南嶽總勝集 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

Accounts of Tang and Song Adepts of the Dao, Extraordinary Persons, and Eminent Monks (hermits appended)

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.

3.3

Liao Chong, styled Qingxu, lived in Lianshan commandery in the third year of Datong of the Liang. Praised for his talent and virtue, he served as the commandery's registrar. Later he resigned his seal of office to wander and seek the essentials of the Dao, dwelling on Mount Songgao. After a long time, he passed through Jingzhu. Two spirits of Gong'an caused strange phenomena, raising wind and waves to block his boat. He thereupon subdued them and commanded them to protect the boat, crossing over to Nanyue. At the summit of Zhurong Peak he met the Perfected Lord of Taiping, who transmitted to him the essentials of the Dao. He then said to the two spirits, “I will dwell at Chenyang to compound the elixir. You may guard the furnace for me. When the elixir is completed on a future day, you shall also have a share.” When the elixir was completed, he returned to his home village. He always rode a tiger and held a snake as a whip. When he was over a hundred years old, in the second year of Guangtian, he ascended amid dark clouds and wind.

3.4

Xiao Linghu, styled Tianyou, was a man of Luling. At the age of five or seven he could compose poetry, and all that he made had an intention beyond the dust of the world. At fifteen he took fond to Daoist attire. He met a perfected person who transmitted to him the golden elixir and embryonic breathing. He visited famous mountains all around, carrying over a hundred scrolls of Daoist texts on his back. He often said, “If one wishes to ascend to the Southern Palace, one must first cross through Zhuling.” Gradually visiting Dongyang, he passed Yuelu, gazed upon the image of Perfected Deng, and said, “This mountain is one of the blessed lands of Zhuling.” At night he met a perfected person who transmitted to him the art of the fire cauldron. During the Zhenguan era, he sailed up the Xiao and Xiang rivers to personally pay homage to Zhusheng, practicing rites to expel evil; the people of the countryside who were saved were beyond counting. Later he resided at the Zhaoxian Abbey, refining the art of the fire cauldron, transforming yellow and white metals to sell outside, and renovating the abbey so that it was completely renewed. Feudal lords and kings revered him and invited him to be their Dharma master, all facing north to serve him. Later he selected a secluded and scenic spot to refine the divine elixir, taking three altars in all before it was accomplished. Later he ingested it. At the Mid-Autumn Festival in the second year of Hongdao, he said to his disciples, “The time for my journey has arrived; I must go where I belong and cannot linger. If you are diligent, you will have what follows.” He then underwent deliverence from the corpse. A fragrant aroma filled the room, and there seemed to be clear music resonating outside the door, which ceased after some time.

3.5

Zhang Huiming, a man of Zhaojun, built a hermitage on Mount Zhongtiao and received the teaching at Yuanzhen Abbey. He often used incantations and restrictions to drive away goblins and spectres. Later he went to Chang'an, where he met the Master of Hunyuan and received the practice of high ascension. With his merit benefiting others and his virtue complete, his Daoist learning surpassed the multitude; all who took seats [under him] were gentlemen of refined cap. Emperor Taizong summoned him to the inner palace to hold an offering ritual, which had efficacious responses. Later he begged to return to the mountain forests. The Emperor granted it and decreed that he reside at Nanyue, bestowing the title Master Miaoji. Suddenly one night he met Lady Youying of Nanyue, who transmitted the essentials of embracing the One, preserving the Real, and the blending of the Three and Five. He practiced it for twelve years, when he was summoned again to the Western Peak to facilitate imperial inquiries. Later he underwent deliverence from the corpse.

3.6

Chan Master Tancang of the West Garden Aranya on Nanyue kept an uncanny dog. Often when he walked at night, the dog would take the master's robe in its mouth, and the master would return to his room. It would also lie in wait by the door, barking and throwing itself forward in a posture of fierce biting. At dawn, there was a great python on the eastern ridge, several tens of feet long, opening its mouth and panting, with fierce flames of poison. The attendants asked to flee. The master said, “Can death be fled? It comes with poison, but I receive it with compassion. Poison has no real nature; when provoked, it becomes strong. If compassion is without condition, foes and kin are treated as one.” When he finished speaking, the python lowered its head, moved away slowly, and suddenly vanished. Another night there were thieves; the dog again took the master's robe in its mouth. The master said to the thieves, “If there is anything agreeable in this thatched hut, take whatever you please.” Moved by his words, the thieves all left.

3.7

Master He was a man of unknown origins. During the Longshuo era he dwelt on Mount Heng, not revealing his name or surname. His face appeared to be about forty years old, and he walked as if flying. He frequently traveled between Cangwu and the Five Ridges, arriving without desire and leaving without weariness. For over a hundred years, people often saw him, his appearance never changing. If someone asked his family clan or his age, he merely said, “He, He!” If someone inquired into his native place or his spiritual attainments, he also said, “He, He!” People of the time called him Master He. In tattered clothes and worn shoes, his mind was vast. The recluses Tian Xuying and Deng Xuzhong once requested, “The Master ultimately says nothing; how can you enlighten students?” He then said, “Knowing one does not know is highest; not knowing yet thinking one knows is a disease. Who can bore holes into Chaos and abandon the principle of spontaneity?” Thereupon, leaning on a goosefoot cane, he entered the forest; presently a pack of tigers followed him, and he was seen no more. During the Kaiyuan era, Sima Chengzhen traveled to Zhurong Peak on Nanyue and said, “An exalted immortal must dwell here; why else would the atmospheric colors be so remarkably refined like this?” Soon after, he saw Master He emerge from the forest. Chengzhen paid homage and stepped forward to inquire, but the Master sat leaning on a rock as if seeing nothing. Seeing he received no answer, Chengzhen withdrew and sighed, “This can be called one whose talent is complete yet whose virtue remains unmanifest.” He then built a hermitage at the mountain peak to invite him. Master He went to stay there and did not come out again. Surveillance Commissioner Lü Wei went to his hut to ask for the transmission of talismans and registers. Zhang Taixu, Tian Xuying, and Deng Xuzhong served him as disciples, but none could grasp his purport. On the Xiayuan day in the second year of Tianbao, cloud-cranes soared in the sky and a wondrous fragrance wafted richly. He said to his disciples, “After I am gone, you should carry me up onto the flat boulder on the southern peak of Zigai.” He then transformed, his countenance unchanged. His disciples formed a guard around him and performed the rite of moving the spirit; in the middle of the night they heard the sound of thunder, and his whereabouts were lost. Su Wulian, Governor of Hengyang, composed an inscription for him, which stands at the Quande Abbey.

3.8

During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang, Xu Jingye raised a rebellion in Yangzhou. Wu Zetian ordered an army to suppress him, and he was defeated and fled. Jingye had previously raised a man whose appearance resembled his own and treated him with favor. When Jingye was defeated, the man he had kept was captured and beheaded, his head taken to be Jingye's. In reality, Jingye hid on Mount Dagu, building a hermitage to farm and dig wells with several dozen companions, cutting off all human affairs; he then shaved his head to become a monk, and many of his companions shaved their heads as well. In the beginning of the Tianbao era, an old monk named Zhukuo, over ninety years of age, went with his disciples to Hengyue Monastery on Nanyue. He visited the monks and lived there for over a month. Suddenly he requested the assembly of monks to gather so he could repent of his sins of killing. The assembly of monks found it strange. The old monk said, “Have you ever heard of Xu Jingye? That is indeed myself. After my army was defeated, I entered Mount Dagu to cultivate the Dao with diligence. Now that my life is about to end, I have come to this monastery to let the world know that I have already realized the fourth fruit.” He then foretold the date of his death, and indeed passed away as scheduled. He was then buried on Mount Heng.

3.9

Xue Jichang was a man of Mianzhu in Hanzhou. For generations his family had been officials. From his youth, Jichang had no fondness for glory and did not eat meat, always wearing plain cloth and being passionate about mountains and waters. One day he went roaming to Qingcheng; his parents thought it was not far and allowed him to go. He then traveled south to Taoyuan. Later he met Master Zhengyi at Nanyue, receiving the secret registers of the Three Caverns and probing into the essentials of the Real, repeatedly evoking the secret descents of exalted Perfected. Emperor Minghuang summoned him and constantly inquired about Dao and virtue; his discourse was thorough and wide-ranging, and the Emperor was pleased with him. After some time, he begged to return to the mountain. The Emperor ordered a poem to be composed and presented to him, with a preface saying: “The Master of Training has his will set on the mysterious portal and his mind resting on Nanyue. When his name was entered into the Daoist registers, he suddenly came to bid farewell, wishing to return to his former mountain to preserve the empty white. Not disobeying his refined purpose, and valuing his diligent cultivation: when you encounter a perfected person and divine medicine, come back to the city ramparts and palace gates.” The poem said: / “The guest cultivating reality in grotto-palaces of Hengyang / Thinks of his former dwelling. / When about to accomplish the essentials of the Golden Palace, / He wishes for the Jade Clarity writings. / The cloud paths are close to the Three Heavens; / By the pine stream the myriad sounds are empty. / It is still fitting to transmit the secret formulas, / And come await the immortal carriage.” / Jichang dwelt at the Jiuzhen Jiangsheng Abbey, and returned to his former retreat at Huagai to compound the elixir, which was accomplished. One day he suddenly said to his disciples, “Tonight Zhurong has a gathering of the Perfected; I have been summoned and must go.” He then soared into the void and departed, never to return. Later, the Lingxu Palace was built.

3.10

Deng Ziyang was a man of Nancheng in Fuzhou. At first he dwelt on Mount Magu. Later, when visiting his parents at the foot of the mountain, he encountered a great python blocking the road; he paced the Dipper steps and drove it away. The python transformed into a sword, which he then obtained and wore. His temperament became increasingly resolute and unbending, and he always possessed talent for saving the world. Whenever he rested among streams and ravines, he chanted the Tianpeng Incantation without ceasing. The Northern Emperor dispatched a spirit being to transmit sword methods to him. He traveled far to visit Zhuling of Nanyue, paying homage to the two altars of Qingyu and Guangtian, and bowing before Perfected Deng, experiencing an efficacious response in a dream. Liu Youzong took him as master and sought the transmission of the incantations and restrictions, but [Ziyang] said to him, “The Shilin Inverted Grotto is where the setting sun loses the ford and mountain spectres dwell in packs. Formerly my ancestor drove them away, over three hundred years ago. Now, because vital energy is not upright, this kind of creature takes advantage of it to assault humans. Later you should erect an altar to ward them off, and also internally nurture the vast [qi]; only then can you hope for the immortal ranks.” Later Emperor Minghuang summoned Ziyang; because an offering ritual was held in the inner palace to defeat the barbarian invaders, he was enfeoffed as Celestial Master. Later he underwent deliverence from the corpse. Youzong built an altar courtyard below Shilin according to the method, and the wicked creatures of the commandery all fled to other mountains.

3.11

Tian Xuying, styled Genyi, was a man of the state of Qi. By nature he was simple and artless, speaking his mind without hesitation or taboo. During the Kaihuang era he attended to his parents in You County; because of the clamor and bustle, he moved to Nanyue, personally farming below Zigai Peak to fulfill his filial duties for over fifty years. After his mother passed away, he wandered the Five Peaks, giving free rein to his will in self-contentment. During the Longshuo era, the prefect Tian built the Hall for the Descending of the Real at Hengyue Abbey for him to reside in. Tian Yucheng praised him with the inscription “Sharing the Jade Disk”. The registers and methods of the Grand Cavern of Supreme Clarity which he received were transmitted from Master Zhengyi.

3.12

Celestial Master; the Celestial Master transmitted [them] to Xuying. Having received the essential teachings of the Dao, he wandered far and wide among the clouds and waters. Among his close friends, only Jiang She, Hong Shi, Lü Wei, and Yang Ping, who all served as envoys to Hunan, would often visit him to engage in lofty discussions. Once, when Tanzhou suffered a drought, they prayed for rain but did not obtain it for a long time. They summoned Xuying, who arrived at the commandery with disheveled hair and tattered clothes without uttering a word, and rain fell of its own accord. On another occasion, rain poured incessantly for a long time; the commandery governor erected an altar at the Hengyue Abbey, and [Xuying] sat silently with his headcloth tilted up; as soon as he mounted the altar, the skies cleared. During the Yuanhe era, he traveled east into Tiantai and never came out again. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, he was summoned by imperial decree but did not rise [to accept]. There was one Ouyang Ping, whose learning in the Dao was also profound, and who always served him as a master. One day [Ouyang] dreamt that three divine beings, each holding a golden censer, descended from the heavens as if summoning someone. He secretly told others, "The two masters will not be here much longer. I must surely follow them." Before long, Xuying indeed achieved feather-transformation (ascended as an immortal), and Jiang also passed away after him. Among his accomplished disciples, the three men—Qiyao Ping Weiliang, Xianglin Chen Guayan, and Fangying Xu Lingfu—all achieved release by corpse in succession.

3.13

Li Simu was a man from Chengji. He formed a friendship of mists and clouds with Master of Alchemy Dong and Master Bai of Eastern Chu. They traveled all around the famous mountains of the Three Xiang rivers, and later visited the Five Peaks of Nanyue; though their models of practice differed, each had his own aim. After Bai ascended [as an immortal] at Shigu, Simu went to the capital. Gao Lishi, ingratiating himself with Wu Yun, introduced him to Emperor Minghuang; his answers to the emperor's questions matched the imperial intention. Later, he requested to return to the mountains, and the Emperor richly bestowed him with money. He prepared and circulated an annotated edition of the *Qingjing jing* (Scripture of Purity and Tranquility) in the world. Later he underwent mystical transformation at Zigai Peak. Only Dong mingled incognito among the rear caves of Hengyang, frequently treating people's illnesses with incantations. If anyone wished to repay him, getting him drunk once with wine was ideal; thereupon, whenever he awoke, he would lie drunk upon the thoroughfares; or when encountering sudden rain in mountain streams and valleys, his clothes were not soaked; and when braving severe frost, he remained glowing bright. After several years, he went from door to door telling people, "Each of you, take good care of yourselves." Everyone was astonished by this; he also underwent release by corpse in the rear cave, like the molting of a cicada. Du Fu of the Tang has a line at the end of his poem *Yixi xing* (Recalling the Past): "Again I shall visit Master of Alchemy Dong of Hengyang; / Traveling south, let me quickly ply the rudder on the Xiao and Xiang."

3.14

Xue Youqi was a man from Baoding in Puzhou. He was quiet by nature and possessed sharp insight and outstanding discernment. In the leisure left over from preparing for the civil examinations, he was fond of inquiring into matters beyond the mundane realm. During the Kaiyuan era, he passed the *jinshi* examination at the young age of just twenty. He was appointed vice magistrate of Ling Commandery, but before his term of office was complete, he felt an inclination toward the woods and springs. He thereupon brushed off his robes, cast aside [official] dress for a daoist cap and coarse garments, and traveled to and from Qingcheng and Emei. After a long while, he visited Heming Mountain to pay respects to the administrative seat of the Han Celestial Master. He cultivated his practice for barely twelve years, and the pneumatic energy of the Dao grew ever more abundant. At the beginning of the Tianbao era, he traveled again to Nanyue to divine a place for cultivating the Realized State. Concealing his name and surname beneath the Five Peaks, he roamed his mind in the realm of self-realization, broad and unattached to anything, yet able to soften his light and merge with the dust of the world, rounding his corners to blend with ordinary clay. As for the scriptures and instructions of the Three Caverns, there were none he had not thoroughly surveyed. Thus, hermits and unfettered guests, drawn by his repute, gathered around him day after day, while the master's disputations were vast and extensive, illuminating each according to their natural faculties. He submitted the *Xuanwei lun* (Treatise on the Mysterious and Subtle) in three fascicles to Emperor Minghuang, which matched the imperial intention, and the emperor praised his penetrating awakening. Shortly thereafter, he achieved release by corpse. His commentary on the *Lingbao* [scriptures] was circulated in the world. Today, at Lingxu Palace, there is the Heavenly Incense Terrace; it is the place where he commented on the scriptures. Morning and evening, clouds and mists arise, curling like incense.

3.15

Tang Ruoshan was a man from Lu Commandery. During the Xiantian era, he served successively as secretary in the Department of State Affairs and presided in succession over busy commanderies. During the Kaiyuan era, he went out to govern Jianzhou, where he had a benevolent administration, praised far and wide. Ruoshan was fond of the Dao of longevity, and ordered his younger brother Ruoshui to become a daoist priest of Hengyue; together with his elder brother, he obtained the essentials of the primordial embryo and the valley spirit. Ruoshan was once summoned to the inner palace, and later requested to return to the mountains, which was granted by imperial decree. Later, in the middle of the Yangzi River, Ruoshan mounted a five-colored mist and became an immortal. His younger brother underwent release by corpse at Nanyue.

3.16

Shen Taizhi's style name was Guangxiang. His ancestors were originally from Luoyang; having held office beyond the lakes, they had resided generation after generation in Changsha, and later dispersed to the four quarters. He was admired from near and far. Taizhi divined a residence at Liutang in Renfeng Village of Shaozhou. For several generations, his family had cultivated benevolence and compassion. From youth, he lived secluded and apart, not mingling with relatives or friends; he loved reading and was always pure and frugal. He traveled and rested at Nanyue, inquiring into matters of immortals. One evening atop Zhurong Peak, he encountered a Realized Person, who transmitted to him the arts of the golden elixir and fire dragon. He refined the elixir north of Yunshan atop Mount Yehu for accumulated years. The great medicine having been completed, his merits and practices were both fully accomplished; he was able to mount the void and roam in spirit, his appearance and disappearance displaying ample marvelous signs, unfathomable to mortals. On the sixteenth day of the eighth month, the *wuyin* year, being the twenty-sixth year of the Kaiyuan era, Emperor Minghuang decreed to his close ministers, saying: "Last night, during the Mid-Autumn night, I slept and dreamt that a divine being told me: 'At Yunshan in Shaozhou of Hunan, there is a man of the Dao who has refined the elixir and attained immortality. If you receive him with courtesy, he can serve as a refuge for the state.'"

3.17

Prime Minister Liu Yan had in his youth a fondness for the arts of roaming [transcendents]. Though earnest and untiring, he met none. Having heard that extraordinary men often frequent marketplaces because the clamour and commotion allow them to conceal their traces, he went wandering in Chang'an and reached an apothecary. In an offhand way, the apothecary said: "There are often three or four old men wearing gauze caps and leaning on staves who come to get wine, drink it, and immediately depart. They also ask to look at the medicines, though they do not buy much. I suspect they are no ordinary folk." Duke Liu asked, "When will they arrive?" The shopkeeper replied, "They should come tomorrow." At dawn the next day Duke Liu went, and after a short while three Daoists indeed arrived. They filled their cups to the brim, drank, and bantered with utmost joy, acting as if no one else were present. After a long while one said, "Is there anyone in the world comparable to our kind?" Another said, "Wang Shiba." Thereupon they departed. From then on Liu ever kept this in mind, yet could not find him. Later, when serving as prefect, he passed through Hengshan County on his way to the south. It was early spring, and the scenery was warm and mild. He ate a plate of cold tossed noodles served with sweet herbs, artemisia, and the like, which were exceedingly fragrant and fresh. Duke Liu was astonished and asked the post station official: "Are there any gentry living nearby? Where did these vegetables come from?" The official answered: "In the county there is a public gardener, Wang Shiba, who is skilled at cultivating [vegetables]; thus the post station always has good greens." Duke Liu was startled, recalling what the Daoist he met had said. He asked, "How far is the garden? May one go there?" The official replied, "Right behind the post station." He then went to inquire and saw Wang Shiba, dressed in short breeches and watering garden beds, with a rustic and wild appearance. Seeing Duke Liu, he hastened forward to bow with trembling. When Liu gradually asked him of his native place and family, he replied: "Like drifting tumbleweed, I do not remember; nor do I have any kin." Duke Liu marvelled all the more. He bade him sit, called for wine, and gave it to him to drink, but Wang stubbornly refused and went back. Duke Liu then went to the county office and personally requested that Wang accompany him south of the ridges. The county magistrate had no idea why, and immediately dispatched him. Wang Shiba did not put up much resistance; wearing tattered clothes and straw sandals, he boarded the boat and departed. Duke Liu gradually became familiar with him, had his wife and children greet and bow to him, and sat together with him for tea and meals. Wang's appearance and clothes grew daily more filthy and ruined, and the servants secretly despised him. The wife said, "Can there be anything extraordinary about him? Why act like this?" Yet Duke Liu did not slacken. Several hundred leagues from their destination, Wang fell ill with dysentery, worsening from morning to evening. The boat was cramped and narrow, and he remained right beside Duke Liu. Those around held their noses and ceased eating, unable to bear the misery. Duke Liu showed no hint of loathing or avoidance, but merely felt grief and pity, urging him to take broths and gruel. After several days, he perished. Duke Liu lamented and wept bitterly. His funerary arrangements were complete in every detail, and he buried him beside the road. In a later year, when his post was relieved and he was returning to the court, he again arrived at Hengshan County. The county magistrate went out to the suburbs to welcome him. Once seated, the magistrate said: "The gardener whom you took along, sir, soon returned; he must have been unfit for your service." Astounded, Duke Liu asked, "When did he return?" The magistrate said: "A month or so after you left, he returned, saying he had been released by your orders." Duke Liu was greatly startled. He immediately walked to the garden; though the thatched hut remained, there was nothing to be seen. A neighbour said, "Wang Shiba left last night." Duke Liu's grief and regret increased all the more. Facing the hut, he bowed twice, wept, and then investigated: the day Wang arrived at the county was precisely the day he had died of illness on the journey. He dispatched someone to open the grave: at the burial site there were only empty clothes. Months later he reached the capital, where he took up his post in the court ranks. By chance he contracted a grave illness; as he drew his last breaths, his family, wife, and children gathered around weeping and wailing. Suddenly, urgent knocking on the door was heard. The gatekeeper ran in shouting, "Someone calls himself Wang Shiba!" He ordered him admitted and joyfully welcomed him with bows. Wang Shiba smiled slightly and entered his bedchamber; Liu had already been insensible for a long time. Wang ordered all screens, partitions, and medicines removed. From his waist he took a gourd bottle, opened it, and produced three pills the size of small beans. Using a reed pipe, he drew half a bowl of water, poured it into Liu's mouth, and shook him. In a short while there was a rumbling in Liu's belly like thunder; presently he opened his eyes, sprang to his feet, and seemed as though he had never been sick. The wife cried, "Wang Shiba!" Tears and mucus streaming down, she grasped his clothes and bowed twice, overcome with emotion. His wives, concubines, and servants all wept. Wang Shiba said sorrowfully: "Repaying our past bond, I have come to save you. One pill of this medicine can prolong your life by ten years. When the time comes, I shall return." He helped himself to a bowl of tea and departed. When Duke Liu pleaded with him to stay a little, he refused; when Liu wished to offer him gold and silk, he laughed heartily again. Later, Duke Liu was appointed prime minister and concurrently oversaw the salt and iron monopolies; on account of an incident, he was demoted to Zhongzhou for thirty years. One day he fell ill, and Wang Shiba came again, saying, "I wish to see the minister." Duke Liu was deeply moved and invited him into his chambers, pleading with him once more. Wang Shiba said: "Your illness will be cured, but you must return my medicine." He then threw an ounce of salt into water and made Liu drink it. Liu vomited profusely, and among the vomit were three pills whose colour was no different from those taken thirty years before. Wang Shiba asked for fragrant water to wash them. Duke Liu's paternal nephew, who was attending the sickbed, snatched two of the pills and swallowed them. Wang Shiba gazed intently at him, laughed, and said: "You possess Daoist pneumatic energy; I knew indeed they would be seized by you." He hurried out and departed, uttering no word of farewell. Duke Liu soon fell ill again, and after several months, an imperial decree [commanding his suicide] arrived, and he died. As for the eminent monk Lancan: in the early Tianbao era of the Tang, he was a labouring monk at Hengyue Monastery. When the meal was over, he would collect what remained and eat it; being naturally lazy and eating scraps (can), he was nicknamed Lancan ("Lazy Remnants"). During the day he performed all the labour of the monastery, and at night he slept beneath the herd of oxen, never showing any sign of weariness for twenty years. At that time, Li Mi, the Duke of Ye, was studying in the monastery. Observing that Lancan's conduct was extraordinary, he listened in the dead of night to Lancan's Buddhist chanting, which resonated above. Li Mi had a keen ear for music and could discern auspiciousness and grief; deeming that the sound of Lancan's scriptural chant was plaintive at first and joyous later, he knew Lancan had to be a transcendent banished to the mortal realm. Li presented his name and went to pay homage. Lancan reviled him loudly, spat in his face, and said: "This fellow will ruin me!" Duke Li respected him all the more and bowed with elegance. Lancan was just then poking into cow dung, pulling out a taro root, and eating it. After a long while he said, "You may sit on the ground." Taking half of the taro he was eating, he handed it over. Duke Li ate it all. Lancan then told him: "Be careful not to speak much; receive and hold ten years as prime minister." Duke Li thanked him and withdrew. More than a month later, the prefect was conducting a sacrifice to the Sacred Peak, revering the Dao with utmost solemnity. Suddenly, in the dead of night, amid wind and thunder, a peak collapsed, and the road for walking on the mountain was blocked by a huge boulder. They harnessed ten oxen to haul it and had several hundred men shout and push it, yet human strength was exhausted while the rock stood ever firmer; there was no other route by which the ritual could be performed. Lancan said, "Without using human strength, let me test removing it." The crowd all laughed loudly, taking him for a madman. Lancan said, "Why mock me? Let me test it, and then we shall see." The monastery monks laughed and permitted it. He then stepped onto the rock and shifted it; suddenly the boulder rolled down with a sound like thunder. Once the mountain road was cleared, the monks all bowed in ranks, and all who saw it hailed him as a supreme sage. The prefect revered him like a god. Lancan grew quiet and conceived the intent to depart. Outside the monastery, tigers and leopards suddenly gathered in packs; daily they caused harm, and there was no way to stop them. Lancan said, "Hand me a staff; I will drive them all away for you." The crowd said, "He pushed even the great boulder; this matter is easy." So they gave him a bramble staff and followed softly to watch. No sooner had he left the gate than a tiger was seen clamping him in its jaws, climbing the mountain, and eating him. People sighed that he could not escape fate. Earlier, when Lancan lived in the crags for a long time, he once composed a song, which went in brief: / "The affairs of the world are drift and drag, / Better to dwell amid mountain crags. / Green pines shut out the sun's bright beam, / Long flows the azure mountain stream. / Mountain clouds are my pure delight, / The hook of the moon adorns the night. / Reclining beneath the clinging vine, / A boulder my pillow, I recline. / I pay no court to the Son of Heaven, / What care I for princes and dukes? / Birth and death hold no concern, / What further worry can there be? / The moon in water has no form, / I am ever peaceful in myself. / All phenomena are just like this: / Neither dying nor being born. / Motionless, without a single thing to do; / When spring arrives, the grass grows green of itself." / Later, Li Mi indeed became prime minister. Another account says: Lancan subdued a mountain demon at Shilun, and when he sold a jewel he was sued; he died in prison, which was a liberation from the corpse.

3.18

The Hermit of Hengshan: his name and surname are unknown. Because he sold medicines, he often came and went from Hengyue Monastery to lodge there, at times going four or five days without eating anything. The monastic assembly marvelled at him. Later, when he again sold medicines and reached the monks' quarters, the assembly saw that he did not eat and knew he was an extraordinary man, receiving him with great honour. It happened that a musician brought his daughter to the monastery; the girl was beautiful, and many wished to take her [as wife], but the parents asked five hundred strings of cash, so none made a move. When the hermit heard the girl was to be married, he invited the monks to go and look; delighted, he wished to take her, and carried two ingots of gold, exactly two hundred ounces. He said to the girl's father: "This gold is worth seven hundred strings of cash; now without further reckoning, take the gold and depart." The musician was at the time serving as an official emissary and hastily took his leave. The hermit indicated where he lived, saying: "It is forty-odd leagues from here; just go up the mountain and you shall know." When the girl's parents finished their duties and longed for their daughter, they went to seek her. They came upon vermilion gates towering and splendid; knocking on the gate, the hermit and the daughter both came out to welcome them. Upon arrival they ate once, and then were hungry no more; they lingered for five or six days without thinking of food. When the parents were about to return, the hermit presented them with five ingots of yellow gold held in a five-coloured chest, saying to the parents: "This place is deep and secluded, no longer a human dwelling; hereafter, do not trouble yourselves to come again." Later, when the parents went again, they saw only mountain weeds overgrown and wild, no longer a human dwelling. Only then did they know it was a cavern of divine transcendents. As for Li Mi: during the reign of Suzong, he lived in seclusion at Hengshan. An imperial decree granted him the stipend of the third rank, bestowed upon him the robes of a hermit, and built a palace chamber for him. Li once gathered pine resin to lean his back against, naming it "Nourishing Harmony." Later he obtained one shaped like a dragon and presented it to the emperor. In his youth he had composed a poem: / "Heaven birthed me, Earth bears me; / Did Heaven and Earth birth me with intent or not? / If not, let me abstain from grain and ascend the heavenly highway; / If not, let me ride with jingling bridle-bells to roam the imperial capital. / How could I fail to gain honour and yet fail to leave, / Idly standing tall as a manly hero? / A manly hero, ah, a manly hero! / In life my ambitions hold many fine plans. / I pray you look upon the deeds of a hundred years: / When my task is done, in a skiff I shall drift upon the Five Lakes." / The foundation of his hermitage still stands on Yanxia Peak. Having received the secret words of Master Xuanhe and having been awakened by Lancan, he achieved both the Dao and his worldly career. The final line of his poem had already foreseen this.

3.19

Yu Linggui was a native of Hejian who dwelt at Jiuzhen Belvedere on Hengshan. After studying the Dao for over ten years, the Red Lord of Nanyue took pity on him and transmitted to him the way of swirling wind and blending, as well as the method of guarding the bright rafters for twenty years. Sitting, he could see all affairs under heaven as if looking into his palm; yet he kept himself hidden, not performing extraordinary deeds to startle people, so people did not know he possessed the Dao. When conversing, he often spoke of his travels throughout the four seas and the nine provinces. His countenance always appeared like that of a man of about thirty. During the Yuanhe era, officials of Chenzhou gathered at the belvedere gate to welcome the prefect. Linggui, dressed in ragged clothes, remained at ease; when people saw him, they did not treat him with much courtesy. Suddenly, going through the various officials, he recounted the names, appearances, dispositions, official duties, and lifespans of their fathers and grandfathers, hitting the mark in every case. The crowd was amazed and bowed to him in reverence. But he said, "It was merely by chance; it is not something I know." He then entered, shut the gate, and did not come out; though they pleaded with him repeatedly, he spoke no more. Only then did they realise he was an extraordinary man. He constantly recited the Dadong jing, sometimes abstaining from grain, sometimes drinking wine. There was the old transcendent Pan who roamed the Sacred Peak and was very close with Linggui; Pan always kept a turtle four to five feet wide, whose strength could match ten men, striking awe into all who saw it. Linggui rode upon it to enter the Jiuyi Mountains, where woodcutters occasionally saw him.

3.20

Anciently, in the time of Shun, there was a bird resembling a sparrow that came from Danzhou. It exhaled a five-coloured vapour that billowed like clouds; its name was Pingxiao ('Soaring into the Heavens'). These sparrows could fly in flocks, holding in their beaks cinnabar sand and pearl dust that was so light and fine that when blown by the wind it rose as dust; it was called 'pearl dust'. Nowadays, when mountain people outside Cangwu gather medicinal herbs, they find blue-green stones as round as pearls; ingest them and one does not die, wear them and the body feels light. At the end of the Yuanhe era, when the transcendent Fang Hui travelled to Nanyue, he encountered it and composed a seven-character verse in praise: / 'The pearl dust, round and floating, is light and luminous; / One who possesses the Way and ingests it attains long life.' / Wang Zinian said that at Yunmi Peak and on the shores of Liuzhou there are also such pearls; travellers who have obtained and ingested them have not died.

3.21

Liu Yuanjing was a man of Wuchang. He studied under Wang Daozong and was transmitted the Zhengyi registers. Before long, Daozong was about to pass away and divided all his possessions equally among his disciples; Yuanjing took only the diagrams and writings. After he was buried at Dongshan, on a clear night a vapour emerged from the tomb, several tens of feet high. Yuanjing marvelled at it and opened the grave; upon opening the coffin, there were only his clothes and quilt left behind. Only then did he realise that his master had attained the Way. Moved to awakening, Yuanjing sailed on Lake Dongting and travelled through Wuling, returning again to Nanyue. A master told him that because of Lady Wei's transcendent altar, he had thoughts of choosing a dwelling here. East of the altar he traced the steep peaks upward for several tens of li, where he found a stone cave facing south and opened it to make his residence. He diverted a spring to flow around it, felled timber and cleared weeds, and in front built an upper pavilion; his chess table and tea hearth were chiseled out of the stone. When the regional inspector Han Ye visited this place, he named the pavilion Huixian ('Meeting the Transcendents'). He often brewed wine from cypress leaves; although he abstained from grain and refined qi, in a single sitting he would drink more than a dou. At the beginning of the Baoli era, Emperor Jingzong sought out fangshi masters, and Army Inspector Lü Lingcong invited him to Tanzhou. The master said, 'I have a rustic wife and concubines who depend on beef for their livelihood; if you take me for an adept of the arts, I fear you will be accused of deceiving the sovereign.' He then requested a pig's shoulder, chopped it himself, seasoned it with garlic, and ate it. Lingcong became even more suspicious, and so rubbed his feet and begged him to go. Left with no choice, the master set out on the road. On the first day of the twelfth month he arrived at the capital, and was immediately summoned to the Sizheng Hall. Jingzong asked him about matters of the transcendents. The master replied, 'To be without profit and without striving, to lessen selfishness and diminish desires—such is the essence of cultivating the self and transcending the world.' The Emperor was displeased and grew hostile. Emperor Xuanzong [Wenzong] released him to return to the mountain. Li Xun wanted to employ him; Dong Changling, riding postal horses from Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, passed beneath the sacred peak and paid respects to the master. The master said, 'I observe that the Censor's royal qi has not yet stirred; it is not fitting to pursue this. You must proceed slowly.' Changling therefore slackened his reins and entered the Shang Mountains; Li Xun indeed raised a rebellion. The wife of Tang Shen, Prefect of Langzhou, fell ill and sought a talisman from Yuanjing. He then cautioned the messenger, saying, 'This talisman must be shown to the Prefect; do not present it to the lady first.' When the envoy returned, Shen had already expired; the lady recovered on her own. I once heard the master's disciple Zhao Zhongxian say that the master spoke of the affairs of Dong and Tang as if he had witnessed them with his own eyes. Zhongxian said, 'The master resided in the central mountains for many years; in the stillness of the place he would suddenly perceive things, yet he never made fixed declarations.' In the third year of the Huichang era, Emperor Wuzong revered the teachings of Xuanyuan and was about to abolish Buddhist monasteries; he summoned the master to court. When granted an audience, Wuzong saw that his spiritual appearance was pure and archaic, and changed his expression to show deference and reverence. He then asked, 'The Buddhist teaching overturns the ways of my glorious ancestors; I wish to eliminate it.' The master replied, 'The teachings of Śākya are ancient; if they are to be suppressed, their abuses can be gradually reformed. If there is a sudden upheaval, it will cause harm to many matters and will in fact be disadvantageous to the Daoist school.' The Emperor also asked about the art of the golden elixir; the master replied, 'That most numinous substance cannot be attained except by those who go alone into the deep mountains.' The Emperor said, 'Have you attained it, Master?' He further replied, 'I indeed hope to attain it, but at present I truly have not; had I attained it, Your Majesty would no longer be able to see me.' The Emperor bestowed one hundred bolts of fine silk as well as rice, wheat, and molasses, and lodged him in the Taiqing Palace. From time to time he was summoned to discuss the Way, and each time there was an imperial bestowal, the master immediately gave it away to the attending commissioner, the imperial envoys, and the guards at the various gates; by the time he reached the Wangxian Gate, his hands were already empty. In the autumn of the fifth year, Wuzong fell slightly ill and was about to receive the liturgical registers of the Dharma. The palace attendants, considering that Zhao Guizhen was encumbered by selfish concerns and fond of wealth, recommended the master as pure and suited to be the Emperor's preceptor. Thereupon he was summoned into the Lingfu Hall of the inner palace. Wuzong asked about the blood-drinking covenant for receiving the registers. The master replied, 'For the Most Venerable, nothing is weightier than sincere reverence, fasting, and purification. If Your Majesty fasts for seven days and maintains purification for three, you will naturally be able to pay court to the Jade Emperor. It is unfitting to use gold, jade, hair, and blood as pledges; cutting the hair and smearing blood are not the deeds of a normal monarch, and jade rings and white bi discs are not the treasures of the Most Venerable.' At the time, this was considered a well-balanced argument. When the ceremony was concluded, he was appointed Grand Master for Splendid Happiness with Silver and Blue Ribbon, Grand Academician of the Chongxuan Institute, and given the title Master Guangcheng. A separate Chongxuan Institute was constructed for him to reside in. Later he begged to return to the mountain. At that time the Emperor also wished to have dragon plaques cast into Maoshan, and so granted him permission to return from Maoshan to Nanyue. When Emperor Wuzong was critically ill, more than ten Daoists such as Xu Yuanzhang and Zhao Guizhen were all subjected to the utmost penalty of the law; the Emperor alone decreed that the surveillance commissioner visit and comfort [Yuanjing], bestowing bundles of silk, fragrant tea, and the like. Earlier, the Daoist Zhou Hunhan of Jiuzhen Abbey was in the sacred peak; his reputation was second only to the master's before the master was summoned to court. There was a Daoist of Hengyue Abbey named Mao Taixuan, who once dreamt that a true official descended from heaven holding a register, saying that Hunhan was made Abbot of the Daluo Abbey. Taixuan then asked, 'Why has Master Liu not been summoned first?' The true official said, 'Master Liu's worldly karmic ties are not yet exhausted; if he were summoned, he would be employed as a transcendent official and would no longer be a practitioner.' It turned out just as he had said. Returning from the court to the sacred peak, the master sighed and said, 'Now that I have been an earthly transcendent for several centuries, my roots have been unable to free my person, and I have been burdened by two emperors; now my plans are undone.' In the tenth month, the winter of the fifth year of Dazhong, cloud cranes repeatedly descended; before long he departed this world. Heavenly music was heard floating in the void. On the day his spirit departed, only his staff and sandals remained. His disciple Lü Zhizhen also attained his Way.

3.22

Xie Xiutong was a man of Yichun. By nature he was gentle and elegant, and had no liking for adornments. When he heard of good, he rejoiced; when he saw evil, he shrank from it as if testing boiling water. He served his mother with utmost filial devotion, always keeping a pleased countenance. One night he dreamt of a person wearing a Daoist cap and coarse garments who said, 'Your bone structure is extraordinary; why do you not leave home to study the Way?' He thereupon told his mother, and his mother consented. He then went to Nanyue, joined Pan Rusong of Hengyue Abbey to become a Daoist, and registered his residence there. Thereupon he roamed the five peaks, seeking out numinous traces. One night he dreamt of a divine being who said, 'The cavern-dwelling of Zhuling is not yet meant for your abode; after fifty years you will be able to nest here again. East of here is the Jade Peak Grotto-Heaven and blessed land, which is also the judicial office of Zhuling; you should reside there, where you will meet with fortune.' Thereupon Xiutong returned to inquire after his mother and told her, 'Now we face a lean year, and during bad times it is difficult to provide for your needs, Mother. If you feel inclined, we should go to the Yusi Grotto-Heaven, where we may cultivate ourselves; what do you think?' His mother consented. He then carried his mother in a shoulder-borne litter to Mount Yusi. They lived in a cave for several years, providing delectable offerings of dates, chestnuts, taros, cornelian cherries, Solomon's seal, and lilies. After his mother passed away and the burial was complete, he lived in seclusion for three cycles of twelve years. He encountered the two True Men Mei and Xiao, who transmitted the Way to him. After practicing it, he shed his mortal form like a cicada in the eastern corner of the Qingxu Lodge, and returned again to Nanyue, concealing his true nature at Donglingyuan. It was indeed fifty years later.

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南嶽總勝集 — Classical Chinese