《上阳子金丹大要列仙志》

Imperial Lord of Eastern Florescence (Donghua Dijun)

His surname was Wang. The age in which he lived and his original given name are unclear; some say he was named Xuanfu. He received the methods of the Dao (the Way) from Laozi, later withdrew into seclusion on Mount Kunlun, and then resided in the Purple Prefecture Grotto-Heaven of Mount Wutai, styling himself Lord of Lesser Yang (Shaoyang Jun). In Ningyang Cave on Mount Zhongnan he transmitted the methods to Zhongli Zhengyang. According to tradition, he was born on the fifteenth day of the sixth month and ascended to heaven on the sixteenth day of the tenth month.

Imperial Lord Zhengyang (Zhengyang Dijun)

His surname was Zhongli, his given name Quan, his courtesy name Yunfang, and his sobriquet Zhengyangzi. He was a native of Xianyang in Jingzhao. He served as a general in the Han dynasty. After a defeat in battle he entered Mount Zhongnan, where he met Lord of Lesser Yang and received transmission of the profound methods of the Dao. He later withdrew into seclusion on Mount Yangjiao in Jinzhou. When his cultivation was complete, the Celestial Emperor invested him as Perfected of the Left Palace of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate).

He bound his hair into two topknots, wore clothing made of oak leaves, and called himself “the Carefree Fellow of All Under Heaven.” Poems of his have come down to later ages. Later, at the Li River, he transmitted the methods to Chunyang. According to tradition, he was born on the fifteenth day of the fourth month and ascended to heaven on the eighteenth day of the fifth month.

In the text, “transmitting the supreme Dao” means the transmission of Daoist methods of the highest order; “ascent” is the expression used in Daoist biographies for the rising to heaven of one who has attained the Dao.

Lü Dongbin bore the surname Lü and the given name Yan; his courtesy name was Dongbin, and his sobriquet was Chunyangzi, Master of Pure Yang. His ancestral home was Zhaoxian Ward, Yongle Town, Manzhe County, in Henan Prefecture of the Western Capital—the place known today as Ban County of Puzhou. He was born in the fourteenth year of the Tianbao era of the Tang, a yiwei year, on the fourteenth day of the fourth month, at the si hour. Another account holds that he was born in the bingzi year of the Zhenyuan era under Emperor Dezong of the Tang.

His father once served as prefect of Haizhou, and the family therefore moved there. After passing the civil-service examinations, Lü Dongbin became magistrate of Dehua County in Jiangzhou. Later, while wandering on Mount Lu and traveling in the region of the Li River, he met the Perfected Person Zhengyang, an immortal venerated in Daoism, and received from him the transmission of the Dao (the Way). According to legend, Lü Dongbin is still alive today.

The Celestial Emperor issued an edict appointing him Investigation Commissioner of the Nine Heavens, a divine office in Daoist legend charged with inspecting the affairs of the celestial realm. He is said to have received the edict on the twentieth day of the fifth month. A line of his poetry reads, “Overseeing the registers of the immortals in heaven,” and people therefore fixed that day as the day of his ascension. The poems he left were compiled as the Huncheng ji (Collection of Undifferentiated Completion) and have circulated in the world. He transmitted the methods of the Dao to Haichan and Chongyang. Lü Dongbin was born on the fourteenth day of the fourth month and ascended on the twentieth day of the fifth month.

Imperial Lord Haichan bore the surname Liu and the given name Cao; his courtesy name was Zongcheng, and his sobriquet was Haichanzi. He later changed his name to Xuanying and was a native of Yanshan. He once served as an official of the Liao state and rose to the post of chancellor. After meeting Master Chunyang, Lü Dongbin, he resigned the chancellorship, feigned wild eccentricity, and traveled far to Qinzhou. Lü Dongbin transmitted to him the Way of the Elixir, the Daoist method of cultivating Neidan (internal alchemy). He wrote a poem that says, “I cast off the fiery courtyard of three thousand mouths, and dismissed the gate-guards of a million households.” Later, having succeeded in cultivating the Dao, he lived in seclusion around Mount Zhongnan and Mount Taihua. He transmitted the way of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) to Dong Ningyang and Zhang Ziyang. Imperial Lord Haichan was born on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month and ascended on the fifteenth day of the sixth month.

Imperial Lord Chongyang

Wang Zhongfu bore the given name Zhongfu and the courtesy name Yunqing. He later changed his name to Shixiong, with the courtesy name Dewei; after entering the Dao (the Way), he changed his name again to Zhe, with the courtesy name Zhiming and the sobriquet Chongyangzi. He was a native of Dawei Village in Xianyang and was born in the second year of the Zhenghe reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song.

On the twenty-second day of the twelfth month of the renchen year, he met Chunyang (Lü Dongbin) at Ganhe Town in Zhongnan County and received an oral formula. His line of verse, “Only at the age of forty-eight did I first encounter him,” refers to this meeting. The following year, the gengchen year, he met Chunyang again at Liquan and further received the Way of the Golden Elixir (Jindan). Thereafter he dug a pit in which to dwell and cultivate, calling the place the “Tomb of the Living Dead.” He also built a hut and sat in stillness together with He Yuchan and Li Lingyang.

At first, Shi Chuhou, Liu Tongwei, and Yan Chuchang in succession took him as their teacher and received the Dao. Later, Chongyangzi burned his hermitage, went east beyond the pass, and came to Ninghai Prefecture, where he transmitted the Way of the Golden Elixir to Danyang. He afterward transmitted it as well to Qiu Changchun, Tan Changzhen, Sun Bu’er, Wang Yuyang, Liu Changsheng, and Hao Taigu. He entrusted entirely to these seven the five secret texts that Chunyang had transmitted to him. His writings—the Quanzhen Qianhou Ji (Former and Latter Collections of Complete Perfection), the Taoguang Ji (Collection of Concealed Radiance), the Yunzhong Ji (Collection Amid the Clouds), the Fenli Shihua Shuo (Discourse on Dividing a Pear in Ten Transformations), and others—have been handed down in the world. The original text records that he “ascended” (a Daoist expression meaning to attain the Dao and depart as an immortal) on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month and on the fourth day of the first month.

Perfected Lord Danyang

Perfected Lord Danyang was surnamed Ma, with the given name Yu, the courtesy name Xuanbao, and the sobriquet Danyang.

In the original text, the passage “on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month … ascended” appears more than once and is mixed together with the entry for Perfected Lord Danyang; the account above has been arranged according to what can be distinguished. The sexagenary years recorded in the original are also inconsistent, and so the original statements have been retained.

Ma Yu bore the surname Ma and the given name Yu; his courtesy name was Xuanbao, and his sobriquet was Danyangzi. His original name was Congyi, with the courtesy name Yifu. He was a native of Ninghai Prefecture. He was born on the twentieth day of the fifth month in the guimao year, the first year of the Tianhui reign of Emperor Taizong of the Jin, which is the same as the fifth year of the Xuanhe reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song.

The Ma family was wealthy, and local people called him “Ma Banzhou” (“Ma of Half the Prefecture”). He married a woman of the Sun clan and had three sons, named Tingzhen, Tingrui, and Tinggui.

In the dinghai year, the seventh year of the Dading reign, Wang Chongyang came to Ninghai. On one occasion Ma Yu began eating a melon from the stem. Wang Chongyang found this strange and asked him the reason. Wang Chongyang said, “Fragrance is born from foulness and filth; sweetness comes from bitterness and astringency.” Ma Yu then asked, “What is the Dao (the Way)?” Wang Chongyang answered, “The Dao exists where the Five Phases (Wuxing: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) cannot reach, and also before our parents have given birth to us.”

Ma Yu thereupon asked to return home and take Wang Chongyang as his teacher. In the wuzi year he entrusted the affairs of the household to his three sons and left home to cultivate. Wang Chongyang transmitted to him the five chapters of the Secret Essentials of the Pure Yang Golden Elixir (Jindan) that he himself had obtained, and personally taught him the essentials of practice by word of mouth. Ma Yu shaved his head and cultivated, and later attained the Dao. He once divided pears in order to convert and deliver people, and for this reason underwent many hardships.

At that time those who followed him in seeking the Dao included Li Dacheng, Zhao Penglai, Han Qingfu, and others. Only Song Piyun grasped the essentials of the Way of the Golden Elixir transmitted by Ma Yu, and therefore attained the Dao before the others. Ma Yu wrote the Gold and Jade Collection, the Gradual Awakening Collection, the Collection of Travels and Transformations, the Collection on Attaining the Dao, the Perfect Completion Collection, the Subtle and Profound Collection, and other books, as well as recorded sayings. All these works circulate in the world. Among the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection), many had received his instruction. He was born on the twentieth day of the fifth month, and on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month he “ascended” (the Daoist expression for an immortal’s ascent to heaven).

Perfected Lord Changzhen

Tan Chuduan, courtesy name Tongzheng and sobriquet Changzhenzi (Master of Enduring Perfection), was a native of Ninghai Prefecture. He was originally named Yu, with the courtesy name Boyu, and was born on the first day of the third month in the first year of Emperor Taizong of the Jin (the guimao year). In middle age he contracted wind-bi disease (an illness of the sort that numbs the limbs and makes movement difficult) and took Chongyang as his teacher. Every morning Chongyang had him wash his face with the water left over after Chongyang himself had washed. After a long time his illness was cured, and Chongyang formally transmitted to him the methods of the Dao (the Way).

Because the karmic obstructions Tan Chuduan had accumulated in the past were comparatively heavy, he was once beaten by a drunken man until his teeth broke and blood streamed down, yet his master paid the matter no attention. When Danyang heard of it, he said, “That single blow has exhausted the karmic obstructions of many lifetimes.” Later Tan Chuduan succeeded in cultivating the Dao. The closing line of one of his poems reads, “The Yang Spirit (Shen) wells forth and returns alone.” As soon as he had finished writing, he passed away, and a strange fragrance lingered in the room for several days without dispersing. His Shuiyun ji (Collected Works of Water and Clouds) circulated in the world. Born on the first day of the third month, he ascended as an immortal on the first day of the fourth month.

Perfected Lord of Eternal Life (Changsheng Zhenjun)

Liu Chuxuan, courtesy name Tongmiao and sobriquet Changshengzi (Master of Eternal Life), 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 of Emperor Xizong of the Jin (the dingmao year), that is, the seventeenth year of the Shaoxing era of Emperor Gaozong of the Song. In the ninth year of the Dading era of the Jin, that is, the fifth year of the Qiandao era of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song, he took Chongyang as his teacher.

After Liu Chuxuan had succeeded in cultivating the Dao, on the sixth day of the second month of the guihai year of Emperor Ningzong of the Song (the third year of the Jiatai era), he beat a drum to summon everyone, then died reclining on his side with his arm bent. He left six collected works: Xianle (Immortal Music), Taixu (the Great Void), Panyang (Coiled Yang), Tongchen (Sharing the Dust), Anxian (Peace and Leisure), and Xiuzhen (Cultivating Perfection), together with a Commentary on the Daode jing (Daode zhu), an Elaboration of the Yinfu jing (Yinfu yan), an Exposition of the Huangting jing (Huangting shu), and other writings. Born on the twelfth day of the seventh month, he ascended as an immortal on the sixth day of the second month.

Perfected Lord of Eternal Spring (Changchun Zhenjun)

Qiu Chuji (Daoist name Changchunzi), courtesy name Tongmi, was a native of Bindu in Qixia County, Dengzhou. He was born on the nineteenth day of the first month of the wuchen year, the eighth year of the Huangtong era of Emperor Xizong of Jin (1148 CE). At the age of twenty he took Wang Chongyang as his teacher. At twenty-seven he went to Panxi and lived and cultivated in a cave; at thirty-three he moved to Longmen Mountain in Longzhou and practiced the same austerities as at Panxi. After his cultivation bore fruit, at forty-two he answered a summons from Emperor Shizong of Jin and entered the palace. At sixty-two he left Qi-Lu and entered Song territory; Emperor Ningzong of the Song invited him, but he did not go. At sixty-five Genghis Khan summoned him; the questions and answers of that meeting are recorded in the Qinghui lu. Qiu Chuji performed for the Yuan rites of prayer to avert calamities and anomalies and to pray for rain and relieve drought, and was therefore regarded as a meritorious official of the Yuan. He wrote two literary collections, the Panxi ji and the Mingdao ji, and a Xiyou ji also circulated in the world. On the ninth day of the seventh month of the dinghai year, he ascended the hall to take leave of the assembly, left a verse on life and death, and then sat upright and passed away. The nineteenth day of the first month is his birthday, and the ninth day of the seventh month is the day of his ascent and transformation.

Yuyang Zhenjun (True Lord Yuyang)

Wang Chuyi (Daoist names Yuyangzi and Sanyangzi) was a native of Dongmou in Ninghai. He was born on the eighteenth day of the third month of the renxu year, the second year of the Huangtong era of the Jin (1142 CE). He took Wang Chongyang as his teacher to study the Dao (the Way), lived in Yunguang Cave, and cultivated with firm resolve and great austerity. After attaining the Dao, he became famous for all manner of miraculous deeds: it is said that he could deliver and transform people and drive off ghosts and demons, strike down thieves and shatter stones, send forth his spirit (Shen) to enter dreams, summon rain and shake the peaks, cook a chicken and bring a crane down, restore the dead to life, and revive what had withered and decayed. When Emperor Shizong of Jin heard of his reputation he summoned him, and their conversation was thoroughly congenial. Someone who resented him poisoned him; according to legend, after he returned into the water, even when the water dried up he did not die. He wrote the Yunguang ji and the Xianyi lu, which circulated in the world. The eighteenth day of the third month is his birthday, and the twenty-second day of the fourth month is the day of his ascent and transformation.

Guangning Zhenjun (True Lord Guangning)

Hao Datong, courtesy name Taigu, Daoist name Guangningzi, was a native of Ninghai. At this point the original text continues the wording of the previous passage about Wang Chuyi’s writings and the dates of his birth and death, and only afterward lists Hao Datong’s name, courtesy name, sobriquet, and native place; Hao Datong’s life is not recorded in the passage given.

True Lord Guangning (Guangning Zhenjun), surnamed Hao, with the given name Datong, the courtesy name Taigu, and the Daoist name Guangningzi, was a native of Ninghai. He was born on the third day of the first lunar month in the third year of the Tianchun era of Emperor Xizong of the Jin dynasty (the gengshen year), into a family of great wealth.

He took Wang Chongyang as his teacher. At first his name was Hao Lin and his Daoist name was Tianranzi. Although he had already entered the Dao (the Way), his cultivation was not sufficiently assiduous, and Changzhenzi and Yuyangzi exhorted and encouraged him. When he reached Mount Qi, he met a divine being and received the oral formula for cultivating the Golden Elixir (Jindan); the divine being also changed his name and Daoist title to those he bears today. Later he traveled and cultivated in the regions of Zhao and Wei. When his merit and practice were complete, he left a verse of praise and then passed away.

His works circulating in the world include the Taigu Collection (Taigu ji), the Heart Scripture (Xinjing), the Scripture for Relieving Suffering (Jiuku jing), An Explanation of the Diagrams of the Great Changes (Jie Dayi tu), and Straightforward Words of Instruction (Shijiao zhiyan). He was born on the third day of the first month and, according to tradition, ascended as an immortal on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month.

Primordial Lady of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing Yuanjun), surnamed Sun, with the given name Bu’er and the Daoist name Qingjing Sanren, was a native of Ninghai. She was born on the fifth day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty (the jihai year). Her father, Sun Zhongxian, married her to Ma Yifu, a man of the prefecture, and she later bore three sons.

Wang Chongyang awakened Ma Yifu and his wife through the method of “dividing a pear in ten transformations” (fenli shihua), setting them on the path of cultivating the Dao. Sun Bu’er left home to study the Dao and cultivated in Fengxian Cave in Luoyang. Husband and wife often encouraged one another, and in the end both attained the fruit of the Dao. Her poems and lyrics have been transmitted in the world. She was born on the fifth day of the first month and, according to tradition, ascended as an immortal on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month.

Lord Huangfang (Huangfang Gong)

Song Youdao, courtesy name Defang, sobriquet Huangfang Gong, was a native of Mianyang Prefecture. He practiced various methods of the Dao (the Way). When there were no clouds, he could summon clouds with a talisman; when there were clouds, he could part the cloud layers and see the Northern Dipper. People therefore called him the Realized Person Who Parts the Clouds (Piyun Zhenren). Later he met Danyang and received the secret of fire-phasing in the cultivation of the Golden Elixir (Jindan). After two years of practice, he was said to be able to manifest a second body and to live a long life without death.

Thereafter he traveled to the Eastern Sea. At that time Emperor Taizu of the Yuan, Genghis Khan, summoned Qiu Chuji, the Realized Person of Eternal Spring (Changchun Zhenren). Huangfang Gong and eighteen others accompanied him to assist, with Huangfang Gong at their head. Emperor Shizu bestowed on him the title “Realized Person Who Parts the Clouds, Penetrating the Mystery and Spreading the Teaching” (Tongxuan Hongjiao Piyun Zhenren), and Emperor Wuzong further conferred the title “Great Realized Person of Mysterious Penetration of the Ultimate Dao, Exalting Culture and Illuminating Transformation” (Xuantong Zhidao Chongwen Minghua Da Zhenren). Later he transmitted his methods of the Dao to Li, the Realized Person of the Great Void (Taixu Zhenren), and afterward nothing more was known of him. Another account holds that he passed away in seated meditation at the Palace of Eternal Spring (Changchun Gong) in the region of Yan.

The Realized Person of the Great Void

The Realized Person of the Great Void was surnamed Li, given name Jue, courtesy name Shuangyu, and was a native of Chongqing Prefecture in Sichuan. After receiving the Way of the Golden Elixir from Huangfang Gong, he changed his name to Qizhen and his sobriquet to Taixu, and went to Mount Wuyi in Shaowu to live in retirement and cultivate the Golden Elixir.

When seven months had passed and his cultivation was nearing completion, he set out to return. On the way he passed Dragon-Tiger Mountain (Longhu Shan). The previous night, someone at the rain-prayer altar had dreamed that a realized person was about to arrive. A long drought had continued, and prayers for rain had met with no answer. The next day the Taixu Zhenren did indeed arrive, yet none of those present recognized him. Only the one who had dreamed, seeing an impoverished Daoist approach, said, “This is the man.” The people asked him to pray for rain. Clouds and mist immediately descended, and a sweet rain fell all around.

Afterward the Taixu Zhenren came to the Jade Void Hermitage (Yuxu An) in Zhenzhou, laid out a garden, and lived there, cultivating in quiet sitting. Later he went out to wander. He transmitted the methods of the Dao to Zhang Ziqiong and instructed him: “The Way of the Golden Elixir should be cultivated with a concentrated mind, while the Great Dao should be transmitted to others.” Some later said that he went to Mount Qingcheng; after that, nothing more was known of him. He was born on the tenth day of the first lunar month and attained the Dao on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.

The Realized Person of Purple Jade

The Realized Person of Purple Jade (Ziqiong Zhenren) was surnamed Zhang, given name Mo, courtesy name Junfan, and was a native of Dexing in Raozhou. Later he heard of the Great Dao and went to Mount Qingcheng; after that, nothing more was known of him. He was born on the tenth day of the first lunar month and attained the Dao on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.

Zhang Mo, courtesy name Junfan, was a native of Dexing in Raozhou. Later, upon hearing of the methods of the Dao (the Way), he changed his name to Daoxin.

At first, Taixu Zhenren, the Perfected One of Great Vacuity (a Daoist title for a perfected being), happened to be staying at Xichun Palace in Anren. Ziqiong sought from him instruction in the Way of the Golden Elixir (Jindan, the Daoist method of Neidan, or internal alchemy), but Taixu Zhenren did not consent. Later, when Taixu Zhenren went to the marketplace and saw Ziqiong give thirty copper coins in alms to a beggar, he said, “Now the teaching may be given.” He thereupon transmitted the Way of the Golden Elixir to Ziqiong. The following year the two met again in Zhenzhou, and only then did Ziqiong master the fire-timing in full—the command of timing and process in Neidan cultivation. After Ziqiong had grasped the essential instructions, he later transmitted the most profound methods of the Dao to Master Zhao Yuandu, and then withdrew into seclusion. He was born on the second day of the tenth month and attained the Dao on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month.

Yuandu Zhenren

Yuandu Zhenren, the Perfected One Yuandu, was surnamed Zhao, with the given name Youqin and the courtesy name Yuandu, and was a native of Rao Prefecture. A scion of the Zhao clan, he met in childhood with the calamity of warfare and fire, and from an early age longed for a life in the mountains and forests. Exceptionally intelligent, he was thoroughly versed in astronomy, the coordinates of heaven and earth, geography, and the mantic and numerical arts. Later, having received from Ziqiong the Great Way of the Golden Elixir, he widely gathered books, classics (Jing), and commentaries, and composed a work setting forth the unity of the Three Teachings, entitled Immortals and Buddhas Share One Source (Xianfo Tongyuan). He also wrote Difficult Questions on the Golden Elixir (Jindan Nanwen) and other books, which have circulated in the world. In the autumn of the jisi year, while staying in Hengyang, he transmitted the wondrous Way of the Golden Elixir in its entirety to Shangyangzi. He was born on the eighteenth day of the sixth month.