or FUH, as the Chinese now call him, was an Indian prince, who was
made a god at thirty years of age, and died at seventy-five. His
worshippers form one of the three great sects of China, and it is said
to be far the most numerous. The worship of this idol, they pretend, was
observed a thousand years before the Christian era, and was introduced
from India into China within the first century after. Many temples are
reared to this deity, some of which are magnificent; and a number of
bonzes, or priests, are consecrated to his service. He is represented
shining in light, with his hands hid under his robes, to show that he
does all things invisibly. The doctors of this sect, like those of
Egypt, Greece, and India, teach a double doctrine; the one public, the
other private. According to the former, they say, all the good are
recompensed, and the wicked punished, in places destined for each. They
enjoin all works of charity; and forbid cheating, impurity, murder, and
even the taking of life from any creature whatever. For they believe
that the souls of their ancestors transmigrate into irrational
creatures; either into such as they liked best, or resembled most in
their behaviour; for which reason they never kill any such animals; but,
while they live, feed them well, and when they die bury them with
respect. As they build temples for Fuh, which are filled with images, so
also monasteries for his priests, providing for their maintenance, as
the most effectual means to partake of their prayers. These priests
pretend to know into what bodies the dead are transmigrated; and seldom
fail of representing their case to the surviving friends as miserable,
or uncomfortable; that they may extort money from them to procure for
the deceased a passage into a better state, or pray them out of
purgatory, which forms a part of their system.
The interior doctrine of this sect, which is kept secret from the common
people, teaches a philosophical atheism, which admits neither rewards
nor punishments after death; and believes not in a providence, or the
immortality of the soul; acknowledges no other God than the _void_, or
_nothing_; and which makes the supreme happiness of mankind to consist
in a total inaction, an entire insensibility, and a perfect quietude.
Fuh, though the idol of the common people, is considered as a foreign
deity in China, imported by the Boudhists from India: great effects are,
however, attached to the perpetual reiteration of his name, and even to
meditation upon it. It is supposed to render fate favourable, and life
secure; to prevent migration into the bodies of inferior animals; and,
in fine, to secure a place in the paradise of Fuh, whose land is yellow
gold, whose towers are composed of gems, the bridges of pearls, &c.
made a god at thirty years of age, and died at seventy-five. His
worshippers form one of the three great sects of China, and it is said
to be far the most numerous. The worship of this idol, they pretend, was
observed a thousand years before the Christian era, and was introduced
from India into China within the first century after. Many temples are
reared to this deity, some of which are magnificent; and a number of
bonzes, or priests, are consecrated to his service. He is represented
shining in light, with his hands hid under his robes, to show that he
does all things invisibly. The doctors of this sect, like those of
Egypt, Greece, and India, teach a double doctrine; the one public, the
other private. According to the former, they say, all the good are
recompensed, and the wicked punished, in places destined for each. They
enjoin all works of charity; and forbid cheating, impurity, murder, and
even the taking of life from any creature whatever. For they believe
that the souls of their ancestors transmigrate into irrational
creatures; either into such as they liked best, or resembled most in
their behaviour; for which reason they never kill any such animals; but,
while they live, feed them well, and when they die bury them with
respect. As they build temples for Fuh, which are filled with images, so
also monasteries for his priests, providing for their maintenance, as
the most effectual means to partake of their prayers. These priests
pretend to know into what bodies the dead are transmigrated; and seldom
fail of representing their case to the surviving friends as miserable,
or uncomfortable; that they may extort money from them to procure for
the deceased a passage into a better state, or pray them out of
purgatory, which forms a part of their system.
The interior doctrine of this sect, which is kept secret from the common
people, teaches a philosophical atheism, which admits neither rewards
nor punishments after death; and believes not in a providence, or the
immortality of the soul; acknowledges no other God than the _void_, or
_nothing_; and which makes the supreme happiness of mankind to consist
in a total inaction, an entire insensibility, and a perfect quietude.
Fuh, though the idol of the common people, is considered as a foreign
deity in China, imported by the Boudhists from India: great effects are,
however, attached to the perpetual reiteration of his name, and even to
meditation upon it. It is supposed to render fate favourable, and life
secure; to prevent migration into the bodies of inferior animals; and,
in fine, to secure a place in the paradise of Fuh, whose land is yellow
gold, whose towers are composed of gems, the bridges of pearls, &c.