"It is not dispersed," replied Chu Hsi; "it is at an end. When vitality
comes to an end, consciousness comes to an end with it."

He got into more trouble over the verse quoted earlier,

King Wen is on high,
In glory in heaven.
His comings and his goings
Are to and from the presence of God.

"If it is asserted," he argued, "that King Wen was really in the
presence of God, and that there really is such a Being as God, He
certainly cannot have the form in which He is represented by the clay
or wooden images in vogue. Still, as these statements were made by the
Prophets of old, there must have been some foundation for them."

There is, however, a certain amount of inconsistency in his writings on
the supernatural, for in another passage he says,

"When God is about to send down calamities upon us, He first raises up
the hero whose genius shall finally prevail against those calamities."

Sometimes he seems to be addressing the educated Confucianist; at other
times, the common herd whose weaknesses have to be taken into account.



CHAPTER V -- BUDDHISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS