Tales of the Taoist Immortals (11 page)

The next day, the old man conjured up a pile of feces that was covered with maggots. He picked up three maggots and told Chang-fang to eat them. At this, Chang-fang shuddered. The old man sighed and said, “Your foundation is not strong enough to learn the arts of immortality. You will become a powerful magician and diviner, but you are not destined to attain the highest level of immortality.”

Fei Chang-fang replied, “I don’t mind if I cannot become a high immortal. All I want is to be able to use what I have learned to help others.”

“You have a good heart,” said the old man. “I will give you two gifts.” He handed Chang-fang a bamboo stick and said, “This stick can help you travel thousands of miles in a day. Tap it gently on the ground, say where you want to go, and it will take you there.” Then he handed the young man a gourd and said, “This is my medicinal gourd. It is yours now. In it you will find medicines that can cure all kinds of illnesses.” Then the old man disappeared, never to be seen again.

As Fei Chang-fang walked down the mountain, he said to himself, “I wonder how my parents are doing. I should go home and let them know that I’m still alive.” He tapped the bamboo stick on the ground and spoke the name of his destination. Immediately, he was transported to his parents’ home. He knocked on the door and found his father staring at him.

Chang-fang stared back and thought, “This is strange. My father has aged tremendously.”

He was still staring when the older man exclaimed, “I
must be going insane. I’m seeing a ghost in broad daylight.”

Chang-fang comforted him and said, “I never died. I followed an immortal into the mountains to learn the Taoist arts.”

“But we buried you,” said his father.

“You buried a bamboo stick,” replied the son. “If you don’t believe it, we can open up the grave and find out.”

So Chang-fang led his parents to his grave, dug up the coffin, and opened it. Inside was a bamboo stick.

The old couple arranged a banquet to celebrate their son’s homecoming. When Chang-fang saw his relatives, he was amazed that they had all aged considerably. Astonished, he said, “I’ve only been away for several weeks. How is it that all of you have aged so much.”

His mother replied, “You left us for fifteen years.”

Fei Chang-fang suddenly realized that the weeks that he had spent in the immortal realm were equivalent to fifteen years in the realm of mortals.

After the banquet, he said to his parents, “I have to leave soon because I’ve pledged to use what I have learned to help others. I will try to come back and see you now and then.” The next day, after making arrangements to have someone take care of his parents, he left.

Fei Chang-fang traveled throughout the countryside healing the sick and driving out evil spirits. He dispensed medicine from his gourd, exorcised ghosts, and helped towns and villages ward off floods and droughts.

He arrived in one village at midnight. Unable to find lodgings at the inn, he walked to the mansion of a well-to-do family and knocked on the door. A man with a kindly face opened the gate and said, “No one should be out at this time. Are you lost? Do you need a place to stay?”

“The inns are full,” explained Chang-fang. “Will you let me stay at your house for the night? I’ll gladly pay the expenses.”

The owner of the mansion, whose name was Huan Ching, happened to be interested in the Taoist arts. Seeing that Fei Chang-fang was dressed in the robes of a wandering Taoist healer, he said, “You need not pay me anything. I will be honored to have you in my house.”

The next morning, Huan Ching introduced Fei Chang-fang to his family and served up a sumptuous meal for his guest. While the two men discussed the Taoist arts over food and wine, Chang-fang noticed a dark vapor moving menacingly toward the Huan mansion.

Quickly, he said to his host, “There is a vapor of death coming toward your home. You must take your family and servants and go up to the mountains tomorrow before sunrise. Don’t return home until sunset, or you will all die.”

Huan Ching was puzzled. He said, “All my life I have tried to follow the Tao and help others. Have I done something wrong for such a disaster to come to my family?”

Fei Chang-fang replied, “It is because I know that you are a kind and virtuous man that I’ve given you the warning. There are some things that even the lords of heaven cannot control.”

Huan Ching asked no more. He called his wife, children, and servants together, and said, “Pack some clothes and food. We need to leave for the mountains immediately.”

When the household passed through the town on their way to the mountains, the neighbors laughed and said, “There goes a fool who listens to cheap advice from Taoist magicians.” Huan Ching and his family ignored the jeers and left the village.

The next day after sunset, they returned to find a large
crowd standing outside their house. People were pointing to the stables behind the mansion and whispering to each other, “Did you hear that all the horses and oxen died yesterday? Even the sheep and the chickens in the barns are dead.”

It was only then that Huan Ching realized that he and his family had escaped a major catastrophe. He thanked the lords of heaven and pledged to take offerings to the mountain shrines every year on the ninth day of the ninth month, for that was the day that his household had been spared from death. As the years went by, all the villages and towns in the area made it a custom to visit the mountain shrines on the ninth day of the ninth month.

Although Fei Chang-fang never entered the immortal realm, he lived a long life and never tired of healing and helping those in need. Following his example, many wandering healers began to carry their herbs and medicines in a gourd. And so it was that the gourd became the symbol of those who practiced the healing arts.

F
EI
C
HANG-FANG
lived during the latter part of the Han dynasty (206
BCE
–219
CE
) and is regarded as the patron of healers and herbalists. Huan Ching’s visit to the shrines has become a cultural tradition of China. Today, it is still customary for many Chinese to spend a day in the mountains on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

20

The Sorcerer Strategist

Kiang Tzu-ya

Kiang Tzu-ya was born into a poor family. Abandoned and left to die, he was miraculously kept alive and cared for by dogs, cats, horses, and oxen. One day, a noblewoman, whose family name was Kiang, saw the infant being suckled by a cow and said, “This must be a special child.” She took the infant home, adopted him, and named him Tzu-ya.

The boy grew up to be extraordinary. By the age of ten, he had mastered the arts of military strategy, divination, magic, astronomy, and geography. At eighteen, he left
home to search for teachers to instruct him in the arts of longevity and immortality.

On one of his journeys, Tzu-ya met a celestial lord who told him, “You are not meant to live in the immortal lands. Your destiny is to help end the cruel rule of the Shang emperor. Use your gifts to advise the man who will become the new ruler.”

Kiang Tzu-ya returned home. As he entered the courtyard, a servant ran to him and said, “Duke Chi is waiting for you in the guest reception hall.”

“Tell the duke I won’t be able to see him,” replied Tzu-ya. “I’m going fishing today.”

Far from being angered by Kiang Tzu-ya’s behavior, the duke simply responded to his refusal by saying, “If it is inconvenient for Master Kiang, I will come another day.”

Three times Duke Chi asked to see Kiang Tzu-ya and each time Tzu-ya refused to meet him. On the duke’s fourth visit, Tzu-ya came out. He bowed before his guest, asked for forgiveness, and said, “The fortunes of the nation are a matter of life and death. Before I can offer you my service, I need to know if you are indeed the man destined to be the next emperor.”

Duke Chi was shocked. He had come to ask Kiang Tzu-ya for advice on running the day-to-day affairs of his fief and had not expected to discuss “treasonous” matters. The duke’s reaction confirmed Kiang Tzu-ya’s faith in him. Duke Chi was a benevolent, kind, and humble man who had no ambitions of becoming emperor. Tzu-ya did not want to see one power-hungry ruler replaced by another.

He tried to persuade Duke Chi that it was time to end the rule of the cruel emperor Shang Ts’ou, but the duke was hesitant.

“Many people will die if we fight Ts’ou,” he protested.

“More are dying under his rule,” replied Tzu-ya.

Eventually, it was Shang Ts’ou’s own actions that convinced Duke Chi that the emperor must be removed. Jealous of Chi’s popularity with the nobility and the citizens, Shang Ts’ou had Duke Chi’s son arrested and killed. Then, he summoned the duke and forced him to eat his son’s flesh.

When Duke Chi returned to his fief, he approached Kiang Tzu-ya and said, “It is time to get rid of this evil ruler.”

Duke Chi’s campaign against the emperor is dramatized in the novel
Feng-shen yen-yi (Investiture of the Deities).
The following excerpt from the novel describes how Kiang Tzu-ya used his magic to defeat the evil emperor of Shang.

Tzu-ya instructed his assistant to build a mound about three feet high. When it was completed, Tzu-ya climbed to the top of the mound and undid the knot in his hair. With a sword in his hand, he faced east toward the direction of the K’un-lun Mountains and prostrated. Then he walked the steps of the Big Dipper and began his magic ritual.

Soon a strong wind blew and whistled through the forest. Dust churned up from the ground and nothing could be seen. The sky darkened and the earth rumbled. In the distance, the waves crashed onto the shore and the mountains shook. Bells and chimes on the prayer flags clanged against each other. All who stood nearby were unable to open their eyes.

Far away, in the enemy camp, the weather was warm and there were only small gusts of wind. The commanding generals said among themselves, “This is a good sign. Even the weather is on our side. Our emperor
has the favor of the celestial lords, for they have sent this refreshing wind to cool us on the march.”

However, as the armies of the evil emperor approached Tzu-ya’s camp, the situation changed. Tzu-ya summoned a cold wind, and for three days it blew continuously. The imperial soldiers began to whisper to each other, “We are living in unfortunate times. It is said that the weather will become unpredictable when there are problems in the country.”

An hour after that, a few snowflakes fluttered around. The imperial soldiers began to complain, “We are dressed in summer uniforms. How can we survive this cold?”

Not long after that, the snow became heavy, and the soldiers could hardly see what was in front of them. Now and then, they could hear avalanches crashing down the mountain slopes. The land became a wall of pure white. Wolves howled, their cries coming out of nowhere. The snow soon became ankle-deep, then knee-deep. The progress of the imperial army came to a halt.

The commanding general looked at his lieutenants and said, “I have never seen snow this heavy in the middle of summer.” The general, an old man, was having a hard time enduring the cold. All the soldiers were huddled in heaps, stricken with cold. There was nothing their commanders could do to keep them moving.

Meanwhile, in Tzu-ya’s camp, everyone was prepared for the snow. The soldiers stood in their ranks, grateful they were wearing padded jackets and straw hats. Everyone was awed by Tzu-ya’s power.

Tzu-ya then asked his assistant, “How deep is the snow?”

The young man replied, “In the higher places, it is about two feet, but in the valley the drifts must be at least four or five feet.”

Tzu-ya returned to the mound, undid the topknot in his hair, drew talismans in the air with his sword, and chanted. At once, the snow clouds disappeared and a bright sun shone. The ice and snow melted and a torrent of water rushed down the mountainsides into the valley. Just when the water had formed a lake in the valley, Tzu-ya changed his incantations. He drew another talisman and whipped up a cold wind. The sun disappeared behind ominous black clouds and the water froze immediately.