mocking – Zhiguai Translations

Zhao Ji 趙吉

The former Constable of Ye County, Zhao Ji, often walked a field path. A lame man had died and been buried next to that path. Over twenty years later, a man from a distant place passed Zhao’s gate. This foreigner took a dozen steps and then suddenly went lame. Zhao was surprised by this and asked him about it. The foreigner laughed, and told him: “There used to be a lame ghost here, so I imitated it as a joke.”

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, 320.2540:

趙吉

鄴縣故尉趙吉。常在田陌間。昔日有一蹇人死。埋在陌邊。後二十餘年。有一遠方人。過趙所門外。遠方人行十餘步。忽作蹇。趙怪問其故。遠人笑曰。前有一蹇鬼。故効以戲耳。出幽明錄

Wang Bi 王弼

Wang Bi[1] repeatedly mocked Zheng Xuan’s[2] Confucianism, saying: “That old codger didn’t have a clue.” It happened that, at midnight, he suddenly heard the sound of clogs outside his pavilion. After a short time someone entered and introduced himself as Zheng Xuan, reproving him: “The gentleman is only young; how can you take the strained interpretation of a few sentences so lightly as to concoct such a rash and preposterous slandering of Laozi?” His countenance coloured deeply by anger, after finishing speaking he withdrew. Bi resented this greatly, but not long after encountered a pestilence and died.

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, 317.2512:

王弼

王弼注易。輒笑鄭玄為儒。云。老奴無意。於時夜分。忽聞外閣有著屐聲。須臾便進。自云鄭玄。責之曰。君年少。何以輕穿鑿文句。而妄譏詆老子也。極有忿色。言竟便退。弼惡之。後遇癘而卒。

[1] Wang Bi 王弼 (226-49 CE, courtesy name Fusi 輔嗣), a philosopher counted among the founders of the Xuanxue 玄學 School of Neo-Daoist thought.

[2] Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127-200 CE, courtesy name Kangchen 康成), an Eastern Han scholar of the Confucian Classics.

Traitorous And Unfilial 悖逆不孝

In the village of Cunluo, in Yangzhou, within Shu, there was a man surnamed Wang who had once turned against his father and mother. People mocked him, the officials punished him, but he would not repent. One day he became seriously ill. Nearby was a temple devoted to a powerful spirit, and this addressed him in a dream: “If you approach my hall, burn incense and promise offerings, you will recover.” The betrayer dragged his exhausted body out of bed and departed. When he fell to his knees in prostration, a great snake suddenly emerged from beneath the altar. With a red crown and a black body, it was over a zhang (3.3m) in length, and wound itself around his body, keeping its head stationary before his face and licking it all the while. He cried out to the spirit for help, swearing on his life that he would never again dare to be insolent. The snake drew back, unwound itself and departed. From then on he changed resolutely into a filial son.

The unfilial are punished by the spirits, and the nether world is indeed to be feared!

Anon, Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前1.21 (Tale 36):

悖逆不孝

蜀洋州村落間有姓汪者，嘗悖逆其父母，人諷之，官罪之，皆不悛。一日病甚，近有威靈廟神，夢之云：「汝可來吾祠下，燒香許祭即愈。」悖逆之人扶憊而去。方跪拜間，神坐下忽有一大蛇出，紅冠黑質，長一丈餘，絞其身，仍以頭對其面而舐之。其人遂拜告於神，誓死不敢無狀，蛇方逡巡脫去。自後痛改為孝子。不孝為神所譴，冥冥間可畏也。

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)

An Elm Demon 榆木為怪

Lü Yijian, Duke Shen, served several times as a magistrate in Shu, but the name of his prefecture has been forgotten. The government office had long experienced a ghostly manifestation, named Great Aunt Yu, who was an elm spirit. In form she looked like an ancient and ugly woman, and she frequently emerged in the kitchen, encountered among a crowd of maids, who often saw her. The household, having seen her over a long period, did not think her strange. The Duke called out a question to her, at which she bowed low and said: “Your servant has long been resident in this hall, and though not human, I dare not cause misfortune.” The Duke then laid the matter aside and asked no more questions. She often predicted that he must later become very influential. One day she suddenly announced that she was pregnant, and the maids mocked her. She herself said that she would soon give birth, and then disappeared for over a month. Then, all of a sudden, her voice was heard, saying: “I have given birth; [264] please come and look. In the back garden, to the southwest of the elm tree, there’s another, and that’s my child.” They looked, and it was true.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.263-64 (Tale 477):

榆木為怪

呂申公夷簡常通判蜀中，忘其郡名。廨宇中素有鬼物，號俞老姑，乃榆木精，其狀一老醜婦，常出廚間與羣婢為偶，或時見之。家人見之久，亦不為怪。公呼問之，即下階拜（「階拜」原作「拜階」，據抄配本改。）云：「妾在於（抄配本無「於」字。）堂府日久，雖非人，然不敢為禍。」公亦置而不問。常謂公他日必大貴。一日忽懷妊，羣婢戲之。自言非久當產，遂月餘不見。忽出云：「已產矣， [264] 請視之，後園榆木西南生大贅乃是。」視之，果然。

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).

The Cishan Deity Manifests 祠山神顯

Zhang Dadi, of Cishan in Guangde, when he first manifested his nature, once turned into a pig in order to regulate the waterways, and for this reason many people of the prefecture do not eat pigs, treating them as a taboo. The people of the prefecture obeyed this very sincerely, and warned people to avoid pork. The Tang subject Lou Yin (833-909), whose name is famous across All Under Heaven, ridiculed the deities and spirits in every place he visited. He once passed this temple, and inscribed a poem on the wall:

Traversing roads in the world’s farthest corners

Never once in life misled by fallacy.

He was about to write another pair of lines, when his hand was suddenly grasped and dragged upwards, as if by a person. He heard someone speak: “If the second couplet isn’t good, your hand could be snapped off.” Luo, terrified, said: “How about it isn’t written at all, to accord with the deity’s order?” His hand was then restored as before. He continued to write:

Zhang Dadi of Cishan,

Is Lord of Spirits in All Under Heaven.

During the Song Jingding era (1260-64), there was a palace, lying four li north of Taipingzhou city, which had extremely powerful spirits. A wealthy family made a great refurbishment of the temple there, using curved tiles numbering in the [216] tens of thousands. When the time came to open the several kilns, their simple clay tiles had all been transformed and showed a glossy blue-green glaze. As the artisans came to complete the project, they found themselves three hundred tiles short, so continued to heat the kilns, the artisans placing several tens of thousands of tiles in the kiln, intending that they should all be transformed and glazed, to sell on and make a small profit. When removed from the kiln, three hundred had received the glaze, but the rest were all simple clay.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.215-16 (Tale 382):

祠山神顯

廣德軍祠山張大帝，初發靈時，嘗化為豬以治水，故郡人多不食豬，自為諱物。郡人事之甚謹，戒不食豬肉。唐人羅隱，名彰天下，所至之處，鬼神無不為之譏諷。嘗過其廟，題詩於壁曰：「踏遍天涯路，平生不信邪。」方欲題後二句，（此處原多一「於」字，據明刻本刪。）俄手如人拽起狀，聞人語曰：「若後二句不佳，能折爾手。」羅悚懼曰：「如不佳，甘照神語。」手遂如故。續題曰：「祠山張大帝，天下鬼神爺。」宋景定年間，太平州城北四里外有行宮極靈，富家巨室重新廟宇，計用筒瓦數 [216] 萬口，臨時起窰三五所燒造，其土瓦盡皆變成青色琉璃。結蓋將畢工，尚少三百口，續行燒造，匠者復以數萬入竈，意其變琉璃，庶可轉鬻以圖小利。及出窰，則三百口為琉璃，餘者皆土瓦也。