大仙爺 The Great Immortal Elder

大仙爺
The Great Immortal Elder
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The following article will appear in the appendix of Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao》 by Xing De/Li Shi Fu, a manual for refining one’s Inner Nature based on Liu Yi Ming’s 50 Barriers. Li Shi Fu is abbot of Five Immortals Temple (www.fiveimmortals.com). This legendary story comes from a work entitled 《Legends of White Horse Mountain》 hopefully available in English later this year, it features famous personages such as the Mysterious Warrior, Zhen Wu, the emperor Qin Huang Shi, Guan Yin and the Yang family female generals, including Mu Gui Ying. The Great Immortal Elder is seated in the center in the main hall at Five Immortals Temple.
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Each of the Five Immortal Grandfathers demonstrated their abilities, widely practiced meritorious deeds, and deeply received the love and respect of the Hundred Families.
One day, the Great Immortal Elder Tuo Cheng Ren roamed about and arrived at the bank of the Du river below White Horse Mountain, where he saw a woodcutter just releasing a wild rabbit who had been caught in a trap. He then advanced and ask the woodcutter:

Why do you want to release it? Are you not going to take it home for the family to cook and eat it?

The woodcutter said：

This rabbit is already showing signs of pregnancy. It is better to release her.

After hearing this, the Great Immortal was extraordinarily happy and asked:

Where does your family live and who is in your family?

The woodcutter replied:

In my home, there is my elderly mother. I live below the mountain on the bank of the Du river. All day long I cut firewood for a living, in order to attend to and feed my elderly mother.

The Immortal Grandfather Tuo, who was touched by the kind-heartedness and filial Heart-Mind of the woodcutter, decided to instruct and transform the woodcutter. By magic, he placed a Golden Incense Furnace at the entrance of the mountain road to the Du riverbank. Engraved on the Golden Incense Furnace were [the words]:

Not in exchange for gold and not in exchange for silver, [but only for] one thousand human heads and one carrying pole.

The incense furnace released whiffs of fragrant Qi every 1st and 15th day [of each lunar month]. This could be scented along the river upstream and downstream for seven or eight Chinese miles. At first, the Four Corners and Eight Directions were taken by surprise. One by one in succession, people lit incense and lowered their heads and bodies in prostration, praying that this treasure would be able to protect and bless their safety and peace.
The emergence of the treasured object drew to the place a few black-hearted people, who cherished riches and wealth. They wanted to seize the incense furnace and take it for themselves. The incense furnace, however, seemed to have grown into the Earth. Regardless of how it was held, it would not move. Therefore, they resorted to iron drills and crow bars, but whatever they pried it with, it could not be prised open. One young man brought a great hammer, intending to pound the incense furnace into pieces so it might be taken away. As the first strike went down upon it, only the sound of Dang was heard. The iron hammer jolted and flew up, falling directly on the back of the man’s foot, which it smashed. The bone of the foot was broken, and blood immediately began to flow out, yet the incense furnace was not harmed by a silken hair.
One day, the woodcutter passed by the side of the incense furnace, and circled around it once. He looked again and again at the writing on the incense furnace, but remained puzzled even after pondering [its meaning] a hundred times. He then returned home to his family. He continued to worry without a thought for tea or rice, so his mother, upon observing this, was quick to inquire as to why. The woodcutter then explained the reason. As soon as the mother heard this, she urged him repeatedly:

My son, do not be vexed or anxious, because your mother has a way [to resolve this].

The following day, in the morning, the woodcutter carried his mother on his back to the front of the incense furnace. The mother made the woodcutter set alight a pile of papers that were fastened to the carrying pole, to be placed inside the incense furnace and burned. Thereafter, she also made him reverently lower himself in prostration a thousand times. The woodcutter lowered himself to bend his head and body to the ground through prostration after prostration. When the thousandth prostration had been performed, a sharp noise was heard, and the incense furnace transformed into a large ingot, which fell at the woodcutter’s feet. The woodcutter took the ingot to town to exchange it for rice seeds and oxen for ploughing to divide up and give to the villagers. To this day, traces of the Golden Incense Furnace of the Du riverbank are still present, which is why this place is also called Seven Miles Fragrance.