this peculiarity, that he injures persons and things not in the district in which he himself is, but in those districts which adjoin it.  Thus, if some constructive work is undertaken in a region where T’ai Sui happens to be, the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts take precautions against his evil influence.  This they generally do by hanging out the appropriate talisman.  In order to ascertain in what region T’ai Sui is at any particular time, an elaborate diagram is consulted.  This consists of a representation of the twelve terrestrial branches or stems, ti chih> and the ten celestial trunks, t’ien kan, indicating the cardinal points and the intermediate points, north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west.  The four cardinal points are further verified with the aid of the Five Elements, the Five Colours, and the Eight Trigrams.  By using this device, it is possible to find the geographical position of T’ai Sui during the current year, the position of threatened districts, and the methods to be employed to provide against danger.

CHAPTER VI

Myths of Thunder, Lightning, Wind, and Rain

The Ministry of Thunder and Storms

As already noted, affairs in the Otherworld are managed by official Bureaux or Ministries very similar to those on earth.  The Feng shen yen i mentions several of these, and gives full details of their constitution.  The first is the Ministry of Thunder and Storms.  This is composed of a large number of officials.  The principal ones are Lei Tsu, the Ancestor of Thunder, Lei Kung, the Duke of Thunder, Tien Mu, the Mother of Lightning, Feng Po, the Count of Wind, and Y[’u] Shih, the Master of Rain.  These correspond to the Buddhist Asuras, the “fourth class of sentient beings, the mightiest of all demons, titanic enemies of the Devas,” and the Vedic Maruta, storm-demons.  In the temples Lei Tsu is placed in the centre with the other four to right and left.  There are also sometimes represented other gods of rain, or attendants.  These are Hsing T’ien Chuen and T’ao T’ien Chuen, both officers of Wen Chung, or Lei Tsu, Ma Yuean-shuai, Generalissimo Ma, whose exploits are referred to later, and others.

The President of the Ministry of Thunder

This divinity has three eyes, one in the middle of his forehead, from which, when open, a ray of white light proceeds to a distance of more than two feet.  Mounted on a black unicorn, he traverses millions of miles in the twinkling of an eye.

His origin is ascribed to a man named Wen Chung, generally known as Wen Chung T’ai-shih, ‘the Great Teacher Wen Chung,’ He was a minister of the tyrant king Chou (1154-1122 B.C.), and fought against the armies of the Chou dynasty.  Being defeated, he fled to the mountains of Yen, Yen Shan, where he met Ch’ih Ching-tzu, one of the alleged discoverers of fire, and joined battle with him; the latter, however, flashed his yin-yang mirror at the unicorn, and put it out of action.  Lei Chen-tzu, one of Wu Wang’s marshals, then struck the animal with his staff, and severed it in twain.