12
BARTHOLOMEW P.M. TSUI
There are certain dispositions on the part of the patient before he or she can be cured. The first is that the patient should venerate the Supreme Deity with devotion. Secondly, he should repent of his wrong-doings and resolve to live a better life thereafter. Thirdly, he should not worship other gods or the Buddha. Fourthly, he should not use paper gold and candles (in worship)." There are also four conditions under which a patient may not be cured: firstly, where the patient has committed a grave sin; secondly, where the disease is a result of the patient's misdeeds; thirdly, where the patient has only a minor sickness; fourthly, where the patient has reached the end of his or her natural life-span. (However, the Supreme Deity may grant an extension to the natural life-span as a favour.)
Although a recognition of the Supreme Deity on the part of the patient is necessary for healing, a full initiation into Tan Tse Tao is not necessary, and many who were not followers were cured.
VI. Notable Characteristics
We have now seen the history, teaching, practices, organization and healing method of Tan Tse Tao. It has all the essential elements which go to make up a religion. Thus it claims to have a special revelation, a beginningless and endless God, a teaching which will settle the perplexities of human life, a hierarchical church which governs the group of followers, a form of worship, its own festivals, and its own holy books. The most striking thing about this religion is the spontaneity of its origin and the unlikelihood of its having a thoroughly Westernized Protestant uninterested in traditional Chinese religion as its founder. It is as if the circumstances of the Patriarch's conversion were so chosen as to accentuate the authenticity of this revelation. The fantastic power of Tan Tse Tao's healing method also contributes to this end.
Another striking thing about Tan Tse Tao is that, unbeknown to Patriarch Lo, it bears remarkable resemblance to certain other faith-healing sects. I have in mind, for example, the Tenrikyo of Mrs. Nakayama Miki (1798-1887) of Japan and the Heavenly
12
BARTHOLOMEW P.M. TSUI
There are certain dispositions on the part of the patient before he or she can be cured. The first is that the patient should venerate the Supreme Deity with devotion. Secondly, he should repent of his wrong-doings and resolve to live a better life thereafter. Thirdly, he should not worship other gods or the Buddha. Fourthly, he should not use paper gold and candles (in worship)." There are also four conditions under which a patient may not be cured: firstly, where the patient has committed a grave sin; secondly, where the disease is a result of the patient's misdeeds; thirdly, where the patient has only a minor sickness; fourthly, where the patient has reached the end of his or her natural life-span. (However, the Supreme Deity may grant an extension to the natural life-span as a favour.)
Although a recognition of the Supreme Deity on the part of the patient is necessary for healing, a full initiation into Tan Tse Tao is not necessary, and many who were not followers were cured.
VI. Notable Characteristics
We have now seen the history, teaching, practices, organiza- tion and healing method of Tan Tse Tao. It has all the essential elements which go to make up a religion. Thus it claims to have a special revelation, a beginningless and endless God, a teaching which will settle the perplexities of human life, a hierarchical church which governs the group of followers, a form of worship, its own festivals, and its own holy books. The most striking thing about this religion is the spontaneity of its origin and the unlikelihood of its having a thoroughly Westernized Protestant uninterested in traditional Chinese religion as its founder. It is as if the circumstances of the Patriarch's conversion were so chosen as to accentuate the authenticity of this revelation. The fantastic power of Tan Tse Tao's healing method also contributes to this end.
Another striking thing about Tan Tse Tao is that, unbeknown to Patriarch Lo, it bears remarkable resemblance to certain other faith-healing sects. I have in mind, for example, the Tenrikyo of Mrs. Nakayama Miki (1798-1887) of Japan and the Heavenly
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