《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 36

Wang Lübing

Wang Lübing did not originally understand what the Great Dao was, nor did he know the methods for cultivating the Great Elixir. By chance, however, he obtained a method called “The Hidden Court’s Prayers and Vows of Perfected Tai Su” from the Precious Scripture of the Highest Clarity. On the prescribed days each month, he would enter a quiet chamber at night, burn incense, face north, and practice. He prayed silently and kept to this method with care and discipline. After thirty years of practice, he rode the clouds up to the heavens and entered Xuanzhou.

Li Zhongzi, Zhao Shuangcheng, Fan Shu, Guan Ping’a, Li Shunxian, Yan Ansheng, and others also practiced this method diligently and without slackening. In the end, they became True Immortals: some lived in Xuanzhou, some ascended to the region around Mount Kunlun, and some reached the Palace of the Three Origins.

Cen Daoyuan

Cen Daoyuan was from Jiangling. The banks around Wanzhou are lined with high mountains, and the forests and valleys south of the Yangtze are especially deep and secluded. There is a large cave there. At the end of the Sui dynasty, Cen Daoyuan fled the turmoil of war, traveling upstream through the Three Gorges until he reached this place. He took a liking to it and settled beneath the cave. He often ate huangjing, an herb commonly used in Daoist cultivation. By then he was more than a hundred years old, his skin was white as snow and ice, and his bearing was serene; he never showed anger or delight. He lived there for twenty years, then departed, leaving no trace of his whereabouts.

In the eighteenth year of the Zhenguan era under Emperor Taizong of Tang, a merchant from Linjiang arrived in Guangling. As he was preparing to return home, he met an old man whose appearance and robes were exceptionally distinguished. The old man gave him an ounce of incense and asked him to take it to Cen Daoyuan’s cave. On the way home, the merchant happened to forget the request. When his boat reached the lakeshore, a sudden storm roared like thunder, and the boat could not move forward. Only then did the merchant remember what he had been asked to do. He turned back to the cave and lit the incense. Afterward, with a single stroke of the oars, the boat moved smoothly on, encountering no further obstruction.

During the Zhenyuan era under Emperor Dezong, the Censor Duan Wenchang said: “The Master is a cultivator who has endured long kalpas. Why use such events to stir the people and display the miraculous? If we seek their deeper meaning, it must be because ordinary people are ignorant and cannot comprehend the Great Dao, so these events are used to enlighten them.”

In the tenth year of the Xining era under Emperor Shenzong of Song, the local people prayed for rain, and their prayer was answered at once. The prefect reported the matter to the court, which issued an edict conferring on Cen Daoyuan the title ‘Perfected One of Empty Clarity.’

Wang Shun

Wang Shun attained the Dao while gathering herbs on Mount Zhongnan. Mount Zhongnan still has a peak named after him, and local tales of his miraculous powers continue to this day.

Ji Liuxin

In Jiaodong there was an extraordinary man whose name was unknown. He often sang and danced in the marketplace, calling himself “Ji Liuxin.” Later, in broad daylight, he rode the clouds away from the marketplace.

Wang Jia

Wang Jia visited the immortal Hu Wu Qiu Li Jun in a mountain in the Eastern Sea and studied with him the art of the Taiji Upper Origin calendar. He consumed vermilion herbs and divine fungi, and later attained the Dao and became an immortal. The mountain stood in the sea. From afar it seemed close, yet it could not be reached. Many tree fungi, numinous Atractylodes, divine herbs, and wondrous beings of Heaven and Earth grew on it, including the Azure Spirit, dragons, and turtles. Their names are too many to list. In a cave were kept books such as the River Chart and Luo Writing Origin of Destiny Calendar.

Wang Shuming

No one knows where Wang Shuming was from. In his youth he was fond of Daoist arts and lived north of Mount Huayang. He shared the same aspirations as Bao Yuanzhi, and the two practiced the Dao together. The records of which immortal they encountered or what arts they practiced have not been handed down. In the end, both attained the Dao and departed as immortals.

Tang Ruoshan

Tang Ruoshan was from Lu Commandery. During the Xiantian era of Emperor Ruizong of Tang, he held a succession of official posts, rising to the rank of Secretariat Drafter, and governed several commanderies and counties with demanding workloads. During the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he became governor of Runzhou. His administration brought considerable benefit, and people near and far praised him.

Tang Ruoshan had always been devoted to the Way of longevity. His younger brother, Tang Yanshui, was a Daoist at Mount Heng and knew the essential methods of the Embryonic Origin and Valley Spirit, ideas in Daoist cultivation concerning primordial Qi and the inner spirit. Tang Ruoshan often summoned his brother to the palace and earnestly asked to resign his post and return to the mountains to cultivate the Dao. The emperor issued an edict granting his request.

Tang Ruoshan had long been fond of esoteric arts, and wherever he went he made a point of befriending people who practiced alchemy and cultivated the Dao. Even when they had no techniques worth adopting, he treated them with courtesy. He spent nearly all his family’s wealth, and never had any of his salary left over. The expenses of refining mineral elixirs were beyond reckoning. In his later years he devoted himself to cultivation even more intensely, going so far as to use public funds from the Runzhou government treasury to buy medicines. His staff and relatives repeatedly urged him to stop, but he would not listen.

One day an old man came to visit. Thin and gaunt, he claimed to know the Way of longevity. Everyone who saw him laughed at his aged, haggard appearance, but Tang Ruoshan received him with great reverence and hosted him for more than a month. Their conversations had nothing to do with methods of alchemy or consuming minerals. Tang Ruoshan had gathered a wide range of cultivation secrets and studied their verses, diagrams, and records over and over. He asked the old man what he was skilled in, but the man could answer nothing.

The old man also enjoyed rich meat, fine wine, and delicacies. Though thin and aged, he ate as much as three or four people. Tang Ruoshan attended to him with great care and never grew weary of it.

One day the old man said calmly to Tang Ruoshan, “There are a hundred people in your household, and you always seem to have too little to provide for their daily needs. Even as a regional governor, you often find your resources inadequate. When you eventually retire to live at home, how will you support yourself? Besides, a considerable amount of money and goods from the government treasury has already been diverted. This is cause for serious concern.”

Tang Ruoshan was startled to hear this and said, “…”

“I cannot remain here much longer. Someone will soon come to replace me. I often worry when I think of this, but I can think of no solution.

“If I incur punishment because of it, I am willing to accept it. I am only afraid that my family will suffer from cold and hunger.”

The old man said, “There is no need to worry.” He had wine prepared, and they drank for several days in a row. Ruoshan usually drank very little, but that day he drank three or four cups and did not feel drunk at all. He found this very strange.

That night, the moon shone brightly. The old man cleared away the wine and food, then paced slowly around the courtyard. After a long while, he said to Ruoshan, “Have a servant carry more than ten iron objects and pots into the medicine room. Then have the servant spread out the charcoal and build a furnace. Gather the tools—the mortar, cauldron, tongs, and the like—and make the charcoal blaze until it is as hot as a kiln, too hot to approach.”

The old man took a small gourd ladle from his belt and dropped two pills into the fire. Then he closed the door and came out. He said to Ruoshan, “You have the natural foundations for cultivating the Dao, and are destined to attain the Dao and become an immortal. Moreover, Ma Shang is an upright man, with no resentment or anger in his nature. The immortals value this above all. I am a Perfected One of the Great Ultimate. I travel through the human world, seeking those who sincerely aspire to the Dao. Seeing your diligence and single-minded dedication, I have come especially to guide you to deliverance.

“Some of the yellow-and-white substances I have refined—that is, the gold and silver produced through alchemy—I will leave for your descendants; some will go to the poor. The rest will be used to pay the money owed to the government treasury, so that you will have no lingering concerns. You may prepare a boat and travel along the river as a way of leaving the mortal world. Tomorrow, we will meet in the middle of the river.”

With that, the old man vanished.

At daybreak the next morning, Ruoshan opened the medicine room. The refined treasure shone so brightly that its light filled the whole room. He closed the door again, then joined several subordinate officials and guests in preparing a boat, and they set off across the river. When the boat reached the middle of the river near Jinshan Temple, a thick mist spread over the water, so dense that even things close at hand could not be seen. Only Ruoshan saw the old man rowing a fishing boat straight toward the larger vessel and beckoning to him. Ruoshan stepped into the fishing boat and drifted away with him.

After a long while, the waves gradually subsided and the evening mist lifted. Ruoshan had disappeared. On the desk at the regional government office, he had left a farewell letter explaining his family affairs, along with a final memorial—a petition that a subject writes to the emperor before death. The regional authorities then reported the matter to the imperial court.

The memorial said, in essence: “The salary and honors of this world are only temporary; human life is brief and difficult to preserve for long. Only by attaining the Dao, becoming an immortal, and leaving the mortal world can one endure alongside Heaven. In the past, Chancellor Fan sailed across the Five Lakes because he knew his ruler could not share lasting peace and happiness with him. Zhang Liang left his master’s school and followed Red Pine Master in cultivating the Dao because he feared he could not live long in the human world. The aims of those two men were different from mine. I was fortunate to be born in an age of good government and have repeatedly received imperial favors, gaining high office and noble rank. Early…”

He had deeply understood the principles of ascent and decline, of change and transformation, and knew when to be content and when to stop. He therefore settled his mind within the Mysterious Pass, the hidden inner aperture cultivated in practice, and by chance obtained the secret of cultivation.

The alchemical formula is indeed trustworthy, just as the Prince of Huainan once said; ascending to the heavens in broad daylight is also truly possible, as the wondrous workings of the True Scripture make clear. Now that I have obtained these things, what more could I seek? He waved farewell to the mortal world and rose into the air. The blue sea and Fusang, the legendary divine tree in the eastern ocean, seemed close at hand; Peng Island, the fabled isle of immortals, was not far away.

He gazed toward the gates of the Celestial Emperor’s palace, yet his heart remained deeply attached, and he could not bear to leave his sovereign. When Emperor Xuanzong read his memorial, he was astonished. He immediately ordered that the man’s family be treated generously and provided for, then urged Tang Ruoshui and court attendants to carry an imperial decree to Jiangnan and the coast to search for him. They never found any trace.

Twenty years later, an acquaintance of Ruoshan was sent on a mission from western Zhejiang to Huainan. In the fish market, he saw Ruoshan selling fish, lost among the crowd and indistinguishable from an ordinary person. Ruoshan caught sight of the envoy and invited him into a humble, narrow lane. The lane twisted deep into the distance, and after several hundred paces they reached a grand mansion. Ruoshan invited the envoy to dine and, lamenting his long years of poverty, bought twenty ingots of iron for him. When the two met again the next day, the iron had turned to gold. Ruoshan gave it all to him.

The envoy’s surname was Liu. His descendants have lived in Jinling for generations, and some of them have also pursued the Dao. The Collected Records of the Perfected of Mount Heng says that Ruoshan’s younger brother, Ruoshui, underwent corpse liberation on Mount Heng, a Daoist means of attaining immortality in which the practitioner’s body is left behind as a sign of release from physical form.

Wang Xiang

The gentleman Wang was named Xiang, and he came from Duling. He was born with unusual gifts. From childhood, he often gazed up at the peaks of Mount Zhongnan and told his parents, “When I grow up, I will surely live in these mountains and seek a way to transcend the world.” Everyone in his home district thought him extraordinary. He gathered a wide range of ancient texts and could recite every book he had read from memory.

As an adult, he studied literature with his fellow townsman Zheng Shuang and sat for the jinshi examinations. After failing twice, he withdrew to Shimen Valley in the southern mountains. Sitting quietly, emptying his mind of thoughts, and turning his attention inward became his daily practice. Many years later, the immortal Master Meng appeared and taught him the Way of the Three Ones and Five Thousand, a Daoist method of cultivation. Through it, he gained the ability to transform himself, fly, and divide his body into multiple forms.

Toward the end of the Kaiyuan era under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Wang Xiang’s friend Zheng Shuang was sent to Yangzhou as an investigating censor. Along the way, he saw Wang Xiang standing alone by the roadside, dressed in rags and bent over with age. Zheng Shuang felt sorry for him and sent someone to invite him to the post station. He asked where Wang Xiang usually lived and how he was getting by. Wang Xiang replied that he was a stranger in that place and lived in hardship.

The next day, Wang Xiang came to see Zheng Shuang again and said, “You still remember your old friend; your kindness runs deep. Would you change out of your official robes, set aside your rank, and visit my humble dwelling?” Zheng Shuang agreed. He changed his clothes and followed Wang Xiang discreetly. They passed through the bustling streets and entered a remote narrow lane, as though they had reached an abandoned, uninhabited path. Weeds and brambles grew thickly over the way. They walked several miles before arriving at the place…

The story of Luo Zifang goes like this: During the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, a man named Luo Zifang practiced Daoist cultivation with his father at Yuanzhen Temple on Mount Yusi. Later, his father achieved immortality through shijie (a Daoist method of transcendence where the physical body is left behind as an empty shell), leaving behind an empty coffin buried beside the temple. After years of dedicated practice, Luo Zifang also attained the Dao. One day, an empty boat suddenly appeared on a fir tree outside his door, and he ascended to the heavens aboard this celestial vessel.

The extraordinary encounter of Wang Xiong unfolds as follows: This zhenren (a Daoist honorific for an immortal) from the Xiaoyou Grotto-Heaven was banished to the mortal world for five years as punishment for an offense. During the Dali era of Emperor Daizong of Tang, he served as a servant in the household of Zhang Maoshi in Nanyang. Appearing to be in his forties, he was diligent and honest in his work, earning him the nickname "Dabao" (Great Treasure) from his master. When his five-year term ended, Wang Xiong suddenly bid farewell, revealing that he was originally an immortal cultivating in the mountains who had descended to serve mortals due to a karmic trial. Now that his trial was complete, he had to return. Before leaving, he took Zhang Maoshi on a tour of an immortal realm and gifted him a bamboo staff inscribed with fulu (talismanic script) as a token of gratitude.

Another tale recounts the experience of a certain official surnamed Zheng meeting an immortal: This official was led into a resplendent celestial palace where immortals in radiant crowns and cloud-patterned robes held court with the grandeur of emperors, leaving him too awestruck to raise his head. The immortal hosted him overnight, treating him to celestial delicacies and heavenly music. Upon parting, the immortal discerned that despite Zheng's official achievements, he lacked financial means, so he instructed a youth to pawn a broken umbrella at the market, obtaining a million coins to gift him. Later, when Emperor Xuanzong sent envoys to search for this immortal, no trace could be found—revealing that the immortal had already attained the rank of Taiyi zhenren (a high-level Daoist immortal title).

Mao Shi’s attendants on both sides were sent away to fetch medicine. Once they had left, he quietly hid his walking stick beneath the covers and slipped out. Mao Shi did as Xiong had instructed. Xiong said, “You can come and see where I live.” The two walked south together for a little over a mile. By the roadside, a yellow-headed man stood waiting, holding a whip and keeping a blue-scaled qilin and two tigers with red markings in check. Mao Shi wanted to retreat, but Xiong said, “There’s no need to be afraid. Just keep going.”

When they reached the animals, Xiong mounted the qilin, while Mao Shi and the yellow-headed man each rode a tiger. Mao Shi was afraid and did not dare approach. Xiong said, “Since you already trust me, why are you still afraid? These are the finest steeds in the human world. Try getting on.” Mao Shi climbed onto the tiger’s back and found himself sitting securely. The yellow-headed man led him off from a height. They crossed ravines and climbed over ridges; with only the slightest thought, they had flown across, without feeling the steepness of the mountains at all.

By about the third watch of the night, they had traveled several hundred miles. After descending a mountain, they saw a bright and beautiful landscape all around them, with charming pines and rocks. There were towers, terraces, palaces, and temples unlike anything ever seen in the human world. As they neared the gate, Xiong waved his whip and called out, “The master has arrived!” Several hundred officials dressed in purple stood in rows along the road. Farther in, dozens of people in green robes came to welcome them. They were striking in appearance and splendidly dressed beyond description, each carrying a musical instrument and leading the way. Mao Shi then entered the main hall.

After the banquet, Xiong asked Mao Shi to sit and went inside to change clothes. When he returned, he was neatly dressed and dignified in bearing, truly possessed of an immortal’s air. The windows, steps, corridors, screens, curtains, beds, and bedding in his residence were all exquisitely beautiful. There were also dances like those of phoenixes and luan birds, and every kind of music, none of which Mao Shi had ever heard before. The pleasures of life there were lofty and free of worldly concerns, and little by little he stopped thinking about the human world.

When their joyful gathering had reached its height, Xiong said, “This is where immortals dwell; it is beyond the reach of the human world. Because of a bond formed in a former life, you had the chance to see this place and to encounter this escape from disaster. The path of the immortals leads to another realm, pure and still, where no distracting thoughts are allowed. You should return and cultivate your mind. After three or five kalpas—a Daoist term for an immensely long span of time—we will meet again.

“My worldly ties are now nearing their end, and my name has already been entered in the registers of the higher realm. I have now had the good fortune to meet the Perfected One of Great Purity, a Daoist immortal. He summoned me into the Lesser You Cavern and showed me the celestial music of the Nine Heavens. Afterward, he let me gaze down upon the sea of life and death. He also said, ‘Joy is not hard to attain, and suffering is easily dispelled. It is like building a mountain: the builder adds earth, handful by handful, and the mountain gradually rises.’”

From then on, Mao Shi cultivated for five or six kalpas and at last attained an immortal’s body. When he looked back at the remains he had left behind, they had piled up like a mountain. He never forgot to cultivate his mind. Though a lifetime passed in the blink of an eye and his body changed, he still remembered his practice. As long as one keeps cultivating and accumulating merit, becoming an immortal is not beyond reach. At that time, he was also often able to attain insight into…

Qi Qing understood as soon as he heard those words. “Zimian, you must take care to cultivate yourself. This thousand taels of gold can support your cultivation.” He then had Huangtou, Maoshi, and the others follow Qilin there, and asked Huangtou to help him. Xuan strode ahead and led them home.

His family were gathered nearby, weeping. Maoshi threw the gold into a well. Xuan took away the bamboo staff and had Maoshi hide beneath the covers and lie still. Then he said, “I am going to Penglai to pay a visit to the Great Immortal Elder. Tomorrow morning, colored clouds will drift east from Lotus Peak, and I will ride them away.” With that, he bowed and took his leave.

Maoshi suddenly began to groan, and everyone asked in alarm what was wrong. He deceived them, saying, “I suddenly had a terrible stomachache, as if someone were calling me, and then I fainted. I don’t know how much time has passed.” His family said, “We called you when we returned with medicine, but you never answered. It has already been seven days. Your chest is still warm, though, so we haven’t been able to prepare you for burial.” At dawn the next day, they saw that colored clouds were indeed drifting east from Lotus Peak. Maoshi later left home to travel among famous mountains. After that, no one knew where Xuan had gone, and people came to call him the “Qilin Guest.”

Wang Silang

The fourth-ranked gentleman of the Wang family was named Silang. He was a nephew of Wang Ju, the Commandant of Luoyang, but was not born to Wang Ju’s principal wife. As a child, he followed his mother when she remarried. After that, he visited Wang Ju’s home from time to time, but Wang Ju no longer took any interest in him.

During the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang, Wang Ju went to the capital, as usual, to seek an appointment. He entered the capital from Zhengzhou, and as he passed Tianjin Bridge in the Eastern Capital, Silang bowed before his horse. He wore plain clothes and straw sandals and looked very much like a countryman, so Wang Ju did not recognize him. When Silang gave his name, Wang Ju felt great pity for him. Silang then said, “Since my uncle is going to the capital to seek an appointment, I have something to offer you.” He took five taels of gold from his robe. It shone a bright yellow, like a cockscomb. “This is no ordinary gold. When you reach the capital, go to the Gold Market and look for Zhang Pengzi. Give it to him, and he will pay you two hundred thousand cash.”

Wang Ju found this strange and asked, “Where have you been living lately? And where are you going now?” Silang replied, “Lately I have been living in the Lesser You Grotto-Heaven on Mount Wangwu. Now I have family matters to attend to on Mount Emei. I heard that my uncle had arrived here, so I came especially to pay my respects.”

Wang Ju asked him, “Where are you staying now?” Silang said, “At the inn on Middle Bridge, with the Xi family.” Wang Ju replied, “I’ll come see you right away.” Silang said, “I have a fixed time for my journey, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to wait for you.”

Wang Ju went straight back to change his clothes, then hurried to the inn, but Silang had already left. He asked the Xi family about him. They said Silang had stayed there with four or five exceptionally beautiful wives and concubines, and that the horses and saddles he used were all extremely luxurious. That gentleman, Wang Shengan, had left ahead of him and was on his way to Jiannan. Wang Ju privately thought the matter strange, but was not yet entirely convinced.

When he reached the upper capital, Chang’an, the capital of the Tang dynasty, he said to his servant Ji’er, “Take the gold left by Fourth Gentleman and ask around in the marketplace.” Sure enough, a man named Zhang Pengzi brought out some gold to show him. Delighted, Zhang Pengzi asked, “Where did you get this? How many strings of cash do you want?” Ji’er replied, “Two hundred thousand.” Zhang Pengzi paid the agreed amount, then said, “If you want to sell more, come and find me again.” Ji’er returned with the money, and Ju was greatly astonished.

The next day, Ju went to see Zhang Pengzi in person. Zhang Pengzi said, “This gold was made from the gold-producing substance sold by the Daoist Wang Silang. Foreign merchants from the Western Regions specialize in this kind of trade and do not set a fixed price when buying. But Wang Silang had agreed on a specific amount, so you can sell it only for that sum. If you ask for more, there can be no deal.” Ju never went to collect any more gold. Later, when he made inquiries again, he never saw Wang Silang.

Ye Qianshao

Ye Qianshao, whose courtesy name was Lucong, came from Jianchang in Hongzhou. In his youth, he studied under a Daoist priest on West Mountain, learning the arts of the Twelve Perfected Ones. He once practiced grain abstention and breath cultivation, avoiding the five grains and using regulated breathing and the absorption of Qi as methods of cultivation.

Once, while he was living alone, a fierce wind suddenly rose, and a torrential rain fell amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. A man dressed in white bowed to Ye Qianshao and said, “Your cultivation of Dao and De is complete, and your name is soon to be advanced in the register of immortals. You should command ghosts and spirits in the human world and further establish your merit. A divine being is about to descend. You may meet him; there is no need to be afraid.”

Ye Qianshao then burned incense, clasped his hands, and sat motionless. After a while, a Perfected Official descended from the clouds, dressed in red and wearing the cap and robes of a distant traveler. More than ten divine generals came with him. They all wore swords and carried dragon-and-tiger talismans, followed by a great many ghosts and spirits. Officials in yellow and green each held a scroll of records. The divine generals bowed to Ye Qianshao as one.

The Perfected Official said to Ye Qianshao, “By the command of Heaven, I deliver this register to you. The divine generals, officials, and soldiers are all ready for you to command, so that you may use them to help people.” Ye Qianshao bowed and accepted the heavenly book. When he lifted the register and looked through it, he found that it seemed to be a military roster from the human world. The official in charge of the register said that whenever Ye Qianshao summoned them, they would come at his command.

Later, Ye Qianshao gave a long whistle, and wind rose among the woods and valleys. He spat water outward, and rain fell across the fields. He rubbed the ground with his foot, and it rumbled like thunder. He swept his hand through the air, and flashes of light appeared like lightning. As he traveled from place to place, he often behaved in the towns as though mad and drunk, carefree and unrestrained. Suddenly, he would command the divine generals and order them to display their power. When people asked why, he would say, “I saw a fire break out in one place, and a prolonged drought in another, so I sent my men to put out the fire and bring rain.” When people went to check, they found that it was exactly as he had said.

When he passed through a prefecture or county during a drought, people would ask him to pray for rain. He would set up an incense table, burn incense, and offer prayers. Before long, rain would fall. When someone asked him to summon thunder, he had only to rub the ground with his foot, and then…

Thunder sometimes rumbled up from beneath the earth. When rain continued without cease and prayers brought no response, Qian Shao would immediately find a way to stop it. In winter or during droughts, when people prayed for snow, he would stand beneath the blazing sun in a single robe, barefoot. After chanting and whistling for a short while, winds and clouds would gather, and snow would fall continuously until night.

Qian Shao also used Fulu (talismans and registers) to treat the sick and relieve their suffering. He did not wait for people to ask for help. Whenever he saw someone ill, compassion arose in him and he set about treating them. Those afflicted by demonic illness recovered as soon as they heard Qian Shao’s name. Anyone who received one of his talismans never suffered a relapse for the rest of their life.

In the eleventh year of the Xiantong era under Emperor Yizong of Tang, Qian Shao traveled to Haozhou. He heard that the governor, Liu Fang, had suddenly suffered a stroke and was near death; even the most renowned physicians could not cure him. Leaning on his staff, Qian Shao entered the prefectural city and said, “I have come this time to bring Your Excellency back to life.” He then wrote three talismans and affixed them to Liu Fang’s shoulder, flank, and leg. “Drive the wind malignancy out through the soles of his feet,” he said. “In three days he will recover.” The wind malignancy then rushed out through the soles of Liu Fang’s feet, and three days later he was restored to health.

Liu Fang was widely learned in history and literature and had long been fond of Daoist arts. In the offices he held, and while governing a commandery, he had also done much good. He told his guests and staff, “All my life I have honored the Daoist teachings. Then, quite suddenly, I was struck by a fierce wind malignancy, and an extraordinary man came to rescue me from danger. This can be compared to the story of Dong Feng bringing Du Xie back to life. It is truly a reward brought by the efficacy of the Daoist teachings.” Everyone in the commandery regarded Qian Shao as a divine being. Liu Fang welcomed him to the official residence and treated him with the respect due a master, offering him generous gifts of gold and silk in gratitude. But Qian Shao immediately left Liu Fang, and after that no one could find him.

Later, someone saw Qian Shao in the Jing-Xiang region. When he spoke of what had happened in Haozhou, he laughed. More than ten years later, Qian Shao was living in seclusion on West Mountain; people still saw him there.

Wang Can

Wang Can (another version gives his name as Wang Tu) served as magistrate of Wangwu County in the renchen year, the thirteenth year of the Xiantong era under Emperor Yizong of Tang. He once silently recited the Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court), an important Daoist classic, six thousand times, hoping to write his own commentary. Yet he could never fully grasp its deeper meaning. After resigning from office, he lived at the foot of a mountain, abstained from grain, and practiced breath regulation by swallowing Qi. Then he entered a cave and walked twenty or thirty li.

The cave suddenly opened into a level, spacious place, surrounded by stone walls that towered ten thousand ren high. Below stood a stone chamber set into the rock. A stone bed and desk were arranged neatly inside, as if someone lived there. On the desk lay a scroll of an ancient classic. Wang Can did not dare take it up without permission. He bowed repeatedly and said, “I have long admired the Way of long life, and have ventured into this heavenly grotto. This is truly an opportunity that comes only once in countless ages. Now I have seen the wondrous scripture scroll on the jade desk. I humbly beg the True Immortal to allow this mortal to read it with his own eyes.”

After a long while, someone suddenly appeared, seated beside the desk, and said, “You have practiced diligently and have finally made your way here. I am the True One of the Eastern Pole…”

You and the legendary immortal Renwang Taixu share the same surname. When you recited the Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court), I had already finished explaining its contents, so I handed the scripture to you.

He then gave you a peach pit as large as a vessel that holds several dou. This peach grew in the Marsh of Ronghuang. Whoever ate it could ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Ground into powder and taken, the pit could not only cure illness but also prolong life. “You cannot stay here for now. Come back in twenty years.” With that, he vanished.

Can returned home with the peach pit and the scripture. After taking the peach pit and reciting the Huangting Jing, his appearance grew younger and younger. People also tell the story of the Perfected One of the Eastern Pole, a Daoist immortal, annotating the Huangting Jing.

Li Jue

Li Jue was from Jiangyang in Guangling. His family had lived in the city for generations, making their living by trading grain. He was upright and cautious by nature, unlike most people. At fifteen, he began helping his father in the grain business. When his father grew old, Li Jue took over. Whenever someone came to sell or buy grain, he handed over the sheng and dou measures—the vessels used to measure grain—and let the other person do the measuring himself. He paid no attention to differences in status. He earned a profit of only two coins per sheng, enough to support his parents.

After many years, the family’s food and clothing gradually became plentiful. His father, puzzled, asked him how this had come about. Li Jue answered truthfully. His father said, “Many people work in this trade, and nearly all tamper with their measures: they use larger measures when selling and smaller ones when buying, to make more money. The authorities inspect measures every spring and autumn, yet can hardly put a stop to this abuse. I have long understood this, but I use the same set of measures for buying and selling, and have thought that I was acting impartially. You now let buyers and sellers measure for themselves. I could never have done what you do. Our food and clothing are plentiful now. Could it be that the gods are helping us unseen?”

Later, Li Jue’s parents died. He was over eighty, yet still had not changed his trade. At that time, Li Jue of the Tang dynasty became chancellor and took charge of Huainan. To avoid sharing a name with the newly appointed official, Li Jue changed his name to Li Kuan.

Several months after taking office, Li Jue was observing a Daoist purification retreat. One night, he dreamed that he entered a cavern dwelling. It was spring inside: mist drifted through the air, flowers bloomed in abundance, phoenixes danced in flight, cranes circled overhead, and auspicious clouds and rosy light shone upon a succession of pavilions. Walking alone beneath the pavilions, Li Jue saw a smooth, gleaming stone wall covered in rows of names carved in gold. Among them were the characters “Li Jue,” each more than two feet tall.

Li Jue was delighted. He thought, “I was born in a time of peace and prosperity, have served as an official for many years, and have risen to the highest ministerial rank. Surely I have done good that benefits all under heaven. My name is carved in this cavern dwelling, so I must have been counted among the immortals.” As he rejoiced, two immortal youths emerged from either side of the stone wall. Li Jue asked, “What is this place?” They replied, “Huayang…”

“The name in the grotto-heaven—the dwelling place of immortals in Daoist belief—is not yours, sir.” Jue asked in surprise, “Then if it isn’t me, Jue, who is it?”

The immortal youth replied, “This gentleman is a resident of Jiangyang.”

When Jue awoke, he remembered the dream clearly and was all the more astonished. He asked Daoists about it, but no one knew anything. He then summoned officials from Jiangyang and questioned them, but they knew nothing either. So Jue ordered a search throughout the prefectural city for someone with the same name. A few days later, after people in the barracks and lanes had asked around, they finally found a man named Li Kuan, whose former name had been Jue.

Jue sent a carriage to bring Li Kuan to his residence, invited him to stay in a clean room, and, after fasting and bathing, bowed to him as his Daoist elder brother. The whole family served him with reverence, paying their respects morning and evening.

Li Kuan had always been a man of simple, quiet tastes. He was handsome and distinguished in appearance, with a beard more than a foot long, white and pleasing to the eye. He was about sixty years old. He had once been fortunate enough to receive instruction from a Daoist practitioner and had learned fetal breathing, a Daoist method of regulating the breath and nurturing Qi (vital energy). He had also abstained from food for a long time. Jue therefore honored him all the more.

After more than a month, Jue asked, “What Daoist arts have you cultivated in your life? What medicines have you taken or refined? I once dreamed that names were carved into the stone walls of an immortal’s grotto, and I saw an immortal youth point you out. That is why I invited you here and bowed to you as my teacher, hoping you would pass on some methods to me.”

Li Kuan demurred, saying he knew nothing of Daoist arts and had never taken or refined any medicines. Jue bowed again with sincere respect and asked what he actually practiced in his daily life. Li Kuan said he was merely an ignorant commoner who knew nothing of cultivation, then described in detail his dealings in the grain trade.

Jue pressed him repeatedly. After listening, he exclaimed, “Though these are ordinary matters, they are hard to carry out. The hidden merit you have accumulated is beyond what others can attain.” He added, “I understand now: in the end, wealth and rank can bring harm, while a poor and lowly person who makes good use of his circumstances can receive blessings, and even have his name entered in the registers of the immortals. This is a lesson meant to awaken worldly people.”

When Jue asked about fetal breathing and abstaining from food, Li Kuan answered truthfully. Later, Li Kuan lived to be over a hundred, yet still walked with a light step and remained strong and healthy. One day, he suddenly told his descendants, “I have dwelt in this world for many years. Though I have nurtured my Qi, it has brought me little benefit.” That evening, he died. Three days later, a sound came from his coffin. When people looked inside, they found that his clothes and belt were still fastened, but his body had slipped away as a cicada sheds its shell. He had undergone corpse liberation, a Daoist means of leaving the physical body and ascending to immortality.

Xu Zhongyuan

During the Tang dynasty, there was a wine shop in Shu. One day, a Daoist entered to drink. He looked young, with black hair and delicate, handsome features. As he drank merrily, he leaned against the doorframe and sang:

“If the coccyx gate cannot be guarded, even the vast sea will run dry; the Nine-Turn Divine Elixir is ultimately an empty boast. Only the pearl atop the horned dragon can fill the hollow beneath the Jade Hall Gate.”

A man named Xu Zhongyuan was sitting nearby. When he saw the Daoist, he said to his companions, “This is no person of the mortal world.” He rose, paid his respects to the Daoist, and asked him to explain the meaning of the song.

The Daoist said, “The time to speak of it has not yet come. If you truly want to know…”

On the Double Ninth Festival, someone from Zhangyang Monastery came to see Xu Yin. They changed seats and drank together. Before they had finished the wine, the Daoist left. Early the next morning, Xu Yin went to the monastery and found the Daoist already waiting there. He took a short scroll from inside his robe and handed it to Xu Yin, saying, “This is Lord Lao’s method for restoring youth. I have taken the medicines described in it and have now lived for 423 years. You have the foundations for cultivating the Dao and are deeply sincere, so I pass it on to you. If you can cultivate this art through hidden virtue, you can become an immortal.”

As soon as he had finished speaking, the Daoist transformed into a white crane and flew away. Xu Yin bowed twice, accepted the scroll, and returned home to persist in preparing and taking the medicine. Hundreds of years later, he still looked young. He could run as fast as a swift horse, and his strength equaled that of several men. Later, he entered Mount Qingcheng, and no one ever saw him again.

Some of his disciples learned this method and passed it on to others. The verse says, “If the Tail Gate is not sealed, the vast sea will run dry.” The Tail Gate is said to be where the waters of the Eastern Sea drain away; in the human body, the place where Jing and Qi leak out is also called the Tail Gate. If you cannot preserve your Jing and Qi, even a sea as vast as the ocean will eventually be exhausted.

“The Nine-Transformation Divine Elixir is all empty talk” means that the many terms used in alchemical arts—Dragon and Tiger, Lead and Mercury, Yin and Yang, Sun and Moon, Yellow Sprout, White Snow, Infant, and Maiden—never get to the root of the matter. Only “the pearl atop the speckled dragon” can replenish “the cavity beneath the Jade Hall Pass.” Here, “the pearl atop the speckled dragon” refers to deer antler, while “the cavity beneath the Jade Hall Pass” refers to a corresponding part of the body.

Take a pair of deer antlers and cut them into sections three inches long. Soak and wash them in eastward-flowing river water to remove the dirt. For every pound of antler, use one ounce of Chinese hackberry seeds, and two ounces each of yellow wax and mulberry root bark. Put them in a metal or stone vessel and simmer over a low flame for three days and three nights, adding hot water continuously. When the time is up, scrape off the black outer layer of the antlers and take the medicine.

Shi Wujie

Mr. Shi, whose name was Wujie, was of unknown origin. He often traveled between the capital and the Su region. He would go a year or half a year without eating, drinking only a little wine each day. If someone insisted that he eat, he could consume a bushel of rice in one sitting. Blue hair grew on his body. When others saw it, he would circulate his Qi and make his hair stand on end. He treated people’s illnesses with water instead of medicine, and taught them to observe ritual propriety and righteousness.

A free-spirited scholar named Ma Cun followed him for several days. Mr. Shi asked, “What are you hoping to gain by following me?” Ma Cun replied, “I have devoted myself to studying alchemical furnaces for a long time, but have never achieved any results. I hope you might explain a little of the essential method.”

Mr. Shi first threw back his head and sighed. Then he lowered it and rebuked Ma Cun: “Your family’s wealth is worth no less than ten million. Gold and jade are piled high, the strings of coins in your storehouses have rotted, and the grain in your granaries has grown stale…”

We eat only a few bowls of food each day, and the clothing we wear takes little more than a single bolt of cloth. Yet people still do not know when they have enough, and their greed has no end. From this, one can imagine the rest.

Some ill-intentioned people deceive you, saying: “Learn the method for refining the Great Medicine, smelt strange substances into gold, and then make drinking vessels from the gold. You will thereby become an immortal.” These are merely words spoken from selfish motives to deceive people, not sound principles put forward by those who understand the Way.

Long ago, when Master Changli Weng Dongbin (Lü Dongbin) had just begun studying the Dao, someone said to him: “You should acquire an art to assist your cultivation. I have a method for boiling and refining copper with medicinal substances until it becomes silver.” Master Changli Weng asked, “Will the silver change again?” The man replied, “After five hundred years, it will turn back into what it originally was.” Master Changli Weng said, “I will not learn this art. I fear that a single word from me might mislead people five hundred years from now.” This thought resonated with Heaven and Earth, and his name was entered into the registers of the True Ones in the Celestial Bureaucracy. To this day, he remains among the immortals. After bowing twice, Master Changli Weng departed.

The master lived most of the time on Mount Hua.

Comprehensive Mirror of Past Generations of Immortals Who Embodied the Dao, juan 35.