ordinary people, and the phenomenon of "Buddhist on the outside, Taoist on the inside" is hard to avoid. Recently, true Buddhist thought has become more widespread; Buddhist groups are thriving on campuses and leading monks have published influential tracts. But on the other hand, with rapid social change, thinking centered on gain and loss causes traditional beliefs to spread. . . .

Li Yih-yuan believes that "religion can only be divided into complex and simple, not higher or lower levels." And Lee Feng-mao stresses, "Religion is not scholarship or science, and is not connected to rational truth." If it satisfies people's needs, then its existence has value. Perhaps we can look at religion with broad tolerance--where's the need to take things so seriously?

[Picture Caption]

"Making offerings to Confucius" is a way to inculcate the rituals, and notidol worship.

Older people favor bringing children to the temple to have malevolent spirits exorcised. If the child can't come, clothes are acceptable as representation.

When there are white (funeral) events in the home, people often ask Taoist masters to come to the home to perform appropriate rituals. (photo by Vincent Chang)

The clothes and expressions in the Pa Chia Chiang (Eight Family General), a rite to ward off evil, are eye-catching and the actions are exciting; it is one of the centerpieces of a temple festival parade.

Buddhism suggests that "freeing life" can accumulate merit. It's just that it's a shame these expensive sea turtles are captured just to be sold to people who will then "release" them. (photo by Arthur Cheng)

Every time there's a temple festival, one can see imposing ranks of bread towers and fruits and vegetables.

The "Seventh Uncle" (General Hsieh) and "Eighth Uncle" (General Fan) of the Pa Chia Chiang, one tall and one short, are the able lieutenants of the City God.

After burning incense, there's the inevitable drawing of bamboo divining lots to test your fortune.

In the back of Lungshan Temple in Taipei, the gods and bodhisattvas mingle in a crowded hall; it is sometimes called "The Divine Department Store."

Some doubt that the startling spectacle of the "pig slaughtering competition" will really please the gods.

The Buddhism created by Sakyamuni has had Confucianism and Taoism added in since its arrival in China. Is this a betrayal of Buddhism? What can be said about the Chinese people's faith? （Sinorama file photo）

Older people favor bringing children to the temple to have malevolent spirits exorcised. If the child can't come, clothes are acceptable as representation.

When there are white （funeral） events in the home, people often ask Taoist masters to come to the home to perform appropriate rituals. （photo by Vincent Chang）

The clothes and expressions in the Pa Chia Chiang （Eight Family General）, a rite to ward off evil, are eye-catching and the actions are exciting; it is one of the centerpieces of a temple festival parade.

Buddhism suggests that "freeing life" can accumulate merit. It's just that it's a shame these expensive sea turtles are captured just to be sold to people who will then "release" them. （photo by Arthur Cheng）

The "Seventh Uncle" （General Hsieh） and "Eighth Uncle" （General Fan） of the Pa Chia Chiang, one tall and one short, are the able lieutenants of the City God.

After burning incense, there's the inevitable drawing of bamboo divining lots to test your fortune.

In the back of Lungshan Temple in Taipei, the gods and bodhisattvas mingle in a crowded hall; it is sometimes called "The Divine Department Store.".

Some doubt that the startling spectacle of the "pig slaughtering competition" will really please the gods.