Chen Ji 沈季

Chen Ji was from Wuxing. In the second year of the Wu Dynasty’s Tianji era (278 CE), he was serving as Prefectural Chief for Yuzhang. In broad daylight he saw a person standing atop the hall, wearing a yellow turban and a robe of raw silk. The stranger declared himself to be Adjunct General Ping Yuxu from Runan. He asked for his burial place to be moved, and then disappeared, gradually and unhurriedly, from sight. Ji searched for the grave, but did not know its location. He therefore performed a ‘beckoning the soul burial’[1] for him.

Yuzhangji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 317.2511:

沈季

吳興沈季。吳天紀二年。為豫章太守。白日。於廳上見一人。著黃巾練衣。自稱汝南平與許子將。求改葬。悠然不見。季求其喪。不知所在。遂招魂葬之。豫章記

[1] This term zhao hun zang 招魂葬 refers to a situation in which, where there are no remains to inter, the burial of clothing or other items was felt likely to draw the ethereal hun 魂 soul to the grave.

Zhong Yao 鍾繇

Zhong Yao (151-230 CE) suddenly stopped attending the morning court, and his mood and character were quite different to what people had become used to. When a fellow official asked him why this was, he responded: “A woman often comes to me; she has a beauty that is not of the mortal world.” His colleague replied: “This must be a ghost. You should kill it; afterwards it will stay away from your home.” He asked: “How could I intend to slaughter something possessing such a form?” Yuanchang replied: “There is no such problem.” In the end he eagerly called her to him, but could not bear to carry out the plan, so only lightly wounded her. She left immediately, staunching the blood with fresh silk floss, which was scattered along her route. The following day, he sent people to follow these traces. They came to a great tomb. In a coffin lay a woman, her body appearing still to be alive. Wearing a white silk gown and a cinnabar-embroidered waistcoat, there was a wound on one of her thighs, and the waistcoat showed signs of her having wiped away blood. From then the visits ceased.

From Youminglu.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 317.2509:

鍾繇

鍾繇忽不復朝會。意性有異於常。寮友問其故。云。常有婦人來。美麗非凡間者。曰。必是鬼物。可殺之。後來止戶外。曰。何以有相殺意。元常曰。無此。慇懃呼入。意亦有不忍。乃微傷之。便出去。以新綿拭血。竟路。明日。使人尋跡。至一大冢。棺中一婦人。形體如生。白練衫。丹繡裲襠。傷一髀。以裲襠中綿拭血。自此便絕。出幽明錄

Zong Dai 宗岱

*uncertain translation*

When Zong Dai served as Governor of Qingzhou, he banned offerings to unorthodox deities. Adhering with great energy to the no-spirit theory, he was quite unable to compromise. From Xianhua, Linzhou, there came a scholar in a hemp headdress, who prepared his visiting card and called on Dai, talking with him for a very long time. Dai refused to change his position, either falling into denial or failing to be reasonable. The scholar repeatedly explained his principles, and eventually reached the no-spirit theory, making things difficult for Dai, but Dai did not desire to compromise. The scholar thus shook out his robes and rose, saying: “The gentleman has cut off my type from their offerings for over twenty years. The gentleman has a black ox and a bearded servant; they have not yet encumbered one another, but now the servant has rebelled and the ox is dead. On an auspicious day they will neutralise one another.” After speaking, the scholar disappeared. The following day Dai passed away.

From Zayu.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 317.2508:

宗岱

宗岱為青州刺史。禁淫祀。著無鬼論。甚精。無能屈者。鄰州咸化之。後有一書生。葛巾。修刺詣岱。與之談甚久。岱理未屈。辭或未暢。書生輒為申之。次及無鬼論。便苦難岱。岱理欲屈。書生乃振衣而起曰。君絕我輩血食二十餘年。君有青牛髯奴。未得相困耳。今奴已叛。牛已死。令日得相制矣。言絕。遂失書生。明日而岱亡。出雜語

Dongfang Shuo 東方朔

[2840] When Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BCE, r. 141-87 BCE) travelled east, he arrived at the Hangu Pass, where he found a thing in the road, its body several zhang in length (a zhang is c. 3.33m), and like an elephant ox in shape, with dark eyes and a sparking energy, its four feet buried in the earth, moving around but not travelling. The various officials were very alarmed, but Dongfang Shuo[1] requested wine to pour upon it. He poured out several dozen hu, and it disappeared. The emperor asked why, and he replied: “This is called a you (i.e., a ‘sorrow’); it is born of suffering. This must have been the site of a Qin prison, or, if not that, a site where prisoners were gathered and moved. As wine removes sorrows, we were able to make it disappear.” The emperor said: “Only an expert in the natural world could deal with this.”

From Soushenji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), viii, 359.2839-40:

東方朔

[2840] 漢武帝東遊。至函谷關。有物當道。其身長數丈。其狀象牛。青眼而曜精。四足入土。動而不徙。百官驚懼。東方朔乃請酒灌之。灌之數十斛而消。帝問其故。答曰。此名憂。患之所生也。此必是秦之獄地。不然。罪人徙作地聚。夫酒忘憂。故能消之也。帝曰。博物之士。至於此乎。出搜神記

[1] This is Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (c.160-c.93 BCE, courtesy name Manqian 曼倩), a famous writer and Daoist of the Former Han court. On him see http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/personsdongfangshuo.html; Hanshu 65.2841-74.

Jia Mi 賈謐

Jia Mi’s courtesy name was Changyuan. One night, in the sixth month of the ninth year Yuankang (299 CE), there was a violent thunderstorm. A pillar of Mi’s room collapsed, pinning him to his bedcovering. A violent gust of wind then caught his clothing, and lifted him several hundred zhang into the air (a zhang is about 3.3m). After some time had elapsed he came back down.

From Yiyuan.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), viii, 359.2846:

賈謐

賈謐字長淵。元康九年六月。夜暴雷電。謐齋柱陷。壓毀牀帳。飄風吹其服。上天數百丈。久乃下。出異苑

 

Liu Jiao 劉嶠

At the end of the Yongjia era (307-13 CE), there was a Liu Jiao who lived in Jinling. His elder brother had died young, and his sister-in-law lived as a widow. One night, his sister-in-law and a servant-girl were asleep in the hall when the servant suddenly cried out and hurried to his room. She told him: “On the wall where your sister-in-law sleeps there is a very strange and unwholesome sight.” Liu Jiao quickly picked up a knife and lit the fire. Just as he reached the woman, he saw that there were shapes like human faces on all four walls, their eyes opened wide and their tongues protruding. Some were tigers, some dragons, changing to take on every conceivable shape, and growing as he watched to over a zhang (3.3m) in length. His sister-in-law then died.

From Guanggujin wuxingji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), viii, 359.2846:

劉嶠

永嘉末。有劉嶠居晉陵。其兄蚤亡。嫂寡居。夜。嫂與婢在堂中眠。二更中。婢〈婢原作嫂。據明鈔本改。〉忽大哭。走往其房。云。嫂屋中及壁上。奇怪不可看。劉嶠便持刀然火。將婦至。見四壁上如人面。張目吐舌。或虎或龍。千變萬形。視其面長丈餘。嫂即亡。出廣古今五行記

Wu Xiang 吳祥

The Han-era clerk of Zhuji County, Wu Xiang, feared exhaustion in official service. He thus fled to hide in a remote mountain area. On his journey he came across a stream. It was getting close to dusk, but he saw a young girl, extremely beautiful and wearing multi-coloured garments. She said: “I live alone, without village or district, with only an old woman, only a dozen or so steps from here.” When Xiang heard this he was very pleased, so set off following her. They had travelled a li or more when they reached her home. Her family were extremely poor, but prepared food for Xiang. He finished by the first watch (7-9pm), at which he heard an old woman call out: “Sister Zhang?” The girl answered: “Yes?” Xiang asked who it had been, and she replied: “A lonely old woman back along the road.” The two slept together until dawn, and Xiang set off at the cock’s crow. The two had fallen in love, and the young woman gave him a purple scarf. Xiang bound it as a kerchief and set off back to the place of their meeting the previous day. When he came to cross the stream, however, the water was rushing violently, and too deep to wade. He thus returned to the girl’s home, but found nothing as it had been the previous night, with only a tomb remaining.

From Fayuanzhulin.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 317.2505:

吳祥

漢諸暨縣吏吳祥者。憚役委頓。將投竄深山。行至一溪。日欲暮。見年少女子。彩衣甚美。云。我一身獨居。又無鄉里。唯有一孤嫗。相去十餘步耳。祥聞甚悅。便即隨去。行一里餘。即至女家。家甚貧陋。為祥設食。至一更竟。聞一嫗喚云。張姑子。女應曰。諾。祥問是誰。答云。向所道孤嫗也。二人共寢至曉。雞鳴祥去。二情相戀。女以紫巾贈祥。祥以布手巾報。行至昨夜所遇處。過溪。其夜水暴溢。深不可涉。乃回向女家。都不見昨處。但有一冢耳。出法苑珠林

Chen Adeng 陳阿登

During the Han era, one Gou Zhangren, from Guiji, was returning from Dongye, but night fell before he reached his gate. He saw the light of a fire by a small cottage at the roadside, so went to seek lodging. When he arrived, he found a young girl, who was not willing to stay the night alone with a man, so called to a girl from a neighbouring family to keep her company. That night they plucked the konghou harp together, and sang:

Kudzu grows on along the vine,

Slow along and slow back down the cord.

If you wish to learn my name,

Surname Chen, first name Adeng.

The next day he arrived outside the east wall, where a woman was selling food at a stall. He sat on the customer stool and told her what he had seen the previous night. The woman was shocked, and told him: “That was my daughter. She only died recently, and was buried outside the walls.”

From Lingguaiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 316.2504:

陳阿登

漢會稽句章人。至東野還。暮不及門。見路傍小屋然火。因投宿。至。有一少女。不欲與丈夫共宿。呼鄰家女自伴。夜共彈箜篌。歌曰。連綿葛上藤。一緩復一絙。汝欲知我姓。姓陳名阿登。明至東郭外。有賣食母在肆中。此人寄坐。因說昨所見。母驚曰。此是我女。近亡。葬於郭外爾。出靈怪集

Wang Fan 王樊

The Dunhuang shilu reports: When Wang Fan died, a thief opened his tomb and saw Wang Fan playing chupu (a form of boardgame) with someone; he rewarded the robber with wine, and the thief drank it in terror, watching someone lead a bronze horse out of the tomb. That night a divinity arrived at the city gate, announcing that it was the envoy of Wang Fan, that someone had opened his tomb, marking his lips by swallowing dark wine, and that, at dawn, when that person returned, they could verify this and capture him. When the thief entered the city, those on the gate therefore bound and questioned him, and it was just as the divinity had said. From Duyizhi.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 317.2507:

王樊

敦煌實錄云。王樊卒。有盜開其冢。見樊與人樗蒲。以酒賜盜者。盜者惶怖。飲之。見有人牽銅馬出冢者。夜有神人至城門。自云。我王樊之使。今有發冢者。以酒墨其脣訖。旦至。可以驗而擒之。盜即入城。城門者乃縛詰之。如神所言。出獨異志

The Zhonghua shuju edition of Du yi zhi presents a very slightly different version of the story:

Wang Fan’s Tomb 王樊冢

The Dunhuang shilu reports: When Wang Fan died, a thief opened his tomb and saw Wang Fan playing chupu (a form of boardgame) with someone; he rewarded the robber with wine, and the thief drank it in terror, watching someone lead a bronze horse out of the tomb. That night a divinity arrived at the city gate, announcing that it was the envoy of Wang Fan, that someone had opened his tomb, marking his lips by swallowing dark wine, and that, at dawn, when that person returned, they could verify this and capture him. When the thief entered the city, those on the gate therefore bound and questioned him, and it was just as the divinity had said.

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.8 (Tale 61):

王樊冢

《燉煌實錄》云：王樊卒，有盗開其冢，見王樊與人樗蒲，以酒賜盗者，盗者惶怖飲之，見有人牽銅馬出冢者。夜有神至城門，自言是王樊使，今有人發冢，以酒墨其唇，但至，可以驗而擒之。盗既入城，城門者乃縛詰之，如神言。

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories) in Du yi zhi, Xuanshi Zhi 獨異志，宣室志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories, Stories from the Chamber of Dissemination), edited by Zhang Yongqin 张永钦 and Hou Zhiming 侯志明 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983)

Zhou Shi 周式

Zhou Shi lived in Xiapei under the Han. He once travelled to Donghai, and along the way he encountered a clerk, carrying a book, who asked for a lift on his carriage. After they had travelled a little over ten li, he spoke to Shi: “I have to pay a quick visit. I will leave my book in the gentleman’s care. See that you do not open it.” When he had departed, Shi stealthily opened and examined the book. It recorded all of the people’s deaths, and Shi’s name was right there in the lower column. Before long the clerk returned, and Shi was still looking at the book. The clerk addressed him angrily: “This is why I told you! Why would you suddenly start to look at it?” Shi kowtowed until blood flowed from his head. After some time of this the clerk told him: “I am grateful that the gentleman brought me so far, but this book cannot be altered. The gentleman will depart today. Go home. Do not leave your door for three years, and you will be reprieved. Do not speak of having seen my book.” Shi returned home and did not leave.

More than two years passed. His family all thought this very strange. When a neighbour passed away, his father became very angry, and ordered him to go to mourn, leaving Shi unable to refuse. When he passed through the gate, he immediately encountered the clerk, who told him: “I ordered you not to leave for three years, but today you emerge from your gate. What option do I have? I tried to prevent you looking, and arranged a continuous punishment, but now I see you, and have no choice. In three days’ time, we will come for you.” Shi returned weeping, and recounted the whole matter. His father still did not believe him, but his mother watched over him, weeping day and night. When high noon arrived on the third day, they did indeed take him, and he died immediately.

From Fayuanzhulin.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 316.2504:

周式

漢下邳周式。嘗至東海。道逢一吏。持一卷書。求寄載。行十餘里。謂式曰。吾暫有所過。留書寄君船中。慎勿發之。去後。式盜發視書。皆諸死人錄。下條有式名。須臾吏還。式猶視書。吏怒曰。故以相告。何忽視之。式扣頭流血。良久曰。感卿遠相載。此書不可除。卿今日已去。還家。三年勿出門。可得度也。勿道見吾書。式還不出。已二年餘。家皆怪之。鄰人卒亡。父怒。使往弔之。式不得止。適出門。便見此吏。吏曰。吾令汝三年勿出。而今出門。知復奈何。吾求不見。連相為得鞭杖。今已見汝。無可奈何。後三日日中。當相取也。式還涕泣。具道如此。父故不信。母晝夜與相守涕泣。至三日日中時。見來取。便死。出法苑珠林