《雲笈七籤》Vol. 117

The Lady of the Southern Sea (Nanming Furen) lived in the South Sea. Her identity and rank cannot be known; she was probably an immortal who had attained the Dao.

Yuan Che and Liu Shi shared the same aspirations and once went to Mount Heng to seek the Dao, where they built a hut and lived in seclusion for more than a year. Later the two traveled south together, reached Hepu County in Guangzhou, and boarded a boat to cross the sea. When the boat sailed south to Jiaozhi, it anchored by the shore. It happened that the villagers were sacrificing to the spirits, playing flutes and beating drums with great liveliness. Everyone on the boat, along with the sailors and servants, went to watch, leaving only Yuan Che and Liu Shi in the boat.

Before long, a violent storm suddenly snapped the mooring rope and blew the boat out into the sea, drifting toward no one knew where; several times it nearly sank. Later, the boat suddenly came to rest beside a lonely island, and the wind and waves calmed. The two went ashore and looked into the distance, and saw in a stone chamber a white jade statue of a Heavenly Worthy (Tianzun), bright and translucent. Before the statue was a gold incense burner, and the incense ashes in it were still there, but no one was in sight.

The two looked around, feeling melancholy. Suddenly they saw a huge beast emerge from the sea; it seemed to sense something, paused for a moment, and then sank back into the sea. Then purple clouds surged up from the surface of the sea, spreading for three or four li. Within the clouds appeared a giant lotus more than a hundred chi tall, its layered petals slowly unfurling, and inside were ornate curtains. There was also a rainbow bridge tens of chi wide, leading straight to the island. On the bridge, a female attendant carrying incense came before the Heavenly Worthy statue and had just lit the incense.

The two bowed sorrowfully to the attendant, begging her to rescue them and asking her to show them the way back. The attendant asked in surprise, “How did you suddenly get here?” They told her what had happened. The attendant said, “In a little while, the Lady of the Southern Sea will meet the Revered Master Yuxu (Yuxu Zunshi). You may seek an audience with them and ask for help.”

Before the attendant had left, a Daoist arrived riding colored clouds and a white deer. The two wept and told him of their plight. The Daoist said, “Follow this attendant to pay your respects to the Lady of the Southern Sea.” They obeyed and followed the attendant onto the rainbow bridge, came before the curtains, bowed again, and recounted how they had drifted and encountered danger, along with their names.

The Lady ordered the two to be seated, and the Revered Master Yuxu also arrived. Everyone sat around, and music began to play. Soon attendants presented food. The Revered Master said, “If the two guests wish to eat human-world food, bring it and entertain them.” After they had eaten, the Revered Master handed the Lady a scroll of cinnabar seal-script (danzhuan; a Fulu text written in cinnabar). The Lady bowed in thanks and received it.

When the Venerable Master took leave, he said to the two: “You carry Daoqi in your bodies (the aura possessed by cultivators), so you need not worry about the road home. I have a wondrous medicine I wished to give you, but your affinity with it is not yet mature; you will meet your own master, and I should not be your master. We shall meet again in days to come.” The two bowed and took leave of the Venerable Master. He rode off on a deer.

Soon a warrior more than ten zhang tall, clad in golden armor and holding a precious sword, came forward and said: “I was ordered to clear the road for Tianwu (a legendary water god), but I did not observe the regulations, and by law I deserved death. The punishment has now been carried out.” Having said this, he quickly departed and vanished.

The Lady then ordered a maidservant to show the two the way, telling them to leave by the Hundred Flowers Bridge, and gave them a jade flask, saying: “If you encounter trouble on the road ahead, you may strike this flask.” The two bade farewell to the Lady and went up onto the bridge. The bridge was long and broad, and strange flowers bloomed all over its railings. Peering among the flowers, the two saw tens of thousands of qiu-dragons and jiao-dragons entwined with one another, forming the bridge. They also saw that the huge beast from before had been beheaded, its corpse floating on the water.

The two asked the messenger why he had killed the huge beast. The messenger replied: “Because it did not recognize you two guests.” The messenger then said to them: “I should not have been the one to serve as your escort; there is a deeper purpose in this—I wish to entrust something to you.” From between his garments he took out an amber box and gave it to the two. Inside the box was a blurry thing shaped like a spider. The messenger said: “We are water immortals (immortals who dwell in the water). Not long ago, I was deeply attached to a young man of Panyu, and I bore a child. When the child was three, I had to leave him behind. The Lady made him the adopted son of the Lord of the Southern Peak. Later, when I passed Huiyan Peak, because I had business in the water palace, I entrusted the jade ring I used to play with to him, but the messenger hid the jade ring, and I have always regretted it. Please take this box to the temple at Huiyan Peak and throw it into the temple; if you can retrieve the jade ring, send it to the Yue Temple. My son will also repay you. Whatever you do, do not open the box.”

The two accepted the box and hid it in their bosoms. They then asked Venerable Master Yuxu: “You said we have our own master—who is that?” The Venerable Master replied: “It is Master Taiji of the Southern Peak; you will naturally encounter him.”

Soon they reached the end of the bridge. The two bade farewell to the messenger and found themselves already on the shore at Hepu. Only after asking did they learn that twelve years had passed. They therefore prepared to return to Mount Heng. On the way they became extremely hungry, so they tried striking the jade flask, and at once rare delicacies appeared in the flask. After eating a meal, they were no longer hungry or thirsty thereafter.

By the time they returned home, their wives had already died. Their families said: “The young gentlemen fell into the sea more than ten years ago.” From then on, the two grew ever more weary of the dusty world, and no longer...

The two sons of a renowned official climbed Mount Heng and handed a jade ring over to the temple on Huiyan Peak. In an instant, a black dragon several zhang long appeared; a violent wind arose, lightning flashed, trees were snapped, and houses were overturned. With a thunderclap, the temple immediately collapsed. As the crowd trembled in terror, someone in midair handed them a jade ring. The two sons brought the jade ring to the mountain temple, and on their way back they met a youth dressed in yellow, who held two boxes of gold to reward them and said: “The Lord of the Southern Marchmount has sent me to give you this Soul-Returning Paste (a legendary medicine said to revive the dead) in repayment for your kindness. If anyone in your household dies, even if sixty years have already passed, as long as the medicine is applied to the crown of the head, they can still be brought back to life.”

They accepted the Soul-Returning Paste, but then lost track of the messenger. Later, the two sons applied the medicine to their wives’ crowns, and their wives indeed came back to life. After this, one day when there was heavy snow, they saw a woodcutter carrying a heavy load and hurrying along in the bitter cold. The two sons took pity on the old man and invited him to drink wine. Suddenly they saw on the eaves of the old man’s house the two characters “Taiji” (Supreme Ultimate), so they bowed to him and took him as their teacher.

The old man said: “I have already attained the way of the immortals and my name is enrolled within the Taiji. The Supreme Lord has commanded me to come and deliver you.” When he saw the jade flask, he said: “This is the flask I used to hold jade liquid; it has been lost for several dozen jiazi (in ancient times one jiazi was sixty years).” He was overjoyed to see the jade flask again. The two sons then presented the jade flask to him, and afterward followed Master Taiji into Zhuling Palace. They wandered through the various immortal residences on Zhurong Peak and in the end attained the Dao (the Way) and ascended to heaven together with their wives.

Bian Dongxuan

Bian Dongxuan was the daughter of a family from Fanyang. From childhood she was pure in conduct, intelligent and compassionate, and delighted in doing good. Whenever she saw weak and small living creatures in danger, she would always stoop to rescue them; if the rescue was not yet complete, she would not spare a thought even for hunger or thirst. Whenever there was frost, snow, and freezing ice, and birds perched hungry and cold, she would always find grain and scatter it for them to eat. As time went by, the birds recognized her; when they saw her, they would fly ahead chirping to lead the way, or circle and flutter behind her.

At fifteen, she told her parents that she wished to enter the Dao (the Way) and cultivate herself, cut off grain foods, and cultivate her breath. Her parents, loving her for her kindness and filial piety, did not agree. When she came of age, she vowed not to marry and stayed at home to serve her parents with all her heart. Several years later, her parents died one after the other; she grieved excessively, grew so thin that she almost stopped eating, and nearly harmed herself to death. After the mourning period ended, she went to the Daoist priestesses in the commandery and asked to leave household life and become a Daoist priestess.

She had no brothers and no close relatives. She was clever and deft, so the Daoist priestesses both cherished and respected her. She worked diligently at weaving, never slackening day or night; whenever she earned something, she used it to buy sesame, poria, ginseng, and incense and candles, and in addition stored up much of the five grains. Someone asked her: since she had already gone many years without eating, why did she still store the five grains…

Why should one still store rice and wheat? Is it not because, when the long night has passed and morning comes, one cannot avoid feelings of hunger and thirst?” The man smiled and did not answer.

Yet every morning he scattered grain in the rear courtyard to feed the birds and rats in the house. Year after year he never slackened. The family of the female official in the temple made their living by weaving; after Dongxuan took up residence in the temple, no rats in the household damaged their goods. People all said that this was the response to his accumulated hidden virtue and good deeds benefiting all things.

He also liked to take medicinal substances. When someone gave him elixirs or pills and powders, he would always first burn incense and make offerings in the Hall of the Heavenly Worthy, and only then take them. He often suffered from the medicines, experiencing vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and even becoming very weak from illness, yet he never complained. As soon as he felt a little better, he would take the medicine as usual. Fellow practitioners pitied him and repeatedly tried to persuade and patiently counsel him, but his faith in this path remained firm and unshakable.

If he encountered famine, he would also take out stored rice and wheat to relieve the people; he did many such things.

One day, an old man came to the temple carrying a cloth bag to sell medicine. Everyone asked him, “What medicine are you selling?” The old man said, “Great Return Elixir. Those who take it can attain long life, become immortals, and ascend to heaven in broad daylight.”

Everyone laughed when they heard this. The old man had a dark complexion, a haggard appearance, walked bent and stooped, and his voice was very weak. Laughing, they said to him, “Since the Great Return Elixir can keep people from dying, grant long life, and enable ascent, why are you so withered and do not take care of your own body?”

The old man said, “This furnace of elixir has just been completed. According to our agreement, it is to be used to save people. The merit of saving people is not yet complete. Those who seek immortality are hard to find, and I cannot take it first and ascend to heaven myself.”

Everyone asked, “People in the world all wish for long life, freedom from death, and extended years; everyone has such a wish. How can you say that those who seek immortality are hard to find?”

The old man said, “Everyone says they love the Dao, but they cannot cultivate it. To love the Dao and also truly cultivate it, and moreover to persevere with diligence over a long time, not be enticed by sensual pleasures, not be deluded by fame and gain, not be disturbed by luxury, not be entangled by right and wrong, with one’s original aspiration unchanged and firm as metal and stone—such people are rare. Among millions, not one can be found. What exactly is the ‘love of the Dao’ you speak of?”

Everyone asked again, “The Son of Heaven is honored and possesses all under heaven. If there were a Golden Elixir and wondrous medicine, why not present it to the Son of Heaven, so that he might attain long life, freedom from death, and extended years?”

The old man said, “The celestial Dog Sage, the Zhenren, the high perfected and upper immortals in heaven, together with the Northern Dipper…” The original text is unfinished at this point.

The Qiyuan Jun (Lords of the Seven Primes—the divine lords of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper) took turns descending into the human world; when their term as Son of Heaven (emperor) in the mortal realm was fulfilled, they returned to the heavenly realm and ascended as immortals.

Someone asked, “Why does Heaven still require the aid of taking elixirs in order to attain the Dao?” He also asked, “Which immortal is the present Son of Heaven?” The reply was, “He is Zhu Yang Taiyi Nangong Zhenren (Perfected).”

The question and answer were quick-witted, and the matter was extraordinary; his speech flowed like water, leaving one unable to fathom him. Before long, wind and thunder suddenly rose violently and rain poured down in sheets. The crowd looked at one another in extraordinary fright and gradually dispersed.

The old man asked the crowd, “Here there is a female Daoist who delights in doing good and accumulating merit, and who for many years has not eaten the Five Grains—where is she?” The crowd pointed out the courtyard where she lived and told the old man. Without knocking, the old man entered the courtyard and went straight up to Dongxuan, saying, “I have here the great Huandan elixir; I have come from afar especially to save you. Are you willing to take it?”

Dongxuan was both startled and delighted. She invited the old man to sit and asked how much the medicine cost. The old man said, “The price is not much—only five hundred thousand gold.” Dongxuan said, “I have been poor for many years; where would I get so much money to buy medicine?” The old man said, “Do not worry. From childhood to now you are already forty years old; of these, for thirty years you have accumulated Five Grains to feed birds, beasts, and insects. Reckoned thus, the merit you have accumulated is worth more than the price of this medicine.”

The old man opened his medicine pouch to show her. Inside were blue-black pills the size of wutong seeds, about two or three dou in quantity. He told Dongxuan to take the medicine from the pouch herself. Dongxuan, following her inclination, took out three pills. The old man said, “Taking this kind of elixir would ordinarily entail exchanging the intestines and changing the blood, and only after fifteen days could one ascend to Heaven. This is a middle-grade elixir.”

The old man then took from his bosom a small box the size of a coin. Opening it, he took out a little medicine, shaped like peach gum and also fragrant of peaches. The old man himself drew water from the well, dissolved the peach gum, and had Dongxuan swallow the elixir.

The old man said joyfully, “Your utmost sincerity has moved Taishang (the Supreme Lord). Taishang has issued a command and sent me to summon you. Now that you have taken these two medicines, you need not undergo the exchange of intestines and blood. You should live on a high terrace and in a lofty pavilion, receive Zhenren and meet immortals; do not dwell any longer in a polluted house. After seven days you may ascend to Heaven; at that time heavenly garments and celestial music will naturally come to welcome you.”

Before long, the rain stopped and the sky cleared, and no one knew where the old man had gone. The female officials ran to Dongxuan’s room and asked whether she had obtained the medicine. Dongxuan told them everything that had happened. Some mocked the affair as absurd; some sighed that she had met with a wondrous destiny; everyone was astonished and doubtful. People in the commandery who learned of it also came one after another to watch. Thereupon Dongxuan told the crowd…

She said, “I do not want to stay here; I want to go up to the gate tower.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she looked back, and the tower gate was still tightly locked. Dongxuan was just about to tell everyone that the matter was not yet finished, but she had already leaped and flown up to the upper floor. An extraordinary fragrance spread in all directions, and wondrous clouds dispersed; the whole commandery city gathered to watch. The grand administrator, subordinate officials, and people near and far came one after another to bow and pay their respects.

Dongxuan told the crowd, “At dawn on the Zhongyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, I will certainly ascend to Heaven; you may all come to bid me farewell.” Thereupon everyone observed the fast and purification and gathered together. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, at the chen hour (7–9 a.m.), music resounded through the sky, dense purple clouds coiled around the temple tower. The crowd saw Dongxuan ascend to Heaven, with celestial music leading the way and banners arrayed, heading straight off to the south. Only by the wu hour did the clouds disperse.

The grand administrator and the assembled officials reported the matter together. That day, between the chen and si hours (7–11 a.m.), Emperor Ming of Tang was in an informal hall when he suddenly smelled a rich, extraordinary fragrance, and purple clouds filled the courtyard. Four Qingtong (celestial youths) led in a female Daoist about sixteen or seventeen years old. She said, “I am Bian Dongxuan, a female Daoist of You Prefecture. Today I have attained the Dao and ascended to Heaven, and I have come especially to take leave of Your Majesty.” Having said this, she slowly withdrew. The emperor issued an edict to inquire which prefecture Bian Dongxuan was in; the submitted report also arrived by courier, and its account matched what had been seen in the palace. The emperor ordered that the Daoist temple where she was located be renamed “Dengxian Temple” (Ascension to Immortality Temple) and the tower be renamed “Purple Cloud Tower” to commemorate the event. In that year, the emperor’s sister Princess Yuzhen requested to enter the Daoist order, and the emperor increased her fief and revenue estate. From then on, the emperor became even more fervent and diligent in seeking immortality. The emperor also ordered the Collation Officer Wang Duanjing to compose a stele inscription recording this illustrious immortal event.

Huang Guanfu

Huang Guanfu was the daughter of a commoner household in Baizhang County, Ya Prefecture. From childhood she did not eat meat or fish and loved purity and quiet. Her family was poor and had no incense to burn, so she burned cypress leaves and cypress seeds. She often sat quietly in meditation, doing nothing else, and would sit all day without feeling tired. Sometimes she used cypress leaves and water to stave off hunger and did not care for the five grains. Her parents pitied her and indulged her disposition, letting her live as she wished.

When she reached adulthood and was about to be married, she suddenly said to her parents, “There is something very strange in the water at our door.” She often told her parents of strange things and omens, which frequently came true, so her parents believed her when they heard this and went with her to look. They saw the water surging ceaselessly; she immediately jumped into the water and did not come out for a long time. Her parents pulled her out and found that in her hand was a wooden statue…

The gold-colored paint applied in ancient times had already peeled off, and the statue’s appearance was no different from that of a woman. The water immediately became clear again, as it had been before, and nothing else could be seen. People then placed the wooden statue beside the road. The woman returned home weeping and appeared greatly astonished. Her mother often went to look at the wooden statue, her heart constantly mindful of her daughter.

Suddenly colored clouds and celestial music appeared, and a large retinue escorted three women into the courtyard. They said to her parents: “Your daughter was originally a Shangqing immortal (an immortal residing in the Shangqing realm), but because of a minor fault she was banished to the human world. Now her term is fulfilled, and she must return to heaven; please do not grieve excessively. Of the three traveling with me, one is an attendant of the Jade Emperor, one is a female attendant of the Great Emperor in charge of morning affairs (a female immortal who serves the Great Emperor and handles morning duties), and one is a Shangqing attendant, surnamed Huang and named Guanfu. Once I leave this time, I will not come back again.”

“This year many people here will die of pestilence. Your daughter leaves gold for her parents; please move to Yizhou to avoid this year’s disaster.” She left several cakes of gold and then ascended to heaven and departed.

Her parents followed her words and moved to Shu Commandery. That year pestilence spread, and the disaster suffered by the common people was especially severe; three or four out of every ten died. This was during the Linde era. Today the common people call her “Huang Guanfo” (Yellow-Crowned Buddha), probably because people did not recognize the statue of a Heavenly Worthy (Tianzun), and as the story was passed along, “Huang Guanfu” was mistakenly transmitted as “Huang Guanfo.”

Yangping Zhi

At Yangping Zhi there was the wife of an immortal who had been banished to the mortal world; people did not know her name. In Jiulong County there was a man named Zhang Shougui, whose family was very wealthy; he had a tea garden in Huaxianju Mountain in Yangping. Every year he gathered more than a hundred tea pickers, with male and female hired workers mixed together working in the garden.

In the garden was a young man hired to pick tea. He said he had no relatives; he was intelligent by nature and diligent and sincere in his work. Zhang Shougui pitied him and adopted him as a foster son. There was also a woman in her twenties, also without relatives, who was willing to become the foster son’s wife. She was filial, observant of propriety, and upright in conduct, and Zhang Shougui liked her very much.

One day a mountain flood burst forth, blocking the market town and roads, and salt and dairy products were in short supply. Zhang Shougui was very worried. The daughter-in-law said, “These things can be bought.” She took money and went out; after walking a dozen or so paces, she put the money under a tree, then struck the tree with a staff, and brought back salt and dairy products. Later, whenever the household needed anything, all they had to do was have her strike the tree to fetch it, and there was nothing she could not obtain. Her husband also had similar arts.

Once she met a dozen or so neighboring women in the marketplace and bought a bowl of wine for them to share. Everyone became drunk, yet the wine in the bowl did not diminish at all. People near and far told of this and found it very strange. Zhang Shougui asked her to explain from whom she had learned this art. The young man said: ...

“I was originally an immortal in Yangping Cave. Because I committed a minor fault, I was banished to the human world. Before long, I will leave.”

Shougui asked, “Are the dimensions of the cave dwelling similar to the cities and palace towers of the human world?”

The man replied, “Each of the Twenty-Four Transformations (Ershisi Hua, the twenty-four Daoist regions presided over by immortals in Daoist legend) has a great cave-heaven, some a thousand li in circumference, some five hundred or three hundred li. In the cave-heavens there are sun and moon and a flying Jing-Qi (essence and vital energy), called the ‘root of the hidden spirits’; they illuminate the caves, so the scenery inside is no different from that in the human world.

“Every cave-heaven has immortal kings, immortal ministers, immortal officials, and assisting officers, each with their duties, just like officials in the human world. Those who have attained the Dao, those who have accumulated merit and been promoted to become gods, and those who have been reborn to dwell in the caves all live there and become the populace of the caves. Every year at the three great festivals of the Three Primes (Upper Prime, Middle Prime, and Lower Prime), the Supreme Perfected (high-ranking true immortals) of the various heavens descend to inspect the cave-heavens, examining their governance and good and evil. Human birth and death, rise and decline, floods and droughts, wind and rain are all linked in advance with the cave-heavens. The temples in the human world that enshrine dragon gods, and the spirits that receive sacrificial offerings, are all under the jurisdiction of the cave palaces.

“Beyond the Twenty-Four Transformations, places such as Qingcheng, Emei, Yideng, Cimu, Fanyang, and Bozhong also have cave-heavens, but they are not included among the Ten Great Cave-Heavens and Thirty-Six Lesser Cave-Heavens. The immortal official bureaus in the cave-heavens are like commanderies, counties, and settlements in the human world; there are very many of them, and they cannot be described one by one.”

More than ten days later, the couple suddenly left together.

Divine Maiden

The Divine Maiden was Lu Meiniang. She was a descendant of Lu Jingzuo, imperial preceptor of the Northern Ancestor line during the Northern Wei. When she was born, her eyebrows were long and green, and so she received her name.

In the first year of Yongzhen, the Prefect of Nanhai sent her to the capital because of her wondrous craftsmanship and strange conduct. Lu Meiniang was intelligent from childhood and could split a single silk thread into three strands. She wove dyed silk threads into a five-tiered canopy, on which were woven the Ten Continents and Three Isles, heavenly people and jade maidens, towers and palaces, qilin and phoenixes, and other patterns; on the outer layer were arranged immortal youths holding banners and bearing tally staffs, as many as a thousand. The canopy was one zhang wide, yet weighed less than three liang. She herself boiled a numinous fragrant ointment and applied it to it, and the canopy became hard and durable, so that it would not break even when bent.

Emperor Shunzong praised the exquisite skill of her craft, and both palace courts called her “Divine Maiden.” She was only fourteen when she entered the palace, and each day she ate only two or three ge of sesame rice. In the Yuanhe era, Emperor Xianzong admired her intelligence and bestowed on her a golden phoenix ring for her wrist.

Later, Lu Meiniang did not wish to remain in the palace, so she was ordained as a Daoist priestess, permitted to return to Nanhai, and bestowed the title “Xiaoyao.” Several years later, she no longer ate.

Divine beings often descended to meet with her. One day, when she underwent feather-transformation (attained the Dao and became an immortal), fragrance filled the room. As she was about to be buried, the coffin bearers felt that the coffin was very light; when they opened the lid, only a pair of old shoes remained inside. Later, people often saw her riding purple clouds over the sea. Li Xiangxian of Mount Luofu wrote The Biography of Lu Xiaoyao, and Su E also recorded this affair in Duyang zabian.

Wang Fengxian

Wang Fengxian was the daughter of a commoner household in Dangtu County, Xuanzhou. Her family was poor, and her parents made a living by spinning thread and weaving cloth. When Fengxian was thirteen or fourteen, one time she was bringing food to her family in the fields when she suddenly saw more than ten young women playing with her; they dispersed only after a long while. Later she encountered them again under the same circumstances. From then on, whenever she went to the fields to deliver food, those women would gather and play, and this became a regular occurrence.

After more than a month, those women came to her house at night and talked and laughed until dawn before leaving. Sometimes they brought strange fruits or set out rare delicacies, none of which were found in the world. Fengxian’s house was small, yet even when many people came, it did not seem crowded. Her parents heard talking and laughter inside and grew suspicious; they secretly peered in but could see nothing. They then suspected that their daughter was bewitched by demonic spirits and sternly interrogated her; Fengxian always deflected them with other answers.

Later, those women no longer visited at night and came and went during the day instead. Sometimes they took Fengxian to distant places to amuse themselves, flying through the air and traveling about until evening before returning. Fengxian still ate and drank nothing, and her manifestations became stranger day by day.

One evening, her mother saw her fall to the ground from the tip of a bamboo by the courtyard. Growing even more worried, she earnestly pressed her for the reason. Only then did Fengxian tell of her encounters, but her parents could never make clear the ins and outs of the matter. Those women cut off Fengxian’s hair, leaving her eyebrows exposed at the forehead and the hair behind hanging to her shoulders. After this, for several years, her hair did not grow long again.

Fengxian did not eat for more than a year, yet her skin was full and radiant, clean as ice and snow; her features were delicate and pure, her eyes bright, so that she looked like a heavenly being. She was intelligent and eloquent, penetrating and clear-minded. People in the Jiangzuo region called her “Guanyin.” In the late Xiantong era of Emperor Yizong of Tang (a Tang reign title, roughly the latter half of the ninth century), Chancellor Du Shenquan garrisoned Jinling and Linghu Tao garrisoned Weiyang; both invited her to come and be provided for, and her fame spread throughout the south of the Yangtze.

Later, Qin Yan asked her to remain in Jiangdu and honored her with the rites due a teacher. The high-minded scholar Zhufu Huaigao was upright and forthright; suspecting that what she practiced was not proper, he went to question her. Fengxian received him respectfully and with pleasure, and discussed principles with him for several days. Zhufu asked her, “The principles you expound accord quite well with the profound and mysterious purport; why then do you also bear the title ‘Guanyin’?” Fengxian said:

What she encountered was the Dao; what she attained was immortality. Worldly people mocked her, merely attaching to her the title of “Guanyin.” In recent years, Duke Du found her among the thatched huts and wished to present her at court; it happened that she had already cut her hair, and so she was spared this affair, though she also could not return to serve her parents at their knees. She was therefore forcibly detained in the temple. People in the streets, not understanding the truth, spread false reputations far and wide; some even held incense and raised candles, giving away treasures and money, keeping up a clamor for many years. Yet she remained unable to escape. Now at last she has been able to cultivate herself and is no longer confined in the rear palace. This, too, is the unseen protection of true immortals and the clear proof of her cutting and shaving her hair—how could she not feel comforted and glad?

Moreover, fame and the Dao do not obstruct each other. Zhuangzi says: “If others call me an ox, I am an ox; if they call me a horse, I am a horse.” One who forgets the physical form and realizes the true Dao is not entangled by fame, and for this reason does not look down on worldly people.

I once saw a woman of about eighteen or nineteen, of extraordinary appearance, wearing a broad-sleeved robe like clouds and brocade, holding immortal flowers and numinous herbs, and chanting immortal Jing (scriptures) and Dongzhang (Daoist classics and hymns in praise of the immortals). All she spoke of were immortals, long life, and transcending the world. She went forth with her companions, roaming free and swift, never tiring. Wherever she went, there were heavenly palaces and immortal gateways, golden towers and jade halls, long corridors and broad courtyards; there were also fields of lingzhi, gardens amid the clouds, divine birds and heavenly beasts, rare trees, and numinous flowers and plants—all things never seen in the world. She crossed the Milky Way, traveling I know not how many tens of millions of li, to pay homage to the Heavenly Worthy (Tianzun, the deity revered in Daoism). The Heavenly Worthy sat in a broad hall, with feathered guards arrayed in order. The Heavenly Worthy told Fengxian, “After you have sojourned in the human world for fifty years, you should return here.” Then he ordered an attendant to give her a cup of jade nectar. After she drank it, the Heavenly Worthy warned her, “The five grains and the fruits of plants and trees, if eaten, will harm your life and diminish your lifespan; you should especially abstain from them.” For this reason, she had not eaten such things for twenty years.

The Heavenly Worthy carries out his teaching in heaven, teaching people to cultivate the Dao and prolong life, governing the myriad things, and nurturing all beings completely, like a father in the world. Shakyamuni carries out his teaching in the world, urging people to cease evil and guiding them to seek blessings, like a mother in the world. The Confucian classics of Confucius circulate among humans, teaching people to observe the Five Constant Virtues (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness) and practice the various virtues, like an elder brother in the world. Infants in the world recognize only their mother and do not know the honor due to father and elder brother; therefore, among ordinary people, those who understand the Dao are few, and those who revere Confucianism are not many…

Moreover, the celestial immortals this person saw had men wearing cloud caps and feather robes, some with guanji (children’s double-horn topknots) and blue-green collars; the women were adorned with golden ornaments and kingfisher-green jewels, wore three-loop chignons or double-horn buns, held jade hu tablets, and had round halos behind their necks as they flew through the air, changing in ways beyond comprehension. They also rode dragons, qilin, luan, and cranes, and had feather banners and rainbow standards (feather ornaments and rainbow-like ceremonial regalia) clear the way, like emperors in the human world; there was not the slightest image of Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, or monks. Then this person brought out the portraits they venerated; most were images of celestial beings, emperors, Dao Lords, and flying immortals, and these likewise had no features of monks or Buddhas.

From Xiantong to Guangqi, over some forty years, this person traveled through Wanling in the Huai-Zhe region (present-day Xuancheng, Anhui), and wherever they went crowds gathered like clouds. They educated the world in its customs, often speaking of the Dao of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and uprightness; of purity, stillness, frugality, and restraint; and of the essentials of self-cultivation and secret practice. Thus they were revered near and far. Gold, silver, and treasures were piled before them, and offerings amounting to millions were made, but they would abandon them and leave without ever looking back. Even when the Three Huai region was in turmoil and beacon smoke filled the four wilds, they dwelled in safety and did not regard it as a danger. Fierce men with troops, such as Sun Ru, Zhao Hong, and Bi Shiduo, tried to coerce them with improper demands and threaten them with blades, but as soon as they saw this person’s divine appearance, they could not help bending their knees and bowing, performing the rites of disciples.

Later this person and their two younger sisters entered the Dao together and lived on Dongting Mountain. In the early Guangqi years they moved to Qianqing Mountain on the border of Yuhang, where the people at the foot of the mountain built the Dihua Observatory (a Daoist temple) for them to live in. More than a year later, this person died without illness at the age of forty-eight, and auspicious signs appeared—cloud cranes and rare fragrances—fulfilling the “fifty years” prophecy. This person went thirty years without eating, yet their face remained like a child’s and their skin like snow, ever as pure as a virgin; had it not been for the efficacy of the Golden Elixir and jade liquid, how could this have been so? They also often traveled in spirit to the heavenly realms, sitting upright for more than a month, or descended to inspect the affairs of the underworld and its dark passes; in quiet sitting they could see the eight extremities, and they often recounted these things to those who possessed the Dao. People of the world did not know this and merely took it for Zuowang (sitting in forgetfulness). In fact, this must have been the realm of immortal companions such as Nanji Yuanjun (Primal Lady of the Southern Pole) and Dongling Shengmu (Holy Mother of Dongling).

Xue Xuantong

Ms. Xue was the wife of Feng Hui, the Shaoyin of Hezhong, and her Daoist name was Xuantong. Twenty years after marrying Feng Hui, she declared her longstanding aspiration, pleaded illness to live alone, vowed to burn incense and chant the Dao, and every day recited the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture, a Daoist classic of visualization and life-nourishment) two or three times. Another thirteen years passed. One night, a person dressed in blue-green appeared before her.

Two Jade Maidens descended into Xuantong’s room. As they drew near, the courtyard was illuminated by a radiance like moonlight, and a fragrant wind rustled through the corridors. It was early autumn and the heat was still heavy, yet the room was cool and luminous, as if she were placed within a grotto-heaven.

The two Jade Maidens told Xuantong: “Zixu Yuanjun (a Daoist female immortal) governs the south and has been commanded to teach and transform living beings. She has transmitted the Dharma registers and ordered the true immortals and great immortals throughout the space between Heaven and Earth and beyond the four seas to go to famous mountains and great rivers and instruct those who resolve to seek long life and whose hearts accord with the true Dao. Xuantong has accumulated goodness and cultivated merit; her deeds have repeatedly been reported by the Earth Bureau (the divine office overseeing human merits and faults), and she has already attracted the attention of Zixu Yuanjun. Moreover, when she heard that you have resolved to cultivate the Dao, she especially approved of your intention. Yuanjun will personally descend here this very day.”

For five nights thereafter, Xuantong burned incense, composed her appearance, and reverently awaited Yuanjun. On the fourteenth day of the seventh month in the fifteenth year of Xiantong, the jiawu year, Zixu Yuanjun descended at her dwelling together with her attendants and various true immortals, twenty-seven persons in all. Xuantong went to the gate to welcome them. Yuanjun sat calmly for a while and then expounded to her the essentials of cunsi (visualization) and cultivating the true Shen (spirit) in the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture). She also bestowed on her one Jiuhua Dan (Nine Florid Elixir), instructed her to take it after eight years, and said that at that time she would send Jade Maidens on whirlwind chariots to Mount Song to welcome her. Having said this, the immortals departed.

From then on, Xuantong concentrated her mind and stilled her Shen, and often abstained from food and drink. Even when true immortals descended, radiance shone in the air, spiritual winds blew, rare fragrances drifted about, and the yun’ao (a Daoist instrument) and the music of Juntian (heavenly music) sounded in her dwelling, Feng Hui knew nothing of it. In his ignorance, Feng Hui thought that Xuantong was cultivating alone in another place and was too remote to approach, and he often mocked her; for this reason Xuantong was also repeatedly viewed with suspicion by Dongling (possibly referring to the doubts or reproaches held by Feng Hui).

In the gengzi year of Guangming, rebel troops invaded the capital, and officials and scholars fled in all directions to take refuge. Feng Hui and Xuantong sojourned in Jinling in Changzhou, where they did not interrupt their cultivation practice and became even more devout. In the tenth month of the first year of Zhonghe, they took a boat to Zhidu. Xuantong said she was going to a country villa, and so she traveled downstream in the same boat with several neighboring women she knew well. On the way she suddenly saw on the riverbank officials wearing red and purple robes and armored warriors holding halberds, arranged in orderly ranks, as if waiting for Xuantong’s boat to arrive. At that time the regions were in turmoil and bandits were numerous; the boatman was terrified and did not dare go forward. Xuantong said, “Do not be afraid,” and brought the boat near the bank. The officials all bowed to her. Xuantong directed them, saying, “The time has not yet come; it is still spring, and I am at my private residence, so do not be in a hurry to leave.” The officials then dispersed. Although everyone in the boat saw this scene, they did not understand its meaning. In the second month of the following year, the renyin year…

After Xuantong bathed, she took the elixir bestowed on her by Zixu. Two immortal maidens secretly descended into her chamber and urged her to go to Songgao (the Mount Song region, a legendary immortal mountain). On the fourteenth day of that month, she showed signs of illness; that night she died in her own residence.

Her body remained soft and warm and looked like that of a living person. On her forehead was a spot of white light, which shone brightly for a long time and then turned into purple Qi. When she was bathed, her black hair grew back, standing upright several chi long. On the night of the fifteenth, clouds filled the room and suddenly there came the shaking sound of thunder and lightning. The coffin lid flew up and landed in the courtyard; the corpse had disappeared, leaving only empty clothes and bedding. A strange fragrance filled the air, and immortal cranes lingered without leaving for ten days.

Zhou Bao, military commissioner of Zhexi and Chancellor, submitted a memorial saying:

“I have heard that on the day Lady Zhao ascended to immortality, her appearance was as in life; when Master Tao passed away, a strange fragrance lingered for a long time. These matters are all recorded in immortal scriptures, and I never expected that in this sage era I would see such things with my own eyes.

“As far as I know, Xue, the wife of Feng Hui, long ago cast aside worldly dust and practiced the teachings of the Mysterious Gate for a long time. She could grasp profound purport from secret immortal texts, and she did not let women’s adornment disturb her pure and quiet mind. She did not rely on fasting or eating ganoderma to cultivate the truth, but guarded her true nature and rested in simplicity, practicing the sage era’s teaching of Wuwei and exhaustively investigating the Xuanyuan principle of guarding the One. If this were not so, how could it be that just when she was thinking of Zhuangzi drumming on a basin and singing—using the transformation of life and death to express equanimity—numinous birds descended one after another?

“Just when people were grieving over the face once seen in her mirror, her black hair grew back; thunder and lightning manifested auspicious omens, and clouds and rosy clouds displayed extraordinary signs. From heaven came the distant sound of strings and bamboo instruments, yet in the coffin only clothes and bedding remained. She had been banished to dwell temporarily in the human world; now she had departed as an immortal and returned to heaven. This event will be transmitted for a thousand ages and was also a fine tale of its time. It is both an auspicious sign of this prefecture and a glorious event of this dynasty.

“I am fortunate to guard this place, and I specifically memorialize this matter, at risk of offending the court; in my trepidation I am also filled with joy and offer congratulations.”

On the fifteenth day of the second month of that year, Zhou Bao submitted the memorial from the Chengdu temporary palace. The emperor issued an edict saying:

“The Way of Heaven models itself on the Dao; these matters are recorded in immortal scriptures. People of superior De are diligent in cultivation, and only then do they accomplish mysterious works. On reading this memorial, it truly accords with extraordinary auspicious signs: it may be compared to the ascension of Lady Wei and to the descent of Huagu. This matter brings glory to the counties and adds luster to this dynasty. It should be delivered to the historiographers and entered into the historical records; and this circuit is ordered to allocate funds for offerings and to build a Golden Register Zhaijiao ritual site at the place where she lived, to thank Heaven and express sincere gratitude.”

At that time the emperor was sojourning in Chengdu; it was the third year of his stay there.

Yunji Qiqian (Seven Bamboo Tablets of the Cloudy Satchel), volume 116.