20. Jingzhao 京兆 Commandery, the area northwest of present-day Xi’an, Shanxi, in the Western Jin dynasty. See Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 3. 33–34.
21. Wang Wendu 王文度, named Tanzhi 坦之, was president of the Central Secretariat and Governor of Xuzhou and Yanzhou of Eastern Jin. See Jin shu, 75. 1964. Guangling 廣陵, modern Yangzhou 揚州, Jiangsu.
22. In Eastern Jin, Xuzhou 徐州 covered the area around modern Yangzhou, while Yanzhou 兗州 covered the area northwest of Yangzhou. See Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 4. 5–6.
23. Lu 魯 Commandery, the area of modern Qufu 曲阜, Shandong.
24. Tan Daoji 檀道濟, a famous general under Liu Yu 劉裕 (r. 420–422), Emperor Wu 武 and the founder of the [Liu] Song dynasty. He was killed by Emperor Wen 文 (407–453) during the thirteen years of Yuanjia (436). See his biography in Song shu, 43. 1341–44.
25. Shouyang 壽陽, modern Shou 壽 County, Anhui.
26. Huan Xuan 桓玄, the youngest son, by a concubine, of Huan Wen (213–373), commander-in-chief of the Jin. He became the Governor of Jiangzhou and the Army Commander of Jingzhou and seven other commanderies under Emperor An (397–402), yet usurped the Jin in 403 by capturing the capital Jiankang and establishing the short-lived Chu. In the following year he was defeated and killed by Liu Yu (356–422), founder of the Song.
27. “Since they are not able to” 既不能 is not found in the Zhonghua edition of TPYL or in TPGJ.
28. Gan Qing 干慶, elder brother of Gan Bao 干寶 (d. 336), Eastern Jin scholar and the compiler of Soushen ji.
29. For fang wei qingming 方為請命，TPGJ (378. 3010) reads 我為試請命, “I’m trying to request to prolong his life span.”
30. 時盛暑，慶形體向壞 is added from TPYL (887. 3942b).
31. This is one of the noted “netherworld adventure” narratives, in which many aspects of the Chinese netherworld have been changed to reflect Buddhist beliefs. The trial and physical tortures described here, for example, are not at all indigenous. Sacrificial offerings made in traditional Chinese culture were also challenged. From this story we can see the Buddhist conquest of China in literature as well as the critical conflict between Buddhism and Confucianism.
32. Baqiu 巴丘 County, modern Xiajiang 峽江, Jiangxi.
33. Mingsi 冥司 (the netherworld) is added from TPGJ.
34. TPGJ (283. 3253) reads xuan lian zhi ta 懸簾置榻 (hung with bamboo curtains and fitted with couches).
35. 佞神殺生，其 (flattered spirits by killing living creatures, so) are added from TPGJ (283. 3254).
36. Dulu shizhe 都錄使者 is rendered here as Emissary of Record Keeping. The duty of the officials in this position can be different, though all of them are related to record keeping of people’s life spans and the deeds in their current lives, which relate to karmic retribution through physical transformation into their next lives.
37. Xun Xian 荀羨 was a general of the Jin and had been the Bei chonglang jiang 北中郎將 (Northern Leader of Court Gentleman) and Governor of Xuzhou. See Jin shu, 75. 1980.
38. Wujin 武進, modern Wujin County, Jiangsu.
39. Pingyi 馮翊 Commandery; its seat was in present-day Dali 大荔, Shanxi, during the Jin dynasty.
40. Dulu Zhuzhe 都錄主者, Supervisor of Record Keeping, sometimes called simply zhuzhe 主者, Supervisor, is the head of the department that keeps records of people’s life spans.
41. This is one of the earliest “netherworld adventure” narratives, which shows a heavy influence of Buddhist concepts of hell with great detail. In addition, the depiction of the “City of Transformation” is creative and not found anywhere else, including in Buddhist sutras. This story has been translated into English previously; see Kao, Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic, 162–71. A variant of this story is found in Wang Yan’s Mingxiang ji, a collection of Buddhist miracle tales that appeared some fifty years later; see Campany’s rendition in Signs from the Unseen Realm, 77–82.
For studies of the “netherworld adventure” motif, see Maeno Naoaki, “Meikai yugyo”; Chugoku shosetsu shi ko, 112–49; and Campany, “Return-from-Death Narratives in Early Medieval China.”
42. Beiqiu 貝邱, southeast of the modern city of Linqing 臨清, Shandong. During the Jin, it belonged to the Qinghe region at the border of modern Hebei and Shandong. See Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 3. 39–40.
43. The “Song Taishi” (465–471) in TPGJ (190. 740) is a mistake for “Jin Taishi,” since it was much later, even after the death of Liu Yiqing (d. 444), the compiler of this collection. Bianzhen lun reads “Jin” for “Song.” Mingxiang ji (quoted in TPGJ 377. 2996) also reads “Zhao Tai of the Jin.”
44. For 六師督錄使者, a BZL note reads 六部都錄使者 (Emissaries of Record Keeping from the six ministries), which is what I follow here.
45. The three bad realms for the dead are ghosts, animals, and hell. Hell is considered the worst.
46. “Five Precepts” refers to the first five of the Buddhist “Ten Commandments” against killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and intoxicating liquors. The observance of these five ensures rebirth in the human realm. “Ten Virtues” is defined as not committing the ten evils—killing, stealing, adultery, lying, double-talk, coarse language, filthy language, covetousness, anger, maintaining perverted views.
47. For上不犯惡, BZL reads 亦不犯惡.
48. Nili is the Sanskrit pronunciation of hell. It has been translated as hell as well as Taishan 泰山, Mount Tai.
49. According to Mingxiang ji and the note in Bianzheng lun, weiyou 為有 here should be weiqi 為其, “for them” or “on their behalf.”
50. Hei 黑 (black) here is added from BZL.
51. Xiang 象 (resembling) is replaced by fu 負 (shouldering) according to the hand-copied version.
52. Jishi 即時 is replaced by jihong 即空 (then became empty) according to the Ming dynasty hand-copied version.
53. For shazhe 殺者 (killers), BZL reads shashengzhe 殺生者 (those who kill living creatures).
54. Fumu 父母 (parents) is added according to BZL.
55. This piece has not been included in any previous editions of the Youming lu. I found it in the Dunhuang bianwen ji 敦煌變文集 after having finished all the translations for this book. Because of its unique depiction of the netherworld and how the trial in the netherworld affects life in the human world, it is put here instead of in chapter 4 about the realm of ghosts.
56. Taiyuan, see footnote 9 in chapter 3.
57. Dingzhou 定州, the area around the modern city of Dingzhou, Hebei. It belonged to Zhongshan State 中山國 during the Han dynasty.
58. Chenliu, see footnote 39 above in this chapter.
59. Following this sentence there are four characters, 莫如歸伏; the meaning is unclear.
60. Following this sentence, the fourteen characters, 更審借問怨家姓名, 弟但到家思維，seem unreadable.
6
ANIMALS AND MEN
177. THE NAKED CREATURES
In the mountains of Dongchang County,1 there are such creatures. Their figures are like those of human beings, their length four or five feet; their bodies are naked; their hair, four or five inches long, hangs down loosely. They often live among the stones in the towering mountains. They have a husky voice but cannot speak, though they can summon each other by whistles. They often conceal themselves in the dark, so cannot be seen frequently.
Once, some people went to cut wood and camped in the mountains. After they went to sleep at night, the creatures appea
red. Holding their children in their arms, they started a fire with stones, caught lobsters and crabs from the ravine, approached the fire beside the people, and roasted the lobsters to feed their children.
One man had not fallen asleep. He secretly awoke the others and told them what had happened, and consequently they stood up together and made a surprise attack against the creatures. Thus the creatures ran away and left their children there. Their voices resembled the cries of human beings. The creatures urged a group of their fellows, male and female, to hit the people with stones. They approached the people, got their children, and then stopped attacking.
(GXSGC, #256. 431–32; TPYL, 883. 3925a)
178. WOOD GUESTS2
Wood guests are born in the mountainous areas of the south. Their heads, faces, and speech are not completely different from those of human beings, but their hands and feet are as sharp as hooks. They live among the precipices, and after death their corpses are also encoffined and carried to a grave. They are able to exchange goods with people without revealing their shapes. Now in the south there is a ghost market, where ghosts exchange goods with humans in a similar way.
(Gujin tushu jicheng, 514.37a)
179. THE YOUNG OF BIG PENG
As a teenager, King Wen of Chu (689–676 BCE) was fond of hunting. A man offered him a falcon. King Wen looked at it. Both of its claws and spurs were marvelous and neat; surely it was not an ordinary falcon.
Thus the king went hunting in the Yunmeng marsh. Nets were set like spreading clouds, smoke and fire stretched up to the sky, the hounds were striving to bite, and falcons were competing to pounce. Lifting its head and opening its eyes, this falcon watched the distant edge of the clouds,3 with no intention to fight or bite. The king said, “What my falcons have caught reached a hundred creatures, yet your falcon has showed no intention of exerting itself. Are you deceiving me?”
The man who presented the falcon replied, “If it served merely to hunt pheasants and hares, how could I venture to present it to your majesty?”
After a little while, a creature was flying near the edge of clouds. Its color was white yet its shape was beyond recognition. Then the falcon lifted its wings and dashed up like lightning. In a moment, feathers fell like snow and blood like rain. A huge bird fell onto the ground. Its two wings were measured several dozen li in width, and nobody knew its name.
At that time an erudite man said, “This is the young of a big bird, peng.”
Then King Wen offered this man a handsome reward.
(GXSGC, #26. 357; TPYL, 926. 4114b; TPGJ, 460. 3770–71)
180. THE BREATH OF TURTLES (1)
Once there was a man who, while walking in the mountains, fell into a ravine. Since there was no way to get out, he was almost starved to death. He saw numerous turtles and snakes stretching their necks toward the four directions. Therefore the man imitated them, so he was not hungry anymore. His body became extremely light and nimble, and he was able to climb the stone bank.
Several years later, he lifted his body and raised his arms, climbed out of the ravine, and was able to go back home. His face was happy and lustrous, and he was much smarter. When he could eat food, he ate different dishes. One hundred days later, he recovered his original condition.
(GXSGC, #171. 402; TPYL, 69. 326a)
181. THE BREATH OF TURTLES (2)
At the end of the Han there was chaos. A man of Yingchuan was about to go to another commandery to avoid the disasters.4 He had a daughter around seven or eight years old, who could not walk a long distance. It was difficult to preserve both their lives. By the road there was a broken tomb; the man tied his daughter with a rope and put her down into it.
More than a year later he returned and went to the tomb to search for his daughter, intending to bury her in another place. But he found that his daughter was still alive.
The father was startled, and he asked his daughter how she had survived. The girl said, “In the tomb there was a turtle. In the mornings and evenings it stretched its head to inhale air. I tried to imitate it, and as expected, I felt no hunger and thirst.”
Her family searched for the creature in the tomb, and it turned out that it was a big turtle.
(GXSGC, #47. 365; TPYL, 559. 2526b–27a)
182. THE DOG DIWEI
In the second year of Taixing (318–321) of Jin, Hua Long of Wu was fond of archery and hunting. He raised a dog, called Diwei, that always followed him. One day when Long reached the side of a river,5 his whole body was twined by a big snake. Consequently, his dog bit the snake to death, but Hua Long fell prostrate and lost consciousness. The dog walked back and forth, howling, barking, and roaming around the area.6
Surprised at its behavior, Long’s family followed the dog to the spot, and they found Long dead on the ground. They brought him back home in a cart. He awoke two days later.
Until Long awoke, the dog refused to eat. Long loved it even more, the same as he loved his family and relatives.7
(GXSGC, #84. 377; TPGJ, 437. 3552; TPYL, 905. 4015a)
183. A PARROT
When Huan Huo (320–377), Minister of Works of Jin, was at Jingzhou,8 an adjutant cut the tongue tip of a parrot on the fifth day of the fifth month, and taught it to speak.
Consequently, there was nothing it could not name, and it could exchange greetings with people.
Adjutant Gu was good at playing zither. The parrot often stood listening for hours. It was also good at imitating people’s voices and laughter.
The minister once gathered all of his officials and assistants and asked the parrot to imitate the voices of everyone who was seated; none of the parrot’s imitations was inaccurate.
There was an assistant who spoke with a twang, so his voice was harder to imitate and the parrot’s effort initially did not work well. Therefore the parrot stretched its head into an earthen jar, and then its voice was not different than that of the man who spoke with a twang.
Once the manager of a ceremony stole something in the parrot’s presence. When the adjutant went to the privy and nobody else was there, the parrot told him what the manager had stolen. The adjutant kept it in mind but did not tell anyone.
Later the manager stole some beef, and the parrot told the adjutant again.
The adjutant said, “You said he stole beef; you should have evidence.”
The parrot said, “He wrapped it with a new leaf of lotus and put it behind the screen.”
When the adjutant looked, he indeed found it. He severely punished the manager. However, being troubled by the parrot, the thief killed it by pouring boiling water onto it.
The adjutant felt sorrow for the parrot for many days, and he requested to kill the man for vengeance.
The Minister of Works said, “Based on the pain caused by his killing the parrot, he truly should be sentenced to death. Yet we cannot punish him with the most severe penalty because of a bird.”
Finally, he sentenced him to only five years in jail.
(GXSGC, #95. 380–81; TPYL, 923. 4096; TPGJ, 462. 3793)
184. A MOLE CRICKET REPAYS A FAVOR
Pang Qi, the Governor of Luling Commandery of Jin,9 was styled Ziji. His ancestor was involved in an incident and was imprisoned, though he was not really guilty.
Seeing that a mole cricket was crawling around, he addressed it: “If you are numinous and are able to save me from death, wouldn’t that be great?” Then he threw food to the mole cricket. The mole cricket ate all the food and left.
After a while it came back, and its body became a little bigger. The man felt that this was strange, and gave it food again. In several days, it was as big as a young pig.
When the time came for the man to receive the death penalty, the mole cricket dug a big hole at the foot of the wall. Thus the man was able to get out and flee. Later, he received an amnesty and was able to stay alive.
(GXSGC, #158. 398; TPYL, 643; CXJ, 20. 493)
185. GOLDEN GEESE
In the Yixi reign period, when the Lord of Qiang,
Yao Lue, fetched bricks by digging the [bank of] Yingou River at Luoyang,10 he obtained a pair of male geese that were both golden in color. Crossing their necks, they cackled and hissed for a long while, and the sound was heard all over the highland on the banks of the river. Then he raised them in this river.
(GXSGC, #141. 394; YWLJ, 91. 1580; TPGJ, 462. 3788)
186. A SNAKE MOURNS FOR ITS MOTHER
The wife of Xie Zu, a native of Guiji,11 first gave birth to a boy and then gave birth to a snake about two feet long. The snake slithered directly out of the door and left.
Several decades later the woman passed away at an old age, and Xie Zu suddenly heard the sound of wind and rain from the northwest. A moment later he saw a snake, its length more than ten zhang and its belly more than ten arm spans around, entering the door and reaching the spirit seat. Then it arrived at the place where Xie’s wife’s coffin was placed, coiled around the coffin several times, and hit it with its head until blood and tears flowed out of its eyes. After quite a while, the snake left.
(GXSGC, #197. 408; TPYL, 934. 4151b)
187. A WHITE TURTLE
In the middle of the Xiankang reign period of the Jin (335–342), Mao Bao, the Governor of Yuzhou,12 was defending Zhucheng.13 A soldier in the army bought a white turtle in the market of Wuchang. It was four to five inches long. He placed it in a jar and fed it. The turtle grew bigger and bigger before he released it in the Yangzi River.
Later [the troops in] Zhucheng were defeated by Shi [Le], and all the people who ran into the river drowned. The person who had nurtured the turtle entered the water with his armor on, and felt as if he had fallen onto a stone. In a moment he saw that it was the white turtle that he had previously released.
Hidden and Visible Realms Page 21