《云笈七签》Vol. 47

Chengsi was pecked by crows and suffered such unbearable pain that he tried to drive them away but could not. In a dazed, confused state, he collapsed to the ground and took a long time to recover. This continued for a year, and none of the remedies he tried could help.

When the Daoist Luo Gongyuan of Qingcheng was traveling in the Huai and Si river regions, Chengsi invited him to his home and asked what ritual could dispel the intolerable pain. Luo Gongyuan said, “Vengeful spirits are at work. They have brought a complaint before the Heavenly Emperor and received a celestial warrant to come and take revenge. No human technique can avert this. Only by holding a Yellow Register Daoist retreat—a large-scale Daoist purification ritual—offering petitions and memorials, and reporting the matter to Heaven can this karmic burden be resolved.”

Chengsi therefore held a Yellow Register retreat for three days and three nights. After the second day, the crows stopped coming. His wife and son appeared to him in a dream and said, “You unjustly killed the two of us, mother and child, and used poison to take our lives. I brought a complaint before the Heavenly Emperor and was granted leave to take revenge on you. Now, through the merit of the Yellow Register purification rite, the Most High—the Daoist title for the supreme divine being—has issued an edict. I have ascended to Heaven and received many blessings, and I have also released our grievance against you forever. I am leaving you a jade box; you may keep it.”

When Chengsi awoke, he indeed found a jade box in his bedchamber. He presented it to the Kaiyuan Monastery in Ezhou and devoted himself to building up merit for the Daoist community, commissioning sacred images and repairing the monastery buildings, in gratitude for the Dao’s grace.

The Efficacy of Wu Tao’s Yellow Register Retreat in Turning Back an Army

Wu Tao was from Kaifeng in Bianzhou and came from a wealthy family. He once served as a great general of the Wei state, commanding thirty thousand troops, …

The army of Chijiang entered Shu and reached Rongzhou, where it met fifty thousand troops led by the Shu general Guan Yu. Chijiang and Guan Yu fought on both land and water.

Chijiang had always been devoted to Daoist arts and often recited the Scripture of the Yellow Emperor on the Hidden Talisman. On this day, after his army was defeated, he prayed to Heaven: “I have heard that those who recite the Scripture of the Hidden Talisman receive unseen help from the spirits in times of danger. Now I have suffered a crushing defeat. I beg Heaven to save and protect me.”

As soon as he had spoken, two figures dressed in white appeared and said to him, “Ever since you entered the gorge, you have killed people at will. The souls of the dead in the underworld resent you and have lodged complaints, and so this defeat has come upon you.”

Chijiang asked, “Now that I am in such dire straits, how can I escape?” The two divine beings replied, “Quickly pray to Heaven and make a vow on behalf of those wronged souls. Ask to hold a Yellow Register Great Retreat, a Daoist purification ritual for delivering the souls of the dead, praying for blessings, and averting calamity. Rescue and redeem the deceased in this way, and you will avoid further defeat.” Chijiang made the vow as they instructed.

By then, Guan Yu had also withdrawn his troops. Chijiang gathered his remaining soldiers and hurried to Yiling, where he encamped. Soon afterward, he held a Yellow Register ritual for three days. The two divine beings appeared again and told him, “The wronged souls have all been reborn in various places, and you have gained some blessings as a result. Divine troops will secretly protect you, and you are certain to win a great victory. But be cautious and do not kill people. Heaven and Earth nurture all things, hoping that even every blade of grass and every leaf may grow to completion. How much more precious is human life, which corresponds to the stars above? How can you kill people arbitrarily, simply as you please?”

The divine beings continued, “Among the famous generals of past and present, those whose achievements fail to last three generations are those who scheme and plot against others, killing to benefit themselves. Even when winning merit for the state, one must act in accordance with the Way, distinguish right from wrong, and avoid killing the innocent, so that merit and fault are clearly accounted for. Only then can one achieve success in battle and receive the protection of the spirits. Shu will soon fall; this can already be foreseen.”

A little over ten days later, Guan Yu’s army arrived at Yiling. As the two sides fought, wind and thunder roared, and a sudden downpour fell. Guan Yu’s troops broke and scattered. Chijiang opened the city gates to accept their surrender, taking three thousand Shu soldiers prisoner and capturing a deputy general. Guan Yu led his army back. From then on, Shu gradually declined.

Gongsun Pu was a native of Gaoling in Yongzhou. In the second year of the Wude era, he served as assistant administrator of Huazhou. He was then over forty years old, fond of rich food and drink, and given to indulgence in wealth and women. He often had his household servants catch fish, angle for fish, shoot birds, and hunt, killing living creatures at will to satisfy his appetite.

One night, he dreamed that more than a thousand people armed with swords, bows, and arrows burst into his home, seized him, and killed him. He awoke in terror, drenched in sweat. Soon afterward, he developed a severe ulcerous illness: sores covered his entire body, and each opening seemed to have a mouth and tongue. The pain was unbearable day and night, yet even death would not come.

His cousin Jia Xuangu, the magistrate of Huayin County, saw his condition and said in astonishment, “I have never seen sores like these. They must be the result of killing too many living beings and accumulating a long burden of past karma.”

Yao Deyi, a Daoist priest on Mount Hua, was skilled in many secret remedies for illness. Jia Xuangu advised Gongsun Pu to send someone to seek his help. Following this advice, Gongsun Pu sent his eldest son to Mount Hua to explain the illness in detail and plead for aid in tears. Yao Deyi said, “This illness was brought about by taking lives and harming living beings, and by the many wronged spirits involved. You can hold a Yellow Register Great Retreat, a Daoist purification ritual (Zhaijiao), to repent for the grievances and karmic debts formed in the past. Then there is hope that the illness will be cured.”

His son told Ge Pu what had happened. Ge Pu then established a Yellow Register ritual altar at his residence—a Daoist Zhaijiao rite held to avert calamity and deliver the dead—and conducted the ceremony for seven days in succession. On the fifth day, he dreamed that two azure youths, celestial attendants, led him to a place with a tall, splendid gatehouse, like the offices of an official government.

After a long while, a yellow light as bright as the sun appeared in the sky and shone straight down into the underworld. The great gate immediately swung open. Creatures of every kind—fish, turtles, birds and beasts, pigs, sheep, oxen, and horses—poured out by the hundreds and thousands. Riding the yellow light, they turned into human forms in an instant and flew into the sky. Before long, they had all vanished. The azure youths said, “These are all the wronged souls of those you killed. A celestial decree has now been issued. Through your merit, they may be reborn as human beings. Your karmic burden has been cleared, and your sores will heal.” Within ten days, Ge Pu had indeed recovered.

Afterward, Ge Pu went to Mount Hua and bowed to thank Master Yao. He wandered among the mountain’s clouds, springs, and streams, reluctant to leave its tranquil beauty, until dusk. De Yi said, “There is no food in the mountains, so I cannot keep you here overnight; if you stay, your servants may go hungry. There is a path here that will take you home.” De Yi took out a scroll of an immortal scripture and tossed it onto a cliff. The scroll unfolded and became a bridge. Two azure dragons supported it, casting five-colored rays of light, brilliant as a painting. De Yi saw Ge Pu and his servants across the bridge, and in moments they were home.

The next day, Ge Pu sent someone into the mountains to offer thanks, but discovered that De Yi was gone. Afterward, Ge Pu and his entire family cultivated the Dao and lived on Mount Huayang.

Scroll 121, Section on Efficacious Accounts, Part Five

◎ The Efficacy of Master Hu’s Cultivation of Pure Abstinence

Hu Zunshi, whose given name was Zong, called himself “Wei” (pronounced “fu guo qie”). He lived at Ziji Palace in Zizhou. He once crossed the river and entered the gorges, where he met a spirit being along the way and learned from him methods for cultivating immortality. Well read and gifted in writing, he also had many other talents. When performing a Zhaijiao purification ritual, he always quieted his thoughts and focused his mind, seeking communion with the spirits.

The local officials of Zizhou were mostly capable and virtuous people. They honored moral conduct and treated worthy people with respect. Eminent figures of the time, such as Chancellor Zhou and Li Yishan, also held Hu in high regard and treated him with courtesy. But his own heart was detached from worldly affairs, and he took little notice of their esteem. Later, he underwent transformation in eastern Shu and appeared again in Fuling. Only then did people understand that his departure was like a snake shedding its skin or a cicada leaving its shell: having attained the Dao, he had transcended the world, and thereby gained a long life.

After people in the Zizhou, Yizhou, Baozhou, and Langzhou regions learned the methods of pure fasting from Wang Fajin, they began gathering each year to perform purification rituals and pray for good harvests, since farming and silkworm raising were their main livelihoods. In time, even ordinary people and monastic practitioners often performed these rituals in disregard of the rules and prohibitions of the liturgy. Gradually, this became customary.

A man from the district named Liu Song admired the Master’s Daoist virtue and asked him to conduct a purification rite elsewhere to pray for blessings. The Master told him, “Even when friends gather, they must arrange the seats properly, brush them clean, set out the ritual vessels, and wash the wine cups. They must perform the rites respectfully and attend to every task carefully, lest they be blamed for not having done their best. How much more so for a purification rite that invites the heavenly spirits to descend and prays for their blessings! How could it be rushed and treated casually, and thereby offend the spirits? The people of the world have long been lax. You should admonish and encourage everyone to be meticulous and sincere before conducting the rite.”

Liu Song followed his instructions. He earnestly admonished the people, purified his own body and mind, and prepared incense and flowers, while making ready the altar grounds. The Master then set out, continuing to remind and admonish them along the way. Once the ceremony began, as the people ascended the altar, performed the rites, and focused their minds on the spirits, dark clouds suddenly gathered. A whirlwind swept into the ritual space, uprooted two pillars, carried off bamboo mats, and hurled a cooking vessel a thousand paces away. After the ceremony was completed, a gentle, warm breeze began to blow, and an auspicious calm spread across the fields.

The Master asked about the objects carried away by the wind. He learned that the two pillars had once stood over a pigsty, the bamboo mats had been used to screen a room where a woman was giving birth, and the cooking vessel had been used to prepare food in a household in mourning. Everything that had not been carried away was clean. The Master said, “If the spirits abhor unclean objects, how much more must they abhor an unclean heart? If there are flaws in the heart and stains in one’s conduct, then even if a hundred sacrificial animals are offered and the Nine Shao, an ancient piece of music, is performed in the courtyard, it will only profane the spirits and bring great calamity. To cultivate oneself, one must make one’s words and actions consistent and be open and honest inside and out: one should have no shame before other people, nor before the spirits in secluded places. Only someone like this do I consider fit to conduct a purification rite. If one is the opposite of this, how can one’s words and actions be trusted?”

After hearing the Master’s words, the gentlemen and the people of the village all corrected their misdeeds and turned toward goodness.

The Cui family had followed Daoism for generations. Although Cui Xuanliang earned official honors and rose to high office, moving in and out of the imperial court, he never slackened in his resolve to cultivate the Dao and seek the mysteries. Early in the Baoli era, he was appointed governor of Huzhou. In the second year of Baoli, an yiyou year, he established an altar at the Purple Pole Palace and held a Yellow Register retreat (a Daoist Zhaijiao purification ritual for praying for blessings, averting calamities, and guiding the deceased onward). At that time, 365 cranes arrived, circling and gathering above the altar. Purple clouds surged, and auspicious winds blew gently; the cranes appeared together from the northwest. One had a cinnabar-red crown and snow-white plumage, without a single black feather. It perched on the Terrace of the Void Sovereign, remaining there from the hour of the Dragon until the hour of the Rooster, then departed.

Bai Juyi, governor of Hangzhou, heard of this and was deeply moved. He wrote “Ode to the Cranes of Wuxing”:

“A flock of birds came flying from the northwest. Their cinnabar crowns gleamed like sparks of fire; their snow-white feathers spread wide. They left the Liao River and never returned; the immortal cranes of Mount Gou never came back either. Alas, why have these cranes come here to Wuxing Commandery? In the early years of Baoli, at the season of the Three Origins and Four Purifications, they descended in broad daylight, arriving with the purple clouds. Three hundred and sixty cranes swept over the altar, circling without leaving. Heaven revealed its mysterious grace, and the world below had a person of immortal stature. Who presided over this purification ritual? It was the governor, a man surnamed Cui.”

Cui Xuanliang regularly recited Daoist scriptures such as the Huangting Jing, the Duren Jing, and the Daode Jing, never missing a day. After these auspicious responses, he cultivated even more diligently. At the end of his life, he entered a quiet chamber and recited the Huangting Jing. Without having been ill, he passed away peacefully. When he was buried, the coffin was so light it seemed to contain only an empty robe.

A man from Wuchang was living in Qingcheng, in the region of Shu. Every year, his county had to build bamboo dikes to hold back the river and prevent flooding. Households liable for taxes took turns performing this service. That year, the man from Wuchang was registered among those assigned to repair the dikes, and county officials allotted him a section according to the roster. Work began in winter and continued through the end of the year.

His section lay directly opposite a deep hollow formed by swirling currents. A newly formed whirlpool kept scouring it, making the dike’s foundation impossible to secure. Even when they brought stones to block it and carried in earth to pack it firm, the hollow was deep again by the next morning. The county official overseeing the work suspected that a dragon spirit was causing trouble, so he brought a three- or four-foot-tall dharani pillar—a ritual object carved with dharani incantations—and cast it into the hollow. It sank even deeper. The workers labored by day and kept at the task through the night, staying at the site throughout. The dike sections assigned to the other households were all finished, but here the foundation remained unstable, and everyone was deeply worried.

So they prepared prayers and offerings, and composed a petition to present to the spirits. It said, in essence:

“The state depends on its people, and the people depend first on grain. The people find peace through the protection of the spirits, while the spirits manifest their efficacy through the people’s offerings. Shu has broad fields, on which rents, taxes, and labor duties all depend. The dike now under construction stretches for more than two hundred li. Even a slight lapse could bring flooding and subsidence. If the harvest fails, the people will all be plunged into hunger and cold, with nowhere to live. On whom, then, would the spirits depend? What is more, the dike’s foundation is now shifting and sinking, causing great fear. Should such a disaster occur, there would be no grain or wine to offer in sacrifice. What could the exhausted people be expected to provide for the spring prayers and autumn thanksgiving rites? May the dike’s boundaries be firm and whole, and the floodwaters subside, so that rents and taxes may be collected as usual, and spring planting and autumn harvest may proceed smoothly under the spirits’ unseen protection.”

When the petition was complete, they gathered clean vessels and abundant offerings, swept the ground, and held a jiao rite, setting up an altar to worship the spirits. That night, someone dreamed of a crowd in a commotion, moving away with their belongings. Some carried luggage on poles or bundles on their backs; others carried babies and led young children, as though they were going elsewhere. The next day, the workers filled the hollow with stones. The waters receded, the pit dried up, and the dike was soon completed. Only eight months later was it washed away again, leaving a deep pool in its place.

Xu Zhu, a native of Gaoping from Lianshui, later moved to Qingzhou after taking up an official post. His family was wealthy. He had three sons, two of whom were physically disabled. A fleshy growth like a yoke had also formed on the youngest son’s neck, and passersby were so frightened by it that they kept their distance.

At first, Xu Zhu devoted himself to pursuing official rank. He was arrogant and self-satisfied, traveling by carriage with banquets for amusement, doing as he pleased, and dreaming of rapid advancement. He paid little attention to his two sons’ illnesses. But when he saw the abnormal growth on his youngest son’s neck, he became gloomy and despondent, feeling that all hope for the future had vanished. Later, he visited a Daoist temple on Donghai Mountain and told a Daoist about his family’s misfortunes.

The Daoist said, “Your three children’s illnesses are neither their own fault nor the result of your sins. They arise from the concentrated effects of karmic retribution accumulated by earlier generations. When the Daoist tradition speaks of ‘past karma’ here, it does not mean karma created in a sick person’s previous life. It means misfortune left by the ancestors’ offenses and passed down to their descendants. Your ancestors probably imposed extremely harsh punishments and abused beatings and torture. In office, they showed no concern for prisoners in jail or pity for captives; they imposed punishments unlawfully and at will, harming the innocent. Their descendants are now bearing the retribution.”

Xu Zhu replied through his tears, “That is indeed true! My late father held office during the reign of Wu Zetian. The age was in turmoil, slander was rife, and the court put the princes of the Li imperial house to death and persecuted the imperial clan. Those held in high regard at court were often schemed against and subjected to cruel torture. Many could not endure interrogation, were imprisoned unjustly, and died in custody. Such cases were beyond counting. Men like Wu Yizong, Lai Junchen, Zhou Lizhen, and Li Yifu received exceptional favor from the court. Their power was enough to sway the affairs of state, and everyone under Heaven feared them. In those days, the kind and lenient were deemed weak, while the domineering and cruel were praised as capable officials. A spirit of benevolence and compassion disappeared, and upright conduct became difficult to put into practice. All this was the work of the times. Though my late father held a modest post and had limited power, people of his day called him a capable official, and he presided over major cases many times. How could he have avoided wronging the innocent? The retribution we face now clearly has its causes. How can this burden of sin be dispelled and these injustices atoned for?”

The Daoist answered, “To release your ancestors from the suffering left by their punishments, you should perform the Lingbao Rite of Deliverance from Adversity, a Daoist purification rite for seeking relief from misfortune. To save the living and the dead from suffering, you should perform the Yellow Register Rite, a purification rite that blesses the living and delivers the dead. Do not think that gold and silver alone will suffice. Follow the Heavenly Rules, the standards governing Daoist ritual, give generously according to your means, and persist in doing good. Only then can you redeem your ancestors’ offenses.”

When Zhu returned home, he solemnly established a Yellow Register ritual altar, a Daoist purification rite performed to deliver departed souls and pray for blessings and protection from calamity. The ritual continued for three days. On the second night, after dark had fallen, he heard the sound of carriages, horses, and many people outside. When he went out to look, he saw a white light shining as brightly as day. More than a thousand celestial soldiers and several hundred officials stood arrayed outside the gate, as if waiting for something.

After a long while, a mass of thick black vapor surged in from the north. Within it were three people bound in cangues, escorted by dozens of spirits and deities. They stopped before the celestial soldiers and officials. One of them was Zhu’s father, Xu Xuanzhi.

Soon, a yellow-red light shone from the northwest, turning the plants, houses, and people below golden. A strange fragrance filled the air. In the light appeared an immortal accompanied by more than ten azure attendants, youths who served the immortals. Two strongmen carrying tallies led the way. To the immortal’s left stood another figure, wearing a military official’s cap and red robes, holding a golden tablet. He stood about thirty feet above the ground.

The officials knelt and bowed in welcome, and the immortal inclined his body in return. The military official read aloud the Supreme One’s decree, written on a golden document: “Xu Xuanzhi has violated the law and harmed others. He should have been tried and demoted. Now, however, his son has devoutly performed the Yellow Register rites, and his merit has been recorded in Heaven. Xu Xuanzhi is therefore to be pardoned. All those who conspired with him and were implicated in the matter are likewise to be absolved.”

The immortal then departed.

The officials had all vanished. Zhang Zhu then saw his father wearing white hemp mourning clothes. His father said to him, “I did not know what sin or blessing meant. I acted as I pleased, breaking the law and harming others. For a long time, those I wronged have accused me, and I have been tried and punished for eighteen years. The officials who served alongside me were found guilty as well, and must endure twelve years of punishment. When these calamities and bitter retributions have run their course, I will pass into the evil realms, where the suffering is beyond words.

“Fortunately, you turned to the Dao and diligently cultivated this merit. The Supreme One issued an amnesty, and all my past sins have been pardoned. Those I wronged have already been released from their suffering, and the sins that continued to implicate others have now been erased. I have been able to ascend to Heaven. You must diligently tend the incense offerings, in gratitude for the Dao’s grace.”

With that, he ascended and disappeared. Of Zhang Zhu’s three sons, those who had been disabled recovered within about a month, and the swelling on their necks also subsided. Zhang Zhu then established ten Yellow Register Retreats, Daoist purification rituals (Zhaijiao) held to pray for blessings, pardon sins, and deliver the dead. He prayed widely for the living and the dead, and sent his youngest son to become a Daoist in a mountain temple, where he would tend the incense offerings for many years. Zhang Zhu lived a quiet, self-contained life, seeking neither official rank nor wealth. He often recited Daoist scriptures and sometimes practiced breath cultivation and fasting.

◎ Zhang He’s wife supplied money as a dowry and deposited it in the Celestial Bureau’s treasury, seeking confirmation.

Three years after the wife of Zhang He of Chengdu died, she suddenly returned home and said, “When the Son of Heaven was in Shu, the Xichuan army was stationed at Xingping Dingguo Fort to campaign against Huang Chao. At that time, our neighbor, Old Feng, and his son were sent to the front. Before leaving, they entrusted valuables worth thirty thousand coins to someone for safekeeping. Later, Feng and his son died in battle and never returned. The valuables they had left in trust were found and spent. Recently, the underworld—the realm of the dead—investigated the matter and seized my soul for questioning. I have been there for six years.

“Recently, the Celestial Bureau, the office in heaven responsible for records and rewards and punishments, issued its judgment: Feng and his son died in battle and never returned; I did not deliberately embezzle their property out of greed. I have therefore been ordered to pay thirty strings of cash to clear my guilt and secure my release. But after the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, the officials in each department hand over their duties, and all business is suspended for a year. The money must therefore be sent to the Jade Office, a place associated with Daoist purification rituals and offerings, before the twenty-fifth, and burned as an offering for the storehouse clerks of the Celestial Bureau of the Northern Emperor. Each sheet of paper represents one string of cash. Money and goods must also be given separately to the other storehouse clerks and gatekeepers, just as business is conducted in the human world.

“On the twenty-third day of the twelfth month in the third year of the Guanghua era, I presented a memorial at the Northern Emperor’s Court concerning the money and goods described above.” That night, Zhang He’s wife appeared to him in a dream, thanked him, and then departed.

There was also a registrar named Feng, an assistant in the Chengdu County office, who had been dead for more than ten years. His nephew was mistakenly seized by the underworld authorities and taken to the county office. Feng became angry, and the pursuing officials released the nephew. As the nephew returned from the county office by way of the rear gate and along the granary compound road, he saw more than sixty buildings lining both sides of the road. Feng told him that these were storehouses belonging to the Celestial Bureau, where the money and goods burned as offerings at the Jade Office were received and recorded in memorials.

◎A Record of the Efficacy of the Spirit-Mantra Ritual Altar Built by the Recruiting Official of the Suzhou Salt and Iron Office

In Suzhou there was a man surnamed Wang who served as a recruitment official at the Salt and Iron Bureau. His family was exceedingly wealthy, and he had amassed great riches, yet he suffered from a stubborn illness that had not improved for more than a year. He held purification rites and made offerings before images of the gods, sought out shamans and physicians far and wide, and tried talismans, incantations, and every other method. Nothing could relieve his suffering.

The Daoist Chen Daoming of Yuzhi Abbey devoted himself to maintaining ritual purity. He submitted petitions to the gods on several occasions, and each time they proved efficacious. But Wang had never believed in Daoism, and even when he heard about these events, he paid them no mind. He spent tens of thousands of coins trying to cure his illness, yet his condition worsened day by day, until he could only leave his fate to Heaven.

His friends and relatives urged him to ask Chen Daoming to submit a petition and conduct a Zhaijiao purification rite, praying for blessings and averting disaster through fasting, petitions, and ritual offerings. Unable to refuse their insistence, Wang finally invited the Daoist to his home. Chen Daoming established a ritual ground there and performed a ceremony of divine incantations, reciting sacred spells and carrying out the rites at the altar. Wang was gravely ill and seemed unlikely to last another day, so his family urged the Daoist to begin the ceremony as quickly as possible. As the ritual ground was being sealed and the rites performed, the patient lay unconscious. His family and friends looked at one another, their faces drained of color.

When the ceremony was over, Chen Daoming took a precious sword and ritual water and went to the patient’s room, sprinkling water inside and outside to drive away impure influences. The patient suddenly spoke: “Could I trouble the honored master to come in here and sprinkle the water?” Chen Daoming entered the bedroom and sprinkled it there. The patient immediately sat up, bowed, and said, “Many thanks for the honored master’s divine power. My illness has already begun to improve.”

Then he asked for clothes and a walking staff. Sitting quietly, he said with joy, “All my life, I have directed my thoughts wrongly. I did not know that the Great Dao existed in the world. Today, I have received the help of the celestial troops.”

Afterward, he slowly recounted what had happened to his relatives, friends, and wife: “At first, I was gravely ill and thought I would die that very night. While my honored master opened the altar and performed the rite, I remained unconscious. I only heard someone in the air say, ‘All your life, you have directed your thoughts wrongly. You did not know that the Great Dao existed in the world. Today, you have received the help of the celestial troops.’ Then I heard a voice in the air say, ‘The Great Emperor has arrived, commanding the celestial troops to put down rebellion and disorder.’ At once, yellow light shone far and near, bright as the sun. I saw thousands upon thousands of chariots, horses, celestial troops, and divine generals surrounding the residence. The ghosts, demons, and evil spirits had all been captured and carried away.

“Then I saw the Great Emperor and Taiyi riding in a Seven-Treasure Chariot, proceeding face to face to lead the way. Their attendants and ceremonial retinue were perfectly ordered, like an earthly emperor on procession. The Great Emperor suddenly ordered someone to summon me before Taiyi. A divine being sprinkled water on my face; at once, a deep coolness spread through me, and all the pain vanished. My body, however, still felt somewhat weak and feverish. Then I heard that the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning had arrived. I saw the Great Emperor and Taiyi greet him with bows. The ceremonial procession was a hundred times larger than before. The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning sent forth a beam of light that shone upon me. Now I feel that my strength has returned enough to let me move about.”

He immediately asked for someone to prepare water for washing and insisted on going before the altar to pay his respects. His relatives and friends, worried that he was still too weak, urged him to wait until the next day. But he persisted: after washing and changing his clothes, he leaned on his staff and stood for a long time. Then he set the staff aside and walked by himself, kneeling and bowing several times. When his family came to support him, he waved them away. He then sat down to watch the ritual. He looked as though he were no longer ill, and before long his appetite and strength gradually returned to normal.

From then on, for three days in a row, he burned incense and devoutly bowed at the ritual altar, scarcely stopping for a moment. A ritual altar is the space where Zhaijiao purification rites are performed; burning incense and bowing are ways of showing reverence to the gods in Daoist ritual.

From then on, he established a ritual altar for three consecutive days, observing purification rites and offering prayers. He burned incense and worshiped with devout reverence, never pausing for a moment. Later, he funded the construction of the Yuzhi Monastery on his own. It included a lecture hall, a main hall, three gates and covered walkways, a ritual kitchen, and a Daoist residence. In front of the monastery, he also opened a street leading to the official canal, more than forty paces wide. The construction materials, furnishings and statues, beds and other furniture, daily necessities, clothing, and kitchen utensils cost several million coins in all. Within two years, the entire complex was complete. From then on, his spirits were clear and his mind settled, and he thought swiftly. He therefore asked to resign from office and devote himself to cultivating the Dao in retirement.

Chancellor Du Bin Avoids Yama’s Scrutiny by Performing the Yellow Register Retreat

When Chancellor Du Bin was young, he rose to great prominence and held a succession of important posts. He also served several times as a senior official governing strategically important frontier regions. He died in Jingzhu in his nineties. That night, the palace envoy Yang Luzhou returned from the office of the Five Ridges commissioner and stayed at a post station. After the first watch, the wind grew fierce, and loud banging and clattering could be heard all around, like weapons and armor colliding. Everyone trembled with fear, unable to tell what was happening. Exhausted from traveling on horseback, Yang Luzhou soon fell asleep.

At the time, soldiers crowded the streets and alleys, leaving no room for passersby. When someone asked why, they all replied, “They have come to welcome Yama, who will depart at the fourth watch tonight.” Asked who Yama was, they answered, “He is the senior general in this province, the one of high rank and advanced age.” After waking, Yang Luzhou summoned the post station clerk to ask about it. Duke Du had been ill for half a month. He was both high-ranking and old, and the most distinguished among them, so Yang Luzhou suspected that he was about to die. At the fourth watch that day, Duke Du did indeed die. Yang Luzhou recounted the event to his colleagues and friends, and in time people in the capital came to know of it as well.

When Wei Gao, Grand Commandant and Secretariat Director, Prince of Nankang, was serving in Chengdu, he established a new southern market across the river at Wanli Bridge. He ordered graves to be dug up, burial grounds leveled, and streets widened. More than ten thousand households lived on the south bank. Market streets and pavilions stretched one after another, forming a grand and beautiful scene that flourished for a time.

Yet whenever night fell, residents were often overcome with fear. They also heard stones being thrown and ghosts wailing. According to the story, the ghosts’ graves had been destroyed and their bones dug up, leaving them nowhere to seek redress. The locals called this situation “Xuhao,” a term for the unrest caused by ghosts left without a place to dwell. Residents could not live in peace, and the market streets had not yet been fully completed.

When Wei Gao learned of this, he asked Daoist priests to establish a Yellow Register ritual arena, a Daoist rite for delivering the souls of the dead and offering repentance and atonement. He repented sincerely and prayed for forgiveness. By the third day, the ghostly wailing had ceased completely, and the residents were at peace.

Wei Gao dreamed that a divine being told him, “While the southern market was being built, graves were opened. The ghosts in the underworld lost their dwellings, and their bones were damaged. They gathered in grief and resentment, nearly bringing disaster upon this region. Fortunately, the merit of the Yellow Register ritual arena enabled them to move on and be delivered. The Lord of Heaven has ordered that more than thirty thousand suffering souls be reborn in various places through this accumulated merit and blessing. The residents are now at peace, so there is no need for further worry.”

Deeply astonished, Wei Gao wrote the Record of the Yellow Register himself and erected it at Zhenfu Abbey.

◎An account of the efficacy of Li Yue’s wife’s prayer to establish a Yellow Register ritual arena

In the twelfth year of the Xiantong era (the reign period of Emperor Yizong of Tang, 871 CE), Li Yue served as a junior general in the imperial guards. His wife, Lady Wang, had been dead for more than a year when, one day, she suddenly returned home. She took charge of household matters, large and small, and spoke with perfect clarity, just as she had in life. At first the whole family was terrified, but after a month they gradually grew accustomed to her presence.

Li Yue had been dismissed from office two years earlier and was living in severe hardship. He went repeatedly to the Secretariat to seek an audience with the chancellor and ask to be appointed to another post, but no appointment ever came. His wife suddenly said to him, “In the human world, an appointment must first be authorized by a celestial talisman—a document of appointment issued from the heavens—before it can take effect. I recently saw a document from the underworld, the bureaucracy said to govern the dead. It says the talisman will be issued on the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month, and you will certainly be appointed governor of Huangzhou. You should submit your request again to the Secretariat on the twenty-third.”

Following her advice, Li Yue went to the Secretariat on the twenty-third to seek an appointment. The chancellor, Minister of the Left Lu Yan, was upright by temperament. He had long heard the story of Li Yue’s wife returning from the dead, and had also heard that Li Yue would be appointed governor on the twenty-fifth. Shortly before the appointment, Lu Yan had told his colleagues, “There is no reason to believe Li Yue’s absurd claims. I have already decided not to give him a post.” On the twenty-fifth, the governorship of Huangzhou happened to fall vacant. Lu Yan hesitated for a long time and had not intended to nominate anyone, but then, quite suddenly, he took up his brush and signed his recommendation appointing Li Yue governor of Huangzhou. He could not explain why he had done so. Only after the edict was issued did he come to his senses. He sighed, “This is the Way of Heaven. How could human will ever contend with it?”

As Li Yue prepared to take up his post, his wife accompanied him. She chose both the date of their departure and the date of their arrival. More than a month after they reached Huangzhou, she said to Li Yue, “My time in the human world is over. The moment has come for us to part, in life and in death…”

A month after he took up his post, his wife said to him, “My allotted years of life have come to an end, and I am now at the point of our final parting in life and death. I have not yet departed because the celestial authorities and a presiding official set a period of delay, and I have not yet been able to take up my post at once. Moreover, I committed faults during my life and have not yet been granted pardon. Now that you are in office, you can perform some meritorious deeds on my behalf.”

He asked what meritorious deeds were needed. His wife said, “Please establish a Yellow Register Daoist ritual arena, a kind of Daoist Zhaijiao (purification ritual) usually held to deliver the souls of the dead, repent of transgressions, and avert calamities, and conduct it for three days.”

He had never believed in Daoism and was deeply puzzled, so he asked why it was necessary to establish a Yellow Register ritual arena. His wife replied, “All the deities of Heaven and Earth, whether hidden or manifest, great or small, are governed by the Daoist rites, just as all the states of the human realm honor the emperor. The Yellow Register fast can aid both the dead and the living, resolve enmities, repent of sins, and summon the deities; there is nothing it cannot accomplish. Presenting petitions to Heaven and Earth and stating one’s requests is like submitting a report to the emperor in the human realm, who then issues a clear edict. Once an order comes from Heaven, the myriad deities carry it out. When a celestial talismanic command descends, a yellow light first appears, like the rising sun. It illuminates the underworld, briefly halting its torments, and brings aid, deliverance, and redemption from sin. That is why the Yellow Register ritual arena must be established without delay.”

He asked, “Buddhist acts of merit also bring blessings. Why not mention those?” His wife said, “Buddhist acts of merit are not performed under the command of the supreme deity, nor are they directed by a celestial talismanic command. They are like using private connections and personal favors to seek help in the human realm. The spirits and ghosts receive no clear order to obey, so the effects come very slowly. Though these acts may benefit people in future lives and generations, I fear their effects will be difficult to see.”

When Lu Yue heard this, he prepared the ritual implements and established a Yellow Register altar, where a Yellow Register purification rite was performed continuously for three days and nights. His children also set up a separate altar for their mother at the Purple Ultimate Palace, where rites were likewise held for three days and nights. During the purification rites, his wife arranged the divine tablets before the altar, offered incense, and watched and listened to the ritual proceedings. When the ceremony ended, she said to Lu Yue, “You will leave your current post in twenty-nine months and then be appointed a Junior General of the Golden Guards, a military officer responsible for the capital’s security and protection. As long as you are diligent in your duties, aid the poor and weak, take pity on the lonely and destitute, value money lightly and human life highly, show compassion toward those in prison, honor the Great Dao, and keep your body and mind clear and tranquil, that will be enough. Do not covet wealth because you have been poor for a long time. Each person has a destiny; strive to remember these words.

“After I leave this time, you will receive a post that will provide you with a secure livelihood. You need not worry about your family. Your eldest son will one day become magistrate of Changming County and will also follow Daoism. Your second son will serve only as a county commandant and will not attain distinction. Your youngest son should leave home to enter the Dao and tend the incense offerings. Within ten years, many upheavals will take place across the realm. Take good care to protect yourself.”

After she finished speaking, she made no further sound. Lu Yue again burned incense and respectfully prayed for a response, but heard nothing more. Later, the official careers of Lu Yue and his three sons unfolded just as she had said.

◎The Verification of Lu Ben’s Yellow Register Altar: An account of how Lu Ben’s Yellow Register altar was confirmed.

Lu Ben was from Sanshui in Binzhou. In the second year of the Yonghe era of the Jin dynasty, he served as a judicial adjutant in Daozhou, responsible for hearing cases. He was cruel by nature. During interrogations, he would readily beat and torture prisoners with savage methods, and many people died as a result.

One day, the ground before the government office suddenly split open. Two ghosts carried out a large cauldron and set it in the courtyard, then built a fire beneath it and heated the water until it boiled. Several figures rushed into the hall, seized Lu Ben, and threw him into the cauldron to be boiled. He cried out in agony for a long time before they lifted him out and laid him on the ground. Then the ghosts left. When Lu Ben awoke, his whole body looked as though it had been burned by fire, and the officials had all witnessed it with their own eyes. For the next six months, he suffered this boiling torment every day and could find no way to escape it.

Meng Zhiwei, a Daoist from Mount Luofu, was traveling through the area. Lu Ben invited him to his home and told him of his suffering. Meng Zhiwei said, “This is because you unjustly caused the deaths of innocent people. Their aggrieved souls appealed to Heaven, and so you are suffering this retribution. You should quickly establish a Yellow Register ritual site—a Daoist ceremony for purification, repentance, and delivering the dead—request a Heavenly Talisman, and help the wronged souls ascend to Heaven. Only then can this burden of guilt be dispelled.”

Lu Ben therefore invited Daoist priests to establish an altar and hold three days of worship and repentance. On the third night, he dreamed that more than thirty people, led by ghost officials, came before him and said, “The laws of the state prescribe their own standards. When hearing cases and deciding punishments, one should act with compassion and take no pleasure in punishing others. Rewards should be generous, to show kindness; punishments should be light, to show benevolence. One should be considerate of people’s circumstances, cherish their lives, and remain vigilant at all times. How can one act recklessly, impose punishments beyond what the law allows, and injure others with cruel torture? When the souls of the innocent dead appeal to Heaven, they cannot be suppressed in the netherworld, and even ghosts and spirits cannot stop them. The Lord on High ordered that they be allowed to clear their names, and so you suffered this bitter retribution. Now you have repented and confessed your guilt through the Yellow Register rite, and delivered those wronged souls. Since they have ascended to Heaven, their grievances have been resolved.”

The more than thirty people held lotus flowers and, borne by clouds and vapor, rose lightly into the sky beside the ritual site. From then on, the boiling torment no longer appeared. Lu Ben then resigned from office and entered Mount Emei to cultivate the Dao.

The Story of Fan Lingyan’s Successful Exorcism of a Fox Spirit by Establishing a Northern Emperor Ritual Altar

Fan Lingyan was from Bianzhou. His estate lay in a nearby county. One evening, as he was returning there, his servants lagged behind while his horse galloped ahead. Before he realized it, he had ridden on alone. After traveling twenty or thirty li, he saw a young woman by the roadside, weeping. He stopped and asked what was wrong. Struck by her beautiful appearance, he lingered with her and then followed her down a path beside the road. After a few li, they reached her home. The house was splendid, with many attendants, and the place had the air of an official’s residence.

That evening, the young woman’s mother proposed that her daughter marry Lingyan and kept him for a feast with wine. Their relatives and friends all came to celebrate. Before he knew it, he had stayed there for three days. Lingyan pleaded to return to his estate, so the young woman’s mother sent a coachman and several maids, and had her daughter accompany him. The two grew intimate and spent their days together. After some time, Lingyan began to grow thinner and thinner, and then fell ill. Before he was even confined to bed, his body had already become weak and his strength was spent. He gave himself over to delusion, stopped receiving guests, and grew averse to seeing people. He often flew into a rage and seemed mentally disoriented.

Once, while traveling from his estate back home, Lingyan dismounted after a few li and stopped repeatedly to rest. At an inn, he met a Daoist who introduced himself as Du Taiming of Guifeng in the Zhongnan Mountains. After studying Lingyan closely, the Daoist said, “Evil influences have already entered your heart and vital channels, and an illness caused by a demon has taken hold. The circulation of your Qi and blood is disordered, and your Five Viscera are weakened and exhausted. If you are not treated at once, you may soon lose your life. The mountain lad with me is skilled in many arts. Hurry home and, with him, establish a Northern Emperor ritual altar in a secluded room, to honor the northern deity and perform rites to expel evil. You will see results tonight. Do not be alarmed or afraid. This will preserve your life and your body.”

Fan Lingyan followed the boy’s words, changed what he had said before, and accepted the boy’s instruction. Still doubtful, he took the boy straight back to his estate, cleared out a private chamber, and prepared incense and an altar table. When his wife saw this, she said angrily, “You actually believe such wicked nonsense and engage in this improper business. You have brought disaster upon yourself; it has nothing to do with me.”

That night, more than ten people descended from the sky with falcons, hounds, and hunting gear. They went straight into the main hall and killed his wife and seven or eight maids. After they died, they all turned into foxes. Terrified, Fan Lingyan hid in the private chamber, but the boy had vanished. Only a line written in cinnabar remained: “The Supreme One (a revered Daoist deity) has commanded the Northern Emperor’s Falcon and Hound Army to follow the talismanic mandate and execute the fox demons who brought harm to Fan Lingyan’s household.”

From then on, Fan Lingyan’s illness improved day by day. His strength gradually returned, and his spirit and vital energy became abundant. At the age of eighty, he still looked like a young man. During Wu Zetian’s reign, he served as an Imperial Censor of the Eastern Terrace.

The Efficacy of Xianyu Fu’s Huanglu Daoist Ritual to Resolve Grievances

Xianyu Fu, also known as Yiyi, was full of spirit and vital energy. At the age of eighty, he still looked like a young man. During Wu Zetian’s reign, he served as an Imperial Censor of the Eastern Terrace.

The Efficacy of Xianyu Fu’s Huanglu Daoist Ritual to Resolve Grievances

Xianyu Fu was from Nanyang in Dengzhou. When turmoil spread across the land near the end of the Sui dynasty, he was thirty-seven. Bold and resourceful, he led more than a hundred farming households. At first, they merely protected their local community, but before long they began raiding the surrounding areas. He plundered extensively around Ru, Ying, Jing, and Xiang, killing local people and attacking travelers.

In the early Wude era (the reign title of Emperor Gaozu of Tang), Xianyu Fu suddenly developed severe pain and sores on both hands. They felt as though they had been burned by fire and boiled in water, and every three days they would break open. The illness was extremely strange. No matter how many doctors he consulted or what medicines he tried, he could not be cured. He spent hundreds of thousands of coins on various acts of merit, but they had no effect.

Later, he went to the capital to seek treatment. When he reached Lantian, he stayed at the same inn as a Daoist priest. After hearing about his illness, the priest said, “This has been caused by people who died unjustly. It is karmic retribution for killing. You should promptly establish a Yellow Register altar at a Daoist temple—a large Daoist purification ritual, performed to pray for blessings, resolve grievances, and deliver the spirits of the dead. This may be able to save you.”

Xianyu Fu returned home and established a Yellow Register altar. After three days and three nights of purification rites, the pain in his hands stopped, and they returned to normal. More than ten people appeared indistinctly at the altar’s northeastern corner, over a hundred paces away. Some wore red, some purple; some looked like officials, others like commoners. They asked someone to convey their thanks to Xianyu Fu. When he went to meet them, they spoke with him happily and said, “In the past, you killed us without cause. We have suffered injustice for a long time, and we appealed to Heaven, asking that you be severely punished. Heaven ordered us to take revenge. Later, you met an immortal and received the guidance of the Great Dao. Following the wondrous scriptures, you established a Yellow Register altar and submitted a memorial to the Nine Heavens. The Celestial Emperor showed mercy and granted pardon. Not only have we, the wronged spirits, been released, but your nine generations of ancestors have also ascended to Heaven with us. The merit of the purification rites is great, and their sacred power is evident; all the grievances between you and those you wronged are now forever resolved. The Perfected One Shihua, acting on the command of the Most High, has descended to inspect your good deeds. You should continue to cultivate blessings and stop thinking of doing evil.”

Xianyu Fu took out more than three thousand strings of coins to build Daoist temples on a large scale, repair divine images, and give alms to the poor and sick, helping those afflicted by hardship and suffering. He also built a Daoist temple in Dengzhou and erected a stele, recording this efficacious event in detail.

During the Zhenguan era, Dou Dexuan, the official responsible for waterworks, was sent by imperial command to search for and inspect Daoist texts at famous mountains in the Huai and Zhejiang regions.

One day, as he traveled by boat along the Bian River, he met a messenger whose foot hurt so badly he could hardly walk. The messenger asked to board the boat and rest for a while. Through an attendant, he explained to Dou Dexuan that he had been sent on a long journey, that his foot ailment had suddenly worsened, and that his travel deadline made it difficult to stop. He hoped to ride the boat for thirty or fifty li and asked whether this would be convenient. Dou Dexuan saw him through the boat’s window and felt compassion for him, so he gave him a place at the stern and provided him each day with tea and food.

The boat continued as far as the mouth of the Huai River. When the messenger’s foot had improved, he prepared to take his leave. Only then did Dou Dexuan ask who he was. The messenger replied, “I am an envoy of Mount Tai, not a person of this world. By order of a celestial warrant, I am going to Yangzhou to arrest Dou Dexuan, the Waterworks Official.” Astonished, Dou Dexuan asked to see the warrant. It looked much like an official document from the human world, and he did not dare open it.

Dou Dexuan said, “I am Dou Dexuan, the Waterworks Official. Since you have been sent specifically to arrest me, why wait until Yangzhou?” The messenger answered, “I do not know the person I have been ordered to arrest; I simply carry out the document’s instructions. When I arrive in each place and issue the celestial warrant, the local earth gods join in the pursuit. Until I reach my destination, I cannot disclose Heaven’s secrets on my own. But you are the Dou Dexuan named in the document. Since you have taken me in and cared for me these past few days, I ought to repay your kindness. If you wish to escape this calamity, go directly to Yangzhou to pay your respects to the immortal elder Wang Yuanzhi and submit a petition in prayer. I have not yet issued the celestial warrant. After you submit your petition, Heaven will surely send down an edict. There is no other way to avert this disaster.”

When Dou Dexuan arrived in Yangzhou, local officials welcomed him. He went straight to pay his respects to Wang Yuanzhi, explained that his life was in danger, and begged him to submit a petition on his behalf. Wang Yuanzhi said, “I live in seclusion to cultivate the Dao and do not handle petitions. But since you face an urgent crisis of destiny, how could I refuse to pray for you?” He then wrote the petition himself and performed the rite of submitting it to Heaven. In Daoism, this rite presents a formal petition to the celestial court and asks the deities to render a decision.

That night, the envoy of Mount Tai appeared before Dou Dexuan again and said that the petition had reached Heaven. The Most High, a Daoist honorific for the supreme divinity, had issued an edict granting Dou Dexuan thirty more years of life and appointing him Left Chancellor. In time, his lifespan and official rank proved to be just as the envoy had said.

Ma Jingxuan was from Wuzhi County in Huaizhou. A memorial submitted to the court had once been delivered, and the Most High—a Daoist honorific for the supreme deity—ordered that his life be extended by thirty years and appointed him Left Chancellor. Thereafter, his lifespan and office unfolded as foretold.

In the spring of the sixth year of the Kaiyuan era, Ma Jingxuan was appointed Assistant Director of the Court of Agriculture, and his whole family moved to the capital. After his wife died, she left behind two sons and a daughter, all still young. Xie, whom he married later, often treated the children from his first marriage harshly, leaving them short of food and clothing and frequently beating them. Ma Jingxuan remained unaware.

One night, the daughter from his first marriage, only seven years old, was very hungry and secretly took a pancake to eat. While Ma Jingxuan was away, Xie waited until he was gone and burned the girl’s palm with heated fire tongs, an iron tool used to handle hot coals. The girl died within ten days. A few days later, Xie also died without having been ill. Her chest was still slightly warm, and after three days she came back to life.

Ma Jingxuan asked what she had seen after dying. Xie said, “Your first wife brought a complaint against me. Because I burned the child with the fire tongs, the underworld sentenced me to suffer sores on my feet in this life as retribution. Now both my feet are unbearably painful.” Ma Jingxuan examined them and found that they were ulcerated, with pus and blood flowing freely. The pain was so severe…

As for the incident in which she was stabbed by a fire tong, the underworld authorities had judged that in this life I would suffer the retribution of both feet rotting. Now my feet ache, and the pain is truly unbearable.” Jingxuan went to examine her. Her feet were already rotting, with pus and blood flowing everywhere, and the pain was severe.

At first, Jingxuan knew nothing of the incident in which his daughter had stabbed the woman’s hand with a fire tong. When he heard about it, he was deeply distressed. Xie had been ill for three years. She wanted to die but could not; treatment and medication only made her condition worse, and all the many acts of merit they performed had no effect.

While burning incense at Yongmu Abbey, Jingxuan asked about the matter of Du Zixia, a Daoist nun of high moral character and spiritual discipline. Du Zixia said, “To resolve enmity and dispel calamities arising from karmic retribution carried over from past lives, the only way is to hold a Yellow Register ritual—a Daoist rite of prayer for blessings, repentance for sins, and deliverance of the souls of the dead. It can allow the wronged spirits to repent and be raised up to Heaven, and the illness will then ease of its own accord. I know of no other way.”

Jingxuan therefore held a Yellow Register retreat at Jinglong Abbey, lasting seven days and seven nights. Xie dreamed that his former wife and deceased daughter said to her, “Because of this merit, we have let go of our deep hatred toward you. The heavenly talisman has descended, and we can no longer remain in the human world. We will now receive our blessings and go to Heaven.” After this, Xie’s foot ailment healed.

From then on, Jingxuan and his wife often observed vegetarian retreats and kept the precepts, devoting themselves wholeheartedly to the Daoist tradition.

Qin Wan was from Chaoxian in Luzhou. His family was wealthy, and he ran a shop selling rice, flour, and silk. When buying goods, he used long measures and large bushels; when selling them, he used short measures and small bushels. Even when close friends urged him to mend his ways, he refused to repent.

In the fifth year of the Yuanhe era, in the fifth month, Qin Wan died. The underworld authorities, who judged the souls of the dead, interrogated him and held him accountable. They punished him by turning him into a great snake, more than ten feet long and without eyes. Day and night in the mountain forest, he was bitten and eaten by all kinds of small insects. The pain was unbearable, and he had no moment of peace.

Qin Wan appeared in a dream to his son and described his suffering in detail. “Tomorrow, go to the woods twenty li beyond South Mountain and find me. Give me some water to drink, and perform many acts of merit.” When his son awoke, he told the family about the dream. They wept and sighed in sorrow, then sat waiting until daybreak.

As soon as it was light, they hurried to the woods south of the city. There they saw, just as described, an eyeless snake being gnawed by swarms of insects, blood flowing between its scales and a foul stench filling the air. The family burst into tears and brought water in a basin for it to drink. After drinking, the great snake curled its body in delight, as if trying to express something.

Qin Wan’s son sought help everywhere, asking people what could be done. Huo Taiqing, a Daoist priest at Ziji Palace, said, “You can establish a three-day Yellow Register Daoist rite—a Zhaijiao ceremony of prayer, repentance, and deliverance for the dead. If you repent sincerely, you will surely be able to save him.” The son at once set up a purification rite at the palace, which continued for three days and three nights.

On the second day, they saw a great snake appear beneath the incense table at the ritual site. It was the same size as the snake in the woods, but vanished in the blink of an eye. That night, Qin Wan’s wife dreamed that he was dressed in white and seated amid purple clouds. He said to her, “Deep…

I humbly performed this Daoist ritual site (a Zhaijiao purification ritual conducted at an altar). I have already received release through a Heavenly Talisman, a celestial document pardoning sins; all my past offenses have been erased, and I am now about to ascend to Heaven. I can also donate three thousand strings of cash to support the building of merit for the Daoist tradition and provide relief to the poor and sick. From this day forward, my descendants must not cheat people by weighing out too little, measuring out too little grain, or shortening rulers and shrinking measures. Otherwise, they will suffer retribution from “the myriad poisons without eyes.” This matter is perfectly clear, like a shadow following the body.

Without holding a great Yellow Register fast (a large Daoist Zhaijiao ritual) to repent, remove the burden of sin, and report the matter to the celestial palace, receiving the Most High’s decree and the Heavenly Talisman’s pardon, such a sin could not be quickly erased even after ten thousand kalpas. I had a gold-mounted nail clipper, which I left behind as proof. After waking from the dream, I did indeed receive this clipper. It had originally been buried in a coffin. This makes it credible that the ascent to Heaven was no falsehood. Once the Zhaijiao ritual ended, I returned to the woods, but the great snake was nowhere to be seen. I then donated the clipper to Ziji Palace, had the palace extensively repaired, and erected a stele to record the event.

◎ The account of the miraculous response received by Du Pengju’s parents after they performed a Nandou ritual to prolong life

Du Pengju of Jingzhao was the elder brother of the chancellor Du Hongjian. His father was already very old when he had a child. Before then, he had repeatedly offered prayers and sacrifices to the gods, and only later was Pengju born. From the age of two or three, Pengju was often ill. Even at ten, he remained frail and timid, and his parents were constantly worried about him.

A Daoist from Mount Taibai passed by the Du household and spoke about Yin-Yang and fortune and misfortune. The family asked him to calculate Pengju’s destiny from his birth date and time. The Daoist said, “This child will not live past eighteen.” His parents were horrified. “We had a child only when we were old, and he is our only son. We hoped he would continue the ancestral sacrifices. If he cannot live a long life, will the ancestors of the Du family not be left without offerings, like the descendants of Ruo’ao, suffering from hunger?” They wept together and asked the Daoist to show them how to avert disaster and secure protection.

The Daoist said, “I know a method for petitioning the deity who governs lifespans to extend a person’s life. If you carry it out diligently, then in three years you will not only save this child, but also have a son who can restore the family’s fortunes and attain high office.” His parents bowed and asked to be taught. The Daoist then instructed them in the ritual method for praying to the Southern Dipper to extend a life, telling them to set up an altar and pray on the fifth day of the fifth month. From then on, they were to set aside a separate portion of food at every meal as an offering. Even ordinary fare would do. His parents faithfully followed these instructions for a full year without interruption. On the night they performed the ritual, something like a shooting star fell among the mats.

A year later, two officials dressed in blue suddenly passed by the Du household. They stopped to rest in front of the gate and spoke with the family. One asked, “When the master serves ordinary food each day, he also sets out a separate place for offerings. What exactly is he seeking?” The Du family told them the whole story. The officials said, “The deity who governs lifespans knows how sincere and devoted you have been. Next year you will have another son. Both boys will live long lives. One of them will have a name with the ‘bird’ component on one side and a lower part shaped like a hanging needle. He will hold high office and will certainly become a chancellor. From now on, you need not trouble yourselves with preparing offerings…”

There is no need to trouble yourself by praying about this matter. The following year, as predicted, she gave birth to this child. Both brothers were strong and healthy, without illness. The elder brother was named Pengju and eventually rose to the post of military governor of Anzhou. The younger was named Hongjian and became chief minister and military governor of Xichuan. Both lived past ninety and remained free from illness throughout their lives.

Fascicle 122: Accounts of Efficacious Responses, Part Six

Retribution for the Supervisor of the Fast at Donghua Abbey in Quzhou, Who Concealed and Misappropriated Communal Property

Donghua Abbey in Quzhou was rich in produce and well supplied with funds. Those responsible for managing the abbey’s affairs often gave free rein to their desires, concealing and appropriating its public property. One supervisor of the fast, a Daoist responsible for the dining hall and its related property, was especially culpable. He did not understand the retribution that follows fortune and misfortune, and did not believe in the gods. When he heard that good and evil deeds bring their due rewards, he dismissed it as absurd talk. He often said, “When Daoists use the abbey’s communal property—the goods shared by the whole community and needed to keep the abbey running—it’s just like children using their parents’ things. What crime is there in that?” Other people’s admonitions could not bring him to his senses.

He was adept at making excuses for his own misdeeds and skilled at handling others. When someone tried to cover up a fault, he would go along with the story and help them out, much like Xu Liu and Hou Bai, figures famed in popular lore for their quick wit and glib replies.

Several years after he died, a group of fellow Daoists went on a spring outing in the garden. They admired the scenery at leisure, sitting on stones and using the grass as their mat. More than ten of the abbey’s oxen were grazing nearby. Someone remarked casually, “That supervisor used to deny that people are punished for wrongdoing and rewarded for good deeds, and he didn’t believe in karmic retribution. Given the faults he accumulated, could he be among these oxen?” As they were still joking about it, one ox walked straight up to them and would not leave, no matter how they tried to drive it away. They tried calling the supervisor by name, and the ox knelt down, tears streaming from its eyes. Each time they called his name, it responded.

Feeling pity for the ox, the Daoists submitted a memorial to the gods and held a purification rite, repenting on its behalf, seeking to remove its offenses and pray for its deliverance. The following night, the supervisor appeared to them in a dream to offer his thanks. He said his past offenses had been pardoned and he had been allowed to pass directly into rebirth. On the third night, the ox died.

The Efficacious Restoration of Communal Property at Kaiyuan Abbey in Wuzhou, Through the Prefect’s Intervention

Kaiyuan Abbey in Wuzhou stood beside a low hill, on elevated, open ground. The site where the abbey was first built had streets leading to it from all four sides,

Over time, nearby residents kept encroaching on the temple’s land, and its boundaries gradually shrank until houses almost touched the rear of the main hall. Powerful people in the prefectural government also seized land to build their homes. The Daoists knew what was happening but never dared to speak up.

A Daoist at the temple dreamed that thirty or fifty officials descended from the sky and gathered in front of the hall. They summoned him and asked about the temple’s boundaries. He replied, “I am young, and I came here to become a Daoist only recently, so I know only how things are now. I have heard the elders say that this temple was originally built to house an imperial portrait or image, with streets on all four sides to protect it from floods and fires. Now it is far from the streets and hemmed in on every side by houses.” The officials nodded and said, “That is indeed how it was.” Another man, who identified himself as the Earth Registrar, an official in charge of land, said the same.

At that point, an official in red robes stepped forward and said, “There is no need to go in person to explain this matter. Just have Governor Wen Zhang deal with it.” Someone was immediately ordered to deliver the instruction. When they had finished speaking, all the officials rose into the sky and departed.

The next day, Governor Wen Zhang suddenly came to tour the temple. He climbed to the Venerable Hall, looked out, and asked the Daoists, “This temple’s original layout should not have been so cramped. Why are houses right up against it?” The Daoists hesitated, afraid to answer. Wen Zhang said, “This is indeed difficult to speak of.” He then ordered that notices be posted requiring residents to move out. The four surrounding government streets were to mark the boundary, and the land that had been seized was to be returned to the temple. Households that had encroached on the land were required to pay rent arrears within a month, calculated according to the length of time they had occupied it and the number of rooms in their houses. The sum came to several hundred thousand cash, which was used to build a wall, repair the buildings, and restore the temple to its former appearance.

Within just over sixty days, the temple had regained its original layout. That night, Wen Zhang dreamed that a Blue Youth, an immortal child from Daoist lore, descended and said to him, “Because you have governed well and protected the temple’s permanent property, you will be granted three appointments as a regional military governor. If you covet wealth and harm others, you will likewise receive the appropriate retribution.” Later, events unfolded just as they had in the dream.

The fields of Shangqing Temple in Yuhang, Hangzhou, were fertile, and its resident lands and funds had originally been ample. Yet the Daoist who presided over the temple often withheld and concealed its public assets, taking its property for himself. Whenever someone within the religious community questioned him, or the authorities opened an investigation, he would spend large sums seeking favors from the officials involved. Once the bribes had been delivered, his offenses were usually covered up and his wrongdoing concealed. The prefectural and county officials knew what one another was doing, yet allowed the deceit to continue. This entrenched abuse had persisted for a long time. The halls fell into disrepair, the incense offerings gradually ceased, and passersby could scarcely find a place to rest. Those who knew the truth were troubled by it, while those who hated such wrongdoing had long been indignant.

During the Huichang era, one household had five or six children in succession, all born with disabilities: some were mute, deaf, blind, or lame. Several years later, a Daoist honored as Master Bai came here from Jinhua Mountain and stayed for about ten days. The temple’s presiding Daoist then told him about the matter.

The Venerable Master hurriedly sent someone to summon those people. When they arrived, he asked them compassionately, “Why did you commit such grave offenses and betray the Great Dao, bringing upon yourselves this interrogation and punishment?” He then said to the Daoists at the monastery, “These servants were once Daoists here. In secret, they appropriated and fraudulently claimed the monastery’s common property, wantonly creating karmic offenses. What they are suffering now is not their only retribution. They will endure many further hardships, with no end to their release in sight.”

The Venerable Master called each of them by their former name and questioned them one by one. They all came to understand the offenses they had committed in a past life. Weeping and sobbing, they were so overcome with grief that they fainted to the ground. The Venerable Master told their families to prepare incense and lamp oil, burn incense, confess their sins, and pray for forgiveness. The monastery also prepared vegetarian offerings for them. This continued for three days.

The Venerable Master stilled his mind and entered meditation. After a night, he rose and said, “The Most High has clear precepts: the monastery’s shared sacred property, dedicated to the Three Treasures, must be used to make offerings to them and passed down from generation to generation. It must never be appropriated or misused. Those who secretly steal, embezzle, or defraud will bear the consequences for seven generations. They will suffer while alive and endure many hardships after death; some may even be reborn in a lowly station or as livestock to repay their old debts. Even when the Three Origin Days and Eight Festivals—important Daoist occasions for rites of pardon and prayer for blessings—bring a great amnesty from Heaven and Earth, this offense is not pardoned. Out of compassion for living beings, I just pleaded on their behalf in violation of the rules, infringing a prohibition of the Celestial Bureaucracy. These people have now escaped this retribution, and in their next lives they will be reborn in better circumstances.”

The Venerable Master added, “Within thirty days, events will unfold as foretold. Those who lead this monastery in the future should take this as a warning and not repeat the same mistakes.” A little over a month later, those who had lost their speech, sight, or hearing died one after another. Only the man with crippled legs gradually regained the ability to walk; more than ten years later, he had fully recovered.

Someone told the Venerable Master, “This man’s offense was less serious, and he should have been pardoned anyway. On the day he is pardoned, the others will also be released from the underworld prison.” This came to pass exactly as he had said. Thus, the man’s recovery of his ability to walk marked the time when the underworld pardoned them all.

◎ The portentous tale of Li Shang felling the pines and cypresses at the ancient monastery on Oxheart Mountain in Longzhou

The ancient temple on Ox-Heart Mountain in Longzhou was originally the residence of Li Longqian, an ancestor of the Tang imperial house who came from Longxi. When Xiao Ji, Prince of Wuling in the Liang dynasty, governed Yizhou, he sent Li Longqian here to build a fortified city. After Li Longqian died, he was buried beside the mountain. Local villagers built a shrine for him and called it the Temple of the Ancient Li. During the Wude era of the Tang, the shrine was converted into a Daoist temple.

Later, the Wu clan seized power from the Tang and secretly plotted to replace the dynasty. They ordered the mountain ridge to be cut through. Where it was severed, the water turned red and smelled as rank as blood. At the end of the Tianbao era, Emperor Ming of Tang fled to Shu. As his retinue entered Jianmen Pass, an old man named Su Tan came to greet him and submitted this memorial: “Ox-Heart Mountain in Longzhou is the ancestral burial ground of the state. The prefecture takes its name from the fact that the mountain is associated with the name Ancient Li. Tradition holds that the mountain has repeatedly shown its numinous power. Your Majesty now suffers the calamity of exile because Wu Zetian had the mountain cut through. Please bestow a robe worn by the emperor and have it concealed in the cleft, then repair the mountain and restore it to its former shape. A sound will surely issue from within. In this way, the two capitals can be recovered, and Your Majesty will one day return to the imperial city.”

Emperor Ming thought his words extraordinary and ordered an envoy from the palace to take an imperial robe and sacrificial offerings to the mountain, where he was to perform rites and oversee its repair. Su Miao, the provincial governor, carried out the edict, exempting the people of the four nearby districts from the following year’s taxes and organizing them to restore the mountain to its former shape. Sure enough, a sound like the bellowing of an ox came from within. The following year, An Lushan was killed and the palaces of both capitals were recovered.

On the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month in the second year of Zhide, an edict declared: “Jiangyou is a territory of long standing, ringed by numinous mountains. Since the imperial court made its journey here, a sound like the bellowing of an ox has indeed come from within the mountain. The following year, An Lushan was killed and the palaces were recovered.”

On the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month in the second year of Zhide, an imperial edict declared: “Jiangyou is a place of long history, and within its borders stands a numinous mountain. Since the imperial tours through Ba and Liang, the mountain has repeatedly revealed its efficacy. This commandery and county deserve special honor. Longzhou may be elevated to a military governor’s prefecture and granted the name ‘Numinous Response Commandery.’”

In the fourth year of Changqing, the palace envoys Zhang Shiqian and Wang Yuanyou, together with Prefect Yuchi Rui, renovated the buildings on the mountain. In the third month of the first year of Baoli, the palace envoy Yan Wenqing came again with an edict to conduct a Zhaijiao purification ritual and pray. During Emperor Xizong’s reign, the imperial clansman Li Teli submitted another memorial on the matter, requesting the construction of Daoist temples and shrines and the establishment of a Golden Register ritual site—a Golden Register Zhaijiao rite for seeking blessings and averting calamities. The court appointed Li Teli as Longzhou registrar, an official responsible for documents and administrative affairs, and had him renovate the mountain buildings together with the palace attendants Gao Pin and Wang Yanzhong. The court also commissioned Yang Shili, military governor of Dongchuan, to select senior Daoist priests such as Yuan Daochang and establish a Yellow Register ritual site, performing Zhaijiao liturgy according to the Yellow Register rites to pray for blessings on the mountain. A sound like the bellowing of an ox was also heard there. The following year, Huang Chao was executed and the capital recovered; signs of the mountain’s efficacy appeared once more, as before.

In the third year of Zhonghe, the court issued an edict elevating Jiangyou to a “prestigious county,” a county of higher standing and status. Later, Li Shang, a construction official from Dongchuan, passed by a Daoist temple in the mountain and saw that the old pines and cypresses could be used for timber. Seeking to win credit, he decided to build a government office. He ignored the orders of the responsible authorities and went to Wanglin to cut down trees on his own. The mountain stood beside the river, making it easy to transport the timber away. Yet before all the wood had been carried off, people heard a divine being rebuke Li Shang day and night. He heard the rebukes clearly but did not know how to perform a rite to dispel the misfortune and atone. Later, his crimes were exposed when he was caught taking bribes, and everyone was outraged. The chancellor of the time, Duke Langya, had him beheaded in the marketplace.

“An Account of the Efficacious Manifestation After Pinggai Monastery in Xinjin County, Shuzhou, Was Robbed and Its Trees Felled.”

Pinggai Temple in Xinjin County, Shuzhou—a Daoist monastery and the place where it is enshrined—is the Sixteenth Manifestation and the site where the immortal Cui Xiaotong attained the Dao. His true likeness is preserved there. The temple contains a jade figure one zhang tall. It is said that when people see it, peace will reign under Heaven. To the left of the hall is Jade Maiden Spring, whose waters are three or four chi deep. Drinking from it can cure illness. Halfway up the mountain stands a Fumu tree with a trunk six or seven chi in diameter. Local people often hear cries of anguish beneath it, as if someone were being tortured, but do not know why.

In the first year of the Dashun era, a dingwei year, a resident at the foot of the mountain named He Liu was fierce by nature and unafraid of punishment. At that time, warfare was raging, and no Daoist lived at Pinggai Temple. He Liu began tearing down its buildings and cutting down its trees, selling the timber as firewood for a long time. One day, he went to a monastery at the mountain’s edge to ask for water. A monk who knew him heard how wretched his voice sounded and went outside to see what was wrong. He found He Liu leaning his face upward, his hands turned behind him as though bound. He was breathing hard and drooling. The monk asked what had happened. He Liu replied, “Because I destroyed the buildings at Pinggai Temple and cut down its trees, yellow-robed envoys have now come after me. They bound me and are taking me to be judged in the hell beneath the Fumu tree. I am terribly thirsty. Please give me a little water to save me.” After the monk gave him water, He Liu took a long time to leave. In the end, he died beneath the Fumu tree. People throughout the region knew of this event.

Someone else took two jade statues of Jade Maidens from an ancient site beside the spring. Finding them unusual, he carried them home. After the statues were removed, the small building beside the spring was also torn down. Nearby residents saw spirits seize the thief’s hun soul and carry it into the temple. The man later came down with a leprosy-like disease.

An account of the portent fulfilled when the doors of Kaiyuan Monastery in Jiazhou were used as partitions in a stable.

Jiazhou’s Kaiyuan Abbey stood atop a high ridge, overlooking the city below and offering distant views of the rivers and mountains. Two rivers wound around it, and peaks encircled it, making it one of the finest scenic spots in the district. The abbey once had a tall pavilion built at the edge of a cliff. Its towers rose into the clouds; the structure was vast and finely crafted, and renowned far and wide. After years without repair, the pavilion fell into ruin. The authorities took its timber for their own use, and the remaining materials were made into a stable.

The abbey had an old-fashioned door leaf. Though aged, it was sturdy and durable, with no worm damage. It was later set beside a wooden walkway. From then on, the door leaf gave off a bright light each night, bright enough to illuminate objects. People found this strange, so they cast it aside and stopped using it. Later, the door leaf was moved to Ziji Palace, a Daoist abbey, and placed in Xuanyuan Hall, where Laozi is enshrined. A small red snake appeared inside the hall and coiled around the doorframe, remaining there for many days. People gathered to watch and tried to drive it away with various objects, but it stayed calmly in place. After more than ten days, no one knew where it had gone.

An Account of the Efficacy of the Pillar Base in the Hall of the Three Generals at Jingyun Abbey, Chengdu

Jingyun Abbey in Chengdu originally stood within the old northern city. The military governor, Duke Cui, secretly built a Daoist abbey in the new city, and later moved Jingyun Abbey to the north of the Great West Gate. The abbey had a Hall of the Three Generals, long regarded as especially efficacious. After the abbey was demolished, only one pillar base—the stone foundation supporting a pillar—remained, and no amount of digging could remove it. When people placed their hands or feet on the pillar base, they felt a heat greater than that of flames. A short while later, their wishes would be answered. Nearby residents who offended or trespassed against this place soon encountered corresponding signs. The pillar base still remains today.

The Efficacy of the Machine Stone at a Fortune-Teller’s Stall in Chengdu

Yan Junping, a diviner from Chengdu who was famous in the Western Han for fortune-telling and teaching the Laozi, once possessed a loom-supporting stone. According to legend, a visitor who arrived by sea brought the stone from the River of Heaven, and the Weaver Girl once sent someone to ask Yan Junping about a matter. Yan Junping’s place of divination was the Yanzhen Temple, now located north of Chengdu’s Small West Gate and south of Fugansi Temple. There was a well there known as Yan Junping’s Immortal-Communicating Well. The Illustrated Gazetteer calls it Yan’s Immortal Well, and the loom-supporting stone was also kept there.

The Grand Commandant, Duke of Dunhuang, delighted in unusual things and collected many antiquities. He ordered craftsmen to cut a piece from the loom-supporting stone, intending to fashion it into an object that would display its singular nature. As they began their work, they suddenly fell beside the stone as if overcome by a gust of wind. This happened three times in succession. The Duke of Dunhuang realized that the stone possessed numinous power and dared not take any more from it. The marks made at the time can still be seen on the stone. He then sent people to dig beneath it, but thunder and wind broke out, and the area nearby was immediately plunged into darkness. So those present dared not dig any further.

◎ Record of the Efficacy of the Stone Chamber at the Huadong Gate of Yuguan Temple in Chengdu

The stone chamber at the Huadong Gate of Yuguan Temple in Chengdu is said to have originated when the Lord Lao (the Supreme Lord Lao, revered in Daoism) descended there. The legs of his jade throne rose up from underground. The Lord Lao sat on the throne and expounded the Dao. When he departed, the throne sank into the earth, leaving a sunken opening that became a deep cavern connected to the Fifth Grotto-Heaven of Mount Qingcheng, one of the immortal realms described in Daoism.

The Celestial Master believed that Yuguan Temple stood beneath the Ghost constellation, and that opening a passage to let Qi flow would be inauspicious for the local area. He therefore had the entrance sealed with carved stone and built a stone chamber over it. The chamber stood six or seven feet high and was about a pace wide; inside was carved an image of Xuanyuan (the Lord Lao).

During the Kaiyuan era, Zhangqiu Jiongqiong, a senior aide to the regional military governor, renovated the temple and wished to make its miraculous traces known. He planned to open the chamber entrance and have people investigate the cavern’s depth. As soon as they disturbed the sealing stone, thunder rang out beneath a clear sky, and strong winds uprooted trees. Those present consequently dared not continue opening it.

◎ Record of the Efficacy of the Wheel Ruts at Sanyuan Temple in Jintang County, Hanzhou

In front of the main hall in Jintang County, Hanzhou, are two wheel ruts that connect with the ruts in front of Sanyuan Temple and extend all the way to the banks of the Changli River. After a strong wind uprooted trees, those present dared not disturb them any further.

◎ Record of the Efficacy of the Wheel Ruts at Sanyuan Temple in Jintang County, Hanzhou

In front of the government office in Jintang County, Hanzhou, there are two marks shaped like wheel ruts. They run all the way to the hall of Sanyuan Monastery, then continue to the banks of the Changli River, where they disappear. The ground is not sunken; it is level with the surrounding earth, though its color is slightly different. By day, the marks look black; at night, they look white; even in moonlight, they appear black. The two curving tracks stretch onward, with distant and nearby sections joining together. After rain, they are always the first to dry; when it snows, they are always the first to melt. This is especially strange. Many years have passed, and even after hoeing, digging, and trampling, the marks have remained.

Not long ago, during a time of war, a military commander killed people in front of the government office, and blood slightly stained the wheel ruts. Where they were stained, the tracks became somewhat broken and intermittent. In a field beside Tianchang Peak on Mount Qingcheng, there are wheel ruts like these, sunk four or five inches into the ground and a foot wide. Though the years have changed, the marks remain. Mount Xiandu in Jinyun and Mount Xianyan in Wenzhou also have wheel-rut-shaped marks. Some are carved into stone, while others lie on level ground. Their uncanny qualities are just like those of the tracks here.

The Nine-Sea Dragon Spirit at Yuju was painted by Sun Li, a recluse of Mount Kuaiji. On a gengzi year, in the ninth month of the Qianfu era under Emperor Xizong of Tang, he began painting at the hour of chen on a gengchen day and finished by the hour of si. The dragon in the painting coils and soars, measuring seventy-three feet long; the wall is about eighteen feet wide. It breathes out clouds and churns the waves, its form extraordinarily strange. Liu Jingxuan, Duke of Yan, once dreamed that a dragon descended upon Yuju, and so painted its likeness. Chen Jingxuan, Prince of Yingchuan, dug a well in front of the dragon portrait. Local residents often came to pray there, and all said their prayers were answered.

One day, the area suffered a severe drought. A burly man, drunk, lay on the well curb in front of the dragon image and spoke mockingly: “With a drought this bad, what use are you?” He struck the dragon’s foot in the painting with a large stone, leaving a mark. After he returned home, the pain in his foot suddenly worsened until it was unbearable. He sent someone to burn incense and pray for forgiveness, but the pain did not subside. A few days later, he died.

At the highest peak of Mount Qingcheng, Shangqing Palace has a celestial pool about ten paces southeast of the halls. It is three chi deep and roughly three chi wide. The water stays about one chi deep year-round: several days of rain do not make it rise, and a long drought does not make it recede. Each spring, when many people come to tour the mountain and observe a fast, there may be one or two hundred of them; even when there are fewer, there are still thirty or fifty. They all drink from the pool, yet it never runs dry. In summer, even during several days of heavy rain, the pool does not overflow when no one draws water from it.

If anyone brings something foul into the pool, its water immediately dries up. Some time ago, during a mountain visit and worship, a strong attendant from the prefectural office climbed with me. I asked him to draw water with a bowl, but he accidentally put his foot into the pool. In an instant, the water dried up. For several months afterward, the pool remained empty even when it rained. I was staying at Shangqing Palace, so I burned incense, prayed, and apologized. By the next morning, the water had returned to its former level.

Long ago, the Yellow Emperor appointed Ning Jun as Elder of the Five Sacred Peaks, an office overseeing the spirits of the five mountains. It is said that the mountain spirits went twice each month to pay their respects at Xuzhong, a dwelling place of immortals in the heavens. They used dripping water to measure time in place of a clepsydra, or water clock. During the yang periods, water fell with a soft patter; during the yin periods, there was no distinction between day and night. For six double-hours, the water clock held no water.

Long ago, the Yellow Emperor appointed Ning Jun as the Elder of the Five Sacred Peaks, a divine official who governed the peaks. The deities of the Five Sacred Peaks came to pay their respects at Xuzhong twice each month. Water dripping down was used in place of a clepsydra to tell the time. During Yang periods, the water fell with a sudden rush; during Yin periods, it appeared without regard to day or night. It dripped for six periods in all, and so was called “Water of the Six Periods.”

The water appeared in front of the great rock of Tiancang, south of the Zongxuan Abbey, beside the Altar of the Three Masters. Below stood a stele bearing the imperial portrait of Emperor Ming. A stone beside the spot where the water fell had been carved into a hexagonal basin, three or four feet wide, to collect it. There was no spring there, nor any stream flowing in, yet at appointed times water would hang in the air and fall with the force of a heavy rainstorm. Someone could light incense, hold an incense burner, pray, and guide the water; it would then drip along with the incense from the east or west, shifting within the space of a few paces.

In the year Jihai of the Qianfu era, before the Zongxuan Abbey had been built, the water still flowed as before. Then a monk who had come from far away secretly took possession of the building where the stele of Emperor Ming’s true likeness stood, intending to seize this sacred site and build a Buddhist monastery. After that, the water stopped. More than half a year later, flying stones disturbed the monk, and snakes and insects harried him, until he had no choice but to flee beyond the mountains. In autumn, County Magistrate Cui Zhenggui entered the mountains to perform a Daoist sacrificial rite. After hearing local people speak of the matter, he cleared the weeds beneath the basin, burned incense, and prayed. The water began to fall again, and has not stopped to this day.

◎The Verification of Ge Gui’s Transformation into Dingdong Water

Ge Gui transformed the surrounding crags and ridges, set into the ground on either side… (These characters appear to describe the mountain terrain around the water’s source, though the reading is uncertain.) After hearing local people’s account, he cleared the area beneath the basin, burned incense, and prayed. The water began to fall again and has not stopped to this day.

◎The Verification of Ge Gui’s Transformation into Dingdong Water

The mountains of Ge Guihua rise and fall in encircling ridges. On either side, caves are set deep into the slopes. The terrain is spiritually auspicious and the scenery exceptionally beautiful, far surpassing that of other ranges. For this reason, the area has twenty-four peaks and eighty-one caves. Below the monastery, streams and springs lie hidden at the bottoms of valleys, making water difficult to obtain.

From this monastery, go west and cross fifteen steps of stone along the cliff edge. Beneath a great boulder is a spring called “Dingdong Water.” It wells out from the cliff face and drips into a hollow in the rock. Even after days of rain, its level does not rise; even during a prolonged drought, it does not dry up. If someone pollutes the spring, it immediately runs dry.

During the Zhonghe era, Prefect An Jinshan received an imperial order to perform the dragon-offering rite, a Daoist prayer and exorcism ritual in which dragon-shaped jade tablets are cast into water. More than three hundred county and prefectural officials accompanied him. Suddenly, someone polluted the spring, and it dried up in an instant. Lord An and the Daoist priests were deeply worried and afraid. That night they went to the spring, clasped their hands in reverence, burned incense, and bowed repeatedly in prayer for a long time. Only then did the water begin to well forth again, drop by drop. Though many attendants and horses had come with them, the spring still provided enough water for everyone to drink. Every year, on the third day of the third month, during the Silkworm Market festival, more than ten thousand visitors come and stay overnight on the mountain. Even with all their food and drink needs, the spring always has water to spare.

◎ The Efficacy of the Nine Wells at Xuanyuan Temple in Changlihua, Jintang County

In the south courtyard of Xuanyuan Temple in Changlihua, Jintang County, there are nine wells in front of the Xuanyuan Hall. They are on level ground and only one or two feet deep. Some are square and some round, yet their water remains plentiful throughout the year.

◎ The Efficacy of the Nine Wells at Xuanyuan Temple in Changlihua, Jintang County

In the southern courtyard of Changli Huaxuan Yuan Temple in Jintang County, there are nine wells in front of Xuanyuan Hall. They lie level with the ground and are only one or two feet deep. Some are square, others round. The larger ones are five or six feet across, the smaller two or three. They stand only a few paces apart, and their underground springs are connected, yet the water in each is a different color. It tastes sweet and fragrant, like the waters known as sweet springs. In drought and flood alike, the water level neither rises nor falls. It always reaches the rim of the well without overflowing.

In the year the King of Shu campaigned against Dongchuan, troops from the Qilong region came to reinforce him. Riding their momentum, they advanced as far as the banks of the Jintang River. Just then, the river swelled dramatically amid extraordinary thunder and rain, making it impossible for the troops to cross. Alarmed, they withdrew. It was midsummer, and more than ten scouts on horseback entered Changli Huaxuan. Delighted to see the wells, they tethered their horses, took off their clothes, and prepared to climb in and bathe. Suddenly, from one of the large wells sprang a snake as thick as a horse’s tether. Its head resembled a white tiger’s, and its body was as thick as a cart axle. It exhaled poisonous vapor as if about to bite someone. The riders fled in every direction.

Each year, when the Silkworm Market is held on the third day of the third lunar month, people from near and far come to the wells to pray for children. It is said that if one draws a stone from a well, it foretells the birth of a boy; if one draws a piece of broken tile, it foretells the birth of a girl. People throughout the ages have said that these predictions have come true.

Miraculous Events at Lord Yin’s Cave on Mount Xiandu

As the Yin Lord of Xiandu Mountain was about to ascend to Heaven, he said to his disciple Liu Xuanyuan, “This mountain stands with a solitary peak towering high. Its slopes coil like a dragon, and its summit faces east. It is certain to release clouds to send me on my way.” No sooner had he spoken than clouds of five colors surged up from the ground. After the Yin Lord ascended to Heaven upon the clouds, the place from which they had risen opened up and became a cave. When people faced drought or flooding, they prayed before the cave and often received a swift response.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the ninth year of the Dali era, local residents Yuwen Wannian, a woman named Awu, and thirteen others brought incense and fresh flowers to worship at the cave entrance on the Ghost Festival. They suddenly saw waves churning inside the cave, then a golden hand and a jade-colored hand reaching out, each as large as a fan. After a long while, both hands disappeared, and the waves subsided.

In the first year of the Changqing era, Fu Xiang of Jiangling heard a thunderous sound coming from the cave. In the early Xiantong era, the Daoist Wang Fangzhi heard what sounded like a flock of birds in flight inside the cave. He also smelled a rich, unusual fragrance, which spread especially strongly across the mountain summit.

Local people often read the year’s harvest from strange signs on the mountain: flying cranes foretold a good harvest, while the cry of a deer foretold a poor one. Ordinary birds did not nest on the mountain; only two crows were often seen there.

In the Xinchou year of the Guangming era, Prefect Chen Gong built a Daoist ritual site for Zhaijiao, and auspicious clouds and heavenly music appeared. Sweet dew fell among the trees, and the court issued an edict praising the event. In the Jiachen year of the Zhonghe era, the senior Daoist Cao Yong, who had been granted the purple robe, performed Zhaijiao by imperial command. Auspicious clouds and auspicious snow appeared.

By then, the Yellow Register ritual had ended, but the ceremonial guards at the entrance had not yet been removed. A divine being appeared and said, “When Zhaijiao is performed at a sacred mountain, the spirits must preside over it and protect it. I am a deity from a nearby temple, ordered to guard the altar. The ritual has ended, but the ceremonial guards at the entrance have not been removed. I dare not return to my temple on my own.” The Daoist assembly heard his words and saw the apparition with their own eyes, so they immediately took down the ceremonial guards at the entrance. The divine being then revealed his form, expressed his thanks with an embarrassed air, and departed.

The wondrous manifestations that have appeared on this mountain since ancient times are well known and widely recounted; they are too numerous to record one by one.

◎The Verified Account of the Stone Casket of Perfected Yin at the Eastern Abbey of Jiazhou (The Account of the Wonders of the Stone Casket of Perfected Yin at the Eastern Abbey of Jiazhou)

More than ten li east of Jiazhou, a Dongguan temple stood among the mountains, surrounded by stone cliffs. Inside the hall was a stone casket, three chi long, carved with patterns of birds, beasts, flowers, and plants. Its intricate designs seemed crafted by superhuman hands. The casket was sealed so tightly that even the slightest crack was almost invisible. Local people passed down the story that it had been left behind by the Perfected Yin Xi, an immortal in Daoist legend. When the Perfected One ascended to heaven, he entrusted the casket to his disciples and warned them, “Inside are Fulu (talismans and registers). Under no circumstances must you open it, or a great disaster will surely follow.” People near and far revered the casket.

During the Dali era, a man from Qinghe, known as Lord Cui, served as prefect. Proud of his own strength and decisiveness, he heard about the Perfected One’s stone casket and laughed to his subordinates: “I’ve seen through Xin Tanping’s deception.” He immediately went to the Dongguan temple to inspect it and ordered someone to smash the lock. A Daoist priest reported, “The Perfected One left a warning: whoever opens this casket will surely suffer a great disaster. I hope the prefect will not violate the immortal official’s agreement.” Lord Cui flew into a rage. “Yin Xi died more than a thousand years ago. How could he possibly have left a stone casket here?” He ordered them to break the lock, but the casket would not budge. So they tied a thick rope around a projection on the casket, hitched several oxen to it, and whipped them forward. Only after half a day of pulling did the casket finally open.

Inside were only several dozen rolls of Fulu. The sheets were made of yellow silk, and the characters were written in cinnabar, bright and fresh as new. After looking them over, Lord Cui said to the Daoist priest, “I thought there were rare treasures hidden inside, so I opened it to look. But all I’ve found are talismans and registers.” He then ordered the casket to be sealed again.

The night Cui returned to the prefectural headquarters, he suddenly died. Three days later, he came back to life. When the officials and his subordinates came to pay their respects and congratulate him, Cui told them, “I was truly ignorant and had never understood matters concerning the immortals. I never imagined that opening the stone casket of the Perfected Guan Yin would indeed bring a purple-robed official from the underworld.”

The underworld official came straight to the entrance of his bedroom and said, “I am an officer of the underworld, sent to summon you by order. You cannot refuse; if you do, the calamity will only be greater.” Cui was terrified at first. Before he knew it, he was following the official away. They traveled more than fifty li beyond the prefectural city and arrived at an official residence. The underworld official there was none other than Cui’s friend from life, the late Lord Lü Xu. Lord Lü said to him, “You opened the stone casket of Perfected Yin, didn’t you? Now, by the command of the Supreme Lord, I must reduce your official rank and your years of life. What do you think should be done?”

Lord Lü then ordered the attendants to check Cui’s name in the registers. One of them said, “Lord Cui has held five official posts and was originally destined to live fifteen more years. By the command of the Supreme Lord, five posts and thirteen years of life have now been taken away, leaving him just two years.” The underworld authorities then allowed Cui to return to the world of the living.

Cui wept as he pleaded with Lord Lü: “I brought this offense upon myself, and there was no way I could have escaped it. Nor can the Supreme Lord’s punishment be avoided through a few acts of pardon. Since the fault was mine, I am willing to accept the penalty. What more can I say? But could you, my old friend, help me think of some way to manage this?” Lord Lü replied, “There is no escaping the reduction in your lifespan and official rank. I will try to secure you a temporary post for those two years, with a generous salary, in return for your trust in me.”

After thanking Lord Lü, Cui was led back to the prefectural headquarters by an attendant. He saw his body lying on a couch, with his wife and children gathered around it, weeping. The underworld messenger told him to bend down and look at his corpse. His spirit immediately reunited with his body, and he awoke. When he asked his family, he learned that he had been dead for three days.

The prefecture reported the matter to the Inspector, the official responsible for overseeing local affairs. Cui then packed his belongings and moved with his whole family to Chengdu, where he recounted everything in detail to Cui Ning, the Military Governor. Cui Ning appointed him to serve temporarily as deputy commissioner and paid him a monthly salary of two hundred thousand cash. Just as foretold, Cui died two years later.

Mount Jiuyi was where the immortal woman Lu Miaodian cultivated the Dao and attained realization. She practiced in the mountains, gradually moving beyond the mountain gate to settle in places higher up, more secluded and tranquil. At each new location, she built a dwelling on the mountain slopes. Traces of these sites can still be seen today.

Lu Miaodian first lived at Wuwei Temple on the north side of the mountain, about two or three li from the residence of Lord He and the Altar of Shun. Later she moved to her first dwelling on the mountain slope, which stood higher up the mountain, five li from the Altar of Shun. There was an ancient mirror there, three chi wide. Later still, she moved to a second dwelling on the slope, thirty li farther north and higher up the mountain. There stood a stone basin, about three chi wide and four chi long, which held divine water of its own: rain would not make it overflow, nor would drought diminish it, and the water seemed inexhaustible when drawn for drinking. Beside it was an iron mortar weighing two hundred and fifty jin.

Wang Ao, the magistrate of Yantang County, once sent people to seize the medicinal mortar by force. Before they reached the county seat, more than twenty members of Wang Ao’s household died one after another within two or three days. The mortar is now kept at Lushan Temple in Tanzhou. It is said that anyone at the temple who breaks a taboo falls seriously ill; this is regarded as a remarkably effective manifestation.

Emperor Zhenzong personally composed the preface to the Wondrous Scripture of the Heavenly Child for Protecting Life.

The source of the wondrous Dao is profound and hard to fathom; the Dao of utmost truth is adept at adapting to change. It can be explained in words, yet ordinary speech cannot exhaust it. It seems to be Wuwei (non-action), yet nothing lies beyond its ability to accomplish. Thus, precious scrolls and books have carried down valuable teachings; cloud patterns and phoenix seal script in Daoist scriptures have revealed hidden essentials, clarified precepts and standards, and depicted the transformations of Heaven, Earth, and all things. These scriptures proclaim broad benefits and assist the workings of Heaven and Earth. They are like tools that guide people through the entrance, and like eyes and ears through which the Daoist tradition understands wondrous principles.

I have received the Mandate of Heaven and nurture the people, and I hope to spread the true teachings and quietly protect all beings. The Scripture of the Celestial Child Who Protects Life is a secret utterance of the Great Clarity (Taiqing), one of Daoism’s honorific titles, and a true talisman from the Golden Palace, the abode of immortals. It has long been associated with signs of efficacy and has been transmitted in related Daoist texts. If one purifies body and mind, recites it with sincerity, and devotes oneself to upholding it, it can drive away epidemics and dispel harmful spirits, bringing harmony, health, and long life. It is like Fuxi’s drawing of the trigrams to lend subtle aid to the spirits; and like Yu the Great’s casting of a cauldron to drive out demons, so that people would not encounter mountain and forest ghosts. It can avert calamities among the Six Extremes, the most grievous disasters, and gather blessings and goodness from among the hundred auspicious signs. Therefore, I have had the scripture copied and distributed, with a title added and its sections arranged, in the hope that people throughout the realm may all share in the blessings of life and nurture.

◎ Record of the Efficacy of the Supreme Celestial Child Scripture

In Shisun Street, inside the west gate of Yizhou, lived a man named Li Wanshou, who was over fifty years old. In the third month of the first year of Jingfu (the Renzi year), warfare broke out and all the city gates were shut. His family’s possessions were exhausted, and more than twenty of his relatives died. Li Wanshou alone was left, destitute and worn down. When the gates reopened, he set out for Hanzhou to seek refuge with relatives and friends.

When he reached Xindu County, he thought it was still early and continued on his way. As night approached, he could find nowhere to rest. In the distance, at the foot of the western mountain and across a bridge, he saw what looked like a thatched hut where someone lived, surrounded by tall, dense garden trees.

Li Wanshou went to the door and knocked for a long time. A young woman came out. Astonished to see him, she asked who he was and why he had come there. Li Wanshou said he was traveling to Hanzhou, but it had grown late, and he hoped he could stay the night. The woman urged him to leave at once, saying that he could not stay there. After Li Wanshou pleaded repeatedly, she explained that her husband was not human but a plague-spreading ghost king, who, according to legend, spread disease and devoured the living. He had eaten countless people.

The woman added that she was the daughter of Wang Wanhui, the Lord of the Blue Marsh in Xindu County. She had been abducted here by chance and could never return home. Li Wanshou said that the mountain road was dangerous: to leave meant death, and to stay meant death. He hoped she could find somewhere to hide him from the disaster. If he escaped, he would send word to her family so they would know where she was.

The woman was silent for a long while, then finally agreed. She led Li Wanshou into a large urn and covered it with something. Both glad and afraid, Li Wanshou did not dare even to breathe. He silently recited the Scripture of the Most High Celestial Child for Protecting Life, a Daoist scripture for safeguarding life, with complete concentration.

After the fourth watch, a sudden gale uprooted trees and sent rocks and sand flying. Then came the clatter of saddles and horses. A bannered procession arrived at the hall with great fanfare, and a short while later the wind died down. Then a snore like thunder rang out, loud enough to be heard outside the house.

Before dawn, the woman crept over to the urn and said to Wanshou, “My king and all the ghosts are asleep. But the king asked me, ‘Just now I suddenly saw the grounds around the house filled with mighty Vajra warriors. In the purple clouds above, immortal youths riding white cranes were arranged in ranks before and behind me. I fled back in haste, but then I encountered an old man with four eyes, commanding more than three hundred thousand soldiers and generals. He pursued me all the way to the Great Iron-Enclosing Mountains. I ran and hid along the way, and only after the pursuers had scattered did I finally manage, with great difficulty, to make my way here. Even now, the immortal youths riding white cranes are still arrayed before and behind me. I am utterly exhausted. Could someone skilled in magic have come here?’ I only replied, ‘There is no one else here.’ My lord…”

“Surely there must be some secret method. Please tell me,” said Wanshou.

“I have no other skill,” Wanshou replied. “I simply recited the Scripture of the Heavenly Child Who Protects Life once, silently and with a sincere heart.”

“Please recite it once more. I would like to hear it,” said the woman. So Wanshou silently recited the scripture again from beginning to end.

The woman knelt and bowed her head, listening quietly for a long time. Then she exclaimed in admiration, “Can this scripture truly be so efficacious?” With that, she went back into the house. In an instant, all was silent, and she could no longer be seen. Only an empty room remained; no matter how they searched, they could not find her. They could only smell gusts of fragrant air, and Wanshou felt as though he were inside an earthen tomb. Looking up, he saw that the sky was bright. He hurried to the great urn and, astonished, told Wanshou what he had seen. The two of them followed the fragrance out.

As dawn gradually broke, they realized they were inside an ancient tomb. They looked at one another, filled with fear. Wanshou then took the woman to Xindu County to find her family. Her parents and clan members were overcome with both joy and sorrow, and asked what had happened. When people near and far heard the story, they passed it on, marveling at it. The woman’s family gave Wanshou one hundred thousand coins and a manor. Wanshou then went to Yanzhen Abbey, where he left home and entered the Dao. The woman’s father, Wang Wanhuai, also received transmission of the Scripture of the Heavenly Child from Wanshou, and later entered the Dao at Jade Emperor Abbey.