9 HAN XIANGZI’S NAME IS RECORDED AT THE PURPLE OFFICE

Having spent a hundred and two autumns in the world of dust,

He joyfully gathers all the seeds of the mushroom field.

The light arises in the silver sea, Heaven is limitless,

Pneuma is gathered in the Flower Pond, the water flows upstream.

The Golden Tripod is filled with the Dragon and the Tiger,

In the Jade Pot Mercury and Lead are distinguished.

When the elixir is completed, he will soon return to the Isles of Penglai,

Now believing that there is another world hidden within the world of humans.

After Xiangzi had escaped his mortal body and transcended the world, he roamed the mountains at ease and without constraint. One day the two masters Zhong and Lü led him on a journey beyond the seas, traversing famous mountains and visiting the immortals and perfected of many generations, as well as the Daoists of the Penglai Isles. They traveled across the sky mornings and evenings, roaming widely in the clouds, their shapes lost in the universe, their traces hidden in the mountains of Great Earth, gazing at the scenery of the realm of the immortals. Truly,

Their spirits traveled to the Purple Office in the Jasper Pond,

Their names were inscribed in the grottoes of the Cinnabar Terrace.

Then one day, all of a sudden, the Jade Emperor ascended his throne in the Precious Palace of the Dragon Empyrean. Bells rang without being struck, drums sounded without being beaten to summon the celestial immortals of the upper eight grottoes, the divine immortals of the middle eight grottoes, the terrestrial immortals of the lower eight grottoes, and the numberless unassigned immortals. They all arranged themselves in lines and proceeded to the Great Immortality Peach Assembly.

The two masters Zhong and Lü, together with Xiangzi, also left their grotto-heaven, to first have an audience with the Jade Emperor, and then proceed to the Jasper Pool to attend the Assembly. However, when the divine general who guarded the gate of Southern Heaven saw Xiangzi approaching from afar, he locked the gate with his golden key and would not let him in. The other immortals in the group said, “Xiangzi, the Jade Emperor blames us for arriving late and has ordered the gate to be locked and entry to be refused to us. What shall we do?”

“Please, move aside. I shall open the gate of Heaven with my bare hands and let you in,” Xiangzi said.

“Do you possess such powerful magic?” asked Master Zhong.

Xiangzi advanced with the steps of Yu and blew off the golden lock with a breath of perfected pneuma of Former Heaven.¹ The immortals ascended to the Golden Palace, where they saw a magnificent scene:

Jasper Heaven high and wide, the Jade Throne majestic and severe; emperors and kings seated upright, empresses and concubines lined up in orderly ranks. On both sides stars were arrayed in rows, and immortals were in attendance in front and in back. Jade ornaments were wound around the halls; on the Jasper Terrace fluttered colorful festoons. Auspicious clouds hovered; in the Precious Pavilion fragrant smoke stirred the senses. Indistinct the shapes of phoenixes and simurghs; floating and sinking the shadows of gold and jade. Above were set beacon towers, emitting purple lightning of eightfold preciousness. In the middle were arranged several layers of green jade tables, bearing a thousand flowers in blue-green pots. On the feast tables were placed phoenix marrow and dragon liver, monkey lips and bear paws. In the flasks were Precious Pearl and Amber brew, purple wine, and fragrant liqueur. Truly there were precious delicacies of a hundred flavors from the celestial kitchen, as well as all sorts of extraordinary fruits and savory foods from the imperial park.

The Jade Emperor asked, “Who are you that you dare break open Our heavenly gate?”

“We are divine immortals of the upper eight grottoes, come to attend the Great Immortality Peach Assembly,” Master Zhong said.

Opening his golden mouth and showing his silver teeth, the Jade Emperor asked, “There are only seven divine immortals in the upper eight grottoes, but you are eight. Who is this one?”

“My disciple Han Xiang,” Master Zhong answered.

“You and Lü Dongbin have descended into the human world by Our orders. How many humans have you led to complete the Dao? How many living souls have you delivered?” the Jade Emperor said.

“Having received our orders, Lü Dongbin and I descended into the ordinary world,” Master Zhong reported. “Seeing that in Hongzhou a dragon drove people from their lands with a flood, Dongbin flew down and beheaded it. In Western Yue a snake demon riding in the clouds and mists was devouring the common people and harming the crops. I vanquished it and managed to restore peace. Proceeding to Changli County in Yongping Prefecture, we delivered Han Xiang, who has now come for an audience with Your Majesty.”

“We have heard that when one becomes an immortal, all one’s relatives within nine generations ascend to Heaven,” the Jade Emperor said to Xiangzi. “If that were not really so, it would give the lie to all the immortals. Now that you have become an immortal, why didn’t you deliver your relatives and come together with them to Our audience?”

“I received the attentive instruction of the masters Zhong and Lü,” Xiangzi said. “They tested my determination several times before I could complete perfection and realize my reward. My relatives, however, have not yet received an immortal’s instruction by your decree. How could they escape the ordinary world and have an audience with you?”

Master Zhong reported, “The Attendant Great General Chonghezi was banished to earth because, on the third day of the third month, at the Immortality Peach Assembly, he drunkenly fought over an immortality peach with Yunyangzi. In the course of the quarrel he broke a crystal cup and offended the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning. He was reborn as a son of the Han family called Han Yu, the uncle of Han Xiang. After Yunyangzi was banished to the human world, he was born as a son into the Lin family, and is now called Lin Gui. Now their period of banishment is almost over, and both could return to their former positions, except that there is no one to go and deliver them.”

“Since you know everything within a span from five hundred years ago to that far into the future, and thus were aware that Chonghezi’s period of punishment was about to come to an end, why couldn’t you go and deliver him so he could become an immortal, fulfill the Dao, realize his reward, and ascend to the Primordial Center?” the Jade Emperor said.

“Taking the appearance of Daoists, Dongbin and I went to instruct him several times,” Master Zhong said. “However, at present he serves as an official at court, and therefore he is filled with greed, emotional attachment, a short temper, and a desire for wine, sex, and wealth. He wouldn’t agree to change his heart. Therefore we were only able to deliver Han Xiang, who previously had been a crane boy on the banks of the Xiang River in Cangwu Prefecture. By your decree he was given to Han Hui as a son. Fortunately his primordial spirit was not scattered, and his nature remained bright. For this reason, Dongbin and I delivered him and brought him here for an audience with Your Majesty.”

“Since you cultivated yourself at home, why didn’t your uncle join you?” the Jade Emperor asked Xiangzi.

Xiangzi replied, “My uncle Han Yu once said,

“‘The way of Confucius is like the sun in the center of the sky. After the decline of the Zhou dynasty, the death of Confucius, and the burning of his books under the Qin dynasty, Daoism dominated in the Han, and Buddhism in the Wei, Jin, Liang, and Sui dynasties. Among the people of the empire those who did not adhere to Daoism adhered to Buddhism. Acknowledging these teachings as their masters, they made Confucianism a lowly slave. They followed their own teachings and vilified the tradition of Confucius. Adhering to the one and rejecting the other—who will set this right? What Laozi called the Dao was only the Dao as he saw it, and not what I call the Dao. What he called virtue was only virtue as he saw it, and not what I call virtue. The Daoists and Buddhists teach people to reject the idea of ruler and subjects and of father and son, to cease activities which sustain life and seek for some so-called purity and Nirvana. It is fortunate for such doctrines that they appeared only after the time of the Three Reigns, and thus escaped suppression at the hands of Yu and Tang, kings Wen and Wu, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. But it is unfortunate for us that they did not appear before the Three Reigns so that they could have been rectified by those same sages.’²

“Therefore he wouldn’t consent to cultivate himself together with me. In the middle of the night at the third watch I scaled the wall and escaped. Only after I found my two masters Zhong and Lü did I complete my reward.”

“Although Han Yu would not cultivate himself, you should descend to the human world to deliver him so that he may resume his position in Heaven,” the Jade Emperor said.

“I have long harbored this desire, but did not dare act without an imperial decree,” Xiangzi said.

“We bestow upon you three golden writs which give you control, above, of the thirty-three Heavens; in the middle, of good and evil in the human world; and below, of the underworld. Leave forthwith!”

“I cannot,” said Xiangzi.

“We have bestowed upon you the golden writs. What do you mean, you cannot leave?” the Jade Emperor said.

“I cannot leave because I do not have the divine power to penetrate the transformations of yin and yang, nor do I possess the Orthodox One School’s magical technique for beheading demons,” Xiangzi replied.

“We bestow upon you a headdress representing sun and moon, the purple eight trigrams robe of the immortals, and a densely woven flower basket which contains nonfading flowers and fruits of eternal spring; furthermore you shall have a heaven-reaching fisher drum whose two ends represent yin and yang, and two clappers with which you can subdue dragons and tigers. Now you can leave right away,” the Jade Emperor said.

“I still cannot leave,” Xiangzi said. “My uncle Han Yu is a great minister at court and is constantly in the presence of the emperor. Without an official appointment, it will be difficult to deliver him.”

“We enfeoff you as the Immortal of Universal Deliverance Who Opens the Primordium and Performs Magical Techniques, Greatly Initiating Transformation by His Teachings. Now go quickly!”

“I still cannot leave,” said Xiangzi.

“You delay and obstruct left and right and keep on saying that you cannot go. Is it perhaps that you do not wish to deliver Chonghezi?” the Jade Emperor asked.

“How could I dare disobey your command and not deliver my uncle? It is just that when officials move about, a hundred attendants follow them, and when immortals travel, ten thousand spirits protect them. How could I go all alone?”

“We shall order the two generals Ma and Zhao to accompany you and be at your disposal.”

Xiangzi thanked the Jade Emperor, received his orders, and forthwith went to an audience with the Queen Mother of the West. Bowing down he declared, “A thousand years to you! I, the divine immortal Han Xiang of the upper eight grottoes, have received the treasure of a golden writ from the Jade Emperor to go to Changli and deliver my uncle Han Yu, the Attendant Great General Chonghezi, so that he may become an immortal and fulfill the Dao. I have come especially to inform you and to discuss some aspects of this mission.”

The Queen Mother said, “I bestow upon you three golden tablets. The first lets you investigate the thirty-three Heavens, the eighteen levels of Purgatory, good and evil, life and death. The second golden tablet gives you authority over the dragon kings of the four seas, and over the thirty-six celestial generals, who will all follow you and obey your commands. With the third golden tablet you control wind and clouds, thunder and rain, the city and earth gods of all districts, regions, counties, and cities, as well as the Yama Emperors of the ten courts of Purgatory. Now go forth carefully and do not tarry.”

Having thanked the Queen Mother, Xiangzi finished the Immortality Peach Banquet with the other immortals. Then he gathered up clouds and mists, mounted them with his sleeves flying, and descended to the world of dust.

Xiangzi thought to himself, “I am not afraid of a thousand people looking, but I am afraid of one person seeing. If someone were to recognize me as a divine immortal, it would startle the whole prefecture and divulge heavenly secrets. Then it would be difficult to deliver my uncle.” So he changed into a yellow-faced and skinny Daoist, unspeakably ugly, and sat down cross-legged under a weeping willow.

It so happened that two shepherds, one called Wry Neck Zhang, the other Straight Leg Li, were herding oxen in a nearby meadow. In the distance ahead of them, they saw a ray of light shooting up to Heaven.

Wry Neck Zhang said, “Elder Brother Li, I think that ray of light there originates from a hidden deity. Our good fortune has arrived!”

“It’s no deity,” Straight Leg Li said.

“Could it be a will-o’-the-wisp?” Wry Neck Zhang speculated.

“Elder Brother, it isn’t a demonic fire either,” Li said. “The red and sparkling light of a clear early morning is the sun-wheel just entering from Fusang and illuminating the earth with its dazzling light. This is called daybreak. If it is a bluish and shining light in the evening that moves back and forth above the ground, now closer, now further away—that’s a demonic fire. This light now is a shiny yellow, and it penetrates the Heavenly Court. Besides, it’s just noontime. From these circumstances we can tell that a divine immortal is in that place.”

“You’re right,” Wry Neck Zhang said. “Let’s go and look for him. Wouldn’t it be great if we requested immortalhood and inquired after the Dao with him?”

“Sounds good,” Straight Leg Li said. The two left their oxen behind and hurried forward hand in hand.

When they reached the place, they really saw a Daoist sitting cross-legged under a weeping willow. What did that Daoist look like?

On his head he wore a court official’s cloth of black silk, with two rings in the shape of an old dragon’s eyes dangling from the back, burnished as bright as sun and moon. From above were suspended two green gauze bands representing yin and yang. He was dressed in a purple ribboned robe, inlaid with the seven stars, and adorned with the patterns of the Northern Dipper and the Eight Trigrams. Around his waist was tied a Lügong sash made of the beards of nine dragons woven together into a double grain ear pattern. His feet were shod in flat-soled³ boots for climbing mountains, traversing seas, and walking on clouds and mists. In his hand he held a brightly polished fisher drum made from a sturdy pine branch that had braved the wind. His appearance was that of an itinerant Daoist, but his clothes were those of a companion of the immortals, who drinks dew and feeds on clouds.

The two shepherds came forward, knocked their heads, and said, “Greetings to the divine immortal!”

“How did you recognize me as a divine immortal?” Xiangzi asked.

“From afar we saw above your head ten thousand rays of rosy light, as well as auspicious clouds spreading over a thousand miles. Thus did we know that you are a divine immortal,” Wry Neck Zhang replied.

Xiangzi laughed and said to himself, “My uncle, who studied and passed the examinations, didn’t realize that Zhong and Lü were divine immortals, but these lowly shepherds recognized me as one. That’s really strange.” Then he called to the shepherds, “I have come from the Zhongnan Mountains and am hungry and thirsty from walking. In this basket I have a gold-threaded jade bowl. If you take it down to the brook and fetch me some water to drink, I promise to deliver you.”

“Elder Brother Zhang, I’ll go fetch the water,” Straight Leg Li called. “You stay here and watch the divine immortal. Don’t let him get away.”

“Very well, but hurry a bit,” Wry Neck Zhang replied. So he remained behind and guarded Xiangzi with unflinching eyes, never turning his head away.

Xiangzi thought to himself, “He may have recognized me, but now I shall smear my face with some earth and ashes and change into an old man who looks already more like a ghost than a human being. Let’s see if he still knows me then.” When Zhang was distracted for a moment, Xiangzi changed into an old man:

On his head he had a rotten headcloth, askew on the left and crumpled on the right. He wore a torn cloth jacket, patched in a thousand places. In front he had fastened a goat skin, on his back hung a piece of felt, with various parts of his body showing through the gaps. Around his waist he had tied a rotten grass cord, barely hanging together by shreds. His feet were shod in hempen shoes with barely an upper or a sole remaining. His face was like chicken skin, his eyes sticky with mucus. Snot hung long from his nose and saliva spurted from his mouth. What a farce! The eight hundred years of Patriarch Peng after all cannot compare to a tiny fraction of Chen Tuan’s precious golden elixir!

When Straight Leg Li came with the water, he didn’t see the divine immortal anymore; instead there was a half-dead old man sitting under the tree. He beat his breast, stomped his foot, and said angrily to Wry Neck Zhang, “I wasted all that effort fetching water, and now the divine immortal has vanished. Whom shall I give it to now?”

“I stood here all the time and didn’t even move my head. I don’t know who exchanged that old man for the divine immortal,” Wry Neck Zhang said. “As you’ve already fetched the water, let’s give it to the old man to drink—it’ll count as a good deed for us.”

“I’d rather pour it out than give it to him to drink,” said Straight Leg Li, bursting with anger. “How much merit could we gain from letting him have it?”

“Haven’t you read that the Five Hegemons recorded in their pact of alliance that one should respect elders and be kind to the young?⁴ Let’s give this bowl of water to the old man to drink. Why do you insist on pouring it out and spoiling it?” asked Wry Neck Zhang.

“Someone has switched the divine immortal, but we still have this bowl, which should be worth some pieces of silver. Should we break it in half and divide it up, or should we sell it whole and share the proceeds?” Straight Leg Li said.

“You shouldn’t talk of dividing it up,” said Wry Neck Zhang. “Objects belonging to immortals are hard to come by. Let’s take turns keeping it in our homes, as a treasure for the protection of our households.”

When Xiangzi saw the two of them arguing, he called, “Shepherds, you are mistaken. If I’m not a divine immortal, where else is there one?”

“Shut your trap, you old wreck!” the shepherds scolded him. “You’re like neither man nor ghost, and should have died a long time ago. To be old and not die is to be a pest, not a divine immortal!”⁵

“Shepherds, people of the world cannot be judged by their faces, the water of the ocean cannot be measured with a grain peck,” Xiangzi told them. “Confucius said, ‘I judged people by their appearance—and made a mistake in the case of Ziyu.’⁶ How can you be so sure that the old man you see before you is not an immortal? So I ask you, why are you looking for the immortal?”

The shepherds said, “We wish to cultivate ourselves with him and become men at ease and happy with their lives.”

“That Daoist just now was one of my disciples. If you agree to follow me, leave your families and cultivate yourselves, I will deliver you so that you can become immortals,” Xiangzi said.

The two shepherds clapped their hands and laughed. “Your own life is a candle in the wind. In the morning you don’t know whether you’ll see the evening, yet you think of delivering us—that’s really too much of a blessing for us!”

“When a ripe yellow plum falls to the ground it makes a full sound. When the green plum falls to the ground—thump!—it splits apart. I may be old, but fortunately I started cultivating myself early, otherwise things would look even worse for me by now. How dare you bully an old man?” Xiangzi said.

“Stop bothering us with your chatter, old man,” the two shepherds said. “Go home and take a rest. We’ll come along in twenty or thirty years to leave the family with you.”

“If you are unwilling to cultivate yourselves at your age, when do you plan to do so? I am afraid you won’t reach my age, and wouldn’t that then have been a waste of valuable time?”

The two shepherds put their heads together and sighed, “We are truly out of luck. First a divine immortal vanishes, and now we have to suffer this old fool’s babbling.”

Xiangzi took advantage of their distraction and changed back into his previous appearance, sitting completely still. When Straight Leg Li lowered his head and looked, he clapped his hands and called out, “Elder Brother, is that the divine immortal come back? But who has switched him with the old man?”

“Elder brother, you don’t know the divine immortals’ art of transformation,” Wry Neck Zhang hastened to tell him. “They want to see if we have the disposition of immortals and the bones of the Dao, so they transform themselves to test our minds. You shouldn’t have scolded that old man just now.”

Straight Leg Li thereupon bowed with full courtesy and offered the water to Xiangzi, saying, “When a divine immortal receives a gift of water, he repays it by nourishing and preserving the giver. I brought water for you to drink—how will you deliver me?”

“I will deliver you by having you both leave the family,” Xiangzi said.

“What’s the good of leaving the family? It would be better if you could make sure that I will become an official,” Wry Neck Zhang said.

“So you want me to make you an official?” replied Xiangzi. “But your disheveled hair is not fit to wear a cap of black silk. Your meager waist is not fit to be girded with a golden belt. Your naked feet will not be shod with black court boots, and your blackened hands will not get to hold the ivory tablet. It is better for you to remain here among the soft grass and moss, dressed in rags and sleeping on the back of an ox, or sing your tuneless songs as you hold the ox’s muzzle. One morning King Yama will summon you and ghosts will come to fetch you. Your eyes will stare empty, your body will seize up, and you will die. Why even think of becoming an official?”

“You are right—I wish to follow you and leave the family,” Wry Neck Zhang said.

“No hurry,” Xiangzi said. “Look—another immortal is on his way to this tree.”

When the two turned their heads to look, Xiangzi disappeared into thin air.

Wry Neck Zhang stomped his feet and called out, “Elder Brother, this wasn’t a divine immortal, it was a daytime ghost.”

“Are you sure?” Straight Leg Li said.

“A divine immortal wouldn’t tell lies. Only these daytime ghosts play tricks on people. Without any scruples, they just trick people to death with impunity.”

“We’ve wasted half the day on that ghost—let’s just go back to herding our oxen,” Straight Leg Li said. This poem describes it well:

The mountains have roots, the waters their sources,

So it truly was a divine immortal after all.

Just because he wouldn’t clearly explain himself,

He mistakenly rejected many living beings.

Where did Xiangzi vanish to? Listen to the next chapter.