《金莲正宗仙源像传》

Li Quanzheng brought me an album, Illustrated Biographies of the Immortal Lineage of Quanzhen Orthodoxy (Quanzhen zhengzong xianyuan xiangzhuan), created by Liu Tiansu and Xie Xichan. After reading it I admired it greatly, and with palms pressed together in reverence I wrote this eulogy for it:

The profound spirit of Daoism began here. Laozi rode his green ox westward and left behind five thousand words of subtle teaching, becoming the ancestral master of the Wuji Dao (the boundless Way). His lineage passed eastward and came down to Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin. The two first cast down a single coin, and later they met two more eminent masters. Seven lotuses appeared, auspicious stars and sweet dew descended, and these were truly marvelous omens. Reverence for them runs deeper than the snow mountains, and their teaching spread across the Central Plains.

Though the age is long past, the teachings still circulate, for the Dao knows no distinction between past and present. To paint the immortals' portraits and write their biographies is like hearing their deeds with one's own ears and seeing them with one's own eyes. The yellow crane drifts calmly into the distance; where do the white clouds float? A single volume of plain text, a thread of aloeswood smoke. The realm of the immortals joins the human world, as if peach blossoms and flowing water passed before one's eyes.

Written in spring of the Dingmao year of the Taiding era by Taixuanzi, successor Celestial Master (Tianshi), at the Hall of Mysterious Virtue (Xuande Hall).

The profound mysteries of the Great Dao (the Way) cannot all be conveyed in words, yet some can only be handed down through them. It was for this reason that the Xianyuan xiangzhuan (Illustrated Biographies of the Immortal Lineage) was composed. Since Xuanyuan (Laozi), our Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) tradition has passed through the Five Patriarchs and the Seven Perfected Ones. Each of these ancestral masters attained great depth in the Dao and left a rich legacy of De (Virtue), and their teachings spread throughout the world. Patriarch Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji) crossed ten thousand miles of snow-covered mountains to spread the profound teachings of the Dao far and wide. Events of this kind did not, in themselves, depend on writing to be remembered. Yet the details of his deeds are hard to verify, and I had long wished to compile a complete book to record them.

One day I shared this wish with Master Xichan, who gladly agreed. Together we gathered biographical materials widely and consulted stele inscriptions as well. After several years of compiling, we had set out these events in reasonable detail. We placed the portraits at the front and appended the biographies after them, and we named the work Quanzhen zhengzong xianyuan xiangzhuan (Illustrated Biographies of the Immortal Lineage of the Orthodox Quanzhen School). When fellow practitioners read this book, they may perceive, through what words can relate, the principles that words cannot convey, and in this way the book will prove of some help. Where it remains incomplete, I hope readers will kindly point out its faults.

Written respectfully on the winter solstice of the bingyin year of the Taiding era (1326), by Liu Zhixuan, Daoist of Qingxi, Mount Lu.

Handwritten Edict of Genghis Khan, Emperor Taizu of the Yuan, Summoning the Immortal Qiu

The edict reads: Heaven has looked with favor upon the Central Plains, yet its pride and splendor...

The edict reads: Heaven has favored the Central Plains, yet I was born and raised in the northern lands. I have not craved luxury, nor let excessive desires take root. I esteem simplicity and honesty, cast out extravagance, and follow frugality. I share my food and clothing with my oxen, horses, and servants, regard the common people as my own children, and treat my soldiers as brothers. I have always valued harmony and stored up kindness and loyalty. When training my people, I have always gone first, and facing a hundred battles, I have never thought of placing myself behind them.

Within seven years I achieved my great enterprise, and within all under Heaven I brought about unification. This was not because my conduct was virtuous (De). More likely, the present political order simply had no principle by which it could remain stable for long. Thus I received Heaven's protection and took up the highest seat. To the south my realm adjoins the fiery Song, to the north it meets the Uighurs, and the Chinese states of the east and the foreign peoples of the west all declare themselves my vassals and aid me. In all the centuries of our Chanyu state (the northern nomadic polity), such a situation has never existed.

Yet the responsibility is heavy and preserving what has been won is not easy. Even with the world at peace, I fear that my governance still has shortcomings. One builds boats and carves oars in order to cross rivers; one summons the worthy and selects assistants in order to bring peace to the realm. Since ascending the throne I have labored diligently at government affairs, yet I have still not found men fit to serve as the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers (the court's chief offices).

I have heard that Master Qiu (Qiu Chuji) has embodied the true Dao and keeps its precepts, that he is learned and widely informed and has probed its profound principles. His practice is deep and his virtue (De) renowned, and he carries the solemn dignity of the gentlemen of old together with the refined integrity of one who cultivates the Dao. For a long time he has dwelt hidden in mountain valleys, withdrawn from the world, spreading the teachings left by his patriarchs, drawing to himself those who possess the Dao, and gathering and studying the immortal scriptures (Jing) in numbers too great to count. Since the wars began, I have learned that the Master still lives in seclusion in his old home in Shandong, and my admiration for him knows no bounds.

Has the Master not heard how King Wen of Zhou returned in the same carriage as Jiang Taigong, or how Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times? But mountains and rivers lie between us, and I cannot go in person to welcome him, which is truly a failure of propriety. I can only step back from my throne for a time, hold myself in reverence, fast and bathe, and send my attendant official Liu Zhonglu with light cavalry and a plain carriage, who will travel a thousand li without complaint to respectfully invite the Master to condescend to come. I ask that he not be troubled by the long road across the desert. The Master may speak of the urgent tasks of relieving the people's suffering and aiding the world, and may also instruct me in the methods of preserving the self and governing the state. I will attend him in person, and I hope only that in the course of our conversation the Master will bestow upon me a single word of teaching, which would be enough.

Now I express my modest sincerity by setting these words down in this edict. I earnestly hope that the Master will expound the essential meaning of the great Dao, answer what is asked of him, and not refuse the small wishes of living beings. This edict is hereby issued, and I trust the Master will take note.

The first day of the fifth month.

Imperial Edict of Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Conferring Honors

The Emperor declares: When the Great Dao (the Way) is made manifest, it brings forth a civilizing influence that rules through Wuwei (non-action); when the supreme true Way is generous and moves in accord with nature, it ultimately accomplishes works without presuming to dominate. We have inherited the foundation laid by our ancestors and have examined the governance of past ages, and We have always admired the ethos of the Daoists. From the time the teachings were handed down by the Lord of Eastern Florescence (Donghua Dijun, an immortal revered in Daoism) to the time the Perfected Chongyang (Wang Chongyang) began his work of transformation, the true transmission has never been lost and has passed from generation to generation. Whenever the heart is moved, minds can reach one another, and no distance is too great for them to respond.

Although successive dynasties have repeatedly honored these immortals with praise and posthumous titles, We still feel that the reverence shown has not been sufficient. We have therefore commanded Our Confucian ministers to compose additional honorific titles for them. The Lord of Eastern Florescence is already styled Dijun (Imperial Lord), so he is granted only the title "Purple Mansion, Lesser Yang." The four figures Zhengyang, Chunyang, Haichan, and Chongyang shall be granted the title "Perfected Lord" (Zhenjun). The seven Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Perfected Ones, from Master Danyang downward, shall be granted the title "Perfected Person" (Zhenren). These titles will be entered into the canon and handed down for ten thousand generations.

Alas! Zhang Daoling of the Han and Ye Fashan of the Tang were both granted the title "Celestial Master" (Tianshi), which became a lasting honor for Daoism. No one raised any objection at the time, and later ages have treated it as established precedent. What We admire may perhaps be brought close to such a practice.

The Master of the Eastern Florescence Teaching is granted the title "Lord of Eastern Florescence, Purple Mansion, Lesser Yang."

The Perfected Zhongli Zhengyang is granted the title "Zhengyang, Perfected Lord Who Awakens Insight and Transmits the Way."

The Perfected Lü Chunyang is granted the title "Chunyang, Perfected Lord Who Manifests Rectitude and Admonishes the World toward Transformation."

The Perfected Liu Haichan is granted the title "Haichan, Perfected Lord of Luminous Awakening Who Propagates the Way."

The Perfected Wang Chongyang is granted the title "Chongyang, Perfected Lord of Quanzhen Who Opens the Path of Transformation."

Master Ma Yu of Danyang is granted the title "Danyang, Perfected Person Who Embraces Unity and Practices Wuwei."

Master Tan Chuduan of Changzhen is granted the title "Changzhen, Perfected Person of Cloud and Water Who Stores Virtue (De)."

Master Liu Chuxuan of Changsheng is granted the title "Changsheng, Perfected Person of Illustrious Virtue (De) Who Assists Transformation."

Master Qiu Chuji of Changchun is granted the title "Changchun, Perfected Person Who Expounds the Way and Presides over the Teaching."

Master Wang Chuyi of Yuyang is granted the title "Yuyang…" (the original text here lists the title as "Changzhen, Perfected Person of Cloud and Water Who Stores Virtue," which appears to be a repetition of Tan Chuduan's title).

Master Qiu Chuji, known as Changchun (Master Eternal Spring), was posthumously honored with the title "Perfected Man Who Expounds the Dao and Presides over the Teaching." Master Wang Chuyi, known as Yuyang, was posthumously honored as "Perfected Man of Jade Yang, Embodying the Mysterious and Broadly Delivering Beings." Master Hao Datong, known as Guangning, was posthumously honored as "Perfected Man of Guangning, Penetrating the Mysterious and Primordially Ancient." Qingjing Sanren (the Pure Tranquil Scattered One) Sun Buer was posthumously honored as "Perfected Woman of Pure Tranquility, Profound in Constancy and Compliant with Virtue."

This decree is entrusted to Zhang Zhijing, the Perfected Man Guangxian Tidao Chengming, who heads the teaching, to carry out. Let it be handled accordingly. First month of the sixth year of the Zhiyuan era.

"The Edict of Emperor Wuzong Conferring Additional Titles" (Wuzong Huangdi Jiafeng Zhici) means: the imperial edict by which Emperor Wuzong conferred additional honorific titles.

Heaven has shown its favor and bestowed this imperial decree upon the Emperor: the teaching of the Three Mysteries (Sanxuan jiao, a branch of Daoism) was defined by Heaven, and now it governs the many spirits. Every five hundred years, a figure of renowned stature appears, so that the correct Way may be revived and spread anew.

In former times, the Lord of Eastern Florescence (Donghua Dijun) dwelt in the Palace of the Great Dawn. His blessings continued without end, with no beginning or conclusion; his primordial Qi (vital energy) was blended and boundless, its limits impossible to exhaust. Transcending form and omen, he existed naturally of himself, and the blessings and auspicious signs he brought needed no explanation. He transmitted the Dao (the Way) to the Supreme One (Taishang), and for this reason it is called Quanzhen (Complete Perfection). The Dao of Quanzhen lies in guarding the root and resting in balance and harmony: it responds without deliberately seeking, and it acts without taking credit. Its teachings run from the highest to the lowest, as profound as vermilion palaces and the rainbow of langgan jade, and, like the tortoise chart and the unicorn tallies that symbolize the signs of Heaven's mandate, they circulate without cease. This method is clear and can be followed; even through great calamities it endures. Those who later inherit it will likewise emerge, generation after generation, from among the High Perfected (gaozhen, immortals of profound attainment).

Among the teachers once revered in antiquity, there is now a man such as Mingsu: benevolent and courageous, filial and steadfast. The conviction he holds is so firm that it need not wait for the bitter cold of winter to be revealed, and what he says is bound to be borne out. Whatever the occasion or the matter at hand, he understands it. I have already bestowed favor on him personally, and my sincerity in repaying the root of things has grown deeper still. Therefore I issue this gentle edict, to confer, step by step, ever more distinguished honorific titles.

Ah! When the spirits and the human world are in harmony, the royal Way is made secure; is this principle not profound? When the teaching is carried out, the work of governance is established. Uphold it for a long time, and preserve this undertaking. I now posthumously confer the title "Great Lord Who Assists the Primordial and Establishes the Ultimate, of the Purple Palace of Eastern Florescence." Let the relevant offices carry this out accordingly. Second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

The Emperor, favored and commissioned by Heaven, issues this edict:

I have heard that the teaching of Taishang (the Daoist honorific for the Dao) spreads the Way of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection), relying on the constant laws of Heaven and Earth and following the great principle of the movement of Yin-Yang. The Quanzhen transmission began with the manifestation of Lord Donghua and continued through the teachings left behind in the Kaiyuan era. From the Han dynasty to the Tang, a very long time often had to pass before a perfected person who had attained the Dao (Dao, the Way) would appear.

The Jin dynasty inherited the imperial line of the Song and arrived in an age of peace and prosperity, and with it the Quanzhen lineage rose to prominence. It promotes a teaching that embraces all subtleties and takes the "uncarved simplicity of the nameless" (the original substance of the Dao, unadorned and beyond description) as its root. Some, once they grasped the meaning of the Dao, were no longer bound by outward form and became immersed in its wondrous principles; others commanded the stars, rode dragons in flight, and roamed the heavens. The realm of the Dao can neither be heard nor seen. Though those who attain it keep company with the power that creates and transforms all things, they come and go without a sound, and they also appear and respond in the world as the moment requires. Therefore their deeds should be recorded and handed down to later generations, their achievements praised, and honors conferred step by step according to rank, so that the tradition of Quanzhen may endure for a long time. The founding patriarch, Lord Donghua, will be honored separately by another decision, and the remaining figures shall be handled by the officials in charge of this matter according to the same principle.

Perfected Lord Zhongli, who awakened Zhengyang and transmitted the Dao, may be enhanced with the title "Imperial Lord Zhengyang, Awakener and Transmitter of the Dao, Bestower of Teaching."

Perfected Lord Lü, Chunyang, who expounded orthodoxy and admonished and transformed the world, may be enhanced with the title "Imperial Lord Chunyang, Expounder of Orthodoxy, Admonisher and Transformer, Protector through Divine Aid."

Perfected Lord Liu, Haichan, who attained clear awakening and propagated the Dao, may be enhanced with the title "Imperial Lord Haichan, Clearly Awakened Propagator of the Dao, Pure Aid."

Perfected Lord Wang, Chongyang, who opened and transformed through Quanzhen, may be enhanced with the title "Imperial Lord Chongyang, Opener and Transformer of Quanzhen, Supporter of the Supreme Ultimate."

This edict is entrusted to Miao Daoyi, Grand Master Expounding the Dao of the Mysterious Gate, head of the teaching, Perfected Person Ninghe Chizheng Mingsu, who shall receive it and carry it out in accordance with the decree. Third year of the Zhida era, second month.

The Emperor, favored and commissioned by Heaven, issues this edict: When Heaven and Earth were first established and worldly affairs were not yet settled, the noble person was expected to shoulder the heavy task of governing all under Heaven; and when a sage dynasty flourishes, it should likewise exalt the Imperial Lords to the highest degree.

This edict is entrusted to Miao Daoyi, Grand Master Expounding the Dao of the Mysterious Gate, head of the teaching, Perfected Person Ninghe Chizheng Mingsu, who shall receive it and carry it out in accordance with the decree. Third year of the Zhida era, second month.

The Emperor, in accordance with the Mandate of Heaven, issues this imperial edict: In the time when the realm is first founded and the political order not yet settled, men of virtue (De) are needed to govern the state; and when the fortunes of the nation flourish, this too cannot be separated from the support of high masters who have attained the Dao (the Way). In former days, when our imperial ancestor established his foundations in the north, a true immortal appeared in the east in response to the age. He acted without bound to convention, yet knew all things; his learning had deep roots, and he was versed in every classic under heaven. His most urgent concern was to rescue the common people from hardship; the first thing he did was to clear away the abuses that obstructed the great Dao. He held himself to strict standards, yet the merit and benefit he brought to the world were vast and boundless.

Later, when the court repeatedly issued summons, he came riding the clouds, leading eighteen worthy disciples with him. They discussed the great affairs of state and altar of grain, their minds in accord with one another and in harmony with the spirits. The scene was like the Yellow Emperor taking Guangchengzi as his teacher; his words were concise yet profound in meaning, much like Emperor Wen of Han seeking the Dao from the Elder on the River Bank (Heshang Gong). After Qiu Chuji had established his achievements in the Central Plains, the court had him preside over the Daoist order at the Palace of Eternal Spring (Changchun Gong). Those who follow him and transmit his teachings should likewise grasp their true meaning.

Therefore, he revered the Dao of heaven and earth, which endures without cease, and so extended the blessings of the state. Now, once again, a master upholding the right Way has revived the Mysterious Gate (Daoism); the principles behind what was done then and now are the same. In bestowing favor at this time, there is no difference of principle between the earlier and the later. It is fitting to confer an additional honorific title upon Qiu Chuji, so that his name may be handed down and his teachings endure forever. Qiu Chuji, the Perfected Master Who Expounds the Dao and Presides over the Teaching of Eternal Spring, may be granted the added title "Perfected Lord of Eternal Spring, Complete in Virtue, Divinely Transforming and Brightly Responsive," to be carried out by the relevant authorities.

Promulgated in the second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

By the command of Heaven, the Emperor issues this imperial edict: Heaven's mandate favors those of singular virtue (De), and the Way (Dao) of Heaven shines forth. The Seven Patriarchs founded and propagated the great Dao, turning like the pivot star of the Northern Dipper to drive the transformations of heaven and earth, and aligning like the Jade Armillary Sphere with the patterns of the heavens. Whose descendants are they? Their images appeared even before the Celestial Emperor. They deeply grasped the profound subtlety of Laozi and Guan Yinzi, followed the Way of non-action (Wuwei), and let the myriad things transform of themselves. They also traveled to Donglai and Xishan to answer inquiries and expound the teachings. Some lived in seclusion amid the world's dust; others dwelt in humble abodes.

When the Great Yuan rose to prosperity, they received personal appreciation and recognition from the Sacred Ancestor (the founding ruler of the Yuan dynasty). They set forth fine strategies for ordering the realm, and they were truly talents able to aid the world. The mysteries they realized were empty, still, and profound, transcending worldly affairs and keeping company with Heaven. All traced the origins of their lineages from teachers and companions, and cultivated themselves to a lofty and subtle realm. They transmitted the long-established rules of their order, and many became guests in the households of princes. Their learning was outstanding and was passed down from generation to generation. Now that efficacious omens have appeared, it is fitting to bestow upon them illustrious titles, so as to celebrate the pure tradition of Daoism. With the exception of the head of the order, Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji), who is to be honored separately, the rest shall be treated according to the procedure above.

Ma Yu, the Perfected Person of Danyang Who Embraces Unity and Practices Wuwei, may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Danyang Who Embraces Unity, Practices Wuwei, and Universally Transforms."

Tan Chuduan, the Perfected Person of Changzhen Who Roams Like Clouds and Water and Stores Virtue (De), may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Changzhen Who Concentrates the Spirit (Shen), Is Profoundly Still, and Stores Virtue (De)."

Liu Chuxuan, the Perfected Person of Changsheng Who Assists Transformation and Illuminates Virtue (De), may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Changsheng Who Assists Transformation, Reveres the Mysterious, and Illuminates Virtue (De)."

Wang Chuyi, the Perfected Person of Yuyang Who Embodies the Mysterious and Extensively Delivers Others, may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Yuyang Who Embodies the Mysterious, Extends Compassion, and Universally Delivers."

Hao Datong, the Perfected Person of Guangning Who Penetrates the Mysterious and Is Most Ancient, may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Guangning Who Penetrates the Mysterious, Is Wondrously Supreme, and Most Ancient."

Sun Buer, the Perfected Person of Qingjing Whose Depth Is Chaste and Who Follows Virtue (De), may be additionally titled "Primal Lady of Qingjing Whose Depth Is Chaste, Who Is Mysteriously Empty, and Who Follows Transformation."

The above decree is entrusted to Hao Datong, Great Master Who Expounds the Dao in the Mysterious Gate, Head of the Teaching, the Perfected Person Who Is Harmonious, Upright, and Most Ancient, for execution. Hao Datong may be additionally titled "Perfected Lord of Guangning Who Penetrates the Mysterious, Is Wondrously Supreme, and Most Ancient"; and Sun Buer, the Perfected Person of Qingjing Whose Depth Is Chaste and Who Follows Virtue (De), may be additionally titled "Primal Lady of Qingjing Whose Depth Is Chaste, Who Is Mysteriously Empty, and Who Follows Transformation."

The document above is entrusted to Miao Daoyi, Great Master of the Xuanmen Who Expounds the Dao, Head of the Teaching, Zhenren (Perfected One) NingHe Chizheng Mingsu, to be kept and carried out accordingly. Issued in the second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

Imperial edict, by the Mandate of Heaven and the Fortune of the Dynasty: The worthies of antiquity said that one should serve the ruler with utmost loyalty, care for one's parents with filial devotion, turn sincerely toward Heaven, and extend kindness to the people. One who has talent can accomplish great undertakings; one who has learning can bring benefit to the world. Such a person is worthy of a place among the ranks of the immortals, and the Dao teachings they hold are worthy of being propagated in their age.

Yin Zhiping, Zhenren Qinghe Miaodao Guanghua, a eminent master of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, was broad of mind and dignified in bearing. Dressed in coarse Daoist robes and living in seclusion in the mountains, he was lean but never haggard; clad in court vestments when he came to the imperial halls, he was not thereby made more accomplished. He responded to all things without being constrained by them, was swift in action, yet able to hold firm for the long term. He entered the school of the Zhenren Changchun (Qiu Chuji), and the Daoist order still takes the lineage of Changchun as its foundation; he fully received the true transmission of the Zhenren Lingji, and his bearing accorded with that of Lingji. He passed on the rules of the correct Dao to all quarters, and three successive emperors treated him with courtesy and favor.

Now the master who inherits this lineage continues to extend the ancient traces of the Xuanmen. Therefore special grace should be granted and an honorific title increased. Alas! In going to the immortal realm of Penglai, there is no need to cross the Weak Water by boat; auspicious clouds and immortal scenery drift and swirl around, and may perhaps come to rest among the ceremonial banners and standards. He may be posthumously honored as "Great Zhenren Qinghe Miaoyong Guanghua Chongjiao," and the relevant offices shall act accordingly. Issued in the second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

Imperial edict, by the Mandate of Heaven and the Fortune of the Dynasty: The orthodox lineage of the Dao and De (Virtue) has repeatedly been passed down to worthy descendants; the most outstanding figures of Confucian and Xuanxue (Mysterious Learning) scholarship have drawn their learning from the teaching of a sagely and enlightened ruler. Let this person oversee the ritual codes and institutions of the school of Zhenren Changchun, and the relevant offices shall act accordingly. Issued in the second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor issues this edict:

The orthodox lineage of the Dao is handed down through the generations to those of worth and virtue, and the profound learning of Confucianism and the Mysteries (Xuanxue) springs from a sage and enlightened court. Li Zhichang oversees the affairs of the Daoist order, holds a place among the immortals, and has personally received the Emperor's favor, bearing the duty of upholding the peace and order of the state. It is fitting that his rank and title be raised, in recognition of his devotion to the transmission of the Dao and his sincere pursuit of the Way.

Li Zhichang, the Perfected One of Constant Truth, Supreme Virtue, and Proclamation of the Teaching, is elegant in literary talent and outstanding in conduct. His writings are unadorned, yet they reveal the principle of response between humans and the divine; his words and deeds do not seek to astonish with the strange. Within, he is pure and sincere; in his heart, he is empty, still, and abides in Wuwei (non-action). His conduct continues unbroken, beyond what words can fully express, and in his purity and loftiness no one surpasses him.

We therefore confer upon him an honorific title, to make his virtue manifest, to bring still greater luster to the glory that Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) has transmitted through the generations, and to answer the repeated petitions of his worthy and virtuous seniors. Ah! The teaching flourishes in famous mountains and blessed lands, and through a thousand kalpas it continues the lineage of the Lord of the Great Dawn (Taichen jun). The radiance of the Dao's succession is like spring flowers in bloom, and in the second generation there appeared Chengming zi. We now further bestow upon Li Zhichang the title "Great Perfected One of Constant Truth, Wondrous Response, Manifest Literary Brilliance, and Broad Salvation," and the officials in charge are to carry this out accordingly.

Issued in the second month of the third year of the Zhida era.

The Emperor, favored by Heaven, decrees:

Wuwei (non-action) is the guiding principle of the Dao (the Way), and reputation is the fairest and most esteemed token of merit. One whose conduct is pure and whose bearing is lofty will naturally be admired; splendid carriages and glittering caps of office, however, are not what a cultivator of the Dao regards as true fulfillment. Song Defang (styled Zen Master Piyun, a Daoist of the Yuan dynasty) distinguished himself throughout his life, and is rightly deserving of the court's favor and commendation.

Song Defang, the Zhenren (Perfected One) Piyun, Penetrator of the Mysterious and Propagator of the Teaching, grasped profound principles at an early age and explored deeply the secretly transmitted learning. He purified body and mind, harboring not the slightest selfish thought. His teaching was vast and deep, yet he never boasted of a single good deed. Complete in De (Virtue), he did not display his talents; broad of heart, he met the myriad things without obstruction. He championed the dwellings of the immortals and led those who cultivate perfection, and the multitude called him a treasure at their table; he traveled swiftly to and from Kunlun, his every movement accordant with the subtle laws of the mysterious. The court, reluctantly yielding to the people's petitions, thereby honors his thorough understanding of the mysterious principle and his unhindered conduct.

Alas! Reckoned by the years, his merit is still more than sufficient. Who can carry on the lofty conduct of a Gengsang Chu? He gathered his Shen (spirit) and kept to stillness, so that the myriad things suffered no harm. May he, like the immortal of Mount Guye, bring bountiful and peaceful years. We specially confer upon him the posthumous title "Great Zhenren of the Mysterious Capital, Supreme Dao, Revered in Letters and Illuminating Transformation." Let the responsible officials proceed accordingly. Second month, third year of the Zhida era.

The Emperor, favored by Heaven, further decrees:

The clear and enlightened governance of Yao and Shun of old established a model of orderly rule for later generations. The hermits of Mount Ji and the Ying River truly meet the standard for ascending to the realm of immortals and taking their place in the ranks of the transcendents. Heaven gives birth to talented people not so that their gifts should go unused; and that the lineage of the Dao can be transmitted depends on meeting the right person.

In former times the Zhenren Changchun (Qiu Chuji) met the Sage Ancestor Genghis Khan. The court's summons reached far to the east, and the immortal's carriage then accompanied the westward campaign. Sometimes he walked ahead and sometimes behind, sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right, his resolve never wavering. Braving frost and ice, he roamed through Taiqing (the realm of pure emptiness in Daoist belief). His literary brilliance was manifest, his character as upright as a jade tablet, and he upheld the principles and order of the true Way. He established mysterious achievements and enlarged the work of his lineage. Now the court honors the scriptures (Jing) of the Daoist order, and generously continues the former courtesies once shown to the princely establishments.

Alas! Auspicious qilin and phoenixes rise up, but how could they be often seen in the crimson heavens of the immortal realm? The court's special favors have come more than once. As this edict reaches its close, may their sacred traces endure and their illustrious titles be continued. As for the matter of succeeding to the honors granted to Yin Qingh, Song Piyun, Li Zhenchang and others, it shall be deliberated separately; all remaining matters are to be handled together by the responsible officials.

Zhao Daojian may be additionally granted the title "Zhenren of Central Constancy, Expounder of the Teaching and Master of Response."

Song Dao'an may be additionally granted the title "Zhenren of Primal Brightness, Universally Illuminating and Revering Virtue."

Xia Zhicheng and Li Zhenchang will have their commendations decided separately. For all the others, those in charge are requested to proceed in the same manner.

Zhao Daojian may be posthumously granted the title "Perfected One (Zhenren) of Central Integrity, Resplendent Master of the Teaching, Responsive to the Truth."

Song Dao'an may be granted the title "Perfected One of Primal Brightness, Universal Illumination, and Esteemed Virtue."

Xia Zhicheng may be granted the title "Perfected One of Non-Action (Wuwei), Embracing the Dao, and Plain Virtue."

Wang Zhiming may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Brightens the Spirit (Shen), Draws on the Dao, and Preserves the Radiance."

Sun Zhijian may be granted the title "Perfected One of Bright Sincerity, Embodying the Subtle, Empty and Still."

Yu Zhike may be granted the title "Perfected One of Pure Sincerity, Returning to Simplicity, Deep Stillness."

Zhang Zhisu may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Responds to the Registers, Upholds the Teaching, and Honors the Dao."

Zheng Zhixiu may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Penetrates the Subtle, Returns to Stillness, and Answers with Depth."

Ju Zhiyuan may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Preserves the Genuine, Plain and Unadorned, Calmly Responsive."

Meng Zhiwen may be granted the title "Perfected One of Twofold Mystery, Broad Virtue (De), and Empty Function."

Zhang Zhiyuan may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Awakens to the Real, Condenses Transformation, and Is Pure and Plain."

Jing Zhiyuan may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Embodies the Origin, Embraces Virtue, and Awakens in Emptiness."

He Zhiqing may be granted the title "Perfected One of Empty Brightness, Deep Stillness, and Guarding the One."

Yang Zhijing may be granted the title "Perfected One Who Pierces Emptiness, Attains the One, and Penetrates the Mystery."

Pan Dechong may be granted the title "Perfected One of Penetrating Mystery, Wondrous Dao, and Harmonious Emptiness."

The above document is to be delivered to Miao Daoyi, Grand Master Who Expounds the Dao of the Mysterious Gate, Head of the Teaching, and Perfected One of Concentrated Harmony, Upholding Rectitude, and Bright Simplicity, who shall receive it and act accordingly. Second month of the third year of the Zhida era (1310), on a day unspecified.

The earlier patriarch Qiu Changchun may likewise be granted the title "Perfected One of Penetrating Mystery, Wondrous Dao, and Harmonious Emptiness."

The above document is to be delivered to Miao Daoyi, Grand Master Who Expounds the Dao of the Mysterious Gate, Head of the Teaching, and Perfected One of Concentrated Harmony, Upholding Rectitude, and Bright Simplicity, who shall receive it and act accordingly. Second month of the third year of the Zhida era (1310), on a day unspecified.

In former times, the Perfected Master Changchun, Qiu Chuji (Qiu Chuji), cherished the great Dao (the Way) and embodied De (Virtue), living in seclusion in Donglai. When Emperor Taizu heard of his renown, he made the long journey to the Snow Mountains to invite him, and received him with the highest courtesy. The Daoist movement flourished greatly as a result. When Emperor Shizu unified the realm, he honored Daoism even more, conferring auspicious honorific titles upon the Five Patriarchs and the Seven Perfected. Emperor Wuzong later posthumously enfeoffed them as Lords (Dijun) and Perfected Lords (Zhenjun), and extended titles of Perfected Person (Zhenren) to eighteen great masters. This may truly be called a glorious event without parallel through the ages. Even the Yellow Emperor, who sought the Dao on Mount Kongtong, and the Lord on the River, who expounded the scriptures, could hardly have claimed such honor for themselves alone.

I, Liu Zhixuan, am fortunate to have been born in a flourishing age, to have received the favor of the imperial court, and to hold a place in the Daoist community. In earlier years, I attended the head of the order, the Great Master Kaixuan, the Perfected Person Sun, at the Great Changchun Palace in the capital, where I was able to see for myself the edicts of successive sage rulers. I have respectfully had these edicts printed and circulated throughout the land, so that all people may know the noble intent of the sacred dynasty in honoring the great Dao.

On the fifteenth day of the first month of the first year of the Taiding era, the Daoist scholar of the teaching, bestowed with the purple robe, Master of Clear Emptiness, Profound Stillness, and Illuminating Insight, your servant Liu Zhixuan, bowing his head twice in reverence, inscribes this at the end of the volume.

Hunyuan Laozi (the Daoist honorific title for Laozi)

Laozi's surname was Li, his personal name was Er, and his courtesy name was Dan. He was a native of Quligli Village in Lai Township, Ku County. Tradition holds that his mother carried him for eighty-one years, and that he was born on the fifteenth day of the second month in the gengchen year, the ninth year of King Wuding of the Yin dynasty. He was said to have been born with hair and beard already completely white, which is why people called him "Laozi" (the Old Master). It is also said that he was born beneath a plum tree (li), and so took "Li" as his surname.

From the Yin dynasty into the Zhou, King Wen of Zhou appointed Laozi Keeper of the Archives, in charge of the canonical records. After King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang, Laozi was reassigned as Archivist beneath the Pillar. In the reign of King Zhao of Zhou, he traveled west into the region of the Flowing Sands, and in the reign of King You of Zhou he returned to the Central Plain.

Confucius once came to Laozi to ask about ritual. Laozi told him: "When a gentleman meets the right moment, he rides out in his carriage to serve in office. When the moment is wrong, he drifts along like tumbleweed before the wind. I have heard that a skilled merchant hides his precious goods so well that his shelves seem empty, and that a gentleman of true virtue appears outwardly like a fool. This is all I can tell you."

After Confucius withdrew, he said to his disciples: "I know that birds can fly, fish can swim, and beasts can run. The runner can be caught in a net, the swimmer on a line, the flier brought down by an arrow. But as for the dragon, I cannot know how it rides the wind and clouds up into the heavens. Today I have seen Laozi, and he must be like the dragon."

Seeing the Zhou dynasty in decline, Laozi decided to leave. When he reached the Hangu Pass, the Warden of the Pass, Yin Xi, who was skilled at reading the clouds and Qi (vital energy), saw purple Qi rising above the pass and knew that a sage was about to arrive. He waited at the gate. When he saw Laozi riding west out of the pass in a cart drawn by a black ox, he made a request: "You are about to withdraw into seclusion far away. Please, I beg you, write a book for me." And so Laozi composed a work in two parts, of more than five thousand characters, handed it to Yin Xi, and departed. Afterward, no one knew where he finally went.

Today the Taiqing Palace in Bozhou is regarded as Laozi's old residence and birthplace. The Zongsheng Palace on Mount Zhongnan in Yizuo County, in the Jingzhao region, is regarded as the ancient Louguan, the place where Laozi transmitted his scripture.

In Daoist belief, Laozi is regarded as an incarnation of Taishang Laojun (the Supreme Venerable Lord) of Taiqing. Emperor Gaozong of the Tang bestowed on him the honorific title "Supreme Emperor of Mysterious Origin." Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang conferred the title "Great Sage Ancestor, Emperor of the Highest Great Dao and Mysterious Origin." Emperor Zhenzong of the Song conferred the title "Supreme Venerable Lord, Emperor of Primordial Unity and Highest Virtue."

The eulogy says: In ancient times the scriptures of the Dongshen (Three Caverns) tradition were handed down in twelve scrolls. The white deer came from the east, and the blue ox departed far to the west. The Dao (the Way) accords with naturalness, mysterious and ever more mysterious; the image it manifests has neither form nor shape, yet it existed before heaven and earth.

Lord Donghua

The Lord's surname was Wang, but his given name is unknown, and his ancestry and place of origin cannot be traced. He received the Dao teachings of Taishang Laojun (the Supreme Venerable Lord) and lived in seclusion on Mount Kunjian, styling himself Lord Donghua. Later he dwelt in the Zifu Grotto-Heaven on Mount Wutai, where he was sometimes called Lord Shaoyang of Zifu. Afterward he appeared in the Ningyang Cave on Mount Zhongnan and transmitted the Dao teachings to Master Zhongli, that is, Zhongli Quan.

According to the Xianzhuan shiyi (Supplementary Records of Immortals' Biographies), the Lord was transformed from the primal qi (Qi, vital energy) of Qingyang and is also the ancestor of all the deities. He resides in the Taichen Palace, with purple clouds for his canopy and blue clouds for his city walls, attended by countless immortal officials. He is responsible for examining and registering the names of the immortals, and he receives the commands of Laojun. The "Wang" surname mentioned in the text is said to be an honorific for one who is noble and supreme, not a family name. This explanation may well have some basis.

Emperor Shizu of the Yuan dynasty conferred on him the title "Lord Shaoyang of Zifu, Imperial Lord of Donghua." Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan later raised it to "Great Imperial Lord of Donghua and Zifu, Assistant of the Primal and Establisher of the Ultimate."

The eulogy says: His lineage carries on that of Xuanyuan (an honorific for Laozi and his Dao), and his teaching spreads across the world. Kunlun seems to lie at the edge of the sky, and clouds drift across the heights of Zifu. He is the spirit among spirits, the true person among true persons. Long life has its own Way, and he has left that Way to later generations.

Zhengyang Zi (the style name of Zhongli Quan).

This Perfected One (zhenren) was surnamed Zhongli, personally named Quan, with the courtesy name Yunfang and the sobriquet Zhengyangzi. He was a native of Xianyang in Jingzhao. Tall and imposing in appearance, he was well versed in both letters and martial arts. He stood eight chi and seven cun, his beard hung below his belly, and his eyes were full of spirit.

He once served as a general under the Han, but after a military defeat he withdrew into the Zhongnan Mountains. There he met Lord Donghua (Donghua Dijun, a revered Daoist deity) and received from him the supreme Dao (道). Later he lived in seclusion on Yangjiao Mountain in Jinzhou, having no dealings with the worldly. He wore his hair in two topknots and dressed in a garment made of gathered leaves, calling himself the "Idle Fellow of All Under Heaven," meaning a person who roams free and unrestrained.

After attaining the Dao, the Celestial Perfected (tianzhen, the Daoist term for immortals and perfected beings) conferred on him the title "Perfected One of the Left Palace of the Taiji (太极)." He passed through the world, his movements unpredictable, and people often met him. He once composed a verse: "The gate that gave me birth is the door of my death; how many are awake, how many truly understand? In the night the iron man ponders it closely: that one may live forever without dying is for each person to achieve." It means that birth and death each have their passage, and few are truly clear-minded enough to grasp this. In the depth of night, a person of firm resolve who reflects carefully will understand that deathless longevity must be sought through one's own cultivation.

His poems and writings have been handed down. The Chuandao Temple at Ningyang Cave on Mount Zhongnan is said to be the place where he met Lord Donghua, and the Zhengyang Palace at Zhouquwan in Xianyang is his former home. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan enfeoffed him as "True Lord Zhengyang, Who Awakens and Transmits the Dao," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further honored him as "Imperial Lord Zhengyang, Who Awakens, Transmits the Dao, and Bequeaths Teachings."

The eulogy says: Early he met Lord Donghua and joined with him through the Dao. His twin topknots were like the sun and moon, and his robe of leaves belonged to heaven and earth. Flowers grew upon jade stems, and branches put forth shoots of lead. The distant, unhurried scenery of the Li River seems still as it was in those days.

Chunyangzi

Master Lü's surname was Lü, his given name Yan, his courtesy name Dongbin, and his sobriquet Chunyangzi (Master of Pure Yang). He came from Zhaoxian Village in Yongle Township, Puban County, Puzhou. He was born on the fourteenth day of the fourth month of a bingzi year during the Zhenyuan era of Emperor Dezong of the Tang. At twenty, Lü Yan passed the imperial examination as a jinshi, but before receiving an official post, he went sightseeing along the Li River in late spring. There Lü Yan met Zhengyangzi, an immortal of Daoist legend, and received the teachings of the Way of the immortals. Later Lü Yan lived in seclusion on Mount Lu, where cultivation brought attainment of the Dao (the Way). While wandering far and wide, Lü Yan often called himself the "Returning Daoist" (Hui Daoshi). Lü Yan's movements were now hidden and now manifest, and no one could guess where Lü Yan would be found.

One of Lü Yan's poems runs: "Seize the golden essence as the foundation of life; the sun's soul lies to the east, the moon's radiance to the west. Within, refine the medicine of long life; once taken, one stands equal with Heaven and Earth." The meaning is that the golden essence (jing, essence) serves as the root of life-cultivation, the vital energy (qi) of the sun and the finest radiance of the moon are brought into harmony, and within this union the medicine of long life is refined, so that whoever takes it endures as long as Heaven and Earth.

In an inn at Naguo, Lü Yan once handed a pillow to the scholar Lu; and at the home of the Shen family in the east neighborhood, Lü Yan once inscribed a poem on the wall using pomegranate rind. Accounts of miraculous manifestations and sacred traces are recorded in books and biographies in numbers too great to count. When people speak of immortals, they invariably revere Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin first, and in the places these two visited, later generations have often built Daoist temples. Lü Dongbin's collected poems and lyrics, titled Huncheng ji (Collection of Perfected Wholeness), are still in circulation. Today the Great Chunyang Palace of Longevity in Yongle Township is Lü Dongbin's former residence. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan conferred the title "Perfected Lord of Pure Yang, Manifester of Orthodoxy and Awakener of Transformation," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan added to it, naming Lü Dongbin "Imperial Lord of Pure Yang, Manifester of Orthodoxy, Awakener of Transformation, and Bestower of Protection."

The eulogy says: A single sword spans the sky, its spirit clear and bright; two sleeves of pure breeze drift free of the dusty world. The great Dao appeared amid urgent cultivation, and once the Golden Elixir was formed, it passed through nine transmutations. Lü Dongbin's footsteps reached as far as Cangwu and the Northern Sea, as if arriving directly in an immortal realm wreathed in white clouds. A single drop of water from the Gan River symbolizes how deep and unbroken the lineage of the Dao flows.

Haichanzi

Haichanzi's surname was Liu, his given name Cao, his courtesy name Zongcheng, and his sobriquet Haichanzi (Master of the Sea Toad). He was a native of Yanshan. At sixteen, he passed the Liao dynasty's civil examination in the highest rank, and he later rose to become chief minister. He loved to study the teachings of nature and life (xingming, the inquiry into the origin of life and the path of cultivation), but he had not yet fully grasped their subtle mysteries when a Daoist suddenly came to call. Haichanzi received the visitor with the courtesies due a guest and asked for a name.

Liu Cao, styled Zongcheng and known by the sobriquet Haichanzi ("Master Sea Toad"), was a native of Yanshan. At sixteen he passed the top-grade (jia) examination of the Liao dynasty, and he later rose to the post of chancellor. He was fond of studying the teachings of nature and life (xingming, the study of life and of the cultivation of the Dao), yet he had not grasped their profound principles.

One day a Daoist came to visit. Liu Cao received him courteously and asked his name, but the Daoist remained silent. He asked only for ten parrot eggs and a single gold coin. Placing the coin on the table, he stacked the ten eggs one on top of another upon it, and the eggs did not fall. Liu Cao exclaimed, "How perilous!" The Daoist replied, "Your own life is in peril, and more gravely so than this." Liu Cao then asked, "What would it mean to be free of danger?" The Daoist gathered up the eggs, threw the coin to the ground, laughed loudly, and left.

Liu Cao was awakened on the spot. That night he held a banquet and smashed all of his precious vessels. The next day he resigned as chancellor, put on Daoist robes, feigned wildness, sang and danced, and wandered far into the Qin plain. Later he met the same Daoist again, who transmitted to him the alchemical instructions (danjue, the formulas for practicing Neidan, or internal alchemy). Only then did he learn that the man was Zhengyangzi.

Liu Cao once wrote: "I cast off a household of three thousand, a burning house; I dismissed the gate guards of a hundred thousand families." This means that he left behind worldly life, as troublesome as a house on fire, and was no longer bound by power and lineage.

He also left a long song describing himself riding drunk on a white donkey, holding a copper-tailed implement upside down, with a green-eyed servant carrying a lean "single-hu" load. Forgetting worldly affairs, he dwells beside the well of Ge Hong. The poem says that without reading the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture, an important Daoist classic), how could one refine the dragon-and-tiger cauldron (the symbolic vessel used in alchemy)? Standing alone in the bustling marketplace, he declines the invitations of ordinary people; he wishes to hold his thunderclap lute and climb to the summit of Mount Kunlun. He says too that he would buy ten oxen and plow half a qing of land by the stream, growing millet and brewing wine, which would itself be the realm of the immortals. He would lie drunk in the shade of an ancient pine, linger at ease on a ridge of white clouds, and, when he wished to depart, walk straight into the depths of the autumn mist. The original text repeats some lines at this point; the above is a merged reading based on the poem's meaning.

Later, Liu Cao transmitted his teachings to Dong Ningyang and Zhang Ziyang, while he himself lived in seclusion in the Zhongnan and Taihua mountains, after which his whereabouts were unknown. His poems and writings have been handed down. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan dynasty conferred on him the title "Perfected Lord Haichan, Luminous Awakener and Propagator of the Dao," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan later added the title "Imperial Lord Haichan, Luminous Awakener, Propagator of the Dao, and Pure Protector."

The eulogy praises Wang Chongyang: he boldly resigned a distinguished post and firmly declined the office of chancellor; after meeting a remarkable man in the Qin plain, he withdrew to live in seclusion on Mount Zhongnan. His cultivation bore fruit, so that he could subdue tigers and dragons, and he left immortal wine to await Chongyang, who would come after.

Wang Chongyang's surname was Wang, his given name Jia, his courtesy name Zhiming, and his Daoist sobriquet Chongyang zi. He was a native of Daweicun in Xianyang. It is said that his mother carried him for twenty-four months before he was born, on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month of 1112, the second year of the Zhenghe era under Emperor Huizong of the Song. He was first named Zhongfu, with the courtesy name Yunqing; later he changed his name to Shixiong, with the courtesy name Dewei; after entering the Dao, he adopted the name by which he is now known.

He had a handsome beard, large eyes, and stood a little over six chi tall. He was bold in bearing, skilled in debate, and stronger than ordinary men. He was well versed in the classics and histories, and excelled at riding and archery. At that time the Central Plains were in turmoil and the Qin-Long region was unsettled, and he often cherished the ambition of rising above the dusty world to cultivate the Dao in seclusion. He therefore moved to Liujiang Village in Zhongnan County, built a dwelling and lived in retirement, no longer concerning himself with family affairs, free and unrestrained. He often said, "Five days ago it was Layman Pang; now it is Madman Wang." (The original line is suspected of corruption; it is reproduced here as it stands.)

On the fifteenth day of the sixth month of 1159, the fourth year of the Zhenglong era of the Jin, Wang Chongyang met two men in a tavern in Ganhe Town, Zhongnan County. Both had loose, unbound hair and wore felt garments, and they were similar in age and appearance. Wang Chongyang sensed that they were no ordinary men and at once bowed to them respectfully. The two said slowly, "This man can be taught." They then secretly transmitted to him the essential oral instructions of the Dao. Wang Chongyang composed a verse: "Only at forty-eight did I first meet them; once I received the oral instructions, results followed. A single grain of Golden Elixir (Jindan) grows ever more beautiful in color, glowing deep crimson upon Yuhua Peak." It is said that one of the men he met was Lü Chunyang (Lü Dongbin).

In the mid-autumn of the following year, Wang Chongyang met the two immortals again on the road to Liquan. He went forward to pay his respects, and the three drank together happily in a tavern. The tavern keeper asked where they were from and what their names were, and they replied, "We are from Pu, and we are twenty-two years old," without revealing their names. They then gave Wang Chongyang five secret essays and promptly vanished.

In 1161, the first year of the Dading era, Wang Chongyang dug a pit dwelling in Nanshi Village, Zhongnan County, and called it the "Tomb of the Living Dead." At each of the four corners of the tomb he planted a crabapple tree. When people asked why, he answered, "In the future I will unite the winds of teaching of the four seas into one family." In the autumn of the Guiwei year, he left the Tomb of the Living Dead and built a hermitage in Liujiang Village together with He Yuchan and Li Lingyang.

In the autumn of the Jiashen year, he met Liu Haichan again at Ganhe Town and entertained him with immortal wine. Wang Chongyang later wrote in a lyric: "Zhengyang is the ancestral master, Chunyang is my teacher, and the methods of practice are profound; there is also a true revered master, my uncle Haichan, and together we dwell in the Three Isles." From then on he no longer drank wine, only water, yet he often appeared intoxicated, and the fragrance of wine lingered on his breath. He wrote in a poem: "When sober, I do not drink the wine of the dusty world; having awakened to the Dao, I pass on only the cup from beyond the world. From now on white clouds follow me everywhere, and naturally every step feels like arriving at Penglai."

In the spring of the Yiyou year, he inscribed a poem on the wall of the Taiping Palace on Mount Zhongnan: "Mad, mad, the old ailment flares again; my lifespan will not exceed fifty-eight." At that time Shi Chuhou, Liu Tongwei, and Yan Chuchang successively became his disciples.

On the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month of the Dinghai year, he suddenly set fire to his own thatched hermitage. Onlookers rushed in alarm to put out the flames, but he danced and sang: "The thatched hut is burned, and the matter is settled; surely some benevolent person will rebuild it. Even if one is clear-headed and quick, sincere and fierce, how could one learn my carefree spirit?" Then he bade the crowd farewell, saying, "I am going east to find Qiu, Liu, and Tan, and then I will seek Ma." He thus passed eastward through the pass and arrived at Ninghai Prefecture.

There he spoke congenially with Ma Yifu, and built a house in the Ma family's south garden, which he named "Quanzhen (Complete Perfection)." He wrote a long song explaining the meaning of Quanzhen: the hall is called Quanzhen, and what is discussed there is stillness and untrammeled freedom; the practitioner need not rely on a thatched hut to shelter from wind and rain, nor on a tiled house to pass through cold and heat. The body is only a temporary lodging, but the way of cultivation and nourishment accompanies one always. When Qi and blood circulate fully and Jing and Shen are not dissipated, the lamp of wisdom illuminates body and mind, and the blessing of long life comes from this. The poem ends by saying that the fire within his own heart has already been extinguished, so even if bandits outside pile up firewood and set it ablaze, it does no harm. The name "Quanzhen" is said to have begun here.

In the ninth month, Qiu Changchun came from Mount Kunlun to become his disciple; Tan Changzhen, though ill, also came and became a disciple. In the tenth month, Wang Chongyang locked himself in the hermitage for one hundred days, and each day he used the method of "Dividing Pears and Ten Transformations" to enlighten Ma Yifu and his wife. This method works as follows: on the first day of the confinement, he gave Ma Yifu one pear to eat; thereafter, every six days, he gave six taros and six chestnuts. On the eleventh day, he divided a single pear into two pieces and had Ma Yifu and his wife eat it together. After that, he continued the cycle of giving taros and chestnuts every six days and pears every ten days; the number of taros and chestnuts remained the same, while the pears increased by one every ten days, so that after ten rounds the total reached fifty-five pears, corresponding to the numbers by which Heaven and Earth bring things into being. Each time he gave out food, he composed a poem to awaken and instruct them.

On the eleventh day of the first month of the following year, the Wuzi year, Wang Chongyang ended his seclusion. In the second month, Ma Yifu abandoned his household and entered the Dao; Wang Yuyang came from Mount Niuxian to pay his respects. At the end of the month, Wang Chongyang led his four disciples, Ma, Tan, Qiu, and Wang, on a journey to Mount Kunlun, where they stayed in Yanxia Cave. In the third month, Hao Guangning became his disciple in the cave. In the eighth month, Wang Chongyang and his disciples moved to Jiangshi Hermitage in Wendeng and founded the Society of the Seven Treasures.

In the spring of the ninth year, Wang Chongyang returned to Ninghai with his four disciples Ma, Tan, Qiu, and Hao. Zhou Botong built a thatched hermitage and invited him to live there, naming it the "Golden Lotus Hall." On the Dragon Boat Festival, Ma Yifu's wife, Lady Sun, came to the Golden Lotus Hall to leave the household life. In the eighth month, Wang Chongyang founded the Golden Lotus Society in the hall. Someone wished to paint his portrait, but his left and right eyes moved in different directions, and his features changed with age and with fullness or thinness of body, so his true likeness could never be captured.

In the ninth month, he went to Fushan County and founded the Society of the Three Radiances, then traveled to Dengzhou, where he climbed Penglai Pavilion with others to view a mirage over the sea. A great wind suddenly arose, and people saw Wang Chongyang blown into the sea; after a long time he emerged, yet his hat and clothing were entirely intact. The crowd found this extraordinary, and so they founded the Society of the Jade Flower. Later he arrived in Laizhou with his three disciples Ma, Tan, and Qiu, and Liu Changsheng abandoned his household to follow him in the cultivation of the Dao.

In the tenth month, Wang Chongyang went to Yexian and founded the Society of Equality. In the same month, he led his four disciples Ma, Tan, Liu, and Qiu on a journey to Bianliang, where they stayed at the Wang family inn. At the end of the year, he suddenly wrote a lyric bidding farewell to the dusty world, which ended: "This time I am leaving; one bright pearl is beyond price. The truly cultivated steadily pilot the boat of untrammeled freedom and reach the other shore."

On the fourth day of the first month of the following year, the Gengyin year, he called his four disciples to his side and said, "Now I am going to keep my appointment with my teacher." He then composed a verse: "Chongyang of Difei Mountain, others call me Madman Wang. I came after long ages, and I leave to go wherever east or west may lead. I keep company with clouds and water, and take emptiness for my neighbor. A single point of luminous true nature remains always, unlike that of other people." When he finished speaking, he rested his head on his arm and died. All wept in grief, but he suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, saying, "Why grieve? Have you who study the Dao still not awakened to this?" He then handed the five secret essays to Danyang, charging him to pass them on and urging the disciples to encourage one another. He also wrote lines saying that when everyone's hearts are joined as one, the marvelous Dao within the heart reaches through emptiness; whether east, west, south, or north, all is perfectly fused and transformed, and only then does one know that everywhere is interconnected. When he had finished writing, he truly passed away.

When Wang Chongyang was in Dengzhou, the prefect Hushilie Mingmiao treated him with the courtesy due to a teacher. At parting, the prefect asked when they might meet again, and Wang Chongyang replied, "In Nanjing." Later, when Wang Chongyang died, Hushilie Mingmiao happened to have been appointed Regent of Nanjing. Wang Chongyang also once pointed to a painted bridge outside the Wangxian Gate in Dengzhou and said to people, "When you see it in the future, do not tear it down." Twelve years later, the prefect He Bangyan, finding the bridge too high, had it demolished.

Before leaving through the pass, Wang Chongyang drew a portrait with his own hand: a Daoist with hair in three topknots, shown together with a pine tree and a crane. He gave the painting to Shi Fengxian, saying, "Keep it; when I later bring Ma here, use it as proof." Afterward, when Danyang entered the pass, Shi Fengxian checked the portrait against him and found it matched Wang Chongyang himself without the slightest difference. It is said that he left many other miraculous traces of this kind.

His writings include the Quanzhen Qianhou Ji, the Taoguang Ji, the Yunzhong Lu, and the Fenli Shihua Shuo. Today the Ganhe Yuxian Palace is the place where he met the felt-robed immortals; the Nanshi Chengdao Palace is the Tomb of the Living Dead; the Da Chongyang Wanshou Palace is the old hermitage at Liujiang Village; and the Bianliang Da Chaoyuan Wanshou Palace is the Wang family inn, which is also where he died. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan conferred on him the title "Perfected Lord Who Opened Transformation through Chongyang Quanzhen," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further bestowed the title "Imperial Lord Who Opened Transformation and Assisted the Ultimate through Chongyang Quanzhen."

The eulogy says: Gifted by nature, brilliant and heroic, he had few equals in the world. After meeting two men of the Dao, the five secret teachings were transmitted to him. The crabapple tree left behind four shadows, and the golden lotus bloomed with seven flowers; with water and clouds as his companions, he paid homage to Lord Donghua (Donghua Dijun, a revered Daoist deity).

Master Danyang

Master Danyang's surname was Ma and his given name was Yu (钅工, Gang). His courtesy name was Xuanshi, and his title was Danyang zi. His original name was Congyi, with the courtesy name Yifu, and he came from Ninghai Prefecture. He was born on the twentieth day of the fifth month in the first year of Tianhui under Emperor Taizong of the Jin dynasty (1123). He was the second of five brothers. The Ma family was wealthy enough that people called him "Ma, Master of Half the Prefecture." He married the daughter of Sun Zhongxian of Ninghai and had three sons.

In the intercalary seventh month of the seventh year of Dading (1167), Ma Danyang held a banquet at the Yilao Pavilion in the home of Fan Mingshu, a fellow townsman. When the wine was flowing freely, he wrote the line "a drunken man is supported." Suddenly Wang Chongyang appeared at the gathering, wearing a bamboo hat and a cloth robe, having braved the summer heat. Ma Danyang asked where he had come from, and Wang Chongyang replied, "I have come specially from Mount Zhongnan to support a drunken man." Sensing that this was no ordinary person, Ma Danyang offered him some melon. Wang Chongyang began eating from the stem end, and Ma Danyang, puzzled, asked why. Wang Chongyang said, "Sweetness comes from bitterness." Ma Danyang then asked his name, and Wang Chongyang answered, "Wang the Madman." Ma Danyang pressed him on what the Dao (the Way) was, and Wang Chongyang said, "It is the place the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — the five elements that make up all things) cannot reach, the time before one's parents had given birth to oneself." Ma Danyang gained some insight from this, and the two got on extremely well. He invited Wang Chongyang to live at his home and took him as his teacher.

Ma Danyang once dreamed of a place in the southern garden where cranes flew past, and he built a hermitage there for Wang Chongyang to live in. Wang Chongyang named the hermitage "Quanzhen" (Complete Perfection). On the first day of the tenth month, Wang Chongyang shut himself in the hermitage for a hundred days of practice. During this time, by day he instructed Ma Danyang through the "Ten Transformations of the Divided Pear," and by night he secretly transmitted the essential points of the Dao. On the eleventh day of the first month of the following year (1168), Wang Chongyang left the hermitage. On the eighth day of the second month, Ma Danyang entrusted all his household affairs to his three sons and left home to cultivate the Dao. Wang Chongyang gave him a new name.

In the tenth month of the ninth year of Dading (1169), Ma Danyang accompanied Wang Chongyang on a journey to Bianliang, where they stayed at an inn run by a family named Wang. On the fourth day of the first month of the following year, Wang Chongyang transmitted the five secret teachings to him and then passed away. Ma Danyang parted his hair into three topknots in memory of his teacher. Later, together with his three fellow disciples Tan, Liu, and Qiu, he buried Wang Chongyang's remains and restored the old hermitage, naming it "Zuting" (Ancestral Hall).

At the Mid-Autumn Festival of the fourteenth year of Dading (1174), Ma Danyang and his three fellow disciples stayed at the Zhenwu Temple in Qinduzhen. Under the moon that night, the four each spoke of their aspirations. At dawn the next day they went their separate ways: Changzhen and Changsheng set out for Luoyang, Changchun went into seclusion at Panxi, and Ma Danyang returned to the Ancestral Hall to practice in seclusion. On the first day of the eighth month in the eighteenth year of Dading (1178), he left his seclusion. In the first month of the following year, he traveled to Huating County, where Li Dacheng invited him to stay at his home and provided for his needs. On the fifteenth day of the second month, after a hundred days of seclusion at the Li residence, he emerged and revived a withered tree in the dead grove outside the hermitage. In the spring of the twentieth year of Dading, he arrived in Jingzhao, where Zhao Penglai donated his residence for use as a hermitage. Ma Danyang again practiced in seclusion for a hundred days and then returned to the Ancestral Hall.

In the fourth month of the twenty-second year of Dading (1182), Ma Danyang headed east back to Ninghai and passed through Jinan. Han Tao, courtesy name Qingfu, paid his respects and asked for instruction. Ma Danyang said: "In cultivating the Dao, clearly seeing one's original nature is the foundation, and nurturing life is the practice. Softness and yielding are the root, and clarity, stillness, and plain simplicity are the base. Naturally, within emptiness and stillness, desires are dissolved; within utmost quiet, the spirit is settled. Without even going out of one's door, one can grasp the profound Dao."

After returning to Ninghai Prefecture, he lived in the Golden Lotus Hall. In the hall there was a well whose water was salty and bitter and could not be drunk. After Ma Danyang performed an invocation with his arts, the well water turned into sweet spring water. He once composed a linked verse with another person, saying: "Flames burst forth from within water, congealing into the three elixirs; lotus flowers open within fire, and one's nature is made whole. Those who study the Dao should have no attachment to self; those who cultivate perfection should not be burdened by human sentiment." He left many similar verses.

In the twenty-fourth year of Dading (1184), the people of Wendeng asked him to preside over a jiao ritual (a Daoist rite in which an altar is set up to pray for blessings and make offerings to the gods). The crowd saw Wang Chongyang appear in the sky, seated on a white tortoise. At the end of the month, Ma Danyang visited the Hall of the Three Teachings north of the city, with his disciples all present. Suddenly Daoist Master Wang of Yongzhou arrived carrying a zither, and Ma Danyang took up his brush and wrote the "Song of Returning to the Mountains" to show to the assembly. The lyrics say: If one can practice non-action (Wuwei), there is nothing one cannot accomplish; if one can practice non-knowing, there is nothing one cannot understand. Having understood this Dao, who would be unwilling to practice it? Yet in practicing this Dao, who can truly know it? The years of the world press upon people, and even in old age they cling in infatuation; life is hard to understand, and the spirit is harmed by it, so it is better to return early to the green mountains. At night there is the bright moon, and at dawn it sets; when hungry, one dines on the glow of dawn clouds, and when thirsty, one drinks from mountain streams, cut off from the world and unknown to its people. With a mind attached to nothing and no rash action, one finally ascends to the celestial court, climbs to the immortals' palace, and roams in Ziwei (the Purple Tenuity, a Daoist celestial realm). The "Song of Returning to the Mountains" expresses his wish to return to the true and cultivate the Dao.

Afterward, he went to Laiyang and stayed at the Youxian Palace. The twenty-second day of the twelfth month was the immortal birthday of Wang Chongyang. After presiding over the jiao ritual, he talked with his disciples that night. At the second watch, a violent wind and rain suddenly arose, with thunder roaring. He said to his disciples: "I am now going to the Hall of the Immortals' Assembly. I am returning, to become a joyful immortal. If you wish to become immortals, you must work hard at cultivation and accumulate merit; even if you meet a thousand demonic obstacles and ten thousand hardships, you must never grow lax or retreat." Having said this, he sat upright and passed away. That same night, his shen (spirit) also went separately to the homes of Guo Fuzhong and Liu Xi, leaving a verse of praise at each. Only the next day did people learn that he had become an immortal.

He left six collections, titled Jinyu, Jianwu, Xinghua, Chengdao, Yuancheng, and Jingwei, as well as one volume of Recorded Sayings, all of which circulate in the world. The Youxian Palace in present-day Laiyang County is the place where he ascended to the ranks of the perfected (attained the Dao and became an immortal). Emperor Shizu of the Yuan posthumously honored him as "Perfected Person Danyang Baoyi Wuwei," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further conferred the title "Perfected Lord Danyang Baoyi Wuwei Puhua."

The eulogy says: He dreamed of an immortal crane and so grasped the opportunity of fate; even while eating melon he came to an awakening. After ten transformations, the true Dao entered his heart, and three topknots appeared above his head. A withered tree met spring and grew anew; well water turned into a sweet spring. Thunder rumbled and the wind stirred, and above the white clouds the blue heavens appeared.

Changzhenzi (Master Changzhen)

Changzhenzi's surname was Tan, his given name Chuduan, his courtesy name Tongzheng, and his sobriquet Changzhenzi (長真子). He was a native of Ninghai. He was first named Yu, with the courtesy name Boyu, and was born on the first day of the third month of the first year of Tianhui under Emperor Taizong of the Jin dynasty (1123). As a child he fell into a well yet sat upon the surface of the water without alarm; later, when he encountered fire, he was likewise unafraid, and everyone considered him extraordinary. At fifteen he resolved to devote himself to study and wrote the "Essay on the Grape" (Putao pian), which quickly became widely recited.

Once, after drinking to drunkenness, he walked along the road, was caught in the snow and chilled, and contracted a wind-numbness illness. In the autumn of the seventh year of Taiding (1167), he heard that Ma Yifu had taken Chongyang as his teacher. He left his wife and went to the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Hermitage to meet Wang Chongyang and ask to become his disciple. The night was bitterly cold, the stove fire was nearly out, and the cold was almost unbearable. Chongyang stretched out his feet and had him hold them for warmth. Before long, sweat poured from his whole body, as though he had been warmed through from the cold. The next morning, Chongyang had him wash his face with the water left over from his own hand and face washing, and the illness that had long afflicted him was cured at once, his complexion returning to normal. Tan Chuduan bowed and begged for a method of daily cultivation of the Dao. Chongyang transmitted to him a secret formula of four characters and also presented him with a poem of encouragement, which included the phrase "Dazhen Tan Yu" (Tan Yu, who attains the True), and changed his name to the one he bears now.

In the winter of the ninth year of Taiding, Chongyang set out for Bianjing, accompanied by Tan Chuduan and his three senior fellow disciples, Ma, Liu, and Qiu, and they stayed at the Wang family inn. In the first month of the following year, the gengyin year, on the fourth day, Chongyang passed away as an immortal. Tan Chuduan and the three senior fellow disciples carried out the burial rites, interred him at Liujiang, and kept a mourning vigil in a hut beside the grave for three years.

In the autumn of the fourteenth year of Taiding, Tan Chuduan went east through the pass and lived at the Chaoyuan Palace in Luoyang. Later he traveled through Heshuo and settled in a new hermitage at the Lord's Temple in Huojia County. One day he locked the hermitage gate and went to Weizhou. That evening, the temple official Wen Liu saw firelight inside the hermitage. He went in to look and, astonished to find Tan Chuduan sitting wrapped in flames, sent someone to the prefectural city to look for him. When they found him, Tan Chuduan was lying in an inn at the northern gate of the city, not yet risen. By the time he returned to the hermitage, the fire had burned itself out, though the embers had not yet gone cold.

In the fifteenth year of Taiding, he traveled to Erzu Town in Cizhou and met a drunkard. The man asked where he had come from, and before he could answer, struck him in the mouth with his fist, knocking out his teeth and drawing a stream of blood. Tan Chuduan's expression grew only more serene. He spat out his teeth, held them in his hand, and left singing and dancing. The townspeople who witnessed this were furious and wanted to report the matter to the authorities on his behalf, but he said only, "That man was drunk." At the time, the Perfected Danyang was in Guanzhong, and on hearing of it he praised him: "One punch wipes away the karma of a lifetime."

In the sixteenth year of Taiding, he arrived at Baijiatan in Shangluo Prefecture. A farmer had been ill for several months and could not be cured by any treatment. He dreamed that a Daoist gave him a red pill to take, and on waking his illness was gone. The next day he saw Tan Chuduan and exclaimed in amazement, "This is the Daoist who gave me medicine in my dream!" He wanted to thank Tan Chuduan, but Tan Chuduan paid him no heed.

In the twenty-first year of Taiding, he again traveled west and stayed at the Chunyang Cave on Mount Hua in Huayin, where he taught the assembly: "For six years I extinguished the fire of ignorance; for ten years I perfected the elixir that changes the bones. In the clear and tranquil empty hall there is no obstruction; I know now that I have leapt beyond the gate of life and death." This means that after long cultivation, the afflictions and attachments of the mind have been eliminated, body and mind have been transformed, and in the realm of clarity and stillness nothing remains to obstruct, so that one has realized the principle of transcending life and death. Later he traveled again to Luoyang, where he obtained a few mu of vacant land east of the Chaoyuan Palace and built a hermitage to live in.

On the first day of the fourth month of the yisi year, the twenty-fifth year of Taiding (1185), he had his disciples make burial arrangements in advance, and then wrote a lyric to the tune "Xing Xiang Zi," which includes the lines: "With the harmony of Heaven and Earth, a single clap of thunder; spiritual light bursts forth; ten thousand paths of radiance, the dragon meets the swift thunder. Shedding the shell once more, the subtle and hidden shoots forth; golden light pierces the crown of the head; a single nature takes flight, bound for the Jade Pool. To follow Danyang, and then to manifest; Changzhen's true and marvelous principle is Wuwei (non-action). The Yang Shen (yang spirit) surges forth, returning alone." The lyric uses images such as thunder, golden light, and the yang spirit to depict the attainment of cultivation and the spirit's departure. After he finished writing it, he passed away, and an unusual fragrance lingered in his room for several days.

He authored the Shuiyun ji (Water and Clouds Collection), which has been handed down. The present-day Qixia Temple in Ninghai was his former residence, while the Chaoyuan Palace south of Luoyang is the place where he ascended to the realm of the Perfected (attained the Dao and rose as an immortal). Emperor Shizu of the Yuan dynasty conferred on him the title "Perfected Changzhen Yunshui Dangde," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan later added the title "Divine Lord Changzhen Ningshen Xuanjing Yunde."

The eulogy poem says: Liu Chuxuan, though ill, went to seek a master, and in bitter cold and heavy snow he kept vigil through the night without sleep. When spring came, his feet were healed; at night he burned incense and cultivated the Dao, and by dawn he had reached Weizhou. Riding a phoenix and astride a crane, he leisurely departed for the immortal realm of Yingzhou.

Changshengzi (Master of Long Life)

Liu Chuxuan, whose courtesy name was Tongmiao and whose style name was Changshengzi, was a native of Wuguanzhuang in Donglai. He was born on the twelfth day of the seventh month in the seventh year of the Huangtong era under Emperor Xizong of the Jin (the dingmao year). He was known for his devotion to his mother, and he vowed never to marry or take office. Indifferent to worldly affairs, he wished several times to leave home and become a Daoist, but each time gave up the idea because his mother would not consent.

In the second month of the ninth year of the Dading era, he suddenly noticed two poems written on a neighbor's wall, at a height no one could reach. The ink was still fresh, yet no name was attached. The last line read: "Wuguan is a land where true immortals nurture their nature; surely there must be one here who will live forever and never die." Struck by the vigorous strokes of the calligraphy, Liu Chuxuan found it strange but could not understand its meaning. In the ninth month of that year, Wang Chongyang arrived in Donglai with three Daoist masters, Ma, Tan, and Qiu, and Liu Chuxuan went to welcome and pay his respects to them. Wang Chongyang turned and asked with a smile, "Do you know the story behind the writing on that wall?" Liu Chuxuan then sincerely begged to become his disciple. Seeing his remarkable bearing, Wang Chongyang sighed and said, "You are like a pine beneath the moon or bamboo in the snow, untouched by worldly dust." He then presented him with a poem and gave him the name he bears now. Liu Chuxuan was about twenty years old at the time, and afterward he accompanied Wang Chongyang on travels to Bianjing.

In the spring of the following year, Wang Chongyang died. Liu Chuxuan, together with the masters Ma, Tan, and Qiu, buried his body at Liujiang and built a hut beside the tomb, where they kept watch for three years. In the autumn of the jiawu year, Liu Chuxuan came to the capital and the Luoyang region, where his heart grew ever more cold and detached, he gradually lost interest in the mortal world, and his body became gaunt and withered. When others brought him food, he ate it; when people questioned him, he answered.

In the autumn of the eighteenth year of Dading, he moved to Yunxi Cave northeast of Luoyang. While his disciples were digging out a cave dwelling for him, they suddenly came upon a stone well, to everyone's astonishment. Liu Chuxuan said with a smile, "Dig a few more feet and you will find two more wells. This is where I practiced cultivation three lifetimes ago." They continued digging and, just as he had said, found two more wells.

In the autumn of the twenty-first year of Dading, he returned to Laizhou, and the following year a Daoist temple was built on the site of his old residence at Wuguanzhuang. In the second year of the Mingchang era, the imperial son-in-law Pusan, serving as garrison commander of Laizhou, believed slanderous talk and sent men to arrest Liu Chuxuan and imprison him. Soon afterward, townspeople saw him south of the city, conversing with fellow Daoists as usual. The yamen officer Zheng and Wang Shoushi also saw him with their own eyes and, assuming he had escaped, went to check the prison, only to find Liu Chuxuan sleeping peacefully. Terrified, the two reported what they had seen to Pusan. Only then did Pusan understand that Liu Chuxuan was a man of the Dao, and he immediately ordered him released.

In the second year of the Cheng'an era, Emperor Zhangzong, having heard of Liu Chuxuan's reputation, summoned him and asked about the highest principle. Liu Chuxuan answered, "The essence of the supreme Dao is to reduce desires and cravings, and then the body will be at peace; lighten taxes, and then the state will be stable." The emperor asked, "Are you speaking the words of Guangchengzi?" He then ordered a court attendant to arrange lodging for him at the Tianchang Temple. In the third month of the following year, Liu Chuxuan returned to the mountains by imperial command. The emperor bestowed gifts on him, which he firmly declined; the emperor then granted a plaque naming his former residence "Lingxu Temple" (Temple of Numinous Emptiness).

In the first month of the third year of the Taihe era, Liu Zhaoyi, the Regent of the Eastern Capital, and Liu Shilu, the military commissioner of Dinghai, came to pay their respects and ask about the Dao. Liu Chuxuan said, "You are both renowned ministers of our age, and I am grateful for your generous regard; but I am about to depart this world and am not fit to be your friend." He then composed a poem: "Just when one stands at the height of eminence, better to flick one's sleeves and return. Now I too must follow in the footsteps of the sages, turning my head back toward the realm of the subtle and silent." The meaning is that when one's life is at its most prominent moment, it is better to shake out one's sleeves and leave; now he too should follow the former worthies and turn back to the serene and profound realm of the Dao. Both men were deeply saddened on reading it.

On the sixth day of the second month, he beat a drum to gather the community, announced the date of his departure from this world, and said to his disciples, "Take good care of the work of the Dao, and do not grow slack." Then he lay down with his arm bent and passed away peacefully.

Liu Chuxuan wrote six collections, titled Xianle, Taixu, Panyang, Tongchen, Anxian, and Xiuzhen, as well as the Commentary on the Daodejing, the Elaboration of the Yinfu Jing, and the Account of the Huangting Jing, all of which circulated widely. Today the Changsheng Wanshou Palace in Luoyang is the Yunxi Three-Well Cave, and the Lingxu Temple at Wuguanzhuang is his former home, the place where he cultivated the Dao and attained perfection. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan posthumously honored him as "Perfected Man of Long Life, Aider of Transformation and Illustrious Virtue," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further elevated him to "Perfected Lord of Long Life, Aider of Transformation, Venerator of the Mysterious and Illustrious in Virtue."

The eulogy says: He was like green bamboo in the snow, like a pine beneath the moon, far above the dust of the world. Having awakened to the karmic bonds of three lifetimes, he also found two spring wells. Purple mist stretched across the grotto-heaven, and white clouds wound around the Celestial River. Emperor Daowu, majestic in bearing, respectfully invited Qianzhi to the seat before him.

The eulogy says: He was like green bamboo in the snow, like a pine beneath the moon, far above the dust of the world. Having awakened to the karmic bonds of three lifetimes, he also found two spring wells. Purple mist stretched across the grotto-heaven, and white clouds wound around the Celestial River. Emperor Daowu, majestic in bearing, respectfully invited Qianzhi to the seat before him.

Qiu Chuji, courtesy name Tongmi and sobriquet Changchunzi, was a native of Bindu in Qixia County, Dengzhou. He was born on the nineteenth day of the first month of the eighth year of the Huangtong era under Emperor Xizong of the Jin (1148). Intelligent from childhood, he could memorize over a thousand characters a day. Before he was twenty he began to study the Dao, living in seclusion on Mount Kunyu. In the seventh year of Dading (1167), he heard that Wang Chongyang was teaching the Dao, and in the ninth month he went to the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Hermitage in Ninghai to pay him respects. Wang Chongyang gave him a golden scale, accepted him as a disciple, and bestowed a Daoist name on him.

In the winter of the ninth year of Dading (1169), Qiu Chuji accompanied Wang Chongyang on a journey to Bianliang, where they lodged at the Wang family inn. On the fourth day of the first month of the following year, Wang Chongyang passed away. Qiu Chuji and his three senior fellow disciples, Ma, Tan, and Liu, carried the coffin and buried it in Liujiang Village, where they kept watch at the grave for two years. In the autumn of the jiawu year (1174), he entered Panxi and lived in a cave, begging for a single meal a day and wearing a straw rain cape, so that people called him the "Straw-Cape Master." He trained day and night and went without sleep for six years. Later he again lived in seclusion on Longmen Mountain in Longzhou, practicing as austerely as he had at Panxi, and seekers of the Dao from distant places all came to follow him.

In the second month of the twenty-eighth year of Dading (1188), Emperor Shizong of the Jin summoned him to court. Qiu Chuji answered fittingly, and the emperor gave him a headscarf and a ceremonial cap and arranged for him to stay at the Tianchang Temple. In the fifth month, the emperor received him on Changsong Island and asked about methods of prolonging life. Qiu Chuji replied: "To cherish Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) and preserve Shen (spirit) is the essence of cultivating the self; to be humble, keep to one's place, and follow what is natural is the root of governing the world. Arrogance and indulgence after attaining wealth and rank are common in human nature, so one should guard against them with care and diligence. If you can keep this up for a long time, you will not be far from the Way of the immortals. As for absurd and strange doctrines, I do not endorse them." The emperor praised his answer. In the seventh month, the emperor received him again in a side hall. Qiu Chuji expounded the principles, and the emperor was delighted. The next day, the emperor gave him peaches from the Shanglin Park. Qiu Chuji had not eaten tea or fruit for more than ten years, but this time he took one and tasted it, and at the emperor's command composed the lyric "The First Tier of the Jade Terrace." In the eighth month, he received an edict to return to his ancestral temple; the emperor sent him off with gifts, which he declined.

In the second year of Mingchang (1191), Qiu Chuji returned to Qixia and converted his old residence into a Daoist temple, which the emperor named "Taixu." In the spring of the seventh year of Taihe (1207), the Consort Yuan donated a set of Daoist scriptures, which was delivered by post-station to the Taixu Temple.

In the winter of the second year of Zhenyou (1214), warfare broke out in Shandong, and the military command asked Qiu Chuji to come forward and persuade the combatants to stop. Wherever he went, soldiers laid down their weapons and bowed to receive his counsel, and the Ninghai and Dengzhou region was pacified as a result. In the spring of the fourth year of Zhenyou (1216), Emperor Xuanzong of the Jin ordered Wang Tingyu, the military supervisor of Dongping, to summon him, but he did not go. In the third year of Xingding (1219), he was living at the Haotian Temple in Laizhou. At that time the Qi and Lu region had been taken by Song forces, and Emperor Ningzong of the Song ordered the commander Peng Yibin to summon him, but he did not go either.

That year, Genghis Khan, the Taizu emperor of the Yuan, was in the land of the Naiman and sent his attendant Liu Zhonglu with an edict inviting Qiu Chuji. In the twelfth month, Liu Zhonglu arrived at Laizhou, and Qiu Chuji accepted the summons with resolve. In the first month of the following year, he set out with eighteen disciples. He reached Yanjing in the second month and stayed at the Yuxu Temple; in the third month he submitted a memorial describing his situation; in the fourth month, as he passed through the Juyong Pass, he met a band of bandits, who all kowtowed to him and withdrew. In the tenth month he arrived at Wuchuan and presented his memorial. The envoy Hala, after returning, came again with an edict urging him onward.

In the spring of the xinsi year (1221), Qiu Chuji crossed the mountains and traveled north. In the seventh month he reached Mount Abuhan, where he left nine disciples, including Song Daoan, to establish the Qixia Temple, while he himself went on lightly equipped with Zhao Xujing and others. In the third month of the renwu year (1222), the emperor sent the Grand Preceptor Alixian to meet him, and also ordered Zhonglu and Zhenhai to escort him, and had the myriarch Boluzhi dispatch troops to protect him across the Iron Gate. In the fourth month he reached India and met the emperor at the southern foot of the Great Snow Mountains. The emperor had two tents set up before the imperial pavilion for him to live in, so that he could ask about the Dao at any time.

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month, the emperor had torches lit in the courtyard, rose himself, and invited Qiu Chuji to sit close by, asking about the way to govern. The Grand Preceptors Ahai and Alixian were attending nearby. Qiu Chuji replied that restraining desires is the essence of cultivating the self and caring for the people is the means to lasting peace in a state; he also spoke of the principle that the Way of Heaven cherishes life and abhors killing. The emperor was pleased and ordered his attendants to record it; the details appear in the Record of the Celebrated Meeting.

In the second month of the guiwei year (1223), Qiu Chuji took his leave to return home, and the emperor tried to keep him. In the third month he asked to leave again, and only then did the emperor consent. The rewards he received were very generous, but he declined them all, and then set off back with his disciples. The emperor ordered the Grand Preceptor Alixian to escort him eastward. After reaching the Qixia Temple at Mount Abuhan, he took the disciples who had stayed behind and returned together with them.

In the third month of the jiashen year (1224), Qiu Chuji arrived at the capital. The emperor sent Hala to convey his decree: "Now that the Divine Immortal Qiu has arrived in the Han lands, he may live in any of my cities he wishes." The events of the journey there and back are recorded in the Journey to the West. The provincial administration invited him to stay at the Tianchang Temple. Afterward, whenever envoys reached the emperor's field court, the emperor would always ask whether the Divine Immortal Qiu was well; on returning to the capital, the envoys would convey the emperor's greetings to the provincial administration. The emperor also granted him Qionghua Island for building a temple, and Qiu Chuji had it repaired.

In the spring of the yiyou year (1225), Qiu Chuji broke off a branch of pear blossom and gave it to the lay devotee Zhang Quhua, styled Xuanning, saying: "This is an auspicious sign that a son will be added to your family." Zhang Quhua put the blossoms in a vase and tended them, and by autumn they had borne twenty-four fruits; later he indeed had a son, named Mingcheng. At the Yanxiang Temple there was a withered locust tree; Qiu Chuji tapped it with his staff and said: "The withered locust will live again." Later the tree did indeed leaf out and flourish once more. In the ninth month, Yinghuo (the ancient name for Mars) drew near the Tail lunar mansion, and the pacification commissioner Wang Yi asked Qiu Chuji to perform a rite of averting calamity; that very night Yinghuo withdrew by several lodges. In the fifth month of the bingxu year (1226), a severe drought occurred, and the provincial administration asked him to pray for rain; heavy rain then fell for three days.

In the fifth month of the dinghai year (1227), the emperor issued an edict renaming Qionghua Island the Wan'an Palace and the Tianchang Temple the Changchun Palace, granted Qiu Chuji a golden tiger tally, put him in charge of Daoist affairs throughout the realm, and specially exempted the Daoist community from corvée and taxes. On the twenty-third day of the sixth month, thunder and rain raged, the south bank of the Taiye Pond collapsed, and the mountain at its northern mouth also caved in. Hearing of this, Qiu Chuji laughed and said: "The mountain collapses and the pond dries up; am I, too, to depart together with them?"

On the ninth day of the seventh month, Qiu Chuji gathered the people in the Baoxuan Hall and spoke about life and death. He also said: "In the teaching of cultivating the Dao, one must apply effort amid the turmoil of the world; to cultivate the heart, one must put down worldly affairs. Everyone should practice diligently and not let time pass in vain. The true Dharma is hard to encounter." At that time Yin Zhiping and Li Zhichang succeeded one after the other in taking charge of the order. Qiu Chuji then wrote a verse:

Life and death are the same from morning till night;

Human life is a fleeting bubble, arising and vanishing, coming and going, while the water flows on as ever.

When a faint light appears, one can pass beyond sun and moon;

When the mysterious realm unfolds, one can contain the seas and mountains.

In a single sweep, the four quarters of heaven and earth lie close at hand;

As breath circulates, the myriad things seem to rest within the mechanism.

Even wild words, once set down in writing, turn to dust and grime,

Left only for the world to hear and to guess at as it pleases.

After writing it, he returned to the Baoguang Hall and died sitting upright. He wrote collections such as Panxi and Ming Dao (Proclaiming the Dao), and the Journey to the West also circulates in the world. Today the Taixu Temple in Qixia County is his former residence, the Panxi Changchun Palace of the Attainment of the Dao is the place where he cultivated truth, and the Great Changchun Palace in the capital is where he attained the Dao and ascended. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan conferred on him the title "Perfected Person Who Expounds the Dao and Leads the Teaching, Changchun," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further honored him as "True Lord of Complete Virtue and Divine Transformation, Changchun, Clear in Response."

The eulogy says: Master Changchun (Changchun zhenren) had a lofty and imposing bearing. Clad in a straw rain cloak, he let mist and rain beat upon him; he crossed mountain streams, endured six years of bitter practice, and trekked ten thousand li across the snow mountains. Scriptures such as the Hongfan Dan Shu could serve as teachers to kings, while talismans such as the Jade Talisman and Golden Tiger (Fulu, talismans and registers) were used to propagate Daoism and bring clarity to the age.

Yuyangzi

Wang Chuyi, courtesy name Yuyang and sobriquet Jieyangzi, was a native of Dongmou in Ninghai. He was born on the eighteenth day of the third month in the second year of the Huangtong era of Emperor Xizong of the Jin (1142). His mother dreamed that rosy clouds (danxia) draped over her whole body, and afterward she gave birth to him. When Wang Chuyi was seven, he died without any illness, but soon revived, and from then on he had some insight into matters of life and death.

Once, while walking in the mountains, he met an old man sitting on a rock and conversed with him; he also heard a voice in the air that called itself the "Lord of the Xuanting Palace." After this he seemed to have attained some understanding, though those around him did not comprehend it. Later, wearing tattered clothes and barefoot, he sang and danced in the marketplace, and people thought he was ill. Some said he was not sick at all, and they forced a headscarf upon him and arranged a marriage for him, but he refused all of it.

In the second month of the wushen year of the Dading era (1168), he heard that Wang Chongyang had come to the prefecture, so he went to welcome and pay his respects to him and asked to become his disciple. Wang Chongyang gave him a Daoist name and took him to live in the Yanxia Cave on Kunyu Mountain. His mother, née Zhou, was also willing to leave the household life; Wang Chongyang gave her the name Deqing and the title Xuanjing Sanren.

That autumn, Wang Chuyi followed Wang Chongyang back to Wendeng and stayed at the Jiangshi Hermitage. In the spring of the following year, he took leave of his master and settled on Chashan. Wang Chongyang, together with his four disciples Ma, Tan, Qiu, and Hao, was returning from Wendeng to Ninghai. When they passed Longzhuo, they were still more than two hundred li from Chashan. The weather was hot, and the umbrella in Wang Chongyang's hand suddenly flew away, landing at Chashan before the midday meal. In the handle of the umbrella Wang Chuyi found a poem, which also contained the three characters "Jieyangzi," and he therefore took it as his sobriquet.

Afterward, he lived for nine years in the Yunguang Cave, resolved on cultivation and tireless in his austerities. Once he bent over a deep gorge and stood on a single foot with his legs apart, and for this people called him the "Iron-Footed Immortal." Later he traveled through the Qi and Lu regions, displaying all manner of marvels: saving people, driving out demons, crushing to pieces the stones used by thieves, projecting his spirit (Shen) into dreams, summoning rain, and shaking mountain peaks. He also cooked a chicken and brought down a crane, and revived a dying man, astonishing people for a thousand li around and turning them toward Daoism.

Emperor Shizong of the Jin heard of his reputation and in the twenty-seventh year of Dading (1187) summoned him to court to ask about nurturing life and governing the realm. Wang Chuyi replied, "Condense your essence and qi (Jing and Qi) to nourish the spirit (Shen); sit upright and rule through non-action (Wuwei)." His answer pleased the emperor, who arranged for him to reside at the Tianchang Temple.

After some time, someone who resented him invited him to a banquet and put poison in the wine. Wang Chuyi had first instructed his disciples to dig a pool and fill it with water to await his return. When he arrived at the banquet, he took up the cup and drained it, saying, "I am a poor man who often begs for food from others. Now that I have been invited by you, I am glad to finish the remaining wine and keep you company to your heart's content." He then drank up the wine that was poured for him again. After returning, he bathed in the pool, and all the water boiled; only his hair and beard fell out, so that he could no longer wear a cap. When the emperor heard of this, he sent men to investigate thoroughly and question repeatedly, but Wang Chuyi never denounced anyone, saying only, "I have never made enemies of anyone; surely I simply fell ill." When the envoys reported back, the emperor admired him all the more.

In the spring of the next year, the wushen year (1188), the emperor issued an edict to build the Xiuzhen Temple for him to live in. Wang Chuyi asked to return to the mountains to care for his mother, and the emperor consented; he left behind all the gifts bestowed on him and took nothing. That year the emperor fell ill, and in the twelfth month summoned him to the capital again. Wang Chuyi told the envoy, "I fear I will not be in time to see the emperor again." He reached the capital on the third day of the first month of the jiyou year (1189), and Emperor Shizong had already died two days earlier. The new emperor kept him to preside over a jiao ritual (an altar rite for invoking blessings, averting calamity, or delivering the dead) for the late emperor, and only afterward allowed him to return.

In the seventh month of the second year of Cheng'an (1197), Emperor Zhangzong of the Jin summoned him to a side hall. The exchange between sovereign and subject accorded with the emperor's wishes, and the emperor treated him with great generosity. The next day, the emperor issued an edict bestowing on him a golden crown and purple robe, conferring the title "Master of Embodied Mystery" (Tixuan Tianshi, Celestial Master), and arranging for him to live at the Chongfu Temple. In the summer of the wuwu year (1198), Wang Chuyi reported that his mother, Xuanjing Sanren, was ninety years old and asked to return to care for her. The emperor granted this and gave generous travel funds, and he went back east.

In the first year of Taihe (1201) and again in the third year (1203), he twice received an imperial summons to preside over jiao rituals at the Taiqing Palace in Bozhou, where he ordained more than a thousand Daoists. On the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of the same year, his mother, Xuanjing Sanren, passed away. In the spring of the seventh year of Taihe (1207), Wang Chuyi was living at the Yuxu Temple at Shengshui when the imperial consort sent someone to deliver a Daoist scripture (Jing). In the seventh month of the first year of Tai'an (1209), the Participant in Governance Boshuilu invited him to live at the Huayang Temple in Beijing. In the gengwu year (1210), he was living in Yutian County, Jizhou, and said to his disciples, "Do you hear a sound in the air like swords clashing? The fortunes of the north are about to be renewed, and some among the people will surely suffer calamity." That year the Mongol army indeed marched south.

In the fourth year of Zhenyou (1216), the people of Wendeng invited him to live at the Tianbao Temple. The following year, the dingchou year (1217), on the twenty-second day of the fourth month, he bathed and changed his robes, finished making obeisance to the above, below, and four directions, and passed away seated upright after leaving behind a verse. He authored the Yunguang Ji and the Xianyi Lu, which have been passed down. Today the Yuxu Temple at Shengshui in Ninghai is his former residence, and the Tianbao Temple in Wendeng is the place where he "ascended to the Real" (dengzhen, attaining the Dao and becoming an immortal).

Emperor Shizu of the Yuan enfeoffed him as "Perfected Master Yuyang, Embodied Mystery and Broad Deliverance," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further honored him as "Perfected Lord Yuyang, Embodied Mystery, Broad Compassion, and Universal Deliverance."

The eulogy says: Master Yuyang was truly extraordinary, and his miraculous deeds are all on record. He once sat upon a rock discussing profound principles, and he once rode a carriage through the sky; the Emperor's Seat star shone brightly, and the waters of the spring pool boiled and surged. Afterward, he was granted a golden crown, and bearing a sword and whisk, he returned eastward.

Guangningzi

Guangningzi (广宁子) was surnamed Hao, with the personal name Datong, the courtesy name Taigu, and the Daoist name Guangningzi. He was a native of Ninghai. He was born on the third day of the first month in the year Gengshen, the third year of the Tianjuan era under Emperor Xizong of the Jin dynasty. His family was wealthy, with property among the greatest in the entire prefecture; he served his mother with great filial devotion, yet in his heart he had long aspired to transcend the mundane world.

Hao Datong loved studying the Yijing (the Book of Changes) and was well versed in Yin-Yang and the arts of numerology. Admiring Ji Zhu and Junping, he lived in seclusion and made his living as a diviner. In autumn of the year Dingwei, the seventh year of the Dading era of the Jin, Wang Chongyang came to Ninghai and wandered through the marketplace. Noticing that Hao Datong's words and conduct were out of the ordinary, he sought a way to awaken him.

One day, Wang Chongyang came to the divination stall and sat down with his back to it. Hao Datong said, "Sir, please turn your head around." Wang Chongyang replied, "Why do you not turn your own head?" Hao Datong was startled at hearing this, sensing a deep meaning in the words. After Wang Chongyang left, he immediately closed his stall and went to the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) hermitage in the Ma family's southern garden to pay respects to Wang Chongyang and ask for instruction. Wang Chongyang gave him two ci poems, and upon hearing them Hao Datong was greatly enlightened and bowed down involuntarily. Because his mother was elderly, he did not leave home to become a monk at that time.

In the following year, Wuzi, Hao Datong's mother passed away. In the third month, he left home and entered the Yanxia Cave on Mount Kunyu, taking Wang Chongyang as his teacher. Wang Chongyang accepted him as a disciple, giving him the name Lin and the Daoist name Tianranzi. Wang Chongyang took off a garment with sleeves, cut the sleeves off, and handed it to him, saying, "Do not worry about having no sleeves; in time you will achieve accomplishment on your own." Hao Datong then went out begging for food, carrying a clay pot. Before long, he took leave of Wang Chongyang and went to live in seclusion at Mount Zha together with Yuyangzi.

Later, Yuyangzi felt that Hao Datong's practice was not diligent enough, and so sincerely exhorted and spurred him on. Hao Datong then traveled west to seek out the four senior masters. At that time, the four masters were living in a hut beside Wang Chongyang's tomb. After paying his respects, Hao Datong wished to stay and live with them, but Tan Changzhen spurred him on with the words, "Do not always follow in other people's footsteps." The next day, Hao Datong turned back toward the east. On the way, when he reached Mount Qi, he met a divine man who changed his name and Daoist name, which were the Hao Datong and Guangningzi he used thereafter.

In the year Guisi, the thirteenth year of the Dading era, he passed through the Daqing Pass and traveled through the regions of Zhao and Wei. In the fifteenth year, Yiwei, he sat beneath the Wozhou Bridge, neither speaking nor moving. Even when the river rose and flooded, he did not shift in the slightest; if someone offered food, he ate, and if no one did, he did not eat. Through bitter cold and scorching heat alike, he sat unchanged, and this continued for six years. When relatives and fellow villagers came to see him, he gave no response, and he accepted nothing that people gave him.

In the twenty-second year of Dading, Hao Datong came to Zhending, where he ascended the hall to lecture on the Dao, often before audiences of several hundred. Later, passing through Luancheng, he again met that divine man and received the secret essentials of the Great Changes. In autumn of the year Gengxu, the first year of the Mingchang era of the Jin, he returned to Ninghai. One day he suddenly asked for paper and brush and wrote swiftly, completing thirty-three Diagrams of the Changes, which he said revealed the profound principles of heaven, earth, humanity, and natural transformation, matters that earlier sages had never made clear.

Hao Datong once warned Hou Zizhen in Tianchang in advance to watch out for a fire; and in Enzhou, he entered Wang Zhenguo's dream by night and spoke of human regrets, anxieties, and fortune and misfortune, all of which later came to pass.

In the year Yisi, the first year of the Dading era of the Jin, he instructed his disciples to build a tomb and told them in advance the date of his departure. On the last day of the twelfth month in the year Renshen, the first year of the Chongqing era of the Jin, without any illness, he sat upright, left behind a verse, and passed away. His works, the Taigu ji (Collected Works of Taigu), the Xinjing jie (Commentary on the Heart Scripture), the Jiuku jing jie (Commentary on the Scripture of Salvation from Suffering), and the Shijiao zhiyan (Direct Words of Instruction), have been handed down. The Xiantian Temple in Ninghai is the place where he ascended as an immortal.

Emperor Shizu of the Yuan dynasty bestowed upon him the title "Perfected Taigu, Guangning, Master of Mysterious Penetration," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan later raised it to "Perfected Lord Taigu, Guangning, Master of Mysterious Penetration and Subtle Perfection."

The eulogy says: When the fortune-teller came to ask after her, she had long since turned her heart toward the Dao. She dwelt in a humble Daoist temple and wore plain robes, and whether she spoke or remained silent, she accorded with the Great Way. Clouds and mist enveloped her cavern dwelling, and flowing water encircled the stone bridge. She left behind a single scroll, the Diagram of the Changes, and in the thousand years since, few have truly understood her.

Immortal Maiden Sun, surnamed Sun and named Buer, with the sobriquet "Qingjing Sanren" (Free Spirit of Purity and Tranquility), was a native of Ninghai. She was born on the fifth day of the first month in the first year of the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of the Song (1119). Her father was named Zhongxian. Her mother once dreamed of six immortal cranes dancing in the courtyard, one of which flew into her bosom; upon waking she found herself with child, and thus Sun was born. She was intelligent by nature and strictly observed proper conduct. When she came of age, she married Ma Yifu of Tongzhou, who was Master Danyang, and they had three sons, named Tingzhen, Tingrui, and Tinggui.

In the intercalary seventh month of the seventh year of the Dading era of the Jin (1167), Wang Chongyang came to Ninghai and built the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Hermitage in the South Garden. On the first day of the tenth month, Wang entered a circular enclosure within the hermitage to practice; he emerged from it on the eleventh day of the first month of the following year. Sun and her husband thereby grasped the teaching of "dividing the pear and ten transformations." On the eighth day of the second month, Ma Yifu left home to pursue the Dao. At the Dragon Boat Festival in the ninth year of Dading (1169), Sun went to the Golden Lotus Hall, took Wang Chongyang as her teacher, and formally left the household life. Wang composed a poem for her, bestowed upon her the name "Sun Buer" and the sobriquet "Qingjing Sanren," and transmitted to her the essential secrets of cultivation.

That winter, Wang Chongyang traveled to Bianliang with his four disciples, Ma, Tan, Liu, and Qiu. In the spring of the following year, the company heard that Wang had passed away as an immortal, and they carried his remains back to Liujiang Village on Mount Zhongnan for burial. Sun remained at the Golden Lotus Hall, living in the very enclosure where Wang had once practiced.

In the summer of the fifteenth year of Dading, Sun traveled west through the pass to the ancestral court, where she performed a jiao (Daoist sacrificial rite). Soon afterward she left the pass again and journeyed to Luoyang, where she lived in the Cave of Immortal Maiden Feng and received many disciples. On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month in the twenty-second year of Dading (1182), she suddenly bathed, changed her clothes, put on her ceremonial cap, and asked her disciples what hour it was. They answered that it was already noon. She then took up her brush and wrote the lyric Busuanzi:

"Fists clenched, robe draped, I wait; / Water and fire mate again and again. / Ten thousand rays of rosy light arise from the sea floor; / One strike pierces the Three Passes. / Immortal music sounds without cease; / I drink always the mellow, fragrant wine. / The wondrous medicine comes all within a moment, / And the nine-times-transformed cinnabar is complete."

The imagery of this lyric belongs to Neidan (internal alchemy): "the mating of water and fire" refers to the harmonizing of Yin-Yang, the "Three Passes" are the critical junctures that must be opened in the course of cultivation, and the "nine-times-transformed cinnabar" symbolizes the completion of the inner elixir.

When she had finished writing, she said to her disciples, "I am about to depart now. All of you must guard and uphold the Way well." She then sat in the full lotus posture and passed away (died in seated meditation). At that moment Master Danyang was at the Qibao Hermitage in Wendeng. He suddenly rose, flicked his sleeves, and began to dance, singing the Zui Xian Ling. He said to his disciples, "Today there is a great joyous event." When the disciples asked what it was, he replied, "Immortal Maiden Sun has departed as an immortal today." In the spring of the following year, a messenger arrived and reported that Sun had indeed returned to the Truth (the Daoist term for the death of one who has attained the Way) in Luoyang on that very day.

Her poems and lyrics have been handed down. Emperor Shizu of the Yuan posthumously honored her as "Perfected Person Qingjing Yuanzhen Shunde," and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan further conferred upon her the title "Primal Sovereign Qingjing Yuanzhen Xuanxu Shunhua."

The eulogy says: Distant from the mundane and transcending the dusty world, he sought out profound principles and exhausted the subtlest mysteries. Like one striking an iron plate in search of the true Dao (the Way), he pursued the truth with unwavering devotion, and even amid remote, desolate hedgerows his spiritual radiance shone forth. His cultivation of the Nine-Cycle Elixir method (jiuhuan danfa) reached completion; after many years of quiet sitting in selfless forgetfulness, he at last set foot upon the immortal path back to Penglai, earning the admiration even of the Perfected Danyang.