Wood, Herb, Flesh and Mushroom Zhi

4 As for wood zhi, pine or cypress resin that sinks beneath the earth turns into poria after a thousand years. When poria is ten thousand years old, a little tree grows above it, shaped like a lotus flower: this is wood weixi zhi. It shines at night, feels exceedingly slippery in the hand, and will not burn in fire. Wearing it protects against weapons: place it on a chicken among twelve others in a cage, stand twelve paces away and shoot twelve arrows; all the other chickens will be wounded, but the one wearing weixi zhi will remain unharmed. Gather it from the side facing the Gate of Life, dry it in the shade on a liujia day for a hundred days, then grind and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day. Finish one specimen and live three thousand years. Beneath a thousand-year-old gua tree grows a root shaped like a seated person, seven inches tall. Cut it and it bleeds. Smear its blood under the feet and one can walk on water without sinking; smear it on the nose and enter the water, which will part to let one remain at the bottom of a deep pool; smear it on the body and become invisible, wiping it off when one wishes to be seen. It can also cure illness: for a disease inside the belly, scrape off a knife-tip measure and take it; for swelling or pain outside, scrape off a knife-tip measure and rub it on the afflicted place. Under the hand it heals immediately. If, for instance, the left foot is afflicted, scrape some off and apply it to that foot. Or scrape some off and mix it with sesame to make a candle. Shine it by night over the ground; where gold, jade, or treasure is buried, the flame turns blue-green and hangs downward. Dig with a spade and the treasure can be found. Grind the root and consume ten jin to gain a thousand years. The branch of a three-thousand-year-old pine holds an accumulation of resin within its bark, shaped like a dragon: it is called flying-joint zhi. A large piece weighs ten jin. Grind and consume ten jin to gain five hundred years. There is also the fantao zhi, whose trunk resembles a rising dragon, whose flowers and leaves resemble red gauze, and whose fruit resembles a kingfisher. It stands no higher than five feet and grows on the shady side of famous mountains in soil watered by east-flowing springs. Watch for it at the beginning of summer, obtain it, grind it, and consume a whole plant to gain five thousand years. The cancheng zhi is red and radiant; tap its branches and leaves and they ring like metal or stone. Break one and join it back, and it returns at once to its former state. The muqu zhi grows parasitically on great trees, like a lotus flower, with nine stalks to a clump; it tastes sweet and pungent. The fruit of the Jianmu zhi grows at Duguang; its bark is like a tasseled serpent, its fruit like a luan bird. Taking any of these three zhi makes one ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Huangluzi, flowers of the Xun tree, and Xuanye flowers: these three zhi grow in Yaoxiang and Fenggao on Mount Tai. Whoever obtains and takes them lives a thousand years. As for the yellow-cork tanhuan zhi: beneath a thousand-year-old yellow-cork tree stands a root like a vessel holding three dou, one or two zhang from the trunk and linked to it by fine threadlike roots. Obtain it, grind and consume the whole piece, and become an undying earthly immortal. There are a further hundred and twenty kinds of these, with illustrations of their own.

5 Among herb zhi is the self-swaying zhi, which moves without wind. Its stalk is as thick as a finger and red as cinnabar; its pale leaves resemble amaranth. Its root has a large tuber the size of a dou measure, with twelve smaller ones, each the size of an egg, surrounding it on all four sides like the twelve earthly branches. About a zhang separates them, and thin white-hair roots link them all. It grows above deep valleys in high mountains, with no other grass nearby. Obtain the great tuber, grind and consume it all to gain a thousand years. Each small tuber grants a hundred years and can be given to someone else. Carry the great root and one becomes invisible; to appear again, turn left and bring it out. Ox-horn zhi grows on Mount Hushou and the slopes of Wu. Shaped like a scallion, it rises alone like an ox horn, three or four feet tall and blue-green. Grind and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; after a hundred days, one gains a thousand years. Dragon-immortal zhi resembles ascending dragons bearing one another, its leaves forming scales and its root a coiled dragon. Consume one piece and gain a thousand years. Hemp-mother zhi resembles hemp, but has a red stem and purple flowers. Purple-pearl zhi has yellow flowers, red leaves, and plumlike purple fruit; twenty-four branches join together and hang like strings of pearls. White-talisman zhi grows four or five feet high and resembles a plum; it flowers in heavy snow and bears fruit in the final month of winter. Vermilion-herb zhi has nine bends, three leaves at each bend, and three fruits on each leaf. Five-Virtues zhi looks like a towered palace, with a square stalk and leaves each of the five colors, distinct and unmixed. Its top is like a spreading canopy, sweet dew always gathers within, and purple vapor rises several feet above it. Dragon-bearing zhi grows in paired shoots in mid-spring, with three joints and twelve branches, and a lower root shaped like a seated person. There are another hundred and twenty varieties of these herb zhi. Dry them all in the shade and take them, and one will last as long as heaven and earth, or gain a thousand or two thousand years.

6 Flesh zhi include the ten-thousand-year-old toad, with horns on its head and a doubled eight-character inscription in cinnabar beneath its chin. Catch it at noon on the fifth day of the fifth month and dry it in the shade for a hundred days. Draw on the earth with its left foot and running water appears; wear its left forefoot on the body and it wards off the five kinds of weapons. If an enemy shoots at you, bows, crossbows, and arrows all turn back against their owner. The thousand-year-old bat is white as snow and hangs upside down when roosting because its brain is heavy. Obtain either creature, dry it in the shade, grind and take it to live forty thousand years. The thousand-year-old numinous tortoise possesses all five colors; the male has two hornlike bones rising from its forehead. Bathe it in sheep’s blood, then remove its shell, roast it over fire, pound it, and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day. Finish a whole shell to live a thousand years. If, while traveling in the mountains, one sees little people seven or eight inches tall riding in carriages or on horses, they are flesh zhi. Capture and eat them, and become immortal immediately. The wind-born beast resembles a marten, is blue-green and about the size of a wildcat, and lives in the great forests of the South Sea. Catch it in a net and burn it with several cartloads of firewood: when the wood is spent, it remains unburned in the ashes, its fur unsinged. Blades and spears cannot pierce it, and a blow sounds like striking a leather bag. Only dozens of blows to its head with an iron hammer kill it. Even then, hold its open mouth toward the wind and it revives and runs off in a moment. Plug its nostrils with sweet flag growing on stone and it dies. Take its brain mixed with chrysanthemum flowers; consume ten jin to gain five hundred years. The thousand-year-old swallow nests with the entrance facing north, is mostly white, and has a short, stumpy tail. Capture it, dry it in the shade, grind and consume one bird to gain five hundred years. There are a further hundred and twenty such kinds: all are flesh zhi.

7 Mushroom zhi may grow deep in the mountains, beneath great trees, or beside springs. Some look like palaces and houses, others like chariots and horses, dragons and tigers, human figures or flying birds; their five colors vary. Here too there are a hundred and twenty varieties, with their own illustrations. Approach to gather them using Yu’s pace, cut them with a bone knife, dry them in the shade, grind them, and take a square-inch spoonful. They make one ascend to immortality: middle-grade varieties grant several thousand years, lower-grade a thousand. To seek zhi, enter famous mountains in the third or ninth month, when the mountains open and bring forth divine medicines. Avoid a day when the mountain is hostile; choose an hour of Heavenly Assistance, best of all when the Three Wonders converge. Go out through the auspicious gate of the Three Wonders to the mountain, on a day of the Six Yin and at the hour of the Bright Hall. Wear a Lingbao talisman, lead a white dog, carry a white chicken in your arms, and place a dou of white salt together with a mountain-opening talisman and writ on a great stone. Enter the mountain holding a handful of Wutang grass; the mountain spirit will be pleased, and you will surely find zhi. When gathering and taking zhi, choose a day of ascendance, prosperity, single-mindedness, and harmony; it is best when the heavenly stems and earthly branches above and below give rise to each other. Famous mountains abound in these zhi, but ordinary Daoist adepts are neither single-minded nor pure; their conduct is filthy and their virtue thin, and they do not understand the art of entering mountains. Even with illustrations, they cannot recognize the plants and will never obtain them. Every mountain, great or small, has its ghosts and spirits. If they will not give the zhi to someone, that person cannot see it even while treading upon it.

4 As for wood zhi: pine and cypress resin sinks underground and after a thousand years becomes poria. After ten thousand years of poria, a little tree grows above it, shaped like a lotus flower, called wood-weixi zhi. It glows at night, feels very slippery to hold, and does not burn when set alight. Wearing it protects against weapons. Tie one to a chicken, put it in a cage with twelve other chickens, stand twelve paces away, and shoot twelve arrows. Every other chicken will be wounded, but the one wearing weixi zhi will remain unharmed. Gather it from above the life gate and dry it in the shade on a day of the six jia. After a hundred days, grind it and take a square-inch spoonful three times daily. Finish a whole piece and you will live three thousand years. Beneath a thousand-year-old gua tree, its root looks like a seated person and is seven cun long. Cut it and it bleeds. Smear its blood on your soles to walk on water without sinking. Smear it on your nose before going underwater and the water will open for you; you can stay at the bottom of a deep pool. Smear it on your body to become invisible, and wipe it off when you want to be seen. It also treats illness. For illness inside the belly, scrape off and take one knife-tip measure. For an external swelling or pain, scrape off one knife-tip measure and rub it where the problem is; it heals at once under your hand. If the left foot is afflicted, scrape it off and rub it on the left foot. Also scrape some off and mix it with sesame to make a candle. At night it will shine all over the ground below; where gold, jade, or other treasure is buried, its light changes to blue-green and points downward. Dig with a spade to find the treasure. Grind it and consume ten jin in all to live a thousand years. In a pine branch three thousand years old, resin gathers inside the bark in the shape of a dragon. This is called flying-joint zhi. Large pieces weigh ten jin; grind and take ten jin to gain five hundred years. There is also fantao zhi, whose wood looks like a rising dragon, its flowers and leaves like red silk, and its fruit like a kingfisher. It grows no higher than five chi, on the shaded side of a famous mountain in soil by an east-flowing spring. Watch for it around the start of summer. Obtain and grind it, and consume one whole plant to gain five thousand years. Sancheng zhi is red and glowing; when you tap its branches and leaves they sound like metal or stone. Break it and join it together, and it returns to its old state. Muqu zhi grows as a parasite on large trees. It resembles a lotus, with nine stems to a cluster, and tastes sweet and pungent. Jianmu zhi fruit grows in Duguang. Its bark resembles a tasseled snake and its fruit a luan bird. Taking any of these three zhi lets one rise to heaven in broad daylight. Huangluzi, flowers of the xun tree, and flowers of dark liquid: these three zhi grow around Yaoxiang and Fenggao on Mount Tai. Anyone who gets and takes them lives a thousand years. Huangbo tanhuan zhi is a growth from a thousand-year-old cork tree. Under the tree is a root like a vessel holding three hu, one or two zhang from the trunk and joined to it by threadlike small roots. Grind and take the entire root and you become an earthly immortal who never dies. There are another 120 varieties of this sort, with their own illustrations.

5 Among herb zhi is solitary-swaying zhi, which moves on its own without wind. Its stem is as thick as a finger and as red as cinnabar, and its plain-colored leaves resemble amaranth. Its root has a large swelling like a dou measure, with twelve smaller ones like eggs, arranged around the large root on all sides like the twelve earthly branches. About one zhang apart, they are connected by fine roots like white hairs. It grows high in the deep valleys of mountains, with no grass anywhere near it. Grind and take the large swelling; finish it and gain a thousand years. Each small one gives a hundred years, and can be shared with someone else. Carry the large root to become invisible; turn left and bring it out if you want to be seen. Ox-horn zhi grows on Mount Hushou and Wuban. It resembles a scallion, grows alone like an ox horn, reaches three or four chi in length, and is blue-green. Grind and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day. After a hundred days you gain a thousand years. Dragon-immortal zhi looks like rising dragons carrying each other, with leaves for scales and a root like a coiled dragon. Take one piece to gain a thousand years. Hemp-mother zhi resembles hemp but has a red stem and purple flowers. Purple-pearl zhi has yellow flowers, red leaves, and purple fruits like plums; twenty-four branches connect and hang down like strung pearls. White-talisman zhi stands four or five chi high and resembles a plum tree. It flowers during heavy snow and bears fruit in the last month of winter. Vermilion-grass zhi has nine bends, with three leaves on each bend and three fruits on each leaf. Five-virtues zhi looks like a multistory hall, with a square stem and leaves each of five distinct, unmixed colors. Its top looks like a flat canopy. Sweet dew is always inside it, and purple vapor rises several chi above it. Dragon-holding zhi grows in pairs in the second month of spring. It has three joints, twelve branches, and a lower root like a seated person. There are another 120 kinds of these herb zhi. Dry them all in the shade and take them to live as long as heaven and earth, or in some cases to gain one or two thousand years.

6 Flesh zhi include a ten-thousand-year-old toad with horns on its head and eight red characters written twice under its jaw. Capture it at noon on the fifth day of the fifth month and dry it in the shade for a hundred days. Draw on the ground with its left foot and flowing water appears. Wear its left foreleg on your body to ward off the five kinds of weapons. If an enemy shoots at you, his bows, crossbows, and arrows all turn back against him. A thousand-year-old bat is as white as snow and hangs upside down when it rests because its brain is heavy. Obtain either of these two creatures, dry it in the shade, grind and take it, and you will live forty thousand years. A thousand-year-old sacred turtle has all five colors. The male has two hornlike bones rising from its forehead. Bathe it in sheep's blood, then strip off its shell, roast it over a fire, pound it and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day. Finish the whole shell and live a thousand years. If you see a little person seven or eight cun tall riding in a carriage with horses in the mountains, that is flesh zhi. Catch and eat it to become immortal at once. The wind-born beast resembles a marten, is blue-green and as big as a wildcat. It lives in the great forests of the South Sea. Catch it in a net and burn several cartloads of firewood around it. When the wood is consumed, the beast remains unburned in the ashes, with not a hair singed. Axes and blades cannot penetrate it; beating it feels like beating a leather bag. Strike its head dozens of times with an iron hammer to kill it, but if you point its mouth toward the wind after it dies, it will soon come back to life and run away. Stop its nostrils with sweet flag grown on stone and it will die. Take its brain, mix it with chrysanthemum flowers, and consume ten jin to gain five hundred years. There is also a thousand-year-old swallow whose nest faces north. It is mostly white and has a short, blunt tail. Capture it, dry it in the shade, grind and take one whole bird to gain five hundred years. There are another 120 kinds of these creatures, all flesh zhi.

7 Mushroom zhi grow deep in mountains, beneath large trees, or beside springs. Some look like palaces, some like carriages and horses, dragons and tigers, human figures, or flying birds. Their five colors vary. There are also 120 kinds, with their own illustrations. Approach all of them using Yu's steps, cut them with a bone knife, dry them in the shade, grind them and take a square-inch spoonful. The best make one rise to immortality; middle-grade kinds grant several thousand years, and lower-grade kinds a thousand. To seek zhi plants, enter famous mountains in the third or ninth month, when the mountains open and produce sacred drugs. Avoid a day on which the mountain is hostile; go at an hour favored by heaven, especially when the Three Wonders meet. Leave through the lucky gate of the Three Wonders and reach the mountain on a day of the six yin, at the hour of the Bright Hall. Wear a Lingbao talisman, lead a white dog, carry a white chicken, and bring one dou of white salt and an opening-the-mountain talisman and writ. Put these on a large stone. Take a handful of Wutang grass into the mountain. The mountain spirit will be pleased and you will surely obtain zhi. Collecting and taking zhi should also be done on a day when the favorable powers of growth and strength are united, preferably when the heavenly stems and earthly branches support one another. Famous mountains contain many of these zhi. But ordinary Daoists lack devoted minds, have impure behavior and little virtue, and do not understand how to enter mountains. Though they have the illustrations, they cannot recognize the plants and so never obtain them. All mountains, large and small, have spirits and ghosts. Unless those spirits give the zhi to someone, that person will not see it even when stepping on it.