Zhōushì míngtōng jì 周氏冥通記
Mr. Zhōu’s Records of His Communication with the Invisible World
by 周子良 (撰, 497–516); edited and annotated by 陶弘景 (編註)
About the work
A four-juan diary, with editor’s preface, of the visionary encounters of Zhōu Zǐliáng 周子良 (zì Yuánhé 元龢; 497–516), disciple of Táo Hóngjǐng 陶弘景, edited and annotated by Táo and presented to the Liáng 梁 court in early 517, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0302 / CT 302 = TC 302), 洞真部 記傳類. In his visions, Zhōu had met — alongside higher zhēnrén 真人 already known from [[KR5d1010|Zhēn’gào 真誥]] (DZ 1016) — a number of lesser immortals from the subterranean Cavern-Heavens of Máoshān 茅山, and kept a diary about these meetings. Zhōu’s generally sketchy but sometimes detailed records (juan 1–3) cover sixteen months. Táo found the diary in a mountain cave at Máoshān where Zhōu had hidden it, apparently shortly before he took his own life; Táo arranged and annotated the material — which included the recipe for an elixir that may have caused Zhōu’s death (4.19a–20b) — and wrote an introduction containing Zhōu’s biography. In early 517 he presented the work, divided into four juan, to the emperor. Táo’s letter of presentation and the imperial note in reply are appended to Zhōu’s biography.
Prefaces
Táo Hóngjǐng’s editorial preface, comprising Zhōu’s biography (juan 1.1a–4b), opens: “The mystic Zhōu Zǐliáng, zì Yuánhé 元龢, was the disciple of Táo the Recluse of Máoshān 茅山陶隱居. Originally of Jíqiānlǐ 吉遷里, Dūxiāng 都鄉, Rǔnán County 汝南縣, Rǔnán Commandery 汝南郡, Yùzhōu 豫州, he lived in Qīnghuàlǐ 清化里 of Xīxiāng 西鄉, Jiànkāng 建康, in Dānyáng 丹陽. The clan was generations long a hereditary lineage of Jiāngzuǒ 江左 fame, but late on the branches withered and dispersed in distress. His grandfather Wénlǎng 文朗 took the xiùcái 秀才; under the Sòng he was Chángshìchén 常侍 to the King of Jiāngxià 江夏王國 of the LiúSòng. The natural father Yàozōng 耀宗 (xiǎomíng Jīngāng 金剛), Wénlǎng’s fifth son, was jùn wǔguān yuàn 郡五官掾, separately resident at Yúyáo 餘姚, and died there in Tiānjiān 2 (503) at the age of thirty-four. His remains were temporarily buried, the office of his successor falling to his uncle Yàoxù 耀旭, zhōu zhǔbù 州主簿 and Yángzhōu yìcáo cóngshì 揚州議曹從事. The mother, Xú Jìngguāng 徐淨光 of Yǒngjiā 永嘉, having conceived for five months, dreamed that all the immortal-chamber sages rose and walked on all four sides, encircling her body. In Jiànwǔ 建武 4 (497), the cyclical year dīngchǒu, on the second day of the first month, at the réndìng hour, Zǐliáng was born at Míngxīnglǐ 明星里 in Yúyáo. Aged one, he was taken in as a foster-son by his maternal aunt Bǎoguāng 寶光, who raised him as her own son…” The preface goes on to describe Zǐliáng’s discipleship from age twelve under Táo at Máoshān, his reception of the principal Shàngqīng 上清 transmissions, his withdrawal into solitary chamber-residence after a vision in Tiānjiān 14 (515), the long sequence of secret revelations, and his suicide on the gēng day of the tenth month of Tiānjiān 15 (516) — when he bathed, dressed in clean clothes, played a game of qí 棋 with his attendant Hé Wénxìng 何文幸, then withdrew to his chamber and took the elixir.
Abstract
Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:205–206 (§1.B.2, Shàngqīng), summarises: the work is the written legacy of Táo Hóngjǐng’s disciple Zhōu Zǐliáng, who in his visions met a number of lesser immortals from the subterranean Cavern-Heavens of Máoshān; Zhōu’s generally sketchy but sometimes detailed records (juan 1–3) cover sixteen months; Táo arranged and annotated the material, wrote an introduction containing Zhōu’s biography (remarkable for its dramatic account of Zhōu’s suicide on 1.3b–4a), and in early 517 presented the work, divided into four juan, to the emperor. The frontmatter brackets composition 515–517: from the beginning of Zhōu’s secret diary in Tiānjiān 14 (515) to Táo’s presentation memorial in early 517.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, “Zhoushi mingtong ji,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §1.B.2, 205–206. Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Answering a Summons,” in Donald S. Lopez ed., Religions of China in Practice (Princeton 1996), 188–202, translates substantial passages from juan 1. On Táo Hóngjǐng’s editorial method: Michel Strickmann, Le taoïsme du Mao chan (Paris 1981).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0314
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §1.B.2, 205–206.