There is an old grave situated behind now abandoned old
German consulate at Chongqing (重庆), Sichuan Province, China. It is
said the grave belonged to a German doctor by the name Dr. P. Assmy who died
around 1800 if I have not mistaken.
According to a local legend, when the good old German doctor
arrived at Chongqing; there were many people suffered from epidemic. So this
doc used his modern medical knowledge of that time to save his Chinese
patients; and as expected many lives were saved. The local people were
certainly grateful of this kind hearted doc but by saving their lives. On the
other hand, by saving lives; the doc also indirectly offended the ‘Lord of
Death’ and this god of dead vowed to settle the numbers of lives that the doc
has saved.
After the death of the doc, he was buried just behind the
old German consulate that was built on a hilltop. There is a rocky lane that
leads down the slope of the hill and it was once the main passage way that
connected the Chongqing town and nearby village. As the story goes, many people
mysteriously fell to their death when using this lane at night. The reason is
that the Lord of Death wanted to take back the lives the good old German doctor
saved. So, unless the number of casualties equals that of the death toll; the
Lord of Death will not cease.
Luckily, the place is now more or less abandoned and the
lane is no longer in used.
My local Taoist bro told me that anyone who passed through
the lane should pray at the good doc’s grave for help and protection as this
will protect the person’s soul from being taken by the Lord of Death. Since no
one really knows what is the exact number of lives the Lord of Death is looking
for, so it is best just to pray than sorry…
Perhaps this is one of the more interesting spiritual
conflicts between the East and the West; where the Eastern Lord of Death vs the
Western God… As to the question of who will win this spiritual tug of war;
maybe no one really knows!
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