佛祖統紀 35.103

35.103

In the thirty-first year, the La sacrifice was renamed Jiaping. Earlier, Mao Meng studied the Dao; when his elixir was accomplished, he mounted a dragon and ascended to heaven. There was a children's rhyme that said: 'The immortal attained is Mao Chucheng (Meng's style-name), / Riding a dragon up to heaven, ascending to Great Clarity. / He occasionally descends to Xuanzhou and disports at Chicheng. / The one who can succeed him throughout generations lies in my Ying. / If the Emperor would learn from this, the La sacrifice shall be Jiaping.' The First Emperor was just then seeking immortals; hearing the rhyme, he thereupon decreed that the La sacrifice be renamed Jiaping. He looked from afar and sacrificed to Penglai, and sent Xu Fu leading young boys and girls out to sea to seek the elixir of immortality. There was one Mao Ying, who regarded Meng as his great-great-grandfather; he entered Mount Chang to study the Dao. His two younger brothers, Gu and Zhong, served Han as officials of two thousand bushels. Lord Mao governed Mount Guqu south of the Yangtze; the people at the foot of the mountain established a shrine for him. Whenever the Lord came, music and a retinue descended from heaven; people therefore called that place Mount Mao. Later, the two younger brothers gave up their official posts to seek their elder brother and also attained perfection. Lord Lao dispatched an envoy holding the tally, granting them the mandate of the Nine Bestowals inscribed in gold upon white jade tablets: he appointed the Lord as the Perfect Lord Controller of Destiny, presiding over the registers of life and death of Wu and Yue; he appointed Gu as the Lord Determiner of Registers, and Zhong as the Lord Protector of Life; hence they were called the Three Lords Mao. On every second day of the twelfth month and eighteenth day of the third month, the Three Lords, each riding a white crane, gather atop the peak. ○ In Dayuan, many met wrongful deaths lying across the roads. There were birds holding grass in their beaks that covered the faces of the dead, all of whom immediately revived. The First Emperor sent an envoy to inquire of Master Guigu, who said: "This is the herb of immortality from Zuzhou in the Eastern Sea, which grows in the Jasper Fields; a single stalk can revive a thousand people." The First Emperor therefore dispatched Xu Fu and three thousand young boys and girls each, boarding multi-decked ships out to sea to search for Zuzhou, never to return.