《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 12

Comprehensive Mirror of Perfect Immortals Through the Ages, juan 12

(Compiled and edited by the Daoist Zhao Daoyi of the Palace of Sagely Longevity and Myriad Years on Floating Cloud Mountain)

Liu Feng

Liu Feng, courtesy name Weihui, was from Yingchuan. He became a disciple of Jizhu and practiced methods for ingesting the refined essences of the sun and moon. After attaining the Dao, he returned to his hometown, leaving behind his staff and shoes as substitutes for his body, then disappeared.

The Declarations of the Perfected (Zhen’gao) says that Liu Weihui was Liu Feng, a Commandant of the Grand Coachmen during the Han dynasty. He became a disciple of the master Sima Jizhu and was admitted to his inner chamber. After succeeding in his cultivation, he returned to his hometown in his later years, leaving behind his staff and shoes while his body vanished beneath a mulberry tree. His traces are found in Ancheng County, Runan.

Bao Shuyang

Bao Shuyang was from Guangning. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, he served as a grandee under the Zhao kings Zhang Er and Zhang Ao. In his youth, he took an interest in nourishing life and ingested powdered cassia bark. Together with Sima Jizhu, he studied under Xiling Zidu on Mount Weiyu. He mastered the art of corpse liberation, leaving behind his body or other remains as he departed from the flesh.

The Declarations of the Perfected says that his traces are in the mountains north of Jicheng in Liaodong.

Liu Jing

Liu Jing was originally a Gentleman Attendant during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han. He followed Zhang Jun of Handan in learning the Dao and obtained methods for ingesting mica and cinnabar blossoms. After taking them, he lived for more than 130 years and still looked about thirty. He could predict the dates on which good or ill fortune would come to pass. He could also perform rites to Heaven for people, increasing their lifespans or extending them by five or ten years.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Wei, Liu Jing visited the homes of his disciples. Huangfu Long heard about him and became his student. Liu Jing taught Huangfu Long how to take mica pills. After preparing and taking them, Huangfu Long lived for 300 years. But he had not learned all of Liu Jing’s Daoist methods, so he was unable to leave the mortal world and become an immortal.

A certain lord also sought and obtained the Nine Sons Pill from Liu Jing. He was already seventy years old, but after taking the medicine he could still command eighty concubines and father twenty children. He rode out hunting on horseback, covering 200 li in a day, and could drink a hu of wine without becoming drunk. In the end, he lived to the age of 200.

Liu Huo

Liu Huo’s place of origin is unknown. He was tall, with a thick beard, and his arms hung down past his knees. He lived for a long time on Mount Wudang, 500 li from Xiangyang. He could set out in the morning and arrive by evening, and showed no unusual signs of cultivation.

Liu Huo was skilled in the art of medicine. He often treated the people’s illnesses, working tirelessly. He gathered most of his medicinal ingredients himself and knew the properties of the plants, trees, and minerals he recognized. Liu Daochan, governor of Yongzhou, was wary of his long arms, so he had Liu Huo registered in Xiangyang and sent under guard to the capital. Every morning, Emperor Wen had him taken in a prison cart to the mountains to gather herbs; in the evening, he was returned to the Court of the Commandant of Justice. Liu Huo later…

Liu Gua, a Daoist practitioner of the Han dynasty, gave two short books to a prison guard. The guard did not dare accept them and burned them instead. That night, Liu Gua vanished from his cell, though the locks and keys on the prison doors remained intact. Later, while patrolling the palace gates at night, the guards caught Liu Gua and took him to the Minister of Justice, the official in charge of prisons and punishments. Liu Gua said to the prison guards, “The authorities will kill me soon. When I die and you prepare my coffin, be sure not to nail it shut.” He was indeed executed. Several days later, Emperor Wen grew suspicious and ordered the coffin opened for inspection. There was no body inside, only a bamboo staff.

The commentator Chen Daoyi remarks: Liu Gua escaped military service because of his long arms, yet was later killed because of this very body. Had Liu Gua been attached to having a body, he would not have understood the Dao (the Way); having understood the Dao, he was no longer attached to his body. Because he was not attached to it, he attained the mysteries of the Dao. The state of “having a body beyond the body” could not have been achieved in a day or two. So after he was killed, only a bamboo staff remained when his coffin was opened. The Dao De Jing says, “The reason I have great troubles is that I have a body. When I no longer have a body, what troubles could I have?” Those who study the Dao should reflect deeply on its meaning.

Yan Qing

Yan Qing was from Kuaiji, in the area of present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang. His family was poor, and he often made charcoal in the mountains. One day, he unexpectedly met someone who spoke with him, not realizing that the stranger was a divine being. As the being was leaving, he gave Yan Qing a scroll and said, “Your bone structure suggests that you may attain long life. I will pass on to you a wondrous art.” Yan Qing replied, “I cannot read. What should I do?” The being said, “You need not read it. Just place it in a clean container and keep it somewhere high.” He also taught Yan Qing how to consume stone marrow, a legendary spiritual fluid from mountain rock said to prolong life. Yan Qing accepted the teachings and settled in the mountains. He had no fine utensils, only a drinking flask, so he used it to hold the scroll. Soon he saw dozens of people constantly attending him. When he carried charcoal down the mountain by boat, these spirits pulled the boat for him; others could only see it moving by itself. He also healed people and helped them through their troubles. Whenever he brought the book he had received to a sick person’s home, the illness was cured, and the common people held him in great respect and faith.

Once, Yan Qing was returning at night from a disciple’s home when he encountered the regional military commander on patrol. The commander demanded, “Who is walking at night?” Yan Qing loudly retorted, “And who are you, walking at night?” Angered by his insolent reply, the commander ordered his soldiers to seize the offender for being out after dark. Yan Qing, in turn, shouted at the spirits attending him, “Seize all these people who are walking at night!” Then he went on his way. The commander and his dozens of attendants, horses and all, could no longer move forward. At dawn, travelers on the road saw the commander and his party trapped in place and went over to ask what had happened.

“Why have you detained me here?” the governor, the official in charge of military and civil affairs, asked as he looked at the record. The traveler replied, “It must be Lord Yan.”

The governor said, “I cannot move at present. You can go back and tell my family to come quickly and bow their heads in apology.” Qing then explained that he truly had not known the man was the Master the day before, and asked the governor to let him go.

Qing then called out loudly, “Release the night traveler entered in last night’s register!” Only then was the governor able to leave. From that time on, whenever people traveling at night encountered a traveler, they would first ask, “Are you Lord Yan?”

Later, Qing abstained from grain for a year, entered Little Huo Mountain, and departed as an immortal. Even now, people in the Wu and Kuaiji region still commonly make offerings to Qing, regarding him as a Daoist of the Yan family. But people no longer know of taking medicinal substances in pursuit of longevity; only the rites of worship remain.

Wang Gushen

Wang Gushen, whose personal name was Pi Xuanyao, was a Daoist of Mount Qingcheng in Shu during the Western Han. Clever from childhood, he had no taste for wealth or favor. He mastered the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi, and was also skilled in astronomy and calendrical calculations. He traveled among famous mountains, crossed Jingzhou, sailed along the Xiao and Xiang rivers, and reached Mount Heng in the south. There he chose a site behind the Hall of the Golden Mother and built a hermitage.

He cultivated fetal breathing, a method of regulating the breath and nurturing Qi, and the art of returning to the Origin. After several years, he had perfected his practice. Later, he traveled east to Mount Qunyu and visited the Nine Immortals. There he happened to meet Emperor Wu of Han on his southern tour. Impressed by Wang’s extraordinary bearing, the emperor invited him to choose a secluded place on the western peak, bestowed generous gifts on him, and conferred on him the title “Master Taiwei.” He also bestowed the title “Master Taisu” on Pi Xuanyao, treating them with the courtesies due to high ministers. Three years later, Wang Gushen rode a blue mule up to Heaven and departed.

The Old Man of Mount Tai

No one knew the Old Man of Mount Tai’s name. When Emperor Wu of Han traveled east, he saw an old man hoeing by the roadside. Several feet of white light rose above the man’s head. Finding this strange, the emperor summoned him and questioned him.

The old man looked about fifty, yet his face was that of a child. His skin was bright and lustrous, unlike that of ordinary people. The emperor asked what Daoist arts he knew. The old man replied, “When I was eighty-five, my body had grown weak and I was close to death. A Daoist taught me to abstain from grain, take medicinal substances, and drink water. He also made a divine pillow for me to sleep on. Inside the pillow were thirty-two objects: twenty-four symbolized the twenty-four solar terms, and the other eight corresponded to the eight winds. After I followed this method, I grew young again: my black hair returned, and the teeth I had lost grew back. Now I can walk three hundred li a day, and I am one hundred and eighty years old.”

Emperor Wu adopted his method and rewarded him with gold and silk. The old man entered Mount Dai and vanished into seclusion. After that, he returned to his home village once every fifteen years. More than three hundred years later, he never came back again.

Wu Yan

Wu Yan, courtesy name Zidu, was from Beihai. When Emperor Wu of Han saw him at the Wei River Bridge, he noticed a thick, flourishing purple aura above his head, rising more than ten feet. The emperor summoned him and asked, “How old are you? What Daoist arts have you mastered to show such an extraordinary sign?”

Zidu replied, “I am now already 138 years old. I have not obtained anything special; I am simply about to depart.” The emperor then summoned Dongfang Shuo and asked, “What Daoist arts does this man know?” Dongfang Shuo replied, “He understands Yin arts—methods related to the affairs of Yin and Yang.”

Emperor Wu dismissed his attendants and questioned Zidu privately. Zidu replied, “When I was twenty-five, I suffered from pain in my lower back and spine, and my feet were cold and could not warm themselves. My mouth was dry and bitter, my tongue felt hot and parched, and I had a runny nose. I ached all over, including in my limbs, and my feet were numb; I could not stand for long. I have practiced this Daoist method for seventy-three years. I have thirty-six sons, all strong and healthy, and my vigor is still like that of a young man.”

The emperor said, “You are unkind. You have a Daoist method but will not tell me. That is no way for a loyal subject to behave.” Zidu kowtowed and said, “I truly know that this method works, but it concerns Yin and Yang, matters of public importance that also involve private affairs, so it is difficult for a subject to speak of them. Moreover, what one does in the practice goes against ordinary human reason, and few can carry it out. That is why I did not dare report it.”

The emperor said, “There is no need to apologize. I was only teasing you.” He then adopted the method. Zidu lived to be over two hundred. After ingesting mercury, a material often used by ancient alchemists in their practices, he ascended to heaven in broad daylight. Emperor Wu later practiced the method in much the same way, though he could not follow it completely. Even so, he lived far longer than other emperors.

Li Fengxian

Li Fengxian was from eastern Shu. He did not speak as a child. At eighteen, he often wished to live in cold places to avoid foul-smelling foods. When someone asked him why, he replied, “Understand the ways of revealing and concealing; in cultivating the Dao, what matters is quiet and silence.”

His master, Lord Nanyue, told him, “I was the Crown Prince of King Ling of Zhou—the one who played the sheng. You have served the Dao for three lifetimes, but because your merit has not yet become outstanding, you are still being tested. Now I will transmit the Method of the Vermilion Net to you, to help you ascend to the Southern Palace, the heavenly court spoken of in Daoist teachings. This was passed to me by my master, Lord Fuqiu. I now entrust it to you; you should practice diligently. If you delay again in this lifetime, even ten thousand kalpas will not be enough to transcend. I will serve as the Director of Fate on Mount Heng, attend upon Emperor Chen, and also take up the post of Perfected One of Tongbai.”

When he had finished speaking, Li Fengxian went into seclusion. Emperor Xuan of Han issued an edict summoning him, but he did not answer the summons.

Qing Pingji

Qing Pingji was from the State of Pei. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, his name was Wei Ping. By the time of Emperor Guangwu, his appearance had still not aged. Later, he underwent corpse liberation—a Daoist account of a perfected person leaving the body after the corpse or physical form had left behind some trace—and departed. More than a hundred years later, he returned to his hometown…

By day, he left in the manner known as “corpse liberation” (in Daoism, this refers to a cultivator casting off the physical form in order to ascend to immortality).

Huangshanjun

Huangshanjun practiced Peng Zu’s methods of preserving health. He lived for several hundred years, yet still looked young.

He cultivated the Way of an Earth Immortal and did not seek to ascend. After Peng Zu departed, Huangshanjun recalled Peng Zu’s words and wrote them down as the Peng Zu Jing. Those who obtained the Peng Zu Jing could endure and remain resilient for a long time, like pines and cypresses among trees.

Lü Gong

Lü Gong, courtesy name Wenjing, enjoyed taking medicines when he was young. He once went to the Taihang Mountains to gather medicinal herbs, accompanied by a male servant and a maid.

One day, he suddenly encountered three people in a mountain valley. One of them asked Lü Gong, “Do you wish to live forever? Why take such risks and toil to gather herbs?”

Lü Gong replied, “I do indeed hope to live forever. But I have not encountered a good method, so I gather and take herbs, hoping they might do me some good.”

One said, “My surname is Lü, and my courtesy name is Wenqi.” Another said, “My surname is Sun, and my courtesy name is Wenyang.” The third said, “My surname is Li, and my courtesy name is Wenshang. We are all immortals from the Taiqing Taihe Palace. We often come here to gather herbs and pass their formulas on to cultivators who are just beginning. You share a surname with me, and half the characters in your courtesy name match ours. It seems you are destined to live forever. If you are willing to gather herbs with us, we will tell you how to live forever and never die.”

Lü Gong immediately bowed and said, “I am fortunate to have met immortals. I fear, however, that I am dull-witted and burdened with many faults, and so unworthy of receiving your teaching. Still, if you are willing to help me, it will be like being granted a new life.”

He then left with the immortals. Two days later, they gave Lü Gong a secret formula and told him to return to visit his homeland. Lü Gong took his leave of them. They told him, “Although you have been away for only two days, two hundred years have passed in the human world.”

When Lü Gong returned to his homeland, he found the countryside desolate and empty, and his descendants were gone. He met Zhao Guangfu, a local resident several generations removed, and asked where the Lü family lived. Zhao Guangfu was puzzled and asked in turn, “Where have you come from, and why are you asking about people from so long ago? I heard from my ancestors that Lü Gong went into the mountains to gather herbs with a male servant and a maid, and never returned. People thought they had been killed by tigers or wolves. More than two hundred years have passed since then. Why are you asking about him now?”

Zhao Guangfu also said that Lü Gong’s descendant Lü Xi was a Daoist priest living ten li northeast of the city, where many people revered him. It would not be difficult to find Lü Gong’s descendants.

After hearing Zhao Guangfu’s words, Lü Gong went to Lü Xi’s home and knocked on the door. A male servant came out and asked, “Where have you come from?” Lü Gong said, “This is my home. I once followed immortals to gather herbs. More than two hundred years have passed since then, and now I have returned.”

Lü Xi…

The whole family was astonished and delighted. They ran out barefoot to greet him, crying, “The Immortal has returned!” They were so moved that tears flowed and they could scarcely contain themselves. Only after a long time did he pass on the miraculous prescription to Xi, then take his leave. Xi was already eighty years old. After taking the medicine, his appearance and body gradually regained their youth. When he had lived to the age of two hundred, he withdrew into the mountains and vanished. His descendants took this medicine from generation to generation; from then on, they no longer aged or died, and all became Immortals.

Chen Anshi

Chen Anshi was from Jingzhao, in the area of present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi. He once served as a retainer to Guan Shuping. By nature, he was kindhearted and compassionate. When he came upon birds or animals on the road, he would walk around them so as not to disturb them. He never stepped on living insects and never killed any living creature.

When Chen Anshi was thirty, Guan Shuping took an interest in Daoist arts and longed to become an Immortal. Two Immortals suddenly appeared in the form of scholars and accompanied Shuping on his travels, secretly observing and testing him. Shuping did not realize they were Immortals. As time passed, he gradually grew lax.

One day, Shuping was at home preparing a fine meal when the two Immortals came to visit again. They asked Anshi, “Is Shuping at home?” Anshi replied, “He is.” He went inside to tell Shuping. As Shuping was about to go out, his wife stopped him and said, “Those hungry scholars want to come and eat their fill again. Don’t give them anything.” So Shuping told Anshi to go out and falsely say he was not at home.

The two Immortals asked Anshi, “You just said he was here, and now you say he isn’t. Why?” Anshi replied, “My master told me to say that.” The two Immortals admired him all the more for speaking truthfully. They said, “Shuping has diligently cultivated the Dao for many years. Today he met us, yet instead of persevering, he grew lax. If not for his lack of opportunity, he would almost have succeeded; now he has undone his progress.”

Then they asked Anshi, “Do you enjoy traveling for pleasure?” Anshi said, “No.” They asked, “Do you like cultivating the Dao and hope to become an Immortal?” Anshi replied, “I like cultivating the Dao, but I have had no chance to learn about it.” The two Immortals said, “If you truly wish to cultivate the Dao, come tomorrow morning and wait beneath the large tree on the north side of the road.”

Anshi arrived at the appointed place early and waited until the sun was low in the west, but the two men did not appear. He got up to leave, thinking, “Those two scholars were probably fooling me.” Just then, the two came up beside his ear and called out, “Anshi, why did you arrive so late?” Anshi replied, “I came early, but I didn’t see you.” The two Immortals said, “We truly intend to pass Daoist arts on to you. We arranged to meet you three times, and each time you came early. Only once we knew you were ready to be taught did we give you the medicine.”

They gave Anshi two pills and instructed him, “When you get home, stop eating and drinking. Find another place and live there by yourself.” Anshi followed their instructions. The two Immortals often visited him there as well. Shuping found it strange: Anshi was living in an empty house, yet it seemed as though someone was speaking with him, though no one could be seen.

He answered, “I’ll tell you alone. When Shuping saw Anshi stop eating and drink only water, he set aside his other affairs and stayed by his side. He knew that Anshi was no ordinary person, and recognized his own lack of worthiness. He sighed, ‘The Dao is precious, and De is worthy of reverence; neither depends on age. My parents gave me life, but without a teacher, no one could help me attain longevity. Whoever hears the Great Dao first may serve as a teacher.’ So he personally observed the rites of a disciple, visiting and serving Anshi morning and evening, and sweeping for him. Anshi succeeded in cultivating the Dao and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. Before departing, he passed the essential teachings on to Shuping. Shuping later attained the Dao and became an immortal as well.

Ling Shouguang

Ling Shouguang was from Fufeng. When he was over seventy, he obtained the recipe for Zhu Ying Pills. After preparing and taking them, he saw results: his body gradually grew younger and stronger, until he looked about twenty. In the first year of Jian’an under Emperor Xian of Han, he was already 220 years old. He often stayed at the home of Hu Tian in Jiangling, and later died without illness. Hu Tian buried him. More than a hundred days later, someone saw Ling Shouguang again in Xiaohuang. He wrote to Hu Tian, who, after receiving the letter, opened the grave. The coffin was empty, and its nails were still in place; only a pair of shoes remained inside.

Zhang Lizheng

Zhang Lizheng and Mingqi had both studied the Dao in the Heng Mountains in earlier times. At the end of the Han, Zhang Lizheng entered the mountains and took yellow essence. His complexion became rosy and his body strong, and he often looked as he had at forty. At the end of the Wei, Mingqi entered the mountains and took pills made from Alisma and cypress seeds. The two lived together among the mountain cliffs.

Later, both received the recipe for Rainbow Radiance Pills from Lord Wang of Xicheng. They had been taking the pills for forty years (the Zhengao says forty-three years). Because cinnabar was difficult to obtain, they left the mountains together and went to Guangzhou to become monks. At the time, Teng Han was governor. Later, they attained a state of inner and outer clarity, with bright eyes and light, strong bodies. They could walk five hundred li in a day, then entered the Jiuyi Mountains.

The Zhengao also records that they practiced Guarding the One, a method of cultivation focused on maintaining concentration on the spirit within the body, and had done so for thirty years. On the first day of the third month, envoys of the Eastern Florescence school came to receive them. That same day, they rose to heaven on clouds. They now reside in the former dwelling at Fangzhu. A note says that Teng Han became governor of Guangzhou in the tenth year of Yonghe, the year jiayin, and that the two attained immortality in the year yichou. By this reckoning, they had been taking the pills for thirty years. Their “leaving the mountains” here must refer to a second departure.

Li Gen

Li Gen, courtesy name Ziyuan, was from Xuchang. A man named Zhao Mai heard that Li Gen’s father and grandfather…

People said that they had always been able to see Gen. Mai followed him from childhood, and even when Mai reached the age of eighty-four, Gen still looked like a young man, his appearance untouched by age.

Gen once lived in the home of Wu Dawen in Shouchun. Dawen followed him in studying the Dao. Gen practiced the art of transforming base metals into gold and silver, and soon mastered it. He could also change the shape of his body and enter water and fire. Sitting where he was, he could summon a meal enough for twenty people, with an assortment of fine dishes. Some of the strange delicacies were not even found in the region.

One day, Gen suddenly told Dawen, “Wang Ling is about to meet his downfall, and Shouchun is about to fall. You cannot remain here amid the fighting; you should move away at once.” Dawen told his younger brother about this in private. His brother paid no heed, but accidentally let the secret slip. When Wang Ling heard of it, he took it as the spreading of monstrous rumors to mislead the people. He sent men to seize Gen and intended to kill him.

At the time, Gen was preparing to write a letter when he suddenly heard more than a thousand people gathered outside the Wu household, claiming they had come to find him. Gen said to Dawen’s father, “Do not panic. Just say that I know nothing about the officials’ search. I left yesterday.” Dawen went outside and glanced back into the room. Gen had vanished, along with the books and objects beside him. The soldiers searched the house, turning over the granary, clothes chests, and every other place, but could not find him. After a long while, Dawen went out and looked: Gen was still sitting calmly in the same place, his manner just as before.

Gen said to Dawen, “Grand Commandant Wang is about to have his clan wiped out. Your younger brother let this secret slip; within ten days he will die suddenly.” Later, just as Gen had said, both things came to pass.

At the home of another of Gen’s disciples, someone had given his daughter in marriage to Gen. The woman could read. When Gen was away, she secretly took out a scroll that he often wrote in and read it. She found that it contained Gen’s own record of his experiences studying the Dao, along with commentaries on the scriptures. Gen had written, “During the Yuanfeng era of Emperor Wu of Han, I followed a certain Jia in studying the Dao.” By this reckoning, Gen had already lived for more than seven hundred years.

Dawen also said that both of Gen’s pupils were square-shaped. According to the Immortal scriptures, the pupils of someone who lives to eight hundred years become square. Gen told his disciples, “I did not obtain the secret of the divine Golden Elixir and the Great Dao. I learned only the arts of the terrestrial immortals. Thus, my life will endure as long as Heaven and Earth, but I am still not one of the perfected beings of the lower realm.”

Huang Jing

Huang Jing, whose courtesy name was Boyan, was from Wuling. In his youth he read and recited scriptures, and once served in the province as a local official. Later, he left the worldly life and went to Mount Huo to study the Dao, practicing for more than eighty years. He then entered Mount Song and devoted himself to the arts of absorbing Qi and abstaining from grain. He practiced drawing in and expelling breath, embryonic breathing, and inner vision. He also summoned the Jade Maidens of the Six Jia, swallowed Yin-Yang talismans, and visualized a red star positioned before the Grotto Chamber.

His whole body grew hot like fire, and when he reached the age of two hundred, he regained the appearance of a young, vigorous man. The Daoist Wang Ziyang visited him many times to seek instruction in important teachings. The man respectfully told Wang Ziyang, “I do not practice the Way of refining and ingesting elixirs. I simply abide by nature, so I am no more than an earthly immortal. What is there here worth asking about? You should ask Lord Yin of Xinye about the method of attaining heaven through the divine elixir; that is the highest expression of the Great Dao. You may follow him and study. If a person can cast off attachments and desires and reach a state like mine, that person still should not study what I have done.”

Wang Ziyang continued to plead earnestly and would not give up. The man then respectfully told him, “Between the eyebrows, within the Great Gate, is an Assistant Star. Focus your visualization on it, and you will see it. When the breath gathers, it forms a Red Child. The Red Child is there, pointing toward the Vermilion Court—the vermilion palace within the body, an inner landscape seen through visualization. Guide it with your intention and set it in motion; in this way, refine and nourish the body, disperse the Three Corpses—the spirits said in Daoism to dwell within the body, damage a person’s vital essence, and record their transgressions—and erase your name from the registers of the dead. If you can truly maintain this method, you can live forever; if you lose it, you will soon sink into the netherworld.” Wang Ziyang accepted the method and attained the Way of long life.

Gan Shi

Gan Shi was from Taiyuan. He was skilled in circulating Qi through breath regulation and did not eat food. He also ingested asparagus root and practiced the arts of the bedchamber, adapting the methods of Rongcheng and Xuansu to write a book in one volume. This method produced noticeable results in a relatively short time. He treated illness without acupuncture, moxibustion, or decoctions. After living for more than a hundred years, he entered Mount Wangwu and departed as an immortal.

Huang Ziyang

Huang Ziyang was from the Later Wei. He understood the mysteries of long life. He studied the Dao on Mount Boluo for more than ninety years, eating only peach bark and drinking yellow water that flowed from the rocks. Sima Jizhu passed on to him the Eight Methods for Guiding Immortals, and he was thereby able to transcend the mortal world.

The Old Man by the River

The Old Man by the River, whose name means “the elder by the river,” had no known true name. He was also called the Elder by the River. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he built a thatched hut by the river and often recited the Laozi Dao De Jing. Emperor Wen admired Laozi’s teachings and issued an edict ordering the princes, dukes, ministers, provincial governors, and officials with a rank of two thousand shi to recite the book. At that time, no one could understand the meaning of several passages. Emperor Wen heard from his Attendant Gentleman Pei Kai that the Old Man by the River understood the Laozi, so he sent a messenger to ask him about the obscure passages.

The Old Man by the River said, “The Dao is revered and De is cherished; you cannot understand them by asking from a distance.” Emperor Wen then went in person by carriage to see him. The emperor said, “Under all the heavens, there is no land that is not the king’s; within the four seas, there are no people who are not the king’s subjects. Among the four most honored beings in heaven, earth, and the human world, the ruler is one. Though you possess the Dao, you are still my subject. You cannot expect me to lower myself and come to you. Why are you so arrogant…” The original text ends here.

(Heshanggong, “the Master by the River,” was sitting on the ground.) Suddenly, he rose slowly into the air, floating like a cloud to a height of more than a hundred zhang above the earth. After remaining there for a long while, he looked down and replied, “Since Your Majesty is now neither in Heaven nor active among the people, and does not live on the earth, where are your subjects? How, then, could you make me rich or noble, or poor and lowly?”

Only then did Emperor Wen of Han, an emperor of the Western Han, realize that Heshanggong was a divine person. He stepped down from his carriage, bowed, and thanked him, saying, “My De is insufficient, yet I have inherited the legacy of my ancestors. My abilities are inadequate to bear this great responsibility, and I am constantly afraid that I am not equal to it. Though I govern the affairs of the world, in my heart I revere the Dao. My understanding is shallow, however, and there is much I do not comprehend. I hope the Dao Lord—a respectful title for one who has attained the Dao—will compassionately enlighten me and help resolve my doubts, so that I may see the sun’s radiance as if emerging from the darkness of night.”

Heshanggong then handed Emperor Wen two volumes of the Laozi Zhangju, his commentary on the Laozi, and said, “Study these texts carefully, and your questions will naturally be resolved. It has been more than seven thousand years since I annotated this classic, and I have passed it on to only three people. With you, there are now exactly four. Do not pass it on to anyone unworthy.” Emperor Wen knelt to receive the books. As soon as Heshanggong had finished speaking, he vanished. Another account says that he departed by transforming into mist. Today, north of Shanfu, there is still a temple to Heshanggong, along with the remains of the Terrace from which Emperor Wen gazed toward the immortals.

Dao Yi says: Heshanggong made his home in a hut by the Yellow River. He was detached and tranquil, seeking neither fame nor gain, and practicing quietude and Wuwei (non-action). He would appear at times and disappear at others, taking on the forms of both sages and ordinary people. This was no achievement of a day or a night. The Daode Jing says, “The honor of the Dao and the preciousness of De are not bestowed by anyone with a noble title; they are always so of themselves.” Heshanggong was truly such a person.

One day, Emperor Wen of Han heard that Heshanggong possessed the Dao and went to visit him in person. Heshanggong then passed on the two volumes of the Laozi Zhangju to the emperor. Later, Emperor Wen taught the realm through an ethos of respect and frugality. Commentators in later generations held that Emperor Wen preserved much of the legacy of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. Was this not the result of Heshanggong’s teaching through the Dao and De?