Naturally such easily assailable doctrines as these have not escaped the attacks of hostile critics. Most notable among them is the first century writer Wang Ch'ung, an uncompromising materialist and bitter foe to any kind of imaginative belief. He exposes in detail the fallacies contained in many of the notions I have just sketched, and it is rather surprising to find our Isles missing from his list of Taoist superstitions.[1]
Finally, it must not be forgotten that hsien are subject to the law of rebirth; at least, so it appears from the many legends of their avatars. Here Indian influence may be traced. It is improbable that belief in metempsychosis was prevalent in China before the advent of Buddhism, though Chuang Tzŭ in the closing sentence of Book III. seems to sanction it.[2] Surely reincarnation is inconsistent with the principle of physical inviolability claimed for hsien, unless their protean facility of transformation solves the riddle.
Transformation is only one of many superhuman powers possessed by perfect Taoist adepts. It is sufficient to mention that they can ride upon the wind, pass through water without becoming wet, and through fire without being burnt.[3]
Lest I be taxed with taking too materialistic a view, I would hasten to explain that what I have described has little to do with philosophical and mystical Taoism. This teaching, often called "Primitive Taoism," is preserved to us in the TAO Tê Ching ascribed to Lao Tzŭ, and in the Book of Chuang Tzŭ. Certain of their passages,
it is true, seem to recognise the possibility of evading the common fate of man, yet the purpose of the writers is apparently to discountenance a striving after carnate immortality and its attendant magical practices.
