《三洞群仙录》Vol. 6

The Celestial Master descended upon the twenty-eight lunar mansions to harmonize and regulate upright qi. At that time a ghost general still held sway below Mount Qingcheng, where humans and ghosts traded—a place called the “ghost market.” When the Celestial Master arrived, the ghost general transformed into a throne for him to sit upon; neither blades nor blades could harm it, nor could fierce fire burn it, so the ghost general submitted.

Record of the Western Mountain states: The Immortal Master Xu Zhenjun (Xu Sun) returned to Yuzhang (the region of present-day Nanchang). While surveying the city, he suddenly met a handsome youth who gave his surname as Shen and came to pay his respects. His courtesy was meticulous and his speech quick-witted; he had intended to stay briefly but soon took his leave. The Immortal Lord Xu said to his disciples: “This person is not human but a clam spirit (a creature akin to the sea mirage), perhaps having heard of my intent to eliminate harm and coming to test me. If not destroyed, it will eventually become a great calamity.” He then climbed high to track where the youth had gone and saw him reach the riverbank and turn into a yellow ox sporting at Longsha. The Immortal Lord Xu cut paper into the shape of a black ox and sent it to wrestle with the other; he also ordered his disciple Shi Cen to hurry there with a sword and warned him: “When the two oxen are locked in fierce combat, strike the yellow ox with your sword.” Shi Cen did as told; with one swing he cut the yellow ox’s left leg, and the ox fled into the Hengquan Well outside the west gate of the city, while the black ox turned back into paper.

“Wang receives the pipa; the assembly presents performances on Cong” is praise, referring to a numinous tale in which a lord’s daughter received the pipa and immortals gathered to present their arts.

Secret Talks in the Inner Chamber records: Wang Baoyi served as marching marshal under Gao Conghui of Jingnan. He had a daughter who ate no meat or blood and at five could recite the Huangting Jing (a major Daoist scripture). When she grew up, she dreamed of following a stream up a mountain to golden and silver palaces, which she said was Mount Fangzhang (an immortal peak), where several dozen female immortals called themselves sisters of Magu (the female immortal) and taught her several pipa pieces. After that they met every few nights; in a little over a year she learned more than a hundred pieces, the finest being “Single-finger Shang,” playable with one finger for an entire tune. Later she dreamed that Magu said she would soon come to invite her. The next day cloud cranes and music appeared in the courtyard, and she passed away peacefully.

The Daoist priest Xuanyuan Ji lived on Luofu Mountain (a sacred Daoist peak). Emperor Xuanzong of Tang once summoned him to the palace. At that time the capital had never had cardamom or litchi blossoms (the original “jing sou” is likely a corruption of “doukou,” cardamom), and when the emperor happened to mention them, within moments both kinds of flowers arrived—branches and leaves lush and fragrant, as if cut and arranged by hand. The next day clouds, cranes, and music appeared in the courtyard, and he suddenly passed away.

Qiu Jun, styled Daoyuan, was skilled in yin-yang, the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji), and number symbolism; he could practice astrological calculation and “submit memorials in emptiness” (addressing spirits in the void). In his youth he wished to visit Huayang Cave Heaven (a Daoist grotto-heaven), so he asked to be appointed magistrate of Jurong. When his term ended, he sent a poem to a fellow practitioner on Maoshan (a sacred Daoist mountain). The gist of the poem: “The singing phoenix invites me to share its virtuous radiance; from now on my wish to dwell among pines and vines is denied. On a lone peak ten thousand ren high the bright moon shines; in a few old houses among the peaks no one has returned. I wished to assist sage rulers like Yao and Shun in opening an age of the Way, yet I deeply regret that my Maoshan friend Xu urged me to forget worldly schemes. Tomorrow at dawn I shall hoist my light sail again, while the purple trees flourish year after year in vain.” Qiu Jun once told his family that his lifespan would end at “double nine” (eighty-one). One morning after rising and washing, he asked for a brush, wrote one chapter of Spring Grass Poem, then sat upright and died—at age eighty-one. When the coffin was closed for burial, it was empty; people believed he had achieved shijie (corpse liberation, a Daoist mode of transcendence). Teng Gongfu, prefect of Chizhou and Director of the Imperial Household, styled Yuanfa, recorded this; he was buried at Jiuhua (Mount Jiuhua). Several years later, a messenger in yellow arrived in haste with a letter from Qiu Jun at Diyang. When the family opened it, the man in yellow vanished without a trace. The letter said: I had already been entered on the registers of immortals, but because of my practice of astrological calculation and number symbolism I was demoted to be Lord of Mount Tai.

During the Zhenyuan reign of the Tang (785–805), Wang Qiong, magistrate of Danyang (in present-day Jiangsu), failed three years in a row in the official reassignment and selection process. Bitter and resentful, he went to Mount Mao (Maoshan, a major Daoist mountain in present-day Jurong, Jiangsu) and asked the priest Ye Xuzhong to submit a memorial (a formal petition presented to the celestial bureaucracy) asking about fortune and misfortune. Ye Xuzhong made the report for him; the document rose with the incense smoke and vanished into the air. After about the time it takes to eat a meal, it fell back to the ground. At the end was a comment in red ink: “Received one hundred taels of gold and silver—three years of blessings and emoluments deducted; wrongfully killed two people—disposition after death to be handled separately.” A year later Wang Qiong died suddenly without illness.

The Continuation of Immortal Biographies (Xuxian Zhuan) records: Wang Kejiao was from Huating in Xiuzhou (the Songjiang area of present-day Shanghai). He made his living farming and fishing. One day as he rowed on the Songjiang River, he suddenly saw a painted flower boat with seven priests on board. They called out his name, and Wang Kejiao was greatly startled. An attendant with horn-like tufts on his head led him aboard. Before each of the seven was a green jade tray and wine vessels; the fruit was clear and translucent. One said, “What fine immortal bones—yet born into vulgar poverty and low station, much of it already worn away.” Another said, “Give him wine to drink.” The attendant poured into his cup, but no matter how many times he tried, the wine would not pour out. One said, “Give him chestnuts.” Those chestnuts were green as jujubes, about two inches long, with crisp, sweet flesh. The immortals ordered a man in yellow to escort him off. He closed his eyes for a moment and suddenly found himself sitting before Waterfall Temple on Mount Tiantai (in present-day Zhejiang)—half a year’s journey from home. The praise line “Kejiao’s cup poured, Wenxiang’s chestnuts smelled” alludes to such marvels as wine being poured for Wang Kejiao and Wenxiang sniffing chestnuts.

The Yunji Qiqian records that Yin Wenxiang, styled Daoquan, called himself “Qiqi” (Seventy-Seven). He once attended a banquet hosted by the local authorities. During the meal, some singing and dancing entertainers who poured wine looked down on him. Qiqi said to the host, “May I propose a drinking game with two chestnuts?” Everyone agreed. The chestnuts were passed around in turn; all who smelled them detected a strange fragrance. Only the two entertainers who had mocked Qiqi found that after they smelled them, the chestnuts turned to stone and stuck to their noses—they could not pull them free and could only complain of unbearable stench. The two rose together and danced wildly; their floral hair ornaments fell to the floor in heaps. Then they wept; the rouge and powder on their faces ran down in streams. The other performers also broke into disorderly dancing for a time, while drums and music seemed to play of their own accord, the rhythm quite in time. When the tune ended, the dancing would not stop, and everyone at the table doubled over with laughter. The host came forward to apologize and plead on their behalf. After a while, the stones fell from their noses, and the floral ornaments and makeup returned to normal.

“Yuannü’s splendid splendor, Taizhen’s rainbow robes” praises the two women’s dance with the gorgeous rainbow garments of the Mysterious Woman (Yuannü, a Daoist immortal lady) and the Taizhen fairy. The Shiyi Ji records that in the time of King Zhao of Yan, the state of Guangyan presented two women named Xuanbo and Zhuoying. King Zhao of Yan was devoted to the way of immortals, so the two women descended in mortal form; both had jade-like skin and bodies light as air, fragrant with qi. The king had them live in splendid curtained chambers and gave them to drink elixir-like creamy beverages. Both were skilled dancers; wherever they went, a fragrant breeze arose. They whirled and flew until they could barely control themselves. When the king brushed them lightly with a silk ribbon, they began to dance—their looks bewitching, their movements as soft and graceful as luan and phoenix in flight. When the king waved his sleeve to signal, the dancers all stopped. The king knew they were supernatural and had them dwell on Chongxia Terrace, with seats spread with unicorn-pattern mats and the incense “Tudu” (a fragrance named in the records of the land of Boyi) burning.

The Yishi records that on a Mid-Autumn night in the early Tianbao era, the Tang Daoist Luo Gongyuan asked Emperor Xuanzong of Tang: “Can Your Majesty come with me to the Moon Palace?” He tossed a cassia branch into the air; it turned into a bridge, white as platinum. The emperor crossed the bridge into the Moon Palace and saw hundreds of female immortals in plain white robes dancing in a broad courtyard. When he asked what piece they were performing, they answered Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe (Ni Shang Yu Yi). In the fourth year of Tianbao, Lady Yang of the Taizhen Palace was enfeoffed as Imperial Consort; afterward, whenever she appeared in full court dress, the palace daily performed the Ni Shang Yu Yi dance. Liu Yuxi’s poem says: the Son of Heaven of the Kaiyuan reign had all he wished, yet regretted how brief those days were; gazing toward the immortal peaks from the road at Sanxiang, he returned and composed Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe; from then on his immortal heart lingered at the Jade Pool, following the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and the eight perfected ones of the immortal realm; suddenly he rode off on white clouds to heaven, leaving on earth only the Song of Autumn Wind.

“The crown prince took the liquid; Chang Hu presented the frost” means the crown prince (here the Śākyamuni prince) ingested the golden elixir, and Chang Hu (the Great King of the Northern Rong Chang Hu) presented white frost.

The Dantai Xinlu records that the Buddhist monks Shi Daowei and Zhu Falan asked Ge Xianweng (Ge Xuan, founding patriarch of the Lingbao school of Daoism): “The Dao arises from what has no before and no after; it cannot be named or argued—do you know whether Laozi or the crown prince came first?” Ge Xianweng replied: “Your question is subtle and fits the principle of true perfection. The Dao originally has no before or after, no left or right; there is no birth and death, high and low, or noble and base—no form, no image—so we strain to call it ‘Dao’; it cannot be spoken in words. The crown prince was born after Laozi; because of merit in a previous life he was able to take one sheng of the Supreme Golden Elixir; his body gathered light like purple-gold radiance, hence he is called the Golden Immortal lineage (Jinxian shi, a Daoist honorific for the Buddha).”

The Zhen’gao (Declarations of the Perfected) records that the Great King of the Northern Rong Chang Hu presented to Emperor Shun white lang frost and tenfold-refined purple flower—both spirit medicines meant for ingestion.

The Zhengao (Declarations of the Perfected) records that the Great King Changhu of the Northern Rong presented Emperor Shun with White Jade Frost and Ten-Turn Purple Flower (both names of immortal elixirs); after consuming them one could attain long life and ascension, enduring as long as Heaven and Earth. Shun took them, yet in the end he still died in the wilds of Cangwu and was buried there. Daoist explanation treats this as shijie tuosi (body liberation through feigned death): amid the auspicious signs of dragons playing music at Ling’e and phoenixes beating drums at the Cloud Pool, Shun still departed through shijie, feigning death so as to cut off attachment to life and death and to show the world that life has a beginning and an end.

Hence there is the hidden immortal Master White Stone, and also the story of Lu Sheng’s Huangliang dream. The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) says: Master White Stone refused to practice the methods of ascending to Heaven; he sought only not to die, and did not give up the pleasures of the human realm. Peng Zu (the immortal famed for longevity) asked him why; he replied that in Heaven there are many exalted lords one must serve, which is harder than life on earth. People of the time called him a “hidden immortal” (yinxian).

The Zhenzhong Ji (Account of the Pillow) says: In the Kaiyuan reign, the Daoist master Lü Gong (Master Lü) was traveling on the road at Dengye; in the inn a young man of the district, Lu Sheng, was lodging with him, and the host was steaming huangliang (millet). They all waited for it to finish cooking. Lu Sheng sighed without noticing; Master Lü asked him, and he told at length of his life’s frustrations. Master Lü took a pillow from his pouch and gave it to Lu Sheng, saying: If you rest your head on it, you ought to enjoy glory and success and have your wishes fulfilled. Lu Sheng bowed his head onto the pillow, felt himself enter the hollow of the pillow, and was at once back in his home; before long he passed the highest examinations, served in the central administration, rose to general and minister for fifty years, and his descendants all held high office in a splendor beyond compare. He submitted a memorial saying: Your servant is over eighty, has held the highest posts of the Three Ministries, has failed to repay your deep grace, and now takes leave of this sacred age. That very night he died. Lu Sheng stretched and woke; Master Lü was still beside him, and the huangliang was not yet cooked. Lu Sheng thanked him: This was the Master’s way of stilling my desires; how could I refuse instruction? He bowed again and left.

Duke Lu departed through shijie; Yan Hui reached the state of zuowang (sitting in forgetfulness—quiet sitting in which outer things and the self are forgotten).

Records of Strange Events records: Yan Zhenqing (a famous Tang minister and calligrapher), ordered to go and rebuke the rebel general Li Xilie, was known throughout court and country to be unlikely to return alive; his kin saw him off at Changle Slope. Drunk, Yan leapt between the hall pillars and said: In my youth I met the Daoist Tao Bababa, who gave me a small spoonful of Bixia Elixir (a Daoist medicinal pill); my body has not declined since. He also said: At seventy there would be disaster, but in the end fortune would turn; wait for me on Mount Luofu (a famous Daoist mountain)—could today’s ordeal be that? After he reached Daliang, Li Xilie had him strangled and buried south of the city. When Li fell, the family opened the coffin and found Yan’s face as if alive, his whole body golden, fingernails longer than the backs of his hands, beard and hair grown several feet; they reburied him on the north mountain at Yanshi. Later a merchant on Mount Luofu saw two Daoists playing weiqi; one asked: Who has come here? The merchant answered: I am a small traveler from Luoyang. The Daoist smiled and said: Please take a letter to my home. A boy fetched paper and brush and he wrote. When the letter reached the Yan family on the north mountain, descendants were astonished: This is the hand of our late Grand Preceptor (Yan Zhenqing had been Grand Preceptor to the crown prince). They dug up the grave and opened the coffin—the coffin was already empty. This is a Daoist-style legend of corpse liberation and ascension as an immortal.

New Records from the Cinnabar Terrace says: Yan Hui (a disciple of Confucius, later revered in Daoism as an immortal) served three days as Director Straight of the Bright Spring Vice Ministry (a Daoist celestial office name), and once told Confucius: I have progressed—I can “sit in forgetfulness.” Confucius asked in surprise: What is sitting in forgetfulness? Yan replied: Forgetting the limbs, discarding keen hearing and sight, leaving the body and dropping cleverness, merging with the Great Dao—this is called sitting in forgetfulness. Confucius said: To be one with all things is to have no partiality; to follow the great transformation is to have no fixed attachment—you are truly worthy; I wish to follow you. This appears in Zhuangzi. The lines that follow—“there is no constancy… Qiu asks to follow after”—are still Confucius’s comment on sitting in forgetfulness, stressing following transformation without clinging; hence Confucius’s wish to follow after.

“Zhao Gao Holds a Sparrow, Tao Dan Raises Deer” is a pair of parallel anecdote titles, each pointing to a rumor about Zhao Gao with a sparrow and Tao Dan with deer; the original text does not expand them and they are understood here as title entries only.

The Shiyi Ji (Records of Gathered Remains) records that when Qin prince Zi Ying had Zhao Gao thrown into a well, he did not die for seven days; they then boiled him in a large cauldron of hot water for seven days, yet the water would not boil, and only then was he killed. The jailer said that when Zhao Gao was first imprisoned, he carried in his bosom a round green object about the size of a sparrow’s egg. Daoist adepts said that in a former life Zhao Gao had received elixir methods from Han Zhong, a Daoist immortal: in winter he could stand beside solid ice and in summer beside a blazing stove without feeling cold or heat. After Zhao Gao died, a green sparrow flew from his corpse up into the clouds—taken as proof that the Ninefold Refinement elixir method (the art of repeatedly refining the elixir) had taken effect.

The Jin Yin Yi (Hidden Worthies of Jin) records that Tao Dan, styled Chujing, was a grandson of Grand Marshal Tao Kan. He lost his father in childhood and loved methods of guiding and nourishing the body (techniques of cultivating qi and preserving life), believing that the way of immortals could be pursued. At fifteen or sixteen he already practiced swallowing qi and abstaining from grain (refining qi without eating the five grains) and did not marry. His household held wealth of a thousand gold and more than a hundred servants and guests, yet he sat upright with folded hands all day and never managed affairs; he read widely and was skilled at divination. He built a hut in the mountains of Linxiang, Changsha, and kept a white deer for company; when relatives and friends came to visit, he crossed the stream to avoid them so they could not approach. The province recommended him as a xiucai (licentiate), but on hearing this Tao Dan fled to Mount Pi in Luoxian and never returned in his lifetime; no one knows his final whereabouts.

Queen Mother of the West dwells at Jasper Pool; the Supreme Venerable Sovereign (Taishang Laojun) sits upon the jade ju (a jade ritual seat or dais).

The Liezi records that King Mu of Zhou ascended the heights of Mount Kunlun, viewed the palace of the Yellow Emperor, and set up markers to leave a record for later ages; he also visited the Queen Mother of the West as a guest and drank wine on Jasper Pool. The Mu Tianzi Zhuan (Biography of the Son of Heaven Mu) says: on the auspicious day jiazi, the Son of Heaven took the white gui (white jade tablet) and the dark bi (black jade disc) to see the Queen Mother of the West and offered her one hundred chun of brocade ribbons and three hundred chun of white ribbons (zu denotes silk cords; chun is a unit of measure). The Queen Mother of the West bowed twice and accepted them, and they drank on Jasper Pool. The Queen Mother of the West sang: “White clouds are in the sky, the hills rise of themselves; the road is far, mountains and rivers divide us. May you not die, and come again.” The Son of Heaven replied: “I return to the eastern lands, harmoniously governing the myriad Xia, making the people equal; I will return to see you.”

The Celestial Master Lineage (Tianshi zhuan) records: In the first year of Yongshou (an era name of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han), the Supreme Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) descended upon the capital of Shu (the region of present-day Chengdu in Sichuan). A spirit of the earth surged up from below and presented a Jade Bureau throne (a jade ritual seat). The Lord then ascended the Jade Bureau throne and transmitted to Celestial Master Zhang (Zhang Daoling) the scriptures and secret methods of the Southern Dipper and Northern Dipper, charging him to bring universal benefit to all beings and deliver the people below.

“The wife of Liang changed her dress, and the daughter of Yuan altered her attire” means that Liang Hong’s wife exchanged her clothing and Yuan Po’s daughter changed her garments.

The Biographies of Hidden Worthies of Han (Han yinyi zhuan) records: Liang Hong (courtesy name Boluan, a reclusive scholar of the Eastern Han) had in his home county a daughter of the Meng family—plain in looks and dark in complexion, yet strong enough to lift a stone mortar—who would not marry lightly. At thirty, when her parents asked why, she said she wished to wed someone as worthy as Liang Boluan. When Liang Hong heard this, he sent a marriage proposal. At the wedding she first entered in full finery. Liang Hong said: “I sought someone in coarse hemp who could share deep mountain seclusion with me; you now wear silks and paint your face—how is this what I wanted?” His wife replied: “I only used this to test your resolve; I have garb fit for reclusion.” She then put her hair in a simple chignon, dressed in plain cloth, and walked ahead doing the work. Liang Hong rejoiced: “This is truly Liang Hong’s wife, able to serve me as I wish.” Later the two entered Mount Baling together.

The Declarations of the Perfected (Zhen’gao) records: Zhang Jizi (in youth named Fa)—Yuan Po respected his lofty integrity and gave him his daughter in marriage. The daughter’s dress was lavish; Zhang Jizi paid it no heed, and only after she changed her clothing did their household and marriage take proper shape. Later Zhang Jizi entered Mount Ke, where he met the Mountain Chart Lord—a grandee in the time of King Xiang of Zhou and also an immortal—who transmitted to Zhang Jizi the “Nine Cloud-Water Strong Beam and Pillar Method” (a cultivation technique), and Zhang Jizi completed this Way.

“Zi Yun nourishes spirit; Zhao Su keeps desires few” means: Zi Yun cultivates and preserves spirit, and Zhao Su purifies the heart and limits desires.

Celestial Master Xiahou, whose name was Ziyun, personally cultivated orchids and sacred fungi in his herb garden. He said: the ancient sages used superior medicines to nourish the spirit (Shen), middling medicines to nurture one’s nature (Xing), and inferior medicines to dispel illness—so that a person’s spirit would grow clear and bright, their innate nature pure and lucid, and their ailments cured. For this reason he often dispensed medicine in the market at Li, giving each person the appropriate remedy according to their capacity and the depth of their condition. His poem on the herb garden reads: “Green leaves and red blossoms everywhere; the immortals’ classics we discuss on our own. By chance I moved chrysanthemums from beneath Kun—hoeing, I severed the roots of white clouds.” Some time after Celestial Master Xiahou ascended and left his body, a woodcutter peering into the herb garden saw him driving a beast that was neither quite a tiger nor clearly anything else—unrecognizable what it was—and entering the eastern hills, swift as the wind.

Yuhu Qinghua records: Wang Zhaosu was a native of Suanzao County. He studied the ancients and was plain and upright in character, his conduct above that of ordinary people. When he bought things, he let the seller name the price and paid whatever was asked. Li Mu recommended him to Emperor Taizong of Song, who summoned him to the side hall. At the time he was seventy-seven; his complexion was ruddy as cinnabar and his eyes black and bright as dotted lacquer. He had lived alone without desire for forty years and kept no female attendants in his household. The court granted him the title of Erudite of the Imperial Academy and permission to retire, yet kept him in the palace for more than a month, questioning him on the arts of ordering the world and nurturing life. Zhaosu said: To order the world, nothing surpasses cherishing the people; to nurture life, nothing surpasses limiting desire—beyond that there is nothing else. The emperor delighted in these words and had them written on screens and table articles. He died at eighty-nine.

“Magu’s bird claws, Fu Xi’s serpent body” means that Magu (the legendary female immortal) had hands like a bird’s claws and Fu Xi (the sage king) appeared in the form of a serpent body—both are wondrous signs of immortals and transcendent beings.

The Jixian lu (Record of Assembled Immortals) records that Magu (a female immortal in Daoism), during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, descended together with the immortal Wang Yuan to the home of Cai Jing. As they were about to arrive, within a moment one could hear the sound of vertical flutes, drums, and the noise of horses and men. Magu looked about eighteen or nineteen; her hair was coiled on top of her head, with the rest hanging down to her waist. Her garments had patterns, but they were not brocade or silk of ordinary kind—nothing of the sort seen in the human world. Magu’s fingernails were like a bird’s claws. When Cai Jing saw this, he thought silently to himself: if one could scratch one’s back with those claws when it itched badly, it would surely feel very pleasant. Wang Yuan had already known what Cai Jing was thinking and had someone seize Cai Jing and whip him. The point of the account is that one must not harbor worldly, disrespectful thoughts in the presence of immortals.

The Shiyi ji (Records of Gathered Remains) records that Yu the Great opened Mount Longmen, also called Longmen (Dragon Gate). He came to an empty rock cavern, dozens of li deep, so dark that he could go no farther. Yu then went forward carrying a torch. There was a beast shaped like a pig, holding in its mouth a luminous pearl of the night, bright as a candle; and a green dog ran ahead, barking. Yu estimated he had gone about ten li; day and night could not be told apart. Later it gradually grew light, and the pig and dog of before had both turned into human form. He also saw a spirit with a serpent body and human face. Yu spoke with it, and the spirit displayed the diagram of the Eight Trigrams (Bagua) on a golden board for Yu to see, with eight spirits standing in attendance at the side. Yu asked: “Did Hua Xu (the divine woman of legend who bore the sage) give birth to the holy child—is that you?” The answer was: “Hua Xu is the divine woman of the Nine Rivers; she gave birth to me.” Then the spirit took out a jade tally and conferred it on Yu, one foot two inches long, corresponding to the number of the twelve double-hours, by which to measure Heaven and Earth. Yu then held this jade tally and regulated water and soil. This serpent-bodied spirit is Xi Huang (Fu Xi).

The Xianzhuan shiyi (Supplement to Immortal Biographies) records that Cui Chengzi cultivated the path of ingesting “Five-Stone Cloud Cream,” and after ten years of taking it in a cave chamber at Pei Mountain, his spirit dissolved and he departed as an immortal, leaving his bodily form hidden in the cave. The closing line “Chengzi’s five stones; Ge lifts a thousand jin” compresses in brief phrasing Cui Chengzi’s ingestion of the five stones and other traces of immortality, and also alludes to the saying that “Ge lifts a thousand jin.”

According to Lost Stories Collected from Immortal Traditions (Xianzhuan Shiyi): Cui Chengzi practiced the Way of the Five Stones and Cloud Cream— the Daoist method of ingesting five mineral stones and mica-like immortal elixirs— and for ten years took them in a cave chamber on Mount Pei. Later his spirit left his body and departed, leaving only his physical form in the cave. Travelers saw that his bones had not decayed and that a fragrance grew even stronger. On closer look they found five white, egg-sized objects hidden in the remains; they took them and went home. Once home he was suddenly terrified to find the five stones had vanished. The next day he entered the cave again and saw Cui Chengzi sitting cross-legged indoors, stroking his beard as he said: “Cultivating the Way means accumulating merit and refining conduct; virtue must reach sentient beings. The earthly bureau that oversees good and evil recommends you, your name is entered in the Immortal Emperor’s register— only then can the divine elixir be perfected and a true master be met. You have not a shred of good deed, yet harbor a vicious heart; you stole my cloud cream, divine pang, and other immortal medicines and expect to leave the mundane world and become an immortal—is that not far too hard? These things are what the spirits hold sacred. My heart is pity for all beings; I do not wish to punish you, but I fear the mountain spirit will not forgive you— leave at once.” The man soon fell gravely ill. More than a year later Cui Chengzi descended at night to his home and taught him a method of purifying the heart and repenting; only then did his illness heal.

Baopuzi (Master Who Embraces Simplicity) records: Ge Qi had strength enough to lift a thousand jin; five-colored qi rose from his head more than a zhang high, and one day he mounted a dragon and ascended to heaven. Another immortal, Zizai, could scoop water and display wonders; Liu Zheng could summon clouds and spread rain.

Ye Ren Xian Hua (Idle Talk of Wild Men) records: In Lizhong, Lidong Prefecture (a place name, roughly in the Guangyuan region of Sichuan today), there lived a man with hair worn loose, barefoot, in short cloth garments. When others addressed him, he answered as he pleased, speaking of affairs in heaven that most people could not follow. At night he stood and slept in temple halls; through scorching heat or bitter cold, onlookers could not tell what he felt. People called him “Heavenly Free and Easy” (Tian Zizai).

South of the prefectural seat was a market where merchants traded—noisy and crowded. One night fire broke out, flames leaping to the sky and consuming buildings; townspeople climbed high to watch. Tian Zizai alone sighed and muttered that the people there had long indulged in excess, ignored the good Dao, and done wrong, and that Heaven was about to chastise them. He then scooped water from a stone basin on the steps and cast it into the air. Shortly afterward black vapor poured from the temple gate and turned into heavy rain, which put the fire out completely. Tian Zizai then slipped away and was seen no more.

Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Liu Zheng possessed Daoist arts. He could make one person appear as a thousand, or a thousand as ten thousand; he could also spray water to raise clouds, heap earth into mountains, and pierce the ground to open abysses.

Li Lian was known as the “Idle Guest”; Gu Meng was known as the “Free Recluse” (sanren).

Li Lian styled himself a disciple of the Three Immortals Gate and a leisurely wanderer of all under heaven. He wrote the Preface to Pointing to the Origin, saying: To knock upon the pass of the mysterious gate (the critical threshold in cultivation), one must rely on a master craftsman of high skill (i.e., guidance from an enlightened teacher); without meeting a true immortal, it is hard to grasp the great Dao. I traveled through Jiangnan and at Yingtian (the Nanjing region today) met the Perfected One Shi of Huayin (named Jianwu, styled Xisheng): blue headcloth and purple shoes, black sash and wide robes, radiant in appearance, dignified and awe-inspiring from afar. In conversation he pointed to celestial secrets and unfolded the great Dao—rare in any age. He then transmitted to me the fifteen forms of the Diagram of Cultivating Truth, clear and easy to understand, truly a secret text of immortals.

The Standard Biography says: In the Tang, Lu Guimeng was lofty and free-spirited in youth; he took the jinshi examination once without success and lived at Fuli on the Song River. He once studied under Zhang Bo and disliked mixing with ordinary people—even when visitors came he would not receive them. He did not ride horses but traveled by boat with awning and mat, carrying bundles of books, tea utensils, brush rest, and fishing gear; people of the time called him the “Wanderer of Rivers and Lakes.”

Collected Records of Immortals of the Three Caverns, juan 15, was compiled by the Zhengyi Daoist priest Chen Baoguang. The line “He Gong’s Dao is honored; the Primordial Lord is foremost among immortals” praises the Dao of He Shang Gong as exalted and the Primordial Lord (Yuanshi Tianzun) as supreme among immortals. The Biographies of Immortals says: He Shang Gong’s personal name is unknown. During Emperor Wen of Han he built a thatched hut by the river.

Heguan Gong’s name is unknown. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he built a straw hut by the river and often read the Laozi. The emperor loved the Laozi and sent someone to ask about passages he did not understand. Heguan Gong said: “The Dao is honored and De is prized; one cannot lightly question it from afar.” The emperor then drove there himself, descended from the carriage, bowed, and asked about the profound meaning. Heguan Gong replied: “Always take the heart of the common people as your own heart.”

The Yunji Qiqian records: Ren Sheng lived in seclusion on Mount Song reading books. One night he saw a man in yellow holding a soul-summoning document come to claim him, saying his allotted life was finished. After walking several li, he saw ceremonial banners, flags, parasols, and canopies stretching in an unbroken line. A woman rode in a green carriage with several dozen attendants. The man in yellow pulled Ren Sheng aside under a wall. The woman saw him from afar and asked who he was; the man in yellow answered truthfully. She took the document, looked at it, and said: “Since we have met, I cannot be cold-hearted.” She asked for a brush and wrote a judgment: “Grant three more years.” Ren Sheng bowed in thanks and asked the messenger who she was. The man in yellow said she was the San Su Yuanjun (Three Pure Primordial Lady, a revered female immortal deity in Daoism), the most honored among immortals. Ren Sheng indeed revived and died only three years later.

“Lin Bo’s house pierced through, Zixiao stone shattered” praises such immortal traces: the first refers to what follows—Zhang Zixiang spitting an elixir whose light pierced the roof—and the second pairs another wonder of the immortal realm.

The Tianshi Neizhuan (Inner Biography of the Celestial Master) records: Zhang Zixiang, styled Lin Bo, was thoroughly versed in the classics and once served as magistrate of Luoyang. Later he left office with his wife and retired to Longhu Shan (Dragon-Tiger Mountain, a famous Daoist mountain and ancestral seat of the Celestial Masters), resolved to cultivate. He could spit an elixir pill from his belly, play with it in his palm, or place it in a vessel—its light pierced the house—then swallow it again. He lived to more than one hundred years. After death he was buried, but the coffin held nothing at all.

During the Five Dynasties, the Jiangnan Daoist priest Tan Zixiao was skilled in ritual arts: he could perform jiao offerings to the stars, walk the yubu (ritual paces) upon the Kui and Gang positions, and bind ghosts and demons. He lived in the Qiyin Cave on Mount Lu. At that time the monk Yu Hanyou of Ye was building a hall; a stubborn boulder blocked the work, and even many times the usual labor could not level it. Master Tan went to look and said it was easy. He formed hand seals, sprayed water onto the stone, and told the workers to strike it with hammers; the rock broke apart at once and the ground was made level in a single day.

“The Moon Maiden Steals the Elixir”: Hou Yi possessed an elixir of immortality; his wife stole it, fled to the moon, and became Heng’e (Chang’e). “The River Goddesses Give Their Pendants”: The two Jiang Fei (goddesses of the Han River) went out along the riverbank in splendid dress, wearing pendants with pearls weighing ten liang each, as large as thorn eggs. Zheng Jiaofu met them, conversed, and asked for the pearl pendants; the two women removed them and gave them to him. He walked a few dozen steps with them in his bosom, then both the women and the pendants vanished. The Hanshi Neizhuan adds: Zheng Jiaofu was going south to Chu; below the Han River terrace he met the two women, each wearing pendants with pearls as large as sparrow-hawk eggs. Jiaofu said he wanted their pendants, and the two unfastened them and gave them to him; after he left, the women suddenly disappeared and the pendants were lost as well.

“Wuyi Sets the Banquet, Zhurong Convenes the Assembly”: This refers to Wuyijun (the immortal lord of Mount Wuyi) laying out a feast while Zhurong (the fire god) gathers a convocation of immortals.

The Records of Mount Wuyi states: In the second year of Qin Shihuang’s reign, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (mid-autumn), Wuyi Jun (the immortal of Mount Wuyi) met with local people at Man Ting Peak—more than a thousand men and women. Seating was laid on the ground to the east and west, with cushions like red clouds and bedding like purple haze, while the melody Bin Yun Zuo Xian was performed. As wine was served, he had the songstress Peng Jinzhao sing Ren Jian Hui Bie (Parting in the Human World). The sense of the lyrics was: meetings between heaven and the human realm are exceedingly rare; the sun sets west of the hills and evening birds wing home; a hundred years pass like the span of a single meal, yet one’s wishes so often go unfulfilled; the celestial officer is close at hand, yet one grieves at being unable to follow. When the song ended, auspicious clouds closed in from all four sides. The locals bade the immortals farewell and came down the mountain; when they looked back at the peak, nothing remained.

The Biographies of Eminent Daoists records: Xue Jichang lived on Mount Heng and devoted himself to the subtle principles of the true Dao. Emperor Tang Minghuang (Emperor Xuanzong of Tang) once summoned him to court to inquire about the Dao and De; he spoke with extraordinary refinement, and the emperor was greatly pleased and treated him with generous favor. One day he suddenly told his disciples: “Tonight on Zhurong Peak (the highest peak of Mount Heng) there is an assembly of immortals of pure truth; I have been summoned and must go.” Thereupon he rose into the air and departed.

The entry cue “Bingsheng’s White Dog, Wanyou Qingcai” is a heading note; “Bingsheng’s white dog” refers below to Du Guangting (courtesy name Bingsheng) and his white dog Chuanyun (“Blowing Clouds”). Du Guangting once said: Yesterday I dreamed of attending audience before the Supreme Lord, who appointed me steward of Min and E (the Min and Emei ranges). The True Official’s hall has now been established at Qingcheng; I fear I have not long to live. He kept a white dog named Chuanyun. He had someone smear its feet with sesame oil and wrap them in silk cloth, saying: I have heard that if a dog’s feet are oiled, it can travel ten thousand li in a day. When the True Official’s hall was completed, he robed himself in daofu (Daoist ritual vestments), entered the hall, gathered his disciples, gave his final instructions, and passed away in transformation (hua). Wondrous fragrance filled the room, and Chuanyun also wailed mournfully and died.

Guangji records that Wan You cultivated the Dao in uninhabited regions of southern Guo, emerging only every twenty or thirty years to sell medicine in town markets. Wang Jian of Former Shu welcomed him into the palace, treated him with courtesy, and asked about fuqi (ingesting elixirs and the like in pursuit of longevity). He gave evasive answers and said only: I am neither an immortal nor a fuqi practitioner; I merely keep the spirit-mind empty and still, nurture yuanqi (original vital energy), and examine my conduct and faults. When asked his age, he said: I remember only the ancient time when the King of Yelang ruled Shu and Cancong founded the capital; since I was last invited out, I have seen only the sun and moon (the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit) racing by and flowers bloom and fall—I no longer recall the cycles of the sexagenary calendar. Later he firmly declined and returned to the mountains; Wang Jian wept but could not keep him. When asked about what would follow his departure, he said nothing. After he left, an inscription on the wall of his dwelling ran roughly as follows: Do not stir the feet of the green chu; once they move, the blazing force cannot be quenched. The startled beast wants no double yellow—huang (yellow) marks the year when heaven does not weep. Even the wise cannot fully explain it. In the yihai year, Wang Jian sent troops east toward Qin and Feng; according to the prophecy, yihai matched “blame chu,” the time of burning the kindling. Three years later, in wuyin, Wang Jian died, and it became clear that yin was the “startled beast”; both the heavenly stem and the nayin (melodic element) belonged to earth, and earth’s color is yellow—hence “startled beast, double yellow”—the omen matched to the finest detail.

The title “Huan Yin tends the stove, Liu Hao runs the kitchen” uses zhichuan for tending the fire and cooking and zhangchu for managing the kitchen. Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that Huan He of Song, styled Qingyuan, served Tao Yinju (Tao Hongjing, the Southern Dynasties Daoist master) at the Huayang Abbey on Mount Mao for more than ten years. His character was upright and cautious; he spoke little and seemed to accomplish nothing. One day two green lads (immortal youths) and a white crane descended from the sky and stopped in the courtyard. Tao Yinju received them in astonishment, thinking he himself was being summoned to immortality. The green lads said: The Most High has commanded Master Huan. Tao Yinju thought privately that none among his disciples bore the surname Huan; when he searched, he found only Huan He, who tended the cooking fire. Asked the reason, Huan said: I have long practiced the mozhao path (a method of silent meditation and inward obeisance to the Most High) and have done so for nine years, hence today’s summons. Huan He put on celestial garments and ascended on the white crane to heaven.

Liu Hao came from a family devoted to the Dao. He burned incense and practiced cultivation with sincere reverence. Still free of illness past eighty, people in his neighborhood suspected his longevity came from spiritual power. When asked what level he had reached, he said he had practiced the mozhao zhi dao (Silent Audience Way)—silent contemplation and veneration of immortals—for nine years, and for that reason heaven now summoned him. He put on celestial garments and ascended on a white crane. Another account says Liu Hao suddenly told his family: “Yesterday I received a heavenly talisman (tianfu); the Supreme Sovereign (Taishang) issued an edict appointing me to manage the immortal officers’ kitchen in the Nine Immortals Treasure Chamber Cave for a hundred years. I leave for my post tomorrow.” When the term ended he died without illness; strange fragrance filled the courtyard and lingered for days.

Nanji Zi Liu Rong rubbed powder on a cup, recited an incantation, and turned it into a turtle. He cooked the turtle and ate the flesh, then chewed the shell until the shell became a wine cup again. He could also hold powder in his mouth and shape it into eggs, spit out dozens of them, boil and eat them—each yolk held a trace of powder. He took water, recited a spell, and the water became fine wine; all who drank grew drunk.

Zhang Guo often rode a white donkey and traveled hundreds of li in a day. When he rested he folded the donkey flat as paper and kept it in a cloth box. When he wanted to ride again he sprinkled water on it and the donkey returned.

Lu Feng was famed for building houses; Xi Shan for making carriages—both are examples of skilled artisans in immortal lore.

Lu Feng was skilled in carpentry and often traveled between Qi and Dai (in what is now Shandong). More than twenty rooms in the magistrate of Shouzhang’s villa were in disrepair, and the magistrate sent a clerk to summon a craftsman to fix them. The clerk took Lu Feng along on the road, but Lu Feng invited him to drink at an inn instead. The place was over thirty li from the villa; by evening Lu Feng was drunk, and the magistrate was short-tempered, so the clerk was worried. The next day Lu Feng drank again. When the clerk urged him to set out, Lu Feng said, “The whole point was to repair the manor—and the manor is already repaired. Why rush me like this?” The clerk did not understand. After a while, a village boy came from the villa and said that during the night there had seemed to be wind and rain, and the buildings were already put in order. The clerk reported to the magistrate, who summoned Lu Feng to thank him; Lu Feng only murmured vague replies.

No one knew where Xi Lesan came from. In the Dahe reign era of the Tang, Chang’an had heavy snow for more than a month, and peddlers and the poor had nowhere to earn a living. Lesan went through the snow to a wheelwright’s shop and said he could make wheel spokes at once—one hundred pieces, three hundred cash per piece. The shop let him work. He lit a lamp and swung his axe, starting at dusk; before the third watch of the night he had finished a hundred spokes. At dawn he received thirty thousand cash and used it to relieve the hungry and needy. When the snow stopped he left, and no one knew where he went.

Liezi rode the wind and moved lightly and gracefully, returning after fifteen days. He was not eager in seeking blessings. Though spared walking, he still depended on the wind. If someone accords with the nature of Heaven and Earth, guides the transformations of the six qi—yin and yang, wind, rain, darkness, and light—and roams in the boundless realm, what would there be to depend on? Liezi’s manner of riding the wind may be said to be as transcendent as snow drifting beyond the clouds.

The Xuxian Zhuan (Continuation of Biographies of Immortals) records Du Zisheng, courtesy name Keyun, who said he was from Duling (the region around present-day Xi’an). No one could tell how old he was. He could drink three dou of wine without becoming drunk and could write characters on sand. In winter he might stay in the snow for two or three days; people assumed he had frozen to death, but when they cleared the snow away he would slowly rise, shake off the snow, and walk off as if waking from a drunken sleep. In the Tang, when Du Ruxiu served as prefect of Suzhou, he suddenly heard that Keyun was in the city and invited him into the prefectural office, addressing him as “Dao Elder” (Daoweng), to the astonishment of guests and staff. Ruxiu explained that when his late father had held the western Sichuan command, he had been on good terms with the Dao Elder; though forty years had passed since they parted, the elder’s dress and face were unchanged. Keyun later traveled toward Hangzhou and the Yue region.

“Kuafu chasing the sun, Taibai catching the moon”: the Dahuang Jing tells of a man with two yellow serpents hanging from his ears, named Kuafu. The Liezi says Kuafu, overestimating his strength, tried to overtake the sun’s shadow; when he reached Ji Valley (where the sun sets) he was parched. He ran to the Wei River to drink, but the water was not enough, so he set out for a great marsh in the north and died of thirst before he arrived. The staff he dropped was soaked by the ointment of his flesh and grew into the Deng Forest (a peach grove) spanning thousands of li. The Zhiyi (Collected Remains) recounts a similar tale of Kuafu drinking at the Wei and his staff turning into the Deng Forest; it also preserves a legend after Du Fu (Zimei): Li Bai (style Taibai), lodging on the river one night in deep autumn when the water was clear as ten thousand qing of cold jade, saw the moon’s reflection in the water and said, “I will enter the water and seize the moon,” then went in. His body was never found; some called this shuijie—dissolving in water to become an immortal—a matter belonging to the realm of immortals.

The closing phrase “cloud nectar of Yuandao, stone marrow of Wang Lie” draws on immortal lore: yunjiang is the jade nectar of the immortals; shisui is the marrow found within stone. Wang Lie is said to have consumed stone marrow and achieved immortality; Yuandao and Wang Lie are both stock figures in stories of cultivation and transcendence.

Ye Fashan, styled Yuandao, was from Kuocang (in the area of present-day Lishui, Zhejiang). His family had been Daoist priests for generations. During the day his mother, née Liu, dreamed that a shooting star entered her mouth; she swallowed it and became pregnant, and after fifteen months gave birth to him. When Ye Fashan was seven, he fell into a great river and did not return for three years. When his parents asked why, he said that a Blue Lad (qingtong, a fairy youth) had led him to drink cloud broth (yúnjiāng, immortal nectar) and that he had also gone to pay homage to the Grand Supremacy (Tàishàng, i.e., the Grand Old Lord, Laozi), so he had stayed away longer.

Wang Lie, styled Changxiu, was greatly admired and cherished by Ji Shuye (Ji Kang, who held the title of Master of Palace Recreation). Ji often sought his counsel and joined him in going into the mountains for outings and gathering medicinal herbs. Later Wang Lie went alone to the Taihang Mountains. Suddenly he heard a thunder-like sound from the north side of the eastern slope of the mountain. Not knowing what it was, he went to look and saw the mountain split open and stones fracture; blue mud like marrow flowed out, and Wang Lie took some and ate it. When he and Ji Shuye went to look again afterward, the broken mountain had returned to its original state. According to immortal scriptures, the cave-dwellings of immortals open once every five hundred years; when the stone marrow (shísui, the immortal medicine that flows from the mountains) emerges, one who obtains and consumes it can have a lifespan equal to Heaven’s end. What Wang Lie had obtained earlier was precisely this substance.

The phrase “Shen Bin’s three lifts, Dong Wei’s hundred patches” literally means that Shen Bin had something associated with “three lifts,” and Dong Wei had the appearance of “a hundred patches”; “hundred patches” commonly refers to clothing with many patches.

Jun'ge Yatan (Elegant Talks from the Commandery Pavilion) records: Shen Bin, styled Ziwen, was devoted to the way of immortals and transcendents. He lost his father in youth and had agreed with a companion in the western circuit to sit the civil examinations three times. On his first attempt he composed “Song of Dreaming of Immortals”: “The jade hall stands wide open—one may enter at ease; the golden peaches hang ripe, yet no one steals them. The phoenix, startled by the jeweled fan, spreads its wings again and again; the dragon, fearing the golden whip, turns its head back.” On his second attempt he wrote “Song of Remembering Immortals”: “Wind in the elms sighs cold—autumn has come to the nine heavens; the Queen Mother returns from her assembly and holds a feast in the jade tower. Sun and moon grow long; the twin phoenixes sleep in peace; the mulberry fields are about to change, and the six sea-turtles fret. Clouds veil flute and pipe as they follow the immortals away; stars brush the banners and banners, each streaming off on its own. Lately I cannot indulge wild verse and wine; when I ride the dragon I sometimes recall the Shangqing Way.” The third time he submitted his provincial examination papers to the Ministry of Rites, with Liu Xiang’s work placed first, and wrote in verse: “Once I answered the Son of Heaven’s examination in the Central Heaven; four reigns of wind and moon have thinned my temples. I no longer follow the Founding Emperor to war with sword at side, but read anew for the Literary Emperor. Ten years of battle dust wore away my old calling; spring rain through the city ruined my poor dwelling. Why begrudge you one branch of the immortal cassia? Each year, happily, there is still some left over.” The chief examiner read Shen Bin’s poem and that year especially granted Liu Xiang a pass. Shen Bin later traveled south beyond the lakes; he too was a man of the Dao.

Yishi Zhuan (Biographies of Reclusive Worthies) records: Dong Wei lived at White Community in Luoyang and made clothes from scraps of cotton and silk, calling them “Hundred-Patch Garments.” Yuan Ci, an adept who had attained the Way, belonged to the class of literati.

Daoist priest Nie Shidao heard that the Realized One Mei and Vice Minister Xiao both lived in seclusion on Jade Bamboo Shoot Mountain (Yusun Shan). Many people at the time said they had seen them, so he went to the Jade Tube region, lodged at Qingxu Abbey (Clear Void), and three times visited Yumu Hollow in the hope of meeting them; he steeled his resolve and pressed deep into the mountains. Suddenly he met a man in plain cloth dress and a black gauze cap who called himself “Traveler” and asked where Nie Shidao was going. Nie answered that he was seeking the two immortals Mei and Xiao. The traveler said: I hear you are devoted to the Dao with tireless zeal and have sought out famous mountains everywhere—that intent is no small achievement. The karmic burdens of your past lives are already cleared; you should already be listed by name on the jade register (the roster of immortals). Though you cannot at once soar as an immortal, you ought still to remain in the world and guide others. I am Xie Xiutong.

In another account, before Minister Yuan Zi had risen to high office, he climbed Qinghan Mountain in Fuzhou in his free time and met a man in scholar’s robes; they talked with easy warmth. Yuan said: The springs on this mountain are marvelous; there ought to be grotto-heavens where spirit immortals dwell. The scholar said: There are five or six Daoist priests who come from time to time, and no one knows where they stay; they do not wish to be known—yet if one brings good wine, one might perhaps see them. Yuan later went with wine; after several nights the priests indeed appeared. The scholar set out seats, offered wine, and brought Yuan forward to pay his respects. The priests glanced at one another, their faces changed, and they angrily rebuked the scholar: This man has genuine sincerity—and besides, he belongs to the class of scholars. Only after a long while did their anger ease; they looked at Yuan and said: This man is like the seated-meditation monk of Xihua, who left the world and was reborn; forty-seven years have already passed. They asked Yuan’s age—it was exactly forty-seven—and clapped their hands, saying: Your rank and emolument have arrived. Yuan later did indeed became a chief minister.

The closing line “Zuo Ci with a blind eye, Xu’s portrait with a tilted head” marks the wondrous outward signs of immortals: Zuo Ci bore the aspect of a dimmed eye, and in painting Xu was shown with head askew.

Left Cí, a fangshi (ritual adept) of the Eastern Han skilled in transformation arts, could work such changes at will. He later traveled to Eastern Wu. In Dantu (in the region of present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), there lived a man named Xu Tuo, whom Left Cí went to visit. A gatekeeper lied and said, “Master Xu is not at home.” Left Cí knew he was being deceived and left. At once the gatekeeper saw an ox walking along the treetops of a poplar; climbing the tree he could not find the ox, but when he came down the ox was on the tree again. Thorns a foot or two long had sprouted on the wheel hubs—they could neither be cut nor the cart moved. Terrified, the man reported to Xu Tuo: “An old man with one eye came; I told him you were out, and after he left the cart and ox turned into this.” Xu Tuo said, “That was Left Cí—how could you lie to him?” The guests split up to chase Left Cí, kowtowed and apologized, and when his anger subsided he sent them back; when they returned, cart and ox were as before.

In Chengdu there was a painter surnamed Xu, skilled at painting portraits that truly captured a person’s spirit. One day a poor man in tattered clothes and a haggard face came to request a portrait. Master Xu smiled and said, “With a face like yours, why ask for a painting?” The man opened his cloth bundle, took out a yellow Daoist robe, a deerskin cap, and a white jade hairpin, put on the cap and changed his clothes, sat upright, and rubbed his face with his hand—at once his countenance became that of a youth; he stroked his beard and the beard turned black in his hand, until he looked like a handsome gentleman. Master Xu was greatly startled and said, “I did not know an immortal had arrived.” The Daoist said, “Hang my portrait in your shop; charge only one thousand cash per buyer.” Later someone recognized him and said, “That is Immortal Lord Zhu of Lingquan.” Then seekers of portraits crowded in, and Master Xu raised his price to two thousand per painting. That night he dreamed the Daoist said, “Your allotted fortune is limited—you must not take more than you should. How could you go against my words? That will shorten your lifespan.” He struck Xu on the cheek. When Xu woke, his head was crooked, and people called him “Crooked-Head Xu.”

The closing line, pairing the yellow sparrow with the green ox, invokes such marvels of immortals side by side, underscoring how divine transformations elude prediction and how hard it is for ordinary people to recognize who is behind them.

Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Jie Zitui (a recluse of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period) was a native of Jin who lived in seclusion and sought no fame; Zhao Chengzi (a grandee of Jin) was on friendly terms with him. One morning a yellow sparrow alighted on the door; Jin Chong'er (later Duke Wen of Jin) found this strange and went out with Jie Zitui to live elsewhere for more than ten years, during which Jie Zitui toiled without complaint. When they returned to Jie Mountain (a place name), a man called Bozi often came to call Jie Zitui, saying, “It is time to leave.” Jie Zitui then traveled with Bozi. Later Duke Wen of Jin sent someone bearing jade and silk (gifts of summons) to invite him with full courtesy, yet he still would not go.

Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) records: Feng Heng (a Daoist priest), styled Junda, often rode a black ox and was therefore known as the Qingniu Daoshi (Blue-Ox Daoist). When people fell ill, whether he knew them or not, he would give them medicine from a bamboo tube at his waist or perform acupuncture and moxibustion; recovery often followed at once. Emperor Wu of Wei (Cao Cao) asked him for the essentials of nurturing life. Feng Heng said: The body should be kept in regular activity, and food intake should be kept moderate; activity must not be excessive, nor should eating be so restricted as to weaken one. Remove rich and heavy flavors, limit sour and salty, reduce anxious thought and excessive joy or anger, avoid rushing about in pursuit, and be cautious in sexual activity. In spring and summer one should disperse and release; in autumn and winter one should store and conserve—thus one draws near to the Dao.

“Shanglin presents dates, Heyin sells pomegranates” refers to this: the Shanglin Park (imperial garden) offered dates as tribute, and at Heyin (a place name) pomegranates were sold in the market.

Dongfang Shuo Zhuan records: In the time of Emperor Wu of Han, Shanglin Park presented dates. The emperor struck the railing before the front hall of Weiyang Palace with his staff and called to Dongfang Shuo (a courtier of Emperor Wu), “Come here, come here—does the master know what is in the basket?” Dongfang Shuo said, “They are dates from Shanglin Park, forty-nine in number.” The emperor asked, “How do you know?” Dongfang Shuo said, “Calling ‘Shuo’ indicates the emperor; striking the railing twice gives ‘Lin’; ‘Shuo lai, lai lai’ yields ‘zao’ (dates); and the sound ‘chi chi’ signifies forty-nine.” The emperor laughed heartily and rewarded him with ten bolts of silk.

The Biographies of Eminent Daoists records that the Daoist priest Zhang Yuanhua—no one knew what method of the Dao he was secretly cultivating. One day, people throughout the township all dreamed that Zhang Yuanhua came to bid farewell, saying, “I am going away on a journey for a while.” That very night he indeed underwent yuhua (in Daoist usage, the passing of a practitioner, understood as ascent rather than ordinary death). At daybreak, someone who was puzzled came to investigate and found the same account everywhere. After the burial, there was a small opening in the grave mound wide enough to fit an arm; those who understood such signs said, “This is chanshui”—the cicada’s cast skin, a figure for shijie, shedding the mortal body as a cicada sheds its shell. Not long afterward, a traveler from Heyin came to Rufen to sell pomegranates. On the way he met a Daoist who said, “I am Director Zhang of Rufen; I entrust you to deliver a letter.” He also bought several dozen pomegranates and asked the man to present them at the Hall of the Northern Pole. The traveler agreed. When he arrived, Director Zhang’s disciples said, “This letter is indeed in our master’s hand.” They led the guest to the yingtang, the hall where the patriarch’s portrait was enshrined. The guest looked and said, “The man I had just met differed almost not at all from this image.”

With zither on his back and wine jar in hand, he made a floating home of boat and dwelling on the water.

The Gaodaozhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) records: The Daoist priest Li Zhen lived in seclusion on Mount Hua. In the west of Qizhou lived Wang You, a man of immense wealth who often kept guesthouses to welcome travelers from every quarter, with fine food and wine always in readiness. Li Zhen came to visit him carrying a qin on his back and a medicine gourd; Wang You had him lodged in the guesthouse. Li Zhen said: “I have heard that when people cherish something, there is always a guiding purpose behind it. Those who practice the arts of diplomacy carry the ambition to persuade and maneuver; those who read books of war inevitably have battle and confrontation in mind. I bear a qin and a pot of medicine—can there be no deeper intent? I bring the qin because I know the qin preserves the breath of ancient refinement, and I wish to lead people back to simplicity and away from frivolity and hollow display. I carry the medicine because I know how much people suffer from illness, and I wish to ease their pain and help them live in steady peace. And my qin is not only for my own cultivation—it can also transform others; my medicine is not only to preserve myself—it can preserve others as well. You may use your surplus wealth to relieve others; that is indeed unlike growing rich by unjust means, yet compared with the great hosts of old who honored men of talent, something is still lacking. The crux is to tell the worthy from the unworthy—then your household, name, and standing can be kept whole and free of entanglement.” He then had wine brought and drank alone; at daybreak he suddenly took leave. Wang You watched in secret and saw Li Zhen turn into a great deer and run westward; no one knew where he went.

The Tangshi Shuci records: Zhang Zhihe, courtesy name Zitong. When Yan Zhenqing was prefect of Huzhou, Zhang Zhihe came to call on him. Yan Zhenqing thought his boat shabby and asked him to change to another. Zhang Zhihe said: “I wish to make the boat my home—drifting my household on the water, passing to and fro on the Tiao and Xian ( waterways of Huzhou).” Li Deyu praised Zhang Zhihe: “He hid himself yet kept a name; though known, he was not dragged down by worldly affairs—neither poor nor conspicuously successful.” For that reason he honored him with full ceremonial respect.

This is juan (scroll) sixteen of the Sandong Qunxian Lu (Record of Immortals of the Three Caverns), compiled by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoist Laibaoguang. The line “Zhihe’s water play; Xia Tong’s paired plowing” is a capsule summary of two immortal biographies: one tells of Zhang Zhihe sporting on the water; the other of Xia Tong choosing to plow in obscurity rather than take office.

The Jixian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) records that Zhang Zhihe was a native of Shanyin in Kuaiji (roughly present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). When the Tang statesman Yan Zhenqing traveled east and stopped at Pingwang Post, Zhang Zhihe, having drunk his fill, performed a water immortals’ art: he spread a mat on the surface of the water, sat alone on it to drink and to chant and whistle in long phrases, while the mat drifted back and forth upon the waves. Clouds and cranes later followed above him. None among Yan Zhenqing’s kin, friends, and staff who watched failed to marvel. Zhang Zhihe then waved farewell to Yan Zheqing from the water and ascended into the sky.

The Jin Yinshi (Jin Dynasty Recluses) records that Xia Tong, styled Zhongyu, was from Yongxing in Kuaiji (roughly present-day Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, Zhejiang). Orphaned young and poor, he was famed for filial care of his kin. He often went out to gather and seek food, returning under starlight and moonlight; sometimes he picked up things by the seashore to help the household. He had always been skilled at discourse. Kinsmen urged him to enter official life, saying: “You are pure, bright, plain, and upright—you could serve as a gangji (subordinate officer) in a commandery, mix with the prefectural court, and naturally rise; why willingly toil in the hills and spend your life on the coast?” Xia Tong flushed with anger and said: “Do you all see me so? In an age of great peace I could debate going out or staying home with men like the Yuan and Kai (the legendary eight Yuan and eight Kai); in a turbid age I ought to share the mud with Qu Yuan; when the world swings between flourish and decline, I should hide and plow alongside recluses like Changju and Jieni—how would I demean myself by bending to the ways of commandery offices?”

The closing “Jiping may live again; Yinyao is reborn” reads like a praise line summing up immortal traces: Jiping is granted life anew, and Yinyao returns to life once more.

In the Xuanshi Zhi (Records of the Chamber of Dissemination) it is recorded that in Shangdang (roughly the present-day Shanxi region) there lived Cheng the Recluse—yiren meaning a hermit or ritual specialist—who was skilled in talismanic arts (fushu). When Liu Wu served as military governor of Zelu in the Tang dynasty, a wealthy man of Linluo County named Xiao Jiping suddenly died without warning. Cheng the Recluse had once received great kindness from Xiao Jiping; when he heard of his death, he rode post-horses in haste to the house and told Xiao’s son: “Your father is not truly dead. He was probably summoned by a mountain spirit. If we treat him with talismanic methods (fufa), he can still be revived.” He then drew a talisman in cinnabar, cast it into the air, and after about the time it takes to eat a meal, Xiao Jiping indeed awoke. He said: “At first I saw a man in green who said, ‘The Huoshan spirit summons you,’ and I went with him for some fifty li. Then I met a man in red robes, holding a staff and riding the wind, who came down from the sky with angry eyes. He said to Jiping: ‘Cheng Zhanxie summons you—return quickly.’” (Cheng Zhanxie refers to Cheng the Recluse, because he practiced the Zhanxie method of ritual registers.) The man in green fled in fear; the man in red took my sleeve and led me back together with him, and then I woke. The Xiao family was astonished and asked who “Zhanxie” was. He answered: “I studied under my master and received the Dragon-Tiger Subduing-Evil Register (Longhu zhanxie lu)”—a form of Daoist fulu (talismans and registers) used to ward off evil and expel demons. He opened the register pouch he carried and showed it to them. Later Cheng the Recluse traveled through the Min-Yue region, and his whereabouts were no longer known.

Danyin Yao was a Daoist priest in the Dongting region who lived on Jiao Mountain and practiced taiyin lianxing—a Daoist method of refining the body with yin energy so that one might revive after death. He died in a cliff cave and appeared in a disciple’s dream, saying: “Look at my corpse and do not let anything from outside disturb it. In six years I will be reborn; when that time comes, bring clothes to receive me.” When the disciple went to see, the body was already foul, worm-eaten, and decaying, yet the five viscera were unchanged; he therefore kept watch as instructed. In the sixth year they found him sitting upright, his body whole. The disciple prepared hot water for bathing and new garments to welcome him; his hair and beard were black, thick, and straight, like an animal’s mane. Sixteen years later he died again as before, and after seven years he revived once more. This cycle occurred three times in all, and each time his form grew sturdier. Emperor Yang of the Sui summoned him to the Eastern Capital; he pleaded earnestly to return to the mountains, and before long his request was granted.

Shi Jianwu, styled Xisheng, composed the Inscription on the Three Abidings, which states: The Yijing teaches that concentrated refined qi becomes the myriad things, and that when the wandering soul disperses, transformation follows. Among the countless shapes of existence, nothing should take precedence over preserving primordial Qi: if primordial Qi is kept, the body is kept; if the body is kept, Shen is kept. When these three abide without scattering, then my life is in my own hands and not decreed by Heaven. The principle is perfectly plain, yet those who withdraw to cultivate the Way often refuse to believe it.

The Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Mozi, whose given name was Di, served as a grand officer in the state of Song. At the age of eighty-two he sighed and said: I have seen through the affairs of the world; glory and rank cannot be kept for long. I intend to leave the secular life and follow Chisongzi (an ancient immortal) in cultivating the Dao. He then entered Mount Zhou Di and devoted himself wholeheartedly to contemplating the Dao. Suddenly he saw a person and asked: Are you perhaps the numinous qi of the mountains, or an immortal who saves the world? I hope you will pause briefly and teach me the methods of the Dao. The spirit-person said: Knowing that you aspire to the Dao, I have come to wait for you. He then granted him such Daoist writings as the Su shu and the Weiyang yuanfang. Mozi received them with obeisance, refined according to the methods, and indeed obtained efficacious results; he compiled the essential points into the Wuxing ji (Record of the Five Phases). Later he became an earthly immortal (a sage who dwells in the world), living in seclusion to escape the chaos of the Warring States period.

“The elixir furnace of Lord Xing and Zhou Guan’s medicine cauldron” refers to Lord Xing’s furnace for refining elixir and Zhou Guan’s pot for decocting medicine—both traces left by immortals in refining elixir and preparing drugs.

The Tan xuan records: On the highest peak of Jiuyi Mountain (i.e., Jiuyi Shan), where human footsteps rarely reach, there was an old story that an immortal lived in seclusion there. Later Cao Xiong, son of the military inspector of the prefecture, went hunting into the mountains and penetrated to the summit, where he saw two or three thatched huts. Inside sat a man leaning on a desk. Cao Xiong bowed repeatedly and asked; the man replied: I am Immortal Lord Xing; I have lived in seclusion here since the time of Emperor Xizong of Tang (a late Tang emperor). He then asked Cao Xiong to speak of affairs in the world. Cao Xiong looked at his dwelling: only a library pavilion and an elixir furnace; on the desk lay poems. Cao Xiong asked to copy them and obtained more than ten pieces; one poem said: The heavenly decree of the Void Emperor (Xuhuang, a revered deity in Daoism) descends upon the immortal’s home; before long one will borrow the immortal raft on the starry river to ascend; a three-foot sword on the wall carries the breath of wind and clouds; before the bed a furnace of cinnabar refines like dragon and tiger in mutual transformation; going out one rides a thousand-year crane of the sea isles; sitting quietly one watches palaces in a gourd where flowers bloom in all four seasons; because he loves the Yinfu jing he inquires into its profound meaning, and all the more will follow the immortal entourage into mist and rosy clouds. When Cao Xiong went again to seek the old place, it took him several months to arrive; looking around, the dwelling was still there but the immortal had departed.

According to Lengzhai Yehua (Night Talks from the Cold Studio), Zhou Guan’s place of origin is unknown. He styled himself “Mumuzi” (exactly as in the source). During the Zhiping reign he often traveled in the Western Hills and also visited Yuanzhou. There he noticed a shopkeeper named Li Sheng, whose bearing had a clear, refined quality, and wished to lead him into reclusion in the mountains. Li Sheng, however, was devoted to wine and sensual pleasures and showed no inclination toward cultivation. Zhou Guan then pointed at a medicinal dang—a tripod pot used for decocting herbs—and composed a verse to make his point: a stubborn, dull nature is fit to be a pot; even if it sprouted three legs it still could not walk; though it had handles, it would not heed the teaching, and only clung to the “fire pit” of the human world. Later Zhou Guan died in the Western Hills. As he was about to pass on, someone asked his age. He replied: “For eighty years in the Western Hills I have been a wine immortal; my hemp sandals are worn through and my cloth robe is threadbare. When we meet, do not ask my year in the sexagenary cycle—the light of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) keeps no tally of years.” Afterward someone saw him at Zhou Bridge in the capital. He sent a message to Li Sheng in Yuanzhou: “On the mid-autumn night of next year I shall come to visit.” When the day arrived he did indeed appear at Li Sheng’s home. Li was away on business, so Zhou Guan wrote in large characters on the door with white clay: “This mid-autumn night I come to keep last year’s promise; you will not see the pot with the broken leg—only an empty bo-bo when fingers snap.” Li Sheng later truly fell from a horse and broke one leg.

The encomium “The immortal child’s brocade curtain—Shang Fu’s coaxing call” alludes, through the image of the immortal youth’s brocade canopy and Shang Fu (Lord Shang, i.e., Jiang Shang), to the way perfected immortals guide and exhort people toward the Way. The line “True Lord Xu rose in the morning and indeed fell from a horse, breaking one leg” is taken at face value as saying that True Lord Xu, after getting up one morning, fell from a horse and broke a leg.

Xishan Ji (Record of the Western Hills) states that on the first day of the eighth month in the second year of Ningkang, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin, True Lord Xu (Xu Xun, patriarch of the Jingming Way) had just risen in the morning when cloud and mist descended from heaven and perfected immortals appeared in the courtyard, proclaiming an imperial decree: the Emperor bestowed upon Xu Xun, student of immortality, one case each of a purple-feathered robe, jade banners and precious insignia, and jade paste with golden elixir—let the decree be carried out. On the fifteenth of that month—gen zhong (as in the original)—he suddenly heard celestial music. Green youths with colored banners and a dragon chariot with feathered canopies came to escort him. Lord Xu, together with forty-two members of his household and even his chickens and dogs, all ascended on clouds. Shortly afterward a brocade curtain flew down from the sky, and something called yaobing (as in the original) fell to the southeast of his residence.

The Records of Encounters with Immortals (Shenxian Ganyu Zhuan) records that in his youth Guo Ziyi served on the frontier. Once, while hurrying to camp to press for rations, he had gone about ten-odd li beyond Yin Prefecture (in the area of present-day Yulin, Shaanxi) when night fell. Suddenly wind and sand rose, sky and earth darkened, and he could go no farther. He entered an empty house by the road, spread bedding, and prepared to pass the night. At night he noticed red light on both sides; looking up, he saw a carriage with brocade curtains descending from the sky, and inside it a beautiful woman sat on a couch with her feet hanging down. Guo Ziyi knelt, prayed, and said: “On the seventh day of the seventh month the Weaver Maid (Zhinv, the star goddess of the myth) must descend; I beg you to grant me long life and great wealth.” The woman smiled and said: “Great wealth and honor—and also long life.” When she had finished speaking, she rose slowly into heaven. Later Guo Ziyi won merit and rose to eminence, reaching the ranks of Grand Marshal (Taiwei), Zhongshu, and Shangfu (all high honorific offices), and died at ninety. The closing line “Wang Jia’s jade tally, heaven’s favor—the golden key” is praise, referring to such immortal favor as Wang Jia receiving a jade tally and bearing heaven’s trust with a golden key.

Wang Jia passed the imperial examination in the Xiaokang category and was appointed military adjutant of Zizhou. At that time Du Xian held the same post in Puzhou; the two were colleagues and got on very well. Later they were both sent on a mission to Luoyang. On the way they passed the Qiantang River and climbed Mount Luosha to watch the tide. Wang Jia said to Du Xian: “Yu the Great was a true sage. When he controlled the floods, he used a golden coffer and jade tally to hold the rivers in check. This city of Hangzhou has nothing to anchor the waters; before long I fear it will be ruined.” Du Xian asked: “How do you know?” Wang Jia replied: “It is right under this stone—let us go and see.” He had Du Xian close his eyes, took his hand, and they jumped down together. Du Xian suddenly opened his eyes and found himself on the riverbed. The space was as open as a hall, and there stood a stone coffer more than ten feet high, sealed with a lock. Wang Jia opened it himself, lifted the lid, and pulled Du Xian up into it. Inside was another coffer, about three feet tall, shut with a gold lock. Wang Jia said: “The jade tally is in there; someone without the right affinity cannot see it.” Then he took Du Xian’s hand and they came out again—they were already back on the bank. Wang Jia also told Du Xian: “You have the emoluments of a chief minister; you should take care of yourself,” and he described in detail the offices Du Xian would hold and how long he would live. When Du Xian was promoted later, everything happened just as Wang Jia had said.

Miscellaneous Notes in Leisure records: During the Chongning era (reign title of Emperor Huizong of Song), Peng Tianchong, a jinshi (advanced scholar) from Nankang Military Prefecture, had not previously studied the Dao. Suddenly he claimed that a celestial deity had descended upon his home and that he had received a heavenly book (tianshu). One day, after bathing, he told people, “I am about to ascend to heaven.” He shut his door and would not come out; in a little while he had vanished. Forty-two days later he suddenly returned across the river and said: When I had just left, I rode a golden boat moving through the clouds, as if walking on cotton wool, and slowly rose into the sky. I met a Daoist priest who said, “In the Jin dynasty you served as magistrate of Pengze and had merit toward the people, so your name was entered on the register of immortals (xianji).” He also pointed out white vapor and showed it to him, saying, “This is the sorrowful qi formed by your parents’ longing for you—why not go back? In ninety years you should come again.” The priest gave him one golden key and one silver key and had him take the boat again downstream to Caizhou, sell the golden key, and use the money to return home. When he was about to cross the river at the bank, the money was spent; he sold the silver key, got money to buy passage on a boat, and by the time he reached home the money was again exhausted. His parents were both alarmed and delighted. Later the family had him take a wife, and there were no further extraordinary events.

A foolish sheep beneath Luoyang, a sick crane in the mountains.

E'huai Collection records: In the Luoyang region there was a cave; someone accidentally fell in and saw palaces and figures that were not of the mortal world. He also saw a large sheep; among the sheep’s whiskers were pearls. The man took them and ate them, not knowing what they were. He asked Zhang Hua (a Jin-dynasty polymath and naturalist), and Zhang Hua said, “This is the Nine Pavilions of Earth Immortals (disxian jiuguan); the great sheep is the foolish dragon (chilong).”

The Yun Ci records: Before Li Shi rose to prominence as a chancellor in the Tang dynasty, he was deeply fond of Daoist practices. Once, while traveling on Mount Song, he heard groaning in the wild grass and found a wounded crane. The crane spoke in human language: “I had cultivated myself to immortality, but misfortune fell upon me all at once; woodcutters struck me down, and one leg was nearly broken. I can only recover if I receive a few he of blood from someone who has been fully human for three lifetimes.” Li Shi opened his robe to draw his own blood, but the crane said, “Truly pure humans are rare in this world, and you are not one either.” It then gave him an eyelash and said, “Take this to the eastern capital Luoyang and use it to look at people—you will know.” Halfway there Li Shi held it up to himself and saw a horse’s head on his shoulders. In Luoyang he examined many people, none of them whole; some showed the heads of dogs, donkeys, or horses. By chance on a bridge he saw an old man riding a donkey; when he looked with the eyelash, the man proved to be a genuine human being. Li Shi bowed and explained the sick crane’s plight in detail. The old man gladly dismounted, bared his arm, and let blood flow; Li Shi caught it in a small bottle, brought it to the crane, applied it to the wound, and bound the injury with torn cloth. The crane thanked him: “You will become chancellor in an age of clarity; later you too will ascend. We shall meet again before long—do not slacken your resolve to cultivate the Way.” Li Shi bowed in respect, and the crane soared into the sky.

The Record of Daoist Learning (Dao Xue Zhuan) records: Meng Jingyi, courtesy name Fuming, was a descendant of Meng Ke (Mencius) and was naturally filial to an extreme degree. When the Qi ruler Emperor of Jingling vigorously promoted Buddhist scriptures and gathered many monks to debate the right and wrong of the Buddhist and Daoist teachings with Meng Jingyi, Jingyi answered each point as it arose, his words and reasoning flowing without obstruction; even ancient masters famed for debate such as Lansheng and Laigong could not surpass him.

The Collected Remains of Immortal Biographies (Xian Chuan Shi Yi) records: Chen Xingming traveled famous mountains and met an immortal who told him: “Most people who cultivate the Way cannot persevere for long, so few are seen to succeed.”

Xianzhuan Shiyi (Collected Remnants of Immortal Biographies) records that when Chen Xingming traveled among famous mountains, an immortal addressed him, saying: Most people who cultivate the Dao cannot persist in diligent practice, so successes are rare. The merit you have accumulated is not inconsiderable; if you do not turn back, why worry that your name will not be entered on the jade register—the roster of immortals? Yet cultivation is bitterness first and joy afterward: bitterness has an end, while joy is boundless. Dwelling in deep, secluded mountains among birds and beasts, enduring hunger and thirst, toiling through cold and heat, renouncing worldly splendor and leaving kin and love behind—this is what is called bitterness. But sharing the lifespan of Heaven and Earth, transforming without limit, soaring through the void and, in seated stillness, sprouting cloud-wings—this is what is called joy. How can one not strive to refine oneself in practice? Chen Xingming bowed and said: I will forever hold these sacred words in mind, set my will on the Dao, and dare not slacken. After eighteen years of cultivation, on the first day of the third month in the first year of the Dashi reign of the Jin dynasty, he ascended to immortality at Mount Heng (Hengshan, the Southern Sacred Mountain).

The couplet “Guizhen taming the rabbit, Yan He feeding the ox” alludes in brief to the stories of Song Guizhen and Yan He.

Hengshan Guanji (Record of the Hengshan Abbey) states that in the Dazhong era of our dynasty (the reign title Dazhong Xiangfu of Emperor Zhenzong of Song), Song Guizhen resigned his office to cultivate the Dao. He built a hut beside the mountain, ate lingzhi fungus, and abstained from grain for more than thirty years, reciting scriptures morning and evening. A white snake and a white rabbit often lay tame at his side, as if listening to the recitation. Prefect Zhao Xu named his dwelling the “Broad Cold Chamber” (Guanghan shi) and once left a poem as a gift.

The Nanhuajing (Zhuangzi) records that the lord of Lu, hearing that Yan He was a man who had attained the Dao, sent an envoy ahead with gifts to invite him. Yan He lived in a mean lane, wore coarse hemp, and fed cattle himself. When the lord’s messenger arrived, Yan He answered for himself. The messenger asked, “Is this Yan He’s home?” Yan He replied, “This is Yan He’s home.” The messenger presented the gifts. Yan He said: Lest the one who carried word have been mistaken and you be blamed for it, it would be better to verify first. When the messenger went back to verify and came again to request him, Yan He only then responded as he had to—showing that he truly despised wealth, rank, and emolument.

The closing line “Maoshi riding the tiger, Taibai astride the child” uses the same kind of compressed phrasing to evoke immortal marvels such as Maoshi riding a tiger and Taibai crossing on a boy’s back.

Wang Shuang was a servant of Zhang Maoshi of Nanyang. One day Wang Shuang took his leave and said to Zhang Maoshi: “Grateful for your kindness, I wish to repay it. My home is very close by, and the scenery there is well worth seeing—could you go for a visit?” Zhang Maoshi agreed but did not want his family to know, and asked whether they could slip away in secret. Wang Shuang said that would be easy. He cut a bamboo branch, drew a fu (talisman) on it, and said: “Take this bamboo inside, pretend you are ill, put it aside quietly, then slip out.” The two of them went south for several li and saw yellow-head attendants (huangjin lishi, a class of spirit helpers akin to the “yellow-turban strongmen” of lore) holding a green qilin and two red-striped tigers waiting by the road. Zhang Maoshi was alarmed and wanted to turn back; Wang Shuang told him not to fear and to go on. Wang Shuang rode the qilin; Zhang Maoshi rode a tiger. They climbed Immortal’s Palm, crossed valleys and rode over ridges, yet felt no steepness or danger. When they reached a mountain, the landscape was imbued with immortal aura; towers, pavilions, pines, and rocks were unlike anything in the human world. Several hundred purple-robed immortal clerks welcomed them by the road. Inside, several dozen green-robed attendants of striking appearance, bearing musical instruments, bowed and led them in. A banquet was set in the central hall; singing luan, dancing phoenixes, and every kind of music were unlike anything ever heard, lifting the mind to lofty ease so that one no longer thought of worldly affairs. Wang Shuang also instructed him in the highest Daoist methods, gave him a hundred yi of gold (yi being an ancient weight unit, here meaning a very heavy sum), and had someone escort him home. His family was gathered around him weeping, saying he had been dead for seven days; because his chest was still warm, they had not yet laid him out for burial. Zhang Maoshi then resigned his office and wandered the famous mountains; his ultimate whereabouts are unknown.

In the early Yuanhe reign (Yuanhe was the era name of Emperor Xianzong of Tang), someone at sea saw Li Taibai (Li Bai) conversing with a Daoist priest on a high mountain. After a long while, the priest mounted a red immortal steed in azure mist and departed; Li Taibai broke into a quick run in pursuit, and the two rode the immortal steed eastward together.

Shanchuan was an ancient lofty worthy; Ma Zhou is listed among immortal officials in immortal hagiographies.

Shanjuan was a lofty recluse in the time of Shun. Shun wished to yield the empire to him, but Shanjuan said: In winter one wears fur, in summer hemp; spring plowing is enough to exert oneself, autumn harvest enough to live on; rise at dawn and rest at sunset, wander freely between heaven and earth, and the heart finds its own joy—what would I do with the empire? He therefore declined, withdrew deep into the mountains, and no one knew where he went.

In his youth Ma Zhou was often overcome by wine. One day he left the city and met an old man in the woods who bowed, sat down, and said to him: The Supreme Lord (Taishang, the highest deity in Daoism) has charged you to assist a sage ruler—why do you drown yourself in wine and bring on your own hunger and distress? Your Five Spirits (Wushen, the deities of the five viscera) have already scattered; you will die before long—why do you not awaken? He also said: You were originally an immortal officer of the Suling Palace on Mount Hua; you are now summoned back to the palace. Ma Zhou went with him and indeed saw palace halls where his name was still kept on record. He entered through the door and found furnaces and alchemical vessels all in readiness. Suddenly five figures stood before him and said: Just now, when you were deep in wine, we scattered; now please close your eyes so we may re-enter the spirit chamber. The next day Ma Zhou called on Tiangang (an immortal’s name). Tiangang said: You have met with a destined affinity; you will rise to Chancellor—exert yourself. Ma Zhou did in fact serve for many years in the highest ministerial posts. Later a true immortal came to his room and said: Having aided the state to success, Taiyi (a divine name) summons you—you cannot stay longer. Thereupon Ma Zhou ascended and departed as an immortal (xianhua).

“Deng Boyuan’s dark viewing, Liang Chen’s dream journey” are titles of two immortal traces. Deng Boyuan and Wang Yuanfu studied the Dao on Mount Huo and received from a divine being the method of swallowing the sun’s elixir radiance (cunsifu rijing—a practice of visualizing and absorbing the sun’s essence). Only after thirty-four years of accumulation could they see in the dark and write at night. When the Dao was complete, the Great Emperor sent a feathered carriage to fetch them, and they ascended in broad daylight with Wang Yuanfu. Liang Chen’s dream journey refers to the immortal trace of Liang Chen’s spirit wandering in a dream through the immortal realm.

This passage consists of several anecdotes about figures on the path of immortality. Its main theme is that Bo Shanfu was skilled at speaking of fortune and misfortune, while Xu Shouxin could respond to blessings and calamities.

The Records of Eminent Daoists says: The Daoist Liang Chen, styled Kaocheng. One day a physiognomist saw him and said: This child has white light flowing in his eyes and a countenance concentrated with true qi—he is no ordinary person. Later he indeed developed a love for the Way of immortals. In the early Xiande era (an era name of Wei during the Three Kingdoms), he studied under Master Zheng at Louguan (a Daoist monastery). He often dreamed of traveling with immortals, sometimes ascending famous mountains, sometimes drinking stone marrow (a legendary elixir akin to stalactite), and thus gained his own insight. Many venerated him, but Liang Chen grew weary of this and withdrew deep into Kun Valley. His eyes could see objects underground, and his ears could hear sounds from several li away. One day he suddenly told his disciples: A friend is waiting for me on the South Peak—I must go now. He then donned his cap and ritual robes and went out; only mist and cloud swirled, his form invisible, while faint sounds of music and procession hung in the air. This was the first year of Taixing, the wuyin year.

The Biographies of Immortals says: Bo Shanfu was from Yong Province and lived on Mount Hua. He regularly consumed huangjing (a herb regarded in antiquity as an elixir of immortality) and lived more than two hundred years. Whenever he entered someone’s home, he could know that family’s past good and evil, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and what he said about fortune and misfortune always came true.

The Eastern Study Notes says: Xu the Second Elder of Qinzhou, named Shouxin, swept the hall and temple with a broom every day. Ordinarily he did not talk much with people; if asked, he would not answer and would walk away. Occasionally he uttered a single phrase, and fortune or misfortune would follow. Vice Councilor Lü Xi Qing, having completed mourning, was about to enter court and stopped by to visit the Second Elder, bowing to ask him a question. The Second Elder startled and ran off. Lü pursued him; the Second Elder suddenly turned and said: “Guard well, guard well.” Lü took this to mean he should hold on to wealth and rank. When he returned to court he was appointed prefect of Jianzhou. At that time Xu Xi and Shen Kuo had recently suffered defeat; Lü earnestly declined the post and did not go, and further requested to ascend the hall together with the two administrations (the Secretariat and the Bureau of Military Affairs). Emperor Shenzong grew angry and demoted him to prefect of Shanzhou—this was the fulfillment of “Shan guard” (both the post in Shanzhou and an echo of “guard well”). In the Chongning and Daguan eras the Second Elder received generous favor from the court, was granted the title Master Chonghe, and the Palace of Immortal Source and Longevity was built for his residence.

The closing line “Chen Xuan bought fresh goods at market, Qizhen ate meat” means literally that Chen Xuan went to the market for fresh produce and Qizhen (a name or Daoist sobriquet) ate meat—a brief record of immortal figures not bound by ordinary conventions.

The Jiangnan Yelu records that Chen Xuan was skilled in astronomy and elegant recitation. He once composed lines such as: “In one alchemical furnace I harmonize the feminine and masculine and apply the civil and martial fire phases; through ten years of cold and heat I guard the ‘demon hide’ (a cultivation term of uncertain meaning); let time flow east like a stream and my temples turn white—I still dwell alone in one corner, wearing my iron rain cape for life.” He also said: “When one penetrates the yin and yang of heaven and earth, literary writing seems shallow and naive; when the dragon and tiger (in alchemy, fire and water, lead and mercury) are fully refined, official seals and sashes naturally grow distant.” In his later years he abandoned hope of advancing as a literati official, devoted himself to cultivation, and retired to the Western Hills to grow medicinal herbs. During the Kaibao reign period of Emperor Taizu of Song, he once entered the city with an alchemist carrying medicine; when praised he asked others to polish his verses, then drank by the furnace as if no one else were present. A song ran: “Lan Caihe (a Daoist immortal)—worldly affairs are noisy and ever more numerous; how does that compare with selling medicine and buying wine to drink, going home to empty Kun (a phrase in the song of uncertain meaning), clapping hands and singing?” People suspected they were a married couple; others said they had become immortals.

The Mengqiu records: Helan Qizhen, whose origin is unknown, became a Daoist priest, claimed to be over a hundred years old, excelled at fuqi (breath cultivation through tunara), feared neither cold nor heat, often abstained from food, sometimes drank heavily, and would eat several pounds of spoiled meat in the marketplace. Later he was summoned to the palace, and Emperor Zhenzong of Song presented him with a poem.

“Erzhu Floating Stone, Bao Jiao Embracing a Tree” is the title of a section, alluding to Master Erzhu’s ascension to immortality through the omen of “floating stone,” and to the story of Bao Jiao (an ancient recluse) embracing a tree.

The Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties records: Master Erzhu’s merit and conduct ran very deep. An extraordinary person gave him a single pill and said: “When you see a floating stone, then take it—and the path of immortality will be complete.” The master did as told, testing every stone he met by throwing it into water. Later, about to cross the river at Xia Mountain, a boatman waited with his boat; asked his surname, he said Shi; asked his place, he said Fuzhou (present-day Fuling area, Chongqing). The master suddenly understood (“Shi” and “Fuzhou” echoed the omen of “floating stone”), took the medicine, and at once rose lightly and ascended as an immortal.

The Records of Recluses (Yinyi Zhuan) records: Bao Jiao’s place of origin is unknown. He did not eat the five grains, did not wear silk or hemp, and lived deep in the mountains, eating fruit from trees and wearing tree bark. Someone asked him: “Tree fruit and tree bark are also produced by Heaven—how are they different from the five grains and silk and hemp?” Bao Jiao then stopped eating even those and finally died embracing a withered branch.

The encomium says “Yan Dong with one gourd, Kong Daohui with a hundred hu”—meaning Yan Dong carried only a single gourd wherever he went, while Kong Daohui regarded a hundred hu of money as no different from tiles and stones.

The Biographies of Eminent Daoists (Gaodao Zhuan) records: The Daoist Yan Dong’s place of origin is unknown. During the Jianyuan era of Qi he came to Jinling (the area of present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu) and attached himself to the Daoist Li Jingyou. Outwardly he seemed dull and obscure, like a foolish man; yet when anyone discussed the Way with him, he showed refined insight. He always carried a gourd and stayed in Jinling for five or six years. One day, about to take leave, he took up his brush and annotated the Duren Jing (an important Daoist scripture), writing without pause and finishing in a single day. Later he entered the mountains of Liyang and his whereabouts became unknown. Another brief account says Yan Dong abstained from food and died embracing a withered branch.

The Collection for Self-Improvement (Xianji Ji) records: Kong Daohui held firmly to his resolve and did not take office. His father Kong You was of the highest virtue and could communicate with the numinous; he lived in seclusion on Siming Mountain. Kong You once saw several hundred hu of money in a valley and regarded it as no different from tiles and stones; woodcutters scrambled to take it, but the moment it was in their hands it turned to gravel. A deer wounded by an arrow ran to Kong You; he nursed its wound, and only after it healed did it leave.

“Immortal Lord’s orange well, Divine Maiden’s bamboo altar” is an encomium referring to such traces of immortals as the orange well left by the Immortal Lord and the bamboo altar left by the Divine Maiden.

The Bangjiang Ji records: One day the Immortal Lord Su was summoned by the Most High (the supreme deity in Daoism) and was about to be appointed to a true immortal office. On parting he told his mother: “Next year there will be plague in this commandery. You may take one cup of well water from the courtyard and one branch of orange leaf to relieve people’s suffering; the effect will surely be remarkable, and it may also help a little with household expenses.” Having spoken, he went out; immortals escorted him, banners and feathered insignia (ceremonial flags and emblems) lined both sides, and he ascended gradually into the sky and departed. The next year plague indeed broke out on a large scale; his mother used the well water and orange leaves to save people, and none failed to recover at once. To this day the orange well remains.

The Jixian lu (Collection of Transcendent Records) records that Lady Yunhua, named Yao Ji, was the daughter of the Queen Mother of the West (Jinmu, the “Metal Mother”). She could soar and transform at will. When Yu the Great met her, he doubted her strange manner and wondered whether she was a true transcendent, and questioned Tong Lü—the legendary figure who ranks the immortals. Tong Lü said: The root of Heaven and Earth is the Dao; what deploys the Dao in the world is the sage. Among sages there are ranks of zhenren (true persons) and xianren (immortals). Those who discern qi and become true without cultivating to attain the Dao—such are Mugong and Jinmu (the Duke of the East and the Queen Mother of the West); Lady Yunhua was Jinmu’s daughter. Later Yu treated her with ritual respect and received from her methods for controlling floods and channeling water, and books for commanding ghosts and summoning spirits. The goddess turned to stone; today’s Shennü Stone on Mount Wu is what she became. Bamboo beside the altar hung down like hairpins; if anything fell onto the altar, the bamboo swept it away in the wind, so the place stayed clean all year. Liu Shang’s bag of medicine was a manifestation of “Yue” (music/transcendence); the “Letian furnace elixir” (Liu Shang was a Tang poet devoted to the Way; Letian is Bai Juyi) are all cultivation anecdotes recorded in immortal biographies.

Liu Shang often lamented how brief life was and how his bones and sinews were failing; rushing about from dawn to dusk was nothing but self-inflicted hardship. What good could the world’s glittering official career do him? He therefore pleaded illness, resigned his post, and entered the Way. Traveling to Guangling (modern Yangzhou), he met on the street a Daoist who sold medicines. Seeing Liu’s unusual bearing, the man stopped selling, took his hand, and led him up to a tavern, where they drank together in high spirits. The Daoist gave him a small medicine pouch and playfully recited: “With nothing to do I came to Yangzhou, / Shouldered my load up to the wine tower. / A medicine pouch for farewell—what more could one ask in a thousand years?” Then he took his leave. Liu opened the pouch and found paper wrapping a gourd; inside were nine pills no bigger than hemp seeds. He took them according to the instructions and at once felt clear in spirit and free of hunger. Later he went to Yixing (modern Yixing in Jiangsu), fell in love with the landscape, and withdrew to fish in seclusion in the lake and hills. Many people saw him; he would say, “I am Doctor Liu.” His Eighteen Songs on the Nomad Flute (Hujia Shiba Pai) has been handed down to later ages.

Chou Chi Biji records that Bai Juyi (Letian) built a thatched hall on Mount Lu. While he was refining elixir, his furnace and crucible failed; the next day an edict arrived appointing him prefect of Zhongzhou—only then did he understand that in this world one cannot have everything at once.

“Zhang Shuo’s feather quilt, Yuan Xian’s ornate cap” pairs two allusions: Zhang Shuo received the immortals’ feather quilt; Yuan Xian wore an ornate cap (Yuan Xian was a disciple of Confucius, known for accepting poverty with equanimity).

Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) says Zhang Dun (also written Zhang Shuo) was from Dongting. The female immortal Du Lanxiang came down into his chamber and taught him the art of lifting the body and flying in transformation; she left a jade tally as proof of ascension to immortality, and ordered a jade maiden to prepare for him a feather quilt, red shoes, and a black cap, saying, “These are vestments of exalted immortals—not something ordinary even in grotto-heavens.” Zhang Dun then soared aloft in broad daylight.

The Zhuangzi (Nanhua Zhenjing) records that Yuan Xian lived in the state of Lu in such poverty that he used mulberry branches for door pivots and a broken jar for a window. Zigong came to see him in a grand carriage drawn by four horses, but the lane was too narrow for the vehicle. Yuan Xian came to the door wearing a birch-bark cap, worn-out shoes, and leaning on a mallow staff. Zigong said, “Alas, sir, how ill you look!” Yuan Xian replied, “I have heard that having no money is called poverty, while studying the Dao yet failing to live by it is called illness. I am poor now, not ill.” Zigong hesitated, unsure whether to advance or withdraw, his face showing shame. Yuan Xian smiled and said, “Currying favor with the world in one’s conduct, forming factions and friendships for gain, studying to show off before others, teaching to profit oneself, borrowing the name of benevolence and righteousness while hiding wickedness, and fussing over carriage and trappings—I have never been willing to do such things.”

“The phrase ‘You Yue refusing grain, Zhong Du resisting cold’ refers to Sun Youyue’s ability to live without the five grains and Wang Zhongdu’s ability to endure heat and cold.” The Biographies of Eminent Daoists (Gaodao Zhuan) states that Sun Youyue, styled Yingda, once ate lingzhi and thereafter did not eat the five grains; he also devoted himself to taking the Guxian Pill (a elixir for immortality), his complexion clear and alert, growing more youthful with age. The Biographies of Immortals of the Wang Clan (Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan) records that Wang Zhongdu met the True Person of Taibai and received the Rainbow Elixir (Hong Dan); he could withstand heat and cold and had already lived more than two hundred years. In winter he wore a single garment and followed the emperor in a four-horse carriage racing around Kunming Pool; the emperor in fox fur still felt cold, while Zhongdu’s expression did not change and steam rose from his back. In midsummer he stood in the sun with ten braziers placed around him; he did not speak of heat and did not sweat. Later he too ascended as an immortal. “Sun Bo turning into fire, Tan Qiao entering water” refers to the immortal arts of Sun Bo, who could manifest fire, and Tan Qiao, who could pass through water.

Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records that Sun Bo was from Hedong (in the region of present-day Shanxi). Gifted with refined literary talent, he excelled at prose, composed a hundred poems, and could recite hundreds of thousands of characters of scripture. In his later years he studied the Dao and practiced the arcane arts associated with the Mozi tradition. He could make plants, stone, and metal emit firelight bright enough to illuminate several li, and could turn his own body into flame. Once, while traveling, he met palace envoys; several hundred attendants in their company were not burned. Patients whom he guided all recovered. He later refined a divine elixir and departed as an immortal.

Xuxian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) says that Tan Qiao, styled Shengshu, was widely read and had an extraordinary memory. He wandered famous mountains, practiced bigu (abstaining from grain) to nourish qi, and took his pleasure in wine. He later went to Mount Heng (Nanyue), succeeded in refining the elixir, could enter water without wetting himself and fire without being scorched, and could change his bodily form and hide from sight.

“Dingci rinses the intestines; Bao Zhu knocks the teeth” refers to the marvels of Tu Dingci and Bao Zhu. In mid-spring, when people took dispersing medicines, Tu Dingci would go to a shallow stream, lean over with his body exposed, and let water enter through the seven orifices—this was called “rinsing the intestines” (shu chang). One day he left the world while seated; his family wept around him, but he revived and said that sitting to depart would make burial awkward. When he had finished speaking, he transformed away; after several nights his complexion was as if he were still alive. At burial the coffin was very light; those who understood took this for shijie (corpse liberation—in Daoism the spirit ascends while the bodily shell remains).

The account of Bao Zhu “knocking the teeth” is shorter. It preserves the same kind of shijie lore: he revived after death, gave instructions for what followed, his color remained lifelike, and the coffin was light.

Bao Zhu never properly mastered the study of Daoist methods and arts. At forty he contracted a facial wind disorder: his mouth and eyes were twisted, and his upper and lower teeth struck together without pause, day and night. Even so, he lived to one hundred twenty-seven. Later, in bitter cold while crossing a great body of water, he fell into the Changshou River and drowned. The Northern Emperor (lord of the netherworld) sent baleful ghosts, the Day-Wandering Spirit, and netherworld envoys to seize him, yet those spirits dared not approach. When a ghost official asked why, a heavenly baleful spirit answered: This man often used magical arts to restrain us. He habitually clenched his teeth, making a sound like the heavenly drum, to rouse the gods within his body so that spirit and qi would not disperse and ghostly qi would not dare enter—thus we had no chance to take his life. Had Bao Zhu not forded the river in water, his years might have surpassed a thousand. On that occasion, the cold was so severe that as he walked on ice his mouth froze stiff and he could not clench his teeth; the ghosts then took advantage of his drowning to succeed. If even someone whose teeth chattered together automatically because of wind disease could ward off death and drive back baleful ghosts, how much more could a Daoist who truly clenched the teeth, sounded the heavenly drum, and gathered the body’s gods?

Spirit Glue can mend a broken bowstring; the divine immortal fungus can restore the dead to life.

Immortal Biographies: Supplemental Accounts records: Emperor Wu of Han toured the northern sea and offered sacrifice at Mount Dan. The Queen Mother of the West sent an envoy bearing four ounces of Spirit Glue. The emperor had it placed in the outer treasury, not knowing its wondrous use. One day, while hunting tigers in the Hualin Park, his crossbow string snapped. The envoy asked to take a little of the glue, moistened it with saliva, and joined the string. Once repaired, several strong men pulled the string all day without its coming apart; the emperor was greatly astonished. This glue came from the legendary isle of Fenlinzhou (Phoenix-and-Qilin Continent). It was prepared by decocting together phoenix beak and qilin horn, and was called Gathered-String Glue.

The Guangyijia (Collection of Broad Strange Tales) records that Xu Fu, style name Junfang, was a man whose birthplace is unknown. In the First Emperor of Qin’s parks, the unjustly dead often lay in the roads; crows would cover their faces with grass, and the dead at once revived. Officials reported this, and the emperor sent men to seek the plant and questioned Master Guigu (the hermit and master of stratagem and numerology). The master said it was the grass of immortality from Zuzhou, a legendary immortal isle in the Eastern Sea, growing in the jade fields of the immortals and also called the spirit-nourishing fungus; its leaves resembled wild rice, and one stalk could revive a thousand people. The emperor then sent Xu Fu with three thousand boys and three thousand girls aboard tower ships (large ships with decks) to cross the sea, find Zuzhou, and gather the fungus. Xu Fu never returned.

“Xu Deng, a woman; Qiu Zeng, a man” serves as the heading for the next two entries. The Jin History says Xu Deng was from Min (Fujian), originally a woman who transformed into a man. He possessed the Way’s arts and could impose jinzhi (binding control): making people sit unable to rise, stopping water from flowing, and forcing tigers and wolves to lie flat. He and Zhao Bing were companions beyond the world (fangwai you, fellow seekers outside mundane life), cultivating the Way together until they perfected it and ascended as immortals.

The Lingbao Benxing Jing (Scripture of the Original Nature of the Numinous Treasure) says that in the Northern Chamber there was a diligent worthy named Wang Fudu; his daughter Aqiu Zeng was sixteen. She bathed in scented water in a sealed room, saw golden light arrive, suspected something extraordinary, left the purified chamber and climbed high, and beheld the radiance of perfected immortals and numinous spirits. Qiu Zeng bowed, gave her name, and said: “Now that I have seen the Heavenly Worth, I wish to turn my female body into a man’s.” In an instant her form had become a man’s. Yuanshi Tianzun (one of the highest deities in Daoism) at once appointed the Lord of the Southern Pole as Qiu Zeng’s master, conferred upon him true writs (Daoist scriptures and registers), and assigned golden lads and jade maidens. The Worth told Qiu Zeng: “You take the Lord of the Southern Pole as master—is that not exalted? When merit is full and virtue complete, you will naturally be raised to the utmost truth, leap beyond the three realms, swiftly tread the nine mists, and attend banquets before Taishang (the Supreme).”

“Cai Jing through a dog hole, Song Qing in a chicken coop” is a shorthand for two immortal feats: when Cai Jing underwent shijie (corpse liberation—casting off the body while the spirit departs for immortality, leaving a corpse or husk behind), he passed through as swiftly as through a dog hole; in Song Qing’s household, a chicken coop housed a ninth-generation ancestor.

Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan (Biography of Immortals by the Wang Clan) records that the True King Wang Jun, styled Fangping, was traveling on Kuocang Mountain when he passed the home of the Daoist layman Cai Jing. Wang Fangping saw that Cai’s bone structure suited the Way and went to deliver him, saying: You were meant to transcend the world as an immortal and fill a post among the immortals, but in youth you did not understand the Way—you had too little qi and too much flesh—so you could only undergo shijie. That method is accomplished in an instant, like passing through a dog hole. With that he left. Cai Jing suddenly felt his body burn like fire and wanted to douse himself with water; the whole family poured water on him, as on something charred. Within three days he wasted away to little more than a skeleton, then went indoors, covered himself with a quilt, and soon the corpse was gone. When they looked at the shape under the cover, head and feet were all there, like a cicada’s shed shell.

Dong Wei Zhi records that Li Shouzhong, as Hanlin Academician, was sent on a mission to the south and, on reaching the border of Qiongzhou, met an old man who gave his name as Yang Xiaju, eighty-one years old, and invited Shouzhong to his home. Shouzhong met his father Yang Shulian, one hundred twenty-two, and his grandfather Yang Songqing, one hundred ninety-five. As they talked, a small child in the chicken coop (the hens’ nest) poked his head out and looked down. Songqing said: This is our ninth-generation ancestor. For generations he has neither spoken nor eaten or drunk; no one knows his exact age. On the first and fifteenth of each month they take him down and the descendants line up to pay homage—that is all.

“Liang Xu with penetrating vision, Li Yuan dining on harmony” summarizes two immortal stories: Liang Xu was famed for cheshi (penetrating sight—seeing clearly and through to the hidden), Li Yuan for canhe (partaking of harmonious qi to nourish life).

Baopuzi records the Daoist Liang Xu, of unknown origin. He heard that “red areca” could ward off aging and restore youth, and let one see ghosts clearly at night. Liang Xu first took it at seventy and became even more youthful. At one hundred forty he could walk as fast as a galloping horse; later he withdrew to Mount Qingyun.

Record of Immortal Transmissions Gathered (Xian Chuan Shi Yi) records that Li Ziyuan lived in a stone chamber on Lishang Mountain, studying alchemy scriptures and devoting himself to the Dao. Suddenly an immortal descended riding a goat and transmitted to him oral formulas for practices such as qi ingestion and saihe harmonization. He cultivated according to these instructions for several years, then ascended as an immortal in broad daylight. The mountain where he had lived is what Daoism calls the “Tenth Transformation”—one of the cave-heavens and blessed lands (dongtian fudi). At its foot flows the Mian River; on the rocks in the mountains many footprints of divine goats remain.

“Xun Huan rides a crane; Ruan Qiong smashes the ao” tells two uncanny tales. Records of the Marvelous (Sui Yi Ji) relates that when Xun Huan visited the Yellow Crane Tower in Jiangxia, he saw something drifting from the southwest—it was an immortal riding a crane, clad in feather garments and rainbow robes; host and guest conversed happily. Before long the immortal took leave, mounted the crane, soared into the sky, and vanished into the distance.

Idle Talk of the Yu Region (Yu Ren Xian Hua) records that Master Zhao was skilled at flying talismans (feifu)—Daoist fu and lu spellcraft—to save people. A commoner named Ruan Qiong had a daughter possessed by a baleful spirit. Her parents sought a cure; treatment required first knowing the spirit’s name, so Ruan Qiong asked Master Zhao for help. The master said there was no need to go in person: placing the talisman on door and window would suffice. Ruan Qiong affixed it to the door; at the first watch that night there was a thunderous crash as of something colliding. He lit a candle and saw an enormous creature—the original text calls it “hao,” evidently the spirit’s true form—writhing on the ground; in an instant it was dead and the talisman had vanished. Ruan Qiong smashed its head and threw it into a ravine, and his daughter recovered at once.

“Knight-errant brandishes sword; Lian Zhen holds spear” serves as a laudatory caption for the couplet. Miscellaneous Notes from the Northern Dream (Bei Meng Suo Yan) records that the Daoist Luo Shaowei once lodged at the Ziyang Abbey on Mount Mao; a Mr. Ding, a xiucai, shared the pharmacy quarters with him, then disappeared without trace. These anecdotes mostly record immortal lore, spirit marvels, and talismanic exorcism.

At the end of juan 16 of the San Dong Qun Xian Lu (Collection of Immortals of the Three Caverns), a Daoist hagiographical anthology, it is recorded on the authority of the Beimeng Suoyan (Miscellany of Northern Dreams): the Daoist Luo Shaowei once lodged at Ziyang Abbey on Mount Mao; a xiucai named Ding was also staying at the pharmacy hall. One winter night snow fell heavily; one or two fellow Daoists sat around the brazier, longing for rich meat and fine wine. Ding said, “There is nothing hard about getting such things.” He opened the door, swept his sleeve, and went out. Around midnight he returned through the snow carrying a silver wine vessel and a cooked leg of mutton, saying they came from the kitchen of the military governor of Zhe. The others were both startled and amused; he cast his sword into the air and danced, leaping away, and by dawn no one knew where he had gone. Later the Daoist returned the silver vessel to the local county office.

According to the Yishi, when Pei Linggong was young a guard told him, “Your fate is tied to General Lian Zhen (a deity and star-general honored in Daoism); you should offer him clear wine in sacrifice, and he will aid you.” From then on Pei diligently kept up the rite without slackening. When he became chief minister, affairs piled up and he forgot the offerings. Later a spirit-medium said, “General Lian Zhen has sent me with a message: you are too cold-hearted—you have forgotten me entirely. The general is angry; why does the lord not go and beg pardon?” Pei bathed, performed the sacrifice, and saw a golden-armored figure holding a halberd, more than three zhang tall, facing north. Pei was terrified and from then on observed the rite again as before.

Juan 17 of the San Dong Qun Xian Lu was compiled by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoist Chen Baoguang; among its section titles are “Tian Xuan’s Block of Stone” and “Yang’s Cherished Bamboo Splinter.” According to the Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals), Tian Xuan lived in seclusion on Heming Shan (a famed Daoist mountain in Sichuan). He met an immortal in white robes who gave him a stone and said, “If you swallow this stone, you will never hunger.” Tian Xuan ate it, attained the Way, entered the mountains, and was never seen again.

The Xuxian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) records that Yang Qing passed the jinshi examination and was appointed magistrate of Le’an in Taizhou; he later resigned his office and entered the mountains. In the hills he met someone dressed in red who called himself Lingying and led him into a cave, where he obtained lingzhi (spirit mushroom) to consume. Lingying said he had the karmic affinity to become an immortal and took him further to meet Lord Mao (Mao Ying, a Daoist immortal). Lord Mao said Yang Qing had the bones suited to immortality but was not yet able to ascend; he was fit to cultivate in the human world, and so led him out of the cave-palace. After that Yang Qing ceased eating and drinking; his body became light and agile, and when he moved his joints they made a sound like bamboo clappers striking; he could drink three sheng of wine and walk three hundred li in a day.

“Just styled Tianmen, also numbered Guigu” can be understood as: Wang Gang styled himself Tianmenzi (Master of the Heavenly Gate) and also bore the epithet associated with Guigu (the Ghost Valley).

The Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals of the Wang Clan) records that Wang Gang styled himself Tianmenzi and was versed in methods of nourishing and cultivating life. In the scripture he composed he says: Yang is born at yin (the yin position), the pure essence of wood; yin is born at shen (the shen position), the pure essence of metal. When wood is cast into metal, nothing escapes injury. When women use rouge and powder, they imitate the whiteness of metal. Therefore the perfected person (zhenren) attends to subtle principle and scrutinizes waxing and waning: I walk the Azure Dragon (qinglong), they walk the White Tiger (baihu); they lead with the Vermilion Bird (zhuque), I follow with the Black Tortoise (xuanwu)—this is the path to immortality. Tianmenzi cultivated this way, lived to one hundred eighty years with a face like a child’s, and now has ascended to Xuanyu (the mysterious isle, an immortal realm) as a perfected person.

It also records that Wang Fu studied the Dao under Lord Lao (Laozi); his teaching likewise uses images such as “entering the tiger” and the Vermillion Bird in front and Black Tortoise behind to speak of cultivation, converging on the path of immortality.

Wang Fu studied the Dao under Laojun (Lord Lao, i.e., Laozi). He entered Shiliang Mountain to ingest medicinal elixirs, and his face remained as youthful as a child’s. Later he moved to Guiyang Mountain and styled himself Souguzi (Gathering-Grain Master). At that time Su Qin and Zhang Yi came to this master to study. Wang Fu said, “It is easy to hear of the Dao; truly cultivating the Dao is hard.” After three years of study the two took their leave. Wang Fu said, “You rush after fame and office amid chariots and horses, and your names shine for a time. Have you ever seen the trees by the river? Travelers and horses break their branches; waves wash their roots—this comes from where they stand. Have you ever seen the trees planted on Mount Song and hung on Mount Hua’s north face? Their branches brush the azure clouds; they suffer no fear of axe and saw. Dark foxes and red leopards hide beneath them; patterned crows and cinnabar phoenixes roost on the ridges—this too comes from where they stand. Pitiful! You two slight long life like Wang Ziqiao and Chisongzi, yet prize momentary splendor. What a waste.”

The Lord of You Nanchang had formerly served as Spirit Gate Marquis of the Southern Gate of the Northern Emperor’s Southern Vermilion Yang (a post in the celestial bureaucracy). He was later transferred to direct officer of the Gaoming Bureau. He had once been dismissed over the matter of Liu Qingsun; now his office was about to be restored.

Guo Ma, courtesy name Yuanyu, showed transcendent integrity from youth. He lived in seclusion at Linsong Penggu, dwelling in a cave he had carved, and ate qiao fruit until his body grew light. Zhang Tianxi sent the envoy Meng Gongming with credentials, a carriage with rush wheels and black cover (the carriage of honor for summoning worthies), and dark-red silk as ritual gifts to summon him. When Meng Gongming reached the mountain, Guo Ma pointed at flying wild geese and said, “How can such birds be shut in a cage?” He fled far away and refused to serve. Meng Gongming detained his disciples. Guo Ma sighed and said, “I shunned stipend, not guilt—how can living in reclusion and upholding righteousness implicate my disciples?” So he left the mountain and answered the summons.

Gao Yu moored at Zhaotan. At night he peeped and saw three large lotus leaves on the pool, with three beautiful women seated on them, speaking to one another of “Zhaotan has no bottom” and “Juzhou,” and the like. A mountain elder wrote fu talismans; a Daoist priest drew talisman patterns.

Legend (Chuanqi) records: Gao Yu moored his boat at the edge of Zhaotan Pool. At night he saw three large lotus leaves on the water’s surface, with three beautiful women seated on them, saying to one another: “Zhaotan is so deep you cannot see the bottom, while Juzhou floats on the water—that is truly so.” Each spoke of what she cultivated: one Buddhism, one the Dao, one Confucian learning. They also foretold what food each would receive the next day, saying each would get what matched her path. At dawn, indeed a monk drowned midstream while crossing; a Daoist priest and a scholar also drowned—within less than an hour all three had perished. Before long a boat brought a “Shi” (a figure of the Celestial Master type from Qiyang Mountain). Gao Yu told him what had happened. The Shi flew into a rage: “How dare they!” He took a cinnabar brush, wrote a fulu (talisman), and ordered a disciple to carry it to the bottom of the pool. The disciple walked as if on level ground and saw outside a great stone cave three white pigs (the original reads “three white Zhu”). When the talisman arrived, they turned into three women in white who said: “We report to the Celestial Master—grant us three days to move away.” The Shi angrily replied: “You must leave tomorrow, or I will send the Liuding divine generals (Daoist guardian spirit warriors) with swords to execute you.” The next day black clouds and wind and rain came, and three great fish swam upstream against the current and left.

In Search of the Supernatural (Soushen ji) records: Xu Mao was a man of Wu who loved huangbai shu (the art of transmuting base metals into gold and silver through alchemy). One day he met a Daoist who hung a painted fan on the wall showing a medicine furnace and a boy. The Daoist called the boy; the boy knelt before the furnace, the painted fan swayed again and again, the furnace fire blazed, and before long the elixir was complete. The Daoist said: “Huangbai shu is a way of commanding the numbers by which Heaven and Earth create and transform; without accumulating merit and good deeds it cannot be obtained.” He also told Xu Mao: “In fifty years come find me on Maoshan (a famous Daoist mountain).” Then the Daoist vanished without trace.

“Wu Gang hewing the moon, Cai Dan hoeing lingzhi (spirit fungus)” refers to the immortal lore of Wu Gang chopping the cassia in the moon and Cai Dan cultivating sacred fungus.

Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang (Youyang zazu) records: Old tradition says there is a cassia tree in the moon, a hundred zhang high, and beneath it someone chops it; the wound from the axe closes at once; the man’s surname is Wu and his given name Gang, and he failed while studying immortality. Others say the cassia in the moon is the shadow of trees on earth, and empty places are the shadow of water—that originally there is nothing; this view is closer to reason.

The Baopozi records: Cai Dan loved cultivating the Dao. He abandoned home and livelihood to practice in the mountains, but could not endure the hardship there and returned home. He deceived his family, saying: “I have already become an earthly immortal, but my rank is low; I tend dragons for Taishang Laojun (the Supreme Elder Lord). Because I gambled with the immortal Xin and lost a five-colored speckled dragon, I was demoted to hoe spirit fungus on Kunlun Mountain.”

The two lines “Junping’s divination; Wangzhi’s reputation as shaman-healer” serve as a heading and introduce the two stories below.

Immortal Traditions Collated records: Yan Zun, courtesy name Junping, was a man of Chengdu in Shu commandery. He devoted himself to Huang-Lao learning, read widely, and regularly made his living by divination. He urged people’s children to be filial, urged younger brothers to respect elder brothers, and urged subjects to be loyal. Yan Zun was skilled at writing. Following the intent of Laozi and Zhuangzi, he wrote ten scrolls titled Zhigui (Guiding Return). Later his whole household ascended to immortality, and even their residence and pavilion flew away with them.

Biographies of Eminent Recluses records: In the Han dynasty, Anqiu Wangzhi, courtesy name Zhongdu, was a native of Changling. In youth he studied the Laozi, lived in quiet detachment, and sought no office; people of the time called him “Elder Anqiu.” Emperor Cheng of Han heard of his fame and wished to summon him, but Wangzhi declined and would not appear, and only practiced as a shaman-healer among the people.

“Jie Yu ate the fruit of trees; Qiu Sheng ate pine resin” is a heading that introduces the two stories below.

The Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) records: Jie Yu was a man of Chu who loved nurturing life. He ate the fruit of trees and grasses, cultivated the Dao on Mount Emei, and people saw him generation after generation for several hundred years. Liu Xiang composed an encomium for him, saying: Jie Yu delighted in the Dao, nourished his nature and hid his light. When he mocked Confucius, he spoke of the phoenix’s decline. He took in primordial Qi to harmonize, and kept his mind subtle. He walked high on numinous peaks and long whistled on Emei.

It also records: Qiu Sheng’s origin is unknown. In the time of King Tang of Shang he worked as a carpenter. He was already three hundred years old, yet his appearance grew even more robust. Everyone knew he was long-lived and honored him as a master; they only saw that he constantly ate pine resin.

The eight characters “Cao Can healed a crane; Ling Xu rode a turtle” are a heading-like fragment, referring respectively to the immortal anecdotes of Cao Can curing a crane and Ling Xu traveling mounted on a turtle. The original text preserves only these eight characters; there is no main narrative to translate.

According to Records of Marvels, Qiang Nian was already advanced in years, yet his complexion and vigor were unusually robust. People all knew him for long life and sought him as a teacher; he was said to eat nothing but pine resin in his daily life. Pine resin was a common substance in the ancient practice of ingesting medicines for health and longevity.

“The story that Cao Shen nursed a crane and Ling Xu rode a turtle” means this: Cao Shen (also written Qiang Shen) served his mother with exceptional filial devotion. When a crane was struck by an arrow, he took it in, treated its wound, and released it after it healed. Later, a male and female crane came at night and brought a bright moon pearl in gratitude. “Ling Xu riding a turtle” refers to the immortal trace of Ling Xu using a turtle as his mount.

Biographies of Eminent Daoists records that Yu Lingdu lived on Mount Heng for more than ten years. He met a divine being who transmitted to him a technique called the “Wind-Returning Guard.” When he practiced it as instructed, in seated meditation he could see events throughout the world as clearly as if they were in the palm of his hand. He usually kept himself hidden and did not display extraordinary powers to startle the world, so no one understood who he truly was. He kept a large spiritual beast called Yuandian; its body was four or five feet across, and those who saw it were much afraid. One day the master rode Yuandian into Jiunong Mountain and did not come out again; woodcutters sometimes still caught sight of him.

“Liu Congshan borrowed a horse; Zhu Chong returned the calf.” Liu Congshan, styled Shuntian, became a disciple of the Daoist Wang Taihe at Jianlong Abbey during the Xiangfu era. In the first month of the third year of the Zhihe reign, Emperor Renzong of Song fell gravely ill. Liu Congshan was summoned to the Great Celebration Hall to present a memorial petition (a formal report submitted to the celestial bureaucracy). The chief ministers were ordered to perform the kneeling and prostration rites on his behalf. When the rite was finished, the ministers asked, “Has the memorial been delivered?” Liu replied, “It has been delivered.” At that time the emperor’s spirit had already left the body for some time, yet suddenly his mind cleared again. He sent word asking what deity General Ge was, and Liu Congshan answered, “Below the Three Celestial Gates there is a spirit called General Ge.” The emperor then ordered an altar set up at once for offerings. The next day he recovered. He told those around him, “Last night I reached the Celestial Gate. General Ge said the emperor was not yet due to come and urgently borrowed a horse to send me back—then I woke.” “Zhu Chong returning the calf” literally refers to Zhu Chong giving back a young ox.

Jin Yishi records: Zhu Chong, courtesy name Jurong, showed exceptional virtue from youth—quiet in temperament, few desires, fond of learning though his family was poor, and he often made his living by farming. A neighbor lost a calf and mistakenly took Zhu Chong’s calf; later, when the neighbor found their own calf in the woods, they were deeply ashamed and returned Zhu Chong’s calf, but Zhu Chong refused to accept it. Whenever imperial summons arrived, he fled into the deep mountains; people of the time compared him to recluses such as Liang Hong and Guan Ning.

“Dong Xiantao draws a bed on the ground; Wang Yao paints a prison” is the headline for the two immortal tales below. Xianzhuan Shiyi (Collected Remains of Immortal Biographies) says: Immortal Dong Xiantao begged for wine and walked singing (treading the beat as he sang), traveling throughout the realm; in the Da Zhong era of Tang he often stayed in Hezhong Prefecture (in today’s Yongji area, Shanxi). If shopkeepers in the market found Master Dong drunk and sleeping by their door, their goods sold out at once—everyone marveled at the immortal way. Sometimes he feigned madness and sang to himself: “Lotus silk weaves robes in endless layers—the immortal way’s intent runs deep.” In heavy snow he drew a bed on the ground with his staff and slept in it; when asked if he was cold, he answered: “Deep mountains, pines and trees—I do not fear snow stretching far.” He spoke in polished verse like this most of the time. There are also legends that he resembled Zhu Chong: hearing an imperial summons, he fled into the mountains, and people compared him to Liang Hong and Guan Ning.

Wangshi Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Wang’s Immortals) says: Wang Yao, courtesy name Boliao, was a native of Poyang and highly skilled at healing—no illness he could not cure. He did not perform sacrifices, nor use talisman water (fu lu dissolved in water) or acupuncture and drugs; when treating illness he only spread an eight-foot cloth on the ground and sat on it, neither drinking nor eating, and in a moment the patient recovered and he rose and left. When evil spirits caused trouble, Wang Yao would draw a prison on the ground, summon them, and their true forms appeared in the prison—foxes, snakes, and the like—then he beheaded or burned them upside down, and the patient recovered at once.

“Wang Guo despises the dusty world; Yuan Jian cuts off from the vulgar” means Wang Guo turned away from the mundane world, and Yuan Jian transcended ordinary attachments.

Wang's Immortal Biographies records: Wang Guo was a worthy man of the Chu region. Weary of the turbid secular world, he treated fame and profit as filthy as rank offal. He retired to the mountains and forests, quieted his mind, and withdrew from worldly pursuits; one day he ascended as an immortal riding the clouds.

Record of True Realms records: In the Tang, the Daoist liturgical master Master Bai, given name Yuanjian, style name unknown, was a native of Chengdu in Xichuan. In the year when Emperor Ming of Tang (Xuanzong) fled the turmoil and entered Shu, he received special imperial permission to be ordained and entered the Way, residing at Shanghuang Abbey. He resolved to transcend the dust of the world and wander freely as if drifting on the wind. After many years he surveyed land and mountains for suitable places and traced the footsteps of former sages who had hidden away; he finally settled at Tianzhu Abbey in Yuhang and passed away as an immortal in the Yuanhe era.

“Ziming turns tile to gold; Lituo turns stone to jade” means that Zhang Ziming could turn tile into gold, and Li Tuo could turn stone into jade.

Biography of the Celestial Master records: Zhang Ci, style name Ziming, was the sixteenth-generation descendant of the Celestial Master (Tianshi). He inherited the True Person’s lineage and each year on the Three Origins days (upper, middle, and lower yuan) transmitted the secret registers (milu) of each rank. He mastered Daoist techniques and could turn tile into gold; sometimes when tile was cast into water it would burst into flame, and sometimes it turned back into tile again. Later he dissolved his body and ascended; celestial music could still be heard in the sky.

Ye Ren Xian Hua (Idle Talk of the Recluse) records: On Changli Mountain in Han Prefecture there lived the perfected Li Tu, who from the early Western Zhou refined shuiyu (a mineral drug material) and the Nine Splendor Elixir (jiuhua dan) on that mountain. He went back and forth many times over more than eight hundred years, and people called him “Li the Eight-Hundred.” When the elixir was complete, he could turn stone into jade and sand into pearls; even today, after rain, people often pick up genuine pearls in five colors. In the Jianwu era of the Eastern Han, after taking the elixir he ascended heaven riding a dragon; the place where he refined the medicine still survives. The cliff face, pressed by the fumes of the drug, all shows a gold-and-jade luster, unusually bright. One stretch more than a foot long looks like a human footprint. Later a Buddhist monastery was built here, and the monks fancifully said it was where Kashyapa (a disciple of the Buddha) came to receive him—a tale so old everyone repeats it. In fact it was where the perfected Li Tu refined shuiyu.

“Yuanshua scolds ghosts; the immortal elder whips the shaman.” Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) records: The Daoist Zhang Yuanhua—no one knows whence he came. One day a guest invited him to a wine shop; Yuanhua declined, saying he did not drink. The guest pressed him to eat meat, and he again refused, citing the ritual registers and talismans (falu) he wore as a practitioner. The guest grew somewhat angry. Yuanhua looked closely and knew the other was not human. He said, “Please go back first and wait for me a little.” He then led him with his sword to the outskirts, ordered him to sit, and cut him down. It turned out to be a ghost: red hair and a blue face, in form rather like a …