(traditionally, 1122–221 B.C.E.)
Taoist Virtue and Character1
OFFICER XI
Officer Xi was a grandee of Zhou. Adept at inner studies, he regularly consumed vital essences and practiced secret charity. None of the people of his time knew him.
When Lao-tzu traveled west,2 Xi perceived his atmosphere in advance and knew a real human was going to pass through. Looking to stop him, he actually found Lao-tzu. Lao-tzu knew he was exceptional too, and wrote two works for him, on the Way and on virtue. Afterward he went into the Gobi Desert with Lao-tzu and ate black sesame seed. No one knows where he ended up.
Xi also wrote a book, in nine chapters, called Keeper of the Pass.3 Liu Xiang4 called it murky and inconsistent, vast and very free, yet with models to make people cool and light, not making people crazy. Chuang-tzu also cites Xi’s saying, “It is in oneself without abiding, reveals itself in forming things; like water in movement, like a mirror in stillness, like an echo in response, so indistinct it is as if not there, so still it seems clear. Those who assimilate to it harmonize, those who attain it lead; it never precedes people but always follows people.”
Xi is famed as one of the great real people of old. He was originally called Master Wenshi, Beginner of Culture.
OFFICER GUI
Officer Gui was styled Gongdu. He was a man of Taiyuan5 and a cousin of Master Wenshi. He studied widely in the Five Classics.6 He was particularly learned in astrology, and he transmitted a Taoist book of more than a hundred chapters. He regularly ingested polygonatum tonic.7
Before Wenshi met Lao-tzu at Box Canyon Pass, in the times of King Kang and King Zhao of Zhou [1090–1002 B.C.E.],8 he was living in a reed hut he had made on Mount Zhongnan;9 during the reign of King Mu (1001–946 B.C.E.) he rebuilt his reed hut and made it into a temple where he could lodge people who were imbued with the Way. Gongdu subsequently cultivated his practice there with the recluse Du Zhong;10 he attained the Way and became the Real Human of Great Harmony.
DU ZHONG
Du Zhong was styled Xuanyi. He was a man of Gaojing.11 When he heard that Wenshi had ascended to truth in 1024 B.C.E.,12 he went into seclusion in his spiritual abode and studied the Way. At that time five hermits and recluses came from far away.13 They all sank into silence, empty and aloof, correct and elegant, lofty and plain. Oblivious of all but the arts of the Way, together they projected an impeccable example. This is why King Mu built a temple and shrine for them, installing Du Zhong as the resident Taoist.14 When he was more than 120 years old he attained the Way and ascended.15 He is entitled the Real Human of the Absolute.
XIN QIAN
Xin Qian, also called Jiran, was a man from the Pu River region of Mallow Hill.16 His teacher was Lao-tzu. He studied widely and comprehended everything.
King Ping of Chu17 asked him, “I hear you attained the Way from Lao-tzu; may I hear it?”
He replied, “The potency of the Way rectifies the crooked and brings order to chaos; for pure virtue to regenerate and the world to be at peace is essentially up to one person. So if you develop virtue you become king, while if you accumulate enmity you get annihilated. This is why Yao and Shun flourished; this is why Jie and Zhou perished.”18
The king said, “I respectfully hear your directions.”
Later he traveled south to Wu and Yue, and Fan Li19 took him as his teacher. When Yue was going to attack Wu, Li admonished, “I have heard from my teacher that weapons are instruments of ill omen and war is perversity. Conflict is pettiness. Secret plotting, perversity, inclination to use instruments of ill omen, risking life out of pettiness—this will never do.” But Gou Jian20 didn’t listen and was defeated at Fushu.
Later Jiran was appointed to the rank of superior grandee, but he didn’t accept it, instead going into seclusion in the mountains. He wrote a book in twelve scrolls, calling himself Wen-tzu.21 The language and doctrine are both based on Lao-tzu. Liu Zihou22 edited it to bring out the meaning more. One section says, “Spirit is the font of intelligence; when spirit is pure, intelligence is clear. Intelligence is the capital of mind; when intelligence is impartial, the mind is even.” It also says, “Higher learning is heard by spirit, middle learning is heard by mind, lower learning is heard by ear.” It also says, “When people are highly ranked, watch what they recommend; when they are wealthy, watch what they want; when they are poor, watch what they’ll accept.” It also says, “Human nature wants peace, but indulgence in desires spoils this.” This is but a sliver of Wen-tzu.
In the Tianbao era (742–755) Wen-tzu was entitled Real Human Penetrating the Mysteries, and his book was called Understanding the Mysteries: A Scripture on Reality.
LU TONG
Lu Tong was the madman of Chu called the Carriage Grabber. He liked nurturing life and would gather and eat radishes, fruits, and turnips. He traveled around to famous mountains, and people saw him for several hundred years.
When Confucius was going to Chu, the Carriage Grabber passed Confucius, saying, “Oh phoenix, oh phoenix, how virtue has declined! Those who are gone cannot be admonished, those yet to come can still be pursued. Stop, stop! Those who participate in government now are in peril.”
Confucius alighted, wanting to talk with him, but he ran away, so Confucius didn’t get to talk to him.23
GENGSANG CHU
Gengsang Chu, a man of Chen, was an employee of Lao-tzu and had the best understanding of his Way. He lived in the Weilei Mountains.24 He dismissed servants who were obviously bright and kept away from maids who were attentively kind, staying with the intractable and employing the unkempt.
After he had lived there for three years, the Weilei Mountains became very fertile and rich. Later he traveled to Wu and lived in seclusion on Bowl Peak in Piling.25 That is the location of the ancient Temple of the Open Spirit. He wrote a book in nine chapters called Master Gengsang, also called The Master of the Hidden Storehouse.26
The book was lost, but during the Kaiyuan era (713–741) of the Tang dynasty, Wang Bao presented that book to the throne. Because of that, Gengsang was entitled the Real Human of Open Spirituality, and his book was entitled Open Spirituality: A Scripture on Reality.
NANRONG CHU
Nanrong Chu met Lao-tzu. Lao-tzu said, “Why did you come with such a crowd?” Alarmed, Chu looked behind him. Lao-tzu said, “You don’t know what I mean?” Chu looked down, embarrassed. Then he looked up and said with a sigh, “Now I have forgotten my answer, so I’ve lost my question.”
Lao-tzu said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “If I don’t know, people will say I’m ignorant. If I do know, instead I’ll be anxious for myself. To be inhumane hurts people, but to be humane means one worries about oneself instead. Injustice injures others, but to be just means one worries about oneself instead. How can I escape this?”
Lao-tzu said, “Can you embrace unity? Can you avoid losing it? Can you leave others alone and look for it in yourself? Can you be prompt, can you be simple? Can you be childlike? A small child moves without cognizing its doings, goes without knowing where, its body like a branch of a withered tree, its mind like dead ashes. If one is like this, fortune does not come, but neither does calamity. If there is no fortune or calamity, how can there be human trouble?”
At first Chu took Master Gengsang as his teacher. That master said, “I have little ability, not enough to teach you. Why don’t you go south to see Lao-tzu?” So Chu saw Lao-tzu and requested permission to ask him questions on account of Master Gengsang.
OFFICER WEN
Master Yinwen studied the Way with Lao-tzu. He made a Flower Mountain hat27 to express it himself. In his practice of the Way he didn’t bother with social conventions or put on appearances for people. He wished for the world to be at peace, to let the people live, with a sufficiency of nutrition for everyone, that’s all. Unashamed to be treated with contempt, he resolved people’s disputes for them. Forbidding aggression, laying down arms, he saved society from war. One who didn’t forget the world, he went all over the land this way, lecturing the rulers and educating the subjects. His book, in two chapters, is called Master Yinwen.28
DUCHENG QI
Ducheng Qi was a reclusive gentleman of Zhou. He made a long journey to see Lao-tzu. He said, “I’ve heard you’re a sage, so I didn’t mind coming from afar; I’d like to ask about self-cultivation.”
Lao-tzu said, “The Way does not end with the great, is not lost in the small. It is so vast there is nothing it does not contain, so deep it cannot be fathomed. Fully developed people find out the reality of things and are able to keep to the fundamental. Therefore they are beyond heaven and earth, detached from myriad things, so their spirits are never wearied.”
Ducheng Qi had some attainment of this.
CUI JU
Cui Ju was a wise grandee of Zhou. He asked Lao-tzu, “How is it possible to improve the human mind without governing the world?”
Lao-tzu said, “You should be careful not to attract the human mind. The human mind presses down and pushes up, so above and below imprison and kill. It is hotter than fire, colder than ice, swifter than a glance, and circles beyond the four seas. It is profoundly still in repose, far-reaching and forward in action. Restless, arrogant, and unbridled—that’s the human mind!
“In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor29 first attracted people’s hearts by humanity and justice. Handed over to the Three Kings,30 the world got very upset. At this stage, the happy and the irate suspected each other, the ignorant and the educated cheated each other, the good and the bad repudiated each other, the false and the truthful reviled each other, and society degenerated. Great virtues disintegrated, and nature and life became dissociated. Everyone was eager for knowledge, and the peasants wanted to have everything. At this stage, axes and saws were used to dismember people, marking cords were used to strangle them, hammer and chisels were used to maim them. The whole world was a mess, and the fault was in attracting the human mind.”
Lao-tzu was indignant at the degeneration of morals and took the opportunity of Cui Ju’s question to warn the world.
BO JU
Bo Ju was a chief minister of Zhou who learned from Lao-tzu. He traveled to Qi, where he saw a man who’d been executed. Doffing his court robe to cover the man, he cried to heaven, mourning him, saying, “Oh, man! The world is experiencing a great disaster; you alone are the first to leave it! It is said, ‘Don’t steal, don’t kill.’ Once glory and disgrace are defined, then you see objects of concern; once money and goods accumulate, then you see objects of contention. When people are exhausted physically, not allowed a moment’s rest, how could they not come to this?
“Rulers of ancient times attributed successes to the people while blaming failures on themselves; they attributed correctness to the people while attributing error to themselves. So if even one person lost his life, they’d withdraw and blame themselves. Now it is otherwise. They hide things so the ignorant don’t know; they create tremendous difficulties, then punish those who lack the daring; they impose tremendous responsibilities, then penalize those who can’t cope; they make the road long, then execute those who do not arrive.
“When the people run out of savvy and strength, they use falsehood to go on. With each day producing so many falsehoods, how can the people choose not to contrive falsehood? For when their strength is insufficient, they contrive falsehood; when their knowledge is insufficient, they deceive; when they don’t have enough to live on, they steal. When robbery and theft are rampant, who can be blamed?”
Many of Bo Ju’s sayings were gotten from Lao-tzu.
Lie Yukou was a man of Zheng, a contemporary of Duke Xu of Zheng.31 His learning was derived from the Yellow Emperor and Lao-tzu. He lived in the game preserve of Zheng for forty years without anyone’s recognizing him.
He first attended the Master of Pot Hill; later he took Old Mr. Shang as his teacher and associated with Elder Ignorant Nobody. After nine years of progress on the Way of the two masters, he was able to ride the wind.
His disciple Yan Hui asked, “Does anyone who asks about the Way strive for wealth?”
Liezi said, “Jie and Zhou just slighted the Way and valued profit; that is why they perished.”
When Master Lie was destitute, his face had the look of hunger. A visitor told [Prime minister] Ziyang of Zheng about this and said, “Lie Yukou is a man with the Way; if he lives in your domain yet is destitute, will you not be considered unappreciative of gentlemen?” So Ziyang of Zheng had an officer send Lie Yukou some grain. Master Lie came out and met the courier, bowed twice, and refused the gift. The courier left, and Master Lie went back inside. His wife, watching this, beat her breast and said, “I’ve heard that the wives and children of those who have the Way all enjoy ease and comfort. Now you’re showing signs of starvation and the lord sends you food to eat, but you don’t take it. It isn’t fate, is it?”
Master Lie laughed and said to her, “The lord doesn’t know me himself; he sent me grain on the word of another. Were he to punish me, that too would be on the word of another. That’s why I don’t accept.” As it turned out, in fact the people attacked and killed Ziyang.32
The book Master Lie wrote used to have twenty chapters, but Liu Xiang excised the redundancies, keeping eight chapters, which he labeled Taoist.33
Taoists take hold of the essential and grasp the fundamental, pure and empty and uncontrived. The way they manage themselves emphasizes not being competitive, in accord with the Six Classics.34
In the Kaiyuan era (713–741) of the Tang dynasty the book was entitled The Ultimate Virtue of Emptiness: A Scripture on Reality. In the Xuanhe era (1119–1125) of the Song dynasty, Liezi was entitled Lord of Reality Gazing on Wonders in Emptiness.
ZHUANG ZHOU
Zhuang Zhou was styled Zixin. In the time of King Hui of Liang,35 he was keeper of the lacquer-tree garden of Meng.36 In his studies there was nothing he did not look into, but his essential roots are in the sayings of Lao-tzu. Therefore his writings, comprising more than a hundred thousand words, are mostly allegories.
King Wei of Chu37 heard he was wise and sent a courier with rich gifts to invite him, offering to make him a grand councillor. Zhou laughed and said to the courier, “A thousand pieces of gold is a lot of money, and grand councillor is an important position. Are you the only one who hasn’t seen the sacrificial bulls at the rites dedicated to heaven and earth? They’re fed for four years, then draped with patterned embroidery and led into the great temple. At this moment they would prefer to be solitary pigs, but is that possible? Get out of here—don’t besmirch me! I’ll never take office in my life, so I can be happy.”
Zhuang Zhou’s book is named Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu).38 His own introduction says, “The silent boundless has no form; changing evolution has no permanence. Death? Life? Are heaven and earth parallel? Does the spirit go? Where would it go in the vastness? How would it arrive at the insubstantial? All things are hollow, none can be relied upon. There are ancient Taoist arts in this; Zhuang Zhou heard of their ways and liked them.
“Using misleading and long, drawn-out speeches, absurd and irresponsible words, and unreasonable expressions, at times he goes off unbridled, without peer; he cannot be seen from one angle alone. Because everyone in our world is sunk in pollution, they cannot converse with Zhuang. He uses flavorful words for extension, he rephrases to affirm, he employs allegories for breadth. His spirit comes and goes alone with heaven and earth yet does not look down on myriad beings; he does not dismiss right and wrong in order to live with the ordinary world.
“Although his book is a gem, repeated blows do not damage it. Although the rhetoric is inconsistent, yet it is strangely beautiful. It is endlessly fulfilling. Consorting with the Creator above, it is companion to the endless and beginningless outside birth and death. In terms of its basis, it is broad, immense, and open; deep, wide, and vast. In terms of its source, it can be called adjusting suitably and progressing upward. Even so, its responses to change and analysis of people are inexhaustible in their logic and inescapable in their derivation. Vague and mysterious are not all there is to it.”
According to Declarations of the Realized,39 “Zhuang Zhou’s teacher was the gentleman Changsang; Zhuang Zhou transmitted Changsang’s subtle sayings, calling it Chuang-tzu, the book of Master Zhuang. Concealed on the peak of Mount Baodu, he assists the gentleman in charge of listing examination candidates for the Absolute. Zhuang Zhou’s book is conventionally called Flowers of the South—a Scripture on Reality.” In the Xuanhe era (1119–1125) of the Song dynasty, Zhuang Zhou was entitled Lord of Reality with Subtle Understanding of the Elemental.
FAN LI
Fan Li was styled Shao Bai. He was a man of Xu.40 He attended Taigongwang,41 the counselor of Zhou, and used to take cinnamon and water.42 Later he took Jiran as his teacher and became a grandee of Yue.
He used to tell people that undertakings can succeed only when they are coordinated with heaven and earth. After he had helped Gou Jian defeat Wu, he sighed and said, “Jiran’s plans are successful even when only five out of ten are used. Now that I’ve applied this to the state, I want to apply it at home.” So he rode a little boat on the Five Lakes43 and changed his name.
Going to Qi, he became Chiyi Zipi. More than a century later, he appeared in Tao as Lord Zhu. Extremely wealthy, he was called Mr. Zhu of Tao; he helped out friends and brothers who were displaced and impoverished. He also went to Lanling and sold medicines; later people saw him generation after generation.
THE MASTER OF DEMON VALLEY
The Master of Demon Valley was a recluse of Zhou times.44 He lived in Demon Valley, so he called himself by that name. He had no hometown, surname, or name.45 The book he wrote is beyond the works of all the men of the Warring States era; it cannot be comprehended by the Changes, the Lao-tzu, or the Hidden Storehouse. The fact that the Master of Demon Valley was able to attain all of this and divulge it suggests that he was the greatest man of the era.
Among his sayings are these:
“The world has no constant values, events have no constant guide.”
“When others act, I am still; when others talk, I listen. If you know your nature, you’ll have few troubles; if you know your destiny, you won’t worry.”
Material like this is outstanding even in literary terms. As for the chapters “Invigorating the Spirit” and “Developing the Will,” what is referred to as examining the source of guidance and virtue in the process and entering detached into the profundities of spirit is subtle indeed, is it not?
Guo Pu’s poem on wandering immortals says, “In a green canyon, over a thousand fathoms, there is a Taoist. Asking who he is, I’m told he’s Master of Demon Valley.” Obviously he was impressed by the man.
Xu Guang said, “At Yangcheng in Yingquan there is a Demon Valley. Those who commented on the book of the Master of Demon Valley were Huangfu Mi, Tao the Recluse, and Yin Zhizhang.” Zhizhang was a man of the Tang dynasty.
THE MASTER WITH THE PHEASANT HAT
The Master with the Pheasant Hat was a man of Chu. He lived in seclusion during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States times. His clothes were ragged, his shoes worn out, but he had a hat of copper pheasant feathers.46 Nobody knew his name.
He wrote a book speaking of Taoist matters. His learning derived from Huang and Lao, but he never forgot his will to run the world, as may be seen from a small sample of his work. One passage of his book says, “Small people serving a ruler strive to inhibit his intelligence, block his perspicuity, and take advantage of his power to burn the world. Heaven is too high to pursue, wealth cannot be prayed for, calamity cannot be avoided.”
He spoke like this because he couldn’t forget his feelings about this world. Coming to where he says, “The phoenix is the vitality of yang, the unicorn is the vitality of yin, the populace is the vitality of virtue,” now this is genius indeed! Jia Yi’s47 Ode to the Copper Pheasant is said to take a lot of his words.
1. This rubric could conceivably be read “Tao-Te Types,” invoking association with the school of Lao-tzu as represented by the classic Tao Te Ching.
2. Lao-tzu is said to have gone west to escape the disturbed conditions in China as the Zhou dynasty progressively lost its cohesion in the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. It is customarily said that Lao-tzu’s destination west was India, but the origin of this theme more likely refers to central Asia, which was linked to China by the Jade Route centuries before the Silk Road. The Kunlun Mountains, an important source of jade, are designated one of the ten regions of immortals in Taoist lore.
3. Cf. Daozang Jiyao, vol. 10, pp. 4189–4239.
4. Liu Xiang (79–8 B.C.E.) was a distinguished scholar of the Han dynasty, particularly famous in Taoism for his compilation of legends of immortals.
5. In Shanxi province.
6. The Five Classics, sometimes referred to as the Chinese classics or Confucian classics, normally refers to the Book of Change (I Ching); the Classic of Poetry; the Ancient Documents, often referred to as the Classic of History; the Classic of Manners, also rendered as Classic of Rites; and the Spring and Autumn Annals. This last work would ostensibly present an anachronism if Officer Gui lived in the early Zhou dynasty, as this account claims, but anachronism is seldom a problem in Taoist legends of immortals. According to Confucian tradition, there was also an ancient Classic of Music, which was lost and never recovered.
7. Polygonatum is called jade bamboo in Chinese. The rhizome is used in Chinese medicine as a cardiotonic and to relieve certain secondary symptoms of diabetes and pulmonary disease.
8. Conventional history has Lao-tzu an older contemporary of Confucius; the claim that Wenshi was alive hundreds of years earlier in the time of King Zhao (r. 1052–1002 B.C.E.) may be a trace of rivalry with Buddhism. According to the Annals of White Horse Temple, omens appeared in China during King Zhao’s reign that were interpreted to indicate the birth of a sage in the West whose teaching would spread in China a thousand years later. While modern scholars consider Buddha to have lived in the middle of the first millennium B.C.E., a contemporary of Confucius, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist traditions place the birth of Buddha five hundred years earlier. The reference to Wenshi as building a lodge dedicated to Taoist practice, suggesting a sort of pseudomonasticism, also seems to suggest an assertion that such an institution was native to China, neither predated nor introduced by Buddhism. Buddhist and Taoist literature both contain all sorts of anachronisms, but for the purposes of mystics these are obscured by the assertion, in the case of Buddhism, that Gautama Buddha was not the first buddha in history, and in the case of Taoism, by the association of Taoist tradition with sages of high antiquity.
9. Distinguished in early Chinese literature, Zhongnan was to become a famous resort for Taoists.
10. Du Zhong is also featured in this collection.
11. Gaojing, in Shaanxi province, was the ancient capital of the Zhou dynasty.
12. In this genre of Taoist literature, ascent to truth normally means death, though it might be called death without prejudice, as it does not bar the reappearance of ascended immortals even centuries later.
13. This story may also have been influenced by the legend of Buddha, according to which his first disciples were five ascetics with whom he had formerly practiced austerities.
14. Carrying the legend of the establishment of the lodge of Wenshi a step further, this image of early institutionalization of Taoism under royal auspices also seems to suggest an assertion of indigenous origin of monasticism, in this sense placing organized Taoism on a par with Buddhism.
15. Here again, to attain the Way and ascend conventionally means to pass away. This usage has some parallel with the practice of referring to the death of a buddha as parinirvana, or “absolute nirvana,” to distinguish it from the living liberation of nirvana.
16. In Shandong province.
17. R. 528–516 B.C.E.
18. Yao and Shun were nonhereditary predynastic kings of the third millennium B.C.E. conventionally cited as models of virtue. Jie (r. 1818–1766 B.C.E.), last king of the Xia dynasty, and Zhou (r. 1154–1122 B.C.E.), last king of the Shang dynasty, are conventionally cited as paragons of self-indulgence and vice.
19. See the story of Fan Li.
20. Gou Jian was king of Yue from 496 to 465 B.C.E. Though Yue eventually annexed Wu, at one point Gou was defeated in battle and taken prisoner.
21. For an English translation of the received version, see Wen-tzu by Thomas Cleary (1992).
22. A famous scholar and poet of the Tang dynasty, who lived from 773 to 819.
23. Cf. Lunyu 18.5.
24. Said to be in Lu, in Shandong; also said to be in Liang province, which in Zhou times would refer to one of the nine provinces of antiquity, including southern Shaanxi and part of Sichuan.
25. In Jiangsu.
26. For an English translation, see Thunder in the Sky by Thomas Cleary (1993).
27. A Flower Mountain (Huashan) hat is described as even above and below, symbolizing equality. Huashan is a central reference point in the domain of Taoist topography.
28. In the Qing dynasty collection Siku tiyao, this book is categorized in the zi (philosopher/master) section as zajialei (syncretists). The Huainanzi, a Han dynasty Taoist classic, has also been put in the syncretist category by scholastics.
29. The Yellow Emperor is supposed to have reigned for a hundred years, from 2698 to 2598 B.C.E. He is one of the most important culture heroes of Chinese and Taoist legend. According to the Taoist classic Lieh-tzu, for fifteen years after assuming the throne, the Yellow Emperor was delighted that everyone supported him; he nourished his natural life and enjoyed the pleasures of the senses. In the process he became gaunt and dark, confused and emotionally disturbed.
Then for another fifteen years he worried about disorder in the land; using all of his intelligence and mental energy, he managed the hundred clans. In the process, he became gaunt and dark, confused and emotionally disturbed.
Finally the Yellow Emperor lamented, “My fault has been excess. Such is the trouble involved in taking care of oneself; such is the trouble of governing everything.”
At this point he set aside his administrative activities, stopped sleeping in his seraglio, sent away his servants, suspended musical performances, cut down on cuisine, and retired into solitude to purify his mind and get control over his body, taking no personal role in government for three months.
Taking a nap one day, he dreamed he traveled to Shangri-la, west of the province of Yan, north of the province of Tai, untold thousands of miles from the country of Qi; it could not be reached by boat, carriage, or foot but only by spiritual travel. In that country there were no political leaders, just a state of nature. The people had no habits or cravings, they were just natural. They didn’t know to like life or to detest death, so there was no premature death. They didn’t know to prefer themselves to others, so there was no love or hatred. They didn’t know how to rebel or obey, so there was no profit or harm. They had no attachments, so they had no fears. They didn’t drown in water, didn’t burn in fire. They were not hurt by hitting, were not pained by scratching. They rode the air like walking on the ground, slept in space as if in bed. Clouds and fog did not obstruct their vision, thunder did not distort their hearing, beauty and ugliness did not distort their minds. Mountains and valleys did not trip them up, for they traveled only in spirit.
When the Yellow Emperor woke up, he was happy and content. Summoning his three deputies, he said to them, “I lived alone for three months, purifying my mind and mastering my body, contemplating a way to live and to govern, but I failed to grasp the art. Tired, I took a nap, and this is what I dreamed. Now I know that the supreme Tao cannot be sought subjectively. Now I realize this; now I have grasped this, yet I cannot tell it to you.”
For the next twenty-eight years the whole land was at peace, like that mythical country, until the emperor passed on. The populace mourned him for more than two hundred years.
30. The Three Kings refers to the founders of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties of preimperial China. A merit-based conception of leadership in China views hereditary rulership as devolutionary.
31. R. 421–395 B.C.E.
32. Ziyang introduced Legalism in the state of Zheng. As a result of the establishment of the rule of law, it is said, Zheng became peaceful under the administration of Ziyang. Commentary on the Lieh-tzu, from which this account is taken, says that there were many savants living in the wilds of Zheng at that time. The implication is that these savants had taken refuge there from the widespread turmoil of the era. The rule of law under Legalist principles withdrew certain customary privileges from the old aristocracies, and Ziyang was not the only Legalist in Chinese history to be murdered by influential enemies. Gongsun Yang, the Lord of Shang, who introduced Legalist policies to engineer the rise of the state of Qin to a position of preeminent power during the era of the Warring States, was drawn and quartered, after the king he had worked for passed away, by people who had held a grudge against him for more than twenty-five years.
33. These redundancies are said to include stories that are also in the outer chapters of the classic Chuang-tzu. Although Chuang-tzu contains a chapter entitled Lieh-tzu, and the two classics still share some stories, there are some functional differences by virtue of which it could be said they are not redundant.
34. The Six Classics are the aforementioned Five Classics, plus the lost Classic of Music. This statement is tantamount to saying that Taoism and Confucianism are not opposed but in harmony.
35. R. 371–320 B.C.E.
36. Meng was in the state of Lu, in Shandong.
37. R. 339–329 B.C.E.
38. For an English translation of the core inner chapters of Chuang-tzu see The Essential Tao by Thomas Cleary (1991).
39. Declarations of the Realized (Zhen Gao) is an essential resource for the Maoshan path, or Higher Purity sect, of Taoism. It is repeatedly cited in this work. Cf. Daozang jiyao, vol. 18.
40. In Anhui.
41. This is an epithet of Jiang Shang, a semilegendary sage who is said to have advised the founders of the Zhou dynasty in the twelfth century B.C.E.
42. Cinnamon is used to improve digestion and also has antibacterial and antihypertensive properties. The therapeutic qualities of water naturally vary according to conditions of source, state, treatment, and so on. Many Taoist formulas combine different kinds of water in specific proportions, but according to a note by Tao Hongjing in the Zhen Gao, the quality of the water of Jinling, the region of the Maoshan Taoist center, was such that it could foster longevity by itself.
43. There are many different definitions of the Five Lakes; the general image is of an itinerant life.
44. According to Lost Legends of Immortals, he was a man of the time of Duke Ping of Jin, who reigned from 557 to 532 B.C.E. This account also says he lived for several hundred years.
45. Lost Legends of Immortals says his name was Wang Li. For an English translation of The Master of Demon Valley, see Thunder in the Sky by Thomas Cleary (1993).
46. This type of hat is said to have customarily been worn by warriors and recluses in ancient times.
47. Jia Yi (200–168 B.C.E.) was a distinguished scholar, author, and statesman of the Han dynasty. He appears in the story of Sima Chu below.