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

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

The Soushenji version of this tale is slightly different to that transmitted via the Taiping guangji:

Wine Dispels Suffering 酒消患

When Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BCE, r. 141-87 BCE) travelled east, before he emerged from the Hangu Pass, he found a thing in the road, its body several zhang in length, and like an elephant ox in shape, with dark eyes and bright eyeballs, its four feet buried in the earth, moving around but not travelling. The various officials were terrified, 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 huan (i.e., a ‘suffering’); it is born of sorrow. This must have been the site of a Qin prison, or, if not that, then a site where prisoners were gathered and moved. As wine removes sorrows, we were able to make it disappear.” The emperor said: “Ah! Only an expert in the natural world could deal with this!”

Gan Bao 干寶, Soushenji 搜神記 (In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 11.131 (Tale 270):

酒消患

漢武帝東遊，未出函谷關，有物當道，身長數丈，其狀象牛，青眼而曜睛，四足入土，動而不徙。百官驚駭。東方朔乃請以酒灌之。灌之數十斛而消。帝問其故。答曰：「此名為患，憂之所生也。此必是秦之獄地。不然，則罪人徙作地聚。夫酒忘憂，故能消之也。」帝曰：「吁！博物之士，至於此乎！」

[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.

Wei Guan 衛瓘

The family of Wei Guan[1] were cooking when the rice fell to the floor, each grain transforming into a snail, extending a foot and departing. Before long they were executed by Empress Jia.[2]

From 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:

衛瓘

衛瓘家人炊。飯墮地。悉化為螺。出足而行。尋為賈后所誅。出五行記

[1] Wei Guan 衛瓘 (220-91 CE), courtesy name Boyu 伯玉, from Anyi 安邑, in Hedong 河東, was a prominent official under the Jin, serving prominently as Grand Protector 太保 but was killed with much of his household after falling foul of the Dowager Empress Jia and a powerful court faction. For his biography, see Fang Xuanling 房玄齡, et al., Jinshu 晉書 (The Book of Jin), (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 36.1055-61.

[2] On Empress Jia (i.e., Jia Nanfeng 賈南風, 256-300 CE), widely blamed for interference in Jin-era politics, see Fang Xuanling 房玄齡, et al., Jinshu 晉書 (The Book of Jin), (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 31.963-66.

An Official Salary Is Predestined 館俸前定

Liu Chaolin of Nancheng had a talent for dreams, and was diligent and gentlemanly in conduct. One night he dreamed that he arrived in a different place, finding, beneath a pair of pomegranate trees, a pit containing a thousand strings of coins. He mused to himself about having led his whole life without such vain desires, and wondered how he’d come to this. Before long, Dai Xunsi (unidentified so far!) summoned him to office to teach the sons and nephews of the court, with a salary of a hundred strings of coins. Entering the residence he saw a pair of pomegranate trees, just like those of his dream. He served there for ten years, and then achieved the civil service degree in a wuxu year, and departed.[1]

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前1.39 (Tale 70):

館俸前定

南城劉巢林夢材，篤行君子也。一夕夢至二所，兩石榴樹下獲錢一窖，凡千緡。自念平生無妄想，何以至此。未幾，戴尋思招之館，教子侄，歲俸百緡。入齋見庭前兩石榴樹，宛然夢中，凡十年，登戊戌第而去。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.) Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986)

[1] Wuxu 戊戌 denotes the thirty-fifth of the sixty-year cycle, and in this context might potentially refer to 1118, 1178 or 1238 CE.

 

Ma Daoyou 馬道猷

Under the Southern Qi (479-502 CE) Ma Daoyou served as Director of the Department of State Affairs. In the first year Yongming (483), seated in the palace he suddenly saw spirits filling the space before him; the people around him saw nothing. Soon after, two spirits entered his ears, pulling out his ethereal soul, which fell onto his shoes. He pointed at it to show people, saying, “Gentlemen, do you see this?” None of those around him could see anything, so they asked him what his ethereal soul looked like. Daoyou said: “The ethereal soul looks exactly like a toad.” He said: “There can be no way to survive. The spirits are now in the ears. Look at how they swell up.” The following day he died. Taken from Shuyiji.

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, 327.2992

馬道猷

南齊馬道猷為尚書令史。永明元年。坐省中。忽見鬼滿前。而傍人不見。須臾兩鬼入其耳中。推出魂。魂落屐上。指以示人。諸君見否。傍人並不見。問魂形狀云何。道猷曰。魂正似蝦蟇。云。必無活理。鬼今猶在耳中。視其耳皆腫。明日便死。出述異記

Aunty Wang’s Daigan Pole Tricks 戴竿伎王大娘

At the court of Dezong (of the Tang, r. 779-805 CE), there was a Daigan acrobat, a married woman from Sanyuan, who could balance eighteen people on top of her head and walk.

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.4 (Tale 27):

戴竿伎王大娘

德宗朝，有戴竿三原婦人王大娘，首戴十八人而行。

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)

A Copper Coffin Descends From Heaven 天降銅棺

Zou Su, the Wine Supervisor for Zhengzou, was just and impartial in office, and respected by people for that. In Zhengzhou one day, as the sun reached noon, wind and hail descended from the heavens, mist and cloud arose from all four sides around the north gate, and a black miasma spun out of it and arose vertically, meeting the heavens without dissipating. A lidless copper coffin descended from the sky, and music came loud and clear out of the empty air. At that time all of Zhengzhou’s junior clerks below the rank of prefect, generals and officers, scholars and commoners, monks and Daoists all changed their clothes and tried to get into the coffin. It being narrow outside and wide within, however, none were able to enter. Winding his wine supervisor’s kerchief as he arrived, Su was asked by the crowd to enter the coffin, and he had not the slightest difficulty. A moment later, a copper lid descended, circled by multi-coloured clouds, and it was all then lifted among the beautiful sound of immortals and the voices of cranes, amid auspicious clouds of heavenly fragrance, and, in a cloud of enduring mist, the coffin gradually turned to the north and departed. He now serves as the judge over longevity in the distant north.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.150 (Tale 263):

天降銅棺

鄭州監酒鄒宿，為官公正無私，人所推敬。一日，鄭州日方午，天降風雹，煙雲四起於北門，黑霧盤旋直上，衝天不散，降下無蓋銅棺一具，但聞空中音樂嘹喨。時鄭州自守倅以下官吏、將校、士庶、僧道，盡易衣服，欲入銅棺。而外狹內寬，皆莫能入。續監酒巾裹而來，衆請之入棺，亦無少（「少」，明刻本作「所」。）礙。少焉，復降銅蓋，綵雲繚繞，擎舉而上，仙韶鶴唳，瑞氣天香，靄靄不散，其棺冉冉向北而去。今為北極司壽限判官。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).

A Snake Steals Wine And Drinks 蛇竊酒飲

Zhou Bixian was supervisor of the Panfeng wine store in Wuxi County, Changzhou. He used fragrant medicinal material to produce his yeast, bringing forth a dense fragrant cloud. The flavour of his wine was pure and clear, and it was produced in top, middle and lower qualities. When distilling the wine, he made offerings to deities, slaughtering a sheep and a pig, carrying out the rite of the three offerings in his official robes, and when this was complete sending the wine out to all levels of officials at the court. One day, at the autumn offering, the storehouse clerk came reporting that there were holes in the clay of the highest grade wine flasks. When he was taken to see, several hundred flasks were indeed quite empty. The clerks thought it strange that those chosen and cleaned as offerings to the spirits had not been affected, and nobody knew the cause of it all. A month later, laughing voices were suddenly heard in the wine store, and when they peeped in they saw a crowd of children sucking from the mouths of the wine jars; when the doors were opened they all vanished into the earth. He hastily ordered that the floor be excavated, and at a depth of three chi (about 1m), they found a huge serpent lying drunk, with several dozen smaller snakes wound around beside it, and they realized that those spoiling the wine were snakes. His heart weighed down with doubt and bewilderment, gloomy and without joy, [lacuna] within two months he had resigned and returned to his home region.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.258 (Tale 469):

蛇竊酒飲

周必先監無常州錫縣潘封酒庫，用香藥料造麯，香氣氤氳，酒味清洌，有上中下三等。酒熟祭神，刺羊刺豕，庫官展裹行三獻之禮，事畢分送朝官監司太守以下。一日秋祭，庫吏走報，謂上等酒瓶泥皆有孔，取而視之，則數百瓶皆空空如也。官吏以為怪，擇其潔者供祀神，不之顧，亦莫知所自也。越一月，忽聞酒庫有笑語聲，潛視之，則有羣小兒口吸瓶上，開門則失入地矣。急命掘地，深三尺，有巨蛇醉卧，數十小蛇旋繞其旁，始知壞酒者此蛇也。其心疑怪，鬱鬱不樂， [ ] 踰兩月以事罷歸。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).

 

A Monkey Becomes A Temple Spirit 猿為廟神

The Song emperor Lizong (Zhao Yun, r. 1224-64) summoned the thirty-fifth Daoist Heavenly Master to court, and as the tide was ebbing, he passed by the side of the Liuhe Pagoda, where he noticed that there were newly built temple wings to it, so stopped his sedan chair and asked its neighbours: “To what spirit is this dedicated? To misfortune or to fortune?” The commoners said: “A spirit of prosperity. The populace have just constructed this temple.” The Heavenly Master said: “Were it to have been one of misfortune, I would have exorcised it.” The commoners asked: “What for?” The Heavenly Master replied: “This is a white ape from Longhu Peak; it has taken many things, and I had not expected to see it treated as a spirit here.” He brandished his sword and rebuked it: “If you bring fortune to the populace, my punishment will not reach you; if you do not, you will be reported and face the consequences.” The temple stands to this day.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.253 (Tale 457):

猿為廟神

宋理宗朝召三十五代天師赴京，退潮，道經六和塔側，見新廟翼然，停轎問其鄰曰：「此為何神？為禍為福？」民曰：「福神也。民方創此廟。」天師曰：「苟或為禍，吾將除之。」民曰：「何如？」天師謂：「此龍虎山一白猿，失去多載，不圖今日為神於此。」仗劍叱曰：「既福民，罰乃不及，苟或反是，必將奏誅。」至今廟猶在。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).

Li Yue Prays For Rain 梨岳祈雨

When Shi Yuzhi (1216-1293) was judge over Jianning Prefecture, the climate settled into a severe drought. At Li Yue the prefecture had a powerful spirit, and one day Mr Shi went to pray in the ancestral hall, saying: “The spirit is a deity who enjoys the offerings from this land; your servant is a minister upholding an order to protect this land; this prefecture has long suffered drought, the seedlings and grains will soon wilt; if the spirit does not send rain, how will our hearts be soothed? Now I will pour two cups of wine; the spirit will drink one, your servant will drink one, and if the spirit sends sweet timely rain, commendation at court will bring generous titles and rewards. If there is no rain, destruction will visit your statue and fire your temple.” Mr Shi lifted a cup of wine, and the spirit emptied the cup of wine in front of him. Just as he emerged from the temple gate, dark clouds gathered, rain fell in torrents, and duckweed covered all around, vapour rising to blanket the earth. When the rain stopped, the water of the western river had quite dried up. They thus realized that the spirit had transported that to use as rain.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.223 (Tale 396):

梨岳祈雨

史宇之以大觀文殿學士判建寧府，值天時亢旱，郡有神靈於梨岳，一日禱於祠，曰：「神為血食此土之神，某奉君命守土之臣，斯郡久旱，苗稼將枯，神不降雨，我心何安？今釃酒二，神飲其一，某飲其一，若神降甘澍，保奏朝廷，厚其封贈。其或不雨，毀像焚廟。」史公舉杯一飲，而神前杯酒已竭矣。甫出門，陰雲四合，雨即霶霈，與萍俱下，水已帶土氣。雨止，西河之水已竭。乃知神運河之水以為雨也。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).