White Tiger

About the Mythology

In undertaking to write this story I had to do a tremendous amount of research on the nature of Taoism and the deities that appear in the book. I’m by no means an expert, but I thought the reader would like a small amount of further information on how Chinese beliefs fit together.

Chinese folk beliefs are a mixture of animism, Buddhism and Taoism, which all seem to fit seamlessly together with a liberal dose of Confucian philosophy. Buddhism and Taoism both teach that a person who transcends the barriers inherent in our physical world will attain Immortality. Therefore, many famous historical figures are considered to be still around today and can be called upon to intervene when times are tough.

Chinese believe that the spirits of their ancestors continue to guide and protect them, and therefore must be cared for and regularly visited. There are two festivals a year when families visit the graves of dead relatives to clean the graves and provide food and offerings of paper money and consumer goods. The paper offerings are burned and help the dead relatives live a life of ease in the Afterlife.

Buddhism, with its philosophy of reincarnation, is also prevalent, with the belief that a person who casts off worldly needs can attain a perfect state of alignment with the Universe, or Nirvana. People who have attained this state are called Buddhas (there is more than one) and may return to Earth in human or animal form to help those in need. Kwan Yin is one of the most famous of these Bodhisattvas and the image of a Buddha on a car dashboard or in a roadside altar is often that of Kwan Yin.

Taoism is a complex and fascinating spiritual philosophy. Through internal and external energy manipulation, alchemy and spiritual enlightenment, a person may achieve perfect alignment with the basic nature of the universe, the Tao. To talk about the Tao is to escape its meaning because it is wordless. The essence of the Universe is formless, without structure or striving, and nameless; therefore, to achieve the Tao many practitioners cast off all physical pursuits and pursue a simple ascetic life of solitude and meditation. Once having reached the divine state of Taoist Immortality, these Immortals ascend to Heaven to join the Heavenly Bureaucracy, with the Jade Emperor presiding over a vast court of fascinating mythological personalities.

Both Taoist and Buddhist deities exist side by side in Chinese mythology; in the legend of the Monkey King (Journey to the West), the Monkey creates havoc in Heaven and the Celestial Taoist Bureaucracy is unable to stop him. The Buddha himself intervenes and subdues the Monkey, giving him the task of travelling to India to collect Buddhist scriptures to return to the people of China.

All of the spirits of those who are Immortal—be they Buddhist icons who have achieved enlightenment, spirits who represent forces of nature, or historical figures who are regarded as having attained Immortality—are collectively called Shen. All Shen are believed to exist on a higher plane, but are able to come to Earth either through incarnation as an ordinary person or by taking the form of an ordinary person. The world is therefore believed by many to be full of Shen who live among us as humans.

The ideas of life after death and reincarnation are seamlessly joined together into the concept of Hell. After someone dies, their soul is judged and if it is found to be Worthy, it is escorted directly to the lowest level of Hell and released to Heaven to join the ranks of the Immortals. Those who are not Worthy are judged by the ten ranks of Courts in Hell. If found guilty, they are punished by demons for each set of crimes they have committed during their lifetime. When they have completed their punishment they are given a Soup of Forgetfulness and released back into the world to be reincarnated. Thus existence is an endless series of births, deaths and punishments, which continues until one is judged Worthy of Immortality.

The Four Winds (the White Tiger, Black Turtle, Red Phoenix and Blue Dragon) are slightly different from the Raised Immortals. They are more like signs of the zodiac than actual gods. They represent the four points of the compass and four of the five elements or essences of the universe: the Tiger is Metal; the Phoenix is Fire; the Dragon is Wood; and the Turtle is Water. The fifth essence of Stone or Earth is the Centre and represented by the Jade Emperor himself. The five essences are used throughout the practice of fung shui to provide symbolic references to both the compass points and the relevant essences; for example, turtle figurines will be placed on the northern side of a house to increase its water influence.

Xuan Wu himself is a fascinating and paradoxical god. He developed from the Black Turtle of the North, which sometime in its history was combined with a snake to become a combined serpent/turtle icon. The ancient Chinese believed that male turtles had no sex organs and that female turtles mated with snakes to produce eggs. Xuan Wu symbolises this union. Calling a man a ‘turtle’ also refers to this legend; it’s calling him a cuckold whose wife is finding her satisfaction elsewhere. Chinese place a great deal of importance on family history and ancestry, so the idea that a female turtle mates with multiple males to produce clutches of eggs with mixed parentage is abhorrent. To call someone a ‘turtle egg’ is to call their parentage into question and is a very powerful insult.

Xuan Wu has changed over the centuries to become a human deity as well as the symbolic representation of the North; he has become the Dark Emperor Zhen Wu, the symbol of ultimate martial arts, the quintessential warrior. He was taken by the Ming Dynasty emperors as a patron and the Wudangshan Mountain complex was built in his honour. He is worshipped for his connection with water (thus the temple on Cheung Chau Island for Pak Tai) as well as his connection with martial arts.

One of the Chinese classics, Journey to the North, is the story of Xuan Wu and how he overcame two demons, a snake and a turtle, and through many incarnations in pursuit of the Tao attained Immortality. In another classic, the Creation of the Gods, he is incarnated as a great human general, and at the end of the battle is rewarded for his valour by being granted Immortality and the title of Celestial General.

The Chinese gods are more than static deities with fixed features. They are constantly evolving as stories are woven about them; they are considered to be alive and present in everyday affairs, involved in the running of the Universe and intervening whenever necessary. I hope that my novels will remain true to the storytelling tradition of this mythology, because I have nothing but the greatest respect for this wealth of wonderful beliefs, myths and legends.