《历世真仙体道通鉴后集》Vol. 2

In ancient times, someone came to this island. The Perfected One, King Qingxu, once accompanied Lord Wang of Xicheng to the island. They first went to the Gate of Xiandu to pay their respects to the Dao Lord who presided over the immortals. The Dao Lord ordered attendants to bring the Baotai, the green-rolled cloak, and the jade crest. He also brought out the hidden book of dragon script and the True Scripture of the Eight Spirits, and bestowed them on the Perfected One Qingxu.

Wang Miaoxiang

The female immortal Wang Miaoxiang entered the Dao when she was young and lived at the Huangting Abbey on Mount Cangwu. She ate no grain, cultivated through breath absorption, and built her dwelling beside the Xuan River. More than fifty years passed, yet she still looked like a young woman of eighteen or nineteen. She often recited the Scripture of the Yellow Court, with undivided attention, and so came into communion with the spirits.

One day, a powerful fragrance suddenly filled the air. Auspicious clouds covered the courtyard, heavenly music resounded through the sky, and radiance illuminated the altar and halls. Thousands upon thousands of chariots and mounted attendants descended from the heavens, their banners and ceremonial standards streaming in the wind. An immortal’s crane-drawn canopy accompanied them, and a procession led by nine dragons arrived before the altar. An immortal official, clad in feathered robes, wearing a jeweled crown and sword, and shod in boots, entered the hall and took his seat. Five-colored light shone from his body. Miaoxiang stepped forward to pay her respects.

The immortal official said to Miaoxiang, “I am Emperor Shun of the ancient Youyu clan. After I grew weary from governing the myriad states, I came to this mountain to cultivate the Dao. I have often wished to guide those who came after me, so that they might understand the Great Dao, but in the world there has never been a suitable person to teach. The Great Dao is within the human heart, not in external things; it is within you yourself, not in anyone else. The Mystical Scripture says: ‘When you cultivate the Dao within yourself, your De is real.’

“Recently, the Earth Bureau reported that you have lived in this mountain for more than thirty years, steadfast and constant, keeping to the Dao without deviation, focused in your thoughts, and observing the precepts. If you still cannot attain anything after this, then it would mean the Dao had abandoned humanity. The Mystical Scripture says: ‘Always help all beings through acts of goodness; thus, nothing is left abandoned.’ The Great Dao extends its grace widely, hoping that all things may flourish and every person may be delivered. Yet people in the world have scant fortune and little Dao-energy. They cannot persist in focused and diligent cultivation for long; when they see no response from their practice, they stop halfway. In this way, people abandon the Dao themselves; it is not the Dao that abandons them.

“Your devotion and sincerity, your willingness to seek realization through many lifetimes, and your never flagging or turning back are truly deserving of compassion. In the past, I met the Most High Lord Lao and heard him expound the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue. This scripture explains the principles of governing a state, cultivating oneself, delivering people, and transmitting the teachings. Its ideas reach through Heaven and Earth and all things. It is a guide to educating the people and the foundation of self-cultivation and governance. These principles are difficult to express fully in words.

“People of the world are shallow and deceitful. They mock humility and clear understanding as weakness and cowardice, scorn yielding and self-effacement as foolish incompetence, regard abandoning cleverness born of self-conceit as absurd, and see a realm beyond the doctrines of benevolence and righteousness as a betrayal of the teachings. These are the delusions of people in the declining age. The intention of the Mystical Sage is to return people to simplicity and sincerity, honor the Great Dao, and cast off evil and delusion. Once crooked ways are cleared away, the utmost Dao will appear of its own accord; once a simple and sincere way of life is established, superficiality and rivalry will fade. Then there will be no need for coercive restraints, contrived universal love, displays of cleverness, or feats of ingenuity, and the world will naturally return to harmony. This is the Mystical Sage’s great teaching.

“Following Heaven’s appointed cycle, I came to this place, withdrew from the world, and took charge of this mountain. I often send immortal officials down to teach people the Dao of long life and lasting vision, tranquility, and Wuwei (non-action). The High Sages and Perfected Ones pity the ceaseless passing of calamities, the succession of eras, the waxing and waning of Yin-Yang, and the cycle of life and death. They therefore diligently transmit the teachings and save people, with particular concern for those in the world who seek the Dao. People often seek the Dao intermittently; among ten thousand, scarcely one can truly hold fast with undivided attention. The celestial immortals take pity on ordinary people. They often conceal their identities in the human world, change their appearance, and guide people in ways suited to their circumstances.

“This mountain has nine peaks, each with a palace presided over by a True Official. Beneath the mountain lie precious jade, the five metals, numinous fungi and divine herbs, as well as medicines safeguarded by the Three Heavens and scriptures kept by the Most High. Some are in stone chambers and grotto terraces; others are in cloud-wreathed cliffs and deep valleys. All are under the care of spirits, and there are no poisonous insects or fierce beasts in the mountain. This place can help people pass through the world, nourish life, cultivate the Dao, and become perfected. Since you came to live in the mountain, you have never traveled widely or looked down upon its many peaks, so naturally you do not know these places. Strive in your cultivation. After you have mounted a cloud chariot and traveled through the air, you can examine the beginning and end of the Great Dao from a higher realm.”

Then Emperor Shun ordered Shichen to bestow on Miaoxiang the two scriptures, the Dao and the De, along with the Numinous Text for Preserving the Visage. He then departed. From that time on, Emperor Shun sometimes appeared at Huangting Abbey once a year, and sometimes only once every three or five years. Several years later, Miaoxiang ascended to Heaven in broad daylight. The Daoist abbey where she had lived was later renamed Yingdao Abbey.

Because Emperor Shun had once cultivated the Dao on this mountain, the place came to be called Daozhou. Tradition says that Lord Lao once bestowed the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue on Emperor Shun here. This is also borne out by what Heshanggong said: “I wrote this book, and it has now been one thousand seven hundred years.”

Wang Fengxian, a female immortal, was from Xuanzhou. Her family was poor, and her parents made their living by farming. When she was fourteen, she was working in the fields one day when she suddenly saw more than ten young women dressed in green. They played with her for a long time before leaving. Later, when she returned to the fields, she saw them again. A little over a month later, the young women came to her home at night. They talked and laughed all night, leaving only at daybreak. Sometimes they brought rare fruits and foods unknown in the human world. The Wang family’s rooms were very small, yet even when many visitors came, the house never felt crowded. Her parents grew suspicious and watched in secret, but saw nothing. They also feared that their daughter was being bewitched by spirits and questioned her harshly. Wang Fengxian always evaded them with some other explanation.

From then on, the young women often came to see her during the day as well. They took her on distant excursions to many places, returning only at dusk. Gradually, Wang Fengxian stopped eating and drinking, and she herself felt that what was happening was extraordinary. One day, her parents saw her descend from the tip of a bamboo stalk and land in the courtyard, so they asked her how she had done it. Only then did she explain that she had met female immortals and often traveled with them through the heavens. She could climb up a bamboo stalk and then travel freely from place to place.

The young women also cut Wang Fengxian’s hair short: in front it reached her brows and eyes, while behind it fell to her shoulders. It did not grow again for many years. Her skin was smooth, full, and white as ice and jade; her eyes were bright, and her appearance was extraordinary, like that of a heavenly being. She was intelligent and perceptive, with an exceptional gift for argument. When discussing principles, she often spoke directly to their most subtle points. She once told learned people, “What I encountered was the Dao; what I received was an immortal’s affinity. The women I saw were all female immortals.”

She said that whenever she went to the heavenly palaces, she could see where the high immortals lived. The immortals often wore patterned, embroidered robes, and carried crowns and tablets. They held immortal flowers and numinous plants as they chanted Daoist scriptural passages known as the Dongzhang. Sometimes they climbed the Cloud Gate and the Fields of Zhi, reaching the Jade Palace and Jasper Tower, where they spoke of long life and transcendence of the world. They also walked above the Silver River, crossing distances of countless thousands of miles.

On her first journey to heaven, Wang Fengxian went to the Palace of Great Being. The Celestial Worthy sat in a vast hall, attended and guarded by many perfected immortals, with countless heavenly beings around them. Wang Fengxian went forward to pay her respects. The Celestial Worthy ordered an attendant to give her a cup of jade nectar, then said, “You have the bones of an immortal and, according to your destiny, should become a high immortal. But the cycles of tribulation in the human world have not yet ended. You will be able to return here only after fifty years. Grains damage people’s vital Qi, while plants and fruits consume their years of life. You should abstain from grains and nourish your true nature.” From then on, Wang Fengxian went twenty years without eating. Here, “abstaining from grains” refers to the Daoist practice of avoiding cereal foods and restricting one’s diet to cultivate body and mind.

Wang Fengxian also said, “The Celestial Worthy manifests in heaven and governs all things, like a father to the people of the world. The World-Honored One manifests in the human world and urges people to do good, like a mother to them. The Confucian classics are put into practice in the human world, like an elder brother to its people. People are like infants: they recognize only their mother, without understanding the need to honor their father and elder brother. So it is no surprise that few understand the Dao, and few revere Confucian learning.” The heavenly scenes she described accorded with the Daoist beliefs of her time; they included no images of bodhisattvas, Buddhas, or monks.

The merit paintings made by Wang Fengxian often showed heavenly beings, emperors, and Daoist lords in court robes, paying homage in the celestial court. She titled them “Paying Homage to Heaven.” She traveled through the Huai and Zhejiang regions, and wherever she went, crowds gathered like clouds to see her. She taught men and women only principles such as loyalty and filial piety, integrity, frugality, and careful self-cultivation. For this reason, people far and near held her in high regard. People piled gold, jade, and other valuables before her and made lavish offerings, but she refused them all.

Later, Wang Fengxian lived with two female disciples on Dongting Mountain, then moved to Xiang Mountain in Qiantang. The two disciples tended the incense and built a temple hall of great splendor. They never lacked the resources needed for its construction. Wang Fengxian died at the age of just eighteen, and the Celestial Worthy’s words that she would return to the heavenly palace only after fifty years came to pass.

In ordinary moments, she could sit quietly indoors and see what was happening a thousand miles away. When she gathered her thoughts in meditation, it was as though her spirit traveled above the Nine Heavens. Before her death, cloud-borne cranes appeared many times, and the room filled with a strange fragrance. After she died, her body remained soft and supple, and her skin seemed still to hold the breath of life. Those who knew of the matter believed that she had departed through “corpse liberation,” the Daoist method of shedding the physical body to become an immortal.

Wang was a female immortal and the niece of Chancellor Wang Huizhi. At the time, her father had accompanied officials through the mountain pass on government business. Wang lived with her birth mother, Liu, and her mother, Pei, beneath Guiyan on Yixing Mountain, beside the Daoist temple Dongling Abbey.

From childhood, Wang admired Daoism. She drank no wine, ate no meat or pungent foods, and carried herself with quiet dignity, preferring a peaceful life. Sometimes she took pleasure in playing the zither; at other times, she passed the time writing poems and prose. She recited and studied Daoist scriptures such as the Scripture of the Great Cavern of Perfection, the Scripture for Delivering Humanity, and the Dao De Jing. An unusual fragrance often filled her room. Her parents respected her and were also astonished by her. Wang once said to her mother in private, “The palace of the Cavern has summoned me. It is to appoint me as an immortal official. I cannot refuse; I fear I must travel far away.” At the time, her mother did not understand what she meant.

Not long afterward, Wang fell mildly ill. Pei and Liu both loved her dearly, so they went to Dongling Abbey to pray. That day she felt somewhat better, and she went with them to pay respects before the statues of the deities in the temple. In the courtyard, she burned incense and seemed to be praying for something. When they returned home that evening, she inscribed a poem on a large stone to the right of the door:

“Crossing waters and climbing mountains, I never cease my journey;

Immortals often descend to listen to zither music and verse.

My heart has no longing for the affairs of the mortal world;

I look only toward the horizon, where a pair of immortal cranes flies in.”

That night, Wang suddenly died. At dawn, two immortal cranes perched in a tree in the courtyard. Music sounded in the air, and an unusual fragrance spread across the surrounding fields. People from near and far were astonished and hurried over to see. They carried her body back to her room, but found only her clothes; her body was gone. From then on, her whole family devoted themselves to the Dao, burning incense and practicing its teachings. Young and old alike in the household studied Daoist methods.

A man named Ren Sheng lived in seclusion on Mount Song. One night, a beautiful woman came to his dwelling and left him a poem:

“I once belonged to the Highest Clarity, a realm of Daoist immortals. For an offense, I was banished to wander among the Five Sacred Mountains. Seeing that worldly concerns do not burden you, I have come especially to urge you to learn the Way of becoming an immortal.”

Ren Sheng refused to receive her. Three days later, the woman returned and said, “I am no demon or spirit; my name is listed among the highest immortals. In the unseen order of fate, it is decreed that you and I will become companions.” She gave him another poem:

“Ge Hong had a wife, and even the Queen Mother of the West had a husband. Among immortals, too, there are wondrous companions. What do you say, noble sir?”

Ren Sheng still gave no reply. The woman said, “The young man of Ruan is bewildered and does not understand. How can he express what I feel? Spring sunlight and a bright moon shine upon the sea; I don my colorful crown and depart.”

With that, she left.

Several months later, Ren Sheng fell gravely ill and died. Officials of the underworld escorted him away. On the journey, he saw ceremonial banners and attendants surrounding a green carriage. The woman inside laughed and said, “So this is that bookish fellow from Mount Song, whose life was so short.” She took the document from an official and looked it over. “Now that we have met, I cannot leave him without some kindness.” She asked for a brush and wrote on the document: “Grant him three more years of life.” Ren Sheng bowed in thanks. The official told him, “This is the Primordial Lady of Purple Simplicity, a figure of the highest rank among the celestial officials.” The official escorted Ren Sheng back to the human world. He came back to life and lived for another three years before dying.

This is precisely the kind of account in which a true immortal tests a mortal. Ren Sheng did not stray from the righteous Way, and so he was granted three more years of life.

Zhao Sutai

Zhao Sutai was the daughter of Zhao Xi, the Han dynasty Inspector of Youzhou. Zhao Xi had been virtuous from a young age. He often aided the poor and needy, and once rescued Wang Hui and others from the threat of extermination. He accumulated dozens of hidden deeds of virtue. Zhao Xi himself was able to journey in person to Zhuling, an immortal realm of Daoist tradition, while his son could make his form disappear and roam the celestial grottoes where immortals dwell.

Zhao Sutai lived at Yiqian Palace for four hundred years, yet refused to move away, believing there was nowhere else in the world more delightful. She often went out in ordinary clothes to admire the mountains, rivers, and lakes, content in her own pleasure. “Lady Yiqian” was her title of rank.

Huang Jinghua

Huang Jinghua was the daughter of Huang Qiong, who served as Sikong during the Han dynasty. From childhood, she delighted in the Dao and often practiced important Daoist methods in secret. Later, she became a disciple of Han Zhong, who taught her the elixir formula of Mount Min. After taking the elixir, she was able to enter Yiqian Palace and was invested as Lady Xiechen. She governed the divine women of the Nine Palaces and was also responsible for supervising and instructing them.

The Zhengao records that Huang Qiong was from Jiangxia and had the courtesy name Shiying. During the reign of Emperor Shun of Han, he served as Sikong, Situ, and Taiwei. He died at the age of seventy-nine. His father, Huang Xiang, served as Director of the Imperial Secretariat under Emperors Zhang and He and once saved more than a thousand people. Huang Qiong’s son, Huang Wan, served as Situ and Taiwei and was killed by Li Quan. The records do not make clear whether Huang Jinghua married.

Zhou Yuanzhi

Zhou Yuanzhi was the daughter of Zhou Chang, courtesy name Bochi, who served as Governor of Henan during the Han dynasty. Zhou Chang was from Ancheng in Runan. He liked to do good deeds in secret, performing many acts of kindness without letting others know. He once served as Governor of Henan. During a severe drought, he collected and buried the remains of more than ten thousand travelers who had died near Luoyang, built a communal tomb for them, and offered rites to console them. Rain soon fell in good time, and the crops were abundant. Most of the good deeds he performed throughout his life were of this kind, done without seeking recognition.

Because Zhou Chang practiced goodness in secret, the Most High ordered Zhou Yuanzhi to receive instruction at the Southern Palace. She thereby attained immortality and now serves in a cave as Attendant Gentleman Mingchen. Yuanzhi also delighted in Daoist arts from childhood and took poria for thirty years. Later she met Shi Changsheng, who taught her the practice of “transformation and concealment,” the arts of changing form and hiding oneself. This practice was considered a superior method of corpse liberation. In Daoist tradition, corpse liberation is a way for cultivators to leave their mortal bodies and become immortals.

Zhou Chang was a cousin of Zhou Jia and was kindhearted and compassionate by nature. During the reign of a certain emperor, he served as Governor of Henan. In the summer of the second year of Yonghe, a drought struck, and prolonged prayers for rain brought no response. He then collected and buried more than ten thousand remains, after which heavy rain fell at once. He later rose to the office of Guanglu Xun. The account above comes from the Zhengao.

Zhang Taozhi

Zhang Taozhi was the mother of Zhu Yu Jiling, a Commandant of the Metropolitan Area during the Han dynasty, and was from Pei County. Zhu Yu was later executed together with Chen Fan. Zhang Taozhi became known for accumulating hidden virtue over many years and eventually rose to the post of Gentleman Attendant at Mingchen. This account comes from the Zhengao.

A note says that Zhu Yu was from Pei County and was one of the “Eight Worthies” during the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling. He was later classed among the partisans and died in prison alongside Li Ying, Du Mi, and others; he was not executed at the same time as Chen Fan.

Fu Lihe

Fu Lihe was the daughter of Fu Jian, an Attendant-in-Ordinary and nephew of Emperor Huan of the Han, and was from Beidi. Her entire family followed Buddhism. She often swept and cleaned before Buddhist images, praying with deep devotion and hoping to cultivate herself into an immortal. She regularly consumed the essence associated with the Five Planets, and radiance began to shine from her body. In the end, she attained the Dao and became an immortal. She was skilled at singing songs of Kongtong. Whenever she began to sing, birds would dance together, then fly in flocks to gather before her and listen. Her story shows how sincere devotion brought a response and enabled her to attain the Dao. She lived for many years at Yiqian Palace and later oversaw the grotto-heaven of Hanzhentai, where immortals dwelt.

Zhang Weizi

Zhang Weizi was the daughter of Zhang Qing, a Director of Works during the reign of Emperor Zhao of the Han. Her place of origin is unknown. She took an early interest in Daoist arts and later departed through corpse liberation, a Daoist transformation in which the body is shed and the person ascends to immortality. She first lived at Yiqian Palace and later oversaw the grotto-heaven of Huayang Hanzhentai.

Zhang Weizi said that her teacher was Chunwen Si, the Jade Consort of Donghua from the Eastern Sea, who taught her the method of consuming mist. She explained that mist is the essence of water and fire in mountains and marshes, as well as the vital energy that fills metal and stone. By consuming mist over a long period, one can disperse the body, enter the void, and become one with the clouds. Zhang Weizi practiced this method and thereby attained the Dao and became an immortal.

The Zhengao says that Wenqi was the younger sister of Qingtong. Zhang Weizi devoted herself to cultivation in a quiet dwelling and, through sincere intent, connected with the spirits. Wenqi therefore descended to visit her.

Dou Qiongying

Bao Qiongying was Bao Wu’s younger sister. Her ancestor seven generations back was named Zhi. He made a practice of burying the exposed bones of the dead, and was always thinking of ways to save those on the verge of death. The blessings from his good deeds reached Qiongying. She has now become a female immortal and lives in Yiqian Palace, the name of an immortal palace.

Han Taihua

Han Taihua was Han Anguo’s younger sister and the wife of Li Guangli, the Second Master General of the Han dynasty. After attaining the Dao, she lived in Yiqian Palace. Li Guangli accumulated merit and virtue in a previous life, and now receives instruction in the Southern Palace, a palace in the immortal realm.

Liu Chunlong

Liu Chunlong was the daughter of Liu Fengxian, a Han-dynasty Director of the Imperial Clan. Because her ancestors had accumulated hidden virtue—good deeds performed without others’ knowledge—members of her family were all able to cultivate the Dao, become immortals, and receive instruction. Liu Chunlong accumulated merit and virtue, and now receives instruction in the Southern Palace.

Liu Chunlong

Liu Chunlong was the daughter of Liu Fengxian, a Han-dynasty Director of the Imperial Clan. Because her ancestors had accumulated hidden virtue, members of her family were all able to cultivate the Dao and become immortals. She refined her form, transforming it toward an immortal state, and ascended to Huayang Yiqian Palace. Liu Chunlong, Dou Qiongying, Han Taihua, Li Xizi, and Guo Shuxiang were naturally dignified and beautiful in appearance, exceptional in bearing, astonishing to behold, and outstanding in talent and insight. All were appointed Attendants of Mingchen and lived in mountain grottoes. The post of Attendant was awarded according to ability, without regard to gender.

Guo Shuxiang

Guo Shuxiang was the mother of Wang Xiu. After attaining the Dao, she lived in Yiqian Palace. A commentary on the Zhengao, a Daoist classic, says: Wang Xiu, whose courtesy name was Shuzhi, was from Beihai and once served as Director of the Palace Attendants under Emperor Wu of Wei. His mother died when he was seven, on a community sacrifice day—a day for worshipping the local earth deity. It is no longer known whose daughter Guo Shuxiang was.

Sun Hanhua

Sun Hanhua was the daughter of Sun Xi, a native of Wu. She once studied under Du Qi and received the essentials of the Mysterious White, a secret method of Daoist cultivation. Her appearance grew younger with time. For more than ten years she practiced in the mountains around Wu and Yue, then attained the Dao, became an immortal, and departed. Another account says she was a granddaughter of the Great Emperor of Wu and cultivated the Dao on Maoshan. After completing her cultivation, she rose through the air and ascended to immortality; the mountain was therefore called Mount Huamu. It stands in front of Chongxi Temple on Maoshan.

Wang Jinxian

Wang Jinxian was the daughter of Wang Yan, Grand Secretary of the Chancellery under Emperor Wu of Jin, and later became the crown prince’s consort. After Luoyang fell, Liu Yao and Shi Le seized Jin’s worthy officials and scholars. Wang Jinxian was taken to the Mengjin ferry. When someone tried to force her to become his wife, she denounced him: “I am the crown prince’s consort, the daughter of the Duke of Situ. How dare you Hu and Qiang boys insult me!” With that, she threw herself into the river. Her maid, named Liuchu, followed her into the water.

At the time, Han Xihua, a female Daoist from Mount Song (the Songgao region), was traveling and saw them. Moved by compassion, she rescued them. They appeared to have drowned, but had in fact been saved in secret, and were then taken to Mount Song. They now live in the Yiqian chamber inside Huayang Palace Cave. Liuchu was about twenty-two or twenty-three at the time. She had a dignified appearance and a steadfast character. Her surname was Tian, and she was from Yuyang, the granddaughter of Tian Feng, formerly magistrate of Junyi in the Wei state. Tian Feng had once performed a good deed that accumulated hidden virtue, and its blessings also extended to Liuchu. The account in the Book of Jin differs somewhat.

Li Xizi

Li Xizi was the grandmother of Li Zhong, governor of Dongping under the Jin dynasty; her surname is unknown. Li Zhong’s grandfather, Zhenjie, lived in retirement in the countryside. He was kind and compassionate, and often did good deeds without seeking reward. Li Xizi, too, devoted herself to helping others. During heavy snow and bitter cold, she would scatter grain in the courtyard, fearing that the birds might starve or freeze to death. Such was her care in doing good. Later, she attained the Dao and lived in Huayang Cave.

Lady Fan was the wife of Liu Gang, a Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Jin dynasty. She once tested her magical arts against her husband. As they sat together in the main hall, Liu Gang cast a spell and set the house alight. The fire began on the eastern side, but when Lady Fan stopped it, the flames went out at once.

Two peach trees stood in the courtyard. Each spouse used magic to command one tree to fight the other. After a long while, the tree controlled by Liu Gang began to lose and was driven beyond the fence several times. Liu Gang spat into a dish, where his saliva turned into a carp. Lady Fan also spat into a dish, and hers became an otter that ate the fish.

Liu Gang and Lady Fan entered Mount Siming. On the way, they encountered a tiger. Liu Gang cast a spell that made it crouch on the ground, unable to move. Just as they were about to leave, however, the tiger roared at them. Lady Fan walked straight up to it, and the tiger immediately pressed its head to the ground, afraid to look up at her. Lady Fan struck it with a rope, led it back, and tied it beside the woods.

When the couple were about to ascend to Heaven, Liu Gang was serving as magistrate of Shangyu County. A large soapberry tree stood in front of the county hall. Liu Gang climbed several zhang up the tree before he was able to ascend. Lady Fan sat upright and rose slowly into the sky, as though clouds were lifting her. The two ascended to Heaven together and departed.

During the Zhenyuan era of Emperor Dezong’s reign in the Tang dynasty, an elderly woman from Xiang, known as Xiang Ao, used cinnabar seals and talismans—a form of Daoist magic—to heal the sick. One day she told the villagers, “I am going to Dongting Lake to save the lives of several hundred people.” The day before she arrived, a storm rose over the lake. A large boat carrying more than a hundred people put in at Junshan, and they took temporary shelter on the island. At the time, a white ao—a large white turtle—swam onto the beach, and the people killed and ate it.

The next day, a white wall like snow appeared outside the island, surrounding it. The wall gradually closed in, squeezing those on the eastern side together until less than a few zhang of open ground remained inside. People in Yueyang saw the snowy wall from afar but could not understand what was happening. Xiang Ao came to the shore and sent a flying sword against the white wall. It made a thunderous crash and collapsed. It was in fact a white dragon more than ten zhang long, now dead and coiled upon itself.

Later, a Daoist priest concluded that Xiang Ao was Lady Fan, the wife of Liu Gang.

The Sacred Mother of Dongling

The Holy Mother of Dongling was from Guangling and married into the Du family. She took Liu Gang as her master and studied Daoist arts, gaining the ability to change her appearance and to appear and vanish at will. Her movements were mysterious and unpredictable. Having mastered Daoist methods through practice, she could make herself visible while seated, or suddenly disappear while standing.

Master Du did not believe in Daoist arts and often reproached the Holy Mother. She frequently treated the sick and helped the people. Whenever she went out on an errand, Master Du grew even angrier, falsely accusing her of practicing evil magic and behaving improperly. He reported her to the authorities and demanded that she be arrested. After the Holy Mother was put in prison, the moment the prisoner’s cangue was placed around her neck, she flew out through a window. Everyone saw her rise higher and higher into the clouds, leaving beneath the window only one of the shoes she usually wore.

From then on, people near and far built temples to her and held sacrifices. The people honored her, and their prayers often received miraculous responses. A blue bird was often seen at the places of sacrifice. When someone lost something, they would pray and ask where it was. The blue bird would then fly off and perch on the head of the thief. As a result, no one in the area dared to pick up something on the road and keep it. After many years, these miraculous events gradually ceased.

Even today, within the borders of Hailing County, no one can commit wicked acts or theft without consequence. Those who commit serious crimes may drown in storms or be devoured by wolves and tigers; those who commit lesser offenses may fall ill.

Yunying

Pei Hang was traveling by boat in the Xiang-Han region. A woman named Lady Fan was aboard, strikingly beautiful. Pei Hang asked her maid, Niaoyan, to deliver a poem to her:

“Though those aboard the same boat may be as distant from one another as Hu and Yue, my heart is still filled with admiration. Even if I had the chance to meet a celestial immortal, a brocade screen would keep us apart. If you are going to the Jade Capital—the legendary dwelling of the Celestial Emperor—to pay your respects, may I follow the luan birds and cranes into the blue sky?”

Lady Fan replied, “My husband lives south of the Han River. Please do not take this flirtation seriously. Still, there is a small bond of fate between you and me, and one day our families will surely become connected by marriage.” She answered in verse:

“Drink a cup of immortal brew, and a hundred feelings surge through the heart. Pound the Dark Frost—the fabled elixir—until it is ready, and you will meet Yunying. The Blue Bridge is itself a dwelling of immortals; why struggle all the way to the Jade Capital?”

Later, as Pei Hang passed the Blue Bridge post station, he was very thirsty. He recited the poem again, then bowed to an old woman at a roadside thatched inn and asked for water. The woman called her granddaughter, Yunying, to bring him a bowl of fermented drink. Pei Hang took it and drank; it seemed to him just like liquid jade. He asked the old woman, “Your granddaughter is so beautiful. I would like to marry her. What do you think?” The woman said, “I am old and often ill, and this is my only granddaughter. The immortals left behind a little medicinal material. It must be pounded with a jade pestle in a jade mortar for a hundred days to make it. If you want to marry her, you must first find the jade pestle and mortar. If you can do that, I will give her to you. I want no gold, silver, or other possessions.”

Disappointed, Pei Hang left. More than a month later, he did find the jade pestle and mortar and brought them back to the Blue Bridge. The old woman loosened her sash and took out the medicinal material for him to pound. At night, she carried it indoors. Pei Hang secretly looked in and saw a jade rabbit holding the pestle and pounding the medicine. Its snowy radiance lit up the whole room.

After a hundred days, the medicine was ready. The old woman swallowed it and said, “I am going into the grotto dwelling. Prepare a curtained bed for Lord Pei.” Before long, Pei Hang saw a grand mansion. Immortal youths and maidens led him inside, where many of his relatives and friends had also become immortals. One of the women said she was Yunying’s elder sister and asked, “Don’t you remember traveling by boat together at Ezhou, and then arriving in the Xiang-Han region?” Those present told Pei Hang that she was Lady Yunqiao, the wife of Celestial Master Liu Gang, and a female attendant in the Jade Emperor’s service.

Pei Hang entered Jade Peak Grotto with his wife. After taking the elixir of Crimson Snow and Jade Blossoms, he eventually became a high-ranking immortal.

Bao Gu was the daughter of Bao Shuo, governor of Nanhai, and the wife of Ge Hong, who served as a Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary during the Jin dynasty. Bao Shuo’s courtesy name was Taixuan, and he came from Chenliu. Even in his youth, he had profound and penetrating insight, could perceive hidden and subtle matters, and devoted himself to deep contemplation. Others found his thoughts difficult to fathom. Bao Shuo, his sister, and their ancestors had accumulated hidden virtue over generations, and its blessings extended to Bao Shuo. They all succeeded in cultivating the Dao and attaining immortality, and Bao Gu and her younger sister both joined the ranks of the immortals.

Bao Shuo was well versed in the Confucian classics and apocryphal writings. He later became a disciple of Zuo Yuanfang and received the Central Rituals, along with the techniques of exorcistic summons associated with the Three Sovereigns and the Five Sacred Mountains—Daoist arts for summoning spirits and dispatching generals, driving out evil, and subduing demons. His practice of these arts repeatedly proved efficacious: he could command ghosts and spirits, seal off mountains, and subdue monsters.

In the first year of the Daxing era under Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin, corresponding to the year wuxu, Bao Shuo met the Perfected Yin Changsheng on Mount Jiang and received the art of release by the sword, a Daoist method of leaving the body with the aid of a sword or another object in order to become immortal. He was summoned to serve several times and eventually rose to the post of Palace Attendant. Later, he requested an appointment outside the capital as governor of Nanhai. He married Bao Gu to Ge Zhichuan, that is, Ge Hong. Ge Hong had formerly served as a Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary; in order to refine cinnabar, he requested appointment as magistrate of Goulu County.

While Bao Taixuan was in Nanhai, his younger daughter suddenly died, though she had been in good health and was out with her companions. Bao Taixuan was receiving guests at the time and showed almost no sign of grief. His daughter was buried on Mount Luofu, her face still lifelike, so everyone believed she had become immortal through corpse liberation—the Daoist practice of leaving behind the physical body in order to attain immortality. Bao Shuo later returned to Danyang and died there. He was buried at Shizigang. During the Rebellion of Su Jun, someone opened his coffin and found no body inside, only a large sword. The thieves tried to take it, but heard the sound of troops and horses beside the tomb. When they turned to look, they were terrified. Then they heard the sword inside the tomb make a sound like thunder, and the thieves fled in every direction. After the rebellion was put down, people retrieved the sword and buried it separately. Bao Shuo and his sister, too, had cultivated the Way of corpse liberation; Bao Gu and Ge Hong became immortals one after the other.

Later, there lived in Nanhai a man named Cui Wei. During the Ghost Festival, people from Panyu would display precious objects in the temples. Cui Wei went to look, and saw an old woman stumble and knock over a ceramic wine vessel belonging to a wine seller. The shopkeeper scolded and struck her. Cui Wei hurried over to intervene and asked how much the vessel was worth. The shopkeeper said it was worth one string of cash, so Cui Wei took off his clothes and paid for it on the old woman’s behalf. She left without thanking him.

Another day, Cui Wei met her on the road again. The old woman said, “I have not forgotten how you helped me yesterday. I am skilled at treating protruding tumors. I have some wormwood from Yuejing Ridge, and I offer it to you in thanks. If you ever encounter such a tumor, you can treat it with this. One moxibustion is enough; none will fail to heal.” Later, Cui Wei met a monk with a tumor hanging beside his ear. He applied the wormwood once, and the tumor disappeared at once. The monk then took him to the home of a wealthy family, whose master also had a tumor. One treatment cured him. From then on, Cui Wei’s reputation spread widely, and many people came to him for treatment. Before long, he had become rich. He never forgot the old woman’s kindness, and kept it in his thoughts day and night.

One day, Cui Wei met someone else. The person told him, “That old woman was Bao Gu, daughter of Bao Shuo and wife of the Perfected Ge Hong. She has been treating people in Nanhai with this moxibustion method for many years.”

Ding Shuying

No one knows where Ding Shuying was from. She once performed good deeds in secret, helping the poor and relieving their hardship. She also helped Zhao Fu escape danger. Her kindness moved the August Immortal (a perfected immortal in Daoist legend), who bestowed on her the secret essentials and instructions of the Yellow Court Scripture (Huangting Jing). She later ascended to immortality. Today she is an Immortal Consort of Zhulingshan, the celestial realm of Zhulingshan. She often serves in the Office of Fate under the Three Pure Ones, which oversees affairs of the celestial realm, and is praised for her virtue.

Immortal Maiden Huang

Immortal Maiden Huang was the younger sister of Huang Renlan, an immortal of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The immortal Hao Meng had previously served many times in the Office of Fate under the Three Pure Ones and was likewise praised for his virtue.

Immortal Maiden Huang

Immortal Maiden Huang was the younger sister of Huang Renlan, an immortal of the Eastern Jin dynasty. In those days, the immortal Hao Meng buried his mother in Xingan County, Linjiang Army. The cliffs there are steep, and the site bears an immortal tomb, an immortal well, and an immortal altar. The altar and tomb remain intact to this day. The area came to be called Great Tomb Ridge, also known as Hao Ridge.

At the time, Huang Renlan and his sister both attended the funeral. Immortal Maiden Huang was so fond of the local mountains and waters that she settled beside Hao Meng’s mother’s tomb to cultivate the Way and refine elixirs. Later, she ascended to immortality by day, leaving behind a stone used for refining elixirs. The stone had been tempered in the fire of the elixir furnace, and even after a long time it did not cool. If water from a bottle was poured onto it, the water would boil on its own; for this reason, the stone was called “Boiling Stone.” Emperor Zhezong of the Song honored this event and ordered a temple to be built for the immortal maiden. It was later renamed the Temple of Huangxian’s Miraculous Response. The Boiling Stone Spring and Well still exist. When drought, illness, or plague strikes in different parts of the region, prayers offered there are often answered.

The Tea-Serving Old Woman of Guangling

No one knows the surname of the Tea-Serving Old Woman of Guangling. Local people said that she always looked about seventy, yet moved with ease and strength, had keen hearing and sight, and had entirely black hair. After Emperor Yuan of Jin crossed the Yangtze and moved south, elders in the region passed down the story from generation to generation: they had seen her for more than a hundred years, yet her appearance had never changed.

She often carried a vessel of tea to sell at the market. Many people bought it, and she sold a great deal from morning until night, yet the tea in the vessel always seemed freshly brewed, and its quantity never diminished. People were astonished. The officials of the prefecture judged that she had broken the law and imprisoned her. Carrying the vessel she used to sell tea, the old woman flew out through a window.

E Lühuaxian was a mountain-dwelling woman from Yunnan, about twenty years old, who wore green clothing. In the third year of the Shengping era under Emperor Mu of Jin, she came to Yang Quan’s home six times over the course of a month and gave him a poem. Its final line reads: “What I await is not the morning bloom fading by year’s end, but you, my son.” She also gave Yang Quan fire-washed cloth, hand towels, gold-and-jade cord fasteners, and other items, and cautioned him: “Be sure not to reveal this lightly.”

When people inquired about the woman’s origins, they were told that she was Luo Yu, a woman who had attained the Dao on Mount Jiuyi. She had once provided the medicines used for Yang Quan’s corpse liberation. It is said that she now lives on Mount Xiangdong and is already nine hundred years old.

Liang Mu

Liang Mu was from Xuyi. Widowed and living alone without children, she turned her home into an inn at Pingyuan Post Station. She welcomed travelers who came to stay and rest as warmly as if they were returning home. When guests left, she never pursued them over unpaid lodging fees, however much they owed; even when someone stayed for a month, she did not grow impatient. After setting aside the money and provisions she needed to live, she used all the alms she received to help the poor and sick.

Once, a young man stayed with her for a month. His manner was unlike that of an ordinary person. As he was leaving, he said, “I am the Youth of the Eastern Sea.” Liang Mu did not know who the Youth of the Eastern Sea was.

In the bingchen year of the fourth year of Yuanhui under the Song emperor Cangwu (476), Xu Daosheng, a Daoist from Mount Ma’er, was on his way to Mengyin when he encountered a green ram cart west of Fengcheng. The cart stopped, and a young attendant called out to him, “Master Xu, please come over.” Daosheng approached. When he was about three paces from the cart, he saw two more boys, around twelve or thirteen years old. They wore yellow robes and crimson pouches, and their hair was arranged in horn-shaped topknots. Their appearance and bearing were exceptionally refined, rare in this world. Someone inside the cart had one of the boys deliver this message: “I am Liang Mu of the Pingyuan inn. The Most High—the Daoist title for the supreme deity—has now summoned me back to the heavenly realm. I must pass through Penglai to seek Ziqiao, then through Mount Tai to undergo examination and be received. I had hoped to see you, and sure enough, I have met you. My spirit carriage has already set out, and the schedule for the heavenly journey is pressing: each day we must travel three thousand li. Soon I must answer the summons and attend the assembly, and my heart is burdened with worry and toil. After that, I will ride the clouds up to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the highest heaven in Daoist belief. These three attendants are escorting me to the Realm of Xuandu.

“Please convey my greetings to the faithful men and women of the East. Peace is near; the hope is already more than one in ten. Everyone should encourage and guide one another. Once this period has passed, there will be no more calamity or danger.”

She raised her hand in farewell and said, “We shall meet again in a time of peace.” The green ram cart sped away and vanished into the distance in an instant.

Daosheng returned to the inn and made inquiries. He learned that the very day he had met the cart on the road was the day Liang Mu ascended to immortality, and that the woman he had seen was indeed Liang Mu.

Immortal Maiden Xu.

Xu Xiangu was the daughter of Xu Zhicao, a minister of the Sui dynasty. It is unknown whom she took as her master. She had lived for several centuries, yet her appearance always seemed to be that of a woman in her mid-twenties. She was skilled in spells of the prohibitive incantation kind and traveled alone from place to place. She had visited most of the famous mountains and scenic sites, including the Three Rivers and Five Mountains, Mount Tiantai, Mount Siming, Mount Luofu, and Mount Kuocang. She often spent the night among cliffs, in forests, or in caves, though sometimes she stayed at monasteries.

One day, several thugs used smooth words to tease and insult her. Xu Xiangu rebuked them. Angered, they tried to force her with knives, but her expression did not change. Smiling, she said, “I am only a woman, yet I could leave behind my family’s estate and roam the world, unafraid of dragons, tigers, or wolves. Do you think I would fear petty men like you?” With that, she took off her outer garment and put out the lamp. The men thought they had gotten their way and were delighted.

The next morning, Xu Xiangu packed her belongings and left the mountain. The men, however, sat rigidly as if bound and held captive. Their mouths were sealed, and they could not speak. They returned to normal only after she had gone several miles.

Xu Xiangu traveled throughout the Jiangnan region. People in Wu had seen her for more than forty years, yet her appearance remained unchanged. She walked as swiftly as if flying. People revered and feared her, taking her for an immortal, and no one dared again to tease her with improper intentions.

In the early Xiantong era of Emperor Yizong’s reign in the Tang dynasty, she once told Jia Yuntao, a Daoist at White Crane Abbey in Zhan County: “My father served as an official under the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties. He was renowned for his mastery of the arts, and secretly accumulated De by helping people. He has now attained the Dao. Thanks to the blessings and De of my father, I have been able to extend my life and remain immortal.” From this, it may be inferred that she truly was Xu Zhicao’s daughter.

Flower Maiden

Hua Gu was the Daoist nun Huang Lingwei. Though she was already eighty, she still looked young, with the tender features of an infant. Accomplished in her cultivation of the Dao and renowned for her noble character, she was known to people as “Hua Gu.” She walked at an easy pace in her shoes, yet moved so swiftly that even a galloping horse could not catch her. No one knew where she came from. From the early Tang onward, she often traveled through the regions of Jiang, Zhe, Hu, and Ling, visiting famous mountains and numinous caverns throughout the land. When she stayed overnight in the wilderness, spirits guarded her. Anyone who harbored ill intent and tried to offend her was immediately struck by disaster. People near and far therefore revered and feared her, serving her as a divine being.

Hua Gu heard that Lady Wei of Mount Heng, a female immortal revered in Daoism, had once crossed the river to cultivate the Dao and established an immortal altar at Stone Well Mountain, west of the Rulin River in Linru, Linchuan Commandery. She went there to seek it out. After many years, however, the site had been buried beneath brambles and weeds, and no one among the local people knew of it. In the winter of the tenth lunar month in the second year of Changshou under Empress Wu Zetian (692), Hua Gu arrived at West Mountain in Hongzhou and visited the Daoist Hu Huichao to ask for guidance. Hu, whose courtesy name was Basu, was said to have communication with the spirits. He told her to go south, about six li beyond the city walls, to Wugui Plain. A stone tortoise had once stood there, but because it often damaged the crops in the fields, people had broken off its head. The immortal altar was nearby.

Hua Gu went to search and indeed found the remains of the altar beside the stone tortoise, its outline still clearly visible. Beneath the earth she discovered statues, an oil jar, a measuring blade, lamps, and other objects. She cleared and restored the site, bringing it back to life. Later, she dreamed that Lady Wei told her there was a Nine-Bend Pool south of the altar. She searched and found it, with traces of stonework still visible along its banks.

During the Jingyun era (710–712), Emperor Ruizong of the Tang sent the Daoist Ye Shanxin here with an embroidered image to perform a ritual. He also had the Dongling Abbey built west of the immortal altar and appointed seven Daoist nuns to serve there. In the time of Emperor Xuanzong, offerings and prayers were made continuously. Sometimes, when the wind and rain came, the sound of flutes and pipes could be heard. Those who came to worship had to be clean in dress and in mind and body; otherwise, strange apparitions such as snakes and tigers roaring in alarm would appear. Clouds also often gathered above the altar, resembling black blades of grass and drooping ribbons. They would suddenly descend from the sky, then fly westward, as if heading toward Stone Well Mountain. This happened more than once.

Hua Gu, whose spiritual efficacy was known, quietly told the people, “Stone Well Mountain is an ancient immortal site. You should restore it and maintain its rites.” Before long, a strange fragrance drifted in from the west. After receiving a series of auspicious signs, Hua Gu took part in the construction herself. One night, she stayed near the mouth of a cavern and heard the sound of a stone chime. Though the mountain had long been abandoned, she felt as if someone were guiding and caring for her; she was entirely at ease even in a place overgrown with plants. At daybreak she went into the mountain and found the old foundations of the altar halls. She built dwellings there. Later, people heard chants of “Pacing the Void” and celestial music circling the altar for several li. Pacing the Void is a form of chant performed in Daoist Zhaijiao purification rituals. Woodcutters who went up the mountain without proper conduct were often frightened by strange apparitions.

A wild elephant wounded by an arrow came to Hua Gu for refuge, and she removed the arrow from its wound. From then on, before each purification and offering ritual, the elephant would bring her lotus roots in its trunk.

In the ninth year of Kaiyuan under Emperor Xuanzong (721), Hua Gu knew that her ascent to immortality was near. She told her disciples, “My journey to immortality has reached its appointed end. I can no longer remain long in the human world. After I die, do not nail the coffin shut; simply cover it with crimson gauze.” The next day, she died without illness. Her skin was fragrant and clean, and her body remained warm; a wondrous fragrance filled the courtyard and hall. Her disciples followed her instructions, leaving the coffin unnail­ed and covering it only with crimson gauze. Suddenly there was a sound like thunder, and a hole the size of an egg appeared in the gauze. Only a wooden tablet remained in the coffin, and the roof had been pierced by an opening large enough for a person to pass through. After a few days, the melons offered on her seat of worship put out vines and bore two fruits the size of peaches. Whenever the anniversary of her death came, wind and clouds gathered and streamed straight into the house.

When Emperor Xuanzong heard of these events, he was amazed. He ordered an inquiry to verify them, then, the next day, instructed the Daoist Cai Wei to include Hua Gu’s story in the “Later Biographies of Immortals.” On the yiyou day in the third lunar month of the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan (740), the Daoist Zi Longbi came to the altar to perform a Jiao sacrifice. Suddenly, a white deer appeared from the east of the altar. It walked to Hua Gu’s tomb and vanished. Buried in the tomb were the wooden tablets left behind when Hua Gu transformed and ascended. Five-colored celestial maidens also gathered at the altar. The governor Zhang Jingyi considered this a response to the ruler’s sacred virtue and erected a stele to record the event.

In the eighth year of Tianbao (749), two Daoist nuns were assigned to the place where Lady Wei had ascended to immortality, to tend incense and make offerings throughout the year. In the third year of Dali under Emperor Daizong of the Tang (768), Yan Zhenqing, Duke of the Founding of Lu Commandery, became governor of Fuzhou. Seeing that the old altar had fallen into disrepair and lacked resident clergy, he summoned seven Daoists, including Huang Daojin of the Immortal Spirit Abbey, to live at Dongling Abbey. He also appointed seven virtuous Daoist nuns, including Li Qiongxian, to reside at the Immortal Altar Court. Yan Zhenqing composed and personally inscribed the “Stele of the Immortal Altar,” recording the site’s history.

Jiao Jingzhen

Jiao Jingzhen, a Daoist female immortal of the Tang dynasty, devoted herself to cultivating the Dao and reflecting deeply. When she heard that someone was directing her to Mount Fangzhang, she went there and met two female immortals. They said to her, “If you wish to become a true official of the Dao, you may go and pay your respects to Lord Daoist Qing Tong of Donghua, and study the methods of the Three Sovereigns.” She asked the two immortals their names and learned that one of them was Sima Chengzhen. After returning, Jiao Jingzhen went to pay her respects to Sima Chengzhen and asked to receive initiation. Before long, she ascended to Heaven and became an immortal.

She once descended to the human world and said to Xue Jichang, “Once you attain the Dao, your rank will be higher than that of Tao Dushui, and you will become a Perfected One of Shangqing of Donghua.”

Wang Fajin

Wang Fajin was from Linjin County, Jianzhou. From a young age, he naturally felt drawn to Daoism. His home stood near an ancient Daoist temple. The “Perfected One of Shangqing of Donghua” mentioned later is a title for an immortal in Daoism.

Wang Fajin was from Linjin County in Jianzhou. From childhood, he had a natural fondness for Daoist arts. There was an old temple near his home. Although no Daoist priest lived there, he never treated it disrespectfully or played rough there. Whenever he saw the temple’s divine images, he would fold his hands and bow in reverence.

When he was over ten, a Daoist nun passed through Jianzhou and came to his home. His parents knew how much he admired Daoism, so they entrusted him to her care. She gave him the Record of Prolonging Life through Orthodox Unity (a Zhengyi text for praying for longevity) and named him “Fajin.” From then on, Fajin devoted himself to offering incense and observing purification fasts. He also ate cypress leaves, abstained from grain, and repeatedly experienced the descent of the divine.

That year, famine struck the Three Rivers region and grain prices soared. Five or six people out of every ten died, and many survived only by gathering yams and wild kudzu roots. Suddenly, two azure youths—attendants from the celestial realm—descended into his courtyard and conveyed the command of the Supreme Emperor: “You were born with the bones of an immortal. You have turned your heart toward the Dao and cultivated it with sincerity, never forgetting the Way. Now we send azure youths to summon you to serve at the Jade Capital, the residence of the Celestial Emperor.”

Fajin rose into the sky with the azure youths and arrived at the Celestial Emperor’s abode. The Emperor gave him a jade cup and rosy nectar, the numinous liquid of the immortals. After Fajin drank, the Emperor said to him:

“People receive the fundamental Qi of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, the Three Powers. They become human only after also receiving the harmonious Qi of Heaven and Earth. To be born in the Central Land—China—is rarer still. Heaven moves through the four seasons, while Earth stores the essences of the Five Phases and brings forth the five grains and the hundred fruits to nourish humanity. Yet people fail to appreciate Heaven and Earth’s nurturing kindness. They disdain grain and reject clothing made from silk and hemp. Farmers who plow the fields and women who spin and weave labor tirelessly, yet go without enough food or clothing. Their strength is spent in vain, and people show no regard for their toil. Such conduct will surely be punished by the divine and will receive no protection from Heaven and Earth.

“Recently, the Earth Office, which governs the terrestrial realm, and the deities of mountains and rivers throughout the land submitted memorials saying that people reject the five grains and take lightly the essentials of food and clothing. The Celestial Emperor has therefore ordered the Office of Great Florescence to withdraw the spirits of the five grains, so that the crops people plant will not ripen and the common people will suffer hunger. This is meant to warn the world. Yet the foolish have still not awakened. The Most High, the honored deity of Daoism, has also decreed: the Great Dao cherishes life. The wrongdoings of some must not bring suffering upon the many good people. Although the divine powers of Heaven and Earth have already imposed punishment, the people do not know where their calamities come from. They have no way to repent or ask for mercy, and can only suffer in vain.

“I appoint you as a supreme attendant youth and admit you to serve in the Celestial Court. First, I will send you down to the human realm to warn the people and guide them to repent: cherish the silkworms and mulberry trees, honor farming, value the five grains and hundred fruits, and understand the kindness of the Great Dao in nourishing humanity and of the generous Earth in bringing forth all things. Uphold the Orthodox Way and revere the divine. Water and fire are necessities of life and must not be rejected. Food and clothing sustain the body and should be used with restraint. If people observe these precepts, Heaven and Earth will cherish them, the divine will protect them, the winds and rains will be well balanced, and families and states will be at peace. This will also add to your hidden merit—good deeds and virtue unknown to others.”

The Celestial Emperor then ordered an attendant woman, adorned with ornaments of langgan jade, to bring out a scroll titled Lingbao Rite of Purification and Thanksgiving to Heaven and Earth, a Lingbao ritual manual for purification, offerings, and giving thanks to Heaven and Earth. He gave it to Fajin to spread among the people. The Emperor said, “People may gather in a quiet place to perform purification rites and repent. They should do so twice a year: in spring, pray for an abundant harvest; in autumn, give thanks for the Great Dao’s gifts. In this way they can dispel past karmic burdens and receive abundant harvests through the spirits of the Grain Father and Silkworm Mother.”

The Celestial Emperor also said that he would summon Fajin again in a year of the Dragon and Tiger. He then ordered the azure youths to escort him home. Fajin had been away for three months. The scripture he received is the text now known as the Lingbao Rite of Purification and Thanksgiving to Heaven and Earth.

This ritual is simple and broadly resembles the Lingbao Natural Purification Rite. Those who perform it according to its instructions soon see results. But if the mats or ritual implements are treated disrespectfully or are even slightly unclean, or if the officiant’s intentions are not upright, violent winds and rain will follow. The ritual altar will be destroyed, and the implements struck by lightning.

From then on, people throughout the Three Rivers region and Liang-Han revered and performed this rite every year. Even the simple and unlearned, as well as those of violent temperament, observed it with fear and reverence, carefully and respectfully. When crops were damaged by locusts, drought, floods, or other disasters, people who performed the rite together with one heart and sincere intent, burning incense and praying to Heaven, often received a swift response and protection. The difference between the results experienced by the devout and by those who showed disrespect and disbelief was plain to see. In the area south of the village, people called it “Purification,” while in Shu they called it the “Heavenly Merit Purification Rite.” In fact, both names referred to the same ritual.

In the renchen year of the Tianbao era, the eleventh year of Emperor Xuanzong’s reign in the Tang dynasty, cloud cranes escorted Fajin up to Heaven. This fulfilled the Celestial Emperor’s prediction that he would summon Fajin in a year of the Dragon and Tiger.

Fei Miaoxing was the wife of the Tang dynasty Celestial Master Sun Zhichong. In 748, the seventh year of the Tianbao era under Emperor Xuanzong, Sun petitioned the throne to establish a Daoist monastery and ordain seven women as Daoist practitioners. A hall was built there to honor Fei Miaoxing. During the turmoil of the Five Dynasties, the monastery fell into disuse. It was rebuilt in the early Song dynasty, and male Daoist practitioners began living there. Images of Celestial Master Sun and Fei Miaoxing were enshrined in the monastery, which was called the Monastery of True Blessing and stood in Fengxin County, Longxing Prefecture.

Gou Xiangu was from Changsha. After entering the Dao, she lived on Mount Heng. Even in her eighties, she still looked young. For more than ten years, she devoted herself to spiritual cultivation and burned incense in worship at the Immortal Altar of Lady Wei on Mount Nan (the legendary place where Lady Wei cultivated the Dao to become an immortal). She lived alone in the mountain forest, without a companion. Tigers and wolves often appeared near the altar, and ordinary mountain visitors had to go in groups and carry weapons. Xiangu lived deep in the mountains without the slightest fear.

Several years later, a blue bird flew to her dwelling. It resembled a dove, with a red crown and a long tail. The bird said it had been sent by the Lady of Mount Nan. Seeing how diligently Xiangu cultivated the Dao in solitude deep in the mountains, the Lady had ordered it to keep her company. Later, the bird told her, “The Queen Mother of the West’s surname is Wei; she is your sacred ancestor. I have heard that you cultivate the Dao with diligence and single-mindedness. A true official—an immortal official who has attained the Dao—will descend and teach you the Daoist methods, but the time has not yet come. You should continue your efforts.”

Whenever people came to visit the mountain, the bird could tell in advance their names and courtesy names. On the day they arrived, everything it had said came true. The bird also said that Mount Hou in Henan was where the Queen Mother of the West had cultivated the Dao, and that it was also the mountain in Xiangu’s hometown.

One day, the bird flew in and warned Xiangu, “Tonight, a band of violent men will come. Do not be afraid.” That night, more than ten men arrived carrying torches and knives, intending to harm her. The Immortal Altar of Lady Wei was a huge boulder about one zhang square, seemingly resting on top of another stone. A single person could make it rock by pushing it with one hand, but it remained steady when many people pushed. The men broke into Xiangu’s dwelling but did not see her; at the time, she was high up in the forest.

After leaving the dwelling, the men pushed the altar. The huge boulder gave off a thunderous crash, making the valley seem as if it were splitting apart. They thought the altar had toppled, but they could not budge it, and so they fled in every direction. By daybreak, some had escaped to distant villages; the other nine had been killed by tigers. The one man who had not taken part in the wrongdoing when they pushed the altar survived the tigers. The Immortal Altar of Lady Wei remained intact, and Xiangu was unharmed.

More than a year later, the bird told Xiangu it was time for her to move. She relocated to Hunan, and the bird followed her, though no one else could ever understand what it said. Zheng Tian, a Tang dynasty chancellor posthumously honored as Wenzhao, had once served as a scholar in the Hanlin Academy. Later, when he became governor of Wuzhou, he acknowledged Xiangu as his teacher. She told him, “From now on, calamities and unrest will abound throughout the world. The human realm will no longer be suitable for a long stay. I will choose to live in seclusion on Mount Jiuyi.” One day, she left.

The King’s Daughter

While Wang Baoyi was serving as military adviser to Gao Conghui of Jingnan, a daughter was born to him. She would eat neither meat nor offerings of blood, and by the age of five she could recite the Scripture of the Yellow Court. When she grew up, she dreamed that she crossed a river and climbed a high mountain. There she saw palaces built of gold and silver, and was told that the place was Mount Fangzhang. Among several dozen female immortals, one said, “Magu and I have become sworn sisters.” They taught Wang’s daughter to play several pieces on the pipa. From then on, she dreamed of them every few nights. In just over a year, she had learned more than a hundred pieces. The most unusual was “One-Finger Shang,” which could be played from beginning to end with a single finger.

Later, Wang’s daughter dreamed that Magu said, “I am about to come and invite you.” The next day, clouds, cranes, and music appeared in the courtyard, and Wang’s daughter quietly vanished.

The Jade Maiden of the Bright Star

The Jade Maiden of the Bright Star lived on Mount Hua. She consumed jade nectar, a drink said to be favored by immortals, and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. At the summit of Mount Hua stood a stone tortoise several acres wide and three ren tall. Stone steps beside it led onto its back, from where one could see the shrine of the Jade Maiden. In front of the shrine were five stones called the “Jade Maiden’s Hair-Washing Basin.” The pool within them was clear and emerald green. It never overflowed when it rained, nor diminished during droughts. Inside the shrine was a jade horse.

The River Consorts

The River Consorts were two women whose origins were unknown. They went to enjoy themselves by the banks of the Jiang and Han rivers, where they encountered…

The Two River Princesses—divine women said to dwell by the river—were of unknown origin. While traveling along the banks of the Jiang and Han Rivers, they met Zheng Jiaofu. Struck by their beauty, Zheng Jiaofu fell in love with them, unaware that they were divine beings. He said to his servant, “I want to approach them and ask for their pendants.” The servant warned him, “These two women are very skilled with words. Others have asked them for things and failed to get what they wanted. If you ask and they refuse, you may regret it.” Zheng Jiaofu ignored the warning and went up to them. “You two must be tired,” he said. They replied, “You are the one who has traveled. Why should we be tired?”

Zheng Jiaofu said, “Oranges are pomelos. I put them in a bamboo basket and let it drift downstream along the Han River. I walk along the riverbank, gathering and eating zhicao, so I know I am not an impolite man. I hope you will give me your pendants.” The two women replied, “Oranges are pomelos. I put them in a basket and let it drift downstream along the Han River. I walk along the riverbank, gathering and eating zhicao.” As they spoke, they undid their pendants with their own hands and gave them to Zheng Jiaofu. He took them and put them inside his robe. After walking briskly for several dozen paces, he looked down: his robe was empty, and the pendants were gone. He turned back toward the women and saw them still gathering and eating zhicao along the riverbank. In an instant, they suddenly vanished.

A poem says, “By the Han River, a woman went traveling; no one could gain an audience with her.” This refers to the story just told. It comes from the Biographies of Immortals.

The Mysterious Woman of Great Depths

Taixuan Nü’s surname was Zhan, and her personal name was He. Her father died when she was young. After someone read her fortune, they said that neither she nor her mother would live long, and she became deeply anxious. She often said, “In this world, some things, once lost, can never be recovered; the dead can never return to life. Human life is brief. Only by cultivating the Dao can one prolong it.” So she traveled everywhere in search of enlightened masters, clearing away distracting thoughts and seeking the methods of the Dao.

She received magical arts from Master Yu. After many years of practice, she could enter the water without wetting her clothes. In bitter cold and falling snow, she would stand on the surface of the water wearing only a single-layer garment, her complexion unchanged and her body warm; she could even remain that way for many days. She could also move government offices, palaces, cities, and houses elsewhere so that they appeared no different from before. With a point of her finger, they would vanish. Locked doors and windows, chests and cabinets would open at her touch. She would point at a mountain, and it would collapse; point at a tree, and it would break—then, with another gesture, both would return to their original state.

When she traveled with her disciples and night fell in the mountains, she would tap a rock with her staff, and a doorway would open in the cliff face. Inside, they found orderly rooms, fully furnished, with curtains, a kitchen, and everything else they needed. Wine and food were served as they would be in an ordinary home. The same was true wherever they went, even ten thousand li away. She could also make small things suddenly grow large and large things suddenly shrink. Sometimes she breathed out a raging fire that surged toward the sky, then extinguished it with a single breath. She could also sit amid blazing flames without her clothes burning.

In an instant, she could become an old person or a child, or transform into a carriage and horses and travel about in them. She mastered thirty-six kinds of magical arts and could bring the dead back to life, saving countless people. No one knew what she ate, and no one learned her arts. Her appearance grew ever younger, and her temples turned black as a raven’s feathers. Later, she ascended to heaven in broad daylight.

The Maiden of the Western River

The Maiden of Xihe was the niece of the immortal Bo Shanfu. Bo Shanfu was from Yongzhou. He had entered Mount Hua to cultivate the Dao, devoting himself to practice and taking medicinal substances. He often returned to his hometown to visit his family. After more than two hundred years, his appearance had grown younger and younger. When he entered someone’s home, he could clearly discern the good and evil, merits and faults of the family going back generations. He could also foresee future fortunes and misfortunes, and everything he said came true.

Seeing that his niece was old and often ill, Bo Shanfu gave her medicine to take. She was already seventy when she began taking it. Gradually, her appearance grew younger, and her complexion became rosy like peach blossoms.

During the Han dynasty, an envoy passed through Xihe and saw a young woman east of the city striking an old, white-haired man with a staff. The man knelt as he was punished. The envoy was puzzled and went over to ask what was happening. The woman replied, “This is my son. Long ago, my uncle Bo Shanfu attained the Dao and became an immortal. He withdrew to Mount Hua and, taking pity on my many illnesses, gave me immortal medicine to take. That is why my appearance gradually grew young again. This son of mine refused to take the medicine, and so he has grown so old and walks more slowly than I do. It troubles me, so I punish him with my staff.”

The envoy asked the woman and her son how old they each were. She replied, “I am one hundred and ten. My son is only seventy.” Before long, the woman entered Mount Hua.

The Wife of Yuanke

Yuanke’s wife was a goddess. Yuanke was from Jiyin County and was handsome. Many local people wanted him to marry their daughters, but he always refused to marry.

For many years, he gathered fragrant herbs of five colors, accumulating them over several decades, and ate the fruits that grew on them.

One day, five-colored moths settled on the fragrant herbs. Yuanke collected them and raised silkworms on a mulberry tree. When the time came to raise silkworms, a woman arrived at night and claimed to be Yuanke’s wife. She explained how to raise silkworms and helped him, feeding them fragrant herbs as well. Together they gathered the cocoons and obtained 120, each as large as an urn. Boiling the cocoons and reeling the silk took sixty days to complete. Afterward, the two departed together, and no one ever learned where they had gone. For this reason, the people of Jiyin made offerings to the mulberry and silkworm goddess and built a shrine. Another account says that she was of the Jiyang clan of Chenliu.

Cheng Wei’s Wife

Cheng Wei was a Qimen Gentleman in the Han dynasty, an attendant who accompanied the emperor on his travels. His wife had attained the Dao and could wield supernatural powers and transform her body, yet Cheng Wei was not greatly astonished.

Once, Cheng Wei was about to travel with the emperor, but his clothes were not yet ready, and he was very worried. His wife said, “You’re only short a few garments. Why be so troubled?” She then fetched two bolts of fine silk, which were ready in the blink of an eye. Cheng Wei still did not find this strange.

Cheng Wei was fond of practicing the art of turning base metals into gold and silver, but for a long time he had no success. His wife took a little powder from her pouch and put it into a vessel of mercury. She heated it, and before long it had turned into silver. Cheng Wei wanted to ask her to teach him the method, but she always refused. “Your innate endowment is not yet ready to receive this art,” she said. When Cheng Wei pressed her again and again, she frowned and suddenly vanished, departing by means of shijie—a Daoist method of leaving the body behind.

Zhang Jiangzi was the younger sister of Zhang Ji, a native of Xichuan. She cultivated the Dao and attained the Dao, and now resides in the eastern wing of Yiqian Lodge. The relevant account appears in the Zhengao. A note says that Zhang Ji was from Xidong Prefecture in the late Eastern Han. He served as one of Dong Zhuo’s generals and was later killed by an arrow while attacking Xiangcheng. The text calls him Zhang Xiu’s uncle. Zhang Jiangzi does not appear in other historical works, and it is unknown whether she was ever married.

Li Huigu was the wife of Xiahou Xuan, a native of Qi. She cultivated the Dao and attained the Dao, and now resides in the eastern wing of Yiqian Lodge. The relevant account appears in the Zhengao. A note says that Xiahou Xuan lived at the end of the Wei period and was executed by the Jin ruler Wang together with Li Feng. It is impossible to determine whether Li Huigu died before or after Xiahou Xuan. Li Feng was from Fengyi, not Qi, and it is also unclear whose daughter Li Huigu was.

Shi Shunü was the daughter of Shi Ji, a native of Shanyang. She cultivated the Dao and attained the Dao, and lived in the eastern wing of Yiqian Lodge. Shi Ji was from Wuxing and served as a General of Agile Cavalry under Sun Hao, defending Xiling. The account identifies Shi Shunü as a native of Shanyang, perhaps recording her under her husband’s home prefecture after she married. If not, the accounts of her native place conflict.

Zheng Tiansheng was the mother of Deng Zhi. She cultivated the Dao and attained the Dao, and lived in the eastern wing of Yiqian Lodge. Deng Zhi, whose courtesy name was Baimiao, was from Xinye in Nanyang and served as a General of Chariots and Cavalry in Shu-Han. Later, while traveling, he saw someone carrying a child and shot that person with a bow. Deeply affected by what he had done, he died soon afterward. The account does not say whose daughter Zheng Tiansheng was.

Behind Qingxia Temple on Mount Lu stands a stone called “Yellow Dragon.” According to legend, the Perfected Lady Wen once rode a yellow dragon up to heaven, giving the stone its name. There is also a “Platform of the Perfected Lady Wen’s Ascension to Immortality.” Her era, name, and deeds are not recorded in detail. Some say her name was Huitong and that she lived in the Jin dynasty.

Pei Yuanjing

In addition, this passage repeats the earlier account of the Perfected Lady Wen, then gives only the name “Pei Yuanjing,” without any account of her deeds.

Pei’s Dao name was Yuanjing. She was the daughter of Pei Sheng, magistrate of Weishi County, and the wife of Li Yan, deputy commandant of E County. Clever and perceptive from childhood, she learned the classics and poetry from her mother and could remember anything after reading it once. When she grew up, she had no wish to adorn herself in splendid clothes. Devoted to the Dao, she asked her parents to set aside a quiet room where she could cultivate the Way. Her parents also revered Daoism and, after careful thought, agreed.

Each day, she offered fragrant water and paid her respects before images of the Dao, with her maids in attendance. She did not, however, allow them into the room. When she was alone there, it sounded as though she were conversing with female companions. Her parents secretly looked inside but found no one else. When they asked her what was happening, she would never explain.

Her mind was serene and detached. Even with her family, she always observed proper conduct and remained respectful. When she was twenty, her father planned to marry her to Li Yan. Hearing of this, she felt the match was not what she wanted. She wished only to leave home, cultivate the Dao, and transcend the world. Her parents urged her, saying that marriage was the proper destiny prescribed for a woman, that the wedding should not be delayed, and that the rites must be observed. If she entered religious life, they said, she would have no home of her own for the rest of her life. Yuanjing replied that Lady Wei of Mount Heng, a legendary female immortal, had also been married and later became a high immortal. Her parents then compelled her to marry Li Yan. After the wedding, she served her husband and fulfilled the duties of a wife with complete propriety.

Within a month, Yuanjing said to Li Yan, “I have long cultivated the Dao, and the spirit beings do not permit me to be your wife. Please let me leave the secular world.” Li Yan had long admired Daoist arts. Her words struck him as extraordinary, so he went alone to the quiet room, burned incense, and began cultivating the Dao.

One night, he heard laughter and conversation. Troubled by what he heard but afraid to disturb whoever was inside, he peered through a crack in the wall. He saw the room filled with light and suffused with a strange fragrance. Two young women, about seventeen or eighteen years old, were there, their hair arranged in phoenix-shaped coiffures and their garments bright as rosy clouds. Their features and bearing were exquisite. Several maids in splendid clothes stood nearby. Yuanjing was laughing and talking with the two women. Astonished, Li Yan withdrew.

At dawn, he asked Yuanjing whether anyone had visited during the night. She replied, “It is true. Immortal women from Kunlun came to see me. When they return, do not spy on them, or you may be punished by the spirit officials, who guard and oversee such matters. Besides, you and I are connected by a bond from a former life; we have only met temporarily in this world. The immortals also pity you because you have no children. When the true immortals descend again, I will pray on your behalf.”

Some time later, a heavenly maiden came to Li Yan’s home at night. A year afterward, she returned and gave Li Yan a child, saying, “This is your son. Yuanjing is about to depart.” Three days later, clouds swirled overhead and an immortal woman played music. A white phoenix bore Yuanjing into the sky, flying northwest.

Qi Xiaoyao, whose Daoist name was Xiaoyao, came from Nangong in Jizhou. Her father supported the family by teaching. From the age of ten or so, Qi Xiaoyao was quiet and detached, disliked frivolous play, and longed to cultivate the Dao. Her parents understood her aspirations and often did good deeds in secret. Her father gave her the Admonitions for Women to read. After reading it, she said, “These are only things ordinary people ought to do.” She then took up Laozi’s scripture on immortality and recited it without pause. When she reached a marriageable age, matchmakers came to the house. On hearing that the Qi family often did good deeds in secret, they thought the family was ill-omened. When she was twenty, her parents married her into a household in Qianxun, in the same county, whose livelihood came from farming and weaving.

Her parents-in-law were strict and harsh, often scolding her for being lazy at silkworm raising and farm work. Morning and evening, Qi Xiaoyao concerned herself only with purification and abstinence, paying no attention at all to the household’s livelihood. Her husband, Qianxun, reproached her repeatedly as well. She asked her parents-in-law to let her return to her parents’ home, but her parents forced her to go back to her husband’s family. She then said she was incapable of worldly chores and wished to live alone in a quiet room to cultivate the Dao, thereby repaying her parents-in-law. Qianxun and her parents were all doubtful, so they settled her in a room. Qi Xiaoyao lived on nothing but fragrant water—water used for purification or offerings in Daoist practice—fasting and quieting her mind as she sang:

“Smiling, I watch the vast sea turn to dust; before the Queen Mother’s flowers, I take leave of the immortals. A thousand years from now, I shall return to Heaven. With all my heart, I cherish the people of this world.”

Qianxun’s family and the neighbors all thought she seemed like a strange, possessed madwoman. At night, voices could be heard coming from her room. At dawn, they saw her sitting alone, undisturbed. Three days later, early in the morning, the whole family heard the room split open with a sound like thunder. Only the clothes and shoes she had worn remained inside. Looking up, they saw splendid clouds and rosy mists in midair, with luan birds and cranes flying and calling. There was also celestial music and fragrance, while a colorful procession of banners and attendants arrayed itself in the sky. Qi Xiaoyao and the immortals were all among the clouds, and everyone could clearly hear them speaking. Qianxun hurried to tell Qi Xiaoyao’s parents, who arrived and could still see the scene. People from the entire county town rushed over to watch, all astonished and full of praise.

He Xiangu was from Zengcheng County in Guangzhou. Her father was named He Tai. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian in the Tang dynasty, she lived by Yunmu Creek. When she was fourteen or fifteen, a divine being appeared to her in a dream one night and taught her to take mica powder, saying it would make her body light and strong and keep her from dying. She began taking the powder and vowed never to marry. She often traveled over the mountain peaks, moving as swiftly as if she were flying. Each morning she would set out, and by evening she would return with mountain fruits for her mother. Later, she stopped eating grains, and her speech and behavior became unlike those of ordinary people.

Empress Wu Zetian sent a messenger to summon her to the palace, but she disappeared along the way. According to records at Huixian Monastery in Guangzhou, He Xiangu once lived at the monastery and took mica powder there; during the Jinglong era of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, she ascended to immortality in broad daylight. In the ninth year of the Tianbao era under Emperor Xuanzong, the Daoxu Monastery held a purification ritual for local people. Five-colored clouds rose above the Magu altar, and everyone saw the fleeting figure of an immortal maiden appear. The Daoist Cai Tianyi recognized her as He Xiangu. During the Dali era of Emperor Daizong, she appeared again at the Small Stone Tower, and Gao Yun, the governor of Guangzhou, sent a detailed report of the event to the imperial court.

Xie Ziran

Xie Ziran was a Daoist woman from Huayang in the land of Shu. Bright and gifted from childhood, she entered the Daoist path at a young age. Her teacher gave her the Yellow Emperor and Laozi’s texts, revered by Daoists, to read. After one reading, she felt she had read them before; after a second, she could recite them from memory. As she grew up, her spirit was clear and her manner composed, and her conversation showed unusual insight. She loved music and reading, was skilled at calligraphy, and could write essays. She often looked down on Zhuo Wenjun’s character. She regularly burned incense in her practice, gazed up at and prayed to the Queen Mother of the West and Magu, and admired the integrity of Lady Wei of Mount Heng.

At the age of forty, she set out on a long journey, visiting Mount Qingcheng, Mount Damian, Mount Emei, and the thirty-six Jinglu and twenty-four Zhi, Daoist sites for cultivation and administration. Later, she left Shu, passed through the capital and Luoyang, and came to the region around the Huai and Yangtze rivers. She made arduous visits to every renowned mountain, grotto, and sacred place. When she heard that the Daoist Sima Chengzhen lived at Jade Firmament Peak on Mount Tiantai and cultivated the Dao with exceptional purity, she went to seek him out.

Xie Ziran studied under Sima Chengzhen for three years, then went to live in the wilderness. Every day she climbed the mountain to gather firewood, then returned to light the fire and cook for him. She also often brought incense and fruit, and sincerely asked him to teach her the Dao. Astonished by her perseverance and hard work, Sima Chengzhen said, “I have no virtue or cultivation worth speaking of. Why follow me so devotedly? What is it you hope to seek?” Xie Ziran replied, “I have come from ten thousand li away to ask my teacher for the way to transcend the world. I seek to receive the highest teachings of the Dao and attain liberation. I seek nothing else.”

Sima Chengzhen believed that the highest teachings of the Dao were rarely passed on to women Daoists. Fearing that a careless transmission might disclose the Great Dao, he merely acknowledged her words without agreeing to teach her. More than a year later, Xie Ziran sighed, “The enlightened teacher will not accept me as a disciple. Is this simply my fate? Whenever I climb Jade Firmament Peak, I can see the vast sea and Penglai, which seem not so far away. Yet perhaps there is no other teacher in the world whom I could visit.” She then took her leave of Sima Chengzhen, saying she would go to Penglai.

She gave away all her possessions, put on plain cloth clothes, and began fasting. Carrying only a mat, she ventured out to sea and floated among the waves upon it. As it happened, a Silla ship passed by and took her aboard. After several days of sailing, they saw the seawater turn a deep green. At sunset, waves surged in the distance, seeming like dark flames that joined the sky, and the ship appeared to sail through fire. More than a year later, the wind drove the ship into a stretch of ink-black water. They then passed through waters that were powder-white, pearl-colored, and sulfur-yellow. The wind suddenly shifted and blew the ship into a bay.

In the bay stood a mountain that gleamed like gold in the sunlight. Its plants and trees gave off a fragrance, mist and clouds swirled around it, and even its birds and beasts were yellow. Everyone aboard went ashore and climbed the mountain. They found sulfur everywhere, in large and small deposits, so the merchants threw away their other cargo and loaded the ship with sulfur. The ship sailed through each of the four differently colored waters for three to five days and nights. It drifted wherever the wind carried it, and no one knew how far it had traveled from its starting point.

After sailing for more than a month, the ship was again blown off course by a crosswind. The captain was distressed, and the others were frightened. Before their eyes, a great mountain rose from the sea, with more than a thousand red banners in a row along its crest. The captain said it was a whale raising its dorsal fin. Under a clear sky, they suddenly saw a column of vapor shoot more than a hundred zhang into the air, with what looked like a violent storm beside it. This, they were told, was the breath expelled from the whale’s head as it breathed. Along the way they also saw strange beings, unusual beasts, and spirits in the sea, each with a different form. Xie Ziran then burned incense and prayed inwardly for Penglai.

Before long, the ship reached the foot of a mountain where trees grew thickly and flowers and birds mingled in a springlike scene of drifting clouds and mist. The captain climbed the mountain to look around and saw many houses and dwellings. Xie Ziran asked, “Could this be the mountain of immortals?” The captain said that everyone aboard could go ashore to rest and wait for a favorable wind. The others landed and wandered around, while Xie Ziran went alone to a certain place.

There she found several Daoist masters, attended by servants dressed in blue. The wind stirred the trees, making a sound like metal and stone striking together. The fragrance of the flowers and plants was rich and penetrating. Colorful luan birds, white cranes, emerald parrots, and five-colored dogs roamed through the courtyard. In the center stood a person wearing a flower crown and a robe like rosy clouds, with a dignified and beautiful appearance. The blue-robed servants led Xie Ziran forward. She said, “I have come to Penglai to seek a teacher and ask for the method of transcending the world.” The Daoist master smiled and said, “Penglai is separated by the Weak Waters and lies three hundred thousand li from here. No ship can reach it; only immortals who ascend by flight can go there. Sima Chengzhen of Mount Tiantai is listed on the Cinnabar Terrace and resides at Red City. He is the true good teacher. You may return and seek him out.”

A short while later, the wind rose. The captain urged everyone aboard, saying it was blowing in the right direction. After the ship set sail, a crosswind blew it off course for three days, and it eventually returned to the shore of Taizhou. Delighted, Xie Ziran went back to Mount Tiantai and told Sima Chengzhen everything that had happened, apologizing for her earlier mistake. Sima Chengzhen said, “When I have chosen an auspicious day, I will establish an altar and confer the teaching on you.” He then transmitted the Shangqing methods, the practices of the Shangqing school, to her.

Later, Xie Ziran returned to Shu and cultivated the Dao at Golden Spring Mountain in Nanchong County, Guozhou. Her cultivation was complete. On the sixteenth day of the tenth month in the Jiaxu year, the tenth year of the Zhenyuan era under Emperor Dezong of the Tang, Laozi commanded her to go to the heavenly realm, and she ascended to heaven in broad daylight. The military governor Wei Gao reported the event to the court.

Another account says that just before Xie Ziran ascended, she wrote on the eastern wall of the main hall: “I tell all my relatives: do not grieve or suffer. Cultivate merit diligently, sow blessings widely, observe purification and fasting, and devote yourselves to reciting the Dao. After passing through a hundred kalpas, may we meet again soon, through our good affinities, in the land of Pure Origin. Then we will see one another.” It is said that this inscription still survives.

Three days after her ascension, Xie Ziran descended from heaven again and said to the governor Li Jian, “In heaven there is a supreme Jade Hall, where Laozi resides. Its walls are made of white jade, and the names of the immortals are written above in gold. Beside some names, notes in cinnabar say that the person will descend to the human world to become an emperor or a chief minister. When the immortals pay their respects to Laozi, they bow four times. I feared that people in the world would not believe in immortals, so I have come down for a short time to tell you.” After speaking, she ascended to heaven once more. Li Jian reported the event to the court, and the emperor issued an edict praising her. Bai Ziqing said that Xie Ziran has now become a Perfected One of the Eastern Pole.

Wang was the wife of Xie Liangbi, a Secretariat Drafter. She was descended from Wang Yishao (Wang Xizhi), a Right General of the Jin dynasty, and came from Kuaiji. After Xie Liangbi passed the civil service examinations, he served as an administrative aide in eastern Zhejiang and married her. A little more than a year later, he received an imperial summons to Chang’an, where he served first as a Gentleman of the Secretariat and then as a Secretariat Drafter.

Wang had been drawn to Daoism since childhood and often recited the Huangting Jing. Later, she became seriously ill and for a time could not leave her home. At that time, the Celestial Master Hao Yun was traveling through the areas of Siming, Tiantai, Lanting, and Yuxue, and had stopped in Shanyin. Wang’s relatives went to ask him to treat her. The Celestial Master gave her water that had been ritually empowered and Fulu (talismans and registers). After two nights, she recovered. Grateful for the protection of the Daoist arts, Wang went to take the Celestial Master as her teacher and received Daoist registers in the rite of entering the Dao. From then on, she devoted herself to practice: she burned incense, sat in quiet meditation, and, alone in a secluded room, contemplated the Dao, hoping to attain the Dao and ascend to the heavens.

Gradually she stopped eating and sustained herself only by swallowing Qi. Her spirit became calm and her body light. It was said that unusual fragrances and clouds often surrounded her dwelling, and that perfected immortals descended and made secret contact with her, though no one else could know.

One day, she suddenly said to her maid: “I was ill for nearly ten years, and only the Celestial Master’s treatment prolonged a life that was already nearly spent. I came to understand the Dao too late, and my practice has not been diligent enough. I have yet to repent and cleanse myself of my past transgressions. All my life I have been influenced by worldly habits, and jealousy has often filled my heart. Even now, my heart remains closed and clouded, unable to reach the Dao. I must still undergo the refinement of my body in the Yin realm, cleansing my heart and transforming body and mind. Only after twenty years can I shed my mortal form as a cicada sheds its shell.”

She also instructed them: “After I die, do not put me in a coffin. You may build a wooden shelter and place my body outdoors, and send someone to inspect it regularly.” That evening, she died. Her family followed her instructions, kept the funeral simple, and placed her in a garden. She lay there as if asleep, and her body did not change.

Twenty years later, grave robbers dug into the place where her body had been laid and knocked it to the ground. In the depths of winter, a sound like thunder suddenly came from beside the wooden shelter. Her family was astonished and hurried to investigate. When they lifted the body, they found it as light as an empty shell. Her skin, nails, and hair were all intact, and there was a crack more than a foot long along her right side. The family then laid her back in place.

The Lady of Mount Heng once said that among those who attain the Dao, the highest can ascend to heaven by day, their bodies and bones rising together as they take their place among the Perfected Officials. Those of the next rank shed their old forms like snakes or cicadas shedding their skins; their bodies and bones soar upward, and their fleshly bodies ascend to heaven, where they become immortals dwelling on numinous mountains. Xie Liangbi, too, served the Celestial Master as a disciple and joined him in compiling a biography, recording Wang’s story in detail.

Cai Xunzhen was the daughter of a certain Vice Minister Cai, and Li Tengkong was the daughter of the Chancellor Li Linfu. From a young age, both women had an exceptional bearing. Though they grew up in wealthy households, they had no worldly indulgences. They often wished to leave home and study the Dao, and their parents could not change their resolve.

During the Zhenyuan era of Emperor Dezong of the Tang, the two women went together to Mount Lu to cultivate the Dao. Cai Xunzhen lived near Five Elders Peak, south of Yongzhen Grotto Heaven and Screenfold Ridge; Li Tengkong lived below Lingyun Peak, north of Screenfold Ridge. There, streams rushed past while white clouds circled the dark cliffs, and the scenery was serene. Both cultivated virtue and could use elixirs and Fulu (talismans and registers) to heal the sick and relieve people’s troubles, benefiting people from near and far. On festivals such as the Three Primal Days (Upper, Middle, and Lower Primordial) and the Eight Seasonal Festivals, they would meet at Yongzhen Grotto to exchange ideas and discuss the Dao.

Xu Hun, the governor of Jiujiang, once reported their deeds to the court, and Emperor Dezong came to hold them in high regard. After the two women died, their disciples gathered the hairpins and other belongings they had left behind and set up an altar for them in their former homes. Local villagers also made offerings to them every year. Later, when Xu Hun entered the court, Empress Zhaode had just died. He petitioned the court to grant the women’s former residences temple names as a way to commemorate them. The court therefore issued an edict renaming Yongzhen Grotto Xunzhen Abbey and naming Li Tengkong’s residence Zhaode Abbey.

Li Bai once composed a poem to see off Li Yun, praising him in these lines: “How I envy you, the daughter of a chancellor, who delights in the arts of the Dao and the immortals. Your slender hands lift autumn clouds; your gauze robes trail through violet mists. You go to cultivate the Dao at Screenfold Ridge, seeming to ride a luan bird, jade whip in hand.”

Old Woman Ma

When Lu Qi was young, he rented a room in an abandoned house with an elderly woman surnamed Ma. One day, he saw a lavishly decorated ox cart parked outside her door. Peeking inside, he saw a girl of fourteen or fifteen whose beauty and bearing seemed almost immortal.

The next day, Lu Qi went to visit the old woman. “Would you like to see her?” she asked. Lu Qi said that he would. The old woman agreed. Three days later, a pavilion appeared in extraordinary splendor, and a carriage descended from the sky. The girl was inside. She said to Lu Qi, “In seven days, I will receive you.” Then she called the old woman over and gave her two pills, telling her to plant them in the ground.

As soon as the pills were planted, two gourds sprang up. They gradually grew as large as water jars. The old woman split them open with a knife, and she and Lu Qi each sat inside one. Suddenly, wind and clouds surged, and the two gourds rose into the clear sky. Lu Qi asked the old woman, “How far are we from Luoyang?” She replied, “Eighty thousand li.”

After a long while, a palace appeared above the gourds, its walls built of crystal. The girl lived in its hall, surrounded by several hundred attendants. The old woman stood among the palace guards. The girl invited Lu Qi to sit and set out wine and food. “You have three possible paths,” she told him. “You may choose one. The highest is to remain here as an official, with a lifespan equal to Heaven’s. The next is to become an earthbound immortal, living among people but still able to travel to the immortals’ realm, and coming here from time to time. The lowest is to be reborn in the human world and become a prime minister.”

Lu Qi said, “To remain here is my greatest wish.” The girl was pleased. “This is the Crystal Palace. I am the Lady of Great Yin, a female immortal associated with the realm of the moon, and I hold a high rank among the immortals. If you remain here, you will ascend to Heaven in broad daylight.” She then wrote a petition and presented it to the Jade Emperor.

Before long, a messenger in red conveyed the Jade Emperor’s decree and asked Lu Qi, “Do you wish to live in the Crystal Palace, become an earthbound immortal, or be reborn in the human world as a prime minister?” Lu Qi answered, “I wish to be reborn in the human world as a prime minister.” The messenger in red urged him to leave. The Lady of Great Yin’s expression changed dramatically. She ordered the old woman to take him back at once, then pushed him into a gourd.

When Lu Qi returned to his old home, the dust-covered bed was still where it had been, but the gourds and the old woman were gone. The story presents the immortal Ma as using miraculous transformations to awaken people to the truth. But Lu Qi remained attached to the mortal world, blind to the truth, and ultimately fell into ruin.

During the reign of Emperor Shunzong of Tang, the Nanhai region presented Lu Meiniang at court. She said she was descended from the Imperial Preceptor of the Northern Ancestor lineage and had been living in Lingnan since the Dazu era of Emperor Zhongzong. Clever from childhood, she possessed unmatched skill in needlework. On a piece of silk just one foot long, she could embroider the Lotus Sutra, with characters as tiny as grains of millet. She also made a canopy called the Flying Immortal Canopy: five layers woven from a single silk thread, with the Ten Continents and Three Islands depicted inside. Each day, she ate only two or three ge of hemp-seed rice.

Emperor Xianzong admired her ingenuity and skill, and bestowed on her a golden phoenix bracelet to wear around her wrist. When he learned that Lu Meiniang did not wish to remain in the palace, he arranged for her to take the vows and become a Daoist nun, then sent her back to Nanhai with the title “Master of Free Roaming.” Later, when she passed away, the room filled with fragrance. Her disciples prepared to bury her, but found the coffin strangely light. When they opened it, only a pair of lotus-root shoes remained inside. Afterward, people saw her roaming over the sea atop purple clouds. Li Xiangxian, a recluse of Mount Luofu, once wrote The Account of Lu the Free-Roaming.

In the final years of the Taihe era of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty, a wandering scholar named Xiao, surnamed Wen, arrived in Zhongling Commandery without home or support. Quiet by nature, he devoted himself to cultivating the Dao. He was handsome and refined, with an air of otherworldliness. Xiao became friends with Liu Qigan, a Daoist priest at Ziji Palace, and lived there for three or four years.

On Zhongling’s Western Mountain stood Youwei Temple, said to be the place where Xu Xun (the Perfected Lord Xu) ascended to heaven. Every year, on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people traveled from Wu, Shu, Chu, Yue, and other regions, bringing incense, fine fruit, silk, and money. They held Zhaijiao (purification rituals) to pray for blessings. At that time, tens of thousands gathered in Zhongling. Carriages and horses filled the roads with noise, the crowds packed together, and men and women linked arms and sang as they danced.

Xiao also went to attend the ceremony. There he saw a woman singing, unlike anyone around her. Her lyrics struck him as refined and otherworldly, as though her feelings belonged beyond the world of ordinary life. The song also included the words “Wen Xiao” and “Cai Luan.” Startled, Xiao thought, “Could my name be an omen? She must be some kind of immortal.” He stood rooted to the spot. When he asked people nearby about her, some said she was a green-robed woman from Hongjing who lived near Hongya Altar, but no one knew exactly who she was.

By the time Xiao waited for the woman to finish singing, it was already the fourth watch. After saying farewell to several people, she set off alone with a lantern, walking along a path through the pines and climbing perilously over the rocks. Xiao quietly followed her. As the lantern’s flame was about to die, dozens of immortal youths appeared, holding pine-branch torches to welcome her. Xiao cried out in surprise. The woman noticed and turned to ask, “Are you not Wen Xiao?” Xiao replied, “I am.” She said, “Our fate has not yet ripened. Why have you hurried after me?”

She led Xiao to the mountaintop. The place was heavily guarded, with tables, curtains, and a golden incense burner filled with precious incense. As soon as the two sat down, two immortal maidens came forward, each carrying a register. They asked mostly about people who had drowned when ships sank in rivers and lakes. The register also listed a woman’s name, which seemed to displease the woman. It further recorded that, on a certain day, someone had accidentally killed a young child amid the wind and waves on Cang Lake. The woman angrily said, “How can you call it an accidental killing so lightly?” She took the register and explained, “The infant was simply too weak to withstand it. It was not that there was no way to save the child; it was just unavoidable.” Xiao pressed her to explain the reasons behind these events, but she did not answer. After he had asked again and again, she finally said, “These are secrets of the heavenly realm. I should not reveal them to you. What I have done will bring punishment on us both.”

After the immortal maidens left with the registers, the sky suddenly darkened, and wind and thunder surged. The curtains were torn apart and the tables overturned. Xiao was so frightened that he dared not raise his head. The woman hurriedly dressed, took up a bamboo tablet, clicked her teeth in ritual, bowed respectfully, and prostrated herself on the ground to await punishment. Before long, the wind and clouds subsided, and the stars appeared again. An immortal youth descended from the sky, holding a heavenly edict, and announced, “Hao Cailuan has revealed a heavenly secret out of personal affection. As punishment, she is to descend to the mortal world and be the wife of a mortal man for twelve years.” Cailuan wept as she went down the mountain with Xiao. She agreed to marry him, followed him back to Zhongling, and moved into his home.

Only then did Xiao learn that the woman’s name was Cailuan. When he asked about her family, she said, “My father is the Immortal Lord Hao, named Meng. He was from Yuzhang, and his biography appears in the histories of the Jin dynasty. He aided the people, supported all living things, upheld what was right, and eliminated evil. He now holds office among the immortals and is listed among the cave heavens. I have served the Immortal Sovereign by managing the registers of the underworld for six hundred years. I was demoted only because I once offended the Jade Emperor. But this will also allow you to leave the mortal world.”

Xiao’s family was poor, and he could not support himself. Cailuan therefore copied the Sun Mian Tang Chu. She wrote one copy each day, her brush moving as swiftly as a flying bird. Each completed copy earned her five strings of cash; when the money ran out, she would copy another. Nearly ten years passed this way. In the second year of the Huichang era, during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang, the couple gradually became known, so they quietly moved to Zouju Village near Mount Yuewang in Xinwu County. There the couple taught several dozen young boys. Then, one night, two tigers roared outside their courtyard. By morning, both Xiao and Cailuan had disappeared. At dawn, a woodcutter saw them at the foot of Mount Yuewang, each riding a tiger. They sped like the wind over the mountain peaks and vanished.

Du Lanxiang

A fisherman living beside Lake Dongting once found a three-year-old girl. Feeling affection for her, he raised her as his own. More than ten years later, she had grown into a girl of remarkable natural gifts. Suddenly, a young immortal attendant (a celestial youth in Daoist legend) descended from the sky and carried her upward. She said to her foster father, “I am Du Lanxiang, a female immortal.” From then on, she never returned home.

Later, she suddenly descended in the Lake Dongting region and appeared at the home of Zhang Shuo, a practitioner of the Dao. On her first visit, she gave him a jade tablet, a jade spittoon, and a red fire-washing cloth as proof of his ascent to immortality. Another night, she ordered her attendant to deliver a yellow qilin-feather quilt, a garment of the immortal realm, to Zhang Shuo, saying, “This is clothing worn by the high immortals.”

Lady Zhuge

On Mount Jiuhua, a woodcutter’s wife surnamed Zhuge fell ill with an epidemic. After lying sick for several days, she suddenly rose and said to her parents-in-law, “Not only has my illness been cured, I am also about to become an immortal.” Soon afterward, she walked out of the door and ascended through the air.

Several days later, she descended again on a cloud and said, “The pavilions in heaven are all carved from green jade, and their windows are made of jade as well. Between the pavilions hang curtains of intertwined dragon silk, decorated with pearls and jade, their five colors shining together. Immortal maidens walk amid radiant light, and there is also incense that grants eternal life. Today I have come back for a brief visit.”

As she finished speaking, a five-colored carriage suddenly appeared, driven by two dragons and strong attendants, with young maidens accompanying it. Lady Zhuge boarded the carriage and slowly rose into the sky.

Lady Wei

Zheng Delin lived in Changsha. He once went to Jiangxia to visit his parents. As he prepared to return home, he stayed by the shore of Lake Dongting with Wei Sheng, a merchant who sold sweet wine. Wei Sheng’s daughter fished through a window facing the water. Zheng Delin wrote a poem on a red ribbon and hung it beside her fishing hook:

“Your slender hand lowers a hook through the waterside window; red lotus flowers reflect the autumn hues, bright as the Yangtze River. Since you could unfasten your jade pendant and give it to Zheng Jiaofu, might you grant me a pair of luminous pearls as well?”

According to legend, Zheng Jiaofu once met a goddess by the Han River. Zheng Delin used this allusion in his poem to tease Wei Sheng’s daughter, and she took the red ribbon inside. At dawn the next day, Zheng Delin set sail with a favorable wind.

That evening, a fisherman said, “The Wei family’s merchant boat sank in Lake Dongting.” Zheng Delin grieved and lamented. He wrote a poem in memory of Wei Sheng’s daughter, calling her “River Maiden”:

“On Lake Dongting, the breeze is gentle, and the reeds are in autumn bloom. A boat has only just gone down; a young woman sinks beneath the rippling waves, a sorrow to behold. Swept away in the water, you drift among the white duckweed, and no one can see you again. The bright moon shines on the river; only soft-winged gulls fly above.”

Zheng Delin burned the memorial and cast it into the water. The water deity carried it to the Water Court, where the spirits of the waters reside. The Lord of the Water Court said, “One day Zheng Delin will serve as a local official in our region. Tell the steward to send Wei Sheng’s daughter to him in marriage.”

When Wei Sheng’s daughter looked at the lord, she saw an old man. At midnight, Zheng Delin felt something bump against his boat. He pulled it aboard and discovered it was Wei Sheng’s daughter. He married her. Several years later, Zheng Delin did indeed become magistrate of Baling County.

When he arrived at Lake Dongting, an old man said to him, “The Water Court saved your life long ago.” Wei Sheng’s daughter bowed to the old man in thanks, then asked, “My parents live in the Water Court. May I go and visit them?” The old man replied, “You may.”

Before long, the boat sank beneath the water, but Zheng Delin felt no discomfort. The parents’ home in the Water Court was no different from an ordinary home, and the belongings that had sunk with them long ago were all there. No food was cooked over a fire; people ate only the flowers and leaves of water caltrops. Soon the boat rose again beside the lake.

The female Daoist Yang Baozong’s place of origin is unknown. Clever and graceful from childhood, she suddenly came to a realization when she reached the age for marriage and asked to become a Daoist nun. Her parents agreed. She then went to Mount Lu and lived at Chongshan Abbey on Shangxiao Peak. She soon left behind worldly concerns and understood the Dao of tranquility and purity. She abstained from grain and cultivated her body, practicing diligently. Her reputation spread far and wide, and Daoism flourished greatly as a result.

When Emperor Yuanzong of the Southern Tang heard of her deeds, he sent an envoy with an imperial edict summoning her to court and inviting her into the palace to meet the consorts who revered Daoism. The emperor asked what she wanted. Yang Baozong replied that the old abbey was dilapidated and too small to accommodate everyone. The emperor granted her money, and the palace consorts competed to make donations. Their gifts of clothing, food, pearls, and embroidered silks amounted to more than ten million in total. The emperor ordered the abbey rebuilt and commissioned the Gentleman of the Court Han Xizai to write an inscription. He named the abbey “Abbey of the True Wind,” bestowed purple robes on Yang Baozong, and issued an edict asking his officials to compose poems praising her and seeing her off—all to honor Daoism.

Yang Baozong had long admired the conduct of Cai Xunzhen and Li Tengkong. She also used elixirs and Fulu (talismans and registers) to relieve people’s suffering. In her leisure, she sometimes visited the northern and southern sites around Pingfengdie to pay her respects at their shrines. Though advanced in age, her complexion remained childlike. After her death, she still looked as she had in life, and her coffin was remarkably light when it was carried. People therefore believed she had undergone “corpse liberation,” a Daoist legendary means by which a cultivator sheds the mortal body and transcends to become an immortal.

Chongshan Abbey was first built during the Datong era of Emperor Wu of Liang. For the next four hundred years, it produced no notable figures or accomplished recluses. Only after Yang Baozong’s fame spread did students gather there in large numbers and the Daoist community flourish.

Anonymous

Li Ding records that during the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of Song, a university student was drinking with others at the Ren family wine shop. Suddenly, a woman appeared, dressed and made up like a centenarian… an infant.

Li Ding records that during the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of the Song, a group of scholars from the Imperial College gathered to drink at the Ren family wine shop. Suddenly, a woman appeared. Her clothes and appearance were extremely old-fashioned, and her garments were worn and ragged. Her skin was white as snow, but she had no left arm. Holding a clapper in her hand, she began to sing a piece called “Iron Horse.” The lyrics went:

“Beside the winding balustrade, red flowers glow against an embroidered curtain. The patterns on the curtain are delicate, yet cannot withstand the light touch of slender jade fingers. The wind blows the flowers away, and the heart cannot help but tremble with alarm. Brows furrowed in sorrow, like green mountains; striking the iron clappers, I sing at ease the Buxu melody, a Daoist ritual chant praising the immortals as they walk through the void. No one in the dusty world knows this song. I ride a Yellow Crane up to the Jade Capital, a fabled immortal realm, where the wind sounds clear and pure, and the moonlight is bright.”

The company found the lyrics strange and asked what song it was. The woman replied, “This is Guiding the Procession of the Ritual Carriage, performed when Lady Cai of Shangqing, an immortal of the Daoist tradition, travels in procession. I was born in the Tang dynasty. During the wars of the Five Dynasties, bandits cut off my left hand. Now I wander through the human world. Seeing you drinking, I thought I might ask you for a cup of wine.” They gave her a cup. When she had finished drinking, she left. They escorted her to the door, only to find that she had vanished.

Ouyang Xiu commented: I once heard that during the Five Dynasties, a man named Wang Ning lived in the Qingqi region. He served as an assistant director of household affairs in a prefecture, responsible for matters such as census records and taxes, and later died in office after falling ill. Wang Ning’s family had always been poor, and his son was still young. His wife, Lady Li, supported her son and carried her husband’s remains as she returned to her home region. Traveling east, they passed through Kaifeng and sought lodging at an inn, but the innkeeper refused to take them in. Lady Li saw that it was already late and insisted on staying. The innkeeper seized her by the arm and drove her out. Looking up to heaven, Lady Li wept bitterly and said, “I am a woman, yet I have failed to preserve my chastity and have allowed another to seize this arm!” She then took an axe and cut off her own arm. Those who witnessed it sighed and wept. When the prefect of Kaifeng heard what had happened, he reported it to the court. The court granted Lady Li generous assistance and had the innkeeper flogged.

Dao Yi once read Daoist books and saw that throughout history, those who reached the utmost in loyalty, filial devotion, chastity, and fortitude cast off their mortal bodies, transcended the world, and ultimately became immortals. Could the unnamed woman recorded in the earlier account not have been Lady Li of the Five Dynasties?

That concludes Volume Five of The Later Collection of the Comprehensive Mirror of Daoist Immortals Through the Ages.

The Later Collection of the Comprehensive Mirror of Daoist Immortals Through the Ages, Volume Six

The Immortal Women of the Qian Family

Two Qian sisters once lived and practiced at Tao’s retreat, where they recited the Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court), a Daoist classic. Tao’s retreat stood at Swallow Cave on Mount Mao. Green peaches and purple sweet flags still grow in the cave. The elder sister later donned a white robe of fine silk and, after attaining the Dao, entered the cave. When her younger sister hurried there, the cave entrance had already sealed shut.

In the fifth year of the Chunhua era under Emperor Taizong of the Song, Inspector Xiahou Ji zhen and five Jianlong Daoists went there to perform a dragon offering, a Daoist rite in which a golden dragon bearing a written prayer is cast into water. That night, thunder shook the area, and the cave entrance opened again. The cave’s depth could not be measured. An official from the local hall went deep inside and met a Daoist, who gave him an apple. After eating it, he no longer needed food.

A poem by Tian Lin, inscribed on a board, also remains there:

The entrance to Swallow Cave and the banks of Dragon Pool are serene;

The Immortal Woman of the Qian family left her sacred traces here.

After she became immortal and departed, a Daoist remained in the cave;

When her younger sister returned, the entrance had sealed shut.

Clouds still drift like her robe of white silk,

And the spring’s murmur still sounds as if reciting the Huangting Jing.

Green peach blossoms bloom, and the sweet flags gleam purple—

These sights remain for later generations to recount and ponder.

Cao Wenji was originally a singing girl in Chang’an. When she was four or five years old, she already loved written characters and games involving books. Each time she read a volume, she grasped its general meaning, leading people to suspect that in a former life she had studied books and calligraphy. When she grew up, she was exceptionally beautiful and especially skilled in calligraphy. Besides writing letters and documents, she would inscribe words on silk, windows, and any other surface that could be written on. She could write tens of thousands of characters in a day, so people called her the “Immortal of Calligraphy.” Her brushwork was considered the finest in the Guanzhong region. Zhou Langzhong Yue and Ma Jiancha Duan, both celebrated calligraphers of the time, praised her writing without reserve.

Her family taught her music, but she said, “This is a lowly skill. How could I enjoy doing it? It would be enough for me to spend my whole life among ink pools and brush mounds.” “Ink pools” and “brush mounds” are vivid expressions for years of devoted calligraphic study. Her fame spread widely, and countless prominent men were willing to offer gold and jade to marry her. She told them all, “Not one of these men is a suitable match for me. Whoever wishes to be my companion may first write me a poem, and I will choose for myself.” From then on, many people sent her poems of every length, full of elegant phrases, day after day, but none moved her.

A man named Ren, from Mount Min and living as a guest in Chang’an, was quick-witted. When he heard about this, he said happily, “I have found my mate.” Asked why, he replied, “The phoenix perches in the parasol tree, the fish swim in the deep; all things have their proper home.” He then sent Cao Wenji this poem:

“The immortal who kept the writings in the Jade Emperor’s front hall,

Once touched by mortal longing, was banished from the Ninth Heaven.

Do not wonder that my body is fragrant and my skin full and smooth;

My rosy robe was once steeped in incense from the palace’s imperial burners.”

After reading the poem, Cao Wenji said joyfully, “This truly is my husband! How else could he know my story? I am willing to serve him. Let him have no other concerns.” Her family could not dissuade her, and the two were married. From then on, husband and wife stayed together day and night, softly reciting poems and sipping wine, delighting in the pleasures of the moment.

Five years passed in this way. At the end of March, as spring was being sent off, Cao Wenji and Ren drank together, and she composed this poem:

“In the realm of immortals there is neither summer nor autumn;

Red sunlight and cool breezes fill the green tower.

Above the roof tiles, the road back to Heaven leads straight to the blue sky.

Will you ride with me on the five-colored auspicious clouds and fly away together?”

When she had finished reciting, she sighed and said, “I was originally an immortal who kept the writings in Heaven. Because of love, I was banished to the human world, where I have lived for twenty years.” She then said to Ren, “You too were an immortal who attained the Dao in a former life, but were banished and came to the human world. Because we were bound by a past-life connection, I took on the form of your companion. Today we are to return together.”

Before long, celestial music sounded in the sky and a wondrous fragrance filled the room. The family looked in astonishment and saw an immortal official in red robes descend, holding a jade tablet inscribed in vermilion seal script: “Li Changji has completed his newly composed Record of the Jade Tower. The Celestial Emperor summons you to write its commemorative inscription. Set out at once and do not delay.”

Her family said, “Li Changji was a gifted poet of the Tang dynasty, three hundred years ago. How could this be happening? It must be a demon.” Cao Wenji smiled and said, “This is beyond your understanding. Three hundred years in the human world amount to only a brief moment in the realm of immortals.” She and Ren changed their clothes, bowed as they received the summons, and rose into the air. The clouds and rosy mists shone brilliantly as phoenixes and immortal cranes circled around them. More than ten thousand people witnessed the event. Later, people called the place where she had lived “Immortal of Calligraphy Lane.” This account was written in the fourth year of the Qingli era of Emperor Renzong of Song, the year jiashen.

Zhao Xiangu, whose given name was He, was from Lingling in Yongzhou and lived in Zhengxia. When she was twelve, she went with a group to pick tea. After walking several miles, she became separated from her companions. A little over another mile on, she saw that the mountain peaks and rocky valleys were exceptionally beautiful: the spring water was clear, flowers and trees complemented one another, mountain birds sang sweetly, and clouds and rosy light drifted through the scene. There stood an immortal with a long beard, wearing a star crown and a light celestial robe. He looked at her with a smile. Xiangu thought the place suited spiritual cultivation, so she bowed and asked him to accept and guide her, offering to serve at his side.

The long-bearded immortal said, “You cannot stay here yet. You have walked a long way and must be hungry.” He took a peach from his sleeve and gave it to her, then said, “If you can eat it all, one day you will surely ascend and fly; if you cannot finish it, you must remain among mortals.” Xiangu ate only half, then put the rest away, hoping to take it to her family. The immortal urged her to return home at once and not linger. When she got back, her mother and elder brother asked why she had been gone so long. She said she had been away only a short while, but her family told her she had been gone for more than a month.

From then on, Xiangu no longer ate ordinary meals. She ate only fruit and drank water. She often avoided talking with ordinary people, sitting silently in meditation all day. Knowing she was unlike other people, her mother and elder brother built her a bamboo pavilion to live in. After she moved in with her brother and sister-in-law, voices could often be heard at night from the pavilion. One day, her brother climbed up to listen secretly and saw Xiangu speaking face-to-face with a man who had a long beard and handsome eyes, and wore a star crown and celestial robe. Xiangu called him “Immortal Elder” and asked, “You promised to visit me before. Why did you break your promise?”

The Immortal Elder replied, “I just received a talismanic command to bring rain over Pengli Marsh, in the area of today’s Poyang Lake, covering thirteen hundred li and reaching a depth of three chi in a single night. The weather was extremely hot, and one dragon alone might not have managed it. So I summoned six disciples to work in different directions, calling up clouds and dragons and driving thunder and lightning, and only then did we complete the task. That is why I was delayed.” Then he added, “Your brother has been eavesdropping on the speech of immortals. He may reveal heavenly secrets, so I must leave.” A streak of white light passed through the window, and he was gone.

At daybreak, Xiangu said to her brother, “Please do not eavesdrop again. It may bring you harm.” Her brother promised not to listen in again, but asked why immortals still had to make rain after attaining immortality. Xiangu said, “Among those who have attained the Dao and become immortals but have not yet ascended to the celestial realm are hundreds and thousands of people. They live in the Ten Continents and Three Islands, or in the grotto-heavens of famous mountains. They must accumulate merit and cultivate the Dao before they can hope to advance. Some govern rivers, lakes, and marshes; some oversee the underworld; others administer mountains. They undertake works that benefit the world, remove calamities, heal the sick, aid those in danger and distress, help the weak, perform good deeds in secret, and devote themselves to cultivating virtue. Immortals do not boast of their achievements; they fear that people will find out. That is why the world often knows nothing of them.”

Her brother asked how an immortal’s merits were assessed. Xiangu said that immortal officials recorded the deeds and cultivation of the immortals, submitted their records to the Celestial Emperor each year, and then ranked them according to their merit and conduct, raising their rank among the immortals.

When Zhou Lianfu, the prefect of Daozhou, left office and returned to the capital, he passed through Lingling and visited Xiangu. At the gathering, a man of striking bearing looked around proudly without bowing to Zhou Lianfu, then departed. Zhou Lianfu was displeased and asked who he was. Xiangu said, “That was the immortal Lü—Lü Dongbin—paying a visit.” Zhou Lianfu hurriedly sent people after him, but he had vanished. Xiangu said, “Wherever the Immortal Elder wishes to go, he can reach it in an instant. In less than a quarter of an hour, he can be a thousand li away.” Zhou Lianfu asked where he had gone. Xiangu looked around and said he had already reached Kenan Prefecture. Later, when the scholar Xia Jun passed through Yongzhou, he asked where Master Lü was. Xiangu said that day he was conducting a vegetarian offering at Xinghua Temple in Tanzhou. Xia Jun went to the temple and checked the register of offerings; sure enough, it showed that a guest from Huazhou had made an offering that day.

Li Zhengchen, a merchant from Tanzhou, often traveled through the regions of lakes and rivers. His wife fell ill, and it seemed as though a huge mass lay in her abdomen, shifting about and causing unbearable pain. Many doctors tried to treat her, but none could help. Li Zhengchen went to see Xiangu, who said, “Your wife once killed a pregnant servant girl. The thing in her abdomen now is the girl’s vengeful spirit.” Li Zhengchen asked her to save his wife. Xiangu replied, “There is already a debt of vengeance between them. I cannot save her.” Later, the mass in his wife’s abdomen grew larger, and the pain became unbearable. At last her abdomen split open, and she died. Li Zhengchen saw a young woman inside her belly, with marks of whipping still on her body. After this, many people came to ask about their affairs, and what they asked about often came to pass. Scholars throughout eastern Hunan widely regarded Xiangu as extraordinary.

Later, Lord Yang was ordered to inspect the nearby prefectures and counties. When he came to Yongzhou and heard about Xiangu, he was furious. A man of upright character, he sealed the bamboo pavilion and left. More than a month later, he returned and opened it. Seeing that Xiangu’s appearance remained just as it had before, he too believed in her and no longer intended to harm her.

When Teng Zijing was demoted to serve as prefect of Yueyang, a stormy night of thunder and rain was followed by the appearance of three strange characters, “Xie Xian Huo” (“Immortal Xie’s Fire”), on the stone face of the western peak at Huarong. Teng Zijing ordered the characters copied onto a wall in the main hall and sent someone to ask Xiangu about them. She said, “They are merely two ghost spirits from the Thunder Department. The brothers like to write with iron brushes, and each is three chi tall.”

When Ding Jinggong was demoted and sent south, he passed through Yongzhou and asked Xiangu whether he would be able to return to court. She said he would. He then asked whether he would see the emperor again, but Xiangu did not answer. Later, events unfolded just as she had said. When Right Chancellor Di was ordered to campaign in the south, he passed through Yongzhou and asked whether he would defeat the enemy and capture their leader. Xiangu said the enemy would certainly be defeated, but did not answer whether their leader would be captured. The course of the campaign later proved true to her words.

People traveling through Yongzhou on business often came to visit Xiangu and ask about good and bad fortune. One day she said to her brother and sister-in-law, “Heaven and Earth do not reveal misfortune and good fortune in advance, for fear of letting heavenly secrets slip. Now visitors crowd our doorway. If I refuse to answer them, it will be difficult to manage; if I tell them all, I will be disclosing Heaven and Earth’s hidden mysteries, and may well incur heavenly punishment. I am going to leave.” She then bathed, changed her clothes, sat upright, and died. Her body is still preserved in the bamboo pavilion.

Zheng Xiangu was from Huizhou. Her father, Balang, practiced Daoist arts. From childhood, Xiangu lived with her father in an upper-story loft. When visitors came, her father would go downstairs to meet them. Xiangu would bring tea and water, also always going downstairs, so people often assumed she was just an ordinary woman. They had never seen smoke rising from the loft.

After her father died, Xiangu prepared his body for burial but did not bury him. “My father has not died,” she said. She never went beyond the city gates, yet some people said they had seen her a hundred li away. The house where she lived had fallen into disrepair with age. In autumn…