《玄天上帝启圣录》Vol. 3

The faithful’s prayers have now at last been answered. This confirms that the miraculous responses experienced by those who worship Zhenwu, a revered Daoist deity also known as the Great Emperor Zhenwu, are beyond comprehension.

Lu Fu Is Falsely Accused

Pei Zongyuan, a Chaofeng Lang, a Vice Director in the Ministry of Personnel’s Department of Merit, and concurrently a Judicial Commissioner for Guangdong, was passing Mount Hualan in Shaozhou when he suddenly fell ill with a strange affliction. He could not sleep at night, and his speech became confused and incoherent. He tried to treat the illness with medicine, but its cause could not be determined.

An official said, “I have heard that the Judicial Commissioner has arrived at Mount Hualan. They say the mountain is home to many spirits of people who died unjustly and whose souls remain here. They are all under the charge of the Five Judges at Iron Wind Grotto. There is a man here named Dugu Li who serves the gods and is skilled in magical healing. Why not summon him?”

As soon as Dugu Li entered the second gate of the Judicial Commissioner’s office, he said, “I see an official in a green robe, burdened by injustice, standing guard over Commissioner Pei and seeking his life.” The officials present asked him, “What sort of spirit is this?” Dugu Li explained, “I was once a scholar. Yesterday I met the Perfected Lord Zhenwu. Seeing that I was poor and lowly, and that my heart was devoted to the Dao and my filial piety and righteousness were unimpaired, he took the form of a Daoist medicine seller. He treated my eyes with medicine and gave me a written talisman for warding off and restraining evil. Since then, the medicines I use to heal people have worked with remarkable efficacy.”

Dugu Li set out an incense altar, offering fresh flowers appropriate to the season, pure water, and incense. Following the altar liturgy, he established the ritual space and performed the rites. On a piece of yellow silk twelve feet long, he wrote Shangqing talismans in cinnabar. Facing north, he burned incense and prayed, then burned the talisman. He arranged swords and hung ritual implements and talismans, including the Five Directional Talisman Officers and the ritual sash of the Six Ding spirits who attend the altar. He lit forty-nine lamps, recited incantations, sprinkled the space with willow-branch water to purify it, and invoked Zhenwu to descend. He then ordered the talisman officers attending the altar to carry a memorial up to Heaven. When the rite was over, he told Pei Zongyuan’s family not to be alarmed if Zhenwu descended.

At the third report, Zhenwu suddenly descended. A woman, possessed by a spirit, came before the altar of Zhenwu and spoke on the spirit’s behalf: “I am Lu Fu, a judicial officer in Dizhou. Pei Zongyuan once served as an assistant prefecture governor there and had a dispute with my father, Lu, a junior minister. One of his subordinates, Fu, sought revenge and plotted to frame me. On the day of a state mourning observance, I made a mistake in administering medicine and was imprisoned. I was questioned unjustly and forced to confess to the crime of disloyalty. After enduring every humiliation, I died with my grievance unresolved. My allotted lifespan was not yet over. I should have been sent to Mount Hualan and confined at Iron Wind Grotto, but I had no way to appeal my case. Later, when Pei Zongyuan came to this mountain, I encountered him and have clung to him ever since. But Pei Zongyuan’s official fortune and lifespan are at their height, so I have not yet been able to kill him.”

Zhenwu descended upon Pei’s residence and drove out the evil forces. Taking pity on Lu Fu, who had died unjustly, he did not send him back to Iron Wind Grotto. Instead, he cleansed and comforted his soul with ritual water. Zhenwu then directed Lu Fu to face east and pay homage to his teacher, the Celestial Worthy of the Mysterious Origin of the Golden Palace, the Most High Lord Lao. Once the rite was complete, Lu Fu would be reborn as a boy into a wealthy family and would receive an official post. Zhenwu also sent talisman officers with a divine edict to Iron Wind Grotto at Mount Hualan, to compare records with the local custodians and strike Lu Fu’s name from the register of those who had died unjustly. From then on, no wronged spirit would come to trouble Pei.

The possessed woman immediately regained consciousness, and Pei Zongyuan recovered at once. He took gold, silver, and other valuables from his home and held a seven-day and seven-night Zhaijiao rite of repentance and thanksgiving at Guangzhou’s Tianqing Temple. He provided for the Daoist priests and thanked Dugu Li. Later, the court received a report of the matter and issued an order appointing Dugu Li as an assistant instructor in the prefecture. From then on, Pei Zongyuan worshipped Zhenwu throughout his life, keeping the incense burning without interruption.

Wang Hu Falls into a Trap

Qian Tingnian, an Attendant Gentleman of the Court, a Director in the Ministry of War, Governor of Di Prefecture, and General Superintendent of Troops and Horses, submitted a memorial saying: Yao Zi, Assistant Prefect of Di Prefecture, had been on long-term leave and would sometimes suddenly go mad. Whenever he argued with someone, blood would run from his nose and mouth, and he would be unable to sleep day or night. Once his condition subsided, people would ask him what had happened, but he remembered nothing. He would only say that he seemed to have been bound in the wilderness, where someone was trying to take his life. This had gone on for three years, and medical treatment had brought no improvement.

Later, Transport Commissioner Chen Yuan mentioned Song Zhichai, a Daoist at the Five Sacred Peaks Monastery in the Eastern Capital, who was skilled at treating illness with talismans and enchanted water. Song Zhichai held the post of Recorder of the Right Street, an official responsible for Daoist affairs, and was often summoned into the palace, so he could not leave at will. Qian Tingnian therefore reported Yao Zi’s condition to the court. The court granted permission for Song Zhichai to visit Yao Zi’s home.

Song Zhichai had an incense altar set up in the residence, burned talismanic documents, and performed rites using talismans and incantations. He sent a ritual clerk—a divine official who conveys documents and carries out assignments in Daoist ceremonies—to deliver a message through the Gate of Heaven and report to Zhenwu, the Daoist deity revered as the guardian of the north, requesting that he descend to the place of prayer. Song then brought in an image of Zhenwu and arranged ritual water and other ceremonial objects as offerings. It was the fifth day of the fifth month. Everyone burned incense and waited for Zhenwu to descend, while a clerk stood ready with paper and brush to record the words spoken by the possessing spirit.

Around the hour of the Rooster, between five and seven in the evening, Yao Zi rushed out of his bedroom with his hair loose, shouted, and ran to the incense altar, where he knelt and declared:

“I was once Wang Hu, registrar of Tongcheng County in Shu Prefecture. In the early years of the Qingli era, when Yao Zi was magistrate of Taihu County, I was ordered to accompany him to the Dayun granary to inspect the tribute rice and wheat. Yao Zi accepted gold and silver from the official in charge of the granary and colluded with him to falsify the figures, underreporting the wheat owed by eighty dan. At the time I knew nothing of this. I signed the accounts according to what I had actually seen and reported the matter to the prefecture and the Transport Office.

“Later, when Yao Zi learned that the matter had come to light, he sent someone from Taihu to deliver a letter to me, along with six black lacquer boxes containing iron objects and gifts of gold and silver. When I asked the messenger for the letter, he said that a storm had struck while he was crossing the river and the letter had been soaked. The letter he showed me was indeed wet and damaged, and could not be opened. The messenger said I should keep the gifts for now while he returned to Taihu to get another letter, and that I could hand back the damaged one later. Unaware that this was a scheme devised by Yao Zi, I kept the gifts. No one ever came to exchange the letter.

“Later, investigators from the Shou Prefecture judicial office came to arrest me and put me in prison. They confronted me with Yao Zi and the others and accused me of taking bribes and falsifying the granary accounts as well. The six gift boxes found in my home were cleaned and examined: one contained gold, and five contained silver. Only then, in prison, did I understand that Yao Zi had trapped me, but I had no way to defend myself. Grief and anger overwhelmed me, and I suddenly died. Yao Zi shifted the blame onto me, a dead man, and escaped punishment in the world of the living.

“I thought that after death there would be no evidence to clear my name. But my wrongful death had not been entered in the register of life and longevity kept by the underworld office of Mount Tai, so the underworld would not take me in. I could only remain in the world of the living, unable to find release. Three years ago, I met my enemy Yao Zi at Jia’an in Di Prefecture. I clung to him from then until today, determined to go with him to the underworld office of Mount Tai and confront him there. Fortunately, today I encountered the descent of Zhenwu. Zhenwu has testified on my behalf and relieved me of the suffering of a wronged spirit, allowing me to leave Yao Zi. He has also bestowed written proof that will let me register in the underworld, so that I will no longer haunt him.”

A long while passed before Yao Zi regained consciousness. Qian Tingnian and the others reported the matter to the court. Yao Zi was subsequently dismissed from office and returned to Huzhou. He donated two thousand strings of cash to Lingxian Monastery in Shu Prefecture to help expand the Zhenwu Pavilion.

On the twenty-first day of the sixth month in the second year of the Chunhua era (991), Qin Zhongli, a court official in charge of the head-binding ritual and a Gate Attendant-in-Waiting, was ordered to travel to Qin-Feng Circuit to inspect military equipment affairs. Throughout his life, he had revered Zhenwu, a highly honored Daoist deity, and burned incense in worship every morning and evening. After receiving his assignment, he took a silk painting of Zhenwu with him and went to Jingzhao Prefecture to meet the prefect, Chen Yan.

Chen Yan told Qin Zhongli that his son, Chen Jingren, was twenty-four years old and had married a woman of the Zhang family that year. Less than a year after the wedding, she fell ill and died. Chen Jingren then contracted the same illness. At times he seemed nearly mad, swinging between joy and sorrow, talking to himself and singing as though answering his own song. Sometimes the family heard him apparently speaking with his wife in his room, amid sounds of ghostly wailing, spirit cries, and knocking. The family had consulted many doctors and tried exorcistic methods, but nothing had helped.

“I’ll return to the post station first to fast and quiet my mind,” Qin Zhongli said. “I’ll come back early tomorrow.” That evening, he burned incense at the post station, hung up the image of Zhenwu he had brought with him, and sincerely reported the matter. At dawn the next day, he carried the painting himself to the Chen residence. Outside Chen Jingren’s room, he set out pure offerings and asked the whole Chen family to burn incense and pray devoutly. Then, holding an incense burner, he went inside to examine Chen Jingren. He asked about his age, birth month, the date his illness began, and its cause, and wrote a memorial. That day, before the image of Zhenwu, he burned paper effigies of officials and horses as a rite for reporting the matter to the deity.

On the fourth night, at around four watches, Qin Zhongli heard someone knocking at the door of his lodging. The woman outside gave her name as Niannu. She said she was the granddaughter of Zhang Sheng, a deceased minister from the capital. Less than a year after marrying Chen Jingren, she had contracted a wasting illness and become gravely ill. The doctors mistook it for “blood obstruction” and prescribed the wrong decoction, causing her to die unjustly. With no one to gather in her lonely spirit, she had been left to wander the mortal world, wronged day and night.

Niannu said that three months earlier, when Chen Jingren had gone outside the city to hunt, she had finally been able to attach herself to him. This kept her from wandering alone in the wilderness and being driven away by the local Earth God. Now Qin Zhongli had brought an image of Zhenwu into the Chen residence and made offerings outside Chen Jingren’s room; Zhenwu’s divine presence left her nowhere to hide. Through Zhenwu’s compassion, divine generals had sought her out and brought her before the deity. Zhenwu pitied the injustice she had suffered, washed her body and spirit with willow-branch water, and released her from her debts of grievance, sparing her further judgment in the underworld court. She was about to be reborn as a girl into the household of Grand Marshal Luo Zongfu, so she had come to thank them and say farewell.

Qin Zhongli recorded her words in full and then went to see Chen Yan. By then, Chen Jingren had recovered and returned to normal. Chen Yan submitted a memorial describing what had happened. He asked to resign his post as a third-rank official and requested an imperial honorific title for his son, Chen Jingren. He also recommended Qin Zhongli for promotion. The court appointed Qin Zhongli Gate Commissioner of the Eastern Upper Palace and Defense Commissioner of Xiongzhou. Chen Jingren was also allowed to retain his former post as Chief of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Chen Yan donated five thousand strings of cash to build the Hall of Merit for Zhenwu’s Manifested Body at the Shangqing Purple Pole Palace, and submitted a request for an official name for the hall. The court later granted it the name “Hall of Universal Compassion, Manifest to the Spirit World.”

After Madam Wang became pregnant, people said that she was carrying a “ghost fetus.”

To build the Hall of True Martiality’s Embodied Merits within the Shangqing Purple Pole Palace, a memorial was once submitted to the court requesting a name for the hall. The court later granted the name “Hall of Pervasive Guidance and Universal Compassion.”

Wang Yaonian, an assistant director in the Bureau of Revenue in Shuzhou, had a thirty-one-year-old daughter who had supposedly carried a “ghost fetus” for two years. No physician could cure her. Her parents were deeply worried, and she herself was bewildered and distressed. One day, she planned to hang herself in the rear garden, when she suddenly heard a voice calling from the air: “Do not take your life. This is a debt from a past life, incurred five hundred years ago. Why not report it to the household deity?” She turned around but saw no one, so she went home and told her mother.

The household deity was Zhenwu, a revered Daoist deity also known as the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, whom the Wang family worshipped; they had no other divine images in their home. They therefore asked Chen Juxun, a ritual master from Lingxian Abbey, to set up an altar in their house and observe the required precepts. He dispatched talisman messengers to petition the Celestial Bureau—the heavenly administration in Daoist belief—to ask Zhenwu to descend and release Madam Wang from her karmic burden and the affliction in her womb. The family waited devoutly for the ritual master’s reply.

At noon on the twenty-first day of the tenth month, a red light, about as large as a bowl, suddenly appeared outside the house. It circled in front of the altar and then attached itself to Madam Wang. The spirit speaking through the light said that in a previous life it had sold poison with a medicine peddler, helping people induce abortions. One of the pregnancies it had ended belonged to a person of noble destiny, who was harmed by the poison and miscarried, never getting the chance to be born. For this, the spirit should have been punished for eternity, transformed into countless venomous snakes. Now, another wronged soul whom it had killed was in Madam Wang’s womb, feeding on her flesh and blood and causing her chest and abdomen to swell, putting her life in danger. When Madam Wang had gone to the rear garden to take her own life, Zhenwu’s procession had happened to pass by. Now, moved by the family’s incense and prayers, Zhenwu had descended and agreed to put an end to this enmity forever.

Zhenwu instructed them to light a wheel-shaped lamp before the woods outside the Wang home at one o’clock in the second watch that night, and to set out forty-nine bowls with lamps as substitutes. They were also to offer fragrant incense, pure water, and paper horses. At the fourth watch, they should call Madam Wang by her childhood name, state the year, month, day, and hour of her birth, and then burn gold paper offerings for the wronged spirit from her past life. Within a few days, the affliction in her womb would disappear of its own accord.

After Chen Juxun bowed and gave thanks, the red light gradually faded. Only then did those present realize that Zhenwu had departed. Once Wang Yaonian had burned the memorial and completed the rites, he drew up a document pledging that, when his daughter’s affliction had passed, he would donate the residence and rear garden as a temporary palace where Zhenwu could descend and manifest his power. His daughter was indeed safe, just as promised.

Afterward, people said that since Zhenwu had rescued the Wang family’s daughter, Wang Yaonian was sure to rise to prominence as well. He was later appointed prefectural assistant of Xiangzhou and moved into a new residence. When the matter was settled, Xie Fangping, the governor of Shuzhou, proposed a marriage between his second son, Jingxiang, and the Wang family. The two families exchanged betrothal gifts and arranged the match. Wang Yaonian then donated the residence and garden to build a temple. Together with officials from Shuzhou and the supervisory commission, he submitted a memorial to the court requesting authorization for a Daoist temple. The court replied that Wang Yaonian would have difficulty building it on his own, and by imperial order provided funds to add a Hall of the Three Pure Ones and a Hall of the Seven Primordial Lords of the Northern Pole. It also granted the temple the name “Abbey of the Descent of the Perfected and Compassionate Deliverance.”

Petitioning Heaven for a Longer Life

Emperor Renzong fell ill in the second year of the Zhihe era. According to an inquiry by the Three Bureaus and the Ministry of Rites, the ritual master Wang Bochu of Songyang Abbey on Mount Heng said that a petition must be sent to the North Pole to ask that the emperor’s allotted lifespan be determined. It had to be made on a Gengshen day and written in the emperor’s own hand.

At the hour of the Dog that evening, the emperor went out beneath the stars and prayed with sincere devotion. The next morning, Wang Bochu said that whether the petition could reach the celestial realm depended on whether the emperor had written it himself. When the next Gengshen day arrived, the emperor ordered paper and brush to be prepared. He first had someone else write the petition, then burned it in the open air at the hour of the Dog. The next day, when asked about it, Wang Bochu said that Heaven had not received the petition the previous night. Perhaps, he suggested, because the emperor had not written it himself, his intention had not been focused enough for the petition to reach the celestial court.

The emperor then followed the original plan and wrote the petition in his own hand. After praying sincerely, he burned it. The next day, as soon as Wang Bochu was summoned, he offered congratulations. He said he had seen the previous night’s petition arrive at the palace of the Great Emperor of the Central Heaven at the North Pole. After it had been read, it was sent to the True Warrior’s Hall of Blessing and Protection for verification. They would have to wait another seven days for the result. Wang Bochu had personally seen the petition, which consisted of seven sheets. He recited it silently from beginning to end and found that it matched the emperor’s writing exactly. The emperor was delighted to hear this.

Seven days later, Wang Bochu came to the palace again. After asking everyone else to leave, he said to the emperor: “Just now, at the Palace of the Oxherd and Weaver Girl, I welcomed the sacred carriage. The True Warrior has borne witness to Your Majesty’s benevolence. Your Majesty should be granted an additional twelve years of life.” When Wang Bochu returned to the Western Gate of Heaven, he saw General Ge, a guardian deity, signal to him with his hand. He therefore reminded the emperor not to forget the matter.

After the emperor recovered, he appointed Wang Bochu Director of Daoist Affairs for the two districts of the capital, placed him in charge of the Temple of the Five Sacred Peaks, and bestowed on him a purple robe and the title “Daoist Master of the Grotto of the Divine of Qianyuan.” Grateful for the True Warrior’s kindness and miraculous manifestation, the emperor urged the officials responsible to build and renovate the palace’s ancestral halls and pavilions without delay. He also ordered the Three Bureaus and Ministry of Rites to notify the relevant departments to search for accounts of the True Warrior’s deeds, compile and organize them, and put them into circulation. In response to the prayer for a longer life, the emperor also built a Hall of Repaying Grace to the right of the True Warrior’s shrine, where incense would be offered in gratitude for the deity’s favor.

The Shangqing Hongfu Temple of Nanjing’s Yingtian Prefecture was an important Daoist temple built by the founding emperor to express gratitude to Heaven and proclaim his sacred virtue. During the Dazhong Xiangfu era, Emperor Zhenzong stayed at the temple and, one night, saw the northern deity Zhenwu appear. Zhenwu said he had come to protect the emperor. The emperor therefore specially bestowed on Zhenwu a gold statue standing upright, a treasure pavilion, and an imperial plaque inscribed in gold.

In the winter of the Zhihe era, soldiers and civilians fell ill with an epidemic. The Hongfu Temple established a ritual ground and prayed to avert the calamity, but the rite seemed to have no effect, leaving everyone perplexed and anxious. One night, Zhenwu appeared in a dream to Ren Kangzhi, the temple’s resident Daoist, and said, “I see that Nanjing is suffering from a winter epidemic. You should print copies of the Scripture of the Supreme High One’s Sayings on the Wondrous Scripture of Zhenwu and distribute them to the sick, household by household, so they may venerate and recite them.”

When Ren Kangzhi awoke, he followed the dream’s instructions and distributed the scriptures. All the patients recovered safely. At that time, the court was preparing to send troops to campaign in the south, and the required number of soldiers and horses was met without shortfall. Shen Li, an administrative adviser and remonstrance official in the military prefecture’s governor’s office, reported the matter to the court. After investigating, the court concluded that the Hongfu Temple had previously been built with a treasure pavilion because Zhenwu had manifested there; now Zhenwu had again appeared in a dream and instructed the Daoists to distribute scriptures, saving soldiers and civilians from a great disaster and ensuring that the southern campaign proceeded smoothly. The court therefore granted the Hongfu Temple another three-year period of tax exemption, appointed Ren Kangzhi to oversee the temple’s incense offerings and lead the young Daoists in their practice, and assigned an official in Nanjing to ensure that any damage or leaks in the palace buildings were repaired promptly.

Miraculous Aid in Crossing the Waters

Before Chen Gongchen became an official, he once took in a turtle. Its shell was a rich green, its body was covered in golden-green hair, and it had red eyes and a long tail. It was about the size of a small cup. He kept the turtle for five or seven years. Later, when Chen Gongchen went out to make repairs…

Before Chen Gongchen became an official, he adopted a turtle. Its shell was a vivid green, and golden-green hairs grew along its back. It had red eyes, a long tail, and a body about the size of a small cup. He kept it for five or seven years, until he passed the jinshi examination. Later, the turtle suddenly grew as large as a basin and developed a taste for dates.

One night, the family put the turtle in a bamboo basket and played with it by moonlight. The turtle drew into its shell until it was only as wide as a bowl’s rim. A small snake with red markings twined around its four legs, playing with it. Chen Gongchen reflected that turtles and snakes were said to correspond to the Celestial Pass and the Earth’s Axis, and were attendants of the True Warrior, a deity revered in Daoism. The next day, the turtle had returned to its original size, but the snake was nowhere to be seen. Similar events occurred repeatedly over the following nights.

Chen Gongchen then commissioned artisans to paint a sacred image of the True Warrior. He also prepared a large vat filled with clean water and placed the turtle in it to care for it.

Later, Chen Gongchen went to Xinyang to oversee the construction of an earthen wall, where he was responsible for managing two thousand laborers. That winter, rain and snow fell together, and many of the laborers fell ill. One day, in a state between sleep and wakefulness, he saw the great turtle from his home come to tell him, “For all these years, you have taken me in and honored me with your faith. Now the emperor has summoned me, and I am about to ascend to Heaven. I know the judicial official here is worried about the laborers’ illness, so I have come to repay you. Prepare a bowl of pure water, hold a willow branch, and face the northern sky as you recite this incantation: ‘Celestial Dipper and Celestial Pole, swiftly drive away lightning and mist. Grant me hidden merit; let this raging calamity quickly depart.’ Recite it three times in one breath, then sprinkle the water over the sick. If you do this, they will surely recover, and you will receive a reward in the future.”

With that, the turtle took its leave. Chen Gongchen followed its instructions, reciting the incantation over the water and sprinkling it on the sick. Before long, the patients broke into a sweat and woke. On the very day Chen Gongchen had this dream, the great turtle transformed into a gust of black wind and vanished.

After construction of the Xinyang city wall was completed, none of the laborers had died. The story says this was because the turtle and snake, attendants of the True Warrior, had appeared in response to one another’s presence. The Transport Commissioner Fei Xiang reported the matter to the court in detail. The court later issued an edict authorizing the local authorities in Xinyang to erect a stone stele and build a True Warrior Hall, where incense could be offered. Chen Gongchen was also specially appointed Assistant Gentleman of the Court of the Imperial Stud, and was later promoted to Gentleman for Court Service.

In Fengxiang Prefecture, an ancient administrative region in what is now roughly the Shaanxi area, there lived a wealthy man named Zhong Shou’an. His entire family was greedy for wealth and fond of killing, and they often acted deceitfully and unjustly. Only his great-great-grandson, Zhong Jinming, felt distressed by his family’s conduct, though he thought it would be difficult to persuade them to change.

It happened to be the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the monasteries held the Ullambana Festival, a Buddhist observance involving offerings to monks and prayers for the dead. Seeing images of hell laid out in the monastery, Zhong Jinming thought about how evil deeds bring evil consequences. He repented, resolved to recite scriptures, and planned to give away the property belonging to his branch of the family.

One day, he met a Daoist and asked him to accept some money. The Daoist had an unusual appearance, so Zhong Jinming invited him to drink tea at a teahouse in the marketplace and asked his name and place of origin. The Daoist replied, “My surname is Pei, and my given name is Guo. I was born on Wudang Mountain. I have now come to Fengxiang, but have yet to meet anyone with whom I share a destined connection.” Zhong Jinming said, “I hope you will teach me a secret method so that I may escape delusion.” The Daoist picked up a coin from the ground and handed it to him, saying, “Keep it safe. Keep it safe.” Then he headed west. Zhong Jinming recognized the inscription “Qianzhong” on the coin and kept it on his person.

Later, Zhong Jinming came across someone selling a statue of Zhenwu carved from sandalwood, and bought it for seven strings of cash. Since the elders in his household disliked gods and Buddhas, he entrusted the statue to the Daoist Lu Yuanzhi, who lived at the Tianqing Abbey, for worship there. For nearly ten years, Zhong Jinming personally added incense and replaced the offerings every morning and evening. Gradually, he came to feel that his prayers were receiving a response.

One night, Zhong Jinming collapsed in his room as though drunk. In a daze, he saw the Daoist who had given him the coin and heard him say, “You have kept my coin close at hand. You can use it to help several people who have died unjustly. Soak the coin in water. When you see me, give the water to others, and there will surely be a response.” Zhong Jinming did not regain his senses until dawn.

He went to ask the Daoist Sun Junzhi about Zhenwu’s origins. Sun Junzhi said, “Zhenwu was born into the Guo family of the Jing Le kingdom and once studied under the Most High Lord Lao, then cultivated the Dao on Wudang Mountain. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian in the Tang dynasty, he was born again into the household of Attendant Pei and vanquished demonic boys.” Hearing this, Zhong Jinming understood that the Daoist he had met was Zhenwu manifesting in human form.

He began paying attention to the sick people in the neighborhood. Whenever he found someone suffering from an epidemic, with thirst and fever, delirious or even about to throw themselves into a well or river, he took the coin to Tianqing Abbey and soaked it in purified water. Before the image of Zhenwu, he burned incense and prayed, asking Zhenwu to send down his numinous Qi. As he prayed, a circular halo suddenly appeared around the statue. Its light shimmered like flames, filling the entire room with a golden glow. Zhong Jinming then carried the purified water, in which the coin had been soaked, from house to house and gave it to the sick. They all recovered without harm.

News spread throughout the prefecture, and people came in droves to gaze upon and pay homage to the image of Zhenwu that Zhong Jinming worshipped. But his uncles and cousins were jealous of him and often made things difficult. Zhong Jinming therefore secretly took out the statue he had entrusted to the abbey, intending to travel elsewhere. Yet however hard they tried to move it, the statue would not budge. Later, even more than a hundred people pulling together could not lift it from the altar table.

Just then, an imperial envoy arrived in Fengxiang Prefecture with an official document from the Secretariat. It reported that the Directorate of Astronomy had observed five-colored auspicious light rising straight toward the Gate of Heaven. The light was said to have appeared within Fengxiang Prefecture, where a precious treasure and a numinous statue were believed to be located. The authorities were ordered to search for them. In the end, they determined that only the image of Zhenwu worshipped by Zhong Jinming fit the description, and sent officials to escort it away. Strangely, when the statue was moved, only one or two people were needed to carry it, altar table and all.

Zhong Jinming received the official documents from the prefectural office and accompanied the envoys as they presented the statue to the imperial court. It was a small, finely decorated image of Zhenwu carved from sandalwood. As the statue was unwrapped in the palace hall, several beams of light suddenly shot out from it. The emperor rose from his seat, burned incense, and paid his respects. He then ordered the statue to be temporarily enshrined at the Shangqing Yanfu Palace, pending a decision by the Three Offices, the court agencies responsible for matters including finance, on what should be done next.

Ren Yue held the post of Gentleman of the Inner Palace and served in the Directorate of Palace Attendants. He was later ordered to serve as a military pacification official on the Qin-Feng Circuit. While crossing the Yellow River at the Diliu ferry, he encountered fierce winds, dense fog, and darkening skies in midstream. The officials accompanying him told him that this was the river’s first perilous pass, the Cliff Gate. On the north bank stood a shrine of the Youzhou Tianqing Abbey, called the Huguo Zhenwu Shrine. Travelers usually had to offer paper horses—horses made of paper and burned in ritual sacrifice—before crossing.

Ren Yue prayed to the deity, saying that after crossing the river he would prepare offerings and give thanks, and he vowed to fulfill his promise. As soon as he finished praying, the wind and clouds suddenly grew calm. Ren Yue and his companions saw a divine figure appear in the sky and recognized him as Zhenwu, the God of Blessing, whose image was painted and sculpted in the Four Sages Abbey in the capital. Zhenwu was a Daoist deity revered as the god of the north.

Ren Yue paid his respects to Zhenwu from the boat. The deity descended and spoke in an ordinary conversational tone. “This shrine was built by Emperor Taizong of the Tang because of the ‘Inscription on the Pillar in the Rapids,’ written by his meritorious minister Wei Zheng. This is the first perilous boundary at the entrance to the shrine. From then on, I was ordered to guard this place and protect the realm’s mountains and rivers. The shrine has now stood unrepaired for many years. I often descend here to subdue dragons and water demons, but there is nowhere for me to stay. If I do not come, the river will overflow and destroy the shrine, bringing great harm to the state. You must remember these words and keep this secret. Tell no one except the emperor in your report; otherwise, you will immediately suffer an outbreak of sores and pox.” With that, Zhenwu vanished.

After returning to court, Ren Yue reported what had happened to the emperor, who at first still did not believe him. Ren Yue should not have raised the matter again before the emperor, but suddenly lost his voice in the hall and then suffered an outbreak of sores and pox. The emperor was convinced. He granted Ren Yue a transfer to the post of Palace Supervisor in the capital and ordered the relevant officials to consult the Records of the Tang Dynasty immediately to verify the account. He also ordered palace envoys to go with the prefectural governor of Xiezhou to rebuild the shrine. The emperor named it “Pacifying and Securing, Bringing Prosperity and Blessing” and permanently included it in the state rites of incense and sacrifice.

The Fusheng Taiji Abbey on Mount Longhu in Xinzhou is a sacred altar where the Celestial Masters (Tianshi) of the Zhang lineage have passed down Fulu (talismans and registers), the certificates of religious office conferred on Daoist priests. It is also the Fourth Grotto-Heaven, one of the paradisal realms described in Daoism. In the past, a fire destroyed its halls. Over the following seven years, buildings were added and repairs made, but the grand Northern Dipper Hall remained unreconstructed for want of a donor.

One day, a visitor from Quanzhou came to the abbey to hold a vegetarian offering rite and asked in detail about the timber and costs required to rebuild the Northern Dipper Hall. He said he was willing to pay for the entire project himself. When the abbey asked why, he explained:

“Some time ago, Chancellor Chen Shizhong was serving as governor of Guangzhou. As he sailed across the sea on his return to Quanzhou, Gao Wan was aboard with him. When their ship was nearing Quanzhou, a sudden headwind left it adrift and out of control. Chancellor Chen burned incense and prayed to the heavens, asking the spirits to save them. In an instant, the wind and waves subsided. A Daoist figure appeared in midair ahead of them, wearing a maotou crown. He told Chancellor Chen, ‘You have faced great danger on your journey here. I deliberately changed the wind to keep you from drifting and sinking. Now I will bring your whole family safely back to Quanzhou.’

“Chancellor Chen burned incense, bowed, and thanked him for their rescue. He asked which sage had come to their aid, saying he would remember this kindness and repay it with offerings of incense in the future. The Daoist replied, ‘I was sent by the Celestial Marshal to seek someone with a destined connection. The Northern Dipper Hall at the Taiji Abbey on Mount Longhu in Xinzhou has lain in ruins since a fire seven years ago, and has yet to be rebuilt. I have now saved you; you need make no further petition. You may devote yourself to rebuilding the hall.’ With these words, the Daoist vanished into the clouds. Before long, the ship reached Quanzhou.

“After discussing the matter, the Chen family concluded that the sage wearing a maotou crown must have been the True Lord Zhenwu, the northern deity revered in Daoism, who had manifested to save them. They decided to donate funds for the Northern Dipper Hall. They sent Gao Wan to verify the situation. When he returned, he presented a list of the materials and expenses required for the project. Over the next three years, the Chen family gathered the materials, built the hall, and completed its statues and decorations.

“Chen Zhichun, the former chancellor, then submitted a memorial to the court requesting an honorific name for the hall, proposing ‘Manifestation of the Sage Who Rescues Those in Peril.’ The court approved the request and bestowed ten ordination certificates authorizing Daoist ordination, along with five hundred taels of silver to help with construction; it also granted the abbey property for its permanent support. Chancellor Chen held a rite of celebration and repentance in the sacred hall, and sponsored a grand Daoist sacrifice and purification rites to repay Zhenwu for manifesting to save them.”

During the Sui dynasty, He Quan, a soldier in the Xiang Army of Qianzhou, in the area of present-day Ganzhou, Jiangxi, accompanied Zhang Youzhi, the Pacification Commissioner, to Nankang. There he visited the ravine and cave near the Taiqing Temple on Mount Lu.

On the birthday of the Great Emperor Zhenwu, He Quan had once witnessed a sacred assembly in which Zhenwu met with his parents in the Heaven of Jade and Gems. Zhenwu had interceded for him before the Celestial Court, and He Quan received permission to leave military service and return home to live as he pleased. Afterward, He Quan painted images of Zhenwu on colored silk for worship and prepared medicines to sell. Over five or six years, everyone who took his medicines recovered, and he amassed more than two thousand strings of cash.

One day, He Quan said to his wife, “My elder brother is young, and I come from humble origins. I was once tattooed on the face and sent into military service. I served in the army for thirty years and never failed the state or my duties. Fortunately, through a bond from a former life, I encountered the sacred assembly on Zhenwu’s birthday and received the court’s permission to return home and live as I pleased. Now our household is prosperous, with more than two thousand strings of cash saved. I want to leave you one thousand strings for daily expenses. I will use the money earned from selling medicine, and take another thousand strings to the Tianqing Temple on Mount Lu to build a seven-bay ritual hall for Daoist rites.”

When construction was nearly complete, the imperial envoy Chen Bohu arrived to offer incense on behalf of the court and cast a golden dragon into the water. Yan Liangbi, an Investigating Censor in the palace, and the Military Prefect of Nankang also came to the cave. Seeing that He Quan had donated money to build the ritual hall, they were deeply impressed. Chen Bohu said to Yan Liangbi, “With a good deed like this, how can we make sure the court learns of it?”

A short while later, a white deer suddenly ran out from behind the ritual hall and into the mountain woods. Yan Liangbi sent people to track it down. His attendants returned and reported, “The white deer disappeared in the woods, but we found a hermitage. Inside, a soldier was asleep. When he heard someone enter the woods, he woke, left the hermitage, and went away.” The Daoist assembly said, “That was He Quan appearing as a white deer.”

After the envoy returned to court, he reported the matter to the emperor. The emperor ordered officials to consult an earlier report by Zhang Youzhi, the Pacification Commissioner of Jiangxi, about He Quan’s encounter with the sacred assembly on Zhenwu’s birthday. The emperor then specially bestowed on He Quan the Daoist title “Layman,” established a portrait hall in his honor, and had a stele carved to record the events. The Heaven of Jade and Gems in the ravine cave was also renamed “Jade and Gems Grotto Heaven.”

He Quan lived to the age of eighty-three and died peacefully in the mountain hermitage behind the hall. The Daoist assembly cremated his body on the mountain, gathered the ashes, and shaped them into a figure, which they then decorated and enshrined. Less than half a year later, the court issued another decree, posthumously honoring Layman He Quan as “Master of Responsive Dreams and Empty Stillness.” The scripture does not explain what miraculous response prompted the court to grant him this title.

Du Gui, the magistrate of Wuping County in Tingzhou, lost his sight and returned home to seek medical treatment. He remained there for six years. He had married the eldest daughter of Hao Yu, an Attendant of the Central Secretariat in Jianzhou. When Lady Wu was twenty-seven, she suffered a difficult childbirth. The Daoist Zhou Mingyan saved her and the child with Fulu (talismans and registers), and both survived. From then on, she resolved to honor Zhenwu, a revered Daoist deity, observing fasting and precepts and reading Daoist scriptures.

Seeing that her husband was blind in both eyes, Lady Wu would prepare incense and pure water late each night, when all was quiet, and pray outdoors facing north. She bowed forty-nine times, asking Zhenwu’s compassion to cure Du Gui’s eye condition. She prayed this way for two years. At the third watch on the night of the third day of the third lunar month, she dreamed that a Daoist in yellow robes said to her, “Steadfast devotion is not enough without a purified body; a deep wish also requires a fitting connection. Within seven days, someone will come to treat Du Gui’s eyes. Once he has fully recovered, go to Yun Cang to see my master and repay the debt owed for the eyes.” With that, the Daoist vanished.

Seven days later, Lady Wu saw a Daoist at the gate. His fan bore the words, “Daoist of Yun Cang, skilled in treating eye ailments.” She invited him inside to treat her husband. The Daoist inserted one needle beside each of Du Gui’s eyes and left two kinds of medicine, instructing him to mix them with water and take them three times a day. The Daoist accepted no payment and disappeared as soon as he left the house. Du Gui took the medicine as instructed. One night, he dreamed that a small turtle crawled onto his face and licked his eyes. He raised his hand to brush it away, then woke with his sight restored in both eyes. He believed that the medicine that treated him and the little turtle in his dream were both manifestations of Zhenwu’s divine power, through which his eye condition had been cured.

Later, Lady Wu heard that her father, Hao Yu, had been appointed judicial commissioner of Taiyuan Prefecture, and went with her husband to visit him. One day they left the western city and toured the Tianzhu Temple, then entered a mountain called Yun Cang. In one of its halls stood a statue whose eyes had been scraped away. On asking about it, they learned that it was a sacred image of Zhenwu. Lady Wu then understood that the dream’s instruction to “go to Yun Cang and see me, to repay my master for the debt owed for the eyes” meant that the statue was to be restored.

She told her father the whole story. Hao Yu therefore funded the restoration of the statue on Yun Cang Mountain and truthfully reported to the court that Du Gui had resigned from office because of his eye condition and was later cured through Zhenwu’s divine intervention. The court then issued an order for Hao Yu to complete the restoration and submit a report when it was finished, after which a reward would be considered separately. Du Gui, meanwhile, was recommended for a new post as judicial commissioner of observation in Yangzhou.

The Secretariat-Chancellery, the Three Departments of Finance, and the Ministry of Rites of the Song court investigated and established that Zhong Jinming, a native of Fengxiang Prefecture, had selected fine sandalwood and carved an image of the deity Zhenwu. He temporarily placed it for worship in the room of Lu Yuanzhi, a Daoist at the Tianqing Abbey. Morning and evening, Zhong went there himself to pay his respects, and the incense never went out. Later, he encountered Zhenwu, who taught him to use talisman water to treat illnesses.

At the time, the divine image emitted dazzling golden light that reached upward to the Celestial River. The Directorate of Astronomy, the ancient bureau responsible for observing celestial phenomena, reported that the light had appeared in the celestial region corresponding to Qin. They concluded that Fengxiang Prefecture contained a numinous image that had manifested its sacred power and accumulated merit. After the court sent people to investigate, Fengxiang Prefecture dispatched the image of Zhenwu to the capital. The emperor ordered that it be enshrined at the Shangqing Yanfu Palace and granted Zhong Jinming the title of Probationary Assistant in the Three Classes, a low-ranking military title. After paying his respects and offering thanks from afar at home, Zhong fell ill and died within three days. Later, people in his hometown said that miraculous signs appeared after his death, and that prayers to him were often answered.

Later, Sun Chengzhi, a Hanlin Academician and Vice Minister of Justice, was ordered to travel as an envoy to Xifan, a regime of western peoples. On the road through Fengxiang Prefecture, he met a Daoist wearing coarse cloth and straw sandals. The Daoist approached him and said, “Your fate is not meant to end here. A temporary journey to Xifan will bring danger and distress; when you return, I fear you will die young.”

Sun Chengzhi asked who he was and how he could know what would happen. The Daoist replied, “I was Zhong Jinming, a resident of Fengxiang. I am now the Cave Master of the Jade Gourd Grotto on Three-Luo Mountain in Fengxiang Prefecture, and I oversee Jade Peak Dragon Pool. I have already attained the rank of a half-immortal. Just now I saw black Qi above your head and white Qi at your side. These are very inauspicious signs, foretelling danger on your journey and a threat to your life after you return home.”

Sun Chengzhi then asked how he might ward off disaster if it came. Zhong Jinming said, “When you reach a moment of danger, silently recite the revered title of my own master, the True Lord Zhenwu of Numinous Response, and you will ultimately receive protection. Even if you are able to leave Xifan safely, I fear disaster still awaits you after you return.” As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly vanished.

After Sun Chengzhi entered Xifan, King Li Xijing hosted a banquet for him. At the banquet, Li Xijing set a challenge: someone was to compose a short verse using the seven characters “the sun and moon emerge from the bundle, then sink in the west.” No one could answer, and Li grew angry and wanted to imprison Sun Chengzhi. In fear, Sun silently recited the revered title of the True Lord Zhenwu of Numinous Response several times. An official pleaded forcefully with the king, whose anger gradually subsided, and in the end he allowed Sun Chengzhi to return home.

Sun Chengzhi took his leave of Xifan and set out for the capital. Before he had even entered the realm, the accompanying inspector-envoy had already sent a report ahead. The court dispatched people to intercept him and take over the documents, punished his attendants and the gifts sent back by the Xifan king, and judged that Sun had disgraced the state through his conduct as an envoy. It prepared to have him executed with poisoned wine. Later, however, the court sent another envoy to announce that Sun Chengzhi’s death sentence had been pardoned, though he was stripped of his former office and banished to serve in a remote minor prefecture.

The emperor saw the accounts of Zhong Jinming’s miraculous responses and concluded that Zhong had received Zhenwu’s compassionate virtue and, by divine mandate, become a half-immortal who protected the state and rescued its people. This accorded with Zhenwu’s intention to protect and save living beings. Accordingly, the emperor pardoned Sun Chengzhi’s death sentence.

The court ordered Fengxiang Prefecture to build a shrine for Zhong Jinming and posthumously recognize the title of Probationary Assistant in the Three Classes that he had once received. Because Zhong had encountered Zhenwu, received a prediction from him, become his disciple, and manifested sacred power after death, the shrine was to have two halls, with Zhong Jinming and Zhenwu enshrined in that order. The court permitted a statue to be made in Zhong Jinming’s original likeness, dressed in white to signify his status as a half-immortal. It also posthumously bestowed on him the title “Immortal Lord of Benevolent Guidance and Peaceful Stillness” and granted a plaque bearing the name “Temple of Support and Reward for Compassion.” Fengxiang Prefecture was further ordered to compose an inscription so that these events would be remembered for generations to come.

Zou Su formed a bond with the divine through his spiritual resonance with the gods.

On the fifth day of the third month of the second year of the Li era, the Secretariat and Chancellery received a report from Zhengzhou. It stated that Zou Su, the prefecture’s wine inspector and an Inner Palace Senior Attendant, had been upright and incorruptible in office. He worshipped only Zhenwu, a northern deity revered in Daoism, serving him with reverence and single-minded devotion. He never sought personal gain through flattery or deceit, nor did he betray trust, act greedily or cruelly, or kill wantonly.

When the people of the prefecture faced floods, droughts, or epidemics, they first prayed at various shrines, but received no response. Yet when Zou Su fasted and prayed before the image of Zhenwu in his home, his prayers were often answered. People believed that Zou Su had understood the sacred teaching and was secretly in accord with the gods, and that Zhengzhou had therefore received their protection.

One day at noon, a sudden wind and hail swept over Zhengzhou as dark clouds gathered. Black mist swirled around the northern gate, and a bronze coffin without a lid descended from the sky amid clear, resonant music. Officials and commoners alike changed their clothes and tried to enter the coffin, but each was turned away. At last, the wine inspector Zou Su arrived in full dress. As soon as he stepped inside, a loud crash rang out and the coffin lid dropped into place. The bronze coffin rose gently, accompanied by a voice like a celestial edict, the cries of cranes, and auspicious clouds of fragrant air. It drifted slowly toward the north.

Afterward, the monks Zhiyan and others from the Longevity Cloister on White Lotus Mountain reported that the previous night the mountain had been covered in multicolored auspicious clouds. Music had sounded, a strange fragrance filled the air, and celestial flowers had fallen like rain. When the clouds and mist dispersed, sweet dew descended and continued until late at night. At dawn, the monks climbed the mountain to investigate. They found that two rocky cliffs on either side of a peak called Roc’s Nest, which had once stood more than fifteen paces apart, had now closed together. In the seam between them on the north side, only a small stone doorway remained, about four feet square. Through it, they could see a bronze coffin inside. Dead trees all over the mountain had sprouted fresh branches and, in an instant, become dense woodland. Flowers of every kind bloomed, while birds and beasts called and flew about as if guarding the mountain.

After investigating, the prefectural authorities concluded that these marvels matched the account of the bronze coffin descending from heaven the previous night to escort Zou Su away. They summoned officials, Daoist priests, and monks to inspect the site. Once they had confirmed the report, they submitted it to the imperial court.

Zhengzhou later received the court’s reply. After his death, Zou Su had manifested miraculous powers and appeared at the inner palace to take leave of the emperor. He said that, by a heavenly talisman, he had been appointed Deputy Judge of the Northern Pole Bureau of Lifespans, a divine office responsible for the registers of human lifespans. Each year, he accompanied Zhenwu into the human realm to inquire into and assess people’s good and evil deeds and determine their allotted years. Zhenwu alone made the final judgments and recorded the results. Grateful for the emperor’s favors, Zou Su had come especially to repay them.

The court asked whether Zou Su had descendants who could inherit his benefits, and arranged support for his relatives. If he had no descendants, money and silk were to be provided for his family’s upkeep. The court also ordered a shrine to Zou Su built on White Lotus Mountain, naming it the Temple of the Divine Response, a place where future generations could pray to the gods and commemorate the sacred wonder.

Heaven’s Gift of a Green Jujube

In Leping County, Raozhou, there lived a man named Zhu Mu, who served as an assistant military commissioner in Jiangzhou. He had no children. As his father, Zhu Kang, lay dying, he instructed him: “From now on, never forget to keep incense offerings at the sacred hall of Zhenwu. Whenever Zhenwu descends—that is, on the days when the deity comes down to the human world—make offerings with sincere devotion. In particular, on the third day of the third month, the fifth day of the fifth month, the seventh day of the seventh month, and the ninth day of the ninth month, prepare three kinds of offerings each time and present them respectfully.”

Zhu Mu kept his father’s instructions firmly in mind and never disobeyed them. One year, the seventh day of the seventh month fell on a day when Zhenwu descended. That night, after burning incense and presenting the offerings, Zhu Mu went to bed. Around the third watch, his wife dreamed of a Daoist priest in yellow robes. He held a stone dish containing a single green jujube and asked her to eat it. After she did, a wonderful fragrance filled her mouth. The priest said, “This is an immortal’s jujube, bestowed upon you by Heaven.”

After this, Zhu Mu’s wife became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, handsome in appearance and bearing. By the age of five, he had a good memory and learned quickly; by seven, he was exceptionally bright and quick to understand. His reputation for talent spread far and wide, and people called him a child prodigy. To match the scene in his mother’s dream, the boy was named Tianxi, “Heaven’s Gift.”

When the court learned of the matter, an official also recommended Tianxi, and he was appointed a Reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. Zhu Mu took Tianxi to the palace and asked him to explain the classics and histories. Tianxi recounted histories and biographies with great fluency, and answered the emperor’s questions accurately. The court specially granted him the provisional title of Acting Gentleman for Service, a civil honorary rank, and gave him one hundred strings of cash to buy books. He was sent home to continue his studies, with instructions to return to court at sixteen and await further arrangements. Zhu Mu’s previously granted provisional post was not revoked, and the court also bestowed on him a commendation.

A Miraculous Transformation: The Red Tassel

In Yiyang County, Xinzhou, there lived a man named Lu Zhongdao who ran a silk floss shop. His wife, Madam Zhang, was forty-four and had not borne a child. One day Lu Zhongdao suddenly said to her, “I hear that many people nowadays worship the True Warrior of the North, the Daoist deity known as the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven. Nearly everyone who prays for something receives a response.” He bought a portrait of the True Warrior painted in Sichuan and brought it home to worship.

Madam Zhang prayed with devotion from morning until night. Whether in bitter cold or scorching heat, she never slackened, and kept this up for six years. One night, Lu Zhongdao and his wife both dreamed that they were competing with an immortal boy to toss a ball of colored silk into the air. As they looked up, a red tassel suddenly flew toward them and entered Madam Zhang’s mouth. She then became pregnant. Thirteen months later, she gave birth to a daughter.

When the girl reached the age of thirteen, she had a very lovely appearance, but still could not speak. People called her the mute girl. Later, Yiyang County received an official document from Xinzhou. It said that the Secretariat had instructed the relevant authorities to direct the Bureau of Astronomy to submit a report: a bright star had recently appeared in the southeastern quarter corresponding to the ancient state of Chen, directly above the area around Yiyang County. This foretold that a divine immortal of hidden rank would be born into the human world and display unusual signs. After investigating as ordered, the county reported that only Lu Zhongdao’s thirteen-year-old mute daughter fit the circumstances, and that she must be no ordinary person. The authorities therefore summoned Lu Zhongdao, questioned him about what had happened, and sent their report up through the official ranks to the imperial court.

When the mute girl heard of this, she suddenly began to speak. She asked for fragrant water to bathe in, changed her clothes, and sat upright in a clean hall. Then she said to her parents:

“I was originally an immortal maiden from the Twin Maidens constellation in the Palace of Heavenly Transformation. Among the celestial boys and girls who keep the registers of worthy talents, I held the highest rank. My name is Green Rosy Cloud Maiden. Once every seven years, I descend to the world in my turn to serve as assistant judge at the Northern Pole Monastery of Aid and Victory, traveling through various places as I am assigned.

“Recently, my parents wept and prayed day and night, asking the Celestial Bureau to grant them a child. Their devotion moved the True Warrior. He therefore consulted the Register of Fated Connections and found that my mother’s destiny had no record of pregnancy or childbirth. Remembering that my parents had tended the incense offerings and practiced goodness and virtue in the human world, the True Warrior first submitted a memorial on their behalf to the Three Heavens. Only afterward did he make me take the form of a red tassel and enter my mother’s womb, becoming their daughter so that my mother’s wish for a child might be fulfilled.

“When I was born, the True Warrior instructed me not to speak while in the human world. So although I remained by my parents’ side, I never uttered a sound. Now the appointed period has ended, and the court’s document has brought an inquiry. The secrets of Heaven may be revealed, so I cannot remain here any longer. I have come to say farewell.”

After she finished speaking, the mute girl died. Lu Zhongdao and his wife had craftsmen seal her body with gray lacquer and shape it into a statue, which they placed beside the image of the True Warrior. Every day they burned incense, made offerings, cultivated themselves, and performed good deeds. They also held a Zhaijiao purification ritual to give thanks for the True Warrior’s grace.

Later, the imperial court bestowed clothing, silk, and grain on the Lu family to honor the auspicious sign of an immortal’s birth. The court also ordered that the mute girl’s remains be buried on government land in the county seat, with a pavilion built to shelter the tomb. A shrine was erected as well, containing a statue of the mute immortal maiden dressed in plain garments. The court bestowed the plaque “Silent Radiance, Filial Maiden” and ordered the county to erect a stone stele recording the event.

Lady Jing, Consort of the Prince of Yan, Has a Safe Delivery

During the Tang dynasty, Guangming Empress’s Merit-Building Xuandu Abbey had fallen into disrepair over the years, and lightning had damaged its roof. The Daoists at the abbey repeatedly submitted petitions seeking donations, but no one gave even a single coin. They sighed, wondering why they had encountered such an obstacle.

A Daoist named Wang Jingyuan said, “The abbey enshrines an image of the Perfected Warrior. Why has the Great Emperor Zhenwu not yet taken notice of us?” That night, Jingyuan dreamed that someone carried baskets of coins into the abbey and piled them before the Hall of Zhenwu to count them. There were five hundred strings of cash. Then the person loaded the money onto a horse and carried it up to Heaven.

Less than ten days later, Sun Weiyan, an inner palace official from the Prince of Yan’s residence in the capital, came with others to make offerings in the Hall of Zhenwu. They said that the prince had presented a hundred sheets of paper, a horse, a burner of aloeswood incense, and a written petition. They explained that the prince’s Lady of the State of Yi had been in grave danger while giving birth. A Daoist had come and urged the prince to fund the rebuilding of the Western Response Garrison Abbey. The prince had refused, saying that his wife was in labor and he could not attend to the matter. The Daoist then said there was a way to ensure she delivered safely, with both mother and child unharmed. Delighted, the prince promised that if it truly worked, he would pay for the abbey’s rebuilding himself.

The Daoist drew a talisman on yellow paper with cinnabar, burned it to ashes, mixed the ashes with water, and had the lady drink it. A little while later, she gave birth to a boy. After writing his petition, the Daoist took his leave and went out; at once, he disappeared.

The lady said that as soon as she drank the talisman water, she saw talisman officers and magistrates standing guard before her. Then, unseen, a divine being with disheveled hair, clad in golden armor and holding a precious sword, gave a shout, and the child was born at the sound. She also heard someone report, “This child comes from Xuandu Abbey at Western Response Garrison. We must hurry there to protect the Prince of Yan.” The prince’s household therefore sent money, a horse, and other offerings. They asked about the damage to the abbey and whether any Daoists had gone to the capital to solicit donations. The Daoists replied that no one had gone to the capital to raise funds.

The prince then petitioned the court, which sent gold, silver, money, and silk to rebuild the abbey. The court also granted one hundred ordination certificates—documents authorizing Daoists to enter the monastic order—and sent craftsmen to assist with the construction. When the work was complete, the abbey held a Daoist purification ritual (Zhaijiao) to celebrate, pray for blessings, and seek absolution. The lady also brought out her dowry and sold it to buy gold leaf, which was used to adorn the sacred images of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and Zhenwu in the abbey. She then had one thousand images of Zhenwu painted on silk and distributed them to the princes in the palace and to the civil and military officials and noble families of the court, for them to honor and worship.

The abbey thus received imperial favor and was granted the name “Abbey of Revered Spiritual Response and Sacred Power.” A stele was erected to record the event.

Jiao Shi, the wife of Wang Zhi, was granted the title Lady of Shouchang Commandery. She had no children throughout her life. In daily life she delighted in doing good and following the Dao, and often burned incense with reverence to honor the gods. One day, she went to the rear garden and saw that a pomegranate tree had withered and died, yet smoke and flames were rising from it on their own. Jiao Shi hurried to put out the fire, and it was extinguished at once. A divine figure suddenly appeared before the tree. Light shone brightly from him; his hair hung loose, he held a precious sword, and he stood upon a tortoise and a snake. Jiao Shi recognized him as the Perfected Lord Zhenwu, a deity revered in Daoism. She knelt and bowed to him, pleading for his compassion and aid. The Perfected Lord asked what she wished for. Jiao Shi replied that she hoped to have a child. He told her to come to the Zhenzhen Abbey outside Xuanhua Gate on the third day of the third month, and he would grant her a child who would one day attain high rank. As Jiao Shi was about to bow again, the Perfected Lord suddenly vanished.

Jiao Shi returned home and told Wang Zhi what had happened. On the third day of the third month, they went together to Zhenzhen Abbey. A Zhaijiao (purification ritual) was being held there that day to celebrate the birthday of the Perfected Lord Zhenwu, and male and female devotees had gathered. Suddenly, a tousle-haired child of about six or seven took hold of Jiao Shi and Wang Zhi and begged them for money and goods. Looking closely, Jiao Shi saw that the child’s appearance was unlike that of ordinary people, so she comforted him and asked about his circumstances. The child said he had no parents or relatives, and for many years had lodged and eaten at government offices and Daoist abbeys in various places. Jiao Shi took him home and raised him. His natural intelligence soon became apparent.

When the child was eight, Wang Zhi submitted a memorial asking the court for a favor, declaring the child to be his own son. The emperor asked, “You have often said you had no son. How is it that you now have a boy of your own?” Wang Zhi had no choice but to explain how he had encountered the Perfected Lord Zhenwu and been granted the child. The emperor listened in amazement for a long while, then asked about the child’s date and time of birth. Since his actual birth time could not be determined, the emperor took the third day of the third month that year, during the hour of the Snake (nine to eleven in the morning), as the basis and ordered the Astronomical Bureau to calculate his destiny.

After making its calculations, the Astronomical Bureau concluded that Wang Yuan’s destiny accorded with the five planets and the House lunar lodge. He would be suited to a military career and would distinguish himself on the frontier. His destiny also showed that he would rise to prominence from the north and wield authority. The emperor therefore gave him the name “Wang Yuan” and appointed him Right Attendant Commandant, with the status of an Inner Palace Senior Gentleman. The emperor also permitted him to be betrothed to the third Princess of Yue, the eldest princess, with the betrothal and wedding ceremonies to take place when he turned sixteen.

When Wang Yuan was fourteen, the court further appointed him a Gate Attendant. He accompanied his father to court for an audience and took part in the palace examinations, passing the military examination in strategic planning and earning permission to attend court ceremonies. At sixteen, he and the Princess of Yue held their betrothal ceremony, received the imperial seal and regalia, and became members of the imperial family. He was granted the titles Defense Commissioner of Binzhou and Imperial Son-in-Law. Wang Yuan petitioned the court for permission to use his salary and his wife’s dowry to build the Precious Pavilion of Zhenwu at Zhenzhen Abbey, and asked the court to bestow a signboard for it.

East of Mount Kuaiji in Yuezhou lies the Grotto-Heaven of Yangming. Since King Wenmu Qian established Longrui Palace, it had fallen into disrepair over the years, and the Palace’s Hall of Zhenwu was especially dilapidated.

On the night of the first day of the second month in the first year of the Chunhua era, Empress Wenyi dreamed at Yuhua Palace of a small child with tousled hair, dressed in a Daoist robe. He came to her and said, “I am a Daoist attendant at Longrui Palace in Yuezhou. The Palace is so poor that we have no clothes to wear and no rooms in which to shelter. We can only sleep in the open and suffer. Only the Empress can help us. I will surely repay you one day.” As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished in a flash of light.

The next morning, the Empress reported the dream in detail to the court and sent an envoy with incense to inspect Longrui Palace. After questioning the Daoist priests who guarded the Palace, the court’s attendant officials reported back: “Longrui Palace was built at the end of the Tang dynasty. After many years, it has become extremely dilapidated. The statues of the deity and his attendants in the Hall of Zhenwu have been battered by wind and sun and are lying on the ground.” The Empress then understood that the previous night’s dream was a manifestation of the Supreme Emperor of the Mysterious Heavens, who had come to ask her to repair the Palace and restore its incense offerings.

The Emperor issued an edict authorizing the Empress to fund the repairs. She gave up the valuables in her dressing case in exchange for ordination certificates, purple robes, gold, silver, and other goods, then dispatched court officials and appointed administrators to Yuezhou. They were given one year to rebuild the halls and repaint the statues. In Daoism, an ordination certificate (dudie) is proof granted to a Daoist priest, while a purple robe is a garment bestowed on Daoist priests.

After the work was completed, the Empress suddenly fell ill with a disorder that caused food to rise back up. Her condition did not improve for more than forty days. One day, she suddenly grew faint and her breathing became weak. Before long, her breath returned, her vomiting stopped, and she gradually began to recover. She said that she had just seen Zhenwu come down through the clouds. He thanked her for having Longrui Palace restored and said that her allotted lifespan was not yet over, though she had been ill for a long time. Zhenwu then ordered a young attendant to bring a purified vase and a purified bowl. From the vase, he poured five-colored sweet dew, a jade-like liquid, into the bowl and urged her to drink it. She felt the sweet dew flow into her heart like fine wine; her chest grew cool and clear, and her illness disappeared at once. When she opened her eyes, no one was there. Yet a wondrous fragrance remained in her mouth, her limbs felt light and at ease, and she could go about her daily life as usual. In this way, the response of the divine was made manifest.

The court later issued another edict and held a grand Zhaijiao (purification ritual), offering thanks in return for the deity’s grace.

On Mount Daluo at Qingcheng Mountain, Chengdu Prefecture, Sichuan, stands the Shangqing Yuhua Palace, the fourth of the celebrated grotto-heavens among the nation’s famous mountains. Each year, the court bestowed upon it Golden Registers and Jade Talismans, documents recording the events of the True Realm Lord’s ascension to Heaven, and twelve edicts of favor.

On the fifth day of the fifth month in the Mingdao era, the medicinal herb market opened in Chengdu Prefecture. On the sixth, itinerant Daoist priests from various places would often hurry to Yuhua Palace to attend the Zhenwu Ascension purification rite held on the seventh. It was said that immortals often descended to earth, manifesting their powers to transform and guide people, and even ascending to Heaven in broad daylight.

At that time there was a Daoist priest whose robe trailed behind him like a turtle’s tail. People took him for a monster spirit and kept their distance. Before long, they saw him reach a mountain peak with Keming, the son of Kou Tong, the prefecture’s military commissioner. Suspecting that Keming had been bewitched by a monster spirit, they gave chase with soldiers. The Daoist priest turned into a streak of white light and vanished, while Keming fell down without anyone noticing. From then on, Keming vowed to eat no more and speak no more.

Keming’s father, Kou Tong, was transferred to command the Yuanliang fortified town. For the next seven years, Keming lived with his family in Xingyuan Prefecture. On the fifth day of the fifth month in the third year of the Qingli era, before dawn, Keming quietly left home. Later, people saw him at Yuhua Palace in Yizhou, again traveling with the Daoist priest who had once trailed a “turtle’s tail.” The palace invited them both to attend the purification rite. When the rite began, everyone saw Keming but not the Daoist priest, and they were astonished.

As the offerings reached the ninth course, a great turtle suddenly appeared beneath Keming’s seat. It then carried him from his place and rose straight into the sky. Auspicious clouds gathered from every direction, and Keming ascended to Heaven seated on the turtle’s back. At the same time, his father, Kou Tong, saw Keming arrive at Yuanliang Fort to bid him farewell. Keming said, “I have now been appointed Judge of the Office for Investigating Lifespans of the Seven Primordials of the North Pole. My master, Zhenwu, has commissioned me to ascend to Heaven on the great turtle’s back.”

Later, Chengdu Prefecture reported to the court the name of the person who had ascended during the medicinal herb market that year. The court ordered an inquiry into Keming’s merits. In his statement, Kou Tong said that Keming was his only son, whom he had raised after buying him with money from a Daoist priest who was passing through. Keming devoted himself to self-cultivation, read Laozi’s Dao De Jing, liked to burn incense at night, and bowed to the North Pole each morning. He often recited the honorific name of his master, Zhenwu. He avoided forbidden foods, frequently observed purification and fasting, and never committed even the slightest act of deceit or wrongdoing.

After deliberation, the Secretariat concluded that exalted holy beings often descended to the human world in this way to guide people and raise them to Heaven. It therefore ordered Chengdu Prefecture to build a shrine hall where Daoist priests could burn incense and cultivate themselves, and to erect a stele recording the event. Keming was granted the title “Perfected Lord of Manifested Efficacy,” and the shrine was named the “Shrine of Manifested Efficacy.” The court also determined that Keming’s ancestral home was Qianhao Town in the Western Capital, and ordered a shrine to be built there as well.

The following account records another instance of the Northern Pole Zhenwu protecting the Song dynasty.

Chen Chou, formerly a Gentleman of the Court of Judicial Review in the Ministry of Justice, Prefect of Yingzhou, and General Commander of Gaoyang Pass, submitted a memorial saying: “In the fifth month of the fourth year of the Xingyuan era, seven brothers from the northern foreign territories, officials named Yi Shouxian and his brothers, came to the frontier bearing credentials for relations between the two states, vehicles, and goods including felt, silk, and incense, worth a total of more than fifty thousand strings of cash. They handed the goods over to the government’s trading agency for sale, intending to leave the proceeds temporarily in the government treasury until their later shipments arrived and the arrangements had been settled, then come back to collect the money. After that, they were unheard from for fifteen years.

“Later, when Taizu had ascended the throne and was preparing for the great sacrifice to Heaven, Yingzhou was short by more than fifty thousand strings of cash needed to reward the soldiers and had nowhere to borrow the money. Unexpectedly, Yi Shouxian and the others came forward and offered to let the government use that sum. Yingzhou was thus able to make up the rewards.

“Zheng Du, then Governor of Gaoyang Pass, summoned Yi Shouxian and the other six men and asked where the money had come from. They replied that it was not their own property. It had been left in the Xingyuan era, when Taizu was still serving under Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou and was stationed in Yingzhou.

“At that time, Taizu had encountered the planet Venus transformed into a Daoist priest dressed in white. The priest urged him to accumulate Daoist virtue and benevolence, saying that in time he would attain an extraordinary and distinguished position. Taizu asked what numinous power in the celestial realm could help him rise to prominence. The priest replied that rebellious enemies and disloyal subjects had arisen along the frontier, and the court had therefore entrusted Taizu with putting them down. Now that the rebels’ treacherous schemes were gradually being suppressed, this was all due to the unseen protection of the Northern Pole Zhenwu. After speaking, the priest turned into a streak of white light and ascended to Heaven.

“At that time, Taizu had held a grand Daoist rite for seven days and nights in Yingzhou, offering paper money to the gods of the celestial realm. He had also burned more than fifty thousand strings’ worth of gold paper. After the celestial realm checked the account, it concluded that the gold paper was not to be received there, and so placed it under the authority of the Northern Pole. It belonged to Zhenwu of You Sheng Monastery, and the accounts were kept by the Seven Officials of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper.

“It is said that Yi Shouxian and his six brothers were the seven attendants serving the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. After the founding of the Song dynasty, Zhenwu reported the matter to the Three Heavens, explaining in detail that the money from the rite, which had not originally been accepted, should be returned to the newly established Song dynasty to pay the accession rewards and the rewards for frontier soldiers. Zhenwu therefore sent the Seven Stars to borrow the names of temples in the north and present themselves as Yi Shouxian and the others. They transformed the money into goods such as felt, silk, and precious objects worth about fifty thousand strings of cash, deposited them in Yingzhou, and then returned them.

“A hundred li from the frontier stands Shouxian Temple, one of the Four Sages shrines. It is said that Zhenwu’s subordinates include seven attendants, each wearing a forehead band and yellow robe, holding an object shaped like a green fish, with a white sash at the waist and boots on their feet. They represent the five directions and five colors, as well as the Seven Primordials and Seven Stars, and assist Zhenwu in overseeing good and evil throughout the world. Their appearance is exactly like that of Yi Shouxian and the other six men. Once the questioning was over, the seven men suddenly vanished from the court hall like a gust of wind.”

Afterward, the prefect and other officials certified the account and submitted it to the court. The court ordered that the money first be used to pay the rewards, with the remaining matters to be examined and handled separately.

The Manifestation of Two Perfected Ones

Shi Guangzu, an Academician of the Hall of Literary Splendor, had recently received an imperial appointment to serve in Zhending Prefecture. He was also to hold the posts of Military Commissioner for Hebei West Circuit and Commissioner for Military Affairs and Pacification. On his way to take up his appointment, he passed through the territory of Chanzhou and spent the night at Yuantong Monastery.

A Daoist named Guo lived at the monastery. He came from Wudang County in Dengzhou and had resided there for fifteen years. He never spoke with anyone, and only grew unusual vegetables in each season for use in the monastery’s vegetarian kitchen.

One night, Shi Guangzu went with the monastery’s monks to visit the Daoist. Guo came out to greet them. After they returned to his quarters and sat down, Guo suddenly said to Shi Guangzu, “Academician, do not go to Zhending to take up your post. Your allotted years have run out. From the color of your face, you have only a few days left.” The monks were all astonished and unsettled by what they heard.

The next morning, the Daoist had vanished, and the seeds of the vegetables he had planted had all turned into ordinary varieties. Shi Guangzu therefore did not go to Zhending. Instead, he submitted a memorial requesting retirement and returned to Zhaozhou. That very day, at the hour of the Dragon, he suddenly asked for hot water to bathe. He then changed into his court robes and died in a quiet room.

Before the memorial that the governor of Chanzhou sent to the court had even reached the capital, Shi Guangzu manifested in the air and appeared beneath the Chongzheng Hall. He reported to the emperor: “Your servant went to Yuantong Monastery in Chanzhou and met my former companion, Perfected Guo. He concealed his true form and took on the appearance of a Daoist who grew vegetables, waiting there for me for fifteen years. Now he is about to depart. I, Shi Guangzu, was originally Perfected Zhongyuan, deputy counselor under the True Lord Zhenwu of the Northern Pole. Perfected Guo was an inspector of the Northern Pole, and his allotted lifespan was twenty-seven years. I was banished to the human world for sixty years; when the year of a Jiazi cycle came, I could return to the heavenly realm. If I had not come to bid Your Majesty farewell and thank you for more than thirty years of kindness and favor, I fear I would never again have the chance to pay my respects in person. I also have a son, Tingzhi. Although he has already been appointed to office, I fear his abilities are insufficient for the duties of government. I respectfully ask Your Majesty to look after him.” After speaking, he bowed farewell to the emperor and vanished.

Soon afterward, the Secretariat presented Chanzhou’s memorial. Its account largely matched what Shi Guangzu had said when he manifested, and the events were clearly recorded. The court posthumously bestowed on Shi Guangzu the title of Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent, and built a hall at Yuantong Monastery in Chanzhou to honor the manifested Perfected Ones Shi and Guo. The emperor ordered the monastery to be renamed “Abbey of Hidden Perfection and Heavenly Succession,” and a stele was erected to record the event.

Demanding Twenty Thousand Strings of Cash

The Songyang Abbey on Mount Heng, in Hengzhou—an abbey on Southern Mount Heng—was said to have been built with funds donated by the worthy Tang official Liu Zongyuan, who had the Hall of the Perfected Warrior constructed. Dedicated to the Perfected Warrior, the hall was finely crafted and towered high above its surroundings, making it the finest such building in the region. Later, the abbey’s abbot, Hao Yun, took charge. The hall hosted daily activities, including scripture recitation and the opening of its doors to worshippers, and received more than twenty thousand strings of cash in donations, which gradually accumulated.

Qian Cao, a former Deputy Commissioner of Transport, made plans and submitted a memorial to the court requesting a temporary loan of the twenty thousand strings of donated cash accumulated at the Hall of the Perfected Warrior. The money was then allocated to Tanzhou, Lizhou, and other places as working funds for tribute payments. Five years later, Qian Cao again took charge of transport affairs. One day, a Daoist submitted a petition, identifying himself as a disciple of the Songyang Abbey on Mount Heng and saying that the Hall of the Perfected Warrior had developed leaks and needed to be rebuilt. He requested the return of the twenty thousand strings of cash borrowed earlier. Qian Cao replied, “This money was borrowed by the government. Why submit a petition demanding its return? Besides, the foundations of the Hall of the Perfected Warrior at Songyang Abbey are broad and solid, yet recently it has suddenly begun to lean. Nor has any disciple submitted a petition to the Transport Office demanding this money.”

Afterward, Qian Cao developed white leprosy over his entire body. In pain and groaning, he had no choice but to resign from office and recuperate for half a year. One night, he dreamed that Hao Yun, a Daoist from Mount Heng, had come with divine beings to demand the return of the twenty thousand strings of cash. Only then did Qian Cao understand. He sold his property and returned the full amount to its original place, praying that his life and official position would be spared. As soon as he formed the intention to repay the money, his leprosy began to improve, and he stopped dreaming of anyone coming to demand payment. In less than a month, he had recovered.

Qian Cao went in person to Songyang Abbey to pay his respects to the Perfected Warrior. Before the money was delivered to the abbey, the hall remained tilted. Once it had been delivered and the handover completed, a storm broke out that night. After a great peal of thunder, the hall stood upright again. Later, after Qian Cao returned to office as a Hanlin academician, he personally reported this miraculous occurrence to the emperor. The emperor issued an edict granting Songyang Abbey on Mount Heng a plaque and a gold-lettered tablet inscribed with “Miraculous Efficacy,” and decreed that henceforth the government must not borrow the money or goods the abbey accumulated.

Huang Zonggu was a Daoist priest at Minghua Palace in Poyang County, Raozhou. He once followed his master, Zhu Shiyuan, to Xiadao Mountain in Hongzhou. After gaining some insight, he quietly left and traveled through western Sichuan for eight years.

In the tenth month of 1012, during the Dazhongxiangfu era, a fire broke out at Minghua Palace and nearly destroyed the entire complex. Only a small hall beside the corridor remained: the Zhenwu Hall, dedicated to the Great Emperor Zhenwu. The flames did not reach it. Afterward, the prefectural authorities issued an order to collect four thousand strings of official cash to fund repairs to Minghua Palace. It turned out that Huang Zonggu had earlier deposited money in the government treasury in the capital and left a receipt specifying that it be used for Minghua Palace. The authorities summoned Zhu Shiyuan and the others to question them. They said that Huang Zonggu had left the palace to travel eight years earlier, and they did not know whether he was alive or dead. How could he have foreseen a fire at the palace and deposited money in advance? They therefore did not dare to trust the claim.

Less than ten days later, Huang Zonggu returned in person, carrying a receipt from the Raozhou authorities for redeeming the funds, along with more than a thousand strings’ worth of gold and silver and items related to the Bureau of Sacrifices. He told his master that after leaving, he had entered Ziyan Mountain and met a Daoist priest. The priest invited him into a thatched hut to talk, saying he had a wish he had long been unable to fulfill and wanted to entrust it to him.

The priest said that in the tenth month of 1012, the Star Lord of Fire Virtue, who governs calamities involving fire, would enter the celestial region corresponding to the ancient state of Chen and shine upon the area around Raozhou, which was destined to suffer a fire. Zhenwu had pleaded with the Northern Emperor and the Fire Star on the people’s behalf, saying that the Raozhou region was peaceful and its people kind, and asking that the calamity be reduced. Zhenwu also pointed out that behind the Hall of the Three Pure Ones at Minghua Palace, near Poyang County, a map of the geography of Raozhou’s counties had been painted on the wall. If Minghua Palace and its Daoist community could be spared from destruction, he could pray for the whole prefecture to escape the fire. Hearing this, the Fire Star did not dare refuse. He asked whether Zhenwu was worshipped there. Zhenwu said that he was. Out of regard for Zhenwu, a disciple of the Lord Lao of the Golden Palace and Highest Clarity, the Fire Star agreed that when fire struck Minghua Palace, the Zhenwu Hall would be spared.

The priest then told Huang Zonggu to be away when the fire came. But, concerned that no one would continue repairing the palace, he asked Huang to solicit donations around the Bian River and set aside money and goods in the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng, the Northern Song capital, so that he could return home later and rebuild the complex. The priest said he was an old acquaintance from Poyang and that they would meet again when Huang returned to Minghua Palace. Then he sent Huang out of the hut. After walking a few steps, Huang looked back and saw that the hut had vanished, with no trace of anyone nearby. In a daze, he felt as if he had emerged from the clouds and mist. He left Ziyan Mountain and came to Bian Pass in Sizhou.

Afterward, Huang Zonggu carried 120 divination slips bearing the names of the Twelve Perfected Ones of Xishan, along with an image of Zhenwu. He vowed to raise funds by selling the slips and performing divinations, charging four coins per slip. His Daoist arts gradually became known, and after covering his daily expenses, he often earned five or seven hundred strings’ worth of cash each day. He converted his earnings into gold and silver and deposited them in different places. Over six years, he accumulated more than five thousand strings, which he deposited at the Temple of the Five Sacred Peaks.

One day, Huang Zonggu heard from merchants arriving from Raozhou that Minghua Palace had been destroyed by fire. He deposited the money and goods he had accumulated earlier in the government treasury in the capital, obtained a receipt, and prepared to return to Poyang County to claim them. When he got home, he found that Minghua Palace had indeed been struck by fire, with only the Zhenwu Hall left standing. He carefully examined the face of the image of Zhenwu in the hall and discovered that it was identical to the Daoist priest he had met on Ziyan Mountain.

Zhu Shiyuan and the others then went to Poyang County to collect Huang Zonggu’s deposited funds from the government and sell the Bureau of Sacrifices’ supplies and other materials. In less than five years, Minghua Palace had been rebuilt. Huang Zonggu submitted an account of what had happened to Raozhou, where it was recorded separately. The prefect, Xie Mao, and others issued a certificate and reported the matter to the court. Later, the court ordered that Minghua Palace be renamed Ning’an Palace, bestowed on Huang Zonggu the title “Master Tongxiang” and a purple robe, and added the words “Protecting the State” to the name of the existing Zhenwu Hall.

In Shan Prefecture lived a woman named Yang Suzhen, who supported herself by begging for food. At the time, she was living in the capital, and Yuan Qing, an official of the Sanluo Youzhi, often visited her home. Seeing that she had no other relatives but did possess a dowry and other valuables, Yuan Qing tricked her into leaving her hometown. They traveled by boat past Mengyang Lake and stopped for the night beside a reed-covered bank.

Yuan Qing got Suzhen drunk and pushed her into a deep pool, assuming she had drowned. He hurriedly called the boatmen and others, falsely claiming that the County Lady had become drunk and thirsty, and had accidentally fallen overboard while drawing water from the boat. He then had people pretend to search for her, making a show of wailing, and urged them to hurry back to the prefecture to perform rites for her soul.

When they reached Pu Prefecture, Yuan Qing sold Suzhen’s dowry and other belongings for more than a thousand strings of cash, which he squandered. He stayed in the area for half a year. One day, he suddenly spotted a woman in plain clothes on the street, reciting scriptures and begging for alms. Recognizing her as Yang Suzhen, he thought she was her ghost and was so terrified he could not speak. Suzhen had someone report him to the street patrol officer, and Yuan Qing was taken to the prefectural court for questioning.

During the interrogation, the authorities also asked Suzhen how she had survived. She said that her ancestors had once served at court. After her parents died, she had settled in Shan Prefecture and fallen into a life of prostitution. Although she was a courtesan, in her heart she admired the good Dao. She often worshipped Zhenwu, a revered deity in Daoism, and recited Daoist scriptures every day. Later, at Tianqing Monastery, she obtained a small-character edition of the Golden Book Wondrous Scripture of Zhenwu, given away as a donation. She placed it in a bag of colored silk, tied it into her hair, and wore it with her wherever she went.

That night, when Yuan Qing pushed her into the rushing water, she felt as if she were inside clouds and mist, her body floating in the air. Above her head, it seemed that a ring of light belonging to spirits and ghosts was turning, and she heard someone cry, “Protect the precious bundle!” At dawn, the spirits and ghosts dispersed. She found herself in the grass on the lakeshore, soaked through, while the Golden Book scripture talisman tied in her hair was the only thing untouched by the water. People living nearby took pity on her and brought her home to care for her until she regained consciousness. Only after making inquiries did she learn that she had reached the territory of Meng Prefecture.

After that, Suzhen sold her clothes, changed into plain garments, recited Daoist scriptures, and lived by begging for her daily needs. She passed through Heyang and Pu Prefecture, never expecting to encounter her enemy. She said that without the scripture in her hair, she would surely have sunk to the bottom and become an unjustly dead spirit with no one to make offerings to her, with no knowing when she might escape her suffering.

After the authorities in Pu Prefecture established Yuan Qing’s crimes, they reported the case to the court. The Secretariat ruled that Yuan Qing could not seek pardon by presenting an official credential, and ordered that he be dealt with according to the law. Suzhen recovered the remaining property and used it to purchase an Ordination Certificate from the Ministry of Rites. She took the name Zhongyan, became a Daoist, and accepted Tang Jintong, a female Daoist of Ciqing Palace, as her master.

From then on, Yang Zhongyan set out to solicit donations and built a Hall of the Three Pure Ones, a Hall of the Seven Primordial Lords, and a Pavilion of Zhenwu. She also had five thousand copies of the Zhenwu Scripture printed from the Golden Book edition and distributed widely. After Chancellor Xiang memorialized the matter, the emperor issued an edict granting her purple robes and the title “Great Master of Ciqing.” He also bestowed a new palace designation on Ciqing Palace, renaming it the Palace of Protecting the Sage.

After retiring, Wang Yibiao, an official in the Bureau of Carriages, returned to Suzhou. Having come to understand the fault of taking life, he resolved to hand-copy a Daoist scripture. He recruited Chen Fang and thirteen others to copy it each day before an image of Zhenwu, maintaining proper conduct and cleanliness and taking care not to miss a single character.

Zhou Weiji wrote much faster than the others. Later, his right hand suddenly became ill: his tendons tightened, and he could no longer hold a brush. Even so, the scripture continued to be copied and bound, and was gradually completed. The volumes copied by Chen Fang and the other twelve were all checked against one another. Wang Yibiao entrusted the seventeen cases copied by Zhou Weiji to Zhou himself. He did not inspect them volume by volume, but placed them all together in scripture cases. Wang Yibiao later vowed to present the scriptures to the Taiqing Yanfu Palace.

Yanfu Palace was an imperial Daoist sanctuary, so the court had to be notified first. The emperor issued an edict appointing the palace attendant Ren Qi and others to escort the scriptures there. As there was not yet a scripture hall, they were temporarily placed in the Hall of Zhenwu. When the hall doors were opened, black mist suddenly filled the air and fierce winds swirled. After the wind and mist subsided, the scriptures were neatly arranged on a table. But the volumes in one entire case kept falling out; no matter how often they were put back, they would not stay in place.

Wang Yibiao took out the fallen volumes to examine them and found that they had all been copied by Zhou Weiji. Suddenly, he heard someone beside him say, “These were falsified and omissions concealed out of a desire for speed, so the merit is incomplete.” Yet there was no one there—only a clay statue of a Zhifu, a Daoist divine general, with its back turned toward them.

Wang Yibiao realized that he had handled the matter improperly. He found a reliable copy of the original and checked the scriptures against it one by one, discovering many omissions. He then asked scholars to copy the missing passages and replace the faulty volumes before placing the scriptures in the hall. At that time, sores and swelling appeared on Zhou Weiji’s right hand, and pus and maggots continually poured from it. While begging in the marketplace, he said that when he copied the canon for Official Wang, he had deceived him and concealed omissions to spare himself effort. He had ruined this opportunity and was now receiving his retribution.

After investigating the cause, the palace attendant Ren Qi and the others entered the palace to report it. The emperor issued an edict to build a scripture hall at Yanfu Palace to house the Daoist scriptures donated by Wang Yibiao.

During the Yongxi era, Yang Fang, a ritual official at the Great Yu Temple in Yuezhou, devoted his life to Zhenwu, a revered Daoist deity. He often burned incense and paper offerings on behalf of the people of the prefecture and prayed for their protection. The requests he made were often answered.

At the time, Chen Chou, Vice Minister of Revenue and Prefect of Yuezhou, suddenly received an urgent imperial order summoning him to the capital. Worried about what might await him, he called in practitioners of Yin-Yang divination to seek an answer. Someone told him that Yang Fang served Zhenwu and was highly accurate in interpreting divination slips. Chen therefore went to the Zhenwu shrine at Qianming Abbey and drew the fourth slip of the Yellow Perfected Lord. After examining it closely, Yang Fang interpreted it as foretelling a fatal disaster within 120 days. He warned Chen not to take a position of authority in the northeast, or to command troops or lead an army on campaign.

Chen flew into a rage and had Yang Fang imprisoned. He made an agreement with him: if even a minor disaster occurred within 120 days, Chen would give up his official rank in exchange for a reward for Yang Fang. But if the period passed without incident, he would interrogate Yang Fang and hold him to account for spreading falsehoods and using them to extort money.

Later, well after the 120-day period had passed, an imperial order arrived in Yuezhou releasing Yang Fang, appointing him assistant instructor in the prefecture, and allowing him to continue as ritual official at the Great Yu Temple. After reaching the capital, Chen Chou was appointed pacification commissioner of Zhengzhou and military supervisor for the circuit, responsible for pacifying the region and commanding its forces. He was sent to suppress the rebellion of He Qing and others at Tiger Head Mountain in Qizhou. Chen thought that although Yang Fang’s divination had not come true in every detail, it seemed to have offered a warning: Zhengzhou lay to the northeast, and Chen had been given command of troops.

When Chen took leave of the emperor, he reported what had happened. He then went directly to Tiger Head Mountain to suppress He Qing and the other rebels. On the way, his forces were ambushed at night and scattered. Chen rode off in the dark, but his horse stumbled and he fell into a deep ravine. He felt that a divine being with long, loose hair had lifted him, horse and all, back onto the bank. He retraced his route and rejoined the government troops. The next day, after reorganizing his forces, he resumed the march and eventually had He Qing and the other rebels executed.

After returning to the capital, Chen did not take up his post in Zhengzhou. Overcome with terror, he became mentally unwell and fell ill, seeking medical treatment. He later submitted another memorial, saying that the danger Yang Fang had foretold had come to pass and that he owed his rescue entirely to Zhenwu. He asked that Yang Fang be rewarded. Chen also petitioned to have a Zhenwu shrine built within Yuezhou’s city walls and personally contributed his salary to hold a Zhaijiao purification ritual at Qianming Abbey, giving thanks for Zhenwu’s divine protection.

Wang Zhong, a retired official from Suzhou who had served as a Gentleman of the Department of Carriages, was once again appointed by imperial decree as Assistant Director of the Directorate of Education. To thank the Perfected Warrior deity, he set up a shrine at home, reported his prayers to the deity, and obtained an auspicious fortune slip. He then set out to take up his post.

On the way, he met a Daoist priest on the banks of a pond beside the Bian River. The priest clasped his hands and said that he was skilled in physiognomy. Wang Zhong invited him aboard his boat, served him tea, and asked where he lived in seclusion. The priest said his surname was Pei and that he was a disciple of the Yuntai Abbey on Mount Hua. Wang Zhong brought out one hundred and twenty gold pieces and asked him to read his face. After examining Wang’s complexion, the priest said he would be promoted to a post as an editor. Wang Zhong replied that he was currently serving as Assistant Director, also an office appointed by the state. He then asked how far his career and lifespan would extend.

The Daoist priest immediately rose and went ashore. Turning back, he warned Wang Zhong: “Just remember this: in the future, do not accept a post in the Historiographers’ Pavilion, and do not go on business in the Geng-Xin direction, which is the west. If you do, you may die of hunger in a snowstorm, with no one to gather your bones.” With that, the priest headed east and refused the payment. Wang Zhong took no heed of his words.

Later, when affairs in the Western Regions grew unsettled, the court recommended Wang Zhong as an envoy. He had previously served in the Department of Carriages, now held the post of Assistant Director of the Directorate of Education, and was also acting as Censor-in-Chief and serving as a Palace Attendant of the Tianzhang Pavilion. Delighted with these appointments, he forgot the priest’s warning.

Wang Zhong traveled to the western frontier, where the ruler of the Fan state, Li Wanquan, held a banquet in his honor. During the feast, the ruler made cutting remarks, repeatedly humiliating him. As he was about to leave and return home, Wang Zhong feared he would be held responsible for having suffered such humiliation. He persuaded his attendants to stay behind, then fled alone on horseback into Yang Mountain. On the way, he was repeatedly trapped by heavy snow and took shelter in a rocky cave, where he went more than ten days without food.

At that moment, the Daoist priest Pei appeared again and said to him: “I am no ordinary person. I am the Perfected Warrior deity whom you worship. If you had followed my guidance and refused the posts of Censor-in-Chief and Palace Attendant of the Tianzhang Pavilion, this calamity could have been avoided. The Geng-Xin direction is where the western Fan lands lie. You are to die of hunger in the snow, and that day is today. It is too late to regret it now. I must go.” Wang Zhong was filled with remorse, but nothing could be undone. He died on Yang Mountain, and his bones were left unburied.

After the attendants made their way back to the capital, the authorities investigated the matter and submitted a report. Wang Zhong had not originally been chosen as an envoy; the calamity that later befell him was said to have been fixed by fate from the start. The scripture says that the Perfected Warrior had clearly shown him how to avoid disaster, but he failed to understand and therefore lost his life. The court did not revoke the titles of Censor-in-Chief and Palace Attendant of the Tianzhang Pavilion that had been temporarily granted to him during his lifetime. It awarded him the customary payments for an official of his rank, held a rite to summon his soul, and buried him.

In Xianping County, Dongjing, there lived a man named Hu Qing, who made his living selling cooked food. On the fifth day of the fifth month, he bound a parrot and a goose, intending to slaughter them. Unexpectedly, the knife in his hand suddenly snapped in two. The birds survived, while the broken blade wounded his hand and hot blood gushed out. Hu Qing realized that killing birds and livestock was wrong. He gave up his old livelihood and set out for the capital to find other work.

That night, heavy rain fell on the road, so Hu Qing took shelter in an old temple and stayed there. At about the third watch, he saw a divine being with long, loose hair, holding a precious sword and dressed in golden armor. The figure woke him and said, “Do you know that the resentful spirits of the countless living beings you have killed are following you? They dare not enter this temple. You still have thirty years of heavenly allotment—life and blessings granted by Heaven. Be sure to cherish them and keep yourself in check.”

When the divine being had finished speaking, he rode a tortoise and serpent up into the sky. Hu Qing awoke with a start and saw that the skies had cleared and the moon shone brightly. He looked around the temple, but there were no statues or paintings of a deity, only a plaque inscribed, “Shrine of Zhenwu, Guardian of the State.”

After more than a month in the capital, Hu Qing had run out of money. He remembered that Zhenwu, the deity he had seen at the temple on the way, had said he had thirty years of heavenly allotment. He concluded that he would have little chance of making a living unless he joined the army, so he began training diligently in martial arts. In less than two years, the court held the imperial examinations. Hu Qing took the tests in archery, horsemanship, spear, and staff, excelling in every skill. Out of a thousand candidates, the emperor personally selected him for first place. The court first appointed him a Third-Class Palace Attendant, then summoned him to the hall and asked what special abilities he possessed and where he had learned such mastery of martial arts.

Hu Qing told the truth: he had once encountered a divine being, whose predictions had now come true in every detail. He was then promoted to Third-Class Court Service and stationed for many years on the frontier. Later he rose to the post of Director of Workshops and also served as Grand Patrol Inspector of Runzhou. Throughout his life, Hu Qing served the Great Emperor Zhenwu and maintained offerings of incense in his honor.

In the eighth year of the Tiansheng reign, a minor official named Yang Zhonghe from Xuzhou in the western capital circuit was sent to Caizhou to investigate a case. He abused the law in his judgment, sentencing Zhu Xijie to thirteen blows of the buttock cane. Later, Xu Yi, the administrative judge who had investigated the case, reviewed the matter. After assessing his record, he was set to receive a promotion, but had not yet been given the reward he was due.

Xu Yi held a Zhaijiao (Daoist purification ritual) at Tianqing Abbey in Xuzhou, praying for a smooth promotion. He asked the Daoist Pei Junsou to compose and recite a Qingci, a memorial presented to Heaven during Daoist rites. Holding the Qingci, Pei Junsou knelt in worship beside the altar table. About two shichen later, he rose and told Xu Yi that he had carried the memorial to the Golden Gate, where the Jade Emperor dwells. Beneath the Third Gate of Heaven, he had encountered the Great Emperor of the North Pole and Purple Tenuity. The Perfected Lord Zhenwu, renowned for his numinous responses, was there presenting a report. Seeing Pei Junsou arrive with Xu Yi’s Qingci, he told him:

“When Xu Yi investigated Qian Ju and the others in Caizhou, he discovered that they had hidden family assets worth more than two hundred thousand, bribed officials to pervert the law, and forced a younger brother of their own blood to take another family name. Yet Yang Zhonghe caused the witness Zhu Xijie to suffer injustice and deliberately sentenced her to the cane. Because of this wrongful case, Xu Yi’s promotion has been blocked in the underworld. Yang Zhonghe and the others have now been found guilty, and their offenses are to be reported to the Jade Emperor. Leave the Qingci here and hurry back.”

Afterward, Xu Yi completed his term and left office. Yang Zhonghe also resigned his clerkship and returned home, vowing to do good and atone for his wrongdoing. He bought an image of the sacred Zhenwu, burned incense before it morning and evening, observed a long-term vegetarian diet, and recited Zhenwu’s honored name. Every day he welcomed Buddhist monks, Daoist priests, the poor, and the helpless. If a family had suffered a death but could not afford a burial, he would sell his own belongings and give them money to lay the dead to rest.

The Yang family gradually fell into decline. After his wife died, he sold his young son to the household of Li Yuanwai, then gave away all six thousand coins he received. People in the prefectural city came to call him a lay devotee. For twenty years he lived with help from relatives and friends. Later he moved to a secluded lane and devoted himself wholly to worshipping Zhenwu.

One day, a poor Daoist came to visit and said to him, “You were once a minor official, and the offenses you committed still remain. How is it that you have now repented, left your family, and accepted poverty, while continually serving the sacred Perfected Ones? Your repentance seems sincere and will surely move Heaven to grant you pardon. I have a book I can pass on to you; with the art it contains, you can also earn a living.” As soon as the Daoist finished speaking, he vanished. Yang Zhonghe opened the book and found it contained the Divination Slips of the Twelve Perfected Ones of Xishan. He made 120 bamboo slips, placed them in a bamboo tube, and set them before the image of Zhenwu. In fewer than ten days, people were coming in great numbers to draw slips, whose verses proved as accurate as divine revelations. Those who drew a slip often gave thirty or fifty pieces of gold; some left only a hundred coins in thanks. Even the prefectural officials came to seek answers.

Later, Li Chengdao, the newly appointed director of household affairs in the prefecture, sent people to look for Yang Zhonghe. He said that when he was seven or eight, he had been sold to a neighbor, Li Fuzhi. At thirteen, his adoptive father’s grandfather, Attendant Li Zhongli, had petitioned the court, enabling him to inherit a hereditary privilege. At nineteen, after taking part in the official selection, he had been appointed director of household affairs in the prefecture. He had learned that all his relatives had died and that only his birth father, Yang Zhonghe, remained, so he had sent people to acknowledge their kinship. But the messengers told him that Yang Zhonghe had also recently died, and that all his clothing and belongings, apart from what was needed for burial, had been confiscated by the authorities. Li Chengdao wept with grief. He then established merit in temples and abbeys and performed rites in his father’s memory.

One evening, while Li Chengdao was alone in his study, he saw an old man in Daoist robes standing in the air. The old man said, “I am your birth father, Yang Zhonghe. Now that you hold office, you must be upright and loyal. After repenting, I took refuge in the Supreme Perfected Ones and received from the sacred Perfected One the Divination Slips of the Twelve Perfected Ones of Xishan. With them, I helped the poor and the aged. Now that my allotted years have ended, the Eastern Peak Office examined my records and found me upright in both mind and conduct. It appointed me Registrar of Fates in the Prefecture of Masi Creek. Zhenwu also granted a prophecy: once I complete this assignment, I am to serve in the administration of the Seven Origins. There is one wish I have yet to fulfill. The image of Zhenwu, the tube of slips, and the ritual implements I worshipped in life have all been confiscated by the authorities and left gathering dust in the military supply depot. You can bring these sacred images and objects home and worship them sincerely; they will surely help you accumulate good merit.” When he had finished speaking, the old man disappeared.

Later, the authorities appraised these objects and put them up for sale. Li Chengdao redeemed them and placed them in the Masi Shrine, where he worshipped them every day. One day, the court sent its attendant Yuan Liangbi to Mount Xiantu in Wusheng Army to pray for the Empress Dowager, who had long suffered from a heart ailment. He was to conduct a Golden Dragon and Jade Tablets Fajiao, a Daoist prayer rite using ritual objects such as a golden dragon and jade tablets. When Yuan Liangbi passed through Xuzhou, he and the prefect Luo Zongmeng saw a red glow enveloping a building to the southwest of the government offices. They sent someone to investigate and learned that the light came from the Director of Household Affairs’ office, where officials and residents were burning incense and paying their respects before an old image of Zhenwu and a tube of numinous divination slips. The red glow surrounded them and did not fade for a long time.

Luo Zongmeng and Yuan Liangbi went to see for themselves. Yuan Liangbi tried seeking guidance from a slip on behalf of the Empress Dowager and drew the tenth slip of Perfected Lord Zhong. Its verse indicated great good fortune. He recorded the matter himself and reported it to the court. By then, the Empress Dowager had already dreamt of an auspicious omen, and her condition was gradually improving. The message on the divination slip matched the signs in her dream exactly.

The court then ordered Xuzhou to investigate the matter. Later, Yu Fu, the regional judicial commissioner, used his authority to pressure Li Chengdao into handing over the image of Zhenwu, the tube of slips, and the ritual implements. As soon as the objects were brought to Yu Fu’s home, the painted silk peeled away in pieces and transformed into butterflies that flew into the sky. The bamboo slips had already been requisitioned by the court and are now kept in the Palace’s Baoying Pavilion.

The court issued an edict allowing Li Chengdao to resume the Yang surname and appointing him as a registrar in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. It posthumously bestowed on Yang Zhonghe the title Lord Wuben. Yang Chengdao had only just received his promotion when he, too, died. To this day, a shrine to Lord Yang and his son remains in Xuzhou, and those who go there to pray often receive a response.

Sun Liangsi, an official of the Left Palace Attendants in Xingnan Prefecture, devoted his life to Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior—the Daoist deity venerated as the Lord of the Dark Heaven, the god of the north. His devotion was sincere and reverent, and he often received responses from the divine. Seeing how people in the secular world frequently killed living creatures, he reflected that all beings were caught in the cycle of birth and death. How could anyone bear to do such a thing?

He often went to the markets. Whenever he saw someone selling living animals, he bought them: birds were carried in cages, while fish, turtles, and other aquatic creatures were kept in vessels of water. At dawn, before people had risen, he released them. He kept this up for fifteen years. In time, Sun Liangsi naturally came to understand the principles of things and awaken to his own nature, and his deeds often brought about wondrous responses. People called him “Master Sun.”

One day, he suddenly died despite having shown no signs of illness. After consulting an oracle, people buried him south of Jishan. As they dug the grave, they saw many crows carrying earth in their beaks. When they packed the earth to build the mound, a pool welled up inside the grave, and fish and turtles appeared in it. A lingzhi mushroom also grew from the ground. At the burial, clouds of five colors auspiciously covered the area in every direction.

Officials, residents, Buddhist monks, and Daoist priests from across the prefecture gathered at the grave. They prepared incense, flowers, and offerings, and performed a ritual accompanied by conch shells and cymbals. The prefect, Zhang Tinglao, who also served as an Admonition Grandee, presided over the rites. A devotee of Daoism, he walked to the grave in person. A small opening appeared before it, revealing a tortoise and a snake twisting and leaping playfully. From this, everyone understood that Master Sun had ultimately entered the service of Zhenwu in the Northern Pole, becoming a divine attendant who assisted him. After appearing for a time, these wondrous signs disappeared of their own accord.

Since such an extraordinary person had appeared within the prefecture and manifested so many auspicious signs, the matter should, in principle, have been reported to the court. Later, an official document arrived from the Secretariat ordering that a temple be built at Master Sun’s grave and a stele erected to record his miraculous deeds. The temple was granted the name “Temple of Lord Sun.”

End of Record of the Sage’s Awakening: The Lord of the Dark Heaven, Scroll Seven

Record of the Sage’s Awakening: The Lord of the Dark Heaven, Scroll Eight

Yuan Yan’s Transformation through Awakening

In Tanzhou, it was customary for households to contribute funds each year for animal-release assemblies held on the third day of the third month, the eighth day of the fourth month, the sixth day of the sixth month, and the eighteenth day of the eighth month. At these assemblies, animals bought with the pooled contributions were released back into the wild.

In Tanzhou, in the area of present-day Changsha, Hunan, households contributed money each year to hold four life-release assemblies, on the third day of the third month, the eighth day of the fourth month, the sixth day of the sixth month, and the eighteenth day of the eighth month. On the third day of the third month in the first year of the Kangding era, which coincided with the birthday of Zhenwu, a northern deity revered in Daoism, people had bought live birds and aquatic creatures in advance and placed them in cages and containers. On the appointed day, everyone set out from Xiangfu Palace, escorting the creatures through the streets to the great river. There they recited praises and prayers, then released the birds, beasts, and fish. Some birds rose into the sky only to fall back down; some fish, once put in the water, floated belly-up on the surface. Members of the association retrieved them and examined them one by one. Some birds had been caught in glue-covered nets or netted cages; others had been shot with slingshots and bore wounds. Among the aquatic creatures—fish, shrimp, clams, and turtles—some had been caught on hooks or in net baskets, leaving their scales, shells, heads, or tails damaged. The sight filled everyone with sorrow. When the purification rites were over, they scattered the creatures in remote places outside the city so that the townspeople would not see them. The association members then returned to the government offices for the purification assembly, where the officiating Daoist, Zhou Yuanyan, took the hall and explained the Scripture of Zhenwu from beginning to end.

At that point, a wandering Daoist in the assembly asked Zhou Yuanyan, “Today, the assembled beings of the seas from all directions are here to bear witness. Please explain the circumstances behind this ritual, so that everyone may come to understand.” Zhou Yuanyan replied, “Tanzhou holds four such assemblies each year. Today’s is to celebrate the birthday of the numinously responsive Perfected Lord Zhenwu. The eighth day of the fourth month is the birthday of the Buddha Shakyamuni; the sixth day of the sixth month is the birthday of the Lord of the Eastern Peak, Mount Tai, who governs the length of human life; and on the eighteenth day of the eighth month, the Dragon Lords and Divine Mothers of the Four Seas and Nine Rivers gather in the Eastern Sea to inspect and register the aquatic beings. People buy live birds and fish, take them from their cages, and release them into the water. That is why this is called a life-release assembly.”

The wandering Daoist answered, “This is not life release. It is deliberate killing, deceptive killing, ignorant killing, and killing for profit. If it is not killing, why do the birds released today fail to fly and the fish fail to swim? Birds naturally live in forests and open country; fish, turtles, clams, and mussels naturally grow in rivers, lakes, and marshes. The lives of birds and aquatic creatures are no different from human lives. Those destined to be killed to repay the debt of human consumption will meet their own appointed fate. Do you know that it is precisely because of this assembly that many creatures are trapped and die? Foolish people give no thought to the burden of their sins and crave only immediate profit. They go to every length to catch creatures day and night, then wait until they have gathered enough. Driven by hunger, fewer than one in ten survives; even those lucky enough to live are injured. This is deliberate, deceptive, profit-seeking, ignorant killing. To do this year after year is to pile up karmic wrongdoing. How can it be called saving lives? Besides, Zhenwu is a blessed deity of the high northern heavens, who governs the world impartially. How could he accept as offerings creatures secretly captured and killed by people?”

Zhou Yuanyan had no reply. He descended from his seat, bowed, and urged the Daoist to stay so he could ask his name. But the Daoist had vanished without anyone noticing, leaving no trace. Then everyone saw the birds and fish that had not been released turn into white light inside their cages and containers and fly into the sky. The association members had all witnessed this with their own eyes. They understood that Zhenwu, moved by compassion and pity for living beings, had personally descended to teach them. From then on, Tanzhou stopped holding life-release assemblies and instead held assemblies to give aid to the poor.

Chen Xiang, the governor of Tanzhou at the time, reported the matter to the court. The court approved the action and referred it to the relevant offices, which composed a warning document explaining that life release in fact caused killing and brought no benefit. The document was printed and distributed to officials, Daoist temples, and Buddhist monasteries, with orders that it be followed.

Wang Gun once served as an assistant director in the Court of Review at Suzhou, an official responsible for criminal law, finances, and other affairs. He later became magistrate of Wuhu County in Taiping Prefecture. He was stubborn by nature and fond of delicacies. He would often place live softshell turtles over a fire, take out their flesh while they were still alive, and cook it in porcelain vessels. His son, Wang Changxiu, repeatedly urged him, along with his mother, to stop eating them, but Wang Gun would never listen.

On the third day of the third month, a life-release gathering was held in the county town, and people went to offer paper at Chaoyuan Abbey. Wang Changxiu went to watch and asked the abbey’s Daoist priest, Cheng Zijian, “I often see life-release gatherings held at Buddhist temples on the eighth day of the fourth month. Why are people gathering at a Daoist abbey on the third day of the third month?”

Cheng Zijian replied, “The third day of the third month is the birthday of Zhenwu. Those who understand the practice of goodness make offerings in accordance with ritual on this day and release carp, softshell turtles, eels, and other creatures. These are all important objects of worship for Zhenwu. Carp belong to Gui Water of the north; at night they face north and have seven spots on their heads. The softshell turtle resembles a divine tortoise, and the eel resembles a sacred serpent. Releasing these three kinds of creatures expresses a wish not to take life. It is also a way to repent for sins, avert calamities, and pray for blessings.”

After hearing this, Wang Changxiu went home and told his mother, then passed the story on to his father. Wang Gun was set in his ways and would not heed their advice. Wang Changxiu therefore secretly asked Cheng Zijian for an image of Zhenwu and instruction in the inherited rites and observances, including the taboos. Once home, he and his mother, wife, and elder brother set aside a separate room for worship.

Some years later, Wang Gun was promoted to Director of the Office of Carriages and Horses, an official responsible for those affairs, and appointed to oversee patrols in Xingzhou. He set out alone for his post. Near the halfway point, he saw a Daoist standing in front of his horse. The man said, “Are you Director Wang Gun, on your way to Xingzhou? That is where you will repay your debt of life.” Wang Gun tried to ask more, but the Daoist suddenly vanished.

When Wang Gun arrived in Xingzhou, he still hankered after fish and softshell turtles. Since none were produced there, he beat his attendants and ordered them to find some by whatever means they could. Afterward, he fell ill. His condition gradually worsened, and no treatment helped. One night he cried out that countless wronged spirits of shelled aquatic creatures were clinging to him and demanding his life. His throat was blocked and his breathing labored; his limbs ached, and he could neither sit nor lie comfortably. He could neither live nor die. In his agony, he felt as if something had bitten down on the five fingers of his right hand. The pain was unbearable, and he cried out, “Zhenwu, Perfected Lord!” At once, he felt his breath blocked between his chest and throat, and his whole body grew cold. Only after a long while did he gradually catch his breath, and his breathing steadied.

He then said, “I, Wang Gun, am stubborn by nature. Since childhood I have loved softshell turtle meat roasted over a fire, and I ignored my wife’s and elder brother’s warnings. Later, my family enshrined Zhenwu, but I still did not change my ways. On the road I met a Daoist who said that the place ahead was where I would repay my debt of life. In my ignorance, I failed to understand. That is why I have fallen ill with this unbearable pain.”

He also said that, in his delirium, he called out repeatedly to the Perfected Lord for help. Suddenly, he felt himself on a mountain. Before Zhenwu, he saw several rows of wronged spirits in the form of softshell turtles, bearing fiery blades and demanding his life in bitter resentment. Zhenwu pointed at him and said, “You have wantonly killed living creatures to satisfy your appetite. The spirits of those you have wronged follow and torment you, leaving you no way to escape. The Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water have already descended to investigate. Your crimes have cost you twenty years of life and good fortune; by rights, you should die in Xingzhou. Yet your wife and children have devoted themselves to purification and abstinence and kept incense burning in my honor…”