Book XXII.
*64. Chap. I. Chi-yao [OMITTED] (Spook Stories).
Several spook and ghost stories recorded in the Shi-chi and
the Tso-chuan are analysed. Wang- Ch`ung explains them in accordance
with his theory on the spontaneity of Heaven, and on the
nature of apparitions and portents.
*65. Chap. II. Ting-kuei [OMITTED] (All about Ghosts).
Wang Ch`ung sets forth the different opinions on the nature
of ghosts, propounded at his time. Some hold that ghosts are
visions of sick people, or the fluid of sickness. Others regard them
as the stellar fluid, or as the essence of old creatures, or as the
spirits of cyclical signs. After an excursion on the demous, devils,
and goblins mentioned in ancient books, Wang Ch`ung gives his own
views, according to which ghosts are apparitions and phantoms
foreboding evil, which have assumed human form, but are only
semblances and disembodied. They consist of the solar fluid, the
Yang, are therefore red, burning, and to a certain extent poisonous.
