《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 10

Li Babai was from Shu, and no one knew his personal name. He first came to Junyang and chose to live at Wulong Ridge, where the administrative seat of Gao’an Commandery then stood. There were a sword-quenching pool and a Well of the Seven Stars there. Li Babai lived through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, reaching the age of eight hundred; when he traveled, he often covered eight hundred li in a single journey. People of the time therefore called him “Li Babai” (“Li Eight Hundred”). At times he lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests; at others, he stayed in towns.

Later, Li Babai cultivated the Dao in a stone chamber on Mount Hualin. Once he had refined elixirs and completed his cultivation, he returned to Shu. During the Qin dynasty, he learned that Tang Gongfang, a figure in this account, aspired to cultivate the Dao but had been unable to find a worthy teacher. Li Babai decided to transmit the Dao to him. To test Tang Gongfang first, he disguised himself as a hired laborer and went to work in Tang’s household. Tang Gongfang did not know he was an immortal and sent him on errands, treating him even more casually than the other workers. In time, however, Tang Gongfang grew very fond of him.

One day, Li Babai pretended to be gravely ill, so weak that he seemed close to death. Tang Gongfang summoned a doctor to prepare medicine and spent tens of thousands of coins without a second thought. His worry was plain on his face. Li Babai then pretended that his body was covered in foul, suppurating sores, so putrid that no one could come near him. With tears in his eyes, Tang Gongfang said, “You have worked hard for my household all these years, and now you have fallen ill with such a serious disease. I desperately hope you will recover, and I would spare no expense. Now that things have come to this, what can I do?”

Li Babai said, “My sores can be cured, if someone will lick them.” Tang Gongfang asked three maidservants to lick them. Li Babai then said, “The maidservants’ licking is not enough. If you lick them yourself, I think I can be cured.” Tang Gongfang did so. Li Babai continued, “Even your licking is not enough. If your wife licks them, my illness will improve.” Tang Gongfang then asked his wife to do so.

Li Babai went on, “My sores are somewhat better now. I still need thirty hu of sweet wine, a measure of capacity, to bathe in; only then will I recover completely.” Tang Gongfang promptly prepared thirty hu of wine and poured it into a vessel. After Li Babai bathed in it, his sores healed at once. His skin became smooth and lustrous as congealed fat, without a single scar.

Afterward, Li Babai told Tang Gongfang, “I am an immortal. Because your intentions are sincere, I came especially to test you. You are indeed worthy of receiving the Dao. Now I will truly transmit to you the secrets for attaining the Dao and transcending the world.” He had Tang Gongfang and his wife, along with the three maidservants who had licked the sores, bathe in the wine left over from his bath. They all became youthful, and their faces grew more beautiful. Li Babai then brought out a scroll of an elixir scripture…

Gong Fang entered Mount Yuntai and refined elixirs there. When they were ready, he swallowed them and became an immortal.

Some histories give his name as “Gong Fang” with a different character. Gong Fang, who lived in Xingyuan Prefecture during the Tang dynasty, drank immortal wine given to him by the immortal Li Baibai. He then uprooted his entire residence, and the two of them ascended together. The present-day Doushan Abbey is a site associated with him.

The Hunyuan Records relate that Li Tuo studied the Way of long life. During the reign of King Mu of Zhou, he came to the foot of Longqiao Peak on Mount Jintang in Shu and refined the Nine-Blossom Elixir. After it was ready, he traveled among the Five Sacred Mountains and the Ten Grottoes for more than two hundred years. Later, at sea, he met Lord Feiyang and learned the Way of Water-Jade. He returned to this mountain and continued refining elixirs. When the elixir was ready, he left again. Over the following centuries, he would disappear and reappear, moving between marketplaces and the imperial court. Later, he returned to the foot of Longqiao Peak to refine the Golden Cauldron Reverted Elixir. By then, he had lived for eight hundred years. The people of Shu had seen him from generation to generation, so they called him “Li Baibai,” or “Li the Eight-Hundred-Year-Old.” He had studied the Dao on this mountain three times, which is why people called it “Three Studies Mountain.” Another name for it was “Mount Xixian.” It now belongs to Huai’an Military Prefecture.

The Gazetteer of the Nine Regions and the Illustrated Gazetteer of Immortal Abodes record that Li Baibai ascended to immortality on this mountain. According to the Records of Mount Hualin, Li Baibai ascended bodily into the sky in broad daylight at Three Studies Mountain in Jintang County, Hanzhou. A stone chamber lies beneath the central peak, one hundred paces west of Fuyun Abbey. It is one zhang wide and one zhang high, and is called “Li Baibai’s Grotto-Heaven.” At its southeast corner is another opening, just wide enough for one person to enter. After several zhang, the passage gradually becomes wider and taller, but its depths cannot be measured.

In the early Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong’s reign in the Tang dynasty, Celestial Master Sun received secret instructions from Celestial Master Zhang in this grotto and hid them there. The grotto therefore also came to be called “Celestial Master Sun’s Grotto.” During the Huichang era of Emperor Wuzong’s reign, a local man of the Gong family entered the grotto and obtained a scroll containing the Six-Ding Prayer for Rain. During severe droughts, people prayed according to its instructions, and their prayers often received a swift response.

In the fifth year of the Xiantong era, during Emperor Yizong’s reign in the Tang dynasty, the Daoist priest Zhu Yuanzheng of Gao’an entered the grotto and found two scrolls of scripture inside a stone casket. The title on the scrolls read, “The True Wind Reveals the Nature of Color.” After reflecting on this, Zhu Yuanzheng decided that “nature” referred to a surname and that “nature of color” must mean the surname Zhu. He returned to Gao’an and taught the scriptures, which spread widely at the time.

Many people entered this grotto over the years, and each had a different experience. It is said that those with crooked intentions or who were impure and unclean would be turned away. This shows that the grotto abodes of immortals are not places anyone may freely explore.

Fuyun Abbey was later renamed “Fuyun Mountain Abbey of Sacred Longevity for Ten Thousand Years” during the Song dynasty. It belongs to Longxing Prefecture.

Kuang Xu of Fengxin County is an immortal recorded in this book.

Master Kuangfu’s surname was Kuang and his given name was Xu. His courtesy name was Junping—though some accounts give it as Zixiao, and others as Junji. He was from southern Chu. Some also say he was a descendant of Yu the Great. From birth, he possessed an extraordinary spiritual aura, and even as a child he aspired to transcend the ordinary world. During the reign of King Wu of Zhou, he became a disciple of Lao Dan, the Historian at the Pillar (that is, Laozi, who once served as keeper of the Zhou archives and was therefore called the Historian at the Pillar). From him, Kuang Xu learned the Way of long life. He then built a thatched hut beside Tiger Creek on Mount Nanzhang and lived there in seclusion. The hut was almost bare, containing only a couch and a few bound bamboo books.

When King Wu heard of his reputation, he summoned and invited him several times, but Kuang Xu refused to leave the mountain. Much later, a young man came to visit repeatedly and introduced himself: “My surname is Liu, my given name Yue. My home is to the left of the mountain ahead, and I would like to invite you to visit.” He added, “At the foot of the mountain there is a stone about two feet high. That is where I live.” Kuang Xu later went there as promised. At the foot of the mountain, he looked around but saw no house, only a stone. He stepped up and knocked on it, and the stone opened like a pair of doors. Two boys dressed in blue, carrying red tally tokens, led the way. As Kuang Xu followed, he gradually saw buildings of varying heights, gleaming with gold and jade, birds wheeling overhead, and rare flowers and trees. The young man came to greet him in the hall, wearing a dark jade crown, a red seal sash, and a sword.

Kuang Xu realized he was not in the human world and wished to stay. The young man told him, “Your hidden merit has not yet been brought to completion. You will have another chance to meet me in the future.” He then invited Kuang Xu to drink three cups of jade wine and let him sip a mouthful of a decoction that prolonged life and preserved vitality. When Kuang Xu took his leave and looked back, only a huge stone stood there.

After this extraordinary encounter, his spirit and bearing grew clearer with each passing day, and he never let up in his cultivation. King Ding of Zhou once asked the Historian Bolyangfu (that is, Laozi) which immortals of the present age were living in the human world. Bolyangfu named several immortals from the Five Sacred Peaks, and Kuang Xu was among them. King Ding then summoned him, but he vanished into seclusion. During the reign of King Weilie, the king again sent an envoy in a comfortable carriage to receive him. Before the envoy arrived, Kuang Xu said, “The time has come,” and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. When the envoy went to seek him, only the empty thatched hut remained. On returning to court, the envoy reported what had happened and asked that Mount Nanzhang be renamed Mount Jinglu. Local people also called it Mount Kuang, Kuangfu, or Kuanglu, after the master’s surname. Later, to avoid the taboo on the name of Emperor Taizu of Song, the character Kuang was changed to Kang. To this day, the townships and villages in that area are named after Master Kuang, and Tiger Creek has become one of the thirty-six scenic sites.

In the section on blessed lands—places of good fortune in Daoism—The Veritable Record of Primordial Unity states that, according to the Erya and the Shiming, a mound of earth is called a “fu.” The mountain was originally named Nanzhang, meaning that three peaks on it resembled heavenly spears. In ancient times, sacrifices were held there.

Qianshan is the Southern Sacred Peak, and Nanzhang is its subsidiary mountain, so it too came to be called the Southern Sacred Peak. After Master Kuang Xu ascended to immortality, the Supreme God appointed him to oversee floods and droughts in the Wu and Chu regions. He also bestowed on him a seal granting authority over epidemics and placed the Eight Divisions of Plague Spirits under his command. For this reason, people called him Master He Wen Kang Fu. He had two distinguished disciples: one was known as the Perfected White Deer, the other as Hong Zizhen. The Hong Well, where elixirs were refined, and White Deer Cave on Mount Lu are said to be traces they left behind.

In the first year of the Yuanfeng era, Emperor Wu of Han toured the south, climbed Mount Tianzhu to make offerings, and formally sacrificed to the mountains and rivers along his route. Later, he shot and killed a dragon in the Xunyang River. Turning back, he asked, “Which spirit governs this mountain?” The erudite Liu Xin replied in a memorial, “Master Kuang Xu attained the Dao here.” Emperor Wu therefore enfeoffed him as “Grand Duke of Great Illumination of the Southern Pole” and ordered a shrine built beside his former residence at Tiger Creek. He also placed Master Kuang Xu in the state sacrificial rites.

During the Eastern Jin, the monk Huiyuan, a native of Yanmen, traveled to Mount Luofu. One night, he lodged in the shrine and was captivated by the scenery of its streams and mountains. He went to see the governor, Huan Yi, and said, “Last night I dreamed of Master Kuang. I hope the shrine can be converted into a monastery.” Huan Yi agreed. (The monasteries now known as Donglin Temple and Xilin Temple were built here.) Master Kuang’s shrine was moved to the northwest of the mountain pass.

During the Kaiyuan era of the Tang, the shrine was expanded again. In the early Tianbao era, Emperor Xuanzong sent an envoy to make offerings after observing a purification fast, and honored the site as an immortal’s temple. Whenever local people faced floods, droughts, or epidemics, their prayers to Master Kuang were answered.

During the Baoda era of the Southern Tang, Chancellor Zhou Zong was sent south with imperial credentials to govern the region. When he reached Jiujiang, he saw that the temple had fallen into disrepair and took charge of rebuilding it. He first summoned the Daoist priest Que Yuan Yin to oversee the temple and maintain its incense offerings. He then memorialized the throne, which granted the temple an estate to provide lasting support for its Zhaijiao purification rituals.

During the Zhiping era of Emperor Yingzong of Song, the court bestowed a plaque naming the temple “Abbey of the Sagely Longevity.” When the emperor performed the suburban sacrifices, he also issued a prayer text and ordered a deputy prefectural official to pour wine and make offerings. This thereafter became an established ritual. In the first year of the Jianguo Jingguo era, Emperor Huizong of Song decreed that Master Kuang be titled “Perfected One of Quiet Illumination.” In the thirty-second year of the Shaoxing era, Emperor Gaozong of Song changed the temple plaque to “Guangfu Qiongshan” to avoid using a name honored in the title of the Hall of Virtue and Longevity.

In an ancient-style poem inscribed by Bai Yuchan, the opening lines say: “King Wu of Zhou laughed as he rode his blue-green steed and put the imprisoned old King Zhou to death. Yet the people of the realm all suffered epidemics, while the worthy in the mountains and forests were willing to…” The source text ends here, and the rest of the poem is missing.

Though he suffered hunger, he still wrote books at the foot of Mount Song. At Mount Shouyang, there is also the story of Boyi and Shuqi, who gathered ferns to eat. Plague and poisonous vapors spread, bringing disaster to every quarter. Windmills whipped up fierce flames that seemed to gallop like horses. I have heard that Kang Xu lived in seclusion on Mount Lu, where the Old Man of the Blue Ox transmitted books to him, and the Purple Emperor bestowed on him a seal for containing epidemics. As a result, the people of the realm gradually recovered from their hardship.

I have heard that worldly rank is not worth longing for. Wang Lie and Wang Hu could not be summoned; the Qin king’s boat reached the shore at the Xiao and Han passes. By the time he looked toward the Yi lands, they had already become overgrown with moss. The Central Plain was like a fleeing deer, and in time it came under the Han. The Han emperor shot an arrow at a dragon in the river, then enfeoffed Master Kang as “Lord of Great Brilliance.”

Monks of the Jin dynasty took a liking to this mountain and planted white lotuses. Another person appeared in a shepherd boy’s dream and falsely claimed that this place was a Buddhist palace. I wonder: Laozi once transformed into a dragon—could Lord Kang’s intentions have been like Laozi’s? The waters of Tiger Creek wind like a blue dragon, and its mountains soar into the heavens. Later generations therefore laughed at Ge Hong for taking the wrong road: he reached Mount Lu, then set off again. How many came after Ge Hong left? The caves are full of white clouds, cold and desolate.

Your servant Daoyi says: Kang Xu was repeatedly summoned by the Zhou king, yet he never agreed to serve at court, devoting himself instead to refining his Daoist resolve. In his view, the prestige of princes and nobles and the wealth of gold and jade were worth less than dust and weeds. In the end, his cultivation and merit were complete, and he ascended to heaven in broad daylight. The Dao De Jing says, “Even if someone presents a pair of ceremonial jade discs before a team of four horses as a gift, it is not as good as sitting down to cultivate the Great Dao.” This was precisely the principle Kang Xu followed. Among later adepts of the Dao who refused to attach themselves to princes and nobles and valued their own cultivation, some ascended to heaven and some underwent corpse liberation—that is, they left the body behind and departed from the world. There were thousands, no one knows how many; perhaps they can all be traced back to Kang Xu’s example.

Yuzi

Yuzi’s surname was Zhang and his given name was Zhen. He was from Nanjun. In his youth, he studied many kinds of classics. When King You of Zhou summoned him, he declined to serve and sighed, “As life goes on, we move ever farther from birth and ever nearer to death. Rather than covet wealth and rank, it is better to preserve life. When the breath stops, that is death. Even if one holds the rank of a prince or king and owns mountains of gold and jade, what good does it do? The body will eventually turn to dust. Only by becoming an immortal and transcending the ordinary world can one hope to endure.”

He then took Sangzi as his master, learned many classics, and established a distinct lineage of methods. He wrote more than a hundred Daoist texts. His arts centered on wukui: he studied the principles of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) in depth and worked out their subtle workings, using them to cultivate one’s nature, treat illness, and avert calamity. He could also raise fierce winds that toppled houses and snapped trees, summon thunder, rain, clouds, and mist, and transform grass clippings, tiles, and stones into the six domestic animals, dragons, and tigers—all in an instant…

He could divide his body into hundreds or even thousands of forms. He could cross rivers and seas on foot, then spit out the water he had held in his mouth; it would all turn into pearls and jade, and never revert to its original state.

At times, he would hold his breath until he stopped breathing. If someone lifted him, he would not rise; if pushed, he would not move; if bent, he would not bend; if stretched, he would not straighten. After a hundred days, or sometimes only several dozen, he would get up again and travel with his disciples. He shaped lumps of clay into small balls like horses and handed them to his disciples, telling them to close their eyes. In an instant, the clay balls became large horses. Once mounted, they could travel a thousand li in a single day.

He could also breathe out five-colored Qi that rose several hundred feet. When birds flew past, he would point at them, and they would fall to the ground. At the edge of a deep pool, he would cast Fulu (Daoist talismans used to summon spirits or perform rites) into it and call out; fish and turtles would swim up onto the bank. He could also enable his disciples to see things a thousand li away with a single glance, though this ability could not be maintained for long.

Sometimes he would fill a vessel with water and set it between the two Dǒukuí, star regions associated with the Northern Dipper. He would blow and breathe onto the water, and a red light one or two zhang high would rise from its surface. He used this water to treat all kinds of illnesses: patients with internal ailments drank it, while those with ailments on the surface of the body bathed in it. They all recovered at once. Later, he entered Mount Kongtong to refine elixirs and ascended to Heaven in broad daylight.

Li Ming

The Son of the Sun, whose surname was Li and given name Ming, was a close friend of Yuzi, born in the same year. After Yuzi had succeeded in cultivating the Dao, the Son of the Sun served him as a disciple without ever slackening in his devotion. Yuzi was especially close to him. Among Yuzi’s more than three thousand disciples, none could equal the Son of the Sun.

The Son of the Sun enjoyed drinking and often drank himself unconscious, so he was frequently reprimanded. Yet he was skilled in applying the way of the Five Phases. Although the hair at his temples had turned white, his skin remained smooth and full, and his face shone with a radiant glow. Even after living for more than three hundred years, his appearance had not changed.

Yuzi said to him, “You should care for your body and cultivate your nature, setting an example for the worthy disciples. Yet you spend every day in a drunken stupor, neglecting the Dao and failing to refine the Great Medicine. Even if you lived a thousand years, that would not be enough to escape death—so how much less can a lifespan of only a few hundred years suffice? This is something even ordinary people should not do, let alone someone who understands the Dao.”

The Son of the Sun replied, “I began learning the Dao late, and my nature is stubborn; I have not yet shed my worldly habits. So I use wine to restrain my pride and negligence. I have mastered the art of the Seven-Treasure Tree and grasped the essentials of the Dao. Once I take the elixir, I will become an immortal; at times, the elixir seems to be present in my belly. For five hundred years, my face has remained like that of a young man. It is only because I drink too much that the hair at my temples has turned snow-white.”

Du Yu

Du Yu was the ruler of Shu. A great flood once struck the region, and Du Yu and the people fled from the waters, arriving at Chang…

Mount Ping lies upstream on the Weijiang River at Qingcheng, eighty li from the county seat. Bie Ling later cut through the mountain gorge and brought the floods under control, making it possible for people to live on the land. Later, Bie Ling abdicated the throne in his favor, settled on West Mountain, attained the Dao, and ascended to heaven. Bie Ling’s descendants ruled Shu for generations, passing the throne down through twelve generations. By the time of the Kaiming clan, the Qin state had annexed Shu, and Shu was finally connected with the Central Plains.

Li Bing

Li Bing and Yang Mo were both adepts who had attained the Dao in Shu. They could command spirits and gods, drive away clouds and dragons, and do anything. During the Kaiming clan’s rule of Shu, they traveled and lived in the region. Li Bing once helped the Kaiming clan control the floods and rid Shu of the damage they caused. In the reign of King Xiaowen of Qin, Li Bing served as governor of Shu Commandery. He cut channels and built irrigation works, bringing tens of thousands of acres of farmland under cultivation.

At the time, a shaman claimed that every year the River Earl, the water god of the river, had to take a young girl as his wife. Li Bing went to the shrine by the river, rebuked the River Earl, and then disappeared. A long while later, two gray oxen suddenly appeared on the bank, fighting one another. After a time, Li Bing returned, covered in sweat, and said to his subordinates, “I am exhausted from fighting it. Can you help me? The one facing south, with a white patch around its waist, is the form I have taken.” Soon the two oxen fought again. The registrar, an official in charge of documents, stabbed the ox facing north, and the River Earl died. From then on, the river no longer overflowed, and no one was taken as a bride.

Li Bing carved five stone rhinoceroses to hold back the floods: one at Qingcheng, one at Xipu, one at the city bridge in Chengdu, and one in the river. He also placed three stone figures in the water beneath the Jade Maiden’s chamber, beside the White Sand Shoal north of the county seat, and swore an oath with the River God: “When the water is low, it must not fall below the figures’ feet; when it rises, it must not go above their shoulders.” The stone figures still stand on the river’s left bank, as if bearing witness to the oath made long ago. The people of Shu have worshiped Li Bing for generations.

When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled to Shu, he recognized that Li Bing’s achievements had benefited the people. He ordered the shrine restored and honored Li Bing with the titles Minister of Works and Chancellor. He also decreed that wherever floods occurred, the local community should build a shrine to Li Bing; once the shrine was built, the waters would subside. Yang Mo, too, possessed supernatural arts and could subdue tigers and dragons. He once dug a channel beside the Dazao River to bring water to the fields, and swore an oath with a dragon.

Lu Ban

Lu Ban, a legendary master craftsman, was from Dunhuang. His skill was so wondrous that it seemed to rival the work of creation itself. When a man from Wu killed his father south of Suzhou’s city walls, Lu Ban bore a grudge. He made a wooden immortal that pointed toward the land of Wu, and a three-year drought struck the region. After divining the cause, the people of Wu learned that Lu Ban was responsible and went to apologize with gifts. Lu Ban cut off the wooden immortal’s hand, and that very month heavy rain fell in Wu.

Ma Chengzi

Between the Zhou and Qin dynasties, warfare raged without end across the land. The strong bullied the weak, the many oppressed the few, and the people were forced to transport supplies, carry military provisions, go to war…

Ma Chengzi of Fufeng saw people attacking one another, leaving themselves no chance to live in peace. He sighed, “A person’s life lasts no more than a hundred years, and the body stands no more than six feet tall, yet people cannot even protect themselves. Nearly everyone in the world is like this. Since Heaven gave me life, there must be a way to prolong it. Why should I bring about my own death? I have heard that the Dao is the ancestor of all things: the original Qi from which life is received, the source from which all things arise, and the foundation of Heaven and Earth. It passes through generations without changing; it is still and profound, enduring and imperishable. How can I find a wise teacher who will show me the path of cultivating the Dao?”

After this thought arose in him, he spent many years seeking a teacher and pursuing the Dao. Later he heard that south of Mount Qi, in the region of the Qian and Wei rivers, there was a place called Boyang Valley. It was said to be where Lao Jun and Yin Xi had once traveled, and where Lao Jun had imparted the ultimate Dao to the Lord of the West. So he went there to seek it out.

When he reached Boyang Valley, he happened to meet a young attendant. The boy asked, “Why have you come up into the mountains?” Ma Chengzi replied that he had come to seek the Dao. The boy laughed and said, “I have served Lao Jun for twelve thousand years, yet I have never heard of the Great Cavern’s subtle and mysterious Dao—the profoundly deep and wondrous Great Dao. You are still young, confined to a narrow and shallow world, and yet you wish to seek the Dao. Is that not difficult?”

Ma Chengzi felt that the boy’s words were extraordinary. He bowed repeatedly and pleaded, “The life of a morning mushroom is brief, and my own life seems to vanish in an instant. Without a sage to teach me how to prolong it, I will eventually wither and decay, turning to dust. Once I lose this body, when will I ever hear the Great Dao again? I beg you, sage, take pity on me and teach me.”

The boy said, “I am an attendant of the Most High Lord Lao. You are still young and have not yet heard the Great Dao; there is nothing I can teach you. Still, you have traveled among mountain streams in pursuit of the Dao, exhausting body and mind while remaining wholly devoted and undeterred. That devotion is truly admirable. But I once heard the Most High Lord Lao say to the King of Yudan Heaven: ‘The Dao gives birth to all things, and nothing can be apart from it. Those who attain the Dao live; those who lose it die. The Dao is within oneself, not in another.’ You have crossed mountains and rivers and endured many hardships. You are indeed determined, but for now you are still far from the Dao.”

Ma Chengzi bowed again and asked, “Since the Dao is within oneself, where should I begin cultivating?” The boy then taught him the method of refining Qi from the fetal origin, a practice centered on fetal breathing and nourishing original Qi.

Ma Chengzi then went into Shu and lived in seclusion in a stone cave on Mount Heming, at Linqiong. One day, a man more than ten feet tall came to the cave. He wore a deerskin robe and a fur cap, and leaned on a staff. He told Ma Chengzi about the arts of reclusion, then said, “In this mountain there is a stone swan that calls once every three hundred years. Whenever it calls, someone in the mountain attains the Dao and ascends to Heaven…”

The white crane cried out repeatedly, foretelling that you were about to ascend to Heaven. He then handed the divine elixir to Chengzi and told him:

“The Dao Qi of the Most High is internal alchemy; medicinal elixirs are external alchemy. Accumulating hidden virtue is internal alchemy; refining elixirs from metals and minerals is external alchemy. You practice the method of cultivating the embryo of Qi. This method was taught to you by the Child of the Yellow Canopy. He is the son of the Dark Heaven Sun and often serves beside the Most High with the Jade Maiden of Golden Radiance. He has passed through countless ages of tribulation, yet his appearance has always remained that of a youth. Since you have met this teacher and can draw near to and serve the Most High, you are no different from him.

“Since internal alchemy is as I have described, the external elixir I refined also comes from the teachings of the Most High. The Lord Emperor of Taiwei passed it to the Rear Sage, the Lord of Great Peace, who in turn passed the oral instructions on to me. On Mount Zhongxuan, I used the Eight Winds as bellows and refined the essences of the Five Latitudes—the five planets. I used the sun and moon as the furnace, blended the Qi of Heaven and Earth, set the Three Origins in motion, and summoned the myriad spirits to refine the elixir. Only after nine times nine years was it complete. Now I give it to you. After paying homage to the Nine Heavens, take it, and you should then be appointed Supreme Minister of the Most High Taiji and Attendant of Jiuhua, enter the Palace of Jade Dawn to serve, and be ranked among the High Perfected.”

When he had finished speaking, he departed on a cloud. Chengzi received the divine elixir respectfully and took it. He then said to his disciples, “The Dao Qi of this mountain is extraordinary. Those of deep merit, ranked among the High Perfected, often attain the Dao here. Three hundred years from now, a great event will take place here.” Having said this, he ascended to Heaven in broad daylight.

Later, the Celestial Master Zhang Daoling also lived on this mountain. The Most High descended there, conferred upon him the office of Great Master of the Three Heavens, and charged him with governing the Office of the Great Mystery. Just as foretold, this came to pass more than three hundred years later.

King Kang of Chu

The name of King Kang of Chu is not recorded. He was a descendant of King Huai of Chu. He was virtuous in his daily conduct and widely respected, so the people of Chu made him their king.

The First Emperor of Qin conquered the Six States and divided the realm into thirty-six commanderies. In dire straits, King Kang of Chu fled to Mount Lu and took refuge in a deep valley in its southeast. He secretly prayed to the mountain god, hoping for unseen aid.

At that time, the general Wang Jian led his troops to the mouth of the valley. He saw mist thickening all around, followed by a sudden storm of thunder and rain. The waters in the caves and ravines swelled, making the way ahead impossible to discern. Frightened, Wang Jian withdrew his troops, allowing King Kang of Chu to escape. From afar, the traces of the men and horses soon disappeared. Near the mountain there is still a place called “Horse Arrival Ridge,” said to have gained its name from this event.

King Kang of Chu sighed, “In ancient times, Emperor Shun went on his southern tour and never returned. Now I can live in seclusion on Mount Lu and spend my final years among its forests and springs; that is enough for me.” He went deeper into the valley and never came out again. Much later, he encountered a strange…

After attaining the Dao, he was once seen by someone entering the mountains. The person found his bearing unusual and went up to ask him about himself. In time, people learned roughly who he was. In the early years of the Datong era of the Liang dynasty (535), locals built a Daoist temple beside him, and Emperor Wu of Liang ordered that it be named the Temple of King Kang. Dai Shiyu once composed a eulogy for it.

Chen Shunyu writes in his Record of Mount Lu that King Kang of Chu, Xiong Zhao, died in the twenty-first year of Duke Xiang of Lu. The rulers of Lu, Chen, Zheng, and Xu went to mourn him outside the western gate, and the ministers of those states also came to his tomb. Chu was powerful at that time, and Wang Jian’s conquest of Chu for Qin came 326 years later. How, then, could there have been another King Kang afterward?

In fact, the Zhou dynasty had two kings named Ding in succession, one named Yu and the other Jie; Lu, too, had two dukes named Wen in succession, one named Xing and the other Jia. Since Zhou had two Kings Ding and Lu had two Dukes Wen, it is hardly surprising that another King Kang followed Xiong Zhao. Sima Qian simply happened not to record him. Moreover, many of Mount Lu’s celebrated worthies do not appear in official histories, but are mentioned here and there in various biographies.

Tang Jianwei

There were three generals in the Qin dynasty: one named Jianwei, whose surname was Tang; one named Deshu, whose surname was Li; and one named Yundiao, whose surname was Song. No one knows where they came from. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, all three were warriors who earned distinguished ranks for their great service to the state. Later, seeing Qin’s rule grow increasingly chaotic, they discussed the matter among themselves: “The times have changed, and heroes are about to rise. Petty men now fill the court, and no one heeds honest counsel. The Way of kings has fallen into disorder, and government is in disarray. Unless we act soon, we may all meet with disaster.”

There were also ten respected officials at the time, all upright gentlemen, who had likewise left their posts one after another. The thirteen of them abandoned office together to study the Dao and seek out famous mountains. They entered mist-shrouded forests overgrown with vines, like deer escaping a hunting ground, resolved never to turn back. They came to the southern side of Mount Lu and reached the foot of Zixiao Peak. The three generals loved the scenery and wished to settle there. But the ten others said, “No. Our original purpose was to reach the cavern dwelling of Qunyu. How can we break our promise halfway there?”

As soon as they had spoken, before they could set out, thunder and lightning suddenly struck in the night, and floodwaters surged up. The next day, they saw that two streams had formed beside their dwelling. On a great flat rock in the stream lay a jade slip inscribed with celestial writing: “Divine transformations make the streams appear; names inscribed on golden slips, the perfected receive their mandate; in the true jade cavern dwelling, they live in seclusion, hidden away.” All ten of them… [The original text ends here.]

After learning where to go, the three warriors settled by a stream and grew peaches, eggplants, and lingzhi mushrooms to support themselves. Jianwei believed they should give alms to help the poor; Deshu believed they should dispense medicine to treat the sick; and Yundiao believed they should explain the Way and dispel people’s confusion. Though each used a different approach, their efforts had the same effect, bringing blessings to people both near and far.

After a long time, people saw only auspicious clouds drifting across the sky and two cranes dancing in flight. From then on, the three men attained the Dao, became immortals, and departed. Later, people called the place where they had lived “Three Generals’ Cave” and built a shrine there to honor them. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the court bestowed on it the name Lingxi Monastery.

“Zhi” refers to lingzhi and other elixirs of immortality; “monastery” refers to a Daoist temple.