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THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
evil stars send down misfortunes on them1. When their term of life is exhausted they die.
'There also are the Spirit-rulers in the three pairs of the Thâi stars of the Northern Bushel 2 over men's heads, which record their acts of guilt and wickedness, and take away (from their term of life) periods of twelve years or of a hundred days.
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'There also are the three Spirits of the recumbent body which reside within a man's person. As each kǎng-shǎn day comes round, they forthwith ascend to the court of Heaven, and report men's deeds of guilt and transgression. On the last day of the moon, the spirit of the Hearth does the same ".
'In the case of every man's transgressions, when they are great, twelve years are taken from his term of life; when they are small, a hundred days.
'Transgressions, great and small, are seen in several hundred things. He who wishes to seek for long life must first avoid these.
1 This and other passages show how Tâoism pressed astrology into its service.
2 The Northern Peck or Bushel is the Chinese name of our constellation of the Great Bear, the Chariot of the Supreme Ruler.' The three pairs of stars, , k; λ, μ; v, έ, are called the upper, middle, and lower Thâi, or their three Eminences :'see Reeves's Names of Stars and Constellations, appended to Morrison's Dictionary, part ii, vol. i.
The Khang-hsî Dictionary simply explains san shîh as 'the name of a spirit;' but the phrase is evidently plural. The names and places of the three spirits are given, and given differently. Why should we look for anything definite and satisfactory in a notion which is merely an absurd superstition?
Kăng-shăn is the name of the fifty-seventh term of the cycle, indicating every fifty-seventh day, or year. Here it indicates the day.
The name of this spirit of the fire-place is given by commentators with many absurd details which need not be touched on.
• Long life is still the great quest of the Tâoist.
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