《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 18

Zhang Tianshi (Zhang Daoling, later honored as the founder of the Way of the Celestial Masters) was surnamed Zhang, given name Daoling, courtesy name Fuhan, and was a native of Fengyi in Peixian Commandery. He was the eighth-generation descendant of Marquis Liu Zhang Liang (courtesy name Zifang).

In his early years, while traveling to Xiapi, Zhang Liang encountered the Yellow Stone Elder, who transmitted to him the Sushu (Plain Book). Later, Zhang Liang assisted Emperor Gaozu of the Han, earned merit, and was enfeoffed as a marquis. Afterward he cultivated body and mind, practiced biguan (abstention from grains, a method of cultivation), took Red Pine Master (Chisongzi) as his teacher and companion, and received from Master Dongyuan the secret of the Flying Steps (feibu zhi jue). After his death he was posthumously titled Marquis Wencheng. He accumulated virtue in secret and did not seek fame in his conduct, and the good name he left has been transmitted to later generations.

Zhang Liang had a son named Zhang Buyi. Zhang Buyi's second son was Zhang Gao, Zhang Gao's son was Zhang Tong, Zhang Tong's son was Zhang Wuwang, Zhang Wuwang's son was Zhang Liren, Zhang Liren's son was Zhang Jue, Zhang Jue's son was Zhang Qi, and Zhang Qi's son was Zhang Dashun. Zhang Zhenren was the eldest son of Zhang Dashun.

Before Zhang Zhenren was born, his mother dreamed that a celestial deity descended to earth from the Kui star of the Northern Dipper (the first through fourth stars of the Big Dipper). The deity stood over one zhang in height, wore embroidered robes, and bestowed upon her the fragrance of heng wei (a fragrant herb). When she awoke, a strange fragrance lingered in her clothing and room, persisting for a full month. She thereupon became pregnant.

In the first month of the jiawu year, corresponding to the tenth year of the Jianwu era of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, on the fifteenth day, Zhang Zhenren was born on Mount Tianmu in the land of Wu. At that time yellow clouds covered the roof, purple qi filled the courtyard, and the light inside the house shone like the sun and moon. The same fragrance as before was smelled again, and it did not dissipate until a full day had passed.

When Zhang Zhenren reached adulthood, he stood nine chi two cun tall, with thick eyebrows, a broad forehead, greenish-blue eyes, a vermilion crown, a high-bridged nose, and a square jaw. His eyes had a triangular shape, his fuxi bone (a prominent ridge of the forehead) ran straight through to the crown of his head, and his yuzhen bone (a raised bone at the back of the head) rose high. His hands hung below his knees, his beard was fine and beautiful, he sat like a coiled dragon and walked like a fierce tiger, and his lower body was broad while his upper body stood upright. When people saw him from afar, they felt his bearing was dignified, and even his relatives and friends became solemn and respectful in his presence.

At the age of seven he read the Daodejing (Classic of the Dao and De), and after reading it more than ten times he grasped its essential meaning. He studied deeply the astronomy and geography, as well as the River Chart, the Luo Writing, and the apocryphal prophetic texts (tuwei and weishu), and he read widely in ancient classics, leaving almost nothing unexamined. More than a thousand people studied under him. Thirty li south of Mount Tianmu and eighty li northwest, there were places where he lectured and recited scriptures; the Shenxian Temple in Linan and the Tongxian Temple in Yuhang were such places of teaching.

Later he took part in the examination for the Worthy, Upright, and Outspoken Remonstrance category, and was selected for office. Another account holds that Zhang Tianshi was by nature strict and upright, well versed in the classics, of impeccable conduct, and skilled in cultivating the Dao. In the second year of the Yongping era of Emperor Ping of the Han, the court issued an edict appointing him Magistrate of Jiangzhou in Ba Commandery, at the age of twenty-six. Although he was in officialdom, his aspiration remained in cultivation, and he hoped his body would become light and ascend to immortality. After a long time, he resigned his post and withdrew from public life.

He lived in seclusion for three years on Mount Beimang, in the Luoyang region. A white tiger came carrying a talisman in its mouth and laid it beside his seat.

The imperial court summoned him to serve as an Erudite, but he feigned illness and declined to take office. After Emperor He of the Han ascended the throne, the court, having heard that he possessed Dao (the Way) arts and techniques, offered him the honors of a third-rank official seal and a carriage. They appointed him Grand Tutor and later enfeoffed him as Marquis of Ji County. The court issued three edicts, and he accepted none of them. He said to the envoy: "Please thank the Son of Heaven on my behalf. A human life is a hundred years, and the passing of time is as swift as a blink. Though the affection between parents, wife, and children may be deep, how could it ever be preserved for long? In the realm above the nine heavens, where nothing is bound, the Lord of the Golden Gate is about to issue a decree summoning me to serve as his minister. If one is pure and free of desire, the world will settle of its own accord. Why should I be made a minister again?"

At that time it was the renchen year, the fourth year of the Yongyuan era (92 CE). He then left the Hé-Luo region and, delighting in the deep and beautiful valleys and ridges of Shu, settled there in seclusion. He practiced diligently and studied Dao arts, treasuring his Jing (essence) and nourishing his Shen (spirit).

He said to his disciples: "When I was young, I loved reading and studied the Six Classics. Broadly speaking, these learnings are tools for governing worldly affairs. Lofty rank and illustrious office, chests of gold and silver, and jade: how do they compare in importance with a single hair on my body? Yet where in the four limbs and hundred bones is anything I could truly possess forever? They are no more than floating dust that gathers and must eventually scatter. If one can clear the mind of distracting thoughts, cultivate the body, and unite oneself with the Dao so as to ride the clouds and mount the dragon, ascending in broad daylight, would that not be a delight? In life there is meeting and then parting, and in being born there is dying. After death, the spirit is dim and obscure and cannot return. Only the ancient Xuanyuan (the Yellow Emperor), along with Red Pine Master (Chisongzi) and Wangzi Qiao, realized the Great Dao, took in the qi of the rosy clouds, and ascended in daylight, enduring without end. Is this not something beautiful? The ancients gave up the high station of the ten-thousand-chariot ruler and the wealth of a thousand-team retinue, and surely they had their reasons.

"Since we cannot combine talent with worldly skill, and cannot help the world together with others, would it not be fine to choose according to what each of you has learned, while there is still time, and to part ways here? Human feelings have no end. When gathering reaches its extreme, dispersal follows; when joy reaches its extreme, sorrow arrives. How could any of this be avoided? I am now about to travel among the mountains and seas, far from the dust of the world, to dwell in deep and mysterious places and continue to investigate what I have learned. I also wish to take my leave of you. What do you truly think?"

Among the disciples was one named Wang Chang, who was well versed in astronomy and also understood the teachings of Huang-Lao (the Daoist thought represented by the Yellow Emperor and Laozi). He stayed behind to attend to him. Thereupon the master and his remaining disciples parted ways. They devoted themselves to purity, emptiness, and tranquil detachment as the essential practice, and no longer had dealings with worldly affairs. Wang Chang carried books on his back and sang as he went, and he accompanied the Perfected (zhenren) to live on Mount Yunjin.

The Perfected studied profound Dao methods and later, following the techniques of the arts, refined the Longhu Great Elixir (a pill used in the alchemy of the Daoist tradition). After one year of refining, a red light illuminated the room. By the second year of refining, five-colored clouds enveloped the elixir cauldron, and at night there was no need to ...

The candlelight seemed to reveal a pair of dragons, one green and one white, that often coiled around the alchemical cauldron (dan ding). The elixir took three years to complete. The Perfected, then over sixty, took it and his appearance grew younger, so that he seemed to be about thirty. He could move faster than a galloping horse. Later he obtained the Secret Writs and Hidden Texts, with which he could command mountains and issue proclamations to summon all the spirits.

One day he said to Wang Chang: "There are many immortals among the Five Marchmounts, and the Three Shu region has many famous mountains. May I travel with you?" The two of them went north into Mount Song and lived for several years among its cliffs and ridges. The Perfected devoted himself to cultivation, and his sincerity moved the spirits. One day an envoy in embroidered robes told him: "In the stone chamber on the central peak are hidden the Inner Text of the Three August Ones, the Nine Cauldrons of the Yellow Emperor, and the Scripture of Elixirs of the Great Clarity. Whoever obtains these books and follows their methods will ascend to heaven." Deeply moved, the Perfected fasted for seven days and entered the stone chamber. Wherever he stepped, the ground gave off a hollow echo, so he dug there and indeed found the elixir texts. He studied them further and received their methods and secret formulas.

Afterward he sought out famous mountains in the far west. (Another account says "the Western Sea"; the Record of Chengdu states that in earlier times the Yangzi gorges were blocked, and the Shu region was called the "Western Sea.") The scenery there was beautiful, with many scenic sites and marvelous things. He entered Mount Yangping (where the Yangping seat of the Celestial Masters was located, in Jiulong County of Pengzhou), devoted himself to cultivation and the ingestion of elixirs, and gradually acquired the ability to fly, to hear at great distances, and to divide his body and cast shadows. He could transform in ways that matched the spirits, and he could vanish his form while seated.

At times he would drift on a pond, at other times recite scriptures in the hall. He would lean on a desk to converse with guests, or walk and chant with a staff of wild wormwood. He seemed to appear in several places at the same moment, and no one could fathom his numinous powers. The Perfected read only the Five Thousand Characters (that is, the Daodejing), day and night, without ever showing fatigue.

Later he went to Xicheng Mountain, built an altar there to worship the True Spirits, and prayed for the Five Thrones to descend. Suddenly a villager told him: "In the region of Xicheng and Fangling there is a White Tiger spirit that loves to drink human blood. The local people must sacrifice a person to it every year." The Perfected summoned the White Tiger spirit and admonished it, and thereafter it no longer caused harm.

The villager further said that in Zizhou a great serpent lurked in a mountain cave; whenever it cried out, the rocks would shake. It often exhaled poisonous mist, and travelers who went only three or five li often died of the poisoning. After the Perfected performed a spell to restrain it, the great serpent no longer did harm. (The Record of Mount Qingcheng says that at Elder Peak there is a dragon cave called the "Oath Dragon Terrace." In ancient times, each summer and autumn, the dragon would emerge and raise floods that destroyed the crops. The Celestial Master built a stone terrace to subdue the venomous dragon and suppress the water monsters.)

Later the Perfected lived in the Hidden Rock Hermitage on Mount Geluo (where the Geluo seat was located, in Jiulong County of Pengzhou), practicing breath regulation and tending the spirit. He then went on to the Qin Mountains...

He practiced the Nine Perfected Arts (Jiu Zhen mifa) at Changli Mountain in Deyang County, Hanzhou (a modern place name; the original text places its seat in Jintang County, Hanzhou). He also gathered and consumed the Five Fungi (wuzhi) and various medicinal herbs on Lishang Mountain (the original records its seat in Deyang County, Hanzhou). Later he began teaching his disciples the method of nourishing the form and lightening the body (yangxing qingshen), a practice aimed at tending the body and easing its burdens. He taught this at Yongquan Mountain (also called Pinggang Mountain; the original text gives a different account of its seat).

He cultivated himself on Zhenduo Mountain and obtained techniques for entering water and fire, which he used to rescue others and deliver living beings. In doing so he had already accumulated hidden merit (yingong), good deeds unknown to others. He then contemplated spirit and visualized the Perfected on Beiping Mountain (some say it was Dou Mountain), that is, he concentrated his mind on visualizing the divinities and realizing the True Dao. Several hundred fierce beasts were tamed on Chouxin Mountain and came to move about outside his dwelling. On Hu Ming Mountain (Crane Cry Mountain), an old man transformed into a monstrous demon and came to frighten the Perfected. He paid no attention and simply recited scriptures, and after lingering for a moment, the demon withdrew on its own.

On Hu Ming Mountain he also ingested the Five-Cloud Qi. It was said that when the stone crane in the mountain cried out, someone would ascend to heaven. Earlier, during the Zhanghe reign era, the cranes on the mountain had called out. The Record of Qingcheng Mountain states that on the red-stone cliffs there was a Sheep and Horse Terrace, formed when the Celestial Master and spirits carried stones into place, and the stones resembled sheep and horses. Another account holds that when the sheep and horses cried out on their own, someone would ascend to heaven. The Celestial Master lived on Hu Ming Mountain, and these sheep and horses often called out.

Later he resided on Qu Ting Mountain. The Record of Chengdu notes that beneath the altar of the Celestial Master's temple in Guangdu County there was a well called the Well of the Subdued Ghosts, in which demons were hidden. At that time the area of Hanzhong was sparsely populated, humans and ghosts intermingled, and the people of Qiong and Shu often suffered from them. The Celestial Master came to Shu at the command of the Han court and lived in a stone chamber at Qu Ting. He then ordered spirit beings to bring the Xuan Stone from Qingcheng Mountain to seal the mouth of the well, and the demons and ghosts disappeared.

After this, he refined the Nine-Cauldron Divine Elixir (Jiuding Shendan). When it was nearly complete after three years, he did not dare to take it. He said to Wang Chang: "If one wishes to rise up and ascend to the heavens, the merit of a practitioner must extend to the common people. One should assist the state, bring stability to households, promote benefit and eliminate harm, and only then lightly ascend to immortality. Only in this way can one serve the Three Realms (the three heavenly realms in Daoist cosmology) with a clear conscience. If one seeks only one's own gain and one's merit does not reach the people, it departs from the great Dao's purpose of universal salvation for all living beings. I see that the venom of serpents and the miasma of ghosts pervade the valleys of Shu, and the people do not know that they are secretly suffering harm. I feel great compassion for them. Now, I intend first to continue my cultivation..."

The teachings of purity and stillness (Qingjing) can assist the Great Dao (Dao) and nourish all beings. Now that you devote yourself wholeheartedly to cultivation, your essence and sincerity rise up to the Golden Gate (jin que), the palace gates of the heavenly realm in Daoist cosmology.

In the first month of the Renwu year, the first year of the Hu'an era under Emperor Shun of the Han dynasty, on the midnight of the fifteenth day, the Later Sage (Hou Sheng), a title of a revered Daoist deity here referring to Laozi, came to Mount Hemming (Heming Shan) while the moonlight was bright. At that time, the Perfected (zhenren) Zhang Daoling was sleeping soundly. Laozi rode a green carriage drawn by flying clouds and halted to the southeast of the mountain. He said to the assembled Perfected: "Daoling has labored hard in his practice. I am moved by his aspiration, and I wish to transmit to him the secret registers for cultivating the person (xiu shen mi lu), which are the secret methods and talismans (fulu) for cultivation, along with the Way of ascension and longevity. But he is resting now, his spirit wandering beyond the things of the world. Do not disturb him; let him wake on his own."

At that moment, the Perfected dreamed of a man clad in armor that shone in the dark and wearing a Tongtian crown. He held a banner of "the Three Qi of Destiny and Demons" (ming mo san qi zhuang), an emblem used to summon and subdue demonic forces. The man said to him: "Alas, Daoling, how could weariness arise in your heart? The sacred carriage has been waiting for a long time, awaiting your awakening from this dream." The Perfected started awake, rolled up his sleeves and shook out his robes, thinking that some external evil had disturbed him. After a long while, he heard the clear jingling of bells and ornaments, and faintly heard celestial music. Fragrant flowers covered the ground, and purple clouds filled the sky.

He opened his eyes and looked east, and saw above the purple clouds a white carriage, drawn by five white dragons. Beside the carriage stood twenty-four attendants in green sleeves and vermilion robes, wearing golden armor and holding halberds, arranged in rows on either side. In front of the carriage stood Jade Maidens in colorful garments and flowing scarves, with hair piled in cloud-like coils that fell to their shoulders. Each held a banner, and on the jade tablets atop the banners were written in gold characters: "Banner of the Destiny Demons."

Next came two boys dressed in green robes and dark blue caps, with pendants hanging from their bodies and skirts trailing on the ground. Each held a pennant. The one on the left was painted with a Azure Dragon, the one on the right with a White Tiger, and on the golden tablet in vermilion characters was written "Pennant for Summoning Immortals." Behind them were two men in vermilion sleeves and golden armor, each holding a "Three Qi, Ten Transcendences" standard. On the red tablets were written in white characters: "Standard of the Inverted Shadow" (dao jing zhi jie).

In front of the carriage stood another man, dressed in embroidered robes and wearing a jade crown, holding a pair of male and female "Three-Five Demon-Slaying Swords" (san wu zhan xie jian), the ritual swords used in Daoist rites to cut down evil. Inscribed on the blades were patterns of stars, the sun, and the moon. To the right of the carriage was another man in rosy robes and a golden crown, who held a jade seal inscribed with "the Seal of the Yangping Governing Capital, the Great Achievement" (Yangping zhi du gong yin), an important seal of the Celestial Master (Tianshi) tradition. The remaining guards and attendants were too numerous to count.

The white carriage was enveloped in a faint cloud of nine colors. Before long, the light of the clouds grew clear and bright, and the Perfected saw seated in the carriage a divine being whose bearing was as clear as ice and jade, holding a Five-Brightness treasure fan, with a halo of eight radiances behind his neck, more than six zhang (about eighteen meters) tall, his divine light shining over all who beheld him...

The figure standing before the carriage ordered the Perfected, "Do not be afraid." This man was none other than Taishang Laojun (the Most High Lord Lao).

The Perfected put away the bamboo slips in his hand, stepped forward, and bowed, not daring to lift his eyes to him. Laojun told the Perfected: "In former times I descended to the Shu mountains and established the Ershisi Zhi (twenty-four parishes of the Daoist church). The Chengdu Ji says that the twenty-four Zhi correspond to the twenty-four solar terms and are divided among the sixty-cycle years. In the Tang dynasty, under Emperor Gaozong, the character zhi was changed to hua to avoid a taboo. These parishes lie beneath the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and serve as the offices that govern the black registers of the netherworld, each managing the lives and deaths, the blessings and misfortunes, of the living.

"I have pity on the multitudes of the lower world, whose souls are bound and suffer, who implicate their ancestors, and who accumulate sins in the gloomy realm of the dead, so that they meet with calamity and premature death and never attain the Dao. This wrongdoing takes place within this very prison. I have already established a separate Bi Ting (an administrative bureau) to handle these affairs, and it has existed for several kalpas. Yet there are too few immortal officials, and its duties have fallen into neglect. Recently, spirits of the Six Heavens, the kind of powers that receive sacrifices from humans, have seized this place. Day and night no longer differ, humans and ghosts are mixed together, and they freely harm the common people, bringing needless disasters upon them. This is truly lamentable.

"Why do you not subdue these evil spirits on my behalf and restore order? Distinguish humans from ghosts, let each keep to its proper day and night, and once again take charge of this parish, so as to protect the people. If you do this, your merit will be immeasurable. I have seen your name in the Dantai (the Cinnabar Terrace, where the registers of perfected immortals are recorded), and I know that you will become a Perfected. That is why I entrust this task to you."

The Perfected kowtowed in gratitude and said: "Daoling is by nature dull and foolish. Yet across ten thousand kalpas I have been fortunate enough to encounter the Great Dao, and it is as if a dead soul had been revived and dry bones had grown flesh. I humbly receive your instruction and will certainly follow it with care, without daring to be negligent."

Laojun summoned the Three-Five Gongcao (the divine officials who relay and carry out orders) from afar. Before long, a dense five-colored vapor rose in the west, and in the clouds were two immortals, each riding a dragon or a tiger, their mounts several zhang long. They wore black headcloths and red robes, carried swords, and held jade tablets. Their attending officials numbered one hundred and twenty, all wearing black headcloths and embroidered robes, and they stood in formation, bearing swords and halberds to guard the way.

They came forward to pay respects to Laojun. Laojun said: "Are you the Three-Five Gongcao? Quickly open the Yuchen Inner Hall of the Southern Palace of Ziyang for me, and bring out the Zhengyi Mengwei Secret Registers (the talismans transmitted in the Zhengyi lineage). I am going to pass them on."

In an instant, twenty-four auspicious vital vapors rose from the south, their radiance filling the sky. Within each vapor stood a row of jade youths, each holding a jade case. Inside each case was a talisman of the first rank, written on jade tablets in golden script, together with the registers of merit and the registers of office. Laojun handed these to the Perfected and said: "I grant you a term of one thousand days, after which we shall meet again in the Langyuan (the Garden of Langying)."

Laojun then gave him the nine hundred and thirty scrolls of the Sanqing scriptures and the talis…

The Lu Dan Zao Mi Jue (Secret Formulas of the Register and Cinnabar Stove) comprises seventy-two fascicles, recording one thousand two hundred official documents (guanzhang wen) together with a pair of swords, one male and one female. These two swords are the Yin and Yang swords. (The Qingcheng Shan Ji states that the Jiangjian Altar is where the Dao Lord (Daojun) bestowed the Yin-Yang swords upon the Celestial Master, and that traces of where the swords were hidden remain to this day.) The text also lists two Seals of Dugong (Dugong yin).

He was granted the Yijiao Taihe Crown, the Qu Xie Pei (exorcising mantle), a brown fish-whisker robe, a square skirt, vermilion shoes, and other ritual vestments and implements. He was ordered to formulate liturgies (keyi) and precepts, to assist the state, and to transform and instruct the common people. After he had practiced these methods for one thousand full days, evil ghosts no longer dared to meet his gaze.

After the transmission ceremony, he studied the secret texts on Heming Shan and cultivated according to the prescribed methods. During the first thousand days of practice, he inwardly contemplated the Five Viscera and outwardly summoned thirty-six thousand spirits. Later, he received from the Qinghe Jade Maiden a method of inhaling and exhaling the Qinghe qi, which he used to gather and subdue essential and perverse influences. Following the methods of the register, he trod the three steps and nine traces, the stepping pattern of "crossing Qian and treading the Dipper," which is the Kuigang Seven-Element Step (Kuigang qiyuan bufa). His troops moved in whatever direction he indicated, and his hiding and appearing came about freely and naturally.

Accordingly, following the divine command, he fought ghosts in the land of Shu. At that time there were eight ghost marshals, each commanding hundreds of millions of ghost soldiers, who roamed the human world. Liu Yuanda governed miscellaneous illnesses; Zhang Yuanbo governed pestilence; Zhao Gongming governed dysentery; Zhong Ziji governed sores and swellings; Shi Wenye governed sudden sweating and cold malaria; Fan Juqing governed aching pain and wasting; Yao Gongbo governed the Five Poisons; and Li Gongzhong governed frenzied possession and red eyes. These ghost marshals were all embodiments of disordered Five Phases (wuxing) and the calamitous qi of misfortune, and they changed their titles according to the season: in the east they were called demon kings, in the south ghost marshals, in the west outer ways, in the north ghost kings, and in the center, spirit ghosts.

In the third month of spring, when the hundred birds sing, malicious ghosts enter homes. In autumn, ghosts of the five tombs, the Shanggong who governs the earth, house dragons, and lurking corpse-ghosts enter dwellings. In winter, ghosts from the graves come out to harass and devour people. These ghosts arise in accordance with the changing directions of each month. They may also take the forms of various livestock, exhale poisonous qi, and bring calamity, harming the common people and causing many innocent deaths before their time.

The eight ghost marshals command the multitudes of ghosts, dwelling in the ghost city and ghost market atop the peak of Qingcheng Mountain in western Shu. They alter their appearances, mingle among humans, and scatter pestilential and calamitous qi in ways no one can detect. Humans and ghosts intermingle and interact, even conducting trade as though in a marketplace.

On the first day of the seventh month of the second year of the Han'an era, the Perfected (zhenren) bore the Secret Register of the Covenant of Authority (Mengwei Mi Lu) and set out for Qingcheng Mountain. (The Qingcheng Ji states that within the mountain is the Dragon Palace stone chamber, where the Celestial Master cultivated the Way.)

According to the Tang Shu (Book of Tang), Mount Qingcheng (Qingcheng Shan) in Qingcheng County, Shuzhou, had a tall high seat of colored glass set up on its summit. On the left was enshrined the Great Dao, Yuanshi Tianzun (the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning). On the right were arranged thirty-six sections of perfected scriptures, and ten spirit banners were raised around the ritual seats. The assembly rang bells, struck chimes, and burned incense as they performed the rites of the Way (xingdao), chanting scriptures such as the Daode (Scripture of the Dao and De) and others.

At that time, the Perfected (Zhenren) had dragon and tiger divine troops stationed within the city. A horde of demons came forward carrying swords, bows and arrows, and stones to harm him. The Perfected raised a hand and pointed, and a great lotus flower appeared before the demons, blocking them. The demons then raised more than a thousand torches and advanced, but the Perfected pointed again, and the flames turned back and burned the demons, so they could not move forward.

From a distance, the demons called out to the Perfected: "Master, you should be living on Mount Emei (during the Tang, Emei County existed in Jiazhou). Why have you come to take our dwelling? You and your disciples should descend the mountain quickly, or in a little while we will kill you." The Perfected replied: "You are cruel and vicious, and you harm all living beings, so I will not allow you to remain here. You should be driven out to the barren lands of the west."

When Yuanda and the others heard these words, they gathered their demon generals and troops, each numbering in the thousands of thousands. Clad in fine armor and carrying sharp weapons, they climbed the mountain and surrounded the Perfected. Wang Chang, alarmed, reported to the Perfected: "The demon kings have come with great multitudes of followers. What spell should we use against them?"

The Perfected said: "What is there to fear from small demons? Bring the cinnabar brush." Wang Chang handed it over. The Perfected held the brush and drew it from a distance across the demon ranks, and all the demon soldiers fell dead to the ground. The demon generals and captains also collapsed stiffly for a time. The eight great demon kings lay sprawled and exhausted, kowtowing and slapping their faces, begging to be spared. The Perfected listened to them for a long while without speaking. Then he drew the cinnabar brush upside down once more, and the demon multitudes all came back to life.

The Perfected summoned the demon kings: "Come forward, I have instructions for you." The kings approached one after another. The Perfected said: "Withdraw far away at once. From now on, you must not allow the common people to fall ill, and you must not kill them at will. The people of this world are all my disciples. If you do not obey, I will destroy every one of you, leaving none alive."

The demon kings said: "The people of the world were already under our authority. How can you take them all? At the very least, you should give us half." The Perfected refused and rebuked them at length. The demon kings then gathered the six great demon kings and led a million demon soldiers to attack and fight, surrounding the mountain.

Wang Chang said: "The demon host is powerful and difficult to resist. What shall we do now?" The Perfected smiled and said: "Do not be afraid. I have my own way of driving off the enemy." He drew the cinnabar brush once more, and the demon multitudes all died. Only the six heavenly demon kings were left lying on the ground, unable to rise, and could do nothing but kowtow and slap their faces, begging for mercy.

The horde of ghosts asked to be spared a way out and wished to leave. The Perfected (Zhenren) ignored them and, with a cinnabar brush, drew another line across the mountain. The mountain immediately split in two along that line, rising straight into the clouds, and spring water gushed out in all directions.

The Record of Mount Qingcheng states that there is an Oath Stone on the mountain. The Celestial Master (Tianshi) once swore an oath with the ghosts on this stone, writing characters in vermilion ink on the steep cliffs of Mount Qingcheng. The strokes were two inches wide and sank six or seven zhang into the rock. The Record of Qingcheng further says that when the Celestial Master subdued ghosts and spirits by the method of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), he swore this oath: people act by day and ghosts act by night, Yin and Yang each have their boundaries, and each has its own duties. Should anyone violate this agreement, the Zhengyi method would certainly punish them with death. The ghost soldiers could not cross the cliff, so they wailed aloud, promising never to come again and begging to be allowed to dwell in the western land of Poluo. The Perfected agreed.

The Perfected wrote again on the stone, and the eight Ghost Marshals and six Demon Kings all rose at once. The Perfected called them forward, but they could not approach. Thereupon the Perfected ordered Wang Chang to carry over a large stone and lay it as a bridge, and only then could the ghost kings draw near and stand before the Perfected with hands clasped. The Perfected said to them: "If you can draw cracks in a stone with your brushes, I will divide the common people among you. If you cannot, then hurry away ten thousand li." Yuanda and the other Ghost Marshals took turns drawing on the stone, but none of them cracked it. The Record of Qingcheng says that behind the Huangxuan Guan (Huangxuan Temple) there remain traces of these brush trials and the Demon-Subduing Contest Stone.

Although the ghost horde had already been subdued, the Perfected still wished to overpower them completely, and said: "Since you wish to share the people with me, each of you should display your skills, and we will decide victory and defeat." Yuanda and the others replied, "We obey your command." The Perfected leapt into a great fire and emerged treading a blue lotus, while the Ghost Marshals leapt into the fire and were burned. The Perfected entered a piece of wood and emerged through its other side, whereupon the wood closed up behind him; the Ghost Marshals entered it and fell to the ground. The Perfected entered the water and came out riding a yellow dragon, while the Ghost Marshals entered the water and were drowned. The Perfected entered a stone and passed through it, while the Ghost Marshals could penetrate only one inch. The Perfected entered an iron mountain and passed through the iron, while the Ghost Marshals could penetrate only half an inch.

The Perfected chanted a divine talisman (fu) and pointed at a ghost with his left hand, and the ghost died; he pointed with his right hand, and the ghost revived. The Ghost Marshals also raised their hands and pointed at the ghosts, but they could no longer restore the dead to life. Yuanda and the others then transformed into eight great tigers and pounced forward...

The Ghost Marshal transformed himself into two lions and pursued the Perfected (zhenren), driving him into a corner with nowhere to flee. He then became eight great dragons and advanced to seize the Perfected. The Perfected transformed again, into a golden-winged bird (Garuda), and pecked out the dragons' eyes, whereupon the dragons fled. The Ghost Marshal then became a giant divine beast, the bixi (a dragon-like creature of great strength that bears heavy loads), which bellowed with a thunderous roar and raised a great mallet in both hands, intending to strike the Perfected.

The Perfected then took the form of a Vajra body, rising seven hundred and twenty thousand zhang high, with a girth of five hundred and twenty thousand arm-spans. He wore a tall crown and a round halo behind his head, and stood upon a lotus pedestal, manifesting twelve kinds of immeasurable appearance. He grasped a pestle and made as if to strike with his fist, and the divine beast retreated. The Ghost Marshal and his companions leapt into the air to a height of twelve zhang, then plummeted back down. The Perfected rose more than a hundred zhang into the sky, where there was nothing above to cling to and nothing below to rest upon.

The Ghost Marshal then conjured clouds and mists of five colors, and heaven and earth grew dark, the sun and moon losing their light. The Perfected transformed into a sun of auspicious five-colored radiance, its brilliance blazing, and the clouds and mists immediately dispersed. The Ghost Marshal had now exhausted all his transformations and had no further means to act. The Perfected then became a great stone weighing over a thousand jin, suspended by lotus-root fibers and positioned above the Ghost Marshal's encampment. He further ordered two rats to vie with one another in gnawing the fibers, and it seemed the great stone would crush the assembled ghosts at any moment. With nowhere to hide, the Ghost Marshal and his followers together begged for mercy, saying: "Spare our lives, and we will withdraw far away and dare not harm the common people again."

The Perfected then commanded the ghost hosts of the Five Directions and Eight Divisions, together with the ghost deities of the Six Heavens, to assemble beneath the Yellow Emperor's Altar on Mount Qingcheng to swear a covenant. He decreed that humans should dwell in the realm of yang and light, while ghosts should move through the realms of darkness: the Six Heavens' ghost kings were to return to Beifeng (the abode of the ghost deities), and the Eight Divisions' ghost marshals were to lead their followers to flee to the Western Regions. He further admonished the ghosts and pardoned them, and also dispelled the poisons of the Five Phases. The Perfected then took up his cinnabar brush and said: "Wherever my brush points, the ghost multitudes will be annihilated there. But what matters most is that humans and ghosts each be governed in their own manner, each dwelling in the separate realms of the hidden and the bright. I do not wish to destroy you all, and so I have made this covenant with you." Thereupon he broke off stone as a token and carved the forms of Heaven and Earth, and of the Sun and Moon, into the sheer cliff beneath the Yellow Emperor's Altar.

The Record of Mount Qingcheng states that on Mount Qingcheng there is a Heaven-and-Earth Stone, round above and square below, one zhang and two chi in width, with twelve corners. There are also the Sun Stone and the Moon Stone, each five zhang wide and one zhang and two cun thick, standing opposite one another upon stone pillars; the dark crow and white hare gleam brilliantly upon them, and their forms are clearly visible. The Account of Qingcheng states that the Celestial Master (Tianshi) swore an oath upon the Ghost Covenant Stone, that the Heaven-and-Earth Stone and the Sun and Moon Stones would remain until the time when heaven, earth, sun, and moon shine bright again...

According to Chengdu records, five talisman pillars (stone columns inscribed with fulu, talismans and registers) stood in front of Zhaoqing Abbey on Mount Qingcheng. They were said to have been carved by the Celestial Master (Tianshi) to suppress ghosts and demons. Another carved stone now stands at Yuju Abbey. A different account holds that the Perfected (Zhenren) once cleared away the decayed "Six Heavens' old qi" (liutian guqi), a breath regarded as evil and unrighteous, on Pinggang Mountain, and carved an oath into the rock:

"On the day when Heaven and Earth meet, and at the hour when sun and moon join, if you commit evil again, I will exterminate you completely, leaving none of you behind."

The Perfected then used divine seals to lock the ghost encampments and markets, so that the ghosts could no longer move between them. After the oath was sworn, the ghosts hesitated and would not leave. The Perfected then personally recited a talisman. It rose into the high sky, and at once wind and rain surged, and celestial immortal troops and winds sharp as blades descended. The ghosts vanished and scattered in flight.

In this campaign, the Perfected overcame fourteen kinds of ghosts and swept clean the lairs where they gathered. He recovered the Nether Prisons (youyu), the underworld jails that the ghosts had controlled, and restored the Twenty-Four Blessed Courts, establishing twenty-four Yin officials. He also summoned the pure qi of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and caused it to reach the underworld. Another account says that the Perfected further set up twenty-four Zhi (administrative seats) on Mount Gongmu, cleared the evil qi from the mountain, and transformed it into twenty-four kinds of upright qi. In this way he accorded with the Great Dharma and restored the Jinglu, the Daoist sites of governance, practice, and ritual. It is said that the Gongmu Zhi lay in Shifang County of Hanzhou, and the Gengchu Zhi in Mianzhu County of Hanzhou. Each Zhi had one Yin official and one immortal official, who were responsible for recording people's transgressions and their blessings.

If people are filial and loyal, do not deceive or act cruelly, often do good and are able to correct their faults, and if they also perform purification rituals (zhaijiao), submit memorials to Heaven, repent of their errors, or pray for blessings and deliverance for their ancestors, then the immortal officials record their merit and report it to Heaven, increasing their fortune and lifespan. If people are unfilial and disloyal, deceive and act cruelly, habitually do evil without repentance, then the Yin officials record their offenses, notify the netherworld, reduce their fortune and lifespan, and may even cut off their descendants. In this way, the retribution for good and evil is as clear as a shadow following its form or an echo answering a sound.

The Perfected promoted the teachings of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), gathering in thirty-six thousand kinds of heterodox demons and false practices and eradicating what was spurious. The common people then revered him as their teacher, and his disciples numbered tens of thousands of households. He established Jijiu (wine-libation officiants), local leaders of the Daoist community, to manage the households under their charge, with authority like that of local magistrates. He also drew up regulations requiring the people to contribute grain, cloth, utensils, paper, ritual mats, and firewood as needed. These were stored in various places for use in purification rituals and by travelers. The people kept these rules and did not dare to cheat or steal.

He further taught the people to build bridges, repair roads, and install public wells for free water, calling these acts "meritorious deeds." When local officials or commoners fell ill, they would also come bearing a written petition to…

Someone investigated the two offenses committed by the local people, listed them one by one, and had them hold a Zhaijiao (purification ritual) to seek blessings and atone for their wrongs, and make donations of goods as an offering of repentance. The local people's illnesses soon healed. The man then taught them to govern the people with integrity and diligence, without troubling them, and to apply punishments fittingly. The people of Shu came to fear wrongdoing and turn toward goodness, bandits ceased their uprisings, and the myriad things were free of calamity and sickness. All of this was the result of the Celestial Master (Tianshi)'s teaching and transformation.

The Perfected (Zhenren) later arrived at Yuntai Mountain in Cangxi County. (The original text adds that Yuntai Mountain lies in the area of Xi County in Liangzhou; the Book of Tang records a Yuntai Mountain in Junxi County of Minzhou.) Finding the mountains and waters beautiful and wondrous, with peaks encircling one another, he judged that the place had no evil or poisonous qi. He said to Wang Chang, "This mountain is where I shall complete my work and ascend to immortality." He thereupon chose to dwell here and cultivated the "Nine Returns and Seven Reversions" (a term of Daoist internal alchemy referring to methods of refining jing and qi and returning to the origin), single-mindedly longing for the Great Dao.

After forty-nine days, he again heard the jingling of bells, the chiming of jade pendants, and the celestial music he had heard before. The Perfected straightened his robes and bowed low, and saw that Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun, the revered deity of Daoism) appeared as before, leading a thousand chariots and ten thousand riders into the sky. They lingered and hovered there for a long time without descending. The Perfected bowed again, weeping without end, and at times leaped up only to throw himself to the ground, crying out: "I once believed that I had long ago received the protection of the Great Dao, personally received secret scriptures, and in accordance with heavenly regulations subdued ghosts and demons and transformed the people, retiring to the mountains once my work was done. Now that you have come again, yet will not descend to my side, can it be that the Great Dao has abandoned me? I fear I am destined to decline and die." Having said this, he struck his own body with his hands and threw himself to the ground.

Lord Lao then sent an envoy with a message: "Your merit was sufficient to make you a Perfected Immortal of the Nine Perfections (a rank among the immortals of Daoism). When I first sent you into Shu, it was so that you would pacify the ghostly prisons, distinguish yin from yang and human from ghost, and promote pure and tranquil transformation. But you killed too many ghosts, and you presumptuously summoned winds and rain, commanded spirits, drove the stars, and shook mountains and rivers. You caused dark qi to obscure the daylight and violent qi to pollute the sky. This does not accord with the Dao's intent to cherish life. The Supreme Emperor has rebuked you for your faults, and therefore I cannot draw near to you. For now I cannot determine your merit with you. You should first withdraw to the human world. Once I have reported this matter to the Lord of the Lower Primordial (the deity who governs affairs of the Lower Primordial), I will plead your case on your behalf and seek to lighten your heavy punishment."

The Perfected wept in sorrow and asked to die that very day. Lord Lao then told him, "You may close your eyes and look to the east." The Perfected saw a man dressed in yellow robes and wearing a black headcloth, holding a jade casket. Inside the casket were three white scrolls bearing the title Sanba Xiezui Mie Hei Bu Chaodu Xuanzu Zhang (a memorial document for atoning for wrongs, erasing the registers of guilt, and delivering one's ancestors). The Perfected bowed in thanks and received the scrolls.

Lord Lao then said, "You must diligently cultivate the methods of atonement, offering to the sun and moon, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions (the ancient Chinese system of constellations), and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms……"

While he was alive, he prayed for deliverance in his Benming year—the year marked by the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch associated with his birth—so that his sins would be absolved and his name raised from the Black Register, which records transgressions, to the Purple Clarity, the realm of the immortals. His seven generations of ancestors, along with his parents, thereby joined the ranks of the higher immortals. After giving thanks, he continued his cultivation for another three thousand six hundred days. Then I will await you in the “Land of Nothing Whatsoever,” the Daoist realm of emptiness, at the Eight-Splendor Palace of Shangqing and elsewhere.

When the sacred procession had finished speaking, it returned to the realm of the immortals. The Perfected One then followed the instructions in the proclamation, leading his disciples to Crane-Cry Mountain, where they established an altar and made offerings to the Sun and Moon. On the Three Primal Days, the Eight Seasonal Festivals, their Benming day, the Gengshen and Jiazi days, the Three Assemblies, the Five La Days, and other such occasions, they fasted and held Zhaijiao rites, recited scriptures, lit lamps, confessed and gave thanks, and prayed for pardon for the sins committed against the sun, moon, and stars, Heaven and Earth, and Yin-Yang, as well as for their own sins and those of the Nine Profound and Seven Ancestral Generations—their distant forebears and ancestors through the generations. After three years, his distant ancestors were able to ascend to Heaven.

The disciples who had come to study gathered again for several days, then set out together for Registrar Mountain, where the Registrar’s Office was located in Pujiang County, Qiongzhou. The fame of the Perfected One’s merit in hidden cultivation spread far and wide, and various auspicious signs appeared. One night, a divine being gave him a jade disk, saying, “The assembled immortals have sent me to deliver this to you.” Later, he went to Bianzhu Mountain, where the perfected beings bestowed on him the Upper Scripture of Lingbao. He then went to Mengqin Mountain, in Taideng County, Kuizhou, to cultivate. One night, a divine being summoned him to go along, and he did not return until three days later. After that, he led his disciples to Quting Mountain.

At that time, several dozen people were following the Perfected One in cultivation. One day, he said to his disciples, “My disciples, I thank you for your diligent service to me. But your worldly habits have not yet fallen away, and you cannot renounce the world. For now, you can learn only my methods of guiding Qi through breathing and movement, and perhaps the techniques of consuming herbs and plants. Your karmic obstacles are heavy and your affinity with the immortals is slight, so it is too soon to speak of attaining the Dao. Only after three more lifetimes will you have the chance to meet me. You should leave for now.” Then he pointed to Wang Chang and said, “Only you have done good deeds over many lifetimes; you can attain the Dao through cultivation.”

He continued, “In the East there is a man who walks with quick, short steps. Before long, he will ascend by flight. He is coming from a thousand li away, and he will arrive on the seventh day of the first month next year.” The Perfected One described the man’s appearance, height, and complexion in detail. When the day came, the Perfected One said, “It is nearly noon. Is Zhao Zi coming?” As soon as he had spoken, Zhao Zi arrived, looking exactly as he had described.

The disciples told the Perfected One what had happened. He said, “Alas, the man has come, but I cannot accept him at once.” He then put the man through seven trials. At first, the Perfected One refused to receive him and had others spit at and humiliate him. Still, the man did not leave. He slept outdoors for forty days, and his resolve to seek the Dao only grew stronger. Only then did the Perfected One meet him, and he sent him into the mountains to guard a millet field and drive away wild animals. At night, a beautiful…

The woman said she was traveling far and, since night had fallen, hoped to stay for one night. Sheng invited her in and sat with her, remaining upright and composed until dawn.

The next day, the woman said her feet hurt and she wanted to stay and rest. Dressed in splendid finery, she deliberately tried to tempt Sheng, but he never abandoned his principles.

As Sheng continued on his way, he saw several dozen gold cakes lying on the ground. He passed them without picking them up. Later, the Perfected One told him to gather firewood. On the way, three tigers roared and lunged at him. Sheng remained calm and said, “I have traveled a long way to follow a sage and seek the Way of long life. You are mountain spirits, here to test me, aren’t you?” The tigers then left.

The Perfected One next sent Sheng to buy cloth at a shop. After Sheng paid in full, the shopkeeper falsely accused him of not paying. Sheng did not argue; he bought a garment as well and gave it to the shopkeeper to make up for the supposed loss. After that, the Perfected One asked him to watch over the grain. A man came to beg for food, dressed in rags, gaunt, covered in sores, with a foul mouth and stinking breath. Sheng felt compassion for him, took off his own clothes and gave them to the man, offered him food, and gave him the remaining grain as well.

There were six trials in all, each involving something likely to stir the heart and tempt a person. Sheng remained steadfast throughout and never wavered.

The Perfected One then led all the disciples up to Cloud Terrace, which stood atop a sheer cliff. The group strolled and recited poems, with a deep ravine yawning beneath their feet. A peach tree grew from the cliff face, bearing extraordinary fruit. The Perfected One said to his disciples, “Whoever can pick this fruit will receive the Daoist teachings from me.”

More than two hundred disciples leaned over to look down. Every one of them trembled with fear and broke into a cold sweat, and they all declined, saying, “Those peaches cannot be reached.” Only Sheng stepped forward and said, “The sacred master protects me. What is there to fear here? With the master present, I will not fall to my death in the ravine. If it is my fate to receive the teachings, then I will surely be able to pick these peaches.”

Sheng leapt down and landed on the peach tree without slipping. He gathered an armful of peaches and tried to climb back up by gripping the rock face, but could not manage it. So he looked up and tossed the peaches one by one, throwing more than two hundred of them. The Perfected One shared the peaches among the disciples and saved one for Sheng. When Sheng reached the bottom of the ravine, the Perfected One reached out and pulled him up. The others saw that the Perfected One’s arm had not grown longer; yet, with a sudden motion as if drawing him through empty space, he brought Sheng lightly back to the top.

The Perfected One said slowly, “Sheng picked the peaches through his upright intention and neither fell nor suffered injury. If I jump down myself now, surely I can get even more peaches.” Everyone said he must not, but Sheng remained silent for a long time and did not try to stop him. The Perfected One immediately leapt down and then vanished from sight. A long time passed, and still he did not return. The disciples were filled with doubt and alarm. After remaining silent for a good while, Sheng said, “The master is like a father. My father has gone. Where else can I return?” With that, the two of them leapt into the ravine together.

They landed right before the master. The Perfected One was seated upright with his eyes closed on a seven-jeweled platform inside a precious canopy amid a jade grove. Smiling, he said, “I knew you two would come.” Then he gave them the divine…

The elixirs, precious scriptures, and secret instructions were all guarded by the disciples on a sheer cliff at Yuntai. Two days later, the disciples each went their separate ways. Three days after that, the Perfected One returned with Wang and Zhao, and they stayed another day in Zhizhong.

From a distance, the Perfected One and his disciples saw a stream of white vapor rising from Mount Yangshan straight into the sky. He said to Changsheng, “There must be a demon there. We should go and get rid of it.” When they arrived, they encountered twelve spirit maidens standing before the mountain, their bearing alluring and seductive. The Perfected One asked where they came from. They replied, “We are actually local yin spirits.”

The Perfected One then asked where the Salt Spring was. The maidens said, “There is a large pool ahead, where a poisonous dragon lives.” The Perfected One used his arts to summon the dragon, but it did not appear. He drew a talisman, which transformed into a golden-winged phoenix and circled above the pool. Terrified, the dragon fled from the water. The pool immediately dried up, revealing the Salt Spring. The Perfected One drew water from it and boiled it down into salt.

The golden-winged phoenix alighted on South Mountain, and the place later became known as Phoenix Terrace. To this day, birds do not dare to perch there.

Each of the twelve spirit maidens presented the Perfected One with a jade ring and said, “We wish to serve you.” He accepted the rings and greeted them with a clasped-hands salute. The twelve rings then merged into one. The Perfected One said, “I will cast this ring into a well. Whoever retrieves it will have fulfilled the bond she and I shared in a former life.” Hearing this, the maidens hurriedly took off their clothes and climbed into the well to fight for the ring. The Perfected One sealed the well’s mouth and swore, “Let them become well spirits and never come out again, lest they bring harm to the people.”

While the Perfected One was overseeing the Salt Spring, a hunter came by. The Perfected One warned him against killing indiscriminately and taught him how to boil salt. The well was five hundred and forty feet deep and ten feet across. Each day it yielded more than forty containers of salt water, bringing great benefit.

The Perfected One then pointed to the mountains in the northwest and said, “A city can be built there.” Pointing to the area south of the city, he added, “With the mountains and rivers facing one another here, a shrine can be built.” Later, in gratitude for his words, people built a temple there. Offerings and prayers have continued to this day.

The Perfected One and Changsheng went on to live in Langzhong. One day, remembering the spirit maidens, he said to his two sons, “I took the maidens’ clothes earlier because I feared they would put them back on and come out to harm people.” He returned there, retrieved the clothes, and hid them in a stone chamber atop a high peak, ordering the Earth God to guard them. That place is Yan Yang Cave. From then on, the local people were no longer harmed by the spirit maidens and could enjoy the benefits of the salt well.

People used this Perfected One’s title to mark local events; this place is now Lingzhou. Beside the salt ponds of Shu, shrines to Lord Qinghe have been built. Qinghe was the Zhang clan’s ancestral seat, the place where generations of the family lived or where it originated.

There were no rivers or wells at the foot of the mountain, and the residents often lacked water. The Perfected One plunged his divine sword into the earth, and a well sprang up there. He then sent a spirit to guard it, so its water would never run dry. The Perfected One said to his disciple Sheng Chang, “This mountain is full of rock. People live here, and I fear the cliffs may collapse and injure them.” He summoned the mountain spirit and made it swear never to harm anyone.

When the Perfected One and his disciple passed by the Song River, many strange creatures in the water were harming the people. The Perfected One lowered a stone casket into the river, recorded the names of the spirits and monsters causing trouble, and used magic to summon them into the casket and lock them inside. He then subdued them with a great mountain seal, a talisman written in seal script to ward off evil. From then on, the monsters vanished. Later, people called this talisman the “Ghost-Binding Talisman.” Whenever the river ran dry, people could often see it. They would make copies and take them home to venerate, using them to drive away demons and evil spirits.

The Perfected One then took Sheng Chang to Heming Mountain. At midday, they suddenly saw a man dressed in vermilion, with a blue collar, his shoes dragging, and a tablet in his hand. Another man, wearing a black headscarf and light robes, carried a sword and held a jade casket. He followed the vermilion-clad messenger forward and said, “I bring an edict bearing a true talisman from the Highest Clarity tradition, inviting the Perfected One to visit Langyuan.”

Before long, fourteen people arrived from the northeast, riding dragons, tigers, luan birds, cranes, turtles, fish, birds, and other creatures. They carried tally sticks and banners, leading the way before and behind. Many chariots and horses arrived as well, along with lions, guardian beasts, celestial troops, and armored soldiers, all come to welcome him. Then a black dragon drew a purple carriage. Two jade maidens helped the Perfected One aboard, and in an instant he arrived at a palace. The plaque above its entrance read, “Gate of the Perfected One of Orthodox Unity, Appointed to the Great Mysterious Capital.”

When the Perfected One arrived, the assembled immortals bowed to greet him. After a long while, two officials dressed in black came carrying celestial talismans, swords, and registers. An entry in the registers read, “The registers for delivering the ancestors beyond this world have all been sent to the Office of Vermilion Mound.” After completing his duties, the Perfected One took his disciple to live in a stone chamber on Quting Mountain, where he cultivated the Qi of Great Purity, the refined vital energy gained through practice.

One day, two azure youths suddenly appeared, leading a gathering of immortals. All wore vermilion robes and held red tally sticks as they guided the way, saying, “The Old Lord has arrived!” One among them stood more than a zhang tall, with white hair and a youthful red face; a round halo shone behind his neck, and two attendants, about twenty years old, followed at his side. Someone pointed to the attendants and said, “This is Zifang, and this is Ziyuan.” After everyone had sat together for a while, a blue carriage was brought out. Two men helped the Perfected One aboard, and the carriage carried him soaring into the sky to a certain place.

High towers rose above the hall, its steps and foundations adorned with gold and jade. Someone said to the Perfected One, “You are about to pay your respects to the Most High Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning.” The Perfected One straightened his robes and headwear and hurried into the hall. There he saw a circular radiance shining from above, so dazzling that he could not look directly at it. Someone told him, “Standing in attendance on the left is the Supreme Lord of the Great Dao; on the right, the Perfected One of the Supreme Ultimate. Attending at the front is the Primal Lord of the Subtle Void, and at the rear, the Most High Perfected One. Golden youths and jade maidens burn incense and scatter flowers nearby, while the Perfected One of Wondrous Practice holds a scripture in his hands.” The Perfected One bowed, stepped forward, and took his place in the ranks.

All the Perfected Ones said to him, “Now you have all become Perfected. Because of a single thought of yours, the karmic ties accumulated over many lifetimes have come to an end today.” A short while later, an edict descended from the hall. The Azure Youth, a celestial attendant, transmitted to the Perfected One the method of the Zhengyi Covenant’s Authority, the teachings and practices of the Zhengyi tradition. He commanded him to pass this method down through the generations and serve as a guide to both Heaven and humanity. The Perfected One was invested with the title “Great Master of the Great Mystery, Zhengyi, Equalizing Qi in the Three Heavens, Supporting the Teaching and Assisting the Origin.” He was ordered to return to the human world to persuade and liberate those who had not yet awakened. He was also told in secret the date of his ascent to immortality.

After accepting the command, the Perfected One returned to his retreat at Red Stone Cliff in Quting and transmitted the secret Zhengyi method of the Three Heavens to Changsheng. (Another account says he tested Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng on Mount Houcheng, where the Houcheng center was located in Shifang County, Hanzhou.) Later, he taught the method on Mount Liyuan, whose center was in Jiulong County, Pengzhou. He then returned to Mount Yangping and transmitted to the Inheriting Master the method of flying to immortality and rising lightly. Afterward, he entered Mount Lutang, whose center was in Mianzhu County, Hanzhou, to refine the divine elixir of the Nine Cauldrons. He later moved to Mount Pinggai, whose center was in Xinjin County, Shuzhou, and completed the great medicine of the Nine Blossoms.

At that time, two masters of breath control in the Eastern Administration, one surnamed Yao and the other Xu, excelled at restraining and commanding the ghosts and spirits of local shrines, turning funeral carriages back, and bringing the dead to life. They often traveled throughout the Nine Provinces, commanding tens of thousands of Yin ghosts and armored spirit troops. Hearing that the Perfected One was in Shu, they came to see him and said, “The Great Dao is only one Qi. How can there be ranks of high and low, noble and base, among the spirits? We command the Yin troops of the eight directions, numbering in the trillions. Even if there are people who have attained the Dao, what could they do to us?” They sent their subordinates to the gate, but the Perfected One refused to receive them. Turning to Changsheng, he said, “These are evil spirits of the Six Heavens. They must not be allowed to meet the Orthodox Qi.” He made them stand by the road, unable to advance or retreat for three days and three nights.

The disciples found this strange and asked the Perfected One about it. He said, “These people came together with a host of demons and great evils…”

When Zhang Daoling, honored by later generations as Celestial Master Zhang, tested me, he said, “Even if I make you stand outside the gate now, you will suffer no hardship.” Yao Xu cried out, “I heard that the master possesses Daoist arts, so I came to seek an audience. Since you refuse to receive me and have made me stand here for so long, what have I done wrong?”

The Perfected One then had a disciple deliver this message: “I now pardon you and will no longer hold your earlier fault against you.” Only then were they allowed to take their leave. The Perfected One led his disciples back to Heming Mountain.

On the seventh day of the first month of the first year of Yongshou in Emperor Huan’s reign (the yiyou year), during the fifth watch, Zhang Daoling saw in the sky an immortal’s mounted attendant driving a cloud chariot and circling above the mountain’s southeast side. The attendant called out loudly, “Zhang Daoling’s merit and practice are complete. He is about to receive secret Fulu (talismans and registers).” As soon as he had spoken, Lao Jun—the Daoist honorific for the Most High Lord Lao—arrived in a dragon chariot, while the Perfected One rode a white crane. They met at Quting Mountain and then went together to the foot of Chengdu’s city walls. When Lao Jun arrived, the myriad spirits gathered to welcome him, and a jade platform more than ten feet high rose from the ground. (The Jade Platform Altar was located in Chengdu County, Yizhou, at what is now the Jade Platform Temple.)

Lao Jun ascended the Jade Platform and, for the second time, imparted the essentials of the Daoist teachings to the Perfected One. He reaffirmed the purpose of the Zhengyi Mengwei teachings and also taught the Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the Shangyuan Festival, Lao Jun met the Perfected One again in Chengdu, taught the Scripture of the Southern Dipper, and expounded several other scriptures. After the Perfected One had listened, Lao Jun returned to the Jade Platform, which then vanished. A hollow opened where it had stood. (The Record of Chengdu says that after Lao Jun departed, his seat sank underground and the ground collapsed into a deep cavern, which later connected with the Fifth Cavern of Qingcheng Mountain. Zhang Daoling believed that the Jade Platform corresponded to the Ghost Mansion constellation in the sky, and that opening the cavern would bring misfortune to the region. He therefore used knives and axes to cut and seal the rock over its entrance.)

The Perfected One went to the Lutang altar and summoned the guardian spirits of the Four Directions, the deities of the Five Sacred Peaks and Four Great Rivers, the spirits of the soil and grain, and the assembled immortals. At that time, a stone pillar more than ten feet high stood in front of the mountain. The Perfected One lifted it and swore to the assembled spirits: “The Most High has commanded me to make this oath before you: you must honor the Orthodox Way, cherish life and abhor killing, support the state, and bring peace to the people. Whoever fails to follow these commands with reverence will be put to death by the myriad spirits I send against them.” He then hurled the stone pillar toward the rocks below, but it stood upright beside the altar. Afterward, he ranked the thirty-six Jinglu shrines, seventy-two blessed lands, and three hundred and sixty famous mountains, appointing a principal deity to govern and protect each one, just as every prefecture and county in the human world has its own officials and administration.

The Perfected One then led Shengchang to the Yuntai altar at the northwest corner, where they built an altar and set up a furnace to refine the Great Elixir. Once the elixir was ready, they took it and bathed in water. Next…

Shenguang (“Divine Radiance,” the perfected one’s honorific title) was in Heaven. In the second year of Yongshou, the year bingshen, the perfected one considered his accomplishments complete and his attainment of the Dao fulfilled. He then leapt into a stone wall halfway up a cliff northwest of his administrative center and emerged from the top of the cliff, creating two caves: the one at the cliff’s midpoint is called Junxian Cave, and the one above it Pingxian Cave.

On the ninth day of the ninth month that year, while in the mountains of Ting Mountain in Chicheng, Baxi, the perfected one received the title “Perfected One of Orthodox Unity” from envoys sent by the Most High and members of the Five Emperors’ retinue. He handed the secret registers of various ranks, including the Mengwei and Dugong registers—documents of Fulu transmitted in Daoism—along with two swords for vanquishing evil, a jade document, and a jade seal to his eldest son, Heng. He instructed him: “These ritual texts govern the Three-Five Paces of the Dipper, a ceremony in which one walks the Dipper’s pattern according to prescribed steps, and the essentials of the Zhengyi tradition. In each generation, transmit them to only one son, who will inherit my position. They must not be passed on to anyone outside my clan and descendants.” The Qingcheng Record says that Mount Chicheng contains a place where the Celestial Master stored scriptures; another account says the scriptures and proclamations were sealed away in Mount Jinkou. Research identifies Jinkou, the site of the administrative center, as being in Cangxi County, Langzhou.

The perfected one said to Changsheng: “In the golden bowl on the Alchemy Pavilion there are still pills I refined. Your two sons may divide them between themselves and take them. Today I am departing to join the immortals.” At noon that day, a man in red with a blue collar appeared, dragging his shoes and holding a tablet, along with another man wearing a black headcloth and silk clothes, with his shoes tied and a sword at his side. Each carried a jade casket. The red-robed envoy stepped forward, bowed, and said: “By order of the true talisman of Shangqing, we have come to escort the perfected one to the Garden of Immortals.”

Soon, twenty-four people appeared in the northeast, riding mounts such as dragons, tigers, luan birds, and cranes. Each carried a blue banner or a crimson tally. Lions, bixie, heavenly steeds, and armored warriors also arrived, calling themselves the Officers of Jingyang. Then a black dragon came, drawing a purple carriage. Two jade maidens guided the perfected one and his wife, Lady Yong (though another account names her Lady Sun), into the carriage. An escort accompanied them before and behind as heavenly music sounded, and the gathering welcomed the perfected one toward Cloud Terrace Peak. In broad daylight, the perfected one ascended to Heaven. He was 123 years old.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang praised him: “The perfected one lived long ago, in the age of the Fiery Han, when Heaven’s mandate was in decline, all things withered, and Heaven and Earth fell into disorder. The perfected one alone was born in response to the times. His divine might was swift and fierce; he personally served the True Origin and obtained secret methods and true instructions. With his sword he cleaved towering mountains and drove away demonic poisons. He spread his teaching far and wide, bringing evil spirits to rest and clarity to all under Heaven. By applying the Dao of Wuwei, he brought lasting peace to the realm and spread brightness everywhere. Luan birds and immortal cranes accompanied him on his distant departure. People painted his image and recorded his life, so that his dignified presence and De would endure without end.” Another eulogy says: “The perfected one was truly a lofty immortal, solitary and upright in character…”

His breath flows through the heavens, and the Mysterious Origin—the source of the Dao—transmits its secret teachings. His divine presence stands apart, while the bright moon hangs high above. He slays evil spirits and demons, drives away ghosts and specters. This art has been passed down without interruption since the Han dynasty, from the time of the Alliance Might (Mengwei), a Daoist title of Zhengyi.

Emperor Suzong praised him, saying: “His De comes from purity, stillness, and emptiness—these are the true meaning of the sacred teaching. His traces are sometimes hidden and sometimes revealed; he is simple, genuine, and true. He dwells in quiet within a hall of jade and precious stone, burning incense as he cultivates the Dao. His heart is wholly devoted to the Dao, without division. This is Zhengyi.”

The imperial jade investiture document by which Emperor Huizong of the Song conferred the title of True Lord states: “On the sixteenth day of the tenth month of the second year of Daguan (1108), the emperor respectfully bows twice and declares: The Dao has no fixed form or trace; it must be revealed through human action. In ancient times, those who were supremely true used the Dao to transform the world. Their merit benefited all things, and so they were revered as lords of the spirits. How could we fail to honor such merit?

“The Han Celestial Master, the Perfected One of Zhengyi, the Great Master Who Supports the Three Heavens, Assists the Teaching, and Aids the Origin, realized the mysteries and illuminated what is obscure, greatly benefiting the realm. His achievements were especially conspicuous in the final years of the Liu dynasty. Through divine radiance he surpassed ordinary people, and left behind secret Fulu and true diagrams for later generations to rely upon. He dispelled evil and disaster, and secretly protected the people. Such merit grows more illustrious with time. Without granting him an honorable title, we could not express our gratitude or make his beneficence known.

“The court respectfully dispatches Liu Yan, Court Gentleman for State Service and Prefect of Xinzhou, to present the title ‘True Lord of Zhengyi, Stillness, and Response.’ The Great Dao is hidden and unseen, yet it also appears in the world; its De extends to distant places and shines forth nearby. This is not something I can accomplish; it is the result of the Dao’s constant, unceasing course. May the True Lord look down upon us and offer his protection, continuing to guard our dynasty and its people, so that boundless blessings may shine ever more brightly and endure through the generations.” In the third year of Jiaxi, under Emperor Lizong (1239), he was further invested with the title “True Lord of Zhengyi, Stillness, Response, and Manifest Protection.”

The Treatise on the Unity of the Ministers says: “Accounts of the transformations of ghosts and spirits have existed since ancient times. If humans and ghosts are confused and not distinguished, the Daoist teaching will stray from the proper path. Celestial Master Zhang received the teaching of Fulu and understood the principles governing Heaven and Earth. He distinguished Yin and Yang and discerned humans from ghosts; he even captured ghost souls, established prisons in the underworld, and founded the Twenty-Four Administrations, the districts and governing institutions of Zhengyi. What he did was no different from the Supreme One’s subjugation of the ninety-five heterodox paths. The teaching of Zhengyi has been passed down to later generations and has indeed brought great benefit. Its De, too, was transmitted to his descendants, and its true tradition has continued from generation to generation up to the present. This, too, is Heaven’s reward for merit.

“The Dao De Jing says: ‘When the world is governed by the Dao, ghosts and spirits do not manifest to cause harm. It is not that ghosts and spirits cease to exist; their spiritual power simply does not injure people. It is not that divine beings cease to exist; they simply do not harm people…’ The original text ends here unfinished.”

One should not harm him either. Celestial Master Zhang will surely be able to investigate its meaning in depth.

Comprehensive Mirror of the Dao and the Embodiments of True Immortals Through the Ages, juan 18