Changes

Charms had been popular before the foundation of Daoism. As words of prayer, early charms were signs or inner expressions of intense feelings. Therefore, "charms" correspond with "prayers" in meaning. At the very start "prayers" are endowed with the double function of procuring the good and banishing the evil. Praying orally for the descent of benevolent deities can procure the good, but another purpose is banishing the evil. Violent and commanding words are needed for this purpose. Hence oaths and curses became charms. For example, it is recorded in the chapter "North of the Wilderness" of ''[[''The Book of Mountains and Seas]]'']] ( 山海經 Shanhai Jing ) that when Chiyou started military operations against the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor ordered the "responding dragon" to attack the wilderness in Jizhou. The "responding dragon" stored water. Then Chiyou asked the Earl of Wind and the Master of Rain to blow and rain hard. So the Yellow Emperor asked the heavenly maiden "Ba" to descend and stop the rain and thereupon he killed Chiyou. Afterwards, because Ba couldn't return to heaven, it did not rain. Then the Yellow Emperor ordered Shujun, who was in charge of the field, to drive away Ba and pray for rain to dispel the drought. Shujun commanded: