This is a nice example of literati skepticism about popular superstitions, a
tradition that in China goes back at least to Confucius remark in the Analects
that a gentlemen participates in ritual as if the spirits are present and does
not otherwise concern himself about them.
John
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 3, 2017, at 22:57, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From the Tsurezure Gusa of Yoshida Kenko:
207. “When they were leveling the ground for building the Kameyama palace,
there was a great mound where innumerable large snakes were clustered
together. They made a report to the emperor, saying these were the gods of
this place. His majesty asked what ought to be done, and they said that as
the snakes had occupied the ground since olden times, it was out of the
question to dig them up and throw them away.
“This minister alone said: ‘What evil can be worked by such creatures in
imperial ground, when an imperial palace is to be built! The gods are not
malevolent. They will not be offended. All we have to do is to dig them up
and throw them all away.’
“So they broke up the mound, and threw them into the oi river, and there was
no evil consequence whatever.”
Lawrence
