《墉城集仙录》Vol. 3

It is said that she lived for more than three hundred years, yet she was never able to give up her habit of indulging in sexual desire. Later, no one knew where Cai Nü went; perhaps she had already attained the Dao.

○ Sun Maiden

The Sun Maiden’s surname was Zhu, and her given name was Yi. She had mastered the essentials of inner cultivation, understood the benefits of breathing practices for nourishing life, and explained the Dao of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), applying it with great skill. Her cultivation was also highly effective. She lived to the age of two hundred and eighty. Her face was as lovely as a peach blossom, her lips were red and lustrous as if touched with vermilion, and her skin was full and radiant. Her brows and sideburns seemed painted, and her whole appearance shone. She looked like a girl of seventeen or eighteen. She served the Daoist Juedongzi with great diligence.

Juedongzi’s surname was Li, and his given name was Xiu. He had mastered the practice known as “the Yin Dragon and Shen Tiger,” a method of cultivation described through images such as dragons and tigers. He wrote forty treatises entitled Dao Yuan (Source of the Dao) and was said to have lived among humans for several hundred years. Zhu Yi served him diligently and learned the essentials of cultivation. Juedongzi cautioned her: “My practice is to overcome hardness with softness and restrain strength with weakness. Those who cultivate must take caution and reverence as their foundation. They should act as if approaching an abyss or walking along a perilous path, as if controlling a galloping horse or riding in a jolting carriage. The slightest mistake can make them lose what they have gained through cultivation. With diligence and perseverance, they can attain long life.”

Later, they refined the Golden Elixir of Liquid Gold, an immortal elixir described in Daoist cultivation. After taking it, they ascended to Heaven together.

○ Moon Maiden

The woman Taiyin was surnamed Ying and named Jin. She was intelligent and perceptive, with wisdom beyond that of ordinary people. She had studied the arts of the Dao with Yuzi and had mastered some methods, but had not yet grasped their deeper principles fully. Lacking a teacher, she opened a wine shop beside the road and secretly sought someone she could ask for guidance.

One day, the Master of the Sun passed by the wine shop and stopped for a drink. Seeing that Ying Jin spoke with refinement and behaved with courtesy, he remarked, “He practices the arts of the White Tiger and the Soaring Serpent; I follow the Way of the Azure Dragon and the Dark Warrior. There are so many people in the world—who can truly understand the principles behind these arts?”

Ying Jin was delighted to hear this and sent her younger sister to ask the guest, “What is the number of Earth among the Five Phases?” The Master of the Sun replied, “The South has the number three, the North five, the East nine, the West seven, and the Center one.” Her sister returned and reported, “This guest is a great sage who has already attained the Dao. I asked only one question, and he immediately discerned the numbers of the Five Phases.”

Ying Jin then invited the Master of the Sun into the Dao chamber, served him fine food, and asked him to teach her the way to longevity. The Master of the Sun said, “Together we shall serve in the court of the Heavenly Emperor and drink the water of divine radiance; we shall ascend to Yuzi’s essential teachings and honor the secret treasures of the Five Phases. Only the worthy deserve our closeness—why would I begrudge you these Daoist arts?” He then taught Ying Jin methods of daoyin and bodily cultivation, and passed on the techniques for refining steaming elixirs. After refining and taking the elixir, Ying Jin attained the Dao and became an immortal. She was then two hundred years old, yet still had the appearance of a child.

The Master of the Sun was surnamed Yu and named Ming, and was a friend of the prince. After Yuzi attained the Dao, the Master of the Sun became his disciple and served him with wholehearted devotion. Yuzi had more than three thousand disciples, but the Master of the Sun alone spent his days in a drunken stupor and went more than three hundred years without practicing in earnest. Yuzi said to him, “You should have cultivated body and mind, preserved your life, and become a teacher to the worthy. Instead, you have lost yourself in drunkenness, neglected your practice, and failed to refine the Great Elixir. Even if you lived for a thousand years, you would still not escape death. This is something even an ordinary person should not do, much less someone of insight.”

The Master of the Sun then changed his ways and began refining elixirs. When the elixir was ready, he took it, became an immortal, and departed. He lived among human beings for more than five hundred years, and his appearance remained youthful throughout.

Yuzi was surnamed Zhang and named Zhen. He came from Nan Commandery. King You of Zhou knew that he possessed Daoist arts and summoned him to court, but he did not answer the summons. He later withdrew to the mountains, cultivated the Dao, and attained it.

Tai Xuanü’s surname was Zhuan, and her given name was He. Her father died when she was young. Someone read her and her mother’s faces and said that neither would live long, which filled her mother with sorrow. Tai Xuanü once lamented, “In this world, some things, once lost, can never be recovered, and the dead cannot be brought back to life. Since our lifespans are limited, if we do not cultivate the Dao, we cannot prolong life.”

She therefore traveled far and wide in search of accomplished teachers, cleared away distracting thoughts, and devoted herself to learning and cultivating the Dao. She mastered the arts taught by Master Yu. After many years of practice, she was said to be able to enter water without getting her clothes wet. In bitter cold, she could stand on ice wearing only a single-layer garment; her complexion remained unchanged, her body stayed warm, and she could endure this for many days.

She could also move government offices, palaces, cities, and houses to other places, where they appeared exactly as before. With a point of her hand, they vanished. Even locked doors, windows, chests, and cabinets opened at her gesture. When she pointed at a mountain, it collapsed; when she pointed at a tree, it snapped. With another gesture, both returned to their original state.

When she traveled with her disciples and night fell in the mountains, she would strike a stone with her staff. It would open to reveal rooms, beds, curtains, a kitchen, and a granary, all stocked with food and wine. No matter how far they traveled, she could do the same wherever they went. She could make a small object suddenly grow as large as a house, or shrink a large one until it was tiny. At times she spat out flames that shot up into the sky, then extinguished them with a breath. She could also sit in a blazing fire without burning her clothes or shoes.

In an instant, she could transform into the likeness of a child, a carriage, or a horse, and perform thirty-six kinds of arts, all said to be remarkably effective. She could revive the dead and saved countless lives, yet no one knew where these abilities came from. Nor did anyone learn her methods of taking substances to nourish life. In later years, her appearance grew ever younger, and her hair turned black as a raven’s. At last, she ascended to heaven in broad daylight.

Lady Fan was Liu Gang’s wife. Liu Gang, whose courtesy name was Boluan, once served as magistrate of Shangyu County. He also understood Daoist arts: using talismanic dispatches, he could summon ghosts and spirits and perform arts of restraint and transformation. He also practiced in secret and gained proof of his attainment, though others knew nothing of it.

As an administrator, Liu Gang favored quiet and simplicity, yet his policies were carried out smoothly, benefiting the people. The area had good harvests year after year, without drought, floods, epidemics, or harm from fierce beasts. People near and far admired him.

In his spare time, Liu Gang often tested his Daoist arts against Lady Fan’s. Sitting together in the hall, Liu Gang used his art to set a guest’s mill shed ablaze from the east. Lady Fan used a counterspell, and the fire went out at once. Two peach trees stood in the courtyard. Each spouse used an art to make one tree strike the other. After a long while, the tree Liu Gang commanded lost the contest and ran beyond the fence. Liu Gang spat into a dish, and his saliva immediately became a crucian carp. Lady Fan spat into the dish, and her saliva became an otter, which promptly ate the fish.

Liu Gang and Lady Fan entered the Siming Mountains, where they encountered a tiger. Liu Gang used his art to subdue it, and the tiger crouched motionless on the ground. Just as the couple were about to leave, the tiger suddenly roared. Lady Fan walked straight up to it. The tiger pressed its face to the ground, not daring to look up at her. Lady Fan tied it with a rope and led it back, tethering it to the foot of her bed.

Whenever Liu Gang tested his Daoist arts against Lady Fan’s, he was outmatched in every way. Later, as the two were about to ascend to heaven, a tall Chinese honey locust tree stood beside the county office. Liu Gang climbed it and rose several yards into the air, preparing to fly by his own power. Lady Fan, meanwhile, sat calmly on her bed and rose slowly, as if borne aloft by clouds. The two ascended to heaven together.

○ Holy Mother of Dongling

The Holy Mother of Dongling was from Hailing in Guangling. She married into the Du family and became Liu Gang’s disciple, studying Daoist arts under him. She could change her appearance, perform transformations, and make herself invisible.

The Holy Mother of Dongling was from Hailing in Guangling. She married into the Du family and became a disciple of Liu Gang, learning the arts of the Dao. She could change her appearance, and her movements were mysterious and unpredictable. The Du family did not believe in Daoist arts and often grew angry with her. When the Holy Mother went out to heal the sick and help others, or traveled elsewhere, the Du family became even more resentful. They reported her to the authorities, claiming, “The Holy Mother behaves like a demon and neglects her household duties.”

The authorities imprisoned her. Before long, people saw her fly out through the prison window, rising higher and higher until she entered the clouds. She left a pair of shoes beneath the window and from then on ascended to Heaven.

Afterward, people near and far built temples to honor her. Their prayers were often answered quickly. A green bird was frequently seen at the sites of her sacrifices. When someone lost something, they would ask the bird where it was. The bird would then land on the person who had stolen it. As a result, people dared not pick up things others had lost along the road. Over time, however, this no longer happened.

Even today, people in the Hailing area believe that no one can get away with wicked deeds or theft there. Those who commit serious offenses may drown in storms or be attacked by tigers and wolves; even lesser offenses bring illness or injury.

○ The Maiden of Xihe

The Maiden of the Western River was the niece of the immortal Bo Shanfu. Bo Shanfu was from Yongzhou. He had gone to Mount Hua to study the Dao, devoted himself to cultivation, and taken medicinal substances. From time to time, he returned to his hometown to visit his relatives. After more than two hundred years, his appearance had grown ever younger. Whenever he entered someone’s home, he could clearly see the good and evil deeds and merits and faults of that family’s ancestors, as if he had witnessed them himself. He could also foresee future fortune and misfortune, and his predictions never failed.

Bo Shanfu saw that his niece was often ill, so he gave her medicine. She was already seventy when she took it, but gradually regained her youth, until her face looked like an infant’s. An envoy sent by the Han emperor was passing through Xihe when, east of the city, he saw a woman whipping an old man. The man’s hair and beard were completely white, and he knelt there, enduring the blows. The envoy was astonished and went over to ask what was happening.

The woman replied, “This old man is my son. Long ago, my uncle Bo Shanfu attained the Dao of the immortals and withdrew to Mount Hua. Taking pity on my frequent illnesses, he gave me immortal medicine. After I took it, I gradually regained my youth. Now I have tried to get this son to take the medicine, but he refuses. That is why he has grown so old, and why he can no longer walk as fast as I can. I was angry, so I beat him with a stick.”

The envoy asked the woman and her son how old they were. She replied, “I am two hundred and thirty, and my son is seventy.” Later, the woman too withdrew to Mount Hua, attained the Dao, and departed as an immortal.

● Scroll Seven

○ Lady Liang

Lady Liang came from Xuyi. After her husband died, she lived alone and had no children. She opened an inn at Shiyuan Pavilion. Guests who came to stay and rest all felt as though they had returned to their own homes. She treated lodgers and passersby alike. She never quibbled over how much guests paid for lodging, and if someone stayed for a whole month, she never grew impatient. She herself wore only coarse cloth and ate coarse grain, giving all her surplus earnings to help the poor and sick.

Once, a young boy stayed at the inn for a month. His manner was unlike that of ordinary people. As he was leaving, he said, “I am the Young Attendant of the Eastern Sea.” Lady Liang did not know who the “Young Attendant of the Eastern Sea” was.

In the fourth year of the Yuanhui era of the Song, in the year bingchen, the Daoist Xu Daosheng of Mount Ma’er was staying temporarily in Mengyin. One day, west of Fengcheng, he came upon a cart drawn by a blue ram. The cart stopped of its own accord. A young boy inside called out, “Daoist Xu, please come here.” Xu Daosheng approached and stopped about three paces from the cart. He then saw two boys, about twelve or thirteen years old, both dressed in yellow over crimson garments, their hair arranged in horn-shaped topknots. Their bearing and dress were impeccable, rarely seen in this world.

The person inside the cart had one of the boys deliver this message: “I am Lady Liang of the inn at Pingyuan. I have now been summoned by the Great One—the Daoist honorific for the highest divinity—and am returning to the heavenly realm. I should have passed through Penglai to seek Ziqiao, and then crossed Mount Tai to undergo an examination and receive a summons. I never expected to meet you here. The immortal carriage speeds onward, the mysterious heights are steep, and every ferry crossing and post station is fixed by destiny; each day’s journey is three thousand li. The day of my audience at the Celestial Court is near, and my heart is troubled and weary. Soon I will ride the vapors upward to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the three Daoist heavens. These three boys are escorting me to the Mysterious Capital. Please convey my regards to the faithful men and women of the East—the Daoist believers—and tell them that an age of great peace is near, with more than one part in ten already attained. May they guide and deliver one another; once this passage has been crossed, there will be no more danger or hardship.”

She raised her hand in farewell and said, “We will meet again in the time of great peace.” Then the immortal carriage rose into the sky and vanished beyond the reach of sight. Xu Daosheng returned to the inn and made inquiries, only to learn that this was the very day Lady Liang had attained the Dao and ascended to immortality.

Bao Gu was the daughter of Bao Jing, Governor of Nanhai, and the wife of Ge Hong, who served in the Jin dynasty as a Palace Attendant at Leisure. Bao Jing, courtesy name Taixuan, came from Chenliu. From a young age he possessed far-reaching insight and could discern the hidden and mysterious principles. He devoted himself to profound practices, beyond the understanding of those around him…

Bao Gu was the daughter of Bao Jing, governor of Nanhai, and the wife of Ge Hong, who served as a Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary during the Jin dynasty. Bao Jing, whose courtesy name was Taixuan, came from Chenliu. Even in his youth, he showed keen and profound insight. He understood subtle and mysterious principles and devoted himself to studying hidden Daoist arts, which others could scarcely comprehend. He and his younger sister inherited the hidden virtue accumulated by their family over generations. Its blessings fell upon Bao Jing, and both siblings attained the Dao and became immortals. Bao Gu and her younger sister were also admitted to the ranks of the immortals.

Bao Jing’s learning embraced both the Confucian classics and their apocryphal commentaries. He later became a student of Zuo Yuanfang, learning the Central Method and the essential techniques of the Three Sovereigns and Five Peaks for summoning and censuring ghosts and spirits. His use of these arts was extraordinarily effective: he could command ghosts and spirits, seal off mountains, and subdue demons. In the first year of Daxing, the year of the Earth Tiger (318), under Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin, he met the Perfected Person Yin Changsheng on Mount Jiang and received the art of release by the sword—a technique for casting off the mortal body with the aid of a blade and ascending to the immortal realm. He was repeatedly summoned to court and rose to the post of Palace Attendant. Later, he requested an appointment as governor of Nanhai and married his daughter Bao Gu to Ge Zhichuan, also known as Ge Hong.

Ge Zhichuan had served as a Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary. To refine cinnabar, he requested appointment as magistrate of Goulu County. While Bao Jing was serving in Nanhai, his younger daughter reached adulthood and suddenly died despite having been in good health. Bao Jing was receiving guests at the time and showed almost no sign of grief. His daughter was buried on Mount Luofu, her face still appearing lifelike. People all believed that she had become an immortal through corpse liberation.

Bao Jing later returned to Danyang and died there. He was buried at Shizigang. During the Rebellion of Su Jun, someone opened his coffin and found it empty except for a large sword. The robbers tried to take the sword, but suddenly heard the sound of soldiers and horses around the tomb. As they looked about in fear, the sword inside the grave let out a thunderous crash, like a peal of thunder, and they all fled. After the rebellion was quelled, people retrieved the sword and reburied it elsewhere. Bao Jing and his sister, too, had perfected the Way of corpse liberation; Bao Gu and Ge Hong ascended to immortality, one after the other.

○ Sun Hanhua

Sun Hanhua was the daughter of Sun Xi, a man from the Wu region. She became a student of Du Qi and learned the essentials of the Mysterious and the White, a secret Daoist cultivation method. Her appearance grew younger day by day. For more than ten years she traveled and practiced among the mountains of the Wu and Yue regions, and in the end attained the Dao and departed as an immortal.

○ Li Xizi

Li Xizi was the grandmother of Li Zhong, the Jin dynasty governor of Dongping. Her family name is unknown. Her grandfather was an upright man who lived in seclusion in the countryside. He was kind and compassionate, and often performed good deeds without seeking recognition. Li Xizi shared his inclinations and did all she could to help others. When heavy snow and bitter cold froze the roads, she piled rice in the garden, worried that the birds might starve or freeze to death. She had always been so devoted to doing good. Now she has attained the Dao and lives in the Huayang Grotto Palace.

○ Han Xihua

It is not known where Han Xihua came from. She was compassionate and often performed good deeds in secret; she cared even for tiny insects. She cultivated the Dao and became an immortal, and now lives in the grotto-heaven of Mount Song.

○ Dou Qiongying

Dou Qiongying was the younger sister of Dou Wu. Among her ancestors seven generations back was a man named Dou Zhichang, who made a practice of burying the remains of people left unburied, always intent on helping the dead. The blessings of his good deeds extended to Qiongying, enabling her to become a female immortal. She now lives in Yiqian Palace.

○ Liu Chunlong

Neither Liu Chunlong nor Guo Shuxiang is known to have come from any particular place. Because their ancestors had accumulated hidden stores of virtue through good deeds, both were able to leave behind their mortal bodies, take on immortal forms, and enter Huayang Yiqian Palace.

Liu Chunlong, Dou Qiongying, Han Taihua, and Li Xizi were naturally graceful and beautiful, with striking appearances that inspired wonder. Their talents and intelligence were exceptional, so all were appointed “Attendants of the Bright Dawn,” serving as attendants in the grotto-heavens. This office was awarded on the basis of ability and virtue, without regard to gender.

Zhao Sutai was the daughter of Zhao Xi, the Han dynasty Inspector of Youzhou. In his youth, Zhao Xi was kind and upright. He often aided the poor and had also helped the families of Wang Hui and others. Over several decades, he accumulated much hidden virtue through good deeds done without others’ knowledge. Later, Zhao Xi journeyed in person to Zhuling, one of the realms of immortals, while his daughter was able to dwell in a celestial grotto, a blessed land where immortals reside. Zhao Sutai lived in Yiqian Palace for four hundred years and never wished to leave. She said, “There is nowhere in the world more joyful than this.” At times she changed into ordinary clothes and went out to explore, taking pleasure in the mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes. “Lady Yiqian” was her rank title.

○ Fu Lihe

Fu Lihe was the daughter of Fu Jian, a local man. Her whole family followed Buddhism. Lihe often went sightseeing among the mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes, taking pleasure in the scenery. “Lady Yiqian” was her rank title.

○ Fu Lihe

Fu Lihe was the daughter of Fu Jian, a local man. Her whole family followed Buddhism. Every day, Lihe swept and cleaned before the Buddhist images, and she often made a vow, saying, “I alone look up to the Way of the immortals.” She frequently took the “Essence of the Five Stars,” a practice substance associated with the Five Phases and the essence of the stars. Her body gradually began to shine, and later she attained the Way and became an immortal. She was skilled at composing hollow songs, the songs of the immortals. When she sang, birds would fly over and gather before her, as though listening. This was thought to be a response to her utmost sincerity, through which she was able to attain the Way.

○ Huang Jinghua

Huang Jinghua was the daughter of Huang Qiong, Grand Commandant of the Han dynasty. From childhood, she loved the Way of the immortals and secretly practiced its essential methods. Later she became a disciple of Lord Han and received an alchemical formula from Mount Min. After taking it, she entered Yiqian Palace, where she held the rank of Lady Xiechen. She governed the divine maidens of the Nine Palaces and oversaw their instruction.

○ Zhang Weizi

Zhang Weizi was the daughter of Zhang Qing, a senior official in charge of public works during the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han; her place of origin is unknown. From childhood, she loved the Way of the immortals. Later, she left the world through corpse liberation, a Daoist means of becoming immortal by leaving the physical body. She dwelled at the Huayang Hanzhen Terrace of the Great Origin’s Director of Destinies, where she became a disciple of the Jade Consort of Donghua and learned a practice of ingesting mist. Her teacher said, “Mist is the essence of the water and fire energies between mountains and marshes, and is also formed when the energies of metals and stones grow abundant. Ingest it over a long period, and you can dissolve your form, enter emptiness, and merge with clouds and mist.” Zhang Weizi practiced accordingly and ultimately attained the Way and became an immortal.

No one knows where Ding Shuying came from. She once secretly accumulated De by helping the poor, and also aided Zhao Fu when he faced danger. Her good deeds moved the August One, a revered Daoist deity, who therefore bestowed on her the essential teachings of Daoist methods. She is now a Lady Immortal of the Vermilion Mound, an immortal in the celestial palace of the Vermilion Mound, and often travels among the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and their celestial realms. The Deity in Charge of Destiny also allows her to take part in handling official affairs.

○ Wang Fajin

Wang Fajin was from Linjin County in Jianzhou. Even as a young child, she naturally loved Daoism. Near her home stood an old temple, though no Daoist lived there. When she played, she never treated its divine images carelessly or with disrespect. Whenever she saw them, she would bring her hands together and bow reverently, her expression full of awe.

When she was in her teens, a female Daoist official passed through a nearby county on her way from Jianzhou and stopped at Wang Fajin’s home. Knowing that their daughter admired Daoism, her parents entrusted her to the woman’s care. The woman transmitted to her the Zhengyi Longevity-Extending Register, a Zhengyi talismanic register for praying for a long life, and gave her the name Fajin. From then on, she devoted herself to tending incense and observing purification fasts. She also ate cypress leaves and gave up grain, and often sensed the spirits descending.

That year, famine struck the Sanchuan region and grain prices soared; five or six out of every ten people died of hunger. Many people dug up yams and wild kudzu roots to eat. Suddenly, two Azure Youths, attendants from the celestial realm, descended into her courtyard and conveyed the command of the Supreme Emperor: “In a former life, you were endowed with an immortal’s bones. You turned toward Daoist teachings with sincere devotion and never forgot the Dao. Now we have sent the Azure Youths to summon you to Jade Capital, the celestial realm where the Celestial Emperor resides, to receive your office.”

Fajin rose into the sky with the Azure Youths and went straight before the Grand Emperor. He ordered that she be given rosy nectar in a jade cup, a drink from the celestial realm. After she had drunk it, the Grand Emperor said to her: “People become human by receiving the fundamental endowments of the Five Phases and the harmonious Qi of Heaven and Earth. To be born in the Central Land is rarer still. Heaven moves the Qi of the four seasons, while Earth bears the essence of the Five Phases, bringing forth the grains and fruits to nourish people. Yet people do not understand Heaven and Earth’s nurturing kindness. They waste food, disdain cloth, and fail to regard food and clothing as the foundations of life. As a result, farmers labor in the fields and women toil at the loom, yet they have neither enough to eat nor enough to wear. Their labor is spent in vain, while people show no appreciation for it. This is precisely the conduct that the spirits condemn and for which Heaven and Earth refuse their protection. Recently, the Earth Official and the gods of mountains, peaks, rivers, and waterways have reported every day that people despise and slight rice and wheat, and do not cherish the essentials of food and clothing.”

“I have already ordered the spirits of the five grains in the Office of Great Hua (a celestial administrative bureau) to withdraw, so that the crops people sow cannot ripen and the people go hungry. This was meant to show them the punishment and serve as a warning. Yet the ignorant people of the world never came to their senses. Later, by command of the Most High (a revered Daoist deity), I considered that the Great Dao is grounded in nurturing life; the many good people should not suffer because of those who do evil. Even when Heaven, Earth, and the spirits punish them, the ignorant do not know what they have done wrong. They have no chance to repent, and can only endure suffering for nothing. So a path should be opened for them to confess their faults, repent, and ask forgiveness.

“You will become a maiden attendant of the Most High and serve in the Celestial Court. For now, I will send you down to the human world to admonish the people and lead them to repent. They should cherish silkworm raising, give due attention to farming, and treasure the five grains and all fruits. They should understand the benevolence of the Great Dao in nurturing humanity and of the generous Earth in nourishing all things; honor the true Way and respectfully serve the spirits; and not despise the everyday necessities of water and fire. They should be frugal in their clothing and food, and restrain themselves. These clear precepts must all be observed. Then Heaven and Earth will care for them, the spirits will protect them, the winds and rains will come in harmony, and their homes and country will be at peace. This will also increase your hidden merit.”

Then the celestial maiden took out a scroll entitled Lingbao Method of Pure Retreat and Giving Thanks to Heaven and Earth—a Lingbao ritual for purification and giving thanks to Heaven and Earth—and gave it to her to transmit to the world, saying: “People may gather in a secluded mountain to hold a purification rite, repent, and confess their sins to Heaven and Earth. They should perform it twice a year: in spring, to pray for a good harvest; in autumn, to thank the Great Dao for its gifts. In this way, past sins can be erased, and the Father of Grain and Mother of Silkworms (spirits who oversee grain and sericulture) will make the grain and silkworm harvests abundant. In the Year of the Dragon and Tiger, I will summon you again.”

After the command was issued, the Green Youth (a celestial messenger) escorted her home. By then, she had been away from home for three months. The scroll she received is what is now called the Lingbao Method of Pure Retreat and Giving Thanks to Heaven and Earth.

This method of Zhai (purification and abstinence, with a ritual altar set up for the ceremony) is simple and easy to perform, and is broadly similar to the Lingbao Natural Zhai. It is said that when people perform it in the human world, its efficacy appears at once. If the seating or ritual implements are treated with even slight disrespect or left unclean, or if the officiant’s intentions are not sufficiently just, fierce winds will rise and torrential rain will fall, destroying the altar and offering mats. Thunder will also roar and damage the implements used.

From then on, people in the regions of the Three Rivers and Liang-Han honored this method of Zhai every year. Even the simple-minded and the hot-tempered were all made to tremble with caution and awe; they paid their respects reverently and learned to carry out the method. When crops were damaged and farmers harmed by such blights as stem borers, locusts, drought, or flooding, the people could join together in sincere effort to perform the rites, burn incense, and pray to the Dark Heaven. Whether morning or evening, they would soon receive a response and certainly obtain divine protection. The efficacy experienced by the devout and the irreverent, by believers and nonbelievers, could be compared at once.

In the Banan region it was called “Pure Zhai,” while in Shu it was called “Heavenly Merit Zhai”; both names referred to the same method. In the eleventh year of the Tianbao era (renchen year), Fa Jin is said to have mounted a cloud-borne crane and ascended to Heaven. This, too, accorded with the workings of the Dragon and Tiger and with the words spoken by the divine beings.

○Wang family

Lady Wang was the wife of Xie Liangbi, a Gentleman of the Secretariat, and a native of Kuaiji. She was descended from Wang Xizhi, the Right General of the Eastern Jin. After Xie Liangbi passed the jinshi examination and took up a post as an official in eastern Zhejiang, he married her. Before long, Xie Liangbi fell gravely ill and failed to recover for many years. He was ordered to travel to the capital, but in the end could not make the journey; his condition only grew worse.

At that time, Celestial Master Wu Yun, an honorific title for a Daoist priest, was traveling through the areas around Siming, Tiantai, Lanting, and Yuxue. He stopped in Shanyin. Lady Wang’s relatives went to seek his help, and Wu Yun performed a ritual using talisman water to treat her illness: he dissolved a talisman in water, then had her drink it. After two nights, Lady Wang recovered.

Grateful for the protection of the Daoist arts, Lady Wang went to meet the Celestial Master and received a Daoist register, a credential recording her entry into the Daoist tradition. She devoted herself to cultivation. Burning incense, she sat in quiet meditation and lived alone in a secluded room, resolved to ascend to immortality soon. She therefore gave up food and drink and swallowed Qi. Gradually, her mind grew calm and her body light. Strange fragrances and clouds often appeared around her dwelling, as though Immortals had secretly come to visit, though no one else knew of it.

One day, she suddenly said to her daughter, “My illness once dragged on for nearly ten years. Thanks to the Celestial Master’s treatment, my life, which was almost at its end, was prolonged. I understood the Great Dao too late, and was not diligent enough in cultivating and honoring the Dao. I have not fully repented for the tribulations and transgressions I have faced in the past. Throughout my life I was influenced by worldly feelings and often harbored jealousy. Even now I keep dark thoughts hidden in my heart and have not attained understanding of the Great Dao. I must continue refining and nourishing my body in seclusion, cleansing my heart and changing my ingrained habits. Only after twenty years will I be able to cast off my mortal body like a cicada shedding its shell.”

She also said, “After I die, do not put me in a coffin. Make a shelter of cypress wood and lay my body outdoors. Have someone come to check on it from time to time.” That very night, she died. Her family followed her instructions, kept the funeral simple, and laid her in the family garden. She rested there peacefully, as if asleep, and her body did not change.

Twenty years later, grave robbers dug up the place where her body had been laid and threw it onto the ground. In the depths of winter, a sound like thunder suddenly came from beside the cypress shelter. The whole family was astonished and hurried to investigate. When they lifted the body, they found it as light as an empty shell. Her skin, nails, and hair were completely intact, with only a split more than a foot long along her right side. The family then gathered up her remains and buried her again, honoring her as the Lady of Southern Marchmount.

She had once said that among those who attain the Dao, the highest ascend to Heaven in broad daylight, their bodies and bones rising together to become True Officials in Heaven. Those of the next rank cast off their mortal bodies like snakes or cicadas shedding their skins, and their bones rise along with them. Their flesh and bodies ascend to Heaven, and they all become Celestial Immortals, no longer dwelling among famous mountains.

Xie Liangbi, too, served the Celestial Master as a disciple, attended him in person, and joined him in composing a biography of Lady Wang, recording her deeds in detail.

Hua Gu was the Daoist nun Huang Lingwei. Though she was already eighty years old, she still looked young, like an infant. Her conduct in cultivating the Dao was pure and noble, so people called her “Hua Gu.” She wore light shoes and walked at an easy pace, yet moved so swiftly that even a galloping horse could not catch her. No one knew where she came from. From the early Tang onward, she traveled through the regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and around the lakes and mountains; there was no famous mountain or numinous grotto she had not visited. When her journeys took her through remote places, she sometimes spent the night in the mountains or wilderness, where spirits would guard her. Anyone who harbored ill intent and tried to abuse her would immediately meet with misfortune. People near and far therefore both revered and respected her, serving her as they would a deity.

Hua Gu heard that Lady Wei of Mount Heng, a legendary female immortal, had crossed the river in her youth to cultivate the Dao and established an immortal altar on Stone Well Mountain, on the western bank of the Linru River in Linchuan Commandery. She went there to search for it. Many years had passed, and weeds and brambles had buried the altar site; no one in the area knew of it. In the winter, during the tenth month of the second year of Changshou under Empress Wu Zetian (692), Hua Gu came to West Mountain in Hongdu and visited the Daoist Hu Chao to ask him about the site. Hu Chao, whose courtesy name was Bansu, was said to have access to the spirits. He pointed her in the right direction: about six li south of the city walls stood a tortoise. There had once been a stone tortoise there, but because it often damaged crops in the fields, people had broken off its head. The immortal altar was in that vicinity.

Hua Gu went to investigate and found that traces of the altar beside the stone tortoise were still clearly visible; the place where she stood was at its center. Beneath the altar, she also found a statue, an oil lamp, an awl, a knife, a lamp stand, and other objects. She then repaired the altar site and restored it to prominence. Later, she dreamed that Lady Wei told her there was a Nine-Bend Pool south of the altar. She went to look for it and found the pool, along with traces of its brickwork. During the Jingyun era (710–711), Emperor Ruizong sent the Daoist Ye Shanxin with an embroidered image, banners, and fresh flowers to perform a ritual, and had a grotto chamber built west of the altar.

During the Jingyun era, Emperor Ruizong sent the Daoist Ye Shanxin to conduct a ritual, bringing embroidered images, banners, and fresh flowers. A Daoist temple called Dongling Abbey was built west of the ritual altar, and seven women were ordained as Daoist nuns. They lived in the abbey and led sacrifices and prayers without pause, day and night. Sometimes, during storms, the sound of flutes and pipes could be heard. Those who came to pay their respects had to dress neatly and maintain reverence in both mind and body. Otherwise, strange signs would appear, such as snakes and tigers roaring in alarm.

At that time, clouds resembling flocks of birds often came flying in, trailing ribbons of colored cloud that settled on the ritual altar before turning westward and vanishing, as if heading toward Jing Mountain. This happened more than once. The woman known as Huagu, a Daoist nun, possessed extraordinary spiritual insight. In secret, she received a revelation: “There are ancient remains on Jing Mountain. You should restore them.” Soon afterward, a strange fragrance drifted in from the west. Huagu repeatedly received auspicious signs, so she set about the repairs herself. When she spent the night at the mouth of a cave, she heard the sound of a ritual chime. The place had long lain abandoned, yet it seemed as though someone were guiding her forward. She stayed among the woods and wild grasses, calm and untroubled. At daybreak, she went into the mountain and indeed found the remains of a ritual altar and halls, so she built shelters there. She also heard chanting and hymns of praise that echoed for several miles around the altar. Anyone who gathered firewood in the mountain while ritually impure would inevitably encounter eerie and frightening sights.

A wild elephant with an arrow wound in its body came to Huagu for refuge, and she pulled out the arrow. From then on, before each purification rite and sacrifice, the elephant would gather lotus roots and bring them to her as an offering.

In the ninth year of the Kaiyuan era, the year of the Xinyou cycle, Huagu sensed that she was about to ascend to immortality. She told her disciples, “The time allotted for my immortal journey has come. I cannot remain long in the human world. After I die, do not seal my coffin with nails. Simply cover it with a piece of crimson silk gauze.” The next day, she died without illness. Her skin was fragrant and pure, her body was still warm, and the hall was filled with a strange fragrance. Her disciples followed her instructions, leaving the coffin unnailled and covering it only with crimson gauze. Suddenly, thunder crashed and pierced the gauze, leaving a hole the size of an egg. Only the bedding and a wooden tablet remained in the coffin. The roof, too, had been pierced, leaving an opening large enough for a person to pass through. The melons offered on the mat sprouted vines after several days and bore two fruits about the size of peaches.

Whenever Huagu’s death anniversary came around, wind and clouds churned densely and surged straight into the room. When Emperor Ruizong heard of this, he was greatly astonished and ordered an investigation. The next day, the emperor also instructed the Daoist Cai Wei to include Huagu’s story in the Later Biographies of Immortals.

In the third month of the twenty-eighth year of the Kaiyuan era (740), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang ordered Daoist priests to bring a dragon-patterned jade disc, used in sacrifices, and perform a Zhaijiao ritual. Suddenly, a white deer appeared east of the altar. It walked toward the vicinity of Gu Tomb and then disappeared. Gu Tomb was where Hua Gu had buried an empty coffin. Five-colored celestial moths also gathered over the altar. The prefect, Zhang Jingyi, considered these auspicious signs brought about by the response of sacred virtue, and had a stele erected to record the events.

In the eighth year of the Tianbao era (749), the court selected two female Daoist practitioners to tend the incense and carry out religious practice year-round at the place where Lady Wei had ascended to immortality.

In the third year of the Dali era (768), when Yan Zhenqing, Duke of the Founding of Lu Commandery, served as prefect of Fuzhou, he saw that the local historic sites had fallen into disrepair and had no resident clergy to oversee them. He therefore summoned Tan Xianyan, Huang Daojin, and twelve other Daoist priests from Xiantaiguan and settled them at Donglingguan. He also arranged for Li Qiongxian and six other female Daoist practitioners of lofty virtue to live at Xiantanyuan. Yan Zhenqing composed and personally inscribed the Stele of the Immortal Altar, recording these events.

○ Xu Xiangu

Xu Xiangu was the daughter of Xu Zhicai, who served as a court official in the Sui dynasty. She never said who had been her teacher, yet she had lived for several centuries while retaining the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties. She was skilled in the arts of incantation and restraint, using spells to ward off evil and impose spiritual constraints.

She traveled alone from place to place, visiting the Three Rivers and Five Sacred Mountains, as well as famous scenic mountains such as Tiantai, Siming, Luofu, and Kuocang. She often stayed at the foot of rocky cliffs or in caves in the woods, and sometimes lodged in Buddhist monasteries. Once, several arrogant monks mocked her with cutting remarks, and she rebuked them. Angered, they tried to attack her with a knife. She remained calm and smiled. “I am a woman, yet I have left home to wander the world, unafraid of dragons, tigers, or wolves. Do you really think I would fear petty men like you?” Having said this, she took off her clothes and lay down. The monks then put out the candle, thinking they had prevailed. The next day, Xu Xiangu picked up her staff and left the mountain. The monks, however, had stood rigid all night as if bound, unable even to speak. They returned to normal only after she had gone several miles away.

She traveled throughout the Jiangnan region. People in the Wu area had seen her for more than forty years, yet her appearance had never changed, and she moved as swiftly as if flying. Wherever she went, people revered and feared her as they would a deity, and did not dare to harbor improper thoughts or mock her.

In the early Xiantong era (the reign period of Emperor Yizong of the Tang, beginning in 860), she told Kui Yuntao, a Daoist at Baihe Abbey in Shanzhou County: “My father served as an official under both the Northern Zhou and the Sui. He was renowned for his esoteric arts and secretly accumulated De by helping others. He attained the Dao in his own time. I have been blessed by this merit and good fortune, and so have been able to extend my life and attain longevity.” From this account, it may be concluded that she was indeed Xu Zhicai’s daughter.

Immortal Maiden Gou

Immortal Maiden Gou was from Changsha. After entering the Dao, she lived on Mount Heng. She was over eighty years old, yet looked very young. For more than ten years, she devoted herself to cultivation beside Lady Wei’s altar on Mount Heng, burning incense and paying reverence. She lived there alone throughout. Tigers and wolves often appeared near the altar. Ordinary visitors who went up the mountain had to travel in groups and carry weapons before they dared enter. The Immortal Maiden lived in seclusion there and was never afraid.

Several years later, a blue bird flew to her dwelling. It resembled a turtledove, with a red crown and a long tail. The bird spoke: “I was sent by the Lady of the Southern Peak. Seeing that you labor diligently in cultivating the Dao and live alone in a remote mountain forest, the Lady has ordered me to keep you company.”

Later, the blue bird told her again: “The Queen Mother of the West, whose surname is Gou, is your sacred ancestor, an immortal honored among your forebears. She has heard that you cultivate the Dao with diligence and single-minded devotion. In time, a true celestial official will descend and teach you the Dao, but the moment has not yet come. You should continue to cultivate with dedication.”

Whenever someone came to visit the mountain, the blue bird would name the visitor in advance, and its predictions were fulfilled one by one. It also said: “Goushi in Henan is where the Queen Mother cultivated the Dao, and it is also her hometown.”

One day, the blue bird flew in and told the Immortal Maiden: “Evil men will come tonight, but they will not harm you. There is no need to be afraid.” That night, as it had said, more than ten monks came to Lady Wei’s altar. The altar was a huge stone, over ten feet across, that seemed to float above another rock. One person could make it sway by pushing it with a hand, but when many people pushed, it stayed firmly in place.

That night, the monks came carrying torches and blades, intending to kill the Immortal Maiden. They burst into her dwelling, but could not see her lying on the bed. After they left, they tried to topple the altar. The huge stone rumbled, shaking the valley as if it were about to fall, yet they could not move it. The monks had no choice but to flee. At daybreak, the monks who had escaped to distant villages scattered in different directions. Nine of them were killed by tigers. The one who had not helped push the altar had committed fewer evil deeds and escaped the tigers’ attack. Lady Wei’s altar remained intact, and the Immortal Maiden was safe and unharmed.

More than a year later, the blue bird told the Immortal Maiden that she should move to a place where immortals lived. She therefore moved to Hunan, and the blue bird went with her. No one else had ever understood what the bird said.

Zheng Tian, Duke Wenzhao and Chancellor of State, had once served as a scholar-in-waiting responsible for drafting imperial pronouncements. Later, he was demoted to governor of Wuzhou and became the Immortal Maiden’s disciple. She told him: “From now on, there will be much turmoil throughout the land. The human world is not a place to remain for long. I plan to withdraw to Mount Jiuyi.” One day, the Immortal Maiden departed.

The Old Tea Seller of Guangling

In Guangling there was an elderly woman who sold tea. No one knew her surname or where she came from. She always looked about seventy, yet was light-footed and strong, with keen eyes and ears and black hair at her temples. After Emperor Yuan of Jin moved south, local elders passed down the story that people had been seeing her for more than a hundred years, and that her appearance had never changed.

She often carried a tea vessel to the market to sell tea, and townspeople eagerly bought it. From morning until night she sold a great deal, yet the tea in the vessel always seemed freshly brewed and never ran out. Everyone found this strange. The officials of the prefecture imprisoned her on the grounds that she had broken a ban. The old woman then took her tea-selling vessel and flew out through the window.

Lady of the Southern Sea (title of Chapter Eight)

The Lady of the Southern Sea, an immortal who dwelled in the South Sea, did not know the ranks of the immortal hierarchy; she was probably someone who had attained the Dao and become an immortal. Yuan Che and Liu Shi shared the same aspirations. Together, they sought the immortal Way, built a hut on Mount Heng, and lived in seclusion to cultivate. After more than a year, they traveled south together. In Hepu County, Guangzhou, they boarded a boat to cross the sea and head toward Jiaozhi, then moored it by the shore.

Just then, the villagers were holding a sacrifice to the spirits. The sound of flutes and drums filled the air, and the boatmen, sailors, and servants all went to watch. Only Yuan Che and Liu Shi remained aboard. Before long, a hurricane snapped the mooring rope and swept the boat out to sea, carrying it toward an unknown place. The boat nearly sank two or three times, then suddenly came to rest beside a lonely island, and the wind and waves subsided. The two men went ashore and looked around. In a stone chamber, they saw a bright white statue of the White King Celestial Worthy. The incense ash in the golden burner before it had not yet burned away, but there was no one in sight.

As they searched the island, feeling forlorn and bewildered, they saw a giant beast emerge from the sea, seeming to watch them. After a long while, it sank beneath the waves. At once, purple clouds rose over the sea and spread for three or four li. A huge lotus appeared within them, more than a hundred feet tall. Its layers of petals slowly unfolded, revealing ornate curtains within. A rainbow bridge, several dozen feet wide, stretched from the lotus to the island.

A serving woman carrying incense came to offer it before the Celestial Worthy. Before the incense had finished burning, the two men approached her in grief, bowed, and begged her to help them and show them the way home. Astonished, she asked, “How did you come to be here so suddenly?” After hearing what had happened, she said, “In a little while, the Lady of the Southern Sea will meet with the Venerable Master of the Jade Void. You may ask to see her.”

Before the serving woman had left, a Daoist arrived riding a white deer and borne along on colored clouds. The two men wept as they told him what had happened. The Daoist said, “Follow this serving woman and pay your respects to the Lady of the Southern Sea.” They did as he instructed, following her across the rainbow bridge to the curtained pavilion. They bowed, performed the rites, and gave their names and an account of their perilous voyage. The Lady invited them to sit.

The two accepted the instruction and followed the maid up onto the bridge. They came to the tent, where they bowed twice and touched their heads to the ground before the Lady, then explained how they had drifted there and gave their names. The Lady invited them to sit, and the Venerable Master arrived as well. Everyone sat together in a circle and played music. Before long, food was served. The Venerable Master said, “These two guests come from the human world. Please serve them food from the human world.”

After the meal, the Venerable Master handed the Lady a scroll of cinnabar talismans and secret writing. She bowed in thanks and accepted it, and he took his leave. He said to the two men, “You carry the Qi of the Dao, so there is no need to worry about finding your way back. In principle, I should give you an elixir, but the time is not yet right for you. You will meet your own master in due course. I should not be your master. We will meet again in the future.”

The two men took their leave of the Venerable Master. He rode away on a deer. Soon, a warrior appeared, clad in golden armor and carrying a precious sword. He stood more than ten zhang tall. Coming forward, he said, “I was sent here by the Celestial Army, but I failed to carry out my duty while clearing the road. By law, I should be executed in public. That sentence has now been carried out.” With that, he strode away and vanished.

The Lady then told a maid to show the two men the way, saying, “Take the Hundred Flowers Bridge.” She also gave them a jade flask and said, “If you encounter trouble along the road ahead, strike this flask.” Then she, too, strode away and vanished. The two men bade farewell to the Lady and set off across the bridge.

The bridge was long and broad, and strange flowers bloomed all along its railings. Peering down through the flowers, the two men saw countless horned dragons twisted and coiled around one another, forming the body of the bridge. They also saw that the huge beast they had encountered earlier had been separated from its head, and its body was floating on the water. The two men asked the messenger why the beast had been slain. He replied, “It was punished because it did not know who you two guests were.”

The messenger then said to them, “I should not have been ordered to escort you out. There is another purpose behind this, and I have something I wish to entrust to you.”

The man took a small amber box from his sash and handed it to the two men. Something could be faintly seen inside, like a spider. He said to them, “We are water immortals. Long ago, I was deeply attached to a young man from Panyu, and we had a child. When the child was three, I had no choice but to send him away. Now, my lady has also had a child by the Lord of Nanyue. In those days, a messenger from Huiyan Peak came to the Water Palace on business. I entrusted him with the jade ring in your possession, asking him to give it to my child to play with. The messenger hid the ring, and I have been longing for it ever since. Please take this box to the temple at Huiyan Peak and cast it inside. If you can retrieve the jade ring, take it to the Temple of Yue. My child will reward you as well. Be sure not to open the box.”

The two men accepted the box, tucked it into their robes, and asked, “The Venerable Master Yuxu said, ‘You have a master of your own.’ Who is he?” The man replied, “It is the Taiji Master of Nanyue. You will meet him in due course.” Before long, the bridge came to an end. The two men took leave of the messenger and found themselves on the shore at Hepu. When they asked the time, they learned that twelve years had passed.

The two men then set out for Hengshan. On the way, they grew terribly hungry and tried tapping the jade pot. Fine foods appeared inside. They ate their fill and were never hungry or thirsty again. By the time they reached home, their wives had died. Their families told them, “The gentlemen drowned at sea more than ten years ago.”

From then on, the two men grew still more weary of the mortal world and no longer sought fame or an official career. They climbed Hengshan and cast the amber box into the temple at Huiyan Peak. In an instant, a black dragon several dozen feet long appeared. A fierce wind rose, thunder and lightning crashed, trees snapped, and houses shook. With a thunderclap, the temple collapsed at once. As the two men trembled in terror, someone in the sky handed them the jade ring. After retrieving it, they took it to the Temple of Yue.

On their way back, a young man dressed in yellow presented them with two golden boxes as a reward. He said, “The Lord of Nanyue sent me to give you this box of soul-restoring salve as repayment.”

If the ointment is applied to the crown of a dead person’s head, even someone who has been dead for a full sexagenary cycle—sixty years—can still be brought back to life.” After obtaining the ointment, the two men forgot how it was meant to be used, so they applied it to the crown of the wife’s head and revived her.

Later, during a heavy snowfall, the two men saw a woodcutter carrying a heavy load and struggling forward in the bitter wind. Taking pity on his age and frailty, they invited him to drink wine. Suddenly, they saw the words “Taiji” appear on the eaves of the woodcutter’s house. They bowed and asked to become his disciples. The woodcutter said, “I have attained the Way of the immortals and been admitted to the ranks of the Taiji immortals. The Great High One sent me to guide and transform you.” Seeing the jade pot, he said, “This is the pot I used to hold jade nectar. It has been lost for several dozen sexagenary cycles, and I am delighted to see it again.” The two men then presented the pot to him. Afterward, they followed Master Taiji into Zhulíng Palace and to Mount Zhùróng, visiting the abodes of the immortals. In the end, together with the wife, they attained the Way of ascending to Heaven.

○ Bian Dongxuan

Bian Dongxuan was the daughter of a family from Fanyang. From childhood, she was upright and refined in conduct, keen of mind, compassionate, and kind. Whenever she saw a small or weak creature in danger, she would bend down to save it. In helping them, she would even forget her own hunger and thirst.

○ Bian Dongxuan

Bian Dongxuan was the daughter of a family from Fanyang. From childhood, she was virtuous and discerning, kindhearted, and eager to do good. Whenever she saw a small, helpless creature in danger, she would bend down to rescue it. Until she had finished helping, she would forget about hunger and thirst. Whenever frost and snow sealed the ground and birds grew hungry in their nests, she would always find rice and grain to scatter for them. In time, the birds came to recognize her. Sometimes they flew ahead, calling to guide her; at other times they circled and danced behind her.

At fifteen, she said to her parents, “I want to enter the Dao and cultivate myself, giving up grain foods to nourish my Qi (vital energy).” Her parents loved her for her kindness and filial devotion, but did not agree. When she came of age, she vowed never to marry and devoted herself to serving her parents, making sure they had delicious food. A few years later, her parents died one after the other. Grief left her so thin that she refused to eat, nearly putting her life at risk. After completing the mourning period, she went to a female Daoist in the commandery and asked to leave home and become a Daoist.

She had no brothers or close relatives. Intelligent by nature, she was skilled at weaving. The female Daoists felt compassion for her and respected her. She worked diligently at the loom, day and night. With her earnings, she bought sesame, poria, ginseng, and incense and other ritual supplies, and also set aside rice and grain. Someone asked her, “Since you don’t eat, why do you save rice and wheat year after year? Do you feel hungry and thirsty in the depths of the night or at daybreak?” She only smiled and said nothing.

Yet every morning she scattered rice and grain in the back courtyard to feed the birds and left food for the mice indoors. She did this year after year without fail. The Daoist temple and the rooms where the female Daoists lived were places of weaving. After Dongxuan moved in, nothing in the rooms was ever damaged by mice again. Everyone said this was a response to her secret acts of kindness and the grace she extended to living creatures.

She also liked taking medicines and tonics for health. Whenever someone gave her elixirs, pills, or powders, she would first burn incense and make offerings in the Hall of the Celestial Worthy, and only then take them. The medicines often made her feel unwell. Sometimes she suffered nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, or even severe weakness, but she never complained. As soon as her symptoms eased, she resumed taking the medicine as usual. Her fellow cultivators felt sorry for her and patiently tried again and again to explain the risks, but she remained utterly convinced and resolute.

Only after completing the sacrifices and offerings did he take the medicine. Its effects often tormented him: he vomited, suffered diarrhea, and at times became utterly exhausted, yet he never complained. As soon as his symptoms eased, he resumed taking it as usual. The fellow cultivators who traveled with him felt great concern for him and patiently urged and advised him again and again. But he remained steadfast in his conviction and never wavered. In years of famine, he often shared his stored rice and wheat with others to help them through hardship.

One day, an old man carrying a cloth sack came to the Daoist temple to sell medicine. When people asked what kind of medicine he was selling, he replied, “The Great Restoration Elixir—a legendary elixir said to enable those who attain the Dao to live forever. Whoever takes it can become immortal and ascend to heaven in broad daylight.” Everyone laughed when they heard this.

The old man’s face was dark, his features haggard, his back stooped as he walked, and his voice very weak. People laughed and said to him, “If the Great Restoration Elixir can make people immortal and let them ascend to heaven, how have you become so haggard? Why don’t you take better care of yourself?” The old man replied, “My elixir has just been completed. It should be used to save people and accumulate merit. There are still people I have yet to save, and it is hard to find anyone who truly seeks immortality. I cannot take it myself and ascend to heaven at once.”

The people asked again, “Everyone in the world wants to live forever. Could anyone really be unwilling?” The old man said, “Everyone likes the Dao, but that does not mean they are willing to cultivate it. It is exceedingly rare to like the Dao and truly cultivate it as well—to persevere without abandoning one’s original resolve, to work diligently over the long term, to resist the temptations of sights and sounds, to remain unmoved by fame and profit, undisturbed by luxury, and unentangled in disputes, while staying as steadfast as metal and stone. Among tens of thousands of people, you could not find even one like this. Only such a person can be said to truly cherish the Dao. How can you say there are many who seek immortality?”

The people asked, “The Son of Heaven is exalted and possesses all the wealth of the realm. Since you have an elixir like the Golden Elixir, why not offer it to him so he can live long and become immortal?” The old man replied, “The great sages and perfected beings, the high perfected immortals of Heaven, and the Seven Lords of the Big Dipper—seven divine beings among the stars of the Dipper—take turns being born into the human world as emperors. When their allotted term is over, they return to the heavenly realm. Why would they need to take an elixir to attain the Dao?”

Someone asked again, “Since you know everything, which immortal has the current emperor been reborn from?” The old man replied, “He is the Perfected One of the Southern Palace, the Supreme Unity of Vermilion Yang.” His answers came swiftly. He spoke of extraordinary matters with a flow as smooth as running water, leaving people unable to fathom him. A short while later, fierce winds rose and a thunderstorm suddenly broke out. Everyone exchanged startled looks, overcome with fear, and gradually dispersed.

The old man asked the crowd, “Where is the Daoist nun who delights in doing good and has not eaten grain for many years?” Someone pointed out her courtyard. After entering, the old man did not knock or ask permission. He went straight to Dongxuan and said, “I have brought a great elixir of returning the cinnabar from far away. I have come especially to save you. Are you willing to take it?”

Dongxuan was both startled and delighted. She invited the old man to sit and asked how much the medicine cost. He said, “The price is not much—only five hundred thousand gold.” Dongxuan said, “I have been poor for many years, and truly do not have that much money. How can I obtain this medicine?” The old man replied, “Do not worry. From childhood until now, you have lived for forty years, thirty of which you spent storing grain and feeding birds and insects. By that reckoning, its value exceeds the price of the medicine.”

The old man then opened his medicine pouch and showed her the pills inside. They were blue-black, each about the size of a parasol-tree seed, and there were two or three dou of them. He told Dongxuan to take the medicine from the pouch herself. Following her own intention, she took out three pills. The old man said, “Take this elixir and your intestines will be renewed and your blood replaced. In fifteen days, you will ascend to Heaven. This is a middle-grade elixir.”

Later, Dongxuan took a small box the size of a coin from inside her robe. She opened it and removed a little medicine, which resembled peach resin and also carried the fragrance of peaches. The old man drew water from the well himself and mixed the peach resin into it, then had Dongxuan swallow the pill. Delighted, he said, “Your sincerity moved the Most High, who ordered me to summon you. Since you have taken these two medicines, you need not undergo the process of changing your intestines and blood. You should now live in a tower pavilion, receive Perfected Ones, and meet Immortals. Do not stay any longer in this filthy room. In seven days, you can ascend to Heaven. Then heavenly robes and music will naturally come to welcome you.” A moment later, the rain stopped, and the old man had vanished.

The female officials hurried to Dongxuan’s room and asked whether she had obtained the Immortal medicine. Dongxuan told them everything that had happened. Some mocked the tale as absurd; others marveled at her extraordinary encounter. They looked at one another in astonishment. When people in the commandery heard about it, they too rushed over to see. Dongxuan told them, “I do not want to live here. I want to go up to the gate tower.” Everyone turned to look: the tower’s gate was still locked. “I am not here,” Dongxuan said. Before she had finished speaking, she had already risen up to the tower. A wondrous fragrance spread everywhere, and strange clouds billowed through the sky. The people who had come to watch packed together like a wall. The governor, his officials, and people from near and far all came to bow to her.

Dongxuan said to them, “At dawn on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Zhongyuan Festival, I will surely ascend to Heaven. You may come to say farewell.” The people then fasted and held a grand gathering. At the hour of the Dragon on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, heavenly music filled the four directions. Dense purple clouds surged and swirled around the towers and pavilions of the Daoist temple. The people saw Dongxuan ascend to Heaven, led by Immortal music, with banners arranged in rows, heading due south. By noon, the clouds and wondrous signs had dispersed. The governor and all his officials submitted a detailed report of the event.

Between the hour of the Dragon and the hour of the Snake that day, Emperor Ming of Tang was in a side hall when he suddenly smelled a rich, wondrous fragrance, and purple clouds filled the courtyard. He saw four blue youths guiding a female Daoist, with the ceremonial procession arranged in perfect order, proceeding straight south. By noon, the clouds and wondrous signs had dispersed. The governor and all his officials submitted a detailed report of the event.

Between the hours of the Dragon and the Snake that day, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was in a side hall when a rich, unusual fragrance suddenly filled the air, and purple clouds spread across the courtyard. Four young attendants in blue led in a female Daoist priest who looked about sixteen or seventeen. She stepped forward and said, “My name is Bian Dongxuan, and I am a female Daoist from Youzhou. Today I have attained the Dao and ascended to Heaven. I have come to bid Your Majesty farewell.” Having spoken, she slowly departed.

Emperor Xuanzong immediately ordered an inquiry. A report from the local authorities happened to arrive by courier, and its account matched exactly what he had witnessed. The emperor then ordered that the Daoist temple where she had lived be renamed the Temple of Ascending to Immortality, and that its tower be renamed the Purple Cloud Tower, to commemorate the event. That same year, the emperor’s sister, Princess Yuzhen, also asked to enter the Dao and offered her fief and its revenues. After this, Emperor Xuanzong became even more devoted to matters of the immortals. He also ordered Wang Duanjing, a Collation Gentleman, to compose an inscription for the stele, recording this wondrous event involving the immortals.

○ Huang Guanfú

Huang Guanfu was the daughter of a family from Baizhang County in Yazhou. From childhood, she ate no meat or fish and preferred quiet. Her family was poor and could not afford incense, so she burned cypress leaves and cones instead. She often sat quietly without doing anything else, never feeling tired even after a whole day. At times she sustained herself on cypress leaves and water, and disliked eating grain.

Her parents doted on her and let her follow her own nature. When she came of age, they planned to arrange a marriage for her. One day, she suddenly said to them, “There is something very strange in the water in front of our door.” She often spoke of strange events and omens, and they frequently came true, so her parents believed her and went together to look at the water. The current was indeed raging without pause. Huang Guanfu immediately jumped into the water and did not surface for a long time. Her parents went in to search for her and brought out a wooden statue of a Heavenly Venerable, a revered Daoist deity. It had been made in ancient times, its gold paint had flaked away, and its appearance was remarkably like their daughter’s. The water then grew calm, and nothing unusual happened again. Her parents set the wooden statue by the roadside and returned home weeping, astonished and grief-stricken.

Afterward, her mother often went to visit the statue, unable to stop longing for her daughter. Suddenly, colored clouds, celestial music, and a large retinue arrived in the courtyard. Huang Guanfu appeared with three female companions and said to her parents, “Your daughter was originally an immortal of the Upper Clarity realm. Because of a minor offense, she was sent down to the human world. Now her term is over, and she must return to Heaven. Please do not grieve too much. Of the three who have come with me, one is a maid of the Jade Emperor, one is a Dawn Attendant of the Great Emperor, and one is an attendant of Upper Clarity. My surname is Huang, and my name is Guanfu. I will not return after I leave. A plague will break out here this year, and many people will die. I am leaving some gold for you. Please move to Yizhou to escape the disaster.”

She left several ingots of gold and ascended to Heaven. Her parents followed her advice and moved to Shu Commandery. That year the epidemic was severe, especially around Yazhou, where about three or four out of every ten people died. This happened during the Linde era. Today, people commonly call her “Huang Guanfo.” It is probably because people did not recognize the wooden statue of the Heavenly Venerable, and the story was distorted as it passed from person to person, that “Huang Guanfu” came to be called “Huang Guanfo.”

Yangping Zhi

Yangping was the old name for the area during the Linde era of the Tang dynasty. Today, people call it “Yellow-Capped Buddha,” probably because they do not recognize the image of the Celestial Worthy and have garbled what was passed down by word of mouth, turning “Huangguanfu” into “Huangguanfo.”

The Yangping Administration

At the Yangping Administration lived the wife of an immortal who had been banished to the human world. No one knew her name.

A local man from Jiulong named Zhang Shougui came from a wealthy family and owned a tea garden on Huaxianju Mountain in Yangping. Each year, he hired more than a hundred tea pickers, men and women working together in the garden. Among them was a young man hired to pick tea. He said he had no family, and was clever, diligent, and mild-mannered. Zhang Shougui took pity on him and adopted him as his son. Later, a woman in her twenties came to seek shelter as well. She too said she had no family and was willing to become the young man’s wife. She was filial and proper in her conduct, and Zhang Shougui liked her very much.

One day, a mountain flood broke out, cutting off the markets and roads. The household was short of salt and dairy products, and Zhang Shougui was very worried. His new daughter-in-law said, “These things can be obtained.” She took some money and went outside. After walking a dozen or so paces, she placed the money beneath a tree and tapped the tree with her staff. Then she returned home with salt and dairy products. From then on, whenever the household needed something, she would tap the tree and retrieve it; there was nothing she could not obtain. Her husband could perform the same magic.

Once, the young woman met more than a dozen women from neighboring households at the market in Pinkou. She bought a bowl of wine and invited them all to drink. Everyone became drunk, yet the wine in the bowl did not diminish at all. When people near and far heard of this, they were amazed.

Zhang Shougui asked them whom they had learned these arts from. The young man replied, “I am an immortal from a cavern in Yangping. Because I committed a minor offense, I was banished to the human world. Before long, I will be returning.”

Zhang Shougui asked, “Are the caverns as large as cities in the human world?” The young man replied, “Each of the twenty-four Transformations has a great cavern. Some extend a thousand li in every direction, others five hundred or three hundred li. They all have suns, moons, and flying essences, known as the ‘roots of hidden spirits.’ Their light shines down into the caverns, so that the scenes within resemble those of the human world. Each cavern has immortal kings, ministers, and officials who assist in its governance, just like officials in the human world. Those who have attained the Dao, as well as those who have accumulated merit and moved there to be reborn, all live there as subjects of the caverns.

“Each year, on the great festivals of the Three Primordial Ones—the Upper, Middle, and Lower Primordial Ones—the High Perfected Ones of the various heavens descend to visit the grotto-heavens and inspect the good and bad governance of the caverns. The life and death, rise and decline, abundance and scarcity, and disasters and anomalies of the human world, as well as floods, droughts, winds, and rains, are all communicated to the caverns in advance. The spirits worshipped in the shrines and temples of dragons and other gods are also under the caverns’ jurisdiction.

“Beyond the twenty-four Transformations, there are also caverns at Qingcheng, Emei, Yideng, Cimu, Fanyang, and the tomb mounds. These are not counted among the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens or the Thirty-Six Lesser Grotto-Heavens. The offices of immortal officials within the caverns are like the commanderies, counties, settlements, and villages of the human world, and cannot all be described in detail.”

A little over ten days later, the couple suddenly departed together.

Lu Meiniang later came to be known as the “Divine Maiden.” She was descended from Lu Jingzuo, imperial preceptor to the Northern Ancestor Emperor of the Later Wei. She was given her name because she was born with unusually long, green eyebrows. During the Yong□ era, the governor of Nanhai presented her at the capital because her skills were extraordinary and unlike those of ordinary people.

Lu Meiniang was clever from childhood and could split a single silk thread into three strands. In the palace, she dyed silk and wove it into a five-tiered parasol canopy. Its designs included the Ten Continents and Three Islands, celestial beings and jade maidens, towers and palaces, qilin and phoenixes. Around the outer tier were hundreds upon hundreds of immortal children carrying banners and holding tally tokens. The canopy was one zhang wide, yet weighed less than three liang. She coated the threads with a fragrant spirit balm, making them strong enough to bend without breaking.

Emperor Shunzong marveled at her exquisite skill, and people in the palace called her the “Divine Maiden.” She was only fourteen when she entered the palace, and each day ate just two or three he of sesame rice. During the Yuanhe era, Emperor Xianzong admired her cleverness and gave her a golden phoenix bracelet to wear on her wrist. Later, unwilling to remain in the palace, she became a Daoist nun. She was sent back to Nanhai and granted the Daoist name “Xiaoyao” (“Untroubled Freedom”).

A few years later, she stopped eating, and divine beings often came down to meet with her. One day, she ascended and departed, while fragrance drifted through the entire room. When she was buried, people found that her coffin was very light. They lifted the lid and found only the shoes she had once worn inside. People often said they had seen her appear over the sea, riding on purple clouds. Li Xiangxian of Mount Luofu wrote The Account of Lu Xiaoyao, and Su E also recorded the story in The Du yang Miscellany.

Wang Fengxian was the daughter of an ordinary family in Dangtu County, Xuanzhou. Her family was poor, and her parents made their living by spinning and weaving. When Fengxian was thirteen or fourteen, she went one day to the fields to bring food. Suddenly, she saw more than ten young women playing with her. After a while, they dispersed. Later, Fengxian met them again, and from then on, whenever she brought food to the fields, the women would gather to play with her.

A little over a month later, the women came to Fengxian’s home at night. They chatted and laughed throughout the night, leaving only at dawn. Sometimes they brought strange fruits; at other times, they set out exquisite foods unknown in the human world. Fengxian’s family lived in a small, shabby house, yet although many people came, it never seemed crowded. Her parents heard laughter and conversation inside and grew suspicious. They secretly looked in, but could see nothing. They then suspected that their daughter had fallen under the spell of demons or spirits and questioned her harshly. Fengxian always evaded them with some other explanation. After that, the women stopped visiting at night and began coming often during the day. Sometimes they took Fengxian on distant journeys, flying through the air to places as far away as they wished, and returning only at dusk. Fengxian still neither ate nor drank, and as time passed, she seemed increasingly unlike an ordinary person.

One evening, her mother saw Fengxian fall from the bamboo tips beside the courtyard to the ground. More worried than ever, she pressed her for an explanation. Fengxian then told her what had happened, but her parents never understood what it all meant.

The women cut Fengxian’s hair, leaving her forehead bare above her eyebrows, while the hair at the back fell to her shoulders. For several years afterward, her hair did not grow any longer. She went without food for more than a year, yet her skin remained full and clear, shining like ice and snow. With a graceful forehead, a fair neck, a lovely face, and bright eyes, she seemed like a celestial being. She was clever, eloquent, perceptive, and quick-witted. People in the Jiangdong region called her “Guanyin.”

Toward the end of the Xiantong era under Emperor Yizong of the Tang, Chancellor Du Shenquan governed Jinling (present-day Nanjing), while Linghu Tao governed Weiyang (present-day Yangzhou). Both invited Fengxian to stay, treated her with poetry and ceremony, and provided for her. Her reputation consequently spread throughout Jiangnan.

Afterward, Qin Yan asked that Fengxian be allowed to remain in Jiangdu, in the area of present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Master Zhan respected her, treated her with courtesy, and regarded her as a person of lofty character. Her father, Huai Gao, was upright and free-spirited. At first, suspecting that her conduct had been improper, he went in person to question her. Fengxian welcomed him gladly and showed him even greater respect. They discussed the principles of the Dao for many days. After listening, Huai Gao felt that what she said accorded well with its mysterious essentials, and asked, “Then why do people call you ‘Guanyin’?”

Fengxian replied, “What I encountered was the Dao; what I attained was the immortal way. It was worldly people who did not understand the principles who gave me the title ‘Guanyin.’ Some years ago, Duke Du found me among huts of thatch and reeds and wanted to send me into the palace. Fortunately, I had already cut off my hair, and so escaped that fate. Before I had time to return to my parents, I was kept in a temple. The people in the surrounding neighborhood did not know the truth; all the stories that spread were empty renown. Some held incense and candles, offered treasures and gold, and made a great commotion. Yet for many years, no one knew where I had been placed or how I had managed to get away.”

Fengxian continued, “Now at last I can cultivate myself as I wish, no longer confined in the rear quarters of the palace. This too is proof that a True Immortal has protected me unseen. When I think of this, I naturally feel comforted and glad. Besides, reputation and the Dao are not inherently at odds. Zhuangzi said, ‘If others regard me as an ox, then I am an ox; if they regard me as a horse, then I am a horse. One who forgets the body and keeps to their true nature will not be burdened by reputation.’ So I am not ashamed that others have given me a name.”

The woman I saw was about eighteen or nineteen years old, with extraordinary beauty. She wore a robe with wide sleeves, its colors as splendid as clouds and rosy dawn. In her hands she carried immortal flowers and sacred herbs, and she chanted immortal scriptures and passages from the Cavern texts—chapters and verses from Daoist classics. She spoke only of immortals, long life, and freedom from the world. Wherever she went, she moved with ease and speed, never feeling tired. She passed celestial palaces and immortal halls, golden towers and jade chambers, long corridors and spacious courtyards, fields planted with sacred fungi, and gardens wreathed in mist. The divine birds and heavenly beasts, rare trees, and wondrous flowers and herbs she saw were unlike anything in the human world. She crossed the Milky Way and traveled an unknowable distance of tens of millions of miles to pay homage to the Celestial Worthy. He sat in a vast hall, with rows of feather-clad guards standing at his side. The Celestial Worthy told Fengxian, “You dwell for a time in the human world; in fifty years, you should return here.” He then ordered an attendant to give her a cup of jade nectar, the immortals’ drink. After she drank it, the Celestial Worthy warned her, “The produce of the five grains and the fruits of plants and trees will harm your life and shorten your years if you eat them. You must abstain from them completely.” For that reason, she had not eaten any of these things for twenty years.

In heaven, the Celestial Worthy teaches through the Dao, guiding people with the Great Way so they may extend their years and govern all things, nurturing them all with care, like a father to the people. Shakyamuni Buddha teaches in the world, urging people to stop doing evil and guiding them to seek blessings, like a mother to the people. The Confucian classics of Confucius have been handed down among humanity to teach the Five Constant Virtues—benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness—and to guide people through rules of conduct, like an elder brother to the people. Children in the world recognize only their mother and do not know that their father and elder brother hold respected positions above her. So it is hardly surprising that few ordinary people in the world understand the Dao, and few revere Confucian learning.

The celestial figures he saw included men wearing cloud-shaped caps and feathered robes, and others with their hair gathered into grass-knot topknots and blue-green lapels. Some women wore gold ornaments and jade treasures; others wore three topknots and a double-horn hairstyle. They held jade tablets in their hands, with round halos behind their necks. They could fly through the air, and their transformations were beyond measure. Some rode dragons, qilin, luan birds, or cranes, carrying feathered ceremonial standards and rainbow-colored banners. These scenes resembled the processions of earthly emperors, yet showed none of the forms of bodhisattvas, Buddhas, or monks.

He brought out many devotional paintings, most of which depicted celestial beings, emperors, Daoist lords, and flying immortals, with no Buddhas or monks. For about forty years, from the Xiantong to the Guangqi era, he traveled through the Huai and Zhejiang regions, reaching places such as Wanling. Crowds always gathered to see him. He admonished people, often speaking of the ways of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness; the principles of purity and frugality; and methods of self-cultivation and careful conduct. For this reason, people near and far revered him.

People piled gold, silver, and treasures before him, and the gifts of money and goods amounted to tens of millions. He left them all behind and went away, never looking back. Even when war raged like boiling waves across the Sanhuai region and fires of conflict rose across the countryside, he remained peacefully where he was and never regarded these things as cause for worry. Sun Ru, Zhao Hong, Bi Shiduo, and others commanded formidable forces and once tried to coerce him by improper means, even threatening him with knives. Yet as soon as they saw his bearing and expression, they found themselves bowing and bending their knees, treating him with the respect due a disciple.

Later, he entered the Dao together with two female disciples and lived on Dongting Mountain. In the early Guangqi era, he moved to Qianqing Mountain in Yuhang. People at the foot of the mountain built him a house to live in. After a little over a year, he died without having been ill, at the age of forty-eight. It is said that clouds, cranes, and an unusual fragrance appeared as auspicious signs at the time, confirming the fifty-year period he had foretold.

According to the account, he went thirty years without eating, yet retained a childlike appearance and fair skin, and often looked like a young woman. This was explained as the effect of cultivating the Golden Elixir and Jade Liquids.

She often wandered in spirit through the celestial realms, sitting upright for more than a month at a time. At times she looked down upon the affairs of the underworld; seated in one place, she could see far into all eight directions. She often told people of the Dao what she had witnessed. Ordinary people did not know what was happening and assumed that she was simply sitting in meditation, oblivious to herself. Perhaps she was a companion of the immortal perfected beings, like the Primordial Lady of the South Pole or the Holy Mother of the Eastern Mound.

Xue Xuantong

Madam Xue was the wife of Feng Hui, a deputy governor of Hezhong. Her Daoist name was Xuantong. Twenty years after marrying Feng Hui, she finally revealed the aspirations she had always held. Using illness as a pretext, she began living alone and vowed to burn incense and recite the Dao each day, reading the Huangting Jing two or three times.

Thirteen years later, one night, two jade maidens dressed in blue appeared in her room. As they arrived, moonlike radiance lit the courtyard and roof eaves, and fragrant breezes drifted through. It was early autumn, and the summer heat still lingered, yet the room was cool and clear, as though she were inside a heavenly grotto. The two jade maidens told her, “The Primordial Lady of Purple Emptiness, who oversees the registers of immortal perfected beings and the transmission of their teachings, governs the registers for the southern lands. She has ordered the perfected beings and great immortals to search the famous mountains and great rivers, beyond the four seas and within the bounds of heaven and earth, for those who aspire to longevity and whose hearts accord with the true Dao, and to descend and instruct them. Xuantong has accumulated good deeds, and the Earth Bureau, which governs the affairs of the underworld, has repeatedly submitted memorials, registering her name in the court of Purple Emptiness. Hearing that she has resolved to cultivate the Dao despite being a woman, the Primordial Lady especially commends her devotion. She will soon descend here in person.”

This announcement continued for five nights. Xuantong then prepared abundant incense and offerings and waited reverently for the Primordial Lady. On the fourteenth day of the seventh month in the fifteenth year of Xiantong (the year jiawu), the Primordial Lady descended into her room with her attendants and twenty-seven immortal perfected beings. Xuantong went to the door to bow and welcome her. The Primordial Lady sat for a long time, imparting the methods from the Huangting Jing for nourishing the spirit and cultivating through visualization. She also gave Xuantong a pellet of Nine Blossoms Elixir, saying, “Take this eight years from now, and I will send a jade maiden in a wind chariot to meet you on Mount Song.” Having said this, she departed.

From then on, Xuantong devoted herself to quiet cultivation and often went without food. Even when a true immortal descended, radiance shone through the sky, numinous breezes and fragrant scents drifted about, and celestial music sounded among the clouds, her husband Feng Hui knew nothing of it. Seeing his wife living alone in a room to cultivate the Dao, Feng Hui felt she had grown distant and was difficult to approach. He often mocked her out of worldly sentiment, and therefore always suspected that she had dealings with immortal perfected beings like the Holy Mother of the Eastern Mound.

In the Gengzi year of Guangming, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang, bandits broke into the capital. Officials and scholars fled in all directions, seeking temporary refuge in various places. Feng Xuantong, whose Daoist name was Xuantong, and Hui lived together in a separate room to cultivate the Dao. They kept far from worldly affairs and were difficult to approach. Their friends and relatives were suspicious of them and often mocked them. As a result, Xuantong was repeatedly suspected by people in the Dongling area.

Later, Xuantong and Hui stayed in Jinling, Changzhou, where they continued their practice without interruption and became even more devout. In the tenth month of the first year of Zhonghe, Xuantong was traveling by boat past the mouth of Zhi Duko, on her way to a country house. Several female companions were with her. As the boat drifted downstream, they suddenly saw a group of officials in red and purple robes standing on the riverbank, together with armored warriors carrying spears. They stood in orderly ranks, as if awaiting Xuantong’s boat.

The region was in turmoil, with bandits and raiders everywhere. At the sight, the boatman was terrified and dared not go on. Xuantong said, “There is no need to be afraid,” and had the boat draw near. The officials on the bank bowed to her. Xuantong told them, “The time has not yet come. I am still at my private residence in Chunzhong, and cannot leave so soon.” The officials then dispersed. Everyone aboard had witnessed the scene, but none understood what it meant.

In the following year, the Renyin year, in the second month, Xuantong bathed and took an elixir given to her by the immortal Zixu. Two female immortals secretly descended to her dwelling and urged her to go to Mount Song. That day, Xuantong took on the appearance of being ill; that night, she died at her private residence. Thirty-six immortal cranes arrived and gathered above the roof. Her body remained soft and warm, like that of a living person. A point of white light appeared in the center of her forehead and, after a long while, transformed into purple Qi. As she was being bathed, her black hair grew back and stood upright, reaching several feet in length.

On the night of the fifteenth, clouds filled the room. Suddenly, thunder and lightning shook the air, and the coffin lid flew off, landing in the courtyard. Her body had vanished, leaving only her empty clothes and bedding. A strange fragrance and the immortal cranes lingered for more than ten days without dispersing.

Zhou Bao, Military Commissioner of western Zhejiang and chancellor, submitted this memorial: “I have heard that when Lady Zhao ascended to immortality and died, her appearance remained lifelike; when Master Tao departed this world, a wondrous fragrance lingered for a long time. Both left through transformation into immortals, and their deeds are recorded in the scriptures of the immortals. I never imagined that in our enlightened age, we would witness such an event again.

“Xue, the wife of Feng Hui, renounced worldly life at an early age and devoted herself for many years to the Dao of the Mysterious Gate. She understood the secret methods of the immortals and grasped their profound principles; she also knew the methods of women’s cultivation. Her mind was undisturbed by external things. She did not seek immortality by fasting and taking medicinal fungi, but instead preserved her original nature and returned to simplicity, following the teaching of Wuwei in this sage age and deeply understanding the Mysterious Origin’s principle of guarding the One. Without this, how could the wonders now seen around her have come to pass? Auspicious birds appeared in pairs, and the black hair reflected in the grieving luan mirror grew again. Thunder and lightning revealed auspicious signs, while clouds and rosy mists displayed marvels. The celestial bodies turned, and only the sounds of strings and bamboo could be heard. Her coffin was empty, with only her clothes and bedding left behind. It was as though she had been sent down to dwell temporarily in the human world; now that she has departed as an immortal, she has returned to Heaven.

“This event will be remembered through the ages and was widely praised at the time. It is both an auspicious sign for this commandery and a great occasion for our dynasty. I have been fortunate to receive the commission to govern this place, and therefore submit this report. I presume to disturb the court with it, and feel apprehensive and uneasy, yet also rejoice in the event.”

On the fifteenth day of the second month that year, Zhou Bao submitted the memorial from the traveling palace in Chengdu. The emperor issued an edict: “The Way of Heaven models itself on the Dao; these principles are found in the scriptures of the immortals. Those of lofty virtue cultivate diligently and thereby achieve wondrous works. Having read this memorial, I find its account quite in keeping with auspicious omens, and comparable to the ascension of Lady Wei and the descent of Lady Hua. This is an honor for the commanderies and counties, and a glory for our dynasty. Let the historians enter it into the annals, and order this circuit to provide funds for offerings and establish a Golden Register ritual site—a Daoist purification rite for praying for blessings and averting calamities—at her former residence, in this way giving thanks to Heaven and expressing reverence.”

At the time, it was the third year of the emperor’s residence in Chengdu.

Lady Wei was from Rencheng. Her given name was Huacun and her courtesy name was Xian’an. She was the daughter of Shu, the Jin-dynasty Minister of Works and Duke Wenkang of Juyang. From childhood, she loved Daoist arts and was quiet and respectful in temperament. She had read the Zhuangzi and Laozi, as well as Confucian classics and works by the various schools, and her learning ranged widely. She admired the way of the immortals and devoted herself to the serene, subtle practice of cultivation, hoping to attain the Dao and ascend to immortality. She regularly took health-preserving medicines such as hemp-seed powder and poria pills, practiced breathing exercises, and tended to body and mind, keeping her life tranquil and harmonious. She received no visiting relatives, and often wished to move somewhere quiet, but her parents would not allow it.

At twenty-four, she was compelled to marry Liu Wen, a native of Nanyang whose courtesy name was Youyan. At the time, Liu Wen served as an aide to the Grand Guardian. They had two sons: the elder was named Pu and the younger Xia. Liu Wen later became magistrate of Xiuwu County. Lady Wei longed wholeheartedly for the hidden realm of immortal beings, and her resolve to cultivate the Dao grew firmer. Once her sons were a little older, she and her husband began living separately, and she fasted and cultivated in a quiet chamber elsewhere.

Nearly three months later, the Perfected One of the Supreme Ultimate, An Duming; the Great Divinity of Donghua; the Azure Lad of Fangzhu; the King of the Spirit Gods of Bie A Yanggu on Fusang; the Perfected One of Jinglin; the Immortal Maiden of Xiaoyou; the Perfected One of Qingxu, Wang Bao; and other immortal beings suddenly descended. Wang Bao said to her, “I have heard that you secretly cultivate true Qi and devote yourself wholeheartedly to the Three Pure Ones, the Daoist name for the three pure realms. You have practiced with great diligence. The Great Emperor of Fusang has sent me to transmit to you the true Dao of immortality.” The Lord of the Azure Lad said, “The King of Heaven of Qingxu is your teacher.” An Duming said, “You have sought the Dao with all your heart; now the Dao has come before you.” The Perfected One of Jinglin said, “The August Emperor, a revered Daoist deity, has recognized your diligence and sincerity. The Supreme Ultimate has entered your immortal name on a jade register. You must keep striving!”

The Lord of the Azure Lad added, “If you do not go on to hear the upper Dao’s inner teachings, the Morning Radiance Jade Scripture, you will have no affinity with which to attain the immortal Dao. We will meet later at Mount Jiaodi. Be sure to keep this carefully secret.” Wang Bao then ordered the attendants Hua Santiao, Li Mingdui, and the others to open the bundles from among the clouds and the jade case, and take out Daoist esoteric texts including the Supreme Lord’s Precious Writings, the Hidden Book of the Eight Tones, and the True Scripture of the Great Cavern.

The Lord of Wang instructed the attendants Hua Santiao, Li Mingdui, and the others to unfold the cloud-patterned wrapping and open the jade casket. They took out thirty-one scrolls of scripture, including the Supreme Treasure Text, the Eight Hidden Books of the Plain, the Great Cavern Perfect Scripture, the Eight Ways of the Numinous Writings, Purple Measure, Flaming Radiance, Stone Essence and Golden Horse, Tiger Writings of the Divine Perfected, and The High Immortals’ Dark Feathers. He handed them to his wife with his own hands.

The Lord of Wang then told his wife, “I once studied the Dao here and met the Lady of the Southern Pole and the Lord of the Western Wall. They transmitted these thirty-one scrolls of precious scripture to me. I practiced according to them and thereby became a Perfected One, taking my place among the Immortal Kings of the Lesser You Grotto-Heaven. The scriptures I now pass to you are the original texts handed down by the Primordial Lord of the Southern Pole and the Lord of the Western Wall. The cavern terrace in this mountain is merely a separate palace within the Pure Void Immortal Realm.”

Then the Lord of Wang rose, faced north, and held the scriptures as he invoked: “Supreme Three Primes, High Perfected Ones of the Nine Stars, those who enter the Dao through the subtle and empty, Jade Dawn of Highest Clarity: by command of the Great Emperor, these scriptures are being transmitted to Wei Huacun. This month is the Month of Danliang, and the auspicious day is Wushen. I respectfully offer the precious books Tiger Writings of Divine Gold, the Great Cavern Perfect Scripture, the Jade Chapters of the Eight Plain Texts, and the rest, thirty-one scrolls in all. These scriptures were received by Bao in former years, when she devoted herself to cultivating the Dao on Yangming’s Western Mountain, from the Perfected One, the Grand Preceptor, Lady Ziyuan. Huacun must carefully follow the rules they set forth, so as to attain the Dao of utmost perfection, recite and practice the Way of Emptiness, and remain forever a flying immortal. If anyone reveals my scriptures, the guilt will implicate their entire family. They themselves will become a ghost in the lower realm, trapped and blocked at the source of the river. The Nine Heavens have already issued this command; I now specifically make it known to Huacun.” When he had finished the invocation, he stopped.

The Lord of Wang then said, “When I received the secret teachings from Lord Ziyuan, my master instructed me: ‘These scriptures should be transmitted to the various Perfected Ones; you are not the only one who can receive them.’ You have now received them by command of the Great Emperor. Beginning with my generation, these scriptures were meant to be received by seven people. They are written on white jade tablets and engraved with green jade lettering. Huacun is the fourth person to receive them.”

Thereupon Jinglin also transmitted the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture to his wife, instructing her to contemplate and recite it day and night.

After she had recited this book ten thousand times, she finally received the scripture. This was by command of the Great Emperor. Beginning with me, seven people in all have received it through transmission. The text was written on white jade slips, with characters traced in blue jade. When it was passed to Hua Cun, she was the fourth recipient.” Jinglin then transmitted the Scripture of the Yellow Court’s Inner Landscape to the lady, instructing her to contemplate and recite it day and night. After reciting it ten thousand times, she could see into the affairs of ghosts and spirits, bring harmony to the six bowels, regulate the three hun souls and five viscera, and restore the radiance of her face and the state of an infant. This is known as the Way of long life and deathlessness.

Then the four Perfected Ones sang together, each commanding a Jade Maiden to make music: playing the zither, striking bells, and blowing flutes, while singing in time. When the singing ended, Lord Wang explained to the lady the stages and rules of the scripture’s practice, along with the purpose of this precious scripture, its practical instructions for cultivation, and its essential points. Only after everything had been explained did they slowly take their leave.

At that time, the Perfected One of Supreme Ultimate commanded Song Lianjuan, the Jade Maiden of Northern Cold, to play the Ao of the Nine Qi, a musical instrument of Daoist legend. The Youth of Azure commanded Yan Jingzhu, the Jade Maiden of Eastern Florescence, to strike the Bell of Western Fulfillment. The King of Yugu commanded Jia Quting, the Jade Maiden of Divine Grove, to blow the Flute of the Phoenix’s Cry. The Perfected One of Azure Void commanded Xianyu Xu, the Jade Maiden of Flying Mystery, to strike the Jade Clappers of the Nine Harmonies. The Perfected One of Supreme Ultimate sang the song “Clearing the Sky”; the Youth of Azure chanted the melody “Rosy Clouds of the Great Void”; the Divine King recited the hymn “Dawn’s Beginning”; and the Perfected One of Clear Emptiness sang the verse “Riding the Whirlwind.”

After the assembly dispersed, the Perfected Ones and Primordial Ladies continued to visit day and night. Although Youyan was in the next room, he remained so quiet that he noticed nothing. Later, Youyan died, and the realm was in turmoil and famine. The lady cared for her household and helped those in poverty. She also received secret warnings from the Perfected Immortals that the Central Plain was about to descend into disorder, so she crossed the Yangzi south with her two sons. Pu served as Sima under Yu Liang, later served as Sima under Wen Taizhen, and eventually became the governor of Ancheng. Xia served as an assistant commander under Tao Kan. On her journey from Luoyi to the south, the lady passed through regions troubled by bandits, yet she was protected by divine powers at every turn and arrived safely.

Once her two sons’ positions among the immortals had been established, the Lady was able to devote herself fully to fasting and quiet cultivation. She experienced the descent of true spirits many times, and the benefits of her cultivation grew day by day. She lived in the human world for eighty-three years. In the ninth year of the Xianhe era of Emperor Cheng of Jin, the year jiǎwǔ, Lord Wang descended once more with the Blue Youth and the Lord of the Eastern Florescence. They bestowed on the Lady two doses of elixir for becoming immortal: one called “Spirit-Powder of the White Steed for the Spirit’s Ascent,” and the other “Numinous Pellet of Stone Essence and Golden Light for Transforming the Body,” and told her to take them at once. The Lady claimed to be ill and did not go out. After seven days, the Great One Mysterious Immortal sent a flying carriage to receive her. The Lady then lodged her spirit in a sword, causing her body to vanish, and went straight into Mount Yangluo.

The next day, the Blue Youth, the Four Perfected Ones of the Supreme Ultimate, and Lord Qingxu ordered the Lady to fast for five hundred days and recite the Scripture of the Great Cavern of Perfect Truth, an important Daoist scripture. They each explained its essential teachings and hidden meanings. The Celestial Master Daoling then transmitted the methods of the Mingwei memorials and petitions—ritual documents submitted to the celestial court—as well as the formulas for visualizing, invoking, and commanding officials and troops through talismans and registers. The various immortal perfected beings came in turn to instruct and guide her, then departed after three days. Daoling taught the Lady in such detail because, while in the world, she was to serve as a libationer among the female officials, overseeing their duties and governing the people.

The Lady recited the scripture ten thousand times and cultivated for sixteen years, yet her appearance remained that of a young woman. Then the Perfected Golden Mother of the Ninefold Void of Guishan, the Sage Lord of the Golden Palace, and the Primordial Lady of the South Pole came together to welcome her as she ascended to heaven in broad daylight. She traveled north to beneath the Jade Gate of the Upper Clarity Palace. The Lord Emperor of Taiwei, the Central Lord Yellow Elder, the High Primordial Lords of the Three Su, the Great Dao Lord Supreme Jade Dawn, the Lords of the Three Primordials of Great Simplicity, the Great Emperor Lord of Fusang, and the Rear Sage Lord of the Golden Palace each sent a messenger to convey an edict. They bestowed on her jade tablets and golden writings of the celestial beings, and appointed her Primordial Lady of Purple Void, in charge of the office of the Upper Perfected Ones’ Director of Life and Lady of Mount Heng. Her rank was equal to that of an Immortal Lord. By imperial command, she governed the Cavern Terrace of Mount TianTai Dahuoshan, overseeing the instruction of those below who followed the Great Dao and teaching those destined to become immortals: men were called Perfected Ones, and women Primordial Ladies. After the Lady had received her gifts and completed her investiture, the Queen Mother, the Sage Lord of the Golden Palace, and the Primordial Lady of the South Pole each departed.

After the ceremony conferring her title had ended, the Queen Mother, the Golden Tower Sage Lord, attendant to the Queen Mother of the West, and the Southern Pole Primordial Lord each departed, instructing Lady Wei to continue fasting for two months at Lesser Heaven in seclusion on Mount Wangwu. When the period was over, the Ninefold-Benefit Primordial Lady, the Queen Mother of Mount Gui, Lady of the Three Origins, and many other perfected immortals descended together above Lesser Heaven’s Pure Void. In the palace’s crimson halls, Lady Wei and the Lord of Wang received one another as host and guest. They set out jade cream and jade wine, drank from golden cups, and made music. They had their serving women perform the piece “Jun Cheng”; the melody and rhythm fell into harmony, and the eight tones blended together. The Queen Mother beat time and sang, while the Lady of the Three Origins played the yun’ao, a kind of instrument, in accompaniment. The other perfected immortals sang as well.

Soon, the many officials serving the immortal Director of Destinies arrived together with the officials sent by the Southern Marchmount to welcome her. The radiance of tiger banners and dragon carriages shone for a hundred li. The Queen Mother and the assembled perfected immortals accompanied Lady Wei as they traveled southeast toward the terrace on Mount Huo at Tiantai. Along the way, they made a detour to visit Mao Shushen at the Golden Altar of Gūqū. They feasted there for two days and nights, then continued together to Mount Huo. Lady Wei settled her carriage at the Jade Palace, and afterward the company dispersed.

Earlier, the Lord of Wang had told Lady Wei, “Those who cultivate and study should rid themselves of illness.” He then transmitted to her an immortal recipe using licorice and grain, which she took. Lady Wei was skilled in clerical script. She recorded and transmitted what the Lord of Lesser Heaven had taught, preserving it in great detail. She also composed the Commentary on the Inner View of the Yellow Court, described how to prepare green essence rice, and later descended to Mount Mao many times.

Her son Zipu later rose to the office of Palace Attendant. Lady Wei had Zipu transmit the Daoist teachings to Yang Xi, a retainer of the Minister of State, Prince Wang of Langya; to Xu Mu, Chief of Staff in the Guard Command; and to Xu Mu’s son Yufu. All of them cultivated the Dao and became immortals. The “Southern Perfected One” mentioned in Tao Zhenbai’s Perfected Annals is Lady Wei.

In the third year of the Xingning era of the Jin dynasty, an Earth-Ox year, an immortal descended upon the Yang family and said to Lord Yang, “Those who cultivate the Dao do not wish to witness killing and bloodshed. Even if they can turn away when they see it, it is better not to see it at all.” She added, “I just passed over the Eastern Sea. The sound of its waves was like thunder.”

She also said, “In Perfected Person Pei Qingling’s brocade pouch is a scripture called the Scripture of Preserving the Spirit. She once obtained it from Lady Ziwei. I too have a definitive copy of this scripture, preserved in the Western Palace. It is a precious celestial text kept on the Upper Terrace of the Western Jade Terrace, at the Northern Altar of the Dark Garden.” She then bestowed the scripture upon Lord Yang and said, “If you could lean back and ride a cloud chariot, speeding through the vast reaches of space, holding the night’s clouds and mist in your hands, setting foot in the royal court, and ascending to the imperial palace, you could read the treasured books and discuss the wondrous heights of the Nine Mysteries. With your mind immersed in the way of life everlasting through all ages, the true words would become profound and clear, and you could speak freely of Jade Purity, the pure realm where Daoist deities dwell. But now I have returned to the dusty world to teach disciples, looking out upon the Five Turbidities—the defiled world—and wearing myself out amid its stench and foulness. You seek the Dao and study and recite its subtle principles. Since you have already grasped the Dao’s mystery, you should keep making progress. Guard against scattered thoughts and remain vigilant at all times.”

She continued, “Just now, more than two hundred zhang of the western side of Mount Tongbai in Hedong collapsed. Yesterday, Mao Shushen and I went to the Palace of Pure Emptiness to confer registers of names upon the True Immortals. After examining their merits and failings, forty-seven people were struck from the rolls, and only three were allowed to be entered again. Those who cultivate the Dao should cleanse their thoughts, become empty, still, and lofty, and devote themselves diligently to its principles with all their strength, taking care as if walking on ice or through fire. If they persist over time, the immortal Dao will not remain beyond their reach. The key is to be upright and reverent, wholly sincere and single-minded, and to put an end to thoughts of sexual desire. If you cultivate the way of the highest perfected ones while harboring sexual desire, you will become like those struck from the rolls at the Palace of Pure Emptiness. You will not only be removed from the register of the living, but will also be investigated by the Three Officials, the Daoist deities who govern Heaven, Earth, and Water. Be diligent and vigilant!”

For those who cultivate the Dao, the most precious thing is to be free of crooked thoughts. Dwelling in the true Dao brings peace and ease. The highest state of stillness cannot be reached simply by guiding oneself to follow along, and natural detachment cannot be achieved through instruction alone. So even amid hardship and worry, one should grasp the principle of “nonbeing.” Cultivation of the Dao depends on diligence and dedication: focus without diligence, or ability without concentration, brings no benefit. The key is to keep the mind open and remove stray thoughts as soon as possible. One may repeatedly contemplate the Eastern Mountain and diligently gaze up at the Three Blossoms, the fabled immortal plants; this may bring some benefit.

Words bear on whether one’s life and nature can be preserved, while keeping one’s promises is crucial to gain and loss. Zhang Liang kept his appointment three times; he may be called a man who held firmly to the Dao and understood the mind.

It is also said: “Those who attain the Dao and leave the world of dust may appear or disappear. Leaving traces through a borrowed corpse is one of the Dao’s hidden manifestations. In ancient times, one person drank the jade nectar twice, then struck the coffin and departed; another took a dose of immortal medicine, after which the corpse decayed. The Duke of Deerhide swallowed Jade Radiance, and corpse worms crawled out through the door. Jia Jizi swallowed liquid gold, and the stench of his corpse carried a hundred miles. The Yellow Emperor once smelted the Nine Tripods on Mount Jing, yet there is also a story that he departed in old age from Mount Qiao. All these are hidden traces of the Dao.

“Li Yu took Cloud Powder and quietly ascended to heaven, yet his corpse was found with head and feet separated. Mo Di drank Rainbow Elixir and sank into the water. Ning Sheng took Stone Marrow and threw himself into a fire. Wu Guang cut wild chives and entered a cold spring. Bai Cheng cultivated through breathwork, yet his intestines and stomach decayed three times. Examples like these are countless. The comings and goings of those who attain the Dao are truly hard to fathom; from the beginning, they have followed no fixed pattern.

“Lord Preserver of Life said: ‘Corpse liberation means appearing to die through the use of a bodily form, though one has not truly died.’ The Southern Perfected said: ‘After entering the state of death, if the corpse is examined and still looks like a living person, this is corpse liberation. If the feet have not turned blue and the skin has not wrinkled, this too is corpse liberation. If the eyes have fallen out but their light remains (the Ming manuscript reads, “the light in the eyes has not vanished”), and the person looks no different from the living, this too is corpse liberation. If all the hair has fallen out and the body and bones have disappeared, this also counts as corpse liberation. Corpse liberation by day is, of course, becoming an immortal.’”

“When the eyes have disappeared, the person’s outward appearance is no different from that of an ordinary living person,” this is a form of corpse liberation (shijie), the Daoist term for a practitioner’s body shedding its mortal form as they transcend and depart. The same is true when all the hair falls out and the body and bones disappear. Those who undergo corpse liberation and depart in broad daylight are true immortals.

If the process does not take this form, but the person remains temporarily in Great Yin (the underworld) after death and then passes through the Three Offices (the deities who govern the realms of Heaven, Earth, and Water), the flesh will fall away, the channels will disperse, and the blood will settle, until the body decays into dust. Yet the Five Viscera will grow anew, the bones will become like jade, the Seven Po (one of the soul components that make up the human person) will sustain the body, and the Three Hun will guard it. After thirty, twenty, ten, or three years, the flesh and blood will grow back, the body will be restored, and the person’s appearance will surpass what it was in life. This is called form refinement (refining the body in the underworld). Having undergone a change of appearance in Great Yin, the person becomes an immortal under the jurisdiction of the Three Offices. The Celestial Emperor said, “A body refined in Great Yin surpasses one achieved by taking the Nine-Turn Elixir (the elixir of immortality in Daoist legend). Its appearance is dignified and composed, its complexion like numinous clouds. It ascends the Gate of Taiji (the celestial palace), receives its register of immortality, and becomes a perfected person.” This refers to that process.

If the person merely sojourns temporarily in Great Yin, Taiyi (a Daoist deity) protects the corpse, the Three Hun sustain the bones, the Seven Po guard the flesh, and the Embryonic Spirit (the numinous being that governs the vital energy of life) records the person’s breath. When the appointed time is complete, the body grows back and ascends to Heaven. If the person uses other medicines to achieve corpse liberation rather than an elixir, they cannot return to their homeland and will be seized by the Three Offices.

Among those who die and then return to life, some vanish before they are placed in a coffin; some leave behind only their skin, while the body itself is gone; some leave their clothes and headwear intact, with the fastenings still tied, though the body has departed; some lose their hair as their bodies ascend; and some, even after being beheaded, depart from another place after death. All these are forms of corpse liberation. Liberation in broad daylight is the highest grade; liberation at midnight is a lower grade. Those who depart in the evening or at dusk become rulers of the underworld. These are all differences in the level of attainment on the Dao.

When people cultivate the Dao, they may sometimes encounter calamities that destroy their bodies and extinguish their vital energy. This is as though they speak too much and fail to guard the One; their thoughts become scattered, while they rely only on luck to escape disaster. It is like a lofty nest falling when its branches break: even after a hundred successes, a single failure can undo everything. How regrettable for a person gifted with insight into the immortal Dao to bring about their destruction over one or two minor matters.

Excessive pursuit of cleverness without limit damages one’s natural disposition. A heart pulled by desire and aversion also loses its balance and unsettles what is genuine. How much better to hold fast to the root, quiet body and mind, devote oneself to cultivating the Three Shen (the spirits or inner faculties involved in Daoist practice), and bring all things into harmony. Then the mind becomes profound and clear, still and undisturbed, and merges completely with the Mud Pill (the upper Dantian in the head), bringing blessings to both the inner and outer realms.

The perfected person concentrates the heart on the One and holds firmly to an enduring conviction. When the heart returns to the One, conduct becomes upright. When Shen and Qi are harmonious and conviction is firm and smooth, these are signs favorable to cultivating the Dao, and the result of natural resonance. There is no need to seek this by creating a division between the outer and inner. If someone displays a probing, suspicious air outwardly while inwardly harboring resentment and secretly sneering, I have seen such a person fail; I have never seen one succeed.

The officials who rule beneath the earth are civil functionaries in the underworld’s hierarchy; the ghost masters beneath the earth are its military officers. Civil functionaries are promoted once every 104 years, while the military officers’ promotion cycle is twice as long. People who are wholly devoted to their appetites and desires yet also wish to acquire a reputation for purity, who follow worldly customs and put on a show, and who fear death while hoping to become immortals can usually attain only the military officers’ form of liberation. This is the lowest grade of corpse liberation (a Daoist transformation in which a practitioner departs through their body or an object left behind).

The Lady recited this poem with the perfected ones:

“Mysterious responses appear beyond wondrous sights; harmonious sounds answer one another. Sacred clouds gather in the purple dawn sky, while orchid-scented breezes brush the green carriage. The Highest Perfected hold a banquet on the Jade Terrace, becoming a distant model for the earthbound immortals. They seek to transcend the dusty world and ascend to the heights; thus they stand apart, outstanding and exalted. Take delight in the Eight Su writings, and the fulfillment of the Dao is not far off. How can worldly affairs be arranged in advance? Let them wear away your body and breath as they will.”

The Lady later traveled through Jiangnan. Near the mountains in Fuzhou, she built a quiet retreat, and set up an altar west of the Ru River. Years later, wars and upheaval cut off access, and nearly all traces of these places were destroyed. A Daoist nun named Huang Linghui lived past the age of eighty, yet her appearance remained like that of a child. People called her “Flower Maiden.” She paid particular attention to her appearance and repeatedly manifested miraculous signs. The Lady also appeared to her in a dream, and later Huang Linghui likewise ascended to heaven. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered the Daoist Cai Wei to include her in the Later Biographies of Immortals.

In 768, Yan Zhenqing, Duke of Lu, had this place restored and erected a stele to record the event.

The Maiden of the Bright Star

The Maiden of the Bright Star lived on Mount Hua and drank jade nectar. Later, she ascended to immortality in broad daylight. On the summit of Mount Hua is a stone shaped like a tortoise, covering several mu and standing about three ren high. Stone steps beside the tortoise can be seen from afar.

In front of the Jade Maiden Shrine, a temple dedicated to the Maiden, are five stone basins known as the “Jade Maiden’s Hair-Washing Basins.” The water in them is clear and green, and its level shows no noticeable change in either rain or drought. Inside the shrine is also a horse carved from jade.

Princess Nanyang

During the Han dynasty, Princess Nanyang married Wang Xian. At that time, Wang Mang held power at court.

Princess Nanyang

When Princess Nanyang married Wang Xian, Wang Mang was in power. The princess had long admired the Dao of quietude and Wuwei (non-action), and revered the Great Dao. She often recalled the age when Emperors Wen and Jing governed the realm through De (Virtue), and she also knew that many immortals had appeared during Emperor Wu of Han’s reign. She said to Wang Xian, “The state is about to fall into turmoil. This is not something a woman can set right. We should only preserve ourselves, remain calm and at peace, withdraw from the world to cultivate the Dao, and gradually distance ourselves from worldly clamor and contention. In this way, perhaps we may prolong our lives. If we simply follow the current and rise and fall with the times, we will likely be trapped in hardship and forced to wander from place to place.”

Wang Xian continued, though reluctantly, to pursue worldly rank and stipend, and did not heed her words. The princess therefore built a thatched hut alone on Mount Hua and lived there for more than a year, devoting herself to arduous cultivation. Her sincerity moved the spirits, and later she left the hut. Someone saw her cross a deep ravine at an unhurried pace, riding on clouds as she slowly rose into the sky and disappeared.

Wang Xian pursued her into the mountains. He crossed a great valley and climbed to a high peak, gazing into the distance through his tears, but could no longer see any trace of her. Suddenly, he spotted a pair of red shoes she had left behind on the ridge. When he went to pick them up, they had already turned to stone. The peak was later named “Princess Peak.” Pan Anren once wrote an account of this event, which has been passed down to the present day.

○ The Wife of Cheng Wei

Cheng Wei, a Han dynasty palace guard officer, had a wife who had attained the Dao. She could communicate with spirits and perform transformations, yet Cheng did not think there was anything particularly remarkable about her.

Once, Cheng was due to accompany the emperor on a journey, but his clothes were not yet ready, and he was very worried. His wife said, “You’re only short of a few garments. Why worry so much?” She then produced two lengths of fine silk, which appeared suddenly from nowhere, and gave them to him.

Cheng also enjoyed practicing the arts of refining yellow and white—that is, techniques for turning substances such as mercury into gold and silver—but he never succeeded. His wife took a little medicine from her pouch, placed it in a vessel of mercury, and heated the mixture. In a moment, the mercury had turned into silver. Cheng wanted to learn this art from her, but he never managed to do so. “Your bone structure is not suited to receiving it,” she said. Cheng kept pressing her, so she suddenly fell to the ground and died. She then departed by way of corpse liberation, a Daoist method of attaining immortality in which the adept leaves the body behind as the spirit departs.

Zhang Yulan was the granddaughter of the Celestial Master (Tianshi) and the daughter of Lingzhen. From childhood, she was pure and plain, and ate no meat or fish. At seventeen, she dreamed that a red light descended from the heavens. Within it were golden seal-script characters, coiling for dozens of feet, which then entered her mouth along with the red light. When she awoke, she felt unwell, and soon found herself pregnant. Her mother questioned her, but she never revealed what she had seen in the dream; only her maid knew the truth.

One morning, she said to her maid, “I cannot bear to live under this shame. After I die, please cut open my abdomen to prove my innocence.” That night, though she was not ill, she suddenly died. The maid told her mother. Unable to go against her daughter’s last wish, and hoping to dispel her doubts, the mother agreed to open the body. Suddenly, something like a lotus emerged from Yulan’s abdomen. When it was opened, it contained ten scrolls of the Scripture of Original Reality, written in gold characters on plain material. The scripture was about twenty zhang long and six or seven cun wide. Its writing was so exquisite that it seemed beyond the skill of human hands.

For more than a month after Yulan’s death, her body often gave off a strange fragrance. People copied the scripture, then buried Yulan. More than a hundred days later, violent winds and thunderous rain swept through, and heaven and earth grew dark. The scripture vanished as well. Yulan’s grave opened by itself, and the coffin lid flew onto a large tree. When people looked inside, the coffin was empty. Her tomb is now at the Temple of the Maiden in Wenjiang County, Yizhou. The ninth day of the third month is regarded as the day Yulan ascended to heaven, and local people still regularly hold purification rites and make offerings to her.

Lingzhen was the Celestial Master’s son. His name was Heng, and he was known as the Inheriting Master. It is said that on the twenty-third day of the first month in the second year of Guanghe under Emperor Ling of Han, in the year jǐwèi, he ascended bodily to heaven in broad daylight at Yangping. Yulan’s birth of the scripture from her womb and her attainment of the Dao must have taken place after Lingzhen’s ascension, during the era of the Three Kingdoms’ conflicts.

Wang Miaoxiang

Wang Miaoxiang was a Daoist priestess from Cangwu. She ate no grains and practiced fuqi (nourishing the body through breath regulation and guided movement). She lived beside the water near Huangting Temple. With devout worship and focused contemplation of the Dantian (the inner place of cultivation in Daoism), she experienced wondrous signs.

On the first day of each lunar month, she often saw strange lights and clouds of vapor. The mountains there were layered one upon another, and the valleys were deep and remote, with few visitors. Miaoxiang never told anyone about these things. After more than a year had passed, music suddenly sounded one morning at dawn on the first day of the month. It drifted from far above, lingering in the air before fading away after a long while.

More than a year later, a wondrous fragrance suddenly spread thickly through the air. Auspicious clouds filled the courtyard, heavenly music shook the mountains and forests, and light shone over the ritual altar and temple halls, bright as ten suns. Golden and jade-colored radiance appeared in the sky, dazzling the eyes so that no one could look directly at it.

A short while later, thousands upon thousands of carriages and horses descended from the sky. Their riders came on qilin, phoenixes, dragons, immortal cranes, and heavenly steeds. The procession numbered several thousand, each figure more than ten feet tall, carrying halberds, weapons, and banners. After a long time, a carriage canopy adorned with crane feathers and a phoenix-decorated carriage led a chariot drawn by nine dragons down before the altar. A figure dressed in feather robes, wearing a jeweled crown, and carrying a sword with his shoes trailing behind him, entered the hall and sat down. Five-colored radiance shone all around him, and several hundred immortals gathered around him and followed in his train.

Miaoxiang stepped forward to pay her respects. The great immortal said to her, “I am Emperor Shun. In the past, weary of governing the myriad states, I came to cultivate the Dao in these mountains. I often wished to guide and teach those who came after me, so that people would know no one is beyond instruction. The Great Dao exists within the heart, not in external things; the Dao is within oneself, not in another person. The Mysterious Scripture says, ‘Cultivate it in yourself, and its De will then be complete.’ This means that you must rely on yourself to cultivate the Dao and attain the state of an immortal sage; no one else can do it for you.”

I saw a report from the Earth Bureau, the divine office in charge of affairs on earth, stating that you have cultivated on this mountain for more than thirty years, remaining steadfast throughout. You have upheld the Dao with integrity, without straying into heresy; focused your thoughts on righteous deities; and followed and practiced the subtle precepts. You have done very well. If you still have not attained success and confirmation, then the Dao has abandoned humanity. The Mystery Scripture says, “It is always skilled at rescuing all things, and abandons nothing.” The Dao’s grace extends everywhere. It sees the potential for all things to succeed and for everyone to be saved. Yet people in the world have shallow reserves of good fortune, and their Dao Qi is scattered and weak, so they cannot devote themselves to cultivating the Dao. Even when they begin to practice, they cannot persevere with diligence for long. Before they have waited for a response from the Dao Qi, they grow lax. Such people have abandoned the Dao themselves; it is not the Dao that has abandoned them. Your sincerity and single-mindedness, your willingness to wait a hundred or a thousand lifetimes for what you seek without growing lax or turning back, are truly worthy of compassion.

In the past, I met the Most High Lord Lao, one of the supreme deities revered in Daoism, who revealed to me the Classic of the Dao and Its Virtue (Daode Jing). This classic speaks of governing the state, cultivating oneself, saving people, and carrying out instruction. Its principles reach throughout Heaven and Earth, fill the cosmos, extend to the Nine Heavens, and run through all things. It is the essential guide to instruction and the foundation of cultivation and realization of the Dao, beyond the power of words to describe. I have always kept it in my heart and spread it among the people, promoting its teachings and helping the world, never daring to slacken for even a moment. To this day, I continue to honor my teacher’s instructions and regard it as a treasure for passing through endless kalpas.

Yet worldly people are often restless, deceitful, deluded, and mistaken in their views. They mock those who are humble and keep their light concealed, calling them weak and timid. They disdain the Dao of yielding and keeping oneself in reserve, deeming it backward and base. They ridicule the principle of “cutting off sagehood and abandoning cleverness,” calling it absurd. They scorn the teaching of “cutting off benevolence and abandoning righteousness,” thinking that such a way is brisk and decisive. These are all signs that deluded people of the world do not understand the principles of the Dao.

The intention of the Dark Sage—the sage who has penetrated the Great Dao—is to restore the customs of the age to simplicity and sincerity, honor the Dao, and cast aside deviant practices. Once the paths that depart from the proper way have been removed, the highest Dao appears of itself. Once a simple and sincere way of life has been established, the desire for superficiality and rivalry naturally fades. At that point, there is no place for rule by imposed restraints, nor for benevolence that extends indiscriminately to all. Deliberately displaying one’s sagacity is of no use, and cunning schemes have no opportunity to take effect. All under Heaven becomes one undivided whole and returns to harmony. This is the Dark Sage’s fundamental intent.

Yet worldly customs are hollow and deceitful, and people pursue luxury and contrivance. When rulers cannot govern through clarity and stillness, affairs of state become tangled and confused. When the Dao’s teachings cannot be put into practice freely and smoothly, the various schools of thought contend with one another. As the saying goes: “People have been lost in confusion for a very long time. One who can cleanse the heart, set oneself aright, cultivate oneself alone, take the highest Dao as teacher, and make long life one’s destination is hard to find.”

I have seen how diligently and single-mindedly you pursue your studies, so I have come to visit you for a time. You were born with the bones of an immortal—what is there to doubt? You will surely attain the Dao.

Long ago, while I was still among ordinary people and quite young, I suddenly felt the presence of the Supreme Great Dao Lord, a revered Daoist deity, arriving in a secluded little room. He taught me methods for cultivating the self and principles for governing a state. Then he had me sit quietly with my eyes closed. Gradually, I rose through the air and traveled to Yangzhou in the south. There, above, lay the stars Ox and Dipper; below, one could see the region of the Huai River. I entered the Gate of the Ten Dragons, wandered along the River of Bright Circling and the Gourd Ford, and found a source of water called Fang Mountain.

Fang Mountain extends for a thousand li in every direction. Within it stand jade cities and jeweled palaces, and the mountain is also called Mount Jiuyi. It has nine peaks, each with a stream. Nine rivers branch out from beneath the mountain and flow toward the six directions of space, circulating without end. Then they flow upstream from their lower reaches back to this place, pouring into the Celestial River. Thus all nine streams rise from this mountain. They flow up and down, reaching across the Four Seas. I was commanded to channel the waters of the Nine Provinces and open the routes to the Eight Directions; in the end, I credited the achievement to this mountain.

There are three palaces on this mountain. The first is called the Palace of the Celestial Emperor, the second the Palace of Purple Tenuity, and the third the Palace of Clear Source. I have witnessed the rise and fall of successive ages, and came to this mountain to govern it. I dwell in the Palace of Purple Tenuity above and guard over the mountain. I often send immortal officials down to the human world to teach and transform its people, guiding them in the way of long life and enduring vision, of clarity, stillness, and Wuwei (non-action).

The sages of the heavens and the perfected high immortals take pity on the uncertainty of calamities and the succession of generations. They also pity the waxing and waning of Yin-Yang and the changes between life and death. Calamities may descend upon the human world in the blink of an eye, so they diligently send down teachings to aid and save its people. Their determination to save humanity is more earnest than people’s own desire to seek the Dao. People often waver in their pursuit of the Dao, at times committed and at times not. Though they keep it in mind, among a million there is not one who can persist in diligent practice. The perfected beings in heaven take pity on worldly people. They often conceal their immortal forms and change their appearance in the human world, offering guidance wherever they go to awaken people. They teach and aid humanity with tireless devotion, yet among tens of millions, there is not one who is truly able to receive their instruction.

An old saying goes: “If you can persevere in cultivating the Dao as you did at the beginning, you will have more than enough to attain it.” Many people begin diligently but grow lax later, and so all the effort they made before comes to nothing. Could it be that the Dao has let people down? You must spread my meaning so that more people may understand.

This mountain has nine peaks, each with a palace, and perfected beings and immortal officials have been appointed to oversee them. Beneath the mountain lie precious jade, the five metals, sacred fungi and divine herbs, medicines guarded by the Three Heavens, and scriptures treasured by the Most High. Some of these treasures are hidden in stone chambers and grotto terraces, among cloud-wreathed cliffs and deep valleys. They are therefore also watched over by numinous officials and guarded by giant serpents, fierce beasts, and venomous dragons.

The nine peaks, in order, are Chang’an Peak, Ten Thousand Years Peak, Ancestral Governance Peak, Great Justice Peak, Heavenly Treasure Peak, Abundant Gains Peak, Spring Blessings Peak, City of Blessings Peak, and Transformation in Action Peak. Each has a palace complex at its foot, serving as a seat of governance.

The Nine Waters include the Silver Flower Water, Fushu Water, Chao Water, Xu Spring, Gui Water, Sha Water, Golden Flower Water, Yong’an Water, and Jin Water. Another account lists nine sites as the Silver Flower Water, Fushu Water, Chao Water, Xu Spring, and the Gui Water, Guangde Peak, Yichun Peak, Yicheng Peak, and Xinghua Peak. Palaces and halls have been built beneath each site to serve as administrative centers. The tributaries of the Nine Waters flow toward the four seas, coursing and irrigating without end.

Every kind of rare bird and beast is found in the mountains, yet there are no poisonous, stinging, or ferocious creatures that might harm people. This place is suited to life in the world, to caring for body and mind, and to cultivating the Dao; it also helps one attain the Dao and become perfected.

Since coming to live in the mountains, you have not traveled far and wide, brushed away the burdens of worldly entanglements, or gazed into the blue sky and down across the mountains. It is only natural that you do not know these places well. I will guide you; you must practice diligently. Once you ride a celestial carriage and fly through the sky, look back from on high and examine closely how it all came to be.