Here the reference is to an edict from the supreme god Jade Emperor/Jade God (Yü-ti 玉帝).
841Yü-yeh 玉液, Jade Liquid, “white-jade liquid”:
i) by Liu Hsiang 劉向 (77 BC - 6 BC) 9Ed.), Ch’u elegies (Ch’u-tz’u 楚辭), “Chiu-ssu”, “Chi-shih”, has the lines: “Sipping white-jade liquid, oh, to stop thirst, chewing fomes-flowers, oh, to cure hunger.” A note to that says: “White-jade liquid, means the essence and vital energy of divine chalcedony buds/ flowers (ch’iung-jui 瓊蕊), and thirstily sipping their white-jade essence is done with the desire to depart into immortality.”
ii) a metaphor for fine wine. Pai Chü-yi 白居易 (772 - 846), in his poem Imitating the style of T’ao Ch’ien (Hsiao T’ao Ch’ien-t’i 効陶潛體), has the lines: “I open the bottles and spill them into the jar, White-jade liquid and yellow-gold unguent.” Liu Ch’ien 劉潛 (484 - 550), in his Letter Thanking Prince An of Tsin for his bestowal of a gift of mandarins (Hsieh Chin An-wang tz’u-kan ch’i 謝晉安王賜柑啟), says: “Trimming that gold robe, Swallowing this white-jade liquid.”
842Chin-chiang 金漿, Gold Liquor/Liquid/Nectar, a term signifying some elixir of immortality. Cf. previous note. There is the expression Chin-chiang Yü-li 金漿玉醴, Gold Liquor/Liquid/Nectar, and Jade Sweet-wine:
i) Ke Hung 葛洪 (284 - 363), Sir Uncarved-block Embracer (Pao-p’u Tzu 抱樸子), “Chin-tan”, says: “The Vermilion Plant (chu-ts’ao 朱草) looks like a small jujube. and is cultivated to a height of three or four feet. Its twigs and leaves are both crimson (ch’ih 赤), its stem being like coral (shan-hu 珊瑚). It likes to grow at the foot of famous mountains and crags. If it’s notched, its sap flows like blood, and if jade and the Eight Stones or gold or silver are thrown into it, they can at once form pills like clay, eventually becoming a liquid. If gold is thrown into it, it’s called Gold Liquor, and if jade’s thrown into it, it’s called Jade Sweet-wine. If one takes either, one can live abidingly/forever. Fu Hsȕan 傅玄 (217 - 278), Seven plans (Ch’i-mo 七謨), says: “Gold Liquor and Jade Sweet-wine, Boil like clouds and stagnate like deep pools.”
ii) later a poetic term for “fine wine”.
843tu-ti 度地, to pass/cross over from the Earth, a Taoist term, meaning to be transformed into an immortal of Heaven.
844Shih-chieh 尸解, “to be Released from one’s Corpse”, a Taoist term for” to leave behind one’s body and dried bones, and depart into immortality”. Fan Yeh 范曄 (398 - 445), History of the Latter Han dynasty (Hou Han shu 後漢書), “Wang He-p’ing chuan”, says: “Afterwards, his student Hsia Jung said that his Corpse had been Released.” A note to that says: “This Corpse Releasing refers to, as one is about to ascend into immortality (teng-hsien 登仙), availing oneself of being a corpse to be released and transformed. into immortality”.
845Yü-ch’ih 玉敕, Jade Command, a euphemism for “command”, here a command from the Jade Emperor.
846Shuang-feng-ch’ȕeh 雙鳳闕, Watchtower of Paired-phoenixes, name of a palace in Heaven where Weaving-damsel lives.
847Ch’i-hsiang-yi 七襄衣, Dress of Weaving-patterns. Anon. (early and mid 1st millennium BC), Songs classic (Shih-ching 詩經), no. 203, verse 5, lines 7 - 8 go: “Weaving-damsel tiptoes forward, during one day, making seven changes of position.
Ch’i-hsiang 七襄, is explained as “seven returnings” (fan 反), “seven movings” (keng-yi 更移) or “seven harnessings-up” (chia 駕). One explanation says that from dawn to dusk (from the hour mao 卯 to the hour yu 酉) the Weaving-damsel stars move their position seven times. According to Hsü Shen 許慎 (30 - 124), Explaining writing and elucidating characters (Sho-wen chieh-tzu 說文解字), produced in AD 100, hsiang means “a weaving pattern” or “weaving a pattern” (chih-wen 織文), the sense of the term ch’i-hsiang being that if you gaze at the Weaving-damsel, you’ll see that in one day she weaves as many as seven patterns, “but all the same doesn’t complete our piece of patterned brocade”
848Yü-fei 玉妃, Jade Queen.
849sou 藪, “deer gathering-place”.
850Hsi-yȕeh Ti-chȕn 西嶽帝君, West-sacred-peak God-lord, being one of the gods of the Sacred Peaks, of Mount Hua (Hua-shan 華山).
851Ying-chou 瀛洲, Ying Isle. one of the three mythical islands-of-the-immortals. It was said to be located in the Eastern Ocean, and 700,000 li-miles from the eastern coast of China opposite Tsui-li in Chekiang province.
852chin-pi 金碧, “gold and green-jade/emerald”. This is a compound used in traditional Chinese painting art, referring to a kind of paint made of “clay gold” (ni-chin 泥金) (being a mixture of glue and powdered gold or other metals used for decoration or painting), azurite and malachite pigment/ mineral green. Any landscape painting done with these three paints as its main colours is called Gold-and-green-jade Landscape (chin-pi shan-shui 金碧山水), having the “clay gold” extra to the Dark-green Landscape (ch’ing-lü shan-shui 青綠山水). The “clay-gold” is mostly used for outlining or filling in the colour of the foot of rocks, sandspits, roseate clouds and also mountqin outlines or the towers and villas of palace buildings. The painting of “ruler-painted” (chieh-hua 界畫) gold lines in between peaks and crags of Dark-green Landscapes was one of the methods of the Northern School (Pei-tsung 北宗) and created by Li Ssu-hsȕn 李思訓 (651 - 716) of the T’ang dynasty.
There’s further the expression “gold and green-jade blazing brilliant” (chin-pi hui-huang 金碧輝煌), (of a building) to be brilliantly ablaze with gold and green jade, used to describe resplendently and magnificently adorned buildings, mostly imperial palaces.
Gold-horse and Green-jade-cock (Chin-ma Pi-chi 金馬碧雞) were the names of gods. Pan Ku 班固 (32 - 92), Han history (Han-shu 漢書), “Chiao-ssu chih”, says: “During the reign of Emperor Proclamation (Hsȕan-ti 宣帝), someone said that in Yi-chou 益州 there were the gods Gold-horse and Green-jade-cock, so the emperor sent his Great-man Minister of Remonstrance (chien-yi ta-fu 諫議大夫) Wang Pao 王褒 there, grasping an ambassadorial tally, to seek them out.” A note to that says: “A gold form/body like a horse, and a green-jade body like a cock.”
East of K’un-ming county in Yunnan province, there’s a Mount Gold-horse (Chin-ma-shan 金馬衫), and south-west of that county there’s a Mount Green-jade-cock (Pi-chi-shan 碧雞山), the two mountains facing each other. Legend has it that they were the location of Han dynasty sacrificial services to the gods Gold-horse and Green-jade-cock, and there are shrines/temples to the gods up on both of them.
853Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Chang Hu 張祜 [AD? - AD 853].
854Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lu Kui-meng 陸龜蒙 [AD? - ca. AD 881].
855Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Li Shang-yin 李商隱 [813 - 858].
856Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ts’ao T’ang 曹唐 [fl. ca. AD 867].
857t’an-tz’u 彈詞, Strum-lyric, being the name of a genre of ballad performance (ch’ü-yi 曲藝)., also called Southern Lyric (nan-tz’u 南詞). Generally thought to have been formed in the middle stage of the Ming fynasty, aeound AD 1500 or so, its antecedents being the Truth-clay-modelling (t’ao-chen 陶真) and Lryic Tale (tz’u-hua 詞話). However, Tsang Mao-hsȕn 臧懋循 (AD? - AD 1621), Bud-shouldering-hall’s collected literary works (Fu-pao-t’ang chi 負苞堂集), scroll 3, says that “When Yang Wei-chen 楊維楨 [1296-1370] was a refugee evading troubles, in Wu 吳,” he once composed a Roaming all over Strum-lyric (Ssu-yu chi t’an-tz’u 四游記彈詞), so it seems that there were Strum-lyrics as early as the late Yȕan dynasty.
There were various kinds of Strum-lyric, such as the Su-chou Strum-lyric (Su-chou T’an-tz’u 蘇州彈詞), Yang-chou Strum-lyric (Yang-chou T’an-tz’u 揚州彈詞), Ssu-ming Southern Lyric (Ssu-ming Nan-tz’u 四明南詞), Ch’ang-sha Strum-lyric (Ch’ang-sha T’an-tz’u 長沙彈詞), and Kui-lin Strum-lyric (Kui-lin T’an-tz’u 桂�
��彈詞). Other kinds of ballad performance such as Shao-hsing P’ing-hu Tunes (Shao-hsing P’ing-hu Tiao 紹興平胡調) also belonged to the Strum-lyric genre.
Strum-lyric performances current in modern times have generally spoken using one to four performers, some included both speaking (sho 說) and singing (ch’ang 唱), and others only singing without any speaking. The main instruments employed have been the Three-string Banjo (san-hsien 三絃), and the lute (p’i-pa 琵琶) or Moon Guitar (yȕeh-ch’in 月琴). The singer sings to their own instrumental playing, in a seated position. The songs are basically seven-syllables per line, but some also have aria tunes and associated prosodies inserted, each using different aria tunes and kinds of music. All use local dialect for both speech and song.
More than one hundred and eighty traditional Strum-lyrics are now known of, all long or fairly long, including such famous ones as Pearl Pagoda (Chen-chu T’a 珍珠塔), Jade dragon-fly (Yu ch’ing-t’ing 玉蜻蝏), Three laughs (San-hsiao 三笑) and Japanese robe (Wo-p’ao 倭袍).
858Nei-yȕan 內苑, Inner-palace Hunting-park, an old term for the forbidden precincts of the imperial palace (kung-chin 宮禁).
859Ch’ao-yȕan-ke 朝元閣, Paying-homage-to-the-Origin Villa. The name presumably of a building in the T’ang dynasty imperial palace, one where Empress Yang performed the dance Rainbow-skirt.
860Chiang-nan 江南, Yangtse-south, a name referring to the region south of the River Yangtse, between the Rivers Yangtse and Hsiang. During the T’ang dynasty it was the name of a “province” (tao, set up during the period 627 - 649, and included present-day Chekiang, Fukien, Kiangsi and Hunan provinces, the parts of present-day Anhwei and Kiangsu provinces south of the Yangtse, and the north-eastern parts of present Szechwan and Kweichow provinces. Its capital was at Su-chou in present Wu county in Kiangsu province. During the reign-period 713 - 741, it was divided up into three provinces: Chiang-nan-tung 江南東, Chiang-nan-hsi 江南西 and Ch’ien-chung 黔中.
861Chiu-feng-ssu Ta-hui 鷲峰寺大會, Grand Assembly of Vulture-peak Buddhist monastery. . The chiu is Aquila chysaë tus, vulture. Chiu-feng 鷲峰 Vulture-peak is a Buddhist name, Sanskrit Grdhrakuta, near Rajagrha near Giddore:
i) a mountain peak so named because the evil deity Pisuna (Mara) once assumed there the form of a vulture in order to interrupt the meditation of Ananda, or more likely because of the peak’s shape, or because of the vultures who there fed on the bodies of the dead.
ii) location frequented by the Buddha,
iii) the imaginary place where the Lotu sutra (Lien-hua ching 蓮華經) was preached, also called Mount Spirit-vulture (Ling-chiu-shan 靈鷲山), the Lotus sutra also being known as Vulture-peak hymns (Chiu-feng-chi 鷲峰偈). The peak is also called Mount Vulture (Chiu-shan 鷲山), Vuture-head (Chiu-t’ou 鷲頭), Mount Vulture-head (Chiu-t’ou-shan 鷲頭山), Vulture Terrace (Chiu-t’ai 鷲臺), Vulture Sacred-peak (Ch’iu-yȕeh 鷲嶽), Vulture Crag (Chiu-yen 鷲巖) and Mount Spirit (Ling-shan 靈山). Cf. Mount Vulture/Grdhrakuta (Ch’i-she-chȕeh-shan 耆闇崛山). Cf. also Come-flying Peak (Fei-lai-feng 飛來峰), the name of certain peaks, one of them south-east of Mount Ling-yin in Hang county in Chekiang province.
Record of the Earth (Yü-ti chih 輿地志) says: “During the reign-period 326-334 of the Eastern Tsin dynasty, the Western bonze Hui-li 慧理ascended this mountain. ‘This,’ he sighed [in admiration], ‘is a little ridge from Mount Spirit-vulture (Ling-chiu-shan 靈鷲山) [Sanskrit: Grdhrakuta] in the middle of India. I wonder what year it came flying here? So the peak was subsequently named Come-flying, and was also named Spirit-vulture Peak (Ling-chiu-feng 靈鷲峰).
Shao Ch’ang-heng 邵長蘅 (1637 - 1704), Memorandum on Come-flying Peak (Fei-lai-feng chi 飛來峰記), says: “Of the various mountains of Wu-lin 武林, Come-flying Peak is the most marvellous. Its magic lies in its rocks and craggy caves. The peak’s five hundred or so Chinese feet high, and if one climbs from its base to its summit, there are rocks all the way. Their shapes are weird and wonderful in ten thousand ways, not one of them resembling another. At the foot of the mountain, there are the three caves: Dragon’s Deep-broad-pool (Lung-hung 龍泓), Five Nipples/ Five Paps (Wu-ju 五乳), and Shooting-the-rising-sun (She-hsü 射旭).
862Ch’ing-hsi 青溪, Green Brook:
i) the name of brooks:
a)north-east of Nanking city, the same as the East Canal (Tung-ch’ü 東渠) dug in Wu 吳 during the Three Kingdoms period. The Buddhist monk Hsi Seng-shih 郗僧施 of the Tsin dynasty travelled in his boat on it, and every time he came to a bend in the brook, composed a poem.
Yȕeh Shih 樂史 (930 - 1007), Great Peace records of the world (T’ai-p’ing huan-yü chi 太平寰宇記), says: “The brook spills from the water of Lake Dark Warrior (Hsȕan-wu-hu 玄武湖), and enters the River Ch’in Huai 秦淮. On the bank of the brook, there’s a wooden stockade. During the Eastern Tsin dynasty, [the general] Su Chȕn 蘇峻 [AD? - AD 328] attacked that Green Brook Stockade (Ch’ing-hsi-cha 青溪柵), and the minister Pien Hu 卞壺 [281-328] fought him, and died there. Nowadays, the water of the brook is mostly blocked, and all that survives of it is the one curve that comes from beside the Old Inner (Chiu-nei 舊內) [palace] and goes round, and comes out and joins it at Huai-ch’ing Bridge (Huai-ch’ing-ch’iao 淮青橋).”
b)south-east of Yȕan-an county in Hupeh province. To its west, there’s Demon-valley Cave (Kui-ku-tung 鬼谷洞)
ii)the name of a present-day county in Kui-chou province. East of Chen-yȕan county, and situated on the north bank of the River Wu. The Ming dynasty set up a Ch’ing-lang Guard (Ch’ing-lang-wei 青浪衛), and the Ch’ing dynasty set up a Green-brook county (Ch’ing-hsi-hsien 青溪縣) there instead, the Ch’ing-hsi also found written as 清溪, coming under Ssu-chou prefecture (Ssu-chou-fu 思州府).
863Kao Chien-li 高漸離, the name of a man of Yen 燕 during the Warring States period. He was skilled at playing the thirteen-string dulcimer (chu 筑), and he was good friends with the assassin Ching K’e 荊軻. Ching K’e failed in his assassination attempt on the First August-emperor of Ch’in (Ch’in Shih-huang 秦始皇), and died because of it, and afterwards Kao Chien-li gained the favour of that emperor by his dulcimer-playing, put lead inside his dulcimer, and tried to hit the emperor with it, planning to avenge Ching K’e, but missed, and was killed.
864Wu Tzu-hsü plays the panpipes (Wu Tzu-hsü ch’ui-hsiao 伍子胥吹簫), i.e. Wu Yȕn plays the panpipes (Wu Yȕn ch’ui-hsiao 伍原吹簫), the title of a famous event. Wu Tzu-hsü 伍子胥 (?BC - 484 BC) was also named Wu Yȕn 伍原, Yȕn being his personal name, a famous figure of Chinese history, legend and literature. He’s celebrated for his upright character and the astuteness of his statesmanship. He came from the state of Ch’u 楚. King P’ing 平王 (reigned 528 BC-516 BC) of Ch’u slew Wu Tzu-hsü’s father Wu She 伍奢 and elder brother Wu Shang 伍尚, and Tzu-hsü fled the country to the state of Wu 吳, where, legend has it, he played the panpipes in the market-place of the capital (i.e. Wu-shih 吳市), begging for his food. He later served as counsellor to the King of Wu.
When King He-lu 闔廬/He-lü 闔閭 (reigned 514 BC - 496 BC) of Wu campaigned against Ch’u, and after five battles entered the Ch’u capital of Ying 郢, King P’ing had already died, but Wu Tzu-hsü dug up his corpse from his tomb, and horse-whipped it to avenge his father and elder brother. King He-lu died when he injured his finger in a campaign against the state of Yȕeh 越, and his son Fu-ch’a 夫差 (reigned 495 BC - 473 BC) succeeded him, he campaigning against Yȕeh, and mightily routing it. King Kou-chien 句踐 (reigned 497 BC - 465 BC) of Yȕeh sued for peace, which King Fu-ch’a granted him, Wu Tzu-hsü’s warning Fu-ch’a against doing so going unheeded.
Tzu-hsü subsequently made frequent requests to Fu-ch’a to scheme against Yȕeh, but those suggestions were likewise ignored. The chancellor of Wu, Po Pi 伯噽, took bribes from Yȕeh, and slandered Tzu-hsü to King Fu-ch’a, who sent Tzu-hsü the famous sword Shu-lou 屬鏤, commanding him to commit suicide wit
h it. “Gouge out my eyes and hang them up on the East Gate of the capital of Wu,” Tzu-hsü told his Houseman, “so that I may watch the men of Yȕeh’s coming in through it and destroying Wu.” Then he cut his own throat with the sword, and, sure enough, nine years later, Yȕeh destroyed Wu.
865Hsing-ch’ing 興慶, i.e. Hsing-ch’ing-ch’ih 興慶池, Rousing-celebration Pond, the name of a pond, i.e. Dragon Pond, (Lung-ch’ih 龍池), There was a T’ang dynasty Rousing-celebration Imperial-palace (Hsing-ch’ing-kung 興慶宮), south-east of present-day Hsȕan-ning county in Shensi province. Because it was situated south of East Interior (Tung-nei 東內), i.e. of Erigeron-chenopodium Imperial-palace (P’eng-lai-kung 蓬萊宮), it was called Southern Interior (Nan-nei 南內). It was originally the residence of Emperor Dark-progenitor (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗) when he was still a prince, and it was not until he ascended the throne, that it became an imperial palace.
Ch’eng Ta-ch’ang 程大昌 (1123 - 1195), Record of Yung (Yung-lu 雍錄), says: “Rousing-celebration Imperial-palace is located in the south-east corner of the capital, and the ruler also issued his administration there, which is why it was also called Southern Interior.” It also says: “Even though Rousing-celebration Imperial-palace had a walled path by which Great Shine (Ta-ming 大明) [i.e. Erigeron-chenopodium Imperial-palace] could be reached, strictly speaking, since it’s on the other side of a crossroads, it should also be called merely a Separate Imperial-palace (li-kung 離宮).”
Nan-hsun-tien 南薰殿, Southern-fragranced Palace-hall, was the name of a palace-hall in Ch’ang-an. Ch’ang-an gazetteer (Ch’ang-an chih 長安志) says: “In Rousing-celebration Palace (Hsing-ch’ing-kung 興慶宮), Southern Interior (Nan-nei 南內), the main palace-hall is called Rousing-celebration Palace hall (Hsing-ch’ing-t’ien 興慶殿), to the fore of which is Ying-chou Gate (Ying-chou-men 瀛州門), within which is a Southern-fragranced Palace-hall, to the north of it lying a Dragon Pond (Lung-ch’ih 龍池).”
Appendices and Endnotes Page 45