(Minghui.org) According to traditional Chinese culture, there are deities and cultivators in mountain caves. Some people wanted to find them but weren’t able to, while others met them by accident.
It was said that the Yellow Emperor learned from Guang Chengzi from Kongtong Mountain and later became immortal. In both Taiping Guangji (Records of the Taiping Era) and Yijian Zhi from the Song Dynasty, there are many stories of mysterious worlds inside caves.
The Story of Qiu Chuji
Genghis Khan invited Qiu Chuji, a renowned Taoist master, to visit him, and the two had many in-depth conversations. Qiu’s disciple Li Zhichang documented this trip in Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun. In Baiyun Temple, “deep in a cave, there was a great meeting with good friends and boundless happiness.”
Such a cave might appear ordinary to earthly people, but it could be a favored location for immortals. In the book, it said, “On February 1, 1224, we performed a religious ritual at Qiuyang Temple in Jinshan (in today’s Yanqing District in Beijing). Located on the south side of Dahe Mountain, it has beautiful mountains and clear water. Together with usnea [a plant also known as “old man’s beard”], clouds, and the moon, it was a place for Taoism.”
Along the way, Qiu also encountered other immortals in different mountains. He wrote a poem to describe what he saw:
“The mountains are green and high,with immortals crossing day and night;Caves in the mountain are too deep for earthly people to enter,while we often hear immortals singing from the center of the cave.”
A Short Time vs. Twelve Years
So exactly what does it look like inside these caves? A story in Taiping Guangji tells of something that happened in the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Song during the Liu Song Dynasty (449 AD). Wen Guangtong from Chenxi County (in today’s Hunan Province) was a farmer. Once a wild boar was digging up his farmland, so Wen shot it with an arrow but didn’t kill it. Wen followed the injured boar all the way to a cave. After climbing down over 300 steps, the cave suddenly opened up with hundreds of houses appearing before him.
An old man came out of one house and asked, “Are you the one who injured my boar?”
“It was eating my crops. That was why I shot it with an arrow,” Wen replied.
“It is wrong for an ox to damage crops,” the old man said. “But it is wrong if one thus takes the ox as his own.”
Wen agreed and apologized. The old man pardoned him, saying this was also the boar’s fate.
The old man invited Wen inside to where over 10 scholars dressed in ancient clothing were listening to someone lecture. The instructor was teaching the Tao Te Ching by Laozi. Someone brought food, and the old man invited Wen to eat with him.
Looking around, Wen saw that the people there were similar to those on the outside, but the place itself was beautiful and serene. He wanted to stay, but the old man said it wasn’t possible and told a boy to lead Wen out.
“What is this place?” Wen asked the boy.
“Those scholars were sages. To escape the brutality of Jie (the last emperor of the Xia Dynasty around 1800 BC), they came here following Taoism and became immortals. The instructor is Heshang Gong from the Han Dynasty. I am Wang Fusi from the Han Dynasty. I came here for clarification on some questions related to the Tao Te Ching. After working here as a servant for 120 years, I am still a gatekeeper and have not yet obtained the essence of the Tao Te Ching.”
As they reached the entrance of the cave, Wen bid farewell to Wang again and again, thinking they would never see each other again.
Outside the entrance, Wen was surprised to find that his bow and arrows had decomposed. When he returned to the village, he was told that 12 years had passed even though he seemed to have spent only a brief time in the cave. His family had already held a funeral for him.
After some time, Wen and some of the villagers went to that cave. The entrance was blocked by a giant rock, and they could not budge it.
(To be continued)
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Category: Traditional Culture
