Saints & Sages Part VII: part 2
張三丰
Zhang Sanfeng
(1247——)
Zhang Sanfeng’s literary works include The Discussion on the Great Dao, Straight Talks on the Mysterious Mechanism, Complete Collection of the Mysterious Discourse, Treatise on the Mysterious Essentials, and The Rootless Tree.
His biography below has been extracted from the History of the Ming, a history of the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644undertaken by a number of officials commissioned by the court of the Qing Dynasty, lead by the chief editor Zhang Tingyu.
張三丰，遼東懿州人，名全一，一名君寶，三丰其號也。以其不飾邊幅，又號張邋遢。頎而偉，龜形鶴背，大耳圓目，鬚髯如戟。寒暑惟一衲一蓑，所啖，升斗輒盡，或數日一食，或數月不食。書經目不忘，游處無恆，或云能一日千里。善嬉諧，旁若無人。嘗遊武當諸巖壑，語人曰：「此山異日必大興。」時五龍、南岩、紫霄俱燬於兵，三丰語其徒去荊榛，辟瓦礫，創草廬居之，已而舍去。
Zhang Sanfeng was a resident of Yizhou, Liaoddong [Province]. His name was Quanyi, and another [of his names] was Jun Bao, while Sanfeng was his appellation. Being unadorned in dress and manner, he was also called Zhang Lata [i.e. Zhang the Unkempt]. He was tall and gallant, [his body like] a turtle in appearance and with a back [shaped like] a crane, and he had large ears and round eyes, with a beard and whiskers that were [long and protruded] like halberds. Whether it was cold [in winter] or hot in summer, he would [wear] only one set of patchwork clothes and a straw raincoat. When he ate, whether it was one sheng or one dou [of food], he would finish it all in an instant; sometimes he would not eat for several days and sometimes he would eat nothing for several months. When his eyes passed over books, he would thereafter never forget [their contents]. He travelled to places without [staying anywhere] permanently; some said that he was able [to travel] one thousand Chinese miles in a day. He excelled at being playful and humorous, and was unselfconscious. Once he travelled to the cliffs and narrow ravines of the Wudang [Mountains], where he told people: ‘One day, these mountains will surely become greatly prosperous.’ At that time, the Wulong [Palace], Nanyan [Temple], and Zixiao [Palace]had all been destroyed by wars. [Zhang] Sanfeng told his disciples to remove the thorns and thickets, clean up the debris and rubble, and build straw huts as dwellings. Once they were finished, they let them go and left.
Post-Scriptum: This excerpt stems from ‘The Arts of Daoism’, Purple Cloud Institute forthcoming
Post-Post-Scriptum: Part 1 can be found here:
