Tales of the Taoist Immortals (17 page)

Kuo P’u was born and raised in a town named East River. When he was nine years old, he met a diviner named Kuo Kung. Seeing that the boy was destined to become a master of the arcane arts, the old man taught Kuo P’u the
I-ching,
the theories of yin and yang, the five elements, and the art of k’an-yu (feng-shui).
K’an
means “high places,” or “mountains,” and
yu
means “low places,” or “valleys.” Thus, k’an-yu is the art and science of reading the patterns of energy in the mountains and valleys.

While most young men of his age aspired to government posts, Kuo P’u was uninterested in a career in the civil service. He was unkempt and undisciplined, and spent most of
his time drinking and writing poetry. Often, he would leave his home for weeks or even months to walk in the mountains or float down the rivers.

To most people, Kuo P’u was an eccentric who had no patience for social conventions. Only P’u’s closest friends knew that he was a master diviner who could read omens in the sky, sea, and land. Thus, when he predicted that the town of East River would be sacked by bandits, his friends heeded his words: they sold their properties, packed up their goods, and left. A month later, the river overflowed its banks and flooded the city. While the soldiers from the garrison were off repairing the dams, robbers looted the town.

When Kuo P’u’s mother died, he buried her in a sandy beach a hundred paces from the river’s edge. The feng-shui masters laughed at him and said, “The site will be flooded and all the fortunes of her descendants will be washed away.”

P’u countered, “This land will become grassland within our children’s lifetime, and when the soil and natural vegetation change, the Kuo family fortunes will change for the better.”

Kuo P’u did not live to see the changes, but a generation later, the river had deposited enough silt for grass to grow near the grave. Although P’u had been poor all his life, the family fortunes took a dramatic turn during his son’s generation. His sons and nephews became wealthy merchants, and Kuo P’u’s works on feng-shui were acknowledged as authoritative treatises on selecting burial sites.

Once, when he was helping a friend select a site for a new house, P’u examined several plots and finally found one to his liking. He turned to his friend and said, “This piece of
land will soon be blessed by the energy of the dragon. Within ten days, your fortunes will change for the better.”

The emperor happened to be visiting the region disguised as a common citizen. Hearing Kuo P’u’s evaluation of the land, he was unhappy. Common citizens were not allowed to own land with dragon energy; only the emperor and his closest relatives could build homes on such plots. The emperor immediately went to Kuo P’u’s friend and said, “Do you know that it is a capital crime to build a home on land with dragon energy?”

“Yes, I do,” replied the man. “But Master Kuo did not say that this land had dragon energy. Rather, he said that this land will be blessed by the energy of the dragon. And by that he meant that I will be blessed by the emperor when he visits my home.” Just then, a messenger arrived from the capital. He prostrated himself before the emperor and announced, “Your majesty, there are matters at the palace that require your immediate attention.”

When the neighbors heard that Kuo P’u’s friend had been visited by the emperor, word began to spread. Soon gifts from the mayor and the town elders arrived to honor the “friend” of the emperor.

When Kuo P’u was about forty years old, he divined that he would soon die violently. From that day on, he locked himself in his study and wrote down his lifetime’s research on divination, feng-shui, and the
I-ching
. Not long after P’u had completed his books, he offended the warlord Wang Tun and was executed.

Three days after the execution, Kuo P’u was seen eating and drinking at his favorite restaurant. When this was reported to Wang Tun, the warlord ordered that P’u’s grave be opened and examined. In front of a large crowd of witnesses and curious onlookers, the examiners dug up the coffin
and removed the lid. To the astonishment of everyone, the coffin was empty. It was only then that the people realized that Kuo P’u was a master of the arcane arts who was not only able to release his spirit just before death, but could “borrow” his body back now and then to walk in the earthly realm.

K
UO
P’
U
lived during the Chin dynasty (265–420
CE
). He was a diviner, geographer, astronomer, mythologist, and poet. His book on the selection of burial sites, titled
Chuang-shu (The Burial Classic),
is still widely studied by modern feng-shui practitioners.

33

The Reader of Dynastic Destiny

Lin Ling-su

The legends say that on the night Lin Ling-su was conceived, his mother dreamed that she saw an immortal who said, “I would like to live here for a while.” When Ling-su was born, a golden light hovered over the chamber and the scent of blossoms filled the air. His mother knew that her son was no ordinary child, but when he still didn’t speak at the age of five, she was worried. She consulted all the doctors in town but none could help her.

One day, a Taoist arrived at her home and asked to see
her son. When Ling-su saw the Taoist, he shouted excitedly, “It’s been a long time since we last saw each other!”

From that time on, Ling-su began to speak. A year later, he began to write poetry. By age eight, he had become an expert in the Taoist and Confucian classics.

The great poet Su Tung-po heard about Ling-su’s talent and paid him a visit.

“I have a gift for you,” said the poet, as he handed the child a book on divination. Ling-su flipped through the pages, closed the book, and recited the contents from memory.

Su Tung-po was shocked. He sighed and said, “Your intelligence far surpasses mine. Fame and fortune await you on the horizon.”

Surprisingly, Ling-su said, “Whether you are a noble or a commoner, rich or poor, famous or unknown—at best you’ll end up as a ghost. My destiny lies beyond this.”

When Lin Ling-su was twelve, he met an immortal who taught him the arts of magic and divination. Within two years Ling-su had learned everything the Taoist could teach him. On parting, Ling-su’s teacher told him, “You now have the power to command the elements, drive out evil spirits, and see into the future. Use your abilities to benefit others and do not abuse your power. You will soon meet the emperor at the gates of the Celestial Palace. See that you advise him well.”

The Sung emperor was a devout Taoist. One night, he traveled in spirit to the celestial realm to ask for an audience with the lords of heaven. At the gates of the Celestial Palace, he was met by an immortal who told him, “I have been sent by the lords of heaven to give you this message: listen to the advice of honest and virtuous ministers. Stay away from
those who speak falsely. Only in this way can your kingdom be saved.”

On the way back to his palace, the emperor met the same immortal, this time riding on a blue ox. The immortal dismounted, bowed before the emperor, and simply said, “Your majesty!”

When the emperor woke up the next morning, he summoned the court priest and said, “Introduce me to the most virtuous Taoist in my kingdom.”

The priest responded, “You should meet Lin Ling-su.” When Ling-su arrived at the palace, the emperor looked at him and inquired, “What are your abilities?”

Lin Ling-su replied, “I can travel to the celestial realm; I can predict the future of humanity; and I can intercede on behalf of the dead. Not long ago, we met in the celestial realm.”

The emperor was delighted, but he wanted to test Ling-su some more. So he said, “Now I remember the incident. Where’s your blue ox?”

“It’s grazing in the green meadows of a foreign country,” Ling-su answered. “If it pleases your majesty, I can send word to have it brought here.” The next spring, a delegation from Korea arrived at the Sung court and presented a gift—the blue ox—to the Chinese emperor.

The emperor was so impressed with Lin Ling-su that he invited the Taoist to be his spiritual adviser and gave him a large stipend of gold and cloth.

Ling-su’s friendship with the emperor soon aroused jealousy among the ministers. One of them, T’sai Ching, decided to slander his rival. “Ling-su secretly wants to sit on the throne,” T’sai Ching told the emperor. “He sleeps in a golden bed decorated with dragons and wears the nine-dragons
robe. He won’t allow people to visit him because he doesn’t want his ambitions to be known.”

The emperor said, “Then we should go and see if this is true.”

The two men went to Ling-su’s retreat and looked through a window. All they saw was a wooden bed, a table, and several benches. T’sai Ching knew that he was in trouble. Quickly, he fell at the emperor’s feet and asked for forgiveness. “I only reported what others told me,” he said.

When Lin Ling-su heard the commotion outside, he opened the door and said, “It is an honor to have your majesty visit my humble dwelling. Please come in.”

The emperor asked Ling-su for forgiveness, saying, “I was told that you had adorned your retreat as if you were an emperor. Please forgive me.” He then looked at T’sai Ching and said, “I should not have believed your lies.”

The years passed, and the Sung emperor began to forget Ling-su’s advice. He neglected his duties as the protector of his people and began to rely on his ministers to rule the country.

One night, Lin Ling-su looked up at the sky and saw the emperor’s guardian star weakening while another star rose in the north. He sighed and said to himself, “It is written in the heavens. The emperor has lost his mandate to rule. A new ruler is rising to power in the north. There’s nothing left for me to do.”

The next morning, Lin Ling-su asked for permission to leave. Unable to retain him, the emperor thanked the Taoist for his service and gave him three hundred pounds of gold. When T’sai Ching, who had by then become the chief minister, discovered that Ling-su had received this great gift from the emperor, he told his personal guard, “Kill Ling-su and take his gold.”
Ling-su divined T’sai Ching’s evil intentions. He returned the three hundred pounds of gold to the emperor. The next day, when the assassins arrived at his retreat, the Taoist was nowhere to be found.

After leaving the capital, Lin Ling-su retreated into the mountains. There he gathered a group of students and taught them the arts of longevity. One day, he called his students together and said, “The country is about to be plunged into war. You should hide in the mountains and wait for the storm to pass. As for me, my time in the mortal realm is over, and I must return to where I originally came from.”

Ling-su then sat in a meditation posture, closed his eyes, and sent his spirit to the celestial realm. Not long afterward, the Chin tribe invaded the Sung empire from the north and captured the emperor. Eventually, this tribe was conquered by the Mongols, who swept south and brought an end to the Sung dynasty.