《雲笈七籤》Vol. 110

Dongxian Zhuan (Biographies of Cavern Immortals)

Yuanjun: Yuanjun attained the Dao after taking the compounded Nine Tripods Divine Elixir, and authored nine scrolls of scriptures.

Jiuyuanzi: Jiuyuanzi refined purple gold and compounded a divine elixir; later he ascended as an immortal. His scripture was titled the Gengxin Jing.

Changsang Gongzi: Changsang Gongzi often let his hair hang loose and sang as he walked: “Put on the golden kerchief, enter the Heavenly Gate; exhale the Long Essence, inhale the Mysterious Spring; strike the Heavenly Drum, nourish the Dantian (energy center).” When the Historian at the Pillar heard this, he said: “What Changsang Gongzi sings is the cultivation method of ingesting the Qi of the Five Stars and guarding the Cavern Chamber (a site of cultivation within the body).”

Gong Zhongyang: Gong Zhongyang learned the method of “Pacing the Six Epochs” from a youth on Mount Song.

Mr. Shanghuang: Mr. Shanghuang practiced “Pacing the Dipper” (a Daoist technique of stepping according to the positions of the Dipper stars) and obtained the method of invisibility.

Mr. Pu: Mr. Pu often rode a white deer and gathered lingzhi on Mount Mao.

Mao Meng: Mao Meng, courtesy name Chucheng, was a native of Nanguan in Xianyang and the great-great-grandfather of Mao Ying, the Lord Director of Destiny of the Eastern Quarter. He entered Mount Hua to cultivate the Dao and later rode clouds and drove a dragon, ascending to heaven in broad daylight. Before this, a ballad circulated in Mao Meng’s hometown: “The one who obtained the way of the immortals is called Mao Chucheng; he drives a dragon and ascends to heaven, entering Taiqing (Great Clarity); sometimes he comes to Xuanzhou (Mysterious Continent) and sports in Chicheng; from generation to generation there are those who come and go.” The ballad also sang: “If I model myself on Mao Meng, I too can be like this.” When Qin Shi Huang heard of it, he changed the name of the la sacrifice to “Jiaping.”

Changshengzi: Changshengzi often rinsed his mouth with water, transforming the water into jade flakes, which he then swallowed; because of this he ascended to heaven.

Changcunzi: Changcunzi succeeded in cultivating the Dao and became the Immortal Lord of Xuanzhou.

Cai Qiong: Cai Qiong, courtesy name Boyao, studied under Laozi and received the Great Mystery Yang-Birth Talisman and the Huandan (Returned Elixir) formula. After compounding and taking the medicine, he attained the Dao and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. He often used the “Yang-Birth Talisman” to revive people who had already died: as long as the bones remained, he would cast the talisman among them, and the person would immediately come back to life.

Zhang Muzi: Zhang Muzi ascended as an immortal after practicing the method of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) Upper Prime Chronology. Later he transmitted this method to Gong Shujin, Wang Wenqing, and Yin Zifang, all of whom also attained the Dao.

Mr. Tongzi: Mr. Tongzi studied the Dao at Mount Di and practiced the Yüqi Ling Jing; later he became an immortal.

Jiuyuan Zhangren (Elder of the Nine Sources)

Jiuyuan Zhangren, the legendary revered deity of the water palace, served as master of Fangzhang Palace and commanded the water deities of the world, as well as water beasts of yin essence, horned dragons, whales, and the like.

Gu Xizi studied the Dao and became an immortal. He served as a true official of Taishang and was the teacher of Dongfang Shuo, to whom he transmitted the True Form Charts of Langfeng, Zhongshan, Penglai, and Shenzhou—Daoist charts depicting the forms of immortal mountains and the sacred continent.

Wang Zhonggao spent years in the markets of Huainan telling fortunes for people; the elders said that several generations before them had already seen him. Wu Bei mentioned this man to Liu An, King of Huainan, who was delighted and welcomed him. Wang Zhonggao told Liu An: “The Yellow Emperor was the eldest son of my father. In former times I took Zhu Xiangjun as my teacher and obtained the secret of longevity; now I transmit it to you.”

Yang Sheng lived at Mount Jinmen on the western side of Mount Shaoshi. In the mountain there was golden jar syrup; after taking it, he attained the Dao.

Ximen Junhui loved Daoist arts from youth and understood Chenwei, the prognostic and apocryphal texts. He presented the Kaishan Tu, the Chart of Opening the Mountains, to Qin Shi Huang, but unfortunately the First Emperor did not adopt it.

Master Xuandu received from an immortal the Scripture of the Black Jade Heaven-and-Earth Bell, practiced it, and attained the Dao.

Huang Liezi once hunted in the Jiujiang region and shot a five-colored divine deer. Following its traces, he found a cave, encountered a divine zhi mushroom, and after consuming it became an immortal able to ride the wind.

Gongsun Qing studied the Dao at Mount Dongliangfu, some say Mount Ziyi. In the palace within the mountain, prepared immortal medicines were stored; anyone who took them would immediately become an immortal, and the deities of the sun and moon compounded medicines there. A laudatory verse of the time said: “The Jade Maiden portions out the medicine; the Toad blends and pounds it. Take one pill and one may refine one’s bodily form; take two pills and one’s countenance becomes beautiful.”

Cai Changru was a man of Shu Commandery. Husband and wife together took the Ten Essences Pill, and their bodies’ Qi and blood became abundant. At ninety he fathered a son named Dushi; at one hundred fifty he had another son named Wuji; by the age of three hundred he still looked like a youth.

Yanming Zigao consumed elk antler and became an immortal.

Cui Yezi consumed baizhu, Atractylodes, and transcended the mundane world.

Ling Zizhen consumed peach gum and became an immortal.

Master Wanqiu consumed the Life-Controlling Pill and attained the Dao; by the final years of Shang Tang he was already over a thousand years old. He transmitted the formula to his disciple Jiang Ruochun, who after taking it also lived more than three hundred years.

Three Arcane Methods Transmitted by Patriarch Peng, the Fifteen-Year-Old Boy

Ma Rong

Ma Rong lived in Gucheng in the state of Liang. His eyes were red, swollen, and ulcerated, and his eyeballs could see nothing, yet he could clearly perceive distant places and see through things. In the north there were many people suffering from leprosy; their villages would not take them in, so they came to Ma Rong for refuge. Ma Rong treated them, and all the sick recovered.

Ma Rong said that he had a foot ailment and often traveled by deer cart, and that he could reach places near or far. No person or ox could be seen pulling the cart, yet it would move forward on its own. Sometimes in a single day he could go by invitation to dozens of places, and at each place there seemed to be a Ma Rong. When he spoke with people, he called himself “Ezi,” and he also wrote three poems whose content resembled prophetic verses (chenyu, coded words foretelling good and bad fortune). At the beginning of the third month in the second year of Xiaojian, he wrote letters bidding farewell to the people of the two states. At noon on the sixteenth day, he indeed died.

Ren Dun

Ren Dun was from Bochang. In his youth he studied the Dao on Mount Luofu, and later he lived in the Southern Cave of Mount Mao, practicing the Dao of pacing the Dipper (Budou zhi Dao; walking in prescribed steps for ritual or cultivation) and the Five Talismans (Fulu) of Dongxuan (Cavern Mystery; Daoist talismans). He could command ghosts and spirits and conceal his body and divide his form—hiding his body or changing his form. He lived in the mountains, and even tigers and wolves did not dare attack him.

Jingxuanzi

Jingxuanzi practiced the Dao of the Central Section, visualized the Great Dao, and kept the “Three Ones” (Sanyi; a Daoist cultivation concept of guarding body deities). He often sang:

“Gazing afar at Mount Kunlun, below the mountain are three acres of field. May I ask who farms it? It is the Red Child (Chizi; an inner deity visualized in Daoist cultivation) named Yuanxian. He is born upward on the Wuling Tree, with two palace towers standing on either side; sun and moon shine forth in mutual reflection, and the path of the immortals passes between them.

I go to Sanwei Ridge to gather herbs and drink and rinse my mouth at Huachi Spring; I roam the Twelve Towers and walk at ease on the Central Plain. I wish to view the Crimson Palace (Jianggong, a palace of the immortals in Daoist lore), and just then Zidan is sleeping. He leans on a jade table in the golden tower, with a canopy joined to it. I turn my head and see two envoys playing liubo on Mount Taihang.

How steep and perilous is Long Valley; Qi City joins it. I drive the reins of a flying dragon chariot and suddenly arrive at the edge of Wuji Abyss. Huangjing grows at the bottom of the spring, and zhi grass grows in Qichuan. I wish to refine Huangjing into flowing elixir (liudan, a Daoist elixir) and make it appear before my eyes. I linger and drink the flowing elixir, and my wings beat bright and strong.

Before I have time to unfold my plans, Wang Ziqiao takes me by the arm. The road I have traveled is truly perilous; what is precious is at last attaining immortality.”

Bo Ju

Bo Ju, courtesy name Zigao, once went into the mountains to gather firewood and saw two white cranes fly down and alight on a rock; immediately they turned into two immortals. The immortals said to each other: “Some time ago, the Yin Elixir (Yindan) was successfully refined. The Queen Mother of Hebei asked us for Nine Sword Wine; it is excellent to drink.”

When Zigao heard the immortals’ words, he went to visit the Queen Mother who had asked for the Nine Sword Wine. After he got the wine, he returned and told the immortals, and asked for the Yin Elixir to take. The original text breaks off here.

Thereupon he suddenly ascended into the air, took up an office among the clouds, and governed clouds and rain.

Xu Daoji

In his youth, Xu Daoji lived at Huming Mountain. Later he met a Zhenren (Perfected One), who said to him: “In studying the Dao, one should ‘cap Heaven with blue, chant the Great Calendar, tread the Twin White, and circulate the Two Red.’ These are secret methods of the Way of the Five Spirits.” These words were obscure and difficult to understand. Among them, “Great Calendar” referred to the Sanhuang wen (Scripture of the Three Sovereigns). Xu Daoji practiced accordingly and in the end attained the Dao.

Zhao Shuqi

It is not known where Zhao Shuqi was from. While studying the Dao at Wangwu Mountain, he encountered a diviner. The man said to him: “If you wish to enter the Heavenly Gate to cultivate, you must cultivate the Three Passes and visualize the Vermilion Robe—a deity clothed in vermilion—and the True Kunlun.” Zhao Shuqi asked for the essential instructions, and the man gave him a roll of white writing. It was the Taijing zhongji (Central Record of Embryonic Essence). Zhao Shuqi received it with reverence, and later attained the Dao.

Mao Bodao

Mao Bodao, Liu Daogong, Xie Zhijian, and Zhang Zhaoqi were all people of the Eastern Han. They studied the Dao together at Wangwu Mountain for more than thirty years and jointly refined a divine elixir. Mao Bodao took the divine elixir first and died on the spot; next Liu Daogong took the elixir and also died. Xie Zhijian and Zhang Zhaoqi did not dare to take it; they left the elixir behind and prepared to go home. Before they had left the mountain, they suddenly saw Mao Bodao and Liu Daogong each riding a white deer, appearing on the mountain; immortals holding tallies followed behind them. The two were both grieved and astonished, repented, and apologized to the immortals. Liu Daogong transmitted to them the method for taking fuling (poria). Later the two also transcended the world and became immortals.

Zhuang Bowei

In his youth, Zhuang Bowei loved Daoist arts but did not know how to seek the Dao. Every day at sunset he faced northwest, closed his eyes, clenched his hands, and visualized Kunlun Mountain. After persisting in this for thirty years, he met a man from Kunlun, who transmitted to him the Golden Liquid Formula, a method for refining golden liquid. Zhuang Bowei refined and ingested it according to the formula, and in the end attained the Dao.

Liu Daowei

In his youth, Liu Daowei entered Bozhong Mountain to study the Dao. After twelve years of cultivation, he encountered an immortal who tested him. The immortal placed a boulder weighing about ten thousand jin above him, suspended by a single white hair, and made him lie beneath the stone. Liu Daowei’s expression remained unchanged; his mind was calm and his body felt very comfortable. After another twelve years, the immortal bestowed a divine elixir on him. He took it and ascended to Heaven.

Kuang Su

Kuang Su, courtesy name Zixi, was known in his youth for filial piety toward his parents and fraternal love for his brothers. He was summoned to office but did not accept, devoting himself single-mindedly to seeking the Truth and traveling through famous mountains. He came to Fusi Mountain and found on it a lake several li in circumference, where many numinous herbs grew, along with strange creatures that were difficult to identify. Beside the lake was a stone well, whose spring water flowed into the lake; there were also stone geese. Every spring and autumn, they could fly in flocks…

In the small stone casket there were many jade tablets, recording famous mountains and blessed lands, as well as the names of those who had attained the Dao. Recorded at the back were the people who had attained the Dao by taking elixirs.

Lu Dan

Lu Dan studied the Dao in his youth. Later he became an immortal, but then entered official service and served as a state governor’s assistant, a subordinate official in the provincial administration. He often flew home through the air and returned to the provincial office at dawn.

Once, at the New Year’s court assembly, he had agreed to attend but was long overdue. Later Lu Dan flew to the front of Huixiang Pavilion. Just as he was about to descend, a member of the ceremonial guard threw a broom at him and knocked off one of his shoes. Lu Dan then flew away.

Fan Chai

Fan Chai was from Langzhong in Baxi Commandery. He lived for a long time on Bailizhou in the Zhijiang area and practiced the Dao of Great Peace and Wuwei (non-action). When he closed his eyes, exhaled, and rinsed his mouth, five-colored light would rise from his neck. In winter and summer alike he wore only a single cloth garment. During Huan Wen’s lifetime his hair had already turned gray, yet by the Yuanjia era of Emperor Wen of Liu Song his appearance was still unchanged.

He could foretell good and ill fortune; even matters ten thousand li away seemed right before his eyes. Someone asked him, “Sir, are you an immortal banished to the mortal world?” He replied, “Dongfang Shuo was indeed a clever fellow. I often played and romped with him when I was young.”

He also said that he had seen King Wu of Zhou campaign against King Zhou of Shang, and from atop the walls of Luocheng had witnessed the fighting himself: before the battle people sang, and after the battle people danced.

Emperor Wen of Liu Song summoned Fan Chai, and when Fan Chai answered imperial inquiries, he referred to himself as “I” or “me.” When Liu Shao—later called the “Chief Villain,” at that time still crown prince—first became crown prince, Fan Chai passed by the gate of the Eastern Palace and, pointing at the palace gate, said, “There is a shrike here, often regarded as an ill-omened bird; how can one keep a traitor and not know it?” When Emperor Wen heard this, he was greatly displeased and ordered Fan Chai to take his own life. The Prince of Jiangxia sent someone to bury him at Chian Ridge in Xinting. Emperor Wen ordered the coffin opened for inspection, but no corpse was found inside, and he regretted it.

The following year, Fan Chai’s nephew Chen Zhong rose at night and suddenly saw a light shining as bright as day. He saw Fan Chai enter, walk to the side of the couch, and sit down. Then an old man arrived, and Fan Chai rose to greet him. Chen Zhong asked who the old man was, but Fan Chai smiled and did not answer. Soon the two went out together. Fan Chai asked Chen Zhong, “Have you been back to Dongxiang recently? Take good care of my house; that place is Bailizhou.”

Mr. Fu

Mr. Fu studied the Dao on Mount Jiao and devoted himself to cultivation for seven years, whereupon he met the Taiji Zhenren, the Perfected Man of the Supreme Ultimate, a Daoist immortal. The Perfected Man gave him a wooden drill and told him to use it to drill through a stone slab about five chi thick, warning him, “When the stone slab is drilled through, you will become an immortal.”

So Mr. Fu drilled day and night without stopping. After forty-seven years, he finally drilled through the stone slab. The immortal came to him and said, “If one’s resolve can be carried through to the end, how could anyone fail to attain the Dao?” Then the immortal transmitted to him the Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir, a legendary Daoist elixir; after he took it, he transcended the mortal world.

Shi Tan

Shi Tan, courtesy name Hongsun, was from Bohai. He traveled among the famous mountains of the Zhao and Wei regions and later attained the Dao.

He could simultaneously divide his body and go to more than ten households. Each household had a “tan” (as the original text has it; what this refers to is unclear), and each household’s account was different.

Zheng Siyuan

In his youth, Zheng Siyuan was a scholar and was skilled in music, calendrical science, and the arts of divination by omens. In his later years he took Ge Xiaoxian as his teacher and studied and received transmission of Daoist classics such as the Zhengyi Fawen (Orthodox Unity Ritual Texts), Sanhuang Neiwen (Inner Writings of the Three Sovereigns), Wuyue Zhenxing Tu (True Form Charts of the Five Peaks), Taiqing Jinye Jing (Scripture of the Golden Liquid of Great Clarity), and Dongxuan Wufu (Five Talismans of Dongxuan).

He lived at Maji Mountain in Lujiang and was kind toward birds and beasts. A mother tiger in the mountain gave birth to two cubs, and people at the foot of the mountain captured the mother tiger and took her away. The father tiger was frightened and fled, and the cubs were not yet able to seek food on their own. When Zheng Siyuan saw them, he brought them back to his dwelling and fed them. Later the father tiger returned and also stayed by Zheng Siyuan’s side.

Whenever Zheng Siyuan went out, he rode the father tiger, while the two cubs carried scriptures, clothing, and medicine on their backs and followed behind. Once, at Hengjiang Bridge in Yongkang, he met an acquaintance, Xu Yin, and was just about to warm some medicinal wine. The tiger then gathered firewood and made a fire. Xu Yin had a toothache and asked Zheng Siyuan for a tiger whisker, intending to insert it while hot between his teeth to cure the pain. When the toothache was cured, Zheng Siyuan pulled out the tiger whisker, and the tiger lay prostrate on the ground without moving.

Guo Zhisheng

Guo Zhisheng, courtesy name Tongming, was a man of Zhuti Commandery. In the time of Emperor Yuan of Jin, some said he was already four hundred years old, yet he looked about fifty. He had two boxes of short scrolls, which he often carried on his back. He mostly stayed in Zhang Ji’s home.

He often lamented, “War and chaos are about to arise, and calamity will spread among the common people. The common people will take ditches as coffins and flies as filial sons. This state of affairs is certain to come; it is truly heartbreaking.”

Two years later, Sun En raised a rebellion, and within the space of a winter and a summer, of those who were killed or starved to death, not one in ten remained. He suddenly said to Zhang Ji, “It is time for me to die. Please prepare for me some simple coffin materials and funeral paraphernalia. There is no need to nail the coffin shut, and no need to bury me; simply send the materials into the mountain rocks and weigh them down with stones.” Before many days had passed, he died.

Zhang Ji carefully did as he had said. A few days later, Zhang Ji’s relatives and friends returned from Fuyang and said they had seen Guo Zhisheng in the mountains riding a white deer, and that he had also written a letter to Zhang Ji.

Jie Yan

It is not known where Jie Yan was from. He took Baiyang Gong as his teacher and studied the “Way of Mysterious White” (Xuanbai zhi Dao; a Daoist cultivation method), and he was able to transform his appearance and conceal his body. He often followed his master into the Eastern Sea and once briefly passed through the territory of Wu, where the ruler of Wu, the Former Lord, received him with courtesy.

The Former Lord built a quiet dwelling for Jie Yan and sent people to inquire after him several times in a single day. Sometimes Jie Yan transformed into a child, sometimes into an old man; he ate nothing and accepted no gifts. The Former Lord wanted to learn his ritual arts, but Jie Yan considered that the Former Lord had too many concubines around him, so ...

He refused to transmit the Daoist methods; the former lord (here referring to the ruler at that time) was furious and ordered Yan bound to a carriage shaft, with crossbows drawn to shoot him. After the crossbow bolts were loosed, the ropes remained where they were, but no one knew where Yan had gone.

Xu Fu

Xu Fu, courtesy name Junfang, was of unknown origin. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, many people in the great imperial park died inexplicably, their corpses left strewn across the roads. A bird often appeared, shaped like a crow, carrying grass in its beak to cover the faces of the dead; the dead would immediately revive.

The officials in charge reported the matter to Qin Shi Huang. The First Emperor sent an envoy with this grass to consult Master Guigu of the Northern Suburb. The Master said: “This is the herb of immortality from Mount Zuzhou in the Eastern Sea. It grows in the jade fields and is also called Yangshen Zhi, the Nourishing Spirit Fungus. Its leaves resemble wild rice leaves; it grows singly, not in clumps, and a single plant can revive one person.”

The First Emperor then believed that this herb could be found and sought out men of Dao. Xu Fu led five hundred boys and five hundred girls, boarded tower ships and the like, and put out to sea to seek Zuzhou. He never returned, and his whereabouts remained unknown. Later, when Shen Xi attained the Dao, Huang-Lao sent Xu Fu as a messenger: Xu Fu rode a white tiger chariot to welcome the Lord Who Transcends the World, Sima Sheng, while Attendant Gentleman Bu Yan rode a white deer chariot and came along with him.

Che Zihou

Che Zihou was from Fufeng. Emperor Wu of Han favored his purity and few desires and progressively promoted him until he became a Palace Attendant. One day he said to his family: “I am now going to take up a post among the immortal officials. This spring I should leave; in mid-summer I will return for a short while; after a brief stay, I will leave again.”

It happened exactly as he said. Emperor Wu missed him and made a song:

“O lovely orchid, putting forth lush tender shoots;

In the pond the blossoms are alluring, the scene radiant, fragrance drifting on the wind.

I pace and linger, yet the heavenly spirits will not grant fulfillment;

The one who attained the Dao has gone to the immortal land.

The road to the heavenly realm is distant; who knows when we shall meet again;

Unawares my tears fall and soak my garments.”

Su Dan

Su Dan was from Guiyang and was known in his youth for filial piety. His mother wanted fish soup, so he went out to the market in Xiangzhou to buy fish. The market was one thousand four hundred li from home, yet he returned very quickly. Su Dan’s uncle was an official in the prefectural office and happened to see him at the market at the time; he wrote a letter home about it, and the family was greatly astonished.

Later, Su Dan said to his mother: “I have been commanded to attain the Dao and become immortal, and I cannot remain long at home to serve you. Therefore I leave behind two large cabinets. When you want something to eat, knock on the small cabinet; when you want money or silk, knock on the large cabinet. Whatever you need will appear at once.”

The villagers all found this strange and reported it to the authorities. The authorities sent people to inspect the cabinets; there was nothing inside, yet Su Dan’s mother continued to take and use things from them as before. …

As Dan was about to leave, he said, “This year there will be a great plague, and about half the people will die. If your household drinks water from this well, you will be safe.” Later it turned out exactly as he said. The whole family was safe and fortunate, and his mother lived to be over a hundred. After Dan died, weeping sounds often came from the mountain and did not stop until the mourning period ended. For this reason the local people built a shrine for him.

Zhang Jujun

Zhang Jujun was of unknown origin. Xu Jishan fell ill and could not be cured for a long time, so he fasted and offered sacrifices to Mount Tai, praying for an extension of life. Day and night he appealed to the spirits, when suddenly a divine man came and asked, “Who are you? Why do you so bitterly appeal to the dark realm? The Heavenly Emperor sent me to question you; you must answer truthfully.”

Jishan said, “I am Xu Jishan of Pingyu in Runan. I have been ill for three years and do not know what offense I committed, so I have come to this sacred mountain to ask that my life and death be judged.”

The divine man said, “I am the immortal Zhang Jujun. I know a divination technique that can determine where your calamity comes from.” Jishan bowed and thanked him again and asked for his guidance. Zhang Jujun cast a divination for him and obtained Zhen changing into Heng, with the first nine, six-two, and six-three lines moving. Zhang Jujun said, “You are a man of improper conduct; how could your illness heal?”

Jishan said, “Please tell me the reason.” Zhang Jujun said, “You once took a guest eastward to avenge your father. On the road you killed that guest, put the corpse into an empty well, and covered the well opening with a large stone. That man lodged a complaint with the Heavenly Bureau, and therefore punishment was sent down upon you and you became ill.”

Jishan said, “There was indeed such a matter.” Zhang Jujun asked, “Why did you do it?” Jishan replied, “My father had been beaten by someone, and I was ashamed to let him pass his whole life in that way, so I took people to seek revenge. Before we reached that man’s house, the guest wanted to tell our revenge plan to the enemy, and that is why I killed him.”

Zhang Jujun said, “The ways of the underworld are hard to deceive. You must sincerely confess, and I will return to the mountain to plead for you.” Jishan’s illness gradually improved. Zhang Jujun also transmitted the method of divination to Jishan, and Jishan later became very skilled in Yijing divination. It was only a pity that he did not ask Zhang Jujun for the methods of long life and transcendence from the world.

Feng Boda

Feng Boda was from Jianchang in Yuzhang. For generations his family practiced filial piety, diligently did good, and gave relief to the people. When he expounded principles, he could hit the essential points. His life was similar to that of Dai Jin, and the two lived in the same period.

During the Yuanjia era, Feng Boda went to the capital. Later, Dai Jin entrusted a fellow townsman to carry a letter back south. When the boat reached Meigen, it encountered wind and was delayed, unable to advance for several days. Feng Boda said to the boat owner, “If you want to reach home as quickly as possible, just sleep peacefully and be sure not to open your eyes.” That night, they heard the sound of the boat’s bottom striking treetops and branches, and yet...

When Wei Kang secretly peered out, he saw two dragons flanking both sides of the boat’s beam, as though they had grown wings; the boat sped away like lightning.

Before dawn, the boat reached the residence. Boda then sought a way inside and entered; later he went into Mount Lu and never returned.

Han Yue

Han Yue was a man from the region of Nanling and Guanjun. In his heart he admired immortals, but outwardly he looked like a wild and simple-minded person.

He followed his teacher in long periods of fasting and scripture recitation, and the recitation in his mouth never ceased. He often traveled wearing wooden clogs, regardless of the distance. When he went into the mountains, he would sometimes stay for a hundred days, sometimes for fifty, and only then return home. When his family asked where he had gone, he never told them the truth.

Later, a fellow townsman was cutting dead wood in a stone chamber on a precipice of Dayang Mountain to make a bow, and saw Han Yue reading scriptures together with six or seven immortals. Later Han Yue came down from the mountain to a village at its foot and soon died suddenly. When his family came to receive the coffin, they found it very light and suspected that the body inside was not really his. On opening it, they found only a bamboo staff.

During the Daming reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Liu Song, Han Yue’s fellow townsman met him at the south gate of Qingzhou. At that time the fellow townsman was on an imperial mission to the north, and Han Yue’s appearance was even younger than before. The two talked for a while, asking after the lives and deaths of relatives and friends, and sorrow and joy mingled in them. Han Yue said, “My wife’s cough has still not healed. I will give you a packet of medicinal powder; when you return, have her take it all at once with warm wine.” After the fellow townsman returned to the capital, he relayed Han Yue’s words to his wife. She took the powder, and the cough immediately healed.

Guo Pu

Guo Pu, courtesy name Jingchun, was from Hedong. Wang Dun planned to rebel and asked Guo Pu to interpret a dream. He said, “Yesterday I dreamed that I was in the river outside Stone City, holding a plow and tilling the ground; interpret this dream for me.”

Guo Pu replied, “Holding a plow and tilling in the great river—farming there is inherently difficult to succeed at; rebellion will likewise come to nothing.” Wang Dun flew into a rage and said to Guo Pu, “Interpret your own fate and calculate when you will die.” Guo Pu replied, “This official will die today.”

Wang Dun then ordered Guo Pu’s execution. Guo Pu said to the officer carrying out the sentence, “When I was thirteen, I once gave you my robe at Zhatang, and I said then that my fate should end in your hands. You may use my knife.” The officer, moved by his former kindness, carried out the sentence in tears.

Three days after Guo Pu was buried, people in the southern market saw him selling the clothes and items he had used in life and talking with acquaintances. When Wang Dun heard this, he did not believe it and sent someone to open the coffin; there was no corpse inside. Guo Pu had attained the Daoist method of shijie (liberation by corpse)—in Daoist legend, the cultivator leaves behind some substitute while the true self escapes the mortal body. He is now the Water Immortal Bo.

Dai Meng

Dai Meng, courtesy name Chengzi, was from Wuwei. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, he served as a General of the Palace; his original surname was Yan, given name Ji, courtesy name Zhongwei. After attaining the Dao, he changed his name and entered Mount Huayin, where he studied secret methods under Qingling Zhenren, Lord Pei. He obtained the Scripture of the Jade Pendant and Golden Ornament, the Talisman of Stone Essence and Golden Light, as well as the immortals Guo Zihua, Zhang Jilian, Zhao Shuda…

Shan Shiyuan often traveled and spent time with him.

Guo Wenju

Guo Wenju was from Zhi County in Henei Commandery. From childhood he loved mountains and waters and often visited famous mountains; he once explored the stone chamber at Huayin. After Luoyang fell, he moved to the Wu region and settled at Dapi Mountain. Leaning wood against trees and thatching with miscanthus to make a crude dwelling, he lived there. At the time fierce beasts roamed and harmed people, yet Guo Wenju lived there for more than ten years without mishap.

Chancellor Wang Dao sent people to invite him to the capital, and court officials all came to see him. Guo Wenju sat cross-legged with a relaxed, unconstrained expression, as if no one else were present. Zhou Yi asked him, “Fierce beasts harm people—are you not afraid, sir?” Guo Wenju replied, “I have no mind to harm beasts, and so beasts do not harm people.” Zhou Yi, Yu Liang, Huan Wen, and Liu Hui all sighed and said that although Guo Wenju lacked a worthy man’s ability, he possessed a worthy man’s virtue.

In the first year of Xianhe (326 CE), Guo Wenju begged to return to the mountains, but Wang Dao would not permit it. Not long afterward he quietly left and entered Baitu Mountain in Lin’an. The following year Su Jun raised troops in rebellion; some said that Guo Wenju had known of this long beforehand and that this was why he had left the capital.

Guo Wenju had two scrolls of the Laozi Jing, wrapped in silk and hung in his room, yet he was never seen reading them. A man named Xu Kai from outside the mountains took him as teacher and received Daoist Fulu (talismans and registers, documents recording deities, their offices, and ritual methods). The generals, officials, and soldiers recorded in the Fulu all manifested and obeyed Xu Kai’s commands. Later Xu Kai saw the Earth God and the Stove God, and the deities warned him, “You should not have a wife; if you take one, we will no longer act for you.” Later Xu Kai married a woman of the Ji clan, and all the gods withdrew, leaving only two Fulu clerks, who no longer obeyed his commands. They told Xu Kai, “You have violated your agreement with your master; the Celestial Bureau (the heavenly government in Daoism) has already recalled the clerk-soldiers, leaving only us to guard the Supreme Fulu. We can no longer be commanded by you.”

When Guo Wenju died, he departed like a cicada shedding its shell. The people below the mountain erected a stele for him. Guo Wenju had once written the Jinxiong Shi and Jinci Ji on indocalamus bamboo leaves and placed them beneath the mat of his bed in his dwelling. Later people found them and read them in order; finding the contents similar to Chenwei (prognostic and apocryphal texts predicting fortune and explaining the heavenly mandate), they circulated them.

Yao Guang

It is unknown where Yao Guang was from. He obtained the way of the divine elixir and could separate his body and shadow; while sitting, he could suddenly vanish. He feared neither fire nor the blade.

The Wu ruler personally tested him: he ordered several thousand bundles of reeds to be piled up, had Yao Guang sit on top, wrapped him in more than ten layers of material, and then set fire to it. Flames and thick smoke obscured the sky, and spectators packed the city, all thinking that Yao Guang had been burned to ashes. When the fire went out, however, Yao Guang rose from the ashes, brushed off his clothes, and looked calm. He still held a scroll in his hand. The Wu ruler could not understand its contents. Later, Yao Guang disappeared without a trace.

Xu Wan

Xu Wan was a native of Haiyan in Wu Commandery. In his youth he already possessed Dao Qi (the vital energy spoken of by cultivators) and was able to subdue evil specters.

The daughter of the Du family of Qiantang suffered from an illness caused by evil influence, and Xu Wan was summoned to exorcise it. When the evil specter appeared, it changed into a figure in the likeness of a man, wearing a white lined jacket and an unlined robe of hemp cloth, and came through the door. Xu Wan shouted at it once, and the specter immediately turned into a white turtle.

One morning, Xu Wan and several of his male cousins went up Shiqi Mountain to gather firewood. After dark, Xu Wan had not returned. The next morning, the group went up the mountain to search and found him there, with a sickle tucked under his arm, leaning motionless against a tree. When someone picked him up, only an empty shell remained. (This passage is damaged in the original, and some words and phrases are difficult to determine precisely.)

Ding Lingwei

Ding Lingwei was a native of Liaodong. In his youth he studied the Dao under a master, achieved the Dao and became an immortal, and could divide his body at will. He once briefly returned to his home region, transformed into a white crane, and alighted on an ornamental huabiao pillar at the commandery city gate. He said: “I am Ding Lingwei. I left home a thousand years ago and now return. The city walls are as before, but the people are no longer those of former days. Why not study the way of immortality, so that after death you do not leave only row upon row of graves?”

Zuo Yuanfang becoming a sheep and Ding Lingwei becoming a crane were merely forms they manifested temporarily; they did not permanently become a sheep or a crane. The genealogy of the Ding clan of Liaodong records that Ding Lingwei studied the Dao and became an immortal in the early Han.

Wang Jia

Wang Jia, courtesy name Zinian, was a native of An’yang in Longxi. He lived for a long time at the mouth of Dongyang Valley, leading his disciples up the cliffs to live in caves. He practiced using the Six Qi (six kinds of breath) and maintained the San Yi (Three Ones), a Daoist inner-cultivation visualization practice concerning the body and its spirits. Winter and summer alike, his clothing did not change, yet his appearance grew younger day by day.

Fu Jian summoned Wang Jia several times, but he refused to take office. Later, Fu Jian launched a major southern campaign and appointed his younger brother Fu Rong as grand general. Fu Jian sent someone to ask Wang Jia, “Which side is stronger, metal or fire?” Wang Jia mounted the messenger’s horse, slowly rode east several hundred paces, then let his clothes fall to the ground and sent the horse running back riderless; he himself returned to sit on his bed and gave no answer.

Fu Jian did not understand and sent someone again to ask about the fate of the state. Wang Jia said, “Weiyang.” Fu Jian was delighted, thinking it an auspicious omen. The following year was a guiwei year; Fu Jian suffered a great defeat at Shouchun, and the Former Qin perished as well. It turned out that “Weiyang” hinted that the disaster would fall in the wei year: the Former Qin was located in the west and belonged to metal; the Jin capital was in the south and belonged to fire, and fire can melt metal.

Before long, Wang Jia moved to Songgao Mountain. After Yao Chang pacified Chang’an, he asked Wang Jia, “Should I ascend to the imperial throne?” Wang Jia said, “You will probably be able to obtain it.” Yao Chang was enraged, saying that this little Daoist priest had answered rudely, and ordered his officials to execute Wang Jia and his two disciples.

Previously, Yao Chang had sent people to Longyou, and on the way they encountered Wang Jia and his two disciples, who had already traveled more than a thousand li. On the very day of the execution, Wang Jia wrote a letter to Yao Chang. Yao Chang ordered the coffins of Wang Jia and his two disciples opened, but there was no one inside. (The original text breaks off at the end of this passage, and what follows is unknown.)

On each corpse there was a bamboo staff; though they searched for a long time, they could not find them.

Kou Qianzhi

It is unknown where Kou Qianzhi was from. In his youth he loved cultivating the Dao. He entered Mount Tai, the Eastern Peak, and practiced austerely on Daizong Mountain (Mount Tai) for many years. One day he received transmission from a Perfected One and was given a share of the method for forming the elixir; afterward he ascended to heaven in broad daylight. Kou Qianzhi’s talismans and memorials (Fulu and petitionary rites) were once used to heal the common people and were highly effective. To this day, many people in the north still practice his Daoist methods.

Dong You

Dong You was from Hailing and was the youngest of three brothers. He lost his father early, and his mother favored him, thinking he was sickly and unable to manage household affairs. At eighteen, Dong You said to his mother: “My illness is severe and will be hard to cure in a short time. I will only burden my two elder brothers, and in the end I fear I will not live either. I wish to follow the Daoist gate, do sweeping and other chores, and spend my life that way.” His mother agreed.

Dong You lived in his master’s house, respectful and cautious, diligent in cultivation, fasting for long periods, and studying single-mindedly without ever slacking. Later he thoroughly understood Daoist arts. In his forty-first year, at night, a Perfected One descended and taught him an art for crossing water without sinking, and gave him a horsewhip, telling him to use it to walk on the surface of water as if walking on level ground.

During the Yixi era of the Jin, Dong You returned home to take leave of his mother, saying: “I have attained the Dao and will no longer remain in the human world. I have come back now to say farewell to my family.” His mother asked where he was going and when he would return. Dong You said: “I must go to Mount Emei to continue receiving instruction; I cannot say for certain when I will return.”

Relatives, friends, and neighbors accompanied him to the West River at Qiyang, where they saw with their own eyes as he walked on the water with his horsewhip, gradually going far away. He turned back and said to his two elder brothers: “You must transmit the Daoist work generation after generation.”

Liu Hua

It is unknown where Liu Hua was from. He was tall, with a heavy beard, and his hands hung down past his knees. He lived for a long time on Mount Wudang, five hundred li from Xiangyang; setting out in the morning, he could arrive by evening. He seemed to have no special cultivation, yet he often used medicine to heal the common people, laboring tirelessly. He gathered most of the medicinal materials himself and was thoroughly familiar with the medicinal properties of plants, trees, and minerals.

Liu Daochan, Governor of Yongzhou, was wary of his long arms, so he had him arrested in Xiangyang and sent under escort to Emperor Wen of Song. Each morning the guards took him out in a prisoner cart to gather herbs in the mountains, and in the evening they returned him to the prison of the Commandant of Justice. Later, Liu Hua wrote two short scrolls and gave them to the prison officer; the officer did not dare accept them, so Liu Hua burned them.

One night, Liu Hua disappeared, yet the locks on the prison doors remained as they were. The night guard at Changhe Gate found him and sent him back to the Commandant of Justice. Liu Hua said to the prison officer: “The authorities will soon kill me. When I die and am encoffined, do not nail the coffin shut.” Later he was indeed killed.

A few days later, Emperor Wen doubted this account and ordered the coffin to be opened for inspection, but no corpse was seen—inside there was only a bamboo staff.

Wang Zhi

Wang Zhi was from Dongyang. One day, he went into the mountains to cut firewood and came upon several youths playing Go in a stone chamber, singing and laughing as they played. Wang Zhi set down his axe and stood nearby to watch. The youths gave him something like a date pit and told him to hold it in his mouth and swallow the juice. After that, Wang Zhi no longer felt hungry or thirsty.

The youths said, “You have been here a long time; you may go back now.” When Wang Zhi picked up his axe, he found that the handle had completely rotted away. Only after he returned home did he realize that several hundred years had passed since he had left.

“Go” is a two-player board game; this story tells of Wang Zhi entering the mountains and encountering immortals—a brief moment in the mountains, while in the human world several hundred years had already passed.