《雲笈七籤》Vol. 116

Mother Liang

Mother Liang was from Xuyi. After her husband died, she lived alone and had no children. She kept an inn at Pingyuan Pavilion. When travelers came to lodge and rest, she always treated them as if they had returned to their own home. When guests left, she never quibbled over how much they owed; if a guest stayed for a month, she did not grow impatient. She herself wore coarse cloth and ate coarse grain, while the goods and money she received she used to relieve the poor and the sick.

Once a young man stayed at the inn for a month, and his manner was unlike that of ordinary people. As he was leaving, he said, “I am the Little Boy of the Eastern Sea.” Mother Liang did not know who this youth really was.

In the fourth year of Yuanhui of the Liu Song (476 CE), the Daoist Xu Daosheng of Ma’er Mountain was temporarily staying in Mengyin and encountered an azure sheep carriage west of Fengcheng. The carriage stopped, and a young boy called out, “Master Xu, please come over.” When Xu Daosheng came within about three paces of the carriage, he stopped, and then saw two more boys about twelve or thirteen years old, both wearing yellow clothes with crimson undergarments, their hair tied in horn-shaped buns, their appearance and bearing dignified and seldom seen in the world.

The person in the carriage had one of the boys relay a message: “I am Mother Liang of the Pingyuan inn. Now Tai Shang, the Supreme Lord, has summoned me back. I am to pass by Penglai, seek Ziqiao, and then go to Mount Tai to verify the summons. I wished to see them, and indeed I have met Ziqiao. The spirit carriage drifts lightly; the Xuangang ridges are steep; ferries and post stations are few, and the journey is three thousand li. My attendants are close by, yet my heart is anxious and weary; soon I shall ride the smoke and ascend to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). These three boys will escort me to Xuandu. Please convey my greetings on my behalf to the pure-faith lay men and women of the east: the age of Great Peace will soon arrive; already more than one in ten have been awakened and brought to salvation. Once this period has passed, there will be no anxiety or danger.”

She raised her hand in farewell and said, “We shall meet again in the time of Great Peace.” Then the carriage rose into the air and departed; Xu Daosheng kept watching until the carriage’s shadow vanished. Xu Daosheng returned to the inn and made inquiries, only then learning that that day was precisely the day Mother Liang attained the Dao and ascended to heaven.

Bao Gu

Bao Gu was the daughter of Bao Jing, governor of Nanhai, and the wife of Ge Hong, a Regular Attendant of the Jin dynasty. Bao Jing, courtesy name Taixuan, was from Chenliu. From youth he possessed profound insight and could comprehend deep and mysterious principles; he devoted himself single-mindedly to investigating the profound Daoist truths, though others did not know of these matters.

Both Bao Jing and his younger sister inherited the hidden virtue accumulated by their ancestors; thus blessings extended to Bao Jing, and both were able to attain the Dao. Bao Gu and her younger sister also...

Jing thoroughly understood the study of warp and weft. Later she took Zuo Yuanfang as her teacher and received the Central Method. She also mastered the essential formulas of the Sanhuang and Wuyue traditions for impeaching and subduing spirits and for summoning deities; when she performed them, they were highly efficacious. She could command ghosts and spirits, seal off mountains and ridges, and subdue demons and monstrous beings.

In the first year of the Daxing era of Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin (the wuyin year), Jing met the Perfected Yin Changsheng at Mount Jiang and learned from him the technique of blade liberation (daojie). She was summoned to court several times, rising to the post of Gentleman Attendant of the Yellow Gate; later she asked to leave the capital and served as Prefect of Nanhai. Her aunt married Ge Zhichuan. Ge Zhichuan was then serving as Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and, in order to refine cinnabar, requested appointment as magistrate of Goulou.

While Taixuan (Jing’s aunt) was living in Nanhai, her youngest daughter, who had just come of age, suddenly died without illness. At the time Taixuan was conversing with guests and showed almost no grief at her daughter’s death. The daughter was buried at Mount Luofu; her face looked as if she were alive, and everyone believed she had attained the Dao and departed through “corpse liberation” (shijie). Jing later returned to Danyang and, after her death, was buried at Shizigang. During the Su Jun rebellion, someone opened her coffin; there was no corpse inside, only a large saber. The robbers wanted to take the saber, but suddenly heard the sounds of soldiers and horses around the tomb; when they turned to look, they were startled and frightened. Then the saber gave a tremendous crash like thunder, and the robbers all fled. After the rebellion was quelled, people recovered the great saber and buried it elsewhere. Jing and her younger sister also obtained the way of corpse liberation; their aunt and Ge Zhichuan ascended to immortality one after the other.

Sun Hanhua

Sun Hanhua was a native of Wu; her father was named Sun Xi. She took Du Qi as her teacher and studied the essentials of Xuanbai (the Mysterious White, a key formula of Daoist cultivation). Her appearance became younger day by day. For more than ten years she practiced and traveled among the mountains of Wu and Yue, and finally attained the Dao and departed as an immortal.

Li Xizi

Li Xizi was the grandmother of Li Zhong, Prefect of Dongping in the Jin dynasty; her maiden surname is unknown. Li Zhong’s grandfather Li Zhenjie lived in retirement in the countryside; he was compassionate by nature and often did good secretly. Li Xizi shared his aspiration and devoted herself single-mindedly to helping others.

During heavy snow and bitter cold, worried that birds and beasts would go hungry, she scattered rice and grain in the courtyard. Such was the care with which she did good. She has now attained the Dao and dwells in the Huayang Grotto Palace.

Han Xihua

Han Xihua was of unknown origin. She loved all beings and often did good in secret; even the tiniest insects she protected and cherished. She cultivated the Dao and became an immortal; she now resides in the grotto-heaven of Mount Song.

Dou Qiongying

Dou Qiongying was the younger sister of Dou Wu. Her seventh-generation ancestor Dou Zhi often buried unclaimed remains, harboring the intention of saving the dead. For this reason the blessing extended to Dou Qiongying and made her a female immortal; she now resides in the Yiqian Palace.

Liu Chunlong

Liu Chunlong and Guo Shuxiang—it is not known where either was from. Because their ancestors had accumulated hidden virtue (secretly doing good without seeking return), both were able to attain dunhua (transformation through escape) and lianjing (refining the luminous radiance), and enter Huayang Yiqian Palace.

Liu Chunlong, Dou Qiongying, Han Taihua, Li Xizi, and others were naturally dignified and beautiful in appearance, outstanding in bearing, and exceptional in talent and learning; all were able to serve as Mingchen Shilang (Attendant Gentlemen of the Bright Dawn). Their holding the office of Attendant Gentleman in the grotto-heavens was because they had been selected for outstanding ability; the position was not restricted to men or women.

Zhao Sutai

Zhao Sutai was the daughter of Zhao Xi, provincial governor of Youzhou under the Han. In his youth Zhao Xi often did good deeds, relieving the poor and destitute, and he also assisted the family of Wang Hui and others, accumulating deep hidden virtue. Several decades later, Zhao Xi was able to go in person to Zhuling, while his son was able to travel through the grotto-heavens.

Zhao Sutai had already lived in Yiqian Palace for four hundred years and was unwilling to leave. She believed there was no happier place in the world. She often changed into commoner’s clothing and went out to view mountains and waters, fields and countryside, finding joy in herself. Her rank was Lady of Yiqian.

Fu Lihe

Fu Lihe was the daughter of Fu Jian of Beidi. Her whole family believed in Buddhism, and every day Fu Lihe swept the area before the Buddhist images. She often made vows, saying: “I alone admire the immortal Dao; I constantly ingest the essence of the Five Stars, and I vow that my body may produce radiance and that I may attain the Dao and become an immortal.”

She was skilled at chanting songs of the empty cavern. Whenever she sang, birds came and gathered, flying before her as if listening to her song. This was a sign that her intention was utterly sincere and that she had attained the Dao by resonantly moving external things.

Huang Jinghua

Huang Jinghua was the daughter of Huang Qiong, Minister of Works under the Han. From childhood she loved the immortal Dao and secretly practiced its essential methods. Later she took Lord Han as her teacher and received the elixir formula of Mount Min; after taking it, she entered Yiqian Palace. She held the rank of Xiechen Furen (Lady of Assisting Dawn), commanded the goddesses of the Nine Palaces, and both supervised and instructed them.

Zhang Weizi

Zhang Weizi was the daughter of Zhang Qing, Grand Artisan during the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han; it is not known which commandery she was from. From childhood she loved Daoist arts, and later she departed this world through shijie (corpse liberation, a Daoist mode of becoming an immortal by leaving the mortal body and dissolving the physical form), entering the Huayang Sheren Terrace of the Taiyuan Siming (Grand Prime Director of Destinies). She took the Jade Consort of Donghua as her teacher and learned the method of ingesting mist and vapor.

Clouds and mist are the essence manifested by the Qi of water and fire among mountains and marshes. The Qi of metal and stone fills them; it is said that by ingesting them over a long time, one can cause the bodily form to dissolve, enter the void, and merge with the clouds and mist. Zhang Weizi practiced this method and in the end attained the Dao and became an immortal.

Ding Shuying

It is not known where Ding Shuying was from. She accumulated hidden virtue by relieving the poor and destitute... The original text breaks off here.

When Zhao Fu encountered a sudden crisis, her sincerity moved the Huangren (an immortal Perfected Being) on high, and the Huangren transmitted to her the essential methods of the Dao. Now she has become a consort in Zhuling (an immortal realm), often roaming the realms of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing); Siming (the deity in charge of human lifespans and registers of destiny) has also allowed her to take part in hearing and handling government affairs.

Wang Fajin

Wang Fajin was a native of Linjin County in Jianzhou. Even as a child, she naturally loved the Dao. Near her home was an old temple; although no Daoist priests lived there, when she played she never treated the divine images with disrespect. Whenever she saw a divine image, she would gather her hands and bow respectfully, with a solemn expression as if filled with awe.

When she was a little over ten, a female Daoist passed by her home. Her parents knew she admired the Dao, so they entrusted her to this female Daoist’s care. The female Daoist transmitted to her the Zhengyi Yansheng Register (a Zhengyi [Orthodox Unity] Fulu for blessing and extending life) and gave her the name Fajin. From then on she devoted herself diligently to burning incense and worshiping the gods, carefully observed fasts and precepts, and ate cypress leaves, cutting off grain. Later, she responded to the descent of a spirit.

That year, the Sanchuan region had a poor harvest, grain prices soared, and five or six out of ten people died. Many had no choice but to gather mountain yams and wild kudzu to stave off hunger. Suddenly two Qingtong (youthful attendants who serve immortals) descended into her courtyard and read aloud the decree of the Lord on High: “In your previous life you were endowed with immortal bones, and your return to the Dao was sincere; you never forgot the Great Dao. Now you are sent by the Qingtong to be summoned to the Jade Capital (the celestial immortal capital) to take up office.”

Fajin immediately followed the Qingtong and rose into the air, going straight to the Great Emperor. The Great Emperor ordered that she be given a jade cup and rosy-cloud nectar (a drink of the immortals). After she drank it, the Great Emperor said to her:

“Human beings receive a body formed by the Five Phases (Wuxing: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and obtain the harmonious Qi (vital energy) of Heaven and Earth before they can become human; moreover, to be born in the central lands is truly not easy. Heaven moves according to the four seasons; Earth contains the essence of the Five Phases and grows the five grains and hundred fruits to nourish people. Yet people do not know to feel grateful for Heaven and Earth’s grace of nurture; they treat the five grains lightly and waste them, and they reject silk and hemp. Farmers who plow and women who weave labor diligently, yet they cannot eat their fill or wear warm clothes; they exhaust their strength in vain and still do not obtain warmth and sufficiency. To show no cherishing for the fruits of such labor is precisely what the gods punish; Heaven and Earth will also not protect such people.

“Recently, the Earthly Administration and the Yuedu (the deities of mountains and rivers) have memorialized daily, saying that people of the world lightly esteem rice and wheat and do not treasure the root of food and clothing. I have already ordered the Taihua Prefecture to withdraw the spirits of the five grains, so that even when people sow they will not reap, and to let the common people go hungry as a punishment to awaken them. But foolish people remain completely unaware.

“Later, I considered according to the command of Taishang: the Great Dao cherishes life, and one must not let the faults of those wicked people implicate the many good people. Although Heaven, Earth, and the gods wish to punish them, they do not know whence their faults arise, and therefore they have no repentance or prayers for forgiveness. Now I pardon their transgressions.”

Lu Xu, having endured all these hardships, you should become a supreme attendant youth and enter the heavenly palace to serve.

For now, you are first to descend to the human world and tell the people: they must repent and remove their sins, cherish mulberry cultivation and sericulture, respect farming, and treasure the five grains and hundred fruits; they must understand the principle that the Great Dao nurtures humankind and the deep earth nourishes the myriad things. They should revere the orthodox path and serve the deities with respect; water, fire, and other everyday necessities must not be despised or rejected; in the provision of clothing and food, they should be frugal and restrained. If everyone can observe these clear precepts, Heaven and Earth will cherish them, the deities will protect them, wind and rain will be seasonable, and families and the state will be peaceful. This too is accumulating your hidden merit (merit accumulated in secret).

Thereupon, the heavenly deity ordered an attendant woman to take out a scroll of the Lingbao Qingzhai (Pure Fast) Method of Announcing and Thanking Heaven and Earth and give it to him, so that he might transmit and practice it in the world. The attendant woman, carrying the precious casket for heavenly books (langji zhu yun, here referring to the precious box in which heavenly scriptures are kept), took out this ritual text. He said: “People of the world may go in groups to quiet and lofty mountains to establish a zhai, repent, and give thanks. Within one year, it should be held once in spring and once in autumn: in spring pray for a bountiful harvest; in autumn give thanks for the Great Dao’s gracious power. In this way past sins can be eliminated; the Grain Father and Silkworm Mother (deities governing grains and sericulture) will also bestow abundant harvests.”

“When the Dragon-Tiger year arrives, I will summon you back again.” Then he ordered the Qingtong (celestial attendant youth) to send the man home. By this time he had been away from home for three months.

The book he obtained is what is now called the Lingbao Qingzhai Method of Announcing and Thanking Heaven and Earth. This ritual method is relatively simple, broadly similar to the Lingbao Ziran Zhai (Natural Fast), but when performed in the human world it often quickly shows responses. If, during the offerings, there is the slightest disrespect or defilement of the seats and implements, or if the officiant’s mind is insincere, then violent winds and torrential rain will come and destroy the altar; pealing thunder will also damage the sacrificial vessels.

From this time on, the people of the Sanchuan, Liang, and Han regions have revered this method every year. Whether simple and blunt folk or those of violent temperament, none fail to tremble with awe, revere and be cautious, hold it up and kneel in worship, and observe this ritual method. If cutworms, locusts, drought, or floods damage the crops, people need only sincerely encourage one another, perform the zhai ritual, burn incense and report at the Xuantan (the altar for sacrifices to the Dark Heaven and for conducting zhai rites), and pray morning and evening; the deities will then respond swiftly, bestow blessings, and protect them. As for those who are irreverent and do not believe, compared with those who sincerely practice it, the difference in results soon becomes apparent.

Banan calls it “Qingzhai”; Shu calls it “Tiangong Zhai” (Heavenly Merit Fast); in fact it is the same zhai method. Fajin, in the eleventh year of Tianbao (the Renchen year), was received by cloud cranes and ascended to heaven. This exactly accorded with the prophecy of the Dragon-Tiger period and the words of the divine being.

Lady Wang

Lady Wang was the wife of Xie Liangbi, Drafter in the Secretariat, and also … the Eastern Jin Right Army [General]…

A descendant of Yishao (Wang Xizhi) was a native of Kuaiji. His name was Liangbi; after passing the imperial examination as a jinshi, he was selected as an administrative officer in eastern Zhejiang. Later he married and before long fell gravely ill. The illness lingered for several years without cure. Liangbi had intended to go to the capital to take up office, but in the end he never made the journey, and his condition only grew worse.

At that time the Celestial Master (Tianshi) Wu Yun was traveling through the regions of Siming, Tiantai, Lanting, and Yu’s Cave, and was staying temporarily with the Wang family of Shanyin. Liangbi went to visit him and asked to be healed. The Celestial Master had him swallow a talisman with consecrated water, and after one night his illness was cured. Grateful that the Celestial Master had saved his life by ritual means, Wang went to take him as his teacher and received the Daoist registers (daolu), devoting himself single-mindedly to cultivating the Dao. He burned incense and sat in quiet meditation, living alone in a quiet room, resolved to cultivate, attain the Dao, and ascend. Later he cut off food and drink, relying only on swallowing Qi (vital energy) and regulating his breath; his Shen (spirit) and Qi became calm and harmonious, and his body grew light. Often strange fragrances and clouds appeared over his dwelling, as if divine beings truly descended, and he secretly communed with immortals, though others did not know.

One day he suddenly said to his daughter: “The illness I once had nearly killed me. Thanks to the Celestial Master’s rescue, my nearly exhausted lifespan was prolonged. Now I have awakened to the Dao, but it is already too late; my cultivation and service of the Dao have not been diligent enough. My past faults have not yet been fully repented. In this life I have been influenced by worldly habits and have harbored much jealousy; even now my mind remains blocked and benighted, and I have not yet penetrated the Great Dao. I still need to refine my form in the yin shadows, wash my mind clean, and transform my inner nature; only after twenty years will I be able to shed my mortal body like a cicada leaving its shell.”

He also instructed: “After I die, do not use a coffin. You may make a cypress-wood canopy and place my corpse in the open country, sending someone at set times to check on it.” That night he died. His family disposed of the body as he had said, keeping all arrangements simple, and placed him in their own garden. The body lay peacefully as if asleep and showed no change.

Twenty years later, tomb robbers opened the place where the body was kept and threw his body on the ground. It was deep winter. Suddenly a sound like thunder came from beside the canopy. The whole family was astonished and hurried to look. When they lifted the corpse, they felt it was as light as an empty shell; skin, nails, and hair were all intact, and on the right side of his ribs there was a crease more than a foot long. So the family laid him out and buried him again.

The Lady of the Southern Marchmount (Nanyue furen) once said: among those who attain the Dao, the highest can ascend in broad daylight, with form and bones flying away together, and be appointed as true officials; those of the next rank shed their old forms like snakes and cicadas, and their form and bones can also soar aloft, with the fleshy body ascending to heaven together. Both become celestial immortals and no longer dwell among the mountains.

Liangbi also served the Celestial Master with the rites of a disciple, personally attending him, and wrote a biography of the Celestial Master, recording his deeds in detail.

Hua Gu

Hua Gu was the female Daoist Huang Lingwei. At eighty she still looked young, with a face like an infant. Her cultivation and conduct were pure and lofty, and people called her Hua Gu. She wore light shoes and walked slowly…

He moved so swiftly that even a galloping horse could not catch him, and no one knew who he really was. Since the early Tang, he had traveled through the regions of Jiang, Zhe, Hu, and Ling; there was no famous mountain or numinous grotto he had not visited. Wherever he passed, sometimes staying in forests and wilds, spirits would guard him. If anyone harbored ill intent and sought to bully or insult him, that person would immediately meet with misfortune. People near and far revered him and served him as if he were a deity.

He heard that Lady Wei of the Southern Peak (a female immortal venerated in Daoism) had in former times crossed the river to cultivate the Dao and had established an immortal altar on Shijing Mountain west of the Linru River in Linchuan Commandery, so he went to seek it out. He searched for a long time, but the place was already overgrown with thorns and brush, its traces buried, and the local people did not know where the altar was.

In the tenth month of winter in the second year of Changshou under Empress Wu Zetian (a renchen year), he went to Xishan in Hongdu to visit the Daoist priest Hu Chao and asked him about the matter. Hu Chao, whose courtesy name was Basu, could communicate with the spirits, and he directed him to go about six li to the south. There was a place called Wugui Yuan (Turtle Plain); in ancient times there had been a stone turtle there, and because it was often thought to damage the crops, people struck it, and its head had been broken off. The immortal altar was in that area. He went to inspect it and indeed saw that the altar foundation on either side of the stone turtle was still faintly discernible, and the place where the stone turtle stood was exactly the center of the altar. He also found underground a sacred image, an oil jar, an awl, a knife, a lamp, and other objects; he then repaired the altar site and restored it to prosperity.

Later, he dreamed again that Lady Wei instructed him that there was a Jiuqu Pool (Nine-Bend Pool) south of the altar. He searched as directed and indeed found it; the brick remains at the edge of the pool were still there. During the Jingyun era, Emperor Ruizong sent the Daoist priest Ye Shanxin with an embroidered image, banners, and flowers to conduct a ritual, and he also built Dongling Abbey west of the altar and arranged for seven female Daoist priests to reside there and preside. By the time of Emperor Ming, sacrifices and prayers never ceased.

Whenever there was wind and rain, flute and pipe music could sometimes be heard. All who came to worship had to strictly observe purity; otherwise strange phenomena such as the cries of snakes and tigers would appear. Once, cloud vapor like a flock of crows flying hung down in a ribbon-like shadow and fell straight onto the altar, then in an instant flew west again, as if heading toward Jing Mountain; such things happened more than once.

Hua Gu was in sympathetic communion with the spirits and secretly received a divine communication: “Jing Mountain is an ancient relic; you should repair it well.” Before long, a strange fragrance drifted from the west, and Hua Gu repeatedly received auspicious omens, so she herself repaired the altar site. When she spent the night at the mouth of the grotto, she heard the sounds of bells and chimes. The place had long been desolate and blocked off, yet she felt as if someone were welcoming and guiding her, and she was quite secure living among the forests and wilds. After dawn, when she entered the mountain, she indeed came upon the ruins of the altar hall, and so she built houses there. She also heard the sounds of Buxu (Daoist ritual chanting) and immortal music echoing within several li around the altar.

If a woodcutter entered the mountain to gather firewood without observing purity, he would certainly be frightened by strange occurrences. In the mountains and wilds there were also...

Xu Xiangu

The macaque, after being struck by an arrow, came to Huagu’s dwelling—Huagu being a woman who had attained the Dao—and Huagu pulled the arrow out for it. Thereafter, before each ritual fast, the macaque would carry lotus root in its mouth and present it to Huagu.

In the ninth year of the Kaiyuan era (a xinyou year), Huagu prepared to ascend to immortality and said to her disciples, “My immortal destiny has arrived; I cannot remain long in the human world. After I die, do not nail the coffin shut; simply cover the coffin with thin red gauze.” The next day, without falling ill, she passed away. Her skin was pure and clean, her body still warm, and an unusual fragrance filled the courtyard and the hall.

Her disciples followed her instructions: they did not nail the coffin shut, but only covered it with red gauze. Suddenly thunder crashed, and an egg-sized hole was struck through the red gauze. In the coffin only bedding and wooden tablets remained, and a hole was also pierced in the roof, large enough for a person to pass through. The melons used in the memorial offerings at the feast grew vines a few days later and bore two fruits the size of peaches. Each year on her death anniversary, wind and clouds would gather thickly and churn, pouring straight into the room.

When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang heard of this, he was astonished and ordered a reinvestigation of what had happened. The next day, he sent the Daoist priest Cai Wei to compile Huagu’s deeds into the Hou Xian Zhuan (Later Biographies of Immortals). On the yiyou day of the third month in the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan (a gengchen year), the emperor issued an edict ordering Daoist priests to bring dragon bi (jade discs used in sacrifices) and establish a Zhaijiao (purification ritual). Suddenly a white deer appeared from the eastern side of the altar; it walked to Huagu’s grave and vanished. This was precisely the place where, when Huagu was buried, only an empty coffin, bedding, and wooden tablets had been left. Five-colored immortal moths also gathered on the altar. The prefect Zhang Jingyi regarded this as a response brought about by sagely virtue and erected a stele to record the matter.

In the eighth year of Tianbao (a jichou year), the court assigned two Daoist nuns to cultivate and maintain the incense offerings at the place where Lady Wei (a Daoist female immortal) had ascended. In the third year of Dali (a wushen year), Yan Zhenqing, Duke of Lu Commandery, while serving as prefect of Fuzhou, found that the old site had fallen into desolation and ruin and that no one was stationed there to manage it. He summoned fourteen Daoist priests from Xiantai Abbey, including Tan Xianyan and Huang Daojin, and arranged for them to live at Dongling Abbey; he also had seven Daoist nuns of virtuous cultivation, including Li Qiongxian, reside at Xiantan Cloister. Yan Zhenqing composed the Xiantan Bei (Stele of the Immortal Altar) and wrote it in his own hand, recording these events.

Xu Xiangu

Xu Xiangu was the daughter of Xu Zhicai, a Director of the Department of State Affairs in the Sui dynasty. It is not known whom she took as her master. She had already lived for several hundred years, yet her appearance remained always like that of a woman of twenty-four or twenty-five. She was skilled in the art of incantation (Daoist spellcraft performed with spoken charms) and traveled alone through various regions. The Three Rivers and Five Peaks, Tiantai, Siming, Luofu, Kuocang, and other famous mountains and scenic places—she visited them all. She often stayed in rock caves at the foot of mountains or in grottoes within forests, and sometimes she also lodged in Buddhist monasteries. Suddenly several overbearing monks used insinuating words...

Gugu (a term of address for female cultivators) immediately scolded them. The monks were enraged and wanted to subdue her with knives, but her expression only became more indignant.

Gugu said with a smile, “I am a woman, and yet I can cast aside family and worldly life, wander the four directions, and not fear dragons, tigers, or wolves—how could I fear rats like you?” After saying this, she took off her clothes and lay down; immediately someone removed the candlelight.

The monks secretly rejoiced, thinking they had succeeded. The next day, Gugu picked up her staff and left the mountain. But the monks stood rigid the whole night, sitting dumbly like corpses, as if bound and their mouths sealed so that they could not speak. Only after Gugu had gone several li did the monks return to normal.

She traveled throughout the Jiangnan region; people of Wu had seen her for more than forty years. Her appearance remained unchanged, and she walked as fast as if flying. Wherever she went, people revered her and regarded her as a deity, not daring to harbor improper thoughts or to mock or insult her.

During the Xiantong reign period, the Daoist priest Kui Yuntao of the White Crane Abbey in Shan County said, “My father once served as an official under the Zhou and Sui dynasties and was renowned for his esoteric arts. He secretly accumulated virtue and performed good deeds, benefiting others. I too have now attained the Dao, and so have received blessings and been able to prolong my years and attain long life.” From this one may infer that this Gugu was indeed Kui Yuntao’s daughter.

Gou Xiangu

Gou Xiangu was from Changsha. After entering the Dao, she lived on Mount Heng. When she was over eighty, she still looked very young. For more than ten years she cultivated and tended incense at the immortal altar of Lady Wei at the foot of the mountain—a ritual site dedicated to Lady Wei—living alone without companions.

Tigers and wolves often roamed near the altar; ordinary visitors had to travel in groups and carry weapons before they dared enter. Xiangu, however, lived deep within it and was never afraid. Several years later, a blue bird flew in; it resembled a dove or pigeon, had a red crown and a long tail. It spoke at Xiangu’s dwelling, saying, “I am an envoy sent by the Lady of the Southern Marchmount. The Lady saw that Xiangu cultivates the Dao assiduously and lives alone in a remote mountain forest, so she ordered me to accompany you.”

Later the blue bird said again, “The Queen Mother of the West has the surname Gou and is Xiangu’s ancestor. She has heard that Xiangu cultivates the Dao diligently and that the time has come when a true official will descend to transmit the Daoist teachings, but the moment has not yet arrived. You should continue to strive in cultivation.”

Whenever someone came to visit the mountain, the blue bird would beforehand tell the person’s surname and the date of arrival, and later all came true. It also said, “The Gou clan of Henan is where the Queen Mother cultivated the Dao and also her native place.”

Another day, the blue bird flew in and told Xiangu, “Tonight robbers will come; they will not harm you, so do not be afraid.” That night, more than ten monks indeed came to Lady Wei’s altar. The altar was actually a huge rock about one zhang square, and beneath the rock it seemed to float suspended in midair…

That stone, if one person pushed it with his hand, would still sway; but when many people pushed it together, it was as if nailed in place and did not move at all.

One night, a group of monks took torches and knives and prepared to kill the Immortal Lady. After they entered the room, she was clearly lying on the bed, yet the monks could not see her. After the monks left the room, they went to push down the Immortal Lady’s altar. They pushed until the altar roared and the valley shook; they thought the altar had collapsed and fallen, but it could not be shaken at all. The monks had no choice but to flee one after another.

After daybreak, some of the monks reached a distant village, and the remaining nine scattered. Eight of them were bitten to death by tigers. One other had not taken part in their evil deed when the altar was being pushed, and so he escaped harm from the tigers. That lady’s altar was intact, and the Immortal Lady was safe and sound.

More than a year later, a blue bird told the Immortal Lady that she should move to an immortal abode. The Immortal Lady then moved to Hunan, and the blue bird followed her; others could never understand what the blue bird said. Chancellor Zheng Tian, Duke Wenzhao, had once served as a Chengzhi Academician and was later demoted to Governor of Wuzhou. He took the Immortal Lady as his teacher. The Immortal Lady said to him, “From now on, the world will be full of disasters, and the human realm cannot be lived in for long. I intend to retire to Jiuyi Mountain.” Soon afterward, the Immortal Lady departed.

The Tea Lady of Guangling

No one knew the surname or hometown of the Tea Lady of Guangling. She always looked about seventy years old, with a light, strong body, sharp ears and eyes, and black hair. After Emperor Yuan of Jin crossed to the south, local elders passed down from generation to generation that they had seen her for more than a hundred years, yet her appearance never changed.

She often carried a tea vessel to the market to sell tea. The townspeople vied to buy it, and from morning to evening she sold a great deal, yet the tea in the vessel always seemed as if it had just been brewed, and it never decreased. People all found this strange. The officials of the prefecture, on the grounds that she had violated the law, imprisoned her. The old woman then took her tea-selling utensils and flew out through the window.