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Source: "Taoism, the road to Immortality", by John Blofield, Shambala Publications, Boston, 2000


The Isles of the Blessed #4


        Hsu was one of those who had turned his back upon the world for a

merely trivial reason - disappointment in love. With a beginning so

inauspicious, it was not to be expected that he would easily become

immortal. Anyone could have told him that a charming girl is as

likely to turn into a shrew as any other, that moth eyebrows and

willowy grace seldom come up to expectation, that beauty's flower

begins to shed its petals on the wedding night, and that he would

have had better reason to cry if he had lost a good cooking-pot or

tea-kettle. Still, he was happy to leave the scene of what he imagined

to be a tragic loss. Taking up his abode on Mount T'ai, famed for the

panorama of clouds that come sweeping in from the Eastern Sea at

dawn, he visited the dwellings of recluse after recluse, importuning

them for instruction in the Way. The only sage who proved willing

to receive a disciple of such poor calibre kept him hard at work from

dawn till dusk gathering fuel upon the sparsely wooded slopes or

performing similarly arduous labours in return for very little

teaching. As for the true immortals who dwell upon that mountain,

easily recognisable by their shining eyes, carefree expressions,

unwrinkled faces and a swift, easy gait that gave them the appearance

of deer skimming over the rock-strewn alpine slopes, though they

did not flee at his approach, their courteous manner cooled when they

learnt how trivial was his reason for desiring to cultivate the Way.

        Sadly Hsii departed thence to seek out the profounder solitude of

the rocky hills girdling the coast where in ancient times the Emperor

Wu had gone searching for the secret of the golden elixir. Here he

encountered a sage who welcomed him as an assistant. Behind his

dwelling was a lofty cave furnished with cauldrons, tripods, recep-

tacles and stores of liquids, powders, chopped up roots, leaves, bark,

gums, minerals and so forth. During the second year of Hsii's

apprenticeship, this sage climbed a neighbouring hill and vanished,

leaving behind a pair of shoes as a sign that a search for his bodily

remains would be fruitless and a paper making over all the contents

of the cave to his disciple. In the cave was found a book of instructions

for compounding a golden pill and another detailing the method of

transmuting base metals into gold. Either one of those would have

proved a welcome legacy were it not that the names and quantities

of certain vital ingredients had been omitted lest the instructions fall

into unworthy hands. Such pills as poor Hsii managed to produce

caused giddiness and sometimes fever accompanied by sensations of

icy chill.

        Having nearly destroyed himself by consuming what he took to be

a perfected golden pill, Hsii greeted the dawn one day by kneeling

with his face towards the pearly cloud-screen that veils the Isles of

Bliss from mortal eyes and crying into the wind that came up from

the mist-curtained ocean: 'Dog-flesh immortals selfishly immersed

in the rapture of carefree spontaneous existence, I declare you to be

detestable deceivers. If your hearts are not made of bronze, I

demand as a gift one of the peaches of immeasurable longevity.

Having laboured long and faithfully for other dwellers in seclusion, I

deserve more than a trifle of consideration. Remain silent and I shall ,

know that you and your peaches and your golden pills are but idle

dreams fit for laughter. For the sake of your own reputation, you had

better accede to my reasonable request.'

        As he spoke, the sky darkened. The clear blue was blotted out by

dense banks of cloud. Thunder rolled and raindrops the size of

crab-apples came drifting down as an earnest of a threatening storm.

Aghast at his own temerity, he made to rise, but a heavy hand

descended on his shoulder and, looming over him, stood a burly

recluse of menacing mien and piercing gaze.

        'Blockhead! Turtle's egg! Who gave you permission to create a

disturbance ? Had the wind carried your words over there, do you

suppose you would be alive now or have an instant more to live ? Get

up and follow me!'

        The stranger led off in such haste that Hsii stubbed his toes and

twice fell headlong in his efforts to keep up. Presently a sudden turn

in the path revealed an altogether unexpected sight. Upon a small

upland plateau enclosed by walls of rock stood a group of palatial

buildings with elegantly convoluted roofs glistening with porcelain

tiles of emerald green. Set in the magenta-coloured walls was a pair

of handsomely lacquered gates, and the whole place had an air of

splendour more suited to the capital than to this wild and lonely

place. From within came the sound of ritual music - the high-

pitched song of flutes, the throbbing of a drum and the pure chimes

of jade tablets hanging from silken strings.

        Half swooning with fear, Hsii was taken past the gateway and led

to an inner chamber, where he fell to his knees before a very old man

with cheeks as ruddy as peaches, a snowy beard falling to his waist

and eyes like pools of light.

        Having listened to the burly fellow's report of Hsii's conduct, this

venerable sage remarked: 'It seems to me, young man, that you

were in something of a passion. What did you hope to gain by such

unseemly conduct ? As a follower of the Way, you should know

better.'

        While Hsii related his sad story, the sage stroked his beard

reflectively. At the end, he said: 'The peaches of immortality are not

given for the asking. Who ever heard of such a thing ? They are so

carefully guarded that, if I myself wanted one, I should either have

to steal it or pay a heavy bribe to one of the celestial gardeners. Even

then, its absence would be noticed and there would be a fine old

uproar in the courts of heaven. You must have read the 'Record of

a Journey to the West' and remember how it was when Monkey set

about stealing some. As to your laboratory, had you not the sense to

realise that the ingredients of the golden pill of immortality are all

inside you ? Don't try getting at them with a knife, you rash creature,

or there will be little left of you to benefit from the experiment. The

only effective furnace is the one you carry behind your navel and the

only safe receptacle for the completed pill lies within your skull a

few hair's breadths from the crown.'

        Then did the sage instruct him in the secret alchemy, teaching him

how best to use his own endowments of essence, vitality and spirit.

Thanking him humbly, Hsu begged to know whom he had the

honour of addressing.

        'Well,' replied the sage, 'I seldom reveal my name to people. If I

did, most likely I should be taken for a liar. I don't mind telling you,

though, that I was on a visit to the Islands of the Blessed, attending

the birthday festival of the Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, when

you so ill-advisedly shouted defiance of the beings there. If I had not

come back in time to give you a warning, things might have gone ill

with you sooner or later.'

        After walking out from the lovely precincts, Hsii turned back to

have a last look. Not altogether with astonishment, he perceived that

they had vanished. Wind stirred the grasses of the highland plateau.

The only beings in sight were sea-birds.

        Returning to his cave for a store of food and other necessities, he

moved to a smaller cave overlooking the sea. Every day, he inter-

rupted his yogic practice only for long enough to gaze towards

P'eng Lai Shan and give thanks for the kindly response to his

passionate yearning. Within a year, he had perfected the golden elixir

without resource to external aids. Waking from a deep sleep during

the night following upon his attainment, he went to scoop some cold

rice from the pot to make congee for his breakfast. On raising the lid

he saw, resting upon the congealed mass of rice left over from the

day before, a luscious peach ripened to the point of perfection. It

seemed, as it were, to be begging to be eaten!