ABSTRACT
The guise of a Taoist priest was adopted in rescuing an officer whose army had been routed. It is typical of the tolerance displayed by the Chinese in religious matters to credit a Buddhist Saint with a miracle performed in the habit of the rival sect. As emperors favoured one, or the other, fierce persecutions took place. Yet, in the final result, tradition has so interwoven the two beliefs that their ritual if often indistinguishable, and their objects of worship are common to both. It has already been remarked that Kuan Yin was released from the underworld at the order of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Taoist divinity, but in the story of the White Monkey's expulsion from paradise, only an appeal to the Lord Buddha could disembarrass the Gods of this intolerable pest. r.ater , he entered the service of Kuan Yin and became a reformed character, achieving canonisation as the "Great Sage equal to Heaven". His act of expiation restored him to the Taoist pantheon, though during his pilgrimage he was anything but favourably disposed to their beliefs, and today his favours are indiscriminately sought by both congregations.
