The use of the image of the skeleton both as a metonym for death and as a metaphor for a lack of enlightenment as it was developed in their preaching by Wang Chongyang and other early patriarchs of Quanzhen Daoism in the twelfth century continued to enjoy considerable popularity in later moralistic publications and was enthusiastically taken up by the sectarian authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The most conspicuous use of this image is in the “Twenty-One Pure Sound Lyrics Lamenting the World and Alerting the Frivolous,” which appears as an appendix in some editions of The Book of Nonactivism in Lamentation for the World (Tanshi wuwei juan),1 one of the precious scrolls written by Luo Qing (second part of the fifteenth century), who most likely was also the author of the “Twenty-One Lyrics.”
Luo Qing, who hailed from Shandong, was of a humble background. He was a religious seeker throughout his life and recorded his search for truth (which ultimately has to be found within one’s own nature, which is identical with the ultimate) in a set of five precious scrolls that are collectively known as the “Five Books in Six Volumes.” In various editions and adaptations, they have continued to circulate and inspire believers. Luo Qing’s teachings are often associated with the belief in the Eternal Mother, even though the figure of the Eternal Mother is much more clearly present in later sectarian precious scrolls. According to the belief in the Eternal Mother, we humans are her children, who have strayed from their original hometown; in order to call us back to our true nature, the Eternal Mother has sent down (or manifested herself as) a sequence of teachers and deities (the most recent of whom are the patriarchs of the new religions). Again, ultimately that original hometown and true nature will be found within oneself. As long as we as human beings fail to achieve that mystical insight, however, we will be walking corpses and moving skeletons as long as we are alive, and upon our death (which may come any moment), our bodies will decay into skeletons while our souls will be subjected to the endless sufferings of punishments in hell and the unending chain of transmigration powered by karma.
The text of the “Twenty-One Pure Sound Lyrics” consists of a short prose sermon followed by the twenty-one songs. Lyrics lamenting the physical skeleton (as shown in a painting?) and addressing the unenlightened listeners as skeletons alternate with lyrics that sing the joy of transcendent enlightenment. These latter lyrics compare the ultimate substance of our being to a dazzling light and a golden body that will freely manifest itself upon death of the physical body.
The empty flowers before your eyes you wrongly take as true;
Out of the blue you make distinctions, fixing near and distant.
When fame and profit have no limit, hardship has no limit,
But light and shadow have a limit and so has your life.
I lament this skeleton, this skeleton of seven feet! By nature it tended to the stingy desire for money and treasure, but when it breathed out, it could not be sure it would also breathe in. You men and women of the ten directions, don’t blame me—who of you understands that bitter advice is the best medicine? This skeleton is a dead skeleton, but panting and gasping with wide-open eyes, you are living skeletons! In the Water Repentance, the lord of heaven Indra became a firefly.2 In the Precious Repentance of Emperor Wu of the Liang, his consort Lady Chi became a snake.3 In the Glance Collection, the lord of heaven of the upper region became a fish.4 In one precious scroll, monks and priests upon losing their footing become ants, and in another precious scroll women and girls stumble and fall among the “winter criers.”5 You men and women of the ten directions have all come together, but of the ten persons who seek the Way, nine persons will retreat. Those who will not retreat are true and substantial, and in the moment of danger they will emit a blazing light. Those who retreat from the Way are foolish and stupid and will eternally be reborn in one of the four classes of living beings without any possibility of release.
A gatha reads,
With every breath our human life expects Impermanence;
We see with our own eyes the sun that sets behind the hills.
If strength gives out on Treasure Hill,6 you turn your head in vain:
Once you have lost your human shape, you’ll never get it back.7
This bitter advice is the truth, these are no idle words. Fake and fake! When one day such a skeleton has died, the other skeletons will weep sadly, overcome by fear.
Skeleton, I lament you:
You gathered a family capital and amassed a fortune:
You constructed a brick hall and a tile-covered dwelling.
You walked along main street, you stood on main street;
Competing for fame and profit, you bragged of your skills.
If today unannounced Impermanence arrived,
O skeletons,
That brick hall you constructed,
That brick hall and tile-covered dwelling, you couldn’t take them along!
Skeleton, I lament you:
Because you never strove for samadhi:
Whoever learns the good news so bright and majestic
Will emit a blazing light that permeates heaven and earth:
It cannot be increased, it cannot be diminished;
It cannot be polluted, it cannot be purified.
You ready-made skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
You’ll be unable to regain that golden body for eternal kalpas!
Skeleton, I lament you:
Your mother carried you for ten long months,8
And who were you when you had been born?
You became you only when you grew up, became an adult!
You ate fine food and wore fine clothes—
A bag of blood and pus, a ghostly skeleton!
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
Let me ask you,
Where will your food, your clothes, your glory and wealth have gone?
Skeleton, I lament you:
You practiced self-cultivation believing in form9 and so made a foolish mistake.
“Emptiness is identical to phenomena; phenomena are emptiness,”10
So practicing self-cultivation believing in form doesn’t enlighten the mind,
And self-cultivation relying on an illusion is making a foolish mistake:
All forms that may exist are insubstantial and deluding.
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
You willingly will suffer bitter hardship,
Bitter hardship as all turns out to be empty.
Skeleton, I lament you:
I don’t know whether you are a priest’s skeleton or a layman’s skeleton,
Whether you are a prime minister or a royal prince,
Whether you are a man’s skeleton or a woman’s skeleton—
For all your glory and wealth, you’ve turned into a skeleton.
The scenery of a hundred years is like snapping your fingers.
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
I ask you where is your realized person,11
Where oh where is your realized person?
O skeletons, I lament you:
I lament you so much it is killing me, this lament is killing!
When Impermanence arrives, you’ll all end up like this.
So hurry and hasten and find a way of escape!
Entrust yourself to an enlightened teacher to seek a way of escape.
Pleasure without limit is originally your origin,
You’ll be freed forever from the Three Disasters and Eight Dangers.12
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
Only in this way you’ll be fine,
For all eternal kalpas you’ll be fine forever!
O skeletons, please listen:
Each and everyone is bound to turn into a skeleton.
Men and women are bound to turn into skeletons,
Princes and ministers are bound to turn into skeletons,
Heroes and champions are bound to turn into skeletons.
The scenery of a hundred years is like snapping your fingers.
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
You’ll be carried to overgrown suburbs,
To overgrown suburbs where you’re bound to turn into a skeleton.
O skeletons, please listen:
I manifest a golden body—congregation, please listen.
When the ears hear sounds and colors, a bright light appears;
When the eyes see blue and yellow, you manifest a golden body.
When the nose smells fragrant and foul, a bright light appears;
When the mouth discusses all things, you manifest a golden body.
O skeletons,
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
You’ll drop this skeleton
And manifest a golden body in all directions!
O skeletons, I lament you:
To obtain a human shape is something exceedingly rare,
It may be compared to dredging a needle from the ocean.
But by killing living beings, you again create evil karma;
In the underworld courts of hell you can’t dispute the facts.
The scenery of a hundred years is like snapping your fingers.
O skeletons,
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
Once you’ve lost your human shape,
A human shape will be hard to acquire again.
O skeletons, I lament you:
Each and everyone has an indestructible body;
Without coming or going, it shines through eternity.
Transcending the Buddha and Ancestor, it has no name;
It doesn’t care for monk or layman, it doesn’t need practice.
Throughout heaven and earth it emits a bright light.
O skeletons,
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
If you used your time wrongly,
You will fall and sink and drown for eternal kalpas.
Skeleton, I lament you:
You fought over fame and profit, displaying your tricks;
Abandoning sons and daughters, you were dragged here.
Those pampered boys and girls you loved so dearly—
Today you accompany mounds of earth in the wilds.
When called, you don’t react; when beaten, you feel no pain.
Your fight over fame and profit has turned into emptiness.
O skeletons,
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
Merit and fame that cover the world,
Even that merit and fame will turn into emptiness.
O skeletons, I lament you:
The ten emperors, the Yama lords, gnash their teeth;
The registers of the Ten Kings provide a clear record.13
When yakshas arrive and evil ghosts arrest you,
You’ll lose your human shape forever, without a change,
You’ll suffer on trees of swords and mountains of knives.
O skeletons,
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
If your strength failed on Treasure Mountain,
If your strength failed, your conversion was in vain!
O skeletons,
If there’s karma, you will meet despite a thousand miles,
But without karma, you’ll fail to do so even face-to-face.
You may sleep together, sit together, cohabitate in joy,
O skeletons,
But don’t know who next year will still be here.
The fight over fame and profit is foolish ignorance;
Impermanence, so life and death, turns all into ashes.
This morning you and I may be united in pleasure,
O skeletons,
But you don’t know who next year,
Who next year will still be here.
O skeletons, I lament you:
In this world of light you may for a moment have cheated your way,
But great glory, wealth, and status are only a bubble on the water.
This one sack of pus and blood is not strong and solid at all,
So how can you escape from Impermanence, life and death?
At the moment of danger, of life and death, the parting is painful.
Following this parting,
Who knows where you will enter another shell?
O skeletons, I lament you:
This lament is killing me, this lament is killing.
Each and everyone so foolish and ignorant, hard to convert.
Dear gentlemen, quickly repent of what you’ve done before;
If your repentance comes too late, you’ll fall into transmigration.
If today unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
If you have used this life wrongly,
You’ll never again acquire [a human shape] for eternal kalpas.
O skeletons, I lament you:
Never born, never annihilated, free from life and death;
No additions, no detractions: ready-made from the beginning.
No pollution, no purification, requiring no practice at all.
And if one day unannounced the four elements disperse,
O skeletons,
Throughout the worlds of the ten directions,
Throughout these worlds you’ll manifest your golden body.
O skeletons, please listen:
From before the first division you had your nature;
From the before the Three Teachings,14 you had your nature.
From before monk and layman, you had your nature;
From before precepts and rules, you had your nature.
O skeletons,
Those without wisdom will retreat,
But those who are intelligent will do great.
O skeletons, please listen:
When I mention your original nature, it is a provisional name;
Originally it is without name and can freely do as it pleases.
In truth, there is no origin that serves as feet.
Who would dare to forcefully impose a name on emptiness?
Casually opening up the eye without name
Surpasses practicing for eighty thousand stretches.
O skeletons,
If one day unannounced the four states disintegrate,15
Then throughout the worlds of the ten directions,
Throughout those worlds you will manifest your golden body.
O skeletons, I lament you:
Your original appearance is a limitless body,
The ten million worlds are only a mote of dust.
The worlds in the ten directions provide no obstacle;
Without any obstacle, it is free to do as it pleases.
If one day unannounced Impermanence arrives,
O skeletons,
[Your body] will resemble an empty flower,
And filled with pleasure you will be your own master.
O skeletons, now all listen:
You enjoy the finest foods, a hundred delicacies;
You enjoy brick halls and tile-covered dwellings.
You enjoy covered couches and sitting cushions;
You enjoy coverlets of the ten kinds of brocade.
O skeletons,
When you are carried to the overgrown suburbs,
You will join the earthen mounds in those overgrown suburbs.
Skeleton, I lament you:
Today you have become a ghost with bared fangs:
Your flesh has turned into dust and soil and earth;
Your bones have turned into this ghostly skeleton.
You may have laughed at those who fought over fame and profit,
But today you have turned into a ghostly skeleton.
O skeletons,
How I lament those so very smart,
Those so very smart and intelligent people!
[Appended to (Luo Qing,) Tanshi wuwei juan, in Baojuan chuji, ed. Zhang Xishun, 1:543–71]
1. First printed in 1601, Tanshi wuwei juan was reprinted in 1678, 1882, and 1919.
2. The Water Repentance refers to the Compassion Water Repentance (Cibei shuichan) by the Tang-dynasty monk Zhixuan (812–883). This is a liturgy for a Buddhist penitential ritual seeking the generation of merit for the participants and the transfer of that merit to others, especially deceased relatives. Such liturgies, which contained long lists of the sins that human beings would have committed during their innumerable lives and stressed the inevitable dire punishments, were quite popular in traditional China. For a general description of such liturgies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Zürcher, “Buddhist chanhui and Christian Confession,” 106–16.
3. The Precious Repentance of Emperor of Wu of the Liang (Liang huang baochan) is another liturgy for a Buddhist penitential ritual. Lady Chi, the consort of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty (502–556), was reborn as a snake because of the jealousy she had manifested as empress. Legend has it that when Emperor Wu was informed of her fate, he instituted the repentance liturgy that carries his name. See Chappell, “Precious Scroll of the Liang Emperor.”
4. The Glance Collection refers to The Great Canon at One Glance Collection (Dazang yilan ji), a short summary of Buddhist teachings.
5. “Winter criers” is my translation of hanhaochong (literally, “insects that cry in the cold”). One source describes the creatures as a kind of large bat, another as “a bird that cries at night seeking dawn; in the summer months it is covered by feathers, but in the winter it goes naked and cries both day and night, and that why it is called a ‘winter crier.’ ”
6. Those who hear the truth but do not convert are compared to people who enter a storehouse filled with jewels but return empty-handed because they cannot make up their minds as to which treasure to take.
7. It will be impossible to be reborn as a human being for ten thousand kalpas.
8. In China, a pregnancy is said to last for ten months, since the gestation period is counted from the month of conception to the month of birth.
9. This is a reference to Daoist techniques of self-cultivation that seek physical longevity and an eternal life in the flesh.
10. This is a line from the Heart Sutra, a very short and extremely popular wisdom text. For translations and discussions, see, for example, “Heart Sutra (Xin jing),” in Ways with Words, ed. Yu et al., 113–45.
11. The “realized person” is one who has achieved insight into the eternal truth of his or her own nature.
12. The Three Disasters refer to death by the sword, during a pestilence, or from a famine. During the end of a kalpa, the Three Disasters refer to fire, water, and wind. The Eight Dangers refer to the conditions that make it difficult to see the Buddha or hear his teachings: when one is in hell; when one is a hungry ghost; when one is reborn as an animal; when one lives on the northern continent, where all is pleasure; when one is reborn as a god in one of the long-life heavens; when one is deaf, blind, or dumb; when one is an agnostic philosopher; and when one is born in the intermediate period between the life of the Buddha and his successor.
13. The Ten Kings (also designated as the ten emperors) are the judges in the ten courts of the underworld, through which all souls have to pass after death. King Yama is the highest judge of them all, but at times all ten judges are addressed as Yama lords.
14. The Three Teachings are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
15. The “four states” refer to birth, being, decay, and death.