Taoist Character
ZHANG LING
Zhang Ling (Taoist books avoid his name Daoling) was styled Fu. He was a man from Feng county in Bei province of Han. He was born on Mount Tianmu in Yuhang.
He was originally a college student, widely read in the Five Classics. Late in life he lamented, “This adds nothing to life span.” Subsequently he studied the Yellow Emperor’s Nine Cauldron Alchemy Scripture.1 The elixir was made on Mount Fan Yang. He also found a concealed book in a cave on Mount Song.
At that time China was in chaos, with the Han dynasty in decline. Realizing that the pursuit of literature was withering and dying and inadequate to get out of danger and help the world, he retired into seclusion in Yuhang for ten years. Then he went with his disciples into Shu.
The peasants of Shu gathered in droves, serving him as their teacher. He used only integrity, honor, kindness, and mercy to sway the people, not liking to use punishments and penalties. Anyone who had an illness was required to set forth his sins and promise to God, on pain of death, to mend his ways.
He opened a salt spring for the benefit of the people, chased off giant serpents, and warred on demons,2 inflicting twenty-four defeats and making twenty-four jurisdictions,3 getting rid of pests of the people of Shu. Having practiced all the arts of controlling and commanding the mountain spirits, his achievements and his virtues both outstanding, he was called a Celestial Teacher.4 The ones who thoroughly mastered his Way were disciples Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng.5
A Taoist Recluse
XIANG CHANG
Xiang Chang was styled Ziping. He was a man from Chaoge, east of the Yellow River.6 He secluded himself at home; by nature he valued balance and harmony and was fond of the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching.
Once, as he was reading the I Ching, coming to the hexagrams Decrease and Increase,7 he sighed, “I already realize that riches are not as good as poverty and prestige is not as good as lowliness, but I don’t know how life compares to death.”
He was poor, without means of support. Benefactors used to take turns providing him with food; he accepted it, taking what he needed and returning the rest.
During the Jianwu era [25–56 C.E.], once his sons and daughters were married, he carefully terminated his family affairs and went to roam the five sacred mountains with a free mind. It is not known where he died.
Taoist Influence
FENG PENG
Feng Peng was styled Ziqing. He was a man of Doushang in the North Sea region.8 When he heard Wang Mang9 had killed his own son, Yu, he said to friends, “Social order has been disrupted; if I don’t leave, trouble will extend to others.” Then he resigned from office, took his family to sea, and took up temporary residence in Liaodong.
Peng was an expert in Yin-Yang and knew Wang Mang was going to be defeated; carrying a clay jug on his head, he wailed in the marketplace, “A New dynasty? A New dynasty?”10 Accordingly, he subsequently disappeared and went into hiding.
Then when Emperor Guangwu ascended the throne [in 25 C.E.],11 Peng went to Luoshan in Langye, developing his will and practicing the Way. Everyone was influenced by his virtue. He was repeatedly summoned by the emperor for court service, but he never budged, so he lived out his natural life span.
Taoist Recluses
YAN GUANG
Yan Guang was styled Ziling. He was a man of Yuchao in Huiji. When young he had a lofty reputation and was a fellow student with the future emperor Guangwu.
When Guangwu became emperor, Yan Guang changed his name and disappeared.
The emperor, considering his wisdom, ordered that a search be made for him. Eventually a report submitted from the state of Qi said, “There is a man who dresses in sheepskin and fishes in the swamps.”
The emperor suspected it was Guang, so he had a comfortable carriage and gifts prepared and sent an emissary to invite him to court.
It took three trips before he finally came, and then he lodged with the army.
Guang just lay there and didn’t get up. The emperor went to where he lay, patted Guang on the stomach, and said, “Tut, tut, Ziling! Can’t you help me govern?”
Guang went back to sleep without answering. After a while he opened his eyes wide and stared. He said, “In ancient times Yao and Shun revealed their virtue, but Chao Fu just washed his ears. A gentleman certainly has an aspiration—why should he be pressed?”
The emperor said, “After all, I can’t subordinate you, can I?” With this, he got into his carriage, sighed, and left.
Another time, he brought Guang to the palace and talked of old times, conversing for days. The emperor casually asked Guang, “How do I compare with the past?”
He replied, “Your Majesty’s errors are more than before.”
As they were reclining, Guang put his foot on the emperor’s midriff. The next day, the chief astrologer reported that an irregular star had seriously intruded upon the imperial constellation. The emperor laughed and said, “My old friend Yan Ziling was reclining with me, that’s all.” His minister of education, Hou Bo, wrote in a letter, “Embrace benevolence, foster justice, and the world will rejoice; if obedience to order is only flattery, essential command is cut off.”
Guang was appointed grand master of remonstrance, but he wouldn’t accept. Instead he farmed on Mount Fuchun.12 Later, people named the place where he fished Yan Ling’s Shallows. In 41 C.E. he was again specially summoned by the emperor, but he didn’t go. He died at home at the age of eighty. The emperor sorely missed him.
LIANG HONG
Liang Hong was styled Boluan. He was a man of Pingling in Fufeng.13 His family was poor, and he herded pigs.
Once he accidentally let fire get out of control and it burned someone’s house. Hong recompensed the owner with all of his pigs, but the owner still considered that insufficient. So Hong asked if he could work off the rest himself as an indentured servant.
Later, when he returned to his native village, influential families admired his lofty integrity, and many wanted to marry their daughters to him, but Hong declined them all.
A certain Mr. Meng of the same district had a daughter who was fat, ugly, and dark, strong enough to lift a stone mortar. Choosy about a mate, she still hadn’t married by the time she was thirty. When her parents asked her why, she said, “I want to find a sage like Liang Boluan.”
When Liang heard of this, he sent her an invitation.
The woman usually wore muslin clothes and hempen shoes and kept her spinning tools in a woven basket. But then when she wed, at first she entered the home all dressed up. Hong didn’t speak to her for seven days. Finally she knelt at the foot of the bed and said, “I heard you were high-minded and righteous and had refused numerous brides. I too have refused numerous husbands. Now that I have been selected, I presume I don’t deserve to be mistreated.”
Hong said, “I wanted someone in coarse wool and leather who could live in seclusion with me deep in the mountains. Now here you are in gorgeous silks, wearing makeup and mascara. Is this my desire?”
His wife said, “This is just to see what your intention is, that’s all. I have my own clothes for living in seclusion.” Then she redid her hair into mallet buns, put on cotton clothes, and set about doing chores.
Hong was overjoyed. “This is truly the wife for Liang Hong! You can be a companion to me!” He styled her Deyao, “Resplendent with Virtue.”
They went together into the mountains of Baling and made a living farming and weaving. He recited the classics of poetry and history and played the lute as a hobby. Admiring the high-minded men of earlier ages, he wrote eulogies of twenty-four men since the Four Elders.14
On his way east, he passed the capital city and wrote “A Song of Five Sighs”:
I climb that northern waste—sigh—
Wanting to see the imperial capital—sigh.
The palace buildings are huge—sigh—
The people’s labor is tiring—sigh—
It goes on and on, and still not done—sigh!
The emperor heard of this and condemned it. He instituted a search for Hong but didn’t find him.
Hong then changed his surname to Yunqi, his given name to Yao, and his style to Houguang. He stayed with his wife and children between the states of Yan and Qi, then left and went to Wu, where he lived under the eaves of the house of a rich man, Hao Botong, working for people as a hired rice pounder. Every time he returned, his wife would have food for him. She did not presume to look up in Hong’s presence but held the tray up to the level of her eyebrows. When Botong witnessed this, he marveled at it. “If that laborer can get his wife to respect him like that,” he said, “he is not an ordinary man.” Only then did he lodge them in his house.
When Hong was sick and suffering, he said to his host, “Please don’t let my son observe the rites of mourning.” When he died, Botong and others looked for a place to bury him next to the tomb of Wu Yaoli. They agreed: “Yaoli was a man of mettle, and Boluan was pure and high-minded; they should be near each other.”
Hong was a friend of Gao Hui.
GAO HUI
Gao Hui was styled Botong. He was a man of the capital city. He was fond of the Lao-tzu and lived in seclusion in the mountains south of Huashan. He was a good friend of Liang Hong’s.
When Hong traveled east, he missed Hui and wrote a poem saying:
Birds call to each other,
An invitation to companionship.
Thinking of Master Gao, I have my memories;
As I’m remembering Hui, they gather together here.
The two never met again.
Hui also conscientiously refused to work for the government all of his life.
Taoist Character
WEI BOYANG
Wei Boyang was a man of Wu. Born a son of an eminent family, he had a natural inclination to Taoist arts and would not work in government. He lived quietly and nurtured nature. None of his contemporaries knew where he was coming from; they thought he was just managing his people and taking care of himself.
He went into the mountains and made spiritual elixir. When it was done, he took it, died, and came back to life. He and his disciple surnamed Yu both became immortal and left. On the road they met a woodcutter, to whom Boyang entrusted a letter of farewell to the people of his hometown and to two disciples.
Boyang wrote Triplex Unity15 and Analogies of the Five Elements in three volumes. The rhetoric resembles the I Ching, but in reality it borrows the hexagram images to discuss the meaning of the great elixir. But people of the world don’t consider alchemical matters and mostly interpret this in terms of yin and yang, missing the essential message.
As for the book Triplex Unity, the great Confucians Zhu Yuanhui and Zhan Yuanding both drew deeply on its principles and often touched upon it in their debates. No one can see into it without clear understanding of the deep meanings of the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching.
Taoist Recluses
TAI TONG
Tai Tong was styled Xiaowei. He was a man of Ye in Wei prefecture.16 He lived in seclusion on Mount Wu’an,17 where he excavated a cave to dwell in and gathered herbs to support himself.
The regional inspector making his rounds had a functionary pay him a visit, but Tong refused on a pretext of illness. The regional inspector then went in person with a gift to see Tong. He asked him, “Why do you keep yourself in such misery?”
Tong said, “I am fortunate to be able to preserve my natural life to the end, maintaining my spirit and nurturing harmony. Wouldn’t it be more painful to work for a ruler by day promulgating decrees, while worrying about everything at night?”
After that he disappeared, never to be seen again.
HAN KANG
Han Kang was styled Boxiu, also named Dianxiu. He was a man of the Boling district of the capital, from a distinguished lineage. For more than thirty years he gathered herbs on famous mountains and sold them in the market of Chang’an, never quoting two prices.
Once when a girl was buying medicine from Kang, he stuck to his price and wouldn’t move. The girl angrily said, “You’re Han Boxiu, aren’t you? And you won’t come down in price?”
Kang lamented, “I originally wanted to avoid fame, but now even little girls know me! What’s the use of medicine?” Then he fled into the mountains of Boling.
Taoist Silence
JIAO ZHEN
Jiao Zhen was styled Zhongyan. He was a man of Moling in Fufeng. When he was young he was attracted to Huang-Lao;18 disappearing into mountain valleys, he lived in caves and aspired to the energy-induction arts of the Master of the Red Pines19 and Wang Zijiao.20
He was a hometown contemporary of Ma Rong21 and Su Zhang,22 both of whom gave him precedence. Wu Cang of Runan respected him very much, and so sent him a letter to see his will:
“Zhongyan diligently keeps to seclusion and austerity. While those who ride on the clouds and those who go through the mud do not lodge in the same abode, whenever there is a west wind, I always sigh in lament. I’ve heard that the sayings of Huang and Lao ride the void into the unknown, concealing the person in remote detachment, yet there is also running countries and taking care of people, applicable to government administration. When it comes to climbing mountains and obliterating tracks, the spirits do not reveal their testimony, people do not see the results.
“I seek from you what you approve; what is your opinion? In ancient times Officer Yin23 refrained from embracing the Way to await a ruler like Yao or Shun.24 The present time is enlightened, the four seas are open; Chao and Xu have no purpose for Basket Mountain,25 Yi and Qi would regret going into Shouyang.26 If you can really ride dragons and sport with phoenixes, soaring among the clouds, then this is nothing foxes and rabbits or swallows and sparrows can figure out.”
Zhen didn’t reply.
He lived to be more than seventy years old but would never marry. He subsequently returned to his home all of a sudden, announced the day of his death, and actually passed away at the appointed time.
Later people saw Zhen in Dunhuang, so those of the earlier generation considered him extraordinary.
A Taoist Recluse
FA ZHEN
Fa Zhen was styled Guoqing. He was a man of Mei in Fufeng. He was fond of study but had no permanent home. He had broad mastery of inner and outer charts27 and classics; he was a great scholar of Guanxi, with hundreds of disciples coming from afar.
He was taciturn by nature and had few desires. He didn’t get involved in societal affairs. When the governor-general asked to meet him, he went to call on him wearing a simple head cloth.28 The governor-general wanted to retain him in the Labor Section, but Zhen said, “Your Honor is being treated with courtesy, so you presume to coerce conformity with yourself. If you try to make an official out of me, I’ll be south of the southernmost mountains, north of the northernmost mountains.”
Tian Rao of the same prefecture recommended Zhen in these terms: “He personally does the work of all four classes, lives in obscurity, peaceful and calm, trying to walk in the lofty footsteps of Lao-tzu, not bending to material inducements. I wish the imperial court would give him a job in civil service; he would surely be able to play the song of Purifying the Shrine and attract the mannercorrecting phoenixes.”
The emperor humbly tried to get him to come to court, summoning him four times altogether. Zhen said, “Since I can’t disappear from the world, how can I drink water in which ears have been washed?” Subsequently he secluded himself completely. His friend Guo Zheng praised him, “Fa Zhen’s name may be heard, but he’s hard to meet in person. He fled fame, yet fame followed him; he avoided repute, but repute pursued him. He can be called teacher of a hundred generations!” They had a eulogy to him inscribed in stone, referring to him as the Master of Mystic Virtue.
Taoism and Government
LIU KUAN
Liu Kuan was styled Wenrao. He was a man of Hongnong.29 He lived to be seventy-three years old. One day he met the Master of Green Valley,30 who descended into his bedroom and taught him the method of turning into a staff to be liberated.31 He took him off into Huashan to practice nine breaths to take in energy and also taught him a method of furnace-fire alchemy. Liu Kuan practiced them and after completing the course came to a grotto on Huashan, where he was in charge of beginners in the study of the Way.
Kuan served the government of the Han dynasty, reaching the rank of commandant in the Ministry of Education and Civil affairs. He was fond of practicing hidden charity, rescuing the poor and needy. The populace was pleased, and people felt as close to him as to their own parents.
MR. PANG
Mr. Pang was a man of Xiangyang in Nanjun.32 He lived south of Xianshan33 and never once went into the city. He and his wife were as respectful to each other as to guests.
The inspector of the Jing region, Liu Biao, sent numerous invitations but could not successfully importune him, so he himself went to visit him. He said to him, “How can keeping one body intact compare to keeping the empire intact?”
Mr. Pang laughed and said, “Snow geese nest in the high forests; come evening, they find their place to rest. Tortoises and crocodiles have their nooks on the floor of deep waters; at night they find their place to stay. Now then, moral and practical choices are men’s nests and nooks; each finds his place to abide, that’s all.”
As he was tilling on a hilltop, with his wife and children hoeing in front of him, Biao pointed and asked, “You are living in hardship in the fields, unwilling to accept office and salary. What will you leave your heirs when you pass on?”
Mr. Pang said, “People of the world all bequeath danger; now I alone bequeath safety to my posterity. Though what I leave is not the same, that doesn’t mean I’m not leaving any bequest.”
Eventually he climbed Deer Gate Mountain34 with his wife and children. There they gathered herbs and never returned.
A Taoist Scholar
LIAO FU
Liao Fu was styled Wenqi. He was a man of Pingyu in Runan.35 He studied the Han version of the Classic of Poetry and the Ouyang version of Ancient Documents.36 He taught as many as several hundred people.
His father was condemned for some incident and died in prison. Influenced by the fact that his father lost his life on account of the law, Fu was wary of becoming an official. When his mourning was done, he lamented, “Lao-tzu has a saying—‘Which is dearer, your reputation or your body?’ Why should I work for a reputation?” So he cut off his ambitions, beyond the world, and focused exclusively on classics.
He was particularly expert at astronomy and calendography. Attempts were made to recruit him at all levels of government, but he didn’t respond to any of them.
When Fu knew the crops were going to be bad, he’d collect large quantities of grain just to help out his clan and his wife’s relatives. He also arranged for the interment of those who died in epidemics whose families couldn’t take care of them by themselves. People of the time called him the Professor of the Northern Outskirts. When he was eighty years old he died at home.
Taoist Advice
FAN YING
Fan Ying was styled Jiqi. He was a man of Luyang in Nanyang.37 When he was young he received instruction in the capital; he studied the I Ching of Mr. Jing38 and also learned the Five Classics. He was also skilled at divining by wind direction and astrology as well as the Seven Parallels of the River39 and Luo diagrams,40 and predicting disasters and abnormalities. He lived in seclusion north of Pot Mountain41 and did not respond when the province and prefecture tried to recruit him. He was recommended for civil service examinations in the categories chief of the wise and good and imbued with the Way, but he didn’t go for any of them.
In 127 C.E. Emperor Shun [r. 122–144] sent a letter full of courtesies and accompanied by gifts to recruit him. But he stoutly refused, claiming to be very ill. Then the emperor sent an order pressing the authorities of the prefecture and county to convey him to the capital.
Once in the city, Ying wouldn’t budge, claiming to be ill. Even when he was brought by force to the palace, he still wouldn’t give in. The emperor got angry and said, “I can grant you life and I can kill you. I can elevate you and I can demean you. I can enrich you and I can impoverish you. Why do you disregard my command?”
Ying said, “I received my destiny from heaven. If I live out my destiny, that is due to heaven; if I die without attaining my destiny, that too is due to heaven. How can Your Majesty give me life? How can you kill me?
“I view violent rulers like looking upon enemies; I would not even be willing to stand in their courts. Is it possible to ennoble me? Even though a commoner, I am at ease and self-possessed in poverty and wouldn’t trade it for supremacy over a state with ten thousand war chariots. So is it possible to demean me?
“I wouldn’t accept an improper emolument even if it were enormous, and I don’t mind living on meager fare if I can express my will. How can Your Majesty enrich me, how can you impoverish me?”
The emperor couldn’t get him to bend, but he respected his reputation and sent him to the imperial physician to take care of his illness. The emperor ordered the magistrate of gate traffic control to guide, with the secretary of state leading; he presented him with an elbow rest and a staff and treated him with the courtesy due a mentor. Whenever there were portents concerning the court, the emperor would command that Ying be asked how to restore order. What he said was often proven effective.
He lived to be more than seventy years old and died at home.
Taoist Character
WANG YUAN
Wang Yuan was styled Fangping. He was a man of Donghai.42 He was recommended in the category of filial and honest and appointed a gentleman of the interior. After a while he was promoted to grand master of court counseling and dealings. He studied widely in the Five Classics and was particularly well versed in astronomy, schematics, prognostication, and the techniques of the River and Luo diagrams. He had foreknowledge of the periods of flourishing and decline of the empire, the good and bad prospects of the nine regions, seeing them as clearly as in the palm of his hand.
Later he quit his office and went into the mountains to cultivate the Way. When he’d attained the Way, Emperor Huan [r. 147–167] summoned him repeatedly, but he would not emerge, so the emperor had the governor of the prefecture bring him to the capital by force. Yuan hung his head, kept his mouth shut, and wouldn’t reply to the imperial command. Then he inscribed some four hundred characters on the boards of the door of the gate, all about things to come. The emperor didn’t like this and had someone plane it off, but once the characters outside were removed, characters inside appeared; the ink had penetrated the boards.
Fangping had no children or grandchildren; successive generations of local people collaborated in doing chores for him. [Another source says, “Fangping never returned; local people worked for his descendants for generations.”]
The former defender in chief of the same prefecture, Chen Dan, built a House of Tao for Fangping and paid respects to him morning and night, but he only begged for enrichment and elimination of troubles, he didn’t study the Way with him. [Another source says, “He begged to learn the Way from him.”]
Fangping stayed in Dan’s house for more than forty years. Then he said, “My allotted time is almost up; I must go, I cannot stay anymore. I’ll set off tomorrow at midday.” When the time arrived, Fangping died.
Dan knew he had gone by sublimation, so he didn’t dare inter him. He just wept sadly and said in lament, “Have you gone, leaving me? What’s to become of me?” He prepared a casket, burned incense, and laid him out fully clothed on the bed.
On the third night of the third day, the corpse disappeared. The sash of his robe had not been untied; it was as if a snake had shed its skin.
A hundred and some days after Fangping left, Dan also died. Some say Dan attained Fangping’s Way and left by sublimation. Some say Fangping left because he knew Dan was about to die and so he abandoned him.
Later, as Fangping passed through Wu on his way east to Guaizang, he stayed in the house of Cai Jing of Xumen. Jing was a commoner, but his bones and features corresponded to those of immortals; that is why Fangping went to his house.
As he was talking to Jing, he said, “It is your destiny in life to succeed in transcending the world, but you didn’t learn the Way when young, so now you are more physical than ethereal and should only pursue liberation from the corpse. Liberation from the corpse is very difficult; you simply have to do it like pulling a dog through a hole.”43 Giving him essential advice, he left Jing and departed.
Later, Jing actually molted like a cicada and disappeared. Gone for more than ten years, he suddenly returned home. He said to his family, “On the seventh day of the seventh month, Master Wang will come passing through. That day you should prepare several hundred containers of food and drink to provide for the accompanying officials.” Then he left.
On the indicated day Fangping did actually come, leading followers with a signal pennant, his manner dashing as a great general’s. He had a rendezvous with Ma Gu at Jing’s house.
A neighbor, Chen Wei, kowtowed and begged to be allowed to pay respects. He wanted to acquire masterhood comparable to Cai Jing’s. Fangping said, “Get up and stand in the sunlight.” Looking at him from behind, Fangping said, “Oh! Your heart is not upright; your shadow is not straight. You can never be taught the Way of immortals. I will give you a job of masterhood on earth.”
When Fangping was about to leave, he put a talisman and a key to its code in a small box and handed it to Chen Wei, saying it could be used to relieve disasters and quell demons. Chen Wei subsequently lived to be 110 years old.
He once received a gift of calligraphy from Fangping. The calligraphy was carefree, large, and not ornate. Before this no one knew Fangping’s name was Yuan. This information was related by Chen Wei.
HAN CHONG
Han Chong was styled Changji. He was a man of Biling in Wu prefecture.44 When he was young he liked the Way. Wang Weixuan, immortal of the Forest House,45 had taught him a formula for mercury elixir, which Chong carried out carefully, with great results. Weixuan said to him, “By practicing this path, you can serve in public office too without any hindrance to ascension to immortality.”
Chong subsequently served in office, gradually reaching the post of magistrate of Wanling. He practiced humaneness to administer government and applied the Way to comfort the people. Tigers and wolves stayed away, locusts didn’t swarm in the territory.
Transferred to the post of governor of Runan, he promoted Administrative Clerk Yuan An. An later rose in rank to minister of education and civic affairs; people of the time said that Chong had the perceptivity to recognize character.
When Empress Yin was entombed in the capital, the wives of the officials of neighboring prefectures with salaries of two thousand piculs were supposed to gather at the imperial mausoleum. Chong alone lived in pure simplicity, and his wife got mad at him and cried. An imperial missive inquired into the reason. The chamberlain for ceremonials Ping Yi replied:
“The governor of Runan, Han Chong, is a pure ascetic, highly detached; savoring the Way, he forgets his physical body. He holds an important office, yet his wife does her own spinning. His administration is benevolent and uncomplicated, and he looks upon the people with pity. He has profoundly mastered an extraordinarily wide range of learning, and he has the perception of a man with the capacity for leadership. He is a luminous jewel on a dark night; he is Your Majesty’s equivalent to Zichan.46 His wife does not comprehend the discipline of austerity and complains she has nothing to wear. That merely shows Chong’s enlightened virtue.” The emperor deemed this extraordinary and increased Chong’s salary and rank to the level of two thousand piculs.
When the future emperor Ming [r. 227–239] was on a hunting expedition in Runan and commandeered Chong’s official residence, Chong had his wife go stay in the house of an old woman who lived alone. When the emperor heard of this, he said in admiration, “Han Chong is what they call one whom a hundred smeltings won’t melt down,” and bestowed a gift of fifty rolls of heavy silk.
Chong was in the prefecture for a total of fourteen years. His administration was distinguished for harmony, best in the whole empire. When he was seventy-four years old, Weixian taught him a method of liberation by disappearing, and he managed to leave and go into Dahuo Mountain.47 Weixuan also taught him the art of escaping and sublimating through the purple door of the nirvana center48 to transcend the world.
Later he became left overseer of the interior in the caves of Huayang. Tao Hongjing49 said, “The account in the Book of Han is generally the same; there is a little variation in the wording, that’s all.”
Taoist Arts
XIA FU
Xia Fu was styled Zizhi. He was a man of Chenliu.50 He was attracted to the Way in youth, and he ingested preparations of atractylodes51 and mica.52 Later he went into the mountains of Wu and learned a method of refining the soul from Master Red Whiskers. He stayed in a grotto of Huayang, where he served as morning attendant gentleman.
When Fu was young, he was summoned to court by the Secretariat. He fastened the document to a mulberry tree and left. This is how highminded he was.
Tao Hongjing said, “The Book of Han and Stories of Eminent Men both say Fu was a man of Yu in Chenliu; in the time of Emperor Huan [r. 147–167] he was appointed direct advisor, but he didn’t take up the post.”
Taoist Influence
LIU YI
Liu Yi was styled Ziyi. The Book of Han makes his style Zixiang. Yi was originally a man of Yingchuan.53 He was devoted to the virtues of the Way from youth, and as his family was very rich, he was always able to provide public assistance without considering it charity. Many were the dead he took care of and the poor he helped out. He was appointed accounts assistant, given the rank of gentleman of the interior, and promoted to the post of governor of Chenliu. He went out within a radius of five hundred li from Chang’an, disposing of the dead and helping out the destitute, sacrificing his own to share with others. When he came to Yangping, he happened to meet Master Ma Huang, who told Yi, “Your humaneness moves heaven and earth, your hidden charity moves spirits and ghosts. Taishang is going to celebrate your compassion; he sent me to come guide you on the path of eternal life.”
Yi kowtowed and begged to attend him. So he took him into Pawlonia and Cedar Mountain,54 where he taught him eight techniques of hiding in the earth and a method of internalizing the beams of five stars. On initiation he was named Donghua. Entering the caves of Huayang, he became right-hand supervisor of the interior in the Office of Determining Registry.
1. The number nine is associated with pure yang, or pure positive energy, and consequently features in the titles of many esoteric texts. The goal of Taoist immortalism is sometimes expressed in terms of converting all the energy of the body-mind into pure positive energy. Nine is also represented as the sum of the four cardinal directions, the four intermediate directions, and the center; the eight trigrams of the I Ching are arrayed around a circle in the eight directions, while the consciousness of the practitioner is stabilized in the center of the circle.
2. According to an essay in the Buddhist collection Hongmingji, this term demon did not refer to supernatural beings but was an uncomplimentary reference to non-Han peoples. This usage does have a precedent in the I Ching, and it would also help to explain the willingness of the Chinese secular authorities to enfranchise the Celestial Masters cult politically.
3. For the twenty-four jurisdictions, see Yunji qiqian 6, Daozang jiyao, vol. 19, pp. 8640–44.
4. Tianshi. This marks the founding of the Tianshidao, or Way of the Celestial Teachers. For the establishment of this cult as a secular power under Zhang Daoling’s grandson Zhang Lu, see Sanguozhi 8.
5. It may be noteworthy that this account does not mention hereditary succession in this path. For accounts of the disciples Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng, see the Longhushanzhi 7 (Qing dynasty version). This latter-day collection, Records of Dragon and Tiger Mountain, contains a more expansive account of Zhang Daoling and his school, including both hereditary and nonhereditary successions.
6. In Henan.
7. Nos. 41 and 42, respectively. These symbols function as a pair. An appendix of the I Ching says, “Decrease and increase are the beginnings of strength and debility.”
8. On the Shandong peninsula.
9. That is, the usurper of the throne of Han.
10. As noted earlier, Wang Mang named his regime the Xin, or New, dynasty.
11. Emperor Guangwu of Han lived from 5 B.C.E. to 57 C.E. and reigned from 25 to 57 C.E. His rule marks a restoration of the Han dynasty after the overthrow of Wang Mang’s New dynasty.
12. In Zhejiang.
13. In Shaanxi.
14. See the account of Zhang Liang. The Four Elders were savants consulted to settle a succession crisis in the imperial house in the early Han dynasty. References to these savants appear repeatedly in subsequent history, representing a positive relationship between the imperial cultus and the wizards of the mountains.
15. Cf. Daozang jiyao, vols. 10 and 11 for texts and commentaries.
16. In Henan.
17. In Hebei.
18. I.e. Taoism, particularly of the type represented by texts associated with Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and Lao-tzu, reputed author of the Tao Te Ching.
19. Cf. Yunji qiqian 8, Daozang jiyao, vol. 20, p. 8684.
20. Cf. Yunji qiqian 8, Daozang jiyao, vol. 20, pp. 8686–88.
21. Lived from 79 to 166. Ma Rong was a famous scholar, noted for commentaries on the Five Classics.
22. Su Zhang was a magistrate noted for integrity in office.
23. A savant who advised King Tang, founder of the Shang (Yin) dynasty in the late eighteenth century B.C.E. According to tradition, he originally supported himself by tilling the soil, but Tang requested his help three times, and he finally agreed to advise him.
24. Yao and Shun are commonly cited as archetypes of idealized sage rulers of predynastic times.
25. Chao and Xu refer to Chao Fu and Xu You, archetypes of men of wisdom who conscientiously avoided involvement in government. When Chao Fu was offered the throne by the sage king Shun, he went and washed out his ears in the river. When Xu You heard of this, he led his ox upstream to drink. Basket Mountain refers to retirement from the world of affairs.
26. Yi and Qi refer to Bo Yi and Shu Qi, brothers who abandoned their fief at the end of the Shang dynasty three thousand years ago. At first they deferred to each other, then relinquished all of their patrimony after the jurisdiction of the Shang dynasty granting their land rights had been taken over by the state of Zhou. They are commonly cited as models of personal integrity, though the principle implicated may be interpreted differently according to context. They were not ejected from their lands by the Zhou dynasty but refused to contract with Zhou, voluntarily renouncing their domain, so their conduct is typically viewed individually, apart from traditional stereotypes of Zhou and Shang. Shouyang refers to the mountains where they starved to death after “refusing to eat the grain of Zhou.” In Chan Buddhism, these brothers are cited to represent arhats who remain in nirvana and refuse to return to the world to practice compassion after becoming personally liberated. A Chan proverb states, “If you understand, you will return to your village and become a rustic; if you don’t understand, you will starve to death on Shouyang.”
27. Charts are schematic sets of symbols, ideas, deities, demons, doctrines, and directions. They may be compared to Buddhist yantras and mandalas and were to become increasingly prominent in Taoism as Buddhism spread in China. Inner and outer typically refers to esoteric and exoteric lore, but its application can be extended. In this context, it could refer to Taoist (inner) and Confucian (outer), or Chinese (inner) and Buddhist (outer). In Chinese Buddhist literature, inner and outer commonly means spiritual and secular, or Buddhist and Confucian.
28. That is to say, in the fashion of a hermit.
29. In Henan.
30. This character is cited in Legends of Immortals of the Grottoes 2, according to which it was not known where he was from. No other identifying marks, such as his name, are recorded. He is said to have practiced the breathing exercises mentioned here and subsequently compounded an alchemical elixir, which he then ingested, attaining the Way. This latter account says he descended from heaven to meet Liu Kuan. This story is one of those that prefigure the esotericism that would become characteristic of Taoist grotto cults like the Maoshan path.
31. This seems to refer to the practice of leaving behind a staff in place of the corpse when disappearing to die.
32. In Jiangsu.
33. There are three mountains with this name in Zhejiang.
34. In Hubei.
35. In Henan.
36. This version of the classic Shang Shu was lost in the fourth century C.E.
37. In Henan.
38. By the Han dynasty scholar Jing Fang, 77–33 B.C.E.
39. Parallels were a class of esoteric texts purporting to draw hidden meanings from orthodox classics. They are said to have first appeared in the Qin dynasty (third century B.C.E.) and disappeared in the Sui dynasty (sixth century C.E.).
40. These diagrams are schematic arrays of the fundaments of the native Chinese conceptual universe. They are used for various purposes. See I Ching Mandalas by Thomas Cleary (1989, 2000) for a syncretic interpretation of their symbolism.
41. In Henan.
42. Meaning “Eastern Sea”; this region included parts of Shandong and Jiangsu.
43. This refers to exiting the body through the nirvana opening in the head. The advanced Taoist practice called projecting the spirit can be considered a preparation for this liberation from the corpse, eliminating the sense of physicality in dying, easing the difficulty mentioned here. See the end of the story of Han Chong.
44. In Jiangsu.
45. The Forest House, in Jiangsu, is the name of the ninth of the Ten Great Grotto Heavens of Taoism.
46. Zichan (580–522 B.C.E.) was a grandee of the state of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn era of the Zhou dynasty, famous for engineering economic and administrative reform in his state.
47. In Sichuan.
48. This refers to the niwan “aperture” at the top of the head, used in esoteric internal-attention exercises in both Chinese and Indian traditions. Niwan is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word nirvana, used in early translations of Buddhist texts but subsequently replaced to avoid confusion with the adopted Taoist usage.
49. Compiler and annotator of Declarations of the Realized. Also called the Recluse.
50. In Henan.
51. Bai zhu, so-called white atractylodes, is perhaps the most mentioned herb in these stories. Various pharmacological actions are attributed to bai zhu: increase in digestive juices, promotion of body weight and muscle strength, reduction of blood sugar, antibacterial, anticoagulant, diuretic, and sedative.
52. Various micas contain as many as thirty-seven minerals, including such essential micronutrients as iron, potassium, and magnesium, but in this type of literature it is not specified what type of mica is used and what processing is applied to make the nutrients available for absorption.
53. In Henan.
54. In Henan.