《道教靈驗記》Vol. 4

The Daoist Miracles Anthology (Volume 4) records two accounts of divine manifestations through Daoist sacred images:

The first incident occurred at the Alchemical Furnace Terrace in Nanping County, Yuzhou (modern Chongqing area). This site was once the fiefdom of Prince Xiangdong during the Southern Dynasties, where the renowned Daoist master Tao Hongjing (known as Tao the Recluse) practiced alchemy. Within the mountain's stone niches stood several gilded bronze statues of Daoist deities, including the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), Lord of the Dao (Daojun), and Lord Lao (Laojun), ranging from two to three feet tall down to eight or nine inches. Despite the passage of time, these images retained their golden radiance, their exquisite craftsmanship far surpassing ordinary artisans' skills. Local legend held that anyone daring to steal them would face divine retribution. A county official named Wen Cai, disbelieving the warnings, stole several statues intending to melt them down. Upon arriving home, he suddenly collapsed with excruciating headaches, howling as if being whipped, then began bleeding from all facial orifices. He urgently instructed his son to return the statues, warning his descendants never to offend the sacred, before his entire body ulcerated and he died. Thereafter, locals revered these images with such awe that they mistakenly called them the "Buddha Child Niche."

The second account concerns the Celestial Worthy Stele in Shuzhou (modern Chongzhou, Sichuan). The undated inscription records how an official named Yang Shuguan frequently witnessed at dawn a half-length apparition of the Celestial Worthy hovering in the clouds about ten feet above ground, its majestic countenance surrounded by luminous flames—visions invisible to others. Suspecting a buried sacred image, he ordered excavations that uncovered at ten feet depth an ancient stele bearing the Celestial Worthy's likeness exactly matching his visions, though the lower portion below the knees had eroded over time.

This scripture records several accounts of Daoist spiritual efficacy, demonstrating tangible manifestations of divine presence within Daoist belief.

The first account tells of a man who discovered a broken stele. After reverently making offerings, he dreamed of a deity directing him to find the missing fragment thirty paces north. When the two pieces were joined and adorned with gold leaf for enshrinement at the Purple Pole Palace (a Daoist temple), the man was granted twenty additional years of life, delivered from impending calamity, and enjoyed prosperity for two decades thereafter.

The second narrative describes Tangxing Dam which repeatedly collapsed despite repairs. The dam keeper dreamed of a deity revealing that an image of the Celestial Venerable (Tianshi, the supreme Daoist divinity) lay buried beneath the dam, its use as flood barrier having provoked divine wrath. After excavating and properly enshrining the stone statue in a dedicated shrine, the dam remained intact thereafter. Though submerged for years, the statue's golden countenance and jade-green hair remained miraculously pristine.

The third account concerns a three-foot iron statue of the Celestial Venerable at Changdao Temple. Left neglected in a corridor, its gilt had flaked away and its left hand was damaged. A chronically ill man named Fei dreamed of a deity in worn Daoist robes who identified himself as "Yue" and complained of left-hand pain. Realizing this referred to the damaged statue, Fei restored the missing finger, whereupon his illness vanished instantly. Despite weathering, the statue retained its solemn and lifelike majesty.

These stories embody the core Daoist principle that "reverence begets blessings." Through restoring sacred images and sincere veneration, devotees received tangible rewards including health and longevity. The mentioned Purple Pole Palace and Celestial Venerable represent significant Daoist sacred sites and divine titles.

This passage recounts two miraculous stories of celestial deities manifesting in the mortal realm.

The first story tells of a man named Fei He, who dreamed of an Iron Celestial Master (Tianshi), one of Daoism’s revered deities. The deity warned him that his allotted lifespan would soon end, but if he could encounter the Celestial Master in person, he might gain an extension of ten years. Fei He sent servants into the mountains to search for a Daoist priest surnamed Le, but after days of fruitless effort, he journeyed there himself despite his illness. When he sincerely offered incense before the sacred image, he recognized the Iron Celestial Master in the southern corridor—identical to the one in his dream, though the statue’s robes were frayed and one finger on its left hand was missing. Fei He vowed to restore the statue and hold purification rituals (Zhaijiao) in the mountains. Three days later, his illness vanished. Later, he read in the Scripture of Subtle Reflection and Settled Will (Siwei Dingzhi Jing) that a man named Le Jingxin had attained the Dao and become the Primordial Celestial Master (Yuanshi Tianzun), confirming his experience. Fei He lived from the year of Jihai, when he had the dream, until the winter of Gengxu—indeed gaining ten more years of life.

The second story took place in the 17th year of the Kaiyuan era at the Xinxingju Temple in Xinjin County, Sichuan. On the eighth day of the fourth month, the temple held a grand ritual feast (Zhaijiao). A Daoist priest arrived late and sat among the crowd, where he was met with disdain—so much so that he was denied even the ritual meal. After the ceremony, the priest entered the Buddha hall and remained there for so long that people grew suspicious. When they investigated, they found he had vanished into one of the hall’s pillars. Even more astonishingly, a three-foot-five-inch-tall image of a Celestial Master gradually appeared on the pillar: clad in robes of cloud-patterned brocade, holding an incense burner in his left hand and incense in his right, with the smoke forming the shape of mandarin ducks. Beneath his feet bloomed a lotus, its leaves bearing a divine turtle. Behind his left elbow swirled fiery clouds and a blue dragon, while before his right shoulder stood a white tiger turning its head. Flames and twelve swirling celestial blossoms surrounded him, and above his head unfurled a great floral canopy like a sacred parasol. The local official Zhang Jingzhong reported the miracle to the imperial court, which dispatched the palace attendant Lin Zhaoyin to escort the pillar bearing the deity’s image to the capital in a jeweled carriage. The emperor personally paid homage for three days before enshrining the image in the Dongming Temple.

Both stories illustrate, through concrete examples, the religious experience of divine intervention—rewarding the faithful and admonishing the disrespectful. They reflect the Tang Dynasty Daoist belief in the principle that "sincerity invokes the divine." The detailed descriptions of the Celestial Master’s manifestations also showcase the distinctive artistry of Daoist iconography.

Here are several accounts of Daoist miracles:

The first recounts an incident during Emperor Xuanzong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, when the emperor ordered grand ritual assemblies (daochang) to be held at Daoist temples, allowing officials and commoners to pay homage. Buddhist monks submitted a memorial objecting, claiming their temples enshrined statues of Vimalakirti (a Buddhist bodhisattva) rather than Daoist deities. After imperial inspectors pointed out the statue's headdress clearly matched that of a Celestial Lord (Tianzun, the highest Daoist divinity), the monks shamefacedly admitted their error. Later, the monks secretly hired strong men to steal the statue pillar from Dongming Temple's ritual area at night. By dawn, the exhausted thieves were found collapsed at the temple gate, their theft exposed. Emperor Xuanzong showed leniency, merely reclaiming the pillar for the palace before ordering replicas made for distribution to major temples and high-ranking officials.

The second miracle occurred at Xingdao Temple in Shifang County, Sichuan. There stood an iron statue of a Celestial Lord measuring over four meters tall, locally called the "Black Gold Icon." Originally hidden beneath a cliff at Jintang Gorge, the statue emerged five or six feet above water when floods eroded the rockface. Though Daoist priests burned incense and waved banners to welcome it, the statue sank back underwater. The following summer during floods, it miraculously traveled upstream to Shifang County, lodging in a narrow waterway. While a hundred locals easily pulled it ashore, hundreds more couldn't budge it when attempting to move it into the main hall—forcing them to build a new shrine on the spot. Through subsequent wars and repeated temple fires, this iron icon remained miraculously unscathed.

The third account concerns a wooden Celestial Lord statue at Xinguo Temple in Hongzhou, Jiangxi. Carved from ancient camphor wood, local elders attested to its extraordinary efficacy. Hongzhou's watery landscape meant most residents lived in bamboo-and-wood houses.

The Daoist Records of Miraculous Responses documents several accounts of Daoist deities manifesting their divine power. One story concerns protection from fire: people built bamboo houses on rafts, while those on land used bamboo tiles for roofing. When strong winds and waves arose, the friction between bamboo and wood would often spark spontaneous fires, causing annual conflagrations. Yet the Xinguo Temple (a Daoist monastery) in the bustling marketplace remained unharmed—whenever fires broke out nearby, the flames would extinguish themselves upon reaching the temple's four corners. Sometimes, sudden counterwinds would block the fire's advance, or unexpected heavy rain would pour down. Locals claimed that during fires, black Qi (vital energy) often rose from the hall enshrining the Celestial Venerable, transforming into mist that enveloped the entire temple, preventing the flames from spreading. Thus, people called it "the temple that fire cannot burn," and the divine statue remains there to this day.

The iron statue of the Celestial Venerable enshrined in Santai Temple in Pengzhou also displayed miraculous responses. Cast during Empress Wu Zetian's reign by local villagers, the statue's creation was accompanied by grand Zhaijiao (Daoist purification rituals). On the day of casting, auspicious purple clouds appeared above the furnace, within which three bright stars shone so brilliantly that even the sun seemed dim. Over a dozen divine cranes circled in the sky. The craftsman Liao Yuanli remarked, "I've cast statues of the Celestial Venerable for three temples, and each time there were extraordinary signs. At Kaiyuan Temple in Yang'an County, three immortal cranes danced around the furnace; at Xuande Temple in Zizhou, five-colored flames emerged from the furnace. But this time, the divine response is the greatest—surely the statue will be exceptionally perfect." Indeed, after completion, it frequently manifested miracles, drawing endless streams of worshippers. The sick recovered immediately after praying, thieves who offered incense and repented were swiftly exposed, and local order improved. Sadly, the temple was later occupied by soldiers, and as people gradually stopped revering the statue, the miracles diminished.

The statue of the Elder True Lord (a Daoist mountain deity) on Mount Qingcheng also exhibited divine efficacy. Adorned with a jeweled crown, clad in crimson robes, and bearing the Three-Pavilion Seal (symbolizing authority over the Five Sacred Peaks), the deity commanded ten thousand spirits. During Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, after dreaming of the True Lord, the emperor ordered the statue to be crafted using the jiazhu technique (a type of lacquerware) for worship. Later, due to the original shrine's remote location, it was relocated closer to the county town. Decades passed, yet the statue's colors remained as vibrant as new. One villager, fleeing after being whipped for tax evasion, escaped into the mountains at night...

The Daoist Miracles Record preserves several accounts of authentic divine manifestations:

The first recounts how a destitute man prayed before a Perfected Lord statue in a Daoist temple, lamenting his inability to pay taxes and subsequent beatings by officials. He begged the deity's permission to sell the golden ornaments adorning the statue's head to settle his debt. That night, the Perfected Lord appeared in his dream, revealing that the head ornaments were merely gold leaf without substantial value. The deity then directed him to find money beneath leaves near the stone stele before the mountain gate. Following these instructions, the man discovered sufficient funds not only to pay his taxes but also to improve his family's circumstances. Thereafter, he returned monthly to offer incense, and worshippers noticed the statue's head remained slightly tilted forward—as if still demonstrating the ornaments' true composition.

Another entry describes the three-to-four-foot cast-iron statue of the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun, the highest Daoist deity) atop Yunding Mountain, crafted during the Tang dynasty by artisan Liao Yuanli. When Buddhist monks appropriated the temple, destroying most Daoist artifacts, this iron icon alone proved indestructible. Local lore tells of supernatural signs during its casting: purple clouds forming city walls, five-colored auspicious clouds cradling the sun, and phoenixes leading cranes in circling the furnace. The completed statue manifested such potent efficacy that no prayer went unanswered—proving objects imbued with sacred power cannot be casually destroyed.

A third account mentions the Celestial Worthy statue at Wangxian Temple in Xunyang County, Jinhou, which—though specific miracles aren't detailed—stands as a historically verified site of spiritual potency, attesting to the region's vibrant Tianzun worship traditions.

In Ying County, when people encountered disputes or lawsuits that were difficult to resolve, or cases involving theft of public or private property, they would burn incense, pray, and truthfully state their circumstances—and invariably receive a divine response. Those who concealed the truth or falsely accused others would be visited by divine emissaries at night, summoned to confront the accused face-to-face. The summoned would find themselves before magnificent palace halls and government offices, with dozens of pavilions behind the main hall and officials conducting trials along the corridors, much like the human world's courts. Those who hid the truth or conspired in wrongdoing would be sent to prison, and those imprisoned would soon die. Those who confessed after confrontation would be released once they had fully disclosed the facts. As a result, the locals revered the divine authority and reformed their ways to cultivate virtue.

Even for minor losses like missing cats or dogs, people would post written complaints on the temple walls—often covering them with hundreds of such notices—a custom that persists to this day.

Another story tells of Su Hu's retribution for stealing a divine statue. Su Hu, from Wuxi in Changzhou, was impoverished but addicted to alcohol, getting drunk daily. After squandering his family's wealth, he wandered as a beggar and arrived in Hengzhou, where he stole ritual implements and bronze statues from a Daoist temple to sell for wine. In the eighth month of the second year of the Yongjia era, as he entered the temple to steal another statue, he suddenly collapsed, screaming. People rushed to the scene and found him lying by the temple gate. The Daoist priests carried him to the steps, where he regained consciousness and confessed: Just as he was about to steal the statue, he saw golden-armored divine generals wielding weapons, ready to kill him, terrifying him into crying for mercy. The priests took pity and released him, but from then on, he contracted leprosy, becoming an object of universal revulsion.

When the Daoist priest Mei Youfang heard of this, he performed a Lingbao Zhaijiao (a Daoist ritual for dispelling calamity and seeking blessings) on Su Hu's behalf, submitting a memorial of repentance. Later, Su Hu's eyebrows and beard regrew, and his illness was cured. Filled with gratitude, he voluntarily became a temple attendant at Dongling Guan, devoting his life to chanting scriptures and abstaining from alcohol until his death in his seventies.