The Religious System of China, Vol. 4: Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History and Present Aspect, Manners, Custom and Social Institutions Connected Therewith (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from The Religious System of China, Vol. 4: Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History and Present Aspect, Manners, Custom and Social Institutions Connected Therewith

As we set forth in the General Preface to this work (p. XIII), the Second Book will be devoted to the Son], that is to say, to the ideas of the nature and characteristics of souls, the ways in which they are thought to manifest themselves or their influence, and to work on human life and society, as also to the main part of the practices and usages born from the belief in their existence and power. It will, in other words, he a Book on Animism, comprising Spirit-lore and Demonology, Exorcism and Divination, treating also of Spiritism and Fetichism, as they manifest themselves by the worship of deceased parents and ancestors in the family-circle, on their graves, and in temples. It will at the same time become an intro duction to the principles and chief features of Taoism, this system having evolved in the main from the general ideas concerning souls.

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