Chen Huixu, a native of Jiangdong, was a monk at Guoqing Temple in Tiantai Mountain. One time, he was touring the mountain with his companions, and he wanted to cross a stone bridge. The water of the bridge was so steep and slippery that it hung over ten thousand feet and was unfathomable. All the people were so frightened that their faces turned white and no one dared to take a step forward. Only Huixu very calm and easy to walk over, and along the path to the stone wall. Until the evening did not see its return, and his companions with the mountain tour had to go home on their own.
When Chen Huixu went outside the stone wall, he found a path. Walking along the path, the road gradually became flat and wide, and finally came to the place with the palace. There were ten thousand bushes of flowers there, dazzling to the eyes; the pavilions and pavilions stretched for about ten miles long. The plaque at the main gate read: “Huizhen Palace”. The plaque at the left gate reads: “Jinting Palace”. The plaque on the right gate reads: “Tongbai”. The three gates face each other like tripod feet, all have golden buildings and jade windows, and are more than 100 feet high. Entering the right gate, to the west, there is another high building with a yellow door, which reads: “Right Pilgrim’s Palace”. Looking around, there are thousands of houses, connected to each other by curved canals, jade steps, flowing canals, everywhere gorgeous and colorful, let people forget to return, but there is no sign of people.
After entering another courtyard, I saw five or six children in green clothes, laughing and joking with each other. Chen Huixu asked them again and again, and they said, “Go ask Zhang Lao.” After a while, Chen Huixu looked back and saw an old man holding a walking stick and holding a flower coming up to him, and this was the old man Zhang that the children in blue said. Zhang Lao looked at Chen Huixu with surprise and said, “You are a mortal man, how come you suddenly came here?” Chen Huixu said, “I often heard that I could see Luohan Temple after crossing the stone bridge, and I often heard the bell here in the human world, so I came to seek for it, I am really lucky to be able to come to this fairy land, I wonder where Luohan is?” Zhang Lao said, “This place is the blessed court of the true immortals, the heavenly emperor’s residence below, known as the ‘Golden Court of Immortality’. It is a spiritual realm for cultivating the true nature. There are 3,000 immortals here, and 10,000 immortal kings and ten thousand immortal girls, so it is a small metropolitan place. Three times a year, the Supreme Being will come to this palace to judge the merits and virtues of all the Taoists in the world. It is the residence of the immortals, not the residence of Luohan. Wang Jun, the son of King Ling of Zhou and disciple of Mr. Yao Qiu, has the immortal position of ‘Shang Zhen’.”
Chen Huixu asked, “Is it possible to learn the divine immortality?” Elder Zhang said, “Accumulating merit and virtue and ascending to heaven in the flesh lies in a firm and lasting ambition; you can see this blessed court, and there is hope that you can learn.” Chen Huixu asked again, “How can I begin to learn immortality?” Elder Zhang said; “Internally, you have to preserve your spirit and refine your qi, and externally, you have to take the elixir. The power to change into immortality is the power of the divine elixir. You must not stay here long, Shang Zhen happens to go to swim in the East Sea, if his carriage guard comes back and let Shang Zhen bump into it, I am afraid there will be a reprimand.” Having said that, he led him out the door. After walking for ten steps or so, he arrived at Guoqing Temple.
Chen Huixu has since admired Taoism, hobby dan stone, although the clothes and shoes leak, but also do not think of suffering. As long as he heard that there is alchemy of the Taoist priests, he does not care how far the road, but also to go to seek advice. He spent countless amounts of money on Dan Shi.
In his later years, he lived in the Houri Monastery on Mount Zhinan. As his body aged day by day, his desire to seek the Way became more urgent. He was bedridden for more than a month due to illness, and he became even thinner and more exhausted. One day, after a rainstorm, an old man came into the temple carrying a medicine bag and called out loudly, “Sell the Great Elixir!” He went around the corridor several times. The monks laughed at him and pointed to the door of Chen Huixu’s room and said to the old man, “This old man is quite good at Daidan, you can sell it to him.” The old man who was selling the medicine went happily to Chen Huixu. Chen Huixu said, “I know that the Returning Elixir is an elixir, how much is a dose?” The old man said, “As much as you can afford.” Chen Huixu said, “I am old and have been sick in bed for more than a month. I have difficulty moving, so I asked a neighboring monk to fast for me, but I only got a small amount of money, I don’t know if it is enough to buy medicine.” The old man took his money, left a few pills and showed him how to take the medicine. Chen Huixu swallowed the medicine according to the law, and the old man left.
One by one, the monks came to inquire, and Chen Huixu said that he had already bought the medicine and swallowed it. In a short time, all the diseases that could not be cured were cured. Chen Huixu did not let the monks come near him and said, “Don’t come forward, it smells bad, I am cured, but I want one or two new clothes.” After saying that, he jumped up and got up, as if he was leaping, and all the monks were surprised and admired. He put on the new clothes given to him, and suddenly flew to the top of the hall, where he waved goodbye to the monks and ascended to heaven. It was the twelfth year of the Dazhong dynasty of the Tang Dynasty, the year of Wu Yin.
In that year he returned to Tongbai Temple and talked to the Taoist monk about the reason for his attainment of Taoism, saying, “Now in Tongbai Palace, the old man who sells medicine is Zhang Lao.” After saying that, he went into hiding.
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