T’ai I

Temples are found in various parts dedicated to T’ai I, the Great One, or Great Unity.  When Emperor Wu Ti (140-86 B.C.) of the Han dynasty was in search of the secret of immortality, and various suggestions had proved unsatisfactory, a Taoist priest, Miao Chi, told the Emperor that his want of success was due to his omission to sacrifice to T’ai I, the first of the celestial spirits, quoting the classical precedent of antiquity found in the Book of History.  The Emperor, believing his word, ordered the Grand Master of Sacrifices to re-establish this worship at the capital.  He followed carefully the prescriptions of Miao Chi.  This enraged the literati, who resolved to ruin him.  One day, when the Emperor was about to drink one of his potions, one of the chief courtiers seized the cup and drank the contents himself.  The Emperor was about to have him slain, when he said:  “Your Majesty’s order is unnecessary; if the potion confers immortality, I cannot be killed; if, on the other hand, it does not, your Majesty should recompense me for disproving the pretensions of the Taoist priest.”  The Emperor, however, was not convinced.

One account represents T’ai I as having lived in the time of Shen Nung, the Divine Husbandman, who visited him to consult with him on the subjects of diseases and fortune.  He was Hsien Yuean’s medical preceptor.  His medical knowledge was handed down to future generations.  He was one of those who, with the Immortals, was invited to the great Peach Assembly of the Western Royal Mother.

As the spirit of the star T’ai I he resides in the Eastern Palace, listening for the cries of sufferers in order to save them.  For this purpose he assumes numberless forms in various regions.  With a boat of lotus-flowers of nine colours he ferries men over to the shore of salvation.  Holding in his hand a willow-branch, he scatters from it the dew of the doctrine.

T’ai I is variously represented as the Ruler of the Five Celestial Sovereigns, Cosmic Matter before it congealed into concrete shapes, the Triune Spirit of Heaven, earth, and T’ai I as three separate entities, an unknown Spirit, the Spirit of the Pole Star, etc., but practically the Taoists confine their T’ai I to T’ai-i Chen-jen, in which Perfect Man they personify the abstract philosophical notions. [20]

Goddess of the North Star

Tou Mu, the Bushel Mother, or Goddess of the North Star, worshipped by both Buddhists and Taoists, is the Indian Maritchi, and was made a stellar divinity by the Taoists.  She is said to have been the mother of the nine Jen Huang or Human Sovereigns of fabulous antiquity, who succeeded the lines of Celestial and Terrestrial Sovereigns.  She occupies in the Taoist religion the same relative position as Kuan Yin, who may be said to be the heart of Buddhism.  Having