《無上祕要》Vol. 56

Siming Dongqing Jun says: What is called shijie (corpse liberation) is a transformation of the form, a refining and sloughing off of the true self, an escape from the body, and a quiet settling into the Five Affiliations. Although it counts as a lower grade among the immortal ranks, what it receives and what it inherits are not necessarily shallow.

Some people do not yet wish to ascend to heaven and so dwell high in famous mountains. Some wish to honor the teachings of the world and cut off the Way of life and death. Some wish to sever attachments to descendants and find immortality too difficult to attain. Some wish to watch the changes of the world for a long time and dread the toil of the immortal palaces. Once the miaodao (wondrous Dao) is fully possessed, high and low rank are equally at ease, and one cannot use the clear display of life and death to set a fixed standard. This is what is meant by yin hui san guang, bai ri lu chen, "hiding from the three lights, sinking into the white sunlight."

Those Who Entrusted Their Deaths to Corpse Liberation and Later Reappeared

Gaoqiu Zi, Yanmen Zi, Hongya Xiansheng and others gathered the fei langgan zhi hua (flowers of the flying langgan jade) and built tombs, though the world did not know it. Gaoqiu Zi once entered Liujing Mountain through corpse liberation. Later he took the jinye (golden fluid) water, then received the flowers of the flying langgan jade on Zhongshan. He again entrusted his death, entered Xuan Zhou, received the scriptures, and became Perfected of the Central Peak. Yanmen Zi now receives scriptures in the Golden Court of the Great Cavern of Mount Meng and serves as an Immortal Minister of the Central Primordial. Hongya Xiansheng now serves as Perfected of Qingcheng.

Our late teacher Wang Xicheng, along with Zhao Boxuan and Liu Zixian, who swallowed the dragon embryo and died by oral transmission, and who drank the jade essence and knocked on their coffins, also belong to this category.

Those Who Took the Golden Elixir and Thereby Ended Their Lives

Zang Yanfu, Zhang Zifang, Mo Di Zi and others took the Golden Elixir and thereby ended their lives.

Those Who Embraced the Nine Cycles and Whose Corpses Stank, Who Swallowed the daogui (measure of medicine) and Whose Bodies Produced Worms

Sima Jizhu, Ning Zhongjun, King Zhao of Yan, Wang Zijin and others embraced the nine cycles and their corpses stank, or swallowed the daogui and worms flowed from their bodies.

Emperors and Kings Who Also Entrusted Their Deaths Through Corpse Liberation

King Mu of Zhou traveled north to the foot of Kunlun and personally drank the jiangshan shisui (crimson mountain marrow) and ate the fruit of the jade trees. He then built a tomb at Jijun.

Yu the Great went to Mount Zhong, ate purple fungus and drank golden wine, took the spirit treasures and practiced the nine perfections, yet still hid himself at Kuaiji.

Beirong Changhu Dawang presented Emperor Shun with ten cycles of bailang zhi shuang (white langgan frost) and purple flowers. Taking them would make a person live long, fly as an immortal, and stand equal with heaven and earth. Shun took them and then died, and he was buried in the wilds of Cangwu.

Summary

All these lords have already had dragons play in the spirit river and phoenixes drum in the cloud pools, yet they still entrusted their deaths through corpse liberation. Their aim was precisely to sever the feelings of life and death and to show the people the principle of beginning and end.

Plain-Language Reading:

Must one become like a rotting corpse or flesh left to feed ants? They only wish to block those who go against the world and to close off the delusions of ordinary people. As for Master Qingjing, Peng Keng, Feng Gang, the Four Greybeards of Mount Shang, and the Eight Gentlemen of Huainan, all had taken superior elixirs, yet none ascended after a single dose. Instead they chose to dwell in mountain forests, roam beyond the bounds of civilization, and hold to the thought of rising into the void. This was not because they could not ascend to heaven, but because they did not wish to. They wandered through the Five Sacred Peaks, changed their names, and concealed their identities, and they no longer took the path of shijie (liberation by feigned death).

The method of shijie was never considered a superior art. It deliberately obstructs those who seek the Dao, and it uses "death" to block the road completely, leaving no other explanation. Peng Keng roamed the mountains, Feng Gang lived in markets and courts, the Four Greybeards feigned death to display their sincerity, and the Eight Gentlemen transformed themselves in a thousand ways. These are things I do not wish to imitate. Those who were destined to have their names inscribed in Fangzhu (a legendary immortal mountain on the sea) and to attain immortality through shijie are of three kinds: some are such by nature, some have corrupt conduct, and some have learned too shallowly and their aspirations have decayed. This is simply what each receives according to their own lot. It is not like Yan or Menzi and their kind, who had already consumed the superior medicine in full yet still deliberately performed shijie.

Formerly I received from my late teacher the upper formula of shijie and the way of weihua (surrendering the body to transformation, a feigned death that allows one to slip away from the world). Though I never had occasion to use it personally, I have kept it in my heart all along. Now the mortal world is in turmoil, armies and disasters converge from all directions, and the Three Officials (Sanguan: Heaven, Earth, and Water), who expel evil and purge impurity, are busy at their work. Yet there are people who envy the worthy and harm the Dao. Those who speak of immortality bring calamity and illness upon themselves, and those who seek profit rush after wealth and rank. For those who aim to cultivate the Dao and preserve life, why should they hurry about amid wind, fire, and dust, bind their sashes, and enter the markets?

Now the formula of shijie is secretly transmitted and may be given to disciples destined to become perfected. Escaping unseen is enough to keep one far from dangerous calamities. Dying by performing the rite can sever close familial attachments among one's descendants. Hidden wandering enables one to climb famous mountains. As for those who possess both method and principle, who have mastered all arts, who can command hundreds of spirits and summon multitudes of numinous beings, who can sit in death and stand in life, divide qi and scatter form, remain unharmed by the sharp edge of three armies, walk through places of peril and calamity without being touched by plague, and enter markets and courts without any harm arising, such people need no longer use this method of transformation through shijie. Generally speaking, those willing to undergo shijie are mostly those who are not in a hurry to ride the dragon chariot to heaven, and who prefer to rest peacefully in mountain forests.

Glossary of Terms:

• Shijie: Liberation by feigned death, a Daoist method in which the corpse remains in the world while the spirit ascends as an immortal.
• Four Greybeards of Mount Shang and Eight Gentlemen of Huainan: Historical recluses and masters of arts associated with cultivation and immortal lore.
• Fangzhu: A legendary mountain on the sea where the names of immortals are inscribed.
• Sanguan: The Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, invoked for averting calamity and expelling evil.

A Plain-Language Reading of the Wushang Biyao (Essential Secrets of the Most High)

Mix the Lu Xing Ling Wan (Recording-Form Spirit Pill) with saliva, smear it on the walking staff you carry, and sleep beside it for three days. The staff takes on your likeness and lies in your bed while you slowly depart, and others rarely notice.

Smear the medicine on glowing charcoal. Onlookers see your body burn to death. This is called huojie (fire-liberation).

Take one pill with water, then lie down embracing a bundle of grass. Others see you wounded or dead in an empty room. This is called bingjie (weapon-liberation).

In general, after completing shijie (corpse-liberation), one may return to one's native place, but one must change name and surname and alter one's appearance. In antiquity, someone who used this method left, entered Mount Linlü to cultivate for thirteen years, and then went home.

The highest grade of shijie is called peizi jian (being registered in the immortal records on the purple tablet). The Sanguan (Three Offices: the Heaven, Earth, and Water bureaus, the officials who govern life and death) no longer pursue such a person and treat him as already dead.

The Lu Xing Ling Wan can also help others perform shijie, but one must state in advance the time of departure, the destination, and the proper limits. If one wishes to bring a favored disciple along on travels, this too should be arranged in the same way.

If shijie is performed with other medicines rather than the form-recording pill, one must never return home. Once one does, the Sanguan will arrest him.

There are many forms of shijie. Some people die first and then come back to life. Some have their heads severed and a second body appears beside them. Some vanish before the corpse is laid in the coffin. Some keep the human form but lose all their bones. Some leave only their clothes behind with the body gone. Some lose their hair, and their form disappears.

Departing by day is called shang shijie (upper corpse-liberation). Departing at midnight is called xia shijie (lower corpse-liberation). Those who depart at dawn or dusk mostly become Dixia Zhu (Lords Beneath the Earth). Though they can become invisible, their traces are hard to erase, and they still draw suspicion. If someone in this life has not fulfilled his aspirations and does not wish to travel far, he often hesitates for this reason. But if in a former life he earned merit with the Sanguan and benefited his descendants, or if through successive lifetimes he refined himself and was reborn under a new name, the situation is different.

Such people often inherit seven generations of hidden virtue. At death they leave one foot bone to the Sanguan while the other bones go with them: men leave the left bone, and women leave the right. They receive a document as a Dixia Zhu, and only after two hundred and eighty years may they receive the Way of the dixian (earth immortal). At death their faces look as they did in life, their corpses smell fragrant, their toes are not blue, and their skin does not wrinkle. This is called "virtue first, natural shijie" (xian you de xing, ziran shijie).

Vernacular Interpretation of The Supreme Secret Essentials (Wushang Biyao)

The following passages each identify the title of the scripture from which they are drawn; their general purport is to assemble records from the Daoist canon concerning shijie (corpse liberation) and related paths to immortality.

Source: Dongzhen Scripture on Concealing Radiance and Recording Forms (Dongzhen Cangjing Luxing Shenjing; Jing means scripture/classic).

The “Chapter of Four Epochs” says: the Central Scripture of the Nine Perfected (Jiuzhen Zhongjing), an important Shangqing (Highest Clarity) text also known as the Feixing Yujing (Scripture of Flying Feathers), records a method of daytime shijie.

The “Chapter of Six Epochs” says: the Purple Texts of the Numinous Book (Lingshu Ziwen), also known as the Wulao Shijing (Authentic Scripture of the Five Elders), likewise contains material related to shijie.

Source: Dongzhen Scripture of the Jade-Text Imperial Chapters (Dongzhen Qiongwen Dizhang Jing).

All who through shijie become underground lords (dixia zhu): according to the Perfected Code of the Four Poles (Shangqing liturgical regulations and stipulated time limits), they must complete one hundred and forty years before they may be appointed immortal officials (xianguan); after another one thousand three hundred years, they may be appointed perfected officials (zhenguan). Only at this stage can they fly with the Huagai canopy, ride the assembled dragons, ascend to Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and roam the Nine Palaces—meaning they rise to higher heavens and hold higher immortal posts.

Source: Dongzhen Scripture of the Supreme Hidden Book (Dongzhen Taishang Yinshu Jing).

Some people, though they obtain this scripture, cannot diligently cultivate, reflect on the Perfected, and invoke the numinous, and are no different from worldly people; therefore they do not lose its “hidden” character—they may still remain as lower immortals (xiaxian) and be liberated by daytime shijie.

Source: Dongzhen Scripture of the Eight Effulgences (Dongzhen Basu Zhenjing).

The Taiji Jinhua Perfected transmitted: wear and ingest “Sanbai Powder” (Scattered White Powder; a kind of elixir or talisman-drug). Each dose is one daogui (ancient small medicine spoon). One will suddenly feel sharp pain in the chest and heart for about three days; one only wants to drink water, and after drinking about one hu (ten dou) one’s Qi ceases and one dies. After being encoffined, the corpse is gone, leaving only clothes. This is the daytime untying-the-belt immortal (bairi jiedai zhi xian)—“dying” in public and achieving shijie immortality.

If one already knows the name and properties of the drug, there is no longer severe pain; one need only drink a full hu and the Qi will cease. After the Qi ceases, one naturally realizes that the “corpse” left behind is in fact still on the ground. At that time jade maidens and jade youths will come to welcome one with a carriage with blue curtains. If one wishes to remain longer in the human world, there will still be three days of heart pain; one need only moderate one’s drinking. This formula can be compounded according to the prescription, and the whole family may use it together.

Source: Scripture of True Traces (Zhenji Jing).

The Taiji Jinhua Perfected had this scripture engraved on the east wall of the Xuanlin Jade Hall in the Purple Micro Palace of the Taiwei Heavenly Emperor. The scripture says:

The Five Qi (the vital energy of the five directions: east, south, west, north, and center) come each from its own direction; fluids and juices gather to form the body. Having an end, one dies; having a beginning, one lives. The ten thousand kinds return to the root; the thousand branches return to the dark (to the obscure underworld/source). Qi disperses like floating smoke; blood flows away like clear water. How sad—the body of ordinary womb-birth is not the true body and cannot endure forever. Why not exhaust the cloud herbs (numinous herbs) and Mysterious Purity (numinous liquid), linger to gather floral sweet wine and floral essences, combine the Five Lights and Seven Whites and numinous vegetables, and blend them with White Silk Flying Dragon (a name of an elixir formula or ritual) to use for bathing? At dawn, rectify the heart and face east; concentrate Jing (essence) and stimulate the hun-soul; pay audience to the Supreme Lord and the Five Lords (celestial honored deities); bow twice in audience to the numinous; stabilize the five directions; share long life with Heaven and Earth. Going out and coming in, one circulates freely; the five viscera each rest in their place, and vitality emerges from the five viscera.

This text is the Shangqing Great Script of the Eight Assemblies and Intertwined Dragons, not something ordinary worldly learning can fathom.

Explanation (to be compared with the original while reading)

Shijie: one of the Daoist theories of becoming immortal; it refers to a cultivator “dying” in public, leaving behind clothes or a form, while the true body ascends to immortality or hides away.

Daytime shijie and daytime jiedai: completing shijie in broad daylight and in view of others. In these texts it is often connected with taking elixirs, the cessation of Qi, and the corpse disappearing while only clothes remain.

The regulations in the various scriptures concerning time periods (such as one hundred and forty years and one thousand three hundred years) and ranks (underground lord, then immortal official, then perfected official) belong to the Shangqing hierarchy of immortals; they should be understood as religious literature, not as historical chronology.

Those who have thoroughly grasped this method: the Perfected Taisu (Taisu Zhenren) once recorded it separately, in special terms, so that people could follow the prescription and take it. Those who wish to probe the meanings and usage of the characters more deeply may seek explanation from the Lord of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji Dijun).

The medicinal names correspond as follows. "Cloud grass, dark wave" (yun cao xuan bo) is black ground-ivy (hei ju teng), also called Xuanqing. "Sweet dew, fragrant flower" (li hua ying) is honey. "Five-light, seven-white spirit vegetable" (wu guang qi bai ling shu) is xie (Allium chinense), a vegetable of the chive and garlic kind. "White silk, flying dragon" (bai su fei long) is quartz, specifically white quartz.

The method is as follows. One should first plant xie. On the fifth day of the fifth month, the plants are not to be dug up whole; one only loosens the soil with a hoe and banks up earth to protect the roots. After about five years, the plants may be harvested for medicine. Select ten jin of xie that are white, tender, and plump; five dou of black ground-ivy; five dou of honey as white and pristine as snow; thirty-six hu of clear water from the crevices of stone at the foot of high mountains with dark cliffs and remote springs; and five pieces of quartz that are pure white, free of impurities, and unpolished.

The quartz must first be finely ground on a whetstone until it is perfectly round, about the size of a sparrow's egg. Even the smaller pieces should be polished until they are lustrous as pearls, leaving no grit from the whetstone. One first observes a purifying fast of one hundred and sixty days. When the fast is complete, on the ninth day of the first month (or the ninth day of the zheng month, following this scripture's convention), one first raises an earthen base two chi high and builds a hearth and a house. When the house and hearth are finished, the mouth of the hearth faces west, and the door of the house also opens to the west. A new iron cauldron must be set on the hearth. On the ninth day of the ninth month, during the shen and you hours (about 3 to 7 p.m.), one kneels facing the mouth of the hearth, facing east with one's back to the west. First, the five pieces of quartz are dropped into the cauldron one by one, each accompanied by an incantation.

For the first piece, associated with the Azure Emperor and the liver, the incantation reads: "Stone of the Azure Lord, Lady Sansu Yuanjun, Taiyi Siming, and Xuanmu: regulate the hun soul and strengthen the bones, fill the liver and guard and nourish the liver spirit, so that the liver remains whole forever and flowers grow upon the liver."

For the second piece, associated with the White Emperor and the lungs, the incantation reads: "Stone of the White Lord, the resting place of Taiyi, Yuanfu, and Xuanmu: regulate the jing and fill the lungs, guard and nourish the lung spirit, so that it never decays, and flowers grow upon the lungs for a thousand million years."

For the third piece, associated with the Red Emperor and the heart, the incantation reads: "Stone of the Red Lord, the Lord of the Same Sound, and Xuanmu: regulate the blood and bring it to ruddy vigor, fill the heart and guard and nourish the heart spirit, so that it does not sink into ash, and flowers grow upon the heart, forming a jade grove in one completion."

For the fourth piece, associated with the Black Emperor and the kidneys, the incantation reads: "Stone of the Black Lord, Taiyi's Companion in Reckoning, and Xuanmu and Yuanfu: regulate and mingle the fluids and transform them, guard and nourish the kidney spirit, so that there is no decay or disorder, flowers grow upon the kidneys, and one always attains one's highest wish."

For the fifth piece, the original text breaks off after the words "next, one again drops a piece into the cauldron and intones," and the continuation may appear in another scroll. The four incantations above follow a set pattern: stones are cast into the cauldron in correspondence with the Five Directional Emperors (azure for the liver, white for the lungs, red for the heart, black for the kidneys), and the spirits are invoked to guard and nourish the viscera.

These passages belong to the Daoist esoteric literature on the ingestion of substances and alchemy. Through long-term cultivation of spirit vegetables and stone essences, combined with fasting, the selection of auspicious days, the building of a hearth, and the casting of stones with incantations, quartz is compounded with xie, honey, and vine. The aim is to fix and preserve the spirits of the five viscera, namely the hun soul of the liver, the jing essence of the lungs, the shen spirit of the heart, and the jing essence of the kidneys. The Perfected Taisu and the Lord Taiji are venerable figures named within the scripture as transmitters of the teaching and as commentators. The exact dosages and timings must be cross-checked throughout the whole text, and this material should not be followed as a prescription for ingestion on one's own.

Wushang Biyao (The Most High Secret Essentials): A Plain-Language Reading

Huangdi Gongshi Laojun and Tongwei Taiyi Dijun regulate the po (corporeal soul) and stabilize the spleen. This passage invokes the divine names of the Yellow Emperor, Shi Laojun, and Lord Taiyi, and its purpose is to order the hun and po and to settle the spleen.

Nourish the spleen spirit so that the spleen qi does not collapse. When the blossom rises upon the spleen, it is like the sun taking flight at dawn. Through ritual and medicinal food, one protects the spirit dwelling in the spleen and keeps its qi from scattering and decaying.

When casting the stones, each person first holds the breath for five breaths, silently counting five respirations, and only then drops the stone into the cauldron. Once all the stones are in, one rises and bows toward the stove five times, facing the five directions or following the five-direction ritual protocol. Next, take five jin of xiebai (the bulb of wild chives) and spread it over the five stones. Pour honey over the xiebai, then pour five dou of juteng (a medicinal creeping plant) over the honey. Gauge the depth and height that the juteng reaches within the cauldron, then slowly add clear water without filling the vessel completely, leaving a little space. Cover the cauldron gently with a wooden lid.

On the tenth day of the ninth month, at pingdan (dawn, when the day first brightens), light the fire. Use straight, dry firewood, and do not use wood that is worm-eaten or has unclean bark. Cook only until the liquid just begins to stir faintly, and do not let it roll in a rapid boil. Check frequently and adjust the heat beneath the cauldron.

While cooking, watch the liquid level against the ge markings. If the water boils dry, add more, up to a total of thirty-six hu of water. After the water has been used up, keep simmering until the liquid falls about two cun below its original yu level, judging by measuring with the ge rods. When the process is complete, let the cauldron cool, remove the ash from beneath it, seal the lid tightly, and wait five days before slowly taking out the five stones.

At dawn, bow to the five directions again. Then kneel and use dong liu shui (water flowing eastward) to dissolve the yu (the concentrated liquid), and drink it in sequence. While drinking the water and the yu, let the stone fragments slide into the mouth and go down the throat.

When taking the medicine, follow the same method used when the stones were first cast into the cauldron: recite the incantatory text silently according to the formula as you swallow. After finishing, bow five times again.

If, once the medicine is cooked, you find that the stones have disappeared, do not assume they have been lost. The five essences (wu jing), whether understood as the metal, wood, water, fire, and earth phases or as the essential qi of the five viscera, have already dispersed and sunk into a numinous substance. For this reason the stones dissolve into the "cloud yu" and no longer solidify. Each day, take five he (an ancient unit of volume) and wash it down with clear rice wine. As the spirit and qi transform and return to their origin and to their true nature, each essence guards and nourishes its own viscus, and within the five viscera the effects of the "five stones" are born again.

Above all, never use a fierce flame. If the fire is too strong, the essence within the stones will scatter, the dregs will turn foul, and the cloud yu will go bad and can no longer be taken.

Furthermore, the cloud yu is exceptionally sweet and fragrant. It strengthens the blood and qi, replenishes the essential jing, nourishes the five viscera, consolidates qi and condenses fluids, and sustains the hun and po. It is a true superior medicine. It should be stored in a fine vessel and kept carefully.

This scripture describes the preparation and administration of an external alchemy (Waidan) salve made from the "Five Stones" (wushi), known as "rich fat" (yu), along with the extraordinary effects it is claimed to produce.

Key Points of Administration and Preparation

Cover the salve tightly. On the first day, begin by taking two he (a measure), and thereafter take it daily according to the standard method. If the salve has been boiled with honey until it is thick, one may alternatively first take it in the manner for consuming the stones, then add honey to the remaining yu and boil it again until it sets, like cut fatty meat. Some also make it into pills, taking thirty a day, but generally pills are not as good as taking the salve directly. The manner of taking it may suit each person's convenience, so long as the body feels comfortable, though it is best to take this yu regularly.

If the previous batch of yu has been consumed, it may be refined again by the methods described above. Place five liang of white quartz at the bottom of the cauldron, add one liang of the medicinal substances each time, and chant incantations as prescribed. There is no need, however, to grind the stones smooth and round them again to take them in heavier doses. Once the medicine is complete, these stones are sunk into eastward-flowing water, and one must not let a dried-up deep pool be exposed. If one does not wish to refine this yu again, there is no harm to the five stones already processed.

This yu is named Xuanshui Yuye (Dark Water Jade Fluid), also called Feilong Yunyu (Flying Dragon Cloud Fat) and Huagao of the Refined Five Stones (Lianwushi zhi Huagao).

Claimed Effects

After fifteen years of taking it, the body acquires a jade-like radiance, becoming luminous and transparent within and without. One lives as long as heaven and earth and commands ghosts and spirits. After three years, one's eyes can read at night. The Perfected (zhenren) declares that this formula surpasses the "gold-eating" elixir of refining eight stones, and also surpasses the jade elixirs of cassia water and mica.

After taking these five stones, they enter directly through the throat, guarding and stabilizing the five viscera, which constantly produce blossoms. In each viscus, one stone guards a storage aperture, and above each aperture, five-colored blossoms arise.

If the person temporarily dies and "goes to Taiyin (taiyin) and passes provisionally through the Three Offices (sanguan)," flesh rots to ash and blood settles and pulse disperses, yet the five viscera still generate by themselves. The bones turn white as jade, the seven po (qi po) attend in service, the three hun (san hun) guard the dwelling, and the Three Primes rest in joy. The great spirit is sealed within, Taiyi (Taiyi) records the spirits, the Director of Destiny (Siming) holds the tally, the Five Elders support the blossoms, and the Lord Emperor's precious substance is preserved. After thirty or twenty years, or ten or five, one emerges at will. When one is about to return to life, blood is gathered, flesh is nurtured, fluids are generated, and humors coagulate. Substance returns to its embryonic state and the form is reshaped, so that the cleansed countenance surpasses that of the living time before death. The phrase "the Perfected refines the body in Taiyin and transforms the appearance in the Three Offices" refers precisely to this.

Verse Chanted by the Lord Emperor of Taiwei Heaven

In Taiyin one refines the bodily form, surpassing the taking of the Nine-Turn Elixir;

the blossoming countenance is upright and solemn, the complexion joins with numinous light.

The five stones meet the Celestial Perfected; Taiyi's precious spirit-gate is opened.

Vernacular Interpretation of the Wushang Biyao

Ascending the Taiji Gate (Taiji Que), receiving the scripture, and attaining immortality.

The Perfected Chisongzi of the Southern Marchmount said: In former times there was a man named Zhao Chengzi who studied the way of immortality. He first received from me the Zhensheng Wuzang Shang Jing (Upper Scripture on Sustaining Life and the Five Viscera) and practiced according to it. Later, Zhao Chengzi wished to enter Taiyin (the state of death) in order to change his appearance and transform his form. He deliberately died in a stone chamber beneath Xuanqiu Mountain in Shanggu, in Youzhou, and became a skeleton.

Five or six years passed, when a traveler suddenly entered the mountain and saw the corpse in the stone chamber. The flesh had rotted away and only the bones remained, yet the five viscera within the abdomen were growing on their own. They were fragrant and did not decay, just as they had been in life. Fluids and blood wound around them, the light of the five colors shone clearly within, and purple membranes knotted and intertwined on the outside. The traveler exclaimed, "I have heard that the five viscera can be nourished until one becomes imperishable. Today I have seen a true person! Could it be that this man possessed the Way but did not reach the end of his life?" He then reached in, cut open the corpse, and found a white pebble in each of the viscera. He said, "What makes your five viscera imperishable must be these five stones. You have lost the Way, so you may share them with me." He took the stones out and swallowed them face up, and they all went down his throat. More than ten years after the traveler had left, the time came for Zhao Chengzi's body to be revived. The stones the traveler had swallowed all flew out of his mouth on that day, like cicadas, and flew straight back into the viscera of the corpse. Zhao Chengzi then rose again, his form transformed.

The traveler was terrified when he saw the stones fly out. Later he returned to the mountain to search for the corpse. Arriving in front of the stone chamber, he saw Zhao Chengzi lying on his back inside the cave, hair loose, whistling toward the numinous valley. His face bore a jade-like radiance, and his hair gleamed with luster. Frightened, the traveler held his breath and crawled prostrate among the rocks and crags, beside the bamboo groves.

Zhao Chengzi asked, "Who are you?" The traveler then suddenly saw five venerable immortal lords standing before Zhao Chengzi. They wore brocade sashes and talismans, held feathered staffs of office, wore purple crowns, and stood upon empty space. They gnashed their teeth and said together to Zhao Chengzi, "The one who once stole and swallowed the precious stones from the Master's five viscera is this leprous-faced man!" As soon as they finished speaking, sores broke out immediately on the traveler's face. He could say nothing more, and he returned home in disarray.

Vernacular Interpretation

Leprous sores (laichuang) had already spread throughout the Da household, and its members died one after another until the entire clan was extinguished.

What is called a person who has attained the Dao (dedao zhi shi) may for a time roam in the Great Yin (you yu Taiyin), that is, while the spirit is temporarily in the yin realm and the corpse has not yet been buried. During this period, Taiyi (the Supreme One) guards the corpse, the three hun souls (sanhun) tend the bones, the seven po souls (qipo) protect the flesh, and the fetal spirit (tailing) records the qi. This is not meant to shield the wicked in their hearts or to stop the ears of the foolish. Rather, it allows the efficacy to be seen in all directions and the true virtue to be made manifest and transmitted.

Moreover, if someone presumptuously plans to steal the elixirs containing the spirits of the Five Thearchs (wudi zhi shen) and the essences of the Spirit Lord of Stone (Shiling Gong zhi jingying) in order to prolong life and secretly seek immortality, such a scheme is simply not to be relied upon, and how could anyone attempt it? For this reason, the Perfected of the Southern Marchmount (Nanyue Zhenren) wrote further to set this down, in order to dispel the evil mind that misappropriates and indiscriminately consumes such medicines.

Source: Dongzhen Taiji Dijun's Upper Scripture on Filling the Five Viscera (Dongzhen Taiji Dijun Tiansheng Wuzang Shang Jing).