南嶽總勝集 3.44

3.44

帝喜賜爵不受。封為冲退處士。嘗與邵雍康節友善。因遊廣漢金雁橋。見一童年十二鬻詩。詧喜之拉同歸。更名經童。詧常看黃庭經。凡看罷。童竊窺之。一日有青衣童。持書至詧。接書已失青童。詧觀書皮云。南嶽布衣真一子書至西州沖退處士處開。及開但只一章詩云。未遂山中吟。時聞世上音。笑言失真詮。塵穢濁神襟。歸植南園芝。馳化北溟金。千日勤耕耘。自然生瑤琳。詧因遊西溪。偶濯足。有異人李士寧訪之。詧遽云足濯西溪流去水。李速應云。手持南嶽寄來詩。詧驚而笑曰。何以知之。李云久矣。李辭云。吾先往南嶽。君宜早來。自後李不復見。經童忽一日告去。詧曰。汝欲何往。童曰。先往南嶽候先生。詧曰。汝何知之。童曰久矣。童坐亡。逾月詧別相知而尸解。詧嘗煉丹。後服丹化如蛇蟬也。今人時見之於南岳。段願言弔之詩略云。尸解去難尋。空留一鼎金。西州大隱沒。北極少徵沈。又張賢良詩云。西海從來鎮大名。或聞蟬蛻棄遐齡。青城已結神仙侶。碧落俄沈處士星。金鼎煉成丹汞藥。玉堂傳授太玄經。平生是我深投分。自愧無才與勒銘。

The Emperor was pleased and offered him an official rank, which he declined; he was then enfeoffed as the Retired Scholar of Chongtui. He was once on good terms with Shao Yong, Kangjie. While wandering by the Jinyan Bridge in Guanghan, he saw a twelve-year-old boy selling poems. Cha was pleased with him, brought him home, and renamed him Jingtong ('Scripture Boy'). Cha often read the Scripture of the Yellow Court; whenever he finished, the boy would secretly peek at it. One day, a boy in blue clothes delivered a letter to Cha, but as soon as Cha took it, the boy disappeared. Cha looked at the envelope, which read: 'Letter from the Commoner Zhenyizi of Nanyue to the Retired Scholar of Chongtui in Xizhou, to be opened.' When opened, it contained only a single poem, which said: 'Not yet fulfilling the songs of the mountains, / I often hear the sounds of the worldly realm. / Jests and laughter lose the true purport; / Dust and filth soil the divine mind. / Return to plant the mushrooms of the southern garden; / Speed the transformation of gold from the northern sea. / Diligently till and plow for a thousand days, / And jasper and gems will naturally grow.' Later, while visiting Xixi, Cha casually washed his feet. A remarkable man named Li Shining visited him. Cha immediately said, 'Feet washing in the water flowing away down Xixi;' Li quickly responded, 'Hands holding the poem sent from Nanyue.' Startled, Cha smiled and said, 'How did you know of it?' Li said, 'I have known it for a long time.' Taking his leave, Li said, 'I shall go to Nanyue first; you should come soon.' After that, Li was never seen again. One day, Jingtong suddenly announced his departure. Cha asked, 'Where do you wish to go?' The boy said, 'I am going to Nanyue first to wait for you, Master.' Cha asked, 'How do you know this?' The boy said, 'I have known it for a long time.' The boy died in a seated posture. More than a month later, Cha bid farewell to his acquaintances and underwent corpse deliverance. Cha had once refined an elixir; later he ingested the elixir and shed his form like a snake or a cicada. People nowadays still occasionally see him at Nanyue. Duan Yuanyan's lamentation poem reads in part: 'Having departed in corpse deliverance, he is hard to seek; / In vain an empty cauldron of gold remains. / The great recluse of Xizhou has vanished; / The Northern Pole sees a minor summoner sink away.' Moreover, Zhang the Erudite and Upright's poem says: 'The Western Sea has always garrisoned great renown; / Some say he shed his form like a cicada, abandoning long age. / On Qingcheng he has already formed companions among divine immortals; / In the azure skies, the star of the retired scholar has suddenly set. / In the golden cauldron, the elixir of mercury was refined; / In the Jade Hall, the Taixuan jing was transmitted. / Throughout his life, he shared deep affinity with me; / I am ashamed to lack the talent to carve his epitaph.'