廣弘明集 2.30

2.30

The origin of the Daoists stems from Laozi. He himself claimed to have been born before heaven and earth to nurture all beings; above, he resides in the Jade Capital as the ancestor of divine kings, and below, he stays in the Purple Tenuity as the lord of flying immortals. With thousands of changes and myriad transformations, showing virtue or non-virtue, responding to things in accordance with resonance, his traces are never constant. He transmitted [the Way] to Xuanyuan at Mount Emei, and instructed Emperor Ku in pasturing virtue; the Great Yu heard the secret of longevity from him, and Yin Xi received the teachings of the Daodejing. As for cinnabar writings and purple characters, scriptures on ascending to the Mystery and flying paces, or discourses on jade, stone, golden radiance, subtle being, and numinous caverns, they are beyond count. As for their teachings, all profess to purge evil burdens and wash the mind, accumulating deeds, establishing merits, amassing virtue, and increasing good, even ascending to heaven in broad daylight and living eternally in the world. For this reason, the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han set their minds upon it unceasingly, wearing out their minds and exhausting resources to pursue it everywhere, but ultimately attained nothing, feeling resentment in the end; thus occurred the executions of Luan Da and the Xu clan. Yet because their way bewilders people, those who imitated and studied it were not few. Emperor Ling placed a canopy in the Zhuolong Garden and set up an altar to perform rituals. When Zhang Ling received the Way at Heming [Mount], he transmitted one thousand two hundred celestial registers and petitions; his disciples passed them down to one another, and his practices spread widely. Fasts, sacrifices, kneelings, and prostrations each had established rules. Thereupon, the Three Primes, the Nine Offices, the one hundred and twenty officials, and all the various gods were entirely brought under their governance. Furthermore, they spoke of cosmic eons (kalpas), borrowing considerably from Buddhist scriptures; when the eon came to an end, they claimed that heaven and earth would both be destroyed. Their writings contained many esoteric taboos, which were not to be viewed rashly unless by their disciples. As for transforming gold, melting jade, employing talismans, commanding water, and wondrous recipes and arts of myriad sorts, their highest claim was feathering and flying to heaven, and second to that, averting calamities and destroying misfortunes. Hence, those who delighted in the wondrous often revered and served them. Formerly, when Emperor Wendi entered as a guest to the Jin, his attendants said he had ascended as an immortal at Yique. Emperor Taizu was fond of the words of Laozi and chanted them untiringly. During the Tianxing reign era, the Secretary of Rites Dong Mi presented several tens of texts of immortal scriptures on dietary regimens; an Erudite of Immortals was thereupon appointed, an immortal workshop established to boil and refine the hundred medicinal herbs, and the Western Mountains were sealed off to supply their firewood. Condemned criminals were ordered to ingest the elixirs, but most died without any efficacy. Emperor Taizu nevertheless cultivated it specially. The imperial physician Zhou Dan, distressed by the toil of decocting and gathering herbs, wished to abolish the enterprise. He secretly instructed his wife to bribe the concubine of the Erudite of Immortals Zhang Yao and obtain Zhang's hidden crimes. Yao, fearing death, thereupon requested permission to practice grain avoidance on his own. Emperor Taizu granted it, gave Yao provisions, built a quiet chamber for him in the imperial park, and assigned two families of commoners to sweep and clean for him; yet the officials refining medicines still did not cease. After a long time, Emperor Taizu's interest waned slightly, and only then did it stop.