Pbysical Immortality in the Early Nineteenth-Century Novel Ching-hua-yüan

By HoPeng-Yoke (Griffith University, Brisbane)

and Yu Wang-luen

(University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur)

1. Introduction The doctrine of physical immortality has exerted a profound influence

in China ever since the Warring States period (480 B. C. to 221 B. C.). The yearning for this blissful state in the minds of many an emperor, and the consequent attempts to acquire the elixir of life are widely known 1• The idea of immortality in popular thought in Han China has been studied by Yü Ying-shih 2• Its influence on the poets of T'ang and Sung China is now being studied in Kuala Lumpur 3• And Liu Ts'un-yan has investigated the influence of Taoist thought on the neo-Confucianist elite of the Ming dynasty 4• However, very little attention has been devoted so far to the influence of the Taoist notion of physical immortality on the Chinese novel.

Contemporary scholars have already noted the influence of Taoism gene­rally on Chinese fiction, but have neglected the specific influence of the concept of physical immortality 5• Closely linked with Taoism, the idea of

1 The influence of the concept of physical immortality on early Chinese emperors, such as Ch'in-shih-huang-ti and Han Wu-ti is fully described in Joseph NEEDHAM, Science and Civilisation in China, (Cambridge University Press, in press) V. See also Ho PING-Yti (Ho Peng Yoke) & Joseph NEEDHAM, "Elixir Poisoning in Mediaeval China•, Janus, 48 (1959), 221-251; and Ho PENG Yo:r:E, "The search for perpetual youth in China, with special reference to Chinese alchemy•, Papers on Par Bastern History, (Canberra: the Australian National University, March, 1973). An account of the early alchemists is given in CH'EN P'AN, "Chan-kuo Ch'in-Han-chien fang­shih k'ao-lun [11", Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 17 (1948), 26---27.

t See YING-SHIH Yu, "Life and Immortality in the mind of Han China-, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 25 (1964-1965), 80-122.

s See Ho PENG Yon, Gou THEAN CHYE and BEDA LIM, •tu Yu, the poet-alchemist•, Occasional Paper No. 13, Faculty of Asian Studies, the Australian National Univer­sity, (Canberra, 1972). Studies on the alchemical poems of Li Po, Chang Chi, Po Chü-i, and Su Shih are under progress at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

4 See Lro Ts'uN-YAN, •wang Yang-ming and Taoism•, Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University ol Hong Kong, 3 (1970), 489--508; "Taoism and Neo-Confucianists in Ming time•, Hsin-Ya Hsüeh-pao, (1967), 1-38; and "The Penetration of Taoism into the Ming Neo-Confucianist Elite•, T'oung Pao, 57 (1972), 31-102.

5 See especially Lru Ts'UN-YAN, Buddhist and Taoist influences on Chinese novels, (Wiesbaden, 1962) I. Some discussion of Taoist influence in certain specified novels ca~ b~ f~und in Lu HsCN, Chung-kuo hslao-shuo-shih lüeh, (reprinted Hong Kong; Hs~n-1 eh ?-pan-she, 1967); KAo Hsi-TSENG [!J, • Hsi-yu-dti li ti tao-chiao ho tao-shih •, Hs1-yu-du yen-dtiu lun-wen-dtl, (Peking; Tso-chia ch'u-pen-she, 1957}, 153-157; et al. Th~re are also Japanese works like OGAWA KAND [IJ •sangoku engi ni okeru bukkyo to dökyö•, Töhögaku, 2 (1951), 74-77; and KUI\AMJTSU RYOHEI [41, "Min-Shih

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33

physical immortality found its way into many popular Chinese novels written before the Chinese Revolution. In the sixteenth-century novel Feng­shen yen-i for example, Yang Chien, Li Ching, bis three sons, and several colleagues-in-arm, finally succeed in attaining the state of physical immor­tality without having to go through the agony of death, and on one occasion the "Lamp-bearing Adept" Jan-teng Tao-jen 151 restores Wu-wang to life by feeding him with an elixir 8• In the Hsi-yu-chi another sixteenth-century novel, Sun Wu-k'ung becomes indestructible after stealing and eating the gold elixirs prepared by the holy immortal T'ai-shang Lao-dlün (eJ (i. e. Lao Tzu), and on another occasion he brings about the resurrection of the King of Crow-cock (Wu-dli 171) Kingdom by putting into the mouth of the latter's mortal remain one pill of ninefold cyclically-transformed gold elixir, which he obtained from the same holy immortaF. The seventeenth-century Chin­ku ch'i-kuan includes a story about a wealthy merchant, cheated of bis gold by a dlarlatan who takes the guise of an almernist 8• Even in the popular Hung-lou-meng, it was feit necessary to introduce a dlaracter prac­tising the art of alchemy: namely, Chia Ching 181 ' ·

The Hung-lou-meng first appeared in print in the year 1765. At about this time was born Li Ju-dlen, who later wrote the Ching-hua-yüan 191 in about 1820. A study of this 1\0vel shows that the Taoist idea ofphysicalimmortality was still a subject of great interest among the people of early nineteenth­century China.

Li Ju-chen (c. 1763 - c. 1830) was born in Ta-hsing district in Chih-li province (i. e. modern Peking in Hopei province). At about the age of twenty he followed his elder brother Li Ju-huang 1101 to Hai-chou district (modern Tung-hai district) in Kiangsu province. Between the age of thirty-eight and forty-eight he served as an assistant magistratein Honan province. Then he retired to Hai-dlou for the remaining years of his life.

In his youth he studied for a period of about eleven years under the eminent Ch'ing scbolar, Ling T'ing-kan 1111 (1757-1809), an expert on the classics, a phonologist, a mathematican and a calendar-expert 10• Li Ju-men later befriended many sdlolars, among whom were specialists in phonology. The name of his brother-in-law, Hsü Kuei-lin 1121 (1778--1821), a mathemati­cian and phonologist, is included in the renowned collection of biographies

shösetsu ni okeru shükyösei no igi", Selnangakuin Daigaku bunrl ronshu, 1 (1967), 57-82.

• See Feng-shen yen-1 (reprinted, Peking; Tso-ehia ch'u-pan-she, 1955), 1012. 1 In Hsi-yu-dti eh. 1 and eh. 39. See Artbur WALEY, The Adventures ol Monkey,

(London, 1942), 57 and 72; and 197-200. 8 In Chin-ku dt'i-kuan (Peking; Pao-wen-t'ang ed.) eh. 39. See translation by

Gladys YANG, The Courtesan's Jewel Box; Chinese Storles ol the Xth-XVIIth centuries (Peking, 1957).

• See for example, Hung-Jou-meng, (Hongkong; Union Press, 1961}, 15 and McHuoH, Florence and McHuou, lsabel, The Dream ol the Red Chamber (tr. from the Germanversion of Franz Kuhn), (New York, 1958), 17.

11 Ch'ou-jen-dtuan (Shanghai; Commercial Press 1935 ed.)

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of mathematicians and astronomers, the Ch'ou-jen-chuan (ta) 11• As a result of his interest in phonology and the wide interests he acquired through association with these scholars, he paid no attention to the study of the so-called 'eight-legged essays' (pa-ku wen), a prerequisite for the civil­service examination, which he eventually failed. It Iooks as though he took the opportunity of writing the Ching-hua-yüan to show his disenchantment with the whole civil-service examination system, and to demonstrate his own k.nowledge, which covered a wide range of subjects, including astro­logy, music, medicine, mathematics, rhetoric, poetry, calligraphy, painting, gardening, chess, and parlour games.

Li Ju-chen wrote three books. The first, Li-shih yin-chien l141, a book on phonology, was published in 1810 and the second, Shou-tzu-p'u l151, a book on dless, in 1817. His last book Ching-hua-yüan, a novel, was first published in 1828. A selective translation of this novel by Lin Tai-yi, has recently been published 12•

The Ching-hua-yüan teils how the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers incurs the displeasure of the Lady-of-the-Moon at a celestial banquet by refusing her request to mäke all the flowers bloom together, and how the fairy unwittingly pledges that she will live in the 'bitter sea of transmigration', should the hundred flowers ever bloom all at the same time. The Lady-of­the-Moon remembers this promise, and when the Woman Spirit of the star Antares is about to be reincamated into the human world as the ernpress Wu Tse-t'ien (reigned 684 to 704), she instigates her to order the hundred flowers to bloom simultaneously. The imperial order is made one winter day when her majesty is overcome by wine in her palace garden 18• At the time the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers is away playing chess in the cave of another Fairy, Ma Ku (ttJ. The subordinate fairies in charge of the individual flowers obey the imperial order and make the hundred flowers all bloom together. Whereupon the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers and the fairies of the indi­vidual flowers are sent down into the mundane world as a punishment for not observing the proper seasons.

The Fairy-of-the Hundred-Flowers is reborn as a daughter of T'ang Ao l201 under the name T'ang Hsiao-shan l211, while the other flower-fairies are rebom into families in different places inside and outside China. Tang Ao isslandered after his success in the civil-service examination and his name is withdrawn from the pass Iist. He then develops an interest in Taoist immortality. In a temple he dreams of a holy immortal, who tells him to set

u Ibid, 51.686-689. ~: LIN TAI-n, Plowers ln the Mfrror, (University of California Press, 1965).

K See Chlng-hua-yuan, (Peking; Tso-c:hia ch'u-pan-she, 1955: reprinted Hong ong; Chunghua Book Co., 1965; hereafter CHY) eh. 4. The author must have

derive~ t~is. sto~ from the Ch'aan-T'ang shih-hua (11) (Chin-tal ml-shu l17J ed.) 1. lla. Thts mc1dent ts mentioned in earlier novels such as the HsOeh Tlng-shan cheng­hsl (18] (Taipei; Wen-bua Book Co., 1971 ed) 15.115.

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35

oft on a sea-voyage to look for twelve famous flowers. Without understand­ing at first that these flowers are actually the reineamatians of Flower­Fairies, he sets out on his voyage by accornpaning his brother-in-law Lin Chih-yang 1221 and an experienced traveller by the name To Chiu-kung (!31,

In his travel Tang Ao discovers and eats several varieties of elixir plant and cornes across twelve talented girls in overseas countries, whom he helps to return to China. Many c:hapters in the novel are devoted to descrip­tions of the different peoples and custorns in these strange places. At last he comes to the Hsiao P'eng-lai 1241 rnountain, where he leaves the party and stays to become a holy immortal.

T' ang Hsiao-shan, rnoved by filial piety, goes on an expedi tion to the Hsiao P'eng-lai rnountain in searc:h of her father. On her way she meets with rnany adventures and also encounters sorne of the reincamated Flower­Fairies who have not yet returned to China. On reac:hing her destination she receives, through a woodcutter, a Ietter frorn her father advising her to c:hange her narne to Tang Kuei-c:h'en l251 and to return to China in order to take the civil-service examination under this new name.

Tang Kuei-c:h'en, tagether with forty-four other reincarnated fairies, takes the civil-service exarnination during the reign of the ernpress Wu Tse-t'ien, and passes with flying colours, securing all the top places in the pass Iist. To celebrate their success these women sc:holars hold a grand party, at which they dernonstrate their talents in poetry, astrology, rnathernatics, parlour games, c:hess, and other skills. This in effect is a reunion of the Flower­Fairies in their reincarnated forrns. At the close of the party a fernale holy immortal pays thern a visit and hints at their future destinies.

Then cornes a revolt against the ernpress Wu Tse-t'ien, in favour of the restoration of the Tang emperor, Chung-tsung (succeeded 684, deposed the same year, restored and reigned 705 to 709). Thirty-five reincarnated fairies campaign with the army that is fighting for the restoration of the deposed ernperor. Sorne of thern lose their lives in battle and the husbands of two attain translation to the company of holy irnrnortals, but the story ends without our being told exactly what happens to the others. The author pro­mised to write rnore about thern in a sequel, but this was prevented by his death.

2. Holy immortals in the Ching-hua-yüan The Ching-hua-yüan begins with a reference to the three fairy islands of

P'eng-lai, Fang-dlang and Ying-chou l2'1 u. These are the Iands of the holy irnrnortals rnentioned in the Shan-hai-ching and the Shih-chi, the discovery of which was so eagerly desired by the ernperor Ch'in shih-huang-ti (reigned 221 B. C. to 210 B. C.) 115 • Elixir plants and fruits were said to abound in these

14 See CHY, 1. 15 See Shih-cbi (llth-century Ching-yu edition, reprinted Taipei, 1971), 28.7b.

These three fairly islands appear also in early sources like the Shan-hai-dting,

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36

fairy islands, one of whidl, P'eng-lai, is taken as the starting point of the story in the Ching-hua-yüan. As we have seen, a woman immortal, the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers (Pai-hua hsien-tzu), who lives in a cave on this island, forms the main dlaracter of the novel.

The birthday-celebration banquet attended by the Fairy-of-the-Hundred­Flowers isthat of the Mother-Empress (Wang Mu}, a very important Taoist personality who features in a story of the travel of the Chou Mu Wang to the 'westem region during the tenth century B. C. 18 Wang Mu's birthday is supposed to fall on the third day of the third moon in the lunar calendar and the celebration in her honour on that day is known as the 'Festival of the Flat Peaches' (p'an-t'ao sheng-hui rs•I). This festival is mentioned much ear­lier in other novels; in the sixteenth century Wu Ch' eng-en popularised it in the Hsi-yu-chi 17• The K'un-lun mountain, where the party is held, had also been long considered by the Taoists an abode of the holy immortals; it is mentioned in the Ch'ien-Han-shu, the Shan-hai-ching, and many other sources 18•

At the banquet the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers speaks to the Fairy-of­the-Hundred-Plants (Pai-ts'ao hsien-tzu) concerning some hidden message contained in a mysterious jade tablet rat~) tt~. The word yü has often been used with a Taoist nuance, in such terms as Yü-Huang (Jade-Emperor) of Yü-Ti (Jade-King), used for the emperor who ruled the heavens; Yü-dling (Jade-Capital), denoting the city where the emperor of the heavens lived; Yü-dli 1401 (Jade-Satchel) or Yü-ts'e I411 (Jade-Documents), referring to Taoist books; and Yü-dliang I421 (Jade-Broth) or Yü-yeh [.sJ (Jade-liquid), meaning a jade potion that was used as an elixir. The term Yü-pei [St~J (Jade-Tablet)

(Lung-hsi-ching-she tsung-shu lt7J ed.) 12.6; Shih-chou-dt1 (!8), (Ku-dtln l-sh1h [!11] ed.) 2b. & 9a; and Shih-1-dti 1301 (Ku-chin i-shih ed.) 1.8. For a description of these islands see, for example, Joseph NEEDHAM, Science and Civilisation in China, (Cambridge, 1956) II, 240--241, and WERNER, E.T.C., A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology, (New York, 1961; hereafter WERNER) 372.

te For an account of this ancient mother goddess see Mu T'ien-tzu chuan (31)

(Tao-tsang ed.) eh. 3, passim; Han Wu-ti nei-chuan (Tao-tsang ed.) 1-26; Shan-hai­ching, 12.1 & 16.7; and Hsi-wang-mu chuan [3!) (Wei-chin hsiao-shuo ta-kuan [33) ed.). 1.11. See also Joseph NEEDHAM, Science and Civilisation in China, II, 138, which refers to the works of DUBs and GILES; and WERNER, 163-164.

17 CHY, 2. See Hsi-yu-dt1, (Hong Kong; Commercial Press, 1961) 5.48-54 and Arthur WALn, The Adventures of Monkey, 54 ff. for an account of the Peach Banquet l351. See also WERNER, 164.

1~ CHY, 2. See Ch'ien-Han-shu, (Sung Ch'un-hua ed.; repr. in Po-na pen 25B. 15a, whlCh speaks about the 'Hanging Garden' (hsüan-p'u (38)) (in the K'un-lun Mountain); Shan-hai-ching, 2.21a and 16.7a; Shih-1-chi, 10.1-2a; Mu T'ien-tzu chuan, 1.3a; and Sh.en-i-ching l37J (Han-wei ts'ung-shu [381 ed.), Hsi-huang-ching, 8 & Chung-huang­dung, 13. See also WERNER, 234.

111 CHY, 2.

C27) filiit~t?if:&t (28) +?Jt~~e (29) tJA,-~~ (3oJ ~:il~e C3tJ t~~-rf-'J (32) ~.3:-fift (33) a:sm-'J'~*• (34) !ltJ~Jm-t-C3sJ flt4~1t (36) ~lil (37) -t$J4*~ (38) ~••• (39) Ji~ (40)Z! (41) fflt (42) ~ (43) ~

31

itself appears in the title of a Taoist book, T' ai-eh' ing yü-pei-tzu I«J in the Taoist Patrology (Tao-tsang ed.)

Nearly all the guests present at the banquet of Wang Mu can be traced to a Taoist origin. The more obvious examples are Lao-chün (i. e. Lao-tzu), P'eng Tsu l451, who was believed to have lived for eight hundred years before his transfiguration to the state of immortality, and Liu Hai-ch'an [461 a well­known Sung Taoist, the founder of the Southem School of Taoism 20• Chang Hsien l51J is probably the name of an immortal who blessed his devotees with male offspring, although one could interpret the two words in a wider sense meaning 'the Holy Immortal Chang', in which case one of the many Taoist immortals with the surname Chang could be intended; such as Chang Tao­ling, Chang Kuo, and Chang Po-tuan l581 21• Yüan Nü l661 must be the goddess Hsüan Nü l671, who, according to the Hsüan-yüan pen-chi [681, taught the Yellow Emperor military strategy 22• The Lady-of-the-Moon (Ch'ang 0 (691),

the Weaving-Damsel (Chih Nü 1701), and Ma Ku l191 are three other popular goddesses in Chinese folklore 23 • The three lmmortals of Bliss, Emoluments

10 Information on the Patriarch of Taoism, Lao-tzu, can be found, for example, in the Lieh-hsien-chuan !41J (Tao-tsang ed.) 2.4b; Ling-pao chen-Iing-wei-yeh t'u !48]

(Chin-tai mi-shu ed.) 13a; Hsieh Shou-h'ao, T'ai-shang hun-yuan Lao-tzu shih­lüeh 1481 (Tao-tsang ed.); and WERNER, 240-241. P'eng-tsu is mentioned in Taoist hagiographies, like the Sou-shen-chi !501 (Chin-tai mi-shu ed.) 1.2a; Shen-hsien­chuan 1511, (I-men kuang-tu 1521 ed.) 1.2-5; and the T'ai-p'ing kuang-chi !531 (Lei-shu Hui-yao ed. Taipei; Yi-wen yin-shu-kuan.) 2.1-5. See also WERNER, 431. Liu Hai­dl'an was the tzu of Liu Ts'ao 1541, the founder of the Southern School of Taoism (nan-tsung) in the 11th century. For further accounts on him see Ch'en Chih-hsü 1551, Shang-yang-tzu chin-tan ta-yao Jieh-hsien-chih !561 (Tao-tsang ed.) · No. 1055 in WIE­GER. L., Le Canon Taoiste (Patrologie), (Hsienhsien, 1911), 2a; and WERNER 255-256.

tt CHY, 4. For an account of the immortal Chang Hsien see Chin-t'ai chi-wen 1591 (Pao-yen-t'ang mi-chl 1601 ed.), 2. He also appears in a popular novel Hsüeh Ting-shan cheng-hsi 1181 67.157. Chang Tao-ling was the founder of Taoism as an organised religion. For bis hagiography see Yün-chi ch'i-dt'ien (61] (Tao-tsang ed.) 109. 18a-21a; and Shen-hsien chuan 4.7-9. Chang Kuo was one of the Eight lmmortals. For bis hagiography see Yün-chi ch'i-ch'ien 113. 21a-22b. Chang Po-tuan was the author of the Wu-chen p'ien 1621 and the Chin-tan szu-pai-tzu (83) and an eminent personality in the Southern School of Taoism in Sung China. See Liu Ts'un-yan, •Tao-tsang pen Wu-chen-p'ien san-chu pien-wu• 1"1 Tung-hsi wen-hua 1651, 15 (1968), 33-41.

n Hsüan was used in the personal name of the emperor K'ang-hsi and con­squently became a 'taboo word' (hui-tzu) in the Mandlu period. 1t was replaced by the word yüan. Yüan Nü must therefore be identifiable with Hsüan Nü. For further information on Hsüan Nü see for example Yün-chi ch'i-ch'ien, 100. 16b-17b and 114, passim; and WERNER, 11.

23 CHY, 4. For further information on Ch'ang 0, the Lady-of-the-Moon, see Huai-nan-tzu, (Han Wei tsung-shu ed.) 6. 11a, Sou-shen-chi 14.6; and WERNER, 43. The Weaving-Damsel, Chih-nü, according to the Shih-chi, 27.4b, was the grand-

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38

and Longevity (Fu, Lu and Shou 1711) had been featured already in earlier novels, like the Hsi-yu-chi, and so had Hung Hai-erh 1721 24• Mu Kung 1751 and the two Immortals of Harmony, Ho 1781 also have a Taoist origin 25• However, the Immortals of Wealth and Happiness, Ts'ai and Hsi, do not often appear in Chinese stories 21• In Chinese fiction there are two gods who can move about with great speed on 'wheels of wind and fire' (feng-huo-lun l851): namely Nata (No-dla 1881) and Hung Hai-erh, but in the Ching-hua-yüan the author has given the same magical powers to three other gods or goddesses: namely Chin T'ung-erh l871, Ch'ing Nü-erh and Yü Nü-erh 188117• Theseare the

daughter of the Heavenly Emperor, being the goddess of the star Vega. See also WERNER, 73-74. For the goddess Ma Ku, who keeps four-inch-long finger-nails, see T'ai-p'ing yü-lan, (Kuo-hsüeh chi-pen ts'ung-shu ed. Taipei, Hsin-Hsing Book Co. 1970) 370, 9B: and Werner, 199-210.

u CHY, 4. Hung Hai-erh also features in pages 765, 767, and 769. In the Hsi-yu­chi, eh. 26, Sun Wu-k'ung in a rage destroys the tree which bears immortal fruits jen-shen kuo [73JJ belanging to the Patriarch of the Earthly Immortals, Chen-yüan• hsien [74), After promising the latter to restore life to the tree he travels to distant places to Iook for some one who might come to his help. He tries the three Immor­tals of Fu, Lu, and Shou, but they confess that their power is insufficient to rivive a dead immortal tree. On another occasion Tripitaka and his three disciples are held up by Hung Hai-erh, whose magic power of emitting fi.re and smoke is too much even for Sun Wu-k'ung to overcome. The Bodhisattva Kuan-yin at last comes to the rescue and brings Hung Hai-erh under submission. See Hsl-yu-chi, eh. 25, 26. For Fu-shen, Lu-shen and Shou-hsing seealso WERNER, 141, 183 & 431.

!5 CHY, 4. According to the T'ai-p'ing kuang-chi, 1.5, Mu Kung, also known as Tung Wang-fu F71 and Tung Wang-kung [781, is the god of the east; see also Shen-1-ching p. 1 and WERNER, 530. Ho and Ho are names of two immortals, whose original names were Han-sban 1791 and Shih-te 1801 respectively. Both of them were Buddhist monks, but were later granted these names when they were thought to have become immortals. See Shen-seng chuan [811 (Ku-cnin i-shih ed.) 6 7b-9b; and Hsl­hu yu-lan dtih-yu 1811 (Shanghai; Chung-hua book Co., 1960) 23 413 However, the two names are sometimes combined to give the name of a diety, called Ho-ho shen 1831. Obviously the Ching-hua-yüan is referring to two rather than one immortal. See also WERNER, 158.

28 CHY, 4 regards the immortals of Wealth and Happiness, tagether with the immortals of Bliss, Emoluments, and Longevity, as star deitles (hslng-man [NJ). These two deities, Wealth and Happiness, do not seem to featu.re often in other Chinese novels. The deity of Wealth is still worshipped nowadays by Chinese who pray for wealth, but the deity of Happiness is seldom heard of. See Wemer 161; & 514-516.

27 CHY, 4. For a detailed study of No-cha or Nata see Lru Ts'UN·YAN, Buddhist and Taoist lnlluences on Chinese novels, (Wiesbaden, 1962) chapter 11, passim. The Golden Lad fairy, Chin T'ung and the Jade Maiden, Yü Nü, were two atten­dants of the mother goddess Hsi Wang Mu. They featured often in Yüan and Ming dramas; for example Chia Chung-ming's (81) "T'ieh-kuei Li tu Chin T'ung Yil Nü l10J". Se~ T'ai-po cbeng-yin-p'u (11) (Lu-kuel Pu ed., Reprinted, Shanghai; Ku-tien wen­hsueh dl u-pan she, 1957); and Liu Tui's (II) "Chin-t'ung yü-nu ch'iao hung chi (Ia]•

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39

guests at the celestical banquet of Wang Muts. Holy immortals come into the story every now and then. We read about

T'ang Ao's intention to search for the holy immortals in order to learn the way to immortality (ch'iu hsien fang Tao 11151) 21• In one place are mentioned the names of Ho-shang Kung 11181 (the Venerable of the River) and T' ao Hung­ching 11171, both of whom have long been regarded by the Taoists as eminent immortals 80• In another place P'eng Tsu is said to have lived up to 800 years and the name of Tung-fang Shuo 11011 also occurs 81 • On one occasion Lin Chih-yang 1221 reports a dream predicting that he will be saved by a holy immortal 32• In another T'ang Ao remarks that there are no holy immortals with bound feet 88• After T'ang Ao has become an immortal a~ Hsiao P'eng-

(Chung-kuo LJ-tai hsl-ch'ü hsüan ed. Hongkong; Shanghai book Co., 1962) 418-496. The Taoists believed that the Golden Lad's duty was to Iook after incense. Su Shih ~as the following to say about him in one of his poems:

The Imperialseal is stamped beside the royal hand-writing; The Golden Ladcomes to attend to th~ heavenly incense.

S~~· 'citi-dt~· Jen-lei Tung-p'e shih, (ssu-pu-ts'ung-k'an-ch'u-plen ed.) 3.82. In the Hsüeh Ting-shan cheng-hsi, 32.71, the Golden Lad is reincamated in the form of Hsüeh Ting-shan, and the Jade Maiden in the form of Fan Li-hua 11141. The Jade Maiden appears in earlier writings, for example in the Sou-shen-chi, l.13a, and the Shen-1-ching, Chung-huang-ching, 13. See also WERNER, 373. Ch'ing Nü is the god of frost according to the Huai-nan-tzu 3.11 b.

18 CHY,4. H CHY,39. 1° CHY, 78. Ho-shang kung was a famous commentator on the Tao-te ch.ing.

A translation of his commentary into English has been made by Eduard ERKEs; see Lro Ts'uN-YAN, •on the Nature of Ku-Huan's Annotations on the Book Lao Tse (Tao Tsang ed.)•, United College Journal, 8 (1970-71), 15-28. This commentary is often referred to by modern scholars; by, for example, JAo TsuNG-I, •Lao-tzu Hsiang-erh dtu hsü-lun (t8J•, Töyö Bunka Ronshu, (Tokyo; Waseda University, 1968}, 1155-1171. He is regarded by the Taoists as an immortal who lived at the time of emperor Han Wen-ti (reigned 179 B.C. - 157 B.C.). See T'ai-p'ing kuang-chi, 10.1a-1b. In the Kao-shih-chuan 2.62, this great commentator is said to have lived during the Warr­ing States period (480 B.C.- 221 B.C.), and bis name is given as Ho-shang Chang­jen 1"1. There exists also a Taoist claim that Ho-shang kung was Lao-tzu himself. It is said that he appeared under this name and was visited by the Han emperor Wen-ti in the year 179 B.C. See T'ai-shang hun-yüan Lao-tzu shih-lüeh, l.10b-1la. T'ao Hung-ehing (451-536} the celebrated Liang pharmacopoeist, physician and alehemist, is regarded by the Taoists as a holy immortal. See for example Hsiang­an-tu 11001 (1-men kuang-tu ed.), 13. A biography of T'ao Hung-ehing is included in the Liang-shu (Northern Sung ed.), 15.15b ff, while another detailed account of him is found in the Yün-chi ch'i-ch'ien, eh. 107, passim.

11 CHY, 94. For P'eng-tsu see footnote no. 20 above. Tung-fang Shuo was a courtier during the time of emperor Han Wu-ti (reigned 140 B.C. to 87 B.C.), A bio­graphy of him ls given in the Shih-chl (Chinq-yu ed.) 126.6b ff. andin the Ch'Jen­Han-shu, eh. 65, passim. See also Tung-ming-chi (lOIJ (Ku-chJn i-shih ed.) 1.1a-2b, Han-wu ku-shih (Ku-chin i-!hlh ed.), 5a-6a; and WERNER, 528-530.

II CHY, 260. 33 CHY, 267. The 'bound-footed immortal', used as a nidt-name for Lin Chih-yang,

appears again on CHY, 326.

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Iai mountain, Lin Chih-yang goes to Iook for him and discovers a poem written on a stone tablet that gives evidence of his attaining hsienshipll4, Later Tang Hsiao-shan, yearning for her father, writes a poem expressing her feelings on immortality 86• On one occasion T'ang Hsiao-shan is captured by water demons, and saved by two holy immortals 86• On another occasion she is threatened by other demons, but a female immortal in the guise of a Taoist nun comes to her rescue 87• T' ang Hsiao-shan herself speak.s of the cultivation of hsienship, comparing it to the cultivation of trees and plants ss. She says that if she were a reincarnation of a heavenly spirit, it would be easy for her to cultivate physical immortality, but plants and animals would have to become human beings before they could start cultivating hsienship, and so the process would be a very difficult one. Eventually she arrives at the Hsiao P' eng-lai mountain and begins to search for her father. There she encounter a holy immortal in the guise of an old wood-cutter and from him she receives her father's message 89• As we have seen, T'ang Hsiao-shan now changes her name to T'ang Kuei-ch'en l251, in obedience to the instruc­tions in the message.

Holy immortals are mentioned at many other points. On a boat, we encounter the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Grains (Pai-ku-hsien), who appears to T' ang Hsiao-shan in the form of a Taoist nun, when the crew are suffering from hunger after being robbed of their food by pirates 40. The notion that an immortal will never age is expressed in a conversation between Lü-shih (Lin Chih-yang's wife) and T'ang Kuei-ch'en 41 • Lin Chih-yang's daughter, Lin Wan-ju l1021 is one day jokingly called an immortal when she is bare­footed - she is nick-na.med 'Junior Bare-Footed lmmortal' (ch'ih-tsu hsiao­hsien) 42. The Bare-Footed Immortal (ch'ih-chiao ta-hsien) bad appeared in earlier novels like the Hsi-yu-chi and the P'ing-yao-chuan l1031 43. The Sung emperor Jen-tsung (reigned 1023 to 1063), according to a story given in the latter, was the reincarnation of the Bare-footed Immortal, and hence, as the story goes, he often went about bare-footed in his palace. The goddess Ma Ku appears in the form of an immortal named Ch'ang-chih shan-jen l1041,

before the final episode that settles the quarre! between the Lady-of-the­Moon and the Wind Aunt (Feng-i (105)) on one side, and the Goddess of the Star of Learning on the other, and that discloses the future to the reincar-

3• CHY, 282.

35 CHY, 284. 38 CHY, 328--332. 37 CHY, 334-337. 38 CHY, 338. 30 CHY, 345. •o CHY, 376-378. •t CHY, 401 42 CHY, 446. 43 See Hsi-yu-chi, 5.51. Artbur WALEY calls him the 'Red-Legged Immortal' (The

~~ventu;es of Monkey, 56). See also P'ing-yao-chuan, (Shanghai, Ku-tien wen­sueh eh u-pan she, 1956 ed.) 14.97; and also WERNER, 76.

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nated Flower-Fairies 44 • In a wine-drinking contest the reincamated Flower­fairies speak freely about the holy immortals and mention the name of Ko Hungl1061, the celebrated fourth-century aldlemist 45• When they suffer hardship in the battles against the army of Wu Tse-t'ien, holy immortals like Ch'ing Nü-erh, Yü Nü-erh, and Chin T'ung-erh, tagether with the Fairy-of­the-Hundred-Fruits come to their rescue and help to defeat their enemy•e.

In the Ching-hua-yüan even animals can become immortals. It mentions a kind of bird with a human head that can attain the state of immortality'7. A white monkey who has attained the Tao appears in several places, and it is this immortal monkey who plays the part of the intermediary who is supposed to have transmitted the whole story of he Ching-hua-yüan to its author 48• The monkey plays an important role in classical Chinese novels. Monkey in the Hsi-yu-chi, so popular among the Chinese, has been intro­duced to many Westernreaders by Artbur Waley 411 • He reappears in several other novels, such as the Hsi-yu-pu, the Hou hsi-yu-chi, and the Hsüeh Ting­shan cheng-hsi l181. In the Feng-shen yen-i a mighty white monkey, named Yüan Hung 11071 engages Yang Chien in a struggle, during which, 'they trans­form their shapes into whatever they wish so that they might destroy their opponent', and he is only captured after the latter has borrowed a magical painting from Nü Wa [1081 50• A white ape appears in the Ming novel P'ing­yao-chuan under the names Yüan Kung and Pai-yüan shen, the White Ape Deity. Through the advocacy of Hu Shih, a theory that the Monkey in the Hsi-yu-chi was deeply influenced by the dlaracter Hanumat in the Rämäyana story had come into favour, and still commands wide support, in spite of individual objections. Recently Gien Dudbridge has reopened the issue after failing to find any clear-cut trace of the Rämäyana story in Chinese sources. The monkey, in the form of a white ape, appears in the Po-yüan chuan 110111, a short T'ang novel by an anonymous writer. The myth of this white ape goes as far back as some Han sources, like the 1-lin 11101 and the Sou-shen chi (so) st.

Although the author mentions several important places where holy immortals -were deemed to live (for example the three magic islands of P'eng-lai, Fang-dlang and Ying-dlou, and the K'un-lun mountain, the abode of the Mather-Empress Hsi Wang Mu) the sole spot where the dlaracters in the main story of the Ching-hua-yüan attain immortality is the island-moun­tain Hsiao P'eng-lai, or Little P'eng-lai, a place also mentioned in the some-

44 CHY, 661-689. For a hagiography of Ma Ku see Yün-chl ch'i-ch'len, 109.12b-13b, and for the Wind-Aunt, Feng-i, see T'ai-p'lng kuang-dll, 146.14a.

45 CHY, 713. 48 CHY, 765 & 768. 47 CHY,63. •8 CHY, 367, 404, 406, 408, 518, & 771. 41 See Artbur WALEY, The Adventuresol Monkey, (London, 1942). 50 See for example, Lru Ts'un-yan, Buddhist and Taoist Influences on Chinese

Novels: Vol. 1, The Authorship ol the Feng Shen Yen I, (Wiesbaden, 1962), 196. 51 See Glen DuoBRIDGE, The Hsl-yu dli, (Cambridge, 1910), 114 ff and t60ff.

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what earlier novel, Wu-hu p'ing-nan 1111152• This is where T'ang Ao fi.rst becomes a holy immortal 58• Later Tang Kuei-ch'en and Yen Tzu-hsiao 11121 both go there and remain as holy immortals 54• Yen Tzu-ch'iung l1181 also visits this fairly island on two occasions, to obtain help; once to seek advice on how to reduce the fortress of Yu-shui Kuan 11141; Once to seek a eure for her husband's comatose condition at the fortress of Pa-tao Kuan 1115165•

3. Various elixir substances The Taoist believed that one could attain the blissful state of immortality

after eating an elixir or some elixir plants or animals. Many varieties of elixir substances are mentioned by Li Ju-chen in the Ching-hua-yüan. The first immortality-giving substance in the book is the flat peach (p'an t'ao) grown in the celestial orchard of the Empress-Mother Hsi Wang Mu. Accord­ing to the Han Wu-ti nei-chuan, Wang Mu gave four flat peaches to the emperor Han Wu-ti, who kept stones intending to bring them back to his palace for planting. He gave up his plan after Wang Mu told him that the tree would take three thousand years to flower and three thousand years to produce fruits 56• The Han-wu ku-shih says that Tung-fang Shuo stole flat peaches from Wang Mu's orchard during three successive fruit seasons 57•

The flat-peach is often represented in pictures of the Immortal of Longevity. 1t is in allusion to the flat-peach, as a symbol or auspicious omen of long-life, that elderly Chinese celebrate their birthdays with cakes made in the shape of peaches (shou t' ao 1111).

The numinous mushroom (ling-chih 11171) occupies an important place in this novel. The ernpress Wu Tse-t'ien is informed by Shang kuan Wan­erh 11181 that the numinous mushroom is grown among famous mountains and is eaten by holy immortals 58• Before the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers sets forth on her reincarnation in the inortal world, the Immortal-of-the Hundred­Animals (Pai-shou ta-hsien) the Immortal-of-the-Hundred-Birds (Pai-niao ta-hsien), the Immortal-of-the-Hundred-Carapaced-Creatures (Pai-chieh 11181

ta-hsien), and the Immortal-of-the-Hundred-Fishes (Pai-lin ta-hsien) together present her with a numinous mushroom, saying that after one has consumed it, one's life span becomes coextensive with that of heaven and

61 Wu-hu p'ing-nan (Taipei; Wenbua Book Co., 1971), 24.63. n CHY, 282 ff. 64 CHY, 725 & 726. 55 CHY, 745 & 726. 58 Han-Wu-ti nei-dman (Tao-tsang ed.) 3a. 57 Han-wu ku-shih (Ku-chin i-shih ed.), Sb. 58 CHY, 25. Shang-kuan Wan-erh appears earlier in the Ch'üan-T'ang shih-hua

1:~4. For a description of the numinous mushroom (ling-chih) see Pao-p'u-tzu nei P 1e~,. (Sun Hsing-yen ed.), dl. 11, passim; and J. R. WARE, Alcltemy, Medicine, and RellgiOn in the China of A. D. 320, (Camb. Mass., 1966), 177-199. The numinous mushroom is mentioned in many places in the Ching-hua-yüan. See CHY 25, 34, 51, 281 & 318.

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earth 5G. The story also teils of T' ang Ao snatching a numinous mushroom from the immortal white monkey and giving it to To Chiu-kung, who eats it with great joy. In another episode, T'ang Ao goes up the mountain Hsiao P'eng-lai in the land of the immortals, and does not return. To Chiu-kung says that T'ang Ao has left to become a holy immortal, as a result of eating the 'flesh mushroom' (jou-chih) and the 'crimson plant' (chu-ts'ao [12o]eo). In an earlier episode, we are told ofT' ang Ao eating a 'flesh mushroom', which appears in the form of a tiny human being riding on a tiny horse. Liu Ju-chen writes, "lf in the mountains you should come across a little man five to seven inc:hes tall riding in a palaquin or on a horse, it will be a flesh mush­room. By taking i t you will increase your life span, and can also accomplish the Tao and become a holy immortal" 81. lt Iooks as if the author was quoting the Pao-p'u-tzu l1211 of Ko Hung, without being too particular in citing the exact words 82. The 'crimson plant' is another discovery made by T' ang Ao. When he rubs the plant on a piece of jade, the latter turns into a red jelly. T'ang Ao eats it and feels distinct physical and mental improve­ment83. T'ang Ao also attains the magical power of walking on thin air, after having found and eaten the 'treading-on-the-empty-air plant' (nieh-k'ung­ts'ao (1221)".

Other elixir plants are also mentioned. The Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Plants on one occasion assumes the form of an old woman, and gives an 'auspi­cious plant' (jui-ts'ao) to T'ang Hsiao-shan 85. This is a kind of numinous mushroom (ling-chih), according to the author. On another occasion T'ang Hsiao-shan falls ill and is cured after eating an elixir plant (hsien-ts'ao) 66•

Another recommended way of attaining immortality was the consumption of pine-seeds (sung-tzu). This is what T'ang Hsiao-shan does when she comes to the land of the holy immortals; and she finds that she can do so without eating other food 67 • There is also the 'resurrecting plant' (hui-sheng hsien-

511 CHY, 34. 6° CHY, 51 & 281. U Ju-chen's description of the 'flesh mushroom' must have

come from the Pao-p'u-tzu nei p'ien, 11.195. See also J. R. WARE, Aldl.emy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of A. D. 320, 184. The 'crimson plant' (dl.u-ts'ao) appears in several places in the Ching-hua-yüan; see CHY 53, 54, & 281. It is menti~ne~ earlier in the Ta-Tai Ii-chi (Ssu-pu ts'ung-kan dl'u-pien) 9.44 A and the Shih-1-clll. 1.2. Li Ju-chen's description of the plant must have come again from the Pao-p'u-!zu nei p'ien 4.71a. See also J R. WARE, Aldl.emy, Medicine, and Religion in the Chma of A. D. 320, 85.

61 CHY, 51. This again comes from the Pao-p'u-tzu nei-p'ien 11.195. See J. R. WARE, Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of A. D. 320, 184.

82 Traditional Chinese scholars were generally not too particular in quoting the exact words of their sources.

83 CHY, 53 & 54. 64 CHY, 51 & 52. This plant is mentioned earlier in the Tung-ming-dl.l, 3.2a an~

Yu-yang tsa-tsu dl.'ien-chi (1!3] (Ssu-pu ts'ung-kan ch'u-pien ed.), 19.107b, calls 1t chang-chung-chieh (tU].

" CHY, 324---326. 66 CHY, 332. 67 CHY, 348---362.

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ts'ao) which is presented to the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Flowers by six other fairies just before she leaves to be reincarnated into the mortal world. She asks the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Plants to take custody of this plant on her behaues. Later T'ang Hsiao-shan (her reincarnation) is rescued, in a comatose state, from the wickeQ. dragon at the bottom of the sea. The wicked dragon had approached the Fairy-of-the-Hundred-Plants for the 'resurrecting plant' in order to bring T' ang Hsiao-shan back to life, so that he might marry her. However, the lmmortal-of-the-Hundred-Carapaced-Creatures and the Immortal-of-the-Hundred-Fishes come to her rescue and use the 'resurrect­ing plant', which they recover from the wicked dragon, torevive her 69•

The author also mentions the chu-yü 11251 plant, which eures hunger, a fruit called tao-wei-ho 11261, which makes one an immortal after one has eaten it, and the 'wooden crop' (mu-ho 11271) which produces a kind of giant-sized rice, a grain of which will keep one from being hungry for a whole year (it is also called ch'ing-ch'ang-tao 11281) 70• Then there is the tree of immortality (pu-szu-shu), which grows near the 'spring of immortality' (ch'ih-ch'üan !1301)

in the 'kingdom of immortality' (pu-szu-kuo). Both the tree and the spring will bring immortality to the aspirant to hsienship 71 •

One could also become an immortal, it was believed, after eating flying­fish. One would die first, but after two hundred years be resurrected and become an immortal. The fish was also a remedy for haemorrhoids. Ning Feng 11321 at the time of Huang-ti is said to have eaten this fish and become an immortal 72•

4. Moral excellence as a prerequisite for hsienship. In connection with Chinese alchemy Li Ju-chen mentions only the two best­

known treatises, the Ts'an-t'ung-ch'i 11331 and the Pao-p'u-tzu. Of the many Taoist hagiographies, he mentions only Kan Pao's Sou-shen-chi and Wang Chia's Shih-i-chi 130174• Of special interest is his citation of the two Taoist writings on good and bad deeds and their rewards and punishments, namely

18 CHY, 35. The hu1-sheng hs1en-ts'ao is mentioned earlier in the Shih-chou-c:hl 2a-2b.

811 CHY, 330-332. 7° For Chu-yü see CHY, 51. 1t is mentioned earlier in the Shan-hai-dt1ng t.la. For

tao-wei-ho see CHY, 52. 1t is mentioned earlier in the Shen-i-ching, Nan-huang­dling, 6. Yu-yang tsa1-tsu dt'1en-dt1, 18.99, calls it szu-we1-mu 11"1. For ch'1ng-dt'ang­tao see CHY, 376 & 378. It is mentioned earlier in the Shih-1-ch1, 6.2a. The Shan-hai­ching, 11.3b, and the Huai-nan-tzu, 4.2b, both describe a fabulous tree mu-ho, which produces giant-sized rice.

71 C~Y, 277. The 'tree of immortality', the 'spring of immortality' and the 'king­da~ of munortality' all appear in the Shan-ha1 ch1ng, 6.4a; 11.5b. See also Po-wu­chih 11311 (Lung-hsi-ching-she tsung-shu ed.) 8.5, and Huai-nan-tzu, 4.2b.

11 C,f!Y, 9~. The 'ßying fish' is described in the Shi-1-chi, 1.4a, and Yu-yanv tsa­tsu. ch.1en-c;Iu, 17.93. ~ee also Shan-hai-dt1ng, 2.19a & 5.9a, and San-ts'ai-t u-hui (Ta1pe1; Ch eng-wen eh u-pan-she; 1970 ed.) Niao-shou, 6.2b & 5.45b.

71 CHY, 691 & 713. " CHY, 1 & 704.

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the .Yin-chih-wen 11341 and the Chüeh-shih-ching l135l. In fact, in two of the prefaces of the Ching-hua-yüan, written by the author's friends, it is said that the main purpose of the book is to foster the sense of loyality and filial piety among its readers. Li Ju-chen includes the cultivation of these two virtues among the ways and means to attain the state of immortality.

The Buddhist doctrine of cause and effect would not have seemed an entirely new concept in China, when it was introduced. A similar concept appeared earlier, as a Confucian doctrine, during the time of the Spring-and­Autumn period (722 B. C. to 480 B. C.), taking a somewhat different form­that of retribution by the natural order. The Ching-hua-yüan, quoting from the Shu-ching, says, "On those who do good [the Emperor above] bestows a hundred blessings; to the evil-doers [He] sends down a hundred misfortu­nes" 75• Again, quoting from the 1-ching, it says (on several occasions), "A family with accumulated good deeds will certainly enjoy overflowing bless­ings (even carried over to the later generations); one that accumulates bad deeds will inevitably suffer misfortunes (affecting even the succeeding gene­rations) 71• Such a doctrine is also emphasised in later Taoist writings. The early llth-century Sung Taoist book T'ai-shang kan-ying-p'ien 11361 has this to say: "T'ai-shang says, 'Woe and Weal arenot predestined, but come only at the call of men. As the shadow follows the form, so are good and evil requited' . ....... " Li Ju-chen quotes the second sentence from the above, in the Ching-hua yüan, without giving the source 77•

That high moral standards are a basic requirements for aspir~ts to hsienship is made clear in the words of the elderly immortal, with whom T'ang Ao has a conversation in the dream mentioned earlier. Quoting from the words of Ko Hung, the elder says, "One who aspires to become a holy immortal ought to have the basic [virtues of] loyalty, filial piety, affability [among equals], obedience [on the part of a junior], benevolence, and sin­cerity [among friends). If one does not cultivate these virtues and attends only to search for the way of the immortals, one will ultimately end in failure. One who wishes to become an Earthy Immortal (ti hsien) should [first] do three hundred good deeds; and one who wishes to become a Heavenly Immortal (t'ien hsien) should perform one thousand three hundred good deeds" 78• After saying these words the holy immortal teils Tang Ao that he has an important mission for him: twelve farnaus flowers are scatter­ed in different places overseas, and his services are required to seardl for these flowers. After performing such a good deed he will be able to join the ranks of the holy im.mortals- hence T'ang Ao's determinatlon to ernhark on

15 CHY, 523. See Shang-shu, 4.29A, and translation by James !.EGGE', Chinese Classic; The Shoo King, (London, 1865; reprinted, Hong Kong, 1960) 111.1, 198.

71 CHY, 72, 73, & 523. From 1-ching, 1.3b--4a; see John BLODELD, The Book ol Change, (London, 1965) 64.

77 From T'al-shang kan-ylng-p'len, (Yüeh-ya-tang ts'ung-shu ed.), 1.2b, and James WEBSTER, The Kan Ying Pien: Book ol Rewards and Punishments, (Shanghai, 1918; reprint Taipei, 1971), 15. See CHY, 521 & 523.

78 CHY, 39. See Pao-p'u-tzu nel p'len, 3.48 & 49 and also J. R. WARB, Aldtemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China ol A. D. 320, 66.

46

an expedition to search for these flowers, without his k.nowing at first that the holy im.mortal was referring to the twelve reincarnated Flower-fairies in oversea countfies 79 • After accomplishing this mission T' ang Ao becomes a holy im.mortal in the Hsiao P' eng-lai mountain.

Special emphasis is laid by the author on filial piety. T'ang Hsiao-shan expresses her filial piety by yeaming for her father T'ang Ao, and by going to search for him at the Hsiao P' eng-lai mountain. Eventually she herself becomes a holy immortal 80• Lien Chin-feng 11871 dives into the sea to gather sea-cucumber to eure her mother's illness, but is caught in a fisherman's net and soldas a slave. She is rescued by T'ang Ao. To repay him she kills an oyster dernon and gives its pearl as a present to her saviour. Later the tather of the oyster demon takes revenge and instigates the wicked dragon to capture T'ang Hsiao-shan. The Immortal-of-the-Hundred-Carapaced­Creatures and the lmmortal-of-the-Hundred-Fishes come to T'ang's deli­verance and capture the elder oyster demon, telling him that his son was punished for the crime of wanton killing and was put to death by a truly filial daughter, Lien Chin-fengs1•

The power of filial piety extends even to the animal kingdom. Li Ju-dlen mentions the unfilial bird (pu-hsiao niao), supposed to be the reincama­tion of one who was in a previous life an unfilial and immoral human being. This bird was two-headed, one head like that of a man, the other like that of a woman. On the two foreheads were written the words 'unfilial' and 'unloving', while on its wings were written other words of a similar kind. Endowed with intelligence, however, this bird had the ability to understand the Tao and to cultivate the way of the immortals. Because it did so, the writings gradually disappeared from its body, and after a few years it would be able to shed its feathers and attain the state of immortality. This is cited as an example to show that even the bad can repent and become immortal by doing good and cultivating the Taos2.

Filial piety can even influence the holy immortals. To Chiu-kung tells the story of how his great-grand-father, wishing to obtain a eure for his mother's ailment, went to the Hsiao Fang-dlang 11881 mountain, knelt down there, and made a bow in between every step he made. A holy immortal, moved by his intense filial piety, ~ppeared to him in the form of a fisherman and gave him a medical prescription, with which he cured not only his mother but also many other people 83.

5. GoneJusions Chinese alchemy began to decline during the time of the Mongois in the

fourteenth century. The decline accelerated during the time of the Manchus.

79 CHY, 40. ~ CfrY,320,343--446,359--362, 125--126. 81 CHY, 330-331. ~~ CfrY, 62 & 63. This bird is also mentioned in the Shen-1-dtlng, Chung-huang­

ching, 15b. 81 CfrY, 195.

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47

No alchemical book worthy of the name was written throughout this period (1644-1911). In the early nineteenth century Min I-te {tat] edited the Tao­tsang hsü-p'ien ch'u-chi, which is a collection of some thirty short Taoist works, composed largely between the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. An early nineteenth-century body, authoritative on Taoist spiritual alchemy, the nei-tan school of medita­tion and respiratory exercises, was founded by Fu Chin-ch'uan l140l, who had written commentaries on a number of Taoist .texts, none of which, however, deals with the actual experimental practice of alchemy 84• So it is that, by the time of the Manchus, even the Taoists themselves seemed to know little about alchemy. Whatever little knowledge they had was confined to a few individuals, as it had to be kept secret. Nevertheless, belief in physical immortality, the elixir and gold-making, was widespread among the common people. Although the Ching-hua-yüan suggests that Li Ju-chen knew little about the processes of alchemy, his book was evidently deeply influenced by notions about physical immortality prevalent at his time.

The Taoist aspirant for hsienship believed that he could achieve his objective by following one or more of a number of different practices. These techniques have been classified into the following categories: respiratory, heliotherapeutic, gymnastic, sexual, alchemical and pharmaceutical, and dietary 85• With the decline of Chinese alchemy, alchemical and pharmaceu­tical techniques became less and less understood in the Manchu period. Li Ju-chen was hirnself a Confucian scholar. He wrote the Ching-hua-yüan after his failure in the civil service examination. He found solace in turning his mind to Taoist mysticism, but at the same time, his training as a Con­fucian scholar must have led him to emphasis high moral standards as a prerequisite for the aspirant to hsienship.

The doctrine of rebirth is undoubtedly Buddhist, and this has become a popular religious belief. The spirit of a dead person, according to this doctrine, is reincarnated in the human world, the state of the next existence being dependent on the performance of the individual, whether good or evil, in the former existence. Even deities can be reincamated in the mundane world, sometimes as punishment, and sometimes for the purposes of a benevolent mission. The emperor Sung Hui-tsung (reigned 1101 to 1125) was supposed tobe the reincarnation of Ch'ang-mei ta-hsien (UtJ, the Great Long­Eyebrowed Immortal. The celebrated T'ang poet Li Po (701-762) was said to be the reincarnation of the Spirit of the star Venus. The famous Sung general Yüeh Fei (1103-1141) was believed by some tobe the reincarnation of a roc. And another story claimed that the philosopher Chuang Chou (fl. 290 B.C.) was the reincamation of a butterflyse. This doctrine has in-

" Fora full discussion ofthismatter see Joseph NEEDHAM, Sclence and Civillsa-tion in China, (Cambridge Univesity Press; in press) V. 3. . .

85 See Joseph Needham, Sclence and Civllisation in China, (Cambridge Umvers1ty Press, 1956) li, 143.

88 See Ching-chung shuo-Yüeh ch'üan-dtuan [U!J (Shanghai Chin-ehang Book Co., edition) 1.1. '

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tluenced many Chinese fiction-writers. Without mentioning again the many cases quoted earlier in this article, one can call to mind the story of the Hsi-yu-chi, in which Tripitaka is the reincarnation of Buddha's second disciple, Chin-ch'an Tzu 11' 31 (Golden Cicada), Pigsy the reincarnation of General T'ien-p'eng 11441, a marshal of the watery hosts of Heaven, and Sandy the reincamation of the Chüan-lien c::hiang-chün 11451, a great Captain of Spirits serving the Mather-Empress Wang Mu 87• In another early nine­teenth-century novel, Wan-hua-lou 11461, Pao Kung 11471 is the reincarnation of Wen-ch'ü l148J, the Deity of Leaming, and Ti Ch'ing 11481 that of Wu-dl'ü 11501, the Deity of Military Arts 88• In the popular Ch'ing novel Ch'i-shih fu-ch'i 11511 Chin-t'ung and Yü-nü are both reborn at seven different times to become Iovers but without being able to get married to each other until the last reincarnation. There are other examples far too many tobe cited here.

The doctrine of physical immortality flourished alongside that of rebirth. When one had attained hsienship one would escape from the agony of death. The stage of hsienship does not correspond exactly to nirvana, neither does it bear any close resemblance to the condition enjoyed by those in the Christian paradise, for whether a holy immortal would be reborn into another state or otherwise was directly related to his deeds and misdeeds, or sometimes to the will of the heavenly emperor, as we have seen. These doctrines are where Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism meet and intermingle with one another.

The question on the religious and philosophical ba<kgrounds that rendered it possible for the seed of the idea of physical immortality to germinate and grow in the past in China has already been taken up elsewhere 88• In the West there was quite a clearcut idea of human survival after death derived from both Hebrew and Christian origin. Heaven, hell, and purgatory were very real for both Latins and Greeks in Christendom. Chinese conceptions, on the other hand, were rather different. None of the Three Doctrines -Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism - had any clear conviction as to an individual 'soul'. Confucianism declined to discuss the issue, keeping to the famous saying of Confucius 'Before one understands what is Life how can one understand Death?' in the explicit interest of high social morality in the here and now, or, as Creel puts it, 'to make this world a better place to live in'. Neither does the belief in an individual persisting soulexist in the rein­carnation and nirvana process in Buddhism. As for Taoism, although it speaks of 'multiple souls', it is the originator of the concept of the immortals itself, perhaps since the time of the Warring States in the fifth century B. C.

87 See Artbur WALEY, The Adventures o/ Monkey, (London, 1942) 303. 88 See Wan-hua-lou, (Taipei; Wenbua Book Co., 1970 ed), 7.29. 88 See Ho PING-y(j & Josepb NEEDHAM •Elixir Poisoning in Mediceval China •

Janus, 48 (1959), 221-251 and Ho PENG YoKE, Goa THEAN CHYE, and BEDA LIM, •tu ru (~ 125-1209), The Poet-Aldtemist•, Occasional Paper No. 13, Faculty of Aslan tud1es, Australian National University, (Canberra, 1972).

CI43J ft~r c 144) x~ (145) m•~~• ( 147) ~~ ( 148) JtHß ( 149) ~:k"W ( 151) -tilt~~

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There immortals (hsien) were ethereal purified beings, originally with feathers like the birds, possessed of magical powers, and wandering for ever without material needs among the mountains and forests, there to enjoy etemally the contemplation of the beauty of Nature, the outward and visible form of the Tao. Heaven or paradise did not exist in the minds of the vast majority of the Chinese people at the time when the Ching-hua-yüan was written, in spite of the fact that Matteo Ricci had brought Christianity to Chinamore than wo hundred years earlier. It is also significant that no trace of Christian influence is found in this early ninete.enth-century Chinese novel.

Traditionally, in the minds of the Chinese people, religion was no barrier tothebelief in physical immortality. In popular Chinese beliefs the know­ledge of the secret of life immortality was never the monopoly of the Taoists. Many Buddhist monks in in Chinese fiction were equally gifted with alche­~ical knowledge, magical powers and perpetual life. In the story of the White Snake in the Pai-she-chuan, for example, Hsü Hsien l152l acquires the secret of immortality form Fa Hai 11531, a Buddhist monk. An interestina example is found in the seventeenth-century scholar Chü T'ai-su, who, im­pressed by the learning of Matteo Ricci, thought that the latter possessed the secret of the elixir of life. Chü approached Ricci, but eventually he was converted to the Christian faith, and one day he brought along the alchemi­cal books in his possession to his master and set them ablaze "·

The traditional attitudes in China towards religion differed considerably from those in Europe, there being no clearcut lines of demarcation between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, comparable to those between Christi­anity and other religions in Christendom. Confucianism, properly under­stood, was more a teaching than a religion, while Taoism borrowed heavily from Buddhism. Popular religious beliefs consisted of a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism, together with some ingredients of Confucianism, and elements of traditional Chinese proto-sciences, such as astrology, fate-cal­culation, geomancy, etc. The common folk did not have to seardl their consciences when, having worshipped in a Taoist monastery in the morning, they prayed in a Buddhist temple in the afternoon. The austere Confucian sdlolar, obedient to the teadlings of the Master, would not speak of strange things, power, rebellion, and the spirits. He would prostrate bimself before his ancestral tablets, following Confucius' injunction that 'one must pay respect [to one's dead parents] as if (they] were [still] existing'. Although some of the literati were sceptical about the popular beliefs, they often showed great tolerance when members of their families worshipped in monastdes and temples.

Lin Tai-yi says that Li Ju-chen could not have been a bellever in Popular Taoism, and that if be was a Taoist, it must have been the original unadul-

10 See Joseph NEEDHAM, Science and Civillsation on China, (Cambridge Univer­sity Press: in press) V.

( 152) ff{llJ ( 153) jiifij

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terated philosophy that attracted him 11• From his hao, Sung-shih Tao-jen l1l 4J, we can only assunie that Li Ju-chen was at least attracted by the philoso­phical teachings of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu, but we cannot decide whether or not he was a believer in Popular Taoism. Nevertheless, his novel clearly demonstrates an interest in the concept of physical immortality and other doctrines of Popular Taoism common among the Chinese in the early nineteenth century, and his attitudes towards religion were typical of the literati of his time. Comparison with earlier sources shows that the author added nothing new to these doctrines.

6. Acknowledgement The writers wish to express their gratitude to Professor Liu Ts'un-yan of

the Australian National University for his advice on Taoism and to Dr. David Parker of the University of Malaya for reading the draft of this paper and for giving them the benefit of his expertise.

11 l.IN TAI-n, Flowera in the Mlrror, (University of California Press, 1965), 13.

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