《歷世真仙體道通鑑》Vol. 54

Liu Hunkang, whose courtesy name was Zhitong, was from Jinling. For several generations, none of his ancestors had held office. His mother, Lady Zhu, gave birth to him on the second day of the twelfth month of the second year of Jingyou, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song. That night was the night when Lord Mao descended. Lady Zhu dreamed that a Daoist with feathered robes entered her room; when she awoke, she gave birth to Liu Hunkang.

At the age of thirteen, Liu Hunkang became a disciple of Tang Hanxiang, a Daoist priest at Taihe Abbey in his home commandery. In the fifth year of Jiayou, he passed the examination in the Daoist scriptures and became a Daoist priest. From then on, he withdrew from worldly affairs. Each day he studied Daoist books and, on his own, grasped the subtle meaning of the Cavern Scriptures, the Daoist canon. Distressed that there was no true master in the world, he let his hair down and ascended an altar, taking Heaven as his ancestral authority. Later, hearing that Mao Fengrou, a Daoist priest of the Three Mao Mountains, had deeply mastered the Daoist methods of Lord Zhu of Contemplating the Mystery, he went to become his disciple. Mao Fengrou recognized his worth at first sight and transmitted to him the entire Great Cavern Scripture register—the teachings and Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Great Cavern.

Liu Hunkang later built a hut on Jijin Peak and lived there. One day, a feathered immortal—a perfected being who had attained the Dao—came to his dwelling and pointed to a spot east of the thatched hut. “Live here,” he said. “Embrace the spirit and guard the center; let your De (Virtue/Power) benefit the people. Then you will do justice to those who came before you.” The immortal looked at Liu Hunkang’s forehead and added, “There is no trace of reckless action here. This is a place esteemed by the Dao, and it must not be blemished.” He touched Liu Hunkang’s forehead with his hand, and the scar there disappeared the next day. After this, Liu Hunkang devoted himself to cultivation and gladly helped others. People near and far revered him.

During the reign of Emperor Zhezong, Liu Hunkang was summoned to the capital, where the emperor named his thatched hut the Abbey of Primordial Talisman. The Comprehensive Mirror of Our Dynasty: Accounts of Events records that Liu Hunkang was principled and virtuous, and greatly respected by Emperor Shenzong; Emperor Huizong therefore treated him with honor as well. In the second year of Chongning, Liu Hunkang asked to return to the mountains. In the seventh month, the court accepted a memorial from Master Zhu Ziying, Lord of Contemplating the Mystery, and bestowed on Liu Hunkang the title “Lord of the Immortal Capital of the Nine Elders” and the name “Carved Jade.” He was also granted the title “Master Who Preserves the True and Contemplates the Mystery.” In the seventh month of the fifth year of Chongning, his title was extended to “Master Who Preserves the True, Contemplates the Mystery, and Embodies Harmony.”

In the fourth month of the second year of Daguan, Liu Hunkang was summoned to the Palace of Auspicious Preservation at Shangqing, together with Xu Shenweng, a Daoist priest from Taizhou, and the Celestial Master Zhang Xujing. The court granted each of them a Daoist residence. Before long, Liu Hunkang underwent feathered transformation—that is, he died, as Daoists say of an immortal who has attained the Dao. In the fifth month, the court posthumously awarded him the rank of Grand Master of Central Excellence. All the honors he received during his lifetime were recorded in detail on a stele.

Wang Quan, whose courtesy name was Zizhen, was from Yangping in Fengxiang. His father passed the imperial examinations, and his brothers also…

Quan had not yet passed the imperial examinations and lived in quiet seclusion, taking pleasure in cultivating the Dao. One day he went for a walk in the countryside and rested beside a melon field.

A village woman asked him for a melon. Her breasts hung down to her belly. Quan could see that she was no ordinary person, so he asked her surname. She replied, "My name is Xiao Sanniang." Quan picked a melon, put it in his bag, and gave it to her. After she had eaten some, she stopped, handed the rest back to him, and said, "You should try some too." Quan took it and ate it, his expression calm. The woman said, "You are ready to be taught. The immortal Haichanzi (Haichanzi) now lives here and should be able to guide a later disciple. I will take you to see him tomorrow."

When Quan met Haichanzi, Haichanzi said, "You have been able to meet me only because of the karmic bond from your previous life." He had Quan kneel for a long time and transmitted to him the Ultimate Dao (zhidao), the supreme method, along with the oral formulas (danjue) of internal alchemy (Neidan). He also warned Quan to accumulate merit and perform many good deeds. Quan then returned home, informed his mother, took leave of his wife, and set out to travel to famous mountains.

At that time, a court official recommended Quan for his virtue, and the imperial court bestowed on him the title "Scholar-Recluse of Empty Tranquility" (Chongxu Chushi). In the third year of the Yuanfu era under Emperor Zhezong of the Song, he again traveled to Mount Mao. Before this, the stone cave on Zhongfeng suddenly opened. This was the "side gate of the Huayang Cavern Heaven" (Huayang Dongtian) described in the Zhen Gao (Declarations of the Perfected), and it was said to have been sealed for a thousand years. Sweet dew also fell from the sky. The Daoist Liu Hunkang said, "Some extraordinary person must be coming." Before long, Quan did arrive at Mount Mao and received the Shangqing register (Shangqing lu), a registration document of the Daoist transmission.

That same night, celestial music came drifting down from on high. Quan stayed there for more than a year. One day, in broad daylight, he dreamed that two celestial beings arrived in a carriage, accompanied by several hundred envoys dressed in yellow. They escorted a white tiger to welcome him. Quan mounted the white tiger, passed through the perilous passes, entered the stone cave from Zhongfeng, and made his way toward the entrance that had been opened earlier. He looked around and saw golden courts and jade halls. Then two boys in blue went in to announce him. He paid his respects to Lord Mao, who greeted him warmly and said, "The Heavenly Emperor has issued a decree appointing you Assistant Director of Life Records for the Huayang Cavern Heaven." He then presented Quan with a golden edict and sent him back.

On waking, Quan took leave of Liu Hunkang and said, "My allotted span of life is nearly over, and there are still some things I must pass on. From now on, I will depart." He entrusted his affairs to the Daoist Ge Chong and predicted that he would undergo "transformation and release" (jiehua), the Daoist term for an immortal's departure from the world, on the seventeenth day of the eighth month. On that day he dressed neatly and passed away while sitting upright. This was during the Jianzhong Jingguo era under Emperor Huizong of the Song, and he was sixty-one years old.

Xu Shouxin

The immortal Xu Shouxin was a native of Hailing and worked as a menial laborer at the Tianqing Abbey. He wore tattered clothes and dragged straw sandals, and sometimes walked barefoot. All day long he sought nothing, only sweeping with his broom, and he never stopped chanting the Duren Jing (Scripture on Salvation of Humankind).

A Daoist named Xu Yuanji came from another region. He had a severe case of leprosy and an appearance that frightened people. The others found him repugnant and drove him out to live in a thatched hut behind the temple.

The shrine ran short of grain at times, and Shenweng said, "Let me go and ask for grain for you." He walked into the hall, lay there for a long while, and then came out and told the Daoists, "The grain has arrived." Before long, men carrying rice arrived one after another, shoulder to shoulder.

Someone offered silver to Shenweng as an offering. He placed the silver on his bed. A thief, peering in and seeing that he seemed to be absent, opened the door and went in, only to find Shenweng sitting upright on the bed with a stern expression. The thief was frightened and turned to flee. From then on, people from all four quarters often came to ask Shenweng about misfortune and omens.

Lü Huiqing, styled Jifu, went to the capital after completing his mourning period and detoured to visit Shenweng. Shenweng fled in alarm, and Jifu gave chase. Shenweng turned back and said to him, "Keep hold of it well, keep hold of it well." Jifu bowed in thanks and departed. Not long after returning to court, he was demoted for a matter of official business and appointed Prefect of Shanzhou.

Jiang Zhiqi, styled Yingshu, was in charge of grain transport along the Jiang-Huai region. He proposed digging a transport canal but feared striking large rocks that would prevent the plan from succeeding, and he hesitated without deciding. He went to consult Shenweng. Shenweng saw him approaching from afar and said, "Just dig it. What is there to ask anyone?" Yingshu sighed in admiration and said, "He is truly an extraordinary person." The canal was indeed opened later.

When Emperor Zhezong of Song fell ill, the court sent Zhefu to Shenweng to present incense and pray for blessings. Shenweng drew a talisman and had Jifu take it back as an offering. Soon after, Emperor Huizong ascended the throne. In the early years of the Chongning era, the court summoned Shenweng to the capital, but he refused to go. The court then forcibly had him carried to Dongjing by cart, but he still did not wish to stay there, so the court sent him back with due ceremony. Later, the court built the Xianyuan Wanshou Palace for him at Hailing and had him reside there. In the late Daguan era, Shenweng underwent shijie (corpse-liberation), a Daoist term for an adept whose body remains or vanishes while the spirit departs and ascends.

Zhang Runzi

Zhang Runzi was not known to be from any particular place. He often traveled about the area of Mount Song. He frequently performed odd jobs for the hermitages of various Daoists but would not accept a single coin for it. He wore straw sandals and thin clothing, and never changed them through the heat or the cold. He often said to people, "The human body must be moistened." People did not understand what he meant and simply called him "Runzi." When someone pressed him on the meaning of this saying, he switched to rambling, jumbled replies, so that no one could pursue the matter further.

The world holds a poem attributed to him:

The root of the Great Dao lies hidden deep within chaos;
the body withers, yet the will remains, silent as if in stupor.
Fine rain drifts down along the road to Kunlun;
great winds surge, thundering at the gate of the vast sea.
When the qi of sun and moon meet, the golden cauldron is warmed;
when the changes of heaven and earth, yin and yang, begin to stir, the jade furnace grows hot.
One should cultivate this principle while still alive,
and not follow ordinary people who speak of it only after death.

After a long time...

He went to work as a hired hand for the Li family in Xinzhou, Zhengzhou. In the third year of the Chongning reign under Emperor Huizong of the Song, he took leave of the Li family and left behind a eulogy: "In youth I studied diligently; in later years my cultivation grew abundant. My body was always moist and glossy, and the hundred seas would never run dry. The Dao (the Way) lies hidden in the dark depths of the Primordial Beginning. Like a fledgling that feeds itself, like a quail that dwells in quiet, I live simply. Once my cultivation is complete, I shall return to the Pure Capital (Qingdu), the celestial capital of Daoist legend." That same day, he told his disciples, "The Jade Emperor (Yuhuang) has issued a decree, and I am to ascend to heaven." Before long, a five-colored auspicious cloud appeared above the great locust tree to the southeast of his house, and the sound of heavenly music was heard. Runzi rode the cloud and departed.

Wang Ji

Wang Ji was an old soldier from Shan Prefecture (Shanzhou). In the height of summer he would sit or lie under the blazing sun, and in the depths of winter he would slip into a stream until only his head remained above the water. Most locals believed he possessed Daoist arts.

In the early years of the Chongning reign, Moqi Xu followed his father to Shan Prefecture, where his father served as prefect. Wang Ji often visited Moqi Xu, who would invite him to the study hall and entertain him with wine. When the wine was finished, Wang Ji would pick up the brush from the table and write out several effective prescriptions. Moqi Xu was young at the time and paid them little attention, often tossing them aside.

One day Wang Ji said to Moqi Xu, "Noble sir, you often harm your spleen and stomach with too much wine and rich food, and you have already fallen ill because of it. I will teach you a method of massage, but be careful not to reveal what I tell you." Later, Wang Ji suddenly announced, "I am leaving," and he died the next day. He was buried, but several months later someone saw him in a neighboring prefecture. When people returned and opened the grave, they found only the straw sandals he had worn.

From then on, Moqi Xu, nearing seventy, still had a face as rosy as peach blossoms, and his appetite was better than before. Even when he drank until midnight, the massage method Wang Ji had taught him still proved effective. Only then did Moqi Xu regret that in his youth he had failed to recognize Wang Ji as an extraordinary person and had not asked him for the arts of long life and enduring vision. The method he had learned from Wang Ji was not even passed on to his elder brother, who had once served as Vice Councilor of State Affairs (canzhi zhengshi), an office that assisted the chief minister in governing.

Zhu Dabo

Zhu Dabo was not known to be from any particular place. He had worked as a hired hand for the Gui family in Guixi, Xinzhou. He appeared slow and dull on the outside, yet he was very careful and conscientious in his work.

One day he suddenly returned from outside, his bearing unlike its usual self, and said, "Just now a Daoist gave me a medicine, and now I no longer need to eat." Gui Anshi tested this and found it was indeed so. From then on, he would bake under the blazing summer sun and lie on ice in winter, yet he continued to work as a hired hand as before. The Gui family gradually came to value him and wished to treat him as a guest. Zhu Dabo declined, saying, "I am still working for others. Once the agreed term of my service is over..."

Long after leaving that place, in the third year of the Daguan era (1109), Emperor Huizong of the Song suddenly said to An Shi: "Some ten-odd li from here there is a White Flower Cliff, and someone is summoning me. Would you, Master, be willing to go along?" An Shi then followed him. Before they reached the place, they could already hear the sound of strings and winds, and thick red clouds enveloped the mountain. As An Shi looked around in astonishment, the elder uncle took his leave. Before he had finished speaking, he vanished.

Liu Yi

Liu Yi was a native of Lantian in Jingzhao. He lived in seclusion in a thatched hut at Zizhi Hermitage for sixty years. His skin was smooth as jade, and his face was vigorous and healthy. He could drink several dou of wine without becoming drunk. To him, steep mountain ridges, up or down, were like level, open roads. He often stayed at the Buddhist temple in Huayan Creek.

In the early Xuanhe era of the Song, the Jingzhao prefectural government reported his deeds to the court. Emperor Huizong sent an envoy to summon him to the capital. It was then autumn, and rain fell steadily. The roads were so muddy that the water rose over the ankles. Liu Yi went on foot, and the envoys on horseback could not keep up with him. When he arrived at the Eastern Capital (Dongdu, Kaifeng), Huizong received him with great courtesy. Liu Yi, however, did not like the place and insisted on returning to the mountains. He again stayed at the Buddhist temple in Huayan Creek.

In the last years of the Xuanhe era, he told his disciples: "How can mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees carry such a heavy stench of rankness? I cannot bear this place." He then departed through shijie (corpse liberation), a Daoist concept for a practitioner who sheds the mortal body and attains the Dao and goes away. When preparations were made for his burial, his body had become like the empty shell a cicada leaves behind when it molts. Later, when war broke out, the disciples came to believe that his words had indeed been extraordinary.

Wei Erweng

Wei Erweng was a native of Leize in Puzhou, and his family had farmed for generations. Elders of the village said that from childhood, whenever they saw him, he always looked to be past seventy. He wore a cloth robe, held a palm-leaf fan, and walked with a staff. In ordinary life he could not read, and his eyes looked dim and blurred, yet he could write characters as tiny as fly heads. He often spoke to people about misfortune and blessing, and the villagers gradually came to respect him.

In the depth of winter, someone made a cotton-padded jacket and gave it to Wei Erweng. A thief happened to learn of this and came near his dwelling at night. Wei Erweng called out the thief's name through the wall: "Do you want my cotton jacket?" He then tossed the jacket out to him. The thief, alarmed, thanked him and bowed twice before leaving.

Earlier, there had been a man named Wang Laozhi from Juancheng, whom Emperor Huizong had dreamed of. The emperor summoned Wang to the capital on the very day of the dream. Not long after, Huizong heard of Wei Erweng's reputation and sent an envoy to summon him as well. When the envoy reached Wei's dwelling, he heard only loud snoring like thunder, but he could not see the man himself. Fearing he could not return to report, the envoy earnestly begged him to come out. Wei was clearly inside the house, yet whenever the envoy urged him to set out, he seemed to have gone somewhere else. In the end the envoy could not bring him back. He returned with only a eulogy verse, in which Wei wrote:

"Now I enter the mountains, to avoid this noisy disturbance. The court sends a minor official to escort me, and offers high office and generous salary to recruit me. Does it think I can be moved so easily…"

He delighted in the tranquil leisure beyond worldly affairs, cultivated his true nature, and nourished his original qi. After the "Seven Returns and Nine Reversions" (qi fan jiu huan, a Daoist internal alchemy term for the stages and methods of refining the elixir), his Golden Elixir (jin dan) was at last completed.

He then ascended the immortal altar and set off for the Crimson Gate, Jade Door, and Golden Barrier within the immortal realm of Penglai. He said, "If anyone can learn from me, treading the immortal path among the clouds is not difficult." In the early Xuanhe reign period, he suddenly departed by means of shijie (corpse liberation, the Daoist term for a method in which the body is left behind while the person sheds it and attains immortality). Villagers laid him to rest, but when they lifted the coffin, they found nothing inside. They then opened the coffin and saw a hidden-character poem left within:

"Fire and field, the master's heart; take care to act with caution, so the Way may be passed to later generations. Guarding Kan and Li is the essential secret; pursuing fame and profit brings only worry and torment. If you come to understand the method of Danxia, the path should lead back to the immortal mansion of Zifu."

The gist is this: those who cultivate must act with caution if they are to transmit the Dao to later generations. Guarding Kan and Li (Daoist internal alchemy terms, often used to refer to yin and yang and their harmonization) is the key to practice. Chasing fame and profit brings only sorrow and vexation. If one can understand the method of Danxia, one may hope to walk the road to Zifu (the immortal realm in Daoist belief).

Wang Laozhi

Master Wang, personal name Laozhi, was a native of Linquan in Puzhou. He once met Zhongli Zhenren and received the essentials of internal alchemy cultivation, and so became famous for his Daoist arts. An official in Yizhou wished to enlist his help and sent word through friends and relatives. The master replied with a poem:

"Long retired from office, I have grown old, and by my own hand I have planted several hundred mulberry and hemp plants. Every one of them was kneaded out of the tip of a brush, and on every single branch there clings a wronged ghost."

The meaning is this: I have long since withdrawn from public life, and with my own hands I have planted several hundred mulberry and hemp plants. Yet all of them were produced by the twisting of a writing brush, and every branch carries a wronged spirit. Through the poem, the master declined to meet, implying that he did not wish to associate with that official.

A scholar of Puzhou, skilled in debate, wished to defeat the master with words and went to visit him. The master's residence was enclosed by high walls, with only a dog hole for entry. The scholar had no choice but to crawl through it on his belly. While they were talking, he suddenly saw a whirlpool appear on the ground, which within moments grew several feet wide, and in it appeared scales as large as a measuring bushel. The master said to him, "Return quickly, for if you delay you will meet with great disaster." The scholar hurried away, but before he had gone five li, thunder, lightning, and hail struck suddenly, and his horse cowered and refused to move. He could only take shelter in a mud house, bowing repeatedly toward the master's Shengsheng Hermitage and begging for his life, and only then did he barely escape.

In the ninth month of the third year of the Zhenghe reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the court issued an edict ordering the local officials to escort the master respectfully to the capital and bestowed upon him the title "Master Dongwei" (Penetrating the Subtle). In the first month of the fourth year of Zhenghe, he was further granted the title "Master Dongwei of Clear Insight into the Marvelous and Bright Truth."

Although the master had no interest in stipends or generous treatment, he often spoke frankly to advise the emperor. One day, Huizong summoned him to the palace, and Empress Xianshu was also present. The master suddenly took out a sheet of paper and said, "In the days to come, Your Majesty and the Empress of the Central Palace will both encounter calamity. It is regrettable that I will already be dead by then and will not witness it with my own eyes. I have a method of the Qiankun Mirror (a Daoist ritual technique for averting disaster) that can dispel misfortune and remove calamity. But what is more essential is the cultivation of virtue, which alone can turn back Heaven's will. Please have a Qiankun Mirror cast according to my method and hung in your sleeping hall, with five-colored tassels. After my death, you should often sit beneath the mirror, remember my words, and admonish yourselves every day."

He pondered how to eliminate the trouble before it became visible. The emperor was greatly astonished by this account, accepted his views, and issued an edict ordering that mirrors be made. When the mirrors were completed, they were presented to the emperor. Later, the Master returned to Pu and "dissolved into transformation" (jiehua, a Daoist term for a practitioner's death or special manner of departure).

The Records of Events from the Imperial Dynasties notes that on the xinwei day of the tenth month of the fourth year of the Xuanhe era (1122), Wang Laozhi, the Master Guanmiao Mingzhen Dongwei, passed away. The emperor bestowed gold for his burial and posthumously conferred upon him the title Grand Master of Proper Counsel. The Record of the Xuanhe Era states that wherever the Master had lived, flowers would certainly grow, and people called these blossoms "dijin" (earth brocade). During the Jingkang era, when the Northern Song fell and the two emperors were taken captive, two noble palace attendants always treasured this mirror and sighed that Wang Laozhi had foreseen these events long before and had guided the ruler along the right path.

Li Siguang

Li Enguang, courtesy name Jingyuan, was a native of Jishui in Luling. As a child he studied at Kaiming Abbey, a Daoist temple. Later, after mastering the scriptures and receiving the Daoist cap and robe (a formal sign of entering the Daoist order), his aspirations and conduct set him apart from others. He often wandered freely among the mountains and rivers, spending whatever money he had on wine, and sometimes drank alone in the marketplace. Past the age of seventy, his appearance remained youthful. He rarely spoke with people, and no one knew what level of cultivation he had attained.

In the fourth year of the Zhenghe era of Emperor Huizong (1114), he traveled to Luochuan and lived for long periods at a tavern beside Xixi Bridge. An elderly woman, sensing that he was extraordinary, often invited him to drink and never asked whether he could pay. After many years of this arrangement, he suddenly said to her one day, "I am about to leave. Thank you for treating me so generously all this time. Please deliver this letter to someone for me." He then lingered to drink again, and after becoming drunk he stayed at an inn in the marketplace. The next morning, when the elderly woman went to check on him, she found that he had died. His body was still warm, as if he were alive, and the room was filled with fragrance that could be smelled even outside. She hurried to inform his relatives and friends.

More than a month after the burial, a traveler arrived from Mount Heng and said that on the road he had met Jingyuan and recognized him. He reported that Jingyuan's clothing and cap were as before, and that Jingyuan had asked him to convey thanks to the elderly woman and his kinsmen. Later, when everyone gathered to open the grave and the coffin, no body was found, only a silk cord tied to a bamboo staff.

Rong Yang

Rong Yang, a native of Dongping, once sold ink in the marketplace, and people called him "Erlang" (Second Son). Later he traveled to the Shu region and arrived at You County, where he climbed Yuewang Tower with a subordinate official of the prefecture. One night, a roof tile fell from above. Erlang said, "This is the work of a defeated ghost." The official then asked the guards on duty at the tower. They replied that some days earlier, while the building was being repaired, a carpenter had fallen from the tower and died. Upon hearing this, the official was greatly astonished.

Not long afterward, Erlang said to the prefect, Zhao, "We should leave this place at once, or disaster will soon fall upon us." In the following year, the Nanman tribes of the south broke through the border passes and penetrated deep into the Shu region, and as a result, all the officials of Shu were punished.

Emperor Huizong of the Song, in the early Xuanhe reign, issued an edict seeking out unusual persons and ordered the prefects of various regions to recommend those with reputations. Erlang received the summons and traveled to the Eastern Capital (Kaifeng, the Northern Song capital) by post carriage. He said, "The world is simply like this now. What more is there for me to do?" The envoys urged him repeatedly, and since he could not refuse, he set out.

Upon reaching the capital, Emperor Huizong asked about the skills he had learned, but Erlang gave no answer. The emperor then bestowed on him one hundred thousand coins and sent him home. Erlang returned to Shu and lived in seclusion there. He seldom ate and only drank wine now and then.

Once, he drank with Ma Qian, a scholar from Chengdu, in a marketplace. When the wine was finished, Erlang raised his sleeve as though beckoning something. After a moment, coins poured out of his sleeve and piled up across the table. When Erlang had left, the onlookers counted the money, and the amount was exactly equal to the cost of the wine.

When someone fell ill, Erlang would take a wooden twig about one chi long, breathe upon it, and then place it on the affected area. He would then remove the twig, throw it to the ground, and stamp on it, or sometimes simply discard it. The patients often recovered on the spot. When someone's eyesight was dim, he would say, "I will share some of my gaze with you." He then opened his eyes wide and had the patient look at him. Erlang's gaze was so intense that people could hardly bear to look at it directly, and the patient's blurred vision was indeed relieved.

One day, Erlang was passing the home of Liu Changyuan's father with Zheng Zicheng. Liu's father brought out ink to tease him, and the ink suddenly turned glittering gold, becoming pure gold. Liu Changyuan said that he had known Erlang for forty years, during which Erlang's complexion had always remained ruddy, like that of a young man, and he had never aged. Erlang often spoke of events from the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties periods. Some said that Erlang was likely skilled in the technique of "yi jing bian qi" (moving the essence and transforming the qi), a Daoist art of using jing and qi to alter the condition of the body.

During the Shaoxing era of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song, Rong Wei entered Shu in the capacity of Superintendent of Tea and Horses and said that Erlang was a figure of his grandfather's generation. Among Erlang's forebears was a man named Yin, who had once been in charge of grain transport in the Yidu region. Erlang lived with this Yin's descendants, and at that time he was already over one hundred years old. He lived at Xiaomaxi in Mount Qingcheng and passed away in the Shaoxing era.

Yong Guangmo

Wang Shuzhan, courtesy name Zhidao, was a native of She County in Huizhou. In the eighteenth year of Emperor Gaozong's Shaoxing era, he served as Vice Minister of Agriculture and oversaw the fiscal revenues of the Hubei region.

Once, he attended a banquet hosted by the general Tian Shizhong and happened to arrive last. The transport commissioner and the prefect of Ezhou had already arrived and were playing go with Tian Shizhong. Seated nearby was a Daoist known as "Mu Xiansheng" (Mister Wood). Seeing Wang Shuzhan, the Daoist clasped his hands and said, "It has been a long time. How have you been?"

Wang Shuzhan replied in surprise, "We have never met before. How can you say it has been a long time?" The Daoist said, "Now that you have become a man of rank, you have forgotten me. Do you not remember that at an inn on the road to Xuanzhou, you listened to me speak about Niu Qizhang?"

Wang Shuzhan suddenly remembered, rose, and thanked the Daoist. After the Daoist had left, Wang Shuzhan said to the guests present, "In the fifth year of the Chongning reign of Emperor Huizong, I had just passed the jinshi examination and was appointed as an instructor in Xuanzhou..."

The winter of that year, he was appointed to an official post and rode alone to take up his duties. Along the way he lodged at a roadside inn in a small village, which had only one room, already occupied by a scholar who had arrived earlier. Night had fallen and he could not go on, so he pushed open the door and said to the scholar, "It is late, and I have come this far. May I share this room with you?"

The scholar was crouched by the fire. He looked up and said, "Yes." After a while, the scholar suddenly asked, "Have you read the Book of Tang?" He was somewhat annoyed and replied, "Though my learning is shallow, am I really so ignorant as that?" The scholar smiled again and asked, "Do you remember the biography of Niu Sengru?" He felt that the man's words had no clear beginning or end, so, irritated, he gave no answer.

The scholar said, "I do not speak without reason. You are the later incarnation of Niu Sengru. In your previous life you served as Military Governor of Wuchang, and your karmic ties there are not yet resolved. In this life you will return to that region, and most of your official emoluments will also come from there." Hearing this, he was astonished and, supposing the scholar to be a fortune-teller, asked his name. The scholar answered slowly, "Do you know Yong Xiaowen? I am he."

Yong Xiaowen had spoken out bluntly against policy at court in the early years of the Chongning era (beginning in 1102). After he was dismissed, he wandered into the mountains and by chance encountered several strange events. He pressed the scholar on what skills he possessed, but the man never revealed them. Throughout the night he spoke only of the Great Dao (dadao). At dawn the two parted, and they never met again.

The people of Shu all said that Yong Xiaowen had died. Only now, upon seeing this Daoist's appearance, did he realize that the man was Yong Xiaowen. His bearing was unchanged from forty years earlier, truly the bearing of one who has attained the Dao (dedao). Every guest present was astonished.

Wang Zai later served as Deputy Transport Commissioner of Hubei, and then as Prefect of Ezhou and as Regional Commander. For many years he was stationed at Wuchang. Mu Sheng, named Guangmo, often traveled between the He and Mian rivers. When he met people, he spoke only of literature and scholarship and never of anything else, so no one knew that he was an extraordinary person. Shen Jun, courtesy name Daoyuan, also knew him. It is said that during the Zhenghe era (1111–1118) he lectured on the Dao in the guise of a Daoist priest. Emperor Huizong of Song judged that his teaching reached only half the level of Lin Lingsu's skill, and for that reason bestowed on him the surname "Mu."

Huangfu Huan

Huangfu Huan, courtesy name Zhiyuan, was a native of Kaifeng. By temperament he was quiet, detached, and indifferent to worldly gain, and his understanding was keen and outstanding. Apart from preparing for the civil service examinations, he was especially well versed in the Three Mysteries (sanxuan): the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Book of Changes. He also understood fate and destiny, and never failed to put his learning to use. He later became a Daoist and studied at the Taiyi Palace in Jingdong. His bearing and demeanor were... (The original text is unclear here; its meaning cannot be determined.)

In the early Zhenghe era of Emperor Huizong of Song, the court promoted the study of the Dao, and Huangfu Huan was moved by this. The following year he took the examination at the Biyong (the official school established in the Northern Song), and placed first. After Emperor Huizong reviewed his examination paper, he bestowed on him the post of Jintan Lang (Gentleman of the Golden Altar), but Huangfu declined it and asked instead to be granted the title of Zizai Gong (Duke of Self-Ease). He traveled in plain clothes, seeking the Dao, and in Xiluo he met a man of high attainment, Feng Yeren, who taught him the essentials of his methods. Later he traveled to Nanyue, lived at the Lingxu Terrace, and met a true person...

Guan Sizhen (Guan Sizhen) was summoned to the palace by imperial edict not long afterward and lodged in the Gaoshi Quarters of the Taiyi Palace. Later he asked to return to live in the mountains, and he passed away in seated meditation (zuohua) beside the Ru River.

The Fennel Daoist

In the late Zhenghe era of Emperor Huizong of Song, Lin Lingsu preached at the Baolu Palace, and several thousand Daoists and commoners came to hear him. Everyone knelt in reverence, but one Daoist stood at the front, staring. Lin Lingsu found this strange and rebuked him: "What skills do you have?" The Daoist replied, "I have no skills." Lin asked, "If you have no skills, why have you come here?" The Daoist countered, "You are said to be capable of everything. Why have you come here?"

At that time Emperor Huizong was listening to the lecture from behind a curtain. Privately he sensed that this man was out of the ordinary, and he sent someone to ask what abilities he truly possessed. The Daoist answered, "I can make all things grow." The emperor had a fennel seed suited for sowing brought from a Daoist abbey and handed to him. He also assigned two guards to watch the man, and the Daoist planted the fennel beside Mount Gen (Genyue), the imperial garden built by Emperor Huizong. The guards were ordered to keep watch in the courtyard overnight. At the third watch of the night, the Daoist vanished. The next day, the fennel had grown into a dense clump.

Zou Baoguang

As a young man, Zou Baoguang registered as a Daoist priest (daoshi) at the Chongxu Abbey on Mount Luofu. During the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong, his fame reached the palace, and he was summoned to demonstrate his arts in the Hall of Concentrated Spirit. Seven Daoists followed behind him, but in the blink of an eye they disappeared. When the emperor asked who they were, Zou replied, "I live in the mountains and practice swordsmanship. These seven are old pine trees." The emperor found this marvelous and granted him the post of Gold Altar Gentleman (Jintan Lang).

Gong Yuanzheng

Gong Yuanzheng, courtesy name Duanben, was a native of Wuling. His family was poor, but he loved learning and often carried scriptures with him, reading as he plowed the fields. Later he left home to become a Daoist. He was sincere and steadfast by nature and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Dao. He oversaw the construction of a new monastery, with a towering main hall, magnificent pavilions, spacious halls, and long covered corridors, all glittering with gold and jade-green color. He personally planted several hundred thousand pine and cedar trees.

After the monastery was completed, the emperor bestowed on it the name "Wanshou" (Longevity) and granted Gong the title "Great Master Chongyi." For forty years he presided over the monastery and never departed from the community, always eating together with the others. One day he gathered his disciples and said, "Within five days, I will leave this world." On the fourth day, he sat upright, reciting the Daodejing, and at dawn he passed away peacefully. This took place during the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong.

Shen Ruoji

Shen Ruoji was a native of Lin'an. He built a thatched hut on Mount Mao (Maoshan), where he devoted himself to dispensing medicines and treating illnesses for people. During the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong, he was summoned to the court to answer questions and was granted the title "Master Dongyuan." He once pointed to an open space east of Huayang Cave and said, "When I die, I must be buried here." His disciples said the ground was low-lying, but he would not heed them. In the fifteenth year of the Shaoxing era of Emperor Gaozong of Song, he underwent jiehua (a Daoist term for the death of an adept). His disciples…

Zhang Dan

Zhang Dan was a native of Quzhou. Xu Fengyuan lived at Xia Mountain in the prefectural seat of Quzhou, and in his youth he liked to associate with men beyond the mundane order (fangwai zhi shi), those who had left home to cultivate the Dao and stood apart from worldly affairs. One day the Daoist adept Zhang Dan came to his house and stayed in one of the rooms. He dressed plainly, wearing only a blue cloth lined robe and carrying nothing else. Even in the depths of winter he did not add a layer of clothing. On moonlit nights he would take his iron flute into the mountains and play until dawn.

Xu Fengyuan was studying the Yijing (Book of Changes) and once shut himself in to divine with the Great Expansion Number (dayan zhi shu), a method of Yijing divination, but he could not grasp its essentials. Zhang Dan called to him through the wall: "You, scholar, cannot make sense of this on your own. Tomorrow I will teach you." The next day Zhang Dan taught him calculating methods such as "track and clapper" (guizhu). With these methods one could calculate the times of a person's death or birth, and also judge the success or failure and the longevity of objects, plants, and animals. It is said that when he tested these methods on events, they almost never erred.

Zhang Dan was very fond of wine. He often went into the city and drank all day until he was dead drunk before returning, yet he never had a single coin on him. People said he relied on the art of "dian gen" (dian gen) to support himself. Xu Fengyuan wanted to test his capacity, so he summoned four men known for their drinking and had them take turns drinking with Zhang Dan. From morning to night the four men all collapsed drunk, but Zhang Dan remained just as he always was. That night, after Zhang Dan went into his room, the people outside looked and saw him hanging upside down against the wall, his feet hooked over the top of it and his hair loose, the ends falling into a clay basin. Wine dripped from the tips of his hair into the basin, drop by drop.

Xu Fengyuan's grandfather, Dexuan, was over seventy years old. Zhang Dan said, "This Elder Eighteen (a respectful term for an old man) will face a great calamity next May. If you quickly perform the expiatory rites (rang hui) according to my method, he may be granted ten more years of life." The Xu family did not believe him. They thought the Daoist was simply in the habit of frightening people with words, and they did not follow his advice. Before the words had even left his mouth, Zhang Dan seemed to know that they would be ignored. He then left the Xu household and went into the city to stay at the Luohan Temple.

The following year, in May, Dexuan fell ill, and only then did Xu Fengyuan go to invite Zhang Dan. Zhang Dan refused to come, and Dexuan died shortly afterward.

Zhang Dan had a disciple who was an ascetic monk (tou tuo). Zhang Dan also secretly kept a paper painting of an ox. Whenever he amused his guests, he would say, "Hang the picture on the wall and chop some green grass beside it." After a while, the grass would sometimes be eaten up entirely, or gnawed down by more than half, and cow dung would be left on the ground to be swept up.

Later, Zhang Dan gave this "ox" to the monk and had him buy forty-nine catties of hemp, which he twisted into one large rope. He instructed him: "I am about to die. After my death, do not put me in a coffin or lay me out for burial. Simply bind me with this rope from my shoulders down to my feet. Dig a pit in the open ground behind the temple and bury me in it. After seven days..."

Zhang Gong

Each time, they opened the tomb to look inside. The ascetic monk kept the precepts strictly. On the seventh day after his death, when the tomb was opened, his complexion was still ruddy, as if coated with cinnabar. By the forty-ninth day, the tomb had been opened seven times for inspection, and inside remained only a hempen rope and a pair of worn-out shoes. The corpse itself had vanished.

Feng Yuan once presented him with a poem: "An iron flute accompanies the firelight, / played on a night of wind and moon; / a lined jacket is enough against the snow and frost. / I tried asking him his age, / and he smiled and pointed to the pines and bamboo, / saying they were not yet steadfast enough." Zhang Yi wrote this poem on a bolt of silk in vigorous, forceful calligraphy. On another length of silk, he wrote out a method for refining mercury and gave it to Feng Yuan. After Feng Yuan died, many villagers asked his son, Menggen, for the mercury-refining method. Menggen would not reveal it, so he took it and burned it.

Zhang Gong, a native of Bianjing, failed the imperial examinations and lived in great poverty. The Gong family, his mother's kin, had practiced medicine for generations, so Zhang Gong also knew something of medicine. He opened a pharmacy in the back quarter of Yichun Gate, yet for a long time he had no customers.

One morning, Zhang Gong rose, threw on his clothes, combed his hair, and washed his face. A Daoist priest came walking toward the rising sun, his gaze bright, staring straight at the sun without blinking. He walked directly into the pharmacy, glanced at Zhang Gong, and, without even offering a greeting, shook out his robes and sat down. Zhang Gong was irritated. He considered the man arrogant and discourteous, and sternly asked where he had come from.

The Daoist replied, "You need not ask where I have come from. I came specifically to see you." Zhang Gong thought that this was merely an arrogant fellow, of whom there were plenty in the capital. He tossed the man a coin and waved him away. The Daoist laughed and said, "I ask nothing of others. Only because you have the aptitude for seeking the Dao did I come to instruct you. Why would you refuse me like this?"

Only then did Zhang Gong come to his senses. He fetched his cap and headband, put them on, and went out to converse with the Daoist. They discussed the principles of the path of immortality (xiandao), and the Daoist spoke with great depth and precision, touching on much that Zhang Gong had never heard. Zhang Gong then felt ashamed and repentant, and said, "I, Zhang Gong, am shallow in understanding and confused in mind. Since you, Immortal Gentleman (xianjun), have graciously come to visit, I earnestly beg you to keep instructing me in the Way."

The Daoist asked, "What is it that you seek?" Zhang Gong replied, "My family is poor, and we often cannot even afford thin gruel. If one could go without eating and yet not suffer hunger, that would be the greatest wish of worldly people."

Before long, a seller of steamed dates passed by. The Daoist took the coin Zhang Gong had earlier tossed to him, bought seven dates, and turned to Zhang Gong. "The immortals practice bigu (abstention from grains), but not to make a display of anything. Once one cuts off food and drink, there is no turbid defilement left in the body, and without turbid defilement, one's jing (essence) and qi (vital energy) will not leak away. In this way, one may also enter the path of immortality. Zhang Zifang and others relied on elixirs (danyao) to dispel their hunger, and in truth they had already taken a crooked path. If you wish to attain this method, can you refrain from indulging in lust from this day forward? When a person does not become immersed in desire, the mundane distractions of the mind will naturally subside. Once those distractions have subsided, one possesses the aptitude to become an immortal."

The Daoist picked up the seven dates, examined them carefully, and breathed upon them. Then he said, "If you eat these dates, you will never need to eat again for the rest of your life. Even if someone were to force you..."

"There are no dietary restrictions. If you wish to stop eating, you may resume eating as you did before. However, you still have your aged mother, your wife, and your children, so you cannot go with me just yet. Since you have already eaten seven jujubes, you will experience seven dreams in fulfillment. Let me tell you about your situation: your duty to serve your parents has been fulfilled, and the affairs of marriage and family have been settled. Since you are already able to go without food, what else do you still seek? You should leave the mundane world, go to a famous mountain, and find, in a dangerous and remote place, a cave wide and deep enough to hold a person. Block the entrance with stones, hold no distracting thoughts within, and let all your sitting, lying, and walking take place inside the cave. After half a nian (a period of six years), you will naturally find wondrous delight within it. At that time, your body will shed its form like a cicada casting off its shell, and you will roam freely beyond the four directions of Heaven and Earth. As for what follows, it cannot be told to you today."

When the man finished speaking, he straightened his robe and rose. Gong insisted firmly that he stay, but the man would not remain. Once he had left the house, he vanished from sight. Only then did Gong realize that he was no ordinary person, and he remained bereft and dazed for several months. Whenever he smelled food he vomited, so he stopped eating. More than two years later, both his urination and defecation ceased entirely, yet his spirit was clear and bright and his steps were light. He often tested his strength, walking from dawn to dusk around the outer walls of the capital, a circuit of about several hundred li. Afterward he experienced the seven dreams one after another, and just as the Daoist adept had said, they came true with scarcely any error. His mother had suffered from hemorrhoids for twenty years, and no medicine had helped. Gong gave her the jujube pits left over from the seven jujubes to swallow, and that very night her illness was cured.

Gong no longer shared a bed with his wife, regarding Lady Guo as if she were a stranger on the road. Lady Guo was strong-willed and quick to anger, and she later died of illness. His family became even more anxious and perplexed, and they pressed Gong to eat; yet whenever he ate, he vomited. Earlier, he had sometimes eaten and sometimes not, and his friends suspected he was feigning, so they shut him in a room to test him, and he did not find this distressing. When someone invited a physician, he would carry medicine along to the patient's home. Once there, he would sit beside the sick person's bed, and even after ten or more days, or a full month, he needed neither a cup of water nor a grain of rice. He loved to drink wine and was also fond of writing poetry. When he reached the age of sixty, his appearance was still that of a man in his prime. After his mother died, he disappeared without a trace. Li Fangshu wrote a biography of him.

Li [name character, not renderable here]

Li [name character], a native of Jinan, courtesy name Dingguo, lodged in the military camp at Lin'an and made his living by gathering disciples to lecture. In his leisure, he would wander about to enjoy the lakes and mountains. Once, he set out for Jingci Temple, and while crossing the long bridge he lost his way along a bamboo-lined path, where he saw a Daoist in a blue robe digging bamboo shoots in the grove. Li bowed to him. The Daoist asked where he was going, and he replied that he meant to go to Jingci Temple to worship the five hundred arhats. The Daoist said, "There is no need to go just yet. Come and eat with me." The two of them ate roasted bamboo shoots, which tasted exceptionally fresh and fine. Before long, wind and rain came together, and the sky grew dark...

The man could not find the Daoist adept's whereabouts, and, alarmed, he hid himself among the trees. After a while the rain stopped, and he came out along the path. When he reached the monastery gate, he felt light in body and clear in spirit, and walking seemed like flying. After he returned to his lodging, he gave up eating.

His cousin, named Mo with the courtesy name Dayou, served as an instructor in the palaces of the princes. When Mo Dayou was about to take up his post, he sent a servant with a letter. The servant saw that the man's complexion was as rosy as peach blossoms and that he was already able to practice bigu (abstention from the five grains). The servant reported this to Mo Dayou, but by the time Mo arrived, the man had left, having said that he was going wandering on Mount Mao (Maoshan).

Later, Mo heard that the man had entered Shu and was living in seclusion on Mount Qingcheng. When Mo Dayou served as Circuit Judicial Commissioner of Zilu (tixing, the official who oversaw judicial and penal affairs for a circuit), he sent people to Meizhou to inquire about him. The officials of Meizhou replied that the man had attained qingju (the Daoist term for ascent after completed cultivation) several years earlier. He had departed on a cloud, and only his portrait remained.

Jiang Fengzi

Jiang Fengzi was originally a resident of Shaoyang. He was simple and straightforward by nature, spoke without restraint, and cared nothing for worldly courtesies. When others made even slight mistakes, he pointed them out to their faces, regardless of whether they were noble or lowly.

He traveled widely and came to Nanyue. Seeing the steep slopes of the Middle Ridge, he was moved to cultivate the Dao, and he did not know where he would lodge or what he would eat. One day a woodcutter wearing a blue headcloth and carrying firewood said to him while selling his wood, "I work hard, yet what I have for food and clothing is still not enough. I will give you a pill. Swallow it, and your strength will double." From then on, Jiang drank only water, lost all his clothing, and paid no attention to heat or cold. The people called him "Fengzi" (Crazy Master).

He often traveled through the Hu-Xiang region, and sometimes he would lie down right in the middle of the road. Power and rank could not make him yield, poison could not harm him, and tigers and wolves could not hurt him. He walked alone and talked to himself, and no one could fathom him.

Daoist Mo

Daoist Mo was a native of Rongzhou, and he lived in Shidong (Stone Cavern). No one knew how many years he had spent practicing in the mountains. When people asked him, he would not tell them his age. Some elders at the foot of the mountain were already eighty or ninety years old, and they said that they had seen his striking bearing since they were children. Yet his face and hair were still just as they had been, his energy was abundant, and he climbed the mountain as swiftly as if he were flying.

He drank whenever he was offered wine and ate whenever he was offered food, though sometimes he went for several days without eating grains. Regardless of the season, he lived contentedly and quietly in a small hermitage, with no attendants. He often sat at night among the rocks of Feiyun Ding (Cloud-Flying Peak), and a tiger would keep watch beside him. He did not drive it away, and the tiger would stay until dawn before leaving.

Nobles and officials who visited the mountains often wished to see him, but most of them did not manage to meet him. Some wrote poems to him, and more than one of those poems survives. He was still alive, it was said, as late as the final years of Emperor Lizong of the Song.