Ward and Stirling, 1925. W.G. Stirling, a colonial official in Singapore together with J.S.M. Ward, a British anthropologist and expert on Free Masonry, attempted to prove that the Heaven and Earth Society and the Free Masons “were descendents from a common mystic ancestor” (Murray 1994, p. 100). The book contains two foundation accounts. One being close to the Preface version (see “Xi Lu Xu” or Preface Version, c. 1853), and the other like Stanton (1900), (Murray 1994, p. 100). According to ter Haar, there are two separate traditions, which he calls the A and B traditions. According to him, the account in Ward and Stirling, pp. 30-35 is based on the A tradition and pp. 35-46 is based on the B tradition (ter Haar 1998, p. 369).
Ward, J.S.M. and Stirling, W.G. 1925. The Hung Society or the Society of Heaven and Earth Vol. I. London: Baskerville Press
Return to Sources for the Legend of the Burning of the Southern Shaolin Monastery
Return to Yokoiscool