南嶽總勝集 3.38

3.38

王靈輿。晉陵人。幼自廬阜庵居。後遷南岳中宮。修真煉行。一紀道成。復朱陵之東。旦暮朝斗祈感上真而後昇舉。今宮前有片石。其文細如磨礱者。昔真人朝斗之石也。本宮舊有田地數頃為別宮所佃。景祐乙亥年正月。樞密學士富春公孫沔為御史　上因問事忤　旨貶永州市征。仲秋抵宮下。十月十八日就枕酣寐。夢遊清都觀。其觀數軒。竹樹蕭疎。潔洒可愛。有衣冠四人。中有峭峻端秀微有鬚黃衣道士。服頂紗巾。前揖公曰。賦壽甚遠。恩命將至矣。某有田疇。乃衡山邑君之部中也。幸惟顧屬之。公時在夢中。心自惟始被遣左官何遽有恩典。此皆術士妄言也。道士曰。何不相信之。良久日。足下心胸間有誌大如錢。公惟默未嘗有試。退手袖中捫其所如其說。道士曰。則向之言不誣矣。公益謝焉。乃唯而退。又連呼之。公回眄間。復言曰。某姓王氏。幸記勿忘。俄頃遂悟訝然。風度眉宇歷歷可記心目間。未幾奉　詔移倅長沙。十二月赴所官至衡岳觀。禮星像。目九仙宮。左右列真仙四人。王中者乃夢中所見。顏貌暗符。而衣冠則異。因觀其傳記。且曰中尊姓王。始覺其姓與夢中所說契矣。公雖訪其本觀所在。且撰日受暑迫於期會遂不及往。明年孟夏。刺史當奉　詔禱岳。以疾不克行。公實代往至昭潭晝寢。舟中忽如聞空中有語曰。移命將至。所禱之事竟不為理何也。忽然四顧無人。自呼舟中後使皆自舟後至者索其語言之人。悉無得焉。公思豈九仙未往有是異也。翌日至其岳祀事畢。詣觀中見古屋塑像。位於中者。榜曰王靈輿真人。其顏狀衣巾。乃夢中所見。無毫髮之差。公爇香再拜。感歎久之。遂與縣官推之逾年。果得若干田土屬隣觀。歲收地利。因而申明。勒還舊管。集賢章公岷作篆刻之石記之。并張覿奏復宮額內一記八分書存焉。又觀之西北五里有巖一所。深下平坦三四丈是。

Wang Lingyu was a person from Jinling. In his youth he lived in a hermitage on Mount Lu; later he moved to the Central Palace of Nanyue to cultivate perfection and refine his practice. In twelve years his Dao was perfected. Returning to the east of Zhuling, morning and evening he paid homage to the Dipper, praying to evoke the response of the Supreme Perfected, and thereafter ascended into the air. Now in front of the palace there is a flat stone whose texture is as fine as if ground on a whetstone; it is the stone where the Perfected One formerly paid homage to the Dipper. Originally, this palace had several qing of land rented out to other belvederes. In the first month of the yihai year of the Jingyou reign era, Academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs and Duke of Fuchun, Sun Mian, while serving as a Censor, offended the imperial will during an imperial interrogation and was demoted to tax administrator of Yongzhou. In mid-autumn he arrived beneath the palace. On the eighteenth day of the tenth month, lying down on his pillow in deep sleep, he dreamed of wandering to Qingdu Belvedere. The belvedere had several verandas, its bamboos and trees were airy and sparse, and it was clean, well-swept, and lovely. There were four men in robes and caps; among them was a yellow-robed Daoist priest, rugged, upright, elegant, with a slight beard, wearing a gauze cap on his head. He stepped forward, bowed to the Duke, and said, 'Your bestowed lifespan is very long, and a decree of grace will soon arrive. I have fields within the jurisdiction of the county magistrate of Hengshan. I hope you will look after them.' The Duke was at that time dreaming, and thought to himself, 'I have only just been demoted; how could there suddenly be an act of imperial grace? These are all wild words of a mantic practitioner.' The Daoist priest said, 'Why do you not believe it?' After a long while, he said, 'On your chest you have a birthmark as large as a coin.' The Duke was silent, never having checked it; withdrawing his hand into his sleeve, he felt the spot, and it was just as he had said. The Daoist priest said, 'Then my earlier words were not false.' The Duke thanked him with increasing deference, and having assented, retreated. [The Daoist] then called him repeatedly. As the Duke looked back, he spoke again, saying, 'My surname is Wang. Please remember it and do not forget.' Moments later, he awoke in astonishment; the priest's demeanor and features were vividly memorable in his mind and eye. Shortly afterward, he received an imperial decree transferring him to be Vice Governor of Changsha. In the twelfth month, proceeding to his post, he arrived at Hengyue Belvedere to pay homage to the stellar icons. He looked into the Palace of the Nine Immortals: arranged on the left and right were four perfected immortals, and the central one was precisely the person seen in his dream; the facial features subtly matched, though the clothing and cap were different. Thereupon he examined the records, and finding that the central venerable was surnamed Wang, he began to realize that his surname tallied with what had been spoken in the dream. Although the Duke inquired about the location of his original belvedere, as he had chosen a date, was oppressed by heat, and was pressed by deadlines, he was unable to go. In the first month of summer the following year, the Prefect was due to offer prayers at the sacred peak by imperial decree, but owing to illness could not go. The Duke was sent in his stead. Arriving at Zhaotan, as he napped during the day in his boat, he suddenly seemed to hear words in the air saying, 'The transfer decree is about to arrive; why have you after all not attended to the matter you were asked about?' Suddenly looking all around, there was no one. Calling to the boat's attendants who arrived from the rear of the boat to seek the person who had spoken, none could be found. The Duke wondered: 'Could it be that because I have not visited the Nine Immortals, there is this anomaly?' The next day, having arrived at the sacred peak and finished the sacrificial affairs, he visited the belvedere and saw the statues in the old building. The one situated in the center had a tablet reading: 'The Perfected One Wang Lingyu'. His face, figure, garments, and cap matched what had been seen in the dream without the slightest discrepancy. The Duke burned incense, bowed twice, and sighed in admiration for a long time. Thereupon, investigating the matter with the county officials over the course of a year, he indeed discovered that a certain amount of land belonged to the neighboring belvedere, which collected the revenue from the fields each year. Consequently, he reported it clearly and ordered it returned to its former jurisdiction. Zhang Min, Duke of Jixian, composed an inscription in seal script on stone to record it, and Zhang Di's memorial requesting the restoration of the palace plaque is preserved in a record written in clerical script. Furthermore, five li northwest of the belvedere, there is a cliff, deep, low, and flat for thirty to forty paces.