Book excerpt: Excerpt from Researches Into Chinese Superstitions, Vol. 2: First Part, Superstitious Practices, Profusely Illustrated We collect into this chapter. Under a general heading, written charms, hwa-fu E petition and all kinds of magic scripts, devised by Buddhist monks, and especially by Taoist priests, Tao-shi g i, for the purpose of curing diseases, preventing or checking epidemics, expelling demons, counteracting evil in uences and obtaining the protection of the Gods in all human ills. As the misfortunes which befall men here below are countless, one may imagine the various devices, which these cunning folks, ever on the look out for gain, constantly invent. The drawing up of charms is one of the chief pursuits of Taoist priests, tao-shi j: They have always some ready for every imaginable case, disease and condition, to which poor suffering mortals may be exposed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."