佛祖歷代通載 22.3

22.3

前後老君降生不同偽第十（第一化云。老子生在五運之前。第二化中。老子生在三氣之中。第六化云。老君姓李。諱弘元曜靈。字光明。以上和七年歲在庚辰九月三日甲子卯。時始育於北玄玉國天岡靈鏡山李谷之間。玄靈聖母既誕之夕。有三日出於東方。九龍吐水月妃散花。日童揚彩。年五歲體道凝真。二十而有金姿玉顏。棄家離親超迎風塵。後感元始下教。授以鬱儀太章太洞真經。紫微天帝玉清君。以瓊輿下迎。賜丹璽符書。為上清金闕後聖帝君。掌握十天河海神仙。第十一化云。老君以清濁元年七月一日。託玄神玉精。降太元玉女。千三百年。號無上老子。一號大千法王。第十二化云。老君以清漢元年。寄九天飛玄玉女。八十一年。號高上老子。第十三化云。老君以清漢元年甲午九月九日。降元素玉女。七十三年。號九靈老子。第十化云。老子以殷十八王陽甲庚寅歲建午月。入於玄妙玉女口中。八十一年至武丁九年庚寅歲一月十五日。聖母剖左腋攀李樹而生。生即行九步。步生蓮花。九龍吐水。具七十二相八十一好。左手指天右手指地。曰天上天下唯道獨尊。我當闡揚無上道法。普度一切。又云。李靈飛。得修生之道真。妻天水尹氏於瀨鄉晝寢見太上從天而下。化為玄銖。吞而有娠。八十一年生而皓首。曰老子。生李樹下。苗李為姓）。

The False Tenth Transformation: Discrepancies in Lord Lao's Successive Descents and Births (The first transformation says: Laozi was born before the Five Movements. In the second transformation: Laozi was born amidst the Three Qi. The sixth transformation says: Lord Lao's surname was Li, his taboo name Hongyuan Yaoling, and his courtesy name Guangming. In the seventh year of Shanghe, the year being gengchen, on the third day of the ninth month, jiazi, at the mao hour, he was first born in the Northern Xuan Jade Country, on Mount Tiangang Lingjing, within Li Valley. On the evening when the Holy Mother Xuanling gave birth to him, three suns arose in the east, nine dragons spat water, the Moon Consort scattered flowers, and the Sun Boy radiated splendour. At five years of age, he embodied the Dao and congealed the true; at twenty, he possessed a golden countenance and jade visage, leaving his home and family to transcend worldly dust. Later, inspired by Yuanshi's descent to bestow teachings, he was granted the Yuyi Taizhang and the Taidong Zhenjing. Lord Yuqing, the Celestial Emperor of Ziwei, descended with a jasper carriage to welcome him, bestowing cinnabar seals and talismanic writings, making him the Latter Sage Sovereign Lord of the Golden Gate of Shangqing, holding dominion over the spirits and immortals of the ten heavens, rivers, and seas. The eleventh transformation says: In the first year of Qingzhuo, on the first day of the seventh month, Lord Lao entrusted his mysterious spirit and jade essence to descend into the Jade Maiden of Taiyuan for one thousand three hundred years, titled Laozi the Unsurpassed, and also titled the Dharma King of the Great Chiliocosm. The twelfth transformation says: In the first year of Qinghan, Lord Lao lodged with the Jade Maiden Feixuan of the Nine Heavens for eighty-one years, titled Laozi the Exalted. The thirteenth transformation says: In the first year of Qinghan, jiawu, on the ninth day of the ninth month, he descended into the Jade Maiden of Yuansu for seventy-three years, titled Laozi of the Nine Spirits. The tenth transformation says: In the gengchen year of Yang Jia, the eighteenth king of Yin, in the wuwu month, Laozi entered the mouth of the Jade Maiden Xuanmiao; after eighty-one years, on the fifteenth day of the first month of the gengchen year, the ninth year of Wu Ding, the Holy Mother split her left armpit, clasped a plum tree, and gave birth to him. As soon as he was born, he walked nine steps, and lotuses sprang from every step; nine dragons spat water; he was endowed with the seventy-two marks and eighty-one minor signs. Pointing to heaven with his left hand and to earth with his right hand, he said: 'Above heaven and beneath heaven, only the Dao is solely venerable; I shall expound the unsurpassed teaching of the Dao to universally deliver all beings.' It also says: Li Lingfei attained the true method of cultivating longevity; his wife, of the Yin clan of Tianshui, was sleeping during the day in Lai Township and saw the Taishang descend from heaven, transforming into a dark coin; she swallowed it and became pregnant, giving birth to a white-haired child after eighty-one years, named Laozi; born beneath a plum tree, he took Li ('plum') as his surname from the shoot).