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13 Zhang Daoling Tests Zhao Sheng Seven Times They are said to have risen to the skies, But no one sees them come back down to earth. Should the sky be torn asunder some day, The air will resound with cries of pain. The above light-hearted quatrain should not be taken seriously, for it was written by Scholar Tang1 of the present dynasty [Ming] in playful derision of immortal beings. Ever since the beginning of the universe, three religions have been in existence: the Supreme Ultimate Lord Lao [Lao Zi] founded Taoism [Daoism], Sakyamuni founded Buddhism, and Confucius Confucianism. Confucianism has produced sages and people of virtue, Buddhism has produced Bodhisattvas and Taoism immortals. Of all the followers of the three religions, Confucians lead prosaic and dull lives, and Buddhists live stoically in self-denial. Only the Taoists, in their quest for immortality and bodily transformation, are carefree and unrestrained. Dear audience, the story that I shall now tell is about how Zhang Daoling tested Zhao Sheng seven times, Zhang Daoling being no less than the very first patriarch of the generations of Taoist celestial masters living on Dragon and Tiger Mountain, and Zhao Sheng his disciple. There is a poem in evidence: Jade is revealed only when hard rocks are split open; Gold is seen only when mud and sand are washed away. Not that the earthbound lack divine aura, But immortals are different at heart. As the story goes, Zhang Daoling, with the courtesy name Fuhan, the first to hold the title of Celestial Master, was a native of the state of Pei and an eighth generation descendant of Zhang Zifang.2 He was born in the tenth year of the Jianwu reign period [c.e. 34] during the rule of Emperor Guangwu of the Han dynasty. Before conceiving him, his mother saw in a dream that the seventh star of the Big Dipper fell from the sky and changed into a man over ten feet tall, who held in his palm a magic pill the size of a chicken egg with a fragrance that assailed her nostrils. She took the pill and swallowed it. When 222 she woke up, she felt a fiery warmth in her abdomen, and her room was permeated with an extraordinary fragrance that lingered for months. This was how she became pregnant. In the tenth month, when the pregnancy reached its full term, Daoling was born in the midst of a dazzling light that suddenly lit up the room in the middle of the night. When seven years old, he could already explicate the Daode jing3 and knew all there was to know about Fuxi’s4 eight trigrams and books on divination. By the time he reached sixteen, he had mastered all of the Five Classics. Nine feet two inches in height, he had an awe-inspiring appearance with his thick eyebrows, broad forehead, ruddy neck, green eyes, high-bridged nose, square jaws, prominent bony ridge extending from between his eyebrows to the top of his head, arms reaching below his kneecaps,5 and a demeanor that was as imposing as that of a dragon or a tiger. He was recommended to the National University for his worthiness and moral integrity. One day he sighed to himself, saying, “A hundred years fly by in an instant like lightning. What if I do attain the highest office there is? It does nothing to prolong life!” Henceforth, he devoted himself to the cultivation of the Tao [Dao; Way] as well as to alchemical experiments in search of an elixir of immortality. Among his fellow students was a Wang Chang, who, deeply convinced of the truth in Daoling’s words, honored Daoling as his mentor and joined him in his journeys to famous mountains in search of the Tao. When they approached Yuzhang Prefecture they came upon a boy in embroidered clothes, who asked them, “What are you two gentlemen’s plans, that you’ve come such a long way to arrive here at this late hour?” Much taken aback, Daoling realized that this boy was no common sort and told him about their wish to seek the Tao. The boy said, “Mortal beings talk all too flippantly about Taoism. In fact, only by following the Yellow Emperor’s nine-crucible method of preparing the elixir of immortality will one be able to achieve ascension to heaven.” Upon the two travelers’ request for advice, the boy intoned the following two lines: Dragon on the...

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