Chapter 11

The Tang Emperor Tours the Dark Underworld and Returns to Life; Liu Quan Presents Melons and Fruit and Is Rejoined in Marriage

The poem says:

A hundred years of our time flow past like running water; the deeds of a lifetime are no more than floating foam.Yesterday morning the face wore the color of peach blossom; today the temples are adrift with snow.Only when the game breaks up do you see that it was illusion; when the cuckoo cries its urgent note, turn back soon.Since ancient times, quiet hidden virtue has lengthened life; goodness that begs no pity—Heaven itself provides.

Now Taizong, dim and bewildered, felt his soul slip straight out from before the Tower of the Five Phoenixes, and there he saw the horsemen of the imperial guard inviting the imperial carriage out of court to go hunting. Taizong gladly went along, and away they rode into the haze. They had traveled a long while when men and horses alike vanished, and he found himself quite alone, wandering the wild outskirts among grass and scrub. Just as he stood startled, unable to find the road, he saw someone off to one side crying out at the top of his voice: “Emperor of the Great Tang, come this way, come this way!” Taizong heard the words, raised his head, and looked, and this is what he saw:

On his head a black gauze cap; around his waist a rhinoceros-horn belt. The black gauze cap floated with soft streamers; the rhinoceros horn at his waist gleamed with gold inlay. In his hand an ivory tablet gathered the auspicious haze; over his body a silk robe hid an auspicious light. On his feet a pair of white-soled boots that trod the clouds and pressed the fog; against his breast a ledger of life and death that fixed survival and doom. His temple hair, bushy and loose, drifted over his ears; his whiskers flew and curled about his jaws. In days past he served as a minister of the Tang state; today he keeps the records and attends King Yama.

Taizong walked over to him, and the man knelt by the roadside, saying: “Your Majesty, forgive your servant his fault in failing to come so far to welcome you.” Taizong asked: “Who are you? What business brings you here to greet me?” The man said: “Half a month ago your humble servant stood in the Senluo Hall when the ghost dragon of the Jing River brought suit against Your Majesty for promising him rescue and then having him executed. King Qin'guang of the First Hall at once sent ghost messengers to call Your Majesty down, so that the three courts might hear the case together. Your servant knew of it, and so came out here to wait for you. Unhappily he is late today; he begs forgiveness, begs forgiveness.” “What is your name?” said Taizong. “What office do you hold?” The man said: “While he lived, your servant attended the late sovereign in the world of light, as magistrate of Zi Prefecture, and afterward was appointed vice minister of Rites. His surname is Cui and his given name Jue. Now in the dark courts he has received the post of records judge at Fengdu.” Taizong was overjoyed, hurried close, and helped him up with his own imperial hand: “Sir, you have come a long way on my account. My minister Wei Zheng has a letter he wished delivered into your hands—and here we meet, most fortunately.” The judge thanked him for the honor and asked where the letter was. Taizong drew it from his sleeve and handed it over. Cui Jue bowed, received it, broke the seal, and read. The letter said:

“Your loving younger brother Wei Zheng bows his head to the ground and writes to Elder Brother Cui, chief judge of the great court, at his lofty seat: I remember our days of friendship; the very sound of you seems still before me. In a flash the years have gone by, and I have not heard your pure instruction. Constantly, when the festivals come round, I have set out vegetarian offerings in sacrifice, though I cannot tell whether you received them. And you have not disdained me: you came in a dream to make yourself known, and so I learned that you, elder brother, had been promoted high. But yin and yang are sundered, each of us at a far end of the sky, and we cannot meet face to face. Now that my sovereign Taizong the Cultured has suddenly passed away, I reckon it must be for a hearing before the three courts, and he is certain to meet you there. I beg you, remember the friendship of a lifetime and grant one small convenience: let my sovereign return to the world of light. That would be kindness indeed. Allow me to send proper thanks another day. Paper cannot hold it all.”

When the judge had read the letter, his heart filled with joy. “That affair the other day, when Master Wei, officer of the living, beheaded the old dragon in his dream—your servant has long known of it and can never praise it enough. And Master Wei has been pleased to look after my children and grandchildren morning and evening. Now that this letter has come, let Your Majesty set his mind at ease: your servant will answer for it that you return to the sunlit world and climb again to the jade palace.” Taizong thanked him.

While the two were speaking, they saw a pair of boys in green robes come toward them bearing streamers and jeweled canopies, calling out loudly: “The King of Yama requests your presence, requests your presence.” Taizong then moved forward with Judge Cui and the two boys. Suddenly a city wall rose before them, and over its gate hung a great tablet bearing seven large golden characters: GHOST GATE PASS OF THE DARK UNDERWORLD. The green-robed boys waved their streamers and led Taizong straight in through the gate and along the street. Beside the street he saw his late sovereign father Li Yuan, his elder brother Jiancheng, and his younger brother Yuanji, who came pressing forward, crying: “Shimin is here! Shimin is here!” Jiancheng and Yuanji rushed at him to seize him and demand their lives of him. Taizong could not dodge in time; they had him by the clothes. Fortunately Judge Cui called up a green-faced, tusked ghost bailiff, who shouted them off, and so Taizong broke free and went on his way. He had not gone many li when a tower of green-tiled roofs came into view, truly magnificent. Here is how it looked:

Fluttering, ten thousand folds of rainbow cloud lie heaped;dimly, a thousand ribbons of red mist appear.Bright flare the flying eaves with monstrous beast-heads;glossy shine the roofs in five tiers of mandarin-duck tiles.The gates are studded with rows of red-gold nails;the threshold is laid with a single slab of white jade.Windows facing the light breathe out the smoke of dawn;swaying curtains glow, shot through with red lightning.Towers climb to meet the blue empyrean;corridors run level, rank on rank, joining the jeweled courts.From beast-shaped censers clouds of incense drift against the imperial robes;crimson-gauze lamps blaze bright beside the palace fans.On the left, ferocious, the Ox-Head guards are drawn up;on the right, looming grim, the Horse-Face ranks.Golden tallies turn to receive the dead and send the ghosts on;white silk streamers hang to summon souls and lead the shades.Men call it the great gate where the dark courts assemble—the Senluo Hall of old King Yama here below.

Taizong was still standing outside looking when he heard the tinkling of jade pendants and a strange immortal fragrance, and from within came first two pairs of torchbearers, and behind them the ten kings of the underworld, descending the steps. These were the ten kings: King Qin'guang, King Chujiang, King Songdi, King Wuguan, King Yama, King Pingdeng, King Taishan, King Dushi, King Biancheng, King Zhuanlun. They came out into the Senluo treasure hall, bowed with clasped hands, and welcomed Taizong. Taizong, in his humility, would not go first. The ten kings said: “Your Majesty is a king of men in the world of light; we are ghost kings of the world of dark. It is only proper; why these excessive courtesies?” Taizong said: “I have offended your lordships' court; how dare I speak of the ways of light and dark, of men and ghosts?” And he yielded again and again. Taizong then went first, straight up into the Senluo Hall, and when the courtesies had been exchanged with the ten kings they took their seats as host and guest.

After a moment King Qin'guang came forward with clasped hands and said: “The ghost dragon of the Jing River has charged Your Majesty with promising him rescue and then killing him instead. How do you answer?” Taizong said: “I dreamed at night that the old dragon begged me for rescue, and I truly did promise him he would come to no harm. Who could have known that he had committed a crime meriting the axe, and that the sentence fell to my officer of the living, Wei Zheng, to carry out? I summoned Wei Zheng to play chess with me in the hall, never knowing that he would behead the dragon in a dream. That was the officer of the living working his uncanny powers—and the Dragon King had committed a crime worthy of death. How can it be my fault?” Hearing this, the ten kings bowed in apology. “Before that dragon was ever born,” they said, “his death was already written on the register of the Star of the Southern Dipper: he was fated to die at the hand of an officer of the living. We knew it long ago. But he wrangled here before us and insisted that Your Majesty be brought down so the three courts could hear the case together. So we sent him into the Wheel of Rebirth, and he has gone off to his new life. Now we have troubled Your Majesty to come all this way; we beg you to forgive the urgency of our summons.” When they had finished, they ordered the judge who keeps the register of life and death to fetch it at once, to see how many years of natural life and heavenly allotment remained to His Majesty. Judge Cui hurried to the records room, took up the master register of the heavenly allotments of all the kings of all the lands under heaven, and examined it entry by entry. There he found: “Taizong, Emperor of the Great Tang of the southern continent of Jambudvipa: allotted thirteen years of the Zhenguan era.” Judge Cui gave a start, snatched up a brush heavy with ink, added two strokes to the character “one,” and presented the register. The ten kings read it through from the top and found under Taizong's name an allotment of thirty-three years. “How many years has Your Majesty reigned?” they asked in astonishment. “Thirteen years now since I came to the throne,” said Taizong. “Then set your mind at ease and do not worry,” said the king. “You have twenty more years of life in the world of light. With this the case is fully heard; we ask you to return the way you came, back to life.” Taizong bowed low in thanks. The ten kings ordered Judge Cui and Commandant Zhu to see Taizong's soul home. As he left the Senluo Hall, Taizong raised his hands in farewell and asked the ten kings: “Are the old and young of my palace well?” “They are all well,” said the kings, “only we fear your younger sister's span of years may not be a long one.” Taizong bowed again and said: “When I return to the world of light I shall have nothing to send in thanks but melons and fruit.” The ten kings were pleased. “We have plenty of winter melons and watermelons here,” they said; “it is only pumpkins we lack.” “When I return I shall send them—I shall send them,” said Taizong. And so they bowed to one another and parted.

The commandant went ahead carrying the soul-guiding banner, and Judge Cui followed close behind, guarding Taizong, until they came straight out of the dark offices. Taizong lifted his eyes: this was not the road by which he had come. “This is the wrong way,” he said to the judge. “It is not wrong,” said the judge. “So it is in the dark courts: there is a road out, but no road back. Now we shall escort Your Majesty out by way of the Wheel of Rebirth—partly to let you tour the underworld, and partly so that you may be born up into a better life.” Taizong could only follow the two of them as they led the way.

They had gone several li when a great mountain rose before them, dark clouds hanging to the ground and black fog blotting the sky. “Master Cui,” said Taizong, “what mountain is that over there?” “That is Shadowside Mountain of the dark realm,” said the judge. Taizong shuddered. “How can I go up it?” “Set your mind at ease, Your Majesty,” said the judge. “Your servants will lead you.” Trembling and quaking, Taizong followed the two men up the rocky slopes. He raised his eyes and looked, and this is what he saw:

Jutting and hollow its forms; jagged and broken its aspect.Steep as the ranges of Shu; high as the crags of Lu.No famous mountain of the world of the sun, but truly a perilous ground of the dark courts.In thickets of thorns, clump upon clump, demon-fiends lie hid; in gray-glinting crags twisted goblins lurk.No cry of bird or beast comes to the ear; before the eyes only ghosts and monsters pass.The dark wind whistles, the black fog rolls;the dark wind whistles—it is the smoke whistled out by the mouths of spirit soldiers;the black fog rolls—it is the breath spewed in secret by goblin fiends.Look high and low: no scenery anywhere; look left and right: nothing but raging dead.There are mountains there, and peaks, and ridges, and caves, and ravines—only the mountains grow no grass, the peaks never reach the sky, the ridges carry no traveler, the caves admit no cloud, the ravines send down no water.Along the banks crowd sprite-demons; beneath the ridges swarm spirit monsters; in the caves wild ghosts are penned; at the bottoms of the ravines evil souls lie hidden.Before the mountain and behind it, Ox-Head and Horse-Face howl in clamor;half hidden, half in view, hungry ghosts and forlorn souls weep in pairs.The judges who hurry souls onward bustle to and fro with their summons;the commandants who hunt souls down roar and bawl as they speed their warrants.The swift-footed runners come whirling like a dust storm;the arrest men arrive wrapped in seething black fog.

With the judge's protection bearing him up the whole way, Taizong passed over the Mountain of Shadow.

Farther on they passed office after office of the dead, each one ringing with cries of grief, each one full of horrors to chill the heart. “What is this place?” Taizong asked again. “Behind the Mountain of Shadow lie the eighteen levels of hell,” said the judge. “And what are those eighteen levels?” said Taizong. “Listen,” said the judge, “and I will tell you:

The hell of the Hung Tendons, the hell of Dark Injustice, the hell of the Fire Pit: silent and desolate, vexed and troubled—all who in life did the thousand kinds of evil deeds come after death to suffer these sentences. The Fengdu hell, the Tongue-Plucking hell, the Skin-Flaying hell: weeping and wailing, piteous and forlorn—only because they were disloyal, unfilial, and offended against Heaven's reason, Buddhas' mouths with serpents' hearts, have they fallen through this gate. The Millstone hell, the Pestle-Pounding hell, the Cart-Crushing hell: skin split and flesh torn, mouths twisted, teeth ground together—these are the ones who cheated their own hearts and knew no fairness, who hurt others in the dark with clever words and painted speech. The Ice hell, the Sloughed-Skin hell, the Torn-Gut hell: fouled faces and tangled hair, brows knotted, eyes screwed tight—all who used big measures and small scales to cheat the simple, and so piled calamity upon their own heads. The Boiling Oil hell, the Darkness hell, the Mountain of Knives hell: trembling and quaking, sorrowing and wretched—all because the violent bullied the good and kind, and now, heads tucked low and necks drawn in, they suffer alone. The Pool of Blood hell, the Avici hell, the Scale-Beam hell: skin stripped and bones bared, arms broken, sinews snapped—all for plotting gain at the cost of lives, for slaughtering beasts and butchering living things; fallen a thousand years with no release, sunk for ten thousand generations with no turning over. One and all they are bound fast and shackled, wound in ropes and lashed with cords. Red-haired ghosts and black-faced ghosts stand by with long spears and short swords; Ox-Head ghosts and Horse-Face ghosts hold iron maces and copper hammers, and they beat until brows are knotted and faces run with blood, until the wretches cry to earth and heaven with no one to save them.

Just as the saying goes:

In this life, never set out to deceive;the gods and ghosts see all plainly—whom have they ever let pass?Good and evil, in the end, meet their reward;the only difference is whether it comes early or comes late.”

At these words a dread sorrow seized Taizong's heart.

Going forward again, before long they met a band of ghost soldiers, each one holding streamers, kneeling by the road and calling: “The Bridge Envoys are here to receive you.” The judge ordered them to rise, came forward, and led Taizong across a bridge of gold. On the far side Taizong saw a bridge of silver, over which walked the loyal and the filial, the worthy and the good, the fair and the upright, also escorted under banners; and beyond them yet another bridge, with the cold wind tumbling over it and waves of blood surging, and the sound of wailing without end. “What is that bridge called?” Taizong asked. “Your Majesty,” said the judge, “that is the Naihe Bridge. If you reach the world of light, be sure to remember it and tell of it. And beneath that bridge are such as these:

Water that races and floods; a road that is perilous and narrow.Stretched like a bolt of white silk across the long river, yet like a fiery pit floated up to the world above.The dank cold strikes through to the bones; the reeking wind darts into the nose and claws at the heart.Waves tumble and rollers surge, and never a ferry crosses with the living;barefoot and tangle-haired, all who come and go are sin-working ghosts.The bridge runs several li long, is barely three spans wide, stands a hundred feet high, and drops a thousand fathoms down.No rail or balustrade above; man-eating fiends below.With cangues and manacles wound about their bodies, the damned are driven up onto the perilous way of Naihe.See how fierce and savage the guardian spirits at the bridgehead, and how bitter the plight of the guilty souls in the river:from the tines of the gnarled trees hang robes of silk, blue and red and yellow and violet;crouched beneath the beetling cliff squat the wanton hags who cursed a husband's parents.Copper snakes and iron dogs feast on them at will—fallen forever to Naihe, with no way out.”

The poem says:

Now and then the crying of ghosts and the howling of spirits; the bloody waters surge ten thousand feet high.Countless Ox-Heads and Horse-Faces, hideous and grim, keep watch along the Naihe Bridge.

While they spoke, the bridge envoys had already gone back. Taizong's heart pounded with fresh dread; he nodded and sighed in silence, grieving within. Following the judge and the commandant, he crossed the savage waters of Naihe and the bitter realm of the pool of blood, and came to the City of Wrongful Death. From within came a hubbub of voices crying plainly: “Li Shimin is here! Li Shimin is here!” Taizong heard the shouting and his heart quailed and his gall trembled. A crowd of revenants with wrenched waists and broken arms, some with feet and no heads, came and blocked his way, all crying: “Give me back my life! Give me back my life!” Panic-stricken, Taizong dodged and hid, crying only: “Master Cui, save me! Master Cui, save me!” The judge said: “Your Majesty, those are the ghosts of the princes and chieftains of the sixty-four places of war-smoke and the seventy-two dens of bandits—all wrongfully slain, all owing to old grievances. No one gathers them in, no one governs them; they cannot be reborn, and they have no money for the road: penniless, starving ghosts, every one. If Your Majesty will give them some money, then I can save you.” “I have come here empty-handed,” said Taizong. “Where would I find money?” The judge said: “There is a man in the world of light, Your Majesty, who has silver and gold deposited here in the dark courts. Let Your Majesty write out a note of loan in your own name—your humble judge will stand surety—and borrow one vault of his treasure to deal out to these hungry ghosts; then we can get past.” “Who is this man?” Taizong asked. “A man of Kaifeng prefecture in Henan, by name Xiang Liang,” said the judge. “He has thirteen vaults of silver and gold deposited here. If Your Majesty borrows from him, repay him when you are back in the world of light.” Taizong gladly agreed to borrow in his own name. He made out the note and gave it to the judge, borrowed one vault of the treasure, and ordered the commandant to deal it all out. The judge then called to the ghosts: “Share this silver and gold equally among yourselves for your needs, and let your lord of the Great Tang pass—his years of life are not yet run. I carry the commands of the ten kings and am to see his soul home. He is to hold a Grand Mass of Land and Water in the world of light and pray you all into better births. Make no more trouble.” The ghosts took the silver and gold, murmured their assent, and fell back. The judge ordered the commandant to wave the soul-guiding banner and led Taizong out of the City of Wrongful Death onto the great open road, and away they drifted, swaying like shadows.

After a long advance they came to the place of the Six Paths of Rebirth. There they saw the cloud-riders in cloud-patterned capes; those receiving registers with golden fish at their belts; monks and nuns, Daoists and laymen, beasts that walk and birds that fly, and goblins and sprites of every kind, all streaming headlong beneath the Wheel of Rebirth, each entering his own path. The Tang sovereign asked what it meant. The judge said: “Your Majesty, keep your heart clear and your nature seen, and be sure to remember this and tell it to the people of the world of light. This is called the Six Paths of Rebirth: those who did good rise into the path of the immortals; those who were loyal pass into the honored path; those who were filial are born again into the path of blessing; those who were fair live again in the path of men; those who heaped up virtue turn into the path of wealth; and the wicked and venomous sink into the path of ghosts.” The Tang sovereign heard, nodded, and sighed:

“Good, yes, and good indeed! Do good, and truly no disaster comes.The good heart beats constant and earnest; the good road lies wide and open.Let no evil purpose rise in you, and crookedness will keep away.Never say that deeds go unanswered: the gods and ghosts have all things set in order.”

The judge escorted the Tang sovereign right to the gate of the honored path of rebirth, then bowed and called out: “Your Majesty, this is the place where you come out into the light. Your humble judge must take his leave; Commandant Zhu will see you a stage farther.” The Tang sovereign thanked him: “You have put yourself to much trouble over a long road, sir.” The judge said: “When Your Majesty is back in the world of light, be sure above all to hold the Grand Mass of Land and Water and pray across the masterless souls of the wronged dead. Never forget it. When there is no sound of grudge in the dark courts, then the world of light may enjoy the blessings of peace. Whatever is amiss can be set right, point by point. Proclaim everywhere that men should do good, and I promise you your line will run long and your rivers and mountains stand firm forever.”

The Tang sovereign assented to every word, bade farewell to Judge Cui, and went in through the gate with Commandant Zhu. Within the gate the commandant saw a sea-black horse standing saddled and bridled; he begged the Tang sovereign hastily to mount, holding the stirrup on either side. The horse flew like an arrow, and soon they reached the banks of the Wei River. There on the water were a pair of golden carp, tumbling in the waves and leaping at each other. The Tang sovereign's heart delighted in the sight; he reined in the horse and gazed, unwilling to leave. The commandant said: “Your Majesty, bestir yourself—make good time, and get into the city while the hour holds.” Still the Tang sovereign gazed on and would not go forward, until the commandant, taking him by the foot, cried aloud: “Will you not go? What are you waiting for?”—and with a slap sent horse and rider plunging down into the Wei. And with that he left the dark courts behind and came straight back to the world of the living.

Now in the court of the Tang there stood in waiting Xu Maogong, Qin Shubao, Hu Jingde, Duan Zhixuan, Ma Sanbao, Cheng Yaojin, Gao Shilian, Li Shiji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xiao Yu, Fu Yi, Zhang Daoyuan, Zhang Shiheng, Wang Gui, and the rest—two ranks of civil and military officials—all keeping vigil with the heir apparent of the Eastern Palace and with the empress, the consorts, the palace maids, and the attendants, wailing before the White Tiger Hall. On one side they were drafting the edict of mourning to proclaim throughout the realm and enthrone the heir apparent. Wei Zheng stood by and said: “Gentlemen, wait. No, no. If we alarm the prefectures and counties, who knows what may befall. Let us wait one day more: our sovereign will surely come back to life.” Xu Jingzong stepped out from below and said: “Prime Minister Wei, your words are absurd. The old saying goes: 'Spilt water cannot be gathered up; the departed do not return.' How can you talk such empty talk and confound the hearts of men? What sense is in it?” Wei Zheng said: “I will not hide it from you, Master Xu: from my youth I received arts of the immortals, and my reckonings are clearest of any man's. I will answer for it that the emperor will not die.”

Even as they spoke, a great shout came from within the coffin: “I am drowning! I am drowning!” The shock made the civil officials' and generals' hearts leap and set the empress and consorts trembling. Every one of them:

Faces the color of yellow mulberry leaves after autumn; waists like young willow wands before spring.The heir's legs went soft beneath him; how could he lean on the mourning staff and keep the rites of grief?The attendants' souls flew from them; how could they wear the mourning cap and follow the ritual of sorrow?The consorts toppled over; the palace maids swayed and listed.The consorts toppled over, like hibiscus beaten flat by a wild gale;the palace maids swayed and listed, like tender lotus buds knocked askew by a driving rain.The ministers stood stricken, bones gone soft, sinews slack,trembling and quaking, witless and dumb,until the whole White Tiger Hall was like a bridge with a broken beam,and the mourning bier a temple collapsed.

By this time the palace people had bolted clean away, and not one dared come near the coffin. Thanks be to upright Xu Maogong, to fiery Prime Minister Wei, to gallant Qin Qiong, and to headlong fierce Jingde, who stepped forward and steadied the coffin, calling out: “Your Majesty, is there anything on your mind you cannot let go of? Tell us. Do not play ghost tricks and frighten your family.” Wei Zheng said: “No ghost trick is this—it is His Majesty coming back to life. Quickly, fetch tools.” They pried open the coffin lid, and there indeed sat Taizong within, still crying: “I nearly drowned! Who pulled me out?” Xu Maogong and the others stepped forward and raised him up: “Your Majesty is awake. Fear nothing—your ministers are all here to guard you.” Only then did the Tang sovereign open his eyes. “What agony I have just been through,” he said: “I had hardly escaped the fiends of the dark courts when I met with death by water.” “Your Majesty, calm your heart and fear nothing,” said the ministers. “What flood could reach you here?” The Tang sovereign said: “I was riding along and had just come to the banks of the Wei when I saw a pair of fish at play. That treacherous Commandant Zhu shoved me off my horse, and I fell into the river and nearly drowned.” “The ghost-air has not yet left Your Majesty,” said Wei Zheng, and he urgently ordered the imperial medical office to serve a potion to calm the spirit and settle the soul, and had gruel prepared as well. After one or two doses the emperor came back to himself and knew the world about him. Count it: from the Tang sovereign's death to his return to the world of light, three days and nights had passed, and he was sovereign again. There is a poem to prove it:

Through ten thousand ages rivers and mountains have changed many a time; age after age has known defeat and triumph.Zhou, Qin, Han, and Jin had many marvels—but who ever died and lived again like the sovereign of the Tang?

It was already dusk that day, and the ministers begged the sovereign to retire to his chamber; then all dispersed.

Early the next morning they doffed their mourning garb and put on robes of state—these in crimson gowns and black caps, those in purple cords and golden seals—and waited outside the palace gate for the summons.

Taizong, having taken the potion that calms the spirit and settles the soul and eaten gruel and broth several times over, had been helped by his ministers into his chamber, where he slept soundly all night and nursed his strength, rising only at daybreak. Then he braced his dignity—and see how he was dressed:

On his head a sky-piercing crown; over his body an ocher-yellow robe;around his waist a belt of blue jade from Lantian; on his feet a pair of empire-founding, carefree shoes.Majestic his bearing, surpassing all the court; blazing his might, to restore the dynasty this very day.A fine sovereign of the Great Tang, tranquil and possessed of the Way—Emperor Li, who died and came back to life!

The Tang sovereign ascended the Golden Bell Hall and assembled the two ranks of civil and military officials. When the mountain call of homage had been made, they took their places by rank. Then came the proclamation: “Let those with business come forward and report; let the rest withdraw.” From the eastern side stepped out Xu Maogong, Wei Zheng, Wang Gui, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, Yuan Tiangang, Li Chunfeng, Xu Jingzong, and the rest; from the western side Yin Kaishan, Liu Hongji, Ma Sanbao, Duan Zhixuan, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao, Hu Jingde, Xue Rengui, and the rest. Together they came forward and bowed low before the white jade steps: “Your Majesty, that dream of yours the other day—why were you so long in waking from it?” Taizong said: “The other day, after I took Wei Zheng's letter, I felt my spirit leave the hall, and I saw the guard of the plumes asking me out to hunt. I had hardly set out when men and horses vanished, and there were my late father and my late brothers wrangling and crying out. While I was caught between them a man came up in black cap and black robe—Judge Cui Jue—who shouted my brothers off. I passed him Wei Zheng's letter, and while he read it, attendants in green with streamers came and led me in to the Senluo Hall, where the ten kings of the ten generations sat with me. They said the dragon of the Jing River had falsely charged me with promising rescue and then killing him, so I laid the whole story out from the beginning. They said the three courts had already heard the case together and hastily ordered the register of life and death brought to check my years of life. Judge Cui presented the register; the kings looked at it and said my heavenly allotment was thirty-three years, that I had lived only thirteen, and that I still had twenty years of life—and then ordered Commandant Zhu and Judge Cui to escort me home. I took leave of the ten kings, promising to send them melons and fruit in thanks. After I left the Senluo Hall I saw how, in the dark courts, the disloyal and the unfilial, the graceless and the unjust, those who squandered the five grains, who cheated and deceived in open and in secret, who ground men down with false measures, who whored and stole and lied and beguiled, were suffering the torments of grinding, burning, pounding, and filing, the agonies of boiling and flaying—thousands upon thousands, more than the eye could take in. And beyond, in the City of Wrongful Death, were numberless wronged souls—all of them the spirits of the bandits of the sixty-four places of war-smoke and the seventy-two dens of rebels—barring my way. Thanks to Judge Cui's surety I borrowed a vault of silver and gold from old Xiang of Henan and bought the ghosts off, and so could go forward. Judge Cui charged me, when I came back to the world of light, on no account to fail to hold a Grand Mass of Land and Water and pray across the masterless lonely souls—these were his earnest, repeated words. Then we parted, out from under the Wheel of the Six Paths, and Commandant Zhu asked me to mount, and we flew like the wind to the banks of the Wei. There I saw a pair of fish playing on the water, and just as I delighted in them he took me by the foot and pushed me into the water—and so I came back to life.” When the ministers heard this, there was none who did not congratulate him. The story was written up and proclaimed through the realm, and the officials of every prefecture and county sent up memorials of felicitation—but no more of that.

Taizong then issued an edict of amnesty for the convicts of the realm and ordered a review of the grave cases in the prisons. The reviewing officials brought up the names of more than four hundred prisoners of the Ministry of Justice condemned to the rope or the blade. Taizong pardoned them and sent them home, charging them to bow farewell to their fathers, mothers, brothers, and kin, to entrust their property to relatives and nephews, and to present themselves at the courts one year from that very day to receive the penalties they had earned. The convicts thanked him for the grace and withdrew. He then issued the proclamation of relief for orphans, and, reviewing the palace registers, found three thousand palace women, old and young, and decreed that they be matched and sent out. From that time on, all was well within and without. There is a poem to prove it. The poem says:

Great is the grace of the Tang sovereign; his Way passes Yao and Shun, and ten thousand folk have plenty.Four hundred men condemned to death have left the prisons; three thousand yearning maidens are let out of the palace.Officials through the realm wish him length of days; the grandees of court hail the sovereign dragon.One thought of goodness, and Heaven must shield him; his blessing should extend through seventeen generations.

When he had released the palace women and freed the condemned, Taizong next issued a placard in his own hand and had it spread through the realm. It read:

Heaven and earth are vast, and sun and moon shine on all things plainly; the universe is wide, yet Heaven and earth will not abide a treacherous clique.Scheme and contrive with all your cunning: the reckoning falls in this very life.Give little goodness and ask much fortune, and do not say the harvest lies in a world to come.A thousand clever contrivances are worth less than being an honest soul; ten thousand kinds of strongarm men cannot match going with the flow and living frugally.When the heart acts with charity, what need to strain at reading the sutras?When the mind intends harm to others, in vain have you read the whole canon of the Tathagata!

From that time on there was hardly a soul in the realm who did not do good. On one hand he posted a placard calling for worthies, offering that a man carry melons and fruit down into the dark courts; on the other he took one vault of silver and gold from the storehouse of royal treasure and sent Yuchi Gong and Hu Jingde to Kaifeng prefecture in Henan to seek out Xiang Liang and repay the debt.

Some days after the placard went up, a worthy man came forward to answer it and carry the melons and fruit. He was a native of Junzhou, by name Liu Quan, and his household possessed ten thousand strings of cash. It had all come about because his wife, Li Cuilian, had pulled a gold hairpin from her head at the gate to give to a monk on his alms round, and Liu Quan had roundly cursed her for it, saying she did not keep a wife's propriety, wandering out of the women's quarters. Li could not swallow her anger, and hanged herself, leaving a pair of children still young, who wept for her day and night. Liu Quan could not bear the sight of them; so in the end he gave up his life, abandoned his household, left his son and daughter, and offered to die so that the melons might be carried. He tore down the royal placard and came to see the Tang sovereign. The sovereign gave the order that he go to the Golden Pavilion hostelry, balance a pair of pumpkins on his head, carry yellow paper money in his sleeve, and hold the drug in his mouth.

Liu Quan took the drug and died, and his one spot of a soul, pumpkins and all, soon stood at Ghost Gate Pass. The gate-keeping demon bawled: “Who are you, to come to this place?” Liu Quan said: “I am sent under the seal of Taizong, Emperor of the Great Tang, to present melons and fruit for the pleasure of the ten kings of the underworld.” The demon gladly brought him in. Liu Quan went straight to the Senluo treasure hall, came before the kings, and presented the melons and fruit: “By command of the Tang sovereign I have brought melons and fruit from afar, to thank the ten kings for the grace of their pardon.” The kings were overjoyed. “What a sovereign of good faith and virtue is this Emperor Taizong!” they said, and accepted the offering. Then they asked the melon-bearer his name and his native place. Liu Quan said: “I am a registered householder of Junzhou city. My surname is Liu and my given name Quan. Because my wife Li hanged herself and left our children with no one to care for them, I was glad to give up my home and part from my children, to lay down this body in my sovereign's service and bring in tribute melons and fruit, to thank the great kings for their kindness.” The ten kings heard him and ordered inquiry made after Liu Quan's wife Li. The demon runners quickly fetched her to the foot of the Senluo Hall, and husband and wife met again; they told over their story and returned thanks to the ten kings for their grace and pardon. The kings then looked into the register of life and death and found that husband and wife both had lifespans to reach immortality, and hurriedly sent demon runners to escort them back. The runners reported: “Li Cuilian has been long in the dark land, and her body is gone; to what shall her soul attach itself?” The king said: “The Tang emperor's younger sister Li Yuying is due to die any day now. Go, borrow her body, and let the woman return to life in it.” The runners took the order and sent the souls of Liu Quan and his wife back to life together, and out of the dark courts the two of them went.

But how did the husband and wife come back to life? Listen to the next chapter to find out.

Taizong Tours the Dark Underworld and Returns to Life; Liu Quan Presents Melons and Fruit and Is Given a Wife Again

The poem says:

A hundred years flow past like water; a whole life's work is no more than floating foam.Yesterday your face was the color of peach blossom; today snow gathers at your temples.Only when the termite swarm breaks up do you see it was illusion; when the cuckoo cries, turn back in good time.From of old, quiet goodness lengthens life; the good do not beg for favors, for Heaven provides for them.

Now Taizong, dim and dazed, felt his soul go straight out before the Five Phoenix Tower. There he saw the Imperial Guard asking the imperial carriage to leave the court and go hunting. Taizong gladly went along and drifted away with them. After a long ride, the men and horses were all gone. He was alone, wandering through wild country and empty grassland. He was frightened and could not find the road, when a man on the far side called out in a loud voice: "Emperor of Great Tang, come this way! Come this way!" Taizong heard him, looked up, and saw that the man was:

On his head a black gauze cap; around his waist a belt of rhinoceros horn.The black cap floated with soft ribbons; the horn belt was edged with gold.In his hand he held an ivory tablet of good omen; on his body he wore a silk robe veiling lucky light.On his feet were white-soled boots that trod clouds and pushed through fog; in his breast was the register of life and death, which fixes who survives and who dies.His temple hair hung loose over his ears; his beard flew about his cheeks.In life he was a minister of the Tang state; now he keeps the records and serves King Yama.

Taizong walked over and saw the man kneel by the roadside, saying: "Your Majesty, forgive your servant's fault in failing to come far out to meet you." Taizong asked, "Who are you? What brings you here to meet me?" The man said, "Half a month ago, in the Senluo Hall, I saw the ghost dragon of the Jing River accuse Your Majesty of promising to save him and then having him killed. King Qin Guang of the First Court at once sent ghost messengers to summon Your Majesty, because the three courts must hear the case together. I learned of it, and so I came here to wait for you. I did not expect to be late today. I beg you to pardon the offense, pardon the offense." Taizong said, "What is your name? What office do you hold?" The man said, "While I lived, I served before the late Emperor in the world above, as magistrate of Zizhou, and later as vice minister of Rites. My surname is Cui and my given name is Jue. Now in the dark world I serve as judge of the records at Fengdu." Taizong was delighted, stepped close, and raised him up with his own hand, saying, "Sir, thank you for coming so far. Wei Zheng of my court has a letter that he asked me to deliver to you. It is lucky we have met." The judge thanked him and asked where the letter was. Taizong took it from his sleeve and handed it over. Cui Jue received it with a bow, broke the seal, and read. The letter said:

Your loving younger brother Wei Zheng bows his head and writes to Elder Brother Cui, chief judge of the great court: I remember our friendship of old; your face and voice seem still before me. In a flash, several years have passed, and I have not heard your wise teaching. At every festival I have set out vegetarian offerings, though I do not know whether you received them. And you have not forgotten me: you came to me in a dream and showed yourself, and I learned that you, my elder, had been promoted on high. But the worlds of the dead and the living are cut off from each other; we are far apart, and I cannot look on your face. Now Emperor Taizong the Cultured of Tang has suddenly died. I suppose he must stand before the three courts for his hearing, and he is sure to meet you there. I beg you with all my heart to remember the friendship you formed while alive, to help him a little, and to let my sovereign return to the world of the living. That would be great kindness. I will write my thanks another time. I cannot say it all.

When the judge read the letter, his heart was full of joy. He said, "When Master Wei of the world of men cut off the old dragon's head in a dream the other day, I learned of it long ago, and I can never praise him enough. He has also watched over my children and grandchildren, morning and evening. Now that he has sent this letter, Your Majesty, set your mind at rest. I will see to it that you return to life and mount your jade palace steps again." Taizong thanked him.

While the two were talking, they saw a pair of boys in green coming toward them, carrying banners and a jeweled canopy and calling out loudly: "King Yama invites you! He invites you!" So Taizong and Judge Cui, with the two boys, walked forward. Soon they saw a city. On its gate hung a large board bearing seven great letters of gold: "THE GHOST GATE OF THE DARK UNDERWORLD." The boys in green waved the banners and led Taizong straight into the city, and they walked along the street. Beside the street Taizong saw his late father Li Yuan, his late elder brother Jiancheng, and his late younger brother Yuanji. They came forward, crying, "Shimin has come! Shimin has come!" Jiancheng and Yuanji grabbed at him and demanded their lives back. Taizong could not dodge in time; they seized him. Luckily Judge Cui called a ghost messenger with a blue face and tusks, who shouted them off, and Taizong got away. After a few li he saw a tower of blue-green tiles, truly magnificent. This is what it was like:

Ten thousand folds of colored cloud heap up, drifting; a thousand threads of red mist appear, faint.Bright and glaring, monster heads fly from the eaves; gleaming, five layers of mandarin-duck tiles.The gates are studded with rows of red-gold nails; the sills are set with a band of white jade.Windows near the light give off morning haze; bright blinds and screens flash like red lightning.Towers rise high and touch the blue sky; corridors run level and join the treasure courts.Incense clouds from beast-shaped censers drift over the imperial robes; crimson gauze lamps light the palace fans.On the left, fierce, stand ox heads; below on the right, grim, horse faces are arrayed.Turning gold plaques, they receive the dead and send off ghosts; trailing white silk, they call souls and lead them home.This is called the Great Meeting Gate of the Dark World; below it stands King Yama's Senluo Hall.

While Taizong was looking from outside, he heard jade pendants jingling and smelled a strange immortal fragrance. Two pairs of attendants came first, holding candles, and behind them the ten kings of the underworld came down the steps. These were the ten kings: King Qin Guang, King Chu Jiang, King Song Di, King Wu Guan, King Yama, King Ping Deng, King Tai Shan, King Du Shi, King Bian Cheng, and King Zhuan Lun. The ten kings came out to the Senluo treasure hall and, bending low and bowing, welcomed Taizong. Taizong, out of humility, would not go first. The ten kings said, "Your Majesty is a king of men in the world above; we are ghost kings of the world below. This order is only right. Why be so courteous?" Taizong said, "I have done wrong to come under your rule. How dare I speak of rank between men above and ghosts below?" He kept yielding, and went first into the Senluo Hall. When the courtesies with the ten kings were done, they took their seats as host and guest.

After a moment, King Qin Guang folded his hands and spoke: "The ghost dragon of the Jing River accused Your Majesty of promising to save him and then killing him instead. Why?" Taizong said, "I once dreamed at night that the old dragon begged for rescue, and I truly promised him he would come to no harm. I did not know he had committed a crime deserving death, and that it was my official in the world of men, Wei Zheng, who was to carry out the sentence. I called Wei Zheng to play chess with me in the hall, and did not know he would cut the dragon's head off in a dream. That was the official in the world of men using his hidden powers; and that dragon had committed a crime deserving death. How can it be my fault?" The ten kings heard this and bowed in apology: "Before that dragon was even born, it was written in the register of death kept by the stars of the Southern Dipper that he would die at the hand of the official in the world of men. We knew it long ago. Only, he argued his case here and insisted that Your Majesty be brought for a joint hearing of the three courts. So we sent him into the Wheel of Rebirth, and he was born again. Now we have troubled Your Majesty to come down. We beg you to forgive us for pressing you." When he finished, he ordered the judge who keeps the register of life and death to fetch it quickly, to see how many years of life and how much heaven's allowance Your Majesty had. Judge Cui hurried to the records room and went through the great register of the heavenly allowances of all the kings of every land under heaven. He found that the Tang emperor Taizong of the southern continent Jambudvipa was set down for the thirteenth year of Zhenguan. Judge Cui started in alarm, took up a thick brush loaded with dark ink, added two strokes to the character "one," and presented the register. The ten kings read it from the top and saw that under Taizong's name stood thirty-three years. A king asked in surprise, "How many years has Your Majesty reigned?" Taizong said, "It is now the thirteenth year since I took the throne." The king said, "Your Majesty, be at ease and do not worry. You have twenty more years of life. Now the case has been clearly heard. Please go back and return to life." Taizong bowed and thanked him. The ten kings ordered Judge Cui and Commandant Zhu to see Taizong's soul back. Going out of the Senluo Hall, Taizong raised his hands and asked the ten kings, "Are the old and young of my palace well?" The ten kings said, "All are well. Only we fear that your younger sister will not live long." Taizong bowed again and said, "When I return to the world above I have nothing to repay you with, except melons and fruit." The ten kings were pleased and said, "We have plenty of winter melons and watermelons here, but we lack pumpkins." Taizong said, "When I get back I will send them; I will send them at once." Then they bowed to each other and parted.

The commandant carried a soul-guiding banner and led the way. Judge Cui followed, guarding Taizong, and they went straight out of the dark offices. Taizong looked up and saw that this was not the road they had come by. He asked the judge, "Is this not the wrong road?" The judge said, "It is not wrong. In the dark world it is like this: there is a road out, but no road back. Now we will bring Your Majesty out through the Wheel of Rebirth, partly so that Your Majesty may see the dark underworld, and partly so that you may be born again into a new life." Taizong could only follow the two of them as they led the way.

After several li they suddenly saw a high mountain. Dark clouds hung down to the ground, and black fog filled the sky. Taizong said, "Master Cui, what mountain is that?" The judge said, "That is the Sunless Mountain of the dark world." Taizong said with dread, "How can I go there?" The judge said, "Your Majesty, be at ease. We will lead you." Trembling, Taizong followed the two men up the rocks, looked up, and saw:

Its shapes were many and uneven; its sides were rough and jagged. It was steep as the peaks of Shu and tall as the cliffs of Lu. It was no famous mountain of the world above, but truly a dangerous place of the world below. Thorn bushes in thickets hid ghosts and monsters; bare stone cliffs concealed evil demons. No cry of beast or bird reached the ear; before the eyes only ghosts and demons moved. A chill wind blew; black fog rolled. The chill wind was smoke whistled out of the mouths of spirit soldiers; the black fog was breath puffed out in the dark by demons. In one glance, high and low offered no scenery; looking left and right, all was wild and dead. There were mountains, and peaks, and ridges, and caves, and gullies; but the mountains grew no grass, the peaks did not reach the sky, no traveler crossed the ridges, no cloud entered the caves, and no water ran in the gullies. Along the banks were all specters; under the ridges, all demons; wild ghosts were gathered in the caves, and evil souls hid in the gully bottoms. Before the mountain and behind it, ox heads and horse faces shouted in confusion; half hidden, half in the open, hungry ghosts and poor souls wept facing each other. The life-hastening judges hurried about, handing out summonses; the soul-chasing commandants bellowed as they pushed on their papers. The runners ran like whirling wind; the soul-fetching clerks swirled in black fog.

Taizong got past the Sunless Mountain relying entirely on the judge's protection.

Farther on they passed many offices of the dark world. From every one came sounds of grief that drummed on the ears and monsters that chilled the heart. Taizong asked again, "What is this place?" The judge said, "This is the eighteen levels of hell behind the Sunless Mountain." Taizong said, "Which eighteen levels?" The judge said, "Listen:

The Rope-Hanging Hell, the Dark-Wrong Hell, the Fire-Pit Hell: silent and empty, full of trouble and grief. All who are there did a thousand evil deeds while alive and come after death to serve out their sentences. The Fengdu Hell, the Tongue-Pulling Hell, the Skin-Peeling Hell: weeping and wailing, miserable and sad. They entered this gate because they were disloyal, unfilial, against Heaven's order, with a Buddha's mouth and a snake's heart. The Grinding Hell, the Pestle-Pounding Hell, the Cart-Crushing Hell: skin split open, flesh torn, mouths twisting and teeth grinding. They cheated their own hearts and were unfair to others; with clever words and pretty speech they secretly harmed people. The Cold-Ice Hell, the Shell-Shedding Hell, the Gut-Pulling Hell: filthy faces and tangled hair, knitted brows and screwed-up eyes. All of them used big measures when buying and small measures when selling to cheat the simple, and so brought disaster on themselves. The Oil-Boiler Hell, the Darkness Hell, the Knife-Mountain Hell: trembling and quaking, mournful and sad. All because they used force against the good and kind; now they hide their heads and shrink their necks in misery. The Blood-Pool Hell, the Avici Hell, the Scale-Beam Hell: skin gone and bones bare, arms broken and sinews snapped. It is all for taking lives to get money, for slaughtering beasts and killing living things. Fallen for a thousand years, they cannot get free; sunk for eternity, they cannot turn over. Each one is tied fast, wrapped in ropes and cords. Red-haired ghosts and black-faced ghosts with long spears and short swords, ox-head ghosts and horse-face ghosts with iron maces and bronze hammers, beat them until their brows knot, their faces twist, and blood streams down, while they cry to earth and heaven and no one comes to save them."

Truly:

In this life, never deceive with your heart. When gods and ghosts see all clearly, whom do they let off?Good and evil are repaid in the end; the only difference is whether it comes early or late."

When Taizong heard this, his heart was struck with horror and grief.

Going on, they had not walked long when a band of ghost soldiers, each holding a banner, knelt by the road and said, "The bridge messengers have come to meet you." The judge ordered them to rise, went ahead, and led Taizong across by the gold bridge. Taizong saw that on the other side there was a silver bridge. On it walked loyal, filial, worthy, and good people, fair and upright men, also welcomed with banners. On the far side again was a third bridge, where a cold wind rolled and waves of blood surged, and the sound of weeping never stopped. Taizong asked, "What is that bridge called?" The judge said, "Your Majesty, that is the Naihe Bridge. If you reach the world above, be sure to remember it and tell of it. Under that bridge are:

Water rushing and rolling; a road narrow and steep. It is like a bolt of white silk thrown across a long river; it is like a fire pit floated up into the world above. The cold of the dark air pierces to the bone; a fishy wind strikes the nose, and the smell bores into the heart. Waves toss and billow, and no ferry boat ever crosses; barefoot and unkempt, all who come and go are ghosts who did evil in life. The bridge is several li long, only three spans wide, a hundred feet high, and a thousand fathoms deep. Above, there is no rail to hold on to; below, evil monsters wait to seize people. Cangues and shackles wrap their bodies as they are driven onto the dangerous road of Naihe. See how fierce and cruel the spirit guards are at the bridge side, and how the sinful souls in the river truly suffer. From the branching trees hang silk clothes of green, red, and yellow; before the sheer cliffs squat shameless women who cursed their husbands' fathers and mothers. Bronze snakes and iron dogs eat their fill at will; fallen forever into the Nai River, there is no way out."

The poem says:

You hear at all hours the wailing of ghosts and the cries of spirits; the bloody waves stand ten thousand feet high.Countless ox heads and horse faces, savage and grim, guard the Naihe Bridge.

While they spoke, the bridge messengers had already gone back. Taizong's heart was frightened again; he nodded and sighed to himself, grieving in silence. Followed by the judge and the commandant, he crossed the evil water of the Nai River and the bitter world of the blood pool, and came to the City of Wrongful Death. He heard a din of voices clearly crying, "Li Shimin has come! Li Shimin has come!" Taizong heard the shouting; his heart raced and his courage shook. A band of ghosts with broken backs and snapped arms, with feet but no heads, came and blocked the way, all crying, "Give me back my life! Give me back my life!" Taizong, panicking, hid and dodged, crying only, "Master Cui, save me! Master Cui, save me!" The judge said, "Your Majesty, those are the ghosts of the princes and chieftains of the sixty-four places of war and the seventy-two bands of bandits, all wrongfully killed. Their grievances are still unresolved; no one governs them, and they cannot be reborn. They have no money for travel, and they are lonely, starving ghosts. Give them some money, and then I can save you." Taizong said, "I came here with nothing on me. Where would I get money?" The judge said, "Your Majesty, there is a man in the world above who has gold and silver deposited here in the dark world. You can write out a note in your own name; I, your humble judge, will stand surety. Borrow one of his vaults and give it out to these hungry ghosts, and then we can pass." Taizong asked, "Who is this man?" The judge said, "He is a native of the prefecture of Kaifeng in Henan. His surname is Xiang and his given name is Liang, and he has thirteen vaults of gold and silver here. When you have borrowed from him, you can pay him back after you return to the world above." Taizong was very glad and agreed to borrow in his own name. So he drew up a paper and gave it to the judge, borrowed one vault of the man's gold and silver, and had the commandant give it all out. The judge instructed the ghosts: "Share this gold and silver equally among you, and let your sovereign of Great Tang pass. His years of life are not yet used up. I have the orders of the ten kings to take him back to life. He will hold a Grand Mass of Land and Water in the world above to free you all and let you be reborn. Make no more trouble." The ghosts heard this, got their gold and silver, and all murmured assent and drew back. The judge ordered the commandant to wave the soul-guiding banner, led Taizong out of the City of Wrongful Death, and they hurried onto the broad open road and drifted away.

After a long while they came to the place of the six paths of rebirth. Taizong saw those who ride the clouds, wearing rainbow capes, and those who have received registers from heaven, with gold fish hanging at their belts. Monks and nuns, Daoists and laymen, beasts and birds, demons and specters all streamed along, hurrying under the Wheel of Rebirth, each entering his own path. The Tang king asked, "What does this mean?" The judge said, "Your Majesty, open your mind and see the truth, and be sure to remember this and tell the people of the world above. This is called the six paths of rebirth: those who did good rise to the path of the immortals; those who were loyal are born into the path of rank; those who were filial are born again into the path of blessing; those who were fair are born back into the path of men; those who stored up virtue are born into the path of wealth; and the vicious sink into the path of ghosts."

Good, truly good! Doing good truly brings no harm.A good heart is always earnest, and the good road lies wide open.Do not let evil thoughts arise; you must turn away from cunning and wrong.Do not say there is no repayment: the gods and ghosts have it all arranged."

The judge escorted the Tang king to the very gate of the path of noble rebirth, bowed, and called out, "Your Majesty, this is the place where you come out. Your humble judge must turn back here. Commandant Zhu will escort you the rest of the way." The Tang king thanked him: "You have come a long way for me, sir." The judge said, "Your Majesty, when you return to the world above, be sure to hold a Grand Mass of Land and Water to free the masterless souls. Do not forget it. If there is no sound of grievance in the dark world, the world above will enjoy great peace. Every wrong can be set right, one by one. Teach all people to do good, and your line will last for generations, and your rivers and mountains will stand forever."

The Tang king approved it all, took leave of Judge Cui, and went through the gate with Commandant Zhu. Inside the gate the commandant saw a fine horse with its saddle ready. He quickly asked the Tang king to mount, holding him steady on either side. The horse ran like an arrow, and soon they reached the Wei River. On the water the king saw a pair of golden carp leaping over the waves and playing. The Tang king was delighted, reined in the horse, and watched, unwilling to leave. The commandant said, "Your Majesty, move along! Hurry, if you want to reach the city in time." But the king went on watching and would not go. The commandant took him by the feet, shouted, "Won't you go? What are you waiting for?", and with a shove pushed him, horse and all, down into the Wei River. At that he left the dark world and returned straight to the world of the living.

Now in the Tang court were Xu Maogong, Qin Shubao, Hu Jingde, Duan Zhixuan, Ma Sanbao, Cheng Yaojin, Gao Shilian, Li Shiji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xiao Yu, Fu Yi, Zhang Daoyuan, Zhang Shiheng, Wang Gui, and other civil and military officers in two ranks. All guarded the crown prince, the empress, the concubines, the palace ladies, and the chief attendants as they mourned in the White Tiger Hall. On one side they discussed issuing an edict of mourning to announce the death to the empire and setting the crown prince on the throne. Wei Zheng stood by and said, "Gentlemen, wait. No, no. If the provinces and counties are disturbed, something unforeseen may happen. Let us wait one more day; our sovereign will surely come back to life." Xu Jingzong stepped out from below and said, "Chancellor Wei, what you say is quite wrong. From of old it is said: 'Spilled water cannot be gathered up; a man who has gone does not return.' Why do you spread such empty talk and confuse people's minds? What sense is there in it?" Wei Zheng said, "I will not hide it from you, Master Xu: I learned the arts of the immortals as a boy, and my reckonings are very exact. I guarantee the Emperor will not die."

As they spoke, they heard loud cries from inside the coffin: "I am drowning! I am drowning!" The civil and military officers panicked, and the empress and the concubines shook with fear. One and all:

Faces like yellow mulberry leaves after autumn; waists like young willow shoots before spring. The heir to the throne went weak in the legs and could no longer lean on the mourning staff and play the chief mourner; the chief attendants' souls fled, and how could they wear the court caps and keep the rites of mourning? The concubines fell over; the palace maids staggered. The concubines fell over like hibiscus beaten down by a wild wind; the maids staggered like lotus flowers flattened by a sudden shower. The ministers trembled; their bones went soft and their muscles numb. They shook and were struck dumb. They turned the White Tiger Hall into a bridge with a broken beam, and the mourning platform into a collapsed temple.

At this the palace people all fled, and not one dared come near the coffin. Thanks to honest Xu Maogong, firm Chancellor Wei, brave Qin Qiong, and headstrong Jingde, who came forward and held the coffin and called out, "Your Majesty, if there is anything on your mind, tell us. Do not play ghost tricks and frighten your family." Wei Zheng said, "This is no ghost trick. It is His Majesty coming back to life. Quick, bring tools." They pried open the coffin lid, and there indeed sat Taizong inside, still crying, "I nearly drowned! Who pulled me out?" Maogong and the others stepped up, raised him, and said, "Your Majesty, you have come to. Do not be afraid. We are all here guarding you." The Tang king opened his eyes and said, "What misery I have just been through: first it was hard to escape the evil ghosts of the dark world, and then I met with death by water." The ministers said, "Your Majesty, be at ease. What water disaster?" The Tang king said, "I was riding my horse along the Wei River when I saw a pair of fish playing. Zhu the commandant, with evil intent, pushed me off my horse, and I fell into the river and nearly drowned." Wei Zheng said, "Your Majesty, the breath of the dead is still on you." He quickly had the imperial medical office bring soup and medicine to calm the spirit and settle the soul, and also had porridge prepared. After taking them once or twice, the king came back to himself and knew those around him. From the Tang king's death to his return to the world above, three days and nights had passed, and he was king again. There is a poem to prove it:

Rivers and mountains change many times over ten thousand ages; dynasty after dynasty falls and rises.Zhou, Qin, Han, and Jin had many strange tales, but who else has died and lived again like the Tang king?

By then it was late. The ministers asked the king to go to his chamber, and all withdrew.

Early the next morning they took off their mourning clothes and put on bright court dress. Some wore red robes and black caps; some wore purple ribbons and gold seals. They waited outside the palace gate to be summoned.

Taizong had taken the medicine that calms the spirit, eaten porridge several times, and been helped by his ministers to his chamber, where he slept soundly all night and rested his strength. He did not rise until daybreak. Then he put on his full majesty. See how he was dressed:

On his head a crown that touched the sky; on his body a reddish-yellow robe. At his waist a belt of blue jade from Lantian; on his feet the shoes of one who founded an empire and knows no care. His face was noble, finer than any at court today; his bearing was awesome, fit to restore the dynasty in this age. A fine, peaceful, righteous king of Tang: His Majesty Li, who came back from death to life.

The Tang king went up to the Golden Chime Hall and gathered the civil and military officials of both ranks. After the shout of "Ten thousand years," they took their places by rank. An order was cried: "Those with business, step forward and report; those without, withdraw." From the east side stepped forward Xu Maogong, Wei Zheng, Wang Gui, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, Yuan Tiangang, Li Chunfeng, Xu Jingzong, and others; from the west side, Yin Kaishan, Liu Hongji, Ma Sanbao, Duan Zhixuan, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao, Hu Jingde, Xue Rengui, and others. Together they came forward, knelt before the white jade steps, and said, "Your Majesty, yesterday's dream lasted a long time. Why did it take so long for you to wake?" Taizong said, "The other day I received Wei Zheng's letter, and I felt my soul leave the hall. I saw the guard troops asking me to go hunting. While I rode, the men and horses vanished; then I saw my late father and my late brothers shouting and fighting. Just as I could not free myself, I saw a man in a black cap and dark robe; it was the judge Cui Jue, who shouted my brothers off. I handed him Wei Zheng's letter. While he read it, boys in green came with banners and led me in to the Senluo Hall, where I sat with the ten kings of the underworld. They said the dragon of the Jing River had accused me falsely, saying I had promised to save him and then had him killed. I told the whole story from the beginning. They said the three courts had already heard the case together, and they quickly ordered the register of life and death brought to check my years. Judge Cui presented the register; the kings read it and said I was granted thirty-three years of heaven's allowance, that I had lived only thirteen, and that I still had twenty years of life. They ordered Commandant Zhu and Judge Cui to bring me back. I said farewell to the ten kings and promised to send them melons and fruit in thanks. After I left the Senluo Hall, I saw that in the dark world there were thousands upon thousands of the disloyal and unfilial, the rude and the unjust, those who wasted the five grains, cheated openly and stole secretly, used false measures and scales, and lived by treachery, theft, deceit, lust, and lies. They suffered the torments of grinding, burning, pounding, and filing, and the tortures of boiling, hanging, and flaying, more than the eye could take in. Then I passed the City of Wrongful Death, where countless wronged souls blocked my road, all the ghosts of the bandits of the sixty-four places of war and the rebels of the seventy-two bands. Luckily Judge Cui stood surety, and I borrowed one vault of gold and silver from old Xiang of Henan to buy off the ghosts, and so went on. Judge Cui told me that when I returned to the world above I must hold a Grand Mass of Land and Water to free the masterless lonely souls, and he urged this on me again and again. After we left the six paths of rebirth, Commandant Zhu asked me to mount, and we flew along to the Wei River. I saw two fish playing on the water, and just as I rejoiced, he took me by the feet and pushed me into the water, and so I came back to life." When the ministers heard this, all congratulated him. The story was written out and sent through the empire, and officials of every prefecture and county sent up memorials of congratulation. Of this no more.

Taizong next ordered an amnesty for the convicts of the empire and reviewed the serious criminals in the prisons. The reviewing officers reported more than four hundred men condemned to death by the Ministry of Justice. Taizong released them to go home, telling them to take leave of their parents and brothers, entrust their property to relatives and nephews, and come back to the court on this day next year to receive the punishment they deserved. The convicts thanked him and withdrew. He also issued a proclamation of aid for orphans. Then he counted the old and young palace women, three thousand in all, and sent them out to be given in marriage. From then on, all was well within and without the palace. There is a poem to prove it. The poem says:

The Tang king of the great kingdom was rich in kindness and virtue; his Way passed Yao and Shun, and the people prospered.Four hundred condemned men all left the prisons; three thousand longing women were let out of the palace.Officials everywhere wished him long life; the ministers of the court congratulated the true dragon.One good thought, and Heaven grants its protection; his blessing will surely pass down through seventeen generations.

After he had let the palace women out and freed the condemned men, Taizong issued a proclamation written in his own hand and sent it everywhere under heaven. It read:

Heaven and earth are vast, and the sun and moon shine on all, clear and bright; the universe is wide, and earth and heaven will not shelter a party of traitors. For those who scheme and plot, the reward comes in this very life. Those who give little goodness and ask much: do not say the blessing waits for a later world. A thousand clever schemes are not as good as being an honest person; ten thousand kinds of bullies are no match for one who takes what comes and lives simply. If your heart is kind, why labor over scripture? If you mean to harm others, you read the Buddha's whole canon in vain!

From that time on, there was hardly a person in the empire who did not do good. On one hand he posted a call for worthies, seeking someone to carry melons and fruit down to the dark world; on the other, he sent Yuchi Gong and Hu Jingde with one vault of gold and silver from the treasury to Kaifeng in Henan, to find Xiang Liang and repay the debt.

After the notice had been up for some days, a good man came forward to answer it, a native of Junzhou, surnamed Liu, given name Quan, rich to the value of ten thousand strings of cash. His wife, Li Cuilian, had pulled a gold hairpin from her head at the gate to give to a monk as alms. Liu Quan cursed her for it, saying she did not keep a woman's place and had gone out of the inner rooms without leave. Li could not swallow the insult and hanged herself. She left a son and a daughter, still young, who wept day and night. Liu Quan could not bear to see it. In the end he gave up his life and his estate, left his children, and offered to die carrying melons to the dark world. He took down the imperial notice and came to see the Tang king. The king gave orders that he go to the Golden Pavilion hostel, put a pair of pumpkins on his head, carry paper money in his sleeve, and hold the poison in his mouth.

So Liu Quan took the poison and died. His soul, with the melons on its head, soon reached the Gate of Ghosts. The ghost guards there shouted, "Who are you, coming to this place?" Liu Quan said, "I am sent by the express order of Emperor Taizong of Great Tang to present melons and fruit to the ten kings." The ghost guards gladly brought him in. Liu Quan went straight to the Senluo treasure hall, saw the kings, and presented the melons: "By order of the Tang king I have come from far away with melons and fruit, to thank the ten kings for their mercy." The kings were delighted and said, "What a faithful and virtuous emperor this Taizong is!" They took the melons and fruit, then asked the bearer his name and where he was from. Liu Quan said, "I am a citizen of Junzhou; my surname is Liu and my given name is Quan. My wife Li hanged herself and left our children with no one to care for them, so I willingly gave up my home and my children and offered my body to serve the state, to bring melons and fruit to the kings and thank them for their great kindness." The ten kings heard him and ordered an inquiry after Liu Quan's wife Li. The ghost guards quickly fetched her to the foot of the Senluo Hall, and husband and wife met, told each other all that had happened, and thanked the ten kings for their mercy. The kings looked in the register of life and death and found that both husband and wife had lifespans that should end in immortal rank, so they quickly ordered ghost guards to send them back. The guards reported, "Li Cuilian has been dead so long that her body is gone. To what body shall her soul go back?" A king said, "Li Yuying, the younger sister of the Emperor of Tang, is due to die today. You may borrow her body and let her soul return in it." The guards took the order, returned the souls of Liu Quan and his wife to life, and the two left the dark world together.

But how did the husband and wife come back to life? Listen to the next chapter to find out.