INTERNATIONAL TAO CULTURE ASSOCIATION
2025-06-08 Sunday 农历五月十三
Xie Ziran
27

     Xie Ziran (? (794) A female Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty, she was from Nanchong, Guozhou (now in Sichuan Province), and her ancestral home was Yanzhou (now in Shandong Province). His world name is "Dongji Zhenren". My father, Huan, was recommended as a filial and upright official and once served as a clerk in the Secretariat. The Mu Xu family was also a prominent clan in the town. Natural and unique, not eating meat or blood. At the age of seven, his mother followed Ni Yuehui and returned home due to illness for many years. He also ordered Ni Zhirang to repay him in October. He usually talked a lot about family affairs, but because he paid homage to the statue of Laozi on the top of Dafang Mountain and was unwilling to go down the mountain, he entered the Tao. Since then, he has often recited the "Tao Te Ching" and the "Huangting Neijing". He stopped eating grains at the age of fourteen. Every time they burn and pray to the Queen Mother and Ma Gu, they admire the integrity of Lady Wei of Nanyue. At the age of forty, he traveled to Mount Qingcheng, Mount Emei, Thirty-six Jinglu and twenty-four Zhi. Soon after, he left Sichuan, passed through Beijing and Luoyang, and reached the Jianghuai region. Wherever there were famous mountains, caves and spiritual sites, he diligently visited them. In the third year of the Zhenyuan era of Emperor Dezong of Tang (787), in March, at the Kaiyuan Temple in Guozhou, the Taoist priest Cheng Taixu received the "Five Thousand Text Purple Lingbao 箓". The Continuation of the Immortal Story claims that Nature heard that the Taoist priest of Tiantai Mountain, Sima Chengzhen, lived in Yuxiao Peak, had a way of solitude, so he became a teacher for three years, and lived in the wild to gather wood, for Chengzhen to hold 爨, after several turns, finally passed on the Shangqing method. Later, he returned to Shu. In the fourth month of the sixth year of the Zhenyuan era (790), Han Yi, the governor, came to the prefecture to test his authenticity. He stayed in the east pavilion of the northern hall of the prefecture for a long time. After leaving, his skin and body were smooth and his voice was clear and pleasant. Yi Yi, as a girl, knew that he was his teacher. In the eleventh month of the seventh year (791), he moved to the state capital. In the ninth year (793), he petited the inspector Li Jian and built a room for cultivation on Jinquan Mountain. There were many magical events about it. It is said that the mountain god conveyed that he would bestow the position of the Immortal of the Eastern Pole. On the twelfth day of the eleventh month of the tenth year of the Zhenyuan era (794), he ascended to heaven in the daytime, and several scholars and women all paid their respects together. When he was about to ascend to heaven, he wrote on the east wall of the hall: "I wish all my loved ones, do not suffer in sorrow. You can diligently cultivate virtue, build up the field of merit, fast and recite the Tao. After a hundred eons, I hope there will be good karma and we will meet again in the hometown of Qingyuan." The military governor Wei Gao reported this to the court. Li Jian also expressed his gratitude and issued an edict to praise him. Li Jian erected a stele at Jinquan Taoist Temple to write a volume titled "The Biography of the Immortal of Dongji" to recount his deeds. Han Yu and Liu Shang both wrote poems praising his frivolous actions. There are disciples like Zheng Xianggu and her sister, etc.