Chapter Five: The Deification of Stones and Tree

I. Introduction:

The worship of stones and trees is a world-wide phenomenon. However, interpretation is made difficult by the fact that many sacred stones and trees come to us from religions and cultures for which there is little or no literary data. Under such circumstances, it is understandable that researchers on religions have applied many different theories to such worship, speaking of ancestor cults, nature worship, fetishism, non-iconic (non- figurative) cults, animism, and dynamism (cf. Edsman 1987:50).

From the secular point of view, a sacred stone/tree remains a stone/tree; apparently, nothing distinguishes it from all other stones/trees. Nevertheless, if the stones/trees are the dwelling places of the souls of ancestors (India, Indonesia), were once the scene of a theophany (as the bethel that served Jacob for a bed), have been consecrated by a sacrifice or an oath, are impregnated with a magical or religious power by virtue of its symbolic shape or its origin, represent or imitate something divine, or came from somewhere in sacred time, they become sacred (cf. Eliade 1958:216; 1989:4).

The initial formation of Chinese popular cults is not a subject of great interest or discussion among scholars (DeGlopper 1974:55). When describing the origin of deification, they only tautologically say that these deities are apotheosised because of increasing recognition of their efficacy (e.g. Feng 1970:20; Harrell 1974:204; Baity 1977:76; Tsai Wen-hui 1979:28).(note.1) Nonetheless, some scholars do delineate the reasons certain cults have started. They are deities favoured by a particular household on its domestic altar; the inspirer of a spirit medium; the ghosts or their guardian in a shrine to the forgotten dead; an off-shoot of a famous temple in the original home of a new settler; the guardian of a trade which has started in the area; the chosen deity of a local defence association; inspiration of a spirit-writing association or a dream etc. (Overmyer 1987:281; Feuchtwang 1992:62).

However, the deification of stones and trees is somewhat different from and more complicated than the general delineation above. Based on my field interviews, I shall illustrate that some of these natural objects are themselves regarded as deities and others as possessed by certain supernatural beings. Then, I argue that since the forms of "hierophanies" vary from one culture to another, the term is too general to thoroughly explain why Chinese, for instance, prefer worshipping stones with forms such as the crane, turtle or humankind. I shall assert that in order to understand why some forms are treated as containing intrinsic mystery, while others are not, it is vital to understand the significance of them in their own culture. Finally, I suggest that the deification legends derived from my field work are not only able to help us understand the initial formation of Chinese popular cults, but also help us study the world-wide phenomenon of stone/tree worship.

II. How the Stone Deities were Deified:

1, Performing miracles:

There are several reasons that make people deify stones and trees in Chinese society. Performing miracles by these objects is one. Among the 61 sacred stones I have studied, 11 were deified because they originally performed miracles. I will introduce these deities as follows:(note.2)

In Uan-lim Town, a stone is venerated and named "the Stone Buddha (#S5; see figure 5)". A legend says that more than a hundred years ago, a boy drowned in the canal called Pak-po Chun (literally, the Eight-stronghold Canal). The souls of the child appeared at the area at night. In order to oppress the souls, the local inhabitants set a cylindrical stone at the site and started to worship it. The stone glittered at night after it was deified. Therefore the villagers built a shrine for the stone and named it "the Stone Buddha". Thus, the origin of the Stone Buddha seems a "Shi Gandang", the Evil-warding Stone depicted in Chapter Two. Another legend goes that the stone was set by the landlord of this area by the end of eighteenth century to be the protector of his lands. But there is at least one other version, told to me by some local people over a game of chess in the temple precinct. About two hundred years ago (the Khen-liong Era (1785-1798 CE.), the village was extremely unpropitious (bo-peng-an). One night the Stone God revealed himself to a villager in dream and said that if the village wanted be become harmonious again, he should dig 100 cm beside a tree (now the Tree God n-lim Town (#T1); see figure 66) and would find the Stone God.(note.3) Therefore the man assembled some fellow villagers to do so and found the stone. Surprisingly, the stone sometimes glittered at night since it was unearthed. Therefore, they regarded the stone as the protecting god of the village and built a temple to worship it.

In the mid-1800s, in front the big rock where the temple "Hiap-ho Bio" (literally, the Temple of Harmony and Peace) is presently located, there was a small plain where some cowherds often played and fed their oxen. Every time they came, they were impressed by a rock with marvelous size and colour different from its milieu under the hill. One day they decided to worship the rock with incense deliberately taken from each family. As they worshipped, a boy fell into a trance. They suddenly realised that the boy was possessed by the spirit of the rock. From that time on, the rock was deified as "the Stone General (#S8; see figures 8 & 9)" and has nominally adopted many children.

In Pat-po Village a stone is worshipped in a grand temple and named the Stone Divine Grandfather (Chio Seng Kong, #S9; see figure 10). I interviewed some local people, and they all told me that more than a hundred and fifty years ago, a stone of about 100 cm in height was found by a farmer in his rice field. He thought the stone would disturb his farming work and decided to remove it. As a result, he pushed the rock into a pond beside his field. But next day when he came to his field he found that the rock had come back automatically to his rice field again. He tried three times, but the rock came back to the field again and again. The farmer soon realised the rock was divine, so he and the local inhabitants began to enshrine it (see also, Yuan Chang- rue 1987:129).

In Tin-an Temple, the village temple for the God Sam-san Kok-ong (or the Kings of Three Mountains), we can find a stone god called "the Emperor of Six Areas" ("Liok-kah Then-te", #S10). Around the 1870s, a cowherd named Li a-chau, and his playmates witnessed an unusual small stone, with the form of a normal deity statue, shining in the grass. They believed that the stone was divine and began to worship it with incense. One day the landlord found that the cowherds worshipped a stone on his land. He was annoyed and destroyed the humble altar. As soon as he did it, his abdomen ached terribly and he fell down on the ground. When his wife realised it was because of her husband's rude act, she promised that if the god forgive him, they would donate the land to build a temple for the stone. Of course her husband recovered after the prayer. As a result, villagers came to worship it too and venerated it as the Emperor of Six Areas.

On the hall of the family altar of Mr. Phuan Hong-guan, a Chinese pharmacist, two stones are worshipped as (Ko Bio Kong, see figure 42). The pharmacist told me that in 1984 he was selected by "the Granny" to be an official for her annual celebration on the twenty third day of the third lunar month. According to the tradition, as an official of that kind, he must go to the old site of the goddess's temple to offer incense. After the rite he sincerely put the incense on the earth. On the earth he found two stones that he believed were the stones left by the original temple of the goddess and brought them home in memory of his honorable office. When he got home, he found he could not light incense to worship on the family altar. He felt strange and asked the goddess what the matter was. The goddess, through throwing moon blocks, told him that the two stones were divine and should be enshrined. Therefore he set them on the altar and worship them and named the two natural stones "the Ancient Temple God".

The Stone God of P?hun Ward (#S44; see figures 46 & 47) is located in a mountainside tea plantation and beside the small path leading to Taipei city centre. About 100 years ago, again and again when the tea farmers of the area shouldered their tea for sale in Taipei City, they saw, from a distance, a large dog on the rock. But when they came close to the rock, the dog disappeared. They felt strange and regarded it as a miracle performed by the rock. Therefore they started to worship it to ask for prosperity in the tea business. The rock was very divine and responsive to their wishes. As a result, they built the temple to worship the rock.

Under a big temple named "Tin-an Kiong" (literally, the Palace of Harmony) dedicated to the Royal Lords in Pak-tau District, there is a stone (#S47; see figure 50) for the worship of the Stone God. Because of the marginal location, even many of its neighbours do not realise that there is a cult of the Stone God here. An elderly man living in front of the temple told me that more than a hundred years ago, cowherds of the area liked to get together around the big stone. One day, in the seventh lunar month, they thought it might be fun to worship the stone of unusual size. When they brought incense and some offerings for the stone, a boy was suddenly possessed. The elders of the village regarded the possession a divine manifestation of the stone and started the cult.

In the Bak-sa District of Taipei City, a big stone is worshipped as the Stone God. I was told that because when a gale blows, the stone can be dramatically moved by the gale. The local people believed that the phenomenon is a divine manifestation of the stone and thus deified it as the Wind-moving Stone (#S48; see figure 51).

The Stone God of Tang-si Town (#S59) has been worshipped only for about fifteen years, since the lottery gambling "Dajiale" ("Everybody Happy") became popular.(note.4) I was told that a person of the town one day took pictures for entertainment on the hill. When the film was developed, he found a vague image of a god in the photo. He came back to the site where he took the picture and found the stone. As the news became widespread, the stone was since deified as the Stone God of Tang-si Town.

The Stone God represented by five stones (#S36; see figure 38), in yellow official gowns, is worshipped in Ka-ho Ward. According to Liu Zhiwan (1961:160), in the earlier period of the Ka-kheng Era (1796-1821 CE.) of the Qing Dynasty, some children found several stones with human appearance, when they were playing in a pond called In-tam-a (literally, the Round Pond). They felt it strange and began to worship them for fun. Suddenly, one of the children was possessed by the spirit of the stones. Villagers were surprised by the miracle and initiated a small temple for the stones and named them Chio-thau-kong (the Stone God).

About 60 years ago, a hamlet in Po.-ho Village, was called "Chio Lang-thau" (literally, stone head of human being). Some elders still remember that there was a stone on the side of a road in the village. A legend says that a driver of an oxen cart once urinated on the stone and, as a result, his cart broke down. He regarded the stone as an evil spirit and out of fear offered it some silver spirit money. Therefore, the villagers also regarded the stone as an evil spirit and kept it at a distance. Year after year, the stone was slowly pushed by rains into a stream beside where it had been located and villagers forgot the stone gradually. In 1984, a shaman of the Royal Lord of Ti, the patron deity of the biggest temple of the district, in trance found the stone again. He commanded the villagers to worship it, because he said that the stone had been deified as an deity. So villagers enshrined the stone and called the deity "Chio-lang Kong" (literally, Stone Man Grandfather) "Chio-thau Kong" (the Stone God) or the Literate and Militant Emperor of Po.-ho Village (#S38; see figure 40).(note.5)

2, With Special Location:

A big stone (#S43; see figure 45), located in Lai-o. District of Taipei City, is named "the Grandfather Yellow Stone (-ch-kong)". More than 50 years ago, a man came to the hill side to dig a coal shaft. The stone was located just beside the shaft. The man prayed to the stone that if the stone was divine please bless him to make money by mining coal. As a result, when he became rich, he enshrined the stone and worshipped it. Moreover, all coal miners for the shaft regarded the stone as their protector. Every time before they went down into the shaft, they made wishes to the god to bless them and keep them safe. When they got out from the shaft, they would bring offerings to the god for thanksgiving. Gradually, the stone became the local patron deity of the coal shaft and the village Chap-si-hun (literally, the Fourteen Shares).

The Stone God (#S52; see figures 56 & 57) of Pat-li Rural- town is famous in Taipei. The stone is not particularly huge but is the biggest and most distinguishing one of its surroundings. I think that it is because of its special location that the stone was deified.

Big stones located beside temples are susceptible to be deified. For example, next door to the Stone Goddess (#S2; see figure 2) Temple, a stone (#S3; see figure 3) is worshipped and named "Chio-ia" (literally, Stone Grandfather). Originally there was only a stone deity called Chio-buo (the Stone Grandmother). When the Temple of the Stone Goddess was rebuilt in 1983, building workers found a stone looking like a man under the foundation of the old temple. People believed that the stone, since it is apparently similar to a human being and had been under the stone temple for a long time, should be divine. They decided to deify the stone and enlarge the new temple to set the Stone Grandfather and the original Stone Mother together as a couple.

Beside the Tree God (#T8) of Kang-khau Ward, a stone is venerated as the Stone God (#S14; see figure 14). The stone has been apotheosised for more than 100 years, but no adherent knows the history of its deification. I think that it is its special location that made the stone deified.

3, With Unusual Origin:

During the Japanese colonial period, there was a flood in the area of Lek-biau Ward of Biau-liek City. As soon as the flood ceased, a human-shaped stone was found beside a river. The elders of the village regarded the stone as the manifestation of the Stone Goddess and worshipped it with incense. As a result, a temple was initiated for her (#S4; see figure 4) in 1911 and named "Temple of Stone Goddess (Chio-buo-liun-liun Su)

Below the hill called Chi-san Giam of Su-Lim District, there is a temple dedicated to the Stone God (#S50; see figures 53 & 54). The stone is not the biggest one around the hill, but because it is big, and partly embraced by a big tree, it is the most distinguishable. Nobody knows why or by whom the stone was deified. But the neighbours of the temple are very sure that it was originally worshipped by the Plain Aborigines before Chinese immigrants came to this area to cultivate. The neighbours told me that the Plain Aborigines probably worshipped the stone as the Mountain Deity or something. Chinese immigrants just followed the custom of these Plain Aborigines to worship the stone as the Stone God.(note.6)

4, With Unusual Appearance:

The most important factor that makes stones deified is unusual appearance. At least 32 stone deities were initiated for this reason.

The Stone God (#S34; see figure 36) located in front of Khe- te Land God Temple is a typical case. An informant living in this location told me that about 10 years ago, when a farmer cultivated his rice field, he found a beautiful round stone and put it at the courtyard of the Temple, which was the only public place of the hamlet. About five years ago, one day when the informant came to worship the Land God of the Temple, he recognised that some incense sticks had been put beside the stone. He guessed that the stone was deified by gamblers from outside the village. Therefore the villagers started to worship the stone as the Stone God.

A, With a Human Appearance:

Not far from the Stone God of n-lim Town (#S5; see figure 5), a stone with the appearance of human being is worshipped in a temple "Thai-an Kiong" (the Palace of Peace). The Stone God (#S6; see figure 6) here is about 200 cm in height and resembling a human being; therefore people call it the Stone God. Even though the God has thousands of nominal children and the Temple is now the belief centre of six hamlets, the believers know only that it was built at least in 1883 CE. (according to the date engraved on a stone censer in the temple) and do not know the origin of it. I believe that it is because of the human appearance that the stone has been deified.

A stone of about 30 cm high is worshipped as the Land God in the Land God Temple of Pe-go Village. Some villagers told me that it is the Land God while many say that it is the Land Goddess. However, they only remember that the Land God with human appearance (#S12; see figure 12) has been worshipped for more than 100 years and do not know its origin.

There is a stone with human appearance enshrined with some deity statues in the Land God Temple of Tua-un Village as the Land God (#S13; see figure 13) of the hamlet. Mr. Lim, a resident of the hamlet told me that it is the stone that the ancestors of the villagers chose to represent the Land God when they came to cultivate the area more than 100 years.

A standing stone is worshipped in Ho-peng Ward as the stone Granny (#S16; see figure 16). Villagers told me that it is the goddess Mazu (the Granny), but some say that it is Guanyin. Anyway, it is a goddess because the appearance of the stone resembles a goddess. Like the Stone God beside her, it has been deified since approximately 10 years ago and is worshipped mostly by lottery gamblers.

More than 100 years ago, a resident of Tek-san Town of Lam- tau County dug foundation for his new house and unearthed a stone with human appearance. Villagers considered the stone divine and deified as the Stone God (#S17; see figure 17) in Chi-lam Kiong (literally, Purple South Palace), the most important Land God Temple.

In front of the Tieng-ka-lo Land God Temple, a stone with human appearance is worshipped as the Stone God (#S18; see figure 18) in a hole in a tree that represents the Tree God (#T13; see figure 78). I was told that the Stone God was originally located in front of the Tree God more than a hundred years ago. When the courtyard of the Land God Temple was enlarged, the Stone God Temple was knocked down and the Stone God was put in the hole of the tree. However, though they know that the Stone God has been apotheosised for more than 100 years, they do not know for what reason it was deified.

A stone, resembling a human being, set in a stone chamber shrine at a small hamlet called "E-kham-a" of Chhau-tun Town, has been apotheosised for more than 100 years (#S19; see figure 19). Even though it looked like a normal shrine dedicated to the Land God, I was told that it was the Stone God.

In Chhen-th?Lane, we can find a stone (#S21; see figures 21 & 22) with human appearance worshipped as the Land God in a stone chamber that is hardly ever seen in Taiwan. There is a saying that since the initiator of the rebuilding of the temple of the Land God has to be the god's inferior, nobody there wants to be in the low office. Therefore the temple is now still a stone shrine (Lin Mei-rong 1987:68). But when I came to visit the site in 1992, they told me that a new temple for the Land God is going to be built after the road has been widened so that the dolmen will have to be removed.(note.7) They also told me that when the new temple has been built, they plan to bury the dolmen under the temple because the dolmen is also divine.

In the Land God Temple of Tua-khut of Sin-hong Ward, a stone is worshipped as the Stone God (#S27; see figure 29). Although no villager knows the origin of the Stone God, I suspect that the stone was originally the stone that represented the Land God of the hamlet. Later on, when the economic condition of the hamlet improved, villagers bought the wooden statue which represents the patron deity of the Temple and set the original stone aside. Nowadays, since the original worshippers of the stone Land God have died or moved out, younger residents have come to consider the stone as the Stone God.

In the Land God Temple of Hok-bin Kiong (literally, Happy People Palace) of E-huan Field (Lin Mei-rong 1987:75), a stone with human appearance is worshipped as the Land God (#S28; see figure 30) in temple. Different from other stone deities, the stone is clothed in a black robe. However, even though there is also no record for the origin of the deified stone, I guess its human appearance brought about its deification.

In Chui-bue-a Land God Temple of Hu-liau Ward, a stone in a gown is put at the right of the altar as the Land God (#S30; see figure 32). The villagers told me that it is the Land God but did not know its origin. I think it is because it looked human and so was deified.

The statue of the patron deity of -liau Land God Temple is a stone (#S31; see figure 33) with human appearance. The villagers do not know where the stone is from, nor do they ask him to adopt their unhealthy children. Nowadays, the stone deity has become a patron deity for gambling.

There is a stone (#S32; see figure 34) with human appearance deified in the Land God Temple of Khe-chiu, Phek-chiu Ward. I was told that the stone is the statue of the Land God.

There are three stones, each with human appearance, worshipped in a small shrine of Chhen-kah Ward and called the stone Land God (#S39; see figure 41). Some call them "the Land God" ("Tho.-ti Kong") and some call them the Stone God ("Chio- thau Kong"). I was told by a woman that: "because there was no Land God Temple when they came to this area to reside, they chose some stones with human appearance to worship. These three stones are the stones they chose for the worship of the Land God and it is a mistake to call them 'the Stone God'."

The stone in a big Land God Temple called Tiong-kheng-bio (literally, the Temple of Eternal Celebration) located in Tong-an Street of Taipei is also of interest. A black stone (#S42; see figure 44) with human appearance is enshrined in the centre of the altar of the Land God temple in front of the patron deity statue. A local leader told me that it was the original stone Land God (Chio-tho.-ti-kong) of the temple. He also told that their ancestors, the pioneers of this area, established a tiny shrine under the tree which is located behind the present temple and chose the cylindrical stone as the Land God for worship when they first came to the place.

The patron deity in a temple of Chhim-khen Rural-town in Taipei County is a stone goddess. People told me that because their seniors found a stone looking like the goddess Granny (Ma- cho.), they regarded it as divine and enshrined it. Even though now a statue has been moulded for the worship and we can only find the stone from the back of the statue, it is still called the stone Granny (Ma-cho., #S45; see figure 48).

In the temple of the Land God of Tua-kham Village, we can find a stone (#S51; see figure 55) with human appearance worshipped beside the statue of the patron deity. An elder told me that because the stone looked like the Land God, it was picked up by a villager and worshipped as the Land God of the hamlet.

In the Land God temple of Si-hun-a, a stone (#S54; see figure 59) is venerated as the Land God beside the statue of the patron deity. The person who was in charge of the temple told me that the stone Land God with the censer was brought by one of his ancestors from China. It was originally put under a big rock after his ancestors settled down in this area. A year ago, because a tunnel is going to be built through the rock, the stone Land God was moved to the site. He also told me that it was the Land God who decided the site for the present temple.

The Stone God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#S58; see figure 63) is a famous in this area. There are three stones each with human appearance worshipped in the temple. The biggest one wearing a gown is the statue of the patron deity, the other two stones are comparatively small. They told me that about two hundred years ago Mr. Lim, a farmer, found a human-shaped stone in his field. He regarded it as a manifestation of the Stone God and decided to deify it under the altar of his home. Later on the God told the farmer to build a shrine to let him be worshipped in public to bless more people.

Near the exit of the First Freeway to Hong-guan City, a stone with human appearance is enshrined as the Stone God (#S60; see figure 64). A legend says that about a hundred years ago, a local inhabitant called Mr. Lim g found the stone beside Dajiaxi (i.e. a big river). He regarded it as a god and enshrined it. The stone soon became a patron deity of children and even pregnant women like to worship in the temple to bless their unborn children.

In the Land God Temple of Ji-si H in Chhau-o. Hamlet, several stones each with human appearance are worshipped as the Land God (#S61; see figure 65). An elder told me that originally they moulded a statue of the Land God with earth. But the earth- made statue was so fragile that they had to find a stone of human appearance to replace the earth-made statue. When the area became prosperous a couple of years ago, they also bought a sculptured statue of the Land God and enshrined it in the temple with the stones.

Moreover, the stone representing the Stone Goddess of Lek- biau Ward (#S4; see figure 4), the Stone God of Ka-hin Ward (#S35; see figure 37) and the Stone Grandfather of Ka-seng Ward (#S3; see figure 3) are also stones with human appearance.

B, With Auspicious Animal Appearance:

At the left side of the stone Granny temple (#S45), a stone is worshipped as a stone deity (#S46; see figure 48). The custodian of the goddess temple told me that originally people found a big stone with the appearance of a crane on the top of the mountain behind the location of the temple. They believed it divine and moved it down to look after and to worship it, and named it the White Crane Immortal (Bai He Xian). When the lottery game called "everybody happy" was flourishing in Taiwan, many gamblers came to worship it.

A stone looking like a couple of Turtles is enshrined in a tiny temple of Ken-ki Road of Sui-hong Town, beside the main road leading to Gi-lan County. People call it Chio-ku-kong and Ch- ku-mo (literally, Grandfather and Grandmother of Stone Turtles). I was told that when the main road was widened about 60 years ago, about fifty workers tried but failed to remove the rock which was located on the planned road. After they used every effort and turned it upside down, they found the bottom of the rock looking really like a couple of turtles. Therefore, they realised that the rock was actually divine and decided to enshrine it as the stone Turtle (#S56; see figure 61).

At the end of Gien-kiu-in Rd, a big black stone (#S55; see figure 60) is deified as the Stone God. An elderly lady told me that the Stone God has been worshipped since at least when she was a child. Because the stone looked like a lion, it was deified.

C, With Phallic Appearance:

In Sion-lim Ward, a phallic stone about 100 cm in height is worshipped with two round stones each of 30 cm diameter in a hole of a big tree. Even though the stones look like a phallus and two testes, the villagers regard them as the Stone God (#S33; see figure 35) and are not aware of the suggestive form of the stones as a sexual organ. Nevertheless, women who are pregnant like to worship him to bless their unborn children.

On the top of a hill called "Chiam-teng" (literally, the Pointed Top) in Lai-o. District of Taipei City, we can find an upright stone of 70 cm in height together with two round stones of 25 cm in diameter worshipped at the back of a big temple dedicated to a popular god named "Khai-chiang seng-ong" (literally, the First Divine Patriarch of Zhangzhou Prefecture). The history of the temple says that more than 200 years ago, a group of Zhangzhou people who fled the forces of another sub- ethnic group took refuge on the top of the hill. One person of the group took his amulet of Kai-chiang seng-ong from his body and put it on a long and pointed stone in the middle of two round stones and worshipped the amulet. That night, the enemies at the foot of hill saw the top of the hill was shining and thousands of soldiers had come to protect the people on the hill. Therefore the enemies were frightened and left. The people on the hill believed that it was the miracle performed by "Kai-zhang Sheng- wang" ("First Divine Patriarch of Zhangzhou Prefecture") and the soldiers that were seen at night were spirit soldiers of the god. As a result, they built a temple to worship him represented by the stones (#S49; see figure 52) in memory of the manifestation.

Beside the stone Granny of Ho-peng Ward (#S16), a phallic stone (#S15; see figure 15) wrapped with a red ribbon is worshipped. I was informed that the stone has worn a red ribbon since 1991 and is worshipped only by lottery gamblers.

III. How the Tree Deities were Deified:

1, Performing miracle:

Among the 39 sacred trees I have researched, 6 were deified because of their performing miracles. For instance, in front of Liong-tek Temple, one of the most important temples in Chhau-tun Town, a giant tree is venerated as the Tree God (#T20; see figure 86). In 1959, there was an enormous flood in the area. When the water came, many villagers survived by climbing up to the tree. Out of gratitude, people began to worship it and identified it with the Tree God.

The deification of the Tree God of Ho-peng Ward (#T26; see figure 92) is similar to the previous one. The big camphor tree of about 20 m in height; its trunk about 5 m round. It is located at the back of Ho-peng Primary School and in front of a big Tai- jion-ia Temple. According to some historical records of the Nantou Country, the tree has been revered as the Tree God since the Qing Dynasty. During the Japanese period, it was also looked upon by the Japanese as a divine tree, with posts erected to protect it from harm (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:13). The legend says that because the tree saved many children by letting them climb up to its branches in a big flood in the Qing Dynasty, the villagers regarded it divine and deified it as the Tree God since. From then on, the Tree God here became the protector of children and the nominal parent of unhealthy children of the villages around.

In the Jiaqing Era (1796-1821 CE.), Mr. Chhuah, a cowherd, and his playmates set an abandoned statue of Khu Hu Tai-Te (Emperor Khu) and some other deity statues under a banyan tree (#T30; see figure 96) and worshipped them for fun. Surprisingly, the deity statues on the tree disappeared and the tree became so divine that it attracted many local inhabitants to worship it. Then the tree was deified. Nowadays, the deified tree is identified with "the Tree King" (Chhiu Ong Kong) or with the deity statue set on the tree "Emperor Khu" (Khu Hu Tai-Te).

The custodian and elders chatting in the temple of the Tree God of Lam-kian West Road (#T34; see figure 101) told me that, originally, some public-spirited local inhabitants collected the unworshipped posthumous bones in the area to deposit them under a big tree and worship them. Later on, after the tree and the posthumous bones performed some miracles by healing skin diseases, people decided to initiate two temples side by side to worship the Land God, the Tree God and the posthumous bones. The tree was deified after that.

A legend says that a day the Emperor Jiaqing visited Taiwan, he and his bodyguards took a rest under a big tree. Surprisingly, a band of bandits came to ambush them. At that moment, a mysterious hero in red suddenly descended from the tree, defeated the bandits and saved the Emperor Jiaqing. The Emperor later realised that the hero was the spirit of the tree. Out of thanksgiving, the Emperor deified the tree as "the Tree King" (#T39; see figure 105).

About 150 years ago, Chap-ji Field was a sandy place. In their efforts to fight the floods brought about by typhoon from Zhenwen River every year, a sapling was planted one year in a peace festival by early cultivators as a protection against floods. As the young plant grew into a tree of enormous size standing out in the vast expanse of the rice field, and flooding was indeed reduced (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:3). Therefore, people deified it as the Tree God (#T28; see figure 94) after that.

About 40 years ago, Mr. Tan Khun, a poor herbalist, was told in a dream to worship the Autumn Maple tree on Gen-kiu-in Rd. When he came, he found one of the branches of the tree grew like a human head. He regarded this as a miracle and started to worship the tree and named it the Autumn Maple God (Ka-tang Kong, #T33). It is efficacious for healing skin diseases and children's sickness. It is said that those who suffered skin disease would recover quickly by applying the water in which bark they scraped from the tree had been soaked (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:14f). In 1977, when the herbalist became richer, he built the present temple "Shan Nan Gong" and set a statue for the Tree God. The statue is black-haired, red-faced one in a blue Taoistic gown, the same attributes as Xian'gong, the most popular god of the area.

2, With Enormous Size:

In Taiwan, trees of enormous size are likely to be deified. According to my field record, at least 15 trees were worshipped for this reason. Exactly speaking, they are not the biggest ones in Taiwan. However, because they are so big and distinguishable in their environs, they are regarded as divine. For example, the Beech Grandfather (#T16; see figure 81) of Ke-jiu Kia in Pak-si Ward is not the biggest tree in Pak-si Ward, but because it is located in an area of plain fields, it is very prominent like a landmark and thus deified. The villagers usually call it "the Beech Grandfather" ("Ke-jiu Kong") and regard it as the guardian of the fields and they worship it on the humble altar set under the tree.(note.8)

3, With Special Location:

In Taiwan, a rapidly urbanised country, most large trees located on plains have been cut down; why do some still survive? I attribute it to location beside temples. Indeed, the trees located beside temples are also less possible to cut down and more possibly deified. For example, the Banyan Tree Goddess of Thong-liang Village (#T27; see figure 93) was one of the potted trees delivered to the island by a trading boat about 300 years ago. The villagers planted it in front of the village temple Thong-liang Village. Many years ago, the tree, because it became big and wide, was deified as the Banyan Tree Goddess.

Beside the Stone God of Uan-lim Town (#S5; see figure 5), a tree is worshipped as the Tree God (#T1; see figure 66). Because the site where the stone was dug up about 200 years ago was beside the tree, people built the Temple for the Stone God beside the tree and have cherished it very much. About 100 years ago, when the tree had grown big and strong, it was deified and has been worshipped ever since.

The Tree God of Kim-bin Road (#T6; see figure 71) was originally the tree for the temple of the Land God of Kim-b Ward. Fifteen years ago, when the tree grew extraordinarily big and when the lottery gambling "Everybody Happy" became prevalent, the tree began to be deified as a patron deity of gambling.

According to Mr. Li, a local leader, in the twentieth year of the Qianlong Era (1736-1796 CE.), a gentlemen called Li Chhong and his relatives crossed the Taiwan Straits from Fujian Province to the area (Tun-ho Ward). When they settled down, they used three stones to build a shrine of the Land God under the banyan tree. Later on, when the stone-made shrine was covered by the trunk of the tree, the statues of the Land God became invisible; people gradually forgot why they worshipped the tree and began to call the tree the Tree God (#T14; see figure 79), not the Land God. As a result of this, the villagers, though some still worship the tree as the Land God, had to initiate another shrine for the Land God beside the tree.

The Tree God (#T15; see figure 80) was originally the tree for the shrine of the Land God of To.-sian Ward, a small Hakka hamlet. About 100 years ago, when the tree grew extraordinarily big, the villagers began to deify it as the Tree God.

In front of the Land God Temple of the hamlet "Tua-khut" in Sin-hong Ward, a big tree is worshipped as the Tree God (#T17; see figure 82). I was told that originally the tree was for the temple of the Land God Temple. About 20 years ago, when it grew big and strong, people hung a red ribbon on the trunk of the tree and apotheosised it as the Tree God.

Beside the Stone God of Pat-li Rural-town (#S52), an altar is set under a tree. I thought the altar was for the worship of the Tree God, but they said the tree was the tree Land God (#T35; see figure 102) and not the Tree God.

A signboard is set by Taipei County government under a big banyan tree (#T36; see figure 103) beside a small hamlet in Pak- li Rural-town and states that the tree is hundreds of years old and should be preserved as a Pah-lin-lau-chhiu (tree of hundreds age or the Elderly Tree). However, the villagers traditionally sacrifice to it and worship it as a deity. When asked who the deity is, some villagers replied that it was the Land God, some replied that it is the tree Land God, some replied that it is the tree for the shrine of the Land God under the tree, while some replied that it is just a tree deity.

The Tree God of Tho-a Kha Hamlet in Lam-huin Ward (#T37) was originally a tree for the shrine of the Land God of Lam-huin Ward. I was told that about 100 years ago a tiny shrine was built under the tree for the worship of the Land God. But when the shrine collapsed about 20 years ago, the local inhabitants built a temple for the Land God on a spacious place nearby and left the tree alone. About five years ago, a religious specialist told them that the tree had been possessed by an immortal (shenxian), therefore they started to worship it as the Tree God.

The tree (#T29; see figure 95) representing the General Chu of Peh-hun-a is protected and worshipped at the outside of the courtyard of a goddess temple. When I first encountered it, I guessed that it was the tree Land God or the Tree God. But people there reported to me that it is the General Chu (Chu-hu Chiang- kun), the guardian of the patron deity in the goddess temple. "The location of the tree is so close to the goddess temple" I was told, "just as General Chu closely guards the goddess."

The Tree God of Khe-te (#T21; see figure 87) was originally the tree for the temple of the Land God of Khe-te hamlet. Since 15 years ago, when the tree grew extraordinarily big and when the lottery gambling "Dajiale (Everybody Happy)" became prevalent, the tree began to be deified as a patron deity of gambling.

Moreover, we find that the Pine King of Chong-ui Rural-town (#T2; see figure 67) is located in front of the big temple of Khai-chiang-seng-ong (literally, the First Divine Patriarch of the Chiang-chiu Prefecture). The Tree God and Goddess of Kui-sin Village (#T7; see figure 72) were originally located in front of the village temple of Kui-sin Village. Even though the trees died some decades ago, statues were carved for the worship of these two divine trees in the village temple. The Tree God of So.-o Urban-town (#T10; see figure 75) is located behind a martyr shrine named "Chi?pai Kong (literally, the Stone Tablet God)". The Tree God of Chhau-lia Lane (#T25; see figure 91) is located beside a small temple of Tai-chiong-ia (the enshrined posthumous bones, a kind of responsive deity). The Tree God of Ho-peng Ward (#T26; see figure 92) is located in front of a big Mass Grave Temple also. The Banyan God of Sion-lim Ward (#T18; see figure 83) is on the back of the Stone God of Sion-lim Ward (#S33; see figure 35). Because of the location, they are all luckily preserved and grown into divine trees.

IV. Stones and Trees Representing Deities:

There are still some stones and trees that became sacred not because of miracles, unusual appearance, special location or unusual origin, but simply because they were chosen by people at random. For example, in the beginning of the Pak-gi Highway (the main road leading from Gi-lan County to Taipei), a stone (#S7; see figure 7) of about 100 cm wide, 40 cm high and 50 cm long is enshrined in a low, shed-like shrine made of metal sheet. Mr. n Tiong-siu, an elder, told me that the stone has been worshipped since at least when his mother was young. Therefore the temple is more than 80 years old. He said that when his mother became old and weak, they went to the Te-kun Temple not far from the area. Through divination of a shaman of the Te-kun Temple, the God Te- kun ordered them to build a temple for the Stone God. Therefore the family initiated the small temple of the God and his mother became healthy again. I asked him why the stone was originally deified, he answered: "It is simple. Because when the pioneers, the ancestors of the villagers, came to the area, they chose a stone and 'entitled' ('ho.') it "the Stone God", and it has been deified since."

In Bah-tau Hamlet of Siang-tan Ward, a stone (#S22; see figure 23) is worshipped at the right-hand side of the Land God temple. There is nothing special about the stone's appearance. Local people told me that they just chose the stone at random to "represent" the Good Brothers to be the object to sacrifice to them.

The gentleman who presently takes care of the Land God Temple of E-tiau-chun of Sin-hong Ward told me that he knew the origin of the two stones representing the Land God. He said that about 60 years ago, his father and senior relatives considered that it was no good not to have a temple for the Land God in the hamlet. They decided to go to a dry river bed to choose some flat stones to build a dolmen and a stone of the size that could be set in the dolmen to be the statue of the Land God. When the present temple was built, the dolmen was thrown away and an elaborate statue, the present patron deity statue, was set at the centre of the altar table, and the original stone Land God was moved aside to become an associate statue. Later on, the second stone which looks like the first one, was chosen and put at the right side of the patron statue as a couple. Therefore there are two stones, one on the right side of the patron deity statue and one on the left side, in the temple to represent the Land God (#S29; see figure 31) of the hamlet.

In the Japanese Period, two gamblers who were escaping from Japanese policemen ran into the Stone God temple and made a wish that if the Stone God could bless them to escape from the policemen, they would worship him forever. After they succeeded in escaping the policemen, they forgot the wish to the Stone God. But when they were back to their home village safely, one of the gamblers dreamed that he had come back to the mother temple of n-lim Town to worship. As a result, they quit gambling and chose a stone (#S37; see figure 39) and rested the amulet they got from the temple of n-lim Town on it to worship. It is the initiation of the present temple and the stone they chose is now worshipped in the temple for the Stone God Hi-ti Rural-town.

Beside Hok-siong Kiong (literally, Palace for the Land God and the banyan god), a small Land God Temple, a tree is venerated as the Tree God (#T9; see figure 74). The tree is the youngest deified tree I have ever seen. I was very curious why they worshipped the young tree. The neighbours told me that originally pioneers came to this area with a statue of the Land God from mainland China more than 150 years ago. They put the statue under a big tree and worshipped. The tree grew into the Tree God afterwards and nominally adopted many children. When the original deified tree died, neighbours chose a tree and planted it to replace the original tree and continued to worship the young tree as the Tree God and to venerate as a nominal parent of unhealthy children. That is why they, unlike other areas, worship a young tree.

The cases do not happen only in Taiwan alone. In Jinhua of Zhejiang Provence, Eberhard (1970:21), for example, came across a holy tree, in front of which there were still some incense sticks and the remains of numerous prayer notes addressed to the "mother camphor tree." The people told him they chose the tree as the mother of children, so that the children might grow as strong as the tree.

Again, in some places of Taiwan, people chose an upright cylindrical stone to represent their Land God. For example, in San-tiau Hill, an upright stone pillar is worshipped in a stone chamber as the Land God (#S23; see figure 25) of the hamlet. However, we are not able to see the stone pillar, since it is hidden by the stone chamber that collapsed many years ago. Beside the stone chamber, a stone is chosen as an object for the worship of the Good Brothers. I was told that villagers will also sacrifice to the stone representing the Good Brothers (#S24; see figure 26) after they worship the stone Land God.

In E-kham-te Hamlet of Pak-si Ward, there is a stone pillar worshipped as the Land God (#S25; see figure 27) in a stone chamber. The stone inside the chamber set vertically beneath the centre of the dolmen is made of a stone pillar of about one chi (i.e. about 30 cm) in length and one chi in width. The upper half of it is pointed and bell-shaped and the lower half is buried into the ground. Beside the stone chamber, a similar stone (#S26; see figure 28) is venerated also in another stone chamber. I was told that the two stone chambers were built by Mr. Ui Chhun- phang, the former landlord of the area. About seventy years ago, Mr. Ui Chhun-phang's rice fields in the area got sick. He considered that the malady was caused by Mr. Ang whose corpse was buried under the field and left unworshipped. Therefore Mr.  Chhun-phang set an upright cylindrical stone (#S26; see figure 28) and built the tiny stone-made chamber to worship him in every seventh lunar month. He, in the meantime, built the stone-made chamber beside it under an Autumn Maple tree. Unfortunately, nobody knew why he chose the upright cylindrical stones.(note.9)

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.

Dosojin, a deity of Japanese folk religion, can be seen today in thousands of images, typically at the edge of a rice field or along the roadside (cf. Hartland 1917a:819). He is a god of harvests and a place deity who protects the field from trespassers and so on (Elder 1987:263). Dosojin may be seen as a realistically rendered, upright stone phallus, a few feet in height, or, just as likely, as a pair of phalli characterizing, presumably, his double nature. Indeed, his most frequent image is that of a "loving couple," usually holding hands but sometimes enjoying coitus in relief on a stone that may itself be phallic.

In some parts of France and the neighbouring countries, ithyphallic saints have been worshipped for the purpose of obtaining offspring or curing impotence and sexual disease. Perhaps the most famous of these was St. Foutin (whose name is variously spelt), by tradition the first bishop of Lyons. His cult was wide-spread in the south of France. When in 1585, the Protestants took the town of Embrun, they found among the sacred relics of the principal church an object said to be his phallus. Its extremity was reddened by the libations of wine offered to it by women in need of his help (Hartland 1917a:817).

Indeed, stone contains intrinsic beauty and suggests eternity. Many people cannot refrain from worshipping a stone or tree of a slightly unusual colour or shape, without knowing why they do this (Franz 1990 (1964):209). Psychologically speaking, it is innate in human nature. From the field research, we observe that in modern Taiwan, many people still cannot refrain from deifying stones without knowing why. We see, for instances, that cowherds of Tan-khe Rural-town (#S8), Tan-suan Rural-town (#S10), and Pak-tau istrict(#S47) were all attracted by stones and worshipped them without any obvious reason. However, whether Chinese have a distinctive figuration of phallicism is a question needed for further investigation and analysis.

VII. Miracle, Standardisation, and Historicisation:

In the previous chapter, we saw that since many divine stones and trees are not standardised, common people have their own mechanism to identify the festival dates for them. From the study of the origins of these natural objects' deification, we also observe that the origins are different from those of deities who are standardised in the written accounts. For instance, many oral versions of the Heavenly Empress contained strong hints that she was a seer or medium and had a special relationship with spinsters and other unmarried women. But the imperial-elite standardised myths that describe deification of her tend to serve as a means to carry the messages of civilization, order, and loyalty to the state (Watson 1985:323). Similarly, the story of the Heavenly Empress appearing in the Republican-elite standardised textbooks tells that she is merely a moral young girl who stands on the shore with a lantern in hand, filially awaiting the return of her father and brothers. No miracles performed by her are told (Meyer 1987:45).

However, miracles are very important for common people. Many Taiwanese believe in a certain deity since he or she directly or indirectly perform a miracle for them. Many temples were initiated because the deities performed miracles to people. In the previous sections, we saw that eleven stones and six trees were deified because they originally performed miracles. Moreover, many religious specialists get their professional careers and gain extraordinary powers by encountering miracles instead of through apprenticeship. For example, Feuchtwang (1993:42) reports that a spirit-medium started his religious career since a deity revealed himself to him. When he served his three years' national service in the navy, the ship on which he was serving hit rocks and sank. He was about to drown when he was saved. Whatever saved him, he identified it as the appearance of an immortal spirit called "the Sage King Guo (Guo Shengwang)".

Nonetheless, unlike the imperial-elite standardised ones, most of the miracle legends do not serve as a means to carry the messages of civilization, order, and loyalty to the state. Only one tree's deification legend relates to the loyalty to the state. It is the "Tree King of Tai-li Rural-town (#T39)" mentioned previously. However, according to the official history, the Emperor Jiaqing never did visit Taiwan. Why did local people manipulate the history and why did they historicise the tree's deification legend?

People in Taiwan often hear a legend that we eat pumeloes and moon cakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival in memory of the Ethnic Revolt and the Land God in the Mid-autumn against the Mongol Yuan Administration:(note.15)

At the end of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 CE.), the Chinese people led lives of terrible hardship. At last they could bear it no more, so plans were made for a revolt against the Mongols. However, the Chinese had the greatest difficulty trying to keep in contact with each other and pass on information. This was because in every two or three Chinese families there was a Mongol soldier billeted to keep a vigilant eye on his hosts' every action at all times. Fortunately, at this critical moment, the Land God appeared and advised Chinese to take advantage of the medium-sized, round cakes that were so often taken to friends and relatives living some distance away. Little notes containing subversive information were concealed in the cakes, thus forming a link between all planners of the future revolt. With the distribution of important military plans, including the most important message - the date of the revolt, when this eventually occurred, Chinese utterly devastated their despised oppressors, and restored the leadership of China to the hands of her own countrymen. From that time onwards, at the Mid-Autumn Festival, every family worships the Land God and eats moon cakes and pumeloes in memory of the revolution and the Land God.(note.16)

A pumeloe, round, reddish citrus fruit very similar to the grapefruit although larger, and about the size of a human head, is said to symbolise the head of the fallen Yuan rulers. However, from the previous chapters, we learn that the cult of the Land God originated much earlier than the time of the Mid-autumn Revolt. Why, then, is the Land God attached the Ethnic Revolt? In other words, why do people make every effort to put their deities into historical contexts? Scholars have entitled this phenomenon "historicisation" (Maspero 1981; Feuchtwang 1992, 1993; cf. Allan 1979:3-5).

We can say that the Tree King's legend is attached to the Emperor because it can serve as a messager of order and loyalty. We can say that the attachment of the Land God to the Mid-autumn Ethnic Revolt is to explain why people worship him on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. We can also say that the legends cited in the last two chapters are to anthropomorphise these deities in order to stress that they were originally deified human beings. However, if we put our interpretation of these legends into Chinese cultural context, especially the notion of history, they mean more than these.

History is something significant in Chinese culture. Feuchtwang (1992:7) points out that:

The past was a lesson of good conduct. The past was the record of sages and the exemplary statements and conduct of those who followed them. It was negative examples of those who departed from their way. And it was stories of the correct who suffered under negative examples of rule. Historical signification here is an operation by which a past lends authority to a present in a continuing order. The past is demarcated and its pastness sanctified.

For Chinese people, history means authority. "Taishibi (historian's pen)" is the final judgement of one's conduct. The conducts written into history are something real and unchangeable. To historicise something is to make it real and unchangeable and, as a result, authoritative. Therefore, once we interpret these legends contextually, we find that the reason the Emperor Jiaqing is attached to the Tree King's legend is to historicise the deity. We find that the reason the Land God is attached to the Ethnic Revolt is to historicise the deity. We find that the reason the Land God legends articulating name, birthplace, life time, occupation, and conduct leading to deification is also to historicise the deity. With historicisation, these legends, like Chinese understanding of history, become real and unchangeable.

Furthermore, local leaders can gain authority by narrating history (Feuchtwang 1993:45). During the field work, I again and again encountered this authority. For instance, every time when I interviewed people around a temple about the history of it, they normally suggested that I should go to ask local leaders because these leaders knew the history better. When I interviewed people in the Land God Temple called Tiong-kheng-bi?(literally, the Temple of Eternal Celebration) located in Tong-an Street, a worshipper told me that the black stone (#S42) enshrined in the centre of the altar was the Stone God. But a local leader straightforwardly corrected him and assured me that it was the stone Land God deified by their ancestors.

In order to keep these legends as real histories, the local leaders can not tolerate divergence. Probably as a result that I could not get more than one version of a temple's deification legend and most of the deification legends presented in the previous sections are retold by those who I interviewed as if real histories.(note.17)

VIII. Conclusion:

Due to the lack of data, studies of stone and tree worship in the western world are difficult. So far only little literary and archaeological evidence can offer some indirect background for interpretation (cf. Graesser 1972). Therefore, the deification legends derived from my field research are relatively significant. They can help us understand why some stones and trees, while remaining their botanical or geological forms, are regarded as the sacred. They can also help us understand that it is vital to comprehend the significance of these deifications in their own cultural context, if we are to know why some forms can be treated as divine while others are not. However, people are sometimes attracted by certain stones and trees and thus worshipped them without any obvious cultural reason. Probably, it can only be explained from psychological points of view.

As far as the field of Chinese religious studies is concerned, the initiations of Chinese popular cults cannot be explained away by the phrase "because of the increasing recognition of their efficacy." Only through the collection of literary data and long-term field work can we comprehend them. In addition, the field data can help illustrate that some natural objects are themselves treated as animate, some are regarded as having gods inhabiting them, while others are simply considered as objects representing the deities similar to the function of deity statues. The difference between the natural objects (no matter whether they are themselves animate, having gods inhabiting them, or representing the deities) and the deity statues is that for the latter, before they are worshipped, a rite of inspiriting (rushen) should be performed, while for the natural objects it is not required.

It is also noteworthy that none of the stones and trees which were deified since they performed miracles are treated as the Land God.(note.18) It is perhaps because the Land God has a firm place in Chinese popular religion and is universally worshipped throughout Chinese world, he does not need to perform miracles in order to get deification. However, it might be because these divine stones and trees are not popular enough to attract the elites' notice to standardise them, their legends tend to be locally told and orally transmitted and thus still consist of certain miracles.

Furthermore, if putting our interpretation of the deification legends into Chinese cultural context, we will understand why people make efforts to historicise the deities' legends. History means something real and unchangeable. With historicisation, these legends, like Chinese understanding of history, become real and unchangeable. In order to keep these legends as real histories, the local leaders cannot tolerate divergent legends. For this reason, most of time I could get only one version of a temple's deification legend.

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(note.1)

For an excellent discussion of the tautology, please see Sangren (1984:10).

(note.2)

I am aware that the "stories" collected from field work can be categorized as "myths", "legends", "narratives", "history", or "tales" etc., However, as my informants regard what they told me as "chuanshuo", I shall translate these stories as "legends".

(note.3)

However, some told me that the divination was through a shaman and the depth he should dig for the cylindrical stone was 180 cm.

(note.4)

For the details of the lottery, please see Chapter Seven.

(note.5)

Yuan Chang-rue (1993:6-7) also documents the Mango King of Jiayi (Chia-yi) County, which was deified because of performing a miracle. Over 100 years ago, one day a farmer carried the dead body of his child to the cemetery to bury. Finding he had forgotten to bring his hoe with him, he laid the dead body of the child under a mango tree and headed home. When he returned, he found the child had recovered. On the night of that very day, he had a dream and learned that it was the mango tree god that had brought his child back to life. To repay the grace that the god granted him, he carved out a joss out of the mango tree to worship. Later on, because of the efficacy of the god in curing diseases, fund was raised by the local people to build a temple to honour the god. Now the god has become the patron god of the locality.

(note.6)

There are many examples indicative of the ability of Chinese living among non-Chinese peoples to incorporate local elements in their religion. In Malaya, Chinese are reported to worship at shrines to Malay saints and spirit medium cults have arisen at which Malay-speaking saints appear (Shepherd 1984:48).

(note.7)

For the term "dolmen", I shall follow the definition of Edsman (1987:50) and mean "a table stone or large, flat, unhewn stone resting horizontally on upright ones."

(note.8)

Similarly, the Tree God of Peng-ho Ward (#T3; see figure 68), the Tree God of Thau-hun Village (#T4; see figure 69), the Tree God of Siong-tek Village (#T5; see figure 70), the Tree God of Kang-khau Ward (#T8; see figure 73), the tree Land God of In-suan Street (#T11; see figure 76), the tree Land God of the East Gate (#T12; see figure 77), the Banyan Grandfather of Ka-lo Ward (#T13; see figure 78), the Divine Tree of Pen-teng Ward (#T19; see figure 84), the Tree God of Cho.-su Lane (#T22; see figure 88), the Tree God of Uan-chip Road (#T23; see figure 89), the Tree God of Lo-chui Village (#T24; see figure 90), the Tree God of Po-san Ward (#T31; see figure 97), the Tree God of Chheng-bek Ward (#T32; see figure 98) and the Tree God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#T38; see figure 104) are all deified by the same reason (see also Appendix).

(note.9)

Due to the lack of historical records and the limitation of the field interview, so far I am not able to figure out the reason for sacralizing the following stone and tree deities. They are: the Stone Goddess of Pak-biau Ward (#S1), the Stone Goddess of Ka-seng Ward (#S2; see figure 2), the Stone God of Jin-ho Village (#S11; see figure 11), the Stone God of Tho.-sian Ward (#S20; see figure 20), the Divine Stone of Giong-tek Boulevard (#S41; see figure 43), the stone Land God of Tiang-ken Village (#S53; see figure 58). Of course, as I have argued above, in many cases, there may have been no reason why a particular stone rather than another was chosen (see also Appendix).

(note.10)

Allan (1979:3), when doing research on religious belief of the Shang Dynasty, also maintains that it is impossible to tell whether natural objects were themselves considered animate or other gods inhabited them.

(note.11)

The question whether stones and trees are themselves deities or possessed by certain supernatural beings can be discussed by the academic terms "animism" and "animatism". However, due to the various degrees of definiteness of definition of these terms, I shall avoid using them.

(note.12)

Watson (1985:310) also reports a stone serving as the representation of a goddess:

Some time in the misty past, so the story goes, a cone-shaped stone was dredged up by a fishing net. The stone was taken to be the representation of a deity and installed in a shrine near the place where a small stream (Sand River) emptied into the sea. This minor deity, it is said, was worshipped by fisherpeople and itinerants who lived along the coast -- sedentary farmers were not involved in the cult.

(note.13)

"Hierophany (from Greek hiero-, 'sacred,' and phainein, 'to show')" is a term created by Eliade to designate the general manifestation of the sacred (Eliade & Sullivan 1987:313).

(note.14)

As mentioned in Chapter One, some cylindrically shaped stones are found in an Alizu temple at Beitouyang. They are readily interpreted as phalli (Shepherd 1984:39). But it is a Plain Aboriginal cult.

(note.15)

The legend is very much similar to the one recorded by Wei & Coutanceau (1976:96-98). The only difference is that the Land God, the protagonist of this legend, does not appear in Wei & Coutanceau's record. For convenience's sake, the wording of the legend is based on that of Wei & Coutanceau.

(note.16)

Cormack (1974:138-89) also records a similar legend of the Mid- autumn Ethnic Revolt. However, the revolt was not inspired by the Land God but by "a heaven-sent impulse".

(note.17)

The other cause that I could not get more versions of a temple's deification legend is, I think, due to the lack of historical records and the limitation of my field interview.

(note.18)

As far as I know, only the case reported by Liu Zhiwan (1961:127) is an exception:

In Nantou City, Taiwan, there is a stone venerated in a temple. I was told that in the eleventh lunar month of 1869, there were three stones suddenly shining in the night. The people of this locality considered it a miracle performed by the Land God and built a humble shrine to house and worship them for the well-being and harvest. In 1923, the shrine was enlarged and a statue of the Land God was positioned. Nowadays, people regard the statue as the Land God and the stone (the other two stones missing) as the Stone God (my translation).