baleful influences, the population was almost totally reliant upon assistance from religious personnel, and especially from the Taoists who specialized in this field. There was a tremendous demand for their services by the common people, who were generally anxious to solicit supernatural aid through their good offices." The work involved the specialists in pre-emptive as well as remedial roles, both warding off and putting right. Services such as these were confined to the priests and nuns of Buddhism and Taoism, since Confucians did not have a body of religious personnel of a comparable kind.
Services for the People: Popular Buddhism and Taoism
By the late 19th century, it was as difficult to differentiate between some aspects of the practice and ritual of Buddhist and Taoist priests as it had become hard to determine the precise derivation or affiliation of the religious texts and morality books of Buddhism and Taoism described above. This seems to have been especially the case in the popular religion and in the ritual services provided for the people. In 1882, the American missionary scholar B.C. Henry had stated that:
"The worship of the spirits of the dead being a universal practice, they [the Buddhists] have taken it under their wing, and in conjunction with the Taoists superintend the ceremonies of the Yu-lan-Ui or “association for feeding the dead,” which offers annual worship to hungry ghosts. The Buddhists, by adopting this festival of All Souls, and emphasizing it by their doctrine of transmigration, have gained wide influence and great popularity.”20
Henry also mentioned that the Taoists:
"perform daily liturgical services in the cloisters, and are employed in special rites at funerals, or in houses of mourning to repeat prayers for the dead,"21 adding that Taoist priests “utter good luck chants at feasts, at the laying of foundations for houses and temples, or on any occasion that may come up." Such services were also available from the Buddhist personnel.22
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baleful influences, the population was almost totally reliant upon as- sistance from religious personnel, and especially from the Taoists who specialized in this field. There was a tremendous demand for their services by the common people, who were generally anxious to solicit supernatural aid through their good offices." The work involved the specialists in pre-emptive as well as remedial roles, both warding off and putting right. Services such as these were confined to the priests and nuns of Buddhism and Taoism, since Confucians did not have a body of religious personnel of a comparable kind.
Services for the People: Popular Buddhism and Taoism
By the late 19th century, it was as difficult to differentiate be- tween some aspects of the practice and ritual of Buddhist and Taoist priests as it had become hard to determine the precise derivation or affiliation of the religious texts and morality books of Buddhism and Taoism described above. This seems to have been especially the case in the popular religion and in the ritual services provided for the people. In 1882, the American missionary scholar B.C. Henry had stated that:
"The worship of the spirits of the dead being a universal practice, they [the Buddhists] have taken it under their wing, and in conjunction with the Taoists superintend the ceremonies of the Yu-lan-Ui or “association for feeding the dead,” which offers annual worship to hungry ghosts. The Buddhists, by adopting this festival of All Souls, and emphasizing it by their doctrine of transmigration, have gained wide influence and great popularity.”20
Henry also mentioned that the Taoists:
"perform daily liturgical services in the cloisters, and are employed in special rites at funerals, or in houses of mourning to repeat prayers for the dead,"2
adding that Taoist priests “utter good luck chants at feasts, at the laying of foundations for houses and temples, or on any occasion that may come up." Such services were also available from the Buddhist personnel.22
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