《列仙传》

Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals)

Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals)

The woodblock edition included in the Daozang (the Canon of the Dao, the Way), printed during the Zhengtong reign of the Ming dynasty, comprises two volumes and contains seventy accounts. It was traditionally attributed to Liu Xiang, but it was in fact compiled by later writers under Liu Xiang’s borrowed name.

Chisongzi

Chisongzi was the Rain Master, the deity who governs rainfall, in the age of Shennong. He ingested shuiyu, a legendary immortal medicine or immortal stone, and taught this method to Shennong. He could also enter fire and let the flames burn his body. He often ascended Mount Kunlun and lived in the stone chamber of the Queen Mother of the West, coming and going with the wind and rain. The daughter of the Flame Emperor followed him and likewise attained the immortal Dao; the two departed together. In the age of Gaoxin he again served as Rain Master. The Rain Master of legend today is Chisongzi.

The poem says: Chisongzi’s figure is distant and faint, and the Flame Emperor’s daughter rises light and airy. Hand in hand they wheel through the air, their bearing cool and free, ascending together on the wind. They launch themselves with the long wind and in a moment fly to Xuanpu, the legendary immortal realm on Mount Kunlun. Well versed in the principles of Xun and Kan—trigrams of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) associated respectively with wind and with rain and water—they became the model of those who govern wind and rain.

Ning Fengzi

Ning Fengzi was a man of the age of the Yellow Emperor. According to tradition, his family served for generations as the Yellow Emperor’s pottery officer, the official in charge of ceramic production. A man once passed by and tended the fire for him; this man could produce smoke of five colors. After a long time he taught this skill to Ning Fengzi. Ning Fengzi then gathered fire and burned himself, rising and falling with the smoke. When people examined the ashes, they found that his bones still remained among them. The people of that time together buried him in the mountains north of Ning, and thus he was called Ning Fengzi.

The poem says: Ning Fengzi was truly extraordinary, endowed by nature with subtle excellence. He cast his body into the great furnace and transformed his Qi (vital energy) into smoke of five colors. His bones remained in the ashes and were buried on Mount Ning. Although people saw his deeds, how could they fathom the mystery within them?

Ma Shihuang

Ma Shihuang was a horse physician in the age of the Yellow Emperor. He knew how to judge life and death from a horse’s bodily condition, and his treatments always succeeded. Later a dragon descended before him, drooping its ears and opening its mouth. Ma Shihuang said, “This dragon is ill, and it knows that I can cure it.” He then removed the diseased matter from the dragon’s mouth and gave it a licorice decoction to drink, and the dragon recovered. Thereafter dragons often came out of the water to tell him their ailments and ask him to treat them. One day a dragon carried Ma Shihuang away on its back.

The poem says: Shihuang was skilled in treating horses, and not one horse in the stable came to harm because of him. His medical art reached and moved the dragons, so that he could save even beings of another kind. A numinous dragon, to repay his kindness, its body covered in scales, held the horse’s tack in its mouth and bore him leaping above the Heavenly River, leaving a vivid trace of immortality.

Chijiang Ziyu

Chi Jiang Ziyu was a man of the age of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi). He did not eat the five grains, but lived only on the flowers of all kinds of plants and trees. By the time of Emperor Yao, he had become a carpenter. He could move up and down with the wind and rain, and he often sold jiao—a kind of cord used for shooting birds—in the marketplace; for this reason some people also called him Jiaofu, “Father Jiao.”

Ordinary people take the five grains as their food and thereby enjoy long life in peace and security. Ziyu, however, transcended the mundane world, eating flowers and drinking dew. He lodged himself between wind and rain; his steps were light and nimble, as though he could roam among the clouds, and in this way he was able to prolong his life.

The Yellow Emperor, whose title was Xuanyuan, could summon the hundred spirits, having them come to audience and obey his commands. Even in childhood he was able to speak. Intelligent and sagely enlightened, he could know the principles of affairs in advance, and he also understood the patterns of the myriad things. He called himself the “Cloud Master,” and legend says that his body bore the form of a dragon. He chose beforehand the day of his death and took leave of his ministers. Later he died and was buried at Mount Qiao. After the mountain collapsed, no corpse was found in the coffin—only a sword and a pair of shoes remained.

The books of the immortals say that the Yellow Emperor gathered copper on Mount Shou and cast a precious tripod at the foot of Mount Jing. When the tripod was completed, a dragon lowered its whiskers to receive him, and the Yellow Emperor mounted the dragon and ascended to heaven. The ministers and officials all seized the dragon’s whiskers and rose with him. Some clung to the Yellow Emperor’s bow as well as to the whiskers, but the bow fell, and the ministers were unable to depart with him. They could only look up at the Yellow Emperor and wail in grief. Later generations therefore called the place of his ascension “Dinghu” (Tripod Lake) and called his bow “Wuhao” (the Bow of Wailing).

The Yellow Emperor was sacred and profound, far beyond the ordinary. He came into the world only for a time to rule the myriad things, and became one of the most renowned among the emperors of successive ages. His teaching spread throughout the world, and his wisdom reached without limit. People say that he was buried at Mount Qiao only temporarily, and that in the end he ascended above the azure heaven.

Wo Quan was an old man who gathered herbs on Mount Huai. He liked to eat pine seeds, and hair grew upon his body.

Wo Quan was an old man who gathered medicinal herbs on Huai Mountain and liked to eat pine nuts. Hair several inches long grew on his body, his two eyes were square in shape, and he could sprint fast enough to overtake a galloping horse. He once gave pine nuts to Yao, but Yao had no time to take them. The pine meant here is the jian pine. In those days, all who consumed pine nuts lived to the age of two or three hundred.

Wo Quan ingested pine nuts, so that his body was light and vigorous and both his eyes were square. He could fly by treading upon the luan and the feng, and when he ran he could also race and leap. He presented the pine nuts to Yao and left behind this marvelous method of nurturing life. If one wishes to live out one’s full allotted span, one need not take them; people of ordinary endowment, however, are well suited to cultivate themselves in this way.

Rongcheng Gong claimed to be the teacher of the Yellow Emperor and appeared in the time of King Mu of Zhou. He excelled in the arts of daoyin and of nurturing life, and he emphasized drawing Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) from the “mysterious female” (xuanpin, what followers of the Dao (the Way) call the root of generation and transformation). The heart of his teaching was to make the valley spirit (gushen—the inner vitality, together with Shen (spirit) and Qi) endure, to guard life, and to nourish primordial Qi. His hair turned from white to black, and teeth that had fallen out grew again. His teachings were the same as Laozi’s, and some also say that Laozi was once his teacher.

Rongcheng Gong diligently cultivated the Dao, devoted himself wholly to nourishing Qi, and made body and mind soft and yielding. He had long since attained the Dao, harboring his radiance within and roaming alone. His Dao penetrated the Yellow Court (Huangting, the vital site within the body spoken of in Daoist internal cultivation). Boyang (Laozi) revered him and regarded him as a companion in the Dao. The practice that leads to the gate of the “mysterious female” can, it seems, be sought by this means.

Fang Hui was a recluse of the time of Yao. Yao summoned him to serve as a lüshi (an official in charge of the affairs of one lü). He refined and ingested mica, and he could also help the common people treat illness; later he lived in seclusion on Wuzuo Mountain. In the last years of Qi of Xia he served as a court officer, was seized, and was shut inside a room while his captors pressed him to transmit the arts of the Dao. Fang Hui transformed himself and escaped, and he sealed the door with the name “Fang Hui.” People said that if one obtained a single pellet of Fang Hui’s clay and sealed it upon a door, the door could never be opened.

Fang Hui nurtured and preserved life, dwelling in seclusion on Wuzuo Mountain. He chewed mica, and his mind and Shen rested in a realm of secluded quiet and empty stillness. After he was seized and locked in a secret chamber, the successive closed doors opened of themselves. He changed his form, sealed the doorway, and in the end departed safely.

Laozi

Laozi’s surname was Li, his given name was Er, and his courtesy name was Boyang. He was a native of the state of Chen and was born in the Yin dynasty. Under the Zhou he served as Zhuxia Shi (an official in charge of documents and the recording of historical events). He delighted in nurturing his Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy), and he set great store by gathering his Jing and Qi inward rather than letting them dissipate outward. Later he was transferred to the post of Shoucang Shi (an official who managed the state’s archives), and he is said to have held office for more than eighty years. The Records of the Historian states that he lived more than two hundred years. People of the time called him a worthy living in seclusion, and after his death his posthumous title was “Dan.” When Confucius went to the Zhou court he visited Laozi, recognized him as a sage, and took him as his teacher.

Later, as the Zhou dynasty declined, Laozi traveled west in a cart drawn by a black ox and entered Daqin (an ancient name for the western regions). When he passed through Hangu Pass, the pass commander Yin Xi (the official guarding the pass) waited to receive him. Recognizing him as a Zhenren—a person who had attained the Dao (the Way)—Yin Xi insisted that he write a book. Laozi then wrote the Daodejing, the Classic of the Dao and of De (Virtue/Power), in two scrolls, an upper and a lower.

Laozi accorded with the Dao of Wuwei (non-action), yet there was nothing he could not accomplish. His Dao transcended life and death, and the traces of his conduct appeared wondrous and extraordinary. He withdrew his senses and turned his contemplation inward, so that his Shen (spirit) grew profound and still, unbound by the limits of external things. His De united with primordial Qi, and his lifespan was the same as that of Heaven and Earth.

The pass commander Yin Xi was a grand officer of the Zhou dynasty. He was thoroughly versed in inner learning (learning devoted to inner cultivation), often ingested refined essences, and secretly cultivated De and practiced the Dao; people of his time did not understand him. When Laozi traveled west, Yin Xi first observed a Qi of unusual omens and knew that a Zhenren would pass. He watched for him and waited at the pass, and indeed he met Laozi. Laozi likewise saw that Yin Xi was no ordinary man, and so wrote the book for him and transmitted it to him.

Later, Yin Xi traveled with Laozi through the Flowing Sands (the desert regions of the west), and legend has it that he “transformed the Hu” (went west to teach the foreign peoples). He ingested the seeds of jusheng (the seeds of a certain plant), and thereafter no one knew where he had gone. Yin Xi also wrote nine works himself, entitled the Guanlingzi.

While Yin Xi guarded the pass, the nurturing of De was his chief concern. He drew in and, through breathing in and out, took in the essence of sunlight, and he looked upward to contemplate principles both profound and mysterious. He awaited the arrival of the Zhenren who had attained the Dao, and he alone clearly perceived the opportunity. Later he crossed the Flowing Sands together with Laozi and returned to the realm of mystery.

Juanzi

Juanzi was a native of Qi. He was fond of the arts of ingestion (medicinal herbs of the cangzhu type) and absorbed their essential properties. Only when he reached the age of three hundred did he appear in Qi, where he wrote the Tianren Jing (Scripture of Heaven and Humanity) in forty-eight chapters. Later, while fishing at Heze, he obtained Fulu (talismans and registers) from the belly of a carp, and then withdrew to live in seclusion on Dang Mountain, where he was able to summon wind and rain. He received from Boyang the Jiuxian Fa (Method of the Nine Immortals), a Daoist method of cultivation. Liu An, Prince of Huainan, obtained some of its contents in his youth, yet he could not grasp its essential meaning. Juanzi’s three chapters of the Qinxin are well ordered in their content.

Even in old age Juanzi continued the arts of ingestion, and thus enjoyed longevity. After he transmitted the Jiuxian Fa, heaven, earth, and humanity, together with the myriad things, each attained its proper order. A red carp presented the Fulu, and he was then able to command wind and rain. Amid deep, secluded cliffs he played the qin, dwelling in a lofty and remote place.

Lü Shang was a native of Jizhou. Innately intelligent, he could foresee the rise and decline, the survival and ruin of affairs. To avoid the calamities of the age of King Zhou of Shang, he lived in seclusion in Liaodong for forty years. Later he came to the Western Zhou, concealed himself on South Mountain, and fished beside a stream. For three years he caught no fish, and the people of his locality all urged him, saying, “Give it up.” Lü Shang replied, “This is not something you can understand.” Before long, he indeed obtained the military text Bingqian from the belly of a fish. King Wen of Zhou dreamed of a sage; when he heard of Lü Shang, he brought him back by carriage. Later, when King Wu campaigned against King Zhou of Shang, Lü Shang composed more than a hundred works of strategy. He ingested immortal medicines such as zezhi (marsh zhi) and disui (earth marrow), and lived to the age of two hundred before he died. Later, someone met with disaster and he could not be buried in time; when his son afterward buried him, the coffin no longer contained a body, but only the six chapters of the Yuqian.

Lü Shang lived in seclusion and fished, and, in the manner of an auspicious omen, obtained a military text from the red scales of a fish. His name entered the dream of King Wen of Zhou; he then rode by carriage to court and became a minister of Zhou. Through profound strategies he influenced generation after generation, and he also cultivated his body by means of zhi herbs. Celebrated by later ages, he was truly an outstanding immortal.

Xiaofu was a native of Jizhou. In his youth he mended shoes in the marketplace of the Western Zhou, and for several decades he cultivated his body with zhi herbs. Later he withdrew far from the dusty world. Celebrated by later ages, he was truly an outstanding immortal.

Xiao Fu was a native of Jizhou. In his youth he mended shoes for people in the markets of the Western Zhou, and he did so for several decades, almost unknown to anyone. Later, people discovered that he never showed signs of aging. Those who delighted in extraordinary arts came to his door to seek instruction, yet no one could learn his skill. Only Mother Liang (Liang Mu) mastered his art of using fire. As the time of his ascent to heaven drew near, Xiao Fu took leave of Mother Liang, arrayed several dozen piles of fire, and then rose toward the west. Many of the local people offered him worship and sacrifice.

Xiao Fu was skilled at retaining his bodily form, so that he grew old without falling into decline. Mother Liang met him, and, passing through the void, they opened their encounter. The radiance of the elixir fire was like wings, and purple Qi (vital energy) gathered into an ornate canopy. She looked up toward the clouds and at once ascended into them, far from the realm of glory and high rank.

Shi Men was Xiao Fu’s disciple and could also use fire. In daily life he ate the blossoms of peach and plum. Later he became dragon-master to Kong Jia, king of Xia, and was charged with rearing dragons. Kong Jia could not comply with his wishes, so he killed him and buried him in the countryside. One day wind and rain came to receive him as he ascended; after the wind and rain had passed, the trees on the mountain were all burned. Kong Jia then established a shrine to offer sacrifice and prayer to Shi Men, but on the way back he died upon the road.

Shi Men was skilled in the use of fire, and the flames were fierce. He reared qiu-dragons (horned dragons), secretly wielding power and favor like that of divine spirits. When the king of Xia abused him, his Shen (spirit) remained, though his fleshly body had already died. After wind and rain descended, he rose solemnly toward the heights.

Wu Guang was a man of the Xia dynasty. His ears were seven cun long; he loved to play the qin and ingested the roots of cattail and Chinese chive. When Tang of Yin was about to campaign against Jie of Xia, he enlisted Wu Guang’s help in planning secret matters. When the king of Xia abused Wu Guang, his Shen remained, though his fleshly body had already died. After wind and rain descended, he rose solemnly toward the heights.

Wu Guang

Wu Guang was a man of the Xia dynasty. His ears were seven inches long. He loved playing the qin and lived on the roots of cattail and Chinese chives. When Tang of Yin was about to attack Jie of Xia, he consulted Wu Guang on strategy. Wu Guang said, “This is not something I ought to do.” Tang of Yin asked, “Who, then, can plan it?” Wu Guang said, “I do not know.” Tang of Yin asked again, “What about Yi Yin?” Wu Guang replied, “He is vigorous and strong, and he can endure humiliation; as for anything else, I do not know.”

After Tang of Yin defeated Jie of Xia, he wished to yield the realm to Wu Guang, saying, “The principle of ancient times was this: the wise plan great affairs, the brave carry them through, and those of humaneness and De (Virtue/Power) govern the world. Why will you not accept?” Wu Guang declined, saying, “To depose a ruler is unrighteous, and to kill is inhumane. Others take the risk, while I would enjoy the result—this is not integrity. I have heard that one does not accept a stipend contrary to the Dao (the Way) and to right, and that one does not hold office in an age without the Dao. Still less, when you honor me, can I bear to look upon such a state of affairs for long.” He then shouldered a stone, cast himself into the Liao River, and afterward went into hiding.

More than four hundred years later, in the time of Wu Ding, Wu Guang appeared again. Wu Ding wished to appoint him chancellor, but he would not accept. When Wu Ding pressed him in a manner contrary to ritual propriety, he withdrew to Mount Fuliang, and later wandered on to Mount Shangfu.

Wu Guang held himself by humaneness and De, taking plants and herbs to nourish his original nature. He roamed in seclusion beyond the dusty world, walking alone in accordance with the constant Dao. Though Wu Ding stood high in rank and wished to make him a great minister, he still refused office. Shouldering a stone, he cast himself into the water and concealed his form.

Qiu Sheng

Qiu Sheng—no one knows where he came from. During the reign of Tang of Yin he served as Master of Wood for more than thirty years. Though advanced in years, his body grew ever more robust. Everyone recognized him as an extraordinary man, and together they took him as their teacher and honored him. He regularly ate pine resin, and with his own hands built a stone chamber on the northern mountain of Shixiang. In the time of King Wu of Zhou, the king himself went to that stone chamber and offered sacrifice to him.

Qiu Sheng was truly extraordinary; no one could fathom his origins. He cultivated himself and also served his ruler, and in old age he grew still more vigorous. His countenance was radiant, and his De was ample, gentle, and serene. King Wu of Zhou offered sacrifice to him on the northern mountain.

Peng Zu

Pengzu, whose personal name was Keng and whose surname was Jian, was a great officer of the Yin dynasty, a grandson of Emperor Zhuanxu, and the second son of Luzhong. It is said that he lived from the Xia dynasty all the way to the end of the Yin dynasty, with a lifespan of more than eight hundred years. He regularly consumed choice zhi herbs (legendary lingzhi-type immortal herbs beneficial to cultivation) and excelled at daoyin (regulating the body through movements of the limbs) and at circulating Qi (vital energy), that is, regulating the breath and moving the vital breath.

In Liyang there was Pengzu’s immortal chamber (a shrine dedicated to Pengzu). In former times, people prayed there for wind and rain, and their prayers were generally answered. Two tigers often stood guard to the left and right of the shrine; after the sacrifices were concluded, tiger tracks would appear on the ground. According to legend, Pengzu later ascended as an immortal and departed.

Pengzu was truly a lofty and extraordinary immortal; in his time, he alone could be so described. His arts of the Dao (the Way) were continually renewed as the affairs of the world changed, enduring across vast spans of time without cease. He lived in seclusion in a deep and hidden dwelling, manifested spiritual efficacy, and influenced wind and rain. When the two tigers raised their long roars, no one dared treat him lightly or give him offense.

Qiongshu was a fengshi of the Zhou dynasty (an official in charge of the affairs of the enfeoffed states). He was able to circulate Qi and refine his bodily form (regulating the breath, nurturing Qi, and cultivating the body). He boiled and refined stone marrow and ingested it; this substance is called stalactite. Qiongshu lived for several hundred years and often traveled back and forth to Mount Taishi, where there was a stone bed on which he lay and rested.

What the common world calls the eight delicacies, by contrast, hastens an early death, whereas the Five Minerals can prolong one’s years. Qiongshu obtained the Five Minerals, refined and extracted their essential marrow, and consumed it. Ordinary people live no more than a hundred years, yet his steps were light and quick and his body buoyant. He reposed in peace on the Central Marchmount (that is, Mount Song, where Mount Taishi is located) and also roamed the immortal realm where the immortals dwell.

Jie Zitui, surnamed Wang and named Guang, was a man of the state of Jin. He lived in seclusion and sought no fame. He was fond of Zhao Chengzi and so kept company with him. One morning a yellow sparrow perched upon the gate, and Prince Chong’er of Jin found the sight most strange. Jie Zitui accompanied Chong’er into exile. For more than ten years abroad, though they endured every hardship, he never declined to serve. After Chong’er returned to his state, Bo Zichang of Mount Jie came at dawn to call Jie Zitui, saying, “You may leave now.” Jie Zitui took leave of his mother, entered the mountains, and roamed with Bo Zichang. Later Duke Wen of Jin sent several thousand men bearing jade and silk to invite him with ceremony, yet he still refused to come down from the mountains. Thirty years afterward, someone saw him by the shore of the Eastern Sea and found him selling fans for Wang Su. After several more decades, no one any longer knew where he had gone.

Wang Guang was calm and sparing of words, and he lived to a great age. He had once assisted a ruler who achieved hegemony, and he had also associated with recondite adepts whose aspirations matched his own. He declined emolument and sought neither merit nor fame; he neither demanded nor coveted. He concealed himself on Mount Jie, and later his traces appeared here and there along the region west of the sea.

Ma Dan

Ma Dan was a man of Geng in the state of Jin. In the time of Marquis Wen of Jin he served as a grandee. By the time of Duke Xian of Jin he held the post of chief of the military headquarters. After Duke Xian destroyed the state of Geng and killed Crown Prince Gong, Ma Dan departed. When Zhao Xuanzi held power, he returned to the capital of Jin in a comfortable carriage and paid visits to the various grandees. Duke Ling of Jin wished to employ him, yet did not receive him according to ritual propriety. Suddenly a violent whirlwind arose and tore up the roof; Ma Dan entered the whirlwind and went away. The people of the north revered him and established a shrine at which to offer sacrifice.

Ma Dan once held office in Jin, and his career rose and fell with the times. He was eminent while serving Marquis Wen of Jin, and he withdrew into obscurity after leaving Duke Xian; neither his reputation nor his traces were ever broken off. When a perilous snare was about to be spread, he departed with the swift wind. Alone he ascended into a remote and secluded realm, and from then on vanished from the world of men.

Ping Changsheng

Pingchang Sheng of Gucheng—no one knew where he came from. He died many times and came back to life many times, and people of the time did not believe it was real. Later a great flood struck, and many suffered. Whenever a flood was about to come, Pingchang Sheng would shout from the summit of Quemen Mountain: “Pingchang Sheng is here!” He said the flood and the violent rains would stop after five days. When the waters receded, people went up the mountain to look for him and offer sacrifice, but they found only his clothes and belt. Several decades later, he reappeared as a gate guard at the city gate of Huayin.

Miaopi of Gucheng behaved in a strange and free manner. He moved in and out between life and death, and his bodily form changed without fixed pattern. Yielding to mysterious transformation, he forgot his form and paid no heed to high or low station. He descended briefly into the dusty world, and in the end still rose into the immortal realm of the clouds.

Lu Tong was the madman Jie Yu of the state of Chu. He delighted in nourishing life, eating the fruit of the tuolu tree and the seeds of the turnip. He wandered among famous mountains and once appeared on Mount Emei in Shu. Generation after generation, people saw him, and only after several hundred years did he depart.

Jie Yu took joy in delighting in the Dao (the Way) and nurturing his nature, living in seclusion without seeking fame. By indirect remonstrance he urged Confucius, whose courtesy name was Zhongni, using the decline of the phoenix to suggest that the ways of the age were out of season. He harmonized his breathing and cultivated body and mind, so that his spirit (Shen) grew still and subtle. Later he climbed a numinous high mountain and let out a long whistle on Mount Emei.

Ge You was a man of the Qiang. In the time of King Cheng of Zhou, he liked to carve wooden sheep and sell them. One day he rode a wooden sheep into western Shu. The princes, nobles, and eminent men of Shu followed him up Mount Sui. Mount Sui lies southwest of Mount Emei and rises so high that its end cannot be seen. Those who followed Ge You up the mountain never returned; it is said that all of them attained the immortal Dao. Hence a local proverb says: “Obtain a single peach from Mount Sui, and even if one cannot become an immortal, it is enough to be called eminent.” At the foot of the mountain there are several dozen shrines.

Wood can be carved into a sheep, and a sheep can become a numinous being. The wonder lay with Ge You; the realm he reached cannot be measured by ordinary principles. Thus he ascended the lofty Mount Sui, spread his wings, and departed with his name resounding afar. Those who understand the arts of immortality may become immortals, and those who obtain the immortal peach may thereby become eminent as well.

The two daughters of the River Consort.

The two maidens of the Jiangfei (goddesses of the river)—no one knew where they came from. Wandering out to the banks of the Yangtze and the Han, they met Zheng Jiaofu. Seeing their beauty, Zheng Jiaofu felt a surge of love, yet he did not know they were immortals. He said to his servant, “I want to go up to them and ask them to give me their jade pendants.” The servant replied, “The people here are all skilled in speech. If you fail to obtain what you seek, I fear you will regret it.” Zheng Jiaofu paid no heed. He stepped forward and greeted them: “You two must be weary from the walk?” The two women answered, “You have labored, sir; what labor have we?” Zheng Jiaofu said, “The orange is the pomelo. I pack them in a bamboo chest, set them upon the Han, and let them drift downstream with the current. I follow along the bank and gather lingzhi to eat. I know this is somewhat forward, yet I still wish to ask you to give me your jade pendants.” The two women likewise spoke of oranges and pomelos drifting with the water and of gathering lingzhi along the shore to eat, then with their own hands untied their jade pendants and gave them to Zheng Jiaofu. He received them with delight and placed them in his bosom, close against his heart. He strode briskly several dozen paces, looked down, and found his bosom empty—the pendants were gone. When he turned to look again, the two women had suddenly vanished as well.

The Jiangfei were radiant in looks and airy in bearing, and at times they appeared by the river. Their dress was splendid, their steps light and soft, and the play of their glances especially moving. When Zheng Jiaofu met them, he poured out his feelings and told them of his love. Though the jade pendants had once been placed in his hands, they vanished in a moment; the figures of the two women had already gone far off, and there was nowhere left to seek them.

Fan Li

Fan Li, whose courtesy name was Shaobo, was a native of Xu. He once served Taigong Wang, and he was fond of ingesting cassia and drinking clear water. Later he served as a grandee of the state of Yue and assisted Goujian in defeating Wu. Afterward he took ship and put out to sea, changed his name, and, on reaching the state of Qi, called himself Chiyi Zi. More than a hundred years later, someone saw him in Tao, where he styled himself Tao Zhujun. He had accumulated a fortune of hundreds of millions, and people called him Tao Zhugong. Later he gave up his wealth and sold medicines in Lanling. In later ages, generation after generation, people recognized him and knew that he was the Yue grandee who had assisted Goujian and destroyed Wu.

Fan Li commanded a pure and refined Qi (vital energy) like that of the cassia tree; his mind was empty and still, and his aspirations were lofty and far-reaching. He received his training from Taigong Wang. His conduct shifted unpredictably between concealment and display, and his heart had known its moments of deep feeling. Later he appeared in Yue, and once his merit was accomplished he withdrew. He cast off his straw sandals, abandoned a fortune of a thousand gold pieces, and accorded with the great Dao (the Way), able alike to advance and to retreat, unfurling or drawing in as the time required.

Qin Gao was a native of Zhao. Through his playing of the qin he held office under King Kang of Song. He cultivated arts of nourishing life of the kind associated with Juanzi and Pengzu, and for more than two hundred years he traveled back and forth in the region of Zhuo Commandery in Jizhou. Later he took leave of the company, saying that he would enter the Zhuo River to obtain a young dragon, and he made this agreement with his disciples: “All of you must purify yourselves and observe the fast, and wait beside the water.” The disciples set up a sacrificial shrine, and he did indeed arrive riding a red carp, appearing and seating himself in the shrine hall. At the time more than ten thousand people came to watch. He remained for over a month, then entered the water once more and departed.

Qin Gao’s manner was calm and composed, and in the palace of Song he had charge of the music. He transcended the dusty world and kept to himself in pure ease, floating and sinking as he came and went in the Zhuo River. Riding a red-scaled fish, he leapt above the surface, then plunged into clear deep water among the water plants. This was a mode of cultivation that found release from the world through transformation in the water, and its delight was without end.

Kou Xian was a man of the state of Song. He made his living by fishing and lived beside the Sui River for more than a hundred years. Of the fish he caught, he sometimes set them free, sometimes sold them, and sometimes ate them himself. He often wore a cap and ceremonial robes, liked to plant lychees, and ate both the flowers and the fruit of the lychee.

Kou Xian was a man of the state of Song who made his living by fishing and lived for more than a hundred years on the banks of the Sui River. When he caught fish, he sometimes released them, sometimes sold them, and sometimes ate them himself. He habitually wore a cap and ceremonial robes, loved to plant lychees, and ate both the blossoms and the fruit of the lychee. Duke Jing of Song asked him about the methods of cultivating the Dao (the Way), but he refused to transmit them, whereupon Duke Jing of Song had him killed. Several decades later, Kou Xian sat upon the city gate of Song playing the qin, and only after playing for several dozen days did he depart. Every household in Song offered sacrifice to him.

Kou Xian cherished the methods of the Dao and would not transmit them casually. Duke Jing of Song killed him, yet he roamed far away in spirit by means of shijie (corpse liberation—in Daoist legend, casting off the fleshly body to become an immortal). Fifty years later he returned, strumming his qin, and sat at ease upon the city gate of Song, playing his five-stringed qin to his heart’s content.

Wang Ziqiao

Wang Ziqiao was Prince Jin, the heir apparent of King Ling of Zhou. He loved to play the sheng, producing sounds like the cry of a phoenix. He wandered in the region of the Yi and Luo rivers, and the Daoist priest Fuqiu Gong led him up Mount Songgao, where he lived for more than thirty years. Later, when someone climbed the mountain in search of him, he met Huan Liang and instructed him: “Tell my family to wait for me on the summit of Mount Goushi on the seventh day of the seventh month.” On that day Wang Ziqiao indeed arrived riding a white crane and alighted on the mountaintop. People could see him, yet they could not draw near. He raised his hand to bid the crowd farewell and departed a few days later. Shrines were also established for him at the foot of Mount Goushi and in the region of Mount Songgao.

Wang Ziqiao was truly wondrous: his spirit roamed beyond the heavens, and his bearing was clear and luminous. Between the Yi and Luo rivers he played the sheng, its sound like the cry of a phoenix. Fuqiu Gong, stirred by a spiritual response, took him by the hand, and together they ascended the mountain. Waving the staff in his hand, he rode the wind alone among the verdant cliffs and departed into the distance.

You Bozi

You Bozi was a retainer of the Su family of the state of Zhou. In winter he often wore only a single layer of clothing, yet in high summer he wore a lined jacket, and his appearance was strangely unattractive. After several decades, however, he grew even younger and more robust, and the people of that time did not know the reason. Generation after generation he came to admonish and protect the Su family, and the descendants of the Su thereby received his blessing and protection.

This retainer of Zhou concealed his traces and hid his tracks, dwelling at ease amid the ordinary world. In summer he wore heavy padded garments, yet in winter he flourished robes of light silk. In his conduct he neither went against the root nor sought only his own ease. He cared for the Zhou clan and extended his protection to them in times of hardship.

Master Anqi

Master Anqi, a legendary immortal, was a native of Fuxiang in Langya Commandery. He sold medicines along the shore of the Eastern Sea, and people of his time called him the “Old Man of a Thousand Years.” When the First Emperor of Qin toured the east, he summoned Anqi for an audience, conversed with him for three days and three nights, and bestowed on him coins and jade discs worth tens of millions. When Master Anqi departed, he left all these gifts at Fuxiang Pavilion and took nothing away. He left only a letter, and as a return gift a pair of red-jade shoes, saying, “In a few years, come seek me on Mount Penglai.”

The First Emperor at once sent Xu Fu, Lu Sheng, and several hundred others to sea in search of Mount Penglai. Before they arrived, they met wind and waves and had to turn back. Later, the First Emperor established shrines at Fuxiang Pavilion and at places along the coast to offer sacrifice to Master Anqi.

The poem praises Master Anqi for his purity, loftiness, and transcendent bearing. By according with his innate nature and nourishing his primordial Qi (vital energy), he prolonged his years and attained long life. By leaving the treasures behind, he sought to awaken the First Emperor; thereafter he would go to Mount Penglai, his figure vanishing into a clear, remote, and secluded place.

Gui Fu, a legendary immortal, was a native of Xianglin. His complexion was dark, yet at times it would turn white, yellow, or red. People of the South Sea region, whenever they saw him, revered him and waited upon him. He regularly ate cassia—the fruit or medicinal parts of the cassia tree—and mallow, blending them with tortoise brain to make pills. It is said that the cassia pills he took were very numerous, and that people still encountered him across several generations. Even today, cassia pills continue to circulate in the south of Jingzhou.

The poem praises Gui Fu for coming from a remote region yet possessing an upright character. With the numinous mallow taken inwardly he nourished body and mind, and with the vermilion cassia he harmonized and sustained himself. His manner was gentle; his renown passed from generation to generation and long endured without decline. His Daoist arts spread through the southeast, and in every age there were those who followed them.

Xiaqiu Zhong was a native of Ning. He sold medicine in Ning for more than a hundred years, and everyone regarded him as long-lived. Later an earthquake struck and the houses collapsed. The place where he lived, together with several dozen households of the same neighborhood, all stood close to the water, and the buildings were entirely destroyed. People thought Xiaqiu Zhong was dead, so they threw his body into the water and gathered up his medicines to sell.

Draped in a fur robe, Xiaqiu Zhong followed behind them, came up to where they were, and took back his own medicines. Those who had cast him away were terrified. They knelt and knocked their heads on the ground, begging to be spared. Xiaqiu Zhong said, “I regret only that you have let others know my identity. I am leaving now.” Later he served as a relay courier for the Hu king of Fuyu and came again to Ning. The people of the north called him a “zhexianren” (an immortal banished to the human world).

Xiaqiu Zhong understood the arcane principles and concealed every trace of the immortal. People thought he had died, and so they treated him as dead, merely remarking in passing that it was a pity. He wandered at ease, observing the changes of the world; why should he trouble himself to serve as courier to a Hu king? If one cannot see through to his true identity, who could know that he was a banished immortal?

Jiuke (the Wine Guest) was a man of a wineshop in the marketplace of the state of Liang. The wine he brewed was always excellent in flavor and sold well, bringing in more than ten thousand cash each day. Someone once offended him and drove him away; after the master had driven him off, the wine often turned sour and spoiled. The merchants of the Liang marketplace lived in hardship. Many of them married their daughters to him and took him back into their homes; sometimes he left, and sometimes he returned.

More than a hundred years later, he came again to Liang and served as cheng of Liang (an official title). He had the people plant more taro and vegetables, saying, “In three years there will be a great famine.” Events later proved just as he had said, and for this reason the people of Liang did not starve to death. After five years he removed his official seal and ribbon and departed, and no one ever knew where he had gone.

The Wine Guest, forlorn and shabbily clad, lodged himself in a wineshop of Liang and sold wine. By what did he show himself different from ordinary people? By the exceptional mellowness of the fine wine he brewed. He bent himself to assist in the governance of the time, so that the people’s supply of food was never lacking. Later he laid aside the ribbon of office, set out at dawn, and departed, and no one ever knew where he had gone.

Ren Guang was a native of Shangcai, skilled at compounding and ingesting elixirs, and he often sold them in the streets and lanes of the city. Eighty-nine years passed in this way before people realized that he was in fact the Ren Guang of former times. Everyone said that he had always looked like a man of only a few decades; later an elder recognized him, and Zhao Jianzi invited him to return with him. He often dwelt on Mount Huanti, and through three generations no one knew where he had gone afterward. The people of Jin often took the elixirs he refined.

Ren Guang of Shangcai was able to refine the divine elixir. Though nearly a hundred years old, his complexion remained ruddy and lustrous. Before long he came to Zhao Jianzi, chose a place of quiet residence as he pleased, and later ascended Mount Huanti and rose into the clouds.

Xiao Shi

Xiao Shi lived in the time of Duke Mu of Qin. He was skilled at playing the xiao and could draw peacocks and white cranes into the courtyard. Duke Mu of Qin had a daughter named Nongyu who loved Xiao Shi, and the duke gave her to him in marriage. Every day Xiao Shi taught Nongyu to play the xiao in imitation of the phoenix’s cry. After several years the sound she produced resembled that cry, and a phoenix came and alighted on the roof of their dwelling. Duke Mu built the Phoenix Terrace for them; husband and wife lived upon the terrace and did not come down for many years. One day the two flew away together, following the phoenix. For this reason the people of Qin built the Shrine of the Phoenix Maiden for them within the Yong Palace. Duke Mu also constructed the Phoenix Terrace for them; the couple dwelt upon it for many years without descending, and later flew off together with the phoenix. Thereafter the sound of the xiao was often heard there.

Xiao Shi’s skill on the xiao was exquisite, and the phoenixes and peacocks in the courtyard danced to its sound. Nongyu, a woman of the Ying clan of Qin, became his wife and thus learned to play the cry of the phoenix. Later the two climbed upon the phoenix’s wings and flew into the lofty sky. Later generations built the Shrine of the Phoenix Maiden to lodge their remembrance, and the lingering notes of the xiao remain clear, resonant, and far-reaching.

Zhu Jiweng

Zhu Jiweng was a native of Luoyang. He lived at the foot of the northern hills of Shixiang and raised chickens for more than a hundred years. He kept over a thousand chickens, and each had its own name. In the evening the flock roosted in the trees, and by day he let them out to range; whenever he called them by name, they came to his side in turn. He sold chickens and eggs, earning more than ten million cash, then set the money aside and departed. He went to the region of Wu, built fishponds, and raised fish. Later he ascended Mount Wu, and several hundred white cranes and peacocks often lingered beside him.

Though humans and birds differ, the Dao (the Way) can bring them into communion. Elder Zhu understood how to dwell with the myriad things and took delight in raising chickens; raising fish likewise accorded with the Dao, and the chickens roosted in the trees. The myriad things were transformed by his teaching, and once this influence had been extended, it endured without cease.

Zhu Zhong

Zhu Zhong was a native of Kuaiji and often sold pearls in the markets there. When Empress Gao of the Han was in power, the court issued an edict seeking pearls three inches in diameter. Zhu Zhong read the edict and said with a smile, “This price was set precisely for me.” He then brought a three-inch pearl to the palace gate, submitted a memorial, and presented the pearl. Its quality was superb and surpassed what the court had required, and for this he received a reward of five hundred gold. Princess Yuan of Lu also privately offered him seven hundred gold to buy pearls. Zhu Zhong presented a four-inch pearl, delivered it to the palace gate, and then departed.

Later the court issued an edict to Kuaiji summoning Zhu Zhong, but no one knew where he was. In the time of Emperor Jing of the Han, he again presented several dozen three-inch pearls and immediately left; no one knew where he had gone.

Zhu Zhong was without greed and only temporarily made his living by trade. He bent down to look upon the Li dragon (the legendary black dragon that keeps a precious pearl beneath its jaw) and obtained the night-shining pearl. He revealed his talent in Kuaiji and cast an extraordinary radiance in Xianyang. He gave to others without praising himself, and so, through successive ages, his reputation grew ever more distinguished.

Xiu Yanggong

Xiu Yanggong was a native of Wei. He lived in a stone chamber on Mount Huayin (in the area of present-day Huayin, Shaanxi). In the chamber was a stone bed suspended in the air; lying upon it, he wore a hollow into the stone. He ate almost nothing, only occasionally taking huangjing (a nourishing herb commonly used in Daoism) as food.

Later he wished to seek an audience with Emperor Jing of the Han by means of the arts of the Dao (the Way). The emperor received him with ritual courtesy and lodged him in the residences of princes and nobles. After several years, the arts of the Dao still could not be obtained from him. The emperor then issued an edict asking, “When will Xiu Yanggong be able to depart?” Before the words were finished, Xiu Yanggong on the bed turned into a white sheep, and on the sheep’s flank was inscribed: “Xiu Yanggong thanks the Son of Heaven.” Later the court placed the stone sheep on the Lingtai (the high terrace for observing celestial phenomena). Afterward the stone sheep disappeared again, and no one knew where it had gone.

Xiu Yanggong stood out as extraordinary. He concealed his rare abilities, with numinous subtlety held within. He pillowed himself on Mount Taihua (Mount Hua) and took huangjing as his food. Although the Han court’s courtesy toward him was lavish, it was not the Dao he sought. Responding to change, he manifested various forms, and then suddenly concealed his bodily form.

Lord Jiqiu

Jiqiu Jun was a Daoist priest at the foot of Mount Tai. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han, he was rewarded for his mastery of the arts of the Dao (the Way). His hair turned from white to black, and teeth that had fallen out grew in again. Later he left the court. When Emperor Wu of the Han made his eastern tour to Mount Tai, Jiqiu Jun came to receive him wearing the ceremonial cap of the scholars of antiquity and a yellow robe, a qin clasped in his arms. He paid his respects to the emperor and, pointing at him, said, “Your Majesty must not climb the mountain. If you ascend, your toes will certainly be injured.” After they had gone several li, the emperor’s right toe did indeed break. The emperor was unwilling to have the matter spoken of, and so he only performed the sacrifice and then returned. He ordered that a shrine be established for Jiqiu Jun and that offerings be made to him.

Jiqiu Jun perceived what was hidden and subtle, and cultivated the Dao on the numinous mountain. Through his practice he transformed his bodily form and cleansed his physical substance, turning white hair black and restoring a youthful countenance. When Emperor Wu of the Han set out, he came forward with his qin in his arms to receive him, warning the emperor not to climb the mountain, for he had foreseen what was about to happen.

Cui Wenzi

Cui Wenzi was a native of Mount Tai. For generations his family had been fond of Huang-Lao learning (the Daoist teachings represented by the Yellow Emperor and Laozi). He lived at the foot of Mount Qian. Later he prepared yellow powder and red pills, and also completed the Shifu Shrine. He sold medicine in the city and claimed to have lived for three hundred years. Afterward a plague broke out, and the common people died in the tens of thousands. The local officials then went to Wenzi to beg for a cure. Wenzi raised a red banner, tied the yellow powder to it, and distributed it door to door along the streets. Those who took the medicine recovered at once, and those who were saved numbered in the tens of thousands. Later he left that place and went to Shu to sell the yellow powder. For this reason people have treasured Cui Wenzi’s red pills and yellow powder, regarding them as truly close to divine medicine.

Cui Wenzi attained the Dao and mastered profound arts transmitted in secret. When the plague descended and the people met with disaster, compassion filled his heart. The red banner was swiftly waved, and the divine medicine was quickly delivered. For a time people were able to preserve their lives, and the efficacy of these medicines has been told of by later generations ever since.

Chixuzi

Chixuzi was a native of Feng. Generation after generation, the people of Feng passed down the tradition that they had once seen him. In the time of Duke Mu of Qin he served as an official in charge of fishery affairs, and he often predicted in advance the floods and droughts that would strike Feng, proving accurate nine times out of ten. The officials revered him, invited him to be their teacher, followed him in study, and inquired into his abilities. Chixuzi liked to eat pine nuts, tiandong, and stone fat (a mineral drug said in legend to be fit for ingestion). After his teeth fell out they grew back, and after his hair fell out it grew anew; once he had ingested the Qi (vital energy) of the rosy clouds, he ceased to have descendants. Later he left Feng and lived at the foot of Mount Wu for more than ten years, and no one knew where he had gone.

Chixuzi left Feng and took up residence on Mount Wu. Pine nuts, tiandong, and stone fat, taken together as three medicines, restored radiance to an aged countenance. People went in vain to seek him as a teacher, yet none could keep him. Looking back at those who understand only shallow principles, how could they comprehend the realm of the long-lived?

Dongfang Shuo was a native of Yanci County in Pingyuan Commandery. He once lived for a long time in the region of Wu, where for several decades he served as a teacher instructing people in reading. In the reign of Emperor Wu of Han he submitted a memorial setting forth proposals beneficial to government and was appointed a court gentleman (lang). By the time of Emperor Zhao of Han, some regarded him as a sage, while others regarded him as merely an ordinary man. In his conduct he was sometimes profound and sometimes plain, sometimes silent and sometimes conspicuous; sometimes he spoke with loyal candor, sometimes he jested, so that people could not fathom his intent. In the early years of Emperor Xuan of Han he resigned his post as court gentleman in order to avoid a disordered age, left his headcloth in the official lodgings, and departed upon the wind. Later someone saw him in Kuaiji and said that he was selling medicine in the region of the Five Lakes. The discerning suspected that he was the spirit of the Year Star (Jupiter).

Dongfang Shuo was extraordinary yet penetrating, able to mingle among people of the ordinary world. At times he showed his edge, at times he hid and did not appear—how could honor or disgrace, gain or loss, entangle him? His lofty bearing rose straight into the clouds, subject to no constraint. He lived in seclusion around the Five Lakes, and his figure seemed as well to have ascended to Yanggu (the place where, in legend, the sun rises).

Lady Gouyi

Lady Gouyi

Lady Gouyi was a native of Qi and bore the surname Zhao. In her youth she loved quiet and stillness. She once lay ill for six years, her right hand clenched in a fist the whole time, and she ate very little. A person who watched the clouds and vapors said, “To the northeast there is the aura of a noble person.” Following this lead, the court searched, found her, and summoned her into the palace. Her looks were exceptional. Emperor Wu pried her hand open and found a jade hook inside; her hand then opened at once. Later Emperor Wu favored her, and she gave birth to Emperor Zhao.

Afterward, Emperor Wu had her killed. When she was placed in her coffin her body had not grown cold, and it gave off a fragrance that lasted a full month. After Emperor Zhao ascended the throne he had her buried anew. When the coffin was opened, only a pair of silk shoes was found. For this reason the palace where she had lived was called Gouyi Palace. Later, to avoid a name taboo, it was renamed the Yi Temple. A spirit shrine and towers and pavilions were also established within the palace.

She was softly beautiful and frail, and a divine talisman in the temple bestowed the jade hook. She bore a worthy heir and caused the blessed fortune of the imperial house to flourish. Emperor Wu, however, failed to understand what was right; he turned his back on kindness and virtue and brought resentment and enmity upon himself. She gave herself to the palace and in the end was killed. Though her body vanished, her fragrant name has been handed down.

Duzi

Duzi was a native of Ye. In his youth he lived on Black Mountain, gathering pine nuts and poria (fuling) and ingesting them for several hundred years. Sometimes he appeared young, sometimes aged; sometimes his features were handsome, sometimes ugly. Only then did the local people realize that he was an immortal. He often went to a wineshop kept by a family of Yangdu.

The Woman of Yangdu was the daughter of a wineshop keeper in the market. Her eyebrows met, and her ears were thin and long. People found her appearance extraordinary and all said she resembled a celestial being. Once Duzi passed by leading a yellow calf. The Woman of Yangdu took a liking to it and stayed to serve Duzi. She went out with him to pick peaches and plums and returned after a single night. All the fruit she brought back was carried in pouches joined together, and it was exceedingly sweet.

The villagers followed them in secret. When they saw the two go out, they seized the calf’s ears together and went after them, but no one could catch up. After some time Duzi returned to the marketplace, lived there for several decades, and later departed. People said he had appeared at the foot of Mount Pan, and that even in winter he sold peaches and plums.

Duzi lived in seclusion in the mountains, gathering pine nuts and ingesting poria, so that Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) filled him within. He therefore cast off the look of old age and changed his appearance. The Woman of Yangdu’s extraordinary looks secretly accorded with his immortal affinity. They then rode the numinous calf and, in the blink of an eye, sped far away like lightning.

Qilong Ming

Qi Longming was a native of Hunting. At the age of twenty his body was filled with wondrous Qi (vital energy); his countenance turned white, and his physical form changed as well. His appearance was extraordinary, and he often accorded with matters of the hidden and the obscure. Later he rode a numinous calf, moving as swiftly as lightning.

Qi Longming once found more than ten small dragons in a pond, looking like geckos. He raised them and built a thatched hut to watch over them. As the dragons gradually grew, they left one by one. More than fifty years later a flood destroyed his thatched hut, and he too departed from that place. One day he returned to Hunting riding a dragon and told the local people, “I am the grandson of Feng Bochang. If the people here do not move more than five hundred li away, they will surely die.” All who believed him moved away; those who did not thought he was making strange mischief. When the eighth month came, the flood indeed arrived, and the dead numbered more than ten thousand.

Qi Ming raised dragons and lived in a thatched hut beside the pond, waiting with single-minded devotion for the dragons to grow and transform. Later, riding the clouds and driving a chi-dragon (a divine beast of the dragon kind in legend), he returned to his native place and urged the people to move away at once. He could discern calamity and good fortune, and in his heart he still cared for the people of his homeland.

Zhu Zhu (a personal name) was of unknown origin. Together with a Daoist adept he ascended Dang Mountain, saying that cinnabar was there (zhusha, a mineral commonly used in elixir refinement in antiquity) and that tens of thousands of jin could be gathered. When the senior official of Dang Mountain learned of this, he went up the mountain and sealed off the deposit. Later the cinnabar flowed out from a cavern, darting like fire, and only then did the senior official permit Zhu Zhu to collect it. Zhu Zhu gave the cinnabar to the county magistrate, Zhang Junming, to ingest. Three years later Zhang Junming obtained divine cinnabar like flying snow; after taking it, within five years he was able to fly, and so he departed together with Zhu Zhu.

Zhu Zhu and the Daoist adept investigated the cinnabar together. The adept cultivated the Dao (the Way) with utmost sincerity and came into resonance with the profound and mysterious principle. The marvelous response reached through the mountain; cinnabar welled forth from the cavern, flowing with a glittering red light and scattering like flying snow. The senior official of Dang Mountain understood the reason, and in the end gladly gave his assent.

Yuan Ke

Yuanke

Yuanke was a native of Jiyin. He was handsome and gentle in temperament, and the people of his village often wished to marry their daughters to him, but he never took a wife. He cultivated five-colored fragrant herbs year after year, and for decades he lived on their fruit.

One day a multicolored moth settled on the top of a fragrant tree. Yuanke gathered it up and laid it on a cloth, and in time it transformed into silkworms. When the season for raising silkworms came, a beautiful woman appeared beside Yuanke in the night. She said she was his wife and taught him how to tend the silkworms. Together they harvested the cocoons and obtained one hundred and twenty, each as large as a jar. When they reeled the silk, a single cocoon took sixty days to finish. When the work was done, the two departed together, and no one ever learned where they went. For this reason, the people of Jiyin have sacrificed to the silkworm for generations and built shrines for it. Some say that Yuanke was from Jiyang in Chenliu.

The eulogy says: How admirable was Yuanke, his face like a flower opening at dawn. He lifted his head to draw in the profound Jing (essence) and Qi, and bent down to pluck herbs of five colors. The fragrant herbs were rich in scent, and the moth shimmered in many hues. A virtuous woman descended in the night and became his companion, and later they journeyed far away together.

Lord Deerskin

Lord Deerskin was a native of Zichuan. In his youth he served as a minor official in the local government and also worked as a carpenter, able to make a tool in the flick of a hand. On Mount Cen there was a divine spring that ordinary people could not reach. The minor official asked the local magistrate to assign thirty carpenters with axes and chisels. On the mountain they built pulley wheels and suspended plank walkways, an ingenious design. After several dozen days, four flights of stairs were complete. He climbed to the summit, built a shrine and dwelling, and settled beside the divine spring. He then cut away two of the passages to protect himself. He ate the lingzhi mushroom and drank the spring water, and lived this way for nearly seventy years.

Later the Zi River flooded. Three times he called out to his clan and family, and he brought more than sixty people up the mountain to shelter halfway up its slope. When the waters receded, the entire prefectural city had been submerged, and the dead numbered in the tens of thousands. The minor official then took leave of his kinsmen and sent them back down the mountain. Putting on a deerskin robe, he departed and returned to his walkways. More than a hundred years later, someone saw him selling medicine in the marketplace.

The eulogy says: Lord Deerskin was ingenious of mind, his craft subtle and nimble. He raised a lofty pavilion in the air and climbed it to pay homage to the divine spring. In the quiet and solemn shrine, the two severed passages lie deep and still; there one may dwell at leisure, tend one's life, and remain for a long time.

Changrong

Chang Rong was a Daoist of Changshan who claimed to be a son of the king of Yin. He lived on the roots of peng and moved back and forth between heaven and earth. Those who saw him said that, across more than two hundred years, his appearance remained always that of someone about twenty. Chang Rong could gather purple gromwell, sell it to the dye workshops, and give the money he received to orphans and widows. So it continued through the ages, and those who made offerings to him numbered in the tens of thousands.

Though a daughter of the king of Yin, he did not crave glory or riches, nor was there anything he clung to and could not leave behind. His manner was gentle and his features clear and fair; his state of mind followed the course of change, and day by day he nurtured his Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy). He met the world with ease and took pleasure in bestowing kindness on the poor, the weak, and those left alone and suffering.

Xi Fu was a native of Yongdi in Nanjun and lived in the mountains. An immortal often stayed at his home, bought melons from him, and taught him to store melon seeds together with the seeds of cassia, aconite, and baizhi, and then to eat them separately. After more than twenty years, Xi Fu could fly and travel swiftly, climb mountains, and enter the water. After more than a hundred years beyond that, he lived on a high, steep summit, called the elders up from the lower reaches of the mountain stream, and spoke with them of the people and affairs of former days.

What did Xi Fu want? He wished only to live in a deep, secluded valley. Below there was a clear stream; above, grasses and trees gave cover. An immortal had once lodged in his home and guided his practice with secretly transmitted Fulu (talismans and registers), so that his bodily form was removed from the turmoil of the mundane world, while in his heart he still kept in mind the ordinary life he had known before.

Shan Tu was a man of Longxi who lived in a deep, secluded valley. Below there was a clear stream; above, grasses and trees gave cover. An immortal had once lodged in his home and guided his practice with secretly transmitted Fulu, so that his bodily form was removed from the turmoil of the mundane world, while in his heart he still kept in mind the ordinary life he had known before.

Shan Tu was a native of Longxi. In his youth he loved horseback riding, and a horse once trampled him and broke his foot. A Daoist in the mountains taught him to take a medicinal powder made from rehmannia (dihuang), Chinese angelica (danggui), notopterygium (qianghuo, also known as duhuo), and sophora root (kushen). After a year of taking the medicine, he no longer craved food; his illness was cured, and his body became light and agile.

Shan Tu caught up with the Daoist and asked about his origins. The Daoist called himself an “Envoy of the Five Marchmounts” (Wuyue shi), an emissary charged with the divine offices of the Five Sacred Peaks. He said he was going to famous mountains to gather herbs, and that if Shan Tu would follow him, he could live on without dying. Shan Tu followed the Daoist for more than sixty years. One day he returned home, put on mourning clothes for his mother, and kept the period of mourning. A year later he left again, and from then on no one knew where he had gone.

Shan Tu had once fallen ill and been impaired by it; later, nursed by the medicine, his Qi (vital energy) grew full, his body light and strong, and his lifespan was prolonged. He once wrote words of grief beside the grave, moved that his mother’s loving kindness still lingered in his heart. In the end he ascended and departed many times, forever leaving the worldly ties of the dusty realm.

Gu Chun was a native of Liyang. In the time of Emperor Cheng of the Han he served as a lang official (a palace attendant and guard). It is said that after he died of illness, his corpse never grew cold. His family held the funeral and put on mourning clothes, yet they dared not nail the coffin shut. Three years later Gu Chun put his cap on again and sat upon the county gate, greatly astonishing the local people.

His family went to receive him, but he would not return home. When they opened the coffin, the clothes were still there, but the body had already vanished. Gu Chun remained on the county gate for three nights, then went to Chang’an and stopped upon the Heng Gate. When people learned of this and hurried to welcome him, he left again for Mount Taibai. The local people built a shrine for him on the mountain; at times he would come and lodge in the shrine.

It is said that after Gu Chun died, his corpse remained warm long after it had been laid out. Five years after the coffin was closed, he appeared, upright and composed, beside the gate. When people turned back to look, only an empty coffin and the clothes remained inside; his bodily form had disappeared. He left traces of his passage on Mount Taibai, gathering his Qi into the mysterious origin.

Yin Sheng was a beggar who lived beneath the Wei Bridge in Chang’an and often begged in the marketplace. The market people found him filthy and poured excrement over him; in the blink of an eye he was back in the city, his clothes as clean as before. When the officials learned of this, they seized him, put him in fetters, and escorted him to the marketplace, yet he went on begging there. The officials then meant to put him to death by punishment. He left the house of the man who had poured filth on him, and that man’s house at once collapsed of its own accord, crushing more than ten people to death. Because of this, a song circulated in Chang’an: “When you see a beggar, give him fine wine; only then can you escape the calamity of a collapsing house.”

Though Yin Sheng was a beggar, the crowd despised him as unclean. Few could recognize that he was extraordinary, and he was repeatedly imprisoned and insulted. Even Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin, once set aside stinginess—how much more so we who belong to the company of immortals. When malice runs unchecked, disaster descends and in the end burns one’s own house.

The Hairy Woman, whose courtesy name was Yujiang, lived in the mountains of Huayin; hunters of successive generations had all seen her. Hair grew over her whole body, and she said she had been a palace woman in the court of the First Emperor of Qin. After the Qin fell, she fled into the mountains for refuge and met the Daoist Gu Chun. Gu Chun taught her to eat pine needles; from then on she suffered neither hunger nor cold, her body grew as light as if she were flying, and she lived more than one hundred and seventy years. From the cave where she dwelt, it was said, the sound of a qin being played often issued forth.

Yujiang was beautiful in appearance and withdrew from the world, far from the dust of ordinary life. A Zhenren (Perfected Person) transmitted to her the arts of the Dao, and she lived on pine needles and pine nuts. Because the Qin had perished she drifted into the mountains, yet thereby she gained a new life, prolonging her years and enjoying deep good fortune. Among the cliffs she took delight in her own contentment and entrusted her joy to the sound of the qin.

Zi Ying was a man of Shuxiang, skilled at diving into the water to catch fish. He caught a red carp, loved its color, took the fish home, and raised it in a pond, often feeding it rice and grain.

Zi Ying was a native of Shu Township and skilled at diving to catch fish. Once he caught a red carp. Finding its color vivid and bright, he took it home and kept it in a pond, often feeding it rice and grain. A year later the red carp had grown more than a zhang in length and had sprouted horns and wings. Zi Ying thought this extraordinary and bowed to it in thanks. The fish said, “I have come to receive you. Ride on my back, and I will take you up to heaven with me.” A heavy rain then began to fall. Zi Ying mounted the fish’s back and soared away into the sky.

Thereafter the red carp brought Zi Ying back to his old home every year, letting him eat and drink and see his wife and children, and then came again to take him away. These comings and goings continued for seventy years. For this reason, households throughout the Wu region painted fish shapes as decorations on their doors, and later a shrine was also built for Zi Ying.

Zi Ying loved the water and made his living by swimming and fishing. A numinous fish came to keep him company, its body bright with color. He raised the fish until it grew horns and wings, and then, riding this divine being like a chi-dragon amid the clouds, he flew across the distant heights.

Fu Lü

No one knew where Fu Lü was from. He often lived in the region of Ju and went back and forth among the shrines along the seashore. Three immortals were gambling with melons in a shrine. They hired Fu Lü to carry several dozen yellow melons and white melons for them and told him to close his eyes. When he awoke, he had already arrived at Mount Fangzhang (a legendary immortal mountain said to lie south of Mount Penglai).

Later Fu Lü traveled between Ju and Mount Fangzhang, taking the treasures, pearls, and jade from the mountain to sell, and he did so for a long time. One day he suddenly shaved his head, put on ochre-colored clothes, and his appearance grew aged. When others asked, he said he had been punished for taking things from the temple. Several years later his looks became young and handsome again, and the hair at his temples returned as before.

Fu Lü wandered among the shrines and met three immortals, and it was they who took him to the immortal mountain. He dozed for a moment, and in the blink of an eye he had crossed a thousand li. Taking the treasures of the immortal mountain and marring one’s own appearance is not especially shameful; by attaching oneself to immortal spirits such as dragons and phoenixes, one can remain free and carefree to the end.

Wen Bin was a man of Taiqiu Township who made his living by selling straw sandals. He married many times, and many times he cast his wives aside. Later, a former wife of his had already grown old, past ninety, when she saw Wen Bin again and found him younger and more robust than before. One day the old woman knelt and bowed before him, weeping as she begged him for instruction. Wen Bin declined, saying, “It would not be fitting. On the first day of the first month, can you come to meet me at the altar of the soil god west of the village posthouse?” Old as she was, she set out at night with her children and grandchildren, walked more than ten li, and sat inside the altar precinct waiting for him.

Before long Wen Bin arrived and said in surprise, “Do you too love to cultivate the Dao (the Way)? Had I known earlier that you had this resolve, I would never have left you.” He taught the old woman to take chrysanthemum, difu (broom cypress), mistletoe that grows on the mulberry, and pine nuts, and to use these to replenish her primordial Qi (yuanqi). Little by little she too regained a youthful, vigorous appearance, and it is said that she lived more than another hundred years.

Wen Bin was skilled at nourishing life, regulating body and mind by drawing in Qi (naqi). He substituted pine nuts, chrysanthemum, and the like for his ordinary food, so that his body was cultivated and his complexion remained fresh and moist. His former wife loved cultivating the Dao; weeping, she bowed and implored him, and for a long time would not leave. Wen Bin told her of the faults he had once committed and transmitted to her the methods of nourishing life, enabling her to lengthen her years by more than a hundred.

Shangqiu Zixu

Shangqiu Zixu was a man of Gaoyi who liked herding pigs and playing the yu, a reed mouth organ. At seventy he had still not taken a wife, yet he had never grown old. The people of the village found this extraordinary. They followed him to learn the Dao and asked him the essentials of cultivation. He said that one need only eat zhu—medicinal herbs of the atractylodes kind, whether cangzhu or baizhu—and calamus root, and drink water, and one could, like him, go without hunger and without aging. It is said that people in the world continued to see him, and that he lived more than three hundred years.

When nobles and wealthy men heard of this, they too obtained these things and took them. But they stopped before they had persisted for a full year, most likely because their minds were not single. They also supposed that Shangqiu Zixu possessed some further secret that he kept hidden.

Shangqiu Zixu lived in seclusion and quiet, treasuring the subtle arts of the Dao in his heart. When thirsty he drank from a clear spring; when hungry he ate calamus and zhu. Day to day he played the yu and herded pigs, showing a bearing markedly out of the common. His cultivation of the Dao was already enough for him to be content in himself; he sought nothing, and in this way he passed the long years at ease.

Zizhu

Zizhu spoke with the accent of Chu, in a thin, soft voice, and no one knew where he was from. He went to the Prince of Jiangdu and declared, “Master Ning hired me as a retainer, three hundred years…”

Zizhu spoke with a Chu accent, his voice soft and delicate, and no one knew where he was from. He went to pay his respects to the Prince of Jiangdu and said of himself: “Master Ning hired me as a guest servant, and for three hundred years he has never paid me my wages. Everyone takes me for a madman.” The Prince of Jiangdu asked where Master Ning was, and Zizhu said he lived on Mount Longmei.

The Prince of Jiangdu sent officials to take Zizhu up to the summit of Mount Longmei. They saw Master Ning: long hair grew all over his body, his ears were broad, his hair hung loose, and he was playing the qin. At the sight of him Zizhu kowtowed, and the officials conveyed the Prince of Jiangdu’s command to Master Ning. Master Ning said: “This Zizhu is a ninth-generation descendant of my neighbor’s household. I still remember that three women in your house will die suddenly. Do not meddle in my affairs!” No sooner had he finished speaking than a great wind rose on the mountain, and the officials fled down the slope. When they returned to the palace, three people in the palace had indeed killed one another. The Prince of Jiangdu thereupon used the three sacrificial animals—ox, sheep, and pig—to establish a shrine and offer sacrifice to Master Ning.

Zizhu enjoyed long life, and his conduct had its own support; Master Ning received offerings on Mount Longmei, stroking the qin so that it sounded. The two were joined through the Dao (the Way), as if able to glimpse what is hidden and minute; they strove with all their might to set the age aright, inquiring into and making plain their teacher’s principles.

Tao Angong

Tao Angong was a foundryman of Lu’an who constantly tended the furnace fire. One day the furnace fire suddenly burst apart, the flames surged upward, and a purple light shot straight into the sky. Tao Angong prostrated himself beneath the furnace and begged for mercy. Before long a vermilion bird (a red divine bird) perched on the furnace and said to him: “Angong, Angong, your art of smelting has already communed with Heaven. On the seventh day of the seventh month I shall come, driving a scarlet dragon, to receive you.” When the appointed day arrived, the scarlet dragon indeed came. Heavy rain fell that day. Tao Angong mounted the scarlet dragon and flew toward the southeast. As he passed a city, tens of thousands of people all came out to watch and see him off. He bade farewell to each of them in turn.

Tao Angong tended the furnace fire, and purple flames shone on every side. The vermilion bird came fluttering, bearing in its beak a message that told the day; the scarlet horned dragon (a horned dragon of legend), radiant in spirit, arrived coiling on schedule. The whole city looked up to watch, and he turned to take leave of the crowd.

Chifu

Chifu was a man of Barong and served as chief clerk of the Azure Rooster Shrine (an official in charge of documentary affairs). He knew how to refine elixir with water. After he took the elixir refined from niter, over thirty years his appearance once more became like that of his youth.

The vermilion-red horned dragon, radiant in spirit, arrived in winding coils; the whole city looked up to watch, and he turned to take leave of the crowd.

Chifu

Chi Fu was a man of Ba-Rong. He once served as registrar of the Biji Shrine, an official in charge of documents and clerical affairs. He knew how to refine an elixir with water and took it together with niter. After thirty years his appearance had instead become like that of a child, and the hair on his head and body had all turned red. After several more decades he climbed Mount Hua, gathered Yuyuliang (“Yu’s Leftover Grain”)—a mineral often mentioned in Daoist alchemy and in practices of ingestion—and consumed it. Thereafter he sold medicines in the region of Cangwu and the Xiang River. Generation after generation, people said they had seen him, and tradition holds that in the palm of his hand there was something called “Chi Fu.”

Chi Fu preserved his true nature and displayed his talents in Ba-Rong. He lodged in a spirit shrine and refined cinnabar. Though his hair was as red as a flowering spike, his face was ruddy and radiant. He went to the numinous mountains to gather herbs and, in the distant south, observed the changes of the world.

Hu Zixian was a diviner near the passes of Hanzhong and lived to more than a hundred years of age. Before setting out, he summoned the old woman of the wine shop and said, “Pack your things at once. I am going with you to attend upon the King of Zhongling.” At night an immortal arrived leading two dogs woven of thatch and called for Zixian. Zixian gave one of them to the old woman of the wine shop. Only when the old woman mounted it did she discover that it was in fact a dragon. After the two had ascended Mount Huayin, Hu Zixian often shouted loudly from the mountain, “Zixian and the old woman of the wine shop are here!”

Three kinds of numinous power responded to one another in secret, answering as closely as matching tallies. Riding side by side on the thatch dogs, they saw the dogs coil and transform into dragons that bore them away in flight. Together they ascended Mount Taihua and declared that they had come in response to the age. In serving their sovereign their conduct was improper, yet they had also shown kindness to others.

Master Fuju was a man whose place of origin was unknown.

Master Fu Ju’s place of origin was unknown; his accent resembled that of the people of Yan and Dai. He often carried mirror-grinding tools on his back and polished mirrors for people in the markets of Wu, charging one coin for each mirror. While grinding a mirror he would always ask the owner, “Is anyone in your household ill?” If he met someone who was sick, he brought out purple pills and gave them to that person, and none who took the medicine failed to recover. This continued for several decades.

Later a great plague broke out in Wu. He went from house to house distributing medicine, saved more than ten thousand people, and did not take a single coin. Only then did the people of Wu realize that he was a Perfected Person who had attained the Dao (the Way). Afterward he lived atop the steep cliff of Mount Wu and lowered medicine down for people to take. As he was about to leave, he said to those below the mountain, “I am returning to Mount Penglai (the legendary mountain of immortals in the sea), and I will send you some divine water as well. If one day white water flows from the cliff top and runs down through the cracks in the rock, draw it and drink it.” Many people’s illnesses were cured because of this. The people built more than ten shrines for him.

Master Fu Ju’s bearing was upright and dignified; he wore coarse cloth, yet within he held a spiritual refinement. His medical art combined the skill of He and of Que (Bian Que, the legendary physician famed for the healing arts), and his mind and spirit were lodged between Heaven and Earth. He drew the spring water of Penglai to irrigate this precipitous summit, wishing to return to Mount Peng and to live as long as Heaven.

Zhu Huang was a man of Guangling. In his youth he suffered from masses accumulated in the abdomen, so he went to Mount Sui to visit the Daoist priest Ruan Qiu. Ruan Qiu took pity on him and said, “If you can remove from your belly the Three Corpses (sanshi—the spirits that, as Daoism teaches, dwell in the human body and obstruct cultivation), you have the capacity to become a Perfected Person, and the methods of the Dao may be transmitted to you.” Zhu Huang said, “Once I am cured, I am willing to serve you for thirty years and will not dare to leave of my own accord.”

Ruan Qiu gave Zhu Huang seven kinds of medicine and had him take nine pills each day. After a hundred days he expelled a great quantity of matter resembling liver and spleen, several pecks in all. After several dozen days of convalescence he grew robust, and his mind became clearer day by day. Ruan Qiu gave him Lord Lao’s Scripture of the Yellow Court (Huangting Jing, a Daoist classic that sets forth the spirits of the body and the work of cultivation) and had him read it three times a day until he knew it thoroughly and could grasp its meaning. Later Ruan Qiu took Zhu Huang with him into the Jade Maiden Shrine on Mount Fuyang. After nearly eighty years Zhu Huang appeared again in his old place; the white hair on his head had all turned black, and the hair at his temples had grown more than three feet. He returned home and lived there, eating and lodging, for several years, then left once more. He was still alive at the end of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han.

Zhu Huang had once suffered the pain of masses in the abdomen; later blessed fortune descended upon him. The Perfected Person gave him medicine, so that the Three Corpses within his body all acquired a spiritual nature. His mind was empty and still, his spirit clear and bright, and he was able to reach the hidden and obscure realm. His complexion turned ruddy and his white hair black; he transcended the dusty world and lived long without aging.

Huang Ruanqiu was a Daoist on Mount Sui. He wore a garment of skins and let his hair hang loose; his ears were seven inches long, he had no teeth in his mouth, and each day he could walk four hundred li. On the mountain he grew scallions and xie, an edible plant of the Allium family. He had cultivated them for more than a hundred years, yet no one knew of him. From time to time he came down the mountain to sell medicine. Zhu Huang noticed his unusual appearance, and only then did people realize that he was a divine being. Later, when the ground shook, the mountain collapsed, and the roads were cut off, he had already warned the people at the foot of the mountain to avoid the danger. The local people offered sacrifice to him together.

Among the rocky ridges of Mount Sui, lush and deeply secluded, was precisely the place where such a person would live in retreat. Clad in skins, with his hair unbound, he moved with a light and swift step that no one could match. He realized the great Dao (the Way) and cultivated body and mind; his subtle contemplative insight could reach the divine. Zhu Huang discovered his extraordinary powers, and he in turn made known to the people below the mountain the portents of disaster.

Nü Wan was a woman who sold wine in the marketplace of Chen, and the wine she brewed was always delicious. An immortal passed by her house to drink and left five scrolls of plain books—Daoist classics of the arts, written in white—as a pledge. Nü Wan opened the scrolls and found that they set forth the arts of nourishing one’s nature and of sexual union. She privately copied their essential instructions, then arranged a room and received young men, having them drink fine wine and stay the night, and she practiced according to the methods described in the books. After thirty years of this, her appearance was instead as youthful as when she had been twenty. Several years later that immortal passed by again and said to her with a smile, “You have stolen the arts of the Dao, yet you are unwilling to transmit them selflessly. Even if you were to grow wings, you would not ascend.” Nü Wan thereupon abandoned her household and property, followed the immortal, and departed. From then on, no one knew where she had gone.

The essentials of the Xuansu arts—the arts of the Mysterious and the Plain—lie within a person’s own body and mind. Gu and Dan obtained these arts of the Dao and recorded them in five scrolls. Nü Wan grasped their profound subtleties, and for this reason the immortal came to her house. She opened the scrolls and cultivated according to the guidance they gave, and in the end she departed together with the immortal, withdrawing far beyond the world.

Lingyang Ziming

Lingyang Ziming was a local man who liked to fish in Xuan Creek. Once he caught a white dragon. Frightened, he unhooked it, bowed to the white dragon, and let it go. Later he caught a white fish, and concealed in its belly was a letter teaching him methods of ingestion and cultivation. Ziming then climbed Mount Huang, gathered the five stone resins (a mineral used in practices of ingestion and cultivation), and took them steeped in boiling water.

Three years later a dragon came to receive Ziming and carried him away. Thereafter Ziming remained on Mount Lingyang for more than a hundred years. Mount Lingyang towered into the clouds, more than a thousand zhang above the ground. Ziming called loudly to the people below, had them climb halfway up the mountain, and told them: “Zhong Zi’an, you are to come and ask Ziming whether the reel used for fishing is still there.”

More than twenty years later, Zi’an died. People buried him at the foot of Stone Mountain. A yellow crane flew in and perched on a tree beside the grave, crying out and calling Zi’an.

Lingyang was fishing beside the stream when a white dragon bit his hook. He later obtained an auspicious white fish and learned the method of cultivation from the letter in the fish’s belly. He took the five stone resins in boiling water, ascended the high mountain, and departed riding a dragon. Zi’an at last died. Why did that yellow crane cry beside the grave, as if it were still seeking something?

Hanzi

Hanzi, a legendary immortal of the Shu region, claimed to be a native of Shu and was fond of letting his dogs run free. Once a dog ran into a mountain cave, and Hanzi followed it in. He walked for more than ten days, covering several hundred li, before emerging at the mountaintop. On the mountain stood lofty terraces and palaces amid dense green pines, with immortal officials and guards keeping strict watch. He saw his former wife presiding over the washing of fish. She handed him a case of Fulu (talismans and registers) and medicinal substances, telling him to take them back and deliver them to Qiao Jun, the magistrate of Chengdu. When Qiao Jun opened the case, he found fish roe inside and placed them in a pond. A year later the roe had all grown into the form of dragons. Qiao Jun then sent the Fulu back up the mountain.

Hanzi’s dog became an even deeper red, and a long-feathered bird was often at its side. For more than a hundred years Hanzi came and went in the human world; later he remained on the mountain, only occasionally descending to protect his own clan. The people of Shu built a shrine for him at the mouth of the cave, where the sounds of drums, music, and heralds calling could often be heard. People across several thousand li of the southwest all joined in offering sacrifice to him.

Searching for his lost dog, Hanzi unexpectedly entered an immortal cave. He saw towering towers and pavilions, with green pines standing in rows. He received Fulu and medicinal substances and traveled between the immortal realm and the human world. Later he dwelt on the summit of the numinous mountain, where the sounds of the immortal realm could be clearly heard.

Muyu

Mu Yu was a native of Heping Township in the southern part of Julu. His mother came from a poor family and worked as a midwife. Once she went to visit a woman in labor. The moment the child was born, it opened its eyes, looked at its mother, and laughed aloud, which terrified the woman. That night she dreamed of a figure wearing a tall cap and a red headcloth, keeping watch beside the child. He said to her, “This is Lord Siming (the deity who governs human life and allotted lifespan). He will repay your kindness and enable your son, Mu Yu, to attain immortality.” The woman quietly kept this in mind.

Later the woman gave birth to a son and named him Mu Yu. When the child born to the woman she had attended in childbirth reached the age of fifteen, carriages and horses came one night to receive him. Passing Mu Yu’s house, he called out, “Mu Yu, Mu Yu, come and drive the carriage for me!” Mu Yu then departed with him.

More than twenty years afterward, a stork came at dawn with a fish two chi long in its beak and set it on the door of Mu Yu’s mother. She concealed the matter, told no one, and sold the fish. Only thirty years later did Mu Yu pass away. His mother lived to the age of one hundred before she died.

Lord Siming sent down a numinous manifestation that filled the woman in labor with terror. He had said he would repay her, yet the promise was not fulfilled at once. When Mu Yu’s cultivation of the Dao (the Way) and his accumulated attainment were already sufficient, a light carriage and horses came by night to receive him. In the end that kindness was repaid, and the mother thereby enjoyed a long life.

Xuan Su

Xuan Su claimed to be a native of Hejian. He took croton seeds (a drug with a strong purgative effect) and sold medicine in the marketplace, charging one coin for every seven pills and claiming that they could cure all illnesses. The Prince of Hejian suffered from an illness of the kind known as accumulations in the abdomen. After buying the medicine and taking it, he expelled more than ten snakes. When the Prince of Hejian asked about the origin of the medicine, Xuan Su said, “Your Majesty’s illness is a calamity accumulated over six generations of your ancestors and passed on to your own person; it is not something you yourself brought upon yourself. Your Majesty has often set free mother deer and pitied them for losing their fawns. This benevolent heart moved Heaven, and that is why you have met me.”

An old servant of the Prince of Hejian’s household said that already in his father’s generation people had seen Xuan Su, and that at that time Xuan Su’s body cast no shadow. The Prince of Hejian then had him examined in the sunlight, and indeed no shadow could be seen. The Prince wished to marry his daughter to him, but Xuan Su fled in the night. Later, people saw him at the foot of Mount Changshan.

According to legend, Xuan Su had bodily substance yet cast no shadow, and he was the only such person in the world. He practiced benevolence and virtue, healing the sick with miraculous pills, and in this way also repaid the Prince of Hejian’s good deed of setting the mother deer free. In Hejian he revealed traces of the Dao (the Way) and received the Prince’s close and courteous favor, yet he was not bound by glory and honor. In the end he departed afar like a soaring dragon, transcendent and without a trace.

The Yijing says that Taiji (Supreme Ultimate)—the primordial source before heaven, earth, and the myriad things had differentiated—gives rise to the two modes (Yin and Yang). Only with Yin-Yang are there living beings; only with living beings are there birth and death, and the principle of birth and death is thereby made plain. The myriad things unfold in change and come into being as a seamless whole, lacking nothing; yet what is numinous, marvelous, and subtle within them cannot be told exhaustively, one thing after another.

The sages looked upward to observe the patterns of heaven and downward to examine the configurations of the earth. The sun and moon move in their courses, the four seasons succeed one another, and the five planets, held under the governance of Taiwei (a region of stellar offices in the heavens), keep watch over states that lack the Dao (the Way), portending good and ill fortune, and thereby admonishing rulers to be careful in their actions, affairs of government, and speech. Mutual resonance between heaven and humanity has been so since ancient times. Although heaven does not speak, its transformations and movements cannot be said not to exist.

The Zhou Shu records that Xu Sang asked Juanzi, “Since human beings die, how can one also speak of immortals? Can these two claims both hold?” Juanzi replied, “In principle the two can stand together. The Xiaojing Yuanshenqi says that the creative transformations of heaven and earth are numinous and ethereal, just as in the establishing of the Five Marchmounts and the arranging of the Santai (stellar offices in the heavens). Yang Qi (vital energy) presides over the exterior and Yin Qi over the interior; Jing (essence) and Qi move above and below, interweaving to transform and nurture the myriad things. The Dao does not operate in only one way. That grasses and trees sprout in spring and fall in autumn is the constant pattern; yet among trees there are more than one hundred and eighty kinds, such as pine, cypress, jiang, and tan, and among herbs there are also zhiying, pingshi, lingzhao, huangjing, baifu, bamboo, jiehuo, and others. Some of them can live long without dying, and they are many. In the depth of winter they pass through frost and snow and still flourish without fading. Since such examples can be seen, why should one find it strange that there are immortals in the world?”

I once obtained the Zhuanxian tu compiled by Ruan Cang, a grandee of the state of Qin. The book records that from the six generations down to that time there were in all more than seven hundred immortals. The First Emperor of Qin delighted in seeking the way of the immortals and hoped to gain something thereby; thus fangshi gathered, and prayers and sacrifices spread everywhere. Yet these records were probably fabricated by attaching themselves to certain events, taking empty and illusory talk as solid fact, and they should not be lightly believed. For example, the Huanglu of the Duke of Zhou records that the star Taibai descended into the world and became a prince or duke; there are also accounts that the Year Star, Suixing, transformed into Duke Ningshou, and the like. Such matters do not come from a single source. The sages did not speak of things of this kind plainly, because they have no fixed standard. Even if they occasionally become manifest, one ought not on that account to abandon the correct Dao. To refuse what confuses and to hold fast to uprightness is what is fitting. The deeper meaning of what the Analects calls “prodigies, feats of strength, disorder, and spirits” can be seen from this.