南嶽總勝集 3.2

3.2

梁雙襲祖。字仲遠。吳人也。居南嶽白馬洞。幼而淳素。不喜多言。凡所觀視。及接親友。皆毅然正容而待之。人不敢輕易者。得泝流之妙。往來荊襄一二百年。人莫之測。復入南嶽遊五峯。遇至人服霧炁之法。久之入雲陽山。秦人洞居曰。昔赤君曾降此山。乃朱陵之陽也。於是誦黃庭玉經不輟。弟子請之。就邑之觀宇。以便供侍。先生云。經曰。何不登山誦我書。人間紛紛臭如帤。吾謂。臭帤之所萬境紛紜。外則六鑿相攘。內則三彭所擾。昔魏夫人傳此玉經。而東遷陽洛而成道。代不乏人。但恐虛之不極守之不篤則道無由成矣。數年而入九疑山。白馬巖。悠然而住曰。吾始於白馬洞。而今終白馬巖。必吾反真之地。夫馬乃乾健浩然之炁。白為見素還元之方。吾居焉。忽一日謂門人曰。吾將入室之後。若有天炁異常。速來報吾。翌日中午四炁澄清。弟子報之。而索沐浴焚香。寂然歸真。俄而輕舉。遺帔於木杪。時則貞觀元年夏四月也。巖中臥席并坐壇。經二百餘年而不潰。弟子致之於觀真堂中供養。

Under the Liang, Shuang Xizu, styled Zhongyuan, was a man of Wu. He lived in White Horse Grotto at Nanyue. From his youth he was pure and simple, disliking excessive talk. Whenever he observed anything or received relatives and friends, he always faced them with a resolute and upright expression, so that people dared not treat him lightly. He attained the wonder of tracing the current back to its source, going back and forth between Jing and Xiang for one to two hundred years, without anyone being able to fathom him. He returned to Nanyue and wandered the Five Peaks, where he encountered a perfected person who transmitted to him the method of ingesting mist and qi. After some time, he entered Mount Yunyang. He dwelt in the grotto of the Qin people, saying, “Formerly the Red Sovereign once descended upon this mountain; it is indeed the sunny southern slope of Zhuling.” Thereupon he chanted the Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court without ceasing. His disciples requested that he move to a Daoist abbey in the town to make it convenient to attend on him. The Master said, “The scripture states: ‘Why not ascend the mountain to chant my book? The human realm is bustling and foul as worn rags.’ I say that places of foul rags are where the myriad realms are clamorous: externally the six apertures plunder each other, and internally the Three Peng create turmoil. In antiquity Lady Wei transmitted this Jade Scripture, then moved east to Yangluo and achieved the Dao. There has been no lack of such persons throughout the ages; yet if emptiness is not utmost and preservation is not steadfast, there will be no way to accomplish the Dao.” After several years he entered White Horse Cliff on Mount Jiuyi. Dwelling leisurely, he said, “I began at White Horse Grotto and now end at White Horse Cliff. This must be the place where I return to the Real. The horse represents the vigorous and vast qi of Qian; white is the way of perceiving simplicity and returning to the source. Here I shall reside.” Suddenly one day he said to his disciples, “After I enter the chamber, if the atmospheric qi is unusual, come report to me at once.” The following day at noon, the four qis were clear and tranquil. His disciples reported it to him; he then asked for a bath and burned incense, silently returning to the Real. Presently he ascended lightly, leaving his cloak in the treetops. It was the summer, the fourth month of the first year of Zhenguan. The sleeping mat and sitting altar in the cliff did not decay for over two hundred years. His disciples brought them to the Hall for Contemplating the Real to make offerings to them.