Note 48.2 — RITUAL AND BELIEF
Reading edition
Similar ideas of mysterious force wavering between the personal and the impersonal and permeating all things appear to underlie the Chinese conceptions of the Tsing, or operative energy, which inspires, or manifests itself in, the Khi, breath or soul, to produce the living being.48.2 These ideas have been taken over by the Annamites, among whom the Tinh is “a fluid, a force which resides in all things, and without which no existence can manifest itself,” and is “the essential principle of all action.” Uniting with the Khi, breath or soul, it produces “the life, the movement, the beings and the things peopling the world.” It is their essential condition. The entire system of magic and religion rests on these ideas.48.3 Much the same may be said of the Japanese Kami, probably connected with Ainu Kamui.48.4 It is, however, unnecessary to discuss at length the conceptions involved. They have been elaborated through centuries of civilization and philosophical exposition, until it is now difficult to determine how much of their present form and content they owe to archaic savagery.