《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 41

Comprehensive Mirror of the Perfected Immortals Who Embodied the Dao, Juan 40 ("Scale Eight")

(Compiled by the Daoist priest Zhao Daoyi of the Shengshou Wannian Palace on Mount Fuyun)

Xue Jichang

Xue Jichang was a native of Hedong. The Nanyue Zongsheng Ji instead records him as a native of Mianzhu in Hanzhou. His family produced officials for generations and was well known. From childhood Xue Jichang had no taste for wealth and rank. He ate no meat and often wore plain cloth garments, and he was especially fond of mountains and rivers.

One day he traveled to Mount Qingcheng, then went south to Taoyuan. Later, at the Southern Marchmount, he met Sima Chengzhen, the Master of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), who transmitted to him the scriptures and registers of the Sandong (Three Caverns), the Daoist canon and its lineage of ordination. Xue Jichang studied the way of cultivating perfection and probed its mysteries. He practiced diligently over a long period and never relaxed. For this reason, high perfected beings (gao zhen, the exalted immortals honored in Daoism) repeatedly descended to him, rare fragrances often drifted from his quiet chamber, and wondrous celestial music was sometimes heard there.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang summoned him to the palace and asked him about the principles of Dao and De (Virtue). Xue Jichang discussed them with great depth and subtlety. The emperor was delighted and showed him generous favor. Before long, Xue Jichang returned to the mountains. The emperor had a preface composed and a poem written to send with him. The preface reads: "The Master of Refinement (lianshi, a Daoist priest who has attained accomplishment) has set his will on the gate of mystery and settled his mind at the Southern Marchmount. Now that he has entered the register of Daoist priests, he has suddenly come to take his leave, wishing to return to his old mountain, to guard emptiness and stillness and keep his purity, not betraying his aspiration, and to continue his diligent practice. Should he encounter a Perfected of the highest order or a divine elixir, he will come to the capital at the proper time."

The poem reads: "A guest who cultivates perfection in the cavern dwelling / Thinks of his old home by Mount Hengyang. / He is about to complete the duties of the Golden Gate, / And wishes to present the documents of Jade Clarity (Yuqing). / Over the clouds the road to the Three Heavens lies near, / Beside the pine forest and stream all sounds are still. / You should still transmit the secret methods, / And await the carriages of the immortals coming and going."

Xue Jichang wrote the Daode Xuanshu, which gathers and clarifies the subtle secrets of cultivating perfection. He also annotated the Jiuzhen Jiangsheng Guan. He then returned to his former retreat on Mount Huagai, practiced there, and at last succeeded in refining the elixir.

One day he suddenly told his disciples, "Tonight there is a gathering of celestial perfected (tianzhen, perfected beings of the heavenly realms) at Zhurong Peak, and I have been summoned to attend." He then rose into the air and departed, never to return. Later, people built the Lingxu Palace on that site.

Tian Xuying

The Daoist priest Tian Xuying, courtesy name Liangyi, was a native of the State of Qi. His nature was honest and forthright. He spoke plainly and did not avoid any subject.

In the Kaihuang era of the Sui Emperor Wen, he lived with his parents in Youxian. Later, because the local area was noisy and disturbed, he moved to the Southern Marchmount. He personally farmed on Zigai Peak and devoted himself to serving his parents for more than fifty years. Only after his mother died did he travel among the Five Peaks, give himself freely to mountains and rivers, and live at ease.

In the Longshuo era of the Tang Emperor Gaozong, the regional governor Lord Tian had the Jiangzhen Hall built in a Daoist temple on the Southern Marchmount and invited him to reside there. Tian Qiancheng praised it, saying that the secret methods of the Shangqing Dadong (Great Cavern of Highest Clarity), transmitted in writing on the walls, had first been passed by the Master of Zhengyi to Xue Jichang, and then by Xue Jichang to Tian Xuying. Since Tian Xuying had already received the essential principles of the Dao, he was involved in……

Among the friends of the Yunshui circle (yunshui jian), Jiang Hanhong was the only one who was truly close to Tian Xuying. At that time, Lü Wei, Yang Ping, Feng Fu, and others were serving in Hunan, and they went to visit Tian Xuying to ask him about profound principles.

Tanzhou suffered a long drought, and although the authorities prayed for rain for a long time without result, they summoned Tian Xuying. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were ragged. When he arrived at the prefectural office, he said not a word, yet the rain fell of its own accord. Later there was a long spell of continuous rain, and the prefect set up an altar at Yue Temple to pray for clear skies. Tian Xuying remained silent, untied his headscarf, and sat down. When he climbed the altar, the rain stopped.

In the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang, Tian Xuying traveled east into Mount Tiantai and never left the mountains again. Xianzong issued an edict summoning him to court, but he did not respond. A man named Ouyang Ping, also highly accomplished in Daoist cultivation, had respected Tian Xuying as he would an elder brother. One night he dreamed that three divine beings descended from the sky, each holding a golden censer, as if to summon someone to heaven. He privately told others: "The two masters will soon depart, and I too will surely follow." Before long, Tian Xuying achieved yuhua (the Daoist term for a practitioner's transformation and ascent to immortality). Jiang Hanhong also passed away soon after.

Among Tian Xuying's disciples, three attained high accomplishment: Feng Weiliang of Qiyao, Chen Guayan of Xianglin, and Xu Lingfu of Fangying.

Feng Weiliang

The Daoist priest Feng Weiliang, courtesy name Yunyi, was from Xiangzhou. He cultivated the Way at the Central Palace of Mount Heng, where he became a Daoist companion of Xu Lingfu and Chen Guayan. Apart from honoring the gods and performing incense rites, he ordinarily amused himself by playing the qin and drinking wine. Later he went to the Jiangzhen Hall and took Tian Xuying as his teacher, receiving the Three Caverns (Sandong) secret instructions, the essential teachings transmitted through the Shangqing, Lingbao, and Sanhuang lineages.

In the Yuanhe era, Feng Weiliang traveled east into Mount Tiantai. Yuan Zhen, the Circuit Surveillance Commissioner of Kuaiji, heard of his reputation, admired him greatly, visited him often, and consulted him on matters beyond the mundane world. The Tongbai Abbey had long lain in ruins since the time of Master Zhengyi. Feng Weiliang therefore rebuilt it, erecting the Shangqing Pavilion, the Jiangzhen Hall, the Baiyun Pavilion, and the Xiaoxian Courtyard. He restored the enterprise Master Zhengyi had left and propagated the Way of the Three Caverns throughout Jiangnan.

Xianzong summoned him to court, but he did not go. Later he founded the Qiyao hermitage in Hualin Valley and lived there. He often wandered alone and unhurried between Taoyuan and Jinling, sometimes staying away for months before returning. One day he had water prepared for bathing, put on his crown, and walked into the courtyard as though waiting to greet someone. Before long he ascended the steps and then died, at the age of ninety. Nearly a hundred disciples received his teachings, but only Ying Yijie, Ye Cangzhi, Shen Guanwai, and a few others grasped its essentials. The rest never truly mastered it.

Chen Guayan

The Daoist priest Chen Guayan, courtesy name Dachu, was from Jiyang County in Yuezhou. He lived in seclusion on Yuxiao Peak and was known as Hualin. Where the Tiantai Daoist liturgy (keyi) was incomplete, he gathered materials to supplement it. In everyday life he received guests with the qin and wine. His poetry was refined in style, and his conduct was unconstrained. The original text breaks off here, and the remainder is missing.

He also refined his mountain-dwelling poems, writing: "Drunk, I lie down in a thatched hut and need not bolt the door. On waking and opening my eyes, I see the green mountains. Where pine blossoms drift down, apes make their nests, and deer gather and wander at the edge of the forest."

He also wrote: "Looking at the water, it is clear as an icy mirror. Sweeping aside the snow, it is white as jade dust. Why ask about past or present? This is the immortal of high antiquity." Guayan spoke little, yet he could expound on Daoist doctrine and regulations (keyi, liturgical and doctrinal norms), though he did not personally put them into practice.

He transmitted his Daoist methods only to his disciples. A man named Liu Jie, courtesy name Chujing, gave up the pursuit of office through classical learning and became a Daoist priest, serving Abbot Wu Sushu of the Lingrui Monastery in Lanxi, Wuzhou. Having heard of Guayan's reputation, Liu Jie went to Hualin to seek his instruction. He attended to Guayan's meals and daily needs and tended the incense offerings for twenty years, and in the end he fully mastered Guayan's methods.

When Guayan was about to undergo shijie (corpse liberation, the Daoist term for leaving the body and departing this life in the manner of an immortal), he said to Chujing: "Put my body in a cloth sack and place it in a stone chamber. Under no circumstances use wood." He died at the age of sixty-four. Chujing had long been close with Ye Cangzhi and Ying Yijie, friends beyond the mundane world (fangwai zhi you, companions who, within the Daoist community, did not treat one another by worldly status).

Long afterward, Chujing was about to die by zuohua (dying while seated in meditation). He wrote a poem for his disciples to see, and then fanzhen (returning to his true nature, a Daoist expression for passing away). The poem reads: "I originally had no form, and only for a while did I take on a body. By chance I came into this world and chased after its many busy affairs. Now my debts in the cycle of rebirth are settled. I scratch my head and, free of any attachment, return to Shangqing (Highest Clarity, the celestial realm in Daoist belief). Ten more poems are preserved at the Daoyuan Hall on Mount Tiantai."

Xu Lingfu

Xu Lingfu, a Daoist priest, styled himself Mosixi Zi and was a native of Mount Tianmu in Qiantang. He was thoroughly versed in Confucian learning, yet had no interest in fame or profit. He lived for more than ten years in a stone chamber at Tiger Head Cliff on Yungai Peak in Tiantai. His disciples built a thatched hall for him and invited him to live there, but he did not go. Later he made his home on a stone ledge above. There, tall pines and slender bamboo were all within view. Nearby was a pond about a hundred paces across, containing many odd rocks shaped like islands, and he named it "Fangying" (Square Isle). Each day he cultivated himself there, finding joy in his own company.

He once wrote a poem: "Quietly concentrating the spirit, I seem to return to the beginning of Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate). Without a mind that responds to the myriad things, I naturally ride the clouds. To cultivate one's nature, one must begin with one's own nature; it is not to be sought outside. Wish to know who the true perfected (zhenren) is? It is he, oneself."

He also wrote: "To study the Dao, one must attain the true Dao in this very life. Those who are lost wait until death to seek rebirth. If in this life one cannot understand the principle of no-birth, even if one is reborn, where could one go to seek life?"

In the early Huichang era of the Tang dynasty, Emperor Wuzong issued an edict ordering the Circuit Surveillance Commissioner of Zhedong to summon him. He could not refuse, and so he came out of the mountains to meet the commissioner and presented a poem expressing his aspirations: "A rustic temperament has made me sing the song of the three pleasures. The imperial summons descends from the nine-gated palace, bidding me accept the command of the Purple Palace, and I must leave the White Cloud Peak. I am ashamed that I have only read a few books, and I am deeply ashamed that I cannot accomplish anything like the dragons painted on paper. With what shall I assist the enlightened ruler? I would rather content myself to grow old..."

Yansong, because of his advanced age and failing health, petitioned to be relieved of his office. Afterward he abstained from the five grains for a long time and died in quiet stillness at the age of eighty-two. He wrote the Xuanjian (Mirror of the Mysterious) in five parts, annotated the Tongxuan zhenjing (Classic of Perfect Mystery) in twelve chapters, and composed the Tiantai shan ji (Record of Mount Tiantai) and the Sandong yaolüe (Essentials of the Three Caverns). Among his disciples, only Zuo Yuanze received his Daoist methods.

Liu Yuanjing

The Daoist Liu Yuanjing was a native of Wuchang. He became a disciple of Wang Daozong and received the Zhengyi lu (Register of Orthodox Unity), a rite of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school that conferred Daoist status and the associated lineage. Not long after, Wang Daozong was about to die, and he distributed all his possessions among his students. Liu Yuanjing accepted only his books.

Wang Daozong was buried on East Mountain. On a clear night, a vapor rose from the tomb to a height of several zhang. Liu Yuanjing found this strange and therefore reinterred his master. When the coffin was opened, only clothing and bedding were found, with no body. Only then did he understand that his master had attained the Dao.

Moved by this, Liu Yuanjing took a boat on a pleasure trip across Dongting Lake, then travelled to the Wuling region, and afterward entered Mount Nan, where he became a disciple of Tian Liangyi. Later he ascended the Altar of Lady Wei, the place where, according to legend, Lady Wei cultivated the Dao and became an immortal, and he conceived the wish to live in seclusion there. Setting out from the altar, he climbed steep peaks for sixty-five li (the Nanyue zongzhen ji says just over ten li) until he came upon a south-facing cave, which he cleared as his dwelling. He led spring water so that its stream encircled his home, cut down trees and cleared the thatch, and built a small pavilion in front. His chessboard and tea stove were both carved from stone.

The prefect Shi Junhan Ye, on visiting the place, named the small pavilion "Gathering of Immortals." Liu Yuanjing often brewed wine using tender shoots of various herbs as the leaven. Although he abstained from the five grains and practiced breath cultivation, he could still drink more than a dou (a large measure) of wine at each sitting.

In the early Baoli reign period of Emperor Jingzong of the Tang, the emperor issued an edict summoning him to the Hall of Grace and Governance to inquire about the way of long life. Liu Yuanjing replied, "Not scheming for private gain, not seeking profit, and reducing selfish thoughts and desires: these are the essentials of cultivating the self for generations." The emperor was displeased by this answer, and because of a political upheaval at court at that time, he allowed Liu to return to the mountains.

When the wife of Tang Shen, prefect of Mingzhou, fell ill, he sent a man to ask Liu Yuanjing for a talisman. Liu instructed the messenger, "This talisman should be shown first to the magistrate, not to the lady." When the messenger returned, Tang Shen had already died, but his wife had recovered on her own.

During the Huichang era of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang, Liu Yuanjing was again summoned to the palace. The emperor asked him to confer the fa lu (Daoist register of office and lineage credential) and inquired about the practice of drinking blood to seal an oath. Liu replied, "People value hair and skin; the Son of Heaven is honored, so during ritual he may substitute cinnabar elixir for blood." He then fasted, ascended the altar, and conferred the register on the emperor. The emperor bestowed on him the titles Silver-Green Grand Master of Splendid Ministry and Grand Scholar of the Chongxuan Hall, and granted him the honorific "Master Guangcheng." He also built the Chongxuan Monastery for him to reside in.

Liu Yuanjing asked to return to the mountains, and the emperor issued an edict permitting it. In the tenth month of winter in the fifth year of the Dazhong era of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, clouds and cranes repeatedly appeared, and before long Liu Yuanjing died. People heard heavenly music drifting through the air. When his belongings were moved, only his staff and shoes were found, left behind. His disciple Lü…

Zhi Zhen (personal name), after attaining the Dao, was given a stele inscription by Wan Ye, Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. Zhao Lu, Department Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel, composed his biography. Lu Fan wrote the Stone Chamber Inscription for him, and the Daoist Zhang Jianbai composed his Inner Biography.

Ye Cangzhi

The Daoist Ye Cangzhi, courtesy name Hanxiang, was a native of Songyang in Chuzhou and a descendant of Fa Shan. He first took vows as a Daoist at Anhe Abbey, and later traveled to Mount Tiantai, where he became a disciple of Feng Weiliang. There he received the Scriptures and Registers of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), along with the methods for conferring registers. On Yuxiao Peak he selected a scenic site and built a Daoist retreat, which he called the "Stone Gate Mountain Dwelling." Two steep peaks stood facing each other in front of the dwelling, which gave the place its name, "Stone Gate." Each day he recited the Daodejing and the Duren Jing (Scripture on Saving People).

In his later years, Ye Cangzhi was especially accomplished in Fulu (talisman) arts, and people seeking talismans from him came in an unbroken stream. The Prefect of Wuzhou was once troubled by evil spirits and sent someone to request a talisman from him. The messenger, however, violated a rule of ritual impurity on the way and lost the talisman. The Prefect then came in person to see Ye Cangzhi and noticed a tightly sealed tube on the table. When it was opened, it turned out to contain the talisman that had been lost. The Prefect burned incense, placed the talisman in a box, and carried it back, and the evil spirits vanished. From then on, many who requested talismans from him received their efficacy.

Whatever gifts of money or goods others gave Ye Cangzhi that he did not need for himself, he set aside temporarily and used entirely to repair the altars and temples and to support merit-making affairs. For this reason, the Prefect of Wuzhou memorialized the throne to praise his virtue. Emperor Yizong of the Tang issued an edict in commendation and bestowed the name Yuxiao Abbey on the Stone Gate Mountain Dwelling.

One day Ye Cangzhi suddenly prepared wine and invited his close friend Ying Yijie to drink with him. After they had talked about past events, Ye Cangzhi told his friend the date on which he would depart. On the appointed day, he wrote on his door: "He leaves at cockcrow." His disciples then heard the sound of jade pendants clinking and drums and music playing together in the sky. Shortly afterward the rooster crowed, and when they went to look, Ye Cangzhi had already transformed and departed. He was seventy-four years old.

Ying Yijie

Ying Yijie, courtesy name Shizhong, was a native of Runan. Ying Ning, a noble recluse of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, was his great-grandfather. His family had held no official posts for generations and devoted itself wholeheartedly to cultivating the Dao and nourishing the nature. His mother, Lady He, once dreamed that a shooting star flew into the window. When she awoke, she found light in the room, and she soon became pregnant. After Ying Yijie was born, he did not care for meat or other pungent foods.

At the age of seven he was already exceptionally quick-witted. He went to Lingrui Abbey in Lanxi and became a disciple of Master Wu, where he studied the Laozi, Zhuangzi, Wenzi, Liezi, and the Book of Changes. At thirteen he registered in the Daoist records, received and upheld the Ten Precepts, and diligently burned incense and recited scriptures. His teachers and fellow disciples, upon seeing him, all felt that his bearing was dignified and composed.

Later, he traveled to Mount Tiantai and Longhu Mountain, where he successively received the registers of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), Zixu, Dugong, and others, and afterward received Fulu such as Shengxuan, Shangqing, Huiche Bidao, Ziwen Sudai, and Jiedi Tengtian. The Shangqing Great Method (an important Daoist practice of the Shangqing school) is traditionally said to have been passed from Tao Yinju to Wang Yuanzhi, from Wang Yuanzhi to Master Pan, from Master Pan to Sima Lianshi, and from Sima Lianshi to Xue Jichang, and Xue Jichang passed it on to…… The original text breaks off here.

Tian Liangyi passed the Daoist methods (daofa) on to Tian Mou, who in turn passed them to Feng Weiliang, and Feng Weiliang handed them to Yi Jie. The teacher of Yi Jie practiced with diligence and caution, so spirits often secretly came to his aid in his conduct.

Yi Jie was a close friend of Ye Cangzhi and Liu Chujing in the mountains. During the Huichang reign (841–846) of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang, he built a new purification altar (jingtan), a sacred space for performing the purification ritual (zhaijiao) and other Daoist rites, southwest of the Tongbai Monastery on Mount Tiantai, and he lived there. The Circuit Intendant Li Bao came to inquire about the Dao from him and afterward memorialized the court, requesting that the monastery be granted an official name. The emperor issued an edict naming it "Daoyuan" (Origin of the Dao). The Remonstrator Zhang Ying composed an inscriptional record for the occasion.

Yi Jie cultivated the Dao and nourished his true nature in this place for more than fifty years. People of the Wu and Yue regions admired his bearing, paid him respect, and countless numbers sought to serve at his side. He often practiced the Dao during meditative stillness, ascended the altar to recite the Daoist scriptures and registers (jing and lu), and at times offered blessings for others, and his responses from the spirits appeared repeatedly. In his daily recitation he read the Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court) and the Dadong Jing (Great Cavern Scripture), and he diligently practiced techniques such as the Eight Dao of Gazing at Clouds, the Three Primes Receiving Affairs, Circling the Wind to Conceal the Earth, and Climbing the Dipper to Hide Heaven.

When the high officials reported his reputation to the court, the emperor issued an edict bestowing on him robes and a title, but he firmly declined. He once said to his disciples: "I maintain the teaching, and so I cannot fully conceal my name or hide my traces. Although cultivating the Dao need not violate worldly human feelings, only through diligent practice can one reach the realm of the Dao. How far apart are the Jade Capital and the Golden Gates (the celestial palaces described in Daoist teaching) and the Quqian Fengdu (the netherworld of the dead in Daoist teaching)? They are summoned entirely by the mind's intent. You must work hard at your practice."

In the Qianning reign (894–898) of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang, one day he suddenly bathed, entered stillness, and concentrated his spirit, as though waiting for something. At dawn the following day he passed away peacefully at the age of eighty-five. That night a rich fragrance filled the room, and apes and birds cried mournfully without ceasing. When his coffin was moved for burial, it was found to be empty. Luo Yin of Dongyang wrote a eulogy in his honor.

Zuo Yuanze

The Daoist Zuo Yuanze was a native of Yongjia. He was upright and unbending by nature and would not bend to the customs of the age. Xu Lingfu of Fangying had chosen to dwell in a stone chamber on Xianglin Peak, about one li from Fangying. Each morning and evening Zuo Yuanze went to visit and attend to Xu Lingfu, and he never stopped, even in the bitter cold or the scorching heat. Xu Lingfu, moved by his diligence and reverence, transmitted to him the essential secret teachings.

Later, Zuo Yuanze ascended Yuxiao Peak. At that time someone was holding a Yellow Register Retreat (huanglu zhai), a ritual performed by Daoists for blessings and the removal of calamities, and Yuanze took part in the ceremony, climbing the altar while wearing straw sandals. Someone rebuked him: "You still intend to journey to the Three Realms (the heavenly realms in Daoist teaching), so how can you climb the altar wearing shoes like these?" Afterward he returned to his pine-wood hut, gave up eating, and said nothing.

Then one day, he suddenly took a cloth bag containing a pair of wooden clogs and an ancient mirror, entered the mountains, and no one knew where he had gone. Sometimes he would reappear after an interval of a month or two to visit his friend Ying Yijie and discuss the Dao of purity and emptiness. He also once said that his dwelling had a cave chamber of stone, with tall bamboo growing on its left and right sides.

Several dozen bamboo stalks stood in front of it, and beyond a winding bend in the water lay a pond where dozens of jade-green lotuses were in bloom. Dozens of ornamental birds, resembling the xichu, an ancient name for a kind of water bird, swam back and forth across the water, making for a most charming scene.

He liked the quiet seclusion of the place and settled in to live in the room. One night, something suddenly coiled around his body. When he woke, he simply closed his eyes and sat still, entering zuowang ("sitting and forgetting," a state of concentrating the mind and forgetting external things). He remained in this state until dawn, when the thing finally left. He examined his cloth robe and smelled only a foul, fishy odor of slime.

That night, he again sat in the room, set a net as a trap, and quietly kept watch. Sure enough, a monster emerged from the pond. It was several zhang long, with glowing eyes, and resembled a creature of the jiao (dragon) kind. It crouched upon the rocks and let out a shout of rebuke, then gradually shrank and retreated into the pond. He then warned his later disciples: "Anyone who has not cultivated the necessary skill must never dwell in rock caves."

At the Qingzhang Guan in Wenzhou, there was a local earth god, to which people regularly offered the blood and flesh of livestock. If the sacrifices were interrupted even slightly, the god would cause trouble. Yuanze struck the god's back three times with his staff. The next day, a large wildcat was found dead in the courtyard, with three marks from a staff on its back. The local people then dreamed that the god had told them, "The one who possessed me was an immortal official, and he beat me to death. From now on, do not offer me blood sacrifices."

One day, Yuanze suddenly said to the abbot, "I am about to go elsewhere. Please prepare hot water for me to bathe." Then he offered this prayer: "Cover me up, and simply follow the fragrance as it drifts. Wherever the fragrance ends, stop there." That night, wind and rain rose and thunder and lightning crashed. In the light appeared armored guards in full array. Near dawn, people heard someone call out loudly, "Take care!" They rushed to look, but Yuanze had already passed away. Following his instructions, they traced the fragrance to where it ended and buried him there. They indeed found a naturally formed stone tomb. No one knew how old he had been.

He once wrote the Zhenyi Song ("Ode to the True Unity"), which was inscribed on the stone wall at Fangying:

"The Great Dao is profound and remote, and its depths cannot be fully fathomed. It embraces the Great Void as its vast dwelling, governs all things, and returns them to the One True Unity (zhenyi). To guard the True by means of the Dao is what is called 'true,' yet the True is not singular. To speak of it in words is to speak of nature (ziran). When the myriad things each run their own course, this is the arrangement of nature. Once the root of the embryonic origin is severed, one passes far beyond the three realms (sanjie). When the nine ancestors (jiuzu) are delivered, the Three Officials (sanguan) cease their registration. Truly, this relies on the merit of wuwei (non-action), and such virtue is mysterious and beyond comparison."

Lü Zhizhen

The origins of Lü Zhizhen are unknown. He was a disciple of Master Liu Yuanjing of Guangcheng. His mind was pure and his manner gentle, and in daily life he seemed not to be skilled at speech. He lived in a stone chamber for more than ten years. Afterward, he went to the capital once a year and also traveled through the Xiaoxiang region, visiting the residences of his various disciples.

He often carried two large gourds containing medicines, clothing, and Daoist ritual implements such as scriptures and registers (jinglu). He enjoyed treating the sick with medicines. When he entered mountain forests and valleys, tigers and leopards often followed him.

He was once asked about the methods of the Dao, but he remained silent and gave no answer. Later, as he came out of the Shang Mountain road, his face suddenly changed color and he stopped in his tracks. Everyone was startled. Before long, robbers armed with weapons did appear ahead. Zhizhen said to them, "These travelers are all my disciples. Do not harm them." The robbers gathered up their robes, stepped aside to the roadside, and no longer dared to come forward.

They then came to a mountain pass. Zhizhen said, "Something here can hurt people." His companions followed him into the forest, where they saw him bind two tigers with rope and lead them out. From this it is clear that Zhizhen had thoroughly mastered the Dao methods (daofa) of Guangcheng Zi. He once said that when he first lived in a stone chamber, his dwelling was very cramped. One night he held a jiao (a Daoist ritual of supplication), and suddenly the cliff wall split open outward for several dozen paces, leaving a flat and spacious interior. A black leopard also wandered beside him, tame and obedient.

Du Guangting

Du Guangting, a Daoist priest, styled himself Binsheng and called himself Dongying Zi. He was a native of Chuzhou. (The Record of Mount Qingcheng says he was from Duling in Jingzhao.) He read widely and had lofty ambitions. During the Yizong reign of the Tang dynasty, he and Zheng Yunsou together submitted essays of ten thousand characters for the civil examinations. They did not pass, and so he resolutely turned to the Daoist path, becoming a disciple of the Daoist Ying Yijie of Tiantai.

He often said that since the Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Han dynasty and Lu Xiujing compiled the Daoist scriptures, precepts, and liturgies (keyi), many years had passed and much of the material had nearly been lost. He therefore examined what was authentic and what was spurious, arranged the entries in order, and explained the origins and development of each set of regulations, so that Daoists throughout the realm would benefit for a long time.

Zheng Tian recommended Du's writings to the court. Emperor Xizong of Tang summoned him, bestowed on him a purple Daoist robe and an ivory tablet (xiangjian, the tablet carried at audience), and appointed him to compose imperial documents at the Linde Hall. He became a leader among Daoists and was esteemed by the people of his time. Admirers praised him, saying, "His learning is like a sea a thousand fathoms deep, and his prose like a luxuriant forest. He upheld the schools and established the teachings, and in all the world there is only this one man."

In the early Zhonghe years, Du followed the imperial carriage to Xingyuan. On the way, at Xi County, he met a master of arts named Chen Xiufu, known as Chen the Seventh. Du admired him greatly. He parted the tall grass, dug up a wine gourd, poured out wine, and said, "Let me trade you this gourd of wine for your five viscera." Master Chen, knowing that the unrest in the realm had not yet subsided, submitted a memorial requesting permission to travel to Chengdu.

Du loved the broad, open scenery of White Cloud Brook on Mount Qingcheng, and so he built a thatched hut there. It is said that White Cloud Brook was the place where the immortal Xuechang ascended to heaven. Before long, the emperor was preparing to return to the capital, and he issued an edict ordering Du to perform a jiao for the twenty-four divine beings. Later, Wang Jian came to dominate Shu and summoned Du to serve as tutor to the princes. Wang Jian told him, "In the past, the Han had the Four Venerable Men of Shang Mountain, but even they cannot compare with my having a teacher like you." Du did not wish to stay at court, so he recommended Xu Ji and Xu Jianfu to take his place.

As a young man, Guangting studied in Chengdu under Chancellor Xu Guangpu, observing the courtesies due a disciple and attending him in his studies. Xu once told him: "When I first studied at the National Academy, its library was complete. I read the books on astronomy and the immortals first, then the Classics, histories, masters, and collected writings. Within a single month I arranged my daily tasks so that on the first day I recited the Classics, on the second I read the masters and histories, on the third I practiced composition, on the fourth I memorized old affairs, and on the fifth I rested and enjoyed myself. Each month I devoted six days to each of these five tasks. Keeping to this for five or six years, one will master the Classics and histories."

The scholar Wei Ai brought the collected writings of his elder brother, Chancellor Wei Zhuang, and asked Guangting to write a preface. Guangting replied, "The Chancellor's literary talent is abundant. Unless the collection leaves out the poems that are somewhat frivolous and ornate, I cannot agree." Later, Jianyong asked Guangting for a preface on behalf of Zhang Ge. Zhang Ge was the son of Zhang Jun, a Tang chancellor, and though his talent and learning stood out in his time, he was not well versed in institutional precedent and old affairs. When he first began governing Shu, he often consulted Guangting on matters both great and small. This shows that Guangting excelled not only at literary composition but also possessed the ability to govern the state.

At that time a Daoist named Ganting visited Guangting in autumn but did not get to see him. One day Guangting suddenly said to his disciples, "The true palace on Mount Qingcheng is under construction, and the work is not yet finished. Yesterday I dreamed that I had an audience with the Supreme Thearch. He intends to appoint me as the presiding official over the region of Mount Min and Mount Emei, so I fear my days in the human world are few." When the disciples heard this, they all wept.

The true palace was completed in the fourth year of the Changxing era under Emperor Zhuang of the Later Tang, the guisi year, corresponding to 933 CE. In the eleventh month, Guangting, then eighty-four years old, put on his ritual robes one day, bowed to the heavens in farewell, climbed into the hall, sat down cross-legged, and passed away. His complexion remained gentle and glossy, as if he were still alive, and the room was filled with a strange fragrance that lingered for a long time before it dispersed.

Guangting kept a white dog named Feiyun, or "Barking at Clouds." He had people rub hemp oil on the dog's feet and wrap them in cloth, saying, "I have heard that if a dog's feet are oiled, it can travel ten thousand li in a day." Before long, Feiyun barked a few times and then died as well.

Guangting wrote the Hunyuan Diagram, the Ode to the Sage, the Expanded Meanings of the Sage, and the Chronicle of Rulers, together with songs, poems, and miscellaneous essays. In all, his works came to more than a hundred juan, and they circulated widely. In writing, he always kept in mind the aim of ordering the world and relieving the suffering of the people. The Shu Taowu records that he produced over a thousand juan of writings, all grounded in the principle of wuwei (non-action). Examples include the "Hundred-Rhyme Poem on Mountain Dwelling" and the two pieces "Recording the Dao and De" and "Pondering Past and Present," whose varied forms contributed considerably to moral instruction.

The ruler of Shu, Wang Jian, first bestowed on Guangting the title "Venerable Master of Broad Virtue." Later he wished to grant him a more distinguished rank, and so he began inquiring among the relevant officials…

Zuo Yuanze (a sample name) aside, here is the translation:

Serving Mao Wenxi, he offered advice and strategy. In the early Wude reign of the Tang, Qi Pingding was granted the title Golden Purple Grand Master (an official rank). During the Kaiyuan era, Yin Yin served as an official in the Remonstrance Office, and so he was appointed Grand Remonstrant, enfeoffed as Duke of Cai, and given the honorific Master Guangcheng. Later he was invited to Yuju Hua, and in the early Tongzheng years he was promoted to Vice Minister of the Board of Revenue. Yan succeeded to his position, honored him as Celestial Master of True Transmission, and additionally conferred upon him the titles Special Advancement, Acting Grand Preceptor, and Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent, while concurrently serving as Grand Scholar of the Hall of Esteemed Literature.

Lü Qiu Fangyuan

Lü Qiu Fangyuan, courtesy name Dafang, was a native of Songsu in Shuzhou. From childhood he was clever and eloquent; at sixteen he had mastered the classics and histories, and on Mount Lu he studied the Book of Changes under Chen Yuanwu. At twenty-nine he sought out Zuo Yuanze of Xianglin to ask about the way of refining the Great Elixir. Zuo, greatly appreciating him, said:

"Have you not heard Laozi say, 'I have great trouble because I have a body'? The body gives rise to action out of non-action; now, to return to the root, is non-action. Non-action does not mean clinging to emptiness because of 'nothing,' nor being bound by 'something' because of 'existence.' Clinging to existence or non-existence both lead to obstruction. Only when existence and non-existence are unified in one, when distinctions are dissolved and the mind holds nothing, can one approach the Dao.

"Buddhists call this the Chan school; Yan Hui called it sitting and forgetting. The Book of Changes says: 'Without thought, without action, still and unmoving, yet responsive, it penetrates all the causes under heaven.' These teachings, at root, are one. The scriptures also say: 'Meet it and you cannot see its head; follow it and you cannot see its tail.' What, then, is this? If you can silently grasp it and verify it within your own heart, why seek outward at all? It is a pity that your talent is outstanding, and you could well have become a model for the true gate."

Fangyuan bowed his head in thanks and departed. He then went to Yinzhen Crag on Mount Xiandu, served Liu Chujing, and studied the arts of cultivating the real and withdrawing from the world. At thirty-four, on Mount Tiantai at the Yuxiao Palace, he received registers (Fulu, certificates of ordained ritual authority) from Ye Cangzhi and was fully taught the secret formulas of the true texts.

Apart from practicing Guarding the One and circulating Qi, Fangyuan devoted himself to reading the masters, histories, and other classics, and he retained whatever he read at a glance. He often said, "Ge Chuanxiong and Tao Zhenbai are my teachers and friends." He collated the Taiping Jing, arranging it into thirty chapters and thoroughly elucidating its essential meanings, so that his reputation spread ever more widely through the Jiang-Huai region.

In the second year of the Jingfu reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang, Qian Liu, Prince of Pengcheng of Qiantang, deeply admired Fangyuan's virtue, visited him at the Great Washing Cave in Yuhang, and built a residence for him. Emperor Zhaozong summoned Fangyuan to court many times, but he never answered the summons.

Fang Yuan inferred from the heavens that the state of Qin would fall into ruin and that the Tang's fortunes would pass to another house. His integrity matched that of the Four Greybeards of Mount Shang, Yuan Gong and Qili Ji, and he would not leave the mountains, so in the end he did not answer the summons to court. The emperor issued an edict honoring him, bestowed official robes upon him so that he might publicize the Daoist teachings, and conferred on him the titles "Great Master of Wondrous Existence" (Miaoyou Dashi) and "Gentleman of Profound Unity" (Xuantong Xiansheng).

Fang Yuan expounded the sacred teaching and enlightened those in ignorance, so that his accounts of cultivating the Dao (Dao) spread widely. People of the Wu and Chu regions therefore flocked to study under him, and scholars from near and far came to seek instruction. He had more than two hundred disciples, among them Xia Yinyan of Kuaiji, Dai Yin of Qiao, Zheng Yinyao of Xingyang, Ling Yin of Wu Commandery, Zhou Shengyin of Guangling, and Zhang Yinzhi of Wudu. All of them inherited the essentials of the Dao and penetrated to the depths of the learning. Cheng Zixiao of Guangping was summoned to the Qin palace, Nie Shidao of Xin'an taught in the state of Wu, and ten men, including Hu Qianguang of Anding and Kong Zonglu of Lu, received the subtle method of "contemplating the True and refining the spirit" (sizhen lianshen). The rest of his disciples either traveled to famous sacred sites or lived in seclusion on renowned mountains, and their deeds cannot be recorded one by one.

On the fourteenth day of the second month of the second year of the Tianfu era (902), Fang Yuan bathed, burned incense, and sat upright to await his end. At noon he passed away. His face was serene and joyful, and his body remained supple and relaxed. A rich fragrance lingered for three days. His disciples prepared his body for burial according to worldly custom, but when they opened the coffin they found only his robes; his physical body had undergone "corpse deliverance" (shijie), the Daoist term for shedding the form and ascending as an immortal. He was buried on White Deer Mountain beside Dadi Grotto. Later, both Daoists and laypeople saw him several times on Mount Xiandu and Mount Lu. He said of himself, "I have left Dadi Grotto and returned to dwell at the Source of the Celestial Pillar on Mount Qian."

Minister Dao-yi comments: Zuo Yuanze's answers to Lüqiu Fangyuan's questions are very good. However, his final statement, "so long as one clings to neither existence nor non-existence, and the mind is perfectly still and free of intention," may still leave learners unable to distinguish between existence and non-existence. One must understand that within non-being there is not complete nothingness, and within being there is not substantial reality, before one truly accords with the Dao. The attainment that Fang Yuan reached went beyond this.

The Daodejing says: "Thirty spokes converge on a single hub; it is the emptiness at its center that makes the wheel useful. Kneading clay to form a vessel; it is the hollowness within that makes the vessel useful. Cutting out doors and windows to build a house; it is the emptiness inside that makes the house useful. Therefore, what has form provides convenience, while what is formless and empty performs its function." This discusses non-being (wu).

The Daodejing also says: "The bearing of great De follows only the Dao. The Dao is a thing that is vague and elusive. Elusive and vague, yet within it there are images; vague and elusive, yet within it there are objects; dim and profound..." The original text breaks off here.

Within its profound and mysterious depths lies a subtle essence, one that is utterly real and contains a credible basis. It is also said:

There is something undifferentiated and whole, which existed even before Heaven and Earth took form. It is still and empty, stands alone without change, and circulates without ceasing, so it can serve as the root of all things under heaven. I do not know its name, so I call it Dao (the Way).

This passage speaks of you (existence). One who understands this, even if they had personally met Zuo Yuanze, the figure in question, would certainly say: "These words have already exhausted the principle."

Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror of the Perfected Immortals Who Embodied the Dao Through the Ages), Volume 40