Lǚ zǔ běn zhuàn 呂祖本傳
Original Biography of the Patriarch Lǚ
compiled and prefaced by 劉體恕 (Liú Tǐshù, hào 義陵無我子 Yìlíng Wúwǒzǐ); biography of 呂洞賓 (Lǚ Dòngbīn / Chúnyáng / Fúyòu dìjūn)
The biographical chapter of the Lǚzǔ quán shū 呂祖全書 (the comprehensive Qīng compendium of Lǚ Dòngbīn material edited by Liú Tǐshù), here printed separately in DZJY as the foundational hagiographical text of the Lǚzǔ cult. The work narrates Lǚ’s life from the standard hagiographical sources, with double-column interlinear annotations supplying variant readings (the Tang house-name variants Lǐ Jué 李珏, Lǐ Qióng 李瓊; the dispute over whether he passed the jìnshì; the dating dispute Zhēnguān / Tiānbǎo / Zhēnyuán; the dispute over his birth-day, 4/14 vs. 8/4).
Prefaces
Preface (Liú Tǐshù) — “Xù”. “Since the Daoist canon’s manifestation, of all the shàngdì and Heavens’ Perfected Lords and the principal stars, all have gào (proclamations) — some narrating their merit-conduct, some praising their vow-power, some recounting their birth-and-emergence — by reciting them men understand-clearly the source of their yóulái and engender a heart of reverence and admiration, just as Heaven-Lord míngmíng hèhè (clearly and brightly) keeps watch above us so that we dare not be careless or transgressive — what the Shī calls ‘Heaven-Lord overlooks you, do not double your heart.’ Only the Buddhist scriptures and the bodhisattva-scriptures have no gào — the yīngzhēn (perfected ones) at the end of an age, in dharma-rite kēyí, base on scripture and make gào as the wording of taking-refuge and acceptance. As to the various Lǚzǔ gào — they are all the Dragon-Sand manifestations and flying-luán self-performances, especially numinous-and-verified: whatever is prayed-for, none fails to be granted; if recited persistently long, the spirits descend and appear in form, clearly indicating the Way’s essentials, verifying the immortal-perfected — truly the saving-the-world’s compassion-raft. World-men, if they single-mind their will and reverence-respectfully without slacking, the response-of-stimulus crosses by way of the Way: they spontaneously gain inconceivable merit, and praying-for-fortune and warding-off calamity are mere side-affairs. Yìlíng Wúwǒzǐ Liú Tǐshù respectfully prefaced.”
Preface (Liú Tǐshù) — “Běn zhuàn xù”. “Lǚzǔ, against Zhèngyáng dìjūn (Zhōnglí Quán), wished to deliver all sentient beings before he would consent to ascend; and even after ascending, he continued to deliver-and-transform the world. Therefore from the Táng down to today, his hidden-and-manifest changes are not single. The world calls him Lǚ Xiān, while he himself called himself Huí dàorén or Wúshàng gōngzhǔ; he ultimately verified the position of Wúshàng shèngshī. His numinous traces are very many — they cannot be exhausted in writing. The present běn zhuàn takes the original biography for its order; here-and-there inserting and double-column-noting points for further reference. As to varying traditions: some say he was originally Tang house-name Lǐ, named Jué, named Qióng; that with his wife he entered the mountain to dual-cultivate and so changed his surname to Lǚ; others that he passed the jìnshì and served as a magistrate; others that he failed; others that at age sixty-four travelling Chángān he met Zhèngyáng dìjūn; others that at sixty-four he ascended to the Yuánshǐ Yùhuáng; some say he was born 4/14, some 8/4; some that the year was Zhēnguān, some Tiānbǎo, some Zhēnyuán — many and various. The Lǚzǔ has himself said: call out ‘ox’ and the ox responds; call out ‘horse’ and the horse responds. The world’s mistakes — these are the real thing — pretence is the real… my pre-Tang origin — what is even there? His words are penetrating. — As the Most-High descended-and-was-born, taking Lǐ as his surname; the Snow-Mountain first-born from the side; with two dragons winding the chamber and five stars at the courtyard — divine-numinous signs every one verified — the births of immortals-Buddhas-sages-and-worthies have always been strange. As to the Lǚzǔ, what could I fathom of him? — Yìlíng Wúwǒzǐ Liú Tǐshù respectfully prefaced.”
Abstract
The biographical foundation of the mid-Qīng Lǚzǔ quán shū compendium, prefaced and edited by Liú Tǐshù (cf. 劉體恕) for the early Qiánlóng era. Liú’s editorial method — preserving variant traditions inline rather than choosing between them, and citing Lǚzǔ’s own dictum that “call out ‘ox’ and the ox responds…” warrants the multiplicity — is a striking acknowledgement of hagiographic plurality unusual in Daoist biography. The běn zhuàn itself synthesises the standard early-Sòng Lǚzǔ zhì (cf. Yún jí qī qiān 113A) with YuánMíng dramatic and bǎojuàn materials. Composition is c. 1740–1750 (the Húběi Lǚzǔ quán shū was first printed mid-eighteenth century).
For the broader hagiographical tradition see Yang & Yang, Eight Immortals, chs. on Lǚ Dòngbīn; Mori Yuria, “Daozang jiyao and Quanzhen Daoism”; Katz, Images of the Immortal (Hawai’i 1999) on the Yǒnglègōng frescoes.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0045
- Compiler / preface-author: 劉體恕; biographical subject: 呂洞賓.