V. Themselves Deities or Possessed by Supernatural Beings:

It has been a long puzzled question: are the Chinese stones and trees which are worshipped themselves deities or are they possessed by certain supernatural beings?(note.10) Burkhardt (1958a:122), for example, reported that in Guangdong Province the stones and trees became divine and efficacious because they were "occupied" by spirits. A field record from a Hakka village of Hong Kong also indicates that the unusual stones and trees were "resided in" by spirits (Berkovits and others 1969:37). Yuan Chang-rue in his investigation in Taiwan also says that trees of unusual shape are believed to be "possessed" by certain supernatural power (1993:18).

Nonetheless, in field work in Sichuan Provence in 1924 and 1925, and again in 1935, villagers assured Graham that it is not that a spirit or a deity is living in the tree, but that the tree itself is a god (1936:59). Eberhard (1970:22-3) also verifies that, in Jinhua of Zhejiang Provence, divine trees are conceived of and actually worshipped as deities.(note.11)

So far, I can say that, according to my field data, the stones that performed miracles, are on special locations, have unusual origins and unusual appearances are themselves regarded as deities. By the same token, the trees that performed miracles, are at special locations and of enormous size are themselves regarded as deities. These cases, where some human characteristics such as speech, thought, and emotions are attributed to stones, we can say that these are cases of at least partial anthropomorphism. On the contrary, the Tree God of Lam- huin Ward (#T37) is itself regarded as a deity but is clearly believed by the local people to be a tree possessed by a spirit.

However, the stone (#S7; see figure 7) venerated in Kim-eng Ward is a stone chosen to represent the Stone God; the stone (#S22; see figure 23) venerated in Siang-tan Ward is a stone chosen to represent the Good Brothers; the stone (#S29; see figure 31) worshipped in Sin-hong Ward is a stone chosen to represent the Land God of Sin-hong Ward; the stone (#S37; see figure 39) venerated in Hi-ti Rural-town is a stone chosen to represent the Stone God; the tree (#T9; see figure 74) worshipped in Tiong-san Ward is a tree planted to represent the Tree God; the tree reported by Eberhard (1970:21) is a tree chosen as the "mother camphor tree".

Moreover, people of San-tiau Hill (#S23; see figure 25) and Pak-si Ward (#S25; see figure 27) each chose an upright cylindrical stone to represent the Land God. People of San-tiau Hill (#S24; see figure 26) and Pak-si Ward (#S26; see figure 28) each chose an upright cylindrical stone to represent the Good Brothers.

The practice of choosing a stone or tree to represent a deity is similar to that of the deity statue. In Chinese popular culture, as in many cultures, people have a love for the concrete (cf. Kooy 1985:681-82). The deities such as the Land God, the Stone God, the Tree God and the Good Brothers are normally invisible. Through the representation of the stone or tree, they can be worshipped concretely and visibly.(note.12)

VI. Cultural and Psychological significance of Deification:

Why, then, are the stones and trees with miracles, special locations, unusual origins, unusual appearances or enormous size regarded as sacred? Eliade maintains that: "Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, as something wholly different from the profane" (1961:11), namely, because of "hierophany" (Eliade 1958; 1961; 1989).(note.13)

"Hierophany" is a good description of the sense of reverence which these stones and trees evoke. It can also roughly explain why they, while remaining their botanical or geological forms, are regarded as the sacred, that is, as containing intrinsic mystery. However, since the forms of hierophanies vary from one culture to another (cf. Eliade & Sullivan 1987:313), the notion of the term is too general to demonstrate why Chinese prefer worshipping stones with the forms reminiscent of, for instance, a crane or turtle. Actually, to understand why some forms can be treated as hierophany while others are not, it is vital to understand the significance of these forms in their own cultural context. For example, among the four mythical animals in Chinese culture (the turtle, the dragon, the phoenix and the chimera), only the turtle is a real flesh-and-blood creature. It is a creation of nature that carries its round shell over the ground, like heaven, and has a flat bottom, like earth. The turtle is a very special symbol. As the Black Warrior, it presides over the northern quadrant; it signifies winter, symbolises strength and endurance, and is emblematic of longevity (Morgan 1942:8; Allan 1991).

The crane is also significant in Chinese culture. It, next to the phoenix, is the most celebrated bird in Chinese world, and is endowed with many mythical attributes. Many legends refer to it as the "patriarch" of the feathered creatures and the "aerial courser of the Immortals" (Morgan 1942:128).

According to classical Chinese mythology, there are four types of crane, the black, yellow, white and blue. The black crane is the longest lived and, according to tradition, it takes no food after reaching the age of 600 years, but still drinks. Myths tell of human beings having been turned into the form of a crane and also state that the crane "constantly manifests a peculiar interest in human affairs." The crane is symbolic of age and emblematic of longevity (Morgan 1942:128-29). Its mystery has evoked reverence in Chinese world for thousands years. In order to comprehend the intrinsic mystery of turtle and crane, it is vital to understand Chinese cosmological ideas.

However, even though the significance of turtle and crane is well recorded in classical Chinese mythology, the education in modern schools totally ignores it (see Chapter One for details). What is the mechanism to reproduce their significance? I think it is the religious education in family, temple and others.

As noted before, common people's religious activities are carried out in family altars and/or temples, they are places where children can learn ritual practice from their seniors. For example, temple murals - with scenes of historical heroes and villains illustrating reward and punishment, loyalty, and filial piety - are used as education instrument to teach religious and cultural stories. The temple is also the place where puppet show, Taiwanese opera, story telling and other arts are performed, where popular religious books are circulated, where religious troops are trained and practised. In brief, family altars and temples are major places where the basic religious conceptions of the young are shaped. The two specific places, as I observed in field work, in all aspects hold the turtle and crane as sacred symbols consisting of intrinsic mystery. The young who participate temple and family altar affairs all understand that the two mythical animals are divine. It is natural that when they encounter a stone with the shape of crane or turtle, they realise the intrinsic mystery it contains and thus deify it.

The worship of phallus is also significant in Chinese culture. From a paleographic approach, Karlgren (1930:21) ascertains that the Chinese worship of both "Ancestor" ("Zu") and "the Ancient Earth Altar" ("She") are originally worship of the phallus (cf. Ling Shun-sheng 1959a:178; Fitzgerald 1961:45-50; Berkovits and others 1969:123). As far as Taiwan is concerned, as described above, the Stone God of Sion-lim Ward (#S33; see figure 35), the First Divine Patriarch of Chiang-chiu District of Chiam- teng Hamlet (#S49; see figure 52) and the Stone God of Ho peng Ward (#S15; see figure 15) are all worship of the phallus.(note.14)

However, unlike the worship of crane and turtle which is especially distinctive in Chinese culture, phallicism, probably because of people's longing for fertility and eternal life, is practised in so many parts of the world (cf. Henderson (1964) 1990:143). The earliest appearance of the phallus as an image is perhaps in the arts of Paleolithic hunters (Elder 1987:263). Dependent as they were upon the abundance of animals, they made fertility images of the phallus engraved in human form on bones and antlers. It is quite possible that the hunters were aware of a supernatural reality beyond the physical and apparent, and the phallic images were intended to evoke a divine power that lay behind the abundance of animal life. There is evidence that some megalithic monuments, whether shaped by art or not, or even natural rocks and other objects of a suggestive form, have been taken for phalli (Hartland 1917a:819).

In India, archaeologists have found several stone replicas of the human phallus, no more than about two feet in length, and an engraved seal depicting a male figure with horns and a strange face that may be multiple, sitting in a position that has come to be called Yogic, with an exposed, erect penis (Elder 1987:267). Besides, the Lingam and Yoni are very widely distributed in this country (Hartland 1917a:818). The "lingam" (from the Sanskrit linga, "phallus") is an upright cylinder rounded at the top and is the emblem of the great god Siva. It is usually represented united with the yoni as a smooth round stone, rising out of another stone, formed like an elongated saucer (Hartland 1917a:819; Jung (1934) 1980:357; Elder 1987:263; Bloss 1987:293f). The nineteenth-century Christian missionaries and European civil servants who served in India were quick to express their surprise, disgust, and horror at the cult (Michael 1982:203f). However, such a representation is merely a conventional symbol, and even modern Saiva Hindus, who worship them openly, are not always sure they are faced with an image of a sexual organ (cf. Elder 1987:263), or, at least, are unwilling to discuss the matter with visiting field workers.