Note 70 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade

The shen, like the cicada, may also dwell for a time in the grave or in the gravestone before it rises on wings to the Sky Paradise, or passes to the Western Paradise or the Eastern “Islands of the Blest”. Ancient local and tribal beliefs and beliefs imported at different periods from different culture centres were evidently fused in China, and we consequently meet with a variety of ideas regarding the destiny of the shen. “Departed souls”, says De Groot, “are sometimes popularly represented as repairing to the regions of bliss on the back of a crane.”70 The soul may sail to the Western Paradise in a boat. “Thou hast departed to the West, from whence there is no returning in the barge of mercy”, runs an address to the corpse.70 Here we have the Ra-boat of Egypt conveying the soul to the Osirian Paradise. As has been shown, souls sometimes departed on the backs of dragons, or rose in the air towards cloudland, there to sail in boats or ride on the backs of birds or kirins, or reached the moon or star-land by climbing a gigantic tree. Belief in transmigration of souls can also be traced in China, the result apparently of the importation of pre-Buddhist as well as Buddhist beliefs from India.