南嶽總勝集 3.23

3.23

元和中。有柳實元徹者。居于衡嶽。二公俱有從父為官浙右為理。庶人連累各竄于驩愛之州。二公共結行邁而往省焉。至于廉州合浦縣登州。而欲越海將抵交阯。艤舟合浦岸。夜有村人饗神簫鼓諠嘩。舟人與三公僕使咸往觀焉。夜將半。俄颺風起斷纜。飄于大海。莫之所適。俄抵孤島而風止。二公愁沮而陟焉。見天尊像瑩然于案所。有金鑪香燼。而別無一物。二公周覽。次忽覩東海上有巨獸。出首四顧。若有俯聽。良久乃沒去逡巡。有紫雲自海而湧出。蔓衍數百步。有五色芙蕖高百餘尺。葉葉而綻。內有帳幄。若綺繡雜錯。耀奪人目。見虹橋忽展直抵于島上。俄有雙[鬟-(一/口)+?]侍女。捧玉盒。持金鑪似蓮花。而至于天尊所。易其殘燼。炷以異香。二公見雙[鬟-(一/口)+?]。叩頭再拜。辭理哀酸。求反人世。雙[鬟-(一/口)+?]不答。二子請益。良久女曰。子何人而致此。二子以事告。女曰。少頃有玉虛尊師。當降此島。與南溟夫人會約子堅請之將有所遂。言訖。有道士乘白鹿馭彩霞直降于島上。二子拜而泣告。天師憫之曰。子隨此女而謁南溟天人。當有歸期無慮。尊師語雙[鬟-(一/口)+?]曰。予暫修真畢。當詣彼。二子受教至帳前。行拜謁之禮。見女子未笄衣五色文章。二子告以姓字。夫人哂之曰。昔時天台有劉晨。今有柳實。昔有阮肇。今有元徹。莫非天也。設二榻而坐。俄頃尊師至。夫人迎拜遂還坐。有仙娥數輩。奏以笙竿簫笛。傍引鸞鳳。雅合節奏。二子恍若夢于鈞天則人世罕聞見也。遂命飛觴。忽有玄鶴。銜彩牋自空而下曰。安期先生知尊師赴南溟會。暫請枉駕。尊師讀之謂玄鶴曰。尋當至彼。尊師語夫人曰。與安期先生間闊千載不值。南游無因訪話。夫人促侍女進饌。玉器光潔。與夫人對食。而二子不得饗。尊師曰。二客未合饗。然為致人間之食而食之。夫人曰然。則進饌。乃人間常味也。尊師食畢。懷出丹篆一卷而授夫人。夫人拜而捧之。遂告回。謂二子曰。子有道骨。歸不難。然邂逅相遇。合有靈藥相貺。但子宿分自有師。吾不合為子師爾。二子拜尊師遂去。夫人命侍女曰。可送二客去曰所乘者何。侍女曰。有百花橋可馭。二子感謝拜別。夫人贈以玉壺一枚。高尺餘。夫人命筆題玉壺詩云。來從一葉舟中來。去向百花橋上去。若到人間扣玉壺。鴛鴦自解分明語。俄有橋長數百步。欄檻之上皆有異花。二子於花間潛窺見。千龍萬虬遞相繳繞為橋柱石。有使者曰。吾不當為使而送子。蓋有深意。欲奉託強為此行。襟帶間一盒子。盒子中有物隱。隱然如蜘蛛形狀。謂二子曰。吾輩水仙也。水仙則陰也。而無男子。吾昔道遇番禺少年情之至則有子。未三歲令棄之。夫人命與南岳神為子其來久矣。中間南岳回雁峯使者有事于水府。回日憑寄吾子所弄玉環往而使者隱之。吾頗為根。二君子為持盒子。到回雁峯下。訪使者廟而投之。當有異變。儻得玉環。為送吾子。吾子亦當有報効。爾慎勿啟之。二子受之。謂使者曰。夫人詩云。若到人間扣玉壺。鴛鴦自解分明語何也。曰子歸有事但扣玉壺。當有禽而應之。事無不從意。又曰。玉虛尊師云。吾輩自有師。師復是誰。曰南嶽太極先生。爾當自遇之。遂與使者別橋之已盡。達昔日合浦。維舟處回視之無橋矣。二元詢時代已十年也。驩愛二州親屬殂矣。二子惆悵問道。將歸衡山。中途因以手扣玉壺。遂有鴛鴦語曰。當飲食前行自遇。俄頃道左有盂肴饌羅列。二子食而飽。數日尋即達家。昔日童稚已弱冠。然二子妻各謝世已三日。家人輩悲喜不自勝。人云郎君已沒大海。服闋已九秋也。二子似厭世體已清虛。觀妻之喪不甚悲戚。因相共抵回雁訪下。訪使者廟。以盒子投之。條有黑龍。長數丈。激風噴雹。折木拔屋。霹靂一聲。廟宇立碎。二子戰慄不敢熟視。空中乃有擲玉環者。二子取之而送于南岳廟。及歸有黃衣少年。持二金盒子。各到二子家曰。郎君持此藥曰反魂膏。而報二君子。家有斃者。雖一甲子猶可塗項而活。受之而少年忽不見。二子遂以活妻。後共尋雲水。訪太極先生。而曾無影響。悶然而歸。因雪見老叟負薪而賣。二子哀老年而寒。飲之以酒。睹薪檐上。有刻太極字。乃疑異之。禮為師。持玉壺以告之。叟曰。吾貯玉液者此壺也。往來數久甚喜。遂拉二子。同上祝融峯。更不出。疑自此皆得道也。

During the Yuanhe era, there were Liu Shi and Yuan Che, who dwelt on Hengyue. Both gentlemen had uncles who served as officials in Zhedong, but, being implicated along with the common populace, had been banished each to the prefectures of Huan and Ai. The two gentlemen formed a traveling fellowship and went thither to visit them. Having arrived at Hepu County in Lianzhou, they prepared to cross the sea and head toward Jiaozhi. They moored their boat on the shore of Hepu, and at night some villagers were feasting their god with a clamor of pipes and drums. The boatmen, together with the attendants of the two gentlemen, all went to watch it. When it was nearly midnight, a violent wind suddenly arose, severed the mooring rope, and blew [the boat] adrift upon the great sea, with none knowing where they were heading. Presently they reached a solitary island, and the wind ceased. Despondent and disconsolate, the two gentlemen climbed up onto it. They saw an image of the Heavenly Worthy shining clearly upon an altar table, with ashes in a golden censer, but not another thing. As the two gentlemen were looking all around, suddenly they beheld upon the eastern sea a gigantic beast poking out its head and gazing in all four directions, appearing as if bowing and listening; after a long while, it sank away. In an instant, purple clouds welled up from the sea, spreading over several hundred paces. There were five-colored lotuses over a hundred feet tall, petal by petal unfurling, inside of which were canopies and pavilions, seeming like variegated silks intertwined, dazzling the eyes. They saw a rainbow bridge suddenly spread out, reaching straight unto the island. Presently there were maidservants with double topknots, holding jade caskets and carrying golden censers shaped like lotus blossoms, who arrived at the place of the Heavenly Worthy, changed his remaining ashes, and burnt rare incense. Seeing the double-topknotted [maids], the two gentlemen kowtowed and bowed twice, their words sorrowful and bitter as they begged to return to the human realm. The double-topknotted [maids] did not answer. The two men pressed their request further. After a long while, the girl said: 'What sort of men are you, that you have arrived here?' The two men told her the matter. The girl said: 'In a little while, the Venerable Master of Yuxu will descend to this island to keep a tryst with the Lady of the Southern Ocean. If you firmly beseech him, your wish will be fulfilled.' As she finished speaking, there was a Daoist master riding a white stag and driving colorful clouds, descending straight onto the island. The two men bowed and wept as they told him. The Celestial Master took pity on them and said: 'Follow this girl and pay court to the Heavenly Person of the Southern Ocean; there will surely be a time of return, so do not worry.' The Venerable Master said to the double-topknotted [maids]: 'Once I have briefly finished my cultivation of the Real, I shall proceed thither.' The two men, having received his instruction, went before the pavilion and performed the rite of bowing and paying court. They saw a girl who had not yet reached the age of pinning her hair, wearing robes of five-colored patterns. The two men told her their surnames and names. The Lady smiled and said: 'In former times Tiantai had Liu Chen, and now there is Liu Shi; in former times there was Ruan Zhao, and now there is Yuan Che. Could this not be heaven's doing?' She arranged two couches and they sat down. Shortly afterward the Venerable Master arrived; the Lady welcomed and bowed to him, and then returned to her seat. There were several celestial maidens playing sheng pipes, mouth organs, vertical flutes, and horizontal flutes, accompanied on the side by luan birds and phoenixes, elegantly matching the rhythm. The two men felt as though they were dreaming in the Court of Heaven, experiencing what is rarely heard or seen in the human world. Thereupon she commanded that winged goblets be passed around. Suddenly a dark crane descended from the sky holding a colored letter in its beak, which said: 'Master Anqi, learning that the Venerable Master has arrived for the gathering in the Southern Ocean, begs to request your honored carriage for a short visit.' The Venerable Master read it and said to the dark crane: 'I shall shortly arrive there.' The Venerable Master said to the Lady: 'I have been separated from Master Anqi for a thousand years without meeting; traveling south, I had no cause to pay a visit.' The Lady urged the maidservants to serve viands, the jade vessels gleaming and pure, and she dined opposite the Venerable Master, while the two men were not permitted to partake. The Venerable Master said: 'The two guests are not yet fit to partake [of this], yet provide human food for them to eat.' The Lady said: 'So be it.' Then viands were presented, which were indeed the ordinary flavors of the human realm. When the Venerable Master had finished eating, he produced from his bosom a scroll of cinnabar talismans and gave it to the Lady. The Lady bowed and received it in her hands. He then announced his departure, and said to the two men: 'You have Daoist bones; returning will not be difficult. However, meeting by chance, there ought to be an efficacious medicine to bestow upon you, but by your past destiny you have your own master; it is not fitting that I should be your master.' The two men bowed, and the Venerable Master departed. The Lady ordered her maidservants, saying: 'You may escort the two guests away.' They asked what they would ride on, and the maidservant said: 'There is the Hundred Flower Bridge to take.' The two men gave thanks, bowed, and took their leave. The Lady presented them with a jade vase, over a foot high. The Lady took a brush and inscribed a poem on the jade vase: 'You came arriving from within a single-leaf boat; / You go departing atop the Hundred Flower Bridge. / If on arriving in the human world you strike the jade vase, / The mandarin ducks will themselves comprehend and speak clearly.' Presently there was a bridge several hundred paces long, upon the balustrades of which were all rare flowers. Peering secretly through the flowers, the two men saw thousands of dragons and tens of thousands of hornless dragons mutually intertwining to form the pillars and stones of the bridge. There was an envoy who said: 'I ought not to be the envoy who escorts you, but there is a deep intent; wishing to make a request, I have forced myself to undertake this journey.' In the folds of her sash was a small casket, and inside the casket something lay concealed, its form indistinctly resembling that of a spider. She said to the two men: 'We are water immortals. Water immortals are yin, and there are no males among us. Long ago on the road I met a youth of Panyu; when passion reached its utmost, I bore a son. Before he was three years old, I was ordered to abandon him. The Lady commanded that he be given to the god of Nanyue as a son, and a long time has passed since then. In the interim, an envoy from Huiyan Peak of Nanyue had business in the water palace; on returning, I entrusted to him a jade ring with which my son used to play, but when he went, the envoy concealed it. I harbor deep resentment over this. If you two gentlemen will take this casket, go beneath Huiyan Peak, seek out the envoy's shrine and cast it within, there will surely be an extraordinary change. If you obtain the jade ring, deliver it to my son, and my son will surely repay your service. Be careful not to open it!' The two men received it, and said to the envoy: 'The Lady's poem said, "If on arriving in the human world you strike the jade vase, / The mandarin ducks will themselves comprehend and speak clearly." What does this mean?' She said: 'When you return, if you have any need, merely strike the jade vase, and birds will respond to it, so that nothing will fail to go according to your wish.' They further asked: 'The Venerable Master of Yuxu said that we have our own master; who, then, is this master?' She said: 'It is Master Taiji of Nanyue; you will encounter him yourselves.' Thereupon they bid farewell to the envoy. The bridge had already ended, and they arrived at their former mooring place in Hepu; looking back, there was no bridge at all. The two men inquired about the era: ten years had already passed. Their relatives in the two prefectures of Huan and Ai were dead. Mournfully the two men asked the way, preparing to return to Hengshan. On the way, they tapped the jade vase with their hand, whereupon mandarin ducks spoke, saying: 'Whenever you need food or drink, walk forward and you will meet with it on your own.' In a short while, on the left of the road, there were platters of fine food and wine laid out. The two men ate and were sated. After several days they promptly reached their homes. The youths of former days were now young men of twenty, and the wives of both men had each passed away three days earlier. Their households were overcome with mingled grief and joy, saying: 'The masters had drowned in the great sea, and the mourning period ended nine autumns ago.' The two men seemed weary of the world, their bodies already pure and vacant; seeing the funerals of their wives, they were not overly sorrowful. Then together they arrived beneath Huiyan [Peak], sought out the envoy's shrine, and cast the casket into it. Instantly there was a black dragon, several zhang long, that stirred up wind and spewed hail, snapping trees and uprooting buildings; with a clap of thunder, the shrine buildings were instantly shattered to pieces. Trembling with fear, the two men dared not look closely. From the sky, someone threw down the jade ring. The two men took it and brought it to the Nanyue Temple. Upon returning, there was a youth in yellow clothes carrying two golden caskets, who arrived at the house of each man and said: 'My young master holds this medicine, called "soul-returning salve", to repay you two gentlemen. If there is a deceased person in your home, even after one sexagenary cycle, you may still smear their neck and they will revive.' They received it, and the youth suddenly vanished. The two men then used it to revive their wives. Later they together sought the clouds and waters, seeking Master Taiji, but there was not the slightest trace or sign of him. Disheartened, they returned. Because of snow, they saw an old man carrying firewood on his back and selling it. The two men pitied his old age and cold, and gave him wine to drink. Looking on the carrying pole for the firewood, there were carved the words 'Taiji'. Filled with wonder and suspicion, they took him as their master, and holding the jade vase, told him of it. The old man said: 'This is the very vase in which I stored jade liquor! Coming and going for so long, I am greatly delighted.' He then drew the two men along with him, ascending Zhurong Peak together, and they never came out again. It is conjectured that from this time on, they all attained the Way.