《混元圣记》Vol. 4

Having received and upheld the Way of central harmony, one need not leave the court to extend it to the four quarters; one can transform customs so that everyone turns toward the good Way, as if good conduct all began with oneself. This is what is meant by wondrous transformation through teaching—leading by example and practicing the wordless teaching.

Wenzi bowed again and asked: “I have respectfully heard your instruction on the root of governing the state; what, then, is the root of cultivating the person?”

The Old Master said: “Come, I will tell you. The highest way of nurturing life is to nourish the spirit (Shen); only after that comes caring for the physical form. When spirit is clear and mind is at peace, every part of the body is at ease—this is the root of nurturing life. Making the skin full, the intestines and stomach replete, and restraining cravings and desires are the lesser branches of nurturing life.

“If one preserves the root, arranges sleep and daily routine properly, eats and drinks in moderation, harmonizes joy and anger, and balances movement with stillness, inner cultivation will take effect and no perverse qi can enter.

“Human beings are born receiving the transformations of Heaven and Earth: in the first month, fatty tissue forms; in the second, blood; in the third, the embryo; in the fourth, the fetal form; in the fifth, sinews; in the sixth, bones; in the seventh, the body is complete; in the eighth, movement begins; in the ninth, movement increases; in the tenth, birth. Once form and bones are fully formed, the five viscera—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—each take up their functions. The liver governs the eyes, the kidneys the ears, the spleen the tongue, the lungs the nose, and the gallbladder the mouth. The head is round, taking Heaven as its model; the feet are square, symbolizing Earth.

“Heaven has four seasons, the Five Phases, the nine regions, and three hundred sixty days; the human being has four limbs, five viscera, nine orifices, and three hundred sixty joints. Heaven has wind, rain, cold, and heat; the human being has taking and giving, joy and anger. Person and Heaven correspond in forming the body: what governs ears and eyes is like sun and moon; blood and qi moving within are like wind and rain.

“When sun and moon run off course, eclipses occur and their light dims; when wind and rain are untimely, they break things and bring disaster; when the five planets go wrong, the state suffers calamity. The Way of Heaven and Earth is vast, yet they still know how to limit their brilliance and cherish their spirit (Shen). How, then, can human ears and eyes toil endlessly without rest? How can spirit rush on without fatigue? Therefore the sage values guarding the inner and does not single-mindedly chase the outer.”

The blood and breath of a person are the outward splendor of life; the five viscera are where the vital essence of life resides. When blood and breath are gathered within and not squandered outward, the chest and belly become full and excessive desires diminish. With fewer desires, the ears and eyes grow clear—hearing becomes keen and sight distinct. When the five viscera and the heart stay united without parting, the mind holds sway and conduct does not turn crooked. With spirit vigorous and Qi undispersed, nothing falls beyond hearing, nothing beyond seeing, and undertakings are more readily brought to completion.

Therefore, excessive adornment of the outer form injures the inner; indulgence in lust wearies the spirit; prizing outer ornament alone damages what is genuinely one’s own. One who never forgets, even for a moment, to play the sage will surely constrain innate nature; one who, walking a hundred paces, never forgets to mind appearance will surely wear down the body. Thus wings and plumage grown too splendid in turn harm bone and marrow; branches and leaves grown too lush in turn obstruct the roots.

Hence quietness and simplicity nourish life; ease, contentment, and a mind empty and still allow one to rely on De (Virtue/Power). When the outer world does not disturb the inner mind, innate nature can unfold as it should; when the inner mind is still yet does not hinder action, one can keep one’s proper place. To govern affairs by the way of nurturing life and to extend years by holding fast to De is to discern and put the Dao into practice.

The Dao nurtures the myriad things and orders what has no form; still and unmoving, it yet penetrates the deep, dark, undifferentiated realm. Vast without limit, one cannot say where its outer boundary ends; fine enough to split a hair or pare a tip of awn, one cannot say how small its inner reaches become. It begins in softness and yielding and in the end shows strength and firmness; it starts from what is short and sparse and gathers many strengths to accomplish its work. Thus a tree ten arm-spans around grows from a sapling one hand can grasp; a terrace a hundred ren high is raised from the ground upward.

The Zhenren (true person)—one who embodies and walks the Dao—grasps and practices it, and therefore is empty, still, plain, clear, soft, and yielding, pure and unmixed, not blended with outer things, having obtained the Dao of Heaven and Earth, and so is called a true person. Emptiness and nothingness are where the Dao dwells at ease; plainness is the Dao’s original simplicity; clarity and stillness are the mirror in which the Dao reflects the myriad things; softness and yielding are the manner in which the Dao exerts its power; purity is the root of the Dao.

When no craving or desire is kept in the heart, emptiness has reached its utmost. When there is neither hatred nor favoritism, harmony has reached its utmost. When the mind is single-minded and unchanging, stillness has reached its utmost. When one adapts to the times and takes fitting measures, yielding softness has reached its utmost. When the spirit is not scattered by external things, purity has reached its utmost.

Therefore the sage treats worldly power lightly, and his spirit is not burdened. He regards the ten thousand things as small, and his spirit is not confused. He sees life and death as equal, and his will is not afraid. He follows change, and his clarity is not muddled. In stillness he joins with Yin; in action he responds with Yang. Toward people he is neither distant nor overly close. He meets the Dao, keeps company with De (Virtue/Power), leans on a pillar that cannot topple, walks a path that never fails, draws from a treasury that never runs dry, and learns from a teacher who does not die. Thus wherever he goes he succeeds; whatever he faces he understands.

Wenzi bowed again and received this teaching. King Ping of Zhou asked Wenzi: “I hear you obtained the Dao from Lao Dan. Now, though worthy people may possess the Dao, they live in chaotic times. With the power of one man alone, can one transform the people who have long been caught in turmoil?”

Wenzi replied: “Dao and De can straighten what is crooked, calm what is in turmoil, restore what is corrupt to simplicity, raise virtue again, and bring peace to all under heaven. Can this not be done? The decisive factor is the person who holds the position. Accumulate virtue and you can establish royal achievement; accumulate resentment and you will head toward ruin. Yao and Shun flourished for this reason; Jie and Zhou perished for it.”

The king accepted Wenzi’s counsel, and the realm was settled. Later Wenzi also studied divine elixir refinement with the Old Master and in the end entered the ranks of immortals.

Shichengqi came from the state of Chu to visit Laozi. He said, “I heard that you are a great sage, so I did not shrink from the long road—I traveled a great distance to see you and did not dare to rest along the way. Now it seems you are not a sage: there are still vegetables left beside a rat hole, yet you cast your younger sister aside and do not care for her—this is inhumane; you have not finished your food, yet you keep amassing more without limit—this is boundless greed.”

Laozi remained silent and did not answer. Shichengqi withdrew. The next day he came again to pay his respects and said, “Yesterday I reproached you; today as I speak these words, I truly feel uneasy in my heart. It still seems you are not a sage: there are still vegetables left beside a rat hole, yet you cast your younger sister aside and do not care for her—this is inhumane; you have not finished your food, yet you keep amassing more without limit—this is boundless greed.”

Laozi again remained silent and did not answer. Shichengqi withdrew once more. On the third day he came to see Laozi again and said, “Yesterday I reproached you; today I admit that what I said was wrong, and my heart is convinced. I stand here with my body straight, yet my heart still feels unsettled—why is that?”

Laozi said, “As for people who are clever, crafty, and spiritually bright—I thought I had long since freed myself from that. Before, you called me an ox, and I took myself to be an ox; you called me a horse, and I took myself to be a horse. If the facts are really so and others give you such a name, yet you refuse to accept it, you will instead bring calamity upon yourself. I wear only ordinary clothes; I do not treat clothing as some special mark of identity.”

Then Shichengqi drew himself in like a crow, stepped aside from his own shadow, walked forward with light steps, and asked, “How should one cultivate the self?”

Laozi said, “Your bearing is haughty, your gaze shoots straight ahead, your brow looks as if it must compete with others, your mouth is shut tight, and your expression shows you think you are right—like a horse tied fast that stands still. When you move, you hurry to flare up, as if a trigger has suddenly been pulled; when you observe things, you fancy yourself clever and sharp, always wanting to see everything clearly and gain the upper hand. You approach everything with distrust. There is such a person close at hand, and his name is ‘Thief.’”

After hearing this, Shichengqi withdrew for the time being.

Laozi traveled west toward the state of Qin. Yang Ziju went out to the suburbs to meet him and encountered Laozi in the region of Liang. Along the way Laozi looked up to heaven and sighed, saying, “At first I thought you could be taught—but now it seems you cannot be taught after all.” Yang Ziju did not reply.

When they reached their lodging, Yang Ziju brought water for washing and a comb, placed his shoes outside the door, knelt, and moved forward in obeisance, saying, “When you sighed toward heaven just now, your disciple wished to ask the reason, but the journey made it inconvenient, so I did not dare inquire. Now that you have leisure, please tell me where I went wrong.”

Laozi said, “You stare with wide eyes and make a great noise—who would want to live with someone like that? Virtue that is truly pure white often looks as if it has been stained; a person whose De is deeply stored can seem as though he still lacks enough.” After hearing this, Yang Ziju looked respectful, his expression changed, and he said, “Your disciple understands your instruction.”

When Yang Ziju had first arrived at that lodging, the host came out to welcome him, the master of the house personally arranged his seat, and the wife brought towel and comb. Other guests rose to yield their places, and even the person tending the fire stepped aside for him. When he returned a second time, the guests no longer yielded; they competed with him for seats.

Later Yang Ziju went again to see Laozi. Laozi said, “The patterns on tiger and leopard, the nimble movements of ape and monkey—these are exactly what draw the hunter’s bow and snare.” Yang Ziju asked, “May I ask how an enlightened king governs the world?” Laozi answered, “His achievements reach everywhere under heaven, yet it is as if he personally accomplished nothing; his transforming influence extends to the ten thousand things, yet he does not rely on his own virtue, nor does he broadcast his name. He takes his stand in what cannot be fathomed, and roams in formlessness and Wuwei (non-action).”

Laozi’s disciple Gengsang Chu—also known as Kangcangzi—had grasped only a portion of Laozi’s Dao. He lived on Mount Weilei in the north. When his subjects showed sharp, clever faces, the wise among them departed; when his concubines looked excessively refined and quick-witted, the humane among them kept their distance. Only the dull and slow-witted were willing to stay near him; only the busy and toiling would obey his orders. After three years on Mount Weilei, the people of the mountain gradually came to hold him in awe.

Lord Lao’s (Laozi’s) disciple Gengsang Chu, also known as Kangsangzi, had grasped only part of his master’s Way (Dao). He lived on Weilei Mountain in the north. His retainers looked stern, and clever people left him; his concubines behaved with stiff restraint, and kind-hearted people kept their distance. Only those who were clumsy in body and busy with trivial tasks stayed near him and did his bidding.

After Gengsangzi had lived there three years, the region around Weilei Mountain had good harvests year after year. The local people said to one another: “Gengsang Chu—when we reckon the harvest day by day it never seems enough, but counted by the year there is always plenty. He must be a sage! Why not honor him as a spirit lord and sacrifice to him as we do to the gods of earth and grain?” When Gengsangzi heard this, his face showed no delight. He said: “When spring qi stirs, the hundred grasses grow; when autumn comes, the ten thousand things ripen. Is that because anyone deliberately set out to make it so? I have heard that a person of supreme attainment dwells quietly in a humble hut, and the people do not even know whom they should follow. Now the common folk of Weilei privately want to put me on the altar and worship me as a sage. That makes me recall what Lao Dan (Laozi) said, and I feel deeply uneasy.”

Nanrong Chu came to ask him: “I am already old. From now on, what should I entrust my body and mind to?” Gengsangzi replied: “Preserve your bodily form, guard your life, and do not let your thoughts scatter and wear out your spirit.”

Nanrong Chu said: “As for eyes and bodily form, I do not know how they differ, yet a blind person cannot see by himself; as for ears and bodily form, I do not know how they differ, yet a deaf person cannot hear by himself; as for mind and bodily form, I likewise do not know how they differ, yet someone whose spirit is in turmoil cannot hold himself together. Even bodily forms differ from one another; external things sometimes come to question us, and people wish to seek one another out, yet they may not truly understand each other. Now you tell me to preserve my form and guard my life and not let my thoughts scatter. I have tried hard to listen to what you say, and I think I understand it.”

When Gengsangzi had finished speaking, he added: “A small wasp cannot raise wax-moth larvae; a chicken from the state of Yue cannot hatch a swan’s egg, but a chicken from the state of Lu can hatch it. One chicken and another are not different in nature, yet one succeeds and one fails because their capacities differ in size. My ability is not enough to transform you. Why not go south and visit Lao Dan (Laozi)?”

Nanrong Qu boiled grain for seven days and seven nights in succession, then came to Laojun. Laojun said, “Matters may be great or small. My strength is not enough now to transform you—why not go south and visit Laozi?”

Nanrong Qu again boiled grain for seven days and seven nights in succession and came to Laojun. Laojun asked, “Have you come from the state of Chu?” Nanrong Qu answered, “Yes.” Laojun said, “Why have you brought so many people with you?” Nanrong Qu looked back in alarm. Laojun asked, “Do you still not understand what I mean?” Nanrong Qu bowed his head in shame, then looked up and sighed, “Just now I forgot how I should answer, and so I also forgot what I had come to ask.”

Laojun asked, “What do you mean by that?” After a long while Nanrong Qu asked again, “People say I am dull and do not understand things, and I worry; when I understand more, I worry about myself instead. If I do not speak of benevolence and righteousness I harm others; if I speak of them I make myself anxious. If I do not keep to the Way I injure people; if I keep to it I suffer myself. How can I escape these troubles and live at ease in the world? These three things have long troubled me, so I wanted to take the opportunity of coming from Chu to ask you.”

Laojun said, “A moment ago, from your brows and eyes, I could already see the doubt in your heart and had already understood you. Now you speak these words again—why is your expression still so urgent, as if you had lost your parents and were going to the sea with a pole to search for them? You are truly lost. You are bewildered and want to return to your original nature, yet you cannot find the gate to enter—how regrettable.”

Nanrong Qu asked to return to his lodging, gathered those he loved, and kept away those he disliked. He was troubled for ten days, then came to see Laojun again. Laojun said, “You seem to have washed yourself clean, yet you still look constrained; inside you there is still aversion. The mind that chases outward—if it is not reined in at the root, it will turn back and wound the inner self; if the inner self holds on to things, they cannot be handled in a muddled way, or they will wound others outwardly. When inner and outer are both wounded, De cannot be sustained—how much less for those who act against the great Dao?”

Nanrong Qu said, “In the village someone is ill; the villagers ask him, and the sick person can describe his illness—then the illness has not yet reached the point of no remedy. When I hear the great Dao, it is like giving a sick person another dose of medicine and making the disease worse. I only wish to hear the essentials of nurturing life.”

Laojun asked, “Can you hold to the One?” Nanrong Qu answered, “I can.”

Someone in the village fell ill. When others asked what was wrong, he could describe his condition—so the illness had not yet robbed him of awareness. If such a person were then taught the Great Dao, it would be like giving medicine to the sick and only making them worse. He said he wished merely to hear about the way of nurturing life.

Laojun said: “Can you guard the One without losing it? Can you know fortune and misfortune without divination? Can you still desire and settle the heart? Can you stop seeking from others and seek from yourself instead? Can you move as freely as a fish and respond to change as if sensing it? Can you be like an infant? An infant cries all day yet the voice does not grow hoarse—because vital harmony is full. It looks all day yet the eyes do not tire—because spirit does not lean outward. It grips all day yet the hand does not stiffen—because nature is spontaneous and De is thick. In action it does not fix on where it must go; at rest it does not deliberately plan what to do. It follows the rise and fall of the ten thousand things and moves with them—that is the way of nurturing life.”

The visitor asked: “Then is this the conduct of the perfected person?”

Laojun said: “Not yet. This is only what people call the state when ice melts and frozen earth loosens. When perfected persons dwell together, they share life and food upon the earth and joy in nature; they do not clash over gain and loss between people and things, nor do they set themselves apart, scheme, calculate, or act with artifice. They advance at ease and arrive as circumstances allow—that alone is called the way of nurturing life.”

He asked again: “Then is this the highest attainment?”

Laojun said: “Still not. That is why I asked whether you can be like an infant. The infant does not fix on what to do in action or plot where to go in walking; the body is like withered wood, the heart like dead ashes. In that state calamity does not descend and blessing does not come on purpose. When there is neither fortune nor misfortune, how could there be human-made disaster?”

After bowing in thanks again, the visitor left. His spirit grew clear and nimble; for ten days he ate nothing yet felt as if he had feasted. His understanding seemed to reach heaven and earth, and he could discern the finest detail as if seeing autumn down.

King Ding asked Lord Lao: “Are there still immortals in the world today? Can you tell where they are?” Lord Lao replied: “On the Eastern Sacred Mountain lives Mr. Zhanqin; on the Southern Sacred Mountain, Mr. Kuang Xu; on the Western Sacred Mountain, Yin Xi; on the Northern Sacred Mountain, the Yellow Emperor; on the Central Sacred Mountain, the Ancient Master—and I am that Ancient Master. Kuang Xu, styled Zixiao, was my disciple and cultivated the Dao on Mount Lu for seven hundred years. In the time of King Lie of Zhou, he ascended to immortality in broad daylight.”

When King Ding heard of Kuang Xu’s fame, he sent envoys to summon him. When the envoys reached Kuang Xu’s dwelling, they found it empty and returned to report. Later, people called Nancang Mountain “Kuangfu Mountain,” also naming the peak after the master’s surname.

According to the Erya (Explanation of Names), “an earthen hill is called fu.” The mountain was originally named Nancang because three celestial zhang (jade tablets) stood upon it. In antiquity, Qianshan was worshipped as the Southern Sacred Mountain, and Nancang was regarded as a storehouse of blessings, so it was also called the Southern Sacred Mountain.

In the fifth year of Emperor Wu of Han’s Yuanshi reign, while touring the realm to sacrifice to famous mountains and rivers, he shot a flood dragon in the Xunyang River. Turning back, he asked which deity presided over this mountain. Liu Di answered: “Mr. Kuang Xu attained the Dao here.” The emperor then ordered a shrine built at Huhu to honor this master who had once lived in seclusion there and was recorded in the sacrificial canon. In the Eastern Jin, Huan Yin governed Jiujiang and favored Buddhism. At the Buddhist monk Huiyuan’s request, he moved the shrine of Mr. Kuang Xu to the area by the mountain river and converted the original site into monastic quarters—today’s East Forest Temple (Donglin Si).

After Kuang Xu ascended as an immortal, Lord Lao granted him the rank of Perfected One (Zhenren), charged him with overseeing flood and drought in the Hao and Chu regions, and bestowed upon him the seal that governs plague, making him commander of the eight departments of plague deities. The people therefore called him “Lord Kuangfu Who Harmonizes Epidemics.”

In the first year of the Jianzhong Jingguo reign period of the Song dynasty (September), the court enfeoffed Jin as Jingming Zhenren (Realized Person of Jingming). When xizhang rituals (prayers to avert disaster) were performed, the court, following precedent, issued imperial prayer tablets (wooden boards bearing the emperor’s sacrificial text) and dispatched county officials to the Daoist temple to perform the rites.

In the seventeenth year of King Jing, the year wuxu, Confucius said to Nangong Jingshu: “I have heard that La Dan (Laozi) is broadly learned in ancient and modern matters, understands the foundations of rites and music, and knows where virtue and the Dao lead. He is precisely the teacher I should have. I intend to visit him.” Jingshu replied: “I shall respectfully carry out your instructions.”

Jingshu then reported to the Duke of Lu: “I have received our late lord’s command to hear that Confucius is a descendant of the sage. His family lost standing in Song: his ancestor Fu Fuhe could have inherited the throne but yielded it to Duke Li; later Zheng Kao Fu served Dukes Dai, Wu, and Xuan— the higher his office, the more humble his manner— and these matters are recorded on the tripod inscriptions. Zang Sun He once said that if descendants of a sage distinguish themselves in their age, there will surely appear someone who penetrates principle and understands the Way. Confucius loved ritual from youth; perhaps he is such a person. Our late lord instructed me that I must take him as my teacher. Now Confucius wishes to go to Zhou to examine the institutions left by the former kings and investigate the foundations of rites and music. This is a matter of great importance. Your lordship might supply him with a carriage and horses; I am willing to accompany him.”

The Duke of Lu said: “Very well.” He therefore gave Confucius one carriage, two horses, and one servant, and had him travel with Jingshu. The following year, Confucius reached Zhou and paid a visit to the Old Master (Laozi).

Laozi said: “You have come. I hear you are a worthy man of the north. Have you also attained the Dao?”

Confucius said: “Not yet.”

Laozi asked: “From what have you sought the Dao?”

Confucius answered: “I have sought it in ritual and institutions for five years and still have not obtained it.”

Laozi asked again: “From what else have you sought the Dao?”

Confucius said: “I have sought it in yin-yang transformations for twelve years and still have not obtained it.”

Laozi said: “It is indeed so. If the Dao could be taken and presented to others, no one would fail to present it to their ruler; if the Dao could be offered to others, no one would fail to offer it to their parents; if the Dao could be told to others, no one would fail to tell their brothers; if the Dao could be given to others, no one would fail to give it to their children.”

There is no other reason it fails to work: without an inner master, one cannot stand firm; without outward norms, one cannot get anywhere. What arises from within may not be welcomed by the world outside, so the sage does not force it into the open. What enters the heart from without, when there is no inner master to govern it, the sage does not simply bury and conceal it either.

Confucius withdrew. Before long he visited the Old Master again, bowed, and asked, “Today you have some leisure; I venture to inquire about the great Dao.” The Old Master said, “When the noble person meets the right time, he goes forth to serve; when the time is wrong, he drifts like tumbleweed. I have heard that a good merchant hides his precious goods deep away and looks as though he had nothing; a person of deep virtue looks outwardly like a dullard. Please put aside your pride and self-satisfaction, your competitiveness and many desires, and your affected bearing and unrestrained intent—these do your person no good. What I can tell you is no more than this.”

On another day Confucius visited the Old Master again and spoke of benevolence and righteousness. The Old Master said, “When chaff gets in the eyes, the four directions of heaven and earth seem to go awry; when gnats bite the skin, a person may go a whole night without sleep. If you could keep the people under heaven from losing their plain, original nature, then heaven and earth would run as they should, sun and moon would shine as they should, stars would keep their places, birds and beasts would flock as they should, and grass and trees would grow as they should. You wish to act in accord with virtue and walk along the great Dao—you are already on the right path; why must you so urgently hoist up benevolence and righteousness? It is like beating a drum to hunt for a lost child. I fear that in doing this you will disturb human nature. Magpies need not bathe every day for their feathers to be white; crows need not dye themselves every day for their feathers to be black. This natural black and white is not worth making a fuss over; reputation and praise are not enough to make a person’s virtue any greater.

When the spring dries up, fish are stranded on dry land and moisten one another with damp breath and spit; better than that is for each to be free in the rivers and lakes and forget the other in mutual ease.”

After Confucius returned, he did not speak for three days. Zi Gong found this odd and asked, “Master, when you went to see Laozi, what guidance did you mean to give him?”

Confucius said, “Ah—birds fly, and I know that; fish swim, and I know that; beasts run, and I know that too. Flying birds can be brought down with arrows; swimming fish can be taken with hook and line; running beasts can be caught in nets. As for the dragon, when it gathers it becomes a whole body; when it scatters it shows its patterned glory. It rides cloud and mist up into the sky—I truly cannot see through it. Having now met Laozi, he is perhaps like a dragon! I opened my mouth but had nothing to say; my spirit was unsettled, not knowing where to rest or what I could use to instruct Laozi.”

In the preface to the Record of Laozi, Yang Jie writes: Laozi existed before heaven and earth took shape, and no one knows whose line he came from; when heaven and earth grew old, he was still there. People could only loosely call him “father of Yixi.” He was born with white hair because his life was immeasurably long; he spoke as a small child, not because he had been taught later; his bearing was solemn, yet as plain as an infant’s, because he kept to softness and humility.

His mother was Lady Yin, and he was born in Renli. Later generations multiplied, and their faces aged like anyone else’s. Laozi took Li as his surname from the plum tree—he did not belong to any one clan. His hearing and sight were keen; his brow was like the sun, his eyes deep as the moon. He bore such marks as the “two pillars and three gates,” the “ten” in his hand and the “five” under his foot—signs of a transcendent being.

Laozi studied with Rongchengzi and sought the Great Dao from Changsong, yet he did not stay with a single teacher. Tradition says that in different ages he appeared under different names: in the time of Fuxi, Yuhuazi; Shennong, Dachengzi; Zhurong, Guangshouzi; Shang Yang, Chijingzi; Diku, Lutuzi; Emperor Yao, Wuchengzi; Yu of Xia, Zhenxingzi; Tang of Shang, Xizezi; King Wen of Zhou, Xieyizi.

It is also said that Taishi Xiu in the heavens was the Golden Gate Emperor, the Lord of Upper Splendor, and the Divine Treasure Elder—without a fixed title. On earth he served as keeper of archives and as pillar scribe, without choosing rank; when Zhou declined, he went out through Hangu Pass and withdrew, yielding to the times.

Laozi deeply concealed the subtleties of Dao and De (Virtue/Power) and held spirit writings that pierce the divine—rules that heaven and humanity follow. He could turn the work of creation, harmonize Yin-Yang, set the stars rising and falling, and master the nine transformations; he could refine metal and stone, command ghosts and spirits, tread the shadow of the sun and walk the empty sky, hiding body and radiance. Long-lived and far-seeing, he shielded the good and relieved the distressed, passing beyond the changes of the ten thousand things. People cannot tell whether such accounts are true or not, and so they call him a hidden sage.

Confucius said: “Birds—I know they fly; fish—I know they swim; beasts—I know they run. The dragon, gathered, becomes one whole; scattered, it shows its patterns; riding wind and clouds into the sky—I cannot grasp it. When I saw Laozi, he was perhaps like a dragon.” From antiquity to the present, many have spoken of Laozi, but none as Confucius did.

Zi Gong asked Confucius, “Is there really someone who in repose sits still as a corpse, yet when he appears transforms like a dragon; whose voice is like thunder, yet in stillness is like a deep abyss; and whose every movement seems to set heaven and earth in motion? Could I too meet such a person?”

Confucius replied, “There is one named Bai Yan, who moves about freely, and everyone wishes to see him. When he appears it is as if heaven descends; in silence he is like thunder held back; when he acts it is like a torrential downpour—and all people lift their faces to watch. Zi Gong, how could you get to see such a person?”

Zi Gong then went to visit the Old Master (Laozi) using Confucius’s name. At that time the Old Master leaned on his armrest and answered him quietly: “I am old in years, and my time is nearly spent. You come to see me—everyone wishes to see me; when I appear it is as if heaven descends; in silence I am like thunder held back; when I act it is like a torrential downpour—and all people lift their faces to watch. Zi Gong, how could you get to see me?” The Old Master went on to ask, “With what will you admonish me?”

Zi Gong stood there, ill at ease and constrained. The Old Master said, “Young man, go back. Your teacher is named Qiu; only after three years of earnest remonstrance may he be fit to instruct others.” When Zi Gong returned, Confucius asked, “He got to you, didn’t he?” Zi Gong was inwardly unsettled and for a moment could not answer.

Confucius went to visit the Old Master, with his disciples following along. The Old Master asked, “Who are these people in front?” Confucius answered, “This is Zhong You—brave and strong of body; next is Zeng Shen, famed for filial piety; then Yan Hui, rich in humaneness; and Zhuansun Shi, bold in martial spirit.” The Old Master said, “I have heard that in the south there is a bird called the phoenix. It wears on its head the tassel that symbolizes sage virtue; on the left, what symbolizes trustworthiness, and on the right, what symbolizes worthiness; its strength is in its feet, its courage shows in front. Even such display belongs only to its lower aspect.”

Laojun once helped the Dang people of Daxiang with funeral arrangements, and Confucius went along. On the way a solar eclipse occurred. Laojun said to Confucius: “Qiu, first set the coffin by the roadside, stop wailing, and pay close attention to what is happening. When daylight returns, go back and resume the procession and burial.”

Confucius asked: “Is it not wrong to turn the coffin back? When there is a solar eclipse, should one not continue on as usual?” Laojun said: “A funeral procession should neither start too early nor lodge overnight on the road; only criminals or those hurrying to a parent’s death would travel by starlight. During an eclipse, who knows whether the sky will darken enough that stars become visible?”

Confucius asked again: “Is it in accord with ritual to place a child who died young in a coffin?” Laojun said: “In antiquity the Zhou historian Shiyou had a child who died young—a case of xia shang (death before maturity)—and the burial ground was far away. The Duke of Shao asked him: ‘Why not encoffin the child inside the palace?’ Shiyou said: ‘Would I dare do that?’ He reported the matter to the Duke of Zhou, who said: ‘What objection is there?’ Shiyou then did as advised. Using a coffin for xia shang began with Shiyou.”

Confucius asked: “After completing the three-year mourning and the zuku (final wailing) rites, if military affairs arise, may one fail to withdraw from them?” Laojun said: “In antiquity Duke Boqin of Lu did so because the Xu Rong (an ancient Eastern Yi people) had rebelled.”

Confucius asked again: “When armies marched in antiquity, why did they always carry the spirit tablets from the ancestral temples?” Laojun said: “When the ruler left his state, the Grand Steward (Taizai), according to ritual, took the spirit tablets from each ancestral temple. At the grand joint sacrifice to the ancestors, the Zhu (ritual officer) escorted the tablets from the four temples. When the tablets were moved in or out of the temples, the way had to be cleared and people kept aside—this too was ritual.”

Confucius asked, “I have heard that in ancient times, when sacrificing to Heaven, the spirits of the Five Thearchs were taken as the objects of worship—is that so?”

Laozi replied, “Heaven has the Five Phases: Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, and Earth. They each preside over the seasons, transform and nurture the myriad things, assist the Supreme Lord (Shangdi), and bring all beings into being. The true spirits who govern the Five Phases are called the Five Thearchs.”

Confucius asked again, “May I ask who the Five Thearchs are respectively?”

Laozi replied, “The Azure Thearch of the East, Weilingyang, holds the compass and presides over spring; the Red Thearch of the South, Chibiaonu, holds the balance beam and presides over summer; the White Thearch of the West, Baizhaoju, holds the square ruler and presides over autumn; the Black Thearch of the North, Guangji, holds the weight (steelyard counterweight) and presides over winter; the Yellow Thearch at the center, Han shuniu, holds the plumb line and presides over the four seasons. Here the compass, balance, square, weight, and plumb line are implements symbolizing each Thearch’s governance of the seasons and the order of Heaven and Earth.

Therefore, when ancient kings changed dynasties and altered the name of the state, they took the Five Phases as their model and used the sequence of mutual generation among the phases to explain the succession and cyclical renewal of political power. After worthy kings passed away, sacrifices were also arranged according to the Five Phases: Taihao was paired with Wood, the Flame Emperor with Fire, the Yellow Thearch with Earth, Shaohao with Metal, and Zhuanxu with Water.”

Confucius asked Laozi, "The Dao is truly difficult to put into practice. I serve the current ruler with the Dao in mind, yet I am not accepted. It seems the Dao is indeed hard to implement."

Laozi said, "Those who speak easily fall into argument; those who listen are easily confused by words. Understanding these two points, one knows the Dao cannot be handed to another like a physical object. The people you speak of—their bodies and bones have long since decayed; only their words remain. The Poetry, Documents, Rites, and Music are traces left by former kings—are they the Great Dao itself? Traces are merely footprints left by those who walked the path before; how can footprints be identical to the road itself?

White ducks face each other without moving their eyes, yet they sense one another and reproduce. Among insects, the male calls from upwind and the female responds from downwind, and they reproduce. All living things have their male and female aspects, propagating in their own ways. Their nature cannot be altered, their allotted span cannot be changed, the times cannot be obstructed, and the Great Dao cannot be blocked. One who truly attains the Dao, regardless of circumstances, never loses the Dao because of them."

Confucius withdrew to his quarters and did not go out for three months. Later he visited Laozi again and said, "I understand now. Magpies hatch their young; fish transfer affection through bubbles; the potter wasp transforms moth larvae into its own offspring; when a younger brother is born, the elder brother weeps. For so long I have not followed change to transform others—how then could I make others change?"

Laozi said, "Good—you understand."

One day Confucius visited Laozi again. Laozi had just washed his hair and was letting it dry loose, appearing for a moment unlike an ordinary person. Confucius waited respectfully for a while, then upon seeing Laozi said, "Was I just seeing things? Is it real? A moment ago your form was rigid as withered wood, as if you had forgotten external things, standing alone between heaven and earth."

Laozi said, "I was roaming at the beginning of things."

Confucius asked, "What does that mean?"

Laozi said, "The mind is perplexed yet cannot comprehend; one wishes to speak yet cannot find words. I once tried to discuss its outer edge…"

When the heart is confused, one cannot understand; when one wishes to speak but cannot, one cannot express. I once tried to discuss the principle within: the qi of utmost yin is solemn and deep—this solemn depth comes from Heaven; the qi of utmost yang is blazing and bright, issuing from Earth. When yin and yang meet and harmonize, the ten thousand things are thereby generated.

The patterns by which the ten thousand things arise and change leave no visible trace. They sometimes wane and sometimes grow; sometimes full and sometimes empty; sometimes dim and sometimes bright. Sun and moon alternate, and the ten thousand things change accordingly. They act, yet one cannot see who accomplishes the work; life begins from the sprout, and death has its destination. Beginning and end cycle into one another, with no clear starting point, and no one knows when they end. Then who is the master of these shifts between right and wrong?

Confucius asked, “May I ask how one can roam in such a realm?” Laozi said, “To reach this realm is utmost beauty and utmost joy. One who attains utmost beauty and roams in utmost joy is the zhenren—the person of the highest attainment.”

Confucius said, “I wish to hear the concrete method.” Laozi said, “Grass-eating beasts do not grieve because they have moved to another meadow; creatures that live in water do not fret because they have changed waters. They only undergo small changes and do not lose their fundamental constancy. The zhenren is the same: he does not let joy, anger, sorrow, or delight enter his heart.”

The ten thousand things under Heaven originally return to one root. To grasp this common root is to connect with the ten thousand things. Then the limbs and the hundred parts of the body are like dust, and birth and death, beginning and end, are like the alternation of day and night—nothing can disturb the inner heart, still less trifles such as gain and loss or fortune and misfortune. Cast these entanglements aside, as one might brush dust from the heart. What is noble in a person lies in oneself; one does not lose one’s true nature because of change. The transformations of the ten thousand things have no end—what is there worth troubling the heart over? Those who cultivate the Dao understand precisely this.

Confucius said, “The virtue of the great person matches Heaven and Earth, yet he still relies on words of ultimate principle to cultivate the inner heart. Among the gentlemen of old, who could wholly escape this?”

Laozi said, “It is not so. When water flows into channels and pools, it is not deliberate action—water’s nature is simply thus. The virtue of the zhenren likewise needs no deliberate adornment; the ten thousand things naturally cannot do without it. Heaven is naturally lofty, Earth naturally heavy, sun and moon naturally bright—what need have they for deliberate cultivation?”

When Confucius was about to leave, Laojun (the Old Master) said: “That is not so. Water in the Xun—without any forced effort—simply shows its own nature. The Perfect Person embodies De (Virtue/Power); there is no need to dress it up artificially, and the ten thousand things cannot turn away from that De either. Heaven is high by nature, earth is deep by nature, sun and moon are bright by nature—what need is there to ‘cultivate’ them on purpose?”

After Confucius had gone, he told Yan Hui: “My grasp of the Dao (the Way) was like having my eyes covered by the lid of a fermenting jar. Had the Master not lifted that lid, I would never have seen the full sweep of the great Dao of Heaven and Earth.”

When Confucius was ready to go back to Lu, Laojun came to see him off and said: “I have heard that the wealthy, when bidding farewell, give gifts of property, and the humane give gifts of words. I am not wealthy, yet I will take the liberty of calling myself humane and offer you a few words. Some scholars today are keen and penetrating in mind, yet they draw close to danger—because they delight in ridiculing and talking about others. Some are eloquent, widely read, and clear about how things work, yet they put themselves at risk—because they expose people’s faults. Do not act only for yourself and do as you please: a son must think of his parents, a minister must think of his lord. Those who habitually pick at others and broadcast their failings often bring danger on themselves for that very reason.” (The passage repeats this warning in two places; the point is the same: do not rely on a sharp tongue or on exposing others’ shortcomings.)

Confucius said: “I receive your teaching with respect.” When he returned from Zhou to Lu, his moral and scholarly stature grew even deeper, and disciples who came from far away to study with him numbered as many as three thousand.

According to the Tang dynasty “Hymns for Welcoming the Spirit in the Confucian Temple,” “One who comprehends the bright path of sagely wisdom displays sagely virtue; one who inquires of Laozi seeks truth. Confucius had three thousand disciples and five hundred worthies, leaving norms for ten thousand generations to follow; the temple enjoys sacrifice through the ages. People worship with pure and reverent hearts, and music is played to welcome the spirit.” The old Great Music preserved this lyric, but it is unclear where it originally came from.

Wang Liao’s encomium says: “Wuwei is the root; emptiness and stillness are the solid source. Laozi is pure and silent, entrusting his intent to what is beyond words. Confucius then became Laozi’s disciple, holding to ‘the One’ and enduring long.” Here “holding to the One” (shouyi) is a term from Daoist cultivation: to hold single-mindedly to one’s true nature so that spirit does not scatter.

Lu Shiheng’s encomium says: “Confucius was wise and sagely, his virtue matched Heaven, and he spread the way of Heaven. Like wind he spread the subtle Dao; his grace was deep, like a divine treasure. At dawn he set out, cherishing the Zhou; when he discussed learning, he often took Laozi as his model.” Such statements were indeed not made without basis.

Su Zi wrote in Ancient History: Confucius taught people with benevolence and righteousness and governed the world with rites and music. The transformations of benevolence, righteousness, rites, and music are inexhaustible, yet Confucius said: “My way is threaded through by a single principle.” If that principle did not run through them, people could only act as circumstances shifted; the principles they followed might then fragment and fail to cohere.

The Book of Changes says: “What goes beyond concrete form is called the Dao; what is visibly concrete is called the vessel (qi).” The Analects says: “The gentleman understands what is lofty; the small man understands what is petty.” Confucius said of himself that he had gradually penetrated from concrete, near-at-hand learning to what is lofty and profound. He began with daily proprieties such as sweeping and responding, and also studied the Odes, Documents, Rites, and Music. Through these, the gentleman reaches the great Dao, and the small man masters concrete affairs. One who reaches the great Dao can grasp a unified root amid myriad changes; one who masters concrete affairs has something to follow and does not lose his bearings. This is precisely why Confucius could excel in both respects.

Confucius was thorough in his person, so he showed people concrete things and did not display the abstruse principle directly; thus those who could understand found entry easy, and those not yet understanding were not left baffled. Laozi was renowned for the depth of his self-cultivation.

Laozi, founder of the Daoist school, had a deep grasp of how to conduct himself, so when he taught others about the Dao he stressed principles and passed over concrete methods, which made entry easier for those with strong insight; as for those who had not yet awakened, he did not fret over them. Broadly speaking, they all took seeking the Dao as their aim and differed only in when and how they put it into practice.

I once heard my elder brother Zizhan (Su Shi, style name Zizhan) say that the Grand Historian Sima Qian thought Zhuangzi wrote such chapters as “The Fisherman,” “Robber Zhi,” and “Opening Satchels” to denigrate Confucius and his followers and to showcase Laozi’s teaching. That reading catches only the outer layer of what Zhuangzi says. In my view, Zhuangzi’s writing appears on the surface to criticize Confucius at every turn, yet in substance he agrees with him in secret; openly he seems to push Confucius away, while covertly he lends him support. So when he takes Confucius to task, he always leaves room to express his real meaning in an indirect way.

The Grand Historian also said that Shen Buhai and Han Fei spoke sparingly of benevolence and kindness, and that both their doctrines grew out of the Daode tradition. Shang Yang ran Qin through penal statutes; Shen Buhai ran Han through administrative technique: making laws public in the offices and letting punishments sink into the people’s hearts—that is fa, “law”; assigning posts according to talent, matching performance to title, holding the power of life and death, and testing ministers’ ability—that is shu, “technique.” Han Fei took Shen Buhai’s and Shang Yang’s ideas together and put them into practice.

Where law can reach, not even sages and worthies may go their own way; where technique holds sway, not even father and son may trust each other. That is what Shen Buhai and Han Fei called Laozi’s Dao—but it is not Laozi’s Dao in truth.

When a grand officer of Chen was sent on a mission to Lu, he called privately on Shusun. Shusun said, “There is a sage in our state—do you know of him?” The officer from Chen replied, “Do you mean Kong Qiu [Confucius]?” Shusun said, “Yes. How do you know he is a sage?” The officer said, “I heard from Yan Hui that Kong Qiu can let go of the mind’s distinctions and respond to things only through the natural spontaneity of the body.”

The Chen officer went on, “Our state also has a sage—perhaps you are unaware of him?” Shusun asked, “Whom do you mean?” He answered, “A disciple of Laozi.” Shusun asked, “How do you know he is a sage?” The officer said, “I heard Yan Hui say that Kong Qiu can let go of the mind’s distinctions and respond to things only through the natural spontaneity of the body.” Then he added, “There is yet another sage in our state—perhaps you do not know of him?” Shusun asked, “Who is that?” He answered, “Among Laozi’s disciples is Kangcangzi, also known as Gengsang Chu. The book attributed to him is titled the Dongling Zhenjing (True Scripture of the Cavern Spirit). He has grasped the Way of humility and can see with his ears and hear with his eyes.”

Shusun reported this to the ruler of Lu. The ruler was greatly astonished and sent a senior minister with rich gifts to invite Kangcangzi. When Kangcangzi arrived in Lu, the ruler respectfully asked him for instruction.

Kangcangzi said, “What the messenger reported was not accurate. I can perceive without relying on ears and eyes, yet I cannot alter what ears and eyes are by nature.”

The ruler of Lu said, “That is truly extraordinary! What is your Dao like?” Kangcangzi replied, “Body joins with mind, mind joins with qi, qi joins with spirit, and spirit joins with the formless. Wherever there is the slightest trace of form or the faintest sound—whether in the far reaches of the eight directions and wild lands, or as close as the space between eyebrow and eyelash—I can know it. Yet I do not know that it is the seven apertures and four limbs that are sensing, nor do I know that the heart, belly, and six viscera are aware; I simply know of itself, naturally.”

The ruler of Lu was very pleased. Later he told Confucius about this. Confucius only smiled and did not reply.

When Tai Zang, Grand Administrator of Shang, met Confucius, he asked, “Are you a sage?”

Confucius replied, “If you mean a sage, how would I dare claim that? I am merely someone with broad learning and wide experience.”

Tai Zang asked again, “Were the Three Sovereigns sages?” Confucius said, “The Three Sovereigns were skilled at employing people of wisdom and courage. As to whether they were sages, I do not know.”

Tai Zang went on, “Were the Five Emperors sages?” Confucius answered, “The Five Emperors were skilled at employing people of benevolence and righteousness. As to whether they were sages, I do not know.”

Tai Zang asked once more, “Were the Three August Ones sages?” Confucius said, “The Three August Ones were skilled at adapting to the times. As to whether they were sages, I do not know.”

Greatly astonished, Tai Zang asked, “Then who is the sage?”

Confucius answered with a solemn expression, “In the West there is a sage. He does not govern, yet the world is not in disorder; he does not issue commands, yet people naturally trust him; he does not deliberately teach, yet people naturally follow the Way (Dao). His realm is vast and boundless—common folk cannot even put it into words. I suspect he is a sage, yet I cannot tell whether he is truly a sage or not truly a sage.”

Tai Zang fell silent for a while, thinking to himself, “Confucius must be deceiving me.”

Laozi, the sage revered in the Daoist tradition, kept his brilliance veiled and blended into ordinary life; he handled affairs through wuwei (non-action) and taught people without leaning on words. Confucius therefore admired his sagely virtue and went to take him as his teacher. If Kangsangzi—a figure of legend in the Daoist line—could still be widely called a sage, how much more so his teacher Laozi?

Lu lay in the Donghai region, and Zhou was to the west of Lu. Laozi then resided in Zhou, while Confucius lived in Lu; that is why the text points toward the west when it speaks of Laozi’s virtue and clarity. That is hardly empty praise.

Later, some people groundlessly claimed that the master Confucius sought was the Buddha. Yet by that time the Buddha had long been dead; moreover, his language differed from that of the Chinese, and rites, chariot tracks, and institutions did not match. How could Confucius have gone to him for instruction? Confucius treated the Huaxia states as “within” and the Yidi peoples as “without”; disheveled hair and garments fastened on the left were customs he deeply detested. The style of the Spring and Autumn Annals likewise censures those who took up Yidi ritual. Why would Confucius abandon the sages of China to bow to an outsider as teacher and honor him?

In earlier times King Wen of Zhou lived at the foot of Mount Qi and was called the Western Earl (Xibo). King Wu said, “My father King Wen displayed his virtue in the west.” Zhou stood in the western part of the central plains, so it also called itself “the west.” Boyi and Shuqi lived in the state of Guzhu, admired King Wen’s sagely virtue, and said to each other, “We hear that in the west there is a man who seems to possess great virtue—let us go and see him.” So they came to the south side of Mount Qi.

The Book of Poetry says, “I think of that gracious one—he is a fair one of the west; that fair one is one of the west.” This is a poem in the Wei section. Zheng Xuan’s commentary takes it as longing for the house of Zhou. Again, Qi Jiang said to Duke Wen of Jin, “A book of the west says: ‘The sun and moon do not stand still—how can people find peace?’” That too is a saying from the Documents of Zhou. When ancient books speak of “the west,” they mean Zhou territory.

Guzhu lay in Liaoxi. Lu, Wei, and Qi were eastern feudal states, so they all called Zhou “the west”; the west meant here is not the far reaches beyond the shifting sands. As for the yin-yang specialists’ placing certain spirits or taboo stars in “the west,” that may refer only to a position between walls—surely not to some distant elsewhere.

Similarly, when Confucius traveled south to Pei to visit Laozi, Laozi called him “a worthy of the north.” Does “the north” here mean those remote lands named in other passages? Hardly.

In the second year of King Yilie, Laozi passed through the state of Qin. Duke Xian of Qin heard of this and went in person to the outskirts to welcome him. He arranged lodging and received him with full ritual courtesy. The duke asked: “Our state lies in a remote region, and I am not a worthy ruler. That you, Master, have graciously come is truly our good fortune. As for military affairs, I would not presume to ask; but might you speak of the turns of Heaven’s mandate and fate?”

Laozi said: “How could I be qualified to know such things?” Duke Xian replied: “I sincerely wish to hear—please do not decline.” Laozi then said: “Qin was at first aligned with the Zhou house, then separated from it. Five hundred years after that separation, it will join with Zhou again. Seventy years after they are reunited, someone will arise who dominates the realm. What comes after that is not something one can inquire about now.”

Duke Xian was greatly pleased and asked Laozi to stay longer so that he might serve him as a teacher. The next day, Laozi left without taking formal leave and afterward passed out through San Pass.

In the time of Duke Xiao of Qin, Laozi returned to Qin territory. He traveled with Master Yin and others to Mount Meng at Chisheng in Shangyu, then went again to the dwelling of the Great Emperor of Fusang to collate and gather the scriptures of the immortals. Before long, Laozi withdrew to live in seclusion on Jingshi Mountain in the Luoyang region. At that time five white-haired elders appeared—some riding cranes, some clad in feather garments, each holding a green bamboo staff. Together they discussed the patterns by which Heaven and Earth operate; no one in the world knew whence they came.

Laozi composed scriptures totaling nearly one hundred thousand characters. Beside him two divine beings held a golden pot filled with ink, black and thick as lacquer. When that ink was sprinkled on wood or stone, it still showed seal script and large seal forms.

Wang Jia’s Records of Gathered Remains (Shiyi Ji) states: In former times Laozi lived on Jingshi Mountain. With five elders he discussed the patterns of Heaven and Earth and wrote scriptures of nearly one hundred thousand characters. Two divine beings from the land of Futí brought out a golden pot containing ink as black and thick as lacquer. When the ink was sprinkled on wood or stone, seal script and clerical script would appear, used to inscribe the scriptures. When the ink in the golden pot was exhausted, the two intended to concentrate their spirit and use the blood of their hearts in place of ink to continue writing. The “Five Elders” mentioned in the text are the Five Directional Heavenly Emperors; “Jingshi Mountain” is Mount Taishi.

During the reign of King Zhao of Qin, Lord Lao (Laozi) traveled with Yin the Perfected One (Yin Xi) and other immortals through Mount Nüji, Mount Difei, Mount Tianzhu, and other peaks. Afterward they went west through San Pass, crossed the drifting sands, ascended Kunlun Mountain, then returned to the Upper Palace of Purple Tenuity and the Land of Grand Mystery. When King Zhao heard of this, he regretted that he had not met Lord Lao and built a town at the foot of the western hills where the sage had passed, to preserve the trace of the holy one. The sites of Laozi Pavilion Post and Yin Xi City still survive today.

King Xiaowen of Qin once hunted in the Huai and Han borderlands and went in person to Louguan to bow before and offer sacrifice to Lord Lao.

In the tenth year of King Nan of Zhou, the bingchen year, Lord Lao sent an envoy to summon the recluse Shen Xi. Shen Xi was originally from Wu commandery; he had studied the Dao in western Shu and was skilled at curing the illnesses of the people.

One day Shen Xi and his wife, Lady Jia, rode together in a cart to visit their daughter-in-law Zhuo Kongning. On the road they met three carriages, drawn respectively by dragon, tiger, and white deer, with a large retinue all in red robes and bearing tally-strips. A mounted attendant asked Shen Xi, “Are you the recluse Shen Xi?” Shen Xi answered in surprise, “I am.” The attendant said, “You have secretly done good and helped others, your heart has not forgotten cultivation, and from youth your conduct has been without fault. Huang-Lao (the honored title of Lord Lao) now sends immortal officers to welcome you.”

The one in the white-deer carriage was Vice Minister Bo Yan; in the azure-dragon carriage was Lord Who Transcends the World, Sima Sheng; in the white-tiger carriage was the escort envoy Xu Fu. In a moment three immortals in feather robes and with tally-strips conferred on Shen Xi a jade register of green jade inscribed with cinnabar characters. The Vice Minister of Azure Empyrean then carried Shen Xi up to heaven. Farmers working beside the road all saw it. Shortly afterward thick fog spread; when it cleared, only Shen Xi’s cart and ox remained in the field eating the grain.

Someone recognized the ox and told Shen Xi’s family. His son feared his father had been taken by an evil spirit and led several hundred people to search the valleys within a hundred li in all directions, but found nothing.

In the first year of Emperor Shang of Eastern Han, the bingwu year—four hundred and twelve years after Shen Xi’s ascent—he returned to his homeland. People located his tenth-generation descendant Huai Xi. Huai Xi said, “Our elders handed down that a immortal once belonged to this house; are you returning today?”

Shen Xi stayed in his native place for several tens of days. He said that when he first ascended he did not see the Celestial Thearch but only paid homage to Lord Lao. Lord Lao’s palace was wrapped in cloud and colored light in five hues beyond description. Several hundred attendants, mostly youths, served there. In the courtyard stood trees of pearl and jade, with many kinds of spirit fungus growing among them; dragons and tigers played there and could drive away evil. One heard a ringing sound like metal striking metal; the walls on every side were bright and covered with writing.

Lord Lao stood more than ten feet tall, his whole body radiant so that one could not look directly at him. He ordered a jade maiden to present medicine to Shen Xi in a golden dish and jade cup, saying, “This is divine elixir; drink it and you will not die.” Shen Xi and his wife each drank a small portion; after drinking they need only bow and did not have to speak thanks. Lord Lao also gave Shen Xi two jujubes, each about the size of an egg, and bestowed a talisman (fulu) and a immortal formula. He said, “For now return to the human realm and relieve the people’s sickness. When you wish to ascend again, hang this talisman on the tip of a pole and I will send an envoy to welcome you.”

When he finished speaking, Shen Xi suddenly seemed to fall asleep; when he awoke, he was already on the ground. When Empress Dowager Dou fell ill, she sent for him to treat her. During the reign of Emperor An of Han, Shen Xi was still in the world; afterward he ascended to heaven again.

The First Emperor of Qin built a shrine to Laozi (the Old Lord) south of Louguan and for generations supplied what the households who tended the shrine needed. He personally composed an invocation that said: “The Great Dao spreads widely and is nowhere absent; it may be apprehended from every direction.” He also said: “When the Old Lord departed he went west; when he returned he looked back toward the east. I am about to go to Penglai and Yingzhou (the immortal isles at sea); may you show your numinous traces and grant a response.”

The First Emperor personally performed the sacrificial rite. Before long he saw the Old Lord descend and take his seat before him. Astonished and delighted, he bowed again and again and respectfully bent forward to seek the Way. The Old Lord smiled and did not answer; he only had someone hand him the Gui Lin Jing (Spirit Forest Scripture) and Fulu (talismans and registers) for commanding ghosts and spirits. The First Emperor still pleaded earnestly without cease, whereupon the Old Lord suddenly vanished. The emperor returned in dejection. It is said that the invocation he wrote and his own handwriting are still preserved.

End of Hunyuan Shengji, juan 6.

Hunyuan Shengji, juan 7

Compiled by Master Guanfu, the recluse Gao Shi Xie Shoubin of the Song dynasty.

The Old Lord took pity on the decline of the world in the final years of the Zhou, when customs grew ever more shallow and false, and so divided his body to come among humans and save the people of that age. He came to the region of the Shaan and Yellow River, did not reveal his name, and people therefore called him “the Old Man of the River,” also “Riverbank Gong.”

He once transmitted the Dao to Anqi Sheng; Anqi Sheng later passed it to Ma Mingsheng, Ma Mingsheng to Yin Changsheng, and Yin Changsheng to Master Erzhu. Who received the lineage after that is unknown.

Ma Mingsheng (also recorded as Ma Mingsheng; original name He, courtesy name Junxian) served as a minor clerk in the county. Once, while carrying out orders to capture bandits, he was severely wounded and near death. Lady Wang of Taizhen—a female immortal in Daoist legend—healed him with medicine. Feeling he had no way to repay her, he asked to remain and serve at her command. He had originally sought only a prescription for his blade wounds and did not know she was an immortal.

Ma Mingsheng served her diligently for many years. Seeing his reverence for the Dao deepen, his bearing change, and his body restored as before, she said to him: “The Way I cultivate may be transmitted only to high adepts—immortals of profound attainment—not to beginners. Anqisheng masters the method of the golden liquid returning elixir; he will come tomorrow, and I entrust you to him. If you follow him long enough, you will in time receive his Daoist methods.” The next day Anqisheng indeed arrived, and Lady Wang entrusted Ma Mingsheng to him. Ma followed Anqisheng for nearly twenty years before Anqisheng finally transmitted to him the secret formulas of elixir practice. After Ma refined the elixir and ingested it, he ascended in broad daylight.

Yin Changsheng was a relative of Empress Yin of the Eastern Han. From youth he loved Daoist arts. Hearing that Ma Mingsheng had obtained the path to longevity, he long served Ma in the capacity of a menial. For more than ten years Ma did not teach him the Dao and only spoke with him of ordinary worldly matters. Twelve others who served alongside Yin grew resentful and left one after another; Yin alone remained respectful without slackening. Ma then told him: “You are someone truly intent on attaining the Dao.” He thereupon set up an altar, swore an oath, sealed the pact with blood, and transmitted to him the secret of the divine elixir. Later Yin cultivated on Pingdu Mountain in Zhong Prefecture, consumed the elixir, and ascended in broad daylight.

Yin Changsheng’s own account states: “In the first year of the Yan’guang reign of Han, north of Mount Xinye I received the essential instructions on the divine elixir. After the Dao was accomplished, I departed this life and hid the elixir scripture in a famous mountain; whoever obtains it and completes the practice may enter the ranks of true persons and come and go freely. Why do people in the world seek the path of not dying? The key lies in the divine elixir. Qi circulation, guiding exercises, bending and stretching, and ingesting herbs and plants can only slightly extend life; they cannot enable one to transcend forever and become an immortal.

“If you wish to hear this method, these words are vital. It requires long accumulation of study and practice to succeed; it is not obtained empty-handed through miraculous power. Those of superior capacity will strive in cultivation and endure hardship; those of inferior capacity will laugh loudly and deem it untrue. Whoever understands the method of the divine elixir can long endure in the world.”

He then copied the elixir scripture in three copies on yellow silk and golden slips and hid them separately on Mount Song, Mount Hua, and Mount Sui; he also copied one version on plain silk and gave it to a disciple, so that this scripture might be passed down through generations.

Anqi Sheng (a legendary fangshi, or adept, of the Qin–Han period) also transmitted the Dao to Mao Xigong. Mao Xigong passed it to Yue Xia Gong, Yue Xia Gong to Yue Ju Gong, and Yue Ju Gong to Gai Gong.

The Records of the Grand Historian states that among the clan of Yue Yi there was a Yue Ju Gong who was skilled in studying Huang-Lao learning (the tradition centered on the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi). His teacher was the Old Man of the Riverbank (He Shang Zhangren), but no one knows the Old Man’s origins. The Old Man of the Riverbank taught Anqi Sheng; Anqi Sheng taught Mao Xigong; Mao Xigong taught Yue Xia Gong; Yue Xia Gong taught Yue Ju Gong; and Yue Ju Gong taught Gai Gong. Gai Gong lectured in the Gaomi and Jiaoxi region and later became teacher to Chancellor Cao.

The Records of the Grand Historian also records that in the first year of Emperor Hui of Han, Cao Can served as Chancellor of Qi. He summoned local elders and scholars to ask how to settle and benefit the people. Several hundred Confucian scholars each offered different views, and Cao Can found it hard to decide. Hearing that Gai Gong was deeply versed in Huang-Lao learning, he sent someone with generous gifts to invite him. Gai Gong told him that governing a state lies in quietude and wuwei (non-action), letting the people settle of themselves, and he set forth the principles of governing accordingly. Cao Can adopted his advice; during nine years as Chancellor of Qi, the state was thereby kept at peace.

Emperor Xiaowen of Han (Emperor Wen) and Empress Dowager Bao both favored the teachings of the Laozi, and issued an edict ordering kings and high ministers to recite and study them.

The Records of the Grand Historian, “Biographies of Confucian Scholars,” states that Emperor Wen of Han favored the study of names and punishments (xingming), Emperor Jing of Han kept Confucian scholars at a distance, and Empress Dowager Dou favored Huang-Lao learning. The Book of Han, “Biographies of the Empresses and Consorts,” says that Empress Dowager Dou loved the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, while Emperor Jing and the maternal relatives could not honor them in the same way. From this it would seem that the one who favored Huang-Lao should be Jing; yet the text now says Wen also favored it—why? Perhaps Empress Dowager Dou’s love of Huang-Lao was also influenced by Wen.

Ban Gu, in the eulogy to the biography of Yang Xiong, writes: “Laozi wrote two treatises expounding emptiness, belittling benevolence and righteousness and criticizing ritual learning. Later people who loved these doctrines even held them superior to the Five Classics. Emperors Wen and Jing of Han both spoke in this vein.” This shows that Wen also favored the Laozi, though not with the same single-minded devotion he gave to the study of names and punishments.

Whenever one sought out recluses to explain the meaning of the Laozi, someone would say: “By the river lives an old man whose name no one knows; people call him Heshang Gong (the legendary immortal who lived by the river and lectured on the Laozi). He once recited the Laozi…”

Whenever the emperor sought out recluses and asked them to explain the meaning of the Daodejing, someone told him: “An old man lives by the river. No one knows his name; everyone calls him Heshang Gong, the Old Man by the River. He often recites both parts of the Daodejing—you might go and try asking him.”

When the emperor heard this, he sent an envoy to inquire about the scripture’s meaning. The old man replied: “The Dao is lofty and De is precious; its meaning cannot be grasped by questioning from afar.” The emperor then had a carriage prepared and went to visit him in person.

The emperor stepped down from the carriage and bowed respectfully. Heshang Gong sat proudly in his thatched hut. The emperor did not take offense and said: “Under heaven there is no land that is not the king’s soil; within the four seas there is no one who is not the king’s subject. Among the four kinds of honor in heaven and earth, the ruler holds one place. Though you have the Dao, you are still my subject—why not come forward yourself? Why act so haughty?”

Heshang Gong clapped his hands and laughed, then leapt up and rose dozens of feet into the air, where he hovered and answered from above: “Above, I do not belong to heaven; in the middle, I am not bound by the human world; below, I do not dwell upon the earth—so of which state’s people am I one?”

The emperor then knew he was a divine being. He kowtowed to apologize and said: “My virtue is shallow, yet I have inherited the work of my ancestors; my ability is limited while my burden is heavy, and I fear I cannot measure up. Though I govern the affairs of the world, in my heart I have always valued Dao and De. It is only that I am dull and ignorant and have not yet understood the proper rites. I earnestly ask the Venerable Daoist to instruct me.”

Heshang Gong then handed the emperor two white scrolls and said: “Study this book carefully; your doubts will clear of themselves—there is no need to ask further.” He said: “Since I wrote this book, more than one thousand seven hundred years have passed; counting myself, I have transmitted it to only four people.” As soon as he finished speaking, clouds and mist closed in from all sides, heaven and earth grew dark, and Heshang Gong vanished.

This account appears in the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) and in Ge Hong’s Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Divine Immortals).

Today north of the Shanfu region there stands a temple to He Shang Gong on the riverbank, and nearby the ruins of Emperor Wen of Han’s Wangxian Tai (Platform for Gazing at Immortals) still remain. The Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) says He Shang Gong could soar aloft and ascend, and also that he dissolved into mist and departed. Some find these accounts implausible: Laozi taught the classics in the reign of King Zhao of Zhou, and by the time of Emperor Wen of Han fewer than seventeen hundred years had passed, so they reject the story of He Shang Gong.

Yet the Laozi Citang Bei (Stele Inscription for the Laozi Shrine) by Bian Shao of the Eastern Han states that from the age of Fuxi onward Laozi served generation after generation as teacher to emperors and kings. The Neizhuan (Inner Biography) further records that under Emperor Shun he taught as Yin Shouzi and composed the Daodejing (Classic of the Way and Virtue). On this view, transmission of the Daodejing reaches far back in time. Yin Xi may have asked Laojun (Lord Lao) to set the teaching down in writing, but Laojun may equally have been re-elucidating ancient texts. The two scrolls of plain writing that He Shang Gong handed down are the authentic text of the Daodejing. Once one has received his instruction, the mind awakens of itself—why rely on written glosses?

The He Shang Gong commentary on Laozi in circulation today is likely a later mistake: books He Shang Gong himself wrote were taken for a commentary, and someone forged his name while echoing his language. When Liu Zhiji of the Tang compiled the Sandiao Zhuying (Pearls and Blossoms of the Three Teachings), he too held that no He Shang Gong commentary belonged to Laozi. Classics before the Qin and Han originally had no commentaries; besides, Laozi said, “My Dao is easy to understand”—why would he personally add explanations?

Emperor Wu of Han loved Daoist arts and revered immortals. He often visited famous mountains in hope of a meeting. Yet he slighted the classics of earlier ages…

Emperor Wu (Emperor Xiaowu) loved the Daoist arts and longed for immortality. He searched famous mountains far and wide, hoping to meet immortals; yet he waged war without cease, indulged in pleasure, and never had his desires satisfied. Laojun ordered the Queen Mother of the West and Lady Upper Origin to descend together into his palace, to observe his sincerity and guide him according to the situation.

The Queen Mother of the West said to him: “If you wish to cultivate yourself, you must first nurture your vital energy and essence. What the Taixian zhenjing (True Scripture of the Great Immortal) calls ‘practicing the Way of Benefit and Change’ means that yi (benefit) is to replenish vital energy and essence, and yi (change) is to transform the physical form. Only when you can replenish vital energy and essence and transform the body can you be enrolled among the registers of upper immortals; if you neither replenish vital energy and essence nor transform the body, you cannot escape the calamity of death.

“In practicing the Way of Benefit and Change, you should constantly hold in mind lingbao: ‘ling’ refers to spirit (shen), ‘bao’ to essence (jing). You need only preserve essence so that it stays firm and stable. The scripture says: Qi transforms into blood, blood into essence, essence into spirit, spirit into fluid, fluid into marrow. If you persist in cultivation without slackening, spirit and essence will become full. After one year the qi increases; after two years the blood; after three years the essence; after four years the pulses; after five years the marrow changes; after six years the sinews; after seven years the bones; after eight years the hair; after nine years the bodily form. When the form changes, transformation follows; through transformation one attains the Dao; after attaining the Dao, one becomes an immortal.”

Lady Upper Origin said to the emperor: “Do you love the Daoist path? I hear you have repeatedly summoned masters of methods, sacrificed to mountains and rivers, and also offered prayers at numinous mountains and great rivers—you have indeed been diligent. Yet such diligence still brings no fruit; there is truly a reason. Your nature is violent, lustful, extravagant, cruel, and fierce. These five faults are like saws that cut the body and axes that wear away life. Even if you yearn for long life with all your heart, as long as you cannot remove these five faults, you will only toil in vain and at most gain a little benefit to barely sustain yourself.”

From this point forward, if you can transform your inborn temperament and return to gentleness and goodness; see clearly into affairs of state and care for the people below; keep a broad heart and relieve poverty and care for the orphaned and widowed; lighten taxes and cherish the lives of the common people; constantly accumulate hidden merit and aid those who meet sudden death; renounce licentiousness and nourish spirit; cast off extravagance and rest content in frugality; diligently keep fasts and regulate your food and drink; and together with Daoist methods of nurturing life—knock the heavenly drum (tap the back of the head with the fingers), drink jade broth (imagining or gathering the fluid in the mouth), rinse the Flowery Pool (rinse the mouth with that fluid), and strike the golden beam (knock the teeth)—and practice accordingly, there may still be some hope.

Then the Queen Mother sent her attendant Ji Luorong to Mount Fuguang to ask the Qingzhen Youth to fetch from the Supreme Lord of the Three Heavens the “Method of the Left and Right Six Jia Spirit Flight for Summoning Spirits” that he had compiled, intending to transmit it to Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che. Qingzhen replied in a letter: “A-Chang (Qingzhen’s self-designation) has received the command. Honored by Mother’s invitation, I am to go to Liu Che’s side; I did not expect that the supreme of Heaven would descend into the defiled human realm—how have you been lately?”

When the attendant Ji Luorong arrived, she said: “The honored Mother wishes to obtain the twelve matters of the ‘Scripture of the Left and Right Policies and Essence of the Six Jia Spirit Consort,’ written in secret characters in gold, to transmit to Liu Che; therefore she sealed one copy and entrusted it to me to deliver. Yet though Liu Che has a heart that seeks the Dao, he lacks the endowment for becoming an immortal—how is it fitting to pass such a secret method to one who is like a walking corpse? A-Chang has lately been at the emperor’s side and seen many memorials, all saying: ‘Ghosts in the mountains and forests weep; lone souls in distant wastes wail. Armies are sent to war, and when they return merit is credited to the clans; the toil of battle is forgotten and bones are left exposed. The emperor disturbs the people, indulges cruelty, his offenses have been observed by the Supreme Lord, resentment has reached Heaven, talk spreads everywhere—probably in the end he cannot leave the dust of the world.’ I come on the command of the honored spirit and dare not disobey.”

The Queen Mother smiled and said: “Such criticism of this man is indeed plentiful. Yet it is not necessarily settled that the emperor has no hope.”

Those who love the way of immortality fix their hearts on the Dao with utmost sincerity and single-minded devotion, keep fasting and purification while examining their faults, and constantly put wrongdoing aside. They restrain selfish desire, reform and turn toward goodness, reverently serve the true deities, and guard their true nature without distraction. Practicing in this way for a month can clear away many faults; if for years one devotes the heart wholly to the Dao, the intent may fairly be called earnest. Even after repeated journeys to famous mountains to pray, hoping for deliverance and transcendence, when merit and demerit are weighed, the two are nearly equal.

From this point on, one must still cultivate diligently and hold fast to sincere devotion, following the teachings of Lady Shangyuan. One must not again indulge in extravagance and license or cruelly mistreat others, so that the people are worn down by endless toil and injury; nor should wronged souls and suffering ghosts have cause to lodge complaints because graves were opened and tombs desecrated; nor should those who died violently be left with no way to speak of the merit they once achieved.

Lady Shangyuan then rose, holding a jade tablet carved with a phoenix design, and offered prayers toward heaven:

“The Nine Heavens are vast and deep; the spirits of Mount Tai blaze forth; the divine illuminates the realm of mystery, clear and bright. Those who attain clarity gain the wondrous Dao; those who guard qi gain long life. When mind and intent reach utmost sincerity, the Dao can be reached; when one resonates with the hidden silence, the true Dao can be fulfilled. If one commands the spirits and injures the bodily form, essences and spirits grow restless and years are shortened; if one nourishes essences and spirits, life is extended and years are prolonged.”

She transmitted to him the Lingfei (a classic of Daoist cultivation) and this method of “Six Ding Left and Right: Summoning Spirits, Celestial Light, and Gathering Essence.” These practices can be used for buxu (pacing the void in treading the Dipper), invisibility, and long life with clear sight; they can also turn white hair black and restore a youthful face. If one breaks the prohibitions and reveals the secret formulas, calamity will come at once; if one turns from Heaven’s authentic Dao, one is bound to sink into the dark underworld. Be cautious and reverent—I say this especially to tell Liu.

When she had finished, Lady Shangyuan indicated with her finger the ritual measures—the steps and rules for performing the rites. The Queen Mother of the West presented the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Sacred Mountains to the Emperor. He bowed in acceptance and placed it in a precious casket, enshrining it on the Xiangliang Terrace.

Six years after the Emperor received these arts, his mood was light and he imagined that immortals and perfected beings had already descended and that he would surely leave the dusty world behind. Trusting in what he had obtained, he no longer cultivated the highest virtue. Instead he raised towers and halls on a grand scale, exhausting the people with hardship, and launched campaigns of killing again and again until resentment filled the land. On the day yiyou in the eleventh month of the first year of Taichu, heaven fire burned the Wuliang Terrace. The Chart of the True Forms of the Five Sacred Mountains, the twelve items of the Lingfei scripture records, and the fourteen scrolls of the transmission the Emperor himself had compiled—including their cases—were all lost in the flames. He prayed many times for the Queen Mother to appear, but she never came again.

In the yiyou year of the Tianhan era, natural disaster destroyed the Wuliang Terrace. Twelve works including the True Form Chart (Zhenxing Tu) and the Record of the Spirit Flight Scripture (Lingfei Jing Lu), together with fourteen scrolls of books personally written and transmitted by Wei Shu-qing, were lost along with their cases. Emperor Wu of Han repeatedly prayed to the Queen Mother of the West, but she no longer appeared.

On the eighth month, renchen day, of the second year of Tianhan, Laojun again sent Wei Shu-qing to visit Emperor Wu. The emperor was sitting at leisure in the hall when he suddenly saw a man in a feather robe and star crown, riding a cloud chariot and driving a white deer toward him. The emperor asked in alarm who he was. The man replied: “I am Wei Shu-qing of Zhongshan.” The emperor said: “Since you are from Zhongshan, you are my subject—come closer and speak with me.” Wei Shu-qing then vanished without a trace.

The emperor was deeply remorseful and at once sent Minister Liang to Zhongshan to search for Wei Shu-qing, but found no trace of him—only Wei Shu-qing’s son Wei Dushi was brought back. The emperor asked Wei Dushi: “Where is your father now?” Wei Dushi answered: “My father loved the path of immortals from youth and kept apart from worldly affairs; he left home forty years ago. It is said he must have gone to Mount Hua.”

The emperor then sent Liang Bo and Wei Dushi together to Mount Hua to seek Wei Shu-qing. At the foot of a steep cliff they saw from afar Wei Shu-qing and several others playing a board game on the cliff. Purple clouds enveloped them; trees white as jade formed a grove, and several immortal youths stood behind holding ceremonial staffs. When Wei Dushi saw his father, he bowed twice in succession. Wei Shu-qing asked: “Why have you come here?” Wei Dushi answered: “The emperor deeply regrets that in haste before he could speak with you; he has sent the envoy Liang Bo to accompany me, hoping to see you once more.”

Wei Shu-qing said: “Earlier I came on the command of the Supreme One (Taishang), intending to tell him when the great calamity would occur and the methods to avoid disaster and dispel misfortune, so that the dynasty’s fortune might be prolonged. Yet he was arrogant and proud, ignorant of the true Dao, and instead wished to make me his subject—so I left and did not tell him. Now I shall jointly settle matters of the celestial origin (tian yuan) with Zhonghuang Taiyi (a Daoist deity); I will absolutely not go again.” Liang Bo returned to report to the emperor, who was filled with remorse.

Grand Historian Sima Tan (a Western Han historian and father of Sima Qian) had a deep grasp of Laozi’s thought. In his survey of the major schools, he wrote “On the Essentials of the Six Schools” in the Records of the Grand Historian.

He held that the Daoist school could unify a person’s spirit, align conduct with the formless Great Dao (the Way), and bring full nourishment to the myriad things. Daoist teaching unfolds on the basis of harmonizing with Yin-Yang change; it takes what is best from Confucianism and Mohism and distills the essentials of the Name-and-Law schools. As times shift, it adopts what fits each situation, so whether in setting custom or handling affairs, it applies broadly. Its core is concise and easy to put into practice: little effort yields great results.

The Yin-Yang school easily leaves people constrained and fearful; Confucian learning is vast but lacks brevity—much labor, modest gain. Mohism urges thrift but is hard to live by; Legalism is harsh and short on kindness; the School of Names is overly meticulous and often loses sight of how things really are. Only Laozi’s teaching deserves to be called the Great Dao. It speaks of Wuwei (non-action), and also of “accomplishing all without forcing”—the principle is easy to follow, the words hard to fathom. It takes emptiness as root and natural compliance as method; it does not cling to fixed power or fixed form, and so can respond to the actual state of the myriad things.

It neither races ahead of the myriad things nor lags behind them, and thus can be their master. It has norms yet is not bound by norms; it acts according to the moment. It has measure yet does not fix on a single measure; it meets each thing as it is. Worthy and unworthy show themselves; black and white divide of themselves—applied rightly, nothing fails to succeed.

This is alignment with the Great Dao: deep and subtle, its light reaches all under heaven, and in the end it returns to formlessness and leaves no trace. Human life is governed by Shen (the spirit that sustains life); Shen dwells in the physical form. When spirit is overtaxed it fails; when the body is overworked it is harmed. When form and spirit part, the person dies. After death there is no rebirth; separated form and spirit cannot be reunited—hence the sage greatly values preserving both form and spirit.

From this it follows that Shen is the root of life and the body is what life relies on. If one does not first settle the spirit yet claims to govern the realm, how could that be done? One should therefore first study the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, and then study the Six Classics (the core Confucian scriptures). (This passage is from the Records of the Grand Historian.)

The Bibliographical Treatise in the Book of Han states that the Daoist school holds fast to the essential meaning, keeps to a mind of clarity, stillness, and emptiness, and conducts itself with humility and softness. This is one way a ruler may govern the realm.

Zhao Rong and Ouyang Xiu, in the Comprehensive Catalogue of the Chongwen Pavilion, say that Daoism takes clarity, stillness, and wuwei (non-action) as its foundation, sets aside forcefulness and grasping, and maintains a plain, self-restrained life. Hence the saying that “when I practice wuwei, the people naturally transform themselves; when I cherish stillness, the people naturally become upright.” Even when a sage sits facing south and governs the world, this principle should not be lightly set aside.

Some, however, never looked into what Daoism is really about. They wrongly took renouncing benevolence and righteousness and yielding to nature as its aim, and treated “following nature” and “acting with the flow of events” as the way to govern. For that they drew criticism from Confucian scholars.

In the fifth year of Chuyuan of Emperor Xiaoyuan, on the third day of the fourth month of the dingchou year, Lord Lao (Laojun), acting on the command of the Heavenly Great Emperor, bestowed the divine seal and jade talisman upon the immortal Mao Ying.

Mao Ying, courtesy name Shushen, was a native of the southern gate of Xianyang. He was born in the zhong fifth year of the Jing Emperor’s reign, bingshen. At eighteen he left home to seek the Way, entered Mount Changshan to gather fungus and tree fruit for food, and often recited the Daode Jing and the Yijing (Book of Changes). Six years later he heard that the Lord King of General Truth in the western region was deeply skilled in Daoist arts and made a special journey to become his disciple. He climbed high mountains and crossed perilous terrain until he finally met the lord, then served at his side for seventeen years without ever slackening. The lord put him in charge of clothing, books, and illustrated registers.

Three years after that, the lord took Mao Ying with him in a nine-canopied chariot to the White Jade Tortoise Platform to pay respects to the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu). The lord performed obeisance and withdrew. The Queen Mother said, “General Truth now brings a mere mortal up to the Spirit Platform—is that not very taxing?” The lord smiled and did not answer, but signaled Mao Ying to step forward, bow, and request the essential teachings. Mao Ying kowtowed twice and said, “I am of humble birth, like one spared among dry bones; how dare I, with a life as brief as morning fungus, hope for years without end? I carried my books into hidden groves, longing for my teacher’s instruction. The lord pitied the hardship of my cultivation and has already transmitted the essentials of self-cultivation and qi-ingestion methods. He also solemnly admonished me to go on seeking the path of extending life. I never expected today to be blessed with sight of your sacred countenance; I beg you to grant me the art of long life, so that this body, no better than a walking corpse, may be awakened.”

The Queen Mother of the West transmitted to Mao Ying the Scripture of Jade Pendant and Golden Rings and the method of Supreme Ultimate Mysterious Truth (Taiji Xuanzhen). After Mao Ying had practiced for three years, the lord again gave him one dose of the Nine-Turn Elixir of Return (jiuzhuan huandan)—the legendary immortal pill of Daoist lore—and said, “Your work on the Way is complete; you may return. Later you will be granted an immortal office in Wu and Yue.” Mao Ying then took leave of his master and went home to serve his parents. In his native district there had once been people who died wrongfully; even when they had long been buried, Mao Ying ordered the territorial officials of the underworld (disi) to restore them to life.

Mao Ying lived in seclusion at home for fifty-three years. After his parents died, he performed their funerals according to ritual.

In his hometown, there were once people who had died unjustly. Even years after they had been buried, Ying commanded the Earth Officers (Di Si, divine officials in charge of the land and the dead) to bring them back to life. He lived in seclusion at home for fifty-three years. Later, after both his parents passed away, he properly arranged their funerals according to rites.

His two younger brothers, Gu and Zhong, both served as officials in the Han dynasty: Gu was the Administrator of Wuwei, and Zhong was the Administrator of Shangjun. On the same day they departed to take their posts, the roads were crowded with carriages and horses of people who came to bid them farewell. At that time, Ying had already received a secret edict from Lord Wang (Wang Jun), learning that he would be granted an immortal office. He casually told the guests seeing them off: "Although I cannot achieve the rank of a two-thousand-dan official [high governor], I will serve in a divine capacity. On the third day of the fourth month next year, can you all come to visit me as you have today?" Everyone gladly agreed. This was the fourth year of the Chuyuan era of Emperor Yuan.

The following year, the guests came as promised, and their number was several times greater than before. On that day, Lord Lao (Laojun) followed the command of the Celestial Emperor (Tianhuang Dadi), sending Ling Guangziqi, the Embroidered Attendant of the Palace of Travelling Realms (Yiyu Gong), to bestow upon Ying a Divine Seal and Jade Tablet (Shen Xi Yuzhang, symbolizing his divine office identity). The Lord of the Celestial Emperor of the Grand Subtlety (Taiwei Tian Di Jun) also sent Guan Tiao, the Direct Overseer of the Left Palace of the Three Heavens, to grant Ying an Eight-Dragon Brocade Carriage (Ba Long Jin Yu) and Purple-Feathered Splendid Robes. The Supreme Lord of the Great Dao (Taishang Dadao Jun) sent Stone Shumen, the Grand Master of Coordinating Dawn (Xiechen Dafu), to bestow upon him a Golden Tiger True Talisman (Jinhu Zhenfu) and a Flowing Gold Bell (Liujin Zhi Ling). The Holy Lord of the Golden Gate (Jinque Shengjun) further commanded the Perfected of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji Zhenren) to send the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) High Mystery Jade Officer Wang Zhong, Bao Qiu, and others to bestow upon Ying immortal medicines including the Four-Section Swallow Embryo (Si Jie Yantai), Flowing Brightness Divine Fungus (Liuming Shenzhi), Long-Brilliance Spirit Flight (Changyao Lingfei), and Night Light Cave Grass (Yeguang Dongcao), allowing him to perform rites and then consume them.

Ying adorned himself with the jade seal, put on his robes, adjusted his cap, faced north, fastened the talisman, and stood holding the bell. The four emissaries told Ying: "By consuming the Supreme Ultimate Four-Section Hidden Fungus, you can take your place among the true lords; by consuming the Golden Gate Swallow Embryo Jade Fungus, you can serve as Director of Fates (Siming); by consuming the Eastern Palace Flowing Brightness Golden Flower, you can serve as Registrar (Silu); by consuming the Long-Brilliance Spirit Flight, you can become a Perfected Earl (Zhenbo); by consuming the Night Light Cave Grass, you can oversee the duties of the Left and Right Censors. Since you have already consumed them all, from now on your lifespan will be as enduring as heaven and earth, and you will serve as the High Perfected Director of Fates, Marquis of the Eastern Peak (Siming Shangzhen Dong Yue Qing)."

He had previously served as the officer in charge of the immortals of the Haoyue region, overseeing the mountains, rivers, and water sources of the Jiangzuo area. When he had finished speaking, the envoys departed one by one.

Before long, the Five Directional Sovereigns arrived in chariots colored to match their respective directions, accompanied by their retinues of officials, to receive the Great Emperor’s command and bestow upon Ying the appointment as Siming (Director of Destiny) and Senior Minister of the Eastern Marchmount, along with the Nine Bestowals—the highest honors and ceremonial gifts. The patent of appointment was inscribed on a tablet of purple jade with characters cut in gold. It read:

“Ying’s innate endowment is lofty and clear; he has immersed himself in the profound and subtle Way. From his earliest, unformed years he let his hair hang loose and withdrew to the northern mountains, cultivating his spirit in forests and marshes, single-mindedly seeking out the divine. He climbed high peaks and crossed deep valleys, arduously searching for a master; he cast aside concern for his own body and feared no peril, throwing himself into every hardship. With a sincere heart he followed his true nature, until at last he met an enlightened teacher and received the wondrous scriptures.

He cut his hair and made his vow, enduring privation and even bodily harm; he found contentment in a rope belt and felt no shame in hunger or cold. What he sought was only the Dao; what he held to was only the true. Because his intent was clear and reached the Lord on High, he moved the supreme realm of mystery.

Therefore Ying is appointed Great Primordial Perfected One (Taixuan Zhenren), to command the office of Siming Spirit Lord, Senior Minister of the Eastern Marchmount. You are even-tempered and upright, your integrity firm as metal and stone, your loyal heart surpassing others, your spirit pure and lofty. Now we bestow upon you the jade-iron green banner and the tally of the Eight Powers, charging you to command Siming Spirit Lord, Senior Minister of the Eastern Marchmount, to subdue evil spirits in the mountains and marshes and to repel the myriad spirits.

You endured the cold of mountain forests, tasted the subtle, and looked up to the true Way; in deep mountains you devoted your mind to the Dao and opened your heart with utmost sincerity. Therefore we bestow upon you the purple-feather staff of authority and the lotus-adorned flower crown, charging you to summon and command the myriad numina, to seal and guard the marchmounts, and to call forth the clouds.

You left your household and traveled alone, parted from kin yet rejoiced in seeking immortality, passing through every hardship and patrolling mountains and rivers in winter’s cold. Therefore we bestow upon you the embroidered-feather purple robe and the cinnabar-azure flying palm, that you may walk securely upon the steps of the clouds and assist in carrying out the edicts of Jade Perfection (Yuzhen).”

You once ventured deep into perilous, shadowed forests and tread upon high, dangerous cliffs, your mind single-pointedly set on the Way, never shrinking back in fear. For this you are now granted a piebald dragon carriage and food shaped like the white tiger, that you may roam and feast in the great void and ascend to the halls of the Celestial Emperor.

You cleared thorny paths and kept company with the sun, pressing on through cold wind, frost, and snow, wholeheartedly seeking the perfected who illumine the Way, utterly unafraid. For this you are now granted a curved divine canopy of treasure, jade curtains and hangings, and chambers of jade, that you may tour the Nine Palaces, settle your spirit in quiet, and dwell in warmth and stillness.

You turned away from profit and glory, never weary in heart; you hid in deep mountains and reflected among myriad trees. For this you are now granted flowing gold fire bells and paired pearls bright as the moon, so that the voice of your heart may reach Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate) and exchange tidings with Shangqing (the upper clarity realm).

Your will was steadfast, pure, and still, untied by lust and vexation; your nature bright and white within and without, level and upright. For this you are now granted brocade banners, embroidered pennants, white plumes and black flagpoles, that you may summon the Six Yin Jade Maidens to attend your carriage.

You cherished all things with a compassionate heart and guarded living beings with hidden virtue; even the smallest insects and beasts you remembered and cared for. For this you are now granted phoenix-and-crane flutes, golden bells and jade chimes, that you may harmonize with the spirits in the void immortals’ lodge, rejoice with the perfected, and set the spirits dancing at your command.

You endured hunger and thirst to nourish your spirit and passed through hardship seeking the true Way; nothing outside could sway your resolve, and a thousand kinds of evil could not corrupt your purity. For this you are specially granted Purple Forest spirit salve, jade nectar, and the golden infant, that your life may last as long as sun, moon, and stars, and your name be inscribed on the cinnabar-jade register of immortals.

Your bearing was clear, remote, and profound; your body reflected purple starlight; your inner light stacked like layered suns; your spirit soared above rosy clouds—you are truly the elder among the perfected. Therefore you are granted Purple Forest spirit salve, jade nectar, and the golden infant, that your lifespan match the Three Luminaries, and your name be recorded on the cinnabar-jade register; and the honorific “Taixuan” (Great Origin) is given as your title.

You have fulfilled the nine virtues; your resonance reaches deep into Taiwei (the celestial microcosm); Heaven and humanity alike return to empty stillness and clarity, without pact yet naturally as one. Now nine gifts repay you, answering the wish you held long ago.

Wang Fuqiu’s spirit and mind in harmony with the Dao marked the moment his cultivation bore fruit; within his body the Four Numina dwelt, his cinnabar heart burned true, radiance shone forth, and he held fast to the true Way without wavering. Upright and steadfast, he discerned what has no form and could illuminate the finest detail. At that time Heaven, condescending to appoint him, made him Senior Minister, put him in charge of the eastern peaks, and further invested him with the office of Director of Fates to oversee registers and records, granting him forty jade lads and forty jade maidens so that he might enter and leave the Taiwei Heaven and carry out commissions from the Taiji Heaven. The palace-firm he was to administer was the Red City Jade Grotto Firmament.

When Fuqiu went to take up his post, every move and every act had to be reported upward.

He was then one hundred and two years old. After receiving Heaven’s mandate, as he was about to depart in the dragon carriage, he turned back to the crowd and said: “The true Dao hides and does not show itself; it should not be displayed openly or startle the eyes and ears of the world. What I do today is meant to exhort my two younger brothers so they may look up to me and follow; and to let all under heaven who aspire to the Way know they should turn toward the Great Way. When my two brothers hear that I am leaving, they may resign their offices and abandon their stipends to come find me. For now I shall remain on Mount Gouqu east of the Yangtze.”

When he had finished speaking, he mounted the feathered carriage. Banners and regalia were grand; dragons and tigers escorted the train, and the whole procession rose into the air and departed. The two brothers, hearing that Fuqiu had ascended as an immortal, both left office and returned home. In the first year of Yongguang they crossed the river to Mount Gouqu to seek Fuqiu. Fuqiu taught them the “method of transforming withered dryness into moist bone”—a practice for restoring life to a body that had grown dry and decayed. The two applied themselves diligently for twenty-four years. Later Fuqiu also obtained from Lord Wang the nine-turn elixir of return (a legendary alchemical term in Daoism); the two ingested it and attained the Way.

In the third year of Yongshi, dingwei, under Emperor Cheng, Fuqiu led his two younger brothers together to the foot of the Golden Gate to request immortal scriptures from the Holy Lord.

Thereupon the Supreme Lord dispatched the Emissary of the Vermilion Palace to convey the decree of Heavenly Truth by means of the Purple Writ of the Central Lord, which stated: “Mao Gu of Xianyang, who dwells at the southern pass of the city, styled Jiwei, is destined by fate to attain immortality. His post is Dinglu—the office that registers and evaluates the names and ranks of transcendent worthies—and he also oversees earthly transcendents (dizhen), recommending persons of the Way, and examining their lifespan and destiny. You must diligently and reverently perform your duties, observe the statutes of the Four Poles, administer the grotto-heavens within the palace, and govern Mount Jurong at Danyang. Mao Gu, you must encourage yourself; your words and conduct will all be subject to inspection.”

The decree continued: “Mao Ying, and Mao Gu’s younger brother Mao Zhong, are upright in conduct and outstanding in aspiration. Though they turned to the Way only in their later years, their reflection runs deep and their sincerity is complete; they have cut off the influence of the Six Heavens—the class of spirits once regarded as heterodox—and their talent is exceptional. For the present they hold provisional posts among the Three Officials (Heaven, Earth, and Water), safeguarding longevity, registering names at Daizong (Mount Tai), and overseeing the rolls of the dead and the registers of the living. His rank is that of an Earthly Immortal (dixian)—one who dwells in the human realm beneath heaven. He is a leading figure among the Nine Palaces, charged with guiding and instructing novice disciples, teaching female officers of the celestial administration, transmitting various wondrous methods, governing the hundred ghosts, and presiding over the examination of essences and spirits. He also inspects the sources of water, rivers, and the flow of the seas, oversees the golden grain, the hidden registers, and the jade nectar, and guards the dragon fungus, grotto herbs, and nocturnal radiance. He conducts affairs at Mount Liangchang, guarding the entrance to the northern grotto and the gate to the yin palace.”

When the emissary had finished transmitting the writ, Mao Ying and his two brothers took leave of the Golden Gate (the immortal palace) and returned each to his place of governance. On the eighteenth day of the eighth month, jiyou day, in the gengshen year of the second year of Yuanshou of Emperor Ai of Han—corresponding to the year gengshen—the Lord of Fate (Siming Jun), who holds authority over human lifespan and registers of destiny, bade farewell to his two brothers, saying: “I must now depart to take up my duties; hereafter I cannot visit often. We agree that on the eighteenth day of the third month and the second day of the twelfth month each year, we shall await here on this mountain the arrival of my master, the Crimson Perfected of the Great Numinosity of the Southern Peak (Nanyue Tailing Chizhen Ren). If seekers of the Way wait here, I shall naturally instruct them.”

Thereupon he rode in a carriage together with Lord Wang and went to the Jade Grotto of Red City.

Traditional accounts record that Sima—the deity who governs human lifespan and the registers of fate—received investiture and ascended, and after his two younger brothers received scriptures at the Golden Gate (a celestial palace), said: “Those who love the Great Dao wait for me here; I shall naturally instruct them.” Thereupon Sima rode in the same carriage as Lord Wang and went to the Jade Cave at Red City.

Some doubt that this old tradition is correct. For example, when Sima at Jurong mounted a feathered carriage (the vehicle immortals ride), held purple banner insignia, and already had several hundred civil and military officials in attendance—how could he have had such regalia and retinue before he had received investiture? Moreover, he ascended in the jǐ-wèi year; how could he have taken his two younger brothers to the Golden Gate at that time?

In the jiǎ-wǔ year, the second year of He Ping under Emperor Xiaocheng (27 BCE), Lord Lao descended in human form and traveled through Quyang Marsh in Langye commandery.

Today Langzhou has Mount Quyang and the River Shenhan; Dingzhou also has Mount Quyang and the River Shenhan; Haizhou has Quyang city with the Yutan pool north of the city; Shouzhou has Quyang city and the Northern Han River. Gan Ji and his disciple Guan Chong were both natives of Langye; the Quyang mentioned should be the Quyang in Haizhou.

At that time Gan Ji of Beihai—who later changed his name to Ji—had long been devoted to the Way. He suddenly fell ill with what was taken for madness; for more than ten years every remedy failed. Morning and evening he burned incense and prayed sincerely to Heaven for help.

The Supreme Venerable Sovereign (Taishang Laojun), moved by his devotion, sent the immortal Bo He, who disguised himself as an old man selling medicine in the market. When Ji came to consult him, Bo He said: “If you truly wish to be cured, come at cockcrow tomorrow to the magnolia tree north of the great bridge. I will teach you how to treat your illness.”

At cockcrow the next day Ji reached the place; Bo He was already there. Bo He spoke angrily: “If you do not want to be healed, go away. Come again tomorrow at midnight.” Ji went to wait as soon as night fell and stayed a long time before Bo He appeared. Bo He produced two rolls of plain silk books with green borders and vermilion headings, called the Ping Qing Ling Shu. He told Ji: “This is the Supreme Venerable Sovereign’s Scripture of Great Peace (Taiping Jing). With this book you will not only recover from illness but also attain long life and be able to spread the Way throughout the world.”

Ji bowed, accepted it, and was overcome with joy and grief; his illness vanished at once. Later the Venerable Sovereign descended in person and transmitted the essentials of the scripture. Ji then compiled the text he had received into one hundred and seventy scrolls. This account comes from the Book of the Later Han (Hou Han shu).

According to the Book of the Later Han, during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han, Guan Chong of Langya presented at court divine books that his teacher Gan Ji had obtained. These were said to have been found by the waters at Quyang: one hundred and seventy scrolls written on greenish-white silk, with cinnabar red dividing the boundaries between sections, green at the head of each scroll, and red marking the chapter titles—hence the name Taiping Qingling Shu (Scripture of Great Peace in Green Collar). Tradition holds that Gan Ji received this work in person from Laojun (Lord Lao); what Daoists today call the Taiping Jing is this same text.

The Taiping Jing is arranged in ten parts named for the Heavenly Stems—jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, and gui—each part comprising seventeen scrolls. “Piao” means greenish-white; “su” refers to silk; “zhu jie” is the cinnabar-red line dividing sections; “qing shou” is the green mark at the head of a scroll; “zhu mu” is the red marking of chapter titles. The Taiping Jing says: “In my book, wherever the content is refined and good, the head of the scroll is marked in green and the chapter titles in cinnabar red—this accords with my Dao, and is precisely the trust and righteousness that qing (green/black) and dan (cinnabar) stand for.” Green symbolizes vital growth and stands for benevolence and mindful intent; red symbolizes the sun, heaven’s orthodox color.

Gan Ji grasped the aim of this work and used it to cultivate body and mind and to dispel misfortune and treat illness; it is said that whatever he sought was invariably answered. A central teaching in the book states: “When a person is born, Heaven bestows spirit upon him…”

Having grasped the essentials, he applied them to cultivate body and mind and to dispel misfortune and treat illness—and nothing failed to work. The core teaching is this: at birth heaven bestows Shen (spirit), earth bestows Jing (essence, the vital force of life), and the harmonizing Qi of heaven and earth also endows a person with a fundamental nature. If one conserves Jing, cherishes Shen, and guards the original Qi, inwardly one can lengthen one’s own life; outwardly one can help bring peace to the realm.

The scripture also says that ministers ought to revere their ruler. If one seeks long life, children ought to keep their parents in mind, worry over their advancing age, guide them toward the Dao through teaching, and often seek out extraordinary methods and arts to offer to their ruler and their parents. Disciples ought to remember their teacher’s kindness: one’s life comes from one’s parents, one’s moral cultivation is completed by one’s teacher, and honor and glory come from one’s ruler. When one reflects that ruler, parents, and teacher will grow old while one has no adequate way to repay them, one should study diligently and seek worthy persons, asking for rare methods and techniques to help them. This is what the ancient age of the Supreme Emperors valued in loyal ministers, filial children, and disciples who honored their teachers; if everyone acted thus, the world would be at peace.

Those who set their hearts on cultivating the Dao should turn every deed toward the good; in word and action they should be sincere and solid. Inwardly they should often examine and reproach themselves, cleanse the mind and amend conduct, so as to move heaven. After receiving heaven’s grace, they should constantly show gratitude and repay it, applying themselves single-mindedly without slackening—then they can reach the rank of immortals.

The scripture also records a mnemonic verse: “The character wu with eleven strokes names the scholar; bingwu and dingwei are the ancestral beginning; four mouths govern the myriad things; zi and jin with jiao treat the right; ‘the hidden dragon—do not act’—Kan is si; when people obtain sight of this, life is long-lasting.” The verse uses the shapes of characters, the stem-branch cycles, and hexagram imagery as concealed language for its method, meaning to apply the corresponding fu formulas to regulate affairs and nurture body and life. If the practitioner can obtain this method, he can extend his years; dwelling between heaven and earth, he need only devote himself to practice—governing the people and ascending to immortality may both be hoped for. Those skilled at healing should not seek only immediate dramatic effects; the joy of long life surpasses the bustle of Chang’an’s markets. A lifespan like that of the Queen Mother of the West, like the four seasons turning and returning—this ninety-character verse was transmitted to fangshi (method masters) as a divine-elixir strategy fit to offer to one’s ruler, parents, and teacher.

Later he also transmitted Kejie (liturgical precepts) and the methods of the libationer (the regulations of the order together with the duties of sacrifice and Zhaijiao)—to Ji. Thereafter Ji upheld the scriptures, practiced the Dao, passed the teaching to disciples, established male and female officers, and widely instructed the people; people from every region came to join him.

In the second year of the Yuanhe reign of Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han, Lord Lao descended once again and rebuked Yu Ji, saying: “I formerly transmitted the Dao to you to help the state, uphold the mandate of Heaven, and care for all living beings. Yet lately some male and female disciples, trading on my name, have coveted wealth, indulged their desires, grown arrogant, envied the worthy, shut out talent, and wrangled over right and wrong. None of this is acceptable—which is why I have come to speak to you.”

Yu Ji kowtowed face to the ground, striking his forehead a hundred times, and said: “Yes—I will obey. May the Most High pardon past faults and grant that I may do good from now on. From this day forward, how should I help male and female disciples who are punished for their offenses?”

Lord Lao said: “Listen closely—listen well. A person may live ten thousand years, yet if they do not keep the precepts, what difference is there between them and dead wood or a stubborn stone? Better to be one who keeps the precepts and cultivates virtue, even if one lives only a day before dying, than to break the precepts merely to prolong life. Those who keep the precepts and practice the Way can fill vacant posts among the officials of Heaven and ascend as immortals through corpse liberation (shijie). Even if people in the world rank as kings, dukes, or emperors, grave sins do their souls no good—is that not reason enough to grieve? Uphold my precepts clearly and pass them on to your disciples.”

Then Lord Lao set forth one hundred and eighty precepts for Yu Ji. When he had finished, he said to Yu Ji: “Immortals and sages from antiquity to the present have all attained the Way by observing these precepts. The Dao has no fixed form of its own; it is realized only through transmission from a master. The Dao must not be cast aside, and one’s master must not be slighted.”

Yu Ji kowtowed to receive the command and bowed again in thanks.

According to the biography of Pei Kai in the Book of the Later Han, Pei Kai submitted another memorial during the reign of Emperor Huan, stating that the divine book previously presented by Gong Chong was fundamentally about revering Heaven and Earth and taking Yin-Yang and the Five Phases as its root; it also set out methods for reviving the state and ensuring the continuation of the imperial line. The wording was plain and easy to understand and could be checked against the classics. Emperor Shun did not adopt these proposals, and so the imperial succession did not flourish. Most of Pei Kai’s remarks hit the mark and were bluntly spoken, yet the emperor did not heed them.

Crown Prince Zhanghuai’s commentary cites the Taiping Jing, “On Rousing Emperors and Kings”: a perfected person (zhenren) asked a divine person (shenren), “I wish the emperor-king to achieve great peace under Heaven very quickly—can you tell me the method?” The divine person replied, “As long as one follows the Way of Heaven and Earth and does not lose each one’s proper place, great peace can be achieved very quickly.”

Primordial Qi (yuanqi) has three designations: great Yang, great Yin, and central harmony. That which forms embodied existence falls into three kinds: Heaven, Earth, and humankind. Heaven divides into sun, moon, and stars, with the north pole at the center; Earth divides into mountains, rivers, and plains; humankind divides into father, mother, and child. In governance, the triad is ruler, minister, and people. When these threefold relationships are coordinated with one another—like belly and heart relying on each other, not diverging by the slightest measure—and share worry and hardship as one household, great peace can be achieved swiftly and life can be prolonged.

After Emperor Ling took the throne, he considered Pei Kai’s words reasonable. Grand Tutor Chen Fan recommended Pei Kai for appointment as a “Fangzheng” (upright and straight) candidate, but Pei Kai did not take up the post. People in his home district respected him; whenever a new prefect arrived, he would always be received with courtesy. During the Qingping era, Pei Kai was summoned together with Xun Shuang and Zheng Xuan to serve as erudites (boshi); none of them accepted the appointment.

Fan Ye commented: The ancients said that those who speak well of the Way of Heaven will surely find confirmation in human affairs. Zhang Heng also said that astronomy, calendrics, and Yin-Yang prognostication are precisely what urgently need to be understood today. Lang Yi and Pei Kai were able to look up at the heavens and down at the earth, and to examine human affairs in light of both; the fortune and misfortune they spoke of later came true, and the principles they invoked to clarify teaching were likewise very clear. This is exactly where the arts of the Way (daoshu) can benefit the age—and what later generations ought to take as a model.

Later, Yu Ji lived in Kuaiji. After Sun Ce pacified Jiangdong, he saw that local scholars and common people venerated Yu Ji as a divine being, so he invited him as a guest and kept him with the army. Many officers and soldiers suffered from epidemic illness; they asked Yu Ji to perform rituals and prayers and to treat them with water, and recovery often came quickly. Because of this the troops greatly revered him and each day bowed to Yu Ji before going to pay their respects to Sun Ce.

Sun Ce was furious. He had Yu Ji arrested and rebuked him: “The drought has lasted a long time and the waterways are blocked. You sit at ease in the boat, feigning spirits and deceiving my troops, disturbing my army. Today I will remove you.” He had Yu Ji bound and forced him to pray for rain, saying: “If you can move Heaven and heavy rain falls by noon, I will spare you; otherwise you will be executed.”

Before long clouds gathered and rain poured down in torrents. Sun Ce still killed Yu Ji in the end. The soldiers wept and wanted to bury his body, but Yu Ji’s corpse soon vanished. Later Sun Ce was stabbed by a retainer of Xu Gong. When he looked in a mirror he saw Yu Ji’s image in it; in terror he smashed the mirror, cried out loudly, and his wound burst open and he died.

Legend says that Yu Ji then moved among people for more than a hundred years before finally attaining immortality. The above appears in the preface to the Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace) and in the main text of the Taiping Jing; the original work does not cite an earlier source.

In the third year of Emperor An’s Yongchu reign, the year jiyou, in the second month, Laojun descended to Mount Tai and sent the Mount Tai envoy Yayu, riding in a carriage, to summon the worthy man Liu Tu of Jiangxia, intending that he assist in verifying the registers of all under heaven. When Liu Tu arrived, he saw Laojun seated in the hall facing south. Taishang sat facing west toward the east; the Nine Heavens Immortal Lord sat facing north toward the south; the Lord of the Eight Extremities sat facing east toward the west. Laojun ordered Liu Tu and the officials to check the rolls of all under heaven and obtain the corresponding registers; the work was finished in three days.

Laojun wished Liu Tu to see with his own eyes the consequences of sin and merit, so he commanded Yayu to lead him into the underworld. Liu Tu passed through eighty-one hells in all and saw his father suffering in prison. After he came out, he reported to Laojun and begged mercy for his father. Laojun then ordered Liu Tu’s father released.

After that, Yayu again led Liu Tu to the celestial realm. He saw in the Great Pure Palace golden terraces and jade halls, with music sounding of itself; many immortal perfected ones wore blue robes, held golden tablets, and chanted scriptures. When the visit was complete, Liu Tu was sent back to the human world. He thereby attained the Dao, became a Daoist priest, and later ascended as an immortal and departed. This account appears in the Tang shi jisheng fu and the Yingyuan tu.

In the first year of Han'an under Emperor Shun of Han (142 CE), on the fifteenth day of the first month in the year renshen, Laojun descended to the place where Zhang Ling practiced on Heming Mountain in Linqi, Shu, riding a cloud charriage and escorted by a host of immortals. He had a divine being summon Zhang Ling before him and said: “Your ancestor Zhang Liang accumulated merit, and its blessing extends to later generations; your allotted fate suits you to be a Daoist priest.” Laojun then transmitted to Zhang Ling the newly revealed Zhengyi Mengwei Milu (the classics and registers of the Orthodox Unity lineage), for him to use in sweeping away the qi of the Six Heavens of old (the stale evil influences of former times) and bringing pure teaching to the world. Laojun also taught the rites of reverencing the sun and moon, and cultivation formulas such as Gaoben, Yuyi, and Jielin, and ordered Zhang Ling to practice them.

From then on the people turned to him in crowds, honoring Zhang Ling as their teacher; his disciples numbered in the tens of thousands. When common people fell ill or faced disaster from officialdom, they paid according to circumstance in rice, silk, floss, various goods, paper, brushes, firewood, and the like to redeem their faults; they also wrote out their wrongdoing, repented, and vowed not to repeat it. The calamity then lifted. The people gladly followed the teaching and no longer dared do wrong.

Zhang Ling later took the name Daoling and the style Fuhuan. He was born on the fifteenth day of the first month in the year jiawu, the tenth year of Jianwu under Emperor Guangwu of Eastern Han (34 CE), on Tianmu Mountain in Yuhang. At seven he could recite the Daodejing from memory.

Originally he was named Daoling, with the style name Fuhan. He was born on the fifteenth day of the first month in the jiayin year, the tenth year of the Jianwu era under Emperor Guangwu of Han, at Tianmu Mountain in Yuhang. At seven he could recite the Daodejing from memory. When he grew up he became a scholar, read widely in the Five Classics, and was also versed in the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams and in astronomy and the degrees of latitude.

In the yiyou year, the second year of the Yuanhe era under Emperor Zhang, the court summoned him to serve as Erudite; he did not accept. At that time he was fifty-two. He felt that Confucian learning did not help prolong life and sighed: “How long is a human life? Decline and death come quickly; I no longer wish to endure the suffering of birth and death in the cycle of rebirth.” He dismissed his disciples, turned to the study of longevity, and withdrew to Yunjin Mountain—today’s Longhu Mountain in Xinzhou.

In the renchen year, the fourth year of the Yongyuan era under Emperor He, the court summoned him to be Grand Counselor; he pleaded illness and declined. The emperor again sent envoys with the seal and sash of a third-rank official and a carriage drawn by four horses, inviting him to be Grand Tutor and enfeoffing him as Marquis of Ji County. Daoling said to the envoys: “Please decline on my behalf for the Son of Heaven. In the nine heavens, in the land of nowhere, the Golden Gate Emperor Lord is already the sovereign I serve. If I keep to quiet simplicity and few desires, the realm will naturally be at peace—what need is there for me?”

Afterward Daoling went to Mount Song, kept purification fasts, and devoted himself to the Way, often reciting the Daodejing. Nine years later his sincerity moved Lord Lao, who sent a divine being to tell him: “In the stone chamber of the central peak are the ancient astronomy of the Three Sovereigns, the Yellow Emperor’s Scripture of the Nine Cauldrons Great Elixir, and the True Form Charts of the Five Sacred Mountains—you may go and receive them.” Daoling entered the stone chamber and indeed obtained the astronomical scripture and the alchemical methods from the Yellow Emperor’s Scripture of the Nine Cauldrons Great Elixir.

Daoling’s family had long been poor and lacked the means to refine elixir. Hearing that the people of Shu were simple in custom and easy to teach, and that famous mountains were many there, he took his disciples into Shu and withdrew to Heming Mountain. Later he met Lord Lao; at his retreat he prepared the medicinal ingredients in full and cultivated the elixir method according to the prescribed rules.

After three years of refinement the elixir was finally complete, yet Zhang Daoling still did not dare to ingest it. He told his disciples: “The divine elixir is finished; once taken, one can soar to heaven and become an immortal. But I have not yet built up great merit for the world. I must first rid the state of harm, promote what is beneficial, and relieve the people—only then may I take the elixir, ascend, and attend the Three Realms (the three celestial tiers in Daoist cosmology), so that perhaps I may escape the dissipation of body and spirit.”

Lord Lao then sent the Qinghe Jade Maiden to teach him the method of “exhaling and inhaling in clarity and harmony”—that is, the practice of regulating breath and circulating qi. After a thousand days of cultivation he could look inward and see the five viscera, and outwardly commune with the myriad spirits. Thereafter he treaded the Gang stars and paced the Dipper, performed ritual techniques, commanded and employed spirits and demons, fought the demons of the Six Heavens, and took the “Twenty-four Administrations” (the twenty-four early Daoist dioceses), converting them into blessed lands called “Transformative Domains,” while appointing his master to a yin-office (a post governing affairs of the netherworld).

Formerly, tens of thousands of demons haunted the Shu region, appearing even by day, spreading plague at will, so the people suffered for a long time. Once the Six Heaven Great Demons were subdued, Zhang Daoling drove the demon hosts away to the barren wastes of the northwest and bound them with an oath: “Humans rule the daylight; demons act only at night. Yin and yang each have their bounds and their appointed duties. Whoever breaks this covenant—the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Way has its laws and will surely execute punishment.” From then on the netherworld and the human world were divided, and people and ghosts each kept to their own path.

Even today in Qingcheng of western Shu there remains a ghost market, the Celestial Master’s Demon-Oath Stele, and the Heaven-Earth Stone and Sun-Moon Stone. The gist of the stele’s oath is that heaven and earth and sun and moon are witnesses: only when heaven and earth are one and sun and moon shine clear may the demon hosts emerge.

On the first day of the fifth month, the Supreme Lord Lao descended once more and transmitted to Ling the Catalogue of Central Chapters of the Great Clarity Scripture in nine scrolls, the Scripture of the Golden Fluid Elixir in thirty-six scrolls, the Central Scripture of the Great Clarity, the Secret Essentials within the Chamber in twenty-four scrolls, the Secret and Subtle Scripture of the Dark Woman, the Plain Truth Scripture, the Initial Yin Scripture, the Great Scripture of Enlightenment on the Methods of the Mysterious Cavern for Refining the True through the Nine Vessels’ Transformations, the Mountain Register Chart of the Jade Strategy, the Great Precepts of Mountains and Seas and the Charts and Prophecies of the Yellow River and Luo River, the inner and outer Yellow Court, inner and outer Great Clarity, the Obscure Scripture of the Jade Strategy, the Scripture of the Eastern Well Bathing of the Subtle Essence of the Five Phases, the Heaven Mirror, Earth Mirror, Bright Mirror, and Mountain Mirror, along with the Scripture of Transforming Scenery, the Inner Contemplation Scripture of Harmonizing Scenery, the Primordial Register of the Nine Heavens, the Central Scripture of the Nine Perfected in the Primordial Cavern of the Nine Heavens, the Precious Scripture of the Five Elders, the Black Register of the Elixir Slips, the upper and lower Precept Texts on Grades of Fasting and Precepts, the Scripture of the Great One and Golden Fluid, the Scripture of Guarding the Mystery of the True One, the Central Scripture of the Plain Spirit within the Fetal Embryo of the Three Origins, the Inner Scripture of the Green Lad of the Golden Gate Emperor Lord, the True Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern, the Inner Writ of the Three Sovereigns, the Observation of Precepts on Success and Failure in Proclaiming Transformation and Pondering the Dao, the Scripture of the Three and Five Flying Steps Presenting the Mystery, the Chart of Mount Jia, the Bright Prohibitions and Earth Register, the Ghost Calendar and Various Methods, and other works—nine hundred and thirty scrolls in all, plus seventy scrolls of talismanic graphs, making one thousand scrolls altogether.

The Supreme Lord Lao also ordered Ling to attend the dragon carriage and proceed to the Seven-Treasure Terrace of Banfeng and Jinyong on Mount Kunlun. At that time the Jade Dawn Lord of the Great Dao (Yuchen Dadao Jun) was active there.

The Lord Lao again commanded Ling to attend the dragon carriage and came to the Seven-Treasure Terrace of Banfeng Jinyong on Mount Kunlun. The Jade Morning Great Dao Lord was then residing there in leisure. The Lord Lao intended to take Ling to pay homage to Jade Morning, so he ordered the Azure Lad to hand Ling the Celestial Master’s seal and cord, appointing him to command twelve hundred officials; he also bestowed upon him the paired male and female swords, the Crown of Two Principles in Mutual Harmony, the demon-quelling staff, fish-scale robes, as well as talismans and registers (Fulu), covenants and commands, scriptures, precepts, and ordinances, so that he might assist the state and support destiny, nourish life, and restrain evil. When Ling had finished his obeisance, he returned.

In the first year of Jian’kang, year jiashen, the Celestial Master moved his residence to Mount Yuntai in Weizhou. On the fifteenth day of the tenth month, the Lord Lao descended again and transmitted to him the Zhengyi Mengwei Jing, the oral formulas of the “Three Karmas and Six Penetrations,” as well as the scriptures of the Three Caverns and the bi-monthly two-fold fasting rites. All of these took as their core the great characters of the natural celestial writings in the Lingbao Five Treatises, elucidating the subtle meaning of the scriptures. They are now proclaimed to the celestial and human beings of the ten directions: on days such as jiazi and gengshen, the Eight Festivals, the Three Primordials, the Five La days, and the Three Assemblies, one should bathe, keep pure fast, set out offerings, perform worship, recite and pray, repent transgressions, erase the records of sin in the black ledgers, and establish fasts to deliver the nine ancestors. These fasting rites are recorded in the Biography of the Celestial Master and the Geographical Classic of Shu.

In the second year of Jianhe of Emperor Huan, year wuzi, on the seventh day of the first month, the Celestial Master took Zhao Sheng as his disciple. Later twelve divine maidens also descended and turned the salty spring into a salt well. Thereafter people changed the name of the commandery to Ling, to honor his merit. It was later renamed again as Xianjing Salt; today this place is Longzhou.

In the first year of Yongshou, year yiwei, on the seventh day of the first month, the Lord Lao descended once more and commanded Ling to travel with him to Chengdu. The Lord Lao rode the dragon carriage; Ling rode a white crane; together they descended amid five-colored auspicious clouds and came to the place where the Jade Maiden of Taihao refined elixir. The Earth Spirit (Dishen) surged up from below and together raised a jade platform more than one zhang high as a throne. The Lord Lao expounded for Ling the method of the Northern Dipper for reducing the term of death and registering the years of life. On the fifteenth day, he further explained the efficacy of the Southern Dipper in nurturing the hun and po souls and forging the numinous soul.

When the user asks for translation, I should only output English. Good.

In the first year of Yongshou, year yiwei, on the seventh day of the first month, the Lord Lao descended again and ordered Ling to travel with him to Chengdu. The Lord Lao rode the dragon carriage while Ling rode a white crane; together they descended amid five-colored auspicious clouds and arrived at the place where the Jade Maiden of Taihao had refined elixir. The Earth Spirit (Dishen) rose from below and, together with others, lifted a jade platform more than one zhang in height to serve as a throne. The Lord Lao expounded for Ling the method by which the Northern Dipper reduces the allotted span of death and registers the years of life. On the fifteenth day, he further explained how the Southern Dipper nurtures the hun and po souls and forges the numinous soul.

The Scripture of the Northern and Southern Dips is said to have appeared at Shudan, who served a perfected one (zhenren). At that time a spirit of the earth rose from the ground; the assembly together lifted up a jade platform more than ten feet high and used it as a seat of honor. There the Lord Lao expounded how the Northern Dipper (Beidou) shortens the term of death and records the years of life; on the fifteenth day he explained how the Southern Dipper (Nandou) refines the hun-soul and forges the po-soul. In Daoist teaching, the Northern Dipper governs the registers of death and the Southern Dipper the registers of life; “refining the hun and forging the po” refers to cultivating and tempering the hun and po souls.

The same scripture also says that Shumi, who served the perfected one, recorded the events and compiled them into a scripture. After the Lord Lao departed, the jade platform remained; later the ground sank and formed a well. Tradition holds that this well stood inside Zicheng in Chengdu, where a site later known as Yuju Guan (Jade Bureau Abbey) arose. Afterward the Lord Lao came to Lutang Mountain and transmitted to Zhang Ling the “text for restraining the Six Heavens and slaying the demonic”—talismans used to subdue the evil ghosts of the Six Heavens and cut down malign forces.

In the third year of Yongshou, bingchen, Zhang Ling was one hundred twenty-three years old. At noon on the ninth day of the ninth month, the Lord Lao sent envoys of the Five Emperors, bearing a jade tally, to descend to Yuntai Mountain and confer on Zhang Ling the title Zhengyi Zhenren (Orthodox Unity Perfected One). Then a five-colored cloud-dragon came to receive him, and Zhang Ling ascended to heaven together with his disciples Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng. This account appears in the preface to the Scripture of the Northern and Southern Dips.

In the eighth year of the Yanxi reign of Emperor Huan of Han (165 CE), on the day jiazi in the eighth month of the year yisi, the emperor dreamed that Lord Lao—the Daoist honorific title for Laozi—descended into the palace courtyard riding in a canopy-covered treasure carriage. He then dispatched an envoy to offer sacrifices at Ku County in the state of Chen. The emperor ordered Bian Shao, the chancellor of Chen, to compose the stele inscription, which reads:

Laozi once served as Keeper of the Archives under the Zhou dynasty, in charge of the state’s written records. During the reign of King You of Zhou, an earthquake struck the region of the Three Rivers. Laozi drew on the disorder of yin and yang at the end of the Xia and Shang dynasties to explain omens to the ruler of his time; Confucius also heard of this. Confucius was born in the twenty-first year of King Ling of Zhou and once went to ask Laozi (Lao Dan) about ritual. By age, when Confucius went to consult him, Laozi was already over a hundred years old. One hundred twenty-nine years after Confucius died, some said that Grand Historian Dan of Zhou was Laozi, but where Laozi ultimately went, no one knows.

The book Laozi is divided into two parts. In it we read that heaven and earth can endure because they do not live only for themselves. From the first human beings multiplying in succession, one can grasp the principle of life and death. There is also the saying “the valley spirit does not die,” called the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin)—the deep, generating root of all things. Later, people in the world who favored Daoist arts extrapolated from such passages and held that Laozi could merge with primordial chaos-qi and share in the beginning and end of the sun, moon, and stars; that he observed the heavens, left prognostications, rose and fell among the stars of the Northern Dipper, changed with the daily motion of the sun and the waxing and waning of the seasons, and responded to the sun, moon, and stars. At his side were the Four Spirit Beings (the divine beasts of the four directions); in contemplation he visualized the Dantian (energy center) and the Taiyi Zifang (Purple Chamber of Grand Unity)—palaces within the body in Daoist meditative practice—and in the end cultivated the Way to become an immortal, shedding the bodily form and transcending the human realm. From Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor onward, he was the teacher of sages generation after generation, adapting to the changes of the times, corresponding to the sun, moon, and stars, attended by the Four Spirit Beings, and attaining immortality and deliverance from the world through contemplating the Dantian and the Taiyi Zifang.

Ban Gu held that Laozi advocated abandoning the sage and wisdom and regarded ritual as the beginning of disorder; his thought diverged from that of Confucius. When Ban Gu compiled the “Table of Ancient and Modern Persons” in the Book of Han, he ranked Laozi in a lower grade by his own standard of judgment, placing him on the same level as Zixi of Chu. Their verdicts differ greatly—this is what is meant by “the Way differs, so we cannot plan together.”

On the jiazi day of the eighth month in the eighth year of the Yanxi reign, the emperor revered De (Virtue/Power) and spread the Great Dao (the Way), his mind broad and open, nourishing spirit (Shen) and tending his inner nature, with aspirations set high. For this reason he looked up to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, likening himself to King Wu Ding of the Shang, and because he dreamed of Laozi, he honored and offered sacrifice to him.

At that time, Bian Shao of Chenxiang was in charge of state ritual. He considered his own learning shallow and felt unable to fathom a perfected person such as Laozi; so he relied on the classics and sorted right from wrong in them. In his view, Laozi kept to emptiness and stillness, loved being nameless, and did not boast of his De; he saw high office as perilous and was content in low station; he answered Confucius with words of benevolence and righteousness, turned from the world to live in seclusion, changed his name lest anyone recognize him.

Day alternates between light and dark; the moon runs through its cycle of fullness and wane. These changes show the pattern of increase and decrease, rise and fall, and the principle that fortune and misfortune lean on each other. The way of Heaven hates fullness and loves humility. The reason Laozi is still honored and receives sacrifice from the world is precisely that he shunned salary and salary rank, gladly stayed in the humblest place, constantly reduced desire, and displayed a realm of emptiness and clarity. Born before Heaven and Earth, he guarded the authentic and nourished his nature—therefore he obtained the Five Blessings.

So this inscription was respectfully composed:

Ah—mysterious De, holding emptiness, keeping purity. Happy in the lower place, not seeking stipend. Like plumb line and ink cord, able to straighten yet also to bend and coil. In the dispute over the Three Rivers he set forth his view, easing resentment, expressing his meaning. When the moment was right he acted; he waited for the time until light showed at the outer marches. Withdrawal from the world is auspicious: shunning the dust of the age, hiding his name. Guard singleness without loss, and all under Heaven can be settled. Stand in thick substance, not in shallow show; dwell in the solid while holding brilliance within. Value the model, lightly esteem gold and jade. Cut off cravings, remove desire, return to the simplicity of an infant. Leisurely he passed many years; none could know his true mind. Always acting through Wuwei (non-action), he let the transforming work of Heaven and Earth complete itself. Advance and retreat had no fixed rule; amid crisscrossing change he still held the correct path. Taking cleverness as his boast, he yet appeared dull; empty as a valley, he did not fill himself. Such is the bearing of the great person.