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Rh temporal or physical existence; while others are the disembodied spirits of human beings.

The chief of all the spirits is Hananim, who is the creator of all things and sends the sunshine and the rain. It is this spirit that comes nearest to the Christian's idea of God; so this is the term used by the Protestant denominations for indicating God. Strange to say, this, the greatest of all the spirits, receives the least attention in the worship of the people. This is probably from the fact that he is considered good, and the religion of Korea is one of fear and not of love. It is not worth while to bother the good spirits, since they will do no harm; but the bad ones must be placated. In times of severe drought, by special command of the king, sheep are sacrificed to Hananim. There are no temples or shrines dedicated to Hananim except the altars on which the above-stated sacrifices are offered. So it can hardly be said that the village religion has much to do with the great spirit Hananim.

Spirit worship builds no temples. In this respect it is unlike Buddhism, which builds many fine temples and supports large numbers of officiating priests. Spirit worship is content with its fetiches and shrines, which are to be found everywhere throughout the country. As such it maintains no priests, but the mudang and the pansu correspond in some measure to the priests of other systems of religion. The mudang is always a woman, and belongs to the lowest and most abandoned class. She claims to be in direct league with the evil spirits which infest the world,