《三洞群仙录》Vol. 4

Fu Shentong was poor and alone from childhood and made a living by herding cattle for others. In the place where he pastured animals he often saw a daoist coming and going; as time went on they grew familiar, and the daoist asked him, “Will you become my disciple?” He answered, “Yes.” The daoist then led him into the water and said, “Only follow me and do not be afraid.” Once inside, he saw the daoist’s dwelling neat and pure, with medicine pouches and an elixir furnace; the daoist set Fu Shentong to watch the fire and taught him the Huangbai art (the method of transmuting gold and silver through alchemy). After three years Fu Shentong longed for the human world; when the daoist was away he stole elixir pills and hid them elsewhere. When the daoist returned and asked where the pills were, he concealed the truth and would not say. The daoist sighed: “I had meant to pass on the essentials of the Dao to you; now that things are thus, what is there left worth teaching? Even if you mastered every technique in full, it would still not help you toward long life.” Then the daoist departed.

Liao Chong had a crane-like frame and spare flesh; Ping’a had a face like jade. The Baobinlu records: In the Tang, Jiang Fang erected a stele for Master Liao of Jingfu Mountain in Lianzhou—Chong was the master’s given name, Qingling his style, and Jingfu the place where he lived. The master’s name is entered in the Jade Hall Golden Slip Register (the roster of immortals); his home was a dwelling of the Red Cloud Outer Scene (a transcendent household beyond the dust of the world). As for his crane bones and pine-like bearing, his nature was simple and thick, storing emptiness and stillness; though his form lodged among people, heaven and earth could not bind him—he counted Fusang Gong, Hermit Tao (Tao Hongjing), and Celestial Master Zhang (Zhang Daoling) among his teachers and friends.

The Shenxianzhuan records: Liu Ping’a did not reveal his true name. At the end of the Han he served as magistrate of Ping’a in Jiujiang, and therefore took “Ping’a” as his epithet. He practiced medicine to save people and treated others’ illness as his own. Later he met a divine person who transmitted to him the method of hidden preservation (the practice of inner visualization and secret cultivation); he ingested the essences of sun and moon, dwelt at the Master Terrace Abbey, and his complexion was like jade.

“Lord of Truth and the Three Swords; Yang Bao and the Four Rings” are the titles of two immortal anecdotes—one concerning Shouzhen and the three swords, the other Yang Bao and the four rings.

Records of the Luminous Sage states: In the early Jianlong period, the Black Killing God (Heisha Shen, a martial deity in Daoism) descended and said to Zhang Shouzhen: “You are a person of integrity; you may drive away evil. I will first teach you sword methods to remove demons for the people. The sword art has three grades, with blades forged from bronze and iron; with one glance from me they become effective. When the sick merely brandish the sword, malign qi disperses on its own. When earth spirits (Diqi, chthonic deities) cause trouble or water creatures turn into demons, use the upper sword; for strangeness in mountains and marshes, use the middle sword; when wangliang (harmful sprites) injure people, use the lower sword.”

Sequel to Records of Harmony states: Yang Bao saw a yellow oriole being attacked by crows, took it home and placed it on a beam, and fed it yellow flowers. When its feathers were fully grown, it flew off in the morning and returned at dusk. One night a youth in yellow garments said: “I am an envoy of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). Long ago I was sent on a mission to Penglai and was set upon by crows; thanks to your rescue I was spared.” He presented four jade rings to Yang Bao and said: “May your descendants be pure in conduct and rise to the rank of the Three Dukes (the highest offices); may their fortune be as complete as these rings.” Yang Bao begot Yang Zhen, and for four generations the Yang family produced eminent statesmen.

Volume 8 of Collected Records of Immortals of the Three Caverns ends here. Volume 9 was compiled by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoist priest Chen Baoguang; its opening section is titled “Barefoot Immortal, Yellow-haired Old Man.” Collected Accounts of the Strange relates: Academician Le of the Music Bureau, surnamed Shi, served as Western Capital Remonstrance Official on the retained staff in the late Jingde era and once dreamed of a man in cap and official dress who said he had come by order of the Celestial Emperor.

Kuoyizhi (Records of Collected Marvels) relates that during the Northern Song, Yue Shi—a scholar-official who in the closing years of the Jingde reign served as Remonstrance Censor on the Luoyang branch court of the Western Capital—once dreamed of a man in proper cap and robes who declared himself sent by the Heavenly Emperor to summon him. Before long he beheld a splendid palace complex; when he asked his guide, the answer was that this was the Heavenly Emperor’s dwelling. Ascending the hall, he met the Emperor, who said: “Your ruler seeks an heir; I have chosen one on his behalf.” In a moment another man arrived. The Emperor said: “The ruler of the Central Plains asks for a son—go, and do not refuse.” The man repeatedly kowtowed, begging to be excused, until the Emperor said: “Go,” and only then did he accept the charge. Those standing nearby explained: this was the Barefoot Immortal Li of Mount Nanyue, who was often deep in wine and drunken sleep. The next year Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song (Zhao Zhen) was indeed born.

Shiyiji (Records of Gleanings) relates that Li Dan—the figure in the text identified as Laozi (Li Er)—in the waning days of the Zhou withdrew to the mountain called Fanjing Rishi, cut off from the world. Only five old men with yellow hair kept him company: some rode great swans, some wore feather garments; their ears rose from the crowns of their heads, their pupils were square, their faces fair as jade, and in their hands they held green bamboo staves, discussing with Li Dan the cycles of heaven and earth. Later Li Dan retired to the post of Archivist under the Pillars (a Zhou office Laozi is said to have held) and sought those under heaven who practiced the Way and its arts; famous scholars from the four seas vied to come. The Five Elders were the essences of the Five Directions (the vital spirits manifested from the five regions). The phrase “a jade table in splendid Tang light, the bright star above a stone mortar” can be read as furnishings of the immortal realm: a jade table glowing with light, a bright star shining over a stone mortar—quiet and remote as fairyland.

Ji Shen Lu (Record of Investigating Spirits) records: Cui Jingtang of Runyin (in the area of present-day Fuyang, Anhui) received a visit from a Daoist who gave his surname as Mei. Cui Jingtang kept him as a guest for several months. Cui Jingtang had bought a jade table and planned to take it to Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui) as a gift for the military governor Gao Shensi. The Daoist Mei said: “Sir, you need only stay here; I will go to Shouchun first and return in about ten days. You may have your nephews and younger relatives attend you—there is no need to worry.” Mei also said: “I am originally from Shouchun and am going north to visit a relative or friend; I will also return. You may go ahead first. Having stayed in your home so long, I wish to repay your kindness—do you have mercury?” Cui said he did and gave him ten liang. Mei put the mercury in a cauldron and refined it with fire; in a short while it turned into silver. He told Cui Jingtang: “I give you this silver for travel expenses. After you reach Shouchun, you may visit my home east of the city.” Then he took his leave. When Cui Jingtang later went east of the city to look for the Mei household, he searched for several days without finding it. The villagers all said: “There is no Daoist surnamed Mei here—only an image of Perfected Mei in the Temple of the King of Huainan; could that be him?” Cui Jingtang followed their advice and went to look; it was indeed Perfected Lord Mei. After that he never encountered him again.

Ji Xian Lu (Record of Assembled Immortals) records: the Jade Maiden of the Bright Star lived on Mount Hua. She ingested jade broth (the immortal elixir in Daoist tradition, prepared from jade powder and the like) and ascended in broad daylight as an immortal. On the mountaintop is a stretch of stone ground several mu in extent and about three ren high (ren is an ancient unit of length); upon it stand five stone mortars, known as the “Jade Maiden’s Hair-Washing Basins.” The water in the basins is jade-green and clear; it does not overflow in rain nor diminish in drought. Inside the shrine there is also a jade horse.

“He Xiangu’s old acquaintance, Li Sheng’s former friend” means the old acquaintance of He Xiangu (the female immortal among the Eight Immortals) and likewise the former friend of Li Sheng (a name among Daoist immortals).

Zheyí (Collected Remains) records: the scholar Yuan Xia of Hongzhou (the Nanchang region), while escorting a relative, passed through Yongzhou and met He Xiangu. He said: “In my home district there is an ‘Old Acquaintance Pavilion’; Yongzhou has one too. When this one is right, that one is wrong; when this one is wrong, that one is right—please, Immortal Lady, judge between them.” He Xiangu replied: “Sheng’s old friend.” (Meaning Li Sheng’s old friend.)

Zhiyi records: Hongzhou scholar Yuan Xia, while attending to his parents, passed through Yongzhou and met Immortal Lady He (Hexian Gu). He said, “In my home region there is an Old Acquaintance Pavilion (Guren Ting); Yongzhou has one too. If this one is genuine, that one must be false; if that one is genuine, this one must be false. I ask the immortal lady to decide.” Immortal Lady He replied, “The pavilion’s name comes from a selected verse. The verse runs: ‘At Dongting I meet a traveler bound for home; on the Xiaoxiang I encounter an old friend.’ The waters of Dongting and the Xiaoxiang share the same source. As for Yongzhou’s terrain today, the Xiang River flows out to the left and the Xiao River joins from the right—the name takes the meaning of where those two rivers arise, which is why the place is called Yongzhou. Building such a pavilion here fits the facts; the one elsewhere does not.” She then presented a poem: “Yongzhou has long been called an ancient commandery; by the source of the Xiaoxiang a new pavilion stands. Before the gate, water has flowed since olden times; on the pavilion today there is no old friend. Fine wind, slanting sun—late in southern Chu; crows call, flowers fall—spring in eastern Zhe. Because you ask me of times past, the pavilion name in the Jiangzuo region is not the true one.” In substance: Yongzhou has long been known as an old prefecture; a new pavilion was raised at the headwaters of the Xiaoxiang; before the gate there has always been running water, but on the pavilion there is no old acquaintance now; gentle breeze and oblique sunlight at evening in southern Chu, crows crying and blossoms falling like spring in eastern Zhe; because you asked me about former days, the pavilion name in the Jiangzuo region is not authentic.

Jixian Zhuan (Records of Assembled Immortals) records: Li Sheng, courtesy name Yunju, possessed the arts of cultivating Qi and preserving the physical form. When Kang Cha served as intendant of Zhedong, Bai Juyi was magistrate of Qiantang. Because Li Sheng was an old friend and both men admired his literary talent and Daoist skills, they invited him to their gathering and asked: “In this age of great peace, why do you not seek glory, rank, and salary, but remain a commoner in plain dress?” Master Li recited slowly: “Born into the Ru tradition, I chanced upon peace; heavy summons and entanglements weigh down, while plain cloth feels light. How could I race the world’s path toward fame and profit? I would serve the Jade Emperor and return to the Shangqing realm.” Meaning: I was born into Confucian learning and happened to live in peaceful times; formal summons and obligations are burdensome, whereas the life of a simple robe is lighter; how could I pursue fame and gain along the worldly road—I wish to attend the Jade Emperor and go back to the Upper Clarity.

“The snake that bit Chenzi; the crane vomited for Chen Chun” is a brief allusion to two stories. Zhengao (Declarations of the Perfected) records: In former times Xian Chenzi, while young, loved long life and studied the Dao for more than forty years. Later he entered Jing Mountain and stayed there for more than seventy years in all. The spirit of Jing Mountain tested him. Chenzi took the visitor for a perfected person, bowed, and sought instruction, but was bitten by a great serpent and nearly died. Fortunately he realized quickly, held in mind the Most High (Taishang) and visualized the Seven Stars to ward off harm, and thus escaped death.

Qingsuo records that Chen Chun came to Taoyuan and, taken with the unmatched beauty of Han Mountain, set out along the Han River with dry provisions in search of scenic wonders. After nearly nine days of travel he reached the foot of a cliff rising ten thousand ren high. At night he heard voices speaking from within the rock face. By then his food was gone and he was stranded in the wilds; suddenly he caught a strange fragrance, and more than ten enormous petals flowed out from between the cliffs. He took them and ate. Later he saw a maid in green gathering duckweed on the bank below and asked her about the place. She replied: “This is the domain of the Lady of Three Sources; on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival three immortals will meet here.” Before long the three ladies invited Chen Chun inside. He saw emerald windows and vermilion doors—nothing of the mortal world. At the banquet music was played; they sang and responded with him in perfect harmony. The lady still warned him: “You must on no account go to the South Pavilion.” Chen Chun secretly went to the pavilion anyway. On a table there was a jade flute; he tried taking it up and playing. Suddenly the people, mountains, and rivers of his homeland appeared clear and vivid; his wife and children sat together laughing and talking, and only after a long while did the vision fade. Without thinking, Chen Chun spat out a single “mao” (the original text reads mao rather than luan, “egg”); it fell to the ground and turned into a crane that flew away. The immortals rebuked him: “You did not heed my warning—this too is fate; in thirty years you will come here again.” Then they sent Chen Chun back by boat.

The phrase “guests of Siming, immortal ladies of the Nine Palaces” means, in brief: guests associated with Siming (a mountain name often linked to the immortal realm), and immortal consorts of the Nine Palaces (the celestial palaces of immortals).

In the Zhen Gao (Declarations of the Perfect), it is said that Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, held the rank of Grand Tutor to the Northern Lord (a supporting office under the Northern Emperor, lord of the netherworld) in the hierarchy of immortals, while Sun Ce, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Emperor Wu of Jin, and Gou Yu (in some versions Xun Yu) were named Guest Friends of Siming—honored companions in the immortal courts.

The Biographies of Female Immortals records that in the time of Emperor Ku of the Gaoxin clan, Shu had no single ruler; tribes swallowed one another. A silkworm-raising girl’s father was carried off by neighbors, leaving only the horse he had ridden. Grieving for her father, the girl could scarcely eat. Her mother comforted her, and she swore before everyone: whoever brought her father back, she would marry him. No one could. One day the horse broke its tether and ran off, then returned bearing her father on its back. After that the horse neighed and refused food or drink. The father said: I made a vow before people—but to marry my daughter to a horse, how can unlike kinds be paired? In anger he shot the horse and hung its hide in the courtyard to dry. When the girl passed the hide, it suddenly wrapped around her and flew away. Ten days later the hide fell on a mulberry tree; the girl had become a silkworm, eating leaves and spinning cocoons for human clothing. Her parents missed her deeply. Suddenly they saw the girl descend from heaven on clouds, riding that horse, and tell them: the Supreme One (Taishang), moved by my filial devotion, appointed me Immortal Consort of the Nine Officials—a station among the palace women of the immortals—so you need not grieve. With that she rose into the clouds and was gone. In Shu custom, Daoist temples often enshrine a figure of a woman draped in horsehide, called the Horse-Head Lady (Matou Niangzi), to pray for abundant silkworms and mulberry.

The Records of Gathered Remains says that east of Penglai (the immortal isle at sea) lies the country of Yuyi, where golden mist often drifts high and low, sometimes like mountains supporting towers; doors and windows open with the light, and when the mist clears they all face north. South of Mount Daiyu (another legendary isle) stretches a plain of fine sand for a thousand li, colored like gold dust, flowing ceaselessly in fine grains; birds and beasts sink to their feet crossing it, and wind lifts the sand like fog—also called golden mist. “Golden mist at Yuyi, pearl dust at Cangwu” pairs two marvels of the immortal realm: golden mist at Yuyi, and pearl-like immortal dust at Cangwu (legendary southern immortal land).

During the reign of Emperor Shun, a bird resembling a sparrow flew in from Danzhou, exhaling five-colored qi that coiled like clouds; it was called “Pingxiao.” This bird could fly for a long time, carrying green sand pearls; when a light breeze stirred fine dust, it was called “pearl dust.” Today beyond Mt. Cangwu, herb-gathering mountaineers sometimes find green stones that have rounded and formed into pearls; ingesting them grants long life without death, and wearing them makes the body light and agile. Thus the immortal Fang Yin, while traveling to the Southern Marchmount, composed a seven-character encomium: “Pearl dust, round and pure, light and bright—those with the Way who take it attain long life.” The gist is that pearl dust is round, clear, light, and luminous, and those who possess the Way and consume it can achieve longevity.

“Ma Mingsheng heals the sick; Qiaoyan rescues the poor” introduces the deeds of two immortals in turn.

The Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) states: In youth Ma Mingsheng served as a county clerk; he was wounded by bandits and, near death, was revived by an immortal who applied medicine, whereupon he knew that the art of longevity had real proof. He then followed the immortal, carrying a medicine chest, to Mt. Lu to receive the essentials of the Dao. Later Ma Mingsheng traveled the world, enduring every hardship, wishing only to compound medicine and save people from illness, not to ascend to heaven; he often dwelt among humans, and most people did not know he was an immortal.

The Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of High Daoists) states: Tan Qiaoyan was a Mt. Mao Daoist; in the Baoli era he traveled Tiantai and the Jiang-Zhe region, his appearance like someone in his twenties, and people did not know he possessed Daoist arts. He devoted himself to hidden merit (yin gong, secretly accumulating virtue) to aid all beings, often leaving gold on the road to relieve the poor. When someone told him of it, he flatly denied it; asked why, he said: Yin Zhenjun (a Daoist immortal said to turn earth into gold) could transmute earth into gold to relieve want—I regret I cannot do that; besides, giving useless things to people—what is strange about that? In time people came to know he had the power of divine elixir to transmute gold.

“Yu Zhang cuts away malign spirits; Yuan Ze flogs the gods” is a pair of encomium-like headings: Yu Zhang could cut away evil influences, Yuan Ze could lash divine beings—expressing how Daoist power is awesome and can subdue gods and ghosts.

The Biographies of Eminent Daoists (Gaodao Zhuan) records that Master Yu Zhang, styled Changwen, during the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty received from the Yellow Transformation Elder and the True Lord of the Supreme Ultimate (both honorific titles of Daoist divine beings) sixty Jiazi cyclical registers together with talisman seals of the Five Emperors and the Five Sacred Mountains—one hundred thirty-six kinds in all. He also expounded the origin of Heaven and Earth, the beginning and end of talismans (fulu), and the liturgy (keyi) for establishing altars, and recorded in order the dates of receiving the registers and the secret oral formulas of the immortals. From this we know he mastered these registers; his spirit of communion with the Dao grew daily more refined, so that he could drive out demons and destroy evil influences, his supernatural transformations beyond measure, and ordinary people benefited from him more and more.

When Zuo Yuanze was at Qingzhang Abbey in Wenzhou, there was a local earth god whom villagers often worshipped with blood offerings (sacrificial animals’ blood). If the offerings were insufficient, the earth god would send calamities and hauntings. Zuo Yuanze struck the god’s back three times with his staff. The next day a large raccoon dog lay dead in the courtyard, with three staff marks on its back. The villagers also dreamed that the earth god told them: “The thing that had possessed me has been beaten to death by the immortal official; from now on you must never again offer me blood sacrifices.”

“Yujun’s five branches, Jiqing’s one leaf”: the first phrase refers to Dou Yujun’s five sons like five branches flourishing together; the second is another allusion paired with it for contrast.

The Record of Dou’s Family Instructions (Dou Lian Yilu) records that Dou Yujun once dreamed his ancestors told him he was fated to have no sons and a short lifespan; ten years later he dreamed again that his ancestors said: “Thirty years ago you truly had no allotment of offspring and your life was brief—we told you so in private. For many years now your name has been registered in the celestial registry and the yin offices (Heaven’s bureaus and the underworld’s courts). Because of your hidden virtue (yinde), they specially extended your lifespan by three cycles (one cycle is twelve years, thirty-six years in all), granted you five sons who would all achieve eminence, and allowed you to end your days in fortune and long life, after which you would remain in a grotto-heaven (dongtian, a Daoist paradise) in the rank of a True Person (Zhenren). Hence Feng Dao’s poem to Dou Yujun says: “Dou of Yan Mountain, the tenth lord, taught his sons by righteousness. One sacred cassia tree ages while five branches of immortal cassia bloom”—that is the story referred to.

Gathered Remains of Immortal Biographies records that when Chen Jiqing was traveling in Chang’an, he entered a monk’s cell at Qinglong Temple (a Chang’an monastery) and met an old man; they sat together around a brazier. On the wall hung a Map of the Realm Within and Without (a chart of all lands, Chinese and foreign). Chen Jiqing sighed and said: I have been away from home ten years and have roamed ten thousand li—how can I cross the Huai River and sail the Luo waters to reach my hometown? The old man smiled and said: That is not difficult. He had a attendant boy break off a bamboo leaf from the step before them, place it on the Wei River in the map, and told him to fix his gaze on that “boat”—then his wish would be granted. Chen Jiqing stared intently; he felt the Wei in the picture ripple, the leaf had turned into a great vessel, and in a daze he was aboard and traveling until he arrived home; he saw his brothers, wife, and children joyfully welcome and bow to him. He took leave of his family and boarded again, returned to the Wei’s bank, and woke as from a dream—still seated before the painted map, the immortal elder still at the brazier. Jiqing thanked him and asked the old man’s name. The elder said: I do not wish to tell my name to one who merely asks; know only that I have dwelt on Zhongnan Mountain (a famed Daoist peak) for seven hundred years. You have the bones of the Dao, hence we met.

The Record of Original Transformations (Yuanhua ji) relates that Feng Jun of Guangling (present-day Yangzhou) made his living by hiring out his labor. Once at the market he met a Daoist who was buying medicine; the Daoist put the drugs in a single sack weighing more than a hundred jin and hired Feng Jun to carry it to Liuhe (present-day Liuhe District, Nanjing). When they reached Liuhe, the Daoist boarded a small boat and in no time had arrived at Xingzi Bay on Mount Lu (the southern foothills of Mount Lu by Poyang Lake), where the lake stretched vast and the ridges rose in layered beauty. The Daoist went ashore and walked five or six li to a mountain foot, where a boulder several zhang square stood; he struck it with a stone and the rock opened, and two small boys emerged from within. Inside the cave several Daoists were playing chess and conversing at ease. The Daoist said, “The man who carried the load is very hungry.” He then gave Feng Jun hmo meal—the sesame meal often said to be the food of immortals in Daoist lore—and also told him, “You have come a long way; here is a thousand cash for you.” Feng Jun declined and prepared to return; the Daoist pointed to a rock shaped like a tiger and had him mount it. The Daoist whipped the stone with a switch, and it flew like the wind; before he knew it he was at the gate of Guangling city. When he reached home, the sky had just darkened; he lit a lamp and undid his belt pouch—it was full of gold coins.

The Biographies of Immortals (Shenxian zhuan) says: Wang Yao encountered rain and had his disciple carry a bamboo basket on a nine-section staff (a Daoist immortal’s staff); the rain could not wet them.

Lu Sheng’s rebuke of robbers and Liu Feng’s stopping a raid belong to the same kind of immortal wonder tales. According to the Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang (Youyang zazu)—where the text’s “Weijie” is likely a scribal error—it is recorded that Lu Sheng went to Fuzhou (roughly today’s Xiantao and Tianmen area in Hubei) and was strolling with several companions when they met six or seven men, neatly dressed yet reeking of wine. Lu Sheng suddenly shouted at them: “You do not know when to restrain yourselves in what you do; you have only a few days left to live.” All of them at once bowed in a circle in the dust, prostrate and awaiting his word. His companions were astonished; Lu Sheng said, “These are river-bandits who plunder travelers.” His numinous power was of this order.

The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that Liu Feng was a native of Pei County (in the area of present-day Pei County, Jiangsu). He had earned military distinction and later took up the Way. Some merchants from Chang’an once traveled with him, carrying goods worth ten thousand in gold. Suddenly in the mountains they met several hundred bandits, who surrounded them with swords drawn and bows strung. Liu Feng said to them: “If you hold official stipends, we merely plow and weave—why block the road, harm people, and profit at others’ expense?” The bandits grew angrier still. Liu Feng shouted: “Let the celestial soldiers (tiānbīng—the guardian spirit troops of Daoism) strike first!” At once the bandits turned and bound themselves, blood flowing from their mouths as if about to die; those who could still speak begged for their lives and vowed to reform. Liu Feng said: “I was going to kill you all.” Then he ordered the celestial soldiers to release them, and every bandit stood up at once.

The line in the text, “Yefu with one crutch, Zizi with two kowtows,” is praise describing Liu Yefu leaning on a single staff and Zizi’s two prostrations—sketching their appearance.

The Lengzhai Yehua (Night Talks from the Cold Studio; the text writes Lengzhai Yehua as Lengzhai Yehua) says that Liu Yefu was lame and leaned on a walking stick. Every year he went to Luoyang to view the flowers, speaking with wit and easy humor. He once composed a lyric in long and short lines (cí): “This lame fellow in recent years—what does he look like? Quite like a full beard on a face. The world is so vast, and my skill is all on this crutch. South or north, whichever county—wherever I am, the gourd is full of wine and I’m thoroughly drunk. Who knows where tomorrow will find me? Morning and evening I finish viewing Luoyang’s flowers, return to the imperial capital, and still have not one thing to my name. I live on others’ gruel and soup and again become a disciple. Suddenly I think: on a light boat downstream, reed mats spread crosswise. Ha ha—I laugh: outside Suo Gate there is still a fine West Lake.” In substance: what has this lame man looked like these past years? Very much a face full of whiskers. The world is so big; my art is on the crutch. Whether south or north, wherever he meets a place the gourd is brimming and he is drunk. He does not know where he will spend the days to come; after viewing Luoyang’s flowers morning and evening he returns to the capital with nothing accomplished. He accepts food where it is offered and again plays the disciple; then it strikes him—on a light boat going downstream, with reed mats laid across. He laughs: outside Suo Gate (in the area of present-day Shangqiu, Henan) there is still a good West Lake.

According to Records of Immortals and Reflection on Transgressions, Wang Zhi, styled Xianmiao, often traveled in the capital and Luoyang region. In the early years when Duke of Langya Wang Chongying held command at Puzhou, Xianmiao lived at the Purple Ultimate Palace (a Daoist temple), and Wang treated him very generously. Hearing that he loved wine, he sent him two cabinets of wine every day. Xianmiao claimed to be of the Wei clan of Henan; his appearance was usually that of someone in his forties, he enjoyed nurturing Qi (vital energy), yet no one knew his age in the sexagenary cycle.

“Li fishes without bait; Tao’s qin has no strings” summarizes two stories. Biographies of Eminent Daoists records that the Daoist Li Daosheng was friends with Zheng Ao and Luo Yin zhi. Zheng Ao farmed; Luo Yin zhi sold medicine to support himself. Daosheng had a fishing art—he would angle but use no bait. He could also turn stone into gold; Zheng Ao once verified this, believed it, but did not covet it. All three loved wine and poetry, were skilled at chess and long whistling. Daosheng had a large gourd said to ward off cold and heat; wine placed inside kept its flavor for a long time. Each day he carried the gourd among flowers, trees, water, and rocks, drinking and composing verse. Once, when wine had warmed them, they linked lines in turn (each continuing the poem). Zheng Ao said: “One gourd—a thing with a name in Heaven; two men in the world with nothing to do.” Luo Yin zhi said: “When drunk, beyond Yun Zhi’s support—who knows what thing is ‘Heaven’s truth’?” The gist is that in drunkenness one knows even less what “Heaven’s truth” is.

Biographies of Recluses of the Jin records that Tao Qian, styled Yuanliang, did not understand music theory and kept only a stringless qin. Whenever he drank with friends, he would strum the instrument in accompaniment, holding that grasping the qin’s inner meaning was enough—why trouble the strings to sound?

“Emperor Yan drills fire; Fengzi follows the smoke” refers to the legend of Emperor Yan (the Flame Emperor) drilling wood to make fire, and Fengzi (Ning Fengzi, an ancient immortal) who could rise and fall with smoke.

Collected Remnants of Immortal Biographies (Xianzhuan Shiyi) records that after King Zhao of Yan took the throne he devoted himself to the way of immortals, and the cultivator Gan Xu attended him. The king had long practiced cultivation when the immortal Gu Jiangzi came upon him in emptiness and told him that the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu) would descend to observe his practice and show him the essentials of refining the numinous source. A year later she indeed arrived; she toured with the king the Suilin—the legendary forest where fire was first drawn—and spoke of the Flame Emperor’s (Yanhuang) art of drilling fire, and lit green osmanthus paste to illumine the night. Suddenly moths bearing fire flew into the Yan king’s palace; from this the king obtained the Yuanqiu sand pearls and strung them as a pendant. He also ascended the Platform of Grasping the Sun and received the pearl of penetrating light that the divine crow had carried in its beak, using it to dispel oppressive heat. After that the Queen Mother of the West came three times to the Yan palace, but the king was sunk in campaigns and seizure of territory and could not follow Gan Xu’s aim of quiet clarity and luminous transparency, so the queen mother came no more.

Biographies of Immortals (Liexian Zhuan) records that Ning Fengzi—said in tradition to have been the pottery master (taozheng) under the Yellow Emperor, charged with ceramic production—had someone tend his fire who could pass in and out of five-colored smoke. In time that person taught the method to Fengzi; Fengzi then heaped fire and burned himself, rising and falling with the smoke.

“Bo Ren’s western appointment, Geng Sheng’s eastern transfer” refers to rotation of immortal offices. In the Declarations of the Perfected (Zhengao), the Lord of Fixed Registers (Dinglu Jun) says: Recently I saw Zhou Bo appointed as central guard of the Western Illumination Duke—an office comparable to the Grand Tutor (taifu) in the human realm. He also says that Geng Sheng is the Jin-dynasty Grand Marshal Yu Liang; the Great Emperor appointed him overseer of the spirits and ghosts of Wu and Yue, in charge of those regional numina—royal service without rest (wangshi miyan, likely for wangshi milu, “kingly business, unceasing toil”)—which counts as arduous duty. Yuanzi says that Geng Sheng has now been transferred to Marquis of the Eastern Sea. “Changling leaning on a staff; Shiyun crossing by boat” means Changling traveled with a staff and Shiyun traveled by boat; the original only preserves these traces of their journeys.

Records of Poetry from the Western Pure notes: On Shitang Mountain in Yingyang (the area of modern Dengfeng, Henan), a peak rises in splendid majesty; on the mountain is a stone chamber—the place where Xing Hepu (a Tang-dynasty Daoist priest, said to be skilled at reading people’s hearts) practiced “heart calculation.” During the Zhiping era (reign title of Emperor Yingzong of Song), Xu Changling (courtesy name Anshi), who had early mastered immortal arts, came to live here leaning on his staff, and people throughout the realm looked up to him. Later he visited the Palace of Grand Clarity; at that time Ouyang Xiu (posthumous title Wenzhong) was prefect of Bozhou. He had never liked discussing Dao or Buddhism, but when he heard of Xu Changling he invited him to the prefectural office to talk and suddenly found enlightenment. He presented a poem saying: green hair and clear eyes, lean bones light as air, drifting as if riding a crane and blowing a sheng to depart; sitting in the prefect’s study he only heard wind in the bamboo and wondered if it were the long whistle of Sun Deng (a Wei–Jin recluse famed for powerful whistling). Ouyang Xiu also once wrote of Xu Changling: south hamlet and north hamlet face each other, yet he chose deep mountains ten-odd li away; secluded paths often follow woodcutters’ tracks, true feeling kept far from worldly ties; dogs bark in clouded hills as meteors pass, roosters crow beyond heaven at dawn’s first light; yesterday someone came to inquire, so he plucked fallen leaves to write his reply. Reading these poems, one can imagine his bearing.

Record of the Western Mountain says: Wu Meng (courtesy name Shiyun, a Jin-dynasty Daoist priest) once rode an iron boat to the summit of Mount Lu; suddenly a red dragon carried him to roam the great sea.

“The Yue Stream Daoist” and “Immortal Lord of Shaoshi” are both designations of perfected immortals.

Collected Remains records: On the highest peak of the mountains north of Qinchuan stands the Palace of Po Xiao (Po Xiao Guan), so magnificent it cannot be described; its thresholds were all carved from green jade, clear as glazed glass. A Sichuan Daoist said that an ancient immortal’s poem remained in the soil beneath a threshold; they searched and indeed found it. The poem reads: The Yue-Han Daoist—no one knows him; ascending heaven and descending earth he rides but one crane; the cave gate is deeply locked, the jade window chill; dripping dew grinds cinnabar to annotate the Book of Changes.

The Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals of the Wang Clan) records that Immortal Wang Xianjun, in the Tianfu era (reign title of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang), traveled from Shangdang and passed through the Beideng Weishi region into Mount Song, letting his mind roam freely among forests and valleys; afterward his whereabouts were unknown. More than a year later, his disciples, Daoist priests, and junior relatives set out from Huguan, went south via the Taihang Mountains, and visited Mount Song and Shaoshi, inquiring at temples and landmarks along the way. At last they found him on a sheer cliff on the northwest of Mount Song. The immortal sat upright in a perilous stone grotto, calm and unmoving in meditative stillness. His followers burned incense, gazed up in reverence, and bowed, unwilling to leave. The immortal said: “The Supreme One (Taishang), because I have had slight merit in the past, has summoned me to serve as the immortal lord (xianbo) of Shaoshi. The paths of immortals and mortals diverge—do not grieve or cling.” With that he rose into the air and departed.

The tale of Bi Ling towing the boat runs as follows: Bi Ling was a native of Jianchang, sparing of speech; he lived among townsfolk and was often bullied yet showed no anger, and neighbors called him simple-minded. At that time Fan Changbin of Shunyang was magistrate of Jianchang and conscripted the people to build official boats in the mountains near Jiancheng. When the boats were finished and ready to be launched, two hundred men could not move a single vessel, and they were about to ask for more hands. Bi Ling said that was already enough—that only the division of labor was wrong. He asked to pull himself, using just a few men, and the boat moved like flowing water. The crowd was greatly astonished and all called him miraculous.

The story of Wang Xianke says that in the Yifeng era of Tang (Emperor Gaozong), a commoner named Wang Xianke at the foot of Hengyuan Cuiwei Mountain in Qingcheng County took the elixir pills left by a Daoist priest and later ascended with his entire household (bazhai shangsheng); the matter is recorded in detail in the Xianzhuan Shiyi (Supplement to Immortal Biographies).

“Qu Sheng struck and vanished; Luo Yu was punished and banished” may be briefly glossed as: Qu Sheng (a personal name) fled after being beaten; Luo Yu (a personal name) was demoted and sent into exile for his offense.

The Guangji (Expanded Records) relates that the Daoist priest Qu Sheng was beaten by his master and hurriedly hid in a cave within a room. Before long he emerged holding a game piece, saying he had just encountered people from the Qin dynasty playing chess, who kept him to drink; the piece was an artifact from Qin times. His master looked at the piece: it was shaped like a small turtle, lustrous as jade.

The Zhenyu (True Words) says that E Luohua was a perfected immortal among female immortals. In the Shengping era of the Eastern Jin, she descended to the home of Yang Quan and said: I was originally the perfected immortal Luo Yu of Mount Jiuyi; because of an offense I was demoted and temporarily came to the turbid human world to repay my faults. She told Yang Quan: Do not brood, do not demand, do not busy yourself with affairs; do what others cannot do, learn what others cannot learn; cultivate inner practice in quiet simplicity and diligent hardship. I have practiced thus for nine hundred years; today I grant you the formula for shijie (corporeal liberation—the Daoist method of feigning death, shedding the corpse, and ascending as an immortal). Yang Quan likewise attained the Way and now dwells on Mount Xiang without emerging.

“Qian Shaos’s celestial book, Wang Bao’s divine tally” introduces what follows: Ye Qian Shao received a celestial book; Wang Bao was granted a divine tally (a spirit-bestowed seal and register).

The Xuxian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) says that Ye Qian Shao served a Western Mountain Daoist, studied the dharma of the Twelve True Lords, and lived in seclusion in deep mountains. He met a divine general bearing a sword and wearing a dragon-and-tiger talisman; two men in yellow and green robes came forward with ledgers and bowed, saying: Heaven’s mandate bestows this register upon you; divine generals and spirit soldiers may be commanded to save the world. Qian Shao received the celestial book; when he looked, it resembled a human military roster. When he called in need, the divine general at once arrived. Thereafter, wherever there were evil spirits, they healed themselves at the sound of Qian Shao’s name; those who obtained his talismans never fell ill in a lifetime—people all regarded him as divine.

The Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals of the Wang Clan) says that Wang Bao entered Mount Hua. One night he suddenly heard the sound of flutes and drums; thousands of chariots and ten thousand horsemen descended from the sky. He saw a spirit-person who said: I am the Perfected Person of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji); hearing that you toil in the mountains and forests and have not yet understood true essentials, I pity you indeed. Later he ordered Guo Linggai to confer upon him the divine mo jade seal (a spirit-bestowed jade seal), appointing him Clear Emptiness Perfected Person to administer affairs of the Minor Cavern Heaven (Xiao You dongtian, one of the Daoist grotto-heavens and blissful lands).

The closing also mentions “striking the hui in the east” and “Zhao Yu slaying the flood dragon”—both are marvelous legends of destroying demonic evil.

Chuanqi (Tales of the Marvelous) records that Wei Zidong met a Daoist who told him: “I have refined the Dragon–Tiger Elixir (a Waidan [external alchemy] term in which dragon and tiger stand for yin–yang, lead, mercury, and the like), conferred upon you the divine talisman and jade seal (a type of immortal register and seal), appointed you True Person of Pure Emptiness, and put you in charge of affairs at the Minor Cavern Heaven (one of the Daoist grotto-heavens and blissful lands).” The account also mentions Wei Zidong’s slaying of the giant serpent-demon (hui) and Zhao Yu’s beheading of the flood dragon.

Chuanqi also relates that Wei Zidong encountered a Daoist who said: “I am compounding the Dragon–Tiger Elixir; in a day or two it will succeed, but demons and monsters often come to disturb the work, so I need a bold, fierce man to stand guard with a sword; when the elixir is finished, you will share in the benefit.” Wei Zidong followed the Daoist to a stone chamber for alchemy on a high peak. The Daoist instructed him: “At the first watch of the fifth watch, stand at the cave mouth with your sword; whenever a spirit-beast appears, strike it—do not be afraid.” Before long a huge hui (giant venomous serpent) attacked; Wei Zidong swung his sword and drove it off.

Yiren Lu (Record of Extraordinary Persons) records that Zhao Yu studied under the Daoist Li Jue in seclusion on Mount Qingcheng. Emperor Yang of Sui, knowing his worth, appointed him prefect of Jiazhou. At that time an old flood dragon in the pool at Qianwei was causing harm; within five months of Zhao Yu’s taking office, seven hundred boats had been sunk. Zhao Yu was furious. He led a thousand armored men, beat drums and shouted on both banks of the river until heaven and earth shook. Sword in hand, he entered the water; before long the whole river turned red, the stone cliffs trembled, and roars sounded like thunder. Zhao Yu emerged through the waves with the dragon’s head in his left hand and the sword in his right.

The line “Wei sees the broken brush, Cao looks toward the eastern thatch” can be read literally as a Wei who sees a broken writing brush and a Cao who gazes toward eastern thatch; who or what is meant is unclear.

Guangji (Extensive Records) also records that Wei Xingwu, regional inspector of Xichuan in the Tang, had a nephew named Ziwei; among his men was a soldier named Ding Yue, who served under Wei Xingwu. The phrase “surging out on the waves” may describe a scene akin to breaking through the water and coming forth.

Guangji (Extensive Records) records: During the Tang dynasty, Wei Xingwu, an investigative commissioner (tanfang shi, a local chief official) in Xichuan, had a nephew named Ziwei and among his staff a runner named Ding Yue. One day Ding Yue took his leave and could not be kept; he only said, “In fifty years we shall meet again near the capital.” Ziwei later searched for him but found no trace. When Ziwei was transferred and passed a lodge at Mount Li, he heard loud voices on the main road, went out to look, and saw guards armed and on strict alert, with torture implements at hand; among them was Ding Yue himself. As Ziwei stared in shock and tried to recognize him, Ding Yue smiled and whispered, “Do you remember what I said when we parted? In the blink of an eye, fifty years have passed.” Ziwei asked how he had come to this, and Ding Yue said, “I told you long ago—you cannot escape.” Asked what he needed, he asked for a brush; Ziwei emptied his bag and gave him one. On the day of execution Ziwei went to watch; Ding Yue also looked at Ziwei and smiled. As the blade fell, Ziwei saw only the severed brush and the cold edge flash together for an instant, while Ding Yue had already leapt free of his bonds and said to Ziwei, “From now on I go far into hiding. You must strive to practice the Dao; we are still two chen apart.” (In Daoism chen counts time; Buddhism speaks of jie, and common speech says shi, “generations.”) “Meet me then in the stone chamber on Mount Kunlun.” With that he departed.

Dantai Xinlu (New Records from the Cinnabar Terrace) records: Zuo Ci, style name Yuanfang, could transform and work illusion. Cao Cao summoned and sought him; he did not respond. Cao Cao wanted to kill him and ordered a hunt—whoever saw Zuo Ci was to kill him. Several days later someone saw Zuo Ci, cut off his head, and reported to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was delighted, but on closer look it was only a bundle of straw.

“Left’s dragon coils tight, Chen’s tiger roars” is a surviving line of praise, interpretable as the dragon Zuo Ci became coiling in shrinkage and the tiger someone surnamed Chen became roaring—showing a state beyond prediction through change.

The Gao Dao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) records that Zuo Yuanze lived in a rock chamber. On either side stood ten large bamboo plants; in the curved pool on the shoal in front grew dozens of blue lotuses, and several dozen gorgeously plumed birds resembling wild geese and ducks moved about on the water. He took to the place and stayed overnight in the chamber. At night something coiled around his body; when he woke he merely sat with eyes closed until dawn, when the thing unwound and left. His coarse cloth robe smelled only of rank saliva and slime. That evening he sat in the chamber again, set nets, and waited with light steps; sure enough something emerged from the pool, several zhang long, eyes shooting light at people like glazed glass. Zuo Yuanze rebuked and admonished it, and it slowly shrank back into the pool. He therefore warned: later students must not be careless—never lodge alone in rock caves.

It also records that the gentleman Zhengyi, surnamed Chen and named Baochi, chanted the Dadong Jing (a classic scripture of the Shangqing lineage of Daoism) until he gained numinous resonance, so rare birds and strange beasts often came to attend him. Whenever he paid homage at the Laozi shrine, or at the eight seasonal nodes performed the toulong jian (the Daoist rite of casting petition slips into mountains and waters for blessing), a white tiger docilely kept to his left and right, guiding his followers to and fro. If anyone harbored ill intent, the tiger would roar and strike, battering the pagoda tree to the left of the temple until the wrongdoer fled in terror—hence that tree was called the “Tiger-Examining Tree.”

“The lord kept the intestine-dragging rat; Zhongshu praised the cat” alludes to the stories of Tang Gongfang’s leftover intestine-dragging rat and Guo Zhongshu’s remark about cats. Xianchuan Shiyi (Collected Remains of Immortal Biographies) records that Tang Gongfang studied under Li Babai (the immortal of that name), obtained the divine elixir, and then ascended to heaven with his whole household and dwelling; chickens and dogs went along too. Only a rat fell from the sky with its intestines hanging out; it shed its gut three times a month. Today the intestine-dragging rats below the mountain are what Jin writer Shu Guangwei (Shu Xi, styled Guangwei) called “Tang rats.”

Zhilin (Forest of Records) records that Guo Shu, styled Zhongshu, served as Doctor of the Zhouyi in the Later Zhou Guangshun era, was demoted to Qianzhou revenue clerk, and after his term did not take office again, wandering much among Qi, Yong, the capital, and Luoyang and drinking freely.

Zhilin records: Guo Shu (style name Zhongshu, a man of the Five Dynasties and early Song who once served as Doctor of the Book of Changes) was demoted to Registrar of Qian Prefecture during the Zhou Guangshun era. When his term ended he took no further office and often traveled between Qi, Yong, the capital, and Luoyang. He drank freely and, meeting people regardless of rank, often had the word “sketch” on his lips. When he came upon fine landscape he would stop eating altogether. In midsummer he would stand in the blazing sun without sweating; in deep winter he would break river ice to bathe, and the ice beside him would melt. He later died and was buried by the roadside. When the grave was opened for reburial, the coffin was empty—like a cicada’s shed shell (in Daoism this is called shijie, “corpse dissolution”: the physical form remains while spirit and soul depart for immortality).

“Zhao Xi saving Hui” means Zhao Xi saving Wang Hui. Zhengao (a major Shangqing Daoist classic) says that Zhao Xi served as Inspector of You Province in the Han and was able to aid the poor; in the river region he rescued Wang Hui and dozens of others whose entire clans were about to be wiped out. For this he himself entered Zhuling (a Daoist immortal realm), and his descendants all dwell in dongtian (grotto-heavens—sacred mountains where immortals reside).

“Dong Feng reviving Xie” means Dong Feng saving Du Xie. Shenxian Zhuan (immortal biographies by Ge Hong) says Dong Feng, style Junyi, was in the south when Du Xie, Inspector of Jiao Province, died of poisoning. After three days Dong Feng came, placed three pills in his mouth, and in about the time for a meal Du Xie opened his eyes, his hands and feet moved, his color returned, and within half a day he could sit up—thus he was brought back to life. Asked how it happened, he said that at first he saw red-robed messengers coming to seize him, but they said “Lord Dong the Perfected has ordered it,” and so he was allowed to return.

“Lord He viewing images, King Cao on the hunt” are titles of two immortal tales. Taiping Guangji (a Song dynasty encyclopedia) says that when Du Zong was young he went to Zhaoying County and played in the wild with ordinary children. A Daoist priest called him aside alone, rubbed his palm, and said: “Young master, apply yourself to reading; do not frolic with the other children.” He also pointed to his temple and said: “I live here—can you come visit me?” After the priest left, Du Zong went there and found only a desolate village and old temple with a single hall still standing, inside which was an image of the Supreme Venerable Lord (Taishang Laojun). At first half the priest’s face had been purplish-black; now, looking closely at the Lord’s image, it closely resembled the priest he had met—the half-face on the image had been darkened by rain leaking through the roof.

Yuanshi ji (Records of Origins and Transformations) records: During the Tang, Prince Cao was demoted to Hengzhou. At that time there was a Master Zhang, a man skilled in fangshu (occult arts). When Prince Cao went hunting, his beaters had already closed the ring and taken ten deer, but the deer suddenly vanished. He summoned Master Zhang and asked him; Zhang said that someone using fangshu had hidden the deer. He then took water and performed jin (a rite of binding and summoning by talisman and spell). In the water there suddenly appeared a Daoist priest only one cun (about an inch) tall, carrying a bag and walking with a staff. Prince Cao asked Master Zhang whether he could be pursued; Zhang said he could. When men were sent after him, the priest came toward them smiling. Prince Cao asked where the deer were; the priest said that seeing the deer about to be killed, he had felt pity and hidden them—they were now beside a hillside slope. Prince Cao sent someone to look; the deer all lay concealed among the small slopes without moving. Prince Cao smiled and let the priest go.

Jishen lu (Records of Spirit Verification) records: At Mount Gong in Ziyuan there are two caves whose mouths resemble wells. In the late Xiantong era, a Daoist priest surnamed Zheng used rope and hammer to descend more than a hundred zhang; he saw light to one side, went to investigate, and at the end of the path was blocked by water. On the far bank were flowers and trees, and two Daoist priests were playing chess. They had a boy pole a boat over and ask whether Priest Zheng wished to cross; he answered that he would return. The boy then rowed back, and Zheng also climbed out along the rope. The next day stones in the well blocked the cave mouth, and from then on no one entered again. The closing fragment “the boy turns the boat; the old master bears his satchel” is a remnant in the style of encomium—roughly that the boy rows back while the elder carries his gear on his back (“ji” is likely “ji” in the sense of a book box or satchel).

At Jianmen Pass, Hou Tong saw four yellow stones, each as large as a bushel measure. After he picked them up, they all turned into gold. He thus amassed wealth in the millions, bought more than a hundred beautiful concubines, and acquired grand houses and extensive farmland. Suddenly an old man came carrying a bundle of firewood and said, “I have come to collect a debt from you. You took my gold—have you forgotten?” Hou Tong brought out his concubines, property, and all his goods and threw them into the old man’s firewood as he pleased; the bundle did not seem too small to hold them. In an instant the old man was gone. Several years later Hou Tong saw the old man again, walking with a knight-errant. He stepped forward to ask, but the old man only smiled and did not answer; when pressed further, he vanished once more.

“Ziyang’s peach peel, Tian Luan’s cypress leaf” refers to two stories of consuming these substances and attaining immortality. Huang Ziyang was a man of Wei. From youth he understood the secret of long life. He entered Mount Boluo to study the Way for more than ninety years, eating only peach peel and drinking yellow water from within the rock. Later he met Sima Jizhu, a Han-dynasty adept and immortal, and was able to transcend and become an immortal himself.

Tian Luan entered Mount Hua, where an extraordinary person pointed to a cypress tree and told him, “This is the medicine of long life—why seek far away?” Tian Luan returned home and took cypress leaves for several years until he felt his body grow light and strong. One night he dreamed that an immortal, bearing a tally, led him into a cave, where the assembled immortals said, “The cypress-eating immortal has arrived; his name has already been inscribed in golden characters on the jade register of Shangqing (the highest clarity heaven).” They also told him, “For now remain in the human world; when a immortal post is ready, you will be summoned.” After he awoke, he lived in seclusion at Songyang and lived to one hundred twenty-three years, his face still youthful.

Volume 10 of the Three Caverns Record of Assembled Immortals (Sandong Qunxian Lu) was compiled by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) priest Chen Baoguang. The opening lines “Guo had no four walls; Liu encountered two stone granaries” summarize two immortal tales: Guo Wen lived in a dwelling without four walls, and Liu Linzhi came upon two stone kun (granary-shaped structures).

The Record of True Realms (Zhenjing Lu) records Guo Wen, courtesy name Wenzju, who once obtained the Shenhu Neizhen Ziyuan Danzhang (a Daoist scripture of methods, talismans, and registers) in a stone chamber on Mount Hua in Huayin. When the Jin dynasty fell into disorder, he shouldered straw and entered Great Dí Mountain in Yuhang, felling trees and building a thatched shelter among the woods with no four walls; he wore hemp clothes and a deer-tail cap, farmed beans and wheat by the qutian (contour) method, and gathered mountain produce to exchange for salt and dairy. Surplus food he gave to the poor. In the Qianfu era (reign title of Emperor Xizong of Tang), he was enfeoffed as Lord Lingyao; many traces of him remain in the mountains.

The Jin Unofficial History (Jin Yishi) records Liu Linzhi, courtesy name Ziji, who from youth valued plainness, was modest and sparing in desire, and cared little for appearance and conduct, so others scarcely knew him. He loved roaming mountains and rivers and aspired to reclusion. Once while gathering herbs he reached Mount Heng and went deep until he lost his way; south of a mountain stream he saw two stone kun—one closed, one open—deep and broad, hard to cross. Wishing to return, he lost the path; only after asking a woodcutter for directions could he go home. Some said the stone granaries held immortal elixirs and other marvels; Liu Linzhi wanted to seek them again but in the end their whereabouts were unknown.

“Xiaocheng girds his belt; naturally he wears a gauze cap” may be read as: Xiaocheng adjusts his sash and naturally wears a scholar’s gauze cap—describing dress and bearing as properly composed yet unforced.

From Dantai Xinlu (New Records from the Cinnabar Platform): Liang Chen, courtesy name Xiaocheng, loved the path of immortality. At seventeen he left home to become a Daoist priest, kept purification fasts, recited scriptures, widely accumulated merit, and relieved every kind of suffering. When he walked he often watched the ground beneath his feet, fearing he might harm insects or ants that had the breath of life. If birds or beasts blocked his way, he usually stepped aside to let them pass. Toward others he was humble and respectful, with a mind empty, quiet, and still. One day he said to his disciple Wang Zinian: “A good friend is waiting for me at the southern ford; I am going there—do you understand?” He then straightened his sash and walked south. Wang Zinian followed and felt only thick cloud and mist shrouding the woods and valleys. After a while Liang Chen suddenly rose on a cloud and vanished in an instant; from far off they could still hear the sound of ceremonial music and drums.

From Benchao Mengqiu (Lessons Drawn from Our Dynasty): Zhao Ziran was a native of Taizhou. In a dream a man wearing a gauze cap and plain robes—his hair and beard streaked with gray—introduced himself as surnamed Yin, led him up a mountain, and said, “You have the aura of the Dao.” He taught him the bigu method (grain-abstinence cultivation), then offered a green cypress branch for him to eat. He ate it in the dream, and after waking he no longer took food. The phrase “the guest in the green kerchief, the old man in white” is praise for the green-kerchief immortal visitor and the white-robed elder.

From Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals): Master Chen Xiyi (the early Song Daoist Chen Tuan, styled Xiyi) one day told his disciple Jia Sheng: “An excellent guest is coming today—report it at once.” Before long a man in brown clothes and a blue kerchief arrived at the gate; when Jia Sheng ran to report, the man was already gone. Jia Sheng pursued him and saw an old man in deerskin, and asked: “Has the old man up ahead gone far?” The old man said: “That is the immortal Li Babai (Li the Eight-Hundred); when he moves, it is eight hundred li in one stride.” The deerskin-clad old man vanished as well. The master said: “That elder was Master Baipi, who attained the Dao in the realm of Taiqing (the Great Clarity, a Daoist heaven). Now that one is unseen and the one in deerskin has also left, I cannot stay long.” He then returned to the source (achieved transcendence and departed).

From Hanwu Zhuan (Biography of Emperor Han Wudi): It says that when the emperor went on tour he often covered eight hundred li at a stretch; the deerskin-clad old man was also gone. The master said that elder was Master Baipi, who had attained the Dao in Taiqing; since he was no longer seen and the deerskin figure had departed as well, he could not remain long, and so returned to the source.

Records of Emperor Han Wudi states: When Emperor Han Wudi was on tour at Mount Dai (Mount Tai), he met an old man dressed in white whose ears rose to the crown of his head and whose hair hung to his shoulders; a light several feet long shone from his head. The emperor found this strange and questioned him. The old man said: I have heard that on Mount Qin there is changpu (Acorus calamus); when a stalk is one inch long it has nine nodes, and taking it can extend life. When he finished speaking he vanished. The emperor said: This was the spirit of the mountain. At that time Wang Xing heard of the matter, took changpu, and became an immortal.

Continued Biographies of Immortals states: Songyang in Chuzhou (present-day Songyang, Zhejiang) was a place where Celestial Master Zhang (Zhang Daoling) cultivated the Dao. Deng Qushe admired the traces of former cultivators; he built a thatched hut and lived there, burning incense morning and evening in practice. On the mountain’s south side was a large boulder on which he often sat; he was moved to receive a message from a divine being who told him: The elixir and sword from the Celestial Master’s alchemical work lie beneath this stone—you may take them out. Deng Qushe said: This stone was set by Heaven; it is not something human strength can move. The divine being said: If you cultivate diligently without slackening, the elixir and sword can be obtained. He acted accordingly; in less than three years the divine being brought him one dou of elixir and one sword. Later he used the elixir to heal illness and, his work complete, ascended to heaven.

There was also an old man who sold medicine, name unknown, who always carried a large gourd to sell drugs. Whoever came for medicine because of illness received it whether they paid or not, and it was invariably efficacious. Someone jokingly asked him: Do you have Great Reverting Elixir (da huan dan, a high-grade Daoist elixir)? He answered: I have one pill, worth a thousand min (strings of cash). Everyone laughed at him as mad. Later he sold medicine in Chang’an, shook out his gourd until it was empty, and had only one pill left in his palm; he said: For a hundred years I have sold medicine and not one person has bought—truly pitiful; today I shall eat it myself. As soon as the medicine entered his mouth, five-colored clouds rose beneath his feet and he soared away.

The chapter title “Bronze Plaque Records the Deer, Golden Basin Shoots the Magpie.” Biographies of Eminent Daoists states: Tang Emperor Ming (Emperor Xuanzong of Tang) was hunting at Xianyang and obtained a large deer; he ordered the cooks to prepare it. Zhang Guo (Zhang Guo Lao) memorialized: This is a xianbi (a beast under divine protection), already a full thousand years old.

The Record of Eminent Daoists relates that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Ming Huang), while hunting at Xianyang, took a large deer and ordered the cooks to prepare it. Zhang Guo, the celebrated immortal of the Tang, submitted a memorial saying: “This is an immortal deer, already a thousand years old. In the fifth year of the Yuanshou reign of Emperor Wu of Han, I followed the hunt in Shanglin Park; when this deer was caught, it was released, and a bronze plaque was affixed to its left horn.” The emperor had it examined, and there was indeed a bronze plaque about two inches long, though the inscription had faded. The same work also records Xuanyuan Ji: when Emperor Xuzong of Tang summoned him and asked whether longevity could be attained, Xuanyuan Ji replied: “Keep far from sounds and colors, hold flavors lightly, let neither joy nor sorrow stir the heart, and extend virtue without partiality—then naturally you will share virtue with Heaven and Earth and brightness with sun and moon; even the Way of Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang can be reached, to say nothing of long life and enduring vision.” After he withdrew, the emperor tested him with shefu (guessing what was hidden), covering a white magpie with a golden basin. Xuanyuan Ji was resting in his lodge and said to the eunuch: “How can His Majesty ask this old man to perform shefu again?” The eunuch did not understand. When the emperor summoned him again in haste, Xuanyuan Ji had barely stepped onto the jade stairs when he said: “The white magpie under the basin should be released.” The emperor laughed aloud.

“Li Ming compounding elixir; Bo Zhen gathering herbs” introduces the next two entries. The Record of Maoshan states that Li Ming, holding the rank of chief, shunned the world and refused office, living in seclusion on Yugang Mountain in Jurong (the ancient name for Maoshan) to refine elixir. When the elixir was complete he ascended to Xuanyuan (the Daoist immortal isle) and was appointed to the office of Daqing (great minister among immortals); his old altar and well remain to this day. The Declarations of the Perfected (Zhengao) records that Jiang Bo Zhen entered Meng Mountain to cultivate and gather medicinal plants when he suddenly encountered an immortal. The immortal had him stand straight and level in the sunlight; seeing that his shadow slanted, the immortal said: “You know the Way is precious and are resolved to study it, yet you do not know that ‘not straight’ is a fault. If you wish to straighten the mind, often at sunrise cross your hands on both shoulders and let the sun face your heart; when you feel warmth in the belly, the mind is straight—doing this regularly is best.”

“Ge’s jiao canopy, Nüwa’s cloud curtain” refers to Ge’s jiao canopy and Nüwa’s cloud curtain—names for treasured canopies in the immortal realm.

Zuyi Zhi (Record of Ancestral Marvels) records: On Jiuyi Mountain, a woodcutter’s wife surnamed Zhuge fell ill with a seasonal ailment for several days. When she recovered, she rose and told her parents-in-law: “Your daughter-in-law is not only cured—I have also attained the immortal way.” Soon she went out and left riding on clouds. Days later she returned and said that the towers and halls of heaven were all ground from green jade, windows densely set with pearls, hung with jiao-silk gauze curtains in five colors interwoven; she walked in empty clarity, burning “incense of non-death.” She said: “I have come only for a brief visit.” Before long a five-colored carriage arrived, drawn by twin dragons with spirit warriors at the reins and girl attendants in train; Lady Zhuge mounted and ascended slowly into the sky.

Shishi (Origins of Things) says that Nüwa fashioned cloud canopies and smelted five-colored stones to mend heaven.

“Liu An’s chickens and dogs, Jing’s turtles and cranes” condenses two immortal legends. Xuxian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) says that Liu An, grandson of Emperor Gaozu of Han, loved the immortals and left the world after refining the golden elixir. Legend has it that when he departed, leftover medicine remained in vessels in the courtyard; chickens and dogs that licked and pecked at it also ascended—hence the saying “chickens crow in heaven, dogs bark amid the clouds.”

Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) says that Xiao Jingzhi practiced grain abstention and studied the Dao. One day he dug up something shaped like a human hand and ate it at once. A strange man told him: “You have already taken immortal medicine—you ate rouzhi (flesh-ganoderma). Those who eat rouzhi live as long as turtles and cranes; you should hide in mountains and forests to seek the ultimate Dao.” Xiao Jingzhi then withdrew into the mountains.

Dexiu with thunderbolts and Wang Xing with cloud chariots are paired allusions to immortal traces, showing immortals commanding thunder and riding cloud chariots in divine strangeness.

The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that Cao Dexiu said he came from Qingyu Mountain on the Donghai (East Sea—the original text reads “Shuhai,” which may be a slip for Donghai). He traveled in the Jiangxi region. People saw him for more than thirty years without any change in his face. The sick who asked him for fulu (talismans and registers) together with medicinal remedies were invariably cured. A woman in her twenties was about to be betrothed when she was suddenly bewitched by an evil entity; every remedy only made her condition worse. Her father came to Dexiu and described the illness in detail. Dexiu said: Your home lies by the mountains, near a pool and cave. In spring your daughter strolled by the stream; a jiao (a dragon-like being of the waters) noticed her and drew her vital spirit into the hole. Throw one of my talismans into the pool; before long there will be a sign. After the talisman was cast, the pool surged and thunder rolled from the water. In a moment something surfaced, more than twenty chi long, shaped like a dark serpent with a head like a large ladle; it had already been struck dead by thunder. The woman’s illness then cleared at once.

The Wang Shi Shenxian Zhuan (Mr. Wang’s Biographies of Immortals) records that Wang Xing was a man of Shu and once served as chief clerk of Pu River. Within his jurisdiction was a place called Lingbian (a numinous margin), which he loved; he resigned his post and lived in seclusion in the mountains for nine years. Suddenly he saw jade-like blossoms blooming and a golden toad leaping in a cave; he entered the cave, obtained an immortal elixir and swallowed it, and at once rose aboard a cloud chariot (the cloud-borne carriage of immortals). People now call that cave “Zhubei Zhi” (the “Chief Clerk’s Seat,” zhi being a Daoist district or seat of teaching)—a name that began from this event.

“Fu Hu Bai Bao, Lei Gong Huang She” is a rubric-style phrase: it names the Lord Fu Hu riding a white leopard, and Lei Gong (the Thunder Lord) together with the yellow serpent as numinous images.

The Shenxian Zhuan records that the True Person Shi Cun, styled Lord Fu Hu, took Huang Luzi as his master and received from the Sanhuang Neiwen (Inner Writings of the Three Sovereigns, an early Daoist scripture of talismanic arts) the method for commanding tigers and leopards. He lived in seclusion in the stone-chamber mountain of Hengyue (Mount Heng of the south). He often went in and out mounted on a white leopard. In the Yuankang reign period of the Jin (under Emperor Hui), he ascended in broad daylight.

Guangyiji records: Wu Sheng-zhi once saw the Thunder Lord (Leigong) on a riverside shoal chasing a yellow snake. Someone threw a stone that rang out sharply, and the Thunder Lord flew away. Wu Sheng-zhi obtained a bronze sword whose inscription read: “The third sword with which Perfect Lord Xu Zhenjun (Xu Xun, founding patriarch of the Daoist Jingming lineage, said in legend to have slain a river dragon and controlled floods) slew the river dragon.”

The next two accounts tell of Li Wujing keeping immortal fruit hidden on his person and Sun Zhong setting out melons to await immortals.

Qingsuo records: Li Wujing went to the capital to seek office. At Zhuyuan Town, beggars were quarreling on the road. An old woman said, “I begged all my life and saved a little money; this man borrowed it and will not repay.” Li Wujing paid the debt in full for the debtor. The man thanked him: “I truly owed her; you were only a passerby yet paid for me and got me out of trouble—how can I repay you? My home is in Longhe; where the curved fence and blue cloth curtain are—that is my dwelling. Can you come visit?” Li Wujing thought it strange and went. Inside the gate he saw several beggars warming themselves at a brazier; when they saw him they looked pleased, had him sit, and set out a little wine. Li Wujing was very suspicious and never drank, only touched the cup to his lips. It was bitter cold, yet the dishes held summer fruit. He took three small imperial peaches and hid them in his robe and left. The beggars gave him a poem: “The gentleman who doubts too much errs too much; the world without trust has no sincerity. Our path is smooth as a whetstone—why, sir, would you not walk it?” Back at his lodging he took out the peaches—they were purple gold. Later he had the gold fashioned into wine vessels. He lived to seventy with a ruddy complexion; was that only from touching wine to his lips?

Youming Lu records: In youth Sun Zhong was poor and grew melons. When the melons ripened, three men came to ask for melons; Sun Zhong served them melons. The three said, “We are Siming (the god who governs fate and lifespan).” Having spoken, they turned into white cranes and flew away.

“The Lingyang haoxie, Manqing liuxia” alludes to the immortal affairs below: Lingyangzi taking haoxie and Manqing drinking liuxia.

Liexian Zhuan records: Lingyangzi (an immortal in Liexian Zhuan) in spring took morning glow (zhaoxia); in summer he took haoxie (the text has “haoxian,” the dark yellow qi of midnight between heaven and earth). Morning glow is the green-yellow qi when the sun first rises.

“Purple Cloud for Minghuang, Crimson Snow from Yuanzhi” sums up two episodes: Tang Emperor Xuanzong (Minghuang) receiving the Purple Cloud Melody, and Shen Yuanzhi bestowing the Crimson Snow Elixir.

Xiang Manqing was from Pu in Hedong. He entered the mountains to cultivate the Dao. One day immortals came to welcome him; he ascended to heaven and saw golden forests and jade tables in the Purple Capital (the immortal palace of Daoism). An immortal gave him a cup of Flowing Rosy Clouds (immortal wine); after he drank it, hunger and thirst left him. Later he suddenly longed for home and was rebuked by the Emperor of Heaven, so he returned to Hedong, where people called him the “Exiled Immortal.”

Emperor Xuanzong dreamed that more than ten immortal maidens descended on auspicious clouds (qingyun), lined up in the courtyard, each holding a musical instrument and playing. The melody was clear and lofty, almost beyond mortal hearing. When the music ended, one maiden stepped forward and said: “Does Your Majesty know this tune? It is the immortals’ Purple Cloud Melody. We now transmit it to Your Majesty as the orthodox founding music of the Tang.” The emperor was delighted and had it taught and practiced. After he woke, he played it on a jade flute and had others learn it until they fully grasped its rhythm.

No one knows where Shen Yuanzhi was from. During the Kaiyuan era he was summoned to the Kaiyuan Abbey in the capital, and the favor shown him grew ever deeper. The emperor discussed the Dao with him, often talking for a long time. Xuanzong once had Zhao Yunrong attend to Yuanzhi’s tea and medicine; Yunrong was very deferential. In a quiet moment she asked for a little immortal medicine to prolong life. Yuanzhi said: “It is not that I am stingy, but you will soon leave the human world.” She pleaded all the more urgently, so Yuanzhi gave her one Crimson Snow Elixir and said: “If you take this elixir, after death your body will not decay. Make the coffin large and the tomb spacious, place pearls and jade in the mouth, and allow air to circulate so that soul and body neither scatter nor sink; after a hundred years you can be reborn. This is the path of Taiyin Refinement of the Form (the corpse-dissolution practice of refining the body through yin-soft qi).” Later Yunrong accompanied the imperial progress to the eastern capital and fell ill at Languan; she told the story to the Noble Consort, who carried out his instructions as he had said.

“Dao Yuan viewing lanterns, Zhiwei savoring the moon” can be read as Dao Yuan at the lantern festival and Zhiwei enjoying the moon—using the clear scene of lamps and moon to suggest the immortal’s delight in observing the mind and awakening to the Dao amid quiet splendor.

Collected Anecdotes from Immortal Biographies records that Ye Fashan, Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Tang, styled Daoyuan, was active in the early Kaiyuan reign. On the night of the fifteenth of the first lunar month (wangye, the full-moon night), Emperor Ming of Tang (Xuanzong) moved to Shangyang Palace to view the lanterns. The court artisan Mao Shunxin erected more than thirty painted towers, adorned inside with gold, kingfisher green, pearls, and jade; the towers stood one hundred and fifty feet high, and when a light breeze stirred them they gave off a ringing, chiming sound. He also shaped lamps into dragons, phoenixes, and leaping beasts in glazed patterns, so skillfully that they seemed beyond human craft. The emperor was greatly pleased. Ye Fashan said: “However splendid these shadow lamps (yingdeng, colored lanterns) may be, the lamps in the Western Capital (Chang’an) tonight are just the same—I have only just come from there.” The emperor was astonished and asked, “I should like to go there tonight—can it be done?” Ye said, “That is easy.” He had the emperor close his eyes; in an instant they arrived. The emperor praised this at length, then asked to return; he closed his eyes again, and in a blink they were back at the foot of the towers in Shangyang Palace, while the music and dance had not yet finished. At Dongzhou (a place name), the emperor used an iron ruyi scepter to dip wine and left the ruyi at the spot as a token. The next day he sent a palace emissary (zhongshi) on a pretext to retrieve the ruyi, confirming that the spirit journey was real.

Minor Records from Three Waters records that the Daoist Zhao Zhiwei possessed the Way’s arts. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, clouds and rain lingered for days and everyone lamented the lost fine evening. Zhiwei said, “Prepare wine and food and ascend Tianzhu Peak to view the moon.” After they went out the sky cleared; on the peak the moon was bright as day, and they did not return until the moon set. When they came down the mountain, bitter wind and driving rain returned, and the gloom was as before.

“Lie Yukou (Liezi) cut open his heart; the Dao Sovereign (Daojun) cut out his tongue”: Lie Yukou opening his chest and the Dao Sovereign silencing the tongue are wonder-tale motifs cited in immortal biographies.

Yunhan Youyi (Friendly Discourse on Clouds and the Milky Way) records: The tomb of Lie Yukou (Liezi) lay in the suburbs of the state of Zheng. There was a man named Hu who was poor; in his youth he practiced crafts such as mirror-polishing and hinge-repair, and people called him “Hu Dingjiao” (Hu the Hinge-Mender). He regularly brought wine, tea, and fruit to the shrine of Liezi to offer sacrifice, praying for greater intelligence. Later he dreamed that someone cut open his belly and placed a scroll inside his heart; when he woke, he could compose poetry. He once presented a poem to Han Shaofu (shaofu being an official title): “Suddenly I hear that Meifu has come to call—smiling, I step from the thatched hall in my lotus-leaf cloak. The children, unused to seeing carriage and horse, scramble to hide deep among the reed flowers.” The sense is: hearing that Meifu (the Han-dynasty recluse said to have become an immortal) was visiting, he smiled and came out of the thatched hall wearing a lotus-leaf robe; the children, unaccustomed to carriages and horses, vied to flee into the depths of the reed blossoms.

Guang Bi Ji (Broad Record of Completion) records: The Daoist Wang Hongming of Kuizhou had an unusually long tongue and could not speak clearly, so he recited the Daodejing (Classic of the Way and Virtue). Suddenly he dreamed that the Dao Lord (Taishang Laojun, the Supreme Venerable Sovereign) trimmed his tongue; when he awoke, his speech was normal.

“Hu Dai feigns madness; Ma Nuo excels beyond the ordinary” is a general title for two tales of extraordinary persons. Hu Dai was a Shu-region Daoist who played the madman; his popular name was Hu Dai (Gray Sack), and he was a disciple of Celestial Master (Tianshi) Zhai. Master Zhai often warned his disciples not to look down on him, saying he himself could not match Hu Dai. Hu Dai once entered Mount Qingcheng in a cotton robe amid heavy snow; at evening he sought lodging at a monastery. The monk said, “This poor monk has only one patched robe—how can one endure such cold?” Hu Dai replied, “One piece is enough.” At midnight the wind and snow grew fiercer; the monk thought he had frozen to death and went to look—Hu Dai had moved several feet from where he had lain, his breath rising like steam, sweating and sleeping bare-chested. Before dawn he left without farewell. He once suffered from mouth sores for months, appearing near death; the villagers had long regarded him as miraculous and set up a vegetarian feast for him. When the feast ended, he suddenly said to the crowd, “Try looking—what is inside my mouth?” He opened his mouth wide as a winnowing basket, all five viscera exposed; the crowd was astonished. Later no one knew where he went.

Jin Yishi (Unofficial History of Jin) records: Ma Nuo’s personal name is unknown. While Shi Jilong (ruler of Later Zhao) was in power, he begged in the Wei region, always wearing coarse hemp cloth, so people of the time called him “Ma Nuo” (Hemp Simpleton). His words were outstanding, his manner like a madman. Rice and grain he begged he did not eat himself but gave away, showing much strangeness. He was on very close terms with the eminent monk Fotudeng (Tucheng).

“Su’s donkey: worms flow; Wang’s corpse: a spring gushes” is a pair of headline phrases, meaning roughly: in the matter of Su’s donkey, worms flowed forth; in the matter of Wang’s corpse, a spring welled up.

Ma Ru, a figure in the Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Immortals), spoke in a lofty, remarkable way yet looked like a madman. After begging for grain he often gave it away without eating himself, which seemed uncanny; he was also on very close terms with the eminent monk Fotudeng (the Western Regions master).

“Su’s donkey: worms flow; Wang’s corpse: a spring gushes” are two taglines, each summing up one of the stories below—the maggots streaming from the dead donkey, and the spring that welled up under the guest Wang’s body.

The Shenxian zhuan records that Ji Zixun, an Eastern Han fangshi (esoteric adept), once drove a donkey cart with his disciples toward Xuxia. Passing Xingyang, they lodged with a host; his donkey suddenly stiffened and died, and maggots poured out. The host rushed to tell him. Zixun said, “Can that really be?” He sat as usual, finished his meal, then came out unhurriedly and struck the donkey with his staff; at the blow the donkey leaped up and walked on as before.

Maoting kehua records that Wang Ke—his personal name and home place are lost—often leaned on a pole, carried a basket, and roamed with a brindled dog, making a living gathering medicinal herbs. In the wuwu year of the Tianxi era he visited Mount Qingcheng; returning to Linqiong, Magistrate Shi Zhongran summoned him for a talk. He said, “I am a wild man who has long lived in the city; I want to go home, and I do have something to entrust.” The magistrate did not grasp his meaning. One day he went alone with a load of firewood to Guoning Temple and died sitting at the temple gate. An elder of the place reported it to the authorities, and he was buried by the roadside. When Shi Zhongran heard, he said, “What he said before must have meant this,” and sent men to take charge. When the corpse was opened, his face looked as if alive, his limbs were supple, as in deep sleep. Before long a clear spring burst forth beneath the body and lifted it afloat; they then changed his clothes, washed the body, and placed it in the coffin.

“Fang Yuan: clever and quick-witted; Dao Hua: dull and muddled”—a contrast between two people’s very different gifts.

The Biographies of Eminent Daoists (Gaodao Zhuan) records that Luqiu Fangyuan (courtesy name Dafang), from the compound surname Luqiu, was bright from childhood and versed in the classics and history. Emperor Zhaozong of Tang repeatedly issued edicts summoning him, but he would not take office; the court then granted him ceremonial robes and the honorific title “Master Xuantong” (Xuantong Xiansheng). Luo Yin often came to request instruction in books; the master always transmitted the teaching with his eyes closed, and said: Luo Yin’s talent is high but his insight is narrow—I do this so that upright bearing may lead him to understanding. Later Luo Yin did indeed preserve himself and ended his days in peace. One day the master suddenly bathed, burned incense, and sat upright in “returning to truth” (fanzhen—the Daoist term for passing away while seated in meditation); his complexion did not change, and a strange fragrance lingered for three days without dispersing. At that time Qian Wusu (Qian Liu) dreamed that the master rode a crane to take leave; the next day the announcement of his death arrived. When the time came for burial, the coffin held nothing—only an empty coffin remained.

There was also Hou Daohua, who in daily life often seemed like a madman; many people slighted him, yet he never showed anger. He loved to read alchemical scriptures (danjing) and the various masters’ histories and books. When someone asked what use there was in reciting these, he answered: In heaven there are no muddled, confused immortals.

The text also mentions Yang Xiong’s abandoned tomb and Zhou Chang’s public charnel ground (yizhong—a cemetery for collecting and burying unclaimed corpses) as a lead-in to related strange reports.

The Collected Remnants of Immortal Biographies (Xianzhuan Shiyi) records: Yang Xiong, courtesy name Ziyun, stuttered but excelled at literary composition. After Wang Mang usurped the throne, he heard that envoys charged with criminal cases were coming to seize Yang Xiong; he feared he could not escape harm. At that time he was collating books in the Tianlu Pavilion and jumped from the upper story of the pavilion, nearly killing himself. In the Tianfeng era he pleaded illness, resigned office, and returned to Shu, and eventually died at home. In the Qianfu era the jinshi Zhao Yu was convalescing from illness at the Kaiyuan Temple in Jiazhou; when his condition had improved somewhat, he saw a youth in the hall—hat and clothes worn yet clean—sitting beside Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu said: This temple is on a grand scale and was raised at the state’s expense—why does the rear of the hall press so close upon an abandoned tomb? He had asked the local people, and none knew its origin. The youth smiled and said: This is the burial place of a descendant of Han Chancellor the Marquis of Liu, Zhang Liang, grandson of Bijiang, an ancestor in the line of the Celestial Master (Tianshi), who once served as prefect of Nan’an; he died in the commandery and was buried here. He also spoke of events from the two Han dynasties through Wei and Jin as if he had seen them himself. Zhao Yu asked his surname; he replied, “Ziyun, surname Yang.” Zhao Yu then pressed after him with force, but the youth went out through the door and left. Down to the present, people still see him from time to time.

Zhou Chang favored doing good in secret; his merit was not diminished because no one knew. During one year of severe drought, tens of thousands of people died far from home; Zhou Chang gathered and buried more than ten thousand sets of remains, established a public burial ground, and offered sacrifices at the proper seasons—and rain soon fell from heaven. Later he achieved immortality in a cave and was appointed Mingchen shilang (an immortal office in the Daoist pantheon). The text also mentions a man surnamed Yang who did his utmost to follow him; he then went out and departed, and to this day people still see him. When immortals travel abroad, thunder naturally rolls in their wake, and immortal music and colored clouds attend them.

Ma Xiang, styled Ziran, looked like a madman and could cure illness. When someone sought treatment, he used no medicine—only beating the afflicted place with a bamboo staff, or pointing the staff and blowing on it so it gave a sound like thunder—and the sickness was cured. He visited palace-temples and cave grottoes, leaving many poems behind. His poem Ascending Qinwang Mountain at Hangzhou conveys roughly this: where can one seek the place where Taiyi (the primordial unity of the cosmos) first divided, when only the turns of lishu (heaven’s numbered cycles and calendrical fate) and human hearts remain in flux; sun and moon of the nine heavens turn morning and evening, mountains and rivers for ten thousand li change from ancient to modern; wind stirs water-light that holds distant peaks, rain adds mist from mountain haze that swallows deep forests; though Qin Shihuang had his plan to drive mountains aside, the rivers and seas, vast and dim, only grew deeper.

The Daoist Zhang Faley lived west of Geng Valley, practicing bao yuan shou yi (holding fast to primordial Qi and keeping the One undivided) for more than thirty years. Cloud-Qi rose to the beams and rafters, and colored clouds encircled doors and windows; he styled his place the Yunju Guan (Cloud-Dwelling Abbey). In time the Dao was complete, and a fierce tiger was tamed to serve at his side. Later he shijie chantui (left the corpse behind like a cicada shell—a mode of Daoist transcendence).

Li Yu ingested jade powder, and Wang Jie refined the Golden Elixir—both are allusions to cultivating the Dao and seeking immortality.

Ganying Lu (Records of Responsive Manifestations) records: During the Later Wei, Li Yu obtained the ancient method of nourishing the body with jade. He went to Lantian to search for it, dug with his own hands, and found more than a hundred pieces of jade in the shapes of rings, bi disks, and various vessels. Li Yu pounded seventy of them into powder and ingested them. Later, when he was gravely ill and near death, he told his wife: After I die, my body will surely show something unusual. Do not hurry to bury me, so that later generations may know the wondrous effects of ingesting jade for nourishment. It was the middle of the seventh month, and Chang’an was scorching hot. Li Yu’s corpse lay for four nights without encoffining, yet the color of his body did not change. His wife, Lady Chang, placed two jade beads in his mouth, but his mouth stayed closed. She said: You yourself said that jade nourishment has divine efficacy—why will you not accept the jade beads? As soon as she had spoken, Li Yu’s teeth parted and he swallowed the beads. When she breathed upon his mouth, there was no foul odor at all. When the body was lifted for encoffining, the corpse did not sag or go limp.

Mianshui Yantan (Idle Talk by the Mian River) records: Wang Jie of Jiangzhou, in his youth, traded along the Jianghuai region. During the Xianping era, he met a man at an inn in Nankang who wore Daoist dress and had a dignified bearing. The man transmitted to him the art of refining gold and also gave him a divine sword, admonishing him: Unless you meet the sovereign, you must not reveal this casually. Later Wang Jie feigned madness and shouted in the streets of Shangrao; he was banished to Lingnan, then fled back to the capital and struck the dengwen drum to report the matter to the throne. Emperor Zhenzong of Song summoned him for an audience, took a liking to him, and had his name changed to Zhongzheng. Wang Zhongzheng lodged in the household of the eunuch Liu Chenggui. Liu Chenggui often heard Zhongzheng speaking with someone whose voice sounded like a child’s, saying: I am the Lord of Fate (Siming Jun). I once secretly supplied the court with gold and silver refined by alchemical means. People of the world call me Master Wang the Gold-Refiner.

“Hecheng’s daughter divined; Qiufu’s ghost needles.” (This is a title or fragmentary line; the gist is: Hecheng’s daughter performed divination, and Qiufu practiced ghost-needle therapy.)

Nan Shi (History of the Southern Dynasties) records: He Chang, styled Bozu, cultivated Daoist nourishing practices and was skilled in divination and oracle casting. He encountered a singing girl who had died; he divined for her and said: This is not true death—she has been summoned by the Lord of Heaven to sing, that is all. He then placed a clod of earth on her heart, and before long she revived.

The Nan Shi (History of the Southern Dynasties) records that He Chang (style name Bozu) devoted himself to nurturing the Way and was skilled in divination and oracle techniques. When a woman who made her living by singing fell ill and died, he cast a divination for her and said: “This is not a true death; the Celestial Emperor has summoned her to sing.” He then placed a clod of earth on her chest; before long she revived.

The Ganying Lu (Records of Responsive Phenomena) relates that Xu Wenbo of the Song period was a native of Donghai and great-grandson of Xu Xi, prefect of Puyang. Xu Xi favored the teachings of Huang-Lao (the Daoist tradition of nurturing life and ordering the world) and lived in seclusion on Mount Qinwang. A Daoist priest passing by asked him for water to drink and left him a gourd ladle (hulu), saying: “Your descendants should use the arts of the Way to bring relief to the world; they will attain the rank of two thousand shi (the salary grade of a prefect, here standing for high office).” Xu Xi opened the gourd and found inside one scroll of Bian Que’s Jianjing (Mirror Classic); he studied it diligently until his fame spread throughout the realm. Later Xu Qiufu refined this art still further and rose to the post of magistrate of Sheyang. One night he heard a ghost moaning in distress and asked who it was. The ghost replied: “I am from Dongyang; I died of lumbago and even as a ghost the pain is unbearable—please treat me.” Qiufu asked how to proceed, and the ghost said: “Make a straw figure (churen, a human form bound from grass), needle it at the acupoints.” Qiufu did as instructed, performed acupuncture on the straw figure, offered sacrifice, and buried it. The next day a man came to thank him and then suddenly vanished; people at the time all admired his communion with the unseen.

The Xianji Ji (Collected Accounts of Worthies) records that Lu Du possessed the arts of the Way. In youth he was blocked by the Huai River and could not cross; he vowed in his heart: “If I am spared death, from this day I will kill no more.” Suddenly two creatures came downstream to carry him, and he crossed safely. Later he withdrew to Mount Sangu in Xichang, Luling; birds and beasts followed him. At night a deer struck his wall; Lu Du said, “You have broken my wall,” and the deer left at once. In the pool before his house he kept fish and gave each a name; when he called a name, that fish would come in turn to feed and then swim away. The encomium’s line “Lu Du responds to deer; Gui Nian distinguishes birds” refers to Lu Du’s responsiveness to deer and Gui Nian’s ability to tell birds apart.

Bai Guinian was the grandson of Bai Juyi (the Tang poet). On Song Mountain he encountered Li Taibai (Li Bai). Li Bai called him over to talk and said: After my “shuijie” (a form of Daoist corpse dissolution, departing through water), I wandered among mountains and waters; longing for my homeland, I returned west to Song Mountain. The Emperor of Heaven issued a flying memorial summoning me; I was appointed to manage memorials and documents, and have been here for a hundred years. Recently passing through Tong Pass, I composed a lyric that says: “Once we feasted in the deep cave of Peach Blossom Spring; a song and dance like phoenixes in company; I often remember when we parted—the bright moon set, flowers and mist layered thick, as if in a dream, in a dream, with tears I saw you off at the gate.” He then took out a scroll and gave it to him, saying: Read this scroll and you can understand the speech of birds and beasts between the Nine Heavens (the Daoist celestial realm) and the great earth; if you further cultivate hidden virtue, you can become a dishi (an immortal rank that dwells among humans with long life).

Guo Shangdian was employed at Zhou Bridge in Eastern Capital (Zhou Bridge in Bianjing, capital of Northern Song) during the Tiansheng era of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, washing utensils in a teahouse. A man wearing a blue headcloth and cloth robe had a striking, awe-inspiring presence; he suspected him to be Master Lü (Lü Dongbin), went forward to pay respects and said: I am fortunate to meet you, sir; I wish to serve as your attendant. The master said: If you truly wish to serve me, you may receive one sword-stroke from me. Guo Shangdian agreed repeatedly and stretched out his neck to wait; the master raised his sword to strike, Guo cried out loudly—and Master Lü had already vanished. Guo later achieved shijie (leaving the corpse to become immortal); when the coffin was opened, only tattered cotton was found. “Shang’ao yanjing, laofu zhengxin” (extending the neck upward, the old man’s right mind) can be read as praise: the former describes the posture of stretching the neck to submit to the test; the latter points to the essential matter of rectifying the mind.

The Guangji (Extensive Records) says: In the late Tang there was an old man who carried a gourd selling medicine in Yizhou (the Chengdu region in Sichuan). Whatever money he earned he gave to the poor. He often told people: If you want people free of illness, you must first rectify the heart; when the heart has no chaotic desires, wild thoughts, cravings, or delusion, the heart has no illness, and even if the six viscera within the body are ill, they are not hard to cure. When he sold medicine he often used this to admonish people. One day he went to the Jin River (a river in Chengdu) to bathe, took a elixir pill from his pouch and swallowed it, and transformed into a white crane and flew away.

“Jinque Dijun, Yuxian Shengmu” are citations of Daoist immortal titles: Jinque Dijun is a high-ranking divine being; Yuxian Shengmu is an honorific title for a female immortal.

The Sandong Zhunang (Jade Treasury of the Three Caverns) records that the chief minister Green Youth Lord (Qingtong Jun), who serves Jinque Emperor Lord (a high Daoist deity), rode a cloud chariot formed from nine-colored jade-cloud qi, radiant and flowing with light; the green, feather-adorned canopy of the carriage billowed as he went to the Supreme Numinous Capital Palace (Taishang Lingdu Gong) to pay homage to the numinous registers of the Three Heavens (immortal rolls of the celestial roster).

The Yuxian Zhuan (Biography of the Jade Immortal) states: The Holy Mother was born in the age of Emperor Yan (Shennong); tracing her origin, she was from Wuyang Commandery, with peerless beauty. Her parents betrothed her to a family in Langya; when she was about to marry, she heard a neighbor say that the Langya man practiced harmful sorcery. Weeping, she took leave of her parents, boarded a small boat, and drifted at the wind’s mercy on the Daqi River. She reached Xiandu Mountain in the land of Gaoli; on the mountain was Jade Immortal Peak, within the peak was Jade Immortal Cave, and at the foot was Jade Immortal Stream. The Holy Mother stayed on this mountain and kept her resolve pure. After half a year she met the Holy Mother Nü Hua, who orally transmitted the method of flying spirit entering the cauldron, the method of the central source’s lord spirit, and the art of nurturing spirit with elixir fire; she cultivated accordingly and completed the Dao. The title Jade Immortal was bestowed because of the cave. Before the Jade Immortal shrine is a square pool; people often drew water from Jade Immortal Stream to fill it; later generations cast paper into the water to divine fortune or misfortune.

The saying “Zhang Zhong in the honor carriage, Dong Jing content with ring-wall poverty” means that Zhang Zhong received the ceremonial carriage (ancient honor for the aged and virtuous), while Dong Jing was satisfied with a humble dwelling of earthen walls on four sides. The Jin Yishi (Unofficial History of Jin) records: The Daoist Zhang Zhong in the early Yongjia era lived in seclusion on Mount Tai, practiced breath cultivation, ate spirit fungus, and dug an earth cave for his dwelling; his disciples also lived in underground cells. In teaching disciples he valued bodily example over words. The court summoned him repeatedly and offered gifts, which he did not accept. The emperor said, “Would you condescend to serve as Honored Father (a ministerial rank like that of Jiang Ziya)?” Zhang Zhong replied, “Long ago I left the world to keep company with birds and beasts; now I am old and my will is failing—I cannot serve. I ask to return to my former mountain.” The court assented, sent him back in an honor carriage, and granted the posthumous title Master of the Peaceful Way (Andao Xiansheng).

Dong Jing, a Jin-dynasty recluse, sometimes came to Luoyang with hair loose, walking freely and chanting poetry. He once lived in a shemiao (local earth-god shrine), begged in the market, and wove netting to cover himself. When people offered him things, he refused gold and silk. The prefect once came to the shrine to speak with him and said: “We now live in an age as glorious as that of Yao and Shun—why do you hide your Daoist practice and refuse office?” Dong Jing replied: “Among all things, only human beings are held noble; in motion the nine provinces feel cramped, in stillness even a room walled on four sides feels vast.” He then withdrew into seclusion and was seen no more. Master Chongsu was sincere and plain in spirit, thorough and arduous in cultivating the Dao.

The Zhenjing Lu (Record of the True Realm) records: Jingsi Yuan was where Master Chongsu Zheng Yuanzhang lived. The master often kept abstinent purification, dwelt alone, and sat upright; nothing external could enter his mind—the state Nan Hua (Zhuangzi) describes as “when the mind is not scattered, spirit gathers.” For this he moved celestial immortals to descend and appear; on clear nights after rain, with the moon bright, only disciples at the gate could hear his discourse; people of the world could not. Jingsi Yuan is at Dongxiao Gong (a Daoist temple complex) in Hangzhou.

The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Perfected Yin Daoquan lived in seclusion on Hengyue (Mount Heng of the south). He moved a shangzhen (high immortal) to descend and say to him: “Those who ascend as immortals in broad daylight must first have the corresponding endowment, then complete their path. If you receive one matter from this, you have hope of ascent; this comes from arduous cultivation and also from what your past lives’ karmic affinity warrants.” He then granted him the Wuyue Zhenxing Tu (a Daoist talismanic chart symbolizing the forms and numinous power of the Five Sacred Mountains)—the orientation of each peak, where springs and streams issue, where gold and treasure lie, drawn through as one chart—and told him: “If through your own cultivation and observance you gain response, you will know that among Wen Shi’s (Wen Shi Zhenjun Yin Xi’s) descendants, the clan of Taihe, immortals truly exist in the world.” Having spoken, he departed. Yin Daoquan ascended as an immortal in the Yongjia era of the Jin. A poor man embraces the dragon; Zhichuan (Ge Hong) removes the tiger.

Ye Ren Xian Hua (“Casual Talk of Wild Men”), entry on irrigation: At Baisha there stood a temple to the Lord of Qin Mountain. Every spring, in the third month, when the people of Shu gathered for the spring plowing, a man in ragged clothes and a haggard face came to that deserted spot, and everyone looked down on him. He went to the riverbank, sat on a stone, looked all around, and said, “There is a sleeping dragon in this water.” No one answered. He stripped off his clothes, went into the water, and carried out a dragon. The stench was foul; the dragon’s eyes were tightly shut, but its claws, teeth, scales, and horns were all there. In an instant clouds closed in from every side, wind rose and water surged, and the crowd fled in terror. The poor wanderer, too, suddenly vanished.

Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Ge Hong, styled Zhichuan, once kept cattle. Tigers repeatedly harassed them, so he drew talismans (fulu) to restrain and drive them off. A man who called himself Lord of Gaoshan said to Ge Hong, “The harm from tiger and wolf ought by now to have been removed.”

End of Volume Ten. Volume Eleven was compiled by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoist Chen Baoguang. Beneath headings such as “bearing the returning imperial baton, the primordial lord of Langya,” what follows is the story of Wang Chuhui: Privy Counselor Wang Chuhui enjoyed receiving scholars in plain dress. One day a Daoist wrote in large characters on bamboo leaves, “The Daoist Zhu Taozhi respectfully seeks an audience.” Wang Chuhui came out to meet him, set out wine at leisure, and they conversed on lofty themes; his bearing was impressive. Wang Chuhui said, “I have long aspired to the Dao and have often wished to build a Daoist retreat on Mount Qingcheng to satisfy my wish for a quiet life.” The Daoist said, “The time is not yet.” He then took two flower seeds from his pouch, planted them, and covered the pot; when he lifted the cover a little later, the flowers had already sprouted and in moments had grown four or five feet tall, blooming in layer upon layer. The Daoist said, “This is the immortals’ banner-and-staff flower (jingjie hua).” Later Wang Chuhui did indeed receive the imperial baton and held command over two circuits.

When Xie Yuanqing called on an immortal, he saw a tree with crimson branches and jade-green leaves; when a light breeze stirred them they gave off a sound, the five tones in harmony and in measure. The immortal said this was langxu wood, a tree of the immortals.

The patriarch Xu Xun (Xu Zhenjun, founding master of the Daoist Jingming lineage) once had several hundred disciples. One day he wished to test them, so he turned charcoal into a woman and sent her to each disciple in turn; only ten were not led astray. Those ten were the true lords who later ascended to heaven. Within Jianchang County today there are still a Charcoal Woman Market and a Charcoal Woman Ward.

Lu Ban—the legendary master craftsman—was a man of Dunhuang; his dates are unknown, but his skill could rival the work of nature itself. In Liangzhou he built a Buddhist pagoda and also fashioned a wooden bird: after three taps on its peg he would ride it home. Before long his wife was with child; when her parents pressed her, she told them how it had happened. Her father later obtained the wooden bird, struck the peg more than ten times, and flew on it to the Wu region (the area of Wu and Kuaiji). The people of Wu took it for a demon and killed him. Lu Ban again rode the wooden bird to recover his father’s body. Angry that the Wu people had killed his father, he set up a wooden immortal south of Suzhou city, its hand pointing southeast; because of this Wu suffered three years of severe drought. When the Wu people learned Lu Ban was behind it, they came with offerings and an ox to apologize; Lu Ban then cut off both hands of the wooden figure, and that month heavy rain fell in Wu. In the early years of our dynasty, people in Wu were still offering prayers to that wooden immortal.

Ye Fashan’s treasure casket and Prince Wang Qiao’s jade coffin.

Ye Fashan, styled Daoyuan, once cultivated his spirit and practiced the Way on Mount Xishan in Hongzhou (in the area of present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi). One day three divine beings descended from Kuocang (a mountain in present-day Zhejiang) and conveyed a command from Taishang (Supreme Lord Laozi): “You should assist Ruizong and the Sage Emperor of the Kaiyuan era; you must not hide in mountain cliffs and neglect the charge entrusted to you.” Having spoken, they departed. At that time neither of those two emperors had yet ascended the throne, but their temple names and reign titles were foretold in advance; later an imperial edict indeed summoned him to the capital. Thereafter, when the turmoil of Empress Wei (consort of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang) was put down and Prince Xiang was enthroned as Ruizong, with Emperor Ming (Xuanzong) succeeding to the imperial line, Ye Fashan served in the capital as imperial preceptor to the sage sovereign, attending at his side; he could report in advance whatever was auspicious or inauspicious, moving or still. When envoys from Tubo (the ancient Tibetan regime) came bearing tribute, the sealed casket bore the inscription: “Your Majesty should open this yourself; do not let others know the secret.” The court officials fell silent; only Fashan said, “This is an evil casket; the Tubo envoys should open it themselves.” The emperor assented. When the envoys opened it themselves, a crossbow bolt shot out from within and killed the envoys—exactly as Fashan had said.

Wang Qiao served as magistrate of Ye County (present-day Ye County, Henan) under Emperor Ming of Later Han. One day a jade coffin descended from heaven. Wang Qiao said, “Is the Celestial Emperor summoning me?” He then bathed, entered the coffin, and was buried east of the city, where earth piled itself into a tomb. That night all the oxen and horses in the county sweated, panted, and were exhausted; people did not know why. Later generations built him a shrine, called the Temple of Lord Ye.

“Spirit Phoenix of the Queen Mother, Cailuan wife of Wen” are names from immortal lore: the Spirit Phoenix of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu), and Cailuan, wife of Wen Xiao (traditionally identified as Wu Cailuan).

The Daoist priest Wang Yuanzhi was the son of Wang Tanxuan, governor of Yangzhou under the Southern Liang. His mother, Lady Ding, once dreamed in daylight that a spirit phoenix alighted on her body, after which she conceived; she also heard what sounded like crying from within her womb. The monk Baozhi—a Southern-dynasty master famed for marvels—told Tanxuan: “When this child is born, he will become a patriarch among immortals (the leader of the immortals’ lineage).” When Yang Guang, later Emperor Yang of Sui, was still Prince of Jin, he too sent for Wang Yuanzhi. Wang came to pay his respects; in a moment his beard and hair turned white. The prince was alarmed and sent him away.

Collected Remnants of Immortal Biographies records: Wen Xiao lodged at Youwei Abbey, beside the residence of Zhenjun Xu (True Lord Xu; Xu Xun, patriarch of the Jingming Dao) in Hongzhou. The fifteenth day of the eighth month was the day of Zhenjun Xu’s ascension; men and women gathered in crowds, sleeves touching as they stepped and sang—called “repaying the vow” (fulfilling a religious pledge). Suddenly a singing girl’s lyrics subtly wove in Wen Xiao’s name and spoke in the voice of an immortal. The song ran: if one could share the Lu Immortal Altar, Wen Xiao should ride the rainbow phoenix (Cailuan); there would be brocade robes and splendid curtained chambers, and on the jade terrace no fear of frost and snow. Wen Xiao was startled. When the song ended, he followed her slowly into a great pine-lined path and saw a dwelling of solemn dignity, attendants all around, desks and registers like a yamen, and documents for judgment—mostly cases of drowning in rivers and lakes. Wen Xiao pressed her again and again; she said, “This must not be lightly disclosed; I will bear the punishment for you.” Indeed a messenger in yellow announced: “Wu Cailuan, for revealing heaven’s secrets from private desire, is demoted to be a mortal’s wife for twelve years.” She and Wen Xiao then returned to live in Jinling. Later the two entered Mount Yuewang together riding a tiger; nothing more is known of them.

“Liu Zhao Qinghua, Mu Jing Huangzhu” are paired immortal names or praise lines for immortals. It is also recorded that Liu Xiang, at the end of Emperor Cheng of Han, was collating books in the Tianlu Pavilion; one night he met an old man in yellow robes, and afterward they entered Mount Yuewang together—their fate is unknown.

Xianzhuan Shiyi (Collected Supplement to Immortal Biographies) records that toward the end of the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Western Han, Liu Xiang was collating books at the Tianlu Pavilion—the imperial repository for books and textual revision. One night an old man in yellow robes came, leaning on a staff of green grass, and knocked at the door. When asked his name, the old man said he was the essence of Taiyi (the supreme unity, a revered star deity in Daoism) and that the Celestial Emperor, having heard that “the child of Mao and Metal” (Mao and Metal together form the character for Liu, pointing to Liu Xiang) was broadly learned and talented, had descended to visit him. The old man took from his breast a bundle of documents containing works on astronomy, maps, and related subjects, handed them to Liu Xiang, and departed.

The Mu Tianzi Zhuan (Tradition of King Mu of Zhou) records that King Mu of Zhou traveled south to the Mound of Yellow Terrace, inspected the former residence of Xia Qi, and hunted on the flat marshlands; he met bitter cold, rain, and snow, and composed three poems lamenting the people. Among the lines are “My ancestor at Yellow Bamboo… Alas, my lords and marquises, the hundred ministers and chief officers, take pity on my myriad people—morning and evening, do not forget.” The general sense is a cry over cold and hardship, admonishing lords and officials to care for the people and never neglect them day or night. The wording of the verses is corrupt in places; only the gist is preserved here.

“Chisong’s Bright Pouch” and “Record of the Immortal of White Clouds” are titles of related sections. The Qixie Zhi (Records of Marvels) tells that on an August morning Deng Shao entered Mount Hua and saw a boy holding a five-colored pouch filled with dew from cypress leaves (the text reads “xiang leaves”). He said that Master Chisong had gathered it to brighten the eyes; later generations’ practice of making a “bright pouch” in the eighth month derives from this. The repeated “nine lines… morning and evening, do not forget” in the entry on Deng Shao overlaps with the poem of King Mu cited above; the core of the story remains the five-colored pouch holding dew.

The Lie Xian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records Liu Baiyun, a native of Jiangdu, who accumulated much hidden merit. He met Yue Zichang, who said: You have an immortal register and bones suited to heaven—why do you linger in the dusty world? He then transmitted talismans and registers (fulu) to him and warned: First learn the art of transformation; only then may the Dao be transmitted. Liu Baiyun followed the teaching and could transform in countless ways and travel seven hundred li in a day; he visited Yue Zichang again, took the elixir for a thousand days, and ascended to heaven.

The closing line “Hou Kai shares the dust, dwelling in seclusion yet mingling with the world” praises the immortal Hou Kai for practicing heguang tongchen—harmonizing with the light and blending with the dust—and for living in hidden retreat while still moving among ordinary society.

Biographies of Eminent Daoists records: Hou Kai, styled Faxian, at fourteen studied the Dao under Master Zhengyi. Master Zhengyi said: “You gather your mind and temper your integrity, and persevere in the Dao—but if you do not withdraw to mountains and forests, I fear it will not be easy to achieve much.” Hou Kai replied: “The Dao is in the space of a square inch (within the heart)—why must one have mountains and forests?” The master said: “I already know that myself; yet immortals for the most part lodge in rocky wilds and mountain woods, and only after attaining true realization do they emerge to blend with the dusty world.”

It also records Xue Youqi: In the Kaiyuan era he passed the jinshi examination, yet with bold resolve he withdrew and took no office, entered Heming Mountain to seek the dwelling-place of the Han Celestial Master (Zhang Daoling), and cultivated for a full cycle of twelve years until his Dao-qi grew ever fuller. In the early Tianbao period he traveled to Mount Heng (Southern Sacred Peak), divined to choose a place to dwell in truth, wandered in self-sufficient ease, with nothing in his breast to tie him down—yet he could heguang hunsu (conceal his light and mix with the common world) and huifang wahe (wear away his corners and fit with tiles). He read through the scriptures of the Three Caverns without exception, so recluses and wanderers all admired his bearing and came to receive instruction. He once presented the Yuanwei Lun (Treatise on Primordial Subtlety) and annotated the Duren Jing (Scripture of Salvation), both of which circulated in the world.

“Wang’s mulberry field, Magu’s dry land” leads to what Records of the Hidden Chamber relates: Master Wang had Daoist arts and hid his traces at Wujiang; no one knew who he was. Shi Huizhi of Hongnong heard his name and came to pay a visit. Toward evening the master drew the ground of the courtyard with his staff; at once thunder rolled, cliff and valley piled upon one another, and lake water stretched boundless. The master said: “Dry land has suddenly changed—and there is the transformation of mulberry fields (i.e., cang hai sang tian, the sea turned to mulberry land).” The guests present were alarmed; the master said: “It is only to amuse myself.” He then swept the courtyard with a broom, and the courtyard was quiet as before.

The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that Magu, a female immortal, once descended to the home of Cai Jing. When she saw the immortal Wang Fangping, she went forward to pay her respects. Magu said: Since we last met, I have already seen the East Sea turn into mulberry fields three times; just now, looking at the waters around Penglai, the immortal mountain in the sea, I found them shallower than before—could it be turning back into dry land? Wang Fangping smiled and said: The sages have long said that dust will rise again from the sea. The lines “Jade altar, wind chimes clear; jade terrace, dew pure and bright” are verses describing the immortal realm: on the jade altar the wind chimes ring clearly; on the jade terrace the dew is limpid and cool.

The Jishen Lu (Record of Investigating the Spirits) records that in the markets of Jianye there was a diviner who suddenly inscribed a poem on the wall of the Ziwei Palace (a Daoist celestial palace): Yesterday, ascending to court, I passed the Ziwei Palace—wind chimes on the jade altar, sparse apricot blossoms; the jade peach kept me to deliver a message—why have the people of the human world still not returned? After that he vanished without a trace; people all said he had ascended as an immortal.

The Yishi (Stray Annals) records that in the early Kaicheng era of the Tang, the jinshi degree-holder Xu Ya was traveling in Hezhong when he suddenly fell gravely ill and lost consciousness. On the third day he abruptly sat up, took a brush, and wrote a long poem on the wall: At dawn I entered the jade terrace; the dew was cool and clear; of all those seated, only Xu Feiqiong was there. My worldly heart was not yet awakened, my vulgar ties still bound me; ten li down the mountain I saw only the empty brightness of the moon. When he finished he lay down again. The next morning he started up in alarm and revised the poem, changing the second line to “Heaven’s wind brought down the sound of yubu” (yubu: the pace-set void—Daoist immortal ritual song). After writing he sat dazed as if drunk; when he woke he no longer slept. After a long while he gradually said: Yesterday I dreamed of the jade terrace, with more than three hundred female immortals; one of them said she was Xu Feiqiong and had me compose a poem. When it was done she had me revise it, saying she did not wish people in the world to know of her. After the revision they greatly praised it and had all the immortals compose matching poems, and said to me: You will come here in the end; for now go back first. As if someone were guiding me, I returned.

“Li He’s tower inscription, Dongfang Shuo’s urn inscription” invokes the lore of Li He writing a tower record and Dongfang Shuo inscribing an urn—pointing to similar tales of immortals and marvels.

According to the Calligraphy Garden (Shufa Yuan), when Li He was about to die, a divine being in scarlet robes (the garb of a red official) arrived riding a crimson spirit beast, holding a tablet inscribed with archaic seal script resembling ancient thunder-writing, saying he had come to summon Li He. Li He could not read it at all. He got down from his bed, kowtowed, and said, “A Mi (what Li He called his mother, the Lady, in childhood) is old and ill; I do not wish to go.” The man in scarlet said, “The Lord on High has finished the jade tower and summons you at once to write the commemorative text. Duties in heaven are rather pleasant and not bitter.” After a short while Li He stopped breathing. When Li He had just begun to speak as a child, he called the Lady “A Mi.”

The Records of Gathered Remains (Shiyi Ji) records that a carnelian urn from the time of the Yellow Emperor was still in existence in the age of Yao; it was filled with sweet dew that never ran dry and was called “precious dew,” and was apportioned among the ministers. By the time of Shun the dew had gradually diminished, following the rise and fall of the age: when custom was pure and thick the vessel stayed full; when custom was shallow and corrupt the dew was exhausted. Qin Shihuang dredged the Miluo River and, digging the earth, found a red jade urn holding eight dou; it was placed in the temple of Shun. In the Han, Dongfang Shuo recognized the object and composed an inscription on the urn: “Precious clouds arise from the altar of dew; auspicious winds rise from the moon pavilion. The three hu (the three sacred isles of the sea) seem within a foot’s reach; the eight hong (lands far in the eight directions) appear like a girdling belt.”

“Li Tong [and] the Cinnabar Terrace; Ziwei [and] Red City” highlight the immortal ties of Li Tong with the Cinnabar Terrace and of Ziwei (Sima Chengzhen) with the immortal mountain Red City. The Six Compendiums (Liutie) records that the Perfected of Purple Yang, Zhou Jitong, entered Mount Meng and met Xianmenzi (a immortal’s name, usually written Xianmenzi); he bowed twice and begged for the secret of long life. Xianmenzi said, “Your name is already in the jade chambers of the Cinnabar Terrace (the immortal registry in the celestial bureau); why worry that you will not become an immortal?” The Biographies of Immortals (Shenxian Zhuan) records that the Celestial Master of the Sima clan was named Chengzhen, style Ziwei. The female adept Xie Ziran crossed the sea toward Penglai to seek a master; on a certain mountain she met Xianmenzi, bowed twice and begged for the secret of long life, and Xianmenzi likewise said, “Your name is in the jade chambers of the Cinnabar Terrace; why worry that you will not become an immortal?”

According to the Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals): Celestial Master Sima Chengzhen, courtesy name Ziwei. The female Daoist Xie Ziran crossed the sea to Penglai in search of a master. On a mountain she met a Daoist who told her: “Sima Chengzhen of Mount Tiantai is already registered in the immortal registry of the immortal court; he lives on Mount Chiqian and is a truly fine teacher.” Xie Ziran then returned and sought instruction from Sima Chengzhen and was saved. Sima Chengzhen had more than seventy disciples. One day he said: “From Yuxiao Peak I look east toward Penglai and often see true immortals descend; now the Youth Immortal Lord summons me—I must go.” Soon after he shed his mortal form and ascended as an immortal. The court issued an edict posthumously appointing him Silver-Green Light Grand Master and bestowing the posthumous title “Master Zhenyi” (Orthodox Unity); the emperor personally composed his epitaph, and his collected writings circulated in the world.

“Peng makes the snake coil; Wang’s cranes soar” summarizes the next two entries: Peng Zong used forbidden spells to make a snake lie coiled; after the immortal daughter of Wang Hui departed, a pair of cranes flew upward.

The Dantai Xinlu (New Records of the Cinnabar Platform) says: Peng Zong, courtesy name Faxian, at age twenty took Celestial Master Du Chong as his master to cultivate the Dao, won deep approval, settled his heart in the true Way and embodied its subtle wonder, and his sincerity reached spirits and humans. In the mountains were venomous snakes and fierce tigers; Peng Zong often used qi forbiddance (Daoist spell-binding) to subdue them; they would hide and coil up, and even when touched could not move, until Peng Zong released the forbiddance and they left.

The Wang Shi Shenxian Zhuan says: The prime minister Wang Hui’s daughter from childhood yearned for the Dao, recited scriptures and played the zither, and once said: “Officials of the grotto-heavens summon me; I am to take up an immortal post.” She wrote a poem saying: “Crossing mountains and fording waters without rest; immortals often descend to hear my zither and verse; this heart no longer clings to the human realm—only a pair of cranes flies at heaven’s edge.” That night she passed away peacefully. By dawn a pair of cranes was soaring on the trees in the courtyard; music and strange fragrance filled the fields. When she was placed in the coffin, her body had already transformed—only empty garments remained.

“Hollow grotto spirit melons, sweet snow on the isle of delight” highlights the wondrous immortal fare of grotto-heaven and immortal mansions through spirit melons and sweet snow.

Empress Yin, a consort of Later Han Emperor Ming, dreamed of eating melon with a flavor beyond compare. The emperor sent men to search the various regions and tributary lands. Dunhuang then presented a rare melon, and Dangshan offered the “giant-peach-pit melon,” named Qionglong—three feet long, curved in shape, and as sweet as malt sugar. Long ago a Daoist had obtained this fruit on Mount Penglai, the immortal isle at sea; it was called the Hollow Spirit Melon, a celestial melon said to fruit only once in four kalpas, with seed the Queen Mother of the West had left in this world. Ages had passed, yet some of the fruit still survived. The giant peach, it was said, blossomed at frost’s descent and ripened only in the height of summer—again, food fit for immortals.

It is also recorded that King Mu of Zhou traveled east to Daqi Valley and came to Chunxiao Palace, where he gathered masters of the methods to discuss the essentials of immortal arts. The Queen Mother of the West arrived in a carriage of green phoenixes, with patterned tigers and leopards going before and behind her a train of carved qilin and purple-trimmed mounts; she wore cinnabar-jade shoes. Azure rush mats and yellow reed offering pads were spread, and a great gathering was held in a jade pavilion. They drank wine clarified from Guying paste and were served immortal fare such as Cave-Abyss Red Ripple and Sweet Snow of Xian Isle. The phrase “Bowei’s golden elixir, Renben’s jade powder” in the text may be read as a heading for the two anecdotes that follow.

The New Records of the Cinnabar Platform states that Zhuang Bowei loved the Way from youth. At sunset he would face northwest, close his eyes in wogong (the Daoist fist grip to seal breath and spirit), and visualize Mount Kunlun, persisting for twenty-one years. Later he took elixirs and went into the mountains to cultivate, still practicing this method for more than ten years. Once, with eyes closed, he suddenly saw Kunlun; as he kept visualizing without stopping, an immortal appeared and transmitted to him the Golden Elixir Formula, and in this way he attained the Way. What happened was the Way responding to sincere spirit—not the wonder of the technique alone.

Miscellaneous Notes from Youyang relates that Zheng Renben and a cousin lost their way while touring the mountains. They saw a man sitting with his head on something plain and rough. When they asked him about it, he spoke of the City of Seven Treasures and said that within it lay another principle of enduring preservation—that was not merely the marvel of this art.

Youyang Zazu records that Zheng Renben and a cousin were lost while touring the mountains when they saw someone sitting with his head resting on a bundle. Asked who he was, he said: Do you know the City of Seven Treasures? Eighty-two thousand households often work on building it; I am one of them. He opened the bundle, which held several chisel-and-axe tools and two packets of jade-crumb meal, and gave some to Zheng Renben, saying that eating it could keep one free of illness for a lifetime.

The next passage concerns Li Hanguang’s exposition of the Daode Jing and Yan Da’s discussion of whether the Dao or Buddhism was superior. According to Biographies of Eminent Daoists, the Daoist Li Hanguang (a Tang-period practitioner from Jinling, present-day Changzhou in Jiangsu) was deeply devoted to the Way from age thirteen; alone in a dark room he behaved as toward a lord or father, and those who saw him checked their demeanor. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang summoned him and asked about governing and transforming the people. He replied that the Daode Jing is the teacher of rulers: in former times Emperor Wen of Han followed it and brought the people into a realm of kindness, depth, and long life. When asked about the golden cauldron (the art of refining elixirs and seeking transcendence), he said: the Dao and its virtue are public; soaring aloft and light ascension are private within that public. Even when that private side occasionally appears, it is only the sage leaving instruction behind. To indulge desire in order to seek life is like catching the wind—how could it not be hard to achieve? The emperor greatly approved.

Yan Da, style name Daotong, had aspirations beyond the mundane while still young. In the Jiande era of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, he was summoned with other masters to the side hall; Buddhism had already been curtailed, and the emperor had high officials debate removing the Daoist tradition as well. The emperor asked whether the Dao or Buddhism was superior. Yan Da answered: the host is superior, the guest inferior. The emperor asked how host and guest were distinguished. He answered: Buddhism came from the West—is it not the guest? The Dao came from the Central Land—is it not the host? The emperor said: If the guest has gone west, should the host not see him off? He answered: The guest’s return benefits the lands beyond; the host’s staying harms not the Central Land. Those who leave need not be pursued; those who remain can protect themselves—why must one see them off? The emperor praised his reply.

“Ge called and coins flew; Song pointed and the lamp went out” refers to marvels of Daoists surnamed Ge and Song: at a call, coins would fly; one finger and the lamp would die.

Immortal Ge (Ge Xuan, a Daoist immortal) once had people throw coins into a well; he then went to the well’s edge and called them up with a vessel, and onlookers saw the coins fly out of the well one by one and land in his vessel.

The Daoist Song Zhibai had a face as bright and clear as daylight and speech that was refined and graceful. In summer he wore padded cotton clothing; in winter he walked through snow, and for more than a zhang around him his breath steamed like vapor while the snow did not freeze on him. When he pointed at a lamp, the lamp went out; when he pointed at a person, that person felt as if blown by wind through a crack. Sometimes he could eat five jin of meat and a basin of garlic and leeks, and could also consume two dou of food. Wherever he stayed he used gold and silk to obtain and keep beautiful women, and traveled with them; people thought he had mastered the “replenishing the brain and returning to the origin” (bu nao huan yuan) methods of Daoist cultivation. Later he went to Nancheng County in Fuzhou and ascended in broad daylight (feixian in full daylight).

Immortal Tao hung up his court robes and Immortal Xia hung up his summons to office—both signs of rejecting official career and turning wholeheartedly to cultivation.

From New Records of the Cinnabar Terrace (Dantai Xinlu): Tao the Recluse (Tao Hongjing, a Southern Dynasties Daoist thinker who later withdrew to Mount Mao) was appointed fengchaqing—a nominal court attendant without regular duties—and was deeply unhappy. He wrote to his elder cousin: “When I had served in office before, I set aside ambition for an official career because of my health. I had hoped that around forty I might reach the rank of Secretariat Gentleman, then be posted to a good county in eastern Zhejiang where customs were plain and ancient, enjoy the mountains and waters a little, and then resign for lofty reclusion. I once thought that aim was within easy reach; yet this year I am already thirty-six and have only just become fengchaqing. Better to leave early than invite toil and humiliation. I mean to take off my court robes, hang them at the Shenhu Gate, put on a deer cap—the headgear of recluses—and walk straight out through the East Pavilion.” When he said farewell to Wang Yan (an official of Southern Qi) and spoke of this, Wang Yan said: “Under the Emperor’s strict rule, one is not allowed lofty, eccentric conduct; if your service goes against his intent, that may block the very reclusion you seek—what then?” Tao pondered in silence for a long time and said: “I act for myself, not for a name; if I had such fears, why would I do this?” He never reported to his post and submitted a memorial resigning at once.

Zhenyu (True Words) records: Mingchen shilang (an immortal official title in the Daoist pantheon) Xia Fu, style Zizhi, from Chenliu, took atractylodes and other drugs and mica. While still young he was summoned by a government office; he hung the summons on a mulberry tree and left—his mind was that lofty and detached.

The kingdom of Yuezhi sent tribute of strange beasts; Macun had the curious tale of shooting at a riddling beast.

Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: When Emperor Wu of Han toured Anding Commandery, Yuezhi sent envoys with four ounces of “silent incense,” each piece as large as a sparrow’s egg and black as mulberry, and also a fierce beast shaped like a raccoon dog with yellow fur. The Emperor said: “This one is too small.”

The Lie Xian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that when Emperor Wu of Han toured Anding and the kingdom of Yuezhi (an ancient state in the Western Regions), the Yuezhi envoy presented four ounces of incense, the grains like sparrow eggs and black as mulberries; they also presented a “ferocious beast” shaped like a civet cat, with yellow fur. The emperor said: Something so small—how can it be called a ferocious beast? The envoy replied: What can awe all birds need not be judged by size; the divine qilin may be called king among great elephants, and the phoenix may be called sovereign among great peng birds—neither is measured by bodily bulk. Our state lies thirty million li from here; we often observe the east wind matching the pitch-pipes and azure clouds answering the lü pitch (in antiquity, pitch-pipes and lü were used in prognostication, taken as auspicious signs), foretelling that China would have a ruler who honors the Dao—so we offered these two things, never expecting Your Majesty would not recognize the genuine articles. The emperor, angered by the envoy’s insolence, wished to punish him; the next day both envoy and beast had vanished.

The Guang Ji records: A man from Mayang village saw a wild boar and shot at it; pursuing it, he reached a stone chamber where an old man said: This is not a real pig—leave at once. A youth escorted him out; the villager asked who the old man was and was told: He Shang Gong (the legendary immortal said to have commented on the Daodejing), whom the Lord on High appointed to expound the Yijing to the immortals. Asked who the youth was, he answered: I am Wang Fuxi (Wang Bi, styled Fuxi, a Wei-Jin xuanxue scholar who commented on the Zhouyi); because I failed to master the Changes, I was sentenced to guard the gate. The youth blocked the door with a stone; the villager looked about in confusion and no longer knew where he was.

“Yang Jun asks the dragon” refers to the immortal tale of Yang Jun questioning a dragon; “Ge Gong borrows fish” refers to Ge Gong’s borrowing a fish to display wonder—both are stock motifs in stories of transcendent masters.

The Zhengao (True Declarations) records: Yang Xi (a leading figure of the Shangqing school) dreamed that he climbed a high mountain surrounded on all sides by vast waters. He saw a white dragon several zhang in length flying eastward, its radiance filling the sky. He also saw a woman in white enter the dragon’s mouth; in an instant she went in and out three times before stopping, then returned to stand at Yang Xi’s right. Yang Xi sensed an old man on his left, dressed in embroidered robes and wearing a lotus crown, standing with a red nine-section staff; the two watched the white dragon together. Yang Xi asked: Who is this woman, that she can enter the dragon’s mouth directly? The old man answered: She is the Taishu Jade Maiden (a title of a female immortal) Xiao Zifu, gathering dragon qi to refine form and spirit. Yang Xi asked again: Who are you, that you can ascend to this place? The old man answered: I am Luoguangxiu, Immortal Lord of Penglai; this Mount Penglai is the place I govern and where I have established my prefecture, so you could meet me here. Yang Xi asked: Can one ride this dragon? He answered: This dragon is ridden by the perfected persons Zhang Youshi, Shi Qing’an, Xu Yufu, and Ding Zhangning. Yang Xi asked: One dragon, yet four people ride it? The old man said: This is the dragon ridden by attendants of the dawn—like a light carriage in the human world.

The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: when Ge Xiangong (Ge Immortal Lord, Ge Xuan) was traveling, he saw someone selling fish on the road and said to the seller: I would like to borrow these fish to send to the Hebo (River Lord, a water deity)—is that acceptable? The seller said: The fish are already dead. Ge Xuan placed a talisman in the fish’s mouth and threw the fish into the water; the fish immediately leaped up alive.

“Xizu lightly ascended, rising from the perfected body into emptiness” refers to Shuang Xizu’s light-bodied ascent, lifting his perfected form into the void.

The Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) records: the Daoist priest Shuang Xizu lived at Baima Cliff, recited the Huangting Jing (a classic of Daoist inner cultivation), and after his practice succeeded he shut his door and did not emerge for seven days. His disciples were astonished and went to look; suddenly they saw him rise lightly into the air, leaving his immortal quilt on the treetops and in the kun (inner recess); the outer mat remained undamaged even after more than a hundred years.

Another Daoist, He Zizhen, was a learned man of lofty aspirations who lived in reclusion on Mount Song. One day the sky was filled with clouds, cranes, and celestial music, and He Zizhen rose into the void and departed. The recluse Chen Tao and people of Luoyang who witnessed the event composed a poem, saying: Wang Ziqiao (Wang Ziqiao, the ancient immortal) rode a phoenix over the old Lu River; when the golden peaches ripened again, Master He had already become an immortal. The music of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) sounded below Mount Song, and five-colored auspicious clouds gathered before the imperial park. A crimson-crowned crane danced to welcome the lowered scarlet tassels; singers in blue robes guided the immortal carriage to rest. Who still needs to weep over life and death in mere words? In the realm of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji), time stretches across hundreds of millions of years.

Liu Xu (the main text gives the name as Liu Xiang) was known for hidden virtue; Han Chong was famed for benevolent rule.

The Zhen Gao records: Liu Xu’s household was extremely wealthy; he often relieved the destitute, loved to do good in secret and accumulate merit, and was repeatedly promoted to prefect of Chenliu (the text’s “Songliu” is likely Chenliu). He often reduced his own property to share with others. He met Lord Ma Huang, who told him: Your kindness has moved Heaven and Earth, your virtue has stirred the spirits; the Most High has approved your intent and sent me to lead you toward long life. I am an immortal official—will you follow me? Liu Xu went with him and was taught the practice of ingesting the refined essence of the Five Stars (planets). He now serves as Right Supervisor of Principle (You Lijian) in Huayang Cave.

It also says that Han Chong was a native of Piyang. He met the divine man Wang Weiyuan, who transmitted to him the Liuzhu danyuan method and told him: If you cultivate this Way, you may hold office; when your work is complete, that will not hinder ascending as an immortal. Han Chong first served as magistrate of Wanzling, applying the seven policies to settle the people, and locusts did not enter his jurisdiction. Later he was promoted to prefect, cherishing the people as one would protect the wounded, until teaching and transformation spread everywhere. He met Wang Weiyuan again and received the method of hidden withdrawal and release of the body, then entered Mount Dahuo to leave the world behind. He now serves as Left Supervisor of Principle (Zuo Lijian) in Huayang Cave.

“Xiao Wen mended shoes and bore mirrors on his shoulder”—these are extremely terse allusions, literally referring to Xiao Wen repairing footwear and to deeds such as carrying mirror-gear on the shoulder.

For more than ten years, Xiao Wenchang mended shoes in the marketplace. No one knew he was an immortal; they only noticed that his face never aged. Those who aspired to the Way respected him and asked him for Daoist techniques, but none received instruction—only a woman surnamed Liang learned from him the method of “making fire.” One day Xiao Wenchang went up Mount Sanliang to take leave of Liang; he arranged several great fires in a row, then ascended to heaven and departed.

There was also a man who made his living grinding mirrors. He often carried a “shoulder-load” (fu jian) through the marketplace. No one knew his name or that he was an immortal; people simply called him “Shoulder-Load.” Sometimes he sold medicine; whoever took it was cured.

Gu He, a man of Wu, lost his father in childhood. He had firm resolve and integrity, served in office under the Jin dynasty, rose to Censor-in-Chief and then Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat, and in the first year of the Yonghe era underwent shijie—the Daoist “shedding of the corpse” to become an immortal—whereupon the Supreme One (Taishang) received him to fill the post of Zhigai Lang, the attendant who holds the ceremonial canopy; he is now in Huayang Dong, one of the grotto-heavens of the Daoists. As for Chunyu, a man of Shangyu, he loved the Way from childhood and later held the office of dianbing (keeper of ritual implements).