《Shadowless Hermit》


 encounter

    It all start from one encounter.


    I was wondering around the street of Chengdu, one special city of west china which was famous of its snack food , then there came across a Chinese youth. I invited him for a tea and he asked me what is my hobby , I told him I am very curious about mysterious health care mythology , like acupuncture, taigi, and the most incredible thing: Immortality or Longevity , and this is the only reason why I am here . I showed him one pocket book ¡¶Tao Te Ching¡· , English version . He just read one page and returned it back then told me this book was not well translated and full of misunderstandings £¬ just like a Great Rabbi in Jerusalem has no interest with any ignorant atheist''s interpretation about GENESIS whom apparently know nothing about Hebrew language .


    I told him I have read some books about Tao before I visit china , like ¡¶Road to Heaven:Encounters With Chinese Hermits ¡·, written by Mr Bill Porter , which ignited my passion to pursuit the Tao.


    ¡°Immortality ? ¡± he speak quietly but word by word in English :


    ¡° It is the glory of God to conceal a thing ¡° ¡¾ Proverbs 25:2 ¡¿


    I was shocked. i recognized this is a person whom I could discuss something really valuable.


    ¡°Are you Christian ? I was very interested in the great Tao , master, how can I obtain it ? How can I obtain immotality ? I am listening with all my ears for anything you said!"


    ¡°Maybe you also have read the book ¡¶The secret of the golden flower ¡·,the English version ", he did not answer my question and smiled , ¡° I can understand your curiosity , which is same like any other people on this planet. But maybe you are wasting your time. In my opinion, even those native well known scholars who are proficient in traditional Chinese language and study taoism classic scriptures all their lifes, they can''t understand Tao completely . Most of them or even so called famous taoism masters are just know something about low level health care method , which is known as the secret knowledge of inner chemistry , but this is nothing about Immortality or longevity at all. If you want to obtain the Immortality fruits, it''s like someone is trying to make a rope out of sand. Have you ever seen a successful person? None of them could succeed. The weakness of the human''s will and the death gene embedded in the dirty body determined that even in their minds , they could not win the Grim Reaper . Today you see thousands of people come and go on this street, but one hundred years later, or not more than 36500 days, all of them will become dust . Maybe you have heard of this famous question :The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    O death, where is thy sting?[Corinthians 15:5]¡±


    I was so depressed but shocked again by his last sentence . It seems he is more familiar with Bible than me . Then the nearby old Chinese lady said anxiously, "since this person is so acknowledged about Tao, even if you don''t understand Chinese language, maybe you can follow him to be a disciple ¡°. The young man stopped her and left the teahouse immediately .


    It happened so quickly and I can only leave cash for bill on desk and rushed out and followed him . I wanted to take a photo for him with camera .


    To my surprise , I found from the viewfinders the young master who were walking slowly shadowless under the sun, which is so impressive different from another people who walked near by him . Just several seconds later it seems I lost him in the crowd and I can not find him anymore.


    ¡°He is a shadowless hermit ¡° , I knew it several days later from one Chinese classic literature professor at this teahouse after I explained all this event . . ¡°It happens and I believe it , it¡¯s a confirm mark for Immotality body, we called such people SHENXIAN, a holy title for the certain people has an incredible long life in Chinese old scriptures " ¡° my suggestion is maybe you should stay this street where this encounter event happened , for meeting him again . Take it as his test and Immortality means confidence and patience about Tao. "


    And what happened next proved the professor is right .

 scroll

    There was no news in the following months even I went to the street everyday . I fell a little sad and sometimes even wanted to give up and left this city , it seems like I was a fool when the local snack seller even laughed at me for wondering here everyday like a ghost. Maybe I will never meet him in my life .


    One nice quiet afternoon , when I stepped out of the teahouse and I found that that person was walking along the street slowly. Exactly same clothes as months ago .. It¡¯s him ! I even did not know his name !


    When I saw him , Ishouted very excited ¡±Tao, Tao...". I told him I had beenwaiting for him for months .


    ¡°No surprise ¡°


    He was still quiet , then asked me to have a tea break . Same teahouse .


    I told him I had tried to read different English version of Tao Te Chingand I thought it¡¯s a wonderful scripture .but I am not sure if there is any deeper secret meanings . I even tried tolearn chinese language , but it¡¯s far more difficultthan greek.Especially those traditional Chinese language is totally written in different grammar from modern Chinese . I understood even Chinese professor would find it¡¯s difficult to understand its secret meanings.


    ¡°No surprise ¡° he said , ¡° the original book of Tao Te Ching is written in Chinese oracle language , which is almost a dead language for most Chinese taoism academics.¡±


    I am very sad. That mean maybe I can never understood this holy book even I spent all my life .The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    He told me since I was so obsessed with this topic , he could do some interpretations with one chapter of Tao Te Ching and maybe I could translate it into English for a glance of the true meaning .And I hope you can read something I wrote so that some American people will know about it. I told him that if he could be so kind to write it directly in english for accuracy, he answered me very quietly :


    ¡° everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven¡± [Ecclesiastes 3:1]


    He pass me one printed paper l with his email address in the headline   , then told me it''s his interpretations about chapter 20 of Tao te ching then left , and here is my poor translations with the help of software £º


    [Tao Te Ching Chapter 20]


    People always avoid things they feel fearful Do I have to avoid things just because people feel fearful ( the fearful things is death )?


    From ancient times till now, this kind of blind obedience had been spreading everywhere, as if it would never end.( people believe they will die definitely )


    The world was crowded, elated and ecstatic, like attending a grand banquet, or like appreciate the scenery on the high stage at spring .( people enjoyed material iife and forgot the death is coming closer and closer)


    Only I am willing to be alone, prefer simple and quiet life and never willing to go with the tideway .


    It was like ignorant sleeping baby even not smile.


    It was like idle playboy just tired of material life .


    People try their best for wealth and interests, while I will never go with them, so I am isolated as if I are out of time fool in the world.


    I just want to be a fool!


    All the people in the world are so cold calculating, but I''m living such a stupid and obscure life;


    All the people is so reasonable and sensible, but I''m living such simple and boring life ;


    Surging like the sea ; ( inner energy surging within the body )


    Floating like nowhere to stop.(inner Qi feel like drunk )


    The world is so shrewd and greedy for wealth and power or reputation . Only I am unique. I swear to carry out my stubbornness and ignorance to the end, and will not easily leave the tao, which is always anoymous.


    In the end, only I obtained a completely different result from the world , and picked up the valuable tao''s fruit alone----Immortality .

 elixir

    I send him several email for more infos about immortality. Several days later he agreed to translate a poem in English.


    This is his first and maybe last trial to translate, narrate, and explain a poem of immortality for the foreign readers with a special affinity to Tao. Please appreciate and cherish the following poem and  article, it''s about the invisible water of life and elixir of immortality.


    For ages, out of the instinctive terror against Death and the irresistible impulse to Immortality, people have always been searching for the elixir which is expected to keep people healthy and youthful or even to the extent to stave off the ravages from all illnesses until to Death. Unfortunately, all endeavors have seemingly come to a futile end like squaring the circle. It has almost become the truth for the human being that no one could escape from the realm of Azrael. Perhaps I have to tell you there is no hurry to make such conclusion. As far as I know there is a mysterious person whose science of Immortality is so unfathomable that he had overcome Azrael by smashing the solid door of Death with his super-elixir.


    If you are a historian or study the history of China, you probably note a phenomenon that a strong belief or cult to Lv Yan£¬the most famous Immortal in Chinese myth, has been lingering around China, accompanying various folk legends or sacred deeds about him somewhere or sometime, no matter how much time goes by. In fact, Lv is a real person in Tang dynasty. Until now, some historians who study Taoism even considered he may really become an Immortal. The mysterious person, who was once awarded the title of Jinshi as a candidate due to his successful achievement in the highest imperial examinations and later as a county magistrate, had been studying the method of Immortality. One day he suddenly quit his position and live in solitude as like a hermit and was indulged in pursuing Tao persistently and diligently up to reaching its summit, making his Kungfu of Tao so subtle, incredible and miraculous that some people then believed he eventually translated into an Immortal, a kind of superman who is described ideally by Chinese in myth legend. He was so proficient in the science of immortality that nobody is expected to exceed him by far.


    If you are acquainted with Classical Chinese writings, you will be astonished to find there are some poems titled Lv Yan. Though the reserved works titled Lv are numerous, there are few masters majoring in the science of Immortality who could discern the authentic works from the fake ones. But I shall offer people a good opportunity to peep at the odd bits of Lv¡¯s inscrutable science of Tao. I studied Lv¡¯s works for 2 decades, so I distinguished some authentic poems from all those fakes titled Lv and tried to figure out their abstruse enigmas. However, the meaning of his ancient poems is so obscure and unintelligible that no one has tried to explain them in traditional Chinese or modern Chinese, not to mention translating them to the English version. However, I still decided to pick up a poem randomly and tried to translate it in modern English.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I am fascinated with Tao so crazily as if he is my sole intimate that I couldn¡¯t part with him even a moment.


    Comment: Immortal Lv hereby wants to convey, if one dreams to practice Inner Alchemy and sublimate himself into an immortal, he should first make firm decision to become a spiritual superman with a strong will as like making a rope out of sand, to endure numerous tribulations yet still remain confident in success, to give up all mortal¡¯s desires and lusts and gradually cultivate Taoist feelings or moods to meet the requirement of pursuing Tao, which is a quiet salubrious state of spirit, and to persist in it until success.


    So it is favorable to diligently extract Supernal Elixir like fine Gold from invisible Water of life, which is the only truthful way to reach the Sacred Heaven of Immortal before passing through the rugged path of Hell.


    Comment: the above bold phrase is a special terms of the science of immortality containing ancient Chinese philosophy which is so profound and elusive that almost all modern or ancient Chinese people couldn¡¯t understand it, even for the experts or masters majoring in Taoism, it is also very difficult for them to accurately grasp it. Perhaps I could interpret it in such words: if you are determined to become a supernatural being from a fragile mortal life, you shall have to genetically remove all lethal wart of mortal life, which has been co-existing in human life from generation to generation, as well as try to acquire tenaciously the super-elixir as fine as sand from Tao by operating the mystical know-how, which is deemed as the most secret core of Taoism and is cherished by Immortal with its value weighting over a mountain of pure gold.


    On the moment when the accomplishment of my super-elixir, the only a bit pity I am concerned about is the reality that the universe where the mortal inhabits become so narrow for me; while after taking the super-elixir, I shall never be worried about any diseases or disasters inflicted on the mortal.


    Comment: Immortal Lv hereby narrated the function of super-elixir and the magic realm after Sage-being-in-Tao in a way of metaphor. It is certain that when knocking the door of Immortality open with the help of the mysteriously powerful super-elixir, you shall become the master of your fate.


    Until now I have been qualified to enter into the immortal world in Tao, but it is no hurry to do that because I want to saunter around the human world concealing my identity of Divinity while disguising as a mortal, so I am at ease with sipping Nectar wine during the same time tipsily composing my poetry.


    Comment: the intention of Lv¡¯s such behavior is subjectively interpreted by some masters of Taoism and the faithful followers that Lv actually wants to look for suitable talents or geniuses with a special affinity for Tao who are worthy of imparting the science of Tao. Obviously an Immortal of Sage-being-in-Tao has permanently been in a state of unimaginable and quiet joy which mankind shall never understand and experience, beyond all agonies or sufferings from the realistic world as well as all afflictions of feelings as mankind. Furthermore, the divine scent of Immortal identity shall scare Azrael and the evil of illness far away, so an Immortal can perch at ease on the world of mortal at his discretion.