《茅山志》Vol. 4

As recorded in the Maoshan Zhi (Record of Mount Mao): his writings were numerous and were used to assist the affairs of the age and worldly achievements. On the fourteenth day of the fourth month, without illness, he calmly contemplated transformation (a reference to a peaceful death), aged seventy-nine. The encomium says: In the world, the most honored things are only the royal throne and the Daoist Dharma. I prize the empty, numinous Shen (spirit); he treasures power and position. The transmissions of Huayang (the Huayang Grotto-Heaven on Mount Mao) have many books, used to assist the times and worldly achievements and to bring Yin-Yang into great harmony.

The twenty-first-generation patriarch, Master Dongxu, was surnamed Jiang, given name Yuanji, courtesy name Jifu, sobriquet Bixuzi, and was a native of Yixing in Changzhou. His grandfather was Jiang Lin and his father Jiang Qizhi, who sold medicine at a fixed price and was a sincere and generous Confucian scholar in the village. The master’s bearing was transcendent and free of dust; he disliked managing estates and businesses, and in his reading he was especially skilled at composing poetry. White cranes often came flying by day, and he had a drifting, ethereal air of one ascending to the heavens. He accompanied Master Chongxu in answering an imperial summons and resided in the capital for a long time; together they returned to Ziyang, where they engaged in deep discussion of the study of supreme aspiration (the highest Daoist learning). Master Chongxu said, “The Jade Books of the Three Caverns (a general term for Daoist scriptures)—there is no one but you fit to transmit them.” Jiang Yuanji said, “To transmit only the scriptural texts and not the oral instructions—I have no expectations of the master.” Master Chongxu said, “It is people who are delivered, not texts; you are precisely what I have hoped for.” After Jiang Yuanji received the transmission, people said, “This is the recompense for generations of De (Virtue/Power) and good conduct in the Jiang family.” He upheld and propagated the great teaching, and auspicious omens occurred repeatedly. In the third month of the first year of the Xianping era (Emperor Zhenzong of Song), he transmitted the Jinglu (scriptural and Dharma registers) to his disciple Wan Baochong, and on the fifteenth day he ascended to immortality. The encomium says: In the morning he wanders in Baolin, at evening he lodges at Yuchi; subtle sounds surge and stir, heavenly music is clear and soaring; the heroic spirit in Xuanpu (the immortal realm) has pure, glossy feathers; I soar in the supreme aspiration, borrowing you to fly and dance.

The twenty-second-generation patriarch, Master Chongsu, was surnamed Wan, given name Baochong, courtesy name Yongxuan, and was a native of Wujin in Changzhou. Orphaned at a young age, he was taught and raised by his elder brother. After he grew up, the family discussed dividing the estate. He said, “Without my elder brother, I would not be what I am today; the ancestral property is to be divided…”

“This is not what I wished to obtain; it is enough to be counted among the ranks of Daoist priests.” He then became a Daoist renunciant at Tengxian Abbey and later became a disciple at the Dongxu Altar. In the first year of Xianping (998), he began to transmit the highest Daoist teachings, and he was especially skilled in the cultivation method of ingesting solar radiance. At the age of ninety-two, he departed as an immortal through shijie (liberation from the corpse), his countenance still resembling a child’s. During the Jingde era, he performed prayers by imperial decree with great efficacy; the emperor issued a sealed rescript bestowing a title on him, and afterward he lived in seclusion in Black Tiger Valley. The eulogy says: Blazing Yang emits rays; Crimson Water lifts its light. Draw it with the spirit cauldron; pour it with numinous fluid. After a thousand days the Dao is perfected; he leaps and soars at ease. Jade youths linger around him, in white silk robes and dark belts.

The twenty-third patriarch: Master Guanmiao, State Preceptor of the Song, surname Zhu, personal name Ziying, courtesy name Yinzhi, a native of Zhuyang Village in Juqu, born in the first year of Taiping Xingguo (976). At eight or nine he followed the cowherd Guo Qiancun; he could play the flute and summon immortal cranes, and his parents, considering this inauspicious, abandoned him. He then followed Zhu Yuanji and donned Daoist robes; he was twelve at the time, at the beginning of the Duangong era. Later he lived with the Daoist Master Zhang Mingzhen on the summit of Jijin Mountain and experimented with bigu (grain avoidance). As people gradually followed him, he wished to travel far. Arriving in Xiangyang, he met the extraordinary man Chen Tiejiao, who took him to Qingcheng Mountain; later, passing through Jixiang, he collated the ancient scriptural canon. He met the Water-Star Youth Wu Baoyi and traveled through Hezhong Prefecture, his conduct marked by numinous transformations. In the first year of Jingde (1004), he succeeded to the teaching seat at the age of twenty-nine. In the fourth year of Jingde, Emperor Zhenzong sent envoys to pray for an heir; the following year Emperor Renzong was born. This event is recorded in the Song Shi (History of the Song). By imperial decree he served as abbot of Yuzhi Zhaoying Palace.

That year Song Renzong was born; the events are recorded in detail in the Song Shi (History of the Song). The master received an imperial order to reside at Yuzhi Zhaoying Palace, and in the mountains, by imperial command, the two Daoist abbeys Qianyuan and Tiansheng were built; he was bestowed the title State Preceptor. After Empress Dowager Mingsu (Empress Zhangxian Mingsu Liu during Song Renzong’s reign) received the transmission of the Great Cavern Complete Method (Dadong Bifa), an important scriptural method of the Shangqing school, she further bestowed on him the title Master Guanmiao. After returning to the mountain, he received a letter sent by Wu Baoyi from Shu; its intent was to admonish and reprove him for his name being too conspicuous and for leaking heavenly secrets. Facing the letter, the master shed several streams of tears, and his disciples did not understand why. In the eleventh month of the seventh year of Tiansheng, he passed away in seated meditation. In his hand he held a jade ruyi scepter bestowed during the Dazhong Xiangfu era; his whole body was covered in sweat, and on his forehead there were congealed pearl-like substances. This was a higher-grade shijie (corpse liberation), a Daoist mode of attaining immortality. His worldly lifespan was fifty-three years. The encomium says: Childlike in the innocence of a newborn, he inwardly obtained wisdom from former lives; there was a sound in the empty air, and when he trod on water he left no trace; in an age that possessed the Dao, he was warm as midspring; holding jade and sounding metal, he was a minister beyond the worldly realm in his time.

The twenty-fourth patriarch, Master Tongzhen Mingyuan, was surnamed Mao and named Fengrou, a native of Jurong in Jiankang. He once accompanied his father into the Heavenly Market Altar on Maoshan and encountered a black tiger. His father never saw it, but when the master drew near and looked closely, the black tiger unexpectedly knelt and bowed before him. When Patriarch Guanmiao heard of this, he was astonished and said to his father, “The Daoist teaching of Huayang (Maoshan) is about to fall upon your son.” He therefore kept him in the mountains and had him take Guanmiao as his master. He was cautious, plain, honest, and loyal, with the bearing of an elder. He built a hut on Jijin Mountain and, admiring the place where Tao Hongjing had lived in reclusion and cultivated the Dao, dwelt there, with arduous resolve setting his will on ascending to become an immortal. In the twelfth month of the eighth year of Jiayou, amid heavy snow, the osmanthus before his hut suddenly blossomed, and the master felt this was strange. Soon afterward, a Daoist named Liu Hunkang came from the Taihe Abbey in Changzhou. Moved by his sincerity and delighted by this auspicious portent, the master immediately transmitted the scriptures and methods to him. Before long, the master underwent dissolution-transformation (yuhua, feathered transformation). In the first year of Chongning, a title was posthumously conferred on the master. The encomium says: North of Jijin Mountain, the spirits are majestic; they sent down numinous responses and portents, opening my gate of immortality; the two doors open and close, and divine light is born in the suspended radiance; elixir light shone among the woods, and people recognized the elixir cauldron he left behind.

The twenty-fifth-generation Patriarch was Master Baozhen Guanmiao Chonghe, Taizhong Dafu, with the posthumous title Jingyi; his surname was Liu, given name Hunkang, courtesy names Hunkang and Zhitong, and he was a native of Jinling, born on the second day of the twelfth month in the yihai year of the second year of Jingyou. The encomium says that he opened the door of the immortal path; as the two leaves opened and closed, wondrous scenes hung revealed; elixir radiance shone on mountains and forests, and from this people recognized the skill within his elixir cauldron. At thirteen he studied under Tang Hanxiang of Taihe Abbey. In the fifth year of Jiayou, he became a Daoist through examination. One night he dreamed that a divine man told him: “If you wish to learn immortality, you should choose a famous mountain.” He often lamented that the world lacked good teachers; on quiet nights he would ascend the altar, loosen his hair, burn incense, and take Heaven as his ultimate authority. Later, hearing that Patriarch Mao of Huayang possessed the Dao, he went to rely on him. He built a hermitage on Mount Jijin and lived there; five-colored clouds and mist often formed shapes like towers and halls, and people found this strange. One day three feathered gentlemen (Daoists) came to his thatched hut and, pointing to the eastern corner of the hermitage, said to him: “Dwell here; embrace the spirit and guard the center (hold the spirit steady and prevent it from scattering); let virtue and kindness reach others, and you should have no shame before the former worthies.” Looking at the space between his eyebrows, they also said: “This is the ‘land of non-doing’ (a realm of accord with the Dao without fabrication), which the Dao esteems; it must not be blemished.” They then stroked it with their hands, and the next day the scar disappeared. In the first year of Yuanyou, Empress Meng, consort of Emperor Zhezong, accidentally swallowed a needle that entered her throat; the physicians could not remove it. Because of his reputation as a Daoist of high attainment, the authorities memorialized the throne, and he was summoned. Liu Hunkang presented a Fulu (talismans and registers) for the empress to swallow; she vomited up the needle, which stuck in the talisman. The palace regarded this as miraculous, bestowed on him the title Dongyuan Tongmiao Fashi, and made him abbot of Shangzhi Chuxiang Palace. In the fourth year of Shaosheng, an edict ordered that his residence, Qianshen Hermitage in Jiangning Prefecture, be converted into Yuanfu Abbey; another edict ordered that the ancestral altar of scriptures and registers at Mount Sanmao in Jurong County, Jiangning Prefecture, stand as a tripod together with Longhu Mountain in Xinzhou and Hezao Mountain (Gezao Mountain) in Linjiang Jun, to assist in edification and support the imperial domain. Emperor Huizong added the designation Yuanfu Wanning Palace and bestowed the jade seal of the Lord of the Nine Elders’ Immortal Capital and the Jingzhen Sword.

The Maoshan Zhi (Records of Mount Mao) records that the sword presented by Yuyang, together with imperially composed poems, eulogies, calligraphy, paintings, and other bestowals, were too numerous to record one by one. The Patriarch repeatedly submitted memorials to the throne explaining calamities and anomalous changes; although the emperor praised him, he could not adopt his views, and he summoned him to court many times. In the second year of Daguan, he answered the summons and left the mountain. A herd of deer blocked the road, and the Patriarch instructed them with his mind; one of the deer rammed the carriage and died, falling by the roadside to the left of his seat. Earlier, a crane he had kept flew away upon hearing the summons, and the Patriarch said, “The crane has gone and the deer has died; I have no date for returning to the mountain.” In the fourth month he reached the capital and was lodged in the newly built Yuanfu Annex Abbey within Chuxiang Palace. At night he dreamed that the Heavenly Emperor summoned him. The next morning the emperor came in person to Chuxiang Palace to visit him, and he presented the Dadong Jing that he himself recited. Later, toward noon, he peacefully shed his mortal shell—the Daoist liberation of shijie, departing as an immortal—at the age of seventy-two. The emperor ordered envoys to escort his coffin back to the mountain, where he was buried at Dieyu Peak, and specially decreed that Zangzhen Abbey be built as a shrine. The eulogy says:

Jade Splendor washes clean the void; Golden Efflorescence sends forth fragrance. The assembled immortals open the gates and receive the covenant mandate at the Purple Emperor, the Daoist Heavenly Emperor. In the domain where the spirits dwell, he accomplished the work of the Dao with a body endowed with form. Inheriting the true Dao and continuing the transmission, he endures as long as Heaven and Earth.

The twenty-sixth Patriarch was the Attendant at Ningshen Hall, Dharma Master of Guarding Stillness and Condensing Harmony, and Sir Chongyin; his surname was Zhu, his given name Mozhi, his courtesy name Zhiyuan, and he was a native of Jinling. His father, Zhu Deyi, loved Daoist arts, and his fellow villagers called him “Dafang.” In Yuhang there was a Daoist Master Du who concealed his name and had once associated with Zhu’s father. In the first year of Xining, when the Patriarch was about to be born, his father dreamed that Daoist Du was lodging in their home and felt wonder in his heart. In childhood, when playing with other children, the Patriarch often drew Daoist divine images on the ground. His father carried him into the mountains; when Mr. Liu saw him, he considered him extraordinary and said, “This child will one day be a teacher and model for gods and humans.”

This ritual master was filled with joy and vowed never to return home; his father also gladly agreed and allowed him to follow his teacher and study the Dao (the Way). During the Yuanyou era, he entered court together with the Master (meaning his teacher); the Master, by imperial order, served as abbot of Shangzhi Chuxiang Palace (a Daoist palace), while he returned to take charge of affairs at Yuanfu Palace (a Daoist palace). In the fourth year of Chongning, he was bestowed the title of Fashi (ritual master) and concurrently oversaw Chongxi Abbey (a Daoist abbey). In all imperially approved construction projects and in petitions concerning Daoist abbeys and their mountain gates, he exerted himself to the utmost. He compiled Keyi (liturgy) and gave relief to the poor and destitute, devoting especially careful attention to these matters. On the third day of the seventh month in the third year of Zhenghe, he assembled his disciples and said, “I am forty-six this year. In former days the Master gave me a prediction that mentioned my lifespan; I have received generous grace from the court, and my lifespan ought not exceed this age.” He then asked for a brush and wrote a memorial testament, bathed and changed clothes, and passed away peacefully. When the testament was presented, the Son of Heaven sighed in grief and issued an edict posthumously conferring on him the title “Chongyin Xiansheng” (Master Chongyin), with honors and rank extended to his parents, and he was buried in the mountain of Cangzhen Abbey (a Daoist abbey). His inner disciples were Yu Xiyin and Xu Xihe. Xu Xihe, by imperial decree, inherited the transmission seal and sword (tokens of the transmitted lineage), while Yu Xiyin entered Mount Qingcheng (a famous Daoist mountain); today, when people in Shu hear of the Cavern methods and the supreme Dao, this is precisely the result of Master Yu’s teaching and transforming influence. The ritual master had a handsome beard and a tall stature; his bone structure was robust and imposing, unlike ordinary people. Each time he entered court for an audience, the emperor praised him repeatedly. The encomium says: Like dust dispersed from an autumn sky and ice and snow melting in a spring abyss; his immortal bearing was truly beautiful and clearly praiseworthy. If one praises only his appearance without deeply examining his Dao, that is insufficient; his final words concerned the essentials of emperors and kings. The collation note states: “reverently paying homage from afar to the Master as ordination master” originally read “reverently paying homage from afar to the ordination master,” and was corrected according to the Da edition.

Scroll Eleven ends here. Scroll Twelve was compiled by the successor Patriarch (sizongshi), Liu Dabin, and belongs to the “Shangzhi pin pian” (Upper Records section). The collation notes explain that in Scroll One, the phrase yao li xiansheng wei dushi was amended according to the Da edition; “ku” appears as “du” in the Da edition; “xi” was amended according to the Da edition; and “shi” appears as “yue” in the Da edition.

The twenty-seventh Patriarch, Xu Xihe, courtesy name Zhonghe, was a native of Lishui in Jinling. His conferred titles were Taizhong Dafu (Grand Master of the Palace), Shichen of Ningshen Hall, and Yangsu Guanmiao Xiansheng (Master of Nourishing Simplicity and Contemplating the Wondrous). His grandfather was fond of doing good and giving alms; Da Yijun (written Chi Yijun in the original) was especially admired by Master Xu. Xu Xihe was ordered to attend him with towel and shoes and once accompanied him to court. The emperor commended his Daoist talent and integrity of purpose and specially permitted him to receive grace before the hall and be ordained as a Daoist priest. After Chongyin (probably a Daoist name or a former Patriarch) underwent feathered transformation, Xu Xihe received the imperial autograph and inherited the patriarchal altar. In the fourth year of Zhenghe (1114) he was summoned to the palace; in autumn he returned to the mountains and was granted the title Dantai Lang, then transferred to Taisu Dafu and Registrar of Ningshen Hall. In the third year of Xuanhe (1121) he was summoned again into the inner court, and separate quarters were built to house him. In the fourth year he was granted his former office; he requested to return to the mountains, and the court ordered the relevant authorities to send him off with ceremony. On the eighteenth day of the third month in the fifth year, imperially sealed incense was sent down into the mountains, and there appeared the numinous responses of white cranes and heavenly lamps. He often sat in “Great Stillness” (da jing, deep meditation) to receive descending immortals and perfected beings; when attendants peeped in, they heard only him speaking. Master Xu foresaw the changes and upheavals of the world and often seemed to carry a hidden anxiety. In the early Jingkang era he shut himself in stillness and did not eat. One day he gathered his disciples and said: “My immortal time is near; I will not be able to see the sage govern the world.” On the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month in the first year of Jianyan (1127), he passed away as if in zuowang (sitting in forgetfulness). The text concludes with a eulogy.

In ancient times the sage-immortals cultivated their physical substance and returned to the original beginning; their coming and going had no fixed place, their gathering and dispersing no fixed bodily form. Because my Shen (spirit) is utterly true and pure, I can meet them. Who is it outside the gate who wishes to hear their words?

The twenty-eighth-generation master, Mr. Yuanguan, was surnamed Jiang, given name Jingche, courtesy name Tonglao, and was a man of Jurong in Jinling (present-day Jurong, Jiangsu). His brows and eyes were refined and distinctive, and his face bore a Dipper-shaped marking. At eleven he attended on Chongyin Gong. Later, hearing that Mr. Yu—who was thoroughly versed in the scriptures and methods of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen)—had entered Shu, he went to Mount Emei to seek an audience with him. Mr. Yu admired his resolve and broadened his learning. At parting he said to Jiang Jingche, “When it reaches the thirty-fifth generation, I shall, like a hill or mound, inherit and take charge of the Great Dharma.” During the Jianyan era, when soldiers and bandits arose, Yuanfu Palace was destroyed, and Jiang Jingche alone protected the ritual objects such as the scripture tallies, seals, and swords. Fu Xilie, the Daolu of the Left Street (an official overseeing Daoist affairs), reported the matter to the court. Emperor Gaozong of Song granted gold to rebuild the palace, and Jiang Jingche again traveled to the capital to spread his transformative teaching. The night before, Yang Cunzhong, the Prince of He (a Southern Song general ennobled as Prince of He), and his wife Lady Zhao both dreamed that a Heavenly Worthy descended upon their residence. The next day, Jiang Jingche went to the prince’s gate to pay his respects, and Yang Cunzhong came to revere and trust him deeply. The present mountain gate of the palace was built by Prince Yang. Jiang Jingche once sighed, “Because of building works, I have diminished my immortal vocation and cannot ascend to heaven in broad daylight.” He had a white jade image of a Heavenly Worthy, which he kept extremely secret; when he underwent transformation and liberation (feathered away and passed on), the image also vanished. This was on the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month in the sixteenth year of Shaoxing. The encomium says: “The exaltation of earth and wood—now it ceases, now it rises; I practice Wuwei (non-action), and that dream had its proof. Towering is the Image Emperor (a high Daoist deity), jade-substantial and celestial-pure; at the approach of transformation all return—who holds the tally?”

The twenty-ninth-generation master, Mr. Chongde, was surnamed Li, given name Jinghe, courtesy name Lingyun, and was a man of Jurong. The encomium says: “At times they rise; I practice Wuwei; that dream had its proof. Towering is the Image Emperor, jade-substantial and celestial-pure; at the approach of transformation all return—who holds the tally?” This means acting through Wuwei, with the dream verified; the Heavenly Worthy is jade-substantial and celestial-pure, and at the approach of transformation returns together—who can hold fast to its tally?

The Maoshan Zhi (Record of Mount Mao), a gazetteer recording the history and figures of Maoshan Daoism, states: The twenty-ninth-generation Patriarch, Master Chongde, Li Jinghe, courtesy name Lingyun, was a native of Jurong. As a youth he studied under Yuan Guan (his teacher), and he became thoroughly versed in the scriptures and methods. After the Song court moved south, the Zhaijiao (purification ritual) altars and ceremonial liturgies (Keyi) were incomplete and scattered; it was entirely through Li Jinghe that they were reorganized and polished. One day, while roaming Leiping Mountain, he obtained an ancient sword and presented it to Yuan Guan. Yuan Guan said, “This is an object from the tomb of Lord Tao (Tao Hongjing, a Southern Dynasties Maoshan adept whose sobriquet was Yiju). A numinous object must not be exposed outside; it should be returned to its original place.” Later they indeed found Tao Yiju’s tomb, and he planted the sword upon it. In an instant there was thunder, lightning, and a great wind, and the sky grew dark; when they went to look the next day, the sword had disappeared, but on the tomb had grown two green plums. When Yuan Guan heard of this, he said, “The sword has gone and the plums have come forth; it is time for me to yield my seat and relinquish my position.” He therefore honored Li Jinghe by having him ascend the altar and succeed as Patriarch. On that very day tigers roared and deer called, and luan-phoenixes and cranes all arrived together. Li Jinghe liked to distribute medicine; after people recovered from illness, they would throw one coin into a well, until the coins filled the well, and people called it the “Medicine Coin Well.” One can well imagine how many lives he saved. On the fifteenth day of the ninth month in the twentieth year of Shaoxing (1150), he died without illness and was buried on Guizhen Mountain. The encomium says: The numinous object was returned, accompanied by thunder and lightning; whence came the green plums? They were a sign of a wondrous place. Distributing medicine to heal the sick, like springs flowing and pouring through the forest; with inexhaustible giving, he awaited those with karmic affinity.

The thirtieth-generation Patriarch, Master Jingzhen, Jing Ying, courtesy name Linghui, was a junior fellow disciple of Master Chongde, Li Jinghe. He lost his father in childhood and served his mother with utmost filial piety; at forty he had not married. After his mother died, he followed his elder brother in leaving the household to become a Daoist priest (huangguan, “yellow cap”). Lord Chongde said, “I formerly found two plums at Lord Tao’s tomb; your arrival exactly fulfills that.” He then built the Two Plums Pavilion at White Plum Creek. Master Jingzhen was by nature plain and detached, and deeply valued compassion and frugality; once he entered his quiet chamber for seclusion, he would not emerge for a whole month. Emperor Gaozong of Song summoned him several times, but he pleaded illness and did not go; the court then bestowed on him, while he was in the mountains, the title “Master Jingzhen.” In the twenty-fifth year of Shaoxing (1155).

One summer in a certain year there was a great drought, and the liushou (local military and administrative governor) came to the Master and asked him to pray for rain, with highly efficacious results. Envoys from the court then came repeatedly, but the Master declined on grounds of illness, and his resolve grew ever firmer. The following year, the Master conducted a baizhang (the Daoist ritual of submitting petitions to the deities) for Lady Wang, wife of Qin Hui, and learned of Qin Hui’s persecution of the du-shi official Deng. On the first day of the first month in the second year of Longxing (1164), the Master said to his attendants, “I am about to observe transformation (show forth my departure from this world).” Thereupon he sat quietly upright and stopped eating, and on the sixth day at noon he passed away. The encomium says: Taiyi (a high Daoist deity) cherishes life, and Daoist ritual method permits prayer and sacrifice; yet when bestowing blessings or calamities, it does not dare act with partiality. Those who delude the state ought to be punished, and one still hopes for hidden retribution; the warnings of the Dark Prison (the underworld) also support the doctrine of names (Confucian moral teaching).

The thirty-first-generation master, Master Baoning Chongmiao, was surnamed Xu and named Shoujing, a native of Lishui in Jinling. His mother dreamed that a shooting star descended into her chamber, and then she gave birth to him. At ten he still could not speak; a Daoist priest who claimed to come from Maoshan gave him an elixir to take, after which he could speak. His mother then sent him into the mountains to study under Master Jingzhen. Xu Shoujing upheld the Great Dao and did not seek fame. In the second year of Longxing (1164) he succeeded to preside over the ritual altar; the court summoned him repeatedly, but he held firmly to Jingzhen’s teaching and methods and resolutely refused to leave his retreat. Whenever there were guirang (rites for seeking blessings and averting disasters), the court sent envoys into the mountains to perform rituals, which often met with favorable responses. Later he found Master Qin of Jiangyin, transmitted to him the hand seals and ritual sword, and withdrew into seclusion for secret cultivation. On the ninth day of the third month in the first year of Qingyuan (1195), he took leave of the assembly and passed away. The encomium says: The light of a shooting star descended and became a man; he gathered in his essence and light, concealed his radiance, forgot words and cut himself off from the mundane; when the divine elixir came, the Great Dao was not lightly transmitted; in receiving people and handling affairs he was plain and spontaneous—this is skill in guarding the Mysterious Dao.

The thirty-second Patriarch, Master Mingjiao, Qin Ruda, courtesy name Tongyuan, was a native of Jiangyin (present-day Jiangyin, Jiangsu). His family was poor, but he studied assiduously, often picking up discarded paper and old brushes to practice writing; his memory surpassed that of ordinary people. He traveled throughout the famous mountains of the southeast seeking the Dao. Patriarch Baoning was cultivating in Wanxi Cave (a cave dwelling on Mount Mao) and wrote to invite him. When Mr. Qin arrived, Patriarch Baoning conversed with him through the night; the next day he handed the Dharma seal and Dharma sword to Mr. Qin and asked him to mount the altar (ascend the seat and continue the Dharma lineage). Seeing the extraordinary spirit in Mr. Qin’s countenance, everyone admired Baoning’s carefulness in selecting the worthy and his clear insight in judging character. In the second year of Shaoxi, the court sent envoys to deliver incense and held a Golden Register Zhaijiao (a large Daoist purification ritual for national blessing); auspicious signs such as white cranes and colored clouds appeared, and the court bestowed a master’s title on the gentleman. On the ninth day of the tenth month of the first year of Qingyuan, a certain Registrar Shen of Jurong County came to pay his respects. After taking leave, he walked to the mountain bridge and heard a bell; someone said, “Patriarch Qin has ascended to immortality.” Shen was greatly startled. Turning back, he saw Mr. Qin sitting cross-legged and upright, his expression fixed and motionless, his body still warm and supple. He sighed and said, “We had only just met and finished tea; between one smile, he ascended to immortality.” His close disciple Xing Rujia was then in the capital, serving as a Gaoshi of the Taiyi Palace and Left Street Daolu (a Daoist title and clerical office); he returned to the mountain the same day and, by imperial decree, inherited the teaching seat. The eulogy says: The realms attainable in the study of the immortals cannot be fully described in human writing. If I borrow paper and brush to make a slight demonstration, what harm is there in setting aside the remaining words? At the faintest stirring, I sense and communicate through emptiness and stillness; if I am said to foreknow, who can fully fathom the mysterious pivot therein?

The thirty-third Patriarch, Master Zhenying, Xing Rujia, courtesy name Zijia, was a native of Lishui, Jiankang (present-day Lishui, Nanjing, Jiangsu). At the age of seven he could write compositions, was skilled at discussing names and principles, stood seven chi tall, and his hands hung below his knees. Emperor Xiaozong summoned him to be a Gaoshi in imperial attendance. In his early years his hair was sparse, so he could not keep a cap on; the court specially bestowed a wrapped headcloth for him to wear when entering the hall, and an imperial poem read: “I personally ordered a Huayang headcloth made, to bestow on the Dao-attaining man of Mount Mao. Wearing it, he may still attend the jade steps; it spares the Five Peaks from dust and dirt.” The meaning was that the emperor personally ordered a Huayang headcloth to be made and bestowed on the Dao-attaining man of Mount Mao; wearing it at court did not impede ritual propriety and also spared the immortal mountains of the Five Peaks from worldly dust. On the third day of the tenth month of the first year of Qingyuan, he received a letter from Patriarch Qin.

I have lately been able to associate with those who attained the Dao at Maoshan; wearing this kerchief, one may go to court and face the sovereign without impropriety, and it may also spare the Five Sacred Peaks from dust. On the third day of the tenth month of the first year of Qingyuan (1195), I received a letter from Patriarch Master Qin.

The letter said: I have recently received true revelations (divinely bestowed documents), and the time for my return to Heaven is near. The affairs of the lineage are very heavy; you should quickly go to obtain the imperial mandate, then return to receive the seal and sword (the Patriarch Master’s seal of transmission and sword), with the deadline set for the ninth day. After arriving at Maoshan, he reported the matter to the court. The emperor was deeply astonished and issued an edict sending him back to the mountain to serve as successor Patriarch Master (heir to the Patriarch Master’s position). In the first year of Jiading (1208), he rebuilt the repository and received donations of gold and silk in the tens of thousands. He said to his disciples: I do not delight in these goods; next year there will be a great famine. On the twenty-second day of the third month of the second year of Jiading, he died without illness (feathered transformation). That year the autumn harvest failed severely. The people relied on these goods and were able to remain secure, and there was surplus enough to relieve those in distress; countless lives were saved. Such was his intention.

The encomium says: Ah, Fuling (Emperor Xiaozong of Song) personally practiced filial piety, honored the aspiration for purity and quietude, and consulted true adepts. With his own hands he made an ornate kerchief so that caps would not be soiled by worldly dust. Who could be worthy of such gracious favor? It was the man of tall stature who stood like jade.

The thirty-fourth generation Patriarch Master, Master Chongxuan Mingyi, had the surname Sa, given name Ruji, and courtesy name Defu, and was a native of Jinling in Changzhou (present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu). He was simple and frugal by nature and studied the Zhouyi, Laozi, and Zhuangzi. He was congenial with Master Zhenying. As an eminent adept, Master Zhenying presided over the affairs of the Shangfang shrine. They had no communication for more than twenty years, but in the end they became teacher and friend, transmitting his lineage. On the Dila day (one of the Five La festivals in Daoism) of the guiyou year in the sixth year of Jiading (1213), Empress Yang, consort of Emperor Ningzong, following the precedent of Empress Dowager Mingsu, ordered the Left Street Jianyi (a Daoist official) Shangguan Deqin to carry incense and silk offerings, to request and receive the Complete Dadong Method (the Shangqing Dadong scriptural rites), to take the Master from afar as ordination master (transmission master), and to establish and conduct the Luotian Zhaijiao (a grand Zhaijiao). Sweet dew descended, lingzhi mushrooms grew, and auspicious omens such as white cranes and colored clouds were more than one. The eminent adept Liu Xianjue wrote the Chuanlu Ji (Record of Transmission). On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month of the seventh year of Jiading (1214), he dissolved into truth (feathered transformation). The Master was originally named Kezhao, courtesy name ...

The gist of the encomium is this: opening the mysterious writings and unlocking the wondrous, using the principles of the Yi (Changes) to make the Daoist method manifest; the sun and moon rise and set in their courses, and the Great Dao is upright and does not overturn; auspicious dew descends densely, and lingzhi mushrooms grow of themselves; white cranes take flight, and so one transcends ordinary aspirations.

The biographical account explains that he inherited the Huayang (Maoshan) Shangqing learning, revised the earlier names and titles, and records the origin of the virtue transmitted through his generations. The Thirty-fifth Patriarch was Master Tongling Zhidao, surnamed Ren, given name Yuanfu, courtesy name Shanfu, a native of Lishui (present-day Lishui, Nanjing, Jiangsu). From childhood he possessed extraordinary endowments; he discerned profound and hidden principles, his bearing was transcendent, and he had much of the air of an immortal. Patriarch Xue once dreamed that a boy lifted his sitting mat and said, “Mr. Yu has arrived; you must respectfully yield your seat.” Later, when Yu Yuanguan (Lord Jiang) met him at Mount Emei, he once made the remark, “The thirty-fifth generation is like a mound”; this was a saying Lord Xue had heard several decades after that immortal departure in Shu. When Ren Yuanfu entered the mountain, Lord Xue said, “This is a guest come again from Huayang.” He then bestowed on him the jade books (Daoist scriptures and Fulu [talismans and registers]), and those seeking instruction came one after another. In the sixteenth year of Jiading (1223), prolonged rains brought disaster; Emperor Ningzong of Song summoned him to the palace and had him establish a Grand Zhaijiao (great purification ritual). Master Ren performed the rites at the southwest corner, faced the northeast gate, and trod the Dipper, as if intending to restrain demonic and malevolent forces; the emperor had also beforehand dreamed of anomalous forces in that place, while others did not know of it. Thereupon he was bestowed the title “Tongling.” The following year he was again summoned to pray for rain; his title was augmented with “Zhidao,” and he was granted an ivory tablet, crown, and robes; the empress bestowed a hand fan for him to hold, and the emperor personally wrote and specially conferred on him the title “Miaoxiang Zhenren” (True Man of Wondrous Appearance). All his other rewards he distributed to the poor, and for this the emperor respected him even more. The third year of Jiaxi (1239).

On the eighteenth day of a certain month, after the Zhaijiao (purification ritual) had concluded, he said to the assembled community: “I will assist the Lord of Destinies (Siming Jun), the Daoist deity who oversees the registers of human destinies, and take up the duty of supervising loyalty and filial piety. You must each take good care of yourselves.” With that, he departed serenely, at the age of sixty-four. The encomium says:

Who says the immortal Perfected abandon the world and depart? They receive offices in Heaven and specially oversee matters of loyalty and filial piety. Like the earth, they do not claim credit for themselves but take inward virtue as their beauty; they cause the imperial influence to flourish, and are therefore granted immortal offices corresponding to their merit.

The thirty-sixth-generation Grand Master, Master Mingwei, was surnamed Bao, named Zhizhen, with the courtesy name Chunfu, and was a native of Lishui. His family made its living through Confucian learning but was poor. His father once found money that someone had lost on the road; a petty official from afar came weeping in search of it, and after clarifying what had been lost, his father immediately returned it. That night he dreamed that a feathered immortal said to him: “You have hidden virtue; the son you bear shall become an immortal.” Because an epidemic was raging that year, his parents ordered him to enter the mountains to study the Dao; during that year’s epidemic, only the Bao household was spared. When Zhao Kui (a Southern Song minister and general) established his headquarters and held command in the east, he asked the Grand Master to perform a Zhaijiao to deliver the officers and soldiers who had died in battle, and immortal youths, luan birds, and cranes appeared amid the clouds. Zhao Kui was deeply reverent and astonished. Later, at the house of Kou Yi, he obtained the Southern Marchmount Jingzhen Sword. In the third year of Chunyou, he submitted a memorial resigning from the office of Grand Master and resided at Peizhen Hall, reciting the Taqiu Yinshu (Hidden Book of Taiqiu) every day. On the seventeenth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year, the xinhai year, it was the very day of Master Jingyi’s dissolution into perfection (death). He burned incense, made obeisance, assembled the community, and said: “I am about to follow the Patriarch.” That night he shed his mortal form and departed. The encomium says:

Only one in millions can preserve pure virtue; only one in trillions can reach the utmost of pure virtue. When pure virtue reaches its limit, one becomes an immortal; the human form transforms and ascends. Because the father did not pick up lost gold, the immortals promised that his son would become an immortal.

The thirty-seventh-generation Grand Master, Master Lingbao, was surnamed Tang, named Zhidao, and was a native of Danyang in Zhenjiang. He was well read and possessed an extraordinary spirit. With his hair tied in a topknot and barefoot, he sat at the summit of Great Mao Mountain, underwent seated transformation, and ascended to immortality.

The thirty-seventh-generation Grand Master (zongshi), Master Lingbao, was surnamed Tang and named Zhidao, a native of Danyang in Zhenjiang. He had an uncommon spirit in his studies; he wore his hair in a high topknot, went barefoot, and sat in quiet meditation on the summit of Mount Damao for thirty years, vowing never to leave the mountains. When Zhao Shanxiang, a Southern Song official, served as commander of Jinling (present-day Nanjing), he sought out eminent Daoists in the mountains. As soon as he saw Tang, he judged him extraordinary and had him pay respects to Grand Master Mingwei; only then did Tang hear the essential tenets of the Great Dao. In the third year of Chunyou, he received the Grand Master’s seal and sword, the tokens of the lineage transmission. In the autumn of the fifth year of Chunyou there was a severe drought, and the court summoned him to the palace to pray for rain. Tang Zhidao said, “Rain does not need prayer.” The emperor asked, “What is to be done about the severe drought?” He replied, “I have heard that the common people are Heaven’s innocent children. Since Your Majesty is so anxious for the people, rain should come very soon. My cultivation is not sufficient to move Heaven, but my heart is sufficient to know Heaven’s will.” That very night it indeed rained. The emperor was overjoyed, and the people raised their hands, calling it “Immortal Tang’s rain.” The court summoned him to reside at Taiyi Palace, but he firmly declined and returned to the mountains; the rewards he received were especially generous. In the fourth month of the eleventh year of Chunyou, he submitted a memorial resigning the position of Grand Master. On the third day of the first month in the sixth year of Baoyou, he spoke a gatha: “Laughing, I enter the Liao-tian Yi” (the realm of empty stillness united with Heaven). Then he passed away with a smile. The encomium says: The cap, kerchief, and garments are but outward adornment of a person; to roam the world by the measure of the heart and return to original truth is not strange. The anxiety of praying for rain in the Mulberry Grove was dispelled by sweet rain; he did not deify himself, saying only that this was Heaven’s moistening grace.

The thirty-eighth-generation Grand Master, Master Chongmiao, was surnamed Jiang, named Zongying, with the courtesy name Dayu, a native of Piling (present-day Changzhou). In his youth he studied the examination curriculum; after growing up he traveled widely and lived for two years at Jinting Mountain in Yue. He once found among stone cliffs the book Dengzhen Yinjue (Secret Instructions on Ascending to Perfection), a Shangqing (Highest Clarity) Daoist cultivation text, and privately found it extraordinary; he therefore brought the book to Huayang (the Maoshan area) and studied under Master Tang. One night he dreamed that the Heavenly Gate opened and he saw the five characters “Wandering Immortal of the Jade Sea.” The next day, when he ascended the altar for transmission and ordination, he took this as his title. When the court was holding the suburban sacrifice to Heaven and rain had persisted for a long time, he was summoned to the palace to pray, and the sky cleared completely.

Emperor Lizong of Song personally inscribed the three plaques “Shangzhi Zongtan,” “Shengde Renyou zhi Dian,” and “Jingfu Wannian zhi Dian,” and granted 100,000 strings of cash (min; a min was a string of coins) for repairing the temple palaces and halls. After returning to the mountain, this master took this as his sobriquet. When the court held the suburban sacrifice to Heaven, rain had fallen for a long time without stopping; he was summoned to court to pray, and the sky soon cleared. After he returned to the mountain, he submitted several memorials requesting to resign his post, but was not permitted to do so. When the reign title was changed to Kaiqing (1259), pleading illness, he traveled to Mount Lu; encountering military turmoil in the Ezhou region, he turned to Mount Tianmu and moved about among the landscapes of Yongjia, and there wrote a commentary on the Dadong Yujing (Great Cavern Jade Scripture) in sixteen scrolls. When the emperor heard that his aspirations and conduct were pure and lofty and that he was unwilling to leave the mountain again to take office, but that the position of local Daoist leader could not remain vacant, he appointed the Gaoshi (eminent Daoist) Jing Yuanfan to replace him. In the eighteenth year of the Zhiyuan era of Yuan Shizu (1281), Shizu issued a special edict ordering him to set out with peace of mind and not to decline. After he arrived at Yan Capital (Yuan Dadu, present-day Beijing), he passed away without illness on the twenty-seventh day of the sixth month; his disciples took his garments and cap back and buried them at Mount Zangzhen. The eulogy says: The books obtained in the stone chamber were left by ancient immortals; he fully explained the hidden words to secure Danqiu (the immortal homeland). The heavenly gates opened wide, and Wei Zhen (the names of immortal perfected) all arrived; it was not a dream but a true realm, and the myriad regions were renewed thereby.

The thirty-ninth-generation master, Mr. Jiayan, was surnamed Jing, named Yuanfan, courtesy name Zhongmo, and a native of Juqu (the Maoshan region). In childhood he relied on Master Ren and served as his attendant. He had a long beard and broad forehead, resembling the immortals of antiquity, and in his whole life he never touched wine or meat. During the Jiaxi era (1237–1240), he accompanied Master Ren to the capital, and then went out to serve as abbot of the Tianqing Abbey in Jiankang. At the change to the Kaiqing reign title, he was summoned as a Gaoshi of Longxiang Palace and successively held the office of Jianyi of the Left and Right Streets (a Daoist official who managed Daoist affairs). Soon afterward, by imperial decree he was appointed Shangzhi Zongshi. Empress Xie, consort of Emperor Lizong, following the precedents of former reigns, honored him with the rites due a teacher and had him receive the complete transmission of the Dadong jingfa (Great Cavern scripture methods).

Its text says in summary: taking as his heart the Kun virtue of the “Mother of the World,” he reverently upheld the talisman of Kun’s compliant yielding, honored the lineage of masters within the Dao, and received the Yizhen register (a Daoist register). At that time this master used Yuanyang Abbey as an outer retreat (a place of quiet cultivation outside the temple). He died on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the renxu year of the Jingding era (1262). The encomium says: How great! Dwelling on a cliff ledge, he vowed to transcend the dusty world; eating from the earth to nourish his form, he resolved entanglements and burdens and ascended to perfection. Dwelling in high places, he did not feel danger; keeping lofty purity, he was not isolated and rigid. With flying steps he reached the divine capital (the immortal realm) and joined the lineage of Yuhai (the sobriquet of Master Jiang).

The fortieth-generation master, Mr. Yuanjing, was surnamed Liu, given name Zonghe, and was from Lishui. He studied under Jiang Gong of Yuhai. Master Jiang had dozens of disciples; Liu Zonghe was the youngest, humble and self-restrained, devoting his mind to the realm of the Dao. During the Baoyou era, he accompanied Master Jiang to court, then traveled with him to Mount Lu and lodged at Ziji Palace. At night he heard someone call out, “Maoshan Daoist: the Heavenly King is checking the records in the grotto; Master Liu may return now.” He found this strange. The next day he took leave of Master Jiang and went to Jinling. His father died, and only after the mourning period was complete did he return to Juqu (the ancient name for Maoshan). One night, lingzhi herbs sprouted all over the mountain; he looked gloomy and unhappy, and when people asked, he never explained. The following year, northern troops overran Sichuan. The court summoned him repeatedly, but he did not come forth; he kept the Daoist methods deeply concealed and lived out his allotted years. The encomium says: As the world’s fortune gradually declines, the dust of war will rise across the four seas. The immortal knows the incipient signs; he briefly responded to the world, yet people could hardly fathom his return. The mountain spirit called at night; the lingzhi blooms shone by day. I preserve the jade books (Daoist scriptures and registers) in order to pray for the preservation of the people’s lives.

The forty-first-generation master, Mr. Yikong Zhenmiao, was surnamed Wang, given name Zhixin, and was from Jintan. He abandoned his household to study the Dao and studied under Tang Yuanzai, superintendent of Yuanfu Palace (zhigong, temple administrator). Those who presided over the lineage of the Shangqing ancestral altar transmitted it generation after generation according to the Jia-Yi order (the order of seniority and generation), probably beginning with Mr. Jingyi. At that time, during the Kaiqing era, the eunuch Dong Songchen showed partiality toward the Daoist Zhu Zhichang and brought the Dharma seal and Dharma sword to Chisong Palace. Wang Zhixin went to the court and submitted a memorial, saying that the ancestral altar’s lineage should be transmitted generation after generation according to the Jia-Yi order, and that this system began with Mr. Jingyi.

During the Kaiqing era (a reign title of Emperor Lizong of Song), the eunuch Dong Songchen favored the Daoist Zhu Zhichang and brought the seal and sword of the Maoshan patriarch to Chisong Palace. This patriarch went to court and submitted a memorial exposing his misdeeds. The court issued an edict that the matter be handled according to precedent, had the seal and sword taken back and returned to the mountain, and when the assembly urged him to ascend the altar, he waved his hand and declined. Regardless of cold or heat, he wore only a single patchwork robe. Each time he rose from seated meditation, his sleeves often trailed firelight. On the second day of the ninth month in the guiyou year of Xianchun (1273), he spoke a gatha (a verse expressing his realization) and then passed away. The community posthumously paid him ritual honor and restored his rank as orthodox patriarch, to fill the lacuna in the transmission lineage. The eulogy says: What the Dao transmits, even Heaven cannot defy; who would treat it lightly and seek to interfere by human power? If it could be altered by human intervention, it would not be the Dao. Admonishing true practitioners to carefully guard Shen and preserve the True.

The forty-second patriarch, Guanmiao Xiansheng (Master Who Contemplates the Wondrous), Zhai Zhiying, courtesy name Tongshu, was a native of Danyang. At thirteen he entered the west side gate of Huayang Cave (a Maoshan Daoist grotto-heaven) and met a Daoist sitting on a rock, who pointed to names inscribed on the stone wall and said to him: “Your name is in the sequence of revered patriarchs.” When he turned to look at the stone wall, the man had disappeared. After he grew up, he indeed inherited the position of Dharma Master. His mind was broad and harmonious, compassionate and frugal, and he followed only the Dao. At first, he welcomed the ordination master Yuhai back to the mountain from Yongjia. When the northern troops descended south of the Yangtze in the yihai year (1275), he transformed and departed the following year, bingzi, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan (1276). The eulogy says: The stone wall of Huayang Cave is like dark jade; once every thousand years it opens and displays the names of immortals in order. The immortal Dao includes transformation and transition and is not bound to physical traces; people transmit it like firewood and fire, while I return to the Ultimate True.

The forty-third patriarch, Dharma Master Xu Daoqi, known as Ninghe Xuanjing Zhenying, courtesy name Zuyu, was a native of Jurong and a descendant of Shangzhi Xianhou. He was born on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month in the bingshen year, the third year of Duanping of Song (1236). In childhood he served Jiang Du and took his teacher’s temperament and conduct as his model.

This Patriarch was upright and principled, and he did not make promises lightly. In the early years of the Yuan dynasty, after the warfare there were successive years of drought, famine, and epidemic disease, with the Huai region especially hard hit. At that time the provincial administration was seated at Weiyang (present-day Yangzhou), and the provincial officials came out from their hall to respectfully invite the Patriarch to Yangzhou to pray. Sufficient rain fell and the epidemic ceased, so the authorities provided him with post horses and sent him to court. Because of an arm ailment, Kublai Khan, Emperor Shizu of the Yuan, summoned him to the Incense Hall in Dadu and had him perform a ritual test; the arm ailment was cured. He also ordered him to pray for snow and to stop the wind, and both produced wondrous results. The emperor bestowed on him a precious crown and ritual vestments, issued a sealed edict, and gave strong protection to his teaching. Bearing the seal, he returned south, and Mount Sanmao (Maoshan) came entirely under his jurisdiction. On the third day of the second month of the twenty-eighth year of the Zhiyuan era (1291), he showed slight signs of illness, assumed the wogu (grasping-firmly) posture—a Daoist deathbed hand gesture—urgently summoned Wang Daomeng, transmitted the scriptures and methods to him, bade farewell, and passed away at the age of fifty-six. The encomium says: He was a Patriarch of lofty aspiration in the Daoist gate, succeeding through worthiness over the generations. As a new auspicious era began, the heirs of the immortals were able to revive. He harmonized breathing and gathered and nourished Jing and Qi to guard the emperor’s sacred body; he took the stars as his wings and thunder and wind as his guides.

The forty-fourth Patriarch, the Zhenren (Perfected) of Nourishing Simplicity, Penetrating Truth, and Illuminating Teaching, was surnamed Wang, given name Daomeng, courtesy name Mu Zhai, a native of Jurong (present-day Jurong, Jiangsu). He had a square face and full forehead, and his appearance and demeanor were dignified and solemn. At fourteen he became a disciple of the Yuanfu Daoist priest Shen Zongshao. Without pretense he was all the more virtuous; without seeking fame his reputation became all the more evident. Before he was forty, people already regarded him as a senior. When he succeeded to the teaching seat and went to the capital for an audience, the favors and honors he received were just like those of Master Xu. In the famine of the wuxu year of the Dade era (1298), he twice went to Weiyang to drive off locusts and pray for rain, and both times he was effective. He was specially granted the title Zhenren to commend his cultivation and deeds.

According to the record in the Stele Inscription for the Huayang Daoist Abbey, composed by Yuan Mingshan, Hanlin Zhixueshi (a Hanlin Academy post): in the Xinhai year of the Zhida era, this Patriarch, owing to old age, requested to transmit the teaching and retire, and ordered his personal disciple Liu Dabin to succeed to the teaching lineage; he passed away at Huayang at the age of seventy-three (called “tuo,” or moulting, in Daoism, meaning immortal passing), having been born in the Renyin year of the Baoyou era of the Song. The eulogy says: he cultivated original truth through plainness and simplicity and reached the true Dao through sincerity; inwardly he joined with “Mysterious Sameness” (the state of union with the Dao), outwardly he helped the world attain peace and prosperity; pests lay hidden and the five grains ripened abundantly; though the wonder of his Dao was seldom revealed, it was enough to make him renowned in the world.

The forty-fifth-generation Patriarch, the Zhenren (Realized Person) of Penetrating Observation, Subtlety, and Wondrous Response, was surnamed Liu, given name Dabin, with the sobriquet Wangxuzi; he was from Qiantang in Wu Commandery (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang). When the era name was changed to Huangqing, he was granted the title of Zhenren; in the fourth year of Yanyou he received the “Jade Seal of Jiulao Xiandu Jun” (Lord of the Nine Elders’ Immortal Capital), and when the authorities reported this to the court, Emperor Renzong issued a special edict returning the jade seal to the lineage altar in order to pass on the Dao lineage. The eulogy says: towering like high mountains, vast like lakes and seas; mysterious wonders and verifications were complete, and he established the lineage at Huayang; he received the radiance of the Purple Palace and spread transformative teaching in the south; Jiulao Xiandu Jun bestowed the precious seal upon you.

Volume 13 of the Maoshan Zhi, the “Xiancao Shu” chapter (“Offices of the Immortal Bureaucracy”), compiled by Liu Dabin, inheriting Patriarch of the Shangqing school, records: the Huayang Grotto-Heaven has three palaces and five bureaus. The three palaces are Yiqian Palace (Palace of Easy Migration), Hanzhen Palace (Palace of Embracing Truth), and Xiaoxian Palace (Palace of Tranquil Leisure); the five bureaus are Taiyuan Bureau, Dinglu Bureau, Baoming Bureau, Tongchu Bureau, and Lingxu Bureau. Among them, the Taiyuan, Dinglu, and Baoming bureaus are governed by the Three Lords Mao (the Maoshan Daoist patriarchs Mao Ying, Mao Gu, and Mao Zhong). The Yiqian Palace is one of the three palaces.

Hanzhen (the Hanzhen Palace lineage) is the dwelling place of women who have attained the Dao; the other administrative offices are all for male perfected beings, though the Baoming Office sometimes also employs female palace officials. Qingtong Jun of the Eastern Sea (an immortal perfected being who patrols and inspects registers in Daoism) made another tour, checking these palaces and temples, and saw the assembled immortals.

Guo Sichao, former Baoming Zhenren in charge of the Three Offices (Sanguan), was a man of Yan. He and his three brothers lived at Fulong during the Qin and all obtained Dao methods. Sichao was the eldest; he mastered the true methods, served in the Three Offices for six hundred years, and without fault or omission obtained ascension. When his term ended, he was promoted to fill the post of Jiuguan Left Xiangong and concurrently Yutai Zhigai Langzhong. This office had long been vacant, and later Mao Xiaojun succeeded Guo Sichao.

The bureaucracy of the Dinglu Office (one of the immortal administrative offices of Maoshan) included Left and Right Lizhong Jian, equivalent to the secular Chief Secretary and Sima. There was also the Beihe Siming in charge of water officials. These two posts were often held concurrently with the office of Jiugong Jinbao Hou, overseeing those who were to become “seed people” (Zhongmin, the good people preserved as seeds after the kalpa in Daoist belief). In the Cave Palace, from the Two Lords downward, these three posts were the most honored in rank. The Left Lizhong Jian corresponded to the Chief Secretary of the Grand Office and was formerly held by Han Chong. Han Chong, courtesy name Changwei, was from Piling in Wu Commandery. From youth he loved the Dao; the Linwu immortal Wang Zhangxuan once transmitted to him the method of Liuzhu Dan (Flowing Pearl Elixir), which Han Chong received, upheld, and practiced with great efficacy. Wang Zhangxuan told him: “If you cultivate this method, you may also enter official service; it will not hinder your becoming an immortal and ascending.” Han Chong accordingly rose through office to Magistrate of Wanling and was transferred to Governor of Runan, with the rank of Full Two Thousand Shi. In the commandery for fourteen years, his civilizing influence and administrative achievements were notable; in assessment he ranked first in the realm. At age seventy-four, Wang Zhangxuan transmitted to him the yinjie method (a technique of hidden withdrawal and liberation, of the shijie corpse-liberation type), enabling him to leave and enter Mount Dahu; he also received Wang Zhangxuan’s Dunhua Niwan Zihu technique and came to the Cave Palace in a world-transcending body. His biography is in the Book of Han.

The Right Lizhong Jian (a title of immortal office in the Maoshan grotto-heaven) had duties and rank equivalent to those of a Sima. A certain Liu Lan, courtesy name Zixiang, held this post; the Hanshu records his courtesy name as Zixiang. Liu Lan was originally from Yingchuan. In his youth he loved the Dao and De, often giving relief and alms without regarding it as a favor, providing for funerals and aiding the poor and distressed; more than one person received his help.

He was recommended as a Shangji Yuan (a clerk who submitted commandery and principality registers and accounts to the court), appointed Langzhong (Gentleman), and promoted to Administrator of Chenliu. Later he met Master Ma Huang (the name of an immortal), who told Liu Lan: “Your benevolent De has moved Heaven and Earth; your hidden De is known to ghosts and spirits. Taishang (the Most High) is about to commend your intention and has sent me to bestow upon you the Dao of longevity.” Liu Lan knocked his head on the ground and struck himself, earnestly begging to serve him. Master Ma Huang then led him into Tongwu Mountain and transmitted to him the Eight Techniques of Hiding in the Earth (a type of Daoist secret art of concealment and transformation) and the method of ingesting the essence of the Five Stars. Liu Lan thus had his name entered in the Donghua register of immortals and received an office in the grotto-heaven.

The post of Director of Destinies of the Northern River (a grotto-heaven immortal office) was vacant; previously it had been held concurrently by Yao Jun. Yao Jun was from Qiantang. He studied at the Imperial Academy, was versed in classical learning and in the prognostication of calamities and anomalies, and rose to Administrator of Jiaozhi. At the end of the Han he renounced the world, entered Zengcheng Mountain to study the Dao, and met Dongguo Youping. Youping was a man of the Qin period who had long lived in seclusion at Zengcheng and was one who had already attained the Dao. He taught Yao Jun the method of ninefold refining of Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy), and of using stellar Qi to support and protect the Shen (spirit) and the heart-mind. After Yao Jun perfected the Dao, he came to the grotto-heaven and concurrently held the post of Director of Destinies of the Northern River, overseeing the assessment, rewards, and punishments of the water officials. Although this office was under Dinglu—the jurisdiction of the Maoshan immortal office of the Fixed Register—it was in practice directed and controlled by the Donghua Palace. Yao Jun’s courtesy name was Fangzhong. Tao Yinju (Tao Hongjing, styled Huayang Yinju) said: “At Linping in Qiantang there is his tomb altar; the traces are distinct, and his descendants still live in the nearby villages. From time to time the sound of drums and horns is heard, so people dare not encroach upon or damage it, and all call it the Tomb of Yao, Director of Destinies.”

Zhang Jizi was Zhang Feng of Henei, courtesy name Gongxian; in his youth he was called Jizi. He abandoned the secular world and entered Keshan, where he encountered Shantu Gongzi and received the “Lianyu Fa.” He cultivated it and attained the Dao. Later he entered Donghua Palace and was to serve as Taiji Xianhou; at times he also concurrently held the office of Nine Palaces Shangshu, sharing duties with the Marquis of the Northern River in governing water affairs. According to the Beihe Siming, some call him Jinbao Hou, also because of their shared meritorious deeds. His seat of governance was within a cave-heaven.

Chunyu Zhen, courtesy name Shuxian, was the Dianbing Zhifa Lang of the Dinglu Mansion and was responsible for testing those who possessed the Dao. He was a man of Shangyu in Kuaiji and served as magistrate of Xu County under Emperor Huan of Han. In his youth he loved the Dao and understood the arts of calculation; he consumed medicinal preparations made from sesame and Huangjing (Polygonatum). Later he withdrew to Mount Wumu in the Wu region, where he met the immortal Huichezi, who transmitted to him the Hongjing Danjing (Scripture of Rainbow Radiance Elixir). He cultivated it, attained the Dao, and held office in a cave-heaven.

The Mingchen Shilang of the Baoming Mansion: the Baoming Mansion had many female officials who managed the affairs of the Three Officials (the Daoist Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water). There were seven subordinate officials, four women and three men. The seven Mingchen Shilang had a rank equivalent to that of the earthly Yushi Zhongcheng; all were subordinate to the Donghua Fangzhu Palace and under the overall supervision of Lord Baoming. Zhou Yuanzhi was the daughter of Zhou Chang (courtesy name Bochi), Intendant of Henan under the Han. Zhou Chang was a man of Ancheng in Runan and delighted in secretly doing good and accumulating virtue; his merit accumulated imperceptibly. In the summer of the second year of Yongchu there was a severe drought, and he gathered and buried more than ten thousand sets of bones of people who had died away from home beside the city of Luoyang; he established a charitable cemetery and made sacrifices to them. At once heavy rain fell and there was a bountiful harvest. Many of his good deeds were similar to this. His hidden virtue became known to Taishang (the Supreme), who then had Yuanzhi receive transformation in the Southern Palace and attain immortality, and she came to dwell in the cave-heaven. In her youth Yuanzhi also loved the Dao and consumed Fuling (Poria) for thirty years. Later she met Shi Changsheng, who taught her “Huadun.” Huadun was a superior form of shijie (corpse liberation), a Daoist manner of ascending to immortality while leaving the physical remains behind. Tao Yinju said: Zhou Chang was the younger paternal cousin of Zhou Jia; under Emperor Shang of Han he served as Intendant of Henan and rose to the office of Guanglu Xun (Superintendent of the Imperial Household).

Zhang Taozhi was the mother of Zhu Yu, courtesy name Jiling, Colonel-Director of the Han (the office that supervised officials of the capital region). She practiced hidden virtue and was long renowned in Yiqian (the name of a Daoist immortal prefecture), and only then was she able to serve as a Shilang (Attendant Gentleman), a transcendent official. The Yinju says: Zhu Yu was from Pei and was one of the “Eight Worthies” (famous scholars) under Emperors Huan and Ling. It also records: Zhou Chang was the younger paternal cousin of Zhou Jia; under Emperor Shang of Han he served as Yin of Henan and rose to Guanglu Xun (an office in charge of palace guards and imperial counsel).

Xia Fu, courtesy name Zizhi, was from Chenliu. In his youth he loved the Dao (the Way), consumed herbal medicaments (medicinal pastes for nurturing life), and compounded mica (a mineral medicine). Later he entered Hao Mountain (a mountain name) and received from Master Red Beard the method of refining the soul; he also met Perfected Tongxiang, who bestowed on him the method of Yellow Water and Cloud Nectar (a method of ingesting immortal medicines). After attaining the Dao he lived in a cave. When he was young he was summoned by the ducal office; he hung the summons on a mulberry tree and departed—such was the loftiness of his aspiration. The Yinju says: both the Hou Han and the Gaoshi zhuan state that Xia Fu was a native of Yu in Chenliu; under Emperor Huan he was recommended as a “candid and upright” candidate but did not accept. The Zhengao says: according to regulation, those chosen as talents for the post of Shilang are of balanced purity, uprightness, bodily reclusion, and clarity of spirit, with no restriction as to sex. The remaining several persons cannot be described one by one.

In the Baoming Prefecture (the immortal bureaucracy at Maoshan), the Lijin Bo (Earl Who Administers Prohibitions) was Zhang Xuanbin, a native of Dingyixiang (a place name). Under Emperor Wu of Wei he was recommended as a maocai (that is, xiucai, “cultivated talent”); he returned to his native village, studied under Lord Ji of Xihe, received the method of consuming herbal medicaments, and also practiced the Dongfang Yuanbai (a form of inner cultivation). Later, on Shaoshi Mountain, he met Perfected Fan Ziming, who transmitted to him the Dao of escape-transformation and concealment of the shadow (invisibility and transformation). He once dwelled on Tianzhu Mountain; later he went into the Huayang grotto-heaven and served as the Lijin Bo. The Lijin Bo was the official in charge of rain and also the overseer (supervisor) of the Baoming Prefecture. Zhang Xuanbin was skilled in discussing emptiness and non-being and was a man of pure conversation. He often discoursed: “Non-being is the dwelling of Great Being; the small has its ...”

All things arise from this. One accumulates small “being” to nourish small “non-being,” and seeing great “being,” takes great “non-being” as the root; having “being” is also non-being, and negating “non-being” is also being. Therefore my eyes do not see things, and things do not see me. Non-being borrows being to accomplish non-being, and borrows non-being to attain non-being; thus “non-being” takes non-being as its dwelling, and the great void also takes non-being as its dwelling. Before I was born, there was not even “non-being” in the world. The figure in the text claims that he once went to Penglai, a mountain of immortals, to visit Lord Zuo Song Chensheng and discuss “non-being” with him; his words were quite agreeable to people, and the Perfected of Tongwu, a mountain, could not refute him. But to go a step further: if he could not even take “being” as his root, how could he take “non-being” as his root? Such were his lofty bearing and his manner of holding to principle.

The Assistant (Cheng) of the Baoming Prefecture—a divine office on Mount Mao—Zhao Weibo, was from Dongjun. In his youth he studied under Mr. Zhang of Nazou, practiced the visualization method of embracing the sun and moon in his bosom, and ingested the essence of the Ninefold Numinous Bright Mirror. In his later years, at the Central Peak (Mount Song), he received the Scripture of the Jade Pendant and Golden Dang from Fan Qiulin. Fan Qiulin was a Daoist woman from the household of Wei Xing, the Han dynasty General of Tower Ships. The River Chart (He Tu), a weft text, says: “In the regions of Wu and Chu there are many who can see the age of Great Peace.” She often said to people: “These words are not false; the verification will not be long in coming.” The Bright Mirror method she cultivated and visualized was not a conventional method of the world. After attaining the Dao, she lived within the Huayang Cavern Heaven and served as Assistant of Baoming. The Baoming Prefecture has four Assistants. Zhao Weibo was in charge of the registers of immortals and of violent rainstorms, and commanded the Five Mushrooms and the metal-jade herbs. Those who wished to pray for heavy rain could bring a petition and pay their respects to him.

Another Assistant was Yue Changzhi of Xianyang, a fellow townsman of the Eastern Minister Lord of Destiny (Dongqing Siming Jun). Recommended by Mao Xiaojun, he served as Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han. In his later years he received from Mr. Li of the Central Peak the method of pacing the Seven Primes—a stepping ritual akin to walking the Dipper—and attained the Dao and became an immortal. Yue Changzhi was in charge of disasters.

Yet another Assistant was Zheng Zhizheng, an inner-chamber disciple of Lord Meng. Lord Meng employed him to supervise assessment records.

One of the assistant administrators (cheng) was Tang Gongfang of Xishan, a man from the Shu region. He served Li Babo, a Daoist immortal, and Tang Gongfang was responsible for life and death.

Zhou’s inner-chamber disciple Zheng Zhizheng was a man appointed by Lord Meng and was in charge of assessment and registration records.

The Zhou Family Record of Mysterious Communion states: Huang Yuanping, a man of Donghai, about thirty years old, wore white cloth trousers and a pleated garment, a flat-topped headcloth (a kind of turban), and held a black hand tablet (hu tablet). He was attached to Assistant Administrator Zhao in the Baoming Bureau (Baoming Fu); when asked about his office, he had no fixed duties.

Li Zheng of Hejiu formerly received the method of guarding the One (shouyi) and cultivated the Grotto Chamber technique (dongfang zhi shu), thereby attaining the Dao. At first he was at Yangluo Mountain; later he entered Huayang Cave and also oversaw the investigation of malevolent influences and matters of popular prayer and petition. In the past Li Zheng had served as assistant (fuzuo) to the Duke of Changdao Township; when he received the Dao and entered the mountains, he was already sixty years old.

The Recluse by Tao Hongjing says: Li Zheng lived at Siping Mountain and east of Mount Damao; he gathered and ingested shisheng (a mineral medicine), thereby attaining the Dao. The place where he gathered medicine still exists today.

Zhou Ziliang, courtesy name Yuansu, inner taboo name Taixuan, style name Xuling, was a man of Yongjia and an outstanding disciple of the Recluse Tao. He received a heavenly mandate and, by his resonance, brought true spirits to descend. On the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month of the fourteenth year of the Tianjian era of Liang, he underwent shijie (corpse liberation) in broad daylight, being then twenty years old. The Recluse Tao collected accounts of the true spirits that descended to him in daily life, arranged them by category into four fascicles, and presented them to Emperor Wu of Liang; this is the Zhou Family Record of Mysterious Communion. The Record states that the Two Lords (divine immortals) chose Zhou Ziliang as Assistant for Register Preservation (Baiji Cheng), a post newly established to assist in directing the various immortal registers and records. Though the office was minor, it was esteemed for its purity and elevation; in the future his name was to be transferred to Shuhua (an immortal bureau), and he would then be reported upward to a higher rank, serving in the Baochen Office and overseeing the cultivation affairs and methods of instruction of immortals throughout the world.

The ghost commanders of the Baoming Bureau were Wang Yan, Fu Huang, Fan Qiang, and Xu Wei. These four ghost commanders had originally also been Daoist libationers (jijiu), an ecclesiastical post; they obtained the method of lower release (xiajie) and accepted written appointments, thereby becoming ghost commanders.

The Jade Youth of Huayang Cave refers to the Jade Youth in the Huayang Cave dwelling.

The Zhou Family’s Record of Mysterious Penetration (Zhou shi Xuantong ji) states: the Jade Youth of the Dawn Service—the immortal lad responsible for announcing daybreak—in Huayang Heaven (that is, the Huayang Grotto-Heaven immortal realm of Maoshan) was surnamed Jing and named Shangqi.

Among the immortals of Xiaoxian Palace, Zhang Zi’an, Immortal Minister of Xiaoxian, wore a lotus crown and deep-red embroidered robes and had three attendants. Zhang Zi’an’s given name was Xiao; he was a man of Jiajing in Rongyang.

The Supreme Commander of Tongchu Prefecture: Liu Wenrao was Liu Kuan of Hongnong. When he was seventy-three, one day Mr. Qinggu descended into his bedchamber and transmitted to him the staff-liberation method—a technique of using a staff as a substitute for the body and attaining shijie (liberation from the corpse) to become an immortal. He went to Mount Hua to practice Nine-Breath Qi-Refinement, a breathing and qi-inhalation method, and also received the furnace-fire elixir formula, a method of alchemical elixir refinement. After completing the Dao, he came into the grotto and presided over those who were beginning to study the Dao. Liu Kuan served as an official under the Han dynasty, rising to the offices of Situ (Minister over the Masses) and Taiwei (Grand Commandant). He delighted in secretly accumulating virtue and in helping the poor and distressed, and the common people loved and attached to him as to their parents. There is a biography of him in the Hanshu (History of the Han).

The Supervisor of Tongchu Prefecture: Fan Youchong was from Liaoxi and received the Taizu Way of Embryonic Transformation and Bodily Change—the Taizu lineage’s Daoist method of embryonic breathing and transforming the body. He often visualized at dawn the three-colored Qi of green, white, and red, each like a small boat, coming straight from beneath the eastern sun into his mouth; he held and embraced them ninety times and stopped when he felt full. Practicing thus for ten years, he attained the Dao. This method is concise and its effects are evident; it is the secret Dao of Taizu. Supervisor Fan was this man: formerly he served as Tongchu Supervisor, and now he is in Huayang Heaven.

The immortals of Tongchu Prefecture: In Tongchu Prefecture there were Wang Shaodao, Fan Shusheng, and Li Boshan, all outstanding figures within Tongchu Prefecture. Wang Shaodao was a man of the Han dynasty, namely Wang Zhu’er. Yun was Administrator of Shanyang in the Han dynasty. Fan Shusheng was from Beidi and once served as a Gentleman of the Yellow Gate under Emperor Wen of Wei. Li Boshan was also ranked among the immortals of Tongchu Prefecture.

This passage says that a certain mountain is connected with Li Chong’s father. Li Chong served in the Han as Prefect of Baima and practiced hidden virtue; perhaps for generations his family possessed the Dao, and this was the gathering of his benevolent deeds. These immortals all advanced step by step before they could enter this bureau; they did not necessarily arrive directly.

“The Three Officials and the Great Judge”: Fan Shuai says that the Three Officials (the Heavenly Official, Earthly Official, and Water Official of Daoism) have prison officers, who are not called Tingwei but Dali. Li Feng now serves as Dali, and only one post remains vacant; it is proposed that Wang Fuzi fill it, and it is not to be given to Xu Hu. The Yinju (by Tao Hongjing) says: Li Feng, courtesy name Anguo, changed his courtesy name to Xuanguo; he was from Fengyi and was the son of Li Yi. Of humble background but with talent and ambition, he later served in Wei as Shangshu Puye. Dali was the ancient prison officer; from the Former Han through Wei the Tingwei was also called Dali. This office is an immortal office. Wang Fuzi was the childhood name of Wang Que; Xu Hu is Huya.

“Underground Director”: Bao Shuo, courtesy name Taixuan, was from Chenliu. He held office in the Jin dynasty, was repeatedly summoned as Huangmen Shilang, and was appointed Prefect of Nanhai. He deeply examined the obscure and mysterious and was versed in the study of warp and weft, but no one understood him. He studied under Zuo Yuanfang (Zuo Ci), received the Central Method and the Inner Writ of the Three Sovereigns, and could command ghosts and spirits, seal mountains, and control demons. At Jiangshan he met the Zhenren Yin Changsheng, who transmitted to him the technique of liberation by the knife. According to the Zhengao, Bao Shuo and his younger sister, because their seven-generation ancestor had accumulated hidden virtue, had blessings extended to them, and both now serve as Underground Directors, immortal officials who manage underground affairs in the grotto palaces, within the grotto palaces. Bao Shuo’s learning was originally shallow, and his natural capacity was also slow, so what he obtained was not much. The Yinju says: Bao Shuo used the Taiqing corpse-liberation method, a method of becoming an immortal through corpse-liberation, and should be among the Underground Directors but not of the highest grade. Bao Shuo’s daughter Bao Gu was the wife of the Sanqi Changshi Ge Hong, courtesy name Zhichuan; Bao Gu and Ge Hong also successively ascended as immortals. Legend says that Bao Gu’s moxa once cauterized the Dragon Girl; see the separate biography.

Maoshan Zhi, juan 13, ends here. At the end of the juan are records of textual collation among editions: for example, “zuo” has “ze” in one edition; “changling” has “banlie” in one edition; “fang” (to hinder) was originally “fang” (to spin) and was corrected according to the Da edition; “si” was originally “yi” and was corrected according to the Da edition; “shizhi” was originally “xiaowei”; “lianjing” was originally “jinglian”; “yuanbai” was originally “baiyuan”; and so on. These are merely variant readings of individual characters from collation, not the doctrinal meaning of the scripture.

Juan 14 is titled Maoshan Zhi, juan 14. It was compiled by Liu Dabin, successor Patriarch-Master of the Shangqing school, and belongs to the “Xiancao Shu pian” (Section on Immortal Bureaus), a chapter recording the offices of immortal officials. It is titled “Immortals of Yiqian Palace.”

Yiqian Lodge and Hanzhen Terrace are both names of offices of immortal officials. In Yiqian Palace there are altogether eighty-three persons. There is also Lady Xiezhen, a true maiden of the Nine Palaces. In the past, Taishang sent her to teach these people Dao methods; all were instructed in scriptures through the method of preserving life, with Lady Xiezhen overseeing and commanding them. Lady Xiezhen was Huang Jinghua, daughter of Huang Qiong, Minister of Works in the Han dynasty. She studied under Han Zhong, and Han Zhong gave her the Minshan elixir; after taking it, she became an immortal.

Zhao Sutai had already been in Yiqian Palace for four hundred years and was unwilling to move away, claiming that there was no happier place in the world than this. Sutai was the daughter of Zhao Xi. In the Han dynasty, Zhao Xi served as governor of Youzhou. He had the merit of relieving the poor and once saved Wang Hui and others in the river from clan extermination; he performed several dozen secret deeds of accumulating virtue. Therefore he himself was able to go to Zhuling, an immortal office and cave-heaven, and his children were also in the cave-heaven. Zhao Xi often frequented the Dinglu Bureau, while Sutai repeatedly traveled incognito through streets and lanes; viewing mountains and marshes was enough to satisfy her. The Xuantong Ji says: Yiqian Palace commands the consorts and women who study immortality.

Madam Zhao, courtesy name Sutai, appeared to be in her thirties and wore a green embroidered garment. In Yiqian Palace (the palace residence of female immortals in the Huayang Grotto-Heaven on Maoshan) there were female immortals of lofty Daoist attainment who were pure, quiet, and self-contained, such as Bao Qiongying, Han Taihua, Liu Chunlong, Wang Jinxian, Li Xizi, and Guo Shuxiang. All were naturally refined and outstanding, with clear and lofty spirit, exceptional literary talent, and striking appearance; they were outstanding talents among the high-ranking immortal officials under the ruler of Yiqian Palace, and only after them came Zhang Jiangzi and others. Dou Qiongying was Dou Wu’s younger sister. Her seventh-generation ancestor was named Zhi, who made it his vocation to gather and bury dry bones and to rescue the dying, so his blessings extended to Qiongying. Han Taihua was the daughter of Han Anguo and the wife of Li Guangli, General of Ershi of the Han; Li Guangli had meritorious virtue in a former life and now also receives transformation in the Southern Palace (the Daoist place of refinement and transformation where souls are delivered). Liu Chunlong was the daughter of Liu Fengxian, Imperial Clan Officer of the Han (in charge of imperial clan affairs). Li Xizi was Li Zhong’s grandmother; Li Zhong served as Administrator of Dongping in the early Jin. Li Zhong’s grandfather was merely a farmer (a man of the fields), yet he accumulated much hidden virtue: when heavy snow and freezing cold came, he did not cover the grain he had stored, and he once left grain out in the open in the garden courtyard, fearing only that crows and sparrows might starve—such was his benevolence. Wang Jinxian was Wang Yan’s daughter. Guo Shuxiang was Wang Xiu’s mother. In addition, Wang Jinxian had a maidservant named Liuchu, originally surnamed Tian and a native of Yuyang; she was the granddaughter of Tian Feng, magistrate of Junyi, about twenty-two or twenty-three years old, of proper appearance, kind-hearted, and principled, and she too was in Yiqian Palace. Madam Wang, the Left Consort of Yiqian (a female official title), changed her courtesy name to Taiying; she was about twenty and wore purple. Madam Liu, the Right Consort of Yiqian, courtesy name Xuanwei, was about twenty and wore green.

Madam Xuetao of the Yiqian Dusi (Yiqian being the palace where female immortals dwell in the Maoshan grotto-heaven) changed her name to Zhi’an. She was about forty years old, with her upper garment green and her lower garment purple. Xu Yuan’s mother was originally named Kedou and later changed her name; this was probably her. Li Feihua, a native of Huaiyin who studied at Yiqian, had been there for ninety-four years, yet still looked about twenty and was dressed entirely in blue-green. In Yiqian there were Liu Miaoji, Sun Fanghua, and Ruan Huixiang. These three had attainments in cultivating the Dao and were guided to the Eighth Vermilion Terrace of Fangzhu (the name of an immortal mountain) to receive immortal scriptures; all became immortal consorts. Zhang Jiangzi, a native of Xizhou, was Zhang Ji’s younger sister; Li Huigu, from the region of Qi, was Xiahou Xuan’s wife; Shi Shunü, a native of Shanyang, was Shi Ji’s daughter; and Zheng Tiansheng was Deng Zhi’s mother. In previous lives all these women had benevolent virtue, good deeds, and fine reputations, and therefore all could dwell within the grotto-heavens.

Hanzhen Terrace is the place where women who have attained the Dao reside; it is affiliated with the Eastern Palace of Taiyuan and has about two hundred women. Lord Dinglu (a Maoshan immortal) said: Hanzhen Terrace exists in every grotto-heaven and is not only in this one place; this particular terrace belongs specifically to the Taiyuan Prefecture and is under the jurisdiction of Siming (the deity in charge of the registers of destiny). In the terrace two female immortals oversee its affairs. One of them is Zhang Weizi, daughter of Zhang Qing, who was Jiangzuo Dajiang (the official in charge of palace construction) under Emperor Zhao of Han. Zhang Weizi was devoted to the Dao and cultivated the method of shijie (liberation from the corpse—a practice of leaving the physical form behind and attaining immortality of the spirit). She often ingested mist and vapor and received this method from Chun Wenqi, the Jade Consort of Donghua in the Eastern Sea. Chun Wenqi was the younger sister of Qingtong (the name of an immortal). Clouds and mist.

This is the essence transformed by mountains and marshes, water and fire, the Qi (vital energy) that fills metals and stones; consuming it can cause the bodily form to disperse into the void and merge with clouds and mist. One of them was Lihe, daughter of Fu Jian, Palace Attendant and maternal nephew of Emperor Huan of Han. Her family was devoutly devoted to Buddhism and diligent in practice; Lihe often swept before the Buddha morning and evening, earnestly praying and making vows, wishing in her heart to become an immortal. The spirits, perceiving her intention, also caused her to come to this mountain. After dwelling long on the immortal mountain, she was able to ascend in rank, and later became the mistress of Hanzhen Terrace (the name of an immortal mansion terrace). She constantly ingested the Qi of the Five Stars and attained the Dao (the Way). Lihe was skilled at singing; whenever she sang, birds and beasts would come flying or gathering to listen.

Immortals of Maoshan: Zhan Shanggong was a man of the time of Gaoxin (Emperor Ku of high antiquity). Lord Dinglu (an immortal official of Maoshan) said: Master Zhan formerly studied the Dao at Fulong and planted plum trees, which spread throughout the mountain where he lived. The Master is now in the Right Protectorate of the Nine Palaces (an immortal office). He once said to the assembled immortals: “Formerly, beneath Huayang (a cave-heaven blessed land), I ate white plums, whose flavor was exceptionally sweet; it seems but a short while ago, yet suddenly three thousand years have passed.” Jiang Shumao, Marquis of Baling of Qin, attained the Dao on Juqu Mountain (the ancient name of Maoshan). He planted the five fruits and five pungent vegetables, selling vegetables and fruit to buy cinnabar; he too said that eating white plums was delicious, and recalling it as not long ago, suddenly three thousand years had already passed. Shumao once wrote to the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) bureaucracy (an immortal government office), saying: “Formerly I studied the Dao at Guigu, attained the Dao at Shaoshi, nurtured my wings at Huayang, waited in the immortal realm for ascent, and often rode a souche (a chariot of swift wind) to feast and roam at Juqu. Sighing with emotion at how swiftly things pass and generations replace one another—things remain, but people perish. How I labor!”

Zhou Taibin was talented and skilled and excelled at playing the qin. He once taught Mi Changsheng and Sun Guangtian (that is, Sun Deng). He could produce the eight tones on a single string—truly a wondrous thing.

Du Qi, courtesy name Guangping, was a native of Duling in Jingzhao. At the beginning of Jian’an he crossed the Yangtze and attached himself to Sun Ce; later Sun Quan appointed him as Lixin Xiaowei (Colonel of Establishing Trust). In the second year of Huangwu he gradually began to study the Dao; he encountered Master Jiemei, who transmitted to him the Xuanbai Wei (a Daoist technique), and in the course of time he could become invisible. Later he settled there.

Qi (read Xue), Xu Zongdu, and Yan Sunce—later Sun Quan appointed Qi as Lixin Xiaowei (Colonel of Establishing Trust). In the second year of Huangwu (Sun Quan’s reign era, 223), Qi gradually studied the Dao and met Master Jiemei, who transmitted to him the Xuanbai Wei (a Daoist cultivation technique); over time he became able to make himself invisible. Later he left Zhongmao (one of the three Mao peaks of Mount Mao) and came to Liangchang Mountain. He, Xu Zongdu, and Yan Xiansheng all lived in Mount Mao and could often enter the cave abodes. Sometimes they gathered wood themselves and went to remote villages to barter for clothing and grain, yet people did not know who they were. Xu Zongdu was from Jinling and served Sun Hao as Left Dianjun and as Sima to Lü Ti; he had once received from Master Fenggu the transmission of the Qijin Wei (a method of circulating Qi and imposing restrictions). Yan Xiansheng was the sister’s son of Bu Jing and thus a disciple of Xu Zongdu. The Yinju says: the name Qi is read as “Xue”; one form of the character has four strokes and the other has three, a difference so slight as to be easily missed. Qi had two disciples. One was Hanhua, granddaughter of Sun Ben. Sun Ben was a paternal cousin of Sun Quan, Great Emperor of Wu, and served as Administrator of Yuzhang in Wu. Hanhua’s father was named Xi and was enfeoffed as King of Shanyin. Hanhua first went to Jian’an and later to Mount Mao, where she cultivated the Xuanbai method, and her face appeared youthful. The other disciple was Chen Shijing. In the time of Sun Xiu, Shijing served as Shilang (Attendant Gentleman); in his youth he loved the Dao, went to Jian’an, and later to Mount Mao, where he cultivated the Xuanbai method and also appeared youthful. It is also said that Shijing served as Shilang under Sun Xiu; in his youth he loved the Dao and repeatedly entered Buddhist temples; he was a fellow native of Qi, and so in his later years the method was transmitted to him once more. These people lived on the outer periphery of Mount Mao; they were not guests who permanently resided in the cave abodes, but they too could often enter them. Shijing ingested Alisma (ze xie), while Hanhan (evidently intended as Hanhua) did not take medicine; both were already over three hundred years old—such was precisely the efficacy of the Xuanbai method.

Zuo Ci, courtesy name Yuanfang. During the Jian’an era of the Eastern Han, he fasted and purified himself, ascended the mountain, entered Dongxu and visited the Yin officials; the Three Mao Lords (the three lords of Mount Mao) bestowed on him divine zhi (a numinous ganoderma elixir). He also sought from Lord Siming the cinnabar of the Jade Gate and obtained twelve jin. The Yinju says: Yuanfang was probably [acting] for Wei …

Zuo Ci, even after being coerced by force, still came; what he requested was the Jiuhua Elixir (Nine Splendors Elixir), refined by combining cinnabar with furnace fire. Lord Dinglu (a divine immortal venerated at Mount Mao) said: Zuo Ci is now at Xiaokuo Mountain, often traveling about and having come to this place many times; before long he will receive another immortal office. His appearance is very youthful, precisely owing to the benefits of the furnace-fire Jiuhua Elixir. He also said: when Zuo Ci first came, he devoted himself for about five years to worshipping the sacred mountain before he was able to enter deeply into the Eastern and Western Palaces (palace bureaus within the grotto-heavens). He was a disciple of Li Zhongfu and the teacher of Ge Xuan (a Daoist of the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period and patriarch of the Lingbao tradition).

The given name of Mr. Pu is lost; he often rode a white deer on Mount Mao to gather numinous mushrooms. Mr. Xu was named Mai (also named Ying), with the courtesy name Shuxuan; he was a native of Jurong in Danyang and the elder brother of Xu Mu, Chief Secretary of the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) Perfected. From childhood he loved the Dao (the Way). He once asked Guo Pu (a famous Eastern Jin expert in Yijing studies) to divine by yarrow stalks; he obtained the Tai hexagram, with the top line, six in the sixth place, moving, and the oracle statement said: “Great good fortune for you comes from Heaven; it is fitting to study the Dao.” At first he studied under Bao Shuo, but he could not bear to go against his parents. He considered Xuanliu Mountain in Yuhang to be close to Mount Mao in Yanling, the western gate of Dongting, with water routes connecting to the Five Sacred Peaks, and also a place once visited by Chen Anshi and Mao Jiwei. So he built a retreat at Xuanliu, traveled back and forth to the cave chambers of Mao Ridge, and returned home to visit his parents only on the first and fifteenth days of the month and on seasonal festivals. After his parents passed away, he sent his wife, Lady Sun, back to her natal family, changed his name to Xuan, and took the courtesy name Yuanyou. In the second year of Yonghe, he went to reside in the Western Mountain of Lin’an and associated with Wang Youjun (Wang Xizhi) and his son. Later he moved to Chishan in Linhai, where he met Wang Shilong, Zhao Daoxuan, and Fu Taichu. He then took Wang Shilong as his teacher and received the “Way of Unbinding and Reversing Practice” (a cultivation method of releasing bonds and returning) and the “Method of Ingesting Jade Liquid and Cultivating Brain Essence at Dawn” (a cultivation method of consuming jade liquid and nurturing brain essence in the morning). When the appointed time for his attainment of the Dao was at hand, he was dispatched by the Left Gentleman of the Metropolitan Prohibitions of the Three Officials (Sanguan; an office in the Three Officials system).

Dianbing Hou Zhou Fang and Zhufei Shizhe Yan Baihu (divine clerks of the underworld who keep the registers and execute punishments) each produced a cinnabar tablet recording sins and questioned Mr. Xu item by item about his transgressions; if he could not answer, they meant to arrest and detain him. Mr. Xu was afraid, and with effort gave a long whistle and shouted in reply: The Great Dao (the Way) has no partiality and responds only to good people; Heaven and Earth have no private intent and bestow compassion in accord with De (Virtue/Power). Thus the bloodshed at Banquan did not prevent the Yellow Emperor from mounting a dragon and ascending to Heaven; when the land of Sanmiao was stained with blood and the grass at Zhuolu turned red, how could that hinder the great sage’s spiritual transformation and lofty, penetrating attainment of the Dao? My seventh-generation ancestor Xu Zi’a accumulated humaneness and virtue, and his hidden virtue extended even to birds and beasts. In years of famine, plague, and pestilence, when not one in a hundred of the common people survived, Zi’a dispersed his wealth to rescue them and personally compounded prescriptions; four hundred and eight people on the verge of death were saved. His virtuous blessings passed down to us: three of us should ascend, and five should transcend the world; our names are recorded with Taishang, and the tablets are kept in Qingguan (the roster of the immortal bureaus). How could this be something you can interfere with? Just as he finished speaking, it happened that Dinglu Jun (a divine Perfected of Maoshan) had sent Zhonghou Li Zun, holding a fire bell, to come; Zhou Fang and the others laughed and fled. The master then had his name inscribed at Donghua (the Donghua Immortal Palace), became a middle-grade earth immortal, and later moved to Mount Gaizhu. Afterward he wrote to the Changshi: “I regret that I met a good teacher too late, and I regret that the obstructions in my heart and nature were not removed earlier; the hardships of my attaining the Dao, Dinglu Zhenjun must already have spoken of. I am deeply indebted to him for the grace of bringing me to completion, shielding me, and rescuing me—even Heaven and Earth cannot compare.”

The Perfected Ren, named Dun, courtesy name Shangpu, was from Bochang in Le’an. As a youth he studied the Dao on Mount Luofu; in the early Yongjia era of the Jin he traveled to Daizong (Mount Tai), and later lived in the South Cave of Huayang. He cultivated the Budou Dao (the method of treading the stellar guideline and stepping the Dipper) and the Dongxuan Five Talismans, and could command ghosts and spirits, summon deities, conceal his body, and divide his form. He drank wine and took medicinal cakes made from Atractylodes and Huangjing (Polygonatum); he also dug seven feet into the earth and took red altar earth (soil colored like red halloysite), swallowing nine pills each day, and often went out among people. Holding the scriptures and regulations, he taught the unenlightened, and people near and far respectfully followed his instruction.

There was a kind of earth that looked like red halloysite (a mineral medicine); every day he swallowed nine pellets of it, and he often moved in and out among people. He upheld the scriptures, methods, and Keyi (liturgy), teaching the ignorant, and people near and far respectfully submitted and followed his teaching. In the renwu year, the first year of Yongchang, snow lay a zhang (over ten feet) deep, and more than half the birds and beasts froze to death. He distributed food in the mountains, and dozens of tigers and deer roamed along with him. Whenever he went out, the tiger he had tamed followed with drooping ears and tucked tail. One day he suddenly saw a man more than a zhang tall, wearing five-colored black-and-yellow robes, who came up to him, bowed with hands clasped, and asked, “What ghost or spirit are you? Why have you come here?” The man said he had been sent by Hena Laojun to deliver a message and pay his respects, and that his name had already been entered in the Cinnabar Register (the roster of immortals). The Perfected One had once served as Warden of a Grotto-Heaven (one who governs a Grotto-Heaven). After he had refined the Great Elixir, he said to his disciples, “I am going to visit Mount Kuocang, Mount Gaizhu, and other mountains.” His old residence is the present-day Chongshou Abbey. Both the Yunji Qiqian and the Chicheng Zhi contain his biography.

Master Huang of Taoyuan held a high Fulu (talismans and registers) rank. At Mount Mao he built a Celestial Worthy Hall, expounded the scriptures and teachings, and taught the multitude; every day several thousand people came to listen. Just as the scripture-lecture assembly had begun, a man suddenly pushed open the door, burst in, and shouted. He was swarthy, coarse in speech, with a mule whip tucked at his waist, and looked like a man who followed merchants’ mule trains hauling goods. He cursed, “Daoist, you slave, what are you gathering a crowd for in such heat? You do not go into the deep mountains to learn and cultivate the Dao, yet you still dare to talk empty words?” Master Huang, not knowing his depth, stepped down from the lecture seat and spoke humbly. Everyone was afraid and did not dare to oppose him. After a long while, the man’s speech and expression softened a little, and he said, “Is it to build the platform and hall? How much money do you need?” Huang said, “Five thousand three hundred strings of cash.” The man said, “Bring all the broken pots and cauldrons and the scrap iron.” There were about eight or nine hundred jin. He dug a pit for a furnace, melted them with fire, reached into the gourd at his breast, and poured out two pills of medicine…

It is recorded in juan 15 of the Maoshan Zhi, in the “Cai Zhen You” chapter: someone stirred it with an implement, and in a moment superior silver had already been refined in the fire. The man said, “Altogether this can bring more than ten thousand strings of cash—more than enough for the expenses of building a Daoist temple. What I get from expounding scriptures is not much, so let it be.” A certain Huang and his disciples thanked him profusely and asked what he wanted; smiling, he went out the door and left, and no one knew where he went. More than ten years later, Huang was summoned to the capital and suddenly, on the west side of Chang’an Street, met the man with the mule whip tucked at his waist, carrying a bundle on his shoulder and walking behind an old man riding a donkey, bearing none of the appearance he had had at Maoshan years before. Huang wanted to hurry forward to pay his respects, but the man pointed at the donkey-riding old man and repeatedly kowtowed; Huang could only kowtow and salute from afar. The old person’s hair was completely white, yet in appearance she looked like a girl of fourteen or fifteen. This account appears in the Yishi.

In the early Shenfeng era, Hao Chuo went to the mouth of Huayang Cave to gather herbs and saw a child holding three large pearls, playing beneath a pine tree. Hao Chuo stepped forward and asked whose child he was; the child ran into the cave. Fearing the child would be harmed by a tiger, Hao Chuo followed him inside, calling out repeatedly. Before he had gone thirty paces, he saw the child transform into dragon form, holding the three pearls in one hand and stuffing them into its left ear. Hao Chuo, always bold, hacked off its left ear with his herb-gathering axe, but the three pearls were already gone, and the dragon had also disappeared. Before he had come out more than ten paces, the cave gate closed. During the Xuanhe era of the Song, Hao Chuo was granted a title.

He was called “Mr. Yangsu” (Yangsu Xiansheng, “Nourishing Simplicity”); his deeds are recorded in the Longcheng lu.

Xue Biaozhi was from Jinling (around present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu). In his youth he did not draw close to the vulgar crowd and did not envy glorious official rank. In the second year of the Jianwu era of the Qi, he set aside mundane affairs and sought the secret essentials of cultivating the Real. Only after three years did he return, and he practiced the Dao at the Dongtian Guan (Grotto-Heaven Abbey) on the eastern ridge of Greater Maoshan. He took pine as food and drank water from mountain streams, and so passed many years. This abbey was the altar-site where the Jin-dynasty Perfected Person Ren (Ren Zhenren) attained the Dao; its traces still remain, and it is highly efficacious. The gentleman therefore came to this place to seek out antiquity and pursue the truth.

Feng Faxian, courtesy name Fayuan, was from Qu’e in Jinling (present-day Danyang, Jiangsu). In the first year of the Tianjia era of Emperor Wen of Chen, the emperor sent Yu Li, the Zhongshuzi (Middle Mentor), to Feng Faxian’s residence to hold a three-day Great Fast. At noon, while performing the Daoist rite, each time he performed a rite and a bow the bell would sound of itself; when he chanted the Buxu ci (Buxu lyrics, chanted in Daoist zhaijiao purification rituals), it was perfectly in rhythm, and the bell responded in the same way—all present marveled.

Ma Shu, courtesy name Yaoli, was from Fufeng. He was broadly versed in the classics and histories, and especially skilled in Buddhist books and in the Zhouyi and the Laozi yi (Meaning of Laozi). When Xiao Lun, Prince of Shaoling, was governor of Nanxuzhou (around present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), he recommended Ma Shu as a scholar. Xiao Lun raised troops to aid the imperial court and left twenty thousand scrolls of books with Ma Shu. Ma Shu read through them freely as he pleased, nearly finishing them all, and then sighed deeply: “I have heard that those who prize noble rank regard Chaofu and Xuyou (ancient recluses) as shackles; those who love mountains and forests regard Yiyin and Lü Shang (famous ministers of antiquity) as enclosures; those constrained by name and substance regard the lofty detachment of Laozi in his post as Keeper of the Pillar Archives as grass and weeds; those steeped in pure emptiness regard the teachings of the mat as chaff. Examined by sound judgment, this is simply each following his own preference. Recently, men seeking to realize their aspirations see the road and turn back—can it be that Heaven does not favor the noble-minded? Why are mountain-and-forest scholars so little known?” He then retired to Maoshan, with the intention of spending his final years there. In the first year of the Tianjia era of Chen, Emperor Wen summoned him to be Duzhi Shangshu (Minister of Revenue, the minister in charge of finances), but he declined and did not accept.

Dai Sheng, courtesy name Shirong, was a native of Qu'e in Jinling. He did not respond to summons to office. His pupils were yellow, bright, and clear, and he could see things in dark places. A pair of swallows nested in a tree in his courtyard; they were tame and familiar, often perching on railings and desks, coming in spring and leaving in autumn for about thirty years. He died in the thirteenth year of the Taijian era. He authored the Treatise on Awakening to the Dao (Daojue lun), which circulated in the world. In his youth he left home; his family was poor, and he worked as a hired laborer for his fellow townsman Liu Biao. Liu Biao was a military officer who loved hunting, so Dai Sheng left him and entered Maoshan.

Chu Ya, courtesy name Xuantong, was a native of Qiantang in Wu Commandery. At the end of the Liang dynasty he lived in seclusion in the mountains. He valued giving and made little of material wealth, and he never tired of aiding others. When his cultivated fields produced a harvest, he gave it to the poor and shared his dwelling with others. He often rose early to sweep and draw water, helping people broadly, and he gathered firewood for beggars; in summer he planted melons for people to come and take.

Huan Fawen, courtesy name Yanshu, was a native of Dantu in Donghai and a senior disciple of Tao Yinju (Tao Hongjing). He served as head of Qingyuan Hall for the Prince of Nanping of Liang. His many duties hindered his study and cultivation, so he built another Xuanzhou Hermitage on the right side of Yugang Mountain. The retired scholar Zhou Hongrang inscribed on the hermitage wall: "Li Ji left behind an ancient cauldron; Zhao Xiao transcended wind and clouds. Through the long ages as they rise, it belongs once more to you, sir." Wang Sengbian had Lu Huang paint portraits of Huan Fawen, himself, and the retired scholar Zhou on a screen, and he also used feibai (flying-white script) to write the correspondence between Huan Fawen and Wang Sengbian on the screen.

The reverse of the stele was still left for later generations to read. The Zhi Huan Ji circulating in the world says that “Yue” was a fire-tender and cook at the side of Tao Yinju (Tao Hongjing, an eminent Daoist of the Southern Dynasties, sobriquet Huayang Yinju); Jia Shanxiang, a Song dynasty Daoist, compiled the Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) and mistakenly adopted this account. Tao Yinju’s writings, his poems on entering the mountains, and his tombstone as a recluse are enough to prove the actual facts.

Sun Wentao, also named Tao, courtesy name Wencang, was from Kexian in Kuaiji. He entered the mountains and studied under Tao Yinju, receiving the true methods. When he saw the handwritten Shangqing scriptures of Yang Xi, Xu Mi, and the other “Three Perfected,” he copied and studied them and thereby became extremely refined. Later he studied the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi (“Great Wang”), with which he had a deep affinity, and he was praised at the time. The Nandong Stele of the Nine Bestowals Text and the stele of the altar at the old residence of Xu Changshi both came from his hand. The reverse of the Nandong stele says: Wencang was gentle in heart and resolute in appearance; he handled affairs with upright integrity while his wisdom was rounded and penetrating. Because he did not act rashly, a brief record was specially carved to commemorate him.

Qian Miaozhen was a woman of Jinling. She left home to study the Dao under Tao Yinju. During the Putong era of the Liang, she lived alone on a secluded cliff and recited the Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court, a classic of Daoist inner cultivation); she was then nineteen. She dwelled in Yankou Cave for thirty years and became an immortal. When she was about to depart, she personally composed a letter and wrote seven poems to bid farewell to Yinju; one day, girded with white silk, she made herself invisible and entered the cave. Later an imperial edict designated the place as Yandong Palace, and to this day female Daoists offer sacrifices there.

Ge Jingxuan of Danyang, a Shangqing Daoist, was a descendant of Ge Xiangong (Ge Xuan). Xiao Shixian of Lanling, Grand Palace Grandee, untied his cap-strings from the imperial house and practiced the Dao in the mountains and forests. Xing Xiuzhi of Pingchang advanced diligently in cultivation and was esteemed by senior eminent Daoists. Shao Yuantai of Lanling spread Daoist influence broadly and far. Xu Boqian of Donghai made the teachings of De universally beneficial. In the cultivation chamber at the Bodhi White Pagoda, he practiced the Dao in the mountains and forests. The meditation bhiksu of Bodhi White Pagoda Temple, Shi Zhiyuan of Kuaiji, encompassed the Five Vehicles in his studies and penetrated the doctrines of both teachings.

The abbot of Peizhen Lodge was Jiang Fuchu, a native of Yixing (around present-day Yixing, Jiangsu). He traveled back and forth to Maoshan and wished to entrust himself to the Daoist order. In the second year of Qiyuan, by imperial edict he was invited to Zongyang Lodge to practice the Dao (the Way), refine and ingest Qi (vital energy), and cultivate and complete his Daoist vocation. His character was transcendent and free from the mundane; he lived to a great age and, after bathing, transformed his spirit (meaning death or shijie, liberation from the corpse). The former abbot of Huayang Lodge was Lu Yizhong of Wu Commandery. The former abbot of Huayang Lodge was Wang Faming of Taiyuan. Both gentlemen had lofty aspirations and were reclusive and transcendent; they did not take managing the various lodges as their task.

The abbot of Chongyuan Lodge, Zhang Yuanzhi, was a native of Jiaxing. During the Jianwu era he was appointed abbot by imperial edict; he also built a terrace by the ravine on Jun Mountain to live on, where white cranes often came to perch, and so it was called Crane Terrace. The abbot of Zhuyang Lodge, the Shangqing Daoist priest Pan Yuanwen, lived in seclusion and upheld the scriptural treasures of the Three Mao Perfected Lords and the Two Xu (Xu Mi, Xu Hui, and other figures in the Shangqing scriptural tradition); the lodge was built by imperial edict in the twelfth year of Tianjian. The abbot of Sizhen Lodge was Xu Lingzhen of Jurong, Danyang; he served as abbot, and was a sixth-generation descendant of Perfected Xu of the Jin dynasty. It was established by imperial edict in the third year of Tianjian. The lodge of Zhang Yi of Wu Commandery, abbot of Chongxu Lodge and Daoist Zheng (an ecclesiastical post), was originally built at Chaogou by order of Emperor Ming of the Liu Song to provide for the Great Master Lu Xiujing; during the Yongming era of Qi it was established by imperial edict in Jianglingli, and later Mr. Tao (Tao Hongjing) restored and revived it.

The abbot of Zongzhen Lodge was Xu Gongxiu of Qu'e, who was skilled in preserving Daoist simplicity; his moral prestige was gentle and pure. Zhang Xuanzhen, ninth-generation descendant of the Celestial Master (Tianshi), was versed in all Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen) of Daoist learning, and his virtue spread throughout the four directions. Zhang Jing'er, tenth-generation descendant of the Celestial Master, was outstanding and extraordinary in appearance, conduct, insight, and learning, rising above ordinary people. Tenth-generation descendants of the Celestial Master from Shu Commandery were Zhang Zhiming, Zhang Zihua, Zhang Qiang, Zhang Huayun, Zhang Kai, and Zhang Zhou. Xie Tianli of Yongshi, Danyang, was abbot of Chongyuan Lodge. Fu Zhuo of Beijun was abbot of Huayang Lodge. Zhang Xuanzong of Wu Commandery was abbot of Zongxuan Lodge. Tang Fayi of Qu'e was abbot of Chongzhen Lodge.

This register lists the heads of the various Daoist abbeys on Maoshan, together with their native places and names: the head of Yanzhen Abbey was Wu Maizhi, a native of Yixing (present-day Yixing area, Jiangsu); the head of Zongming Abbey was Yu Wanda, a native of Jiankang (present-day Nanjing); the head of Jianshan Abbey was Luo Faxian, a native of Jiankang; the head of Shangshan Abbey was Meng Huipu, a native of Haoxing (present-day Huzhou area, Zhejiang); the head of Huwu Abbey was Wei Lingfu, a native of Langya (present-day Linyi area, Shandong); the head of Miaomen Abbey was Ji Tianlu, a native of Yuhang (present-day Yuhang, Hangzhou); the head of Fulin Abbey was Ren Yanzheng, a native of Bochang (present-day Boxing area, Shandong); the head of Qizhen Abbey was Chen Faming, a native of Jiankang; the head of Dongxuan Abbey was Zhu Fayong, a native of Guanguan (a place name); the head of Hanzhen Abbey was Hong Faqing, a native of Qu'e (present-day Danyang, Jiangsu); the head of Zhaoxian Abbey was Wu Xuanze, a native of Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang); the head of Qingyang Abbey was Zhang Tanyao, a native of Jiankang; the head of Xianling Abbey was Zhu Fajing, a native of Yanguan (present-day Haining area, Zhejiang); the head of Zhangqiu Abbey was Zhang Daocun, a native of Yanling (present-day Changzhou area, Jiangsu); the head of Xuanpu Abbey was Qian Fahui, a native of Yanling; the head of Kaizhen Abbey was Wang Yanmin, a native of Yanling; the head of Long'e Abbey was Chen Shaoxian, a native of Qu'e; the head of Fuxiang Abbey was Liu Zhanzhi, a native of Jinling (present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu); the head of Jinling Abbey was Shou Zunzu, a native of Jiaxing (present-day Jiaxing, Zhejiang); the head of Zhaozhen Abbey was Xu Shucun, a native of Gaoyang (present-day Gaoyang area, Hebei); the head of Fangyu Abbey was Zhong Wenzhou, a native of Yanling; the head of Longquan Abbey was Zhou Jingchong, a native of Yixing; the head of Zongzhen Abbey was Yin Fajing, a native of Yanling; the head of Yuquan Abbey was Zuo Wenju, a native of Qu'e; the head of Xiuzhen Abbey (the original text has “wanzhu”) was Bi Wenhe, a native of Jurong (present-day Jurong, Jiangsu); the head of Tianshi Abbey (the original text has “wanzhu”) was Wei Nizi, a native of Yanling; and the head of Beidong Abbey was Wang Faxiu, a native of Jurong.

This is a register of the persons in charge of the various Daoist halls (places of cultivation) and jingshe (small monasteries) on Mount Mao. A hall master is the person responsible for each hall; a female official (nüguan) refers to a female person in charge of cultivation; and the Celestial Master’s tenth-generation granddaughter means the tenth-generation granddaughter of Zhang the Celestial Master.

The hall masters are Ding Fengzhi of Zhaoling Hall (Haojun), Yu Tianhui of Yangming Hall (Yongshi), Xie Faxian of Jingang Hall (Yanling), Xue Yanzhi of Longyang Hall (Jinling), Miao Faxing of Qulin Hall (Lanling), Chen Shihong of Huangzeng Hall (Qu’a), Zhang Fangcheng of Dongyang Hall (Yixing), Yu Sengyao of Maozhen Hall (Qiantang), Xu Lingqing of Tongwei Hall (Lanling), Che Lingwan of Dongqing Hall (Lanling), Chen Shidu of Xingqi Hall (Qu’a), Liu Sengming of Qixiang Hall (Qu’a), Dai Lingdai of Fangxuan Hall (Hushu), Wang Xidi of Zhengfan Hall (Jinling), Chen Yaoyun of Jiangzhen Hall (Yanling), Yang Chaoyuan of Linwu Hall (Kexian), Ju Sui of Dixiang Hall (Lanling), and Chen Tian of Long’an Hall (Yanling).

The female hall masters are Pan Lingqiao of Qingxuan Hall (Yanling), Wang Mingzhu of Zongling Hall (Yanling), Qian Mifei of Zhaotai Hall (Jinling), Liu Miaoyun of Chujing Hall (Haojun), Wang Yuying of Wanzhuang Hall (Yanling), Yang Zhengyin of Renjing Hall (Danyang), Wan Miaofei of Fanming Hall (Liyang), and Wan Miaoe of Baofan Hall (Liyang). The Celestial Master’s tenth-generation granddaughters are Zhang Zitai and Zhang Jifei.

The female officials of the jingshe are Zhang Miaorong of Taishu Jingshe (Qu’a), Xue Yaoluo of Shangming Jingshe (Jinling), Tang Minghui of Taizhang Jingshe (Danyang), and Han Shuangfei of Tengsheng Jingshe (Pengcheng).

This passage records the titles and names of a group of female Daoist officials, Daoists, Dharma Masters, and Yi Masters within the Maoshan Daoist community: Zhang Miaorong, female official of Yudan Pure Abode (a place for female Daoist cultivation), a native of Qu’e (present-day Danyang area, Jiangsu); Xue Yaoluo of Jinling, female official of Shangming Pure Abode; Tang Minghui of Danyang, female official of Taizhang Pure Abode; Han Shuangfei of Pengcheng, female official of Tengsheng Pure Abode; Zhu Lingfei of Yanling, female official of Yudan Pure Abode; Pan Miaoxiang of Yanling, female official of Miaojing Pure Abode; Tang Sengfei of Yanling, female official of Xunzhen Pure Abode; Chen Sengshu of Qu’e, female official of Zongbiao Pure Abode; Jianqiu Linggui of Yanling, female official of Yongfu Pure Abode; Xu Lingcui of Jiyang, a female official and Daoist engaged in ingestion practices; Yan Haoyao of Jurong, Zhaozhen Daoist; Huan Fangkai of Lanling, Fenghao Daoist; Zhang Fazhen of Jurong, mountain-dwelling Daoist; Yin Lingyang of Qu’e, Dharma Master of the Three Caverns; Yu Xuanming of Yongshi, Dharma Master of the Three Caverns; Zhou Xianming of Lu Commandery, Dharma Master of the Two Caverns; Lu Senghui of Hao Commandery, Zongyuan Luozhu (a Daoist administrative post); Bo Jiuzhen, Yi Master of Shenzhou and Fashen (a Daoist identity title); Han Xiuming, Yi Master of Jianzhen and Fashen; Cao Xuanming of Yanling, Court Official Fashen; Zheng Xiuzhi of Pengcheng, Governance Prefect Fashen; Dong Daogai of Shanyin, Governance Assistant Fashen.

Mr. Tongwu, Wang Gui, courtesy name Hongfan, also styled Daomo, was a native of Linyi in Langya. His great-grandfather Wang Yun served the Liang dynasty as Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary; his grandfather Wang Gu served as Equerry to Crown Prince Jianwen; his father Wang Yu served the Chen dynasty as Editorial Assistant. At the age of twenty, Wang Gui took Wang Fazhu (an eminent Maoshan Daoist) as his teacher and became a disciple who attended him with towel and bottle for sixteen years. He followed Wang Fazhu through the Sui and Tang dynasties. Initially, in the eleventh year of the Daye era of the Sui, he received an edict to go to the twenty-four commanderies of Henan to make a broad search for extraordinary persons. During the Zhenguan era, by imperial command he rebuilt Huayang Abbey. On the morning of the first day of the eleventh month in the second year of the Qianfeng era...

He turned back to his disciples and said, “Yesterday I dreamed that three feathered immortals holding writing tablets told me: ‘The Huayang Heavenly Palace wishes to appoint you as lord of ten thousand immortals and to have you concurrently oversee the post of Xiaoling sheng official (the title of an immortal official). It is time for you to set out.’ I had already received this dream as a portent earlier at Tongwu Mountain, and now I ought to answer the summons.” On the eighth day he bathed and changed his robes and cap; on the ninth day, holding his tablets upright, he passed away in seated meditation (feathered transformation, the death of a Daoist adept). He was eighty-eight years old and was buried to the right of the tomb of the Perfected Tao (Tao Hongjing, posthumously titled Mr. Zhenbai) on Leiping Mountain.

Wang Yu was versed in esoteric arts and lived at Qingluo Mountain in Luoyang. The local people saw that he was already several hundred years old yet always retained a youthful countenance. During the Kaiyuan era he was summoned to the capital; Emperor Xuanzong, seeing his childlike face and distinctive hair—an appearance of youthful complexion and unusual hair—treated him with considerable courtesy. At that time Xuanzong had obtained at Maoshan the original Shangqing (Supreme Purity) scriptures written by Yang Xi, Xu Mi, and other Perfected, as well as by Tao Zhenbai. Thirteen pages of text were missing from the scriptures, so he sent Wang Yu with an imperial edict and gifts to Ziyang Abbey to ask Mr. Xuanjing (Li Hanguang, a Tang-era Maoshan patriarch) to fill in the missing text. Xuanzong said: “I do not wish my officials to offend you, so I have sent you on this special journey, hoping to obtain an immortal’s handwriting and thereby let past and present continue one another.” On the day Wang Yu arrived at the mountain, numinous cranes flew about and cried; when Mr. Xuanjing was writing the scriptures, divine beings descended into his room. All this was the result of sincere resonance. This event is recorded in the Xianzhuan Shiyi (Supplementary Gleanings from Immortal Biographies).

Hao Yun (a Tang Daoist, later more commonly written Wu Yun) was originally a Confucian scholar from Lu. He entered Mount Song and took the patriarch Pan Shizheng as his master, becoming a Daoist; Pan transmitted to him the Shangqing Daoist methods. He applied himself with great diligence and thus mastered all its techniques. During the Kaiyuan era he traveled south to Jinling, went to Maoshan to seek the Dao, and much later traveled east to Tiantai Mountain. He was especially skilled in writing; when Xuanzong heard of his reputation, he summoned him, was delighted in conversation with him, and had him await orders at the Hanlin Academy. Before long he requested to return to Maoshan, and Xuanzong granted permission.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang heard of his reputation, summoned him to court, and after conversing with him was much impressed; he ordered him to serve at the Hanlin Academy awaiting court assignment. Before long he asked to return to Mount Mao, and permission was granted. Later, when great chaos broke out in the Central Plains and bandits were numerous in the Jiang-Huai region, he traveled east to Kuaiji and Tiantai (in the present-day Shaoxing and Tiantai areas of Zhejiang), exchanged poems with Li Bai and Kong Chaofu, roamed freely among mountain springs, forests, and rocks, and finally died in Yuezhong (in present-day Zhejiang). This is recorded in his biography in the Book of Tang.

Cui Xizhen was staying as a guest in Zhongling (near present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi), living west of the prefectural city. He was skilled at playing the qin and painting, and also fond of practicing Daoist arts. On the first day of the tenth month in the second year of Dali (767), heavy snow fell at night. When Xizhen opened his door in the morning, he saw an old man in a straw rain cape and bamboo hat sheltering from the snow beneath the gate. Cui found this strange and invited him inside. The old man took off his cape and hat; his expression and bone structure were unlike those of ordinary people, and Cui respected him all the more. He asked, “I have some barley flour at home; it may serve to stave off hunger for now—can you eat it?” The old man said, “Barley receives the Qi of the four seasons and is excellent among grains; mixed with fermented black-bean sauce, it is even better.” Cui ordered his family to prepare it and also offered pine-flower wine. The old man said, “Pine-flower wine is astringent and flavorless; this rustic has something that can make it mellow and fine.” Thereupon he took a pill from his bosom; it was yellow and hard. He cracked it open with a stone, put a little into the wine, and the wine at once became unusually sweet and fragrant. He gave the rest of the medicine to Xizhen. Cui went inside and peeked through a crack in the window; he saw the old man seeming to paint something on plain silk before the curtain, then in an instant he stopped. When Cui came out, the old man had disappeared. He walked through the snow in pursuit, chased him several li to the riverbank, entered a reed islet, and saw a large boat; several people in the boat all had extraordinary appearances. That man turned his head and laughed, saying, “So Ge San (the immortal’s name) has actually been cornered by this fellow.” He also said to Cui, “In observing the etiquette of a strict master of the Daoist tradition, there is no need to be so rigid.” Cui bowed and thanked him. When he returned and looked behind the curtain, he found a picture on which were painted three people and two trees.

In the painting there are three people, two trees, and also a white deer and a medicine box (medicine satchel). Two of the people have the bearing of otherworldly masters, holding dark ganoderma (xuanzhi, a type of immortal lingzhi mushroom), while one looks like an herb gatherer. The two trees resemble pines, both appearing as withered and decayed as if battered by wind and rain among secluded crags, their roots intertwined in a way beyond ordinary imagining. Later someone brought this painting and some pills to Mount Mao to visit Celestial Master (Tianshi) Li Sheguang, a Tang-dynasty Daoist priest of Mount Mao. The Celestial Master said, “This was painted by the third son of the Perfected (Zhenren) Ge Hong, the Eastern Jin Daoist alchemist.” Master Li also said, “Painting the forms of divine beings beneath withered trees conveys that those who attain the Dao live longer than pines and wutong trees; the medicine in the painting is thousand-year pine resin.” This matter is recorded in Yuanhua Ji (Records of Original Transformations), a Tang-dynasty collection of strange tales.

Recluse scholar Cui Yu, a scholar who lived in retirement and did not take office, lived in seclusion on Mount Mao. In the twelfth year of Zhenyuan, the reign era of Emperor Dezong of Tang, Wei Qumou, Right Grand Master of Remonstrance, recommended him, and Emperor Dezong summoned him to court. This matter is seen in the Tang History.

Daoist Gong, whose personal name is lost, lived at Penglai Abbey in the Eastern Sea and practiced ingestion and cultivation for more than ten years. During the Xiantong era of Tang, he was able to enter Huayang Cave, the cave dwelling of Mount Mao, and had many numinous and extraordinary deeds.

Volume sixteen of the Mount Mao Gazetteer is the “Cai Zhen You” chapter, “Journeys in Gathering the Perfected,” compiled by Liu Dabin, lineage master of the Shangqing school. The recluse Xiahou was of unknown origin. At the end of the Dazhong era of Tang, the reign era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he came to Mount Mao, often carrying only a cloth bag and a bamboo staff, eating and drinking the same as ordinary people, living alone in a single room, and sometimes sleeping in the open in the ritual altar, among grasses, or beneath trees. Someone secretly observed him and saw only dense, luxuriant cloud Qi.