《雲笈七籤》Vol. 120

Yunji Qiqian (Seven Bamboo Slips from the Cloud Satchel), Fascicle 119: Records of Daoist Miracles

The Celestial Master in the Zhaocheng Temple Mural Manifests His Numinous Power (with an Appended Account of the Efficacy of a Silk Painting)

In the covered corridor of Zhaocheng Temple—a Daoist temple—there was a mural of the Celestial Master (Tianshi). It was of great age; its colors had faded and peeled away, and no one burned incense or made offerings before it.

In Banzheng Ward there was a resident surnamed Li who had suffered from malaria for more than a year. Medical treatment had failed to cure him; his body grew steadily more emaciated, and he could only resign himself to fate. One day he dreamed that a tall Daoist priest came before him, wearing a broad-sleeved cloth robe, and brushed his face with his sleeve. At once he felt a coolness. The priest said to him, “From now on your illness will be cured; you need not worry anymore.” When Li awoke, his illness had indeed healed, and he gradually regained his appetite. By evening, leaning on a staff, he was walking about near his home and unexpectedly did not feel tired; yet he still felt that the Daoist priest from his dream was just ahead of him. He immediately wanted to go to Zhaocheng Temple. His family, worried about his weakness, tried several times to dissuade him, but he would not listen.

After entering the temple, he examined the Celestial Master image closely for a long time and said, “This is the very one I saw in my dream.” He then bowed several times and asked the recluse Liu, a craftsman who made dry-lacquer statues, to remake the Celestial Master statue and repair the hall. From morning to night he made offerings. Thereafter, when people prayed to the Celestial Master for blessings, it was often said that their prayers were quickly answered.

This dry-lacquer Celestial Master statue was made with great refinement: within the dry-lacquer body, the flesh color of the gauze-lattice cloth was painted, and the five viscera, stomach and intestines, throat, and other forms were sewn from red silk. Twelve knots and twelve rings were also fashioned, corresponding to the root of the tongue. The organs were filled with five-colored aromatics, arranged according to the number proper to each of the five viscera; in the position of the heart was placed a mirror of mercury. The author considered this statue to be carefully made and different from ordinary images. Later, the earthen core from the statue was moved to Tianchang Temple, where it was adorned so as to be resplendent in gold and blue, and it too was said to be efficacious.

Liu Cunxi, a native of Pengcheng, also recorded accounts of the Celestial Master’s miraculous manifestations. From childhood he had gone to Tangxing Temple to gaze upon and bow before the Celestial Master, and he resolved to paint an image of the Celestial Master for veneration. Later he obtained a silk painting of the Celestial Master and kept it with him protectively wherever he went. Even when ordered on distant journeys or sent on missions north and south, he never let a single day pass without offering incense.

When Huang Chao attacked and entered the capital, Liu Cunxi was serving in the palace. The crisis came suddenly, and he had no time to catch up with the emperor’s party; he only rolled up the painting of the Celestial Master, held it in his hands, and fled. More than thirty of his companions were seized and stripped of their belongings; some were killed or wounded, but he alone among them escaped harm. The original text then breaks off at the phrase “about to enter the south.”

One night, while walking in the mountains, I passed through a village and met a displaced person seeking refuge. In casual conversation I learned that his wife was also in that area, so he and his wife were able to go together into the depths of Dayan Mountain in Yangzhou and build a thatched hut to live there.

He had never had other relatives; there were only the two of them, husband and wife. Since they had escaped homelessness and displacement, he resolved to live in the mountains and forests and no longer harbor thoughts of seeking fame or official position. He was already accustomed to living like a deer in the mountains. When the residents at the foot of the mountain saw that his daily food intake was small, they sometimes helped him store grain and brought him salt and dairy products such as cheese. Beyond this, he only gathered cypress seeds, burned incense, and reverently honored the Celestial Master (Tianshi, the Daoist honorific for Zhang Daoling and others).

Not long afterward, his old acquaintance Song Kaifu entered the court and took charge of Privy Council affairs. Song Kaifu knew that he was living in Yang Mountain, so he forcibly summoned him out of the mountains, bestowed on him a red sash (a red garment symbolizing official rank), and raised his official grade. He firmly declined but could not refuse, and so reluctantly complied with the summons. Later, while riding in a carriage past Shimen, he took the opportunity to flee and hid himself in Shacheng Mountain for several months.

When soldiers searched the valleys, he could not settle there in peace. Husband and wife therefore took off their silk garments, traveled more than forty li by night, and reached level ground. In the distance they saw more than ten cavalrymen coming toward them from both sides; by then several travelers had already been seized by them. Cunxi and his wife stood still in terror, but the cavalry passed by them as if they had not seen them, and thus they escaped.

Several years later, he was ordered to undertake a mission to Western Sichuan and came carrying a portrait of the Celestial Master. I too once copied that portrait. Whether Cunxi was in deep mountains and secluded valleys where tigers and wolves roamed, or encountered the disturbances of soldiers with blades before him, his heart always remained calm and composed. He felt as though he were living together with several people; in times of worry and fear, he also vaguely felt that he was standing in attendance beside the Celestial Master. He also had encounters with the Celestial Master’s numinous manifestations and responses, but he kept such matters secret and did not disclose them.

The Filling of the Celestial Master’s Well at Lingzhou and the Efficacy concerning Salt-Tax Arrears

The Original Biography of the Celestial Master’s Well at Lingzhou records: When the Celestial Master was walking in the mountains, twelve Jade Maidens came to pay him respects and expressed their willingness to serve him. The Celestial Master knew that they were yin deities of the underworld, and asked, “What do you bring to offer me? I wish to see how sincere and generous your intentions are, and then choose among you whom to accept.”

Each of the Jade Maidens brought out a jade ring, several inches in diameter. The Celestial Master said, “What you offer is all the same, and I cannot accept them all. I will merge these twelve rings into one. You throw it into the ground; whoever can retrieve it, I will accept.” Thereupon the twelve rings combined into one large ring, more than a foot in diameter. The Celestial Master threw it into the ground, and the large ring immediately sank deep into the earth; that place then became a well. All the Jade Maidens took off their clothes and entered the well to search for the jade ring; in the end….

The Fulfillment of Li Huan’s Dream: Meeting the Celestial Master and Being Told He Would Become Prefect of Lingzhou

If one could not obtain the help of the Celestial Master (Tianshi; here referring to Zhang Tianshi), one should hide that garment in a stone casket. The Jade Maidens (Daoist deities) are still in the well to this day. Today the salt well in Lingzhou reaches down five hundred and seventy chi, passing through two layers of great rock before reaching the brine.

Each year, when the salt well is cleaned once, one must first sing and make noise in the well before descending; otherwise one would invariably see the Jade Maidens dwelling naked in the well, and most who saw them would meet with misfortune. The well is so deep it cannot be measured. When descending, the ropes sometimes broke, or the leather bags tore and fell. If one burned incense before the Celestial Master for a long time, the Jade Maidens would personally hang the objects back in place, still whole and undamaged.

In earlier years, this well was under the jurisdiction of Dongchuan, and Chamberlain Zhang was in charge of salt affairs. He was somewhat lax in his duties, failed to meet the salt quota, and owed several thousand jin of salt. After his term ended and the handover took place, he was kept behind to make up the arrears and could not leave. His successor also followed Daoism, so together with him he prayed sincerely to the Celestial Master, saying: “Chamberlain Zhang has exhausted his family wealth on the salt arrears and is still detained here; I fear he will become even more destitute. We hope that within three to five days, through divine power, the yield of the salt well may be increased so that he can make up the shortfall.” The two knelt and prayed together with great earnestness.

At that time, the water used each day for boiling salt was forty-five container-loads, the same as usual, yet the salt output was much greater. Within five or six days, the arrears were indeed made up. After that the yield returned to normal, with no further increase or decrease.

Among the twelve Jade Maidens, the two of Xu and Hai are in heaven; only ten are in the well. Salt boiling also stopped at the Xu and Hai hours. At first, when the Celestial Master saw that this place was remote and dangerous, uninhabited, with barren mountains and streams and no means of farming, he conjured salt wells to relieve the poor. People gathered around the wells, and the registered households increased day by day; later a prefecture was established to govern them, and it was named Lingzhou after the Celestial Master’s name. The Celestial Master once vowed: “The wells I conjured are meant to feed the poor. If the government seizes the profits from the wells, after a thousand years the wells will collapse.” Today, in each well there are statues of the Celestial Master and the Jade Maidens.

Li Huan Meets the Celestial Master in a Dream and Is Told He Will Serve as Prefect of Lingzhou: The Prophecy Fulfilled

During the Xiantong era, Li Huan served as Chief Secretary of a princely establishment. He came from a meritorious and prominent family and was unaccustomed to a poor and idle life; moreover, being of limited ability, he was gloomy at having no outlet for his ambitions. One night he dreamed that he entered deep mountains and secluded valleys, following a winding plank road, with the sound of flowing water murmuring in his ears. He did not know how many thousands of li this journey stretched.

Then he saw crowded markets and streets in a city; inside the city gate the ground was broad and elevated. Lofty buildings and great mansions rose in crisscrossing arrays, piercing the clouds and blotting out the sunlight. He did not know how many tens of millions of households were there, and he toured and gazed to his heart’s content…

Xie Huan was cheerful and content in himself. He went out beyond the outskirts, crossed hills and ravines. Along the way wild grasses grew thickly; among the small pines and large trees were interspersed orchards, and bamboo grew among them as well. Some of the ridges were steep and perilous, others winding and gentle. Following the mountain road as it curved along, he finally came to a small commandery town. In the town, thatched huts and houses were laid out in crisscrossing rows and connected together, and the streets were narrow and sloping.

Beside the road was a government office. From within it a white vapor shot straight up to the clouds, about the size of a room; from inside also came mournful singing and cries. Xie Huan saw a boy in blue leading the way, so he climbed up steep stone steps and stone ladders and entered a very tall gate. Inside the gate, ancient trees towered to the sky and fragrant grass covered the ground, like an ancient Daoist temple.

Xie Huan had always revered Daoism, and seeing this scene he felt deeply comforted. Before long he ascended the hall and saw divine images and solemn ceremonial regalia displayed within. The man smiled and said to him: “So you have come! I have waited for you a long time. To enter the Heavenly Gate and rinse the mouth with the Mysterious Spring was the cultivation method of the ancients; to focus the mind on the Dantian (the energy center in the lower abdomen) and visualize Baiyuan (a deity name or image in Daoist inner cultivation) was the method of superior adepts. Combine these two methods and cultivate accordingly. Do good in secret; help others and bring relief to all things. Hundreds and thousands of households await your teaching. Strive, strive!”

In the spring of the following year, Xie Huan bowed in salute again, accepted this instruction, and then awoke. That winter, he repeatedly petitioned the chancellor and other governing ministers, hoping to be reappointed, and was later appointed Prefect of Lingzhou.

On the way to take up his post, the mountains, rivers, and commandery towns he passed all seemed vaguely familiar to him, as if he had been there before; yet he had never been to the Shu region, nor did he know where this feeling came from. After arriving at his post, he went to pay homage to the Celestial Master (Tianshi). Ascending the steps, entering the gate, and walking into the hall, he saw the true image of the Celestial Master, along with the attendants and the arrangement of the buildings; only then did he clearly understand that these scenes exactly matched what he had seen in his dream. He therefore used his salary to repair the Celestial Master Hall, applied red paint, and erected a stele with an inscription recording the matter.

The white vapor in the dream that shot straight up to the clouds was actually the place where salt wells were located; the mournful singing was produced by the people turning the carts. As for the secret of inner cultivation spoken of in the dream, Xie Huan ultimately did not obtain it. Xie Huan was the grandson of the Prince of Xiping.

Xie Zhen Devotes Himself to Repairing Walls, Encounters the Celestial Master and Obtains an Efficacious Talisman

Xie Zhen was a craftsman from Linqiong, skilled at plastering and repairing walls, and meticulous in his work. At Huming Hua (according to legend, the place where the Celestial Master cultivated the Dao and Lord Lao descended in response), he was repairing a Daoist temple. At the summit was an ancient Shangqing Palace, said to have been built by the Celestial Master in former times. Although it was of great antiquity, its structure was preserved as before; only the tiles were damaged and the walls had fallen into disrepair.

Xie Zhen had been hired to come and make repairs. He studied the task carefully and worked with all his heart; the wall surfaces he plastered were well sealed and smooth. A Daoist priest, accompanied by two attendants, came to look at his ...

That divine man was extraordinary in both spiritual merit and bearing, and he stood more than nine chi tall. He came in from outside the door and said to Zhang Zhen, “In the mountains it is not easy to meet a person like this; I am ashamed to have put you to the trouble of repairing it.” As he spoke, he drew a talisman on the ground with his hand and had Zhang Zhen memorize it carefully by repeating it over and over. He then said, “From now on, if anyone falls ill, even a thousand li away, this talisman will surely be effective if it is applied. Do not accept too much money; take only enough to support a family and ensure food and clothing for life.”

Zhang Zhen memorized the talisman completely, and when he applied it, it proved remarkably efficacious. He thereby gained much wealth, and his household prospered. Later, in the Heming Mountain area there was no true portrait of the Celestial Master (Tianshi; here referring to Zhang Tianshi), and the divine statue fashioned in a well at Lingzhou was not the true likeness transmitted through generations of his descendants. Zhang Zhen happened to meet, at Qingcheng Mountain, a merchant from the Gorges who was holding a zhai (a ritual of blessing and offerings) and enshrining a small portrait of the Celestial Master; this was the true likeness of the one who had formerly transmitted the Fulu (talismans and registers) and manifested numinous responses.

The Daoist Liu Fangying Healed Illness by the Celestial Master’s Sword Method, with Repeated Efficacy

Liu Fangying, a Daoist of Tiantai, took Lord Lao as his master and devoted himself to cultivating the Dao (the Way). He was pure, upright, and clean, and in his early years he received and wore the Bidao Dharma registers (the credentials of Daoist office conferred in ordination rites). He often used cinnabar seal-script talismans (talismanic seal script written in cinnabar) to save people.

He once joined the like-minded magistrate of Yiyang, Liu Gui, in following the Celestial Master’s sword method. On the fifth day of the fifth month they went to Ge Creek in Yiyang to smelt steel and cast a sword, and they applied talismans and performed rituals. Those suffering from water disease recovered immediately. Water disease may refer to illnesses related to water demons, epidemics, and the like.

Once, in Huangyan County, Liu Fangying held a zhai and laid out a ritual altar, performing rites to cure an epidemic. A spirit-medium who could see ghosts and spirits secretly went to observe and saw thousands of ghosts and spirits fleeing north and scattering, like a great army routed and collapsing. Within a few days the epidemic throughout the county was cured.

In the late Xiantong era, Liu Fangying died without illness. He instructed his disciples to bury him together with that sword, and they did not dare disobey. During the Qianfu and Zhonghe eras, Li Sheng, a subordinate general under Liu Wen, commander of Taizhou, led men to dig open his tomb, intending to take the sword. They saw that Liu Fangying’s corpse was soft and his complexion unchanged, as if he were merely sleeping off drink. When the group turned to look at the sword, they saw it emit a roar, which frightened them so that they dared not take it. Li Sheng ordered the men to refill the tomb and then left. This was not merely a case of the sword possessing numinous power; Liu Fangying was also a man who had secretly cultivated his physical form and attained the Dao.

The Statue of the Queen Mother of the West Cures Illness with Efficacy (with an Appendix on the Deeds of the Three Generals)

The statue of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) in Yuju Abbey (a Daoist temple) had stood for many years. Sometime earlier, fire broke out in the abbey, and the corridors and buildings collapsed, but the divine image was unharmed; everyone called it efficacious. A local resident, Fan Yantong, suddenly contracted wind-leprosy; his body was covered with sores, and his eyebrows and beard gradually fell out. He therefore entered the abbey and made a vow before the image of the Queen Mother of the West: if his condition improved, he would do everything in his power to repair and restore the image.

That night, he dreamed…

A Jade Maiden holding a flower tray brushed his body with her sleeve and said, “The Queen Mother sent me to heal you; you will soon recover.” Within a few days his illness gradually improved, the sores and swellings subsided, and his eyebrows and beard grew back. He therefore had gauze windows made, decorated them with gold and color, and adorned the space between the eaves and the two pillars, renovating and reverently serving the divine image with cleanliness and solemnity. Each month he personally brought incense and lamps. Only in recent years has the spirit gradually ceased to manifest.

The statues of the three generals in the temple were also made in ancient times. Later, when Nanzhao burned the buildings, the temple was completely destroyed, but the statues of the three generals were unharmed. When the Daoist temple was rebuilt, people built a hall above the statues. A local resident, Yan Shilin, was bedridden for more than a month and seemed beyond cure. He dreamed that the three generals swept their halberds over his body and picked off something that resembled a black dog. After that his illness was cured. He therefore donated clothing to make gauze windows and had the statues repainted.

The Miraculous Rescue of a Boat in the Gorge Waters by the Yellow Demon Spirit of Gui Prefecture

The Yellow Demon Spirit (Huang Moshen) of Gui Prefecture once manifested his power when Chancellor Li Jifu, after leaving office in Zhongzhou, was traveling by boat down through the Gorges in the fifth month. When the boat reached the gorge waters, the waves surged violently. Suddenly a divine being emerged from the water and steadied the boat. The deity had three faces and six arms, a fierce countenance, crimson eyes, and vermilion hair; his body was bare, and he roared. The wind and waves immediately subsided.

Li Jifu prayed in thanks and asked, “Which spirit are you, who saved me in my peril?” The deity replied, “I am the Yellow Demon Spirit.” Later Li Jifu kept his boat at Gui Prefecture for a month, selected a site, and built a shrine, constructing the Yellow Demon Hall within Ziji Palace. It is said that the Yellow Demon Spirit is the “Yellow Heaven Demon King” and has power spanning the heavens. A stone inscription was carved to record the event.

Chancellor Xiao Gou, who had been demoted from the post of Shiyi (Reminder) to the Gorges and was later recalled to the capital by imperial decree, also once saw the Yellow Demon Spirit hold up his boat and rescue it when the gorge waters rose and the boat was about to sink. Xiao Gou then ordered the shrine repaired, additional painted decorations added, the halls refurbished, and a stone inscription made to record the event, placed after the previous account.

The Miraculous Manifestation of Qingcheng Zhangren and Ge Gui as Spirit Officials

The manifestation of Qingcheng Zhangren Zhenjun (an immortal title of Mount Qingcheng) occurred in the renzi year, the sixth year of Taihe under Emperor Wenzong of Tang. Li Deyu of Zanhuang, the military commissioner, sent the military officer Cai Ju and one other man into the mountains to hold a fast ritual and also had them take the opportunity to gather medicinal herbs.

Beneath Liushi Cliff, Cai Ju suddenly encountered a strong wind blowing from the valley; then he saw two divine beings walking through the air. The one in front was more than a zhang tall, wore broad-sleeved garments and a flat-topped crown; the one behind wore blue broad-sleeved garments and held a scroll. Cai Ju asked in alarm, “What ghosts or spirits are you?” The one in front replied: “...”

"I am Old Man Bamboo Branch." Then, pointing to the man behind him, he said, "This is Gui zhi Zao. I have two secret messages; they can be recorded one by one. After you have recorded them, give them to the Minister. This year West Shu would originally have suffered a flood. Because a Zhaijiao (Daoist purification and prayer ritual) was held, I returned to the rear mountain and changed the dam on one peak so that the water would be released to the east. Zizhou will have a great flood in autumn; that will be the verification."

After saying this, he handed the secret messages to Cai Ju and recounted the auspicious and inauspicious matters that had not yet befallen Lord Li. Cai Ju recorded them one by one, and after returning to Changdao Abbey he copied them onto paper. Sure enough, two sheets were obtained, and everything written on them matched the words of the divine person. Cai Ju sealed the papers and sent them to Lord Li. After Lord Li had copied them, he too forgot the matter.

In the eighth month of that year, East Chuan was several zhang deep in water, while West Shu suffered no disaster. Lord Li repeatedly questioned officials and Daoists, but still no one could decipher the secret messages. Lord Li said, "Old Man Bamboo Branch is that Zhangren (Venerable Elder). This is probably Zhangren Zhenjun (True Lord Zhangren). 'Gui zhi Zao' was originally a person whose destiny belonged to Ge Gui; he may also be a Lingguan (spirit official) in the midst of transformation, deliberately appearing to make manifest the divine response."

The Miraculous Deeds of Perfected Man Luo in Bringing Rain to Aid the Jin

Perfected Man Luo is the immortal Luo Gongyuan. He once was active in the area of Mengyang Luojiang Ba, which lies at the border of Jiulong and Shifang; after Liyuanhua, the local people still transmit the name Fanxianzhai (Fan Immortal's Residence). He once cultivated the Dao south of Mount Qingcheng, a place now called Luojia Mountain.

During the reign of Emperor Ming of Tang, Luo Gongyuan went in and out of the palace, assisting the emperor and guiding sagely virtue; his deeds are recorded separately in an inner biography. To this day, in the capital-region places of Bengkou, Shifang, Yangcun, Mengyang, Xinfan, and Xindu, people still frequently see him. The form in which he appears is not fixed: sometimes he is an old woman, sometimes a beggar. Whenever wind and rain come out of season and the fields lie waste, he is certain to appear. People therefore surmise that among the immortals he is in charge of wind and rain, drought and flood.

When the residents of Yangcun met with drought, they planned to go to the shrine of Li Bing at Houcheng in Luokou to pray for rain. On the way the weather was hot, and the crowd rested in the shade of trees beside the road. Suddenly an old woman also stopped and asked them, "Where are you all going?" The people answered that they were going to pray for rain. The old woman said, "If you want to seek rain, you must find Perfected Man Luo; no other ghost or spirit can bring it." As soon as she finished speaking, she disappeared. The people knew that the old woman was Perfected Man Luo, so they burned incense and prayed at the place where she had appeared. Before long the wind rose and clouds gathered, and a fine rain began to fall, so the people went home.

That night, a full and sweet rain fell over an area of several tens of li. The people then built a Heavenly Palace at the place where the old woman had appeared and fashioned a divine image. As for other villages....

Local legend says that wherever rain has fallen, people play music, burn incense, and offer flowers, going to newly built Daoist abbeys to pray and petition. In the villages, separate altar grounds were established and halls built, and prayers for rain likewise met with immediate response. Throughout Shifang, Mianzhu, and seven or eight other counties, temples to the Zhenren (Perfected Person) were found everywhere; when people went to pray and seek blessings, there was no prayer that was not answered.

Once, the Zhenren suddenly transformed into a mendicant, a beggar, and came to the bank of the Pengkou River. He said to the people, “A great flood is about to come here; it will wash away houses and harm the people. Those who believe me should move away quickly to take shelter.” In less than ten days, some people, suspecting that something unusual was afoot, moved to high ground to avoid the water; those who did not believe still lived securely where they were. Five or six days later, the flood surged violently. Houses were destroyed, and about three or four out of every ten of the people were killed, injured, or drowned. The local people were therefore convinced, and they built a hall, made a statue, and offered sacrifices to the Zhenren.

Yang Chu was a merchant. At that time the city was besieged by a large army, and he was required to pay more than seven hundred thousand cash in military support money. He sold off his property but still could not raise half the sum. Yang Chu served his mother with great filial piety; whenever the military supply office pressed him for payment, he would always make an excuse to go out, fearing that his mother would worry. He had once obtained a portrait of the Zhenren at a mountain Daoist abbey and had enshrined and worshipped it for many years, keeping incense burning without interruption.

At this time, the Zhenren transformed into an ordinary person and came to Yang Chu’s shop, asking what he would use to pay the official money. Yang Chu truthfully explained his predicament. The man told him to buy some raw iron and prepare charcoal. The next day he came again, lit the charcoal, and piled the iron into it; afterward he did not return for the entire night. As he was leaving, he said to Yang Chu, “I am Luo Gongyuan and I live on Mount Qingcheng. Because you honor your parents, never disobey your mother’s wishes, and have never forgotten the Dao, I will use this gold to help you. After you have paid the official money in full, what remains can make your household comfortably off.” He also took Yang Chu into the mountains and told him to return home at set times to visit his mother. Yang Chu also obtained elixir pills, which he brought back and gave to his mother. His mother’s white hair turned black, and the aged woman recovered youthful vitality.

Miraculous Deeds of the Flying Divine King Statue at Kaiyuan Abbey in Jiazhou in Repelling Bandits

Kaiyuan Abbey in Jiazhou was founded during the Later Zhou and was originally named Hongming Abbey. During the Daye era of the Sui, the main hall was finally completed, and a statue of the Flying Divine King was made on the west side of the hall. The seated statue was more than two zhang tall and sat above two demons.

When the Daoist abbey was first being built, the Daoist priest Lü Yuanzao dreamed for several nights in succession of a divine figure standing on the mountain summit, its form towering into the clouds. Sometimes in broad daylight he seemed also to be able to see this divine figure. Some people in the commandery who were fond of Daoist arts had also seen him or met him in dreams. Thereupon everyone discussed making this statue. Originally they planned to make ten statues, but at first only one was completed; by the end of the Sui dynasty, there were many affairs …

When the incident occurred, the place was thrown into chaos, and the matter could not be fully investigated; but everyone in the commandery knew of the miraculous efficacy of the statue of the Flying Heavenly Spirit King (Feitian Shenwang). When someone in a household fell ill, prayers to the god often brought results. The two dark blue-black ghost generals beneath the statue were also frequently seen.

During the Taihe era—the reign title of Emperor Wenzong of Tang—the Chancellor Du Yuanying garrisoned Chengdu. He did not repair the passes or strengthen the defenses, and security was lax, so Nanzhao took the opportunity to invade the Muyuanchuan area. The border Yi people lured in the Man, Dan, and other tribes, who came along three routes and, taking advantage of our lack of preparation, planned to seize Jiazhou. When they were still more than forty li from the prefectural city, however, the enemy was seized with great terror, broke apart, and fled, and only then did the prefectural territory become somewhat settled. After this, the authorities began to arrange defenses.

Later a Yi spy was captured. Someone asked him why the great army, when already almost within the borders, had panicked and withdrawn. The spy said that the three Man armies had originally intended to strike directly at Jiazhou, believing that the prefecture was unprepared. When they were forty li from the city, they suddenly saw banners spread across the mountains and fields, soldiers drawn up in formation, and numbers too great to count. There were also three or five generals; one of them, a Dog General, wore golden armor and held a great axe, stood two or three zhang tall, and had a voice like thunder. They stood above two ghost generals, commanding the soldiers in the mountains to resist together. The Man army knew it could not match them and fled in panic. That day, three of the Man army’s chief commanders died in battle. The military law of the Man kingdom required that if anyone was killed or wounded on campaign, or if there was excrement or filth, it must be buried immediately and not let people see it, so no one knew where those commanders had been buried.

At the time, when people heard of this, they all believed that the troops and generals of the Flying Heavenly Spirit King had manifested their power and preserved the prefectural territory. From then on, people prayed and offered petitions to the god every day, almost without interruption.

On another occasion, someone traveling by boat down the gorge had once prayed for protection before the statue of the Flying Heavenly Spirit King. When the boat reached Qutang, the river suddenly rose and the waves were dangerous. Of the three boats traveling together, one had already been damaged, and the other two also frightened everyone greatly. Suddenly they saw a divine figure standing on the bank, looking exactly like the Flying Heavenly Spirit King; he ordered two great ghosts to enter the water and steady the boats. The ghost generals were also more than one zhang tall, and the boats then became stable and the wind and waves calmed. In their alarm, the people did not know who was saving the boats; afterward, thinking it over carefully, they realized that it was the two ghost generals attending the Flying Heavenly Spirit King who had saved them. One of the two ghosts was red and one blue-green, and their appearance was exactly the same as the sculpted images on the statue.

The Qianyuan Abbey in Chengdu had been established for many years. Later it was burned in warfare, and the entire Daoist abbey was reduced to ashes. Beneath the Three Gates there had originally been statues of four Heavenly Spirit Kings—Donghua, Nanji, Xiling, and Beizhen—modeled after the style of the Chaoyuan Pavilion in Huaqing Palace and set beneath the outer gate, wearing golden armor and draped in celestial garments. After the gate tower was destroyed, the spirit kings…

This statue of the deity remained undamaged despite wind and rain, and local people traditionally regarded it as highly efficacious.

At that time the King of Shu had already pacified the Shu region and moved his troops to besiege Pengzhou. After failing to take it for a long time, he temporarily returned to Chengdu. It was the summer months, and the accompanying officers and officials each acted as circumstances allowed. The senior general Du Kexiu first arrived at the place where the statue of the Divine King stood. Seeing a crowd gathered around the clay statue, he asked why, and was told that the clay statue could move. Du Kexiu placed a vessel filled with water in the statue’s hand, and the statue indeed shook, so that the water spilled over. Soon the Lord of Shu arrived and also prayed and tested it, saying, “If Pengzhou can be taken, please again show the response of shaking.” After a long while, the statue vibrated several times in succession. In less than a month, Pengzhou was indeed taken and the strong enemy annihilated. The Lord of Shu then offered gold, silver, coins, and silk, and ordered the local county to build a hall to decorate and honor it.

Auspicious Response of the Northern Emperor (Beidi) to Zhao Kuangning, Prince of Chu:

Zhao Kuangning, the Prince of Chu, was garrisoning Xiangzhou. In the city there was an old Northern Emperor Hall—the Northern Emperor being the deity of the north in Daoism—long neglected and situated within a military camp. One day there was a sound on the roof of the Prince of Chu’s bedchamber, like halberds and leather being dragged, and the roof tiles shook. The Prince quietly rose to inspect and saw a streak of black qi extending from the old Northern Emperor site all the way to the roof. Astonished, he secretly prayed and offered congratulations, intending to rebuild the hall to repay the auspicious omen. At dawn, while handling affairs, he remembered that he had previously dispatched fifty officers to work military colony farms and had supplied them daily with clothing and farm tools, yet not one of them obeyed his orders. The Prince suspected a plot of rebellion, had them detained and interrogated, uncovered the circumstances of their sedition, and executed them all. The Prince said to others, “The Northern Emperor’s efficacy has clear proof. At midnight there was an anomalous cloud qi, and at dawn the treacherous were exposed. Had the deity not revealed it, an unforeseeable disaster would almost have occurred.” He therefore repaired the hall, made the statue solemn, and had Daoist priests who came to pay homage oversee the incense, fire, lamps, and candles. People throughout the region looked up to it and prayed, and repeatedly received responses.

Li Changxia Recites the Disaster-Eliminating Scripture: A Verified Account:

Li Changxia was a descendant of the governor of Yanzhou in the Later Han. By nature he believed in Daoism and constantly recited the Most High Lingbao Scripture on Ascending to the Mystery, Eliminating Disasters, and Protecting Life. Yet he was naturally gentle and weak, and was often bullied by others. One day, while sleeping in the daytime, he suddenly dreamed that he was sitting in a place wreathed in smoke and rosy clouds. Looking around, he saw bears, brown bears, tigers, and leopards encircling him on all sides, and he did not know where to go.

Cuo did not know why, but he sighed in sorrow and wondered, “Why is this admonition so severe? Could it be that accumulating good deeds has brought no response?”

At that moment, a Daoist in the air called his name and said to him, “I am Jiuku Zhenren (the Perfected One Who Saves from Suffering). Do not be alarmed. By the talismanic command of Taishang (a supreme Daoist deity), I and the various divine generals are secretly guarding you. The scripture you regularly recite says that when this scripture is transmitted and recited, flying celestial kings, vajras who destroy evil, Dharma-protecting spirit youths, Jiuku Zhenren, golden-essence fierce beasts, and others—each with hundreds of billions of multitudes—will come together to protect the reciter.”

When Changxia awoke, he was suddenly enlightened. Only then did he understand that the misfortunes and guilt later suffered by those who had previously harmed and bullied him were precisely the efficacious result of his recitation.

The Responsive Efficacy of Cui Zhou’s Recitation of the Duren Jing

Cui Zhou was a descendant of Zhongmou, Marquis of Wenyang, of the Han dynasty. He once visited Mr. Baiyun and studied with him the way of cultivating the self. The master said, “You are a son of a wealthy and noble family. Why do you seek purity, tranquility, and plain detachment?”

Cui Zhou left his seat and replied respectfully, “When one relieves others with wealth, the wealth will eventually be exhausted, while human desires are never satisfied. When one rewards others with official rank and emoluments, once rank and emolument reach a high point, people may instead become arrogant. How should I manifest the Great Dao to people, so as to use it to universally save all beings?”

The master said, “Among my Dharma methods there is a Duren Jing (Scripture of Universal Salvation). You may recite it.”

Cui Zhou then bowed and received it, and recited it with sincere devotion. Later, a messenger came on horseback bringing a letter. He said to Lord Cui, “Your late father asked me to deliver this letter to you and to thank you.” As soon as he finished speaking, the messenger suddenly disappeared. Cui Zhou opened the letter and examined it carefully; he recognized that it was indeed written in his father’s own hand. It said, “I thank you for the merit of reciting the Duren Jing, which has enabled several generations of our ancestors to ascend to heaven.”

From that time on, the whole Cui family recited the Duren Jing, and they still do so now.

The Responsive Efficacy of Yao Yuanchong’s Daughter’s Single-Minded Incense Cultivation and Lord Lao’s Bestowal of Scripture

Yao Yuanchong, a chancellor during the Kaiyuan era, once served as governor of Fengyi. He had a daughter named Changshou, who from the age of seven abstained from meat, fish, and wine. Her parents often had her burn incense and light lamps before the image of Xuanyuan (Laozi).

One day, Changshou fell asleep in the daytime and dreamed that beside Lord Lao stood two attendant youths and two divine generals. The attendant youths said to Changshou, “You burn incense and cultivate with a single-minded heart. A chapter of the Jiusheng Tianshen Jing (Scripture of the Nine Heavens’ Life-Giving Spirits) may be imparted to you orally...” The Responsive Efficacy of Wang Daoke’s Recitation of the Tianpeng Zhou

Wang Daoke lived at Nanba in Shuangliu County, Chengdu. At that time, Emperor Xizong of Tang entered Shu...

At that time, Guo Daoke often made his living by divination, Fulu (talismans and registers), and ritual arts, and whether sitting or walking he constantly recited the Tianpeng Incantation (a Daoist incantation used to expel evil).

Whenever he went to the Shuangliu market to sell talismans and practice divination, as soon as he earned money he would drink until he was drunk before returning home. Outside the city gate stood the Temple of General White Horse, where people came morning and evening to pray and make offerings. A curtain hung inside the temple, and light often shone through it; sounds like whistling could also be heard. People found this strange and brought wine and food into the temple as offerings, yet the things would always vanish for no apparent reason. The common people were frightened by this, and no one dared look directly into the temple.

One day, Guo Daoke came home drunk, entered the temple, and loudly chanted the divine incantation. The temple hall immediately fell silent, and those who saw it were greatly astonished.

On another morning, just as the roosters crowed, Guo Daoke joined the villagers carrying garlic to market. Passing by the temple at night, he suddenly fell to the ground. In his alarm he saw several wild foxes with eyes like torches dragging him to the steps of the temple hall. He heard someone above shout, “How dare you, relying on drunkenness, break into my temple and recite incantations, disturbing my household?”

Guo Daoke silently recited the Tianpeng Divine Incantation, and after a while he revived. It turned out that because he was traveling together carrying garlic, the divine soldiers disliked the foul smell of the garlic and did not guard him, so he was seized by the fox demons. However, after the garlic carriers left, he continued reciting the divine incantation in his heart, and the fox demons could not harm him.

After waking, Guo Daoke went home, bathed, and purified himself. Then he returned to the temple and loudly rebuked it: “I am a disciple of the Supreme Lord (Taishang), and I do not merely recite the Tianpeng Incantation; I also constantly recite Daoist scriptures. The scripture says: ‘Heaven obtained the One and became clear; Earth obtained the One and became tranquil; the spirits obtained the One and became numinous.’ If you were truly a deity, you should help the Daoist teachings transform the world. Why do you dislike hearing the divine incantation? I know you are not the bright deity of White Horse but a fox spirit attached to the temple, deluding the people. Today I am determined to stay here and recite the incantation to rid the people of this harm.”

Thereupon he sincerely and loudly recited the divine incantation, not stopping even until night. The temple hall was silent, and no more light shone through the curtain; only sounds of beating and groaning came from within. At dawn, Guo Daoke called the nearby residents to look, and they saw five old wild foxes with broken heads and bloody faces lying on the ground, already dead. After that, no strange phenomena occurred in the temple again, the sacrifices stopped completely, and the temple gradually fell into ruin.

From this it can be known that anyone who recites and upholds this incantation should not...

Garlic is an extremely taboo and filthy substance. General Tianpeng (the Supreme General of the Northern Emperor in Daoism) can subdue all ghosts and spirits—how could his work be merely to destroy petty monsters such as foxes?

Miraculous Efficacy of Wang Qingyuan’s Recitation of the Shenzhou Jing (Scripture of Divine Spells)

Wang Qingyuan’s family had lived for generations at the foot of Mount Beimang. During the Xiantong reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang, epidemics spread widely. Although Qingyuan was a layman, he often cultivated by the method of ingesting Qi, compounded medicines to treat illness, and recited the Shenzhou Jing; he claimed to be a distant descendant of the Perfected One of Mount Gou (a legendary immortal).

At that time the emperor, in distress, had entered Shu; warfare was incessant, epidemics raged widely, and even prefectures and counties were affected. Famine also struck, and many people fell ill. Qingyuan wore and upheld the Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Shenzhou Jing. He often drew talismans and distributed medicine to save people, mostly taking no payment; he only hoped that people would offer a little fragrant oil to support the scriptures and talismans. People from the villages came one after another to ask him for treatment, and the traffic of visitors day and night never ceased.

Qingyuan had a younger cousin who had become a monk, with the dharma name Fachao; he too recited the Great Compassion Wheel and practiced esoteric syllable spells. Qingyuan’s medical skill was widely renowned. One day, Fachao came at night to stay overnight and secretly poured a bottle of dog blood into Qingyuan’s Daoist hall. At the second watch, suddenly the sound of clashing armor and weapons came from the air; then Fachao was heard on the bed as if being dragged by someone, crying out in alarm and begging for mercy. Qingyuan had lamps lit to look, and saw Fachao repeatedly smashing his head against the ground, blood streaming over his head and face, and he did not stop until dawn.

Before long, his legs were seen hanging straight down, as though he were being dragged in a frantic flight; finally he plunged into the Goushui River, and his corpse floated on the surface. The whole city was greatly shocked. From this one may know that the true scripture of divine spells is indeed guarded by divine generals and spirit troops; how could it allow a jealous, mediocre monk to offend it with filthy things? As the saying goes: When people do evil in the dark, the spirits perceive it and punish it.

Qingyuan reverently upheld the scripture, saved sentient beings through good deeds unknown to others, and lived to the age of one hundred and seven. On the day of his death, everyone in the region smelled an extraordinary fragrance. His cultivation and medical arts may likewise be called the preliminary stage of embarking on the path of realizing the Dao.

Miraculous Efficacy of Taking the Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace) from Xiandu Abbey on Mount Pingdu in Zhongzhou

The Xiandu Abbey on Mount Pingdu in Zhongzhou enshrined the Taiping Jing, by which the Perfected One Yin guarded this mountain. During the Wude era, Prefect Dugu Sheng wanted to take the scripture and present it to the court. After traveling by boat for half a day, suddenly an azure dragon and a white dragon stretched across the river, stirring up waves, so that the boat could not advance. The boatmen were terrified and could only return upstream to the prefectural seat. Dugu Sheng then ordered a change to the Dianjiang road and had the scriptures transported overland…

At that time, in the mountains and river valleys, no fierce beasts had appeared for a long time. But now snakes and tigers blocked the road. The people escorting the scriptures were seized with fear and retreated with the scriptures. Sheng then established a Huanglu Daochang (a Daoist Zhaijiao purification ritual), presented petitions and submitted memorials, reporting to Heaven. Only afterward did he take the scriptures and continue on, enshrining them in the inner Daoist sanctuary, where they remained for many years.

During the Kaiyuan era, the court Daoist priest Sima Xiu was ordered by imperial decree to perform sacrifices and jiao rituals at famous mountains. When he opened the casket to take out the scriptures, he found only an empty casket. He questioned the Daoist community, suspecting that a reclusive Daoist in the temple had hidden the scriptures. The fellow Daoists were frightened and uneasy, and had no reply. Pixue then burned incense and reported to the divine realities, saying that during the Wude era the scriptures had already been taken away; now, ordered by imperial decree to search for them, they could neither find nor present them, and truly feared punishment.

At that moment the weather was clear, and there was no dust in the mountains and fields. Suddenly dark clouds shrouded the halls, and thunder crashed abruptly. Before long the rain passed and the sky cleared, and the scriptures unexpectedly appeared on the table. An unusual fragrance filled the air, and auspicious vapors curled around. They had recovered the very scripture that had been taken away that year, and so they presented it.

During the Huichang era, the Daoists granted the purple robe, Guo Chongguang and Yan Xuanshou, were again ordered by imperial decree to establish a jiao in the mountains and retrieve the scriptures. The scriptures in the stone casket were still as intact as before. To this day, it is still this scripture that guards the temple; yet no one knows in what year it was returned.

The Miraculous Deeds of Master Ye of Yuxiao Palace on Mount Tiantai, Who Used Talismans to Cure Madness and Evil

Master Ye of Yuxiao Palace on Mount Tiantai, in addition to his cultivation, also used talismanic methods to save people. In Wuzhou there was a family surnamed Ye, extremely wealthy. One of the household suddenly contracted an illness of madness and blindness, which remained uncured for many years. After the illness had been severe for several months, he would sometimes shout, sometimes weep and laugh, and even strip off his clothes and run about; his strength was so great that he could match several people.

At first, the family bound him with silk ropes, but before long he broke them. He ran out onto the main road and even burst into government offices, and no one could stop him. Because he was a son of a wealthy family, the authorities did not punish him. Since he repeatedly caused trouble, the authorities also required the family to keep him under strict watch. The family furthermore observed fasts and prayed for blessings, gave alms to monks, offered sacrifices to gods and ghosts, and summoned shamans to perform rites; they tried every method, but none worked.

This family had never believed in Daoism. By chance someone told them that they could go to Mount Tiantai and seek a talisman from Master Ye of Yuxiao Palace; perhaps it could remove this illness, for otherwise they did not know what else to do. So they prepared silk and vessels and went into the mountains to seek a talisman. Master Ye said to the messenger, “When this talisman reaches your home, the illness will be cured. I have no use for the vessels and silk; take them all back.”

Before the messenger reached home, within three days the patient had another attack. He broke the ropes and picked up stones; the whole family could only shut the doors to hold him off, but the doors, windows, and railings were all broken by him, and his strength was too great to withstand. Thus his madness continued without cease...

The illness was fierce and could not be stopped by human effort. He quickly composed his expression, returned to his room, washed his hands and face, dried his body, combed his hair, fastened his belt, put on his shoes, and, holding a hu tablet (a tablet held at court audiences or when performing rituals), stood respectfully bowed inside the door on the left side of the path. His expression was calm, and his family was delighted, vying with one another to ask why. He smiled without answering and said only, “The heavenly messenger will arrive at once.”

He forgot food entirely and at night had no time to sleep. He waited single-mindedly, standing on tiptoe and craning his neck, watching for movement outside the door. Sweat soaked his back, yet he did not dare slacken. He waited this way for two days and three nights, until the messenger finally arrived holding a talisman. He went to the door to welcome him, bowed, and jumped for joy, leading the way in front. After receiving the talisman and swallowing it, he closed his eyes for a moment; in the time it takes to eat a meal, his illness was cured.

From then on, he went in person to the mountain gate and donated substantial money and cloth to help fund the construction of Daoist temples. The whole family cultivated the Dao and established a Jingshi (a quiet chamber for enshrining deities and performing Daoist rituals) and a Dao hall, burning incense and practicing morning and evening.

At first, Yuxiao had given him two talismans: one he had already swallowed, and the other was pasted on the door of his room. A maidservant of his daughter secretly drank wine and vomited beneath the talisman. Ye saw a divine figure come out from the talisman, clad in armor and holding a sword, about three or four cun tall. He burned incense and bowed in thanks, and the divine figure then disappeared.

A few days later, a maidservant in a relative’s household suffered from wind-demon illness (here an illness believed to be connected with malevolent spirits), though it was not yet severe. She came before Ye’s room; just as she stood still, she suddenly gave a loud cry. Ye saw the general in the talisman appear, looking just like the earlier divine figure, and swing his sword at the maidservant’s head. Ye asked what had happened, and the maidservant said that a divine figure had just cut something from her head with a sword, and it had fallen into her collar. Ye ordered two or three maidservants to take it out and inspect it; it was a snake’s head about the size of a finger, and the cut end was still dripping blood. After this, the maidservant’s wind-demon illness also healed.

The Efficacy of Jia Qiong’s Receiving the Tongzi Register

When Jia Qiong, a native of Chengdu, was three years old, his mother, having gone to see the silkworm market (a market connected with sericulture), passed the gate of Longxing Daoist Temple on the third day of the third month. At that time many people were in the temple receiving registers (shou lu, the conferral of Daoist registers, which signified obtaining a corresponding Daoist identity and qualification for cultivation). She took Jia Qiong into the temple and sought for him one of the ranks of the Tongzi Register.

More than ten years later, Jia Qiong’s older sister fell ill. His mother asked the recluse Wu Taixuan to enter the underworld (a Daoist term meaning to enter the netherworld by ritual means) to investigate the cause of her illness, and also asked him to check the siblings’ lifespans and fortunes. Wu Taixuan returned after a night and said, “The cause of the illness lies with the Jiangdu deity (the god of rivers and waterways); pray to him and she will recover.” However, he could not find Jia Qiong’s name in the register. His parents therefore became even more worried and asked Wu Taixuan to look again.

Whenever Wu Taixuan entered the underworld on someone’s behalf to investigate, he would be locked in a room and only after lying down quietly would he enter the underworld. Others could not cry out in alarm or call him; they had to wait until he woke by himself and called for someone to open the door; only then could …

He described the affairs of the underworld one by one with perfect clarity, as if he had seen them with his own eyes, and everything he said could be verified.

Sometimes he returned only after two nights had passed. Later, when he went again to examine Qiong’s name, he found that Qiong, on the third day of the third month in the year he was three, had received the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) register at Longxing Abbey (a Daoist temple)—the Fulu (talismans and registers) conferred on Daoists in the Zhengyi tradition—and that his name had already been enrolled in the Heavenly Treasury and was not under the jurisdiction of the Earthly Bureau. It could not be found in the Earthly Bureau’s registers, but his name was found in the Yellow Ledger of the Heavenly Administration.

Yin Yan Recalls His Past Life After Reciting the Yinfu Jing

Yin Yan lived in Xiude Ward and was a junior clansman of Master Mingdao Yin Sixuan. He had always revered Daoism, delighted in doing good, and was diligent without slackening. Later he went to Yin Sixuan to request transmission of the Yinfu Jing (Scripture of the Hidden Talisman) and recited it with sincere devotion. Because his memory had always been poor, he hoped that reciting the scripture would clarify and sharpen his mind. Over several years he recited it more than ten thousand times and gradually felt his mental faculties opening and his understanding increasing.

Once, on his benming day—the personal natal day determined by the stem and branch of his birth year—he fasted, burned incense, and recited the Yinfu Jing thirty times. Suddenly he clearly remembered his former life: his surname had been Zhang, his given name Chuhou; he had lived in Yanshou Ward, his family property had been ample, and his sons and daughters were still alive. He remembered their childhood names and ages distinctly and told his family about these matters.

Afterward he went to seek out Zhang Chuhou’s family and stated Zhang Chuhou’s dates of birth and death, appearance, and temperament without a single error. When Zhang Chuhou’s sons and daughters heard this, they wept and acknowledged him, saying that his present appearance was no different from that of his former life, except that his temperament was gentler and more unhurried than before. From then on the two families became kin. Both families were still alive before Huang Chao (leader of the late Tang rebel army) attacked the capital.

Zhao Ye Revives After Receiving the Zhengyi Register

Zhao Ye was from Dingzhou and served as magistrate of Jin’an County during the Kaicheng era of Emperor Wenzong of Tang. He died suddenly from illness; his hands and feet remained soft and his chest slightly warm, and he revived after three days.

He said that at first an underworld official came to arrest him and dragged him along in great haste. When he asked the reason, the other only said that he owed a debt and had denied it. He thought to himself that he had never committed such an offense and feared they had arrested the wrong person. After they had gone thirty to fifty li, they passed a mountain ridge. On the ridge were palaces and pavilions, tall and magnificent, and many people were there.

A green-clad boy came forward and asked, “Are you not the Daoist Zhao Taixuan?” Zhao Ye replied, “I am Zhao Ye, magistrate of Jin’an County.” The boy laughed and said, “How could you have forgotten this?” Then another boy came and said, “Taiyi (the Great One) summons Zhao Taixuan; the arresting officers have all dispersed.” Zhao Ye then followed the boy into the palace, but did not see Taiyi; he saw only a Daoist. The Daoist said, “When you were six, because of illness, you received the Zhengyi…”

The “Eight-Rank Falu” (a type of ritual register in the Daoist ordination system) was named “Taixuan.” How could it have been allowed to fall into the hands of the secular government, and how could this matter have been forgotten? Taiyi (a revered Daoist deity) gave an order, and so he was made to return it; but he still had to wear the falu, cultivate the Dao and practice goodness, accumulate merit and virtue, and, while holding office, handle government affairs properly, not covet wealth, and not treat human life lightly.

As soon as the words were finished, the sick man had already revived. Thereupon Siyi went into the mountains to receive the falu, repeatedly established altars, broadly performed good works and accumulated merit, and later took “Taixuan” as his religious name.

Monk Facheng Secretly Alters Daoist Scriptures and Is Punished

Monk Facheng’s surname was Chen, and it was unknown where he was from. He was stubborn by nature and, though bound by his own religion, also did many pretentious and deceptive things. Later he traveled to Mount Lu and arrived at Jianji Abbey. At the time he met no Daoist priests, and neither the halls nor the scripture repository in the abbey were locked, so he took out Daoist scriptures and read them, thirty-four fascicles in all. After that he went to Lingxi Abbey to stay and falsely claimed: “Even among monks I have always been single-mindedly devoted to the Dao. I wish to stay here, recite Daoist scriptures, and also wish to let my hair grow long and become a Daoist.”

The Daoists all believed him. He then took more than one hundred fascicles of scriptures from the abbey and read them day and night. Every three or five days he would go down the mountain to beg for alms. When people heard his pleasing words, they gave him many things, and his monthly needs for grain, salt, and other daily supplies were never lacking.

Later, he even took it upon himself to alter the titles of Daoist scriptures, replacing them with the names of Buddhist sutras; he changed “Tianzun” to “Buddha,” and “Zhenren” to “Bodhisattva” or “Arhat.” He also changed many of the dialogues and question-and-answer passages in the texts, and smeared, cut, and tore the scriptures, amounting to more than one hundred and sixty fascicles in all.

One day someone at the foot of the mountain invited him to a vegetarian feast and wanted to ask him for writing materials. Facheng then borrowed a servant from the abbey to go with him. After walking two or three li, the servant saw a troop of military officials and ceremonial guards, strictly arrayed, and thought it was the prefect touring the mountain. Facheng and the servant stepped down beside the road and hid in the woods. After a long while, they saw the procession stop, and among the ranks a high official on horseback stood in the middle of the road, urging the local officials to seize Monk Facheng.

When Facheng and the servant heard this, before they could flee, several strongmen rushed into the woods and seized Facheng. The servant followed and saw that the official reprimanded him, saying: “The scriptures and teachings of the Great Dao are the words of sages. What business is it of yours? How dare you alter them without authorization!” He then ordered a hundred heavy blows with a staff and commanded him to copy and restore them exactly as they were, to complete them and return them to the abbey, and to report back after the repair was finished, when further action would be taken.

There on the road Facheng received a hundred blows and fell to the ground, his whole body covered with bleeding wounds. Then the procession disappeared. The servant hurried back to the abbey to report; the abbey sent people to investigate, and they saw that Facheng still had a trace of breath. The crowd then carried him back into the mountain.

After several days, Xingduan finally put the altered scripture in order and brought it out to show the assembled Daoists. Facheng had originally left some clothing and bowl utensils in a monastery in Jiangzhou; he fetched them and sold them, and then went everywhere begging for paper and brushes. After copying for many years, the scripture was finally completed. He returned the scripture to the original Daoist temple, burned incense, and earnestly gave thanks, hoping to enter the Dao. The Daoists considered him a scoundrel, and no one was willing to agree. That night he suddenly cried out again and again, as if he were being beaten, and died with blood flowing from his ears and nose.

The Story of the Retribution That Befell the Monk Xingduan for Arbitrarily Altering the Five Kitchens Jing

The monk Xingduan was by nature rather arrogant and deceitful. Seeing that the Daoist Five Kitchens Jing (Scripture) contained only five incantation verses, he arbitrarily altered and added to its title, calling it the Buddha Speaks the San Tingchu Jing (Three-Stop Kitchen Scripture). He claimed that the five incantations had been spoken by five Tathagatas, and at the end of the scripture he added statements about the efficacy of recitation; the added text amounted to a full page.

The Five Kitchens Jing belongs to the Taiqing (Great Clarity) section. During the time of Tang Minghuang, Yin Yin, a remonstrance official and abbot of Suming Abbey, wrote a commentary saying: these five incantations are the secret words of the five spirits and concern the true Qi of the five viscera; if one recites them a hundred times, the five Qi will naturally harmonize, and one can do without food. The first incantation in the scripture says: “When the one Qi harmonizes with the Great Harmony, and one attains the one Dao, all is in great harmony; then there is nothing that is not harmonious; the mysterious principle is the same as the mysterious horizon.” During the Kaiyuan era, the Celestial Master (Tianshi) Zhao Xianfu wrote a subcommentary on this scripture, also taking the harmonizing of habituated Qi and the stabilizing of the spirit as the main point of his exposition.

Xingduan, however, latched onto these explanations and claimed that after reciting the scripture one hundred and twenty times, one could recite incantations over water and then drink it, enabling people to go without eating; and he called this scripture the San Tingchu Jing. His formulations were shallow and crude in both wording and meaning, far removed from the commentaries of Yin Yin and Zhao Xianfu.

After Xingduan finished altering the scripture, he had already copied five or six copies and passed them to others. As he was copying the scripture beneath a window, a divine man eight or nine chi tall, holding a treasure sword, suddenly appeared before him and rebuked him: “The Supreme True Scripture has been treasured through the ages; how could you recklessly hand it over to stupid and foolish people and alter it at will?” The divine man brandished his sword to strike him; Xingduan used his hand to block the sword, and several fingers were cut off. The two monks who lived with him both saw this and, in their alarm, begged for mercy on his behalf. The divine man said: “This man is so devoid of conscience; it is truly a pity to take his life.” He then told him to hurry and recover and replace those copies, and afterward to submit a memorial and await instruction.

Xingduan and the monks who lived with him split up to search for the scripture copies, but only half were recovered; the remaining copies had already been taken by monks beyond the pass and copied separately. Xingduan copied out ten copies of the original scripture, burned incense, and repented, and he also placed the altered and expanded copies on the incense and burned them. The divine man appeared again and said: “You slandered the sacred text and failed to recover all the copies; you should not be spared death.” Before long, Xingduan fell to the ground and died.

The scriptures he revised later often circulated in various places as well. Readers who read them carefully will naturally understand their meaning.

The Verification of Cui Gongfu’s Failure to Return a Precious Scripture After Borrowing It

Cui Gongfu was well versed in the classics, passed the jinshi examination, held successive official posts, and rose to become Prefect of Ya. About a year after taking office, he suddenly felt dazed and absent-minded, often sad and irritable, with an impatient temperament, and at times he would abruptly forget things. The whole family found this strange.

One day, without being ill, he died, but the area over his heart still retained some warmth. Three days later, he revived, and his body returned to normal. He said to his colleagues:

“Yesterday, an envoy from the underworld came with a document to summon me. I followed him for thirty or fifty li and was utterly exhausted. When we reached the city gate, we passed through several more gates. My escort brought me to the entrance of an official office and told me to wait outside a screen. Soon, an official in red robes holding a hu tablet came before the screen to receive me and bowed to me first. I was startled and said, ‘I am a criminal summoned by document, yet you come to receive me and even bow to me. This truly makes me uneasy.’

“That official said, ‘Governor, you have probably forgotten. I am Ju Jian, the official in charge of records and documents in Huayin County. When you first entered official service, I once served in your household. Recently, by a heavenly talismanic order, I learned that the subordinate office of Fengdu and the earth office had submitted a memorial: when you served as magistrate of Fengdu, you took four scrolls of the precious scripture of the Perfected Lord Yin from Xiandu Abbey and have never returned them. The heavenly court therefore ordered your living soul to be seized and interrogated, and one of your souls has been detained here day and night. I was afraid you did not know the reason, so I deliberately came to tell you face to face, as repayment for your former kindness. Have you recently often been angry, sorrowful, dazed, and forgetful? This is all because your living soul has been detained.’

“Then he led me into the hall. After a long while, he said, ‘There is tea and food here, but it cannot be given to you, Governor; once you eat it, you can never return to the human world. You need only write a document requesting that a Huanglu (Yellow Register) ritual be established, repent of what you have done, and ask someone to return the scriptures to the original abbey. Then your living soul will be released.’

“After the office had checked my lifespan and official rank, a clerk holding the case file said, ‘From now on, Cui Gongfu can still serve three terms as prefect, and he has twenty-three years of life remaining.’”

After saying this, Cui Gongfu left behind a document in his own hand. The official sent a clerk to escort him back. Cui Gongfu then established Huanglu rituals respectively in Chengdu, at the Ziji Palace in Ya Prefecture, and at Xiandu Mountain in Zhong Prefecture, and returned the scriptures to the original abbey. His body afterward recovered as before, and he continued to hold office.

His lifespan was the same as stated earlier. This happened during the Kaicheng era (the reign title of Emperor Wenzong of Tang), when he was Prefect of Ya Prefecture.

Liu Zaizhi’s Recitation of the Tianpeng Incantation Proves Efficacious

Liu Zaizhi of Pengcheng came from a Confucian family and devoted himself to literary and scholarly studies. In private, he made offerings throughout the year to Beiji, the northern star deity revered in Daoism, and never let the incense fire lapse. He mostly lived in the capital. In his youth he lacked boldness and was often afflicted by frights and nightmares, though he never understood the cause.

He once met the Daoist Liu Daguan of Sumen. Liu Daguan transmitted to him the Tianpeng Shenzhou (the Incantation of the Tianpeng Spirit General) and told him to recite it a thousand times. Liu Zaizhi diligently did as instructed, abstained from meat and pungent foods, and concentrated on maintaining the offerings; even while traveling, he always practiced with devotion. From then on, he never again suffered nightmares or palpitations of fright.

Later, when bandits captured Chang’an, Liu Zaizhi was taken captive at Xuanyangli and forced into hard labor. Such work was originally beyond his capacity, and the slightest delay would bring punishment by blade, so his life hung by a thread. He secretly recited the divine incantation and prayed for the gods’ protection.

That night, a man dressed like a soldier said to him, “I will relieve you of this labor. There is a small path here by which you can escape; you may follow me.” Liu Zaizhi suspected this was a trap set by the bandits and declined to go. The man took his hand, and it seemed they leapt into the air. After a long while, the two landed on the ground.

The moonlight that night was bright as day. Liu Zaizhi saw only scattered mountains and rivers and rushing springs, and he was already standing on a huge rock. As he marveled, a village boy came forward and led him into a cave dwelling.

The palaces in the cave dwelling were deep and solemn, with tiered city towers bright and beautiful; golden towers and jade halls, rare birds and unusual trees surrounded them for tens of li. An usher—an official responsible for conveying messages and introductions—wearing a flat-topped cap and wide-sleeved robes said, “The Great Emperor Lord (Taidi Jun) commands you to rest in the guest quarters.” Soon someone brought wine, food, and immortal fruits, and two immortal officials accompanied him at the banquet.

Liu Zaizhi asked, “Which realm does the Great Emperor Lord govern? I have never gone to pay homage, and now I suddenly receive this gracious command; I am truly fearful.” The immortal officials said, “The Great Emperor Lord is the Xuanqing Great Emperor Lord of the Ziwei Upper Palace among the stars of the Northern Dipper. Above, he governs the Dipper Pole; below, he commands Fengdu, the nether realm. The Tianpeng Supreme General is a subordinate commander under the Great Emperor Lord and also his marshal. You have single-mindedly contemplated Beiyuan and honored the divine incantation. Now you have encountered danger and were about to die by the blade. The Great Emperor Lord examined the registers and learned that you were originally to be listed among those driven to labor. He was concerned, and has already memorialized the Heavenly Court, stating your diligent and strenuous practice, extending your lifespan by three ji (thirty-six years), and allowing you to return to your homeland.” Soon afterward, Liu Zaizhi was able to…

Mr. Yao Recites the Huangting Jing and Receives Verification

He went to pay homage before the Great Emperor (Taidi, a honored Daoist deity), kowtowed, and thanked him for his grace. The Great Emperor ordered two attendant boys to bring him food. Not long afterward, he reached Sizhou. His friend Xie Liang, while accompanying the imperial progress and reporting on affairs to the court, heard him recount the matter in detail and recorded what had happened; that record is still preserved in the Jiangnan region today. From this one can see that the Great Emperor observes all with clear discernment, and that the awe-inspiring power of Tianpeng (a Daoist divine general) does not overlook even the slightest good deed.

Mr. Yao was a native of Huayuan. From childhood he loved Daoist arts and recited the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture, a Daoist classic). During the Guangqi era, Emperor Xizong again went to Chencang, and the whole region, near and far, was thrown into panic. Mr. Yao was harried by marauding soldiers; while fleeing at night he fell into a dry well and injured his foot. He wanted to climb out but could not. Beside the well there was a cave, so he hid inside it and recited the Huangting Jing day and night. During this time he felt neither hunger nor thirst, and his foot injury healed.

At that time the Xiang region had already been pacified and the emperor had returned to the capital; the households in the countryside gradually recovered. One day, a detachment of roving troops camped for the night by the well, saw a light in the well, and rescued Mr. Yao. Mr. Yao described in detail the miraculous efficacy of the Huangting Jing. Later he became a Daoist priest and lived in a Daoist temple west of Huayuan.