《雲笈七籤》Vol. 85

The Yunji Qiqian (Seven Slips from a Cloudy Satchel), juan 85, “Cun Six”

Compiled and presented by the subject Zhang Junfang, Gentleman for Court Service of the Song, Vice Director of the Bureau of Expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue, concurrently Collator of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies, recipient of the scarlet fish-bag, and permitted to wear purple.

Shijie (Corpse Deliverance)

Preface to the Upper Scripture of the Flying Immortal Precious Sword of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) Perfected One

What is called “shijie” means that the corpse-body undergoes transformation: after cultivation, the true self sheds its old form. That is, the physical body conceals itself and transforms; the physical form, including the five viscera, disappears and one goes elsewhere.

Although shijie ranks among the lower grades of immortality, the cultivator’s endowment and the transmission he has received are not necessarily shallow. Some people do not wish to ascend to heaven and only wish to dwell in famous mountains; some revere worldly teachings, wish to cut off the way of birth and death, and also wish to sever their attachment to descendants. Becoming an immortal is difficult to begin with; there are also those who wish to observe worldly changes for a long time but dread the toil of celestial official duties.

Once the wondrous Dao is fully present, whether one chooses a high or low place, one may find ease as one wishes. Therefore one cannot fix the grade of shijie solely by outward circumstances of life and death. This is what is meant by hiding beneath the sun, moon, and stars and sinking without trace in broad daylight.

Another account says: smear the “Luxing Lingwan” (Numinous Pill for Recording the Form, a pill used in shijie techniques) onto burning charcoal, and others will see the cultivator’s body burned to death; this is called “huojie” (fire deliverance). Place one pill in water, drink it, then lie down holding a tree, and others will see the cultivator as if killed by weapons in an empty house; this is called “bingjie” (weapon deliverance).

Whoever departs by these methods can no longer return to his homeland; he must change his name and appearance. In former times someone practiced this method, entered Linlü Mountain, stayed there three years, and then returned home. Those who cultivate the lower grades of shijie cannot expect to return home. This is called the “way of superior deliverance”: one’s name is entered in the “Purple Slips” (the immortal register) and is under the control of the Three Officials (the Heaven, Earth, and Water Officials of Daoism); from then on one may no longer peer into human secrets. Could it be that these accounts arbitrarily impose death on cultivators?

Preface to the Ten-Turn Purple Golden Elixir Transmitted by the Ronghu to Shun

The Jiling Jing (Scripture) records: In former times, Shun moved his residence to Pingyang and was preparing to leave the capital for Puban. On the way he encountered a Ronghu from the north, who touched Shun with his staff. Shun said, “What a strange man!” The attendants seized the Ronghu and asked Shun how to deal with him. Shun said, “He is an old man; release him.”

The attendants released the Ronghu and let him go. The Ronghu said, “Because I touched your lord with my staff, I was able to see him; had I not touched him, I would not have seen him. Why do you drive me away and refuse to let me see him?” The attendants reported these words to Shun. Shun said, “Bring him here.”

The attendants still refused to step forward. The Ronghu then said to them, “The Son of Heaven looks down on me; that is why he gives orders to you who carry out his will. But I am not your lord; whether you bring me to see him is your own affair. If the lord wishes to see me, he will naturally summon me in person.” Thereupon ...

He lay down and sang a song of his homeland. The attendants reported this to Shun. Shun said, “I sent people to invite him, but he did not come; this slights my invitation. If I go in person to another man’s dwelling to visit him, and he still neglects the fundamental etiquette owed to the other party, there must surely be a reason.” Shun then ordered his men to drive him back.

When Shun arrived at Hu’s dwelling, he asked, “When a guest treats a host arrogantly, the host need not receive him with the etiquette due a host. Please be seated at ease according to guest etiquette, and I will fulfill the duties of host.” Hu said, “What is ritual? Ritual has forgotten my life. When I was born I did not understand ritual, yet I lived naturally; when I grew up I was not constrained by ritual norms, yet I grew naturally. To be born without knowing ritual and to grow without knowing ritual—both accord with the Heavenly Dao. Ritual is something that arose only after loyalty and trust had grown thin. Now you, as Son of Heaven, do not know whence life comes, yet you diligently devote yourself to ritual propriety—how can you penetrate the original truth of life?”

Shun sighed upon hearing this and said, “Could Hu be a sage? I should accept his teaching.” He then treated Hu with due courtesy. Hu transmitted to Shun the “Ten-Cycle Purple Golden Elixir Formula” (a Daoist alchemical method). Later, Shun made a southern inspection tour to Jiuyi Mountain and finally departed by shijie (liberation from the corpse), never returning. Shijie is the Daoist notion that the body of one who attains the Dao disappears and is freed from the mortal frame.

Taiyi Guarding the Corpse

There are many methods of shijie transformation: some dwell in seclusion among mountains, forests, springs, and rocks; some wander through foreign lands; some personally encounter an enlightened master; some meet true spirits; some receive registers (lu, ritual registers conferred in Daoism) and learn of future lives; some obtain immortal formulas through encounters and transmission; some die seated in empty valleys; some dissolve while standing amid secluded cliffs; and some leave only their hair, or their clothes remain tied as before.

There are also those who undergo washing and refining by water and fire and revive after a thousand years; those who are wounded by weapons and whose limbs are severed yet remain alive; and those who have only one foot unconsumed while flowers grow from their five viscera. People such as Zhao Chengzi all have their names recorded in the registers of the Purple Mansion (the abode of immortals) and the ledgers of the Cinnabar Terrace. This is because they receive the protection of “Three Officials and Taiyi Guarding the Corpse” (a Daoist divine title and teaching concerning the protection of the corpse), and so their corpses do not perish.

Taiyi Guarding the Corpse is also called “Wuyou Shou,” with the courtesy name “Gui Huichang”; it is also named “Jiemeng” and “Jipin,” and is said to specifically govern human life and destiny.

Jingxiao Zhenren

The High Sage Emperor Lord told Jingxiao Zhenren: “If you wish to have your name engraved in the Mysterious Register (the Daoist roster of immortals), return to the nine heavens of the celestial realm, and cultivate the method of dissolving the form, you should bathe and fast on the fifth day of the fifth month, at the time of Upper Harmony. At noon enter the chamber, burn incense, perform nine bows facing north; after paying homage to the Jade Heaven, face north and click your teeth twelve times. Visualize crimson clouds within the fasting chamber, shining brilliantly and gorgeously in the room; then visualize the five Old Immortal Lords situated within the crimson clouds…”

The original text breaks off here.

When serving the immortal officials, one should drape oneself in a blue-green feather robe, wear the Heaven-Penetrating Jade Crown, hold the azure-script register, and visualize oneself in audience before the immortal officials.

Next, visualize Lingxian Yulang (the Jade Youth Who Leads the Immortals, an immortal official who guides cultivators) wearing a cloud-brocade robe and a seven-treasure jade crown, holding a silver tablet register. Then visualize seeing two Zhenren (Perfected beings) and ask them to record your name on white tablets and enter it into the azure-script register. After that, hand the name register to the Envoy Inspector of the Perfected and ask him to verify the register of names; then the Left Immortal reports it to the emperors of the Nine Heavens and the Seven Sages, and finally the Five Elder Immortal Lords and Lingxian Yulang receive and record the register and fix the name.

Then visualize the Five Elder Immortal Lords and Lingxian Yulang dissolving into your own body and entering the Crimson Palace (where the heart-spirit resides), and pray:

“Vermilion Brilliance and Southern Cinnabar joyously unite; Supreme Yang and Heavenly Origin meet. May the six vows flourish within, and the Nine Sages and Seven Perfected gather together in the Hall of Numinous Jasper. I present the mysterious tablet above, enroll my name in the register, and have it inscribed in the Western Palace; with upright voice I proclaim it to the four quarters. Cinnabar clouds swirl across the heavens and descend upon my dwelling. Feathered banners fly and guard me, radiant and solemn; on the left a vermilion phoenix holds the tally, on the right a roaming dragon stands erect, and the six reins are raised together, carrying me up into the resplendent hall. The Five Elders bear the covenant tokens, and the spirits of the four directions all come in response. May I long preserve the mysterious numinous radiance and shine together with sun and moon.”

When the prayer is finished, perform seven bows and swallow seven breaths of Qi. Practicing in this way for seven years, one will obtain in the Upper Palace and the Nine Empyreans the title “Xuanji Dedao” (Attaining the Dao in the Mysterious Register), resonate with the celestial realm, and ascend into the realm of formlessness.

The Taixuan Yinsheng Fu (Talisman of Yin Generation of the Great Mystery)

The Lingbao Taixuan Yinsheng Fu is said to have been obtained by Xia Yu (personal name Wenming) from a Zhenren of Mount Zhong. The methods for sacrificial offerings and jiao rites, for ingesting, and for wearing this talisman are all stipulated, and are explained in detail in the present scripture.

The Taiji Zhenren’s Yidai San (Bequeathed Belt Powder)

The Zhenren says: all those who depart through shijie (corpse liberation—leaving behind a form or object to escape the mortal body and become immortal) must leave an item behind before going. It may be a knife, sword, bamboo, or staff, or one may gain liberation by means of water, fire, or weapons. Once one has escaped the body, one must no longer cling to one’s homeland, parents, wife, and children.

This “powder” need only be smeared on the belt; one ties the belt tightly, holds the breath, and performs the method accordingly, and liberation follows. It is easier to do than other methods. The recipe is as follows:

Water-gold (one large part), cinnabar (two large parts), mercury (three large parts), Geng lead (four large parts), yellow earth (five large parts).

Grind the above ingredients finely together, mix them evenly with Nine Yin Divine Water, smear the mixture on the belt, and tie it tightly. After the ritual is performed, one will leave the mortal body, and only the corpse will be seen lying on the bed mat.

Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor

The Yellow Emperor was styled Xuanyuan. He could rebuke and command the hundred spirits, making them serve him morning and evening; in his youth...

He could discourse on the Dao (the Way) of the sages, foreknow the patterns of things, and called himself Yunshi (Master of Clouds); he was also accompanied by dragons.

The Yellow Emperor selected in advance the day of his death and took leave of his ministers. After he died, he was buried at Mount Qiao. Later the mountain collapsed, but there was no corpse in the coffin; only his sword and shoes remained. The immortal scriptures say: The Yellow Emperor gathered copper from Mount Shou at the foot of Mount Jing to cast a cauldron. When the cauldron was completed, a dragon lowered its whiskers to welcome the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor then mounted the dragon and ascended to Heaven, and all the ministers and officials seized the dragon’s whiskers and followed him into the sky. The ministers pulled at the Yellow Emperor’s bow and the dragon’s whiskers; the whiskers broke off and the bow fell, so the ministers could not keep up and could only look up at the Yellow Emperor and wail in grief. Therefore people of the world called the place where the Yellow Emperor cast the cauldron “Dinghu (Cauldron Lake),” and called that bow “Wuhao.”

Eulogy:

Holy and numinous, deep and mysterious, the imperial demeanor was exalted beyond compare. He temporarily governed the myriad things of the world and stood first among the hundred kings; his civilizing teaching spread through Heaven and Earth and the four quarters, and his allotted destiny was unobstructed and without boundary. He used burial at Mount Qiao as a concealment and transcended into the high, vast blue Heaven.

Ning Feng’s Fire Deliverance (Huojie)

Ning Feng was a man of the Yellow Emperor’s era. Popular tradition says he was the official in charge of pottery under the Yellow Emperor. When someone passed by, he kept watch over the fire kiln for that person and thereby mastered the technique of producing fire, being able to produce five-colored smoke. Later he taught this ability to Fengzi. Fengzi gathered flames, burned himself up, and departed, rising and descending with the smoke. When people examined his ashes, they found bones still remaining within. His contemporaries buried him in the Ningbei Mountains, and therefore called him Ning Feng.

Eulogy:

Fengzi was truly wondrous, endowed by nature with a mysterious power. He refined himself in a great furnace, causing five-colored smoke to rise freely; his remaining bones were lodged in cold ashes and buried on Mount Ning. People saw his traces—how could they understand the mystery in them?

Yuzi (Master Yu)

Yuzi was surnamed Zhang and named Zhen, a native of Nanjun. In his youth he studied various classics. King You of Zhou summoned him, but he did not answer the summons; instead he sighed and said: “People living in the world move ever farther from birth and ever nearer to death; they merely covet wealth and honor and do not know how to care for their lives. When breath is cut off, a person dies. Even if one occupies the rank of a prince or marquis and possesses gold and jade piled like mountains, what help is that to the body? The body will ultimately turn to dust. Only by cultivating into an immortal and transcending the world can one endure long without end.”

He therefore took Sangzi (Master Sang) as his teacher, learned various ritual arts, founded a separate school, and composed more than a hundred Daoist texts. His cultivation method centered on Wukui, and he was especially proficient in the principles of the Five Phases (Wuxing), elaborating their subtle mysteries in order to nourish nature, treat illness, and avert disasters and resolve misfortunes. It is said that he could summon fierce winds that lifted roofs and snapped trees, and could also raise thunder, rain, clouds, and mist; he could turn grass fragments, tiles, and stones into the six domestic animals, dragons, and tigers, immediately arranging them in ranks; he could also divide into hundreds or thousands of selves, cross rivers and seas, and hold water in his mouth and spray it forth…

Those who came into contact with him later all turned into pearls and jade, and so they no longer underwent change. Sometimes he held his breath, and even if others tried to lift him, they could not; when struck with a mallet, he did not move at all; when they bent his body, they could not make it bend; when they stretched it, they could not make it straight. Only after several tens of days, sometimes even a hundred days, would he rise again and travel out with his disciples.

He rolled mud into pellets and had his disciples close their eyes for a moment; the mud pellets all became large horses. He rode a horse and could travel a thousand li in a day. He could also exhale five-colored Qi that rose several hundred zhang high; when birds flew past, he pointed at them with his finger, and they fell down. Coming to a deep pool, he cast down Fulu (talismans and registers) and summoned the fish and turtles, and they all came ashore.

He could also enable his disciples, merely by raising their eyes, to see things a thousand li away. Once he filled a vessel with water and placed it between two kui; he blew into the water, and at once red light appeared on its surface, gleaming as it rose one or two zhang high. He used this water to treat all kinds of illness: those with internal illness he had drink it; those with external illness he had wash with it, and all were quickly cured. Later he went into Mount Kongtong to refine elixirs; after taking them he feigned death and departed by shijie (corpse liberation—the Daoist way of shedding the mortal body, leaving the world, and becoming an immortal).

Wang Ziqiao

Wang Ziqiao was the crown prince of King Ling of Zhou and was named Ji Jin. He loved to play the sheng, and the sound he produced resembled the cry of a phoenix; he often roamed about the region of the Yi and Luo rivers. The Daoist Fuqiu Gong took him up Mount Songgao. More than thirty years later, someone went up the mountain looking for Wang Ziqiao and met Huan Liang. Wang Ziqiao asked Huan Liang to convey a message to his family: on the seventh day of the seventh month, wait for him at the top of Mount Goushi.

On the appointed day, he indeed came riding a white crane and stopped on the mountaintop, gazing at people from afar but not approaching. He raised his hand to take leave of the world, and several days later departed. Later people established shrines for him at the foot of Mount Goushi and on the summit of Mount Songgao.

The encomium says:

Prince Wang was truly wondrous: his spirit roamed abroad, his temperament clear and bright;

By the Yi and Luo he blew the sheng and sang, and its notes were like a phoenix’s cry.

Fuqiu Gong, moved by this resonance, drew him along to climb the mountain;

On the green cliff he flourished his whip and, on feathered wings, went far away alone.

Qing Pingji

Qing Pingji was a man of Pei. In the time of Emperor Gaozu of Han, his name was Wei Ping; by the time of Emperor Guangwu, his appearance still showed no sign of aging. Later he departed by shijie. More than a hundred years afterward, he returned to his hometown and stayed for a few days, then again departed by shijie.

Sima Jizhu

Sima Jizhu was a man of Chu who practiced divination in the city of Chang’an. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Jia Yi and Song Zhong both held the post of Palace Grandee. They said, “We have heard that sages are not necessarily employed at court; sometimes they also wander among the markets and shops. Let us go and see him.”

They saw Sima Jizhu sitting at ease, with his disciples standing in attendance, listening to him discourse on the patterns of Yin-Yang movement. The two said, “We admire your bearing, sir, and wish to hear your…”

Jizhu smiled and said: “You look down on the profession of divination, saying that diviners are lowly in status and impure in conduct. Yet I have never seen anyone in the world truly settle themselves and establish their lives merely through high office and generous salary. You who hold important posts—on what grounds are you so self-important?

“I see that you dignitaries seem to possess some Daoist arts as well. How is it that you speak such shallow words? Nowadays the remote regions do not submit to the court, and the four seasons are out of harmony. You only hesitate and waver, drawing one another along by power and forming ties by profit. What is there for the worthy to be ashamed of in this? Inwardly there is no suffering of hunger and cold; outwardly there is no worry of robbery. In a high station one is respected; in a low station one is not harmed. This is the way the gentleman conducts himself in the world.

“As a profession, divination is precisely what is meant by ‘the highest De does not [claim to] be De’ (the highest virtue does not regard itself as virtuous). The phoenix will not mix with swallows and sparrows. How could you petty and shallow people understand the insight of elders?”

Song Zhong and Jia Yi suddenly felt ashamed and at a loss. Later they said to each other: “People of high Dao are at peace with power, while those who occupy high office are instead endangered. If one’s judgment in divination is inaccurate, the sacrificial rice given as payment is taken away; if one’s plans for a ruler are inaccurate, one will have no place to settle.” Song Zhong thereby incurred punishment, and Jia Yi was grieved by the Peng bird; Prince Xiao of Liang fell from his horse, vomited blood, and died.

Later Jizhu entered Dayou Palace on Weiyu Mountain and took Xiling Zidu as his teacher, studying the “Way of Stone Essence, Golden Light, Concealing the Shadow, and Transforming the Form” (the immortal art of cultivating essence and Qi, concealing one’s form, and transforming the body). When he was about to depart, he left behind his pillow and mat as a substitute for his body; its appearance was roughly similar, so that true and false were hard to distinguish. His family took it for his remains and buried it on the south side of Shengpan Mountain in Shu. Zhuge Liang wrote a stele encomium for him:

“Dark and mysterious, still and silent, Yin-Yang blended; Heaven and Earth conjoin, and the myriad things thereby grow and become manifest. The Master clarified the order of things and distinguished the yielding and the firm; ghosts and spirits thereby gained their illumination, and the Six Measures were thereby made clear.”

After Jizhu attained the Dao, he often read the Jade Scripture, ingested the “Flower of the Bright Elixir,” and absorbed the radiance of the rising dawn. His complexion was like that of a young girl, and he had a beard three chi long, black as ink. He had two children: a son named Fayu and a daughter named Jihua. Both lived on Weiyu Mountain and together recited the Thirty-Nine Chapters.

Bao Shuyang

Bao Shuyang was from Guangning. In his youth he loved nourishing life and consumed cassia powder. Later he lived together with Sima Jizhu on Weiyu Mountain, took Xiling Zidu and the Taixuan Immortal Maiden as teachers, and cultivated the “Way of Shijie” (corpse liberation, the Daoist method of leaving the physical body and attaining immortality in another form).

Xu Wan

Xu Wan was from Haiyan in Wu Commandery. From his youth he possessed Daoist arts and could subdue evil spirits. A daughter of the Du family in Qiantang was troubled by a malign influence. Xu Wan performed a ritual to summon the demon, and a man wearing a single-layer white hemp robe came through the door. Xu Wan gave a loud shout, and the man immediately turned into a white turtle.

One day, Xu Wan and several cousins went up Shiqi Mountain to gather firewood.

At dusk he did not return. The next morning, when they went to search for him, they found him on the mountain, a sickle tucked under his arm, leaning against a tree without moving; at times he stepped forward, at times he clung to the tree, and in the end only an empty shell remained.

Dong Zhongjun

Dong Zhongjun was from Linhuai. In his youth he practiced the arts of circulating Qi and refining the physical form, and lived to more than a hundred without growing old. He was once falsely accused and thrown into prison; he then feigned death, and his body rotted and bred worms. After the prison officials carried him out, he came back to life and afterward departed by the method of shijie (corpse liberation, the Daoist method of discarding the physical form and escaping).

Long Shu

No one knows where Long Shu was from. On Mount Jin he obtained a divine ganoderma whose fruit was like the seeds of a parasol tree. He processed the ganoderma and took it, two daogui (an ancient unit for measuring medicine) each day. After two years he became an immortal and departed by shijie.

Wang Fangping

Wang Yuan, courtesy name Fangping, was from Donghai. He was recommended as filial and incorrupt, appointed Langzhong, and later rose to Zhongshan Dafu. He was thoroughly versed in the Five Classics and also expert in astronomy, tuchen (prognostic charts and texts predicting good and ill fortune), and the essential meaning of the Hetu and Luoshu. He could foreknow the timing of the rise and fall of the world and the auspicious and inauspicious events of the Nine Provinces, as if everything were held in his palm.

When Emperor Huan of Han heard of him, he summoned him several times, but he would not take office. The emperor then ordered the officials of his commandery and kingdom to force him to the capital. He lowered his head and closed his mouth, refusing to answer the imperial edict, and only wrote more than four hundred characters on a palace gate panel, recording events that would happen in the future. The emperor disliked these writings and ordered them scraped away; as soon as the outer layer of characters was scraped off, characters appeared beneath it, and the ink had even seeped into the wood.

Fangping left no descendants. The people of his village transmitted his deeds from generation to generation. Chen Dan, a former Grand Commandant of the same commandery, built a Dao chamber for him and went morning and evening to pay his respects, but he sought only blessings and did not study Daoist arts with him. Fangping lived in Chen Dan’s house for more than thirty years. During that time the Chen household had no illness or funerals, the servants were safe, the livestock flourished, the harvests of fields and sericulture increased greatly, and Chen Dan’s official rank continued to rise.

Later Fangping told Chen Dan, “My allotted time and destiny have arrived; I cannot remain any longer. I will set out at noon tomorrow.” At the appointed hour Fangping died. Chen Dan knew that he had transformed and departed, and did not dare place the body on the ground. He could only weep and sigh, saying, “The master has abandoned me and gone; on whom can I rely from now on?” He prepared a coffin and other burial implements, burned incense, and dressed Fangping in clothes. After three days and nights, Fangping suddenly disappeared, yet his clothes and belt were still fastened, and the garments he left behind were like a snake’s sloughed skin.

More than a hundred days after Fangping departed, Chen Dan died. Some say Chen Dan had also obtained Fangping’s Daoist arts and therefore departed; others say Fangping knew Chen Dan was about to die and so left first. Later Fangping went east into the Kuocang Mountains, passed through the region of Wu, and stayed in the house of Cai Jing at Xumen.

Luan Ba’s Bingjie

Luan Ba departed by the method of bingjie (military liberation, the Daoist method of escaping and becoming an immortal by means of weapons or blades).

Luan Ba was a man of Shu Commandery. He loved Daoist arts and paid no attention to worldly affairs. When the governor came to visit him, after meeting him he appointed him gongcao (an official of the commandery administration) and treated him with the courtesy due a teacher and friend. The governor once said to Luan Ba, “I have heard that the gongcao possesses wondrous arts; could you let me see them?” Luan Ba replied, “Yes.” Thereupon he sat and withdrew into the wall, his form gradually dispersing like cloud vapor. After a moment, Luan Ba could no longer be seen within the wall, but a tiger’s roar was heard from beyond it; then a tiger ran back and arrived at the gongcao’s residence. Only then did they realize that the tiger was Luan Ba.

Later, Luan Ba entered court and served as Shangshu. On New Year’s Day, when the court held a grand banquet, he arrived late and appeared somewhat drunk. When wine was served before him, he did not drink it but spat a mouthful of wine toward the southwest. The official in charge reported that Luan Ba had been extremely disrespectful, and the emperor summoned him to answer for the offense. Luan Ba kowtowed and said, “The people of my home village believe that I can drive out and control ghosts and spirits and protect the common folk, so they built a living shrine for me (a shrine built for a living person). This morning, the elders of the village all made me drink, and I could not decline, which is why I appear somewhat drunk. Just now I also saw that a great fire had broken out in my hometown, so I spat wine to make rain and extinguish it.” The emperor issued an edict pardoning him, sent him back to his seat, and dispatched a courier with a letter to inquire at Chengdu. Chengdu indeed reported back that on New Year’s Day rain had come from the northeast, and the rain carried the smell of wine. Later, Luan Ba was put to death for some matter; this is called “bingjie” (in Daoist lore, release from the body and departure from the world by means of weapons or death).

The Female Perfected Zhao Sutai

Zhao Sutai was the daughter of Zhao Xi, governor of Youzhou in the Han dynasty. In his youth Zhao Xi delighted in doing good and was generous, relieving the poor and assisting families such as that of Wang Hui, accumulating dozens of hidden virtues (good deeds not made known to others). Later Zhao Xi himself was able to go to Zhuling, while his son was able to undergo transformative liberation and roam through the cave-heavens.

Zhao Sutai had lived in Yiqian Palace for four hundred years and refused to move away, considering that in all the world there was no place happier than this. Sometimes she went out in ordinary clothes to wander, viewing mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes, finding contentment in herself.

The Female Perfected, the Wife of Cheng Wei

The wife of Cheng Wei, a Qimen lang (palace guard) of the Han dynasty, could exercise spiritual powers and transform her form. Once, when Cheng Wei was about to go out but had no clothes to wear and was very worried, his wife immediately conjured two bolts of fine silk and brought them before him.

Cheng Wei was fond of refining huangbai (the Daoist alchemical art of transmuting metals into gold and silver), but although he tried many times he never succeeded. His wife then took a little medicine from a pouch and threw it into the vessel he used for heating and refining quicksilver; before long the quicksilver turned into silver. Cheng Wei wanted to ask her for the method of refinement, but she consistently refused to transmit it, saying only, “Cheng Wei’s allotted fate is not yet such that he should obtain it.” Later, when Cheng Wei pressed her again and again, his wife had no choice but to perform shijie (in Daoist lore, the manner in which a cultivator leaves the body and departs from the world), and she departed from human life.

Liu Hua

Liu Hua was of unknown origin. He was tall and large, with a heavy beard, and when his hands hung down they could reach past his knees. He once lived for a long time on Wudang Mountain, which is five hundred li from Xiangyang. He would set out in the morning and by evening could arrive, yet no one on the road saw him.

He had some cultivation, and was especially skilled in the arts of medicine, using them to heal the common people; he worked diligently and never tired. He often gathered herbs himself, knew all kinds of plants, trees, minerals, and stones, and was thoroughly expert in the properties of medicines.

The Governor of Yongzhou, Liu Daochan, resented him because his arms were long, and had him arrested in Xiangyang and sent under escort to Emperor Wen. Every morning he was placed in a prisoner cart and taken to Jiangshan to gather herbs; in the evening he was escorted back to the Commandant of Justice. Later he gave two short scrolls to the prison clerk. The clerk did not dare accept them, so he burned the books. One night, the locks and keys on his place of confinement were found to be exactly as before, yet when the gate officer made his night rounds he discovered that the prisoner was gone, and could only report this to the Commandant of Justice.

He had said to the prison clerk, “The authorities will kill me before long. After I am buried, do not nail the coffin shut.” Several days after he was killed, Emperor Wen recalled these words and ordered the coffin opened. The body was no longer in the coffin; only a bamboo staff remained.

Zhang Xuanbin

Zhang Xuanbin was from Dingxiang. He was once recommended as a maocai (Flourishing Talent), and at first took Master Su of Xihe as his teacher to study the arts of ingesting medicinal substances and to practice the matters of “Dongfang” and “Baiyuan.” Later, at Mount Shaoshi, he met Fan Ziming, who transmitted to him the Dao (the Way) of metamorphic transformation and concealment of one’s shadow.

Zhang Xuanbin lived early at Mount Tianzhu and now came to Huayang. In the inner realm he served as the master in charge of Jinbo, governing the deities of water and rain of the various quarters.

Xuanbin was good at discussing “emptiness” and “non-being.” He said: “Non-being is the dwelling place of Great Being; Small Being arises from it. By accumulating Small Being one can nourish Small Non-being; by seeing Great Being one can take it as the root and reach Great Non-being. Being is precisely Non-being, and Non-being is likewise Being. Therefore my eyes do not see the ten thousand things, and the ten thousand things do not see Non-being. Only by entrusting oneself to Being can one complete Non-being; only by entrusting oneself to Non-being can one obtain Non-being. In this way Non-being has no dwelling place, and the Great Void becomes the dwelling place of Non-being. When I was not yet born, there was originally no Non-being in the world.”

His discussions were generally like this. The various spirit immortals of Mount Tongbai could not refute him. He himself said that he had once met Song Chensheng on Penglai and discussed “non-being” with him, from which he gained a rough understanding of its meaning.

Wang Jia: Liberation by the Sword (Bingjie)

Wang Jia, courtesy name Zinian, was a native of Anyang in Longxi. For a long time he lived at the mouth of Dongyang Valley, leading his disciples up the cliffs and dwelling in caves. He regulated the Six Qi and guarded the Three Ones (Sanyi); he did not change his clothes winter or summer, yet his face grew younger day by day.

Fu Jian summoned him repeatedly, but he refused to take office. Later, when Fu Jian was about to launch a great southern campaign, he appointed his younger brother Fu Rong as Grand General and sent someone to ask Wang Jia. Wang Jia said, “Metal is hard; fire is strong.” Then he mounted the envoy’s horse, adjusted his clothing and cap, slowly rode east several hundred paces, and then galloped back. He took off his clothes, threw away his cap and shoes, returned to his dwelling, dismounted, and sat on the bed…

Biography of Lord Yin: Bao Liang’s Method of Shijie (Corpse Liberation)

Fu Jian did not explain the character “Jian,” nor did he continue questioning. He only sent someone to ask Guo Jia again: “How are the fortunes of the age?”

When Fu Jian heard the two characters “Weiyang,” he delightedly took them as an auspicious sign. The following year was a guiwei year, yet Fu Jian suffered a great defeat at Shouchun, and the state of Qin perished with him. The calamity indeed corresponded to the “wei” year. Qin was located in the west and belonged to Metal; Jin’s capital was in the south and belonged to Fire; fire can melt metal. Guo Jia soon moved to Mount Songgao. After Yao Chang, founder of the Later Qin, pacified Chang’an, he asked Guo Jia: “Can I occupy the Nine-Five position and become emperor?” Guo Jia said: “Probably you can obtain it.” Yao Chang flew into a rage and said: “If I can obtain it, you should say I can obtain it—where does this ‘probably’ come from?” So he killed him.

Yao Chang first sent men to Longyou to kill Guo Jia’s two disciples. At that time Guo Jia, together with the two disciples, had already traveled more than a thousand li, and it was precisely the day of his execution. Guo Jia wrote a letter to Yao Chang. Yao Chang ordered the coffins of Guo Jia and the two disciples opened; none contained a corpse—each coffin held only a bamboo staff. Yao Chang died soon afterward as well.

Bao Liang, courtesy name Taixuan, was a native of Chenliu. In his youth he already possessed keen insight and could comprehend profound and mysterious principles; he devoted himself to deep contemplation, and others found him difficult to understand. The Dongtian Ji, Records of the Grotto Heavens, says that Bao Liang and his younger sister were both later descendants of Li Zhan and Zhang Lu. Li Zhan and Zhang Lu were originally from Beixiang in Duling; the two together ran an inn business at Wei Bridge, accumulated hidden virtue over a long period, delighted in Daoist arts, and had few heirs. Thus blessings extended to Bao Liang and others, causing them to pass through generational changes, change surnames, and be reborn; although their blood origins differed, the shade of virtue they received was the same.

Bao Liang studied classical learning and apocryphal prognostications, took Zuo Yuanfang as his teacher, and learned the Central Section method and the arts of indictment and summoning associated with the Three Sovereigns and Five Peaks. When he performed these arts they were quite efficacious; he could command ghosts and spirits, seal mountains, and subdue demons.

In the first year of Daxing of the Jin, Bao Liang went temporarily to Jiangdong. On the road north of Mount Jiang he met a person about sixteen or seventeen years old, handsome in appearance. The two traveled together for several li; the person walked at a leisurely pace, and Bao Liang, riding a horse, chased after him, but just as he caught up he saw him gradually draw ahead. Bao Liang then asked: “Observing your gait, you seem to be someone who has the Dao.” The person replied: “I am the immortal Yin Changsheng. I have received the command of the Supreme to go see the Lord of Chicheng. Because your heart seeks something, you are able to see me.”

Bao Liang immediately dismounted and paid his respects. He was about to greet him, but before he could open his mouth, Lord Yin said: “In this place, after another ten years there will be war, and blood will flow like rivers; reckoning by the years, it will coincide with the Su Jun rebellion. You have aspired to the Dao for a long time, and I see that you have hope of transcending the world and becoming an immortal. In the methods of immortality, for those who attain immortality in old age, shijie is superior. The highest form of shijie is to borrow a blade…”

Corpse Liberation (shijie), the Daoist manner of shedding the physical form and causing the true body to depart, can use bamboo or wood as a substitute for the corpse. Dip a brush in a divine elixir (shendan), the immortality medicine compounded in Daoist alchemy, and write the “Taishang Taixuan Yinsheng Fu” (Supreme Great Mystery Yin-Birth Talisman) on both sides of a blade. After a moment, the written characters vanish; the face of the person who wrote them appears as if he had died in bed, while the true body escapes and does not return home. His family mistakenly believe that the one indicated by the blade is this person. Substituting bamboo or wood for the corpse also follows this method.

Lord Yin (Yinjun) later transmitted this method to Jing and also discussed with Jing the length of the Jin dynasty’s fate. The numbers of years Jing gave were all exaggerated tenfold over the actual: ten years he called a hundred, a hundred years he called a thousand, so as to make the calculations entrusted to him by Emperor Yuan of Jin appear extremely accurate. Jing claimed that these came from his own deduction and calculation, but did not say that Lord Yin had told him; Lord Yin had warned him not to divulge the matter.

Zhe Xiang

Zhe Xiang, courtesy name Boshi, was a native of Guanghan. In his youth he loved to study Huang-Lao teachings and later took Yu Shuya, Master Dongping, as his teacher. Yu Shuya was also a man who had attained the Dao. Zhe Xiang had always esteemed nourishing life and was quiet and sparing of speech.

His family was wealthy, but he believed that accumulating property only invites loss and brings no benefit, so he distributed a thousand pieces of gold to relieve the poor. When someone tried to dissuade him, Zhe Xiang said, “Formerly Dou Ziwen said, ‘I give away wealth in order to avoid disaster, not in order to avoid the world.’” People of discernment all admired him. Zhe Xiang inscribed in advance the date of his departure from the world; later he left by Corpse Liberation, and his corpse disappeared like a snake shedding its skin.

Wu Meng

Wu Meng, courtesy name Shiyun, was a native of Yuzhang. By nature he was filial. As a child he nestled at his parents’ knees and never displayed a spoiled manner. At night he always slept beside his parents. In summer there were many mosquitoes, and he did not wave a fan. When those sleeping with him saw that he did not fear the mosquitoes and asked why, Wu Meng said, “I worry that if I fan the mosquitoes away, they will turn and bite my parents.”

After attaining the Dao, Wu Meng took three disciples up Mount Lu, crossed three stone bridges, and arrived at a place where there were lofty halls displaying many rare and wonderful objects that people could not identify. A disciple secretly took one item, intending to bring it back to show the world. When they turned back and crossed the stone bridge again, the bridge had become only as wide as a finger, and in an instant the sky also darkened. Wu Meng knew that the disciple had committed a fault and made him return the item; only then were they able to pass.

Later, Grand Commandant Yu Liang invited Wu Meng to Wuchang. Wu Meng soon took his leave, saying that the lifespan he had calculated had come to an end. Before he reached home, when he was fifty li from home, he died. After the funeral, people suspected that he had transformed and departed; when his disciples opened the coffin and looked, there was no corpse inside.

Zuo Ci

Zuo Ci, courtesy name Yuanfang, was a native of Lujiang. In his youth he mastered the Five Classics and was also familiar with astronomy and the stars. Seeing that the Han dynasty’s allotted fate was about to end and the world was about to fall into chaos, he sighed and said, “In such a declining age, those who become great officials easily meet disaster, and those with much wealth easily lose their lives. The glory and wealth of the world are not worth coveting.” He then began to study Daoist arts and became especially proficient in the Six Jia (Liujia), one of the Daoist numerological arts, able to command ghosts and spirits, and also to make banquets and food appear while sitting upright...

Zuo Ci obtained the Nine Elixirs and Golden Liquid Jing (scripture) in a stone chamber on Tianzhu Mountain, and it was said that he could perform countless transformations. When Cao Cao heard of this, he summoned him, confined him in a room, and had guards watch him. He abstained from grain and drank only two sheng of water a day; only after a year did he come out, his appearance unchanged.

Cao Cao then wanted to kill him secretly. Zuo Ci perceived this and asked to take his leave. Cao Cao said, “Why do you suddenly want to go?” Zuo Ci replied, “I know you want to kill me, so I ask to leave.” Cao Cao said, “I had no such intention. Since you wish to preserve your lofty purity, it is not fitting for me to detain you long.” He then held a banquet to see him off.

Zuo Ci said, “Now that we are about to part, I hope to share a cup of wine with you.” Cao Cao agreed. It was cold that day, and the warmed wine had already gone cold. Zuo Ci untied his sword and stirred the wine with it; in a moment the sword vanished completely, as if it had been ground away like an ink stick.

At first, when Cao Cao proposed sharing the cup, he meant to drink first himself and then give the remainder to Zuo Ci. Zuo Ci pulled out his hairpin and drew it across the wine cup; the wine in the cup actually parted in the middle, with the two parts about one cun apart. Zuo Ci drank half first, then handed the cup to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was displeased and did not drink at once. Zuo Ci asked him to finish the wine, then threw the cup toward the roof beam. The cup hung on the beam, swaying ceaselessly like a bird swooping down and rising again; it seemed about to fall, yet never fell. Everyone present stared at it. After a long while, the cup fell to the ground. When the company looked again, Zuo Ci was already gone.

Cao Cao inquired where Zuo Ci usually lived, wanting to seize him. Zuo Ci knew he had the means to escape death, so he complied and went into hiding. He ran into a flock of sheep and vanished in an instant. Later someone discovered Zuo Ci’s dwelling and went to report it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao again sent men to arrest him. After Zuo Ci was caught, it was not that he could not make himself invisible; he simply deliberately let the world know of his numinous powers, and so he accepted arrest and entered prison.

The jailer was about to interrogate him, but there was one Zuo Ci inside the cell and another Zuo Ci outside it, and the jailer did not know which one to interrogate. When Cao Cao heard this, he was greatly disgusted and ordered a general to take him to the marketplace for execution. Before long, seven identical Zuo Ci appeared. The authorities seized six, but one escaped. Soon afterward, the six who had been caught also vanished. The officials reported the matter, and Cao Cao ordered the markets in all four directions sealed off and searched.

Someone who did not recognize Zuo Ci asked what he looked like. The answer was, “He has one eye slightly askew, wears a kudzu-cloth headscarf, and a blue unlined robe. Arrest anyone who looks like that.” When they looked, tens of thousands of people in the marketplace had one eye slightly askew, all wore kudzu-cloth headscarves and blue unlined robes, and there was not one who did not resemble him….

Ci (Zuo Ci) never learned that Lord Cao (Cao Cao) had already ordered his arrest. The pursuers cut him down as soon as they saw him. Several days later, when Cao Cao saw Ci’s head, he was delighted and said, “It really is Zuo Ci’s head!” But he then discovered that the head had reattached itself to Zuo Ci’s body. When Cao Cao turned to look again, Zuo Ci’s corpse had also disappeared. Later, someone came from Jingzhou and said he had seen Zuo Ci there.

Wang Yan

Wang Yan, courtesy name Zixuan, was a native of Shiping County in Fufeng Commandery. At nine he followed a teacher in study. In the dingsi year, the third year of the Datong era of the Western Wei (537), Wang Yan entered the Dao and took the Zhenyi Master Chen Baochi as his teacher. He was then eighteen and lived at Louguan, where he was especially close with the Perfected Li Shunxing. He also took the Mount Hua Perfected Jiao Kuang as his teacher and lived with Jiao Kuang in a stone chamber, eating pine nuts and drinking spring water, cutting off grains, and cultivating in seclusion.

Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou respected Wang Yan’s cultivation and virtue and sent envoys to visit him. Master Jiao said to Wang Yan, “The times are in decline, and people are waiting for the master to come forth and aid them. You may answer the summons and enter the court to propagate the Great Dao. I shall take my leave now.” Wang Yan came to the capital, and after a long while requested to return to the Western Peak and reside in Yuntai Abbey.

Emperor Wu of Zhou issued an edict to repair the Daoist abbey where Wang Yan lived. Because the mountain was steep and high, transporting earth and materials was extremely laborious, so Wang Yan silently prayed to Xuanzhen for efficacious assistance. Soon, as if earth welled up from underground beside the abbey, it was inexhaustible for use. There was also no oil on the mountain. Wang Yan placed a jar for storing lamp oil, and overnight the jar filled with oil by itself. Although lamps were lit for many years thereafter, the oil did not decrease.

Wang Yan lived on the summit, cut off from the world. Whenever someone came to visit or guests were about to arrive, two blue-green birds would come first to announce them. The birds looked like crows and often flew around Wang Yan. Whenever Wang Yan climbed Xianzhang Peak or Lianhua Peak, he always lifted his robe hem and walked ahead, as if walking on level ground. Fierce beasts often guarded his dwelling tamely.

The profound and mysterious true scriptures and jade books of the Three Caverns were all left behind by Master Jiao, who instructed Wang Yan to transmit them to the world in later days. Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou believed that among Buddhist monks there were many wicked and deluded people mixed in, and ordered a vigorous rectification; he also demanded that Daoism be cleansed and reorganized. But because he had always respected Wang Yan and admired his virtue, he summoned him again to the capital and asked about the essential principles of the Daoist teaching. He then issued an edict ordering Yuntai Abbey to select eight Daoist priests to join Wang Yan in propagating the profound purport; he also ordered the establishment of Tongdao Abbey and had Wang Yan collate the Three Caverns scriptures and charts and registers, which were sealed and stored in the abbey.

Wang Yan compiled the Zhunang (Pearl Sack) in seven fascicles and memorialized the court to store in Tongdao Abbey the scriptures, biographies, commentaries, and treatises, totaling 8,030 fascicles. From this time Daoism flourished even more. The court adopted “Daxiang” as its era name; by the Sui dynasty…

Wenchan was appointed abbot of Xuandu Guan (a Daoist temple) and took “Kaihuang” as his sobriquet. In the sixth year of Kaihuang (the bingwu year), Emperor Wen of Sui sent a precious carriage to Daxing Hall to welcome Wenchan. The emperor fasted and purified himself, sought instruction in Daoist teachings, and received the Great Precepts of Wisdom (Daoist precepts). At that time, a red phoenix flew in, circling and alighting on the altar hall. The emperor issued an edict establishing a code of Daoist ceremonial regulations; this system was put into practice beginning with Wenchan.

Su Wei and Yang Su both bowed to Wenchan as disciples. In the fourth year of Renshou, Wenchan told his disciples, “I wish to return to the Western Marchmount, but I am only concerned that the emperor does not yet know my intention.” In the ninth month of that year, he died at Xuandu Guan. His body was soft, gave off fragrance, and his bearing was solemn, just like a living person. Flocks of white cranes flew in; colored clouds swirled and gathered; a wondrous fragrance could be smelled far and near.

As soon as Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, he heard of this and was greatly astonished. He bestowed a hundred bolts of silk and two hundred thousand cash, held a zhai (purification feast) for three thousand people, and sent Wenchan back to the Western Marchmount for burial. Along the funeral route, wondrous fragrances and clouds continued without interruption and did not disperse for a long time. When it came time for burial, the coffin was found to be empty. People believed that Wenchan had perfected the marvel of jiehua (transformation by liberation; a Daoist tradition in which the body disappears and one transcends).

Wang Sou

Wang Sou sojourned in Jishi County for more than forty years, and no one knew where he had come from. He looked to be over seventy, and he regularly treated illness with needles and knives, with invariably remarkable results. Local lore held that the needles he used differed from those of ordinary physicians.

There was a person afflicted by a malign disorder; Wang Sou cut open his throat with a knife and removed something shaped like a lizard, with head and feet complete, lacking only a tail. Wang Sou said, “If this creature’s form had been complete, the person would certainly have died. Fortunately it has already left you; you will soon recover.” The patient recovered immediately.

Another person suddenly suffered severe back pain, as if bound by ropes. Wang Sou cut several inches into his back with a knife and severed more than a foot from each of the two tendons under his armpits; the pain then disappeared. When people asked him about these needle-and-knife treatments, the patients all said they felt no pain from the cutting, and the illness was cured at once. Cases cured in this way were too many to count.

Later, Wang Sou suddenly told people, “At the beginning of next summer, I will go elsewhere; I cannot stay here any longer.” When the appointed time arrived, he died without illness. The neighbors smelled only fragrance, which lasted for several months. At burial, the coffin was so light it seemed to contain nothing. Everyone believed he had become an immortal through shijie (corpse liberation, a Daoist tradition in which the body is left behind as the immortal departs).